Stat profiles for 1500 golfers
A lot of interesting scenarios for Sunday's final round at the Johnnie Walker which will produce the champion of that event but have a lot to do in the make-up of the European Ryder Cup team. A look at all of these scenarios plus a look at how brotherly love could play a part in all of this
For golf connoisseurs Sunday is going to be a very interesting day in Scotland. First you have the race for the Johnnie Walker Championship as Francesco Molinari will be leading at 10 under par going into the final round. But what will be interesting is the fact that he will be playing with his brother Edoardo, who is at 9 under one back.
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Here is the scenario for tomorrow. Of the European Tour Ryder Cup point list, Francesco Molinari is on the Ryder Cup team no matter what happens but his brother Edoardo can't make the team, even with a victory off the point system. Going into tomorrow Simon Dyson is the only person with a chance and he has to win. Going into the final round he is just two shots off the lead held by Francesco and he has to win, then get some help from Miguel Angel Jimenez finishing worst than ninth (presently he is T8th, three shots back) and Dyson also needs Peter Hanson to finish worst than 43rd (presently he is T32nd 7 shots back). So for Dyson a lot of obstacles.
But lets get back to Edoardo and his chances. The big rumor going around the PGA Championship two weeks ago was that Captain Colin Montgomerie was very keen on having Edoardo on the team and would place him on that team with one of his three wild card picks. But that was before Paul Casey got replaced as the number nine player on the point list as he was last week.
Still let's look at some scenarios for Sunday. If Edoardo does win, it will place tremendous pressure on poor Monty for a pick. Not only because he won but because over this summer he won the Barclays Scottish Open, finished 3rd at the Nordea Scandinavian Masters and has made the cut in all four majors this year, finishing T33rd two weeks ago at the PGA Championship.
Of course Monty is going to have to pick Paul Casey, but what will he do with Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Padraig Harrington? All four have been jokenly referred to as the "FedEx Cup Foursome" because they wanted to play in the FedEx Cup playoffs instead of going off to Scotland and try to make the team. Frankly I can't blame any of them for playing the Barclays, the FedEx Cup is a boatload of money and the European Tour has know these dates for a while and seen the potential problem. They should of tried to reschedule this years ago to make sure it's no problem. Also Captain Monty did a wrong thing years ago in making the statement saying that he thought that a player to make the team would have to play in both this week's event in Gleneagles and the Wales Open. This statement has come back to haunt him even today as he now is forced to make a choice, not based on playing record but loyality.
There is also another possible scenario to look for on Sunday. Could we witness a first, a player actually blow a tournament to let another win? Lets say that tomorrow becomes a mano-a-mano match between the two brothers, Francesco and Edoardo. They come to the final hole tied, could brotherly love play into the scenario? Would Francesco put the sword into himself so that his brother would win and possibly get a Ryder Cup spot? It's a very interesting scenario.
Coming into this week I have thought that Edoardo was probably the better choice over Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald who haven't shown much over the summer. Justin Rose has shot 65 today (third round) at the Barclays and is at 7 under and will have a chance to play for the championship on Sunday. But Monty won't be able to see those results. Harrington is in the top-ten at Barclays so Saturday's round could be his last chance for a Ryder Cup spot.
I personally feel that if Edoardo finishes first or second, he will get the pick along with Casey and Justin Rose, that Harrington and Donald will be out. As of Dyson, that really has nothing to do with Monty, if he was to win that would mean that probably Peter Hanson or Miguel Angel Jimenez would be out, something that Monty really doesn't care about.
Now hopefully the Europeans will do a better job to make sure that the captain of the 2012 team won't see these problems. I also feel that we will see a change in which the Europeans have four wild card picks like the Americans and that this last event won't be the same week as the FedEx Cup matches. As for Colin Montgomerie I personally think he is going to as weak, poor and controversial of a captain as Nick Faldo was two years ago and will make a decision for his own ego ways instead of make one for the team. That was the problem with Faldo, he became more of a story instead of his players, Monty will do the same thing this year.
So as you can see, Sunday is going to be a very, very interesting day for European Tour Ryder Cup chances and get things off to an exciting start.
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A look at the Czech Open, which became very important, the Wyndham Championship won by Arjun Atwal, the last time the Tradition plays in Oregon as Fred Funk wins the event that will move to Alabama next year and how the LPGA takes two steps forward and three steps back.
It's amazing on how much news, gossip and general fun golf news came out of this week.
Czech Open
First you had the Czech Open, a tournament that normally would barely get the winners name in newspapers around the world. This year wasn't any different as only five of the top-75 ranked players in the world played in this event. The only reason that these five players, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Peter Hanson, Oliver Wilson, Simon Dyson and Fredrik Andersson Hed made the trek to Prague was because it was a last ditch effort for one of them to possibly make the Ryder Cup team.
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Going into the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles there is no upside to this last event because only Molinari will be playing in the event to get Ryder Cup points. As for Casey, Donald, Harrington and Rose they have no shot at getting on the team since they are playing at the Barclays and need a Monty pick. Making things even worst, the pick will have to come while the Barclays is finishing up on Sunday, thus giving Monty a real chance to ponder how those players are doing in America.
It's weird how this year's Ryder Cup race is showing some Déjà vu of what happened in 2008. If you can spare me a minute or two, Europe was the clear cut winner during the summer of '08. Tiger was gone, Padraig Harrington was winning two majors and on paper the European Tour was much better than the American team. Funny thing, you can't win the Ryder Cup over the summer and that is just what happened as the American team had a surprising victory at Valhalla.
