Golf Articles: January 2013

1/28/2013

Flesch's WD means an extra day at Augusta

Updated: April 3, 2005, 6:02 PM ET

Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Steve Flesch felt a warm blast of wind on his face as he gazed down the first fairway Sunday afternoon at Augusta National, looking like a man who would not want to be anywhere else on earth.

The alternative was Atlanta, which made this moment even sweeter.

Flesch was among five players who entered the BellSouth Classic as a final tuneup before the Masters, then pulled out when the tournament didn't start for two days because of rain.

He played the back nine at Augusta on Saturday afternoon. As some players were just starting the second round Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, Flesch was headed to the first tee at Augusta to join Jonathan Kaye for a relaxing round with no spectators, no distractions, no worries.

"It's been so bad lately, you can't get into any kind of rhythm playing," Flesch said, noting that weather has interrupted play at eight of the 14 events this year on the PGA Tour, and the BellSouth Classic won't be finished until Monday.

He didn't come up with a phantom injury for withdrawing from the BellSouth Classic. He simply told tournament officials, as much by his early departure as any words he said, that the Masters was on his mind.

"You can always say you've got a bad back," Flesch said. "I just told them that wasn't how I wanted to prepare for this week. If I knew I was going to have play Monday, I never would have played the tournament."

He walked into one of the best weekends of the year.

The Sunday before the Masters is a practice round like no other major, on a course that looks like any other country club on a lazy afternoon. Players share the course with Augusta National Members and both bring friends, making it look more like a member-guest at the local club.

"This is special," Craig Parry said. "It's quiet. I think it's the best time to come, because there are no spectators. You just go out there and enjoy it for what it is."

Nothing captured the spirit of the afternoon quite like Nick Faldo, a three-time Masters champion who was fidgeting with a camera on the putting green as he waited for the 10th tee to clear so he could play with his son, 16-year-old Matthew. It was the lad's first time playing Augusta National.

"He was born three weeks before I won my first Masters," Faldo said, recalling his first green jacket in 1989 when he holed a 25-foot birdie on the second extra hole to beat Scott Hoch.

Matthew rapped a few putts, amazed at the speed of the green. Did his dad mention that the greens are probably faster than anything else he has seen?

"He'll figure it out soon enough," Faldo said.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was on the grounds, for reasons unclear, although he took time to chat with Jerry Kelly. It was a diverse blend of players -- members and their guests, first-timers like Mark Hensby, former champions Gay Brewer, Charles Coody, Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw, and players who simply couldn't wait to get started.

Scott Verplank (Oklahoma State) teed off with Todd Hamilton (Oklahoma). Ian Woosnam played with Jesper Parnevik and a guest of the Swede's, who hit his opening tee shot about 210 yards and into the trees.

Not to worry -- the Masters doesn't start until Thursday, and the real work doesn't begin until Monday, when the gates open to some 40,000 fans and players start trying to remember all the nuances about the only course where a major championship returns every year.

For Flesch, sunshine was the biggest treat.

Adam Scott turned into a prophet when he said at the Sony Open in Hawaii, the second week of the year, "For a tour that tries to follow the sun, it seems we play under water a lot of the time."

In consecutive weeks in California, the Nissan Open was cut short to 36 holes over five days because of rain, and the Match Play Championship lost one day because the course was under water.

Florida was just as bad. The Bay Hill Invitational lost all but three hours of the first day because of rain, and The Players Championship the following week got so much rain that the tournament didn't finish until Monday, when the leaders had to play 32 holes.

Then came the two-day delay in Atlanta.

"It seems like this year has taken forever, but I can't believe we're already at Augusta. Does that make sense?" Flesch said. "It just doesn't seem like I've played any golf this year."

That should change this week. The forecast is for mostly sunny skies, with a mild chance of showers on Thursday.

Augusta National is as green as ever, with azaleas and dogwoods bursting in bloom. With a golf club in hand, there was no better place to be.

