Golfweek

Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Dr. Cary Middlecoff have won 156 more PGA Tour titles than winless Charl Schwartzel, but Schwartzel can outspend the three of them combined at the mall.

On his Doral runnerup check alone.

Money in golf gets goofy unless you’re spending it. It’s particularly amusing when comparing money from different eras. Schwartzel gives us more fodder.

He won $850,000 for finishing second Sunday at the WGC-CA Championship. That’s more than Hogan, Nelson and Middlecoff combined. Schwartzel’s non-winner’s check alone would put him No. 505 in Tour career money, well ahead of 82-time winner Sam Snead.

Party on, Mr. Schwartzel.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Back-to-back disappointments at the Honda Classic (T-40) and CA Championship (T-65) had Rory McIlroy’s spirits a bit down when he left Miami Sunday night, but they were lifted dramatically Monday.

The secret recipe?

None other than a visit to Augusta National and a stay at the Eisehnhower Cabin.

“First time I’ve properly smiled in two weeks,” McIlroy told his agent, Chubby Chandler.

To which Chandler responded, “That’s being 20 for you. You bounced back quickly.”

McIlroy finished T-20 in his Masters debut a year ago.

March 14, 2010

Well, I’m sure everybody knows by now, but just in case you haven’t heard, I had wrist surgery on March 8 that effectively ended my rookie year on the PGA Tour.

The surgery was done in New York City. Dr. Weiland, who has performed surgeries on Jim Furyk, Luke Donald, Trevor Immelman, and several top professional baseball players, administered my surgery. The ECU tendon in my wrist was subluxation, meaning it kept popping in and out of place. My injury is very similar to that of Luke Donald. He had his repaired about two years ago.

The wrist did not hurt all the time. It only hurt when I came through impact and had to rotate my left hand over. That’s when the tendon would pop out of place. After I had been diagnosed in December, I received a shot to relieve the pain and another one two weeks ago. The shots helped and allowed me to play and practice somewhat pain-free, but after about a month and a half, the pain came back and it got progressively worse. After the second shot, Dr. Weiland told me that this was the last shot he ...

March 14, 2010

Hello again, everyone!

Since I last wrote, I have been practicing hard and getting prepared to make my first trip overseas for the year to Casablanca, Morocco! I am sitting in the Orlando airport as I write this, getting ready to leave for my trip.

This past week, I practiced and played in Orlando. I had the privilege of playing a few times at Lake Nona and that was amazing. They have a beautiful course, and I was able to play with former Women’s British Open champion Karen Stupples. She hits it a mile, and she is so nice! My dad and I also went to her house for dinner, and her husband, whom my dad has known for a long time, cooked us some really good homemade barbecue. It was a nice meal to have on one of the last nights being able to eat American food.

I also played in the Florida Women’s Open this week. I was looking at it as a good warm-up event for the season, and I am glad to have gotten three competitive rounds in before my first big-time professional event. I had one great round, so that ...

Jim McCabe: Presnell delights in ‘ultimate dream’ at Doral

DORAL, Fla. – He shares the same passion for their native land, the same love of golf, the same laid-back and passive personality that is common with Aussies.

But Alistair Presnell discovered this week that there is some separation between he and his pro golf-playing Australians like Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, and Robert Allenby.

“I was talking to the boys the other night and they were talking about their Porsche GT3s and I’m thinking about my $5,000 car back home,” Presnell said, laughing.

For the record, the car is a 10-year-old Holden, a small GM-made.

But that record may need an update, because given the way Presnell burned it up in the final round of the CA Championship at Doral’s Blue Monster, he will be able to upgrade that set of wheels.

Presnell, the only Nationwide Tour player in the 68-player field, finished birdie, birdie, birdie – three of nine in his round of 8-under 64 that sent him roaring up the leaderboard. Starting the day tied for 24th, Presnell was joint fifth when he signed his scorecard. He ended up tied for sixth and with $214,300.

That’s ...

DORAL, Fla. – The Blue Monster, it’s not. At least not in today’s third round of the CA Championship as the field average is under par. And nowhere is that more evident than at the par-4 18th.

It is usually a brutal challenge to finish your round here at Doral, what with water all the way down the left, then in front of the green. Push it too far right and you have to deal with bunkers and trees. Up at the green, deep bunkers guard the right side.

Ah, but it’s remarkable how much easier it is when the wind is at your back like it is today.

