Ron Green Jr. on Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy, along with highlights from Day 1 of the PGA Championship:
Thursday, August 11, 2011
PGA Championship Becoming A Part Of The Carolinas
One reads, 2012 Kiawah Island. Another reads, 2017 Quail Hollow.
Pretty cool if you live in the Carolinas and you're into golf. And that doesn't count the dual U.S. Opens coming to Pinehurst in 2014.
A year from now, Kiawah Island's Ocean Course will be on the world stage again, 21 years after its stunning debut at the 1991 Ryder Cup matches. It's a different course now, some of its wild edges tamed but it's still one of the most dramatic settings in golf. If the wind blows -- and since it's likely to be over 90 degreees each day it had better blow -- it could be a supreme test.
Kiawah officials have had great success selling the championship. They've already sold 94 percent of the tickets and expect to be sold out once they reopn the registration list Sunday evening to fill the final six percent of tickets. They made the wise move of reducing spectator capacity to 30,000 per day, well below the gallery size at most majors.
Corporate support has been extremely strong and there's every reason to believe the championship will be a big success.
Six years from now, it will be at Quail Hollow. It's a long time but not that long. Officials from the Wells Fargo Championship have been in Atlanta this week getting the lay of the land, studying the infrastructure that will be required. It's a substantially larger than what a regular tour event requires.
There are changes coming to Quail Hollow for the PGA. There will be bermuda grass on the greens by then and there will likely be some tweaks made to the layout.
There's also the inevitable question about the future of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. That's a decision to be made down the road.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Poulter, Kim Add Names To Greensboro Field
Ian Poulter, Anthony Kim and Louis Oosthuizen are the latest top players to commit to the Wyndham Championship next week in Greensboro.
They add their names to a field that includes Paul Casey, David Toms, Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker, John Daly, Lucas Glover and others.
They add their names to a field that includes Paul Casey, David Toms, Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker, John Daly, Lucas Glover and others.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Tiger and Stevie: Leaving A Scar
I'll give Steve Williams the benefit of the doubt that he didn't intend to upstage his new boss, Adam Scott, in the hours after Scott won the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational but it happened anyway.
It was inevitable given the timing of it all, Williams being on Scott's bag at Firestone of all places where his former boss, Tiger Woods, had won seven times before with Stevie on the bag and Tiger finishing in the middle of the pack in his first tournament in more than three months.
For Scott, it was an impressive victory, the kind we thought there might be more of by now. For years, he's been the model of the modern golf swing but his short game and putting, a bugaboo to many, had kept him from winning as often as he might have. Amazingly, Scott switched to the long putter and the hole keeps getting in the way of his 12-footers.
This win should be about him but it turned into Stevie against Tiger and no one won.
Williams said it was the best week of his 33-year caddie life and maybe it was but there were some pretty sweet weeks in those 11 or so years he was carrying the bag for Tiger. Pebble Beach. St. Andrews. Torrey Pines.
Scars leave numb spots and maybe that's what happened with Williams.
That's not to say Woods didn't help create the strange scenario that has unfolded. We all know what the last 20 months have been like and that would strain the closest relationships.
Maybe Tiger truly believed it was time to make a break with Stevie. Or, maybe he was irked because Williams picked up Scott's bag at the U.S. Open and stayed with it, wondering if and when Woods was coming back.
Nothing's simple in Tiger's life anymore, at least not looking in from the outside.
It's understandable that Williams would feel a sense of joy and vindication with Scott's victory. He took the split from Woods hard. Most of us would.
Maybe it took something like this to make the split permanent. Maybe it meant leaving a scar.
It was inevitable given the timing of it all, Williams being on Scott's bag at Firestone of all places where his former boss, Tiger Woods, had won seven times before with Stevie on the bag and Tiger finishing in the middle of the pack in his first tournament in more than three months.
For Scott, it was an impressive victory, the kind we thought there might be more of by now. For years, he's been the model of the modern golf swing but his short game and putting, a bugaboo to many, had kept him from winning as often as he might have. Amazingly, Scott switched to the long putter and the hole keeps getting in the way of his 12-footers.
This win should be about him but it turned into Stevie against Tiger and no one won.
Williams said it was the best week of his 33-year caddie life and maybe it was but there were some pretty sweet weeks in those 11 or so years he was carrying the bag for Tiger. Pebble Beach. St. Andrews. Torrey Pines.
Scars leave numb spots and maybe that's what happened with Williams.
That's not to say Woods didn't help create the strange scenario that has unfolded. We all know what the last 20 months have been like and that would strain the closest relationships.
Maybe Tiger truly believed it was time to make a break with Stevie. Or, maybe he was irked because Williams picked up Scott's bag at the U.S. Open and stayed with it, wondering if and when Woods was coming back.
Nothing's simple in Tiger's life anymore, at least not looking in from the outside.
It's understandable that Williams would feel a sense of joy and vindication with Scott's victory. He took the split from Woods hard. Most of us would.
Maybe it took something like this to make the split permanent. Maybe it meant leaving a scar.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Rory: 'I Love Quail Hollow'
It looks as if we're going to be seeing more of Rory McIlroy on the PGA Tour next year which is a very good thing on a number of levels, not the least of which is it probably assures his return to the Wells Fargo Championship.
