Filed under: PGA
Is Tiger Woods ready to make his comeback?Numerous reports, all of them, however, unsubstantiated, suggest the beleaguered golf star is preparing to end his indefinite leave by competing in the Accenture Match Play Championship, to be played outside Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 17-21.
Since Woods took an indefinite leave of absence from the game following a personal-life sex scandal that broke in late November, speculation has targeted a handful of possible tournaments he might select to make a return.
The Accenture, along with March's World Golf Championship event at Doral in Miami, and the Masters are most commonly mentioned.
The positives for the Match Play is that Woods also chose the World Golf Event competition to return to competition last year after being out for almost eight months because of knee surgery.
Filed under: PGA
Admitting PGA Tour leadership never saw the controversy coming, Tim Finchem now can do little more than wait."The lawyers are evaluating," the commissioner said Wednesday from Riviera Country Club, where the Northern Trust Open is being played outside Los Angeles.
Life has been anything but groovy for the PGA Tour since Scott McCarron -- a member of the player advisory council -- last week ignited a wildfire of controversy by suggesting Phil Mickelson was cheating by using a loophole to play the non-conforming pre-1990 Ping Eye2 wedges.
For a sport needing to put on its best foot forward in the wake of Tiger Woods' image issues, the resulting infighting was pretty much everything golf did not need -- its on-course action being upstaged by a top player having his integrity questioned. Even worse, it most likely could have been avoided.
There's a new course in the rotation this year. Monterey Peninsula Country Club replaces Poppy Hills, a move that makes most of the pros happy. (And Monterey should provide some great views for those watching at home, too.) Monterey Peninsula was included in the rota for many years, but the last time the tournament visited the club was 1977.
The new world No. 2, Steve Stricker, isn't playing this week. But the world No. 424, John Daly, is entered. So if you've been on pins and needles wondering if Daly's threat to retire was real, well, rest easy.
The defending champion is Dustin Johnson, who finished third in the Northern Trust Open. Sergio Garcia makes his 2010 PGA Tour debut this week, and Sam Saunders, grandson of Arnold Palmer, gets his second sponsor exemption of the year. Also in the field are Rickie Fowler, Ryo Ishikawa, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, last week's runner-up Luke Donald, and J.B. Holmes, who finished tied for third last week.
Check our AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament page for the list of past championship plus more tourney info and trivia.
This Week: Pebble Beach Pro-Am originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 09:41:08.
While speculation escalates over when Tiger Woods will return from exile to competition, the execution of his comeback is attracting widespread comment from communication experts and his fellow players.
Filed under: PGA
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dustin Johnson made a hole-in-one and Steve Stricker had seven birdies to brighten an otherwise dreary day at rainy Riviera and finish atop the leaderboard Friday at the Northern Trust Open.Johnson's 8-iron from 152 yards landed between the pin and the famous bunker in the middle of the green at No. 6, spinning back into the cup for an ace that put him in the lead for most of the afternoon. He had two holes left when play was halted by darkness.
Stricker, playing in a morning rain that never relented, chipped in for birdie on the 18th and nearly made an ace on No. 4 when his hybrid from 230 yards lipped out. He shot a 6-under 65 and had the clubhouse lead.
"I'm very happy to be done with the round, to tell you the truth," said Stricker, who was at 10-under 132. "It was pretty miserable out there today."
Stricker moving ahead of Mickelson isn't just an artifact of the ranking system's math, either. Stricker has earned it. Mickelson finished 2009 hot, but Stricker outplayed him over the course of the year.
In 2009, Stricker and Mickelson both had three PGA Tour wins. Mickelson later won the WGC HSBC Champions, a big win albeit one that didn't count as an official PGA Tour victory. Advantage to Mickelson.
But Stricker had more than twice as many Top 25 finishes as Phil (16 to 7), more Top 10s (11 to 7), won nearly $1 million more, and posted an actual scoring average more than one full stroke better than Mickelson's (69.51 to 70.83). In adjusted scoring - which takes into account course difficulty and strength of field - Stricker still easily bested Mickelson, ranking second to Phil's 28th.
And now Stricker has started 2010 with a 10th, a third and a win. While Mickelson opened the year with two indifferent showings on courses where he usually plays great.
Stricker is a couple weeks away from turning 43, and during the television broadcast one of the NBC announcers suggested Stricker might turn into another Vijay Singh - a victory machine in his 40s. Sure, that might happen, but let's not get carried away just yet.
It's more likely Stricker could turn into another Kenny Perry, who has 11 wins in his 40s. Stricker's Northern Trust Open victory was his fifth in his 40s. Vijay? He has 22.
Of course, Singh had a headstart on Stricker - he's four years and one day older than Stricker. But by the time Singh was the age Stricker is now, Vijay had already won 17 times in his 40s. It's asking a lot of any golfer - it will be asking a lot of Mickelson and of Tiger someday - to match Vijay's post-40 performance.
