Throughout Rory McIlroy's young career, having only played professionally since 2009, he has already done many things that either hurt him a lot or help him a lot. At one moment he could seem like a man with tremendous amounts of class, will the next moment he will seem like a totally arrogant and immature baby. This has been the case for McIlroy from 2010 to 2011.
The most latest came in the first round of the Irish Open. After his round, golf commentator Jay Townsend made the following tweets regarding McIlroy's round:
"McIlroy's course management was shocking"
"@wenners just made a great point, @mcilroyrory should hire Stevie Williams, as I thought JP allowed some SHOCKING course management today"
"@HunterandIan Some of the worst course management I have ever seen beyond under 10's boys golf competition"
And McIlroy, despite showing so much class and maturity at the Masters and US Open, got his feathers ruffled this time and tweeted back to Townsend:
"@JayATownsend shut up.... You're a commentator and a failed golfer, your opinion means nothing!"
Jay Townsend tweeted back:
"@McIlroyRory Sorry, but I stand by my comments"
And McIlroy responded:
"@JayATownsend well, I stand by my caddie"
Afterwards, Rory blocked Jay Townsend on his Twitter account so he didn't have to read anything that Townsend writes about him anymore.
Here's what happened: Rory got off to a good start, being 4 under par thru 10 holes to hold the outright lead. But he played the last eight holes 3 over par thanks to bogey on 11 and double bogey on 18 along with a series of demonstrations of sloppy course management.
The defining moment of his round came on the 18th hole. He hit a 3 wood and landed in the fairway bunker, when he could have used less club and avoided risking hitting a shot in the bunker. Then, facing a shot over water, McIlroy attacked the flagstick but caught the shot fat and it landed in the water.
So, anyway, I thought Rory took this too much of a big deal. Jay Townsend just gave Rory his honest opinion. Nothing wrong with simple being candid and not mincing words.
And by saying that Rory is a double-edged sword, it's because this kind of thing happened to him many times already on his currently short, but roller-coaster career. As in, as soon as he shows his positive attributes in front of golf fans, he immediately loses their respect with some negative attributes.
Here's what I mean:
Rory had a lot of fans embracing him when he shot that 62 at Quail Hollow in 2010 and then followed it up with a stellar British Open, and showing so much class despite shooting 80 in the second round of St. Andrews.
Then, he immediately gave away the respect by making a series of brash comments. Beginning with him appearing to kick Tiger while he's down by saying he fancies his chances of beating him at the Ryder Cup. Then he says the Ryder Cup is just an exhibition. Then he says he doesn't want to take up PGA Tour membership in 2011. Then he says he skips the Players Championship because he dislikes the course. Then he says the players of the older generation are no longer as good as they used to be.
And then, just as McIlroy went from being a superstar to being Public Enemy Number One, he starts gaining respect from the public once again. First he handled the final-round 80 at Augusta with tremendous class. Then after losing the Malaysian Open he again showed class in his interview. And then he helped UNICEF by making a visit to Haiti and helping the children there. And then he had a very gracious US Open win, which was well received by just about everybody. It seems at that time, that everybody had forgiven him for his past incidents of brash.
But then, just as everybody began loving him again, McIlroy yet again showed why he wasn't as mature and nice as everyone thought he was. After the British Open, he said that he didn't like links golf because of the impact of the weather. Which, honestly, sounded like sour grapes because he didn't play in any tournament since the US Open win. And when that happens you just can't expect to do well. And now, most recently, McIlroy has this incident with Jay Townsend.
So there is Rory McIlroy, the double-edged sword of the PGA Tour. Doing a lot of very nice and classy gestures on one hand, but can also show off a lot of immaturity and arrogance on the other hand.
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Tom Watson Playing the Greenbrier Instead of the US Senior Open
Toledo, OHIO - Tom Watson, the world famous hypocrite and alcoholic, notorious for criticizing Tiger Woods' infidelity and lack of respect for golf, while hacing sex with loads of women and urinating in the trees of golf courses himself, made the decision to play in the PGA Tour's Greenbrier stop, instead of the US Senior Open, arguably the biggest tournament in all of senior golf.
His decision was considered by many to be highly odd and unusual. Tom Watson has apprently decided to play in a tournament on the PGA Tour where the young guns are outdriving him by 20-40 yards, and if the weather and course conditions are good, him being the par grinder he is known for, has zero chance to contend, and with high odds of missing the cut.
He chose to play a PGA Tour event with no chance to win when he very much could have been playing the Senior Open at Inverness Golf Club, a course with the usual US Open setups, narrow fairways and deep rough, a course set to his liking.
Here are certain speculations to why Watson chose to play in the Greenbrier instead of the Senior Open.
1. Watson is scared of fast greens. He has the yips. YIPS, YIP YIP YIPS. On fast greens, if you have the yips you won't make any putt. Putts will keep lipping out if you hit the edge of a cup, which is not always the case for slow greens. You must not pull or push any putt. Watson does it regularly whenever he has a putt from 3 to 6 feet. These types of par putts are commonplace for an US Open.
2. There are more washrooms at the Greenbrier than at Inverness. Tom Watson is an alcoholic, and alcoholism results in a highly active bladder, which was demonstrated earlier this year's Masters, when Watson URINATED into the pine trees on the 12th hole. The Greenbrier is a resort course, designed for golfers to have fun, and as a result of its accomondation for golfers, there's been bound to have many washrooms and portable toilets scattered throughout the course. Watson won't have to worry about potty issues no more. Inverness is NOT a resort course. It's a very tight championship course. With this being the US Senior's Open and the course being stretched out to its limits, and having to accomodate all the spectators, and the course being very tight, there is probably not enough washrooms.
3. Tom Watson is afraid of the mother of Phil Mickelson's illegitimate child. It has been reported by NUMEROUS sources that Phil Mickelson is secretly married to a black woman in Ohio and they have a child named Darnelle Mickelson. Well, it has been speculated that Watson sometimes secretly spends time with the child and Watson has been teaching the child on how to be the biggest hypocrite in the state. So the child began telling his mother that he wanted to grow up being a hypocrite. So the mother threatened Watson that if he were ever to spend time with the child again she would call the police. Watson is now afraid that the child will come to Watson and the mother would think that Watson voluntarily chose to spend time with the child.
Whatever the reason maybe, I'm sure he'll be dearly missed in the US Senior Open. The vieweship would go down. After all, people tune in to watch Tom Watson, right?
Right. BUT!!!
People tune in to watch Watson STRUGGLE!!! People who have contempt for hypocrites love watching Watson have the yips and repeatedly and continuously miss 3 foot putts!!!
His decision was considered by many to be highly odd and unusual. Tom Watson has apprently decided to play in a tournament on the PGA Tour where the young guns are outdriving him by 20-40 yards, and if the weather and course conditions are good, him being the par grinder he is known for, has zero chance to contend, and with high odds of missing the cut.
He chose to play a PGA Tour event with no chance to win when he very much could have been playing the Senior Open at Inverness Golf Club, a course with the usual US Open setups, narrow fairways and deep rough, a course set to his liking.
Here are certain speculations to why Watson chose to play in the Greenbrier instead of the Senior Open.
1. Watson is scared of fast greens. He has the yips. YIPS, YIP YIP YIPS. On fast greens, if you have the yips you won't make any putt. Putts will keep lipping out if you hit the edge of a cup, which is not always the case for slow greens. You must not pull or push any putt. Watson does it regularly whenever he has a putt from 3 to 6 feet. These types of par putts are commonplace for an US Open.
2. There are more washrooms at the Greenbrier than at Inverness. Tom Watson is an alcoholic, and alcoholism results in a highly active bladder, which was demonstrated earlier this year's Masters, when Watson URINATED into the pine trees on the 12th hole. The Greenbrier is a resort course, designed for golfers to have fun, and as a result of its accomondation for golfers, there's been bound to have many washrooms and portable toilets scattered throughout the course. Watson won't have to worry about potty issues no more. Inverness is NOT a resort course. It's a very tight championship course. With this being the US Senior's Open and the course being stretched out to its limits, and having to accomodate all the spectators, and the course being very tight, there is probably not enough washrooms.
3. Tom Watson is afraid of the mother of Phil Mickelson's illegitimate child. It has been reported by NUMEROUS sources that Phil Mickelson is secretly married to a black woman in Ohio and they have a child named Darnelle Mickelson. Well, it has been speculated that Watson sometimes secretly spends time with the child and Watson has been teaching the child on how to be the biggest hypocrite in the state. So the child began telling his mother that he wanted to grow up being a hypocrite. So the mother threatened Watson that if he were ever to spend time with the child again she would call the police. Watson is now afraid that the child will come to Watson and the mother would think that Watson voluntarily chose to spend time with the child.
Whatever the reason maybe, I'm sure he'll be dearly missed in the US Senior Open. The vieweship would go down. After all, people tune in to watch Tom Watson, right?
Right. BUT!!!
People tune in to watch Watson STRUGGLE!!! People who have contempt for hypocrites love watching Watson have the yips and repeatedly and continuously miss 3 foot putts!!!
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Top 10 Surprises of the 2011 British Open
Another major, another championship full of surprising storylines. This is no different, so here's the countdown of the Top 10 surprises:
10. Lucas Glover. All year in 2011 up to the British Open week he played poorly with the exception of Quail Hollow, and now he gets out there and ties for the lead at the British Open after 36 holes. He would fall back on the weekend though, but still finishes a respectable T12.
9. Martin Kaymer. The surprising part was not the fact that he contended, but rather, the fact that he fell back after being 1 back thru 36 holes, despite being a potential big-time player. Shot back-to-back 73s over the weekend to finish T12.
8. Rory McIlroy. The surprising part was the fact that he acted like a sore loser after the week despite showing so much class after the Masters loss. He said that he didn't like tournaments with weather that much of a factor, when in reality, it was mostly sour grapes for him who was clearly unpreprared due to not playing any tournaments since the US Open.
7. Anthony Kim. Another one of these guys who hasn't done much all year, and gets in the field with no expectations and ends up with a tie for fifth. A guy whom everybody thought he was going to be a superstar to challenge Tiger Woods, but apparently his poor work ethics have held him back. This week he showed exactly how much talent he has but he couldn't keep it consistent week in and week out without good work ethics.
6. Tom Lewis. Another showing that the young guys just get younger and younger. A 20-year-old tying for the lead after 18 holes at the British Open? Just more and more young guys are playing well at an early age. Still finished the tournament with a very respectable T30.
5. Thomas Bjorn. Not a lot of people have been talking about Bjorn, the guy that squandered the 2003 British Open at the same venue, whose game wasn't in good form coming into the tournament. But he goes out and shoots 65 and ties for the lead after one round, and would finish with a tie for fourth at the end. An interesting note about Bjorn is that after the first round, the British media asked Bjorn how his (passed away) father would have felt if he saw Bjorn in the lead, and Bjorn broke down in tears. Just another indication about how harsh the British media could be.
4. Chad Campbell. He is probably THE biggest underdog story of the week. I can almost guarantee that NOBODY, absolutely NOBODY, talked about Campbell being a potential contender or winner. At least some people still talked about Anthony Kim having no expectations and having a potential to do well. Or Lucas Glover who played well early in last year's Open, or Thomas Bjorn who had a good track record. But NOBODY talked about Chad Campbell. And he goes out there are notches a Top 5 finish.
3. The guys who missed the cut. The fact that Donald, Westwood, Kuchar, and Watney, which were guys who were heavily hyped coming into the tournament, and the arguably most consistent guys on Tour, MISSED THE CUT. That was something VERY hard to believe, because throughout the season they have been almost regularly cashing in on Top 20 finishes, and now they ALL MISS THE CUT??? Especially Donald and Westwood who were #1 and #2 in the world coming into the tournament. Besides, Donald won the Scottish Open the week prior to this week and Kuchar had another high finish at the Scottish Open.
2. Phil Mickelson's week. There were MANY aspects of Phil's week that were surprising. First of all, nobody took him seriously and expected him to be a contender because of his poor track record, only 1 Top 10 in first 17 starts. Yet he was lurking after each round thru 54 holes. And that was WITHOUT his best golf. He missed numerous short putts the first three days and still was only 5 back coming into the final round. Secondly, then in the final round, through the first 7 holes, he made EVERYTHING. Made some long birdie putts and an eagle bomb at the 7th. And lastly, the last surprise was the fact that he had a total meltdown after his great front nine charge. On 11, he three-putted from 35 feet after lipping out a 2-footer. After a perfect drive on 13 he yanks his approach way right and makes bogey. He misses a 6 footer on 14 for birdie. He drives it into a fairway bunker on 15 and makes bogey. And then he three-putts again on 16 when he desperately needed a birdie and was overly aggressive with his 30-footer and rammed it 6 feet past.
1. Darren Clarke's week. Him winning wasn't really a HUGE surprise, but the huge surprise was the WAY he won. He was tied for the lead thru 36 holes. Then on Saturday, he had a VERY nice ball striking day, but he couldn't make any putt. He missed numerous 5 footers which could have got him shooting a 65 instead of a 69. Then on Sunday, he did NOT have as good a ball striking as he did Saturday, and a lot of people expected him to falter judging by his mediocre putting on Saturday, but he did not falter. He putted much better than he did Saturday and made clutch putt after clutch putt to keep his momentum going and he never faltered. He aslo caught many great breaks which he took advantage of, such as his approach on 9 carrying the fairway bunkers by a yard.
10. Lucas Glover. All year in 2011 up to the British Open week he played poorly with the exception of Quail Hollow, and now he gets out there and ties for the lead at the British Open after 36 holes. He would fall back on the weekend though, but still finishes a respectable T12.
9. Martin Kaymer. The surprising part was not the fact that he contended, but rather, the fact that he fell back after being 1 back thru 36 holes, despite being a potential big-time player. Shot back-to-back 73s over the weekend to finish T12.
8. Rory McIlroy. The surprising part was the fact that he acted like a sore loser after the week despite showing so much class after the Masters loss. He said that he didn't like tournaments with weather that much of a factor, when in reality, it was mostly sour grapes for him who was clearly unpreprared due to not playing any tournaments since the US Open.
7. Anthony Kim. Another one of these guys who hasn't done much all year, and gets in the field with no expectations and ends up with a tie for fifth. A guy whom everybody thought he was going to be a superstar to challenge Tiger Woods, but apparently his poor work ethics have held him back. This week he showed exactly how much talent he has but he couldn't keep it consistent week in and week out without good work ethics.
6. Tom Lewis. Another showing that the young guys just get younger and younger. A 20-year-old tying for the lead after 18 holes at the British Open? Just more and more young guys are playing well at an early age. Still finished the tournament with a very respectable T30.
5. Thomas Bjorn. Not a lot of people have been talking about Bjorn, the guy that squandered the 2003 British Open at the same venue, whose game wasn't in good form coming into the tournament. But he goes out and shoots 65 and ties for the lead after one round, and would finish with a tie for fourth at the end. An interesting note about Bjorn is that after the first round, the British media asked Bjorn how his (passed away) father would have felt if he saw Bjorn in the lead, and Bjorn broke down in tears. Just another indication about how harsh the British media could be.
4. Chad Campbell. He is probably THE biggest underdog story of the week. I can almost guarantee that NOBODY, absolutely NOBODY, talked about Campbell being a potential contender or winner. At least some people still talked about Anthony Kim having no expectations and having a potential to do well. Or Lucas Glover who played well early in last year's Open, or Thomas Bjorn who had a good track record. But NOBODY talked about Chad Campbell. And he goes out there are notches a Top 5 finish.
3. The guys who missed the cut. The fact that Donald, Westwood, Kuchar, and Watney, which were guys who were heavily hyped coming into the tournament, and the arguably most consistent guys on Tour, MISSED THE CUT. That was something VERY hard to believe, because throughout the season they have been almost regularly cashing in on Top 20 finishes, and now they ALL MISS THE CUT??? Especially Donald and Westwood who were #1 and #2 in the world coming into the tournament. Besides, Donald won the Scottish Open the week prior to this week and Kuchar had another high finish at the Scottish Open.
2. Phil Mickelson's week. There were MANY aspects of Phil's week that were surprising. First of all, nobody took him seriously and expected him to be a contender because of his poor track record, only 1 Top 10 in first 17 starts. Yet he was lurking after each round thru 54 holes. And that was WITHOUT his best golf. He missed numerous short putts the first three days and still was only 5 back coming into the final round. Secondly, then in the final round, through the first 7 holes, he made EVERYTHING. Made some long birdie putts and an eagle bomb at the 7th. And lastly, the last surprise was the fact that he had a total meltdown after his great front nine charge. On 11, he three-putted from 35 feet after lipping out a 2-footer. After a perfect drive on 13 he yanks his approach way right and makes bogey. He misses a 6 footer on 14 for birdie. He drives it into a fairway bunker on 15 and makes bogey. And then he three-putts again on 16 when he desperately needed a birdie and was overly aggressive with his 30-footer and rammed it 6 feet past.
1. Darren Clarke's week. Him winning wasn't really a HUGE surprise, but the huge surprise was the WAY he won. He was tied for the lead thru 36 holes. Then on Saturday, he had a VERY nice ball striking day, but he couldn't make any putt. He missed numerous 5 footers which could have got him shooting a 65 instead of a 69. Then on Sunday, he did NOT have as good a ball striking as he did Saturday, and a lot of people expected him to falter judging by his mediocre putting on Saturday, but he did not falter. He putted much better than he did Saturday and made clutch putt after clutch putt to keep his momentum going and he never faltered. He aslo caught many great breaks which he took advantage of, such as his approach on 9 carrying the fairway bunkers by a yard.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Hilarious Phil Collapse of the 2011 British Open.
The 2011 British Open has to be one Open Championship that is to be remembered for a long time.
Earlier this week, we had 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis tie the 18-hole lead. So did Thomas Bjorn who's looking for redemption after the heartbreaking 2003 loss at the same venue.
Later on in the week, more and more great storylines emerged. Tom Lehman turning back the clock. Lucas Glover looking to jump-start his career. Darren Clarke looking to finally win a major after busting out of a slump that made him disappear from the golf world from 2008 to 2010. Chad Campbell suddenly appearing out of the blue and contending. Ditto for Anthony Kim. Martin Kaymer bidding for 2 major championships in under 12 months. Miguel Angel Jimenez's hilarious warm-up routine that catches a lot of golfers attention with him contending. 2012 Ryder Cup captain Davis Love contending. Rickie Fowler looking for a breakthrough win. And Dustin Johnson looking to overcome the 2010 major heartbreaks and win a major.
So many great storylines and so many players to root for. It looked like nothing was going to ruin the championship. Just a stress-free, relaxing Open Championship, right?
Almost right, but WRONG.
Through 3 rounds, one guy that you'd never expect to contend in the Open Championship, Phil Mickelson, lurked only five behind the leader Darren Clarke after the three rounds.
Phil was the one guy which I did NOT want to win at all. Phil, the guy with the jiggly man breasts and the silly, obnoxious, sheepish smile. A guy that appeared to be a nice guy but looks far from genuine. He looked like a guy who's hiding something. Only trying to be nice to get money and publicity from the media.
Him winning would ruin a perfectly good tournament. There are so many players who deserved a win, and it must not be Phil, who has already had many wins. He was EASILY the primary antagonist for this Open Championship. No good story does not have an antagonist, so this is fitting.
It was a great morning, with all those wonderful players teeing off. As player by player teed off, the anticipation for the leaders increased. A lot of excitement building up. The best part about all this excitement? Three words. Anybody. But. Phil.
Coming into this week Phil has only had one Top 10 in 17 British Open starts, so one would easily consider him irrelevant. Add that to the fact that he drives the ball erratically and missed many short putts throughout the week. There was no way he was going to be in contention or threaten to win.
Or is it?
Phil parred the first hole, and birdied the second hole. At first, one's initial reaction is: B.F.D! The 2nd hole was downwind to a very benign hole location! EVERYBODY's birdieing that f'ing hole! Phil still can't win, just wait until he bogeys the third or the fourth!
