0

10 Things I Think

by Jeff Skinner

1.  Rory McIlroy started hot yesterday, five birds and one bogey for a 32 on the front but as the day wore on he seemed to struggle.  He mis-hit a few tee balls and his chipping wasn’t sharp.  But he hung on and that’s the mark of a champion: getting it done when you’re A-Game disappears.

2.  Tiger Woods became the first golfer to earn over $100 million on The PGA Tour.  That’s a scary number but only a fraction of what Woods earns off the course.  For a bit of perspective: Jack Nicklaus earned $5.7 mil on The PGA Tour.

3.  I watched Charley Hoffman struggle a bit at The Barclays last week and he has had a tough run lately (4 missed cuts before the Deutsche Bank.)  It was good to see him get a break, make the top 70 and make it to next week.

4.  So Luke Donald has the reputation of being the perfect gentleman but his emotions got the better of him last week.  He was so upset over the redesign of the eighteenth green at The TPC Boston he let loose with a Twitter message that he meant to be a private message.  He called designer Gil Hanse a “c**k” and the minute he hit send he wanted to die.  Give him credit, he owned up and apologized.  But plenty of players felt that way and I bet Hanse and the rest of the top designers are fine with players complaining about their work.

5.  As Rory and Louis butchered the 17th hole with bogeys Johnny Miller let it fly on at Louis,” Bit of a gag there” he said.

6.  Maybe this Claw putting grip will be the fix Phil Mickelson likes.  For the week he finished fourth in strokes gained putting.

7.  A nice touch by the folks at the Deutsche Bank: in addition to the huge trophy and the $1.4 million dollar check this year they gave Rory a commemorative championship belt.  Just like the one that was the prize for the Open Championship before they switched to the Claret Jug.

8.  Let the Ryder Cup trash talk begin.  Ian Poulter gets us off to a rousing start.  “Bring it on. I am so flippin’ pumped, I can’t even tell you. Let’s hear 80,000 guys just causing the biggest amount of electricity on a golf course. I want to hear that U-S-A! chant. That fired me up so much.”

9.  This is just what Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour had in mind with the playoffs: big names battling it out right through to the Tour Championship.

10.  Tiger and Phil both had good tournaments and shot 66. Their games are rounding into shape just in time for The Ryder Cup.  I bet Davis Love feels a heck of a lot better knowing that.

 

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.