Pettersen wins playoff in Hawaii

Pettersen wins playoff in Hawaii










Kyle Galdeira, The Sports Xchange April 20, 2013 10:30 PMThe SportsXchange



By Kyle Galdeira

KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- After building a six-shot lead through eight holes, Suzann Pettersen appeared ready to cruise to victory in paradise.

But Lizette Salas was not about to concede the tournament. She posted an event-record 10-under-par 62 in an improbable comeback that ultimately led to a sudden-death playoff with Pettersen after both finished the final round of the LPGA Lotte Championship at 19 under.

Salas' effort would not quite be enough, though. Her approach shot on the first hole of

the designated-playoff hole at No. 18 found the water hazard fronting the green at KO Olina Golf Club and Pettersen won by two-putting for par. Salas finished with a bogey.

Pettersen shot a final-round, 5-under 67 under clear skies and lazy breezes en route to her 11th career tour win.

The players used the favorable conditions to their advantage.

Salas strung together seven birdies and an eagle during a nine-hole stretch to tie Pettersen at 19 under with two holes remaining. While Pettersen inched ahead by a stroke with a birdie on 17 after Salas parred the hole -- and Salas' birdie attempt lipped out on the par-4 18th -- Pettersen bogeyed the final hole to send the match into the playoff.

Pettersen, a 10-year tour veteran, was the only golfer to post four consecutive sub-70 rounds. She drained eight birdies in the final round after totaling 18 in her first three rounds combined. She birdied every hole on the course during the tournament except the par-5 No. 5 and the par-4 No. 18.

Pettersen, the sixth-ranked player on the tour, received $255,000 of the event's $1.7 million purse.

Salas' final round featured nine birdies and a long eagle chip that helped her rally from five shots off the lead at the start of the final round.

Salas, ranked No. 37, made a hard charge at the lead, including her eagle on one of the course's toughest holds, the par-4 10th. Her iron shot from roughly 150 yards bounced on the green and rolled in.

Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, a rookie on the Ladies European Tour, finished third after taking the first-round lead with a tournament record-tying 64. The 17-year-old finished with a 6-under 66 that included seven birdies.

Top-ranked Inbee Park continued to ride a wave of positive momentum and tied for fourth at 13 under with fellow South Korean I.K. Kim after shooting a 67.

Ai Miyazato, the ninth-ranked player and the defending tournament champion, rallied to post a par 72 and tie for sixth at 11 under.

NOTES: South Korean Hee Kyung Seo, the 2011 Rookie of the Year, wrapped up the tournament with a 3-over 75 and tied for ninth at 10 under after starting the day in second, one shot behind Pettersen. ... Second-ranked Stacy Lewis also finished in the six-way tie for ninth. A two-time tournament winner in 2013, Lewis could have regained the No. 1 spot with a victory this week.

Pettersen earns 11th career LPGA win with playoff in Hawaii

Pettersen earns 11th career LPGA win with playoff in Hawaii










Kyle Galdeira, The Sports Xchange April 20, 2013 11:10 PMThe SportsXchange



KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- After building a six-shot lead through eight holes, Suzann Pettersen appeared ready to cruise to victory in paradise.

But Lizette Salas was not about to concede. She posted an event-record 10-under-par 62 in an improbable comeback that ultimately led to a sudden-death playoff with Pettersen after both finished the final round of the LPGA Lotte Championship at 19 under.

Salas' effort would not quite be enough, though. Her approach shot on the first designated playoff hole at No. 18 found the water hazard fronting the green at Ko Olina Golf Club and Pettersen won by two-putting for par. Salas finished with a double-bogey.

Pettersen shot a final-round, 5-under 67 under clear skies and lazy breezes en route to her 11th career tour win.

"I just tried to stick with my own game plan. I didn't really look behind me," said Pettersen when asked if she was aware of Salas' late charge. "I putted great, and that's how you win tournaments."

The players used the favorable conditions to their advantage.

Salas strung together seven birdies and an eagle during a nine-hole stretch to tie Pettersen at 19 under with two holes remaining. While Pettersen inched ahead by a stroke with a birdie on 17 after Salas parred the hole -- and Salas' birdie attempt lipped out on the par-4 18th -- Pettersen bogeyed the final hole to send the match into the playoff.

Pettersen, a 10-year tour veteran, was the only golfer to post four consecutive sub-70 rounds. She drained eight birdies in the final round after totaling 18 in her first three rounds combined. She birdied every hole on the course during the tournament except the par-5 No. 5 and the par-4 No. 18.

"My game's been feeling great," Pettersen said. "You get older, you get smarter. I play well when I stay aggressive. I hate to play defensive. For me to shy away and not step on the pedal, that's not me. If I make an error being aggressive, I can live with it. I felt like I executed four good rounds under very different conditions."

Pettersen, the sixth-ranked player on the tour, received $255,000 of the event's $1.7 million purse and credited her improved putting for playing a key role in the victory.

"I've been putting with my eyes closed all week," Pettersen said, explaining a technique she utilized in the past when struggling in the short game. "I visualize everything in my head and that's it. It's a very releasing feel because I'm just letting it happen. Once the ball's left the (club) face, there's nothing I can do."

Salas' final round featured nine birdies and a long eagle chip that helped her rally from five shots off the lead at the start of the final round.

Salas, ranked No. 37, made a hard charge at the lead, including her eagle on one of the course's toughest holes, the par-4 10th. Her dead-on six-iron shot from roughly 150 yards bounced on the green and rolled in.

"I played my butt off today. Some wrote that I lack a punch. I had plenty of punches out there today," Salas said, fighting back tears. "I'm sad just because I wanted to win for my dad. I wanted to win for me. I'm almost there," she added, in reference to her search for a first LPGA win.

Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, a rookie on the Ladies European Tour, finished third after taking the first-round lead with a tournament record-tying 64. The 17-year-old finished with a 6-under 66 that included seven birdies.

Top-ranked Inbee Park continued to ride a wave of positive momentum and tied for fourth at 13 under with fellow South Korean I.K. Kim after shooting a 67.

Ai Miyazato, the ninth-ranked player and the defending tournament champion, rallied to post a par 72 and tie for sixth at 11 under.

NOTES: South Korean Hee Kyung Seo, the 2011 Rookie of the Year, wrapped up the tournament with a 3-over 75 and tied for ninth at 10 under after starting the day in second, one shot behind Pettersen. ... Second-ranked Stacy Lewis also finished in the six-way tie for ninth. A two-time tournament winner in 2013, Lewis could have regained the No. 1 spot with a victory this week.

Lateral Hazard: Graeme McDowell conquered elements at Harbour Town like only he can

Lateral Hazard: Graeme McDowell conquered elements at Harbour Town like only he can











Brian Murphy April 21, 2013 11:41 PMYahoo Sports





View gallery.

Graeme McDowell puts on his new plaid jacket after winning the RBC Heritage tournament. (AP)
With Adam Scott not playing this week – he was too busy eating breakfast cereal in his green jacket; working out in his green jacket; going grocery shopping in his green jacket; making ladies swoon in his green jacket – the storyline in golf shifted to a tenacious winner from Northern Ireland, an Ulsterman with major championship swagger who surprised no one with his victory at Harbour Town.

Yes, Graeme McDowell now has more wins on the PGA Tour in 2013 than that other kid from his country. What's his name? Maury? Oh, Rory? Sorry about that.

Hey, now. Just a little golf humor to perk up your post-Masters hangover. You know we love Rory McIlroy's game here at Lateral Hazard. A little locker room towel-snap from this slice of cyber space may just be the thing to get him going, right?

In the meantime, it's all about the other Northern Irishman – the one who preceded both Rory and countryman Darren Clarke to the major championship win circle when he won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in true Graeme McDowell style. In other words: tough, unglamorous, admirable golf.

