Category: PGA

I’m on location this week near Columbus, OH to watch The Memorial Tournament, a tournament Jack Nicklaus has attempted to craft into his very own Masters tournament. There’s the course, a 7300-yard test with small greens, a meandering stream, hills left and right (and fore and back), and a 165-yard 12th hole over water to a diagonal, peanut-shaped green. There are the caddies, who all wear white overalls. There are the trash bags, all tents, and the course conditions – green, green, and green. There’s even the name of the club at which the tournament is played – “town name” Golf Club (I guess Jack forgot the word ‘National’). Nicklaus, winner of six Masters, has created a tournament that draws big fields, I’ll give him that. But The Memorial is no Masters.

Heck, it may not even be a PGA Tour stop after this year… but more on that tomorrow.

Continue reading “On Location at The Memorial – Tuesday”

The 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.

Continue reading “Leonard Sneaks One Out at the FedEx”

Justin Leonard grabbed the largest 54-hole lead of the year as he shot a 4-under 66 to lead the pack by a whopping 8 strokes. He sits at 17-under. He has carried a lot of confidence into the weekend having shot an 8-under round one and a 5-under round two at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. “I want to finish this off well and I want to play a good solid round tomorrow,” said Leonard. “I don’t want tomorrow to take anything away from what I’ve done this week.”

Leonard felt that consistent and bogey-free golf has made the difference. Leonard said, “I think we’re all going to have stretches where we make a lot of birdies but to get around here with as difficult as these greens are with one bogey I’m pretty proud of.”

Continue reading “Justin Leonard Blow-Out at FedEx St. Jude”

Hit it straight off the tee and hit a lot of greens. That is the key for Justin Leonard so far this week at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He shot a five-under par round of 65 on Friday to push his lead to five strokes over a surging Fredrik Jacobson. Leonard is currently ninth in driving accuracy and tied for first on greens in regulation. Add that to the fact he is fourth in putting, and it’s easy to see why the Texan is cruising so far in Memphis. Justin is halfway to his second win of 2005, also winning the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in January. The fairways have dried out a little, and he is taking advantage of that to get a little more distance off the tee.

Continue reading “Leonard Maintains Lead in Memphis”

The revamped TPC at Southwind is normally one of the tougher courses on tour but that did not seem to be the case for the morning tee times of the FedEx St. Jude Classic. With unusually clear skies and extremely calm winds, Justin Leonard entered the clubhouse early with a five-stroke lead. As the weather conditions changed in the afternoon, so did the scores. The wind started to pick up, averaging around 12 miles per hour, but that wasn’t enough to stop Kirk Triplett (64) and Davis Love III (65).

TPC at Southwind has received a facelift since last year’s St. Jude Classic. The course was lengthened 141 yards, a total of 7,244 yards. The par-4 5th hole now plays as a 485-yard par 5 and every green has successfully made the transition from bentgrass to Bermuda grass.

Continue reading “Bogey-Free Leonard Leads, Triplett and Love III Lurk”

David Toms finished in a tie for third last week at Colonial. That was his best finish since winning the Match Play Championship in February. This week, Toms will be playing a tournament that he has owned the last couple years. He will tee it up at the FedEx St. Jude Classic as the two-time defending champion and will look to be the first guy to win the tournament three straight years. He didn’t just win it last year, he dominated it! He finished up at -16 and six shots ahead of the next guy in line. There is no doubt Toms will be the favorite once again in Memphis, but there are a few other guys who will have their sights on the victory as well.

Continue reading “FedEx St. Jude Classic Preview”

Kenny Perry shot a modest round of 69 on Sunday to claim his second victory at the Bank of America Colonial. He won it two years ago and set the tournament record by posting a winning score of -19. This time around, Perry also finished at -19 to tie his own record. He was well on his way to setting a new tournament record, but a double bogey at the 17th hole derailed that. He also holds the 36-hole and 54-hole scoring records at Colonial. The win was Perry’s second of 2005. He won the Bay Hill Invitational back in March.

Continue reading “Perry Wins Colonial in Record-Tying Fashion”

Kenny Perry is putting on a golf clinic this week at the Bank of America Colonial. Thursday at 5-under, Friday at 7-under, and Saturday at 6-under all add up to a new third round scoring record at the Colonial. Perry didn’t think the 36-hole record was enough and proceeded to break his own 54-hold record at 18-under 192 today. The Colonial tournament is firmly in Perry’s control as he leads second-place Billy Mayfair and Steve Stricker by seven strokes.

Perhaps the Colonial course is perfect for Perry’s game as he is ranked 8th in driving distance, 37th in fairways hit, and 1st in greens in regulation on the Tour in 2005. The Colonial Country Club requires both accuracy and distance and Perry has both and his stats reflect. If he holds on to this comfortable lead a win here be his second at the Colonial, his first coming in 2003, a year in which he posted 3 wins.

Continue reading “Kenny Perry Seeing Clearly at 2005 Colonial”

In the Bank of America Colonial preview, I said the low rounds were hard to find. I couldn’t have been more wrong with that statement. Kenny Perry followed up a superb opening-round 65 with a flawless round of 63 to take the lead at the halfway point in Fort Worth. He put together seven birdies and zero bogeys in his round Friday, and he has only had one bogey overall in the first two rounds. Perry’s score of 128 after two rounds is the tournament record. He set the tournament record for the entire tournament when he won in 2003, and he will be looking to inch ever so close to that this weekend.

Continue reading “Perry Sets 36-Hole Scoring Record at Colonial”