Big Break Prince Edward Island

[David in FL]

Wow, this is a tough crowd.

LOL. I was thinking the same thing. -2 with $100k on the line and the whole world watching? Not too shabby!

[Duffy]

I haven't been able to figure out why the fist pump bothers Derek soo much. Blairs fist pump had nothing to do with making a four footer. It was about going 1 up. Did she play a smart round? Hell no but let her play her own game and a fist pump isn't an in your face. It's simply a show of emotion. Grow up Derek and play your own game. What the hell are you going to say about Tiger fist pumping if you EVER get to that level? He made me mad so I lost? I mean REALLY!

[PhilsRHman]

I was shocked a few episodes back when the fist pump irked someone, and even more shocked last night. If I'm her and go up a shot with a birdie against a guy who's clearly the best golfer on the show, you better bet I'm going to feel good. And not to mention, it was barely a fist pump, any more than if she gave her caddie a high five if she had one. It wasn't emphatic, it wasn't some crazy Tiger fist pump. I think that was TV being TV and telling them to spice it up. All in all, I thought the last few weeks were boring and they never found a way to pull any personality out of these characters at all. But that's the risk you take when you stop using people like they did early on who were certainly not all tour level golfers but were pretty interesting (although the only other BB I've really watched was the very first one).

Also, I couldn't get past the idea that it's got to be a bit embarrassing to be Derek, a guy who has won twice on a tour to have to play on something like this? I guess you can say $100,000 and exposure is huge, but it's the equivelant to winning a game show. Seemed out of place to me from the start.

[billm408]

It was an amusing finale anyway... I thought Derek deserved to win but agree with the backlash he's getting for the fist pump comments. BFD- she fist pumped. It's the kind of thing you do for yourself... it's not gamemanship.

This is really the first time I've seen much of the course though- seems awfully short. Longest par 3 was 165? Par 4's under 400 yards? Did Derek have any approach shot longer than 100 yards? Greens didn't look well protected and the bunkers seemed flat. Granted there's some contour to the greens, but I play tougher muni's.

Do they set it up for TV to promote lower scores.

[youngskip40]

I haven't been able to figure out why the fist pump bothers Derek soo much. Blairs fist pump had nothing to do with making a four footer. It was about going 1 up. Did she play a smart round? Hell no but let her play her own game and a fist pump isn't an in your face. It's simply a show of emotion. Grow up Derek and play your own game. What the hell are you going to say about Tiger fist pumping if you EVER get to that level? He made me mad so I lost? I mean REALLY!

She went one stroke up... on the first hole of 9. A little too soon to be popping the cork.

And it had everything to do with making a four footer. If Derek had made bogey and she missed that putt and made 5, but still went one up, would she have pumped her fist because she went 1 up? Even Tiger wouldn't fist pump after holing a routine birdie putt that a pro golfer expects to make.

[youngskip40]

How stupid is Blair? First of all, she's down by 3 shots on the 7th hole and she's "playing safe" with an iron off of the tee. Only thing is she doesn't even hit the fairway with an iron. Why not try and bomb a driver down there and even if it's in the rough it's a much shorter shot. And then she absolutely shanks her approach, and hits a mediocre bunker shot. She's terrible.

She played safe and still hit it in the rough. If she hit a driver on that line, she would have been in Nova Scotia.

With her length, I think iron or hybrid was the right play, because she knew she had to put one in the fairway for the best chance to make birdie. She didn't hit the fairway with an iron, so what would she have done with a driver? You're right about the shank though. That was ugly. Tried to get a little too fancy I guess.

[RAD3]

Well, the best player won. Blair would have had to play out of her skin to have beaten Derek that day. Blair probably played about as well as she coud have. She didn't give up after the 3 putt on 11 or her problems on 15...kept on trying to score. She is very determined but her game needs to go to another level if she wants to play on tour.

I really don't get the whole fist pump gripe either, although in GolfGal's inteview with Derek he said it really did bother him. It was obvious to me that it was only for herself as there didn't seem to be much support for her from the "gallery" except for Brian and Kim. It would be interesting to find out what it was about her that most of the contestents didn't care for.

Derek said on GolfGal's interview that he has a sponsor's exemption for next weeks Gretzke Nationwide event. It will be interesting to watch him play there since he has only made one cut out of four on the CanTour this year.



