Hello and good day to you, Hittin the Links is here again to bring you the week’s best in golf. Wow, there were quite a few stories from the golf world this week. I can’t remember the last time there were four different tournaments of any consequence going at the same time. This week we had the LPGA playing the British Open, the PGA Tour in both Ohio and Nevada, and the Champions Tour in Colorado at the U.S. Senior Open. It made for a good weekend of watching golf.
In HTL this week, we have links explaining Monty’s attitude towards drug testing, looking at the toughest courses in the United States, and seeing how Michelle Wie missed another cut. Also, we see why Hunter Mahan doesn’t like the Ryder Cup, find out where Greg Norman will be next April, and we do a full wrap-up of the week’s tournaments. Read on!Hole 1: The Devil’s Courses
Here are the 50 toughest golf courses in the United States. [Link]
Hole 2: You’re Not Going to Believe This!
Colin Montgomerie was less than pleased when he was tapped for a drug test at the Bridgestone Invitational. I mean normally he’s so cordial. [Link]
Hole 3: Enough Already!
Michelle Wie misses another cut on the PGA tour (yawn). [Link]
Hole 4: Well Maybe You’ll Get That Week Off Now
After some less than positive comments about the Ryder Cup, Hunter Mahan may not have to worry about it. And the rest of us are left thinking, how greedy are you guys? [Link]
Hole 5: Evert Making Norman’s Travel Plans?
Chris Evert is excited by the invitation her husband will receive for his British Open finish. [Link]
Hole 6: Women’s British Open
South Korea’s Ji-Yai Shin helped Asia keep its stranglehold on women’s golf with a win at the British Open. [Link]
Hole 7: Legends Reno-Tahoe Open
Parker McLachlin limps in on Sunday but still wins in Reno by seven shots. [Link]
Hole 8: U.S. Senior Open
Argentina’s Eduardo Romero overcame bears on the fairway and several challengers to take home the Senior U.S. Open Championship. [Link]
Hole 9: Bridgestone Invitational
Vijay Singh shows he still has it with a win at Firestone Country Club. [Link]
1. Can we stop the commentary on Ms Wie? It’s a “yawn”, as you’ve correctly pointed out. In any case, those extra hard working and dedicated young ladies from Asia have taken over the ladies scene. There’s only 1 “Vijay” on the men’s tour, but there are many “Vijays” on the LPGA.
2. Speaking of Vijay, congrats Mr. Singh. You are a shining example of what hard work and dedication can achieve.
3. Mr Mahan, how utterly shameful! In the year of the Olympic Games, is there no pride left in an athelete’s heart to represent his country? Is it any wonder that Hunter has never won a major, and is in no danger of doing so in the future either? It’s about the heart, not the wallet. Both Jack and Tiger will tell you so.
Yikes! Chastising a US player for not wanting to put any effort into playing for his country? Seems you could accuse the last two US teams of the same, no? Only teasing.
Seriously though, where does all the money generated by the Ryder Cup go? There must be many, many millions generated by the match, what is it spent on? If the money is put back into the sport or into a charity, then maybe you can tut-tut at Mahan but otherwise I think it’s a little unfair on the guy. Why should any of them be obliged to play for free just because a PLC waves the stars and stripes and applies pressure on them to participate. It seems cynical on the part of the organisers that they should do so.
Well, that’s a fair question – where’s all the money generated from the event going to? If someone has that answer, we’d all be glad to hear about it.
But despite this very fact, look at the examples set by the Europeans. They all seem to be outwardly expressing their desires to play themselves onto the team, rather than put pressure on the captain (Faldo) to pick them. And we are talking about their best players – back-to-back British Open champion, Order of Merit winners, etc.
The one and only American expressing anywhere near the same level of desire to get onto the US team is Kenny Perry. I guess, in our MTV world, perhaps only with (46 yrs of) age, comes a level of maturity and a sense of responsibility, pride, achievement, accomplishment, etc to having donned the red, white and blue.
Jack has questioned the desire of the younger blokes, I wonder what he thinks of their attitude towards (not) representing the US Ryder Cup team?
This whole issue with Michelle Wie is complex at best. Here we have an extremely talented young female golfer who appears to have been mismanaged up to this point in her career. Albeit I would never argue her right to play a PGA Tour event when offered an invitation to do so. It seems less than beneficial to her from a confidence standpoint.
Can she win on the LPGA? or the PGA? The real question is can she get her head and her beautiful natural game back to win on any tour. She was in a great position in Springfield, IL to win and then “forgets to sign her card”. Who is helping this talented young woman get a grasp on what is going on here?
She is sounding more like a programmed robot in her after-rounds interviews and playing like one in a lot if instances. We NEED Michelle Wie to get it together and become a force on the ladies tour. Our current talent pool here in the US is certainly not as strong as the Asian contingent so to have Michelle go off to play the PGA Tour while she is struggling doesn’t make a lot of sense. Personally I hope to see her make a commitment to the LPGA when she finishes college and make her mark on the game in a positive way and stop the sideshow distractions.