PGA Golf Talk

Tiger Woods finally won a competition this weekend. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was down to putting-range as the sun was setting. There was really only enough time to get off one more shot before having to call it quits for the evening. But there he was, ready to play, hit his 12-foot putt and got the win. He says that this win doesn’t feel like anything he’s had in quite awhile. It’s an exciting moment for him, because he hasn’t actually won since the middle of last year, in the US Open, when he injured himself so badly. He felt the pressure to finally win one, and he was able to do it! He’s excited, the golf world is excited. Now the season is back on again!

I know you’re all tired of hearing about Tiger Woods. He’s still one of the best golfers in the world and will be remembered as one of the best ever. How do we know that he’s not getting better? Or that he’s not still flagging a bit from his injury. Anyone who takes almost a year off of their job, especially a physical job, will have a little while before they are able to really start doing it properly again. Woods has committed to several different tournaments, the furthest out being in November in Australia. Perhaps he will win there? It’s hard to tell how well he may be playing at that time. But keep an eye on him, because you can’t count him out for a long time yet!

Vijay Singh was hoping to compete all the way through, but he suddenly started feeling soreness in his right knee. He had been operated on for that knee a few months ago, took a break, and now that feeling is back. So he decided to pull out of the Transitions Championship and take another break for his knee. It’s going to be an exciting event anyway, but without him it’s not quite as interesting. One of the better competitors in this stuff is now out of the running and another golfer will have to take on the challenge.

Phil Mickelson won his first World Golf Championships in California this time around, beating out Nick Watney, who barely missed his final birdie that would have probably given him the win. Mickelson, who was sick at the time, sunk a 25 yard putt that put him in the lead to win the first tournament of this kind in his whole career. Watney wasn’t so upset about it, because usually he’s not even playing at this level during a normal tournament. He isn’t as good as Mickelson and probably felt honored to be playing so late. But he was still disappointed, as you could see on his face when he tapped in his putt a few feet away. Perhaps he’s an up-and-coming player though?

When Michelle Wie walks onto the course later this spring, she will have gotten there by the intervention of a company, her PR company. The William Morris Agency has represented her since she came into the pro sport when she was a teenager. Now she’s decided to start somethign new with a new PR company. Signing with IMG, she expects to start fresh and get a new feeling for the game. But she doesn’t seem to have had any problems with William Morris, but just wanted to switch. She’s changed a lot about her game and had a lot of interest in changing her style of swing and get over her more recent injuries. Keep an eye on this one for a special season this year.

Y.E. Yang won the Honda Classic this weekend. It was his first PGA Tour win and he’s happy to have done it. The golfer was able to hold himself up above the other golfers, particularly John Rollins who almost caught up. Rollins came within two shots of Yang before settling back in the end. He golfed especially well in this tournament and it turned out well for him. He looked fairly composed in the pictures, but we imagine that he celebrated quite heartily after he won! Congrats to him. It goes to prove that this year in the PGA is about as easy to predict as the springtime weather.

The Honda Classic is moving swiftly. Now that we’ve gotten to the real season, it’s going to be a very exciting year, as we’ve already said. At this point, Robert Allenby is ahead now. The follower Erik Compton is still around. His goal was to do this and he is happy to be here. After all, this is a guy who has had heart issues since he was a kid and has technically died twice. So he doesn’t feel too bad to be behind at this point, as long as he’s still able to complete. Tiger Woods, after his start a couple weeks ago, feels quite well about the way he started out after his surgery. He didn’t get that far, but perhaps that’s not the point when you start off after an injury.

Geoff Ogilvy took the Match Play Championship this weekend. Who is Ogilvy? You don’t hear his name all that often, but he is one of the top players in the sport. We really enjoy watching him play, because he’s got one of the best short games of all the golfers around and it’s quite a lot of fun. We want to watch him really winning, and especially when a lot of the flashier players drop out or don’t take the wins. Tiger Woods ended up not making it on the tournament and several of the other players weren’t as good as they are sometimes. It’s like a lot of the best players are unable to move up, because they’re having trouble, and injuries and all kinds of things like that. Keep watching Ogilvy though. He’s a good player and it’s a good chance for him to really show up.