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NOW ON GOLFWEEKTV: Hate to be Rude: Paul Goydos
Jeff Rude’s “I Hate To Be Rude” column appears on Golfweek.com on Friday, the same day as his video show of the same name.• Tiger Woods, still recovering from mid-April knee surgery, will not play at the Memorial Tournament.
His absence is a bit of a surprise, considering earlier in the day a member of his camp said he had intended to enter.
That said, even if Woods had committed, his participation could have been a game-day decision pending weather. Word is the world No. 1 had been checking forecasts in Columbus, Ohio. Starting and stopping due to rain delays wouldn’t be a best-case scenario.
When he returns, at the U.S. Open presumably, don’t expect a dropoff in production. He has rattled off victory streaks after his last two prolonged layoffs, the first following surgery on that same left knee.
• So what did Lorena Ochoa get after winning her sixth LPGA victory of the year? A $25,000 fine from the LPGA, believe it or not.
This is a matter of a good rule being bad because in this particular case, it bites the hand that feeds.
Ochoa is the LPGA’s poster girl in the midst of a special season. The LPGA benefits greatly from her rare brilliance. She should be given a bonus, not a fine.
But she was fined 25 grand for skipping this week’s Corning Classic because she violated the LPGA rule that requires players to compete in every full-field event at least once every four years. Ochoa last played the Corning in 2004.
Basically, Ochoa is a victim of her own success. She couldn’t fit in the Corning because she is defending champion at eight tournaments this year. Those commitments squeezed an already busy schedule that includes upcoming summer major championships and two tournaments in her native Mexico.
Considering all she has done for women’s golf, fining Ochoa gives common sense a black eye. First, the fine should be waived for reasons of “extenuating circumstances as they relate to uncommon golf brilliance.” And the “1 in 4” rule should be changed to accommodate players who win a bunch of tournaments that need to be defended the next year. Pick a number. Let’s say five victories in a season exempts from from a “1 in 4” fine the next year.
That way the A+ student doesn’t get punished unnecessarily.
• Now we know how many balls one must hit before pulling a rib muscle: roughly 9.3 trillion.
The odds finally caught up with premier ball-beater Vijay Singh. He withdrew from the BMW PGA Championship in England just before the first round because of a left oblique muscle he injured while hitting balls “a little cold” after a long flight. He said he experienced sharp pain that became unbearable at times. Though he suspects a possible muscle tear, he said he would try to play next week’s Memorial.
The Singh injury continues an odd trend on the PGA Tour, that of workout junkies getting hurt. How can fit, gym-rat specimens like Tiger Woods, Ben Crane, Arron Oberholser and Singh (and let’s not forget the once-ripped David Duval) get hurt while the likes of Lumpy Herron keep strolling and smiling down the fairway?
The answer: The golf swing is hard on numerous body parts of anyone.
• You want inside golf, I’ll give you inside golf: More and more, players gush about one particular PGA Tour pro, saying, “He hit a shot that only one other guy, Tiger Woods, could pull off.”
The gifted young pro they’re marveling over is Anthony Kim, recent winner of the Wachovia Championship.
You can bank on Kim playing in this year’s Ryder Cup and maybe the next 8-10.
• You want more inside golf, I’ll give you more inside golf: Players Championship protagonist Paul Goydos thought his short game was all right until he saw Phil Mickelson stiff a short pitch from high rough on the last hole in clinching his 2005 PGA Championship victory.
Goydos has stayed on Tour for 16 years for the most part because he has mastered the three clubs that matter most. He drives well, hits his short irons well and is a wonderful putter.
Though his short game sparkled at the Players, he says he’s not as good as many on Tour around the greens. But he says he’s better now since watching Mickelson’s perfect pitching form – face kept facing the sky through the stroke – at the 2005 PGA.
“I realized then that I just couldn’t get by with feel and instincts,” Goydos said. “I realized I needed to improve my fundamentals. It was amazing watching that. That was the most important shot in Phil’s life and he pulled it off. So I started grinding on the fundamentals.”
Posted: 5/23/2008
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