Jul 7
Jul 7
It?s Watney?s Weekend
When Nick Watney pushed his drive on No. 12 during the final round of the AT&T National, his ball smackedRead the Rest...
Jul 7
PGA Tour returns with AT&T National sans Tiger Woods
PGA Tour returns with AT&T National sans Tiger Woods PGA Tour is all set to swing back in action with AT&T National scheduled this week at the Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, Philadelphia. This is the second time Aronimink will be hosting the AT&T National after the event was held successfully for the first time at the same venue. The course is notoriously famous for being one of the most difficult par-70 courses on the tour and recorded a birdie average of 2.73 last year....
Jul 6
Top 10 Golf Breaks for less than £100
It may seem strange that during such austere times the demand for golf breaks is on the up?perhaps a spot of golf at top venues across the globe acts as the perfect antidote to the recessionary cloud hanging over our heads! Searches for the very best that golf can offer have increased and competition between [...]
Jul 6
Take on Sam Torrance at Kingsbarns
Scotland holds a privileged position on the world of golf and boasts many of the games most historic and sought after treasures. Scotland was the birthplace of golf as we know it today and the diverse landscape has led to the creation of a collection of the finest golf courses in the world. Illustrious Open [...]
Jul 6
My Thoughts On All These Lightning-In-A-Bottle Stories
One of my favorite golf books I've ever read was Tom Coyne's "Paper Tiger." It is a beautiful and brilliant storyline of an above-average golfer taking a year off to pursue every golfer's dream of becoming a professional golfer. If the cover doesn't clue you in to how it went, I'll spoil it for you; not great. Why I loved that book so much is because so many people think they can become professionals at this sport. Golf, more than anything else, triggers something in men that makes them think they have the goods to play this game at an elite level. Maybe it's the fact that there isn't a genetic barrier limiting the average male from making it. While J.J. Barea was slicing and dicing his way to a NBA Championship, 99.9 percent of the people playing professional basketball are taller and faster than all of us sitting at home watching. And the day I walked next to Brian Dawkins in the tunnel at University of Phoenix Stadium before the 2009 NFC Championship told me that as much as I work at perfecting my own body, those NFL guys are in a completely different world physically than I could ever be. But golf is different. If I had a dollar for every time a wife sitting next to me on an airplane told me her husband was thinking about joining the Champions Tour when he turned 50, I sure as hell wouldn't be wasting my days writing on this blog for pennies. So that brings up something I got sent yesterday by a reader/friend of mine. It's a new blog that popped up cleverly named "The Underdog Golf Blog," and it's a story about a 28-year-old guy that can't break 100 but wants to play in the 2014 U.S. Open. If it sounds familiar, that's probably because it is. Dan McLaughlin, a man who has become an online friend of mine and even stopped by as a guest on the Devil Ball podcast with myself and Jay Busbee, is spending hundreds of hours trying to perfect his game and become a professional. It's just ... this game isn't easy. Not even close. It's probably the hardest sport to be great at in the world. An athletic guy might be able to smoke a running forehand down the line in a tight match because nothing is going through his head when he's doing it. He's just running and trying to hit the ball back and if he can get the racket on that ball with the right amount of force, it doesn't really matter the situation. Now, am I saying tennis is easy? Of course not, watching the Federers and Nadals of the world is one of the most beautiful athletic theater in sports. But in golf, you aren't just battling yourself, or the golf course, or the other players; you're battling the time between shots, and the thoughts that go through your mind. And you're also trying to beat people that have done this for 10 hours a day, six days a week, since they were 8-years-old. I had beers with a good buddy of mine (A reader here!) on Friday, and we were joking about old men thinking they can make the Champions Tour. He made an excellent point; you, hopeful professional golfer, have a full-time job and play on the weekends. These guys have a full-time job that is playing golf all the time. I don't mind people's dreams. You have to strive to be something. I still have moments where I think I have the game to play at the next level, even if my talent says otherwise. I had a good buddy write on my sister's Facebook wall, after she posted a picture of us two at the U.S. Open, "your brother shouldn't be covering that event, he should be playing in it," and it's moments like those that give me a little extra push to be better than I am. But I also understand what it takes to get there. You're playing against people that already have an arm, a leg and a short game up on you and you have to not only become equals with them, you have to beat them, and beat them a lot. I'll just simply say this; dream as big as you want, and I hope guys like Patrick Alcoke and Dan end up making it. I think it would be an incredible story and it would further make golf the best sport in the world. But also do it a little like Tom Coyne did it. Expect brilliance, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen. There are a TON of brilliant golfers that have never even sniffed the fairways of a Nationwide Tour event, much less the pinnacle of stages. There are men that break 67 every single time they tee it up, but their games don't travel. There are men in every golf store and pro shop around the world that, at one point or another, have broke 63, and could probably do it again if they went and hit balls for 30 minutes. So just make sure you're approaching all of this with a part of your mind on the history of this game. Tiger Woods didn't get to be where he is because he just was good. He became good. He worked to be great. He spent YEARS on the range and practice greens perfecting the simplest of pitches, and the hardest of flops. He worked tirelessly at hitting his driver in the fairway. He would make putts in his sleep, and I'm talking about his literal sleep. Becoming great isn't something that you have to work at. It's something that you can only work at. Good luck.
