Putts from the Rough

PGA Championship

2005-08-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

With Ernie screwing up his knee a few weeks ago, I will definitely not make the mistake of picking him for this major (unlike the first two of the year). Once again, Tiger is clearly the favored based on his two majors this year, but several other players are hitting their stride. Vijay held Tiger off a few weeks ago at the Buick plus he does have two PGAs to his name and Goosen posted a W this past week at the International. I always like to see guys win a few weeks before majors. I will continue to include Mickelson in the mix just because is one of the best players of all time (even with only 1 major) and is in his prime, but don’t really expect him to win. Baltusrol has been stretched out to 7,392 yards and will play to a par 70. That immediately makes you think that a long hitter will win (Whistling Straits was over 7,500 yards last year), but in 1993 Lee Janzen won the US Open despite being an average length hitter. I think this year it will be a player who is at the top of the list in fairways in regulation and greens in regulation, i.e. leading in total ball striking. That usually brings three names to my mind, David Toms, Scott Verplank and Chad Campbell. Toms seems to be lurking this year. He won the Match Play in convincing fashion earlier this year but hasn’t quite put it together in the majors. Verplank is definitely a short hitter but is always in play and can probably hit enough greens in regulation to give him a legit shot at getting to 10 or 12 under. Campbell hasn’t done a whole lot lately but I think his game is built for the old style course that puts a premium on accuracy. One other name that I would throw in there is Jim Furyk just because he won a US Open, he has been playing better of late and he can flat roll it. Notice that I did not include any European players in the mix. Well, there is good reason. Sometimes the numbers speak for themselves. No European player has won a Major since Paul Lawrie at the 1999 British Open and the last year a Euro won the PGA was in 1930! Yes, 1930. So good luck to Darren Clarke and Sergio Garcia, you are going to need it.

One last thing, Baltusrol is a Par 70 that has two par 5s, #17 and #18 that measure a combined 1,204 yards. I am not aware of another course in the world that has only two par 5s that also happen to be the last two holes. You might think that this would lead to some fireworks coming in with players going for the greens in two, but 17 measures 650 yards which even today might be unreachable.

Developmental Tours

2005-08-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

Developmental Tours

This weekend while the PGA Tour was in Colorado using the Modified Stableford scoring system, I was focused on the Nationwide and
Futures Tour. The Nationwide Tour is getting a lot of publicity this year with the emergence of Jason Gore. I have written in the past about Jason, but need to add the next chapter to his story. After a mediocre 1st round of 71, Jason came back with a 59 which puts him in some elite company with Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Notah Begay and Annika Sorenstam. Jason was able to parlay his 59 into a win which was his third consecutive on the Nationwide Tour. He now will be exempt on the PGA Tour for the rest of this year and next. Look for big things from him probably starting next year.

I was also out at the Futures Tour event in Beltsville MD on Saturday. I was impressed with the play of the field on a golf course that was playing very hard and fast which is a departure from their typical course conditions. I was out following a friend who is exempt on the tour for the season. She has been struggle some this year but had two good rounds that provide some encouragement for the last few events.

Tiger, Wie and Gore

2005-07-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

Tiger’s performance this past weekend was quite impressive mainly because of his ball striking. He did hit a few wide rights, but for the most part hit nearly every shot exactly how he intended. The scary thing is that he won going away, but he really didn’t make any putts all weekend. Lots and lots of two putts. Of course, several of those were two putt birdies. He clearly has gotten his swing to where he wants it. The only thing stopping him from going on another run is his putting. He would have won the US Open if he had made anything. Instead he finished 2nd despite being at the bottom of the field in putting. When he starts making putts, look out. He might again become unbeatable.

As most know, Michelle Wie was competing this past week in the US Amateur Public Links. That’s the Men’s USAPL. I was impressed that she qualified for match play especially after she was T84 after the first round. I was surprised that she made it to the quarterfinals. Getting three victories in match play was a total shock to me. I did notice that in her matches that she was shooting around even par and in the match she lost her appoint (and eventual champion) was 4 under. I think that is where she will struggle if she goes against the guys full time. She seems to be able to make par after par on very difficult courses but I have yet to see her go deep on a relatively easy course. The guys she is playing against have the capability of going on runs and making 4,5 or 6 birdies in a row. I’m just not sure she has that in her game right now. She may develop it, but until then she should concentrate on junior and womens events. She’s got a good 25 years to challenge the guys.

Lastly, Jason Gore who became a fan favorite at the US Open has continued his excellent play. In the last two weeks, he has passed on sponsor’s exemptions on the PGA Tour to focus on the Nationwide Tour and it has paid off. He has gotten back to back victories and secured his Tour Card for 2006. He will now focus on getting that third win and the battlefield promotion. He will probably also play a few PGA Tour events now that he knows he will be out there next year. Congrats to Jason, he is a good dude who hopefully in 2006 will find his permanent home on the PGA Tour.

