The Sports Frog

OK, so that's overstating it a bit, but for those guys on the PGA Tour trying to lock up cards for next year, there is a lot at stake in the Fall Series. And, by and large, they've been doing what they need to do. Five of the past six events were won by players outside the #125 spot on the money list. The Top 125 retain full privileges for next season. The sixth event was won by Zach Johnson, who was #125 on the number when he won, though he was also already exempt owing to his Masters win.

The latest winner was Ryan Palmer, who last won in 2004. Palmer overcame a self-imposed penalty on the 10th hole, and a double-bogey on the 11th to win the Ginn Sur Mer Classic.

Also of note was that David Duval continues his upward climb back to decency. He made his fifth cut in his last ten starts, which , surprisingly for a Major Champion, is an improvement. Duval probably won't ever contend for Majors again, but if he can make it back to the Tour and find himself on the leaderboard a few times bfore calling it quits, it will be a great story.

Early Prediction: They try to convince Zinger to stay on as Captain, asking him to take the place of what would have surely been Payne Stewart's team if that wasn't in fact what he did this time around. Failing that, the list starts with Mark O'Meara and Davis Love III (a former PGA Champion), though Love might be better suited to not have to answer to the British media and wait until 2010 at Medinah. Also on the list: Corey Pavin (removing Fred Couples, whom I had forgotten is President's Cup captain next year.)

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that those four names will combine to be the next three captains at least. That gets us to 2016, at which point names like Jim Furyk and Phil MIckelson start getting in the discussion.

Jason Sobel is doing a Ryder Cup blog much the same as he has done for the Major Championships. Always some informative tidbits and analysis. He called 2-2 after the morning session in his preview yesterday, but I see it 3-1 Euros.

Other than the Anthony Kim/Phil Michelson pairing I don't really care for any of the groupings for the US squad. Sobel hit the nail on the head with the odd man pairing of Chad Campbell and Stewart Cink, and I also like the Kenny Perry/Jim Furyk team less than I should, as an honest-to-goodness Kentuckian. I think that Perry/Cink and Campbell/Furyk would have been better picks.

While the Hunter Mahan/Justin Leonard group does look good on paper, I am not sold on Leonard being back to his old ways. I hope I'm wrong.

I got a proposal for you. I know you've been thinking about sending out JB Holmes and Kenny Perry first thing Friday to get the Kentucky crowd rocking. And if yesterday's practice round was any indication, that would certainly get the job done. However, you set up this week's matches to have the foursomes (alternate-shot) first instead of the traditional four-ball matches being played first. Perry and Holmes don't make a great alternate shot team. In fact, and it pains me to say this, but Holmes isn't a great alternate shot for anyone except Tiger Woods, whom,you may have noticed, is not here.

Yes, Holmes is prodigiously long off the tee. That unfortuntately means that he will miss his fair share of fairways. No one is better equipped than Tiger to hit those greens from the rough - which at Valhalla doesn't look too bad unless you are fifteen or twenty yards from the fairway's edge. While Kenny Perry can also hit a lot of greens, he is a much straighter driver of the ball than Holmes and is not as acclimated to hitting those greens from the rough.

So, as a bit of advice that you can choose to ignore if you like, though I can't imagine why, I wouldn't send them out in the first foursomes match together. I'd send them both out in the first series of matches, but not as a team. Pair Perry with a Hunter Mahan - very similar players - or Phil Mickelson. Then stick Holmes with Steve Stricker, and though Stricker may still be hitting from the rough, who will at least have shorter shots than he is accustomed to out of the rough. The biggest benefit of that pairing however is that Stricker will be putting after approach shots from Holmes with shorter irons than Stricker would have from the same distance, and also that Stricker (after hitting approach shots from closer than he is used to) can assist Holmes on reads about the course when Holmes will be putting. For those not in the know, Steve Stricker is widely considered one of the top putters on tour and is often mentioned with Brad Faxon as one of the best pure putters of the past few decades.

A last benefit is that there are two groupings about the course to rile the fans up.

Now, for the four-ball matches, I'd absolutely send them out together in the first group in the afternoon. I just don't see them as great Alt-shot partners.

Rudy Giuliani's son is suing Duke University for being kicked off the golf team. His reason? "The coach has interfered with Giuliani's efforts toward becoming a professional golfer."

Sure seems to me like they made it easier. Saved him a whole bunch of time of having to play in amateur events, freed him to accept sponsorships, got him out from under the scrutiny of the NCAA.

Frivolity!

Soooo, Woods has been in pain for 10 years? 10 years?

The immediate thought upon hearing that news and that he is going to be pain free going forward is that the rest of the golf world is about to be in pain. But, how much better can Woods get? And, if he is used to playing in pain, will it somehow impact him negatively in terms of his swing in the brave new world of injury free?

Probably a stupid question. It's Tiger Woods. He'll figure it out. At any rate, Woods' swing coach has this thought:

"No pro would ever get a chance to do this, to take time off in the middle of a career," said Hank Haney, Woods' swing coach. "It's a little forced rest for him. No one can get him to slow down one bit -- now he has to."

Yeah, there's that. That at age 32, a guy who is notorious for pushing himself will be forced to spend some time relaxing.

I suspect, at some point in 2009, probably around the US Open, a pain-free Woods with a re-tooled swing will resume absolute dominance. In fact, at some point in the next few years, as he plays in his prime and does so pain-free, Woods will put together a year of dominance like he did in 2000.

Annika Sorenstam wasn't going to win yesterday, in what may prove to be her final US Open. She still figured out a way to get the biggest roar of the day at the 72nd hole.

Entering Sunday's round at Interlachen Country Club within reach of the championship trophy, she struggled in what could be her last 18 holes ever played in a U.S. Women's Open. The day had been riddled with bogeys, although the cries from fans of "Annika, we love you!" and "Annika, you are gonna win!" proved that a bad day was not about to erase her celebrated mark.

Sorenstam was five over for the round when she stepped to the 72nd hole, her 1,026th of her career at the U.S. Women's Open. The elusive championship nod was far outside of her reach. With 6-iron in hand, she rocketed the ball toward the green from 199 yards out. It took a big before the green and then two more smaller bounces before it kept inching closer to the hole. Then it disappeared for an improbable eagle.

Most legends go out with a final round of polite applause amid a flurry of duffs and whiffs on their way to an 82. If you're lucky, like Jack Nicklaus, you get to drain a birdie on the 18th at St. Andrews. Annika's leaving when she can still compete, if not at the levels she wants to compete.

Tournament 1AT (after Tiger) went to Stewart Cink at the Traveler's Championship. Yes, Tiger would not have played this event anyway, no, that doesn't mean that the rest of this season will be the same.

Jason Sobel lists five individuals/groups ready to capitalize on the AT era, Cink included. While the win is a highlight and locks up a spot on the Ryder Cup team (Captain Paul Azinger has said he wants guys that have won on the team), Cink was as close to a lock going into the event as anyone not named Lefty McManBoobs.. Now Cink has seven Top-10s this season and five Top-5s. Given that Cink hasn't missed a team event this decade, he stood a good choice to be a Captain's pick without qualifying automatically, Azinger's desire for winners notwithstanding.

The Ryder Cup subplot is, to me, the most intriguing line of the coming half-season. Even though Woods isn't a Ryder Cup machine, you still want the best player in the world on your team. That said, in the past, the big performances from Americans in team events have come from unlikely sources such as Woody Austin at the President's Cup last year and Scott Verplank in 2006 (undefeated in just two matches that year). Maybe an extra spot for a second-tier player is just what the American team needs. There will be less focus on individual brilliance and more on team play. The Europeans have had huge success relying on relative unknowns to steal points; the Americans may just have an extra unknown or three to try and stop European dominance.

Daily reports on Euro 2008 by Friend of the Frog Grant Wahl:

France-Netherlands. After one game Les Bleus was the Euro's most disappointing team and Holland its most impressive, which means reality is probably somewhere in-between. Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira should be back from injury for France (au revoir, Nicolas Anelka and Jeremy Toulalan), which should make things easier for Franck Ribéry to start being dangerous again like he was in World Cup '06. Meantime, Holland can't be expected to match the counter-attacking clinic it put on against Italy, although this Dutch team only knows one way to play: attack, attack, attack. Look for more of the same through potent midfielders Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart, but I also sense that the porous Dutch defense is going to show up here as well. France 2, Netherlands 2.

The lowest scorers, by and large, started on the back nine. It remains to be seen if that is due to the back nine simply being easier (Occam's Razor) or if softer, earlier conditions made some of those pins more accessible. And of course, the 6th hole is playing as a par 4 instead of a five this week, so you can really subtract a stroke from everyone's score on the front for apples to apples.

Edit: Screw William of Occam. It had to have more to do with softer conditions.

Sergio Garcia is my pick to win this week. There. I said it. Not groundbreaking, by any stretch, considering the Spaniard is coming off his career's biggest win (last month's Players Championship) and also a good finish, a tie for fourth, at the surprisingly high-scoring (read: low-scoring, I think) St. Jude in Memphis.

Garcia has played well before at Torrey Pines, carding a tie for eighth in 2006, which was the last time he teed it up for the Buick Invitational. In the past two seasons Garcia has stayed away from the West Coast swing a bit more, opting to really get going on the Florida stretch of the schedule. Still, he'll be drawing on his last appearance for confidence,. What he will have to do is block out a 4th round 75 on a day when an even par round would have won the event. It'll be important for him to draw on his performance down the stretch at the Player's instead.

Torrey Pines is long by every standard. So long as to measure longer than any other US Open course ever when measuring the max distance from the tees to the green, though the tees and pins will move each day and I doubt that there will be any day where all of the tees are all played at their furthest point. Sergio isn't in the category of the Bubba Watson, the longest player off the tee on Tour, but he also isn't Fred Funk, one of the shortest. What he is is a happy medium of the two. At the Player's Sergio's accuracy and length won the tournament for him, along with some dramatic putting and a great shot into the green on the last.

Sergio isn't the straightest, but if he's on his game, he can be for four days. Add in that he will probably be hitting three wood on many of the par fours to avoid running through the fairway and the chances of a good driving week go up. If he's in the fairway, his irons will be as good as ever -- he's 14th in Greens in Regulation percentage. He should find plenty of greens.

Which, of course, is where the fun begins with Garcia. Never a great everyday putter, he is one of the streakiest in the world. See only his Ryder Cup experiences for evidence. Too many times to count he's nailed a long putt to sink an American's hopes. So he can putt, it's just a matter of having it happen the right week. And that's about having confidence and nailing those Pau-Gasol-length par putts. Confidence is key on those shots, and Garcia will again need to draw on his experience at Sawgrass.

It all came together for Sergio at Sawgrass, another long and firm course. And while lighting doesn't strike twice, here's saying it happens again this week. After all, golfers are streaky by nature. Even Tiger is, he just happens to be in the midst of a streak that is eleven years long, so far.

You can have Tiger vs. Phil in the ultimate battle for Torrey Pine supremacy. I'll take Sergio. If he can put it together just a month after The Player's Championship, we can finally say that El Nino is living up to his potential.

Tiger and Phil to play the first two rounds together next week.

Please stop comparing Tiger Woods's current injury-induced layoff to that layoff after his father died in 2006. A few reasons:

1 - Even by even the most close-knit family's standards, Tiger was especially close with his father. His father was his motivation. His driving force. Then the reason that driving force moved from inside Earl to inside Tiger. Tiger's knee is attached to him, and probably still less close than his bond with his father.

2 - The loss of a parent, mentally, to borrow from Jules, isn't even the same fucking sport as rehabbing a knee. There's no funeral to plan, no grieving relatives to console, no internal struggles with coming to grips about life without a father who had been such a monumental part of your life. I doubt Elin is wondering where the next meal is coming from because Tiger's had to miss a few weeks of competition.

Let it be said that his head was in the wrong place at Winged Foot. That shouldn't be an issue this time around. So please, just stop it. He'll either be fine, or he won't. The US Open will take place, Tiger will play and he will contend or not. It's happened before.

Hiring the Special One to be their new manager.

"Mourinho, who was sacked by Chelsea in September, has been out of the game since then, biding his time until finding a suitable role to take."