Jul 6
Ladies, if you've ever fantasized about Dustin Johnson knocking on your door one Saturday night dressed in a full German outfit (And honestly, who hasn't?), you're in luck, because that's what we have here.Johnson, playing the BMW Championship, put all of that on, and well, that's about the end of this story. Is it just me or does that cow look a little too interested? h/t PGT
A Little Something For The Ladies
Ladies, if you've ever fantasized about Dustin Johnson knocking on your door one Saturday night dressed in a full German outfit (And honestly, who hasn't?), you're in luck, because that's what we have here.Johnson, playing the BMW Championship, put all of that on, and well, that's about the end of this story. Is it just me or does that cow look a little too interested? h/t PGT
Jul 6
K.J.Choi thrashes the course record to grab lead at AT&T National on PGA Tour
K.J.Choi thrashes the course record to grab lead at AT&T National on PGA Tour As overnight leaders Hunter Haas and Adam Scott watched their lead dissolve with early bogeys and K.J. Choi shooting a record thrashing six-under, 64, another PGA event, the AT&T National, is probably heading towards a non-American victory. The Players Championship winner seems to be pulling all the right cards to overtake the field at the $6.2-million event on one of the most difficult par-70 course on the...
Jul 6
José María Olazábal pulls out of final qualifying for the Open
? Spaniard still in the field for next week's Scottish Open
? Top-five finish would be only way of playing in Sandwich
The European Ryder Cup captain José María Olazábal has withdrawn from the Open Championship final qualifying competition at Littlestone in Kent on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old Spaniard, who has battled with arthritic pains for over 15 years, has also pulled out of the French Open starting on Thursday, but is still in the field for next week's Scottish Open.
His only way to play in the Open at Sandwich now would be to finish in the top five at Castle Stuart near Inverness.
The former US Open champion Michael Campbell is among 288 players competing over 36 holes for just 12 Open places over four courses. He plays at Prince's alongside the South African Hennie Otto, who was the first-day leader at Royal St George's in 2003 and went on to finish 10th, and the 1993 Ryder Cup player Joakim Haeggman.
His fellow Swede Jarmo Sandelin, part of the 1999 European side, is at Rye, while the 1991 Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst is at Royal Cinque Ports.
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Jul 6
Nick Watney blisters Aronimink with back nine 27
For three-plus months of the PGA Tour season it appeared the golf world had an answer to one of the biggest question marks coming into this season: If Tiger Woods couldn't continue to be the most dominant American golfer in the game today, who had the ability to pick up the torch and lead the way?
That golfer for the early part of the season appeared to be Nick Watney. Despite his quiet demeanor and relatively boring game, Watney was setting the world on fire with a win and five top-15 finishes in his first six events. But as soon as Watney started to look the part of best American, he quickly disappeared off the radar, finishing T-46 at the Masters and missing the cut at the U.S. Open.
It seemed like Watney couldn't handle the pressure. And just when he started to become an afterthought, Watney went out and hopped right back right back into the picture on Saturday with a mind-blowing back nine at the AT&T National, firing a video game-esque 8-under 27 on an Aronimink course that some players claimed was a more difficult test than the one at the U.S. Open.
The round included birdies on the 10th and 11th, and a Fourth of July fireworks display down the stretch, as he birdied four of his final six holes, also throwing in an eagle for good measure.
It was a brilliant back nine that allowed Watney to post an 8-under 62 that saw him soar up the leader board. But in the process of soaring up one board, he did the same thing on another, moving back into the picture as the best American golfer in the game.
He still has the final round in front of him, but if Watney can somehow find a way to hoist the trophy, that would give him two wins on tour, a feat only Mark Wilson and Bubba Watson have been able to accomplish this season.
Given Watson's current form and Watney coming on strong, there's a good chance we could be talking about Watney as the top American again on Sunday evening.
