Looks like the Florida swing has passed through the fountain of youth as two youngsters, Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim have found their form of 2008 when they both won twice and looked to be the future of the PGA Tour. They sit at -8 and lead The Honda Classic but Vijay Singh seems to have taken a drink from that fountain of youth also as he is only one back. Feel good story of the day: Sam Saunders (Arnie’s grandson) shoots matching 69’s to make the cut. Does The King get an all access pass to follow his grandson? You bet he does.
The American women are making some noise in Australia at The ANZ Ladies Masters. Click here for scores.
Even though the LPGA will not play its first tournament on American soil until the end of this month there are still many American players doing whatever it takes to play golf and cash a check. The LPGA season opened in Thailand and Singapore so the ladies had to head to the other side of the world to get some chances to win a few bucks. Since Ai Miyazato has done her best to turn the tour into her own little playground with two wins in two events it’s time the rest of the girls took home a trophy.
Many of the Americans have decided to get the most bang for their “Asian Swing” buck and have opted to play in the Ladies European Tour’s ANZ Ladies Masters in Queensland Australia. Nine American players are in the field and some are near the top of the leader board. Christina Kim and Brittany Lincicome are the biggest American names in the field but Rookie Amanda Blumenherst is making her mark early this season as she shot an opening round 66 and is tied for the lead after two rounds at the Royal Pines Resort.
Sophomores LPGA players Stacy Lewis is four strokes back of the lead and Vicky Hurst is only five off the pace and both are in serious contention for a victory. Lewis and Hurst are very good, young players that could possibly be two of the faces that carry the American Tour for years to come. The LPGA had a great group of rookies last season and Hurst, Lewis, and Michelle Wie are three popular and talented women that could help in the resurgence of American women on the LPGA Tour.
With the LPGA going through a transitional period the American players need to get used to playing many tournaments on foreign soil. The power of golf in Asia is exploding and the LPGA is embracing any and all comers when it comes to sponsorship and the majority of the new sponsorship money is based in the Far East.
Maybe the tour could start to issue a new award: The Gary Player Award. Player claims to have travelled over 15 million miles, and counting, in his professional career. These players have a long way to go to match Player but with the face of the LPGA changing like it is a typical season will mean two swings to Asia and at least one trip to Europe. The women of the LPGA will turn into true globetrotting golfers as they follow the LPGA tour all over the world.
It is a strange period in men’s professional golf. For months the biggest headlines have been concerned with issues off the course. Tiger’s scandal has dominated the sports pages like few stories ever have. With the season well under way and the PGA Tour moving into the Florida swing we should be allowed to concentrate on the golf inside the ropes but it’s not that easy.
Yesterday was a unique day in golf. We saw both the class of the game and the ass of the game in action. It is embarrassing that I use Jack Nicklaus’ name and John Daly’s name in the same sentence but it is those two that represent the aforementioned monikers. Jack Nicklaus is without a doubt the class of the game of golf and he once again showed why when he played at the Honda Classic Pro-Am. John Daly is most certainly the ass of the tour and his actions again showed why he has no close competition.
The Honda Classic is a tournament that was revitalized a few years ago when new management decided to revamp the classic tour stop. The Honda has found a home on the Nicklaus re-designed PGA National course and has even been able to recruit The Golden Bear to be part of the festivities. The people that run The Honda made a clever move when they made the Jack and Barbara Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation their primary charity. If you want to get Jack on board, give to his charity. It usually works. So the greatest golfer ever was asked if he would play and with the dollars from the Honda Classic going to his charity he was more than willing.
Nicklaus played with an amateur foursome that was stacked with big names and fanatical golfers. Drew Brees, Dan Marino and Kenny G filled out Jack’s foursome and were the highlight of the day at The Honda Classic. Nicklaus said he truly appreciates that the guys come out to help raise money and that the tournament couldn’t happen without the volunteers. “There’s a lot of guys that make the golf tour what it is. It’s not all the golfers. The golfers are certainly a very, very big part of the golf tour, but there are a lot of people who are volunteers who give of their time, people who work hard — if we had to pay for this, golf tournaments would never happen.”
