Tiger the TV Ref ? No Way

Sean Foley & Tiger, putting practice  ahead of the Players Championship.

Tiger has admitted he would not pick up the phone and call in any infringement he may have witnessed on TV, no matter what sport he happened to be watching;

“I don’t ever see myself calling in and saying that Kobe traveled or things like that;  or some offensive lineman held. But it’s our sport, and that’s what we’ve accepted. Certain groups are going to get more heat than others just because they’re on TV. It is what it is.”

Tiger was speaking at TPC Sawgrass, where he is preparing for The Players Championship, he was referring to the incident at the Masters, which eventually cost him a triple bogey, and lost him the chance of winning the tournament;

” I had a lot of momentum going at that time,’ I think I was tied for the lead with Fred, and I thought I’d stuffed it in there and I thought it was going to be a birdie and I could take the lead there and maybe sneak one in on the final three holes and basically start building a lead in the tournament. And it kind of turned the other way with a good shot. When I was away from it I reflected on the things I did right, but also the things I did wrong. Unfortunately, I hit a good shot and caught a bad break. I still had an opportunity over the next 36 holes to get it back but I just didn’t do it.”

Talking about The Players Championship, and its importance in association with the four Majors, Tiger thought if there was to be another Major, this would be it;

“We have our four major championships, and that’s that. But if there was going to be another one, this would be it. This is the best field that we have. We have guys from all over the world playing, and probably next to the PGA Championship, one of the deepest and stiffest fields we’ll face.‘It is one of those tricky courses where they have some very tough lines off the tee and if you are not playing well you are going to get exposed,’ said Woods. ‘On top of that the greens are now a lot more fiery coming into them, so that makes it even more important to hit the ball in these fairways. And if you miss these greens at all, you’ve got some of the weirdest, funky little shots you will ever face.”

Tiger Woods’ whistle blower was one David Eager, a rules official, who not only embarrassed himself, but other officials, and TV commentators, who were on the course at the time. Maybe those guys will be seeking revenge on him the next time he tees it up on the Champions Tour. If Tiger never quite gets passed Jack Major record, misses out by one, just think.

Tiger and The Drop / AP

 

The Masters, Play Off Win For Broomstick Scott

Adam Scott won the Masters in a play-off against Grand-dad Angel Cabrera, using the soon to be banned Broomstick putter.

Adam Scott / Ehrmann / Getty Images

Adam Scott won the second play-off hole at the Masters with a birdie, using the broomstick putter. He is the first Australian to win the title, so cements his place in history. Lucky for him the R&A and the USGA seem to be waiting a long time before banning the use of  the long anchored putter. Adam had a last round of -3 under par 69, for a total of -9 under par.  Four of the last six Major champions used a putter pressed against their belly or chest, a stroke that might be banned in 2016.

Adam said about his win;

” We like to think we’re the best at everything. Golf is a big sport at home, and this is the one thing in golf we hadn’t been able to achieve. It’s amazing that it’s my destiny to be the first Australian to win. It’s incredible.”

Some of us with long memories know the lengths Australians will go to avoid defeat in sport, but to be fair to the man the authorities have not yet banned the use of this putter, will be interesting to see him defend the title next year with a conventional putter. Steve Williams was responsible for reading Adam’s winning putt, Adam asked Steve;

 ” Do you think it’s just more than a cup?”

Steve replied;

‘It’s at least two cups. It’s going to break more than you think.”

Afterwards Steve remarked;

“The winning putt might be the highlight putt of my career, because he asked me to read it.”

Steve Williams, probably the best Caddie in the world, must be laughing up his sleeve at this win. Everyone knows that if he had been Tiger Woods caddie, he would not have let Tiger play an illegal shot, Steve is too professional for that kind of mistake.

Angel Cabrera knocked his approach shot on eighteen for an easy birdie, and a -2 under par round of 70, to tie the scores and head off into the play-off. He was such a gracious loser;

“Such is golf, Adam is a good winner.”

