Comeback Player of the Year

Steve Stricker last won on the PGA Tour back in 2007 at the Barclay's. He's been in a slump ever since (his Ryder Cup appearance must have been luck). Until today when he won the Crowne Plaza Colonial in a playoff with Tim Clark and Steve Marino. I think Stricker now qualifies for Comeback Player of the Year consideration. Yes, there's an inside joke there and I'm well aware of it :)

Tim Clark was very unlucky to have his approach on the second playoff hole bounce off the flagstick and roll far, far away from the pin. He led most of the final round and could have earned his first US PGA tour win if not for that unlucky break.

Steve Marino reminds me of Raymond Floyd. I know the announcers today said Mark Calcavecchia, but I think Floyd.

Jason Day finished in 4th and could have found his way into the playoff with just one more birdie. It's good to see him doing well.

Vijay Singh had a lesson in karma this week. He was absent from the Colonial for several years as he disagreed with the Annika Sorenstam invite some years ago and chose not to play the event until this year. Well, it looks like the course decided to show him what he's been missing. And apparently it had a lot to do with putting. He missed several putts that the announcers said were kick-ins and such. I personally thought this was pretty funny.

Paul Casey could have won this tournament and that would have been an impressive feat considering he won last week on the European Tour. Casey was within one or two shots of the lead with just two or three holes to play, but couldn't get any closer.

It was wonderful to have yet another weekend of non-Tiger talk. I haven't enjoyed golf this much since 1993-1994.

Dump Slump??

I just love these new relationship terms. Being blissfully single and child free, I am unfamiliar with such circumstances as the Dump Slump, the Honeymoon Factor and the Nappy Factor. However, I did get an education by reading This Article from the Telegraph.Co.Uk.

And a rare personal observation: She was all wrong for him. He needs to find some nice girl next door back home in Spain who has nothing to do with golf.

US Open Qualifying

On the Golf Channel website, they have the results of local qualifying for this year's US Open. I scrolled through 7 pages of results until I found some West Virginians. You all should check it out and see if you recognize anyone.

BMW PGA Championship

Paul Casey won the BMW PGA Championship with a birdie today. This win moves him up to #3 in the world and is his third win of the year. It's nice to see him do well, although I was hoping Ross Fisher would win. Fisher hasn't won as much as Casey has. Casey's interview after the win was entertaining as well. When he said his wife would probably expect him to buy her a car after this win, the BMW guy chimed in something about it being a BMW, as if he had just remembered that he sold cars for a living.

Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jose Maria Olazabal both had another bad day. Jimenez is apparently suffering from an injured shoulder, though no one on the broadcast knew how bad it was. And Olazabal is doing well for not playing in so long. His bad rounds aren't blowouts. He was +2, I believe, in those rounds. Not that bad all in all.

Round 3, BMW PGA Championship

I watched some of this today and was very happy to see the European guys. Paul Casey is leading after the third round at -13. He's three shots better than his nearest competitor, Soren Kjeldsen. Rory McIlroy is at -9, Ross Fisher -8, Stephen Dodd -7. Miguel Angel Jimenez had a bad day and is currently at -4. And Jose Maria Olazabal had the same kind of day and is currently at +2.

I do wonder why the Golf Channel aired this at 3pm when they knew CBS would be airing the Byron Nelson event. According to the Golf Channel website, the European tour coverage was supposed to be in the morning. And it says morning for tomorrow's coverage too even though the crawling thing on TV is saying it will air at 3pm again tomorrow. As a protest, I don't plan to watch the re-air of the CBS coverage that the Golf Channel will be showing later on tonight.

Strange

I just saw a commercial for Scientology on the Golf Channel.

BMW PGA Championship

Round 2 Notes from the Leaderboard:

Gonzalo Fernandez Castano experienced a 10 shot swing, shooting a 77 today to go with his 67 of yesterday. Bad day for him. Jose Maria Olazabal moved up from T81 to T35. Good day for him. Paul Casey is at -8, Miguel Angel Jimenez -6, Stephen Dodd -5, and Rory McIlroy -2.

Stephen Dodd has finally put together a couple of good rounds. He's been struggling for the last couple of years. I remember watching him at the 2006 Bridgestone Invitational - he was one of the hardest working golfers there - always practicing.

I'm very happy to be able to watch the last two rounds of this event this weekend. This one is always a good tournament to watch.

Jose Maria's Thoughts on the Hall of Fame

I found this article which includes some quotes from Jose Maria Olazabal as it was formally announced that he would be joining the Hall of Fame. He spends most of the article talking about how much Seve Ballesteros means to golf and to him. It's a good article and you all should read it.

Jose Maria is playing the BMW Championship this week. He didn't do well in his first round. Hopefully, he will do better in round 2.

BMW Championship

Gonzalo Fernandez Castano is tied for the lead after round one with David Horsey and Anthony Wall. Ben Curtis and Anthony Kang are tied at 3 under par as the low Americans so far.

I can't wait to watch some of this on Saturday and Sunday. It should be a very good event with a lot of great players to watch. Hopefully the weather will be good.

More on Mickelson

On the PGA Tour website, there's an opportunity to send Amy Mickelson get well messages via email. Hopefully, a lot of people will do that. Last year at the Bridgestone Invitational, I snapped a picture of Phil standing under the 'seek shelter immediately' sign as he signed several autographs for fans. In bad weather, he chose to take a few minutes to make the fans' day. It's only right that this kind of consideration is returned to his family at this time. And I'm sure there's a way to send them some supportive thoughts via Phil's own website - link in the previous post.

Click here to get to the PGA Tour article and link to the email address.

Best Wishes to the Mickelson Family

It was announced that Phil Mickelson's wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Phil will be taking time off from the tour to be with the family while she undergoes treatment. You can read more on Phil's website.

Check out HomeofGolf.TV

I have a new Facebook Friend - Andy Brown of HomeofGolf.TV. You should check it out. Plenty of videos of stuff and it comes straight from St. Andrews, Scotland.

I can't really check it out since I'm on Dial-up. Video is a no-no with Dial-Up. But if I can remember to do it, I'll check it out this weekend on my parents' high speed internet. Yes, my parents have better internet than I do. But that's just because I don't want to go through the hassle of changing all of my email log-ins for all of my shopping websites and other websites I have subscribed to. I don't use my gmail address for everything, just fun stuff on the web.

Seve Trophy Renamed

I read this article from ESPN that explains that the Seve Trophy will have a new name: The Vivendi Trophy with Severiano Ballesteros. When I find a link to the event website, I'll update the sidebar.

Zach Johnson Wins the Valero Texas Open

It took a playoff with James Driscoll, but Johnson won this tournament for the second time in a row. Paul Goydos was in the lead until the last couple of holes when he suffered bogeys to take him out of contention.

This was an enjoyable tournament to watch. Tiger free for the most part and on the weekend, it was also Anthony Kim free. The networks should be careful, or else they might spoil me.

The one criticism I have is with birthday boy Jim Nantz. I don't know how many times he said "Johnson could win this tournament for the second time in just seven months." It was a lot.

3 Irish Open

Amateur Shane Lowry of Ireland won the 3 Irish Open today, beating Robert Rock in a playoff. Pablo Martin was the low spaniard in the field. Jose Maria Olazabal finished on Even par in a tie for 50th (possibly - I don't know if that changed once you exclude Lowry due to his amateur status). Jose Manuel Lara was the high spaniard with a final score of +2.

