Two bits of golf news today: First, Liberty National, just across frpm Wall Street in New Jersey got their wish and landed the 2009 Barclay’s tournament. Many of the old guard mourn the loss of Westchester from the schedule, but hey, the PGA gets much closer to the deep pockets of Wall Street. Follow the money. I reviewed LibNat (as she is affectionately...
Well, here you go. The tour players voted in a landslide – 70% in favor of declaring The Players golf’s fifth major. That’s “fifth of five,” Geoff Shackelford. There is no need to resist this. Don’t be preconditioned and afraid of change. Embrace Sawgrass as hosting a major…after all, you can go play it. Now by an even...
Ron’s excellent article is here. It’s time people. There are now five major golf championships. And Sawgrass, The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass sure has alot of excitement, doesn’t it?
Put Padraig Harrington in the camp that supports Sawgrass and the THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP as the fifth major. “I’m thinking more about (The Players) and the U.S. Open. It fits nicely into the schedule this year after the Masters. The change does suit the schedule better. Now there are five tournaments to peak for.” The entire article is in...
What can I say? I’m all for Spanish “Hacienda” style architecture, but the new clubhouse at Sawgrass is so huge, it’s reedonkyulous! [Editor’s note: That’s “ridiculous,” but with a donkey thrown in to show how over the top it is…] Look, call me Egyptian, (or maybe in the case of my deep love for Sawgrass, a...
Well, by now everyone knows Selena Roberts took tough shots at both Tm Finchem and Woods in her New York Times article yesterday. Then of course, the NYT goes and makes you pay $7.95 for it by placing it in their “NYT Select” section. Which means you pay to read one article, then get snowed under with useless emails. Well guess again. I’m not giving...
…oops..the EDS Byron Nelson. But its fitting…and a feel good story to boot.
ESPN has a Tim Rosaforte report that last year’s rookie of the year, Trevor Immelman picked up a virus during Masters week and has lost 26 pounds. He hopes to return to competition by the Wachovia Championship.
Lets get something out up front – what you saw this week is NOT how “firm and fast” is supposed to play. As a result, we got a U.S. Open instead of a Masters. Fast and firm conditions are primarily – almost exclusively – found on courses built on sand, usually seaside courses. They allow the ground game; bump and run shots form up to 100...
Reader “Double Par” offers these thoughts on how Eldrick’s schedule impacts the PGA Tour: The real question is how did these events survive before Tiger joined the Tour? The answer is they did to differing degrees. These tournaments shouldn’t point to Tiger as the reason for their demise or difficulties. They should either look at...
Jeff Shelley of Cybergolf wrote this great article about how when Tiger doesn’t play an event, the event suffers financially.
Geoff Shackelford addresses the same concern in a piece where he quotes Gary Van Sickle.
Here’s the van Sickle article in full. Gary is dead on target. The tournament was built on the bones of other, more pedigreed tourneys.
Richard Oliver of the San Antonio Express News has this terrific article on the state of the Tour, the Tiger effect, the popularity of the FedEx Cup with the players. Great stuff, Richard. See you at a tournament soon.
***UPDATE 03.11.07 18:30*** Orlando Sentinel Article is here. Fox Sports and the AP report PGA Tour player Arjun Atwal was engaged in a street race in which John Noah Park, the driver of another car crashed and died. According to the article: No charges have been filed against Atwal, the first player from India on the PGA Tour. “At a minimum, he is facing a...
Three short bits today: 1. Tim Finchem announced that Tiger new tournament will be a limited field invitational. Finchem said cryptically: Now there’s a couple of reasons for that. One is prestige of the event. The other is, even though it’s snowing today, it’s quite warm here — I used to live here for ten years, July 4th, and pace of play...
Who says there aren’t golf gods? Who says that the kharmic wheel doesn’t reward the virtuous or that nice guys will finish last? Mark Wilson called the most piddley two-stroke penalty on himself and was forced into a four man playoff. Why a two stroke penalty? Camilo Villegas asked his caddy what club he thought Wilson used. The caddy replied he thought...