The Harder They Fall

It's a dirty shame that Tiger Woods' squeaky-clean image got hit by the freight train that is adultery. I mean, did you ever expect this would be the kind of trouble you'd hear Tiger getting into? How could it be possible? The world's first billion-dollar athlete. One of, if not THE, most recognizable people on this planet. A beautiful (and seemingly happy) family. Skill and ability to play his sport unlike any other person ever to walk the planet. Mental toughness. Up until his strange car wreck on Nov. 27th, I'm sure there were plenty of men willing to trade places with him. I'm not so sure I can say the same now.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

After hearing the voicemail that Tiger left Jamiee Grubbs, a cocktail waitress and reality show participant (Tool Academy? Are you serious, Tiger??) who he allegedly had an affair with, it's amazing to see how such a hard athlete and competitor can turn into such a scared and weak man trying desperately not to get caught in the act.

Check out this blast from Jesper Parnevik, the Swedish golfer who set up Elin Nordegren with Tiger (she was working as Parnevik's au pair):

"I would be especially sad about it since I'm kind of -- I feel really sorry for Elin -- since me and my wife were at fault for hooking her up with him. We probably thought he was a better guy than he is. I would probably need to apologize to her and hope she uses a driver next time instead of the 3-iron."


OUCH.

Now the Tiger Woods brand will never really be quite the same. This "transgression" may be overlooked after some time, but the reality is that because Tiger worked so tirelessly for so many years to maintain this clean image, it ends up impacting him that much more. I personally don't think this will really affect the rest of his playing career that much. It's a good thing (for him) that this happened at the butt-end of the season and not in the middle of June. The way I look at it, he has 4 solid month of downtime before The Masters to get this behind him and get his bearings straight.

What really has most people's heads wrapped around that same tree as his Escalade was how careless and foolish he had to be to think he could get away with something like this. How on Earth could such a popular and recognizable person with everything going his way think this somehow wouldn't be leaked out or be discovered?

A very small part of me has always thought that Tiger's life was too perfect. I always hoped he wouldn't be stupid enough to somehow jeopardize all of the good stuff he has, like the 155ft. yacht or the silo of gold coins and cash to swim in (a la Scrooge McDuck, a personal goal of mine, but that's another story). Talk about a character flaw.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

It's Gonna Rain New Equipment On Your Head

If you live in the northeastern U.S. like I do, there aren't many redeeming qualities to winter that golfers have to look forward to. When I "retire" my clubs for the winter, they sit stagnant for a solid 5 months in the garage until the weather improves which could be as early as late March or as late as mid May. During this "offseason" our beloved equipment manufacturers introduce new products that they've been working hard to create in an effort to make the game more fun for everyone.

Ping usually introduces their new equipment before anyone else, and their G15 and i15 drivers are no exception. Introduced in July, these new drivers further improve on the successful Rapture V2 and G10 models. The G15 is considered the more forgiving driver that can be classified as "game improving" whereas the i15 is considered to be a "player's" or "competition" driver. The main difference is usually in the shape and trajectory (players' clubs are usually less forgiving and lower launching, and sometimes shaped slightly differently).

And every company is going to have some new variation on a set of irons or two. Reviews would take forever, so I'll let the Golf Digest Hot List 2010 cover all the of new offerings from drivers to wedges, putters to balls.

One piece of equipment that I'm personally eager to try is the new Callaway Tour i(s) golf ball. Golf ball technology is amazingly complex. About 3 or 4 years ago I decided to spend the better part of a season experimenting with new balls and ended up playing the Bridgestone B330-S. The B330-S was a neat alternative to my go-to Titleist Pro V1. It had an awesome trajectory and was super durable, but had a significantly firmer feel than the Pro V1. Along came the Callaway HX Tour which solved the feel issue of the B330-S but the durability wasn't great. Callaway solved that with the Tour i(x). The latest model Tour i-series balls from Callaway are extraordinary, in my opinion.

But now they'll be on sale after the release of the Tour i(s).

Callaway claims that the Tour i(s) is the most highly-engineered golf ball they've ever introduced. Every new model introduced by each company always trumps the previous model, but this ball is interesting because it supposedly changes characteristics depending on what club you hit the ball with.

Confused? Read on.