Paul Casey is a sterling example of how different it is playing. Thursday and Friday, his second shots came from 169 and 165 yards, respectively. In Round 3, he drove it 338 yards and had just a lob wedge from 116.

More impressively, Alvaro Quiros bombed it 352 yards and had just 96 to the hole.

The shorter second shots translated into easier scoring chances. Whereas only 10 birdies were made over the first two rounds, today there have been 14 already, and the hole, which had played to ...

DORAL, Fla. – If they were handing out crystal for eagles, like they do at the Masters, Robert Allenby would need a U-Haul here at the CA Championship.

The Aussie had two more in his second-round 67, giving him three eagles for the tournament. That in itself is quite a haul, but what makes it even more interesting is the fact he’s made them on a par-3, a par-4 and a par-5.

The first one came Thursday when Allenby holed a sand wedge from 114 yards at the par-4 fifth.

In Round 2, Allenby was four holes into his round when he drilled a 5-wood at the 232-yard, par-3 13th. “Just landed perfect, a little bit of a fade, about 15 feet short of the hole, then sort of checked up,a nd then rolled up into the hole.”

He said it was his 14th ace in competition.

But it wasn’t his last eagle of the day, because after making the turn, Allenby reached the 516-yard, par-5 first in two and converted an 18-foot eagle putt.

“Each day has been kind to me,” Allenby said. Then he laughed. “But I’ve had a few little mysteries in there, too ...

Soren Hansen is facing some of the best players in the world this week in Miami, but his biggest challenge will come next Friday when the Dane, who lives in Monaco, will plead his case on tax evasion charges to a Danish court.

Hansen, 35, was charged with misreporting earnings from 2000 to ’06, stemming from his claim that he resided in Monaco and not Denmark, his country of birth.

“Why is this important?” Hansen asked after originally providing no comment to a small group of reporters. “I’ve not had a chance to explain myself at all, and that’s what I’m going to do in court in a few weeks.”

The Public Prosecutor for Serious Economic Crime charged Hansen in August last year while Hansen was playing in Akron at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Since then, the Dane has not won but recorded seven top-10s, including a third-place finish last week at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

“I wouldn’t say it impacted me that much,'' Hansen said. "I’ve played the Ryder Cup. I’ve won golf tournaments. I’ve played well this week. I know I’m on the good side.”

Hansen is on the hook for ...

DORAL, Fla. – If you’re keeping a list at home, here’s another entry – perhaps No. 736 – as to why Padraig Harrington is unlike precious few others on the PGA Tour scene.

Gracious and thoughtful to the max, Harrington had just shot a 4-under 68 in the second round of the CA Championship when it started to rain. No worries, he handled all the obligatory media requests, then he started up the line of autograph-seekers.

Then it started coming down in sheets, at about the same time the wind started whipping and the temperature dropped.

Harrington had every reason to wave goodbye to the autographs and run for shelter. But what did he do? He stood and signed several more and even posed for a photo.

So let’s just assume that the Tiger Woods camp has brought on Ari Fleischer, news which is being widely reported. 

How will that help the beleaguered world No. 1?

Fleischer’s style seems a bit confrontational, at least if you believe his mantra on his Web site:

“The way the press treats athletes and sports executives has become increasingly adversarial and conflict-driven. Athletes who are trained to give it all and leave it on the field now face a public and a media that demand more. On the other hand, players and executives who get it often find their careers are launched to higher, more successful, lucrative levels – thanks to the good publicity they receive.

Ari Fleischer Sports Communications can help you handle the bad news and take advantage of the good.”

Fleischer, a former White House press secretary, worked under George W. Bush from 2001 to '03. He has a client base that includes the NFL, Major League Baseball, WTA Tour, Penske Racing, the U.S. Olympic Committee, BCS Championship Series, Green Bay Packers and Mark McGwire.

McGwire’s issues of steroid use in the ’90s and his subsequent admission is the closest to Woods’ problems of infidelity ...

Watching the opening round of this week’s WGC-CA Championship at Doral reminded me of some words of wisdom from resident Doral professional Jim McLean.

McLean says the current belief that the swings of modern golfers are pretty uniform is just a myth!

Golfweek had the benefit of listening to McLean last November when we staged our annual winter meetings at Doral. McLean is one of the most renowned coaches in the world, so when he talks, it pays to listen.