Except he didn't. He parred the third hole, and after a good drive and good second shot, he sank the 18 foot birdie putt on the VERY difficult Par-4 fourth hole. That was when the first alarm signal of threat began being sent.
When Phil made a par save on the 5th with a 8 foot putt, the threat increased knowing that Phil didn't look like he was going to lose momentum anytime.
Thankfully, Darren Clarke stayed tough with clutch par putts on 1 and 3, and a birdie on 2 in between. No way Darren Clarke was going to give this away.
But just the next half-hour, Darren Clarke's lead vanished when Phil sank a 23 foot birdie putt on 6 and a 40 foot eagle putt on 7, contrasted by Clarke's bogey on 4.
UH-OH!!! RED ALERT!!! BRITISH OPEN IN BIG TROUBLE!!! That was when all hell began breaking loose. A great British Open was about to go down in flames thanks to Phil.
The danger signal reached its maximum point when Phil crushed an iron into the wind to 15 feet on the 8th hole. If Phil were to make that putt, he would have the outright lead.
The only hope was for Phil to miss that putt and lose his momentum.
Thankfully, Phil finally got off this insane, ridiculous momentum train when his putt caught the right edge and lipped out. A big crisis averted. Big bullet dodged by Darren Clarke.
All hope for a happy ending had vanished at that time, but with that miss, some hope had rekindled as Phil went to the 9th hole and Clarke played the 7th.
Suddenly, a huge patch of hope burst onto the scene when Clarke arrived on the 7th hole. His 25-foot eagle putt went up a mound and went down, caught the right edge and drilled into the hole. The crowd went thunderous.
Darren Clarke suddenly had a two-stroke lead! Maybe not all hope was gone.
Just then, Phil stuffed his iron on 9 to 12 feet. Big trouble given the fact that Phil was putting well all day. Uh-oh! Thankfully, he missed the putt and another ray of hope had returned.
Darren Clarke then caught a great break on 8 when his indifferent approach caught a good bounce on the mounds and rolled onto the green. A two-putt par kept his momentum going.
The temporary burst of good hope was very momentary however. Phil inexplicably birdied 10 from the rough when he drove into the rough, hit to 18 feet and made the putt. One-stroke lead from Clarke.
Then came the next hole, Hole 9 for Clarke and Hole 11 for Phil. The defining 15-minutes of this championship that turned EVERYTHING around.
After a decent iron shot, Phil had 30 feet for birdie. The birdie putt was left 2 and a half feet short. A formality for par right? WRONG!!!!! Phil got careless and it hit the left lip and spun out. Oh, boy!!! That must have been the moment of the championship right there!!! What a hilarious and priceless moment!!!
And it gets even better!!! Darren Clarke drove it into the rough on a very NASTY lie. He tried to hit a knock-down shot which cleared some VERY deep fairway bunkers by only a couple of yards and bounced all the way to the green, 50 feet to the hole. Clarke lagged the putt to 5 feet and sank the par putt.
That was probably THE most relieving 15-minutes of the championship, BUT...30 minutes later, something might be even better that went on to happen!!!
After a perfect drive on 13 right smack in the middle, Phil only had a 9-iron left for his second shot, but he pulled the iron and it went long and right, in a back-right hole location, leaving an awkward chip. He chipped to 8 feet and his par putt burned the left edge. Drops another shot.
And meanwhile, Darren Clarke hit his tee shot into a bunker on 11, blasted it to six feet, and sank the par putt. Another huge moment of relief that 15 minutes was.
Things just got better from there on. Phil missed a seven foot birdie putt on 14, making that hole the only time all week he didn't shoot birdie or better on a Par 5. While all the meantime Clarke hit ANOTHER indifferent approach on 12 but got ANOTHER lucky bounce from the mounds, making another great par.
Then Phil bogeyed 15 after hitting his drive into a pot bunker, while Clarke made another nice par save on 13 when his approach flew over the green. At that point Clarke was FOUR ahead of Mickelson. Unless Clarke REEEEALLY goofs off, there was NO WAY Mickelson was going to ruin Clarke's day!
The nail on the coffin struck the very next hole. Phil hit his approach to 35 feet at the 16th. Desperately needing a birdie, Phil hammered his birdie putt 6 feet past the hole and missed his comebacker for par. Four bogeys in the last six holes for Phil now. Now it was for sure that Phil wasn't going to win, and the ending was going to be good. The fact that Clarke wasn't going to succumb to the pressure was even further made certain when his closest pursuiter Dustin Johnson double-bogeyed 14 after he tried to hit a draw for his second shot but it double-crossed and went hard right over the white stakes and out-of-bounds.
The next hour was just a coronation for Darren Clarke now that all his competitors have fell by the wayside, the most hilarious one being Phil, who missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 17 and then pushed an approach shot so badly on 18 that it went into the grandstands.
Being Mr. Phony Nice Guy, Phil threw the ball back to the crowd when the crows threw Phil's ball to him. Yuck, another phony attempt to enhance his image. Phony, phony, PHONY. Bet he hit his ball in the stands on purpose just so he can pretend to be a nice guy again by having an excuse to give the fans a ball.
Anyhoo, Phil parred that hole, and the stage was cleared for Darren Clarke, who did bogey the last 2 holes but still finished with a stress-free 70 that gave him a three-stroke win. A very wonderful redemption story indeed.
The best part is, the Anybody But Phil philosophy stands true for yet another major. And for the people that know Phil is a phony, they can rest easy, knowing that this wonderful tournament again had another happy ending and Mr. Phony Photo-Op Krispy Kreme Guy had another loss and possibly blew his most golden opportunity at winning a British Open.
Earlier this week, we had 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis tie the 18-hole lead. So did Thomas Bjorn who's looking for redemption after the heartbreaking 2003 loss at the same venue.
Later on in the week, more and more great storylines emerged. Tom Lehman turning back the clock. Lucas Glover looking to jump-start his career. Darren Clarke looking to finally win a major after busting out of a slump that made him disappear from the golf world from 2008 to 2010. Chad Campbell suddenly appearing out of the blue and contending. Ditto for Anthony Kim. Martin Kaymer bidding for 2 major championships in under 12 months. Miguel Angel Jimenez's hilarious warm-up routine that catches a lot of golfers attention with him contending. 2012 Ryder Cup captain Davis Love contending. Rickie Fowler looking for a breakthrough win. And Dustin Johnson looking to overcome the 2010 major heartbreaks and win a major.
So many great storylines and so many players to root for. It looked like nothing was going to ruin the championship. Just a stress-free, relaxing Open Championship, right?
Almost right, but WRONG.
Through 3 rounds, one guy that you'd never expect to contend in the Open Championship, Phil Mickelson, lurked only five behind the leader Darren Clarke after the three rounds.
Phil was the one guy which I did NOT want to win at all. Phil, the guy with the jiggly man breasts and the silly, obnoxious, sheepish smile. A guy that appeared to be a nice guy but looks far from genuine. He looked like a guy who's hiding something. Only trying to be nice to get money and publicity from the media.
Him winning would ruin a perfectly good tournament. There are so many players who deserved a win, and it must not be Phil, who has already had many wins. He was EASILY the primary antagonist for this Open Championship. No good story does not have an antagonist, so this is fitting.
It was a great morning, with all those wonderful players teeing off. As player by player teed off, the anticipation for the leaders increased. A lot of excitement building up. The best part about all this excitement? Three words. Anybody. But. Phil.
Coming into this week Phil has only had one Top 10 in 17 British Open starts, so one would easily consider him irrelevant. Add that to the fact that he drives the ball erratically and missed many short putts throughout the week. There was no way he was going to be in contention or threaten to win.
Or is it?
Phil parred the first hole, and birdied the second hole. At first, one's initial reaction is: B.F.D! The 2nd hole was downwind to a very benign hole location! EVERYBODY's birdieing that f'ing hole! Phil still can't win, just wait until he bogeys the third or the fourth!
Except he didn't. He parred the third hole, and after a good drive and good second shot, he sank the 18 foot birdie putt on the VERY difficult Par-4 fourth hole. That was when the first alarm signal of threat began being sent.
When Phil made a par save on the 5th with a 8 foot putt, the threat increased knowing that Phil didn't look like he was going to lose momentum anytime.
Thankfully, Darren Clarke stayed tough with clutch par putts on 1 and 3, and a birdie on 2 in between. No way Darren Clarke was going to give this away.
But just the next half-hour, Darren Clarke's lead vanished when Phil sank a 23 foot birdie putt on 6 and a 40 foot eagle putt on 7, contrasted by Clarke's bogey on 4.
UH-OH!!! RED ALERT!!! BRITISH OPEN IN BIG TROUBLE!!! That was when all hell began breaking loose. A great British Open was about to go down in flames thanks to Phil.
The danger signal reached its maximum point when Phil crushed an iron into the wind to 15 feet on the 8th hole. If Phil were to make that putt, he would have the outright lead.
The only hope was for Phil to miss that putt and lose his momentum.
Thankfully, Phil finally got off this insane, ridiculous momentum train when his putt caught the right edge and lipped out. A big crisis averted. Big bullet dodged by Darren Clarke.
All hope for a happy ending had vanished at that time, but with that miss, some hope had rekindled as Phil went to the 9th hole and Clarke played the 7th.
Suddenly, a huge patch of hope burst onto the scene when Clarke arrived on the 7th hole. His 25-foot eagle putt went up a mound and went down, caught the right edge and drilled into the hole. The crowd went thunderous.
Darren Clarke suddenly had a two-stroke lead! Maybe not all hope was gone.
Just then, Phil stuffed his iron on 9 to 12 feet. Big trouble given the fact that Phil was putting well all day. Uh-oh! Thankfully, he missed the putt and another ray of hope had returned.
Darren Clarke then caught a great break on 8 when his indifferent approach caught a good bounce on the mounds and rolled onto the green. A two-putt par kept his momentum going.
The temporary burst of good hope was very momentary however. Phil inexplicably birdied 10 from the rough when he drove into the rough, hit to 18 feet and made the putt. One-stroke lead from Clarke.
Then came the next hole, Hole 9 for Clarke and Hole 11 for Phil. The defining 15-minutes of this championship that turned EVERYTHING around.
After a decent iron shot, Phil had 30 feet for birdie. The birdie putt was left 2 and a half feet short. A formality for par right? WRONG!!!!! Phil got careless and it hit the left lip and spun out. Oh, boy!!! That must have been the moment of the championship right there!!! What a hilarious and priceless moment!!!
And it gets even better!!! Darren Clarke drove it into the rough on a very NASTY lie. He tried to hit a knock-down shot which cleared some VERY deep fairway bunkers by only a couple of yards and bounced all the way to the green, 50 feet to the hole. Clarke lagged the putt to 5 feet and sank the par putt.
That was probably THE most relieving 15-minutes of the championship, BUT...30 minutes later, something might be even better that went on to happen!!!
After a perfect drive on 13 right smack in the middle, Phil only had a 9-iron left for his second shot, but he pulled the iron and it went long and right, in a back-right hole location, leaving an awkward chip. He chipped to 8 feet and his par putt burned the left edge. Drops another shot.
And meanwhile, Darren Clarke hit his tee shot into a bunker on 11, blasted it to six feet, and sank the par putt. Another huge moment of relief that 15 minutes was.
Things just got better from there on. Phil missed a seven foot birdie putt on 14, making that hole the only time all week he didn't shoot birdie or better on a Par 5. While all the meantime Clarke hit ANOTHER indifferent approach on 12 but got ANOTHER lucky bounce from the mounds, making another great par.
Then Phil bogeyed 15 after hitting his drive into a pot bunker, while Clarke made another nice par save on 13 when his approach flew over the green. At that point Clarke was FOUR ahead of Mickelson. Unless Clarke REEEEALLY goofs off, there was NO WAY Mickelson was going to ruin Clarke's day!
The nail on the coffin struck the very next hole. Phil hit his approach to 35 feet at the 16th. Desperately needing a birdie, Phil hammered his birdie putt 6 feet past the hole and missed his comebacker for par. Four bogeys in the last six holes for Phil now. Now it was for sure that Phil wasn't going to win, and the ending was going to be good. The fact that Clarke wasn't going to succumb to the pressure was even further made certain when his closest pursuiter Dustin Johnson double-bogeyed 14 after he tried to hit a draw for his second shot but it double-crossed and went hard right over the white stakes and out-of-bounds.
The next hour was just a coronation for Darren Clarke now that all his competitors have fell by the wayside, the most hilarious one being Phil, who missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 17 and then pushed an approach shot so badly on 18 that it went into the grandstands.
Being Mr. Phony Nice Guy, Phil threw the ball back to the crowd when the crows threw Phil's ball to him. Yuck, another phony attempt to enhance his image. Phony, phony, PHONY. Bet he hit his ball in the stands on purpose just so he can pretend to be a nice guy again by having an excuse to give the fans a ball.
Anyhoo, Phil parred that hole, and the stage was cleared for Darren Clarke, who did bogey the last 2 holes but still finished with a stress-free 70 that gave him a three-stroke win. A very wonderful redemption story indeed.
Great major. A great champion in Darren Clarke. He's well liked by his peers, would never be referred to as FIGJAM. He was signing plenty of autographs before the round. The guy went through some rough times in his life, but he doesn't have a self-serving publicity machine going to get the sympathy support. Just a decent guy.
The best part is, the Anybody But Phil philosophy stands true for yet another major. And for the people that know Phil is a phony, they can rest easy, knowing that this wonderful tournament again had another happy ending and Mr. Phony Photo-Op Krispy Kreme Guy had another loss and possibly blew his most golden opportunity at winning a British Open.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
The Biggest "Anybody but Phil" Moment of the Year
It had been the end of the third round of the British Open, a lot of really compelling and interesting storylines unfolding. So many great players who deserve a win. It had been hard to pull for anyone because so many players deserve a win and a win would be very special for them.
Looks like it was going to be a stress-free final round, right? WRONG. One player who's lurking, five back of the leaders, is the infamous glutton Phil Mickelson. Phil is a guy who had never come across as genuine. He had always been a phony in my point of view. Therefore, it was important that the 2011 British Open was won by anybody but Phil Mickelson.
Even I couldn't believe how many great storyline players topped the leaderboard. 20 out of the top 21 players would benefit for a win. The one player that does NOT deserve a win? You guessed it -- Phil Mickelson.
Here is a full breakdown of the players who deserve a win. To be realistic, this list includes anybody who's within 7 strokes of the leaders.
Darren Clarke (-5). Played some high-level golf early last decade but ever since his wife passed away in 2006 he hasn't played well. Had a lack of competitiveness for a long period of time but began resurfacing in 2010. And now is in primed position to win a major. Great sentimental story if he could hang on to win.
Dustin Johnson (-4). A guy who's notorious for having the final-round 82 at the 2010 US Open and then the club grounding in a bunker at the PGA. He handled both losses with exceptional class. This would be a great bounceback, redemption story.
Thomas Bjorn (-2). A guy who's had a very close call in 2003 when he had a three-shot lead with 4 to play but finished 1 behind Ben Curtis, when he needed three strokes to get out of the bunker on #16 -- now known as the Bjorn Bunker. A win would be a huge redemption story.
Rickie Fowler (-2). A young gun who's been in the spotlight a lot, and for a year and a half the media had been riding on his coattails non-stop hoping for him to break through for a win but so far he has yet to break through. A win would prove that he is a great player and not over-hyped.
Lucas Glover (-1). Hasn't done much since the 2009 US Open win. Loved his Quail Hollow Championship win though, partially because he beat the prick Sabbatini. This win would be a huge jump-start to his career.
Miguel A. Jimenez (-1). A great, entertaining character to watch. Including his recent hilarious warm-up routing that looked like he ate too much cabbage and was expelling methane compounds.
Martin Kaymer (E). A rising young star who hasn't done much recently but a win would make him win 2 majors in less than 12 months. That would be a huge jump-start to his career.
Davis Love III (E). One of the older veterans with many PGA Tour wins but hasn't done much since 2008. Always a nice story to have one of the older guys beat the young guns and win.
George Coetzee (E). WHO??? This would be a HUGE underdog story if he were to win. If you aren't a European Tour watcher, chances are, he was an almost complete unknown up to this week.
Anders Hansen (E). Ditto with George Coetzee. Though some people might know him.
Anthony Kim (E). A guy who's really come totally out of the blue from a totally mediocre 2011 season. Had the potential to be a huge star but injuries and poor work ethics had held him back. Another surprising underdog story.
Chad Campbell (+1). A guy who hasn't done much since a decent 2009 season including a painful loss at the Masters. Though he's gained notoriety for being disqualified at both the Hawaiian Open AND the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2010, for not pre-registering for the event before showing up. Another great underdog that needs a win.
Tom Lehman (+1). A player who's been winning regularly at the Senior Tour. In the 1990s he's had a lot of really close calls in majors, particularly the US Open. Always been a nice guy and class act, so great story if he could come back and win, especially because he is one of the older guys.
Zach Johnson (+1). Zach has had a decent 2011 season with many good finishes but no wins. Always a very low-key guy who's had 7 wins but doesn't get much coverage. Maybe when he wins this one everybody would pay more attention to him from now on because he would become a 2-time major winner?
Ryan Palmer (+1). Another one of the nice, but low-key, young guns. Had a close call at the Byron Nelson Championship under very high winds. Really showed that he was a great wind player. Great jump-start to his career if he could win, though the chances are not high.
Adam Scott (+1). Undoubtedly one of the greatest players without a major. Played so well at the Masters, had a two-shot lead with 2 holes to play, but then Charl Schwartzel came along and steamrolled over everyone with his 4-birdie finish, "stealing" the win from Scott. Since Tiger Woods has been out and his caddie Steve Williams has been caddying Adam Scott, and since a lot of fans rooted for Tiger with Stevie on the bag, now Steve is on Adam Scott's bag, why not root for him?
Webb Simpson (+2). Great player who's handled adversity very well when he lost the New Orleans tournament with a ruling with a one-stroke penalty. Still, I'm not a big fan of him because he's SLOOOOOOW!!! Still, he would greatly benefit a major win though, a great redemption from the loss earlier this year.
Steve Stricker (+2). Another one of the players that enters the conversation of the greatest player to never win a major. Always a class act with a lot of fans following him, especially after being fresh off the dramatic win at the John Deere Classic.
Simon Dyson (+2). Another underdog that's almost totally unheard off! Interesting factoid: In the 2007 PGA Championship final round, Dyson carded the round of the day, a 64, to snatch a Top 6 finish despite being T32 in the beginning of the day. If he can go low again in the final round, who knows what could happen?
Raphael Jacquelin (+2). Another underdog story. His fellow Frenchman Gregory Havret almost won a Major -- the 2010 US Open the previous year. Maybe this is the year he could win one for the French? Not likely though, but a story worth mentioning.
So there is the stellar list of great storylines heading into the final round of the 2011 British Open. What's the motto of the British Open?? Hint: One player has been skipped in the long list of storylines.
Answer is: ANYBODY BUT PHIL!!!!!! GO EVERYONE GO!!! BOO PHIL BOO!!!!!!!! GO HOME PHIL!!!! THE CLARET JUG DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU!!!!!!
So, anyway, here is the ranking of the list of players whom I most wanted to win to least wanted to win. Preference, sentimentality, and leaderboard position are the three factors used to judge this.
1. Darren Clarke
2. Thomas Bjorn
3. Lucas Glover
4. Davis Love III
5. Miguel A. Jimenez
6. Dustin Johnson
7. Rickie Fowler
8. Chad Campbell
9. Tom Lehman
10. Adam Scott
11. Steve Stricker
12. Martin Kaymer
13. Ryan Palmer
14. Simon Dyson
15. Zach Johnson
16. Anthony Kim
17. George Coetzee
18. Anders Hansen
19. Raphael Jacquelin
20. Webb Simpson
21. Phil Mickelson
Looks like it was going to be a stress-free final round, right? WRONG. One player who's lurking, five back of the leaders, is the infamous glutton Phil Mickelson. Phil is a guy who had never come across as genuine. He had always been a phony in my point of view. Therefore, it was important that the 2011 British Open was won by anybody but Phil Mickelson.
