Notah and his little bro

Well, no ones cares about the atmosphere on Wednesday at the Deutsche Bank Championship and other interesting tidbits, aka gossip on the range. like the handful of Americans who have one last week to make a case and impress Team USA captain Davis Love III before he announces his four wildcard picks on Tuesday morning… right?

Okay, that’s what I thought, but in case you do, the short version: pretty chill and most relaxed and friendly I’ve seen it in months, with the exception of the half-dozen guys who are freaking out about making the Ryder Cup. (continue reading…)

Choi shot 65 in the final round at Kapalua to surge up the leaderboard in the top-5

After finishing his practice session last week at Kapalua, K.J. Choi was kind (and patient) enough to take some time and chat with me for a solid half-hour (which to be fair, is more like 15 minutes because my questions and his answers are repeated via his interpreter/manager). Something people don’t know about K.J. (because he looks serious on the golf course) — he has a fantastic sense of humor, often cracking jokes (and yes, in English!). When the interview ended, he joked that we talked for so long he saw the moon rise and move across the tree line. I blamed his interpreter/manager, naturally. (continue reading…)

Eye on the prize

After the Presidents Cup opening ceremony on Wednesday, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem held a press conference with the three South Koreans on the Internationals team: K.J. Choi, K.T. Kim and Y.E. Yang sitting beside him. Finchem announced that South Korea will host the Presidents Cup in 2015 at an undetermined venue, marking the first time the event has been held in Asia and highlighting the golf boom in the region. (continue reading…)

Gonzo: class ball-striker and fan of trickle-down economics.

You may have been led to believe that the class field of the week was hanging out at The Lakes, but no(!), the Singapore Open is the place to be. Or at least it was, until a downpour of biblical proportions disrupted play and forced the cancellation of the scheduled third round. (continue reading…)

Though Justin Rose’s two-shot victory at the BMW Championship was perhaps career-defining, there were a fair number of storylines that may have overshadowed it a bit. As I’ve mentioned, there was a lot more riding on the results of the third leg of the FedExCup playoffs than a paycheck — entry into the Tour Championship, which basically sets players up for the following year, and the Presidents Cup. (continue reading…)

Spiderman just misses the fourth leg!

After missing a four-footer to save par on 18 and before signing his scorecard at Cog Hill, Camilo Villegas headed straight for the computer to check his position. When he saw he was projected just outside the top 30, he pounded his fist down on the table. (continue reading…)

See you later, guys!

When was the last time a US Open ended 15 minutes after the final group teed off? Oh, that’s right, Pebble Beach in 2000 when Tiger blew the field away by ten shots. Well, Rory made a statement right out the gate that this was not going to be a repeat of the Masters two months ago. He birdied the first hole to get to 15-under and then another on the fourth to reach 16-under. Take that, Rory doubters!

Drop by the WSJ live-blog and say hello. (continue reading…)

Tiger Who?

My apologies for forgetting to post the link to the Wall Street Journal live blog of the first round of the US Open at Congressional (here’s the link if you’d like to go back and read some of my commentary from yesterday.). I think I was typing at a rate of 950 words per five minutes! I’m kidding, just a little delirious and running on adrenaline. But what an amazing U.S. Open. Who else is glad they picked Rory McIlroy as their favorite for the week? (continue reading…)

Luuuuuuuuuke: off to a solid start

Scores are already heading skywards at Congressional and par is beginning to look like a very good score indeed. (continue reading…)

Rory Sabbatini has had run-ins with slow play, like the infamous Ben Crane incident in 2005, and other players, including barbs at Tiger Woods, branding Sabbo with the rap as one of golf’s biggest bad guys. Underneath it all, Sabbatini has a good and generous heart — he’s just been misunderstood (that’s just been my take), but last week at the Honda Classic, Sabbatini stayed steady and calm on the way to his one-shot victory over Y.E. Yang. We also discovered he’s encountered several scares that have lent him a new perspective.

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