henniebogan1966

It was a mistake for he and Westwood to skip this event, but at the end of the day it's their loss not ours. If a player chooses to skip an event, that's his business. But for Rory to now take a shot at Butch is showing his immaturity. He needs to quiet down, work on his game, and focus on winning.

Who cares? He's quickly ruining his reputation. Other than Quail Hollow what's he even done over here?

Why don't you care for the event?

I didn't forget anything. Who cares if these guys take their ball and run home to cash appearance checks? I don't. I like Westwood, but this is his choice. Same with Rory. They are both free to play wherever they'd like when they'd like. And we as fans are free to offer opinions along with facts as we see fit. Great field in spite of their absence and it doesn't change it one bit for me.

We can all agree that it's injuries that are hurting him at the moment and not his putting or his swing. You're welcome.

Word has it on TGC that their agent, Chubby Chandler, is making a power play against The PGA Tour regarding the scheduling of events. (i.e. the date of this being moved to May versus March/April in the past?) For me, it doesn't even begin to concern me that neither of them is playing. Lots of great players in this field, Kaymer, Mickelson, Furyk, Kuchar, Donald, Woodland, Glover, Watney, etc. Lots of good golf to watch and they will not be missed.

No great loss for the tournament. Westwood backed into the #1 spot to begin with and Rory is who he is. Let them play in their small event over there and we'll enjoy those who were classy enough to show up for The Players Championship. The deepest field of the year and second only to the majors in terms of world ranking points awarded.

Yep. Very nicely done by Stads Jr. He made the right choice for shot selection with that one. He was originally looking at going conventional on it but quickly figured out that wasn't his best option. Well played shot by the young man.

Distance off the tee really isn't a factor here, meaning Bubba will need to dial it down, use his head, and play smart. The fact that it's been mentioned that Watson chose to forego a practice round this week tells me he wasn't properly prepared for the event. He'll need a good round tomorrow to make the cut.

So he's got a homemade swing, no coach, and decides the best prep for this event was no practice rounds. Smooth move. Perhaps Bubba should rethink his strategy.

Bubba hit only 50% of his fairways today and only 67% of his greens in regulation. If he has any hopes of making the cut, much less winning, he'll need to do better tomorrow.

I'll go with Bubba Watson.....oh wait. 76 today. Guess his homemade swing was out of sync today. I'll pick Watney.

76 for his first round. Not a good start. His homemade swing must have been out of sync today.

Chamblee isn't doing himself any favors as of late with his negative commentary about Tiger Woods. Just heard him criticizing Tiger's attitude toward the media, his swing technique, and Sean Foley. To date, overall, Tiger has had a pretty successful career. He's done so despite numerous swing changes and injuries. Yes, this appears to be a serious issue. Right now Brandel Chamblee is defending the actions of Rory Sabbatini!!! He's DEFENDING HIM!!! What? The guy has an anger management issue, goes off on some kid who was a volunteer and likely had to PAY for the privilege in regards to any gear he wore, and Sabbatini decides to blast the kid for nothing. Sabbatini walks off and leaves Ben Crane during a round because he's disgusted with his pace of play. No doubt that Crane was too slow, as he admitted to. But why couldn't Sabbatini talk TO Crane about it instead of doing what he did? Then was the infamous, "Tiger is more beatable than ever!" Yep, how'd THAT one turn out for him? Rory needs to tone it down, work on his game, and worry about winning. Oh, and get some help for his anger management issue.

It's not about having an opinion, but rather having an INFORMED opinion. This morning Brandel Chamblee has spent his time blasting Woods for everything from his swing technique, to his attitude, to how he needs to show more respect to the press. Even John Feinstein, a guy who hates Tiger, gave him credit by saying he felt that Tiger tried to "do the right thing" by showing up to play this week even though he, Feinstein, really believes that he shouldn't have played and instead should have rested his knee and achilles injuries. This is part of what's happened with media coverage overall. Right now Chamblee is now critiquing the swing techique of Anthony Kim as he's hitting balls on the range. When in the WORLD did Brandel Chamblee become a PGA professional (meaning instructor)? I didn't get that memo. I'm wondering who HIS students are. And I used to like the guy but his attitude towards Tiger the last 18 months has really disappointed me. He really needs to let it go. Earlier he even stated that this might be the last we see of Tiger Woods or at least very soon we could see him walk away from the tour. Geez!!!

