We're All Winners

I watched the final round of the Vivendi Trophy this morning and it was great to see both sides hanging out together watching the other players finish up. You don't see that in Ryder Cup competition. Everyone who was involved with this team competition and who watched it are all winners today. We were treated to really good golf and really great sportsmanship.

Vivendi Trophy Controversy

Apparently a certain opinionated golfer who is experiencing a ban on this blog has created a stir with his criticism of those players who were eligible for the Vivendi Trophy but who are not competing. Golfers such as Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood apparently chose not to compete as opposed to Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer who reportedly have injuries and that certain opinionated (aka loud mouthed) golfer feels that it's just deplorable that those who were eligible chose not to participate - blah, blah, blah.

My opinion: I wouldn't get to see some of the up and coming European players if Westwood, Garcia and Poulter were playing. And, these up and comers might appreciate the extra experience that this event is giving them. Next fall when we are all talking Ryder Cup, we are going to be looking at the lists and saying "gee, a winning European team can be selected from anyone in the top 30." Without these up and comers gaining this valuable experience now, we might have to cut that list down to the top 20 or 15. It's better for Europe to give as many people as possible the experience of team competition. It's too bad that certain opinionated (aka loud mouthed) golfer's perspective is so narrow in scope that he can't see the positive side to this week's competition.

Website was Wrong?

Out of curiosity this morning, I checked the program guide on my satellite dish and found out that in fact the Golf Channel was airing the Vivendi Trophy competition despite its own website's claims that it would be aired in October. I don't know what's going on with the Golf Channel but I do know that I might have recorded the competition today had I known about it ahead of time. Maybe the Golf Channel needs to be a little more accurate on their website.

I'll just read about the Vivendi Trophy on the web instead.

Vivendi Trophy With Seve Ballesteros

Team competition returns to Europe this week (24th-27th) with the Vivendi Trophy, which pits the Continental Europe team against Great Britain and Ireland. You can read more about it by clicking here. Looks like a couple of great teams and the golf should be great to watch. I just checked the golf channel to see when this would be on tv and for some reason, they are saying October 8th thru the 11th. If they are putting this off just so they can suck up to Tiger and the Tour Championship, they might wish they hadn't. People are really going to stop watching golf if Tiger keeps getting all of the press (just like political ads during campaign season turning off tv viewers) and then where will the Golf channel be?

Great End to the Austrian Open

I watched the final round at Mom and Dad's this morning and Rafael Cabrera-Bello's final round 60 was exciting. He won by one shot over Benn Barham. This is Cabrera-Bello's first win on the European Tour. I like to see first time winners.

Olazabal Playing Again

Found this article that says Jose Maria Olazabal is going to be playing in the Austrian Open. Hope I get to see him and I hope he does really well.

Oh Boohoo....

I just checked Twitter where I follow Camilo Villegas. He had a recent tweet that said he didn't understand - every other sport has an off season but he guessed golf didn't.

That was a 'you're kidding me' moment. I believe anyone who's involved with the playoffs probably won't be playing the fall series events. That seems like an off season to me. Also, I don't think there are a lot of PGA Tour events after the fall series. Looks like there's plenty of time to lounge around.

And think about it this way - If I don't take my vacation every year, do I then say the employer doesn't offer vacation leave? That's absurd. I get three weeks paid vacation a year. It's up to me to schedule it. The office just isn't going to shut down. No one is forcing Camilo to play the whole 21 weeks he played on the US PGA tour so far this year. That's out of a possible 36. Oh, the humanity - to be forced to work a whole 36 weeks a year!

And Camilo should talk to the ATP tennis players. They think their schedule is too demanding.

In and Out

I know it's been a while, but the US Open tennis tournament was going on and I had to watch that.

So, here's a golf related post. Who's in and Who's out on the Fed Ex Cup points list? I wrote down the top 30 before the playoffs began and I just checked the list of the top 30 going into the Tour Championship.

Who's Out (Name and number of events):
Sabbatini 22
Casey - injured
Rollins 24
R. Moore 24
T. Clark 21
Hoffman 24
Kim 21

Who's In:
Slocum 26
Harrington 19
Dufner 25
Verplank 23
Leishman 25
Els 18
Senden 27

So, that's really only a change of 5 golfers (Casey's impact excluded since his injury isn't a result of a points system kicking him out). I don't know if this points system is going to make a difference. I'll be convinced if anyone in the bottom five wins the Fed Ex Cup. I'll really be convinced if John Senden wins the Fed Ex Cup. He's #30 on the list.

But I'm not holding my breath for some exciting finish. Save that for the US Open tennis tournament and Juan Martin Del Potro and Kim Clijsters.

Stricker Wins!

Steve Stricker won today and is now leading the Fed Ex Cup points list!!! Yay!!!!! You don't know how happy this makes me. And I love how he cries when he wins. He's so humble.

Caternity Leave

I haven't been posting for a while because I have a new kitten that takes up some of my time. He's currently residing in my bathroom, but soon, and I can't wait for the day, he will become an outside cat. He's just too small to put outside right now. I got him from a woman at work whose boxer, Rufus, was really looking forward to a feline snack. I've named the little kitten Parker after a character on the TNT TV show Leverage.

So, some comments about golf - Miguel Angel Jimenez had a very good tournament this week in Switzerland. I got to watch a lot of the weekend coverage. It still amazes me that you can have a playable golf course that close to a bunch of snow. I hate snow.

I watched some of the PGA event today. Luckily, Tiger had already gotten off the course so the NBC crew had to focuse on the guys who were still playing. Gee, what a concept. And I got to see and hear Brad Faxon today. I like Brad Faxon. I wish he would get back to playing really well so I could see him playing more. While I really like Sean O'Hair, I would like to see Steve Stricker win so he could take over the number 1 spot on the Fed Ex Cup points list.

I got the new issue of Golf Magazine this week in the mail. There's an interesting, but completely predictable, interview with Lanny Wadkins. Since he didn't seem too honored to get the Hall of Fame invite, I say they should rescind it. There's an article about golf in Cuba. And David Feherty's column is about the Troops First Foundation and the AT&T National tournament.

I have tomorrow off from work thanks to Labor Day so I'll be watching some sports - Tennis and Golf if Tiger gets off the course early, which he should considering how far back he is.