The Canadian Open

'Roids or Yoga?

Date Written: July 30, 2007
Jim (Back-Off) Furyk captured his second straight Canadian Open with a last round 64 that featured a hole-in-one. In contrast to Furyk's birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle success (5 under par) at the 4th hole, Vijay Singh, who finished second by one shot, went bogey-bogey-par-bogey (3 over par) on that hole during the four days.

Our Jim Brady re-takes second place in our funky pool with his T-10th pick of Camillo "Vee-Jay-Gas." Last evening, in an informal poll after a nifty skins game that featured a bunch of local assistant pro's, Camillo was voted most-likely pro on tour to be taking steroids. Either that or massive overdoses of that ancient Eastern drug called "Yoga." I say give 'em all a blood test.

Other tour news:

Aussie youngster, Jason Day, fires a 62 and a 63 on his last two rounds in the Nationwide event in Cleveland to finish one back of two-time winner, Roland Thatcher. My prediction: we are going to hear a lot from Day next year on the PGA Tour. He looks the part.

Natalie Gulbis (who's also fun to look at, but for different reasons than young, Master Day) finally earned her first LPGA Tour title, getting a birdie on the first hole of a playoff against South Korea's Jang Jeong to win the Evian Masters in Evian-Les-Bains, France.

Tom Watson redeemed himself (somewhat) from the back nine debacle at the Senior U.S. Open a couple of weeks ago at Whistling Straigts to outlast his peers and capture the British Senior Open.

And, Andres Romero won his first title on the European Tour at the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship on Sunday, a week after his near miss at the Open Championship.

Keep your eye on the two tournaments that count in the money standings this week; another WGC and the Reno-Tahoe.

The British Open

Paddy's Day

Date Written: July 23, 2007

What if you hit it in the water TWICE on your last hole? What if you then make a miracle, up-and-down for double bogey? Do you still win 2 bucks from Uncle Willy? I don't think so...but it happened at The British Open. Paddy, of Harrington fame, dodges a bullet with his already-famous, TWO, 18th hole flubs; one a mis-directed drive and the other a solid chunk. For a time, it looked like a replay of Jean Van de Velde's '99 "Fiasco at Carnasty." To quote Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com, "Carnoustie's 18th is harder than taking the LSAT with a hangover. The hole should come with a warning label."

I was sad for Sergio who could have won it outright with a par on 18. Another guy from the hotbed of golf...Argentina??? named Andres Romero snuck into the mix on the last day with a scorecard that looked more like scribbling....10 birdies and two doubles. He goes into #17 at nine under with a two-shot lead, then finishes double bogey, bogey to miss the playoff by a shot. A wild finishing hole, to be sure. And then, for all us golf-junkies, an almost anti-climactic four-hole playoff. The eventual champion, Mr. Harrington, seemed so perfectly charming and overwhelmed by his victory, claiming to be just a journeyman player. Sergio was semi-gracious in defeat, biting his lip while he accepted the second place silver. But somehow he blamed the long delay on 18 for his failure to finish the deal. "It seemed to take a long time to rake two bunkers, a very long time," Garcia said. "It's not fun, not fun standing there."

In our little funky pool, Scott Winegar's smart pick of Sergio made just enough to inch him into second place, pennies ahead of Jim Brady who was one of nine who picked Big Ernie and made a nice piece of change.

In the companion Milwaukee tourney, Doug B. had the best result with Kenny Perry's tie for fifth. Another "teenage phenom" surfaced in Milwaukee. Remember this name....Tony Kinau. He's a strapping pup of 17 who rather than go to college, turned pro and made the cut. On Friday, he drove the ball 369 yards over water and onto the green at the par-4 16th hole. Steve Flesch said, "I saw him hit some balls on the range, he's phenomenal. It's a cannon. It's cool. Good for him."

Walter Littenberg

The John Deere

The "C" Word

Date Written: July 16, 2007

I was rooting for the South African, Tim Clark, down the stretch at The John Deere because he's short, out-of-shape and a non-winner on Tour. He's also got a bad neck, putts with a broomstick, reminds me of me....yada yada. So...he's got a three stroke lead with four holes to play in this past weeks tractor classic. There's a added bonus too for the winner of The Deere....he gets an invite to The British...no small perk. Clark looks solid and in control on Sunday. He's been through the pressure cooker a few times on tour and even though he's won a ton of money on tour, he must be familiar with pressure. Geez...he's been on two President's Cup Teams. All he's got to do is play smart down the stretch. So...here's what he does. He's five-under through 14 on the last day. Now guess what he do? He hits it into 3 bunkers in the last four holes...bogeying two of them to lose to Jonathan Byrd by one shot. To Byrd's credit, he fires a nifty 4-under on the last nine and wins by one. But it was clearly Tim Clark's tournament to lose, and he did. Rarely, does any golfer at any level admit to the dreaded "C" word...CHOKING! And Clark was true to form. He denied it....offering up other excuses, like getting plugged in the trap. HELLO! Why are you in the trap in the first place?

