Chris Chaney
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Posts by Chris Chaney
Is Bubba Watson’s newly-adopted son costing him his career?
01 week ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
@bubbawatson
Bubba Watson achieved his lifelong goal last month, and we’re not talking about winning the Masters. Watson and his wife, Angie, adopted their son, Caleb, during the week following Bay Hill.
Just two weeks later, Watson captured the biggest win of his career as he took down Louis Oosthuizen in a two-hole playoff to win the Masters. Since that Sunday, 31 days ago, Watson has played four rounds of tournament golf at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Watson said the only reason he teed it up in the Big Easy was because he was the defending champion.
Bubba ended up making the cut on the number and had a solid weekend, finishing tied for 18th, but as he would later admit, his head just wasn’t in it.
Watson opened his press conference with this: “My mind is with my wife and my kid. I want to go home and spend time with them. I want to be a better husband, a better dad. I want to learn how to be a dad. You know, we’ve had him for five weeks. I’ve only been home for maybe two weeks.
“So I just want to go home and then see what feels like to be a real dad, you know, and be there and support my wife and everything. So, that’s where I really want to be right now.”
Since that time, Watson has pulled out of the Wells Fargo Championship last week, the Players Championship this week and he’s not expected to play again until the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio two weeks before the US Open.
Typically, two weeks between the first two major championships of the year is no conducive to good play, but we have to consider the source here.
If anything, Watson has been true to himself pretty much his entire career. He rarely cowers away from controversy, whether it be in a dust-up with a veteran with ants in his pants or when he’s asked about his views on the French Open.
Bottom line: Watson says what he means and means what he says. So, when he says that golf is not at the forefront of his mind, he means it.
He says wants to be home with his wife and son, he means it, to the point that he’s skipping marquee tournaments, including the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
These decisions have ruffled more than a few feathers around the golf world, but it’s hard to knock a guy for taking time off to spend with his family, especially in Watson’s situation becoming a father of adoption.
The Watson’s have been trying for four years to adopt a baby and really started in earnest in the last year. However, as with many adoption attempts, there are a lot of hoops that need to be jumped through as well as find the perfect situation for an addition to their family.
Unlike when a couple knows they are having a baby and have months to prepare for their life-change, Bubba and his wife really had a little over a week to get ready to bring another life into their home.
With that in mind, it becomes harder to bash Bubba for skipping tournaments, while also understanding that he is moving into a new home in Florida.
However, the people who are likely the most upset are the suits at Ponte Vedre Beach and honestly, rightly so.
This is their major. They can call it the unofficial fifth major, but so long as top players are voluntarily skipping it, the tournament will hold that title solely in their eyes.
Bubba Watson has been pegged as one of the future faces of the game, especially the future of the PGA Tour, along with Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Dustin Johnson, among others.
That being said, Bubba deserves this break. He’s just accomplished the biggest goals of his life in the last month, both personally and professionally. So what that the Players is two hours away from his new home? He doesn’t need to play if he doesn’t want to. McIlroy and Lee Westwood showed that last year.
For these upper tier guys, the money isn’t the issue, so the purse, as outrageously lucrative as it is, in a nonfactor at this point. Plus, on the bright side, it allows someone else into the field that probably will cherish the opportunity.
For the time being, Bubba missing tournaments isn’t that big of a deal. He’s adjusting to a completely new lifestyle and doing it pretty much on the fly.
2012 has already been a success for the Watson’s. If he continues to skip events going into next season, maybe we can revisit the topic and debate the possible reasons, but until then, let’s give Bubba a pass.
Weekend Re-Tee: Fowler Breaks Through, F. Molinari Wins in Spain, Swafford Shoots 62, Rory Back to No. 1
01 week ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
Welcome to Weekend Re-Tee where we take a look back at the weekend that was in the world of golf.
As golf enters its busy season, both for professionals and amateurs alike, nothing draws fans in like a big tournament with a field chalk-full of big names. That’s exactly what we got this week at the Wells Fargo Championship with a bunch of one-namers teeing it up. Tiger. Phil. Rory. Rickie. And plenty of others.
The Wells Fargo gave us a pretty exciting finish, but there was a couple of other storylines that were worthy of getting some space in this week’s edition of Weekend Re-Tee.
Orange Out in Charlotte
Rickie Fowler was able to shed the moniker of “best player without a win” with a playoff victory at the Wells Fargo, defeating the likes of Rory McIlroy and DA Points in the first playoff hole.
