Latest news with #Saxton
The National
2 days ago
- Sport
- The National
To play for the sake of playing in changing amateur scene
What a prospect. An additional five years of grumbling, cursing, muttering futility? Joie de bloomin' vivre, eh? This fascinating, flummoxing game, of course, remains a constant work in progress so perhaps a few more seasons spent clattering and thrashing away will finally lead to some sort of modest improvement? I very much doubt it. Despite being mired in this seemingly perpetual state of ineptitude, rarely does a week go by without me actually learning something new about my own golf. That means I was ignorant of about four things over the past month. Extend that process back over, say, 30 years, and that's a mightily impressive accumulation of complete and utter ignorance. They do say, of course, that ignorance is bliss. Well, that's what my playing partners sympathetically inform me after they've watched one of my tee-shots and chorus, 'where the hell did that go?' Anyway, we're rambling here. Which is not unusual in this column. Wandering through the grounds of Hampden Park the other day – nurse, I've gone from rambling to aimlessly wandering - I gave a passing nod to the old motto of Queen's Park fitba club, Ludere Causa Ludendi. 'Is that not the combative Italian midfielder Rangers have had their eye on?,' chirped the sports editor. Those of you who are well-versed in Latin will know that it means, 'to play for the sake of playing'. This maxim reflected the club's long-standing commitment to amateurism and the Corinthian ideal. Of course, the Spiders are a professional outfit now so that's gone out of the window. Rather like their finances. In the upper echelons of the amateur scene in golf, meanwhile, I was reminded of the changing face of the unpaid game recently when doing some work at the Women's Amateur Championship in Nairn. In an international field, which started with a line-up of 144 players and was whittled down to two finalists over the course of six days, the oldest player was Scotland's Jennifer Saxton. She was, wait for it, a venerable 28. If Saxton was considered the veteran in the draw, then it made this increasingly decrepit correspondent feel as ancient as the standing stones of Callanish. In an event packed, by and large, with full-time players who will, no doubt, have ambitions of turning professional, Saxton stood as a monument to the increasingly rare breed that is the career amateur. 'We all joke about it, but I sit at my desk every day at work then try to come out and compete with these young guns,' said Saxton, who can certainly still cut it at the top-level and proved it with victory in the prestigious St Rule Trophy a couple of seasons ago. To play for the sake of playing and all that. Back in 1981, the celebrated, decorated Belle Robertson won the Women's Amateur Championship title at the age of 45. A feat like that at such a vintage is unlikely to ever be repeated. Those, of course, were different golfing times. These days, the career amateur is something that's almost as charmingly antiquated as a thatched roof, as players hurtle off into the professional game on a rapidly birling conveyor belt. Saxton, a marketing manager with golf technology firm, Shot Scope, is well aware that she's in the minority. 'I wish more people would do the same,' she said of juggling the nine-to-five with the competitive cut-and-thrust. 'It would be good for the game if people were working in golf and trying to compete as well. 'My golf started getting better when I worked. Golf is a breakaway from that. I learned how to score without putting in the hours of practice.' The proof remains in the pudding. Yesterday, Saxton was named in the Scotland side again as she retained her place for the forthcoming European Women's Amateur Team Championship. She will be joined in that squad by Hannah Darling, the highly talented 21-year-old who is poised for her amateur swansong before making the pro plunge later in the season. Darling, who helped GB&I win the Vagliano Trophy for the first time in 20 years at the weekend, has stockpiled a vast haul of national and international silverware since bursting onto the scene and landing the Scottish Girls' Amateur Championship at the age of just 13. Amateur accomplishments and accolades, of course, do not guarantee professional prosperity. But nothing does in this predictably unpredictable pursuit of complex demands. Paul Lawrie, for instance, had very little amateur pedigree but, through drive, discipline, talent and that special undefined something that you can't bottle, became a major champion, multiple tour winner and Ryder Cup player. Others, eagerly championed and tipped for great things after glory-laden stints in the amateur ranks, disappeared off the face of the earth. There's no one-size-fits-all model for success and someone like Lawrie, as well as Scots like Catriona Mathew, Janice Moodie, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance, Sandy Lyle, Russell Knox, Martin Laird, Gemma Dryburgh or Robert MacIntyre, were and have been successful for very different reasons. Darling has ticked plenty of boxes along the way. Let's hope she ticks a few more when her inevitable move into the paid game arrives. Let's hope, too, that Saxton continues to thrive as a career amateur. And as for this correspondent? Well, let's hope that scientific research is right and I winkle out a few extra years on this earth, even if it merely prolongs the golfing incompetence. Ludere Causa Ludendi, indeed.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