The weather sucked there. All rainy and dreary. At least it's sunny in Texas for the Valero Texas Open.

Golf Channel At It Again

Latest "Give me a break" moment: The Golf Channel's newest promotional spot featuring Mickelson. They call him "Phil the Thrill".

If Phil actually thrills anyone, please post a comment and let me know.

Gee, maybe "Phil the Thrill" will be the one "to stop Anthony Kim". That was the last give me a break moment - when they promoted Quail Hollow with the question "who will stop Anthony Kim?" I must have been napping earlier in the year when Kim made his thunderous charge and won a bunch of stuff. Oh, wait, he didn't do that. So, what exactly would they have been stopping him from?

3 Irish Open

I tried to watch this today but with all of the players covered up due to the bad weather, it was hard to figure out who they were. Except for Johan Edfors. You'd know him anywhere with his pink Puma knit boggin. I ended up taking a nap instead.

Finally

I finally got to see Jose Maria Olazabal play today. He did very well with a 67. Graeme McDowell, who was in Olazabal's group, shot a 61. I'll have to check the leaderboard later and see who all made the cut.

I also remembered that my new tracfone will do text messages. So, I will have to play with it to see if I can 'tweet'. It might be a good way for me to communicate if I go to the Bridgestone Invitational this year since I won't be taking my laptop with me.

Off Tomorrow

I have tomorrow off so I may be able to watch some of the 3 Irish Open. Jose Maria Olazabal is playing this week and is 8 shots off the lead at -1. He has some work to do to make the cut though. I think he's tied for 63rd.

Stenson Wins the Players

Henrik Stenson finished the tournament at -12, four shots ahead of Ian Poulter. Alex Cejka faded early in this final round.

Another good week for golf as someone out of the top two actually won.

New Observation

I'm beginning to think the problem I first blamed on the new version of Internet Explorer is really a Twitter programming problem. So far for about the last half hour, I have only had that problem with Twitter. No other websites seem affected.

As you know I don't watch golf when Tiger's playing so I have the tv on QVC. I personally don't find jewelry and Bose cd players 'extraordinary' but the host of the QVC programs seems to think they are. Extraordinary would be some blind golfer making the cut at a PGA tour event.

Feherty's Foot in Mouth Disease

According to this article I found on the Golf Channel website, David Feherty apparently made some inappropriate remarks regarding his perception of the troops' opinion of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in a Dallas magazine opinion piece he wrote.

I just have a few comments:

1. The Golf Channel article actually says "Feherty, a recovering alcoholic..." As if that had anything to do with his comments. The writer of this article was clearly trying to insert a little gossip. That seems a bit inappropriate in itself. Ten years from now are they going to refer to Kelly Tilghman as "Tilghman, who joked about lynching Tiger Woods..." Probably not.

2. The Dallas magazine should have read Feherty's piece before printing it and should have pointed out to him that he might not want to phrase his opinion in such a manner. It isn't censorship if you point out that you're calling US military personnel treasonists for suggesting they might want to kill Pelosi and Reid.

3. CBS got rid of Ben Wright for his comments about women. Wonder what they will do to Feherty. At least Feherty was smart enough to not include Obama in the elevator he wrote about. He'd definitely get fired over that. Obama's untouchable.

Tweet, Tweet

Thanks to the Armchair Golfer, I have now signed up on Twitter. Armchair Golfer posted a very informative piece about pro golfers who have Twitter accounts and I thought I would check it out. Then I ended up creating an account. Find me on Twitter HERE.

I displayed a lot of patience because this new Internet Explorer program that my laptop tricked me into downloading really sucks. Every other page I try to go to, it says it can't connect. Bill Gates needs to forget his charity crap and get back to the office and fix this program.

Players Championship

I didn't watch this today. I figured it would be all about Tiger and Sergio and not in a good way. So, I just checked the leaderboard. Ben Crane is leading and there are no sensationally famous people near the top. What will the network do? They have no Tiger leading. No Phil leading. No Sergio leading. Well, if it's NBC covering it, they will probably cover the players who are leading. Of course we would have to suffer with just Golf Channel coverage until the weekend.

And just for the record, I didn't vote for the orange outfit that Sergio will apparently be wearing as a result of the contest. I think I voted for the blue outfit.

June Issue of Golf Magazine

I got the June issue today in the mail. Here are some highlights:

It's their US Open Preview Issue so they spotlight Bethpage Black and they have an interview with Rocco Mediate. Forrest Fezler, by the way, was also a runner up at the 1974 US Open to Hale Irwin. I just had to post the name Forrest Fezler.

David Feherty's column is very entertaining - it's about having a house built and his adventures with the contractor.

There's also an interview with Steve Stricker, I think part of the US Open preview. And an article about Ernie Els.

And my favorite part - a little where are they now tidbit with Ken Venturi. The final two lines of the piece: "Venturi often watches golf on tv - with the sound muted. 'Too much talking,' he says."

Gee, I have actually muted the tv during golf coverage. But this week, I just don't have the golf on my tv.

Seve Out and About

I found this article on the Daily Mail UK website about Seve Ballesteros. Seve attended a football match the other night. Unfortunately, his team didn't win, but he was looking pretty well. There are a few pictures. Caution, however, is advised when reading the article. The website occasionally puts a negative spin on news. If you check out the rest of the news on that site, you'll get very depressed as you'll see things like 'government takes child away from parents because father's in the military and could be prone to aggression.' That's pretty absurd.

I Guess It's Sean O'Hair

Last week I posted a comment about a Golf Channel commercial which asked "Who can stop Anthony Kim" at the Quail Hollow tournament. So, who had Sean O'Hair on the short list to answer that question? I didn't watch any of this tournament because Tiger was playing and I didn't want to hear "Tiger this" and "Tiger that" all weekend long. But I am glad that Sean O'Hair won the tournament. I checked out the leaderboard and saw that Lucas Glover was also in the hunt. That's great for him. He's been pretty quiet lately.

Open de Espana

Thomas Levet won the tournament with a score of-18. Two spaniards made the top 10: Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Jose Manuel Lara.

I watched a bit of this this morning, but missed most of it yesterday.

Luckiest 4 year old

Here's a cute little story about Sergio during a practice round at Quail Hollow. He apparently has a big fan in a little girl. They don't tell enough stories like this in golf. Probably because the players don't reach out to the fans that often.

Jerry Kelly Wins the Zurich Classic

He made it interesting in the final round, allowing Charles Howell III to take the lead, but managed to win in the end for his first win in seven years. I watched this off and on for the last two days. With the sun out and warm temperatures here, I spent some time outside.

Hall of Fame Hogwash

I've been seeing some comments on the internet from some folks who think Jose Maria Olazabal is just too young to be inducted into the hall of fame.

That's stupid. More than stupid. According to Wikipedia, there is a minimum age requirement of 40 years for the International ballot (how Olazabal was selected). I know in some cases reaching a certain age is indeed an achievement (and in some cases it's pure luck), but it shouldn't be a limiting factor for induction into the Hall of Fame, and the one comment I saw which said there should be an age limit was obviously uninformed since there already is one.

Why make Olazabal wait? Is there a chance he might 'un-win' his two Masters tournaments and therefore become ineligible?

