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  • Lorena Ochoa – A New Tiger?

    There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding Lorena Ochoa’s dominance of the LPGA Tour and claims that she is the next Tiger Woods.

    The Streaks

    Lorena Ochoa has won four tournaments in a row on the LPGA Tour. Just this past weekend, she shot four rounds in the sixties for a nineteen under total of 296 at the Ginn Open. That was good enough for a three-shot win. She’s also finished second, first, first in her last three Major championships.

    Tiger Woods’ win at the 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational was his sixth worldwide win in a row, however these wins did not come in consecutive weeks. In fact, only his end of 2007 wins in the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship were back-to-back. Further, Tiger’s Major finished for the past year have been second, second, twelfth, first, second.

    Time Will Tell

    There is no doubt that Lorena is red hot right now and has had more recent success than Tiger, but only time will tell if she truly is the next Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam.

    What would make Ochoa an instant household name is success on the PGA Tour. No matter how you slice it, the PGA Tour is the dominant grounds of professional golf competition. Michelle Wie’s attempts to make a PGA Tour cut are evidence of this. When Ochoa tees it up in a PGA Tour event, makes a cut, and wins we can start calling her the next Tiger Woods. Until then, she’s the next Annika.

  • Boo Wins Verizon Heritage

    In case you haven’t seen, heard or read, Boo Weekley won the Verizon Heritage by three shots. The final leaderboard showed Boo at -15 with Anthony Kim and Aaron Baddeley tied for second at -12. There was no one close to Boo on Sunday, and despite being put on the clock for slow play on the 10th hole, he won the winners share of $990,000 and 4500 FedEX Cup points.

    More entertaining than yesterday’s final round are the headlines titling the win. So far, I’ve seen:

    * Boo Boo (link)
    * Back-to-Back Boo (link)
    * Boo Week
    * Boo Knows Hilton Head (link)
    * True Boo (link)

  • Boo’s Huntin’ For A Win

    “Thomas Brent “Boo” Weekley … is a fat guy who plays on the PGA Tour.” (Wikipedia) How eloquent.

    Boo is stepping into the role from which John Daly has so ungraciously exited – that of the blue collar golfer who is more NASCAR fan and full-time sportsman (the fishing and hunting kind) than elitist golfer. The golf course is just a job that keeps him away from his family and fishing rod.

    There’s no doubt he is an exceptional player. He has played in the last four Majors and made the cut in every one. He won the Verizon Heritage last year after chipping in twice in a row, and is looking at a repeat victory this year. Boo is leading by three going into the final round of the this years Verizon Heritage. With only one bogey in his last 40 holes and rounds of 64 and 65, his chances to successfully defend look solid.

  • Tiger Woods Succumbs to the Utah Blade

    Not really. But he did have arthroscopic knee surgery.

    My only question is, would he have had the surgery if he won the Masters?

    The knee has been bothering him since the middle of last year. Obviously he didn’t want to have it during the month he took off leading up to the Masters. Why not during his longest break from competitive golf?

    Was he worried about his performance in the unofficial Tiger Woods Challenge?

    Could he not get an appointment until this week?

  • Masters’ Leftovers

    Masters’ Leftovers

    John Feinstein lets us know that “Golf Will Survive without a Major from Woods.”

    Trevor Immelman does the Top 10 on The Late Show with David Letterman:

    Geoff Shackelford excerpts from Golf World and The Times highlighting that the general consensus is that Augusta National “has become all about playing defensively and minimizing damage.”

    My two cents — The Masters is boring now. There’s no movement. There are far too few opportunities on the back nine to perpetuate the foregone fact and now legend that “it all comes down to the back nine on Sunday at the Masters.”

    Jay Coffin brags of his round at Augusta National on Monday after the Masters.

    Patricia of Golf Girl’s Diary shares Brandt Snedeker’s snicker’s cocktail.

    Golf Digest’s Bill Fields wraps up pretty much everything else having to do with this years’ Masters.

    Geoff Shackelford excerpts Steve Elling’s “There’s more scoring in soccer.”

    Seems like if the Masters wants to remain the April darling that it always was, something needs to change — fast. It’s nice to see the little guys win every so often, but not every year at the Masters. And certainly not without a heroic battle on the back nine of Augusta National.

  • THE PLAYERS is the Next Major

    Some will have you believe that the next scheduled Major for the 2008 PGA Tour season is the U.S. Opon at Torrey Pines in San Diego, California. It’s not.

    THE PLAYERS Championship is the perennial “fifth-major.” I’m using this post to make it official, as it clearly should be.

    The Purse — It has the largest purse of the season at $9,000,000 with $1,700,000 going to the winner. The field is stronger than in any other tournament all year.

    The Field — It has the strongest and purest field. The Masters is notorious for it’s small field. Qualifiers and unwilling travelers dilute the fields at the U.S. and British Opens. Same for the PGA Championship with PGA teaching pros taking up spots.

    Fan Factor — Besides having a huge purse and top-notch field, the TPC Sawgrass is the single most exciting tournament to watch either live or on TV. The course is designed for spectators. And the par-three 17th hole with the island green followed by the 18th with water up the left is an impressive finishing stretch. There is risk-reward around every dogleg on the TPC Sawgrass.

    What does this mean? Tiger Woods has another major, which puts him at 14. More importantly this adds three to Jack Nicklaus’ total of 18. He’s got 21 now. Get a move on Tiger. Numerous other golfers now have a major. Congratulations, guys!

    The U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship have nothing on THE PLAYERS — except maybe that they’re official majors. I’m changing that, though. By Yugflog standards, there are five majors now.

  • Post-Masters Blues

    The only things left from the 2008 Masters are a few highlights and some half-hearted coverage on the golf channel.

    The final round was plain and simple. The leader backed up and no one wanted it badly enough to make up the difference. Brandt Snedeker’s disappointment was made too clear by his weeping during the news conference. He couldn’t explain his emotions, and many won’t understand. But I would imagine the pressure of leading or being near the lead was increasingly suppressed. Smiles on the course in the face of good and bad breaks come at a cost.

    Trevor Immelman played as well as he needed to. If he hadn’t hit the ball in the water on the par 3 16th hole, I would have been able to stand by his win and say that it’s what was supposed to happen. However, that’s not the case. Instead of him winning the Masters, everyone else lost it. Snedeker, Flesch, Casey, and Woods could have walked away with the tournament. All but Woods backed up with miserable rounds on Sunday.

    You win some, you’re handed some. There’s no doubt that Immelman worked hard to fulfill his dream of winning the Masters. It’s a fact that someone had to walk away the winner on Sunday. But, as a viewer, fan and participant in the game of golf, I was hoping for more… excitement… tenacity… drama.