Less than two weeks to go, and from the sounds of it, Goodboys Invitational fever is everywhere! Consider this news item passed along to me by fellow Goodboy Ben “The Funny Guy” Andrusaitis:

Mon Jul 9, 4:42 PMUPDATED 14 HOURS 34 MINUTES AGO

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. – Nearly 4,800 fluorescent yellow golf balls are missing from a suburban Kansas City golf course after someone raided the facility’s driving range.

Sunflower Hills Golf Course head professional Jeff Johnson said it would have taken someone hours Sunday night to pick the balls up from the range, where they were scattered after being hit earlier in the night.

And he has no idea whether the theft was an expensive prank _ with an estimated loss of $2,700, the crime is considered a felony _ or if the culprits intend to try to sell the balls, with their big stripe and about half with Dr. Pepper logos on them.

“That or they are some really bad golfers who need some range balls to practice with _ a lot to practice with,” Johnson said.

He discovered the theft Monday morning when he went to set up the driving range and noticed that there were no balls in the landing area.

It appeared that someone had driven a vehicle onto the range. The balls, Johnson said, would have filled a pickup truck’s bed.

“It by far is not the weirdest thing I have seen,” said Bonner Springs Police Detective Jay Oliver. “It is definitely offbeat. It is not a common occurrence.”

Most savvy Goodboys followers will recall former Goodboy Steve “Gaylord” Perry used to play a range ball from time to time, but we’d like to think most – if not all – of us have, er, elevated our games so that such a though or practice would never ever cross our minds.

But it’s Goodboys season, and anything is possible.

FYI, my latest post as a guest-blogger over at CrabAppleLane Blog can be found here.