Not Watching the Live From Show

I'm not watching the golf channel tonight. I figure they will spend the whole time either complaining about the course or sucking up to Anthony Kim, or both. My take on the high scores: there's four rounds in this tournament the last time I checked. Not one. There's time for players to get comfortable with the course and the conditions and move up. Instead of the golf channel, there's a cool show about VTOL aircraft on the Military channel that I can watch.

Stray Thought: I saw a little blurb on the web that suggested TV ratings were going to be lower because Tiger Woods isn't playing this week. Well, what do you expect when every single announcer has to say a minimum of 5 times on each broadcast "Tiger's not here this week." They are practically telling the viewers to go watch Regis and Kelly or Days of Our Lives.

They've been showing the Lexus commercial with Annika Sorenstam, Charles Howell III, Ray Floyd and Chi Chi Rodriguez. My question: Does Ray Floyd drive cars? He's got a driver but the others drive their own vehicles. Ever since I bought my new car, I have been watching every car commercial out there, looking at every print ad. And scanning every vehicle I see while I'm out and about to see if they have XM radio or Sirius.

British Open Round 1

Comments:

Wonder what all those people who picked Ernie Els to win are thinking right now? He shot 80 today. And I really don't know what they were thinking. He hasn't had any really good results coming in to this event. They would have done better to pick Tom Watson. He's only +4.

Sandy Lyle walked off the course after 10 holes. He was +11 and allegedly claimed the course was too tough. Too bad he didn't just not tee it up altogether. At least then maybe an alternate could have gotten into the field.

Jerry Kelly apparently complained a bunch about the course set-up after shooting a round of 13 over par. My response to that: There's about 150 other players who didn't find it as tough as Kelly. So I don't think it's the course's fault. I mean really, Greg Norman, a man who doesn't play anymore is Even par after the first round. Tom Watson, old in golf age, is only +4. And the real killer: John Daly shot +10 today.

If anyone saw yesterday's posts about who I would pick if I were making picks, you saw the names Ross Fisher, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Graeme McDowell. How well did they do today? Graeme McDowell is tied for the lead at 1 under par. Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jimenez are only three shots back at +2. I'm not saying I'm picking any of them to win. But it's good to see their good play continue this week.

Other players:

Rocco Mediate -1
Robert Allenby -1
Bart Bryant Even
Sergio Garcia +2
David Duval +3
Jean Van de Velde +3
Justin Rose +4
Padraig Harrington +4
Pable Larrazabal +5
Sean O-Hair +5
Chris Wood (am) +5
Angel Cabrera +7

Check out the full leaderboard by clicking here.

Oh Good Grief

They just said on the Live From that coming up they would look at the world's highest ranked players to never have won a major and they are adding Anthony Kim to that list. That is so absurd. To even think of lumping Kim in the same group with Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Stewart Cink and Steve Stricker is ridiculous. Kim hasn't been on tour long enough for anyone to lament his 'missed chances'. He hasn't had any chances yet. You know, people have speculated that the pressure the media puts on guys like Sergio by saying 'best player to have never won a major' plays on the minds of the players. Well, by laying all this at Kim's feet this early, the media could very well bring a premature end to his playing career. Leave the guy alone for a few years. The Golf Channel put Justin Rose in this group and I wouldn't even put him there - and I'm a big fan of his. Justin hasn't peaked yet. And I also think the Golf Channel went down the World Rankings list to the odd number of 13 just so they could include Anthony Kim in the discussion. Why stop at 13? Why not go to 27 or 34 on the list? Other people they could have discussed - Henrik Stenson (17), Luke Donald (21), and of course Kenny Perry (16). Surely they want another chance to criticize Kenny Perry's decision to play in America this week.

And how many times are they going to say "Tiger's not at the Open this week"? We all know that by now. The media need to get over it already. I think they are hurting because now they have to learn facts about all the other players that they've been ignoring for the last 10 years. And they have to actually watch the golf this time around.

Tonight's Live From...

Tonight on the Golf Channel, Brian Hewitt said Justin Rose is a longshot at the British Open this week because his game is more suited for the States. Then, in the same conversation, he said that because Justin hasn't won in the States, despite winning in Europe and Australia, he's an underacheiver. How can Hewitt say Rose's game is more suited for the States when Rose has won events in Europe and Australia? I think this is just an Ameri-centric view that many in the American media have. Nothing is as good as what America has - blah, blah, blah. If you don't win here, then blah, blah, blah.

Seems to me that Rose likes European golf pretty well since he plays so well on the European Tour. Won the Volvo Masters. The Order of Merit title.

Tonight's Golf Central

Tonight they talked about the 17th green at Royal Birkdale and claimed that everyone dislikes it. Well, the only people they interviewed were members of the US PGA Tour. Robert Allenby, Steve Stricker, Scott Verplank and Geoff Ogilvy. Scott Verplank said the green was out of place but he liked it. Since this is a European course, I would be interested in knowing what members of the European PGA Tour have to say about it. Maybe their sentiments wouldn't go along with the Golf Channel's angle so they didn't make it on air. We all know how the media likes to create the news instead of reporting it.

And speaking of the media making news, Golf Central had an opinion poll on whether or not Kenny Perry should have changed his schedule and played at the British Open. The result? 66% said no. Proving once again that the media is out of touch with the viewers since the media for several days have been raking Perry over the coals for his schedule.

And everyone's talking about the odds on who might win this week. I retired from making picks last year, but if I were to make a pick, I'd consider either Ross Fisher, Graeme McDowell or Miguel Angel Jimenez. Those three have been having a very good year and very good rounds very recently. Of course, the winner just might be someone sneaky like a Richard Green who finished T3 at Loch Lomond. And Angel Cabrera had it going at the Scottish Open except for about 9 really bad holes. He might pull it together to make a run this week.

A Jinx on the Horizon

I really wish everyone would stop talking about Sergio's chances at the British Open. They are only going to jinx him. It's a good thing he doesn't read or listen to the press.

I found out today that I'll be able to listen to a little bit of the radio coverage of the British Open this week on my way to work. The PGA Tour radio station on XM radio will be broadcasting starting in the middle of the night (well something like 3am) on Thursday morning.

McDowell and Perry Win

Graeme McDowell won the Scottish Open today, capping off a couple of weeks of solid play. And Kenny Perry won for the third time this year at the John Deere Classic after surviving a three man playoff which saw the other two guys hit their approaches into the water. The other two guys were Brad Adamonis and Jay Williamson.

Scottish Open

Graeme McDowell is once again doing well this week. As is Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Angel Cabrera had a disastrous back nine to finish up the third round at -2. The interesting thing was, you didn't see him get really angry over his round of 78. You'd think he would have a temper. Maybe he saved that for later.

I really like that course over there. It's very pretty and looks serene.

WV on TV

West Virginia is the site of this week's Nationwide Tour event. Apparently, they are considering this a Players Championship of the Nationwide Tour and the winner's check is supposed to be one of the biggest all year. I don't mind West Virginia being the host of this event as they are playing a Pete Dye course and all. But, our governor doesn't need yet another excuse to be on TV. Among the people I know, there isn't one who thinks of the governor as a humble man. No, they all believe he has the healthiest self-image they've ever seen (that's the politically correct way of saying he thinks a lot of himself).

So, good luck to all the Nationwide Tour players in the field this week. The new trophy looks a lot better than what they used to have - I think it was a hunk of coal someone dug up out of their backyard - just kidding.

* As a native WVian, I reserve the right to make fun of my state :) I did scare my parents earlier today. They were here with my very active and rambunctious niece and nephew and I said "I could have been in Bridgeport this week and Akron in a couple weeks" and Mom didn't like the thought of not having me around to help with the kids. LOL. Not that I do a lot with them. I don't know anything about kids and think my parenting skills are best suited for Winnie and PJ (my chihuahuas).

It's That Time of Year Again

Yes, it's that time that we golf fans either dread or love - the yearly "Jean Van de Velde's British Open collapse" re-hash. I fall into the dreading category. Enough already. Leave the poor man alone. Anyone can have that kind of bad luck and I think last year some analyst on tv actually said it was bad luck. I've been listening to the Scottish Open coverage and they were talking about it on there. So far I don't think there's any way to tie Tiger Woods into that story. But I'm sure the Golf Channel will find a way.

