That's right, you can reach me @mummmbles so not the most original headline on a cold, clearing Monday in December, but we are as always still talking about golf.
* Tiger leads it off, and as I posted in my last missive, let's give the guy a few months of tournament play before we make judgement, he did shoot +4 76 on Sunday and he finished 15th in the 17 man field. Most importantly for the game, and leading up to the Masters in April is the fact he is healthy and back playing. He is at 898 in the world, and says he wants to play a full schedule starting in 2017 and his comeback will become the story of the year.
Henrik Stenson summed it up best. “Give him three or four tournaments, maybe six tournaments, maybe around the Masters. It’s easy to overanalyze a very limited amount of golf.”
* Hideki Matsuyama continued his sensational play winning yet again, this time he blew a big lead but hung on to win by 2 shots 73 -18 over Henrik Stenson who closed with 68 -16. It was his 4th win in his last 5 events, the last time he beat Henrik was by 7 shots at the WGC in China. He is ranked #6 in the world heading into 2017.
http://www.pgatour.com/competition/2017/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html
* Congratulations to young Jennifer Na, who finished 5 rounds at the LPGA Q school T8 at -8 (70-74-69-67-72). With that she earned one of the first 20 spots and joins Brooke Henderson, Maude Aimee LeBlanc and Alena Sharp with full status in 2017. Na is from Calgary.
Bryan Angus
Monday, December 5, 2016
Saturday, December 3, 2016
" Every course is a par 68 to Tiger"
PGA Tour Hero World Challenge leaderboard http://www.pgatour.com/competition/2017/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html
The practice green and the driving range are two of the many sacred places for golf pros from the media. In 2000 at Glen Abbey I was waiting patiently for Freddie Couples with my microphone beside the practice green at Glen Abbey for about an hour along with several others, and we were all eventually blown off by a grumpy Freddie, who did offer this gem about Tiger, over his shoulder as he wandered off to the clubhouse..
"This course and every other is a par 68 to Tiger" referring to the par 5's that he reaches with regularity in 2, making 2 putt birdies a common occurrence.
Tiger went on to make the famous shot from the fairway bunker on the 18th and 72nd hole to beat Kiwi Grant Waite ( now a part time senior tour pro and fulltime teacher) to set up a birdie 4 to win his last appearance at our Canadian Open.
He played well again on at his Hero World Challenge on Friday, out in 33, but was better on the back nine and he birdied 4 of the 5 par 5's resulting in a -7 65 to move halfway up the scoreboard at his 18 man invitational, where he played as a single after Justin Rose ironically withdrew with back problems.
Looking slimmer and very fit he told the assembled press he no longer lifts weights or trains like he once does and has cut back on his running because “I’ve had four knee surgeries, three backs. My body’s been through it."
At work last night my boss Corey Burnett pumped his fist and said " Hey Tiger's back man, he shot 65 today"
Well it doesn't behoove me to disagree with the boss, but Tiger can still shoot 65 in his sleep and has done so daily in practice rounds, so doing it playing as a single in this glorified exhibition event doesn't mean he's back anymore than it means he's done if he shoots 75 today..
I will need a much larger sample size to decide how he is progressing when he gets more tournaments, more reps after Christmas.
The practice green and the driving range are two of the many sacred places for golf pros from the media. In 2000 at Glen Abbey I was waiting patiently for Freddie Couples with my microphone beside the practice green at Glen Abbey for about an hour along with several others, and we were all eventually blown off by a grumpy Freddie, who did offer this gem about Tiger, over his shoulder as he wandered off to the clubhouse..
"This course and every other is a par 68 to Tiger" referring to the par 5's that he reaches with regularity in 2, making 2 putt birdies a common occurrence.
Tiger went on to make the famous shot from the fairway bunker on the 18th and 72nd hole to beat Kiwi Grant Waite ( now a part time senior tour pro and fulltime teacher) to set up a birdie 4 to win his last appearance at our Canadian Open.
He played well again on at his Hero World Challenge on Friday, out in 33, but was better on the back nine and he birdied 4 of the 5 par 5's resulting in a -7 65 to move halfway up the scoreboard at his 18 man invitational, where he played as a single after Justin Rose ironically withdrew with back problems.
Looking slimmer and very fit he told the assembled press he no longer lifts weights or trains like he once does and has cut back on his running because “I’ve had four knee surgeries, three backs. My body’s been through it."
At work last night my boss Corey Burnett pumped his fist and said " Hey Tiger's back man, he shot 65 today"
Well it doesn't behoove me to disagree with the boss, but Tiger can still shoot 65 in his sleep and has done so daily in practice rounds, so doing it playing as a single in this glorified exhibition event doesn't mean he's back anymore than it means he's done if he shoots 75 today..
