A Good Cause

The American Lung Association is offering something called a Golf Privilege Card. Check out the website by clicking here.

This Story Will Get Lost This Week

12 year old qualifies for Women's US Open.

The Predictions Have Been Posted

I checked out waggleroom.com and Stu has posted everyone's predictions. Now, I love Sergio. He's the honorary daddy of my puppy, Winnie Garcia. But he's not going to win or come in second or be a sleeper winner. Bless these folks for picking him though. Popular picks are:
Tiger, Furyk, Sergio, KJ Choi, Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Stewart Cink (I considered him as he's been playing well, but I still have issues with him from the Ryder Cup singles matches so I can't pick him), and Padraig Harrington.

My predictions: Rory Sabbatini to win, Justin Rose as runner up, and Angel Cabrera or Pablo Martin for sleeper picks. You have to hand it to me - I don't go with the obvious picks.

Check out everyone's predictions at www.waggleroom.com.

Early US Open Thoughts

1. Phil Mickelson is talking up the bad wrist so that if he sucks this week, the media won't say he's still suffering from last year's collapse.

2. It's going to be just like last year - a horrible tournament with everyone over par where the winner is going to be the least suckiest player. Sure, the course is fair because everyone has to play the same course. But it isn't good sportsmanship.

3. I found a really good article about Sergio and Jose Maria (more Sergio than Jose Maria) and the US Open. Click here to read it. In short, Sergio says the course is really tough and Jose Maria didn't even want to make comments after his practice round.

You know, we fans may be big losers this week if the tournament is as depressing as last year's, but I feel bad for the golfers if it's like last year. Their confidence is sure to be shaken or destroyed thanks to the USGA's continued battle to crush the memory of Johnny Miller's 63. There's 'gee the course is hard' and then there's 'so far removed from the very definition of the sport of golf that you can't even call it golf anymore, let alone call it a sport.' That's what we're facing this week.

Haven for Shrinks

Have you noticed how many players on the PGA tour love the tough conditions, whatever they happen to be? Sergio always says he loves playing in the wind and he hopes the wind blows every time they interview him. Then all the other players jump on that bandwagon and say that if the wind blows it will be great for them. Well, now Woody Austin says he loves the tough courses where Even Par is a great score. If I could just get him to say the phrase 'even par round' in an interview, I'd get a lot more hits here. Anyway, I'm thinking that all the players have had sessions with shrinks who tell them to embrace the difficulties - the love your enemy idea. If you talk yourself into liking the bad conditions, then you're theoretically supposed to do better. Kinda like when you have to give a speech and you try to tell yourself that you love giving speeches and that it's no big deal, even when you are seconds from passing out when you're in front of the audience because you can't breathe. I never passed out, but I did master the 5 minute speech in one breath when I was in high school.

Hungry

Anyone else really hungry after staring at the McDonalds logo for a few hours watching the LPGA tournament?

Check Out A New Blog

Steve White at (UK) Golf Blog emailed me and asked me to check out his blog. So, I did and I like it. Check it out: www.ukgolfblog.com and look for it in the Blogs of Note section.

Not Over Yet, But...

Well, the St. Jude Championship isn't officially over yet, but I think it's safe to say that Woody Austin won. He has a huge lead.

Adam Scott had a horrible round today. Maybe they will start talking about his final round scoring average instead of Sergio's. I'm beginning to think I did well by not picking him to win the US Open next week.

The one thing I know from watching the tournament today: Woody Austin is 43 years old. Verne must have said it at least 43 times.

Leaderboard Look

I noticed that Ted Purdy shot an 87 in the first round of the St. Jude Championship, then withdrew.

Good thing he's not a girl on the LPGA tour.

St. Jude Championship

Adam Scott has a 3 shot lead. Those chasing him include Brian Gay, David Toms, Woody Austin.

I think a bigger story is the number of withdraws there've been in this tournament. 15 players have withdrawn. The Golf Channel needs to find out why.

And it's a good thing there wasn't a figure skating event somewhere in the world. CBS would have no one announcing this tournament if there had been. Nantz is MIA (what else is new). Bill MacAtee is in France at the French Open. Thank Goodness for Verne Lundquist. CBS needs to hire Terry Gannon. (Not ESPN Carl).

John Daly

Probably the only comment I'll make about the current John Daly news item is this:

You know with his kind of luck something like this would happen while he's actually having a good tournament, something he hasn't experienced in probably a year. Keep the kids in your prayers.

McDonalds LPGA Championship

My players to watch this week:

Lorena Ochoa
Paula Creamer
Brittany Lincicome

Will I watch? Don't know. Sergio and Jose Maria are playing on the PGA tour this week and the French Open tennis tournament is still going on.

US Open Picks

It's a little early for me to be thinking about the US Open, but Stu at www.waggleroom.com sent me an email asking for my picks. So, I had to first google to find a list of the US Open field, then I had a hard time deciding on who to pick. I'm never good at these and I had to choose between some good players. I think I'll wait until next week to report my picks. Give Stu time to post them. But here's a list of the people who almost made my list but fell just short:

Zach Johnson
Adam Scott
Sean O'Hair

The real question will be: Can I stand to watch the tournamnet if it's as horribly depressing as it was last year?

Ginn Tribute

Why is it I can't find any news on how this turned out? I googled, I went to the LPGA website, I went to MSNBC.com, golfchannel.com. All I can find is that Lorena is tied with Nicole Castrale. You'd think there would be news somewhere. If this is how they are going to be, then I just won't pay attention to the LPGA tour. You'd think the tour would want news to get out so they could get more viewers etc. But I guess they would rather survive on Michelle Wie news than whoever wins the tournament.

Wie Chatter

There's been a lot of talk and blogging about Michelle Wie's withdrawal from this week's LPGA event. And it seems some of the males are more than a bit mad (i.e. whining) that someone who can shoot an 86 in an LPGA event can play on the Men's tour. And these same people are embracing the controversy surrounding the 88 rule and whether or not Wie's people should have been told about the rule, if indeed they were.

I have just one comment:

For those people out there who were hoping and praying she would get banned because they are either jealous of her or hate her, just stop and think: if she can't play on the LPGA tour, then where do you think she's going to play her golf? That's right, she will be accepting every invitation she gets to play on the men's tour.

Memorial Final Round

KJ Choi shot -7 (a 65) to win the Memorial by one shot over Ryan Moore who fired a -6 to finish solo second. Kenny Perry had the round of the day with a -9 and ended up T3 with Rod Pampling. You could go down more than 10 names on the leaderboard and not find an over par final round. So, a lot of good golf was played today.

