Speed Golf World Championship Today At Bandon Dunes

Don't blink or you could miss the Speed Golf World Championship today and tomorrow at Bandon Dunes. It's an event after my own heart: The winner is the golfer who takes the fewest total strokes plus the total minutes and seconds it takes the player to complete his or her round.

The Speedgolf world record for a single round is 109.06 (he shot a 65 in 44:06), set by Christopher Smith, Portland, Ore., at the 2005 Chicago Speedgolf Classic. Smith is also in this year’s field.  A sub-45-minute round is my idea of the perfect pace of play.

The event will be webcast live at 8 AM PDT today and tomorrow. You can watch the coverage at http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/blog/2013-speedgolf.

The field has several marquee competitors, including two Olympic track and field athletes. Nick Willis, New Zealand, won the silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Bernard Lagat, Tucson, Ariz., won the 2007 world championship in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters.

Defending Speedgolf world champion Christopher Walker, Woodlands, Tex., returns to defend his title. The former Notre Dame golf team captain is pursuing a professional golf career through the mini-tour circuit. At last year’s world championship Walker shot 77 in 53:29 in Round 1, and 76 in 56:59 in Round 2 for a two-day total of 263.28.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf