PGA Golf Talk

Tiger Woods is getting annoyed about the shutter snapping of cameras while making his swing. In an incident last week, he threatened the photographer using obscene language. Woods has high competitive spirit and high expectations in his play, but he is frustrated when the expected result is not obtained. He gave threat of bodily harm to the photographer who snaps the next photo during the swing.
Woods later said that this problem was going on for a while with the players who enter the last group of golf matches including PGA. He admitted that such distractions have started to affect his play. Woods said that three out of four times when it happened he made a bogey. At the crucial time of making a birdie he will end up making a flinch due to the snap sound. He complained that such distractions will take the momentum of the game of golf which a player might have created with great effort.

Phyllis Wade, who for the last 60 years served as a volunteer at the Northern Trust Open and other PGA tournaments, was instrumental in the success of most of the events. Considering her service to the PGA tour and to the game of Golf, she was awarded the Volunteer of the year 2007 by PGA tour. Tim Finchem, The PGA tour commissioner, said that she is a part of the history of PGA events and she is a representative of thousands of volunteers who are dedicated to the success of the PGA golf tour.

The Northern Trust Open Tournament Director, Tom Puchinski, said that every body associated with North Trust is happy that the volunteer spirit of Phyllis has got recognition from PGA Tour and appreciated her contribution to the growth and success of golf. Phyllis is at present doing service at the media center by answering telephones and clips and copies articles about golf in newspapers.

The Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott are eager to take on the Woods challenge as they are in the same group with Woods for the third round of the World Golf Championships, the CA Championship. Tiger is on the look out for his 6th straight PGA Tour win and his fourth consecutive win in this championship. Ogilvy said that they are not worried about the golfing prowess of Tiger Woods and would play as per the game’s requirement. Currently Ogilvy is in the lead with 12- in this group with Adam Scott at 9 under.

Ogilvy is at the top of his game right now after a very poor start to the season. Both Ogilvy and Scott will have to be at the top of their golfing skills to play against the number one player in the world. There are also reports that there is a possibility of thunderstorms and the Aussie pair will have their work cut out during the third round of the championship.

Dennis Watson won the AT&T Golf Champions Classic by beating Loren Roberts, virtue of a third hole birdie during last Sunday’s playoff in Valencia. This is his third Champions tour title in the last two seasons as he has won the Boeing Classic and Senior PGA Championship last year. Watson made his winning putt using a 9-iron and it hit the ball from 152 yards to a distance of 20 inches on par -4 at the 10th hole. Dennis Watson, the Zimbabwean, was extremely pleased with that shot and said that he would love to watch it again and again as it was one of the longest and most perfect shots he has hit for a long time.

Watson said that he was pretty happy with his overall game during the tournament and felt that he had a solid golf game through out the championship. Bryant was the closest rival to Watson in the championship and he did not perform well at the putting and hence had to lose the title despite playing remarkable golf. Watson played the first nine holes in 3 under making a bogey in par -4 eighth hole and an eagle in the par -5 ninth and first holes.

Tiger Woods captured his fifth consecutive USPGA tour win when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament last Sunday. The American defeated his fellow countryman, Bart Bryant, by a birdie on the 18th to win the tournament by one stroke. Woods was ecstatic to win the title and his reaction of slamming his cap on the ground and pumping the fists in celebration did tell a lot about how much he wanted to win this title. Woods said that he did not know how he was able to win this tournament and all he did was to get good speed on the ball and was happy that it went in from 20 feet distance.

Woods was tied at the top when he started the game on Sunday and said to himself that he has done this before and has the ability to do it again. By winning this Arnold Palmer title, Tiger Woods has now won eight out of the last nine tours all over the world. Tiger Woods’s all time career title record stands at 64 and is currently tied with late Ben Hogan at the third position in the all time win list. The other two people who are above him in the all time win list are Jack Nicklaus with 73 titles and Sam Snead with 82 career titles.

The PGA officials said on Friday that the Byron Nelson Golf championships are going to be played upon a single course and the TPC course is going tol be ready by the start of the tournament, April 23rd. The Nelson tournament venue is getting remodeled for a sum of $8 million and it will be the first time since 1993 that the tournament will be played on one course. The PGA Tour’s operation head Henry Hughes appreciated the efforts of many parties who have joined together in getting the golf course ready despite facing huge problems from varying weather conditions. The summers record rainfall in the region delayed the redesigning of the golf course by about two months.

