Stat profiles for 1500 golfers
Sal Johnson looks at how Y.E. Yang won and Tiger Woods lost the PGA Championship.
CHASKA, Minn.Ten days ago when Tiger Woods made the announcement that he would be happy with his season, even if he didn't win a major if Tiger had thought out what was happening. It was a shocking bit of talk from Woods who for years have told us that a season is never good without a major. You had to wonder then and now if Woods realized that the major championship year had turned into "The year of the Spoilers." What we could of had was some really great stories, Kenny Perry finally getting the major monkey off his back by winning the Masters at 48. At the U.S. Open, how about either David Duval or Phil Mickelson winning, gosh for about a half hour we thought that Mickelson was a shoe-in for the title. Then we had what could of been the story of the year, 59 year-old Tom Watson winning a major championship. Then this week the story of Tiger Woods. All of these stories would of been written and produced Hollywood style, those make believe pieces that make audiences very happy.
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But those stories never had that Hollywood ending, just like Cinderella, the clock struck midnight and we got the pumpkin stories of Angel Cabrera winning the Masters, Lucas Glover winning the U.S. Open, Stewart Cink winning the British Open and now Y.E. Yang winning the PGA Championship. Of course they were all great theater, but honestly it won't be something that we will be looking back on for years to come.
This week we had a rather strange person emerge in a very strange roll. Since Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997, the golfing world has been looking for the "Tiger slayer" that person that would be able to beat Woods. Many a folk from Phil Mickelson to Sergio Garcia toVijay Singh have audition for the role. Yes Vijay Singh beat Woods a bit in 2005 and Retief Goosen got the better part of Tiger in a past Tour Championship but nobody has been able to knock down Woods, especially in major championships. For years now there has been thousands of words of copy written on this subject, but every time Woods got the lead in a major after either the second or third rounds, it was automatic.
So this week when Woods went out and took, then built on the lead it seemed to be the right time to put his name on the Wanamaker Trophy. It seemed such a good bet that bookmakers in England were paying off players on Saturday and Sunday, despite Woods having to play more golf.
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Funny how dreams can come true.
Yang played steady golf on Sunday, while Woods also played steady but in the end, Yang made less errors and more putts than Woods to beat him. Many won't remember this but back in November of 2006 Woods ventured off to China to play in the HSBC Champions and came away with second place, to guess who, one Y.E. Yang. Now being two for two against Woods is pretty good, about the only other person that can say he has beaten Woods twice is Nick O'Hern, but his wins were just one match at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and nothing compared to beating Woods for a title.
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Yang has been a member of the PGA Tour since Q-school in 2007. Last year he finished 157th on the money list which forced him back to Q-School and he just made it on the number finishing T18th. So a stroke higher for Yang would of meant no PGA Tour card, thus no win at Honda. Before his win at Honda, Yang had played in 46 PGA Tour events with only one Top-20 finish, T9th at the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am. Despite the struggle and the hard work, Yang got things together and and won the Honda Classic to everyone's surprise since he was the 460th world ranked player.
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Still how could you tell that he could possibly win, in 7 previous majors, only made the cut twice, T30th in 2007 Masters and T47th in 2005 PGA Championship. Before this year in 18 previous major rounds, only broke par twice, 71 in 2nd round 2005 British Open and 67 in 2nd round 2005 PGA Championship.
Despite this background he was able to put things together and beat Woods. How did he do it you ask?
The key was overcoming a poor start, after the 4th hole on Friday Yang was five over par, ten behind Tiger Woods and on the cusp on not making the cut. He played his next 49 holes in 11 under par, only making three bogeys. Yang got better as the tournament progressed and was able to get into the final match along side of Tiger Woods. Now for the week, Yang and Phil Mickleson were the only players to have two eagles for the week. Yang also hit 55 of 72 greens to lead in greens hit for the week, was 3rd in ball striking and played the par 4s in 4 under, best of the week. He didn't putt that bad but was able to survive making four, three-putts.
