PGA Golf Talk

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.

Tiger Woods is getting annoyed about the shutter snapping of cameras while making his swing. In an incident last week, he threatened the photographer using obscene language. Woods has high competitive spirit and high expectations in his play, but he is frustrated when the expected result is not obtained. He gave threat of bodily harm to the photographer who snaps the next photo during the swing.
Woods later said that this problem was going on for a while with the players who enter the last group of golf matches including PGA. He admitted that such distractions have started to affect his play. Woods said that three out of four times when it happened he made a bogey. At the crucial time of making a birdie he will end up making a flinch due to the snap sound. He complained that such distractions will take the momentum of the game of golf which a player might have created with great effort.

Phyllis Wade, who for the last 60 years served as a volunteer at the Northern Trust Open and other PGA tournaments, was instrumental in the success of most of the events. Considering her service to the PGA tour and to the game of Golf, she was awarded the Volunteer of the year 2007 by PGA tour. Tim Finchem, The PGA tour commissioner, said that she is a part of the history of PGA events and she is a representative of thousands of volunteers who are dedicated to the success of the PGA golf tour.

The Northern Trust Open Tournament Director, Tom Puchinski, said that every body associated with North Trust is happy that the volunteer spirit of Phyllis has got recognition from PGA Tour and appreciated her contribution to the growth and success of golf. Phyllis is at present doing service at the media center by answering telephones and clips and copies articles about golf in newspapers.

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.

Mark Brown, who returned to active golfing after a short break from the game, has won his second tournament title in two weeks. Brown re-entered the golf course in 2006, after taking a three year gap, as he was not satisfied with his earlier performances. After his return, his first title was last week’s Asia Tour’s SAIL Open and this week he is the proud winner of Johnnie Walker Classic title. He won the game by sinking four birdies and finished the final round with a score of 18- under and won the game by three strokes. Second place was a three- way tie between Taichiro Kiyota, Scott strange and Greg Chalmers.

Brown expressed his win as incredible and amazing and said it is a dream comes true for him. According to him this is a huge victory. The Johnnie Walker Classic is a major event in Golf with $2.5 million investment in it. The amount is sanctioned by the Asian and European tours in co-operation. The triumph in the Johnnie walker classic gives Brown exemption in playing on the European tour till late 2010. Kiyota was of an opinion that Mark Brown played great golf in the tournament and is unhappy about his hesitation in the last nine holes, which gave Mark an advantage over him.

The veteran players of the Presidents Cup, Fred Couples and Greg Norman have been named to captain the United States team and the International Teams respectively, for the 2009 Presidents Cup, according to PGA tour. The 2009 Presidents Cup is slated to be played at Harding Park Golf course in San Francisco. Both Fred and Greg have enough experience of playing in the biennial match play competition and Couples replaces Jack Nickalus as captain and Gary Player is succeeded by Greg Norman.

The PGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem, said that he is extremely happy to introduce Fred and Greg as the captains for the Presidents Cup and says that he is sure that the captains will play their role with passion, commitment and sincerity like the previous captains. The Presidents Cup competition is tightly in the hands of the American team as the over all standings so far has America with a 5 – 1 lead. Fred Couples said that he feels it is a great honor to lead the American team and said that he had enjoyed every single moment of playing for the U.S team in the Presidents Cup. Greg Norman said that he is very much looking forward to the challenge and prospect of captaining the international team.

Their rivalry is the most watched on the PGA Tour these days.  Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh are pitted against each other as to who will be named PGA Tour’s second best player of his generation.

Mickelson lost to J.B. Holmes at the FBR Open in a sudden-death playoff.  Holmes then ranked number 197 in the world.  After a week, Singh showed promise to win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am but lost to Steve Lowery who was number 305 then.

Mickelson ranks second among the active players, having won 32 games.  Singh follows suit with 31 wins, most of which he won after he turned 40 years old.  One more victory for Singh will place him at the top of the career list for foreign-born players.

Tiger Woods has won 62 games, trailing close behind to Sam Snead who has a total of 82 victories.  No one else comes close to Snead’s record than Woods.  Even with this, Mickelson and Singh are still way ahead of the others, being followed by Davis Love III with only 19 wins.

Mickelson and Singh have both won 3 majors.  Mickelson has a PGA and two Masters while Singh has two PGAs and one Masters

Tiger Woods makes his 2008 PGA Tour debut at the Buick Invitational this weekend in sunny San Diego. Torrey Pines Golf and Country Club plays host to the real beginning of the PGA season with the Pacific Ocean as a gorgeous backdrop. This will be sneak peek preview for the U.S. Open, which will also be hosted by Torrey Pines. That being said, do not forget to take the weather in to consideration. Torrey Pines is rarely played in the winter. And I don’t care that it’s in California. The climate is different in January than it will be in June, so factor that in when you’re studying the lay of the land.The big hole to watch out for is sixth hole, which has been converted from a manageable par-5 to a terrifying par-4.

The Philippines won the first Women’s World Cup of Golf by two strokes followed by South Korea at Sun City on Sunday.  Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin carded a final round of 65 for a 72 hole aggregate of 18-under par 198. South Korea, who shared the overnight lead with the Philippines, were second on 16-under par with Chinese Taipei and Japan in third at 13-under. France were fifth on 11-under.For the South Africans it was a case of too much to do in the third round of better ball after trailing South Korea by seven strokes at the start. Teeing off on the 18th and enjoying a two-stroke lead over South Korea, both Rosales and Delasin found heavy rough.

International Final Qualifying (IFQ) for the British Open gets underway in South Africa on Tuesday.This is the first of five qualifying events on five different continents for the July 17-20 championship will be held at the same Royal Johannesburg and Kensington course .Mark Murlessis looking to bounce back from his disappointing two-over 73 on the final day. Sixty-two players from 15 countries will try to gain automatic entry to the third major of the season by finishing in the top four of the 36-hole qualifying tournament on Wednesday.