The same seems to be happening this year. On paper the European team has already won the Ryder Cup All summer long that is all I have heard, how much the European squad was beating the hell out of the American's with Lee Westwood winning in Memphis, Graeme McDowell winning the U.S. Open, Justin Rose winning the Memorial and AT&T and Martin Kaymer winning the PGA Championship. But all of a sudden with Westwood hurt and the reality of the matches getting closure things may be shaping up. as six of the eight players on the American team have won this year, with Phil Mickelson winning a major. This week will give us a better view on if Tiger Woods wants to play on the team, plus Captain Pavin will be watching to see how Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover, Anthony Kim, Zach Johnson, Sean O'Hair and possibly Rickie Fowler are playing the next two weeks.
Again the Ryder Cup can't be won over the summer and once the teams meet on October 1st, the score will be 0-0 with what happened over the summer being a distant memory.
Wyndham Championship
In the final event before the FedEx Cup playoffs, Arjun Atwal surprised the golfing world with a one shot win over David Toms. Just last month at the RBC Canadian Open Atwal made the cut but was eliminated after three rounds finishing the week T74th. His check of $9,639 raised his season earnings to $350,490 but it wasn't enough to cover the $586,007 that he needed under his medical exemption to retain his PGA Tour card for the rest of the season. So once he failed to achieve that goal he basically lost his tour card, which also meant that he wasn't eligible to receive FedEx Cup points.
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Just getting into the Wyndham was a crap-shoot when you consider that he went through Monday qualifying at Forest Oaks Country Club, shooting a bogey-free round of 67 to get one of the four spots. The last time that a player got into an event in a Monday qualifier and went on to win was Fred Wadsworth in the 1986 Souther Open, 24 years ago.
Going into this week there were no signs that Atwal was on the verge of winning, he played last week in the Price Cutter Championship on the Nationwide Tour but missed the cut. On the year he only had one top-ten, a T7th at the Byron Nelson. But with an opening round of 61 on Thursday, Atwal was on the hump all week, leading from his birdie on his second hole on Thursday to the very end when he made a six-foot par putt on the 72nd hole. Stat wise putting was his key to winning as he made 61 of 62 putts from seven feet and under. He took just 109 putts, the best in the field and was T3rd in putting average. His driving was also sharp as he was T3rd in driving accuracy and first in total driving for the week.
With the win he still won't be able to play in the playoffs the next four weeks, but he still will have a PGA Tour card for the next two years, get to play in the season opening SBS Championship in Hawaii and the Masters. As for those getting into the FedEx Cup playoffs, Scott Piercy got the last spot when he shot a final round 68 to finish T8th and climbing from 140th on the list last week to 125th. While he gained a spot, Chris Stroud who started the week 124th missed the cut and finished up 127th. Before Piercy could celebrate, he had to wait for Scott McCarron to miss a birdie chip on his 72nd hole that would of given him the spot.
Other notes:
David Toms, who has had shoulder problems all year finished 2nd, just a shot back. It was his first top-ten since finishing T2nd at last year's Travelers Championship, 14 months ago.
Lucas Glover again found Sunday to bring on more hardship. Last week after missing the cut at the PGA Championship, he dropped out of the top-eight in Ryder Cup standings. This week he could of given his chances of a wild card a sure thing as he shot 29 on the front nine on Sunday to take the lead, but after his birdie on nine he made bogeys at 10, 14 and 17 to shot 67 and dropped down to 7th place finish. His back nine play didn't show Captain Pavin the ammunition that he needed to make him a wild card pick
One person that could be an outside pick is Justin Leonard, who shot 68-63-66-65 for a 18 under total and a T3rd, his finish top-ten of the year. With Leonard on other 5 Presidents Cup teams including last year and three Ryder Cup teams including 2008 he will be watched in the next two events as a possible wild card pick.
Jeld-Wen Tradition
With the Tradition moving away from the Sunriver Resort, Fred Funk has to be very sad. In four times playing he has two wins, a T5th and a 11th place finish. On Sunday he shot a final round 69 for a one shot victory over Michael Allen and Chien-Soon Lu. With the win and his U.S. Senior Open victory last year he now has won a major the last three years running. The victory was the sixth of his Champions Tour career and he has now won at least one event for five straight years.
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Other notes:
Bernhard Langer was trying to be only the second player in Champions Tour history to win three consecutive majors (Jack Nicklaus did it in 1991) but his chances got off to a terrible start as he was one over on the front on Sunday and played the back in even par for 73 his highest round since a final round 75 at the Senior PGA Championship. Another player looking for multiple majors this year was Senior PGA Champion Tom Lehman. He had a two shot lead going into the final round, got off to a good start with birdies at 2 and 6 but then ran into some trouble with a double bogey on 7 as he played holes 7 through 13 in four over. He also shot a final round 73 to finish two back andT4th.
Not only will Fred Funk miss the Jeld-Wen Tradition, but all of the folks in central Oregon. With the window maker JELD-WEN ending it's relationship, the tournament is on the move from Oregon to Alabama. The announcement will come on Monday afternoon, but a deal has been worked out with the folks that run the Regions Charity Classic as both events will combine into one and be played next year at Shoal Creek Golf Club.
For Oregon, which has played host to the Tradition since 2003, the first four years in Aloha, Oregon and then the last four in Sunriver it's a big disappointment. The event has been run by Peter Jacobsen's management company and he is already trying to work out some deal to bring another Champions Tour event back to the Portland area in 2011.
Safeway Classic
It seems that for every two steps forward that the LPGA makes, they step back three steps. The biggest problem is the total lack of interest due to it's limited schedule. While all of the other tours are going full blast, this week's Safeway in Portland was the first event in the United States in six weeks. This schedule of playing two weeks on and then two weeks off is making it hard to get any kind of momentum.
