Lefty pulled out halfway through his first round at the Memorial after hurting his left wrist. Phil thinks he injured it at Oakmount earlier in the week as he was preparing for the US Open.
Michelle does the same at the Ginn Tribute, but mayber her 14-over with two holes remaining had something to do with it as well.
Who will shake Jack’s hand on Sunday, Tiger? Phil?
On the eve of the first round, it’s time to see who the contenders are and the storylines of the week to look out for.
This is one of the stronger fields on Tour besides the four majors and the Players Championship. Tiger will be there, Phil, Vij, Zach, and Ernie are all present. There is a tournament in Wales on the European Tour and Retief Goosen is about the only big name that is there. Notable absentees include Rory and Bernhard who had grueling weeks up until last week’s Colonial.
Well you knew it would happen sooner or later. Michelle Wie fired back at her critics and specifically against her coach David Leadbetter for saying she wouldn’t play in any more men’s tournaments.
“I don’t think my coach is the person who could talk about what events I’m going to play in. He got misquoted. I learn so much from playing with the men. I’m going to do it as long as I enjoy it.”
The war of words continued with Retief Goosen adding his own comments on the situation,
“The players in general feel it is not right. If she qualifies to play in an event then fine, but there are youngsters and good players coming up who could have taken that spot and broken through.”
“We all know with her playing in the men’s events that she is not going to get anywhere, so I’m not really sure what she is trying to achieve. If she thinks it is helping her development then fine, but so far I think it has been damaging to her game.”
Ouch, Michelle just got owned by the Goose man who is usually quiet and non-controversial. Obviously a lot of people feel strongly about this.
Can the European Tour trump the PGA? Don’t bet on it.
The latest talk yesterday and today coming off of the flagship tournament for the European Tour in the BMW PGA Championship was that European Tour executive director George O’Grady claimed to be in conversations from officials in Asia about creating a World Tour that would rival that of the PGA.
Last weekend was the final weekend for pros from around the world to make the top 50 world rankings and thus bypass the 36-hole qualifier for the US Open.
A number of players at the BMW PGA Championship played just good enough to get the invite including winner Anders Hansen. Other notables that qualified included Angel Cabrera and Tim Clark who made the cutoff at 50.
Sean O’Hair who had that terrible finish at the TPC will need to play the 36-hole qualifier.
Jump on the link to get the complete story.
The 2007 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield in Columbus, OH will be simply spectacular this coming weekend. The field is one of the best leading up to the US Open and the course itself is outstanding. Not many tournaments put together a website, but the website that they’ve put together for the Memorial is a real nice site with fly-bys, tournament history info, etc, it’s worth the visit so I thought I would share with y’all today.
Champ is styling in the plaid.
Sunday was surprisingly good weather-wise in the Dallas area and that meant decent playing for the pros at the Colonial for the final round which they managed to complete in its entirety. As for the golf, the finish was simply fantastic, a three-way tie between Jim Furyk, Rory Sabbatini and Bernhard Langer at 14-under meant a one-hole playoff at the 18th. Sabbatini finished off a great tournament with a 10-foot putt for the birdie and the win on the playoff. I had a good feeling about Sabbatini going in (read below in the preview), and he came through. Now that he’s got the game to backup the mouth, let’s see if he can play at Tiger’s level like he claims he can.
As for the BMW PGA Championship, Justin Rose simply couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities given to him. You could say he choked, but he did make some great shots like the approach on the par 5 18th hole that allowed him to birdie and force a playoff, it was really a brilliant shot. Shortly after the playoff, Rose announced that he was pulling out of the Memorial this weekend in preparation for the US Open (due to a nagging back injury). Unfortunately, Anders Hansen played just a little bit better holing a 25-foot birdie putt in the playoff to win. While Hansen’s win was impressive, the storyline of the day had to be the absolute blow up of third-round leaders Broadhurst (80) and Fisher (84) and the blistering final round 63 shot by Vijay Singh who came oh so close to getting to that playoff, Singh finished tied for third at 7-under. It’s too bad he wasn’t just a little bit better in the first three rounds.