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But the most important thing that never seems to happen, over the course of 18 holes Woods never pulled off that magical shot which would help boost his confidence and help him to victory. Woods over the course of the last couple of holes looked like a mere, frustrated human like the rest of us. While Woods was struggling, Yang hit the shot of the week at 14, a chip that went into the hole for an eagle that got him the lead.
Woods shot a final round 75, it was his second worst score in the final round of a major championship. So just like that, Tiger Woods’ streak of 16 straight overall PGA Tour wins when holding the third-round lead/co-lead ended along with his streak of 14 wins while holding the third round lead ended at the 2009 PGA Championship. So just like that Yang becomes a part of the Tiger Woods story, a bit of folklore just like Nick O'Hern as a player that has beaten Woods more than once, a very rare thing. Yang was asked in a media interview if he was looking forward to meeting with Woods again and he answered no, he never wanted to face Woods again, he was a winner and didn't want to spoil that. Of course he was making a joke, but for Yang it's the beginning of a lot of obligations.
That's because Yang is the first Asian born winner of a major championship. Now that he lives in Dallas, there will be things that he has to play in Asia, events and meetings to help boost the cause of bringing golf to places like Asia. Just by chance, the Olympic committee voted to recommend to include golf into the 2016 Olympics so in a span of a week these two things will help golf grow in Asia.
As for Yang, it will be interesting to see what happens to him. Will he be able to live up to the title of first Asian golfer to win a major? Will he be able to win again, possibly at the expense of Tiger Woods? Or will he turn into the next Jack Fleck, another player that shook up the golfing world be beating the great Ben Hogan in 1955.
Talking about Woods, how will this bode over for him, this is really his first time at defeat at not only his hands but someone else. At the age of 33 Woods has finally lost a tournament and did it in a ugly manner. We aren't use to Woods losing the lead and shooting a final round 75, we have to wonder if this will become a trend or if Woods will find away around this. One thing for sure, we have not seen as much strain on Tiger in his face, his actions and his cursing which became all-time on the 17th hole. Last month at Turnberry we saw an ugly Woods, throwing clubs and not being able to control himself. In a way the same at Hazeltine, we saw a Woods that couldn't do anything right and again it was a ugly site. We have to wonder with him being 33 now, having the responsibilities of a family and such, could his will to play great golf go away. We saw this happen to Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, after years of pulling off those magical shot at the right time, they couldn't produce that key putt or shot at the right time and wonder, could this be happening to Tiger?
Guess we will have to wait close to eight months to get our answers at Augusta in April. Still you have to think that Woods will find a way to be better than ever, but boy he would rather of traded wins the event before a major, into wins at the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.
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Sal, Dave and guest Jay Flemma discuss how Y.E. Yang won the PGA Championship and what it means for Asia to have it's first major championship winner.
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Becomes the first Asian victor of a major championship, will help grow the sport in Asia even more.
CHASKA, Minn. – If doubts linger about the merits of Olympic golf, consider the path Yang Yong-eun – better known as Y.E. Yang in America – took to the PGA Championship.
He was a 19-year-old farm boy on South Korea’s Jeju Island when friends took him to a local golf range, where they hit off mats into netting about 60 yards away. Within three years, Yang was breaking par – thanks to countless hours watching instructional videos – and envisioned a future as a club professional.
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From there it was on to America, where he twice qualified for the PGA Tour via Q-School and won the 2009 Honda Classic. Five months later, this self-described “lower than average PGA Tour player” went head-to-head with Woods in the final round at Hazeltine National and emerged as the first player from the Asia Pacific to win one of golf’s coveted major championships.
Imagine the number of similarly inspired golfers in China, India and other less developed golf nations who might benefit from the investment in golf that figures to follow the Olympic endorsement.
The timing of Yang’s triumph was serendipitous, coming three days after a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board that golf be included in the program for the 2016 Games. But his victory was no fluke.