Jason Day, the Aussie everybody thought was going to win today, finished in third place, at -7 under par. Jason had a two-shot lead when he stepped to the 16th tee. Jason said;

“I think the pressure got to me a little bit.”

 

Brandt Snedeker, who was tied with Angel Cabrera for the lead going into the final round, sadly closed with a last round 75, and finished five shots behind. He was naturally upset at not being able to convert a winning position into a win;

“Any time you have a chance to win the Masters and you don’t come through, my lifelong dream,  you’re going to be upset, you’re going to cry, but I’ll get through it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Masters. Aussie Assault at Augusta

Three Aussies have made a third day assault on the Masters at Augusta National, Adam Scott in third place, followed by Marc Leishman and Jason Day tied in fourth place. They are vying to be the first Aussie to win the Masters Title. For them to accomplish that feat they will have to overcome the two leaders at the top of the board.

Angel Cabrera and Brandt Snedeker / Getty Images

Angel and Brandt both completed the third round in -3 under par,  for a tournament total of -7 under par. Brandt has made a bold statement about being here to win;

” I’ve spent 32 years of my life getting ready for tomorrow, I’m going to be disappointed if I don’t win. Period. I’m not here to get a good finish, I’m here to win.”

Angel, who won here in 2009, is a two-time Major winner, and you would think that he has the extra experience to overcome the mental factors of coming down the stretch in a Major contest, Angel had this to say, via an interpreter;

” I’ve been working very hard for this moment, and I’ve got to take the opportunity.”

Adam Scott said it would be fantastic to win the Masters, I think that is an under statement;

” Obviously, to win the Masters would be incredible, it would be great for Australia. We’ve never looked better odds-wise going into a Sunday, except that one year in 1996. It’s going to be a hell of a round tomorrow.”

Jason Day lead the tournament for most of the day, but made bogey on the last two holes;

“My favorite tournament of the year, I love this place. Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders, being from Australia and no Australian has ever won the event. They have been very, very close, but I’ve just got to try to get that out of my mind and just plug away.”

The day started with some high drama as Tiger Woods was penalized two shots, following his violation of the rules in dropping his ball yesterday, after his shot had hit the pin and found it’s way into the water. Tiger dropped his ball to replay the shot, but instead of dropping according to rule 26-1; ” Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot the original ball was last played.” Tiger went two yards further back, to give himself the correct distance for the shot. In a game of political maneuvering the tournament committee handed Tiger a two shot penalty. There are a lot of people who felt that he should have been disqualified. Ultimately what saved Tiger, was a new rule, just two years old, that states disqualification will not be handed down when the complaint has come from someone watching TV. Seems like a fair assessment to me, a TV pundit gets umpteen replays, officials on the course get one look. You could argue that Tiger and his caddie should know the rules, I bet Steve Williams would not have let his man violate a rule.

Tiger admitted the mistake;

“I went back to where I played it from, but went two yards further back and I tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit, and that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back. I felt that was going to be the right decision to take off four yards right there. And I did. It worked out perfectly.”

Masters. Sergio Suddenly Surprises.

Sergio Garcia suddenly surprised everyone by sharing the first round lead of  the Masters at Augusta National with Aussie Marc Leishman.

Sergio Garcia / Reddington/ Getty Images

Sergio Garcia grabbed a share of the Masters lead on day one of the Masters with Aussie Marc Leishman, both players at -6 under par after their first round scores of 66. Having Sergio’s name at the top of the leaderboard came as a surprise to all the pundits, who were all of the opinion that he hated Augusta National;

