Bad news from the Bear

Henrik - Day 1 - US Bank Championship in Millwaukee - 76 (+6) - Third from last - Disaster!

http://www.pgatour.com/scoring/leaderboard/r029

Scenes from the San Juan Islands

Pictures from our recent holiday on the Islands of Ocracs, San Juan and Lopez just in between Washington State and Vancouver Island, Canada.




Kyaking with killer whales in the straits between San Juan and Victoria.

The view from Mount Constitution on Orcas to the Rocky Mountains (Mount Baker in the center).

Cornflower blue on Lopez.

The Great Game

The Open is underway with Tiger looking very impressive. Warren Bladon (the fat guy from Big Break IV) is looking slightly less impressive at +5 (but then again he did qualify unlike me who couldn't qualify for the Nova Scotia under 12s pitch and putt championship, although I did shoot 76 with Layna on Monday - that makes the last 4 rounds 75-76-77-76, not bad for a little elderly person).

http://www.golfweb.com/tournaments/britishopen/leaderboard

My new Norwegian correspondent Magnus (who turns out not to be such a shabby golfer himself) offers some videos of Henrik for those of you suffering withdrawal symptoms while he is back in Norway building his muscles.

http://atvs.vg.no/player/player.php?id=3063

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/sport/golf/article1300234.ece

Looking back on Beirut

I was in Beirut just two weeks ago and it was a great vibrant city of street cafes, bustling coastline runs and exotic nightlife. It is remarkable and depressing how the turn of events have turned the city almost overnight back to the dark days of the war.

My IFES colleagues had to be driven out through Syria and are now in Amman. The two Lebanese staff members are hunkered down in their homes (in the case of the christian) and on the IFES office floor (in the case of the Sunni woman who lives in Sunni South Beirut).







The photos illustrate how Beirut felt 14 days ago.

Final Round-John Deere

Sadly Henrik was unable to capitalise on his two good opening rounds, he ended with two 70's placing him in a tie for 39th, which left him stuck on 124th on the money list.

http://www.pgatour.com/players/intro/459559

But there are positives.
a) he got back in the habit of making the cut again (after missing 3 of the last 4 cuts).
b) His -8 total was his 3rd lowest tournament score of the year and only the second time he was under par in all four rounds.
c) last, but most crucially, he showed true grit. With 6 holes left to play in the final round he was 1 over for the day and out of it, then he struggled back to birdie 3 of the final holes to make his score and final position respectable.

Bjornstad v Reynolds MatchPlay (4)

This week:

Me:July 7, 2006
Course: Orcas Golf Course, WA
Par: 72
My score: 77 (+5) (net:71)

Henrik: July 13, 2006
Course: TPC Illinois
Par: 71
Henrik's score: 67 (-4) (net:67)

Bjornstad takes his first victory.

Reynolds 3
Bjornstad 1

Another solid day for Henrik

Round 2 at the John Deere Tournament in Illinois and Henrik held it together with a 2 under par 69.

http://www.pgatour.com/scoring/leaderboard/r

Everyone is scoring low but littlebear is -6 and tied for 16th. He acually hit terrific approach shots today but couldn't covert a bunch of 10-16ft putts. Nevertheless he is putting better than he has in months and scoring better than since the very start of the season.

A strong weekend will earn enough money to give him some comfort zone in the money order (remember the top 125 retain their cards for next year and right now Henrik is 124th).

Beirut election systems

I'm sure it is the furthest thing from the average Lebanese mind right now but the proposed new election system is parallel. 77 Block Vote seats in 1-6 member districts, 51 list PR seats in 6 districts, with a sort of open (2 vote) list...while under both methods seats have to be allocated back down to the confession/sect/ethnicity and single member seat (or qada)...Yes, its really complex! Perhaps the most complex system I have ever seen.

I'm writing up my review for IFES now...More details here if anyone is truly interested.

Beirut, Henrik and apologies

Apologies for such a gap in postings. Much has occurred in my absence - all of which I shall follow up on.

1. I am writing up my review of the proposed Lebanese electoral system...when I was in Beirut a week ago it was beautiful and calm, now my friends can't even leave the city.

The photos illustrate two sides of Lebanon. One is of my IFES friends relaxing on a beach last week south of Beirut (later on this day we watched England get knocked out of the world cup in a beach cafe). The other is of the crater in downtown Beirut left by the bomb that killed Hariri and 30 others last year.

2. Layna and I had a wonderful hiking/running/kayaking with the orcas trip to the San Juan Islands off Washington State.

3. Henrik had his best round for months yesterday in the John Deere classic in Illinois. At 4 under par he was 3 off the lead and in a healthy position to make the cut for the second week in a row. Praying he holds it all together today!