Even I couldn't believe how many great storyline players topped the leaderboard. 20 out of the top 21 players would benefit for a win. The one player that does NOT deserve a win? You guessed it -- Phil Mickelson.
Here is a full breakdown of the players who deserve a win. To be realistic, this list includes anybody who's within 7 strokes of the leaders.
Darren Clarke (-5). Played some high-level golf early last decade but ever since his wife passed away in 2006 he hasn't played well. Had a lack of competitiveness for a long period of time but began resurfacing in 2010. And now is in primed position to win a major. Great sentimental story if he could hang on to win.
Dustin Johnson (-4). A guy who's notorious for having the final-round 82 at the 2010 US Open and then the club grounding in a bunker at the PGA. He handled both losses with exceptional class. This would be a great bounceback, redemption story.
Thomas Bjorn (-2). A guy who's had a very close call in 2003 when he had a three-shot lead with 4 to play but finished 1 behind Ben Curtis, when he needed three strokes to get out of the bunker on #16 -- now known as the Bjorn Bunker. A win would be a huge redemption story.
Rickie Fowler (-2). A young gun who's been in the spotlight a lot, and for a year and a half the media had been riding on his coattails non-stop hoping for him to break through for a win but so far he has yet to break through. A win would prove that he is a great player and not over-hyped.
Lucas Glover (-1). Hasn't done much since the 2009 US Open win. Loved his Quail Hollow Championship win though, partially because he beat the prick Sabbatini. This win would be a huge jump-start to his career.
Miguel A. Jimenez (-1). A great, entertaining character to watch. Including his recent hilarious warm-up routing that looked like he ate too much cabbage and was expelling methane compounds.
Martin Kaymer (E). A rising young star who hasn't done much recently but a win would make him win 2 majors in less than 12 months. That would be a huge jump-start to his career.
Davis Love III (E). One of the older veterans with many PGA Tour wins but hasn't done much since 2008. Always a nice story to have one of the older guys beat the young guns and win.
George Coetzee (E). WHO??? This would be a HUGE underdog story if he were to win. If you aren't a European Tour watcher, chances are, he was an almost complete unknown up to this week.
Anders Hansen (E). Ditto with George Coetzee. Though some people might know him.
Anthony Kim (E). A guy who's really come totally out of the blue from a totally mediocre 2011 season. Had the potential to be a huge star but injuries and poor work ethics had held him back. Another surprising underdog story.
Chad Campbell (+1). A guy who hasn't done much since a decent 2009 season including a painful loss at the Masters. Though he's gained notoriety for being disqualified at both the Hawaiian Open AND the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2010, for not pre-registering for the event before showing up. Another great underdog that needs a win.
Tom Lehman (+1). A player who's been winning regularly at the Senior Tour. In the 1990s he's had a lot of really close calls in majors, particularly the US Open. Always been a nice guy and class act, so great story if he could come back and win, especially because he is one of the older guys.
Zach Johnson (+1). Zach has had a decent 2011 season with many good finishes but no wins. Always a very low-key guy who's had 7 wins but doesn't get much coverage. Maybe when he wins this one everybody would pay more attention to him from now on because he would become a 2-time major winner?
Ryan Palmer (+1). Another one of the nice, but low-key, young guns. Had a close call at the Byron Nelson Championship under very high winds. Really showed that he was a great wind player. Great jump-start to his career if he could win, though the chances are not high.
Adam Scott (+1). Undoubtedly one of the greatest players without a major. Played so well at the Masters, had a two-shot lead with 2 holes to play, but then Charl Schwartzel came along and steamrolled over everyone with his 4-birdie finish, "stealing" the win from Scott. Since Tiger Woods has been out and his caddie Steve Williams has been caddying Adam Scott, and since a lot of fans rooted for Tiger with Stevie on the bag, now Steve is on Adam Scott's bag, why not root for him?
Webb Simpson (+2). Great player who's handled adversity very well when he lost the New Orleans tournament with a ruling with a one-stroke penalty. Still, I'm not a big fan of him because he's SLOOOOOOW!!! Still, he would greatly benefit a major win though, a great redemption from the loss earlier this year.
Steve Stricker (+2). Another one of the players that enters the conversation of the greatest player to never win a major. Always a class act with a lot of fans following him, especially after being fresh off the dramatic win at the John Deere Classic.
Simon Dyson (+2). Another underdog that's almost totally unheard off! Interesting factoid: In the 2007 PGA Championship final round, Dyson carded the round of the day, a 64, to snatch a Top 6 finish despite being T32 in the beginning of the day. If he can go low again in the final round, who knows what could happen?
Raphael Jacquelin (+2). Another underdog story. His fellow Frenchman Gregory Havret almost won a Major -- the 2010 US Open the previous year. Maybe this is the year he could win one for the French? Not likely though, but a story worth mentioning.
So there is the stellar list of great storylines heading into the final round of the 2011 British Open. What's the motto of the British Open?? Hint: One player has been skipped in the long list of storylines.
Answer is: ANYBODY BUT PHIL!!!!!! GO EVERYONE GO!!! BOO PHIL BOO!!!!!!!! GO HOME PHIL!!!! THE CLARET JUG DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU!!!!!!
So, anyway, here is the ranking of the list of players whom I most wanted to win to least wanted to win. Preference, sentimentality, and leaderboard position are the three factors used to judge this.
1. Darren Clarke
2. Thomas Bjorn
3. Lucas Glover
4. Davis Love III
5. Miguel A. Jimenez
6. Dustin Johnson
7. Rickie Fowler
8. Chad Campbell
9. Tom Lehman
10. Adam Scott
11. Steve Stricker
12. Martin Kaymer
13. Ryan Palmer
14. Simon Dyson
15. Zach Johnson
16. Anthony Kim
17. George Coetzee
18. Anders Hansen
19. Raphael Jacquelin
20. Webb Simpson
21. Phil Mickelson
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Excerpt of Tom Watson's DVD "Lessons of a Lifetime"
Sooo, if you watch the Golf Channel regularly, you must have heard of Tom Watson advertising his DVD of his video "Lessons of a Lifetime", right? During the commercial, Tom Watson is heard saying "Ever done this? This? Or this? How about this? I can help you turn this...into this." You might start thinking that Tom Watson's catchphrase is the word "this".
Anyway, in case anyone is interested in buying the DVD, here is an excerpt of his DVD, lessons of a lifetime.
"
One important lesson I learned is not while I was younger while playing golf, but rather, an embarrassing situation in the 2011 Masters.
I was playing a practice round. Before the round, I decided to drink lots and lots of alcohol to celebrate my 34th anniversary of my 1977 win at the Masters. Aaaaaah, the alcohol felt good.
So then I teed off for my practice round. With a lot of alcohol in my blood, I felt really good and played really well. Ripped my first drive down the middle of the fairway. Flagged my iron to 15 feet and drained the birdie putt.
On my second hole, I hit the fairway again and hit my second shot just in front of the green. Pitched to four feet and made the birdie.
Made another birdie on the third when I hit my wedge to 3 feet. For a while it looked like I was going to shoot the round of my life.
Made a solid par on 4 by two-putting from 35 feet.
One thing I didn't know was that alcohol is a stimulant in the beginning upon ingestion, but gradually becomes a depressent. This was evident on the fifth hole. After hitting another good drive, the alcohol began to kick in for I left my approach short of the green. The alcohol dampered on my short game and touch around the greens, for I chipped to 12 feet short and missed the par putt for a bogey.
This continued on the next hole. Hit to the middle of the green, 30 feet to hole. My short game let me down again and I hammered my putt eight feet past. My par putt lipped out, settling for back-to-back bogeys.
Feeling mad, I tried to bomb my drive on 7 but hit it into the left rough. With the alcohol resulting in me not thinking properly, I tried gouging the ball out with a mid iron. It flew the green into a back bunker. Luckily I hit to two feet to save par.
That was when I began to feel an urge to urinate. I tried my best to shake off that feeling. I hooked my drive on 8 in the left woods. Pitched it out, and went for the green on my third shot. It ended up short right, leaving an impossible chip shot and I wound up with another bogey.
On 9, I then finally hit a good drive and a good iron shot to 20 feet. The urine in my bladder distracted me, for I left my putt 4 feet short, then my par putt horseshoed around the cup and missed. Made another bogey.
There was an opportunity for me to take a wazz, but I decided not to go because there was an 8-year-old watching me intently and I am afraid that if I were to go then the little kid would start making fun of me and distracting me. So I held my weewee and tried to last the full round without urinating.
But I began regretting this decision right the next hole. Being distracted by my pressured bladder, I hooked my next drive well left near Butler's Cabin (which was what Rory McIlroy would do in the final round of the Masters). I punched my shot back in the fairway, and hit my third shot left again. Pitched to 10 feet and then I narrowly missed my bogey putt and tapped in for double bogey.
Then I finally found my drive in the fairway the next hole. With a good angle, just as I began my back swing, the weewee in my bladder made a push to get out. That distracted me and I duckhooked my next shot. It dribble off to the left, 70 yards remaining to the hole over water. Trying hard not to do the potty dance, hit my shot and it flew over the green. Now my fourth stroke, I nearly holed out my beautiful pitch as it reached the hole and lipped out. I walk on the green to make my tap-in while beginning to do the potty dance. Got distracted and pulled my putt. It ended up even longer than my previous putt! I missed the next one too, and tapped in for a triple bogey. I was now 6 over par through 11.
Doing my potty dance, I hit my iron shot on 12 so badly that it didn't even reach Rae's Creek. My second shot landed short left into a bunker. Then I walked over the Hogan Bridge. By looking at the water at the bridge, I couldn't take it anymore. The bladder was desperately yearning to flow out. I ran across the green and into the woods. I unzipped my neatly zipped fly and the urine just flowed out.
After 30 seconds, the last drop of urine was spread onto the pine trees of Augusta. I zipped back my pants and climbed out of the woods. Luckily, the 8-year-old kid didn't even see me urinate nor he knew I was doing the wee wee! I now had 100% focus and hit my bunker shot. Believe it or not, it went in the hole for a miracle par!
Riding the momentum of the miraculous par, I ripped my next drive down the middle of the fairway on the par 5 13th and went for the green. Hit it to 35 feet and two-putted for an easy birdie.
Hit another good drive on 14, and the second shot nearly went in the hole! Stopped one foot short. Tap-in birdie.
Hit another good drive on 15, and hit a pure second shot to 15 feet, and holed the putt for an eagle. Despite being 6 over par thru 11 all of a sudden I was only 2 over par now!
Another birdie on 16 followed as my tee shot landed 30 feet away and funneled to 8 feet and I made that putt. Then I hit a perfect drive on 17 and had a short iron into the green, looking for another birdie which would actually bring me back to even par!
But that's when I suddenly felt a rush of dizziness, lethargy, and drowsiness. That was worse than the feeling I felt on the 5th hole! It turns out this was because all the ethanol (alcohol) in my body has been metabolized to acetaldehyde, a chemical even more toxic than alcohol! Overcome by those feelings, I shanked my iron shot and it dribbled left about 50 yards to the left pine straws.
Without even thinking, I hit a punch shot which hit a tree and bounced backwards to the fairway with 200 yards left to the hole! Dumped my next shot into the bunker short right, left my next shot in the bunker, and finally got it out the next shot. Pulled by 5 foot putt, and had to settle for a quadruple bogey 8.
Feeling totally numb and stupefied, my tee shot on 18 ended up so far right that it didn't even find the trees. It ended up on the other side of the trees and I actually had a clear shot to the green! My shot ended up in the mounds left of the green. Hit my slippery chip 20 feet past the hole and made the putt for a crazy up-and-down par. When all was said and done, I had shot a 77 which could have been a 65 if not for my bladder that ruined my round!
-- Signed, 1977 Masters Champion and 2009 British Open runner-up, Tom Watson
"
Anyway, in case anyone is interested in buying the DVD, here is an excerpt of his DVD, lessons of a lifetime.
"
One important lesson I learned is not while I was younger while playing golf, but rather, an embarrassing situation in the 2011 Masters.
I was playing a practice round. Before the round, I decided to drink lots and lots of alcohol to celebrate my 34th anniversary of my 1977 win at the Masters. Aaaaaah, the alcohol felt good.
So then I teed off for my practice round. With a lot of alcohol in my blood, I felt really good and played really well. Ripped my first drive down the middle of the fairway. Flagged my iron to 15 feet and drained the birdie putt.
On my second hole, I hit the fairway again and hit my second shot just in front of the green. Pitched to four feet and made the birdie.
Made another birdie on the third when I hit my wedge to 3 feet. For a while it looked like I was going to shoot the round of my life.
Made a solid par on 4 by two-putting from 35 feet.
One thing I didn't know was that alcohol is a stimulant in the beginning upon ingestion, but gradually becomes a depressent. This was evident on the fifth hole. After hitting another good drive, the alcohol began to kick in for I left my approach short of the green. The alcohol dampered on my short game and touch around the greens, for I chipped to 12 feet short and missed the par putt for a bogey.
This continued on the next hole. Hit to the middle of the green, 30 feet to hole. My short game let me down again and I hammered my putt eight feet past. My par putt lipped out, settling for back-to-back bogeys.
Feeling mad, I tried to bomb my drive on 7 but hit it into the left rough. With the alcohol resulting in me not thinking properly, I tried gouging the ball out with a mid iron. It flew the green into a back bunker. Luckily I hit to two feet to save par.
That was when I began to feel an urge to urinate. I tried my best to shake off that feeling. I hooked my drive on 8 in the left woods. Pitched it out, and went for the green on my third shot. It ended up short right, leaving an impossible chip shot and I wound up with another bogey.
On 9, I then finally hit a good drive and a good iron shot to 20 feet. The urine in my bladder distracted me, for I left my putt 4 feet short, then my par putt horseshoed around the cup and missed. Made another bogey.
There was an opportunity for me to take a wazz, but I decided not to go because there was an 8-year-old watching me intently and I am afraid that if I were to go then the little kid would start making fun of me and distracting me. So I held my weewee and tried to last the full round without urinating.
But I began regretting this decision right the next hole. Being distracted by my pressured bladder, I hooked my next drive well left near Butler's Cabin (which was what Rory McIlroy would do in the final round of the Masters). I punched my shot back in the fairway, and hit my third shot left again. Pitched to 10 feet and then I narrowly missed my bogey putt and tapped in for double bogey.
Then I finally found my drive in the fairway the next hole. With a good angle, just as I began my back swing, the weewee in my bladder made a push to get out. That distracted me and I duckhooked my next shot. It dribble off to the left, 70 yards remaining to the hole over water. Trying hard not to do the potty dance, hit my shot and it flew over the green. Now my fourth stroke, I nearly holed out my beautiful pitch as it reached the hole and lipped out. I walk on the green to make my tap-in while beginning to do the potty dance. Got distracted and pulled my putt. It ended up even longer than my previous putt! I missed the next one too, and tapped in for a triple bogey. I was now 6 over par through 11.
Doing my potty dance, I hit my iron shot on 12 so badly that it didn't even reach Rae's Creek. My second shot landed short left into a bunker. Then I walked over the Hogan Bridge. By looking at the water at the bridge, I couldn't take it anymore. The bladder was desperately yearning to flow out. I ran across the green and into the woods. I unzipped my neatly zipped fly and the urine just flowed out.
After 30 seconds, the last drop of urine was spread onto the pine trees of Augusta. I zipped back my pants and climbed out of the woods. Luckily, the 8-year-old kid didn't even see me urinate nor he knew I was doing the wee wee! I now had 100% focus and hit my bunker shot. Believe it or not, it went in the hole for a miracle par!
Riding the momentum of the miraculous par, I ripped my next drive down the middle of the fairway on the par 5 13th and went for the green. Hit it to 35 feet and two-putted for an easy birdie.
Hit another good drive on 14, and the second shot nearly went in the hole! Stopped one foot short. Tap-in birdie.
Hit another good drive on 15, and hit a pure second shot to 15 feet, and holed the putt for an eagle. Despite being 6 over par thru 11 all of a sudden I was only 2 over par now!
Another birdie on 16 followed as my tee shot landed 30 feet away and funneled to 8 feet and I made that putt. Then I hit a perfect drive on 17 and had a short iron into the green, looking for another birdie which would actually bring me back to even par!
But that's when I suddenly felt a rush of dizziness, lethargy, and drowsiness. That was worse than the feeling I felt on the 5th hole! It turns out this was because all the ethanol (alcohol) in my body has been metabolized to acetaldehyde, a chemical even more toxic than alcohol! Overcome by those feelings, I shanked my iron shot and it dribbled left about 50 yards to the left pine straws.
Without even thinking, I hit a punch shot which hit a tree and bounced backwards to the fairway with 200 yards left to the hole! Dumped my next shot into the bunker short right, left my next shot in the bunker, and finally got it out the next shot. Pulled by 5 foot putt, and had to settle for a quadruple bogey 8.
Feeling totally numb and stupefied, my tee shot on 18 ended up so far right that it didn't even find the trees. It ended up on the other side of the trees and I actually had a clear shot to the green! My shot ended up in the mounds left of the green. Hit my slippery chip 20 feet past the hole and made the putt for a crazy up-and-down par. When all was said and done, I had shot a 77 which could have been a 65 if not for my bladder that ruined my round!
-- Signed, 1977 Masters Champion and 2009 British Open runner-up, Tom Watson
"
Monday, 11 July 2011
Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Events for Week of July 4 to 10, 2011
For this week, there were a lot of things going on in the world of golf. The European Tour has the Barclays Scottish Open, the PGA Tour has the John Deere Classic, and the LPGA Tour has the US Women's Open. There were definitely a lot of surprising, interesting, or significant things that happened throughout the week, and here is a countdown of the surprising things.
10: Colin Montgomerie fails to qualify for the British Open, resulting in him out of the Open the first time since 1989. What makes his week surprising, was the fact that he was actually making a big charge in the final round and at one point was actually tied for the lead with a logjam of many different players. But he stumbled on the back nine and finished T31. Speaking of Monty, he is hands down the greatest player ever to never win a PGA Tour event, let alone a major. Of course, the Scottish Open is NOT a PGA Tour event, but still. Just feel like pointin' that out.
9: David Toms's withdrawal at the John Deere. This surprised a lot of people because Toms appeared to be playing decently, with a T17 at the Travellers Championship, and showed no sign of injury until this week, when he withdrew after 9 holes because of a hip injury. Other players who withdrew were George McNeill, Scott Verplank, and Robert Garrigus. This was particularly disappointing for me because I placed a bet for Toms as a contender and McNeill as a dark horse.
8: Louis Oosthuizen's participation of the John Deere Classic. Seriously, Oosthuizen is the defending champion for the 2010 British Open. Add that to the fact that he is an Euro Tour player, one would expect him to play the Scottish Open as a good links course for the tune-up, right? WRONG!!! Oostdsgsdgdsgffen did the exact opposite of what others were doing. While many PGA Tour players played in the Scottish Open instead, Oostdgsdggewgten, despite being an European Tour member, played in the PGA Tour event instead. This is one of the most surprising entries yet, especialyl because of the fact that the John Deere course has nothing in common with a British Open links-style course. And it turns out his decision might have not been a good one, for he missed the cut by 1 stroke at the John Deere.
