With the British Open fast approaching, I can’t help but think about some of the major suprises in recent years. The thoughts aren’t all positive, that’s for sure. The last two British Open champions, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton, have done nothing worth noting since their triumphs across the pond. Add 2002 and 2003 PGA Champions Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel to that list as well. These four golfers have gone downhill in a hurry since their major championship victories, and I really don’t think that is very good for the PGA Tour to be honest.
I know that suprise winners in major championships is just a part of golf’s great history, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I definitely find myself pulling for the top golfers in the world when the majors roll around. I don’t enjoy seeing no-name golfers win the biggest tournaments in golf, and I believe a lot of people share this veiwpoint as well. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed watching Jason Gore put himself in contention a few weeks ago at the U.S. Open. That was a great story, and I wish he would have held it together on the final day. But I never wanted him to win it.
The Acushnet Company, parent company of Titleist, has sued Cam Golf, Inc., City Sports, Inc., Faber Brothers, Inc., GI Joe’s, Inc., and Kings of Golf, Inc. for selling counterfeit Titleist Pro V1 golf balls, the world’s best-selling golf ball and the preferred ball of professional players worldwide.
In America, the words “hot import” would probably be most closely identified with cars bearing the names Honda, Toyota, or Lexus. The tables are turned, however, when it comes to golf clubs. The hot imports in the Japanese golf markets come from U.S. companies like Callaway and TaylorMade.
Tiger Woods made a Sunday charge and made up a three-stroke deficit on 54-hole co-leader Jim Furyk at the (cough, ahem, Cialis) Western Open today at Chicago’s beautiful Cog Hill Golf and Country Club. The downside? Woods started the day five strokes back, and Furyk’s two-stroke victory – the tenth of his career and his first in two years – was all but assured when Tiger faltered at 13 and 14 as Furyk poured in three straight birdies to retake a four-stroke lead after Tiger caught him with an eagle at the 11th.
In 2004 Marisa Baena was contemplating quitting the LPGA Tour. With non-exempt status and having to Monday-qualify for several events this year Baena said she would give herself two more years before changing careers. What a mistake that would have been as she finally broke through to victory today at the 2005 HSBC Women’s Match Play Championship. Playing as Marisa stated “the best golf I’ve played all season” the 60th-seed golfed confidently today finishing with a 1-up victory against LPGA Tour rookie Meena Lee.
This week, we’re going to take a look at something near and dear to The Sand Trap’s heart: the best pressure-packed bunker shots in golf’s history.
TaylorMade’s recent “every iron is a long iron” advertising campaign has done well for the Carlsbad fraternity. Marching to the same beat as their “own the teebox” campaign, the “long iron” campaign has drawn a good amount of attention to TaylorMade’s irons. Look inside the bags of players at your local course and you’re unlikely to find too many playing TaylorMade irons – you’ll see plenty of Titleist, Ping, and Callaway. You may even see more MacGregor (if you count the hand-me-downs), Wilson, and Nike. Despite the fact that TaylorMade ranks highly in sales numbers, their irons just don’t seem to hang around in the bags of better players very long.