Out of the game? Hardly.

But I don't think you can disrespect Jack Nicklaus at his own event and not expect some backlash. From Jason Sobel's Weekly 18:

We weren't on site at Muirfield Village this week and didn't hear anything about this after the fact, so we're inclined to give J.B. Holmes the benefit of the doubt. In case you missed it, the FBR Open champ walked off the 18th green on Sunday, looked in the direction of tournament host Jack Nicklaus ... and then looked away and walked right past him.

We gave the incident a few rewinds on the DVR and if a picture tells a thousand words, it was apparent that Holmes (who had just completed a final-round 5-over 77 to finish T-20) wanted no part of the tournament host as he headed toward the scorer's trailer.

If any additional news comes into the W18 desk, we'll follow up with further information in coming weeks.

Kenny Perry did a little better as a Kentuckian in the event, winning for the third time. He's probably wishing that Muirfield Village would get a Major. Especially since he's skipping the US Open this year.

In other sports, things are fluid when generations turn over. At least more fluid. In golf, due to the ability to play well at ages well past competitive age in other sports, it's not as fluid. When I really started getting into golf around 1992, Fred Couples was winning The Masters Tournament. Fred's still playing, albeit on a limited schedule.

The same names have been popping up on the leaderboard for many, many years. Love III. Mickelson. Singh. Els. Then DL3 drops a bit. Singh hasn't been contending. Els is trying to figure his game out. Mickelson still pretty much a factor every time he tees it up.

And then yesterday, Ryuji Imada defeats Kenny Perry in a playoff to win the AT&T Classic. A little symbolism there, when the guy in his early 30's looking for his first win on Tour beats the guy in his late 40's looking for his 10th tour title (Last week's victory by Garcia doesn't really qualify, because my all accounts he already has a more successful career than Paul Goydos). Imada isn't as young as the 20-somethings who have recently won events on Tour (Anthony Kim, Garcia, Adam Scott, J.B. Holmes, Sean O'Hair), but maybe he's part of the new generation.

He's certainly not a part of the older generation. The game is changing. Try to keep up.

Annika Sorenstam plans to retire at the end of the season. A season in which it appears she is back on track, as she and Lorena Ochoa were forging a rivalry, the two having combined for nearly all the wins on the LPGA Tour this season.

Curious, indeed.

But this quote sticks with me:

"I want to thank Tiger for not being here...that always makes things a little bit easier."

That quote tells you what you need to know about Garcia, if not the rest of the Tour. At some point, you have to quit worrying about The Man. Garcia has all the talent in the world and may have the best game tee to green on Tour. If he can ever get a handle on his putting (which he showed in flashes this weekend) then he would be a rival of Tiger's. The rest of his game is that good.

And also, don't give me the crap that Paul Goydos gave it away. Sergio hit it to four feet. He was winning that tournament. He actually willed this one, which is nice for a guy who hasn't shown the mental strength he needs to if he wants to be among the game's best.

What could be better than watching The Masters for four days a year? Watching it for five!

The annual Par 3 contest will be televised for the first time ever this afternoon on ESPN. Tiger's sitting it out, but most players will get in on the event and try to lose. For those not in the know, no one has doubled up on Par Three Champion and Green Jacket in the same year.

If I'm Joe Grinder and made it into the field this week, I'd be trying my best to win this event. Why, when it's such a bad omen? Because then my name would be forever inscribed at Augusta National. That's not such a bad thing.

Not your brain, but the muddled playoff picture yet to come into focus in the NBA playoff picture. Twelve teams are locked in (seven in the East, five out West), but only the top three in the East (Boston, Detroit, Orlando) are locked into their seeds. Over the remaining 78 games spread over the next nine days, the last few spots will be decided. Here's a brief look at how things will play out.

Eastern Conference

Cleveland is in fourth, 19.5 games out of the one-seed. Washington is in fifth at 21.5 out, Philadelphia in sixth at 22.5 out, and Toronto is in seventh at 23.5 out. Atlanta has the final playoff spot all but sewn up, holding the eighth seed at 25.5 games behind, but three games ahead of New Jersey.

(At this time, I would like to apologize to the Philadelphia 76ers. I had them picked to finish 14th in the East in the preseason. Whoops. Chicago, my preseason conference champion, you get no apology. You should be apologizing to me. Now, back to the predictions, if making more predictions is not a bad idea.)

Continue reading "The Gray Area" »

Than when winning an event also gets you into The Masters?

"Sounds funny, you know, even saying it," Wagner said. "I don't care if I shoot 90 both days and miss the cut. I'm so excited to be there and it's just a dream come true."

That's the cachet that the other Majors don't carry. There are exceptions, but they only prove the rule. The Masters is the one everyone thinks about winning. They think about pulling that Green Jacket on in the Georgia Twilight. They think about a Tuesday Dinner with Jack, Arnie, Tiger and the ghosts. They think about a double-eagle on fifteen. They think about bridges that are more than just a way to get across the water. They think about White Dogwood, Golden Bell, and Azalea. They think about breaking the Shark's heart with a chip. Mickelson throwing a monkey off his back with one tiny jump. They think about a Nike swoosh hanging interminably on the lip of the 16th hole. They think about hanging your head and crying for your old teacher when the final putt drops. They think about a 46-year old Bear coming out of hibernation for one final Spring.

A tradition unlike any other, indeed.

Three back of the leaders at the Doral as play was suspended due to rain yesterday. He had finished 11 and still had seven holes to get in this morning. Man, he started the round one back, and had fallen to three back as the third round unfolded. Clearly he sucks.

Heh. It's hard to type that and not laugh at the absurdity of it.

In all seriousness, his round being at even through 11 was a disappointment on a day when scores were being made. At the least, Vijay Singh was making scores, hanging -8 for the day on the board to pull even with Woods. Your leader? Geoff Ogilvy, three up on Woods. Adam Scott one behind Ogilvy.

As for Woods? People will tune in to watch today. As they always do when he is in the hunt. As for the hype around Woods' sustained excellence to end 2007 and start 2008, this 'graph from espn.com's Bob Harig captures the insanity:

"Regardless, the 11 holes Woods managed to complete in the third round served as a stark reminder that running the table, winning the Grand Slam, matching Byron Nelson's consecutive victory streak are feats that remain more fantasy than reality."

Ah, ya think so, doctor? Good lord. People need to get a grip.

As for Woods, something fun to read here - a 1991 SI article on the 15-year-old Woods (thanks for the heads up to Swamp all-timer Dave). A nice reminder that Woods has actually met the seemingly impossible hype.

SI has stumbled across the rather obvious idea to make its 53 years of content searchable and readable on-line. A great thread discussing that decision is underway at the Swamp here.

"My whole goal for him was he's got to show me golf is the most important thing in his life," Harmon said from his golf school in Las Vegas. "And the most important thing in his life is getting drunk."

I'll give you one guess who he recently dropped as a student. Hint: He's got tits, but it ain't Phil.

Don't kill a bird with a golf shot on purpose. I know this has gotten a lot of play in the Swamp and I am very late posting, but the comments I found on PGATour.com are inane. Isenhour says there is now a lot of unwanted attention. Well, yeah, you deserve it. He also said the shot was one-in-a-million. More like one-in-ten, which is about how many shots he took at the bird before killing it. Also this:

"I can't deny the accident did happen, but we tried to do everything we could after it happened to make things as proper or right as we could,'' Isenhour said."

IT WASN"T AN ACCIDENT! YOU TRIED TO HIT THE BIRD!

Jesus. If you don't want attention that comes with doing something bad, don't do something bad!

Looks like Tiger Woods has virtually clinched a spot for on the 2008 Ryder Cup team. Now he doesn't have to depend on Paul Azinger picking him with a Captain's choice.

In other news, Woods has also clinched a spot in whatever other team event will occur in the next 15 years.

Also, Boom Boom and the Shark are the new President's Cup Captains. Solid. Good picking there by Dubya and whoever is the president of the rest of the world that isn't Europe. Yeah, I used a joke over. Sue me.

Quick predictions for assistant captains - Davis Love III for the US team and Nick Price for the Internationals.

I watched a lot of golf this weekend, due to a) liking to watch golf and b) being mostly immobilized by illness. This led to my tuning in for coverage on the Golf Channel, which is something I rarely get a chance to do. It took about two holes of the Match Play final yesterday (outlined below by our own Tiger) for Kelly Tilghman to mention that it was an All-Nike final, plus that K.J. Choi and Justin Leonard had also made long runs as Nike endorsers.

Then she mentioned it again. And again. And again, even mentioning Tiger's endorsement for the Sumo Squared driver for the amateur, though he himself had not made the switch yet. Then it came up again.

I'm sure Nike was loving it, much more than if their exposure had been limited to the shirts, hats, and balls of the finalists. Here's the thing: I don't think it gets mentioned at all if it had been an All-Callaway final or an all-Taylor Made final. It seemed calculated on Tilghman's part to KEEP bringing it up. Mention it once, fine. Twice, eh. Three times, it's become a pattern and seems to smack of an agenda.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that she had some ulterior motive. I only wish that Nick Faldo had never recanted his statements that Taylor Made had performed better in tests than Nike. Although I understand that he probably had to, because he is a Taylor Made player and there was a definite conflict of interest there, not an implied one. However, if Tilghman was going to keep bringing up Nike, I think Faldo should have been able to separate himself on the golf course form the announcer and say whatever came to mind, especially when it was backed up by published research (although, depending on the test, different companies come out looking better or worse).

I hope I'm wrong. I can't verify anything with regards to Tilghman, but her constant mentions of Nike left a bad taste in my mouth.

He won the WGC Match Play dealie yesterday, destroying Stewart Cink 8 and 7.

That makes it:

---Three straight WGC wins, five the last six, and seven of the last 10

---Four straight PGA tour wins, and six of his last seven

I'm with Stewart Cink on this one:

"It says he's the best that's ever played."

Yes. He is. I don't care if he ever gets past Jack Nicklaus' career majors mark (although I fully expect him to). That is beside the point now. Woods has become in his golfing prime everything anyone could possibly have hoped for. Still long off the tee, great course manager, ridiculously good short game, and steady putter. There has never been anyone better. Not Hogan. Not Nicklaus. Not Palmer. Not Jones. Not even fair at this point.

Bob Harig tries to find new words on on espn.com here.

Steve Elling on sportsline.com says Woods is playing better right now than he did in his magical 2000 run of excellence. Yup.

The simple PGA equation for tournaments where Woods shows up: he merely has to be good, everyone else has to be flawless.

True dat.

A stunning 26-22 through the first 48 matches. Stunning as I can't believe how poorly I've done. Then again, I watched less golf last year than I can remember, so I'll just chalk it up to being out of practice. Need to get in mid-season form. On to the latest predictions.

Woods d. Baddelley 1 Up - Woods has had his tough match. Badds isn't the one to stall this train. That honor might just go to:

Choi d. Casey, 2&1 - Eventually Choi will be given his due!

Byrd d. Stenson 1 Up - Byrd on a roll, and there is often a very low seed that makes it to the semis. My pick now is Byrd.

Weekley d. Aquaman 2&1 - This one could easily go either way. Liked the pluck shown by these two beating more talented players yesterday. The post match quotes on this one will be the best of the round.

Appleby d. Leonard 1 up (extra holes) - Appleby having a good start, Leonard looking like the Leonard of old. Best match of the day.

Pampling d. Singh 3&1 - The Rod rolls on.

Stricker d. Cabrera 4&3 - Stricker gets the putter working early. He's won this event before.

Cink d. Montgomerie 3&1 - Just because.

Not so hot with yesterday's, but I'll make up for it by going a perfect 16-16 today. EDIT: Not hot with round 2, dropping to .500. Third Round Predictions Shortly...I know you cannot wait.

Woods d. Oberholser - 4&3 - Oberholser will only be playing his second round of the season and Tiger will be feeling pretty good about turning the match yesterday around against Holmes.

Baddeley d. Toms, 1 Up - No real strong feeling either way. Toms is good in this format, but Baddeley will be too much today.

Casey d. Dredge, 1 Up - The classic England-Wales match-up goes to the Englishman, exacting revenge for Wales's victory in rugby a few weeks ago.