It was no surprise that the only player left standing at Harbour Town with McDowell was a fellow U.S. Open champion, the reigning national title-holder Webb Simpson. In fact, Simpson's U.S. Open at Olympic Club was only sealed when McDowell himself missed a birdie try on the 72nd hole in San Francisco. So these two dudes know each other, and these two dudes were just the guys to handle Harbour Town's lethal cocktail of gale-force winds and Sunday pressure. You don't win a U.S. Open unless you're the guy who embraces adversity on a golf course. Harbour Town on Sunday, thy name was adversity.

[Also: James Driscoll will donate $1K per birdie to Boston bomb victims]

I mean, did you see those leaden skies and fierce gusts? Yo, Harbour Town. The British Open called. It wants its wind back. I was thinking of leading the column with an original line – "It was a dark and stormy night" – but didn't want to be sued for plagiarism by Snoopy.

How windy was it? You couldn't tell which was more tussled – third-round leader Charley Hoffman's game (final-round 77) or his Spicoli-like hair (final-round mess).




View gallery.

Graeme McDowell is congratulated by Webb Simpson after winning Sunday. (AP)



For McDowell, the Sunday 69 in the difficult conditions reminded us of the kind of conviction with which the 33-year-old plays. Whether it's a Ryder Cup-clinching match in 2010, or two monster putts in Tiger Woods' face at Tiger's Chevron World Challenge in 2010, or a 6-iron from 165 yards struck to 15 feet on the windy 18th hole in the playoff at Harbour Town on Sunday, the man who everyone calls one of the sweetest gentlemen on Tour can be a stone-cold killer if he has to.

Always the sportsman, he watched Webb Simpson's par putt slide past the hole, and grimaced instead of celebrated. He slapped Simpson on the back and told him, in that Northern Irish accent: "You hit a better putt than it showed." Of course, that doesn't mean McDowell feels so bad for Simpson he won't celebrate his win with Guinness-soaked gusto. Heck, he might do so at his new restaurant he just opened in Orlando, a place so hip that Nick Faldo name-checked it on CBS, then followed it up with a plea for a free meal at the joint. I will leave that to the rest of you to ponder.

McDowell's win was a fun way for all of us to ease back in after all that Masters drama. After all, Scott won't play again until the Players Championship in May, and Angel Cabrera wasn't even in the Northern Hemisphere. Tiger's off for a while, as is Rory.

[Also: Shaq, Bubba Watson team up for ridiculous photo]

So why not enjoy a player who is best on the PGA Tour in scrambling, one of the most accurate drivers of the golf ball out there and a player who scores his golf ball time and time again – tie-3rd at Doral, quarterfinals of the WGC Match Play, tie-5th at last year's British Open. He missed the cut at the Masters last week, but that's not a place that suits his game as much as a U.S. Open.

In fact, the USGA's annual shindig is less than two months away, at a ballstriker's paradise, Merion Golf Club. Just suggesting, is all.

SCORECARD OF THE WEEK

72-72-76-64 – Even par 284, Angel Cabrera, winner (playoff), PGA Tour Latinoamerica 82 Abierto OSDE del Centro, Cordoba Golf Club, Cordoba, Argentina.

Hard to tell what's the best part about this story.

That Cabrera won in a playoff, the week after losing the Masters in a playoff.

That he did it at the club where he was a caddy as a youth.

That he followed a Saturday 76 with a Sunday 64.

That he eagled the 18th hole, a par-4, to force the playoff.

That he flew from Augusta to Argentina, stuck a peg in the ground just four days after his major heartbreak, and wound up hoisting the trophy.

[Also: Adam Scott talks Masters win, Australia, and relationship status]

Everything about Cabrera's game and style that was on display last week at the Masters goes into making this story the best of the week. His connection to his hometown, his competitive spirit, his flair for the dramatic – all of that goes into the narrative here. Think about his 72nd holes in one week's time. He eagled the 72nd hole at Cordoba for the playoff. One week earlier, he stiffed that 7-iron to three feet after Adam Scott let loose the Roar Heard Down Under moments earlier.

Sure, the quality of the PGA Tour Latinoamerica field didn't exactly mimic the final groupings at Augusta National, but Cabrera still had to fight off jet lag, letdown and the pressure of his hometown to produce that Sunday magic. I'd encourage Angel to mightily enjoy the win, but something tells me he doesn't need my prompting.

BROADCAST MOMENT OF THE WEEK

"From what I can gather, he took an illegal drop, signed a scorecard and left the course. Under most circumstances, that would result in disqualification. If the rules of golf are upheld, I believe he should have been disqualified." – Steve Williams, caddie to Adam Scott, former caddie to Tiger Woods, on 3 News, a New Zealand TV station, about Tiger's illegal drop at the Masters.






View gallery.

Adam Scott celebrates with Steve Williams at the Masters. (AP)Here's a bad new joke: Did you hear doctors discovered a new disease called Stevie Williams Alzheimer's? Yeah, you forget everything but your grudge against Tiger.



While Williams went on to say he didn't think Tiger "was trying to gain anything on the field", you still have to marvel at how the guy Tiger called 'Stevie', and the guy Adam Scott simply calls 'Steve', continues to keep Tiger in his sights. He could have easily declined comment on the situation, and while his words aren't especially venomous – and I happen to agree with him – it still constitutes filing under that catch-phrase of social media today: shots fired.

You'd think after his ill-advised racial slur against Tiger last year, that Williams would avoid the subject of his old boss. But then again, he was asked, and he answered. And for those of us who like rivalries and enemy combatants on a sporting field, this is room service.

MULLIGAN OF THE WEEK

Charley Hoffman has won twice on the PGA Tour – the 2007 Bob Hope and the 2010 Deutsche Bank – but he will forever be known as the dude with the hair. He said he grows it longer to be different, and for that we applaud him. Why not? Shake it up. Life is short. Besides, he's got a receding hairline on top, so he might as well grow the yarn long in back to make up for it. And, as he proudly notes, his lack of hair on the front end disqualifies anyone from accusing him of sporting a mullet.

So, Hoffman's got the 54-hole lead at Harbour Town. He's homing in on his third Tour win, and building on last week's tie-3rd in Texas. He's tied for the lead. And he comes to the 14th hole, a devilish par-3 in the wind with water in front and just flat fans his tee shot. Ker-splash. Wet. It wasn't even close.

[Also: Adam Scott, the actor, is not happy with all the Masters jokes]

Hoffman would make double bogey, and shoot 77, finishing tie-6th.

But it would have been fun to see Hoffman in that playoff with McDowell and Simpson. It would have been fun to see his blonde tresses doing battle with the Harbour Town breezes under the most intense of pressures.

So, let's go back out to that 14th hole, remind Hoffman that he was representing longhairs everywhere, drop another one on the tee box and . . . give that man a mulligan!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

It's on to New Orleans, where nothing says "Laissez les bon temps roulez" like the stoic, unchanging face of defending champ Jason Dufner.

Thing about Dufner is, he's got a dry sense of humor that he flashes regularly on Twitter. After last week's Masters, he tweeted: "Semi enjoyable week at the Masters, improving each year. T30, 2010. T24, 2012. T20, 2013. Ten years time I should be slipping on the green jacket."

That made me laugh.

Plus, of course, there'll be Dufnering on Bourbon Street by some golf fans.

Is Tianlang Guan Playing Too Much on the PGA Tour?

Is Tianlang Guan Playing Too Much on the PGA Tour?











Ryan Ballengee May 16, 2013 9:46 AM


COMMENTARY | When you were 14 years old, what better things did you have to do than go to school and play golf? Not much.