In order to avoid the Tiger Love Fest, I deliberately didn't watch the first hour of CBS' coverage and didn't watch any of the golf channel today. I watched the French Open instead. And unfortunately, I had to watch Serena Williams. I'm not a big fan of the Williams sisters. They got a lot of the same kind of hype that Tiger gets when they first hit the scene and I got tired of hearing it. Plus, women's tennis itself is a bit annoying with all the vocalizations they have when they hit the ball.

After Tennis went off NBC, I turned it over to NBC to see what was going on with the LPGA tour. They had Dottie Pepper in the 18th tower, which meant I wouldn't be able to stand watching that coverage, no matter how good Dan Hicks is.

You know, the Golf Channel should put together a show with Dottie Pepper and Lanny Wadkins. I'm sure it would get big ratings. If people can watch the Big Break, they can watch Dottie and Lanny.

Memorial Round3, part 2

Rod Pampling takes a 3 shot lead into the final round tomorrow. He's at -15. Sean O'Hair and Adam Scott are at -12. Will MacKenzie, Stewart Cink and Aaron Baddeley are at -11. You had to expect that Adam Scott would have trouble today after shooting a 62 yesterday, but I'm not sure I expected Rod Pampling to be three clear of the pack at the end of play today.

Memorial Round 3, part 1

CBS is showing Tiger Woods today. He's at -3. Not in contention. I think it's only fair that if CBS is going to show him, then they should give equal time to all those others who are currently at -3:
Woody Austin
Robert Garrigus
Rocco Mediate
Camilo Villegas (women everywhere wish they would show him and not Tiger)
Paul Casey
Jason Gore
Brett Quigley

(I left out Tom Lehman because when they show Tiger, he's in the background).

Memorial Round 2

The big news was Adam Scott's 62. A number of the players at the top of the leaderboard are under the age of 30. Finally the announcers have started talking up some players who aren't named Tiger Woods. Of course that's just because Mickelson withdrew and the announcers can't milk that angle. They don't really believe in the players under 30. Not an ounce of sincerity did I detect in their voices.

The Memorial, Round 1

I watched a bit of this tonight. Sean O'Hair is either at the top or near it. I tuned out while Nick O'Hern was still on the course. I don't know how he finished. Rod Pampling is up there too. I think both he and O'Hair shot 65s today. Sergio shot a 69. I hate to say it, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really hope he's been working on his game and has improved. Maybe it's just his attitude that needs improving.

And where's the rain?

MWDs

Mass Withdraws this week. At the Memorial, Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson and Lucas Glover. At the LPGA event, Michelle Wie.

All the media hype surrounding Mickelson and Wie and it was for nothing since they both withdrew. That will teach the media for trying to manufacture news.

No Rose This Week

I just read that Justin Rose will be pulling out of the Memorial this week as a precautionary measure to ensure that his back will be as close to 100% in time for the US Open. According to the article, there's no new trouble with his back, he's just being careful. Considering it was cold and wet in England and that he would have to come all the way to Ohio for the tournament this week with no break, it's probably a good idea to get a little rest.

Exciting End to the Colonial

Rory Sabbatini won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in a one hole sudden death playoff against Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer. It was great to see Langer play so well. If I remember right, he played well before the Masters and I picked him as a darkhorse favorite for the Masters. Furyk finally found something in his game and nearly won. Where's he been in the last few months? And of course, Sabbatini had some good stats this week. They said 19 putts total for one of his rounds.

From ESPN.COM

Click Here for the Article

VIRGINIA WATER, England -- The European Tour plans to strengthen ties with the rest of the world in order to rival the PGA Tour in the United States.

The European Tour currently includes tournaments in Australasia, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But many events have weakened fields because of conflicting tournaments in the United States.

"The idea of amalgamating with other tours to put on a really attractive schedule, by whatever name we call it, is one that we are in the final stages of refining," European Tour executive director George O'Grady said Sunday.

"Certainly it won't be a World Tour -- that's far too grand for me to come up with -- but there might be a name change."

One factor hurting the European Tour is that three of the four majors and all three World Golf Championship tournaments are held in the United States.

Last week's Irish Open attracted only two of the world's top-50 players, mainly because it was moved from March to May this year, just after the Players Championship on the PGA Tour.

"We're the European Tour and we're working with all our partners to make, I would say, a hugely strong alternative to the PGA Tour," O'Grady said.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Sabbatini's Challenge

I didn't blog about this when I first heard it, but since they keep bringing it up on tv, I think I should say something about Rory Sabbatini's comments about wanting to be in the final group with Tiger again and how he thinks Tiger is beatable.

I'm not much of a Rory Sabbatini fan, but I don't see anything wrong with his comments. Everyone is whining that there's no one out there challenging Tiger Woods. Now that there is someone who has the attitude and the belief that it's possible out there, everyone is criticizing Sabbatini - "How dare he challenge the great blah, blah, blah Woods". Proving that, one, the media only cares about stirring up a fight and the players can't trust a one of them, and, two, the fans are just a bunch of wishy washy flipfloppers who are too scared to pick a stance and stick with it.

As for the notion that Tiger isn't beatable? I believe Jim Nantz said that Tiger's response was something like "I've won 9 out of 12, so yeah, that's beatable". Talk to Henrik Stenson and Zach Johnson. A WGC event and the Masters and Tiger couldn't get it done. The past 9 don't mean a whole lot in that context. And where was Tiger on Sunday at the Players?

Sabbatini's right. Tiger is beatable and while I'm not much of a fan of Rory Sabbatini, it will be very enjoyable to watch him do it.

BMW PGA Championship

I figured I should use the name of the tournament at least once this week. LOL. Anders Hansen won today in a playoff with Justin Rose. It's good to see both men doing well, but as you know I'm a loyal Justin Rose fan and I would have liked to see him win.

Golf Roundup

I've been watching golf, just haven't been blogging. The puppies have been keeping me a little busy. At the Colonial, there are some good stories. Tim Clark hit every fairway and every green in his second round I think. Arron Oberholser's playing well. And of course all the scenes of the water from the rain they've been having. Over in England, Justin Rose faltered a little bit in the third round, but is still doing well. Miguel Angel Jimenez is also doing well. As for the LPGA, the Golf Channel keeps throwing out Paula Creamer's name in commercials and the other day they kept showing Natalie Gulbis. From a practical standpoint, I guess announcers like a name they can pronounce every once in a while. There are a lot of Asian players on the LPGA tour this year. Makes you wonder why there aren't that many on the PGA tour.

