The Fore!Site

2012 PGA Tour Predictions

2012-02-02T08:53:00.000-05:00

The season is just underway and the Fore!Site is poised to make ten Fore!Sights for the 2012 season. For those of you who have followed these predictions in the past you know the categories rarely change and that I am rarely correct, but the second fact rarely bothers anyone including me. Here we go:

1.Young Gun You May Never Have Heard Of To Watch Out For: Ryo Ishikawa

The casual golf fan probably has only seen this guy play in last year's President's Cup. This kid (and he is a kid) is LOADED with talent; two years ago he shot 58 in the final round of an Asian Tour event for a comeback win. It should be noted that Ishikawa donated all of his tournament winnings from last year to help aid earthquake victims of his native Japan. The sentimental, anime looking golf prodigy could have a huge impact this year.

2. Most Likely To Have An Even Better 2012 After A Very Good 2011: Steve Stricker

Some of the things Stricker did last year (2 more wins) were accomplished in a fashion that leads me to believe he could have a huge 2012. The shot he played out of a fairway bunker on the 18th in Wisconsin and then sinking the putt to win outright was clutch on top of clutch and still lead to a tearful post round interview. I am preparing for plenty of Stricker blubbering this season.

3. Player To Win His First Major And Where: Rickie Fowler at The PGA Championship

The final major will be played at Kiawah Island and Rickie Fowler just looks like an islander in the first place. Actually I know he is still looking for that first win but Fowler has all the skills to have his breakthrough win be a major. I wouldn't be surprised if he picked up his first win earlier this season and the confidence boost propels him to dream type season a la Keegan Bradley last year.

4. 2012 Comeback Player Of the Year: Tiger Woods

Let's get real, no one has a better shot at this award. After two years of world ranking plummeting if Tiger gets even remotely back to being Tiger we are looking at a unanimous vote.

5. 2012 Ryder Cup Captains' Picks:
Europe - 1. Ian Poulter 2. Alvaro Quiros
USA - 1. Gary Woodland 2. Matt Kuchar 3. Justin Leonard 4. Lucas Glover

6. 2012 PGA Tour Rookie Of The Year: Bud Cauley

Every time I saw this kid playing last year I saw this look in his eyes like he was on the attack. Cauley's demeanor in the few exempt tournaments he played in last year was that of someone trying to grab a tour card by the throat. He finished third at the Frys.com, the event Rickie Fowler almost won at the same career stage.

7. 2011 Major Winner Most Likely To Win Another In 2012: Rory McIlroy

This is an easy pick for me. The only thing keeping Rors from having won two majors last year was himself. Up until his drubbing of the field at the U.S. Open McIlroy had spent the previous two years consistently making top fives in majors and he couldn't even legally have had a celebratory drink in the U.S. yet. His game is built to win on the biggest stages.

8. 2012 FedEx Cup Champion: Hunter Mahan

Seems like every year the "Golf Boy" with the sunglasses gets a little better, more consistent and that's what the FedEx Cup is all about. Bill Haas took the Cup from Mahan last year with easily the shot of the year, but I think Mahan is poised to pad the points in his favor this year and get the $10 million bonus.

9. Best Major Of 2012: The Masters

The veterans obviously know the course, but it's the younger guys that seem to have a grasp of Augusta beyond their years. That leveling of the playing field makes what was already the most selective field the most compelling as well. It was the best major of last year and I look for a repeat jammed Sunday leader board again in 2012.

10. 2012 PGA Tour Player Of The Year: Steve Stricker

I know I picked Rickie Fowler to breakthrough at the PGA, but if I had two choices Stricker would have easily been the other one. I also really like his chances at Olympic for the U.S. Open. The point being if he gets another win or two as he has the past few years and adds a first major I see Stricker as POY in 2012.

2011 Fore!Sight Round Up

2012-01-13T05:58:00.000-05:00

Each year the Fore!Sight makes ten predictions for the upcoming PGA Tour season. Let's see how I fared in the 2011 campaign:

1.Young Gun You May Never Have Heard Of To Watch Out For: Jason Day
Overall this was a pretty spot on pick as even the casual golf fan noticed the young Aussie finish runner-up in the first two majors of the year. Day didn't have the strongest finish and was out-played by fellow countryman Aaron Baddeley at the President's Cup at Royal Melbourne, but he showed you should indeed watch out for him.