So it's hard, then, to blame Tianlang Guan from taking another sponsor's exemption on the PGA Tour, playing in this week&
#39;s HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas.





For Guan, that will mark his third PGA Tour start of the year. He became the youngest Masters participant in history back in April, then became the youngest player to make the weekend at Augusta National. A fortnight later, Guan did it again, easily earning a spot in the weekend field at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.



It's pretty heady stuff from a kid whose head could grow a ballcap size overnight thanks to a growth spurt.



Now, however, he's making at a third start in a month and a half. For his part, world No. 1 Tiger Woods has played one tournament less in the Masters-to-Nelson stretch, with his win last week at The Players Championship coming in his first post-Masters start.



It might be a bit much for Guan, who can hardly be expected to continue making cuts like this.



Patrick Cantlay had a magical summer in 2011, shooting a record 60 in that year's Travelers Championship as part of a run of top-25 finishes while still at UCLA. He turned pro and, with pay on the line, the task got harder. However, in 2013, Cantlay has already won on the Web.com Tour and appears poised to head to the PGA Tour with membership and direct deposit privileges.



Then there's Lydia Ko, the Kiwi by way of Korean birth, who, at just 15 years of age, won the LPGA Tour's CN Canadian Women's Open last summer. She nearly won the Women's Australian Open to kick off 2013 for another phenomenal win. She's obviously closer to Guan in age, though Ko seems already in the same class as most of the LPGA players she can't even yet call peers because of the tour's age restrictions and her unwillingness to dive head first into what could be a deep pool, filled with money and fame.



Maybe that's the example for Guan. Follow Lydia. Enjoy this start at the Nelson and see what happens. Made or missed cut, call it a spring. Head back home. The opportunities will be there for him to return and play as he sees fit.



As he grows, mentally and physically, Guan will have to adjust. His game will change. His world view will change. Eventually, he will probably turn pro and try to become the biggest golfing name his country has ever known -- just in time, perhaps, for the 2020 Olympics. However, as Tiger Woods says so often, it's a process that must unfold naturally and be handled with care. Otherwise, there are plenty of cautionary tales in the graveyard of premature expectations.



Ryan Ballengee is a Washington, D.C.-based golf writer. His work has appeared on multiple digital outlets, including NBC Sports and Golf Channel. Follow him on Twitter @RyanBallengee.

Tiger Woods inviting a cloud of suspicion

Tiger Woods inviting a cloud of suspicion











Jay Busbee May 16, 2013 10:08 AMYahoo Sports







View gallery.

Tiger Woods takes a drop on the 14th hole during the final round of The Players Championship. (Getty Images)Barely a third of the way into the 2013 golf season, Tiger Woods has already found himself the focus of three different rules controversies. He's been questioned for his behavior on the course and, in effect, called a liar for his comments off it.



He was penalized two strokes for an illegal drop at the HSBC Championship in January, nearly got disqualified from the Masters after an illegal drop there and this past weekend was questioned for giving himself a favorable drop in the final round of The Players Championship.

[Related: Two marshals on the grounds at Players said Tiger Woods did not lie]

(And if that weren't enough, Sergio Garcia accused Woods of a breach of etiquette during their third-round pairing on Saturday at The Players, leading to a he-said-she-said exchange from four course marshals, two of whom essentially called Woods a liar, two who defended him.)

All of this leads to the question: Why is this happening to Woods again and again?

While it's certainly true that Tiger is the most scrutinized golfer on the planet, watched by millions every time he enters a tournament, it's impossible to ignore the pattern that's developing: that time after time, when given the opportunity, Tiger Woods chooses the interpretation of the rules that's most favorable to him. Each situation isn't a huge deal when examined individually, but within a body of work they matter, especially when considering where he's headed – straight at Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors.






View gallery.

Tiger Woods avoided disqualification after taking an illegal drop at the Masters. (AP)Let's get this out of the way: There is absolutely no indication that Woods is cheating on the golf course. None. No golfer in history has been as closely monitored as he is. In an age where hi-def TV viewers can pick up when a ball rotates by a single dimple, there'd be nowhere for Woods to hide.



But there is latitude in golf, which is a game officiated by the players themselves. So it's worth an inspection when a player interprets the rules in a way that consistently benefits him.

Consider, for instance, the infamous "loose impediment" ruling from the 1999 Phoenix Open. There, Woods hit his tee shot into the desert alongside the 13th hole; the ball came to rest behind a one-ton boulder roughly the size of a dishwasher. Woods asked whether the boulder was considered a "loose impediment," meaning it could be moved without penalty. A rules official assented, and Woods asked members of the gallery to haul the boulder out of the way. They happily obliged, and Woods would go on to birdie the hole.

And we already have three separate events in 2013 where Woods' interpretation of the rules has come under scrutiny:

• At the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, Woods (with the blessing of his playing partner Martin Kaymer) took a free drop after his ball was embedded in a bushel of vines. He was later assessed a two-stroke penalty for taking an illegal drop, and that was enough for him to miss the cut.

• After putting his approach shot into the water on No. 15 during the second round of the Masters, Woods took a drop behind where he hit his initial approach. That's illegal, and he was assessed a penalty the next morning. Only through some legalistic gymnastics was Augusta National able to find an interpretation of the rules that kept Woods from being disqualified.

• At The Players on Sunday, Woods hit a ball into the water in the final round on the 14th hole. Both Woods and playing partner Casey Wittenberg agreed that the ball had hooked hard into the water, even though Woods had turned away from the tee shot before the ball even hit the water. Woods took a drop well up the fairway, rather than playing back from the tee, where it appeared from some replay angles to have last crossed land.

You see where we're going here. In every instance, Woods was conceivably within the rules – or at the very least could claim to be acting within what he thought were the rules – but in each case he opted to err not on the side of caution but on whatever side benefited him. In one case, it got him sent home early; in another, he escaped that fate by the thinnest of margins.

Golf also has expectations for player conduct on the course, and yet Woods constantly pushes that boundary as well. His tendency for screaming profanities on the course keeps broadcast directors up at night. Crowding competitors on the tee, walking off the green and taking the gallery with him before his opponent has finished putting, standing in sight lines … one man's gamesmanship is another's poor sportsmanship.

This just-inside-the-lines style has become Woods' trademark, and it leads to a perception that he cares only about what benefits him best.

It's worked quite well for him so far, but as Woods resumes his march into golf history, we're entering new territory. Imagine for a moment that Tiger had won the Masters in April, giving him major win No. 15. Considering a sizeable faction (including some of his peers) believed he should have been disqualified from the tournament for the illegal drop, what then would we have made of his pursuit of Nicklaus' record? What would history have made of it?

It doesn't seem that Tiger considers public perception – his one public apology in the wake of the cheating scandal had all the warmth of a hostage video – which, of course, is his right. But while perception doesn't always match reality, it can serve as a pretty accurate indicator of what's causing the rumblings. In this case, it's Tiger Woods' interpretation of the rules of golf.

If Woods was under heavy scrutiny before 2013, it's only going to get more intense now that he is firmly back on track in his pursuit of Nicklaus. As Barry Bonds can testify, pursuit of a legend is hard enough; pursuit of a legend under a cloud of suspicion is a lonely road.

Unlike Bonds, Woods has it in his power to dispel any concerns about his approach to the game. But so far, he's shown little interest in doing so. He can certainly argue that he acted within the letter of the law. But can he credibly argue that he acted within the spirit of it?

Keegan Bradley Shoots 60 at Byron Nelson Championship; An Anchored Putt from 59

Keegan Bradley Shoots 60 at Byron Nelson Championship; An Anchored Putt from 59











Ryan Ballengee May 16, 2013 2:06 PM


COMMENTARY | It's days like these that make the case to keep the anchored stroke legal.



