Sunday, March 26, 2006

Final Round Thoughts

I was very happy to see Stephen Ames win. After the whole "9 & 8" bruhaha, it was good to see Stephen finish so far ahead of Tiger Woods.

What's with NBC Sports and their not wanting to show Sergio on TV? Sergio was paired with Mike Weir and NBC had no problem showing Mike Weir on TV even though his round wasn't as good as Sergio's. And at the beginning of today's coverage, they pointed out that Vijay was in second place going into the final round, but not a mention of Sergio who was at 8 under with Vijay. It's no wonder Sergio doesn't win the big tournaments. I mean he did everything but shoot an 80 today and he was on camera maybe three times. The media is so fickle.

Camilo Villegas did really well today and all week. At least the media puts him on tv. When are they going to start interviewing him though?

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Conflicting News Articles

I read an article earlier that stated Adam Scott had changed his mind and would not get his hair cut, but this article stated he did get an official trim (I'm guessing not just that one snip from the Golf Channel Chick) and he is now officially out of the bet. Reporters need to get the stories right. The linked article also has some quotes from Adam about his third round today.

A Special Thank You

I just checked my counter stats for the blog and apparently I get the most traffic from people looking for news on the Hair Bet. So, here's a big thank you to Adam Scott, Tim Clark and Sergio Garcia for bringing all these new visitors to my blog.

Round 3

Some notes:

1) No more ESPN Carl. Yay!

2) Hold on to your seats, I'm about to throw some support to Tiger Woods. I wholeheartedly applaud him for not letting the Florida hotels dictate his dog-traveling ways. According to NBC's coverage today, Tiger couldn't find a hotel in Florida who would let him bring his dog, so Tiger has to use his big yacht this week. Good for Tiger.

3) Sergio was right there one shot back for the whole first hour of NBC's coverage and they may have shown him twice. What's with that?

4) Adam Scott was supposed to have decided to cut his hair, but then changed his mind. Well, he shot an 82 in the third round, and it's been reported that whoever in the hair bet shoots an 80 has to get his head shaved. Wonder if that will happen? Wonder if Sergio was thinking a little about that as he played today.

5) Ian Poulter's thrashing of the rough. I haven't seen him have an outburst. That was new. At least he didn't cuss on camera like Tiger did.

6) Arron Oberholzer - it's good that he was playing well for most of the round. I think if he had held it together and not screwed up 17 and 18, then tomorrow he would have shot an 80 since you hardly ever see two really good rounds back to back. His little ricochet putt was pretty cool to watch.

7) The golf course is one of the toughest and one that creates some of the best competitive golf on tour and it's only about 7100 yards. Proof that this new trend of lengthening courses isn't necessary. Vijay said in a press conference that a person wouldn't necessarily even need to hit a driver on this course.

I was watching Bob Costas interview Sergio and I thought of a couple of questions I would have liked to ask him:
1. How many different outfits does he have to choose from?

2. Is it weird for him to see himself playing golf on tv and can he immediately tell what shot and what hole it is or does he have to look at the trees and stuff. (It seems to me it would be hard to tell what hole it is if all you see is him in the middle of a fairway.)

Friday, March 24, 2006

The Players: Round 2

Davis Love missed the cut after leading the field at the end of round 1. I think the Golf Channel is making more of that than there is. The Golf Channel said a little bit ago that Sergio Garcia was leading this week in putting????? Wow! I wonder if they have their stats right. If they do then this is great news for Sergio. As to Kelly whats-her-name on the Golf Channel complaining about the hair bet. Until she gets a buzz cut she needs to leave them alone. Sergio is looking really handsome these days. Maybe that's why I didn't notice his putting....

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The Players Championship

They are having some pre-tournament coverage on the Golf channel right now. The most interesting part so far is the news that Chris DiMarco isn't playing this week. The rest of it has been the usual, what's it take to win - blah, blah, blah stuff.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Final Round

Just some thoughts:
1. I didn't think Rod Pampling would pull it off. But he did. Good for him.
2. I feel really bad for Greg Owen. But he did make over $500,000.
3. For Darren Clarke to be right there at the end despite all that's going on in his personal life, it makes you realize just how much talent he has.
4. Was today designated 'Blue Shirt Day' or something. Everyone seemed to be wearing blue out there.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Having Some Fun

The third round of the Bay Hill tournament was pretty fun to watch today. My favorite moment was when Sergio Garcia went wading in some water to hit his next shot. None of that sissy-boy two club lengths and take a drop stuff for him. No sir, he played the ball where it was laying. That's what I like to see in golf.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Hair Today....

