Green Posse

Well, it appears from wire reports that the Americans are finally letting their hair down at a Ryder Cup match. The team went out today to practice together and while they played with their potential partners for part of the day, Lehman had another surprise before they were finished.
On the 7th hole, which has penninsula green, Lehman had them stop short of the water and from there, they had to skip the ball off the water, over the rocks and onto the green. Each had varying degrees of success, but in the end, David Toms won their mini-Skins …read more

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There was an interesting article at The Golf Channel that talked about the possibility of the Nationwide Tour having better golfers than the European Tour. With all due respect to our Nationwide players, they’re a distant third behind the European players. It’s really not even close and I’m not sure what the point of the article is, except to create fodder for the Europeans to use as motivation this week.
For those not aware, the Nationwide Tour is the minor-leagues of the PGA Tour and it’s full of guys (young and middle-aged) trying to make it to the big …read more

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I’m must have been sleepwalking yesterday because I forgot to mention that Paul (The Mouth) Casey won the HSBC World Match Play Championships by absolutely trouncing Shaun Micheel, 10 and 8. For newbies, that’s 10 holes UP with 8 holes left in the match. That kind of score is almost unheard of in the professional ranks, and even more so in an event like this where it’s packed with great players.
I watched part of the replay on the Golf Channel and it was the best and the worst of what a player might go through during a match. …read more

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Ben Curtis won the 84 Lumber Classic today and in the process finally validated his 2003 Open Championship at Royal St. Georges. This was also his second win of the year and propelled him from 51st to 22nd on the PGA Tour money list with a little over $2.0 million. For those unaware, Curtis won the 2003 Open Championship primarily because the big guns kept spitting the bit on the final few holes.
No one was more surprised than Curtis when he won that July day at Royal St. Georges, and while that is not meant to take anything …read more

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One week from today, we’ll be anticipating the Sunday singles matches at the Ryder Cup in Ireland. Hopefully, the Americans will have made the matches competitive and we can look forward to the singles matches meaning something. Yes, I know I’m being a little harsh on the guys from the U.S. of A., but it’s only because of their previous matches.
I’m a little curious as to what Lehman’s pairings are going to be beyond the Woods-Furyk, and Mickelson-DiMarco pairings. This squad is so full of unknowns that almost anything is a crap shoot. Do you try …read more

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Had a few emails asking about match play so I thought I’d spend some time looking at how it differs from medal, or stroke play. Match play differs from medal play in that opponents compete to win individual holes, and once a hole is completed, strokes are reset for the next hole. For example, let’s say Gary and Perry are competing against each other in match play and on the first hole, Gary gets a 4 and Perry gets a 5. Gary wins the 1st hole and is considered 1-up (or up 1 hole) in the match …read more

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Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, and Retief Goosen. Four of the top golfers in the world. All are going home early after first-round losses at the HSBC Match Play Championship outside of London. Match play is a completely different beast than medal (stroke) play and it’s not completely surprising to see these guys on the outside looking in now.
The up side is that now Woods and Furyk can potentially spend more time together prepping for the Ryder Cup next week since in all likelihood, they’ll be partners for at least a couple of the matches. …read more

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Tiger Woods, Chris DiMarco, and Darren Clarke. The casual golfer knows that on the surface, all that they have in common is that they’re professional golfers. For the more serious golf fan, they know that what really links them together this year is that all three men have dealt with the loss of immediate family members. And they’ve all dealt with their losses differently, though Clarke will be returning this week for the first time since his wife Heather passed away.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a family member, but I’m not sure I’d have …read more

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There’s an excellent interview over at CNNSI with the great John Wooden, the greatest college basketball coach in history (in my humble opinion). So what does have to do with golf? The interview, Seth Davis, asked Mr. Wooden some golf questions and here’s an excerpt of some of his answers:
Davis: Is Tiger Woods the most dominant athlete in the history of sports?
Wooden: “I would say Byron Nelson dominated the sport more in his era. Check the number of tournaments — 11 in a row at one time, and I think a total of 18 that year. So …read more

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PGA
Jim Furyk won the Canadian Open yesterday and in the process moved up in the world rankings to 2nd place, moving Phil Mickelson down a spot. Ouch! A year ago, Mickelson had become the darling of the media and the fans as he had just won the PGA Championship and eventually would go on to win the Masters, securing his spot as golf’s darling boy. Now he’s been replaced by a golfer who’s swing is just slightly better than Miller Barber’s, but hey, who can argue with Furyk’s success? I hope Mickelson is planning a makeover in the off-season or …read more

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