Go Justin Rose!

Justin Rose is tied for the lead over at the European Tour event. Good for him! I hope he does really well.

Michelle Wie and the John Deere Classic

According to some other websites, Michelle Wie will be playing at the John Deere Classic again this year. There seems to be a lot of negative feedback about that. True, there are golf fans out there frustrated that she hasn't made a cut on the US PGA tour yet, but give all the anger and hatred a rest people. Think about the tournament, the community and all the people who attend the event. Last night on Golf Central, they said that a lot of people there think of Michelle Wie as an icon and love her and want to see her. So, if the people who buy tickets to the event want to see her, then who can criticize tournament organizers for offering her an exemption. How many of these critics will buy a ticket to the John Deere Classic and support the community?

I admire Michelle Wie. She could have quit in the face of all the naysayers and complainers who can't even play half as well as she does, but she's hung in there. She's not giving up her dreams and that's what kids, boy or girl, need to learn from her.

And another thing - everyone said she shouldn't turn pro, she should stay a kid and go on dates and go to prom etc. Well, she's had a chance to do that while she's recovered from her injury and what do these critics say now? That she hasn't played and is too rusty to play well in any event, be it LPGA or PGA. So, which is it critics? Do you flip a coin each morning to decide which side you'll argue that day?

Kentucky Bound

I have a feeling I may be taking the trip of a lifetime to go see the Ryder Cup next year after hearing today that Nick Faldo had named Jose Maria Olazabal an assistant captain. Paul McGinley is the other assistant captain.

No Seve

They announced on Golf Central tonight that Seve Ballesteros has withdrawn from the Senior PGA Championship :( That's heartbreaking for me because I really thought he was getting back into the swing of things (no pun intended). I was looking forward to seeing him play again because I never got to see much of his play when he was competitive on the PGA tour and European Tour.

On the positive side, I can record the European Tour event now on Thursday and Friday and hopefully see Jose Maria play. They probably won't show him though.

Lorena Ochoa Wins

Lorena Ochoa won the Sybase Classic, defending the title she earned last year and solidifying her spot at the top of the rankings. Here's a good article that includes quotes: ESPN.com

AT&T Classic - Final

Zach Johnson won in a playoff over Ryuji Imada. He's now 4th in fed ex cup points. Too bad for Imada, he could have gone to the Masters next year. Zach didn't need the exemption.

This Kid Won Before Michelle Wie

TOKYO (AP) - High school student Ryo Ishikawa won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup on Sunday, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the Japanese men's professional tour.

Ishikawa, a 15-year-old former national junior high school champion, shot a 6-under-par 66 in the final round for a one-stroke win over veteran Katsumasa Miyamoto in his first tour appearance.

"It was a dream round," said Ishikawa, who finished at 12-under 276. "I just kept trying to make birdies."

The previous record was set by Spain's Seve Ballesteros, who won the 1977 Japan Open when he was 20.
Click here to read the whole article

Seve's First Champions Tour Event

Seve Ballesteros finished his first Champions Tour event on what I believe is a positive note. He shot 78 the first round, 81 the second round, and 73 the final round. From 81 to 73. That's pretty good. I hope that final round encourages him and sends him into his next event with some good motivation. I would love to see more of him on tv. It looks like he will play next week at the Senior PGA.

I will have to figure out a way to watch both that and the European Tour event on Thursday and Friday. I can only record one or the other since they are on different networks. Maybe the Golf channel will do a re-air of something.

I Love Faldo, but....

Ian Baker Finch offers a lot more as a comentator. He's always got trivia or golfing insight to share.

I'm watching the final round of the AT&T Classic and this tournament is a good opportunity for some of the guys who get overshadowed by the big names to get their day in the sun. Some of these guys, like Stephen Marino and Ryuji Imada miss cuts and you don't see them on the weekend. And here Imada is in contention for the win. There is talk about the Tour changing the cutline from top 70 and ties to something less in an effort to reduce playing time. Well, if they do that, then these guys like Imada won't have the chance to play enough rounds in a row to get their game into shape to finally win when a chance like this comes along. Reducing the cutline is just an attempt by the Tour to make the top guys even richer since the purse wouldn't be split between so many players. And of course they could then increase the number of precious fed ex cup points awarded to the winner of a tournament. I predict a "Tiger Woods has amassed more points than anyone in history" moment if this happens. The Tour will do anything to give Tiger Woods a trophy or award.

When You Definitely Need Video

Heard while listening, but not watching, the Nationwide Tour event:

"... getting a ruling to see what he can do with that hose."

FYI: It was a landscaping, garden hose.

In Honor of Seve's Debut on the Champions Tour

Check out Seve's Official Website.

AT&T Classic

Hmmm...... the announce crew was talking about how the tournament needed Zach Johnson there this week since all the big names are taking the week off. It's a shame the announcers like Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo aren't supporting the tournament by working this week. CBS really needs to examine that aspect of their broadcasts. What kind of message is CBS sending to viewers if its own employees don't show up for the tournament? Thank goodness for David Feherty and Ian Baker Finch. One's funny and the other one's an encyclopedia. They could do the whole show themselves.

Irish Open, Round 3

Padraig Harrington has a three shot lead going into the final round, giving hope to Irish folks everywhere that there might actually be an Irish winner of the tournament this year. Apparently, that hasn't happened in something like 25 years?

I watched a little of this today. The course is beautiful. Why the European players would prefer American courses is beyond me. Ours aren't that pretty.

Great News Story from The Birmingham News

Click Here for the Website

MIKE PERRIN

News staff writer

The Gunter family of Guntersville completed a sort of cosmic circle on Wednesday when young Seve Gunter met a golfing legend at Ross Bridge.

Seve, 18, is the son of Keith and Sallie Gunter and the brother of Taylor, 28.

When Mrs. Gunter was expecting her second child, she told big-brother-to-be that he could pick the name - fully expecting to be able to sway his choice to hers, which was Dalton, her father's name.

Not so fast, Mom.

Taylor was a golf fan in 1988 and one of the hottest names on the circuit was Spaniard Seve Ballesteros. His mind was made up. He insisted that his new brother would be named Seve.

"Mom gave me the choice of Dalton and two other names and Seve, but there was never any choice, really," said Taylor. "Seve stuck out to me. It's always been a unique name.