Broadhurst gets first win in 10 years

Updated: April 3, 2005, 4:03 PM ET

Associated Press

CASCAIS, Portugal -- England's Paul Broadhurst won the Portugal Open by one stroke Sunday for his first European Tour victory in 10 years.

Broadhurst, 39, had seven birdies and three bogeys in a final-round 67 to finish 13-under at the par-71 Oitavos course near Lisbon.

He last picked up a tour trophy at the 1995 French Open.

Overnight leader Paul Lawrie of Scotland, the 1999 British Open champion, had five birdies but took seven shots at the par-4 17th and finished second.

Portugal's Jose Filipe Lima had three birdies in his final round and was third at 11 under.

Shorter hitters could rule at Augusta

Updated: April 3, 2005, 7:57 PM ET

By Tim Rosaforte | Golf World

It's that time of year already. The Masters is next week and the season is in focus.Phil Mickelson has played so many rounds at Augusta National the past two weeks that you'd think he was a member. Tiger Woods and Ernie Els were in good spirits at the Tavistock Cup. Vijay Singh is working on his game at TPC-Sawgrass, where the winds have died and the sun is shining. Augusta 2005 is shaping up as a battle of the giants ... or is it?

All year we've been talking Big Four. Then we get to the fifth major and we get the Little Four, a leaderboard of Lilliputians -- Fred Funk, Luke Donald, Scott Verplankand Joe Durant. "Peashooter," is the word Funk used to describe the contingent of mighty mites who were grinding to win the Players Championship. It was a Deane Beman Ball.

The former commissioner was famous not only for commissioning Pete Dye to design the Stadium course but also for drop-kicking 4-woods into greens whenJack Nicklaus was hitting 9-irons. Beman always had the classic Little Man's Disease, but there's no chip on Funk's shoulder.

"I kind of felt like Herbie the Volkswagen, the Love Bug, because ... the bombers are going 40 by me," said the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Funk, who simply motored down the fairways at an 85.7 percent clip last week.

The Players was a reminder that golf is golf and it's not how far but how many. You'd figure on wet fairways, where balls were plugging and picking up mud, that the Little Guys would be at a disadvantage.

Hard and fast is supposed to favor the more accurate hitters and make the 500-yard par-4s reachable. Long and sloppy is supposed to favor the bombers. Turning the page to Augusta, the last time we had a Muddy Masters, it was another little guy who came out on top, Canadian Mike Weir.

Judging from the rains that doused Atlanta on Thursday -- and the PGA Tour this season -- it figures to be a wet one at Augusta. If the new redesign wasn't too long for Weir, who ranks 145th this year in driving distance, then it won't be too long for any of the munchkins.

That pass Luke Donald made with a 4-iron on the 72nd hole was as pure as anything Singh, Woods, Els or Mickelson produced this year and a sign that he's ready for the big moment.

Scott Verplank: Nobody's got a bigger heart.

Joe Durant: One of the best iron men in the game.

And Fred Funk: Seven wins, including the Players, is a pretty strong career for a former college golf coach.

All this talk about a Big Four, and none of them have continued to rise the last three weeks. Woods at Bay Hill and the Players was not the Woods who won Doral. Singh had the back-to-back final-hole losses at Honda and Bay Hill before a quadruple-bogey at 18 took him out of the Players. Els had a final-round 69 in the wind Monday at Sawgrass, but experienced two quiet weeks in Orlando and Ponte Vedra. And Mickelson was on the board early at the Players, but shot 77-75 in the third and final rounds.

Just a word of caution to those who think a bomber will go long and win the Masters. When it comes to sizing the green jacket, this could be a year for a Weir to go 42-regular.

