Opening Remarks

Harry Crab Championships 2008

“You Catch ‘em, We scratch ‘em”

 Golden Pebble, Dalian, China…I’ve wanted to play this championship course for a long time.  I am happy that it’s now part of the Harry Crab rotation.  Unfortunately, my Crab career will come to end this year as I will not be there to join all you hackers.  Despite my “oh” for 5 record at previous Crabs, I take away many fond memories especially the Johor Bahru Crab in Malaysia where I carded a 41 after 9 and then never made a par over the next 27 holes, finishing third after the 2 bandit Singaporean guys.  To date, that would be my best result.

The lesson to you all, and I don’t mind sharing this, is that you can’t win a Crab on the first day!  The only thing you can do on the first day is take yourself out of contention.  The other lesson I can share and this is for Paul Heffner, is that the next Crab champion is virtually decided in the haggling and whinging of handicaps, which starts immediately the moment everyone arrives at the airport to embark on the trip.  (Note to All: Don’t let Dave Ting lure you into a false sense of golf proficiency like he has with his weekend playing partners…Huey, Dooey and Louey).  Oh! And the last lesson you all need to learn is to make sure Harry, co-champion 2007, doesn’t take those gimmie 3-5 footers. 

Though this is the end of my Crab playing days, my blogging career will continue at least for this year.  After 5 years, I am sure we all know who is in the field and each others’ quirks as well as the inside jokes and innuendos.  

Ray