Keegan Bradley nearly shot the sixth round of 59 in PGA Tour history on Thursday in Round 1 of the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Instead, he carded 10-under 60 at TPC Four Seasons to take the tournament lead.



Beginning at the 10th hole, the 2011 PGA Championship winner made five birdies in his first eight holes, all coming in a six-hole stretch. Then came the twist of fate that will keep Bradley out of the record books. He made consecutive bogeys at the difficult closing hole and the opening hole as he made the turn from the back nine to the front half. Bradley recovered with five more birdies in his final seven holes and an eagle 3 at the par-5 seventh.



In other words, Bradley could have shot the first 58 in PGA Tour history were it not for a wayward tee shot at the intimidating finishing hole and a 9-footer missed at the first hole for par. When posting a potential historically low score, the difference is very fine. Bradley will have to settle for the course record instead and a leg up on winning his second Nelson title. (Bradley won the 2011 Nelson for his first PGA Tour title.)



Over the course of the afternoon, Bradley made nearly 100 feet of putts with that belly putter of his anchored to his body. In three years, however, it's likely that won't be the flatstick Bradley wields -- that is, if the game's governing bodies decide to go through with a proposed ban on the anchored stroke. A tweet from PGA Tour veteran Joe Ogilvie suggests May 21 may be the day of reckoning, when the USGA and R&A share their final verdict on anchoring.




Despite staunch personal opposition to the anchored stroke and abnormally long putters, days like this are exciting. They're great for the game because they get people talking outside of golf's friendly confines. A 59 is special -- every sports fan knows that. While I may think that anchoring gives a player a distinct advantage over those who use a traditional stroke, that lament can be thrown out the window when a guy like Bradley has the round he does. It would have been great for him to shoot 59 or 58.



Instead, he ties good buddy and Tuesday gambling partner Phil Mickelson for the round of the year on the PGA Tour. Mickelson shot 11-under 60 in the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.



On that Thursday, Mickelson, too, had an opportunity to shoot 59. His putt at the last hole went halfway down into the ground before popping out to deny him the magical number on his scorecard. Mickelson also used an unconventional putting stroke at TPC Scottsdale. At the time, Mickelson used a variation on the "claw" putting grip. (He abandoned it the next month at the Shell Houston Open.)



The left-hander picked up his 41st PGA Tour win that week, taking the title at 28 under par.



Both rounds, Keegan's and Phil's, made me giddy as a golf fan, someone who plays the game and dreams of shooting a round even within five strokes of what they each did. In both cases, I knew full well that the putting stroke they were using wasn't normal -- and, in Bradley's case, likely to be written out of the Rules of Golf.



My excitement as a fan, however, proved to be more powerful than my traditionalist views on what should be an acceptable way to putt. Perhaps that is the litmus test on whether or not allowing unconventional putting strokes is good for the game: cheering on someone who is chasing history, regardless of the equipment and form they use catch it.



Ryan Ballengee is a Washington, D.C.-based golf writer. His work has appeared on multiple digital outlets, including NBC Sports and Golf Channel. Follow him on Twitter @RyanBallengee.

By the numbers: First round

By the numbers: First round











PGA.COM May 23, 2013 8:08 PM

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1993 Senior PGA Champion Tom Wargo, at age 70, is the oldest player in the field.(Getty Images)


By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

40: The number of PGA Professionals in the field at the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid.

??: The number of players who recorded a round under par in Thursday's first round.

66: Or, 5-under-par, the best score recorded on Thursday by co-leaders Jay Haas and Duffy Waldorf.

???: The scoring average on the ?? hole Thursday, which played as the most difficult in Round 1.


???: The scoring average on the ?? hole Thursday, which played as the easiest in Round 1.

70: The age of Tom Wargo, a four-time winner on the Champions Tour, who is the oldest competitor in the field at the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. He also lives just 90 minutes away, in Centralia, Ill. In 1993, Wargo defeated Bruce Crampton in a two-hole playoff to become the last PGA Club Professional to capture this major championship.

5: The number of past PGA Champions in the field this week at Bellerive (Lanny Wadkins, Mark Brooks, Jeff Sluman, Bob Tway and Hal Sutton).

72: Or, 1-over par, the opening round score for defending champ Roger Chapman.

2: The number of PGA Club Professionals in the top 10 after the first round -- Sonny Skinner (4-under 68, T3) and Mark Mielke (2-under 69, T8).

2: Is also the number of players to complete Round 1 without a bogey -- Jay Haas (5-under 66, T1) and Mark Wiebe (1-under 70, T18).

Skinner succeeds with caddie Bollman"s support

Skinner succeeds with caddie Bollman"s support











PGA.COM May 23, 2013 8:08 PM

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Sonny Skinner credited his caddie, PGA teacher Craig Bollman, with keeping him positive on Thursday.(Montana …


By John Kim, PGA.com Coordinating Producer

ST. LOUIS -- PGA Club Professional Sonny Skinner surprised everyone, including himself, by firing a 4-under-par 67 Thursday to sit tied for third place after the first round of the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Skinner, who thanked The PGA of America for allowing its members the opportunity to qualify and play in a major championship, also made a point to express gratitude to a fellow PGA member.

Skinner explained that a great calming influence on the day was his caddie, Craig Bollman.

"On the second hole, after I hit an 8-iron 60 feet from the hole, I was like 'Man, I can't believe I didn't take that at the flag, why was I playing so conservative?'," explained Skinner. "He (Bollman) says, 'Come on, lots of golf shots left, we got a lot more opportunities to take it at the flag."

It was the type of invaluable encouragement and assurance - offered all day - that a veteran caddie gives any good player.

Only Bollman is not a veteran caddie. In fact, in his own words, he doesn't caddie much at all.

Bollman is a PGA teaching professional and member of the Gateway PGA Section, working at a St. Louis area GolfTec. Until recently, Bollman hadn't even heard of Skinner, and it was only this week when he saw Skinner actually hit a golf shot.

Though Skinner, the PGA head professional at River Pointe Golf Club in Albany, Ga., has had a distinguished playing career, he - like most club professionals - doesn't have a full-time caddie nor a big sponsor budget taking care of travel expenses. Through a mutual friend who learned of Skinner's needs, an introductory phone call was made to Bollman. Bollman generously volunteered to not only caddie for Skinner, but also host him at his house for the week.


Skinner, who was the Low PGA Club Professional at the 2011 Senior PGA Championship, doesn't need much help on yardages or reading greens - which is probably a good thing according to Bollman.

"I've maybe played at Bellerive 10 times ever," Bollman said, "and last Tuesday was the only time I've played it since the renovations a few years ago."

Instead, Bollman's greatest value on Thursday was offering the same positive encouragement he offers to students he teaches at his actual job. That support was consistent all day and was most evident on the sixth hole, Skinner's 15th hole of the opening round.

After pulling a long iron into the front left bunker, Skinner saw he had a plugged lie in the slope where he'd be standing a couple of feet above the ball. Skinner hit a good shot to not shank it into the water on the right, but his blast out still rolled over the green and down the slope on the other side. Skinner, who had played so well throughout the day, was now in danger of giving all those shots back on one hole.

Bollman made a point to remind Skinner that he had hit a good shot out of a tough spot and that he could still knock it in for a par or get up and down for a bogey - not a round-killer by any means. From 40 yards away, Skinner - who claims he hasn't been chipping the ball well as of late - managed to somehow knock it in and make a near-miraculous par.

The round was saved and momentum kept intact. Skinner, who admits he can sometimes get ahead of himself or overly critical of his own play, cruised in after that, making par on the final holes.

