Inside the Ropes: Abbreviated schedule suits Stricker

Inside the Ropes: Abbreviated schedule suits Stricker









Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange July 7, 2013 11:30 PMThe SportsXchange


For Steve Stricker, the John Deere Classic this week probably will be one of his four majors in a season that's shaping up as semi-retirement.



That's because he's not playing in the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield.



When Stricker, 46, announced his abbreviated schedule at the start of the year, he said was tired of all the travel and would play only the majors and the three World Golf Championships that are contested in the United States.



Stricker probably doesn't believe he is missing much of a chance to claim his elusive first major title because a tie for seventh in 2008 at Royal Birkdale and a tie for eighth in 2007 at Carnoustie are his only top-10 finishes in 13 appearances at the oldest championship in the world.



"It's always fun to come here," Stricker said last year at TPC Deere Run, which is less than a three-hour drive from his home in Madison, Wis. He also is a University of Illinois alumnus. "And I get a lot of support here, and (I've) kind of been adopted by the local community here as one of their own.




The John Deere will be Stricker's eighth tournament of the season, so if he sticks with his plan to play only 11 events, he has the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA Championship and one other start remaining this season.



The chances of his playing in the fall seem slim because he has an elk hunting trip scheduled for September.



"Golf is not the thing in my life as it once was. That was the reason why I scaled back. So I'm excited to go home. I'm excited to do some different things at home and get some time away again and ... (be) ready to play when I come back."



In addition, he has created a charitable foundation with the help of American Family Insurance that also keeps him busy.



"What I told Nicki was if I could just make enough money to pay our yearly expenses as a family, I'm fine with that," said Stricker, who has earned $2,187,146 on the PGA Tour this season, plus endorsement money.



I wanted to not have it be about me anymore."



Stricker was tied for second, one stroke out of the lead, headed to the final round in the U.S. Open at Merion before he hit two balls out of bounds on the second hole and carded a triple-bogey 8. He wound up with a 6-over-par 76 that left him in a tie for eighth.



"Not the (Sunday) start I was looking for. I felt good, felt relaxed. I was excited for the day. Just the nature of the game, I guess. It puts you in your place rather quickly at times. I'm not over this yet, but it won't take me long."

Golf glance

Golf glance









Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange July 7, 2013 11:30 PMThe SportsXchange



COMING UP

PGA TOUR: John Deere Classic at TPC John Deere in Silvis, Ill., Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

LAST YEAR: Zach Johnson hit his approach shot from 193 yards with a 6-iron to within inches of the hole for a birdie on the second hole of a playoff to defeat Troy Matteson. Johnson, who grew up not far away in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and considers the John Deere his hometown event, claimed his ninth victory on the PGA Tour after tying for third at TPC Deere Run in 2011 and tying for second in 2009. It appeared that Johnson would win in regulation after two-putting for a birdie on the par-5 17th hole, but Matteson holed a 60-foot eagle putt on the same hole to tie for the lead and missed a 15-footer to win in the 72nd hole. Johnson missed his own 15-footer from the fringe on the final hole of regulation. On the first extra hole, both players drove into the same bunker and hit their approach shots into the water to card bogey 6s. Matteson missed a 43-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole.



CHAMPIONS TOUR: The 34th United States Senior Open Championship at Omaha Country Club, Omaha, Neb., Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 4-8 p.m. EDT on ESPN2; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

LAST YEAR: Roger Chapman of England, who claimed his first victory on the Champions Tour two months earlier in the Senior PGA Championship, came from four strokes down in the final round to win by two shots over Corey Pavin, Bernhard Langer, Fred Funk and Tom Lehman at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Mich. The 53-year-old Chapman joined Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Hale Irwin as the only players to win the U.S. Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship in the same year. Langer, who won two majors on the PGA Tour and has two more on the Champions Tour, entered the final round with a four-stroke lead, but he closed with a 2-over-par 72. That opened the door for Chapman, who followed three 68s with a 66 in the final round, taking charge with four birdies in the last 11 holes.



