Canadian Open

El Nino

Date Written: July 27, 2009

That's me under the umbrella at The Canadian, trying desperately to stay dry. Just kidding. Doesn't it seem like there's been a lot of rain-delayed events this year on tour? Must be El Nino. I'm gonna find my old wet suit and wear it next weekend while I watch The Buick. Given the Toronto deluge, I suppose the organizers were glad to actually finish their country's championship, rue another Mike Weir finish and finally declare a winner: the little Aussie, Nathan Green.

The Goose handed Green the win with two wobbly shoves from six and nine feet in overtime. Doug B. must have felt like a yo-yo. Dougie was alone having Goose-it to win. I imagined Doug jumping up and down as his horse eagled the par five 18th to get into a playoff. Then I imagined poor Dougie splayed-out, face-down, slamming his fist into his shag carpet declaiming his lost first place dough. All in all though, a profitable week for Doug and Charlie Tuna (Kim) who jumped up a few spots in the pool...perhaps close enough where another win would put either of them in the hunt for serious fantasy pool dough.

Random player notes:

Graham DeLaet, who had a successful college career at Boise State, made the cut in his home country's championship and won some change. Read more:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/golf/story/842470.html

Mark Calcevecchia set a PGA Tour record, firing nine straight birdies in round 2. Click on the link below for a hole-by-hole breakdown of his feat:

http://www.pgatour.com/2009/tournaments/r032/07/25/calc_birdie_chart/index.html

Tiger's apparently still driving his Buick Enclave and has deigned to appear this week. He must like the track or his Buick or the folks at GM who paid him a fortune for his endorsement. I heard the rumor that GM is not renewing it's sponsorship for this tournament in Michigan. Does that mean that GM is bailing on golf? Oh well, just another corporate sponsor going "south" in this tough economy. First Wachovia, then Stanford Financial...Chrysler??? Now Buick? In a related mess, the head of the LPGA, Carolyn Bivens, stepped down from her job because of a personality conflict AND the loss of 7 host sponsors. Click below for more sponsorship rumor:

http://www.freep.com/article/20090728/SPORTS15/907280310/1063/Tom-Pernice-Jr.-backs-off--nothing-official-on-Buick-Open-s-status

A bunch of "NO-SHOWS" at The Buick. I've got mixed feelings because three of the four top money leaders in our funky pool, including me, picked Bubba to win and he's a No Show. Good/bad?

Mitch Albom, noted sports columnist and author ("Tuesday's with Morrie") spoke for me (I'm paraphrasing here) when he said that he's still wishing that Tom Watson could go back in time and take a "mully" on his second shot on the 72nd hole at The Open. Right on, Mitch.

And lastly, if you have some time on your hands and want to read a more comprehensive and funny "take" on our boy, Tommy Watson at The British, click on: http://www.forerightbob.com/ I just finished Bob Smiley's, "Follow The Roar" and recommend it to anyone who loves a good golf book. I still can't imagine the concept of following Tiger on every hole for an entire (half) season.

The British Open

T for Tommy

Date Written: July 20, 2009

Here's my current rendition of an old country and western song:

T for Texas,
T for Tennessee,
T for Tommy,
And T for Turn ber-ry.

Everyone I know in my small world in Sun Valley was rooting for Tom Watson yesterday. Were you all too?

To quote my favorite golf writer, Rick Reilly:

"Thank you Tom Watson, for reminding us that a codger can play with a kid, and hold his own. And thank you for making us all feel so much younger this week."

Methinks but for a nuked eight-iron that appeared to be straight online on the last hole of regulation, Tommy Terrific makes sports history. I'm gonna forget that he threw up all over himself on the short second putt.

Tommy Watson, from his own heart, summarized it best of all:

"It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn't it? It would have been a hell of a story. It wasn't to be."

Then, to put the game in perfect perspective, he said later, "This ain't a funeral, you know."

I LOVE THIS GUY!

In the past, I've taken my best shots at Stewart Cink's inability to "close-the-deal." I covered his meltdown at The Travelers in a column I wrote on June 23, 2008. Going further back in time, I remember his three putt from 12 feet to miss a playoff with Retief Goosen and Mark Brooks in the 2001 U.S. Open. Well, if golf is sometimes about redemption, Cink now qualifies as Jesus.

Even though our hero, Huck, clearly ran out of gas in the playoff, one can't deny the obvious...that after all, it's a 72 hole tournament and it was as much a Cink victory as a mini-Watson tank. To me, it was the most memorable British Open of recent memory. Stewart was 3-under over his last five holes, including the dreaded eighteenth TWICE. He crushed Watson by 6 strokes in the playoff, yet it will forever be the story of what might-have-been for Tom. And lest us parishioners forget, Lee Westwood could have easily been in the mix, suffering his own personal meltdown. He bogeyed three of the last four holes, including a three-putt from distance on the final hole thinking that Watson was too experienced to bogey the dreaded 18th.

As far as the pool goes, Bob Bruce and Charlie Tuna's pick of Big Ernie's earned them solid T-8 money.

Turnberry certainly turned out to be one tough test. The R & A should be lauded for their selection and rehabilitation of this storied venue.

Finally, fourteen "homies" are rooting for Mike Weir this coming week in The Canadian, including 4 of the top 5 money leaders. Another oddity...no "No-Shows" this week.

