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Tom Watson & Fred Couples Steal the Spotlight

This weekend gave us plenty of golf to watch and if you’re a football fan too, you needed to employ the “Multiple Television” strategy to catch The NFL Conference Championships and the golf.  This weekend illustrated the problem The PGA Tour has right now in getting fans to tune in.  The lack of big names in the field or compelling stories at The Bob Hope Classic has made the tournament a viewing afterthought.  Combine those factors with the fact that Sunday’s golf at The Hope wasn’t the final round and you have a perfect storm for low television ratings. The Hope will finish on Monday and if you’re still looking for some live golf because you were glued to the NFL yesterday you can catch it on The Golf Channel at 3:00pm. Bubba Watson and Alex Prugh share the lead after they both stumbled on the 18th hole.  Watson double bogeyed it and Prugh bogeyed it.

Champions Tour…

If you were looking for an exciting finish, in a beautiful setting with a few popular, legendary names trading blows down the stretch The Champions Tour was the place to be.  At The Mitsubishi Championship in Hawaii, Fred Couples and Tom Watson went head to head the entire final round.  Watson was able to better Freddy, who was making his Champions Tour debut, by carding birdies on the final two holes.  Couples had taken the lead at 16 with a birdie but could only par the last two coming in. Watson’s approach to 18 from the rough settled four feet from the cup and he closed out Couples with the bird. Watch the video.

Watson and Couples played amazing golf the entire day.  Watson (65) scored a 30 on the back nine while Couples (64) shot 31.  Their combined back nine was eleven under par with an eagle and nine birdies.

This tournament was much more appealing than The PGA Tour this weekend.  Watson continued his good luck this week after sharing a win with Jack Nicklaus last week.  Is there anyone in golf that looks more relaxed than Fred Couples?  He sashays down those fairways like he is Fred Astaire not Fred Couples.  He was sporting a new dimpled golf shoe which looked more boat shoe than golf shoe.  Leave it to Freddy to start a new trend.  Give me a legend like Watson and a personality like Freddy strolling the links and I’ll take that over most PGA Tour leader boards any day of the week.

European Tour…

The European Tour had a star studded field at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and it lived up to its billing.  Martin Kaymer, Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy provided the excitement as Kaymer was able to birdie the 18th and secure his second Abu Dhabi Title and his fifth Euro Tour win.  The field had more star power than The Hope as a bunch of PGA Tour players opted to play for euros instead of dollars.  Anthony Kim, Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey and Geoff Ogilvy are all stars on The PGA Tour that preferred the desert in Abu Dhabi over the desert in La Quinta, California.  The PGA Tour is hurting now and watching names like that bypass a legendary tour stop like The Hope has to eat at Tim Finchem. Watch the video.

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