Hansen Sunday Notebook

Golf

CDO graduate mulls future

In the first professional event of his superb golf career, Canyon del Oro grad David McDaniel won the PGA Tour Pre-Qualifying tournament last week in Lincoln, Neb.

McDaniel shot rounds of 65-66-68-66 (that's 15 under par) to beat the field by five strokes. He advanced to the first stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School next month.

This does not mean he has turned pro; McDaniel has not accepted any prize money and will play in next week's U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in Bridgehampton, N.Y. But after sweeping nine consecutive titles in the Tucson City and Pima County amateur championships - upon winning the 2009 Arizona Amateur title and the 2010 Arizona Publinks championship - McDaniel is eager to tackle the unknown.

"I'm 25 and I want to give myself a chance at something new, see what I can do," he said. "But the odds of making it through four rounds of Q-School are severe. Nobody's going to bet on me in Las Vegas."

McDaniel reached the final of the U.S. Public Links Championship last month and, on his amateur record alone, ranks behind only Ed Updegraff as the top golfer in Tucson history.

The challenge now is to see if he can reach the pro tour, as did Sahuaro grads Rich Barcelo and Cindy Rarick.

Rich Mueller, the pro at Crooked Tree Golf Course and a former minitour player, believes that McDaniel is the best player in Tucson history.

"I'm not getting carried away by winning the Pre-Qualifying title," said McDaniel. "That was just a tournament to weed out the dreamers. I'll see the top players down the line."

Also advancing from Pre-Qualifying last week was Sahuaro and UA grad Tyler Neal, whose third-round 68 in San Antonio allowed him to tie for 18th in a field of 72 golfers. Salpointe grad Sara Brown survived the LPGA Qualifying School sectional, shooting a final-day 72 to tie for 29th in a field of 30 qualifiers for the LPGA's final Q-School event in December. Sara's brother, La Paloma assistant pro Josh Brown, enters Q-School this week in Southern California.

Return to alma mater

Ex-Sahuaro standout back at Northwestern

Because Sahuaro grad Courtnay Foster played college softball so far from home, in Evanston, Ill., and not for the Arizona Wildcats, her career achievements sometimes are obscured in this softball-crazy city.

A three-time All-Big Ten pitcher, Foster won 80 games, had a career ERA of 1.49 and led Northwestern to the 2006 Women's College World Series. She then played professionally in Italy before returning to Tucson last year as the lead softball instructor at the Yard East training center.

Foster returned to Northwestern last month as a full-time pitching coach at her alma mater.

"Courtnay has been a catalyst in the winning culture associated with our program," said Northwestern coach Kate Drohan.

Foster has come a long way; in her high school pitching debut at Sahuaro, in 2000, she pitched a no-hitter, striking out 16 Catalina Foothills batters. A year later, she pitched a shutout as Sahuaro won the state championship.

SHORT STUFF

Local HR crossovers in majors rare indeed

CDO grad Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers hit a home run off Marana High grad Ryan Perry last Tuesday. Perry, in his second year with the Detroit Tigers, yielded a home run to ex-CDO first baseman Chris Duncan of St. Louis in 2009. So what? Of the 39 high school players from the greater Tucson area to reach the big leagues, Kinsler and Duncan are the only two to hit homers off Tucson pitchers. There have been only a few Tucson-UA home run crossovers: Rincon's Tom Pagnozzi hit a homer off ex-UA pitcher Kevin Blankenship, Sabino's J. J. Hardy has homered off ex-UA star Trevor Hoffman, and Salpointe's Mark Carreon went deep against ex-UA and Nogales pitcher Gil Heredia. The Baseball-reference.com website has all the historic numbers. It is remarkable. … Former UA golf All-American Ricky Barnes, No. 41 on the PGA Tour money list with $1,793,942, was married Saturday in Lake Tahoe. He married pro beach volleyball player Suzanne Stonebarger, who grew up four blocks away from Ricky in Stockton, Calif. They didn't meet, however, until 2008, at a beach volleyball event. … Tucsonan Glen Griffith, who operates the Tucson Golf Schools academy, won the Montana Open last week in Missoula. It was old-home week for Griffith, who graduated from the University of Montana in 1992. Griffith shot 68-67-68 to earn $5,000. He had been runner-up in the Montana Open five times. … Golfweek magazine selected Cienega High grad Sun Park as one of the top 10 freshmen in women's college golf. Park began her college career Saturday for Yale.