7: Luke Donald's another dominant win. Luke Donald continues to show why he is ranked #1 in the world, with a commanding 4-stroke victory at the rain-shortened 54-hole Scottish Open. Including a final round 63 which tied for his best round ever on the European Tour. He made just about every putt and had a brilliant short game putt as usual. Interestingly, it seems that Donald finally found a way to close the deal, with the win here and the win at Wentworth earlier the year. Before his win at Wentworth, he squandered a lead at Harbour Town to Brandt Snedeker, and then at the Volvo Match Play he lost to Ian Poulter because of his some shaky iron shots down the stretch and Poulter's brilliant short game.
6: Yet another meltdown by Graeme McDowell. McDowell was the player well-known for his clutch performances he made in 2010. His US Open win. His Ryder Cup performance. And his Chevron Challenge win. But instead, in 2011, after his multitude of third- and final-round collapses we can officially say that he was developed a reputation of throwing in the towel when things don't go his way. This was evident in the Heritage tournament at Hilton Head where at one point he was just 1 back of the leader and was very much in the hunt. But after a succession of mistakes he wound up with a T60. Then at the Players he had a 3 stroke lead at one point but a final round 79 led to him finishing T33. Then at the Wales Open after tying for the lead thru 36 holes he shot a 81 which included a 3-chip and 3-putt on the 12th hole, resulting in a T27 finish. And now at the Scottish Open, he was in contention once again, sharing the 36-hole lead but made a 9 on the Par 5 12th hole in the final round en route to a 74 and a T41 finish.
5: The bad weather effect. This week was supposed to be a very, VERY interesting and compelling week, but it seems like the weather delays are what hampered the week and it made a perfectly good week go wrong. This happened in both the Scottish Open AND the US Women's Open. At the Scottish Open play was called off early on Friday because of thunderstorms (are there really thunderstorms in Scotland?) and the storm did so much damage, including a landslide on the 1st fairway, that they couldn't get any play on Saturday because they worked all day repairing the course, and it had to be shortened to 54 holes to avoid a Monday finish which disturbs the players' preparation for the British Open. And then, on the LPGA's US Women's Open, there were weather delays on each of the four rounds, including delays for the majority of the first and third rounds, forcing a Monday finish. What makes the LPGA weather delay so weird is that it's very rare to have thunderstorms 4 days in a row. And certainly weird for the European Tour to have a storm doing so much damage to a golf course.
4: John Daly making a 13 on the 4th hole, second round. ANOTHER big score on one hole for Daly. If this were a different golfer this might be #1 or #2 in the countdown, but since it's John Daly it isn't TOO surprising or significant. Daly was flirting with the cut line in the second round, and he was 1 under par, slightly below the cut line, when he sliced a drive into the trees right. He didn't take a drop, he just tried hacking it away, and after 8 hacks, finally got out of the trees on his 9th shot. Hit his next one into a greenside bunker, hit the next one 25 feet past the hole, and two-putted for a 13. Dropped from 3 under to 6 over in one hole. He bogeyed 3 of his next 5 holes to finish with a 81, 11 over par for the tournament after a first round 72. Had he not made the 13 he would still be well below the cutline though.
3: Kyle Stanley's finish. Really, who is this guy? This guy was in contention at the Honda Classic and the AT&T National and that was just about the only other two times we've heard things about him. What was really surprising about him was the huge charge he made on the back nine Sunday. Trailing Stricker by 4 shots, he made 4 birdies in a row, from 3, 25, 18, and 36 feet, respectively. It's rare to have a rookie like Stanley make so many long putts in a row but that's what he did. However, his charge was cut short with a missed 8 foot birdie on 16. And he bogeyed 18 after his 8 footer lipped out, and he finished 1 shot behind Stricker.
2: Steve Stricker's finish. There are many things surprising about Stricker's finish. First of all, his bad luck from the bunkers. On the 6th hole, first round, he had a buried lie in the fairway bunker with the ball sitting right underneath a big lip, resulting in his only bogey of the day (he actually had to make a 8 footer just to avoid double bogey!) And then he again had a buried lie in the greenside bunker of the 5th and it took him two shots to get out of the bunker and he made double bogey. The same thing happened at the 16th and he made bogey there. Interestingly enough, Stricker actually had a 5 shot lead after 9 holes, and it looked like it was going to be a walk-away win for him, but for the next 7 holes, there was a 7 shot swing and Stricker ended up being 2 back of Kyle Stanley with 2 to play. Stricker made a 14-footer for birdie on 17. Then after driving it in the fairway bunker on 18 with another tough lie, Stricker hooked a 6-iron to 24 feet on the back fringe, and then sank the super-birdie putt to win by a stroke over Stanley who made bogey. As clutch as it gets for him.
1: And the most surprising headline of the week was the LPGA's US Women's Open crazy finish. First off, Hee Kyung Seo and So Yeon Ryu were in a 3-hole playoff after being tied for 72 holes. Wait, WHAT?!?!? WHO AND WHO?!?! That's right. Two players who were almost completely unknown on the LPGA Tour albeit being very well-known in Korea. (And many people forgot Seo's win at the 2010 Kia Classic.) Surprisingly those two played so well in the final round despite all the other competitors unable to mount any charge. Seo at one point had a three-shot lead, but when she got to the 17th hole, her group was warned about falling behind the previous group, so they had to jog between shots. That was probably the mistake Seo made, because since she was jogging, her adrenaline level increased, and as a result, with 20 feet left for birdie on 17, Seo hammered her putt 4 feet past the hole, and then missed the par putt, making bogey and her only 3-putt of the tournament. Meanwhile Ryu made an ultra-clutch birdie on the 18th hole, the toughest hole of the week, by flagging her approach shot to 6 feet and making the putt to force a playoff with Seo. In the playoff, Ryu won when Seo bogeyed the 17th hole again while Ryu birdied the same hole.
10: Colin Montgomerie fails to qualify for the British Open, resulting in him out of the Open the first time since 1989. What makes his week surprising, was the fact that he was actually making a big charge in the final round and at one point was actually tied for the lead with a logjam of many different players. But he stumbled on the back nine and finished T31. Speaking of Monty, he is hands down the greatest player ever to never win a PGA Tour event, let alone a major. Of course, the Scottish Open is NOT a PGA Tour event, but still. Just feel like pointin' that out.
9: David Toms's withdrawal at the John Deere. This surprised a lot of people because Toms appeared to be playing decently, with a T17 at the Travellers Championship, and showed no sign of injury until this week, when he withdrew after 9 holes because of a hip injury. Other players who withdrew were George McNeill, Scott Verplank, and Robert Garrigus. This was particularly disappointing for me because I placed a bet for Toms as a contender and McNeill as a dark horse.
8: Louis Oosthuizen's participation of the John Deere Classic. Seriously, Oosthuizen is the defending champion for the 2010 British Open. Add that to the fact that he is an Euro Tour player, one would expect him to play the Scottish Open as a good links course for the tune-up, right? WRONG!!! Oostdsgsdgdsgffen did the exact opposite of what others were doing. While many PGA Tour players played in the Scottish Open instead, Oostdgsdggewgten, despite being an European Tour member, played in the PGA Tour event instead. This is one of the most surprising entries yet, especialyl because of the fact that the John Deere course has nothing in common with a British Open links-style course. And it turns out his decision might have not been a good one, for he missed the cut by 1 stroke at the John Deere.
7: Luke Donald's another dominant win. Luke Donald continues to show why he is ranked #1 in the world, with a commanding 4-stroke victory at the rain-shortened 54-hole Scottish Open. Including a final round 63 which tied for his best round ever on the European Tour. He made just about every putt and had a brilliant short game putt as usual. Interestingly, it seems that Donald finally found a way to close the deal, with the win here and the win at Wentworth earlier the year. Before his win at Wentworth, he squandered a lead at Harbour Town to Brandt Snedeker, and then at the Volvo Match Play he lost to Ian Poulter because of his some shaky iron shots down the stretch and Poulter's brilliant short game.
6: Yet another meltdown by Graeme McDowell. McDowell was the player well-known for his clutch performances he made in 2010. His US Open win. His Ryder Cup performance. And his Chevron Challenge win. But instead, in 2011, after his multitude of third- and final-round collapses we can officially say that he was developed a reputation of throwing in the towel when things don't go his way. This was evident in the Heritage tournament at Hilton Head where at one point he was just 1 back of the leader and was very much in the hunt. But after a succession of mistakes he wound up with a T60. Then at the Players he had a 3 stroke lead at one point but a final round 79 led to him finishing T33. Then at the Wales Open after tying for the lead thru 36 holes he shot a 81 which included a 3-chip and 3-putt on the 12th hole, resulting in a T27 finish. And now at the Scottish Open, he was in contention once again, sharing the 36-hole lead but made a 9 on the Par 5 12th hole in the final round en route to a 74 and a T41 finish.
5: The bad weather effect. This week was supposed to be a very, VERY interesting and compelling week, but it seems like the weather delays are what hampered the week and it made a perfectly good week go wrong. This happened in both the Scottish Open AND the US Women's Open. At the Scottish Open play was called off early on Friday because of thunderstorms (are there really thunderstorms in Scotland?) and the storm did so much damage, including a landslide on the 1st fairway, that they couldn't get any play on Saturday because they worked all day repairing the course, and it had to be shortened to 54 holes to avoid a Monday finish which disturbs the players' preparation for the British Open. And then, on the LPGA's US Women's Open, there were weather delays on each of the four rounds, including delays for the majority of the first and third rounds, forcing a Monday finish. What makes the LPGA weather delay so weird is that it's very rare to have thunderstorms 4 days in a row. And certainly weird for the European Tour to have a storm doing so much damage to a golf course.
4: John Daly making a 13 on the 4th hole, second round. ANOTHER big score on one hole for Daly. If this were a different golfer this might be #1 or #2 in the countdown, but since it's John Daly it isn't TOO surprising or significant. Daly was flirting with the cut line in the second round, and he was 1 under par, slightly below the cut line, when he sliced a drive into the trees right. He didn't take a drop, he just tried hacking it away, and after 8 hacks, finally got out of the trees on his 9th shot. Hit his next one into a greenside bunker, hit the next one 25 feet past the hole, and two-putted for a 13. Dropped from 3 under to 6 over in one hole. He bogeyed 3 of his next 5 holes to finish with a 81, 11 over par for the tournament after a first round 72. Had he not made the 13 he would still be well below the cutline though.
3: Kyle Stanley's finish. Really, who is this guy? This guy was in contention at the Honda Classic and the AT&T National and that was just about the only other two times we've heard things about him. What was really surprising about him was the huge charge he made on the back nine Sunday. Trailing Stricker by 4 shots, he made 4 birdies in a row, from 3, 25, 18, and 36 feet, respectively. It's rare to have a rookie like Stanley make so many long putts in a row but that's what he did. However, his charge was cut short with a missed 8 foot birdie on 16. And he bogeyed 18 after his 8 footer lipped out, and he finished 1 shot behind Stricker.
2: Steve Stricker's finish. There are many things surprising about Stricker's finish. First of all, his bad luck from the bunkers. On the 6th hole, first round, he had a buried lie in the fairway bunker with the ball sitting right underneath a big lip, resulting in his only bogey of the day (he actually had to make a 8 footer just to avoid double bogey!) And then he again had a buried lie in the greenside bunker of the 5th and it took him two shots to get out of the bunker and he made double bogey. The same thing happened at the 16th and he made bogey there. Interestingly enough, Stricker actually had a 5 shot lead after 9 holes, and it looked like it was going to be a walk-away win for him, but for the next 7 holes, there was a 7 shot swing and Stricker ended up being 2 back of Kyle Stanley with 2 to play. Stricker made a 14-footer for birdie on 17. Then after driving it in the fairway bunker on 18 with another tough lie, Stricker hooked a 6-iron to 24 feet on the back fringe, and then sank the super-birdie putt to win by a stroke over Stanley who made bogey. As clutch as it gets for him.
1: And the most surprising headline of the week was the LPGA's US Women's Open crazy finish. First off, Hee Kyung Seo and So Yeon Ryu were in a 3-hole playoff after being tied for 72 holes. Wait, WHAT?!?!? WHO AND WHO?!?! That's right. Two players who were almost completely unknown on the LPGA Tour albeit being very well-known in Korea. (And many people forgot Seo's win at the 2010 Kia Classic.) Surprisingly those two played so well in the final round despite all the other competitors unable to mount any charge. Seo at one point had a three-shot lead, but when she got to the 17th hole, her group was warned about falling behind the previous group, so they had to jog between shots. That was probably the mistake Seo made, because since she was jogging, her adrenaline level increased, and as a result, with 20 feet left for birdie on 17, Seo hammered her putt 4 feet past the hole, and then missed the par putt, making bogey and her only 3-putt of the tournament. Meanwhile Ryu made an ultra-clutch birdie on the 18th hole, the toughest hole of the week, by flagging her approach shot to 6 feet and making the putt to force a playoff with Seo. In the playoff, Ryu won when Seo bogeyed the 17th hole again while Ryu birdied the same hole.
The PGA Tour's Obsession With Making Scores Easier and Moving Up Tees
The PGA Tour is usually great to watch. A lot of great competition between a lot of great players in the world. However, one thing that makes it wasy to find contempt for the PGA Tour is the way they always manicure course setups to make them easy and scoreable for the pros. What they don't realize is that fans don't necessarily want to see low scores. They want to see realistic golf. See the pros get challenged by the courses.
The practice of moving up tees has been present for a long time, but this began becoming really felt at the US Open at Congressional, where the setup was so easy that players were making birdies by the bunches and shooting rounds in the high 60s. They had rough that wasn't deep enough because of the heat. And the greens that were softened by rain. And benign weather conditions with almost no wind. But those were not the only reasons for so many low scores, but also, the ill-advised decision to move up many tees throughout the tournament. HELLO?! A US Open is not supposed to have tees moved up so frequently. ESPECIALLY on Par FOURS. But that's what they did, and as a result, the US Open played a lot more like a PGA Championship instead of a US Open.
The decision for the PGA Tour to move up certain teeing grounds for tournaments has been, in my opinion, very bad practice. That takes a lot of challenge away on holes, and artificially inflates all the low scores. The main reason for all those 20-under-par scores are NOT mainly because the players are good, but rather, the courses were set up far too benign and because of the benign setups, the new technology makes a lot of golf courses obselete and too easy.
This has become an even more obvious issue at the AT&T National at Aronimink, a course that played very difficult in all the champioships it's held, including the 1962 PGA and 2003 Senior PGA. Even in the 2010 AT&T National it played nice and difficult, but in 2011, the PGA Tour crossed the line and did one of the most ridiculous and most repulsive setups ever.
After two days of them setting up Aronimink very well, with me giving them a scale of 9 out of 10, Saturday's setup deserved a 2 out of 10.
They watered all the greens before the third round, making them MUCH softer and receptive than the first two days, and the scores really reflected that. Nick Watney shot a 62 and a whole bunch of players shooting scores in the 63, 64, 65 range. And they MOVED UP SO MANY TEES!!! It played so easy that 8 players tied or beat the previous 2010 record in that one round alone (64).
They set up the pins in the easiest possible locations. Setting up pins in the front of the green when there are no hazards short. Moved up the 8th hole from a 238 yard hole to a 196 yard hole. Who cares if it's a tough front left pin location? And the moved up the 10th hole from a 454 yard hole to a 435 yard one. In fact ,all week they never played that hole to its backmost tees. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary birdies. And they moved the 393 yard par 4 13th to 316 yards and forced out a drivable par 4 out of a par 4 that wasn't supposed to be drivable. And the most ridiculous and stupidest move of all? Moving the 215 yard par 3 17th to 144 yards. Sure, it's a tough pin location, but so what? Everybody played the same hole.
Then, fortunately, the course played difficult on Sunday, much more difficult than Saturday. That was what saved grace and prevented the tournament setup to be completely bogus.
And then the immediate week after, at the John Deere Classic, the PGA Tour yet again manicured the course and made it much easier than it could be played. Here is a list of holes they moved up for the John Deere and how utterly ridiculous was the moves.
3rd hole: Moved up from 186 yards to 135 yards for the third round. 135 YARDS!!! WHAT?!? Well, the pin location for that hole was front, a difficult spot just before the greenside bunker. But still, a 186 yard par 3 is NEVER hard for the pros and they had NO reason to move up the tees by so much. Considering that a 186 yard hole is merely a 6 iron for most, the pros getting it on the green close should NOT have been any problem. And even if the hole is difficult they still don't need to move the tee up more than 50 yards! Thank goodness they only moved it up one day, the third round.
7th hole: Moved up from 226 yards to 184 yards for the FIRST THREE DAYS. Geez. Honestly, when they move up one tee by SO much forward for SO many days, then what's the point of having the hole 226 yards on the card? And why must they always make those 230 yard holes birdie holes? The pin locations aren't really that tough. A player hitting a high draw could get it close for a reasonable birdie chance even when the tee is moved well back and with the pin tucked behind a bunker. Thankfully the PGA Tour was sane enough to move back the tee to 226 in the final round when the pin is not behind a bunker hazard.
9th hole: Moved up from 503 yards to 485 yards for the first two rounds. What's the point of moving tees up for undrivable par fours? To encourage players to hit driver-short iron or driver-wedge? It's about time the game stops being a bomb-and-gouge game and starts to be a game of finesse again. A hole of length is NOT too challenging for players since a lot of them only need a mid to short iron to reach the green anyway. If the players are unable to hit the green in 2, it's not because the hole is too long, it's because the player didn't hit a good enough shot.
10th hole: Moved up from 594 yards to 566 yards for Rounds 2 and 4. Okay, this move is reasonable and fair enough, because they want more players to try reaching the green in two, which could be a risky move with water left. But still, even without moving up the tees all the big hitters would still have a chance of reaching in 2. And the short hitters would still commit to their decision and lay up. Moving up the tee just gives the big hitters an EASIER second shot since they have a SHORTER second shot. It does not necessarily entice more players to go for the green.
12th hole: Moved up from 215 yards to 194 yards for all but the third round. Here we go again, another Par 4 moved up. And another unnecessary move. What makes this move so unnecessary and superfluous, is the fact that there aren't really that many hazards on this green! The green is quite deep so it is still quite receptive to shots. There is one significant bunker short, and that's about it. That's a long iron shot. Since on this course it doesn't really require that many long iron shots, this would have been a great test for long irons. Rather than moving up the tee and changing it into a mid iron, or even short iron, shot.
14th hole: Moved up from 361 yards to 316 yards for the first and third rounds. Okay, what is the PGA Tour with drivable Par 4s? Well, what makes a drivable par four a good hole is if a good drive is rewarded with a potential eagle / easy birdie, and a bad one is punished with a very difficult birdie chance and a potential to make a bogey. This hole however, players who went for the green and hit a crooked drive almost didn't come close to making a bogey, unless they duff their pitch shot. If a drivable Par 4 is so scoreable, they might as well call them long par threes. Though I have to admit, this Par 4 is not the worst drivable Par 4. I've seen some on the PGA that are much worse.
15th hole: Moved up from 484 yards to 466 yards for round 2 and 4. Again, see my analysis for the 9th hole. On the second round, Steve Stricker hit driver-wedge on this hole. It's just so weird seeing the PGA make long and strong par fours driver-wedge holes.
16th hole: Moved up from 158 yards to 144 yards for the first two rounds. Okay, let me get this straight, the main reason for the PGA to move up par threes is because the pin location is making it too difficult. Sooo, if this is the case here, that means tha PGA must have thought that the 158 yard par 3 was too difficult to play 158 yards. REALLY!!! A 158 YARD PAR 3 BEING TOO DIFFICULT!!! HUH???? What are they even trying to accomplish? A 158 yard Par 3 is an 8 or 9 iron for most players already, and stronger players maybe a pitching wedge. It's as short a Par 3 as it gets. Yet they make it even more shorter so that everybody is hitting a WEDGE into it. What's the point besides artificially inflating the low scores??? Not sure why they love birdie barrages so much. After all, golf courses on the PGA are supposed to be CHALLENGING. This is NOT what golf courses are supposed to play like.