The OPEN

2005-07-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

The Open starts tomorrow at 1:30am ET and I barely have had a second to even think about who I think might win. Obviously, the Big Five is on the top of the list. Despite Goosen’s collapse at the US Open, I think he will play well this week. Tiger has to be considered the favorite given that it’s a major and it’s at the Old Course. I do not expect a no-name like Ben Curtis or Todd Hamilton (at least he had won on Tour first) will win this week. Tiger is my pick but a few other players I expect to be there are Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Sergio (he can hook it all the way around like Daly did). I would have included Paddy Harrington, but his father passed away and he has withdrawn from the tournament. My two dark horses for the week are Luke Donald and Tim Clark. I can’t give you a good reason other than they are two young players with a lot of international experience and games that I think should hold up well in majors.

The British Open might be my second favorite major behind the Master for the simple fact that I can roll over at 8am, turn on the TV and not get up for about 6 more hours. I look forward to a lazy Saturday and Sunday morning.

Sex Appeal

2005-07-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, Ty Votaw (LPGA Commish at the time) wanted to add some sex appeal to the LPGA in an attempt to draw more crowds and more TV viewers. He took a lot of heat for it because many felt that the quality play should carry the LPGA Tour. Well, the quality of play as increased but the dollars haven’t rolled in. Forbes recently published the top 5 woman with the highest income in sports. The top 4 were tennis players followed by Annika. The top earner was Maria Sharapova ($18M) who is not only a Wimbledon champion, but is very sexy. There are a few young players to join the tour in the last couple years who have started to add some sex appeal to the LPGA. Here are some of my favorites, unfortunately Ms. Paula Creamer does not have a website yet.

Natalie Gulbis
Erica Blasberg
Jill McGill
Paula Marti

Annika's Run

2005-06-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

I’ll go on record right now and say that Annika’s current run will be more impressive that Tiger’s run from 2000 through 2001. Not only that, I think that Annika will be able to sustain her run longer than Tiger did. If you look purely at the numbers, there was about a 24 month stretch where in 39 tournaments Tiger won 4 majors (out of 8 including the Tiger Slam), 10 other titles, finished in the top 10 another 12 times and never finished worse than T29. He also won six consecutive starts and set several scoring records in majors. Since the start of 2004, Annika, in 26 starts, has won 14 times, finished 2nd 5 times, finished top 10 another 4 times and finished no worse than T13. And let us not forget that she has won 3 of the last 6 majors. In both cases, they were chasing record books. Tiger was after Nicklaus’s 18 majors and Annika is chasing Kathy Whitworth’s 88 career titles.

The difference is that Annika has another level of golf to stride towards. When Tiger reached the top, it was at the top of the ultimate tour. There was nothing great for him to look towards. Annika has dominated the LPGA but she will always have the guys on the PGA Tour to chase. I’m not necessarily talking about playing on Tour, but just learning the game from them. It’s clear that the men and women play different games. The men play long, hard golf courses that require the players to hit every shot, especially the around the greens. The women tend to play shorter courses with greens that are softer and flatter. Last year Annika realized this. She bulked up (started a couple years ago) to add distance and she started playing with Tiger and other PGA Tour players in her off weeks. She learned how to hit every shot. Shots that she may never need to hit in an LPGA Tour event. Now she leads in driving distance at 274 yards (2nd is 268 yards), G.I.R. at 75.3% (2nd at 71.9%), rounds under par at 86.7% (2nd is 65.6%) and scoring average at 68.60 (2nd at 70.65). She is also 2nd in putts per G.I.R. at 1.72 and 8th in putts per round at 28.70 Yes, Tiger had similar dominating stats in 2000-2001, but he had no one to stride for, at least not anyone who was still playing. Whenever Annika needs a challenge, she can call her PGA buddies in Orlando, step back to 7,000 yards and get after it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are still talking about her run well into 2007.

Michael Campbell???

2005-06-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Despite having to work on Thursday and Friday and being in New Orleans over the weekend for Mr Irrelevant’s bachelor party, I did get to see a fair amount of the coverage including the entire final round. After Thursday, it was looking like the Big Five were all going to be in contention. Then Phil and Ernie shot themselves out of the tournament on Friday. After 54 it appeared that Vijay and Tiger were too far behind to catch Goosen. I was fairly confident that a two time US Open winner with a 3 shot lead on the field and 5 shots on any big name, would be able to hold on to the lead. Midway through the front nine it was looking like Goosen was going to be caught by Tiger and Vijay. Then Vijay makes double on eight and disappears. Midway through the back nine, Goosen was done and it looked like Tiger was going to pounce on Campbell. But Campbell remained solid. Tiger made two terrible bogeys on 16 and 17. If Tiger is a little closer to the lead, I wonder if Campbell would have birdied 17 to put it away. Campbell shot a 69 on Sunday to finish at level par (280) which usually gets you right there at the US Open. His play was solid at day and he, like most winners, rode a hot putter to victory.

