May 24 Report: 1971 Masters Winner Charles Coody, 1958 PGA Championship Winner Dow Finsterwald and Solheim Cup Player Becky Iverson

Three subset collections I began this year are slowly rounding into form.

Certainly those who regularly read this blog know I have been focusing a lot on golf lately. And amongst the thousands of individuals who have ever teed it up professionally, only a small percentage ever win a major championship or play for their country in either the Ryder Cup (men) or Solheim Cup (women).

The reason I chose to start a collection of American women who have competed in the Solheim Cup was twofold. First it is a heck of an accomplishment, and secondly it is the only subset among golf's 'major' accomplishments in which every player is still alive.

I've added Becky Iverson (2000) to the Solheim Cup collection today. I'll wait until the halfway point of the year to provide tallies on my subset quests, but suffice it to say I'm had pretty good success with the Solheim Cuppers.

The other subsets I received additions to today are from major championship winners.

First is 1971 Masters Tournament winner Charles Coody. Coody is among the 30 living Masters Tournament champions I'm hoping to collect on 5x7 photos of the Masters trophy. I know it's a longshot of ever getting Tiger Woods to sign, but if I can get all others I'll be incredibly pleased.

The other major championship winner I received today was Dow Finsterwald. Finsterwald won the first-ever PGA Championship in the stroke-play era.

You may recall Finsterwald signed for me earlier this year but the autographed photos were smeared so badly one could barely make out that they were signed. I explained this to Finsterwald and he kindly signed for me a second time.

Day of the Year: 144
Number of Autographs This Year: 191

May 17 Report: Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King, Solheim Cup star Danielle Ammaccapane and PGA Tour star Dudley Hart

Always great to add a Hall of Famer to the collection, and today is that of golfer Betsy King.

King was an elite player on the LPGA Tour in the 1980s and 1990s and continued to win into the 2000s.

Her rise to Hall of Famer was a long one, going seven seasons before her first Tour win. But once that first one came, it was impossible to hold back the rush. She won 30 times in 11 years and became the first LPGA player to cross $5 million in career earnings.

In all she won 34 times on the LPGA, including six major championships.

King, who today is actively involved in mission work and charitable efforts, signed a Solheim Cup photo for the collection of every American Solheim Cup player I am putting together.

My Solheim Cup project actually gets two additions today, as Danielle Ammaccapane also returned a 5x7, custom-made Solheim Cup photo.

Ammaccapane, who has won seven times to date on the LPGA, was a member of the 1992 U.S. team.

And to round out the hat trick of golf successes today is Dudley Hart. Hart, who has twice won on the PGA Tour, added a great inscription, too. Hart was a four-time All-American at the University of Florida and was gracious enough to add "Go Gators" to the card.

Day of the Year: 137
Number of Autographs This Year: 185

May 14 Report: LPGA Superstar Paula Creamer

Major milestone accomplished today.

Not only did I add the signature of one of the top players on the LPGA to my Solheim Cup collection, it also put me at the halfway point in this project.

Paula Creamer, who has won eight times on the LPGA to date, has also competed on three Solheim Cup teams in her young career. The Pink Panther's signature is the 182nd different one of the year for me, and it puts me squarely at the midway point of my quest to add 365 autographs to my collection this year.

Thank you Paula and here's to hoping the second half of 2010 is as productive as the first half.

Day of the Year: 134
Number of Autographs This Year: 182

May 8 Report: Two-Time Masters Winner and Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer; Solheim Cup Player Brittany Lincicome

As I typically like to do, I'll begin with the Hall of Famer.

Bernhard Langer is definitely that. Not only is he in the golf hall, he'd also be in the great guy HOF if there were such a thing.

I've had the opportunity to be around and meet Langer on several occasions and he's never disappointed his fans. Definitely a role model for today's young people.

On the golf course Langer accomplished 80 worldwide wins and was the first-ever player to be ranked No. 1 in the world when the rankings debuted in 1986. Among his most notable wins are his two Masters Tournament titles.

It is those two titles I was seeking autographs to represent, and Langer accommodated both. I'm just picturing one here, but he signed two prints of the Masters trophy and inscribed each one with the year he won.

I also received another signature for my Solheim Cup collection today. This is the first one from a current player, that of Brittany Lincicome.

Lincicome has won three LPGA events in her short career to date, including a major championship in 2009 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

She has competed for the U.S on the 2007 and 2009 Solheim Cup squads. The U.S. won both competitions.

Day of the Year: 128
Number of Autographs This Year: 177

April 26 Report: Solheim Cup Player Cathy Gerring, Minnesota Vikings Receiver Sammie White and Heisman Trophy Winner Charlie Ward

Cathy Gerring was an All-American at Ohio State before turning pro and joining the LPGA Tour.

She won three times on Tour before her career was tragically cut short by a freak accident at at the 1992 Sara Lee Classic.

Gerring was severely burned in a hospitality tent fire. While her career essentially ended then she was not robbed of the opportunity to play for her country in the inaugural Solheim Cup in 1990.

Mrs. Gerring was kind enough to not only sign the photo but also inscribe it with the year in which she played.

The other two successes today come from the football. It is not often I ask for autographs of Florida State players, but it is hard not to appreciate someone of Charlie Ward's character.

Ward won the Heisman Trophy while at Florida State and he went on to a successful basketball career with the New York Knicks. Today he is making a difference int he lives of young people at a high school in Texas.

Ward was among the very first requests I sent out in late 2009 for this project. To date he is the longest wait for a return at 121 days.

Lastly is former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sammie White. He is from the era of my childhood -- the 1970s -- that was so impressioned by football.