18th hole: Moved up from 476 yards to 461 yards in Rounds 2 and 3. Again, see same argument on Hole 9 and 15.
So that is the analysis of the holes with the tes moved up. Again, in conclusion, the PGA Tour manicuring the courses by making them benign for scoring, and moving up the tees is not a good move, and in the long run, this move would just reduce the amount of fans watching specific tournaments. A lot of top players do not like birdiefests, and when there are so many birdiefest tournaments, the players would tend to opt OUT and play a different event (such as this week at the Scottish Open). And as a result of players not playing there, the fans would decrease too.
The practice of moving up tees has been present for a long time, but this began becoming really felt at the US Open at Congressional, where the setup was so easy that players were making birdies by the bunches and shooting rounds in the high 60s. They had rough that wasn't deep enough because of the heat. And the greens that were softened by rain. And benign weather conditions with almost no wind. But those were not the only reasons for so many low scores, but also, the ill-advised decision to move up many tees throughout the tournament. HELLO?! A US Open is not supposed to have tees moved up so frequently. ESPECIALLY on Par FOURS. But that's what they did, and as a result, the US Open played a lot more like a PGA Championship instead of a US Open.
The decision for the PGA Tour to move up certain teeing grounds for tournaments has been, in my opinion, very bad practice. That takes a lot of challenge away on holes, and artificially inflates all the low scores. The main reason for all those 20-under-par scores are NOT mainly because the players are good, but rather, the courses were set up far too benign and because of the benign setups, the new technology makes a lot of golf courses obselete and too easy.
This has become an even more obvious issue at the AT&T National at Aronimink, a course that played very difficult in all the champioships it's held, including the 1962 PGA and 2003 Senior PGA. Even in the 2010 AT&T National it played nice and difficult, but in 2011, the PGA Tour crossed the line and did one of the most ridiculous and most repulsive setups ever.
After two days of them setting up Aronimink very well, with me giving them a scale of 9 out of 10, Saturday's setup deserved a 2 out of 10.
They watered all the greens before the third round, making them MUCH softer and receptive than the first two days, and the scores really reflected that. Nick Watney shot a 62 and a whole bunch of players shooting scores in the 63, 64, 65 range. And they MOVED UP SO MANY TEES!!! It played so easy that 8 players tied or beat the previous 2010 record in that one round alone (64).
They set up the pins in the easiest possible locations. Setting up pins in the front of the green when there are no hazards short. Moved up the 8th hole from a 238 yard hole to a 196 yard hole. Who cares if it's a tough front left pin location? And the moved up the 10th hole from a 454 yard hole to a 435 yard one. In fact ,all week they never played that hole to its backmost tees. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary birdies. And they moved the 393 yard par 4 13th to 316 yards and forced out a drivable par 4 out of a par 4 that wasn't supposed to be drivable. And the most ridiculous and stupidest move of all? Moving the 215 yard par 3 17th to 144 yards. Sure, it's a tough pin location, but so what? Everybody played the same hole.
Then, fortunately, the course played difficult on Sunday, much more difficult than Saturday. That was what saved grace and prevented the tournament setup to be completely bogus.
And then the immediate week after, at the John Deere Classic, the PGA Tour yet again manicured the course and made it much easier than it could be played. Here is a list of holes they moved up for the John Deere and how utterly ridiculous was the moves.
3rd hole: Moved up from 186 yards to 135 yards for the third round. 135 YARDS!!! WHAT?!? Well, the pin location for that hole was front, a difficult spot just before the greenside bunker. But still, a 186 yard par 3 is NEVER hard for the pros and they had NO reason to move up the tees by so much. Considering that a 186 yard hole is merely a 6 iron for most, the pros getting it on the green close should NOT have been any problem. And even if the hole is difficult they still don't need to move the tee up more than 50 yards! Thank goodness they only moved it up one day, the third round.
7th hole: Moved up from 226 yards to 184 yards for the FIRST THREE DAYS. Geez. Honestly, when they move up one tee by SO much forward for SO many days, then what's the point of having the hole 226 yards on the card? And why must they always make those 230 yard holes birdie holes? The pin locations aren't really that tough. A player hitting a high draw could get it close for a reasonable birdie chance even when the tee is moved well back and with the pin tucked behind a bunker. Thankfully the PGA Tour was sane enough to move back the tee to 226 in the final round when the pin is not behind a bunker hazard.
9th hole: Moved up from 503 yards to 485 yards for the first two rounds. What's the point of moving tees up for undrivable par fours? To encourage players to hit driver-short iron or driver-wedge? It's about time the game stops being a bomb-and-gouge game and starts to be a game of finesse again. A hole of length is NOT too challenging for players since a lot of them only need a mid to short iron to reach the green anyway. If the players are unable to hit the green in 2, it's not because the hole is too long, it's because the player didn't hit a good enough shot.
10th hole: Moved up from 594 yards to 566 yards for Rounds 2 and 4. Okay, this move is reasonable and fair enough, because they want more players to try reaching the green in two, which could be a risky move with water left. But still, even without moving up the tees all the big hitters would still have a chance of reaching in 2. And the short hitters would still commit to their decision and lay up. Moving up the tee just gives the big hitters an EASIER second shot since they have a SHORTER second shot. It does not necessarily entice more players to go for the green.
12th hole: Moved up from 215 yards to 194 yards for all but the third round. Here we go again, another Par 4 moved up. And another unnecessary move. What makes this move so unnecessary and superfluous, is the fact that there aren't really that many hazards on this green! The green is quite deep so it is still quite receptive to shots. There is one significant bunker short, and that's about it. That's a long iron shot. Since on this course it doesn't really require that many long iron shots, this would have been a great test for long irons. Rather than moving up the tee and changing it into a mid iron, or even short iron, shot.
14th hole: Moved up from 361 yards to 316 yards for the first and third rounds. Okay, what is the PGA Tour with drivable Par 4s? Well, what makes a drivable par four a good hole is if a good drive is rewarded with a potential eagle / easy birdie, and a bad one is punished with a very difficult birdie chance and a potential to make a bogey. This hole however, players who went for the green and hit a crooked drive almost didn't come close to making a bogey, unless they duff their pitch shot. If a drivable Par 4 is so scoreable, they might as well call them long par threes. Though I have to admit, this Par 4 is not the worst drivable Par 4. I've seen some on the PGA that are much worse.
15th hole: Moved up from 484 yards to 466 yards for round 2 and 4. Again, see my analysis for the 9th hole. On the second round, Steve Stricker hit driver-wedge on this hole. It's just so weird seeing the PGA make long and strong par fours driver-wedge holes.
16th hole: Moved up from 158 yards to 144 yards for the first two rounds. Okay, let me get this straight, the main reason for the PGA to move up par threes is because the pin location is making it too difficult. Sooo, if this is the case here, that means tha PGA must have thought that the 158 yard par 3 was too difficult to play 158 yards. REALLY!!! A 158 YARD PAR 3 BEING TOO DIFFICULT!!! HUH???? What are they even trying to accomplish? A 158 yard Par 3 is an 8 or 9 iron for most players already, and stronger players maybe a pitching wedge. It's as short a Par 3 as it gets. Yet they make it even more shorter so that everybody is hitting a WEDGE into it. What's the point besides artificially inflating the low scores??? Not sure why they love birdie barrages so much. After all, golf courses on the PGA are supposed to be CHALLENGING. This is NOT what golf courses are supposed to play like.
18th hole: Moved up from 476 yards to 461 yards in Rounds 2 and 3. Again, see same argument on Hole 9 and 15.
So that is the analysis of the holes with the tes moved up. Again, in conclusion, the PGA Tour manicuring the courses by making them benign for scoring, and moving up the tees is not a good move, and in the long run, this move would just reduce the amount of fans watching specific tournaments. A lot of top players do not like birdiefests, and when there are so many birdiefest tournaments, the players would tend to opt OUT and play a different event (such as this week at the Scottish Open). And as a result of players not playing there, the fans would decrease too.
Monday, 4 July 2011
Golf Superstitions: Making Silly Videos = Bad Luck
Here's an interesting golf superstition that has been evident over the past month. Golfers shouldn't be acting silly and goofy. Doing so equates to bad luck.
This is apparently the case with Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane, and Hunter Mahan.
Earlier in 2011, in June, these four made a video entitled the Golf Boys, and they were seen dressing up and acting silly. It turns out this was an ill omen because of so many different indications.
First of all, at the US Open, Fowler, Crane, and Mahan all missed the cut. Bubba was the only one who made the cut, and didn't even contend since late first round. Actually, he was 3 under par and was tied for the lead after 15 holes. Then he bogeyed his last 3 holes and played the next three rounds 9 over par, finishing a whooping 25 strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy.
And then, the negative karma carried over the ensuing week at the Travellers Championship for all four.
At the Travellers Championship, after a good first-round 66, Ben Crane was briefly in contention. But then he dropped like a bullet down the leaderboard when he played the next three rounds 1 under par. (WOW! Can you believe it? Shoot 1 under par and you drop like a bullet. WHAT?!?) So, anyway, Crane tied for 59th place and finished 15 back of winner Fredrik Jacobson.
Hunter Mahan also got his fair share of karma. After three rounds he was tied for 16th en route to another high finish. However, he shot 72 in the final round and dropped all the way to 43rd place, 12 back of Jacobson.
As for the defending champion Bubba Watson, after a respectable first round 66, he dropped out of contention in the second round, just like Crane. Bubba sure pounded drives off the tee, but he hit some really, REALLY crooked iron shots all week. His putting was not terrible, but not great either. Finished 38th place, 11 back of winner.
Rickie Fowler is a guy you'd expect to do well because the course fits his eye. However, he didn't even play because of a minor knee injury.
So that recaps the rather lacklustre week for the Golf Boys at the Travellers Championship.
After two weeks of negative karma, all this karma continued into the third week, the AT&T National week.
First off, the story of Bubba Watson. Bubba played overseas at the French Open instead of the AT&T. Bubba shot back-to-back 74s to miss the cut by 1 stroke. After the round, he apparently blamed the lack of crowd control for his lackluster performance. Apparently in France the tournament officials did not care whether or not the fans brought their cell phones and cameras. (Morgan Pressel also complained about crowd control at the 2010 LPGA Evian Masters, by the way). So anyway, I don't think the main thing that was bothering Bubba was the crowds. The main thing was the bad karma he got for making the silly golf video.
And as for Hunter Mahan, he had another middle-of-the-pack week and was never in contention. Shot 1 under par for the week, tied for 30th, 12 back of winner Nick Watney.
And Rickie Fowler also got his own dose of bad luck. After three rounds he was tied for the lead with Nick Watney, but the wheels fell off in the final round and he shot a 74, 8 back of Watney who shot 66. He had a 8 foot birdie chance on the first hole for a possible 2 shot lead over Watney who had 5 feet for par. But Fowler missed and Watney made, so Fowler did not capitalize.
And the wheels came off on the 2nd hole because of poor course management. After driving it in the rough, Fowler tried to attack the flagstick despite having no margin of error there. His shot landed short of the green and rolled into the bunker, leaving him a VERY difficult bunker shot that had to carry over a huge runoff mound. It didn't carry the mound and rolled down the slope. His fourth shot barely made it onto the green and was lucky to not have the ball roll back the slope. He two putted for double bogey.
And lastly, despite this being another course that should fit Ben Crane's eye, Crane had to withdraw from the tournament because of him still recovering from the ankle injury that he sustained since May.
So that's a recap of the negative karma that comes along with golfers making silly videos. Moral of the story: Do NOT act silly in golf. It's a GENTLEMAN's game!!!
Just kidding. I don't have anything against these guys. I like Ben Crane because he's a class act. And he made Rory Sabbatini cry at the 2005 AT&T National (formerly the Booz Allen Classic). And he gave Rory McIlroy a beatdown at the Accenture Match Play the day after McIlroy fired a brash comment about how players of the older generation are washed up. I like Rickie Fowler because of the beatdown he gave Phil Mickelson at the Match Play. I like Bubba Watson because of his clutch 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole at Torrey Pines to deny Phil Mickelson the win. And I sympathize for Hunter Mahan because with his chili dip on the 17th hole of the Ryder Cup single matches, everybody blamed him for losing, when in reality, it was Phil who dragged down the team bigtime.
This is apparently the case with Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane, and Hunter Mahan.
Earlier in 2011, in June, these four made a video entitled the Golf Boys, and they were seen dressing up and acting silly. It turns out this was an ill omen because of so many different indications.
First of all, at the US Open, Fowler, Crane, and Mahan all missed the cut. Bubba was the only one who made the cut, and didn't even contend since late first round. Actually, he was 3 under par and was tied for the lead after 15 holes. Then he bogeyed his last 3 holes and played the next three rounds 9 over par, finishing a whooping 25 strokes behind winner Rory McIlroy.
And then, the negative karma carried over the ensuing week at the Travellers Championship for all four.
At the Travellers Championship, after a good first-round 66, Ben Crane was briefly in contention. But then he dropped like a bullet down the leaderboard when he played the next three rounds 1 under par. (WOW! Can you believe it? Shoot 1 under par and you drop like a bullet. WHAT?!?) So, anyway, Crane tied for 59th place and finished 15 back of winner Fredrik Jacobson.
Hunter Mahan also got his fair share of karma. After three rounds he was tied for 16th en route to another high finish. However, he shot 72 in the final round and dropped all the way to 43rd place, 12 back of Jacobson.
As for the defending champion Bubba Watson, after a respectable first round 66, he dropped out of contention in the second round, just like Crane. Bubba sure pounded drives off the tee, but he hit some really, REALLY crooked iron shots all week. His putting was not terrible, but not great either. Finished 38th place, 11 back of winner.
Rickie Fowler is a guy you'd expect to do well because the course fits his eye. However, he didn't even play because of a minor knee injury.
So that recaps the rather lacklustre week for the Golf Boys at the Travellers Championship.
After two weeks of negative karma, all this karma continued into the third week, the AT&T National week.
First off, the story of Bubba Watson. Bubba played overseas at the French Open instead of the AT&T. Bubba shot back-to-back 74s to miss the cut by 1 stroke. After the round, he apparently blamed the lack of crowd control for his lackluster performance. Apparently in France the tournament officials did not care whether or not the fans brought their cell phones and cameras. (Morgan Pressel also complained about crowd control at the 2010 LPGA Evian Masters, by the way). So anyway, I don't think the main thing that was bothering Bubba was the crowds. The main thing was the bad karma he got for making the silly golf video.
And as for Hunter Mahan, he had another middle-of-the-pack week and was never in contention. Shot 1 under par for the week, tied for 30th, 12 back of winner Nick Watney.
And Rickie Fowler also got his own dose of bad luck. After three rounds he was tied for the lead with Nick Watney, but the wheels fell off in the final round and he shot a 74, 8 back of Watney who shot 66. He had a 8 foot birdie chance on the first hole for a possible 2 shot lead over Watney who had 5 feet for par. But Fowler missed and Watney made, so Fowler did not capitalize.
And the wheels came off on the 2nd hole because of poor course management. After driving it in the rough, Fowler tried to attack the flagstick despite having no margin of error there. His shot landed short of the green and rolled into the bunker, leaving him a VERY difficult bunker shot that had to carry over a huge runoff mound. It didn't carry the mound and rolled down the slope. His fourth shot barely made it onto the green and was lucky to not have the ball roll back the slope. He two putted for double bogey.
And lastly, despite this being another course that should fit Ben Crane's eye, Crane had to withdraw from the tournament because of him still recovering from the ankle injury that he sustained since May.
So that's a recap of the negative karma that comes along with golfers making silly videos. Moral of the story: Do NOT act silly in golf. It's a GENTLEMAN's game!!!
Just kidding. I don't have anything against these guys. I like Ben Crane because he's a class act. And he made Rory Sabbatini cry at the 2005 AT&T National (formerly the Booz Allen Classic). And he gave Rory McIlroy a beatdown at the Accenture Match Play the day after McIlroy fired a brash comment about how players of the older generation are washed up. I like Rickie Fowler because of the beatdown he gave Phil Mickelson at the Match Play. I like Bubba Watson because of his clutch 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole at Torrey Pines to deny Phil Mickelson the win. And I sympathize for Hunter Mahan because with his chili dip on the 17th hole of the Ryder Cup single matches, everybody blamed him for losing, when in reality, it was Phil who dragged down the team bigtime.
Golf Superstitions: Worst Possible Announcer's Curse
Some people believe in superstitions, others don't. Personally I don't believe in most superstitions, but I do find golf superstitions interesting to study.
One common superstition is the announcer's curse. When the announcer says someone never misses a 4 foot putt, and then he misses the putt. When the announcer says a guy hits the ball very straight, he misses a fairway 30 yards off line. When the announcer says he hits wedges very well, he spins a wedge off the green. When the announcer says someone is good at chip shots, he chunks one.
And on Saturday at the 2011 AT&T National, one of the worst announcer's curses happened.
First of all, some background information. In the 3rd round, the PGA Tour moved the tee on the 13th hole way, way, WAY up. It was supposed to be a 393 yard Par 4, but the PGA moved it all the way up to the ladies tee to 316 yards, enticing players to hit driver to give them a chance to drive the green. (I found this move RIDICULOUS, by the way. Just saying).
Charlie Wi, however, was smart and conservative with his play, and laid up with a fairway wood, leaving a short wedge shot to the green. That's a good move that keeps bogey out of play. Right? TECHNICALLY yes. BUT!!!!!
Wi airmailed his second shot, landing 30 feet past the hole and did not spin back. He lagged his birdie putt to 3 feet short.
He has a slightly downhill. but short, par putt. Now, Charlie Wi is one of the better putters on the PGA, and up until this point, did not make a three-putt in 203 holes, the longest active streak. The announcers, so confident that Wi will make this one, announced proudly about the streak and how Wi is such a good putter and such.
And then, Wi pulled the putt, and it MISSED. It caught the right lip and spun out and rolled to 5 feet past the hole. And then Wi pulled his bogey putt and it missed again. He limped away with a four-putt double bogey.
Although he still shot a respectable third round and was only 2 back after 54 holes, Wi probably had a hangover of that four-putt in the final round, shooting a 79 in the final round and he would finish 15 back of the winner Nick Watney.
And thus, this is one of the most coincidental examples of the announcer's curse.
But let's look at the bright side. Wi's smart play did take bogey out of play. He did not make a bogey. He made a DOUBLE bogey!!!
And also, his three-putt avoidance streak still continues because he technically did not three putt. He FOUR-putted. And a 4-putt is NOT a 3-putt!!! Just kidding.
One common superstition is the announcer's curse. When the announcer says someone never misses a 4 foot putt, and then he misses the putt. When the announcer says a guy hits the ball very straight, he misses a fairway 30 yards off line. When the announcer says he hits wedges very well, he spins a wedge off the green. When the announcer says someone is good at chip shots, he chunks one.
And on Saturday at the 2011 AT&T National, one of the worst announcer's curses happened.
First of all, some background information. In the 3rd round, the PGA Tour moved the tee on the 13th hole way, way, WAY up. It was supposed to be a 393 yard Par 4, but the PGA moved it all the way up to the ladies tee to 316 yards, enticing players to hit driver to give them a chance to drive the green. (I found this move RIDICULOUS, by the way. Just saying).
Charlie Wi, however, was smart and conservative with his play, and laid up with a fairway wood, leaving a short wedge shot to the green. That's a good move that keeps bogey out of play. Right? TECHNICALLY yes. BUT!!!!!
Wi airmailed his second shot, landing 30 feet past the hole and did not spin back. He lagged his birdie putt to 3 feet short.
He has a slightly downhill. but short, par putt. Now, Charlie Wi is one of the better putters on the PGA, and up until this point, did not make a three-putt in 203 holes, the longest active streak. The announcers, so confident that Wi will make this one, announced proudly about the streak and how Wi is such a good putter and such.
