The summer golf season is in full swing...
First of all golfers, apologies for my absence. Over the last 2 months I have been extremely busy with work, teaching and working on my game.
Have played in a few tournaments of late, so trying to get my game tip-top for the summer months ahead.
The weather has been kind to us here in the UK and I have taken full advantage and put into practice some of the things I worked hard at over the winter. One of these days, everything will come together and I will shoot that perfect score.
What was it Ben Hogan once said;
“Until you birdie all 18 holes, you haven’t perfected this game”.
Thats how i feel at the moment, got to keep working hard, and results will show.
Anyway, over the last 2 months, I have still kept on all things golf from both sides of the Atlantic.
We have had the Masters, the Players, the Texas Swing and now as we head towards the US Open we have a summer of tournaments that have us all wondering, can the upcoming tournaments match up to last summer’s dramatics…
Quick Recap
What can I say that hasn’t already been written about the Masters in April. As readers of this blog will know, one of my fave players out there, Kenny Perry went so close to capturing the green jacket at the age of 48, to throw it away with 2 holes to play.
Take Perry back to the 17th green, throw him that chip shot back and tell Kenny to have another go, he probably wouldn’t blade the next one.
Cabrera played some courageous shots down the stretch and made everyone in Argentina very proud of him, and now as winner of 2 Majors, he is only 2 away from completing the career grand slam… Not bad at all for a guy 4 years ago, nobody outside of Argentina and Europe had heard of.
Brian Gay dominated the Heritage… enough said. Jerry Kelly won well in New Orleans. I have played TPC Louisiana, and I can tell you, that course is not easy, so well done to Kelly for over coming his demons and getting back in the winners circle.
We headed to Charlotte for the Quail Hollow Championship, and watched Sean O’Hair, fully justify why he will be such a strong competitor on the tour for years to come.
During the coverage that week, they compared O’Hairs swing to Tiger’s, and at impact it was uncanny how similar they were… Good Luck to Sean, after years of struggles, all the hard work is paying off.
Then we headed to the famous 17th green and the TPC Sawgrass for The Players. And for one of the world’s best, it was an awesome Sunday performance.
Henrik Stenson of Sweden, swept the field on Sunday and shot a brilliant 66 to win the tournament and claim the prestigious title, and following Sergio the previous year, for a 2 in a row win for the Europeans.
Stenson had played a shot in his Hugo Boss boxers at Doral in March and was on every TV show and in every magazine for that one shot. The golf he produced at the Players was out of this world, and he hopefully will be rememberd for his golf this spring, not his choice of underwear.
We then moved on to the Texas swing, and to three tournaments that had glorious weather (apart from one day at the Valero) and all had worthy winners and pretty similar stories.
Zach Johnson claimed his 2nd win of the season at the Valero Texas, birdying the first playoff hole to beat James Driscoll.
At the Byron Classic, Rory Sabbatini showed some adopted hometown form to capture the title over a very steady Brian Davis. Davis who secured his 4th straight top 5 finish with a 2nd at the Byron, excellent playing Brian.
We then this past week moved on to Colonial, and to my fantasy pick of the week Tim Clark.
I thought Clark was finally going to break his duck this week and win his first tournament in 180 or so events.
$13 mill in the bank and no title, some of us would be quite content I guess. However, these guys play to win, and the two miss putts Clark missed on 18 and the first playoff hole must have hurt.
However, on 17 he hit one of his accurate iron shots, thinking he had stuffed it to give himself a golden chance. However, as we all know when the golf gods are not with you, THEY ARE NOT WITH YOU!!!!
The ball cannoned off the flag spun 20 feet back and left himself too much too do. Plucky old Steve Stricker rolled his birdie putt in and claimed his first title since 2007 Barclays at Westchester.
For Stricks as he is known, you could see how much it meant to him, as tears were in his eyes when being interviewed by Kostis of CBS.
Unlucky…
Followers, will know I praised Clark’s game when he beat Tiger back in February at the Match-Play. If he had won this week, it would have been a victory both sides of the pond for the little guy.
At the European Open in London, one of the shortest players on tour, French golfer Crevear, outdueled the field with his favorite hybrid club and eventually won by won.
If Clark had won at Colonial it definitely would have been a victory for the short hitters on both tours.
One final world, “Popeye” himself Paul Casey has climbed up to no 3 in the world. Great achievement for Paul who has won 3 times this year already and is a very good bet for the US Open or even US PGA in August.
With Andy Murray getting all the press over here for being the 3rd best tennis player in the world, it would be nice if Casey got the same recognition, for being no 3 behind Tiger and Phil.
This Week
So we move to one of my fave events of the year. Back in the day, I remember TW holing a chip shot on the par 3 on the back 9 for a remarkable par, and then running around high fiving the whole gallery. Can’t see him doing that now, but he does return this week to Jack’s event.
Jack and Tiger have actually only ever played in a serious match once together at the 2000 PGA where Tiger won at Valhalla.
On Wed this week they play in a skins game together against Perry and Cink. Should be worth a watch…
The question will always remain… Can Tiger catch Jack? And if so… When?
This week, will be Tiger’s last warm up for the US Open in 2 weeks time. Can he improve on his last performance at the Players where he really did fight his swing.
With Bethpage approaching fast, you can guarantee he has been working hard on his game as well as watching the Magic reach the NBA Finals.
With Tiger being an avid follower of the Magic, at ringside pretty much every big game, but however being a Lakers boy at heart. These finals will be very interesting to watch for TW.
The action starts on Thursday, and I will be glued to both the golf and the basketball…
What a summer of Golf we have ahead of us. I’m off to get the drinks and snacks ready for Thursday, it may be a long night over here in the UK.
Till next time... enjoy the golf!
DJ - 6/1/09
