The main attraction at Brookside Golf & Country Club
The Waiting Game
For those who teed off early and scored well enough to have a chance, the waiting game was torture. Marc Turnesa played in the first group off on No. 10 at Brookside. He came in the clubhouse — rather patio — at eight-under, only to spend nearly three hours wondering if it was good enough to secure one of the 16 available spots.
Italian trio of Edoardo & Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero attempt to skip balls across the water last year
It’s become a Masters lure for players to try and skip balls across the pond on the par-3 16th and onto the green during the Monday and Tuesday practice rounds at Augusta National. “It’s turned into a tradition, you can’t get away with not skipping it,” said Justin Rose at Bay Hill. “The crowd boos you if you don’t.”
During the last few weeks of the Florida swing, I asked around ten players to reveal how close they’ve knocked it to the pin — if they even made it across the water, of course. It’s harder than you may think!
Steve Marino knows what it’s like to finish runner-up. For the fourth time in his career and the second this season, Marino came up just short of his first victory on the PGA Tour, suffering a one-shot loss to Martin Laird at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
This one at Bay Hill might hurt a little more. He lost three strokes on plugged lies in bunkers on No. 15 and No. 17. And to win a golf tournament, you need the right breaks at the right time.
Steve Marino has already played in the final group twice — at the Sony Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am — on Sunday in 2011, but he’s yet to hoist a trophy. He’s certainly put himself in position enough times, and this week at Bay Hill, he’s done it again, posting a five-under 67 to move up the leaderboard with a 36-hole total of six-under, tied for fourth.
You may not know much about the guy who holds the biggest first-round lead of the year after managing to shoot a six-under 66 at Bay Hill, but Spencer Levin is one of the most well-liked guys on the PGA Tour. Last year at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic, where players can call in ahead of time to request their pairing, no one else was in more demand than Spencer.
“I don’t know, I guess people like playing with me,” he said, laughing. “That wouldn’t have been the case when I was 18.”
Last Friday after the second round of the Honda Classic, Steve Marino hosted the first-ever Steve Marino Ping Pong Invitational, which was live-streamed on TourPlayers.com (if you missed it, you can go there to check out the full two hours and/or clips), at his home in Tequesta, Florida. Steve invited a group of his friends, including PGA Tour players Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Will Mackenzie, Spencer Levin and Cameron Tringale. The mayor of Tequesta even popped by to say hello and kick off the festivities!
The inaugural TourPlayers.com Beer Pong Ping Pong Championship, hosted at Steve Marino’s home, will take place on Friday night. The tourney will be live-streamed at TourPlayers.com from 8pm-10pm ET. Confirmed attendees include Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, among others. Former Golf Channel broadcaster Mike Ritz will call the tournament and esteemed broadcaster Bob Bubka will do the color. Yours truly will carry out the live-blogging and/or live-tweeting of the festivities.
Steve is feeling pretty good about his chances since he has home-court advantage. Take a gander at his moves in the video after the jump:
Mark Wilson celebrates on the 18th green at Waialae
Sometimes the short guys win. By short, I mean short-hitting — not that all PGA Tour pros don’t hit it a long ways, but relative to the bombers. Waialae Country Club favors target golf and accuracy over power and distance. Mark Wilson endured the 36-hole Sunday, firing scores of 65-67 to win the Sony Open by two shots over Tim Clark.
In the beginning of the week, a wise man told me that the decision to walk Pebble Beach, especially the holes out toward the 10th, was a “commitment.” I found out what he meant on Friday — when I didn’t return to the media center until six and a half hours later.
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