Welcome to the Tour Blog, where Golfweek reporters Jeff Babineau, Jeff Rude, Rex Hoggard, Dave Seanor, Alex Miceli, Alistair Tait and Beth Ann Baldry deliver the latest inside news and happenings on the 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.
Go to an event where Charles Howell III is playing, and you're surely find him somewhere on the practice range, probably hitting balls with some new techno gizmo rubber band attached to his legs or something. As ballstrikers go, few hit it as long and solid as Chucky Triple Sticks.
But on the greens, it has been painful through the years to see him miss one good birdie chance after another, and as painful as it is to watch, it must be all the more painful to experience first-hand. He finished 185th in putting average last season. As Paul Goydos might say, take a 5-year-old, spin him around 25 times and let him hit a putt, and he might finish 184th. Thus, when Howell showed up in Hawaii talking about all the hard work he's been doing on his putting, it raises a few brows. Hmmmm. Imagine Chucky converting some of these myriad chances. We're talking about some potential here.
Lo and behold, until the final few holes of the Sony, he putted quite well at Waialae, appearing confident with the short stick. And as hard as it must have been to sleep Sunday night after not making a birdie on the back nine, he hopefully will take the positives out of his season-opening performance. His goal in 2007 is to knock on the door more often. One event in, he already has knocked. Hard.
Here's saying Charles Howell III has a big season in 2007, and returns to the winner's circle, maybe before the Tour leaves the West Coast.
- Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 15, 2007
HONOLULU – Michelle Wie and Tadd Fujikawa's appearances in the interview room Friday were separated by less than 30 minutes. The leaders, Luke Donald and Paul Goydos, had come and gone, but the story was the two teenagers. It was a stark contrast.
Wie was dour, and it was clear she would've rather been anywhere else. After her opening-round 78, she was close to tears when she met the press. Her Friday press conference after a 76 was the typical Wie – don't answer any questions, don't reveal your schedule for the year, don't even say if you are going to Stanford. In turn, Wie talked about how she was tired and needed a rest. Thirty-six holes at 14 over par will do that to you. With over $20 million in her bank account, what Wie needs is perspective. The best teacher would be Fujikawa.
Fuijkawa was exuberant, bubbly and buoyant. Fujikawa contrasted the sullen Wie, showing the excitement of a teenager that just made the cut in a PGA Tour event, something Wie has yet to do in numerous tries.
Fujikawa was proud not only to make the cut, but to do it in front of fans in his hometown. Wie seemed more concerned with where she would go shopping Saturday.
- Alex Miceli
Posted Jan. 13, 2007
HONOLULU – Say what you want about the PGA Tour falling into the hands of the Golf Channel for the next 15 years, but on Friday viewers received the added benefits of having one-stop golf shopping beneath a single roof.
Though the telecast window of the second round of the Sony was over, Kelly Tilghman, Nick Faldo and Jerry Foltz were brought in during the Sprint Post Game Show to show Tadd Fujikawa's quest to become the second yougest player in Tour history to make the cut. A year ago, ESPN likely would have just signed off with the teen on No. 16, moving on to bigger things in bigger sports.
Fujikawa, 16, did not disappoint, rolling in a birdie at 16 and an eagle at 18, both moments complete with Tiger-Woods-turn-up-the-volume-to-10 fist pumps and a smile that could have powered the city of Honolulu.
He's really a terrific kid and though he stands only 5 feet 1 – he had Titleist build him a 30-inch putter earlier this week – he has all kinds of game.
I ran into Steve Stricker the other day on the putting green just two days after Stricker had played with Fujikawa in the pro-am.
"He's got no fear," Stricker told me. "He got up on every hole and hit driver, and I said, 'Are you going to hit driver in the tournament?' And he said, 'Yep.'""
Stricker laughed.
"He's a good kid and a good player. I see a lot of success coming his way."
He's going to be a lot of fun to watch this weekend.
