THE Players: Round 2

So what’s happened today?

David Toms has taken over the lead at -10. At the moment Nick Watney, who had the lead at the start of the day, is one stroke back. As I’m typing this, Bubba Watson just hit a drive 341 yards and Sergio Garcia toyed with danger on 17. But don’t worry, 17 got the better of Paul Goydos (Sergio smiled /2008’d). Speaking of Sergio, will his putter be his friend or his enemy?

David Duval opens with a -2/70 and follows it up with a +4/76; he missed the cut.

Defending champion, Tim Clark withdrew after 10 holes with an apparent elbow injury.

Geoff Ovilvy also withdrew with a left shoulder injury after 9 holes.

Rickie Fowler started the day at +5 with a 77, managed to shoot -4/68 while fighting the flu. But his hat stayed on forward. Let’s not get sand in our vagina’s.

Rory Sabbatini is the worst at basically everything.

Phil Mickelson eagled 16. He is currently sitting at -2 after back to back rounds of -1/71. Today Phil was disappointed with inconsistency today. He shot a 31 on the front and the big 4-0 on the back. Speaking of a disappointed Phil, he’s had some things to say as of late. When asked about his performance in the first round, on the 13th hole, Phil had this to say:

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if it’s the set-up or the design, but I just don’t agree with that, I thought the question was would it stay up on top and be by the hole or was it going to roll down in the low area? I didn’t know it could possibly go in the water. I think when I design golf courses, I try not to screw the player like that. I try to keep it a little bit fair. I don’t know what I could have done differently. I’m disappointed with myself and my focus throughout the round today. I can do better than that. There were some low scores out there this afternoon today, and I felt like I should have been one of them. But I’ll get out here tomorrow morning and see if I can put it together.

Matteo Manassero, the 18 year old Italian is the youngest player ever to make the cut. He had rounds of E/72 and -2/70.

Hunter Mahan, I hate you too. But not as much as Rory Sabbatini. I’m a beard kind of guy, but shave that shit bro. You look like you molest collies.

I can’t find video of this yet, but Michael Bradley has apparently thrown his driver in the water. Some fans dove in after it, and some how he is using it again.

KellyTilghmanGC: Fan climbs down lake wall to rescue Michael Bradley’s driver. If Bradley birdies & makes cut on number, he should slip fan some $

 

Hitting the Links: Nick Watney has the Lead

Here’s a look at why Tiger’s been struggling (Orlando Sentinel)

Round 1 highlights (PGA Tour)

Round 1 recap (PGA Tour)

THE Players leaderboard (PGA Tour)

Round 2 tee times (PGA Tour)

Nick Watney has a secret weapon this week! (Golf Digest)

Here’s a breakdown of THE Players (Golf Digest)

54 year old Mark O’Meara has the first round lead (Devil Ball)

Tiger limps away from THE Players after only 9 holes (Wei Under Par)

What is really wrong with Tiger? (Devil Ball)

When will Tiger return? (Devil Ball)

The Ben Crane comedy tour continues (Wei Under Par)

Phil doesn’t like Pete Dye (Golf Digest)

How bad is Tiger’s Injury? (Geoff Shackelford)

Heidi Watney and Nick Watney are cousins (Waggle Room)

New York Times on the illegal golf ball (NY Times)

The backstory on Polara (illegal golf ball company) and the USGA (Geoff Shackelford)

Nick Watney’s cousin after the jump

 

2011 Transitions Championship

Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club

This week’s tournament is the Transitions Championship, which is formerly the Tampa Bay Classic and will be played at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club. Last year Jim Furyk notched the victory at -13 in a pretty decent field. Also finishing in the top 10 last year: KJ Choi, Bubby Watson, Nick Watney, Ratief Goosen, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker, and Padraig Harrington.

 

What You Missed: PGA Championship

What you missed?  A helluva tournament, that’s what.

Kudos go out to Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson for a nice showing on Sunday, as well as Dustin Johnson for putting the Pebble-esque choke on hold until the last hole, as well as guys like Zach Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Steve Elkington who provided some nice competition for the leaders.  I don’t want to get into Bunkergate, so we’ll hold off on that for the conceivable time being, and after some reflection, I’m not really bullish on Whistling Straits as I was heading into the championship.

Lets get to the winners and losers.

Winners:

PGA fans – Helluva tournament and a ton of drama and entertainment.  That was a fantastic treat in a year where only the Masters was truly entertaining.

 

Fantasy Foursome: The US Open at Pebble Beach

Glorious Pebble Beach. The site of this year’s first Major Championship and our National Championship, the US Open.

First, the standings:

1. spencer096: 74
2. Lefty: 210
3. Tips: 254
4. Schneider: 262
5. AC: 349
6. toneypenna: 349

But before we get to the picks, lets make sure everyone’s playing this week first.