2. Most Likely To Have A Better 2011 After A Good 2010: Dustin Johnson
Well, this did not pan out at all. The closest Johnson came to outdoing 2010 was being in contention at the British Open. Sadly his run at the Claret Jug was ended with an inexplicably errant shot from the middle of the par 5 14th. Remember it was a huge cut off the tee that put him in the now famous "bunker" on the 18th of the 2010 PGA killing that tournament. DJ is becoming the Lord of the Cut Swings; one slice to ruin them all.

3. Player To Win His First Major And Where: Anthony Kim at The Masters
Nope.

4. 2011 Comeback Player Of the Year: Boo Weekley
Move along, nothing to see here.

Miguel Angel Jimenez

5. Best 2011 For A Forty-Something: Miguel Angel Jimenez
The most interesting man in the world let me down in 2011. All of a sudden the man who could roll the rock with anyone was missing putts from two feet. We were looking for some more one liners to add to his image campaign but I don't think "he misses tap-ins, for fun" was what we had in mind.

6. 2011 PGA Tour Rookie Of The Year: Jamie Lovemark
Did this guy play golf in 2011? Actually he did tee it up in nine tournaments, but missed the cut or withdrew from seven of them.

7. 2010 Major Winner Most Likely To Win Another In 2011: Martin Kaymer
None of the four major champions from 2010 put together anything special in 2011 so this was as good a pick as any. Mickelson's run at the 2011 British made him the best choice I suppose but in the end who cares?

8. 2011 FedEx Cup Champion: Ernie Els
Ernie tried to help me out with this pick as much as he could being the last guy to get into the Playoffs, but this was way off.

9. Best Major Of 2011: The Masters
It's easier to be right when it's a one in four chance, nonetheless this pick was spot on. Sunday's play was unbelievable with it seeming like half the field had a shot to win. Champion Charl Schwartzel's historic four birdies in a row to finish put the cap on a wild day in Augusta.

10. 2011 PGA Tour Player Of The Year: Tiger Woods

Whoops!

Team O'Brien Wins 2nd Annual CCB Cup

2011-10-03T14:28:00.000-04:00

The Country Club of Barre hosted it's second installment of a Ryder Cup style event and two things were exactly the same as the first go-round; the weather sucked and Team O'Brien came out on top. The scoring for each match was updated every three holes live at http://theccbcup.blogspot.com/ and now shows the final results of play from both days.

For anyone in or getting into the PGA-PGM and you could use a little funding for that cause this has been incredibly well received by the membership at the Country Club of Barre. I'd be happy to lend my fellow apprentices a hand as to launching something like this for themselves!

The Belly Putter Debate

2011-09-14T10:07:00.003-04:00

Keegan Bradley and his "questionable" putter

All of a sudden the polarizing debate in golf is whether or not the anchored (or belly) putters should be banned from the PGA Tour. Until a few months ago there were a handful of haters, but now the numbers and volume of the anti-anchor group are growing. The debate really started with Keegan Bradley winning the PGA Championship and then took off with Webb Simpson winning two out of the next three weeks. Throw in Phil Mickelson trying one out for the FedEx Cup playoffs and you'd think the golf world had turned upside down.
I happen to be on the don't ban the belly side of the debate not because I am necessarily pro-belly putter, but rather I don't see it as that big a deal. Consider the three major winners in 2011 prior to Keegan Bradley, all of them used conventional putters. Charl Schwartzel put on a putting clinic with birdies on the final four holes of the Masters, all with a conventional putter; Rory McIlroy destroys the field, record books and Masters demons at the U.S. Open, conventional putter; Darren Clarke uses a conventional putter to hold off a charging Phil Mickelson and his conventional putter...get the picture? For those on the anti-anchor side consider this as well, of the players who have won with or switched to belly putters how many scoring records have fallen? How many belly-putting players are at the top or even in the top five of the major putting statistical categories? The answer to both questions is zero.
I don't think this debate has nearly the merit of say allowing for 460cc driver heads for high quality miss-hits or graphite shafts for tons of extra distance. The technology that allows a better player to overpower a classic golf course and essentially put a sub-7000 yard track on 59 watch every time it's played has far more influence on scoring and wins than the length of the flatstick.

