I found the solution to the traffic gridlock.
Instead of heading home right away, I drove down the street to Buster's Bar & Grill, had a dozen steamed oysters and a draft Bass ale.
Waited until 7 pm and then motored on home in just 30 minutes! Unlike Friday when I was stuck in gridlock for 2 1/2 hours!
Buster's was a popular spot Saturday. Not only ran into Jeff Cummings, Don Reese and Schuyler Woods – but watched Gary Player, dapper as usual, stroll in there for dinner.
Of course, they still had one westbound lane closed on Okaloosa Island – all the way from the Coast Guard station well past the old officer's beach club driveway!
It seemed like they softened up the Raven course for Saturday play. At least the tee placements were more generously forward. That resulted in an increase of 19 more rounds of par or better.
Friday's stroke average was 72.5 with 20 rounds below par, but on Saturday it was 71.6 with 33 rounds below par.
One thing stayed the same. The par-4 18th played toughest on the course. On Friday it played to a 4.56 average and on Saturday to a 4.55 average.
The statistics don't tell the whole tale, however. The par-5 17th claimed some pretty prominent victims. Curtis Strange hit two balls in the water and ended up with a triple-bogey 8. Craig Stadler, 8-under on the day to there, blocked his tee shot in the water and took a double-bogey.
So did Mike McCullough, at that point leading the Georgia-Pacific Grand Champions event by two shots over Bruce Summerhays.
Mike's double-bogey there dropped him into a tie and had the Champions Tour staff scrambling to set up a possible playoff at the 18th following the final regular group of the day. The error at 17 ended his streak of 34 consecutive holes without a bogey in the event – the only player in the field bogey-free up to that point.
But McCullough regrouped, hitting the fairway at 18, nailing his 163-yard 6-iron to just inside 5 feet and rolling the putt in for birdie to beat out Summerhays by a shot.
McCullough picked up a fast $30,000 for his 36-hole 138 while Summerhays earned $23,000 for his 139.
On Friday, Bobby Wadkins said it was good to score well on Friday so he could hang around near the lead. He hung around with an even-par 71 and held on to the lead as those threatening couldn't get nearer than 3 shots back.
Stadler (71-65) and John Harris (70-66) are closest to Wadkins, paired with him Sunday. Loren Roberts (69-68) and Strange (66-71) are four shots back, with McCullough still in contention at 139.
If Strange would get it going and win Sunday, he'd break a victory drought of 16 years, 10 months and 26 days. His last win was the 1989 U.S. Open.
Harris is seeking his first win in his combined 106 PGA Tour and Champions Tour starts.
Hubert Green demonstrated his short-game wizardry in carding his lowest round of 2006, a three-under 68. Hubie had it all the way to six-under before his diabetes got him a little woozy and he suffered three bogeys down the stretch. But he got up-and-down from the left bunker to within 3 feet on the par-3 6th and hit a sensational bunker shot from the right bunker on the 17th to 2 feet to save pars.
Tee times Sunday start at 8 am with the leaders slated off at 12:45 pm.
