The Rogers News

Tag: Golf

  • Presidents Cup: Day Two

    The Presidents Cup itself was the biggest winner today thanks to the International team making up a significant amount of ground and preventing the weekend play from becoming a mere formality. Nothing would have been worse than watching the teams go through the motions for the final two days of quality golf of the season.

    The U.S. enters the weekend with seven points, two points ahead of the International team. The final total would have been closer but for Woody Austin’s solid play on the final three holes. After falling in the water after trying to hit out of the water on the 14th hole he went par-birdie-birdie-birdie to reduce the match to all-square from two-down and secure a half point.

    The Stricker-Verplank combo was the only U.S. pair to win a match outright today, while the usually dependable Woods-Furyk pair got trounced by Singh-Appleby. I thought the Mickelson-Mahan duo would have performed better than they did. Down early, they fought back to all-square only to lose the final hole and the match.

    Prediction for Day Three: The International team will put up more of a fight during the morning foursomes matches and takeover the overall Cup lead during the afternoon four-ball matches.

  • Presidents Cup: Day One

    The U.S. team won five matches and halved one match today. That’s a pretty solid showing for a team that is generally perceived to have missed that day in first grade when you’re taught to play well with others.

    Both teams’ performances looked unspectacular on TV. Are we seeing the effect of “FedEx Fatigue”? Or is it just first-day jitters? The fact that Tiger Woods popped-up his opening tee shot proves that this Cup still means something to the players. The first tee nerves wouldn’t be here if the players didn’t want to win this thing.

    Hopefully the Int’l team will put some points on the board tomorrow and the atmosphere will tighten over the weekend. If not, Royal Montreal may be open for member play on Sunday.

  • Presidents Cup: My Predictions

    The U.S. team will defeat the International team 19-16, but it will ultimately depend on the Sunday singles matches. The U.S. is notorious for playing slightly less than inspiring golf during four-ball and foursomes. And while the International team doesn’t have the same flare as the GB & I players in Ryder Cup years, they seem to gel better – probably because they have less “big” names, which translate into big egos. Lastly, I think the crowd will be largely neutral considering how close Montreal is to the U.S.

  • Golf News Round Up #1

    I’ve come across a lot of interesting golf stories today, so I’m posting them in a links post. Here we go:

    Lots of caddies are wearing and being sponsored by Crocs, the hideous floating footwear that is really popular in Boston (personal observation).

    In Golf We Trust takes a look at players who credit God for their on-course abilities.

    Golf World says to watch the Presidents Cup closely or wait until January. Apparently the Fall Series isn’t that big of a draw. Duh.

    ESPN provides the most poorly formatted Presidents Cup first-day line up.

    Golf Digest says Nicklaus wants Woods to play Weir, but finding a partner for Woods in team matches is more difficult.

    Euro-drama between Nick Faldo and some guy named Paul McGinley. Nick is captain for the GB & I team for the Seve Trophy and he’s also the 2008 Ryder Cup captain. Nick didn’t pick Paul for this years Seve Trophy, so Paul decided to quit as Nick’s assistant in order to “focus on his play for the Ryder Cup.” Uh huh, sure. (Via Waggle Room)

    The Trilby Tour sounds like something an English tailor would organize. Designer clothes are supplied to all of the players.

  • Super Cup: Combine the Cups

    I’m a huge golf fan. More good golf on TV should make me happier, but that’s just not the case lately. I’m burned out and I haven’t even left my couch. (Or is that the problem?) I don’t want to feel compelled to watch golf every week for two months straight. There should be some build-up between tournaments to get the golf fan taste buds salivating.

    This is why I propose that the Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup and Seve Trophy be combined into one Super Cup. It would be a bigger draw all around and it would allow the Cup anticipation to build up for a full two years. Further, it would give the players, who if you ask me, look cupped-out, a well deserved break from cup competition.

    The format I propose would be similar to the current Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup formats except the players were play in sixsomes. Yes, I know. That is unheard of. But that would only make the Super Cup more spectacular. It would be three-way matches with an international pair, a U.S. pair, and a Great Britain & Ireland pair. Or, the event could be turned into a two week golf bananza and a round-robin format would be employed.

    There are many possibilities. Any one of them would be better than the current onslaught of Cups we’re dealing with today.

  • The Presidents Cup: Reasons to Watch

    If you need an excuse to watch the Presidents Cup this week, here are a few enticing stories to keep an eye on:

    How well does Mike Weir play? – Gary Player overlooked some players with impressive recent performances to go with Canadian Mike Weir as a captain’s choice. Weir hasn’t done anything remarkable lately, so look to see if this lefty’s waggle stands up under pressure.

    Does Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan’s youth win them extra points? – Jack Nicklaus favored youth with his captain’s selections. These guys are 27 and 25, respectively. Toss in the 28-year old Charles Howell, too. Will their youth play out as inexperience or beginner’s luck? Expect these guys to go out early and be paired with more experienced players.

    Will Tiger come through? – Tiger doesn’t have a stellar record in team play and matchplay events as a professional. Considering he won six national matchplay events in a row as an amateur, more has been expected of him. Expect him to be business-like in his approach to this event. He’s played more golf than usual lately, and will likely be eager to see the closing ceremonies.

    Can the Presidents Cup outshine the FedEx Cup? – To me the Presidents Cup will be much more compelling to watch than the FedEx Cup was. First, the later was spread out over four weeks (really, all year). Second, there is two years worth of anticipation building up to the Presidents Cup. It’s an event played for nation(s), so patriotism plays a role. Guys that normally wouldn’t be rooting for each other will sit in the grass and watch their teammates play in. It is really compelling to watch.

  • Colt Knost Turns Pro

    Colt Knost will play his first PGA Tour event as a professional at next week’s Valero Texas Open. He will be playing on a sponsor’s exemption and will have to continue to do so until he either qualifies for the PGA Tour via Q School or earns enough money to make it into the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list.

    Why do we care about this guy? He’s one of only six people to win two U.S.G.A. titles in one year. He won the U.S. Publinks and the U.S. Amateur this year. Although he has impressive credentials, his only performance on the PGA Tour in 2007 was at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship where he shot 74-64-74-74 for a six over total of 286. That’s not a very impressive record to go on.

    Knost passed on exemptions to the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. That’s a lot to sacrifice, but playing in those events would require him to remain an amateur for over half of next years PGA Tour season.

    His debut comes around the time of year that Tiger Woods said, “Hello, World” in 1996, but the expectations and fanfare aren’t quite the same. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the coming months and if he can make the PGA Tour.