Vijay Gets Medieval in Boston

Vijay pulls out the pliers and the blowtorch and put Tiger’s hopes of remaining on top of the Tour in the hurt locker.

vijay_singh.jpgAfter starting off today down three strokes to the top player in the world, Vijay Singh turned on the heat today at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Vijay shot a tournament-low 63 today to couple with yesterday’s 68 and leave him at 131, two strokes ahead of Tiger Woods, Bill Haas and Richmond, VA native John Rollins.

While he’s turning up the heat on Tiger, Vijay’s playing it cool as a cucumber. “Yeah, if I win this tournament, I’ll be No. 1. Fine,” said Vijay. “But what would that change for me? I’m going to go out there next week and do it all over again.”

Vijay started off his round with an eagle, and made the turn with three more birdies and only one bogey. He kept the pace up on the back nine, with five birdies and another bogey, bringing him to eight-under for the day. Haas was equally strong today with a second-round 64, while Rollins remained consistent, turning in a five-under 66 to accompany yesterday’s four-under 67. With two rounds to go, it looks like the field will be playing to catch Vijay.

The tournament continues with the third round tomorrow at the TPC of Boston.

A Game of Leapfrog

“Anything you can do, I can do better.”
“No you can’t!”
“Yes I CAN!”

jimenez_european_masters.jpgSaturday proved to be a game of “Anything you can do, I can do better” in Switzerland, as Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald were bettered by fellow Ryder Cup teammate Miguel Angel Jimenez. After starting with an eagle, Garcia gave up the lead on the back nine as Jimenez posted a third-round 66, two better than Garcia’s 68. Luke Donald posted a third-round 65, which earned him a share of second place with Garcia.

In addition to the friendly competition before the Ryder Cup matches in two weeks, Jimenez is also looking for his fifth win this year. After rebuffing comments yesterday by Sergio Garcia that Jimenez should sit out the German Masters next week, Jimenez is angling to conquer the Omega European Masters as his sixth win in 2004, equalling the record set by fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros.

“I feel strong. I’m doing the right thing. I don’t feel I need to take a break. […] I have my family with me here and I’m nice and relaxed.” Instead of proving to be a tiring run of events for the 40-year old, Jimenez appears to be thriving with the competition, and a thriving Jimenez could spell trouble for the Americans at Oakland Hills.

However with Tiger playing well in Boston, my figurative money’s still on the Americans.

European Ryders’ Swiss Adventure

Switzerland : Detroit :: European Victory : ???

sergio_garcia_action.jpgEuropean Ryder Cup teammates Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Luke Donald command the leaderboard during the second round of the European Masters in Switzerland today, displaying the reasons they earned their places on the team.

Sergio Garcia goes into the third round 11-under par after pairing yesterday’s 66 with today’s blistering 65. Jimenez is one shot back at 10-under, and Luke Donald is three back of Garcia at 8-under.

While the Europeans may appear at the top of their game, cracks may be appearing in the team’s relationship. When 24-year old Sergio Garcia suggested that his 40-year old teammate Jimenez skip next week’s German Masters so he’d be on the top of his game for the Ryder Cup, Jimenez appeared to bristle.

“I don’t need people to tell me what to do,” said Jimenez. “I am 40 and old enough to know what I have to do.”

Of course, it could just be Spanish humor. I’ve never understood Spanish humor.

Tiger Strong in Boston

Tiger Woods is in at six-under par, tied for the first-round lead.

tiger_woods.jpgTiger Woods looked strong in Boston on Thursday, shooting six-under at the Deutsche Bank Championship. His first-round 65 was good enough to tie him with Tour rookie Ryan Palmer, who missed equaling his best round of the year by one stroke.

Joining Tiger on the leaderboard is his neighbor Mark O’Meara, who hasn’t finished better than 10th this year, and who has gone winless on the PGA Tour since winning the British Open in 1998. Two others join O’Meara at five-under, and five are tied for sixth place at four-under. Vigay Singh is three-back of Woods at three-under, and after the first round it doesn’t appear Tiger needs to worry about losing his Number One world ranking to Singh.

Tiger appeared in command of his driver today, a welcome change for the top-ranked player in the world. Plagued with missed fairways of late, Tiger kept the ball in play and converted his putts to keep himself ahead of the pack. Tiger made the turn at two-under, then turned it on for the back nine, sinking four birdies and keeping his bogey on the par four third hole his only bogey of the day.

2003 winner Adam Scott entered the clubhouse with a two-under 69, four shots off the lead and tied with sixteen others for 21st place. Scott is looking to defend his title and earn his third win of the year.

