Archive for September, 2010
September 25, 2010
CBSSpo This should serve as a wake-up call for Jim Furyk: Hes tied for the lead at the Tour Championship, and very much in the hunt for the $10 million FedEx Cup prize.
Furyk played bogey-free on the back nine at East Lake for a 5-under 65 on Friday, giving him a share of the 36-hole lead with Luke Donald heading into a weekend of dwindling possibilities.
A two-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, Furyk began the playoffs at No. 3 in the standings. But in the opening event at The Barclays, he was disqualified for missing his pro-am when the alarm didnt go off. He slipped six spots, and didnt scare anyone the next two weeks to fall to No. 11.
Day 2: Tour Championship Analysis Steve Elling
Australian veteran Geoff Ogilvy was on pins and needles, anticipating the championship game of his favorite football team. Read >> Second-round leaderboard Cards: Furyk | Donald | Ogilvy
But with the top players in the standings starting to fade, Furyk only has to win at East Lake to collect the biggest payoff in golf.
“Its a bunch of money,” Furyk said. “The only thing I can really control is to go out and play good on the weekend, try to win the golf tournament. And at that point, theres nothing else I can do about it.”
Furyk has a chance to join Tiger Woods as the only FedEx Cup champion to skip the first playoff event, although it wasnt by choice.
“Id like to join him with about 16 majors, too,” Furyk said. “But that doesnt look like its in the cards.”
Going into the weekend, the deck is stacked in his favor.
Donald did a great job scrambling whenever he struggled off the tee, and pieced together another 66 to join Furyk at 8-under 132. One shot behind was Geoff Ogilvy, who had seven birdies in his round of 67.
Ogilvys biggest concern was the Australian Rules Football grand final in Melbourne with his beloved St. Kilda going for only its second championship. He planned to watch the game and worry about sleep some other night.
Saturdays third round, with tee times moved up because of NBC Sports obligation to Notre Dame football, could determine whether this FedEx Cup finale is a three-man race.
Ogilvy, at 7-under 133, was the only player within four shots of the leaders. K.J. Choi did well to stay close by knocking in a 45-foot birdie putt on the par-3 18th, one of only seven birdies on that hole through two rounds.
Phil Mickelsons hopes were fading. He had a chance to become the first repeat winner of the Tour Championship, and even a runner-up finish would be enough to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world ranking. Mickelson, however, had a 72 and was tied for 13th, nine shots out of the lead.
Paul Casey, getting plenty of attention for his Ryder Cup snub, had a share of the lead at various times during the hot afternoon until a sloppy finish, making bogeys on this last three holes for a 71. That put him in the group at 3-under 137.
Casey is No. 5 in the standings - the highest-seeded player without a victory this year - and he could wind up a FedEx Cup champion with a runner-up finish depending on how top-seeded Matt Kuchar fares.
“If I want to get up there and challenge those guys, Im going to have to hit it a lot better than I did today,” Casey said.
Furyk was in that spot a year ago - a chance to win the FedEx Cup without winning on tour that year. He was a stronger contender this year with his victories at Innisbrook and Hilton Head. But then he lost ground with his pro-am blunder. Furyk headed home to Florida, making no excuses for his battery dying in a cell phone that he used for an alarm.
The tour changed its pro-am policy a week later after an outcry by just about every player except him.
“It was my fault,” Furyk said. “If I whined or complained or anything about the rule, its just going to make me look worse. My peers actually did plenty of that for me.”
He got plenty of sympathy, followed by plenty of grief.
“Hundreds of people told me that I was going to get alarm clocks for Christmas,” Furyk said.
He could afford plenty of those depending on how the rest of the week goes. He has made only one bogey through 36 holes, that coming on the seventh hole Friday when he missed the green to the right and missed a 7-foot par putt.
All he is thinking about his a good round Saturday, another one Sunday then figure out where he is.
“Yesterday I said all I want to do was think about the next day, try to shoot a round in the 60s,” Furyk said. “Ill be doing the same thing tonight - try to shoot another round in the 60s and put myself in the hunt.”
Thats not a simple task at East Lake, which is such a stern test that it doesnt take much for a round in the 60s to wind up over par. Kuchar had to play one shot on the 17th hole with his feet in the water and scrambled for a 70, leaving him in a tie for 15th at 2-over 142.
Charley Hoffman, the surprise winning in Boston to get to No. 3 in the standings, rallied with a 67 and was among the nine players still under par. He was at 2-under 138. The other players in the top five in the FedEx Cup - they only have to win to capture the prize - were Dustin Johnson (71) at 144 and Steve Stricker (68) at 142.
Donald hasnt won on the U.S. tour all year, but he is showing great form with the Ryder Cup looming. It wasnt the fairways-and-greens golf for which Donald is known, but it was good enough for a share of the lead.
“The short game on the back nine kind of kept my score together,” he said.
September 25, 2010
CBSSports Russ Cochran shot an 8-under 64, making six birdies in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of the round and eagling No. 17, to take a one-stroke lead over defending champion Tom Pernice Jr. on Friday in the Champions Tours SAS Championship.
Cochran, coming off his first victory on the 50-and-over tour two weeks ago in South Korea, had the best first-round score in the history of the tournament.
