PGA Golf Talk

Dustin Johnson and Robert Garrigus are at Pebble Beach right now and they’re doing an amazing job. Usually, no one would get a score nearly as good as -7, but without wind and rain, both of these golfers made it up to that level. When you watch Pebble Beach, you don’t usually get to see golfers play at the top of their games. More likely, you’re going to see what the golfers are made of, particularly when they play against the elements. Johnson and Garrigus were able to really push their way through the first round and are hoping to be able to continue. Keep an eye on this competition. Without Tiger in the regular picture, we’ll have to expect some other people to really jump up!

Bruce Vaughan had to hit a 20 foot putt in the first playoff hole against John Cook to claim the first title of his career, the senior British Open, on Sunday. This is the major PGA victory of his golfing career and Vaughan is thrilled to bits on achieving it. He says that he will be treasuring this first major victory for the rest of his life and will be trying his hand out in many more senior championships. Vaughan had enjoyed playing at Royal Troon in Scotland and this victory gives him a direct entry for next year’s British Open. The ticket sales for all the major PGA tournaments can be doe online through various online ticketing websites.

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. 

Fans who heard about Tiger Woods’ bad knee were worried that he might be forced to skip some tournaments while his knee recuperates, but Woods himself has come forward and clarified that he will make a full recovery in order to participate in the US Open slated to be held in June. On April 15, Woods checked into a hospital to undergo arthroscopic surgery to correct his knee. After the follow up checkup, Woods told the concerned public that come June 12, he will be making an appearance at Torrey Pines, San Diego to score some wins at the US Open. He is following doctor’s orders to rest and keep a positive mindset to aid recovery.

Adam Scott had to fight it the hard way with Ryan Moore in the final round of the tournament after carrying a three stroke into the final round. After blowing the early advantage in the opening of the final round, Scott completed a 9 foot birdie to force a playoff battle on No 18. He won the EDS Byron Nelson PGA Tour Golf Championship after making a 48-footer in the third playoff and thus achieved his 6^th PGA tour win of his career.

Scott said that he was extremely happy to win the title, but did not think that he played at his best on the final round. He acknowledged the fact that he somehow managed to hang in there shot to shot with Ryan. The playoff was the icing in the cake as both the players were pitting it out in the middle on Sunday and the talk of a game full of thrills and spills were witnessed in the final round.

It all began with news about John Daly consuming alcoholic drinks when attending a PGA Tour event last March. He was seen drinking under a hospitality tent. This piece of news was apparently reported by his golf instructor Butch Harmon, who then quit being the troubled golfer’s teachers. As a result, Daly has had numerous of his profitable contracts canceled. He then went on to attend a press conference at the Spanish Open held in Seville, Spain and in that event, he stated that Harmon has already taken back what he said and duly apologized to Daly.

Harmon, on the other hand, refuted his claim and said that he would never retract what was being said about Daly. He also revealed that Daly had beseeched him to go on the Golf Channel and make a live apology because his livelihood was affected. Harmon refused and said that he wishes Daly all the best in his future endeavours.

It was a record of sorts last Sunday at the 2008 Augusta Masters PGA golf tournament as Trevor Immelman became the first South African to win a Master’s in 30 years with a three shot victory. The 29 year old South African played some astonishing golfing shots to stay putt on top and waded off the swirling winds at the Augusta masters to adorn the green jacket which has been his childhood dream. Immelman said that he was determined to hang in there till the last shot and decided to take one shot at a time.

Immelman said that he was proud of his efforts at the Augusta Masters and was honored to receive the green jacket from last year’s champion Zach Johnson. Immelman was very happy when his childhood hero Gary Player left a telephone message stating the confidence that Player had in Immelman winning the tournament after the third round. The talk of the town and world champion golfer Tiger Woods had to settle for the second place at the Masters.

PGA of America launches PGA Profinder, a new feature in their site that aims to further connect PGA to the public, thus making it more accessible and user friendly for all who visit the website.

PGA.com will offer PGA Profinder, a new online searchable directory that lets visitors access all PGA Professionals and PGA-staffed facilities.

Every ardent golf fan will gain the ability to use this cutting edge online tool to search for as well as locate PGA Professionals and facilities so as to find golfing instructions, golfing clinics, events, leagues, tournaments and generally golf playing opportunities. They are free to search via ZIP codes, golf courses, PGA Professional’s name or city. All in all, a grand total of 28,000 PGA Professionals and over 11,000 PGA-staffed facilities are listed on PGA ProFinder.

Next up, another feature will also be introduced in the website. The PGA Golf Instruction Video Series DVDs will be sold. The series will feature PGA Teachers of the Year Laird Small, Peter Krause and Bill Forest, who were world renowned golf players and instructors.

Is the Masters overhyped this year?

Golf guru Tiger Woods finishes second round Masters at 1-under and trails by seven shots. He took a risky path down the tenth fairway en route to the final hole, and as he did so, hundreds of fans have already packed up their folding seats and headed back home after earlier surrounding the 18th green.

Things took an unexpected turn when 36-hole leader Trevor Immelman performed the best at the tournament with the best start ever this year, adding another 4-under 68 to create a one shot lead over Brandt Snedeker. Earlier on he was hospitalized in South Africa and was recovering from a benign tumor which doctors successfully removed from his diaphragm.

The boring game ended when Woods finally strut his stuff on the green, escaped with par on the final hole when he drove into the trees. He managed to hit a low hook off the pine straw and into the tenth fairway. In the end, Woods made the 8-footer for par and a 71 much to his fans’ delight.

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.