Mike Weir withdraws from Puerto Rico Open

Mike Weir has withdrawn from the Puerto Rico Open after 41 on his front nine. I have just spoke to the Tournament Director's office and Mike has told them that his wrist is hurting him so he had to stop playing. He had 3 bogey's then a double on 9..

Details to follow

Bryan Angus

Another big weekend for South Africa at Doral ??

On Monday I wrote about the weekend that South African golf enjoyed with Rory Sabbatini winning the Honda and Dean Pappas in Bogota..

Well look out the South Africans are coming again, and for me will be one of the main stories I will be following... Why ?

Ernie Els is the defending champion, one of the kids who grew up playing in his Golf Academy Charl Schwartzel was second. Sabbatini as I have just mentioned is in fabulous form and  Louis Oosthuizen already has a win (African Open) and a third this year and don't forget golf's quiet man Retief Goosen or Thomas Aiken who is unheralded here, but has been in great form on the Euro tour. They are all in this field and would be even stronger if Tim Clark wasn't injured.

europeantour.com:  Schwartzel has made a terrific start to the 2011 Race to Dubai, and sits fourth in the standings having finished no lower than eighth in his five strokeplay events.

The 26 year old was in particularly good form during The European Tour's South Africa swing, finishing second, fourth and fourth before winning the Joburg Open, and he finished 17th at the recent WGC World Matchplay

"I've got off to a good start again this year," said Schwartzel. "I played some really good golf down in South Africa and even in Abu Dhabi. This golf course, I have good memories and I see the wind is blowing again, which if I'm playing well, I like it when the wind blows."


On previous trips to the USA, Schwartzel has stayed at Els' house in Florida, but is now renting accommodation nearby with Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen. "Ernie's house, he's very kind to us," he added. "He always says ‘Whenever you guys want, just come in and help yourselves and make yourselves at home'. I'm sure if I take my washing there, he's not going to do it, but his people will!"

Play gets underway in a couple of hours in Florida, I saw Breakfast TV earlier this morning and it was raining pretty hard at Disney World in Orlando and there are thundershowers in the forecast for Doral today...

TODAY - Becoming partly sunny with slight chance of showers in the morning - then mostly cloudy with chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. South winds around 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of rain 40 percent.

Puerto Rico Open.. 3 Canucks are already into their first round down in Puerto Rico..  David Hearn is -1 through 5, Chris Baryla -1 through 3 and Mike Weir +3 through 8.... Ames and Matt McQuillan will tee off later today


Bryan Angus

Another world class field in Doral, 5 Canucks in Puerto Rico...Baker Finch returns after 15 years

It's time for another WGC event, this time on the spectacular TPC Blue Monster at Doral where the top 69 guys in the world will be on display starting tomorrow, and they are paired in threes off split tees for the first 2 days in order of world ranking.

So Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, the worlds top 3 are off #1 just before 1pm. At the same time off #10 McDowell, Mickelson and Woods will get all the attention, well at least Tiger will.

However as always here is something you should know, but probably will be lost in all the Tiger hoopla... . McDowell currently leads the TOUR in the all around ranking category. He's eighth in total driving, first in ball-striking, second in greens in regulation, third in scrambling, and 13th in putts per green in regulation

The old Tiger has won here 6 times and has never been out of the top 10. Lorne Rubenstein had another fine read in the Globe this morning about Tigers problems having less to do with his swing and more to do with his head. It has been obvious since he got caught with his pants down and became just another horny, cheating husband, that he lost his teflon crown. The fallout from those indiscretions including some very human soul searching has drastically re organized his priorities. His kids are the beneficiaries, as they apparently now have a very devoted father who realizes their concerns are much more important than his.

I believe to be at the very top of any individual sport you have to be at a time in your life when you can be totally selfish. Nothing else you have compares to the total commitment you need to apply to being the very best, and I believe Tiger will never have that commitment again, so he will eventually become a very good player again, but never the guy that he once was.

Incidentally to show you how much the world of golf has become global only 24 of the 69 players are American and they are playing for a staggering purse of  $8.5m with the winner getting a mere matter of $1.4m

The weather forecast looks much better than last week's windy Palm Beach..

THURSDAY - Partly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning - then mostly cloudy with chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. South winds 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of rain 40 percent.

FRIDAY - Mostly sunny. Not as warm. Highs in the mid 70s. North winds 10 to 15 mph.

SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT - Mostly clear. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the upper 50s.

SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT - Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the upper 50s.

Time Players


11:20 am Davies, Rhys Bjorn, Thomas Palmer, Ryan
11:30 am Chowrasia, S.S.P. Crane, Ben Hansen, Anders
11:41 am Poulter, Ian Johnson, Dustin Watson, Bubba
11:51 am Goosen, Retief Molinari, Francesco Karlsson, Robert
12:02 pm Senior, Peter Na, Kevin Noh, Seung-yul
12:12 pm Aiken, Thomas Streelman, Kevin Clark, Tim
12:23 pm Wilson, Mark Haas, Bill Fisher, Ross
12:33 pm Fowler, Rickie Ishikawa, Ryo Vegas, Jhonattan
12:44 pm Kuchar, Matt Furyk, Jim Els, Ernie
12:54 pm Kaymer, Martin Westwood, Lee Donald, Luke
1:05 pm Choi, K.J. Rose, Justin Allenby, Robert

TPC Blue Monster at Doral Tee #10
Time Players

11:20 am Hoffman, Charley Baddeley, Aaron Points, D.A.
11:30 am Ogilvy, Geoff Johnson, Zach Sabbatini, Rory
11:41 am Singh, Vijay Scott, Adam Watney, Nick
11:51 am McDowell, Graeme Woods, Tiger Mickelson, Phil
12:02 pm Casey, Paul McIlroy, Rory Stricker, Steve
12:12 pm Kim, Anthony Harrington, Padraig Villegas, Camilo
12:23 pm Fraser, Marcus Van Pelt, Bo Fujita, Hiroyuki
12:33 pm Overton, Jeff Day, Jason Yang, Y.E.
12:44 pm Ikeda, Yuta Laird, Martin Moore, Ryan
12:54 pm Mahan, Hunter Jimenez, Miguel A. Quiros, Alvaro
1:05 pm Oosthuizen, Louis Schwartzel, Charl Molinari, Edoardo
1:15 pm Byrd, Jonathan Hanson, Peter Kim, Kyung-tae


The rest of the PGA tour guys are in Rio Grande for the Puerto Rico Open and we have 5 Canucks including Mike Weir to watch for.. Chris Baryla still hasn't played a weekend yet, Matt McQuillan, Stephen Ames and David Hearn are the others.

Derek Lamely won here last year.. Remember him ?? Didn't think so ..


Let me clear something up about Weirsy. If you follow this spot I have explained all Mike's options. He can get into around 25 events a year for the next 3 even if he doesn't get into the top 125.

He has already played 5 and being in the top 150 can qualify him for another 12 events in this year, and that's why he's in  Puerto Rico this week. He also gets five more events for being a member of the 2009 Presidents Cup in addition to playing as a former champion at the old Fry's.com

Furthermore although I'm sure he'd rather not use these get out of jail cards, he could regain his card for 2 more years due to his career earnings. He has been inside both the top 50 and top 25 all time with $27 million in career PGA Tour earnings .

He will however have to qualify for all the majors except Augusta, so it's not like he is going around with cap in hand looking for sponsor's exemptions.

Apart from thanking all who have supported him on his website here is the schedule he has posted

 Puerto Rico Open (this week)

Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 24-27)
Masters (April 7-10)
Valero Texas Open (April 14-17)
The Heritage (April 21-24)
Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 28-May 1)

 
CHAMPIONS tour

Toshiba Classic

Friday Mar 11 – Sunday Mar 13, 2011
Newport Beach Country Club · Newport Beach, CA
Purse: $1.7 million Winning Share: $255,000

Rod Spittle is our lone Canuck as the old guys are out in Newport Beach in California. Freddie Couples defends his Championship paired with Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw and it's nice to see my old favourite Lee Trevino in the field

"This is not a comeback. It would be ludicrous to think I could come back and be competitive when I haven't played for 15 years against all these guys who are in great form and compete every week.” Ian Baker-Finch, who will tee it up this week in his Champions Tour debut after retiring from competitive golf at age 37

The Nationwide tour is off for 2 weeks before re surfacing in Louisiana and the LPGA is back next week..

Bryan Angus

Good weekend for South Africans as Sabbatini wins in Palm Beach, and Pappas in Bogota

Rory Sabbatini survived a charge by in form YE Yang who got within a shot of him to win the Honda Classic and down in rain soaked Bogota Columbia his fellow county man Dean Pappas was awarded the tournament after only 36 holes.

