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February 26, 2008

PGA does cut-line reversal

The PGA Tour amended its divisive cut policy, giving players on the cut line one more day of competition to separate themselves from the bottom of the pack.

Starting this week at the Honda Classic, the tour will return to a traditional 36-hole cut for the top 70 and ties. If more than 78 players make the cut, there will be another cut to the top 70 and ties after the third round.

"On the surface, that sounds like doing the same thing over again," commissioner Tim Finchem said Tuesday. "But it's really not, because the field spreads."

The cut policy changed this year to avoid large fields on the weekend, which led to 5½-hour rounds and disrupted the television window. When the cut was more than 78 players, the nearest number to 70 advanced to the weekend, while the others received last-place money.

Eighteen players at the Sony Open and 19 players at the Buick Invitational were kept from playing on the weekend under the previous policy. Anthony Kim was among them in San Diego, and it could have kept him from qualifying for a World Golf Championship.

Others complained that they didn't have a chance to move up the leaderboard over the final two rounds, if not for a chance to win, then at least to get into the top 10 and earn valuable Ryder Cup or FedEx Cup points, not to mention money.

"I just think we didn't think through the new rule," Finchem said. "It's hard to understand. People see players making the cut and not playing. Nobody's happy with that."

Not much was said about the policy until early this season. Some players acknowledged they didn't actually know about it.

The 16-man Players Advisory Council met last week at Riviera and made the recommendation, which the tour's policy board voted on Monday in Florida. The tour also will consider changing the so-called second cut to one with 65 and ties in the future.

"It's kind of a compromise, kind of half a loaf," Finchem said. "But it's the best step for right now. ... It may be that we fall in love with this. It may be that we want to reevaluate Saturdays. But everybody seems to be pretty comfortable right now going in this direction."

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 1:24 PM   0 Comments

June 25, 2007

Tour Roundup

PGA Tour - Mahan gets his first TOUR win

It looks like another sign that American golf has a pretty good future. Another of the under-30 crowd notched a win this week. Hunter Mahan rallied after back-to-back bogies and was able to beat Jay Williamson in a playoff at The Travelers.

Read about it here...

LPGA Tour - Ochoa wins in a playoff

It was bound to happen sometime. Lorena Ochoa finally got into a playoff and came out on top. It was the first time in five tries the world's number one player was able to win in a playoff, a likely stepping stone for more victories in the future.

Read about it here...

Champion's Tour - Haas just keeps on rollin'

This win was a team effort, with Haas playing some great golf and Tom Purtzer collapsing in the final round. It was a second consecutive win for Haas, who now has four on the year.

Read about it here...


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May 7, 2007

Some things never change

For the PGA Tour, things didn't change much at all over the past weekend. Tiger Woods cruised to another victory (his 52nd since turning pro) at the Wachovia. With an eagle-birdie-birdie run in the middle of the round, he sure did make things look easy.

I felt that Saturday was really the day to watch. With Tiger and Vijay Singh paired together, there was some really great golf being played. From Singh's on-the-fly eagle to Tiger hitting three wood about a quater-mile, there were plenty of great shots to watch.

Sunday felt like a little of a let-down as several of those on the top of the leaderboard fell away.

On the Champions Tour, newcomer Scott Hoch notched his first win. That adds to the 11 wins he had during his time on the PGA Tour.

All in all, it was guys who know how to win, getting it done again.

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 8:46 AM   0 Comments

April 13, 2007

PGA Tour goes low

Watching Thursday's round at Harbour Town, I couldn't help but think how happy all those guys must have been to be out of Augusta. Just about everyone was putting up a good number on a course that wasn't playing nearly as tough as the one they were on a week ago.

It's hard to say which is better for the game. Would fans rather see golfers tear up a golf course and go as low as they can or would they prefer to see the world's best grind on a difficult course and struggle to stay near even par? It's hard to say.

