{"id":6020,"date":"2009-05-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/?p=6020"},"modified":"2009-05-15T10:08:16","modified_gmt":"2009-05-15T14:08:16","slug":"lessons_learned_last_week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/trap_five\/lessons_learned_last_week","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned Last Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TrapLast week was a pretty good one in golf. With the Players Championship for the PGA Tour and the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill<\/a> taking place concurrently, there was a lot of good golf to watch. And even if you can’t follow it on TV, the college golf season is building to a climax.<\/p>\n

In a way, it was the perfect lead-in to the summer. There are a lot of questions waiting to be answered. Last week may have raised more than it answered and that means some interesting months ahead.<\/p>\n

Here are just a few of the topics that came to light last week.
\n
\nNumber Five: Slump? What Slump?<\/strong>
\nTiger Woods has played six events this year, made six cuts, won once, and finished in the top ten every other time. His scoring average is 69.70, he’s won over $2 million this year, and he’s in ninth place in the FedExCup race.<\/p>\n

I know what you’re thinking… this guy sucks.<\/p>\n

\"Hank<\/p>\n

Sure, he’s averaging just 56.79% in driving accuracy, and he’s failed to make a charge on Sunday when he’s been in striking range the last three tournaments. And yes, at TPC Sawgrass, he looked bad… really bad for Tiger… and he shot 73 on a very difficult course where the field averaged 72.69.<\/p>\n

It just goes to show how dominating Woods has been. We expect so much. Frankly, I find watching Tiger notch top tens with some pretty poor all-around play to be pretty interesting golf viewing. I wish I could learn to get that much out of my rounds, but I’m far better versed in snatching bogey from the jaws of par than vice versa.<\/p>\n

People are making a big deal about Woods not coming from behind to win tournaments on Sunday. True, he’s only done it a few times. But even if he only<\/em> ever wins as a frontrunner, 66 wins and 14 majors make him one heck of a frontrunner.<\/p>\n

We’ve heard that Tiger’s swing was seriously flawed before. Each time he comes back stronger than ever. I suspect the near future will hold more sightings of the Tiger we’ve become accustomed to seeing. As Mark Twain might describe Tiger’s game, reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.<\/p>\n

Number Four: Oh, That’s<\/em> a Slump<\/strong>
\nAfter entering 2009 with back-to-back majors to his credit, Padraig Harrington’s year has been pretty quiet. He’s missed three cuts in ten events, with a best finish of T11. With just $400K in winnings so far, it might be a good thing that Harrington doesn’t have to worry about Q-School. He’s exempt for the next couple years for winning a major (not to mention two).<\/p>\n

This week Harrington explained<\/a> that his less-than-stellar play this year can be chalked up to the swing changes he’s been working on in an attempt to be a better player than he was last year. Oh, so swing changes can cause poor play. Hmmm… that reminds me of someone. Oh, what’s his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue…<\/p>\n

Number Three: Will Wie Never Learn?<\/strong>
\nMichelle Wie once again asserted that one of her goals is to play against the men and to eventually play in the Masters. I’m all for setting the bar high, but here’s a thought: win an LPGA event first and then we’ll talk.<\/p>\n

\"Michelle<\/p>\n

Number Two: Henrik Stenson: More than an Underwear Model<\/strong>
\nIf you didn’t know who Henrik Stenson <\/a>was before last weekend shame on you. And if you only knew about Stenson because he stripped to his jockey shorts to hit a ball out of the mud at the CA Championship<\/a> earlier this year, that’s just sad.<\/p>\n

Stenson’s final-round 66 at the TPC Sawgrass was particularly impressive when you look at the rounds of others who started the day in contention. Aaron Baddeley, the first guy to tee off on Sunday, tied for the day’s low round and finished the Players Championship at T9 -4. The Aussie shot a 66 in a shade over three hours. Let’s hear it for quick play!<\/p>\n

Of course, if he’d been paired with Kevin Na or Ben Crane, he might still be on the course.<\/p>\n

Stenson has been one of the promising “Next Big Things” coming out of Europe for the past few years. He turned up on several pundits’ major contenders lists last year, and finished T3 in the Open Championship and T4 in the PGA Championship. The 33-year-old Swede should be expected to turn up on leaderboards with some regularity now. He’s just reached number five in the world rankings with his win at the Players. His next test is staying there.<\/p>\n

\"JohnNumber One: JD Means “Just Dandy”<\/strong>
\nJohn Daly finished T2 at last week’s BMW Italian Open<\/a>. Daly, who’s serving a six-month suspension from the PGA Tour for his off-course shenanigans, is playing better golf again. Here’s hoping that better play and better behavior go hand in hand, and that we’ll be seeing him on the PGA Tour again soon.
<\/p>\n

Photo Credits: © The Sand Trap.com, © AP<\/a>, and © AP Photo\/David J. Phillip<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week gave us plenty to ponder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trap_five"],"yoast_head":"\nLessons Learned Last Week (Trap Five) - The Sand Trap .com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/trap_five\/lessons_learned_last_week\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Lessons Learned Last Week (Trap Five) - 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