And then, Wi pulled the putt, and it MISSED. It caught the right lip and spun out and rolled to 5 feet past the hole. And then Wi pulled his bogey putt and it missed again. He limped away with a four-putt double bogey.
Although he still shot a respectable third round and was only 2 back after 54 holes, Wi probably had a hangover of that four-putt in the final round, shooting a 79 in the final round and he would finish 15 back of the winner Nick Watney.
And thus, this is one of the most coincidental examples of the announcer's curse.
But let's look at the bright side. Wi's smart play did take bogey out of play. He did not make a bogey. He made a DOUBLE bogey!!!
And also, his three-putt avoidance streak still continues because he technically did not three putt. He FOUR-putted. And a 4-putt is NOT a 3-putt!!! Just kidding.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
How to Calculate the Scoring Average for Any Hole of Any Round of Any Tournament
Personally, I am a statistic lover, so I enjoy looking at and analysing the statistics for a golf tournament. One type of statistic that I am most interested in is the scoring average for holes during golf tournaments. These stats are readily available for European Tour events because the hole averages get posted there. However, for the PGA Tour, accessing that information is not that simple. You could figure out the scoring averages for a hole throughout the tournament, but it's a bit more difficult to figure out the scoring average of a hole for a specific round. You'll need to do some math to get the answer. I find this skill useful and fun to use because by having this skill you have the ability to rank the holes of a golf tournament from the toughest to easiest on any given day.
So, here's what you do. You go to pgatour.com's shot tracker for any tournament. And you click any random player. Here you'll see the scoring averages for the field hole-by-hole.
Let's say you want to find out the scoring average for a hole in the THIRD round. The scoring average for the hole after 2 rounds is 4.000, and the scoring average after Round 3 is 3.950.
First thing you do, is you check how many players have completed the second round and how many players that have completed the third round. Let's say, 156 players have completed the second round, and 72 players have completed the third round.
Multiply 156 by 2 (because there are 2 rounds, so each player played that hole TWICE). You get 312. This number is how many players who played that hole after the SECOND round.
Then add 72 to the 312 number. You get 384, which is the number of players who played that hole after the THIRD round.
Next, multiply the # of players for Round TWO with the scoring average thru TWO rounds. In this case, 312 * 4.000 = 1248.
Then you multiple the # of players for Round THREE with the scoring average thru THREE rounds. In this case, 384 * 3.950 = 1516.80.
Next, you SUBTRACT the round THREE product with the round TWO product. So, in this case, 1516.80 - 1248 = 268.80.
And finally, the last step, you DIVIDE the number you got in your previous step with the total number of players who have completed round THREE, since you're finding the scoring average for the THIRD round in this case.
268.80 / 72 = 3.733.
Therefore, the scoring average for this hole during the third round is 3.733. And there you have it.
LAST WARNING: Watch out for cases in which a player WITHDREW or got DISQUALIFIED prior to a round or during a round. In this case, the player's score for some holes would count towards the scoring average while the holes that the player did NOT play will NOT be counted in the scoring average!
So, here's what you do. You go to pgatour.com's shot tracker for any tournament. And you click any random player. Here you'll see the scoring averages for the field hole-by-hole.
Let's say you want to find out the scoring average for a hole in the THIRD round. The scoring average for the hole after 2 rounds is 4.000, and the scoring average after Round 3 is 3.950.
First thing you do, is you check how many players have completed the second round and how many players that have completed the third round. Let's say, 156 players have completed the second round, and 72 players have completed the third round.
Multiply 156 by 2 (because there are 2 rounds, so each player played that hole TWICE). You get 312. This number is how many players who played that hole after the SECOND round.
Then add 72 to the 312 number. You get 384, which is the number of players who played that hole after the THIRD round.
Next, multiply the # of players for Round TWO with the scoring average thru TWO rounds. In this case, 312 * 4.000 = 1248.
Then you multiple the # of players for Round THREE with the scoring average thru THREE rounds. In this case, 384 * 3.950 = 1516.80.
Next, you SUBTRACT the round THREE product with the round TWO product. So, in this case, 1516.80 - 1248 = 268.80.
And finally, the last step, you DIVIDE the number you got in your previous step with the total number of players who have completed round THREE, since you're finding the scoring average for the THIRD round in this case.
268.80 / 72 = 3.733.
Therefore, the scoring average for this hole during the third round is 3.733. And there you have it.
LAST WARNING: Watch out for cases in which a player WITHDREW or got DISQUALIFIED prior to a round or during a round. In this case, the player's score for some holes would count towards the scoring average while the holes that the player did NOT play will NOT be counted in the scoring average!
Monday, 20 June 2011
Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Events at the 2011 US Open
What an US Open it was. Rory McIlroy breaking or tying many new records. Record low cakewalk scores by just about everyone. Here is a countdown of the Top 10 most surprising storylines at the US Open that happened.
10: Luke Donald: What made Donald's week surprising was the fact that he was #1 in the world coming in and was likely the most consistent player on Tour at that time, coming off many high finishes. However, he never got it going, and the usually-consistent Donald was very erratic off the tee all week, never a threat and finishing T45. Donald actually birdied his first 2 holes of the championship but then played his next 7 holes 7 over par.
9. Patrick Cantlay: Patrick Cantlay was a guy who just completed his first year in university. Still an amateur, yet he played so well, shooting a 67 in the second round after a first round 75. Finished T21 and beat a lot of top players, including Luke Donald and Phil Mickelson. Very rarely an amateur finishes this high up in a major.
8. Henrik Stenson: Stenson kind of went under the radar and was overshadowed by the McIlroy story. So, what was significant about him is two things. One, was because he was struggling MIGHTILY prior to the tournament. His T23 finish came out of nowhere. Two, was the fact that he threw a temper tantrum on the same hole both rounds in the weekend. On Saturday, at the 15th hole, he flung his club after a poor iron shot. Then on Sunday, on the very same hole, he snapped his club after a shot and this time he cut his own hand. He actually needed first aid. Moral of the story: Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT throw tantrums!!
7. Phil's week: Prior to this US Open, Phil was again the overwhelming favourite to win the US Open. A lot of people had very high expectations for him. They thought that the golf course really suited him very well. However, it was not to be. Phil was as erratic as anybody out there, and was lucky just to make the cut. And then on Saturday, the day of Phil's 5th anniversary of the Winged Foot collapse, shot a hilarious back nine 42 to drop like a bullet down the leaderboard. When all was said and done, Phil finished 7 over par, 23 strokes behind McIlroy. List of little-known players who beat him: Kevin Chappell, Brandt Jobe, Johan Edfors, Kyung-tae Kim, Robert Rock, Gary Woodland, Do-Hoon Kim, Harrison Frazar, Patrick Cantley, Sunghoon Kang, Adam Hadwin, Russell Henley, Sang-Moon Bae, Chez Reavie, Michael Putnam, Scott Piercy, Alexander Noren.
6. The Golf Boys: Do you believe in golf superstitions? If you keep a list of golf superstitions you might want to add this one to the list: DON'T MAKE SILLY GOLF VIDEOS BEFORE A MAJOR. Earlier this week, Bubba Watson, Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, and Hunter Mahan made a golf video of them acting silly and goofing off, and called themselves "The Golf Boys". All 4 are relatively well-known American players whom people expected to be in contention for the US Open. However, just the opposite happened. THREE OF THEM MISSED THE CUT. The one who didn't miss the cut was Bubba Watson with a T63 finish.
5. Robert Rock: It was really quite remarkable that Robert Rock even got into the US Open first place, let alone finishing T23. The week before the US Open, Rock made a miraculous all-world par on the 71st hole of the Italian Open to win his first European Tour event in 204 starts. And then he had to pay VISA $24,000 if he wanted to travel to the United States to play the US Open. He decided to pay, and he arrived at the course late Wednesday. He had aboslutely no practice because he was such a late arrival. However, despite having virtually no practice and no experience at an US Open, he notched a T23 finish, shooting 70-71-76-68. This is one indication that the USGA really set up the course too easy this year!
4. Jason Day: Jason Day this year has really gone under the radar a lot, with the media focusing on a lot of other young stars rather than him. What makes Day so significant was the fact that prior to this week he had NEVER played in an US Open before, yet he went out and notched a runner-up finish. This is the same guy whom never played in the Masters prior to this year and finished T2. And last year he never played in the PGA Championship before and made a Top 10 finish. He has been so low-key this year so a lot of people didn't realize how solidly he has played all year.
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3. Robert Garrigus & Kevin Chappell: Can you believe that Garrigus and Chappell were the low Americans? CAN YOU?!?! You have a higher chance of winning the lottery than predicting this would happen!
Seriously. Chappell's high finish came out of nowhere because the only other time ANYONE has ever heard of him was at the Valero Texas Open. And another remarkable thing about Chappell: He BROKE the record for the LOWEST 54-hole scores AFTER the first round. Really! A virtual unknown breaking a US Open record! For the last 54 holes he played better than McIlroy! He shot a 76 in the first round but finished off with 67-69-66.
And Robert Garrigus wasn't exactly on his A-game prior to this championship. The only time he contended for a PGA event was earlier this year in Kapalua, yet now he finished third place in the US Open from out on the blue. Just unbelievable.
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2. The low scores: Seriously, they call this a ****ing US Open? Look all the low scores!!! LOOK AT THEM!!! 20 players broke par!!! Winner was 16 under par!!! Last year, 5 over par was enough for a 8th place finish. This week, 5 over par was only enough for a T45 finish! Even the Byron Nelson Championship this year was tougher than the US Open!!! Honestly, one reason why the course played so ridiculously easy for the pros was because of the unseasonably hot temperatures prior to the US Open. The hot temperatures sucked up all the moisture from the rough and the grass was unable to grow very thick, resulting in players being easily able to recover from bad drives. And they were unable to make the greens very fast because of the wet weather. They had a lot of rain before and during the week. The greens were as soft as flypaper all week and it did not challenge the players a lot.
If there was one thing I could say to the USGA, this is what I would say: STOP MOVING UP THE GODDAMN TEES!!!! Yes, I felt that this wasa HUGE mistake that the USGA made. They moved up a LOT of tees all week. They moved up the par fives so much that EVERYBODY had a chance to go for the green in two. They also moved up the tees for the two long par 3's, the 2nd and the 10th holes, for 2 of the 4 days, and the result was a total lack of brutality that they would have possessed if they played at full length. And they even moved up a lot of the tees for the par 4's. COME ON!!! This is a US Open, for crying out loud!!! This is NOT the Bob Hope Classic. This is NOT the Travellers Championship. THIS IS THE US OPEN!!!!!! The course is SUPPOSED to play its full length to CHALLENGE the players!!!! This week was anything BUT a challenge for the pros!!!!! If they keep making this so easy for the pros, then the US Open will begin LOSING ITS CHARACTER.
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1. Rory McIlroy: This was one of the most remarkable performances I've ever seen by someone who's not named Tiger Woods. McIlroy's performance was so Tiger-esque. He was a ball-striking machine all week. Nothing but fairways and greens. Despite his length he drove the ball very precisely and hit iron shots very well too. And when he missed greens, he was able to save par. He only had one three-putt all week, and that came at the 71st hole. Another thing that made McIlroy's performance so remarkable was the fact that he took the bull by its horns since Thursday, and never even came close to letting go. He was able to conquer all those demons after the final round Masters collapse. To be able to come back after a loss of this magnitude is what made this performance so amazing. With his 16-under-par 268 total for the tournament, McIlroy set or tied at least several different records in the history of the US Open.
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And that was the countdown of the Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Events at the 2011 US Open. One final note: Wonder how difficult the USGA will set up the 2012 US Open at the Olympic Club? Hope they don't make the same mistakes they did in 2011 and make the course a bear. Stop cutting the rough. Stop watering the greens 2 weeks before the US Open, or whatever. Just DON'T MAKE THE SCORING THIS EASY EVER AGAIN!!!
10: Luke Donald: What made Donald's week surprising was the fact that he was #1 in the world coming in and was likely the most consistent player on Tour at that time, coming off many high finishes. However, he never got it going, and the usually-consistent Donald was very erratic off the tee all week, never a threat and finishing T45. Donald actually birdied his first 2 holes of the championship but then played his next 7 holes 7 over par.
9. Patrick Cantlay: Patrick Cantlay was a guy who just completed his first year in university. Still an amateur, yet he played so well, shooting a 67 in the second round after a first round 75. Finished T21 and beat a lot of top players, including Luke Donald and Phil Mickelson. Very rarely an amateur finishes this high up in a major.
8. Henrik Stenson: Stenson kind of went under the radar and was overshadowed by the McIlroy story. So, what was significant about him is two things. One, was because he was struggling MIGHTILY prior to the tournament. His T23 finish came out of nowhere. Two, was the fact that he threw a temper tantrum on the same hole both rounds in the weekend. On Saturday, at the 15th hole, he flung his club after a poor iron shot. Then on Sunday, on the very same hole, he snapped his club after a shot and this time he cut his own hand. He actually needed first aid. Moral of the story: Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT throw tantrums!!
7. Phil's week: Prior to this US Open, Phil was again the overwhelming favourite to win the US Open. A lot of people had very high expectations for him. They thought that the golf course really suited him very well. However, it was not to be. Phil was as erratic as anybody out there, and was lucky just to make the cut. And then on Saturday, the day of Phil's 5th anniversary of the Winged Foot collapse, shot a hilarious back nine 42 to drop like a bullet down the leaderboard. When all was said and done, Phil finished 7 over par, 23 strokes behind McIlroy. List of little-known players who beat him: Kevin Chappell, Brandt Jobe, Johan Edfors, Kyung-tae Kim, Robert Rock, Gary Woodland, Do-Hoon Kim, Harrison Frazar, Patrick Cantley, Sunghoon Kang, Adam Hadwin, Russell Henley, Sang-Moon Bae, Chez Reavie, Michael Putnam, Scott Piercy, Alexander Noren.
6. The Golf Boys: Do you believe in golf superstitions? If you keep a list of golf superstitions you might want to add this one to the list: DON'T MAKE SILLY GOLF VIDEOS BEFORE A MAJOR. Earlier this week, Bubba Watson, Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, and Hunter Mahan made a golf video of them acting silly and goofing off, and called themselves "The Golf Boys". All 4 are relatively well-known American players whom people expected to be in contention for the US Open. However, just the opposite happened. THREE OF THEM MISSED THE CUT. The one who didn't miss the cut was Bubba Watson with a T63 finish.
5. Robert Rock: It was really quite remarkable that Robert Rock even got into the US Open first place, let alone finishing T23. The week before the US Open, Rock made a miraculous all-world par on the 71st hole of the Italian Open to win his first European Tour event in 204 starts. And then he had to pay VISA $24,000 if he wanted to travel to the United States to play the US Open. He decided to pay, and he arrived at the course late Wednesday. He had aboslutely no practice because he was such a late arrival. However, despite having virtually no practice and no experience at an US Open, he notched a T23 finish, shooting 70-71-76-68. This is one indication that the USGA really set up the course too easy this year!
4. Jason Day: Jason Day this year has really gone under the radar a lot, with the media focusing on a lot of other young stars rather than him. What makes Day so significant was the fact that prior to this week he had NEVER played in an US Open before, yet he went out and notched a runner-up finish. This is the same guy whom never played in the Masters prior to this year and finished T2. And last year he never played in the PGA Championship before and made a Top 10 finish. He has been so low-key this year so a lot of people didn't realize how solidly he has played all year.
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3. Robert Garrigus & Kevin Chappell: Can you believe that Garrigus and Chappell were the low Americans? CAN YOU?!?! You have a higher chance of winning the lottery than predicting this would happen!
Seriously. Chappell's high finish came out of nowhere because the only other time ANYONE has ever heard of him was at the Valero Texas Open. And another remarkable thing about Chappell: He BROKE the record for the LOWEST 54-hole scores AFTER the first round. Really! A virtual unknown breaking a US Open record! For the last 54 holes he played better than McIlroy! He shot a 76 in the first round but finished off with 67-69-66.
And Robert Garrigus wasn't exactly on his A-game prior to this championship. The only time he contended for a PGA event was earlier this year in Kapalua, yet now he finished third place in the US Open from out on the blue. Just unbelievable.
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2. The low scores: Seriously, they call this a ****ing US Open? Look all the low scores!!! LOOK AT THEM!!! 20 players broke par!!! Winner was 16 under par!!! Last year, 5 over par was enough for a 8th place finish. This week, 5 over par was only enough for a T45 finish! Even the Byron Nelson Championship this year was tougher than the US Open!!! Honestly, one reason why the course played so ridiculously easy for the pros was because of the unseasonably hot temperatures prior to the US Open. The hot temperatures sucked up all the moisture from the rough and the grass was unable to grow very thick, resulting in players being easily able to recover from bad drives. And they were unable to make the greens very fast because of the wet weather. They had a lot of rain before and during the week. The greens were as soft as flypaper all week and it did not challenge the players a lot.
If there was one thing I could say to the USGA, this is what I would say: STOP MOVING UP THE GODDAMN TEES!!!! Yes, I felt that this wasa HUGE mistake that the USGA made. They moved up a LOT of tees all week. They moved up the par fives so much that EVERYBODY had a chance to go for the green in two. They also moved up the tees for the two long par 3's, the 2nd and the 10th holes, for 2 of the 4 days, and the result was a total lack of brutality that they would have possessed if they played at full length. And they even moved up a lot of the tees for the par 4's. COME ON!!! This is a US Open, for crying out loud!!! This is NOT the Bob Hope Classic. This is NOT the Travellers Championship. THIS IS THE US OPEN!!!!!! The course is SUPPOSED to play its full length to CHALLENGE the players!!!! This week was anything BUT a challenge for the pros!!!!! If they keep making this so easy for the pros, then the US Open will begin LOSING ITS CHARACTER.
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1. Rory McIlroy: This was one of the most remarkable performances I've ever seen by someone who's not named Tiger Woods. McIlroy's performance was so Tiger-esque. He was a ball-striking machine all week. Nothing but fairways and greens. Despite his length he drove the ball very precisely and hit iron shots very well too. And when he missed greens, he was able to save par. He only had one three-putt all week, and that came at the 71st hole. Another thing that made McIlroy's performance so remarkable was the fact that he took the bull by its horns since Thursday, and never even came close to letting go. He was able to conquer all those demons after the final round Masters collapse. To be able to come back after a loss of this magnitude is what made this performance so amazing. With his 16-under-par 268 total for the tournament, McIlroy set or tied at least several different records in the history of the US Open.
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And that was the countdown of the Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Events at the 2011 US Open. One final note: Wonder how difficult the USGA will set up the 2012 US Open at the Olympic Club? Hope they don't make the same mistakes they did in 2011 and make the course a bear. Stop cutting the rough. Stop watering the greens 2 weeks before the US Open, or whatever. Just DON'T MAKE THE SCORING THIS EASY EVER AGAIN!!!
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Golf Fans' Love-Hate Relationship With Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is only 22 years old, and hasn't been out on the big stages for long, yet people have developed a wide range of different feelings for him. He has already developed a quite big fan base, but not long before, a lot of people, particularly Americans, disliked him.
I'm sure there are plenty of golf fans who had a love-hate relationship with McIlroy. Golf fans who at first, liked him a lot, then disliked him, and now began liking him again. This is exactly what my perception of McIlroy was.
McIlroy first began playing on events of the American soil in 2009, where he began becoming well-known to North Americans. That's when I began paying attention to him and began pulling for him slightly when he played in tournaments. Then came 2010 when Rory had that explosive win at Quail Hollow, shooting 66-62 over the weekend to steal the win from Phil Mickelson. That was when I became a BIG fan of McIlroy.
I rooted for him all the way at the British Open when he shot that 63, and felt for him when he backed up that round with an 80. I again pulled for him at the PGA Championship where he had a very close call.
But that was when my admiration for him stopped.