I'm starting to look forward, very anxiously, to my trip to the Bridgestone Invitational at the end of the month. Especially with the way things are at work. Those of you who work in an office full of catty, mean women will understand when I say that work is not a pleasant place to be some of the time. My immediate co-workers are fine. It's the workers in other offices who are nasty. I'm planning to take the whole week off this time for the tournament. Last time, I only took Tuesday through Friday off because they won't let you in on Mondays. This time I've got Monday off and I'm planning to try to check out the zoo in Akron that day. If I come back and tell you that I've accepted a job cleaning out the lion habitat at the zoo, don't be surprised. I think I would prefer being bitten by a lion and cleaning up after them over my current job right now.

Annoying golf commercial: Anyone see the Top Flite commercials with that annoying announcer guy? Does that guy make you want to buy golf balls? I can't see that he would. He insults the players in the commercial. Like you players out there want that kind of reminder when you play.

And hey - I've passed the three year mark with this blog. Sometime in June 2005 I claimed this little opinionated spot on the web. My proudest moment in those three years: Picking Angel Cabrera as a dark horse to win the US Open last year. I think after that I retired from making picks. There've been some sad times and some happy times. My little chihuahua Phoebe passed away a little more than a year ago and then I brought Winnie and PJ home a few months later. Golf related - Sergio misses out on the British Open last year, but wins the Players Championship this year. The 2006 Ryder Cup was nearly perfection to watch. I have the official DVD of it but they could have put more interviews on there and more video of the matches. From DVDs to books, I found Roberta Isleib novels thanks to Golfblogger and read Darren Clarke's memoir of the 2006 Ryder Cup. My most tickled pink moment: Justin Rose personally replied to my fan email. It was only a short sentence, but he took the time to say something nice and I now I just think the world of him. And of course, my first trip to a golf tournament in 2006. Not to mention all the friends I've made here: Golfblogger, Tony at Hooked on Golf blog, Nick at Nick's Golf Palace, Neil at Down the Middle and Armchair Golf Blog, Nolan Matthias and everyone else who've been nice enough to stop by and leave some comments here and there.

Round Up

Ross Fisher won the European Open today with a final score of -20. It's too bad he wasted that whole day qualifying for the British Open since he gets in with this win too. Sergio followed up his Saturday 74 with a final round 66 - the low round of the day and finished solo-second at -13. Graeme McDowell didn't do so well today, but a few times they showed him on tv I thought he looked rather handsome in his raingear.

Eduardo Romero won on the Champions Tour. He's a favorite of mine just because he has the nickname "The Cat".

The Big News of course is: Rafael Nadal wins Wimbledon! He beat Roger Federer in 5 sets with a score of 9-7 in the fifth - there are no tiebreaks in the final set at Wimbledon. This match seemed to last all day due to a couple of rain delays and it was virtually dark when Rafa was showing off the trophy to the crowds.

So, we have Spain winning in soccer. Rafa winning the French Open-Wimbledon combo. Hopefully, this will bode well for Sergio at the British Open. Or Miguel Angel Jimenez. Or any other Spaniard who's in the field - I haven't seen the entry list.

The Media's Latest Attempt to Ruin Golf

Have you heard about the "*" controversy? Apparently, because the media still want to cash in on Tiger Woods, they are virtually saying that every tournament played from here on out while Tiger's home nursing his knee should have an * attached to the winner's name because it just can't be considered a 'real' win if Tiger wasn't there. Gee, Tiger only plays 15 tournaments or so when he's not laid up with a bad knee. Are they going to go back to the 20+ other events on the tour calendar and put "*"s on those wins too?

I can see putting an * on a win if it was rain-shortened or if there was a war on and half the players boycotted the event or something. But this stupid idea of assigning an * just because Tiger doesn't play in an event is ridiculous beyond belief. They're not going to put an * on Novak Djokovic's Australian Open win just because Federer had Mono and got beat in the semi's.

I guess the next move the media will make is to put "*"s next to every Non-Tiger winner of every tournament that Tiger played in and make excuses for him like "oh Tiger sneezed on the tenth hole in round 3, so this win shouldn't count because Tiger wasn't at his best".

If Tiger had taken better care of himself, he wouldn't be out with an injury in the first place. Why aren't the media focusing on that? Instead of saying "hey kiddies you might not want to mirror Tiger's swing because he's had trouble with this knee for 10 years", they are completely ignoring that aspect of this whole story and saying not only can Tiger do no wrong, but he should be given even more credit than he deserves by devaluing the accomplishment that these other players will earn by winning tournaments in his absence.

Wacky British Weather

Wimbledon's men's final is on at the same time as the final round of the European Open. Now unless there's some magical tape delay going on, the sun's out at Wimbledon and pouring down the rain in Kent.

Today's Thoughts

1. I was watching last night's Golf Central this morning and I heard Kelly Whatshername say that Kenny Perry is skipping the British Open for Ryder Cup purposes. Obviously she did not attend or listen to his press conference after the Buick Open in which he said he was skipping the British Open because he was already committed to play in the opposite event here in America and he wasn't going to go back on his word and leave the sponsors and charities out in the cold. Gee, who am I going to believe, Kenny Perry or a Golf Channel announcer? Yet another reason to mute the Golf Channel and just look at the video.

2. European Open - Sergio had the round of the day, a 64, today to move into either third alone or a tie for third. I didn't check out the full leaderboard to see where everyone else finished up after the second round. Ross Fisher is still in the lead, which is good considering how rare it is for someone to back up a 63 or any low round with another good round. And I read on the European Tour website that Sergio has been keeping up on Rafael Nadal's progress at Wimbledon. So have I, but I think for possibly different reasons - LOL. I would love to see Nadal win Wimbledon, but I've been feeling sorry for Federer lately. All of the press is on him this year for his 'lackluster' performance. Excuse the man for being sick earlier in the year. A lot of people are wanting to write him off, probably because Novak and Nadal are younger and more exciting. In interviews it sometimes sounds like Novak would like to write Federer off. It's an interesting thing to note, when Pete Sampras was number one and winning everything, I couldn't stand him, but when Federer wins everything, I don't have the same feelings. I put it down to the media. Sampras was American and I'm subjected to a biased American media. Federer, being Swiss, gets more, dare I say it, neutral press and I'm not bombarded with a biased, player worshipping press - you know the kind we have when it comes to Tiger Woods.

Round 1 - European Open

Checking out some of the scores from the European Tour:

Ross Fisher -9
Rory McIlroy -5
Gonzalo Fernandez Castano -4
Jose Manuel Lara -4
Justin Rose -3
Sergio Garcia -1
David Howell -1
Stephen Dodd +2

Comments: What's happened to David Howell in the last couple of years? Remember how he was one of the hottest guys on the Tour leading up to the Ryder Cup in 2006? And the same question about Stephen Dodd. I saw him two years ago at the Bridgestone Invitational and now, according to the European Tour website, his world ranking is 707? I don't know how that number can be right.

Sergio in Europe this Week

Sergio's playing at the European Open this week instead of Tiger's event. From what I read, it sounds like this might be Sergio's first tournament at this specific course. That's what I like about Sergio. Sure he would like to win majors, but he also plays golf for all of the different aspects of the game - traveling around to different places, playing different courses and not just the same ones every year. You really get a sense that he sees the bigger picture - that it isn't about winning or majors. It's about the experience.

Sticker Update

No, that's not Steve Stricker. I mean the sticker for my new license plate. Apparently it was the dealership who put the wrong sticker on the plate. I had a message on my answering machine tonight when I got home from work from the dealership. I called them back and apparently they put the wrong sticker on the plate. The woman I spoke to is going to mail me the right sticker. I don't know if my email to the DMV was what prompted this. The plate was mailed to me from the dealership. I was curious about why the dealership would send me my plate, but I just thought they were forwarding it on from the DMV to me. I didn't know they put stickers on the plates before sending them out.

I bought a door mat this morning at walmart to put beside my driver's side door here at the house so I can wipe off my shoes before getting into the car. And I plan on buying brushes to keep in the roadmap slots in the doors so I and my passengers can wipe our feet before getting into the car when we are elsewhere. And no, I'm not obsessed. Really.

A Spaniard Wins in France

25 year old Pablo Larrazabal won the Open de France ALSTOM today by 4 shots over Colin Montgomerie. He had to qualify just to play in the event and was ranked 481st at the beginning of the week. Even more remarkable, according to the European Tour website, Pablo is now 17th in the European Ryder Cup standings. Just think, we could see Sergio, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pablo Larrazabal playing in the Ryder Cup and Jose Maria Olazabal as assistant captain. It might be a very good year for Spain in the Ryder Cup.

