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Valspar Corporation has agreed to serve as title sponsor for the PGA Tour's annual stop in Tampa Bay for the next four years, the Tour announced Friday.
Known as the Tampa Bay Championship this year when Kevin Streelman emerged victorious at Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course, the event will now be known as the Valspar Championship for the duration of the agreement, which runs through 2017.
"Valspar is pleased to become title sponsor of a classic tournament that will provide a unique platform to connect our brand with the PGA Tour," announced Valspar chairman and CEO Gary Hendrickson.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Valspar is a global provider of paint and industrial coatings, and as part of the agreement also becomes the official paint supplier of both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.
The announcement ends speculation about the tournament's future, as until this week it remained the only PGA Tour event without a title sponsor lined up for the 2013-14 season. Reports indicate that the Tour was prepared to move the Puerto Rico Open from its current position opposite the WGC-Cadillac Championship into the week currently occupied by the Tampa event if organizers were unable to secure a title sponsor for 2014.
The agreement also serves as the latest chapter in the event's short but complicated sponsorship history, as Valspar becomes the tournament's fourth different title sponsor since 2003. The event began in 2000 and, in addition to being cancelled in 2001 due to the September 11 attacks, has been played without a title sponsor three times: as the Tampa Bay Classic in 2000, as the Tampa Bay Classic presented by Buick in 2002 and as the Tampa Bay Championship presented by EverBank this past March.
Chrysler served as title sponsor from 2003-2006 when the event preceded the Tour Championship in the fall, while PODS sponsored the event in 2007-2008 when it moved to its current March date with the advent of the FedEx Cup schedule. Transitions began sponsoring the event in 2009, an agreement that ended following the 2012 edition of the tournament.
Valspar Named Tampa Bay Title Sponsor Through 2017 | Golf Channel
Known as the Tampa Bay Championship this year when Kevin Streelman emerged victorious at Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course, the event will now be known as the Valspar Championship for the duration of the agreement, which runs through 2017.
"Valspar is pleased to become title sponsor of a classic tournament that will provide a unique platform to connect our brand with the PGA Tour," announced Valspar chairman and CEO Gary Hendrickson.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Valspar is a global provider of paint and industrial coatings, and as part of the agreement also becomes the official paint supplier of both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.
The announcement ends speculation about the tournament's future, as until this week it remained the only PGA Tour event without a title sponsor lined up for the 2013-14 season. Reports indicate that the Tour was prepared to move the Puerto Rico Open from its current position opposite the WGC-Cadillac Championship into the week currently occupied by the Tampa event if organizers were unable to secure a title sponsor for 2014.
The agreement also serves as the latest chapter in the event's short but complicated sponsorship history, as Valspar becomes the tournament's fourth different title sponsor since 2003. The event began in 2000 and, in addition to being cancelled in 2001 due to the September 11 attacks, has been played without a title sponsor three times: as the Tampa Bay Classic in 2000, as the Tampa Bay Classic presented by Buick in 2002 and as the Tampa Bay Championship presented by EverBank this past March.
Chrysler served as title sponsor from 2003-2006 when the event preceded the Tour Championship in the fall, while PODS sponsored the event in 2007-2008 when it moved to its current March date with the advent of the FedEx Cup schedule. Transitions began sponsoring the event in 2009, an agreement that ended following the 2012 edition of the tournament.
Valspar Named Tampa Bay Title Sponsor Through 2017 | Golf Channel
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Bernhard Langer shot a 5-under 67 in windy and rainy conditions Saturday to open a three-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s Montreal Championship.
Langer had five birdies in a bogey-free second round to reach 6 under on La Vallee du Richelieu’s Rouville Course. The two-time Masters champion has two victories this year and 18 overall on the 50-and-over tour. "I hit a lot of fairways, which helps me control my distance with my irons," said Langer, from Germany. "It’s a lot easier from the fairway than from the rough. I putted pretty nicely, too. I had a lot of speed on my putts, gave myself a lot of chances with the putts. I was a bit unlucky on some occasions but overall I was very pleased."
Kenny Perry, the Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open winner in consecutive tour starts this summer, was 3 under along with Willie Wood, Chien Soon Lu, Bill Glasson and Anders Forsbrand. Perry had a 71.
"I made 10 pars starting from 10 through 18 so I really never could get anything going," Perry said. "It was pretty blustery out there, tough conditions. Bernhard played a beautiful round of golf to shoot a 67. I couldn’t make it happen today, but I’m still in the golf tournament. ... If he (Langer) shoots even par and I shoot 4 under I’ll win the golf tournament. So he needs to play a good round of golf and I need to play a great round of golf."
