The Tour Blog
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PGA Tour, LPGA and European Tour
Editor's note: This is the archived material from The Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Seems John Daly and a few others at the Sony Open were irked by the PGA
Tour’s new “playing cut,” a first-year mandate that reduces weekend
fields if the cut exceeds 78 players.
The policy is aimed at reducing five-hour (plus) weekend rounds and
play that stretches from dawn to dusk at certain events. Like it or
not, and there was plenty of opposition to the proposal last year when
it was presented to the Players Advisory Council, the policy didn’t
sneak up on anyone.
For at least eight months (Golfweek’s Forecaddie first reported the initiative in the April 7, 2007 edition), the Tour has been considering a modified cut.
Would love to be in the locker room in July when the first official
informs Daly of the circuit’s new performance-enhancing drug policy and
hands "Long John" a sample cup.
– Rex Hoggard
Posted Jan. 13
HONOLULU – Tour rookie Kenneth Ferrie
won't soon forget his debut as a PGA Tour member. He made the cut at
the Sony, but withdrew before the third round with a stomach virus.
Ferrie got sick in the men's locker room before the round and
eventually his wife drove him to a local hospital so he could be
examined.
Ferrie, a European Tour veteran who earned a card at the PGA Tour Q-School in December, shot 66-70 to make the cut at 4 under.
Ferrie is not on the commitment list for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic this week in Palm Springs.
– Alex Miceli
Posted Jan. 13
HONOLULU
– The records for 50-year-olds on the PGA Tour are not well documented,
but after some research the PGA Tour believes that Fred Funk's 64 in
Friday's second round of the Sony Open is the second lowest score by a
player over 50 years old.
The lowest? The 62 shot by Funk in
the third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic last February, a
tournament Funk went on to win.
If Funk can come from four
shots to win this week at Sony, he would be the third-oldest winner on
the PGA Tour at 51 years, six months and 30 days. Sam Snead won the
1965 Greater Greensboro Open at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days; Art Wall
was 51 years, 7 months, 10 days when he captured the 1975 Greater
Milwaukee Open.
– Alex Miceli
Posted Jan. 11
HONOLULU
– After a respectable even-par 70 in the first round of the Sony Open,
the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger held court with some of
the writers.
As only Azinger can, he had a lot of thoughts on
many different topics, but perhaps the funniest had to do with his
thoughts on being drug tested.
First, Azinger said he wouldn't urinate in a cup, but then he came up with this gem:
“When they come to me to get tested, I’m going to eat as much asparagus as possible.”
– Alex Miceli
Posted Jan. 11
HONOLULU
– Rory Sabbatini wants to let his clubs do the talking, so he made a
switch from Nike to Adams and the results have been pretty telling with
a 17th last week at Mercedes and then an opening-round 66 at Sony on
Thursday. The clubs are communicating loud and clear.
“I was
very happy with the way they performed,” Sabbatini said after the
Mercedes. “Obviously raised my green percentage quite significantly as
well as my driving percentage. So I’m pretty comfortable with
them.”
Admittedly, Sabbatini has a few minor tweaks to make to
the clubs since he had little time to work on the new configuration.
His irons were pulled off the shelves, but he is comfortable with them
in the short run until he can make changes back on the mainland.
“They
built me two sets of irons and two different models and actually this
was the one that appealed to my eye, and I hit it and it’s a set I’ve
been playing,” Sabbatini said.
Along with the Adams equipment
changes, Sabbatini is now playing the Callaway HX Tour ball and is
pleased with the ball’s performance.
“It’s definitely one of the
most consistent balls I’ve ever hit and it’s performing very well,” the
South African said. “It’s good off the tee, it’s got great feel
around the greens.”
Along with his iron changes, Sabbatini is
working with Adams on a new wedge that will be coming out in the
future. Unlike the irons, the wedge is more a work in progress.
– Alex Miceli
Posted Jan. 11
HONOLULU
– You don't see many top players these days increase the events they
play, but that's likely to happen with Jim Furyk this season.