Perry Wins Again

Well, I guess people can stop criticizing Kenny Perry's decision to skip the US Open now since he won again today at the Buick Open. He knows what he's doing.

Darn My Luck

I was looking around the Buick website today and checked out the Tiger's Clubhouse thing. I found out that I could have a free weekly grounds pass to the Bridgestone Invitational just for being a Buick owner. I have already bought my tickets. I haven't gotten them yet. They should be mailed out sometime this coming week, hopefully.

I like my car so much that I go outside to just look at it. Today I went out and decided to get some exercise while I was out, so I walked circles around the car for about 40 minutes. It's such a pretty car. I do have a new problem with it. The idiots at the DMV sent me my new license plate for it, but it has a 2006 sticker on it. Completely expired. Even though there was a DMV office open yesterday, they did not have a phone number listed anywhere on the internet, so I did the only thing I could do - I emailed the Commissioner of the West Virginia DMV and told him about getting the expired sticker and asked what I had to do to fix it. It will probably cost me money, although as it was a mistake on their end, it shouldn't. If there's a way they can track which employee did it, I would be happy to pay to get another sticker as long as that employee gets suspended for a week or two without pay. It isn't like we have DMV offices on every corner in our state. I have to drive at least 30 miles to get to one. That's a long way to go to correct a mistake made by the DMV.

I'm watching the Buick Open this week, mostly to see the Buick commercials and the cars on the course. David Feherty's back and it's a shame he doesn't have Tiger there - he has to actually leave the hyperbole at home this week and call the golf action as the rest of us see it. Back to the commercials, there's one Buick commercial where they show my car! Well, not exactly my car, but it looks just like it.

Check it Out

Nick, of Nick's Golf Palace, has been stopping by here lately and posting a few comments. So, I thought I would take a minute to urge everyone to check out his blog.

See My Pretty Car

That Darn Tiger Woods

That man just cost me $25000. How, you ask? Yesterday I bought a new 2008 Buick LaCrosse CX. It's "Scarlett Red" with "Titanium" interior. I wouldn't have been looking at the Buicks if it weren't for all of those Buick commercials I have to watch when I watch golf. And why are there so many Buick commercials out there? Because Tiger advertises them. At least I didn't buy a Lucerne. The LaCrosse is expensive enough for me.

As for the car: I wanted a red one but the dealership only had two silver ones on their lot. When the salesman realized I was going to keep my 1998 Lumina, he figured the only way I was going to buy a car that day was if he could find me a red one (I didn't need to buy one that day if I had a car I could drive). So, he had some guy in the office look for red ones on the internet. He claimed this was the only red one in the state of West Virginia, but when I looked online, I found 4 with one having the paint color I would have preferred: "Red Jeweled Tint". But it could be that those other dealerships hadn't updated their website and that car was already sold. At first, the salesman was showing me the used cars but when he asked me how much I was looking to spend and I said "I want to keep it under $30,000", you should have seen those cartoon Dollar Signs pop out of his eyes. That was a bit funny. He showed me the news ones then, but he kept showing me the Pontiac Grand Prix and I don't really like those. I think the body style is ugly. They had a red one of those. I made the salesman do a lot of walking yesterday. The car lot is stretched out length-wise and he had to walk that whole length a couple of times. But as I don't go carshopping ever, I didn't really know what I wanted and what I was looking for. So, I even took a peek at a Dodge Avenger. Finally I test drove one of the silver LaCrosses and it was very nice. The driver's seat adjusts up and down and front to back. The A/C fan is controlled by button instead of knobs (My Lumina's A/C fan barely works and I have to toggle the knob back and forth a hundred times to get it to work). The radio keeps working even after you turn off the car and pull the key out of the ignition. That concerned me for a bit yesterday until I could read the book. I get free Onstar for a year and free XM radio for 3 months. The radio is set on the PGA Tour network and I haven't gotten the Onstar started yet. The trunk is a little smaller than my Lumina's and the car takes the potholes in my driveway a lot better than the Lumina. Both cars have a V6 engine, but the Lumina's is a 3.1L and the Lacrosse has a 3.8L. When I test drove the silver LaCrosse, I accidentally squealed the tires when I pulled out of a parking lot. It has a bit more power than the Lumina. The LaCrosse comes with two power accessory outlets (at least I have only found two) and my car came with 3/4 of a tank of gas, which probably makes the $25000 I'm spending worth it when you look at the current price of gas - LOL Wednesday, the dealership people are going to pick my car up at work and take it to spray this protectorant all over it. With this stuff on the car I won't have to wax it for 5 years. I thought that sounded great since my Lumina is lucky if I wash it once a year, let alone wax it.

I like the LaCrosse even though it seems that the view out of the back window is more narrow than that of my Lumina. I read in the owners manual that I have to wipe off the chrome every time it gets wet or dirty. Heaven knows what I have to do with the aluminum wheels that they have on it. I'm hoping that protectorant stuff will seal that too and I won't have to do much cleaning. I'm still keeping my Lumina. I have studded snow tires for that car so I figure I'll run it in the Winter and park the LaCrosse. It didn't cost me much more to insure a new LaCrosse since, thanks to dad's handling of my insurance, I am insured to the hilt anyway. And insuring the Lumina with the minimum required by the State of WV only cost me about $290 more on the year. That was a very good deal I thought.

I'm happy that I have a brand new car. I figure I should be able to have one brand new car in my lifetime and then get used ones after that. My Lumina was a gently used one when I got it. Plus, my Lumina has a bad head gasket and according to Dad, the engine could go at any time so I didn't fancy driving it to Akron for the Bridgestone Invitational at the end of July. I'm going back to the tournament again this year. Wednesday night the LaCrosse will really feel like my car because I will be able to move my little stuffed dinosaur into the back dash and put my house key on the key ring. I don't want to do that before the dealership guys pick up the car to do that detailing work. You should never leave personal stuff in the car or your house key on the key ring when you're giving the car and key ring to a dealership, mechanic, or detailing workers.

As for Yesterday - it was the most expensive day of my life. Not only did I buy the car, but I also spent $433.00 ordering new glasses to wear. Mine are all scratched up so I went to the eye doctor and ordered new ones. The ones I'm getting come with little magnets on either side of the lenses and sun glass clip ons that will just adhere to the frames with those magnets. That's really handy. The color of the frames are purple. Not red. It was nice to hear the office girl saying that I needed small frames because I have a small face. That wasn't the case 6 years ago when I last went to the eye doctor. I was fat back then.

Rocco Should Have Won

Rocco doesn't have any majors, Tiger's got too many. Rocco should have won the US Open.

I didn't watch any of the last two rounds or the playoff. Rafael Nadal was busy winning his first grass court tournament so I watched that instead. Had absolutely no interest in watching Tiger Woods or listening to either the Golf Channel or NBC. This morning, I watched infomercials on the Tennis Channel rather than the Live From show on the Golf Channel.

US Open Round 2

I watched a bit of this yesterday, but only until I found Rafael Nadal playing a grass court tournament on the Tennis Channel. I checked out the leaderboard and here are a few names that jumped out at me: Luke Donald Even par, Davis Love -1, Oliver Wilson +1 and Miguel Angel Jimenez -1. 3 Under is leading the tournament.

I heard yesterday that Miguel Angel Jimenez was grouped with Shingo Katayama and Boo Weekley for the first two rounds. I hope Sergio warned Miguel ahead of time about Boo's math skills.

US Open, Round 1

Watching it, but not paying much attention to it. It's good to see non-superstars at the top of the leaderboard. I hope it continues past today. As for the 'supergroup' - that Jimmy Roberts in his sports report talked about the 'supergroup' but only talked about Woods and Mickelson. Not a word about Adam Scott. I still don't know what he shot today. Personally, I am happy to see Mickelson end up one shot better than Woods. Odd that no one is talking about it all that much. But if Tiger had shot the better score, we the golf watchers would never hear the end of it. I can't really talk about the leaderboard right now since there's a couple more hours of play to go and it is far from being set in stone for the day. I will probably be behind the whole week since they are playing so late.

Speaking of being behind, this morning I caught some of last night's Live from show on the golf channel. I think it was the second day in a row that they repeated themselves when talking about Tiger's knee. It's ridiculous. They are saying the same things over and over just so they can say Tiger's name. Either get some new Tiger news to talk about or shut the heck up. There are about 140+ other golfers they could be talking about this week.

