February 2012
28 posts
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Now that Tiger’s out of it, the WGC Match Play looks like it’s Rory’s tournament to lose. He’s been playing well.
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Tiger And His Putter
I still think Tiger is going to have a good year. I believe he’s going to win three times.
But, I’m a lot less confident after watching him lose a winnable match today.
He missed too many putts in the second round of WGC Match Play, including a five footer to tie the match on the 18th. He blocked the putt out to the right. Afterwards he tried to explain the putting problems with a...
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Tiger on getting accustomed to distances he can hit the ball in the match play at Dove Mountain:
“Just the numbers we can hit the golf ball out here is just amazing, with the altitude and with the wind and being warm.
“I mean, it’s hard to convince myself when I have 272 (yards) to the hole that it’s a smooth three iron.”
He played poorly, but advanced. Next up is Nick...
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Very cool photo by Allan Henry of Graeme McDowell practicing at Dove Mountain for the Match Play. For more, follow Henry on Twitter.
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Keegan Bradley Promises To Stop Spitting
Good. It’s gross to watch on TV. Next up, less fidgeting before hitting the ball.
Id like to apologize for my spitting It’s like a reflex,I don’t even know I’m doing it, but it’s a longtime habit I’ve got to try to conquer
— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) February 20, 2012
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A great win by Bill Haas yesterday. Geoff Shackelford with a complete wrap up.
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You can’t win on Thursday, but … Phil is turning in another great performance.
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How The Mild Winter Is Affecting Golf Courses →
It’s not generating more revenue for private clubs since they’re locked into annual fees. However, it is allowing clubs to make improvement to their grounds that would have been done in the spring.
From Bloomberg:
“The weather’s been a godsend as far as additional revenue, but perhaps in a larger economic way, it’s allowed golf courses and country clubs to do a lot of work over the...
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Tiger Will Try To Fix That Last Piece Of His Game
Tiger announced plans to play in three straight tournaments starting next week. He hasn’t done that since the end of 2009.
It makes sense. His game is coming together nicely, but he needs to get over his nerves on Sundays. The only way to do that is to play on Sundays.
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Rankings In Golf Are Dumb
Bob Harig is on Twitter in some idiotic debate with his followers about how it’s unfair that Pebble gives the winner fewer world ranking points than the Chevron.
Pebble Beach has a full field, whereas Chevron has just 18 people in it. Therefore, Pebble should be weighed more heavily. Sounds fair to me.
But, the rankings in golf are really stupid. There’s no point in getting bent out...
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Phil
Phil Mickelson played an absolutely sublime round today. He shot a eight-under 64. He was pouring in putts from all over the greens and had an amazing day of ball striking.
As if that wasn’t enough, he blew away Tiger, beating him by 11 strokes for the day. Considering their history that had to feel pretty great.
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Tiger's Got A Sunday Problem
Two tournaments in a row Tiger played brilliantly on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, only to see it all slip away with a sloppy Sunday performance. He’s got to figure out what’s changing mentally and physically on Sundays and fix it before the Masters.
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A perfect diatribe on why the Pebble Beach Pro-Am is goofy by Geoff Shackelford:
As longtime readers know, my medical team has strictly forbidden me from watching the Saturday CBS telecast from the AT&T National Pro-Am for fear that I may break out in hives at the fifteenth blatant ass smooching of a CEO who also might buy ad time on the network (hello friend, Cindy Davis!). And...
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Tiger's In The Hunt →
Just four back going in to Sunday. Win or lose, this has been another good tournament for him.
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The WSJ On 'The Battle For The Soul Of Golf' →
Why is golf so obsessed with trying to become a mainstream sport? It’s just not going to happen. It’s too expensive, too time consuming, and too difficult to master.
There are people that love it. There are people that like it. I don’t think it’s worth trying to force idiotic changes to the game to try to convert the rest.
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Second Round At Pebble
Tiger’s second round (and tournament) in a nutshell from Ron Sirak:
Tiger Woods shoots a 68 at Monterey Peninsula and is -6 for the tournament. He’s 6 back going into the weekend. He’s T-6 in fairways hit, T-7 in GIR and T-144 in putts.
He’s in position to win. We’ll see if he can do it. If not, no biggie. This is a weird tournament. Important thing is that...
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Tiger With A Solid Opening Round →
6 birdies, 2 bogeys puts him five off the pace after the first round. Dustin Johnson has the lead. He’s really good on this course.
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More On Pebble's Seventh Hole →
From USA Today:
“I love it when it’s calm,” Tiger Woods said of the 106-yard seventh, the shortest par-3 on the PGA Tour, one of the game’s most scenic holes and a star in its own right in this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. “I’ve played it in just awful conditions. One year, Mark (O’Meara) and I were playing together, and Mark hit...
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Very Cool Now And Then Pics Of Pebble Beach's...
Geoff Ogilvy tweeted out these comparison photos of the par-3, 106 yard seventh hole at Pebble Beach, writing of the current pic, “Pretty stunning right now” “But better before perhaps?”
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New Tiger Woods Game Lets You Live Out His Life →
As Ravi Hiranand said on Twitter, “Um, is that wise?”
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Tiger On Long Putters →
Tiger’s with me, he thinks the long putter should be banned. According to various golf reporters’ tweets, he said the putter should be as long as the shortest club in the bag.
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I missed this last week, but good column from Robert Lusetich on Tiger’s Abu Dhabi tournament.
He says much too much is being made of Tiger’s inability to close out the tournament. However, there is reason for concern overall:
If there is something to be read into Sunday’s failure in Abu Dhabi, it is this: What has happened to the world’s greatest short game?
Since he began...