Food for thought: Who is more deserving of a sponsor exemption at Sony in 2008: Fujikawa or Michelle Wie?
- Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 12, 2007
HONOLULU – And now, for all you Pigskin Heads with an eye on this weekend's NFL playoffs, a little Scoop du Jour from paradise:
Rex Grossman is seeing a head doctor.
That's good news for Bears fans. When you have a passer rating of 0.0 in your last half of the regular season, it can't hurt to get help from anybody – mother-in-law, stranger, witch doctor, sports psychologist, someone.
Your correspondent here was standing on the Sony Open putting green when he learned the quarterback turned to mental coach Jim Fannin late in the season. I was making Bears small talk with Luke Donald, a part-time Chicago-area resident, when he informed me that Grossman had started seeing his guy Fannin. According to Donald, Grossman started getting help after his 3.7 QB rating game in early December and then followed that up with three decent games before the flop against Green Bay in the season finale.
In case you are a quarterback, golfer or just want to think more clearly in life, you can learn from Fannin's S.C.O.R.E. method.
S: Self-discipline. Get into the target, hoola hoops on full shots, toothpicks on the cup on putts and chips.
C: Concentration.
O: Optimisn.
R: Relaxation.
E: Enjoyment.
One more thing: Go Bears.
– Jeff Rude
Posted Jan. 11, 2007
HONOLULU – There are several candidates who could be considered for Hardest Working Man on the PGA Tour, but regardless where you fall on the debate, Vijay Singh has to be on the ballot, at the very least.
Singh teed it up in the Sony pro-am at 8:39 Wednesday morning, playing in a marquee group with Adam Sandler ("Click"), Kevin James ("The King of Queens"), Don Cheadle ("Ocean's Thirteen") and producer Doug Belgrad.
Singh's team team stayed atop the leaderboard most of the day, until it was passed by a group led by Jason Bohn late in the afternoon. Thing is, when Bohn's group putted out on No. 9, its final hole, it was already past 5 o'clock, and there on the nearby practice green, watching, was Singh, still working away. He was putting 6 footers keeping the blade of his belly putter between two tees.
This was after hours spent pounding balls on one end of the driving range.
It was 5:28 p.m., nearly 9 hours after his tee time and more than 10 hours since he got to the golf course, that Vijay finally ambled to the clubhouse to change his shoes and go home.
One last workout remained, then a late dinner. At least he's playing late Thursday (12:30 p.m.), so maybe he'll sleep in. Yeah, right.
By the way, I've received a couple of emails asking what Michelle Wie will shoot, and whether she will make the cut. I think she's going to slip to 0 for 4 here at the Sony, and I don't think she'll be that close to the cut line. It doesn't help that the course is playing soft and scoring will likely be lower than a year ago.
I'm guessing Michelle, injured wrist and all, will not even be low teen this week: That honor will go to amateur Tadd Fujikawa, the 16-year-old who played at the U.S. Open this summer and has gone low on Waialae before, shooting rounds of 65 and 67.
One is here having a ball, and the other is here with all kinds of pressure on her.
Call it a hunch.
- Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 10, 2007
HONOLULU – A man came up to me the other day at the Counting Crows concert on Maui and asked if I was Alice Cooper. He was referring to Alice Cooper the aging rocker, not just any woman named Alice Cooper. I'm not sure where he came up with that because my mascara was not running. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered, insulted or amused. I ended up picking amused.
– Jeff Rude
Posted Jan. 9, 2007
HONOLULU – We've hopped islands over to Oahu and the Sony Open, which has the skinniest driving range on the PGA Tour. Because it's bordered by the first and ninth holes, huge fences are put up, and Tuesday several players watched in amazement as Bubba Watson, pink-shafted driver and all – short-hopped balls into the fence about a gazillion miles away.
Michelle Wie's latest health concern is a right wrist that was bandaged heavily on Tuesday, two days before she makes her fourth start in the Sony Open. She practiced and hit some putts, but will not play in the Wednesday pro-am.