SAS Championship Related links Leaderboard
“I think thats probably the reason I played good today because Ive been on a high from the last three or four weeks,” Cochran said “I was certainly a little shaky starting off. I had a lot of par saves, so really a lucky round. But I played some really good golf the last 12 or 13 holes.”
Pernice had a hole-in-one on the 188-yard 11th hole.
“I hit it right at the hole, and I thought it was going to be short,” Pernice said. “I turned away to put my club away, and the next thing I know, theyre screaming that it went in the hole. So I didnt get to see it, but thats OK. … The hole-in-one was great, really got me going. But the save for birdie on 12, since I hit it out there and had a pretty simple shot to reach and missed the green and then got up and down, really, was really the key to the round.”
Bob Gilder and David Eger opened with 66s, and Nick Price and Ted Schulz followed at 67.
Bernhard Langer, the tour leader with five victories, and Fred Couples had 71s.
September 23, 2010
The PGA Tour and LPGA took last week off, but that doesnt mean that Golfom senior writer Steve Elling or columnist and golf writer Scott Michaux are off the hook. With the Tour Championship and the biggest bonus in sports up for grabs this week, and the Ryder Cup just days away in Wales, the season crescendo is near. Take a Dramamine. Because this promises to be eventful.
One of the sports largest websites was lobbying for the inclusion of Tiger Woods in the Tour Championship, claiming the PGA Tour dropped the ball by failing to find a way for the world No. 1 to slide in the side door. Agree or disagree?
ELLING: I have made my opinions on Woods pretty transparent over the past few months, but this notion has absolutely nothing to do with any behavioral issues. The FedEx Cup playoffs, like the tour itself, are designed as a meritocracy. Woods had just as many chances as in fact, he had more opportunities than many and he didnt deliver. In fact, given where he started the four-week FedEx run, at No. 112, he mounted a decent rally with a trio of top-15 finishes to merely make it to Chicago. With all due respect for the loss of marketing mojo that will be felt in the TV ratings or at the gate without the defending FedEx champion on the course this week at East Lake, it was Woods decision not to play more tournaments over the summer to increase his chances of adding points. For the tour to revamp rules on the run in order to squeeze Woods in the side door would undermine the credibility of the entire venture. Suggesting it is anathema to the game. The tour would have been quite rightly savaged for a transparent attempt to pander to non-golf fans during football season. For once, doing nothing was exactly the right call.
MICHAUX: It really was stunning that a respected website like Golf.com crafted such a ridiculous argument. Maybe MLB needs to figure out a way to get the Yankees into the World Series every year. And the NFL really needs the Cowboys in the Super Bowl every year. And NASCAR needs Jimmie Johnson to win its Chase every year … oh, wait, that does happen. Anyway, you said it all with the word “meritocracy.” Either you have rules that reward merit in an annual points race or you dont. I dont feel the need to discuss this silly concept any further.
Veteran Kevin Streelman has become an unwitting, and undeserved, poster boy for the seemingly flawed design of the FedEx Cup points system. Do you think Streelman and the 29 other players who advanced to the Tour Championship deserve an automatic spot in the first three majors of the season, as the system is currently designed?
ELLING: Backing up a moment to Woods and the preceding question, Streelman was barely inside the FedEx top 125 with one regular-season event to play, then entered the Greensboro event and improved to No. 102. He managed to finish T3 in the FedEx opener, then was T45 and T43 in the next two playoff events. For his efforts, he advanced to the Tour Championship this week, where he is assured of a fat six-figure payday no matter how he plays, plus berths in the first three majors of 2011. Honestly, the decision to give Grand Slam invitations to those finishing in the top 30 in FedEx points was reached by the folks who run the Masters and two Open championships, not the PGA Tour, though you can bet there was some lobbying by the suits in Ponte Vedra Beach to get the organizations to exempt the Atlanta qualifiers. Woods started the FedEx at No. 112 and finished T12, T11 and T15, but was sent packing because he did not crack the top 30. Steve Stricker started the series at No. 2 and has finished T3, ninth and T8, yet has dropped two spots to fourth in points. Does that seem fair? Streelman has one top-10 finish in the series and makes a huge leap into Atlanta and three majors. Woods and Stricker, who already are qualified for the majors, are comparatively less rewarded for playing better over the three-week FedEx arc. And the tour wonders why fans dont understand the points system? Seems like the people at Augusta National, U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient dont understand, either, or they might rethink the free passes handed to the 30 guys in Atlanta.
MICHAUX: Wow, you really are making it easy to give short answers this week. The answer to this is a hearty NO! Streelman basically earned a Masters invitation for tying for third in New Jersey. It was his only top-10 and just his second top-30 finish since March. Matt Bettencourt and Bill Lunde actually won PGA Tour “opposite events” in that time frame and arent automatically eligible for the Masters. Steve Elkington nearly won the PGA Championship (tied for 5th) and he isnt in the Masters. Augusta resident Vaughn Taylor, who outplayed Streelman most of the year with five top-10s and finished one stroke behind him in that defining event in New Jersey, is not in the Masters. Rewarding the Tour Championship qualifiers with back-door major berths puts those playoff events on par with other majors in terms of value. Thats ridiculous. The major organizations trusted the PGA Tour to ensure that only quality rose to the top in the playoffs and were sold a bill of goods. Its time to rethink that and go back to the deeper money list criteria to reward players for a balanced season instead of one half-decent week at the right time.