Choi d. Poulter 3&1 - Choi rates better than Poulter.

Romero d. Byrd 1 Up - Stab in the dark.

Stenson d. Immelman 2&1 - The defending champ ousts the last remaininf South African.

Scott d. Austin 3&2 - Aquaman succumbs to talent.

Garcia d. Weekley 5&4 - Garcia's match play prowess too much for Weekley. Boo then challenges Garcia to a skeet shooting competition.

Appleby d. Mickelson 1 Up - Though I love Phil Mickelson...never mind, that hurt too much to type.

Westwood d. Leonard 2 Up - Westwood still seething over Leonard's reaction at Brookline nine years ago against Olazabal.

O'Hern d. Pampling 6&4 - O'Hern likes match play.

Fasth d. Singh 1 Up - Singh just isn't where he needs to be with his new swing.

Mahan d. Stricker 1 Up - The sleeper pick rambles on, proving to be a heartbreaker for Stricker, who wonders why he ever considered going to California. Whole lotta love for the young American.

Donald d. Cabrera 1 Up - Stab, again.

Montie d. Howell III 3&2 - Montie just like match play. Howell just isn't that great.

Cink d. Harrington 1 Up - This one could go either way, but Cink gets the nod.

(correct predictions in bold - not scoreline, just victor. Incorrect in italics. What do I look like, a soothsayer?)

Woods d. Holmes, 4&2
Oberholser d. Weir, 1 Up
Johnson d. Toms, 2 & 1
Baddelly d. Calcavecchia, 4&3
Sabattini d. Dredge, 2 up
Karlsson d. Casey, 3 & 2
Choi d. Villegas, 1 Up
Hansen d. Poulter, 2 up
Els d. Byrd, 1 Up
Romero d. Goosen, 2&1
Allenby d. Stenson, 5&4
Immelman d. Katayama, 1 Up
Scott d. Jones, 2 Up
Austin D. Taniguchi, 1 up
Garcia d. Senden, 3&2
Kaymer d. Weekley, 1 Up
Mickelson d. Perez, 4&2
Appleby d. Clark, 2&1
Leonard d. Ogilvy, 1 Up
Snedeker d. Westwood, 3&2
Rose d. Pampling, 5&4
O'Hern d. Verplank, 2&1
Singh d. Hanson, 2&1
Green d. Fasth, 1 Up
Stricker d. Chopra, 3&2
Mahan d. Stern, 4&3
Hansen d. Cabrera, 1 Up
Donald d. Dougherty, 1 Up
Furyk d. Montgomerie, 1 Up
Ames d. Howell III, 5&4
Kelly d. Harrington, 2&1
Cink d. Jimenez, 1 Up

Minimum of 28 correct. Book it.

And if you're interested in another opinion, though I don't know why, check out Jason Sobel, who put just a skosh more time into his analysis than yours truly.

UPDATE: 18-14. Just above half. All luck!

And not the Joe Lunardi type. The PGA Type.

The interesting first round matches include:

Ryder Cup teammates Zach Johnson and David Toms - Toms is down to a 13 seed, but is a tough enough competitor in match play to be a tough out for anyone, and Johnson hasn't exactly set the world afire since winning at Augusta last season.

BWTHNWM K.J. Choi faces off against Camillo Villegas - Villegas needs a strong showing at a big result if we are to think he's anything more than another pretty face.

Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie - Two Ryder cup stalwarts will go at it. Montie loves this format, but Jim Furyk is as tough as they come. There's a reason he plays well with Tiger Woods. All business on the course.

Other tidbits:

- South African buddies Ernie Els and Retief Goosen could face each other in the second round.

- Mike Weir, who beat Tiger Woods in the President's Cup singles matches last fall, could face Woods in the second round if Woods defeats J.B. Holmes and Weirs wins as well.

- Steve Stricker is a #1 seed. Really? Just a phenomenal career turnaround for Stricker.

- Bradley Dredge, consider me your #1 fan tomorrow.

- My sleeper pick for the event is Hunter Mahan. As an eight seed, he will have to go through Stricker, whose putting makes him a tough out in Match Play, but other than Stricker and Furyk, the Sam Snead bracket is the weakest of the four. Mahan makes enough birdies to be in business for several rounds.

Phil Mickelson is like Tupac. All West Coast and shit. Plus their physiques are quite similar. Not muscles, mind you, but rather body art. Where Tupac has "Thug Life" tattoo-ed across his midsection, Phil has "No Bogeys, Please, Golfing Gods" because there is considerably more room for words.

But really, Phil looks a bit more trim these days.

Maybe he's really HDO from the Swamp Weight Loss Challenge.

Naming rights. I wish that this week was the LA Open, or at worst the LA Open presented by Northern Trust, not the Northern Trust Open. This history of these events is sullied by removing the traditional names. That's part of why I can stomach the ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but I hate the FBR Open.

The PGA Tour does a disservice to its events by selling out. I understand the motives, but I hate it nonetheless. Serve the history, give a shout out to the sponsors as an afterthought, not as a headline.

KJ Choi is rocking the leaderboard right now.

He was in Dubai per usual for the tournament there. He was down after three rounds. Four shots. He looked buried at the turn.

Then he birdied five of the last seven holes to finish at -14 and watched as Ernie Els wilted under the charge.

Needing a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff, Els hit his tee shot into the water and made bogey.

Ouch. I think I will go ahead and slide Els into the he's-Tiger's-mental-bitch category for the rest of 2008. And no, fatherhood doesn't seem to have slowed down Woods at all.

Up 8 strokes on the rest of the unfortunate bastards who showed up at Torrey Pines. His fourth highest three round lead of his career and highest since his insane 2000 season. Still no mercy rule in golf, so everyone will show up for a nice Sunday stroll around the local public course in San Diego. Unless it pours, which it is supposed to do. So perhaps a Monday stroll around the course, then. Or perhaps they could just hand him the trophy now and head home. Or talk him into this suggestion:

"I think he ought to just play with a 2-iron," said Boo Weekley who is tied for fourth, 11 shots back. "That's it. Just 2-iron and that's it."

Worth a shot.

I mean, we all know that's true, but, damn, he's set on making it an early reminder. Every year is Tiger's year, but this year is REALLY supposed to be Tiger's year, as people are murmuring, in a year where the majors are set up for his game, whether he can pull off the calander slam.

Let's just say, based on what he is doing to the field through two days at Torrey Pines, that talk is relevant.

The other good story? His playing partner today. Kevin Streelman was the last alternate into the field. I am guessing a top 20 (or better) finish would mean a LOT to that guy.

...people watch.

Well, duh.

But it is proving out in numbers that are really staggering. From the LA Times:

"The ratings tell a story that begins and ends with Woods. According to research that traced Woods' effect on television ratings in 2007, tournaments in which he finished in the top five had a 171% increase in CBS' ratings over those in which he did not play or wasn't in contention. The ratings were 4.6 compared with 1.7. In similar tournaments on NBC, the ratings increase was 59%, or 3.5 compared with 2.2. The two-network average showed an increase of 111%, or 4.0 compared with 1.9. Rob Correa, senior vice president of programming for CBS Sports, said Woods' influence on ratings is at least equal to any of the greatest figures in sports."

A survey of, um, "me", confirms the truth behind these numbers. Tiger plays? I watch and am interested. Tiger doesn't play? I don't watch and don't care what happens. Apparently I am not alone. By a long-shot.

Per usual, John Daly found himself unable to actually finish a golf tournament he had started, dropping out of the Hope after the third round. And, as usual, it looks like it was because he still rather enjoys living life more than playing golf on regular sleep. Or not hungover. Or sober. From the LA Times:

" Daly's couldn't make his 9:33 a.m. tee time in the celebrity field at the Classic Club, where he was to play in a group with actors Cheech Marin and Don Cheadle. Classic Club pro Dan Kempton filled in for Daly. "Obviously we'd like to have him here, because this is our marquee day, when the celebrities hit the Classic Club," tournament director Mike Milthorpe said.

Daly has been a regular this week at the Hope's tournament parties. He attended two more tournament parties Friday night, including an after-party, and told one local reporter to ignore the fact that he was drinking. At the first party, Daly sang "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" in a duet with Alice Cooper. Eyewitnesses said Daly was helped out of the after-party by an unidentified man.

For the record, Daly went with "rib injury" as the reason for his quitting this time around. Amazing what a career he has had. Amazing what a career he has thrown away at the same time. At least he looks like he is having a good time while doing it, but I hope I don't hear interviews with him a decade from now with Daly expressing regret for what he pissed away. If you are going to be a public embarrassment and so proudly fail to grow up, might as well embrace that.

Try this on for size: eighteen PGA tour players made the cut at this past weekend's Sony Open, yet didn't get to play the final 36 holes. It wasn't because of a rash of food poisoning, though that ailment did cost Kennie Ferrie his final two rounds. Ferrie was actually worse off for having to withdraw than those who fell victim to a new PGA Tour rule. From Bob Harig:

Regular PGA Tour events, which typically start with fields of 132, 144 or 156 players, have long had a 36-hole cut with the top 70 players and ties advancing to the final two rounds.

But in November, in an effort to keep field sizes smaller, the PGA Tour Policy Board enacted a new rule: The top 70 and ties still make the cut. But if the cut exceeds 78 players, only the number nearest to 70 continues in the tournament.

In the case of the Sony, there were 87 players who finished at even-par 140 or better. The nearest number to 70 was 69 players at 1-under 139 or better. So 18 players were credited with a made cut and paid $9,699.

I like the idea of making rounds shorter, I really do. And yes, rarely does a player come back from making the cut on the number to win a tournament -- but it does happen(check out #4 on the Weekly 18 from Jason Sobel). So while rarely does a player come back to win, they still would have had two rounds to substantially improve their winnings, spot on the money list, and their standing in the FedEx Cup.

From later in the Harig article:

Some have suggested making cuts the top 65 and ties or -- in the case of a tournament that exceeds 78 players -- let them all play on Saturday and have another cut to 60 and ties for Sunday.

And if that's not enough, Harig and Sobel covered this an other topics in their Alternate Shot segment, in which Sobel discusses the possibility that KJ Choi may be the BPTHNWM. Which, ahem, isn't news to me.

The first full-field PGA Event tees off today at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Naturally, the hype is centered around a certain professional teenager who received an exemption to play in the event.

No, not that one, this one. Tadd Fujikawa made the cut in last years event on the strength of a 36th hole Eagle, then surged to the Top 10 at the beginning of the final round only to falter slightly and end up 20th. Not bad for a then 16-year old kid.

The tournament is held at the Waialae Country Club in the Hawaiian capital.

Daniel Chopra won the Mercedes Championship last night in prime-time, in a playoff over Steve Stricker (who is looking like the mid-ought's version of Vijay Singh). Chopra becomes the latest winner in a stellar list of champions that few tournaments can claim.

Yes, this is partly because the field is open only to those players who won an event in the previous season (Chopra won the Ginn Sur Mer Classic, a post-Fed Ex Cup event, last season) and rarely has more than a field in the low thirties. Naturally, the players that can win tournaments are more likely to be household names. In fact, you have to go back to Mac O' Grady in 1987 before you find a player that wouldn't be recognizable to even the most casual of golf fans.

The 32-year old Swede will hope that in the future, people still look to O'Grady for the first run-of-the mill pro (2 wins, 16 unsuccessful Q-school visits) to win the season opener.

In other golf news, there isn't any other golf news. It's the first week of the season. That didn't stop Jason Sobel from doing the painstaking work of coming up with a Best of 2008 column, however. Hint: Chopra gets the nod for Player of the Year, and Tiger thinks this year's Major Championship courses are a fit for him.

Torrey Pines in three weeks, by all signs.

Noteworthy because it appears that Mickelson will play that event as well. Further noteworthy because, as Woods just turned 32 yesterday, he is in the middle of his prime in a season where the majors set up extra well for his game.

It's never too early to start wondering if he can pull off a slam in one calendar year. Go ahead and begin wondering...now.

Bing Crosby...Sammy Davis Jr...Bob Hope...

If you said Justin Timberlake, you've just won absolutely nothing. But you did win.

