Category: PGA

Padraig Harrington started the day tied for third but tied leader Jim Furyk by day’s end. Furyk led the pack after both the first and second rounds. Harrington held the clubhouse lead until Furyk birdied the par-5 18th getting up and down out of a green-side bunker. A win tomorrow for Harrington would be his second of the season. He grabbed his first win on the PGA Tour at the Honda Classic in March, and is no stranger to the Barclays Classic as he lost in a playoff last year to Sergio Garcia.

Furyk is seeking his first win on Tour since 2003, the year he won both the U.S. Open and the Buick Open. Furyk has been close twice this year finishing T2 at the MCI Heritage and the Wachovia Championship. He is currently 13th on the Tour money list with $1,795,669 in the bank this season. If Furyk is able to cash in tomorrow he will round out his PGA Tour victories to a tidy ten.

Continue reading “Furyk and Harrington Share Barclays Third Round Lead”

Jim Furyk carded two birdies and two bogeys in his second round at Westchester Country Club. Oh yeah, he also holed out for eagle on the eighth hole! The eighth hole was Furyk’s 17th of the day, and his eagle vaulted him back to the top of the leaderboard where he finished the first round. Mike “Fluff” Cowan, Furyk’s caddy, advised his player to hit an eight-iron into the green on the difficult eighth hole, and he was right on the money. Cowan made the decision, and Furyk took care of the rest. The eagle put Jim Furyk at -8 for the tournament, and that number was good enough to keep him in the lead at the halfway point of the Barclays Classic.

Continue reading “Furyk Maintains Lead at Westchester”

I’m sure you’re aware of the fact that Jim Furyk had arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left wrist last March and was unable to compete for nearly three months after. When he returned later in 2004, he had two top-10 finishes and mentioned something about his positive results being “gravy”. I thought to myself, “Gravy? How can gravy relate to playing superb golf?” After hours of rigorous Google research and intense squeezing of a squishy stress relief ball, I have come to the simple conclusion that “gravy” is another term for “the icing on the cake”, used to describe Furyk’s comeback.

Continue reading “Furyk Holds Lead After Slow First Round of Barclays Classic”

Now that the U.S. Open at Pinehurst is in the past, it’s time for the golfers to get primed for the British Open next month. The first stop is this week’s Barclay Classic, the event formerly known as the Buick Classic. This event is always within a week of the second major championship, either the week before or the week after. Westchester Country Club is the course for the Barclays Classic, and it is a very solid venue all the way around. Many of the world’s best players make their way to this event, and this year will be no different.

Continue reading “Barclays Classic Preview”

Many said it was Retief Goosen’s U.S. Open to lose, and lose it he did. Opening the day with a three-shot lead, the unassuming South African made one birdie and limped home to a final-round 81. His playing companion, fan favorite Jason Gore, fared no better, carding a +14 84, finishing T49. Olin Browne, who like Gore began the day at even par, carded an 80 to finish T23.

The winner? Little-known New Zealander Michael Campbell. Campbell holed a bunker shot on the difficult 17th hole yesterday to get into the next-to-last pairing at even par and made the most of it today, firing a one-under 69 on a day that yielded only four sub-par rounds.

Continue reading “Kiwi Campbell Captures the U.S. Open”

The U.S. Open is, without a doubt, the most difficult golf of the year. The USGA holds close to it’s heart the ideal that a course should be well defended against advances in both equipment and talent. Birdies should be a luxury, not an guarantee. It is certain that USGA officials will be smiling as they smoke their post-third-round cigars tonight because only one player is below par: Retief Goosen. The USGA can safely say that Pinehurst No. 2 has teeth and is defending itself against the best in the world.

Retief Goosen, Pinehurst’s second round co-leader, is this year’s U.S. Open “ice-man” keeping a cool head through three rounds with course conditions that can easily rattle the very best in the world. Goosen has long been misunderstood because of his retiring and quiet nature, but what he make lack in personal flair he makes up for in grit and determination.

Continue reading “Goosen Inches Ahead In Round Three of U.S. Open”

This report comes to us from Pinehurst #2 courtesty of Dave Koster, scratch golfer, North Carolina resident, and friend of The Sand Trap.

Moving day. The day where players try and set themselves apart from the rest of the field. As most of you saw on TV, not many players wanted to do that. This was a day that the players just wanted to get through 18 and hide in the clubhouse. Word of the day: survive.

Continue reading “On Location at the 2005 U.S. Open – Saturday’s Third Round”

The defending U.S. Open champion sits atop the leaderboard at Pinehurst with his sights set on a third victory in this prestigious tournament. That isn’t the surprise at the halfway point. Retief Goosen finds himself in a tie for the lead with Olin Browne and Jason Gore. Browne, who had to shoot a 59 in qualifying to even make it this far, shot a steady 71 on Friday to maintain a shot at winning the 105th U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Gore, on the other hand, has had mild success on the Nationwide Tour (three wins) but has never been in a situation quite like this.

Continue reading “Three-Way Tie for the Lead at the Halfway Point at Pinehurst”

Pinehurst is still a special place. That didn’t change since yesterday, but there is a new word of the day: people. There were people everywhere. The 20,000 spaces in the stands filled up before 10:00 and most of the other people on foot were following Tiger.

As soon as we walked through the gate, Tiger’s throng was amassing around the 11th hole. As my friend and I walked over that way, we got to watch the Els group hit their tee shots down the 12th fairway. After that, it was a blur. We went over to 11 to watch Tiger, back to 12 to see his tee shot, over to 13 again to stay ahead of him, then to 14 green to watch Els’ approach shot. We stayed there to wait for Tiger (who hit a monster drive on 14 by the way), and catch our breath.

Continue reading “On Location at the 2005 U.S. Open – Thursday’s Opening Round”