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!
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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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