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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, April 23, 1998
Two from rodeo team earn state berths
PECOS, Apr. 23 -- Two members of the Pecos High School rodeo
team qualifies earlier this month for the State High School
Rodeo Finals, scheduled for the week of June 8 in Abilene.
Senior Renea Rasberry and junior Courtney Clark earned trips
to Abilene by finishing in the Top 10 in their events.
Rasberry finished 10th out of 28 contestants at regional
competition in breakaway roping, earning her third trip to
Abilene. she had previously qualified for state in barrels
and in goat tying.
Clark advanced to Abilene for the first time with a fourth
place finish in girls' cutting. A total of six girls
competed in that event at regionals.
Two other area girls who are attending Wink High School,
DeAnda Allgood and Suzanne Kelton, also qualified for the
state finals with third and fifth place finishes in girls
cutting.
Junior high girls claim first, thirds at Stockton
PECOS, Apr. 23 -- Pecos junior high girls won one division
title and had three third place finishes last weekend,
during tournament play at Fort Stockton.
No opponents names were available for any of the matches,
but eighth grader Brenda Fuentes won the girls singles title
by a 6-3, 6-2 final score. Kristina Dominguez also won
consolation in that division, by a 7-6, 6-4 (12-10
tiebreaker) score.
In doubles play, Laura Hinojos and Katherine Orona won their
match for third place, by 6-3, 6-2 scores, while in the
seventh grade division, Rachel Rubio and Jessica Orona won
third place, with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory.
In the singles division, Amanda Fleming won third place by a
6-2, 6-4 score and Jennifer Marquez took consolation with a
6-2, 6-2 victory.
Coach June Blackwell said no boys competed in the weekend
tournament, while the other girls entered at Fort Stockton
were Roxanne Diaz and Beatrice Villarreal.
Shark caged for season by bad back
By RON SIRAK
AP Golf Writer
NEW YORK, Apr. 23 -- Ever since he lost the 1984 U.S. Open
in a playoff, virtually every major golf championship was
played under the shadow of this question: How will Greg
Norman do?
That will not be the case at the U.S. Open in June, or the
British Open in July, or the PGA Championship in August.
Shoulder surgery on Wednesday sidelined Norman for six
months.
``I knew if I wanted to make a complete recovery, this
surgery was necessary,'' Norman said. ``While the
recuperative program will present certain challenges, I look
forward to resuming my regular schedule and playing my best
golf.''
Dr. Richard Hawkins, who performed the arthroscopic surgery
at the Steadman Hawkins Sports Medicine Foundation in Vail,
Colo., said Norman's injury was due to ``overuse, pure and
simple.''
The target date for Norman's return is the Shark Shootout in
Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 12-15.
``His arm will be in a sling for the next 10 days, and after
that he will be able to take it off from time to time to get
some range of motion,'' Bart Collins, president of Great
White Shark Enterprises, said Wednesday from his Florida
office.
Norman, 43, has missed only five of the 69 major
championships played since 1980 and, beginning with his
second victory in the British Open in 1993, finished in the
top 20 in 14 consecutive major championships.
With nearly $12 million, he is the career leading money
winner on the PGA Tour. He has 18 PGA Tour victories and
another 56 overseas, plus numerous wins in unofficial
events.
``There were a number of problems, including bone spurs and
damage to the lining of the joint, and this is unique,''
Hawkins said about Norman's left shoulder.
But it was one particular problem that complicated matters:
The ball of his shoulder was sliding in the socket.
``Posterior instability in an athlete is unusual, and in a
golfer it's some concern because the ball is sliding
backward in the socket,'' Hawkins said. ``We used lasers and
heat to shrink it down and try to create some stability.
This is a new procedure and without it we would have had to
cut into the shoulder.''
Hawkins said that if not for the posterior instability,
Norman's rehabilitation time would have been cut in half.
``It makes you nervous operating on guys of this level,''
Hawkins said. ``It doesn't always work. Hopefully this
will.''
Hawkins said Norman's rigorous workout regimen likely
lessened his problems and makes him a perfect candidate for
rehabilitation.
This will be the first year since 1980 that Norman has not
played in at least three of the four major championships.
And with only 19½ competitive rounds, it will be his
lightest year since turning pro in 1976.
Norman had some discomfort for six to eight months and
aggravated the problem before The Players Championship in
March, according to Collins. He withdrew from that event,
and after an MRI on April 13 following a missed cut at the
Masters, he decided on surgery.
A return at the Shark Shootout means Norman could be ready
for the Presidents Cup, played in his native Australia for
the first time on Dec. 11-13. It would be a major
disappointment to his fans and a blow for the event if
Norman were unable to compete.
As much as Norman has accomplished, he is most remembered
for his near misses. Eight times he was second in one of the
major championships and he is the only person to lose the
Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA
Championship in a playoff.
No defeat was more crushing than the 1996 Masters, when he
started the final round with a 6-stroke lead and finished
five strokes behind Nick Faldo.
``The type of game that he plays, very aggressive, very much
a hitter of the golf ball, you wonder if he'll ever attain
those heights again,'' Frank Nobilo, a tour player from New
Zealand and a close friend of Norman's, said Wednesday at
the Greater Greensboro Classic.
``He'll still be able to win tournaments, but I really do
believe what happened at Augusta a few years ago has
probably taken its toll,'' Nobilo said.
``Nobody probably deserved a green jacket more, and you
wonder if he won it several years ago whether he would have
worked himself as hard over the last couple of years to get
into the physical state that he's in now,'' Nobilo said.
``And it probably caused the shoulder damage.''
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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Pecos Enterprise