Early forecast has Cats No. 2 in Pac-10 hoops

The college basketball magazines have arrived at the newsstands. Athlon predicts Sean Miller's team will finish No. 2 in the Pac-10 and that Arizona sophomore Derrick Williams will be a third-team All-American, and, I suppose, the Pac-10 Player of the Year inasmuch as no other Pac-10 player is listed as an All-American. According to Athlon's rankings, Arizona will play No. 4 Kansas, No. 20 BYU and No. 23 Washington this season, which, if the rankings are true, would be the mildest schedule at Arizona for 25 years. … UA Icecats coach Leo Golembiewski is not always able to get ice time at the Tucson Convention Center and therefore has been forced to bus his team to a facility in Chandler for on-ice practices. That's disturbing but almost predictable in the sense that Tucson hasn't properly accommodated so many athletic enterprises, from spring training to USA Baseball and beyond. The Icecats open at ASU on Sept. 30. Golembiewski has another freshman from a famous sports family this year: Steve Sisler is the great-grandson of Hall of Fame baseball player George Sisler. Last year's famous-family freshman was Brady Lefferts, son of former UA and major-league lefty Craig Lefferts. … Don't expect tight end Fendi Onobunto pump up a fantasy football team this year. The St. Louis Rams made the former UA basketball player inactive for last week's opener against Arizona. He is likely to spend the entire season as a fourth-string tight end learning how to play the game in practice. … CDO grad Shelley Duncan of the Cleveland Indians hit two home runs against the Angels last week; one of them landed in the left-field souvenir shop at Progressive Field. That gives Duncan 18 in his major-league career. He hit 176 in the minor leagues and a school-record 55 at the UA. He turns 31 next week and will be a free agent next month.

Cats recruit will not be hurt by idle year

Texas prep quarterback Daxx Garman, who is forbidden to play his senior year at Southlake Carroll because of a transfer-residency mess, remains, on paper, Arizona's quarterback of the future. Let's say 2012 or 2013. His career won't be crushed by the inability to play in 10 or 12 high school games this year. He'll attend the high-profile QB camps in the off-season and have 2011 to redshirt at Arizona. Remember this: former UA quarterback standout Keith Smith did not play or practice football from December 1993 until he arrived at Camp Cochise in August of 1995. Smith initially played minor-league baseball after his high school days. It didn't limit his football development. … ASU athletic director Lisa Love is giving baseball coach Tim Esmay a raise to $175,000 for the 2011 season. That's above market price and puzzling for an athletic department in financial peril. Esmay has been an interim head coach for one year. Arizona pays Andy Lopez $125,000 per year, and he has won a national title and taken 16 teams to the NCAA playoffs. … Lopez recently got a recruiting commitment from coveted 6-foot-4-inch left-hander Tyler Crawford of Peoria Sunrise Mountain. Part of the appeal was that Crawford's uncle, Menno Wickey, was a UA team captain in 1994. To get Crawford, Arizona had to beat Utah, which is now recruiting Pac-10 level players for the first time. Utah's pitching coach is Mike Crawford, a former Salpointe and UA pitcher and assistant coach at Cochise College. The Crawfords are not related.

MY TWO CENTS

CDO-Scottsdale Saguaro matchup set for local TV

CDO's football winning streak has reached 18 games. How good is that? It is tied for sixth in Tucson history.

Here are the leaders: Tucson High School (32) 1942-46; Sunnyside (25) 2001-02; Sunnyside (23) 2003-04 and Sabino (23) 1989-90; and Tucson (19) 1951-53.

Dusty Peace's Dorados are heavy favorites to make it No. 19 against Nogales this week. Then comes the most significant game of the regular season: an Oct. 1 showdown at Scottsdale Saguaro, a perennial juggernaut that has won its three games this season by a combined 162-31. Saguaro had a 36-game winning streak stopped a year ago by Jay Campos' Sabino team.

Fortunately, you won't have to drive to Scottsdale to see the CDO-Saguaro showdown. The AIA has arranged to broadcast the game live on Cox Cable (Channel 7). Book a seat on your sofa now.