The Race to The Tour Championship is one that keeps me interested in the PGA Tour long after the season’s final major championship, and this year was no different. I watched nearly every tournament in the past month or two, including yesterday’s final round of the Chrysler Championship. Congratulations are in order for K.J. Choi who won this week’s tournament and moved from 68th to 26th on the PGA Tour money list. Choi gets to tee it up at East Lake for his efforts.
Most of my weekend focus was on Ernie Els. The Big Easy missed out on the top 30 last season due to late-season injuries, but he was bound and determined to make it to the season’s final event this year. In the end, a tie for sixth was good enough to move Els to 27th on the money list. Seeing the South African attempt to crunch the numbers after his round showed me just how much The Tour Championship still means to most of the world’s best.
A story broke in the world of tennis this afternoon: tennis great Roger Federer was withdrawing from the Paris Masters Tournament one day before his opening-round match.
It’s really great fun to sit back and watch today’s club designers labor to come up with something new and different year after year. Given the rules now constraining volume (the 460 cc limit), COR (coefficient of restitution, or spring-like effect), and MOI (moment of inertia), clubhead shape and material composition seems to be the most widely explored options open to them.
Well the final 125 on the PGA Tour money list are in, and sadly, there weren’t any heartbreakers this year to speak of from the final regular-season event. I hate to say it, but after the Tour Championship, the entire golf world will be going into hibernation.
It’s no secret that physical conditioning is more important to your game than your equipment. While that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be as cut as Tiger Woods or Camilo Villegas, it’s worth considering that even doughboy Phil Mickelson works out.
The chase for the top 125 and 30 is almost over. The PGA Tour’s best have one more tournament to get into the Tour Championship and players on the bubble to secure their card for next year. It’s always fun to pick apart some of the names that are (and are not) in the cut.
After three weeks off, we catch up with Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie, Troy Mattesson, Joe Durant, and more of our favorite characters. Also, guess what? Those dreams you had of one day playing on the Champions Tour? Forget it. That dream has been squashed like a vile little bug. Tune into this episode of Golf Talk for more.
With all apologies to the PGA Championship’s overused phrase, this weekend’s Chrysler Classic is truly “glory’s last shot” for a lot of touring pros. Par will be a player’s best friend this weekend in a tournament that usually has more of a Q-School feel than a regular PGA Tour event, as the top 125 money list for the year is finalized with the final putt on Sunday.