So, if you were European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, what tricks would you employ in setting up Celtic Manor next week to best suit the European chances of winning?
ELLING: As ever, the captain of the home team gets to manipulate tee boxes, grow the rough or pinch the fairways. Frankly, theres going to be plenty of attention paid to the squadron of bombers on the U.S. team, because the likes of Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton rank in the top 30 in driving distance in the States. Even U.S. captain Corey Pavin admitted that hed probably crimp the fairways at around 280 yards to cramp the American style. But those guys hit 3-woods as far as most of the European Id consider an alternate solution. If the Euros have an edge beyond the mostly intangible benefits of the home crowd, it might be on the greens. I would try to bury as many flagsticks in the corners and on knobs as possible and make the Yanks, led by sputter-with-the putter Woods, try to accomplish something they have ac make some meaningful putts under duress. The Americans have not won on foreign soil since 1993 and putting has been at the root of the issue. So I would let the U.S. bombers whale away in Wales. But make them earn their birdies on the greens. Monty already has claimed a possible edge, courtesy of his counterpart. The American side will be wearing outfits that include purple sweaters and striped, red-white-and-blue belts, which ought to generate even more catcalls from the fans. Oh, brother.
MICHAUX: Of course Monty needs to where the bombers can clear the water add a few extra yards of forced carry with rough on the far end of the water to keep them from getting the short-cut advantage. Of course, those set-up tricks can cut both ways. The thing that can benefit the Euros the most on home soil is emotion, and Monty already has put an effective plan in place for that. The first tee is surrounded by about five times as many bleacher seats as Valhalla and will be the most intimidating place on the golf course. An overflow Euro crowd singing songs could put the shank in a nervous Yank. If Monty really wants to dial up the emotional meter, he should figure out some way to get Seve Ballesteros and perhaps even Jose Maria Olazabal to walk on that first tee at least on Sunday to send off every singles match. Seves presence would stoke the Continental fires to a full-blown inferno. I wouldnt want to be an American trying to pull the club back with the Spanish Armada standing off the starboard bow of the tee box. As for the uniforms, maybe Pavin isnt so daft after all. Ian Poulter is going to be so jealous he might be neutralized.
September 22, 2010
With apologies to the majors and events that follow or precede them, the World Golf Championships or even the old Texas Swing, the next fortnight might represent the two biggest events staged consecutively all year. Theres a potential $11.35 million on the table for many in the field at the 30-man FedEx Cup finale this week in Atlanta, then a dozen of Uncle Sams finest will jet off to Wales on Sunday night for Ryder Cup week, where the Yanks will try to win on foreign soil for the first time since 1993. For one, Golfom senior writer Steve Elling is glad there was no PGA Tour event last week, because everybody needed time to decompress.
Up
Pride goeth before the rise? Sometimes, major-league baseball teams send a fringe player down to the minors in order to ensure a steady diet of at-bats. With the PGA Tour in the midst of the five-week-long FedEx Cup playoffs, some players hav though they did it willingly. The Boise Open on the Nationwide Tour last week was dotted with players who have eligibility on the big tour, including card-holders like John Mallinger, Ted Purdy and Troy Merritt, last years Q-school medalist. Its a cruel time of year for the middling masses on the big tour, since those who dont advance through the FedEx Cup playoffs are stuck in idle and players who dont make the top 125 in points face a six-week vacation without pay. The Nationwide is the best way to stay game-sharp before true desperation sets in during the Fall Series, when their cards are on the line and many will be playing each week. Heres to the few and the not-so-proud who swallowed their egos and took a few hacks on the developmental tour to stay in form. Mallinger, who played on the weekend in a mere two of his first 16 events this year on the PGA Tour and missed the entire FedEx series, finished T3 in Boise and T7 the week before in a Nationwide start in Utah. You can bet hes glad he went. Others should consider it, too.
Forget the soap opera, this is drama Sure, two-time Fed Ex Cup champion Tiger Woods didnt play often enough, or well enough, to land a spot in the 30-man Tour Championship in Atlanta, where the series finale will be staged. For most sidewalk golf fans, thats probably reason enough to tune out. But it also means that a first-time champion will be crowned, since 2008 winner Vijay Singh also didnt make it, and that the subplots and tension will be running deep. Theres $1.35 million on the line for the winner in a field that seldom has seemed so wide open. Theres $10 million on the line for the overall points champion, not to mention a five-year exemption. The tours Player of the Year Award, which is a wide-open race with more than a half-dozen candidates, is likely to be decided. Phil Mickelson, without Woods in the field, has yet another shot at becoming world No. 1, and hes the defending champion at East Lake Golf Club, where he has two career wins. For those who have any modicum of interest in golf, thats a smorgasbord that should satisfy even the most finicky Tiger-centric appetites. Or at least it ought to be.