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Now Dina has been toiling on the LPGA for 17 years, in 345 starts she has only been in the top-ten 13 times with her best finish coming a decade ago when she was runner-up in the 2000 State Farm Classic. She is about as popular as a pit-bull and for a tour that is fighting a bad economy the least that they could afford is a negative story which is just what they got. It's a shame because in this case it's the player that determines what is best for her, but on the same front the PR machine has to be better greased to make sure that writers like myself write more about the victories of Ai Miyazto instead of the lousy way that a player handles a situation. For the record, Dina got a bigger caddy but it didn't help as she missed the cut and is 5 for 5 in missing cuts in 2010.
As I said the LPGA always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, on Saturday that came up again when Juli Inkster, one of the bright spots on tour had a big rules problem. She was just a shot back of the lead while making the turn, but while she was waiting on the 10th tee Golf Channel camera's caught her swinging a club with a weighted donut on her club.
Now what was looking like a great story as the 50-year-old Inkster is looking to be the oldest winner on the LPGA Tour turned ugly as a Golf Channel viewer notified LPGA officials and sure enough Inkster was in violation of Rule 14-3, using a practice device during a round. Because of that she was disqualified.
So as you can see, no matter what the LPGA does there always is a bit of controversy. For the week Ai Miyazato was the winner by two shots over Cristie Kerr and Na Yeon Choi and with it she has won more events in 2010 (5) than America's have won in the last 15 months. Also with the win, Miyazato snatches back the number one ranking from Cristie Kerr as the ranking seems to change from week to week.
Oh for those wondering, the tour is off to Canada for the CN Canadian Women's Open. After that there is only one event in the next five weeks, another reason to forget about the women in a year of inconsistency.
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So will people remember more Martin Kaymer's victory or how Dustin Johnson lost a chance at the win because of a rule violation?
Haven, Wis. - - So 42 years from now, who will be more remembered for this year's PGA Championship, the victor Martin Kaymer or Dustin Johnson who endured the ultimate penalty for not reading the rules which could cost him millions of dollars? I bring up the point of 42 years because what people remember of the 1968 Masters is the rules violation of Roberto De Vicenzo which cost him a chance to get into a playoff with Bob Goalby.
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In a way poor Johnson was at the wrong place at the wrong time, like many other victims of accidents. But at the end of the day, just like with De Vicenzo or Jackie Pung who signed a wrong scorecard in 1957 and lost the Women's Open after winning it, the responsibility goes to the player to make sure that the rules are followed. For Johnson he will pay the ultimate price for his blunder. Because of his penalty Johnson wasn't able to be a part of the playoff. If he did, the least he would of won was $660,000 in a defeat so the penalty cost him a minimum of $389,167. But if he could of won the playoff a victory was worth $1.35 million dollars, the difference of $1,079,167 making it the most costly penalty of all time.
Now that's just the price in prize funds, this bludder by Johnson had another price tag on the other things that a victory would of been worth to Johnson. I asked David Winkler, Johnson's manager to give me a conservative figure on what a victory by Johnson in endorsement and advertising deals could of been and he emailed back:
"Conservatively, I'd say a win would have been worth another 5-10 million In the near term, and possibly much more over the course of his career. Nonetheless, I'm confident he'll win multiple major championships, so this just delays the inevitable."
We can only hope that Winkler is right.
Martin Kaymer victory
From the Don Henley song, "Garden of Allah""Nice car, I love those Bavarians. So meticulous."
I would say that this sentence describes Martin Kaymer perfectly. Now for decades everytime someone wins on the PGA Tour, someone has to say this is the first of many more. This line is very overused and abused, but of all the first-time winners of majors, and there have been a lot of late, I honestly feel that Kaymer will win another one plus a lot more European Tour victories and wins on the PGA Tour.
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Kaymer is playing his fourth year on tour and has proven on the European Tour that he is ready to escalate up the ladder of success. An example of this has to be last year, he went on a tear winning the French Open and the Barclays Scottish Open, then finished T34th at the British Open and T6th at the PGA Championship before a go-cart accident broke four bones in his foot. At the time of the accident he was among the leaders in the race to Dubai and was 11th in the World Rankings. After a two month rest for the injury to heal, he came back to finish 3rd in the final money list.
This year Kaymer again was victorious early at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and after missing the cut at the Masters, was in contention at the U.S. Open finishing T8th and could of been in contention at the British Open but played poorly in the final round shooting 74 to finish T7th. So you can see that Kaymer has the credentials and now that he is a member of the PGA Tour and will play more in the States, look for him to be gracing the top of the leaderboard in many more events.
As I said, nothing flashy about Kaymer as he got himself in contention with rounds of 72-68-67 and then handled the wind and pressure of the final round great, playing his first 10 holes in 3 under while everyone else was over par and cruised to a 70. But what is really impressive about Kaymer is his knack of handling pressure. Playing 18 he made a great 10 footer just to get into the playoff, then in his battle with long hitter Bubba Watson Kaymer made a clutch birdie at 17 to tie things up and then handled 18 perfectly after Watson hit into the water, Kaymer laid up and made sure to make a routine bogey which was enough for the victory.
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Watson never to less got his wise of making it onto the Ryder Cup team, gosh he really didn't have to worry because he probably would of gotten one of Pavin's wild card picks because everyone wants to partner with Watson who is one of the longest drivers on tour.
In some other news from this week Kaymer becomes the sixth first-time major championship winner in the last seven majors. Going back even deeper, he is the tenth first time major winner in the last 16 majors. For the second year in a row, three of the four majors were won by first-timers and three of the last four years. Kaymer is just the second German to win a major championship, joining Bernhard Langer for that honor.
Martin Kaymer may of missed the cut at the Masters but he was the only player in 2010 that had three top-ten finishes in the majors:
Cut at Masters
T8th at U.S. Open
T7th at British Open
Win at PGA Championship.
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Tiger in the Majors:
T4th at the Masters
T4th at the U.S. Open
T23rd at the British Open
T28th at the PGA Championship
For the second straight major Rory McIlroy came close to becoming the youngest major winner in the modern era when he missed four putts under six feet but missed the playoff by a single shot. If McIlroy could of won on Sunday, he would of been the young major winner by three days (the one day that is reported is wrong) over Tiger Woods who was 21 years, 3 months and 14 days old when he won the 1997 Masters.