It's the softest ball that Callaway has produced, according to Vice President of R&D Steve Ogg. The aforementioned Pro V1 is considered the benchmark of soft tour-level balls, and considering that Callaway's Tour i balls were as close to that as can be is saying a lot for the new Tour i(s) version. Callaway claims that their new ball has spin separation, meaning that a single ball will spin differently depending on the club used.

What? Read on.

"The ball has a high core compression differential," says Ogg. "That is the difference between the compression of the inner core and the outer core. When you have a high-compression outer core, the ball holds it shape better when you're hitting wedge shots so you can give it more spin." The greater force of a driver will penetrate the outer core and compress the soft inner core, resulting in a reduction of spin and greater distance.

Ernie Els was raving about it, and Callaway balls finished 1-2-3 at last week's WGC-HSBC Champions event in China (Mickelson, Els and Moore) with Els playing the new new Tour i(s). The race to gain market share each year is amazing, and 2010 promises to be another great year to showcase the latest and greatest in club and ball technology.

Adam Scott?? USA Continues President's Cup Dominance

I'll eat virtually anything, but one thing I don't like to eat is crow. Luckily for me, my simple (yet effective!) analysis yielded exactly the results that I anticipated. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson each went undefeated (5-0-0 and 4-0-1, respectively) draining putt after putt and hitting shot after ridiculous shot. If you haven't seen Tiger's 218 yard 3-iron blast to within 8 feet for eagle on the 18th hole on Saturday's Foursomes match against the short-hitting Mike Weir and Tim Clark, which Steve Stricker rolled in to come from behind and win 1-up, I highly recommend visiting ESPN.com for the highlight video. Stricker turned out to be a perfect teammate for Woods, something that Corey Pavin should keep in mind as he leads the U.S. Team in next year's Ryder Cup matches.

Camilo Villegas and Retief Goosen were the biggest disappointments for the International team at a combined 0-7-1, but Greg Norman's surprising captain's pick in Adam Scott cost the International team precious points that MAY have kept the match much closer down the stretch. Scott was the only player on either team to be ranked outside of the top 50 (he was ranked 53 at the time of the pick, and as of October 4th he had dropped to 65th). While his talent is undeniable, Scott was having a terrible 2009 season and looked as if he hadn't hit a putt in weeks during the matches. To Norman's credit, his other captain's pick Ryo Ishikawa turned in the single best performance along with Ernie Els (both 3-2-0), which goes to highlight how critical the captain's picks can actually be.

Based on the World Golf Rankings as of September 6th, some other possible picks that Norman could have chosen were Shingo Katayama, Jeev Milkha Singh and Rory Sabbatini. It's easy to see how Norman chose Scott - Scott is a protege of Norman and a fellow Ausie - but his putting inconsistencies and new swing issues left many wondering if Scott could live up to expectations.

U.S. members Sean O'Hair and Hunter Mahan (a captain's pick for Fred Couples) also made great contributions throughout the matches. The U.S. now has a solid lineup of young talent with both Ryder and President's Cup experience. With veteran leadership from Woods, Mickelson, Cink and Furyk, I think the U.S. has an excellent chance in winning the Ryder Cup next year as well. Momentum coming into the matches this year played a huge role in the success of the U.S. squad, so let's hope our players finish the 2010 season strongly and retain that which they currently have in their possession:

President's Cup - Look to the Red, White and Blue

Now, a guy like myself can be very long-winded in breaking down team competitions. Player stats, past and current performances, course design and conditions...these are just some of the things that I can ramble on and on about, but in the interest of being concise and saving some time, here is my prediction for this year's President's Cup, taking place at Harding Park in San Francisco...

Look for Team USA to dominate.

Or at least win.

The field of IPNFE (International Players Not From Europe), as I call it, is simply not as deep nor as experienced as the squad that the USA has assembled. The international team has a total of 10 wins in 2009, with 4 of them coming on the Japan Golf Tour by Ryo Ishikawa. At only 18, Ishikawa is undoubtedly an incredible talent, but consider that he is Greg Norman's personal pick. The top 6 players points-wise on the International Team (Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera, in that order) only have 4 wins total in 2009. The other 2 remaining wins were provided by Y.E. Yang, who edged out Tiger Woods in a spectacular display of golf at the PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

In comparison, the U.S. Team has 19 total wins in 2009, virtually double that of the International team, with all wins coming from PGA Tour events. The top 6 players points-wise on the U.S. Team (Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry and Zack Johnson, in that order) account for a whopping 16 of the 19 wins in 2009. Fred Couple's captain's picks are also spectacular choices; Lucas Glover won the U.S. Open and Hunter Mahan has been freakishly consistent, with only 1 missed cut in 24 tournaments.