There was a lot of analysis of Tiger’s swing. I have to say that he needs to work out the squat at the top if he is going to be consistent. His swing use to look so much more effortless and efficient. Now he looks like he is trying to muscle the ball. He did absolutely pound the ball on Sunday and he did lead the field in greens in regulation this week. Maybe he was right for the second time to change a swing that looked pretty damn good before. If he could have made anything he would have stolen Annika’s Slam Thunder at least until this weekend. Now as I said earlier, Tigers bogeys were terrible, especially the three putt. The ‘old Tiger’ would have never bogeyed two holes that late in a Major. This is the second time this year he has done this. Because Tiger birdied 18 in a playoff to win, I think a lot of people forget that he bogeyed 17 and 18 at the Masters to give DiMarco a chance. Tiger had the 54 hole lead at the Masters and for the first time when leading a major, his playing partner out played him the final round (68 to 71) I’m curious to see how he finishes the last two majors of the year if he is in contention. Is this the start of a trend or am I reading into things too much.

And lastly, I’ll stop picking Els to win. He’s 0 for 3 this year when I pick him. He did nothing this week. My other pick Toms, was looking like he could make a run. He was only 5 back going into Sunday, but like almost everyone on top of the board, he shot in the high 70s to finish well back. I think that he will get another major again soon. Maybe the PGA in August or maybe next year.

US Open

2005-06-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a long two months but the US Open is finally here. This year’s US Open is probably the most anticipated of the last decade because of a few storylines. First, whenever Tiger wins the Masters there will always be immediate talk of him winning the Grand Slam. Tiger is not going to ever do it; not with his competition elevating their games they way they have over the past two years. There will be a Slam this year but it will be by Annika (look for comments at a later date). Second, Pinehurst is probably the most unique course in the world because of the greens. It is definitely not a typical US Open course, not with the greens that are compared to an upside down bowl or with the Bermuda grass rough. Third, the champion from the last US Open played at Pinehurst, Payne Stewart, tragically died in 2000 in a plane crash. There will obviously be many articles and TV stories about the events surrounding his death and the impact it had on his family and the golf world.

When looking at the field, everyone is going to pick someone who is putting well. I can’t disagree with this but I think that it will be someone who’s striking it well, particularly their short irons. It’s a major so you have to be stupid not to think that Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Els and Goosen will be in contention. Outside of those five, the couple names that come to mind right now are David Toms and Chris DiMarco. Toms may have the best iron game on Tour. He has a major under his belt and he has been playing well most of the year. DiMarco just seems to be there at every major lately. I’m not sure if two consecutive playoff loses in majors helps or hurts him. But the guy is deadly with his irons. So if I’m picking right now, I’ll take Els out of the Big Four (plus Goosen), Toms and DiMarco and give you the field. If I can only take one guy, it would be Toms. I have been picking Els a lot this year and he has yet to get a win, so I'm going with Toms.

Booz Allen

2005-06-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

I made it out to the Booz Allen Friday morning with Mr Irrelevant. We checked out a few of the big names including Couples, Garcia, Els and Mickelson as they played the front nine. We also stopped by the driving range to catch the guys warming up for the afternoon. I even got a chance to chat with Tag Ridings for a few minutes. He had a rough first round but rebounded on Friday with a 66. He mentioned to me that he shot 66-69 at the US Open qualifier on Monday and didn’t get it. That’s pretty unbelievable that 135 didn’t qualify. Anyway, my picks for the week didn't fair too well. Couples missed the cut and Els was in contention until he took a ride on the bogey train on Sunday. I think the most interesting story from Sunday was Sabbatini and Crane on the last couple holes. Sabbatini is one of the fastest players and Crane one of the slowest. Crane caused them to get timed and it pissed Sabbatini off. I’m not going to excuse Sabbatini for being an ass on the last two holes, but I will say that there are a handful of players out there who need to pick up the pace.

Bombs Away

2005-06-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Victor Schwamkrug made his first appearance of 2005 on the Nationwide Tour this week. For those of you who don’t know Victor, lets just say that he F’ing kills the ball. I know that when you talk about long hitters the conversation is limited to John Daly, Tiger (pre swing change #1 in 1998) and Hank Kuehne. Well, Victor hits it further than any of them and it’s not even close. And he is trying to hit it further everyday. In 2004, he led the Nationwide Tour in driving distance at 327 yards. That was his average driving for the year. This week he advantaged 331.8 yards for two days. But the numbers don’t really tell the story.

