Local biotech leader Hank Nordhoff says his foray on the U.S. Open course in a charity event Tuesday turned into a golfer's nightmare.
Nordhoff broke his wedge warming up, then broke the replacement wedge trying to get out of the rough. He bit his lip. His watch popped off. He broke a dental crown. He bashed his head and nearly knocked himself out looking for a colleague's ball under a grandstand.
He lost several golf balls and scored 100 or 102 – he wasn't sure.
After playing from the U.S. Open tees, Nordhoff, Gen-Probe president and CEO, concluded: “I have new respect for the pros.”
Tournament aftermath
Cookies celebrating Tiger Woods' win are flying off the Girard Gourmet bakery shelves in La Jolla. One portrays a golfing tiger; another depicts Torrey Pines golf course and the words, “Tiger Territory Pines.”
“People tell me it's a lot cheaper than buying a T-shirt to take home,” baker Francois Goedhuys said.
People watch
Nathan Fletcher, who just captured the Republican nomination for the 75th Assembly District seat, has a new constituent, if elected. He and his wife, Mindy, campaign press secretary for President George W. Bush, are adoptive parents of a baby boy, Zachery Morgan Fletcher, born June 7.
The first political speech Zach heard wasn't his father's, though. It was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's withdrawal announcement on the hospital TV. Zach's reaction? “He slept through most of it,” said Mindy. “And I assume he will sleep through many of Nathan's (speeches) in the years to come.”
The name game
The Industrial Environmental Association recently invited Shell Energy North America to give a presentation on oil and gas markets. The speaker?
That would be Shell's chief economist out of Houston, whose name is Les Deman.
You be the judge
Is the “Big Bad Wolf” guilty or innocent? Ask Gary Schons, head of the state Attorney General's Office in San Diego.
That was the big case Schons was working on recently with a group of Canyon View Elementary fourth-graders in front of Superior Court Judge Gale Kaneshiro.
The Rancho Peñasquitos 9-and 10-year-olds represented the fairy-tale wolf's family and friends, Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma. Schons has been quoted recently on weightier issues, such as the March 15 apparent road-rage shooting involving an off-duty police officer and the Sunroad high-rise scandal.
As for Schons' involvement with the wolf: It was a favor to the children's teacher, Renie Martin, Schons' sister-in-law.
A chapter ends
California State Librarian Susan Hildreth and numerous elected officials are attending a goodbye party for City Librarian Anna Tatár at 5:30 p.m. today in the Balboa Park Club Room in the park. Tatár is retiring after 36 years with the San Diego Public Library but will stay involved in the community. The celebration is open to the public.
A bear of a day
As Jane Barnhart taught yoga to a class of Lemon Grove third-graders, the children were very receptive. At the conclusion of a recent session at San Miguel Elementary School, classroom teacher Susan Harvey asked her students if they had any questions for their instructor, “Yogi Jane.”
A boy quickly raised his hand and asked: “Are you named after Yogi Bear?”
Diane Bell's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Fax items to (619) 260-5009; call (619) 293-1518; e-mail to diane.bell@uniontrib.com; or mail to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Box 120191, San Diego 92112-0191.
