Archive for December, 2009
December 18, 2009
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said golf will survive no matter how long Tiger Woods stays away to sort out his personal life, and that a portrait of gloom and doom is misleading.
In the midst of a shocking sex scandal, Woods is taking an indefinite leave from competition to try to save his marriage, leaving the sport without its biggest star as it tries to cope with a downturn in the economy.
I want him to come back and play, Finchem said Thursday in a conference call. But we are going to be successful in 10. If Tiger is out for a couple of months or eight months of a year, were going to have a successful year. … It wont be at the same levels without our No. 1 player, theres no question about that, he said. No sport would be at the same level without its No. 1 player. But I think the doom and gloom needs to go away.
Finchem said six of the highest-performing tournaments, which he based on net revenue donated to charity, have not had Woods in the field during the last several years. He also said the cumulative number of viewers during a PGA Tour event did not decrease even when Woods missed the second half of 2008 with knee surgery.
Im not saying that I think everything is fine, Finchem said. Were in a down economy. Its hard to sell. And having the No. 1 player in our sport not play is not a positive thing, and it does hurt television ratings. But I look at it in the reverse. I look at Tiger spiking ratings off of a significantly solid base when he plays … and I want that spike. And I certainly want the attention he brings to the sport.
The attention has shifted dramatically since a Nov. 27 car accident outside his Florida home, setting off sensational details of extramarital affairs that have tarnished sports biggest star.
Finchem said it was the biggest curveball he has dealt with in his 15 years as commissioner.
December 13, 2009
Sunday
At Hyatt Regency Coolum
Coolum, Australia.
Purse: $1.36 million
Yardage: 6,650; Par: 71
Final
Robert Allenby, Australia 70-68-66-66-270
John Senden, Australia 73-67-67-67-274
Scott Strange, Australia 67-70-68-69-274
Marc Leishman, Australia 70-71-66-68-275
Nick OHern, Australia 70-70-69-67-276
Michael Sim, Australia 71-70-65-70-276
Rod Pampling, Australia 73-69-70-65-277
Stuart Appleby, Australia 67-69-73-68-277
Josh Geary, New Zealand 70-73-66-68-277
Geoff Ogilvy, Australia 70-66-70-71-277
Mathew Goggin, Australia 70-72-68-68-278
Shih-ching Chan, Taiwan 68-70-71-70-279
Matthew Griffin, Australia 67-68-73-71-279
Adam Scott, Australia 68-70-68-73-279
Jason Norris, Australia 69-67-76-68-280
Kyle Stanley, United States 71-71-70-68-280
Bryce Molder, United States 73-69-70-68-280
Brad Kennedy, Australia 76-66-69-69-280
Chris Campbell, Australia 72-67-71-70-280
Stephen Dartnall, Australia 68-73-69-70-280
Aron Price, Australia 74-69-67-70-280
Scott Laycock, Australia 76-66-68-71-281
Cameron Percy, Australia 72-69-67-73-281
Mahal Pearce, New Zealand 73-70-69-70-282
Paul Sheehan, Australia 73-68-69-72-282
Anthony Brown, Australia 71-71-68-72-282
Greg Chalmers, Australia 68-70-67-77-282
Heath Reed, Australia 70-75-69-69-283
Adam Crawford, Australia 71-71-70-71-283
Gavin Flint, Australia 71-71-70-71-283
Marcus Both, Australia 70-72-69-72-283
Brett Rumford, Australia 70-70-70-73-283
Stephen Leaney, Australia 71-70-69-73-283
Michael Curtain, Australia 73-65-71-74-283
Nathan Green, Australia 71-72-73-68-284
Tim Wilkinson, New Zealand 68-71-73-72-284
Andrew Dodt, Australia 67-73-71-73-284
Michael Wright, Australia 71-69-70-74-284
Steve Marino, United States 70-73-66-75-284
Scott Barr, Australia 74-70-70-71-285
John Daly, United States 71-70-72-72-285
Kurt Barnes, Australia 76-70-70-70-286
Leigh McKechnie, Australia 72-70-73-71-286
Kang Ji-man, South Korea 74-72-69-71-286
Matthew Millar, Australia 71-73-70-72-286
Richard Green, Australia 71-70-71-74-286
Jarrod Lyle, Australia 70-73-69-74-286
Peter Wilson, Australia 72-74-72-69-287
Craig Parry, Australia 71-73-72-72-288
Han Min-kyu, South Korea 62-75-73-78-288
Bronson LaCassie, Australia 68-69-80-72-289
Nick Flanagan, Australia 76-67-73-73-289
Brad Andrews, Australia 72-74-70-73-289
Anthony Summers, Australia 76-70-74-70-290
Ryan Haller, Australia 66-77-75-72-290
Steven Conran, Australia 70-75-72-73-290
