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Cameron Bishop and Patrick Roth have intimate knowledge of Wichita Country Club, albeit in different forms.

One will likely have a greater fondness for the century-old club after today's Kansas Amateur final.

Bishop, a former Wichita State golfer, and Roth, a junior at Kansas, passed quarterfinal and semifinal tests Saturday and advanced to the 36-hole championship match. Bishop outlasted Wichita native and Missouri State sophomore Jack Courington in 19 holes to get to the final. Roth, from Prairie Village, defeated Wichita's Aaron Sheaks 2 and 1 in the other semifinal.

Bishop, who played the Wichita Country Club course numerous times during his college career, made just one birdie against Courington. But it helped him overcome a three-hole deficit in the final five holes. Courington had a chance to win the match at No. 18, but lipped out a 2-foot par putt that sent their duel to an extra hole.

"I had my hat off, ready to shake his hand," the 24-year-old Bishop said. "I didn't expect that."

Ron Neugent's determination and grit made him an Olympic swimmer almost three decades ago.

They also helped him correct the 1980 U.S. Olympic team being omitted from the list of recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor -- the highest civilian award presented by Congress.

More than a year ago, the Wichita orthodontist prepared to submit a photo of himself with President Jimmy Carter as part of an Eagle contest of personal photos with world leaders. Neugent and all team members, including Wichita basketball players Lynette Woodard and Darnell Valentine, received the medal from Carter after the United States boycotted the Moscow Games because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

While writing a caption for the photo, Neugent needed to know more about the medal he showed to young swimmers during talks.

That's when he made a startling discovery.

Taj Gray isn't much of a gambler.

Sure he's played a few hands of blackjack during his stay in Las Vegas this week. But the Wichita native's real bet has been on a basketball court.

Gray is one of a couple hundred aspiring players hoping to parlay success at the NBA Summer League into a possible contract come fall.

"There are a lot of guys out here working hard trying to get an opportunity," Gray said. "You have to be ready when your opportunity comes.

"I feel like I do as much as I can when I'm out there, and I'm satisfied when I walk off the court."

Derby 11-4, El Dorado 0-6

Liberal 18, Hays 9

Joplin at Dodge City

Sunday's Results

Eight days ago, the Wingnuts were shut down by Lincoln's Jarrett Gardner -- but that made sense. Gardner leads the Saltdogs in wins and earned 10 victories in 2007.

There may be no explanation for Wichita being baffled Saturday by Sioux City's Cameron Cheek except that maybe the Wingnuts just don't hit well on Saturdays. Cheek shut out Wichita for five innings and the Explorers held on for a 2-1 win at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Cheek has been shuffled between the bullpen and starting rotation this season and entered the game with a 2-2 record and 4.53 ERA. Opposing hitters batted .311 against him.

Using a mix of off-speed pitches that he kept mostly on the outer half of home plate, Cheek avoided trouble on Saturday, allowing two runners into scoring position and retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced, including 11 in a row at one point.

"He was able to get ahead in the count to a lot of hitters," Wichita third baseman Michael Thompson said. "Then he could go to his off-speed stuff, which was kind of getting us there for a little bit. I think if they let him go another inning, we would have gotten to him."

Maybe Wichita is taking advantage of favorable matchups. Maybe its better play on the road in the second half is just a coincidence. Maybe the players are getting plenty of sleep on the bus.

Or maybe, according to manager Kash Beauchamp, there is a good reason for the Wingnuts' improved play away from home.

"Making it a priority when we started the second half that we have to play better on the road," Beauchamp said.

The Wingnuts have found the road less treacherous in the second half, winning three of the last four series away from Lawrence-Dumont Stadium after winning one such series previously.

After starting the season 7-13 on the road, the Wingnuts have won seven of 11 away from home. They swept a two game series at Sioux City to close the first half -- still the first time Wichita has won consecutive road games against the same opponent -- and have won two of three road series to start the second.

Hanging out with NBA summer league teammates is fun, just like hanging out with college teammates.

And also different, when those teammates are No. 1 draft pick Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls.

"Because they've got a lot of money," former Wichita State player P.J. Couisnard said. "Hanging out with those guys in the hotel rooms, it was a good time."

An ankle sprain cut short Couisnard's time on the court during the NBA's Orlando Pro Summer League, which wrapped up July 11. He played in two games, but believes he showed enough to feel good about the week. Couisnard also played in a mini-camp in Chicago before traveling to Orlando.

"I'm real confident I can play," he said.

Shawn Downey spent the last several years preparing himself for a career on the professional rodeo circuit. It hasn't quite worked out the way he's planned.

The 22-year-old Dodge City native was unable to take down his steer in the steer wrestling competition Saturday at the Pretty Prairie Rodeo. For Downey it was the second competition in a row that he's walked away with his wallet emptier than when he arrived. He's spent $415 on entry fees to compete in the Pretty Prairie and Woodward, Okla., rodeos.

"I thought it was going to work out tonight," Downey said. "But it's no point in worrying about it now. There's nothing I can do about it."

Downey's wanted to join the Prairie Rodeo Circuit for the last couple of years, but has been unable to do so financially. He held his own competing on the amateur circuit . But he found out quickly that there's a big difference between the amateur circuit and the professional circuit -- and it's not just in the competition.

"The entry fees are double in pro events, but the money you get is worth it," Downey said. "The amount that you spend on fuel is about the same as it is for me now. And you're doing the same thing."

