BY DC CUEVA
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| All photos except The Challenge courtesy ABC |
One sport that has been part of the relaunch of live competition globally in the past month & a half is one which traditionally sees many of its biggest tournaments take place during the summertime. Golf generally shines the brightest as does the weather when the last three legs of the game's four major championship tournaments take place between May & August. But this year has seen one of them, The Open Championship in the U.K., get nixed because of COVID, and two others in The Masters and the U.S. Open have been moved to the fall to follow the PGA Championship that's slated for next month in San Francisco.
Last week saw these two worlds of the fifth major pro sport and this quaint little game collide in time for the conclusion of Total Madness. But instead of a place as breathtaking as Augusta National, Pebble Beach or St. Andrews in Scotland, the venue was something more different where it's much shorter and where you have only one club to play with. And it's also the toughest one in all the land... and one of those who took to that course also went through the same kind of brutal conditions that Bananas, Jenny and the Total Madness final nine had to put up with... say hello to Holey Moley.
Thanks to efforts made by those who help to develop & promote it, golf has continued to ride the wave of popularity spurred on by the Tiger Woods phenomenon. The marketability of players who grew up with the man in the red shirt, video games and TV coverage have expanded golf's reach beyond those who can fork over three figures to land a tee time at a local course. The company TopGolf has combined the good times of being at a sports bar with a popular after-work activity of hitting golf balls from a driving range... and when he's not overseas hosting 25 seasons of our favorite show, Challenge host TJ Lavin is a regular at its Las Vegas location by the Strip.
For those looking for something more affordable, miniature golf has always offered families, friends and the young ones aspiring to be the next Tiger a way to enjoy this great game while also having a good time. It stays true to its parent in trying to achieve the lowest possible score by carding the least number of strokes, but unlike the longer version of it miniature golf focuses solely on the putting aspect. And it deviates a bit more when there are plenty of objects you won't find at the nearby hometown course lined by trees & bunkers: castles, ramps, windmills and plenty of artificial turf to master the short game.
Rob Riggle joins ESPN's Joe Tessitore and The Real's Jeannie Mai (who graduated with my sister in our alma mater's 2000 Milpitas High School graduating class) on the broadcast team, and the gentlemen sport the same cream-colored suits worn by Jim McKay, Frank Gifford and those who worked for ABC Sports when it ruled sports television pre-ESPN. And the NBA superstar himself also appears frequently as the club's resident pro, as does other special guests including most recently Bachelor Nation host (and former local sportscaster) Chris Harrison.
After a successful debut season last year in joining the Alphabet's "Summer Fun & Games" stable, Holey Moley returned for Season 2 in May as the show has stepped things up for what it calls, "The Sequel." Most production took place before the industry-wide production shutdown, and it began before the PGA Tour and most other sports started their return to action after the months-long layoff. The show's creator and executive producer Chris Culvenor tells Variety Magazine, "I would like to say that it does count as a sport, though it might be a sport from another dimension."
Last Thursday saw week 8 of competition at the Holey Moley course, where eight golfers had to maneuver around the planet of Uranus, buns & wieners and a GoT-themed firefest en route to earning the last spot in the final field, where a player can win $250,000. And for a moment, viewers thought they were watching the Olympics with, all things, a diving competition taking place last week, as did a guest spot by Jon Lovitz who drove one group's opening shots over the water. And one contestant last week is a man who we saw on another competition series exactly a decade ago.
In 2010, The Challenge got to welcome a second class of Fresh Meat to Vancouver and where the rivalry of Wes & Kenny was on everyone's mind coming into Canada's West Coast. This was the season that gave us Cara Maria, Laurel, Theresa, Mandi, Vinny and Brandon -- all of whom went on to have multiple appearances on the show with the first two becoming champs and the ladder having had his moment with O.J. Simpson. But on a season that saw Darrell & Cara go home first and Landon win #3 on a B.C. mountaintop, another man was there to brave that final in the winter's snow... similar to the last act of Total Madness.
