Green Posse

Lorena Ochoa is having a banner year on the LPGA tour and is leading the money list, but Karrie Webb is trailing her by about $300,000, and is also having a great year. This year has been an important one for Ochoa because she was developing a reputation of not being able to close the deal, but she’s proved to herself that she can pull the trigger when it matters most.
You only need to look back to the LPGA’s first major of the year when she drilled a 5-wood over water with all the marbles on the line. …read more

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It appears that Tiger Woods has taken a leadership role on this year’s Ryder Cup team. Reports indicate that he took out the Ryder Cup rookies for a “get-to-know-you” dinner after he won this past Sunday. Not only that, but both he and Mickelson rescheduled their “previous commitments” so that they could join the rest of the team for the “bonding” trip to the K-Club.
I wonder if Tiger and the rest of the team is feeling some pressure this time around to at least be competitive and possibly even win. I do think it’s somewhat noble of Tiger to play …read more

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Okay, this is the last time, I promise.  No more raggin’ on the Senior circuit.  If you watched the Jeld-Wen tournament this past weekend (what’s a Jeld-Wen BTW?), you no doubt noticed the Golf Channel had their big guns (minus Kraig Kann) covering the festivities.  Considering the Golf Channel made a sizeable investment in TV rights to cover the Senior’s, it behooves them to throw the first-team at this event, but is it too little, too late?  On the other hand, it kinda raised a red flag when I saw the Golf Channel making this kind of effort at the …read more

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Tiger Woods won his 4th consecutive tournament today by outlasting Stewart Cink in a 4-hole playoff.  This was hardly vintage Woods as he struggled coming in while Cink was making clutch birdies to tie him.  Woods clearly was struggling with the flat-stick on the closing holes as he either came up short, or was blowing it by the hole.
Lucky for him, Cink isn’t Mickelson, Singh, or Els as Tiger would have probably lost if one of the big guns were in the playoff.  It was a little odd seeing Tiger struggle, after watching him the past weeks completely own his …read more

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Tim Finchem and Tiger Woods came out this week with differing views on whether drug testing needs to be implemented on the PGA Tour.  Woods said he didn’t think anyone was using performance-enhancing drugs, but felt it was better to be proactive than reactive about it.
While strength-conditioning has been a constant on the tour for the last 10 years or so, sheer muscle alone does not a golfer make.  The PGA and Nationwide tours are full of guys that can hit the ball 350 yards without really breaking a sweat.  Does that make them legitimate contenders?  Hardly.  Bubba Watson and …read more

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I’ve said before that Jack Nicklaus was my golf idol when I was learning the game.  He had that same presence Tiger does when he walked onto a golf course.  I saw him play at an event in the early 80s and I was sitting in the bleachers early one morning before any of the pros had teed off watching them at the range hitting balls.  There must have been 20 or so guys on the range that day, with their caddies and others hanging round them.  All of a sudden you started hearing, “here comes Jack, here comes Jack”.  …read more

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Call me a little to sensitive on this one, but from my perspective, it appears that most of Tiger’s fellow tour professionals aren’t giving the man credit where credit is due. Most of the comments regarding his current major streak are along the lines of “yeah, he’s playing well, but he’s getting all the breaks too”. That’s not to say that his peers should be treating him like someone that walks on water, but at least acknowledge the accomplishment of what he’s done. It’s been said that Tiger reads everything that’s said or written about him and …read more

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Was reading about the latest television numbers for the Geriatric Tour and quite frankly, it doesn’t look good for the Champions Tour, at least from a TV perspective. Reports indicate through 14 weeks of coverage on the Golf Channel, the Champions Tour is averaging less than 100,000 viewers. For comparison’s sake, the LPGA is averaging more than twice that number for its tournaments on the Golf Channel. If you’re buying air time as an advertiser, then you’re losing money and you are also subsidizing the tour this year. Gotta believe corporate CFOs aren’t too happy …read more

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I’ve been giving Tiger’s so-so record in the Ryder Cup some thought. There’s no question he’s the best player on the planet, but it appears on the surface that the Ryder Cup might not interest him enough to give it his all. On the contrary I believe. The Ryder Cup is a team event by its nature. Twelve guys get together, (supposedly) bond, drink beer, share a truth stick, and generally get to know each other for 2 weeks out of every 2 years.
There’s only one problem with this scenario. Each and everyone one of …read more

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Tom Lehman finalized his 2006 Ryder Cup team by selecting Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank for his Captain’s picks. Cink has been playing the most consistent of all the potential Captain’s picks, but quite frankly, that’s not saying much. There was absolutely no movement on the Ryder Cup team from last week’s event, which means all those guys that could have made moves into the top 10, went the other way and disappeared altogether.
On paper, this American team reminds me of the Bad News Bears, but much older. However, like the Bad News Bears, this team may …read more

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