LPGA TOUR: Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 2:30-5:30 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: Brittany Lang earned her first victory on the LPGA Tour in the inaugural event by holing a six-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to defeat Hee Kyung Seo of South Korea. Lang made birdie on all three extra holes, while Chella Choi of South Korea dropped out with a par on the first playoff hole and Inbee Park of South Korea was finished after a par on the second. Lang, who closed with a 67, had a chance to win in regulation but missed a birdie putt, as did Choi (63), Park (69) and Seo (67). It took the 26-year-old Lang, who left Duke after her sophomore season, seven years to win on the LPGA Tour, and she also became the first former Blue Devil to win on the circuit.

Golf notebook:Frys.com Open moves to Miller's Silverado course in 2014

Golf notebook:Frys.com Open moves to Miller's Silverado course in 2014

Like
Dislike






Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange July 14, 2013 10:50 PMThe SportsXchange


--Johnny Miller, part owner of Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., along with his partners, announced that the 2014Frys.com Open will be played on Silverado's North Course.



"We are thrilled to host the season-opening PGA Tourtournament on our iconic property," said Miller, the 1973 U.S. Open champion and now lead golf commentator for NBC Sports.



Silverado hosted the PGA Tour's Kaiser International Open from 1968 to 1976, and the tournament was played as the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic from 1977 to 1980.



Miller captured the Kaiser in 1974 and 1975, and other winners of the tournament included Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw and Miller Barber.



"It's an opportunity to enhance the reputation of our tournament, generate new sponsors, expand the volunteer base and make significant contributions to deserving charities," said Kathy Holder, tournament chairwoman.



--Hal Sutton and Russ Cochran were forced to withdraw from the 34th U.S. Senior Open Championship last week at Omaha Country Club in Omaha, Neb., because of injuries.



Sutton, who underwent left hip replacement surgery in October, told the Shreveport Times that he plans to have his right hip replaced this fall.



David Ladd, who shot 73 and was the first alternate from sectional qualifying at March Creek Country Club in St. Augustine, Fla., replaced Sutton.



--ArabianBusiness.com reported that Dubai Properties Group, a unit of Dubai Holding, has dissolved its partnership with Tiger Woods, after construction of his golf estate at Dubailand was suspended in 2010 amid the worldwide economic crisis.



Plan for the Tiger Woods Dubai project, which was to include a complex of 100 villas, 75 mansions, 22 palaces, a boutique hotel and golf academy, were announced in 2006, with a scheduled opening in 2009.



Dubai Properties Group, a unit of Dubai Holding, announced early in 2010 that work had been suspended but that it would "continue to be monitored and a decision will be made in the future when to restart the project."



Diamante is the fourth contracted design for Tiger Woods Design since the firm's inception in 2006. The first three, Punta Brava in Ensenada, Mexico, the Cliffs in Asheville, N.C., and Al Ruwaya in Dubai, have run into problems and not been completed.




The 25-page motion claims the PGA Tour is "not entitled to judicial deference" and that the circuit's anti-doping program's release provision is "unenforceable."



However, Singh was later cleared of the charge but turned around and sued the PGA Tour on May 8 claiming the circuit "exposed Singh, one of golf's most respected and hardest working golfers, to public humiliation and ridicule for months without basis or justification" after his admission that he used Ultimate Spray.



Peter Ginsburgh, Singh's New York-based attorney, claimed that "despite having no foundation on which to determine that Singh had used a banned substance, the PGA Tour decided to discipline Singh, simply blindly relying upon WADA."



The PGA Tour does not comment on ongoing litigation.



Daly began having problems with the elbow at the Byron Nelson Championship in May and tests revealed a torn tendon. He said doctors told him he could try to play as long as he did not hit a rock or a tree root.



The 47-year-old Daly, who was replaced in the field at Muirfield by Stephen Gallacher of Scotland, said he will miss the rest of the regular season after surgery.



"I hate missing the British Open, especially at Muirfield," said Daly, who was planning to play seven consecutive weeks. "It's one of the best (courses) on the planet.



Daly, whose career has gone downhill with a number of controversial incidents on and off the course, burst onto the scene when he captured the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick after getting into thetournament as the ninth alternate.



--Paul Goydos has given it a go, but for now, his surgically repaired left wrist simply cannot take it.



