This announcement just in from the Golf Channel regarding its on-air talent line-up for next year...
Kelly Tilghman to Make History as First Female Announcer
ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 9, 2006) – A wealth of experience and a variety of talents unmatched in the world of televised golf will comprise The Golf Channel’s broadcast team when the network’s PGA TOUR tournament telecasts commence in 2007, with members including six-time major championship winner Nick Faldo and the first, full-time female play-by-play golf commentator in the history of television, Kelly Tilghman.
With every PGA TOUR official money event either beginning or airing in its entirety on The Golf Channel, the 10-person team will handle a full slate of 43 official events in 2007, including the first three events of the year. Viewers will first see members of the team in action on Jan. 4 during the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship from Hawaii.
“A team of Golf Channel professionals – who have lived and breathed golf for more than 10 years and understand its traditions – former players and seasoned golf broadcasters makes for quite an impressive lineup,” said Golf Channel Executive Producer Tony Tortorici.
Tilghman, a former touring professional who has been with The Golf Channel since its inception and has worked her way up through a variety of roles to become one of the network’s most popular on-air personalities, will pair with Faldo in the announce booth during the first three events of 2007. The other two events include the Sony Open and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. The Golf Channel announced the addition of Faldo as its lead PGA TOUR analyst in July.
“I’m excited about this opportunity for many reasons, and I can’t wait to get things started,” said Tilghman. “All of us are looking forward to 2007.”
The complement of talent, who are expected to play a variety of on-air roles throughout the year, will include:
Peter Oosterhuis, who in 1995 paired with Renton Laidlaw to host the Dubai Desert Classic – the first golf tournament ever televised on The Golf Channel – will continue as a Golf Channel mainstay and will don several hats, including 17th tower analyst and supporting the network’s ample offering of studio shows surrounding its golf coverage.
Mark Rolfing, who has served as host for Champions Tour events on The Golf Channel, will reprise that role for numerous PGA TOUR events during the FedExCup season. With intimate knowledge of Hawaii golf, he also will serve as a tower analyst for both the Mercedes-Benz Championship and Sony Open.
Dottie Pepper will be expanding her tournament role with The Golf Channel. Already lead analyst for the network’s LPGA Tour telecasts, she will serve as an on-course reporter for a select number of events, beginning with the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
Rocco Mediate, current player and five-time PGA TOUR champion, will serve as an on-course reporter. Other than through his tournament play, Golf Channel viewers have enjoyed Mediate’s personable and entertaining manner as a featured player on the network’s popular Playing Lessons With the Pros and Personal Lessons series.
Rich Lerner, ever-versatile and, along with Tilghman, one of The Golf Channel’s long-time cast, will assume several roles. He will provide play-by-play commentary for select tournaments and, as show host, he will set the scene for viewers at the beginning of PGA TOUR telecasts, as well as conducting player interviews and delivering his signature essays.
Frank Nobilo, who has lent his valuable expertise to The Golf Channel as former player with 14 worldwide wins, will serve as an analyst for select FedExCup season and Fall Series events. He also will continue to contribute as lead analyst for the network’s Champions Tour telecasts, as well as studio shows.
Jerry Foltz will supplement his duties as lead on-course reporter for The Golf Channel’s Nationwide Tour telecasts and contribute in the same capacity for the first three PGA TOUR events of 2007, as well as other select events for the balance of the season.
Steve Sands, who has been a Golf Central reporter for PGA TOUR events, will continue in that role, but will become part of the network’s Thursday and Friday telecasts conducting player interviews. He also will contribute to studio programs while covering tournament play.
During early-round, Thursday-Friday telecasts on The Golf Channel, the network also will incorporate the talents of CBS and NBC golf commentators into their team of broadcasters, making the overall mix of personalities seen on The Golf Channel a great combination of all the networks televising golf.
"The PGA TOUR is delighted with the strong talent team that The Golf Channel has assembled for TOUR telecasts next year," said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. "As the TOUR enters a new era in golf beginning in January, we're confident that The Golf Channel will offer compelling coverage of PGA TOUR events throughout the FedExCup season and the Fall Series.”
Monday, October 09, 2006
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Faldo conference call
At CBS, Lanny Wadkins is out and Nick Faldo is in. Here are excepts from a conference call with the media..
EXCERPTS FROM CBS SPORTS’ OCTOBER 3
NICK FALDO ANNOUNCEMENT CONFERENCE CALL
Sean McManus, President CBS News and Sports:
One of the things that we’re proudest of at CBS Sports is the quality of our on-air commentary team and throughout the years whenever we’ve had a chance to improve that line-up we’ve tried to take advantage of those opportunities, most recently with James Brown. One of the things we’re also most proud of is our golf line-up. We think we have the deepest, most experienced and best golf announcing crew in the business. But just like in other sports, when we have an opportunity to make ourselves better and improve ourselves, we’re going to take advantage of it.
Tony Petitti, Executive Vice President and Executive Producer, CBS Sports:
…We viewed it as an opportunity to strengthen our team, a team that we already believe is the best in golf, and to add Nick to this great golf line-up is just an exciting day for us and we’re really looking forward to the great work he’s going to be able to do for us, and the schedule he’s committed to being a full-time broadcaster. That was important to us, important to our golf team…it was a really easy decision for us to add Nick to our team.
Nick Faldo on Different Personality in the Television Tower from Playing Days:
When you’re a competitor and I was, I deemed myself as a good, honest, sporting competitor. I had some great men to play against. I felt I was there to win and it was very much, that was the style and I would say the style I played you know the head down, get on with it, blinkers on that kind of look… the bottom line to be really honest, I’m a shy guy, and I guess given this opportunity to project yourself, or the way I am on TV, is just me, simple as that. I’m not putting anything on and I’m enjoying. You know number one for me is I really enjoy this work now. It’s a new string to my bow and it’s as simple as that.
Faldo on Greatest Assets as Analyst:
I think my ability. I can sense or look into the players eyes and I can sense what’s really going on. Most people think, well you’re going to get nervous down the back nine as an example. And I can obviously look at somebody and tell whether he’s right on the first tee or the last round. You might be able to tell after 54 or somewhere in there or even 36. Guys might be leading the tournament and you can tell where they’re comfortable or uncomfortable. I know what the players like. I know what they really do find difficult and all these sorts of things. I think that’s what I’m trying to bring, a little bit of insight to what’s going on, the way they think. Sometimes it’s not as plain sailing as we would believe, what their difficulties are. And obviously, I know what pressure is all about as we call it, finishing off a tournament, what that takes at all the different levels. I think it’s just an insight into their minds and I think I can make a pretty good calculated guess that how I felt is obviously how they would feel.
Faldo on the Masters®:
That’s a major decision for me. I will be in the tower next year at Augusta for the whole week so I will not be playing. Obviously that was a major part of my decision. I think that shows my commitment to the broadcasting world that I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may only come once every 10 years or something. So to join CBS, to be there, as I said (with) Jim Nantz, lead analyst is a very exciting prospect for me. It will seriously curtail my playing career, as you know I turn 50 in July. I will play the British Open. I will play our British Seniors the week after. And then obviously I will do my best to play where I feel I’m capable of playing on the Champions Tour. So my playing days aren’t completely over. I’m going to do my best but, obviously, my priority is now given to CBS.
EXCERPTS FROM CBS SPORTS’ OCTOBER 3
NICK FALDO ANNOUNCEMENT CONFERENCE CALL
Sean McManus, President CBS News and Sports:
One of the things that we’re proudest of at CBS Sports is the quality of our on-air commentary team and throughout the years whenever we’ve had a chance to improve that line-up we’ve tried to take advantage of those opportunities, most recently with James Brown. One of the things we’re also most proud of is our golf line-up. We think we have the deepest, most experienced and best golf announcing crew in the business. But just like in other sports, when we have an opportunity to make ourselves better and improve ourselves, we’re going to take advantage of it.
Tony Petitti, Executive Vice President and Executive Producer, CBS Sports:
…We viewed it as an opportunity to strengthen our team, a team that we already believe is the best in golf, and to add Nick to this great golf line-up is just an exciting day for us and we’re really looking forward to the great work he’s going to be able to do for us, and the schedule he’s committed to being a full-time broadcaster. That was important to us, important to our golf team…it was a really easy decision for us to add Nick to our team.
Nick Faldo on Different Personality in the Television Tower from Playing Days:
When you’re a competitor and I was, I deemed myself as a good, honest, sporting competitor. I had some great men to play against. I felt I was there to win and it was very much, that was the style and I would say the style I played you know the head down, get on with it, blinkers on that kind of look… the bottom line to be really honest, I’m a shy guy, and I guess given this opportunity to project yourself, or the way I am on TV, is just me, simple as that. I’m not putting anything on and I’m enjoying. You know number one for me is I really enjoy this work now. It’s a new string to my bow and it’s as simple as that.
Faldo on Greatest Assets as Analyst:
I think my ability. I can sense or look into the players eyes and I can sense what’s really going on. Most people think, well you’re going to get nervous down the back nine as an example. And I can obviously look at somebody and tell whether he’s right on the first tee or the last round. You might be able to tell after 54 or somewhere in there or even 36. Guys might be leading the tournament and you can tell where they’re comfortable or uncomfortable. I know what the players like. I know what they really do find difficult and all these sorts of things. I think that’s what I’m trying to bring, a little bit of insight to what’s going on, the way they think. Sometimes it’s not as plain sailing as we would believe, what their difficulties are. And obviously, I know what pressure is all about as we call it, finishing off a tournament, what that takes at all the different levels. I think it’s just an insight into their minds and I think I can make a pretty good calculated guess that how I felt is obviously how they would feel.
Faldo on the Masters®:
That’s a major decision for me. I will be in the tower next year at Augusta for the whole week so I will not be playing. Obviously that was a major part of my decision. I think that shows my commitment to the broadcasting world that I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may only come once every 10 years or something. So to join CBS, to be there, as I said (with) Jim Nantz, lead analyst is a very exciting prospect for me. It will seriously curtail my playing career, as you know I turn 50 in July. I will play the British Open. I will play our British Seniors the week after. And then obviously I will do my best to play where I feel I’m capable of playing on the Champions Tour. So my playing days aren’t completely over. I’m going to do my best but, obviously, my priority is now given to CBS.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
My trip to Ireland
Ireland and the Ryder Cup are great, but this is the most expensive place I've ever been.
Hotel room: $400 a night
Cup of bad coffee in the lobby about the size of a small Dixie cup: $3.10
Diet Coke: $3.10
Snickers: $2.50
Small muffin: $2.50
Breakfast/lunch in the media center: $12.80
Pint of Guiness: $5.10
On and on it goes. Fortunately, it's not my money, but I still feel guilty about spending it.
I've also never seen anything like the weather here. In the span of a half hour, it goes from bright and sunny to black as night and raining sideways to back to bright and sunny. It goes through that cycle about four times a day. The Irish people are quite apologetic about it. They worry that the Ryder Cup will never return because of the weather.
I was thumbing through one of the papers the other day, the Irish Examiner, when I came across a 20-page special section on the upcoming National and World Ploughing Championships. I'm telling you, it rivaled any Eagles season preview section the Inqurier puts out. I had no idea there were 17 categories of ploughing (or plowing, as we spell it).
A word about the Guiness over here. It is so superior to anything I have ever had back home, it's not funny. Thick, rich, dark as motor oil, goes down so smoothly I almost had a tear running down my cheek.
If you don't like potatoes, don't bother coming to Ireland. Potatoes for breakfast, two or three different kinds of pototoes for lunch, more potatoes for dinner. Order a pint of Guiness and you half-expect them to ask, "Want a side of potatoes with that?"
TV sucks. It's 20 years behind the U.S.
I'm staying in one of the official media hotels, the Green Isle. So is Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated, who sits directly behind me in the media center. He keepings calling it the "Green Mile," from the prison movie of the same name.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Thursday practice pairings
The Americans are already on the course for their final practice this morning. Captain Tom Lehman has sent out the following pairings, which he'll surely stick with for at least tomorrow:
Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco
David Toms and Brett Wetterich
Chad Campbell and Zach Johnson
Stewart Cink and Vaughn Taylor
J.J. Henry and Scott Verplank
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Tiger's latest newsletter
September 11, 2006
By Tiger Woods
I've been on a great run the last two months and I hope it continues this week at the HSBC World Match Play Championship in Surrey, England. All my hard work is paying off, although there is still plenty of room for improvement. People keep asking how this streak compares to 1999-2000, when I won six PGA Tour tournaments in a row. Even though I've only won five-straight, I know I'm a better player. I can hit more shots, control my trajectory and am much smarter about how I manage my game.
I have always said my career is a work in progress. If you stand still, somebody goes past you. That's why I continue to refine my swing with Hank Haney, trying to become the most complete and consistent player I can be. The day I stop trying to improve is the day I walk away from the sport.
Next week is the Ryder Cup at The K Club in Ireland. Tom Lehman, our U.S. captain, recently arranged a two-day trip there for us to bond and learn the course, and it was a great experience. It was especially good for our rookies - J.J. Henry, Zach Johnson, Vaughn Taylor and Brett Wetterich - to get comfortable with the guys. We're all about the same age, so we can all relate. This is my fifth Ryder Cup team, so I'll take on more of a leadership role.
None of us know for sure what pairings captain Lehman has in mind. He might pair people based on how they are playing next week. We'll just have to wait and see. I would love to have the opportunity to tee it up with Jim Furyk. The guy is a stud and pulled out a great win at the Bell Canadian on Sunday. We teamed up well last year in the Presidents Cup and hopefully we'll get chance to do it again at The K Club.
The golf course is pretty easy to learn; it's not real tricky. It's hard to see the bottom of the cups on a couple holes and there are a couple blind tee shots. We all hit the ball about the same. Whoever putts the best will win the cup.
There has been a lot of discussion about the bogey I made on the ninth hole during the second round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. After hitting my drive into the right rough, I had about 167 yards to the green and hit a 9-iron. The ball flew the green, landed on a cement walkway in front of the clubhouse, then bounced over the roof.
I thought the ball was out of bounds. I waited in the fairway to get a ruling from PGA Tour official Mark Russell, who came up to me and said, 'It's in play.' I was as surprised as anybody when I got a free drop because the grandstands behind the green were considered a temporary immovable object, but I didn't make the rule.
It was a great break. You can't hit every fairway and make every putt. If I had to re-drop from where I hit my second shot I would have been lucky to make six. As it turned out, I made a pretty easy 5 and almost made 4. What a par that would have been!
Some golf fans have questioned me for not playing in last week's Bell Canadian Open. If I had played, it would have meant seven weeks in a row - three weeks in the U.S., plus a trip to Ireland, then three weeks in Europe. That's just too much wear and tear on my body.
I have some great memories of Canada, especially the 18th hole at Glen Abbey when I won in 2000. Every time I have played in Canada, I have received amazing support from the crowds. Hopefully, I can return in the future.