"The PGA Tour announced on Monday that the four-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, record producer and actor will serve as host of its Las Vegas event in 2008, becoming the 14th celebrity to host an official tournament.

"I couldn't be more excited," said Timberlake, who plays to a 6-handicap, according to a Golf Digest ranking that was released earlier this year. "We will make sure to make this event unique and memorable."

The Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, part of the tour's Fall Series, will be played Oct. 13-19, 2008, at TPC-Summerlin. As part of his involvement, Timberlake will play in the Wednesday celebrity pro-am and host a concert during tournament week."

Ted Purdy, who yesterday I pointed out was at #125 on the PGA Tour Money list, is right now below the projected cut line (-3), with 14 holes to play. He is just over four grand ahead of JB Holmes, #126. If you remember, Holmes is assured of a card but that doesn't mean he can't knock Purdy from the Top 125. Holmes is in the clubhouse, virtually assured of making the cut at four-under.

Kevin Stadler, #127, is in the Top 25 in the clubhouse. Stadler needs to make up 21k on Purdy and 17k on Holmes to secure privileges next season. A high enough finish could vault him ahead of Mathias Gronberg, #124, who is playing the course and also below the cut line.

Don't think that Purdy and Gronberg don't know that they have to be around for the weekend. At the very minimum, they need to be playing this weekend, and with the two young guns directly behind him already in for the next two rounds, the two may need more than that.

JP Hayes (#123) is doing what he can to take the doubt out of being close to the magic 125 number. He's one stroke off the lead through the second round.

Of course, all this pales in comparison to what Tag Ridings is doing. Mired at #210 on the list, more than $300k behind #125, he needs to finish no worse than solo 2nd (I think), and may just need a win, which would not only keep him around next season, but also the next. Ridings is the Clubhouse leader, with Stephen Ames.

That's rising to a challenge. It will be interesting to see how the cut (and the CUT) shake out.

Forget Glory's Last Shot. This is the PGA Tour's version of playing for your meal ticket. That meal ticket being the chance to retain playing privileges on the Big Boy Tour next year without having to go through Q-School.

Check out the Live leader board at the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart, which shows you the player's position on the money list in the boxes to the far left of the player's name. Anyone in the 110-140 range has a little bit more incentive to play well this week. In all likelihood, only the guys near 125 can go much either way, but the tweeners in the 110-120 range should be interested in making it a no-brainer.

As of 11:15 am, #118 Cameron Beckman is the leader. Ted Purdy, #125 on the list, was in 3rd place, so these guys know what the deal is. #159 Dicky Pride is in the Top 10, but would probably need to finish in the Top 3 to jump into the chosen few. He's currently more than $350k behind Purdy on the money list.

You'd think that all those guys around the #125 number would be concerned. JB Holmes, at #126 on the list, isn't sweating at all, however. He's assured of a card next year because his win in the 2006 FBR Open Punched his ticket for both 2007 and 2008. That's what you might call the nuts in a week like this, if you were the type of person who used poker terms in everyday parlance.

Tomorrow afternoon's cut will be a tense time for the tweeners who will want to make sure they at least stay around to give themselves a shot to secure/snag a place at the table in 2008.

It's impossible to tell if the public image on display by professional athletes is their true self. However, we for the most part prefer guys who seem wholesome and humble. That's why we excoriate guys like Paul Byrd as hypocritical when he goes from god-fearing baseball player to lying cheat overnight.

All that said, it sure seems like Mike Weir is one of the good guys. Weir has struggled with his game in the past seasons, but this season was showing signs that he was on the road back. This road was highlighted by his play at the recent President's Cup which culminated in a singles victory over Tiger Woods.

That's no longer the highlight of Weir's season after winning the Inaugural Fry's Electronics Open. Weir had to get up and down from a bunker on 18 yesterday to secure the victory. After a fair shot to six feet from out of the bunker, Weir rolled in the par putt to claim his first win since the 2004 Nissan Open.

It's hard not to like Weir. He's a Major Champion (2003 Masters) but what I will always remember is the tough round at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. Playing in the final group with Tiger Woods, a group behind Sergio Garcia, Weir shot a final round 80 to finish well back. He was gracious in defeat, and I seem to remember his comments after the round not being filled with excuses. He simply admitted that he did not play well given the pressure and that he would learn from the experience. He then came back three weeks later to claim his first PGA Tour win, appropriately enough at the Air Canada Championship.

If that wasn't enough to like the guy, this morning I found out that Weir also has his own wine, with plans to open a complete winery in 2008. Here's guessing that Weir had a nice glass of Me Chardonnay last night.

Mike Weir is my new 2nd-favorite golfer. So he's got that going for him, which is nice.

They go inside the ropes. Literally.

ESPN.com's Jason Sobel is caddying on the Nationwide Tour this week for that Tour's leading money winner, Roland Thatcher. The event starts today, but Sobel's series has thus far taken us from the prospect, the practice round, and to the pro-am. Sobel and his loop tee off at 12:44.

Sobel's colleague Bob Harig contributed to the theme as well, letting us know that being a caddie ain't what it used to be.

All in all, a pretty fun series for you golf fans out there looking for a fix.

And I'm not just limiting it to starting threads in The Swamp that get ignored. If I have to, I'll crash a chat with ESPN.com's Jason Sobel:

"AB (Lexington, KY): Who are your X factors for each team this week? I'd go with Choi for the INT team. If he can re-gain summer form, he'll be a tough out. For the US, I think Cink needs to prove that going unbeaten last time wasn't a fluke.

Jason Sobel: (1:07 PM ET ) Hmmm, good question. Unlike at the Ryder Cup, captains can't hide players at the Presidents Cup, where everyone will play at least three and likely four matches, if not five. I think Mike Weir is a huge X-factor for the International side. Looks like Player is going to put him out early each day, see if he can make a few putts and get the local fans pumped up, get some positive energy flowing. Love the thought process behind that. For the U.S., I'll go with Scott Verplank. The last time a big tournament was played at Royal Montreal -- the 2001 Canadian Open -- Verplank won. And last year at the Ryder cup, he very well may have been the team's top player, even though he got gypped out of playing in at least 1 or 2 more matches."

I'm now 1-100 (approximately) in getting into ESPN.com chats. If you need me, I'll be following the action at Royal Monteal.

So it's hard to find a partner for Tiger Woods. We get it. He's got a losing record (14-20-2) in team play in Ryder and President's Cup play. Enough of a losing record that if he goes 4-0 in team play this week, he'll still have a losing record.

Pairing Tiger with the best in the world doesn't work; it was a miserable experience playing with Phil Mickelson two Ryder Cups ago. Putting him with a friend was a mild success; he played OK with Charles Howell in 2003, but both players are in different places now. Pairing him with another grinder has seen the best results; with Jim Furyk, Tiger is 4-2-1 in two events, dating back to the last President's Cup. Furyk is the safe choice.

Who wants safe? Maybe it's time for Jack Nicklaus to put Tiger with a new guy. Maybe he needs to be paired with one of the rookies who make lots of birdies (Hunter Mahan, Lucas Glover) . It would a) allow Furyk to be the calming influence on another player -- Tiger does not need a calming influence; b) put Tiger in a position that he might be able to bring out the best in a rookie, while pressing himself at his normal level; c)take a little pressure off the rookies knowing that the best who might have ever played the game has their back; and d) be the only thing that hasn't been tried before.

The last is the X Factor. Tiger is known for eliminating risks, for avoiding the big number. How about taking a risk once? If his team plays poorly, it's more evidence that Tiger just isn't suited for team play. If they play well, the risk pays off. These team events aren't going to define Tiger the way they have players like Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie. We know Tiger is good. Maybe thinking outside the box is the way to bring out the best in him this week.

I cannot remember less buzz for a team event than for this week's President's Cup. Perhaps its the inevitable letdown from the new FedEx Cup format, perhaps it's just that the President's Cup is contrived anyway, seen as a money-making event in Ryder Cup off years, perhaps its because this year's event is being held in Canada, and perhaps it's just that the name doesn't make any sense. Is it the President of the United States against the President of the non-European, non US world? Maybe I'm showing my ignorance, but I don't even know who the President of the non-European, non US world is. Insert your ignorant American jokes here.

The poor performance of the United States in past team events probably has some influence on the overall disinterest, but we (That's right, I said WE) are the defending champions. The last event was won when Chris Dimarco dropped a putt on the 18th green to win the Cup in dramatic fashion. That may have been the last significant putt DiMarco made; he is not on the team and the US team will miss his competitive spirit and Phil Mickelson will be looking for a partner that matches his game well in the absence of DiMarco. DiMarco's spot as fiery competitor has been taken by Woody Austin, the consummate journeyman who gained a measure of notoriety for his outspoken performance at the PGA Championship.

Key to this year's event will be the play of Austin and fellow greenhorns Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan. The President's Cup is different from the Ryder cup in that all the players will play two sessions, one each on Thursday and Friday, making it impossible for a team to leave inexperienced players on the sidelines. If the Rookies (I almost count Steve Stricker in this category, because his last team event was the 1996 President's Cup) can get some points and some confidence early the US will find it easier to defend the title. If the experience of the International team wins out (their rookies are Major winner/former Match Play Champion Geoff Ogilvy and multiple Tour Event-winning Rory Sabbatini), the US will need the big guns to do what, historically, they have not done, and that is take care of business.

I know AB is the golf "guy" for the Frog, but this bears mentioning:

If you don't think Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all-time, regardless of how many more titles or majors he wins or how many career wins he may be behind whomever, you are retarded.

That is all.

Sorry, I'm a day late. FedEx is disgusted with me. The Tour Championship is underway in Atlanta; the first round was being completed this morning. Tim Clark and Paddy Harrington are on the course in the second round with the lead at seven under. Tiger was six under after the first 18.

You can check out live scoring here, but the best part is the live FedEx points projection. As of this moment, Tiger is the champion. Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson, the guys with the most realistic shots at catching Tiger, are in the bottom half of the field. If Tiger falters at some point, Adam Scott and KJ Choi could make noise, but would also need a lot of the other guys in the Top 5 to falter, which seems unlikely.

Jason Sobel knocks it out of the park. It's one of those instances where no amount of commentary I can give would add anything of value (hold the "AB, nothing you say ever adds value" jokes, please).

"Moral of the story: Ever since professional golfers have been paid to play the game, they've been complaining about something, too.

Call it a tradition unlike any other. The time-honored practice of bemoaning subtle inequities has hardly swayed in these times of $10 million payouts and lucrative sponsorship deals. Yes, the current crop of stars now owns full use of the facilities at tournament venues, but they have maintained an image forged by players of years gone by."

"..., it's becoming more difficult each day for the common fan to grant comfort to those who may be playing golf on imperfect greens or accumulating a greater portfolio in a way that is less than optimal."

"... the public has accepted a similar notion when it comes to PGA Tour golfers. Add to that the fact that these men are being paid millions of dollars to play a game most fans can't get enough of -- and pay exorbitant fees to play themselves -- and it's easy to see why any grumbling about the current state of the game feels like sour grapes."

Let's see, after yesterday's come-from-behind win at Cog Hill (his fourth such Sunday charge to a win this year), he's now at 60 wins. At age 31. He was at 50 wins one year ago. Gracious.

I will go out on a limb here and say he's got a chance to be pretty good...

Oh, and he now leads (once again) that stupid FedEx playoff chase thingy the PGA has trotted out for the first time this year. If Woods goes ahead and closes it out next week and wins the inaugural player of the year dealie (or whatever they are calling it), the PGA Commish ought to offer to furnish a wing of Woods' estate. Because a Woods win of that "chase" is the only way that thing can be considered legitimate.

Asked by Jason Sobel, of ESPN.com, to Tiger Woods:

"Can you dunk (a basketball, duh)?"

The response:

"No, I can only grab the rim, that's it. I can dunk a tennis ball."

Hood*, the cover is blown.

(Hey, Non-Swampers, you'll never get that joke. Sorry. Some things remain inaccessible, so you should join.)

Have you caught FedEx Fever? No? Really? You're not uber excited for a contrived playoff system designed to generate excitement? The PGA Tour is going to be pissed.

