Tour golfer update
Accenture Match Play Championship
Last week saw the final Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa, Calfornia. Next year it moves to the Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Arizona.
Bragging rights went to Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who beat Davis Love III 3 and 2 in the final round. Tom Lehman and Zach Johnson fell at the semi-final stage.
Which raises the question about the top seeds. Like, where were they?
It all started so well for them and the tournament.
Day 1 saw a number of epics, with Scott Verplank edging Lee Westwood after 26 holes. In fact, 13 of the 32 matches lasted as far as the 18th hole or beyond. The only exception was Tiger Woods match against Stephen Ames.
Ames had made some relatively accurate, but perhaps disrespectful, comments about Tiger's game. And like David Toms said, "I don't know if you give the best player in the world any extra incentive to want to beat you."
The result was the biggest winning margin in the tournament's history: nine and eight.
Tiger had it a little harder in round 2, squeezing past Robert Allenby 1up with a birdie on the final hole. He was joined by a record number of top seeds. After Ernie Els and Jim Furyk fell in round 1, none of the other top 8 seeds lost on the Thursday.
But Friday saw the trend reverse completely. Of those 6 top seeds, all but Retief Goosen lost.
Goosen survived all the way to the quarter-finals, eventually losing to Johnson. And while everyone focused on the seeds, or lack of them, Ogilvy pulled through to take the $1.3 million first prize.
Not that anyone could deny he deserved it. Playing Mike Weir in the third round, for example, he was four down with four holes to play, and turned things round to win with an eagle on the 21st hole. In fact, all his first four matches went on beyond the regulation 18 holes.
Modest in victory, Ogilvy noted, "Each one of those extra hole matches I felt pretty fortunate to get through. I think every single time in those first four games I think my opponent had a putt to knock me out of the tournament, and no one made one, which is pretty fortunate."
Monday, February 27, 2006
Bragging rights went to Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who beat Davis Love III 3 and 2 in the final round. Tom Lehman and Zach Johnson fell at the semi-final stage.
Which raises the question about the top seeds. Like, where were they?
It all started so well for them and the tournament.
Day 1 saw a number of epics, with Scott Verplank edging Lee Westwood after 26 holes. In fact, 13 of the 32 matches lasted as far as the 18th hole or beyond. The only exception was Tiger Woods match against Stephen Ames.
Ames had made some relatively accurate, but perhaps disrespectful, comments about Tiger's game. And like David Toms said, "I don't know if you give the best player in the world any extra incentive to want to beat you."
The result was the biggest winning margin in the tournament's history: nine and eight.
Tiger had it a little harder in round 2, squeezing past Robert Allenby 1up with a birdie on the final hole. He was joined by a record number of top seeds. After Ernie Els and Jim Furyk fell in round 1, none of the other top 8 seeds lost on the Thursday.
But Friday saw the trend reverse completely. Of those 6 top seeds, all but Retief Goosen lost.
Goosen survived all the way to the quarter-finals, eventually losing to Johnson. And while everyone focused on the seeds, or lack of them, Ogilvy pulled through to take the $1.3 million first prize.
Not that anyone could deny he deserved it. Playing Mike Weir in the third round, for example, he was four down with four holes to play, and turned things round to win with an eagle on the 21st hole. In fact, all his first four matches went on beyond the regulation 18 holes.
Modest in victory, Ogilvy noted, "Each one of those extra hole matches I felt pretty fortunate to get through. I think every single time in those first four games I think my opponent had a putt to knock me out of the tournament, and no one made one, which is pretty fortunate."
Monday, February 27, 2006
Nissan Open
We're heading toward March and still Tiger Woods remains unbeaten. Kind of. His third tournament outing of the year at the Nissan Open came to an abrupt halt when he retired after round 2, due to illness.
Since he was lying 11 shots behind the leaders, a win was always unlikely. But not impossible. And so the nagging doubt remains in the minds of his colleagues. Can he be beaten in 2006?
Sickness played a big role for various unfortunates, who weren't helped by rain showers on the Friday. Ernie Els, for example, was suffering on his 2006 Tour debut. Though he managed to pull through with a T23.
One player who didn't let a nasty cold get to him was fan-favorite Fred Couples. He spent most of Monday to Thursday in bed, except when he was actually competing. Yet he still finished in fourth...nothing short of miraculous considering his condition.
Rising above the rain, cold and various viruses was Rory Sabbatini. Leading by four going into Sunday, he looked a certain winner. Things turned a little sour in the final round, though. He missed several short putts and muddled his way to a 72. But it was just enough to win by a shot from Adam Scott.
Scott was last year's unofficial winner (in a tournament shortened to two rounds) and was nowhere until a sparkling 64 on the final day made up 8 shots on Sabbatini and put him close to winning the tournament "properly."
Meanwhile the golf world wishes Tiger a speedy recovery. Though maybe Stephen Ames wishes him a recovery, but not necessarily a speedy one. He faces Tiger in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship on Wednesday.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Since he was lying 11 shots behind the leaders, a win was always unlikely. But not impossible. And so the nagging doubt remains in the minds of his colleagues. Can he be beaten in 2006?
Sickness played a big role for various unfortunates, who weren't helped by rain showers on the Friday. Ernie Els, for example, was suffering on his 2006 Tour debut. Though he managed to pull through with a T23.
One player who didn't let a nasty cold get to him was fan-favorite Fred Couples. He spent most of Monday to Thursday in bed, except when he was actually competing. Yet he still finished in fourth...nothing short of miraculous considering his condition.
Rising above the rain, cold and various viruses was Rory Sabbatini. Leading by four going into Sunday, he looked a certain winner. Things turned a little sour in the final round, though. He missed several short putts and muddled his way to a 72. But it was just enough to win by a shot from Adam Scott.
