Patrick Higgins is cleaning his golf clubs and waiting for a break in the weather to head back out to the golf course.

He is actually a hockey player, but he wants to try out a few golf pointers he learned while serving as an honorary standard bearer for Tiger Woods and Davis Love III during the Target World Challenge in Los Angeles, Dec. 12-14.

"It was a lot of fun,'' said Patrick, 14, a freshman at Badin High School, Hamilton. "I was lucky. We had to pick a number, and I was lucky enough to pick Tiger Woods and Davis Love III.''

He said he didn't have a chance to talk much with Woods and Love. Standard bearers carry a sign that shows the score of the players they are paired with.

"But I think I observed a few things I would like to try,'' Patrick said.

Patrick was one of 16 students ages 12-18 chosen to act as standard bearers through Target Corp. and the Tiger Woods Foundation "Start Something" program.

The Target World Challenge raises money for the Tiger Woods Foundation, which benefits children across the country.

Patrick plays hockey for the Checkers, a youth team in Indianapolis that plays more than 50 games a year in the Midwest and Canada. Patrick led the team in assists and points scored last year.

The chance to meet PGA Tour stars has not dampened his love for hockey, however. He plans to attend a hockey camp this summer.

Pitcher wins award

Evan Smith relied on his fastball to help the Milford High School baseball team advance to the finals of the Ohio state tournament the past two years, earning personal accolades along the way. Now, he is a freshman on the Kent State University baseball team, and the honors keep coming in.

Smith, 18, recently was named the winner of the National Amateur Baseball Federation Scholarship Award for 2003.

In presenting the award, Larry Redwine, president of the Southwest Ohio Baseball League, noted that NABF officials not only recognized Smith's athletic ability, but his scholastic achievements as well.

"This is pretty exciting to me,'' Smith said. "I have been playing baseball since I was 5 years old. The fastball is my favorite pitch. I am clocked in the high 80s and low 90s.''

The Milford baseball team finished as runner-up in the 2002 and 2003 Ohio boys Division I state baseball tournaments.

Smith, a 6-4, 185-lb. right-hander, was named the Greater Miami Conference Most Valuable Player.

He was All-GMC and All-City two consecutive years, and the 2003 Milford boys' athlete of the year.

He is the son of Doug and Jennifer Smith of Milford.

Senior Citizen Club dance

For 29 years, the Progressive Senior Citizen Club Inc. has sponsored the Lucille Chenault Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Ball.

As the volunteer group gears for the 30th anniversary of the occasion, event coordinator Doris Brown is amazed that the ball has lasted through the years.

"Only through the help of God could we have kept it going,'' Brown said. "We are struggling to have the event this year on April 7. The problem is that a lot of the people who supported us years ago have moved on to something else. When some of them were replaced at different organizations and companies, the new people had their own charities they supported.''

The event is planned for the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.

Brown said over the years, the event has attracted 1,500 senior citizens and disabled persons annually.

The ball is held in honor of the late Lucille Chenault who was president of the Senior Citizens Task Force, a planning committee for the Cincinnati Model Cities Program in the 1960s.

When Chenault became ill and was in a nursing home, she saw how lonely seniors were. When she left the nursing home, she started the seniors ball in 1974.

The club depends on sponsors to help finance the ball, which includes a meal, music, singing and dancing.

"Some come in wheelchairs, walkers, canes and stretchers,'' Brown said.

To help, call 569-1840 extension 1055