Golf Empire

Well, looks like Phil’s found his groove again on Saturday at Riviera; he’s swinging really well, he’s “quieted his legs” as they say (after a visit yesterday from Coach Butch), and he got a whole bunch of birdies. He closed with a 62 (the course record is 61) and is leading again, by 4 strokes, at 16 under. It’s been a great day for the Pac-10, with Phil and Rory Sabbatini (Arizona), and Scott McCarron (UCLA); too bad Pat Perez (Arizona State) faded today (+4 through 14). It’s also wonderful to see Freddie Couples alive again, shooting 65 to get to 11 under. I suppose Phil wanted to make a statement to Tiger that he’s not going to roll over and die, at least not until they’re face to face!

What is it with the guy who’s always yelling “go in the hole!”? Is it the same guy or is it a franchise? Today he was yelling something different, I couldn’t quite make it out; at least he’s expanding his repertoire. They should shoot the guy. Or maybe they should grab him, put him on a plane, get him drunk, and turn him loose in a subway station in New York. Maybe he’ll fall off the platform, get his leg cut off, the jury will give him 2 million dollars and we’ll never hear from him again.

Meanwhile, in Perth, Australia, both Anthonys got fried by the 104 degree temperature: Kang’s at 5 under after his 77 and Kim is tied for 46th place after his 75. Ross McGowan, a 26 year old from England is looking for his first European Tour win, tied for first place at 14 under 202 with fellow Englishman John Bickerton.

I’ll be traveling tomorrow, leaving in the morning for Toronto where I expect the weather not to be Perth-like. Looks like subfreezing highs with snow. At least I have a job, at least I have a job, at least I have a job . . .!!!

We were down in New Brunswick earlier today and got a peek (from inside a bus) at the golf Course at Rutgers. It was freezing, the wind was howling, and the greens were brown. It looked like a nice course; hope to have an opportunity to play it when the weather becomes fit for human habitation. Got home, turned on the TV, found the Golf Channel, and saw blue skies and people wearing shorts: second round play at Riviera. Pacific Palisades or New Brunswick . . . Hmmm. At times like this, I find it helps to chant my new mantra: “at least I’ve got a job, at least I’ve got a job, at least I’ve got a job . . .”

After a cool 63 on his first round, Phil put up a +1 73 to end the day tied for 5th, a stroke off the leaders. Tied with three others for the lead at -8 was Scott McCarron (with a couple of more holes to play). Guess it helps to have gone to UCLA, just down Sunset Boulevard from Riviera, the home course for the Bruins. All the media attention notwithstanding, Ryo Ishikawa was overshadowed by the other PGA Tour first-timer, Vincent Johnson. What a great story: he learned to play when his dad got a job as a mechanic at a public course near Portland, Oregon. He won a whole bunch of junior events and went on to become a star golfer at Oregon State. He’s playing at Riviera on the first Charlie Sifford Exemption (Charlie Sifford was the first African American to become a PGA member in 1961) and hanging in there, although it doesn’t look like either rookie will make the cut for weekend play. Johnson looked real good to me; hope we see a lot more of him in the future. I’m not going to bore you with my Phil-bashing but I’ve got to wonder what was going through his head when, after throwing up that cute 63 yesterday, he came back to the clubhouse to hear everyone talking about Tiger’s announcement that he’s back on the Tour next week. It almost makes me sympathetic, the operative word being “almost”!

Down Under, at the Johnnie Walker Cup in Perth, a couple of American Anthonys were doing well: Anthony Kang was tied for the lead and Anthony Kim was 2 strokes back.

Looks like another weekend of great golf on the tube!

