past year, new year

The Golf Blog would like to thank all of our readers for a great year. You've made it loads of fun to comment on the major events in golf, including Phil finally breaking through and Vijay taking over No. 1. We learned a lot from many of your comments, so much so that we even invited one of you (the irrepressible Power Fade) to guest blog. We hope to hear from even more of you in 2005.

We wish all of you a Happy New Year. The Mercedes Championship begins on January 6 in Hawaii. See you then.

holiday wishes from tiger

From Tiger's email:

"I think the biggest thing I learned this year was a better understanding of the golf swing. I always say if youre not trying to get better, youre standing still, and people are passing you by. Thats why I changed my swing. Youre always learning, tinkering around and trying new things. That's just part of trying to become a better golfer. * * *

"In the meantime, Ive got a little shopping to do. Im not a big shopper. I just go into a mall, get whatever I need to get, and get out of there. I usually arrive early to avoid the crowds and seldom get recognized.

"I'm really looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. Happy Holidays to everyone and best wishes for a great New Year."

the duff challenge: daly and hoch

The Golf Channel will air on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. a 2-man best ball tournament. John Daly and Scott Hoch will team up to play against a field of amateur golfers, who will play with their handicaps. Should be fun.

tiger on track

Tiger's talking like he is about to make another run. Stevie Williams, his caddy, notices the bounce in Tiger's step. And now, Tiger's finally talking to the press about his swing changes, admiting that Hank Haney's his coach. Jaime Diaz of Golf Digest has a candid and truly fascinating interview with Tiger. This is absolutely a must-read, the best golf article of 2005.

Here's a snippet:

Later, in the first of three one-on-one interviews, Woods was more succinct. "Only two players have ever truly owned their swings: Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. I want to own mine. That's where the satisfaction comes from."

Woods might characterize his mission as business as usual, but the real answer to "Why Tiger Changed" can be found only in the details. And it starts with another question, the most asked in golf for more than a year: Why did Tiger leave Butch?

From the time the two began working together in 1993, Woods won three straight U.S. Amateur titles and eight majors. But before the PGA Championship in 2002, Woods told Harmon that during the tournament week he wanted to spend his time on the range alone. The two stayed in tenuous contact, but the last sustained sessions between them took place in Las Vegas the week before the 2003 U.S. Open.

The conventional wisdom is that Woods made a change primarily because of Harmon's extroverted personality, which had begun to annoy Woods on the practice tee. But it has become clear that Woods above all believed there was nothing more of substance he could learn from Harmon as a teacher. * * *

Woods now has a relationship with Harmon that is cordial but chilly. "Butch and I are still friends," he says. "As far as asking him for help with my golf swing--no." Adds Harmon: "I honestly believe what Tiger did in 2004 is one of his biggest accomplishments. He hasn't played well, but he's still up there. That shows how great he is." * * *

Although he managed to win five times in 2003, and miraculously in three of his first four events after returning from knee surgery, Woods felt the flaws in his technique catching up to him, saying now that he performed "with smoke and mirrors." He was still getting stuck, and the fact that it persisted--along with his determination to get rid of it forever--was the biggest reason for Harmon's exit.

tiger wins 2 in a row

Tiger won his own tournament, the Target World Championship, going back to back with his win in Japan. It was a near flawless final round 66, that put him at -16. Paddy Harrington finished 2nd at -14.

Congrats to Tiger for donating all of his tournament winnings ($1.25 million) to his charity, the Tiger Woods Foundation.

tiger and butch

George White has an excellent editorial on the inexplicable falling out between Tiger and Butch. Here's a taste:

"The everlasting question remains this one – why did he decide to change swing coaches when he had what might have been the most effective swing of all time? Reason screams that there must have been a personality conflict, because there is no way Tiger Woods could have been disappointed in Butch Harmon’s results.

