Great first week. Had some tremendous moments, like Phil trying the over the head shot and just barely missing it, and as usual Bubba nearly leaving the ground on every tee ball. But Jason Day, that guy right now is the best player in the world. He's got that look in his eye. Came within an eyelash of winning both Opens, then won the PGA, the Canadian Open and now the first leg of the playoffs with another dominant closing performance...62 are you kidding me? Spieth, Rory...pfsst. Give me Day.
terry, My neighbor is playing like there is no tomorrow! :lol: Tremendous performance in the last two tournaments
Well it's back to East Lake for the Championship. A poser on my InsideTexas board played there this past summer. PGATour.com's power rankings for the event: Jason Day Rory McIlroy Rickie Fowler Jordan Spieth Justin Rose Hideki Matsuyama Henrik Stenson Dustin Johnson Paul Casey Bubba Watson I wonder if Day, Fowler and Spieth will be paired again, it seems like they have been putting them together the whole playoff run.
The way it's set up if one of the top 5 (Day, Spieth, Fowler, Stenson, Watson) wins he's champ. If the winner is from outside that group, Day has a good chance of winning it all.
Here's what is refreshing about Jordan, besides his youth and humbleness. He's brought back the emphasis on the scoring area's of your game, not the bomb and gouge that we've recently become enamoured with in golf. From SI Golf I have no idea what the players typically pay the caddy, I've always assumed there was some min fee, plus a % if the player wins. But Jordan's Caddy is doing pretty well this year.
So I note a change in attitude among men here at The Villages. I think they used to want to be as active as rabbits. Now they all want to putt like Spieth.
You know gip, that really was the strength of Tiger's game and what drove his success. Sure when he came up he hit it a mile and he was so strong he could hit it a mile even from the rough. But he won so much because he was a great putter...till his ex took a 7 iron to him..since then the worst of his problems is that he's average at best as a putter.
Gip's take on Tiger 1. His biggest asset in his early years was his length. He could hit every par 5 in 2 so a standard par 72 course for him was actually 68. If he shot his par for 4 rounds he'd be 16 under par at the end of the tournament. 2. As players began to hit it longer and close the game Tiger's putting and success "intimidated" the field. In a game that requires so much concentration "in the now" they let his presence disrupt their concentration. 3. Tiger's putting problems today are probably related to his eyesight. Before the 2000 season he had lasik surgery. He had his greatest season winning the US Open by 15 strokes and he won the last 3 Majors that year completing the Tiger Slam the following Masters. His vision has been deteriorating over the past few years to the point that he's had to undergo a second surgery. 4 Of course the vision and putting are not his only problems. First he had to change his swing after fracturing his knee with his original swing. Then after coming back and winning 5 tournaments in 2013 he started developing back problems. (Quite possibly because he was using a swing to protect his knee.) He's now using a swing dictated by his physical problems. He has no length advantage and in fact he may be overswinging trying to recapture an edge. And that's my take.
OK so it's not the Fedex Cup. But my nephew Matt won the Greater Houston Mens City Amateur yesterday. He was a wire to wire winner and beat last years champion head to head over the final 36 holes on Sunday. He also beat Cole Hammer the 15 y/o kid who played in the U.S.Open last summer. He played with Cole the first 2 days and they were tied for the lead after the first round but after that Matt took the solo lead and never was out of the lead. Played very steady in beautiful weather. He also had a good tournmanent at the Crump Cup played at Pine Valley back in Sept. He didn't make the cut for the Championship Match Play but he did play in the next flight and made it all the way to the Championship of that, lost after going 21 holes. He said the course was amazing, the event was amazing and he hoped he'd get invited back again. Below is the write up from today's chronicle. Van Zandt wins Greater Houston Men's Amateur Championship By Richard Dean October 4, 2015Van Zandt wins Greater Houston Men's Amateur Championship By Richard DeanOctober 4, 2015 Matt Van Zandt's stead-iness served him well as he did not shoot lower than 69 or higher than 72 in the four rounds. Photo: Juan DeLeon / Houston Chronicle Photo: Juan DeLeon Matt Van Zandt won a high school state golf championship at Elkins. He was a member of Texas A&M's 2009 national championship team. Last year, he won the Carlton Woods Invitational. After several years of knocking on the door, Van Zandt can add winning the Greater Houston Men's Amateur Championship to his résumé. Over three days and four rounds at Memorial Park Golf Course, Van Zandt shot a 2-under-par 282 to win by two over last year's champion, John Hunter. "I would rank this higher than (Carlton Woods)," said Van Zandt, who birdied holes 15 and 16 to go up by four over Hunter, his playing partner. "Carlton Woods is an unbelievable facility, unbelievable field. But there's just so much history around this event. I'm just super thankful. "Some of my great mentors have won this tournament as well. To have your name on a trophy like that is awesome." Those mentors include Buzz Baker, who lost a 2007 playoff here and who caddied for Van Zandt during Sunday's final 36 holes, and 2006 winner Seth Thornton. Van Zandt, who doesn't play much recreational golf, did not three-putt a green throughout the weekend. The Houstonian had rounds of 69-72-70-71. Hunter, who won by nine last year, shot 72-69-72-71. "My game was a little bit off this weekend, but I can't complain," Hunter said. "I did some things that surprised me. By in large, I would say it was a successful defense." David Lee was third at 285. The top 10 finishers earn exemptions into the 2016 event. Cole Hammer, 16, who played in this year's U.S. Open, shared sixth at 8-over.
Terry, Your nephew sounds like quite successful young man on the golf course. Congratulation to him as well.