Golf Blog by The Orlando Golf Blogger

Big Break Sandals Resort week 10 is entitled ”El Ultimo Baile,” which translates to “The Last Dance.”

This is it! The final episode of Big Break Sandals Resort! The duel to the death (well, not really) between Carling “Crusher” Coffing and Lili “Annihilator” Alvarez!!!

If you’ve missed any of the previous episodes, check out the Big Break Sandals Resort episodes recap.

The episode starts out with the two remaining contestants taking in a beautiful sunrise before eating an uncomfortable breakfast. Paul, the butler/wise-man in disguise, comes in, this week not offering an envelope, but some inspirational words, “Let the competition be fierce, let it be competitive and do it from the heart.”

The final challenge

The final challenge of Big Break Sandals Resort is (as many of you suspected) 18 holes of match play. Since a full match would take well over four hours of video to record every shot, they speed things up and give us clips from each hole, which.. makes it a bit difficult to recap..

1st hole – all square
2nd hole – Lili 1up
3rd hole – Lili 1up
4th hole – all square
5th hole – all square
6th hole – all square
7th hole – Carling 1up
8th hole – Carling 1up
9th hole – all square

Up to this point, we’ve not seen particularly good “championship” play from either Carling or Lili and Carling said it best “it was embarrassing, it’s like all of the sudden we’re playing like 25 handicaps..” Which, I take offense to! I suspect, however, it’s due mostly to a little creative control on the part of the producers, instead of lack of skill from the final two of Big Break Sandals Resort.

10th hole – all square
11th hole – with two decent tee shots, Lili two putts and Carling flubs her pitch shot and leaves herself a long par putt, which she misses, resulting in Lili 1up.

12th hole – Lili had momentum going and Carling was reeling a bit, but a waterball from Lili helped calm her nerves. Lili recovered nicely however landing her 3rd shot within 10 feet. Carling has a long 50 foot birdie putt which she missed, leaving herself a relatively easy par putt. Lili missed her par putt, scoring a bogey. Carling, who’s putter has been on fire the entire round, shockingly missed her par putt, keeping Lili 1up.

13th hole – Two nice tee shots from each player, sets them both up for birdie putts, which Lili misses and Carling sinks, making it all square.

14th hole – Two drives in the fairway, two nice approach shots, both with birdie opportunities. Lili misses her birdie putt and Carling makes hers, setting Carling 1up.

15th hole – Carling hits a nice tee shot that ends up in the fairway and Lili, having a slight meltdown lands her drive in the hazard, which is a bunch of treacherous rocks that are near some treacherous water.. She takes the drop and recovers nicely, ending up on the green with a par putt. Carling ends up on the green with a birdie putt. Lili missed her par putt and Carling missed her birdie putt, leaving Carling 1up.

16th hole – Carling blocks her tee shot a bit landing in the right side rough and Lili knocks a sphincter-clencher that barely clears the rocks and ends up in the middle of the fairway. A ballzy shot to make on the final episode if Big Break Sandals Resorts, but I guess the ability to pull those off is what makes them do this for a living! Carling’s next shot landed near the bunker and Lili’s was on the green. She misses her birdie putt, making par, putting some pressure on Carling, who misses her par putt for a bogey, making the match all square with two left to play.

17th hole – Two nice drives with Lili away, she hits a beautiful approach shot landing it nice and snug. Carling’s approach shot wasn’t nearly as pretty giving herself a tough 25 foot birdie putt. Putting a roll on it like only Carling can, she sinks the putt. Lili missed her birdie putt by inches.. leaving Carling 1up going into the 18th hole.

18th hole - Both tee shots landed in the fairway, and Carling’s second shot also landed in the sweet grass. Lili’s second shot, in a horrible stroke of luck, stops nestled up against a mini palm tree. She takes an unplayable lie drop. Carling 3rds shot lands on the fringe. Lili hits her 4th shot from 135 yards out and knocks it to twelve feet. Carling’s 4th shot is a 35 yard putt from the fringe that stops an inch from the hole, thus knocking Lili Alvarez out.

Carling Coffing is the Champion of Big Break Sandals Resort!

Man what an awesome episode! Mine was a house divided, I was rooting for Carling and my wife was rooting for Lili, which is completely understandable, Lili is an awesome competitor and an incredible good sport. I was impressed with the way Lili stoically took the loss, congratulating Carling and saying she deserved it.

I wish they had filmed the ending differently. The immediate cut from the winning putt to a bunch of cut footage of earlier episodes and players, than a rushed handing over of the trophy with no final words from the winner, was, in my opinion poorly planned and executed.