” No, I mean, well,obviously, it’s obviously not my favorite, my most favorite place, but we try to enjoy it as much as we can each time we come here. Sometimes it comes out better than others, but today it was one of those good days. And let’s enjoy it while it lasts. But like I said before, every time I tee it off, I try to play as well as I can, hope that my best that week is really, really good, and if I manage to do that, I will have a chance at winning. If my best is not that good, then, I’ll struggle a little bit. Today my best was pretty good, and I’m looking forward to doing the same thing the next three days. We all go through those moments, the beauty and the bad thing about this game is that it can have such highs and such lows, because it’s a lot more mental than some of the other games. So you know, the most important thing is to make sure that you get through those nicely and learn from them. Sometimes I do feel like there is such a thing as being too hyper about something, you’ve still got to keep calm. I still get very excited about playing the game and every single week and trying to win tournaments. It’s obviously not the same feeling that I had when I was 19, 20 or 21. But that’s kind of normal.”

Keep it going tomorrow Sergio.

In third place alone is Dustin Johnson, who came through the first round at -5 under par. Many think that the big hitting American can do well here this week, and his opening round of 67 goes a long way to substantiating those claims.

There are six players tied for fourth spot, they are; David Lynn, Rickie Fowler, Gonzo, Trevor Immelman, Fred Couples and Matt Kuchar. These all had opening rounds of -4 under par, 68.

This is The Masters, so don’t be surprised if this top section of the leaderboard changes dramatically  tomorrow. Bad weather is forecast so anything could happen.

 

 

 

Masters Warm Up, Phil and Condoleezza

  

Augusta National / photo from website

Phil Mickelson and Condoleezza Rice play a warm up round at Augusta National, in preparation for Phil’s challenge in the Masters.

Phil and Condoleezza  / Getty Images

Phil was full of praise for Condoleezza and her game, especially her prowess at putting, Phil spoke about the former U.S. Secretary of State;

“It was awesome. She’s one of my favorite people. She’s got the greatest personality and attitude, and she’s so much fun to be around. She’s so knowledgeable about world affairs. It’s just incredible. It’s a great experience. On the greens, she’s a phenomenal putter. As soon as I saw she was a member, I called her to work up a game, just like I did Arnold Palmer back in the days as an amateur. She’s just one of my favorite people to be around. She kept asking me about the course. And I kept asking her about countries. It was really fun. And she really can putt.”

Condoleezza was just as nice about Phil;

” He’s such a good friend, I’ve known him for years.” 

Condoleezza Rice in her Green Jacket / Getty Images

Asian Tour, Thailand Golf Championship. Lee Westwood the Asian Specialist

Lee Westwood/ asiantour.com

The top contender this week  the top at the US$1 million Thailand Golf Championship staged at the Amata Spring Country Club, is Asian specialist Lee Westwood. Lee is known around the world as an Asian specialist  because of his record of multiple victories around the region including the 2011 Thailand Golf Championship, where he romped home to a seven-shot win over South African Charl Schwartzel. During that week, Lee also flirted with the magical score of 59, just missing the mark by one stroke, in the opening round. He is in fine form this season, winning the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters on the Asian Tour following a third place result at The Masters. Lee has missed only one cut this season, and enjoys a World Ranking of  6^th.

Bubba Watson will bring his own specialist style of golf to challenge the Championship at Amata Spring. Bubba is the reigning Masters Champion, and well-known for his extra long drives on the PGA Tour, where he averages over 315 yards. Bubba also has four top ten finishes this year in the U.S. and is determined to set his sights on victory here in Asia.

Gaganjeet Bhullar, currently fourth on the Asian Tour of Merit,is a young Indian player who has had a wonderful run of results on the Asian Tour, winning twice, and also finished tied 10th at the CIMB classic in Malaysia. Gaganjeet has a mathematical chance of toppling Thaworn Wiratchant at the top of the Order of Merit but needs a really good finish here and then again next week in Malaysia. Thaworn himself  is on course to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit, standing in 1st place at the moment, this would be the second time since 2005. He has three victories on the Tour this season and is certainly enjoying a purple patch. Thaworn finished second at the King’s Cup on home soil last week and knows a big finish this week will see him creep closer towards the prestigious Merit crown.

