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  • Youthful Surge

    Take a look at the age of some of this year’s youngest PGA Tour winners:
    PLAYER AGE TOURNAMENT WON Sean O’Hair 26 PODS Championship Andres Romero 27 Zurich Classic Trevor Immelman 29 The Masters Adam Scott 28 Byron Nelson Championship Anthony Kim 22 Wachovia Championship Sergio Garcia 28 THE PLAYERS Championship

    The PGATour.com website lists Trevor, Kim and Garcia as recent youthful winners and then asks who is next. Once Tiger Woods returns, I think we’ll see a solid second half of the season from him. Tiger isn’t the young-gun on tour anymore. At 32 years old, he’s coming into what is typically considered the prime golfing years. We may be seeing a trend towards younger dominance on the PGA Tour. A player’s mid-20s may be the new mid-30s.

    Next Young-Gun to Win?

    Hunter Mahan, 26 years old, played well last year, winning once and having a successful showing at the Presidents Cup in Canada. He has made nine of fourteen cuts and finished in the top-ten twice this season. He almost seems too low-key to be a serious contender every week he plays. I’m not sure what to think really.

    Colt Knost rocked the Amateur circuit last summer and just got his first win on the Nationwide Tour in last week’s Fort Knox Classic in Arkansas. I think we’ll see him soon on the PGA Tour.

    I could always pick myself, but my 20s are flying by. At nearly-27, I’ve only got three full years remaining to get my game in shape for the PGA Tour, qualify, and get that elusive first win.

    Oh, one can dream!

  • THE PLAYERS Champion: Sergio Garcia

    Sergio Garcia won THE PLAYERS Championship by paring the first playoff hole against Paul Goydos. Sergio won by playing accurate golf from tee to green and putting better than he has in three years. Confidence is a fickle attribute to acquire, retain, and, if lost, reacquire. This afternoon, Sergio took a major step towards recapturing the confidence of youth we saw when he almost caught Tiger Woods during the 1999 PGA Championship.

    After shamelessly plugging his TaylorMade golf ball and driver during his champion’s speech, Sergio graciously thanked Tiger for not playing this year’s THE PLAYERS. (Tiger is out until the Memorial or later because of knee surgery.)

    It was unfortunate that Paul Goydos tanked his tee shot on the first hole of the playoff. He played well all week and validated the commentary regarding the fairness of the new TPC of Sawgrass setup. It is truly winnable by all types of playing styles. Goydos was gracious in defeat as well, complimenting Garcia (and Jeff Quinney) on their under-par rounds.

    With this title will come added pressure for Sergio. Although he fought off the media scrutiny of his putting and lack of wins with today’s victory, the pressure will be greater in weeks to come. If he can keep his long game in shape and continues to putt well, he definitely has a chance to win a Major. Payback for last years British Open debacle? We’ll see in July.

  • Kim Wins the Wachovia

    With Lorena Ochoa’s streak of four tournament wins being snapped by Paula Creamer this past weekend, we were left with Anthony Kim’s first ever PGA Tour win at the Wachovia Championship. He won in style, finishing Sunday five shots ahead of former British Open champion Ben Curtis. And all at the young age of 22 years, 10 months and 15 days. (List of youngest winners since 1970) Some have said Kim’s performance is Tiger-esque.

    More Tiger-esque is his off-course preparation. From what I’ve read, the environment in which he grew up was well balanced. He’s been the subject of tutoring by veteran players that has given him a mature perspective on the intricacies of the PGA Tour. As Brandel Chamblee states, there are pitfalls on the PGA Tour. With success comes money. And with money can come complacency. Tiger Woods has avoided the success-induced slump for many years. It will be interesting to see if Anthony Kim can seize the “next-best” label and run with it.

    Interesting to note is that Kim has had the same coach since he was ten-years old. Adam Schriber, Kim’s coach, teaches at Crystal Mountain in Michigan near my home town of Traverse City.

    So, Kim, let’s see some more wins and continued success!

  • Early Morning Rounds

    I haven’t had the opportunity to play an early morning round of golf in a long time, but boy do I miss it. There is just something about the chill in the air, the uninterrupted dew on the fairways and greens, and the empty course waiting to be played that makes for a peaceful morning. Dodging the mowers can be tricky, but fun.

    My penchant for early morning rounds likely developed during my junior golfing days. At the young age of ten or eleven I started competing in nine-hole tournaments at local golf courses. The courses donated (I presume) early morning course time to the Traverse City Junior Golf Association for us to compete. And compete we did, once a week through the summer. There were usually about eight or ten tournaments, which worked out to one per week. Just enough to establish a competitive season without being too great a burden on our parents, who got us to the course at obscenely early hours.

    Later, high school golf tryouts started at 6am and ran all week. Needless to say, it was a very tiring week. High school tournaments were usually played early, too. And there were always too many pranks to be played and fun to be had to get to bed early.