Granted, we don't want to see 25 year olds inducted just because they rush out and win a couple of majors. But Olazabal has had a long and stellar career so far with his majors and Ryder Cup experiences. He is looked upon by many players and event organizers alike with immeasurable respect, particularly considering his battle with health issues and how he came back from illness to win the Masters.

Olazabal deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Sure he's only 43. But Vijay Singh was 43 when he was inducted in 2006. So, it isn't like Olazabal is the youngest ever inductee.

In the world I live in (the same world these critics also inhabit), people retire and get their proverbial gold watch after 20 years of service. Olazabal has already been a professional golfer for more than 20 years. He didn't just come along recently.

I wonder how many of these critics actually follow golf and know about Olazabal's incredible career. The fact that he's getting inducted means that there are a lot of players and voters who do.

One Step Closer

Today, I reserved a hotel room for the week of the Bridgestone Invitational. So, I'm one step closer to going back to the event this year. It isn't a definite decision until I order the tickets. I can still back out and cancel the room if it turns out I can't go. But I am looking forward to going this year and seeing Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros. I'm sure they will both be in the field.

And I'm thinking the Monday vacation event that week will be a visit to The Wilds, a safari experience in the heart of Ohio. I've been there before, but it looks like they've added some new things so it will be cool to go back. The last time I was there, we were in tour buses. But the website shows visitors in open air vehicles. That would be much better to see the wild animals.

Cheesy Promotion

I was flipping through the channels sometime in the last week and I landed on the Golf Channel. They had a commercial for Quail Hollow and the theme of the commercial was "Who will stop AK (Anthony Kim)?"

My comment: Don't they think maybe he should do something to show that he's actually started something before asking who's going to stop him? He hasn't done anything this year.

Shopping Anyone?

There's a new women's golf apparel website on the web called Pinks and Greens that everyone should check out. I just briefly scanned all of the accessories and they are very nice. I can only imagine that the apparel is just as cool.

Brian Gay Wins Verizon Heritage

Brian Gay won by a large margin. He finished 20 under and I believe the next closest competitors, Briny Baird and Luke Donald were -10. Jose Maria Olazabal finished T6 and Lee Janzen finished T4.

This was a nice tournament to watch. Very minimal Tiger mentions and a very pretty course to look at. There was no aggression, no violence, just wonderfully talented golfers putting on a great show.

And just think, next year, Brian Gay can call the Masters his warm up event for his title defence. That has to be nice.

CBS waiting until around 5pm eastern to talk about the Masters and show Tiger and Phil, instead of showing them in the 3pm hour like they said they would yesterday. I would like to believe they waited until Jose Maria Olazabal finished just to make me happy, but I think they just waited to see if Brian was going to have a large lead so the viewers wouldn't be missing very much of the fourth round.

I'm very happy that Jose Maria had a top 10 this week. Hopefully, he will continue this great play.

I've Done a Bad Thing

I joined Facebook. I have been deliberately avoiding Facebook and My Space since I think they are pretty superfluous. But, in order to get new information about Ramsey and Pablo, I had to join Facebook. I don't know much about how Facebook works. But I did manage to put a cute picture of Winnie and PJ on there to represent me.

If you would like to find me on Facebook, I think you can click here. If it doesn't work, then you can either give up and just stick to reading the blog, or search for me on Facebook. I think I might be the only Miranda Allen on there with chihuahuas as my picture.

Maybe I'll learn more about how this Facebook thing works. But if you know anything about me, then you know I don't like computers. So much so that I deliberately keep dial up access so I don't get spoiled and surf the web 24 hours a day with highspeed.

Verizon Heritage 3rd Round

I actually watched this today on CBS. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes for them to mention Tiger Woods. But, luckily, the round had been completed and they were killing time so they didn't take any time away from this week's players. Unfortunately, they said they would air a Masters Flashback package during the 3pm eastern hour - which is during the final round of the tournament. So, tomorrow they will be taking time away from this week's players. You all had better just find a scoreboard on the web to watch instead. At least until 4pm eastern.

About the round, a lot of good players are in contention. It's really good to see Lee Janzen doing well this week. And Davis Love always does well at the Heritage. Jose Maria Olazabal finished his round with a 1 under par score, 4 under for the tournament so far. A positive move but he did have his total score to 5 or 6 under there for a while today.

Stupid question time: Peter Kostis was interviewing Tim Wilkinson. Wilkinson had a third round of 65 today. The stupid question? Kostis asked Wilkinson what his game plan for tomorrow was. Gee, like Wilkinson was going to say, "Well Peter, I think I'm going to change up everything and try playing right handed tomorrow." Anyone would think his game plan today would suit him just fine tomorrow.

Follow up to the last post about the Golf Channel's obsession with Tiger. They used Tiger's video game to describe the holes of this course. Davis Love won this tournament 5 times. Wouldn't he be a better source for information on the course? When did Tiger win this one? He didn't. Gee, let's get a non-expert's, and a non-winner's, opinion of how to play the course instead of a 5 time winner.

A comment about Verizon Phone Service: Last Sunday during the final round of the Masters, I, a Verizon customer, lost phone service. Which meant I couldn't blog or get online to check the leaderboard. I used my cell phone to call my mom and ask her to call Verizon to complain. She did and the customer service people kept telling us to unplug the phone and plug it back in. That would be a good idea if my internet wasn't lost too. Duh. Anyway, the lady ran a check and said she did detect stress on the line (that would be the big tree that's been leaning across my driveway for about a year and resting on the phone line). She arranged for a technician to check it out on Thursday. That would be 4 days without phone service.

During all of this, my dad drove to my house to fiddle with the outside boxes. As he drove to my house, he saw a backhoe and two Verizon trucks all sitting together. We had suspected that they either cut into a phone line and disrupted service or they deliberately turned off phone service to do some work. Later, when it got dark outside, I thought I would just try to see if I had a dial tone and guess what.... I did. At that point I decided that the backhoe operator and the occupants of the Verizon trucks had fixed whatever problem there was and went home for supper.

Did Verizon at any time decide to call us and tell us that the problem had been fixed? No. Did they tell my mom when my mom was on the phone with them that there was a problem in the area? No. In fact they called the next day to confirm the Thursday appointment and then my mom rec'd two more computer generated calls regarding the appointment. When Thursday came, the technician was supposed to check the stress on the line (aka the tree). What did he do? He drove up to my house and put a note on my door saying that the phone line had been cut on Sunday but was fixed now. No attention paid to the tree. I still have to drive under it whenever I leave the house or come home.

We didn't expect them to do anything about the tree, but he didn't even mention it in his note. Someday the tree will bring the line down and they will have to do something then.

By the way, the technician's supervisor called my mom on Thursday and checked up on the technician to make sure he was doing his job. You'd think the company was government owed-operated with the way they waste money checking up on people and calling people over and over again to confirm appointments and stuff.

I'm glad I only have my phone service through Verizon. I would hate giving Verizon money for high speed internet and satellite tv too considering this experience with customer service.

Olazabal Tied for 6th

Jose Maria Olazabal shot 3 under par in the opening round of the Heritage. Yay for him!

Not that I got to see any of it. The Golf Channel alienated me almost immediately. How, you ask? Well, even when Tiger isn't there at the tournament, he's still there. They have his computer game alter ego describing the holes of the course. Pretty soon, they will have 'tournaments' with only Tiger in the field, guaranteeing the media enough Tiger to make money hand over fist. In fact, I can see the Golf Channel now airing Tiger's EA sports game competitions between the on-air talent.

