I received a response from Tina Miller several months after posting some questions to her website. I went back to her site today (tinamillergolf.com) and it appears to be down (don’t know if this is temporary or permanent). But here are her responses – Enjoy!

Andy,

Defending Champ Tina Miller from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Hi Tina, Just wanted to know if you’ve been following the Big Break PEI? If so, what are your impressions? Do you get a sense of nostalgia? Who’s going to win Derek or Blair and why will he/she? How has your appearance on The Big Break given you a break in golf and/or life? Are you willing to put your title of Hottest Big Breaker on the line against the latest group of women to grace The Big Break? Does The Golf Channel cast Big Breakers on their personalities and looks as well as their golf games? It seems like they are looking for certain personality types to create drama. Or does drama just unfold whenever you put a bunch of people together in front of a camera? Also I see you Twitter and have been following your tweets. Oh one more, who do you keep in touch with from The Big Break? Sorry about the long-winded-ness, Andy

Thank you for your amazing questions and sorry I got back to them so late!

Always watching Big Break brings back amazing memories. I must admit I did not watch too much of Big Break PEI after my friend Kim Kouwabunpat was knocked off. I prefer the all-male or all-female casts. I am really into Big Break Disney and happy to see my friend Courtney Erdman’s husband, Kevin, still in the game!

I am honored you thought of me as hottest Big Breaker, (Editor’s note – Tina was voted hottest big breaker on a poll on this site – I personally had her near the top but had to give my top votes to Kim Welch and the original Columbian vixen, Valeria Ochoa) however many of the girls before me and after me are amazing beautiful athletes and I think that each of us brings a unique look, game and personality to the table. I hope I am beautiful in my fans eyes for my personality because I think I do have a great one!!!

Golf Channel casts personalities based on exactly that, personalities. Some create drama while in the heat of the moment, others are drama seeking 24/7, it is just a matter of luck really if they get 12 cast members who all have typeA personalities. One things that is for sure they really do try and give people who need a Big Break an opportunity. Some people have great resumes while others do not…its just chance really.

I am on twitter! I do enjoy tweeting because it is such an easy way to let people into my life. I keep in touch with many former Big Breakers including: Kristina Tucker (BBV), Ashely Prange (BBV), Courtney Erdman (Ka’anapali),and Kim Kouwabunpat (PEI), Ashley Gomes (BB6 & 7). I played a few charity events this summer and ran into some former Big Breakers like Christina Lecuyer and Susan Choi, from Ka’anapali. Many of the girls have their own websites, facebook pages and myspace pages. I do not have a facebook page but I love to Twitter!

Thanks for your questions and SO sorry in the delay in response. I did not think to even check the Q&A portion of my site because I was not competing and did not realize all the people who still want to hear from me!!!

Tina Miller

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Par 5 tenth hole at Northstar Golf Course

How is this for a carry? 215 yards worth to clear the junk from the scarlet tees.

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I’ve been following ESPN’s golf coverage. I’m waiting for the story from Jason Sobel about how Woods is going to make a run from nine shots back at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Jason Sobel is probably working on the story right now. In fact, he probably already has an outline he uses for that tired story and he just changes the date, the golf course, and other details.

Hey Jason, stick a fork in Tiger cuz he’s dun!

Popularity: 5% [?]

I got back over to Royal American Golf Course after not having played there since September 7, 2003 when I shot an 87. I had played one time before that but don’t have that record handy. Overall, Royal American is an enjoyable round of golf.

Par 3 161 yard 12th hole at Royal American Golf Course

For example here’s the picturesque par 3 12th hole at Royal American. This is an absolutely gorgeous golf hole. Click on the picture for the full size version.

323 yard par 4 3rd hole at Royal American Golf Course

Or how about the 323 yard par 4 third at Royal American. It demands a tee shot over water and one that will find the fairway between trees on the left and right. Hit it too far in either direction and you are blocked out from the green.

