Preview

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans. It’s a great day to celebrate our nations history and the vision of our founding fathers. I’m going to make this preview very brief as I’m getting ready to fire up the grill.

Tiger hosts his own tournament this week at the AT&T National. This tour stop is a replacement for the now defunct International. This tournament will have a major feel as most of the top players are in attendance.

AT&T National
Congressional Country Club – Bethesda, Maryland

Don’t have a clue who will win at Congressional, but I have a feeling Kobayashi will win the hotdog eating contest later today. While you’re celebrating today, pour out a little liquor for The International and the stableford scoring system. It was a unique tournament that will be missed.

Happy Independence day everyone!

Preview

(Warning, hyperlink happy this week)

For the first time since 2001, Tiger will not be playing in the Buick Open. He is at home this week attending to his newly born daughter, Sam Alexis Woods. Congrats to mother and father on a beautiful baby. Now the great debate can begin. Who will win first on the LPGA? Sam or Michelle?

With Tiger out of action this week, the field at the usually stellar Buick Open is a little light. It makes one wonder how Tiger was able to get out of playing in his main sponsor’s tournament. In fact a friend and I discussed this in detail last night and mutually decided that Tiger can do whatever Tiger wants. But surely someone at Buick had to be fired for this decision. It would only be fair. (Surely you can’t be serious)

But before we start speculating on who got the boot at Buick this week (maybe Ted from accounting?) we should remember there is still a golf tournament to be played. While the TV ratings will suffer without Tiger in the field, at least it will be broadcast on CBS. It will be hot and humid at Warwick Hills C.C. in Grand Blanc, MI (not to far from my old residence of Royal Oak, home of Mister B’s) as temperates are expected in the 80’s with stupid crazy humidity.

Buick Open
Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club – Grand Blanc, Michigan

Last season Tiger won by three shots over Jim Furyk, a win that was the second in the consecutive PGA Tour win streak of seven. Furyk is the favorite this time around, with a win and seven top 10s in twelve starts here. He has only finished outside of the top 20 twice (94 and 96) and has never missed the cut. Coming off a disappointing finish at the U.S. Open, Furyk will be determined to get back in the win column. Odds are in his favor, as he is the only top 15 World ranked golfer in the field.

The next highest World ranked golfer playing is #17 Trevor Immelman. The 2006 Rookie of the Year has struggled some this season, especially lately, making only one cut in his last four starts. The Buick Open would be a good chance for Trevor to turn things around, as there are many birdies to be made. Look for him to be in the final groupings on Sunday.

My gut tells me it will be Furyk winning this weekend. He just has to much of a history of good play here, and combine that with the weak field and this is about as close to a sure thing as you can get in golf. And surely you know by now my track record for picking winners on the PGA Tour……………..

And don’t call me Shirley.

(Bet you didn’t see that one coming)

Preview

I’ve been looking forward to the Travelers Championship all season long! This is the marquee event on the PGA Tour schedule……………..(can you read the sarcasm?) Now that the U.S. Open is over we can officially welcome summer and the lesser tournaments on the schedule before the next major. But before I start on this week’s Travelers Championship (formerly the Buick Championship that was formerly the Greater Hartford Open) I need to get a few things off my chest about the spectacle that was the 2007 U.S. Open.

There is nothing better then waking up at 7 am to watch golf. I’m serious. I normally take my time to roll out of bed each day, but I was up at 7 am last Thursday and Friday morning to watch all the golf action. I was like a kid at Christmas.

ESPN’s TV coverage was great. Chris Berman needs to do more golf announcing. His insight and golfer nicknames made for pleasant morning golf viewing. What do you say Golf Channel? Can you get this guy to host PGA Primetime every Sunday night?

NBC’s TV coverage was bad, and their announcers worse. I know Tiger is the greatest golfer of our time, and probably of all time. You know that Tiger is the greatest golfer of our time, and probably of all time. My fiance knows that Tiger is the greatest golfer of our time, and probably of all time. I do not need NBC to tell me this every hole. I do not need NBC to defend Tiger’s bad shots, and applaud his mediocre shots.

At one point on Sunday Angel Cabrera (Congrats to you Angel BTW, this was a win for smokers everywhere, myself included) hit a shot into a bunker on the back nine. The homer NBC announcers criticized Cabrera’s game and decision making. Then they cut to Tiger who shoots a similar shot that ends up in the bunker. We then have to hear NBC defend Tiger’s decision and make excuses for him. The greatest golfer of our time, and probably of all time does not need you to make excuses for him.

When Tiger hits the ball on to the green for a 35 foot putt, that is not a GREAT shot. Alright. I won’t hammer the point home any longer NBC. Please just make yourself aware of the problem and try and correct it for next year’s U.S. Open.