Final Results

Bareback riding: 1. Scott Montague, Rapid City, S.D., and D.V. Fennell, Neosho, Mo., 83 points, $1,278 each; 3. Steven Dent, Mullen, Neb., and Bubba Houston, Kaufman, Texas, 81, $661; 5. Zach Curren, Arvada, Colo., 80, $309; 5. Justin Williams, DeSoto, 79, $220.

Steer wrestling: Second round: 1. Ryan Swayze, Freedom, Okla., 4.3, $1,089; 2. A.J. Griffin, Garden City, 4.4, $817; 3. Luke Boeser, Stapleton, Neb., 4.5, $545; 4. Kurt Goulding, Camanche, Okla., 4.6, $272. Aggregate: 1. Goulding, 8.9 seconds on two runs, $1,089; 2. Marty Musil, Guthrie, Okla., 10.0, $817; 3. Stan Williamson, Okmulgee, Okla., 10.3; 4. Daniel Adams, Weatherford, Okla., and Jordan Weisman, McAlester, Okla., 10.6, $136.

Tie down roping: Second round: 1. Cole Wilson, Kincaid, 10.0, $1,013; 2. Chris Neal, Muldrow, Okla., 11.0, $760; 3. Kyle Winslow, Alva, Okla., 11.7, $507; 4. Thomas Merritt, Weatherford, Okla., 11.8, $253. Aggregate: 1. Stephen Reagor, Tulsa, Okla. 21.0 on two runs, $1,013; 2. Kevin Loyd, Haysville, 22.3, $760; 3. Daniel Adams, Weatherford, Okla., 24.0, $507; 4. Johnny Weil, Edna, 24.6.

Saddle bronc riding: 1. Derek Kenner, Woodlake, Neb., 82 points, $1,831; 2. Merritt Smith, Gillette, Wyo., and Jesse James Kirby, Ashland, 80, $1,193; 4. Matt Hebbert, Hyannis, Neb., and Cort Scheer, Elsmere, Neb., 79, $526; 6. Will Payne, Beaver, Okla., 78, $277.

If Greg Norman continues his remarkable week in the final round today at Royal Birkdale, he'll be it.

At 53, he's five years older than any previous winner of the four majors.

Three-time major winner Julius Boros won his last PGA Championship in 1968, at 48 years, 4 months, 18 days.

Jack Nicklaus famously was 46 when he won the last of his 18 majors at the 1986 Masters.

Both men had top-10 finishes in a major well into their 50s, with Nicklaus tying for sixth at the 1998 Masters.

Let CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" trot out Britney Spears. ABC's "Eli Stone" is getting Mrs. Tom Cruise.

ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson last week confirmed that Katie Holmes -- once best known to TV viewers as Joey on the WB's "Dawson's Creek" -- will guest-star on the occasionally musical drama next season.

Look for her to show up in the second episode, currently scheduled for Oct. 21.

You might think this is just stunt-casting -- and McPherson readily concedes its promotional value -- but it's also a reunion of Holmes and "Eli" producer Greg Berlanti, who got his start as a writer on "Dawson's" and now has his fingers in a lot of ABC pies: He's also a producer on "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Brothers & Sisters."

Berlanti makes no bones about what was involved in playing the Katie card.

JOHN MARK EBERHART

Maybe it's because she's a mother to three boys; maybe it's just because she's a compassionate person. But Stephenie Meyer loves to see the good in people -- even the so-called bad guys.

"My books really aren't horror novels," Meyer says from her home near Phoenix in a recent interview.

"The vampires are a source of light in my novels. I tend to look at the bad-guy side of things -- giving them their side, letting them talk."

The vampires in question populate the three books in Meyer's outrageously successful Twilight Saga series --"Twilight," "New Moon" and "Eclipse." The fourth, "Breaking Dawn," will be published Aug. 2.

Wichita Community Theatre is wrapping up its 62nd season this weekend and next with the farcical "Moon Over Buffalo." And the reason it has lasted long enough to become one of the oldest local theaters in the country is the passion of the people involved -- all unpaid volunteers and many of them your neighbors.

"It's a hobby for most people but it is also a passion," says Phil Speary, an administrator with Butler Community College who is current WCT board president. "You have to really want to be in theater because there is such a time commitment. People who aren't involved either onstage or backstage have no idea. It's like a part-time job. You can easily put in 40 hours a month."

Speary should know because he's been exercising his own passion as an actor, director and composer in his "spare time" with WCT since the mid-1970s.

"We're a pretty diverse group. We have people from the medical, engineering and educational fields. We have a pool of about 100 people to draw from with about 40 or 50 of them core workers," Speary says. "In the past 10 years, we've been attracting younger people because we are a good place to make the transition from high school or college performance into adult performance."

When the curtain falls on "Moon Over Buffalo" on Saturday, the season will officially end, but WCT members won't be taking a vacation. They'll be in the thick of preparing for the 63rd season: Eight shows from September to July, including "Philadelphia Story," "Our Town," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Hamlet."

VARIOUS ARTISTS

'Mamma Mia _ The Movie Soundtrack'

(Wingdings 171) (Decca)

ABBA's music is so infectious that it can make a musical plot in which beautiful people live on an even more beautiful Greek isle and just break out into ABBA songs instead of normal conversation like "Pass the tanning oil, please" seem perfectly natural.

For the soundtrack of the movie "Mamma Mia!" which opened Friday, actors Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski and others do the singing and, in most cases, pass muster. Streep's best, but even this Oscar-winning master can't pull off ABBA's most challenging song, "The Winner Takes It All."

If you go

What: Join fans in celebrating the final installment of author Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga series while waiting to get your copy of "Breaking Dawn" at the stroke of midnight.

Watermark Books & Cafe

4701 E. Douglas

316-682-1181