Go Manny!

Matteo Manassero, who turned 20 only last month, birdied the fourth playoff hole, to capture the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event (the equivalent to The Players Championship on the PGA Tour). A trio of players finished regulation at 10-under and went into a sudden death playoff — Marc Warren was eliminated after the first extra hole and Simon Khan battled with Manassero for three more.

Manassero became the youngest player to win this tournament, which is a super big deal (imagine if say, Rickie Fowler, won The Players, a few years ago), and he has now won four European Tour events at merely 20 years, 37 days old, which is more than both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy at the same age.  (continue reading…)

Oh, Monty!

On Friday at the BMW PGA Championship, America’s favorite Scot, Colin Montgomerie, chimed in on the Tiger Woods-Sergio Garcia spat, particularly in reference to Sergio’s “fried chicken” remark and European Tour CEO George O’Grady’s “colored athletes” comment while he was trying to defend Garcia.

Naturally, Monty came to the defense of Sergio and O’Grady, saying the whole thing had been blown out of proportion and suggested players would now be scared to talk to the press because you have to be just *so* PC.  (continue reading…)

Oh, boy, you’re up, Finchem.

OH MY GOD. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.

I wish this was an SNL skit or Onion parody, but unfortunately this actually happened: European Tour Commissioner George O’Grady was trying to defend the now notorious remark Sergio Garcia made on Tuesday at an awards dinner — that he’d serve Tiger Woods “fried chicken — when he uttered his own racially insensitive phrase.

(continue reading…)

Sergio loses another round

The Tiger Woods/Sergio Garcia feud — which doesn’t just date back to The Incident at The Players Championship, rather it has a long history spanning over more than a decade of bad blood– was an amusing and relatively trivial soap opera until it turned ugly on Tuesday night.

At the European Tour players’ awards dinner in England, Golf Channel’s Steve Sands asked Sergio in jest if he would have Tiger over for dinner at the U.S. Open. The Spaniard responded, “We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.”

Ugh. No. Just no. That comment will no doubt haunt Sergio for the rest of his career.  (continue reading…)

Zach and caddie Damon Green pay tribute to Damon's dad who last battle to stomach cancer 10 days ago

Just landed in Columbus for Jack’s tournament, the Memorial, this upcoming week — that’s right, after a two-week hiatus, I’m back on Tour. Woot!

While I was packing and hustling to catch my flight, I watched the last nine holes of the duel between Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner, who was gunning for his third win in four starts, at Colonial. It might as well have been match play since the rest of the field was too many strokes back to catch the duo. Turned out to be an intriguing finish in more than one way. (continue reading…)

The scene of the incident

Graeme McDowell’s opening round at the European PGA Championship ended on a sour note with a triple-bogey 8 to post a two-over 74. He incurred a two-shot penalty on the 18th hole at Wentworth because of a “freak” rules violation and a slight brain fart by the golfer. After an errant tee shot into the bushes, McDowell tried to take a look at his ball, which was entangled in some branches, and as he approached, he thought it may have oscillated a dimple or two.

He went ahead and punched out, and then as he walked down the fairway, he called over a rules official and asked him to take a look at the TV footage because he wasn’t sure if it had moved — even though he couldn’t have necessarily prevented it and didn’t gain an advantageous lie. Point of the rule is to protect the field from a player improving his/her lie, but there’s that gray area where intention should come into play as it does in several other rules. (continue reading…)

After a very long hiatus, welcome (back) to this special edition of Balls in the Air, where I size up my Fantasy Golf picks of the week, featuring guys to watch (or not), and interesting story lines and tidbits from behind the scenes.

The usual poker-faced Dufner reacts with extra gusto on the 72nd hole in Dallas

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been OVER A YEAR since I last did a “Balls in the Air” post. I started to neglect Fantasy Golf, and when you’re on tour every week, there’s more work (obviously) than sitting at in my apartment behind my computer.

By the way, I started to get the shakes yesterday (Wednesday). It’s the first time this season that I’ve missed TWO CONSECUTIVE Tour stops. I’m sure everyone out there is missing me oh-so-dearly! Don’t worry, I’m fine, I hear the first few days of the shakes are bad, but if I can get through Friday, I’ll be OK. (continue reading…)

Yuck.

Anyone who watched the BBC’s Sunday coverage of the BMW PGA Championship would have been treated to an uncomfortable interview between Ernie Els and the commentary team about the controversial and unpopular course changes the South African has been heavily involved in implementing over the last couple of years. (continue reading…)

Schwartzel: the jacket fits!

With its flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, taking place this week and all four current major champions present, the European Tour doled out awards to Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer on Wednesday in Wentworth, England. (continue reading…)

Competitors of the Ole Seve pro-am

Several top European golfers paid tribute to Seve Ballesteros by playing in a pro-am event to raise money for cancer charities. Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, Graeme McDowell, Retief Goosen, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Ross Fisher were among the competitors in the “Ole Seve” event at Wentworth, the site of this week’s BMW PGA Championship. (continue reading…)