Inside The Mind Of A Club Professional

2011-09-03T07:08:00.000-04:00

I have reached that special point in the season in which I am completely burnt out. This video perfectly illustrates real questions we club professionals field on a daily basis. The vulgar language in the responses is exactly what we would like to say and are certainly thinking. Enjoy a glimpse into our world:

Hey Johnny, Vermont Produces More Than Maple Syrup

2011-08-15T11:07:00.000-04:00

2011 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley

During the rain soaked slop heap that was the 2009 U.S. Open NBC found themselves giving television coverage to players they never would have, including Vermont's Trevor Murphy. The last threesome on the course (which included Murphy) was trying to complete the second round so the cut could be made. Murphy ended up with birdies on his final three holes and made the cut in style. During the birdie run Johnny Miller, in his infinite wisdom, remarked that he was surprised Murphy was a good golfer because he thought "all Vermont produces is maple syrup". Vermont also produces cheese and ice cream you dink. I almost wish NBC had the coverage of this week's PGA Championship so as Keegan Bradley made triple-bogey on the 15th hole I could have heard Miller make another stupid comment about Vermont golf and how lackluster it is. I say almost because whenever I get to watch a major and not have Miller say the word "pressure" over one hundred times per ten minutes of coverage and speak on Ben Hogan's behalf it makes my viewing experience that much better.

Did I mention in that rant how PGA Champion Keegan Bradley took a triple-bogey on the 15th hole? The unfortunate six put Bradley five strokes behind leader Jason Dufner with three holes to play. Someone forgot to tell Bradley his run at the year's final major was over. Keegan made birdies on the next two holes including dropping a forty foot bomb on the 17th. Meanwhile Dufner took bogies on holes 15 through 17 (the bogey saving putt he made on 15 was sensational) and he along with Bradley finished at 8-under for the tournament. Bradley played the three hole playoff in 1-under par to Dufner's even and hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy.

For a rookie Bradley has had a tremendous season. We were introduced to him when he won the Byron Nelson (also in a playoff) and now he has capped a dream season with a major. I think this win should solidify Rookie of the Year honors for Bradley despite what Masters winner Charl Sshwartzel may do on the American Tour for the remainder of the season. Schwartzel is not a rookie in the way Bradley is, just a goofy rule that makes him one despite the fact he's won a bunch of tournaments on the Euro Tour. The question for Bradley is how much of a dream season is this? Talent wise he doesn't seem to have the tools to pull away from a field, but his grit is unquestioned. I could almost see this guy winning another major and a handfull of tournaments in his career all by way of playoff. Just as long as his next major playoff isn't for the U.S. Open, that means an extra day of listening to Johnny Miller.

Adam Scott Wins WGC-Bridgestone, Apparently So Did Steve Williams

2011-08-08T08:04:00.001-04:00

After his performance at the Masters it seemed Adam Scott found some grit he had sorely lacked throughout his career. For the guy with perhaps the best swing on the PGA Tour it was always surprising how little he had factored in big tournaments. Adam played stellar golf all week and ran away with the WGC-Bridgestone.

Scott, however, didn't win the event as much as his new caddy Steve Williams did...at least that's what I'm gathering. As they were walking up the 18th yesterday it was Williams who was receiving the cheers from the crowd. Then there was the post round interview...with Steve! In his post-round interview Williams revealed he was told by Tiger Woods "we need to take a break" over the phone "which in caddy lingo means you're fired". Prior to the tournament Woods had said he and Steve met face-to-face at the AT&T and that was when he let Steve go. I'm not too bent out of shape about 'the firing' procedure because Tiger didn't actually can Steve over the phone, he just let Steve know the writing was on the wall. As I posted after it happened I think this was the wrong move at the wrong time for Tiger, but the phone thing is getting blown out of proportion.
What does put hot sauce in my oatmeal is Williams' comment "this is the most satisfying win I've ever had". Sorry to burst your bubble Steve, but you haven't won a single professional golf tournament, EVER. Adam Scott's name is stitched into the bag you're carrying. Your name doesn't even appear on the caddy-bib you have to wear. I get that a good caddy can make a great deal of difference keeping the players head in the game and giving accurate distances and reads. Ultimately, however, the players hit the shots and make the putts and the caddies tote the bags, so stop telling me about wins you've had Steve because the actual number is zero.
Even still, I am actually happy for Steve Williams because I think he got a raw deal. Collecting 10% of Adam Scott's $1.4million check must ease the pain a bit. Just like the media coverage though, this post has focused on the wrong guy. Adam Scott won a tournament with an elite field by four strokes and all anyone can talk about is the player he dusted and the guy keeping his clubs clean.

