The Masters: Day 1

The golf tournament of all golf tournaments, The Masters. It’s finally here!

Day 1 made me incredibly depressed. Alvaro Quiros, who is my age and Rory McIlroy, who is twenty fucking one, are in the lead. Sigh. Anyway on to the action…

 

Tiger Woods and the State of the Tour

A little over a week ago I caught a segment of Tee Time, a talk radio show hosted by Steve Czaban. If you don’t know Czaban, he’s a sports radio guy who primarily co-hosts a weekly show with Andy Pollin called The Sports Reporters. However, he happens to be a scratch handicap and knows a thing or two about the game of golf. During this particular day, Czaban was discussing the current state of the PGA Tour, the prosperity it experienced during the Tiger Woods dominance, and what would need to happen for the tour to continue to grow should Tiger fail to find his game again. Considering that all year-long it’s been only questions focusing on Tiger and his “struggles” on and off the course and not the future of the tour, I found this to be an interesting question. But it was Czaban’s next statement that made the topic really become seriously interesting to me as a fan of golf.

 

Vijay Receives Special USGA Exemtpion

Vijay Singh has experienced his share of road blocks in the past year or so. He’s gone through some back problems, a torn meniscus, and other various injuries, but Vijay finally appears to be healthy. He received a pretty nice surprise yesterday when the USGA announced that they would grant the Big Fijian an exemption to play in the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach.  Singh was supposed to participate in a qualifier on Monday after the Memorial to earn his way into the tournament, but that’s no longer needed thanks to this special exemption.

 

List Time: Club Ho’s of the PGA

We here at Tuna Golf love our toys.  If this were an ideal world, we’d all have enough discretionary income to purchase bags with every conceivable club combination imaginable, from different fairway wood/hybrid combos to numerous wedge assortments complete with different sole grinds, bounce options and fresh grooves everytime we tee it up, but guess what?  We don’t have that luxury.

PGA pros do…and boy, do they.

Of course there are the pros that keep the same stuff in the bag no matter what.  A drastic change for Tiger is switching his 5-wood out for a 2-iron and you’ll never see him with anything other than a PW, 54/56 (depending on where you get your info), 60 wedge combination.  Davis Love III still uses Titleist 680 blades, despite Titleist BEGGING him to game their newer offerings.  Calc still plays Ping Eye 2’s and Chris DiMarco is still using Ping i3 irons.  For some guys, equipment never changes, but for a lot of PGA pros, a new week means a different bag.

 

Tuna Exclusive: Capt. Crunchy to Have Knee Surgery

The reigning champion of the FedEx Cup, Vijay Singh, will miss about five weeks after the completion of the Mercedes-Benz Championship this weekend. The Mercedes-Benz Championship is the first official tournament of the year. Singh will have doctors operate on his right knee to have some routine work done on his meniscus.  His targeted date of return is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where he will pair up with his son. It will be interesting to see how he shoots this weekend with a knee that Singh said was injured at the Chevron World Challenge (won). We will find out pretty soon just how much damage was done to the ligament based on how he scores. I wouldn’t expect any Tiger-esque heroics for this event, but  if the knee is a factor it will be quite obvious that it is on his mind.

 

Hitting the Links

President Elect Barack Obama is “Hitting the Links” in some awesome cargo shorts {Golf.com}

If you haven’t been to Tuna Golf, you may not know that Vijay Singh won the Chevron World Challenge, hosted by Mr. Woods {Yahoo!}

The State of Tiger Address {Golf Digest}

Here’s some advice Steve Williams: Just stop talking! {Hooked On Golf}

Anthony Kim, AK 2008 {The Golf Blog}

Richard Sterne makes it to the masters. Who is Richard Sterne? {Waggle Room}

Oh Anna Rawson, how I love thee. {AOL FanHouse}

A new ball to help cut strokes off your game? Has anyone heard this before? {Devil Ball}

 

What You Missed:Chevron Final Round

Some highlights throughout the final round and a little recap of our stellar picks.

Fijianness

• Vijay, in all his mighty Fijianness(yay for new words) had a great day shooting a final round 67. Vijay was able to birdie the 18th hole with a 10 foot putt to claim the victory over Steve Stricker. His final run for the lead was started on the back 9 with three straight birdies, which really set the stage for his victory.   What’s even more amazing was that Vijay took a good deal of time off after his win at the FedEx Cup. He was not only able to play after 3 months off but he was also able to win in a field that was made up of some of the best golfers out there.
• Finishing third overall was Anthony Kim. He was the 54-hole leader coming into this round and still shot remarkably well, except for those two consecutive double bogeys on the 14th and 15th. The par-3 where A.K. hit his 7 iron short into the water was pretty disappointing especially after the 14th where he drove right into some bushes. Even though by now I totally realized I had no shot at K.J. Choi coming back. I was definitely pulling for A.K., but it seemed he didn’t have the gas to create a strong finish.

 

What You Missed: Chevron Round 3

Everything you missed from Saturday’s third round at the Chevron World Challenge.

• Jim Furyk continues to amaze me and it’s not because of his “phone booth” swing. He had a chance to cushion his lead on 18 and go into day 4 with a 1-2 shot lead. Instead, he pulled a “me” and donated his 2nd shot to the drink. I know how you feel, Jim…I have a phobia of water too. Furyk pulled the string too much from the drop and then missed his putt to give him a double and a 70 for the day. He’s currently at -7 and should make for an interesting Sunday.
• Villegas picked up where he left off and continued to plat consistent golf. By the way, what does he have against regular-sized bills on his hats? He started to look a little shaky on the 16th par 5. His tee shot landed directly in the fairway bunker and his out shot was a terrible effort that went about 30 yards into the rough. I know it wasn’t a great lie in the sand but it was still a bad shot. luckily for him, he stuck his 3rd shot withing striking distance from the pin and penciled in a par. I guess that is why these guys are doing what they do and I am doing what I do…sit on the couch and watch in awe. I still can’t get over his hats, though. Camilo finished with a 69 (giggedy) and is 2 shots off the lead.