Spending More Time in the Sand Than David Hasselhoff

The FedEx Cup is history for 2009. And as much as I hate to admit it, it was good theater.

Philly gave us the drama!

As you may or may not know, I am not a big Phil fan, but it was pretty cool to watch a guy who has had so much personal grief this year play so well, with so much confidence, and win the tournament. He seemed like a different person than the guy from the rest of this year.

And Tiger deserved to win the whole shootin’ match. He had the best season of everyone, in spite of no majors.

The fellas with their hardware

It is still hard for me to get this “playoff” type format, though. I like team sports, where the playoff leads to one victor at the end. The old cliche is “Win your last game of the season.” Assuming you make the playoffs, in most sports, that means you win the whole enchilada.

In golf, and NASCAR, and other individual sports where the powers that be try to cram a playoff in “for the fans” (read that as, For the money), I guess you can take 2nd and still win it all. It just ain’t right.

I have a solution to the whole playoff mess in golf. Stop it. Now. Don’t do it next year.

Would the Tour Championship have been any less compelling if it was a stand alone tournament? Phil still would have come from nowhere, Tiger still would have been trying to hang on. No consolation prizes of $10 million to the guy who took second, just a great tournament. I’m sure the Heath Slocums of the world would love a shot at $10 million (who wouldn’t?), but the playoff points didn’t make this tournament more fun to watch. It was the golf, stupid!

Besides, we could get rid of every announcer repetitively pushing the number of FedEx points each player has, where they would finish in the FedEx standings “if the tournament ended right now” (in the second round with 100 players still on the course. It could happen – sure it could!). And get rid of the little green numbers. Show me how they’re doing in this tournament, today and overall. Simple.

It won’t happen. It’s too much fan-centric and not money-centric.

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Ran across an truly outstanding post about Phil Mickelson today by Ben Alberstadt at The Sand Trap. By definition, an outstanding post is one that agrees 100% with me, and a truly outstanding post not only agrees with me, but goes against conventional wisdom.

Philly Mick

For those of you too busy to follow the link and read the article, here are my personal highlights from it:

“I am tired of the Mickelson family swarming the green, the visor, the haircut, the style of play, and the unnecessarily small shirt. I don’t respect the way in which he sold out Titleist right before a Ryder Cup or his apparent lack of a killer instinct.”

“Phil Mickelson has been blessed with incredible natural abilities which, if filtered through a sieve of prudent course management, would not be so routinely wasted. In a real way, I think he has an obligation to do so rather than simply “having fun” on the golf course (or at the casino, another favorite Mickelson institution).”

“Phil seems to not only enjoy, but in some sense need, the adoration of the masses. “He’s just like us,” Phil fans cheer. Why is this, because he’s overweight and likes blondes? Phil is nothing like you, unless you’re raking in about $62M this year, wear $2,000 belts, and sport a Rolex on the golf course (actually, if you wear any watch on the golf course, please tell me why for, truly, I am mystified by this practice).”

Well done!

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Sunday afternoon was turning into a great day on the PGA Tour from my viewpoint.  In the midst of the final round at Riviera, Philly Mick was choking like a dog (I am not a big Phil phan), and the tour’s number one Cheesehead, Steve Stricker had roared into the lead on the wave of a great round.

Then, Stevie left a birdie at 17 two inches short.

Phil found his mojo and began pounding his dastardly driver and 3 wood off the tee – into the middle of the fairway (previously unknown territory for the Philmeister).

And Steve pulled a drive on 18, put his approach short right, chipped up – and missed the putt for par.

Phil still had a chance to choke, but hit two clutch putts on 17 and 18 to hang on to the win.

Life changes so fast, you know?

My only hope is that Phil loses 9 and 8 in the first round of the match play tomorrow. Or, even better, he gets to the semis, meets Tiger, and can’t show up to the first tee due to a severe case of the Shakes, also known as Tiger Scratch Fever.

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So Tiger is coming back. As much as I love the idea of seeing the Striped One prowling the fairways again – without wincing in pain – I’m concerned.

The hype tidal wave is building.

I just don’t want the breathless excitement of the Kelly Tilghmans of the world, let alone the non-Kelly Tilghmans, every minute of every day, anxiously awaiting Tiger’s first swing. The over-analysis of every move, starting days before he even hits a shot in competition  (is he limping in that practice round?; he looks great in red, doesn’t he?; is he thinking of his new baby?; oh no, not a sidehill lie with that bad knee;  etc. etc. . . . add my nauseum).

He’s back. That is great. The Tour is better for it. And the directors of the Match Play in Tucson have to be ecstatic, and justifiably so. But for the rest of us – we knew he was coming back, right? I mean, your basic knee surgery doesn’t often lead to death or loss of leg, in most orthopaedist’s hands anyway. So let’s pretend like we’re mature adults and accept it for what it is – the return of a great athlete to the sport he and we love. Avoid the overblown, please. Remember, the millions of people without jobs probably aren’t that excited about Tiger right now, nor are the folks (barely) working for GM – or Saab, or Ford or . . .

