Congratulations to Matt Kuchar for winning the Players Championship.  We had a runaway winner in the golfmix Players contest. Here are our winners…
1. Matthew (Kuchar, Laird & Z. Johnson)
2. Bruce (Ben Curtis)
3. MichaelR13 (Rickie Fowler)

Thanks for playing, our next contest comes your way at next month’s U.S. Open!

Many folks consider The Players Championship as the fifth major on the PGA Tour.  Here at golfmix, we think of it as another great reason to play with our friends.  If you were on board with us for the Masters contest than you’ll remember the rules.

It’s simple, just write a quality review of any course in the State of Arizona here on golfmix and you’ll be entered in to our Players Championship contest.

Once our field is full (Deadline to enter is Thursday morning before the 1st player puts his peg in the ground), you will receive your team of golfers to cheer for this weekend as they take on one of the most daunting par threes known to man and then wash it down with a devilish 18th hole to finish up at TPC at Sawgrass.

We will have prizes (free golf, Butch Harmon DVD’s & more) for the top 5 finishers.  Tiebreakers will be final round score, final round back nine, and then final round hole by hole playoff beginning on 18.

Believe it or not, we have heard people calling the 17^th hole at TPC at Sawgrass the best par three on the PGA Tour.   That brings up quite the argument (which you are invited to join in on at our Facebook page right now).

Let’s get one thing straight, there may be more drama in Florida, but we all know who has the most fun, and in case you’ve forgotten…

Name                                    Prize

Michael Roetzel                   Exclusive Las Vegas golf vacation

golferyn                                Butch Harmon DVD

wolfpack12471                     Butch Harmon DVD

tleitner                                  Butch Harmon DVD

manster                                Butch Harmon DVD

Sharma Shamblin               Butch Harmon DVD

Greenedad                           Butch Harmon DVD

Congratulations to the following golfmix members for winning our first ever Masters contest.  They all received prizes straight from the Augusta National Golf Club pro shop.

1st Place — NMRojo69

2nd Place — minnpatt

3rd Place — Erma

4th Place — Jeff Heisner

5th Place — grahambr

6th Place — mboxer

Keep checking back here at www.golfmix.com for more contests, games, topics of conversation and of course golf course reviews from your fellow golfers in Arizona.

The winning embrace with caddy Joe Lacava at Bay Hill. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Now that Tiger Woods has broken through for his first victory on the PGA Tour since 2009, does golf have a bit more of your attention?   We’re just curious if all the fantastic action on the Tour this year has any effect on your golf game and we want to hear from you.

Credit: Allan Henry-US PRESSWIRE

As if the weather in Arizona hasn’t been enough to motivate even the least avid golfers to get onto a course near them in 2012, the product on television has certainly done it’s part to engage fans of the sport. This leads to the question which may be difficult to answer, how much do the two things go hand and hand?

One would be extremely challenged to find a more exciting start to a professional golf season. The final round at the Honda Classic was the latest example and yet another finish few saw coming. Even when Tiger Woods is all but buried down the leaderboard and trails by a seemingly insurmountable margin, the cameras are always rolling on him (sometimes in force feeding fashion), but this time he gave plenty reasons to follow his every move on the back 9 at PGA National. Tiger’s birdie-eagle finish provided an overwhelmingly nostalgic magical feeling to not only the folks lucky enough to watch and roar about it in person, but to viewers all over the globe.

What made Sunday’s drama more enjoyable to watch for some was seeing how 22 year old Irishman Rory McIlroy stood up to the challenge and avoided buckling under the pressure.  The way he responded to Tiger’s charge proved what he is made of to the rest of us but even more importantly to himself.  For that, he deserves eternal consciousness, but I’m sure will be satisfied just winning the title and becoming the 2nd youngest player to ever ascend to #1 in the world.  And it’s quite impressive what he has proved in less than a year after his storybook start to the Masters and his extraordinarily powerful finish at the US Open.

McIlroy’s impact on top of the rankings is not such a quiet tune among the millions of golf fans on earth.  In fact, if you listen closely, you can actually still hear the singing of those legendary lyrics from a song I learned as a kid…

“Sing glorious, victorious, one keg of beer for the four of us.  Sing glory be to God that there are no more of us; For one of us can drink it all alone! – Damn Quick!.  Here’s to the Irish!”

Rory’s win at the Honda comes on the heels of what had already been a thrilling two months of golf on the PGA Tour including dramatic come from behind victories like Kyle Stanley’s here at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, and Phil Mickelson’s memorable triumph at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

A guy who played in both of those events, golfmix co-founder & PGA Tour winner Arron Oberholser has been captivated by the action so far, “this year has been unbelievable, golf is as good as it gets right now and with all the story-lines this could be the highest rated Masters in history,” he said with the same excitement heard in voices of golf fans everywhere this year.

