PGA Golf Talk

Heath Slocum (General Slocum as we like to call him here) won the Barclays championship this weekend, holding off a tough charge from Tiger Woods. He made a tough putt on the last hole, from 20 feet out to finish at par. This is to say that he ended up with a 9-under total of 275. Just a little while ago, it wasn’t even clear that Slocum would be competing in this year’s tournament, but he was just able to get in. This seems to be a big theme this year, with a lot of different players winning despite the low expectations that observers had had up until that point. But they will be working their way forwards, hoping to get another chance to beat big Tiger. Tiger, meanwhile, keeps trying to win, but has been struggling mightily in tournaments all this time.

There are a lot of people talking about the Barclays championship this week. One of the top discussions this year is that the commissioner said that the tournament is played in New York. It’s certainly in the New York metro area, but it’s actually in New Jersey. You can see New York City from the green, but it’s not taking place in the city; at least, not according to those who live there. Tiger Woods started out pretty well in this tournament, shooting 1 under 70 in the first round. He had some trouble after that but not so poorly that he’s out of contention. And Sergio Garcia expects to win. He had won tournaments before, including this one, but has struggled lately. He started out with promise this time around, so we’ll see if he makes it all the way to a third win.

Last week, I talked about how Tiger Woods was taking the result of the PGA championship. Yesterday there was an article about the way that YE Yang was taking his victory. Actually, he seems to be very low key about it. He doesn’t believe that he will necessarily win a championship again. Basically, he goes out any plays his game, and that’s about it. He didn’t even start out wanting to be a pro golfer. He had a part time job at a driving range and then started playing for fun after hours. And last week he became the first man to beat Tiger Woods with Woods leading in the final round. But he’s not cocky. He’s pleased with how hard he worked, doesn’t want to face down the best golfer in the world again, and that’s about it. It’s fun to see the way he comes from such a different culture and doesn’t feel the need to trash talk or anything else. That’s sportsmanship!

As you know from my last post, Tiger Woods lost the PGA Championship last weekend in a completely unexpected situation. What happened, Tiger? I wish I could interview him to find out, although I imagine that it wouldn’t be all that fun. He’s a nice guy, but I’m sure asking a tough competitor what happened when he lost wouldn’t be that fun. I have been reading though, and it sounds like most people think that Woods is psyching himself out a little too much, if I may put it in a colloquial way. He’s reading all that papers that say that he must win each time, otherwise he’s a failure. After all, he almost won last weekend, but most of the commentators seem to be worried that he’s lost his touch and that he’s become a bad golfer.

The PGA Championship was a very strange affair this year. It looked like Tiger Woods was going to run away with it. He held a lead after 54 holes bringing him almost all the way to the cusp of the championship. But he was struggling, especially on the greens, and he needed to concentrate more and get his feel back. But he was missing them a lot more than he had thought. A dark horse player, wearing white, came out of nowhere. YE Yang won the Championship in amazing form, hitting accurately and sinking putts almost all the time. Will Yang keep winning championships like this for a long time? It’s hard to tell, but some people think he might be just a one-major wonder. But either way, this is a fun celebration for him this year!

When the PGA Championship began, it wasn’t so hard. The second round will not be nearly so easy. Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington are more likely to have trouble in the next round, because the wind it picking up. The people on the course are starting to notice the flags. And the players are noticing it even more. This is a course that isn’t very easy anyway, and when you add a lot of wind, their hits will be almost impossible. There will be more people this afternoon, so it will be very interesting to see if the next group is greatly affected by the weather or if they are able to correct for it without trouble.

The PGA Championship is all ready to begin and it’s going to be an interesting event for us to watch. It’s been a kind of confusing year for the sport of golf, with lots of players winning who weren’t expected to do so this time around. Tiger Woods has been on the way to winning majors this year, only to drop off over the course of it. He does win tournaments right beforehand, but can’t seal the deal. Phil Mickelson has been having a rough year too and hopefully the illnesses in his family will resolve well. Other players who are winning are not the top level golfers and it’s going to be a long year if we don’t get some kind of “rivalry narrative” or “one guy dominates the field” narrative going on soon!

The Solheim Team has been decided and one of the main players on the team is Michelle Wie. I’m writing about this because I haven’t written much in months about the women or the LPGA. Wie has been one of the most controversial players in the women’s game since she made it into the professional level just a couple years ago. But it turns out that a lot of the problems she’s had have nothing to do with her, but with her parents who are a bit over-invested in her. This is uncomfortable for people who are on her team and for other players. And it seems like it’s uncomfortable for her. Her team mates are discouraging her from saying sorry for things, because it’s a team effort and everyone helps everyone. They just want her parents to stay back and let the team play for themselves. She seems quite grateful for the chance to play for the Solheim Cup, so it’s going to be a fun tournament.

Tiger Woods jumped into the Buick Open and started off by playing poorly. The wheels came off his wagon in the first round, when he tied for 92nd or something. He didn’t even attend his own practice session afterwards because he was so upset about his performance up to that point. He also had a few moments of smacking the ground with his club after hitting rather poorly. But in the end, he brought back his actual game and played as consistently as ever, working his way back to the top of the standings. It’s one of the best comebacks for him in a long time! He’s doing a great job in his return tour in the PGA tour. He just kept himself going all the way into the winner’s circle. We’re happy to see him play well, but sometimes it would be nice to see other players win. Anyway, he doesn’t play in every competition, so there will be a good chance that we’ll be able to report about another great player in the near future.