1/27/2013

Nabisco Championship second-round scores

Updated: March 25, 2005, 10:37 PM ET

Associated Press

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Second-round scores from the $1,800,000 Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club:

Annika Sorenstam        70-69--139    5-under
Rosie Jones             69-70--139


Mi Hyun Kim             69-71--140    4-under

Reilley Rankin          73-68--141    3-under
Grace Park              73-68--141

Cristie Kerr            72-70--142    2-under

Wendy Doolan            74-69--143    1-under
Brandie Burton          72-71--143
Sherri Steinhauer       71-72--143
Liselotte Neumann       71-72--143
Dorothy Delasin         71-72--143
Carin Koch              70-73--143
a-Morgan Pressel        70-73--143

Laura Diaz              75-69--144    Even
Natalie Gulbis          73-71--144
Laura Davies            73-71--144
a-Michelle Wie          70-74--144
Juli Inkster            70-74--144

Karrie Webb             74-71--145    1-over
Kim Saiki               74-71--145
Jill McGill             73-72--145
Candie Kung             72-73--145
Pat Hurst               71-74--145

Young Kim               76-70--146    2-over
a-Julieta Granada       75-71--146
Beth Daniel             74-72--146
Paula Creamer           74-72--146
Wendy Ward              72-74--146

Se Ri Pak               77-70--147    3-over
Hee-Won Han             76-71--147
Christina Kim           76-71--147
Dawn Coe-Jones          74-73--147
Stephanie Arricau       72-75--147
Lorie Kane              71-76--147

Helen Alfredsson        76-72--148    4-over
Katherine Hull          75-73--148
Trish Johnson           75-73--148

Gloria Park             78-71--149    5-over
Tina Fischer            76-73--149
Hilary Lunke            76-73--149
Stacy Prammanasudh      75-74--149
Charlotta Sorenstam     75-74--149
Giulia Sergas           72-77--149
Karen Stupples          69-80--149

Bo Bae Song             78-72--150    6-over
Rachel Hetherington     77-73--150
Angela Stanford         77-73--150
Nancy Scranton          77-73--150
Joo Mi Kim              76-74--150
Heather Daly-Donofrio   75-75--150
Yuri Fudoh              75-75--150
Candy Hannemann         74-76--150
Heather Bowie           74-76--150
Meg Mallon              74-76--150
Tina Barrett            73-77--150
Michelle Estill         71-79--150
Jennifer Rosales        71-79--150

Kelli Kuehne            77-74--151    7-over
Jeong Jang              77-74--151
Lorena Ochoa            76-75--151
Ai Miyazato             75-76--151
Emilee Klein            75-76--151
Leta Lindley            74-77--151
Janice Moodie           74-77--151
Sophie Gustafson        71-80--151

Betsy King              77-75--152    8-over
Jamie Hullett           76-76--152
Catrin Nilsmark         73-79--152
Donna Andrews           71-81--152

a-Jane Park             78-75--153    9-over
Catriona Matthew        77-76--153
Aree Song               77-76--153
Shi  Hyun Ahn           77-76--153
Michele Redman          76-77--153
Laurel Kean             76-77--153

Kate Golden             78-76--154    10-over
Jung Yeon Lee           78-76--154
Nicole Perrot           77-77--154
a-Brittany Lang         76-78--154
Tammie Parker           76-78--154

Seol-An Jeon            81-74--155    11-over
a-Karen Sjodin          75-80--155
Moira Dunn              74-81--155
Vicki Goetze-Ackerman   74-81--155

Patty Sheehan           81-75--156    12-over
Nancy Lopez             77-79--156
Young-A Yang            75-81--156

Nanci Bowen             78-79--157    13-over
Becky Morgan            78-79--157
Patricia Meunier-Lebouc 77-80--157
Michelle Ellis          75-82--157

Siew-Ai Lim             80-78--158    14-over
JoAnne Carner           79-79--158

Pat Bradley             79-80--159    15-over

Amy Alcott              83-77--160    16-over

Sally Little            77-87--164    20-over

Soo-Yun Kang            74--Withdrew

Sorenstam trying to win 5th straight tourney

Updated: March 26, 2005, 12:36 PM ET

Associated Press

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Rosie Jones has been around long enough to know a front-runner when she sees one.

She'll see a lot of Annika Sorenstam on Saturday, and Jones knows what to expect.

"She's tough, she's mentally tough," Jones said. "She's definitely the person to beat now and you know it. Just playing with her is going to be tough."