Darren Beck, Australia 74-72-71-73-290
Paul Marantz, Australia 69-72-73-76-290
Henry Epstein, Australia 67-74-72-77-290
Rick Kulacz, Australia 71-74-73-73-291
Terry Pilkadaris, Australia 71-75-72-74-292
Lee Tae-hee, South Korea 75-70-72-75-292
Graeme Stockley, Australia 75-71-78-69-293
Peter OMalley, Australia 73-71-72-77-293
Li Chao, China 71-71-74-79-295
Andrew Tschudin, Australia 73-69-83-71-296
David Smail, New Zealand 71-75-76-74-296
Ben Burge, Australia 79-67-77-74-297
Paul Gow, Australia 75-71-73-79-298
Aaron Townsend, Australia 69-77-79-76-301
December 13, 2009
Robert Allenby shot a 5-under-par 66 Sunday for a four-stroke victory at the Australian PGA and his second tournament win in two weeks.
Allenby, who won last weeks Nedbank Challenge in South Africa, claimed his fourth Australian PGA title. His last came in 2005, when he swept all three tournaments in the so-called Australian Triple Crown - the PGA, Open and Masters.
The 38-year-old Allenby, who only entered the tournament on a sponsors invite three weeks ago when Vijay Singh withdrew with a knee injury, finished with a 14-under total of 270 on the par-71 Hyatt Regency resort course.
Fellow Australians John Senden (67) and Scott Strange (69), were tied for second. Marc Leishman was in fourth after a 68, five back of Allenby.
There were a lot of great players behind me, and I never knew what they were going to do, Allenby said as he walked up the 18th fairway with the victory secured.
When you start with the lead, all you have to do is to hold it and dont do anything stupid. Ive had my emotions intact all day.
I did what I had to do, from the first hole to the last hole. I felt totally in control on every shot. Its a nice feeling to win in that fashion.
Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, who started the day two strokes off the lead, shot 71 and was tied for seventh at 7-under 277. Rod Pampling had the best round of the day - a 65 - including five straight birdies on the back nine - to also finish at 7-under in a group that included Stuart Appleby (68).
Last weeks Australian Open champion Adam Scott, who threatened for the lead early Sunday, hit two balls in the water on 18 and took a triple-bogey 7 for a 73 and a tie for 12th, nine back of Allenby.
John Daly shot 72 and finished with a 1-over total of 285, 15 strokes back of Allenby and tied for 40th place. Daly also made the cut at last weeks Australian Open, a big improvement on his performance Down Under last year when he failed to qualify for the weekend in all three Australian tournaments.
Allenby, who started the day with a one-shot lead, played consistently well all day, When he did miss a fairway - on the par-5 12th - his shot from the right rough bounded on to the green, where he two-putted for a birdie that gave him a two-shot cushion.
Ogilvy, Scott and Michael Sim, playing in the second-last group of the day, all birdied the first hole, but the trio had its problems the rest of the day - Scott and Sim with two bogeys on the front nine and an increasingly frustrated Ogilvy with three bogeys in six holes that left him trailing Allenby by five strokes with nine holes to play.
Sim finished with a 70 and tied for fifth with Nick OHern (67).
The tournament has been played at Coolum on Queensland states Sunshine Coast for eight years and is in the final year of its contract with the Australasian PGA Tour.
Local organizers are hoping to sign a new contact early next year which would see the event remain at the course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., who also oversaw the construction of six new opening holes used for the first time this year.
December 9, 2009
Japans Yuko Mitsuka and Ayaka Kaneko fell far short of earning US LPGA Tour cards for the 2010 season on Monday.
Mitsuka shot a 2-under 72 to finish tied for 54th at 7-over 367 in the 90-hole final qualifying event in which the top 20 finishers earned cards.
U.S.-based Kaneko closed with a 71 to share 58th at 368 on the Champions Course at LPGA International.
Amanda Blumenherst of the United States topped the field with a 9-under 351 total.
Earlier in the tournament, Mitsuka, who was fifth on the 2009 Japan LPGA money list, made a solid start with a 69 before slumping to 75-77-76 in the next three rounds.