“It’s a good feeling right now,” Fowler said. “Definitely some relief, satisfaction. I’m definitely happy. It’s not a bad thing, winning. It’s kind of fun.”
The win was anything but guaranteed as McIlroy, who has once again regained his post as the No. 1 player in the world, had a 20-footer for the win in regulation.
McIlroy’s putt for the win was by virtue of Points’ slip up on the 72nd hole. Points had not bogeyed a hole all weekend until he pushed his drive into the right rough, then put his approach in the greenside bunker and was unable to get up and down for par.
Fowler posted his 14-under in the third-from-last group and waited as Points and McIlroy were unable to better his score. The final pairing of Webb Simpson and Ryan Moore were also unable to make a move down the stretch with Simpson having an outside chance to get into the playoff, needing a birdie on 18, but saw his birdie bid power past the hole.
On the first and only hole of the playoff, all three players hit 300+-yard drives, the only difference was that McIlroy hit 3-wood compared to Fowler and Points’ drivers.
Fowler, playing second from the fairway, stuck his 51-degree wedge to 4-feet-3-inches and knocked the putt in for his first win.
With a tricky Sunday pin, Fowler made an important decision to go after the pin when he and his caddie decided that they had the right number.
“If I don’t have a little bit of help or don’t hit it perfectly, then I land short and I’m in the creek,” Fowler said. “But playing against those two guys, I know that they’re going to make birdie at some point. And I don’t want to sit there and try and make pars and stay in it. I had a good number, and I wanted to make birdie.”
The win was not only big for Fowler, but many others will tell you it’s great for the game. Fowler has been one of the most popular players on Tour over his three-year career and the win seems like that popularity has finally been validated.
Fowler took home a $1.17 million winner’s check and climbed from 39th to 24th in the world rankings.
Final-Round 65 Gets Molinari the Spanish Open
Francesco Molinari came from four strokes behind on Sunday to shoot a 7-under par 65, good enough for a three-stroke victory over Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal and Alejandro Canizares.
“It’s just to win any tournament on the European Tour, but one with the history of this one, in the year of the centenary, is something fantastic,” Molinari said.
With two of the younger stars of the game dueling down the stretch in Charlotte, Molinari had to deal with one of his own in Spain in the form of Matteo Manassero.
The 19-year-old may have shot himself out of the tournament in the third round with a 76, but the Italian came back with a Sunday 70 to finishing in a tie for seventh place.
Manassero needed to finish in solo seventh place in order to guarantee a move up to No. 60 in the world – good enough to get into the US Open next month – but as it turned out, a tie for seventh was enough as he sat squarely on the No. 60 position when the world rankings were released today.
For Molinari, the Spanish Open was his third win on the European Tour and with it coming just a day shy of the one-year anniversary of the death of Seve Ballesteros, the win was extra special.
“It’s a very special time to win in Spain,” Molinari said.
The win got Molinari $434,362 as well as a move up 17 places in the rankings to No. 29.
Dawg on Parade
Playing on his old college course, University of Georgia alum Hudson Swafford won the Stadion Classic thanks to a final-round 62 to win by one. For good measure, Swafford holed out from the bunker for birdie on the 72nd hole to finish his round.
To win by one after shooting a 62, you can figure there was one of two certainties taking place: 1) he went out early and posted a number, or 2) someone else went stupid low as well. The former was the case in this instance as Swafford was the only one in the top-15 to shoot better than 65.
After Swafford posted his 17-under and had to wait around for an hour and a half before he could officially celebrate his first win.
“This is unbelievable. My first win is huge and to be in Athens, words don’t describe it,” Swafford said. “I couldn’t have drawn it up any better. The way it happened is a dream come true.
“This is just a starting point. This is no time to get comfortable. I’m still a long way from where I need to be. I’m another win away from getting anything done.”
Swafford won $99,000 to jump from 61st to seventh on the money list. Prior to his win, Swafford had only made $23,000 in his rookie season.
The win will go a long way to getting the Georgia Bulldog his PGA Tour card next season.
McIlroy Reclaims No. 1 Ranking
In what has become a weekly change, McIlroy’s T2 finish at the Wells Fargo was good enough to move the Northern Irishman back to the world’s top spot, taking over from Luke Donald who held the top spot for all of one week in his latest stint.
“That’s nice,” McIlroy said of regaining the top ranking. “It’s a little consolation. I would rather win the tournament, but yeah, it’s good. I want to try and play well for the next few weeks and try and solidify my spot there at No. 1 and hopefully start doing that next week and giving myself another chance to win.”