Check out the video and watch Nicklaus at his self-effacing best. He says his game isn’t “for public consumption” but watch him hole one from the bunker. As recent events demonstrate, there are few things we can count on. But we can always be sure of this: the sun will rise and the sun will set and Jack Nicklaus will always be the class of golf.
At the opposite end of the class spectrum sits John Daly. For the past year we have been subjected to another of John’s comebacks. We have seen it before, he straightens his life out for awhile and then he backtracks into issues and trouble. This time it appeared like he may have actually turned the corner as witnessed by his lost weight and the way he has changed his personal life.
We all have been subjected to the bombardment of Daly promotions on The Golf Channel and we have seen Daly say that this is his last chance to get it right. Well, if Daly hadn’t used up all the good will he already had, he certainly screwed the pooch yesterday when he used his twitter account to attack a writer.
Garry Smits wrote an article on Daly that included a list of the PGA Tour’s disciplinary actions towards Daly. He recounts most of Daly’s problems on tour which included fines and suspensions for his unprofessional behavior. It is rare to have these facts become public because the PGA Tour never releases any of its disciplinary actions on any player. Daly’s record was made public because it was part of a lawsuit that Daly had initiated and subsequently lost. Now there was nothing new about the actions of Daly but it is the actions that the PGA Tour took towards Daly that made headlines. We all knew of Daly’s problems before this report. Daly would like us to think that this type of behavior was done with. This was supposed to be his final comeback. That was until Daly, at his own self-destructive best, pulled another bit that will most likely garner another fine. He posted the phone number of the author, Smits, on his Twitter account and told his followers to flood him with calls. Do I need to say how wrong, immature and unprofessional this is?
John has done it again. Just when you think he can’t sink any lower, he finds a new way to crawl even lower. This was just plain wrong. Daly needs to grow up but you have to wonder if he ever will. How many chances does a man get? I think Daly may have just used his last one.
It’s amazing that this game can claim two such talented golfers on the course while at the same time the difference between the two could not be any greater. Jack’s the class of golf while John does his best to remain the ass of golf.
If you’re a golf fan than The Golf Channel has to be a large part of your television viewing habits. Unfortunately for the past months Golf Channel viewers have been force to watch the relentless promotion of their two shows The Haney Project and Being John Daly. Both shows made their debut this week and of course I had to watch both of them, after all I would like to think that it is golf and any golf is better than most of the crap that saturates television. Man, was I wrong. There was plenty of crap even though it was sold under the guise that it was golf.
I will say that I liked The Haney Project with Ray Romano and Hank Haney. Having heard Haney speak live before and watching him work with Charles Barkley last season you get the feeling that he is a genuine guy and refreshingly humble for a man with his stature in the game. He is likable and all of us hackers can use each and every swing tip that comes from his lips. Ray Romano can be a little obnoxious if you ask me, but he appeared to be toned down and even affable enough during the show. Maybe it’s because Romano is playing our role, the ever optimistic golfer that thinks shooting par or getting to a single digit handicap is one swing tip away. We all know that’s the truth, we all keep hoping for that one magic move that takes us from Shankapotamus to Mr. Single, single digit that is.
For those reasons I’ll continue to watch Haney and Romano or at least DVR it so I can glean his tips and continue to live the fantasy that I can improve my game.
As far as John Daly’s show, Being John Daly, I wish my DVR had malfunctioned. Let me say that I am hoping that John Daly can set his life right and come back to play well on tour but more importantly live a decent and healthy life. However, I had a hard time with all the emotional guitar strumming and the soul bearing vignettes. I was looking for more Daly on the course, not the shots but the back story and the scenes that network television will not show. Daly hanging out with his buddies, packing for a trip or playing that damn guitar does not interest me. I did like his RV but his sitting around with his buddies while they tell him how great he is was a bit much.
Stories of redemption and comebacks are always attractive and can easily draw us in but as a good friend told me,” I was taught that a journey of redemption must be a path undertaken in humility. How humble is a man who has a mural of himself in his first moment of public glory painted on is living room wall and prominently featured in every TV promo?”