"The pain tends to come and go," said Goydos, who has been endured tendinitis throughout his career and had a bone spur that was irritating a tendon removed from his wrist in March after a procedure last October to remove a bone spur from his left index finger.



Goydos does not plan to play again until the Frys.com Open at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, Calif., in October, when the 2013-14 season is scheduled to begin.



In his two tournaments since returning, Goydos missed the cut, shooting 73-72 -- 145 in the St. Jude Classic, and 74-80 -- 154 in the Travelers Championship.

Golf-Teen Spieth wins John Deere on fifth playoff hole

Golf-Teen Spieth wins John Deere on fifth playoff hole

Like
Dislike







July 14, 2013 11:26 PM


* Teen becomes youngest U.S. Tour winner in 82 years

* beats Johnson and Hearn in playoff (Adds details, quotes)

July 14 (Reuters) - Jordan Spieth become the youngest player to win on the PGA Tour since 1931 after the 19-year-old took the John Deere Classic title on the fifth hole of sudden-death on Sunday.

Spieth, who had holed out from a bunker on the last hole to join a playoff, tapped in for par on the 18th hole to beat 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, who won last year, andCanadian David Hearn after the trio finished the regulation 72 holes tied at 19-under-par at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois.

Spieth, a two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion who began the round six shots off the pace, shot a final-round 65 and earned a spot in next week's British Open, an invitation to the 2014 Masters and membership on the Tour with the win.

"It's not settling in yet," said Spieth, who last year won a U.S. college championship with Texas. "It hasn't hit me yet. I'm not sure it will until maybe I wake up on the plane in a little while."

The win made Spieth the first teenager to claim a PGA Tour title since Ralph Guldahl won the Santa Monica Open 82 years ago.

"I don't think of my age as my age," Spieth said. "I just think of playing and competing with these guys as my peers. The guys in this event, each week, week to week, I don't think of myself as younger than them."

At 18-under-par, one stroke away from joining the playoff, were Martin Flores (63), Jerry Kelly (68) and overnight leader Daniel Summerhays (72), who overcame a string of four successive bogeys from the fifth hole.

Summerhays fought his way back into contention but failed to make the playoffs when he bogeyed the last after a brutal lie in a greenside bunker.

Playing on special temporary member status for his play in select events this year, which included five top-10s, Spieth put himself in position for something special when his greenside bunker shot on the last took one hop, hit the pin and dropped into the cup for a birdie.


Johnson came to the 18th holding a one-shot lead and looked poised to repeat as champion and notch his 10th tour title but bogeyed the hole to set up the three-way playoff.

The defending champion came close to winning the playoff when he lipped out a chip for birdie on the first extra hole and grazed the edge on another birdie putt.

Hearn, looking for his first tour title, missed two putts of about 10 feet, and Spieth had a 25-footer for a winning birdie on the first extra hole that died just short.

On the decisive hole, all three pushed their tee shots into the right rough, with Hearn having to thread a shot through a tight gap of trees and Johnson virtually stymied behind an oak.

Hearn came out short of the green, while Johnson deflected off a tree and into the water hugging the left side of the hole.

Spieth, who had the best lie of the trio, punched out of the rough and ran the ball to the fringe in back of the green, from where he two-putted for the winning par.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy all won their first PGA events at age 20.

"A year ago we had just won a national championship, and I thought I'd be back at school right now," said Spieth. "I had a plan. I guess the plan got exceeded.

"I wanted to just earn my Tour card for next year this year somehow. And now to be able to have it for a couple of years and to be able to have an exemption to Augusta (and) all the stuff that comes with it ...

"It hasn't hit me yet, and it will, but I'm just happy to go compete with those guys you mentioned."

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Greg Stutchbury)

Golf-Saltman suffers hackers' curse as first hole bares its teeth

Golf-Saltman suffers hackers' curse as first hole bares its teeth

Like
Dislike







July 18, 2013 6:41 AM


(Adds quotes)

By Martyn Herman

GULLANE, Scotland, July 18 (Reuters) - Sunday morning hackers know the feeling well. You step on the first tee and duff your first shot out of bounds, then take another ball and do exactly the same.