The next start for Rory, as well as most of the top players in the world, is this week at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Of course, Rory will have to deal with a strong field this week that includes Donald and Lee Westwood, both who could take over the top spot with a win at the proverbial “Fifth Major.”
Woods Q&A: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
02 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
TigerWoods.com
Late last week, Tiger Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, announced that his star client would not being taking part in his customary pre-tournament press conference prior to the Wells Fargo Championship, opting instead to take fans’ (alleged) questions via Twitter and Facebook and answer them on a video which was posted on his website on Monday.
As the talking heads like to say, Tiger Woods is the “needle” when it comes to driving television ratings, gaining readership and improving page views, so when he decided to blow off his presser, the media wasn’t exactly thrilled and rightfully so.
Now, there are a few schools of thought being brought up in the aftermath of the Tiger video. They range from garnering the media’s disdain to fans who think that Tiger doing something different is a good thing.
As the top player in the world for more than a decade and still the most polarizing figure in the game, a Tiger press conference has become the norm for both Woods and the media during tournament weeks.
Just so everyone has this straight, 90 percent of the field doesn’t conduct a formal press conference prior to the start of the tournament. Usually, only the defending champion and a handful of big name members of the field are asked to meet with the press. They have the choice to either accept or deny that invitation to meet with the press.
Therein lies the first problem. Also, the bungling nature of Woods’ media relations team was brought to the surface.
Tiger has historically been good to the media. “Good” in the sense that he, without fail, gives a pre-tournament press conference for virtually every event he enters (not “good” in the sense that his answers are particularly candid or insightful).
Coming off of a T-40 finish at the Masters, Woods’ game clearly wasn’t in the form he would like as he begins a schedule that leads up to the US Open in mid-June.
Steinberg and his team could have simply declined the invitation to do the presser quietly, citing any reason resembling “Tiger wants to concentrate on his game.”
Instead, Steinberg made a mini spectacle out of his announcement that Tiger would do the Q&A video in lieu of a normal press conference, something that has been perceived as a middle finger to the golf scribes.
The problem with this tactic is that it brings up the conversation that Woods hates the media. He may or may not, but it truly doesn’t matter. He golfs, they write. End of transaction. But with the announcement of the fan video, we are led to believe that he doesn’t want to have to deal with the needling about his swing or his poor performance at Augusta.
Instead, Tiger put out the fan video of handpicked questions.
In all honestly, the 14½ minute video wasn’t all that bad. Sure, Tiger gets a bad rep for being robotic and guarded, but it even in that controlled environment, he seemed uncomfortable. That’s just the type of person he is.
Tiger answered 19 fan-submitted questions ranging from his toughest putt on tour to his drink of choice on the course.
The video seemed like Woods was giving a hint to the media, whom he knew would watch anyway, of what he would like a normal press conference to encompass: a few softball questions about what he’s been up to, a little insight into his game and of course, a little product placement. (Woods was able to plug Fuse Energy and Nike.)
The video would have been a positive as a whole if he didn’t cancel the pre-tourney press conference. We’ve seen other players, specifically Bubba Watson, Stewart Cink, Rickie Fowler and Ben Crane reach out to their fans (and gain new ones) with their use of social media.
Tiger’s a busy guy, we get that. He’s a single dad with two kids to take care of, an aging body, endless business ventures, his foundation and impossibly high expectations on his golf game, placed upon him by both the critics as well as himself. But you can’t tell me that he can’t do these kind of Q&A’s on a more regular basis.
Assuming he plays his full schedule, which consists of somewhere around 20 tournaments, why not do something like this video before each tournament (or even one out of every two)?
He gets Twitter, Facebook and e-mail questions by the boatload and he or his people can cherry pick the questions they want him to answer and he can give a 10 minute session while he flies on his private jet to the tournament. Just record it with an iPad or iPhone, upload it and he would seem to be infinitely more accessible and fan-friendly.
As for the first video, he and his team can chalk the outcome to a learning experience, although that’s not likely. The overall concept worked and got a good response from the fans, but as the most sought-after player in the game, he should be doing the pre-tournament press conference.
He connected with the little jab to the press at the Wells Fargo, but as Tiger Woods, it should be his responsibility to sit through a press conference when he’s in the field.
Weekend Re-Tee: Dufner Wins, Lewis Holds Off Lexi and Donald Gets Back to No. 1
02 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
ESPN
Welcome to Weekend Re-Tee where we take a look back at the weekend that was in the world of golf.
