Once he ate at a bar and while playing shuffleboard, realized the waitress had taken his napkin/teeth. He wandered over and discretely whispered in her ear what had happened. The bartender saw the exchange and wanted to know what was going on. So, the waitress shouted across the room, "Oh, this guy left his teeth on the table and I threw them in the garbage." The room erupted in laughter. The waitress and bartender started going through the garbage until Mike stopped them and asked if he could take the bag home and search it. He did. And he found his lost treasure.

Well, at Gladstan, Mike had a breakfast burrito on the first tee and took out his partial, placing it in the cart. After golf, when he got home, he couldn't find the $500 implement. He went through his pockets, where sometimes he finds them, lint added. Nothing. He then turned to his golf bag. Nada. He called the golf course. Nobody had seen them but the guy putting the carts away at sundown said it could be in the garbage. Mike said he'd be at the scene at sunrise the next day.

In the morning, there was a frost delay, and with golfers standing around, Mike went through the golf course garbage. Nothing. He asked the pro at the desk if he could take a cart on the course and retrace his route from the day before. "The guy thought I was crazy, but he let me," Mike said.

Mike went over every shot he and his partner made and drove to where their drives and shots landed. He got to the par-5 No. 6 hole and remembered he'd pulled his drive left into a field. He remembered driving his cart into the field, a bumpy ride, and hitting his ball. So, he took off, did a Sherlock Holmes inspection of the acreage.

Sure enough, there in the field near, where he drove the ball the day before, was his set of teeth, bared to the open sky, ready for breakfast.

"What are the chances?" Mike asked.

So, Mike, I asked, what did you make on that hole?

"I was on in two, looking at an eagle but three-putted for a par."

Call it a bite save.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com