I don’t see a golf thread for this year.
I’ve always enjoyed the Phoenix Open, but this one has been far more interesting than others in recent memory. Tiger had a disastrous second round and both him and Phil didn’t make the cut. Tiger hasn’t played the Phoenix Open in years and I was surprised to see him this week. He’s got a lot of work to do to get ready for the Masters. It’s been a great final round, however. I’m kinda hoping Bubba Watson sneaks in for the win
I am willing to talk about golf as long as I don’t have to watch Rory’s Omega Watch Commercial anymore. :eek:
Kripes couldn’t Omega have made more than one commercial!
Yep, Tiger and Phil both looked really bad this week. I don’t understand why Tiger thinks he has to change his chipping technique because he is changing his swing. He is scheduled to play this week in San Diego. His record is terrific in San Diego, but that won’t help him if he misses 50%+ of his fairways and cannot chip/pitch the ball. Tiger went from 14/1 to 18/1 at the Masters after his performance this week. (PaddyPower.com) Rory is a ridiculous 4/1.
And Phil will be Phil. Phil’s wave caught the worse of the weather but that is no excuse for missing the cut.
Koepka is a big guy who cut his teeth in Europe. The road less traveled. Now a winner on the PGATour, the future looks bright for him.
Interesting article on Patrick Reed at deadspin.com.
Its being ignored by mainstream golf media, although golf channel did a reader’s digest version of the article on their website. It has not been mentioned on GolfChannel TV that I saw.
Between that article, the Robert Allenby saga in Hawaii, and Tiger and Phil off to slow starts, the 2015 calendar year has not been good for the PGATour.
I saw the highlights of Tiger’s second round. That was…something else. I know I said once that he depended too much on his ability to power out of danger, and now that he can’t do that anymore his game has suffered, but it was much, much worse than that. He looked like he was blind on some of his shots. On at least two occasions he pitched from a wide-open fairway to a wide-open green and left it short. He second shot at the 4th looked like something out of a Leslie Nielsen comedy. He got the worst two-round score of his entire career and finished dead last. This isn’t a rock-bottom you’d expect Colin Montgomerie to ever hit.
Make no mistake, he’ll probably spring back from this, because making critics who write him off look like idiots yet again is what he does. But the hole is so deep this time that even if he does, I can’t envision a return to the old form, or even 2013. Top 20’s in a few middling tournaments may be the best we can hope for right now.
Phil Mickelson? I dunno. I think he’s running out of gas, but as long as there are any holes in his final tally, he’ll keep fighting to the bitter end. It helps that there really aren’t any expectations anymore, so he’s not feeling any pressure. If he wins another green jacket, awesome; if not, he’s done enough, leave him be. That “fake smile” nonsense is already ancient history, and without any fresh phony-baloney “controversy”, there isn’t any reason to hate him. ESPN didn’t even have a story about him missing the cut. No love, no hatred, no good, no bad, no opinion whatsoever, it just happened.
So MHO: 1. American golf needs a hero. 2. There are number of young guns like Bubba Watson and Keegan Bradley who are good, but not dominant, world-beating, chew-'em-up-and-spit-'em-out superstars. 3. Rory McIlroy is a dominant, world-beating, chew-'em-up-and-spit-'em-out superstar, and it’s going to be damn hard to win any tournament he’s in. Bottom line, American golf is in a fallow period right now, kind of like when Chiyonofuji, Hokutoumi, and Onokuni all retired and Akebono was still an impertinent little whippersnapper, and we’re just gonna have to tough it out until that new hero emerges.
(P.S. I don’t intend to put all these sumo references in my posts. That’s just what came to mind. Honestly. I’m not trying confuse the hell out of everyone. I’m not that cruel. 
)
Rory is certainly looking dominant and perhaps* starting* to collect something of an aura around him.
Tiger? deary me. I heard it suggested on the radio yesterday that it isn’t so much the driving and long-shots that are punishing him but more his chipping. Considering the amount of tournaments that he has won due to his vision and execution of the chip-shot, it’d be a bombshell for that part of his game to collapse. Even (gasp) the word “yips” was mentioned. I haven’t seen him play recently so maybe others out there can tell me if that holds water?