Ah well.. it was a great season! Over at intothegrain.com, John posted up an interview with Carling Coffing discussing her experiences on the show. I’m sad that it’s over, but we don’t have to wait too long for the next season.

Your thoughts on the series?

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I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve always wanted to play in an event like the Ryder Cup, but unlike many of you, I have a serious lack of talent.

So, it’s no surprise that I never get invited to play in the cool events, yeah sure, I get my fair share of corporate scrambles and charity golf tournaments, but nothing as cool as the stroke play, head to head match-ups and the like.

When I heard about this golf outing, I immediately called the wife and begged for her approval and then called OCN and booked it.

Orange County National Golf Center is hosting 16 English soldiers back from Afghanistan for a golf outing and they’ve requested a Ryder Cup Style match against some local Orlando golfers.

These brave men spend most of their time soldiering and don’t have too much time for golf, so their average group handicap is a 20. Meaning, for once, this is an event I can compete it and actually be some fair footing. 

If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out Orange County National, you definitely need to, they’ve hosted multiple PGA Q-schools and the courses are top notch.

The event is taking place on September 10th, 2010 on the Panther Lake Course starting at 11:36am and they’re offering a discounted rate of $33.00 per golfer and the first round is on them!

So far, I think they’ve got around eight or so signed up and they’re looking for at least that many more. We’ve got room for one more in our foursome, so if you wanna play with one hack and two scratch, one of whom will probably be playing left handed, let me know. This promises to be a very cool event, and it’s not very often when an opportunity like this is afforded to us hack golfers. Well, atleast, not until I get the HNPGA Tour up and running. That’s Hacking-Non-Professional Golfer Association, rumor has it, OGB and Golf Channel are close to solidifying a three year sponsorship..

If you’d like to sign up, give them a call at (407) 905-2279 and don’t forget to tell then OGB sent ya!

Also, if you are playing, shoot me an email, I’d love to meet up with you!

Big Break Sandals Resort week 9 is entitled ”A Curious Trio.” If you’ve missed any of the previous episodes, check out the Big Break Sandals Resort episodes recap.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this post up, we recently had a new addition to the family and I haven’t time to watch or write about Big Break Sandals Resort this week. Thank god for the DVR!

We’re down to the final three contestants, Carling Coffing, Lili Alvarez and Sara Brown. At the breakfast table, Carling received the days clue which read “with the exemption into the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, the question is, how does your game stack up to Lorena’s? In today’s challenge, we’ll find out.”

Immunity Challenge

This weeks immunity challenge pits the three contestants up against Lorena Ochoa’s stats. The first part, is a driving challenge where each will hit three drives and if it’s in the fairway past the 22o yard mark, they’ll get a point, if it’s past the 265 yard mark, which is Lorena Ochoa’s average driving distance, they’ll get two points.

The second part is an approach shot challenge where they’ll have three shots to hit it within 18 feet of the flag, which is Lorena’s average distance from the flag on approach shots. If they land on the green it’s one point, if they land within 18 feet, it’s two.

The final part of the challenge is a putting challenge, where they’re up against Lorena’s just under two putts average. They’ll putt two balls from three different locations and if they end within the circle it’s one point and if they sink the putt, it’s two points.

At the end of the challenge, the player with the most points wins immunity and will be in the final two for Big Break Sandals Resort.

The challenge takes place on the first hole at Sandals Resort Emerald Reef Golf Club. This is a par five, 502 yard hole.

Sara is first..

1st drive – missed right
2nd drive – missed water
3rd drive – hit at 260 yards

and walked away with one point.

Carling is second..

1st drive – hit around 240 yards
2nd drive – hit around 235 yards
3rd drive – hit over 265 yards

and walks away with four points.

Lili is the last up..

1st drive – hit over 265
2nd drive – hit over 265
3rd drive – hit around 250

and walks away with five points taking an early lead over Sara and Carling.

The second piece of the challenge is an approach shot from 100 yards that needs to land within 18 feet.

Sara is up first again.

1st shot – landed within 18 feet with a pretty awesome check-up and roll back
2nd shot – landed within 18 feet to about three feet
3rd shot – landed within 18 feet and after two bounces, the ball stopped dead.

She had a very impressive comeback leaving the second part with six points giving her a total of seven so far in the challenge.

Carling is up next..

1st shot – landed within 18 feet
2nd shot – landed within 18 feet but rolled outside of the circle by three inches.
3rd shot – missed the circle and the gree.

and walks away from the second part with three points, giving her an overall score of seven, tied with Sara.

Lili is up last and has a great opportunity to give herself some cushion.

1st shot – missed the green
2nd shot – lands on the green and does the opposite of Carling by barely rolling into the circle
3rd shot – lands within the circle.