Now, I was a critic of the Fed Ex Cup from the start, and a lot of that was based on pure ignorance. Originally, I thought points re-set and a nobody might get hot and win a tournament and come in fifth in another and win $10 million. Turns out that they seeded the players based on their play during the season. While all 144 players mathematically have a shot, it would take something on the order of two wins and two more Top 10s for someone from the bottom of the pack to be a realistic winner.

At first I did approve of this new information, but now I think I would have preferred a straight re-set. That would have done a few things.

1)Instead of paying lip service to "committing to the Fed Ex cup," players like Tiger Woods would have been forced to tee it up if the wanted the top prize. Speaking of the prize money, it is deferred into the Player's retirement plan, which has some players hacked off because they don't know how to compensate their caddies. Here's a thought: put some money in a retirement plan for the caddie. Yes, you'll have to front some right now, but given the fact that so many caddies end up sick and destitute, why not insure them some financial stability down the line? The caddies will be paid well for each tournament in the next four weeks, the bonus is just that.

2) There would have been real excitement. Since the big gun is sitting out, the possibility exists that the field will bunch up and create excitement. That might work, but wouldn't it have been more fun to watch them all have to "play for their supper?"

Yeah, I'm going back on my original thoughts, but I'm a blogger, who said I have to have journalistic credibility? I've decided to be a critic of the Fed Ex Cup, no matter what they do. I cannot be pleased.

I think that my derision is a product of a system that was meant to add pop to the post-Major season, and to give the PGA Tour some piece of the pro golf's buzz, which is exclusively reserved for the Majors, none of which are run by the PGA Tour. The Tour wanted to have publicity that was theirs alone, not that their players shared with Augusta National, the USGA, the R&A or the PGA of America, with the Tour on the outside, looking in. That's fair, any business wants to be successful, but the system as it stands is open to criticism on several levels. In the past months, I've criticized it from both sides. Maybe that's more a reflection on my spinelessness, but it also may be a reflection on a flawed, convoluted system.

I think that this system was meant to build interest down the stretch, and that is completely self-serving on the PGA Tour's part. As one of the few people who will watch events like the Wyndham Championship, maybe I'm not the type of fan the PGA Tour is appealing to. That might make me unqualified to speak on the merits of the system, but I've always felt that, in many cases, doing things in an effort to reach the casual fan isn't always in the best interest of the sport. I don't want to sound like some golf-purist, scoffing at johnny- come-lately fans. I will watch the golf anyway, and $10 million into some players retirement account doesn't change that. I doubt it will bring Joe Viewer to their TV sets, either.

At the risk of pissing some random Griever off, Brandt Snedeker won his first PGA Tour Event yesterday with a ridiculous final round that was capped off with a 32-foot putt for birdie on the 17th hole.

I admit that I haven't been watching as much golf as I used to (famn damily) but that was as good an event without a Major Championship on the line as I have seen in quite some time. Late birdies (Snedeker), duck hooks under pressure (Tim Petrovic), needing a hole out to force a playoff (Billy Mayfair) and just general golf goodness. Soft greens lead to drama, too!

Maybe someday, Snedeker can get 50 career titles.

Or whatever. The PGA Championship was the last chance for players to earn their way onto the President's Cup team. Outspoken (rightly so) Woody Austin did just that when he secured a solo second to Tiger Woods at Southern Hills. Then it was up to the Captains to round out the squad.

On the US Side, Jack Nicklaus selected Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan. Both make a lot of birdies, but both are rookies. Pairing them with steady old hands like David Toms might befit their games. With Austin, those three are the only team-event rookies in Nicklaus's squad.

The International team was finished off when Gary Player selected Nick O'Hern and Mike Weir. The latter was a no-brainer, since this year's event takes place in Canada. The former beat Tiger Woods in the Match Play earlier this season. Geoff Ogilvy and Rory Sabbatini are the International team's rookies.

In the President's Cup, unlike the Ryder cup where a blind draw is used, the Captain's select their teams to face off, alternating going first. So if Rory wants Tiger on Sunday in the singles, he'll just need to suck up to fellow South African Player to get that chance.

If you've been in a hole or sequestered from the internet, you might think that headline means that Tiger imploded in the final round of the PGA Championship.

You, as usual--ask your wife, would be wrong. Tiger is now five Major Championships behind Jack Nicklaus on the all-time list. Tiger's Major finishes this year were 2-2-12-1...and it's probably a mild disappointment that one of those twos was not also a victory. A career year for anyone else leaves us thinking what could have been with Tiger.

Of all the sports stars that come anointed to be the next great one, has there ever been one so quick and comprehensive in outlining his greatness? Maybe The Great One? Was he expected to be the be-all-end-all? A smidge before my time.

If Tiger fails to win another tournament, let alone a Major Championship, his career will not have been a disappointment to watch.

"bring one up, we'll all take a sup," ah, you get the picture.

That's what John Chaffee has to work through after acing the 13th hole at the Senior British Open. One bottle for each yard of the hole!

Nick Faldo is among the leaders. This is Faldo's first event as a senior.

Sergio Garcia broke out the belly putter last week at Loch Lomond, brought it to Carnoustie, and here's guessing he has every reason to stick with it for a while. El Nino shot a 65 in the first round at Carnoustie.

Scoring conditions were nothing like 1999, when the winning score was +6. Maybe the scores balloon, but the course was at the mercy of the players today. Paul McGinley is in second alone, and a sextet are tied for third. Tiger Woods shot a 69, four back of Garcia.

Full Leaderboard.

Quick question: how many kids reading Harry Potter will there be on the course for the weekend, having been dragged there by their mums and dads?

The Best Player To Have Never Won a Major.

No one wants this title. It says, "Hey, I'm good, but not that good." Then, one day, yesterday to be exact, one guy reminds us that he might still hold this title while another stakes a claim that he deserves this unwanted title.

The former is Colin Montgomerie. A blazing 65 gave Monty a win at the European Open and gave birth to dozens of stories for the upcoming Open Championship at Carnoustie. The stories would surround the hard-luck Scot even if he hadn't won in the run-up. With this, the frenzy will be greater. His reputation as a Ryder Cup machine and Euro Stud is secure, but can Monty win a big one?

That said, a case can be made for yesterday's winner on this side of the pond, K.J. Choi. Choi claimed his sixth PGA Tour victory in the Inagural AT&T National, hosted by Tiger Woods. Only eight players have more PGA Tour wins than Choi's six without a Major Championship to their credit. Of those eight, only three could realistically win a Major before it's all said and done: Kenny Perry (9 wins), Brad Faxon (8), and Choi's playing partner yesterday, Stuart Appleby (8). I don't see John Cook (11), David Frost (10), Bill Glasson (7), John Huston (7) winning a major at this point in their careers. Joey Sindelar (7) won a tough Wachovia Championship three years ago, but I'm still putting him in the latter category.

So there stands Choi, who this season has won on two tracks that are either worthy of hosting a Major (the Memorial at Muirfield Village, which may be the best course to have never hosted a Major (sorry Sawgrass)), or have hosted Majors (Congressional County Club yesterday, which has held US Opens previously and will again). The two events this season marked a departure from the events Choi had claimed in the past. These lastest wins were in top tier, strong field events. The other wins are nice, but winning Chrylser Championships and Greensboro Opens is a bit lower on the food chain than winning tourneys hosted by the two greatest players of the past 50 years.

Winning, period, is a step in a golfer's development. Winning again is another step. Claiming a prestigious event on a prestigious course is yet one more step. Proving that you can do that more than once (in the same season, no less) is another. Choi has done all of that.

That's why I think that it's Choi, not Monty, not Sergio Garcia (who has six PGA wins as well), not Adam Scott (5 wins), that may just be the BPTHNWM. It's a title no one wants, but having it means you've accomplished something. It also means that there's still something on your to-do list.

If you're like me, you often find yourself wondering "How do the PGA Touring pros make golf look so easy?" It's a good question, and, other than old-fashioned hard work and practice, there are no good answers.

Unlike most other sports, the layman (that's us) can actually go out and measure themselves in pretty much the same way these pros do: on the course. Yes, the guys with their names on their golf bags play different courses, mostly ones us laypeople cannot reasonably get to for whatever reason. Some are private, some are across the country, some are too pricey or some combination of those three limiting factors.

Still, the USGA has put together a handicap system that reasonably approximates how good of a player you are. If you are a 4 handicap, you'll be pretty close to that after course adjustments are made, and your opponent will be close to what they should be. It's fair, and it's what we've got. It's easy to tell an honest golfer if they play close to their handicap.

Those pros have USGA handicaps, too. I'm guessing that most of them play to about a (+6) or (+7). Yeah, you read that right. You might, however, be missing that your 16 handicap is really a (-16). So if you go tee it up at Isleworth with your good buddy Tiger Woods for a friendly round, he's going to give you in the neighborhood of 22-23 strokes. Of course, it still wouldn't be enough, unless your name is Nick O'Hern or you can convince your European friend to go in on a friendly alternate shot match against Woods and neighbor Mark O'Meara.

That brings us back to the question at hand. Most of the pros have similar handicaps; I am pretty confident in that (a handicap is a measure of the best you can play, so it makes sense) and will use that assumption. How they get there is a different story.

Continue reading "PGA, Stats, Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Furyk, and Sisyphus" »

They say the hot sun of Florida can fry the brain. I should know I lived there twenty years and I still haven't recovered, though I was never quite this stupid.

VENICE, Fla. (AP) -- A man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, authorities said.

Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.

The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.

"I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled" for help, said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.

Burger, from Lenoir City, Tenn., was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.

It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.

The pond at the sixth hole has a "Beware of Alligator" sign.

"Unfortunately, that's part of Florida," course general manager Rod Parry said. "There's wildlife in these ponds."

Sam Alexis Woods.

Or maybe she'll be a model like her mother. In any event, she's likely to be one of the most scrutinized children of an athlete ever. Here's hoping the paparazzi jackals leave Tiger and his family alone (yeah, I'm not holding my breath on that one either.)

Kudos to Tiger for giving the kid a normal name by the way. Those moprons in Hollywood could learn a thing or two.

Otherwise, Jason Sobel is in trouble. He's live blogging the US Open, but luckily ESPN has coverage starting at 10.

Anyway, the best tidbit from the blog so far? This one about the ninth green:

"And the craziest thing about the ninth hole: It's green also doubles as a practice green. It's so large that the front half of the green is for those playing the hole and the back half is for those practicing. Of course, there are some sticky rules situations with this. If a player gets a flyer lie or hits one thin and it rolls to the practice part of the putting green, the ball is still in play from where it lands; there's no O.B. But if a player on the practice green putts across the blue stakes and dotted blue line that separate the course itself from the practice area, they will be disqualified from the tournament. Will greens that slope and undulate so much, it's perfectly conceivable that a player could read a break wrong and we'll see a caddie diving to stop a ball from crossing the line since, as we all know, practicing on the course is strictly forbidden."

Jason Sobel had a Q & A session with the flammable Rory Sabbatini in the web version of The Hot Seat.

"Sobel: Your special interests are listed as "collecting DVDs, boating and becoming a Texan." How's that last one working out for you?
Sabbatini: [Laughs] That was my wife's sense of humor. She's definitely trying to help. She's even got me drinking Coors Light now."

(Rory, Coors light is not something to brag about. You said you're trying to become a Texan, not a panty-waste.)

"Q: There's a long-standing belief that professional golfers are supposed to be stoic, nonconfrontational types of people. How does it feel to be breaking that mold?
A: I think over the past couple of years I've really been painted to be the bad boy on the PGA Tour, so I'm just living it up. I guess I'm kind of the Tony Stewart of golf."

(Ah, a NASCAR reference. Maybe there is hope for the redneck in you.)

"Q: You were recently asked about this year's remaining three majors and said, "I'm looking forward to winning all three of them." You really believe you can do that?
A: Oh, I believe I definitely have the capability of doing that."

(OK, speaking your mind is one thing. Being insane is another.)

"Q: Is that an attitude that every golfer should have?
A: You know, one of my favorite sayings is, "You lick the lollipop of mediocrity once and you'll suck forever."

(That's actually pretty funny.)