"I knew he wouldn't like it until he got older. He had to deal with it when he was younger, but he's all right now."

Seve, from Guntersville, not Pedrena, said his unusual name hasn't been a burden.

"Sometimes people would call me Steve or `Seeve,' but besides that it's been great," said the junior at Guntersville High, who is a member of the school's golf team and an academic scholarship winner from the University of Alabama.

The Bruno's Event Team set up a meeting of the two Seves on Wednesday after Mrs. Gunter wrote to executive director Gene Hallman explaining all the family's "ties" to Ballesteros.

Taylor Gunter shares Ballesteros' birthday of April 9 and Ballesteros won the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic in September 1988 - on the day Guntersville's Seve was born.

Seve

Just by watching a couple of holes of the Champions Tour coverage, I have to say that Seve looks very good, physique-wise. Or it could just be that all the other players out there don't and it makes him look better. But seriously, did you check out the biceps on Seve? Impressive. You don't see those on Hale Irwin or Jay Haas.

Irish Open, Round 2

Padraig Harrington has the lead going into the weekend, with Andres Romero, Joakim Backstrom and Simon Wakefield one shot back.


Didn't get to watch any of this today. There were spaniards in all four quarterfinal matches of the tennis tournament going on in Germany. I just had to watch that instead.

Armchair Golfer Branches Out

The Armchair Golfer has begun writing a column for MVN (Most Valuable Network). I've added a link to the blogs of note section and you can check out the column by clicking HERE.

Round One: Irish Open

Four players, including Andres Romero, are tied for the lead after shooting 68 in the first round. They are the aforementioned Romero, Simon Dyson, Peter Hanson, and Peter Gustafsson. I'm a big fan of Andres Romero so this is really great news. If I didn't have the Tennis Channel and I wasn't watching all those Spaniards play tennis, I'd be watching the Irish Open. I did flip over to it this morning, but they were all wearing coats and looked really cold, so I went back to tennis. Probably wasn't much warmer in Germany, but the players looked warm.

From ESPN.COM

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2871557&campaign=rss&source=GOLFHeadlines

South African Ashleigh Simon, 18, who just turned professional, accepted a sponsor's exemption to the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, becoming the first golfer to enter the 64-player field.

The event features the world's top 30 ranked players, the top 30 on the LPGA money list, the No. 1 ranked player on the LET Order of Merit, the defending champion and two sponsor's exemptions.

"I can't wait to get out on the Tour," said Simon. "I have thoroughly enjoyed my amateur career and feel I am absolutely ready for the next stage of my golfing journey. I have been fortunate enough to have already experienced the professional environment so I know it is a place where I feel comfortable and I feel I have learned a lot from the tournaments I have played so far."

The tournament will begin on Thursday, July 19 and conclude on Sunday, July 22 with 18-hole semifinal, third-place and title matches.

Brittany Lincicome defeated Juli Inkster, 3&2, to win her first career LPGA title at last year's event.

Seve Makes Champions Tour Debut

Read this article from BBC Sport. It has some interesting quotes from Seve.

Irish Open

Since I have the week off, I'll actually be able to watch Thursday and Friday golf this week (unless I'm watching tennis). At the Irish Open, the following are set to compete: Marcel Siem, Nick Dougherty, Lee Westwood, Johan Edfors, Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Anton Haig, Andres Romero and a bunch of other people.

I've read some comments on news websites that suggest that 'no one' is showing up for the Irish Open because of the Fed Ex Cup and how all the European Tour players are abandoning the European Tour to chase the $10 Million first place prize for winning the Cup. Well, I think there are a lot of good players at the Irish Open this week. And as I said in my previous post, I don't think it's the Fed Ex Cup that's motivating the European Tour players to play so much in America, I think it's the revamped schedule.

Golfing Gossip From BBC.COM

Found this on BBC's website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A22768653

Graeme McDowell is here and is another to voice concern. The Portrush player recognises that the US Tour is proving more and more attractive at the moment.

There’s a $10 million carrot being dangled in the form of the FedEx Cup which builds to a climax in September.

“They are going all out to steal all our top players off us and get them playing over there as often as they possibly can,” McDowell said.

“I guess you can’t really resent them for it. They do have money to offer; they do have TV; they do have the stars; they have Tiger Woods. It’s tough."

My Thoughts: I think what people need to focus on is that part where he says "They've got Tiger." If the European Tour players keep that in mind, then they shouldn't be trying to make an effort to win the Fed Ex Cup. Stay in Europe and win tournaments instead of coming over here and missing the cut and not making it through the playoffs. I think what's hurting the European Tour is the revamped US schedule. Now for something like 4 months in a row, the European Tour players who play the WGC events, the Majors and the special tournaments like the Memorial are possibly having to miss some European Tour events to play in America since there's a big tournament each month. Europe might get lucky in July with the British Open, some players will be over there warming up.

There's a lot of interesting points and quotes on that BBC page. Click the link and read the rest of it.

Can't These People Use Hyphens?

From THIS WEBSITE:

Diagnosing and Correcting Mishits Mishits can be painful experiences on the golf course. You know what happens after you hit one, but you might not be sure what's happening to cause you to hit one.

Found a New Golf Blog

Check out The Principal's Nose.

What's Up on the Tours This Week?

If you want to read one article that lets you know what's going on this week in golf, then read this one. What do I think is the most anticipated event? Seve Ballesteros' debut on the Champions Tour, of course. Another opportunity for Spaniard Watch. I just hope he plays well.

Tennis Overload

Since I'm off all week for puppy pad training, I had the tv on the Tennis Channel today. The tennis itself wasn't bad, it was the fans chanting "let's go (insert player's name), let's go". They chanted this all the time for something like 6 hours. It was driving me nuts by 3pm so I watched Ellen and then turned the tv over to the Martha Stewart show. Stayed away from the golf channel until 6pm when they had Brett Quigley on doing yoga. I wanted to hear what other people had to say about the whole Cliff Kresge-Sergio Garcia thing so I waited around for Golf Central. Unfortunately, all I've heard are announcers reporting that Sergio was within the rules, I heard parts of Sergio's press conference, and I heard Kresge's damage control statement released by his agent. What I wanted to hear was Frank Hannigan explaining the rule.

Where do I come down on the controversy? If you're a newbie (like Kresge), your best way to address something like that is "Hey Sergio, I'm not completely up on the rule. Would you mind if we call a rules official so he can explain it to me?" You're less likely to offend people that way. Plus, if there's one thing I've learned about the rules of golf, it's that no one really knows what they are.