December 9, 2009
Golf got so bad for Adam Scott this year that he wondered if hed ever get things back on track.
In January there was promise, beginning the year tied for second at the Sony Open in Hawaii. But then Scotts golfing world caved in - he played 19 events on the PGA Tour, making the cut only nine times. His world ranking slid from No. 3 to just outside the top 70, and with it went his confidence.
I know I have been humbled by the game this year, Scott said Wednesday, three days after winning the Australian Open -his first title on home soil as a professional. Weve seen it so many times with different players. You think youre on top of things and then all of a sudden you feel like you are rock bottom, or heading that way anyway.
The mental side of the game has taken a toll on me this year, he said, but 2010 … is looking a lot brighter than it was two months ago. Thats how fickle this game is. It turns around that quickly.
Greg Norman, who Scott has referred to as his mentor in the past, made him a captains pick at the Presidents Cup in October. He only managed to pick up one point in the International teams loss to the United States, but Norman said Scott played well.
From there, its been a return to form for the 29-year-old from Queensland, where hell tee off Thursday in the first round of the Australian PGA.
At some point, you have to right the ship, or you keep going backwards, Scott said. I guess it wasnt at the rock-bottom point, but at the point that I started to see some improvement in my game. When you see some improvement, the hunger can kick in, and that makes the workload easier. Seeing the results helps.
After the Presidents Cup, he tied for third in the Singapore Open, then tied for sixth in the Australian Masters won by Tiger Woods. He finished tied for seventh in the Dubai World Championships and then claimed his five-shot victory over Stuart Appleby in the Australian Open last week at New South Wales Golf Club.
The Australian Open win lifted his ranking 20 places to No. 34, moving him comfortably inside the top 50 that brings an invitation to next years U.S. Masters.
That was a bonus to firm up the schedule for next year, and an invite to the Masters is a great way to start next year, Scott said. I know what I am working towards in April.
First, hes concentrating on the Australian PGA, which will be played on a revamped Hyatt Regency course with six new opening holes.
Scott will be among the first groups off Thursday, playing the first two rounds with defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and rising Australian star Michael Sim, the U.S. Nationwide Tour player of the year.
That group is preceded by American John Daly, whos playing the first two days with Australians James Nitties and Greg Chalmers.
I generally can play good for stretches in the past, but I am playing very well, Scott said. My ball striking has been solid for a couple of months. If that continues around here, I should work my way into contention.
Scott will be taking some extended time off after the PGA, and hes looking forward to the break.
I am just going to rest at home, not charge around and train too hard, he said. Probably kick back and watch some cricket.
And tennis? His girlfriend, Serbian star Ana Ivanovic, is training in Queensland ahead of the early January tournaments that lead into the Australian Open.
Yes, and watch some tennis, too, he said, smiling.
December 7, 2009
Tiger Woods is hardly the first golfer to find himself in an uncomfortable spotlight. John Daly has been suspended so often and has struggled so publicly with drinking and gambling that its scarcely news anymore. Fuzzy Zoeller got himself in hot water by making what seemed to be a racist joke as Woods was winning his first Masters in 1997.
Nor, despite its current squeaky-clean, country club image, is professional Golf itself above reproach. For an unconscionably long time, it excluded black players. And we dont know half of what went on in the 30s and 40s, when the pro tour was a barnstorming road show, except that nobody was shy about taking a drink and golfers made more from betting than they did in purses.
In those days, though, journalists - and sports journalists especially - tended to protect those they wrote about. Woods has had the misfortune to come of age at a time when the public appetite for details about the private lives of celebrities is apparently insatiable. Had any other resident of Windermere, Florida, crashed his sport utility vehicle into a fire hydrant at 2:25 a.m., it wouldnt have merited more than a line or two in the local weekly, and maybe a joke about whether the Golf club used to smash the back window was a 5-iron or a pitching wedge.
But because Woods was behind the wheel, the incident became worldwide news, and a few tabloid rumors gave rise to such a plague of Internet gossip-mongering that its hard not to sympathize with his plea for privacy. Yet, as so many have pointed out, Woods has become a public figure not just in the way that most great athletes are public figures, but also in a way probably unparalleled in the history of publicity itself. He has made far more money from selling himself, or his image, than he has made from playing tournaments. That image, partly genuine and partly sculptured, has been one of decency, modesty, filial devotion and paternal responsibility, and not of mysterious car crashes and evasive explanations.
