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 |  | | August 30th, 2010 | Volume 502 Issue 88 | The Inside Scoop on the World of Golf | |  | One For the Nice Guy
Mr. week-after-week-top-10 Matt Kuchar finally busted through with a big-time victory, winning the Barclays Championship on Sunday over Martin Laird with a birdie on the first playoff hole. After a clutch birdie on the 71st hole, all Laird needed to do was par the 72nd hole to claim his second PGA Tour victory. Instead, Laird 3-putted the last hole from 30-feet, and could only draw a wry smile as Kuchar rolled his approach shot to 3-feet on the first playoff hole, sealing the victory. The title was Kuchar’s third on the PGA Tour, and moves him up to the number ten ranked player in the world. It’s not the Phil vs. Tiger or super young gun victory that the Tour was looking for to kick off this year’s FedEx Cup playoffs, but it’d be hard to think of a Tour player who portrays a better smiley, happy family image than Kuchar. Let’s hope the next three playoff events provide a similar level of excitement. | |
|  | Impressive Victory, Stunning Debut
Peter Uihlein, the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world and Titleist CEO Wally Uihlein’s son, won the U.S. Amateur Championship on Sunday with a 4 + 2 match play victory over Stanford’s David Chung. The win came a day after Peter’s 21st birthday, not a bad birthday present for the Oklahoma St. junior. The tournament was played at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. Just when you thought Whistling Straits was the wildest, closest thing to actually playing in Scotland, along comes Chambers Bay to the national scene. The course was absolutely breathtaking, was brutally difficult, and was conditioned to play just like a true links course- firm and fast. The course can be stretched to a ghastly 7,742 yards from the tips, and the average stroke play score for the two stroke play rounds of the tournament was 79.5. Chambers has already been awarded the 2015 U.S. meaning that year there will seemingly be back-to-back Britishs. What a win for Peter and what a stunning debut for a sure-to-be talked about further Chambers Bay course. |
|  | Elin Woods’ Departure From Golf
With the announcement that the first couple of golf, Tiger and Elin Woods are now officially divorced, Elin will no longer be a part of the game. Her rumored 100 million dollar settlement means she will not need to work again, although she is rumored to be taking classes to be a child psychologist to help kids from divorced families. Good for her. She is taking what was one of the most sensationalized stories in or out of golf and is making something positive. My guess is we will see very little of this private person. Her People Magazine interwanted to mainly emphasize two things: she had no knowledge of Tiger’s shenanigans, and she never struck him. It’s hard to believe the first statement. It was widely known within the golf industry that before Tiger was married that he was a legendary “player”. Regardless, it’s thankfully time to move on. When asked about her settlement, Elin replied, "money can't buy happiness, or put my family back together.” True that. |
|  | Tiger’s Long Way Back
So the Elin chapter is closed for the #1 golfer in the world. To the delight of all strippers and porn stars, Tiger is single. He also is working very hard at putting his game back together. While he still has a long way to go, this week’s performance at the Barclays showed me that it will eventually happen. He may never be the dominating, intimidating factor he once was, but he will win his of tournaments in the years to come, and Jack’s 18 major victories record is still in jeopardy. It will be nice when Tiger’s final round is on Sunday afternoon instead of Sunday morning so we all can watch it. It will also be nice that the story will be on his performance on the course, not on his actions off it. Let the gossip rags follow Lindsay Lohan and leave Tiger to the golf writers. |
|  | The Ryder Cup Anticipation Builds
The anticipation is building for this year’s Ryder Cup. This past week on Twitter, victorious 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger posted on European Ryder Cup member Ian Poulter’s page (Poulter was fielding questions from Twitter followers at the time) a message asking, “Hey..Ianjamespoulter Is it to late to ask a question? I was busy polishing this...” (Zinger posted a pic of him polishing the Ryder Cup trophy). To which Poulter replied, “I'm so glad you're cleaning that Ryder cup trophy, we don't want to lift a dirty one. : )" Great stuff, you just don’t get any kind of rivalry like that any other time of year on the golfing calendar. Also, yesterday Euro captain Colin Montgomerie made his 3 captain’s choices, selecting Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, and Edoardo Molinari to round out this year’s squad. A few eyebrows were definitely raised with the pics, as doing so left two-time 2010 PGA Tour winner Justin Rose and world #9 Paul Casey off the team. The Euros still remain the heavy favorites to win back the Cup, but with a momentum building win by U.S. team member Matt Kuchar and some other recent impressive form by other U.S. players, it’ll make for some exciting action come the first weekend in October. |