Golf Goes Pop

2011-08-03T11:26:00.000-04:00

If you ever thought all pro golfers were a collective stick in the mud you don't know Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Bubba Watson;

Tiger Fires Steve

2011-07-21T08:33:00.000-04:00

I was having trouble finding a pro-Tiger thing to say about the changes he has decided to make, but this one there is no way I see a silver lining. Tiger severed ties with his long time caddy Steve Williams, fired him actually. I don't get this at all, no way no how. I could understand if the two of them weren't seeing eye to eye during tournament play and it was costing Tiger strokes or wins. The fact of the matter is Tiger hasn't played more than a handful of times this season and is currently out due to injury. To quote Up In The Air "He broke up with you on a text?" to which the response is "It's like being fired over the Internet". The point is the timing of this is incredibly unfair to Williams. It wasn't an on course incident that lead to this because Tiger hasn't been on course. Williams said beyond being very disappointed "I stuck by him through all of the tough times...I feel like I wasted the last two years". I'm admittedly not a huge Steve Williams fan, but I agree with his response to being fired entirely. The way I see it Tiger screwed up his life, his swing and his game and Steve is out of a job because of it.

The Most Interesting Man In The World Warms Up

2011-07-19T10:24:00.000-04:00

The Opens: McIlroy, Clarke and N.Ireland a Major Force

2011-07-18T11:04:00.002-04:00

Back on April 7th I sent a Twitter @ mention to Rory McIlroy that said "Great round today @McIlroyRory. Rooting for you all week. Good luck!" A few days later Rors shot 80 and watched the Green Jacket slip away. Now, although I am superstitious I am not egotistical enough to think my @mention had anything to do with Rory's collapse. Sweet McGod I hope he didn't say to himself " I can't let that @MrColeyo down". I firmly believe he never even saw the mention out of the umpteen thousands he must have received that week.

2011 U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy

I mentioned above that I am superstitious. After McIlroy got off to another great start at Congressional I decided to leave the @mentions alone during the U.S. Open. I shut my tweet-hole and Rors went on to break almost every scoring record available to break and claimed his first major.

2011 Open Champion Darren Clarke

Keeping the superstition going I clammed up for The Open Championship as well. As I found out on Sunday afternoon when I don't tweet good luck it garauntees a Northern Irishman will win a major. Granted it wasn't my hero McIlroy, but one of his heros instead, Darren Clarke who hoisted the Claret Jug. Clarke is an amazing story of tradgedy and triumph. A former top ten player in the world, Clarke lost his wife to breast cancer five years ago. He has slowly but surely pieced his life and his game back together. A more sentimental favorite could not be found to win a major.

Combined with Graeme McDowell's U.S. Open win last year, three of the last six majors played have been won by a different player from Northern Ireland. As pointed out this morning on the Golf Channel's Morning Drive the only other country that could match that kind of major dominance would be South Africa. Should a South African other than Louis Oosthuizen or Charl Schwartzel win the PGA Championship that would be three different players from their country to claim three out of six majors. The key difference is the population disparity. South Africa has a population around 50 million while Northern Ireland, a small section of a small isalnd, comes in at 1.7 million. By population the odds of three different players from No. Ireland winning majors in six tries are the same as three different guys from Nebraska doing it. What does it say when a country with 301 million fewer people than the U.S. can produce three major champions in just over a calender year and the American side has a goose egg in the same time period? For the first time I can recall we are talking about U.S. golf possibly coming around again because we owned the "also-ran" section of the Open leaderboard. At what point did we become inspired by good finishes and close calls?

U.S. Open Weekend: Time To Ror

2011-06-18T15:03:00.002-04:00

As of right now there is really only one storyline; can Rory McIlroy finish this thing off? Like most of the sentiment out there I am in the "hoping he does" camp. As I have noted for a couple of years now, win or lose this kid is my hero.

We all know what winning the U.S. Open would mean to truly launching Rory's career, but I think it would mean more to professional golf. This kid is only 22 years old and has been tagged as the next big thing for over a decade. A win at the U.S. Open, especially in the record breaking type fashion he has played the first two days, would be very Tiger-esque. Why golf needs McIlroy to take command and dominate this championship and many more to come is because beyond golf he is everything Tiger is not. McIlroy is media friendly, seemingly people friendly too and most importantly, human. With the huge let down at Augusta two months ago McIlroy has already taken a hard fall. How Rory handled the situation, however, was so refreshing compared to the robotic, self-loathing Woods.