Noor's Fresh Meat II bio described him as "stupidly competitive and trustworthy," and after they went through a preseason training session once they arrived in Canada, in the opening draft Noor was selected to be the rookie partner of six-time Challenge vet (and as of last month, a new mommy-to-be) Jenn Grijalva. For most of the season, the team flew under the radar even as she became romantic with rookie finalist Pete... but they turned it on late in the season to win the week 8 daily, and got sent into elimination where they defeated Theresa & Ryan for the last spot in the final. But Jenn & Noor finished in last place and out of the money, but they did complete the course to see Landon & Carley (aka the "local girl" of RW Back to Vegas) take out the win over Kenny & Laurel and Pete & Jillian.
A rookie finals appearance would usually mean return engagements for future seasons - but that wasn't in the books for Noor... and as noted on Allan Aguirre's Challenge blog that, with his drama free, all-friendly vibes might've been overlooked by those of others worthy of face time. Instead, he joined fellow FM2 alumni Brandon and Vinny in Las Vegas to pursue a job in America's most vibrant nightlife town and its many nightclubs. His experience as a bartender, doorman and helping VIP in the world's live music capital made the transition to Sin City that easy as well as helping out with the madness of spring break. And for several years, Noor served as a host, manager and Creative Director for the former Hyde nightclub at the Bellagio on the Strip, before moving down to another nightlife hub of L.A.
Along with his pedigree of playing three different forms of "football" as those in three different cultures see them, Noor has long also had a fascination with that small ball that they drive, chip and putt with, rather than kick. The very first job he had while going to high school was of driving a tractor that gathered golf balls at the local driving range, all as he became an easy target for local Austinites to aim their balls at. And it was of his experience doing that and taking swings after work which garnered a nickname among his co-workers, "the Sultan of Swing."And that brings us back to the golf course: as one who loves golf as much as he does international sport, he looked forward to showcasing his putting skills in front of America. But Noor's time on Holey Moley began a bit differently: as part of the third wave of contestants in the first round, he was one on three competitors in a group tasked with doing the best-scoring dive, as in one of the most dangerous of all Olympic sports of diving. Olympic legend Greg Louganis led the judging panel, joined by actor Steve Guttenberg and show mascot Sir Goph. This certainly benefited that one Challenger who went up against the water during Week 3 of Fresh Meat II.
Tessitore was left to say after Noor's win, "Sometimes there are breakthrough moments in sports, where somebody grabs the whole crowd by the hand and says, "Let me show you the way this is done'." And in beating two players who do this for a living, this former Challenger turned golf master is now onto the Holey Moley 2 finale, where he's one of eight winners who have earned a golden putter and the show's version of the famed Masters suit: a plaid jacket. And Noor now he has a shot at winning money, where the final round will carry a fortune on its shoulders: $250,000 -- almost the entire prize fund of his lone Challenge and more than the winnings of either CT or Ashley when they conquered Invasion of the Champions, which came before the show began handing out $1 million.
Perhaps Noor's biggest supporter came not from a TV star but from the golf world itself: a two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour's developmental circuit, and now an analyst for PGA Tour Radio, Colt Knost, wrote on IG, "Can’t tell you how excited I am to see my boy @iamnoorj on @holeymoleyabc tonight! Everyone tune in!!!", and his buddy responded, "Gonna use everything u taught me, including the putter u gave me!"
In announcing his return to TV, Noor captioned on Instagram before the Holey Moley 2 premiere, "Right before the entire world was granted their involuntary PTO request, I had the opportunity to compete for $250,000 on one of my favorite shows ever, @holeymoleyabc. Watch as the greatest mini golf course in the world, dishes out concussions and hypothermia, like its free skittles. All while @robriggle roasts the s___ outta everyone." He's now halfway to a cool quarter-million.
- I AM DC
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