All Irish eyes on Harrington Actually, that cliché sells because all of Europes eyes will be on him this week at he plays in the Vivendi Cup outside Paris, an attempt to find some semblance of his game before he becomes the most scrutinized man on either roster in next weeks Ryder Cup matches. What, you think Woods is under a microscope? Hardly. By the time the U.S. picks were made, Woods was playing the best of the four wild-card selections. Harrington, on the other hand, hasnt won in 25 months. He finished second at the Irish Open in midsummer, then followed up with a missed cut at the PGA Championship, then a T47 and MC in the FedEx Cup series, which got him kicked to the playoff curb. Meanwhile, Englands Paul Casey, one of the players who was passed over for a Euro wild-card bid, has a terrific chance to win the $10 million FedEx bonus this week in Atlanta. Harrington hasnt won a match in his past two Ryder appearances, going 0-7-2. If it goes sideways for captain Colin Montgomeries team and doesnt deliver some points, the public pounding Monty will take will make the media evisceration of 2008 Euro captain Nick Faldo seem kind and sensible.
Expounding on an earlier point Last week, PGA Tour veteran Kevin Streelmans path into the FedEx finale was detailed and debated on several golf-related websites, including here. He made the playoffs at No. 102 in points, finished T3 in the FedEx opener, then was T45 and T43 in the next two playoff events. Still, because of the way the points are skewed to reward performances in the FedEx series, he made it to the 30-man finale this week and thus cemented spots in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in 2011, which were assured to those who made it to Atlanta. Its that last point that needs to be probed further. The tour can do whatever it wants with its cockamamie points system. But for the governing bodies at Augusta National, U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient to hand out passes to their Grand Slam events based almost exclusively on play over a three-week “playoff” span is a topic that should be revisited. Consider that Augusta doesnt grant invitations to the PGA Tours Fall Series winners, but a T3 at The Barclays is enough to crack the Masters field? Come on.
Young, younger and youngest When it comes to teens and the tours, the story of 16-year-old Tiger Woods being so nervous in his PGA Tour debut in Los Angeles that he could feel his heartbeat in his eyeballs always springs to mind. Ah, the good-old days of not-so-old players. Last weekend at the Austrian Open on the European Tour, native son Matthias Schwab broke a record by producing the best week ever by a 15-year-old (besting Sergio Garcia and Jason Hak) by finishing T32 at Diamond Country Club outside Vienna. He stole local headlines by posting three scores of 70 or better over the first three days before fading Sunday with a 75, but it hardly took any of the luster off his performance, especially since Austria hasnt exactly served as a professional pipeline for tour players. Yet the English pipeline is well-established, thank you. In Russia, on the developmental Challenge Tour, 19-year-old Englishman Tommy Fleetwood finished second by a stroke, his second runner-up finish in just three starts on the tour. Fleetwood, another in a series of promising players from England, turned pro earlier this summer. You know, it makes you wonder anew if the long-established path of sending top American juniors to college for four years is necessarily the right route, no?
Reign in Spain falls mainly on the plain Know much about Jose Lara, a fairly nondescript Spaniard on the European Tour? No reason you should. In what has to be considered a monumental upset given his play over the past 12 months, he won Sunday at the Austrian Open, really the only notable event staged last week by one of the games maj a slew but his form all season that made the victory remarkable. Lara had all but been left for dead. Starting at the KLM Open last year, Lara had withdrawn or missed the cut in an astonishingly horrid 26 of 32 starts. Then he turned it all around by returning to the site where the scorched-earth trail began. In his most recent start before the Austria win, he played the KLM and finished T4. With countryman and Ryder Cupper Miguel Angel Jimenez rooting him on, Lara beat Englands David Lynn in a playoff to secure the victory at Diamond Country Club. From cubic zirconium to the real deal in a span of days. From Vienna sausage to top sirloin. Only in golf.
Down
Q the list: Dogs, Tigers and hanging Chads That victory Sunday by Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in his first NFL start in nearly four years likely will cause a minor ripple effect in golf. Theres an organization out in marketing land, the Q Scores Company, that charts favorability ratings among American consumers, and last week it unveiled a listing of the most loathsome athletes as it relates to fan opinion. From the top down, here is the most-loathed list of jocks, as released five days before Vick began rehabbing his rep in Philly: Vick, Tiger Woods, Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Kobe Bryant. Must make a certain company in Oregon exceptionally proud, because all but one of those guys is, or was, a Swoosh endorser at some point along the way.
Minding his bidness In a story that had legs for the entire summer, a set of golf clubs purportedly used by Tiger Woods to win the wraparound Grand Slam in 2000-01 last week was finally auctioned at a scintilla of the original asking price of $250,000. Steve Mata, a former Titleist employee who worked out of the companys PGA Tour equipment van and is well known to hundreds of tour players and media, says Woods gave him the clubs years ago and informed him they had been used during the so-called Tiger Slam, a point Woods later denied. Mata took a lie detector test, which the auction company says he passed, cleaning up some of the earlier questions about the authenticity of the clubs. But not all of the doubt, apparently. Mata got $57,242 for the set of 11 irons, and the winning bidder was not identified. Its hard to guess which drove down the price more, Woods insistence that he never used the clubs during his run or the fallout from his personal scandal of the past year. Either way, Mata needed the money after losing his job, and Woods didnt do him any favors, did he?