Well, play’s almost over for the first round of the Northern Trust Open. You know what, I’m getting tired of having to call the LA Open the Northern Trust Open. Who or what is Northern Trust anyway? It’s probably one of those failing institutions that’s using our tax dollars to be bailed out so they can force their name on a time honored institution, the Los Angeles Open. I’m going to call it that from now on; if you don’t agree, you can express your opinion here! Where was I? Oh yes, the first round. I’m feeling kind of crabby for a couple of reasons. First, in the lead with an opening round of 63 (his best ever in SoCal) is my not-favorite golfer Phil Mickelson. I don’t know what it is about Phil; I can’t quite put my finger on it but somehow he irritates me. I can’t explain it exactly. Anyway, he’s in the lead. The 17 year old from Japan, Ryo Ishikawa hung in there despite some horrible putting and finished at 2 over 73, tied for 117th place. He’ll have putt a little better tomorrow if he wants to be around for the weekend. Everyone’s talking today about Tiger’s announcement that he’s coming back next week to play at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. That’s a mouthful and another example of the kind of indignity we golf fans have to endure. It was bad enough when we were forced to say “Accenture” in the same breath as “Tiger Woods”, now we have to add WGC to it. What the hell is WGC? I know Accenture is some kind of a management consulting company (if I remember correctly, and I probably don’t, Accenture was the name some accounting firm gave their management consulting arm after going through some kind of a scandal over malfeasance and wanted to divorce their name from the other arms of the octopus that they are). It’ll be good to see some fear in the eyes of all the other golfers when Tiger returns. Maybe that’s it about Phil: he just doesn’t seem to instill fear in anyone because you never know when he’ll choke. I’ll tell you what though, I love Tiger but I’ve already seen enough pictures of his new baby to last me a lifetime, and I think most golf fans would agree with me.

Where was I? Oh yes, the second reason I’m feeling kind of crabby. This is kind of a New York thing and has absolutely nothing to do with golf but recently we had an idiot jury in NY award 2 million dollars to some jerk who got drunk and fell off a subway platform onto the path of, guess what, an oncoming subway car. Cut off one of his legs. I feel sorry for the dude but come on, 2 million dollars contributed by hard working subway riders to some drunk just isn’t right. What do you think?

Tomorrow’s another day and maybe I’ll feel better. I certainly would if either Jim Furyk (3 strokes behind at 66) or Fred Couples (4 under par 67) continue their great play!

The PGA Tour comes to Southern California this week as the Northern Trust Open begins on Thursday at the Riviera Country Club. It’s located in a beautiful setting in the Santa Monica mountains in Pacific Palisades, a suburb of LA. The weather looks like it will be cooperative, unlike last week at Pebble Beach. This tournament has also been called the Nissan Open and the Los Angeles Open. Riviera CC is one of the most famous courses in the world and is most closely associated with the great Ben Hogan who won the tournament three times in the 40′s, resulting in the course earning the nickname Hogan’s Alley. The Champions list at Riviera reads like a who’s who of golf: Hogan, Snead, Nelson, Watson, Miller, Crenshaw, Couples, Faldo, Love, Pavin, Els, Mickelson and others. Notably missing from this list is Tiger Woods who, despite being from Cypress, not far from LA, hasn’t had a whole lot of success in LA. The best he’s ever done was 1998, when, due to scheduling conflicts (the members of the Riviera CC only allow one tournament to be held on their course per year; that year, the Senior US Open was to be held there) the LA Open was held at a nearby course, Valencia CC. Tiger came in second despite shooting 65-67 on the weekend, losing to Billy Mayfair in a playoff. This was also Tiger’s only playoff loss of his career (10-1 through 2008).

This year, there’s another young golfer who’s been the talk of the town, Ryo Ishikawa, the 17 year old Japanese Tour phenom. There’s been a whole lot of press about him and it’ll be interesting to see how he holds up under the incredible amount of pressure he’s under. His hero is Tiger Woods, naturally, but I’m sure he’s hoping he has a better showing in LA than his hero has had!

Well, I just found out that the tournament has been discontinued due to the continuing bad weather. Too bad for us fans; great for the leader, Justin Johnson, who won without having to swing his club again. Next up is the Northern Trust Open, later this week at Riviera CC, another gorgeous California course. Hopefully, the weather in SoCal will be more cooperative and we’ll be able to enjoy the full tournament!