Author: Erik J. Barzeski

Leonard Sneaks One Out at the FedEx

Justin Leonard shoots a horrible 73, but eeks out a win in the FedEx-St. Jude Classic for his second win of the year.

Justin Leonard St. JudeThe thought slipped into Justin Leonard’s mind briefly as he stood over a 3½-foot putt for bogey on No. 18. If he missed, he was going to a playoff.

That eight-stroke lead? Long gone, and his name would be in the record book for blowing the biggest lead ever on the PGA Tour.

“I pretty quickly pushed that out of my mind,” Leonard said.

The Texan sunk the putt, reached in the hole for the ball and then collapsed onto the green in relief after pulling out a one-stroke victory over David Toms in the St. Jude Classic on Sunday, the first wire-to-wire win of his career and the second on tour this year.

Starting with an eight-stroke lead, Leonard closed with a 3-over 73 to finish at 14-under 266 and earn his second title of the year and 10th of his career.

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On Location at the Senior PGA – Tuesday

Today was autograph day for me at the Senior PGA Championship while the wet weather continued.

While yesterday was a day of getting acquainted with the course and the wet, wet weather, today was more getting acquainted with the players and, again, the wet, wet weather. Rains continued to trickle from the skies at varying intervals throughout the day. On the up side, fans were not out in droves, and autograph getting was pretty easy. I nabbed autographs on an embroidered flag from about 20 of my favorite Champions Tour players and at least one autograph from someone I can’t identify.

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On Location at the Senior PGA – Monday

What’s going down Monday at the Senior PGA Championship at Laurel Valley Golf Club? Our on-course reporter checks in with a few pictures.

I’m on location at the Laurel Valley Golf Club, 15 minutes from the home of Rolling Rock, Arnold Palmer, and my sister and her husband – my home base for the week. Aside from a wedding (my own) on Friday, I’ll be reporting each day from the LVGC and the Senior PGA Championship.

Weather
The story this year on the PGA Tour has been the weather, and unfortunately it was no different today. Though players got out several different times, there was never more than ten minutes without rain until 5pm or so, when the sun finally came out and most players had given up.

Weather Warning

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Player says New Equipment is Ruining the Game

Gary Player wants to take away the metal clubs used by pros and put wooden clubs in their hands. My reaction? Nice knowing you, Gary. Have fun in La La Land.

Gary Player SwingingI’ve got all the respect in the world for Gary Player. His record is spotless. Oh, well, except for that cheating thing. But really, Gary Player, a brilliant guy and a great player with a good head on his shoulders. Oh, well, except for those stupid comments he made last week.

Gary Player is asking governing bodies to impose “drastic” restrictions to the equipment used on the professional tours. Says Player, a short hitter even in his prime, “There’s not even a debate. There must be a premium on driving.” New equipment is “ruining the game of golf.”

Player elaborated, saying “I play on the Champions Tour now, and there are guys on it who are shooting scores that they could never shoot when they were young men. It just doesn’t make sense, and it’s ruining golf.”

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Review Policy

We may have sponsors, but they do NOT influence our reviews. If you’d like to hear that in more words, read on.

Sand Trap ManThe Sand Trap, located at http://thesandtrap.com/, is one of the premier websites for the avid golf fan. We feature reviews, opinions, and news as well as a user forum. With millions of page views per month, our content reaches a lot of golfers.

Erik J. Barzeski, Editor in Chief of The Sand Trap, has written reviews for print magazines such as MacAddict and served as technical editor for O’Reilly for several years. He published a successful computer e-zine for four years, one of the strengths of which were solid, thorough reviews.

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Titleist 904F Review

Titleist’s 904F harkens back to the days of the beloved PT with a touch of new technology to deliver arguably the best fairway wood in the game.

Titleist 904 StudioMany touring professionals and better amateurs have long carried a Titleist fairway wood. The Titleist PT (Pro Trajectory) 970 was highly regarded as one of the best fairway woods ever made. In fact, until Tiger Woods recently put the Nike T-60 fairway wood in his bag, he “had been using a modified version of the steel-shafted, small-headed Titleist PT 970 3-wood for several years.”

Titleist attempted to follow up on the success of the PT with the 980F. The 980F held true to Titleist’s heralded design theme – pear-shaped woods that inspire silent confidence at address. Unfortunately, the 980F failed when it came to more than looks and many pros kept the PT in their bag. The 980 – a solid club in its own right – simply could not overcome its predecessor.

Now we have Titleist’s next offering, the 904F fairway woods. The 904F builds on the same traditional look while offering updated technology and a more refined function. This has resulted in superb handling and playability.

If you’re not a fan of long reviews, I’ll let you stop reading now: the Titleist 904F is the best fairway wood Titleist has ever made and is perhaps the best available from any manufacturer. If you haven’t tried a 904F, you’re doing your game – and your scorecard – a disservice.

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Tiger Woods: Driving Analysis

An animated graph details Tiger Woods’ driving statistics from 2000 to 2005, as well as the rest of the PGA Tour.

It’s common knowledge that Tiger Woods has gained a lot of distance with his new large-headed Nike driver. Right? I mean, c’mon, we saw him hit some absolutely huge monsters at Doral, didn’t we?

In the face of statistical analysis, well, that’s not necessarily true. Paul Kedrosky has plugged in the numbers, and here you can see Tiger Woods’ driving statistics in 2000 and 2005 (red dot). While his accuracy has dropped considerably, his yardage hasn’t increased substantially. What’s worse, the rest of the PGA Tour (indicated in 2000 by blue dots and in 2005 by green) has dramatically increased with little overall impact to driving accuracy:

Tiger Woods Driving Comparison

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Purdy in Pink at the Byron Nelson Championship

Ted Purdy beats out the former father’s slave Sean O’Hair to win his first PGA Tour event.

Ted Purdy TrophySean O’Hair may have climbed another rung in the ladder of his post-dictator father days, but he stood silently by as the ultimate honor at a PGA Tour event went today to Ted Purdy, who two times finished second in 2004. Purdy’s closing 5-under 65 netted him a one-stroke victory at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and his first PGA Tour win.

The tournament began with a bit of hype over the “Big Five” playing together for only the third time this season. After Tiger Woods missed his first cut in 143 tournaments (taking Retief Goosen with him), the attention fell squarely on the shoulders of O’Hair, Purdy, and their cast of merry (and winless) cohorts. Only late Sunday charges by Mickelson (67, T14), Ernie Els (66, T10), and Vijay Singh (65, T3) put them in the top 15. Vijay, who needed to finish third alone or better to regain the top spot in the world, instead tied with three others for third, falling just short. His hole-in-one at the 17th on Sunday certainly helped his cause, however.

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MacGregor V-Foil M675 Iron Review

MacGregor has been out of the game for awhile, but with their new MacTec driver and these V-Foil irons, they may have climbed back into the ring.

V-FoilI’ve always thought the strength of my golf game is my putting. But a friend of mine who also was a golf instructor for years tells me that my iron play is definitely my strength. Perhaps that is because my first set of clubs were hand-me-down Browning blades from my dad. I love the the feel and look of great irons, which is why I’ve been using Hogan irons for the last couple of years. I didn’t lose a step when I put the M675 irons by MacGregor in my bag.

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