Sergio Garcia has enjoyed a resurgence of form earning him back-to-back wins in late 2011. He won again this year on the PGA Tour, at the Wyndham Championship and also has had six other top-ten finishes. And of course Sergio also played a starring role for Europe in the Ryder Cup victory over the United States in September. His current World Ranking is 22nd and he finished in fourth spot last year in the Thailand Golf Championship. Another notable from Europe and Ryder Cup player is Nicolas Colsaerts, the Belgian is the longest driver of a golf ball on the European Tour. Nicolas had a wonderful season winning the Volvo World Matchplay, and has also amassed eleven top ten finishes, and is ranked 35th in the World.

South African Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters Champion is also contesting this event, he is looking for his first win of 2012, to back up his seven top ten finishes this year. To win this year would help erase the memory of last years thrashing in the final at the hands of Lee Westwood.

This is a good field for this tournament and it should be a hotly contested affair, which will be a pleasure to watch.

 

Augusta, Darla Moore & Hootie Johnson.

Darla Moore/bottomline.nbcnews.com

Hootie Johnson, the  former Augusta National chairman, the same man who famously declared in 2002 that he wouldn’t admit women to the club;

“At the point of a bayonet.”

Hootie Johnson/usatoday.com

In 2003 Hootie followed that statement with another politically incorrect statement, some people actually hoped the drop dead part of the admission would come true quickly;

” I do want to make one point, though. If I drop dead, right now, our position will not change on this issue.”

Bobby Jones & Cliff Roberts

Some pretty strong stuff, and lots of the guys in the locker room admired his unbending attitude, seems though that the old boy himself has softened in old age. I bet Cliff Roberts and Bobby Jones are spinning in their respective graves at the latest goings on at Augusta. Turns out it was Hootie Johnson who was personally responsible for nominating a woman for membership to the club, that woman was none other than Darla Moore. Here is Hootie’s latest  reported comments;

“She has a long connection with me, I’ve had her as a guest at the club a number of times along with her husband. She’s a sweet lady.”

Lets all drink to progress, if you don’t place one foot forward, you will always be standing in the same place. Remember Cliff Roberts statement;

“As long as I’m alive, all the golfers will be white and all the caddies will be black.”

Well, Lee Elder became the first black golfer to play in the Masters Tournament in 1975, Lee said at the time;

“I don’t want anything special. I will make it on my own.”

                           

Lee Elder/legendsrevealed.com       Lee congratulates Tiger on his Masters win/bleacherreport.com

Cliff Roberts died two years later in 1977, no one knows if being alive when a black golfer played in The Masters had hastened him into committing suicide, but he had been ill some months.

You have to wonder what he would have made of  Tiger winning in 1997, with a total of -18 under par, and aided by a white caddie, Fluff Cowan. Tiger said of Fluff, after their Masters win;

” I think Fluff’s the best caddie in the world, he’s a great caddie and a great friend.”

    Michael Thomas Cowan/ caddybytes.com

Seems like even Tiger has some statements he regretted making, Fluff may not  be the best caddie in the world, but you don’t fire a great friend.

The last word goes to someone who is absolutely delighted with the Augusta change of heart, she is Martha Burk, the lady who started the crusade against Augusta, Martha said;

 ” We won, absolutely, that’s how I feel.”

” It’s important symbolically. In an absolute sense, two women playing golf is not important, but two women  being allowed into one of the enclaves of power for, basically, Fortune 500 members is a very important symbolic statement about the place of women in society. Had we not started this 10 years ago, and kept at it and kept at it, it wouldn’t have happened now, and it might not have happened ever. We did not give up. There were several confluences that came together: IBM naming a woman as a CEO was one factor. I think we were another one. We succeeded in changing public opinion pretty well.I got a lot of death threats, I had to hire bodyguards, and I did wear a bulletproof vest. It was not fun. I believed in what I was doing. I don’t want to take personal credit. Yes, I was a spokesperson, but there were a lot of women standing behind me as well. That was very important, but I do feel personally vindicated.”