Well, according to Sergio Garcia, he is still an active participant in the hair bet. I've been watching him a little bit this evening on the round two coverage and his hair does look longer than what I remember.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

New Blog

I've added a new blog to the side bar. Check out One Day One Shot. I just hope this blogger hasn't been one of those photographers who've been yelled at by the golfers and caddies for making noise.

Luke Donald Wins

It came down to Geoff Ogilvy and Luke Donald there at the end of the tournament. Between the two, I was hoping Luke Donald would win. Ogilvy has already won once this year. Time for someone else to win. Johnny Miller said there at the end that Luke Donald was single. I thought I read in Golf Magazine that Donald has a long-time girlfriend. I'm going with the Golf Magazine article. Maybe Miller is just one of those people who think someone is still single until the marriage license is signed and recorded on the books. And there seemed to be a Paul Azinger lovefest going on this weekend with regard to the announce team.

Now that I've had a couple weeks to listen to the NBC coverage, I have a few comments. They also talk about Tiger Woods way too much, even when Tiger isn't playing in the tournament. But they don't try to create the story or the tourament through their coverage like some others I've commented on in the past. Since I have expressed my opinion of Lanny Wadkins, Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo, and even Frank Nobilo over on the Golf Channel, I guess I need to express an opinion on Johnny Miller now. OK, here it is: he seems to be the one commentator who genuinely loves golf and is still excited about the game (Nobilo is a close second). He has such energy in his voice when he describes the action that even if he makes some biting comments about some players, you can't fault him too much because you can tell that if he could get out there and play every week, he would and he'd have no problem kicking some players' butts. I think some commentators try to be as critical as Miller but can't pull it off as successfully because they don't have Miller's love for the game coming through in the rest of their commentary.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

3rd Round

Luke Donald, David Toms, Billy Mayfair, Jeff Gove, and Geoff Ogilvy are all in contention. Paul Azinger has done well so far this week.

I read on the internet last week after that tournament a comment written by someone who was critical of Johnny Miller and NBC for Miller doing Ford commercials and commentating at the Ford Tournament. Well, today Miller talked just as much about Hondas as he did last week about Fords. I don't see a problem there. Everyone does commercials these days. You can't just pick on Johnny Miller.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Nice Quote from Last Week's Tournament

Courtesy of Golf Digest:

As usual, (Johnny) Miller spoke his mind with just a little prodding from partner Dan Hicks. When Hicks asked him about Woods leading despite missing so many fairways, he said Woods was "lucky," and added, "The gallery sure gets to see him up close." …

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

I read tonight on the internet that Tiger is skipping this next golf tournament. A thought has come to me after reading this. Apparently, the only way for Tiger to approach Annika's record of winning half the tournaments she enters is for him to win one then skip one. I guess anyone could get 50% of anything when you reduce the total number counted. I'll have to take a look at those who are actually playing in the tournament to see who might stand a good chance of winning. I saw that several top level players are skipping this next tournament. Maybe they just don't like Hondas?

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Ford Championship: 3rd Round

Well, I guess by the time tomorrow's NBC coverage begins, there will be one heck of a human interest story ready to go on Daniel Chopra. He's in the final group with Tiger. Or else, everyone else will be forgotten, no matter how well they are playing, and the media will still be trying to make the event all about Tiger and Phil. There are several good players in contention going into the final round. I haven't had much of an opportunity to watch NBC golf coverage since I started watching golf again, so I can't say for sure how they will cover tomorrow's play. I hope the coverage will be equally divided among all those with a chance to win.

Despite the double bogey on the last hole, Camillo Villegas had a good round today and is in a good position going into Sunday. Daniel Chopra quietly went about his business and posted a score that would be good enough to get him into the final group. They should do a human interest story on him - I don't think anyone really knows a lot about him. I haven't heard much of anything about him since I started this blog last year. Rich Beem and Dean Wilson may be a factor tomorrow, and David Toms is right there again.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Golf Central

Tiger-Phil Duel. Tiger vs Phil. Tiger and Phil Part II.

What's that? Scott Verplank and Camillo Villegas also are tied for the lead at 13 under? That doesn't fit with the story the media is trying to manufacture. So, these guys don't count.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Doral

Missed the first round. Saw on pgatour.com that Tiger had an 8 under round today. Ho-hum. Boring.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Golf Central

Some guy just introduced Mike Hulbert as the 'former 3 time winner' on the pga tour. Does this mean Hulbert is no longer a winner? Did they take his trophies away? People, especially those who make their living with words, should really think before they speak.