Back to defend his title at the Reno-Tahoe Open, a lot has changed for Will MacKenzie since he claimed his first US golf tour victory last summer on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.
The rock-climbing, kayaking, surfer who once lived out of his van and sold Costa Rican hammocks door-to-door has a new car, a new condo in Florida and US$879,965 in earnings already this year.
"I'd never driven anything but a van or a truck, so now I've got a little sports car," MacKenzie said on Wednesday at Montreux Golf & Country Club, about a half-hour from Lake Tahoe.
Despite the bigger bank account, the 32-year-old US player sounds like the same character who shot an opening-round 63 en route to a 20-under-par 268 at Reno last August.
"It's nice to get out West again. I can already smell the sage," MacKenzie told reporters before his practice round on Wednesday afternoon. "It's a good vibe for me.
"It's amazing to have been fishing in West Palm Beach yesterday and be out here now in the mountains. My girlfriend and I will probably go to Lake Tahoe one day and freeze our rear ends off in the ... water."
Once a star on the junior circuit, MacKenzie burned out by age 14, hung up his clubs and spent nearly 10 years skiing and snowboarding in the West before returning to the game three years ago.
NOTORIOUS
Now he finds himself unusually comfortable with the notoriety that accompanied his breakthrough victory.
"I want to be known out here," he said. "Whether I have 10 fans or 10,000 fans, I love it. I love to see kids come up and say, `Willie Mac, what's up bud? Good playing.' Or, `You wanna go surfing?'
"The state of my game right now? I'm not too sure. I've got a major tweak in my neck," he said. "But I definitely have some goose bumps. I'd like to play well. I'm the defending champion."
MacKenzie became the fourth player in the nine-year-old Reno event to claim their first tour victory at the 6,832m Jack Nicklaus-designed course, where a US$3 million purse is at stake.
Vaughn Taylor last turned the trick in 2004 and became the only player so far to successfully defend the title the following year.
Most Reno winners don't return to defend because they qualify for the Wold Golf Championships at Akron, Ohio, where the top 84 players in the world are competing this week.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
OBJECTIVE REACHED: ’Now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go, and we can ramp up,’ the Atlanta Hawks’ C.J. McCollum said after the game The Atlanta Hawks on Friday secured an NBA playoff berth with a 124-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Boston Celtics locked up the Eastern Conference second seed with a lopsided win of their own. C.J. McCollum scored a game-high 29 points for the Hawks, who came into the contest at sixth in the East and still in danger of falling into the play-in tournament that would see the seventh-through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson scored 18 points apiece, and Dyson Daniels added a triple-double of 13
RSS