John Deere Classic

The Tractor Open

Date Written: July 13, 2009

"On a hot summer night
He wrote Billy Bob loves Charlene
In letters 3 foot high
And the whole town said that he should have used red
But it looked good to Charlene
In John Deere green."

Remember, "John Deere Green" by Joe Diffie? I wanted to add music as you opened this blog but Miss Vicki couldn't figure out how to do it. Click on the link and scroll down to listen to music sample #9.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Joe-Diffie/dp/B00008PX8V/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247538937&sr=1-1

Speaking of "John Deere Green," Steve Stricker has a bunch of it in his wallet this morning. Stevie flirted with fifty-nine in the second round and went on to win by three. During that round, he was 9-under through a stretch of eleven holes. When Stricker's on a roll, he's "dead-on" every flag with his irons and putts like a shoulder-triangulated automaton. Stricker's having a hell of a year. He won at Colonial, finished a shot back in L.A. and should have won until a last round 5-over in Palm Springs. Click on the link below for Stricker's four scorecards from the Deere. His last days 7-under wasn't too shabby either:

http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/65/27/scorecards/2009/r030.html

The best finish in our funky pool was garnered by John Manocheo with his solid T-2 pick of nearby, hometown, corndog fave, Zach Johnson.

Big week upcoming...THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP! Three of you (Doc 'N Jill, Doug B. and Corn Beef Taco) have saved their Tiger bullet for the British. Eight others of us have Paddy who was last seen scratching his head as he missed the cut at Bethpage. Word is that Poor Padraig was last seen scratching his head as he was trying to re-do the swing that won him three majors. Why would he do that? He should know that only God (Tiger) can re-do a swing. The rest of us mortals are doomed to repeat the "over-the-top" swing we were born with.

AT&T National

Sunday in the Park with Tiger

Date Written: July 6, 2009
Every Sunday when Tiger's in the mix, seems like just a walk in the park for him. To memorialize his 68th PGA Tour win, let's have a contest: the first person to name both the artist AND the technique he uses to paint the picture to the left, wins a sleeve of Pro-VX's. Hint...the title of the painting has something to do with the artist's name.

In a more commercial vein, the employees of Nike's marketing department must have been slapping high-fives around the water cooler at campus headquarters in Beaverton lately. From Wimbledon to Washington...Federer to Tiger...to Anothy Kim...the "Swoosh" was everywhere. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Open winner, Lucas Glover and the "comeback kid," David Duval, where "all over the bulb" wearing the most recognizable logo ever invented.

And the storyline from both the tennis and the golf worlds was eerily similar. Fifteen-time Grand Slam Champion, Roger Federer, vs. "Mr. Dead End Kid" Andy Roddick. Likewise, the golf at Congressional featured another backward, hat-wearing upstart...this one being A. K., trying to match his aggressive, "bomb-it" millenial style on Sunday against the best player who ever carved a golf ball. The head-to-head match-ups in both sports had it all: "olde school" vs. "wannabe's." Experience vs. youth. All time records vs. pipe dreams. In the golf match, Tiger was playing against the hype...his consensus heir apparent. Both telecasts had huge audiences. My guess is that about a gazillion people watched sports from morning to dusk on TV, refusing to do any chores that required them to be out of broadcast range and demanding that they have a raincheck for last week's Father's Day.

Ultimately in the end, (as it always does), form prevailed. Tiger brought his "B" game and gave his 24-year old protégé a clinic. Kim brought the yips...snapping tee shots early in the round which made him disappear faster than you can say, "Sarah Palin." As someone said, "it was only four strokes in the end but seemed like eight." The only thing worse than watching Kim's early struggle with his swing was having to listen to Peter Kostis trying to explain his errant mechanics. Kostis may be one of the world's best teachers and knows slow motion, Konica/Biz Hub ad naseum, but I can never see the swing subtleties that he's talking about. When 1/8 of an inch at impact can effect ball flight by 20 yards, why bother trying to explain? Better commentary was provided by Nick Faldo who questioned A.K.'s club selection decisions. Anyway, Tiger's back where he belongs...at the top of the money list. Now that Tiger's fixed his left knee, maybe A.K. needs to see a neurologist for some brain work.

Doug B. and I had the good fortune to pick Hunter Mahan who came from six back with a course record 62 on Sunday and lost by a single shot. Good on us, Doug. Hunter and I share a good Sunday story. I had a wedge/distance lesson from our "Super," Shawn Aicher, at the back of the range before playing our Sunday skins game and miraculously sunk a 55 yard shot for eagle on the par-5 sixteenth hole at Sun Valley to win eighty bucks. It's amazing when one can apply a lesson so quickly and then see results. My wedge shot was about the same distance of the putts that Hunter made on Sunday. For those interested in putting distance math, 140 feet of putts that Hunter made on one day would translate to ten, fourteen foot putts, or seven, twenty foot putts or any combination thereof. In our foursome, we call that "making everything you look at."

The Muffins stay in first place in our funky pool was short-lived because their nag, Stricker, failed to show. Sundali and Winegar jump back into the first two spots. They were two of five who had Kim for a nice third place payday despite Kim's jaunty waywardness. Onward to The Tractor Open (John Deere) where both The Muffins and Sundali have Kenny P, and Winegar has Chad Campbell. We all know who to root against. Two weeks to The British at Turnberry, where double dough will be awarded. Anyone down there in the standings wanna make a run at the leaders, better do it NOW or save your scheckels for next year.