|  | Rules Rules Rules
The rules of golf can be cruel and unbending. Ask Dustin Johnson what defines a sand trap, or Julie Inkster what defines a training aid (swinging two clubs at once is OK, throw a donut weight on your club and you are out). Apparently the PGA Tour regulations are just as unbending. Jim Furyk’s cell phone alarm didn’t go off for his 7:30am Barclays Pro-Am tee time, and because he was 5 minutes late according to PGA Tour regulations, he was forbidden from playing in the tournament the next day. Never mind that less than half of the pros were even scheduled to play in the Pro-Am (54 of 125), or that Phil Mickelson got an exemption several years ago when his plane was late. The #4 player in the world might miss out on the $10 million first place prize awarded to the Fed Ex Cup Champion because of a faulty cell phone. This is another example that makes me embarrassed to be associated with golf. Things happen in life, very little is black and white. A sub should have teed off for Furyk and be replaced when he arrived and this whole mess could’ve been avoided. |
|  | Practice Tip
What is the first thing that you see nearly every golfer doing when you pull up to the practice range? Practicing their tempo on 100-yard wedge shots, hitting knock down 6-irons, or rolling in 10-footers on the putting green? No, they’re bashing their drivers mindlessly down the range hopelessly hoping for that one 300-yard drive that they can boast to all of their buddies about. Most likely they’re actually doing more detriment to their game than good. Sure it’s fun to be the long bomber of the group, but when you think about it, you’re hitting your driver a maximum of 14 times per round. Of course tee shots are important, as they put you in position to score. But, what clubs get you to the green? If you do hit that perfect drive, what clubs set you up for a 10-footer for birdie on that 420-yard par 4? Your irons of course! They are the difference between being a bogey golfer and breaking 80. It sounds simple, but this is something that is all-too-often overlooked by most amateurs. So, the next time you set foot on the range, spend 80-90% of your time practicing with your irons and wedges, you’ll be doing both yourself and your game a favor. |
|  | Trivia Question: This past weekend’s Barclays Championship was held at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. The course also hosted the Barclays event in 2008 + the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1974. Who won the U.S. Amateur Championship that year? A) Hal Sutton
B) Craig Stadler
C) Jerry Pate
D) Mark O’Meara
Click Here For the Answer |
| | | | your opinion at: www.davesgolfinsider.com | | | | Visit our site at: www.austads.com | | | | 
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August 30th, 2010
Volume 502 Issue 88
The Inside Scoop on the World of Golf
One For the Nice Guy
Mr. week-after-week-top-10 Matt Kuchar finally busted through with a big-time victory, winning the Barclays Championship on Sunday over Martin Laird with a birdie on the first playoff hole. After a clutch birdie on the 71st hole, all Laird needed to do was par the 72nd hole to claim his second PGA Tour victory. Instead, Laird 3-putted the last hole from 30-feet, and could only draw a wry smile as Kuchar rolled his approach shot to 3-feet on the first playoff hole, sealing the victory. The title was Kuchars third on the PGA Tour, and moves him up to the number ten ranked player in the world. Its not the Phil vs. Tiger or super young gun victory that the Tour was looking for to kick off this years FedEx Cup playoffs, but itd be hard to think of a Tour player who portrays a better smiley, happy family image than Kuchar. Lets hope the next three playoff events provide a similar level of excitement.
Impressive Victory, Stunning Debut
Peter Uihlein, the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world and Titleist CEO Wally Uihleins son, won the U.S. Amateur Championship on Sunday with a 4 + 2 match play victory over Stanfords David Chung. The win came a day after Peters 21st birthday, not a bad birthday present for the Oklahoma St. junior. The tournament was played at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. Just when you thought Whistling Straits was the wildest, closest thing to actually playing in Scotland, along comes Chambers Bay to the national scene. The course was absolutely breathtaking, was brutally difficult, and was conditioned to play just like a true links course- firm and fast. The course can be stretched to a ghastly 7,742 yards from the tips, and the average stroke play score for the two stroke play rounds of the tournament was 79.5. Chambers has already been awarded the 2015 U.S. meaning that year there will seemingly be back-to-back Britishs. What a win for Peter and what a stunning debut for a sure-to-be talked about further Chambers Bay course.