Thanks to SuckABigOne for the link.

Since my Cavs in Seven prediction isn't going to happen, I may as well make another prediction doomed to be wrong.

Phil Mickelson won't complete 36 holes this week. If you have to wear a wrist brace on the golf course, you're starting out at a severe disadvantage. It's hard enough to have good swing thoughts with no pressure in a Sunday game at your local Ponky course, but then add 1)US Open Pressure 2)A still in-progress swing change and 3)having to look down at a wrist that you know is going to hurt even more if your tee shot doesn't find the fairway. For a guy who's not the straightest anyway, that's not going to help.

That's why I think that after the first few wayward drives, we'll see Mickelson make what might prove to be his best on-course decision ever, which would be walking off the course, so as to not jeopardize the rest of the season or even more.

Bones, Mickelson's caddie, is on-call. You notice one hesitant moment over a ball in the 4-inch rough, throw in the towel. It'll pay off for you down the road.

No, I'm not talking about Brainbo living in the 'Burbs...I'm talking Oakmont, site of the US Open this week.

I'm going on record saying it's going to be a bloodbath unlike any other Open in recent history. You might not think that's a big deal at first, but consider that Geoff Ogilvy on last year at Winged Foot with a score of 6-over-par. It's going to be worse than that.

It's been said that a lot of courses can hold a US Open, but that Oakmont is the only one that can hold the US Open tomorrow. The meaning is that whenever tomorrow happened to be, you can tee the best players up and have a world class event without needing months (years) to prepare. It's tournament ready every day of the year. Members are even complaining that in setting greens to run at 13 on the stimpmeter, that the USGA is actually slowing the greens down.

Have a look-see at the tee times.

I'm in the group that thinks that Michelle Wie withdrew from last week's event on the LPGA Tour because of the Rule of 88, as Bengal pointed out earlier. I can also be counted in the group that thinks that it was not Wie's manager who noticed she was in risk of losing privileges this year, but rather the LPGA, and the LPGA didn't want to risk losing one of its big draws for the rest of the season.

If Wie had any leg to stand on in claiming that she re-injured her wrist (as the official WD story goes), then she kicked that leg out from under herself when she teed it up at Bulle Rock, site of this week's LPGA Championship, for a practice round on Saturday, less than 48 hours after physically being unable to continue her round.

The practice round is another point of contention among LPGA Players. Full members cannot play a tournament course in the week before an event. Wie has no status on the tour, and as such, can play whenever she wants.

All that said, I also want to point out that I don't think Michelle is the Wie that has made any of these decisions. Her father, BJ, is very very close to going down alongside the Marinovichs of the world. Let her grow up. Let her make mistakes. Let her be.

At this point, she is the polar opposite of Tiger Woods in terms of living up to the hype. If you think about it, the buzz was very similar for each. Course, Woods has given full bloom to his hellacious talent, and we are watching his career unfold in awe. Wie, on the other hand, was either ridiculously over-hyped, or has failed to breathe life into her alleged talent to a level not seen in sport in awhile.

As for the latest twist and turn yesterday, well, it was bizarre. She played for the first time in forever after taking time off for a mysterious wrist injury. And she played, in the LPGA event, only slightly better than a weekend hacker. I'm being generous with that assessment. She played so badly that a very little known rule came into play, that being the LPGA "Rule of 88". If a non-tour player shoots an 88 in a tournament, they are barred from the tour for the rest of the calendar year. It became important because Wie got to the end of hole 16 only two mere bogeys from getting to that score. What happened next? Eric Adelson at espn.com picks up the narrative:

"Missing the cut became the least of Wie's troubles. The somewhat obscure Rule of 88 states that a nonmember who shoots 88 is forced to withdraw and subsequently banned from LPGA co-sponsored events for the remainder of the calendar season. Wie said later that she never considered the possibility, but soon after her score ballooned to 12-over on the par-72 course, her parents began consulting with each other and William Morris manager Greg Nared, who had a cell phone to his ear. Chris Higgs, the LPGA chief operations officer, soon drove up in a cart and spoke with Nared. Higgs had been talking about the Rule of 88 in the media tent, but he said he came out to Wie's rope line for 'no particular reason.'"

The "particular reason" given by Wie's people and the LPGA for her withdrawing two holes from being barred from the tourney for the rest of the year? Her wrists.

By the way, that wasn't the only time yesterday that her parents were involved in her round. The above linked article makes a good case that Wie should already have been hit with a two stroke penalty earlier in the round after her father was too involved with some advice, a no no in the rulebook.

Ya know, LPGA, you might want to go ahead and hitch your wagon to a different young horse (mare), so to speak. Perhaps Paula Creamer, who appears to be fully capable of realizing her prodigious talent. But the Wie thing? That's so 2004. At some point, she has to decide if she wants to be good, and actually work toward it. Because what's happening now? It defines farce.

The swamp is kicking it around here. Anyone, anywhere, still willing to defend Wie? If so, please share a thought.

That was mean, and I should apologize.

"The looming duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the Memorial Tournament disappeared before Woods even hit his first shot: Mickelson withdrew with an injured left wrist after 11 holes.

Mickelson was intent on challenging Woods, who did not tee off until just before 1 p.m. ET, at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

"I don't think it's anything serious but it just got worse. I couldn't grab the club and I couldn't swing," said Mickelson, who was 2 over through 11 holes before returning to the clubhouse. "I hit a wedge on 2 and it got really aggravated."

Zach Johnson would be the Tiger Woods of it. Three career wins, all three in Georgia. Plus a nifty little Green Jacket for the middle victory.

Johnson has two wins this season, a Major, and last year was one of the few US players who could hold their head up high after the Ryder Cup. He's heading in the right direction, but I want to see him win somewhere else. Why? Phil MIckelson always said that Sugarloaf (where Johnson won yesterday and also for his first Tour victory) is a great course to prepare for Augusta because you have to play the same type of shots. So it would be nice for Johnson to prove it elsewhere.

However, if Zach Johnson needed to prove anything to anyone, it wouldn't be to a blogger. It'd be to himself, and chances are that he's already done that this season.

Anyone else tired of hearing about Butch Harmon?

How bout now?

Now?

OK, so the point is that Butch Harmon is apparently god's gift to golf instructors. He knows his craft and gets results. But golf is a sport where a coach has as little to do with in-game results as I do when I'm coaching six-year-olds in soccer. I talk to them before the game, we have practices where they listen, but when that whistle blows and the ball is kicked, they don't listen to me. It's see ball, kick ball. With Mickelson, it's see ball, hit ball.

I, for the first time ever, want to give the credit to Phil Mickelson, and the mainstream media has to heap all the praise on Harmon. I think maybe I'm just contrary.

But my soccer team won 15-1 (not that we keep score) this past weekend, too, so maybe I should be OK with this coach praise stuff.

When I met Michelle two years ago during her first Quad Cities visit, I told her, "You're a good kid with a great rack, but call me in a few years when you turn 18."

She just keeps coming back. She won't leave me alone and by the time she gets here, I'll be married. It certainly isn't the location; it might be the relatively weak field the John Deere Classic serves up most years. Maybe it's the fact that this is where a casino allowed an underaged Tiger Woods entry. Either way, it looks like she will make her return.

The most likely PGA Tour event for Wie to play next is the John Deere Classic July 12-15. She missed the cut there by two strokes in 2005 and had to withdraw because of heat exhaustion midway through the second round last year. Record crowds turned out both times.

"Michelle has been invited," John Deere tournament director Clair Peterson told Golf World on Monday. "The only person I have spoken with [on this matter] is B.J. Wie, and he has not said what David has said." Peterson hopes to have an answer by the end of May. Several sources indicated Wie would make a commitment to the Deere within the next two weeks.

Why? Because after writing an article issuing a "Shame on You" to the top PGA Tour players who opted not to play in the Byron Nelson this week, he'll be largely a hypocrite if he doesn't "pay tribute" to Halberstam. You see, the crux of Sirak's argument is that these players today don't respect the guys that made playing golf for a living matter.

When talking about Nelson, Sirak tosses praise to Nelson such as "sweet swinger with an even sweeter personality" and "consummate gentleman" as well as "In Byron Nelson, (golf) lost one of the most important (people)." Well, didn't Halberstam do for journalism a lot of the things that Byron Nelson did for golf? Halberstam even made a name for himself in sports journalism, which is more reason for Sirak to feel he owes something to Mr. Halberstam.

The irony is that, while extolling Nelson as a man who spoke by actions, and not words, he has done the exact opposite. Being the gentleman that he was, would Nelson have ever tried to tell another grown man what to do or how to spend his time?

After all, PGA Tour players are independent contractors and they should be able to set their own schedules as they see fit. One thing they shouldn't have to do is have people throw stones at them for playing by the rules of their organization. Especially if the ones throwing the stones are in glass houses.

I'm not saying Sirak isn't planning on attending a funeral or memorial service for Halberstam; he may very well be planning to attend/tribute in some way. What I am saying is that if you're going to go out and preach to people about paying tribute to their profession's history, you better be ready to man up and support that argument by paying tribute to your own.

Because I have a feeling that there might be one on the market sooner rather than later. When speaking about an ad featuring John Daly, golf carts, and beer, Bob Maggiore of TaylorMade-Adidas had this to say:

"We went into this with the idea that John Daly is fun, exciting and approachable," Bob Maggiore, senior director of marketing for TaylorMade-Adidas of Carlsbad, Calif., told the L.A. Times. "In hindsight, maybe we should have seen the risk. But we looked at John Daly as someone who lights up a room, not someone with a troubled past."

Maggiore told The New York Times that the ad isn't about alcohol. "This is a spot that is supposed to be fun and exciting and show the brand to be fun and accessible."

He added that carrying a beer while driving a golf cart isn't uncommon.

"If there were rules for alcohol on a golf course," Maggiore told The New York Times, "there'd be a sobriety check on the 10th green."

I'm guessing that the PR department for TaylorMade-Adidas is going to be trying to hit down on this ball to generate some spin.

Couple of nice reads on The Masters...

Dan Jenkins states his love for this year's event...

Jaime Diaz (the lucky dog) won the lottery and was among 24 media members who teed it up on the Monday after Zach took home the Green Jacket. Diaz needed only a par on Nine to break 80. He tripled it by pulling a Tin Cup and ignoring his caddie.

While he isn't in the lead (Jerry Kelly is), and isn't the biggest story at Harbour Town this week (Zach Johnson is), Ernie Els shot a 65 yesterday to sit behind only Kelly at the Verizon Heritage. Many thought that Els was ready to make a run at the Green Jacket last week, a prize he has been so close to snatching on several occasions. Yet, Els was the fourth most talked about South African behind Retief Goosen, who made a late run, Rory Sabbatini, who was in the lead after making a bomb (and making a fool out of himself, acting like he just won the tournament and not just two crystal goblets) at the 8th hole Sunday, and Gary Player, who matched Arnold Palmer's record of 50 Masters.

Els's calm demeanor has led many to question his drive. While it's impossible to say what goes on inside the head of professional athletes (and we probably wouldn't want to know anyway) it certainly appears that Els lets thing flow, which works well when his fluid swing is in sync, but it makes him appear apathetic when he's not playing well. More than anything, we want our superstars to give a damn, and it sometimes appears Els, with his sheepish grin and his lack of animation, doesn't.

If Els can make a run this week, maybe it will give him the confidence to get back to the top. I hope he gets back to the elite level so that Tiger and Phil can have a threesome of excellence. Wow, that sounds terrificly homoerotic.

That take would appear to be: let the entire field move back to him.

I have been traveling for pretty much two straight days, and have seen, in the course of varying lengths of stops at four different airports, 48 hours of highlights of Tigers Woods sucking. In every way imaginable.

So, consider my surprise at finally dragging myself home tonight, firing up the internets, and discovering that the field ran back toward Woods in a retreat that the French would admire.

Woods marks time today with a 72, bogeying his last two holes to ruin what was shaping up to be a nice round, and heads to the clubhouse grumpy at +3. A few hours later, Woods looks up and he is only one shot behind Stuart Appleby, somehow in the lead at +2. And Woods will play in the final pairing tomorrow.

