Stat profiles for 1500 golfers
Since earning his fifth-career PGA Tour win back in April of 2008, the talented Aussie has plummeted down the World Rankings, meaning he's as far away from winning that coveted major championship than ever before.
He sits near the very top of the “Best Player To Have Never Won a Major” list. And if momentum has anything to do with it, the chances of Adam Scott removing that dreaded label from his forehead next month at Augusta seem remote at best.
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Since winning the Byron Nelson last April and then finishing eighth the following week at the Wachovia Championship, Scott has plunged from No. 4 in the World Rankings all the way to No. 21 this week. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why the Aussie’s game has taken a turn for the worse. Is it a result of a long string of injuries (dislocated knee cap, broken finger) and illnesses (tonsillitis) that have plagued him during the last 12 months? Or is it the “outside the ropes” factors such as the break-up with his long-time girlfriend or the much publicized, but never-confirmed romance with Hollywood starlet Kate Hudson?
Nobody knows for sure, but the numbers don’t lie. Since May of 2008, Scott has had 15 starts worldwide and has missed the cut three times with just three Top-20 finishes and only one Top-10. That Top-10 finish was a second place at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii. He followed that effort up with a T-21 at the Qatar Masters, but just when it seemed like his game was picking up momentum again, it’s been all down hill since then.
In his last three events, Scott was bounced from the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship by Sean O’Hair, finished T-66 and was one of just 20 players not to break par at the no-cut WGC Championship at Doral and then shot 74-74 to miss the cut at last week’s Transitions Championship.
What stings the most about last week’s futile effort (he bogeyed four of his last 12 holes) is that he came into the event hoping it would help him tune up for the Masters, where he T-9 in his debut in 2002, but hasn’t had another Top-20 since then. Scott told ESPN’s Bob Harig that the Innisbrook Copperhead course at the Transitions is “good preparation for Augusta. It has a lot of movement off the tee, a lot of slope on the fairways. You have to hit some shots, and it's a challenging track. I really like the golf course, and it's probably going to be really tough. I'm looking forward to it.”
Unfortunately for Scott, he missed a cut for the first time since the Barclays Singapore last fall and only got in two “practice rounds” for Augusta while visiting Tampa Bay.
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Although his coach Butch Harmon says that injuries aren’t Scott’s problem, if you take a look at the stats and you have to think the knee and/or finger issues have taken some kind of toll. After five starts on the PGA Tour this year, Scott ranks 113th in driving distance at 281.5 yards per drive. Compare that with his eighth place rank in driving distance in 2008 (302.1 yards per drive), 18th in 2007 (300.9) and 16th in 2006 (301.1) and 23rd in 2005 (300.1), you have to wonder why there’s been such a power outage this year. In addition, Scott’s putter has failed him even worse than usual in 2009. He made 61 putts in two rounds last week at Copperhead and overall for the season he ranks 88th on Tour in putts per round.
It will be interesting to see how Scott fares this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Because since he’s already said that he won’t play next week in Houston, this is his final chance before Augusta to work things out on the course in a competitive atmosphere. Scott hasn’t played Bay Hill the last two years and in five previous starts there he’s had mixed results with a missed cut (2006) a T-3 (2004) and one other Top-25 (2003).
At 28 years old, Scott already has six PGA Tour victories, eight international titles and all the money he needs for the rest of this life. What’s missing is that coveted major title. And unless he starts driving the ball with the same power we’re used to seeing from him beginning Thursday of this week, that empty space on his mantle will remain just that.
Empty.
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George White
The walking wounded of the Champions Tour, Peter Jacobsen, Scott Hoch, Fred Funk and Bernhard Langer.
Naples, Florida - They looked a little like broken-down stars from a D-Day movie, these four patients of the Champions Tour. They followed one after the other to the interview stand - eye, ear, nose and throat. Or Peter Jacobsen, Scott Hoch, Fred Funk and Bernhard Langer.
Or, bad shoulder, bad wrist, bad knee and bad back. .
