Category: Other

He hasn’t won since February. He’s slumping, he’s hurting, he’s got a DVD, and he’s… got a ball and chain. Tiger Woods folks, the former World Number One, has won a tournament! Granted, it was against a no-name field in Japan, but he won by eight.

Woods shot a final-round 67 (3-under) to win the Dunlop Phoenix by eight, his first win since the Accenture Match Play Championship in February and his first ever win in Japan. Woods, finishing at 16-under 264, beat second-place finisher Ryoken Kawagishi, who bravely fired a final-round 65. K.J. Choi also fired a 65 to finish at 6-under 274. Woods’ last stroke-play victory was in October 2003.

Continue reading “Woods Wins in Japan’s Dunlop Phoenix”

Tom Lehman is the next US Ryder Cup captain, as we told you here on The Sand Trap .com, and Tiger Woods ain’t happy about it. Tiger slammed the PGA of America for not choosing his good buddy Mark O’Meara, saying:

I thought he should have been captain, because of the heritage of where he’s from. He’s Irish, so it would have been a perfect fit for Mark O’Meara to be the Ryder Cup captain in Ireland, especially as he goes to the K Club every summer to fish.

O’Meara was in the running, and has better career stats than Lehman: 16 wins and two majors to 5 wins and one major. “He’s obviously very disappointed he didn’t get it,” Woods said. “He feels this was probably his only chance, because of his age. He’ll be 51 by the time the next one comes around and more than likely that one looks like it’ll be Azinger’s.”

Continue reading “Tiger Pissed about Ryder Cup Captain Lehman”

Playing dual roles of hosts and favorites, Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez will tee it up tomorrow in the WGC World Cup of Golf in Seville, Spain. Garcia, an invited player, chose Jimenez as his partner to give themselves a home field advantage. One other advantage the couple has is that the 7,134-yard layout was designed by two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal.

Scott Verplank and Bob Tway make up the American contingent. The top ten Americans in the world ranking turned down the invitation to this, the last of the season’s four World Golf Championships. Only two top-10 players accepted – Garcia and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.

Continue reading “WGC World Cup of Golf Tees Off”

Foreign-born players captured more than half of 2004’s PGA Tour tournaments (26 of 48), thanks in large part to Vijay Singh’s nine wins. Meg Mallon pointed out that, in this, the men have long trailed the women: “We’re already there. There are good tours in Europe and Japan, but they send their best to the United States. We’ve been international for over 10 years.”

Heading into this weekend’s ADT Championship 20 of 31 LGPA events have been won by international players. Annika Sorenstam is responsible for seven of those, and the remaining wins were split among players from South Korea, England, Scotland, Mexico, Australia, and the Philippines.

Continue reading “International Invasion”

As mentioned earlier, Charlie Sifford was among those inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this past Monday, almost fifty years after becoming the first African-American on the PGA Tour. Sifford, despite a warning from black baseball player Jackie Robinson that he would face taunts and threats, fought the PGA Tour over its Caucasian-only clause until he became its first black member in 1960. It wasn’t a complete win, however, as Sifford couldn’t stay in hotels at some of the tournaments he played.

Charlie Sifford only won two PGA Tour victories, the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open. However, he wasn’t even given the chance to compete at the Masters as he was never invited. Still, many believe Sifford’s election through the Lifetime Achievement category was overdue.

“Charlie won tournaments, but more important, he broke a barrier,” Jack Nicklaus said. “I think what Charlie Sifford has brought to this game has been monumental. To be inducted into the Hall of Fame… I think it’s about time.”

In a one-day Skins Game this past Sunday at Raon Golf Club on the island of Jeju, Colin Montgomerie won nine skins worth $75,000 while Tiger Woods and K.J. Choi both collected $51,000. South Korea’s Se Ri Pak ended up with no skins. Five of Montgomerie’s skins were collected on the par-5 10th hole when he sank a 30-foot birdie putt. He started the day by taking the first skin on the par-4 first hole. Tiger took the second hole and earned a total of five skins with a birdie putt on the 12th and another at the 14th.

All of the money won went to charity.

Tom Kite will finally get his due as he and three others will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on November 15th. The other inductees are Isao Aoki, Charlie Sifford and Marlene Stewart Streit.

Kite, who has 19 PGA Tour victories including the 1992 U.S. Open, said “When Ben (Crenshaw) and Mr. (Harvey) Penick got inducted two years ago, I was – you know in the back of my mind I was sitting there thinking, ‘Gosh, I would give anything to have my name put on that list with them.’ And here, it is going to happen. So I am very pleased.”

Continue reading “Kite and Others for Hall of Fame”

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, I passed the time on the flights by reading Caddy For Life, by John Feinstein which I bought on a whim at the Philadelphia International Airport.

Caddy For Life beautifully tells the triumphant life story of Bruce Edwards, perhaps the best known caddy on the PGA Tour. He was Tom Watson’s caddy for nearly thirty years, and is most famous for telling Watson to “get it close” on the 17^th hole at Pebble Beach. Watson exclaimed, “I’m knocking it in!“. He did just that, pointed to Bruce and went on to win the 1982 US Open. In 2004, Bruce tragically died after a heroic battle with ALS.

This book was excellent. I laughed at many parts, mostly how Bruce would talk to Tom on the course, and came close to shedding a tear a few times when Bruce was nearing the end of his eventful life. This was a real page–turner, and I’d recommend it to any golf fan.