With the recent discovery of Daly’s disciplinary record on The PGA Tour it makes it more difficult to accept Daly as a sympathetic figure. Let’s face it: most of John’s troubles were all self-inflicted. I wish John good luck on the course this year, I hope he plays well and gets his playing privileges back. As far as his personal life I hope he continues to make the right choices and gets himself together. I just don’t need to watch it on The Golf Channel. I would rather be watching the reruns of Shell’s Wonderful world of Golf with Jack, Arnie and Gary. Now that’s some interesting television.
We certainly do not want for good stories in the magazines this month, be they virtual or print magazines.
Forget the “John Daly Comeback” it’s the “Chris Smith Comeback” we all should be following. The forty year old Smith returned to play after losing his wife in a car accident last year. He has spent the last eight months healing and being a full time dad. His return to the tour was met with heartfelt emotion by his fellow players, not scripted drama like Daly’s made for TV reality show.
Baseball hall of famer, Yogi Berra answers a few questions in Golf Digest. Berra won ten World Series Championships and his first contract paid him $5,000. I think the CSI guys in Florida found five grand in change on the floor of Tiger’s SUV.
Golf’s version of Yogi Berra, a guy that answers every question and has been around forever is Gary Player. The Golf Hall of Famer gives Global Golf Post the gospel according to Player. He says Tiger is to blame for his own mess and speaks of the problems with the youth of the world: their parents feeding them junk. He has the cure for jetlag and he should know, he’s flown over 15 million miles. He’s one of a kind.
Stephanie Wei has a good piece on her friend Ryan Moore on Golf.com. Moore is as independent a spirit on tour that has come along in years. He plays the game of life and golf the way he wants to. “I want to be 100 percent me on the course,” he says. “I want to be confident and comfortable, and I don’t want to be misleading the public, companies or sponsors. It had everything to do with being 100 percent confident in the clubs I had in my bag, comfortable with the clothing I was wearing. I simply wanted to be me.” Moore walks to his own drummer and the beat seems to be a winning one.
We’ve all the heard the saying “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out” which is a reference to the pugilistic nature of modern professional hockey. I think we’re approaching the time when we can say, without much exaggeration, something similar about a PGA golf tournament. The 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale, in what’s now called the Waste Management Phoenix Open, is more like a football game atmosphere than a golf tourney, at least in my mind.
When did booing become an accepted form of fan interaction on the PGA tour? Why do players need to placate the vultures there to keep them relatively quiet while they play out the hole?
It used to be that folks who overindulged in adult beverages were a distinct minority who were appropriately removed from the premises when their behavior became boorish. At TPC Scottsdale this Neanderthal behavior is, it seems, encouraged. This is done directly by the PGA Tour, the locals who put the tournament on, and the corporate entities who subsidize so much of the tour now with their hospitality venues.
Well on Sunday this seething cauldron of foolishness got it shoved back in its face when the ever stylish Ian Pouter gave the crowd the international signal for “Go Get Stuffed”. Poulter will take some heat for this but I think he’s more justified in his rebuff to the rowdies than he’ll get credit for from the talking heads and pundits who sup at the table of Prince Tim and the PGA Tour.
The arena that the PGA has built around #16 reminds us of the modern stadia that all modern team sports use to showcase their product. This is the latest manifestation of Tim Finchem’s “penis envy” issue as it relates to other sports, most notably NFL Football and NASCAR. The commish doesn’t seemed satisfied with the game of golf as it’s been played for several centuries, he’d rather turn it into some garish spectacle to help garner additional advertisement revenues generated by increased TV ratings from the casual viewer tuning in because there’s blood in the water. There’s a real downside to the headlong pursuit of riches, or the win, at the expense of integrity and identity. Just ask Al Gore.
I say they should tear down that arena at 16 for starters, sell only near beer or cactus juice, and invite Jack and Arnie to teach the PGA big wigs, staff and then the spectators at 16 some basic etiquette and sportsmanship.