The strong field assembled in the Big Easy for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which included defending champion and recent Masters champion Bubba Watson, was the first time since Augusta that we have seen a good amount of top-50 players in the world.
It helps that Keegan Bradley, Ben Crane, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Camilo Villegas and Rickie Fowler were given de facto appearance fees as they have been signed on as “Zurich Ambassadors.”
Thanks to the strong field and the upcoming tournaments on the schedule, fans are coming back to golf as the playing season around the country kicks into high gear.
Dufner gets first win
Jason Dufner captured his first PGA Tour victory on Sunday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a birdie on the second playoff hole to beat Ernie Els.
“There’s been a good bit of pressure,” Dufner said of his inability to win on Tour. “People talking about, `Why aren’t you winning? Why can’t you close the deal?’ Friends, family, media, even people in my inner circle. And not in a negative way, but when you’re leading tournaments going into weekends and you’re finishing 24th, there’s going to be some questions.”
Finally establishing himself on the PGA Tour last year after six different stints through Qualifying School, Dufner put himself on many golf fans’ radar with his performance at the season-ending PGA Championship where he would lose to Keegan Bradley in a playoff.
His patented waggle, easy-going demeanor and affinity for a nice lipper of tabacco have lent himself to a bunch of fans.
The key to getting off of the winless schneid was Dufner’s putting at the TPC Louisiana, especially from six feet and in. According to Shotlink, Duff made all 61 of his putts from inside that range last week.
Dufner’s steady demeanor was something Els pegged as a key asset, saying, “(Dufner’s) got a wonderful golf swing and I think this will help him a lot. I think he’ll win quite a few others. He’s got a really sound golf swing and game. If he keeps that shield up, he’s got — you know, that’s a pretty good defensive mechanism he’s got there.”
Els, who notoriously missed this year’s Masters, seems to be coming around as well, getting his trouble club, the putter, going this week despite a few missed putts in the playoff that could have guaranteed him into the 2013 Masters. With the second place finish, Els made his way to 40th in the world, which will get him into next month’s US Open.
For Dufner, the win was the beginning of a solid fortnight as he will marry his longtime girlfriend Amanda Boyd next week.
“It’s awesome. He’s been so close so many times. I don’t feel like it’s real,” Boyd said. “It will be a good wedding.”
The wedding will be a lot nicer now that Dufner has that monkey off his back, along with the $1.152 million he got for the win. Dufner moved up to 20th in the world.
Lewis holds off Lexi in Mobile
Stacy Lewis strung together four rounds in the 60s to hold off 17-year-old phenom Lexi Thompson by one stroke. The win was Lewis’ second and puts her squarely in the conversation as one of the best Americans on the LPGA Tour.
“I feel like I’ve been close (to winning) ever since (the 2011 Kraft Nabisco). People say I haven’t been winning, just kind of knocking on the door. It’s nice to get it out of the way,” Lewis said. “I fought. I’m exhausted. I’m glad I didn’t have to play more holes.”
Lewis had a five-stroke lead at one point, but Thompson began closing the gap as she played a few groups ahead of Lewis. Thompson shot a clean round of 65, but couldn’t manage to birdie either of the last two holes.
Lewis birdied the 16th hole and parred in to win.
The win for Lewis was solid, but the emergence of Thompson as a contender when she was under heat from the media for her prom proposal showed that Lexi thrives on being in the spotlight.
Donald back to No. 1 in the world
Just two weeks after losing the world’s top ranking due to mediocre play at Hilton Head, Luke Donald recovered the No. 1 ranking with a third-place finish in New Orleans.
“That’s a nice consolation,” Donald said. “It’s been going back and forth a little bit. Rory’s turn next week. It was a little bit of a motivation to try and play well today.”
Of course, with the current system, McIlroy or even Westwood could reclaim the top spot this week at the Wells-Fargo Championship, which Donald is sitting out in order to prepare for the Players Championship.
Foley Inserts Woods Back in News by Talking about Woods Always Being in the News
02 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
Getty Images
We haven’t seen Tiger Woods for nearly three weeks dating back to his disappointing T-40 finish at the Masters on April 8. Woods was finishing his final round on Easter Sunday around the same time the leaders were beginning theirs, out of the tournament proper and practically an afterthought.
However, being Tiger Woods, his name, his game and his poor finish kept him in the news throughout Masters Sunday as an easy talking point for the CBS and Golf Channel analysts in between the action taking place on the course.
