This Thursday marks the beginning of an event many Tour players consider a 5th Major Championship. Played at the TPC at Sawgrass, spectators and viewers alike get to watch the PGA’s top players battle it out at the Stadium course for The Players Championship. The TPC at Sawgrass is of course most popular for its infamous 17th hole island green that has cost many players multiple strokes and sometimes the tournament itself.
But why is it considered by many to be a “Major”? Two specific things:
It contains the largest tournament purse of the year at roughly $9 million.
It provides the winner a 5 year PGA Tour exemptions, which happens to be the same amount of exemptions handed to winners of the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship.
On top of that, with the new FedEx Cup rating system, it hands out the same amount of total points as do the other Majors. Mix that all up, add some brown sugar, a little spice, and you have the tours “5th Major”.
In 1999, Fred Couples hit his first shot in the water, re-teed and went on to fly his next shot into the cup for an amazing par.
I am sure everyone remembers Tiger Wood’s famous around the world putt at the 17th Hole.
Unfortunately, Tiger Woods will not be joining the field this week because of his recent knee surgery. So, just based on that, television ratings will be down a few points. It also gives the rest of the field a chance to start catching some ground on his enormous FedEx points lead, which currently stands at around 7,000 points.
Going through my old video swing archive, I came across these gems from my time at the University of Evansville and felt like sharing. I also decided to put a little extra effort into the video “production” by incorporating multiple swings into one video, along with adding a nice logo to the beginning and a watermark on all the videos.
Regarding swing quality, I like various things and hate others. I hate how upright my swing is here. However, I like that I am not over swinging and keeping it close to 3/4 swings. I cast a little bit, which hurts distance and accuracy, but I think at the time I was compensating for the cast and making last second adjustments near impact that allowed me to still hit quality shots.
Per my prediction, it turns out I would not be a good bookie to rely on in the gambling world. Then again, who can rely on the weatherman to predict accurate weather and temperatures (just kidding to any weathermen who read this site).
Ok, so Immelman is 11 under, Tiger is 6 back with 18 to play. My prediction was 3 under would win it, with Tiger being the victor and his lead being 3 as well.
Hrm…back to the drawing board. Well, let’s just say I was to turn my back on my original prediction…how about Tiger Wins tomorrow in a 2 hole playoff against Immelman. Stretch? Maybe…but lets see for shits and giggles.
Tiger had a solid bogey free round on Saturday, but Immelman, Flesch, Casey, and Brant Snedeker played well to keep the Tiger at bay. Immelman’s three rounds of 68 - 68 - 69 are steller and his 2 stroke lead thus far shows it.
However…
As the story goes at Augusta, the tournament doesn’t truly begin until the back nine on Sunday. If history has shown us anything, we can expect some of these boys to tumble on that back nine, thus opening up a possibility for any one of the “behind guys” to take a change…aka probably Tiger. However, like Zach Johnson in the past, Immelman may very well hold his own. 18 holes to go.
I am quite surprised to not see Tiger playing better these first two days, especially with others such as Immelman having more dominating performances. However, I expect to see Tiger to continue moving up the leaderboard. At the time of this writing, he is already at 3 under by hole 11 of the third round.
Respect, Honor, Integrity
When you are in a golf tournament, there is sometimes a situation where that little devil or angel sits on your shoulder as you come across a situation of asking yourself “Do I call a penality on myself for what just happened”? I personally have called a penalty on myself during a tournament where none of my playing partners knew what happened. My ball moved prior to me putting, but I was already at address and my putter was grounded behind the ball. Whether anyone else knew the ball moved is irrelevant. I did, and I wouldn’t feel right to shave a stroke off my score going forward. That happened on Friday by Amateur Michael Thompson. Good for him on being honest. I am sure “someone” would have seen it move, but he did the right thing by calling himself out.
Gary Player
Can you believe this guy? He is 72 years old, does 1200 crunches a day, looks as fit as a 40 year old…and shot 78 on Friday. Wow. Even though he missed the cut, that is absolutely amazing for someone of his age.
The streak ended
Bummer for Fred Couples who ended his Masters “cut” streak of 24 years. An amazing streak mind you. Maybe next year Fred.
ESPN breaks down the Masters
I think my prediction of 3 under winning it might be wrong I thought the weather was going to be colder and windier. However, I am a man of my word…so I will hold onto my prediction.
Beautiful weather and solid play took place during the first round of The Masters. The course won, in my opinion, by holding the majority of the players to even or worse, though a few slipped by with a victory against the course.
Both Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman shared the lead at 68 (4 under par). Ian Poulter aced #16 which helped him into 6th place. A gaggle of others sit at 71 (-1).
Tiger, the overwhelming favorite, shot a boring even par with a 2 back-to-back bogeys and followed by a chip in eagle at 15.
I still am holding onto my prediction that 285 (-3) will win the tournament. The weather is supposed to turn ugly on the weekend, so I expect scores to rise.
Don’t forget, you can watch LIVE Masters coverage online at Masters.org
A video of some swings from May 2007. Just found these on my computer and decided to toss them up on the blog. I actually like my swing in these videos, but need to focus on still getting my right elbow into the “groove” on the downswing. I still have a “slight” over the top move…hence the many mishits you see me making
(just kidding to any weathermen who read this site).