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Yang said he often visualized going head-to-head with Woods. “I’ve seen throughout Tiger’s career that a lot of players have folded on the last day when playing with him,” Yang said. “So when I was at home or at a tournament, watching Tiger on TV in the clubhouse, I’d usually try to visualize and try to bring up a mock strategy on how to win, if I ever played against Tiger.
“But when the chance came, I sort of thought that, ‘Hey, I could always play a good round of golf and Tiger could always have a bad day.’ And I guess today was one of those days.” Woods blamed his closing 3-over-par 75 on poor putting. “I made absolutely nothing,” he said. But Woods failed to seize opportunities when they presented themselves.
• He missed the green left at No. 5 after Yang had hit his approach shot into trouble – nearly shanking it, actually – which led to Yang’s second bogey in 36 holes after making three in a row early in Round 2.
• He missed the green from the middle of he fairway at No. 6, after Yang had hit a superb punch shot from the right rough to about 18 feet.
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• He bunkered his tee shot and made bogey at No. 8 (the par 3 where moments before Padraig Harrington had nosedived from contention with a quintuple bogey 8).
• At No.12, after driving into the left rough, he launched his second shot over the green and failed to get up and down for par.
• At the 17th, Woods hit his tee shot at the par 3 over the green, albeit aided by a gust of wind.
• And at the final hole, trailing by one shot, he missed a green for the sixth time in Round 4.
Yang, meanwhile, suffered only two unforced errors during his 2-under 70 – the near shank at No. 5 and a tentative 3-putt at the 17th, where par would have given him a two-shot lead heading into the home hole.
“Y.E played great all day,” said Woods. “He went out there and executed his game plan. He was driving the ball beautifully, hitting his irons in the correct spots. He didn’t really make a lot of putts except for a couple of par putts here and there. But he was dong exactly what you have to do, especially in these conditions. It was so blustery out there, nobody went low.”
Yang made an extraordinary par at the 7th, where his second shot at the par 5 had ended up in the gallery, 20 feet above the putting surface. He lobbed his third shot perfectly, just clearing a bunker and landing on the only spot that would deaden the bounce enough to keep the ball within 25 feet of the hole.
Yang showed his mettle by getting up and down from a bunker at the par 3 13th to remain tied at 6 under. He made eagle at No. 14 by chipping in from 50 feet, giving him a lead he refused to surrender. And at the 72nd hole, he added to PGA Championship lore by pounding a 3-hybrid 210 yards uphill and over trees to within 8 feet of the cup.
“I knew he wouldn’t back down,” said Yang’s American caddie, A.J. Montecinos. “He’s just not scared. He’s a world-class player.
“I’ve never been around a more tough mental competitor in my life,” Montecinos said. “Nothing affects him, whether he makes double or triple, he’s just like, ‘no problem.’ He just goes about his business. It’s pretty impressive.”
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Yang laughed and joked on the practice range. On the course, he soaked up the atmosphere. He exchanged low-fives with fans en route to the 7th tee. At the 15th he playfully tossed his ball into grandstand after matching pars with Woods.
“I knew beforehand that it was going to be Tiger’s crowd,” Yang said. “I never had a doubt about that. But they actually started supporting me, and I did hear my name being called out, especially the last four or five holes.”
Just as it was inevitable Woods’ perfect record after holding the 54-hole lead would end, it was only a matter of time before an Asia Pacific player hoisted a major trophy.
Soon the enormity of the victory will hit Yang, who admitted that he’s not prepared for the spotlight.
“I guess I’m going to have to get used to it, right?” he said. “It’s going to be a bit tough. Sure, I know that. But honestly, I’ve never been in this spot, so I really can’t assess it. I’m just going to improvise.”
Good plan. It sure worked at Hazeltine.
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Y.E. Yang looked calm in winning, Tiger Woods out of sorts as he let a lead slip away for the first time in a major
Which was more unlikely, Y.E. Yang winning a major championship or Tiger Woods losing one when he had a two-stroke lead entering the final round? I'm not sure, but what were the odds of both happening?
