Man, I hope the rain stops before the Masters

There would be nothing worse than having the Masters, viewed in HD, delayed because of rain. Yet, this week can have as much rain as it wants.

Round 1 of the Bell South Classic postponed until tomorrow... Watch for a bunch of players, playing in the Masters, to withdraw.

email from Tiger

Here's what Tiger had to say about his recent victory over Phil Mickelson:

"Mickelson is one of the best players in the world and we've gone head-to-head many times, in major championships and at the Buick Invitational in San Diego. It's been a lot of fun to go head-to-head against somebody who's that talented and that good. He's won a bunch of tournaments, so you know he knows how to handle the pressure, so that makes it even more thrilling.

"I live for those moments. That's exactly why you practice, to be in that position and try to handle the situation. That's what you dream about as kids, going against the best. When we get that opportunity - it doesn't happen very often because of the nature of our sport, our travel schedules and the fact that you can't always play well each and every week, it's very rare that we separate ourselves and focus on each other in the final group. That doesn't happen very often. So when you do have that opportunity, you'd like to take advantage of it.

"You're definitely nervous. If you're not nervous, you're not alive. The day I lose that nervousness is the day I quit. That means I don't care anymore. Since I do care about how I finish and how I play, yea I'm going to be nervous. It's about handling your nerves and channeling it so that you're able to perform at a high level. That's what's exciting."

Funk!

The 40 mph winds at the TPC at Sawgrass were brutal today. Fred Funk survived to win at -9. It's an impressive win for the 48-year old Funk.

Most of the players probably weren't saying "Funk" during the round, but something that sounds close to it. There was absolute carnage at the signature island greeen 17th hole like you've never seen. As Tom Lehman put it, "Today wasn't for sissies." Tiger hit his 8-iron into the water. So did Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, and a bunch of others (over 30 players today). The worst fate was suffered by Bob Tway, who was standing on the 17th at -7 during the third round. But the swirling winds befuddled Tway. Tway proceeded to dunk 4 straight shots into the water. He took 12 on the hole. That's a record, one that no one wants.

Annika, 59 - 5 - 3 - 1

Annika Sorenstam won the Nabisco Championship, going away. It's her 59th career victory, 5th straight victory dating back to last season, 3rd straight victory this year, and 1st major championship of the year. Impressive numbers.

Right now, Annika is staking her claim to being the best female golfer to ever play the game. In a year or two, we'll know for sure.

TPC players get a "Mulligan"

In an interesting turn of events, the PGA has decided to restart the 2nd round of the Player's Championship. The tournament committee came to this decision after they started the 2nd round on Friday without playing lift, clean and place, thus forcing all players in the 2nd round to play the ball down unless they canceled the round and started over.

No one will be happier to hear that news than Ernie Els who had a 12 footer for bogey on #1. However, there are a few players who had birdies and eagles that only count in the 19th hole.

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In other news, Michelle Wie is playing well at the Nabisco Championships, but is still 5 back from Annika and Rosie Jones. Wie decided to go see the neighbors on the 16th hole when she drove the ball into someone's backyard, making double bogey.

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Tap-ins

David Duval is not in last place.

Hal Sutton has lost his form and has taken "David's Spot" posting a solid 84.

And whoever came up with the name, "the BIG FOUR" needs to quit his day job considering there are many other players playing at the top of their game.

The New ProV1x is an amazing golf ball.

it happens 2.0: ochoa dunks it into water

Lorena Ochoa had a complete meltdown at the final holes of the Safeway Invitational, going on a bogey train to let Annika Sorenstam sneak into a playoff. Standing on the 16th hole, Ochoa had a 4-shot lead over Annika but then went double-bogey, bogey (2 putting fom 7 feet), par. Annika biried the 18th to force a playoff.

Clearly rattled, Ochoa dunked her tee shot on the 1st playoff hole straight into the water. It was all over by then.

it happens: vijay dunks it into the water

Not that I take glee in anyone's mistakes, but it's awfully reassuring to see pros do the same things we all do on the weekend (see below). Today, Vijay Singh played near flawless golf for 17 holes, shooting 5 under up to that point and tieing Kenny Perry for the lead at -12 at the Bay Hill Invitational.

Then, in one instant, the tournament was lost on the 18th: Vijay dunked his approach shot straight into the water hazard, coming up well short (maybe because of the wind). It's now two straight tournaments in which Vijay lost the tournament on the final hole (last week, missing a short putt to give Paddy Harrington the win).