Scotland's Lloyd Saltman did just that at Muirfield on Thursday when he began his British Open challenge with a first-hole horror show which ended with an ugly quadruple-bogey eight.

Saltman, who came though qualifying at nearby Musselburgh, rallied briefly but ended up carding an eight-over 79.

"Once it starts moving on the wind here it's gone," Saltman told reporters. "It was always going to be tough after that start because it's not how you want to start the Open.

"I once hit three tee shots on the 17th at St Andrews but never started a round with three so it wasn't great.

"The only positive was I shot a 79 and not an 80."

Saltman, who grew up just down the road in Edinburgh and knows the local links courses well, was part of the first group to tee off in almost perfect conditions.


However, the 447-yard par four hole, with its tight fairway flanked by knee-high rough and guarded by deep bunkers, proved too much for the 27-year-old who took three tee shots to get a ball in play.

His first effort cleared a 20-foot high screen bordering the tented village and his second was heard to "hit an object".

Neither ball was found and Saltman's third tee shot landed just right of the fairway, after which he played the hole in exemplary fashion, finding the green with his approach and two-putting before glumly striding to the second tee.

While winds, as predicted were light, the course was proving precarious on the opening morning as the narrow fairways, thick rough and steep-sided bunkers took their toll.

The opening hole, rated as one of the toughest of all the Scottish links courses, was particularly brutal and Saltman was not alone in coming a cropper.

American Brooks Koepka, making his Open debut, also took an eight and Britain's Chris Wood andAmericans Bud Cauley and Luke Guthrie began with triple-bogey sevens.

Australia's Jason Day, strongly fancied to win the title after finishing third at the Masters and second at the U.S. Open, also came to grief with a six, although he repaired the damage with a couple of birdies before the turn.

After 60 of the 156 starters had passed through only four birdies had been seen on the first, one of which was sunk by early leader Miguel Angel Jimenez.

British title hope Ian Poulter, wearing a pair of tartan trousers, did locate the first fairway but still began his challenge with a bogey on a hole averaging 4.5 early on.

"You're asking how the rough is at Muirfield. I thought it was hay. Big tip for week: Hit it on the mowed stuff," Poulter said on his Twitter page on the eve of the tournament. (Editing by Ed Osmond)

Rory McIlroy shrugs off advice from Nick Faldo

Rory McIlroy shrugs off advice from Nick Faldo

Like
Dislike







PGA.COM July 18, 2013 8:35 AM

.

View gallery
Heading into the Open Championship, some have speculated that off-the-course activities have cut into …


By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP National Writer

GULLANE, Scotland (AP) -- Rory McIlroy hasn't become too worked up about his struggles this year.

He certainly doesn't need any advice from Nick Faldo.

McIlroy shrugged off a suggestion from the six-time major champion to spend more time concentrating on golf, saying on Wednesday that Faldo "should know how hard this game is at times."

McIlroy won his second major title last summer with a runaway win at the U.S. PGA Championship, but he has been off his game this season after changing equipment. Heading into the British Open, some have also speculated that off-the-course activities have cut into his preparation time and mental sharpness.

This week, Faldo seemed to join that group when he urgedMcIlroy to spend the next two decades focused solely on his golf, calling it his "window of opportunity," before savoring all the benefits of being a multiple major champion.

"What's the big deal?" McIlroy said. "I haven't had the best six months, but it's OK. I'm fine. I've got a good life. So, you know, it doesn't bother me. I'm in a good place. And as I said, I'm working hard. I feel like I'm working on the right things. And sooner or later it will turn around and I'll be back lifting trophies."

Faldo said he believes McIlroy's struggles are mainly mental.


"The most ideal thing is to go to the club, 9 in the morning, hit balls all day long, and you leave at 5," Faldo said. "Concentrate on golf, nothing else. Hopefully when you retire, in your 40s or 50s, hopefully you have another 40 years to enjoy it. So just concentrate on golf."

McIlroy said he intends to play 108 practice holes at Muirfield leading up to the Open, and he took a jab at Faldo's proposed schedule.

