Archive for June, 2010

“I’ll never watch the Open the same way again,” Wahlberg said afterward. “And this is not even Open-ready yet – the rough is going to be longer and the fairways are going to be harder. … Hey, I love the game, and I’ll always enjoy it. But if I had to do it for a living, I’d slit my wrists.”

Actor Mark Wahlberg was reacting to his experience on Wednesday at the Pebble Beach Golf Links where he played in the Third Annual Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge with hockey great Wayne Gretzky,  Super Bowl-winning quarterback Drew Brees, and essay contest winner, Peggy Ference from New Jersey.

The challenge, a made-for-TV event,  was born from a quote by Tiger Woods during the 2007 U.S. Open, when he said a 10-handicap couldn’t break 100 on such a tough setup.

Wahlberg was the only player in the foursome to break 100, making a par on the last hole to shoot 97.  Gretzky made a triple-bogey on the final hole to shoot 100, and Brees finished at 102.

Ference, who was playing from the championship tees, struggled to reach many of the fairways.  She ended up shooting 118.  The 7,040-yard layout was deemed a par 78 for her.

The conditions were calm for most of the front nine until the foursome turned inland, when gusts of 25 mph blew in the players’ face.

“This was really about the game of golf and how anybody can play it from any set of tees in any conditions,” Ference said. “I have so much appreciation for what the PGA Tour players encounter, not just in the U.S. Open, but regular tournaments too.”

Brees remarked, “Golf is the only sport where you have a lot of time to think about your shot. You stare at your ball, walking around and lining up and you start thinking, ‘I’ve got water on the right, out of bounds on the left, high grass here.’ You start thinking about all these problems, so you have to be very strong mentally. That’s why I can really appreciate the mental toughness of these guys.”

Pebble Beach Golf Links will host the 2010 U.S. Open June 17-20. Designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, it opened in 1919, Pebble Beach has hosted 10 previous USGA championships, including four U.S. Opens.  Each of those Opens was won by one of the game’s great players – Jack Nicklaus in 1972, Tom Watson in 1982, Tom Kite in 1992, and Tiger Woods in 2000.

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Note:  Source for this story include  AP , the San Francisco Chronicle and Golf Digest (also credited for the picture).

Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam submitted a letter to the International Golf Federation to let them know they are interested in building the golf course in Brazil where the Olympics will be played in 2016, according to an AP story.

There isn’t a public golf course in Brazil, so one of the objectives is to create something accessible to the all golfers after the Olympics.  As architects, Nicklaus and Sorenstam would be responsible for the first Olympic golf course since 1904

Nicklaus is no stranger to South America.  Nordelta in Buenos Aires and the Chapelco Golf and Resort located in San Martin de los Andes, Neuquen, Argentina were designed by Nicklaus and team.

Sorenstam has been involved in a number of projects worldwide.  Last month it was announced Sorenstam had signed an agreement to design a new 18-hole project, the Olivion Golf Resort, in Belek, Turkey. Olivion is Annika’s first course design project in Europe and ninth worldwide.

When asked about her design philosophy, Annika has said, “As I approach a new design or redesign, I look to capture the natural character of the landscape.  I feel it is very important to preserve the environment, spirit, and traditions of the game.  My goal is to design courses that golfers of any age, gender or skill level can enjoy equally.”

Examples of her work can be found at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China, Euphoria in Pretoria, South Africa, and the Golden Bay Golf & Resort which will open this year in TaeAn, South Korea.

David Fay, who represents the USGA for the International Golf Federation, confirmed the letter was received:

“It was a very nice letter,” he said. “When you get a letter from two Hall of Famers, that will get a lot of attention. But there definitely will be a process to go through. Sometimes there’s a feeling that you don’t want to Americanize the process. We’ve been very respectful of the fact, as we should be, that it is an international game.”

Olympians and mere mortals would be honored to play a course designed by this dynamic duo.

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You probably heard by now that Dallas Cowboys quarterback,Tony Romo won’t be playing in the U.S. Open.  He withdrew from the 36-hole sectional qualifier on Monday after bad weather delayed it a second time.  For sure, starting his round with a quadruple bogey wasn’t exactly encouraging (see Tweets here).

Romo pulled out because he needed to return to the Cowboys on Tuesday for practice.  The way things were going, that qualifier round would have been continued on Tuesday.

In an AP story, Romo was quoted talking about what he learned from the experience and what he’d share with his Cowboy teammates.

