Tag Archives: Major

Kaymer Wins the PGA Championship, But Dustin Johnson’s Mishap Gained the Intrigue

I’ve been a Dustin Johnson fan for about two years now, and today when he sunk his birdie on the 17th/71st hole at Whistling Straights, I thought for sure he’d be the winner of his first major at the PGA Championship. I was really excited for the guy that I’d been pulling for to break through over the last couple seasons. I met him when he was first coming onto the scene, and he was a very likable guy. Really easy going, and someone you truly want to see succeed. He had more Phil than Tiger in him. I thought his coming out party was going to happen when he was leading in the US Open at Pebble Beach heading into the final round, but he choked hard on the 2nd and 3rd holes, and was never able to recover. Even MCeezy, who never watches golf was pulling for him in the US Open. He was right there at the Brittish Open, but Louie had an insurmountable lead after getting favorable playing conditions for each of his rounds, so DJ was an after thought on the leader board as was everyone else on that Sunday. I thought today was DJ’s day since he was one shot up with only one hole to go, but it wasn’t to be as he was once again a victim of himself.

Is it a bunker? I wouldn't call it one, unless the green fees were only $1 for that course....

His tee shot was bad, but the disaster wasn’t even him hitting his second shot from the middle of a hoard of onlookers. You’ve probably heard about it by now. His ball was sitting in what looked like a cart path like area that was trampled from numerous spectators walking on it all weekend. I’m not saying that it didn’t look like a bunker, but it was one f***ed up bunker that looked worse than any municipal course bunker I’ve seen. In the heat of the moment, it was tough to really confirm that he was in a bunker. When he addressed the ball in the f***ed up bunker, he ended up touching his club to the ground, and that cost him any chance at the major. There were boos raining down from the crowd as the ruling was made shortly after he putted out and was on his way to what seemed to be a three way playoff. The ruling honestly killed my enthusiasm for the playoff and the rest of the tourney. I can’t say I don’t agree with the ruling, since a rule is a rule, and they did post it in the locker rooms. The only winner in this situation was CBS, because all the drama at the end had to add to their ratings.

All in all, it was Johnson’s fault for not taking the time to check it out with a rules official or anyone just to make sure that it wasn’t a hazard. Actually if I was DJ, I’d probably have some choice words for Bobby Brown (his caddy) for not noticing that it was a hazard. Every players caddy should be reminding their player of rules on any particular course. The caddies sure make enough to be held accountable for that (10% of the winnings usually). DJ handled it classy though. He didn’t scream injustice or cry about it. He solemnly faced the reporters the same way he did after his implosion at Pebble, and gave them the disappointed answers they were looking for. As an avid golf fan, I’m happy that we will have a better storyline for the major news networks to talk about than how Phil and Tiger did. Hopefully this will be a tipping point to where we can start talking about all the great up and coming golfers in the mainstream media like McIllroy, Johnson, Watson, Ishikawa, Kaymer, and Day.


Phillin the Love at Augusta

It was quite a fun weekend of golf, even if you aren’t that into the sport. There were plenty of memorable players and shots that made it interesting and fun to watch. The whole time I was waiting for the wheels to fall off for Phil, instead I was pleasantly surprised it was Tiger falling apart on Sunday. There were a lot of fun story lines that kept me from changing the channel, including 50 year old Freddy making a push, Anthony Kim coming out of nowhere, Lee Westwood playing solid, but not quite pulling it out in a major once again, and a lot of great golf shots in between. Continue reading


Yang Tames a Tiger

YE Yang Fist Pump Tiger

Somehow, Y.E. Yang did all the fist pumping and dancing around the greens in front of a stunned Tiger on his huge Sunday charge that made him the winner of the PGA Championship. The ultimate fist pump came when he chipped in an eagle on the 14th hole to take the lead away from Tiger for the first time in this major championship.YE Yang Fist Pump Yang took down the seemingly unbeatable Woods! It was Tiger’s first loss in a major when leading or having a share of the lead in the final round. This was Yang’s first major win, and it was only his second PGA Tour win of his career. It was the second time he beat Woods though, as he took him down in China a couple of years ago. This was far different and there was much more pressure. What made it more amazing was the fact he took down the worlds #1 golfer by playing in the final pairing with Woods, and shot an amazing 5 shots better than Tiger for the day!

