The Armchair Golfer asked me in one of the previous posts if I had any predictions for the upcoming year. I haven't really taken the time to contemplate the next golfing year. But I did jot down a few things I can post here. If I end up right at least 50% of the time, I might have to start buying lottery tickets again.
1. Sergio will fade in 2009 and not do nearly as well as he did in 2008. That seems to be a pattern for him. He'll do well for a while and then it's like he starts thinking about it and putting a lot of emphasis on it and he starts playing poorly.
2. Michelle Wie won't win. I still think that she needs to make more of an effort to take golf seriously. I've said recently that she should give up school and focus on golf. I think she will only win if she does this. She can't play one tournament or two and then go back to school. At least Tiger separated his golf from his education.
3. Greg Norman misses the cut at the Masters. I think he's going to take it too seriously and his usual final round troubles will show up on Friday. Plus the course has changed quite a bit over the years.
4. The Race for the Charles Schwab Cup will be more exciting to watch than the newly-revamped Fed Ex Cup (Again).
5. Fred Funk will still be in a funk and not be a factor on the Champions Tour in 2009.
6. Padraig Harrington will disappoint in his performance at the Majors. 2008 was magical, but after the US PGA, he didn't do anything. I think this burnout will continue through 2009.
7. Americans won't play a major part in the Race to Dubai. Despite all of the talk a few weeks ago about who from the US PGA tour will be joining the European Tour in order to be eligible for the Race to Dubai, I don't think the American players will be a factor. That's too much travel and too much culture shock for them.
8. Adam Scott's biggest competition will be with David Feherty for the Most Accident Prone Award.
9. Camilo Villegas will break the hearts of millions of women when he brings his girlfriend out into the public. Probably the sister of some friend of his from back home in Colombia.
10. Lorena Ochoa won't win as often as she did in 2008. I think she's starting to get a little tired of the hard work it takes to get to #1 and stay there. She's been going at this pace for a couple of years now. It's time for her to slack a little.
Most of these are negative predictions. I think it's easier to say what won't happen as opposed to what will. And besides, if I'm wrong, then it's good for golf. Mostly. #9 comes from my hope that Camilo won't start dating some actress, model or other celebrated beauty. And I will reiterate my own personal philosophy on relationships: Don't get married until you're 30. People don't know who they are or what they want out of life when they are young.
3 comments:
You're something else, Miranda! An innocent comment and BOOM -- you blast out your prediction list. Of course, I hope you're wrong on some of these. I'd like to see Lorena continue to stay on top. Adam Scott has to hope you're dead wrong, too. :)
I'd like to see Lorena stay on top too and she probably will because I don't see any of the other ladies challenging her any time soon. I just don't think we'll see her win 6 or 8 times in 2009. Maybe 4. I think she's getting tired or bored. She has spent so much time and effort getting to number 1, I think she might be looking around and saying, "now what." Really, the only thing left for her to do is to win the other Majors and keep playing until she gets her time in for the hall of fame. She's #1, she's qualified for hall of fame provided she plays for 10 years.
That is an interesting list of predictions. The most intriguing one, and one with which I would ‘hope’ to disagree is the call you have taken on Michelle Wie. According to what we have heard from the Armchair Golfer, your list of predictions are the final word in the world of golf but then I would definitely hope you are wrong about Michelle Wie.
With Annika’s departure from the world of professional golf, the ladies game definitely needs someone like Michelle to come through and perform and I would really like to give this qualifying through q-school of hers a big thumbs up. The pressure was on her, not a single title in so many years and the amount of flak she has been facing, it was surely a good performance, good enough in my opinion to give her enough confidence to go through and win on tour.
Interestingly you have also made 2009 a not so great year for Lorena Ochoa. I guess if your words turn into gold again then we will have to depend on a new set of stars to come through on the ladies tour and I am really interested in seeing how young Yani Tseng. She seems like a really good talent and I think she is good enough for greater deeds on the LPGA tour.
All the best.
Rob
GolfSwingSecretRevealed.com
Post a Comment