To play for the sake of playing in changing amateur scene
This fascinating, flummoxing game, of course, remains a constant work in progress so perhaps a few more seasons spent clattering and thrashing away will finally lead to some sort of modest improvement? I very much doubt it. Despite being mired in this seemingly perpetual state of ineptitude, rarely does a week go by without me actually learning something new about my own golf. That means I was ignorant of about four things over the past month. Extend that process back over, say, 30 years, and that's a mightily impressive accumulation of complete and utter ignorance. They do say, of course, that ignorance is bliss. Well, that's what my playing partners sympathetically inform me after they've watched one of my tee-shots and chorus, 'where the hell did that go?' Anyway, we're rambling here. Which is not unusual in this column. Wandering through the grounds of Hampden Park the other day – nurse, I've gone from rambling to aimlessly wandering - I gave a passing nod to the old motto of Queen's Park fitba club, Ludere Causa Ludendi. 'Is that not the combative Italian midfielder Rangers have had their eye on?,' chirped the sports editor. Those of you who are well-versed in Latin will know that it means, 'to play for the sake of playing'. This maxim reflected the club's long-standing commitment to amateurism and the Corinthian ideal. Of course, the Spiders are a professional outfit now so that's gone out of the window. Rather like their finances. In the upper echelons of the amateur scene in golf, meanwhile, I was reminded of the changing face of the unpaid game recently when doing some work at the Women's Amateur Championship in Nairn. In an international field, which started with a line-up of 144 players and was whittled down to two finalists over the course of six days, the oldest player was Scotland's Jennifer Saxton. She was, wait for it, a venerable 28. If Saxton was considered the veteran in the draw, then it made this increasingly decrepit correspondent feel as ancient as the standing stones of Callanish. In an event packed, by and large, with full-time players who will, no doubt, have ambitions of turning professional, Saxton stood as a monument to the increasingly rare breed that is the career amateur. 'We all joke about it, but I sit at my desk every day at work then try to come out and compete with these young guns,' said Saxton, who can certainly still cut it at the top-level and proved it with victory in the prestigious St Rule Trophy a couple of seasons ago. To play for the sake of playing and all that. Back in 1981, the celebrated, decorated Belle Robertson won the Women's Amateur Championship title at the age of 45. A feat like that at such a vintage is unlikely to ever be repeated. Those, of course, were different golfing times. These days, the career amateur is something that's almost as charmingly antiquated as a thatched roof, as players hurtle off into the professional game on a rapidly birling conveyor belt. Saxton, a marketing manager with golf technology firm, Shot Scope, is well aware that she's in the minority. 'I wish more people would do the same,' she said of juggling the nine-to-five with the competitive cut-and-thrust. 'It would be good for the game if people were working in golf and trying to compete as well. 'My golf started getting better when I worked. Golf is a breakaway from that. I learned how to score without putting in the hours of practice.' The proof remains in the pudding. Yesterday, Saxton was named in the Scotland side again as she retained her place for the forthcoming European Women's Amateur Team Championship. She will be joined in that squad by Hannah Darling, the highly talented 21-year-old who is poised for her amateur swansong before making the pro plunge later in the season. Darling, who helped GB&I win the Vagliano Trophy for the first time in 20 years at the weekend, has stockpiled a vast haul of national and international silverware since bursting onto the scene and landing the Scottish Girls' Amateur Championship at the age of just 13. Amateur accomplishments and accolades, of course, do not guarantee professional prosperity. But nothing does in this predictably unpredictable pursuit of complex demands. Paul Lawrie, for instance, had very little amateur pedigree but, through drive, discipline, talent and that special undefined something that you can't bottle, became a major champion, multiple tour winner and Ryder Cup player. Others, eagerly championed and tipped for great things after glory-laden stints in the amateur ranks, disappeared off the face of the earth. There's no one-size-fits-all model for success and someone like Lawrie, as well as Scots like Catriona Mathew, Janice Moodie, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance, Sandy Lyle, Russell Knox, Martin Laird, Gemma Dryburgh or Robert MacIntyre, were and have been successful for very different reasons. Darling has ticked plenty of boxes along the way. Let's hope she ticks a few more when her inevitable move into the paid game arrives. Let's hope, too, that Saxton continues to thrive as a career amateur. And as for this correspondent? Well, let's hope that scientific research is right and I winkle out a few extra years on this earth, even if it merely prolongs the golfing incompetence. Ludere Causa Ludendi, indeed.
