Garry Smits's blog

Hot day at Daytona

Garry Smits — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:29:16 +0000

DAYTONA BEACH -- It's one hot Fourth of July Saturday at the Daytona International Speedway.

The Coke Zero 400 is about 90 minutes from starting and the good news is that no matter how high the temps are going, it's not supposed to rain. Good news for race fans and sports writers on deadlines.

Nice story about Vince Carter, the NBA star who was recently acquired by the Orlando Magic. Carter went to Mainland High School, just down the street from the Speedway, and he'll drive the pace car tonight.

The press room is buzzing about the death of Steve McNair. Terrible.

Big local events coming up

Garry Smits — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:53:02 +0000

Monday will be the start of a three-week stretch of important area golf tournaments, with the first round of the Northern Chapter PGA Championship, at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley Course. The pros will switch to the Players Stadium Course for Tuesday's second round.

The following week will be the Jacksonville Area Golf Association Junior Championship, July 14-15 at the Ponte Vedra Golf and Country Club. The week after that will be the JAGA Amateur Championship, July 23-26 at Palencia.

Steroids? No. Pot? uhhh ... don't know

Garry Smits — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:15:45 +0000

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem appeared at a news conference Wednesday in Bethesda, Md., the site of this week's AT&T National (or the Tiger Woods Invitational).

Among the topics discussed were the splitting hairs over performance enhancing drugs and recreational drugs. When the Tour announced its drug testing program, drugs such as marijuana and cocaine were on the banned list, along with steroids and the Human Growth Hormone. The Tour also said that it would break from its usual policy and publicize the names of players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Duval in the Masters

Garry Smits — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:27:25 +0000

I'm on some R&R in Pennsylvania this week, but wanted to take a minute to point out that Jacksonville native David Duval earned an invitation to the Masters Tournament next year with his tie for second Monday in the U.S. Open. The Masters takes the top-eight from the previous year's Open. Had Duval turned that triple-bogey at No. 3 at Bethpage into a par, he'd have won the darn thing, and been in the Masters for five years -- as well as any other tournament he'd want to play. Apparently, Duval's contention all year that he was close to getting his game back was right.

No more golf today at Bethpage

Garry Smits — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:36:15 +0000

The USGA has given in to Mother Nature. The first round of the U.S. Open was suspended today because of soggy conditions on the Bethpage State Park Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., and will resume Friday at 7:30 a.m. Tiger Woods, the defending champion, will face a greenside bunker shot at No. 7 when he returns. He's 1-over-par and was coming off a birdie at the sixth hole. Among area players on the course, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and Josh McCumber are 1-over.

Travis McGriff's fuzzy math

Garry Smits — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:05:06 +0000

Getting off a bit on a tangent while I'm waiting for the U.S. Open to resume (if it ever does) ...

In the most recent issue of the Sporting News, a panel of former Florida football players was asked to weigh in on various issues in the magazine's "Survey Says" feature. When asked which rival they hated the most, Florida State, Georgia or Tennessee, former Gator wide receiver Travis McGriff had this statement: "FSU was the closest thing to being our equal in the '90s."

FSU went 7-4-1 against Florida in the '90s.

Outlook isn't good for the rest of the day at U.S. Open

Garry Smits — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:13:55 +0000

United State Golf Association officials are now saying the best-case scenario for today's first round of the U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., is to get a "three-to-five hour window" later this afternoon to resume play.

If you've seen some of the ESPN coverage today, you'll note that the fairways and greens have standing water, and the rain hasn't stopped as of noon. That means players with afternoon starting times, such as Phil Mickelson (1:36 p.m. on the original schedule) might not take a swing until Friday.

U.S. Open first round suspended; ducks allowed to remain on course

Garry Smits — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:56:38 +0000

Yes, it's raining at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., for the first round of the U.S. Open. Play was suspended today at 10:16 a.m. with 78 players on the course because of wet conditions, and they don't expect much of a break until 1 p.m. Here's a very good early report on the morning from the New York Times.

I'm picking Tiger ... real brave of me, isn't it?

Garry Smits — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:27:53 +0000

Yeah, this is the easy pick for the U.S. Open this week at Bethpage State Park, but a long, tough course is going to play even longer because of a wet spring and a wet week, and that leaves the only logical conclusion but to pick Tiger Woods to win his 15th major championship and his fourth U.S. Open

T-U 2: USGA making mistake on Pinehurst scheduling

Garry Smits — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:01:20 +0000

2 Cents

The United States Golf Association has had some good ideas in recent years.

Contesting national championships in consecutive weeks on the same course isn’t one of them.

The USGA said this week it will hold the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina in 2014 in back-to-back weeks. It might be convenient for logistical purposes (NBC obviously can leave equipment, towers and cables in place), but it’s a terrible idea on several other fronts.