So Hunter Mahan goes low on Sunday to steal the win at The Phoenix Open and finally get his 2010 season headed in the right direction. YE Yang blew it when he drowned his ball on the 17th and Rickie Fowler decided to use one of his best weapons and lay up on 15. His wedge came up too short for him to convert it for a birdie and overtake Mahan. We should get use to seeing Fowler’s name on the top of the leader board, he’s got some game. It’s Mahan’s first win since the 2007 Traveler’s and maybe this is the year he fulfills all the expectations that surround him.
Ai Miyazato pulls back to back wins to open the LPGA season. She wins the HSBC Women’s Championship to go with her season opening win at the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand. Miyazato shook off two straight bogeys to come back to shoot a respectable 69 but Cristie Kerr has to be kicking herself for the way she finished her day. She had the lead during her back nine but two poor drives caused her to bogey both 17 and 18. Recently she has earned the reputation of the best American closer but on Sunday she threw up on herself with those bogeys and it cost her the tournament.
The real excitement on Sunday happened right where the PGA Tour hoped it would: at the par three 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale. Each year the tour promotes the 16th as the loudest and craziest hole in golf. A few years ago they even surrounded the entire hole with bleachers and skyboxes to give it that “stadium feel.” The fans there are the loudest and most obnoxious in golf. They certainly aren’t ruled by the normal rules of etiquette that apply to fans at every other golf tournament.
The Tour and television encourage the fans to be loud and rowdy in an effort to make this tournament a little different and get more eyes watching it. The fans cheer a good shot and unlike anywhere else in golf, they boo a poor shot and find other ways to show their displeasure.
For years the Phoenix Fanatics have given it to the players that miss a birdie, fail to hit the green or three putt. They are not a merciful group and no one is spared from their venom.
Almost all the players say they like the hole and think it is good for golf to have such excitement at a single hole but I think most of them are just trying to be politically correct and avoid being the focal point of the wrath of the thousands of drunks that surround the hole. If a player came out and said that the hole is a joke and a disgrace, he wouldn’t make it out of the 16th alive. The hooligans fans would absolutely kill him, at least figuratively.
So yesterday the fans got a little taste of their own medicine. It started with a good shot by the always gregarious Ian Poulter. He put his ball in birdie range and was loudly cheered by the fans. But when he missed his birdie putt the cheers turned to boos and jeers. Poulter putted out to more boos and chants of USA, USA and who knows what else was being screamed at him. After he gave a thumbs up and a clap or two he gave the one finger salute back to the morons that populate the 16th. That’s right; the bird, flipped them off, gave them the finger. So maybe it isn’t a polite response but it is certainly the most appropriate. Those drunken idiots deserved it. While Ian’s at it he should also shoot that middle digit at the PGA Tour and Tim Finchem for perpetuating the Coliseum mentality at the 16th.
I’m all for the fans enjoying themselves and I don’t mind them having a few beers but the situation at the 16th crosses the line. After a day of drinking and partying at the 16th those fans are generally out of control. It’s about time the PGA Tour did something and I don’t mean about Poulter. He’ll probably get fined but what he did was no worse than what thousands of those fans do all day and they are all encouraged to be loud and obnoxious by the PGA Tour.
Maybe I’m in the minority but I tune in to watch golf and I really don’t care to see a bunch of liquored up, knuckleheads carry on. If I wanted to see that I’d turn on C-Span and watch Congress.
This time of year if you live in a cold weather section of the United States, playing a little golf is nothing more than a dream. But as many golf fanatics know there is that magic elixir that can satisfy the yearning for some birdies, divots and skins: The Golf Trip.
This week I have spent a few lovely days away from the cold and snow of New York’s Hudson Valley and been warming my old bones in the warmth of Tampa, Florida. Even though the natives down here are complaining about how cool it is, to us Northerners it is heaven.
I flew in Monday and played 18 holes in shorts, got 36 in on Tuesday under sunny skies and Wednesday’s 36 gave us all a little bit of everything: a cool morning, a warm pleasant mid-day and a little rain in the afternoon to test out our new rain gear. On Thursday Tampa braced for a cold front and high winds. Our early morning round was played in bright sunshine, temperatures in the 50’s and a wind that would make a Scotsman from Fife feel at home. The Tampa natives thought it was freezing but I thought it was pure heaven.