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Golf's Rulemakers Are Going To Take Another Look... →
A source tells GolfWeek: “It now seems possible that an entire new generation of golfers could learn to putt this way and never use the traditional method that has been the bedrock of putting for hundreds of years.”
I say good riddance. I think the belly putter should be banned. Seems like cheating to me.
In feel good news, Kyle Stanley came back on Sunday to win in Phoenix.
Masters odds. Tiger is the favorite.
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Hank Haney Is Too Defensive About His Book →
Hate to break it to you Hank, but Tiger hates your guts, and no amount of trying to downplay what’s in your book is going to change that. Instead it just makes people want to skip the book.
Here’s a sample of what Haney told Chicago Business: “I think I had an opportunity to write an unprofessional book, but I don’t think I did. I feel like I wrote a fair and honest book...
January 2012
26 posts
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While you were obsessed with breaking down Tiger’s third place finish and trying to figure out if it was a good sign or bad sign for him overall …
Kyle Stanley had an awful meltdown on the 18th to lose the Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. He triple bogeyed the last hole to tie Brent Snedeker, and then lost in the playoff. He started the day with a five stroke lead.
USA...
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Robert Rock Beats Tiger Woods
Robert Rock played a brilliant round of golf to defeat Tiger Woods, who struggled all day with his swing.
Woods only hit two fairways, and five greens in regulation. After his round said he felt like was “just a touch off.” His yardages were wrong, he said. He was hitting the ball further than he expected.
Tiger was even on the day and ended up in third place, trailing Rock and Rory...
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How Far Tiger Woods Hits His Clubs
Cool graphic from the Golf Channel on what’s in Tiger’s bag and how far he hits it.
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Hank Haney Calls It
Tiger will win tomorrow, virtually impossible for him not to make at least 4-5 birdies on that course and he doesn’t have to hit driver
— Hank Haney (@HankDHaney) January 28, 2012
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Tiger Plays A Near Flawless Round To Take The Lead
Tiger Woods played a nearly flawless round of golf to take a share of the lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
He shot a six-under round of 66. He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, and didn’t have a single bogey.
In his post-round comments (via ESPN) he didn’t sound overjoyed with his round: “I didn’t do a lot of things right, but I didn’t do a lot of things ...
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A Video Teaser Of Callaway's Justin... →
It could be cool, but for a company that lost $30 million last year, it sure looks risky/pricey.
Flashy ad campaigns are part of the Callway turnaround plan. Earlier this week, the company said it is “investing a significant portion” of the $50 million it saved through implementing a “a flatter/more streamlined organization structure” on marketing.
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Round Two To Tiger →
Tiger shoots a three-under 69 to get to five-under for the tournament. Rory McIlroy shoots an even 72, and stays at five-under. The two with be together in the third round, teeing off at 2:45 AM eastern time on Saturday morning, per ESPN’s Bob Harig.
Tiger continued to hit the ball well today. His putter came alive on the back nine to put him in contention. He’s two strokes off the...
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It’s hard to be too critical of Tiger Woods’ bogey free two-under opening round. But, it could have been a much better round. His ball striking was excellent. It was the putter that let him down.
Bob Harig at ESPN breaks it down:
Woods needed 34 putts at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and made just two birdies in an opening-round 70 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Playing in the same...
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Round One To Rory →
Tiger shoots a bogey free two-under round of 70 to start the Abu Dhabi tournament. Pretty good, but Rory McIlroy bested him with a five-under 67. Luke Donald, also in the group, and still the world’s number one, shot a one-under 71.
These guys tee it up again for round two at 3:05 AM eastern time.
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Set your DVRs, or stay up a little bit later than usual. The Golf Channel will have live coverage of the Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Luke Donald grouping in Abu Dhubai, says Kelly Tilghman of Golf Channel. Coverage starts at 10:30 PM eastern. As McIlroy said, “It’s definitely not a quiet way to start the year.”
Photo via Luke Donald. (More at European Tour)
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Insanity →
Graham Ottoway in the Daily Mail, talking about Tiger Woods’ off course earnings:
The 36-year-old’s off-course earnings in his prime were estimated at £60m a year, and while he has picked up a couple of new sponsors in recent months, luxury Swiss watchmakers are paying him less than £100,000 a year to be one of their ambassadors.
There’s no way Tiger is doing any sponsorship for...
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The golf business is a tough business. From the WSJ:
Callaway, based in Carlsbad, Calif., reported losses in both 2009 and 2010 as well as for the first nine months of last year. It reports fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, with losses expected to continue. It is losing market share to competitors such as Adidas AG’s TaylorMade, according to Wall Street analysts.
I’ve never...
Justin Timberlake is a 'creative director' for... →
Oh boy.
Interesting comments from Tiger Woods to Bob Harig at ESPN:
“Last year at this time I didn’t truly understand what Sean was trying to teach me. I was very one dimensional in my ball striking. I had this baby draw, didn’t have a fade, and when I got to Dubai, my second tournament, the wind was howling and I couldn’t hold the ball up against the wind with a fade.
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Tiger on Hank Haney's book: "unprofessional" →
Tiger Woods comments on Hank Haney’s forthcoming book, “The Big Miss” to Bob Harig at ESPN. Woods is right, of course.
I think this book is going to be a big let down, and it will mostly be Haney puffing himself up saying something along the lines of, “If Tiger had listened to me, he would have already won 18 majors.” An absurd idea, but Haney consistently strikes me...
About/Contact
The Double Bogey is written by me, Jay Yarow, in Brooklyn, New York.
I’m a 16 handicap, hoping to make it lower, and I’m a nut for the sport. This blog is a combination of my uninformed opinion about the pro game, links to interesting stories on the sport, photos and reviews of the courses I play, as well as reviews of clubs and any other gadgets in the game.
If you’d like to...