Sabbatini who switched to a new mallet headed putter, rode it and some brilliant play, particularly when it mattered through the Bear Trap yesterday (-1 thru the 3 holes) which included a half hour rain and lightening delay after he'd hit his tee shot on the par 3 17th safely onto the green for his 6th PGA tour win

Stephen Ames closed with a 69 to T51st, while in Bogota Andrew Parr of London Ont., T19th on the strength of his opening round of 65.

Jerry Kelly who's follow through body language always suggests he's lost every shot way right had a great week in the wind ending up 3rd, Tommy Gainey (5th) continues to dumbfound me with that wacky quick swing of his, but the round of the day came from world #4Graeme McDowell who crafted a -6 64 to grab a T6...

Special mention for Luke Donald who closed with 66 to T10. He has been named European Tour Player of the Month


1 3 Rory Sabbatini -9 F E color info 71 64 66 70 271

2 13 Y.E. Yang -8 F -4 color info 68 71 67 66 272
3 1 24 Jerry Kelly -7 F -3 color info 71 67 68 67 273
4 2 71 Ricky Barnes -4 F -3 color info 70 68 71 67 276
5 1 34 Tommy Gainey -3 F -2 color info 71 67 71 68 277
T6 24 21 Graeme McDowell -2 F -6 color info 73 71 70 64 278
T6 4 42 Jeff Overton -2 F -2 color info 69 72 69 68 278
T6 22 Matt Bettencourt -2 F -1 color info 70 70 69 69 278
T6 2 16 Gary Woodland -2 F 1 color info 71 68 68 71 278
T10 13 7 Luke Donald -1 F -4 color info 73 68 72 66 279
T10 6 -- Hiroyuki Fujita -1 F -3 color info 72 71 69 67 279
T10 29 Stuart Appleby -1 F -1 color info 68 70 72 69 279
T10 4 46 Charles Howell III -1 F E color info 71 71 67 70 279

Bryan Angus

Ben Wright joins me to pay tribute to the late Frank Chirkinian

For all of you who enjoy watching golf today, you may not know it but in the late 50's and early 60's a CBS producer called Frank Chirkinien revolutionized viewing golf on TV. During his career he produced 38 Masters telecasts and he will also be remembered for being the man who introduced cameras on blimps to cover college football, and the producer of the first televised Winter Olympic Games in 1960.

Dave Skretta of AP says,Chirkinian introduced high-angle cameras and new angles, put roving reporters on the grounds, and made sure to capture the unique blend of sounds, the club hitting the ball, the ball falling into the cup ,that came to define modern golf coverage. He even changed the way scores were delivered, according to par rather than by total.


In February, Chirkinian was selected for induction to the World Golf Hall of Fame in the lifetime achievement category. He will be inducted posthumously on May 9th

Ben Wright was one the voices of the Masters, taking over in the tower at 16 vacated by the British legend Henry Longhurst who Chirkinian hired and loved as a broadcaster for many things including his dearth of words..Frank believed in letting the picture do the talking.

I first listened to Ben broadcasting back in the mid 60's when he walked with the players during the Piccadilly World Matchplay at Wentworth and those were in the days when Arnie and Jack and Lee etal were in the field. I met him and we became friends in the mid 80's when he came up here to be a guest commentator at the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, and we have stayed in touch since..

Today I asked my friend Ben who has been a regular with me during the past 15 years on the Fairways Golf show  to say a few words about his friend and golf partner Frank.. here it is,,

Bryan. Ben you and Frank are best of friends... How did that start ??
Frank became my greatest friend, but our relationship started anything but promisingly. I was appointed to the CBS TV team over his head by Bill McPhail, then president of CBS TV Sports, for the US. Matchplay Championship, sponsored by Liggett and Myers at the Country Club of North Carolina in August 1972. Apart from the time we were on air Frank hardly spoke to me that week. "The Ayatollah", as Frank was known by all and sundry, was ticked off about the appointment, which infringed on his authority. Worse was to come, however.

