Golf Talk

At the press conference yesterday, Boo Weekley discussed among other things, his love for huntin’ and fishin’:

I want to play 10 or 12 years, whatever it takes to get enough money in the bank. I’m done. I love the game; I get tired of the grind. But my heart is really with hunting and fishing.

Just classic, Boo is one of those feel good southerners that say the first thing that comes to their mind. And he ain’t no slouch on the golf course either, shot a 65 yesterday.

Updated, I found the video of the interview on Youtube, watch and enjoy…

Boo Weekley, PGA Championship

Holding off charges by Ernie Els and Woody Austin, Tiger played good enough to capture his first major of the year and his 13th for his career. He is just 5 shy of Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 majors.

As expected, Stephen Ames struggled playing with Tiger and finished 2-over.

Obviously, the 63 on Friday was the turning point, it allowed him to vault to the lead which he would not give up. That was the difference between the Masters and US Open earlier in the year, Tiger had that one fantastic round that got him into the lead.

Phil Mickelson says he’s playing pain free, and he had a decent final round. I expect him to start playing up to standard starting with the FedEx Cup events.

Vijay Singh was disappointing, but given his crazy travel schedule the last month, it was hardly surprising.

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Tiger Woods

TW decided to put it into cruise control today and for good reason as nobody made a real charge. Scott Verplank, Tiger’s playing partner on Saturday, self-destructed on 12 and never recovered. Stephen Ames is now in sole possession of second at 3-shots back of Tiger, which means he will be paired with Tiger on Sunday, I pity the fool…

No doubt, Tiger will take it, he’s never been stronger, his iron shots off the tee have been remarkably accurate and surprisingly long. The putting is there as well. Don’t expect Tiger to wear his usual red tomorrow, I think he’ll go with a lighter color instead to stay slightly cooler.

Not much else to mention, I like the way Ernie Els is playing right now, I think next year could be his year.

Talk to y’all tomorrow…

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Tiger Woods

This is how the leaderboard looks with Tiger making the turn,

POS / Name / SCORING TO PAR ROUNDS TOTAL
====================================
1 — Tiger Woods -7 11 -1 71 63 - - 134
2 — Scott Verplank -4 11 E 70 66 - - 136
T3 2 Woody Austin -2 12 E 68 70 - - 138
T3 — Stephen Ames -2 11 +1 68 69 - - 137
T3 — Geoff Ogilvy -2 11 +1 69 68 - - 137
6 3 Ernie Els -1 15 -1 72 68 - - 140
T7 12 K.J. Choi E F -2 71 71 68 - 210
T7 12 Kevin Sutherland E F -2 73 69 68 - 210
T7 23 Nathan Green E F -3 75 68 67 - 210
T7 48 Boo Weekley E F -5 76 69 65 - 210
T7 2 Adam Scott E 14 E 72 68 - - 140
T7 1 John Senden E 12 +1 69 70 - - 139
T13 42 Trevor Immelman +1 F -4 75 70 66 - 211
T13 4 John Daly +1 15 +1 67 73 - - 140
T13 4 Arron Oberholser +1 14 +1 68 72 - - 140
T13 7 Pat Perez +1 13 +2 70 69 - - 139
T17 2 Sean O’Hair +2 F E 70 72 70 - 212
T17 13 Peter Hanson +2 F -1 72 71 69 - 212
T17 2 Troy Matteson +2 15 +1 72 69 - - 141

Tiger clearly has this thing in cruise control, may add 1 or 2 more shots before the end of the round today. Scott Verplank and Stephen Ames are grinding it out.

The other big story is Sergio Garcia signing an incorrect card and is thus DQ. This actually happens quite frequently, just isn’t reported that much. This especially happens a lot when guys shoot high scores and can’t keep track of their shots, kinda like how you and I are out there hacking away trying to count the strokes, 1, 2, 3, uhh, 4, 5, uhh, 6, 7, uhh….

Catch the Official PGA Championship leaderboard here.

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Southern Hills, Tiger Woods

TW had quite the round today. In case you missed it, he was hitting every thing in the sun, a stretch of 5 birdies. The guy was simply unstoppable on Friday. Is there any doubt that he won’t win it all by Sunday?? Don’t bet on it.

There were some other good rounds, I have an early tee time tomorrow so I won’t go too much into it. Scott Verplank, Stephen Ames and Geoff Ogilvy are closest to Tiger.

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Tiger Woods

This is how the leaderboard looks like with the leaders through the 12th hole,

POS / Name / SCORING TO PAR ROUNDS TOTAL
====================================
1 12 Scott Verplank -4 F -4 70 66 - - 136
T2 1 Stephen Ames -3 F -1 68 69 - - 137
T2 4 Camilo Villegas -3 8 -2 69 - - - 69
T4 1 Woody Austin -2 F E 68 70 - - 138
T4 2 Geoff Ogilvy -2 6 -1 69 - - - 69
T6 — John Senden -1 F E 69 70 - - 139
T6 17 Niclas Fasth -1 7* -2 71 - - - 71
T6 7 Sergio Garcia -1 6 -1 70 - - - 70
T6 17 Tiger Woods -1 4 -2 71 - - - 71
T6 — Lee Westwood -1 3 E 69 - - - 69
T6 4 John Daly -1 3* +2 67 - - - 67
T12 24 Adam Scott E F -2 72 68 - - 140
T12 58 Paul McGinley E F -4 74 66 - - 140
T12 9 Arron Oberholser E 6* +2 68 - - - 68
T12 1 Frank Lickliter, II E 2:45 p CT* - 70 - - - 70
T16 37 Stuart Appleby +1 F -2 73 68 - - 141
T16 20 Troy Matteson +1 F -1 72 69 - - 141
T16 15 Graeme Storm +1 F +6 65 76 - - 141
T16 3 Sean O’Hair +1 7* +1 70 - - - 70
T16 3 Rod Pampling +1 5* +1 70 - - - 70
T16 20 Stewart Cink +1 5 -1 72 - - - 72
T16 20 Ernie Els +1 5 -1 72 - - - 72
T16 7 K.J. Choi +1 3 E 71 - - - 71
T16 3 Brad LardonPGA +1 2* +1 70 - - - 70
T16 3 Pat Perez +1 2* +1 70 - - - 70