People have asked why I tape the middle finger of my right hand when I play. I've got a callous that's unreal. During the summer in the hot, humid weather, it just tears apart when I practice, so I tape it.
My wife Elin and I attended the U.S. Open tennis finals on Sunday in New York and had a blast. We were guests of Roger Federer, who I finally met in person before the match against Andy Roddick. We both represent Nike and are represented by IMG, so we've communicated before. He's an extraordinary athlete and a great champion. About two weeks ago he invited me to the finals - if he made it - and I said sure. I've been to other tennis tournaments before, but never the U.S. Open. I can't believe how hard those guys hit the ball. I always enjoy watching the best athletes in the world compete. Afterward, I congratulated both players in the locker room and hung out for a while.
On October 7th, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Friends will perform at our annual Block Party at The Grove in Anaheim, Ca. My friend Kevin James will emcee the event and renowned chef Bobby Flay will do the cooking. Proceeds benefit the TWLC. I'm looking forward to being back in Orange County and raising funds for our programs. It should be a great time.
Before I go, I want to express my deepest sympathies to those who lost family and friends in the 9/11 tragedy. My thoughts are with you.
By Tiger Woods
I've been on a great run the last two months and I hope it continues this week at the HSBC World Match Play Championship in Surrey, England. All my hard work is paying off, although there is still plenty of room for improvement. People keep asking how this streak compares to 1999-2000, when I won six PGA Tour tournaments in a row. Even though I've only won five-straight, I know I'm a better player. I can hit more shots, control my trajectory and am much smarter about how I manage my game.
I have always said my career is a work in progress. If you stand still, somebody goes past you. That's why I continue to refine my swing with Hank Haney, trying to become the most complete and consistent player I can be. The day I stop trying to improve is the day I walk away from the sport.
Next week is the Ryder Cup at The K Club in Ireland. Tom Lehman, our U.S. captain, recently arranged a two-day trip there for us to bond and learn the course, and it was a great experience. It was especially good for our rookies - J.J. Henry, Zach Johnson, Vaughn Taylor and Brett Wetterich - to get comfortable with the guys. We're all about the same age, so we can all relate. This is my fifth Ryder Cup team, so I'll take on more of a leadership role.
None of us know for sure what pairings captain Lehman has in mind. He might pair people based on how they are playing next week. We'll just have to wait and see. I would love to have the opportunity to tee it up with Jim Furyk. The guy is a stud and pulled out a great win at the Bell Canadian on Sunday. We teamed up well last year in the Presidents Cup and hopefully we'll get chance to do it again at The K Club.
The golf course is pretty easy to learn; it's not real tricky. It's hard to see the bottom of the cups on a couple holes and there are a couple blind tee shots. We all hit the ball about the same. Whoever putts the best will win the cup.
There has been a lot of discussion about the bogey I made on the ninth hole during the second round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. After hitting my drive into the right rough, I had about 167 yards to the green and hit a 9-iron. The ball flew the green, landed on a cement walkway in front of the clubhouse, then bounced over the roof.
I thought the ball was out of bounds. I waited in the fairway to get a ruling from PGA Tour official Mark Russell, who came up to me and said, 'It's in play.' I was as surprised as anybody when I got a free drop because the grandstands behind the green were considered a temporary immovable object, but I didn't make the rule.
It was a great break. You can't hit every fairway and make every putt. If I had to re-drop from where I hit my second shot I would have been lucky to make six. As it turned out, I made a pretty easy 5 and almost made 4. What a par that would have been!
Some golf fans have questioned me for not playing in last week's Bell Canadian Open. If I had played, it would have meant seven weeks in a row - three weeks in the U.S., plus a trip to Ireland, then three weeks in Europe. That's just too much wear and tear on my body.
I have some great memories of Canada, especially the 18th hole at Glen Abbey when I won in 2000. Every time I have played in Canada, I have received amazing support from the crowds. Hopefully, I can return in the future.
People have asked why I tape the middle finger of my right hand when I play. I've got a callous that's unreal. During the summer in the hot, humid weather, it just tears apart when I practice, so I tape it.
My wife Elin and I attended the U.S. Open tennis finals on Sunday in New York and had a blast. We were guests of Roger Federer, who I finally met in person before the match against Andy Roddick. We both represent Nike and are represented by IMG, so we've communicated before. He's an extraordinary athlete and a great champion. About two weeks ago he invited me to the finals - if he made it - and I said sure. I've been to other tennis tournaments before, but never the U.S. Open. I can't believe how hard those guys hit the ball. I always enjoy watching the best athletes in the world compete. Afterward, I congratulated both players in the locker room and hung out for a while.
On October 7th, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Friends will perform at our annual Block Party at The Grove in Anaheim, Ca. My friend Kevin James will emcee the event and renowned chef Bobby Flay will do the cooking. Proceeds benefit the TWLC. I'm looking forward to being back in Orange County and raising funds for our programs. It should be a great time.
Before I go, I want to express my deepest sympathies to those who lost family and friends in the 9/11 tragedy. My thoughts are with you.
Monday, September 11, 2006
O'Hair 3rd at Canadian Open
Having his father-in-law Steve Lucas back on the bag must be the magic formula for Sean O'Hair.
O'Hair, 24, from West Chester finished alone in 3rd at this week's Bell Canadian Open, after firing rounds of 65- 69-66-68 for a total of 12-under par. It was his best finish for 2006, and his second top 10 (after his 4th at the Buick in early Augusta). The $340,000 payday raised his earning for his sophomore season to $1.33 million.
Here's his post-tourney interview:
PGA Tour: Sean O'Hair, thanks for joining us here. Nice round today. Looks like you're going to come up a little bit short, especially a tough finish there with the lip out there on the 17th hole. But overall a good week and it looks like your game is really coming back. Maybe some opening comments about the day.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah. It was a little bit of a frustrating day, as well as I hit the ball. I felt like I was in such control of my ball flight today. With the wind, there was a lot of cross breezes, and I was able to shape it up against the wind, ride the wind, control my trajectory, and some of those pins were hard to get to. But my short game kind of let me down a little bit on a few holes on the front, and I misjudged the wind on 2, and I actually hit a good shot and I played the best I could today, and unfortunately it was a little bit short.
PGA Tour: Looks like you made good putts there on 17, and on 18 you made a good run at it, too.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, I don't see how that one at 17 missed. I mean, that thing was in the hole and then just dove and missed low. That was a little bit frustrating because I actually felt like I was playing more break than I needed to, and I just was trying to get the right speed so it would take the break, and it broke more than I thought.
I hit a great drive on that hole, and unfortunately I hit a poor second shot. But if you're going to hit bad shots I made a great bunker shot and made a great putt and ended up making par. That was pretty much it because if I put myself in the position where I've got to make birdie on 18, I know that more than half the time I'm going to do it. That was very frustrating.
PGA Tour: And then knowing you were two shots back on 18, what do you do there?
SEAN O'HAIR: It was a tough shot because I just the wind was going pretty hard left to right, but I wasn't going to play it into the bleachers and hopefully the wind takes it. I didn't feel like that was the shot. I wanted to play kind of a low draw up against into the wind and I just kind of came out of it a little bit. That was actually my bread and butter this week was that little punch draw. I was doing it all day today and I felt great over the ball, I just made a bad swing.
That was a tough bunker shot and I managed to hit a little chunk and run, which was nice. I wish it would have ran out a little bit better. But I played my heart out on the back nine. That's all I can do.
Q. You're frustrated now. How long does this last? Tomorrow morning will everything be normal or are you still going to be reviewing shots in your mind for the next who knows how long?
SEAN O'HAIR: I'm not going to take this as a disappointment. I've played good this week, and this year hasn't been the greatest year for me. Things are starting to come around, and I can't look at this as a negative. I mean, this is only a positive. I've got to move on with it and go from there.
Q. You obviously didn't have a chance to see what was going on with Furyk, but to not be able to catch a guy like him cannot be all that disappointing. He looked like he was in pretty good control of his game, as well.
SEAN O'HAIR: You know, he's I mean, his play this year speaks for itself. I don't think anybody is uncatchable. You know, I'm not even close to being the caliber player yet that Jim Furyk is now. But if I'm out there thinking that he's uncatchable, I might as well pack it in. I thought he was very catchable, and if I just a few putts fell for me on the back nine, and if I made a few better decisions on the front nine, I'm right there.
You know, in a way I'm a little bit disappointed with as well as I hit the ball today that I only shot 2 under, but this week is an absolute, 100 percent positive, and that's how I'm going to take it. I'm not going to look at it as a negative. Like I said, I played with everything I had and just was a little bit short, and I'm going to learn from it and hopefully take it into next week. I'm playing next week, and you never know.
Q. Are you the type of guy that takes something like this not into next week even but as well into next year? What I mean by that is when you look at your schedule at the end of this year, you see the Canadian Open coming up next year, different day, different venue. Do you think back on what this was as a positive experience, and does that influence your thinking about whether you play or whether you don't play?
SEAN O'HAIR: In a way it does, yes. I know that it's at a different golf course and I'm not familiar this is my first trip here, so I don't know how that golf course suits me or how that golf course plays or whatever. But Canadian Open is a top notch event in my opinion. It's the National Open for Canada. I look at it as a big event.
I haven't really looked at the schedule for next year yet because I'm still trying to finish this one out, but I really hope it fits into my schedule, and if it does, I'll definitely play.
O'Hair, 24, from West Chester finished alone in 3rd at this week's Bell Canadian Open, after firing rounds of 65- 69-66-68 for a total of 12-under par. It was his best finish for 2006, and his second top 10 (after his 4th at the Buick in early Augusta). The $340,000 payday raised his earning for his sophomore season to $1.33 million.
Here's his post-tourney interview:
PGA Tour: Sean O'Hair, thanks for joining us here. Nice round today. Looks like you're going to come up a little bit short, especially a tough finish there with the lip out there on the 17th hole. But overall a good week and it looks like your game is really coming back. Maybe some opening comments about the day.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah. It was a little bit of a frustrating day, as well as I hit the ball. I felt like I was in such control of my ball flight today. With the wind, there was a lot of cross breezes, and I was able to shape it up against the wind, ride the wind, control my trajectory, and some of those pins were hard to get to. But my short game kind of let me down a little bit on a few holes on the front, and I misjudged the wind on 2, and I actually hit a good shot and I played the best I could today, and unfortunately it was a little bit short.
PGA Tour: Looks like you made good putts there on 17, and on 18 you made a good run at it, too.
SEAN O'HAIR: Yeah, I don't see how that one at 17 missed. I mean, that thing was in the hole and then just dove and missed low. That was a little bit frustrating because I actually felt like I was playing more break than I needed to, and I just was trying to get the right speed so it would take the break, and it broke more than I thought.
I hit a great drive on that hole, and unfortunately I hit a poor second shot. But if you're going to hit bad shots I made a great bunker shot and made a great putt and ended up making par. That was pretty much it because if I put myself in the position where I've got to make birdie on 18, I know that more than half the time I'm going to do it. That was very frustrating.
PGA Tour: And then knowing you were two shots back on 18, what do you do there?
SEAN O'HAIR: It was a tough shot because I just the wind was going pretty hard left to right, but I wasn't going to play it into the bleachers and hopefully the wind takes it. I didn't feel like that was the shot. I wanted to play kind of a low draw up against into the wind and I just kind of came out of it a little bit. That was actually my bread and butter this week was that little punch draw. I was doing it all day today and I felt great over the ball, I just made a bad swing.
That was a tough bunker shot and I managed to hit a little chunk and run, which was nice. I wish it would have ran out a little bit better. But I played my heart out on the back nine. That's all I can do.
Q. You're frustrated now. How long does this last? Tomorrow morning will everything be normal or are you still going to be reviewing shots in your mind for the next who knows how long?
SEAN O'HAIR: I'm not going to take this as a disappointment. I've played good this week, and this year hasn't been the greatest year for me. Things are starting to come around, and I can't look at this as a negative. I mean, this is only a positive. I've got to move on with it and go from there.
Q. You obviously didn't have a chance to see what was going on with Furyk, but to not be able to catch a guy like him cannot be all that disappointing. He looked like he was in pretty good control of his game, as well.
SEAN O'HAIR: You know, he's I mean, his play this year speaks for itself. I don't think anybody is uncatchable. You know, I'm not even close to being the caliber player yet that Jim Furyk is now. But if I'm out there thinking that he's uncatchable, I might as well pack it in. I thought he was very catchable, and if I just a few putts fell for me on the back nine, and if I made a few better decisions on the front nine, I'm right there.
You know, in a way I'm a little bit disappointed with as well as I hit the ball today that I only shot 2 under, but this week is an absolute, 100 percent positive, and that's how I'm going to take it. I'm not going to look at it as a negative. Like I said, I played with everything I had and just was a little bit short, and I'm going to learn from it and hopefully take it into next week. I'm playing next week, and you never know.
Q. Are you the type of guy that takes something like this not into next week even but as well into next year? What I mean by that is when you look at your schedule at the end of this year, you see the Canadian Open coming up next year, different day, different venue. Do you think back on what this was as a positive experience, and does that influence your thinking about whether you play or whether you don't play?
SEAN O'HAIR: In a way it does, yes. I know that it's at a different golf course and I'm not familiar this is my first trip here, so I don't know how that golf course suits me or how that golf course plays or whatever. But Canadian Open is a top notch event in my opinion. It's the National Open for Canada. I look at it as a big event.
I haven't really looked at the schedule for next year yet because I'm still trying to finish this one out, but I really hope it fits into my schedule, and if it does, I'll definitely play.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Wie defends herself
CRANS-SUR-SIERRE, Switzerland - Teenage prodigy Michelle Wie defended her right to compete on the men’s tour and said she wanted to play in the Ryder Cup some day as she prepared for this week’s European Masters.
For the whole story, click here.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Tiger's 5 in a Row: The interview
Excerpts from Tiger's post-victory interview after his 5th straight win in a row at the Deutche Bank Championship.
TIGER WOODS
PGA Tour: The 2006 Deutsche Bank champion, Tiger Woods. Five in a row. You went out there and took charge pretty quickly. Why don't you just talk about the day.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I hit it good today. I got off to a quick start. I eagled missed a short one on No. 1, eagled 2, and birdied 3. And I didn't think I would get all of them back within the first three holes, but the par 5 No. 2 playing downwind, with the length that Vijay and I both have, put the ball in the fairway and you can have an iron to the green.
And he missed the fairway there and I made eagle there and just got all the momentum. I got back two shots instead of basically feeling all square.
Made a nice putt at the third and then all of a sudden I had all the momentum on my side and just tried to continue doing what I was doing. Hitting the ball well and making some putts.
PGA Tour: Questions, please.