Wie said she initially hurt the wrist playing at the Samsung World Championship last fall, when she hit a shot fat off a cart path, and has had a variety of opinions on exactly what it is that is ailing her. She said she's been told it's "a ligament strain, a tendon strain, tendonitis, a pinched nerve . . . it's a this, it's a that."
"It feels a little 'iffy,' but I'm going to play," she said.
If she plays nine holes and WDs, players are going to scream.
There's a humorous twist to her Thursday-Friday grouping. She'll play with Aussie Gavin Coles, aka the Angry Ant. There are 149 players listed in last year's Nationwide Tour driving distance stats, and Coles ranked 148th, averaging 268.3 yards. Wie should be busting it past him regularly.
One last thing on Wie: She was accepted at Stanford in December, and will attend the prestigious school beginning next fall. She vowed this: She will graduate, whether it be in four years or 100.
At least she'll be 1 up on Tiger Woods in something.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 9, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – It's no secret Vijay Singh has had his issues with the press corps in his career. In fact, pre-tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Championship this week, he declined an invitation to come into the press room, something no other player in this field likely would have done.
However, Vijay has a very good sense of humor, and it's a side we'd all love to see a little more. After his 30th career victory Sunday, Singh was asked if he thought he might have five or so good years left. Said Singh, who will be 44 next month, "Fred Funk won a tournament when he was what, 48? Well, I'm a lot bigger and stronger than Freddy Funk."
Later, asked if Monday morning would bring the usual Singh regimen, which often includes not one, but two intense daily workouts sandwiched around five hours of hitting practice balls – that's about 400 balls a day, folks – Singh leaned back in his chair and quipped, "I might take tomorrow off. I'm going to get drunk tonight if Joey (Singh's trainer) allows me."
That Vijay, what a card ...
By the way, with no Tiger, Adam Scott or Ernie Els headed over to the Sony Open, Singh will be the favorite this week to capture career victory No. 31. He's got one in the bank for 2007, and this writer puts Singh's over-under total victories this season at four. (Take that, Ladbrokes!)
Let's hope his over-under on 2007 jokes exceeds that figure.
Signing out from Maui.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 7, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawai – OK, so here's a verrrrrry (that's very to the 'nth' power) interesting possibility to consider in the weeks ahead: Let's say Adam Scott plays well enough Sunday to capture the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua, where he'll have his hands full with Vijay Singh.
That would be two in a row for Scott following his triumph at the Tour Championship at East Lake in November.
And say Tiger wins at the Buick Invitational in his first start of 2007, which would make seven consecutive Tour victories for him in as many starts. And then Scott wins HIS next U.S. start, in L.A., at the Nissan Open, where he has won before (in 2005, when the event was rain-shortened). And let's say Tiger passes on playing Nissan (where he is 0 for 11 at Riviera).
Then (are you following along here?) we all could arrive in Arizona for the WGC-Accenture Match Play with both players trying to keep alive mighty impressive streaks.
And just to go one step farther, let's say Scott overtakes Phil Mickelson for No. 3 in the world ranking (currently Scott is No. 4), which is very possible. Then we have it all set up on a tee: No. 1 Woods vs. No. 3 Scott in the Match Play final at The Gallery, with a victory streak sure to be extended.
A grand collision, with the Masters still six weeks away. Hey, it doesn't hurt to dream. Wonder if Hawaii has a state lottery on Saturday night ...
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 6, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – During the day, Vijay Singh was counting fewer strokes than anyone else. At night Friday, Singh was enjoying the Counting Crows.
It's nice to see a touring pro like Singh take his blinders off and enjoy life outside the ropes. That was the case Friday night when he and several other players listened to the band after the Mercedes-Benz Championship's annual big dinner party.
Singh was found smiling widely and clapping with his arms above head in appreciation of Counting Crows songs.