In 2002, at the Knoxville Open, I witnessed the awesome power that is Victor Schwamkrug. On Monday afternoon, we were on the range getting ready to play a practice round while Victor was hitting some drivers. He started getting into a rhythm. Most of the players on the range were hit drivers that rolled out at the end of the range to the base of a row of pine trees. Behind the row of pine trees was a second row. Then there was a house. As Victor started getting into a groove, he started flying them in the pine trees. Then he started flying over the pine trees. Then he started pelting the house. I pulled out my laser and measured the base of the house at 363 yards. The next day we got to the range and saw a sign that said to aim away from the house because 3 second story windows were broken the day before. That’s 363 yards, two stories up! He is by far the longest hitter in professional golf. If you get the chance, see him play. I pray that he makes it to the PGA Tour one day.

LPGA's Million $ Bonus

2005-06-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Next year the LPGA Tour will institute a playoff for their last tour event the ADT Championship (similar to the PGA Tour’s Championship which features the top 30 on the money list) but there will be one major difference. The top two players after 54 holes of stroke play will play an 18 hole match for $1.0M. The Tour is trying to capitalize on the success that other sports have with their post-season in a manner that is similar to NASCAR’s Race for the Cup. There will be various ways to qualify for the 32 woman field with the emphasis being on majors, the Asian swing and consistent play in the lesser events. The LPGA is implementing this playoff system to boost the end of the year rating but more importantly to get their stars to play a more diverse group of tournaments throughout the year. Even more so that the PGA, the LPGA desperately needs their big guns to play some of the smaller events to boost ratings and secure the future of their tour. The LPGA has struggled to find an identity and this might be one step to help. Given that the average winner’s prize is about $200k a week, I think a $1.0M bonus might get the stars to play a few more tournaments a year.

Congo!

2005-06-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

This week is by far the best field the Washington DC Tour stop has seen since the early 1980s. The field has 3 of the Big Four and 8 of the top 10 in the world. The list includes other favorites at next weeks US Open including Goosen, DiMarco, Garcia, Furyk, Appleby, Cink, Janzen, Leonard and Harrington. Congressional is a great, old traditional course that use to host the Kemper Open every year and has hosted a PGA, a US Open and a Senior Open. This week I think that a player who has won on this course before will win again. That means that I’m talking about either Els or Couples. Couples won the Kemper way back in 1983 when it was played at Congo. Els won the 1997 US Open. The course will be set up hard but not nearly like an Open. Couples played too good not to win last week. Els has probably played the worst of the Big Four, but I think the comfort of Congo will help him get his game in shape.

Unlikely Champ

2005-06-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

I don’t think there was any point during the final round that anyone not related to Bart Bryant thought he was going to win. When you look at the list of players within two shots of the lead after the front nine, you probably would have picked Bryant and Green to finish the worst of the group. Usually in prestigious tournaments like The Memorial, the big names shine. And there were a few big names, like Tiger, Couples, Sluman and Toms. They all have a major and at least 6 wins each on tour. Granted Couples and Sluman haven’t been in the middle of the action on Sundays much lately, but when the are hitting it well, they have tons of experience to carry them to the top. On the back nine it seemed that Couples was destined to win. After he staked it on 15, it looked like he had a two shot lead, but he missed the eagle putt. Then he bogeyed 16 and Bryant birdied 17. An instant later, Couples hits an awesome approach on 17 out of an impossible lie while Bryant is getting a huge bounce with his tee shot on 18 that eventually finds the water. As surprised as I was that Couples missed his birdie, I was down right shocked that Bryant made par from the hazard. Congrats to Bart Bryant, that was one hell of a finish.

Most may ask what happened to the big names on the back nine, especially Tiger and Toms. When these guys made the turn and saw so many players within two shots of the lead they knew that they had to get to 15 or 16 under to win. So they started pressing. They started firing at pins and when they started missing greens they found themselves in the wrong spots. They walk a fine line between letting the game come to them and pressing to try to make birdies. That’s why you see a Tiger or Toms make 3 or 4 birdies quickly but then all of a sudden make a double. They are going for broke with every shot.

Before the tournament I predicted that Perry, Toms and Goosen would all be in contention. Well, Perry finished middle of the pack and Toms was leading early in the final round. Goosen wasn’t in the field which was a bit of an oversight on my part. In the future, I’ll be sure to pick players in the field.

The Booz Allen is this week. I will preview the field and the course this week. I plan on attending on Friday.

Gearing up for June

2005-06-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

It is finally June which means its time to start gearing up for the next major, the US Open. I am not a big fan of the two month wait between the Masters and the US Open. There are some good tournaments in between (Byron Nelson, Colonial and Memorial) but the Tour needs to rearrange the schedule. The change is simple, move the Players Championship from two weeks before the Masters to mid-May. The Players Championship has long been considered the 5th major, so why not give it May and use it to keep the momentum rolling from the Masters into the summer. The Commish has done an amazing job with the Tour (it’s that Richmond J.D.) but this change will help boost the Players and take out a mid spring lull.

