Green Posse

Good guy Scott Verplank won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas today and bested Luke Donald by 1 shot in the process. Verplank has always been one of the tour’s best putters but his lack of length off the tee hinders his ability to win on the long, difficult courses that are so prevalent on the PGA tour.
Luke (“I’m also a painter”) Donald definitely spit the bit today, and this is actually becoming the norm for the “next Tiger”. If you recall, he also spit the bit at the PGA Championship on Sunday whiled paired with …read more

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Last time I checked, it was the year 2007, and the LPGA is growing at a phenomenal rate with all the young guns alive and well givng the veterans all they can handle. So how come this week’s LPGA event, the Corona Championship, isn’t being telecast on any network? Obviously there’s a serious expense in broadcasting a tour event (PGA or LPGA) and you need sponsorships to offset as much of the expenses as you can, and then still provide enough money for a decent purse.
And the new number one player, Lorena Ochoa, is playing on her home …read more

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CBS announced that will not be airing John Daly’s new Maxfli ad in which he sings a song, guzzles down some beer, and drives a little crazy with a golf cart. First a couple of objective opinions about the ad: 1. John Daly can’t sing. At all. Even a country song, where the talent bar is low to being with. 2. He’s portraying (and in some cases unfortunately) how a large percentage of weekend hacks behave on the golf course, and at the 19th hole after a round. 3. The ad missed its …read more

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It’s no surprise, but it appears there’s some discontent in the Gulbis camp and the two combatants are Natalie’s coach Butch Harmon, and her father John. Harmon was quoted as saying, “Someone’s gonna have to change, either him or me”. This was in response to remarks made by John Gulbis when he said that part of the blame of Natalie’s lack of performance should fall on Harmon.
Sadly, John Gulbis has the same problem as Michelle Wie’s father, and it’s that they can’t stay out of their respective daughter’s lives. Natalie’s biggest problem is that she has …read more

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This is the first year of the Bryon Nelson Championship without Lord Byron himself. There’s no question his legacy is huge as a gentleman and a professional golfer. There’ s been some noise this week about the fact that 11 of the top 15 players in the world have chose not to compete in his tournament.
I would venture to guess that some of these players didn’t feel the need (right or wrong) to be there now that Lord Byron has passed on. Yeah, it’s probably a bit selfish that they can’t honor and support the tournament …read more

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Michelle Wie accepted an invitation to play in the 2007 Ginn Tribute, hosted by Ms. Sorenstam herself. Normally, I’d file this as miscellaneous news, but given that Sorenstam and Wie will be coming off injuries to play in the tournament, it lends itself to more interesting news. Even Sorenstam understands the draw Wie has on attendance and television figures so it’s not a complete surprise that she wants Wie to play.
On the other hand, Wie’s injury will be the least of her problems when she returns (no matter where it’s at). Her reputation as well as her …read more

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Well, it’s official. Lorena Ochoa is now the women’s number 1 player in the world. Her consistent play finally moved her .14 points in front of Annika Sorenstam. It’s not much, but when it’s for number one, it doesn’t matter by how much, just that you did it. Does it mean Sorenstam can’t get it back? Of course not. All she needs to is have strong summer when she returns from her back injury and maybe win a major or two.
It also appears official that Phil Mickelson left former teacher Rick …read more

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Nick Watney played very steady golf today and shot a 3-under 69 to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans by 3 over Ken Duke. Though I’d never heard much about Watney, he played some very impressive iron shots on the back nine and seemed to handle the pressure coming in, extremely well. CBS analyst Peter Kostis analyzed his swing a couple of times and it’s obvious the guy has an excellent swing.
Could this propel him to another win this year? It’s hard to say because competition is tough on the PGA tour, but on the other …read more

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Not to be demeaning or anything, but the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has a leaderboard that’s full of, to be PC, 2nd-tier players on the PGA tour. The leader after three rounds is Nick Watney; Ken Duke is 2 back; Mark Calcavecchia and Scott Gutschewski are three back. Save for Calcavecchia, the rest of the guys are hardly household names, but they’re heading into Sunday well within striking distance of the leader.
This tournament used to draw big names not all that long ago, but with the purses being so large today, the top-25 can pick and choose …read more

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Okay, we’re a quarter of the way through the season and after looking at the stats for the LPGA I can’t help but wonder what happened to the LPGA’s young guns? On first glance it appears that they’re missing, but in fact, it’s not all that bad. A couple of years ago, there were lots of TV ads touting the youngsters, and there was Lorena Ochoa (accounted for), Paula Creamer (accounted for), Cristie Kerr (MIA), Natalie Gulbis (MIA), and Christina Kim (MIA). Of that MIA list, Kerr is the only won that has continue to win (though …read more

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