by Jeff Skinner
1. At first Justin Rose wasn’t penalized on Saturday. Then after some rules official watching the European broadcast called his mates in the states and said he saw it move Rose was penalized. Then after the local authorities (PGA Tour & USGA) reviewed the video and their own rules again they withdrew the penalty. Glad to see I am not the only one that gets confused about the rules.
2. Rory McIlroy stayed true to form this week with another “back door top ten.” After rounds of 70-74 he was twelve off the lead after round two. A 69 and a nice 66 on Sunday vaulted him into the top ten, another case of too little too late.
3. Jim Furyk will not go gently into that good night. All he does is hang around and hang around. He recently said that he needed to change his attitude to make golf fun again. The attitude adjustment worked as he has a solid season so far: 4 top tens, 7 top 25’s, 2 seconds and $1.7 million.
4. That putting grip Sergio Garcia is using is a quasi claw-pencil grip and it is working for the once putting challenged Spaniard. Pair that stroke with his stellar iron play and you have a formidable combination. He’s second to Matt Kuchar in Scoring Average and ninth in the All Around Ranking. He’s a regenerated golfer this season and having good seasons on both tours.
5. Russell Henley is one of the better young golfers on the PGA Tour. The 25 year old Georgia grad won in his first season, ’13 and the again this year at the Honda Classic. He may have had a chance at THE PLAYERS Championship with rounds of 65-71-66. But he ballooned to a tournament killing 80 on Saturday.
6. Phil Mickelson continues to struggle in 2014. No top tens, two withdrawals and missed cuts at The Masters and THE PLAYERS. He says he is fine physically and the issue is more mental. He says he is “mentally soft.” Better get “right in the head” soon. The U.S. Open is 31 days away.
7. Adam Scott’s attempt to overtake Tiger Woods as the number one golfer in the world fell flat this week. He made the cut on the number and could never mount a charge. But he did announce that he had gotten married the week after The Masters. So he has that going for him.
8. Tiger’s ex, Elin Nordegren has kept a fairly low profile since her split from Woods. But she couldn’t help but take a shot at Woods at during her Rollins College Commencement speech. “It was right after I had taken Communication and the Media that I was unexpectedly thrust into the media limelight. I probably should have taken more notes in that class.” Nice one.
9. It seems like Jordan Spieth is in the mix at every week. The twenty year old continued his amazing run as a professional. He fell short again here but already has three top tens including two seconds so far this season. But you can see he is getting frustrated by his inability to close the deal on Sunday. Patience Grasshopper, patience. The wins will come, bunches of them.
10. Martin Kaymer’s German heritage lends itself to the BMW tagline, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” He’s not that great a driver, rather around the tour average. But he was playing like a machine in the final round that is until that weather delay. Kaymer had a three shot lead when they stopped play but struggled when play resumed. He came out and hooked his first drive and took double bogey on fifteen. He missed a birdie opportunity at the easy sixteenth. He then hit a lousy shot on seventeen which spun thirty feet back almost off the green, followed that with a poor chip and then unbelievably drops a twenty-eight foot bomb for par to save his round. A “Skinner Par” (that’s 3 shots, 1 putt on a par 4) on eighteen kept him one shot out of a playoff with Furyk and gave him THE PLAYERS Championship. Thanks for making it exciting Martin…good stuff.
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