Ryuji Imada received an early Halloween trick in the form of a 26-stroke penalty yesterday at the Mission Hills Star Trophy in Hainan China. They were playing lift, clean, and cheat place, and Imada, who didn’t read the local rule sheet, was placing the ball within 1-club length which is the standard used on the PGA tour. However, at this tournament the rule was that it had to be placed within 1 scorecard length, which is the European and Asian tour standard.
On Nov 16, Pinehurst No. 2, one of the best known golf courses in the world, will be shutting down to complete a major restoration. The goal is to bring the course back to something much closer to Donald Ross’s original vision.
The PGA tour has put together a great little primer on the basics of Q-School. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a 3-stage (with a pre-qualifier) tournament that determines where pro golfers will be plying their trade next season. Will they spend another season on the mini-tours, step up to the Nationwide Tour, or make it to the big show of the PGA Tour?
Stage 1 started this week and includes some notable players:
Q. Who are some of the notable players entered in the first stage?
A. There are several players with family ties to notable golfers. Among them are Jay Haas Jr. (whose brother Bill won twice on the PGA TOUR this year and father Jay has won 23 times on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour);Mike Perez (whose brother is veteran Pat PerezBoyd Summerhays (whose uncle Bruce Summerhays plays the Champions Tour); Manuel Villegas (whose brother is three-time TOUR champ Camilo Villegas); Patrick Damron(whose brother Robert Damron is a past TOUR winner); Josh McCumber (whose uncle is veteran TOUR and Champions Tour pro Mark McCumber); Mario Tiziani (who is the brother-in-law of Steve Stricker); and Sam Saunders (whose grandfather is Arnold Palmer). Other players to watch include double heart-transplant survivorErik Compton; former U.S. Amateur champ Danny Lee; Virginia Tech’s Drew Weaver, who won the 2007 British Amateur; Todd Demsey, who overcame a brain tumor to play professional golf; and Kevin Hall, who would be the first deaf golfer to play on the PGA TOUR.
Bubba Watson was apparently bored last weekend and decided to make some entertaining videos. Click the continue link to view them all.
Okay, okay. He didn’t use those exact words. What he actually said was:
“I don’t think it [the OWGR] means anything. How could it mean a lot? Tiger [Woods] is No. 1 and hasn’t won a tournament all year”
“To me whoever is playing the best right now is the No. 1 player, not a bunch of computer rankings.”
The man has a point. And as of Sunday night, the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) will have caught up to reality. Either Lee Westwood or Martin Kaymer will be the new #1 player in the world. I’ve expressed my reluctance to embrace a world #1 that has never won a major and only has 2 victories in 12 years on the PGA tour, so I’m hoping that Kaymer will pull through with the Top 2 finish he needs this weekend to grab the spot from Westwood.
(image: memoflorez/flickr)
The Golf Channel put together a video this morning recapping the top 5 golf shots of the year. I can’t say that I disagree with any of their selections. It’s interesting to note that 2 of the top 5 came within the last 3 weeks. The Fall Finish is proving to be a hell of a lot more exciting and compelling than the FedEx Cup. When will the tour learn that you can’t just manufacture drama by dangling huge sums of cash in front of a bunch of multi-millionaires?
Thanks to reader Morgan for forwarding this along. I’ve never heard of a movable floating island green before, but I guess that’s because Coeur d’Alene has the only movable floating island green in the world. You have to take a boat to get out to the green and you get a certificate if you make par. This might be the coolest thing in the state of Idaho.
What an ending! It seems like the Fall Series has had some of the most dramatic and entertaining finishes of the entire season. With an ace on the 204-yard 17th hole (the 4th hole of a 3-man playoff), Jonathan Byrd grabs his first win on tour and secures his tour card for the next 2 seasons.
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Today Matteo Manassero shot a 67 in the closing round of the Castello Masters to become the youngest winner in European Tour history at 17 years, 188 days old. He started off the day 2 shots behind Gary Boyd, but Boyd’s final round 74, opened the door for Manassero’s 4 shot victory.
Ian Poulter has had the Ryder Cup in his possession for the last few days and has really been enjoying himself. I’m sure some people will be offended, but honestly I think it’s pretty mild compared to what the Stanley Cup has been through. Click the continue link to view the rest of the videos.