Wood and Lu shot 68, and Glasson and Forsbrand shot 69.
Rocco Mediate, coming off a blowout victory Sunday in Calgary, Alberta, followed his opening 75 with a 68 to get to 1 under. Last week, he shot 63-64-64 for a seven-stroke victory.
Mark Calcavecchia, the winner last year on the adjacent Vercheres layout, was 2 over after a 72. He missed the tour’s previous two events because of back problems.
Golf
Langer had five birdies in a bogey-free second round to reach 6 under on La Vallee du Richelieu’s Rouville Course. The two-time Masters champion has two victories this year and 18 overall on the 50-and-over tour. "I hit a lot of fairways, which helps me control my distance with my irons," said Langer, from Germany. "It’s a lot easier from the fairway than from the rough. I putted pretty nicely, too. I had a lot of speed on my putts, gave myself a lot of chances with the putts. I was a bit unlucky on some occasions but overall I was very pleased."
Kenny Perry, the Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open winner in consecutive tour starts this summer, was 3 under along with Willie Wood, Chien Soon Lu, Bill Glasson and Anders Forsbrand. Perry had a 71.
"I made 10 pars starting from 10 through 18 so I really never could get anything going," Perry said. "It was pretty blustery out there, tough conditions. Bernhard played a beautiful round of golf to shoot a 67. I couldn’t make it happen today, but I’m still in the golf tournament. ... If he (Langer) shoots even par and I shoot 4 under I’ll win the golf tournament. So he needs to play a good round of golf and I need to play a great round of golf."
Wood and Lu shot 68, and Glasson and Forsbrand shot 69.
Rocco Mediate, coming off a blowout victory Sunday in Calgary, Alberta, followed his opening 75 with a 68 to get to 1 under. Last week, he shot 63-64-64 for a seven-stroke victory.
Mark Calcavecchia, the winner last year on the adjacent Vercheres layout, was 2 over after a 72. He missed the tour’s previous two events because of back problems.
Golf
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William C. Campbell, a champion of golf’s amateur era who later led his sport’s two most prestigious governing organizations, died on Aug. 30 at his home in Lewisburg, W.Va. He was 90. His death was confirmed by his son, Colin.
Campbell was president of the United States Golf Association in 1982 and 1983. In 1987, he was named captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, in Scotland. He was the first to have led both organizations.
In an era when elite golfers were increasingly turning professional, Campbell won scores of tournaments as an amateur, including the United States Amateur championship in 1964, when he was 41. He competed as an amateur in 18 Masters and 15 United States Opens and won the United States Senior Amateur championship in 1979 and 1980.
He was an accomplished professional, too, though not in golf. Throughout his playing career, he ran an insurance company in his hometown, Huntington, W.Va., a few blocks from the house where he was born. From 1949 to 1951, he served in the West Virginia Legislature. He lost a bid for Congress as a Democrat in 1952.
His career spanned golf’s modern history. He knew Bobby Jones and played often with other greats. In 1951, he competed against Sam Snead in a long-drive contest on the Wednesday before the Masters. Campbell won with a 328-yard drive — 3 yards longer than Snead’s.
“How’d you do that?” Snead, who was a friend and was 11 years older, asked him later, according to an account Campbell wrote for Sports Illustrated in 2008.
“Easy, Sam,” Campbell recalled answering. “I used one of your drivers.”
The next year, Campbell was playing in the Colonial Invitational in a group that included Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret. Campbell struggled on the first three holes and later admitted feeling self-conscious about his amateur status.
“On the fourth hole,” he recalled, “Ben put his arm around me and said, ‘Bill, you have as much right to be out here as Jimmy or myself.’ ” Hogan went on to win the tournament; Campbell finished first among amateurs.
William Cammack Campbell was born on May 5, 1923, in Huntington. His father, Rolla, was a lawyer, and his mother, Ruth, was active in prison reform and other social causes.
Rolla Campbell played golf casually, but his son, who often tagged along, showed striking talent as a boy and soon began competing in amateur events. He graduated from Princeton University in 1947, his college years interrupted by service in the Army during World War II.
In addition to his son, his survivors include his wife of 59 years, the former Joan Bradford; his daughter, Victoria Collins; three stepdaughters, Diana Cole, Patricia Amenta and Christiane Friedman; a stepson, Bradford Dourif; 15 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.
Campbell was a standout in the Walker Cup, the biannual competition in which the United States competes against a team from Britain and Ireland. In eight matches over 16 years, he was never on a losing team. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.