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But golf is, nonetheless, a powerful predictor of oncoming troubles way into the future. The golf swing is not natural. And the search for more power, more accuracy, causes the body to finally rebel. Sometimes it takes 15 years, sometimes the lucky ones get 30 years. But mark this down – if you’re going to play successfully, you’re eventually going to wind up with problems – debilitating problems.
First up was Jacobsen, who is the host of this week’s Champions Tour ACE Classic. And no, he can’t play in the tournament. Peter has the shoulder injury (or more precisely, a rotator cuff injury). He’s been down this road many times before, having already undergone hip replacement and knee replacement.
“My hip, knee and shoulder doctors have said it’s all a result of one thing leading to another,” began Jacobsen. “Golf is not a collision sport like football. You don’t go running through the line and someone tries to take your head off. But in golf there is a lot of torque - as we’ve seen with Tiger Woods, which is one of the most famous knee ACL replacements now in sports today.
“When you watch a guy swing like Tiger, when you have your feet planted on the ground and your upper body is turning and torquing from your shoulders there is a lot going on with your ankles, your knees, your hips, your shoulders, your elbows and your wrists. We take that for granted.”
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“Obviously my hip went first, then my right knee and now my left shoulder,” he said, “and as the doctor said, it’s all compensations. When you make a swing with a bad knee, you’re going to compensate somewhere else. It’s inevitable.”
He certainly doesn’t dwell on it, but it certainly could mean the end of his career. He hasn’t planned on it happening with this latest injury, “but if this is the end for me, then it is,” he said. “It has been in the back of my mind. I’m not planning on it, I’m planning on working through this and working hard to get back and play golf. But it makes me wonder, ‘What’s next?’”
Next up was Hoch, who has had a host of difficulties with his hands and wrist. Four or five years ago, it was a wrist ailment that kept him shelved for the better part of two years. Now, the hand is the problem. “It’s not real good,” he confessed.
He still has to take an injection in the wrist yearly. “Last year I got a shot at the beginning of the year and it lasted me all year,” said Hoch. “I could have gotten another one with a month and a half to go and I would have been better off golf-wise ... it was a struggle because my hand was bothering me.
“I thought physically it was better off in the long run if I didn’t have to (have the shot), since the fewer shots you have, the better. This year I had my shot. Even though it’s a different place than what we originally believed, we thought the cortisone would reach it.
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Next was Funk. Fred is no stranger to knee surgery either, undergoing the knife three times before last year’s Players Championship. But his ordeal since then would make even a physician twinge.
“I was getting my knee drained constantly, and after the 16th one, it finally introduced the staff (infection). Then I had two more (draining procedures) in the next 18 hours, and it’s been an ordeal,” Funk said.
“I tweaked it at the Players after knowing I had hurt it last winter. I asked the doctor if I could make it through the whole ’08 season, and he said, ‘No, you’ll never make it.’
“I told him I was going to try, but sure enough I tweaked it in a bunker at the Players Championship and I had it operated on three days later. It left me bone on bone with no cartilage on the lateral side. It just keeps pounding on itself, and to protect itself it produced fluid. I had to get it drained all the time.”
The constant use of needles to drain the knee eventually introduced germs to the area. And hence, the staff infection, which introduced a whole new set of problems.
“If we get back into the cycle,” he said, “I’m going to have to shut it down (his golfing career) and get a new knee. Eventually that will happen, but I’m trying to hold off. “
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“I was totally healthy until I was 18 or 19,” began the German native. “I had to do some military service, which was mandatory in Germany. I was drafted to the Air Force and I had six months of rigorous training. That’s when I had a stress fracture and two bulging disks and I was in the hospital for five weeks on a stretcher.
“It is naturally fused,” he explained. “When I bend over, my lower back doesn’t bend. It’s rock solid with not much movement. I’ve lost flexibility, but I’m not in much pain.”
He’s one of the lucky ones – he’s learned to adapt his golf swing so that there is not the same degree of stress on his back.
“I wouldn’t be playing golf anymore with the reverse C I was taught,” said Langer. “My back would be screaming every time I swing the club. That was the main reason, but then I think there is a better way to play golf.”