It also matters to the image that Woods is a golfer and not, say, a football player. N.F.L. players get into these kinds of scrapes all the time and we hardly notice, while pro golfers, to be honest, sometimes seem straight-arrow to the point of blandness. But Golf, unlike just about any other sport, is built on honesty and integrity. Its the only sport whose players are expected to call penalties on themselves and whose rules, rather than being something to be worked around, are accorded a kind of Talmudic reverence. When a golfers ball moves while hes trying to hack it out of the rough, he doesnt privately acknowledge and regret the mishap and move on; he announces it to his opponent. When he whiffs, he doesnt look around to see if anyone noticed before marking his card appropriately.
Golf is not life, though it sometimes resembles life in its unpredictability and bad bounces. It actually holds participants to a higher standard than life does, penalizing them for infractions that would readily be forgiven in most social transactions, like accidentally signing the wrong scorecard. Thats why Golf is one of the rare games that really does build character, or at least reveal it.
And its why Woodss behavior, to Golf fans, anyway, has been so disappointing. We hold him - or held him - to a higher standard.
At this point, do we really want a detailed laundry list of what he called transgressions, whatever they may be? Probably not. But he has yet to offer a convincing account of what really happened in the early morning of Nov. 27. The scorecard is still muddled. Had he owned up then, he might have saved himself a lot of misery, and the rest of us would have had to find something more elevated to talk about.
None of this, lets hope, will affect his play on the course whenever he tees up next. He will almost certainly remain one of the most thrilling athletes ever. But watching him wont be quite the same, either. It turns out that the principles of Golf, if not the game itself, are so hard, so exacting, that even Tiger Woods cant live up to them.
December 7, 2009
After thunderstorms halted Fridays third round, darkness postponed Zack Miller, a Branson School graduate who grew up in San Rafael, on Saturday in the fourth round of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament at the Bear Lake Country Club. Miller, who fell into a tie at 128th place, was at 3-over par through eight holes on the Links Course when play was suspended Saturday due to darkness. Miller is 5-over for the tournament.
Troy Merritt and Jay Williamson were atop the leader board at 15 under when play was suspended, and a group that included PGA Tour veteran Jeff Maggert, Billy Horschel and Graham Delaet were two strokes back. Matt Jones was among the only players to finish his fourth round, shooting a 5-under 67 to get to 11 under.
The top 25 finishers and ties after the six-round tournament earn PGA Tour cards for 2010, with roughly 50 more earning fully exempt status for the Nationwide Tour. Round 4 resumes early Sunday morning.
December 6, 2009
Sunday
At New South Wales Golf Club.
Sydney
Purse: $1.36 million
Yardage: 6,921; Par: 72
Final
a-amateur
Adam Scott, Australia 68-66-67-72-273
Stuart Appleby, Australia 66-66-71-75-278
Bryce Molder, United States 70-72-72-68-282
Michael Long, New Zealand 69-75-68-70-282
Nick OHern, Australia 69-68-71-74-282
Michael Sim, Australia 71-70-71-71-283
Cameron Percy, Australia 74-75-66-69-284
Rod Pampling, Australia 74-71-70-69-284
Jarrod Lyle, Australia 69-68-74-73-284
Peter OMalley, Australia 69-74-70-72-285
David Oh, United States 68-73-69-75-285
Terry Pilkadaris, Australia 71-70-76-69-286
Chris Campbell, Australia 71-69-73-73-286
Tim Wilkinson, New Zealand 73-67-72-74-286
Richard Green, Australia 73-71-67-75-286
Scott Strange, Australia 72-70-68-76-286
James Nitties, Australia 67-72-70-77-286
Henry Epstein, Australia 76-72-72-67-287
Craig Parry, Australia 80-67-69-71-287
Leigh McKechnie, Australia 70-72-74-71-287
Michael Brennan, Australia 69-73-75-71-288
Brad Kennedy, Australia 75-70-70-73-288
Greg Chalmers, Australia 70-72-72-74-288
Paul Sheehan, Australia 74-74-72-69-289