Q. You go to the 7th hole and just take us through that shot. I got to believe that was a pretty good shot?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I hit that good. But it was basically possibly a full 5 wood there, but I just, I wanted to hit 3 wood and make sure that the pin was up front so I figure if I missed it long over the green it's fine. I had the angle coming back.
And I hit it, I hit it really low and hot, so I figured it would roll over the back. But it landed right into the bank. And the bank just killed it. And it took all the momentum off of it and it just rolled up on the green. So that was a huge bonus, because that shot should have been over the green.
Q. At that point it looks like you're in decent shape in terms of building your lead then he his a tremendous shot out of bunker to nothing. Would you talk about the importance of making that putt?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I thought I was in control of the hole. And was going to basically I had the lead there. And all of a sudden he hits it just a great golf shot. And it's a shot that he practices quite a bit, actually. He goes in a lot of the fairway bunkers and hits those wedges and mid irons and practices that shot a lot. And it wasn't a real big surprise that he hit it close, but the kick in was pretty sweet. It was a pretty sweet shot. So if I make my putt, again, I have all, I take all of his momentum away from him; and I knocked it right in there.
Q. On Friday and Saturday on hole No. 2 you both pushed your shot way left. Coming in today, what was your thought process and exactly how close were you trying to get on that shot.
TIGER WOODS: No, I actually missed my tee shot that I hit terrible there the first couple days. And today the wind was down off the left and I just peeled it down there and hit it right in the middle of the fairway. And the second shot was 206 yards blowing down off the left and I hit a full 6 iron. Just aimed right at it and if I miss it, miss it right. Because obviously it's shorter on the right hand side. And even if it falls down the hill, that's fine. I can 2 putt from down there. And it just started to bleed a little bit to the right and hit soft and stayed up, which was a big bonus. Because then I had actually a makeable putt for eagle.
Q. You talked about the change of momentum and it happened so quickly starting with that second hole, but how can you feel the momentum changing? Is it by body language of Vijay or do you feel it yourself or the crowd's reaction?
TIGER WOODS: Generally I just feel it myself. Vijay's a player who he's so he's a veteran player, he's been there so many times, he's not going to show you through body language. He knows what to do. So it wasn't that. I just felt by making eagle and basically stealing two there, two strokes from him on his lead, I had all the momentum on my side. And then I stuffed it on the third hole and made that putt. And all of a sudden it was, now we're all squared, now we can basically play our tournament from here.
I just had to run him down as fast as possible, try to at least get him by the front nine was over. But I was able to do it within three holes.
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: Well with, he's won a bunch of golf tournaments, not only here in the United States, but all over the world. And he's one of the most consistent players there is on our TOUR, actually in the world. So you know Vijay's not going to make a lot of mistakes. And he knows how to manage his game and get it around. So, but still I still think one of the hardest things to do in our sport is follow up a great round with another great round. It's one of the most difficult things, I don't know why that is or we're still trying to figure that out ourselves. So I just kept thinking that if Vijay shot something in the high 60s, figured mid 60s would either get me in a playoff or win it. And that was what I had in mind today and I was able to actually go a little bit lower than that.
Q. When do you go for six in a row, and could you talk about 15. Vijay hit it in real close there and you were able to get a birdie.
TIGER WOODS: When do I go for six? In two weeks. I play the Match Play and then play the Ryder Cup and then I play the American Express championship. So three weeks in Europe right in a row.
15? Yeah, that was a big momentum, again, keeping it on my side. Because anything can still have, could still happen. I make my putt, at the time I had a two shot lead, if I miss, he makes, one shot lead with 17, which is a pretty easy well if you drive the ball in the fairway you feel like you can make birdie there. And then 18 you can make three pretty easily there as well. So I needed to keep that lead at two. And I was able to make that putt and basically took all the momentum away from Vijay, when he could have easily cut my lead in half it stayed the same.
Q. We heard you say in the past if you're not getting better you're getting worse. But the way you're playing right now, what could you possibly be working on now?
TIGER WOODS: Everything. Everything can always be better. This game is fluid. It's always changing, it's always evolving and you can always get better. That's the great thing about it. You can get better tomorrow than you are today.
Q. Completely satisfied with anything right now?
TIGER WOODS: I could always hit the ball better, chip better, putt better, think better, yeah. Other than that, yeah.
Q. Along those lines, when you look at how you had to patch together a 72 a couple days ago, not hitting it very well and going through a stretch like you did in Akron where it wasn't that sharp for a period, in some ways is it more satisfying when you battle your way through and win on a week like this when everything doesn't click for 72 holes?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it's a hell of a lot harder to do. I just wish that the big leads and the big ones are a lot easier on the system. But weeks like this you really find out a lot about yourself and how to manage yourself around the golf course. And you have to dig down deep to find something. A lot of times you just don't have it and you just got to find a way to keep your self in the tournament.
And that second round I kept myself in the tournament. Could have easily shot myself right out of the tournament. But I hung in there and gutted it out and all of a sudden I was only two back when it could have easily been five, six, seven, eight back and would have been really asking for a lot to get back in the tournament, the way I was hitting it.
Q. It's almost ten years exactly since your debut, could you even imagine ten years of what you've done in these ten years?
TIGER WOODS: Nope. No. Hey, over that ten year span you're just hoping to keep your card for that long and stay out here and win tournaments and hopefully if everything goes right to win Major championships. I just got off to such a quick start in my career by winning twice in the fall of '96 and then to win the Masters in my first go round, in my first Major, just gave my whole career as a professional just a great shot of momentum and confidence. That I could do it. And from there I could always rely on that experience to carry me forth in the future.
Q. This is on a short list of tournaments that you hadn't won, even though you played it a couple times, did that weigh on you at all, you had the affiliation with the tournament and you had done well, but you hadn't won here?
TIGER WOODS: I didn't really look at it that way, no. I really wanted to play well and win this tournament, obviously, for the foundation, and the things that we're trying to do and the money we're trying to raise to better chances of our youth. So for me to win this golf tournament I think it's just, it adds more I guess the word was exposure to what we're trying to do and trying to accomplish with our foundation.
So for me I think that's probably the most important thing is that people are now becoming aware of what we're trying to do. And the tournament and the fans and Deutsche Bank and that really help us to do that, because now we're able to touch more lives.
Q. Do you ever think about 11 in a row?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah.
(Laughter.) It wasn't just 11, it was 11 in a row, 12 out of 13, 18 for the year. That will work.
Q. You don't even play 18, do you?
(Laughter.)
TIGER WOODS: Good point.
(Laughter.)
Q. Kind of along those lines, where do you see Byron's record, the 11 in a row, as it relates to UCLA or some of the other or some of the other great streaks in sports?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's part of the streak that it's probably the streak that I've, he had to have so many things go right first of all. In this day and age and the competition, to win 11 in a row would almost be unheard of. What Byron accomplished, that right there goes down to probably one of the greatest years in the history of our sport. Consistency I mean you got to have one bad week somewhere. He never did. His bad week was a win, I guess. So it's I mean it's truly amazing. I know that there were a lot of different circumstances. It was one of those, the field's weren't as strong, it was one of the war years, but still, I just think that what Byron accomplished there goes down as one of the greatest streaks in all of sport. I don't know what DiMaggio's record, I see that being broken more so than winning 11 golf tournaments.
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: Is it doable? Yeah, it's doable, you know, if a lot of guys pull out.
(Laughter.)
Q. With all the success you've had, including financially, how do you maintain your competitive drive and avoid a sense of complacency?
TIGER WOODS: Work hard.
Q. It would be easy to sit back and say, "I got everything I want, I got 12 Majors." You've seen athletes, you've been around long enough, it's such attribute to you that you are still really wanting to win.
TIGER WOODS: Well, you know, yeah, I'm a competitor, all right. And I love to compete. I love to mix it up. I like to go toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball, that to me is fun. And I love to feel that rush of getting out there and trying to beat everybody. That to me is fun. And there's no better place than the back nine on Sunday at a Major championship to go get in that arena. And that's what we as players, that's what we practice all those hours, all of those hours in the gym, run all those miles on the road, is to be in that position, to feel that rush, to win.
Q. Along those lines of motivation, was there any revenge today from what happened two years ago and did that help drive you today?
TIGER WOODS: No, not at all. Vijay just flat out outplayed me last time. I had an opportunity and I bogeyed what? 14 there and made a mistake and then he birdied 15 and it was basically over.
This year I just felt that I was playing well enough to catch Vijay on that front nine and I was able to do it earlier than I thought I would, but I was still able to get the lead on the front nine, which was a huge bonus and basically play a little bit more conservative on the back nine and it forced Vijay to try to make birdies.
Q. Curious as we look ahead, you got a week off and then Wentworth, Ryder Cup, Am Ex and then I'm sure you've got a fairly full fall schedule, post whatever it's called.
TIGER WOODS: Right.
Q. We'll leave it at that. What do you think you'll do the rest of the year TOUR wise? Is there a chance you'll miss Disney?
TIGER WOODS: I don't know.
Q. Where would you put your performance today? I think we're going to need Joan's help. Someone mentioned that 63 is your lowest Sunday round to win a tournament. Where would you rank it?
TIGER WOODS: Is it?
Q. Today I guess we'll ask for help.
TIGER WOODS: To win a tournament?
Q. To win the tournament. And in your own mind, what are your top three performances ever?
TIGER WOODS: Ever?
(Laughter.) Can I just put tournaments instead?
Q. Sure.
TIGER WOODS: Okay. Not in any particular order, so. Probably '97 Masters, 2000 U.S. Open, probably 2000 British.
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: What about today?
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: No.
(Laughter.) I got 12 Majors there, so.
Q. For years now there have been so many comparisons to 2000. Can you ever get back to it.
TIGER WOODS: Right.
Q. Is it doable again. What are your thoughts on that now and do you see any difference in the way you're playing that you could compare with that stretch?
TIGER WOODS: Well, people are always asking me that, just like you just did. And I just think that if you're looking for blow out wins to compare the two, there's only a couple tournaments that you can possibly blow out anybody in. One would be the U.S. Open, because if you play great rounds of golf, it's hard for the other guys to do the same. You're going to have you have to have difficult golf courses and play great in order to have blow outs.
I think that's what people are always looking to compare 2000 to now. Said, yeah, he's winning but he's not winning by as big of margins. But I'm still getting W's.
Q. Could you make an argument then that this is almost more impressive, the fact that you're at 50 percent right now on TOUR, in wins, and that's about what it was in 2000, almost a more impressive performance in your eyes?
TIGER WOODS: In a sense. Just because I think everyone's improved. Everyone's gotten better. You can't compare the two because in a sense everyone's gotten better. I've gotten better, the rest of the guys have gotten better. Technology's gotten better. It's just evolved. And that's one of the more difficult things is to try and compare generations and obviously even in my little section of my career to compare the two. Because it keeps evolving. It's not like in baseball where they all got wooden bats and it stays wooden bats. It's hard to compare the two sometimes.
TIGER WOODS
PGA Tour: The 2006 Deutsche Bank champion, Tiger Woods. Five in a row. You went out there and took charge pretty quickly. Why don't you just talk about the day.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I hit it good today. I got off to a quick start. I eagled missed a short one on No. 1, eagled 2, and birdied 3. And I didn't think I would get all of them back within the first three holes, but the par 5 No. 2 playing downwind, with the length that Vijay and I both have, put the ball in the fairway and you can have an iron to the green.
And he missed the fairway there and I made eagle there and just got all the momentum. I got back two shots instead of basically feeling all square.
Made a nice putt at the third and then all of a sudden I had all the momentum on my side and just tried to continue doing what I was doing. Hitting the ball well and making some putts.
PGA Tour: Questions, please.
Q. You go to the 7th hole and just take us through that shot. I got to believe that was a pretty good shot?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I hit that good. But it was basically possibly a full 5 wood there, but I just, I wanted to hit 3 wood and make sure that the pin was up front so I figure if I missed it long over the green it's fine. I had the angle coming back.
And I hit it, I hit it really low and hot, so I figured it would roll over the back. But it landed right into the bank. And the bank just killed it. And it took all the momentum off of it and it just rolled up on the green. So that was a huge bonus, because that shot should have been over the green.
Q. At that point it looks like you're in decent shape in terms of building your lead then he his a tremendous shot out of bunker to nothing. Would you talk about the importance of making that putt?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I thought I was in control of the hole. And was going to basically I had the lead there. And all of a sudden he hits it just a great golf shot. And it's a shot that he practices quite a bit, actually. He goes in a lot of the fairway bunkers and hits those wedges and mid irons and practices that shot a lot. And it wasn't a real big surprise that he hit it close, but the kick in was pretty sweet. It was a pretty sweet shot. So if I make my putt, again, I have all, I take all of his momentum away from him; and I knocked it right in there.
Q. On Friday and Saturday on hole No. 2 you both pushed your shot way left. Coming in today, what was your thought process and exactly how close were you trying to get on that shot.
TIGER WOODS: No, I actually missed my tee shot that I hit terrible there the first couple days. And today the wind was down off the left and I just peeled it down there and hit it right in the middle of the fairway. And the second shot was 206 yards blowing down off the left and I hit a full 6 iron. Just aimed right at it and if I miss it, miss it right. Because obviously it's shorter on the right hand side. And even if it falls down the hill, that's fine. I can 2 putt from down there. And it just started to bleed a little bit to the right and hit soft and stayed up, which was a big bonus. Because then I had actually a makeable putt for eagle.
Q. You talked about the change of momentum and it happened so quickly starting with that second hole, but how can you feel the momentum changing? Is it by body language of Vijay or do you feel it yourself or the crowd's reaction?
TIGER WOODS: Generally I just feel it myself. Vijay's a player who he's so he's a veteran player, he's been there so many times, he's not going to show you through body language. He knows what to do. So it wasn't that. I just felt by making eagle and basically stealing two there, two strokes from him on his lead, I had all the momentum on my side. And then I stuffed it on the third hole and made that putt. And all of a sudden it was, now we're all squared, now we can basically play our tournament from here.
I just had to run him down as fast as possible, try to at least get him by the front nine was over. But I was able to do it within three holes.
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: Well with, he's won a bunch of golf tournaments, not only here in the United States, but all over the world. And he's one of the most consistent players there is on our TOUR, actually in the world. So you know Vijay's not going to make a lot of mistakes. And he knows how to manage his game and get it around. So, but still I still think one of the hardest things to do in our sport is follow up a great round with another great round. It's one of the most difficult things, I don't know why that is or we're still trying to figure that out ourselves. So I just kept thinking that if Vijay shot something in the high 60s, figured mid 60s would either get me in a playoff or win it. And that was what I had in mind today and I was able to actually go a little bit lower than that.
Q. When do you go for six in a row, and could you talk about 15. Vijay hit it in real close there and you were able to get a birdie.
TIGER WOODS: When do I go for six? In two weeks. I play the Match Play and then play the Ryder Cup and then I play the American Express championship. So three weeks in Europe right in a row.