If only I could learn to puke every time they put Tiger on the air, I could get down to 110 pounds in no time. What a great diet aid that would be.

Tired of Winter?

Looking for a nice warm place to hang your hat? Well, I got an email from someone connected with Piper's Landing Yacht and Country Club asking what my advertising rates were here on the blog. I don't do any advertising stuff because then I would have to pay taxes on the income, so I thought I would just provide a link for you all to click on to check out the website for this gated community in Florida.

On a related note, I am so out of touch with the economy. I've been watching House Hunters on HGTV and everyone on there plans to spend $300,000 or more on a house. The homes at Piper's Landing are all over $200,000. Here in West Virginia, if you are single and making $30,000, then you think you're doing pretty well (unless you are a teacher and then you think you deserved $100,000 a year despite the fact that the tax base can't support it). $30,000 in WV can pay your rent/house payment and a car payment with a little left over if you are a frugal shopper and have learned the difference between your needs and your wants.

It's no wonder the politicians think the middle class make a lot more than what I do. They must be watching House Hunters too.

Believing His Own Press

I've complained often about how the media tends to be Pro-Tiger way too often, sometimes (a lot of the time) engaging in hyperbole (aka sucking up) in order to make money off of him. Well this time, I think Tiger himself is taking lessons from the media's behavior.

Case in point: this quote from Tiger found in a New York Daily News article: "I fought my swing all day and just kind of Band-Aided-it around and almost won the tournament with a Band-Aid swing."

I would like to contradict the #1 player in the world: Kenny Perry almost won. Chad Campbell almost won. Tiger finished four shots out of the playoff. That isn't 'almost winning'. That's a good paycheck.

Funny enough, if Sergio had come out with a statement like that, he'd be ripped to shreds in the press. If Phil had made that statement, he'd be suffering the same fate as Sergio.

What is Undignified?

Gary McCord got thrown out of the Masters for saying bikini-wax on air.

According to Golfblogger's account of the final round yesterday, Tiger was saying 'bad words' clearly enough to be understood just by reading his lips while the camera was on him.

Is cursing really more acceptable by the 'old guard' at the Masters? What are we teaching the kids these days?

One of my favorite romance authors, Diana Palmer, created a character who cusses using the following colorful phrases: 'fish and chips!' and 'crackers and milk!' The character is a sheriff who has to give talks to kids at the local elementary schools. Perhaps it's time for the Tour or at least the 'old guard' at the Masters to look into promoting alternative frustration management techniques.

David Feherty Interview

I found this David Feherty interview on the web. It looks like it was conducted in advance of the Heritage event. Check it out.

Cabrera Wins the Masters!

Angel Cabrera outlasted Kenny Perry to win the Masters on the second playoff hole. I didn't start watching the last round until after Tiger and Phil had finished their rounds so I missed a few good plays by Cabrera but that first playoff hole was classic Cabrera. He is a masterful scrambler and usually tends to find a way to win from wherever his ball ends up. I love watching him play and I love how he can smile and have fun when he plays. You didn't see Chad Campbell smiling all that much out there today.

I do have a link to Cabrera's website over in the sidebar. Check it out in a few days and see if he has any comments about his very special win today.

Masters Update

Now that round 2 is complete:

Norman did miss the cut. My prediction was accurate. Although I will be the first to admit that this was a very safe prediction. I'm still not picking winning lottery numbers.

Michael Campbell isn't last after all. He improved a few spots. Danny Lee finished up at +11

Couples, Olazabal, Els and Scott all apparently missed the cut by 1, finishing at +2.

Those who made the cut:
McIlroy at +1
Ross Fisher at +1
Andres Romero E
Sean O'Hair E
Miguel Angel Jimenez -1
Sergio Garcia -4 (tied for 6th)
Tim Clark -5 (would be a very good choice for a winner this week)
Angel Cabrera -8 (one off the lead and would be a cool winner after his US Open win)
Todd Hamilton -6 (where's he been since his British Open win?)
Shingo Katayama -4
Rory Sabbatini -4 (another where's he been)

Masters Notes

I haven't been watching this and have barely seen the leaderboards, but I think that the pressure may be off me on the making predictions front. A while back I made some predictions for the year and one of them was that Greg Norman would miss the cut at the Masters. That may not happen. If he obliges, he will take me off the prediction pedestal people have placed me on and I'll once again be just an average golf blogger. At least until the rest of my predictions come true. I'm still looking good on my Lorena Ochoa prediction.

Jose Maria shot +3 today. I hope it was just a bad round of golf and not a health issue. It's not looking good for him to make the cut. Maybe fate will be kind and a bunch of people will shoot high enough for him to make it to the weekend. I know there's a 10 shot rule but I also read that they also go by the low 44 and ties. I don't know if that's the current rule or if it's been changed. The internet isn't the most reliable place for info and I'm not watching the coverage on TV to find out. I have no desire to hear "Tiger this and Tiger that" for three hours a day.

Only those with Irish accents should refer to the man as "Paddy". Everyone else sounds like their are saying "potty" or "patty" and neither one is respectable or acceptable.

Michael Campbell finally has some company at the bottom of the leaderboard. Yesterday he was all alone down there, but I just saw that a couple of guys had joined him. Unfortunately for Campbell, they are all 60+ years old or something. I don't think he's going to take much comfort from that.

More Jose Maria News

Jose Maria Olazabal was guest of honor at a media dinner held this week at the Augusta National Country Club. You can read more about it by clicking Here.

He also read a letter from Seve Ballesteros during the Masters' Champions Dinner.

And, big news, Jose Maria has been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

And he came in tied for second place at the Masters' Par 3 contest.

New Caddie for Olazabal

Here's a refreshing news story about Jose Maria Olazabal - his caddie for the next couple of weeks is Emanuele Canonica, European Tour player. It's very cool that Canonica will get to see Augusta National. How many players get an opportunity like this? Check out the article.

Estoril Open de Portugal

Irishman Michael Hoey won his first European title in a playoff over Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano. I watched this final round and it was pretty exciting. I was hoping Fernandez-Castano would win, but it's nice to see a first time winner too.

An interesting note: On the European PGA Tour website they have the Race to Dubai rankings. Geoff Ogilvy is first and Paul Casey is second. After the WGC event earlier in the year and this week's Houston Open where they were paired together, it's interesting that they are tied together by these rankings as well. Sort of like how Sergio and Vijay Singh kept getting paired together last year and even some this year.

Casey Wins in the US

Paul Casey won the Shell Houston Open in a playoff with JB Holmes. Fred Couples was leading most of the way but had three bogeys to finish his final round. Fred finished tied for third.

I had a hard time picking someone to cheer for in the playoff. I would have liked to have seen Holmes win to get into the Masters and to have a win outside of the FBR Open. But I would have liked to have seen Casey win because he's such a strong player and deserves his first win in the United States.

Next up is the Masters and I haven't given it much thought. Except for my prediction I made before the year started that Norman would miss the cut. And I also said earlier in the week that Sergio wouldn't win. But other than that, I haven't thought about it. I did, however, take Friday off from work so I might end up checking in or at least looking up some scores on the web. On Friday, I plan to be shopping and maybe bathing the dogs.