At the beginning of the week, astronomical. Going into Sunday, something like the 70-to-1 odds that Yang himself quoted, basing it on the career PGA Tour victory totals of Woods and himself.
Here's another question. Did Yang win this PGA Championship or did Woods lose it? Both, actually. Yang obviously had more belief in himself than his tongue-in-cheek odds-setting indicated. He knew he had beaten Woods at the 2006 HSBC Champions in China, though they did not play in the same group. He had won the Honda Classic earlier this year and entered the PGA on a string of good finishes.
What's remarkable is how calm he seemed playing in the cauldron of the final pairing with Woods. Perhaps it came from knowing that so little was expected of him that he had everything to gain and nothing to lose. The only time he showed any nerves was on his three-putt on the 17th, where he was in the position of protecting a one-stroke lead (he was fortunate that Woods bogeyed, too).
He also said Saturday night that he would go for everything, and he did that. It paid huge dividends with his 3-hybrid approach shot that flew right at the flag on the 18th hole, setting up the clinching birdie.
Finally, back to Saturday's press conference again, he said he felt lucky. Well, there was that approach shot to the 16th hole that came dangerously close to the hazard but settled on the fringe. That aside, sometimes those who feel lucky go out and make their own luck, and that's what Yang did.
Woods, on the other hand, didn't look loose. His biggest problem was that it was a day when he just couldn't seem to read the greens. He hit a number of putts that you could tell he felt he struck right, but they didn't break the way expected.
But beyond that, he just looked uncomfortable. On his approach shots from the fairway, he was constantly stepping away, wavering on club selection, tossing grass in the air, and more than once bending down to shoo bugs away from the vicinity of his ball.
The end result of all that was an uncharacteristic 75 and the end of his 14-for-14 streak of winning majors when he led after 54 holes.
I guess you could call it just one of those days. But it was the first of those days Woods has ever experienced when leading a major.
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So much for the man who was supposed to hold up against Tiger Woods, as Harrington drops out with a quintuple bogey
I had already gotten tired of hearing how Padraig Harrington was the one player who could stand up to playing with Tiger, or the one who had stamped himself as his true rival. Evidence, please?
OK, Harrington hung tough for 15 holes at the WGC-Bridgestone last week, but then he triple bogeyed the 16th hole. It got somewhat lost in the slow-play timing controversy, but the fact is that he handed the tournament to Woods on a silver platter (and, by the way, he entered the round with a three-stroke lead).
Then in the first two rounds here he was beaten by Woods both days. Granted, he was tied for second, and Woods played very well, but it's not like he was proving himself to be a Woods-beater.
Harrington did win two majors last year with extremely clutch play down the stretch, but Woods missed both of those majors.
My point is not to tear down Harrington, but to point out that he has not shown himself to be any tougher against Woods than Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh, who have each had their moments against Tiger over the years even if they have lost more than they won.
Harrington wasn't playing with Woods today, but he was battling him for the championship until utterly coming apart on the par-three eighth with an eight that included a tee shot in the water, a yanked shot after a penalty drop, then a skulled wedge into the water across the green.
That left Y.E. Yang as the cool customer against Tiger so far on Sunday. Not only did Yang shoot even par on the front nine to catch Woods, he looked very cool, calm, and collected in doing so.
Still, you've got to like Woods' position heading into the back nine. He's not playing great, but he's due to make a birdie soon, right?
The only thing trending toward a Yang victory is that it would fit right in with the 2009 major theme of the "wrong" man winning. Though in Asia, Woods would be the wrong man. They are rooting as hard for the first Asian major winner as most of us were for Tom Watson at the British Open.
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Tiger Woods is perfect at converting leads at majors; so was Jack Nicklaus when he led outright
We all know that Tiger Woods is 14-for-14 when leading a major championship through 54 holes. The man whose major championship record he is chasing was pretty strong, too.