White had a fine career in Minnesota, catching 393 passes for 6,400 yards. He accounted for 50 touchdowns as well.

White not only signed the football card, but he also added the designation I discussed in my letter to him. He inscribed ROY 1976 to commemorate his being selected the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1976.

Nice touch too in that he signs with purple pen. Perfect for a Viking!!


Day of the Year: 116
Number of Autographs This Year: 167

April 22 Report: Olympian Bruce Jenner and LPGA Solheim Cup Player Tammie Green

First up today is a repeat of sorts as I've previously been fortunate enough to have Bruce Jenner sign for me.

Not long after he did that I learned that he was a golf nut and even played in the Pebble Beach event on the PGA Tour earlier this year.

All that added up to a perfect match to ask him if he would sign a Pebble Beach Golf Links logo ball I had gotten from the course years ago. He was gracious enough to sign again so I'm thrilled to add this to my "celebrity" golf ball collection.

My second success today is another add to my American Solheim Cup collection. Tammie Green was a seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour, including a major championship in the 1989 du Maurier.

Green -- who autographed the photo in green Sharpie -- played on two Solheim Cup teams, in 1994 and 1998.


Day of the Year: 112
Number of Autographs This Year: 160

April 10 Report: Heather Bowie

Today is the 100th day of this project where I am attempting to collect 365 different autographs throughout the course of the year.

Thankfully the 100th day has a success to report, too!

Amongst the different golf subset autographs I am collecting is every American player to have competed on at least one Solheim Cup team. The competition began in 1990, so I actually have a chance ot get everyone who ever played as they are all living (as opposed to the majors which are much older and have many deceased champions).

Heather Bowie signed this Solheim Cup trophy card and even added the inscription for the year in which she played. What a great bonus!

Day of the Year: 100
Number of Autographs This Year: 145

April 8 Report: Pat Bradley, J.C. Snead, Craig Perks, Scott Studwell and Sammy Winder

A fruitful day to write about this evening on the blog. Five successes in all, three from golf and a pair from football.

Gotta start with the Hall of Famer in the bunch, one Pat Bradley. One of the subsets in my autograph collection is going to be to try to get every American player who has competed in a Solheim Cup competition.

That subset's first member is Bradley, who played in three Solheim Cups -- the first in 1990, then again in 1992 and 1996.

Long before she was a Solheim Cup player in the 1990s, Bradley was one of the LPGA's top stars in the 1980s. Eighteen of her 31 LPGA Tour victories came during that decade, including all six of her major championship titles.

Bradley, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1991, was the third woman player in LPGA history to win the Career Grand Slam (Mickey Wright and Lousie Suggs preceded her).

Staying not only with the golf theme, but also with the United States team competition, is an autograph from J.C. Snead.

Snead joined the PGA Tour in 1968 and won eight times in the 1970s and 1980s. His senior career also saw him win four times on the Champions Tour, including a senior major at the 1995 Ford Senior Players Championship.

Snead, the nephew of legendary Sam Snead, also played on three Ryder Cup teams for the United States. I made a custom 4x6 print of a photo I took of the Ryder Cup.

The last golf success for today comes from Craig Perks. Perks, a New Zealander, won his lone PGA Tour title at the 2002 Players Championship. His game went into a steep decline following that landmark victory and he retired in 2007.

What Perks' golf career lacked in quantity, he certainly made up for in drama. I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at the 2002 Players Championship when Perks won over the Stadium Course at the TPC sawgrass.

Arguably the 16th, 17th and 18th holes over that Pete Dye layout are the toughest closing holes in golf. All Perks did to win was chip in for eagle in 16, drain a 28-foot birdie on 17 and then chip-in for a par save at 18. Incredible drama!!!

Perks signed my patron badge from the event he won.

Today's first football succes comes from former NFL running back Sammy Winder. Winder played each of his nine years (1982-90) for the Denver Broncos.

Winder was named to two Pro Bowls in his career (1984 and 1986). His career numbers are 5,427 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns. He also had 197 receptions for 1,302 yards and nine touchdowns.

Winder, who was born in Madison, Mississippi, had a trademark touchdown celebration called the 'Mississippi Mud Walk'.

Lastly today I received a pair of signed cards from Scott Studwell.

Studwell, a University of Illinois alum, was drafted in the ninth round of the 1977 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He had a 14-year career over which he was selected to a pair of Pro Bowls.

Another testament to his longevity is that he is the only Viking to have played with both Jim Marshall (1961-1979) & John Randle (1990-2000).

Studwell had nine sacks and 11 interceptions in his career.

Day of the Year: 98
Number of Autographs This Year: 142

March 6 Report: Annika Sorenstam

Annika Sorenstam was signing autographs last Saturday during an appearance at The Villages.

She appeared at both the Callaway booth and the World Golf Hall of Fame booth. Sorenstam is one of the greatest female golfers of all-time and likely the best the current generation will have ever seen play in person.

Simply a must-have for my golf collection.

Day of the Year: 65
Number of Autographs This Year: 106

January 26 Report: Natalie Gulbis

Even driving up to my house today I thought the mailbox looked better than usual. As soon as I opened it and saw an envelope postmarked in Nevada I knew exactly why it looked so great -- Natalie Gulbis was waiting in my mailbox (or at least autographed pictures of her).

This LPGA star and Solheim Cup champion signed a stunner of a picture for me. I'm pretty sure this one will find a way into a frame and a spot on my wall. She's truly beautiful and talented.

Golf definitely has the most genuine players of any sport.

Day of the Year: 26
Number of Autographs This Year: 44