The women of Big Break III spent last week being wined, dined, and flown, boated, and trucked across the country, from Orlando, FL to Williamsburg, VA.
In this week’s show, the glitz and glamour came to an end: someone was going home.
Last season, the Mulligan Challenge was introduced: the winner of the challenge received a mulligan for use in the Elimination Challenge. This season things have been mixed up a little bit. Players first compete for mulligans to be used in the Skills Challenge, the winner of which sits out the third and final challenge of the episode, the Elimination Challenge.
Very few of the women slept, and “Barbie” (the blonde Californian bimbo Danielle) was up at 4am blow-drying her hair. Over breakfast, the chef talked a little smack, asking the ladies if they could take either of Anheuser-Busch’s pros, Lorie Kane or Kellie Kuehne. The contestants were cautiously optimistic.
Little did they know they’d be forced to put up or shut up: the Mulligan Challenge pitted the gals against Kellie Kuehne and Lorie Kane on shots from 97 and 84 yards. Kuehne hit the 97-yard shot to 26 feet, and any shot inside that was awarded a three-foot bonus. Good shots were hit by Jan, Pam, and Deb, who put her ball to a few feet. Deb, Tasha, Danielle, Felicia, and Valeria hit fairly bad shots, a few even failing to hit the green.
Next, Lorie Kane hit from 84 yards and put her ball to about six feet. Of the few who had a chance, Liz and Jan hit solid shots and advanced to a putt-off to determine the winner. Kuehne showed them the line on the six footer, and Jan missed, Liz missed, and Jan missed again before Liz finally put home the winner to earn a mulligan.
The ladies of the Big Break III (L to R): Cindy Miller, Pamela Crikelair, Valeria Ochoa, Debbie Dahmer, Danielle Amiee, Liz Uthoff, Felicia Brown, Sarah Sasse, Tasha Browner, and Jan Dowling.
The Skills Challenge asked the players to hit a 100-yard shot from each side of a knob, putting the ball below and then above their feet. Felicia flew her shots 45 and 75 feet beyond the pins for an astoundingly bad total of 120 feet. Valeria didn’t do much better at 86 feet, nor did Liz (with her mulligan) or Pam. The other six ladies kept their shots to within 30 feet total, but Cindy Miller’s total of 13’7″ netted her a victory and saved her from elimination.
The nine remaining ladies move on to the Elimination Challenge. A bullseye with rings marked 10, 7, 4, 2, and 1 was draw around a pin, and players were asked to hit a 25-yard chip, a short bunker shot, and a flop shot. The gal with the least amount of points would find herself packing it up.
Deb earned 10 points on her chip but failed to earn any out of the bunker. Felicia earned herself a solid 7 on the chip, but barely earned a point out of the bunker. Sarah and Jan caught up following poor chips which earned them each two points, earning 10 and 7 respectively. After the chip and sand shots, several ladies found themselves facing elimination:
Player Chip Sand Total ------ ---- ---- ----- Sarah 2 10 12 Deb 10 0 10 Jan 2 7 9 Felicia 7 1 8 Pam 4 2 6 Valeria 4 1 5 Danielle 4 1 5 Tasha 2 2 4 Liz 1 1 2
Several of the front-runners hit good shots: Sarah earned two points to secure she’d move on, Deb four, Jan a stellar 10, Felicia 2 before Pam threw the door open by earning a single point. Valeria stuck her lob and secured a spot with a 10, and Danielle did the same with a 4-point lob. It came down to Tasha with four points and Liz with only two.
The outcome was anticlimactic at best: Tasha failed to live up to the pressure and bladed her lob well over the green. Liz, the door wide open and needing only two points to tie, hit a solid shot, earned her four points, and sent Tasha Browner packing.
The Big Break III airs Tuesday at 9pm ET on The Golf Channel.
Just wanted to say, I am very glad Danielle won the event….There was a lot of bad blood between “Barbie” and the other women (I don’t feel comfortable calling them ladies, based on their attitudes)…Danielle certainly looked good in her outfits…It was very easy to see why the others did not like her…This sort of jealousy is evident every day in real life….None of us are perfect, and I am sure Danielle has her share of faults, but the way she was treated was almost despicable….She could eat chocolate chip cookies in my bed ANYTIME…
Simply because Tasha was the first to be sent home does not mean she can’t handle the heat. There is pressure to perform in other events….like her Los Angeles Women’s Open title. Heat does not just apply on a T.V. show.
Tasha being sent home in this case is indicative of the fact that against the other players, and on that given day, she couldn’t perform as well as the other contestants.
In the heat of the moment Tasha’s game did not hold up. It’s that simple.
Even top professionals on the tour have days like this.