Stephen Allan, Australia 68-77-74-70-289
Paul Gow, Australia 78-69-69-73-289
Mathew Goggin, Australia 73-71-71-74-289
John Daly, United States 72-69-78-71-290
Stephen Leaney, Australia 73-72-74-71-290
Aaron Baddeley, Australia 73-68-76-73-290
Geoff Ogilvy, Australia 73-76-74-68-291
Andrew Dodt, Australia 69-78-73-71-291
Michael Curtain, Australia 71-69-78-73-291
Anthony Brown, Australia 77-72-74-69-292
Chang-Wan Woo, Canada 73-74-75-70-292
Rohan Blizard, Australia 78-71-71-72-292
Marc Leishman, Australia 71-75-73-73-292
Eom Jae-woong, South Korea 71-71-76-74-292
Andrew Tschudin, Australia 73-70-72-77-292
Scott Laycock, Australia 76-69-76-72-293
Scott Hend, Australia 66-71-80-76-293
Matthew Millar, Australia 71-75-71-76-293
a-Ben Campbell, New Zealand 76-68-72-77-293
Peter Nolan, Australia 74-74-77-69-294
Stephen Dartnall, Australia 75-72-76-71-294
a-An Do-eun, South Korea 73-74-76-71-294
Josh Carmichael, New Zealand 73-69-77-75-294
Peter Wilson, Australia 67-78-74-75-294
Andrew McKenzie, Australia 75-74-74-72-295
Anthony Summers, Australia 79-69-75-72-295
Jason Norris, Australia 79-69-74-73-295
Scott Arnold, Australia 72-75-74-74-295
Gareth Paddison, New Zealand 73-72-73-77-295
Stuart Bouvier, Australia 72-71-73-79-295
Gavin Flint, Australia 70-74-73-79-296
Heo Won-kyung, South Korea 73-74-75-75-297
Paul Marantz, Australia 71-75-75-76-297
Heath Reed, Australia 71-71-77-78-297
Terry Price, Australia 74-71-83-70-298
Michael McGrath, Australia 72-71-80-75-298
Lee Min-chang, South Korea 75-73-73-78-299
a-Brendan Smith, Australia 74-67-76-83-300
Rudi Bezuidenhout, Australia 72-72-84-74-302
Brenden Stuart, New Zealand 72-74-77-79-302
a-Mithun Perera, Australia 77-70-78-82-307
a-Matthew Stieger, Australia 72-75-75-85-307
Kelvin Jones, New Zealand 73-74-81-80-308
Kim Felton, Australia 76-73-75-86-310
December 6, 2009
Adam Scott won the Australian Open for his first pro victory in his home country, shooting an even-par 72 on Sunday to beat Stuart Appleby by five strokes.
Scott won 14 times worldwide since turning pro in 2000 before breaking through in his native land. He finished at 15-under 273 at New South Wales Golf Club.
The win followed Scotts worst season on the PGA Tour, where he made only nine cuts in 19 tournaments and had just one top-10 finish.
I always thought Id get my chance, Scott said. Its so bizarre, this game, that off the back of such a bad year I finally played good enough to win down here.
Ive worked really hard even though Ive played terrible all year. But it pays off. Youve got to stick with it.
Five-time Australian Open winner Greg Norman presented Scott with the Stonehaven Cup. Norman missed the tournament because of shoulder surgery.
This is very, very special to me to win here, Scott said. This is going to be very sweet and something I will treasure for the rest of my career.
Appleby closed with a 75.
New Zealands Michael Long (70), American Bryce Molder (68) and Australias Nick OHern (74) tied for third, nine strokes behind Scott.
John Daly closed with a 71 to finish at 2 over. He will play next week in the Australian PGA at Coolum in Queensland state.
December 6, 2009
Luke List improved from a tie for 51st to a tie for 36th after his third round of PGA Tour qualifying school on Friday.
About 20 golfers will complete their third round, which was delayed by weather, this morning. All but four of the golfers two strokes ahead or behind List have finished.
The former Baylor School and Vanderbilt star shot a 4-under-par 68 Friday on the Links Course at Bear Lakes Country in West Palm Beach, Fla.
List, 24, will be on the PGA Tour next year if he finishes tied for 25th or better. He has a three-day total of 3-under 213 with three round left to play. The Golf Channel will broadcast the final three rounds, 1-4 p.m. each day.
List began Fridays round with three straight birdies after teeing off on No. 10. He made six birdies and two bogeys.
J.P. Hayes is the leader in the clubhouse at 12 under for the tournament. Troy Merritt is at 12 under with six holes to complete.
Former Tennessee Tech standout Scott Stallings completed his round and is tied for 13th at 8 under for the tournament.