McIlroy said this week he's "leaning towards" rejoining the PGA Tour which requires him to play 15 events, something he chose not to do this season in part because he didn't care for the FedEx Cup playoffs at the end of the season.
What McIlroy does like -- and what appears to be the trump card in his decision process -- is playing places like Quail Hollow Club.
"I feel as if my game really suits playing courses over here. I love Quail Hollow, Memorial, Akron. You play Match Play, Honda, Doral, Masters," McIlroy said Wednesday prior to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
"You have your favorite events, and most of my favorite events seem to be on this side of the pond. And my game suits it over here. I'm very comfortable over here.
"I'd like to give it a go again and obviously last more than one year and really see how it goes."
McIlroy said this week he's "leaning towards" rejoining the PGA Tour which requires him to play 15 events, something he chose not to do this season in part because he didn't care for the FedEx Cup playoffs at the end of the season.
What McIlroy does like -- and what appears to be the trump card in his decision process -- is playing places like Quail Hollow Club.
"I feel as if my game really suits playing courses over here. I love Quail Hollow, Memorial, Akron. You play Match Play, Honda, Doral, Masters," McIlroy said Wednesday prior to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
"You have your favorite events, and most of my favorite events seem to be on this side of the pond. And my game suits it over here. I'm very comfortable over here.
"I'd like to give it a go again and obviously last more than one year and really see how it goes."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Haven't We Been Here Before?
Haven't we been here before?
Haven't we waited and wondered about what we'll see from Tiger Woods when he returns from another long absence?
As the t-shirt says, been there, done that.
Still, when Woods and Darren Clarke tee off together at 1:40 p.m. Thursday, they'll have golf's attention -- and the attention of plenty of others. It's because he's Tiger and things change when he plays.
Even if you don't like Tiger, aren't you a little curious about how he plays? About how his swing looks? About whether he holes any putts?
I am.
There's already been a veritable tabloid frenzy about whether he put his trusty Scotty Cameron putter back in play -- he did. Other guys change putters and they have to tell somebody for anyone other than their caddie to notice. Not Tiger.
He's breaking out some new Nike shoes this week and an email came screaming across cyberspace explaining what the new shoes are all about. Because Tiger's wearing them. Stewart Cink could have them on and nobody would notice.
For more than a decade, golf was Tiger's world. Now it's Rory's and Phil's and Darren's and, at least some of it still belongs to Tiger.
We can find out now how much of it he can reclaim.
Haven't we waited and wondered about what we'll see from Tiger Woods when he returns from another long absence?
As the t-shirt says, been there, done that.
Still, when Woods and Darren Clarke tee off together at 1:40 p.m. Thursday, they'll have golf's attention -- and the attention of plenty of others. It's because he's Tiger and things change when he plays.
Even if you don't like Tiger, aren't you a little curious about how he plays? About how his swing looks? About whether he holes any putts?
I am.
There's already been a veritable tabloid frenzy about whether he put his trusty Scotty Cameron putter back in play -- he did. Other guys change putters and they have to tell somebody for anyone other than their caddie to notice. Not Tiger.
He's breaking out some new Nike shoes this week and an email came screaming across cyberspace explaining what the new shoes are all about. Because Tiger's wearing them. Stewart Cink could have them on and nobody would notice.
For more than a decade, golf was Tiger's world. Now it's Rory's and Phil's and Darren's and, at least some of it still belongs to Tiger.
We can find out now how much of it he can reclaim.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Wyndham, Greensboro Extend Partnership Through 2016
The future just got brighter for the PGA Tour event in Greensboro.
Officials announced today that Wyndham Worldwide has extended its sponsorship of the event through 2016, solidifying the tournament that has taken on a new life since returning to Sedgefield Country Club three years ago.
“We are proud to extend our agreement with our wonderful partners at Wyndham Worldwide,” Bobby Long, Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation Board of Directors chairman said in a statement.
“On behalf of the entire region, we are very appreciative of Wyndham Worldwide’s continued support and the stability it provides our PGA TOUR event. Steve Holmes, Franz Hanning, Geoff Ballotti, Eric Danziger and the many wonderful people from Wyndham Worldwide are such fun to work with and have become great friends. We couldn't ask for better partners in our quest to make the Wyndham Championship A++ in every way.”
The 2011 event will be played Aug. 15-21 with Arjun Atwal defending his championship. Another solid field, including Vijay Singh, Lucas Glover, Paul Casey and others is lined up.
Officials announced today that Wyndham Worldwide has extended its sponsorship of the event through 2016, solidifying the tournament that has taken on a new life since returning to Sedgefield Country Club three years ago.
“We are proud to extend our agreement with our wonderful partners at Wyndham Worldwide,” Bobby Long, Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation Board of Directors chairman said in a statement.
“On behalf of the entire region, we are very appreciative of Wyndham Worldwide’s continued support and the stability it provides our PGA TOUR event. Steve Holmes, Franz Hanning, Geoff Ballotti, Eric Danziger and the many wonderful people from Wyndham Worldwide are such fun to work with and have become great friends. We couldn't ask for better partners in our quest to make the Wyndham Championship A++ in every way.”
The 2011 event will be played Aug. 15-21 with Arjun Atwal defending his championship. Another solid field, including Vijay Singh, Lucas Glover, Paul Casey and others is lined up.