With golf searching for it's next great champion McIlroy has the opportunity to seize the throne with a single major.

U.S. Open Fore!Sights

2011-06-14T09:55:00.001-04:00

The championship that makes you wish you could carry pruning shears as your 14th club is ready to go in two days. The 156-player field is set and for the first time in a long time you could make a legitimate case for almost all of them to win. With that being said here are some U.S. Open Fore!sights from the Fore!Site:

Feature Group That Will All Make The Cut: Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter, Hunter Mahan
All three of these guys have the distance and the overall game to not only make the cut, but contend as well, Mahan particularly. At Bethpage two years ago Hunter was on fire down the stretch when an approach shot rattled off the flagstick and almost off the green. The unfortunate break kept Mahan from possibly forcing a playoff with eventual winner Lucas Glover.

Lucas Glover

Most Under The Radar Contender: Lucas Glover
When you show up at the golf course looking like one of the Allman Brothers it is hard to go unnoticed, but that is exactly the case for 2009 U.S. open champ Lucas Glover. With a win this year at the Wells Fargo Glover should not be this under the radar, but I haven't heard his name mentioned yet in the contender talk.

Low Amateur: Peter Uihlein
The reigning U.S. Amateur champion is loaded with talent. This championship in particular is always great for (a) watching and you could see Uihlein (a) on the first page of the leader board.

Best Represented Country: Italy
Paired together for the first two days are Italian brothers Francesco and Eduardo Molinari along with teenage Italian phenom Matteo Manassero. These guys were built to play in events like this with their steady play and gritty performances.

Biggest Player Let Down: Phil Mickelson
I hate to do it to my boy, but I just don't like the way Phil is playing. The big problem is the fairways hit percentage which is a hair over 50%. I know he's working on a 2-iron tee shot for this event, but remember how well the 3-wood only approach worked at Torrey Pines in '08? He was last in fairway percentage that week without using a driver and I see more of the same here. Although this seems an ideal venue for Phil to get the U.S. Open monkey off his back, but I just don't see it happening, in fact he may struggle to play the weekend.

Hunter Mahan

Winner: Hunter Mahan
I picked him in my pools and fantasy games. I just like the game he has for this kind of grinding tournament.

Caddy-Gate

2011-06-11T15:02:00.001-04:00

Tiger Woods' caddy Steve Williams, master of the awkwardly executed high-five, will be looping for Adam Scott at the U.S. Open. The follow up question streaming across Twitter right now is "What does this mean for Tiger?" Honestly, if you ask me (and you haven't by the way) I really think Williams just needs some work. Steve can probably count the number of 10% tournament earnings checks he's cashed in the last 18 months on one hand.
That Williams decided to caddy for a guy who very publicly modeled his swing after Tiger's of the Butch Harmon days will raise some eyebrows. Maybe Steve just misses walking around with a guy who has a mechanically perfect looking swing and isn't interested in scrapping it for no reason.
But what if Adam Scott wins the U.S. Open? Would Williams dump Tiger? For starters, Scott is not going to win the U.S. Open, I'm Fore!Siting that right now. In the end as soon as Tiger is back playing Steve will be right there on the bag. You don't give up on the gravy train that made you more money than any other caddy in history.

No Tiger At U.S. Open

2011-06-08T14:50:00.001-04:00

Is this really a big deal? Of course it is, because now we will miss out on at least two stirring (he said with great sarcasm) post round interviews with the always jovial and entertaining (sarcasm thickening) Tiger Woods.
The real story is not that Tiger won't be playing next week, but rather why. Is it his knee or his head? The easy answer for not playing the Open is Tiger's knee is at risk of further injury or re-aggravation as he says. Consider this for a moment, Tiger hurt his knee in the third round of the Masters. The following day he went out and blistered the front nine and the television ratings and Augusta crowds went berserk. The injury was fresh but seemed to make no difference as we all dared to think a fifth green jacket may rest on his shoulders a few hours later. Then the Player's front nine fiasco happens and Woods withdraws and suddenly can't walk. Okay so I embelished a bit, but you see where I am going with this. I can't believe that if Tiger was playing well like he did on Sunday at Augusta that he would be so eager to listen to his doctors. In 2008 he won the U.S.Open on basically a broken leg and probably should not have ignored doctors orders for as long as he did. However, in '08 Tiger won three times on the PGA Tour prior to the U.S. Open and finished second at the Masters, ironically enough where we really started to hear about "the knee". It seems to me that Tiger has lost the mental and confidence pieces of tournament golf and has a crutch now, both literally and figuratively.