You
see, in addition to playing the regular events he likes to visit each
year (such as this week's Sony, which he has played all 15 years of his
career), the way this season's schedule shapes up means he might add as
many as two events.
His West Coast schedule usually includes
skipping the Buick Invitational, but he'll play next month's event in
order to get a good look at Torrey Pines South to prepare for this
summer's U.S. Open.
He'd also take a little time off once the
Tour departs Florida, but this year there is a two-week break between
the WGC event at Doral and the Masters. He doesn't want to go into a
major having not competed for two weeks. That means he may end up
playing the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, a town in which he hasn't
played since 1996.
He says there's a possibility he could in
turn drop a couple of the events he normally visits from his schedule,
but he's having an awfully tough time making that call.
So maybe he'll just add two.
"I'll probably just be tired again," he said.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 10
HONOLULU
– A new year always brings out new toys on the PGA Tour, and this
season is no different, as many putter reps have been showing their new
wares on the practice green at Waialae the past couple of days.
One
new putter that could make a quick impact is TaylorMade's new Rossa
Monza Spider. In layman's terms from an equipment guy whose expertise
traces no further than wandering the aisles at Edwin Watts, it looks
like an Odyssey Marxman that collided with a Frankly Frog. That is, the
main body of the putter is a mallet, but it has wings protruding from
the perimeter that helps promote MOI (moment of inertia) and keeps the
weight evenly distributed.
TaylorMade is expecting as many as
6-8 of the putters to be in the bags of players at the Sony this week.
Among the top guys who have been working with it is Sean O'Hair and
Shigeki Maruyama. Carl Pettersen and Charles Howell III have one on
order.
The way it was explained to me, the putter is based on a
performance triangle: MOI, weight distribution and forward roll. The
design creates a little bit of "launch" at impact, which soon
transforms into topspin and gets the ball rolling.
All I know
is that it sure looks funky. A putter I saw yesterday with more of a
traditional background is the Yes! Nicky, which looks like the old
George Low Wizard 600 that once was wielded by a guy named Nicklaus
(get it, "Nicky?").
And last I checked, that guy did OK.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 9
Still early in the calendar and it seemed this year’s Mercedes-Benz
Championship was played amid the Maui monsoon season, but it’s worth
noting the season’s longest drive has come at the opener the last two
years.
Jason Gore ripped a 427-yard bomb in Round 1 during the ’06 Mercedes
and Brett Wetterich followed last year with a 437-yard blast on opening
day in 2007 (it’s also worth noting Wetterich recorded the year’s
second longest drive, 435-yards in Round 4 at Kapalua).
Mighty Rory Sabbatini delivered the season’s longest ball last week on
Kapalua’s 17th during the final round, but his 398-yard effort was well
off the previous years’ pace.
Not saying the bomb-and-gouge era is waning, but it’s worth watching.
– Rex Hoggard
Posted Jan. 8
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Ernie Els wasn't here
at the Mercedes this week, even though he once shot 31 under par at the
Plantation Course. Maybe the PGA Tour could help bolster this event
year to year with the inclusion of past champions such as Els. Others
in that category would include Sergio Garcia and Stuart Appleby. Some
pretty decent draws, especially with Tiger and Phil sitting out.
Oh
well, that's for another day. Els posted his 2008 schedule on his Web
site (ernieels.com) and it has a few surprises. For one, even though
the WGC-Accenture Match Play has moved from La Costa, a place he
couldn't stand, he won't be playing this year. He'll make his U.S.
debut at the Honda at PGA National, a sign that all the hard work put
in by that tournament staff a year ago and golf course improvements are
starting to pay dividends.
Now 38, Els said it's more imperative
than ever that he concentrate on the majors, trying to fulfill his
quest to win a career Grand Slam (he needs to add Masters and PGA
titles to the two U.S. Open and one British Open title he owns).
A
lot of the game's marquee players do not like to play the week before a
major, but Els isn't onboard with that plan. He's going to play leading
into the majors, which is good news for the Shell Houston Open
(pre-Masters) and Stanford St. Jude (pre-Open), two regular PGA Tour
stops he normally doesn't play.