Speaking of correcting ones self. I must commend Johnny Miller on mentioning his 73 U.S. Open win and final round 63 less then 10 times. In fact most of the time it was discussed it was not even him that brought it up! Kudos. The inside joke of the U.S. Open broadcast may now very well be how NBC are a bunch of Tiger homers. (A’ight, last shot I promise)

To be fair I would probably be a homer golf announcer myself. I could just imagine doing the Rotoff play by play on a live telecast. “Goosen needs to make this putt, or Shlink Lincoln will be in jeopardy of a 10th place finish.” Or “That’s the 10th birdie for Romig today………………..F-ckin’ Romig!”

Hey, if Angel and Tiger can cuss on the telecast surely I could too. Angel’s cuss word of choice is the powerful “F” word, apparently one of the only English words he knows. Tiger likes to use the much more elegant “God D-mn it!” and drive his club into the ground in disgust. Both cuss words were effective, but in the end the “F” word prevailed. Proving it’s better to “f-ck” it then “d-mn it.”

Whoa, this preview is getting out of hand.

Let’s take a look at this week’s Travelers Championship.

Travelers Championship
TPC at River Highlands – Cromwell, Connecticut

Justin Rose wins by two over VJ.

Preview

It’s major time once again my friends. This Thursday a field of 150+ golfers will begin their quest for the elusive title of U.S. Open Champion. It will not be easy. Early indications are that Oakmont will play as possibly the most difficult course ever. EVER! Well, except for maybe the now defunt Orenco Woods after my 12th beer. FORE!

Incase you forgot, last season Phil scored a double bogey on 18 at Winged Foot to finish runner up to Geoff Ogilvy. No doubt that will be weighing on Phil’s mind this week, that and his wrist injury which forced him to withdraw from the last two tournaments on tour. The question is what will be the bigger factor? Collapse? Wrist?

Tiger comes into this week’s Open looking for his 13th career major. As always he is the favorite to win and will be looking to bounce back after missing the cut in 2006. Tiger ranks 3rd in G.I.R. but 91st in Total Putts Per Round.

Greens and (no more than) two putts are going to be the most important factors to winning at Oakmont.

The 2007 US Open
Oakmont Country Club – Oakmont, Pennsylvania

Will Tiger and Phil end up in the final pairing on Sunday? As often as I talk about this dream final pairing, it has only happened a handful of times. It would be an amazing Open moment to see Tiger and Phil battle out the back nine on Sunday but odds are it won’t happen. Odds are one of them won’t be in contention. Odds even suggest that neither could be in contention.

Forget the collapse. The collapse is ancient history. I suspect that Phil’s wrist will be too much to overcome this week. I would love him to prove me wrong…..you all know I’m a Phil guy. But I just don’t see a forth major in the cards for Phil in PA. The wrist prevails. Afterall don’t we all get beaten by the wrist at the end of the day?

Bold Statement of the Week: Tiger will be in contention on Sunday.

But who will step up to challenge him?

The usual suspects go without saying. VJ, Furyk, and Scott all have a shot at winning this thing. Scott looked brilliant last week…..for the first three rounds. Shooting a +5 on Sunday does not look good for Oakmont. But then again had he won last week he’d have less of a shot this week. No one has ever won the week before and won the U.S. Open.

Furyk and VJ know what it takes to win a major. Furyk finished T2 last season and won the Open in 2003. VJ has never won a U.S. Open, but he does have seven top 10s, including the last two seasons. Interesting to note that both Furyk and VJ have each only missed the cut here once. That’s consistency. I see no reason why Furyk and VJ won’t continue that consistency this week.

Masters champions Zach Johnson is looking to win his second straight major. No small task for sure as ZJ has missed the cut the last two years. If ZJ can ball strike and sink pressure putts for par like he did at Augusta he should find himself at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday. ZJ ranks 22nd in the key stat for this week, Putts Per Round.

Ryuji Imada has two top 15 finishes the last two seasons and I have a hunch he’ll be in the top 20 this year. Look for him as a possible sleeper to sneak into the top 10 come Sunday. (Plus I just picked him up in Rotoff)

So who wins? I’m going to give the cop out answer. Oakmont will be the big winner this week. I suspect the winning score will be +10 or higher. There will be a few people in the red on Thursday, but not anytime after. While it does make for a true test to the worlds best golfers, it won’t be exciting golf. It’s gonna be grind ‘em golf. With the course set up so difficult, it’s impossible to predict the winner. But here’s my top 10 in no specific order:

Tiger Woods

Adam Scott

Stewart Cink

K.J. Choi

Vijay Singh

Jim Furyk

Rory Sabbatini

Justin Rose

Zach Johnson

Tim Clark

Hopefully a winner comes from that list.

Another fun thing to watch will be Johnny Miller’s mentions of his 73 U.S. Open victory and final round 63 during the weekend telecast.Enjoy the U.S. Open everyone. I’m getting axious to see the drama of Oakmont unfold.