For the most part, they are very large men.
They are very large men who can contort their bodies in ways that would send most of us to the hospital or the nearest chiropractor.
They are the longest of the long — the eight finalists in the National Long Drive Competition that reaches its zenith tonight when the 2015 champion will be crowned.
The setting is the WinStar World Resort and Casino in southern Oklahoma, about an hour north of Dallas.
The format is match play and the competitors are on a time clock that gives them two minutes, 45 seconds to hit as many drives as they are able, which makes for some high drama there at Windstar.
There will be a new champion because 2014 winner Jeff Flagg didn’t make it past the round of 32.
Another favorite and one of the top seeds, burly Joe Miller from the U.K. was upset in Tuesday night’s round of 16 competition. He drove it 394 yards but it was four yards shy of Jason Eslinger’s best of 398, longest poke of the final 16 players.
Eslinger is amazing, he is almost Happy Gilmore-like because he takes a stride toward the target then swings the club with incredible speed.
Tim Burke is another finalist. He hit it 396 to move to the elite eight.
The name most are familiar with among those eight is Canadian Jamie Sadlowski. He’s won the com-petiton twice. Sadlowski’s 391-yard effort got him into tonight’s finale. He is an oddity among long drivers. While most are 6-2 or taller, 230-pounder or heavier, Sadlowski is a shrimp by their standards. He’s 5-10, 170 — a normal-size guy who can simply rip it and he has a prettier swing than most long drivers.
Sadlowki will go against Jeff Crittenden as he attempts to make the final four.
The show starts tonight at 8 on the Golf Channel with the winner taking home a whopping $250,000, largest prize in the long-drive world.