But then it was Bubba Time.
After Bubba Watson hit his miraculous recovery shot from the right-hand trees on No. 10, the second playoff hole, to 15 feet, Watson became the story. Woods’ people were probably thrilled to see someone as likable, marketable and spotlight-stealing as Watson donning the Green Jacket because it made their guy take a backseat to this story of Americana.
And so Watson made all the media stops, talking about his small-town upbringing, his love for his family and his faith, winning over fans across the country, while a certain 14-time major champion headed back to his Jupiter Island, Fla. home to “take some time off and not look at the clubs for a while and then get back after it” before the Wells Fargo.
That was three weeks ago.
Since then, most of the Hank Haney book hype had died down. In fact, pretty much everything golf-related has died down as the golf world took a few weeks to recover from the first major of the season.
Woods was back in Florida presumably working on his game no doubt happy to not have everyone talking about the state of his game. That is until his swing coach Sean Foley got on the phone with Sirius/XM Radio’s “Fairways of Life with Matt Adams” and talked for 20 minutes about his likes, dislikes, philosophies, interests and his family; a nice kind of get-to-know-you segment for people who didn’t know Foley.
Then, as Adams asked his last question about his top client, Foley had this to say about the media’s treatment of Woods:
“I know everyone has a job to do, and I get it. But if it is about the game of golf, Tiger Woods is an extremely important part of the game, and I think everyone understands that. It has just gotten to the point where the tearing down of Tiger as a person and a golfer has become just too much. I think it is just out of hand.
“I realize it is 2012, and we have dotcoms, and you have to write five articles a day, and you run out of things to write about, but we should be in a position where we are trying to help and lift up and support a player like Tiger Woods, instead of tearing him down, because everyone in the golf industry is better off because of his existence.
“That is basically one thing I want to get out. Tiger is a wonderful person, and he is a good dude, and he lives a complex life. I think things have got to slow down, it has got to stop, the daily referendums and the criticism.”
With that three paragraph quote, Foley placed Woods firmly back on the front page of every golf website on the internet. And honestly, the point of his argument really doesn’t resonate with the media types who cover golf.
While it may not be unfair to say Woods gets a hard time in the media, that kind of speculation and attention comes with being one of the most gifted athletes on the planet.
If one guy can dominate a sport the way that Woods has over the past decade or so, they’re going to be the needle-mover on television shows and the page view jumper on websites.
Plain and simple, people are fascinated with greatness, so when we see greatness, we’re drawn to it and want to know as much as possible about it.
It’s simple supply and demand. The demand for Tiger news is there, so it’s up to websites, magazines, television shows, etc. to bring that to the people.
And now that Woods’ game has fallen upon hard times (comparatively speaking), his struggles and short-comings become the driving force behind his name. People want to know why. Why is he not doing well? Is it his swing? His coach? His putter? His mental game?
Those questions are attempting to be answered by the people who cover the sport and will be made readily available to those who put out the Tiger-centric information on their websites and in their magazines.
On a similar note, Woods has never really helped himself in the press room. Woods has become the cover child for answering questions by saying a lot of words while really not revealing any information.
That’s his prerogative and that’s fine, but as Foley said, these people have a job to do. And when they can’t get anything from the player himself, they’re forced to observe and make arguments and articles out of that.
Finally, the point that really makes no sense is Foley saying that “we should be in a position where we are trying to help and lift up and support a player like Tiger Woods.”
Uh, what?
Foley should be helping, supporting and lifting up Woods because Woods pays him to do that. No one else, certainly not any of the people writing these articles that Foley is referring to, is on Tiger’s payroll. They have editors and producers to answer to, not Sean Foley.
In this day and age, you’d be hard-pressed to find a prolific athlete who feels like he’s treated well by the media. Woods should know this better than anyone by now.
His job is to play golf to the best of his ability and journalists’ jobs are to bring the information people want to them.
It would be easy to say if Woods would just win more, the praise will come, but frankly, that’s a cop out. There are always going to be the people who are going to want to break down Woods, and that’s a shame, but the fact of the matter is that both sides in this scenario have jobs to do and so long as Tiger struggles, Foley is not going to like what people have to say.
Weekend Re-Tee: Curtis Wins Again, Grace Makes It Three, Westwood Defends in Indonesia
03 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
I love these boot pictures (AP)
Welcome to Weekend Re-Tee where we take a look back at the weekend that was in the world of golf.
