Tiger Battles, Haas Leads Tour Championship

After a forgettable first round, Tiger Woods roared back to life Friday with a bogey-free 64 at the Tour Championship, matching his best round of the year.

Tiger Tour ChampionshipTiger woods came roaring back today and Jay Haas not only held onto but extended his first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, GA.

A month shy of his 51st, Jay Haas followed up his first-round 3-under 67 with an even better 4-under 66 to take a two-shot lead over Stephen Ames. Haas is the oldest man to ever qualify for the Tour Championship. “Any time I lead is a great feeling at 20, 30, 40, 50, whatever it is,” said Haas. “It’s way too early to get too excited about it. But I haven’t done it with smoke and mirrors. I’ve played solid golf, and that gives me encouragement for the weekend.”

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Play Catch

Practicing distance control doesn’t have to be boring: turn it into a fun game of “pitch” and catch.

Practicing distance control doesn’t have to be boring: turn it into a fun game of “pitch” and catch. Get your husband, your son, your wife, daughter, friend, nephew, aunt, or buddy to put on a glove and stand some distance from you. Hit ten shots, allowing your friend to move between shots. Count the number of times your friend can make a catch without moving more than one step in any direction.

Then switch and let your partner try to beat your score. Use any club in the bag and play a range of distances from 20 yards to 100 yards. You will want to win, and so you’ll quickly locate the distance with which your partner has the most difficulty, encouraging him to practice his weak spots (and he yours).

British Open Ticket Prices Set

R&A sets its ticket prices for the 2005 Open Championship at St. Andrews

Get out your checkbooks – the Royal & Ancient Golf Club has set the ticket prices for the 2005 Open Championship to be held at the Old Course in St. Andrews on July 14-17, 2005.

Daily ticket pricing:

Sunday    $9.20 
Monday   $37.00 
Tue/Wed  $46.00 
Thu/Fri  $74.00 
Sat/Sun  $83.00

Weekly passes, before January 31, 2005, will run $240.00 which is a discount of almost half over the regular daily admission fees. Between February 1 and April 30, the weekly passes will run $266.00 and after May 1, they will be $295.00.

With a policy that began back in 1997, the Open Championship admits children under the age of 16 for free. So bring the kids and have some fun.

Tiger Sues Yacht Builder

Tiger Woods sues Christensen Shipyards claiming unauthorized use of his name.

tiger_woods_yacht.jpgTiger Woods has filed suit against Vancouver firm Christensen Shipyards concerning the purchase of the luxury yacht “Privacy”. The so-named 155-foot vessel cost Woods $20 million or so. But you’d think spending that much money and calling the darned thing “Privacy”, that you’d expect some. In fact, Tiger didn’t just expect it, he demanded it with a confidentiality agreement.

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Once a Cheater…

On cheating, golf’s long memory and glass houses. With a little bit of Tiger-post-honeymoon-watch thrown in, just because you can’t write a golf article without mentioning Tiger …

cheat_at_golf.jpgGo ahead, you can admit it to me. I won’t tell, I promise.

You’ve used the foot wedge, haven’t you? You’ve taken too many mulligans. Heck, I bet you’ve hit a few into the woods, teed it back up and didn’t take the stroke.

You are a cheater.

And what of it, I say? Yes, you’ve cheated. I’ve cheated. I use the foot wedge, and far too liberal winter rules, and take too many mulligans, and countless other rules infractions. Heck, I’m willing to bet that I cheat every single round.

I hurt myself and my golf game; I’ve probably deflated my handicap by a couple of strokes (and considering my handicap, that’s pretty sad) and as a result I don’t have a true gauge of my skill. I might’ve even gloated to my father-in-law over a win that I didn’t deserve because he gave me a few strokes too many.

But, I don’t play in tournaments. I don’t bet on golf. I try to enjoy the game and, if a foot wedge or two helps me enjoy the game, what of it?

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The Honeymoon’s Over

The Tour Championship starts today at East Lake Golf Club. Vijay looks for his seventh win in the last nine events, but all anyone’s going to talk about is Tiger … or is that Mr. Elin?

Tiger and Vijay at East Lake Okay, so did you actually think I’d be able to start an article about the Tour Championship without the headline being about Tiger’s return to the tour after his honeymoon with Elin?

Sure, there are other interesting stories. Take, for example, the Tour’s decision to add Padraig Harrington to the roster at the event. Usually, the Tour Championship is for the top thirty money-earners on the Tour. But, had Padraig actually played on the Tour this year, his $2.1 million would have been more than enough to secure him a spot in the tourney. How nice of the Tour to include him; he’s decided to return the good will, and join the PGA Tour as a full member in 2005. This is Padraig’s first year playing in the Tour Championship.

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Finchem, Els Settle Misunderstanding

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem’s comments took some steam out of speculation about an imminent showdown with Ernie Els.

Tim FinehcemWe’ve previously written about Ernie Els and his battle with the PGA Tour here and here. Turns out it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem sees “no problem” with the amount of tournaments Ernie Els plays overseas. Said Finchem “he’s playing enough to satisfy his membership requirements on the PGA Tour.”

Finchem’s comments defused a bomb that was set to explode at this week’s Tour Championship. Els said last month that he planned to meet with Finchem at the tournament and was frustrated over having to play more tournaments to obtain overseas releases. “Don’t start putting a padlock around me because that’s not going to work,” Els said during the HSBC in England.

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Geiberger Fined $20,000 for Slow Play

Brent Geiberger believes he was found guilty by association after the tour introduced a tough penalty structure to combat slow play.

Brent Geiberger is the first player to have been fined $20,000 for slow play. He was put on the clock ten times in one season. “I understand they’re trying to do something about slow play and trying to get a system that works,” Geiberger said. “But it’s not a system that shows you’re a slow player.”

Last year, the PGA Tour introduced a highly penal system to combat slow play. Some players feared that they would be guilty by association if they were consistently paired with slow players. According to PGA Tour rules, all players in a group are put on the clock if the group is out of position.

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Azinger and Faldo in the Booth

Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger will be side-by-side at the Tour Championship, starting their new roles as analysts for ABC Sports.

Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger, far removed from their 1993 Ryder Cup draw, will be side-by-side in the ABC booth at the Tour Championship this week as analysts for ABC. As with Monday Night football, the three-man booth (Azinger, Faldo, and staple Mike Tirico) will be the first this booth has seen (outside of post-round interviews).

“Their personalities were so divergent,” ABC golf producer Mark Loomis stated. “But they believed in what they said, and they also listened to others. I thought the two of them together will be terrific.”

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