Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 22, 1993 TAG: 9308220053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The latest and most unusual injury struck Andrew Shuck of the Waterfront last weekend.
Shuck, in the midst of a nightmare, leaped from his bed and shoved his right arm through a plate-glass window at his parents' home. He damaged nerves in his arm, requiring five hours of surgery.
"I had a bad dream and I just had to get out of the house . . . it was like a life-or-death thing, somebody was trying to get me," Shuck said. "When I shattered the window, it woke me up.
"I lost so much blood that I lost my vision and couldn't feel my arms or legs. My father [Haven] rushed to my room and held the right pressure point so I wouldn't bleed to death. There was so much blood that my room looked like a scene from an ax-murderer movie."
Shuck, who will be a junior in the fall at Methodist College in Fayetteville, N.C., said he hopes to be able to play golf again by the spring.
Shuck's mishap came on the heels of an automobile accident that left another Waterfront player, Chris Adcock, hospitalized with serious injuries.
Yet another area collegiate player, George Mason's Scott Hunter, was forced to miss the Valley Am because of mononucleosis, a sinus infection and bronchitis.
Two other probable Valley Am contestants - Arman Fletcher and Mike Fields - already were sidelined.
Fletcher, 65, still is hobbling after a ladder he was holding for a tree-cutter collapsed and fell on him in July.
"The fellow cutting the tree and the ladder came right down on me," Fletcher said. "I thought at first I had broken my back. I guess it could have been worse."
Fields, the pilot for the Lifeguard 10 helicopter, still is grounded by severe back injuries suffered in a recent automobile crash.
\ ULTIMATE YIPPER: Every now and then you hear a story of a golfer who three-putts from five feet, gets hot, either snaps his putter in half or chucks it in a pond and then finishes the round putting with a driver.
Well, Roanoker Richard Morgan has taken that tale to the extreme - he putts exclusively with his driver.
"I've had the yips for 38 years," said Morgan, who once was described by childhood sidekick Doug Kenney as the "best putter I've ever seen."
Morgan, 45, drew more than one double-take on the greens this week during the Valley Am.
"It does draw some funny looks sometimes. That doesn't bother me," said Morgan, a 5-handicap player. "All I know is that I've got a whole lot more confidence with the driver in the eight- to 10-foot range than I do the short stick. I've been going with it for quite some time now."
Unbelievable?
"It wouldn't be unbelievable if you'd ever seen him putt with a putter," said fellow golfer Don Ragland.
\ GOFF COURSE: Monty Goff, the head pro at Countryside, leaves today for Patuxent Greens Country Club in Laurel, Md., where he will spend the next six weeks to three months in a course-management training school.
The Fairways Group, which owns Countryside, is sending Goff to Patuxent to learn the ins and outs of an organization that operates 11 courses in five states.
"They're looking at acquiring possibly 25 more courses," Goff said. "So they need people who understand their system. If they're sending me to school, they must think I have the potential to do well with the company."
Goff, 32, said there's a distinct possibility he could be transferred to another course by the Manassas-based Fairways Group, which is headed by former Roanoker Charlie Staples.
"I wouldn't mind someday relocating," Goff said. "The only problem with this is that the timing is strange. I'm getting married Sept. 25, and I don't think my prospective wife is too excited. Here I'm leaving, coming back a couple days to get married and honeymoon, then I'll be heading back to Maryland to live in a motel room."
Mike Armel, who has been at Prince William Country Club in Nokesville, will serve as interim head pro at Countryside.
\ PLAYER COURSE: Snowshoe (W.Va.) Mountain Resort will hold the grand opening for its new Gary Player Signature Hawthorne Valley course Thursday and Friday. The course opened for play July 17.
Player, who designed the course, will play a round Friday with invited guests. For information, call Monroe Fisher at (304) 572-1000.
\ SAND BLASTS: Former Radford High School standout and current Virginia Tech player Matt Martin cruised to a 10-shot victory in the recent Montgomery County Amateur. . . . Roanoker Mike Smith will be joined at this week's 93rd U.S. Amateur Championship in Houston by the University of Virginia's Dan Ladd and former Virginia Tech player Clayton Sharp. . . . Martinsville's Keith Decker will be one of five players representing the VSGA on Wednesday at a challenge match in Biarritz, France. Decker is joined on the VSGA team by David Partridge, Allen Barber, Simon Cooke and Peter Jacobi. . . . This week's RVGA Junior and Valley Am fields were a family affair for the Landrums. Brothers Linzie and Darrell competed in the Valley Am seniors division. Their cousin, Jerry, was a match-play participant in the open division. Jerry's 10-year-old twin sons, Jared and Jason, played in the Junior tournament. . . . The team of Bill Burton, Steve Burton, Terry Mabry and Johnny Miller shot a 14-under 59 to win the recent Gene "Squeeky" Craft captain's choice tournament at Hanging Rock.
by CNB