Category: Thrash Talk

The PGA Tour got the 2012 FedExCup Playoffs right. That statement from me is not easy to make, mostly because I have been quite critical of the playoff format. I like to see the best player win the money title, not someone who got hot at the Tour Championship as Bill Haas did last year. The best player last year was Luke Donald, and although he won the money title at the end of the Fall Series I felt if any player deserved the $10M bonus it was Luke and not Bill.

All that said, this year I see the magic that Tim Finchem was trying to create by getting the best players to play in the events at the end of the season. We have been treated to some fantastic golf, by all the big names. Consider this past weeks BMW Championship where the leaderboard displayed names like Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, and Vijay Singh. All the giants of the game, and each of them playing some of their best golf. The only word I can use to describe it is brilliant.

Continue reading “Should the PGA Tour Have Playoffs?”

I enjoyed watching Rory McIlroy win these past two weekends at the Deutsche Bank and BMW Championships. Rory appears like a very likable young man and a very gracious winner. He is young and I think he has only just begun to get as good as he will eventually be. He does not have the same impact on the game of golf as Tiger did at the same age.

Tiger hit the scene and the game has been changed forever. Tiger was incredibly athletic and had a workout plan that would make a NFL football player proud, at a time that most golfers were not in the gym much at all, if ever. Rory is fit, in fact much more fit in recent months than in his younger days, but almost all the golfers on the PGA Tour are fit in today’s game. Not all of them, but the vast majority, certainly most of those in the top ten of the world rankings.

Continue reading “The Rise of Rory McIlroy”

After the Masters, Bubba Watson was holding the trophy the American team was the strong favorite to win the Ryder Cup. The last couple of majors had been won by Americans and the Europeans had not really been making many waves. Since the U.S. Open, however, the tide has changed a bit and with resurgences from Euros such as Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, I think the Europeans are now the favorite.

I think the home-field advantage of Medinah will certainly help the Americans, but the Europeans will have only one rookie that plays on the team, contrasting the Americans have three inside the top eight and may pick up another if U.S. Captain Davis Love III selects another with one of his four captain’s picks. I do think Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley, and Webb Simpson will play well, but they are rookies nonetheless and could easily get caught up in trying to play too well.

It seems almost a certainty that two of the four available captains picks for Davis Love III has have already been decided. By most accounts he will select Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker to the team. The remaining two picks are much more of a true unknown and adds some intrigue to the process.

Continue reading “Choosing the 2012 Ryder Cup Team”

The 2012 major season is now over. I am always a little sad when it is done because it means that summer only has a few more weeks before fall and then it seems that winter comes sooner than I feel it should. I live in California, so we don’t really have a winter per se, but golf in the summer months is way better than in the winter months. I digress; I do look forward to the Ryder Cup, so there is still some excitement left for me.

This year’s majors really delivered some first-rate drama. Bubba in a playoff, Webb Simpson from behind, Ernie returning to the winner’s circle in the majors, and concluded by a runaway victory for Rory. The season had some great story lines.

Continue reading “Thoughts on the 2012 Majors”

This year the Open Championship moves to the site of David Duval’s only major victory – Royal Lytham and St. Annes. I truly enjoy the Open Championship because I can start watching the action as I sit down for breakfast in the morning and by lunch time the majority of play is over. The build up for this years event is great as well. Tiger is really hitting his stride aside from his missed cut at the Greenbrier, Phil cut his vacation short to play in the Scottish Open and played decently, all the big names are hitting their stride. With that lets see what the staff predicts for this year’s tournament.

Continue reading “2012 British Open: Staff Predictions and Five Questions”