Those story-lines could only get richer as the tour heads to the Blue Monster in South Florida, where everyone is eagerly awaiting how Tiger will follow the lowest final round in his career when he pegs it at the WGC’s Cadillac Championship. Regardless of how he fares at Doral, Tiger is one step away from regaining the spotlight, not just for golfers and avid followers of the game, but for the game of golf in the eyes of others who could potentially decide to take it up. This kind of buzz is exactly what the game needs, now let’s hope this is only just the beginning.

From personal experience, I’ve noticed that my desire to play golf is most definitely strengthened whenever I watch golf either as a fan or as a member of the media. Based on the events that have transpired thus far in 2012, you’d be correct in assuming that I’ve got a pretty healthy desire right about now.  How about you?  Let us know how your golf game is effected by the excitement and popularity of the PGA Tour.

For those who attended, there were a plethora of options for food and entertainment and after polling the fans, golfmix is proud to release the best of the 2012 WMPO.

Congratulations to the Goo Goo Dolls for being named the best of the Bird’s Nest Performers. PF Chang’s ran away with the vote for best food. The new fan interactive zone was a big hit, and the voters gave the nod to the Jack Daniel’s Museum for the top spot there. While it was no surprise that the 16th hole bleachers took the prize for the best viewing point.

The big winners of the week come courtesy of our golfmix drawing…

• Foursome of golf at the TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course — ejpearson
• Six month membership at Sun City Country Club — Thomas Shaw
• Butch Harmon About Golf DVD — Ross Caster
• Butch Harmon About Golf DVD — Sean Wilson
• 1 free round of golf at Oakcreek CC in Sedona — inkyaz
• 1 free round of golf at Oakcreek CC in Sedona — HolmBoyJay

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth in the expo tent.  If you are planning on making it out to the Accenture World Match Play Championships at the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain next week don’t forget to come see us in the merchandise tent next to the driving range for a chance to win more prizes including an exclusive golf trip to Las Vegas.

The PGA Tour & European Tour Player of the Year became the first player to ever with both money lists in the same season. All this, and it’s quickly become evident to me that he’s a pretty cool dude after a handful of interviews (including media day on Monday — link to video) and a chance encounter at a wine tasting event in Chicago. Golfmix co-founder Brett Kurland is also happy to note that his former classmate still proudly returns to visit his old stomping grounds as a graduate of Northwestern in ’01 after a run that included the individual National Championship in ’99.

Luke and I also share a couple things, we both have two little girls (he and his wife added a second just a few months ago), and we can both make pretty much any putt when given the chance (with a slight nod there to the Brit).

To the tournament most have heard of but relatively few have attended. If the timing of the Match Play Championship was different, the crowds would likely be substantially larger. The reality is most golf fans around here are just now starting to clear the fog from their heads after the WM Phoenix Open. The Ritz Carlton property (less than a 2 hour drive from most parts of the Valley) is outstanding and the format is both exciting and novel, that combo makes it worth the trip from anywhere in Arizona and even beyond.

Match Play action begins next Wednesday with what will surely be a fantastic day of golf as the field of 64 gets chopped in half. The cool factor will then go way up on Sunday in Marana. For the first time in a long time fans will be allowed inside the ropes and on the fairways to follow the Championship group from holes 1 through 18 on Sunday in a special “Follow the leaders” event. If the crowd turns out, the images seen all over the world will do wonders for this great state. Take note that if the final group goes to extra holes fans will be back outside the ropes for logistical purposes.

The Conquistadores, who are in many ways the backbone for this event, raised well over one million dollars for charity last year and hope to better that number in 2012. This year they are led by Tournament Chairman Rocco Bene who was so thrilled that the defending champion made a surprise visit at the volunteer dinner Sunday night that he adorned Luke “Tucson’s favorite son” when he met the media the following day.

As most of you know, our goal is to give a little heads up to our great golfmix community, so here’s the scoop if you want to buy tickets…

You can get a free Sunday ticket with every Wednesday ticket purchased right now at

http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/tournaments/r470/tickets/index.html

If you have kids under 18, bring them all for free with at least one paying adult.

Complimentary tickets are available online for all active, retired and Reserve military and their dependents. A valid Military ID will be required at the gate for admission.

And if you want to save some money you can buy tickets at any of the Tucson area Fry’s Food Stores without paying the fees.

If you are hesitating to return due to previous parking situations, that has been improved through the efforts of Executive Director Gerald Goodman who assured me he’s doing everything he can to improve that experience including moving the lots further North towards Dove Mountain and significantly shortening the length of the shuttle rides.

Once you have your tickets, don’t forget to come visit golfmix inside the merchandise tent for more chances to win some cool prizes including an exclusive golf trip to Las Vegas.

Great day at Pebble Beach today…as usual.

Any day at Pebble Beach is a great day as far as I’m concerned. The weather looks great for the rest of the week and I’m excited to finally be back and get started defending my championship from 2006. Yes, you heard me right, I have not played since I won. Crazy, I know. That’s what 5 surgeries do to you. My amateur partner for the week is Bill Sheedy from Visa. Great dude.

Well, hopefully this 37 year old body will hold together (duck tape and bubble gum mostly) and I’ll bring back some great memories from ’06 and have another AT&T to remember.

Arron Oberholser