Jack Nicklaus was 10-for-12 in that situation, but those two setbacks came when he was tied for the lead. When leading outright, Nicklaus was money: 8-for-8.
One of the times Nicklaus didn't win when sharing the lead was the 1977 Duel in the Sun, the British Open at Turnberry, when he shot a 66 in the final round and Tom Watson took the title with a 65. Nobody has done a Watson on Woods yet, though Bob May came close at the 2000 PGA Championship (shooting a 66 in the final round to make up a one-stroke deficit before losing a playoff).
There was one championship that Nicklaus let get away. He was tied with Charles Coody at the 1971 Masters, but managed only an even-par 72 in the final round to lose by two.
Nicklaus also came from behind to win eight majors to account for his total of 18; Woods hasn't come from behind yet.
Woods has led outright through 54 holes in 11 majors, while also converting all three of his shared leads.
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Asia is still looking for it's first winner in a major championship, Y.E. Yang will have to beat Tiger Woods to accomplish that, but hey Yang has beaten Woods before.
CHASKA, Minn.
South Korea’s Y.E. Yang stands on the cusp of becoming the first golfer from Asia to win a major championship. If he somehow gets the better of Tiger Woods on Sunday at the 91st. PGA Championship, it won’t be a surprise to Padraig Harrington.
“When he won the HSBC Champions two years ago, down the stretch he went all the way against big-name players and he totally outplayed everybody,” said Harrington, who like Yang trails 54-hole leader Woods by two shots. “He’s a fine player when he’s in front.”
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Because he was first to post a 6-under-par 210 total, Yang drew the final-round pairing with Woods. Playing alongside the World No. 1 is a challenge in and of itself.
“More than anything, it’s just the amount of distractions inside the ropes,” Woods said. “There’s a lot of movement, a lot of cameras, a lot of media – a lot of people moving and it can get you at times. It’s gotten me and it’s gotten my playing partners.”
Harrington said he would have preferred to go head-to-head with Woods because “it would suit me better to have that sort of match play style. I think I would get into it and hopefully raise my game.”
As for Yang going out with Woods for the first time, Harrington said: “The guy knows what he’s doing. So I wouldn’t be too worried about him tomorrow.”
Yang acknowledged that it took some effort to stay focused amid the hubbub of the huge crowds at Hazeltine.
“It’s a bit nerve-racking,” Yang said. “But I’ve been hitting it quite well and hopefully I’ll be able to maintain that momentum.
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When he won the HSBC, Yang was paired with Retief Goosen, who led after 54 holes in Shanghai. Yang began the day 1 shot adrift of Goosen and 4 ahead of Woods.
“I really didn’t have that much confidence in winning over those big names, so I just went for broke and somehow I won the tournament,” said Yang, who closed with 69, which was good enough to beat Woods by 2 shots and Goosen and Michael Campbell by 3.
Asked if he planned to go for broke in Round 4 at Hazeltine, Yang said, “Yes, I might as well. Tiger has won 70 times now and I’ve only won once (on the PGA Tour), so it’s sort of 70-to-1 odds.”
Yang’s ball striking and putting have improved with each round (73-70-67). He hit seven fairways on Thursday, nine Friday and 10 in Round 3. He has hit 12, 13 and 15 greens in regulation. He took 30 putts in Round 1, and reduced that to 29 and 28 the next two days.
No one hole at Hazeltine has been problematic for Yang. Since making four bogeys in a five-hole stretch ending at No. 5 in Round 2, Yang has scored 11 under par over 31 holes. He owns No. 7, a 572-yard par 5, having scored birdie-eagle-birdie.
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“Like anybody else, I got a bit excited after my first win, and that probably took a toll on my focus,” Yang said. “I probably pushed myself a bit too hard, probably was a bit too aggressive. I wanted to taste victory again.”