Finally, yay - Mike Tirico's back. He is a very good golf announcer and it's a shame he doesn't do more of it. Also glad to hear Judy Rankin, Andy North, and Terry Gannon. Not happy to hear ESPN Carl.

Quick Notes

Justin Leonard won the St. Jude in a playoff against Robert Allenby and Trevor Immelman. Lorena Ochoa didn't win the LPGA event.

I've been watching the French Open for the last couple of weeks - Rafael Nadal won the Championship in decisive fashion - straight sets against Roger Federer with the last set at love. I'm a Nadal fan, but I did feel kind of bad for Federer. He was hoping to do better this year.

As for the US Open (Golf) coming up this week - is there anyone out there who believes the Golf Channel commercial that says they will spotlight golfers other than Tiger Woods? I don't believe it. If they do, it will be a Golf Channel announcer asking every other golfer how they think Tiger's knee will hold up.

A New Website

The folks at PUTT3R sent me an email, asking that I check out their website. It's a golf news blog. You all should also check it out. It seems like a good way to get quick golf news.

A Very Entertaining Article

I found this entertaining article/opinion piece written by a Canadian in response to a comment Tiger made that 'no one watches hockey any more.' I got a big kick out of it.

Perry Wins at the Memorial

I didn't watch any golf this weekend. I figured that as soon as Sergio wasn't leading after the first round, the media would be all over him, treating him like dirt like they did before he won the Players, so I watched the French Open instead. A lot of great tennis, you all should be watching it. Anyway, I saw on google news that Kenny Perry finally won something this year after the close calls he's had ever since the Players. Good for him. Hopefully, this will get him onto the Ryder Cup team. He needs to be there.

Wie in Europe

Michelle Wie is playing the LET Tour this week and has actually had some decent rounds of golf. I read that she's -9 after the third round of the tournament. I think she's still about 7 shots off the lead, but still, considering that in America she's been scoring in the 80s, I think this week would be a positive step in her career. Maybe she should think about playing in Europe instead of the US for a while.

A New Blog In the Blogs of Note Section

I've added a new blog in the side bar. It's called Buzzin Golf and it focuses much on the European Tour. Check it out for a different perspective on golf.

Round Up

Spaniard Watch was successful today with Miguel Angel Jimenez winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in England.

Phil Mickelson won the Colonial with a birdie on the 18th after hitting his tee shot left on that final hole, reminiscent of Winged Foot. This time the end result was better. Tim Clark really made a charge on the final day, allegedly inspired by the thought of wearing the winner's Tartan jacket to his wedding. Had Phil only known that was on the line ............

All the people on the golf channel covering the LPGA event are harping on Jang's size. She's 5ft 2 inches tall and apparently that is just the worst thing ever if you listen to women calling the action. I'm 5ft 2 inches tall and I function just fine in the world. And believe it or not, there are adults shorter than me in the world. The Golf Channel is going to force me to cheer for Jang today.

Jay Haas won the Senior PGA Championship with a score of I think 4 over par. I'm all for courses testing the golfers, but the winning score really needs to be something near Even par. Those in control of course set-ups need to keep it in mind that they're main goal should not be to demoralize the players.

An Inch Taller

It seems people on the golf channel are doubting Phil Mickelson's claims that since he's begun martial arts training, he's gotten an inch taller. I would like to support Phil in this claim. After I started doing pilates, my mom thought I'd grown an inch too.

Completely Pathetic

I was watching the Colonial coverage today and the golf channel people announced that it was on Tiger's website that he wasn't going to play next week. Well, I thought that would be the end of it. But, no. The Golf Channel people kept holding their breath, like some school girl waiting for the phone to ring on a Friday night, hoping Tiger would change his mind. It was pathetic. And it was completely insulting to the Memorial and all the participants. They were in effect saying that the tournament didn't mean anything if Tiger wasn't going to be there. If Tiger puts it on his website then I'm sure that's the final answer. I've never met the man and I figure he means what he says. The golf channel people kept saying "he's got thirty minutes after the end of play today to commit..." That was well after he'd already made the announcement on his website.

New Blog To Me

While checking out the stat counter stats, I discovered that there's a blog out there with a link to this one. It's called Outta My Mind. So, I'm putting a link to it over in the sidebar. Check out the blog when you get a chance.

Not a Timely Post

Finally, I'm getting around to post about the Fittest Guy in America thing - the news story about Tiger being named the Fittest Man in America by Men's Fitness magazine. Before this morning, my comment would have been - if he's so fit why is he needing surgery on his knee. This morning, I was reading google news headlines about Tiger to see when he was going to play again (so I'll know what not to watch on tv) when I saw the following headline "Obama joins Tiger on list of fittest guys". I may not be a fan of Tiger's, but I find it objectionable to introduce politics into golf and for Obama's supporters to try to ride Tiger's coattails in a cheesy effort to get more votes. I like the following headline I saw much better: "Tiger Woods tops Barack Obama in men's magazine." It still introduces politics into golf, but at least it puts things into the right perspective: golf first, then politics. And it separates the two subjects rather than trying to join them together.

Deja Vu

Once again, Lorena Ochoa wins. I think it's funny the way she's not helping the media out when they dubbed the rest of this year as "Annika's Fairwell Tour". LOL

I watched the LPGA coverage instead of the PGA coverage until LPGA was done and then switched over to CBS.

Which brings me to another case of deja vu: Imada in a playoff for the second year in a row. This time, he wins. It's good to see first time winners, but I really felt for Kenny Perry. This week, his miss was just bad luck with his ball ricocheting off a tree and ending up in the water.

And I really appreciated ESPN running scores across the bottom of the screen while I was watching the LPGA. I don't have to watch the women's final in tennis today because ESPN already told me who won (Yankovic of Serbia). Oddly enough, they didn't report that Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in Germany today for his first win at that tournament. I guess Nadal beating Federer isn't considered news. I would consider it news.

And the final bit of deja vu - I just finished eating about a half a jar of peanut butter. I seem to be eating way too much. Hopefully, I'll get sick of it and won't want it anymore. I'm not quite at the Paul McKenna-mind trick stage of imaging worms crawling all over the peanut butter to keep me from eating it.

"How To Really Stink At Golf" - A Book Review

I found this book this morning at Walmart and had to get it. It's written by Jeff Foxworthy and Brian Hartt so you know it has to be funny. The idea of the book is that it's more of a hassle trying to be good at the game so you might as well try being really bad at it. And to that end, Foxworthy and Hartt provide advice and tips to make sure you can score as high as possible. Embracing your 'stinkiness' at the sport, as theorized by these authors, will bring you "an inner peace that surpasses all understanding."

Some advice from the book:

"Try to pick a cart that looks like it's been through a war. Because with your game, it's sure to have to go off-road at some point."

"In the mysterious world of golf, there are evil forces at work that will keep you from having a bad round. And one of the most powerful of these is 'having fun.' Avoid fun. Fun is for children. And otters." I love the otters thing.

On the subject of playing partners: "As we've discussed, it's next to impossible to really stink at golf without stress. So you should select the group you're playing with carefully.... (a promising foursome) You, your wife, your ex-wife, and your girlfriend."

It's a very small volume and I'm not finished with it yet. I started reading it at lunch today and have a few more lessons to go.

I don't know how golfers who spend a lot of time trying to play the game well will react to this book. I guess it would be like a life-long dieter being told that she (me) should eat chocolate cake every day. Or maybe it would be like that book "1984" where the bad guys keep trying to convince the main character that up is down and black is white and so on.

It's a funny book and I get the feeling that it needs to be read a few times before you get the whole meaning behind it all. And there are some nice drawings in the book as well. One is of a very cute little duck standing on a green in a rainstorm.

I paid $10.97 for the small hardcover edition. The price tag says list price is $16.00. You might be able to find it cheaper online.

Annika's Retirement

Since Annika has the rest of the year to go before she retires, I propose she spends the rest of her competitive rounds trying for that 'birdie every hole' theory that her coach has. One more achievement for her career.

Yippeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sergio won the Players Championship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I admit, for the last couple of holes I closed my eyes when he hit his shots and I kept thinking, "How's he gonna lose this one." But, maybe I shouldn't have thought that. He was coming from behind today instead of leading like at the last British Open. I think that had something to do with his good play. His putting, of course, was much improved (except for the playoff hole).