Even as he traveled the world playing golf and became a powerful leader in the sport, he continued to run his insurance firm from a modest office in his hometown.
“Years ago, most of us could never become pro or else we would have starved to death,” Campbell told The New York Times in 1985. “Most of us were heroes for a time and then we went on. Today you have to be sure of your ability because there is more competition, but even if you don’t make a hit, you’ll still make money.”
www-nytimes-com/2013/09/09/sports/golf/william-c-campbell-a-leader-in-golf-dies-at-90-html
Campbell was president of the United States Golf Association in 1982 and 1983. In 1987, he was named captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, in Scotland. He was the first to have led both organizations.
In an era when elite golfers were increasingly turning professional, Campbell won scores of tournaments as an amateur, including the United States Amateur championship in 1964, when he was 41. He competed as an amateur in 18 Masters and 15 United States Opens and won the United States Senior Amateur championship in 1979 and 1980.
He was an accomplished professional, too, though not in golf. Throughout his playing career, he ran an insurance company in his hometown, Huntington, W.Va., a few blocks from the house where he was born. From 1949 to 1951, he served in the West Virginia Legislature. He lost a bid for Congress as a Democrat in 1952.
His career spanned golf’s modern history. He knew Bobby Jones and played often with other greats. In 1951, he competed against Sam Snead in a long-drive contest on the Wednesday before the Masters. Campbell won with a 328-yard drive — 3 yards longer than Snead’s.
“How’d you do that?” Snead, who was a friend and was 11 years older, asked him later, according to an account Campbell wrote for Sports Illustrated in 2008.
“Easy, Sam,” Campbell recalled answering. “I used one of your drivers.”
The next year, Campbell was playing in the Colonial Invitational in a group that included Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret. Campbell struggled on the first three holes and later admitted feeling self-conscious about his amateur status.
“On the fourth hole,” he recalled, “Ben put his arm around me and said, ‘Bill, you have as much right to be out here as Jimmy or myself.’ ” Hogan went on to win the tournament; Campbell finished first among amateurs.
William Cammack Campbell was born on May 5, 1923, in Huntington. His father, Rolla, was a lawyer, and his mother, Ruth, was active in prison reform and other social causes.
Rolla Campbell played golf casually, but his son, who often tagged along, showed striking talent as a boy and soon began competing in amateur events. He graduated from Princeton University in 1947, his college years interrupted by service in the Army during World War II.
In addition to his son, his survivors include his wife of 59 years, the former Joan Bradford; his daughter, Victoria Collins; three stepdaughters, Diana Cole, Patricia Amenta and Christiane Friedman; a stepson, Bradford Dourif; 15 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.
Campbell was a standout in the Walker Cup, the biannual competition in which the United States competes against a team from Britain and Ireland. In eight matches over 16 years, he was never on a losing team. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.
Even as he traveled the world playing golf and became a powerful leader in the sport, he continued to run his insurance firm from a modest office in his hometown.
“Years ago, most of us could never become pro or else we would have starved to death,” Campbell told The New York Times in 1985. “Most of us were heroes for a time and then we went on. Today you have to be sure of your ability because there is more competition, but even if you don’t make a hit, you’ll still make money.”
www-nytimes-com/2013/09/09/sports/golf/william-c-campbell-a-leader-in-golf-dies-at-90-html
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2006/12/07
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Swing thoughts, lip outs and even a bad bounce are annoying problems on the golf course, but nothing compares to what a Long Island resident encountered while golfing in Cancun, Mexico.
50-year-old Edward Lunger was playing the Iberostar Cancun Golf Club when an errant golf shot forced him to climb into a bunker. The bunker had some unusual yellow hazard tape, but without a sign Lunger just figured it was the markings of a hazard and went into the bunker anyway.
The next thing that happened will put the fear in any golfer attempting to hit a shot near water in the future.
Lunger said a female crocodile jumped out of the brush and attacked him, biting down on his left arm, dragging him to the sand while Lunger squirmed free. His playing partner and friend Mark Martin jumped to action, picking up a 40 pound boulder and slamming the female crocodile in the head with the rock, freeing his friend but not after some serious injury.
Via the New York Post report ...
“I’m thinking my whole hand is off,” Lunger recalled. “I couldn’t feel my hand. It was like my whole body was on fire.”
Paramedics took Lunger to a private hospital where, he claims, he was forced to pay the $17,800 bill up front before he could get treatment. The men, and two other friends, split the tab on their credit cards.