As for Tiger, with his T28th finish it got him enough FedEx Cup points to assure him a spot in the first FedEx Cup playoff at the Barclays. As for this week Woods hit just 21 of 56 fairways which placed him dead last in driving accuracy and instead of getting better just got worst as he hit 3 on the front nine on Sunday but was 0 for 7 on the back nine. Woods for only the second time in his career (2003/'04) has gone two years without a win in a major. The streak is up to 10 now, in 2003/'04 it was 11 straight.
John Daly did it again. For the second year in a row Daly withdrew from the PGA Championship and with it has now either withdrawn or been disqualified 40 times. But fear not he isn't even close to the all-time leader. That honor for the most since 1970 is Ken Green, who has withdrawn or been DQ 68 times almost down Daly. Now Daly isn't even runner-up, that honor goes to Bob Wynn with 46 followed by Doug Ford with 40. Now this is only since 1970, since Ford starting playing in the early 50s and would say that this number is much higher and could surpass Green's. Oh one player that is tied with Daly is Russ Cochran, so with him now on the Champions Tour it's only a matter of time before Daly takes up the fourth spot on this list.
Lastly, at the end Whistling Straits will get some grieve over the Johnson bunker problems. Some say that it's very contrived having so many bunkers. Oh we still really don't know what the true number is, Ron Whitten said in his Golf Digest piece that there are 967. But the course super says the number is closure to 1,200. No matter what there are a lot and for television they look great and yes give a very pleasing visual of the course
This visual appeal is something that people are starting to talk about. At the beginning of the year may talked about Pebble being the greatest ocean type of course. Yes Lake Michigan isn't an ocean but it's still a scary proposition and at Whistling Straits with 8 holes playing along the lake makes for some interesting theater. After this week Whistling Straits has elevated its stature a lot among people and some say it's better than Pebble. So despite the Johnson bunker problems this year's major at Whistling Straits was very well received and Whistling Straits will be well received as a top-ten in the country place to play.
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Phil Mickelson, looking to catch Tiger Woods for the number one spot got off to a great start with a flawless round of 67 and his two back
Rain at the Memorial, it's as common as fireworks on the fourth of July. Since the event first was played in 1977, 35 of the 135 rounds have had some sort of delay so it was no big surprise on Thursday morning that the 36th round to be delayed in it's history as it had two delays, one for 2 hours and another for 30 minutes.
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Rose led for most of the day, as weather created another 30 minute delay around 3:30 as Geoff Ogilvy made a quest to better Rose 65. He did it with 8 birdies on his first 16 holes, but on his 8th hole made a sloppy bogey missing a three footer for par. In his round he hit 9 of 14 fairways, 15 of 18 greens and just like Rose took 26 putts.
Next up was Rickie Fowler, who is playing his first Memorial and made it memorable as he played holes 4 through 8 in six under, then capped his day with birdies at 14 and 18. He hit 12 of 14 fairways, 13 of 18 greens and took just 24 putts, the second best putting round of the day. Of the 685 players that who played Memorial for the first time, Fowler's 65 was the second best debut. Curt Byrum shot 64 in his opening round in 1987 and went on to finish 2nd. In 2008 Mathew Goggin debut with a 65 and he went on to finish T2nd, so Fowler has some good history behind him.
Two shots back are Phil Mickelson, Andres Romero, Rory Sabbatini, Michael Letzig and Jason Day. For Mickelson, who is looking for a victory so that he can wrestle away the number one spot from Tiger Woods, his round was one of three (Jim Furyk & Ricky Barnes had the other ones) bogey-free rounds. Three of his five birdies came on par 5s as he hit 10 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens and taking 28 putts. For Mickelson his 67 was his best opening round in 10 previous Memorial starts and his second best round in 35 Memorial round. He shot 66 in the second round in 2002 on his way to finishing T9th.
As for Tiger Woods, it was a very indifferent day for him. He started slowly, making bogeys on 1 and 6, made his first birdie at 9 and his last birdie at 10 before making par on his last eight holes. His game wasn't very sharp as he hit 7 of 14 fairways, 10 of 18 greens and 27 putts. Again Woods looked very human in his round, something that we are seeing more of these days.
Even with the two delays, all 120 players were able to complete there rounds as 22 shot in the 60s and 48 were under par. Those that will be knocking on the doors of the leaders are Jim Furyk who has won this and was runner-up last year, he shot a bogey-free 68. Steve Stricker, who has been injured since the Masters, shot 69 including birdies on 14, 16 and 18. Also in with 69 is 2007 Memorial champion K.J. Choi.
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Too bad nobody in the States was able to watch and see the poignant moments of Ai Miyazato winning with Lorena Ochoa finishing sixth but it wasn't enough to hold on to number one as Jiyai Shin captured the number one spot.
Sorry if I may sound a bit cynical, but Sunday could of been the most poignant moment on the LPGA Tour this year but for most of the world it's a moment that never was captured. On a day that Lorena Ochoa was playing her last LPGA Tour round as a competitor (she will play in November in a LPGA event but it will be more ceremonial in nature). The event was televised on Mexican television but only two American writers, one for Associated Press and the other with GolfWeek was in attendance.
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Still it was Ochoa's moment as tears started flowing once she finished and in the awards ceremony when Miyazato broke down as she thanks Ochoa
The big loser in all of this is the LPGA Tour who now loses another powerful marketing tool. Despite the skills of players like Miyazato and Shin they don't have the same charisma and the power to get a wide mass of fans needed to help the LPGA. Right now the only real figure that can bring the masses to watch the LPGA Tour is Michelle Wie and right now she isn't a force, but she does seem to get better each week she plays and could be very close.