From the end of 2010 to the beginning of 2011 is when he began making a series of what were seen as brash and arrogant comments. His first comment was after the PGA Championship, when he appeared to be kicking Tiger Woods while he was down, by saying that he fancied his chances against Woods at the Ryder Cup, right around the time when Woods was going through a huge slump.
The brash statements continued. He continued to speak bluntly about various subjects, such as by saying that he thinks the Ryder Cup is just an exhibition. And he chose to not play on the PGA Tour in 2011 and wanted to stay in Europe. And he also said he chose to skip the biggest non-major in golf, the Players Championship, because he didn't like the course. That was when he began being widespread disliked for a lot of fans in America.
And that's why when he got off to an indifferent start in 2011, I enjoy watching McIlroy struggle. I enjoyed his struggles even further when McIlroy continued his streak of brash comments. At the Accenture Match Play, he said that the older generation of players are no longer as good as they were anymore.
Which was why I couldn't be happier when McIlroy lost the second round of the Match Play 8 & 7. And I enjoyed counting McIlroy's bogeys and double bogeys at the Honda Classic.
Then came the, then, most hilarious choke of them all. The final round 80 at the Masters. I was laughing my butt off when he triple bogeyed the 10th hole and double bogeyed the 12th hole.
And the hilarity continued the immediate week after when he lsot the Maybank Malaysian Open.
And all this anti-McIlroy trend continued up to the Memorial tournament. That was when the golfing world found out the news that McIlroy was to go to Haiti to help out with the situation there. That's when I began thinking, hey, maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.
And at the US Open, when McIlroy shot that 65 to open up a 3-stroke lead, I was surprised that the usually so inconsistent McIlroy was playing so well. That was when I began wondering, should I be rooting for or against him? And after seeing his classy post-round interview, I decided that I should be rooting for him. That was when he further proved his classiness.
And I did, continuing to root for McIlroy throughout the week. He played simply lights-out golf all week. Nobody played better than him. He looked so relaxed, and was incredibly clutch, making lots and lots pars, making the odd birdie here and there, and avoiding too many mistakes.
What I enjoyed about McIlroy this week so much was that he brought back lots of memories of Tiger Woods. With Woods's game and future uncertain, there had yet to be any dominating performance for a long, long time. This was the week where McIlroy finally made a dominant performance. He played like how Tiger Woods would play when he was winning all those majors in 2000.
And above all, he showed tremendous class all week. Just exactly what was needed for a champion. A very well-deserved win for him.
I'm sure there are plenty of golf fans who had a love-hate relationship with McIlroy. Golf fans who at first, liked him a lot, then disliked him, and now began liking him again. This is exactly what my perception of McIlroy was.
McIlroy first began playing on events of the American soil in 2009, where he began becoming well-known to North Americans. That's when I began paying attention to him and began pulling for him slightly when he played in tournaments. Then came 2010 when Rory had that explosive win at Quail Hollow, shooting 66-62 over the weekend to steal the win from Phil Mickelson. That was when I became a BIG fan of McIlroy.
I rooted for him all the way at the British Open when he shot that 63, and felt for him when he backed up that round with an 80. I again pulled for him at the PGA Championship where he had a very close call.
But that was when my admiration for him stopped.
From the end of 2010 to the beginning of 2011 is when he began making a series of what were seen as brash and arrogant comments. His first comment was after the PGA Championship, when he appeared to be kicking Tiger Woods while he was down, by saying that he fancied his chances against Woods at the Ryder Cup, right around the time when Woods was going through a huge slump.
The brash statements continued. He continued to speak bluntly about various subjects, such as by saying that he thinks the Ryder Cup is just an exhibition. And he chose to not play on the PGA Tour in 2011 and wanted to stay in Europe. And he also said he chose to skip the biggest non-major in golf, the Players Championship, because he didn't like the course. That was when he began being widespread disliked for a lot of fans in America.
And that's why when he got off to an indifferent start in 2011, I enjoy watching McIlroy struggle. I enjoyed his struggles even further when McIlroy continued his streak of brash comments. At the Accenture Match Play, he said that the older generation of players are no longer as good as they were anymore.
Which was why I couldn't be happier when McIlroy lost the second round of the Match Play 8 & 7. And I enjoyed counting McIlroy's bogeys and double bogeys at the Honda Classic.
Then came the, then, most hilarious choke of them all. The final round 80 at the Masters. I was laughing my butt off when he triple bogeyed the 10th hole and double bogeyed the 12th hole.
And the hilarity continued the immediate week after when he lsot the Maybank Malaysian Open.
And all this anti-McIlroy trend continued up to the Memorial tournament. That was when the golfing world found out the news that McIlroy was to go to Haiti to help out with the situation there. That's when I began thinking, hey, maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.
And at the US Open, when McIlroy shot that 65 to open up a 3-stroke lead, I was surprised that the usually so inconsistent McIlroy was playing so well. That was when I began wondering, should I be rooting for or against him? And after seeing his classy post-round interview, I decided that I should be rooting for him. That was when he further proved his classiness.
And I did, continuing to root for McIlroy throughout the week. He played simply lights-out golf all week. Nobody played better than him. He looked so relaxed, and was incredibly clutch, making lots and lots pars, making the odd birdie here and there, and avoiding too many mistakes.
What I enjoyed about McIlroy this week so much was that he brought back lots of memories of Tiger Woods. With Woods's game and future uncertain, there had yet to be any dominating performance for a long, long time. This was the week where McIlroy finally made a dominant performance. He played like how Tiger Woods would play when he was winning all those majors in 2000.
And above all, he showed tremendous class all week. Just exactly what was needed for a champion. A very well-deserved win for him.
Another Choke by Phil at the 2011 US Open
Well, the 2011 US Open was a VERY uncharacteristic week at the US Open. Players making birdies by the bunches, especially on the ever-so-vulnerable front nine. The wet weather really ruined what could have been a tough tournament. But instead, it was not-to-be.
Rory McIlroy did steal the show. However, what I was really happy about was the fact that Phil had yet another week of mediocrity despite being heavily over-hyped as the favourite earlier on this week. Chew on that, Phil lovers!
Another Phailure by Phil. 7 over par, 23 shots behind Rory McIlroy.
On Day 1, Phil's opening tee shot on the Par-3 10th found the water, resulting in an opening double bogey right out of the gates. Slashing and hacking out of the deep rough on one hole after another, and ending up with a 74 which could have been much worse had he not scrambled better. He could have easily shot a 79 and missed the cut. He hit the ball so pathetically crooked he couldn't even find fairways with a 2-iron (BTW, who still uses a 2 iron anyways?)
Round 2, he started hitting the ball better now, made quite a few birdies. However, he saved his best moment for last. After having 5 birdies and 1 bogey thru 17 holes, Phil dunked his second shot on the 18th hole into the water and made double bogey, finishing his round in grand style.
Round 3, on the front nine he played decently. But the back nine was when the train wreck began and never ended until the last putt. Phil hit it over the green on 10, leaving him an impossible up-and-down, resulting in a bogey. He carded another bogey on 13 when he flew his shot to the back of the green despite a front hole location, resulting in a three-putt. He made another bogey on 15. Then on 16, his third shot flew the green and ended up in an impossible chipping area, making double bogey. Made another double bogey on 17 when he drove the ball into the woods, and when he finally managed to get onto the green, he missed a 4 foot bogey putt. What a round. And what a great way to celebrate his 5th anniversary of his famous Winged Foot collapse. Exactly 5 years ago on that day, Phil made double bogey on the last hole to choke away his greatest chance at an US Open win.
Round 4 for Phil wasn't shown much because he SUCKED so badly he had an early tee time well before the TV coverage. Some interesting notes for his round: He did bogey the Par-5 6th hole, which is the easiest hole on the course all week. And he missed a 5 foot birdie putt on the 16th. And he once again finished his round in grand style, carding a double bogey at the last when his greenside bunker shot flew over the green and into the water.
Just exactly how bad did Phil play? Consider this: He was outplayed by as Kevin Chappell, Brandt Jobe, Johan Edfors, Kyung-tae Kim, Robert Rock, Gary Woodland, Do-Hoon Kim, Harrison Frazar, Patrick Cantley, Sunghoon Kang, Adam Hadwin, Russell Henley, Sang-Moon Bae, Chez Reavie, Michael Putnam, Scott Piercy, and Alexander Noren.
What a great way to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Phil's Winged Foot debacle.
Rory McIlroy did steal the show. However, what I was really happy about was the fact that Phil had yet another week of mediocrity despite being heavily over-hyped as the favourite earlier on this week. Chew on that, Phil lovers!
Another Phailure by Phil. 7 over par, 23 shots behind Rory McIlroy.
On Day 1, Phil's opening tee shot on the Par-3 10th found the water, resulting in an opening double bogey right out of the gates. Slashing and hacking out of the deep rough on one hole after another, and ending up with a 74 which could have been much worse had he not scrambled better. He could have easily shot a 79 and missed the cut. He hit the ball so pathetically crooked he couldn't even find fairways with a 2-iron (BTW, who still uses a 2 iron anyways?)
Round 2, he started hitting the ball better now, made quite a few birdies. However, he saved his best moment for last. After having 5 birdies and 1 bogey thru 17 holes, Phil dunked his second shot on the 18th hole into the water and made double bogey, finishing his round in grand style.
Round 3, on the front nine he played decently. But the back nine was when the train wreck began and never ended until the last putt. Phil hit it over the green on 10, leaving him an impossible up-and-down, resulting in a bogey. He carded another bogey on 13 when he flew his shot to the back of the green despite a front hole location, resulting in a three-putt. He made another bogey on 15. Then on 16, his third shot flew the green and ended up in an impossible chipping area, making double bogey. Made another double bogey on 17 when he drove the ball into the woods, and when he finally managed to get onto the green, he missed a 4 foot bogey putt. What a round. And what a great way to celebrate his 5th anniversary of his famous Winged Foot collapse. Exactly 5 years ago on that day, Phil made double bogey on the last hole to choke away his greatest chance at an US Open win.
Round 4 for Phil wasn't shown much because he SUCKED so badly he had an early tee time well before the TV coverage. Some interesting notes for his round: He did bogey the Par-5 6th hole, which is the easiest hole on the course all week. And he missed a 5 foot birdie putt on the 16th. And he once again finished his round in grand style, carding a double bogey at the last when his greenside bunker shot flew over the green and into the water.
Just exactly how bad did Phil play? Consider this: He was outplayed by as Kevin Chappell, Brandt Jobe, Johan Edfors, Kyung-tae Kim, Robert Rock, Gary Woodland, Do-Hoon Kim, Harrison Frazar, Patrick Cantley, Sunghoon Kang, Adam Hadwin, Russell Henley, Sang-Moon Bae, Chez Reavie, Michael Putnam, Scott Piercy, and Alexander Noren.
What a great way to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Phil's Winged Foot debacle.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
2011 US Open Pairings Analysis
The USGA always makes pairings with certain interesting traits for the first 2 days of the US Open. There is the all major champions pairing, the all defending champions pairing, the top-ranked players pairing, the "jerk" pairing (will explain further down in the post), etc, etc. So here is an analysis of the interesting pairings for this US Open:
Group 6: Thomas Levet, Brian Gay, Gregory Havret. In this group, the 3 last names all rhyme (Levet and Havret are from France, and in French the last consonant is usually silent.)
Group 9: Matt Kuchar, Paul Casey, and KJ Choi. A group of fairway hitters. Very consistent players.
Group 10: Padraig Harrington, Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera. A group of recent, former major champions.
Group 11: Graeme McDowell, Peter Uihlein, Louis Oosthuizen. A group of defending champions. (McDowell = US Open, Uihlein = US Amateur, Oosthuizen = British Open)
Group 12: Ryo Ishikawa, Anthony Kim, YE Yang. A group of Asian players.
Group 13: Henrik Stenson, Johan Edfors, Fredrik Jacobson. A group of all-Swedish players.
Group 14: Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer. The group of the #1, #2, and #3 players coming into the US Open.
Group 15: Ernie Els, Davis Love III, and Jim Furyk. A group of grizzled veterans, also they're former major champions.
Group 16: Jonathan Byrd, Bill Haas, Webb Simpson. A group of American players who have played well this year. Also they're relatively SLOW players.
Group 17: Justin Rose, JJ Henry, Jason Day. All these 3 first names began with "J". Not sure whether or not this was intentional.
Group 19: Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer, Gary Woodland. A group of American young guns.
Group 35: Miguel A. Jimenez, Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Quiros. A group of all-Spanish players.
Group 36: Steve Stricker, Retief Goosen, David Toms. Another group of veteran players. They're also well-known for their consistency off the tee.
Group 37: Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Matteo Manassero. A group of all-Italian players.
Group 38: Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson. A group of CHOKE ARTISTS!!! Nah, kidding. Probably a made-for-TV group that would likely attract the viewers the most.
Group 40: Charl Schwartzel, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson. A group of former recent one-time major champions.
Group 41: Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter, Hunter Mahan. A group of very flashy players. Very well-known for the way they dress.
Group 42: Nick Watney, Lucas Glover, Geoff Ogilvy. Hmm...Glover and Watney were past US Open champions. Nick Watney is a potential US Open Champion, maybe??
Group 43: Camilo Villegas, Aaron Baddeley, Brandt Snedeker. Another group of young-ish, but not very young, guys.
Last but not least, Group 44: Rory Sabbatini, Ryan Moore, Robert Allenby. Ah, the "jerk" pairing. It's true, there is such a thing as a "jerk pairing". A jerk pairing is when the USGA pairs three players in which either they dislike or are generally disliked by the public. They are not allowed to disclose who they actually pair up, so fans have to guess who the pairing is. This is a pretty obvious "jerk pairing", because of Rory Sabbatini's presense.
Sabbatini has done enough things to get others to despise him. Just earlier this year he was fined for yelling at a teenage volunteer because Sabbatini suspected that he moved Sabbatini's ball. And afterwards he got in a profanity-laced argument with Sean O'Hair.
As for why Ryan Moore got paired in the jerk pairing, it was likely because Moore complained about the USGA setup for the previous year's Open at Pebble Beach. Moore complained about the bumpiness of the greens and how that was unfair for the players. As a result, this made the USGA express disdain towards Moore.
As for Robert Allenby, the likely reason why he was labelled a "jerk" was because of the incident that happened at the Las Vegas Open the previous year. Anthony Kim was supposed to be in that field, but he withdrew the day before the tournament, citing injuries. That raised a lot of eyebrows because people thought AK's health was all better. That's when Robert Allenby began fanning the fire by saying that AK withdrew because he faked an injury to go partying, and Allenby also mentioned that AK did not deserve to be on the Ryder Cup (which AK was not on the team). Allenby's actions of fanning the fire and declaring unverified claims regarding AK probably made the USGA have disdain towards him.
So that's the analysis of the 2011 US Open pairings.
Group 6: Thomas Levet, Brian Gay, Gregory Havret. In this group, the 3 last names all rhyme (Levet and Havret are from France, and in French the last consonant is usually silent.)
Group 9: Matt Kuchar, Paul Casey, and KJ Choi. A group of fairway hitters. Very consistent players.
Group 10: Padraig Harrington, Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera. A group of recent, former major champions.
Group 11: Graeme McDowell, Peter Uihlein, Louis Oosthuizen. A group of defending champions. (McDowell = US Open, Uihlein = US Amateur, Oosthuizen = British Open)
Group 12: Ryo Ishikawa, Anthony Kim, YE Yang. A group of Asian players.
Group 13: Henrik Stenson, Johan Edfors, Fredrik Jacobson. A group of all-Swedish players.
Group 14: Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer. The group of the #1, #2, and #3 players coming into the US Open.
Group 15: Ernie Els, Davis Love III, and Jim Furyk. A group of grizzled veterans, also they're former major champions.
Group 16: Jonathan Byrd, Bill Haas, Webb Simpson. A group of American players who have played well this year. Also they're relatively SLOW players.
Group 17: Justin Rose, JJ Henry, Jason Day. All these 3 first names began with "J". Not sure whether or not this was intentional.
Group 19: Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer, Gary Woodland. A group of American young guns.
Group 35: Miguel A. Jimenez, Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Quiros. A group of all-Spanish players.
Group 36: Steve Stricker, Retief Goosen, David Toms. Another group of veteran players. They're also well-known for their consistency off the tee.
Group 37: Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Matteo Manassero. A group of all-Italian players.
Group 38: Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson. A group of CHOKE ARTISTS!!! Nah, kidding. Probably a made-for-TV group that would likely attract the viewers the most.
Group 40: Charl Schwartzel, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson. A group of former recent one-time major champions.
Group 41: Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter, Hunter Mahan. A group of very flashy players. Very well-known for the way they dress.
Group 42: Nick Watney, Lucas Glover, Geoff Ogilvy. Hmm...Glover and Watney were past US Open champions. Nick Watney is a potential US Open Champion, maybe??
Group 43: Camilo Villegas, Aaron Baddeley, Brandt Snedeker. Another group of young-ish, but not very young, guys.
Last but not least, Group 44: Rory Sabbatini, Ryan Moore, Robert Allenby. Ah, the "jerk" pairing. It's true, there is such a thing as a "jerk pairing". A jerk pairing is when the USGA pairs three players in which either they dislike or are generally disliked by the public. They are not allowed to disclose who they actually pair up, so fans have to guess who the pairing is. This is a pretty obvious "jerk pairing", because of Rory Sabbatini's presense.
Sabbatini has done enough things to get others to despise him. Just earlier this year he was fined for yelling at a teenage volunteer because Sabbatini suspected that he moved Sabbatini's ball. And afterwards he got in a profanity-laced argument with Sean O'Hair.
As for why Ryan Moore got paired in the jerk pairing, it was likely because Moore complained about the USGA setup for the previous year's Open at Pebble Beach. Moore complained about the bumpiness of the greens and how that was unfair for the players. As a result, this made the USGA express disdain towards Moore.
As for Robert Allenby, the likely reason why he was labelled a "jerk" was because of the incident that happened at the Las Vegas Open the previous year. Anthony Kim was supposed to be in that field, but he withdrew the day before the tournament, citing injuries. That raised a lot of eyebrows because people thought AK's health was all better. That's when Robert Allenby began fanning the fire by saying that AK withdrew because he faked an injury to go partying, and Allenby also mentioned that AK did not deserve to be on the Ryder Cup (which AK was not on the team). Allenby's actions of fanning the fire and declaring unverified claims regarding AK probably made the USGA have disdain towards him.
So that's the analysis of the 2011 US Open pairings.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Kip Henley is Pissed Off at the St. Jude Classic
A lot of golfers could only dream of playing on the PGA Tour. An amateur golfer getting an opportunity to play on the PGA with all the top players would usually be an amazing, unforgettable experience.
However, this is not the case for Kip Henley.
Kip Henley, who was supposed to caddie for Brian Gay, got exempted into the St. Jude Classic when he won the Tennessee PGA Section Championship. So he played in the tournament for two days.
It looked like he was going to have a great time out there, especially when his daughter was to caddie for him. That gave him a lot of headlines on Yahoo, because his daughter happened to be a former Miss Teen USA and an American Idol contestant.
However, he appeared to have anything but a good time.
He opened with a first round 82 that left him dead last place. He followed that up with a second round 78 that left him missing the cut by a whopping 18 strokes, and he was 29 strokes behind the 36-hole leader. He was 7 strokes behind second last place.
He apparently was indeed very pissed about his play. Because after his two rounds, he posted this note to the PGA Tour players saying that he is never going to play a PGA tournament ever again.
http://yfrog.com/h81rhjgj
That sounds like very crybaby-ish behaviour. A player is supposed to cherish the moment, because how often do you have a chance to play in a PGA event? What a spoiled brat.
It's a good lesson for him though, it's a good lesson for everyone. A good lesson that playing a PGA tournament is much harder than most people perceive it to be. The golf courses set up on the PGA are much, MUCH tougher than the local muni golf courses. Just ask Jerry Rice and John Smoltz, who both are pretty decent amateur golfers, but when they both tried to play in a Nationwide Tour event, they both missed the cut by a huge margin.
