Tiger Woods has had a great 2005 so far, and it could get even better this week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods has an amazing six-point lead in the world rankings after regaining the top spot from Vijay Singh earlier this season. Tiger comes into Boston this week off the heels of a win at Firestone two weeks ago in the WGC-NEC Invitational. Add to that the fact Woods finished second in this event last year.
The man that beat Tiger and rest of the field last year at the Deutsche Bank Championship was Vijay Singh. Singh outplayed Woods en route to moving into the top spot in the world rankings for the first time in his career. Vijay was planning on defending this week in Boston, but that unfortunately isn’t going to be the case. Singh pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday because of back spasms. He hurt his back while playing table tennis with his son.
Now that the majors are done with a lot of the focus now is on the second-tier players to finish strong, secure cards, and possibly make a name for themselves. For these reasons, most of these tournaments in the next couple months will be quite important for guys you probably have not have heard of. This week, I want to look a bit closer at a couple players that I believe are on their way up and going to have some success.
For the past thirty years the Labor Day weekend has been a special time for the LPGA Tour. In 1976 the first Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Classic was held at the Rail Golf Club, yearly site of the State Farm Classic. This golf course was newly completed and without clubhouse, trees, or even a parking lot. But Patty Berg and the LPGA saw both beauty and challenge in the course and the co-owners were interested in donating to worthwhile charities so the LPGA went ahead and placed it on their tour calendar.
When the 
The big-name golf equipment manufacturers spend millions of dollars every year to promote their wares. But how much of what the average golfer plays can be considered “brand-name” or “pro-line” equipment? Even on vacation, The Bag Drop never stops working for you. Read on to see what my extremely non-scientific survey discovered about what’s really in the bags of some very average golfers.
I’ve never played so much golf in my life. In three days, I played a total of 104 holes of golf. We played 45 on Thursday and Friday and 14 on Saturday (we were rained out the last four holes). My hands are sore, I think I strained my sternum, and my right butt cheek hurts from bending over to pick up my ball out of the cup and tee up my driver. But to be honest, I would do it all over again tomorrow. Man, I love this game.
Paired with third-round leader Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr played catch-up today at the Wendy’s Championship for Children. Annika Sorenstam had already finished her round and was sitting comfortably in the clubhouse watching the action. Today Annika enjoyed the euphoria of a bogey-free round dotted with six birdies, her first one dropping in at the first and concluding with a fist-pumping birdie on eighteen.
Brad Faxon fired a career- and tournament-low 61 on Sunday to seemingly lock up the Buick Championship until Tjaart van der Walt finished birdie-birdie to force a playoff. Tjart’s drive on the first playoff hole found the fairway while Faxon found the bunker. Tjaart’s approach ripped through the flag and came to rest six feet away. Faxon’s came to rest two feet away. When Tjaart missed and Faxon made his center-cut, the all-Titleist playoff was over, and Brad Faxon – who has not won in 125 starts on the PGA Tour – captured his eighth PGA Tour victory.