She walks alway with four and an overall score of nine, leading the other Big Break Sandals Resorts contestants by two strokes.

The final location features two putts, a 60 footer and a 35 footer. If the contestants end within the five foot circle around the pin it’s one point and if they sink the putt, it’s two.

60 footer

Sara – first putt was awesome, ending a little past the hole within the circle and her second putt ended just barely in the circle. At this point, she’s tied the challenge with Lili at nine points.

Carling – first putt rolls passed the hole and outside of the circle and her second putt makes in the circle leaving her one point behind Lili and Sara.

Lili – first putt rolls passed the hole and stopped in the center of the line of the five foot circle and her second putt rolled in and then back out of the circle. She leaves the 60 footer with a total of ten, one point ahead of Sara and two points ahead of Carling.

35 footer

Carling – first putt stops three inches from the hole, well within the circle and her second rolls passed the hole still in the circle. She is now tied for the lead with Lili.

Sara – first putt lands in the circle and she is now tied for the lead with Lili and Carling. Her second putt stop within the circle giving herself an 11. She now has the lead.

Lili – first putt stops in the circle and she is now tied for the lead with Sara. Her second putt also stops in the circle, giving her a score of 12, landing her immunity and naming her the first of the final two contestants on Big Break Sandals Resorts.

Elimination Challenge

The elimination challenge is three hole stroke play between Carling Coffing and Sara Brown and it’s taking place on the 15th, 16, and 12th holes. This is a pretty awesome match-up, I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been waiting for this battle for quite some time. In my opinion, this is going to be as intense, if not greater than the finale.

15th Hole – Par 5 – 506 Yards

Sara is up first, takes a crack with her driver and it landed in the water. Carling pulls out her three wood and lands it in the fairway. Carling is away with 266 yards and lays-up, landing it in the fairway. Sara had to take a drop, so her third shot is from 258 yards out. She makes a smart play and lays up. Carling’s third shot is 123 yards from the hole and her nice & easy nine iron lands her in a green side bunker. Sara’s fourth shot is from 118 yards and lands it on the green. Carling’s fourth shot from the bunker makes it out but just barely, leaving her a long par putt. She left the putt short. Sara hits her par putt pin high, giving herself a tap-in six putting a little pressure on Carling, who, sinks the putt.

After one hole, the ladies are tied up at +1.

16th Hole – Par 4 – 330 Yards

Sara is up first, pulls out the driver again and this time, finds the fairway. Carling follows suit. Sara is away and her 2nd shot is from 133 yards. She lands the shot in the greenside rough. Carling has 129 yards and stuffs it on the green about 10 feet from the hole. Sara has a pin high chip shot from a pretty poor lie, looks like shes chipping out of a wasteland. She hits a good shot that stops about three feet from the hole.

Carling has an awesome opportunity to gain a stroke on Sara but she fails to capitalize on it, missing her birdie putt by about an inch, tapping in for par. Sara also makes her par putt.

After two holes, the ladies of this Big Break Sandals Resort Week 9 elimination challenge are still tied at +1.

12th Hole – Par 4 – 354 Yards

Sara is still up first and elects to leave the driver in the bag. With her three wood, she lands her tee shot in the right  rough, missing the fairway bunker by six feet. Carling also lands her three woods in the right rough. Carling’s second shot was from 159 yards and she hits a great shot landing about 18 feet from the hole. Sara is out 138 yards and his a clutch six iron, knocking it inside Carling.

Both players have a birdie putt, Carling is away and Sara’s ball is right in her putting line, which will give Sara a great read on her putt. Carling sets up, strokes her ball and NAILS THE PUTT!! (and the crowd goes wild!!!) Sara is now in the trouble seat with a worlds worth of pressure on her shoulders. She missed the putt.

After an intense three holes, Sara Brown is the ninth player eliminated from Big Break Sandals Resort.

This was a bitter sweet moment, at this late in the game you really don’t want to see any of the players go home because they’re all extremely talented. That’s the bitter part, the sweet part is my girl Carling from “Team Booty-licious” made it to the final two!

Can’t wait for the finale!

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Hey Everyone,

Sorry the blog hasn’t been updated very much recently, as of August 10th, 2010 around 7:25pm, the OGB family increased by one.

Weighing in at a hefty six pounds, 13 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches, my lovely wife gave birth to our third son, Niko.

As you can see, he came out of the womb ready to take up the worlds greatest sport. Having three boys is really great, it’s greatly increased the chance that I’ll have a professional golfer in the house!

The transition from two to three children is a pretty significant change and I find myself lacking enough hours in the day to get everything done! So, please, be patient, I’ll be back posting amazing content in no time!