Golf, NBA and MLB highlight slow week

Northern Nevada has a gem of a golf course tucked away in Reno.

No disrespect to the rest of the courses in the area, including Fallon’s own course, but Montreux Golf & Country Club was an excellent venue once again for Reno’s only PGA tournament stop this season. Considered as a “B” level tournament, the Barracuda Championship gives fans an opportunity to watch professional golf and several rising players who are a year or two removed from competing on national TV.

Fallon’s Scott Smith made his third appearance this weekend and while he didn’t make the cut, he had the largest following on Friday. About 30 people stuck with Smith for most of the course until the size decreased as some needed to return to Fallon. Several coaches were in attendance to watch the 2006 state champ as he aimed to make the cut.

Smith, though, will have to wait for his big break again but he’s hopeful that will be soon. He’s narrowed down the problem to sharpening his game and be more precise in the fairway. His putting game didn’t suffer but the Modified Stablehold format caused some problems as it rewards aggressive play and hitting for par does you no good.

Still, Smith will be back as he has a few Web.com tournaments lined up. It won’t be long until we find Smith competing on the PGA Tour.

NBA’s trying to stay in the headlines

It hasn’t been a month since Cleveland won the NBA Finals and basketball’s trying not to fade into the night.

With baseball approaching the all-star game and the NFL a couple weeks shy from training camp, the NBA made big news when Kevin Durant bolted for Golden State and now Dwayne Wade left Miami for Chicago. There’s no such thing as loyalty anymore in professional sports, let alone basketball. Just when you got fixated on following a superstar on your favorite team, that athlete abandons for various reasons. Money is the obvious choice but now you’re seeing more leave because they want the ring.

Durant spent almost a decade in Oklahoma City as it blew a 3-1 lead against Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. After courting several offers, Durant is heading west to the team that ended his tenure with the Thunder.

Once the free agency calms down, basketball will be irrelevant until next spring. Bring on the football season.

Are you surprised by the MLB?

Before football comes along, there’s still a baseball season to finish.

The all-star break hits the country next week and going into this weekend, there are a few surprises.

Washington, Chicago and San Francisco lead its division in the National League while Baltimore, Cleveland and Texas are ruling the American League. A change in managerial duties in the nation’s capital led to a quick turnaround as the Nationals are back on top after a disastrous 2015 that saw local Matt Williams lose his job. Chicago was a no-brainer in the central and the Cubs’ lead could hit double-digits after this weekend. The Giants are somewhat surprising because of what the Dodgers and Diamondbacks did in the offseason, but San Francisco has a strong rotation despite a shaky bullpen.

Only Baltimore has a close lead in the American League while Cleveland and Texas have sizable advantages. Defending world champs Kansas City could be 10 games out of first by the break. Maybe the Royals are the odd-year team. Houston is close in the west while Los Angeles felt like the team was hit by a bus on the freeway considering everyone on the DL.

The second half could be another entertaining segment this year.

Thomas Ranson can be contacted at lvnsports@yahoo.com.