Virginia Beach Open

Michael Long looks to defend his title at the Virginia Beach Open.

michael_long.jpgMichael Long looks to defend his title at the Virginia Beach Open next week in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Winning last year with a eleven-under 277, Michael and the rest of the Nationwide Tour field returns to the TPC at Virginia Beach for four days of golf.

Michael, who is happy just to be golfing after a scary neck injury five years ago, missed the cut at last week’s Envirocare Utah Classic. Brett Wetterich took home the purse from Willow Creek Country Club by continuing to pound the ball past his opponents. Wetterich, currently second in driving distance on the Nationwide Tour, joins Long next week in Virginia Beach.

With Hurricane Frances bearing down on the east coast, this year’s Virginia Beach Open could shape up to be as wet as last-year’s rain soaked event. Your Intrepid Reporter will be attending the final day of golf at the TPC and bringing you firsthand coverage of the event, with or without my trusty umbrella.

Non-Conforming Clubs

They hit the ball farther, but they’re not ‘legal’. Would you use them anyway?

Hi, I’m Braz, and I’m an eBay addict. When I bought my irons, I got them on eBay. When I looked for shoes, I looked on eBay. Maternity clothes? eBay. (No, I don’t wear maternity clothes, thankyouverymuch. My wife, however…)

When I started looking for a driver – I currently don’t carry a driver, and use either my 3W, 3I, or 4I off the tee – guess where I went? eBay. My searches for a driver on eBay brought me to a realization: there are a ton of manufacturers out there selling non-conforming clubs.

I’ve been looking hard at the TaylorMade R580 XD. It’s a gorgeous club, and knocks the mortal living heck out of those little white devils we call balls. In my searches, I discovered that TaylorMade has several non-US club models Out There, among which is the Burner 860.

Wilson Deep Red Irons

Braz, a 27 handicap golfer, reviews the Wilson Deep Red irons: in his opinion, an excellent set of irons for the mid- to high-handicapper.

deep-red-irons-set.jpgExecutive Summary: the Wilson Deep Red Irons are an excellet set of irons for a mid to high handicapper.

About the Purchase
Unlike Erik, I’m happy to report exactly where I purchased my set of Deep Red irons. I purchased the 2003 Deep Red Irons from rockbottomgolf.com, over eBay. They have a direct sales site, and if you feel like gambling, you can try their auctions. I opted for the latter choice, and ended up saving almost $100 in the process. If you’re in the market for a club or set and don’t mind older clubs, give them a shot.

Look and Feel
These clubs are aggressive, and a great deal of that bold aggressiveness comes from Wilson’s Fat Shafts. Instead of the standard hosel width, the Deep Reds have a nearly half-inch hosel which slams right into the head of the club. Most people don’t know Wilson for their golf clubs, but standing next to a guy with “normal” irons, you definitely get some glances.

Continue reading “Wilson Deep Red Irons”

Omega European Masters

The Omega European Masters featuring an aging Spaniard’s redesign and… Cindy Crawford?

The Omega European Masters got underway yesterday at that-course-in-the-Swiss-Alps-which-is-actually-a-ski-slope-seven-months-of-the-year, otherwise known as Crans-sur-Sierre.

Some notes about the event:

  • The course is 1,500 metres above sea level, so the ball carries about 10% further than normal. The caddies will be working extra hard on their math this week.
  • Seve Ballesteros altered/remodelled/butchered the course in 1997, supposedly to make it “tougher” for the professionals and limit low scoring, like Colin Montgomerie’s -24 mark in 1996. What did he do? Well, first of all, he turned a short par 4 into a long par 3. Genius! There’s one shot per round saved already! He also remodelled all the putting surfaces, to make them not so much upturned saucers as upturned teacups. Now, if my career was flagging, and all I had left was a stellar short game and a #1 ranked touch on the greens, what would I do to improve my chances of winning? (It didn’t work.)
  • The winner not only gets a nice pay cheque and a shiny trophy, but also a rather fetching red blazer… sorry, jacket. Almost makes you want to be a pro, don’t it? Well, if it’s presented by Cindy Crawford, then frankly, yes, it does.

Day 1 leaderboard: Miguel Angel Jimenez leads at -6 (65), with Sergio Garcia, Peter Baker, Peter Hedblom and Marc Farry a shot back.

Deutsche Bank Championship Tees Off on Friday

The Deutsche Bank Championship runs Friday to Monday, different from any other event on the PGA tour this year.

For those not familiar with the schedule, the Deutsche Bank Championship will begin the first round on Friday, September 3rd, 2004. This means a final round on Monday, September 6th, the only tournament this year with a final scheduled round on a Monday.

If you’re like me, you realized that today was Thursday and went to the Web to see what the latest scores were only to find that nobody had teed off yet. On the bright side, I won’t have this problem again this year.