15? Yeah, that was a big momentum, again, keeping it on my side. Because anything can still have, could still happen. I make my putt, at the time I had a two shot lead, if I miss, he makes, one shot lead with 17, which is a pretty easy well if you drive the ball in the fairway you feel like you can make birdie there. And then 18 you can make three pretty easily there as well. So I needed to keep that lead at two. And I was able to make that putt and basically took all the momentum away from Vijay, when he could have easily cut my lead in half it stayed the same.
Q. We heard you say in the past if you're not getting better you're getting worse. But the way you're playing right now, what could you possibly be working on now?
TIGER WOODS: Everything. Everything can always be better. This game is fluid. It's always changing, it's always evolving and you can always get better. That's the great thing about it. You can get better tomorrow than you are today.
Q. Completely satisfied with anything right now?
TIGER WOODS: I could always hit the ball better, chip better, putt better, think better, yeah. Other than that, yeah.
Q. Along those lines, when you look at how you had to patch together a 72 a couple days ago, not hitting it very well and going through a stretch like you did in Akron where it wasn't that sharp for a period, in some ways is it more satisfying when you battle your way through and win on a week like this when everything doesn't click for 72 holes?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it's a hell of a lot harder to do. I just wish that the big leads and the big ones are a lot easier on the system. But weeks like this you really find out a lot about yourself and how to manage yourself around the golf course. And you have to dig down deep to find something. A lot of times you just don't have it and you just got to find a way to keep your self in the tournament.
And that second round I kept myself in the tournament. Could have easily shot myself right out of the tournament. But I hung in there and gutted it out and all of a sudden I was only two back when it could have easily been five, six, seven, eight back and would have been really asking for a lot to get back in the tournament, the way I was hitting it.
Q. It's almost ten years exactly since your debut, could you even imagine ten years of what you've done in these ten years?
TIGER WOODS: Nope. No. Hey, over that ten year span you're just hoping to keep your card for that long and stay out here and win tournaments and hopefully if everything goes right to win Major championships. I just got off to such a quick start in my career by winning twice in the fall of '96 and then to win the Masters in my first go round, in my first Major, just gave my whole career as a professional just a great shot of momentum and confidence. That I could do it. And from there I could always rely on that experience to carry me forth in the future.
Q. This is on a short list of tournaments that you hadn't won, even though you played it a couple times, did that weigh on you at all, you had the affiliation with the tournament and you had done well, but you hadn't won here?
TIGER WOODS: I didn't really look at it that way, no. I really wanted to play well and win this tournament, obviously, for the foundation, and the things that we're trying to do and the money we're trying to raise to better chances of our youth. So for me to win this golf tournament I think it's just, it adds more I guess the word was exposure to what we're trying to do and trying to accomplish with our foundation.
So for me I think that's probably the most important thing is that people are now becoming aware of what we're trying to do. And the tournament and the fans and Deutsche Bank and that really help us to do that, because now we're able to touch more lives.
Q. Do you ever think about 11 in a row?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah.
(Laughter.) It wasn't just 11, it was 11 in a row, 12 out of 13, 18 for the year. That will work.
Q. You don't even play 18, do you?
(Laughter.)
TIGER WOODS: Good point.
(Laughter.)
Q. Kind of along those lines, where do you see Byron's record, the 11 in a row, as it relates to UCLA or some of the other or some of the other great streaks in sports?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's part of the streak that it's probably the streak that I've, he had to have so many things go right first of all. In this day and age and the competition, to win 11 in a row would almost be unheard of. What Byron accomplished, that right there goes down to probably one of the greatest years in the history of our sport. Consistency I mean you got to have one bad week somewhere. He never did. His bad week was a win, I guess. So it's I mean it's truly amazing. I know that there were a lot of different circumstances. It was one of those, the field's weren't as strong, it was one of the war years, but still, I just think that what Byron accomplished there goes down as one of the greatest streaks in all of sport. I don't know what DiMaggio's record, I see that being broken more so than winning 11 golf tournaments.
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: Is it doable? Yeah, it's doable, you know, if a lot of guys pull out.
(Laughter.)
Q. With all the success you've had, including financially, how do you maintain your competitive drive and avoid a sense of complacency?
TIGER WOODS: Work hard.
Q. It would be easy to sit back and say, "I got everything I want, I got 12 Majors." You've seen athletes, you've been around long enough, it's such attribute to you that you are still really wanting to win.
TIGER WOODS: Well, you know, yeah, I'm a competitor, all right. And I love to compete. I love to mix it up. I like to go toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball, that to me is fun. And I love to feel that rush of getting out there and trying to beat everybody. That to me is fun. And there's no better place than the back nine on Sunday at a Major championship to go get in that arena. And that's what we as players, that's what we practice all those hours, all of those hours in the gym, run all those miles on the road, is to be in that position, to feel that rush, to win.
Q. Along those lines of motivation, was there any revenge today from what happened two years ago and did that help drive you today?
TIGER WOODS: No, not at all. Vijay just flat out outplayed me last time. I had an opportunity and I bogeyed what? 14 there and made a mistake and then he birdied 15 and it was basically over.
This year I just felt that I was playing well enough to catch Vijay on that front nine and I was able to do it earlier than I thought I would, but I was still able to get the lead on the front nine, which was a huge bonus and basically play a little bit more conservative on the back nine and it forced Vijay to try to make birdies.
Q. Curious as we look ahead, you got a week off and then Wentworth, Ryder Cup, Am Ex and then I'm sure you've got a fairly full fall schedule, post whatever it's called.
TIGER WOODS: Right.
Q. We'll leave it at that. What do you think you'll do the rest of the year TOUR wise? Is there a chance you'll miss Disney?
TIGER WOODS: I don't know.
Q. Where would you put your performance today? I think we're going to need Joan's help. Someone mentioned that 63 is your lowest Sunday round to win a tournament. Where would you rank it?
TIGER WOODS: Is it?
Q. Today I guess we'll ask for help.
TIGER WOODS: To win a tournament?
Q. To win the tournament. And in your own mind, what are your top three performances ever?
TIGER WOODS: Ever?
(Laughter.) Can I just put tournaments instead?
Q. Sure.
TIGER WOODS: Okay. Not in any particular order, so. Probably '97 Masters, 2000 U.S. Open, probably 2000 British.
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: What about today?
Q. (Inaudible.)
TIGER WOODS: No.
(Laughter.) I got 12 Majors there, so.
Q. For years now there have been so many comparisons to 2000. Can you ever get back to it.
TIGER WOODS: Right.
Q. Is it doable again. What are your thoughts on that now and do you see any difference in the way you're playing that you could compare with that stretch?
TIGER WOODS: Well, people are always asking me that, just like you just did. And I just think that if you're looking for blow out wins to compare the two, there's only a couple tournaments that you can possibly blow out anybody in. One would be the U.S. Open, because if you play great rounds of golf, it's hard for the other guys to do the same. You're going to have you have to have difficult golf courses and play great in order to have blow outs.
I think that's what people are always looking to compare 2000 to now. Said, yeah, he's winning but he's not winning by as big of margins. But I'm still getting W's.
Q. Could you make an argument then that this is almost more impressive, the fact that you're at 50 percent right now on TOUR, in wins, and that's about what it was in 2000, almost a more impressive performance in your eyes?
TIGER WOODS: In a sense. Just because I think everyone's improved. Everyone's gotten better. You can't compare the two because in a sense everyone's gotten better. I've gotten better, the rest of the guys have gotten better. Technology's gotten better. It's just evolved. And that's one of the more difficult things is to try and compare generations and obviously even in my little section of my career to compare the two. Because it keeps evolving. It's not like in baseball where they all got wooden bats and it stays wooden bats. It's hard to compare the two sometimes.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
14-year-old wins Women's Amateur
The best girl teenage golfer in Hawaii? How about Kimberly Kim, the 14-year-old who won the U.S. Women's Amateur on Sunday.
Stunning win -- and the kid oozes personality. If Michelle Wie doesn't hear footsteps, she should.
Kim Defies Laws Of Age
By Ken Klavon, USGA
North Plains, Ore. – Kimberly Kim walked off the 18th green of Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club's Witch Hollow Course Sunday and leapt into the arms of history.
Actually, she leaped into the arms of her father. That’s beside the point. Why let figurative prose get in the way of a receptive story? Kim, for the time being, did something no one else has ever done in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship: win it at 14 years old. Fourteen years old. Aren't most kids that age preoccupied with video games, iPods and the like?
For the rest of the story.
Steriods in golf. Nah. Well, maybe nah.
Good offering from Damon Hack in the NYTimes on the PGA Tour's take on the steriod...er, ah, issue.
By Damon Hack
In the seven years since Tiger Woods won the P.G.A. Championship at Medinah Country Club, the golf course has been yanked at the roots and stretched to 7,561 yards, making it the longest major championship venue ever devised.
Medinah, which will again play host to the P.G.A. Championship, beginning Thursday, is just one more reminder of a sport becoming identified with power — so much so that some players are questioning if golf could one day fall prey to the performance-enhancing drugs that have plagued other sports, if they have not infiltrated golf already.
For the rest of the story.
By Damon Hack
In the seven years since Tiger Woods won the P.G.A. Championship at Medinah Country Club, the golf course has been yanked at the roots and stretched to 7,561 yards, making it the longest major championship venue ever devised.
Medinah, which will again play host to the P.G.A. Championship, beginning Thursday, is just one more reminder of a sport becoming identified with power — so much so that some players are questioning if golf could one day fall prey to the performance-enhancing drugs that have plagued other sports, if they have not infiltrated golf already.
For the rest of the story.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Top 50. Whither young Americans?
If you ever wonder about the state of golf in the U.S., here's a fact to ponder: Among the Top 50 players in the World Golf Rankings, there is not a single American under the age of 30.
There are three 30-year-olds: Tiger Woods (1st), Zach Johnson (36th) and Ben Crane (39th), but none younger.
The highest ranked American yet to hit the big 3-0 is Lucas Glover (51st), 26, then West Chester's Sean O'Hair (54th), 24.
For the rankings, click here.
For $175,000, Wall Streeters dig new NYC course
From the Associated Press
BAYONNE, N.J. - Bill the caddie stayed positive as our foursome hooked and sliced around the challenging links of Bayonne Golf Club.
“You have to play here three or four times to get a feel of where to hit the ball,” he counseled, as if we were contemplating membership at this high-end private course with awesome views of Manhattan.
Not a chance. Initiation fees of $175,000 for locals and $75,000 for national or international members, plus $10,000 annual dues, are far beyond the means of journalists on an outing.
Two months after opening, Bayonne’s hilly layout on a peninsula jutting into the Hudson River is all the buzz among New York’s well-heeled golfers, along with the new Liberty National club a couple of miles upriver.
For more, click here.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Two very different takes on Michelle Wie firing her veteran caddie: E.M. Swing at SI.com and a more pro-Wie columun from Ferd Lewis in her hometown Honolulu paper.
First, Swift of SI..
Greg Johnston, who was Michelle Wie's caddie of less than a year before being fired Monday, a day after she finished tied for 26th at the British Women's Open, was reportedly "shocked and surprised" when he got the bad news from Wie's agent, Ross Berlin, of the William Morris Agency.
I wasn't. And Johnston shouldn't have been. Nor should he have been surprised about not getting the courtesy of a phone call from Wie or her family telling him he was unemployed. It's a pattern we've seen before.
For more, click here.
And then Lewis in the Honolulu Advertiser...
If Greg Johnston was truly "shocked and surprised" about his firing as Michelle Wie's caddie, as he has maintained to golfdigest.com, he is definitely in the minority.
If he indeed missed the signs, no wonder she had been reading putts on her own for a while.
Anybody who has followed Wie's first year as a pro and the interplay between Team Wie and its caddies should have seen it coming. Maybe not the day after the apparently fateful British Open, but surely somewhere on the horizon.
From more, click here.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Oops, Mr. Cohan
In my story in Tuesday's paper on the six guys who made it through the local qualifier into the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National in a couple of weeks, I inadvertantly left out the name of Adam Cohan, from Wayne, who shot two stellar rounds of 68-68 on a hot, sticky day at Stonewall Golf Club for a 4-under total.
To make amends, here is a link to Cohan's stats and stuff on the Georgia Tech golf team website.
Sorry, Adam Cohan, and good luck at the Amateur.
Tiger and Stevie: When they became a couple
When did caddie Steve Williams know he had Tiger's complete trust? In 1999, at the PGA Championship at Medinah.
From AP golf writer Doug Ferguson's story...
They had been together for only five months and 10 tournaments, three of them victories, none in a major. Woods had lost his No. 1 ranking and gone 2½ years without a major since winning the 1997 Masters. The pressure was building that afternoon, especially when his five-shot lead over 19-year-old Sergio Garcia was down to one.
Woods hit 7-iron over the green on the par-3 17th, and his chip came up 8 feet short. Miss that putt, and his lead would be gone. He studied the line from both sides, crouched behind the ball and then called Williams over and asked what he saw.
The caddie spoke with clarity and certainty.
“Inside left,” he told him.
“Are you sure?” Woods replied.
He buried the putt in the heart of the hole, made a routine par on the 18th and won his second major championship.
For the complete story, click here.
Wie fires another caddie
Another veteran caddie can't last on Michelle Wie's bag...
By Ron Sirak
GolfDigest.com
August 8, 2006 --Greg Johnston, who has caddied for Michelle Wie since she turned professional last October, was fired the day after the 16-year-old phenom finished T-26 in the Weetabix Women's British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, GolfDigest.com has learned.
For the details, click here.
Here's the AP version of the story.
Monday, August 07, 2006
O'Hair O'Happenin'
You might not have noticed but Sean O'Hair quietly bagged his first Top 10 finish of the year at the Buick Open, shooting four rounds in the 60s for T-4th.
The $198,400 payday, his biggest of the year, boosted O'Hair's winnings for the year to $845,285, 69th on the money list.
It's still not the kind of break-out year O'Hair had as a rookie, but he is trending upward, as he slowly regains his confidence. After missing seven cuts by early May -- including one stretch of four in a row -- O'Hair has missed only one since, at the Buick Championship in late June.
For O'Hair complete stats, click here.
Tiger will win PGA
No possible way Tiger Woods won't win the PGA.
Did you see him finish off the Buick, his 50th PGA Tour win, and the British before that?
Did you see the look in his eyes? With a year of getting comfortable with his new, rebuilt swing and his grief over his dad's death largely behind him, Tiger is now entering some zone the likes which the rest of us (or his PGA Tour peers) won't ever know.
After the way he faltered a year or so ago, I figured we'd seen the best of Tiger back in 2000 and 2001. I figured not even he could muster what it would take to get back to where he was, never mind get better. Wrong. From the looks of it, Tiger is in the early stage of what might be the most dominanting phase of his career.