But any way you look at Stricker's play over the past 14 months, he deserves the No. 2 world ranking that he seized on Sunday.
See also:
Stricker Bumps Mickelson from No. 2 World Ranking originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 18:31:46.
Steve Stricker opened a five-shot lead at Riviera before darkness stopped play in the rain-delayed Northern Trust Open.
Of all the celebrity gossip sites/magazines jumping on the Tiger Woods rumor train, TMZ.com's reporting has probably been the most solid. It's certainly had its share of reports that turned out to be wrong, however. The Web site claims its source is "someone who works for the Woods family."
Many have speculated that Woods will return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, two weeks prior to The Masters. The Tavistock Cup is played in the days in-between the Transitions Championship and the Palmer, so it, too, is little more than two weeks prior to The Masters.
The Tavistock Cup is a team event that pits pros representing two of Florida's most exclusive clubs, Isleworth and Lake Nona. The event raises money for charity, but the participants - 10 players for each team - are very well-compensated. The purse in 2009 was $3.5 million.
A Tiger return at the Tavistock Cup makes sense on several levels, not the least of which is that fans are let through the gates on an invitation-only basis. The Tavistock Cup Web site explains the availability of tickets this way: "We are sorry, but tickets are not available to the general public. Only members of Isleworth Golf & Country Club, members of Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, tournament sponsors, and VIP guests are allowed to attend this event."
Woods would be among friends, with a smaller gallery full of rich people like himself, a gallery that is tightly controlled. It makes sense, doesn't it? Certainly more sense than last week's big rumor about a Tiger return at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Latest Tiger Rumor: He'll Return at Tavistock Cup originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 13:23:46.
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Beginners: How to Rake a Sand Bunker originally appeared on About.com Golf on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 05:09:15.
Filed under: PGA
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dustin Johnson was determined to get off to a good start in the Northern Trust Open, so for the first time, he decided against trying to drive the 10th green at Riviera and instead laid up with a 4-iron.He made par, which never hurts. And then he took off.
Johnson birdied three of his next four holes, one of them with a 65-foot putt, and he kept bogeys off his card during a cool, gentle morning for a 7-under 64 to build a one-shot lead Thursday over Andres Romero and Kevin Stadler.
"Had good vibes going all day, and just hit the ball really good all day long," Johnson said.
Romero had good vibes going for most of the day. The dynamic Argentine had eight birdies to offset a double bogey on the ninth hole when he didn't listen to his caddie. Romero finished with four straight birdies for a 65. Stadler had the best score among late starters, opening with a 30 on the back nine. He played the final eight holes in 1 over.
2010 Dubai Desert Classic RecapWinner: Miguel Angel Jimenez
Score: 11 under, 277 (70, 67, 68, 72)
Quote: “Like a good wine, with age, I get better and better.”
Fact: Favorite Cuban cigars are Partagas and Cohiba.
Thought: A good short game cures many ills.
I THOUGHT LEE WESTWOOD had it. I really did. Westwood birdied the final hole to tie Miguel Angel Jimenez and force a playoff at the Dubai Desert Classic. He then ripped a drive down the 18th fairway while the shorter-hitting Spaniard poked his tee ball into the rough and had to lay up on the par-5.
Jimenez barely cleared the water fronting the 18th green with his third, a wedge, while Westwood chipped on. Westwood misfired on his birdie and the crafty Spaniard got it up and down. The two men and their caddies hopped onto golf carts and rode back to the 18th tee for another go.
OK, I knew Jimenez would win. The Golf Channel had delayed coverage. I had already seen a tweet from an Aussie friend announcing the results. But I wanted to see how it happened.
It happened because Jimenez is a resourceful player with a clever short game, including a reliable putter. And because Westwood couldn’t birdie the reachable 18th hole on two consecutive tries in the playoff. The Englishman must be kicking himself.
On their second trip down 18, Jimenez again found himself in trouble, bunkered behind the green in three shots. He came out long and had to hole a medium-range putt to stay alive. The unflappable 46-year-old ran it in. On the third playoff hole, the long par-4 9th, both players missed the green. Westwood failed to get up and in for his par. Jimenez rapped home a four-footer for the win. Three playoff holes, three one-putts, one victory cigar.
“I have been coming to Dubai for many years and had a few chances to win and now I have it,” Jimenez said about his 16th European Tour title. He has won nine times since turning 40.
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee finished alone in third, missing a short birdie putt on the final hole to miss the playoff by a shot.
Tour Notes
· Tom Watson finished in a tie for eighth at Dubai.
· PGA Tour: Steve Stricker won the Northern Trust Open.
· The PGA Tour heads to the Monterey Peninsula for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
· The LPGA Tour season begins in two weeks in Thailand.
−The Armchair Golfer
(Image: Perez/Flickr)
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