Considering momentum, it is vital to note that the U.S. Team's top two players (Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson) have had recent end-of-season wins that would make them appear to be in top form coming into this event. Woods won back-to-back on August 2nd and 9th, and then again on September 13th, while also winning the season-long FedEx Cup. Mickelson came off a 6-month drought to win the Tour Championship on September 27th, which came as very nice surprise to most of the golf world considering he had taken much of the season off to help his wife battle breast cancer.

The U.S. Team has won the President's Cup 5 out of 7 times outright, with a tie going to both sides in the historic battle at Fancourt in South Africa in 2003 as Tiger Woods and Ernie Els battled into the darkness and team captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player fittingly determining that the contest should end in a tie. While anything is possible in team competition, I'm firmly convinced that Fred Couple's easy-going attitude and the overall arsenal of talent prevalent on the U.S. Team will help the U.S. retain the cup but provide incredible drama nonetheless.

Ryan Moore is not a sellout

Ryan Moore collected his first PGA Tour win last week at the Wyndham Championship, 4 years after turning professional in 2004. The fact that it has taken Moore this long to win is somewhat surprising, considering his amazing amateur career. As an amateur he racked up 6 wins, including the 2002 and 2004 U.S. Amateur Public Links, and the U.S. Amateur, Western Amateur, The NCAA Division I Championship and the Sahalee Players Championship (all in 2004). With such an impressive resume, it's easy to see why such great things were expected from him.

Moore had surgery to repair a wrist injury in 2006 which kept nagging at him throughout 2008, a year in which he took time off several times during the season to help heal the wrist and a sore shoulder. Despite some nagging injuries, Moore has still managed to make a name for himself with his playing ability. He was the first player since Tiger Woods to go directly from college to the PGA in the same season without going to Q School. He has played well in both majors and regular tour stops, but was never able to seal the deal. His win at the Wyndham takes a huge monkey off his back and opens the door to future victories and possible Ryder and President's Cup teams.

Now, on to the real impressive stuff. You'll notice that Moore plays with a hat that says....well, nothing. And the logo on his shirt is...well, nonexistent. Okay, so what's his staff bag look like, you say? It's a hideous lime-green and black monstrosity. Is he even wearing spikes??



He's starting to look more and more like Jesper Parnevik with his argyle sweater vests and loosened neckties. You see, Ryan Moore doesn't care what you think about the way he dresses. He's actually somewhat of a trendsetter in this respect, but even more amazing is that he's completely sponsorless. No logos, no advertisements, no special colors or accessories - Ryan Moore is his own man.

Virtually everyone (if not everyone) on the PGA is sponsored by someone, even if it's just a little simple logo on a hat or on a shirt sleeve or on the bag. But not Ryan. Ryan plays what he wants and what he likes. He doesn't accept extra money to play equipment he'd rather not play. He doesn't have a deal to wear clothes he doesn't want to wear. He's plenty comfortable with the gear he has and wants to keep it that way. Hell, if he was able to play lights-out amateur golf this way, why couldn't this same formula bring him success on the tour?

I hate to use the word "refreshing", but there truly is something extraordinarily refreshing in seeing a professional athlete turn down money because he'd rather do things HIS way. Ryan will let his special blend of clubs and golf balls do the talking for him. Maybe in the future he'll be approached by a company with an offer for him that he can't refuse, and I can't imagine he'll go on forever without signing some kind of deal...but he's gone this long without signing a contract and that is extremely impressive. With players of all sports and their greedy agents fighting for every last possible cent, it's really nice to see that one Ryan Moore is not a sellout.

Collecting dust and filing for Chapter 11

For the better part of 15 years I've been buying virtually all of my golf equipment from this back-alley warehouse, appropriately named Golfers' Warehouse. It was every golfer's dream...a huge space devoted to framed photos, novelties, accessories and of course every set of clubs you could think of. Some years ago on my way to work I noticed a large new building off the highway being built, and when the large green illuminated Golfers' Warehouse lights were hoisted up I nearly drove off the road in excitement.