Chicago Tribune
20-06-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
New program at Anderson Humane in South Elgin lets you ‘try out' a pet before you adopt
A new program at the Anderson Humane animal shelter lets people take a potential pet for a 'test drive' before formally adopting them. Foster to Adopt is a win-win for all involved, said Dean Daubert, CEO of the South Elgin-based nonprofit. The pet gets to live with a family rather than in a cage at the shelter, the shelter has more space to take in another animal and the foster family has time to make sure the cat or dog is a good fit for them. The deal sweetener for those who are part of the program is they get first pick of the animals that come into the shelter, Daubert said. 'Many large organizations have foster-to-adopt programs,' he said. 'It's a great way for folks that want to try a dog or a cat in their home first. (They) aren't sure whether it's going to be a good fit (so they) get to try it out and fall in love with an animal. 'We've taken it a step further and have said, why don't we let folks know which animals are coming into the shelter and hopefully divert them from ever having to spend a night in the shelter.' The program started June 1, and so far they've had one animal placed in a home through the initiative. The goal is to get the word out to people who might be interested in adoption. They can take 'advantage of fostering and seeing if the animal is right for them before they adopt,' he said. Anderson posts photos of available animals on its website, and every animal gets a vet exam before being sent to a foster home, Daubert said. If someone ends up adopting a foster animal, Anderson covers the the cost of the initial set of required vaccines and spaying/neutering. Adoption fees range from $75 to $400, Daubert said. While the program is new, it's not unheard of for a foster family to adopt a pet to whom they initially thought they were giving a temporary home. 'They hadn't planned to adopt at first but they … fell in love with their (animal) during the foster period,' Daubert said. Bartlett couple Kim and Jim Saxton did just that, Kim Saxton said. They initially agreed to take in Jenny — now called Yennifer — between November 2023 to January 2024 so the dog didn't have to stay in the shelter over the holidays, she said. 'Our sons visited from Phoenix and Portland and met her at Christmas. Everyone loved her,' Saxton said. '(The dog) charmed everyone she met so we decided to adopt her in late January 2024.' What her family did can be seen as a prototype for the program Anderson has started, Saxton said. When someone lets a pet into their home, the animal has time to decompress and show its personality and the family gets to see if it fits into their day-to-day life, she said. 'It's so much better for the animal to be out of the noise of the shelter,' Saxton said. 'People looking for a way to help should consider fostering. It helps the animal and clears a space at the shelter for another animal to get saved.' Kelly Rakunas, of St. Charles, has been Anderson Humane's volunteer engagement coordinator for two years. Her family, which includes husband Eric and sons Charlie, Bryce and Mack, had fostered older dogs for several years before taking in a puppy last October, she said. One month later, they wound up adopting Wiggles. 'She turned out to be the missing piece to our family,' Rakunas said. Rakunas agreed with Saxton assessment — Foster to Adopt program is a great way to find out if pet ownership is for you and if one particular animal fits in with your family. 'It allows a pet to be away from a shelter and allows people to see if a pet is the right fit for them. It's a win-win situation,' Rakunas said. For more information on the Foster to Adopt program, go to or call 847-697-2880.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Who Is Sergeant Groomes in Duster Episode 1's Ending? Explained
Episode 1 of Max's new drama, , concludes with the revelation that Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway) is under surveillance by Sergeant Groomes. Jim has been a loyal driver for Phoenix crime boss Ezra Saxton. However, in a plot twist, he secretly becomes an FBI informant after being recruited by Nina Hayes, who is portrayed as the first Black female FBI agent in 1972. This double-agent arrangement sets the stage for the upcoming central conflict between Saxton and Ellis. Max's latest crime thriller, Duster, has set the expectations high with Episode 1, where Jim Ellis and Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) come together to make a case for local kingpin Ezra Saxton. The duo doesn't know that Saxton is keeping a watch on Jim using local Sergeant Groomes. At first glance, Jim's repertoire in his 'job' seemed paramount. Saxton's boss trusted him to carry an organ for his son, Royce Saxton. However, FBI agent