Scott was last year's unofficial winner (in a tournament shortened to two rounds) and was nowhere until a sparkling 64 on the final day made up 8 shots on Sabbatini and put him close to winning the tournament "properly."
Meanwhile the golf world wishes Tiger a speedy recovery. Though maybe Stephen Ames wishes him a recovery, but not necessarily a speedy one. He faces Tiger in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship on Wednesday.
Monday, February 20, 2006
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Dig beneath the surface of the leaderboard at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and you'll turn up the usual array of subplots about redemption and golf's ability to confound accepted trends and truths.
Take the first day. Playing the Spyglass course, Luke Donald shot a 62 to tie the course record set one year earlier by Phil Mickelson. Donald is not a big hitter, sitting at 168th in the driving distance stats. So much for the "distance is king" theory. He eventually finished T7.
Mickelson himself became the first defending champion in five years at the AT&T to make the cut, though a last round 77 shattered his chances of a repeat victory.
As for redemption, two players were in with a shot at that. By the end of round 3, Mike Weir and Arron Oberholser were tied for first, six shots ahead of the chasing pack.
Weir was two years from his last win at the 2004 Nissan Open, with the gloss of the 2003 Masters victory fading. Oberholser was waiting for his first PGA Tour trophy, which he should have won at the same tournament two years ago, when a poor final round lost him the lead he held jointly with Vijay Singh after the Saturday.
In the event, it was Oberholser who held his nerve, shooting a 72 to finish five ahead of Rory Sabbatini. So what happened to Canada's favorite golfer?
Weir's 78 saw him fall back to joint third.
Oberholser is a local boy. So the win was all the more sweet. As he said himself about walking up 18 at Pebble Beach, "...knowing you're the champion is just...I wish everyone could feel that way. It's incredible."
Monday, February 13, 2006
Take the first day. Playing the Spyglass course, Luke Donald shot a 62 to tie the course record set one year earlier by Phil Mickelson. Donald is not a big hitter, sitting at 168th in the driving distance stats. So much for the "distance is king" theory. He eventually finished T7.
Mickelson himself became the first defending champion in five years at the AT&T to make the cut, though a last round 77 shattered his chances of a repeat victory.
As for redemption, two players were in with a shot at that. By the end of round 3, Mike Weir and Arron Oberholser were tied for first, six shots ahead of the chasing pack.
Weir was two years from his last win at the 2004 Nissan Open, with the gloss of the 2003 Masters victory fading. Oberholser was waiting for his first PGA Tour trophy, which he should have won at the same tournament two years ago, when a poor final round lost him the lead he held jointly with Vijay Singh after the Saturday.
In the event, it was Oberholser who held his nerve, shooting a 72 to finish five ahead of Rory Sabbatini. So what happened to Canada's favorite golfer?
Weir's 78 saw him fall back to joint third.
Oberholser is a local boy. So the win was all the more sweet. As he said himself about walking up 18 at Pebble Beach, "...knowing you're the champion is just...I wish everyone could feel that way. It's incredible."
Monday, February 13, 2006
FBR Open
You hear a lot of stories about the life of a PGA Tour pro. Always waiting for the big one, the win that secures your card and pays for the swing coach and all that travel.
Sometimes, though, the wait isn't quite so long. Witness J.B.Holmes.
Last year he took home the honors at Q School to get his card for the first time. So the FBR Open was just the fourth tournament of his young PGA Tour career. But by the time everyone was packing away their clubs on Sunday, he was holding a trophy: the winner by an impressive seven shots.
Over one million dollars in prize money after your first four tournaments is a new PGA Tour record. Holmes is the fastest ever to achieve that monetary milestone. Even Tiger took five events to score his first win.
At the start of Sunday's play, a seven stroke winning margin didn't seem realistic. He held just a one shot lead over J.J. Henry and Ryan Palmer. While Holmes shot 66, his two rivals both managed hit 72s to tie for second with Steve Lowery, Camilo Villegas and Scott Verplank.
And Holmes first statement in the press conference after: "Woo!"
As for Tiger Woods, he wasn't playing in Arizona. He was over in Dubai, battling it out with the South African heavyweights of Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
Woods and Els tied for first place at the end of the fourth round. And it was Woods who won the sudden death playoff. Deja vu for the golf world. Tiger's record in 2006: two tournaments, two playoffs, two wins. Presumably nobody is going to talk about a slump this year.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Sometimes, though, the wait isn't quite so long. Witness J.B.Holmes.
Last year he took home the honors at Q School to get his card for the first time. So the FBR Open was just the fourth tournament of his young PGA Tour career. But by the time everyone was packing away their clubs on Sunday, he was holding a trophy: the winner by an impressive seven shots.
Over one million dollars in prize money after your first four tournaments is a new PGA Tour record. Holmes is the fastest ever to achieve that monetary milestone. Even Tiger took five events to score his first win.
At the start of Sunday's play, a seven stroke winning margin didn't seem realistic. He held just a one shot lead over J.J. Henry and Ryan Palmer. While Holmes shot 66, his two rivals both managed hit 72s to tie for second with Steve Lowery, Camilo Villegas and Scott Verplank.
And Holmes first statement in the press conference after: "Woo!"
As for Tiger Woods, he wasn't playing in Arizona. He was over in Dubai, battling it out with the South African heavyweights of Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
Woods and Els tied for first place at the end of the fourth round. And it was Woods who won the sudden death playoff. Deja vu for the golf world. Tiger's record in 2006: two tournaments, two playoffs, two wins. Presumably nobody is going to talk about a slump this year.
Monday, February 06, 2006