We have a great stretch of golf coming the next 3 weeks. The Memorial is the week and all the usual suspects will be there. In previewing this tournament, I will go back to comments I made a few weeks ago after the Colonial. I think Kenny Perry will win. This course sets up well for him and he is playing awesome. This course favors the players who kept the ball in play off the tee and hit lots of greens. If you check out the Ball Striking stats (combination of driving accuracy, driving distance and greens hit in regulation) I think you will see who will be in contention this week. The three names that stand out to me are Perry, David Toms and Retief Goosen. Perry is #1 in both total driving and G.I.R. which is amazing. Toms is one of the purest ball strikers on Tour and given his final round last week, he might be ready for another win. Goosen is one of my favorite players. He is hitting it well and hopefully that putter is heating up. When he is making putts inside 10 feet, he is virtually unbeatable.

Next week is the Kemper (sorry, Booz Allen Classic) at Congressional CC in Potomac, MD. This tournament is in my hometown and is one that I have been attending for the last 15 years. In my teenage years, I volunteered as a standard bearer. You know, the kids who carry the signs behind the players with that group’s scores. Normally this tournament has a weak field because it is between the Memorial and the US Open and it’s played on a dog track known as Avenel. This year the field will be the best that I can remember because it is played at Congo (host of the 1997 US Open) the week before the US Open and is only about 5 hours from Pinehurst. Tiger won’t be there but Els, Mickelson and Singh are expected to play. They field won’t be released until Friday night, but I would expect to see a good 25 of the top 50 in the world teeing it up.

FedEx

2005-05-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend’s stop in Memphis looked like it was going to be a dud in the way of drama but it turns out the theme for the year is get a big third round lead and hold on for dear life. Leonard was running away with it after three rounds. He had an 8 shot lead and looked to be on cruise control. I guess it’s difficult to go into the final round with a big lead knowing that if you shot par you have it locked up. Leonard fires 3 over while Toms fires 7 under. Toms nearly caught him which would have set the record for largest lead lost heading into the final round. Granted, this is the FedEx and not the Masters in 1996 or the British Open in 1999, but it still would have been a top 10 choke. But Leonard held on and all that he will remember is this was his second win of the year and the $882,000 check that came with it.

As for checks, one of my boys DJ Brigman picked up $96,040 for a T12 finish. DJ has made a few cuts but has generally finished at the bottom of the money. This check moves him from 193 to 163 ($151,505) on the money list. He’s about a 1/4 of the way to the $630,000 he needs to get his card for next year. After the US Open, he should be able to get into every field for the rest of the year. I’ll be watching him closely. I carried for him in a few practice rounds and witnessed his infamous dance routine at a bar in Eugene, OR. The man put on one of the greatest 80s dances performances (while Scott Sterling from the Nationwide Tour sang Karaoke) I have ever seen. I remember an Oregon co-ed asking me how drunk he was and I had the pleasure of replying that he was stone cold sober. With moves like his, I can see how he won over Marisa, his wife and anchor for a local New Mexico station evening news.

Weekend Wrap-up

2005-05-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was all about golf. I was able to play on Saturday morning, get in a little practice on Sunday and watch both the Colonial and the Henrico County Open. I have not been playing or practicing much this spring and it shows in my ballstriking. I was awful off the tee but was able to hold it together with my short game. I did watch most of the Colonial and Henrico. Kenny Perry was quite impressive. In the first 70 holes, he had exactly 1 bogey and exactly 1 5 on his scorecard. This tournament showed that the old expression of ‘drive for show, putt for dough’ isn’t always correct. Perry is leading the Tour in total driving (distance and accuracy) but is not that good of a putter. When his is making putts inside 10 feet, he is one of the best in the game. His playing partner on Sunday is an even greater exception to the old rule. Mayfair may be the worse putter in the history of the Tour, but he sure can hit the ball. He averaged 15 GIR a round to finish 2nd despite having all kinds of issues with the flat stick. CBS kept showing close ups of his putting stroke. The scary thing is, his short back, pull up, top, yank is better than his old looped stroke. Good thing the man hits it solid every swing. Back to Perry, I will predict that he will be in contention at the Memorial again this year. In 2003 he won the Colonial and Memorial. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him do it again.

I was quite impressed with the play on the Nationwide Tour this weekend. The Dominion Club is a course that I played every Wednesday for four years when I was in college. I never broke 70 on it. Granted I never played it in the summer when it plays a lot shorter, but these guys absolutely tore the place up. If you shot a 6 under 66 in the first round you were T18. 5 under missed the cut. Those are difficult numbers for me to come to terms with.

One last comment, Paula Creamer won the LPGA event this week. Paula is an 18 year old who qualified last year for the LPGA through their Q-School. With all the talk about Michelle Wie and other youngsters in the womens game getting sponsors exceptions, its good to see a teenager qualify for the LPGA the old fashion way. I give her lots of credit and props for getting a win at such a young age (2nd youngest ever).