518 yard par 5 first at Royal American

But Royal American has a bunch of downright goofy par 5’s. Here’s the first hole. Like all the par 5’s, the first will potentially punish you for hitting a good shot. I smashed a drive right down the left side of the fairway. After watching it bound down the fairway, I got worried that I had hit it too well. You can see that a creek crosses the fairway with about 210 yards to the hole.

Approach shot to the par 5 first hole at Royal American

Luckily, the rough before the creek caught my ball. I would have been extremely disappointed to have been punished for hitting a good shot here. I did enjoy the challenge of the second shot. The creek continues all the way up the right side of the fairway past the green and two bunkers guard the hole. I took a three iron with the thought of making my mistake short of the green. I got lucky and the ball rolled up on the green to get home in two leading to an opening birdie.

501 yard par 5 ninth hole at Royal American

The par 5 ninth is the same way. I took out a three wood to stay short of the water but still flirted with disaster. My buddy hit the water with a hybrid club.

The par 5 tenth prevents you from using a driver unless you decide to fly the trees that are right of the fairway. But if you go too far right, good luck finding your ball in the tall stuff.

Here’s the 581 yard par 5 14th hole. Another creek makes you let up on the accelerator once again. When we played, a strong headwind allowed us to pull out the driver anyway.

418 yard par 4 13th hole at Royal American

The 13th is probably the goofiest hole on the course. We have a long par 4 but we are forced to either lay up because of the tree on the left or try to hit a draw/hook around it.

13th hole from the back tees

The situation gets a little better from the back tees on the 13th hole. Now you only have to hit a little fade instead of a hook. Granted, I think the middle tees are normally placed farther back but the front tee position is ridiculous on this hole.

Perhaps the solution is to just play the course from the back tees. I did improve 6 strokes over my last appearance at Royal. I enjoyed it overall and will be back. Thanks to the divot card, I paid $15 to ride 18. Not bad!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Y.E. Yang hits the shot of his life at 18th hole at PGA Championship

After hearing ad nauseam how Tiger Woods lost the PGA Championship from various sportswriters including Jason Sobel, it’s time to set the record straight.

Yang destroyed Tiger. Tiger didn’t lose the tournament: Yang took it to him and kicked his ass. As a matter of fact, I think Yang scared Tiger.

Tiger wants to mope about how he couldn’t make a putt all day. What about Yang? Yang had a short putt for birdie on 13 and missed it. Tiger had already bogeyed the hole and that could have been a two shot swing. Yang fell half a revolution short of birdie on 10 and burned the cup at 17. The birdie putt on 18 may have been the longest putt he made all day. Yang left plenty of shots out there as well, Tiger.

What I really liked about Yang was his approach on 18. Instead of playing it safe, he went right at the cup and took it to Tiger. Tiger had to have wet his pants after that beautiful 3 hybrid from 206 or so from the pin. These brilliant golf writers like Sobel claim that now Tiger had to go at the flag. What the fark are you talking about? Tiger had to go at the flag no matter what. If anything, Yang’s shot either scared the crap out of Tiger or deflated him even further.

Hopefully that one shot from 206 ends all the garbage we hear about Woods’ intimidation factor and invincibility and blah blah blah.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Another season of The Big Break has come and gone but the most recent season has left us with some new faces. So why not another poll to determine the hottest big breaker of all time. Tina Miller is currently our defending champion. Given her web savvy, she may remain as such but she’ll have to go up against the likes of Nicole Sikora, Gerina Mendoza, and Blair O’Neal. And Blair seems pretty web savvy herself. Kim Welch ain’t no internet slouch neithers as she twitters and is on facebook. Of course, she got my vote. Meow!

So let’s introduce the contestants.

Gerina Mendoza from The Big Break Prince Edward Island

Nicole Sikora from The Big Break Prince Edward Island

Blair O'Neal from The Big Break Prince Edward Island

Kim Welch from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Courtney Erdman from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Christina Lecuyer from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Samantha Head from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Elizabeth Stuart from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Cirbie Sheppard from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Defending Champ Tina Miller from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Susan Choi from The Big Break Ka'anapali

Valeria Ochoa

Briana Vega

And now let the voting begin . . .

