Furyk Maintains Lead at Westchester

Jim Furyk shot a two-under par 69 on Friday and leads by a pair at the Barclays Classic.

barclays_logo.gifJim Furyk carded two birdies and two bogeys in his second round at Westchester Country Club. Oh yeah, he also holed out for eagle on the eighth hole! The eighth hole was Furyk’s 17th of the day, and his eagle vaulted him back to the top of the leaderboard where he finished the first round. Mike “Fluff” Cowan, Furyk’s caddy, advised his player to hit an eight-iron into the green on the difficult eighth hole, and he was right on the money. Cowan made the decision, and Furyk took care of the rest. The eagle put Jim Furyk at -8 for the tournament, and that number was good enough to keep him in the lead at the halfway point of the Barclays Classic.

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U.S. Open Boring? NBC Sports Contributor Dan O’Neill Thinks So

Dan O’Neill is devoid of all emotion when it comes to players having difficulty at the 105th U.S. Open.

Dan O'Neill of NBCSportsI was jumping around the MSNBC site looking to see if the Jessica Simpson vs. Lindsay Lohan catfight had turned deadly but instead I stumbled across commentary by a gentlemen named Dan O’Neill. O’Neill is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and contributes to NBCSports.com. He is horrible at creating analogies, but he is good at annoying me.

The first article of which I had the honor to read by this guy, whom has not been excited since the 1999 U.S. Open or possibly since he was born, was entitled “Goosen (yawn) to win 2nd straight Open”. How can you put the word yawn and Goosen in the same sentence after Goosen (along with Peter Jacobsen) had the only sub-70 scores in the third round? Although Retief struggled on Sunday, he still doesn’t deserve a “yawn”.

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Furyk Holds Lead After Slow First Round of Barclays Classic

Jim Furyk leads after the first round of the Barclays Classic with Perry and Singh not far behind.

I’m sure you’re aware of the fact that Jim Furyk had arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left wrist last March and was unable to compete for nearly three months after. When he returned later in 2004, he had two top-10 finishes and mentioned something about his positive results being “gravy”. I thought to myself, “Gravy? How can gravy relate to playing superb golf?” After hours of rigorous Google research and intense squeezing of a squishy stress relief ball, I have come to the simple conclusion that “gravy” is another term for “the icing on the cake”, used to describe Furyk’s comeback.

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First Round of U.S. Women’s Open Suspended

The U.S. Women’s Open was called this evening on account of darkness and gloomy weather. About half of the golfers completed their rounds.

Darkness forced the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open to a halt this evening. Just over 75 women completed the first round and only four of those players broke par.

Several golfers have already finished for the day including Annika Sorenstam whose round of 71 left her only two strokes behind leaders Angela Stanford (69) and amateur Brittany Lang (69). Michelle Wie is also cruising up the leaderboard currently tied for 4th place with Natalie Gulbis, Nicole Perrot and Liselotte Neumann (70) although she waits until tomorrow to finish her first round.

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Potential Callaway Buyout

A proposal has been in the works for a Callaway buyout since May 20th. No word yet on the outcome.

The buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners and insurance mogul William Foley II submitted a $1.2 billion cash buyout proposal to Callaway’s board May 20th. According to the Los Angeles Times Callaway’s top executive team were all unanimous in their approval of the bid but there appears to dissenting views from some on the board. One faction of the board is proposing the replacement of William Baker, Callaway’s chairman and chief executive with another board member, Anthony Thornley. Baker is reportedly in favor of the bid.

CNN reports that Callaway stock is up 13 percent today upon news of the potential buyout.

UPDATE: My recently informed opinion is that going private by accepting this deal, or one just like it, would be a big step in the right direction for Callaway. The only thing holding them back at this point are board members unwilling to break from the status quo for the good of the company.

Callaway Big Bertha 454 Review

The Callaway Big Bertha 454 may not be Callaway’s top of the line driver now that the FT-3 is out, but it’s a solid everyman’s driver that’ll keep you in the fairway.

Callaway 454I’m a Titleist guy. I admit it. I’ve gone to counseling and it’s not helped. I’ve undergone shock treatments, withstood bribes, and watched Tiger Woods win major after major with “inferior equipment” following his move away from Titleist to Nike. I even saw Phil Mickelson shoot 59 after switching from Titleist. Still, I’m a Titleist guy.

But at the core, I’m a golfer, and one who plays fairly well. The line that separates “good enough” equipment from “perfect” equipment is a blurry one. I’m always looking for a bit of an advantage, and the Callaway Big Bertha 454 has gotten some rave reviews. Though Phil and Annika are playing the next Callaway driver (the recently introduced FT-3), the 454 promises to be an everyman’s driver – good technology that doesn’t require the ability to shoot 59 to handle it.

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Barclays Classic Preview

Both Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh will be looking for their third win at Westchester Country Club this week.

barclays_logo.gifNow that the U.S. Open at Pinehurst is in the past, it’s time for the golfers to get primed for the British Open next month. The first stop is this week’s Barclay Classic, the event formerly known as the Buick Classic. This event is always within a week of the second major championship, either the week before or the week after. Westchester Country Club is the course for the Barclays Classic, and it is a very solid venue all the way around. Many of the world’s best players make their way to this event, and this year will be no different.

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U.S. Women’s Open Preview

Meg Mallon defends her 2004 U.S. Open victory this week in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado.

us_womens_open_logo.jpgCherry Hills Country Club sets the stage for the LPGA’s third major tournament of the year. Defending champion Meg Mallon will attempt to grab her share of the $3.1 million purse as she has done on two previous occasions.

A first-place check of $560,000 and the prestige of winning the beautiful sterling trophy has 155 of the best women golfers in the world chomping at the bit for a chance at the glory it represents.

The 72-hole championship originated in 1946 as a match-play event changing over to stroke-play the following year and is the longest-running tournament on the LPGA Tour.

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Campbell Not Being Given his Due

A reader writes in with some poignant thoughts on the 105th U.S. Open and the media reaction to a Campbell victory.

We received an email from The Sand Trap reader Bruce Hardie on Tuesday, and we’d like to share it.

I’m a fan of The Sand Trap and you and the rest of your writers should be congratulated.

I’m surprised, and maybe even a little hurt, by some of the reactions to Michael Campbell’s win. Some of the press seem to think that he was some second rate scrub who got lucky.

Ned Barnett says “Campbell’s win was great for his career, his bank account and his family, but it wasn’t great for golf… The leaderboard was full of little-known international players who are little-known for a reason.”

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