"If you can't mesh with Sonny, you can't mesh with anybody," Bollman said. "I would have offered to caddie for any fellow PGA Professional that asked, and I'd hope and believe that the same courtesy would be extended to me by another PGA member if I were in need. That's part of being a part of the PGA. But yes, being with such a great player is a real treat."

Still, Bollman admits that after one round, his expectations are being exceeded a bit. "I thought if he played well like I had heard he could, we had a really good chance to make the cut."

But to be tied for second after the first day? "No way," he laughed. "Who could have thought of this?"

Why is Race Such a Troubling Topic for Golf?

Why is Race Such a Troubling Topic for Golf?











Ryan Ballengee May 23, 2013 8:54 PM


COMMENTARY | Everyone in golf, let's agree to a moratorium on talking about race for a while. Before someone embarrasses the game again.



It's been an ugly couple of days for race relations and golf. England has been the epicen
ter of a pair of monumentally insensitive comments made about African-Americans.





First, it was Sergio Garcia using a racial epithet -- serving fried chicken, like this was the antebellum American South -- to facetiously suggest a makeup dinner menu with Tiger Woods. Given that Garcia is the poster child for verbal diarrhea, it was the first thought that came to his mind, meaning it was his natural inclination to say something that offensive.



Tiger Woods responded on Twitter, calling the remark what it was: "wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate."



Garcia apologized twice, once in a statement and again in a news conference the following day. He told the press he would not be fined or suspended by the PGA Tour and European Tour, whose leaders were in attendance when Garcia made a mess of an otherwise lovely night. Garcia said both Tim Finchem of the PGA Tour and George O'Grady were "fine with it," before quickly explaining he meant they accepted his apology.



O'Grady then got himself into trouble on Thursday in trying to explain the European Tour's decision not to discipline the Spaniard -- in the process, using an insensitive term of his own.



"We know the connotation in the United States," O'Grady said to Sky Sports. "We accept all races on the European Tour; we take it very strongly. Most of Sergio's friends are colored athletes in the United States, and he is absolutely abject in his apology and we accepted it."



The Brit didn't date himself back to the Civil War era like Garcia did, but carelessly harkened back to the segregated South. Perhaps as embarrassing was O'Grady used the term "colored" while trying to bolster Garcia's race-relations cred with the "he's got friends of all races" excuse.



It's the kind of folly that makes you slap your forehead, mainly because you can't slap either of these otherwise redeemable people in the face.



The whole thing was further exacerbated late Thursday, when Fuzzy Zoeller weighed in on the consequences for Garcia. Zoeller, you'll remember, also dropped a fried-chicken reference (as well as one to collard greens) when talking about Tiger Woods' Masters champions dinner as he was winning his first major in 1997.



"It'll all blow over," Zoeller said referring to Garcia, according to the Associated Press. "Those boys will be fine."



Blow over? It certainly didn't for Zoeller, who lost sponsorships and earned a dinged reputation for what he said 16 years ago.



Besides, Zoeller isn't the arbiter of Garcia's punishment. The 33-year-old's fate lays in the hands of sponsor TaylorMade-adidas, the golfing public and Woods himself. Perhaps the U.S. Open at Merion next month will be the best indication of how the public will receive Garcia - the same venue where he hopes to apologize to Woods in person.



Who knows, Woods could chose to forgive Garcia and make a public show of support for the guy that has gotten under his skin at different times of the last 15 years.



Regardless of how Woods chooses to deal with Garcia, these incidents are not only repulsive, but they're embarrassing for the game of golf. They show key figures in the game don't seem to understand how to speak, and not just about race. The situation is made worse in how the masses will quickly move on to the next story, well before the sport can collectively demonstrate this kind of row isn't the norm.



Then again, maybe it is, for some. Woods' former caddie, New Zealander Steve Williams, celebrated with grand exuberance when his current loop, Adam Scott, won for the first time with Williams on the bag nearly two years ago. Months later, explaining the celebration at a similar gala-style event, Williams said his display intended to "shove it up that black arse----." The problem with those kinds of off-hand and off-color comments is they tend to paint someone with a broad, bristly brush.



Put race aside for a moment and consider the sport hasn't opened its arms to the LGBT community either. What about the ardent defense of Chick-fil-A and its CEO Dan Cathy by several PGA Tour players when he revealed his opposition to gay marriage? Of course, it was all cloaked under the guise of the players' faith. It's what the Bible says, they said.



The Bible also says to love your neighbor as yourself. And at a time when players are leaving the game, maybe the greatest commandment should be of more import than Good Book's millennia-old stance on social issues.



No one can make any of the people implicated above change their belief, or their impulses about race, sexuality or anything else. That decision is ultimately theirs, and no one should try to force anyone to change. However, their decision to voice those views -- explicitly or implied, instinctively or premeditated -- not only has implications for them, but also for the sports as a whole.



Comments like these lead people outside of the game to ask questions and generalize (sure, stereotype) who golfers are. Frankly, I don't want to be lumped into that.



So, again, I ask politely to everyone in the game to honor Woods' request: Let's just talk about golf.



Ryan Ballengee is a Washington, D.C.-based golf writer. His work has appeared on multiple digital outlets, including NBC Sports and Golf Channel. Follow him on Twitter @RyanBallengee.

Park captures LPGA Championship in playoff

Park captures LPGA Championship in playoff










The Sports Xchange June 9, 2013 9:10 PMThe SportsXchange


PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Inbee Park, the No. 1 player in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, showed why she's the best Sunday.

The 24-year-old South Korean captured her second straight major championship, defeating Catriona Matthew of Scotland with a 20-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole in the Wegmans LPGA Championship at Locust Hill Country Club.

"I think I was actually really lucky to get in the playoff," Park said. "The amount of fairways I was missing today, it's almost a miracle that I won."

Park held a three-shot lead with five holes to play in the final round, but her swing was getting away from her. She ended up bogeying the 14th, 16th and 18th holes to finish at 5-under-par 283.

"I think I was getting a little bit tired," she said after a day that included two rounds. "I just couldn't figure out the right swing."

She got it back just in time, splitting the fairway each time on the three playoff holes. Matthew, meanwhile, missed the fairway badly to the right on the third and final playoff hole.

She found the left rough with her second shot, then could only advance the ball a few yards on her third. When her fourth shot didn't go in, Park had two putts to win, but only needed one.

"What caused it, I don't know," Matthew said of her wayward drive. "I wish I knew."

Park became the third player in the last 40 years to win the first two majors of the women's season, joining Annika Sorenstam in 2005 and Pat Bradley in 1986.


In winning for the sixth time in her last 22 LPGA Tour starts, including the Kraft Nabisco Championship to start the major season, she was the last player standing after a 36-hole marathon was required Sunday because the first round was rained out Thursday.

In the end, Park needed 39 holes on the day before claiming her seventh LPGA victory, including three majors, the first coming in the 2009 U.S. Women's Open.

"I wasn't looking forward to going extra holes today," she said. "Especially when you're missing that many fairways and have to go from the rough, that's a really tough day."

Park trailed Morgan Pressel by five strokes after nine holes of the third round Sunday morning on a course where birdies are hard to come by.

With four birdies on the back nine of the morning round, she turned the deficit into one-shot lead when the final round began.

The 43-year-old Matthew, meanwhile, started the final round at 1 under par. She closed with a bogey-free 68 to get into the playoff when Park made bogey on the 72nd hole.

"When I started the last round, I probably didn't realize I could win," said Matthew, who counts the 2009 Ricoh Women's British Open among her four titles on the LPGA Tour.

After both players made par on the opening two playoff holes, Park made a birdie on the par-4 18th to secure the win after Matthew hit into the rough and was scrambling simply to save par.

Pressel, trying to win for the first time since the 2008 Kapalua LPGA Championship, was tied for the lead in the final round, but she carded three bogeys in the last nine holes and shot 75 to tie for third with Suzann Pettersen of Norway, who closed with a 65.