But there's some consolation for Vijay: he's regained the No. 1 world ranking back from Tiger.

in partial defense of big mac

Mark McGwire is a retired baseball player who now is a scratch golfer. He even won the e=mc2 golf skills challenge two years ago, defeating all the PGA pros in the event.

Two days ago, McGwire was subpoenaed to testify in the "steroid" hearings in Congress, along with Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Kurt Schilling, Frank Thomas, and Jose Canseco. Everyone but McGwire and Canseco deny taking steroids. McGwire and Canseco essentially "took the fifth," although Canseco's already admitted steroid use in his latest book.

So apparently, now all the "buzz" is about Mark McGwire. His local congressman is even threatening to have his name taken off the stretch of highway dedicated to him. Read here.

From the highlights (or lowlights) of McGwire's testimony, I can understand some of the criticism he's received, but not all of it. Both Congess and the media should WAKE UP: anyone who's ever stepped foot in a gym to lift weights can tell pretty easily who probably is on steroids. There should be no surprise with Mark McGwire, Jose Caseco, or Barry Bonds. C'mon, let's be real. The blame should not lie solely at the foot of the players. At least some of the blame falls to the lax policies of MLB, and the "blind eye" thrown to the issue by the media -- who hyped up the Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa home run derby as being the "magical" return of baseball after the strike year.

If the media, MLB, and Congress want to be surprised about something, they should be surprised it's taken everyone this long to address what has been staring MLB in the face daily -- for over a decade.

it happens: tiger almost whiffs

OK, it's very reassuring to see the pros -- or even better Tiger -- pull the same kind of shot that you hit once in a while on the weekend. At the Bay Hill Invitational (Arnie's tournament), Tiger almost whiffed his first drive. To be fair, it was rainy and slippery, so maybe Tiger lost his footing. He appeared to take a divot with his driver -- pretty amazing! Anyway, Tiger rallied to make par on the hole, even after his drive did not go very far.

Tiger's been paired with Ernie and Retief for the first two rounds. What a fun group to follow! A recap of the tournament on The Golf Channel.

head case: big easy

Is Ernie Els the biggest head case? Here's a report from The Golf Channel that Ernie's Belgian "motivator" Jos Vanstiphout gave him a "pep talk" before his 1st round last weekend and really screwed him up. Ernie shot 74. Ernie eventually won the tournament, but no thanks to Jos.

Here's what Ernie said about the "pep talk": "He is supposed to give me encouragement, not what he gave me. It's supposed to be 10 minutes of good stuff before I play, but that was 12 minutes of the most ridiculous stuff I've ever thought of. I don't know what went through his head."

But, even after that debacle, Ernie still hasn't fired Jos. This is the same Jos that Retief Goosen did dump. What's the Big Easy need a "motivator" for anyway?

UPDATE: Ernie explains his relationship with Jos on his website. Apparently, Ernie's fired Jos once already. They definitely have a weird relationship. Here's what Jos says about Ernie:

Vanstiphout said Els would not admit it at first, but the South African had a phobia about Woods.

"It was. I called it 'Tigeritis'. It's something that creeps into your mind. You get your butt beaten once and you finish second and you get beaten another time and another time and you lose your self-confidence and you start believing that he's unbeatable. But excuse me, Tiger is good, but Tiger is not God. He's not."

tiger's biggest rival?

When asked "who is Tiger's biggest rival," you might be surprised to hear what ESPN's Bob Harig and Golf World's Ron Sirak answered. Quite provocative. My answer, though, might be a little bit different.

the mystery of the world golf rankings

I confess I don't know how they compute the World Golf Rankings. It's a ranking system that seems more complicated than the one for making the U.S. Ryder Cup team (at least in the past). A lot of people are asking, How did Tiger regain No. 1 this year after winning 2 tournaments after Vijay had won 10 tournaments last year? After all, Vijay did win the Sony this year. So in the past two years, Vijay is beating Tiger in total victories, 11-3. How did Tiger already catapult back over Vijay, leading now 12.27 to 11.79?

Frankly, these are all good questions. But maybe this ranking system should be thrown out the window. Right now, Tiger is playing like the No.1, and Vijay's not. Frankly, Phil (who is ranked a distant fourth at 9.11) is playing like the No.2 (if not almost No.1). Obviously the World rankings accumulate from year to year, but it still doesn't explain how Tiger regained No. 1. To me, these World rankings are pretty meaningless.

