The Barclays

Birdies Abound

Date Written: August 27, 2007
The following is paraphrased from the PGA Website because I've been distracted by the forest fire which is causing havoc in my hometown of Ketchum, Idaho and interrupting my golf game:

"Steve Stricker birdied four of his last five holes to close with a 2-under 69, turning a one-shot deficit into a two-shot victory over The Tank (K.J. Choi) with Tiger Woods sitting out this first FedEx, SchmedEx event. Choi was going after his third victory of the year, and everything was falling his way. He took a share of the lead with a 45-foot birdie putt on No. 12, dropping his putter in surprise, then took the lead again with a 50-foot birdie putt on the 15th. Stricker hung his head, but not for long. He answered with a 12-foot birdie on the par-3 16th to regain a share of the lead, then hit wedge that stopped 4 feet from the cup for birdie on the 17th that gave him a one-shot margin. Choi hit his approach left of the par-5 18th green and could chip no closer than 15 feet, from which he made par. End of story as Stricker makes another birdie from 8 feet for his eventual 2-shot cushion."

Other golf news of note: A first-ever, 7-man playoff on the Senior Tour with Denis Watson prevailing. On the Junior Tour, Parker McLachlin blows a 7-shot lead going into the last day to allow Jimmy Walker to win.

Otherwise, in our funky pool, Sweet Kelli Miller and Kevin LeDuc garnered top honors this week with their T-9 finish with the tour's favorite cross-dresser, Ian Poulter. Otherwise, seven Missed Cuts and our top three leaders stay in place with only three tournaments to go. A rarity this coming week...all players are in attendance. Four of youse have Allenby.


WalterGolf

Wyndham Championship

FedEx, SchmedEx

Date Written: August 22, 2007

Brandt Snedecker captures The Wyndham Championship (aka The Greater Greensboro) in North Carolina with a stellar 63 in the last round over a bunch of second-tier player's angling for cash (which is good) and FedEx points (which are suspect).

The emphasis during the entire Wyndham telecast was the hype setting up the four FedEx tourneys, which will begin this coming week with The Barclays. Does anyone care who might be included in the ridiculous, reverse-point, re-shuffling format? Imagine being on the first tee at your home club and you decide amongst your foursome to play a 14-hole match. On the 15th tee, all the strokes and money you’ve earned or lost now doesn’t mean anything. It is replaced by an arbitrary, reverse-sliding, points formula with any money that you might win being paid when you are dead. A brand new game is created for each subsequent hole. Now, holes 15-18 are worth twice what each previous hole (tournament) was worth. So if you have played well for the first nine months of the year (or in this case, the first 14 holes), it doesn't count...much. If this is not confusing enough, throw in the prospect of being eliminated on each of the last four holes if you don’t accumulate enough points. I could go on…and I will. One stupid question to the format designers: what’s the deal with the arbitrary number (86) of FedEx point-getters being guaranteed entry for only two weeks?

The Commish of the PGA, Tim (Mr. Smooth) Finchem, put on his happiest face when trying to explain it to us on CBS-TV. But obvious to all who have been paying attention to the FedEx sponsorship deal, it's really about The Tour trying to find a way to cut into the TV audience shift that takes place in September when football starts and baseball finishes. The whole thing smacks of "design-by-committee." And a bad committee at that.

Did you think, for a moment, that the advertised $10,000,000 that's supposed to go to the ultimate winner will be in cash? Nope! The winner will get an annuity...like the Schwab deal on the Senior Tour. My experience in creating different impulse products has been that if you have to educate your audience, you are in BIG trouble. And boy do we need some education understanding the FedEx format. The best player on the planet either can't figure it out, doesn’t need the money, doesn’t care or he's a mathematical genius because he won't even show up for the first leg.

As the Jews would say, "FedEx, SchmedEx." I say let's just play "whip-out," which is an old expression meaning pull out your wallet at the end of the game and pay up!

On the Nationwide Tour, a clutch 30-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole gave another, talented young Australian, Nick Flanagan, an improbable one-shot victory. He began the final round trailing by seven shots. That means Flanagan, who has won three “Nationwide” events this year, will get what they call a "battlefield promotion" to the PGA TOUR for the stretch run in 2007 as well as all of 2008. No small feat...it's only been done eight times.

Finally, only four weeks to go in our funky fantasy pool and unless one of us also-rans gets "blind lucky," the top three spots look secure. Unless of course, we agree that the whole season doesn’t count and we change all our rules like the "SchmedEx. "

Walter Littenberg

PGA Championship

What's Your Deodorant?


Date Written: August 13, 2007
It's a wonder nobody died of the heat in Tulsa this past week, either player, fan or pet. My guess is the boys are grateful to get out of town...anywhere...even to the next event in North Carolina, where the humidity is awful but not nearly as bad as Oklahoma in August.

The obvious headline from the PGA Championship..."Tiger prevails." He played "smart golf." Playing head to head against him over the final two days, Scott Verplank and Stephen Ames folded like Bedouin tents. Tiger's had a remarkable year. Ties for second at The Masters and The U.S. Open and a T-12 at Carnoustie. All nicely sandwiched around the birth of his first child. Not too shabby.

Yesterday marked the two month anniversary of my prediction that John Daly would kill himself within sixty days. My prediction was wrong. He's still alive. An interesting TV moment occurred when Daly was spotted by the CBS cameras kissing his steak knife-wielding bride in the parking lot while she was pushing a baby stroller. Which begs the question; have they made up? Has he forgiven her and dropped all the criminal charges? What's next in the saga of the people's choice, "Big John?"

In our funky pool, our money leaders, The Donald (Ogilvy) and Scott Winegar (Immelman) pad their totals. Time is getting short to make up ground for us "also-rans."


-WalterGolf

WGC/Bridgestone

Steamrolling...

Date Written: August 6, 2007
Yesterday, the outcome of the WGC/Bridgestone reminded me of the old James Taylor cover song, "Steam Roller." It wasn't that Mr. Roar-y Sabbatini played so bad, it's just that Tiger (aka GOD) steam rolled him and the field with a stellar, last round 65 that featured NO BOGIES on an Open-type course.

I have no idea what Mr.
Roar-y was thinking when he suggested a couple of months ago that Tiger was beatable. He was certainly guilty of that WWII adage, "loose lips sink ships." Maybe he's a fool like everyone of us who engages mouth before brain. Maybe he was just trying to pump himself up...add to the gate. WHATEVER! He ought to have learned a little something yesterday. Like the principle of backing up one's words with action. For now Roar-y my man, my advice is to take your substantial T-2 earnings and go shopping (with a fashion consultant, not your wife) for a better Sunday outfit and........................KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

In our funky pool, the pick of the week was John Manocheo's nifty selection of Peter Lonard who tied for fourth in the WGC.

Remember the song from the play, Evita, "Don't Cry for me Argentina?" Can it be that the South American country is suddenly becoming the hotbed of golf? First, Angel Cabrera in the US Open. Then, Andres Romero in the British, Deutche Bank and yesterday's good finish in the WGC. In the Nationwide event in Wichita, another gaucho named, Fabian Gomez (huh?) finishes second. Que hay en la agua?

Onward to the last major of the year, the PGA at Southern Hills in Tulsa, OK.

-WalterGolf