Weird and crazy happenings continue to haunt those who play professional golf.

The latest such mishap befell Kelly Kraft in last week’s RBC Heritage Championship at Harbour Town Golf Club on Hilton Head Island. This one guaranteed that Kraft will never been the same whenever a Friday the 13th rolls around.

Kraft was in good shape to make a sixth consecutive cut when his tee shot on the par-3, 14th (his fifth of the day), struck a large black bird and dropped into the water hazard fronting the green. After being denied relief from a rules official, Kraft took a double-bogey 5 and went on to miss the cut by a shot.

The bird, meanwhile, survived the collision and flew away.

“It cost me the cut most likely,” said Kraft. “There was a helping wind. I hit a 7 iron and caught it perfect. It was probably 30 yards off the tee box when a giant black bird swooped in front of it and hit it and the ball fell 20 yards short. It would have been in the middle of the green. It might have been close.

“I got screwed.”

With Kraft and his playing partners unsure whether he could replay the shot, as is the case when a power line is struck, PGA Tour rules official Dillard Pruitt delivered bad news.

“The big difference is a bird is a God-made object whereas a telephone wire is a man-made,” said Pruitt, in ruling Kraft was indeed screwed. “It is just a stroke of bad luck. It doesn’t happen often but today is Friday the 13th. Freaky Friday.”

As if missing the cut wasn’t bad enough, Kelly had to suffer the indignity of having the ball spiked on him by PETA senior vice president Lisa Lang.

“PETA is glad the bird is okay and sorry Kelly Kraft didn’t advance, but that is not the bird’s fault,” said Lang. “Of course, he would have advanced if he’d played better on other holes. So practice, practice, practice.”

One can only imagine the locker-room grief Kraft is likely to absorb from fellow pros over those comments.

CHIP SHOTS

Jerry Honza has hit another home run in regard to his speaker for what will be the eighth annual Babe Didrikson Zaharias Junior Golf Awards.

A year after bringing in former Port Arthur golf great Marty Fleckman, Honza has landed Hal Sutton.

Sutton won 14 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1983 PGA Championship, and outdueled Tiger Woods in the memorable 2000 Players Championship. The Shreveport native’s credits also include playing in the Ryder Cup and winning the 2007 Payne Stewart award to charitable work off the course.

The awards dinner is set for May 24 at the Montagne Center. Finalists will be announced Monday, April 23. …

Andrew Landry and Chris Stroud are both playing in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, after mixed results in last week’s RBC Heritage at Hilton Head.

Landry, though he snapped a string of four consecutive missed cuts, probably walked away disappointed after finishing tied for 42nd and collecting $22,148. He was T12 through 54 holes, after rounds of 69-68-69, but a closing 75 dropped him 30 spots down the leaderboard.

Stroud missed his second straight cut on rounds of 73-71. …

PNG ex Braden Bailey returned to his top 10 ways for Baylor in the Arizona State Invitational last weekend. Bailey shot rounds of 66-71-71 for a 54-hole total of five-under-par 208.

That was good for a tie for 8th place, which marked his 16th career top-10 at Baylor. Only six players in school history have more. The 11th-ranked Bears finished tied for sixth in the tourney, which was their final tuneup for the April 23-25
Big 12 championships being played the home course of No. 1 Oklahoma State. …

Nederland ex Felicia Sauceda and PNG ex Karlei Hemler were paired together in the second round of the Southland Conference Women’s Championship at Woodforest Golf Club in Montgomery. The day went much better for Sauceda, an
LU senior, that it did for Hemler, a freshman at McNeese State.

Sauceda rebounded from a first-round 81 with a 76 that matched Elodie Chapelet for the Cardinals; low round of the day. Her 36-hole score of 157 is tied for 19th in a field of 40 players. Lamar moved up from sixth to fourth in the team standings but, at 52-over-par, is 23 shots behind front-running HBU.

Hemler struggled for the second consecutive day, posting an 83 after an 81 on Monday. She is tied for 35th at 164. McNeese is sixth at plus 66.

The final 18 holes will be played today. …

The team of Benny Sharpe, Ronnie LaSalle, Raymond Darbonne and Dwayne Benoit pulled off a sweep in the Monday Senior 50 Plus game at Babe Zaharias. They shot 3 under on the front and 2 under on the back. …

In the Friday Senior 2 ball at Zaharias, the team of Cap Hollier, James Shipley, Craig Castille and Gene Hardy tied the front at plus 1 with the foursome of Sharpe, Tom LeTourneau, Dillard Darbonne and Benoit.

On the back there was a three-way tie at even between the Hollier team, the foursome of Brad Royer, Tony Trevino, Dan Flood and John Vellion and the team of Randy Monk, Lee Bertrand, Raymond Darbonne and Wes McGuire. …

Format for the Thursday Senior Game at Zaharias was individual stroke play with handicap. Russ Gloede’s 66 edged Craig Geoffroy by a stroke in First Flight, while Bim Morrow posted 64 to clip Larry Reece by two strokes in Second Flight. Larry Johnson and Robert Lynch tied in Third Flight with 68s.

Closest to the pin winners were Gloede (No. 2), Geoffroy (No. 7) and Flood (No.12). …

There was a tie for first in the Wednesday Zaharias DogFight. The team of Rick Pritchett, Harrel Guidry, Keith Marshall and a ghost player accumulated 18 points, as did the foursome of Joe Gongora, LeTourneau, Hardy and Paul Brown.

Closest to the pin winners were Hollier (No. 2), Earl Richard (No. 7), LaSalle (No. 12) and Robert Stansbury (No. 15). …

Spots remain available for Saturday’s Estelle and Allen Fetters Center scramble at Babe Zaharias hosted by the Groves Knights of Columbus. Entry fee for a four-person team is $240, with the cost for individual players $60.

To enter, call Leroy Falcon at 962-5047 or 960-2475 or Mike Melancon at 962-4755 or 289-1781. Play begins with an 8 a.m shotgun.

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