Lunger lost his middle finger and a lot of his ring finger and because the resort failed to put up warning signs of reptiles in the area, is suing the resort for $2.25 million in damages.
The craziest part about this whole story? The resort apparently asked Lunger to sign papers keeping the Iberostar resort safe from a lawsuit and when he refused, spread a rumor that the two men actually provoked the crocodile with chicken. Chicken!
Lunger said this was far from the truth, and plans to get as much as he can for this traumatic experience.
Y! SPORTS
50-year-old Edward Lunger was playing the Iberostar Cancun Golf Club when an errant golf shot forced him to climb into a bunker. The bunker had some unusual yellow hazard tape, but without a sign Lunger just figured it was the markings of a hazard and went into the bunker anyway.
The next thing that happened will put the fear in any golfer attempting to hit a shot near water in the future.
Lunger said a female crocodile jumped out of the brush and attacked him, biting down on his left arm, dragging him to the sand while Lunger squirmed free. His playing partner and friend Mark Martin jumped to action, picking up a 40 pound boulder and slamming the female crocodile in the head with the rock, freeing his friend but not after some serious injury.
Via the New York Post report ...
“I’m thinking my whole hand is off,” Lunger recalled. “I couldn’t feel my hand. It was like my whole body was on fire.”
Paramedics took Lunger to a private hospital where, he claims, he was forced to pay the $17,800 bill up front before he could get treatment. The men, and two other friends, split the tab on their credit cards.
Lunger lost his middle finger and a lot of his ring finger and because the resort failed to put up warning signs of reptiles in the area, is suing the resort for $2.25 million in damages.
The craziest part about this whole story? The resort apparently asked Lunger to sign papers keeping the Iberostar resort safe from a lawsuit and when he refused, spread a rumor that the two men actually provoked the crocodile with chicken. Chicken!
Lunger said this was far from the truth, and plans to get as much as he can for this traumatic experience.
Y! SPORTS
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Mayor Gary McNamara and council sparred Tuesday over his use of town resources to organize his charity golf tournament.
McNamara said not “one penny” of taxpayer money supported his personal project despite his use of the town’s logo, email, mailing address, computer and staff to organize the event.
This year’s golf tournament will be Monday at the Beach Grove Golf and Country Club to benefit the St. Clair College SportsPlex.
The mayor’s golf tournament is not a registered charity and doesn’t issue tax receipts or file accounting reports with the Canada Revenue Agency. McNamara said staff comes in on weekends and evenings to help organize his golf tournament — the rest of the labour is provided by the recipient charity. “Absolutely no tax dollars (were) used. None. Everything is paid by the event,” he said.
Coun. Tania Jobin, who was co-chair of the Cornfest, said it was hard finding local sponsors for the four-day town festival this summer because most businesses she spoke with said they were already sponsoring a town event, the mayor’s golf tournament.
In the past four years, Jobin said, council has asked for information about the golf tournament and not received it. McNamara said that wasn’t true and that he has provided council with many reports about his golf tournament activities.
McNamara said he did not solicit any sponsors for the golf tournament and instead that work was done by the recipient charity. In the past four years the town finance department handled the accounting and wrote the checks to the recipient charities. This year McNamara said he has a committee and three members have to sign cheques. No one will be receiving a charitable tax receipt from St. Clair College for any donations, he said.
While councillors said the golf tournament has been a town event since its inception in 2009 and they had no input over where the money was donated, McNamara insisted Tuesday the event has never been a town-sponsored event. Last year council severed its ties with the golf event, and councillors said they were surprised to learn last week that the mayor was using the town logo and other town resources.
Councillors said they didn’t doubt McNamara’s commitment to the town, but urged the mayor to stop using municipal resources to clear up the perception that it is a town event. They also prodded him to be more transparent.
“If every penny is accounted and it’s not a town event, how are you accountable?” Deputy Mayor Cheryl Hardcastle said. “I’m trying to sympathize with your situation. I know how honourable your event is…. You are a champion of causes; shouldn’t they issue tax receipts? You say no. So how are you accountable? This is the era we are in. This is reality.”
McNamara said every charity that has received donations from the golf event can show where the money has been spent. Coun. Rita Ossington defended the mayor, saying many charitable events don’t give out tax receipts.
At the request of a councilor, a staff memo issued Tuesday shows the golf tournament has raised $114,000 since 2009 for charities like Tecumseh Minor Hockey, Tecumseh Goodfellows, the town of Goderich after its tornado disaster, International Dragon Boat Festival For the Cure, St. Vincent De Paul Society and the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County.
