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Rob Joins Kevin Hall for Nationwide Tour Tournaments in West Virginia and Cleveland The tournament schedule has been significantly small this season for Rob but recently he met up with fellow Tour Pro Kevin Hall at two Nationwide Tour qualifiers. The first event, in West Virginia was played at the beautiful and difficult Stonewall Resort Golf Course. During the practice day the two had their usual late round competition for a "milk shake." Both players tied thus leaving Rob still "one shake" up in their match. Conventional wisdom says Rob should cash in his prize and drink it fast before Kevin wins and takes it away! The following week Rob and Kevin practiced in preparation for the qualifier in Cleveland played at Avon Hills CC. Both players missed qualifying for each tournament by a few precious shots. Rob set a personal best in Cleveland "one putting" the last eight holes on his way to a back nine 34 and score of 73 on the day.
United States Deaf Golf Camps Continue Rapid Expansion This year has seen the youth programs of the USDGA, overseen by Rob Strano, explode across the country again. Last year there were 8 camps and over 250 that participated. The schedule for 2006 has 18 camps all across the USA. The first event was held at Ko 'Olau Golf Club in Hawaii and then crossed the south in Baton Rouge, Pensacola and St. Augustine, FL. The fall part of the schedule will finish with camps in Boston, Denver, Dallas, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Tucson and Freemont, CA. The highlight of this year's events was the LPGA Championship Girls Deaf Golf Camp. Rob brought in fellow Tour Professionals Kris Tschetter, Catherine Cartwright, Katie Futcher and Catherine Hull to do a private clinic for the young ladies from the Maryland School for the Deaf. Rob was the host for the clinic and had each woman hit shots and discuss golf with the students. Each of the ladies came from the Bible Study on the LPGA Tour and were in town to compete in the McDonald's LPGA Championship. To watch the TV coverage of the event follow this link:
www.tvworldwide.com/events/lpga_dcg/ Joining the field of players for the first CSD golf tournament at Clustered Spires in Maryland was Rob Strano. But not as a competitor. He was there to support the charitable efforts of CSD. This tournament was played to benefit health literacy programs, specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing senior citizens in Maryland. Karen Scheffer Tucker and all her staff put on a fantastic event for CSD. Not only was the weather beautiful, but the players all had a great time supporting the efforts of CSD in Maryland. Rob played several holes with each group and had a great time with everyone. The highlight of his day came when he drove the green on back-to-back short par 4's. Those groups were definitely excited to have putts for eagles on par 4's!
New Virtual Locker Room to Help Golf Students Learn Faster The New ASL GOLF Virtual Locker Room will soon be online. This special page at ASL Golf will allow the players working with Rob to track their golf swing progress. Once a lesson is finished, Rob will sit down with the video of the golfers swing and slow it down and select certain pictures to show the player. Each photo will come with special commentary from Rob on what the person needs to be working on to improve their golf game. All the videos and pictures and other information will be posted to the players own personal locker. They will get an email from Rob giving them their locker number. This approach will allow each player to better understand their own special needs and to review the information any time they need to refresh their minds about what they should be working on! Look for this special page to be online sometime in early September!!
Memorial Tournament on PGA Tour Welcomes Rob
In his role as Executive Director for the USDGA Rob traveled to Columbus, Ohio and Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Golf Tournament on the PGA Tour. Rob was there to support fellow Touring Professional Kevin Hall. Kevin was exempt into the event and as Executive Director of the United States Deaf Golf Association Rob was there to support Mr. Hall with whatever he needed and to be there to answer any questions about the USDGA and deaf golf in the country. Even though Kevin missed the cut, there were many wonderful highlights from the week. Some of the most memorable:
-Wednesday is a practice day and after the round Kevin had his press conference and then later in the day did a youth clinic. Rob co-hosted the event when Tour Pro Jason Gore had to pull out due to illness. Kevin did a great job with the exhibition and at the end Rob showed how well Kevin focuses mentally. As Mr. Hall was about to swing Rob began waving his arms, creating moving shadows across the ball. Kevin hit long, straight driver again and again which brought loud cheers from the crowd of over 500.
-On Thursday, first hole, first round, Kevin Hall drains a 15 footer for birdie and the crowd around the first green goes crazy. That was the first time you knew who was deaf and who was hearing. How? Numerous deaf fans raised their hands in applause when the putt dropped. Standing on the hill in the shade of the large trees behind the green Rob was able to take in the view. "It was really cool to see the applause of the deaf mixed with the claps of the hearing people."
-When practicing before his second round, Kevin was right next to Sergio Garcia. Both were working hard to get ready for the days competition. Sergio kept checking out Kevin's swing and when he was finished he walked past Rob, Kevin and Kevin's caddy, Ryan and said, "Play well." Rob then translated to Kevin what Sergio had said since Kevin was busy and did not see him go past on his way to the tee.
-After each round Kevin was swarmed by people wanting autographs. Rob was there with Kevin and made sure that each person said "Please" and "Thank You" in ASL. "That was really special to be able to share the language with the fans. They would normally never have this contact with ASL or deaf people and I wanted to make sure they communicated with Kevin and did not just stick out a program or item for him to sign then walk away. Everyone, from the oldest to the littlest kids were excited to see Kevin and they all followed my directions on how to ask for his autograph and then how to thank him. This was the highlight of my week."
-The last memorable moment came on the last hole Kevin would play. He struggled with a back injury the second day and hung tough playing better on the back nine. It was apparent that he was going to miss the cut by the time he reached the last hole. With at least 10,000 people surrounding the eighteenth green Kevin lined up a 10 footer for birdie. Rob tells the story from here, "I am standing on the hill to the right of the green where the players walk off and go into the scoring building and check their scorecards. I am not close to Kevin, maybe 70 yards away but have a great view of the whole area. Jackie Hall, Kevin's mom and I have been walking together most of the day and she is about 10 yards ahead of me closer to the green. I am high enough to look right down the line of Kevin's putt and have played enough golf with him to know that when he hits the putt it is going to go nowhere but into the middle of the hole. As it falls in I look at him and at the same time I am looking at the whole scene. The crowd explodes and scattered among these thousands, like little glimmers of sparkling bright lights are deaf individuals waving their hands in applause. It was such a great finish to the round that I had to wipe tears from my eyes. As Kevin walked off the green his mom was the first to meet him and they embraced, his dad was next and they shared a great family moment. Kevin then saw me and we met with a high five and big smiles. I signed to him, 'classy finish,' and he grinned wider."
For more on the Memorial Tournament go to the "media" page of ASL Golf.
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