Still for the time being, the biggest problem for the LPGA Tour is the limited ways they have to gain the attention to get the masses to care. Right now with a schedule of inconsistency, in which it's May already and only five events have been played, why on the PGA Tour the Quail Hollow Championship was the 19th event played this year.
Also the LPGA has to be more flexible in making opportunities pay off for them. An example was this week, yes the folks that run the Tres Marias Championship didn't have the money for Golf Channel to do it, but the LPGA should of taken the Mexican feed, how ever bad it was, and stream it on LPGA.Com with some limited announcing in English. It's the least they could of done to honor the career of Lorena Ochoa. Yes Michael Whan inherited an organization in terrible shape and we all know that he will right the ship, but honestly he could of gotten a lot of good points if he could of found some way to give us some more coverage and attention.
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First round recap of the Tres Marias Championship led by AI Miyazato
With all of the golf coverage it's very sad that the one event not on TV is the one we all want to see. Last week Lorena Ochoa created a lot of buzz by announcing her retirement from the LPGA Tour, after this week she is only going to play one more time and that is in November. So for many it would of been a great week of LPGA golf, but the only problem is that this event isn't on TV in the states. Frankly it's the problem with the LGPA, money just isn't around like it use to be in the pre-Carolyn Bivens era and this is one of those events that barely was able to survive. In order to survive it meant no money for any kind of TV for the states.
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Making it look even tougher is the results of the first round. Ai Miyazato, who won two of the first four events on the LPGA Tour in 2010, came out strong with a flawless round of 63 with 10 birdies. It ties her career mark for low round, she shot 63 in the final round of her victory in Thailand this year and in 2004.
She leads by two over Azahara Munoz, who is only playing in her fifth LPGA event. She shot 65 with a birdie-par-birdie-eagle-par finish. Her only start this year was a T31st at the KIA Classic.
The big news was Lorena Ochoa's round of 66. Ochoa, who in the last four starts in this event has three wins and a runner-up, started her day with an eagle on her first day. After making the turn in 33, she make three birdies on the back for another 33 and is in great position again. But it's going to be a long and drawn out next three days as she will have even more pressure on her with this being her last event for a while.
Tied with Ochoa is Michelle Wie, who's 66 is her best round of the year and her lowest round since shooting 66 in her win at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational last year. Wie's round mirrored Ochoa's as she eagle her opening hole and shot nines of 33-33. For Wie a victory this week could help ease some of the pain of Ochoa's retirement as the LPGA searches for the next number one player.
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K.J. Choi shots a 64 and leads by two shots.
Jerry Kelly shot 67 and is just three shots back of tournament leader K.J. Choi, but the reason we are featuring him is because Kelly pulled a rare feat on Thursday. That's because he aced the 4th hole with 4-iron, but what makes the feat rare is that in the third round in 2007, Kelly aced the same hole. That makes him only the third player since 1983 (Craig Stadler in Northern Trust, 6th hole & Joe Ozaki at Bob Hope, 7th hole Bermuda Dunes) to hole the same hole twice on the PGA Tour.
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Choi had 8 birdies and just one bogey in a round in which he hit 7 of 14 fairways, hit 11 of 18 greens but only took 23 putts. His putting was so stellar that he make just over 161 feet of putts, the most of anyone in the field. He has a two shot lead over Mike Weir and Greg Owen and three over Chad Collins, Davis Love III, Woody Austin, Bo Van Pelt, Jerry Kelly, Sergio Garcia, Shaun Micheel, Glen Day, Tim Clark, Jason Dufner, Jim Furyk and Bill Haas.
Five-time Verizon Heritage champion Davis Love III is playing in his 25th consecutive Verizon and is just three back. He has recorded 11 top 10s, 13 top-25 finishes and just four missed cuts in his Verizon Heritage career. Twenty-five percent of his 20 PGA Tour victories have come at the Verizon Heritage, with victories in 1987, 1991, 1992, 1998 and 2003.
Defending champion Brian Gay is hoping to keep a 16-year streak intact. No defending champion has missed the cut at the Verizon Heritage since Davis Love III in 1993. Gay needs to have a strong second round after shooting 1-over-par to finish the opening round at T77th.
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Sal Johnson
Not only is Jim Furyk looking to break his 32 month winless drought, you also have a defending champion contenting, K.J. Choi, Carl Pettersson and Bubba Watson in second and looking for Masters spots and the story of Geoff Ogilvy getting to the third round via Phoenix
K.J. Choi has a lot to play for on Sunday. With his third round 67, he moved up the leaderboard into a T2nd along with defending champion Retief Goosen, past champion Carl Pettersson and Bubba Watson. They are all three shots back of tournament leader Jim Furyk.
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Now Choi isn't the only one in that spot, Watson and Pettersson have the same problem, only difference is they realistically need a win. Watson is 99th in the rankings so a solo 2nd would only climb him to around 58th position while Pettersson is 236th in the rankings and a solo 2nd only climbs him to around 120th.
As for tournament leader Jim Furyk he will be looking to get the monkey off his back of the longest winless drought of his career, he has gone 32 months since his 2007 Canadian Open. Furyk is definitely dominating this week as over the course of 54 holes he has only made one bogey (9th hole Friday), is tied for second in greens hit (40 of 54), T9th in fairways hit (28 of 39) and T16th in putts per round (27.7). Only problem with Furyk is that he tends to be very inconsistent. Proof of that was at last year's Transitions, he opened up the first round with a 65 to lead by one but then in the second round he didn't make a single birdie, had five bogeys and a double for a 78. So honestly we don't know what to expect from Furyk on Sunday
Now the story of the year could be that of Geoff Ogilvy. On Friday he played early and shot a 71 to go along with his first round 73. Now he started Friday T111th and it looked doubtful for him making the cut so he made a first class reservation on Continental to fly home to Phoenix via Houston.