Nobody has seen him play recently. His last serious round was in July of last year. His last round before he began to withdraw from Tournaments due to pain was in January 2014. I’d give him a little time to get back into Tournament shape before drawing any conclusions.
Tiger declared himself healthy and pain free when he played ATT and the British Open last summer.
And he declared himself healthy in his own tournament two months ago, and finished last and 25 shots behind the winner…
But he clearly wasn’t, was he?
Tiger’s Tournament is a glorified exhibition in the silly season. You can count it if you like, though. I’d give him a couple of months (say until the Masters) to get Tournament tough with a new swing. If he’s still skulling chips by then, then there is a problem.
So I can we can pick and choose on when he is telling the truth. (and FWIW, he said the injury sustain in Akron was not related to the microdisectomy)
I agree that the Tiger Tournament is an exhibition. But lets not forget that the course used to be literally in his back yard, and by his own admission, had played over a thousand times. And he was still 25 shots behind the winner. the equivalent of 6+ shots per round. But he was competitive, Tiger fans would have pointing to that result as an indicator of good play ahead.
It doesn’t matter how he felt, the fact is, he wasn’t healthy. I once saw Koy Detmer play football a week after he tore his ACL. He felt fine and wanted to play. He was fine for a quarter until he had to make a cut to avoid a rusher, and he collapsed in a heap without contact. How a person feels doesn’t always correlate with their actual physical condition.
Tiger withdraws from Torrey Pines in the first round after shooting a double bogey. Back problems again. Not looking good.
Mickelson missed the cut after botching some easy putts (including the most hideous lipout I’ve seen in my life). 3rd round co-leaders are J.B. Holmes and Harris English.
Yeah, holding out for a hero. Better not hold your breath.
Specifically, His Glutes were not activating.
Whatever the hell that means.
Tiger has some serious physical problems if a fog delay throws his body out of sync.
Pretty exciting finish to Torrey Pines. I’m pulling for Jason Day, but looks like we’re headed for an exciting playoff.
And we did and Day won!
Jason kept his shit together. Poor Holmes just kind of fell apart there at the end. His putter was gone.
Jim Furyk with the shot of the year so far.
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/watch-furyk-hits-shot-side-cliff/
Courtesy bump for the Masters.
Tiger finally announced that he would be playing the Masters today. Let the countdown begin until Thursday Morning.
Lots of Golfers appear to be playing very well going into this week. Rory and Bubba are the favorites. Rory has stuttered a little on the PGATour and I think there is not much value in 13/2 odds from golfodds.com.
I think it will be a first time major winner next week. Jordan Spieth, Jimmy Walker, Henrik Stenson, and Dustin Johnson are the leading the charge for non major winners and all are playing
very well.
Mickelson is showing signs of life in Houston this week, and he cannot be counted out.
And who knows what to expect from Woods. He hasn’t played in two months and he was really playing badly when he did play. He finished last in his exhibition tournament and last in Phoenix and was not playing well when his glutes failed to activate and WDed.
Sky Bet has Ben Crenshaw at odds of 50000/1. Crenshaw remains somewhat active on the Champions Tour, where he placed 40th at the Mitsubishi Hualalai event in January. Had he finished just 30 strokes better, he would have tied for second-to-last.
I’m happy to see Tiger getting out of the house because he still has a lot to play for. Even if Jack’s major championship record is out of reach, the PGA Tour record is tantalizingly attainable. Tiger has 79 wins, trailing Sam Snead at 82.
Tiger is at even money just to make the cut. He shot 2-over in his practice round the other day.
And if reports are accurate, he still hasn’t solved his chipping problems.
Augusta is the last place you want to have problems with your chipping. I honestly don’t know what he’s thinking, to even try to play before he gets his head straightened out.
That seems to be a common viewpoint, but I’m having trouble quantifying the harm of playing. If he skips the event, he earns no money and no points. By playing, he gives himself a chance to improve his standing.
For the world golf ranking, I see a 40-event minimum (2-year period), so (if I understand correctly) a missed cut doesn’t hurt his ranking unless he plays more than 40 events.