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  • So, 64 is Normal?

    Tiger’s last five rounds are 65, 63, 64, 63, and 64. It doesn’t even look like work on the part 70 courses on which the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship are played. The rain helps, I suppose. These guys can just toss the ball up in the air and have it stick where it lands next to the cup. But that’s assuming a lot. First, that they are hitting it in the fairway. Second, that they’re hitting it close to the pin, which isn’t supposed to look as easy as it has these last few weeks. I mean, did you see Stricker and Woods staking ever single approach shot at the BMW? And this week at the Tour Championship, the 18th hole played 223 yards for the final round and most of the tee-shots landed within ten feet. That’s ridiculous.

    Anyway, how often does a player shoot five sub-65 rounds in a row? Tiger may have to post another sub-65 round if Calcavecchia keeps his gut out of the way for another day and can stake some more zippers close enough to tap them in on those shaggy greens at East Lake.

    Oh, and let’s not forget that the reigning Masters champion, Zach Johnson shot a 60 today.

  • 28 on the Front Nine

    Tiger shot 28 on the front nine during his second round at the Tour Championship. Five birdies and an eagle. Crazy.

    The lowest nine-hole score ever was 26, shot by Corey Pavin during the 2006 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. The par was 34.

  • FedEx Cup Cheat Sheet

    The final event of the PGA Tour’s 2007 season starts Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s also the final even in the FedEx Cup playoff series, the winner of which will be awarded the largest prize in sports – a $10 million dollar annuity.

    There are 30 players remaining in the playoffs, but only the top six have a chance to win the FedEx Cup. And, realistically, only the top three have a real chance.

    FedEx Cup Rankings:

    1. Tiger Woods (112,733)
    2. Steve Stricker (109,600)
    3. Phil Mickelson (108,613)
    4. Rory Sabbatini (103,588)
    5. K.J. Choi (103,100)
    6. Aaron Baddeley (102,800)

    Here’s a link to the PGA Tour’s digest of who could win the FedEx Cup depending on who winds the Tour Championship.

  • East Lake Greens a Mess

    It was just announced that the greens at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia where the Tour Championship is to be held next week are so severely damaged that the pro-am tournament scheduled for Wednesday was canceled and the players are not allowed to practice on the greens prior to the start of play on Thursday.

    That sounds absurd. It reminds me of high school golf when we were lucky to have time to hit range balls in the morning before our tournaments. Many of the players who will make it to the Tour Championship will have been there before, and will be somewhat familiar with the course. Still, a practice round is always helpful to get acclimated to a course.

  • FedEx Cup: Projected Standings

    The FedEx Cup is the new end-of-season playoff for the PGA Tour. It is comprised of the last four events of the year and the field is reduced after the second event to 70 players and again after the third event to 30 players for the final event, the Tour Championship. Throughout the season players accumulate points, which are used to establish the rankings for the final four-event playoff series. At the start of the four-event series the points are reset, presumably so that the race is competitive. Woods, who had a large lead before the playoff events commenced, was set to 100,000 points. Second place was set to 99,000 points. A mere 1000 points separating the leaders is insignificant considering that the winning share of points for any of the play-off events is about 9000 points.

    What has made the new system especially compelling and more user-friendly are the frequently updated “projected standings.” Instead of waiting until each of the individual playoff tournaments conclude to update the point standing, the online scoreboard and the TV commentators provide updates hole by hole. The projected standings change frequently, but that only lends to the excitement.

  • Black and Go Blue

    The Big House was silenced and emptied yesterday when Oregon defeated Michigan, 39-7. This comes one week after Michigan lost to Appalachian State, 34-32, in what was considered the greatest upset in sports history. Continuing from last season, Michigan has now lost four games in a row. The loosing streak as been dubbed “The Curse of Bo,” referring to the fact that the Michigan men’s football team has lost every game they have played since Bo Schembechler, who coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989, died on November 17, 2006, one day before the Michigan v. Ohio State game last season.

    Lloyd Carr has been burdened with much of the blame for Michigan’s poor performance. The following craigslist post pretty much sums up the Michigan fans’ sentiment towards his value to the team.

  • High Output for Woods

    One of the most impressive statistics in golf is that Tiger Woods has led the PGA Tour World Money List seven of the last ten years by playing fewer events than the runner up in every year except 1999. In other words, he’s winning more money than any other professional golfer while playing in fewer tournaments. In some years, he’s playing in as many as nine fewer tournaments. And this year, while not yet over, Woods leads the money list having played in just fifteen tournaments and will likely finish at the top having played in 17 tournaments to the runner-ups 22 events.

    As a side note, this year Woods total of 17 events will be the fewest number of tournaments he has played during a full season since joining the PGA Tour in 1996.

    The point where this graph jumps above $6 Million is 1999, the year the World Golf Championship events were introduced. Big money. Greg Norman campaigned for world events similar to the WGC for years. I’m not sure it would have ever happened if Woods had not joined the tour. It’s not a coincidence that the leading money winner now earns in excess of five times what they earned ten years ago.

    (Woods was the money leader in the years the points coincide.)

    Here, we see that no one has won the money list by playing in fewer tournaments than Woods.

    (Woods was the money leader in the years the points coincide.)