Thinking of Tiger?

Settle, people.

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This just in – Tiger is back in competition and, best news of all, winning again!

Unfortunately for golf fans, it isn’t on the Tour. It is at the Westminster Dog Show. A Scottish deerhound, Ch. Gayleward’s Tiger Woods dominated the  Hound Group last night at Westminster and is on to the Best in Show competition.

Any bets on how he does? I mean, according to reports, this young hound has 4 stress fractures, two torn ACL’s – and a world of pride and competitive spirit. Not to mention the stunningly attractive Brussels griffon he has been associating with at all of New York’s finest places to be seen.

This cat is a winner!

Tiger Woods - the other

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I’m like most fans. I watch the PGA and European tour and only think of the players I see as golfers. That is really the only way I see them. Sure, they get some quotes in the paper or golf magazines, and Tim Rosaforte on TGC tells us a little about what they were thinking, but basically, they are golfers to me.

Then you read a story like Paul Goydos.

Goydos has always been popular among writers as he is funny, willing to talk, and self-depracating. He is fairly popular among fans for a two time winner who is not a frequent contender. I had heard at one point that he had taken some time off the tour and continued to do so intermittently to take care of daughters. I thought it was curious (unless they are widowed, how many men do you know of who get custody of their kids?), but didn’t really think about it. He’s a golfer, after all.

Now, we find out that Goydos needs to take time off again. It is because his ex-wife, who he divorced in 2004 – hence, the custody issue – died. And one of the reasons for the breakup was noted in various news outlets in association with the current story to be her addiction to painkillers. He had taken a season off after the divorce to help his kids and is about to do so again.

Life really isn’t easy. Even when you’re a figure on the green grass of the professional golf tours.

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I ran into Jay Busbee’s interview with David Feherty online today and I just had to share some of it.

For those who don’t know, Feherty is a former European tour player from Ireland who retired in 1997 and since, has been the best on-course announcer in golf history for my money. He has a way with words that, well, no one else has. For example, he has used the phrase “pulled up on the back of his underwear violently” in describing how a certain PGA player felt after flubbing a shot. Another favorite: “that ball ran across the green like a frozen sloat” – I think that means the green was slick.

But, as this interview shows, he isn’t just funny, but a man who may care about America more than most Americans.

Some excerpts:

His view on the war in Iraq: “What you think of the war — whether we should be there, whether we shouldn’t — isn’t truly relevant anymore. This is one of the greatest good deeds the world has ever seen. Iraq had the fourth largest army in the world, and we blew right through it. And now you’ve got Iran pushing in, looking to gain control. It’s truly terrifying — we think in four-year election cycles, and these people think in hundreds of years.”

On how great it is to live in the US: “I’ve lived so many other places, and it’s given me some perspective. The average American wouldn’t believe how extraordinary we have it here. Every day I wake up, I think, “Am I still in America? Yes? Thank f—!”"

And some of the funny stuff.

Speaking about a golf tour he did in Iraq for the American troops where a long drive champ hit a ball off a rubber tee in Feherty’s button fly, “When you’ve got a club coming 200mph right at your plums, that’ll wake you up.”

On how amazing Tiger was compared to the players Feherty was used to on the tour when he hit the scene: “And then every round, Tiger would hit a couple shots, and I’d say, “F—, I didn’t see that one coming.”"

Another reference to how unique the Striped One is: “You just can’t say enough about the guy. He’s winning majors by 10, 12, 15 shots. We haven’t seen that kind of stuff since the 1800s, when Old Tom Morris was playing with a badger’s testicle stuffed with seagull feathers.”

Badger’s testicle stuffed with seagull feathers? How does he even imagine this stuff?

And finally, how’s this for an attitude about life after nearly dying in a bicycle accident last year: “But still, man, I’m a lucky guy. Can’t wait to see what’s going to be next.”?

The world needs more Fehertys.

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Geoff Ogilivy blew up the field in the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua. In spite of it not being very dramatic, I still love to watch the tournament. It is a place unlike any other the Tour goes to (the Sony next week looks more like Florida than Hawaii for my taste), the views are dramatic (did you see the Humpback whales behind the 17th tee one day? Ernie did – he just stood there and watched them. Doesn’t happen in Milwaukee, I can tell you that), and the elevation changes are clearly evident, even on TV.

But the tour is apparently thinking of moving the tournament to another venue, as Doug Ferguson reports in Golfworld online. And not because Kapalua doesn’t want them there. And not because the players want to leave. (Davis Love – “We all want it to stay here.” Ogilvy – “This is a perfect place to start [the season].” Ogilvy goes on – “”After Florida, you probably play the same golf course 20 times in a row. But to play such an extremely different setup, it’s a cool place to start.” Rory Sabattini even went there this week for vacation – even though he wasn’t playing in the tournament).