As for the controversy about the playoff starting on the 17th hole, here's my two thoughts on it: 1. It's called Sudden Death, not Lingering On with the Aid of Life Support Systems. Why not finish the playoff as soon as possible? 2. Tournament organizers need to do what they can to prevent a Monday finish. Regulation play was planned for a 7pm finish and the players were a bit late on that. Obviously, the organizers picked the shortest hole near the clubhouse for the playoff. With all of the pomp and circumstance with the award ceremony, the organizers need to plan for a little bit of daylight left at the end of the day to accomodate it.

I need to see what Sergio's new world ranking is.

Round One: Players Championship

I didn't watch any of this today but I think I saw Sergio with a 66? Are they sure Boo Weekley didn't add up that score for him? Don't get me wrong, you know how I like Sergio, but a 66 - that came out of nowhere. And I think I saw Jose Maria at -2. Good for him.

I'll have to check Sergio's stats for this round later.

Latest Issue of Golf Magazine

I got it in the mail today. This issue contains their US Open Golf preview. Some other interesting things in it: a Father's Day article featuring some PGA players and their offspring, a feature on the Metlife blimp, David Feherty's latest column - this one's about his accident and recovery, a good interview with Angel Cabrera, and something that caught my eye and I'm sure will catch the eye of every man reading this issue: a teaching how-to featuring a female player - the name of the how-to: Set Up to Bust One. Get it?

Watching Fox Mulder Pee in an Alley

I started out watching CBS coverage of the Wachovia Championship. When I heard Gary McCord start the whole (completely unwarranted) talk about young guys to rival Tiger (obviously attempting to mean Anthony Kim), I turned the tv to the next station down - the Fox affiliate. They were showing the X-Files movie and apparently I caught Mulder at one of his finer moments. Still, it was better than listening the CBS crew try to make Anthony Kim the greatest player ever. I'm all for talking about rivals to Tiger, but talk about Adam Scott, Steve Stricker, Trevor Immelman, if my memory serves, has beaten Tiger twice in tournaments to win and one of those was the Masters. Kim's got one win. Troy Matteson has one win and I don't think I've heard the media claim he's the next big rival for Tiger Woods. Let's just put Kim's win into some realistic perspective.

CBS, by the way, is very fickle. In the span of about 15 minutes, they went from talking about rivals to Tiger, meaning Kim, to Peter Kostis saying "another mistake. One mistake a hole for the last four holes" when critizing Kim. Never mind Kim was 17 under par and had made a birdie in those last four holes. They need to understand that 'good cop, bad cop' means that you have to be one or the other. You can't be both. And of course the best option is to be completely neutral and just call the action without trying to create news stories. News stories take care of themselves.

So, I gave up watching that tournament and found the LPGA event. That was much better. Exciting - ending in a playoff with Paula Creamer claiming the victory over Julie Inkster.

And I hear the European Tour event also ended in a playoff and Ignacio Garrido just coming up a bit short. Peter Lawrie won that one. It was his first win in 175 events.

The Spaniards have a way to go in terms of representing their country in the Ryder Cup. It looks like so far the only one within reach of the team is Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Non-Golf note: I am desperately craving peanut butter today. I've had to ban peanut butter from my diet because last week I ate a whole jar in two days. I might have to turn to peanut butter tasting snack bars or Slimfast bars.

Yes, I'm Still Around

Just being lazy for a bit and not posting as often. Ignacio Garrido and Miguel Angel Jimenez are doing well at the Open de Espana. And Fred Couples is having a good week at the Wachovia.

Lucky for me, the Tennis channel is rerunning the Rafael Nadal semi-final match they aired this morning opposite the European PGA Tour coverage. So, I get to see what I missed while I was watching Garrido and Jimenez. I need to get off the web and watch the match. It's one of those blink and you'll miss it types. He only needed about an hour to win and advance to the finals.

New Phil Commercials

I just saw some of the Crowne Plaza commercials with Phil Mickelson. I think the best one has to be the one with the look-a-likes. I think it's a very good career move for Mickelson to show this comedic side. Although, I thought the Winged Foot reference in the Phil meets his biggest fans commercial was a bit harsh. Mickelson must have agreed to it though or else I'm sure it wouldn't have gone to air.

Scott Wins in a Playoff

Adam Scott won another tournament in Texas today over Ryan Moore in an I forget how many hole playoff. I was hoping Moore would win since he is in my Ryder Cup list over in the side bar. But Scott's win was a good one too. I wish the announcers would forget the Greg Norman and Tiger Woods Swing mechanics trivia with regard to Adam Scott. That's getting very, very old. It would have been acceptable for Scott's first couple of years on tour, but he's been out there long enough to have things of his own they can talk about. Just another example of lazy announcers who don't want to do any research or come up with anything original. I mean, during the playoff they could have talked about Scott's matchplay record on the International Presidents Cup team, but did they? No. They did, however, bore everyone to tears with the constant references to the car that the winning player's caddie would win. And after all that hype, did they show the tournament people presenting the car to the caddie? No.

BMW Asian Open

Darren Clarke won the tournament today. I didn't get to watch much of this. Tennis has been on and I chose to watch Rafael Nadal instead.

EDS Byron Nelson Cla-Inv-Op-Whatever

Sergio shot a 65 today and had under 30 putts for the round. Good for him! I don't know how far back he is. I think I missed the ending of the third round. But hopefully, Sergio will have a top 10 finish this week.

A Couple of Emails

I got a couple of emails that I thought were worth commenting on.

1. Get Your Fairway Fix at the AT&T Classic - This email tells me about the weather forecast, the expected participants, the affordability of the event (tickets starting at $30.00 and free parking), some VIP lounge, and it's reportedly one of the most fan-friendly events, according to the email. The one thing the email didn't tell me was where this tournament is - Is this the one in Georgia? Too many AT&Ts and too many Such and Such Classics. Obviously, you can go to www.attclassic.com for more info.

2. A Chance to Play With Tiger - The sender of this email said she had just seen my post regarding the tennis tournament and thought I would be interested in this contest sponsored by Gillette. The winners and their fathers will have a chance to meet either Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Thierry Henry and compete with them in their respective sports. You can go to WWW.gillettechampions.com to enter the contest. Now let's see, I would have to borrow a dad who watches sports, since mine doesn't, and I would have to act like I can play a sport. Probably tennis. Don't want to meet Tiger Woods and 90 minutes of soccer watching would put me to sleep. Wonder how Federer would feel if I asked him all about Rafael Nadal?

Oh Happy Day

There's a live tennis tournament on the Tennis Channel this week. That means I don't have to watch the BBC World news in the mornings. Yay! No depressing war talk. No depressing rising food prices talk. Just a bunch of red clay and the hypnotic sounds of two guys hitting a tennis ball back and forth. Hopefully this will last all week, but I have a feeling the closer we get to the finals, the less it will be on tv.

To be fair, I could have watched the highlights of Arjun Atwal's win earlier this year - they were on the Golf Channel this morning. But I saw it the first time around.

Sunday Wrap-Up

Lorena Ochoa has done something that no PGA Tour guy will ever do. She's won four weeks in a row. Why won't a man do that? Because after three weeks, they are just too tired (and if you're a top ranked player, too spoiled) and have to take a break.

As for the PGA Tour - Boo won. Presumably he's not adding up his own score. Hopefully he wasn't keeping track of Kim's score either.

Third Round's Over

Now, Rosaforte can say it will take some effort to catch Boo Weekley. Weekley has the lead going into the final round.

LPGA on CBS

Was this a planned event for CBS to broadcast or did they jump on the LPGA bandwagon after the media started comparing Lorena Ochoa to Tiger Woods? Whatever the reason, it's good for the LPGA to be on CBS.

As for Lorena, they had a statistic earlier that said her fairways hit percentage this week was something like 53% or 57%. My reaction to that: "Hey, she is like Tiger Woods."

I've been waiting for Bobby Clampett to say something inappropriate, like "check out the gams on that dame" or maybe a "choking dogs" reference but so far from what I've heard, he's been pretty politically correct in his reporting.

Same Old Golf Channel

I happened to hear some of the Pre-Game Show this morning. As I understand it, Lucas Glover had a one shot lead over Boo Weekley going into the third round. Rosaforte said that it was going to take a special effort to catch Boo Weekley. He can say that sitting in a studio in Florida. I wouldn't recommend saying that to Glover's face.