Of course, the most famous injury is Tiger’s, which is a tearing of tissue in the knee. And, he has injured it - even undergone surgery - multiple times.
“The one thing I am concerned about with Tiger is that his is a degenerative thing,” said Funk. “He’s at a really young age to have (these) problems. His bone is degenerating to the point that it has caused him some of the problems he’s had with these micro fractures. That’s a big deal.
“He has so much potential and many years in front of him. He has so much power in his golf swing and so much hyperextension in that left knee, and he said he’s really not going to change his swing. He thinks the strength of his knee and his rehab and the structure that they fixed in his knee is going to hold up. But it’s still bone on bone. And no one I know of has played at a high level is with a new knee.”
From the throne room to the surgery room they come. Everyone, it seems, will eventually be there. If you’re a professional golfer, it’s just the cost of doing this business.
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Tina Chau reports on how Tadd Fujikawa shot 73 on the final day and finished T32nd, he is still number one for the fans at the Sony Open., including 14 year-old Loren Chan who played the first two rounds and then was part of Fujikawa's gallery over the weekend.
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Tadd Fujikawa shot 73 on Sunday and finished T32nd but he lit a spark into this years Sony Open in Hawaii, this video captures what Tadd Fujikawa accomplished this week, despite his final round disappointment.
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Ashley Nagaoka has this piece on Tadd Fujikawa's Saturday and what people love about the 18-year-old and are flocking to watch him play.
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Tadd Fujikawa press conference talking about his third round 62 and what he expects from the final round.
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Howell now working with Todd Anderson, split with Leadbetter looks permanent.
According to Dave Shedloski in this post it seems that Chuck Howell III has spilt again with David Leadbetter and this time it looks permanent.
Howell, making his season debut at the Sony, shot a first round 67 and it seems that he has been working with Todd Anderson since September. Howell, who has been on tour for since 2000 and has always had the label as a "potential" that just can't find the potential has played in 240 events and won twice. The problem is his inconsistent play and not being able to play well all the time. As an example, last year he played in 31 events and only had four top-tens, he best finish was a T3rd at Turning Stone.
Howell and Leadbetter have been down this road before, they spilt in 2006 and then reunited toward the end of the year with Howell winning a couple of months later at L.A. But last year wasn't the kind of year Howell was expecting, thus the spilt with Leadbetter who he had been working with since he was 12.
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Chris Condon/PGA Tour
Shigeki Maruyama is the surprise leader at the Sony Open
Shigeki Maruyama's round of 65 on Thursday to take the first round lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii may of surprised a lot of folks and could change his mind on playing in America. Last year was a bit of a nightmare for him as in 18 starts he made only 9 cuts and earned only $160,175 (ranked 207th). His best start was his first in the Sony Open as he finished T25th and after withdrawing from the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee he was pretty much finished with the PGA Tour. He went back home to Japan and had 8 starts, having three top-tens with his best finish coming at both the Bridgestone Open and the Dunlop Phoenix were he finished 3rd.
Maruyama turns 40 this year and has pretty much decided to devote himself to the Japan Golf Tour. This despite the fact that he has a home in Beverly Hills and his son Sean goes to school there makes things tough. Still for Maruyama last year was a terrible year not only physically but mentally and emotionally. He changed drivers and his swing and just wasn't able to cope. His mid-year exit from the PGA Tour and playing in Japan helped him recharge the batteries, get plenty of rest and help get his body in shape. As he said after his round: "The most difficult change was the physical part. I had to go back and really just start from scratch. I had some injury (shoulder and knee). The physical condition, the balance wasn't there, so I didn't go to the driving range when I went back in September to Japan. I stretched a lot, rested, got my body back in shape in order to work on some swing changes."
So now he has to make some decisions, he would love to play on the PGA Tour but the reality is that he has no tour card and has just two ways of getting into events, either through his past champion status or sponsor exemptions.