Jones earned that opportunity by making a seven-footer for birdie on the 18th hole Friday to move into a tie with Sorenstam at 5-under midway through the Nabisco Championship.

Sorenstam is going for her record-matching fifth tournament win in a row and the first of four major championships she has her sights on this year. The 45-year-old Jones, meanwhile, would like nothing more than to win her first major title before she retires at the end of the year.

"I'm desperate," said Jones, who has never won a major title in 23 years on tour. "I want to win a major as bad as Annika wants to win her fifth in a row. She'll have other chances; I've got a lot more riding on it."

Jones said she knew as she stood over her putt on the final hole that sinking it would put her into the final group in Saturday's third round with Sorenstam. For a moment, she thought it might be easier playing in the second group but discarded that thought after giving herself a quick pep talk.

"I told myself that's why I'm here. That's why I'm doing this," Jones said. "She may be the best in the game, but she's going to still have to beat us."

Beating others hasn't been a problem for Sorenstam, who shot a methodical 69 on Friday to put herself on top of the leaderboard. Sorenstam, who won her last two tournaments last year and first two this year, has a shot at tying the record of five straight wins set by Nancy Lopez in 1978.

"I'm right where I want to be and excited about that," Sorenstam said. "I'm playing well and I couldn't have asked for a better start."

Sorenstam overcame a bogey on the first hole by playing the last 12 holes 4-under-par to post her score early before the wind stiffened and scores began inching upward on the Mission Hills Country Club course.

She had the lead to herself until Jones, playing in one of the last groups of the day, birdied the 18th hole for a 70 that tied her at 5-under 139.

Teen phenom Michelle Wie, meanwhile, was one of the day's casualties, hitting it out of bounds into someone's backyard on the 16th hole for one of two double bogeys on her way to a 74 that left her at even par, five shots back.

"Today my bad shots were just horrible," Wie said. "I'm kind of disappointed right now."

First-round co-leader Mi-Hyun Kim was in second, a stroke back, while defending champion Grace Park and Reilley Rankin were another shot behind after shooting 68s, the low rounds of the day.

Sorenstam said her biggest problem this week has been having to fight to get ahead of herself on the course.

"Everything is just looking really good so, of course, I get a little anxious and I just have to pinch myself and say, 'Hey, this is a tournament, play your game and go easy and hit one shot at a time,'" Sorenstam said. "The only way for me to handle this is to keep saying it over and over again."

Sorenstam's only real trouble came on the first hole when she hit it in the left rough, chunked it on and 3-putted from 40 feet for bogey. But she came back to string three birdies in a row to end the front nine, including a blast from the bunker on the eighth hole that went in as she sank to her knees and raised her arms in glee.

Sorenstam's 69 was a big improvement over the 76 she shot in the second round last year, when the pressures of her public pronouncement that she had a goal of winning all four majors seemed to hurt her game.

"I feel a lot better than last year, but again, it's a long ways to go so anything can happen," she said. "I really don't want to predict anything."

Wie, meanwhile, had a large gallery following a threesome that included LPGA pinup girl Natalie Gulbis and was in contention much of the day. But she was undone by double bogeys on the seventh and 16th holes and needs to shoot something like the third-round 66 she had here two years ago as a 13-year-old to get back in the mix.

"I'll try to shoot for that tomorrow," she said. "I feel good about my game, but I have to play better."

Wie wasn't even low amateur, or low teen. That honor belonged to Morgan Pressel, the 16-year-old who played in the U.S. Women's Open at the age of 12 and was at 1-under-par.

Divots
Karen Stupples, who shared the first-round lead with Rosie Jones and Mi Hyun Kim, shot a second-round 80 but still managed to make the cut. ...The 18th hole was shortened to about 470 yards on Friday in hopes that players would be tempted to go for the large green that is surrounded by water. Not one player tried, though, including Wie, who had 210 yards to the pin but said she chose to lay up because she was between clubs. ... Lopez shot a 79 and missed the cut at 12-over but still got a big ovation from the crowd at the 18th hole despite hitting it in the water.