Congrats to Danny King of Milton Ontario as he advances to the second stage of Q- School qualifying after posting a 4 under 284 at the CypressWood GC in Spring TX. After opening with a shaky round of 73 and and a presumably not so fun 76, he finished strong with rounds of 68 and 67 to finish tied for tenth.

Dave Schultz, Fargo, ND was medallist at -12 276.

Twenty six spots were awarded with even par being the number for the last players to advance.

Heading into the weekend play for the Ginn sur Mer Classic, a number of players are in position to possibly “save their year”, and gain coveted exempt status for the 2008 season.

The Leaders Bob Estes, and Tommy Armour don’t have too much to worry about, with Estes at #118 and Armour at #113, but Steve Lowery and Michael Sim, both currently tied for fourth on the leader board and #148 and #177 respectively on the money list, would both dearly love a high finish, if not the victory (of course).

There are around thirty players within ten strokes of the lead, with about half the field, yet to start their second round after rain postponed the completion of the secound round Friday.

Many of the players in the field this week are high on the money list,(with, as with golf scores, high being not a good thing), as is typical of the last few tournaments of the year, with most of the “marquee” players having packed their clubs away for the season.

In fact there are only eight of the top fifty and twenty two of the top hundred on the money list in the field this week which is great for those players who are trying to improve their position, but not so great for any casual golf fan who might think they’re going to see Tiger Woods play this weekend

Congratulations to Mike Weir for winning the Frys’ Electronics Open, after he shot a 2-under 68 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory over Australia’s Mark Hensby.

It’s  great to see Mike back on his game, and hopefully his  success will continue in 2008.

It was Mike’s first victory since he won the 2004 Nissan Open.

He finished at 14-under 266 for his eighth PGA TOUR victory, which ties him with George Knudson for most PGA tour victories by a Canadian.

The victory was worth $900,000 and moves him to 33rd on the 2007 PGA tour money list.

Carl Pettersson, who led after three rounds, and Sean O’Hair tied for fourth at
9 under. Pettersson shot a 74, and O’Hair had a 69.

I was just cyber-visiting one of the golf forums, where a very important (in the micro-world of the “recreational golf universe”) was raised :

The question was posed :

“What is the etiquette on relieving yourself on the course when playing in a
mixed foursome? With people you know, its obviously no problem. But today,
playing as a single, I was hooked up with a married couple and the situation
arose. I managed to hold out for a porta-potty this time, but what if next time I’m not so lucky?” Read more

Mike Pedersen wrote an article last month about the Top 5 Reasons Golfers Don’t Improve and he listed some good reasons why the average golfer is not improving.

As I wrote in my comment on Mike’s site :

The “lack of improvement statistic” story, seems to have been around forever, and while it may in fact be true, there’s a saying about statistics can be interpreted any way you want, or some such variation.

IMO, the statistic would be more meaningful if it was applied to only those golfers who were actually TRYING to improve their games. “ Read more

.. they have a problem”

That phrase was uttered to me many years ago, by the head pro at the club I was working at.

Even though the club was private, they did have a limited number of “outside/company” tournaments each year, to generate revenue.

I was working in the pro-shop during one of those tournaments, when one of the players walked into the shop to check in and he requested a golf cart. Read more

After a disapointing year that included 6 missed cuts, tour rookie George McNiell won his first P.G.A. tour event, Sunday, at the Frys.com open.

The 32 year old 2007 Q-school medalist, fired a solid final round 67, with only one bogey, that coming on the last hole which he was playing with a 5 stroke lead.

Mike Weir finished tied for tenth after a final round 2 under 70, a round that included 5 birdies, but unfortunately also 3 bogeys.  While Mike was undoubtedly not pleased with the bogeys, he probably was not nearly as annoyed as Kent Jones who also tied for 10th place after making a triple bogey 8 on the par 5 16th hole.

For his victory, McNiel earns $720,000 and a two year exemption.

“I was trying not to think about all that stuff when I was out there playing,” McNeill said. “I don’t get too emotional.  I’m having fun with this. It hasn’t sunk in. … In a sense, I know I have a job for the next two years and it takes the pressure off.”

After the second round of the Frys.com Open Garrett Willis, D.J. Trahan and
George McNeill, are tied for the lead at 13-under.

Further evidence of the “birdifest” is that the next ten players on the leader board are all each at least -10.

The amazing thing is that these thirteen players average position on the money list is 134th, with Garrett Willis, John Huston and Bob May all making appearances from the depths of the “200+” money club.

Are some P.G.A. tour setups, just too darn easy? Read more

The most common reason I see golfers not able to keep their “head down” (i.e. stable spine angle), is that their body motion is often almost non-existent, the motion being “all arms”, the cause usually being “dead legs” , i.e. “flat footed” or “locked up” knees.

If a (relatively) forceful swing of the arms is made through the ball, and the body and legs do not turn out of the way, then *some part* of the body has to absorb the momentum built up. Read more

Today on the Masters web site :

“Billy Payne, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament,announced today three new strategic relationships as part of a worldwide initiative to utilize the Masters brand to further promote the game of golf.”

The Masters “brand” ?

What the heck is that? Read more