Friday the 13th

2005-05-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

It had to happen on Friday the 13th if it was going to happen. Tiger missed the cut at last weeks Byron Nelson for the first time in 142 events or 7 years. Its hard to put this in perspective. In 1998, when Tiger last missed a cut, I was still in college and so where current PGA Tour stars such as Charles Howell, Luke Donald, Hank Kuehne, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar. At that time, neither Howell or Donald had won an NCAA Championship and the world had not heard the story of Hank and his battle with alcoholism (which was chronicled with his US Amateur Championship). In 1998, the Big Four had exactly 1 Masters (Tiger) and 2 US Opens (Els). Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia were both still 18. And lastly, in 1998, the budding golf rivalry was Tiger and Duval, who seemed to be winning every other week. Tiger has already done some amazing things in his career, like winning four consecutive majors, winning six straight starts, setting the scoring record in every major, but to me this is the most impressive accomplishment of his career. You have to remember that most of those 142 starts were majors, WGC and marquee events like the Players, Memorial and Pebble. Granted there were a few events without a cut, but there were very few of the lesser quality field tournaments. I can confidently say that this is a record that will never be broke, unless Tiger does it himself.

Nationwide Tour

2005-04-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my profile, I caddied on the Nationwide Tour in 2002 where I gained an understanding of how good theses guys really are and how difficult it is to get to the PGA Tour and to stay on the Tour. I think this weeks Nationwide Tour Event in Virginia Beach is a perfect example of the Nationwide Tour's strength. There is an argument that if you took away the top 10 to 15 of the European Tour, the Nationwide Tour is better and deeper. Since 2002, I have been a believer of this thought. This week the Nationwide Tour is playing the TPC of Virginia Beach, a course that stretches 7,432 yards. If you look at the scorecard, you will see Par 4 after Par 4 that are 450 yards and longer. This course would rank as the one of the longest on the PGA Tour. The most interesting fact about this weeks tournament is that there are 35 former PGA Tour winners in the field including Wayne Grady, who won a PGA Championship, and Steve Pate, who has won 6 times on Tour and played on two winning US Ryder Cup teams. Some of the other former winners who you may or may not have heard of include:

Curt Byrum - Kenny Knox - Jim McGovern - Jay Delsing - Tom Scherrer - Keith Clearwater - Jay Don Blake - Gary Hallberg - Grant Waite - Garrett Willis

If the Nationwide Tour comes to your town, I recommend going out and watching. If you see the Tour on The Golf Channel, I suggest you watch for a few minutes. Not only will you see these players but you will see the future Tom Lehmans, Chad Campbells and Zach Johnsons. Catch out the action at
Nationwide Leaderboard

SBL

2005-04-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Once again, I was on Sports Bloggers Live last night. SBL talked about various sports topics including a wrap-up to the Masters. To catch my segment, tune in at Masters Segment

As I previously mentioned, I expect to be on SBL Mondays before and after the Majors. I recommend listening to Sports Bloggers Live every Monday Night at 7pm.

Augusta Delivers Once Again

2005-04-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

As usual there was an unbelievable amount of drama on Sunday at the Masters. This year there was definitely a twist to the story. The golfing world had grown accustom to Tiger chasing down the leader in the 3rd round and then squashing him in the final round. After Tiger shot 65 in the 3rd round, highlighted by 7 straight birdies on 7 thru 13, he had a 3 shot lead going into the final round. It appeared after two holes that it was over. He looked to be on his game with a massive 344 yard drive on #1 and two birdies to start the round. But DiMarco stayed very patient and just played his game, despite what Lanny Wadkins was saying, and put pressure on Tiger by just hanging around. I was quite impressed with DiMarco who clearly outplayed Tiger from tee to green. If he could have converted just a couple more birdies he would have won. The theme of the day was Tiger blasting drives 50 to 60 yards past DiMarco followed by DiMarco hitting 5, 6 and 7 irons stiff. His approach shots on 5, 6, 9, 13, 14 and 15 were amazing. The putter just wasn’t working for him. Tiger did what he had to do to win. I don't think he is back to where he was in 2000 and 2001. He may never get back to that, but he sure looks better. He still is hitting some loose drives and he did give up a 2 shot lead with bogeys on 17 and 18, but of course the only thing anyone is going to talk about is the chip on 16.

Below our my other thoughts for the tournament:

The chip on 16 was probably one of the 5 best shots in the history on of the Masters, given it was Sunday, it was impossible and it was Tiger. DLIII hit a similar shot a few years ago, but it didn’t get him a green jacket.
3 of the Big Four where there on Sunday. Not sure what happened to Els, who was my pick for the week. Quietly, Goosen finished 3rd, ahead on most of the Big Four and backed up my pre-tournament prediction.
I am surprised that Sergio missed the cut. He was another pre-tournament pick to be there but let me down. I was right on with DLIII and Paddy Harrington
Immelman’s ace of 16 on Sunday won me my pool for the third straight year. I needed him and DiMarco to play the last 4 holes -2 to get the victory and that is exactly what they did. Once again, my late round picks dominated my pool.
Amateur Ryan Moore is pretty impressive. He is the best amateur since Tiger. He swept the amateur ranks last year with victories at the NCAA Tournament, US Amateur and a few others. Now he has a top 16 at the Masters and an invite to the 2006 Masters. And he’s suppose to go to class at UNLV on Tuesday!