Yang said he’s been working on slowing his swing tempo and easing his grip pressure. Those changes began to pay dividends at the AT&T National, where Yang tied for 22nd. In three starts after that he tied for eighth at the RBC Canadian Open, was fifth at the Buck Open and tied for 19th at the WGC-Bridgestone.
“I’ve sort of mellowed down a little bit and tried to regain my focus again,” Yang said. “That’s been quite helpful, and hopefully I’ll reap the benefits this week.”
Yang also attributed his success to another factor.
“I believe in luck,” he said. “And it’s certainly been a lucky year so far.”
Officials at Hazeltine hope the PGA Championship will luck out with the weather. The Sunday morning forecast called for thunderstorms.
If the scheduled 7:36 a.m. start of Round 4 is delayed, Harrington might be granted his wish and be paired with Woods after all. The PGA of America issued a Saturday evening advisory that starting times might be adjusted and the field re-paired to threesomes off the first and 10th tees.
Woods had been asked if he was disappointed about not being paired with Harrington, who has emerged as his chief rival and a crowd favorite in Minnesota
“Well, no, because if I was, I’d have a one-shot lead,” Woods said, drawing laughter.
“Y.E. played just a great round of golf today, shooting 67, and he got himself into the final pairing,” he said. “And Paddy put himself right back in the tournament. It will be a fun day tomorrow.”
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Jay looks at how the fans have been this week at Hazeltine, they are totally different than the fans that were at Bethpage for the British Open.
CHASKA, Minn. – Minnesota is the Native American word for “cloudy water.” It fits: Lake Hazeltine, named for Susan Hazeltine, the first teacher in Carver County, is a wide expanse of murky currents, seaweed green and turbid blue. Still, surrounded by tall hardwoods and with the golf course’s 10th and 16th holes hard by the water, it would be tranquil enough to lull one to repose and reverie but for the thousands of ardent golf fans circling each hole, whose unquenchable love for golf makes Hazeltine ring with cheers that will echo throughout golf history.
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All week, the attendance has been prodigious; oceans of fans form a sea of humanity 8-10 deep around entire fairways, even 600-yard par-5s. It’s been this way even during the practice rounds, and it’s not just for Woods, but everybody. Pre-teens squeal with delight at Adam Scott, (but when you only have eyes for Kate Hudson, it’s hard to eve notice your golf clubs, let alone blushing blondes in Daisy Dukes). Well-wishers buoy Phil Mickelson with deafening support on every shot. The young guns – Sergio, Camilo Villegas, and Anthony Kim - had fans seven deep around the driving range during the practice rounds. Stew Cink had the Claret Jug with him and was mugging for the camera with grateful fans, who’ll never forget when they got to shake hands and take pictures with a British Open champion and the oldest trophy in professional sports.
And the roars this week have been cacophonous. I haven’t seen a love in this strong for golf since Pinehurst. Everywhere you look, all Minnesota is Hazel-nuts over Hazeltine.
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Jock Olson former PGA Master Professional at Interlachen and the 2002 PGA National golf professional of the year agrees. “People are what we call “Minnesota nice,” welcoming, caring, and sincere. It’s a Midwestern ethic. You can feel it everywhere you look.”
The energy has been palpable, and not the hard edged, loud-mouthed, “I want to be on TV and part of the story” energy of Bethpage. Those people thought they were attending a football game – vomiting, screaming at players, offering suggestions, heckling, and making themselves a part of the event in a self-aggrandizing way. The Minnesotans are much better golf fans. They understand the altruistic ethos of golf and are grateful to see a major championship. They don’t act like hosting a sporting event is their birthright.
“It’s remarkable their love of golf. They not only want, but need to get out and take advantage of the weather,” said Olsson. Our per capita ratio of players to population is one of the highest in the country, and we were the first state to host all thirteen USGA national championships.”
In return, the players are giving them a show, even if they aren’t playing well. Boo Weekley, who is 3-over on the week, still had a smile on his face and played to the crowd. He gave everyone that patented two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce cheese smile and shouted, “this course ate me like a turkey. Gobble Gobble!” The fans roared with delight.