Wither Westwood Overseas, where the Ryder Cup is essentially a year-round preoccupation, a series of breathless newspaper reports last week detailed the baby steps taken by Lee Westwood, who has been sidelined since the Bridgestone Invitational with an obscure calf malady. The news that Westwood, arguably the top player in the world when he went on the disabled list, had finally set foot on the course and walked several holes was mildly newsworthy, since he hadnt played in two months. But his manager, Chubby Chandler, said two weeks ago in Boston that Westwood was ahead of schedule in his recovery and planning to walk 18 and then 36 holes in a day to see if he could handle both the morning and afternoon sessions at next weeks Ryder Cup. “He has been working out like a madman lately in the gym,” Chandler said at the time. So, at least from our vantage point, it would have been a surprise only if Westy hadnt been ready to rock and roll.
September 22, 2010
Golf The Masters is adding an extra hour of television coverage next year.
Augusta National chairman Billy Payne said Tuesday that ESPNs weekday coverage will start at 3 p.m., which is an hour earlier. The coverage ends at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
Payne also said that British-based Sky Sports will join the BBC as a live broadcaster next year.
The Masters will be held April 7-10. Despite the additional hour of coverage on the weekdays, it remains the major championship with the most limited live TV coverage.
September 17, 2010
This week, the PGA Tour is idle for the first time since January. Off, dark, in a holding pattern. None of which means there are no compelling issues to examine as the FedEx Cup finale approaches in Atlanta, followed by the red-eye flight of 12 Yanks to Wales for the Ryder Cup once the Tour Championship ends. CBSSports.com Senior Writer Steve Elling and Augusta Chronicle columnist and golf writer Scott Michaux attempt to bridge the gap in the schedule between hither and yon.
Bounced from the FedEx series, defending cup champion Tiger Woods has played his last official stroke in PGA Tour competition this season. Identify one positive and one negative he has going for him, or working against him, as he heads into the Ryder Cup and a few overseas or unofficial events before 2011 begins.
ELLING: No doubt, the best decision Woods made was to commit to changing his coach, implementing the resulting swing revisions, and doing it now. He just completed his first winless PGA Tour season and waiting until December to begin making adjustments would have made the lag time even longer. Its a lost season. Why ruin 2011, too, by waiting around to make tweaks? Every time Woods has switched coaches and changed his swing, its taken a year for the results to take serious root. Some think he switched to a new coach, Sean Foley, mostly to buy himself more time to put the disastrous personal issues aside, but I think he and the Canadian coach will make a nice pair. Foley is brighter than Woods, speaks his mind, and for a relative newcomer to the guru trade, has lots of ideas. As for the most ominous thing hanging over Woods head as he moves toward the fall and winter, its got to be his putting. It bea and we mean in 2008-09, not 2000. The full swing aside, its the shortest stroke in golf that poses the biggest hurdle to his comeback.
MICHAUX: The most positive thing for Woods is that by next January he will have settled into his new single life and can proceed without that dark cloud hanging over him. Its impossible to really know just how much all of the personal stress in his life took a toll on his game this year, but we can assume that it was pretty immense. The guy is human after all, even though we tended to believe he had superhuman powers. He just needs to flush all the negativity of the last 10 months from his system and reboot. An offseason of working on his game away from public scrutiny should do wonders for his 2011 outlook. As for the negative, the biggest thing working against his lifetime goals is time. Hell be 35 when next season rolls around, and even for him thats on the downward side when youre trying to accumulate five more major wins to top Nicklaus and nearly 30 more tour victories to break 100. The even bigger problem is that the field of potential major winners has greatly expanded in the last couple of years, as we see so many more breakthroughs. Guys like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy and a host of other guys are going to be factors that he simply hasnt had to deal with in the first 12 years when he was the dominant force. They dont have that Tiger-induced scar tissue that his peers have struggled with and its never going to be the same lopsided odds he once enjoyed. Thats not saying he wont do everything he set out to do, its just going to be much harder than any of us used to think.
Theres no PGA Tour event being contested this week. Pretend you are a foot shorter, 20 times richer and are the commissioner, Tim Finchem. Wheres the best spot in the calendar for the current dark week on the schedule and why?
ELLING: Last week, when even the level-headed players were going ballistic over things like the state of the Cog Hill course, Steve Stricker noted that he hasnt seen many smiles lately. Some top players had teed up at Fires and were feeling downright grumpy. The thinking this year was that taking a break before the FedEx finale and Ryder Cup would give the 12 players on the U.S. team some time to decompress. It also didnt hurt in the tours mind to use the off week to build some suspense for the FedEx finale, the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta, either. With the Presidents Cup moved back later in the schedule next fall, it will be interesting to see if the tour re-jiggers the off week and instead places it before the BMW Championship, which gets hurt by its calendar proximity to the Boston event. The Deutsche Bank event on a Monday night and the BMW pro-am starts about 36 hours later. Personally, I wish the season didnt start until February, or that off weeks were used three or four times over the course of a 10-month season, especially after major championships, when tournaments slotted in those weeks have little chance of landing many top players. But thats my little private Utopia. I sure wouldnt mind if the FedEx Series consisted of three tournaments, not four.