Still in a post-Masters malaise, the PGA Tour traveled from Hilton Head to San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open at the controversial TPC San Antonio. Around the globe, the European Tour went to China, while Lee Westwood went to Indonesia to defend his crown at the Asian Tour Event.
Each tournament had a little bit of newsworthiness to it, so let’s get into it.
Curtis ends drought
For Ben Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion, it had been 2,045 days since he last hoisted a trophy at the 84 Lumber Classic in 2006.
That streak came to an end on Sunday as the 34-year-old Ohio native closed out the Valero Texas Open with two shots to spare over Matt Every and John Huh.
“It’s been a tough couple years just fighting through it,” Curtis said in his post-round interview.
Curtis played the controversial Greg Norman layout solidly, shooting rounds of 67-67-73-72 to finish at 9-under par.
The TPC San Antonio was rated one of the players’ least favorite courses on Tour (50th of 52) and that was proven by the lack of star players participating. Even past winners Adam Scott and Zach Johnson didn’t bother to play.
Joe Ogilvie opined in this week’s Global Golf Post, “This is an A-plus facility, an A-plus city, an A-plus charity, an A-plus state with a green complex that is an F. As soon as they bulldoze the greens, players will start to come back.”
For Valero, they hope that will be by next year when the tournament moves on the schedule to the week before the Masters.
Back to Curtis’ win. The Valero was just the fourth tournament on the PGA Tour schedule that Curtis was able to get into and the second that he made the cut.
For his troubles, Curtis won $1.116 million, a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and moved up to 156th in the world.
Is Brendan Grace the hottest player on the planet?
Brendan Grace is en feugo. Since qualifying for the European Tour by virtue of graduating the tour’s qualifying school, the 23-year-old South African won his third tournament of the season at the China Open on Sunday.
Grace shot a final-round 69 to beat Nicolas Colsaerts by three strokes. The rookie had already won the Joburg Open and Volvo Golf Champions in back-to-back weeks in January. His third win made him just the second European Tour player to win three times in his first season since gaining playing privileges through Q-School.
Grace’s lead never fell to less than two strokes throughout the final round.
“To get three before the start of May is unbelievable. But I have been playing well, getting myself into contention and making the most of the opportunities,” Grace said. “At first I was thinking about trying to keep my playing card this year, but now I feel I have the ability to go out and win every week and I have had that mindset for some time.”
Grace’s victory was worth $528,000. Beginning the 2012 season ranked 271st in the world, Grace has now moved up to 66th.
Westwood defends in Indonesia despite naysayers
Lee Westwood successfully defended his Indonesian Masters crown by playing 32 holes on Sunday to complete his third and fourth rounds, en route to a two-shot victory.
The win has come with some media controversy as some believe the win to be “less valuable” because of the strength (or lack thereof) of the field. Regardless of which rhetoric you subscribe, the fact remains the same that Westwood was able to win.
Next, the question becomes how to rate that win. Put simply, the Official World Golf Rankings take care of that.
Now, while Westwood’s win only garnered him 20 OWGR points, it doesn’t seem quite that bad when put next to the 24 Ben Curtis grabbed for winning the Valero Texas Open. (FWIW, the Volvo China Open was worth 32 OWGR points.)
The fact of the matter remains, as it always has, that these guys have no real affiliation to any specific Tour or organization except for their duty to make a good living for themselves. As is, Westwood was given a handsome appearance fee, which was about doubled by winning the tournament.
Westwood figured that he could make good money while playing in a tournament that he was defending. Because he won shouldn’t be here nor there, but it certainly shouldn’t be put down as a gimme tournament. There’s no such thing in golf.
Thus endeth the rant.
Westwood won a $750,000 first-place check and stood pat at third in the world rankings.
Valero Texas Open Television Schedule and Info
04 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The Valero Texas Open is underway at the TPC San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. The Valero has been one of the most newsworthy tournaments in recent years with some big names winning over the last few years including Adam Scott, Zach Johnson and Justin Leonard. Unfortunately, only one of those three are in the field (Leonard), and only one player in the top-25 in the world (Matt Kuchar). Last year, Kevin Na made his famed 16 on the 9th hole en route to an 80. This year, Na parred the 9th en route to a 79. He’s withdrawn. As has Anthony Kim following an 8-over start through 14 holes. There are some other storylines forming though as both Ben Curtis and Matt Every have held a share of the lead.