By the way, for a look at Tiger's amazing stats and numbers, click here to check out Gary Van Sickle's blog on Sports Ill.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Tiger's pre-Buick interview
Excerpts from Tiger's pre-Buick interview
TIGER WOODS
PGA Tour: You've tied Walter Hagen with winning 11 majors, talk a little about that
victory.
TIGER WOODS: Well, it was just an emotional win for me. I think any time you win a major
championship, it brings up so many different emotions, because it's so hard to do. Then when
you are actually able to come out on top, you feel the elation, the euphoria that goes on,
all of the hard work, all of the nervousness, the things you've got to deal with in major
championships, all of these things just wear you down and if you're able to come out on top,
it's one of the greatest feelings you could possibly have.
Q. Looking ahead at the PGA, do you feel like whether you win it or Phil wins it, one of you
can kind of have 2006 be the memorable Player of the Year so to speak?
TIGER WOODS: Well, right now as of right now, I think with, you know, having the two World Golf Championships, THE TOUR Championship and a major championship ahead of us, four big
events, anything can happen. Hopefully I can get it done in those four events check, four
bigger events like that, especially in a couple of weeks.
Q. How much motivation was what happened at the U.S. Open for you at the British to rebound
from missing the cut there for the first time?
TIGER WOODS: I think the Western was pretty important. I did not start off well. I shot my
first round over par and I got it going from there. I had a chance with a few holes to go to
win the golf tournament. That to me was what I needed to have happen going to the British. I
needed to have it turn around like that kick quickly and get back into playing mode again.
By the time I got into playing mode at the U.S. Open, I was already 2 , 3 , 4 over. You
can't do that in the U.S. Open, you have to get into the rhythm of the round quickly. I
didn't do that. At the British Open, because of the Western, I got into the rhythm of the
round so much faster and I didn't put myself behind the 8 ball right out of the gate.
Q. You talked a little bit about the Ryder Cup, you have a very young team, what do you
think about the chances of the USA team up against the Europeans?
TIGER WOODS: Well, as of right now, both sides are going to have some players that have
never been on any team before. So as of right now but you know, the points can swing so
fast. We've got basically three tournaments left and with the major being worth so many
points, I mean, every time I look at it, it's like, okay, he's in, he's out. It keeps
changing every week and it's changed a lot.
But as it stands right now, yeah, we have a lot of inexperience versus the top 5 guys on the
team have all been on teams before and then the other guys haven't. The Europeans are
finding the same thing. Right now I think there's four guys that have never played on a team
before.
So it will be interesting to see for both sides to see what transpires and also see how the
picks go and see what the two captains are going to do for their picks.
Q. You've been in the public spotlight, a fan favorite for quite a few years now, but one
kind of senses that with the passing of your father and the emotional win a couple of weeks
ago, that there's even more love for you more as a person than as an athlete, is that
something that you sense?
TIGER WOODS: People have come up to me and said really nice things since the Open and that's awfully nice of them. They can say all these nice things, but I still miss my dad. It is
what it is. It's awfully nice that people especially that have had loss before come up and
share their experiences. That's rewarding in that sense to hear so much about other people's
lives and how we're all basically in the same boat at one time or another. From that
standpoint, it's been remarkable, really.
Q. Last year in a question I posed to you, I referred to you as a "wily veteran" now on Tour
and you said, "don't put me out to pasture yet." But with time, and now with success, you're
tied with Walter Hagen. There's only one more name on the list and that great history and
tradition of golf leaves you one more target. I know it's a one tournament at a time type of
situation, but what does it mean to you now as one more of those accomplishments on the
major list adds to a total that gets you closer to the greatest maybe of all time, Jack
Nicklaus?
TIGER WOODS: Well, starting out, if you're lucky enough to get anywhere near Jack's record, awfully lucky to pass him, if it happens, it's going to take a career. It took Jack over 20
years to get his. There's no way you can ever have it happen quickly. I've played ten years
out here and I'm just barely passed halfway and realizing how many he won.
Certainly looking at Jack's record, I think the most important thing about Jack's record is
he had 18 wins and he got 19 seconds. When you put in 27 Top 2s, it puts it in perspective
he good he was in the biggest events. When you look at his whole record, you look at how
good he was for the longest period of time. No other player in the history of the game has
done that, be that good for that long.
Q. You've had Chris DiMarco on your heels for a couple of majors last two years. You've
shared team rooms with him at the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. What have you learned about him over the last couple of years as a player and as a person?
TIGER WOODS: Well, what a fantastic competitor. He's a guy that will continue to fight. He
needs to just hang in there and gut it out and give it his best. That's one thing that you
have to admire about any player is that ability not to quit. People quit, you see it all the
time, but I think it's more remarkable that people never quit.
Q. You talk about liking this course and obviously you have a relationship with. Beyond
those things, does the timing work out really well, this year in particular, to have a break
after the emotional win and time after this before the PGA?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it works out perfect because I got a chance to unwind for a few days and then get back up and start getting ready for this event. I have all of next week to go home
well, maybe go home, hurricane might be blasting through there again. But I get to go
somewhere and practice and get ready. I always find it nice to get ready in solitude and
have my game where I want it when I go into a major championship, rather than playing my way into shape.
Q. It's been 12 days since Hoylake now. When you think back on the emotions that came
pouring out on the 18th green, do you have a different perspective about what that was all
about or why that happened, because as you said afterward, that's really not you, but it
happened. Have you thought about that in the last week and a half?
TIGER WOODS: I try not to. Only because I never really lose my emotions like that. And for
me to feel that type of loss, it doesn't feel very good. I haven't seen the coverage, so I
haven't seen that part of it. I haven't even seen a golf shot yet. I've been asking for
somebody to send me a DVD or some kind of tape and I haven't got it yet. So I haven't seen
anything of the golf tournament.
All I know is I remember being in Stevie's arms and crying like a baby and him pushing me
away into my wife saying you deal with him and just bawling there. I've never done that. I
never have. It's because I've never, ever played a golf tournament without Dad. It's the
first time where I've ever within a golf tournament without Dad either seeing me or being
around physically where I could call him up and say, hey, we can talk and rap about it. But
those days I'll never have that day again.
What hurt so much for me this year at Augusta not winning, because I knew that was Dad's
last tournament he would ever see me play in. And it hurt quite a bit, I've never been as
disappointed walking off a golf tournament. I just wanted to play well at the U.S. Open and
I was able to win the British. I kept coming back, why couldn't I have done this a few
majors ago and give him one more thing to see.
But I don't think I could have probably won at the British Open without Dad because I had a
sense of calmness that I don't have I'm usually pretty calm at majors but I was unusually
calm at this major. I think it was Pop up there just keeping me cool and level headed.
Q. There's so many great young players in the field this week and I think I counted a dozen
major winners just playing in the Pro Am alone today, and yet everybody likes to come
gunning for Tiger. Is that still something that you kind of feed off of and enjoy, the fact
that you know, wherever I tee it up, everybody wants to get a shot at me?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it is and it isn't, one of the guys in the field. That's about it. The
ones that are playing this week, you've got to beat everybody here, not just one of those
guys. Hopefully I can put my name up there with a chance on Sunday and get the W somehow.
But there are a bunch of major championship winners, as you said. But, you know, whoever is
in the field, you've got to beat them all in order to win the golf tournament.
Q. How did getting back and playing golf again help you kind of recover a sense of normalcy
after your father's passing?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it was interesting because it was actually probably the hardest thing for me to do was get back and play again because that's how I learned the game. I learned it
from Dad. Every time I take time off when I come back, I always focus on the basics, grip,
posture, stance, alignment. I learned every one of those things from Dad. So that was the
hard part is coming back and getting started. Once I got started it was all right. But
getting over the hurdle of getting started and knowing that he'll never be there to talk
about these little things in detail.
TIGER WOODS
PGA Tour: You've tied Walter Hagen with winning 11 majors, talk a little about that
victory.
TIGER WOODS: Well, it was just an emotional win for me. I think any time you win a major
championship, it brings up so many different emotions, because it's so hard to do. Then when
you are actually able to come out on top, you feel the elation, the euphoria that goes on,
all of the hard work, all of the nervousness, the things you've got to deal with in major
championships, all of these things just wear you down and if you're able to come out on top,
it's one of the greatest feelings you could possibly have.
Q. Looking ahead at the PGA, do you feel like whether you win it or Phil wins it, one of you
can kind of have 2006 be the memorable Player of the Year so to speak?
TIGER WOODS: Well, right now as of right now, I think with, you know, having the two World Golf Championships, THE TOUR Championship and a major championship ahead of us, four big
events, anything can happen. Hopefully I can get it done in those four events check, four
bigger events like that, especially in a couple of weeks.
Q. How much motivation was what happened at the U.S. Open for you at the British to rebound
from missing the cut there for the first time?
TIGER WOODS: I think the Western was pretty important. I did not start off well. I shot my
first round over par and I got it going from there. I had a chance with a few holes to go to
win the golf tournament. That to me was what I needed to have happen going to the British. I
needed to have it turn around like that kick quickly and get back into playing mode again.
By the time I got into playing mode at the U.S. Open, I was already 2 , 3 , 4 over. You
can't do that in the U.S. Open, you have to get into the rhythm of the round quickly. I
didn't do that. At the British Open, because of the Western, I got into the rhythm of the
round so much faster and I didn't put myself behind the 8 ball right out of the gate.
Q. You talked a little bit about the Ryder Cup, you have a very young team, what do you
think about the chances of the USA team up against the Europeans?
TIGER WOODS: Well, as of right now, both sides are going to have some players that have
never been on any team before. So as of right now but you know, the points can swing so
fast. We've got basically three tournaments left and with the major being worth so many
points, I mean, every time I look at it, it's like, okay, he's in, he's out. It keeps
changing every week and it's changed a lot.
But as it stands right now, yeah, we have a lot of inexperience versus the top 5 guys on the
team have all been on teams before and then the other guys haven't. The Europeans are
finding the same thing. Right now I think there's four guys that have never played on a team
before.
So it will be interesting to see for both sides to see what transpires and also see how the
picks go and see what the two captains are going to do for their picks.
Q. You've been in the public spotlight, a fan favorite for quite a few years now, but one
kind of senses that with the passing of your father and the emotional win a couple of weeks
ago, that there's even more love for you more as a person than as an athlete, is that
something that you sense?
TIGER WOODS: People have come up to me and said really nice things since the Open and that's awfully nice of them. They can say all these nice things, but I still miss my dad. It is
what it is. It's awfully nice that people especially that have had loss before come up and
share their experiences. That's rewarding in that sense to hear so much about other people's
lives and how we're all basically in the same boat at one time or another. From that
standpoint, it's been remarkable, really.
Q. Last year in a question I posed to you, I referred to you as a "wily veteran" now on Tour
and you said, "don't put me out to pasture yet." But with time, and now with success, you're
tied with Walter Hagen. There's only one more name on the list and that great history and
tradition of golf leaves you one more target. I know it's a one tournament at a time type of
situation, but what does it mean to you now as one more of those accomplishments on the
major list adds to a total that gets you closer to the greatest maybe of all time, Jack
Nicklaus?
TIGER WOODS: Well, starting out, if you're lucky enough to get anywhere near Jack's record, awfully lucky to pass him, if it happens, it's going to take a career. It took Jack over 20
years to get his. There's no way you can ever have it happen quickly. I've played ten years
out here and I'm just barely passed halfway and realizing how many he won.
Certainly looking at Jack's record, I think the most important thing about Jack's record is
he had 18 wins and he got 19 seconds. When you put in 27 Top 2s, it puts it in perspective
he good he was in the biggest events. When you look at his whole record, you look at how
good he was for the longest period of time. No other player in the history of the game has
done that, be that good for that long.
Q. You've had Chris DiMarco on your heels for a couple of majors last two years. You've
shared team rooms with him at the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. What have you learned about him over the last couple of years as a player and as a person?
TIGER WOODS: Well, what a fantastic competitor. He's a guy that will continue to fight. He
needs to just hang in there and gut it out and give it his best. That's one thing that you
have to admire about any player is that ability not to quit. People quit, you see it all the
time, but I think it's more remarkable that people never quit.
Q. You talk about liking this course and obviously you have a relationship with. Beyond
those things, does the timing work out really well, this year in particular, to have a break
after the emotional win and time after this before the PGA?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, it works out perfect because I got a chance to unwind for a few days and then get back up and start getting ready for this event. I have all of next week to go home
well, maybe go home, hurricane might be blasting through there again. But I get to go
somewhere and practice and get ready. I always find it nice to get ready in solitude and
have my game where I want it when I go into a major championship, rather than playing my way into shape.
Q. It's been 12 days since Hoylake now. When you think back on the emotions that came
pouring out on the 18th green, do you have a different perspective about what that was all
about or why that happened, because as you said afterward, that's really not you, but it
happened. Have you thought about that in the last week and a half?
TIGER WOODS: I try not to. Only because I never really lose my emotions like that. And for
me to feel that type of loss, it doesn't feel very good. I haven't seen the coverage, so I
haven't seen that part of it. I haven't even seen a golf shot yet. I've been asking for
somebody to send me a DVD or some kind of tape and I haven't got it yet. So I haven't seen
anything of the golf tournament.
All I know is I remember being in Stevie's arms and crying like a baby and him pushing me
away into my wife saying you deal with him and just bawling there. I've never done that. I
never have. It's because I've never, ever played a golf tournament without Dad. It's the
first time where I've ever within a golf tournament without Dad either seeing me or being
around physically where I could call him up and say, hey, we can talk and rap about it. But
those days I'll never have that day again.
What hurt so much for me this year at Augusta not winning, because I knew that was Dad's
last tournament he would ever see me play in. And it hurt quite a bit, I've never been as
disappointed walking off a golf tournament. I just wanted to play well at the U.S. Open and
I was able to win the British. I kept coming back, why couldn't I have done this a few
majors ago and give him one more thing to see.
But I don't think I could have probably won at the British Open without Dad because I had a
sense of calmness that I don't have I'm usually pretty calm at majors but I was unusually
calm at this major. I think it was Pop up there just keeping me cool and level headed.
Q. There's so many great young players in the field this week and I think I counted a dozen
major winners just playing in the Pro Am alone today, and yet everybody likes to come
gunning for Tiger. Is that still something that you kind of feed off of and enjoy, the fact
that you know, wherever I tee it up, everybody wants to get a shot at me?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it is and it isn't, one of the guys in the field. That's about it. The
ones that are playing this week, you've got to beat everybody here, not just one of those
guys. Hopefully I can put my name up there with a chance on Sunday and get the W somehow.
But there are a bunch of major championship winners, as you said. But, you know, whoever is
in the field, you've got to beat them all in order to win the golf tournament.