When he checked in for his flight, he noticed on the web that he was 77th, still a ways from the top-70 to make the cut. He slowly climbed the leaderboard and about the time of boarding was 72nd and figured with more people on the course he better get off the flight and go back to Innisbrook. Only problem, he was physically able to get off the flight which was overbooked, but because of close connections of over 50 people Continental wasn't able to get his clubs off the plane. So Ogilvy decided if his clubs were going to make the trip, he was going to go. Unfortunately his first class seat was gone but Continental did take pity on him and get him a seat in coach.
By the time he got to Houston, he realized that he did make the cut. He called and hired a private jet to fly him back from Phoenix to Tampa, then had his wife bring some supplies that he needed for the weekend. He landed in Phoenix at around 11pm, got his supplies from wife and boarded his private plane for a all night venture back to Tampa. By the time he arrived back in Tampa, he was back in his room just before six, got a couple of hours of sleep and then shot a third round 65 to climb him up the leaderboard into a T9th, eight shots back. Now he is going to have to pick up a good check since his jaunt to Phoenix and back cost him in the neighborhood of $25,000.
One last story and this one doesn't have a happy ending. Garrett Willis shot an opening round of 65 and was the first round leader. But because of rounds of 77-74 he missed the third round cut and won't be playing on Sunday. He will pick up a small check and go down in the annuals of PGA Tour history as one of 31 players to lead after the first round but not play on Sunday.
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Ernie Els was a big winner, beating out fellow countryman Charl Schwartzel for a four shot win. With this victory, the question will be if he can build on this and win on a regular basis or will it be like his 2008 Honda victory in which it took another year to win in America again?
It's really nice to see Ernie Els back in the winners circle. Els just turned 40 at the end of last year and it's hard to believe that he played his first PGA Tour event 20 years ago. No too ways about it, Els will one day be a Hall-of-Famer, but in watching Els play with fellow South African Charl Schwartzel, I had a flashback to Els first coming onto the golf scene at the 1993 at Baltusrol when a 23 year-old Ernie Els finished T7th at the U.S. Open and then a month later finished T6th at the British Open.
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Now it didn't take long for Els to become a household name as the next week at Oakmont Els won the U.S. Open. You just have to wonder if in four weeks on the second Sunday of April if Schwartzel could become a household name also.
I have always been a big fan of Els, six months after his win at Oakmont I got to spend some time with him at the Johnnie Walker Tournament in Jamaica. I was with ABC back then and the crew would share houses at Tryall the club that held the event. In 1994 I was in a house that was very big and had a great pool. Every night we would throw a party by the pool, with lots of cold Red Stripe beer. Every night we got a great local band that played and sounded just like Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, a great Jamaican band that played great Soca music, a form of calypso/dance music. Back then players weren't as stuck up about doing six hours a day of fitness routines and having to be in bed by nine every night. So several came to our little gathering and one of the regulars was Ernie and his at the time finance Liezl. Els was wonderful and we realized why he got the name "big easy" because he just like the party atmosphere, the good talk, music and of course the Red Stripe. Els was always one of the last to leave in the wee hours of the morning and I realized how much different he was, not only caring about everything and taking things more seriously that you would think, but at the same time very easy going and easy to like.
I realized that week that he had the potential to be not only one of the best player in the world, but also a fan favorite. He had the tools and the momentum, winning at the Byron Nelson the next year and then at Westchester in 1996. When Els won the U.S. Open at 27 years old the sky was the limit, we all imagined a career in which he would win six to ten majors and between 30 to 50 PGA Tour events. Of course as we now know that never happened, Tiger Woods was a good part of the problem. In events that Els played great in, Woods played even greater and always seemed to get the best of Woods. Remember the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic or the 2000 Mercedes Championship, both events that Els met Woods in a playoff and lost. Between 1997 and 2000 Els finished runner-up five times with Woods winning, thus putting a serious bump in Els career. Now Els got a bit of revenge in 2002, he was able to hold on at Doral to beat Tiger by two strokes and Els was the person that won the British Open after Tiger started the year with wins at the Masters and U.S. Open.
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While boating Els ruptured a ligament in his knee and since he needed a robust anterior cruciate ligament for his swing, doctors needed to fix it surgically. Els spent a lot of time rehabbing it and didn't come back until December at the Dunhill Championship in which he won, but the knee wasn't right At the beginning of 2005 it was swollen most of the time and was painful, leading to swing changes to accommodate the pain. Els was in great demand and was playing everywhere around the world, but the game just wasn't the same. At the end of 2006 he won the South African Airways Open. At the time Els was fifth in the Official World Golf Ranking when he revealed his three-year plan to challenge Tiger Woods and regain the number one spot. That plan never worked, he won twice in the three years and at the end of the three years ranked 17th on the world rankings.
This brought on a lot of snickers as Els game wasn't what it use to be and Woods was at the top of his game. Els worked hard with Butch Harmon and made lots of strides in the right direction he had one big problem, putting. He was never a really great putter, but good enough to hold his own. In 2002 he ranked 26th on tour in putting between 4 and 8 feet. In 2005 he was 59th in that same stat, but in his comeback years he was 112th in 2006, 151st in 2007, 180th in 2008 and 162nd last year. If you don't make putts in this range, it doesn't really matter how well you hit the ball your just not going to win on the PGA Tour.
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In 2008 Els also got the news that his son Ben had autism and he decided to move from London to Florida which would help the family with his son's problems and he devoted more time to staying in the United States. In 2009 his swing got better and his ball striking returned and he had some good moments, a T8th at Memorial, a T8th at the British Open then a T6th at the PGA Championship. He was doing this all after breaking up with Butch Harmon and he felt that he was just a couple of good breaks away from winning. It almost happened at the Barclays, his final round 66 got him a share of second and he again was 2nd at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China.