Another in the crowd was eight-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater. You couldn't say he was letting his hair down, though, because, well, he doesn't have any.
– Jeff Rude
Posted Jan. 6, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Most interesting pairing at the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship in the past 24 hours? No, it wasn't old salts Corey Pavin and Jeff Maggert playing together, the highly initialized pairing of J.J. Henry and K.J. Choi, or even Saturday's unlikely penultimate grouping of surf dude Will MacKenzie and J.B. Holmes (who, frankly, could have gone out with J.J. and K.J.).
No, the most intriguing pairing on this island happened in the lounge outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel bar in the wee hours this morning, as members of the Counting Crows, who performed at the Friday night Mercedes Gala, chatted the hours away with legendary drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac fame.
The Crows, admittedly not big golfers, rocked the house, even performing one tune that coincided with what Commish Tim Finchem and his gang have been singing in recent months as they pitched the shortened-season FedEx Cup: That would be "A Long December."
One of the high-profile guests at the gig was eight-time surfing champion Kelly Slater, who earlier this week played in the pro-am with Adam Scott and plans to play at the Bob Hope later this month alongside his buddy Pat Perez.
Standing off the side of the stage after the show, Slater admitted he is an absolute golf junkie. We hear a lot of people claim that on various stops along this golf journey, so we had to inquire to know if he really fit the claim.
How much to you actually get to play?
"Every single day," he said.
That's a nut.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 6, 2007
Although the rank-and-file on the PGA Tour seem to be spending a burgeoning amount of time chasing Tiger Woods on the golf course, seems the world No. 1 is the one doing the following in the pater familias department.
While the golf world was fixated on the news Tiger and Elin Woods were expecting the couple's first child sometime this summer (It's worth pointing out that Jack Nicklaus won all of his 18 majors after the birth of his first child), it seems a number of Tour players are already knee-deep in diapers and baby formula.
Charles Warren and his wife, Kelly, welcomed their first child to the family late last September, a boy named Charles IV. While Zach and Kim Johnson also joined the child-rearing set Jan. 4 when a healthy boy named Will joined the family.
It's part of a growing trend on Tour. At one point last fall, one caddie counted 30 expectant Tour wives, 24 of whom were due between Nov. 1 and Feb. 1. Seems there is at least one area in which Tiger is trailing the pack.
– Rex Hoggard
Posted Jan. 6, 2007
Vijay Singh started the 2006 season ranked second in the world, but it took him 14 tries in 2006 and almost a full year on the PGA Tour to get his 29th win. After four multi-year win seasons, which included a nine-win season in 2004, Singh's game looked human.
It turns out his game and the subsequent sub-standard results were because he had become too right handed, a result of trying to overpower the ball. At Disney last year Singh worked on trying to get back to his more natural left hand-dominant swing, and after months of working on it, along with acquiring a new HiBore driver, Singh believes he is playing as well as he ever has at 44 years old.
With two rounds left, Singh is trying to win for the first time in 11 appearances at Mercedes.
- Alex Miceli
Posted Jan. 5, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii –The most amazing thing about Chris Couch chipping in to win the Zurich Championship last April wasn't that he chipped in at the 72nd hole, but that he did it cross-handed. It's a technique he resorted to when all else seemed to fail in his below-average chipping game. Couch has been cross-handed with his wedges from 80 yards and in since the 2004 John Deere, but has no earthly idea why technically it works so well.
"I just hit the chips more solid, I know that much," Couch said after finishing up a second-round 70 at the Mercedes-Benz Championship Friday afternoon. He is tied for fourth at 5-under 141.
He laughed when asked why the technique hasn't swept the golf universe the way the Claw putting grip did a few years ago, even though some people nonetheless will gather around a practice green at a Tour stop just to watch him chip. The first time Vijay Singh tried the method, Couch said, "He skulled the ball across the green, and almost killed me."