"I'm definitely disappointed, but it's the first time in a long time that I've contended, so I'm happy with the way that I played this week as a whole," said Pressel, a 25-year-old Florida native.

Pettersen and Pressel finished one stroke out of the playoff.

NOTES: The best round of the tournament was turned in by Pettersen, who carded a 7-under 65 in the final round. That moved her all the way up from a tie for 31st at the start of the day. ... Amateur Lydia Ko, the 16-year-old from New Zealand who last year became the youngest-ever winner on the LPGA Tour, continued her strong play with a tie for 17th. Ko's 3-under-par 69 in the final round was her best of the tournament. ... Defending champion Shanshan Feng, the first player from mainland China to win a major, closed with a 70 to finish in a tie for ninth that included Michelle Wie, who finished with a 71. ... South Koreans Amy Yang, Chella Choi, Sun Young Yoo and Jiyai Shin tied for fifth.

Merion Offers Big Thrills in a Small Package

Merion Offers Big Thrills in a Small Package











Adam Fonseca June 9, 2013 11:04 PM


COMMENTARY | When the 2013 US Open tees off this week at Merion Golf Club, the world's best players will be tested by a course as intimidating as any major venue over the past decade.





Located 11 miles west of Philadelphia, the Ardmore-based track will be one of the shortest in recent US Open history. However, don't let Merion's sub-7,000 yard layout fool you. A challenging blend of short and long holes, deep bunkers
, punishing rough and high risk-high reward opportunities will tempt players throughout the week. USGA chief Mike Davis and his team rarely disappoint when it comes to setting the stage for our national championship.



What Merion lacks in distance it makes up for in variety. After the mild 350 yard par-4 first hole and manageable 556 yard par-5 second, players are immediately greeted by the 256 yard par-3 third hole, the monstrous 628 yard par-5 no. 4 hole and the frustratingly-long par-4 no. 5 hole, measuring over 500 yards.

Any shots dropped on the front nine can be quickly found after the turn, however, starting at the drivable 306 yard par-4 no. 10. Every player in the field will be tempted - and able - to reach this green off the tee, although the shape of the hole requires a sharp right-to-left curve to cut the corner. Hole nos. 11 and 12 offer two additional birdie opportunities heading into the tiny 100 yard par-3 no. 13, which may play as short as 96 yards one round.

This US Open may be decided on Merion's final two holes. The downhill 246 yard par-3 no. 17 hole will feature a gallery amphitheater that is sure to be wild come Sunday afternoon. Players will need to land their shot on the front of the green and allow the contours to feed their ball to a back right pin position. Of course,Merion's final test is the famous 521 yard par-4 no. 18 hole, which golf historians will recall as the site of Ben Hogan's majestic 1-iron shot during the 1950 US Open.

Mother Nature, on the other hand, has made things difficult for tournament officials. According to ESPN's Bob Harig, Tropical Storm Andrea swept through the area last week, pummeling Merion with over three inches of rain in the process. While most areas of the course were at risk of flooding, the creek-lined par-4 no. 11 hole presented the biggest concern to USGA officials. A plan is in place to use two holes from Merion's West Course should weather conditions deem it necessary.

Nevertheless, Merion Golf Club is sure to be a unique and challenging test for players over all four rounds of the season's second major. Distance off the tee will be less of an equalizer and possibly a detriment on some holes, while a strong wedge game and hot putter prove invaluable. As is the case with most US Open championships, a mixture of patience, consistency, discipline and aggressive shot-making will proof to be the blueprint to success.



Adam Fonseca has been covering professional golf since 2005. His work can be found on numerous digital outlets, including the Back9Network and SB Nation. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife. Follow Adam on Twitter @chicagoduffer.

Lateral Hazard: Patience and strategy are required for 2013 U.S. Open at Merion

Lateral Hazard: Patience and strategy are required for 2013 U.S. Open at Merion











Brian Murphy June 10, 2013 1:01 AMYahoo Sports






View gallery.

A U.S. Open trophy replica is next to a plaque commemorating Ben Hogan's famed 1-iron shot. (USA Today)



Golf history comes rushing toward us this week, dominates our senses, fills our souls with nostalgia. The U.S. Open starts Thursday at Merion Golf Club outside of Philadelphia, where Bobby Jones completed his 1930 Grand Slam, where Lee Trevino outdueled Jack Nicklaus in 1971, where Ben Hogan in 1950 hit the most famous 1-iron in golf history.

To which every player in the field under the age of 40 says: "What's a 1-iron?"

Yes, sports fans, this will be a blast from the sport's past, a rotary phone of a golf experience in a smartphone world. Merion is so old-school and unique, the flagsticks on each green feature red wicker baskets instead of flags. Ask 90 percent of the field about the wicker baskets, and most of them will only associate wicker with their grandparents' patio furniture.

And yet, there are potential downsides all over the Merion experience.

• Four par-4s measure less than 360 yards. Guys like Dustin Johnson hit 330-yard drives these days, and complain that they hit it off the toe of the club.

• Merion's acreage is so tight, the driving range and player locker rooms are a mile away, at the West Course. For players who are used to complimentary deep-tissue massages in trailers near the first tee and caviar as an appetizer in the grill room adjacent to the 18th green, this will be a culture shock.





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Tiger Woods is seeking his first U.S. Open victory since 2008. (Reuters)• Ambient noise from church bells will ring every half hour, and a train line nearby will rattle Merion with whistles. For players who give major championship scowls if a photographer passes gas during a pro-am, this will be a test of their high-strung nerves.



• Corporate hospitality tents, the money-making faucet for the USGA, have to be severely curtailed and placed in awkward spots, because of Merion's claustrophobic conditions. For a USGA that likes to think of the "S" in their title as an "$," this will surely cause agita.

• The course measures only 6,996 yards. Last year's Olympic Club layout, at 7,100, was considered like a miniature golf course, so today's pros will be wondering if they're hitting from the ladies' tees.

• Heavy rain, a strong possibility during the week, could soften the greens so thoroughly, the players in the field may shout 'Target Practice!' before firing wedges at the wicker.

• Also, potential floods mean a doomsday scenario has the USGA prepared to play two holes from the West Course, a mile away, if needed. Can't you just hear Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller now, whispering into the microphones: "And now we'll see third-round leader Matt Kuchar sliding into the mini-van for his trip to play the 11th hole a mile away … he's asking that the radio be put on a "classic rock" station … his driver wants to hear "adult contemporary" and this could be a problem, Johnny…"

And you know what I say to all of that?

Good!

Let's see something different. Let's see wacky challenges confront these guys. Let's see these guys keep their space-age drivers in their bag and have to hit 4-iron off the tee all day. Let's see these guys get bedeviled by a canted fairway, by a sloped green, by the idea of thinking their way around a golf course, not bombing their way around a golf course. Let's see them get uncomfortable.

The USGA would probably like to patent that phrase for all of their national opens: "The U.S. Open: Let's See These Guys Get Uncomfortable."

Besides, that teensy bit of yardage at Olympic last year? Yeah, Webb Simpson won at 1-over par. Turns out these big boys get all itchy and scratchy when they can't hit it anywhere they want. Merion could mess with these guys, big.

Who does it all favor? It favors a player with patience, a short game, a strategy and more than just distance off the tee. In other words, it favors most U.S. Open champions. Last year at Olympic Club, Simpson did the best thing possible – shoot a final-round 68 from the front of the pack, then sit back and let the U.S. Open chew up Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell, inch by inch. Two years ago, Rory McIlroy blew away the field at Congressional, but that was wholly different for two reasons: One, heavy rains and long yardage made it a bomber's paradise, setting up well for Rory's style; and, two, Rory was a whole different guy, unencumbered by Nike dollars, self-doubt and a girlfriend that takes up a lot of his time and attention. But three and four years ago, McDowell at Pebble Beach and Lucas Glover at Bethpage(!) played the sort of grind-it-out golf that makes a USGA champ.

