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Monday Movers: Torrey Pines’ Dramatic Finish Excites Golf World

January 31, 2011   B.J. George   No comments

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Each week, Monday Movers will look back on the previous week in the golf world to see whose stock is rising and who will likely be heading back to the range.

Stock Up

Bubba WatsonBubba Watson — Watson’s victory at Torrey Pines won’t be remembered for the 362-yard drive he bombed on 13. Instead, it was the brilliant touch he showed with his short game as he got up-and-down from a tough lie in a bunker on the 72nd hole to secure the one-stroke win over Phil Mickelson. The left-hander had to earn his second career PGA win against an experienced group of competitors all making a push, but did so with consistency. He led the field in greens in regulation and only carded one bogey during the final round.

Paul Casey — The Englishman called Sunday at the inaugural Volvo Golf Champions “one of the toughest battles I’ve ever had.” On paper, Casey ended the day in the same position he started it — first — but he did so by surviving 23 final-round lead changes to win his first tournament in 20 months. If not for Mickelson finishing second in San Diego, Casey would have moved into the top five of the world rankings. Instead, he moved up three spots to 6th.

Golf Rulebook — PGA commissioner Tim Finchem spoke out about the recent rules violations that were reported by television viewers and led to disqualification for Camilo Villegas and Padraig Harrington. Finchem, speaking from the Farmers Insurance Open, said he wants a thorough review of the rules to decide whether there is a better way to punish players that aren’t aware of their violation. He’ll meet with the USGA executive committee next week and has also asked the European Tour to join him in examining the rule.

Sunday at Torrey Pines — The PGA was hoping for an exciting finish when Tiger Woods announced he would make his 2011 debut at Torrey Pines alongside Phil Mickelson — and they got it, despite Woods struggling efforts on the course. With the top of the leaderboard filled with some of the top players on Tour and super-rookie Jhonattan Vegas, the level of competition bordered on majoresque on Sunday. Nick Watney went out early and set the tone with a 28 on the front nine and the leaders followed. On a day in which only 11 of the 79 players broke 70, six of those came from the top 6 finishers, and that provided an incredible finish.

 

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‘Call It Brilliant, or Call It Bull’: Gary Koch Answers Golf’s Hot-Button Issues

January 07, 2011   Mick Elliott   No comments

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It’s time to play “Call It Brilliant, Or Call It Bull,” the new game show that looks at golf’s hot-button issues the way a politician eyes a photo op.

Today’s special guest is NBC golf analyst Gary Koch, a former PGA Tour player with six career wins and a whole bunch of knowledge and insight.

For those wanting to play along at home, the rules are simple. Contestants are read a statement relating to a PGA Tour subject of debate, then they make the call — “Brilliant,” or “Bull.”

And Koch, a veteran player and course designer preparing for his 14th year of service to NBC, knows Brilliant when he sees it, and Bull when it is being shoveled his way.

So, Gary Koch, are you ready to play?

Wait a minute. You’re not Bob Barker. … and we’re not even in a studio.

OK, let’s get started.

I’m calling my agent.

We’re playing now. First statement.

 

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Golf’s Power Shifting From U.S. to Europe; PGA Tour Feeling the Heat

December 14, 2010   Mick Elliott   No comments

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The Europeans’ recent domination of men’s professional golf in 2010 is going be an ongoing topic heading into next season.

You know the reasons. England’s Lee Westwood is the world’s new No. 1. The Europeans have seven of the world’s top 11 players compared to four Americans. Europe won the Ryder Cup. Young stars Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Martin Kaymer of Germany are declining to play full time in the U.S. next year, committing to the European Tour.

More and more Americans are making appearances overseas — at the expense of PGA Tour events.

“The golf courses and the tournaments and the players on the European Tour are definitely catching up to us,” admitted PGA Tour veteran Billy Mayfair.

In golf’s big picture, could that be a good thing?

Hall of Famer Greg Norman, who has proven to know a lot about business success, believes it.

“I think it’s great for golf, to tell you the truth,” Norman said. “When I was overseas and all this was taking place with the change in the No. 1 player in the world and the Europeans winning the Ryder Cup, I thought, you know, this is just the shot in the arm that the game of golf needs.”

Golf has seen similar shifts before. The Americans owned the world game with Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Lee Trevino. Europe followed with Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam, to hold an upper hand in the 1980s and early ’90s. Then the American regained control.