New Blog For You to Check Out

I got an email asking me to check out GolfGymBlog. It's a blog by Joey Diovisalvi who's worked with a bunch of different PGA Tour players such as Pat Perez and Vijay Singh. Obviously, you'll get fitness tips and inspiration there, but it also looks like you'll get some insight into the Tour and some of the players. Hopefully, we'll get some insight into the players' workout routines.

Shell Houston Open

I actually watched some of this today. Surprisingly, there wasn't much Tiger talk to suffer. I guess because the NBC crew was working with the Golf Channel folks this time.

Rory McIlroy was doing pretty well when I was watching. Geoff Ogilvy was doing really well. As was Paul Casey and Briny Baird. Sergio was also under par.

Announce Crew Criticism: I don't know if they meant it as a joke or what but Inga said that some guy in charge of the event claimed they were going to play 'from sundown to sun up' to get back on track after yesterday's suspension of play. I hope the course has some floodlights. It's pretty dark between sundown and sun up.

And to weigh in on the Golf Channel's talk of Sergio at the Masters and their poll question the other day on their site: As much as I love Sergio, I have to say he won't win. I'm pretty safe in making that prediction.

New Issue of Golf Magazine

I got May's issue in the mail yesterday. If you don't subscribe, then you need to go out and buy this issue. Why? Because there's an interview with Fred Couples in there. I love Fred Couples, but I think I would rather worship him from afar. He's not the luckiest guy with respect to relationships. Hope his latest one works out well for him. Other highlights: Sean O'Hair, JB Holmes, and Feherty's column is about Charles Barkley and his show on the Golf Channel.

Ballesteros Interview

Seve has given an interview about his experiences since being diagnosed with cancer. You can read part of it HERE.

I recommend printing it out and hanging it up for inspiration any time you think your life is difficult.

European Senior Tour Expands Its Reach

According to the European PGA Tour website, the US PGA Championship has more than doubled the number of spots reserved for European Senior Tour members. With representatives such as Bernhard Langer and Eduardo Romero, the European Senior Tour has done well around the world and it's only fair that its success is recognized like this. You can read more about this on the European PGA Tour website.

Kjeldsen Wins the Andalucia Open

Soren Kjeldsen had to fight for the win today as David Drysdale gave him a run for his money. It was an exciting round with some good shots and some equally bad shots. This is Kjeldsen's second win in Spain and I believe he was in contention in the event that Sergio won last year at his home course. So, as the announcers said, Kjeldsen might as well be an honorary Spaniard.

Surprise, Bias on the Golf Channel

Annika Sorenstam gets a one day celebration next week. Tiger Woods gets a whole week about once a month, especially in December when he has his birthday.

Sexism rears its ugly head.

Another Round for Seve

I've seen on the web that Seve Ballesteros is set for a fourth round of chemotherapy. He's posted a brief message on his website. You can check it out by clicking on the link in the sidebar. Hopefully, this will bring Seve one step closer to complete recovery.

Sad News for Me

Jose Maria Olazabal has missed the cut at the Andalucia Open. But I think he did well by only shooting 2 over par in each round Thursday and Friday. He hasn't played competitive golf for a long while and I think anyone would be thrilled with scores like he shot.

Here We Go Again

Yes, Jose Maria Olazabal has once again stated that he has not agreed to any role on the 2010 European Ryder Cup Team. You can click HERE to read the article.

This is twice now that Montgomerie has opened his mouth without having his facts straight. I saw a headline on the European Tour that said Montgomerie and friends celebrate his 500th event. My reaction was: he has friends? That might not be the case after these next two years.

I will be officially ignoring Montgomerie for the next two years.

Olazabal's Return

Finally, Jose Maria Olazabal returns to golf and to TV. He's playing in the Andalucia event on the European Tour this week. Hopefully the Golf Channel will decide it's worth airing and will have it on tv, unlike last week's European Tour event.

A Great Day in Portugal

Not that we would know it from the absence of coverage on the Golf Channel, but the European Tour had a tournament going on this week. And the winner of the event, Argentina's Estanislao Goya, scored his first win on the European tour in just six events this year. He is a graduate of the Challenge Tour and is now, according to the European Tour website, at 50 in the Race to Dubai rankings.

Callum Macaulay finished runner up with a back nine of 28. He birdied the last eight of nine holes to try to overtake Goya, but came up one shot short. Not surprising, Macaulay is happy with his performance.

You can read the European Tour's article by clicking HERE.

Note to the Golf Channel: Some of us might like to see what Portugal looks like. You should provide tv coverage of the European Tour events, even those that don't have the big famous people playing in them.

Goosen Wins

Retief Goosen won the Transitions Championship today by one shot. He had two putts to win and Johnny Miller put the hex on him by saying "he hasn't had a three putt all week." Well, it took Retief two putts to win and the final putt was about 4 and a half feet. Brett Quigley came in tied for second. I really wish he would win sometime. He's a good player and deserves it.

I didn't watch much of this tournament. It's hard to get back into watching golf now that Tiger's back. I never know when the announce crew is going to break out into a Tiger Love Fest session when they are supposed to be covering the action going on in front of them.

And it's hard to follow these tournaments when they change their names every year. Why can't it be "The Innisbrook Championship brought to you by such and such?" It's always going to be Innisbrook and that would mean less confusion for us viewers who are trying to follow along.

New Blog Added

Doug Farrick of Golfdashblog.com emailed me and asked if I would check out his blog. So I did and I like it. It's comprehensive, covering many different aspects of golf and the post titled "One Way to Kill a Sport" mirrors what I've been thinking and saying for years, only that post is very well-written. So, I've added this great blog to the Blogs of Note section. You all need to check it out.

Sort of Golf Related

Since Buick does, maybe, sort of still sponsors some PGA Tour stuff, I thought I would post about This Article I found on the web that claims the Buick LaCrosse has tied for the top spot with Jaguar in a J.D. Power and Associates reliability study. This makes me happy since I bought a Buick LaCrosse last summer.

My car is doing fine so far, knock on wood. The only problem I have is that the neighbor dog bites my front fender when I'm driving up my driveway and now I have about 4 chipped places in the paint. They're pretty deep chips too. The neighbor dog doesn't look healthy, you can see his ribs and he only has three legs, so maybe he won't be long for this world and I won't have to resort to getting a spray bottle of hot pepper water to spray on him when he attacks my car.

Olazabal Assistant Captain?

Once again Colin Montgomerie has come out in the news with the announcement that Jose Maria Olazabal is going to be his Assistant Captain for the 2010 Ryder Cup. The last time Montgomerie opened his mouth, Olazabal had to say "uh, that's news to me..." (paraphrased). So, maybe this time the news is accurate. You can read about it by clicking HERE, the PGA.com website.

Final CA Championship Notes

Just a brief post about the final round. I didn't watch it. Unfortunately, QVC conned me out of even more money on Sunday. I'm going to have to look into blocking that channel. Anyway, Phil Mickelson won the tournament, apparently his first WGC win. He posted -19 for the week. Nick Watney was probably the breakout star of the week as he contended for the trophy on Sunday but ended up just one off the lead. I love it when the lesser known guys win or almost win. Jeev Milkha Singh finished 4th at 14 under par. Two guys with very low rounds on Sunday were Thomas Aiken with a 7 under par final round and Oliver Wilson with a 6 under par final round.

Phil Mickelson is now #2 in the world. Sergio's at #3 and Geoff Ogilvy is at #4.