And five years ago? Well, that was Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines. That was a whole different deal, for many reasons. That was Tiger when he was Tiger, and all that it entailed, even on one leg.

Make no mistake. Tiger loves the allure of history. And Merion oozes it. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Tiger employ his irons-off-the-tees strategy he used to obliterate the field at the 2006 British Open at Hoylake, and end his five-year drought.

Tiger likes places where names like "Bobby Jones" hang in the air. The two share a common love of St. Andrews and Hoylake, for example. And while Tiger doesn't share common triumphs with Ben Hogan – the Wee Ice Mon won at places like Riviera and Oakland Hills and Oakmont and Carnoustie; while Tiger favors Pebble Beach and St. Andrews and Torrey Pines – Tiger does, after all, know what a 1-iron is. That puts him ahead of 90 percent of the field.

Merion's an old soul in a Twitter world. And I don't care if you can summarize your thoughts in 140 characters. This week, it might be wise to respect your elders.

SCORECARD OF THE WEEK

72-68-68-75 – 5-under 283, Inbee Park, winner (in playoff with Catriona Matthew), LPGA Championship, Locust Hill CC, Pittsford, N.Y.





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Inbee Park has won the first two majors of this year's LPGA season. (AP)If you were watching the rain-soaked second LPGA major of the year, a championship so soggy they had to squeeze 36 holes into Sunday (and then play three more for the Park-Matthew playoff), you saw Park, nursing a one-shot lead, hit her tee shot into the left rough on the 18th hole. It disappeared into the thick stuff.



Park, already a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour this year, already a winner of the year's first major, all of a sudden looked to be toast – especially when she only advanced her second shot some 50 yards, and kept it in the left rough. Her second shot looked like something I'd hit. No bueno.

It was time for one of those, "Never-Let-'Em-See-You-Sweat" moments, and Park managed to hit her third to the back fringe, and two-putt for bogey to get into a playoff. Pretty darn good bogey, if you ask me – especially as it came at the end of a marathon day and capped a rough-and-tumble final round 75.

Then, on the third playoff hole, she ousted Matthew with a birdie putt.

And women's golf definitely has a new queen, even if nobody pays attention to the quiet, 24-year-old South Korean. She took over the No. 1 ranking eight weeks ago, and now becomes only the seventh player inLPGA history to win the first two majors of the year and the first since Annika Sorenstam in 2005. She's already pocketed $1.2 million in earnings this year, and we're not even at the Fourth of July.

The next biggie is in three weeks. It's the U.S. Women's Open at Sebonack in Southampton, N.Y. Park is such a big shot in women's golf, she should be getting invites to hang with the Hamptons elite. Knowing the low-key persona she's created, though, you'll probably be more likely to find her checking into the Hampton Inn.

BROADCAST MOMENT OF THE WEEK

"He'd dearly like to win a U.S. Open" – Ian Baker-Finch, on CBS, speaking of Phil Mickelson.

Yes, here comes another national open. And yes, here comes Philly Mick, tilting at the windmill yet again.You think of U.S. Opens and you think of players rewarded for calm play; for frill-free steadiness; for valuing par. In other words, none of the qualities Mickelson has crafted over a 21-year pro career.

See, it makes sense that Philly Mick has won three Masters. He's the guy who likes to make eagle or die trying; to hit 6-irons off pine straw from great distances to a green fronted by Rae's Creek.

But U.S. Opens? That's the turf of Andy North and Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy.

And yet, Baker-Finch is right to raise the topic again. Mickelson's U.S. Open career, counterintuitively, has been stunningly good, and immersed in near-miss heartbreak.

Pick an Open, nearly any Open. You can start with 2006 at Winged Foot, when his awful 72nd hole cost him the championship, and he famously opined: "I am such an idiot." You can study 1999 at Pinehurst, when only Payne Stewart's long putt on the 72nd hole stopped Lefty from being a champion. His only consolation was Stewart's heartfelt good wish for his impending fatherhood. You can look at 2009's Bethpage, when bogeys on the 69th and 71st holes left him two shots behind Glover. You can mull over 2003's Shinnecock Open, when the New York crowd went berserk for Lefty – and he obliged by storming to a one-shot lead coming to the 17th tee on Sunday. But he double-bogeyed 17, three-putting from five feet, and finished two back of Retief Goosen.

He darn near won every one of those.

So, yes. Phil Mickelson would dearly love to win a U.S. Open, with the final round falling on his 43rd birthday at Merion this week, no less. You would think Merion and Mickelson – control and lack thereof – would be an awful match. But you'd be wrong to forget how our national championship so often brings out the best in Philly Mick.

MULLIGAN OF THE WEEK

In fact, let's stay on Mickelson for our Mully o' the Week. While we send our congratulations to young Harris English, the 23-year-old from Tennessee who starred at the University of Georgia, for his first career PGA Tour win, let's go back and re-visit Mickelson's 18th hole at TPC Southwind in Memphis at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.





View gallery.

Phil Mickelson hits toward the seventh pin during the final round of the St. Jude Classic. (AP)Mickelson stood on the 18th fairway, two shots back of English, 169 yards shy of the pin, and launched one of those classic gun-slinging Phil "Moments" – a golf shot struck so purely and aggressively, it damn near landed in the cup on the fly. His Callaway golf ball landed probably six inches in front of the cup and trickled back, stopping about 18 inches from glory.



"Goodness gracious," said Bill Macatee.

"You think he's ready for the U.S. Open?" said Peter Oosterhuis.

Had he jarred it, Lefty would have moved to 11-under. While English birdied 17 to get to 12-under, and probably would have won anyway, it would have been fun to see what kind of hell would have broken loose had Mickelson eagled the last.

Plus, seeing Lefty dial in from 169, and looking to make it, is fun as heck. So let's go back out to 18, drop a small bucket of balls, tell Mickelson to give us one last pre-U.S. Open thrill, let him fire away and … give that man a few mulligans!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

If you have to ask, you'll never know. It's U.S. Open week, amigos. I love me some America, and I love me some golf. Put the two together, and I'll race you to see who can weave a wicker basket fastest.

Course Source: Presidio Golf Course, Ranch Course at the Alisal

Course Source: Presidio Golf Course, Ranch Course at the Alisal










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange June 17, 2013 2:20 AMThe SportsXchange


IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Presidio Golf Course in San Francisco.

THE LAYOUT: Built as a nine-hole course for members only in 1895 and designed by Robert Johnstone, Presidio was expanded to 18 holes in 1910.

On the grounds of the former U.S. Army base that guarded the Golden Gate, it was operated by the military from the 1950s until it became a public course in 1995, after the area was designated as a national park.

Presidio Golf Course, maintained beautifully by Arnold Palmer Golf Management, plays to a length of 6,424 yards from the tips, with a USGA rating of 72.3 and a slope of 136.

The course is located about 10 minutes from downtown in one of San Francisco's finest old neighborhoods, and you can see the century-old Victorian homes through the eucalyptus and cypress trees that line the fairways.

Although the course measures under 6,500 yards, it plays much longer because of the elevation changes on the hilly fairways, the general dampness of the Bay Area and the breeze off the ocean, making club selection critical.

GENERAL MANAGER: Don Chelemedos.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Playing the Presidio Golf Course is to walk where icons such as Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Ben Hogan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bing Crosby and Joe DiMaggio, San Francisco's favorite son, have left their footprints.