“Now it’s swinging back again,” Norman said.

What’s interesting, however, is how many of the young Americans see the power shift.

Or, actually, how they do not see it.

“I can’t speak for anybody else, but for me personally, I see them as people,” Bubba Watson said. “I don’t see them as Europeans or from other countries. I just see them as golfers.

“Some guys beat me, who cares where they’re from. I’m from Baghad, Fla,. Nobody is around going, ‘You’re from a weird place,’ you know. So I just see it as some great golfers beat me no matter where they come from.”

If Norman’s predictions are true, Watson might be wise to pay just a bit more attention.

While visiting China recently, Norman was asked to address the Tourism and Golf Forum.

“They want 30 million golfers in China in the next years, and there’s three million now,” Norman said. “When you think there’s 24, 25 million golfers in the United States and it’s been that number for decades and decades, imagine when China comes online in 20 years down the line.

“And then when China comes online, you’ve already got the Koreans doing extremely well. The development of the game of golf in Malaysia and Indonesia and Vietnam and Cambodia, to a degree, is just starting to skyrocket. And then you bring in India.

“So you got pretty much 50 percent of the world’s population just starting to get into the game of golf. So when you start looking out into the future, it’s extremely healthy. “

 

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Surprisingly Tight Battle for Golf’s No. 1 Ranking Heads to Shanghai

November 02, 2010   Mick Elliott   No comments

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Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer

Golf‘s major championships are long gone, the Ryder Cup is over, Tiger Woods is no longer the world’s No. 1 player and the offseason (all six weeks of it) is just around the corner.

What an odd time for the season to never be more interesting. Funny how this is working. (Almost as funny as the above photo of Tiger, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer getting a recent Tai Chi lesson with swords in China.) The PGA Tour could hardly be farther out of sight or out of mind, but one of the year’s most interesting tournament weeks is playing out at the World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China.

A little drama for the road.

Although Woods, winless in 2010, losing his No. 1 spot to Westwood after 281 consecutive weeks was a forgone conclusion, this week’s unseating, nevertheless, drew a lot of mainstream attention. Now, coming immediately on the heels of the big shakeup, Westwood, Woods, No. 3 Kaymer and No. 4 and defending champ Mickelson are all in Shanghai with a chance to be No. 1 with a victory.

It marks the first time since 1997 that four golfers have entered an event with a chance to claim the No. 1 ranking.

 

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Golf Notebook: Fred Couples Cashing In

October 26, 2010   Mick Elliott   No comments

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You know all about Fred Couples.

You recall that he’s a former No. 1 ranked player in the world, winner of 15 PGA Tour events, including a Masters. He’s a two-time Player of the Year, five-time Ryder Cup player and recent Presidents Cup captain.

But this is going to shock you: this year as a Champions Tour rookie Couples has won $2,271,894, the most he’s ever earned in any season as a professional. And you still want to make jokes about “geezer golf?”

Sunday afternoon at The Woodlands outside Houston, Couples won his fourth senior title of the year.

In the Administaff Small Business Classic, he shot a tournament-record, final-round 63 that included a double bogey to finish seven shots in front of runner-up Mark Wiebe. After beginning the day two shots out of the lead, Couples finished with a back-nine 29. Along the way he used only 24 putts.

 

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Monday Movers: Jonathan Byrd Makes History in Las Vegas

October 25, 2010   B.J. George   No comments

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Jonathan ByrdEach week, Monday Movers will look back on the previous week in the golf world to see whose stock is rising and who will likely be heading back to the range.

On the Rise

PGA Fall Series — The final leg of the PGA season goes relatively unnoticed to the casual golf fan, but two of the year’s best finishes have occurred in successive weeks. Last week, Rocco Mediate holed out for eagle on 17 and followed with a birdie on 18 to win the Frys.com Open and secure his PGA exempt status. This week’s finish at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals Open was even more improbable.

Standing on the tee at the 17 with sunlight nearly gone, Jonathan Byrd, Martin Laird, and Cameron Percy discussed whether they could finish the fourth playoff hole. They agreed to one more, but it turned out to finish quicker than they expected. In the most dramatic of fashions, Byrd, pictured right, stepped up first and aced the 204-yard par 3 for the walk-off win. Not even Vegas could have established odds for the PGA’s first ever hole-in-one on a final shot to win.