Ooh rain, I’m so wet, please help me mommy.
Well, Saturday was quite the day. The story of the week continues to be the relentless rain that continued to wreak havoc with the course at the Colonial, nobody finished their third rounds and it’s doubtful that they can finish this thing by tomorrow.
Don’t look now, but Rory Sabbatini is making a final charge. He birdied five straight holes before the third round was called off and is tied for the lead. The leaderboard is looking pretty good, you have Verplank tied with Sabbatini as well as Curtis for the lead. Lonard, Maggert, and Furyk are one behind. Cink, Kelly, and Lehman are at two behind (a bunch others are right there as well, I apologize in advance if I omitted your favorite golfer). So, really, it’s anyone’s game right now. With the course so wet, the guys that are tough and can get up and down will prevail. I think Sabbatini can do it, Curtis is a tough guy, and Lehman is as steady as they come. The forecast is for rain all night, so the grounds-crew will be working overtime to get the course in playing shape. Expect this to play out into Monday morning before they announce a winner.
Meanwhile at the BMW, Rose started faltering again on Saturday which has become a ritual of late, while Harrington and Cabrera all blew up on Saturday as well. What remains are a Broadhurst and a Fisher tied at 10-under for the lead. It would be nice to see Rose come away with the win, but down 3 strokes on the final day, I hate to say it but the odds are against him on this one, looks like he has chunked the monkey again. Fisher played real strong, especially with his putter as did Broadhurst. You’d have to think that if either shot 1 or 2-under on Sunday, it should be good enough to win.
Will he choke?
The Colonial
Things starting to get interesting at the Colonial. After thunderstorms ended the rounds of half the field on Thursday, many had to play 36 holes on Friday and still a dozen or so didn’t finish their second round. But the suspense is building as the leaderboard is starting to look very interesting. The finish should not disappoint. Tim Clark currently leads at 11-under after shooting a 64 for his second round. Former British Open winner Ben Curtis is right there at 9-under as is Jim Furyk. Bernard Langer, Jeff Maggert and Tom Lehman are all at 7-under.
I really think this will be a fantastic finish. Furyk was firing at those pins with the greens so soft after the rain as was Curtis. Tim Clark really had the flat-stick going. You’ve got some veteran guys all hungry for their first win this year, this has turned out to be the must see tourney of the weekend.
The BMW
Meanwhile at the BMW, Justin Rose continues to lead shared with Angel Cabrera at 8-under after two rounds. But the story of the day was that all the highly touted top-end players were dropping like flies on Friday. Ernie had a horrific round of 76 as did Monty, Retief Goosen missed the cut, Vij made the cut but just barely, and Stenson has been unremarkable the first two rounds.
With all that talent falling off, looks to be a race between Rose, Cabrera and Harrington. Can Rose close out the win? He’s had big time problems doing that this year, and with the home town pressure, he could crack. Padraig is a man on fire right now, he’s playing with no fear, if Rose falters, watch for Padraig to take control of this thing.
It’s too bad that Ernie, Vij, Goose, and Monty all fell short. That would’ve made this much more interesting, but nevertheless, it should still be good to watch.
The Golf Channel will be broadcasting the BMW in the morning Sat/Sun (that’s PST where I live), and CBS will broadcast the Colonial Sat/Sun afternoon. To all the lucky ones with tee times, have a great golfing Memorial Day weekend. I’m out…
A couple of weeks ago, Rory Sabbatini ran his mouth off talking about how Tiger was more beatable than ever and that he was going to win three major championships this year. While Rory’s play has been rather impressive of late, it hardly justifies the cocky image he is trying to portray.
With that, we ask the question, does Sabbatini’s brash talk hurt or benefit the sport in general? On the one hand, Rory has brought much discussion and spotlight to a sport that isn’t often on the front page of sports coverage. But on the other hand, does his unecessary blabber actually add any value to the sport?