Q. How did getting back and playing golf again help you kind of recover a sense of normalcy
after your father's passing?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it was interesting because it was actually probably the hardest thing for me to do was get back and play again because that's how I learned the game. I learned it
from Dad. Every time I take time off when I come back, I always focus on the basics, grip,
posture, stance, alignment. I learned every one of those things from Dad. So that was the
hard part is coming back and getting started. Once I got started it was all right. But
getting over the hurdle of getting started and knowing that he'll never be there to talk
about these little things in detail.
Tiger's effect on TV ratings
Good story from the Washington Times...
By Tim Lemke
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 3, 2006
It's simple math: A golf tournament, plus Tiger, equals good ratings. Broadcasters and fans have known that since Tiger Woods sprang onto the golf scene a decade ago. But the absence of Woods in several key events this year has underscored how much his presence controls the viewing habits of sports fans.
For more, click here.
I played
Like a glutton for punishment, or a fool, I just played 18 holes in this heat.
Teed off at Inniscrone at 11:30 this morning, just as the scorching sun was almost perfectly overhead. By the second tee, I was sweating like a pig. By the third tee, I had finished the Gatorade I bought in the pro shop. By the fourth tee, I looked like I'd been shoved in a pool. By the fifth tee, I had sweated through both my golf gloves and was fishing around in my bag for old crinkled, dried-up gloves that I'd never bothered to toss.
Every time I came to a water cooler, I soaked my towel and wrapped it around my neck. The worst of it was when I had to actually get out of the cart and hit a shot. Searching for errant balls in the rough, or standing over a shot, with the sun pounding on my back, there were moments I feared I might spontaneously combust.
In all, I spotted one foursome and one twosome on the course. By the time I left, the kid collecting carts said they'd had 16 players total today. I'm surprised that many people went out.
I drank two Gatorades and a bottle of water. By the end, I was weak and pretty much miserable.
Didn't play that bad, though.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Ortiz wins Junior-Junior
Jonathan Ortiz of Philmont CC defeated Zachary Dilcher of Hartefeld National, 4&2 to win the 2006 Junior-Junior Boys' Championship Wednesday at Woodbury CC.That was Wednesday. But you could see this kid coming a mile off. Here's a story I did about him four
years ago.
A star rises in Kensington
Jonathan Ortiz, 9, emerged as best in a contest for about 6,000 children.
By Joe Logan
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
As well as he already plays golf, ask Jonathan Ortiz what he wants to be when he grows up and you'll hear no mention of being the next you-know-who. "I want to be on top of the world - in golf circles," said Jonathan, who lives in the Kensington section of the city and is a fourth grader at Visitation School.
He's off to a good start.
Two weeks ago in Orlando, Fla., Jonathan smashed a 159-yard drive, nestled a couple of chip shots oh-so-close to the hole, and sank putts of 7 and 20 feet to win the national title from among about 6,000 hopefuls in the 7- to 8-year-old age group in the Golf Channel's annual Drive, Chip & Putt Junior Golf Skills competition. Add that honor - along with the handsome Waterford crystal bowl that came with it - to Jonathan's impressive and fast-growing array of almost 60 trophies from junior tournaments here at home and as far away as Florida and California and it's clear this boy has a knack for the game.
"This kid is special," said Chris Eck, co-owner and teaching pro at Experienced Golf Center in Fort Washington, where he works weekly with Jonathan.
"I teach Jonathan as if he were a 20-year-old, because he already has the attention span and desire to learn and listen and perform as an adult. Honestly, he has what it takes to make it to the PGA Tour. "
As Eck spoke one evening last week, 9-year-old Jonathan pumped ball after ball into a net, showing off a compact, well-honed swing that seems equal parts hard work and natural athletic ability.
"You see that move?" said Eck, proud that Jonathan already demonstrates a kind of body control that most young golfers don't master until much later in their development. It was Jonathan's stepfather, David Brice, a guard at Graterford Prison, who first put a club in the youngster's hands. Inspired, as so many others were, by Tiger Woods' amazing 12-shot win in the 1997 Masters, Brice rushed to the closest driving range he could find. Jonathan, not yet 4, tagged along.
As Brice pounded balls, he couldn't help but notice that young Jonathan, hitting from the next mat at the range, had a pretty good little swing of his own. They came back to the range again and again.
Almost two years ago, Brice and Jonathan met Eck by chance when they stopped by his booth at the annual winter golf show at the Fort Washington Expo Center. Before long, Jonathan had a new friend and teacher in Eck, as well as a place to practice.
For Brice, the struggle has become how to finance Jonathan's golfing quest, which this year took him to 33 tournaments (in which he earned 16 first-place trophies, nine seconds and four thirds) up and down the East Coast.
"We are poor - at least we don't have money compared to the other kids traveling this circuit," said Brice, who is married to Jonathan's mother, Nydia Vasquez. Vasquez works in a medical records office. Jonathan's 12-year-old sister also lives with the family in Kensington.
Brice estimates he dug into the family coffers for about $6,000 this year. Another $6,000 came from a benefactor, Joe Corcoran, a businessman whom Brice met while he was caddying in an outing at Philadelphia Country Club.
"As far as I'm concerned, Joe Corcoran walks on water," Brice said. "Believe it or not, there are some good people in this world, and he has a big heart. This guy has seven kids of his own. "
Who knows what next season holds for Jonathan. Now it's time for a little downtime, a couple of weeks of rest and relaxation. Then it's back to work, getting ready for next season. "This year was a big test for us," said Brice, who not only had to juggle the finances but also time off from work. (The inmates at Graterford follow Jonathan's exploits through Brice. ) "I think he'll stay with it."
Jonathan didn't hear his father. He was too busy hitting balls.
Media scum's diary as Tour caddie
Good, juicy reading here as Gary Van Sickle, senior writer for Sports Icky and self-described media scum, bears all in his on-line diary of his five days caddieing for Andy North.
MILWAUKEE -- A chart of my pulse rate Saturday morning would've been entertaining. It was about 6:15, well after zero-dark-thirty but still well before any self-respecting caddie would expect to be awake and alert. (I don't have any self-respect but that's another story.) I was on the practice range at Brown Deer Park with Andy North, the two-time U.S. Open champion who asked me to caddie for him during the U.S. Bank Championship (just for fun, no money will change hands). He was warming up before we went out at 7 a.m. to finish the last 8½ holes of our rain-delayed second round.
For more, click here.
MILWAUKEE -- A chart of my pulse rate Saturday morning would've been entertaining. It was about 6:15, well after zero-dark-thirty but still well before any self-respecting caddie would expect to be awake and alert. (I don't have any self-respect but that's another story.) I was on the practice range at Brown Deer Park with Andy North, the two-time U.S. Open champion who asked me to caddie for him during the U.S. Bank Championship (just for fun, no money will change hands). He was warming up before we went out at 7 a.m. to finish the last 8½ holes of our rain-delayed second round.
For more, click here.
Puh-leeze
From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram news of a Hummer golf cart...
By DAVE FERMAN
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Sam Goodrich says he can’t afford a Hummer — so he got the next best thing. Or at least the next best thing for a golfer like him.
“It’s a toy you can brag on that other people are envious of,” Goodrich, a 59-year-old retired Delta Air Lines pilot, said of his $21,000 customized golf cart, which looks like a mini-Hummer. “Golfers always want the newest driver or the coolest-looking putter.”
For the rest of the story, click here.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Golf in this heat? You nuts?
Against my better judgment, I scheduled a tee time for early afternoon today. I took a shower, slathered on sunscreen and tossed an extra shirt in my bag, just so I could to be dry on the drive home.Then I walked outside.
In the 10 steps from my front door to my car, I suddenly came to my senses: Only a dope with a death wish would play golf in this 101-degree weather. What, did I want to be carted off the course like Michelle Wie at the John Deere Classic?
I can't believe I actually stood there for a minute or two, with my hand on the car door, debating whether it was really as hot as it seemed, or was I wimping out? By then the smoldering heat had begun to rise up from the asphalt. Yeah, it really is that hot.
I walked back inside, cracked open a bottle of ice cold water and returned to my desk, where I adjusted the air conditioning vent near my feet to wide-open. What was I thinking?
Is anybody playing in this heat?
Weekly notes from the PGA Tour
E NOTES FROM THE PGA TOUR
PGA TOUR·
The veteran set played well last week at the U.S. Bank Championshipin Milwaukee with five players over age 40 finishing in the Top 10.
In addition to winner Corey Pavin (age 46), Jeff Sluman (48), Joey Sindelar(48), Woody Austin (42) and Billy Andrade (42) all finished in the Top 10.·
Corey Pavin won last week’s U.S. Bank Championship while finishing dead last in Driving Distance for the week.·
Vijay Singh enters this week’s Buick Open looking for his thirdconsecutive win at the event. Singh also won the title at Warwick Hills in1997 giving him three wins in the last nine years at the tournament.·
A Tiger Woods victory at the Buick Open would give him 50 career TOUR wins. He’d be just the seventh player in history to reach that figure.He’d also be the youngest. Jack Nicklaus was 33 years, 6 months and 21 days old when he claimed his 50th career title (1973 PGA Championship). Woods turned 30 last December 30.·
If the season were to end today, THE TOUR Championship presented byCoca-Cola would feature a field that included 14 Americans, five playersfrom Australia, four from South Africa, two from Canada and one each fromFiji, Sweden, England, Spain and Colombia.·
Trevor Immelman and Nathan Green lead all rookies with five Top-10 finishes each. The two are among four rookies to already pass the$1-million mark in season earnings. The others are Camilo Villegas and J.B. Holmes.·
One more on rookies: The top three players in Driving Distance onTOUR are rookies—Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes and Robert Garrigus. In fact, seven players ranked among the Top 10 in Driving Distance are in theirfirst year on TOUR.
NATIONWIDE TOUR·
The Nationwide Tour Championship at the Houstonian announced a purseincrease this week. The season-ending event will now offer a $750,000purse with $135,000 going to the winner.·
Does anyone close like Brandt Snedeker? On his final hole inregulation in his last five starts, Snedeker has recorded four eagles andone birdie.·
One more on Snedeker: Over his last five starts, the former U.S. Public Links champ has jumped from 93rd on the money list to seventh.·
Tripp Isenhour enters this week’s Cox Classic presented by Chevroletwith two wins on the season. One more and he earns an automatic promotionto the PGA TOUR. Of the seven players to earn the automatic promotion inTour history, three have done so in Omaha—Chris Smith, Heath Slocum and Jason Gore. Gore accomplished the feat last year.
CHAMPIONS TOUR·
Following his victory last week at the Senior British Open, LorenRoberts has won five of his 20 career starts on the Champions Tour. He has18 Top 10 finishes in those 20 starts. He’s played in the final group onSunday eight times already this year, winning four times. By the way, hedidn’t earn his fifth PGA TOUR win until his 432nd career start.·
Roberts and Jay Haas are the only players to finish in the Top 10 ineach of four Champions Tour major championships held so far in 2006.·
One more on Roberts: His final-round score of 75 equals thesecond-highest final round score by a winner in Tour history. Only thefinal-round 76 by Lee Elder at the 1985 Denver Post Champions was higher.·
70-year old Gary Player posted a 1-under par 69 in the first round oflast week’s Senior British Open.
PGA TOUR·
The veteran set played well last week at the U.S. Bank Championshipin Milwaukee with five players over age 40 finishing in the Top 10.
In addition to winner Corey Pavin (age 46), Jeff Sluman (48), Joey Sindelar(48), Woody Austin (42) and Billy Andrade (42) all finished in the Top 10.·
Corey Pavin won last week’s U.S. Bank Championship while finishing dead last in Driving Distance for the week.·
Vijay Singh enters this week’s Buick Open looking for his thirdconsecutive win at the event. Singh also won the title at Warwick Hills in1997 giving him three wins in the last nine years at the tournament.·
A Tiger Woods victory at the Buick Open would give him 50 career TOUR wins. He’d be just the seventh player in history to reach that figure.He’d also be the youngest. Jack Nicklaus was 33 years, 6 months and 21 days old when he claimed his 50th career title (1973 PGA Championship). Woods turned 30 last December 30.·
If the season were to end today, THE TOUR Championship presented byCoca-Cola would feature a field that included 14 Americans, five playersfrom Australia, four from South Africa, two from Canada and one each fromFiji, Sweden, England, Spain and Colombia.·
Trevor Immelman and Nathan Green lead all rookies with five Top-10 finishes each. The two are among four rookies to already pass the$1-million mark in season earnings. The others are Camilo Villegas and J.B. Holmes.·
One more on rookies: The top three players in Driving Distance onTOUR are rookies—Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes and Robert Garrigus. In fact, seven players ranked among the Top 10 in Driving Distance are in theirfirst year on TOUR.
NATIONWIDE TOUR·
The Nationwide Tour Championship at the Houstonian announced a purseincrease this week. The season-ending event will now offer a $750,000purse with $135,000 going to the winner.·
Does anyone close like Brandt Snedeker? On his final hole inregulation in his last five starts, Snedeker has recorded four eagles andone birdie.·
One more on Snedeker: Over his last five starts, the former U.S. Public Links champ has jumped from 93rd on the money list to seventh.·
Tripp Isenhour enters this week’s Cox Classic presented by Chevroletwith two wins on the season. One more and he earns an automatic promotionto the PGA TOUR. Of the seven players to earn the automatic promotion inTour history, three have done so in Omaha—Chris Smith, Heath Slocum and Jason Gore. Gore accomplished the feat last year.
CHAMPIONS TOUR·
Following his victory last week at the Senior British Open, LorenRoberts has won five of his 20 career starts on the Champions Tour. He has18 Top 10 finishes in those 20 starts. He’s played in the final group onSunday eight times already this year, winning four times. By the way, hedidn’t earn his fifth PGA TOUR win until his 432nd career start.·
Roberts and Jay Haas are the only players to finish in the Top 10 ineach of four Champions Tour major championships held so far in 2006.·
One more on Roberts: His final-round score of 75 equals thesecond-highest final round score by a winner in Tour history. Only thefinal-round 76 by Lee Elder at the 1985 Denver Post Champions was higher.·
70-year old Gary Player posted a 1-under par 69 in the first round oflast week’s Senior British Open.
LPGA Tournament Owners vs. Bivens
Check out this letter from the chairman of the LPGA Tournament Owners Assn.
July 28, 2006
To: Jay A. Coffin, Golfweek
Fr: Jack Benjamin, TOA Chairman of the Board
Re: Article – Rift Between Bivens, TOA Widens
Jay,
After receiving many requests for information, the TOA’s position in this memo is only to provide clarification on statements in the article posted on Golfweek’s website this week.