This year’s purse: $6.2 million
Winner’s share: $1.116 million
FedEx Cup points to the winner: 500
Last year’s winner was: Brendan Steele
Television Schedule:
Thursday: 3-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Friday: 3-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Saturday: 3-6 p.m. on CBS
Sunday: 3-6 p.m. on CBS
SiriusXM Radio Schedule:
Thursday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Friday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Saturday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Sunday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Leaderboard:
2012 Valero Texas Open Leaderboard
(h/t Armchair Golfer for the idea and PGA Tour for the image)
Weekend Re-Tee: Oosthuizen’s redemption, Pettersson’s win at Harbour Town and McIlroy back to No. 1
04 weeks ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
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Welcome to Weekend Re-Tee where we take a look back at the weekend that was in the world of golf.
As the rest of the golf world seemingly took a week off following the first major championship of the season, the rest of the world got a better grasp of who Bubba Watson is.
And as fans took a breather, we were reminded that there aren’t any off weeks in the world of professional golf. Louis Oosthuizen and Carl Pettersson both raised trophies (or slipped into plaid jackets) at their wins at the Maybank Malaysian Open and RBC Heritage, respectively.
That’s not all, either. Even as Luke Donald picked up the sticks as the top-ranked player in the world last week, he would not hold onto that top spot come Monday.
Oosthuizen bounces back
Last week, Bubba Watson was the winner of the Masters tournament in a number of ways (fans, money, sponsors, a jacket), but Louis Oosthuizen proved that his win at the 2010 British Open wasn’t just a flash in the pan with his play at the National.
Lauded over during the last two rounds at Augusta for his near-perfect swing and steady demeanor, Oosthuizen showed that he has the game to win multiple majors.
Sure, every time anyone wins a major, you’re sure to get people coming out of the woodwork saying that this is “just the first of many majors for (fill in the blank),” but Oosthuizen has shown that when he wants to, he can be one of the best players in the world.
The only downside to that is the fact that even his swing coach doesn’t see Oosty as the type of guy to go out and contend every week. He’s more of a homebody a la Byron Nelson who wants to play for a few years and then retire back to his family.
In Sports Illustrated’s Masters game story, Alan Shipnuck compared the South African with a certain lad from Northern Ireland:
With apologies to McIlroy, Oosthuizen may have the sweetest swing in the game. “Unfortunately, he doesn’t have Rory’s desire,” says Oosthuizen’s swing coach, Pete Cowen. “If Louis wanted it a little more, he could easily be the best player in the game.”
However, Oosthuizen is obviously enjoy a good run of form as he carried his solid play in Georgia 30 hours across the globe to Kuala Lumpur where he won the Maybank Malaysian Open by three shots over Stephen Gallacher.
“I was a little surprised to win here after that,” Oosthuizen said. “I thought I would be a lot more tired. My golf was a bit up and down in the morning at the end of the third round, but I settled down and played well later.”
Oosthuizen is up to No. 12 in the world.
Pettersson wins at Harbour Town
In its traditional week-after-the-Masters spot on the PGA Tour schedule, the Heritage, which nearly didn’t happen this year due to its lack of presenting sponsor before RBC signed on, proved once again to be a solid tournament with a pretty decent field.
However, by the time the weekend rolled around, two players near the top of the leaderboard were getting as much press for their body types as they were for their good play.
Carl Pettersson and Colt Knost were just going about their business around Harbour Town, but it seemed as if everyone was infatuated with two of the heavier players on Tour were doing so well, especially in the Tiger Woods age when working out and fitness is at a premium among Tour pros.
Pettersson has already tried to go skinny in 2009 when he dropped 30 pounds. Instead of better fitness improving his game, it made it worse, something we’ve also seen happen with John Daly.
Pettersson missed 12 cuts in 29 starts during that 2009 season and decided that he should get back to his podgy playing weight.
“It took a while to get the swing back,” Pettersson said. “Just the last like six months I felt comfortable again.”
While Knost didn’t have the success over the weekend he would have hoped during his first tournament in contention on the PGA Tour, he did card a top-5.
Pettersson, on the other hand, was the class of the field, widening his lead to five strokes with 10 holes to play. He would go on to win by that same margin with Zach Johnson finishing as his closest competitor
With his fourth PGA Tour title, Pettersson moved up to 35th in the world.
McIlroy back atop world rankings
Rory McIlroy had a pretty solid week off in Copenhagen watching his tennis-star girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki lose in the finals of the e-Boks Open.
