Long drive phenom Jamie Sadlowski will tee it up this afternoon at the Albertson’s Boise Open in his first ever Nationwide Tour start.

Sadlowski played in a 9-hole skins match on Monday with John Daly.  While he lost the match to Daly 7 to 2 (shooting even par), he did manage to drive a 359-yard par-4 with a 14* hybrid, which reportedly left Daly “flabbergasted”.

Sadlowski’s stated goal is to try to beat Jason Zuback’s record of 5 Re/Max long drive titles before transitioning into competitive golf.  He’ll have a shot at winning his 3rd title on Nov 4th in Nevada.

Golf.com

[Image golf.com]

Next time somebody you play with thinks they’re hot sh*t because they can hit a 300 yard drive, show them this video.  Jamie Sadlowski can his putter 300 yards.

I met Jamie at the PGA Show so of course I had to give him a little crap about out-driving him on the 18th hole at Kapalua I hit one 432 in October and he only managed 407 back in January… so what if I was playing with the wind at my back and had a better landing area because of the tees I was playing from… details.  Still, I don’t think he appreciated it very much

As most people expected, Jamie Sadlowski handily outdrove Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus and Dustin Johnson during their competition today on the 18th hole.

The format was interesting.  They played a two round elimination event.  Each player got 3 shots and the ball had to be in play to count.  They moved the players up to to the Women’s tees, bringing the overall length of the hole down to 455 yards from the normal 663 yards.

This had the interesting effect of bringing the hazard into play and caused the players to land the ball in a much flatter area of the course which led to significantly less roll than I and others had been expecting.  Additionally the wind was in their face, which is about 180 degrees opposite from the usual playing conditions.

Still, Sadlowski unleashed the longest drive of the day during the final round, poking one out 407 yards.  Watson struggled a bit in the finals and was “only” able to hit one 352 yards.  The first round was actually closer with Sadlowski hitting it 398, with Watson (370), Garrigus (365), and Dustin Johnson (352) not as far behind him as some might have been expecting.

It was pretty obvious from the outset however that the PGA guys knew they had no real chance of winning.  It truly was the Jamie Sadlowski show.  At one point in the finals while Bubba was hitting his shots, Frank Nobilo actually asked Sadlowski if he thought he could beat Bubba with his 3 wood.  Ouch.  And even though Sadlowski said no, I think he really mean “duh”.

After he won, Sadlowski demonstrated his “amphibiousness” (to quote Boo Weekly), by hitting Watson’s back-up driver left-handed.  He didn’t do too badly, pegging a spectator about 280 yards out from the tee.

I’ve heard now and then that Sadlowski may make a run at the PGA Tour.  He’s supposedly a plus handicap golfer.  All I can say is that it would be a lot of fun to see him playing in PGA events.  400 yard drives and 215 yard 7-irons would be one heck of a draw for fans and could possibly give golf a much needed boost.

Golfweek

[Image Flickr/rbglasson]

It’s often a hotly debated topic on internet golf boards:  How do the longest driving PGA Tour Pros compare to the long drive competition specialists?

This week we may get an answer (or at least more fodder for the internet forums).  At the 2011 season opener in Kapalua, Jamie Sadlowski, the current king of the long drive will square up against the 3-longest drivers on the PGA Tour, Robert Garrigus, Dustin Johnson, and Bubba Watson, on the 18th hole of the Plantation Course.

The 18th hole is a great choice in many respects.  First, it plays downhill and downwind.  There’s a bit right to left slope that causes a baby draw down the right hand side to produce a drive that runs and runs and runs.

Because of all this, the 18th hole will produce some huge numbers for us all to ooh and aah about.  I’m guessing that these guys just might have a chance to surpass my 432 yard drive there a few months ago [that was sarcasm].  In fact, I suspect that we may see a drive of 500 yards or more.

The other side effect of all this is that the competition will be much closer than it should be.  Let’s face it, while the PGA guys hit the ball a long way, they don’t hit 400+ yard drives like Sadlowski does.  On a long drive grid, he could probably outdrive them with his 3-wood.  But on the 18th, they may actually be able to hit the slope at the right angle and sneak one out past him.

There are still plenty of blanks to be filled in about the competition.  Will it be 1 swing each, or 6 like in a long drive competition?  Do drives that run though the fairway down into the rough near the hazard still count?  Will they be allowed to use extra-long drivers or will they be limited to 48″?

And finally, will this competition actually make it onto the TV broadcast?  I think that they’ll show at least a few minutes of it while somebody is waiting 10 minutes to get a ruling on how to properly take a drop from a water hazard, but who knows?  I certainly have my fingers crossed.

[Update: The Golf Channel will be airing highlights from the Long Drive Competition and the Celebrity Pro/Am tonight during the Fedex Cup Kickoff (Wednesday) between 9-11pm Eastern.  Click here to see my synopsis of the results.]

Honolulu Star-Advisor

[Image Flickr/zzazazz]