Otherwise, he's playing a lot of the usual suspects here in the states (Bay Hill, Harbour Town, etc.).
One new stop on his European Tour schedule: Next month's Indian Masters, where Vijay Singh also will be playing.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 7
Just received a release from the Golf Channel regarding the list of participants in the Big Break Ka’anapali. (Who would’ve thought this show would run for nine seasons?) Couple names caught my attention.
For
the fellas out there Sophie Sandolo, an Italian model who has made a
name for herself in recent years with racy calendars, makes her Big Break debut. Let’s see how she does talking in front of a camera.
Samantha
Head hopes she can catch a break that will land her on the LPGA with
twin sister Johanna. Kim Welch might not be a name that’s too familiar
to you, but the Washington State grad always stands out with her
colorful attire and long-hitting game. And then there’s Tina Miller,
who the Golf Channel release describes as a player looking to
“rediscover lost confidence in her golf game.”
I’ve got a pretty
good idea when that confidence started to waver. At the 2005 U.S.
Women’s Amateur, Miller opened stroke-play qualifying with a 92. In the
second round she ran out of golf balls on her ninth hole of the day.
She was 17-over-par through eight holes. Let’s hope she packed enough
sleeves for island golf.
Other participants include: Lori
Atsedes, Dana Bates, Susan Choi, Courtney Erdman, Adrienne Gautreaux,
Christina LeCuyer, Cirbie Sheppard and Elizabeth Stuart.
– Beth Ann Baldry
Posted Jan. 7
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – Golfers are blistering the Plantation Course today – Hunter
Mahan is 7 under through 12 holes – but Mike Weir is off to a rocky
start.
The Canadian bulldog began the day with the lead,
trying to win for the second time in three months after a
three-and-a-half-year winless skein, but he's now 2 over through his
first six holes, and has slid from first to a tie for seventh.
He
said late yesterday that he's feeling as good as ever, that his game is
better than it was five years ago, when he won the Masters. The last
piece of the puzzle to fall into place was his confidence, which came
back in spades after he beat Tiger Woods in singles at the Presidents
Cup, staged in his home country.
He's spending a lot of money
out there today, which won't do much for the confidence. He must feel
like he's playing right-handed today.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 6
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – Should be an interesting final day here at Kapalua. Conditions
are good and the leaderboard is jammed, so somebody is going to emerge
from the pack with a low number.
To me, perhaps the most
interesting guy on the board is young Nick Watney. He's only 26, was a
big-time player in college (Fresno State) and seems to be quietly
finding his way out on Tour. A first-timer here at the Kapalua
Plantation, he's hit an astounding 92 percent of his greens this week
(granted, the greens are bigger than some third-world countries, but
there were some difficult elements to deal with earlier in the week)
and seems to have plenty of confidence.
Anyway, if this kid can
start rolling the rock, look out. He finished 181st in putting average
last season, pretty far down for a guy who finished in the top 50 on
the money list. If he can play a great round and win today – a rare
feat for a Kapalua first-timer – then watch out. He could do some big
things in '08.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 6
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Just got the field list for next week's Sony Open, the first full-field event of the 2008 PGA Tour season.
Twenty-two
of the 31 players competing at the Mercedes will make the hop over to
Waialae, in Honolulu, including Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh. John Daly is
playing (he'll be working with Butch Harmon this season), as is rookie
Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey.
For those who love a good pool (and
who doesn't?), the Sony is ripe with great possibilities. Among the
'prop' bets that available at your local 19th hole: Low Johnson
(Dustin, Richard S. or Zach); low Jones (Matt or Kent); low Maruyama
(Daisuke or Shigeki); low Miyazato (Kiyoshi or Yusaku); low Thompson
(Kyle or Nicholas); and low Wilson (Dean or Mark).
Hey, and even low senior (Fred Funk or Jeff Sluman).
Just don't forget my 10 percent for the idea ...
