The Golf Blog at Club Golf Network
	March, 2006 Golf Blog Entries: 3/31/2006 11:09:28 AM Lefty Leaps Ahead at the Bellsouth Classic Phil is on fire! Phil Mickelson is shooting a great round at seven-under through 16 holes today. This, when coupled with his nine-under 63 yesterday, puts him at 16 under par - eight shots ahead of his closest competitor, Jose Maria Olazabal, heading into the weekend. 3/29/2006 3:00:53 PM Michelle Wie to play John Deere Classic 16 year-old Michelle Wie just committed to play in the Classic July 23-26, when the tournament granted her a sponsor's exemption today. This will be her fifth time playing on the PGA Tour, as she returns to the site of her best showing in a PGA event. She'll be vying to become the first woman to make the cut on the PGA Tour since Babe Zaharias in 1945. One thing's for sure, she's got more PGA experience at 16 than most of us will ever have. It's not a question of if she will make the cut, but when. back 3/27/2006 10:14:05 AM Stephen Ames puts on a clinic while all others shrink back. Ames was on fire, no doubt about it. Despite shooting a double-bogey six on the tenth (which brought him back to even for the day) Ames answered it with three birdies and an eagle, shooting five-under for his next six holes. With the wise counsel of his brother, on the bag, telling him to "have fun with the shot", Ames shot what must have been the round of his lifetime to walk away with the Players Championship. His life will never be the same again. :) back 3/25/2006 12:22:27 PM Davis Love III's "Nine on Nine" Davis said that on Thursday when his ball landed in the rough, he at least had a shot. That wasn't the case for Friday's round. He eked out only one birdie during a golf round comprised of nine pars, six bogies, a double-bogey, and a dreaded quad. As if scoring a quad wasn't bad enough, he hit it on the par five ninth hole, effectively making it a ten. Davis' nine on nine now holds the dubious award of the highest tournament score on the hole. To be fair, it was his last hole of the day, and as he knocked his ball down the traps and rough lining the left side of the fairway, his chances of making the cut dwindled, as did his concentration. Tiger pulled back three shots to position himself for a run at it if he plays well this weekend. Camillo Villegas is playing well, and Greg Owen is backing up his good play last weekend with another strong showing this week. If Owen can pull off the win this week, people may just forget about his putting extravaganza on 17 and 18 last week... back 3/24/2006 11:43:29 AM Jim Furyk and Davis Love III lead first round of The Players Championship Davis had a nearly perfect round, smoothly shooting nothing but pars and birdies to score a seven-under 65 for his first round. Furyk started off slow with par for his first seven holes before coming alive and tying Davis' seven-under 65. The two were paired together and fed off each other's play during the rainy/misty first round. Tiger had left the course Tuesday night to visit his ailing father Earl Woods, who is suffering from cancer, but returned Wednesday night and struggled through the first round at even par. He backed that up with a three-under second round, so he should be around for the weekend. We wish the best for Tiger and his family. Camilo Villegas was sporting spectacular clothes again, perhaps celebrating his status as the only alternate admitted to the field. Unfortunately for him, he struggled to finish at two over - shooting two birdies, two bogies and a double-bogey on the par-4 10th. back 3/23/2006 7:48:26 AM Overview for The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass Golf Course The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is one of the most recognizable courses in the world. Conceived by former PGA commissioner Deane Beman and created by Pete Dye, the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass is entering its 25th year as host to The Players Championship. Nearly 7,100 yards in length this week, the par for course is 72. The par-3 17th island green is the signature hole, as well as being one of the most recognizable holes in all of golf — who hasn't watched pro after pro hit ball after ball in the water there and silently giggled that even the pros have bad days sometimes? Individual hole details and maps are available on the PGATour.com TPC Sawgrass course review page, here. Weather looks to be rainy today, but nice through the weekend. Check out live scoring conditions, courtesy of weather.com, by clicking here. TV coverage of The Players Championship is on ESPN from 11:30am-6pm ET Thursday & Friday, with NBC airing moving day from 2-6pm ET and the final round from 1:30-6:30pm ET Sunday. back 3/21/2006 6:57:00 PM Golf with Champions! Fuzzy Zoeller has set up a great opportunity for people to fly across the Atlantic in a private charter jet with Fuzzy, Tom