Nina Hayes found a crack that could ultimately overturn Saxton's dominance in Phoenix. As the local crime lord, Saxton has committed several murders. Nina discovered that Jim's brother's death could also be Saxton's cruel play. When the FBI agent presents the surveillance footage to Jim, he does not believe Nina right away. Jim's loyalty shifts when Saxton 'jokes' about killing Bob Temple, an elderly man who fell victim to Saxton's elaborate blackmailing game. Jim signs on as an informant to prove that Saxton didn't kill his brother. Nina reveals her father died similarly, suggesting Saxton likely ordered Jim's brother's murder. In the ending scene of episode 1, fans discover that Saxton does not trust anyone. He has employed a local sergeant to keep track of Jim's activities. Sergeant Groomes witnesses Jim signing the contract with FBI agent Nina. As per the established DNA of the 70s crime shows, the main conflict of Duster will revolve around a charismatic Jim Ellis and the shrewd crime boss, Ezra Saxton (Keith David). As a bonus, fans get to enjoy the immersive world of New Mexico in the 1970s. After episode 1, fans took to social media to discuss the Lost actor Josh Holloway's return in Duster. A viewer gushed on Reddit, 'Duster hit all the beats it needed to, and that's an array of interesting characters on both sides of the law. The set design is great, the color palette is awesome, and the world is immersive.' Another fan posted on X (formerly Twitter), 'Josh Holloway is effortlessly charming.' The post Who Is Sergeant Groomes in Duster Episode 1's Ending? Explained appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
Los Angeles Times
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Los Angeles Times
Revving engines, thrills and drama drive ‘Duster' and ‘Motorheads'
After humans, and arguably before dogs and horses, there is no character more vital to the screen, and more vital onscreen, than the automobile. Driven or driverless, the car is the most animated of inanimate objects, sometimes literally a cartoon, with a voice, a personality, a name. Even when not speaking, they purr, they roar. They are stars in their own right — the Batmobile, the Munster Koach, James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, K.I.T.T. (the modified 1982 Pontiac Trans Am from 'Knight Rider'), the Ford Grand Torino (nicknamed the Striped Tomato) driven by Starsky and Hutch. They might represent freedom, power, delinquency or even the devil. Whole movies have been built about them and the amazing things they can do, but even when they aren't jumping and flipping and crashing, they play an essential role in helping flesh-and-blood characters take care of business. Perhaps in some sort of reaction to our enlightened view of the effects of our gas-guzzling ways, two new series fetishizing the internal combustion engine arrive, Max's 'Duster,' now streaming, and Prime Video's 'Motorheads,' premiering Tuesday. Created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan and named for the supernaturally shiny cherry-red Plymouth the hero drives, 'Duster' is stupid fun, a comic melodrama steeped in 1970s exploitation flicks, with a lot of loving homage to period clothes, knickknacks and interior design. The driver is Jim Ellis, played by Josh Holloway, in what reads like a turn on Sawyer, his charming, criminal character from Abrams' 'Lost,' topped with a shot of Matthew McConaughey. Jim, a man who has never bothered to make a three-point turn, works out of Phoenix for Southwest crime boss Ezra Saxton (Keith David, monumental as always), picking up this, delivering that. The first delivery we see turns out to be a human heart, picked up from a fast-food drive-through window, destined for Saxton's ailing son, Royce (Benjamin Charles Watson). Along for the ride is little Luna (Adriana Aluna Martinez), who calls Jim 'uncle,' though you are free to speculate; her mother, Izzy (Camille Guaty), is a big-rig trucker — trucking being another fun feature of '70s pop culture — who will find cause to become a labor leader. The Ellises and the Saxtons, also including daughter Genesis (Sydney Elisabeth), have history — Jim's father, Wade (Corbin Bernson), served with Ezra in World War II, and his late lamented brother had worked for him as well. Saxton is the sort of bad guy with whom you somehow sympathize in spite of the violence he employs; there's genuine affection among the families, though one is never sure when or where a line will be drawn, only that one probably will be. Into Jim's low-rent but relatively settled, even happy world comes FBI agent Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson, sparky), fresh out of Quantico and ambitious to make a mark. As a Black woman, she's told, 'No one's clamoring for an agent like you,' but she's been assigned to Phoenix 'because we have no other options.' She's partnered there