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 5
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – Boo Weekley didn't do a whole lot of preparing for his debut
at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. After going to China for the World
Cup in November, he returned home to the Florida Panhandle and didn't
do a whole lot of golfin'.
He did unzip his travel bag once, checked on his golf clubs, and then zipped it back up.
So
the rust is finally starting to fall off our good friend Boo.
Opening-round 80, second-round 74, and Saturday, playing alone, he went
out and shot 5-under 68.
You've got to like the direction in which he's moving.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 5
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Check that. Sun is out. Sky is blue. Hawaii now acting like Hawaii again.
World must be back on its proper axis.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 4
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – Just when you thought Jan. 4 might be a slow news day in the
world of golf, along comes this missive from the PGA European Tour:
"ONE THOUSAND DAYS TO GO TO THE 2010 RYDER CUP IN WALES."
Geez, like we already didn't know THAT ...
By the way, still a ways away from the opening tee time of Round 2 at the Mercedes, and guess what – it's raining again.
Fred Funk must think this is the longest golf course he's ever seen in his life.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 4
Love this time of year on the PGA Tour. It’s something like golf’s
version of baseball’s hot stove season, filled with trades and signings.
Two of the biggest moves of the young season involved Adams Golf’s
signing of Australian Aaron Baddeley and South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini
to endorsement deals. Give the guys at Adams credit for wanting to
increase the company’s exposure, but it’s hard to dismiss the dichotomy
of this curious combo.
Baddeley is the unassuming salt-of-the-earth type, while Sabbatini is
the “Mouse that roared,” as one headline dubbed him last year. Think of
the duo as an odd couple, OEM style.
Sabo sports a skull and cross-bones belt buckle. Badds is more
interested in the Cross on display at the circuit’s weekly Bible study
gatherings. Sabo revels in poking the game’s alpha male (Tiger Woods)
with a verbal stick. Badds is adept at poking the rest of the Tour with
his prolific flat stick. Badds has emerged as a top-20 player since he
switched to a stack-and-tilt action. Sabo’s view of the world often
seems tilted.
– Rex Hoggard
Posted Jan. 4
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Rory Sabbatini has
declined interview requests this week, which is too bad, because surely
he'd have lobbed another log onto the smoldering bonfire of ill will that
exists between him and Nick Faldo had he heard Faldo's snide comments
about him a few minutes ago.
Allow me to set the stage: In the
opening round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, Scott Verplank's ball
moved in the fairway at No. 13 after he'd addressed it, which prompted
a lengthy rules discussion between Verplank and Tour rules official
Mike Shea. (We'll have to wait for the verdict; Verplank finally
decided to play two balls.)
Verplank is paired with Rory Sabbatini, who we all know likes to play rather quickly (just ask Ben Crane).
So
with all of this going on, Faldo, in the booth for Golf Channel this
week, wondered aloud where Sabbatini, with whom he has a running feud,
was with all of this going on.
"Is he on the next tee already?" Faldo quipped.
After
the Golf Channel broadcast team enjoyed a good chuckle, Faldo added
rather coldly, "He's out there steaming. What a shame."
Ouch.
The
Faldo-Sabbatini squabble dates to the 2006 Players Championship. After
watching her husband warned twice for slow play while paired with the
deliberate, turtle-like Faldo, Amy Sabbatini showed up wearing a black T-shirt with the lettering "Keep up."
Of course, the quick-witted Faldo didn't miss a beat when asked whether he'd seen the T-shirt that day at the Players.
"It's
very embarrassing for them to bring their sexual problems to the golf
course," he said. "Poor fellow. He has enough problems as it is without
her announcing to the world."
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 3
KAPALUA, Hawaii – This wasn't K.J. Choi's idea of a dream start.
Eight
holes into his 2008 PGA Tour debut, he already has not one, but
two double bogeys. It's raining now and the wind is up. Going to be a
long day.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 3
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – It's raining lightly – again – here as the pro-am finishes up
at the Mercedes-Benz Championships, with temporary lights now erected
at the ninth and 18th greens in hopes that all the groups will finish.
