The Meaning of Old

As golfers well know, magic can happen at any time. Elsie McLean, at 102, gets her first ace, and becomes the oldest person to do so. Cool. Do have a bone to pick with those golf architects who insist on making blind holes, as this one was for Elsie. Hole-in-Ones are very special and even more special when you see that ball all the way into the hole. Usually results in all sorts of untoward commotion on the tee box.

An old pro, and one who hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2004, is leading at Hilton Head: Ernie Els. Probably wouldn't think much of my calling him an old pro. 37 years old. Young next to a lot of our players.

On the LPGA, Laura Davies and Nancy Lopez, a couple of 'old' stars, made the print at the Ginn Open. Laura is tied for 1st with Lorena Ochoa while Nancy, in a comeback effort, shot a 83-80 to come in last. Ouch. Morgan Pressel followed her triumph of two weeks ago by missing the cut. Ouch. Thrdi round today. Put money on Lorena.

Our senior seniors: Bob Norris, Clyde Wake, Don Lannon - three in their eighties. And going strong. And still interested in winning, not just playing, as Clyde reminded me the other day.

Our inclement weather of these last few weeks is definitely old. Go away, let us play, bring the sun and the warm for a long, long stay. (I look out the clubhouse window and see the beautiful green of #1 fairway as counterpoint to the steely gray of the sky.)

On a lighter note: NYTimes most frequently searched keywords:

Keywords most frequently searched by NYTimes.com readers.

1. sex
2. imus
3. pet food recall
4. immigration
5. global warming
6. china
7. iraq
8. gwen ifill
9. india
10. vonnegut

Let me see now, thinking... Imus - yes; vonnegut - yes; china and india - would have; iraq and global warming - ever present thorns; gwen ifill - part of the imus thingee and a PBS mainstay; immigration and pet food recall - i know about them. Does that cover it all? Hmmm, I think so. Let me know if I missed anything.

Heading home. Be back if the weather improves.