As New York digs out and deals with another storm that continues to dump more and more snow, I sit here reveling in the fact that we actually played all the golf we planned to and even got an unexpected bonus: an extra night in Tampa because our flight home was cancelled due to the weather.
A little warm weather golf in the middle of winter can be just enough to help us make it through to the start of a new season. I can’t wait.
As Phil Mickelson demonstrated at the end of the season, the putter can be a “weapon of score reduction.”After a few hours with putting guru Dave Stockton, Phil went on to win two tournaments and The Presidents Cup, putting lights out the whole time.The putter is the club that can reduce your score the quickest but at the same time it can be the club that causes us the most aggravation.
It’s critical to have a putter that fits you right, that allows you to make solid, centered contact with the ball and most importantly feels right.Feel is a critical aspect of putting and even golfers with the most mechanical of putting strokes recognize the importance of feel.
I have experimented with some putters over the years and determined that I like a little more weight in my putter. I have added a few lead strips to my putter head and have been sold on a heavier putter for years.
I recently tested a few of the “Mid-Weights” from Heavy Putter and found them to be quite suitable to my more weighty expectations.When Heavy Putter made its debut with the original Heavy Putters I tried those but found them to be too weighty and unsightly to look at.They looked like a piece of the Flux Capacitor that was left on the floor.No such issues with the Mid-Weights.
After listening to players and consumers feedback they have reduced the weight and made the Mid-Weights in the shape of many traditional and classic putters.I tried out the CX2, J2 (both Blades) and the H3 a Mallet.All three felt great.They had just enough weight to feel very comfortable and had that “swing by itself” feel.All you had to do was bring it back and the putter comes through the hitting area with a good follow through all by itself.That’s part of the thinking behind the Heavy Putter philosophy: heavier mass engages the body’s larger stable muscles, resulting in a more consistent pendulum stroke.
Each putter has a weighted shaft to better distribute the weight so it doesn’t feel like a sledge hammer and a thicker, mid-size grip that feels perfect in your hands.
The putter face is scored and the ball comes off the face with little skid and rolls true. The classic designs of the Mid-Weights make them easy on the eyes as you stand over your putt.Most importantly to me the putter feels right.It swings easy and gives plenty of feedback and feel.With a few practice putts you’ll adjust to the weight and before long it could be your “weapon of score reduction.”
In a recent poll taken by The Los Angeles Timesthey ask their sports readers, What is the best golf movie of the last 35 years? Truth be told there haven’t been that many golf movies and good golf movies are few and far between. The results of the poll aren’t surprising. Caddyshack was a runaway winner. Heck, that’s on many movie goers list of all time best movies, not just sport movies. I’d have to agree that Caddyshack is the standard that all other golf movies are measured against but they probably shouldn’t be.
Caddyshack has grown into a classic and its lines are quoted by golfers and non-golfers alike. It truly is more than a film. It changed comedy and culture with a “Cinderella Story” and an overzealous greenskeeper, not to mention the career of Rodney Dangerfield.
Second on the list was Tin Cup. Who hasn’t stood there on the course stubbornly hitting ball after ball from the same spot, just to prove you can make that one damn shot. Costner was good but Rene Russo was mighty fine.
In Third place was The Legend of Bagger Vance. People are confused when they say that Bagger was a golf movie. It was really a movie of redemption, forgiveness and spirituality. Golf was only the vehicle that allowed the characters to redeem themselves and find their “authentic swing.” The soundtrack is fantastic and serves as the trigger for the characters to feel their spiritual selves. I’ll take that and Charlize Theron any day of the week,
After those the quality falls off greatly. It’s a shame too because there are two of the best stories in golf that were butchered by Disney when they tried to make a movie that appealed to the masses. Unfortunately, The Bobby Jones Story and The Greatest Game Ever Played failed to capture the essence of the greatest golfer of his day and turned the most unlikely win in a major championship ever into a bad video game.
The rest of the list is a waste but Caddyshack, Tin Cup and The Legend of Bagger Vance will never disappoint you, no matter how many times we watch them.
In a recent poll taken by The Los Angeles Times 