This
place got 23 inches of rain in a single week in December, and it's been
raining off and on throughout the practice rounds here. Which means the
old Plantation Course, the tour's lone par 73, is going to play quite
long come Thursday's first round. If you're in a fantasy league, take a
bomber (Singh, Sabbatini, Cabrera, etc.).
How long is the place
playing? Paul Goydos made the turn a bit ago, having just finished the
back nine. He could not get home in two at the 508-yard, par-4 17th
hole (one of three par 4s here that measure 500-plus yards) and did not
reach the fairway at the 663-yard closing hole. (Bethpage Black
flashbacks, anyone?)
Fortunately, the forecast looks a little
better for the tournament. Only 20 percent chance of showers tomorrow,
with the winds dying down a little.
Rain in Hawaii? That's just not supposed to happen.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 2
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – Mark Calcavecchia was asked today if the Mercedes-Benz
Championship was the easiest event to win on Tour. He pondered a
moment, than nodded affirmatively.
Yes it is.
He's right.
There
are 31 players here, and half are still shaking off heavy winter rust.
Then throw in the fact that four eligible players who aren't here all
rank among the top 8 in the world – No. 1 Tiger Woods, No. 2 Phil
Mickelson, No. 7 Adam Scott and No. 8 Padraig Harrington – and
everybody's stock rises.
Know this about the Mercedes, though. It's not always that easy to get back here.
Take
winner Vijay Singh out of last year's mix, and only four of the next 25
finishers (K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbatini, Jim Furyk and Stephen Ames)
managed to get back. And Ames waited until the final event of the
season (Disney) to do it.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 1
KAPALUA,
Hawaii – Well, the sun finally is out on Maui, which is something of a
change in this uncharacteristically strange season here. It had been
raining a bunch, and nobody had seen the sun since last Thursday. It
doesn't matter a whole lot, though, as in a couple of hours, the entire
island will be under cover to watch the University of Hawaii take on
Georgia at the Sugar Bowl.
That's the strangest part about
being out here for the New Year. The Outback Bowl came on at 6 a.m.
local time this morning. Suffice to say, I missed the 5:30 pregame
show.
Happy New Year.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 1, 2008
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Thank God for Boo Weekley.
There
may not be a more entertaining player on the PGA Tour, at least not in
the media room. Weekley paid a visit here Monday at the
season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, already ensuring this event
will be a memorable one.
First of all, he had a bit of a rough
time getting here. He left Pensacola, Fla., on Friday morning, and did
not get to Hawaii until late Saturday night. There was a missed flight
from Atlanta to L.A., nine hours of waiting once he got to LA, and oh
yeah ... there were even a couple bullets involved, too.
It
seems Boo – who isn’t shy about telling one and all he loves hunting a
whole lot more than he loves golf – accidentally left two .308 rifle
bullets from a November hunting trip inside a tote bag he took to
Mercedes, which were discovered by baggage handlers when his bag went
through security in Pensacola.
“They put red flags on me,” he said. “I had cops there. I thought I was going to jail.”
He
also had an offseason mishap when a 12-foot shelf he was building
himself in his barn came untacked from the wall, knocking him hard off
his ladder and down onto some concrete flooring. He thought he tore his
left rotator cuff.
This was before he left for China and the
World Cup, where Boo and old high school teammate Heath Slocum
represented the U.S. and finished second.
So, in order to get
ready for his first trip to Mercedes, Boo had a cortisone shot in his
left shoulder, his left elbow, his left wrist, and took “two in the
hiney.”
Those, he said were B-12 shots. What did that do for him?
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “It makes me eat a lot.”
How
much golf did he play getting ready for Kapalua? He swung a little in
the yard and played one hole, the 40-yard makeshift hole that sits in
front of his trailer at home, with a sock on a stick for a flag. He
said his clubs never made it out of the travel bag, which was unzipped
exactly once.
He already told one of the PGA Tour officials that
he’s a lot more apt to shoot 82 here this week than 62. But hey, it’s
always fun when Boo lets the bullets fly.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Dec. 31
Posted: 1/15/2008
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