The Memorial Shaping Up As Memorable

2011-06-04T13:41:00.001-04:00

A bunched leader board boasts some of the game's elite. Luke Donald is showing he earned the #1 spot by being in the mix again this week. The course itself has been truly give-and-take as everyone's scorecard seems to have a bogey or two with a higher number and then plenty of birdies mixed in. Proof positive is three stroke leader Steve Stricker who shot a lack luster 37 on his opening nine Friday and then blistered the second nine in 30 with a hole-in-one.

Best Tournament Of The Year

2011-05-31T09:47:00.002-04:00

The best tournament of the year, so far, was not played in Georgia. In fact, the best tournament of the 2011 season wasn't even played in the United States. The European Tour provided the highest quality tourney we've seen so far. Major-less world #1 and #2 squared off in one of the jewels of the Euro Tour schedule, The BMW PGA Championship. Coming into the final day eighteen year old phenom Matteo Manassero was leading along with then world #2 Luke Donald. Although Manassero backed off in the final round he is going to factor in every tournament for years to come.

Lee Westwood played like the world #1, launching a charge up the leaderboard taking a two stroke lead late in the round. Westwood faltered a bit over the last two holes and gave Luke Donald an opportunity to win outright. I still haven't figured out how Donald's putt didn't fall on the 17th. Here are the highlights (with Japanese dubbing)

With the win Luke Donald is now your world #1 and has been playing like it this season. He is still lacking a major victory, but he would cement his position by picking up one of the remaining three.

This Shot Is Crazy Good

2011-05-29T07:18:00.000-04:00

Byron Nelson Round 3

2011-05-29T07:01:00.000-04:00

byron Nelson Round 2

2011-05-29T06:58:00.000-04:00

Byron Nelson Round 1

2011-05-29T06:57:00.000-04:00

The Fore!Site Returns, Will Tiger?

2011-05-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

It has been too long, but the Fore!Site is back with Fore!Thoughts, Fore!Shadowing and Fore!Casts. My wife had surgery at the end of April and I have devoted my Fore!Site time to her recovery. She is now on the mend and I am ready to resume my post making ridiculous predictions gawking and squawking at the greatest golfers in the world.

David Toms

Speaking of golfers on a global scale how cool is this weekend?! We have two match play events, one for the laddies and one for the ladies, and David Toms shredding up Colonial after his near miss last week at The Players. I really like the opening round robin setup for the Volvo World Match Play and I think the WGC-Accenture should take it into consideration. For those of you unfamiliar with this format, the players are put into groups and play each other with two guys from each group advancing to the single elimination rounds. I think it's a great idea for viewership because you get to see your favorite players tee it up at least a few times before having to exit.

Earl and Tiger Woods

A player the round robin would benefit greatly at the Accenture is Tiger Woods...provided he ever plays golf again. The speculation has been flying around all week as to if Tiger will play again this season, if he'll ever get the knee healed up, if he'll ever get his game healed up and if he'll ever win again. If I were forced to use the same answer for each of those questions I would say no. The reason being it has seemed to me that with each year after Earl Woods' passing Tiger has gone further and further off track. I don't think Tiger knows what the next move should be or how to handle anything going on with his life or his game both mental and physical. I'm not saying if his father were still here that Tiger wouldn't have had the Black Friday incident and all the media frenzy that went with it. I do, however, truly believe if Earl were still alive he would have told Tiger to do this, that and the other and the ship, at least from a golf perspective, would have been righted by now. Tiger placed all of his stock in his father and now has no idea who to turn to if he wants to turn to anyone at all. To answer a question posed to me just the other day asking "Have we seen the best of Tiger?"...We shouldn't have, but yes, we have.

Seve Ballesteros (1957-2011)

2011-05-08T10:49:00.001-04:00

What Does #1 In The World Mean?

2011-04-26T16:30:00.000-04:00

During the opening decade to Y2K, being the #1 golfer in the world golf rankings was simply the crossing of the 'T' and dotting of the 'i' in Tiger. Woods so thoroughly dominated the bulk of the decade that it took a Herculean nine win, one major season from Vijay Singh to steal the top spot from Tiger in 2004. If you discard the "goofy golf" season Singh held the top spot for about three months before Woods took it back in March 2005.