A BIGGEE this week, The British Open. I count 9 "Big Ernie's" at Carnoustie. Must be conventional wisdom of some sort. Our esteemed pool leader, "The Donald" has hit a bad patch, not winning a dime for the last six weeks. This is good, but he's got Els this week too so most of youse will not gain any ground if Ernie wins.

The companion Milwaukee Tournament counts in the standings too. Twelve "No Shows" among us make it difficult to make headway on the leaders.

An historic event on the Nationwide Tour this week....an amateur, BYU senior, Daniel Summerhays wins the weekly event. Now he gets to decide in the next 60 days if he wants to turn pro and earn an exemption on the Nationwide through 2008.



Walter Littenberg

AT&T National

Tank Flattens Another Aussie


Date Written: July 9, 2007

Remember last month when "The Tank" (K.J. Choi) ran over the "Aussie" Rod Pampling in the last round to win at The Memorial? Well, it happened again yesterday. This time, Choi's victim was Stuart Appleby. They played in the final twosome and Choi "schmushed" Stuart by 8 shots. Seems like he loves to give playing lessons to the boys down under. Appleby was last seen at the end of the telecast, muttering to himself as he was pushed into a waiting ambulance for the short trip to Bethesda Naval Hospital to have the tank treads on his back sutured-up.

"The Tank" was probably licking his chops when he read the news that another Aussie might be on his menu in the near future. Jason Day, became the youngest player ever (19 years old, 7 months and 26 days)to win a PGA-sponsored event. Young Day won this weeks Nationwide "Legend Financial Group" tourney in Ohio. One can only hope that "The Kid" doesn't meet up with "The Tank" anytime soon....it might wreck his self-image.

I put some serious miles on my TIVO yesterday, flipping between Tiger's AT&T bash and the U.S. Senior Open. They didn't name the senior venue, "Whistling Straits" for nothing! When you have to replace the flags every nine holes because they are shredding, you know its "Whistling." But the major question left unanswered was: did Brad Bryant win it with his stellar play or did legendary wind player Tom Watson lose it with a blow-up back nine (43)? "Huck" Watson looked like every other hacker we play with who tries to match a good front nine with a debacle nine coming in. Hip surgery or a Club Car is next on Watson's agenda. I would suggest throwing in some putting-brain surgery and a prescription for beta-blockers to cure his four-piece, putting stroke. I can certainly relate!

Two weeks to go "til "The Open." Mostly "lessor-than's" tee it up this week in The John Deere in search of some Fed-Ex points and a payday to keep the little woman back home happy.

Lastly, a dictionary golfing quiz: A "Carnoustie" is:

1. A chemical that neutralizes the scent of "Jack & Coke" from inside your car.

2. A handicap system press based on the number of times you have been married.

3. A small town at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the east coast of Scotland.

4. A card game wherein every player can change the rules on every hand.

The correct answer will be provided next week.


Walter Littenberg

The Buick Open

It's A Buick!

Date Written: July 2, 2007
Is this picture "A Buick" or what? For those out there who are not familiar with the word "Buick" as a figure of speech; in hipster lingo, "A Buick" is a beautiful thing. Tiger, not only endorses the "Buick" brand but lives a "Buick" life. He's got a "Buick" wife" and now a little, sub-compact "Buick" named, Sam Alexis. Aren't we all lucky to watch it unfold? It is definitely a "Buick!"

As for the "actual" Buick Open, at one time on the back nine on Sunday, about 12 players had a chance to win. Journeyman, Brian Bateman made "up-and-down" pars on 16 and 17 and birdied 18 with a perfect putt from 12 feet to beat 4 guys in the clubhouse who were warming up, waiting for a playoff. In our funky pool, 6 of youse had either Furyk, Verplank or Pernice and had a chance to win on the last day. Alas and alack.

Onward to Tiger's new signature tournament, The AT&T National in D.C. It's a Tiger "invite-only" (that's a whole other story) that takes the place of The International -- the dipsy Stableford-scoring tourney which was played outside Denver that could never get a title sponsor. Partly because of this venue change, nine of nineteen pool-players are No-Shows for the event. Money (and the Tiger Foundation) talks!