This place is incredible. It was a brand new facility with a clothing and shoe section, a clubfitters workshop, a professional indoor range for private lessons, a large practice green for putting and about 8 mats at the indoor range for testing virtually every club in the store. If there wasn't a demo version on the floor, the reps would even gladly tape the face of a new club off the shelf and even let you hit that. Behind the net covering the ENTIRE WALL (which must have been 100 feet long and 15 feet tall) were two great murals - the 18th at Pebble Beach and the 17th at TPC River Highlands. This place had it all.



Apparently due to this stupid economy, spending money on golf hasn't exactly been a high priority for many people. There result is a huge warehouse with hundreds of thousands of dollars of brand new equipment occupying floor space and collecting dust. If you include clothing, footware, bags, used clubs and other accessories, and multiply that by the store's 6 locations, you have millions of dollars of inventory that has been slow to move.

Faced with dwindling sales during these trying economic times, Golfers' Warehouse has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I suppose the good news in this is that the stores have been sold to a California-based golf accessories retailer called WorldWide Golf. Hopefully there won't be too many job losses, and it has been predicted that the flagship store in Hartford will remain open.

You can find everything that you want at Golfers' Warehouse online at other vendors for the same price, as golf equipment prices are usually nationally set with only smaller private retailers charging a markup (generally pro-shops or fancy casino boutiques). The real benefit of Golfers' Warehouse was being able to hold the gear in your hands and even demo it for a few days at little to no cost before deciding to buy. On top of that, you could be professionally fit for free if you purchased the equipment from the store, something that just can't be done online unless you know exactly what shaft flex, kickpoints and weights you'll need for your fancy new driver or what your lie angles are...and you're sure not going to buy a set online and have it sent to you already bent to your specifications.

Damn these Wall Street goons and garbage government bailouts. Damn them all to hell.

Leif Olson makes amazing hole-in-one

If you're were alive in the 80's, you remember the Converse commercials with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson battling it out in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

A la Magic and Bird, Leif Olson pulled off his own off-the-wall-over-the-highway-through-the-window type shot on the 15th hole on a day that Mark Calcavecchia set a PGA Tour record with nine consecutive birdies at the Canadian Open.

If you didn't see his shot (off of another golfer's ball) at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open, here it is:



In addition to Olson, three other golfers (Casey Wittenberg, Arjun Atwal and Briny Baird) aced the 15th hole. In fact, there were a total of six holes-in-one counting those by Peter Leonard (12th hole) and Joe Durant (7th hole) in the opening round.

All four players who made a hole-in-one on the 15th won a BMW Z-4.

Calcavecchia's record-setting birdie streak broke the record (eight) originally set by Bob Goalby in 1961. Five other players have made eight consecutive birdies since Goalby including J.P. Hayes, who was in Calcavecchia's group today, in 2002.

Elementary, my dear Watson

No one else alive on this planet understands the dynamics of links golf as well as Tom Watson. Harry Vardon would be the exception, having won 6 Open Championships from between 1896 and 1914. His incredible performance at this year's Open Championship clearly rebukes the idea that the modern Bomb & Gouge strategy is the be-all end-all to winning tournaments. While Stewart Cink is a very deserving champion, Watson's skill and charisma will forever be the enduring memory of the 138th Open Championship.

Watson showed us the importance of playing golf at its most basic level; that is, finding fairways off the tee and hitting accurate approach shots. While players less than half his age struggled to find their mojo all week, it was Watson - who at almost 60 years of age and with a replaced hip - showed the world that the game of golf requires a special understanding and incredible skill to truly understand the game as the course dictates it should be played.

By his own admission he knows that he simply cannot compete with today's touring pros on ultra-long courses. He knows he can't compete at Augusta National unless he's "absolutely perfect...the course is just too long for me." But Watson knew that his ability would suit him well at Turnberry. The fact that Watson came so close to becoming the oldest player to win a major is amazing, but given the fact that it was at Turnberry makes it even more spectacular. It was in 1977 at Turnberry that Watson and Nicklaus battled in what was called the Duel in the Sun, the players then both tied after 15 holes after Nicklaus started the back with a 1-shot lead. Watson went on to hit shot after brilliant shot to beat Nicklaus, but that event in and of itself is worthy another post altogether...

