10 Things I Think…and More

by Jeff Skinner

With all due respect to Peter King, here are 10 Things I Think, and more.

1.  Watching Steve Stricker play golf is a joy.  We all know he is a putting machine but his short game is remarkable.  He sticks it close every time.

2.  For us Northerners, seeing golf in Hawaii is nothing but a great big tease.  The golf is appealing enough but does The Golf Channel have to taunt us with all those scenes of surfers and whales and beautiful beaches, enough already.

3.  The PGA Tour made a wise choice with the move to a Monday finish.  The NFL rules the day and the NFL Playoffs are even bigger.  But the NFL Playoffs with Tim Tebow are bigger even still.  Take that you non-believers.

4.  Having the final round finish before the National Championship game between LSU and Alabama was another smart move.

5.  If you’re a golf fan that wants to see the PGA tour up close without the crushing crowds that follow Tiger and Phil go to Hawaii.  They don’t play there any longer and it looks like there is so much to do on Maui that only a few fans show up.

6.  One of the side effects of having a tour that has made the players so wealthy is that a week or two in Hawaii isn’t the draw it used to be.  It’s a shame that more winners don’t play.  John Feinstein suggested inviting the European Tour winners which may get more big names to tee it up, not a bad idea.

7.  Johnny Miller versus Nick Faldo, I know it wasn’t billed that way but we can’t help but evaluate them against one another.  Both were true to form, with Miller getting my vote for honesty and bluntness (which is why many dislike him).  Faldo wins for being the most self-important.  He still thinks he’s the man.

8.  I do give Faldo credit for bashing the long putter and saying that anchoring the club is not a golf swing.

9.  So Steve Stricker takes awhile to warm up in the third round but finishes with four straight birdies to get back to a five stroke lead going into the final round.  He looked like Charl Schwartzel at The Masters.

10.  The Golf Channel got plenty of mileage off of the Webb Simpson/Paul Tesori relationship.  Yes, it’s great they have a special player caddie relationship and maybe they are the next Phil and Bones but a little less chit chat may help Webb move it along a little quicker and rid him of the ‘slow player’ tag.

11.  Speaking of talking too much, when will Rex Ryan learn to shut up.  His act is old and his team a mess, 48 years of being a Jet fan and I have to live with this slug.

12.  Elin Woods was taken to task for bulldozing the house she bought for 12 million dollars.  Well it turns out that she had donated all the interior fixtures to the Habitat for Humanity.  All the high end appliances, cabinets and anything else went to charity.  Also, the house was so infested with termites it was a disaster and needed a major rehab anyway.

13.  Hawaii looked warm and inviting but the hottest thing on the Golf Channel is still Holly Sonders.