Players Championship: Final Round, So Far

I have to post while the puppies are sleeping - there are two holes left to play.

Comments so far:

When NBC's coverage first started today, Dan Hicks showed Tiger highlights and said that his was the 'round of the championship, today so far, matching Oberholser'. Allow me to supply a hypothetical internal monologue going on while Dan was saying that: "Tiger's the greatest, our cash cow... wait, didn't Quinney shoot a 64 yesterday.... but today Tiger did great.... except he went out early which means there are dozens of other players to complete their rounds and Oberholser shot a 67 too..... If I use my stellar announcer voice and make it sound great, the viewers won't know I'm such a suck up to Tiger"

Sergio made a lot of good putts today. He made a 38 ft (NBC said 38, Brandel Chamblee said 48) putt on the 'gimmicky' 17th for birdie. Going to break, you heard Johnny Miller (I love that man) say, "That was better than most."

As for Sergio and Jose Maria, it has been a wonderful, spectacular, tournament for them. Jose Maria moved from 108 after the first round to maybe top 5 or so when the tournament ends. Sergio had two great rounds Saturday and Sunday.

Sean O'Hair is really suffering right now on the 17th. You have to feel really bad for him. But this is the first time he's ever been on this big of a stage so at least he can walk away with that in his mind. He made it this far. It's a stepping stone to build on for the future.

As a side note: I don't want to think that me getting the puppies this weekend, who are named after Sergio and Jose Maria, had anything to do with their good play. I would rather think that Sergio's and Jose Maria's good play is a good omen for how well things will go with me and the puppies. The puppies already have a good idea what puppy pads are for. I'm taking the whole week off to puppy pad train them, so hopefully, they will learn quickly and I will have well trained dogs who will live for about 15 years. I'd rather not have to puppy pad train any others for a while.

An update: Sergio is now in second place after Phil and Sean O'Hair completed the 17th.

Players Championship: Round 3

Sean O'Hair birdied 16, 17, and 18 to finish the third round with a one shot lead over Phil Mickelson. I guess that answers the question of whether or not the 17th hole is 'too gimmicky'.

Sergio and Jose Maria are at -3. Finally Sergio had a really good round of golf with -5 today. I got to see both him and Jose Maria today. Fitting since the puppies are named after them (see my previous post).

Other 3rd round scores: Jose Coceres -4, jeff Quinney -8, Luke Donald -7, Henrik Stenson -6.

It's nice to actually see other golfers actually play golf for a change. Bless NBC, they only mentioned several times that Tiger was way, way behind. They didn't show lowlights or anything. I have to think that Johnny Miller has something to do with that. I don't think he's too much into sucking up to 'stars'.

Meet the Puppies!

The one with the pointy ears is named Phoebe Josephine Maria Olazabal (PJ for short), and the one with the floppy ears is named Winnie Garcia.

Players Championship: Round 2

The best rounds of the day: a pair of -6s from Steve Lowery and Jose Maria Olazabal. They jumped from T108 to T16. Mickelson leads at -5, with Australian Nathan Green in second.

Players You Didn't Know Were There: Colin Montgomerie, Niclas Fasth, Paul Casey, Bobby Wadkins - they missed the cut.

Players Championship: Round 1

A couple days ago I saw a headline that said Tiger Woods felt the 17th hole at the Players was too gimmicky. I think he was just trying to make premature excuses because he knew he wouldn't play well. He's +3 after round 1. Even Sergio had a better score (+1). As for gimmicky? Mickelson and Sabbatini didn't seem to have any trouble as they are tied for the lead at -5. And quite frankly, a round of golf consists of 18 holes, not 1. Just like a tournament consists of the top so many and ties, not just one player.

I got to see a little bit of Sergio and Jose Maria today. I was shocked.

Alternative Programming

As I was boycotting CBS' coverage of the final round of the Wachovia Championship (see yesterday's posts for reasons why), I found some other things to watch on tv: Deep Sea Detectives - I learned about the mass sinking of a German fleet of ships in 1919, LPGA Golf - I saw a playoff between Juli Inkster and Mi Hyun Kim, Kim won, and then I watched Horse Jumping on NBC - decided that they shouldn't have those kinds of events since that one horse had to be put down after getting injured. If it wasn't for that competition that horse could have lived a very long happy life as someone's pet, giving rides to little kids at birthday parties or helping to teach novices how to ride.

So, to sum up the effect of alternative programming: 1/3 happy, 2/3 depressing. Still better than Tiger-Fest.

A Happy Day for Spain

Not only did Sergio and Jose Maria make the cut at the Wachovia Championship and finish under par for the tournament, but in even bigger news, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won the Italian Open after a final round 65 and a playoff.

And Furthermore

To continue on the previous post's comments about the tour discussing changing the cutline because players would be waiting on tee boxes and 'no one wants to see that on tv'. Well, there was plenty of golf being played today at 3pm eastern, and at 3:15pm eastern etc but what did CBS show? Tiger Woods standing around on the driving range.

Note to the PGA Tour: Your problem isn't slow pace of play, you're problem is the media's devout committment to only show Tiger Woods no matter what he's doing. Soon they will have port-a-potty cam to catch him in the port-a-potty during his round. And they will sneak a hidden camera in his Tiger Head Cover too. Just you wait.

Note to the PGA Tour and CBS: I'm currently watching Cash in the Attic on BBC America instead of your lousy Tiger Love Fest called the Wachovia Championship. Good luck to Sabbatini and Oberholser.

20 minutes

20 minutes into the half hour pre-game show and no one on the golf channel has mentioned that Arron Oberholser is also in the lead at -6 after two rounds. They are only talking about Tiger and Vijay as if it's a two way tie for the lead instead of a three way tie. So, since the golf channel has ignored him, I'll make mention of Arron here:

Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser,
Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser, Arron Oberholser.

(And yes, I typed all those - no copy and paste involved. He deserves the special effort)

Way to Go Mark Russell of the PGA Tour

He was asked if having Tiger and Vijay in the final group affected the decision on how to play the third round given the weather delays and he said no. Good for him for not bowing down to the media and the sponsors.

And Steve Sands is talking on the pre-game show about discussions going on about what the cutline should be changed to and Steve said people at the players meetings were suggesting that no one wants to see the best players in the world on saturday and sunday sitting on tee boxes instead of playing golf. Seems to me that people tune in to watch golf and if there are people waiting on a tee box then that means there's golf being played somewhere on the course. Someone needs to slap some sense into the Tour and the media people and tell them that we want to see all the players on tv, not just three straight hours of Tiger (Yuck and Double Yuck).