Tiger's Return? Not a Big Deal Here

Apparently the PGA Tour is doomed even though Tiger has returned to the game. Why do I say so? Because even though he's playing this week, the local NBC affiliate here in my neck of the woods has chosen to air College Basketball instead of the CA Championship. I would get to see only a half an hour of the golf coverage today if I wanted to watch it.

Me? I'm watching the evil QVC. They've already conned me out of $50.00 for a purse. Good thing Obama's new tax tables went into effect - I got some extra money on my paycheck today to help pay for the purse.

The Funny Side of Webpage Translations

I ran the following website through the Babelfish translator: http://www.marca.com/2009/03/12/golf/1236863818.html

It's about Jose Maria Olazabal and apparently he's planning to play at the Open de Andalucia at the end of March.

The funny part? Well, the translator translated Gonzalo Fernandez Castano's name as: Gonzalo Fernandez Chestnut Tree.

Check out the translation HERE.

Round 2, CA Championship

Kenny Perry and Alvaro Quiros both shot 8 under par today - the low rounds of the day. Good for them! Quiros made the biggest jump, from 55th to 8th place. Rory McIlroy is only three off the lead after two rounds. Phil is leading at 13 under.

I haven't been watching it and I think I'm justified. I had the Golf Channel on briefly a few minutes ago and they did an 'update' on the tournament. It was all about some guy who was 10 shots back and has been having a very lackluster event so far. And surprisingly, I'm not talking about Ryuji Imada, who is also sitting on 3 under par. So, since I figure the coverage was going to be skewed anyway, there was no point in watching.

I'll be cheering on Rory and others via the blog.

CA Championship

Rather than talk about the big names, I'm going to highlight some of the lesser known players. Prayad Marksaeng is leading the tournament (currently tied for the lead). Jeev Milkha Singh is also tied for the lead. He won the Volvo Masters in Europe a couple of years ago (their version of the Tour Championship). Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney are close to the lead and James Kingston and Louis Oosthuizen are also doing really well so far.

I think it's great that these guys are doing so well. I like watching the lesser known players steal the show. Well, they would steal the show if the media wasn't so biased toward the big named players. I doubt seriously if the media even spent that much time on Henrik Stenson's underwear incident. They were all probably interviewing experts to explore the significance of Tiger's breakfast choices or something.

Stenson in His Undies???

There's a picture on the Golf Channel of Henrik Stenson wearing only his underwear with Fanny standing there next to the golf bag looking like everything is business as usual. I haven't read the story on this yet, but I really don't think I needed to see Henrik in his undies.

I would love to read Fanny's autobiography when she gets around to writing it someday. I bet she has some really good stories about life on the Tours.

And So It Begins

Here's the first article I've seen that speculates what has to happen for Sergio to gain the #1 World Ranking. It says Sergio has to win this week and Tiger has to finish no better than 27th. Gee, and if Brad Pitt would leave Angelina for me...... Well, you all get the idea.

Y. E. Yang Wins the Honda Classic

That title says just about everything about the event. It was good to see him win. I was a little dismayed at NBC for failing to mention that one of Yang's wins was one in which he beat Tiger Woods. I think they might have eventually mentioned it but it was after maybe 10 other mentions of Yang's lack of winning experience, just nine wins worldwide until today. I can understand NBC wanting to script today's win by painting a picture of an inexperienced winner and all of the good things that will happen to him now and all of the pressure filled things that could happen to him coming down the stretch. But, give him some credit.

I don't know what the world rankings are yet. I do know that Yang was 460th before today's win. NBC repeated that a hundred times. I can't wait to check the rankings tomorrow.

Today's Honda Classic

A lot of good stories to talk about at the Honda Classic this week. Erik Compton is back. The two time heart transplant recipient is walking this week instead of using a cart. Proving to the critics that people who need a cart don't take advantage of the rules and aren't trying to ruin the 'integrity' of the sport. Jeff Overton is playing well. He made big news last fall after his appendix operation by returning to the tour just days after the surgery and toughing it out to keep his tour card. Brett Quigley is playing well this week. He's probably the player with the most tour starts without a win.

NBC is doing well to highlight the stories, even if they are a bit repetitive about it. You'd think with such journalist greats like Jimmy Roberts (yes that was filled with sarcasm) there they would get some new details or new info on the players. I like that NBC seems to be the least negative about Sergio. All the other announcers/networks like to tear him down and none of them can find one good thing to say about him. And, just as importantly, even though NBC seems to like Sergio, they don't go on and on about him when he's not making the news, like everyone else does about Tiger. Or Phil. Although, I think they were hinting at Sergio maybe making a comeback tomorrow because they kept saying that someone could shoot a 65 tomorrow and be right in it (this was while the lead was at -6). Sergio's at even par and a 65 would bring him up to 5 under. For the record, I don't think he'll shoot a 65.

I do have one criticism about NBC. They kept going on and on about the TPC at Sawgrass. Yes, we know the Players Championship is coming up. But, you're not there yet. Stop wishing your lives away, as the old folks around here say.

First Round Honda Classic

Robert Allenby is leading after the first round at -4. A bunch of people are at three under and tied for second, including Sergio. Rory McIlroy is at Even par I think.

I watched some of this tonight. It's hard to watch golf anymore because I never know when they are going to launch into some Tiger-Worshipping segment. I can't really relax in front of the tv and just watch golf. Unless it's the European Tour. Or maybe the Nationwide Tour.

The Golf channel is all over McIlroy this week. The poor guy. But I have to say that when Inga Hammond interviewed Sergio, I've never seen Sergio more relaxed. I think he likes Inga.

After the coverage and the post game show or whatever it was, they aired the Charles Barkley thing. I would have rather seen the new Playing Lessons thing with Fred Couples and Mark Walhberg. Hopefully that will be re-ran and I'll get to see it.

April '09 Edition of Golf Magazine

I just got the April issue in the mail and there are some interesting things in it. One of the most interesting feature article about Amateur Danny Lee who will be playing in the Masters this year. There's an interview with Ben Crenshaw. A one-page interview with the 'next Tiger Woods' of the week candidate: 15 year old Grayson Murray. The annual "Greg Norman at the Masters" spotlight that details all of his near misses. And the David Feherty column is kind of funny this time. The quote from that column worth remembering: "fly-fishing for women in their 20s." Who was he talking about? Get the magazine and find out.


And yes, I did leave out the Steve Williams interview. I didn't even look at it. Don't want to know what he says. Wait a minute, I think I might have just found something in common with Tiger.

Sergio Garcia Gets Vardon Trophy

Sergio was awarded the Vardon Trophy for last year's effort of having the lowest adjusted scoring average in PGA Tour events. He had to have a minimum of 60 rounds to qualify for the trophy. Sergio had 72. You can read more about this by clicking HERE.

Ogilvy Wins Again

Geoff Ogilvy won his second WGC Accenture Matchplay, closing out Paul Casey just a little early. At one point Casey was 6 down to Ogilvy, but he closed to within 4.

Ross Fisher came up just one short in the 'consolation' match. Stupid name for the battle for third. They need to come up with another name for it.