All in all I enjoyed watching this season. I'll miss it.

[youngskip40]

All in all I enjoyed watching this season. I'll miss it.

Agreed. This was my first time watching. I'm so hooked.

[iacas]

She went one stroke up... on the first hole of 9. A little too soon to be popping the cork.

I dunno, I see a big difference between "popping the cork" and what she did. She gave a little tiny fist pump. She got off to a good start. I think too much was made of it on the show (probably via editing) and everyone here is making too much of it.

[patmoran2006]

I didn't have any problem with her fist pump at all. . She didnt over-exaggerate it and it wasn't directed towards Derek. With her knowing she was the underdog, it was IMO simply a thing she did at the time to convince herself she belonged in the finale and she could play with him.

I haven't seen any comments about this, but in my opinion, the biggest reason Blair lost was because she went 0-for-3 in getting up and down from bunkers; something that she was superb at leading up the finals. And none of the bunker shots were particularly hard (as compared to what they could be, and especially for a pro)

If she gets up and down even the first two times, maybe Derek isn't in cruise mode and feels more pressure and hits a bad shot.

Not dissing Derek, he deserved to win. Just saying.

[youngskip40]

I dunno, I see a big difference between "popping the cork" and what she did. She gave a little tiny fist pump. She got off to a good start. I think too much was made of it on the show (probably via editing) and everyone here is making too much of it.

Okay, a little exaggeration. Personally if I were playing against her it wouldn't have bothered me, so it surprised me how much Derek seemed to react to it, but with the magic of editing you're probably right.

[RAD3]

I was just looking over Derek's 2008 CanTour results too try and get an idea of how he was hitting comeing into the BB PEI tapeing. Looks like he had a pretty fair run making 9 of 14 cuts. Had his best finish in late Aug with a 5th place and shot -22(and was only 5th! And folks complain about Rodd Mill being too easy?) His average four round score for thosr made-cut events was 69.4, his low round was a 62, so it looks as if his game was in decent shape.

On the other hand, I don't believe that Blair had played much, if any, competitive golf for a long time. I think she played the last nine about as well as she could have.

BTW, I had to smile at the look on Blair's face when she was told that her runners-up prize was a free week at another PEI resort After surviving the elements at Rodd Mill for the last two weeks I'll bet she felt like she couldn't wait to come back!

[saltman]

How stupid is Blair? First of all, she's down by 3 shots on the 7th hole and she's "playing safe" with an iron off of the tee. Only thing is she doesn't even hit the fairway with an iron. Why not try and bomb a driver down there and even if it's in the rough it's a much shorter shot. And then she absolutely shanks her approach, and hits a mediocre bunker shot. She's terrible.

How can you possibly know from watching television what the correct play is from where she was? She just saw Derek hit his ball left and possibly in the trees, he may have just brought double bogey into play and she is only three down.

As it happens, Derek did in fact make bogey and was bailed out because she mishit an iron, but that doesn't make it the stupid play, it was most likely the absolutely correct play. Making a bad swing and making a bad decision are two very different things. Derek "appears" to play overly agressive sometimes and brings a lot of trouble into play. Its not out of the realm of possibility that he could make a big mistake. On the other hand, only Derek knows his game so he may simply know that he has to play agressive to play his best. He may not be able to dial it down. Very similar to Greg Norman who feels he lost more often by trying to be someone he wasn't, ie: taking his foot off the pedal.

[patmoran2006]

not to mention coming back to the scene where she lost a chance to win 100K.

[youngskip40]

^ Agreed. I mean, I guess it's better than no runner up prize... but I'd almost rather have nothing compared to that, if I were her.

Her reaction was priceless. Her look said it all. "Oh, gee. Thanks a ton."

[chad1043]

I guess they could have not given her anything. How much would that be at a resort like that $2000? I have no idea...

[ApocG10]

PEI is beautiful, she was just there at the wrong time of year.

[DogbertBH]

I think that since the comments in the testimonials are after the fact and they just watched it on a monitor or something it reminds them they were mad about something and they try to 'seem' mad.

I'm sure Derek just didn't want to lose to Blair because so many other people have underestimated her and lost.

Long putts, good bunker shots, etc. She doesn't seem to get fazed by hitting bad shots.

It seemed like the gallery was almost split. Like the early exits were on the Blair side and the later ones were with Derek.