    So, through all of this nostalgic wandering is the reason I like playing early in the morning. It gives me a reason to think back on my childhood when I had trouble falling asleep because I was so exciting and nervous about the next mornings nine-hole tournament. That feeling never went away, and to this day, I still get butterflies in my stomach when I tee up my Titleist on the first tee and take those stiff practice swings.

  • Byron Nelson Round 3 Recap

    Adam Scott is playing well. His swing looks as Tiger-esque as ever and he seems to be steering the ball around the tight launch corridors of the newly renovated TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas course in Irving, Texas quite well. His three-shot will be enough for him to win today. The course is playing too difficult for anyone to catch Scott.

    A few things surprised me about the Tournament:

    1) The course was really green.

    I had only seen pictures of the course from pre-tournament when the fairways looked to be as hard as the runways at DFW and the was more brown grass than green. The course looks great, and consequently, makes for great TV viewing.

    2) The players were bombing it.

    The telecast followed Ryan Moore and Adam Scott for most of the afternoon. They were just punishing the golf ball. Guys were reaching a par five with short irons. Fun to watch after what the Masters gave us.

    Despite the long bombs, this Championship is turning out to be one of the toughest tests of golf of the year. What used to be thought of as a birdie extravaganza is now playing as tough as a Major. You just don’t see eight under leading at a typical PGA Tour event after 54 holes. 18 maybe, but not 54.

    3) Sergio Garcia is in the Hunt?

    Sergio shot the second lowest round of the tournament yesterday – a 65 – despite hitting only two of thirteen fairways. It would be nice to see him regain some confidence via results. He’s taken quite beating since his immature actions after losing the 2007 British Open.

    With that said, if Sergio is in the hunt at four under, then a heap of other guys are too:

    Bart Bryant, Kevin Southerland (no relation to “24″ star Kiefer), Charley Hoffman, and Ryan Moore are all tied at five under.

    Sergio Garcia, Dudley Hart, and Jesper Parnevik are at four under.

    The best Scott may have to do to win today is shoot one or two under. It’s going to take a great round on a tough final day from one of the other guys to catch up to him.

  • One Shot to Impress

    Imagine that you are in the following situations with only one swing – one shot – a single attempt to impress. What shot do you hit?

    Your significant other is watching you hit balls on the range for the first time?
    Driver

    You’re on the first tee with your potential boss. He just duffed it.
    Modest 2 iron

    Tiger Woods, strolling by casually, is watching. He needs a pro-am partner.
    Smooth 6 iron.

    You are leading by one at THE PLAYERS Championship teeing off on 18.
    Hard driver.

    Your golf pro starts hitting balls next to you on the range.
    Smooth 7 iron.

    Your best ball partner shows up after you talked up your (rusty) game all week at the office.
    Hit the putting green!

    Phil Mickelson shows up at the practice green next to you and starts hitting flop shots.
    A higher flop shot!

    You’re having a chipping contest with your dad in the back yard.
    Low sand wedge.

    It’s interesting to think of when you want to impress, show off skill, or ensure a solid shot. What would you do in these situations? Do you have any good ones of your own?

  • EDS Byron Nelson Championship’s Many Names

    Episode #2 of The Yug Show was filmed yesterday, but due to technical difficulties I wasn’t able to post it. Here are the show notes:

    Good morning, golf fans. It’s Wednesday, April 23 and this is the Yug Show with Chris Rogers. The EDS Byron Nelson Championship starts tomorrow. It is the PGA Tour’s eighth longest running event going all the way back to WWII 1944. When Byron Nelson won the inaugural iteration of this event, it was titled the Texas Victory Open. Personally, I would rather win something by that name than the current one. I’m sure the money is better now, though!

    Since Nelson’s victory in 1944, the tournament has had the following names:

    * Dallas Open
    * Dallas Invitational
    * Dallas Centennial Open
    * Texas International Open
    * Dallas Open Invitational
    * Byron Nelson Golf Classic — In 1968 the tournament was the first PGA Tour event to be named after a professional golfer.
    * GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic
    * GTE Byron Nelson Classic
    * Verizon Byron Nelson Classic
    * CURRENT: EDS Byron Nelson Championship

    I can just imagine the tournament organizers sitting in a room for hours debating whether Open or Invitation should come first in the name. Whether it should be a Classic or a Championship. Classic, of course, has a retro air to it. Championship clearly not retro, but rather more weighty.

    After all of this, the current sponsors are upset with their position in the PGA Tour schedule, which isn’t drawing the top players. They’re threatening to withdraw their sponsorship.

    So, who will the next sponsor be if EDS bails?

    Surely the title will have Byron Nelson in it. But Classic or Championship? Open or Invitational? What about the Byron Nelson Open Invitational Classic Championship?

    I’ll preview the actual tournament and players tomorrow morning. Swing hard and putt well.