Rock Rolls to Victory

Although I didn't watch much of the HSBC Champions tournament at Abu Dhabi, alright, I watched the final hole because I saw on the web that it looked like Robert Rock was going to win, I was thrilled to see that final hole and Rock secure a win. He beat the World #2, a lot of very good players and one over-hyped player. No matter what anyone else thinks, I think a Robert Rock win is the best thing for the European Tour. He's a well-liked player, a good, heart-felt story, and he plays a heck of a lot more on the European Tour than the other stars who some might have wanted to win. He'll pay it forward, pay it back and pay it all around with his presence, his competitive nature, and his contribution to the Tour. I for one can't wait to see him in Akron at the Bridgestone Invitational. I believe I heard one of the announcers say this win gets him in to that tournament.

The Haney Hullabaloo

This week we were exposed to much discussion over the new Hank Haney book called "The Big Miss." From what I understand, no one has read this book, but that doesn't keep people from commenting on it, one of which is Tiger Woods. Reportedly, Tiger has expressed his concerns over this book and some stated he called Haney's writing of it "unprofessional." Now I have two issues with this.  One, wait until you read the book before you condemn it. It might not even be about you. Second, Woods is hardly the authority on professional behavior given his cussing, club throwing and tantrum throwing behavior on the course. I believe the correct course of action would have been to keep his mouth shut until after the book came out and then constructed some PR/politically correct response that would keep the media from blowing the whole thing out of proportion. By coming out now with a statement based on nothing but one man's speculation on what might be included in the book, it just makes Tiger look like a jerk.  Some might bring up this 'inner circle' excuse, but there is no such thing as an inner circle in an employer/employee relationship. Haney wasn't Tiger's wing man, he was Tiger's swing coach. There's a big difference there and it's called a paycheck.

I think Hank Haney will stick to the golf theme in his book and it will be some boring golf instruction manual. I don't plan to read the book, no matter the content. I don't need golf instruction as I don't play golf. And I am not a Woods fan and could care less about what he might think would be covered in this book.

Everyone will know what the big miss is later in the year when the book comes out.

Something Went Right Today

I've been doing some work on the blog today. I've selected two golfers to shine my spotlight on this year: Gary Woodland and Erik Compton.  I want to add Tom Lewis but haven't gotten to do that yet. And I've added the Places To Start section in the sidebar. Finally, I've started adding back the Blogs of Note section. That one's going to take a while because I had quite a few on the old blog. Please let me know if the links don't work. On dial-up, it takes me forever to click on each one.

At least this part of my day went well. Had a huge snafu with Rite Aid Pharmacy today. Suffice it to say, I'm never shopping there again. Of course I only ever went there for one item and I can get that elsewhere. Lesson to businesses: train your freakin' employees.

Loving the Freshness of a New Season

I love the beginning of the golf season. We get to learn about new players on Tour and find out what's changed with the established players. Tonight for instance, I'm learning about Bud Cauley.  He might be one to watch this year and it's exciting to see someone who came out on Tour last year and earned his tour card by playing tournaments. Not Q-School and not the Nationwide Tour. I still place more emphasis on the guy who wins Q-School because I think that's really the toughest test and tells us more about the player than anything else. But Cauley's efforts last year are something to talk about.

As for the established players, the one subject always on the minds of fans early in the year is equipment switches. For some reason when a player has a really good year on tour, the first thing he does is switch equipment manufacturers. The second thing the player does is have a bad year with the new equipment.

And then there are all of the injuries we're seeing this year. Paul Casey, Lucas Glover. Granted, not as accident-prone as David Feherty (who details some of his painful experiences in the February 2012 edition of Golf Magazine), these guys should still be a bit more careful and maybe take up jigsaw puzzles for a hobby rather than physical sports.

So far in 2012, the nicest treat we received was the pairing of Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo for the Tournament of Champions coverage. They were funny, insightful, and smart enough to avoid the sensationalistic confrontations that media folks everywhere were itching to see. This was a good start to the season, despite having a Monday finish.

A Time of Change

Much like the beginning of the new season of professional golf is a time for change for those playing the game, this is also a time for change for me. Blogger decided it knew better than its customers and completely changed everything about their templates and blogging programming. This means they screwed up my blog. I have no blogs of note.  No players to watch.  No places to start. I do have all of the website addresses saved but it will be a huge, time-consuming, endeavor to put them back in. Thanks Blogger for wasting hours of my time today for all of your 'technological improvements'.  It's only an improvement in technology if it can include everything from the past into the present, not render it completely obsolete and force people to start all over.