“On the football field, we’re going and all of a sudden, we have two drives that stall,” Romo said. “Everyone is saying, ‘What’s going on? Why haven’t we done anything?’ We’ll talk about it, we’ll learn from it, we’ll go out and execute on the next one. No matter what happened in the past, it’s about the next play and about going forward and I think that’s what I tried to do today, and I was very proud of fighting back.”

The United States Golf Association said Romo would’ve become the fourth athlete from a professional team sport to qualify for the U.S. Open.

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At the Memorial Tournament,  which was won by Justin Rose with a flawless final round (he overcame a four-shot deficit and had one-putt greens on eight consecutive holes Sunday to close with a 6-under 66), there was a bit of off course play by some notable Tour members.

Phil Mickelson hit a terrible drive on the 15th that ended up far, far to the left into a creek that usually doesn’t come into play.  Instead of going back to the tee, he opted to take a one-shot penalty — playing his ball from a drop from the middle of the cart path on the 17th hole.

The drop was fraught with problems.  Both times his ball bounded down into the weeds, unplayable.  Per the rules, at that point, he is allowed to place the ball at the site of the drop, in this case in the middle of the blacktop.

Playing like he’s used to hitting off paved surface, Mickelson pulled out a 3 wood and cleanly picked the ball off the cart path, hitting a high draw that left him near the tee at the par-3 16th hole.  If only the rest of the course was through streets and parking lots, he would have won and claimed #1 position going into the U.S. Open.

Instead, Mickelson ended up three-putting for a double-bogey 7.  For the tournament, where he finished tied for 5th, putting was a challenge (he took 30 on his way to a 69).

Another golfer who spent time off-course was Tiger Woods.  He ended up hitting not one, not two, but three fans on three different holes.

According to an AP story appearing at Golfweek.com

“On his first swing on the first hole, Woods pulled his drive left and drilled 37-year-old Jeramy May in the neck. “I’m just glad they were on the other side,” May said, pointing toward his daughter and a friend.

On the second hole, Woods hit 19-year-old Alan Flood in the back of his left leg as he was standing far left of the fairway. Then at the 15th hole, Jimmy Craig of suburban Columbus was in the right rough when Woods’ drive hit him in the thumb and then the side.”

Tiger’s way of making it up to the people he hits is to give them an autographed golf glove.

On Sunday he remarked, “Thank God I get them for free.”

Errant shots at Pebble Beach in a few weeks may end up plunking an otter or sea lion.

Spare gloves won’t be an issue.  Extra sleeves of balls will.

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This week, Tiger roars back… in ads.  To promote the release of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 which arrives on Tuesday, EA unveiled an ad campaign which is really fun.  In fact, based on the “behind the scenes” video, it looks like it was as much fun to shoot as it is to watch.

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, the EA ads were shot on May 11 in Orlando.  The campaign, by San Francisco advertising firm Heat, includes online-video ads that will appear on sites such as Facebook.

In the Journal story, Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, was quoted saying, “It was time to bring some life and fun back into golf.”

Indeed!  Check out the clips below.  The “Team Golf” concept is communicated through Tiger and his mates participating in unusual golf environments: curling, soccer, hockey, etc.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 for the Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 will be available on Tuesday.  List price is $59.95.

The curling video:

Behind the scenes with Rickie Fowler:

…and you thought the only one doing the text messaging was Tiger Woods! Ok, ok, that was bad. Sorry.

The other day while reading the GolfCrunch Twitter Feed (follow us @GolfCrunchLive) I happened to notice a few tweets from British Open Champion Stewart Cink (@StewartCink). He first posted an image of one of the tee sheets posted in the locker room. This is typical week-to-week stuff that players see. In fact, in my younger playing days myself I can remember this being the case. I played in quite a few amateur tournaments, and it was normal (and expected) to see tee times posted in the locker room and pro shop… and in the local paper (of course!). Nothing about this shocked me at all, but Stewart’s following tweet certainly perked my interest.

Cink went on to note that the tour sends out text messages to each player, letting them know exactly when their tee time is. Talk about convenient! I trust that all tour players have a cell phone handy, as they are world travelers, are always on the road, and need some sort of communication device at all times to stay in touch with family. When the PGA Tour sends texts like this to players, it’s not only convenient, but it’s instant, and the tour can be assured players know INSTANTLY what their tee time is once the message goes out. Great stuff.