MICHAUX: Ill be honest, I dont really care if there ever is a “dark” week. Obviously they need to build in some off weeks into this playoff thingy to make it manageable, but that doesnt mean there needs to be a vacancy on the schedule. Take one of those Fall Series events and fill the void on the schedule. A significant portion o the players who so instead of making them suffer through a dark month they ought to get them back into action as soon as possible. In fact, they should start that Fall Series as soon they start trimming fields in the playoffs. Run them opposite and end the season at one universal time. Those events are already deeply discounted and shown only on the Golf Channel. Stop pretending that anyone is paying attention in the middle of football season and get it over with so that everybody can have the same extended offseason that affords them opportunities to take a break or play overseas if the muse strikes. Those top-30 and top-70 guys arent playing in those fall events anyway, so create a finite timetable for the golf season that ends with the Ryder and Presidents Cups.
You both personally witnessed his triumphs or tragedies on the golf course this summer. Whats the short-term future of Dustin Johnson?
ELLING: Short-term? Might be the only time “short” and the ball-belting Johnson are linked in the same sentence. Theres not much doubt that he has as much upside as anybody in the game, and at age right in front of our eyes. He is hardly a finished product, though he sure played like one Sunday to ice the BMW Championship. While everybody was raving about the clutch drives he delivered down the stretch to win, the most important shot in crunch time was the 94-yard wedge shot he hit from the 17th fairway. He entered the week ranked an embarrassing 188th on tour from between 75-100 yards based on the final proximity of the ball to the flag and stiffed it to 30 inches for what ultimately proved to be the title-clinching birdie. He and new swing coach Butch Harmon have been emphasizing his finesse shots, because like many younger players, its not particularly an asset at this point. Strength is his strength, if you will. Its amazing how Johnson has gone from a player not always mentioned in the Young Guns discussion to being at the fore of the pack, all in eight months. Like with Rory McIlroy, theres plenty more to come. Guess the Brits wont be calling him “Dustbin” Johnson for long.
MICHAUX: What do you consider “short-term?” Is next April short enough? Right now I will state that Dustin is one of the top five favorites to win the 2011 Masters. Hes made two straight cuts at Augusta and is just starting to get a feel for the course after three starts. With his combination of power and touch, he is made to be a green-jacket contender. With the confidence hes gained from posting four top-14 finishes in his last five major starts, Johnson is just now establishing himself as a legitimate force to be reckoned with. He has a gift for being able to avoid getting scarred by disappointment, which is a trait that would serve any golfer well. Jack and Tiger certainly had that going for them. Phil has shown the ability to rise off the mat from repeated setbacks. Given Johnsons resume of success going back to his amateur days as a Walker Cupper, you have to wonder why anyone discounted his prospects in the first place. His long-term prognosis should be considered limitless as well. Before this summer most fans and media tended to believe Johnson lacked charisma. But he has changed that perception with his ability to handle potentially crushing setbacks gracefully and move forward successfully. Hes got the look with those long sideburns and lumbering gait. But the thing people should admire most is the way he plays the game fast and fearlessly. I wish there were a hundred more guys like him.
September 17, 2010
CBSSports.com wire George Coetzee of South Africa took advantage of ideal conditions to earn a one-stroke lead in the first round of the Austrian Open after shooting a 7-under 65 on Thursday.
Playing early in the morning before gusting winds made conditions tougher at Diamond Country Club, Coetzee made eight birdies and only one bogey to bolster his hopes of retaining his European Tour card.
Although small by main European Tour standards, Sundays $163,000 winners check would be welcomed by Coetzee, who lies 142nd on the m Austrian Open Related links Leaderboard
Equally eager to earn a big check toward keeping his playing card will be Jose Manuel Lara, who was 172nd on the list.
The Spaniard has had a poor year, making only seven cuts in 24 starts. But among the afternoon players Lara was the only player to get alongside Coetzee.
However, he failed to make par on the 18th after missing the green with his approach and shot a 6-under 66.
That gave him a share of second place alongside Australian Terry Pilkadaris, with Irelands Damien McGrane lying third after a 65.
Of the two European Ryder Cup players in the field, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell fared best, shooting a 3-under 69.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, who started on the 10th tee, shot 72 but struggled for consistency. He made five birdies but had a horrible double bogey at the 17th, where he found water.
McDowell, in his first tournament after a four-week rest, did not start well by bogeying two of his first three holes, but he covered the back nine in just 31 shots.
“I made an awful drive at three,” McDowell said. “I hit the ground two feet behind the ball and it went straight into the middle of a bush.
“But I hung in tough and drove the ball well on the second nine and made a few putts.
“This week in Austria is all about getting my game in shape and playing some good competitive golf before I head to Celtic Manor [for the Ryder Cup].
“I want to go there with my game in shape because its a tough week to have to be working on things there.”
September 14, 2010
CBSSports.c Yani Tseng was as amazed as anyone during Michelle Wies torrid stretch early in the weekend, when Wie shot a 28 for nine holes to take command at the Northwest Arkansas Championship.
NW Arkansas Championship Leaderboard
Just over 24 after rallying to beat Wie by a stroke.