"I actually was on the range at 6:15 (a.m.), and got out of the gym at 6:15 (p.m.) -- actually a 12-hour day compared to his eight-hour day," McIlroy said. "Nick should know how hard this game is at times. He's been in our position before. He should know how much work that we all put into it."

McIlroy said he doesn't feel as though his game is that far off.

Certainly, there's no need to panic.

"It's like life," he said. "You're going to go through highs and you're going to go through lows. It's just about trying to work your way out of the lows. Yeah, I haven't played my best golf this year, but I've showed signs that it is there. It's just a matter of trying to do that more often. But, yeah, it's been difficult to try, I guess, to explain why I'm not playing well or why I haven't had the results that I've wanted over the past six months."

McIlroy said he does his best to avoid what others are saying, though it was clear Faldo's words got back to him.

"Obviously it's hard to avoid at times," he said. "You just have to have the confidence and the self-belief in yourself that you're doing the right things and know that what you're doing is ultimately going to get you to the place that you want to be."

©2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.

Criticism of Muirfield for not allowing female members doesn't make the cut

Criticism of Muirfield for not allowing female members doesn't make the cut

Like
Dislike







Jay Hart July 18, 2013 8:41 AMYahoo Sports


GULLANE, Scotland – In the lead up to Thursday's British Open, the big stink here was that Muirfield, host of the 142nd edition of the Open Championship, doesn't allow female members.

Predictably, cue the media outrage. Never mind that this is an issue that has no impact on any of our lives – Muirfield isn't in the cards on a journalist's salary – nor the lives of 99.9999999 (I could keep going) percent of the women on this planet. When there's low-hanging fruit to be picked, well, we'll pick it.

As you said, Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, was asked in a news conference Wednesday, single-sex clubs are legal, but morally, what's the difference between men only and whites only?




Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, addresses the media regarding Muirfield's 'controversial' policy. (Getty …"Oh goodness me, I think that's a ridiculous question, if I may say so," Dawson responded. "There's a massive difference between racial discrimination, anti-Semitism, where sectors of society are downtrodden and treated very, very badly, indeed. And to compare that with a men's golf club I think is frankly absurd. There's no comparison whatsoever."



Moral equivalency is a little trick they don't teach in journalism school, but it certainly comes in handy. When it comes to issues like this, it's always made out to be about the exclusion of someone or some group rather than something much more innocuous: a bunch of guys who want a man cave – in this case, a golf course – to themselves.

(It should be noted that while Muirfield doesn't allow female members, females are welcome to play the course.)

Of course, on our side of the pond we've already dealt with the issue of men's only clubs at Augusta National, home of the Masters. Thanks to Martha Burk's protests and a relentless line of questioning, Augusta finally allowed female members 11 months ago, and, oh, how the world is a better place.

Has the R&A become a hostage to fortune on this issue? Dawson was asked.

You bet your ass the R&A has become a hostage on this issue, because the media gets to set the agenda as we see fit. And so we ignore the exclusive clubs we deem acceptable – and there are plenty of women's-only clubs, just ask Justice Sonia Sotomayor – and pick on the ones we don't.

Wednesday, Dawson was asked if he could "explain to the 10 women in the room why racism is unacceptable and sexism clearly is?"

"I don't think in doing that they're intending to do … others harm," he responded. "It's just a way of life that some of these people like. And realistically, that's all it is.

"You can dress it up to be a lot more, if you want, but on the Saturday morning when the guy gets up or the lady gets up and out of the marital bed, if you like, and goes off and plays golf with his chums and comes back in the afternoon, that's not on any kind of par with racial discrimination or anti-Semitism or any of these things."

The nature of the "question" meant that no answer other than total agreement would be acceptable nor will dissent ever be acceptable. Like a kid hungry for ice cream, we won't stop screaming until we get what we want.

So this is how it's going to go: We're going to keep hammering away with questions and in the process we'll marginalize the opposition, all in the pursuit of making this world a better place, in our vision of course. Then, one day soon, the folks at Muirfield will get sick of dealing with the pressure and relent, just as Augusta National did. When they do, we'll criticize them for taking too long.

And for 99.9999999 percent of women, the world will have changed not one bit.