Kite and Dana Quigley as they prepare for the 2006 Senior British Open. You'll stay in four-star accomodations (rare for the Open week!), plus have the chance to play 18- or 36 holes of links golf on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at courses including Prestwick, Glasgow Gailes, Gleneagles, and others. This looks to be a supremely fun trip, but space is limited, so check out all the info and reserve your spot at www.GolfWithChampions.com back 3/20/2006 4:46:10 PM Pampling holds on to win Bay Hill In a stunning display of power by the golfing gods, Greg Owen three-putted from three feet on the 17th to come back to Pampling from a two stroke lead with one to play. The three-footer missed low, then Owen hit his missed putt, only to have it lip out. The three putts took less than 8 seconds, start to finish, and left television commentators almost speechless and certainly aghast. To make matters worse for Owen, his 12-footer for par on 18 to secure a playoff also lipped out, handing the win to Pampling. Rod will be happy to have his memorable appearance at the 1999 British Open, where he was the first round leader and didn't make the cut, overshadowed by Owen's missteps. In other notes, Bubba Watson had a monster drive of the day, carrying 351 yards over the lake, leaving himself 105 to the pin on 544 yard par five. He wedged in and two-putted for birdie, ending up in 34th for the tourney. Camilo Villegas lost his mojo on the weekend, shooting six over for the two days and finishing in 59th. back 3/18/2006 6:21:19 AM Lucas Glover shoots back-to-back 67s to take the lead at Bay Hill None of the biggies, save Sergio Garcia, showed up for today's round. Swirling, unpredictable winds moved today's round 's scoring average up 1.6 strokes at last count. Robert Allenby shot 67-68 to claim second into the weekend, tied for second with tournament-low 65 shooting Rod Pampling. Deano finished bogey-par-bogey to drop to fourth by the end of the day. Tiger finished bogey-par-bogey, one under for the day, three under for the tourney, and seven shots back. back 3/17/2006 10:11:14 AM Dean Wilson leads Bay Hill With an impressive six-under 66 yesterday, and four under through thirteen today, Wilson has a three-shot lead over Robert Allenby, Lucas Glover and Jason Gore. The big names didn't bring their games yesterday, with Tiger, Camilo Villegas and Bubba Watson all only shooting one or two under par. Will Dean be able to maintain his excellent performance through the weekend? Will the field chase him down? Will Tiger go on another come-from-behind tear and win his fifth of the year? Tune in and find out! back 3/16/2006 5:05:00 AM Arnold Palmer and Tim Finchem discuss Bay Hill Not only is the tournament being renamed to honor Arnold, but one of the year's best fields is turning out to play the difficult course. The rough is going to be deep and sticky, having been grown especially thick for the tournament. Recent phenoms Bubba Watson and Camilo Villegas join Tiger and a star-studded field for what's looking to be another great event. Check out the FREE video preview and the Full article on PGATour.com. Coverage is on USA from 3-6pm ET Thursday & Friday, with an extra half hour on NBC 2:30-5pm ET for the weekend. back 3/14/2006 9:22:17 AM A few years back, I played a round of 18 holes in under two hours. It was a glorious weekday morning when I teed off as a single at about 6am. The sun was just peeking over the morning clouds as I hit my first drive down the fairway, hopped in my cart, and was off. I wasn't the first "group" off that day, the twosome in front of me let me play through when I caught up to them on eleven. I'd drive up to my ball, pick a club, aim the shot, hit it, and get in the cart to chase it down again. Total pre-shot routine time was definitely less than a minute per swing, for I shot an 87 and was done with the round in one hour, forty-five minutes. There's a lush beauty to be found traipsing around a golf course in the early morning with nobody in front of you. As golfers, we've grown used to waiting for groups ahead to finish their shots and move on before we get to take our own, but if you haven't teed off in the first (or second) group of the day, you may never get the chance to fully appreciate the beauty of making first tracks across the dew-laden grass. It's as if the course is your personal playground, with nobody pressuring you to play faster, and no waiting for others to finish. Try it sometime, I highly recommend it. back 3/13/2006 8:08:36 AM Early Spring is a frustrating time of year for golfers in Colorado. We get 70-degree days randomly intermixed with days of snow. The trick is to have enough flexibility in your schedule to be able to take advantage of the warm days and not go crazy when it's gorgeous all week and crappy on the weekend. Again. In PGA news, Luke Donald held on to win the Honda Classic in a what seemed to be a rather unspectacular tournament, save one shot. Geoff Ogilvy got second, and Billy Mayfair played very well—only losing solo third to a hole-out from the bunker, for eagle, by David Toms on 18. Another strong showing for Toms, who has certainly shown he's no fluke. Watch out for him this year. back 3/10/2006 11:53:07 AM Bay Hill to become Arnold Palmer Invitational from AP, via Yahoo! ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Bay Hill Invitational has been known for years as Arnold Palmer's tournament. Starting next year, that's exactly what it will be. The tournament will be called the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting in 2007, making Palmer only the second player to have a PGA Tour event named after him. The other is the Byron Nelson Championship outside Dallas. "It has been a matter of great pride for me when my name was placed on an entity of one sort or another over the years, but I can't think of anything that brings me more pleasure and satisfaction than having it on the tournament that has meant so much to me for so long," Palmer said. full story back 3/9/2006 8:44:23 AM The Honda Classic Defending champion Padraig Harrington is back, hoping to beat all-comers again and defend his first PGA Tour win. He started last year's final round seven shots back and scored ten birdies in his first thirteen holes, eventually winning a playoff against Vijay Singh on the second hole when Vijay uncharacteristically missed a short putt. Camilo Villegas and David Toms are in the field this week, so perhaps we'll finally get to watch the "little-big-names" open up and go at it without the overshadowing effect of the top stars. Here's hoping for another great tourney! back 3/8/2006 6:41:34 PM Travino calls it a day I have fond memories of watching the gregarious Lee Travino play the game. Ever the showman, always cracking jokes, he was truly a fun guy to watch. Winner of six majors, he always seemed to be able to pull off a win even when he played poorly. Lee has decided to retire from golf, but is choosing to do it quietly, without fanfare or drama. Golf Magazine has a great article recapping Lee's career available here. back 3/5/2006 9:15:40 PM Tiger's Ugly Win Chalk up another win for the Tiger. While his final round play wasn't spectacular, he buckled down and held off charging Camilo Villegas and David Toms for the win. Toms is playing great golf this year, and Villegas was definitely the fan favorite at Doral, where it seemed like most of the gallery were from his home in Columbia. Believe it or don't, it seemed there were more people at the course watching him than Tiger. However, Tiger showed what it takes to be a true champion - as I believe Johnny said, "You have to be able to win ugly." Ugly as it was, Tiger has won three of the four PGA events he's played so far this year (he had to withdraw from the third due to the flu) and if I remember correctly, the only other tournament he's played this year — in Dubai. Four for five with a WD, not a bad start to the year. back 3/3/2006 11:09:05 AM Woods and Michelson are battling it out again at Doral this week. In a replay of last year's final round slugfest, Tiger and Phil are neck and neck in what is shaping up to be another great start to the Florida swing. Tiger's 8-under 64 yesterday was his best opening round in three years, since he shot a 63 at the Western Open to eventually win by five. Yesterday's 64, however, was only good enough for a one-shot lead over Lefty heading into round two. Another shootout today could have the two paired together for the weekend, although scoring conditions were optimal yesterday and four others are tied for second. USA Network is carrying today's coverage from 3-6pm ET, with NBC finishing the tourney this weekend, also from 3-6pm ET. back 3/1/2006 10:20:01 AM Golf Balls in SPAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!! From Slashdot.org: "Tentatively scheduled for a spacewalk this summer, a Russian cosmonaut will take his trusty six iron and a special weightless-friendly tee and put a golf ball into orbit from outside the International Space Station. The golf ball has an embedded transmitter so that it can be tracked as it orbits. It is expected to orbit for 3 to 4 years before burning up on re-entry. The golf shot is the result of promotional fees paid to the Russian space agency by a Canadian golf club manufacturer." Full story at: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ft_060227_exp13_golf.html Being the geeks we slashdot readers are, you'll be pleased to note that we've already calculated the distance of the drive — 3696 billion yards — and the speed the ball will be travelling — 59,890.49 mph if up for three years, 79,835.77 mph for four. Hit it well Pavel Vinogradov, this one's for posterity! :) back

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