After the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration planted hundreds of eucalyptus and pine trees on the course, and they have reached maturity. While the course is not extremely tight, accuracy still is a must.

The layout's hilly nature is no more evident than on the first two holes, starting with a dogleg right, 352-yard par 4 that plays dramatically downhill from the tee box and then slightly uphill to the green. Big hitters will be tempted to drive it over the bunker in the dogleg, but anything right is in the driving range.

No. 2 is a roller coaster of a par 5, only 473 yards to a smallish, elevated green that is almost completely surrounded by bunkers. The smart play is to lay up about 100 yards short of the green to set up a short approach, but the hill is so steep that this is a blind shot.

Don't be deceived that the fourth hole is rated No. 18 on the card because there is a 35-foot drop from the tee to a green complex that is a virtual island, surrounded seven bunkers and natural vegetation.

The turn gives golfers to unusual opportunity to play back-to-back par 5s, the 522-yard ninth and the spectacular 504-yard 10th. Despite the yardage differences, No. 9 is the one that can be reached in two more often because No. 10 plays uphill to another elevated green.

No. 13 is a 175-yard par 3 that is memorable because of a tall tree in a large gully between the tee and green that can block the view of the flag. Be sure to hit enough club because if you miss the green, the chip is much easier on the plateau level of the elevated green than from below.

The home hole, a 516-yard par 5, requires another accurate tee shot through a narrow-ish swath cut through a stand of towering eucalyptus, but there is more room than it appears from the tee. Beware of the fairway bunkers right off the tee and another waiting slightly under 100 yards from the green on the left.

San Francisco weather can be unpredictable, so bring at least a windbreaker even if the day starts out sunny and warm, because the fog can roll in at any time and drop the temperature 20 degrees in a matter of minutes.

Course regulars are proud of the 7,000-foot clubhouse, which was the first new building constructed at thePresidio in decades when it opened in 1999. If you are in the area on the weekend, take advantage of the popular Sunday brunch.

OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: Harding Park Golf Course is another exceptional course in the San Francisco public chain, surrounded by picturesque Lake Merced and located less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean. Harding, designed by Willie Watson and opened in 1925, underwent a $16 million renovation a few years ago and hosted the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship, in which Tiger Woods outlasted John Daly in a playoff, and the 2009 Presidents Cup.

Lincoln Park Golf Course, which opened in 1910, is a sporty par-68, 5,149-yard layout that winds around the hillsides on the grounds of the De Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. The 242-yard 17th hole is a stunning and treacherous par 3, with views of the Golden Gate.

Also in San Francisco are three fun 9-hole courses -- Golden Gate Park Golf Course, Gleneagles International Golf Course and the Fleming 9 at Harding Park Golf Course.

WHERE TO STAY: The venerable Fairmont San Francisco, flagship of the worldwide chain, has stood sentinel over the "City by the Bay" for more than 100 years from its perch on Nob Hill. It survived the Great Earthquake of 1906, when it was finished but not yet open, and housed many displaced San Franciscans over the next several years.

The landmark hotel has been fully refurbished to its original grandeur, from the 591 guest rooms and suites, to the magnificent grand main lobby with marble floors and Corinthian columns trimmed in gold.

Dine at the Fairmont in the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar, which offers exotic Asian cuisine and the bestMai Tai in San Francisco in a tropical rainforest setting. Or try the Laurel Court Restaurant & Bar, a typical Northern California dining experience.


The Fairmont is located at the only crossing of San Francisco's three cable car lines -- and Chinatown, the Embarcadero, the Financial District, Union Square, Golden Gate Park and Fisherman's Wharf are easily reached from the hotel.

Also in the neighborhood on Nob Hill are the Mark Hopkins InterContinental, the Renaissance Stanford Court, the Huntington Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco.

Other fine hotels in San Francisco include the Mandarin Oriental, Le Meridien San Francisco, the Westin St. Francis, the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, the Palace Hotel and the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.

ON THE WEB: www.presidiogolf.com



THE LAST RESORT: Ranch Course at the Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort in Solvang, Calif.

THE LAYOUT: Noted designer William F. Bell crafted a classic resort course through the trees in a rustic valley on the outskirts of Solvang in 1955, and Steve Halsey upgraded the layout in 1991.

The course, which plays to a par of 72, stretches to 6,551 yards from the back tees with a USGA rating of 72.0 and a slope of 133.

The narrow fairways are lined by mature oaks and sycamores, with deer and other wildlife often seen on the course.

Al Geiberger, a native Californian who played at USC and was the first player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59, holds the course record of 65 on the Ranch Course at the Alisal.

HEAD PROFESSIONAL: Dave Hartley.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Even though the fairways are narrow in places, this is an ideal resort course because what you see is what you get -- there are no tricks to the course.

There are several elevated tees on the Ranch Course, which is lined by oaks and sycamores, and the Santa Ynez River runs along the West border of the layout, which is traversed several times by Alisal Creek before it meets the river.

Every hole is a picture postcard, but none is prettier than the 161-yard sixth. The tee shot from the top of a hill must carry the creek to a green 50 feet below that is heavily bunkered on the left. Pause for a moment to appreciate the view of Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley.

The eighth is a demanding 416-yard par 4, the most difficult hole on the course. A barranca that bisects the fairway 236 yards from the elevated tee is reachable with a big drive. Once on the fairway, the approach shot must be hit with a fairway wood or long iron to a small green that is only 15 yards wide and is protected by traps right and left.

There are some interesting quirks to the course, which includes three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s on the front nine. Both nines open with a par 5 and close with a par 3, but the 208-yard ninth and the 201-yard 18th are anything but easy.

Players coming down the stretch with a good score must first get past the 420-yard 17th, a daunting par 4 that requires a tee shot to the right of the fairway short of a barranca in order to see the green on the big dogleg left. Anything to the left makes it virtually impossible to go for the green and probably means a lay-up short of the barranca.

Get past No. 17 and you still have the ticklish 18th to deal with.

OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: Right down the street from the Ranch Course is its sister course, the public River Course at the Alisal, which plays through a wide-open meadow.

La Purisima Golf Course a few miles down the road in Lompoc is one of the best public courses inSouthern California, having played host to the PGA Tour Qualifying School and U.S. Open qualifying.

Also nearby are some other outstanding courses -- Black Lake Golf Resort in Nipomo, Avila Beach Golf Course, Marshallia Ranch Golf Course at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Cypress Ridge Golf Club in Arroyo Grande and Rancho Maria Golf Course in Santa Maria.

Only 40 minutes away are several more top-shelf courses in Santa Barbara, including Rancho San Marcos Golf Club, Glen Annie Golf Club, Santa Barbara Golf Club and acclaimed Sandpiper Golf Course, which is known as the "Pebble Beach of Southern California."

WHERE TO STAY: The Ranch Course can only be played by club members and guests at the Alisal Guest Ranch, which was founded in 1946 and became a hideaway for Hollywood icons such as Doris Day and Clark Gable, who married Lady Silvia Ashley in the old library on the grounds.

In addition to golf, the 10,000-acre Alisal Guest Ranch offers tennis, horseback riding, biking, swimming and hiking, plus boating and fishing on Alisal Lake. There are nature walks and bird watching on the property, which borders the Ronald Reagan Ranch that served as the Western White House during Reagan's presidency.

Solvang, an authentic Scandinavian village founded by Danish settlers in 1911, is one of the top tourist sites in California. Of course, the Spanish padres arrived much earlier, in 1804, and founded Mission Santa Ines.

The town features several themed hotels, including the Best Western King Frederik Motel, the Kronberg Inn and Svendsgaard's Danish Lodge.

Also close is Pea Soup Andersen's Inn in Buellton.

ON THE WEB: www.ranchcourse.com