"But that subject is about two years old now. Harmon is gone – period – and the chances of him returning are non-existent. And at last, Woods has said what everyone has suspected for quite awhile – that he is working now with Hank Haney."

tiger tied for lead

Tiger's tied for the lead at his tournament, at -3. Bigger news: he says that he and Elin plan to have kids soon.

tiger target world challenge

Tiger's invited 15 of the top golfers to his Target World Challenge. The Big News: John Daly's invited for the first time, and he's playing tomorrow with none other than tournament host Tiger Woods.

That just reminds me of what could have been if JD had been on the Ryder Cup team. When asked today about not getting selected to this years' team, John tried to be diplomatic. He said had the European scoring system been used, he would have made it by a "landslide." He understood a captain has to make tough choices, but he said he wished he would have been picked.

Well, finally, the PGA is seeing its own mistakes. It has revamped the U.S. scoring system to make it more like the European system. Under the new system, Todd Hamilton and John Daly would have qualified this year. Oh, what could have been.

golf ball rage

Now, I've really heard it all. A woman ran over two teenagers who hit her SUV with a golf ball apparently while tossing it around. The car was not damaged by the golf ball, but one of the boys was seriously injured after she ran them over.

Q school

The Q School ended this weekend at PGA West, with 35 lucky pros joining the PGA but a bunch others suffering major heartache. The Q School is where grown men often weep, failing to break through to the PGA tour. There's usually so much pressure, since golfers are fighting for the livelihoods in 6 pressure packed rounds. This year's course at PGA West had a number of holes that were absolutely treacherous -- train wrecks waiting to happen.

Bill Haas, Jay Haas's son, failed to make it by 2 strokes. SI has a couple of other misery stories:

"And there was the usual dose of heartache. None was greater than Bob Burns, who won the Funai Classic at Disney two years ago. He was in the middle of the 18th fairway, one shot above the cut line, when he hit into a bunker and three-putted for double bogey to miss his card by a single shot.

Joel Edwards, another past PGA Tour champion, was on the cut line until hitting his tee shot into the water and taking double bogey. He took a long walk to the parking lot, letting out guttural screams and pounding his bag along the way, paying his caddie and slamming his car door as he drove off.

They were among 51 players who at least have full status on the Nationwide Tour next year."

POY, ROY, CPOY

The PGA handed out its year-end awards:

1. Vijay Singh (no surprise) - Player of the Year.

2. Todd Hamilton (British Open Champion) - Rookie of the Year

3. John Daly - Comeback Player of the Year.

My Question: can somebody answer me again why Todd and JD were not on the U.S. Ryder Cup team?

email from tiger

Tiger recounts in an email his win in Japan and play at the Skins Game. One interesting comment is about Annika's play at the Skins Game:

"Annika hit a lot of good shots, but didn't get rewarded. She has a penetrating ball flight, but can't spin the ball enough. She did make a clutch putt at the par-5 ninth on Saturday to halve the skin with Adam. What made it more impressive was she really never had to make a putt before then."

Two things Tiger left out:
1. Annika had to make that clutch putt, only b/c Tiger missed his short putt to halve the hole with Adam Scott.

2. The reason Annika couldn't get much spin on the ball was that she was hitting long irons and fairway woods on her approach shots, b/c she definitely had a distance disadvantage off the tee playing with the men.

scott peterson--sentencing hearing

Now, I've heard it all. Witnesses testifying on behalf of Scott Peterson during his sentencing hearing have brought up how he aspired to be a golfer. Apparently, Peterson played on the high school team with Phil Mickelson, although Phil (2 years senior) does not remember Peterson. After Phil graduated, Peterson reportedly became the best golfer on the team.

herman mitchell

Long-time caddy for Lee Trevino, Herman Mitchell passed away yesterday. The most enduring memory I had of Herman was, appropriately enough, in the Skins Game a while back. Lee Trevino hit a hole-in-one on the 17th hole, and afterwards he got the biggest bear hug from Herman. Herman, you will be missed.