August 3, 2006.

In 2004, the Maine Black Bears defeated Mississippi State on the football field. MSU went on to beat Florida, which beat Florida State, which won the Gator Bowl.

So with a little non-sensical deduction, it should have been Maine that won the Gator Bowl, right?.

Probably not, but it is worth hanging onto the notion.

So when Mike Hurley won the Warren County Championships on Sunday at Clear Creek Golf Course, it left this writer and his cast of golf misfits – photographers Brian Loden and Matt Lantrip and pressman Jimmy Mullen – feeling like champions.

Our foursome participated in a tournament to benefit the Andrew Jackson Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It was a field loaded with talent, including a team led by the current Warren County champion.

With booming drives from Lantrip traveling miles in any number of directions, some clutch putting and a gift from above, our frightful foursome dominated the course.

We were the last group – not because we were good but because we showed up late – and immediately made a best-ball charge. Best-ball tournaments are the easiest to play. Each player hits a shot, then once each finds his ball, the second shot is taken from the spot of the foursome’s best.

Lantrip did the driving and reached almost every fairway – just not the ones we were playing.

A par on No. 1 was followed by a 30-foot curling putt on No. 2 by yours truly – the best golf shot I have hit since my 5-iron smacked the kangaroo’s pouch for a hole-in-one at the Around the World Goofy Golf Course in Lake Placid, N.Y., nearly 25 years ago.

A steady diet of pars and two more birdies on the front nine had us at a robust 3-under.

&#8220Not good enough to win,” Mullen said. &#8220This is best-ball,” he added. &#82203-under won’t win anything.”

After 10, we were still 3-under, but our skills were waning. The temperatures soared and we wilted.

Our first two drives on No. 11 – a hole with woods bordering the tee-box – shot deep into the foliage. The next two drives found level earth somewhere near the 10th fairway.

That’s when Mom Nature, sensing our impending struggles, delivered one last final message in the form of a streaking lightning bolt behind us. Carrying metal sticks in a lightning storm, even for newspapermen, is borderline insane. So we weaved our carts toward the clubhouse, dodging lightning and rain pellets. We were still at 3-under.

A quick survey of our competition revealed that the winning team sat at 7-under. Hurley’s team at 2-under.

Huh?.

Our 3-under won something? Were we scoring wrong? Wrong tee box?.

Heck, we didn’t even cheat.

So we beat the team led by the Warren County champion. That should, in actuality, make us the Warren County champions, right?.

We’ll be defending our title next year.