In 2010 he started T12th at the Sony, then finished T5th at Torrey and T10th at Riviera but lost the momentum losing in the second round of the Accenture Match Play and T67th at the Honda. So how did Els all of a sudden turn things around to shot 68-66-70-66 for a 4 shot win?
Keys to Victory for Els
Ernie Els stats for the day & week Photo credit: Doug Benc/Getty Images | ||
| Category | Sunday | Week (rank) |
|---|---|---|
| Fairways hit: | 8 of 14 | 34 of 56 (T19th) |
| Driving average: | 307.0 | 297.5 (T16th) |
| Greens hit: | 13 of 18 | 50 of 72 (T2nd) |
| Putts: | 23 | 107 (T5th) |
| 0-putt greens: | 0 | 1 |
| 1-putt greens: | 10 | 35 |
| 2-putt greens: | 8 | 36 |
| 3-putt greens: | 0 | 0 |
| Play on par 3s: | -1 | Even |
| Play on par 4s: | -2 | -6 |
| Play on par 5s: | -3 | -12 |
| Eagles: | 0 | 0 |
| Birdies: | 6 | 23 (1st) |
| Scrambling: | 17 of 22 (77.27%) | (3rd) |
- After finishing T67th Honda Els, went back to working on his game. While playing in a pro-am at Seminole on Monday and then in a practice round at his home club in Jupiter he discovered a ball-positioning problem in which he needed to improve his posture and stance. For the first time in a while he also sought out Butch Harmon and had him look at some things which of course will probably lead to some rumors of them getting back together. Another key was Els scrambling which was 3rd best this week which Els feels a lot of it was due to changing to a softer ball and a new 35-inch putter.
- Talking about putting, Els was 3rd in total putting and six in putting average. For the week he made 65 of 71 putts inside of 10 feet, which was T7th. If you were to look at one key moment it had to be on the 14th greens when he had a one shot lead and made a 24 footer for par, thus giving him the momentum for the finish in which he didn't have to struggle.
- Hit 50 of 72 greens, second best in the field
- Made 23 birdies most of anyone in the field
- Played the par 5s in 12 under, best of anyone in the field
- Led the ball striking category for the week
This is Els tenth season with a victory prior to the Masters. Here is how Els has done in the years that he had a PGA Tour win before the Masters:
1994 won Dubai finished T8th at the Masters
1995 won Alfred Dunhill missed cut at the Masters
1997 won Johnnie Walker finished T17th at the Masters
1998 won Bay Hill finished T16th at the Masters
1999 won the Nissasn Open finished T27th at the Masters
2002 won the Ford Championship finished T5th at the Masters
2003 won twice finished T6th in the Masters
2004 won the Sony Open finished 2nd at the Masters
2005 won Dubai finished 47th at the Masters
2008 won the Honda Classic, missed cut at the Masters
- Els was 40 years, 4 months and 25 days old, is the second-oldest winner of a World Golf Championships event and the oldest in CA Championship history. The oldest player to win a World Golf Championships event is Vijay Singh, who is also the only other player in his 40s to win a WGC.
- Els 61st victory worldwide came 105 weeks after the 60th, when he captured the 2008 Honda Classic.
- Els had no victories anywhere last year -- a first since age 20 -- and he came into this year ranked 17th in the world, the lowest since he first started playing the PGA Tour in 1994 as a 24-year-old with no status.
- Els was a co-leader of this event after the third round, the 54-hole leader has gone on to win this event nine of 11 times and the last five years.
- Fourth win in the state of Florida, having also won the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational, 2002 Genuity Championship (also at Doral) and the 2008 Honda Classic.
- The last time Els won at Doral in 2002 he won the British Open.
- This event also counts for money on the European Tour and with the win Els gets back the leading career money-winner on the European Tour again, taking him ahead of Colin Montgomerie with more than 24 million euros in earnings.
- Els was a co-leader of this event after the third round, the 54-hole leader has gone on to win this event nine of 11 times and the last five years.
- Last week marked Els’ 900th successive week in the world top 50 last week (entered the top 50 on December 6, 1992), which is second only to Vijay Singh who entered the top 50 on March 1, 1992, and is currently on 942 successive weeks. Els moved back into the top-ten in the rankings, a place where he has spent more weeks (759) than any other player since the rankings started in 1986.
Other items
Charl Schwartzel was making his 28th PGA Tour start and his runner-up finish was his best finish and his second consecutive top-ten after finishing T9th at the Accenture Match Play Championship.Robert Allenby made three eagles this week: ace on par-3 No. 13, round 2; eagle on par-4, No. 5, round 1; eagle on par-5 No. 1, round 2. He recorded only eight eagles during the entire 2009 season. This action this week placed him in the PGA Tour record book at the eight player to accomplish getting a Hole-in-one, eagles on par-4 and par-5 in same PGA Tour event (since 1983)
2010 - Robert Allenby at the WGC-CA Championship
2009 - Rickie Fowler at the Frys.com Open
2008 - Jason Day at theTurning Stone Resort Championship
2002 - Jesper Parnevik at the BellSouth Classic
1998 - Brian Kamm at the Kemper Open
1988 - Gary Koch at the Andy Williams Open
1987 - Blaine McCallister at the Seiko Tucson Open
1984 - Pat McGowan at the Andy Williams San Diego Open
Alistair Presnell, who earned a spot in the field by virtue of his finish on the 2009 Australasian Order of Merit, was competing in not only his first World Golf Championships event but his first PGA Tour start. With his final round 64 he finished T6th and won $214,300. In the history of the PGA Tour it's the fourth largest check for a player in his first event. Here are the others:
$415,142 by Chris Wood at the 2009 British Open
$298,667 by Anthony Kim at the 2006 Valero Texas Open
$270,000 by Rory McIlroy at the 2009 Accenture Match play
$214,300 by Alistar Presnell at the 2010 WGC-CA Championship
The 18th hole played very difficultly on Thursday when it played to a scoring average of 4.647 as there were 37 scores of bogey and higher with 18 balls in the water. The hole got easier every day, on Friday it played to a 4.258 avearge with just 11 balls in the water while Saturday it played at 3.956. For the week the hole played to a 4.210 average placing it 23 on the toughest holes list. The par 3 fourth hole played harder this week at a 3.294 average making that hole the 6th hardest on tour in 2010.