Finally, I have to devote a second to Lanny Wadkins. Lanny was a hell of a player but he is one crappy announcer. He repeated second guessed and dogged DiMarco on Sunday. First, he though DiMarco was arguing with an official on 8 but in reality he was asking for a new driver since the head on his came loose. Then he questioned his club selection on 10. He hit 3wd and had 235 left. He loved Tiger’s decision. Lanny failed to mention that the hole turns right to left and DiMarco plays the ball the other direction and he had a driver in his bag that clearly wasn’t his first choice. Result of the hole, DiMarco Par, Tiger Bogey. Then on 15 DiMarco did not go for the green from 219. He had a hanging lie and wasn’t comfortable with the shot. Plus he had hit everything close all day, so he laid up and still made birdie to halve the hole with Tiger. DiMarco played his game, he hit fairway after fairway and green after green. The result was a 68 on Sunday at Augusta while playing with Tiger. That’s something that no one else has done. I commend DiMarco for playing his game and for playing it so well. That is 2 straight playoff loses in Majors for him. He is now Top 10 in the world and clearly a favorite to be in the mix at the US Open.

Sports Bloggers Live

2005-04-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Night, Putts from the Rough was featured on Sports Bloggers Live as they spent a few minutes on their weekly show discussing the Masters. The plan is I will be on the Monday before and after every Major this year. If you want to listen to the golf segment, this will take you directly to that portion of the show. Masters Segment

If you want to check out the entire show, go to Sports Bloggers Live. You can hear their show live every Monday Night at 7pm through the website

Masters Pool

2005-04-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

For the past 20 years or so, friends of mine from the local golf course have done a Masters Pool. Two years ago I was finally invited to join the pool and have been quite successful in drafting a team. In 2003, I had a late 1st round pick and chose Mike Weir. Last year I had the 3rd pick and took Phil. Any pool where you have the champion usually results in you contending for 1st place. The rules of the pool are pretty simple:
- Maximum of 12 teams with each team drafting 6 players
- Standard snake draft format (1st pick in round 1 gets last pick in round 2)
- After every team drafts 6 players, the remaining players are bid on
- Prizes for low daily team (4 scores), daily low individual and for champion
(A player must make the cut for a 1st or 2nd round score to count)
- Side action with other teams is encouraged

Basically what happens is after the top 72 players are drafted you are left with the former champions over 55 years old, the amateurs and the ‘is Austin Eaton related to Mark Eaton of the Utah Jazz’ type guys. But you must have 4 players make the cut so the bidding gets kinda high for Ben Crenshaw, Sandy Lyle and even Gary Player.

This year pretty much everyone agreed you need a top four pick to have a chance. I drew #9 which spells trouble especially since I won the last two years and everyone wants some side action with me. Here is how my team unfolded:

Round 1 (#9) – Sergio Garcia – This was a no-brainer with the Big Four gone as well as Goosen, Toms, Weir and Olazabal. I would normally like Harrington but with his father dying back home, I don’t think he will be 100% there. Plus, on Monday I pick Garcia as a player to make some noise. He did fire a 66 on Sunday last year.
Round 2 (#16) – Chris DiMarco – I was eyeing Darren Clarke but he went the pick before. DiMarco has played well before at the Masters. It seems that the claw putting grip has held up for him on the glass the call greens.
Round 3 (#33) – Jim Furyk – This was a steal this late in the 3rd Round. He hasn’t quite regained his form after this surgery over a year ago, but he has won a major and he can flat out roll it.
Round 4 (#40) – Ian Poulter – He is another guy that I said you might hear from this week. For those who don’t know him, he’s from England, he has played on a Ryder Cup and he has some funky outfits and hair.
Round 5 (#57) – Chris Riley – He is probably the best player than no one talks about. He consistently finished in the top 30 on the money list and has played well in majors. He’s not a contender but his is a cut maker.
Round 6 (#64) – Trevor Immelman – I wanted Graeme McDowell here but he went two picks earlier. At this point it’s a total guess. Trevor has won a World Cup plus my boy DT caddied from him a few years back in the US Junior Am. It was either him or Ben Curtis (who has made 1 cut this year and about $9,000).

