2012 Valero Texas Open Discussion Thread

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by RichWW2

What in the world happened to AK? Back in 2008 he was an up and coming superstar.  Played on a winning Ryder Cup team and now he's fallen off the planet.  I guess some people can't handle money and fame as well as other.

Anthony "Party Monster" Kim. Such a waste.

AK was one of my favorite players a few years ago, so I made sure to watch some special tips/instruction show that he and Tiger put on a couple years ago on the Golf Channel.  I also watched a couple other interviews/playing lessons he gave over a period of a few months.  My unfiltered impression after watching these things was, "there is no way he's going to be a great."  The reasons?  He seemed to lack a diligent work ethic and a focus of some of the elite athletes in professional sports.  I based this speculation completely on his comments during these shows.  While Tiger would talk about specific thoughts and/or training tools he used to accomplish a given objective, AK would make comments suggesting that he really didn't have any specific goals/methods, and that he instead would mostly just go with the flow or a given feel.  Because this was a few years back now, I can't remember the details that give me this impression, but one thing that stuck with me was when they asked him how he tries to adjust his normal swing to hit a given shot shape, and he essentially responded "I don't really know" and "some days it's one way and another day it's another way" or something along those lines.

I still root for him, but I tend to enjoy rooting for hard-working, and talented technicians, and I learned those days that he doesn't really fall into that category.

Originally Posted by camper6

Watching the television broadcast today.

Player with ball deep in bunker sand.  Could not see the ball.  Had to uncover it to get a shot at it.

The announcer stated the player had to identify his ball.  Since when in a bunker?

The ball was so deep the player elected to take a one shot penalty and drop in the bunker again.

Anyone else see this?

I didn't see it, but I saw Steve Stricker do it during a tournament (that he ended up winning) last season.  It seems legit.

Wow, it is safe to say I know how he feels lol

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/golf-central-sunday-april-22-2012-valero-texas-open-scott-piercy/

Painful

I expected the person to be Charlie Hoffman, but I sympathize with that fellow.  IMO he didn't even react over-the-top to his meltdown.  If I lost $150k on one blow-up hole, I would probably want to swing a club at something.  He seemed to contain his anger decently well.  I'm guessing he was boiling inside.

Brandon

[RichWW2]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

AK was one of my favorite players a few years ago, so I made sure to watch some special tips/instruction show that he and Tiger put on a couple years ago on the Golf Channel.  I also watched a couple other interviews/playing lessons he gave over a period of a few months.  My unfiltered impression after watching these things was, "there is no way he's going to be a great."  The reasons?  He seemed to lack a diligent work ethic and a focus of some of the elite athletes in professional sports.  I based this speculation completely on his comments during these shows.  While Tiger would talk about specific thoughts and/or training tools he used to accomplish a given objective, AK would make comments suggesting that he really didn't have any specific goals/methods, and that he instead would mostly just go with the flow or a given feel.  Because this was a few years back now, I can't remember the details that give me this impression, but one thing that stuck with me was when they asked him how he tries to adjust his normal swing to hit a given shot shape, and he essentially responded "I don't really know" and "some days it's one way and another day it's another way" or something along those lines.

I still root for him, but I tend to enjoy rooting for hard-working, and talented technicians, and I learned those days that he doesn't really fall into that category.

For anyone interested in watching what Brandon is talking about:
2008 Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim Golf clinic Part 1 of 8 -

I've watched the whole thing awhile back and Brandon is dead on.  AK doesn't seem to have very much knowledge about the technical part of golf.  At least he doesn't come off sounding like he does. Very much a "grip and rip" mentality, at least in a video from 4 years ago.

[zipazoid]

As Pogo once said, We have met the enemy & he is us. Piercy just got a $180k lesson on not keeping your composure until the last putt is holed.

[ERdiesel]

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

Wow, it is safe to say I know how he feels lol

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/golf-central-sunday-april-22-2012-valero-texas-open-scott-piercy/

Painful

Yeah saw it yesterday on TV and the only thought I had was that he's not a very bright guy. If anything he should have snapped the club that he was using to hack himself from one bunker to another and out of the rough.  That's the one he should have broken if anything  :)  Not the putter which seemed to have been working for him.

[dsc123]

Originally Posted by ERdiesel

Yeah saw it yesterday on TV and the only thought I had was that he's not a very bright guy. If anything he should have snapped the club that he was using to hack himself from one bunker to another and out of the rough.  That's the one he should have broken if anything  :)  Not the putter which seemed to have been working for him.

He hit a good putt!  He should have snapped the wedge!