What I noted more than anything during today's event, was the completely different attitude the Golf Channel had to the match as opposed to NBC. The Golf Channel was all negative - no one was playing well this morning and both players just sucked. NBC comes along and they tell me that today is the best that Casey and Ogilvy have played all year and their greens in reg stats were amazing, driving stats were good, everything was just great. I began to wonder what match Azinger and Faldo were watching. But, no one should expect anything cheerful or happy to come out of Azinger's mouth. He's just a cranky person.

And even the "Tiger Woods Highlights" NBC showed turned out to be Tim Clark's highlights.

I have to say that when NBC announced they were going to show Tiger's highlights, I said "well that won't take long."

What a Choice!

BBC America decided to air a Top Gear marathon at the same time as the Accenture Match Play final. What a decision to make! So far, I'm watching the Match Play. I think I can trust Johnny Miller to not tick me off or spend the whole four hours lavishing praise on the non-finalist Tiger Woods.

Casey and Ogilvy in the Finals

It says a lot about the International/European teams to see Paul Casey and Geoff Ogilvy in the final of the Accenture Match Play. It also says a lot about the Americans. So, I can finally watch some of this now.

Let's hear it for Ross Fisher who made it to the semi finals. And to Rory McIlroy who made it to the quarters.

And, not to leave the Americans out, a special mention should be made for Sean O'Hair who also made it to the quarter finals. I think he was the standout American, regardless of what Stewart Cink did.

Seve Update

Good News: Recent reports indicate Seve Ballesteros is doing very well after a check-up earlier in the week. He will undergo another round of chemotherapy soon. You can check out more by reading his comments on his website - the link is in the sidebar.

Round Up

Rory McIlroy and Ross Fisher have advanced at the Accenture Match Play. The one bit of bad news: The Golf Channel reported that Luke Donald's wrist acted up and he had to concede his match against Ernie Els. I hope Donald's wrist heals up and doesn't give him any more trouble.

Mayakoba: Pablo Larrazabal somehow managed to shoot a huge number in his second round and missed the cut. It looks kind of windy from what I'm seeing currently on the Golf Channel so maybe that was a problem. Yesterday on the golf channel coverage, they said Larrazabal almost stepped on a snake as he approached a green. That would make me want to think twice about sticking around. But I am not Spaniard-less this weekend. Jose Manuel Lara made the cut at Mayakoba.

European Tour: Enjoy Jakarta Indonesian Open - England's Steve Webster has the lead currently and yes, there's a Spaniard to watch there as well: Ignacio Garrido. As well as Rafael Cabrera Bello.

Mayakoba Classic

Pablo Larrazabal is playing the Mayakoba this week. Whoohoo. I can watch a Spaniard after all.

I haven't checked in on the European Tour yet to see what's going on there.

Some Observations

I haven't been watching the Match Play event because it's 'All Tiger, All the Time: Part Deux or part 2400 if I knew what 2400 was in French" but I did check out the scores and here are some results that I noticed:

Obviously: Clark beats Woods
McIlroy beats Mahan
Donald beats Curtis
Els beats Stricker
O'Hair beats Weekley
Goggin beats Kenny Perry
Ross Fisher -I just like him and it's good to see him doing well
Oliver Wilson beats Anthony Kim

What do you notice about these observations? Except for the O'Hair and Fisher results, all of them are Euros/Internationals vs Americans. Yep. I'm still thinking Ryder Cup. And the O'Hair win? Well, it's good that someone beat Weekley after all of his showboating at the Ryder Cup last fall. And I've been a fan of Sean O'Hair's for a while.

Go Tim Clark!!!!

So much for better than ever and the great comeback. Hahaha. Go Tim Clark! Just don't go too far. He's up against Rory McIlroy next at the Accenture Matchplay and Rory is my spotlight player.

Amateur Danny Lee Wins the Johnnie Walker Classic

That title says it all. But here's a few more tidbits: he's the youngest ever winner on the European Tour and only the second Amateur to win on the European Tour. He's from New Zealand and as I said yesterday, is planning to turn pro after the Masters. And according to this news article from the European Tour website, his goal is to try to break all of Tiger's records on the PGA Tour.

Cue the media's chant "the next Tiger Woods".

Sirius XM Radio News

About a week ago, GolfBlogger posted some thoughts regarding Sirius XM's serious financial troubles. This concerned me on two levels: one, I subscribe to XM Radio and two, I subscribe to Dish Network. Why is Dish Network in the picture? Well, Sirius XM had apparently held talks with Dish Network/Echostar/Charlie Ergen as a possible way to bail themselves out of some of the debt they are in. In fact, I think some of the loans Sirius XM had to pay could be traced back to Echostar/Charlie Ergen - I think, I'm not up on all the financial stuff. Anyway, Sirius XM did find funding from Liberty Media (Discovery Channel and Direct TV) and they now have a chance to save their company (they need to get rid of overpriced talk radio personalities though).

So, great news for me: I still get my XM Radio and Dish Network isn't buying into the company which would no doubt have increased my subscription price there.

Bad News for me: Dish Network just raised my subscription rate by $5.00 a month. Wonder how much they would have raised it if they had become even more entangled with XM Radio. You'd think I could get a price break since Sirius XM is now able to pay those loans. That's cash back into Dish Network's pocket. Or maybe just Charlie Ergen's. Again, I have no idea who owes who what, except that I now have to pay more.

Any Direct TV customers out there reading this? Will your subscription prices go up?

Johnnie Walker Classic

I had some time to check out the leaderboard and watch a little bit of this today. Apparently it's really hot down there - gee I feel bad for them. They can have the cold teens I experienced this morning when I went to the store. As for the leaderboard, John Bickerton and Ross McGowan (Not actress Rose McGowan) are in the lead at -14. Amateur Danny Lee is only 2 off the lead - for me this is not as exciting as it could be because he already plans to turn pro after he plays in the Masters (according to the announcers), so there isn't the excitement of what would he do if he won the tournament. Ignacio Garrido is the leading spaniard at -11. And the two Anthonys (Kang and Kim) had bad third rounds and are at -5. I feel bad for Kang, not so much for Kim.

And I heard that Camilo Villegas and Greg Norman missed the cut. Not a good start for Norman as he prepares for his return to the Masters. But then, I don't expect Norman to do well any way.

A Good Win

Over on the Champions Tour, Mike Goodes won the Allianz Championships. This has to be a popular win as Goodes is probably living the dream of every weekend golfer out there. Last year, he Monday qualified several times just to be able to play on the Champions Tour and secured his 2009 card through a lot of hard work and determination. And now he's won a big event, beating guys like Bernhard Langer, Gil Morgan etc. You can read about his win by clicking HERE.

Catching Up

Okay, so I haven't yet blogged about the Maybank Malaysian Open or the postponed final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Yesterday I was in book heaven, sorting out all of my many, many romance novels and packing them away in plastic storage containers.

As for the MMO - American AK won! Hahaha. I just had to do that. I mean Anthony Kang, not Anthony Kim. I know, I know, everyone is cashing in on that too. Louis Oosthuizen came on strong in the final two rounds to finish really well. And at the end, there were about 5 or 6 guys who could have won. Too bad Gareth Maybin did win. It would have been a good headline "Maybin wins Maybank". Kang said after the win that he doesn't like the wind or the cold so he doesn't know where he might be playing in the future. I have to agree with him that I don't like the cold either. And I think he should play where he wants to and not where the money is. He will be a lot happier that way.