Speaking of the Ryder Cup

I mentioned it below and I have one more observation to make. I haven't seen on the internet news any great passion of the European players to concentrate on making the Ryder Cup team this year. Admittedly, I'm not watching much of the Golf Channel so it could be that they are giving all kinds of interviews on that network and I'm just missing them. But, I haven't seen much on the web about them and I have to wonder if maybe some of the top players that were on the team last time might not really want to be there this time because of Faldo. Sure, Olazabal wants to be there if he's playing well and I think I've heard Ian Poulter and Justin Rose talk about it. I just wonder if maybe some of the players from the 2006 team are secretly non-upset (can't bring myself to say happy) that their game isn't where it needs to be to be in prime position on the points lists.

Hey, Golf's On......

I haven't seen much of the golf this week. When I come home from work, I watch BBC America which has the You Are What You Eat show on and then the How Clean Is Your House show. By the time they go off, golf is off too. So, I've been checking out the European Tour and PGA Tour leaderboards. I saw some strange looking flag beside a player's name on the ET leaderboard but unfortunately when I clicked on the player's bio, they didn't have a bio so I still don't know where the guy comes from. I'll have to do more research later. As for the PGA Tour, Lucas Glover is leading after two rounds. Nick Dougherty is playing in America this week as is Niclas Fasth and Richard Sterne. Davis Love, Brett Quigley and Lee Janzen all made the cut. Paul Azinger missed the cut. Wonder if that's karma at work. He said some things about Faldo that didn't get reported in a positive light. Faldo laughed them off and said that he and Azinger were friends, which if Azinger did say those things as reported on purpose, he's probably really steaming mad that Faldo didn't take the bait. Who knows what was said and what wasn't. I have a feeling that the media is going to do its best to ruin this year's Ryder Cup because Azinger and Faldo are so accessible.

Lorena Ochoa is playing this week and is in contention. As usual. They were talking on the LPGA coverage about how Laura Davies needs two more points to be eligible for the Hall of Fame and that Lorena has already earned a spot there provided she plays on Tour for three more years. It makes you wonder how someone as famous as Laura Davies still needs to do more to qualify.

There He Is.....

I wondered if 60 Minutes had actually come on as scheduled so I turned the tv over to CBS and found that the Masters was still going on. So, I turned back to the Tennis Channel and kept checking back about every 15 minutes or so. This meant that I did actually see the Jacket Ceremony in Butler Cabin. After Jim Nantz went on and on and on in his "Oh Trevor is the greatest golfer here today" tone of voice (the one that sounds so insincere after all the years of him fawning over the cash cow, uh, I mean Tiger), I really and truly thought he was going to launch into the Miss America song. And that last shot of Trevor wearing the jacket - I was stunned that they didn't give him a crown. Really. That thought did run through my mind (Where's the crown, he's not wearing a hat or anything.) I know Augusta National and the people who run the Masters have very favorable opinions of themselves, but gee whiz. If the sprinkers had come on in that cabin, everything would have melted it was so sugary.

As for Trevor Immelman, it's good that he won. And it's good that Brandt Snedecker, Andres Romero, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and Sean O'Hair get invites to next year's tournament because they finished in the top 15. And I had the feeling that Zach Johnson wanted to high-five Trevor or jump for joy or something. He looked like he was ready to burst.

One final comment on the CBS announce people - I don't know how they can live with themselves when they spend four days talking up Tiger and talking down the rest of the field and then at the end they say something nice about Trevor. I'm sure they can't be sleeping well at night.

Spaniard Read: Masters Edition

Since I'm not watching the Masters, I can't do a Spaniard Watch post, so it's Spaniard Read today. And apparently the only one left to read about is Miguel Angel Jimenez. Jose Maria and Sergio both missed the cut. I've read that Jose Maria plans to go home and rest for a few weeks, that he states he was not formally offered the Ryder Cup Captaincy, and that his deal with MacGregor expired at the end of last year and that's why we don't see the clubmaker's name on Jose Maria's hats.

Olazabal Offered Ryder Cup Captaincy

Not this fall. But in 2010.

Here's the news article about it. It also gives a little bit more information on Jose Maria's health.

Round 1 Masters

As I said before, I'm not watching it, but I did check out the leaderboard and here are a few scores:

Justin Rose tied for first at -4
Jeev Milkha Singh -1
Andres Romero -1 through 15
Angel Cabrera +1
Bernhard Langer +1
Fred Couples +4
Jose Maria Olazabal +4

If you're looking for news or recaps and the like, then try Hooked On Golf Blog.

A Gladiator Among Men

In this article, Butch Harmon compares Jose Maria Olazabal to a Roman gladiator. A very good compliment I think.

A Rare Entry

A rare Masters Week entry from me. I don't plan on watching it so I am just reading things on the web about the Masters. I found this humorous article today talking about the pairings. While it was kind of funny, I don't think Jose Maria will punch Rory Sabbatini like this guy speculates.

Final Round Notes

Houston Open:

Fred Couples finished tied for 4th. His rounds got lower every day. Brett Quigley shot an 82 today. I hope it wasn't because of an injury or anything. Jose Maria Olazabal was -1 in his final round and finished tied for 26th. And Johnson Wagner won the event and earned over $1 Million and a trip to the Masters.

LPGA:

Lorena Ochoa won the first major of the year with a 5 shot lead. Lucky for tv watchers, she was playing the 18th just as Fred Couples finished up his round, so if you flipped over to watch Lorena take the leap into the pond, you didn't miss much of the Houston Open - well, you didn't miss Fred. Hopefully now people will stop trying to find excuses for not giving Lorena Ochoa her due. For some reason, the press wants to keep from recognizing her #1 status by saying things like "Annika was hurt last year." The press doesn't want to compare her to Tiger Woods either. But, ESPN did yesterday and had some interesting stat comparisons. Truth be told, the press just doesn't want to give the LPGA any recognition because they can't make as much money off the LPGA as they can Tiger.

Estoril Open de Portugal:

Bourdy won in a playoff. David Howell had a really good week in getting into the playoff. And Gonzalo Fernandez Castano contended in the final round.

Houston Open, Round 3

Jose Maria came back with two birdies after making a double bogey on the back nine in round 3. He's at -4 going in to the final round.

Brett Quigley and Fred Couples are doing well too.

Adam Scott withdrew due to cold/flu symptoms. I'm sure playing in the rain yesterday didn't help him a bit.

Jimmy Roberts asked Fred Couples a question and then interrupted him while he was answering. Why didn't they send Jimmy Roberts out to the horse racing event? They don't need him at the golf tournaments.

How Do I Rate?

Blogged.com has this blog rated at 8.2. I checked out Blogged.com and it looks like a nice way to waste a lot of time looking for new blogs to read. I'll have to check it out more using my mom's high speed internet connection.

Round 2

Jose Maria Olazabal continued his good play today and was under par for round two of the Houston Open. I will have to try to watch the rest of the tournament this weekend.

Brett Quigley was doing well when the Golf Channel ended their coverage this evening. I hope he continues to play well too. He needed to make some money for the medical exemption thing from where he had knee surgery last year.

BBC Coverage

I was watching the BBC World news this morning before leaving for work and they had a recap of the first round of the Houston Open. The guy said that Wagner Johnson tied the course record. I can understand thinking that Johnson was a last name. It usually is. But I've never heard of Wagner being a first name. Maybe it's a popular first name in the U.K.

Mouthing Off About the Masters

And no, I'm not talking about Colin Montgomerie. I found this news story while googling Jose Maria Olazabal. According to the story, Stephen Ames says that the Masters is the easiest major to win and it's easier to win than the Players Championship. He goes on to talk about how 'weak' the Masters field is.

Yeah. The Masters is so easy to win. That's why Ames has all those Green Jackets in his closet.
What's that? The only green jackets he has he bought at the mall? Oh, well then..........

What a Surprise

Not only did I get to watch Fred Couples and Jose Maria Olazabal this evening on the round one Houston Open coverage, but there was no Kelly Whatsername, so I got to listen to some of the commentary as well.

As for what I saw:

Fred looks like he's lost some weight. Good for him. That's got to help his back a little bit.

Jose Maria shaved. I was almost getting used to seeing his beard.

Jose Maria finished up round one at 3 under par. That's very good after a long flight to America. I hope he plays very well at Augusta next week.

Good For Him

Andres Romero won the Zurich Classic yesterday! I was watching the Top Gear marathon on BBC America instead of golf coverage so I didn't get to see him win. Romero is one of my favorites on the European Tour and it's great that he won here in America.

Next Up: Houston

According to this news article, Jose Maria Olazabal will travel to Houston for this week's tournament.