Scott Verplank, the Oklahoma St alum made the biggest charge in the morning to get to 4-under and the lead. Canadian Stephen Ames is grinded his way to a 1-under round and 3-under total for sole possession of second. Graeme Storm, first round leader disappeared and John Daly appears to be falling back.

Watch for Tiger, he’s at 1-under and making a charge now, 2-under through his first 2 holes.

Catch the Official PGA Championship leaderboard here.

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Southern Hills, John Daly, Tiger Woods

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

There some interesting rounds posted today at the conclusion of round one of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa (OK). Tiger finished in the black with a 1-over round, played well early but struggled on the back nine. John Daly didn’t play a practice round and basically hung out for two weeks prior, and shot a 3-under for sole possession of second. Your clubhouse leader is Graeme Storm of England, shooting a hot 5-under round.

Phil Mickelson stumbled to a 3-over round after a quick start. Angel Cabrera looked to be in contention but his 10 at the par 3 sixth hole took him out of the championship.

There’s plenty of golf left to be played, but if John Daly can hang on, it would be the feel good story of the year…

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Graeme Storm, John Daly, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson

This is how the leaderboard looks like with the leaders through the 12th hole,

POS / Name / SCORING TO PAR ROUNDS TOTAL
====================================
1 - John Daly -3 16 -3 - - - - -
T2 - Arron Oberholser -2 F -2 68 - - - 68
T2 - Lee Westwood -2 15* -2 - - - - -
T2 - Graeme Storm -2 2* -2 - - - - -
T5 - Mark Wilson -1 F -1 69 - - - 69
T5 - Markus Brier -1 F -1 69 - - - 69
T5 - Camilo Villegas -1 F -1 69 - - - 69
T5 - Geoff Ogilvy -1 F -1 69 - - - 69
T5 - Pat Perez -1 15 -1 - - - - -
T5 - Ken Duke -1 14 -1 - - - - -
T5 - Brad LardonPGA -1 14 -1 - - - - -
T5 - Frank Lickliter, II -1 14 -1 - - - - -
T5 - Bubba Watson -1 1 -1 - - - - -
T5 - Woody Austin -1 1* -1 - - - - -
T15 - Sean O’Hair E F E 70 - - - 70
T15 - Retief Goosen E F E 70 - - - 70
T15 - Sergio Garcia E F E 70 - - - 70
T15 - Rod Pampling E F E 70 - - - 70
T15 - Joe Durant E 2* E - - - - -
T15 - Jose Coceres E 2* E - - - - -
T15 - D.J. Trahan E 2* E - - - - -
T15 - Richard Green E 1 E - - - - -
T15 - Joe Ogilvie E 1 E - - - - -
T15 - Angel Cabrera E 1 E - - - - -
T15 - Padraig Harrington E 1 E - - - - -
T15 - Nathan Green E 1* E - - - - -
T15 - Wen Chong Liang E 1* E - - - - -

Wow, what a turn of events. Tiger was in the lead through the first 9 and has dropped several shots since, sitting at +1. JD, my man John Daly is hammering the ball today. Though he’s always 1 hole, 1 shot away from throwing away the thing, lets hope the big guy can hang on.

The heat, man the heat, it’s a killer out there. Keep those water bottles handy.

Mickelson getting set to tee off, Furyk is off to rocky start with the back injury.

Lots of guys still need to play through their rounds, afternoon update to follow.

Catch the Official PGA Championship leaderboard here.

PGA Tour, PGA Championship, Southern Hills, John Daly, Tiger Woods

(Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

We’re here, the final major of the year, the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa (OK) that kicks off on Thursday. Regular readers know that I base my picks on Yahoo!’s Fantasy Golf lineup so if you’re familiar with that pool, you’ll know the format of how I’m picking.

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A selection of quotes from today’s press conference at Southern Hills in Tulsa (OK), site of the 2007 PGA Championship.

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PGA Championship week is like any other week with a major, lots and lots of news. Today, a couple of articles came out. The first one discusses how the tour pros have had to battle tougher course conditions in major tournaments than in years past. The second article is Phil Mickelson saying he’s near 100% but that he still has pain in his wrist.

First of all, my belief is that major tournaments are suppose to be tough. If a player shoots 18-under at a major, the course wasn’t setup properly. Par is a good score at a major.

As for Phil, you can tell that he won’t win this week because he’s already making excuses for himself so that when he misses the cut, he can claim “Hey, I told you all I still had pain.” But it’s still hard to not like Phil, he’s like an epic greek poem, heroic and tragic all in one.

PGA Championship, tough course conditions, Phil Mickelson