“Shes just so good,” Tseng said. “I just really play, one shot at a time, but if I dont make lots of birdies today, I couldnt win.”
Tseng made four birdies in a crucial five-hole stretch on the back nine en route to a 6-under 65 on Sunday that gave her a third LPGA Tour victory of the year. Tseng, from Taiwan, held off Wie when both players made birdies on No. 18.
Tseng finished at 13-under 200.
Wie the same half of the course she played in 7-under 28 during a scintillating stretch Saturday that helped her take a three-stroke lead after two rounds. Tseng played with Wie during that round and was alongside her again Sunday, this time taking the victory away.
“Yani played great,” Wie said. “Usually, if youre 12 under, its good enough. I played good today. I had faith in myself, a couple iron shots went a little bit left today.”
The 20-year-old Wie was trying for her second straight win. She won the Canadian Womens Open late last month.
Juli Inkster, who at 50 was trying to become the oldest player to win on the tour, shot 72 and finished seven shots back. Shed entered the day tied for second with Tseng and Na Yeon Choi.
Mika Miyazato (64) finished third at 10 under at Pinnacle Country Club.
Tseng has five career LPGA Tour victories, including three majors. She won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and Womens British Open this year.
Shes now firmly involved in the discussion of who might take over the mantle as womens golfs next dominant player after the recent retirements of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa.
“When I was young, I was watching them play, so I just feel like I really need to win more tournaments, to be really working hard to be chasing them,” Tseng said. “Even though theyre retired, I think theyre still No. 1 in the world.”
Tseng, who actually bought Sorenstams home in Florida, jumped to the top of the Rolex Player of the Year race. She also is second on the money list.
Wie and Tseng were grouped with Inkster on Sunday. Wie fell into a tie with Inkster at 9 under when she three-putted No. 6 for a bogey. Wie responded with a birdie on No. 7 and led Tseng by two strokes after both players birdied the 11th.
Tseng kept the pressure on. Although Wie scrambled to make pars on Nos. 13, 14 and 15, Tseng birdied 12, 14 and 15 to take the lead.
Wie then bogeyed No. 16 to fall two strokes back, but hit an outstanding tee shot on the par-3 17th and made a birdie, one of only six on that hole all day.
That set up No. 18, a 515-yard par 5 that Wie had eagled the previous day. Tseng missed the fairway but hit a tremendous second shot from about 200 yards to the fringe, around 20 feet from the hole.
“I hit a great shot,” Tseng said. “I think I got pretty lucky to bounce a little left.”
Wie then missed the green with her second shot, all but ending her chances. Tsengs winning birdie came on a putt from inside 2 feet.
Tseng has played well in majors, but she struggled in some of the less prestigious tournaments. Since winning the Womens British Open, she tied for 45th at the Safeway Classic and missed the cut in Canada.
“I missed the cut last tournament and then I win this tournament, seems like I was really prepared and ready for this tournament.”
The Arkansas event was only 54 holes but had a loaded field with almost every top player in the world. Inbee Park (65) finished fourth, five strokes behind the winner. Jiyai Shin (66) and Seon Hwa Lee (69), the last two champions at this event, were in a group of players another shot back.
Ai Miyazato (67) tied for ninth, and Cristie Kerr (70) tied for 32nd.
September 14, 2010
CBSSports.com wire Russ Cochran won the Posco E&C Songdo Championship on Sunday for his first Champions Tour victory after making a birdie on the opening hole of a playoff with Fred Funk in the 50-and-over circuits first event in Asia.
Songdo Championship Leaderboard
The 51-year-old left-hander finished at 12-under 204 on the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea to earn $456,000. He won the 1991 Western Open for his lone PGA Tour title.
Cochran, who shot a final-round 66 to force the playoff, tapped in for the win after hitting a bunker shot just short of the hole.
“Ive been playing well over the last year, year and a half and I felt like a victory was in the near future,” said Cochran, who was out of golf for about six years with wrist and elbow problems that required surgery.
“Im back playing and my games a little bit different, but its pretty solid,” he said. “Im hoping I can take this and go to more victories on the Champions Tour.”
Funk, who began the day with a two-stroke lead, shot a 68 for a three-round 204. He had a chance to win the tournament in regulation, but missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.
and though his recovery escaped the trap, it fell short of the green.
Tom Pernice Jr., Cochran and John Cook were all tied for second entering the final round.
Pernice had a 67 to finish a stroke off the leaders at 11 under after missing a putt on the 18th that denied him a chance to join the playoff.
Tom Watson, who finished second in last years British Open, shot a 70 to close the tournament at 3 under. Bernhard Langer, a five-time winner this year on the tour, shot an 80 to finish at 6 ov three weeks ago, was clearly disappointed at the outcome.
“It was my tournament to win,” he said.
Funk, 54, was co-leader with Michael Allen and Jay Don Blake after the first round and was sole leader going into the final round.
“I was very shocked when Fred missed,” said C and was in the process of handing over his glove when Funks putt veered off to the left of the hole.
The event, played in the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, had a record Champions Tour purse of $3 million.
The tournament was plagued by heavy rains, which delayed the start of play Friday and Saturday. Conditions markedly improved Sunday with play ending under sunny skies.