Finally!

Finally, Sergio has a decent round to speak of. One under after the first round of the Wachovia Championship. Jose Maria Olazabal was 2 under on his round.

Some others doing well:
J. B Holmes
Trevor Immelman
Arron Oberholser
Bernhard Langer
Brett Quigley

Open de Espana

It looks like Charl Schwartzel won this tournament with a final score of -16.

Some results of Spanish Players:

Carlos Rodiles -14
Carlos Del Moral -7
Manuel Quiros -6
Carlos Balmaseda -4
Gonzalo Fernandez Castano -3
Alvaro Salto -2
Ignacio Garrido -1
Miguel Angel Jimenez -1
Alvaro Velasco +3

#1 Finishes T2

#1 Lorena Ochoa finished tied for second with Julieta Granada at the Corona Championship. Silvia Cavalleri won the tournament. Pretty respectable for Ochoa.

Verplank Wins The EDS Byron Nelson Championship

Scott Verplank shot a 66 to finish one shot ahead of Luke Donald to win the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. This is a special win for Verplank who shared a 20 plus year friendship with Byron Nelson. Watching the final round today I could tell it was Verplank's day as he hit several great shots. Personally, I think this win is also an 'in your face' kind of statement to a certain former Ryder Cup captain who sat Verplank out when he was playing well last fall at the K Club.

Team Nationwide

I got an email about Team Nationwide, "a select group of graduates from the 2006 Nationwide Tour currently competing on the PGA TOUR." It looks like they've created a website to focus on the Nationwide Tour and the PGA tour players that graduated from the Nationwide Tour last year. If you want to check it out, click here.

EDS Byron Nelson Championship

It looks like the final round will be pretty exciting. Luke Donald has a one shot lead over Scott Verplank and qualifier Michael Allen is just two behind. Ian Poulter is 4 back and while I like Luke Donald, it would be something to see Ian Poulter post a low number in the final round.

Possibly the Best Golf Story This Week

Found on This Website

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - A mother teed off by drunken golfers urinating near her house by the 18th hole resorted to videotaping the men after no action was taken on her complaints. Video of some men relieving themselves behind trees at the city-owned course was played on local and national television news.

"Many times I would say, 'You're on camera,' and they'd keep right on going. They'd yell and scream obscenities at me," Delisa Schubert said.

Schubert, her husband and daughters ages 11 and 15 live next to the Tennessee Centennial Golf Course in Oak Ridge, 20 miles west of Knoxville. She said they family moved there so the girls could improve their golf game.

Schubert has reported the problem to police, city officials, the local district attorney and the golf course manager. They suggested she record the offenders, and in a year she says she has captured more than 40 golfers in the act.

Signs banning public urination are posted on the golf course, and the city is talking to the course operator about the issue, said Josh Collins, director of the city's recreation and parks department. There are restrooms nearby at the 16th hole and the clubhouse.

Schubert says the underlying problem is too much beer and no restraint.

"When you have no inhibition, you're just going to go anywhere," she said.

"On the face of this, it's funny. But when you think about it, it's extremely dangerous. They're going to get in their car and drive off drunk."

Another First Time Winner!

Nick Watney won the Zurich Classic today, finishing with all four rounds in the 60s.

I like it when a first timer wins.

It's Your Lucky Day.....

If your name happens to be Raphael (any spelling). Today Raphael Jacquelin won in Asia and also Rafael Nadal won a tennis tournament in Monte Carlo. If your name is Raphael you should buy a lottery ticket. I'd say your odds are pretty good today.

BMW Asian Open

Raphael Jacquelin is leading the tournament in China so far. I haven't watched any of this because tennis has been on at the same time, but it isn't surprising to see Jacquelin at the top of the leader board. He's been playing well lately. It seems like I keep seeing his name every week.

Third Round, Zurich Classic

I watched a little bit of this today. I had a major headache and ended up eating some chocolate and taking some tylenol and going to bed. What I saw of it was a bunch of people at the top of the leader board with no clear front runner. Should be a good final round tomorrow. It looks like low rounds are possible on this course so we could see someone coming from the pack to win. Mark Calcavecchia and Kyle Reifers didn't make a move today, so they might have a good chance tomorrow. The leader, Nick Watney, shot a -4 round today and Ken Duke and Scott Gutschewski also had low rounds. It might be tough for them to go low again tomorrow.

Off Topic

In case anyone is interested - I've created a new blog about Chihuahuas. I have searched google repeatedly and haven't really found a lot of chihuahua blogs out there. So, I thought I would start one. Feel free to check it out: Gaga For Chihuahuas.

Round 2 Zurich Classic

Mark Calcavecchia is leading after two rounds. I didn't watch much of this today. I was home by about 4pm eastern and could have watched all 2 hours left, but it was so sunny and nice outside that I went out with the dogs for a while. Some players today: Lucas Glover, Nick Watney and Kyle Reifers are still there near the top. Boo Weekley, Paul Azinger and Arjun Atwal will probably miss the cut. The cut hasn't been made yet as of this posting so I can't comment on those closer to the cutline. Kevin Na and Jose Coceres have withdrawn according to the pga tour website leaderboard.

The Zurich Classic

Some First Round Scores:
Kyle Reifers -8 - Leader
Mark Calcavecchia -6
Tim Petrovic -5
Carlos Franco -4
Lee Janzen -3
George McNeill -3
Peter Lonard -1
Steve Stricker -1
Jose Coceres E
Matt Kuchar E
Arjun Atwal E
Jaco Van Zyl +3


Kelly Tighlman needs to get some caffeine. At least Lanny Wadkins injected some personality into his voice, even if some of us didn't like the personality he chose. But Kelly's monotone "I'm trying to be a serious anchor because I've bought into the first woman anchor in history crap" voice almost put me to sleep yesterday.