Yep, it's just Bubba Watson. All 3 of his wins, v. 71 wins. No majors v. 14 majors. Yep, it's Bubba alright. LoL

I'll guess he's spending too much time worrying about Tiger Woods' swing and not enough about his own game.

When did this become about me? Bubba Watson made a public statement. He's a public figure. He made the choice, unprompted, to speak out on HIS opinion of Tiger Woods' swing issues. His choice. I'm free to offer my opinion, the same as Bubba is free to do so. As it happens, Bubba Watson has not gone thru what Tiger Woods has regarding numerous swing changes, wins in majors both pre and post-swing changes, and therefore really isn't qualified to speak on the matter. May he speak out of ignorance? Of course; which is what he did. That's HIS problem, not mine. Perhaps if he had taken a breath beforehand, thought about what he'd like to say, he'd go in a different direction next time. Who knows? Bottom line is Bubba put it out there for all to hear. Let him live with it.

Actually I see him as just a man who plays golf for a living, and nothing more than that. He's perhaps the best to ever play the game, but that point is certainly debatable. For me, I like to see Jack Nicklaus as the best to have ever played the game, though I have enormous respect for all that Ben Hogan accomplished during his career, especially when you consider what he went thru physically and how his career might have been shortened by the injuries he suffered from his accident. As for right now, there's no question that Tiger, when focused, is a top ten player and often a top 5 player in the bigger events like the majors. He's shown flashes of brilliance and flashes of being seemingly lost regarding his golf swing. The inconsistency is what is new for him as a player and I'm sure very frustrating to him. Will he rise to the top again? I have no idea. But I sure do enjoy watching him play as he provides plenty of excitement when he does.

I voted for Mickelson since currently he has the best/closest mathematical chance to reach the summit right now. But the truth is, Kuchar, who is probably going to play more often, probably has the best overall chance, or at least will wind up with the most chances to move up the board. It's my belief that Matt is trying to strike while the iron is hot, his swing is in good shape, and if he gets the putter rolling, he'll be hard to beat as he seems to hit lots of greens in regulation. (nope, I haven't checked his stats yet.)

In a manner of speaking, most guys on tour today will be in his shadow most of, if not all of, their careers as most of them will never achieve what Tiger has. I'd speculate that well over 90% of those playing on the tour today will NOT reach the goals that Tiger already has. Heck, I'd go so far as to say 98-99% might not? I mean, we're talking about a global game now in which any one player would have to win AT LEAST 14 majors and 71 PGA Tour wins. Not overall, but PGA Tour wins. Does anyone here REALLY think anyone on tour right now has THAT potential? I don't see it. I see guys who might get double digit wins, and maybe even 5-8 majors. But it's very unlikely we'll ever see another player reach the milestones that Tiger has. That's just the reality.

But I'm not offering an opinion on Tiger's swing changes. I'm simply saying that Bubba needs to worry about his own game and not that of Tiger. I can only look at the results, which is what matters most. Results! 0 majors for Bubba. When Bubba goes thru what Tiger has with respect to swing changes, and has had post-changes success like Tiger has, then he can offer all the opinions he wants. Until then, he should probably focus more on his own game. Results would say his way is far less successful than those of Tiger.

Thanks for posting the actual statement and with that, the notion that we don't know the context of what Bubba said is now gone. CLEARLY HE made the CHOICE to go out and say something regarding Tiger withOUT being prompted. HE, Bubba Watson, made that choice. So he can now suffer due criticism. Hey Bubba! Try winning some majors and stop worrying about other players and swing coaches. Spend more time on your game.

Yes, I do. And your comment is not what we're talking about here. We're talking about a guy with no swing coach and making no swing changes/i.e. overhaul of his swing, actually commenting on a guy, who has been VERY SUCCESSFUL during his career even AFTER swing changes, and doing so as though he actually KNOWS what he's talking about. He doesn't. He hasn't a clue. In fact, he hasn't a clue what it's like to BE Tiger Woods or even to BE a major champion. What he SHOULD do is work on his own game and build towards winning some majors. Once he's actually won some majors, and then goes thru a major overhaul of his swing, THEN he can offer his opinion.

Defend him all you like, Bubba Watson said what he said. Let him live with the consequences of his words, should there be any in the future. For now, he has no majors, no instructor, and as far as we know, isn't going thru any swing changes. So, Bubba really has no clue what he's talking about.