So who wants it changed? If it isn’t the players, and it isn’t the resort itself, then it is either sponsors or the PGA Tour administration. Tim Finchem wasn’t real clear in Ferguson’s article – “we are looking at some options in terms of what is the best future for this tournament.” Sounds vague enough to mean “we are getting out of Dodge asap, amigo!”

Maybe they want travel to be easier. Move it to the mainland, so Tiger will show – well, no he won’t, at least according to Justin Leonard, who may know a bit more than me. (”If you’re trying to get one or two players, you’re going to have to move it to San Diego or Orlando,” said Justin Leonard, referring to Mickelson and Woods. “And even then, I don’t think those guys would play. It’s nice to start here.”)

If the tour would just come out and say that they’re doing it for economic reasons – easier for sponsors, easier to get better players – I’d be a little better with it. But to hem and haw and obfuscate, well, Finchem just looks like he learned how to do PR from Enron or WAMU.

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At the risk of piling on to an overhyped subject, I want to give my opinion about the new Tiger’s Paw.

Tiger said at his tournament interview this week that his not so newly operated knee feels “unbelievable” and that it hasn’t felt this stable in years.

This interview clip on The Golf Channel was followed by a discussion of how this new knee might affect Tiger’s golf swing. There was some conjecture by Frank Nobilo that Tig would need to change his swing, with a “soft” left knee at impact – in other words, a bit of a lower body slide that Tiger has never done before. That left some question as to how Tiger might adjust on his return.

Are the Tour players holding some hope that Tiger 2.0 might not be as good as Tiger 1.2 (or whichever swing iteration you want to put on him)?

Don’t hold your breath, mis amigos.

Look, there are two ways of looking at this:

1. Tiger has played with a bad knee for nearly his entire professional career. Now he has a good, stable knee to really drive into. He is excited because, now that he is swinging short irons and wedges, he sees just how much better he is going to be with a solid, painless lead leg. Bad news for numbers 2 through infinity on the Tour.

2. Tiger will take some time to adjust to this new knee. He’ll have to change his old swing a bit to its third professional variation. And that swing will now take place on a knee that feels great and stable – a new sensation for Tiger, but not a bad one – at all. Remember, he changed his swing twice on a bad knee and just kept racking up wins. Again, bad news for everyone not named Eldrick.

I can’t picture too many ways that a stable lead leg, which he now has, hurts Tiger. As I learned at our TPI seminar last weekend, the knee is one of the components of the body in an athletic maneuver that needs stability. Tiger hasn’t had that, yet he is the greatest player of his, and maybe all, time.

Now it is stable. And that lets the mobile segments above and below fire at will, which they couldn’t do as well before. (Hip and ankle for those wondering).

And that doesn’t even take into account his mental state, with confidence in a new, pain-free, stable knee.

I also would like to add that as a left knee ACL tear survivor – I lived without my left ACL from high school to about the age of 36 – that confidence in a stable, pain-free left knee is very, very important in a golf swing. As an aside, I like to think that without that injury, my chances of making the Tour would have been vastly improved. (I didn’t say it was valid, just that I like to think it)

Watch out world – a new and improved Tiger is out there!

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Q school may be the most interesting tournament of them all for the psychotic golf fan. These guys have struggled in various ways to make it to the pressure packed 6 rounds that make up the final stage of Q school. All of them will be playing on some tour or another, but only the top 25 and ties get their PGA Tour card to play with the big boys next year.

In watching it, two guys really showed their IF (intestinal fortitude) capacity. Ted Purdy, who has long been on the tour, needed par on the water-filled 18th hole to save his card. He pulled his approach into a bunker with a downhill, slippery shot to a pin about 15 feet short of water. He hit a great shot that drifted to about 10 feet below the hole – then trickled that putt in to make the tour on the number. The relief and joy in his face was great to see.

Will Collins, a career mini-tour player, had been in the last 7 Q schools, but hadn’t made it to the last stage until this year. He had played great all week and was at the cut number of 19 under on his 18th tee. He hit a bit of a nervous drive into a bad lie in the rough on a hill. I thought he made a great decision to take a short iron and lay up in the fairway, then hit his third about 15 feet below a tough pin. And put that one in on the high side. Unlike Purdy, Collins was stonefaced – almost as if he was shell shocked.

What is most amazing is that these guys are playing for way more than most of us ever will. For Purdy, it is getting back to the highest level of golf instead of the Nationwide, where he must feel old and out of place. For Collins, it is verification that all his years of struggle were worth it – he has finally proven that he belongs in the big time. And each of them needed that last putt to increase their salary next year by thousands and thousands of dollars.

Great stuff. I felt more personal angst about watching those two putts than I ever did for Tiger or Ernie.

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