Screwed By Blogger

Monday night everything was fine. I could post on my blogs and life was good. Tuesday after work, I discovered that the not so fine folks at Blogger had migrated all my blogs to what they call ‘new blogger’, supposedly a better form of blogger that offers new features. Well, I tried to log into blogger using my blogger username and password - nothing. Tried logging into new blogger with my google account name and password - again nothing. I was redirected to the blogger help site. What kind of help did I get? Canned how to articles that did nothing but lead me around in circles. Then I clicked on every option available to try to contact an actual employee of blogger, but it took me over an hour to find a form to complete to submit to them. And it wasn’t a ‘report a problem’ form. I went to the google help group and found that many, many others were suffering from the same problem I had. Did google employees help us? One employee posted the same canned answer that we found at blogger help. And he said ‘if this doesn’t work then contact us directly at (insert website). This kind of thing may be best solved on an individual basis.” Well, when you click on that website link, it takes you back to the page where I clicked everything I could to try to find a ‘help me’ form to fill out. After all this, I posted my own comment on the google help group website detailing every step I had taken. I wrote everything down and did it three or four times so I know what I tried and what I didn’t. To date no google tech support person has responded to anyone on that forum that has the same problem I did. Finally, some other blogger supplied the answer and it involved tinkering with the address of a link that blogger supplies us when we ask to retrieve our passwords. Basically, that link that we got when we asked to retrieve our passwords was reading our usernames as Case Sensitive, but when Blogger tried to find our accounts, it was not reading our usernames as Case Sensitive so it wouldn’t recognize us. That is a programming problem that blogger and google tech support are just too lazy to fix. So, instead, they let their customers flounder in frustration.

Bottom line: Blogger/Google Tech support is not serving the customers. They would rather spend their time making money in corporate mergers and stock options, lying to investors by saying that Google is a good company that provides valuable goods and services to the public when in actuality they ignore the customers and do not service their products to the satisfaction of the end users. Or, they are goofing off in a lax workplace in which productivity is not emphasized, but playing with toys is. Word to investors - if the tech support won’t help the people the company serves, then the company doesn’t care about you either. Sell your stock and invest your money in money market accounts or IRAs or Certificates of Deposit. You’d be better off.

Now They Can Stop Talking About His Missed Putt

Boo Weekley wins the Verizon Heritage tournament! He had two chip-ins in the last three holes to pull out the victory over Ernie Els.

Lincicome Wins

Brittany Lincicome stayed patient and ended up winning the Ginn Open while Lorena Ochoa and Laura Davies couldn't hang in there at the last. I really wanted to see Lorena win and take over the number 1 ranking, but I'm a fan of Brittany Lincicome and I'm happy to see her win.

Verizon Heritage - Play Suspended

The final round is suspended and will pick back up tomorrow on the golf channel at 10:30 am eastern. CBS did manage to get a few interviews in today but they spent a good majority of the time showing last year's final round. Not that I didn't appreciate seeing the nice sunny weather and all, but did they have to bring Lanny Wadkins back into it?

Hey, There's Golf on TV

Yes, I actually got to watch the third round of the Verizon Heritage today. Kevin Na is really making the most of the week. He has to, I think he's only got some kind of limited status on tour thanks to an injury he had last year. And lucky for us, we got serenaded by Ian Baker-Finch and Gary McCord as they celebrated Na's last name. Jerry Kelly is in the lead and Ernie is tied with Kevin Na in second place. Boo Weekley and Zach Johnson are right there on the first page of the leader board.

And I think anytime anyone makes a hole in one in a pro tournament, they should win something. I guess Kelly didn't win anything for his hole in one today since no one ever said anything.

Ineffective Email

I got a spam email from someone who wanted me to send them $20.00 to promote my blog. Well, in the email, they called my blog "Evan Par Round". Something tells me they wouldn't do a good job promoting the blog if they can't even spell it right.

An Interesting Insight

I'm watching the Tennis Channel and an interview with Mary Jo Fernandez. She said that the transition from Juniors to the Pros was tough because as a Junior she was used to winning a lot of tournaments, but when she turned pro she didn't win for 4 years and that shook her confidence.

An interesting point of view and one that could be considered when thinking about Michelle Wie's decision to turn pro.

Out of Luck

You all are out of luck if you're tuning in to read some insightful comments about the Verizon Heritage this week. So far, I haven't paid much attention at all to it. I stopped at Rite Aid yesterday and loaded more money on my prepaid credit card and tonight I went to see my puppies after work. The puppies are getting more adorable all the time. They are showing more brown around their noses, eyes and paws. I have the whole visit detailed on my Window Dressing blog if you want to read it - the link is over in the sidebar.

For insight into the Verizon Heritage tournament, I suggest you visit The Armchair Golfer's website.

Checking Out the European Tour

Seve Ballesteros turned 50 years old on Monday. Click here to read what the European Tour had to say about him.

The Volvo China Open is taking place this week. Here are a few of the competitors:
Anton Haig, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Marcel Siem, Andres Romero, Carl Suneson, Simon Dyson, Stephen Dodd, and a bunch of other players.

Verizon Heritage

Checked the list of everyone in the field. Here are a few names to watch:
Jeev Milkha Singh, Richie Ramsay, Vaughn Taylor, Brad Faxon, Rocco Mediate, Matt Kuchar, Zack Johnson and Loren Roberts.

Zach Johnson is the 2007 Masters Champion

I watched the leaderboard on the web and saw that Tiger was two shots back going to 18 so I decided to turn the tv over to CBS and watch the rest of it. It's great to see Zach Johnson win. I loved watching him hug his family when he came off the course.

Like a Steinbeck Novel

The third round of the Masters for me was like trying to read a Steinbeck novel. Very boring and very long and you can only think 'gee they need to end this, I have a load of laundry to put in the washer."

I don't think every tournament should be all about birdies and have scores like 20 under par or anything, but if no one does well, then I think something needs to be changed. In this case, I think it might be sucky players rather than a tricked up course causing the damage.

I probably won't watch the final round tomorrow. It's too depressing. I'll just check in on the leaderboard online every so often.

A Selfish Post about Me

I went to see some chihuahua puppies this morning and have placed a deposit on two adorable little females. They are barely two weeks old so in about 5 weeks I'll be able to bring them home. They won't replace Phoebe and it will still hurt to think about her, but I will be busy learning about my new puppies and their personalities and they will soon take up a special place in my heart right next to Steffi's, Fritz's and Phoebe's places. One of the puppies is short haired and white with black spots and the other puppy is long haired white with black spots.

I wanted to bring all the little puppies home. Especially the little 2 1/2 pound chihuahua female, but I was afraid that little one would get hurt accidentally by Fritz, my rambunctious dog who jumps up and down when he wants to go out and doesn't look where he's landing. He's landed on Steffi a couple of times.

Rest assured, when I get them and bring them home, there will be plenty of posts and pictures of them on this blog and every other blog I've got. So, you'll get to learn a lot more about them in the months to come.