I hope his health improves and he's able to return to a full schedule. I don't know if I can stomach listening to Kelly Whatshername during Thursday and Friday's rounds - I might have to mute her if I want to catch a glimpse of Jose Maria. Of course, American TV won't show him. The Golf Channel will just show Adam Scott the whole time but talk about Tiger.

Rheumatism Home Remedies

Reports say that it's rheumatism that has kept Jose Maria Olazabal out of action for the last several months. So, I thought I would look up some home remedies for rheumatism just to see what was out there. I'm sure once a person gets to a certain point in experiencing this ailment, these home remedies won't help much. But for mild cases, it might not hurt to try a change in diet for a few weeks to see if it might help.

According to This Website, one approach is to eliminate all meat, white bread, sugar, tea, coffee, alcohol and some other things. Some of the suggestions on the website I find a bit out of the ordinary, but cutting out meat, white bread and sugar is suggested by many doctors and nutritionists for many different reasons, so I wouldn't think trying that would hurt too much.

Legal disclaimer: consult your physician before trying anything you hear or read on the internet.

Final Round at the Open de Andalucia

Jose Maria Olazabal shot a 76 in the final round to finish +2 for the event. I haven't found any comments from him in google news yet. Maybe there will be something later on this evening.

I haven't watched much of the final round but I think Lee Westwood got passed by Levet and Oliver Fisher and those two are in a playoff right now (well, on tv right now).

Open de Andalucia

I watched some of the third round today. The golf course there in Spain is very pretty. I didn't see Jose Maria Olazabal today, but I think they might have mentioned him at the very beginning of the coverage. I was cleaning the family room carpet at the time. I will have to watch the first two rounds of the event. I recorded them on Thursday and Friday.

I found a news article on Jose Maria which featured some comments he made after his second round. You can check out the article HERE. According to the article, he played Monday through Friday and his back seemed to feel better each day. Hopefully, with treatment and care Jose Maria will be able to play more regularly now and give me and all of his other fans something to watch :)

Two Complaints

The Golf Channel: The commercial advertising the Houston Open makes it sound as though Tiger is playing in the event. Someone should sue for misleading advertising.

NBC: They are showing the Monday coverage of last week's WGC event today when they should be showing the third round of the Zurich Classic. First, if they wanted to air the Monday coverage, then they should have taken off the Today Show and aired it Monday. Second, if the Zurich Classic would happen to stretch into a Monday, I doubt NBC would go to such lengths to show a Briny Baird-Tim Clark Monday duel. It's more than obvious NBC just saw another way to get Tiger footage on air. The only bright spot to NBC airing the Monday coverage of the WGC event is that the world gets to see Tiger lose twice in one week. Maybe that was the secret motivation behind showing the footage. Maybe Johnny Miller is doing what he can to minimize the TigerWorshipping - LOL! I would hope the reason for showing the footage was to celebrate Geoff Ogilvy's excellent win. This is the second WGC event he's won in his career. Add that to the US Open he won and one could come out and say that though he doesn't win often, when he does win, he beats the top players in the world.

One Under Par

Jose Maria Olazabal shot a -1 round today at the Andalucia event. I think he's 6 shots back of the leader who is Lee Westwood, I think. Would you believe I saw the leaderboard and read a news story and I'm still not sure it's Westwood in the lead? I think it's him. I was just looking for Jose Maria news. One article I read reported that he said his back was a little tired by the end of the round. There's a British amateur named Danny Willett who is doing pretty well after the first round. I noticed his name because I started writing a new golf related fiction story this weekend and my main character's last name is Willett. Complete coincidence I can assure you. Now I'm wondering if I should change the name of the character.

Anyway, I recorded the first round of the tournament this morning, hoping there will be some of Jose Maria on there. I haven't watched it yet.

Another News Tidbit on Jose Maria Olazabal

Apparently and according to this news story, Jose Maria is still in pain. I really hope that he finds some answer to his rheumatism problems. Maybe he should try acupuncture or something. If he needs someone to tie his shoes for him, I'm available. As long as I can bring the dogs, I can move to Spain and see to his footwear needs. Not just shoes either. Socks too.

yippeee!!!!

Geoff Ogilvy won the WGC CA Championship today.

Oh Happy Day!

I just read on this website, that Jose Maria Olazabal is planning to return to competition this week at the Andalucian Open. I'm so excited. I hope he's recovered and ready to go.

Something Else to Watch

I found something other than TigerFest to watch this weekend. Figure Skating. That new scoring system they have doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. But, I like listening to some of the music.

One of the other bloggers has renamed The Golf Channel to Tiger Golf Channel and I think he's got it right. Everytime I access the program guide on the satellite dish, they've got a Tiger Highlight reel on. Ugh.

Par for the Course

It's both a cliche and apparently something the leader of North Korea doesn't see too much of. After I read the Merline Lovelace book (search back through the blog for my review), I decided to do a quick search online to see if there are golf courses in North Korea. Lovelace's book featured a female North Korean star golfer. Well, I found this news article that explains that some people are trying to organize tours to the ultra-private course where the leader of North Korea once made 11 holes in one (by his account anyway).

In a stark contrast to a well-maintained golf course, I also found this news article from the BBC which reports that North Korea's food shortage is getting worse. If only they had someplace with good soil and irrigation where they could plant some crops.......

CA Championship Round 1

Here are some scores:

Miguel Angel Jimenez -7 (co-leader)
Anders Hansen -5
Mark Calcavecchia -4
Andres Romero -4
Sergio Garcia -3
JB Holmes -3

I would have liked to have seen Miguel's round, but I am not participating in TigerFest.

Instead I am watching the Original Ice Dance World Championships competition. I'm not crazy about the weird dances, I like to watch the waltzes.

No News Not Necessarily Good News

I have a Google News alert set up for Jose Maria Olazabal. Unfortunately, for the last month or so, the news alert has been very quiet and not very newsworthy. Mostly, I get links to articles talking about when he made the cut on the number and went on to win whatever tournament it was. Nothing about any recent activity. This worries me. I guess whatever ailment he's been experiencing is more serious than the news accounts from early January led us all to believe. I hope he gets better and gets back out there on tour soon. I miss seeing him play.

Leaderboards and News

I checked out the leaderboard of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Here's some scores through the second round (Leading score -9 by Vijay Singh):
Lee Westwood -6
Vaughn Taylor -5
Sergio Garcia -4
Fred Couples -2 (First Round co-leader)
JB Holmes -2
Andres Romero -1

News:
According to the Golf Channel Website, David Feherty got hit by a truck while riding his bicycle at home in Texas. He has a couple of broken ribs andI think a punctured lung, but is expected to be recovered in time for the Masters coverage. I'm not sure I like what this implies: The man grows up in Northern Ireland before any peace agreements and it's America that sends him to the hospital. And of course there's the irony of Feherty getting exercise for his health and he gets hit by a truck. I'm sure he will have some very humorous comments of his own as the weeks go by.

Another NGW (No Golf Week)

Well, I hear Tiger's playing this week at Arnold Palmer's tournament. That means I won't be watching Arnold Palmer's tournament. Can't watch the golf channel because they suck up to Tiger to the exclusion of all other golf news and notes. Granted, Johnny Miller doesn't suck up as much as other announcers, but neither can he completely ignore Tiger when he's in the field. So, NBC will have to talk about him too and show him on tv. I hope there's some Tennis or something on. Maybe a figure skating meet? I did buy the Robert Ludlum book, The Bourne Identity, tonight at the store. I've been in a mood to read spy thrillers lately. It's a big book, so I might have some of it left to read this weekend. I'm planning to get on my new mini-trampoline and work out this weekend. I heard on tv that 5 minutes of trampoline jumping is the same as a 15 minute walk. I can get a workout done in 1/3 the time on a trampoline. I've been working out on it for about three days now. I took today off just so I don't get bored with it too quickly.

The newest issue of Golf Magazine has Tiger on the cover in case you're interested. There's also interviews with Mark O'Meara and Zach Johnson in there - I think it's their Masters issue. And it seems like there are a lot more pages of ads in that issue. Gee, wonder why companies think that issue would be a big seller and want to advertise?

O'Hair Wins

Sean O'Hair won the Pods Tournament by being the only guy in the last three groups to be under par for the final round. It was good to see him win again. Now maybe they can stop talking about his play in last year's Players' championship.