From the tournament point of view, all this really boils down to is managing revenue and expense. Tournaments in 2006 provided roughly $50,000,000 in purse to the LPGA. Tournaments spent another $100,000,000+ to stage events on the Tour. The LPGA takes 6.5% of the total purse ($3,250,000) to support LPGA programs and operations. The remaining $46,750,000 goes to the players. In addition, under the new contract requirement, the LPGA will receive $100,000 from each tournament as a fee to host a LPGA event. Given today’s tour of 32 events, that amounts to $3,200,000 annually. In total, the LPGA receives or will receive a minimum of $6,450,000 directly from the tournaments to support programs and operations. The major concern with just these additional costs (there are other cost requirements in the contract such as purse increases and 100% of the IDS electronic scoreboard expense), is that there are no new revenue sources identified by the LPGA or the Tournaments to sustain these increases in the future. The financial risk rests only with the tournaments.
Another issue that makes interesting conversation is the LPGA impression that tournaments make anywhere from 2 to 9 times the profit that the LPGA makes on an annual basis. This statement is a result of not understanding the business models of most tournaments. The charity gift is not profit. Charity dollars are a requirement and often a line item expense in the tournament budget. The charity gift/expense is necessary in order to attract and keep sponsors and volunteers. It provides a major focus for raising money to support a tournament. The added LPGA expense requirement in the proposed contract, without the identification of new revenue streams, will in many cases reduce the charity contribution, which ultimately reduces sponsor satisfaction and volunteer recruitment. Typically, the only funds left over after the charity donation, are funds to provide operational cash flow until the next year’s tournament.
The TOA’s sole purpose as an association is to investigate, disseminate, and provide factual information to its members in order for the tournament businesses to be competitive and sustainable. The TOA has been engaging in business development efforts with the LPGA on a regular basis for over 20 years. We have had many difficult conversations, and many intense negotiations; we have always come to a satisfactory agreement. That is one of the major reasons why the LPGA business opportunity is so well positioned in today’s sports marketplace. The stage has been set over the years by the great skills of the players, coupled with the partnership between the LPGA and all its major stakeholders and investors.
The implication that the TOA or its member tournaments are struggling with “change” is misleading as tournaments change each year in keeping pace with the sports and entertainment environment and industry. Positive, sustainable change is a negotiated direction between partners who share a vision, and then agree on a path to achieve that vision. This principle is the underlying theme of the TOA’s strategic plan. It’s just business management 101. It only gets complicated when the business vision, the roadways to execute the vision, and the measurements of success are absent or just not clear.
Thank you for your time.
July 28, 2006
To: Jay A. Coffin, Golfweek
Fr: Jack Benjamin, TOA Chairman of the Board
Re: Article – Rift Between Bivens, TOA Widens
Jay,
After receiving many requests for information, the TOA’s position in this memo is only to provide clarification on statements in the article posted on Golfweek’s website this week.
From the tournament point of view, all this really boils down to is managing revenue and expense. Tournaments in 2006 provided roughly $50,000,000 in purse to the LPGA. Tournaments spent another $100,000,000+ to stage events on the Tour. The LPGA takes 6.5% of the total purse ($3,250,000) to support LPGA programs and operations. The remaining $46,750,000 goes to the players. In addition, under the new contract requirement, the LPGA will receive $100,000 from each tournament as a fee to host a LPGA event. Given today’s tour of 32 events, that amounts to $3,200,000 annually. In total, the LPGA receives or will receive a minimum of $6,450,000 directly from the tournaments to support programs and operations. The major concern with just these additional costs (there are other cost requirements in the contract such as purse increases and 100% of the IDS electronic scoreboard expense), is that there are no new revenue sources identified by the LPGA or the Tournaments to sustain these increases in the future. The financial risk rests only with the tournaments.
Another issue that makes interesting conversation is the LPGA impression that tournaments make anywhere from 2 to 9 times the profit that the LPGA makes on an annual basis. This statement is a result of not understanding the business models of most tournaments. The charity gift is not profit. Charity dollars are a requirement and often a line item expense in the tournament budget. The charity gift/expense is necessary in order to attract and keep sponsors and volunteers. It provides a major focus for raising money to support a tournament. The added LPGA expense requirement in the proposed contract, without the identification of new revenue streams, will in many cases reduce the charity contribution, which ultimately reduces sponsor satisfaction and volunteer recruitment. Typically, the only funds left over after the charity donation, are funds to provide operational cash flow until the next year’s tournament.
The TOA’s sole purpose as an association is to investigate, disseminate, and provide factual information to its members in order for the tournament businesses to be competitive and sustainable. The TOA has been engaging in business development efforts with the LPGA on a regular basis for over 20 years. We have had many difficult conversations, and many intense negotiations; we have always come to a satisfactory agreement. That is one of the major reasons why the LPGA business opportunity is so well positioned in today’s sports marketplace. The stage has been set over the years by the great skills of the players, coupled with the partnership between the LPGA and all its major stakeholders and investors.
The implication that the TOA or its member tournaments are struggling with “change” is misleading as tournaments change each year in keeping pace with the sports and entertainment environment and industry. Positive, sustainable change is a negotiated direction between partners who share a vision, and then agree on a path to achieve that vision. This principle is the underlying theme of the TOA’s strategic plan. It’s just business management 101. It only gets complicated when the business vision, the roadways to execute the vision, and the measurements of success are absent or just not clear.
Thank you for your time.
Ryder Cup points
UNITED STATES TEAM 2006 STANDINGS
(through British Open/B.C Open)
=================================
1. Tiger Woods 3,755.000
2. Phil Mickelson 2,474.375
3. Jim Furyk 1,896.000
4. Chad Campbell 1,129.602
5. David Toms 1,072.250
6. Chris DiMarco 830.000
7. J.J. Henry 778.750
8. Zach Johnson 756.477
9.Brett Wetterich 746.000
10. John Rollins 685.000
11. Vaughn Taylor 660.833
12. Lucas Glover 641.376
13. Davis Love III 631.875
14. Fred Couples 627.727
15. Tim Herron 621.667
16. Tom Pernice 565.000
17. Arron Oberholser 557.500
18. Stewart Cink 556.894
19. Billy Mayfair 489.166
20. Brett Quigley 478.333
21. Scott Verplank 475.667
22. Jerry Kelly 473.750t
23. Ben Curtis 445.000t
23. Steve Stricker 445.000
25. Jeff Maggert 439.334
Note: The Top 10 finishers on the points list qualify for the 12-man team,U.S. Ryder Cup Captain will select the two final players to complete the team.
RYDER CUP WORLD POINTS LIST
(through July 23)
===========================
1. David Howell 207.27
2. Colin Montgomerie 205.90
3. Jose Maria Olazabal 202.09
4. Henrik Stenson 199.01
5. Luke Donald 187.74
6. Sergio Garcia 180.71
7. Paul Casey 165.33
8. Carl pettersson 154.12
9. Padraig Harrington 152.22
10. Paul Broadhurst 125.73
11. Johan Edfors 125.00
12. Darren Clarke 121.42
13. Thomas Bjorn 101.40
14. Paul McGinley 101.07
15. Miguel Angel Jimenez 99.47
16. Ian Poulter 92.61
17. John Bickerton 89.12
18. Nick Dougherty 88.89
19. Anthony Wall 87.97
20. Lee Westwood 87.63
21. Robert Karlsson 87.06
22. Simon Khan 77.49
23. Kenneth Ferrie 76.99
24. Anders Hansen 76.17
25. Niclas fasth 72.49
RYDER CUP EUROPEAN POINTS LIST
(through July 23)
==============================
1. Colin Montgomerie 2,413,016.11
2. David Howell 2,274,635.98
3. Henrik Stenson 1,744,908.71
4. Paul Casey 1,721,833.85
5. Sergio Garcia 1,557,771.27
6. Padraig Harrington 1,482,527.44
7. Paul McGinley 1,411,982.24
8. Jose Maria Olazabal 1,381,698.05
9. Paul Broadhurst 1,336,905.57
10. Johan Edfors 1,247,039.24
11. John Bickerton 1,141,957.16
12. Kenneth Ferrie 1,107,963.52
13. Thomas Bjorn 1,104,681.38
14. Robert Karlsson 1,092,811.77
15. Luke Donald 1,059,830.20
16. Miguel Angel Jimenez 1,007,261.85
17. Simon Khan 989,891.32
18. Anthony Wall 989,942.62
19. Stephen Dodd 915,044.05
20. Nick Dougherty 904,124.05
21. Anders Hansen 845,424.55
22. Niclas Fasth 813,308.77
23. Ian Poulter 751,854.43
24. Jose Manuel Lara 747,274.03
25. Simon Dyson 684,533.61
Note: The Top 5 finishers on the Ryder Cup World Points List qualifyfor the 12-man team, the top 5 finishers, not otherwise qualified,on the Ryder Cup European Points List will qualify for the team,European Ryder Cup Captain will select the two final players tocomplete the team.
(through British Open/B.C Open)
=================================
1. Tiger Woods 3,755.000
2. Phil Mickelson 2,474.375
3. Jim Furyk 1,896.000
4. Chad Campbell 1,129.602
5. David Toms 1,072.250
6. Chris DiMarco 830.000
7. J.J. Henry 778.750
8. Zach Johnson 756.477
9.Brett Wetterich 746.000
10. John Rollins 685.000
11. Vaughn Taylor 660.833
12. Lucas Glover 641.376
13. Davis Love III 631.875
14. Fred Couples 627.727
15. Tim Herron 621.667
16. Tom Pernice 565.000
17. Arron Oberholser 557.500
18. Stewart Cink 556.894
19. Billy Mayfair 489.166
20. Brett Quigley 478.333
21. Scott Verplank 475.667
22. Jerry Kelly 473.750t
23. Ben Curtis 445.000t
23. Steve Stricker 445.000
25. Jeff Maggert 439.334
Note: The Top 10 finishers on the points list qualify for the 12-man team,U.S. Ryder Cup Captain will select the two final players to complete the team.
RYDER CUP WORLD POINTS LIST
(through July 23)
===========================
1. David Howell 207.27
2. Colin Montgomerie 205.90
3. Jose Maria Olazabal 202.09
4. Henrik Stenson 199.01
5. Luke Donald 187.74
6. Sergio Garcia 180.71
7. Paul Casey 165.33
8. Carl pettersson 154.12
9. Padraig Harrington 152.22
10. Paul Broadhurst 125.73
11. Johan Edfors 125.00
12. Darren Clarke 121.42
13. Thomas Bjorn 101.40
14. Paul McGinley 101.07
15. Miguel Angel Jimenez 99.47
16. Ian Poulter 92.61
17. John Bickerton 89.12
18. Nick Dougherty 88.89
19. Anthony Wall 87.97
20. Lee Westwood 87.63
21. Robert Karlsson 87.06
22. Simon Khan 77.49
23. Kenneth Ferrie 76.99
24. Anders Hansen 76.17
25. Niclas fasth 72.49
RYDER CUP EUROPEAN POINTS LIST
(through July 23)
==============================
1. Colin Montgomerie 2,413,016.11
2. David Howell 2,274,635.98
3. Henrik Stenson 1,744,908.71
4. Paul Casey 1,721,833.85
5. Sergio Garcia 1,557,771.27
6. Padraig Harrington 1,482,527.44
7. Paul McGinley 1,411,982.24
8. Jose Maria Olazabal 1,381,698.05
9. Paul Broadhurst 1,336,905.57
10. Johan Edfors 1,247,039.24
11. John Bickerton 1,141,957.16
12. Kenneth Ferrie 1,107,963.52
13. Thomas Bjorn 1,104,681.38
14. Robert Karlsson 1,092,811.77
15. Luke Donald 1,059,830.20
16. Miguel Angel Jimenez 1,007,261.85
17. Simon Khan 989,891.32
18. Anthony Wall 989,942.62
19. Stephen Dodd 915,044.05
20. Nick Dougherty 904,124.05
21. Anders Hansen 845,424.55
22. Niclas Fasth 813,308.77
23. Ian Poulter 751,854.43
24. Jose Manuel Lara 747,274.03
25. Simon Dyson 684,533.61
Note: The Top 5 finishers on the Ryder Cup World Points List qualifyfor the 12-man team, the top 5 finishers, not otherwise qualified,on the Ryder Cup European Points List will qualify for the team,European Ryder Cup Captain will select the two final players tocomplete the team.
Golf in space news
Cosmonaut Prepares for Out-of-this-World Golf Shot
Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will attempt to jettison a golf ball into orbit around the Earth in September when he makes his second trip to the International Space Station. If Tyurin's shot proceeds as anticipated, the golf ball will be in orbit for more than three years, travel some 2 billion miles, and be tracked via the Internet.
For more, click here.
Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will attempt to jettison a golf ball into orbit around the Earth in September when he makes his second trip to the International Space Station. If Tyurin's shot proceeds as anticipated, the golf ball will be in orbit for more than three years, travel some 2 billion miles, and be tracked via the Internet.
For more, click here.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Raudenbush wins Junior
From the Golf Association of Philadelphia:
GLADWYNE, Pa.–After a 28-day, rain-induced hiatus, Matt Raudenbush of Pine Valley GC defeated a feisty Michael Kania of Overbrook GC, 2&1, Friday at the Golf Association of Philadelphia's 92nd Junior Boys' Championship at Philadelphia CC.
For the full story, click here.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Pavin's 26
Pavin scorches course
26 on front nine a PGA record
By GARY D’AMATOgdamato@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 27, 2006
It's all about the long ball on the PGA Tour these days, with weight-room fanatics wielding 46-inch drivers and swinging from the heels, playing smash-and-find golf on courses with no defense for the 375-yard tee shot.
Once in a while, though, an old-fashioned shot-maker turns back the clock and shows the kids how it used to be done.
For the Gary D'Amato's full story, click here.
Bivens vs. critics
This just in from the Golf Channel press department:
MEDIA ADVISORY
LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens to Answer her Critics on Friday’s Sprint Post Game on The Golf Channel
WHO: Carolyn Bivens Commissioner, LPGA Tour
Steve Sands Sprint Post Game Host
Brian Hewitt Sprint Post Game Analyst
WHAT: Carolyn Bivens will appear on Friday’s Sprint Post Game news program on The Golf Channel, following the conclusion of the third round of the Evian Masters. Fully aware that she will be asked tough questions, Sprint Post Game will provide a forum for Bivens to answer her critics, explain her positions and to defend her record.
WHEN: Sprint Post Game
Friday, July 28, 9:30 – 10:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: The Golf Channel
Tiger's July newsletter
July 27, 2006
By Tiger Woods
Winning my third British Open was pretty special. Coming into the tournament, I knew I was playing well, but you never know if it will carry over, especially on a strange course.I arrived the Saturday before the tournament because we had never been to Royal Liverpool before and there was no information on the course.
Stevie (Williams) caddied on the course in the early 80's but he couldn't remember a thing. We just had to get there early and formulate a strategy.The max I hit my driver during my practice rounds was three times, just because the wind was different and it was blowing quite a bit. I also wanted to take a look at the golf course. As far as strategy formulating, it probably didn't happen until Monday, and then Tuesday I tried it out and I didn't play on Wednesday.