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“They have to come and get him,” said one venerable old seadog of a sports writer. “If they don’t show a little fire, Woods will use another trophy for a doorstop.”
But now the wind has kicked up an octave, its ghostly moans have turned to banshee howls, and that’s good news for the field. Woods is having a bit of trouble in the wind, but he sure throws one just fine. Everyone is making a charge except Woods. There are 68s and 69s in progress, but Woods isn’t one of them for a change. Even Y.E. Yang is working on a 67. (If he wins this tournament, every journalist in the house will pull their hair out.)
So now the excitement, diminished from “New Years Eve celebration” to simply “dull roar” has heightened again. Woods leads, but only by one as we go to the final day. Miraculously, his apple turnover (hard left hook), into the peninsula green at the par-4 16th stayed up in the rough instead of sinking into Lake Hazeltine, but the lie is dicey. A great chip saves par, but now thunder peals and not from the crowd. It will be a dark and stormy night, both in Chaska and at Camp Woods. He leads, but things are much less certain than at daybreak. Still, as everyone files out, spirits are still as bright and sunny as the sky was this morning. It will be a glorious day tomorrow, no matter how gray the skies turn.
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Woods was rightly conservative on the tough holes Saturday but stumbled on the birdie holes; Yang and Harrington with difficult tasks on Sunday
Y.E. Yang defeated Tiger Woods when he won the 2006 HSBC Champions, a European Tour-sanctioned event held in China. But that was then and this is now, and this is a big one. Does anyone expect Yang to hang in there, paired with Woods in the final round? Probably only his family, and I'm not even sure about them.
Padraig Harrington bogeyed the final hole to fall out of the final pair. They were talking on television about Harrington being a player who would want to play with Woods. I'm not so sure about that; he looked awfully comfortable away from Woods' company on Saturday as he shot a 69. Probably the only reason he would like to have been paired with Woods is that he would have been one shot behind instead of two. Spotting Woods two strokes isn't easy.
Woods was in conservative mode on Saturday, playing toward the center of most of the greens. But I wouldn't say his lead was cut because he was playing too safe. The problem was not taking advantage of the birdie holes. It wasn't a case of conservatism on those holes, but missing the fairway on three of the par fives and a poor sand wedge to the par-four ninth. He almost threw away a birdie on the short par-four 14th with a poor chip after a drive to the back fringe, but then holed a bellied wedge from 15 feet from the right fringe.
I wrote after Vijay Singh missed two short putts on the front nine that he wanted to avoid leaving himself in the throw-up zone on the back. But he kept ending up with three- and four-footers, missing a couple more and letting the problems seep into his long game as he shot a 40 on the back nine to fall from contention.
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Stewart Cink had a special party on Friday for those that help him win the British Open.
CHASKA, Minn. One of the greatest honors of winning the British Open is being able to bring the claret jug with you and having celebrations with friends, relatives and just about anyone in the area. Now we never knew that Stewart Cink was such a "party animal" but it seems that a lot of different liquid refreshments have found it's way into the jug the last month and into the month's of many a folk's.
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On this Friday evening, the Jug was in Minnesota and again hosted some more folks taking a sip. This time it was special evening that Cink had after the second round of the PGA Championship to thank the folks closet to his victory, his family, his caddy Frank Williams, his manager Lynn Roach, his swing coach Butch Harmon, his fitness coach Chris Noss and some really close friends together for a special evening.
They went to Wildfire in Eden Prairie, got a private room in the back for a nice dinner and stories of the victory. As Butch Harmon said, "It was a very special evening for all of us that has been close and helped Stewart."
Of course the night couldn't of been complete with everyone getting a drink out of the jug. I just have to wonder in all of the years that the jug as been around and in all of the hands the jug has been in around the world that every imaginable drink has been sipped from the jug. As McDonald's has the slogan "99 billion served" I just have to wonder how many drinks have been served from the most famous jug in golf.
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