Check.

/Bryce  Molder’d
//St. Jude’d
///I guess I’m the only one who should be worried…

TheRealAC:

Tiger Woods is the pick. He’s due to return to old Tiger form some time and he’s already won the US Open at Pebble in 2000 in historic fashion. The course will be dry and fast so why not take one of the guys who can pull off almost any shot? Did I mention he won in historic fashion in 2000? Oh I did? Well he’s gonna do it again.

 

Fantasy Foursome: St. Jude’s

If there is a God, there won't be another Brian Gay win this weekend...BO-RING!

Before we get to the picks, lets take a quick look at the standings, shall we?

Standings:

1. His Holiness 096: 84
2. Lefty: 198
3. AC: 224 + 25 = 249
4. The guy who keeps taking shitty golfers: 225
5. Schneider:  233

As a Cleveland Indians semi-fan, I can appreciate what’s happening between 3-5 here.  It’s like the annual race between the Indians, White Sox and Royals to see who can be the worst team in a division full of awful teams.  AC is like the White Sox in that he makes his picks based on whether or not a player looks like he’s taking a dump when he swings, Tips is like the Indians in that every pick he makes turns to rusted iron and Schneider?  Well, he’s obviously the Royals because he’s just straight terrible but gets a Greinke-from-2009 start every now and then like last week’s pick of Tiger.

Anyways…this has quickly devolved into a one man race.  That man?  Me.  And not to leave out Lefty but Lefty’s obviously the Tigers…not because of any resemblance or anything, but because he smells like industrial waste, much like the entire state of Michigan.

So, anyways, who am I picking?:

I’m taking Lee Westwood and considering this my risky pick.  Sure, it might not sound risky, but I couldn’t find ANY history of Westwood playing this event and am basing this pick solely on the idea that one of the world’s best iron players SHOULD be able to dominate a run of the mill TPC course.  It’s also risky because Westwood is chokey…but four top 10’s in seven US events bodes well for everyone’s least favorite bridesmaid, so hopefully he pulls his huge head out of his gigantic ass and takes some of my points with him when he leaves with a win on Sunday.

And for the record, I don’t like this pick one bit.  I was THISCLOSE to taking David Toms, but I don’t take golfers shorter than my sister unless they’re named Sergio Garcia.

 

Fantasy Foursome: Arnold Palmer Invitational

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is played at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, FL, which Arnold Palmer has owned since 1976. This tournament was named after the owner in 2007. Past winners include: Tom Kite, Payne Stewart, Paul Azinger, Fuzzy Zoeller, Ben Crenshaw, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, and the reigning champion Tiger Woods took home the hardware by posting a final score of -10/270.The course will be playing at par 70 and 7239 yards. The winner will take home $1.044 million of a $5.4 million purse and 500 FedEx Cup points. Last year  Sean O’Hair and Vijay Singh finished T3/-7, Ken Duke and Hunter Mahan finsihed T6/-6, and Tom Lehman fihished T9/-4 to round out some notable top 10 finishsers last year.

 

First Tee: Nick Watney

 

What You Missed: Final Round WGC CA Championship

We all had the dirt on Phil Mickelson’s coffin a mere month ago.  After playing some of the worst golf, not just for his career, but on the PGA Tour, and coupled with his failure to take advantage of Tiger’s layoff, Phil looked like he was on the severe falloff that Ernie Els fell victim to.

That notion has now been completely shattered.

Before we get to Phil, lets take a look at the big winners today.  Follow along after the jump for our full recap of the WGC CA Championship.

 

What You Missed: Round 2 WGC CA Championship

Tiger’s struggling.  You know, it’s not that he isn’t playing good golf either.  His swing looks fine enough, and he’s moving all right, so I don’t think the knee is as much of an issue as the rust.  Like I said yesterday, Tiger wasn’t that far off.  The blemishes on the scorecard are less a result of bad shots as they are a matter of some fine tuning thing that can be fixed, and knowing Tiger, will probably shake off all at once in a huge birdiefest.

But, for today, he’s not.

Instead, like a tournament at Doral tends to do, the cream rose to the top.  Phil, following his ridiculous 65 yesterday with another 66 today leads at -13 with Nick Watney in 2nd at -11, who’s off Phil’s pace by a stroke per round.  It’s a four man race at this point…right behind Phil and Watney is 19 year old, and Tuna Golf favorite, Rory McIlroy and, another TG fav, Kenny Perry right there at -10.  Notables behind them are Camillo Villegas at -9, Alvaro Quiros, Dustin Johnson, Furyk and Poulter at -8, and Sean O’Hair and Paddy within a hot streak at -7.