I returned to the US. for the first tournament of 1973, the Los Angeles Open, and had a nightmare journey. I left a New Year's Eve party in Cornwall in the early hours of the 1st of January and drove for eight hours to London's Heathrow airport. Alas, my over the Pole flight was delayed eight more hours, and I arrived at my hotel in LA at about 4am., to be told that rehearsal was at 10am. My Asian taxi driver spoke little English, and had never heard of Riviera Country Club. I arrived very late for that rehearsal, whereupon my associate producer Chuck Will told me to run to my tower at the par three 16th hole as quickly as I could manage.

Of course this involved running to the far end of the golf course, and I flopped into my seat quite breathless. Frank said, as soon as I had put on my headset: "Roll tape, now that the Limey bastard has condescended to join us". That tape involved a much speeded up record of my epic run!

I tried to explain the problems I had endured to get to LA, only to be told that I should have started out earlier from the UK. Frank would brook no excuse for tardiness, nor did he ever tolerate it throughout my 27 years of working for him - no matter who was the culprit. He then started the rehearsal by throwing me into the fray as the leader that Friday morning, Bruce Devlin, stepped to the 16th tee.

Poor Bruce hit his tee shot into the right hand bunker, skittered his second across the small green into the left hand bunker, and walked off with a triple bogey six to surrender a two stroke lead, and recede into the pack. "Now it is a new ball game", I said, whereupon Frank asked icily where I had picked up that expression.

"I picked it up from you guys", I replied. "You picked it up from us guys, did you? Well let me tell you something. You have been hired to talk like an Englishman. Now an Englishman talks with a plum in his mouth, and few people here understand a f...... word he says. But Limeys are supposed to be golf experts.One last word of advice to you Wright. If I ever understand another f...... word you say, you're fired!"


I was so upset that I asked to borrow my cameraman's Sky Guide, and called British Airways. But there were no First Class seats available that evening for London. So I stayed with Frank for 27 years! After the tournament finished he commended me for my work during the weekend, and the ice was broken. For the next 27 years Frank stood by me through thick and thin, and we became fast friends.
But Frank was just as loyal to all the CBS crew, despite his frequent outrageously ethnic insults. He meant no harm, and in fact was actually the most gentle and sentimental of men. And, having worked all over the world I have no hesitation in saying that he was far and away the best producer-director of golf for whom I ever laboured. In short, Frank Chirkinian was the father of televised golf, and its greatest and most innovative talent.


Ben Wright.

Sabbatini's 5 shot lead 'no sure thing"

How many times have you seen a guy start Sunday with a substantial lead, only to end up being life or death to hang on by the end of the day.

Players always say they aren't going to change the game plan that got them the lead but inevitably the thought of protecting, playing safe combined with the chasing pack having the mind set that they have to go flag hunting often provides great drama.

Now add the weather into this equation. . The forecast is calling for clouds in the morning and scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. As a result, tee times will be between 8:55 and 10:55 a.m. with players going off both sets of tees and in groups of three. In addition the wind which has been the key factor here all week continues to blow, 25kph from the south today, and oh yes did I mention the Bear Trap...

So while it looks like Rory Sabbatini's to win as play gets underway today, it is by far no sure thing although he is putting beautifully with his new putter. His 66 was the lowest round for the second day in a row after his tourney record 64 on Friday.

Stephen Ames is even through 9 on his round today...T51 9 138 Stephen Ames 9 6* E color info 73 72 74 219


1 3 Rory Sabbatini -9 1 E color info 71 64 66 201
T2 2 9 Gary Woodland -4 2 -1 color info 71 68 68 207
T2 18 Y.E. Yang -4 1 E color info 68 71 67 206
T2 22 Jerry Kelly -4 1 E color info 71 67 68 206
T5 1 20 Matt Bettencourt -2 2 -1 color info 70 70 69 209
T5 1 34 Tommy Gainey -2 2 -1 color info 71 67 71 209
T5 1 97 Ricky Barnes -2 2 -1 color info 70 68 71 209
T8 4 63 Justin Leonard -1 3 -2 color info 70 71 70 211
T8 3 53 Kyle Stanley -1 2 1 color info 68 66 74 208
T8 2 43 Charles Howell III -1 2 E color info 71 71 67 209


Nationwide Tour

The field is just finishing round 2 in Bogota. The event will be reduced to 54 holes.The low-60 players and ties will make the 36-hole cut and advance to the final round scheduled to start in minutes..

