PGA Golf Talk

The Irish man Padraig Harrington became the first European in 78 years to win the PGA Championship title on Sunday as he overcame a three shot deficit to claim the title in Michigan. Harrington kept him nerves till the very end and putted a ten foot birdie on the 17^th hole and also shot a 15-footer at par on the 18^th hole to snatch the victory from Ben Curtis and Sergio Garcia.  Harrington is over the moon after winning the PGA Championship. Many players are getting a chance to fill the void left by Tiger Woods. Many fans have now started buying tickets to witness other golfers perform. 

Vijay Singh did himself proud by winning the $ 8 million Bridgestone Invitational PGA tournament last Sunday and is one of the most successful non American golfers to win tournaments in the PGA tour history. Singh’s performance was really below par on the final day, but came up with brilliant at par putts at the final two holes to seal the victory from close by rivals Mickelson and Retief Goosen. Vijay Singh said that he was pretty pleased to win this tournament and hoped for many more laurels to come his way this season. As the PGA season is gathering momentum, there has been a considerable rise in the sale of tickets as well in many venues.

Tiger Woods who left the golf course after the Masters, finishing three shots behind Trevor Immelman is hoping to return to the game in the Memorial that will start on May 29th and is hosted by Nicklaus. Woods has already won three times in this course. Woods is returning after a surgery to remove cartilages from his leg. At present Woods is able only to chip and putt and over 30 yards is a difficult task for him. He hopes that he will be able to play full shots within a week. If he is unable to organize his play by the time the Memorial starts, he will definitely return in the U.S Open which starts on June 12th at the Torrey Pines. 

Jack Nicklaus a true ambassador of golf was rightly presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the PGA tour last Wednesday night for his contributions to golf both on and off the field. PGA tour commissioner Tim Finchem showered praises of Nicklaus accomplishments, sportsmanship, leadership qualities and playing caliber. Nicklaus in his acceptance talk jokingly said the lifetime achievement award is given to someone who becomes old. He said that anyone who wants to be the best in golf will become one only if he plays against the best in the business. Nicklaus who became the 8th recipient of this award was given a silver cup and a portrait which will be hung in the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse.

Ernie Els will be out of the golfing scene for two weeks as he is suffering from virus and will be taking part in the Masters only. Els said that he was very disappointed on not participating at the Shell Houston Open and wanted to play this tournament very badly so as to get in proper shape for the Masters. He said that he had a talk with his doctors and they advised him to stay away from golf for a couple of weeks to get rid of the virus.

Els was planning to play five out of the six PGA tour games before the Masters but will now be playing only in three games. He had recently won the Honda Classic golf tournament in Florida and thereby registered his first victory in US soil in over three and a half years. He did not take part in the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament as well and cited then that he was suffering from fatigue.

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.

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.