PGA Golf Talk

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.