After that, it was all bidding. I jumped on Ryan Palmer as my 7th guy. Not sure why but you have to have more than six players. I don’t expect to have the champion this year but I think I got good picks later with Furyk and Riley. I just need at least 4 to make the cut to have a chance. Man, I pray none of these guys wins the Par 3 contest on Wednesday

BellSouth

2005-04-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Phil for getting his 3rd win of the year. He now has played in 8 tournaments, winning $3.65M so far. That’s was happens when you get 3 W’s, 1 2nd and two other top 12s. He is clearly playing awesome right now and in my mind is probably is a slight favorite over Tiger, Vijay and Ernie. I am a little nervous that the Monday night finish might have an impact on Phil this week, but on the other hand, he’s playing so well that it might make zippy difference.

A few other notes from the BellSouth -

Nice finishes for Lucas Glover, Frank Lickliter and Olazabal. Glover and Lickliter both dumped balls in the water on 18 to miss the playoff. I’ll cut Glover some slack since he has never been in contention on Tour before but Lickliter needed a birdie for the win or a par for a playoff but instead he yanked is second shot into the lake (and it wasn’t even close). As for Ollie, he missed two short putts that would have won the tournament. Not what you want to see going into Augusta.

I do want to give some props to my boy Tag Ridings. He struggled on the front nine but shot 30 on the back to finish T5 and pick up a cool $161,875. That moves Tag from 151 on the money list to 83 ($241,270). Tag is a guy that I know from my days of caddying on the Nationwide Tour. He's a really solid dude. A couple interesting things about Tag –
- He won the 2002 Midland Odessa Tournament when he holed a wedge for an eagle in the playoff.
- He shot 64 in the last round of the Chrysler Championship last year to finish T11 and to finish 125 on the money list, earning his Tour card for 2005. Can you say clutch?
- Earlier this year at the Bob Hope, he shot 3 under on the back nine of the third round with 2 pars, 4 bogeys, 2 eagles and a double eagle.

There are a few other guys on Tour this year that I know from my looping days. I will periodically provide updates on them throughout the season.

The Field

2005-04-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Obviously, if I was going to make a prediction as to who is going to be wear the green jacket on Sunday it would have to come from the Big Four. This is probably the only major I would say that I expect one of them to win because of the lack of depth to the Masters field, the fact that all four are playing well and 3 of the 4 have won the Masters with Ernie not having broken through yet, but having 3 majors of his own. The Masters is usually the most dramatic major of the year mainly because the leaderboard is so bunched entering the back nine on Sunday and so much can and has happened on 11, 12, 13, 15 and 18. I don’t expect this year will be any different.

Put them on the Board
Tiger – 3 green jackets, 8 majors, and starting to play like the old Tiger
Vijay – 1 green jacket and on a serious roll the last 18 months
Phil – Defending champ and playing better than ever
Ernie – Has been tearing up the International scene this year and due for a green jacket

Will make some noise come Sunday
Goosen – A couple more wins in the US and the Big Four becomes Five. Remember he has more majors than Phil. He putts too well not to be in contention.
Garcia – Not a big fan of his game or swing, but he should be on the board
Toms – Not a long hitter but one of the best ball strikers on Tour.
Ollie – Playing well at BellSouth and has two green jackets.

Could surprise some folks (but could be MC Hammers)
Ian Poulter – Trying to be the next Faldo, but with personality. His hairstyle looks like one of those nasty lies you see at the US Open.
Zach Johnson – In his first Masters he makes the cut and is within a couple shots entering Sunday.
Tim Clark – South African has shown signs of being able to hang with the big boys
Graeme McDowell – My sleeper pick. He’s a serious sleeper and serious Irish.
Ryan Moore – Best Amateur in the world. Has torn up every major amateur tournament over the past two years. Will like turn pro after US Open. Could be this years Kuchar or Wittenberg

MC Hammer (MC as in Missed Cut)
Paddy Harrington – His father is very ill back home. Not going to pull a Crenshaw like performance even though I’d love to listen to his post victory press conference just to see if I can understand what the hell he is saying.
Kenny Perry – Playing well but struggles on Augusta’s greens.
Fred Funk – Maxed out at the TPC. I’d love for him to compete but is too drained.
DLIII – Everyone loves his game but I think he’s going to play like Judge Smails

I’ll be back tomorrow with an update on how my Masters Draft went with a complete break down of my roster. I have won the pool the last two years which included picking the champion.

Augusta

2005-04-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again, March Madness is almost over, the weather is turning warmer, the grass is starting to show a hint of green, the new clubs are on order and all the talk in the golf world is about the Big Four and the Masters. Golf fans often debate which major is the best but for me there is no question its the Masters. Its the only major played on the same course which happens to be perfection, it is the first of the year, it never has a fluke winner, their is always an amazing ending on sunday evening and its aired damn near commercial free. Granted is it the weakness field of all the majors but it never fails to deliver on the weekend. I look forward to this year because their is not clear cut favorite. The Big Four have all won this year and seem to be playing well. It was disappointing that none of them made a run at the Players, but I still see all of them in contention at Augusta. No predictions here just yet, but they will follow soon enough.