PGA Golf Talk

When Michelle Wie was headed to Dubai this week, a lot of people thought she was crazy. After all, it’s Finals Week for her at Stanford. The famous lady golfer has been among the most respected players recently. Earlier, she was a high-powered player in the junior level, but she struggled when she finally entered the pros. But she’s found a good rhythm for herself, her family has laid off her a little bit, and her team mates on the American team are enjoying her presence as well. She may not be the top player, but she’s working on it. Part of it is for her to enter the Dubai Lady’s Masters tournament this year. It’s not complete yet, but she still has the chance to go ahead and win. Good luck to her because she’s worked so hard thusfar.

The story that’s been dominating all the news this week is the story of Tiger Woods. Just to sum up, there was a car crash last weekend that seemed to have some connection to allegations of him having an affair and a possible altercation. There wasn’t much new information about that, but Woods essentially admitted to that affair this week (and possibly more of them) in a statement where he pleaded that the problems and feelings remain in his family. It’s a sad story actually, and even worse because all of us have been following it so carefully during the week, even though it had nothing to do with us. Poor Tiger and his family are trying to get through a tough situation with the media hounding them. Hopefully they will be let alone to actually fix things. This story has little to do with golf, I realize, but it is about one of the foremost golfers in the world and the chance that his game might suffer as a result.

On Friday afternoon it was reported that Tiger Woods had been involved in a car crash the night before, which had landed him in the hospital. It turned out that his injuries weren’t nearly as severe as had been feared at first, but over the weekend, the story of what happened has become more and more muddled. At first, it was just that he crashed into a fire hydrant and tree. Then there was the extra tidbit about his wife getting him out of the car using a golf club (no irony intended, I suppose) through the back window. Why she didn’t just open the driver’s side door and get him out isn’t clear. The police have dropped by to interview him several times but have been turned away all the time. There are reports of search warrants and possible domestic violence issues. It’s still developing and it’s a complicated story that might have something to do with a report that Tiger had a mistress of some kind in recent years. Stay tuned, because it’s going to be interesting!

There isn’t much going on in the golf world right now. There’s the American holiday and the upcoming holiday season, which avoids putting major tournaments in the next few weeks. There are some smaller ones where people are keeping up their game, attempting to move up in rankings and generally just playing for some fun. But there’s nothing earth-shattering or anything at the moment. Have you played any golf lately? In some parts, it’s a little too cold at the moment to do so, but in other places, it’s just fine. Where is your favorite course to play or watch golf? I have to say, I’m a big fan of the courses in the British Open. I haven’t been to these courses, but the kind of short game that it forces these pros into playing is a great challenge to see them work out. I love it!

For those of you who live in Britain and are golf fans, you might need to get some kind of satellite television service. The reason for this is that Sky TV will be one of the main places where you will be able to see the upcoming golf tournaments. It’s going to be a lot of fun to see players like Tiger Woods and other people battling it out on TV. Whether the competition was on broadcast TV before or on regular cable, much of it will now be on Sky Sports, including the American tournaments that are going on right now. I have no opinion about this, even though I often try to give some kind of perspective, but I do like to keep all of you up to date about where you can watch your golf when things are going on.

The Children’s Miracle Network Classic this weekend brought up some of the best play we’ve seen all year, especially from some players that we haven’t seen in the top echelons quite yet. But Stephen Ames, a Canadian born in Trinidad, was able to pull out a victory by shooting a 64, which just beat out Justin Leonard, who just barely missed a putt that would have put it away for him. He even had his fist pumping already when the putt hopped off the edge of the cup and rolled off. This is Ames’ fourth PGA Tour title ever, so it means a lot to him and his crew. Again, the big hitters weren’t there because they seem to be taking an early break before the season kicks back into gear later on.

We last reported that Doug Barron had accepted responsibility for having drugs in the system during a test recently. But we have found out that he and his agent have filed suit, claiming that the people are using him as a scapegoat of sorts to show that they are tough on those who use such substances. This is evidenced by the way the PGA rolled it out, without showing the mitigating factors, nor explaining that the drugs were beta blockers that keep his heart going properly. It’s dangerous to just suddenly stop, says his agent. They are seeking to get the suspension postponed for a little while. This will be determined by a court in Tennessee and then we will know for sure.

Doug Barron of the PGA Tour has been suspended for a year after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He isn’t a well-known member, but he did finish third once at the Byron Nelson Championship. The PGA’s policy is actually very new, having been implemented in the last few years, and this is the first suspension under those rules. Barron, for his part, has apologized for the trouble caused to the sport and the association due to his suspension and that he had never intended to improve his performance. Another player mentioned that he has taken some medication for certain conditions, so perhaps that would account for the test result. It’s too bad if that’s the case. Hopefully they will be able to make more finely reticulated rules about this.

Phil Mickelson has had a year that no one would want to have. His wife and mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer in the same month. Obviously, he took a break from golf at that time. After awhile, he has found himself in a position to continue playing on the tour, starting this week in Singapore. He’s worked on his short game once again so he’s going to get better. Mickelson is the world’s number two player, but he might be on his way to number one if he’s gotten as much better as he says. It’s going to be a great year next year for this player, because he is one of the best players in the world and Tiger is struggling. We haven’t seen them go head-to-head for awhile yet, so hopefully he’ll be able to play more next year and give a good challenge to this year’s best players.

The PGA Grand Slam has been played now! And who won? Lucas Glover was the winner and shot 5 under 66 during the course of the last part of it to close it out. He won the US Open earlier this year and he was tied with the British Open champion Stewart Cink until the turn there at the Royal Golf Course. Glover is slowly showing himself to be a big time player who can prove himself against a variety of different people. It’s possible that he might be a successor to Tiger? Everyone’s always looking for the “next big player”, but it’s more fun to just be a little bit surprised.