However, this is not the case for Kip Henley.
Kip Henley, who was supposed to caddie for Brian Gay, got exempted into the St. Jude Classic when he won the Tennessee PGA Section Championship. So he played in the tournament for two days.
It looked like he was going to have a great time out there, especially when his daughter was to caddie for him. That gave him a lot of headlines on Yahoo, because his daughter happened to be a former Miss Teen USA and an American Idol contestant.
However, he appeared to have anything but a good time.
He opened with a first round 82 that left him dead last place. He followed that up with a second round 78 that left him missing the cut by a whopping 18 strokes, and he was 29 strokes behind the 36-hole leader. He was 7 strokes behind second last place.
He apparently was indeed very pissed about his play. Because after his two rounds, he posted this note to the PGA Tour players saying that he is never going to play a PGA tournament ever again.
http://yfrog.com/h81rhjgj
That sounds like very crybaby-ish behaviour. A player is supposed to cherish the moment, because how often do you have a chance to play in a PGA event? What a spoiled brat.
It's a good lesson for him though, it's a good lesson for everyone. A good lesson that playing a PGA tournament is much harder than most people perceive it to be. The golf courses set up on the PGA are much, MUCH tougher than the local muni golf courses. Just ask Jerry Rice and John Smoltz, who both are pretty decent amateur golfers, but when they both tried to play in a Nationwide Tour event, they both missed the cut by a huge margin.
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Top 10 Most Surprising / Interesting / Significant Things at the 2011 Memorial Week
Another week, another tournament chock-full of surprises. This week, there yet again was many surprises happening in both the PGA Tour's Memorial tournament and the European Tour's Celtic Manor Wales Open. Here is a countdown of the Top 10 most surprising events that happened this week in golf.
10: Memorial Tournament: Chris Riley's week.
http://i54.tinypic.com/hwha9y.png Probably nobody besides Rickie Fowler had a more roller-coaster week than Chris Riley, who had a week with scorecard of 66-75-77-67. He had 21 birdies, but alongside with that 13 bogeys, 1 double, and 1 triple, finishing the week 3 under, T30.
9: Memorial Tournament: Brandt Jobe's week. Brandt Jobe being in contention was quite a surprise because a lot of the newer golf fans probably have never heard of Jobe because he has almost never been in contention over the recent years. Jobe used to be a decent golfer but injuries have plagued him late last decade. But this week him playing himself in contention is remarkable.
8: Memorial Tournament: Final round scoring average. Prior to the final round, Jack Nicklaus said that the final round would have very tough scoring conditions with a lot of difficult pin placements. It turned out that it was just the opposite. The final round was a total birdie-fest for pretty much everybody because of the absolute calm conditions and moist greens. A lot of 5, 6, or even 7 under par scores despite so many tough pin locations. This really spoke volumes about how technology has really evolved, making golf courses much more vulnerable to the pros.
7: Memorial Tournament: Three viral withdrawals. This is quite an interesting story. This week, four PGA players - Nick Watney, Bill Lunde, D.J. Trahan, and Charley Hoffman shared the same house. On Wednesday, Nick Watney withdrew from the tournament because of flu-like symptoms. Then on Friday, after Bill Lunde and DJ Trahan finished their first rounds, they also withdrew because of flu-like symptoms, so apprarently, the virus spread to them as well. Charley Hoffman noticed that and quickly moved out of the house and into a hotel. Hoffman, however, finished the tournament unscathed. He managed to finish the tournament without any flu-like symptoms. He apparently had some immunity to this virus or that he escaped just in time.
6: Memorial Tournament: Rickie Fowler's week.
[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/nnr4ea.png[/IMG]Rickie Fowler probably had THE wildest week out of ANYONE on this tournament. He had 26 birdies and 1 eagle. 26 birdies and 1 eagle!!! And yet, not only did he not win, but he finished 12 shots back of the winner Steve Stricker. Reason? EXTREME inconsistency. He made 15 bogeys, 3 double bogeys, and 1 triple bogey. Holy crap!!!
5: Celtic Manor Wales Open: Graeme McDowell's collapse.
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2aiomch.png[/IMG]After being just one shot back afte 36 holes of the Wales Open, McDowell shot himself in the foot in the third round, shooting a 81 to drop like a bullet out of contention. What makes McDowell's meltdowns so shocking was the fact that McDowell was on the top of the world at the end of 2010. He looked like he was on the verge of becoming a dominant player. But then 2011, everything changed for him. His golf game lost consistency, and he began developing an M.O. of falling out of contention dramatically in the third or final round. The same trend was exhibited at the Heritage and the Players Championship. People have really begun questioning about whether or not McDowell's 2010 season was a fluke. This week, McDowell wasn't even the top Graeme in the field. He was outplayed by Graeme Storm, whom, for a trivial note, held a 2-shot lead after round 1 of the 2007 PGA Championship.
4: Memorial Tournament: Kevin Stadler and Brandt Jobe's near back-to-back near hole-outs. This was something unbelievable. They were paired together in the third round, and on the 3rd hole, Kevin Stadler slam-dunked his shot into the hole, but then it wildly bounced out and ricocheted backwards, landing on the fringe 30 feet to the hole. Immediately after, Brandt Jobe also nearly slam-dunked his approach shot but it also ricocheted wildly backwards to the rough 25 feet to the hole. That was one cruel break. Stadler parred while Jobe bogeyed, when they could have both just eagled. 5 shot difference there.
3: Memorial Tournament: Steve Stricker's week.
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/s3hog9.png[/IMG] Steve Stricker had THREE EAGLES of the week, two of them being hole-out eagles. One was the hole-in-one on the 8th hole. Another notable surprise / interesting thing of his week was the fact that he was 20 under par on the front nine but 4 over par on the back nine. Ironically, prior to this week, his career record for the front nine was 8 over par and back nine record was 14 under par.
2: Celtic Manor Wales Open: Elliot Saltman's hole-outs.
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2ng93rc.png[/IMG] Elliot Saltman after 16 holes of his first round, was 6 over par and had a high chance of missing the cut. Until he finished the round Ace-Eagle to jump to 2 over par. After a wild roller-coaster week, he still managed to notch a 12th place finish. What makes his week so notable was the fact that he made a hole in one on the 17th hole TWICE in one tournament. He also holed out for the ace in the final round. I would have never expected someone to have a week this crazy.
1: Nationwide Tour: Steve Wheatcroft's 12-shot win. The most surprising storyline of this week belongs to the Nationwide Tour's Melwood Prince Open. Steve Wheatcroft won the tournament by a whopping 12 strokes. He finished the week 29 under par. He broke both records of largest margin of victory on the Nationwide Tour AND the lowest 72-holes score on the Nationwide Tour. He had 1 eagle, 31 birdies, and 4 bogeys. It's amazing how much talent some Nationwide Tour players have despite it being a second-rated tour.
10: Memorial Tournament: Chris Riley's week.
http://i54.tinypic.com/hwha9y.png Probably nobody besides Rickie Fowler had a more roller-coaster week than Chris Riley, who had a week with scorecard of 66-75-77-67. He had 21 birdies, but alongside with that 13 bogeys, 1 double, and 1 triple, finishing the week 3 under, T30.
9: Memorial Tournament: Brandt Jobe's week. Brandt Jobe being in contention was quite a surprise because a lot of the newer golf fans probably have never heard of Jobe because he has almost never been in contention over the recent years. Jobe used to be a decent golfer but injuries have plagued him late last decade. But this week him playing himself in contention is remarkable.
8: Memorial Tournament: Final round scoring average. Prior to the final round, Jack Nicklaus said that the final round would have very tough scoring conditions with a lot of difficult pin placements. It turned out that it was just the opposite. The final round was a total birdie-fest for pretty much everybody because of the absolute calm conditions and moist greens. A lot of 5, 6, or even 7 under par scores despite so many tough pin locations. This really spoke volumes about how technology has really evolved, making golf courses much more vulnerable to the pros.
7: Memorial Tournament: Three viral withdrawals. This is quite an interesting story. This week, four PGA players - Nick Watney, Bill Lunde, D.J. Trahan, and Charley Hoffman shared the same house. On Wednesday, Nick Watney withdrew from the tournament because of flu-like symptoms. Then on Friday, after Bill Lunde and DJ Trahan finished their first rounds, they also withdrew because of flu-like symptoms, so apprarently, the virus spread to them as well. Charley Hoffman noticed that and quickly moved out of the house and into a hotel. Hoffman, however, finished the tournament unscathed. He managed to finish the tournament without any flu-like symptoms. He apparently had some immunity to this virus or that he escaped just in time.
6: Memorial Tournament: Rickie Fowler's week.
[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/nnr4ea.png[/IMG]Rickie Fowler probably had THE wildest week out of ANYONE on this tournament. He had 26 birdies and 1 eagle. 26 birdies and 1 eagle!!! And yet, not only did he not win, but he finished 12 shots back of the winner Steve Stricker. Reason? EXTREME inconsistency. He made 15 bogeys, 3 double bogeys, and 1 triple bogey. Holy crap!!!
5: Celtic Manor Wales Open: Graeme McDowell's collapse.
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2aiomch.png[/IMG]After being just one shot back afte 36 holes of the Wales Open, McDowell shot himself in the foot in the third round, shooting a 81 to drop like a bullet out of contention. What makes McDowell's meltdowns so shocking was the fact that McDowell was on the top of the world at the end of 2010. He looked like he was on the verge of becoming a dominant player. But then 2011, everything changed for him. His golf game lost consistency, and he began developing an M.O. of falling out of contention dramatically in the third or final round. The same trend was exhibited at the Heritage and the Players Championship. People have really begun questioning about whether or not McDowell's 2010 season was a fluke. This week, McDowell wasn't even the top Graeme in the field. He was outplayed by Graeme Storm, whom, for a trivial note, held a 2-shot lead after round 1 of the 2007 PGA Championship.
4: Memorial Tournament: Kevin Stadler and Brandt Jobe's near back-to-back near hole-outs. This was something unbelievable. They were paired together in the third round, and on the 3rd hole, Kevin Stadler slam-dunked his shot into the hole, but then it wildly bounced out and ricocheted backwards, landing on the fringe 30 feet to the hole. Immediately after, Brandt Jobe also nearly slam-dunked his approach shot but it also ricocheted wildly backwards to the rough 25 feet to the hole. That was one cruel break. Stadler parred while Jobe bogeyed, when they could have both just eagled. 5 shot difference there.
3: Memorial Tournament: Steve Stricker's week.
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/s3hog9.png[/IMG] Steve Stricker had THREE EAGLES of the week, two of them being hole-out eagles. One was the hole-in-one on the 8th hole. Another notable surprise / interesting thing of his week was the fact that he was 20 under par on the front nine but 4 over par on the back nine. Ironically, prior to this week, his career record for the front nine was 8 over par and back nine record was 14 under par.
2: Celtic Manor Wales Open: Elliot Saltman's hole-outs.
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/2ng93rc.png[/IMG] Elliot Saltman after 16 holes of his first round, was 6 over par and had a high chance of missing the cut. Until he finished the round Ace-Eagle to jump to 2 over par. After a wild roller-coaster week, he still managed to notch a 12th place finish. What makes his week so notable was the fact that he made a hole in one on the 17th hole TWICE in one tournament. He also holed out for the ace in the final round. I would have never expected someone to have a week this crazy.
1: Nationwide Tour: Steve Wheatcroft's 12-shot win. The most surprising storyline of this week belongs to the Nationwide Tour's Melwood Prince Open. Steve Wheatcroft won the tournament by a whopping 12 strokes. He finished the week 29 under par. He broke both records of largest margin of victory on the Nationwide Tour AND the lowest 72-holes score on the Nationwide Tour. He had 1 eagle, 31 birdies, and 4 bogeys. It's amazing how much talent some Nationwide Tour players have despite it being a second-rated tour.
Friday, 3 June 2011
Weird Scorecards at the 2011 Memorial Tournament, Part 1
At the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, there has been everything but consistency from the players. Players in general have been wild and erratic on this course. It's a quirky golf course that can reward good shots with lots of birdies, but can also penalize players with a lot of bogeys and double bogeys. In fact, one can say that pars were a rarity for the first two rounds because of all those birdies and bogeys! Here is a top 5 countdown for 5 of the weirdest scorecards in the second round.
An interesting side note: Despite Phil Mickelson being one of the least consistent players on the PGA Tour, this week he actually just happened to be one of the MOST consistent. Kind of ironic that Phil's second round had been very solid and not joining the roller coaster rides all the other players have been going on, despite Phil usually having those roller coaster rounds himself while all the other players are plodding along consistently.
So here is the Top 5 countdown.
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5. Rory McIlroy:
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/27y48ly.png[/IMG]
Well, McIlroy is always this highly inconsistent player, as many young guns are. And this is another one of those typical McIlroy inconsistent rounds. First round he played alright, but the second round he was unable to capitalize on his good shots, because he kept following up birdies with bogeys. And the highlight was the double bogey on 14. Unable to create momentum, so just an even par round for him.
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4. Chris Riley:
[IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/2mzf5g0.png[/IMG]
Another golfer on a roller coaster ride all week. The interesting thing about Chris Riley is that he only made 3 pars on the back nine for his two rounds combined. He made a lot of birdie putts but also missed a lot of short, makeable par putts particularly in the second round. In fact, the bogeys he made on 16 and 17 of the secound round were both from under 4 feet.
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3. Luke Donald:
[IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/11kfeo6.png[/IMG]
The typically rock solid and consistent Luke Donald having 2 inconsistent rounds, joining the party of roller coaster riders. What is so notable about Donald's round was that he at one point was 2 over par during his first round but then he birdied 5 of his last 7 holes (and 1 bogey). And even in the second round, he was even par for the round until birdying 4 of his last 7 holes (and one bogey), which are anything but easy holes.
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2. Davis Love III:
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/r9lv92.png[/IMG]
Davis Love's first round was alright, a solid 69 for day one. But his second round was what was incredibly, remarkable erratic and inconsistent. He made 6 birdies and an eagle. That, usually, would be a crazy good round especially under a difficult course like Muirfield Village. This however is not the case, when you intertwine your 6 birdies and an eagle with 5 bogeys, 1 double bogey, and 1 triple bogey. Love was actually 5 over par for his round after finishing his back nine, but made a very nice rebound on the front nine and managed to salvage a 1 over par round.
[IMG]http://i56.tinypic.com/sdo9xf.png[/IMG]
His triple bogey snowman 8 on the par 5 11th hole (see picture above). Hit his drive in the water, took a drop, hit a lay-up shot, then hit another shot in the water, took another drop, hit it on the green to 3 feet, MISS the 3 foot putt, and makes triple bogey. What a day.
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1. Rickie Fowler:
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/214uoth.png[/IMG]
When you look at the ever-so-colourful scorecard of Rickie Fowler, all you can say is, WOW. He only made 3 pars on the back nine through 36 holes. The scorecard is riddled with inconsistency. In the first round, he makes one birdie, gives back with 2 bogeys, made 2 more birdies, and gave that back with another bogey. Then he went on a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle roll on Holes 12 to 15. Before following that up with immediate bogeys on 16 and 17 and finishing with a birdie on 18. What a first round.
But the second round was just as equally as roller-coaster-like. Started on the back nine, went through a stretch of birdie-bogey-birdie-triplebogey-birdie-bogey-bogey on Hole 11-17, accentuated by the triple bogey on 14. Then birdied 1, 3, and 5 when he got to the front nine. After all those wild scores, he managed to shoot a 73.
Details of Rickie Fowler's triple bogey on 14:
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/2vllffs.png[/IMG]
As you can see, despite the triple bogey, he actually hit the fairway on his drive! That means he took 6 strokes from 132 yards to go on the fairway! That's almost Happy-Gilmore-like! So anyway, after the good drive, his adrenaline resulted in him airmailing his second shot way, way over the green. His third shot came short of the green. Then his fourth shot tricked over the green. He finally got it onto the green on his fifth. Then he missed a 4 foot putt, and resulted in the triple bogey 7. What a hole that was for Fowler!
An interesting side note: Despite Phil Mickelson being one of the least consistent players on the PGA Tour, this week he actually just happened to be one of the MOST consistent. Kind of ironic that Phil's second round had been very solid and not joining the roller coaster rides all the other players have been going on, despite Phil usually having those roller coaster rounds himself while all the other players are plodding along consistently.
So here is the Top 5 countdown.
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5. Rory McIlroy:
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/27y48ly.png[/IMG]
Well, McIlroy is always this highly inconsistent player, as many young guns are. And this is another one of those typical McIlroy inconsistent rounds. First round he played alright, but the second round he was unable to capitalize on his good shots, because he kept following up birdies with bogeys. And the highlight was the double bogey on 14. Unable to create momentum, so just an even par round for him.
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4. Chris Riley:
[IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/2mzf5g0.png[/IMG]
Another golfer on a roller coaster ride all week. The interesting thing about Chris Riley is that he only made 3 pars on the back nine for his two rounds combined. He made a lot of birdie putts but also missed a lot of short, makeable par putts particularly in the second round. In fact, the bogeys he made on 16 and 17 of the secound round were both from under 4 feet.
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3. Luke Donald:
[IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/11kfeo6.png[/IMG]
The typically rock solid and consistent Luke Donald having 2 inconsistent rounds, joining the party of roller coaster riders. What is so notable about Donald's round was that he at one point was 2 over par during his first round but then he birdied 5 of his last 7 holes (and 1 bogey). And even in the second round, he was even par for the round until birdying 4 of his last 7 holes (and one bogey), which are anything but easy holes.
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2. Davis Love III:
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/r9lv92.png[/IMG]
Davis Love's first round was alright, a solid 69 for day one. But his second round was what was incredibly, remarkable erratic and inconsistent. He made 6 birdies and an eagle. That, usually, would be a crazy good round especially under a difficult course like Muirfield Village. This however is not the case, when you intertwine your 6 birdies and an eagle with 5 bogeys, 1 double bogey, and 1 triple bogey. Love was actually 5 over par for his round after finishing his back nine, but made a very nice rebound on the front nine and managed to salvage a 1 over par round.
[IMG]http://i56.tinypic.com/sdo9xf.png[/IMG]
His triple bogey snowman 8 on the par 5 11th hole (see picture above). Hit his drive in the water, took a drop, hit a lay-up shot, then hit another shot in the water, took another drop, hit it on the green to 3 feet, MISS the 3 foot putt, and makes triple bogey. What a day.
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1. Rickie Fowler:
[IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/214uoth.png[/IMG]
When you look at the ever-so-colourful scorecard of Rickie Fowler, all you can say is, WOW. He only made 3 pars on the back nine through 36 holes. The scorecard is riddled with inconsistency. In the first round, he makes one birdie, gives back with 2 bogeys, made 2 more birdies, and gave that back with another bogey. Then he went on a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle roll on Holes 12 to 15. Before following that up with immediate bogeys on 16 and 17 and finishing with a birdie on 18. What a first round.
But the second round was just as equally as roller-coaster-like. Started on the back nine, went through a stretch of birdie-bogey-birdie-triplebogey-birdie-bogey-bogey on Hole 11-17, accentuated by the triple bogey on 14. Then birdied 1, 3, and 5 when he got to the front nine. After all those wild scores, he managed to shoot a 73.
Details of Rickie Fowler's triple bogey on 14:
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/2vllffs.png[/IMG]
As you can see, despite the triple bogey, he actually hit the fairway on his drive! That means he took 6 strokes from 132 yards to go on the fairway! That's almost Happy-Gilmore-like! So anyway, after the good drive, his adrenaline resulted in him airmailing his second shot way, way over the green. His third shot came short of the green. Then his fourth shot tricked over the green. He finally got it onto the green on his fifth. Then he missed a 4 foot putt, and resulted in the triple bogey 7. What a hole that was for Fowler!
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