Slow Play

Did anyone else notice just how deliberate (i.e. slow) Stewart Cink has been in this tournament - at least it seemed that way to me. Taking so much time on his shots is probably what's keeping him from just playing and pulling away from the field. The guys in the truck at NBC have been kept pretty busy switching to other players while Cink has been evaluating every single aspect of every single shot.

Contrastly, apparently Sean O'Hair's group was put on the clock, but the way NBC showed the players, it didn't seem like O'Hair was slow at all.

It's interesting to see how the media can define these players just by the way they air the play during the tournaments. They don't even have to comment on the players to give the viewer the perception they want the viewer to have.

Atwal Wins in Malaysia

Arjun Atwal won the tournament in Malaysia this week. He's been doing well these last few weeks that he's been playing over there.

Related note: Apparently golf fans in Malaysia don't seem to care about the fallout over the elections there. I think the Prime Minister's party failed to retain a 2/3 margin in their parliament and some people are calling for him to step down.

I have a feeling Atwal should take the first flight out of there, just in case the outcry from the elections turns physical.

An Unfortunate Victim

Golf is an unfortunate victim today of the weather we are experiencing here in WV. Here we are getting some snow and it's going to be 15 degrees by morning. So, since it's cold and snowy outside, I'm looking for something warm and sunny to watch on tv. Did I find that today? Well, I found tennis on the tennis channel - Las Vegas, outside courts, and players playing in the warm sun and sweating. What did I find on NBC? Golfers playing in mid 50s temperatures. Sure there was some sun, but it didn't warm me up. Not even that interview with Fred Couples. So, tonight I'm still watching tennis.

As for the golf, first the NBC guys said that Stewart Cink came out of the Matchplay event with a lot of confidence. Then they said he was demoralized by his loss at the hands of Tiger Woods. So which is it? Johnny Miller picked Stewart Cink as the one to watch on Sunday. Well, he picked Luke Donald last week and Luke didn't win. It will be interesting to see if that becomes a trend.

Presidents Cup

I saw on Golf Channel.com that Fred Couples and Greg Norman were named future Presidents Cup captains. I don't think that's going to work out as well as some people might first think for the International Team. I don't know how inspiring and motivating Norman will be as captain. he tends to be a polarizing figure. On the US side, Couples is so well-liked that he probably doesn't have to do anything but show up to have his players play well.

"Kicking It Old School"

Despite paying $69.00 a month for the golf channel (Dish Network raised prices), I find myself reverting back to the pre-dish days and watching only weekend golf on the network this week. This is because the golf channel makes me puke with all of their Tiger Worshipping.

Although, I might have to stop watching golf this week anyway - Winnie keeps hearing birds chirping on tv and she keeps barking.

Tiger's Demise

Remember a few posts back when I told you all about the new series of books I've started reading - the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz? At the time I didn't know if any of them could be golf-related. Well, now I know. Book #3 - Skeleton Key has a Tiger Woods reference.

To set the scene: Alex Rider is a 14 year old British boy who is recruited by MI6 to carry out missions for them. In the book Skeleton Key, Alex finds himself held captive on a private plane by a former Russian general who wants to set off a nuclear bomb and take over Russia in order to restore the country to what the general believed were the glory days, the days before 'democracy and capitalism'. Well, before Alex sets out on this mission, the MI6 gadget guy gives him some tools to use on his mission and one of them is a small Tiger Woods figurine. This isn't just a statue. Oh no. It's a stun grenade. You twist Tiger's head around twice clockwise and then around counterclockwise once, throw him, count to 10 and he explodes and stuns anyone nearby.

I wonder how many competitors on the PGA tour would have an interest in such a doll?

Wendys Champions Skins Game

4 two-man teams and no mention of Tiger Woods. This was a good afternoon for me because even if I wanted to watch something else on the golf channel, I couldn't due to their constant Tiger-infused commercials and updates. It would have been nice to see the LPGA event this week, but not if I had to suffer through Tiger commercials and updates. No thanks. I had the tv on the Tennis Channel for part of the day, BBC America for part of the day and then I found the Wendys Champions Skins Game on ESPN. It was very nice to hear Terry Gannon's voice again and to see and hear Andy North and Judy Rankin. As for the golf, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson seem to be winning the event. They won several skins today.

Well, there's a dog show on Animal Planet to watch tonight. The first time a poodle of any size wins anything tonight, I'll be looking for something else to watch. Poodles win everything on these shows and they aren't even the cutest or cuddliest of the contestants.

What Golf?

Not watching golf today. I bought this book at walmart this morning and it was really good. It was also the first of a series of books. So, I had to buy the next two in the series tonight after work. The series of books is the Alex Rider Series. It's about a 14 year old boy who is recruited by MI6. Yes, these books are meant for kids, but this first book was really good. I recommend that you all read the books. As far as I know, it's not golf related. But I've only read the first book so far.

As for golf, I checked leaderboards and saw that Angel Cabrera is pretty much the only golfer I like left in the matchplay. Michelle Wie shot a score of 3 under par at the Fields Open. I don't know where that places her because they were still playing when I checked the leaderboard. I haven't checked the alternate pga tour event to see who all's playing and what's been going on. I'll have to check into that this weekend. They deserve some attention too.

There's nothing on tv right now so I have it on Antiques Roadshow. These people can't possibly expect me to believe all of these antiques are worth that much. I watch Cash in the Attic on BBC America and they don't have this many pieces worth this much. I think this just means that Americans spend more money than the British and we are stupid enough to pay that much for an antique.

Matchplay, Round 1 Matches

I didn't watch any of this and have only read one account of one match and that was over on Hooked on Golf Blog. But I did check out the results on the Golf Channel website and here are some winners and non-winners (I don't like the word loser - today it's too mean):

Winners:
Sergio Garcia
Padraig Harrington
Ian Poulter
Niclas Fasth
Adam Scott
Woody Austin
Colin Montgomerie
Bradley Dredge
Paul Casey
Angel Cabrera
Luke Donald
Andres Romero
Steve Stricker
Lee Westwood

Non-Winners:
Justin Rose
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Mark Calcavecchia
Ernie Els
JB Holmes

Now I think these are all accurate listings, albeit not inclusive of all the match results - I just picked out some names of players I have an interest in. The bracket didn't look right on the golf channel website (or at least it was too hard to read) and I think I wrote down the right names with the right results.

JB Holmes apparently gave Tiger some worrying moments today. Hooked on Golf Blog has the account of it by someone who watched it. I was really hoping Holmes would advance. Not so much because he was playing Tiger, but because I want to see Holmes do well enough this year to make the Ryder Cup.

Got a Question For You.........

How can you tell when Miranda's had a sucky day at work?


Answer: She decides she prefers watching Tiger Woods to thinking about her sucky day at work.

Does she watch Tiger Woods? Well, maybe. The night isn't over yet.


The Work Story: Evil boss who doesn't supervise me either hates me or my boss so she again tries her best to harass me and get me into trouble. If the bosses who directly supervise me wouldn't loan me out for special projects, this wouldn't happen. It never, never, never pays to do anything well. Let this be a lesson to the young people out there: Be average. Don't do anything well because it will only land you into trouble later. I'm taking this lesson with me to my next job, whatever that might be. Unless my next job is handing Fred Couples golf balls during practice rounds (like that guy I saw at the Bridgestone Invitational a couple of years ago). For Fred Couples, I'd do an exemplary job :)

How Do You Mark Your Titleist?

Has anyone else wondered if the players in this commercial really do mark their golf balls the way they say they do in the commercial? Here's why I'm asking: if they do mark their golf balls that way, then what's to stop some tv viewer from copying that design on a ball and then selling it on Ebay?

Site Updates

I tried to update the links to the Fed Ex Cup points list and the PGA Tour money list over in the side bar, but when I tried to click on anything on the PGA Tour website that might take me to the 2008 Fed Ex Cup points list, I got last year's list - gee wonder why that was. It couldn't be because JB Holmes is leading so far this year, and last year's list had a certain overexposed golfer at the top. As for the money list, I got nothing when I clicked on the link on the PGA Tour website to go to that list. I don't know if that website just doesn't like my Firefox browser or if the PGA Tour has turned the list off until Tiger wins more money.

As a result, I have removed the links to the Fed Ex Cup points list and the Money leaders list. I have no intention of wasting any more time trying to find the accurate, current lists to link to. If you're looking for some stats, I recommend checking out the European Tour Order of Merit. It's up to date.

New Dresses for Winnie and PJ