This was the first official NBC event for Brad Faxon as a regular member of the NBC golf team. The good news, Bob Murphy is gone and Faxon is proving to be very good. He isn't as honest and fort right as Johnny Miller but he isn't bashful either. He is very well versed in analyzing shots and knowing what a player is thinking, that is something that has gotten lost over at CBS which is more cliche ridden these days. Faxon has a good future and NBC is going to give him a fair amount of work. Is he the next Johnny Miller, probably not. That is like saying that Camilo Villegas is the next Tiger Woods. But there is a lot of room for improvement. Like Billy Andrade, who is over at Golf Channel, both like to interrupt others and not let their cohorts finish their thoughts. Also Faxon pulled a couple of rookie mistakes in rooting for putts and not being able to quickly bring up a subject and dissecting a problem. Sorry if I seem so harsh, but in this world we expect a lot in a very short time. I do think that Faxon will be wonderful by U.S. Open time and will beat Johnny to the punch on a lot of items. In the old NBC system, Gary Koch, Bob Murphy and Mark Rolfing would give an item to Johnny Miller to give an opinion, now I can see Koch and Faxon being more knowledgeable with their opinions. Will it be as popular as Miller, only time will tell but we can say that with the little talent pool NBC producer Tommy Roy made a good choice.
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A look at how Yani Tseng made up 8 shots on Karrie Webb on her last 12 holes and isn't it about time that Laura Davies gets into the World Golf Hall of Fame?
How many times in golf have we seen this, two favorites in the final round of an event and basically knock each other off and somebody that plays well slips in to win? That is what happened down under in the Women's Australian Open as Yani Tseng shot a final round 66 to story to victory.
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But golf is a fickle game and Webb found out that fact when she played some loose shots and as she said, "I played a couple of scrappy holes on six and seven and really lost a lot of momentum there." After making bogeys at 6 and 7, she ended her nine with another bogey at nine. Meanwhile in front of her, Tseng birdied 7, 8 and 10 to erase six of the seven shot deficit.
The back nine started promising for Webb with a birdie at 10, but she quickly gave that back at 11 and by the time she made bogey at 15, Tseng had birdied 13 and 14 giving her a two shot lead. With birdies at 17 and 18 she capped off her victory.
The fickle part of golf, on Saturday night Tseng has a feeling that she was going to play well on Sunday but as she told her caddie, "let's try to get second place." In the end Tseng shot 66 for a 9 under part total of 283, thanks to hitting 17 of 18 greens and taking only 29 putts. Over the course of her last six holes, she one putted them five times. Tseng was three better than Davies, who finished her day with birdies at 17 and 18 for a 71 getting second place. Webb shot 74 on a day in which she hit 11 of 15 fairways, 13 of 18 greens but took 31 putts and finished third. The rap on Webb is again the lack of confidence causing her not to complete a round. As she said after her round, "I didn't trust myself as much as I would have liked and then the putts just weren't going in so it was a tough struggle on the back nine."
Italian Giulia Sergas finished T4th place with Australian Katherine Hull who shot a 1-under par 72. Australian Lindsey Wright closed with a 3-under par 70 to take sixth place while American Stacy Lewis finished one stroke ahead of leading amateur Hyun-Soo Kim from Korea at 1-under in 8th place. World Number 7 Anna Nordqvist finished at even par for the championship in ninth place while amateur Alexis Thompson finished T16th with a 3 over par total.
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Frankly she has now been in that position since her last LPGA victory in the 2001 Wegmans. But not taking into account is the fact that she has won ten other times on the Ladies European Tour in some events that have had great fields like this week. The big question in the Davies quest is how the Rolex rankings, which were put into effect in February of 2006 and gives points for every tour like the Ladies European Tour, Japan Ladies Tour and Korean Ladies Tour, doesn't give Hall of Fame points from these other tours? I am not saying that a win in say the Japan Ladies tour event should count the same as a win on the American LPGA Tour, but some points need to be given or else this Rolex rankings is a sham.
Of course Davies will get in under the veteran's category, but she has to be inactive or retired for five years. I can't see Davies, who really loves playing retiring any time soon. Frankly Dottie Pepper, another player who deserves entry, will probably get into the Hall faster because she retired young and could get voted in via the veteran's category. Is it fair, who knows but maybe the Hall of Fame who has just about exhausted who to bring in will be smart and put her on the ballot for Lifetime Achievement, there is not better person that deserves this and it should happen now instead of later. Can Davies win again on the LPGA Tour? Yes, but I feel that winning a major or two regular events may be out of the question, I hope that I am wrong.
One thing that we need to mention in this debate is the fact that Laura is her own worst enemy on this. I haven't talked with her in years now but I remember having talks with her in 2001, 2002 on this and she would always say that she wants to get in off the point list. But back then it looked like she would easily win two more times. In talking with other media members and Judy Rankin, they say the same thing that Laura still feels today that she can qualify under the point system so that is a reason for the lack of rushing to get her in. Still it's getting time to start thinking of making her a member in some manner. Golf has become a worldwide sport and Women's golf should change with time and make sure to reward those that play internationally and win on Tours other than the LPGA Tour. If they are giving points on a ranking system to other tours, the same should happen on entry into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
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