But it should stand as no surprise that Vijay, according to Couch, has made himself into a blue-chip cross-handed chipper. The Veej also is mighty impressive ripping left-handed drivers when he gets his hands on one at the practice tee.
The things one can do when one spends dawn 'til dusk at the golf course . . .
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 5, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – I was standing by the first tee Friday afternoon when David Toms made the turn. His gallery had me and maybe a dozen other people. As Toms was teeing off, I noticed out of the corner of my left eye a tall African-American man standing right next to me. He was wearing a red T-shirt, long shorts below the knee, a bucket cap and, unnecessary because of an overcast sky, sunglasses.
After he hit his drive, Toms, an acquaintance of mine, walked over to the rail where only the two of us were standing. Only he didn't come over to say hello to me. He came over and asked the other guy, right there in the middle of a PGA Tour round, "Do you want my number?"
"Yes," Samuel L. Jackson said.
Toms rattled off his number for the actor, who was here to play in the Mercedes-Benz Championship pro-am.
"Call me in February," Toms told him.
And with that, Toms walked down the fairway, Jackson walked off to the shuttle pickup area and I stood there scratching my head wondering why Toms asked Samuel L. to call him.
The possibilities:
A. Samuel L. owes Toms money.
B. Samuel L. is filming a movie in Shreveport, La., Toms' hometown, and needs a place to stay.
C. They want to play together in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
D. They want to play a casual round together.
E. Since Tiger isn't here, Toms is the biggest name golfer Samuel L. was interested in rubbing up against.
F. Toms wants a part in the movie, Pulp Fiction II.
G. Toms gets lonely when he goes to the Nissan Open in Los Angeles and wants to dine with a box-office star.
H. Toms realized the actor is in serious need of golf lesson.
I. Toms knows Samuel L. tries to get as many touring pros' numbers on his cell-phone speed dial as possible.
– Jeff Rude
Posted Jan. 5, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – Here's the best early player-media exchange of 2007, which happened late Thursday afternoon at the Mercedes, when Stephen Ames visited the press room after shooting 69 in howling winds that gusted 30-40 mph.
Q. Did you enjoy it?
STEPHEN AMES: I did, yeah.
Q. Why?
STEPHEN AMES: You've got to play 5-irons from 150 yards, that's great. How often do you get to do that?
Q. Every day.
STEPHEN AMES: Oh, sorry. (Laughter.)
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 5, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – It's a bad day to be a straw hat here at Kapalua, where the wind is howling and it's going to be all a player can do to get the clubhouse at level par. D.J. Trahan is already 4 over par through five holes, but if there is any consolation, remember this mantra: Guaranteed money.
And if you think the Tour is into fifth gear overspin when it comes to promoting its new pet, the FedEx Cup, know that K.J. Choi, who made the turn 3 under, already is projected to earn 4,500 FedEx points.
Wake me for East Lake in September.
– Jeff Babineau
Posted Jan. 4, 2007
KAPALUA, Hawaii – The first sign that I was at a tournament on Maui instead of in Augusta, Ga., besides the ocean, came when leaving the hotel Jan. 2. A smattering of celebrities come to Kapalua to play in the Wednesday pro-am, and on this particular night several of them happened to be in the lobby and valet parking areas at the same time.
There was actor Dennis Hopper, with his wife and their child. The child was in a stroller. That sight seemed a bit odd because, well, Hopper isn't in his 30s anymore.
There was Cheech Marin, the comic from Cheech and Chong, the Tin Cup caddie who delivered the best line in the movie: "It beats pumping red-hot chili peppers up Lee Janzen's (butt)." He, too, appeared to be with a younger woman.
There was Alice Cooper, the rocker. He, too, was with a younger woman.
As lobbies go, this was a good one. As People magazine people-watching evenings go, I've had worse.
This is the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and best your correspondent could tell, some of the celebs had dealt in trade-ins. In the wife department, anyway.
– Jeff Rude
Posted Jan. 4, 2007
Posted: 4/29/2007
print
email
discuss