Golf great Jack Nicklaus, who designed the course, said Wednesday that a performance of 4 under a day would probably be enough to win the tournament, which proved accurate.
Champions Tour president Mike Stevens declared the tournament a success, despite the challenges posed by the weather and the logistics of playing so far away in Asia.
“Were embarking on an international strategy and growth for our tour,” he said Sunday.
September 13, 2010
CBSSports.c Maybe now everyone will believe Dustin Johnson when he says he is over a summer of Sunday disappointments.
First came an 82 on the final day of the U.S. Open. Then came a crushing blow at the PGA Championship, when he was denied a spot in the playoff for not realizing he was in a bunker and touching the sand with his club on the final hole.
BMW Championship Steve Elling Like a good baseball closer, Dustin Johnson wins by not thinking about the last game. More >>
Tiger Woods once held at mental edge over Phil Mickelson, but theyre now even in head-to-head matchups. More >> Final scores and earnings
Resilient as he is powerful, Johnson kept coming back for more.
The payoff came Sunday in the BMW Championship, when the 26-year-old American was flawless on the back nine at Cog Hill and made up a three-shot deficit against Paul Casey to win for the second time this year. Playing in the final group for the fourth time since June, Johnson closed with a 2-under 69 for a one-shot victory.
“To finally get it done, especially after all the things Ive gone through this summer … it cant feel any better,” Johnson said. “I played really good golf today. I didnt make as many birdies as I would have liked, but I made just enough.”
He made three birdies, none more important than the last one.
Tied for the lead, Johnson knew the 17th hole might be his last good chance. He pulled driver and smashed his tee shot over the trees with a slight fade, the ball landing in the fairway and leaving him a sand wedge that he hit within 2 feet for a tap-in birdie.
“I knew I needed to hit a good tee ball because it was going to be my best chance of making a birdie,” he said. “I was just trying to cut a drive, hold it against the wind and get it around the corner a little bit. And I hit it perfect.”
Equally impressive was the 18th, where Johnson ripped another drive to set up a conservative par.
The Pebble Beach winner in February, Johnson has quickly emerged as one of the games rising stars. He now goes to the Tour Championship at No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings, with a clear shot at the $10 million bonus.
One player he wont have to beat at East Lake is Tiger Woods. The worlds No. 1 player sputtered at the start and shot 70 to tie for 15th, not nearly enough to move into the top 30 in the standings and advance to the FedEx Cup finale.
Its the first time as a pro that Woods hasnt been eligible for a tournament.
“Thats just the way it is,” Woods said. “I didnt play well early in the year, and I didnt play well in the middle of the year.”
Woods played with Phil Mickelson for the first time all year, and Lefty buried him. Mickelson closed with a 67 and tied for eighth, his first top 10 since the U.S. Open. It was the 26th time the worlds best two players have been in the same group, and the record now stands at 11-11-4.
“He certainly brings out the best in me, and I enjoy being paired with him,” Mickelson said.
Woods next plays in the Ryder Cup, and he wont be alone in having two weeks off. Two other Ryder Cup picks, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler, also failed to qualify for the Tour Championship.
Casey was left off the Ryder Cup team despite being No. 9 in the world when European captain Colin Montgomerie made his three picks. He had a great chance to make Montgomerie look foolish, building a three-shot lead on the back nine, only to throw it away with three straight bogeys. Casey had three chances from the fairway coming in, but didnt give himself a birdie opportunity inside 25 feet.
Asked if he was motivated by not being picked, Casey smiled and said, “Yes.”
But he wouldnt say much more.
“I cant go there, unfortunately,” the Englishman said.
He shot four rounds of 69 to finish alone in second. The consolation was moving up to No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings, and the top five players at East Lake only have to win to collect the biggest payoff in golf.
The biggest blow to Casey on the back nine was hooking his tee shot into the bushes on the par-5 15th, which can be reached in two. He made his third straight bogey to fall into a tie, and Johnson outplayed him from there.
“It was myself against the golf course, 72 holes, and I played it one shot worse than Dustin Johnson,” Casey said.
With the 70-man field at Cog Hill narrowed to the final 30, the BMW Championship offered plenty of drama away from the leaders.
Charlie Wi appeared set for his first Tour Championship until making bogeys on the last two holes, missing a 12-foot par putt on the final hole. That moved Bill Haas up to No. 30.
Then came Matt Kuchar, who needed a birdie for any hope of getting into a playoff at Cog Hill. He ran his putt 3½ feet by the hole, then missed it coming back. Kuchar was in a two-way for third, and the bogey moved him into a three-way tie for fourth. That allowed K.J. Choi to crack the top 30.
Ryan Moore, the 54-hole leader, was alone in third place when he sent his second shot over the 18th green. He smartly played away from the pin to avoid chipping into the water and took his bogey, which kept him in the top 30. If Moore had made double bogey, he would have fallen out of the Tour Championship.
The 30th and final spot went to Bo Van Pelt.
Johnson earned a small measure of redemption. He likely moves to No. 12 in the world with his fourth career Ive had a few mishaps,” Johnson said. “To come back and get it done, Im very proud of myself. I think Ive handled everything very well, and now Ive got to look forward to two weeks from now.”
