Just when the Travelers Championship appeared to be a three-man race between Sergio Garcia, K.J. Choi, and Aaron Baddeley, Kevin Streelman birdied the final seven holes to win his second PGA Tour tournament. The seven birdie streak broke Mike Souchak’s streak of six birdies to win the 1956 St. Paul Open.
Everyone standing in awe of the crowds, cluster and chaos: It’s only Tuesday (shaking heads)
As I’m sure you’ve heard, keeping it in the fairway is premium for players this week at Merion, especially if they want to be in contention coming down the stretch on Sunday. Precision off the tee is crucial even more so than an average U.S. Open — though even if you look at the stats for recent champs, they ranked poorly in driving accuracy — because the rough isn’t graduated as it has been in the last few years.
So, if you miss the fairway even by an inch, you’re not likely going to reach the green and how far players advance the ball is going to depend on how bad their lie is in the thick, long grass (and if it rains on Thursday as the forecast predicts, then it’s going to be even tougher).
Jason Kokrak, Luke Guthrie, Charlie Wi and Sang-Moon Bae loosen up for the playoff
With darkness closing in during the last minutes of daylight at the U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Columbus, PGA Tour rookie Luke Guthrie stood over a five-footer for birdie on the third playoff hole — more important, a putt to clinch his place in his first major next week at Merion. And, in it went.
In a playoff that started with eleven other Tour pros who shot eight-under gunning for the seven remaining spots, Guthrie secured the 15th and final one on the third extra hole, the par-4 10th at The Lakes Golf & Country Club.
The Masters champ has retained a lawyer but doesn’t plan to sue
The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council (PAC) gathered for an official meeting on Tuesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club to discuss the USGA and R&A’s announcement of their final decision to ban anchored putting under Rule 14-1b. Players, Commissioner Tim Finchem and other officials participated in the 90-minute meeting in person and by phone.
Finchem discussed the series of events that had happened regarding the anchoring issue since their last meeting and then players and officials also weighed in with their opinions on the imminent decree set forth by golf’s governing bodies that will be put in effect on January 1, 2016.
“Yesterday’s (meeting) was just hearing guys on the PAC’s opinion,” said Aaron Baddeley, a member of the PAC, on Wednesday. “(The PAC meeting) was more just to see what Commissioner Finchem was thinking, and what Slugger White and a couple of the other rules guys were thinking.”
Wednesday evening sky
After the thunderstorms finally passed on Wednesday afternoon at Kiawah Island, players scrambled to practice — it’s been difficult because of the multiple weather delays Monday-Wednesday.
I walked the back nine with K.J. Choi, Charlie Wi and Aaron Baddeley (appreciate it, guys!)the best way to get to know a course. I took pictures of all the holes from the tees. I’ve done my best to upload as many as I can in the gallery below, but I’ll put the rest on Flickr and/or Facebook.
I also took a few videos, too. Here’s one of Aaron Baddeley showing Charlie Wi how to hit a wedge out of the deep rough…watch and learn, folks.
The WM Phoenix Open organizers, the Thunderbirds, a charity secret society group, are known for having a great sense of humor (and throwing wild parties). They’ve also had some fun with the parking signs, like in 2010.
Tiger: Thanks for believing in me, Freddie (This is seriously adorable).
USA, USA! Well, the Internationals certainly made an admirable effort, rallying early in the singles to create a much more intriguing final day. But they needed nothing short of a miracle to come back and win nine of the 12 matches to clinch the Presidents Cup for only the second time in history — the only time the Americans have lost was when the event was last held at Royal Melbourne in ’98.
I was wrong about Sunday singles being a snooze fest, so thanks to the International players for forcing the Americans to dig deep to retain the Cup. I was indeed on the edge of my seat the entire flight from Orlando to Newark. It’s late, but a few quick notes/observations (which may or may not make sense at this hour):
Frustration... and some awful trouser-shoe coordination.
Tiger Woods made five bogeys and a measly two birdies during a turbulent third round at The Lakes.
Frustrated by the disappearance of the elegance and control that defined his performance over the first two days, the man formerly known as the greatest athlete on the planet cut an animated figure in post-round interview.
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