Category: PGA

U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Friday

Phil plays the “bang and blame” game, Tiger hacks his way around the easy second hole and makes perhaps the best five I’ve seen in a long time, and Angel Cabrera relies on the Big Break to hold the lead?

2007 U.S. OpenI attended the U.S. Open yesterday and sat behind the first green for about five hours. Then I went to the ninth green for about three hours.

I saw one birdie: a chip-in by Justin Rose at the first. I saw Ian Poulter’s long putt from off the green nearly fall and Shingo Katayama’s chip from the fairway rattle the pin before rolling a few feet away. He would later miss the par putt.

Friday I sat behind the 18th green. Though the hole was blocked by a large tree, reasonable views of the tenth, twelfth, and fifteenth tees as well as the ninth green (if you’re on the railing). Sitting in the shadows of the trees, and with the wind whipping, the location was less than desirable: walking the course until about noon is advised for those coming on Saturday or Sunday.

Anyway, here are my observations…

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U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Tuesday

The Pelzmeter exists, and despite a ten-minute conversation on the fifth green with its inventor, Fred Funk ain’t buyin’ it.

2007 U.S. OpenWhen I arrived at lunchtime yesterday, Lot C was half full. Today, at 7am, I parked in the first row. As you might have guessed, the course was relatively empty as well, and in fact the last four or five holes didn’t even have new cups cut yet or flags installed.

Tiger Woods teed off today with Bubba Watson just as I arrived, and we eventually caught Tiger on the eighth hole as I walked the course backwards getting architectural shots. Read on for the rest of my journal notes from Tuesday at the U.S. Open.

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U.S. Open at Oakmont Journal: Monday

Birdie holes at a U.S. Open? Yeah, I believe there are.

2007 U.S. OpenI arrived at about lunchtime at the U.S. Open’s first official practice round today. Though, as a member of the media I am in a different lot than the one used by the majority of the fans (who are being scuttled off I-76 exit 39 to the “Red” and “Blue” lots), I must say how surprised I was at how few people were attending and how much room was available. Sunday will no doubt be mad crazy, but Monday and I would suspect Tuesday and Wednesday are great days to see some golf.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: Tiger

Tiger Woods didn’t win the 2007 Memorial. Heck, he wasn’t even close. But that didn’t stop everyone from taking plenty of pictures of him.

The Memorial TournamentTiger Woods is a big draw at any tournament. Last year, while Tiger was taking time off to grieve the death of his father Earl, the media room at The Memorial was rather bare. Half the number of photographers were present. This year, with Tiger Woods in the field, photographers flooded the course.

We managed to get a few snaps of Tiger in action, and we present them here with a little commentary.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Americans

Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson withdrew, but we’ve still got pictures of them.

The Memorial TournamentThe Memorial attracts a wealth of good players, and a good many of them are American. However, their numbers are dwindling, as Jack Nicklaus himself is quick to point out. Nicklaus says golf is again becoming more of a “world game,” and that the pendulum is swinging back towards foreign domination of golf. Witness, he says, the last several Ryder Cups and the number of international players in the field at his tournament.

The man has got a point.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Internationals

With all the Aussies that appeared on the leaderboard and a Korean winner, you bet we’ve got a lot of international player photos.

The Memorial TournamentDespite having a field of about 100 to 110 contestants, The Memorial Tournament attracts a wide variety of foreign players. Though they rarely experience success at Muirfield Village, the 2007 edition was won by a Korean – K.J. Choi – and featured several Aussies in contention, including Adam Scott, Rod Pampling, Geoff Ogilvy, and Aaron Baddeley.

Here are some shots of some of the more popular international players from the 32nd Memorial Tournament.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Others

It’s probably just David Leadbetter’s lunch, but I’d really like to know what he carries around in his man purse!

The Memorial TournamentLast year, we looked at Muirfield Village’s defenses and those pesky furrows. This year, we didn’t do that quite as much as the bunkers were less of an issue and the course itself hasn’t changed much.

So, filling out this year’s “Others” picture-heavy post, we have David Leadbetter and his mystery bag, a shot of the new bunker rake, and a pair of shots with no people in them whatsoever.

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2007 Masters Live Blog

Join us in a running commentary on the 2007 Masters. Who will win? Reload frequently.

18:40 – Tiger fails to hole out for eagle to tie Zach Johnson. The final leaderboard looks like this:

Pos Player         R4  Tot   R1   R2   R3   R3   Total
--- ------         --  ---   --   --   --   --   -----
1   Z. Johnson     -3   +1   71   73   76   69    289
T2  R. Sabbatini   -3   +3   73   76   73   69    291
T2  R. Goosen      -3   +3   76   76   70   69    291
T2  T. Woods        E   +3   73   74   72   72    291
T5  J. Kelly       -2   +4   75   69   78   70    292
T5  J. Rose        +1   +4   69   75   75   73    292
T7  P. Harrington  +1   +5   77   68   75   73    293
T7  S. Appleby     +3   +5   75   70   73   75    293
9   D. Toms         E   +6   70   78   74   72    294

Phil Puts the Green Jacket on Zach

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2006 Tour Championship Preview

I don’t know who’s going to step up and win this week, but chances are that it will probably not be Woods or Mickelson.

Tour ChampionshipThe 30-man Tour Championship field is short three players this week. It’s just too bad two of those three players happen to be Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Both are sitting out the week after complaining of fatigue from playing multiple weeks to finish the year.

I’m sorry, but when do these two guys get a free pass to miss one of the most prestigious tournaments on tour?

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