The cut has fallen at E and only one Canuck, Andew Parr has made it. T19  Andrew Parr  3 F -3 65 74 -- -- 139

T66  Richard T. Lee SC 1 F 1 71 72 -- -- 143

T107 Chris Baryla SC 4 F * 5 72 75 -- -- 147
T122  Bryan DeCorso SC 3 F 7 75 74 -- -- 149  all missed the cut.

Here are the top 3 from the leader board

1 T8 Brenden Pappas SC -5 F * -9 67 66 -- -- 133
2 T8 Matt Every SC -4 F * -8 67 67 -- -- 134
T3 T8 Julian Etulain SC -3 F -7 67 68 -- -- 135


Bryan Angus

Ames in, Weir out at a windy Honda Classic..

As the rain continues to pour here early Saturday morning, the wind continues to blow in Palm Beach, Florida. Right now it is from the east at 30kph and will lessen to 20 this afternoon with a chance of showers, so another blustery day at the Honda..

All the more remarkable therefore, the 64 that Rory Sabbatini posted yesterday, he only took 9 putts on the back nine and 21 in total
“I knew the conditions were going to be tough, but crazy things happen,” he said. “(I) put the ball in the right spots a few times and make a couple of putts, and all of a sudden you stop worrying about everything and you just start trying to make some more birdies.I’m the most confident I’ve been with the putter in a really long time, so that’s a key factor for me right there.”

The 64 is three shots lower than any other score in the first two rounds and 8 ½ strokes below Friday’s field scoring average but it still wasn't good enough for the lead The wind died down in the afternoon and Kyle Stanley took advantage with his late tee time shooting a 4-under 66 for a one-stroke lead

The scoring average Thursday was 73.9, yesterday it dropped to 72.3 for a par of 70, and the cut fell at +6.

Stephen Ames made it at +5, 73,72... Mike Weir had a career worst 85 with 4 doubles and a triple .. 77 85 +22

When I am predicting who I expect to do well or win tournaments one of the things I always look for are guys in form and on the leader board below you can see why..

Stanley was in the top 15 last week, I have been writing about Schwartzel since the South Africa tour started at Christmas, Matt Kuchar, YE Yang, Spencer Levin, Gary Woodland and Lee Westwood have been all over leader boards so far this year.

1 1 6 Kyle Stanley -6 F* -4 color info 68 66 134

2 18 12 Rory Sabbatini -5 F -6 color info 71 64 135
3 1 41 Charl Schwartzel -3 F* -1 color info 68 69 137
T4 5 91 Ricky Barnes -2 F -2 color info 70 68 138
T4 16 40 Jerry Kelly -2 F -3 color info 71 67 138
T4 2 22 Stuart Appleby -2 F* E color info 68 70 138
T4 16 34 Tommy Gainey -2 F -3 color info 71 67 138
T8 1 8 Matt Kuchar -1 F* E color info 69 70 139
T8 6 33 Y.E. Yang -1 F* 1 color info 68 71 139
T8 12 16 Gary Woodland -1 F* -2 color info 71 68 139
T8 7 14 Spencer Levin -1 F* 2 color info 67 72 139
T8 1 -- Lee Westwood -1 F -1 color info 70 69 139


Nationwide Tour

It's not just raining here !! We have 4 Canucks in the field down in Columbia and I will give you their news as soon as they can get playing !!

BOGATA, Colombia -- Golf continued to take a back seat to the weather at the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open. An early afternoon storm dumped more water on the Bogota Country Club and forced officials to halt play Friday, pushing the completion of the first round into Saturday morning.


"To put it bluntly, the tub is full," said Nationwide Tour Tournament Director Jim Duncan. "The added rains today have overflowed it. Honestly, I think we've pushed the limit thus far to play as much as we have."

When play was stopped at 12:55 p.m. half the field had finished the opening round and the other half was scattered around the golf course. The lead groups had completed 13 holes, the last ones only a handful.

Overnight rains pushed the resumption of Friday's play back an hour in the morning to prepare the golf course. Play lasted a total of 4:20 before the rains returned. Thursday's opening day featured 7 ½ hours of delays and only 3 ½ hours of play.

The plan now calls for the first round to resume at 7:30 Saturday morning.Round two is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.

"Mathematically, 72 holes is out at this point," said Duncan. "Our goal is to finish 54 holes by Sunday. Our regulations do not allow us to play on Monday

Bryan Angus ( news and notes from pgatour.com )