Category: Other

What makes players gruel through five or six rounds of tournament play against hundreds of competitors for a virtually non-existent purse?

A dream.

A dream of playing on “the big tour.” Of walking the courses of the LPGA and PGA Tours from inside the ropes, and with clubs in hand. That’s right: the final state of the PGA Tour’s “Qualifying School” or “Q-School” starts today.

Though the winner pockets only $50,000, the payoff cannot be measured in terms of money. The top 30 and ties earn PGA Tour cards for 2005. Players landing in spots 30 through 80 earn full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour for 2005. The remaining players “earn” non-exempt Nationwide Tour status.

Continue reading “Q-School Kickoff”

Greg Norman, who has participated in the Australian Open 23 times in his career, has come under fire for missing the 100th Aussie Open, held November 25-28, by Bruce Devlin. Devlin called Norman “selfish” and said that he should do more to publicly thank the Aussies who have supported him throughout his career.

Said Norman, “I haven’t read his comments, but considering I’ve played the Australian Open 23 times in my career… I think my track record speaks for itself.” Norman hasn’t played in the tournament for four years because it typically coincides with Thanksgiving in the US. “It’s my life, and I like to spend time with my family. My children are in college in the US, the only time they come home is for long weekends like Thanksgiving.”

Adam Scott was also missing, opting to play in the Skins Snore, err, Skins Game instead. Mister Slice adds another quote, this one from Wayne Grady: “As far as I’m concerned, the big losers out of this are the Australian golfing public and Greg himself. I’m pretty sure Greg won’t be around for the next major one in 100 years.”

The Tight Lies tour is one of several regional circuits. Call it a “mini-tour” if you want – they’re all across the US. Ryan Palmer, a recent PGA Tour winner, once played the Tight Lies Tour.

This time, it’s not one of the players making news, but a rules change for the 2005 season. The Tight Lies Tour has decided to allow the use of electronic range finders. The tour has partnered with SkyGolf GPS, which uses a statellite-based system to determine yardages (accurate to within one yard) to carry hazards, the front of the green, the pin, and more.

Continue reading “Tight Lies Tour Says “What Rules?”; Allows GPS”

Aaron Stewart, the 15-year-old son of the late Payne Stewart, will tee it up with Lee Janzen in the annual Father-Son Challenge for major champions and their sons to be played December 2-5 at ChampionsGate in Orlando, FL. Tournament organizers were more than willing to bend the rules for Janzen.

“It struck me that Aaron would be playing with his dad if Payne were still alive,” Janzen said. “I thought he was missing out on something special. So I called my manager about playing with Aaron.”

Janzen and Stewart were close friends and Stewart was the runner-up both times Janzen won the U.S. Open.

In yet another sign of the increasing importance of the Asian population to the LPGA’s popularity, South Korea’s SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) will be sponsoring the LPGA’s return to Hawaii in 2005. The LPGA announced that it will hold a $1,000,000 event at Arnold Palmer’s course at Turtle Bay resort in February, marking the LPGA’s first Hawaiian event in nearly three years.

Meanwhile, the Champions Tour announced that it was planning on keeping the SBC Championship at Oak Hill. Since its move from the Dominion Country Club in 2002, the SBC Championship at Oak Hill has “truly been one of our players’ favorite courses”, said Rick “Screw ‘Em If They Can’t Walk” George.

The SBC Championship will be held in October, 2005.

How many holes do you have to win to end up as the Skins Game Champion?

For Fred Couples in this year’s Skins Game, the answer was two. After watching his fellow competitors carry over seven skins from Saturday’s first nine, Freddy opened Sunday’s Skins match with eight skins on the 10th hole. Tiger made an attempt and briefly took the lead, winning five skins worth $310,000. Then, Tiger and Fred made it interesting by playing an additional four holes and dragging a $340,000 collection of skins along with them.

Tiger left his tee shot very, very wet on the final playoff hole, then watched as Couples put his tee shot center green. Couples had three putts for the win, but needed only two from thirty-odd feet.

Adam Scott was shut out Sunday after winning two skins and $50,000 on Saturday, while Annika Sorenstam was winless. Couples won his fifth Skins Game and with the victory, became the winningest player in the history of the event.

Annika Sorenstam is Tiger Woods’ new hero. After holing a short birdie putt on the ninth hole of the 2004 Skins game, Tiger expressed his admiration for Annika by giving her a (Golden?) bear hug.

It didn’t hurt that her birdie kept $250,000 in play in this, the twenty-second playing of the Skins game.

With Scott already in the hole for a birdie, Woods’ six-footer for bird lipped out, leaving the weight $250,000 squarely on sorenstam’s shoulders. “I should’ve made things a little bit easier for Annika on the last hole, but kind of blew that one,” said Woods, “but I had my chances today to get a couple skins and just couldn’t do it.”

Continue reading “Sorenstam Saves the (Skins) Day (1)”

Former California state amateur champion Mark Johnson, who drove a Budweiser truck for 18 years, fired an 8-under 64 on Monday to earn medalist honors at the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament. He finished the six-round marathon at 25-under-par 407 and won by two over Tom McKnight at The King & The Bear Course.

McKnight is a former amateur standout and went even lower with a 9-under 63 on Monday. Former PGA Tour event winner Brad Bryant shot a 5-under 67 and took third place at 22-under-par 410.

Continue reading “Beer Truck Driver Earns Champions Tour Card”

Defending champ Fred Couples will make a record-setting 11th appearance in the 22nd Skins Game this year. Sponsored by Merrill Lynch, Freddie will compete against Tiger Woods (5th), Adam Scott (1st), and Annika Sorenstam (2nd).

The first nine holes will be played this Saturday at 1pm ET and the holes will be played Sunday at 11:30am ET. ABC will broadcast the event from 4:30-7pm ET on Saturday and 3:30-6pm on Sunday. The $1 million purse is split into $25,000 for holes 1-6, $50,000 for holes 7-12, and $70,000 for holes 13-17. The 18th hole is worth $200,000 itself. Players will donate 20% of their earnings to charity.

Continue reading “Skins Game Returns to Thanksgiving Weekend”