with cheerful Navajo agent Awan (Asivak Koostachin), as if to corral the minorities into a manageable corner, and assigned the Saxton case, regarded as 'cursed' and so intractable as to be not worth touching. Which is to say, agents deemed not worth taking seriously — along with underestimated 'girl Friday' Jessica (Sofia Vassilieva) — have been thrown a case deemed not worth taking seriously. This is a classic premise for a procedural and strikes some notes about racism and sexism in the bargain, not out of tune with the times in which it's set, or the times in which we're watching. Nina, who has managed to gather evidence of Jim crossing state lines to deliver the heart, which was stolen, and that Saxton may have been responsible for his brother's death, bullies and tempts him into becoming a confidential informant. Thus begins an uneasy partnership, though their storylines run largely on separate tracks in separate scenes. 'Lost' was not a show that bothered much with sense in order to achieve its effects, and 'Duster,' though it involves a far-reaching conspiracy whose payoff plays like the end of a shaggy-dog story, is a show of effects, of set pieces and sequences, of car chases and fistfights, of left-field notions and characters. These include Patrick Warburton as an Elvis-obsessed mobster named Sunglasses; Donal Logue as a corrupt, perverse, evangelical policeman; Gail O'Grady as Jim's stepmother, a former showgirl who doesn't much like him; LSD experiments; absurd puzzles (also see: 'Lost'); an airheaded version of Adrienne Barbeau (Mikaela Hoover), with the actual Barbeau, a queen of genre films, making an appearance; Richard Nixon (in a few creepy seconds of AI); an oddly jolly Howard Hughes (Tom Nelis) in his Kleenex-box slippers; and a 'Roadrunner' pastiche. Though not devoid of genuine feeling, it's best experienced as a collection of attitudes and energies, noises and colors. Don't take it any more seriously than it takes itself. The opening titles are super cool. 'Motorheads' is a familiar sort of modern teenage soap opera but with cars. For reasons known only to series creator John A. Norris, the whole town is obsessed with them, and along with its human storylines, the series is a tour of automotive entertainments — drag racing, street racing, ATV racing, go-kart racing, classic car collecting. I have no idea whether this will resonate with the target demographic, but there is much I cannot tell you about kids these days. As is common to the form, our young protagonists — Michael Cimino as Zac and Melissa Collazo as Caitlyn — are new to town, having been brought back from New York City by their mother, Samantha (Nathalie Kelly), to the oxymoronically named Rust Belt hamlet of Ironwood, where she was raised, and which is the last place anyone saw their father, Christian (Deacon Phillippe in flashbacks), 17 years earlier. He's an infamous local legend, admired for his skill behind the wheel; aerial footage of Christian threading his way through a cordon of police cars as the getaway driver in a robbery keeps making its way into the show, though if you live in Los Angeles, you see this sort of thing on the news all the time. Marquee name Ryan Phillippe plays the kids' Uncle Logan, who runs a garage that apparently does no business, but he has love and wisdom to spare. Though at the center of the series, Zac's storyline is a little shopworn, not just his wish to become, almost out of nowhere, Ironwood's top speed racer, but his textbook interest in rich girl Alicia (Mia Healey), the girlfriend of rich boy Harris (Josh Macqueen), a Porsche-driving bully who is also hurting inside — so feel free to get a crush on him, if that's your type. More interesting is sister Caitlyn, who prefers building cars to racing them and is perhaps the series' most emotionally balanced character. She becomes friends with shop classmate Curtis (Uriah Shelton), tall and good-looking, whose criminally inclined older brother, Ray (Drake Rodger), will become a sort of dark mentor to Zac. With the addition of Marcel (Nicolas Cantu), the archetypal 'geek who becomes the hero's best friend,' who works at the diner his father (grieving, drunk) used to own and dreams of designing cars, the four constitute the show's outsider band of good guys. They'll have their not-always-happy business with each other — being teenagers, you know, things happen — and with their elders, as their elders will with one another. The past is not past in Ironwood; old feelings will resurface and old plots unravel. (And no one knows what happened to Christian.) Except for the cars sprinkled on top, it's old stuff, not very deep, but produced with an engaging naturalism that rounds off the narrative extremes, enhances what's commonplace and makes 'Motorheads' easy to watch. (Colin Hoult is the sensitive director of photography, it's worth mentioning.) Drive on.