I am Annika Sorenstam

We've been remiss in not giving Annika her due. She won her debut tournament for 2005 this past weekend. (She may have been taking some time off after announcing her divorce from her husband.) Anyway, it's good to see Annika back on the tour and playing like the No. 1 golfer she is.

more on tiger and phil

The Golf Channel has excellent analysis about the rivalry between Tiger and Phil. Here's a flavor:

"The showdown between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at Doral captured the largest television audience for a golf tournament since the U.S. Open.

It included a certain Ryder Cup captain who only recognized the faces.

"I watched it from start to finish," Hal Sutton said Tuesday. "What part of my body wouldn't say, 'Where was this in September?' We all knew both were capable of that. I don't know why they didn't do it together."

best wishes, President Clinton

Our best wishes go to President Clinton, who will have surgery again on Thursday to clean out some scar tissue from his bypass. Apparently, the development of scar tissue is somewhat uncommon, although the procedure is relatively straightforward and less invasive.

So what will President Clinton do today before going under the knife? You guessed it: play golf. Good man.

more on Tiger

If Tiger's play yesterday is any indication of his play this year, he will win at least 2 majors. Yesterday may be the day that we look back and say: Tiger finally returned, not only to No. 1, but to his 2000 form (revamped by Hank Haney and Tiger). Phil, Ernie, Vijay, and Retief better be hitting the driving range right now.

By the way, here are Tiger's clubs. All Nike clubs, even the wedges now. The only thing not Nike is the Scotty Cameron putter. No one's talking about "inferior clubs" anymore, not even me.

I am Tiger Woods

He's back. Tiger Woods had the look of his 2000 year, staging one of the most exciting head-to-head match-ups in golf in years. The play was stellar for both Tiger and Phil; the tension, palpable. It felt like a major championship.

If you missed it, you missed an incredible Sunday. (What were you thinking?) My words will not do justice to today's duel between the two most talented golfers in the world. Hats off to Phil, too, for rebounding with 2 birdies when Tiger eagled the 12th and almost chipping in on the 18th to force a playoff. It was unbelievable that Phil's ball did not drop -- it looked so pure. I guess just as Phil's putt on 18 at the Masters last year grazed the edge and dropped, this time the edge was not as kind.

Anyway, both Tiger and Phil deserve their props for putting on a duel that was better than the hype.

phil v. tiger - sunday showdown

It ain't going to get better than this: Phil and Tiger in the final group at the Ford Championship, going mano a mano. Tiger had the round of the tournament, shooting a 63 -- which included driving the 347-yard 16th hole. Phil's at -20; Tiger, -18. This will be an exciting matchup, and ratings dream for NBC. Hopefully, they'll both have more fun than they did playing together in the Ryder Cup.

phil tied for lead at Ford Championship

Appropriately enough, Phil Mickleson (a Ford man) is tied for the lead at the Ford Championship at Doral, with the likes of Jose Maria Olazabal. Tiger's just one back. Leaderboard here.

Two Questions:

1. Is there a good reason Ernie Els is playing in Dubai and not Doral, when 11 of the top 12 players in the world are playing Doral?

2. Did you see the crazy amusement park atmosphere on the par-3, 9th? They have a wheel in the grandstand that tournament volunteers spin. The wheel has different spokes with names of different prizes on it, e.g., t-shirts, towels, etc. For every birdie made, the tournament official spins the wheel. Then, whatever it lands on, they start tossing out the prizes to the people in the grandstands. OK, this seems really fun (and really great if you're there), but a little crazy for a world class golf tournament, no?

UPDATE: Tim Rosaforte of Golf World offers some explanation for Ernie.

Woosnam and Faldo Assume Ryder Cup Captain Roles

It was announced today that Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo will be European Ryder Cup captains in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Both of these players have been wonderful Ryder Cuppers. It makes me wonder who the US will have in 2008, after Lehman has the captaincy in 2006. But who will the US have in 2008 to go up against Faldo?? Maybe Curtis Strange? Maybe Tiger Woods (as a playing captain)?? Maybe Couples?? But who??

I think the US's lack of good captains might cause the US to continue to get smashed in this competition...

our condolences

It's been a light week for golf, and then this horrible news. Our condolences go to the entire Nicklaus family. The 17 month old son of Steve Nicklaus died yesterday in a tragic accident after the boy apparently got away into the hot tub (past a safety gate). We know how close the Nicklaus family is, and we send them our sincerest condolences.