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Why Tiger was Wrong, Sergio was Right

Michael C. Hepp — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:00:50 +0000

As with most stories there are two sides to be told. This case is no different, especially since the two sides were separated by fifty yards. The scene of this controversy was The Players Championship in the delayed third round in the final pairing of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.

On the second hole, Garcia, away and hitting his second shot in the fairway was distracted by the gallery that was gathered around Tiger's drive in the left pine straw. Several seconds prior to Sergio's swing, Tiger pulled his fairway wood out of this bag and the crowd reacted favorably to his choice to go for it. This favorable cheering distracted Sergio and caused him (his own words) to miss the ball way right into the trees on the right. Sergio bogeyed the hole.
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Adam Scott wins the 2013 Masters… Now What?

Michael C. Hepp — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:00:27 +0000

I have to admit that I did not get to watch the final round of the 2013 Masters Toonamint live. I was flying on a plane to Asia, but my DVR caught the whole thing and I was able to watch every minute. Ever since the 2007 Masters where Zach Johnson won with an over-par score, the Masters tournament has done a wonderful job making exciting back nine drama.

This year's event was no different with the event in complete doubt leading up to the playoff. Although I knew the outcome, watching it unfold was still quite compelling. I am very happy to see Adam Scott take his first major especially after his falter down the stretch as the Open Championship last year. It would have been easy to let that event damage him and cause him to falter again coming into the final holes at Augusta.
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Why Tiger Should Have Withdrawn From the 2013 Masters

Michael C. Hepp — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:00:33 +0000

Tiger Woods should have withdrawn from the 2013 Masters.

Yes, it was more than he had to do, because the rules state that he was able to finish out the tournament, but withdrawing would have been the right thing to do.

On Saturday morning I got to my club as I do for most Saturday mornings for breakfast with my regular group. By that time ESPN and Golf Channel had already been talking about the drop. One of my good friends came in and I told him of the ruling and he immediately said that when he was watching the event he had told his wife after Tiger made the drop that it was not a correct drop. Sadly I did not get to see it live that day because I was working but I certainly saw the replay on all of the sports channels.
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Volume Three Hundred Forty Six

Danny Ottmann — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:00:02 +0000

Hello again golf fans and welcome to yet another Hittin' the Links. Australia is celebrating! After years of runner-up finishes the Aussies finally have their green jacket. I personally celebrated that yet another long putter captured a major championship, long live anchoring!

In this edition of HtL we begin with a look at how Greg Norman spent Masters Sunday, then look again at the Tiger debate, and check out the big number Bubba made. Also, we peruse the Holly Sonders photo shoot, find out what David Duval had to say, and do a wrap-up of the week's events. Read on!
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2013 Masters Tournament Staff Picks and Questions

Michael C. Hepp — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 02:00:00 +0000

Hello friends. For me the official start of spring is the sound of the opening tee shot at Augusta National. This year the man on form and who is likely everyone's favorite is Tiger Woods. He has started the season with three wins and hasn't looked this good going into the Masters for at least the past five years. To add to the drama Phil has already won in Phoenix this season and is also looking good. Then last week Rory McIlroy - who has been pretty awful this season - has seemingly pulled his game together and finished second at the Texas Open. There are no shortage of storylines going into the event.

This year here at Thrash Talk we have decided to change it up by allowing a different forum member to answer each our five questions along with the staff. We had some great responses. Without further ado here are everyones thoughts.
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Recapping Tiger’s Last Five Wins

Jamieson Weiss — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Since the infamous Thanksgiving Night 2009 car crash, Tiger Woods, once a sure thing to pass Jack's record of 19 major championships, has won just five times on the PGA Tour. All of those wins have come in a 13-month stretch, starting with the 2012 Arnold Palmer Invitational, and culminating in his won at Doral just recently. (And I'm not counting the Chevron because, c'mon, only host Tiger himself thinks that's a real tournament.)

Woods now has 76 wins on the PGA Tour, behind only Sam Snead's mark of 82 wins. His 14 majors trail just Nicklaus, and, if you're inclined to go there, he's also third all-time in European Tour wins (behind Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer) because they sanction the majors and WCG tournaments, which Tiger has dominated.

As Tiger marches back towards the world number one ranking, and readies for the first major of the season, let's take a look at his journey back from 58th in the world rankings.
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Dear Phil, Thanks for the Memories

Michael C. Hepp — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:00:29 +0000

I know when I write this there are going to be many of you who disagree with me. Especially the Phil fans of whom I am one of. I believe the end of the Phil Mickelson era is upon us. He may win a few more regular tournament events, but he will no longer win majors and will shortly be a complete non-factor.

For starters, it pains me to say this, because during his prime and even today I am one of his biggest supporters. I would and still do root for Phil at every event in which he plays. His go-for-broke style allows for some of the highest highs and lowest lows. We may never see another golfer with his style and flair play the game again. He is certainly deserving of the hall of fame and without Tiger would have been one of the game's true greats. Add to this, Phil is very generous with his time with the fans, signing autographs and giving out balls to the kids, he is easy to like.
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Titleist Releases the 913 Fairway Woods and Hybrids

Tristan Hilton — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Back in November, Titleist updated its product family with the addition of the 913D2 and 913D3 drivers. These clubs replaced the 910 drivers in Titleist's lineup, however, at that point, that was it; no new woods or hybrids. Starting at the beginning of this month, that is no longer the case with the introduction of the 913F and 913F.d fairway woods and 913H and 913H.d hybrids.
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Performance Enhancing Drugs and the PGA Tour

Michael C. Hepp — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:00:47 +0000

A few weeks ago, Lance Armstrong did an interview with Oprah and essentially admitted that after lying to us for over ten years, he had in fact taken performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). To many this was not a surprise.

Recently Vijay Singh and Bob Charles announced that they too have taken PEDs. This was much more of a surprise because many, myself included, believe that PEDs aren't likely to make you a much better golfer.
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Five Reasons to Be Excited for 2013

Jamieson Weiss — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:11:23 +0000

Now that the 2013 has started, it's time to look a little bit back, and a little bit forward.

And sure, there are some reasons to be a bit turned off by golf. It's as expensive as ever, it can be painfully slow, and gone are the days when use your gut as a third hand while putting (if you're into that sort of thing), but there are even more reasons to be optimistic. We've got two players who tower over the rest of the field (plus a select group of more-than-competant runners-up), the majors are all entertaining, and the Playoffs won't take a plead from the President to work (unlike the BCS).

It's fun to follow sports on a week-by-week basis, but it's also valuable to take a step back once in a while. Let's dive in.
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