As he said after his round, life would be so much easier for him on the PGA Tour but in Japan he has found that smile that gave him the title "Smiling Assassin" On the PGA Tour he is just another struggling pro while in Japan he is a cult hero. As he told the media on Thursday about his future on the PGA Tour, "I'll get some sponsor exemptions hopefully along the line, and we'll see where that goes. For Maruyama Thursday was the first time that he has held the outright 18 hole lead but he did have a share of the lead three times, but none of them yielded a victory.
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Photo by: Jeff Gross/Getty Images
We won't find out this year as the Hawaiian youngster shoots 67 in qualifying to earn a spot in the Sony Open field.
In 2007 just days sly of his 16th birthday, Tadd Fujikawa opened up with rounds of 71-66 at the Sony Open in Hawaii to become the youngest player to make a cut in PGA Tour history.
He electrified the golfing world on Saturday by shooting 66 and went into the final round in contention. A final round 72 dropped him into a T20th. It wasn't the first time that Fujikawa walked into the spotlight in golf, the pervious year Fujikawa was the youngest competitor in U.S. Open history (15 years, 6 months, 7 days) when he qualified for the 2006 event at Winged Foot. He missed the cut there.
Despite the public outcry, Fujikawa decided right after his great Sony Open in '07 to turn pro and it's been an uphill battle ever since. On the PGA Tour he has played in six events, including last year's Sony Open and missed six cuts. On the Nationwide Tour he has played twice with two missed cuts. On the European Tour he is 3 for 3 in missed cuts, about the only place he has made a cut is in Japan were in six tries he made two cuts finishing T48th at the Crowns and T65th at the Munsingwear Open.
He is now 18 and the cuteness in his nature has worn out as he no longer gets sponsor exemptions. Even this year, his hometown Sony Open didn't give him a free pass, despite his charm and the fact that galleries love to watch him play. But thanks to some good play on Monday, Fujikawa will be returning to the Sony Open.
Fujikawa qualified by earning one of the four qualifying spots at the par-72, 7,128-yard Turtle Bay's Palmer Course. Fujikawa shot 33-34—67 and tied for top honors with San Diego's Alex Aragon and Japan's Jumpei Takayama. In a Honolulu Advertiser article he said how good he felt over the accomplishment and that "I'm very excited about being back at Sony. I've been really, really working hard. All the help from coaches and support from family and friends and all my hard work is paying off."
Fujikawa had a bogey free round, making five birdies including one at 18 were he hit a wedge to within two feet and made the putt assuring him a spot. Fujikawa knew that he needed 67 as he told the Honolulu Advertiser, "I figured 67 would be close to the number," he said. "I knew I had to make birdie to have a good chance." Three players shot 68 and John Lepak beat Jay Williamson and Derek Lamely for the final spot.
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Photo by Marc Feldman/Getty Images
Wake Forest product starts his season at Hawaii this week
Webb Simpson is a rookie who could make an impact on the PGA Tour this year. First, because his amateur record is impressive. Second, because he has his sights set high for immediate success.
Simpson told John Dell of the Winston-Salem Journal that his goals for his first season are winning Rookie of the Year, making the field for the Tour Championship, and winning a tournament.
Simpson has reason for optimism. The Raleigh, North Carolina, native wrapped up an oustanding career for Wake Forest last year, earning All-America honors in all four years including first-team as a senior. He also was on the victorious 2007 U.S. Walker Cup team.
Last year, he got an invitation from fellow Wake Forest alum Arnold Palmer to the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and tied for 31st as an amateur. After finishing at Wake Forest, he made two cuts in five tries on the PGA Tour as a pro, and had a pair of runner-up finishes in eight starts on the Nationwide Tour, including a playoff loss.
After tying for seventh at Q-School, he is making his debut as a PGA Tour member this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Simpson says he will lean heavily on fellow Wake Forest product Bill Haas for advice on courses and handling Tour travel. Haas graduated the year before Simpson started, but the two have struck up a friendship.
We'll see if Simpson can outshine Haas, whose PGA Tour career so far has been a bit of a disappointment.
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