And CBS' officials, somewhere, had to clean up the jizz from their pants as it all unfolded. I am guessing the chokeitude amongst the field, bringing Woods back into the tournament, will raise viewership tomorrow by millions. Include me in that group.

The only other story from the Masters as the tourney tees off this morning? The holy-fuck-it's-cold temperatures that have settled over Georgia (along with the rest of the eastern half of the country). Mickelson tees off just before 11:00. Woods three hours later. The other guys that are there to fill out the field before one of the above two get another jacket on Sunday night at various times throughout the day. Random golf thoughts about all things Augusta here.

As The King strikes the first shot at The Masters...

Tee times for the rest of the field...

Some notes from Augusta...

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Green, all over. All weekend. Hard Greens. Green Jackets.

It's on, hobos.

Peep Sobel for the early goods.

It was the exact opposite of a full-court press. If anything, yesterday at the Nabisco Championship, Morgan Pressell put on golf's version of the Four Corners offense. She posted a score, and then waited. And waited. Banged some balls. Watched the red six beside Suzann Petterson's name turn to a red 5. Then to a red 3, which was the number Pressel posted, only with a "18" beside her name, not "17."

Forced to birdie the 18th to force a playoff, Petterson couldn't some up with the goods, leaving the birdie putt short (the putter got caught in her skirt) and Pressel is the youngest Major Champion in LPGA History.

One note to Pressel. While I certainly understand being overcome with emotions, how about trying to come up with something to say afterwards? It was the only time all day Pressel showed her age.

My favorite part? Her grandmother joining Pressel and her caddie in the celebratory jump into the (incredibly sanitary) lake beside the 18th green.

Eight years ago today, David Duval and his father, Bob, made golf history by becoming the first Father/Son duo to win elite tour events on the same day. David claimed The Players Championship, when it still was included in the run-up to Augusta, and Bob won the Emerald Coast Classic.

Duval the Younger's win made him the #1 Player in the world. David then won the Bellsouth Classic the next week, then started the decline that saw him win once each of the next two years, claiming his first, last, and only Major in 2001 at the Open Championship. DD had several things go wrong: personal issues with his fiancee, depression that reared its head constantly (the split and the problem with a failed bone marrow transplant when he was younger that he thought would save his brother), back injury and, I contend the worst of all, a bout with vertigo, a disorder that messes with balance. Balance is, of course, a vital component of a consistent golf swing.

The years from 2003-2005 were the low point of DD's professional career. He teed it up forty-nine times in that span, making only eight cuts. A precipitous fall for a player who could once say he was playing better than Tiger Woods, a claim only two, possibly three, people have been able to do since the start of the Tiger Era on Tour.

Then, in 2006, it looked like things were looking up. DD made three cuts in his first four events before a slide. Then, in the summer, he made six of eight cuts, including at both the US Open and Open Championships. Despite a poor finish to the year, many people expected 2007 to be the year that Duval put himself into contention again (a tie for 16th at Winged Foot was his best finish of 2006).

This season began as though it would be that year. Duval made three cuts in his first four events and finished no worse than 45th place (though no higher than the mid-thirties). Not great, but seemingly the road back. Then, after a missed cut at the Nissan Open, Duval hasn't teed it up on Tour. His five-year exemption to play The Masters expired last season, so there was an incentive to play well to get into an event he has been close to winning several times.

Duval, however, has elected to take some time off, though no reasons have been stated publicly that I could find. Of course, that's his right, but count me among those surprised by the timing. It looked as though Duval was heading in the right direction. He still maintains status on Tour by virtue of being among the Top 25 Career earners on Tour. He could have been in the field at many of the events he has declined to play in.

I wish I knew why; here's hoping it's because he's at peace. With his personal life, that is. He has money, he's now happily married, and is playing the Dad role. After fighting demons for most of his life, being at peace for long stretches would be the real winning streak.

The two tournament "slump" is over. The meltdown from Bay Hill addressed. The rest of the golf world back on notice that it is Woods' world, and they are simply unwelcome guests in it. Oh, that also makes 13 titles in 24 WGC appearances for Woods. Jason Sobel's Weekly 18 column on espn.com is once again the place to start for golf chatter this morning, including:

"But more than anything, we learned that Woods has the innate ability to assess flaws in his own game -- and correct them -- quicker than anyone on the face of the planet. For most players, a fault in swing mechanics means weeks of long days on the practice range and failure in competition until that "Voila!" moment when everything clicks and the swing is where it should be again. For Tiger, this entire process happens at warp speed. It's as if he's got a wireless connnection to his swing while the rest of his competition is using dial-up."

Yup. Augusta in two weeks. If the bet is Tiger or the field, the smart money is on Tiger.

Sometimes the lobe that controls coming up with headlines doesn't work. Sorry.

Nice read about Tiger Woods and Roger Federer still being best buds. Nice, that is, if you're into reading about two guys who are the absolute best at what they do and then decide that they need to be big buds. It's almost exactly like Peyton Manning and Kenny Chesney, except that the only thing Chesney is the best in the world at is seeming like a homo with a thing for 6'5" quarterbacks with laser, rocket arms.

Another link I happen to have handy is to a bonus Weekly 18 by Jason Sobel. Sobel is a very good golf writer at ESPN, and he's playing the honesty game with this edition.

"Honestly ... We should take Phil Mickelson for his word when he says if he had to play Winged Foot's 18th hole all over again, he'd still hit driver. It was the right play. But until Mickelson admits that it was a mistake trying to play through a tree with his next shot rather than knocking one down the fairway and attempting to get up-and-down, we can still criticize his course management on that fateful hole."

and

"Honestly ... Nick Faldo isn't just the best color guy in all of golf. He's the best color guy in all of sports television -- a meteoric rise for an announcer who started the gig only last year."

I agree on both counts. Check out live scoring at the CA Championship at Doral.

Singh won the Arnold Palmer Classic (it's the Bay Hill, maybe someday the PGA will stop re-naming recognizable tour stops), the first time he has won that tournament.

More interestingly, as always in the PGA, the better story revolves around Tiger Woods. In this case, the story is: what the hell happened to Woods on Sunday? He was -6 after Thursday's round and co-leader at that point, he was on the leaderboard yesterday before fading to a tie for 22nd. That "fade" was in fact a shocking nine hole collapse that was Norman-at-the-1996-Masters-esque. That's two losses in a row for the best golfer the world has ever seen. Someone alert the proper authorities. Jason Sobel at espn.com, in his weekly wrap-up of all things PGA, takes a look at Woods' weekend:

"So what are we to make of Woods' latest hiccup? Well, first off, the game's best closer ever deserves a free pass any time he doesn't come through in the final round. The guy is super, man, but he's not Superman ... and every once in a while, we have to be reminded of his mortality.

Tiger didn't speak to reporters after finishing at Bay Hill, but it's a good bet he'll be excited to tee it up again this week at Doral. Great players -- OK, all players, really -- don't like to let a poor performance linger for too long. The last time Woods was in a similar situation was after the aforementioned U.S. Open last year. After his missed cut, Woods responded with a runner-up finish at the Western Open and a victory at the British Open, the first in a string of seven consecutive PGA Tour wins. Will Woods' flaws continue to be exposed on the scorecard? Or will he revert to his previous pristine performance? Here's guessing we'll learn an awful lot this week."

I'm guessing he will be fine. Then again, when Woods makes the turn one shot off the lead and proceeds to shoot an 8 over par 43 in the last nine holes, it is so rare that a moment must be taken to reflect on it.

There. Moment taken.

I am guessing this will just piss Woods off, and he will hit Augusta in less than a month ready to re-claim what's his.

Arnie has hinted that he may soon tee it up again at Augusta, only not as a competitor, but as the Honorary Starter.

"You know, Augusta is one of my very favorite places, and, of course, Bill Payne (the new Masters chairman) is a good friend," said Palmer, who is a member at Augusta National. "So, as of this day I am really giving that some serious consideration. It isn't that I have anything against doing it. I just want it to be the right time when I decide to do it, that's all."

The Masters Tournament has not had an official starter since Sam Snead's fulfillment of that role in 2002. As recently as 1999, three former Masters champions -- Snead, Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen -- did the honors."

In other PGA news, the Tour may head to Puerto Rico in 2008.

Ways in which John Daly is like Tiger Woods:

- Can hit a golf ball over 300 yards at will
- Has won multiple Major Championships
- Huge Fan Draw at every event he plays

Ways in which John Daly differs from Tiger Woods:

- Lack of a Swedish model wife
- Workout regimen slightly less strict
- Unable to stop the club on his backswing without causing injury.

Easily the biggest change is that The Players Championship is moving to May. Lost amid the "Let's make a new Major" ploy is that the Florida Swing got an entirely new look. Some of the tournaments won't look familiar, but they are.

The Honda kicks off the swing this week on a new course, PGA National, a nice track that will hopefully become a permanent home for the nomadic Honda. Next up is the PODS Championship, which moved up from the Fall when The Players got its new date.

Then comes the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Yes, it's still at Bay Hill, but the PGA wanted to call it what it is, which is Arnie's Tournament. The best part of this event under its new name? It will play at a Par of 70, making two Par Fours out of Par Fives, much like the USGA does with the US Open.

The end of the Florida Swing is the CA Championship, a WGC event. It's to be held at the Blue Monster (Doral). This event replaces The Players as the premier tune-up for Augusta. In an interesting turn of events, Tiger Woods is the "double-defending" champ. He won the last event at Doral last Spring, and won this WGC event in England last year before it was moved to early in the schedule this year. There, you learned something today.

Also, there will be a new Tiger Woods event in DC starting this Summer.

What are you going to do with all this Knowledge?

Horrible. Guy should hang it up.

(Will the last one still paying attention to this on the weekend now that Woods is gone please turn off the lights?)

but up to now, I didn't think they would take The Swamp. They did, though. Someone make an off-topic joke for me.

Now to making lemonade. If I can't go in here (well, at least not from the hours of 7:30-5:15 M-F), I have to stay out here. How about a breakdown of every match in today's second round of the World Match Play Championships?!?!?! I knew you'd be enthused. Wipe the floor.

Bradley Dredge vs Ian Poulter - Hmmm...maybe this is going to be harder than it looks. This is what I know about Bradley Dredge. ______________________, Ian Poulter usually wears bad pants. Bad pants are intimidating. Poulter 4 & 3.

Trevor Immelman vs Chris DiMarco - Great match. Immelman is considered by some to be the BPTHNWM. He stared down Tiger Woods at the Western (the last time Woods didn't come in first) but Dimarco has a certain something in match play. I think he makes "Your Mom" jokes all day to get inside his opponent's head. Immelman says "Don't you talk about my momma!" and wins 1 up.

Retief Goosen vs Niclas Fasth - This match features the "first names most likely to misspelled" of the second round. Just remember "I before E" and "some people can't spell so their kids get funny names like Niclas." The Goose 3 & 2.

Continue reading "They can take my pride, they can take my dignity..." »

Tiger Woods skipping the Nissan was seen by many (myself included) as "protecting the streak." It wasn't the first time he had skipped the event at Riviera, which is the only event he has played more than a few times and never won. In the throes of his winning streak, it did seem planned, but no matter. Woods is back on the course this week at a much more finicky event, the World Match Play Championships.

No event is as tricky as the Match play. To win, you must play well for six, not four, rounds. "Well" being a relative term. You only have to play better than your opponent each day. That can mean needing to shoot at 6 under or even a six over to win. Regardless, you have to come to play.

This year's event features more great first round matchups than I can remember. Woods faces Ryder Cup teammate J.J. Henry. Luke Donald plays match play veteran Miguel Angel-Jimenez. Darren Clarke tees it up against Sergio Garcia. The winner of that match will play Stuart Appleby or Charles Howell III.

The upset pick for me is Scott Verplank (#15 seed) over Retief Goosen (#2). Verplank is solid individually and is one of the few players who can match Goosen's putting. Goosen is still getting his US legs under him and that spells defeat! Mark it down!

Charles Howell winning is a nice story. He'd not played well for several years and had made some changes to his swing that finally paid off with victory and an early season stranglehold on the FedEx Cup.