McLean couldn’t understand the theory that most modern players swung the club the same way. He pointed to last year’s Masters as proof.

The three main protagonists in the final round of last year’s Masters certainly didn’t come out of the same mold.

Think about the main men. Angel Cabrera won the tournament with a swing straight out of the caddie yard. Kenny Perry should have won with a swing that can only be described as ugly. Meanwhile, Chad Campbell could take a full swing in a basement crawl space.

Watching the first round from Doral confirmed McLean’s view that there is just as much individualism nowadays as there was in days of yore ...

It seems only fitting that Charl Schwartzel is leading after the first round of the WGC-CA Championship, considering the 25-year-old from South Africa couldn’t even get a spot in last week’s Honda Classic.

Schwartzel was refused a sponsor exemption due to an influx of foreign and young, better-known players also vying for those spots. So the winner of two events on the European Tour this season decided he would try to Monday qualify, not something the 35th-ranked player in the world does on a typical Monday.

Schwartzel made eight birdies but still didn’t qualify, so he took advantage of his friendship with fellow countryman Ernie Els and stayed with the Big Easy in his North Palm Beach home, playing two times at the Bear’s Club and twice at Seminole Golf Club just up the road.

After four rounds and countless hours at the practice facilities at the Bear’s Club, Schwartzel announced to his manager Chubby Chandler at the end of last week that he was ready to play.

The only unforeseen circumstance for Schwartzel at that point was the health of his caddie, Wynad Stander. Like many on Tour over the last couple of weeks ...

DORAL, Fla. – On a stage filled with stars – 13 players who’ve combined for 23 major championships, 40 players who’ve won PGA Tour tournaments, dozens of millionaires – his presence seemed out of place.

Alistair Presnell?

Good gracious, Gladys, break out the media guide.

But on second thought, don’t bother, because when you turn to page 76 in this week’s CA Championship information book, you’ll discover only the bare bones about Presnell: That he’ll turn 31 March 26, that he didn’t turn pro until he was 25 and that he’s from Australia.

Gee, there’s a bulletin. I mean, who isn’t from Australia? At least it sure seems that way when it comes to the PGA Tour landscape. Heck, even Hunter Mahan is from Australia – at least according to the first-round pairings sheet that was handed out before players embarked upon their duties at the Blue Monster.

• Jeff Babineau: Lefty doubles up on drivers again

• Alex Miceli: Schwartzel won’t go unnoticed this week

Anyway, back to Presnell, who may not have posted the lowest score in Round 1, though surely he wore the warmest smile. That can only lead you suggest to ...

DORAL, Fla. – Phil Mickelson is at it again. 

Playing golf, yes. And doing it carrying two drivers in the bag here at the WGC-CA Championship at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral. 

Four years ago, you’ll remember Phil tuned up for a two-driver Masters by using two drivers at the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta, where he shot 28 under and won by a whopping 13 shots; a week later, he went on to win his second green jacket at Augusta.

Mickelson said the idea to carry two drivers on a blustery day at Doral – winds gusted to 25 mph – was the idea of his seasoned caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay. Here’s the deal: Mickelson hits the Callaway FT-9 Tour driver that is his usual “gamer” high and long, and carries it a long ways. “It carries forever,” he said. 

The “other” driver that made its way into his bag was an old Callaway FT-5 that was stored at his house, a driver with which he won at Pebble Beach three years ago. With that one, he can flight the ball lower, something that came in handy on a breezy opening day at Doral. To make room for the extra ...

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Skip Kendall is your early, early leader at the Puerto Rico Open. He’ll get to sleep on that pole position because of rain that is pounding an already wet Trump International Golf Club.

Eighteen players teed off in Thursday’s first round before play was called; the day was declared a wash at 1:30 p.m.

By 2 p.m., 6 inches of rain had fallen. That’s after 5.8 inches hit the course last Friday-Sunday. The course also received small amounts of rain Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kendall holed a 7-iron from 159 yards for an eagle 2 Thursday on the 430-yard, par-4 10th hole. Play was called at 7:19 a.m., 13 minutes after Kendall teed off

“I didn’t even see the ball go in,” Kendall said. “It was so dark because of the storms.”

The first round will resume at 7:15 a.m. Friday, with the second round pushed back to Saturday and 36 holes scheduled for Sunday.

The cut may be moved from low 70 and ties to low 60 and ties to fit in two rounds Sunday. If that is done, the players who are ...