Two courses were used previously for the first few rounds during the Nelson tournament, with the first round on the Cotton Valley course and then the players assemble on the TPC grounds for the weekend rounds. The redesigning people have received dozens of inputs from various PGA Tour players and have looked into each suggestion in full detail before redesigning the course. The 185 acre TPC course has been given a face-lift from tee to green. D.A. Weibring, who oversaw the project, told reporters that their main intent was to respect Byron Nelson and came up with a cleaner course that includes traditional bunker, tee and greens throughout the entire length of the course.

Vijay Singh, the former No.1 player and the record holder for winning 31 PGA tours, is thinking of extending his record by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament this week. He has won nineteen titles after 40 years of age. This is the 30th year of the tournament and Vijay has been attending the tournament since 1993. But, this title was out of his reach till 2007. He is the defending champion and wants to win the tournament. He was working hard to change his swing and is hopeful that the change will work out in the long run.

According to Singh, the changing of the swing is the biggest alteration he has done in his style of play. He lost the lead in AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro –Arm championship just because his swinging was not perfect and lost it to Steve Lowery. Singh himself is not happy with his swinging, even though others think it is good enough. He has made 6 top ten finishes and has never missed his cut in the last 15 starts. Vijay Singh loves to take part in different tournaments and to win different titles, and believes that adjusting to different conditions makes one a better player.

Stewart Clink has reached the final group of PGA tour for the third time this year. He played the last 28 holes on Saturday in very adverse conditions. The wind speed was 30mph at the PODS championship for more than 12 hours. Clink was 2 -under 69 before he started on Saturday and was very lucky to get three straight birdies which gave him two-shot lead. He is two shots ahead of Geoff Ogilvy, the former champion of U.S Open. The tournament is still open for grabs and only nine players are remaining under par in this tournament. Clink is determined not to give chance for other players on the next day.

Clink is attracted to the playing style of Tiger Woods and has played some matches along with him. Clink has good chance of winning this tournament as Woods is not playing. Clink is yet to win a tournament after his win in Firestone in the year 2004. This year he has set goals for himself and has plans to take part in more competitions. In the last five events he had played this year, this is his second chance for him to win a major tournament and to set a position in Golf championships.

Sandy Lyle, who turned fifty on February 9th, is thrilled about coming of age to play the prestigious tournament, the Champions Trophy, wherein a player is allowed to compete in the championships only if he is aged 50 years and above. Lyle who is a six time PGA tour champion, with the first win at the British Open in 1985, is absolutely thrilled to take part in the Champions Trophy this week. He will be the youngest player of the Champions Trophy tournament even though he has amassed two majors.

Lyle says that he has been playing the tours in Europe and US along with players about 18 years of age and felt that it was difficult to compete with the younger generation who arte physically very strong and can send the ball many a mile. He is excited to be playing with the older golfers now and wants to end his 16 year old title drought in this season itself. Lyle expects to take part in 20 tournaments in the coming season that includes the British Open as well as the Masters. He has taken several months off from the goal arena and says that he is ready for the challenge of the older golfers and his first assignment will be at the Newport Beach Country Club this week.

Mark Brown, who returned to active golfing after a short break from the game, has won his second tournament title in two weeks. Brown re-entered the golf course in 2006, after taking a three year gap, as he was not satisfied with his earlier performances. After his return, his first title was last week’s Asia Tour’s SAIL Open and this week he is the proud winner of Johnnie Walker Classic title. He won the game by sinking four birdies and finished the final round with a score of 18- under and won the game by three strokes. Second place was a three- way tie between Taichiro Kiyota, Scott strange and Greg Chalmers.

Brown expressed his win as incredible and amazing and said it is a dream comes true for him. According to him this is a huge victory. The Johnnie Walker Classic is a major event in Golf with $2.5 million investment in it. The amount is sanctioned by the Asian and European tours in co-operation. The triumph in the Johnnie walker classic gives Brown exemption in playing on the European tour till late 2010. Kiyota was of an opinion that Mark Brown played great golf in the tournament and is unhappy about his hesitation in the last nine holes, which gave Mark an advantage over him.