Personally, I like seeing the guys fight the course. I think a difficult course truly brings the best players to the top because they have to think their way around the course and decide on a course of action.

Let me know what you think. It's likely that we're in for another battle when the US Open comes along because Oakmont will be set up tough once again.

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 6:48 AM   0 Comments

April 1, 2007

Big weekend for young golfers

Two of the 'Next Big Thing' golfers hit it big over the weekend. Aussie Adam Scott held on to win the Houston Shell Open, and 18-year-old Morgan Pressel became the youngest to win an LPGA major.

In a sport where fans are always looking for the next great golfer (aka, someone to regularly battle established stars like Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam), we may have finally gotten a glimpse into the future.

Scott, currently ranked fifth in the world, has finally started to shake off some of the rust from his recent hiatus from the TOUR. He was able to grind out a win despite hitting his final tee shot into the water.

Pressel, who graduated from high school just months ago, has shown an amazing amount of talent since stepping into the spotlight. However, she's just one of the many young guns that have become competitive on the ladies circuit.

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 5:04 PM   0 Comments

March 8, 2007

AT&T steps up, again

The PGA TOUR and the Tiger Woods Foundation announced Wednesday that AT&T would be the title sponsor for Tiger's July 4th tour stop in Washington, DC. It's another in a long-line of TOUR sponsored events for the telecommunications company.

The AT&T National will take the place of The International, the stableford event held near Denver. Congressional Country Club is the most likely venue, at least for 2007 and 2008 (membership will vote soon on whether or not to host the event).

As for Tiger Woods, who will become the youngest tournament host, he said he wants to create a tournament that adds to the game of golf. "Not too many people are fortunate to have an opportunity like this," Woods said. "What Bobby Jones did for golf and starting the Masters, that won't be touched. As far as what Jack has done at the Memorial, or Arnold at Bay Hill or Mr. Nelson in Dallas, those have been true legends of the game. They made a tremendous impact on our sport.

I like that the July 4th event will be a tribute to the nation's birthday and a tribute to the troops fighting overseas. I will say, though, that it's too bad a truly unique event (The International) had to go by the wayside. It'd be nice to see the stableford format resurrected down the road.

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 7:19 AM   0 Comments

March 7, 2007

Jobe returns to the PGA Tour

If you follow golf, you'll know who Brandt Jobe is. If you don't, you'll be interested in today's post only because it shows that injuries can be overcome and you can continue playing golf at the highest levels after them.

Jobe's never won a PGA Tour event, but over the last 28 years of professional golf, he's amassed over $6 million in earnings. In 2003, though, he broke his left wrist; a year later, he broke it again. Both times, he returned to competitive golf and continued to play well.

Last year, Jobe was sweeping his garage when the broom broke and the tips of the fingers on his right hand were sliced off. He was able to find a doctor who specialized in re-attachments and he's now making his return to the PGA Tour.

The PODS Championship this week will be Jobe's first event of 2007.

While many would have thought his career would have ground to a halt with the wrist injuries, this most recent comeback shows just how much can be overcome when you want to continue playing a game you love. Let's all think about that the next time we have a bad round and swear we're gonna give up the game.

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 8:06 AM   0 Comments

March 5, 2007

Good Golf, Bad Golf

Watching the final round of the Honda Classic on Sunday was a little like watching Jerry Springer. It was ugly and I wanted to change the channel, but there was also some compelling about it.

It appeared that Boo Weekley was going to wrap it all up in regulation and notch his first PGA Tour win. I guess he forgot about the 40" putt he had to make to get it all done. Then there was that crazy playoff that featured all four players hitting at least one bad shot, yet all making par to move on.

So there's the question. Would you rather watch a tournament that featured elite players blowing away the field, or would you rather watch a bunch of guys fighting for their first win and not playing the best golf. For the life of me, I can't decide.

Let me know what you think by e-mailing me at kris@oregongolfadventures.com.

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posted by Oregon Golf Adventures @ 11:40 AM   0 Comments


 
 
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