Masters, Second Round Thoughts

Some Scores:
Brett Wetterich and Tim Clark -2
Vaugn Taylor -1
Jerry Kelly and Justin Rose E
David Howell, Padraig Harrington, Bradley Dredge +1
Jeev Milkha Singh, Paul Casey, Craig Stadler +3
Henrick Stenson +4
Jose Maria Olazabal +5
Ben Crenshaw +6
Miguel Angel Jimenez, Fred Couples and Brett Quigley +8

Missed Cut:
Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and others.

Thoughts:

Vaughn Taylor is right in there as is Justin Rose. I kept watching Justin this evening and kept telling the tv "you can't win the tournament today". I think it's important on a course as seemingly as challenging as this to be patient. And Justin seemed very patient today.

Craig Stadler - How well is he doing so far? Sheesh. I guess the Old Guard at the Masters will want to make more course changes after seeing these Champions Tour guys doing so well.

Paul Casey and Padraig Harrington had the low rounds of the day with a pair of 68s. I guess they will shoot 80s tomorrow now.

It would be nice to see Jose Maria and even Miguel Angel Jimenez tomorrow on the coverage. A limited field event and they still can't show all the players. That's absurd. If the Masters is so freakin' special, then all the players there are special and should get some TV time. I at least got to see Jose whenever he happened to be in Justin's camera angle today. And I got to see him play the last part of the 18th hole. He's only a 2 time Masters Champion. Ryder Cup legend.

And Finally, and I do mean FINALLY, the leaderboard that you go to on PGATOUR.COM finally has Johan Edfors' name spelled correctly. Now that he's missed the cut and his week is over. A little to late to show some respect I think.

Help Needed From Fellow Bloggers

Please help me figure this out. I don't remember much from last year's Masters.

Does this year have:

A. A much tougher course than last year and if so how is it tougher?

B. Players more poorly prepared than last year?

C. A more overly critical announce team (without Lanny Wadkins, that would be an achievement) that is just telling people that everyone sucks?

As someone who is only watching the USA coverage and not the golf channel analysis, I am getting the impression that the course is really, really tough and the players are really, really bad.

Please, give me a little insight.

So Not Fair

In order for Fred Couples to make the cut at the Masters, I have to now root against Justin Rose! That's not right. Forgive me, Justin. But Fred's got to make the cut and keep his streak alive.

The Masters, Round One

Some Scores:

Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich -3 Leaders
Vaughn Taylor -1
Henrik Stenson E
Jeev Milkha Singh E
Jose Maria Olazabal +2
Brett Quigley +4
Steve Stricker +4
Sergio Garcia +4
Paul Casey +7
Seve Ballesteros +14
Miguel Angel Jimenez +7
Johan Edfors +6

Comments:
Really great to see Justin Rose leading along with Brett Wetterich. A special thank you to Vaughn Taylor and Henrik Stenson for not playing into the Miranda Jinx. I picked Stenson to win in an email sent to the waggleroom folks. I also said Paul Casey would come in second. The jinx seems intact for him. I've had a special inkling about Jeev Milkha Singh ever since his great showing at the Volvo Masters last year. I think he could be a spoiler again.

And finally........ The Masters Leaderboard on the web has Johan Edfors' name mispelled. I sent an email to the webmaster asking that it be fixed, but was ignored. So, in a special nod to Johan, I will repeatedly spell his name correctly here, just in case the tech geek who screwed it up on the leaderboard website is reading: Johan, Johan, Johan, Johan, Johan, Johan.

Congratulations to the Quigleys

Brett and Amy Quigley welcomed a daughter into the world earlier today. Brett is returning to Augusta for the tournament. The name they chose: Lillian Sage Augusta Quigley.

Click here for the brief news article.

Here's a better news article

A Short News Article

I found a short news article about Jose Maria Olazabal and the Masters.

Time to Take a Look at the Masters

Well, I've avoided Masters Week as long as possible I think. I've turned the golf channel on for the first time this week and the Masters Edition of Playing Lessons From the Pros is on.

So, let's see what's going on and what I'm thinking:

I googled golf and masters at google news and I kept seeing headlines about Howell and at home at Augusta - You can tell where my mind is at - I kept thinking "Does David Howell have a house in Georgia?" LOL. Forgot all about Charles Howell III.

And then there's the news story about the person hired by CBS to help cover the Masters who ended up allegedly participating in a bank robbery. I can hear some old traditionalist out there somewhere saying "well, if they'll hire Gary McCord, they'll hire anybody." There's hope for me wanting a job with them someday.

Here's a nice story about Jeev Milkha Singh and his first trip to the Masters.

As for predictions, I have no idea who will win. I don't think it will be Phil Mickelson because he's been too quiet lately and not playing a lot. I don't think it will be Adam Scott because he won last week and I don't like to pick the guy who won last week to win this week in any tournament. And I'm very, very worried about Jose Maria Olazabal. He hasn't played well all year. I really hope he finds something special this week and has a good run.

Finally, I hope the winner of the Masters this year will be someone other than Phil or Tiger. If they are the only ones to win the thing, then it somehow loses some of its prestige because no one else feels like they have a chance to win. And if they don't think they have a chance, then the fans will follow suit and it will be a very boring tournament. With all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the tournament, I think we are all deserving of a good cinderella story this week. Maybe it will be Brett Quigley :) Now that would be the feel good story of the year.

Great News for Brett Quigley

Brett Quigley had to leave his Tuesday practice round at Augusta and fly home to Florida as his wife went into labor. He hopes to be back in time for his tee time on Thursday. Wonder if the Masters people will give him some green cloth diapers for the baby?

Here's a link to the Brett Quigley news.

Today's Word: Inexcusable

Johnny Miller used the word inexcusable repeatedly during today's coverage of the final round of the Houston Open. So, I will use the word as well.

It was completely and utterly inexcusable for Dottie Pepper to forcibly prevent Adam Scott from leaving the 18th green by smacking him in the chest with the microphone. She spent how many years on the LPGA tour and she doesn't know when a tournament is still going on? Obviously, Adam wanted to clear the green because Bubba Watson's group was coming up the 18th. It's not as if Adam is a rookie and doesn't know he's supposed to speak to one of the tv people after he wins a tournament. It was unprofessional of her to act in that manner and I hope someone at NBC disciplines her for that.

Big Excitement on the European Tour

Spaniard, amateur, and Oklahoma State attendee Pablo Martin-Benavides has won the Estoril Portuguese Open. The first time an amateur has won on the European Tour since its inception.