Since the Black Friday mess and subsequent Tiger-win-less streak the world #1 spot has been occupied by two other golfers; Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer. Because the golf rankings are based on a point system so complex it's derivation could be a college course I can't tell you exactly how you get to be considered the best player in the world. Westwood just reclaimed the #1 ranking from Kaymer after the Englishman went to Indonesia and beat the tar out of a field equivalent to that of high school players. Meanwhile back in the States, Luke Donald lost in a playoff to Brandt Snedeker at the Heritage. Had Donald won that tournament he would be the world #1 and Westwood #2. In the end the battle for numero uno was being waged by two guys without a major win between them. At least when Kaymer nabbed the top spot he was coming off a multi-win season on the European Tour and capped it with the PGA Championship.

The world rankings will probably see more than a few changes at the top before the year is out. If I remember right the Masters alone created a situation in which upwards of seven different golfers could have claimed the world #1 with a win or high finish. With Woods becoming more human every day the #1 ranking will resemble a revolving door. So what does it all mean? It means that a computer working a formula is about as accurate as the one running the BCS poll. It also means we should reflect on just how dominant Tiger was when he owned the game. For example, the current #1 through #3 have a points average around 7.55. In 2000 Tiger Woods owned a 29.4 to Ernie Els' 11.65 and then in 2006 Tiger went over 20 again with a 20.41 to Jim Furyk's 8.88. For the bulk of the opening decade Woods had close to or more than twice the points average than the world #2.

If Tiger returns to form is the game less likely to be dominated or will he separate himself from the pack again?

World Golf Battle

2011-04-17T12:32:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week the guys from Golf Channel's Morning Drive posed a question about which country is currently the strongest golf-wise. The question got its roots from the fact that not a single major championship is currently held by an American and no one in the top three spots of the world golf rankings hails from the states. The show's hosts, Erik Kuselias and Gary Williams, both argued that the U.S. is still the most dominant country in terms of golf and the numbers are there to back it up. I agree with them as far as the number of highly ranked players and major titles won, the USA is still the golf powerhouse on paper. However, with Charl Schwartzel winning the Masters two of the four major titles are currently held by South Africans making them the only other country mentioned in the argument. The question and answers got me to thinking (a dangerous proposition) about a real world golf championship and here's what I came up with;

Imagine an annual tournament to actually determine the strongest golfing country in the world. Like a high school or college event, the top five players (by world golf ranking) from each represented country would play a stroke play event with no cut. The country with the lowest team aggregate would win the World Golf Championship. You could have a special prize for the medalist of the event. The qualifications for a country to enter a team would be to have five players ranked inside the top 300 (just a starting point) in the world. If the IOC was interested they could use this format for the 2016 Olympics, in which golf will be an event for the first time in over 100 years, with medals for team and individual play. The push for certain countries to strengthen their golf prowess would be on, needing five players highly ranked rather than just one or two. Germany is a great example as they have the #1 ranked player in Martin Kaymer but have to look as far down as #157 in Alex Cjeka to find him a teammate.

Should this event be fielded based on the world golf rankings today the top teams would look like this (player rankings in parantheses next to names):
Team USA
1. Phil Mickelson (4)
2. Tiger Woods (5)
3. Steve Stricker (8)
4. Matt Kuchar (10)
5. Dustin Johnson (12)
Alternate - Jim Furyk (13)
Team England
1. Lee Westwood (2)
2. Luke Donald (3)
3. Paul Casey (7)
4. Ian Poulter (16)
5. Justin Rose (25)
Alternate - Ross Fisher (43)
Team South Africa
1. Charl Schwartzel (11)
2. Ernie Els (14)
3. Retief Goosen (22)
4. Louis Oosthuizen (28)
5. Tim Clark (31)
Alternate - Rory Sabbatini (53)
Team Australia
1. Adam Scott (17)
2. Jason Day (24)
3. Geoff Ogilvy (29)
4. Robert Allenby (32)
5. Aaron Baddeley (58)
Alternate - Stuart Appleby (73)

The Koreans, Spain and if Northern Ireland and Ireland could settle their petty fued, would all be able to field strong teams as well. Looking at the top four seeds alone, this could be a stellar event. Leave a comment with who you think would win a team stroke play event like the one I have proposed.