 

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Monday Movers: Jonathan Byrd Makes History in Las Vegas

October 25, 2010   B.J. George   No comments

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Jonathan ByrdEach week, Monday Movers will look back on the previous week in the golf world to see whose stock is rising and who will likely be heading back to the range.

On the Rise

PGA Fall Series — The final leg of the PGA season goes relatively unnoticed to the casual golf fan, but two of the year’s best finishes have occurred in successive weeks. Last week, Rocco Mediate holed out for eagle on 17 and followed with a birdie on 18 to win the Frys.com Open and secure his PGA exempt status. This week’s finish at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals Open was even more improbable.

Standing on the tee at the 17 with sunlight nearly gone, Jonathan Byrd, Martin Laird, and Cameron Percy discussed whether they could finish the fourth playoff hole. They agreed to one more, but it turned out to finish quicker than they expected. In the most dramatic of fashions, Byrd, pictured right, stepped up first and aced the 204-yard par 3 for the walk-off win. Not even Vegas could have established odds for the PGA’s first ever hole-in-one on a final shot to win.

 

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Rickie Fowler Came of Age in Ryder Cup

October 05, 2010   Mick Elliott   No comments

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NEWPORT, Wales — Next to the Europeans, who may still be swigging champagne from golf shoes following their 14 ½-13 ½ victory over the United States on Monday at Celtic Manor, the week’s biggest winner was American youngster Rickie Fowler.

The 21-year-old PGA Tour rookie, still without his first pro victory, was under a lot of scrutiny after being added to the U.S. team as a captain’s pick by Corey Pavin. Now he’s all but a given for future stardom.

The first PGA Tour rookie to ever play Ryder Cup competed in three matches, losing one and halving two to score a modest single point for the U.S. But his homestretch performance Monday in singles play was stuff that launches careers.

Down four to Italy’s Edoardo Molinari early in the back nine, Fowler birdied the final four holes to tie the match and keep America’s hopes alive in the next-to-last group to finish.

“Rickie turning that match around, birdieing the last four, was awfully incredible and very impressive,” Tiger Woods praised.

 

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Captain Corey’s Formula Almost Paved Way to Magical Victory

October 04, 2010   David Whitley   No comments

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Corey Pavin and U.S. Ryder Cuppers

NEWPORT, Wales — The U.S. Ryder Cup team came to life on Monday. Somebody please wake up Corey Pavin and congratulate him.

It wasn’t altogether obvious the U.S. captain was with us the past few days. Pavin was so robotic, you’d have thought he was eating Ambien and chips for breakfast every morning.

That made him the perfect fall guy Monday, when the Yanks were supposed to get mud kicked in their face. A funny thing happened on the way to utter humiliation. They almost staged the greatest Ryder Cup comeback of the millennium.

So now how do we feel about Captain Corey?

As the English say, the guy did a lovely job. It’s hard to admit because Pavin has been so churlish and boring that I almost wanted his team to get stomped.

That would have made it easy to call Pavin the worst captain since Edward Smith, who guided the Titanic into that iceberg. But it seems there was a method to his robotic madness.

 

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After Dismal Day, US Ryder Cup Team Focused on Comeback

October 03, 2010   Mick Elliott   No comments

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Corey Pavin, Dustin Johnson, Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods

NEWPORT, Wales — After almost being shut out during the Ryder Cup’s third-session play, the United States will go into Monday’s rain-delayed singles matches trailing Europe by a lopsided 9 1/2-6 1/2, but fueled by one prevailing fact.

Bigger comebacks have been made before.

Well, at least once.

After taking a 5 1/2-1/2 beating Sunday on the way to having a two-point advantage turned into a three-point deficit, the Americans looked to history for motivation.

In 1999 at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., the U.S. mounted a final-round rally to rebound from a 10-6 deficit, the largest comeback in Ryder Cup history, by winning 8 1/2 of the day’s possible 12 points.

U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw went into the final day that year insisting, “I just have a feeling.”

He was right. At Brookline, remembered for Justin Leonard‘s 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and the celebration it ignited, the Americans won the day’s opening six matches, stunning Europe with a 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory.

“You know, Ben’s Ben and I’m me,” U.S. captain Corey Pavin said Sunday. “I’m going to put the guys out in the order that I think gives us best chance to win. They have to go out and perform and play, and if they do, I think we have a chance.”

Much of a chance?

 

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