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tiger Woods was playing the par 4 eleventh hole at the AT&T National on Saturday. Holding a two shot lead, he promptly hooked one off the tee into the rough. He then hit his second into a bunker 50 yards from the green.

The CBS announcers set the stage:

“This is where the average golfer dumps it in the next bunker in front of the green, but Tiger Woods is anything but average.”

Right on cue, Tiger catches it way fat as his hands get ahead of the club and DUMPS it in the next bunker. Brilliant!

Hey Tiger, check out Phil’s DVD. He has a whole section on 50 yard bunker shots.

Remember Tiger, the most important thing when playing out of the bunker is “to continue your hands into the finish.”

The fun doesn’t end there as he blows his next shot from the closer bunker and two putts for double. Ouch!

Popularity: 9% [?]

410 yard par 4 first hole at Glenross Golf Club

Approach to 410 yard par 4 first hole at Glenross Golf Club

435 yard par 4 second hole at Glenross Golf Club

Approach to 435 yard par 4 second hole at Glenross Golf Club

191 yard par 3 third hole at Glenross Golf Club

545 yard par 5 fourth hole at Glenross Golf Club

420 yard par 4 fifth hole at Glenross Golf Club

Approach to 420 yard par 4 fifth hole at Glenross Golf Club

401 yard par 4 sixth hole at Glenross Golf Club

Approach to 401 yard par 4 sixth hole at Glenross Golf Club

423 yard par 4 seventh hole at Glenross Golf Club

173 yard par 3 eighth hole at Glenross Golf club

395 yard par 4 ninth hole at Glenross Golf Club

380 yard par 4 10th hole at Glenross Golf Club

323 yard par 4 11th hole at Glenross Golf Club

398 yard par 4 12th hole at Glenross Golf Club

Approach to 398 yard par 4 12th hole at Glenross Golf Club

425 yard par 4 13th hole at Glenross Golf Club

Approach to 13th hole at Glenross Golf Club

175 yard par 3 14th hole Glenross Golf Course

525 yard par 5 15th hole at Glenross Golf Club

349 yard par 4 16th hole at Glenross Golf Club

174 yard par 3 17th hole at Glenross Golf Club

447 yard par 4 18th hole at Glenross Golf club

Popularity: 9% [?]

Was it any surprise?

Derek took on Blair in The Big Break final. Blair got off to an early birdie and a one shot lead on the first hole but quickly surrendered that lead. She fell to three shots behind with three holes to go and never threatened Derek.

Derek managed to not get in too much trouble off the tee (which had been his weakness in earlier shows) and Blair’s putter never got going. In the end, the difference appeared to be Derek’s iron play. He stuck it close time after time and Blair (who was often left with the shorter approach) couldn’t get inside of him.

The rest of the Big Breakers were on hand to cheer them on. They all seemed overly sedate. Robert didn’t say a thing throughout the show and seemed to still be stewing over his early departure. Nicole was none too happy either and good ol’ Brenda was the first to run up and hug Derek when he finished (at least that’s what The Golf Channel chose to show). The budding romance between Derek and Nicole must have got deep-sixed by Derek soon after it started. Gerina was pulling for Derek so she wouldn’t feel so bad about being eliminated before the final. No quotes were offered from Eugene. Brian only had one pithy comment.

Blair was awarded a nominal second place prize – a 5 night stay at the golf course. I doubt she’ll ever come back.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Mickelson just misses birdie on 18. Oh man!

Could be a three way playoff at -2. Who knows?

Duval bogies 17. Ouch!

Mickelson’s last chance – needs to birdie. Hits it way past.

Ok, here comes the tournament. Glover for birdie on 16 – he got it.

Mickelson bombs drive on 18. Barnes misses birdie on 16.

Duval on 17 – short of green as well. Fisher hits to right side of green.

Mahan bogies 17. With Glover close on 16, Phil has to make par putt at 17. Here goes – missed it. That could be it.

Mahan blows his by on 17. Barnes from 178 away on 16 – needs a birdie – 25+ feet away. Glover’s approach from just closer – puts it to within 5 feet. Huge shot!
…click here to read more →

Popularity: 10% [?]