I walked away from my first trip to New Orleans and covering the Zurich Classic, thinking, uh, why wasn’t I here last year? It’s got it all — awesome city, great tournament with field, friendly people, scrumptious food, eclectic sweet-sounding tunes (especially at Jazz Fest — for the record, seeing Tom Petty live was a massive highlight, along with walking home from the Fair Grounds through Treme, aka a neighborhood some wouldn’t recommend trekking through, back to the French Quarter), and vibrant culture and atmosphere. (continue reading…)

Decisions, decisions: Triple crown bid or family time?

I’m afraid I didn’t spend Saturday night watching the Australian PGA, but it certainly sounded like an exciting final round, ending with a three-way playoff. South Korean KT Kim, who basically had his “Hello, world” moment at the Presidents Cup a week earlier, held the 54-hole lead, while American Bubba Watson trailed by just a shot. Both blew it on Sunday.

Meanwhile, three Australians, Greg Chalmers, who won the Australian Open two weeks prior, Robert Allenby, who went 0-5 at Royal Melbourne, and Marcus Fraser, seized the opportunity with a dramatic finish in regulation that led to a ho-hum playoff – at least that’s what I gathered from Peter Stone of the Sydney Morning Herald: (continue reading…)

It was Chalmers' second national title.

A closing 67 may have guaranteed Tiger Woods the lion’s share of the post-round headlines, but the final day of the 2011 Australian Open belonged to Greg Chalmers. (continue reading…)

Easy does it.

A poor start from the high-profile overnight leader ceded centre stage to a trio of Aussies on day three of the Emirates Australian Open. (continue reading…)

Looks like someone's read the new stats

Between Shotlink and the endless rambling of golf announcers, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the game is positively drowning under a deluge of statistical info. But what if I told you that, no, there was room for one more statistical category, one that could steamline the current putting stats and eliminating all those annoying GIR-related inaccuracies that blight the system? A pipe dream, you’d say– the stuff of idealistic fantasy!

But no! This is one dream that’s become a reality. I present to you the “Strokes Gained-Putting” index: (continue reading…)