The Colonial
Hogan’s Alley was cut short on Thursday due to thunderstorms that have flooded the course. With just half of the field finished, it is tour rookie Anthony Kim who currently leads after shooting a blistering 7-under 63. Ted Purdy was 7-under through 16 while Furyk was 1-under after five holes. Other notables include Jeff Maggert who finished 6-under 64. Safe to say they’ll be working through the night to get the course ready to play at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch up. With the weather playing a major factor and par will be a good score. Those who can make fairways and hit greens will be rewarded. I doubt Furyk can make a charge, I’m picking Maggert to pull through in the end.
BMW PGA Championship
Justin Rose and Paul Broadhurst share the lead at 6-under in the first round at Wentworth. Rose was magical with the putter today, hit a couple of 20 footers to surge on the back nine. Vij disappointed with a plus one opening round while Ernie is right there at 4-under. Harrington, Stenson, Olazabal, and Montgomerie are all lurking at one or two under. This is setting up to be a fantastic finish, Sunday will be thrilling.
I don’t normally follow college golf but ever since a fellow I started following by the name of Eldrick “Tiger” Woods playing for Stanford burst on the scene, I became a more avid fan of the college game. Here is a video I found about how Tiger changed Stanford golf forever.
The D1 Championship field is set, with 30 of the best schools in the country vying for the title. The course they will be playing will be at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Course in Williamsburg, VA hosted by VCU.
I’m a west coast guy so I’ll be rooting for most of the PAC-10 teams. The Bulldogs are ranked number one, to nobody’s surprise, the rest of the teams and their seedings are below,
1 Georgia
2 Tulsa
3 Alabama
4 UCLA
5 Florida
6 Southern California
7 Lamar
8 Georgia Tech
9 Arizona State
10 Tennessee
11 Oklahoma State
12 Stanford
13 Georgia State
14 Coastal Carolina
15 East Tennessee State
16 South Carolina
17 Louisville
18 Auburn
19 Florida State
20 Vanderbilt
21 Duke
22 Arizona
23 Charlotte
24 Texas Tech
25 North Carolina
26 Michigan State
27 New Mexico
28 Wake Forest
29 Texas
30 Minnesota
Ochoa has taken advantage of Sorenstam’s absence the last few months taking first place in the world rankings. And while she appears to be the mandatory challenger to Sorenstam, I’m afraid her 15 minutes are up. With Sorenstam back, Annika will be back to her dominating ways. I like Ochoa and I think she has game, but she doesn’t have the killer instinct to close out tournaments yet. She hangs on to win rather than taking it.
Don’t expect to see Sorenstam winning right away after her injury, but it won’t be too long before she’s owning everyone on the Tour again. And it can’t come soon enough because the LPGA needs her to carry the Tour.
All those mentioned above all have a decent shot at winning this week, but Vijay and Ernie are both playing near top form. Vij has won twice this year on the PGA Tour and he’s played well at Wentworth missing just one cut in his last 11 there. Els is finally playing like the two-time US Open champion that we know. After a sub-par couple of years fighting injury, the Big Easy has that silky smooth swing working like magic again and looks charged up to make a run at another US Open title in June.
You can’t forget about Padraig Harrington fresh off his Irish Open win which he was quoted as saying was like winning a fifth major for him. Stenson finished ninth at the AT&T in Atlanta last weekend and is seventh currently in the world.
It’s really a pickem’ tournament here, so many great players, hard to pick just one to win it. One name that won’t be at Wentworth is defending champion David Howell who withdrew due to back problems. With a field so strong, can’t say it was a bad decision by Howell.
Coverage will be exclusively on The Golf Channel every morning, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun. Combined with the Colonial, you’ll be able to watch the BMW all morning, and the Colonial all afternoon. Now that’s what I call the ultimate golf spectator’s weekend!! 
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