Augusta National Admits Women, The Times They Are A Changing

Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore made History by being accepted by Augusta National, the women to be welcomed as members.

The home of the Masters now has green jackets for women, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore have become the first female members since the Augusta National club was founded in 1932,  and current chairman Billy Payne said on Monday;

“This is a joyous occasion. These accomplished women share our passion for the game of golf and both are well-known and respected by our membership. It will be a proud moment when we present Condoleezza and Darla their green jackets, when the club opens this fall. This is a significant and positive time in our club’s history and, on behalf of our membership, I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome them and all of our new members into the Augusta National family.”

Hootie Johnson, who retired as chairman in 2006, said Monday;

” This is wonderful news for Augusta National Golf Club and I could not be more pleased. Darla Moore is my good friend, and I know she and Condoleezza Rice will enjoy the Club as much as I have.”

Darla Moore said of her acceptance at the club;

” Augusta National has always captured my imagination, and is one of the most magically beautiful places anywhere in the world, as everyone gets to see during the Masters each April. I am fortunate to have many friends who are members at Augusta National, so to be asked to join them as a member represents a very happy and important occasion in my life. Above all, Augusta National and the Masters Tournaments have always stood for excellence, and that is what is so important to me.”

Condoleezzer Rice is looking forward to playing the course;

” I have visited Augusta National on several occasions and look forward to playing golf, renewing friendships and forming new ones through this very special opportunity. I have long admired the important role Augusta National has played in the traditions and history of golf. I also have an immense respect for the Masters Tournament and its commitment to grow the game of golf, particularly with youth, here in the United States and throughout the world.”

Tiger Woods commented;

” I think the decision by the Augusta National membership is important to golf. The Club continues to demonstrate its commitment to impacting the game in positive ways. I would like to congratulate both new members, especially my friend Condi Rice.”

Jack Nicklaus, the six-time Masters champion and an Augusta member, offered his welcome to the two women;

” Everyone at Augusta National shares a similar passion for the game of golf, and I know they will be great additions to the club. “

Well done Augusta National, now that the female member debate has finally ended, lets all go play golf.

 

 

The Masters, Bubba Wins Playoff at Augusta National

Bubba Watson won the 2012 Masters beating Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff after they had both finished at -10 under par for the tournament. Louis must have thought early on that it was going to be his day,after he had holed an albatross on the par 5 second hole, to catapult him to the top of the leaderboard. But sadly he faltered on the second playoff hole, number 10, leaving Bubba two putts to win the Championship, which he took happily.

Lee Westwood tied for third spot with Phil Mickleson, Matt Kuchar and Peter Hanson, they all finished at -8 under par, two shots off the pace. Next in was Ian Poulter at -5 under par, a good last round recovery. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy finished tied for 40th with a miserable score of  +5 for the tournament. World number one Luke Donald finished in a lowly spot at +3 and tied 32nd, he will need to bounce back quickly to recover some confidence.

Ian Poulter’s, IJP Design Company has limited-edition Masters putter covers

Ian Poulters IJP Design company has issued limited edition Masters putter covers, for $70.  The cover for the Masters is called “The First Major” the first in a series of four, one for each Major this year.

The 1st class putter covers feature postal graphics to tie in with a nickname that Poulter recently acquired, “The Postman” and can be purchased at  ijpdesign.com . Also included with the putter cover is a tote bag, which is shown in the picture above. Ian intends to wear a special outfit for each round of the Masters, positive thinking there. His chosen apparel, and others players outfits are available to be  shown in this GolfDigest.com slideshow.

Enjoy the slideshow you followers of golfing fashion. A great idea Ian, but unfortunately the cover is the wrong shape for our putter.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images