Players today are obsessed with high launch angles and low spin rates, but there sure is a lot to be said about classic golf. Watson made novices believe that they can achieve the impossible. He made professionals believe that hard work and persistence will yield great results. He made the young strive to put aside any adversity they may have, and he inspired old-timers to dust off their dormant clubs and resurrect the old great feeling of hitting that perfect shot. This Open Championship won't be known as the time that Tiger missed the cut for only the 2nd time in his career, but rather it will be known for how great the game is and how it transcends generations. Watson's class and supreme sportsmanship in defeat highlight how great the game of golf truly is.

Let's not take away anything from Stewart Cink who was lurking all week and made huge clutch putts when it mattered most. Cink himself personifies class on the golf course, and his skill and talent have long been established, but his win validates all those years of earning top dollar sans the major trophy.

Golfers young and old should understand the importance of the fundamentals of the game. It's vital to play the course as it was meant to be played. More often that not, short and accurate will prevail over longer and imprecise. It's an elementary strategy employed by Watson who could have pulled off one of the greatest moment in sports of all all time.

Elementary, my dear Watson. You almost had it.

Thank you.

Turnberry Ailsa: WWII runway or world-class links track?

If you answered "yes" to either of these, then you'd be correct!

This year's Open Championship takes us to Turnberry Resort's Ailsa course, a course that has hosted the event 3 times before and is arguably the most scenic of all the Open Championship courses on the rota.

Don't believe me? Fine. Here:



With the exception of Greg Norman's win here in 1986, Turnberry has let players shoot unusually low (-12 was the winning score in both 1994 and 1977, belonging to Nick Price and Tom Watson, respectively). Although Turnberry is unusually beautiful, it's also unusually flat. How flat? During WWII the Ailsa course and its sister course (The Arran) were turned into concrete runways used by the RAF. It's a straightforward layout...there's a bunker here and a bunker there...or at least there used to be. Turnberry is almost bereft of bunkers compared to other Open Championship courses. Like all major venues these days, it seems, there are always course "renovations" and "adjustments" that take place to alter the original layout. This can include everything from tree removal to tree additions, lengthened and altered tee boxes, tighter fairways and new strategic bunkering. This year, 23 new bunkers were added to the course bringing the total up to 65, whereas other Open courses have upwards of 120. The weather, a standard and prominent factor at all Open Championships, is going to play a huge role in determining the winner. Either way, you have to consider that Tiger Woods is either going to demolish the field or end up right on the heels of whoever may escape with the coveted Claret Jug.

Padraig Harrington, who has been the winner of the past two Open Championships, is seriously struggling with his game. I know firsthand, having spent the better part of an hour watching him at the practice range at this year's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Harrington was consistently drawing every club, intentionally, from short irons to laser hybrids to towering drives, a pattern that is traditionally inconsistent with his high fades. As of the end of last year he was the clear favorite to three-peat. Harrington wasn't sure if he was even going to play in 2008 and ended up making a last-minute decision to enter the tournament despite a nagging wrist injury, which goes to show you how much talent the man possesses.

I'm not certain how the R&A changes or toughens courses for the Open Championship. The adjustments made to U.S. Open venues are well-documented - ankle-strangling rough, tighter fairways, ludicrously speedy greens - whatever it takes to make the place a living hell. Due to the nature of these British courses, the weather alone is enough to wreak incredible havoc on the playing field. If I remember correctly there wasn't much in the way of tall fescue or gorse bushes at Turberry. If this remains the case, Tiger Woods should be able to spray the ball everywhere off the tee and still hit greens in regulation. If the conditions are fast and dry, I expect that he may even leave the driver in the bag and opt for the 3-wood a little more often, a-la Royal Liverpool in 2006. With the #2 player in the world (Phil Mickelson) most likely absent due to his wife's battle with breast cancer and the #4 player (Kenny Perry) entering the tournament burdened by finding out his mother is in hospice, Tiger will be dealing with two less massive talents as he tries to hoist the Claret Jug for the 4th time. Despite this, there is still a solid and select group of players who stand a great chance of getting in his way.

Even with Woods' enormous talent and surgically repaired knee, anything can happen.