The most intriguing part of the weekend isn't Howell completing a return to prominence. It's the return of Phlailing Phil. After making a birdie on 17 to go a stroke up on Howell, Mickelson wasted his chance to win by making a bogey on 18, then losing on the third playoff hole. The phinal hole at Riviera is no cakewalk, but when the one phailing is Phil, it makes it easy to call it a choke. So I call it that, a choke. It remains to be seen if Phil really has gotten over Winged Phoot. He won at Pebble, but it wasn't close. At the Nissan yesterday, it was close, and Phil phlopped when it mattered.

Same old song and dance. Forget Daddy Tiger, the story of 2007 may yet be Phil's Psyche.

Phil Mickelson grabbed a share of the lead by eagling his last hole of the day. In my efforts to diminish everything Lefty does, let me point out that his 65 was at Poppy Hills, the easiest of the three courses being played this weekend. Thirteen of the 24 best scores yesterday were from Poppy Hills, though Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill did have some low scores, notably John Mallinger's 65 at Pebble (Mallinger also sits atop the Pro-Am board). The one to watch the rest of the week? Jim Furyk, who posted five-under par on Spyglass, probably the toughest of the tracks.

One of my favorite features at PGATOUR.com is the Live@17, which this week is Live@7. I'm guessing that #17 sitting on a promontory where it would be near impossible to set up a camera tower without obstructing the ocean views factored into this decision. Seven sits below a cliff that makes a perfect spot for a booth. Check it out beginning at 12:30 EST.

Let's go with "yes".

It's seven tour wins in a row for Woods (but not seven straight, for all of you literalists out there). He has traditionally teed it up in Los Angeles each winter at the Nissan Open. He has never won that tournament. So, one might muse, if he wants to keep this particular ball in the air, perhaps he will skip LA.

The word out of Woods' camp? He's skipping LA. So, what does Woods say to anyone who might murmur that he is skipping LA to play next in a tourney (the WGA Match-Play starting Feb. 21) more suited to keeping his streak alive? Quoth the Woods:

"People can say whatever they want. That's their opinion. They are entitled to it."

Fair enough. And, I am sure, while tongues will wag, Woods has earned a wide berth when it comes to such matters. But it feels a little pussy, which is out of character for Woods.

So far, my journeyman theory is bearing out as it pertains to the FedEx Cup. John Rollins is in the lead after five events. It's a long season and Vijay Singh's schedule should probably make him the favorite, but I'm still not sold.

trying to find fresh words to express his greatness is underway. Two shots down to two tour rookies, Woods stalked them for the front nine, using a birdie on 8 and an eagle on 9 to announce his presence with authority. Then, over a three hole stretch from 12-14, he ran them down, waiting for the pressure to inevitably take them out, played mistake free golf, and drove home the dagger on 17 to hold off Charles Howell III, who had made a late charge of his own.

When all was said and done, it was his third straight win at Torrey Pines (and fourth in five years and fifth overall), seventh straight official tour win (second place all time behind Byron Nelson's record 11 straight), and notice to the rest of golf that absolutely nothing has changed from last year, the last several years, hell, the last ten years.

And, in the only thing I can say on this that might have some relevance to how good he is...I made sure to be in front of a television yesterday afternoon to see what he would do. And, judging by the television ratings at tour events where Woods is in a position to win, I am decidedly not alone. His greatness has always been compelling, and continues to be. At no point does it bore. Judging by these comments in the Swamp, there are a lot of reasons for that, including how well he has handled fame and success over the years. Plus, sometimes greatness must simply be watched to acknowledge it for its own sake.

On what would otherwise be a fairly boring day of sports here in late January (with the notable exception of the Suns looking for their 17th in a row in Cleveland against the LeBrons), we have this to watch this afternoon:

Tiger Woods is within two shots of the lead at the Buick.

And that means he is within striking distance of his seventh tour win in a row (the all-time record is 11 in a row by Byron Nelson). I still think that record is ridiculously out of reach, and yet, that Woods is even this close to it and prompting thoughts that it is reachable is amazing.

Some of the quotes from the young co-leaders are amusing as hell, including this one from Andrew Buckle, saved from being with Woods in the final threesome thanks to a late birdie from Kevin Sutherland (one off the lead):

"'I'm not playing with Tiger?' [Buckle] said. 'Beautiful.'"

Balls of stone, that one.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Bob Harig of espn.com says that impending fatherhood won't derail Woods' quest for best golfer of all-time:

"And as Jack Nicklaus has often said, having a family doesn't have to be a distraction. Sure, there will be more demands. But children help to put things in perspective. A missed putt, a poor drive, a blown tournament -- not that we've seen much of the last from Woods -- will hardly seem so bad when little Tiger comes running out from behind the grandstand. Speaking of Nicklaus, could there be a better player for Woods to emulate when it comes to golf and kids? The man whose golf records Woods is chasing set quite the standard for balancing a family and championship golf. It is a remarkable feat, one largely overlooked, that despite having five children, Nicklaus never missed a major championship starting with the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open -- a span of 146 straight."

For the record, Woods says if the baby comes during the time of the British Open (it is due around then), he will skip the Open. That may make Elin's mucus plug the most talked about mucus plug ever this July. No, I am not putting a pic of a mucus plug with this part of the post. But I could.

I love any type of minutiae and when it happens to be golf's version, I dig it even more. We all know that Jack Nicklaus was good, and is one of the two best players ever to swing a golf club. What I didn't know was that, much like Tiger Woods would do later, he made the best opponents wilt in direct opposition, Ed Fiori excepted, even from the earliest days.

In his first two years on Tour, Nicklaus beat both Arnold Palmer and Gary Player in 18-hole playoffs. Palmer at the US Open, Player at the Palm Springs Classic, which is now known as the Bob Hope. The Hope is being played this week; Phil Mickelson will debut his holiday spare tire.

Want more trivia? In those days, the playoff participants got to keep part of the gate receipts for the 18-hole duels on Monday.

Paul Goydos staked his claim as #2, just a nip away from Vijay Singh for the Fed Ex title. Can he overtake the Rajin Fijian? I'm being overly dramatic, but I'm still skeptical that the grinders are going to take this Fed Ex thing and make it very uninteresting.

Still, big win for Goydos, uber-grinder, at the Sony Open. A win like this, late in the career, helps a player feel like he deserved to be out there all along. Goydos won more in one fell swoop than he had in any previous SEASON on Tour. What a wonderful week's worth of work. Say that five times fast.

No, it wasn't Michelle Wie. She's 17. And no, I'm not posting a gratuitous picture of her either. She's 17.

"Tadd Fujikawa upstaged fellow Hawaiian teenager Michelle Wie by eagling the last hole to become the second youngest player to make a PGA Tour cut at the Sony Open on Friday."

The PGA Tour kicks off at Kapalua in Hawaii today. I love this event because I get to watch golf in prime-time and because, though the real break was only a few weeks, the real golf has been done since the Tour Championship.

This season represents a crossroads for me, as a viewer, and for the Tour, I think. For me, I am going to try and watch more than I was able to last year. Though the Fed Ex Cup doesn't add a lot for hard-core fans, I do like it. It will be interesting to see how the players approach it in terms of how they set their schedules.

That brings me to the Tour's crossroads. With the recent announcement of an impending Tiger Cub, will the tour's biggest (only?) draw unknowingly sabotage the new system by not playing as much as he might have? Already content to play less than 20 events, I doubt that Tiger will play more just to chase the Fed Ex bonus. Same for Phil Mickelson.

Without those guys playing and really taking an interest (both support the system) the Tour has to figure out ways to market the new generation. The days of Fred Couples and Davis Love III competing week in and out are gone. The Tour is in desperate need of younger/newer players to become household names. For the press that Camillo Villegas gets, he's not broken through and won an event. Instead, it's been players like Eric Axley and Troy Matteson, solid players with no flash to speak of, winning events.

Those names elicit a "Who?" from most, me included (though Matteson was one of the steadiest performers late last season). If the Tour can't find a way to market these guys, and if these guys can't maintain high levels of play, we're in for another year of the casual fan only being interested when Tiger is in contention.

Those middle-tier guys have to prove that they need to be noticed. The Tour NEEDS name players like Adam Scott and Aaron Baddely to come of age. Perhaps chasing the Fed Ex Cup is the incentive these guys, the ones who play week in and week out as well as those fringe stars, need. I fear that the new system will end up benefiting not the top players, but a grinder who gets some good finishes. Unless that grinder can become a brand name player, the system won't be a success. People won't watch John Senden unless he and the likes of him prove they deserve to be watched.

The grinder winning is great for him and hope for the other grinders, but it is rarely compelling television.

Stuart Appleby is going for his record-setting fourth consecutive win at some non-major golf tournament in Hawaii. Apparently, a couple of fellow Australian golfers have asked to go out and hit a few with him to pick up some tips. Not only did Appleby refuse to talk or practice with his countrymen, but then he went to the press, named them, and bragged about rejecting them:

"As for my practice rounds, I don't practise with anybody and I go out by myself. It's just me and my caddie. I've had other guys ask me, including guys like Aaron (Baddeley) and Sendo (John Senden), who are playing for a first time, but I've just said to them, 'sorry but nope'."

"So no practice rounds with any of the Australians or any other player competing."

It's been awhile since I've been on the dating scene, but I'm pretty sure that's the equivalent of a girl dumping you and then posting video of the dumpage on her myspace page.

With the way Appleby is carrying himself, you would think people actually cared about this tournament. Tiger's not playing, so the world doesn't care. Oh, and for you golfheads, Phil, Ernie, Goosen and Harrington will be absent. But if you are jonesing for a Jim Furyk vs. Stuart Appleby match-up, your dreams have finally come true.

The question, as posed by ESPN: "When will (Michelle) Wie stop competing with the men?"

The answer, as provided by yours truly: When people stop being interested enough to write about every move she makes. Though she's missing the cut, the publicity engine remains in high gear and Nike gets their swoosh on the front sports page. Until that stops, she'll keep playing.

ESPN (And myself by extension, admittedly) only exacerbate the problem.

Thanksgiving weekend used to be about turkey, football and, in my household, the Skins Game. My grandmother and I would sit and watch Jack Nicklaus battle Tom Watson or Arnold Palmer or Lee Trevino. We would watch Payne Stewart and his funny pants. In later years we would watch Fred Couples dominate or Greg Norman oblliterate the field.

Then, this week, I flip over from a college football game and I notice that this year's competitors are Couples, John Daly, Fred Funk and the eventual winner, Stephen Ames. I thought to myself, "Stephen Ames?" In the Skins Game? Seriously? Outside of Couples, who has earned his spot via his long-time dominance of the event, this field was a joke.

Continue reading "The Slow, Sad, Decline of the Skins Game" »

Someone played 20 Questions with the players at the Grand Slam of Golf, which was a bit less bright when only two guys who actually won majors this year showed up. Phil Mickelson is in the throes of his holiday break and probably weighs about 345 pounds so he was out. So what did the powers that be do? Went back to the last winner of The Masters Tournament not named Phil or Tiger: Mike Weir. They threw in a dash of Jim Furyk just for fun. (Geoff Ogilvy is there on merit, BTW)

My favorite answers:

"What is the most obscure time of day you have practiced hitting balls?

Ogilvy: Wasn't sure it was ever obscure
Woods: Middle of the night
Furyk: 7 p.m. at night as a kid and now 7 a.m. as I get older
Weir: December 25th inot(sic) ice of Lake Huron "

That's right, boys, Mikey is out there on Christmas. In the ice. Try to keep up. Could Furyk be more of a dry-cod? 7 am? Wow. Diligence.

"When was the last time you paid for a green fee?
Ogilvy: Not for a while, but not sure
Woods: In college
Furyk: 1998 at St. Andrews
Weir: Don't remember"

Jeez. The guys that can afford to buy the courses don't have to pay. Just in hopes they'll sign a little piece of cardboard and let it be hung in the clubhouse.

I'll be honest. This article could have been written a lot better. The lists suck. It should have been a detail of the banter that went on. If they weren't in the same place when asked, they should have been. How cool would it have been for Furyk to look at Tiger and say "Caddyshack? What a golf dork." Then Furyk would have given him a noogie.