During the whole telecast the CBS crew kept waiting and talking about when Tiger would do his usual thing, which is come back and win. This was the first time that it wasn’t his day as the announcers kept inquiring”Is this the putt that gets Tiger going? Was that the drive?” As they hoped they would see some historical shot by Tiger none of them conceded that Yang could really win this tournament, until Tiger missed the green badly on the 18th hole. Honestly, I didn’t really think he’d win either, but on the par 3 17th hole when Yang hit his tee shot it landed inches from a hillside that would have kicked his ball into the water it felt like it was his day.YE Yang PGA Championship Instead of his ball going out of bounds, his ball landed about 10 feet from the hole giving him a birdie opportunity. He had luck on his side, as there were a few other bounces that went his way, but this one was the most pivotal!

Although Tiger was missing putts that he usually makes, Yang was the more aggressive player on the course as he went for all he could on every shot. Meanwhile Woods seemed to lay up on holes, and take the safe route. He looked like he was playing not to win, but just trying to not lose. I think Woods thought Yang would just fade away the same way Harrington did last week. That was not the case, as Yang didn’t care about the huge gallery following Tiger, and played his game aggressively from start to finish!

Yang marks the first time a Major Championship has been won by an Asian, well, I guess the first full Asian winner, because Tiger is a halfer. I along with many felt that KJ Choi would be the first Asian to win a major, but Yang took those honors! The win can only help golf as they are always trying to expand their horizons across the globe. Go asian people!


If Tiger is Superman, does Padraig Harrington have any Kryptonite in his bag?

Tiger Woods drives a Buick Enclave!?! You'd think with all that money he'd drive something better!

Tiger Woods drives a Buick Enclave!?! You'd think with all that money he'd drive something better!

Is Padriag Harrington the next in line on the PGA’s attempt to find a rival for Tiger? With Woods looking about ready to wrap up his 15th major, there has been a buzz around Harrington (the defending champion of the event) playing very well for a second week in a row. Phil Mickelson and all of his troubles this year hasn’t put together much of a challenge on Tiger’s thrown, but he has been in and out of golf all season for obvious family reasons. Truthfully what can you expect from Phil if he isn’t able to properly practice and prepare himself to play at the highest level. Today, Harrington was quoted saying he wanted to play with Tiger in the final group. Harrington unfortunately didn’t get his wish as Y.E. Yang will play with him in the final group Sunday. Yang actually beat Tiger when he was in China at a tournament, but I have a feeling this will be a little different. Every player that gets paired with Tiger shoots an average of three shots higher than him, so I don’t see tomorrow playing out differently. It has to be tough playing with a gallery of Tiger’s size surrounding you all over the course.

I’m all for Paddy being the next contender to Tiger though, because last weekend he was paired with Tiger in the final round of the Buick Open, and held his lead after the 15th hole lead by 1 stroke.

Not everybody is intimidated by Tiger all the time.

Not everybody is intimidated by Tiger all the time.

Something weird happened on the 16th hole though, as even Woods came off the course furious about what happened on the 16th hole, eventhough he was the beneficiary of the occurrence. Harrington had a triple bogey on the 16th hole, and it was later revealed that Harrington was pushed by one of the rules officials John Paramor, for exceeding time limits. This would be understandable if they were in an earlier group, but they were the final group playing for a tournament and a million dollars! It was completely ridiculous.

Tiger later stated “He (rules official) got in the way of a great battle. It was such a great battle for 16 holes, and we’re going at it head to head, and unfortunately that happened. I don’t know why we were put on the clock.”

Hopefully Paramor didn’t put them on the clock so they’d finish in time for the CBS to broadcast their rerularly scheduled program! Well guess what? They finished at 6 p.m. on the dot.

Either way I like Paddy’s confidence around Tiger, because it’s basically the opposite of nearly every other player on the tour. Harrington went on to say that he felt comfortable playing with Tiger. He feels that Tiger forces him to not take too cautious of an approach, and go for more aggressive shots than he normally would. Harrington struggled early this year as he’s made major changes to his swing.Padraig Harrington PGA Championship It looks like the last two weeks have shown that he is finding his groove with that new swing. If he becomes the next player to challenge Tiger, I’d like that. He seems to feel like he can win, and has fun with it the same way Phil does on the course. He may not be able to take Tiger down this Sunday, mainly because Tiger has won every tournament (14-0) that he held the third round lead in, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be pulling for him. I don’t know why, but I always root against Tiger. I guess I just like to root for the least likely outcome… Go Harrington and/or Lee!