I will need a much larger sample size to decide how he is progressing when he gets more tournaments, more reps after Christmas.
As for the leaders, Dustin Johnson shot his second straight 66 to tie for the lead at -12 with Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama who shot a 67.
They are two shots clear of Louis Oosthuizen (67) and Matt Kuchar (67)
Matsuyama is another of the world wide stars that have emerged in Tiger's absence. He has won three of his last four outings and was 2nd in the other. Kind of Tiger like !!
So he's not back, and he's not done.. let's just say Friday was a good day... we'll see what the weekend and the months ahead bring.
Bryan Angus
Friday, December 2, 2016
Tiger's return a big deal in the golf world...
PGA Tour Hero Challenge leaderboard http://www.pgatour.com/competition/2017/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html
PGA Tour schedule http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/schedule.html
Alright, alright, this Hero Challenge only has 18 invited players, playing in what was called the silly season. The majors, the Olympics, the Ryder Cup have all been decided, the individual prizes awarded, Christmas is just 23 days away, but all eyes, and not just in the golfing world are on New Providence in the beautiful Bahamas because Tiger Woods, now nearly 41 has returned to competitive golf.
He hadn't competed in 466 days after being laid low with chronic back problems since 2013. That year he was No. 1 in the world, won 5 tournaments before his back problems began to flare up. He struggled on but finally after he played the Wyndham Championship in late August 2015, he had to stop, subsequently going through two back surgeries.
He started brightly, -4 approaching the turn, but a pair of double bogeys over the final three holes led to a 40 on the back nine at Albany Golf Club and a +1 73, nine shots behind J.B. Holmes, who opened with an -8 64 and had a one-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama, with U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson at 66.
He hit just 6/13 fairways and 11 of 18 greens. "I haven’t played in a while. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes. I can clean that up. We’ve got three more days. Wind is supposed to pump on the weekend, and I’ll be playing a little bit better"
The winner of 79 PGA Tour events and 14 majors is now ranked 879th, however this little invitational event to raise money for his Tiger Woods Foundation with a purse of $3.5m, paltry by today's standards, has the world's media, including wall to wall coverage on the Golf Channel covering every shot he makes, reporting every comment, analyzing every swing.
For me his return is not as painful as some other greats, like Mohammed Ali who was a flabby shadow of his magnificent glory years when his finances dictated he had to return to fight and lose to the likes of Leon Spinks.
Tiger doesn't need the money, and is fitter than most of the field, and in fact although he is not the Tiger of old, he may still get it all together for a week or more and win again.
However it doesn't really matter, because if he shoots 64 or 84 it still makes the headlines.
Tiger's return is still a big deal for the golf world.
Bryan Angus
PGA Tour schedule http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/schedule.html
Alright, alright, this Hero Challenge only has 18 invited players, playing in what was called the silly season. The majors, the Olympics, the Ryder Cup have all been decided, the individual prizes awarded, Christmas is just 23 days away, but all eyes, and not just in the golfing world are on New Providence in the beautiful Bahamas because Tiger Woods, now nearly 41 has returned to competitive golf.
He hadn't competed in 466 days after being laid low with chronic back problems since 2013. That year he was No. 1 in the world, won 5 tournaments before his back problems began to flare up. He struggled on but finally after he played the Wyndham Championship in late August 2015, he had to stop, subsequently going through two back surgeries.
He started brightly, -4 approaching the turn, but a pair of double bogeys over the final three holes led to a 40 on the back nine at Albany Golf Club and a +1 73, nine shots behind J.B. Holmes, who opened with an -8 64 and had a one-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama, with U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson at 66.
He hit just 6/13 fairways and 11 of 18 greens. "I haven’t played in a while. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes. I can clean that up. We’ve got three more days. Wind is supposed to pump on the weekend, and I’ll be playing a little bit better"
The winner of 79 PGA Tour events and 14 majors is now ranked 879th, however this little invitational event to raise money for his Tiger Woods Foundation with a purse of $3.5m, paltry by today's standards, has the world's media, including wall to wall coverage on the Golf Channel covering every shot he makes, reporting every comment, analyzing every swing.
For me his return is not as painful as some other greats, like Mohammed Ali who was a flabby shadow of his magnificent glory years when his finances dictated he had to return to fight and lose to the likes of Leon Spinks.
Tiger doesn't need the money, and is fitter than most of the field, and in fact although he is not the Tiger of old, he may still get it all together for a week or more and win again.
However it doesn't really matter, because if he shoots 64 or 84 it still makes the headlines.
Tiger's return is still a big deal for the golf world.
Bryan Angus
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