Thursday, July 17th, 2008
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For years now my friends and I have talked about making the 7 hour drive down to Ponte Vedra Beach, Floria to play the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Each year we put it off for various reason, until this year when we all got $1200 checks in the mail during the peak of golf season!! So next Saturday, July 26th, I will be playing the Stadium Course, and trying my luck on the famed 17th hole. Expect a full report once I get back.
So this got me thinking, what are the five courses you want to play, that you can actually play. Not talking about Augusta and Pine Valley, but public courses. For me…
- St. Andrews
- Pebble Beach
- Carnoustie
- Pacific Dunes
- Royal County Down or Pinehurst 2
Tags: Chad, Sawgrass
Posted in Golf | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 20th, 2008
Since it looks like Tiger won’t be winning anymore majors this year, I thought I’d go back and rank the 14 he’s already won.
14. 2006 PGA - I don’t remember anything about this tournament. Apparently he beat Shaun Micheel by 5 strokes.
13. 2007 PGA - Same as 2006, except I vaguely remember some of it. I think Tiger wore red on Sunday.
12. 2002 Masters - Tiger’s 3rd green jacket, and the one I remember the least about
11. 2005 Open - Tiger’s 2nd British Open win at St. Andrews, he beat Scotland’s Colin Montgomery by 5 strokes
10. 2002 U.S. Open - A 2nd U.S. Open title for Woods. This was the tournament where New Yorkers kept yelling at Sergio to hit the ball.
9. 1999 PGA - The one where Sergio, then El Nino, closed his eyes and hit a miracle shot around a tree. Then lost to Tiger.
8. 2005 Masters - Tiger turns the 16th green into a Nike commercial. My wife and I were house shopping, and I saw it on a black and white television owned by the little old lady whose house we would soon buy.
7. 2000 PGA - Bob May forced a playoff, then Tiger chases his putt across the green and into the hole on the first playoff hole. Of all the Tiger celebrations, this is the hardest to practice in the mirror.
6. 2006 Open - Tiger’s 3rd British Open, and his first major after the death of his father Earl. I think he hit 5-iron off every tee that week.
5. 2001 Master - Woods win his 4th consecutive major and completes the “Tiger Slam”.
4. 2000 Open - Tiger’s first trip to St. Andrews as a professional, he dominates the Old Course and laps the field by 8 strokes.
3. 2000 U.S. Open - Second place was 3 over par, Tiger was 12 under. Unreal.
2. 2008 U.S. Open - Tiger, playing on one leg, goes 4 rounds, then an 18 hole play-off, then one hole of sudden-death to win his 3rd U.S. Open title.
1. 1997 Masters - The one that changed everything. Tiger shatters records, beats the field by 12 strokes, and wins his first Green Jacket.
Tags: Chad, Majors, Tiger Woods
Posted in Golf, reviews, sports | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
The sun set fifteen minutes ago. Your mother is waiting patiently in the parking lot. And you are on the 18th green, finishing your 54th hole of the day.
And as you stand over your double-bogey putt, the only question is this: Is it to win the Masters, or the U.S. Open?
For me it was always the Masters. Probably because I grew up on a course that was hilly and dotted with pine trees. Of course the similarities between Briarmeade and Augusta National ended there, considering Briarmeade is bordered by a trailer park. Even so, in my imagination azaleas were always blooming, and the 18th green was surrounded by cheering patrons and Claudia Schiffer (This is 15-year old Chad we’re talking about), waiting to give me a green jacket, so long as my last putt found the bottom of the cup.
I was a Masters guy because as a kid the U.S. Open was painful to watch. Overweight men, panting like dogs in the summer heat. Impossibly narrow fairways with rough so high you could lose a car in it. And those greens, like trying to land a ball on the roof of a VW Bug. Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate the U.S. Open, I guess in the same way I’ve learned to appreciate vegetables. I’m going to eat them, but I’m not really looking forward to it.
I never understood those kids whose putts were to win the U.S. Open. Maybe their dad was in the army? Maybe their dad was Toby Keith? They always explained it in patriotic terms, citing it was our national championship, which I get, but it’s still boring. The only time the two groups agreed was on cloudy or rainy days, when the putts were to win the British Open. Putts were never to win the PGA Championship.
I say all of this because the 108th U.S. Open begins this Thursday, on the South Course at Torrey Pines, and Tiger Woods is set to tee it up for the first time since his second place finish at the Masters, and subsequent knee surgery.
This won’t be the first time Tiger begins a U.S. Open after a long break from tournament golf. In 2006 Woods skipped every event between Augusta and the Open after the death of his father Earl. Tiger shot 76-76 and missed the cut in a major for the first, and only time in his career. Perhaps he couldn’t overcome the rust from his 3-month layoff, or perhaps the emotional burden from the loss of his father was too much to bear, or perhaps he couldn’t stand to be seen in this shirt, which he was schedule to wear for Saturday’s round.
Regardless, in a year where everyone was talking Grand Slam, and a 3rd U.S. Open title at one of Tiger’s favorite courses was a given, this week’s U.S. Open has enough drama and unanswered questions to keep us all interested.
And who knows, when I finish my round after work today, that last putt may just be to win our national championship. Not that I still do that sort of thing.
Tags: Chad, Tiger Woods, US Open
Posted in Golf, previews, sports | 4 Comments »