While that probably wasn’t the result “Wozzilroy” was looking for, McIlroy was able to regain the top spot in the World Golf Rankings thanks to a change in his divsor.
Previous top-ranked player, Luke Donald, needed to finish in the top eight at Harbour Town to have enough points to hold onto the position, but with McIlroy inactive, his divisor dropped from 50 to 49, making his average points increase.
McIlroy will be back in action in two weeks at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Rounding Up Bubba Watson’s Media Tour
01 month ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The Tour Report
Bubba signing one of his pink drivers
Whenever there’s a major sporting event, whether it be golf with the majors, baseball with the World Series, basketball with the NCAA National Championship or NBA Finals, the winner/winning team takes a tour around the national media outlets.
With his win at the Masters, Bubba Watson was everywhere you looked earlier this week and not just the places you would expect. Sure, Bubba put in the time with the folks at Golf Channel’s Morning Drive (one of the best interviews there was), but also on Fox News, CNN and even Charlie Rose.
In case you haven’t gotten your Bubba fix yet, here’s a short run-down of what and where Watson spent his Tuesday and Thursday of this week. If you’re not really interested in what he said in each interview, PGATour.com’s Tour Report did a good job of giving a blow-by-blow of Watson’s whirlwind 36 hours. Be sure to read Day 1 and Day 2 (and read from the bottom-up).
For the sake of organization, I’ll put Bubba’s appearance in as much of a chronological order as possible.
- Bubba kicked things off by surprising the fellas at Morning Drive by coming in studio to talk to them before shipping off to NYC.
- Before getting on the plane to New York, Bubba called into the Dan Patrick Show, Jim Rome and the Scott Van Pelt Show.
- From there, Bubba hopped on a plane to New York where he met with Twitter celebrity Darren Rovell.
- Watson went from CNBC, to CNN to make a special appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight where the talk-show host said he had one of his favorite interviews. Here’s a little snippet.
- Bubba went from Piers’ studio to Ed Sullivan Theatre to hop on the Late Show with David Letterman for a pretty entertaining interview.
- After Letterman, Bubba just had one more phone call. Nothing important, really, just the POTUS. In typical Bubba fashion, when Obama got on the phone and said, “Hey, Bubba,” Watson answered with “Hey buddy, how you doing? I mean Mr. President.”
- On Wednesday, Watson started his day going to “CBS This Morning.”
- From there, Bubba went over to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which is hosted by Joe Scarborough who is from the Florida Panhandle, near where Watson grew up in Bagdad, Fla.
- After “Morning Joe,” Bubba hooked up with PBS’ Charlie Rose at the Bloomberg Building and talked to the famed interviewer about how he connects with the average American.
- Rounding out his 36-hour interview fest, Watson went to the Time Warner Building for two final interviews with Fox News. Before he leaves to go home, the guy who had been leading Watson from place to place told him that he has never seen so many people come out to meet one guy, a nod to the “everyman” that Watson was.
Watson, who was active on Twitter throughout his media tour tweeted out around 1:45 Wednesday that he had finally finished his tour and was heading home to be with Angie (his wife) and Caleb, their new son.
Aside from all the television and radio, Bubba made the cover of a few magazines, including Sports Illustrated.
Watson will be back in action in two weeks when he defends his title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The RBC Heritage Television Schedule and Info
01 month ago
by Chris Chaney
in Golf
The first round of the RBC Heritage is underway at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina. One of the most popular stops on Tour, Harbour Town usually brings in a pretty strong field even with being the week after the first major championship of the season. This year is no exception with World No. 1 Luke Donald teeing it up along with fan-favorites Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, John Daly, Ernie Els and Matt Kuchar. The Links seems to be playing pretty tough with some serious wind coupled with the small, firm greens.
This year’s purse: $5.7 million
Winner’s share: $1.026 million
FedEx Cup points to the winner: 500
Last year’s winner was: Brandt Snedeker
Television Schedule:
Thursday: 3-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Friday: 3-6 p.m. on Golf Channel
Saturday: 1-2:30 p.m. on Golf Channel // 3-6 p.m. on CBS
Sunday: 1-2:30 p.m. on Golf Channel // 3-6 p.m. on CBS
SiriusXM Radio Schedule:
Thursday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Friday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Saturday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Sunday: 12-6 p.m. Sirius 208/ XM 93
Leaderboard:
Extras:
An Inside Look at Harbour Town
(h/t Armchair Golfer for the idea and PGA Tour for the image)