Out of the four days that I did play - from Saturday through Tuesday - we had three different wind conditions. So I got to play the course so many different ways, and each time I kept coming back to one or two drivers, if I felt comfortable doing it. As it turned out, I only used it once, on the 16th hole Thursday.
Once the tournament stated, I didn't feel I really needed to be that aggressive out there. Just plot your way along and keep making pars. The par-5's where so reachable, I knew I could do damage on them and be in contention on the back nine Sunday. As it turned out, I was right. I played them 14-under par.Of course, I also ranked first in fairways hit in regulation and second in greens in regulation. That's not a bad combo, is it?
For some reason, I had just a wonderful inner-peace the entire week. I didn't know what was going on. It was a great feeling and I wish you could have it all the time, but it doesn't work out that way.When I was playing, I never really got that aggravated and I never got that excited. It was just a nice, level feeling the entire week.
Come Sunday afternoon when I really needed it, I was able to birdie 14, 15 and 16, but I felt at ease. I wasn't pressing all day and I felt a nice, even feeling and it worked out. Sometimes it doesn't work out. This time, it did. Pop must have been looking down on me.
Another thing that happened was before the last round, when I went to warm up at the practice range, I hit several yardage signs on the fly. I also did that last year before the final round at St. Andrews, when I hit the 100-yard marker four-straight times and went on to win. This year was similar. My distance control felt great and I was able to carry it over to the course.
After I met with the press, I went upstairs in the clubhouse with Stevie, Elin, Hank (Haney) and a few friends for a champagne toast with the R&A. The first thing I told them was, `That's the hardest you guys have ever set the pins.' They laughed and apologized for the warm temperatures and lack of wind. I told them if I hadn't been wearing spikes, I would have slipped off a couple greens. They were pretty slick.
I also sent a short text message to Annika Sorenstam that read: 11. When she recently won her 10th major on the LPGA Tour, she couldn't wait to text me. Guess I'm 1-up now.Winning was no fluke.
At the Western Open earlier this month, I worked my butt off with Hank. After I opened with a 1-over 72, we worked for 2 ½ hours until dark, even though I had an early starting time the next morning. I was sliding my head to the right during my back swing and worked hard to correct that. The next day, I shot 67 and went on to finish second. That was huge for me.
Needless to say, I feel good about my swing. I'll play in the Buick Championship next week, then get ready for the PGA Championship at Medinah. Winning another major championship does wonders for your confidence.
Thanks for all your kind emails. And, if you're interested, tickets for the Target World Challenge, Dec. 13-17 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Ca, can now be purchased online at targetworldchallenge.com.Take care.
By Tiger Woods
Winning my third British Open was pretty special. Coming into the tournament, I knew I was playing well, but you never know if it will carry over, especially on a strange course.I arrived the Saturday before the tournament because we had never been to Royal Liverpool before and there was no information on the course.
Stevie (Williams) caddied on the course in the early 80's but he couldn't remember a thing. We just had to get there early and formulate a strategy.The max I hit my driver during my practice rounds was three times, just because the wind was different and it was blowing quite a bit. I also wanted to take a look at the golf course. As far as strategy formulating, it probably didn't happen until Monday, and then Tuesday I tried it out and I didn't play on Wednesday.
Out of the four days that I did play - from Saturday through Tuesday - we had three different wind conditions. So I got to play the course so many different ways, and each time I kept coming back to one or two drivers, if I felt comfortable doing it. As it turned out, I only used it once, on the 16th hole Thursday.
Once the tournament stated, I didn't feel I really needed to be that aggressive out there. Just plot your way along and keep making pars. The par-5's where so reachable, I knew I could do damage on them and be in contention on the back nine Sunday. As it turned out, I was right. I played them 14-under par.Of course, I also ranked first in fairways hit in regulation and second in greens in regulation. That's not a bad combo, is it?
For some reason, I had just a wonderful inner-peace the entire week. I didn't know what was going on. It was a great feeling and I wish you could have it all the time, but it doesn't work out that way.When I was playing, I never really got that aggravated and I never got that excited. It was just a nice, level feeling the entire week.
Come Sunday afternoon when I really needed it, I was able to birdie 14, 15 and 16, but I felt at ease. I wasn't pressing all day and I felt a nice, even feeling and it worked out. Sometimes it doesn't work out. This time, it did. Pop must have been looking down on me.
Another thing that happened was before the last round, when I went to warm up at the practice range, I hit several yardage signs on the fly. I also did that last year before the final round at St. Andrews, when I hit the 100-yard marker four-straight times and went on to win. This year was similar. My distance control felt great and I was able to carry it over to the course.
After I met with the press, I went upstairs in the clubhouse with Stevie, Elin, Hank (Haney) and a few friends for a champagne toast with the R&A. The first thing I told them was, `That's the hardest you guys have ever set the pins.' They laughed and apologized for the warm temperatures and lack of wind. I told them if I hadn't been wearing spikes, I would have slipped off a couple greens. They were pretty slick.
I also sent a short text message to Annika Sorenstam that read: 11. When she recently won her 10th major on the LPGA Tour, she couldn't wait to text me. Guess I'm 1-up now.Winning was no fluke.
At the Western Open earlier this month, I worked my butt off with Hank. After I opened with a 1-over 72, we worked for 2 ½ hours until dark, even though I had an early starting time the next morning. I was sliding my head to the right during my back swing and worked hard to correct that. The next day, I shot 67 and went on to finish second. That was huge for me.
Needless to say, I feel good about my swing. I'll play in the Buick Championship next week, then get ready for the PGA Championship at Medinah. Winning another major championship does wonders for your confidence.
Thanks for all your kind emails. And, if you're interested, tickets for the Target World Challenge, Dec. 13-17 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Ca, can now be purchased online at targetworldchallenge.com.Take care.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Weekly notes from the PGA Tour
E NOTES FROM THE PGA TOURPGA TOUR·
Tiger Woods wasn’t the only player to hole out from the fairway on apar-4 last week. In fact, an astonishing 10 eagle two’s were recordedlast week at the B.C. Open presented by Turning Stone. A remarkable fivewere made in the first round. Arjun Atwal played the par-4 ninth hole in2-3-2-4 for the week.·
Tiger Woods hit 85.7% of the fairways in winning last week’s BritishOpen. That’s the highest percentage for any winner on the PGA TOUR thisyear.·
One more on Tiger: His victory last week made him the first playerin TOUR history to go over the $60-million mark in career earnings.·
It was a different course, but John Rollins obviously likes theupstate New York area. He was second at the B.C. Open last year at En JoieGC and the winner this past week at Turning Stone.·
Larry Mize finished in a T6 last week at the B.C. Open for his firstTop-10 finish since a T2 at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic.·
Along the same lines, Bob May recorded his first Top-10 finish sincehe was third at the 2000 Reno-Tahoe Open. May finished second last week atthe B.C. Open.·
Where are all these long hitters coming from? The Nationwide Tour. Eight of the current Top 10 in Driving Distance on the TOUR are formerNationwide Tour players.
CHAMPIONS TOUR·
Champions Tour players Tom Watson and Fred Funk both made the cut last week at the British Open. Watson finished in a T48 while Funk wasT66.·
Champions Tour player Wayne Levi returned his home area of New York and made the cut at the PGA TOUR’s B.C. Open last week. Levi finished in aT62.·
Americans have won the last three Senior British Opens. Tom Watson won twice, 2003 and 2005, while Pete Oakley won in 2004. Watson won in2003 at Turnberry, site of this week’s Senior British Open. He also wonthe 1977 British Open at Turnberry.·
This week’s Senior British Open marks the third consecutive ChampionsTour major championship on the schedule. The U.S. Senior Open (won byAllen Doyle) started things off followed by the Ford Senior Players Championship (won by Bobby Wadkins). The Champions Tour was off last week.
NATIONWIDE TOUR·
The victory by John Rollins last week at the B.C. Open was the 190th win by a former Nationwide Tour player on the PGA TOUR. It was the 15th win this season by alums of the Nationwide Tour.·
Tiger Woods wasn’t the only player to hole out from the fairway on apar-4 last week. In fact, an astonishing 10 eagle two’s were recordedlast week at the B.C. Open presented by Turning Stone. A remarkable fivewere made in the first round. Arjun Atwal played the par-4 ninth hole in2-3-2-4 for the week.·
Tiger Woods hit 85.7% of the fairways in winning last week’s BritishOpen. That’s the highest percentage for any winner on the PGA TOUR thisyear.·
One more on Tiger: His victory last week made him the first playerin TOUR history to go over the $60-million mark in career earnings.·
It was a different course, but John Rollins obviously likes theupstate New York area. He was second at the B.C. Open last year at En JoieGC and the winner this past week at Turning Stone.·
Larry Mize finished in a T6 last week at the B.C. Open for his firstTop-10 finish since a T2 at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic.·
Along the same lines, Bob May recorded his first Top-10 finish sincehe was third at the 2000 Reno-Tahoe Open. May finished second last week atthe B.C. Open.·
Where are all these long hitters coming from? The Nationwide Tour. Eight of the current Top 10 in Driving Distance on the TOUR are formerNationwide Tour players.
CHAMPIONS TOUR·
Champions Tour players Tom Watson and Fred Funk both made the cut last week at the British Open. Watson finished in a T48 while Funk wasT66.·
Champions Tour player Wayne Levi returned his home area of New York and made the cut at the PGA TOUR’s B.C. Open last week. Levi finished in aT62.·
Americans have won the last three Senior British Opens. Tom Watson won twice, 2003 and 2005, while Pete Oakley won in 2004. Watson won in2003 at Turnberry, site of this week’s Senior British Open. He also wonthe 1977 British Open at Turnberry.·
This week’s Senior British Open marks the third consecutive ChampionsTour major championship on the schedule. The U.S. Senior Open (won byAllen Doyle) started things off followed by the Ford Senior Players Championship (won by Bobby Wadkins). The Champions Tour was off last week.
NATIONWIDE TOUR·
The victory by John Rollins last week at the B.C. Open was the 190th win by a former Nationwide Tour player on the PGA TOUR. It was the 15th win this season by alums of the Nationwide Tour.·
Lendl extras and out-takes
Here are a few quotes from Ivan Lendl that didn't make it into today's story in the Inquirer:
On his constant need to compete, even with himself, such as during his daily bike ride when he feels compelled to improve his time. Does he ever stop and smell the roses?
"No, no. I smell them on the way back."
On whether he knows enough to give his daughters, Marika and Isabelle technical advice about their swings.
"No. I am not looking at their swings. I do not understand swings enough. They know more about their swings than I do. I look at where their misses go, so I can give reports to their coaches.
"Sometimes, when I go over a round, I say, okay, she missed six greens to the left. If I tell their coach, he knows what the problem is. When she calls him in the evening, he already knows what to tell them."
On why neither Marika or Isabelle mentioned Nancy Lopez or Annika Sorenstam as idols.
"They wouldn't know about Nancy Lopez (too long ago). I am surprised they didn't mention Annika."
And how come no mention of Michelle Wie, other than Isabelle's dismissive comment, "She hasn't won anythying."
"I will stay out of that one. I will give you a tip: Ask anybody out here, do a survey, and if Michelle Wie comes up once, I would be shocked."
Note: Wie's name is mud around the American Junior Golf Association because she essentially blew off junior golf to try to luck at the next level.
On whether he wishes he'd found golfer earlier in his life?
"I wish I had it over; I would play golf. Gary Player put it best. He has an outing every year and one year, he had a bunch of celebrated retired athletes. He says to every one of us, 'How old were you when you retired? 34. 36. 31.' He said, 'I am 62 years old and if somebody told me I had to quit golf, I would cry.'"
On his constant need to compete, even with himself, such as during his daily bike ride when he feels compelled to improve his time. Does he ever stop and smell the roses?
"No, no. I smell them on the way back."
On whether he knows enough to give his daughters, Marika and Isabelle technical advice about their swings.
"No. I am not looking at their swings. I do not understand swings enough. They know more about their swings than I do. I look at where their misses go, so I can give reports to their coaches.
"Sometimes, when I go over a round, I say, okay, she missed six greens to the left. If I tell their coach, he knows what the problem is. When she calls him in the evening, he already knows what to tell them."
On why neither Marika or Isabelle mentioned Nancy Lopez or Annika Sorenstam as idols.
"They wouldn't know about Nancy Lopez (too long ago). I am surprised they didn't mention Annika."
And how come no mention of Michelle Wie, other than Isabelle's dismissive comment, "She hasn't won anythying."
"I will stay out of that one. I will give you a tip: Ask anybody out here, do a survey, and if Michelle Wie comes up once, I would be shocked."
Note: Wie's name is mud around the American Junior Golf Association because she essentially blew off junior golf to try to luck at the next level.
On whether he wishes he'd found golfer earlier in his life?
"I wish I had it over; I would play golf. Gary Player put it best. He has an outing every year and one year, he had a bunch of celebrated retired athletes. He says to every one of us, 'How old were you when you retired? 34. 36. 31.' He said, 'I am 62 years old and if somebody told me I had to quit golf, I would cry.'"
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
More Bivens controversy
More trouble between the new LPGA commissioner and the tournament owners. Check out this latest story from Jay Coffin in Golf Week
Rift between Bivens, TOA widens
By JAY A. COFFIN
Another week, another Carolyn Bivens controversy.
This time, the LPGA commissioner bailed on a July 20 Tournament Owners Association meeting at the last moment, saying she was uncomfortable with the situation. Bivens made her decision moments before she was to board an airplane heading for Denver, and she told several other LPGA staff members they were not permitted to attend. One senior staffer was at the Denver airport when Bivens made the decision, and the staff member immediately returned to the tour's Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters.
For the full story, click here.
Rift between Bivens, TOA widens
By JAY A. COFFIN
Another week, another Carolyn Bivens controversy.
This time, the LPGA commissioner bailed on a July 20 Tournament Owners Association meeting at the last moment, saying she was uncomfortable with the situation. Bivens made her decision moments before she was to board an airplane heading for Denver, and she told several other LPGA staff members they were not permitted to attend. One senior staffer was at the Denver airport when Bivens made the decision, and the staff member immediately returned to the tour's Daytona Beach, Fla., headquarters.
For the full story, click here.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Five things I learned watching the British Open
1. Tiger Woods will definitely break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors. In the past year, I had my doubts. No longer. He's as good as ever, and more determined.
2. Parched as it was, Hoylake was a perfectly suitable venue, not the over-matched has-been course many of the critics made it out to be.
3. Chris DiMarco has more grit, guts and fight in his pinky finger than most of his tour pro rivals could ever dream of having.
4. Jim Furyk ain't far behind him.
5. I'd never really noticed before what a vacuous, annoying twit Bobby Clampett is.
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