Elin Woods Departure From Golf
With the announcement that the first couple of golf, Tiger and Elin Woods are now officially divorced, Elin will no longer be a part of the game. Her rumored 100 million dollar settlement means she will not need to work again, although she is rumored to be taking classes to be a child psychologist to help kids from divorced families. Good for her. She is taking what was one of the most sensationalized stories in or out of golf and is making something positive. My guess is we will see very little of this private person. Her People Magazine interwanted to mainly emphasize two things: she had no knowledge of Tigers shenanigans, and she never struck him. Its hard to believe the first statement. It was widely known within the golf industry that before Tiger was married that he was a legendary player. Regardless, its thankfully time to move on. When asked about her settlement, Elin replied, money can't buy happiness, or put my family back together. True that.
Tigers Long Way Back
So the Elin chapter is closed for the #1 golfer in the world. To the delight of all strippers and porn stars, Tiger is single. He also is working very hard at putting his game back together. While he still has a long way to go, this weeks performance at the Barclays showed me that it will eventually happen. He may never be the dominating, intimidating factor he once was, but he will win his of tournaments in the years to come, and Jacks 18 major victories record is still in jeopardy. It will be nice when Tigers final round is on Sunday afternoon instead of Sunday morning so we all can watch it. It will also be nice that the story will be on his performance on the course, not on his actions off it. Let the gossip rags follow Lindsay Lohan and leave Tiger to the golf writers.
The Ryder Cup Anticipation Builds
The anticipation is building for this years Ryder Cup. This past week on Twitter, victorious 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger posted on European Ryder Cup member Ian Poulters page (Poulter was fielding questions from Twitter followers at the time) a message asking, Hey..Ianjamespoulter Is it to late to ask a question? I was busy polishing this... (Zinger posted a pic of him polishing the Ryder Cup trophy). To which Poulter replied, I'm so glad you're cleaning that Ryder cup trophy, we don't want to lift a dirty one. : ) Great stuff, you just dont get any kind of rivalry like that any other time of year on the golfing calendar. Also, yesterday Euro captain Colin Montgomerie made his 3 captains choices, selecting Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, and Edoardo Molinari to round out this years squad. A few eyebrows were definitely raised with the pics, as doing so left two-time 2010 PGA Tour winner Justin Rose and world #9 Paul Casey off the team. The Euros still remain the heavy favorites to win back the Cup, but with a momentum building win by U.S. team member Matt Kuchar and some other recent impressive form by other U.S. players, itll make for some exciting action come the first weekend in October.
Rules Rules Rules
The rules of golf can be cruel and unbending. Ask Dustin Johnson what defines a sand trap, or Julie Inkster what defines a training aid (swinging two clubs at once is OK, throw a donut weight on your club and you are out). Apparently the PGA Tour regulations are just as unbending. Jim Furyks cell phone alarm didnt go off for his 7:30am Barclays Pro-Am tee time, and because he was 5 minutes late according to PGA Tour regulations, he was forbidden from playing in the tournament the next day. Never mind that less than half of the pros were even scheduled to play in the Pro-Am (54 of 125), or that Phil Mickelson got an exemption several years ago when his plane was late. The #4 player in the world might miss out on the $10 million first place prize awarded to the Fed Ex Cup Champion because of a faulty cell phone. This is another example that makes me embarrassed to be associated with golf. Things happen in life, very little is black and white. A sub should have teed off for Furyk and be replaced when he arrived and this whole mess couldve been avoided.
Practice Tip
What is the first thing that you see nearly every golfer doing when you pull up to the practice range? Practicing their tempo on 100-yard wedge shots, hitting knock down 6-irons, or rolling in 10-footers on the putting green? No, theyre bashing their drivers mindlessly down the range hopelessly hoping for that one 300-yard drive that they can boast to all of their buddies about. Most likely theyre actually doing more detriment to their game than good. Sure its fun to be the long bomber of the group, but when you think about it, youre hitting your driver a maximum of 14 times per round. Of course tee shots are important, as they put you in position to score. But, what clubs get you to the green? If you do hit that perfect drive, what clubs set you up for a 10-footer for birdie on that 420-yard par 4? Your irons of course! They are the difference between being a bogey golfer and breaking 80. It sounds simple, but this is something that is all-too-often overlooked by most amateurs. So, the next time you set foot on the range, spend 80-90% of your time practicing with your irons and wedges, youll be doing both yourself and your game a favor.
Trivia Question: This past weekends Barclays Championship was held at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. The course also hosted the Barclays event in 2008 + the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1974. Who won the U.S. Amateur Championship that year?
A) Hal Sutton
B) Craig Stadler
C) Jerry Pate
D) Mark OMeara
[URL: ]For the Answer
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