Year: 2009

Volume One Hundred Ninety Eight

Tom Watson gives hope to old guys everywhere!

Hittin' the LinksG’day Sand Trappers and welcome to another installment of Hittin’ the Links. Was anyone else out there pulling for Tom Watson this weekend? Not that I am not happy for Stewart Cink, but what a story it would have been if Tom had pulled it off. 59 years old, that’s the great thing about this game, you can play at a pretty high level for a long time.

In this edition of HTL we begin with a look at the Open TV coverage, investigate a pretty talented Italian 16 year-old, and find out the good news for Amy Mickelson. Also on tap, we look into Seve’s new plans, check out the dangers of celebrity golf tournaments, and do a wrap-up of the week’s golf championships. Read on!

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2009 British Open Final Round Live Blog

1977 gave us the Duel in the Sun. Will 2009 give us the Return of the Sunspotted? Not quite as catchy, that.

Open ChampionshipSaturday, July 18 was both a good and a bad day for the “old” among us. The world’s oldest man died (113-year-old Henry Allingham), sure, but Tom Watson provided the good by not only maintaining his lead in the 138th Open Championship, but by increasing it by dropping the tie at the top.

Watson is one of the few guys atop the Open Championship leaderboard with experience. The others, of course, are Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk, T4 and T6 respectively. And Goosen has that weird history thing working for him, too: fellow countryman Ernie Els won the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1997 and the British Open in 2002. Retief has won the U.S. Open seven years after each of Ernie’s wins – in 2001 and 2004 – and 2009 is seven years after Ernie’s victory at Muirfield.

The leaderboard to start the day:

1    Watson     -4
T2   Goggin     -3
     Fisher     -3
T4   Westwood   -2
     Goosen     -2
T6   Furyk      -1
     Cink       -1
T8   Molder      E
     Jaidee      E

Join us as we live blog the final round of the 2009 Open Championship (starting at 8:00am eastern).

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British Open Predictions, 2009 Edition

You know the drill by now: we predict, you laugh at our predictions a few days later.

Thrash TalkGet your British Open Predictions here!

Who’s winning this thing, what’s Faldo going to shoot and other questions, answered (or at least cleverly guessed at) by your tireless scribes.

See what we think inside, and, maybe, take a look into your own crystal ball and tell us what you see.

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Golf Talk [Episode 119]

I promise you, all the stuff at the end is said purely tongue in cheek. Really. Ask our wives.

Golf Talk PodcastCristie Kerr blows a U.S. Women’s Open, a – shock – South Korean player wins, and Steve Stricker closes out the John Deere. Also this week, Open predictions, changing par at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, wimpy Brett Quigley, and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 119 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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Adams Golf Introduces Idea A7 Hybrids and Irons

As summer heats up, Adams Golf introduces their innovative A7 hybrids and irons.

Bag DropThough the 2009 golf season has been in full swing for a few months now, it doesn’t mean that there is no new gear to check out. From Adams Golf, an industry leader in Hybrid technology, come the Idea A7 Hybrids and A7 Hybrid Iron set, labeled by Adams as “the Future of Iron sets.” Continuing the Adams tradition of innovation, these new clubs are loaded with new technology that comes packaged in the familiar styling of the Idea line.

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Volume One Hundred Ninety Seven

It’s British Open week, and here are your news and notes as we get ready for the only non-HD golf we’ll watch all year.

Hittin' the LinksWell hello again and welcome to Hittin’ the Links. It’s British Open week again: is everyone out there ready to awaken at the crack of dawn to watch golf? At least those of us in the U.S. will have to unless you want to catch the highlight reel on Golf Central. Thank goodness for DVRs: I will just have to get my Open fix on tape delay.

In this Open Week edition of HTL we have a strong British feel. First we look at who gets in and who decided to take the week off, next we discover who Tiger will be playing his first two rounds with, and finally get that link to the British Open site firmly planted in our favorites. Also on tap we investigate Tiger’s wardrobe for the week, see what Inkster thinks about the LPGA’s problems, and do a complete wrap-up of the week’s tour winners. Read on!

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The Cat Fight’s Out of the Bag

Not content to wait until they no longer have a Tour to play on, LPGA players call for the resignation of Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. Good move.

Thrash TalkThe following news, as reported by a variety of outlets, but quoted here as it appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, has worked its way through the system of the of the golfing media, both formal and informal, over the past few days:

“A group of 15 players, including world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, Suzann Pettersen, and top American stars Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, and Morgan Pressel, signed a letter demanding the resignation of commissioner Carolyn Bivens.”

Good for them. Far from looking like rebellious children, the LPGA’s stars look, now, like they give a damn about the fact that their Tour is coming apart at the seams.

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Golf Talk [Episode 118]

Carolyn Bivens is updating her résumé as we speak.

Golf Talk PodcastKenny Perry and Tiger Woods win, the LPGA mutinies against Carolyn Bivens, Michelle Wie shoots 64, the PGA Tour will have new grooves next year, no performance enhancing drugs found, and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 118 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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Here V Go Again: The Truth About the Groove Rule Change

Case in point: This isn’t a return to “V” grooves as is widely being reported.

Bag DropLast August the USGA, golf’s governing body in the United States since 1894, announced that they were enacting new regulations for grooves in golf clubs effective January 1, 2010. This change came after a fairly exhaustive study that was spurred on by the lack of correlation between driving accuracy and success on the professional tours of the world. In other words, the USGA didn’t think “bomb and gouge” was the way golf should be played.

The rule applies only to certain clubs in the hands of certain players at and at certain times, so there is a lot of misinformation out there about what is really going on with this rule. This week, we take a look at it and set the record straight.

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