Scott closing in on world championship
Sioux Cityan in Final Four of long drive contest
By Barry Poebpoe@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Rick Scott needs to outdrive only two more challengers to win the Grand Champion division of the 2008 RE/MAX national long driving championship.
Scott, a 62-year-old Sioux Cityan competing in his sixth national championship, unleashed a 363-yard poke on Monday in Mesquite, Nev., to reach the final four in his division, which includes competitors 61 and older. That followed swats of 338, 325, 339 and 349.
The 363-yard clout, by the way, is still shy of his all-time best of 392 yards.
Scott's opponent tonight in one semifinal is none other than Rick Barry, an NBA Hall of Famer and the defending Grand National champion. Scott, though, is one of two unbeatens in his division, along with four-time national champion Fred Hooter, an Alabama resident.
The winners in matches between Scott and Barry, as well as Hooter and John Joseph, will square off for the championship and a $15,000 payday.
"I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to be here for a sixth year and now I'll get to have a seventh," said Scott, who finished fifth in last year's national event. "I'm one of four guys left who have a chance to win this. I feel pretty good about my chances, because I'm healthy and I've been hitting it pretty well."
The RE/MAX Long Drive World Championship consists of five divisions -- Grand Champion, Super Seniors (52-60), Seniors (42-52), Open (41-under) and Women.
ESPN will air the competition 10 times, the first on Christmas Eve. Scott, since he reached the final four, will be shown on television and has received an automatic exemption into next year's event.
Scott, a longtime fixture on the Sioux City slow-pitch softball scene, would like a shot at the 65-year-old Hooter, a long drive Hall of Famer.
"I remember hitting against him before and he went 362 yards and I beat him, but my shot rolled out of bounds," said Scott a Sioux City construction worker. "He knows if I nail one, I can get him."
First, however, Scott must focus on the 6-foot-7-inch Barry, a former ABA and NBA star who led the Golden State Warriors to the 1975 NBA world championship. Barry's winning drive last year sailed 371 yards.
Scott, a 62-year-old Sioux Cityan competing in his sixth national championship, unleashed a 363-yard poke on Monday in Mesquite, Nev., to reach the final four in his division, which includes competitors 61 and older. That followed swats of 338, 325, 339 and 349.
The 363-yard clout, by the way, is still shy of his all-time best of 392 yards.
Scott's opponent tonight in one semifinal is none other than Rick Barry, an NBA Hall of Famer and the defending Grand National champion. Scott, though, is one of two unbeatens in his division, along with four-time national champion Fred Hooter, an Alabama resident.
The winners in matches between Scott and Barry, as well as Hooter and John Joseph, will square off for the championship and a $15,000 payday.
"I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to be here for a sixth year and now I'll get to have a seventh," said Scott, who finished fifth in last year's national event. "I'm one of four guys left who have a chance to win this. I feel pretty good about my chances, because I'm healthy and I've been hitting it pretty well."
The RE/MAX Long Drive World Championship consists of five divisions -- Grand Champion, Super Seniors (52-60), Seniors (42-52), Open (41-under) and Women.
ESPN will air the competition 10 times, the first on Christmas Eve. Scott, since he reached the final four, will be shown on television and has received an automatic exemption into next year's event.
Scott, a longtime fixture on the Sioux City slow-pitch softball scene, would like a shot at the 65-year-old Hooter, a long drive Hall of Famer.
"I remember hitting against him before and he went 362 yards and I beat him, but my shot rolled out of bounds," said Scott a Sioux City construction worker. "He knows if I nail one, I can get him."
First, however, Scott must focus on the 6-foot-7-inch Barry, a former ABA and NBA star who led the Golden State Warriors to the 1975 NBA world championship. Barry's winning drive last year sailed 371 yards.
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