PGA Golf Talk

It was a day for the youngsters at the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona with twenty-eight year old Hunter Mahan outlasting twenty-one year old Rickie Fowler. Mahan has been playing really great golf the last two years on the PGA tour, but hasn’t been able to win a tournament before last Sunday. Finishing sixth at the U.S. Open and tenth at the Masters last year, it was a matter of time before Mahan lifted another trophy on the PGA tour. His last win prior to the Phoenix Open was in 2007 when he took home the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. Mahan did not win without incident on Sunday, as he found crack in his driver early on his day. Having to get the rules committee to allow his girlfriend to go retrieve another driver from his car, Mahan was able to avoid penalty helping him claim the $1,080,000 winner’s prize. It doesn’t hurt that she’s also a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Sounds like a keeper Hunter!

Not even Tiger’s friends have any idea when he will return. The past few months for the greatest golfer in the world have been dreadful. Since the conga line of mistresses formed confirming Woods’ infidelities starting back in November, the 34-year-old hasn’t played any professional golf. Instead Woods has been sequestered in a Mississippi sex rehab facility. Once thought to be one of Tiger’s best friends and mentor, Mark O’Meara, hasn’t seen him since last July. Early on in his career, Tiger was aided by O’Meara’s advice and friendship, but hasn’t reached out to him throughout the scandal. Tiger or any of his representatives have publicly addressed the reports fueling the speculation. No one knows when the world’s best golfer will return to the game, but when he does it will be a momentous event. Sooner or later Woods will have to face the media and return to doing what he does best.

Host country favorite David Smail shot a 65 to grab a share of the lead at the Nationwide New Zealand Open in Queenstown. Smail is tied with Australian Andrew Dodt and American Robert Gates after the first round of play. Smail won the New Zealand Open in 2001 and throughout his career he’s won five times on the Japan Golf Tour. The 39-year-old hit the fairway 86 percent of the time and putted extremely well on Thursday. Having made the cut for the PGA Championship this past season, Smail is confident going into the second round saying he hasn’t putted this well in awhile. The New Zealand Open is the oldest tournament in the country being first played in 1907 with the last New Zealander winning in 2003 when Mahai Pierce won.

With his memorable run at this past year’s British Open still fresh in people’s memory, Tom Watson has put on another tremendous performance winning the 2010 Mitsubshi Electric Championship in Hualalai, Hawaii. Defeating Champions Tour debutant Fred Couples by a single stroke shooting a 64 on Sunday. The title was bittersweet for the 60-year-old who captured the attention of the sports’ world in Ayrshire turning back the clocks to his major-winning days before falling in a playoff to Stewart Cink. However, in Hualalai the American finished with a inspiring back nine featuring five birdies inching his way over Couples on the final hole. Watson was coming off a recent Skins game victory with fellow golf great Jack Nicklaus in Kaanapali, Hawaii at the Wendy’s Champions Skins Game. The victory also holds special significance to Watson as the Kansas City native recently purchased a home in Hualalai. Golf fans will see if Tom Watson can continue his renaissance as the rest of the 2010 Champions Tour season plays out.

With the Sony Open for the PGA, the predictions that I brought up last week seem to be coming true. There are six different players tied for the lead in the tournament. Love and Allenby are right at the top of the standings along with several others. On top of that, there are 10 players in second place and several more in 3rd. Hopefully we’ll be able to get to know these players a bit more over the next few months. But this is an exciting way to start off the year. If I were into conspiracies, I would almost believe that it was set up this way to keep the buzz. But I know about Allenby, Love, Zach Johnson, Troy Merritt, Ryan Palmer, etc and that they wouldn’t be able to just hit the same score in a tournament. Neither would they want to because they have a great chance to really win.

It’s now official. At the SBS Championship in Hawaii, Geoff Ogilvy was able to win again. He has had trouble making a big splash, but he’s been good at being one of the best players at the beginning of the year. The tournament has been able to survive despite some major turnover in sponsorship. Despite all the difficulty, the sport was able to start off the year with a respectable showing. It’s not as good as it was at its height several years ago, but it wasn’t as bad as people might have expected before. Ogilvy is a talented player though, who can come through in the clutch in many situations. It would be great to see him if he’d be able to push into the top tier of players this year. Maybe with some of the problems he’ll be able to make his big jump this year.

Martin Laird has a small lead in the SBS Championship, the first main event of the golfing season. We certainly wish him the best luck. This is going to be a good season, although it’s a little bit too bad that Tiger is out. But at least one golfer has been quick to point out that while some of the ratings will be down because of Tiger’s absence, fans will get a chance to see other top players come into their own. It hasn’t happened often enough that they weren’t overshadowed by the Tiger. The new year brings many promises. John Daly, Laird, Mickelson (?) will all be back in the mix for big titles this year. Some of the younger players will be able to show their stuff for the first time on a national or international stage. Get ready!

Once upon a time, golf was a serene sport where the players would be very respectful and quiet during each game and even moreso between each tournament. This year, the floodgates have opened and the criticism of Tiger Woods has begun. In a lot of ways, this is just because he’s the #1 player of the last decade. Everyone is trying to take him down and some of them will do it by attacking the guy’s personality. The European Ryder Cup team captain has done just that. He should be getting ready for the Ryder Cup instead of dealing with all the personal issues. Yes, Tiger has problems, but for other golfers to comment on it, especially when they don’t have any particular information about it, just seems to be bad sportsmanship. Maybe I misunderstood the interview the way that it was discussed.

The fallout from the Tiger Woods scandal has become even more intense in the last few weeks. Woods’ various contracts with large companies for commercials and such are at risk, it would appear. Woods hasn’t broken any laws, but all of these problems aren’t based on legal problems. Instead, it’s about image and the fact that Woods has damaged his image so strongly with this event. Just think about it, if you’re marketing someone as a family man who people want to emulate and whose example should be good. But now that people are angry about his personal conduct, his golf game isn’t enough to keep him going. As a result, he’s no longer the spokesman for AT&T or Accenture, both of which have been major contracts for him for awhile. Maybe it will all get better when he starts playing again and when the situation settles down. But for now, it’s too fluid and too scary for them.

Tiger Woods was named the PGA Player of the Year. I think, however, that the columnist I read is right, that they should have named him “golfer of the year” considering the double meaning that “player” has taken on. It’s good that his big triumphs this year are being recognized, despite his more recent issues. I mean, let’s remember what he did in 2009. He missed over 6 months at the end of 2008 because of how he played and hurt himself. He took the time off and then came back with a great ability to play. He worked on certain aspects of his game and was able to win some major tournaments. Part of the reason for this is that some of the other best players were out of the game for awhile, due to illness and personal issues. Nevertheless, Woods showed that he could be thrown off his competition rhythm and still come back and win. That’s not easy to do!