AT&T - Bad weather forced CBS to play old footage from a prior year yesterday. What did they choose? Why, Phil Mickelson, of course. Because as you know, the media is in the business of making news, not covering it. Why show last year's event with Dudley Hart's great underdog story (which they didn't create but only reported on) when they could try to recreate Phil as the #1 in absence of Tiger? Phil's play has sucked so far this year, but that didn't stop CBS from trying to build him up by showing his win from two years ago. I can only imagine if Sergio does manage to take the #1 spot for a week (which I don't think is likely if he doesn't get off his butt and start playing), the media will be showing video of every missed putt he's had in the last three years in an effort to create a new reality more to their liking.

The Answer is No

Michelle Wie ended up coming in second to Angela Stanford at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. I didn't watch much of the final round but I did see Wie miss another short putt. And I haven't checked the news yet to see if there were any score card issues or other penalties assessed after the fact.

Will She Do It?

According to the golf channel website, Michelle Wie had a 2 shot lead after 9 holes in the final round of the SBS Open. Will she win? If she does, she will shoot down one of my predictions I made earlier about what would happen this year. I won't be too upset about that if it happens. There's just too much pressure that comes with being really good at something. At work, my boss always tells people that I'm right all the time and that my work is perfect. So do my co-workers. I hate that.

I might check out the final round after Top Gear goes off at 8pm. I can't miss Top Gear. It's my favorite show.

Shankopotamus

Have you all seen the new E-Trade commercial with the talking baby? Apparently the baby now plays golf and won a skins game against some old guy who's 401K was needing E-Trade's help. If you haven't seen it yet, I'm sure you can find it on Youtube. The baby apparently plays Taylormade clubs. He was wearing one of their visors.

Updates

Maybank Malaysian Open: Danny Chia is leading the tournament at -13. And yes, I've had the Chia-Pet song in my head for most of the day. Nick Dougherty is at -8, Simon Dyson is at -7 - he always plays well in Asia, Oliver Fisher is at -5, Johan Edfors -4, and Louis Oosthuizen has finally had an off-week and is at -3 through two rounds.

SBS Open - Michelle Wie was tied for the lead at -8 when I last saw a scoreboard (prior to 7:30pm Est). With the winds blowing like they are over there, she might still be in the lead or tied for the lead at the end of the round today. But according to the announcers, the winds could be even stronger tomorrow so it might not be a good day for any of the ladies. Wie did miss a few really short putts today so I don't think she's got this sewn up. She's got some work to do.

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - I think Retief Goosen was leading when I last saw a scoreboard. I wasn't really paying attention to the scores since there are tons of players and the coverage was bouncing all over the place. And it's hard to look ahead to see who might challenge on Sunday when there's a course rotation going on. With the players playing different courses the first three days, you can't really look at the scoreboard and say "so and so might make a move". You can't really know.

Allianz Championship - Bernhard Langer appears to be picking up where he left off last year. When I last saw the scores scrolling along the bottom of the screen, he was in the lead.

My Mom said to me that I was going to think that tomorrow was Sunday since I had today off. And I think she's right, especially since I think the SBS tournament concludes tomorrow. A rare Saturday finish on the LPGA Tour. I thought this might be for travel issues, but I think I remember that someone once said it might be because of when the coverage would air in Korea since SBS is the title sponsor? I'm not sure about that.

As for me and the sparse posting lately, I've been pretty exhausted for no apparent reason. I've diagnosed myself with a thyroid issue and I've started taking some herbal supplements to see if they help me out.

Random Quote of the Day

This quote showed up on my homepage today and I thought it was pretty funny. And probably pretty true.

Writing well means never having to say, 'I guess you had to be there.' - Jef Mallett

SBS Open at Turtle Bay

Another week of fun and sun in Hawaii! I love watching the Hawaii tournaments. Mainly because they take place when it's cold and dreary here in WV.

I guess the big news is Michelle Wie's first tournament as a card-holding member of the Tour. She isn't making a big splash right now, but that's good. If she came out with a low round today, she would only set herself up for disaster tomorrow.

I don't know about everyone else, but I find it a little difficult to watch the LPGA with all of the Asian players who are doing so well on the Tour. It's hard for me to differentiate between them. They all play well, and I don't know enough about the Asian culture and language to be able to attach some individuality to all of the names. I'm sure to them the names Betty and Mary are just as alike to them as Song-Hee Kim and Hee-Won Han are to me. And just to be fair, I'm not sure I could tell the difference between Jonathan Kaye and Jonathan Byrd on the PGA Tour either.

Is It Just My TV?

I'm watching the Golf Channel and they are scrolling through the LPGA scores. They have the scores at the top of the screen, but on my TV, I can't see any of it. All I see is just the very bottom of that score bar and, of course, the entire Titleist logo. Is this what it looks like to everyone else? With my TV being new and barely touched, settings-wise, I don't know if this is something I can fix or some problem with the Golf Channel.

Hall of Fame

I just read that Mike Weir has been nominated for the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Yes, they have one. Click here to read the news article. Then go and google the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and see who else has been honored with membership.

Off Topic: Australian Open Final

I watched part of the Australian Open final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer this morning. It was another classic final and if you have a chance to see it, you should definitely watch. Nadal won it in five sets, over 4 hours of playing time. That's after playing a 5 hour match just a couple of days ago. Roger was very emotional for coming up second this time, breaking down in tears when he tried to speak after accepting the runner up platter.

I have always said that Roger couldn't be considered the greatest ever until he wins the French Open - he has to win majors on all three surfaces in my book (like Andre Agassi). Well, Rafael Nadal has done that with wins at the Australian, French and Wimbledon. I still don't know if I would class Rafael as one of the best ever. I think he may have to win a few more majors on grass and hard courts.

Again I have to mention the announcing. Yes, my critique of the media doesn't only apply just to golf. Dick Enberg, the 'well respected' announcer tried to create more drama than necessary this morning. The announcers kept trying to make Rafael Nadal into an exhausted player because of his 5 hour semi final match the other day. But Rafa kept fighting and went the distance - five sets. At one point, Enberg even said Rafael was 'staggering' around the court. Not so. Not by a long shot. He was no Victoria Azarenka (who had to retire after the heat and a virus caused her to be dazed and stagger around during her match with Serena Williams). Sure, Nadal moved slower than usual. But he was not staggering. He was not dazed. He was not at any point down and out. And as for the announcers' claims that Federer now believes he can't beat Rafael Nadal - only Federer knows if that's true. And we'll see in the coming months how Federer does respond to this latest result.

Just to tie this into golf - No one can dare say that having one Tiger Woods winning everything is better than having a Rafael Nadal and a Roger Federer competing at every event for the win. If you're looking for competition and excitement - watch tennis. Or the European PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy Wins the Dubai Desert Classic

I guess I had a good idea when I chose McIlroy as my Spotlight Player to watch this year (over in the side bar). At one time, McIlroy had about a 6 shot lead in this final round, only to make it really interesting in the last four holes with a bogey on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to finish up with just a one shot margin over Justin Rose. If I hadn't read the results on the web ahead of time, I would have been cussing McIlroy in those closing holes because he's had a habit of letting tournaments get away from him. But he pulled through today with a win, and in the end that's what matters.

Here's a list of the top ten finishers:
McIlroy
Justin Rose
Henrik Stenson
Paul Casey
Robert Karlsson
Martin Kaymer
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Louis Oosthuizen
Scott Strange
Anthony Wall

Sergio finished T11.