Tecumseh mayor McNamara defends his golf tournament activities | Windsor Star
McNamara said not “one penny” of taxpayer money supported his personal project despite his use of the town’s logo, email, mailing address, computer and staff to organize the event.
This year’s golf tournament will be Monday at the Beach Grove Golf and Country Club to benefit the St. Clair College SportsPlex.
The mayor’s golf tournament is not a registered charity and doesn’t issue tax receipts or file accounting reports with the Canada Revenue Agency. McNamara said staff comes in on weekends and evenings to help organize his golf tournament — the rest of the labour is provided by the recipient charity. “Absolutely no tax dollars (were) used. None. Everything is paid by the event,” he said.
Coun. Tania Jobin, who was co-chair of the Cornfest, said it was hard finding local sponsors for the four-day town festival this summer because most businesses she spoke with said they were already sponsoring a town event, the mayor’s golf tournament.
In the past four years, Jobin said, council has asked for information about the golf tournament and not received it. McNamara said that wasn’t true and that he has provided council with many reports about his golf tournament activities.
McNamara said he did not solicit any sponsors for the golf tournament and instead that work was done by the recipient charity. In the past four years the town finance department handled the accounting and wrote the checks to the recipient charities. This year McNamara said he has a committee and three members have to sign cheques. No one will be receiving a charitable tax receipt from St. Clair College for any donations, he said.
While councillors said the golf tournament has been a town event since its inception in 2009 and they had no input over where the money was donated, McNamara insisted Tuesday the event has never been a town-sponsored event. Last year council severed its ties with the golf event, and councillors said they were surprised to learn last week that the mayor was using the town logo and other town resources.
Councillors said they didn’t doubt McNamara’s commitment to the town, but urged the mayor to stop using municipal resources to clear up the perception that it is a town event. They also prodded him to be more transparent.
“If every penny is accounted and it’s not a town event, how are you accountable?” Deputy Mayor Cheryl Hardcastle said. “I’m trying to sympathize with your situation. I know how honourable your event is…. You are a champion of causes; shouldn’t they issue tax receipts? You say no. So how are you accountable? This is the era we are in. This is reality.”
McNamara said every charity that has received donations from the golf event can show where the money has been spent. Coun. Rita Ossington defended the mayor, saying many charitable events don’t give out tax receipts.
At the request of a councilor, a staff memo issued Tuesday shows the golf tournament has raised $114,000 since 2009 for charities like Tecumseh Minor Hockey, Tecumseh Goodfellows, the town of Goderich after its tornado disaster, International Dragon Boat Festival For the Cure, St. Vincent De Paul Society and the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County.
Tecumseh mayor McNamara defends his golf tournament activities | Windsor Star
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Andriy Shevchenko is returning to pro sports.
But not in football.
The former European player of the year competes in his first professional golf tournament as part of the Kharkov Superior Cup in his native Ukraine.
Shevchenko, who enjoyed most of his success with AC Milan, retired from football a year ago after Ukraine co-hosted the European Championships and has since dabbled in politics.
He is looking forward to teeing off Friday in the European Challenge Tour event after initially taking up golf to help ease the pressure of playing elite football.
"It's quite different to football alright," the 36-year-old told the European Tour's website. "I started to play golf to escape from the pressure from football. "I come on to a golf course and turn off my phone and just walk the course and hit some balls. It's one of the reasons why I started to play.
"I just found this great game where you have to be focused and balanced and that's why I like it. I like that mental balance." He isn't the only athlete to try his hand at pro golf following a successful career in another sport.
Former tennis No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov became Russia's national champion in 2011 -- he is also in the field this weekend in Ukraine -- and eight-time grand slam tennis winner Ivan Lendl contested the Czech Open back in 1996.
After Lendl struck an 11-over-par 82 in the first round, he was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune that it was "five times worse than playing in a Wimbledon final."
Shevchenko, no stranger to pro-ams, hopes he fares better than that in his opening round.
"The course is nice here and it's quite difficult this week," he said. "I'm playing OK. I'm happy with my game so we will see."
Shevchenko is proud, too, that he will be participating in Ukraine's first major golf tournament.
"It's the first event for me and also in Ukraine so it's big for golf here," he said. "I love golf and I'm so happy that golf is starting to pick up in Ukraine and the people are starting to invest money long term."
Andriy Shevchenko to make professional golf debut - CNN-com
But not in football.
The former European player of the year competes in his first professional golf tournament as part of the Kharkov Superior Cup in his native Ukraine.
Shevchenko, who enjoyed most of his success with AC Milan, retired from football a year ago after Ukraine co-hosted the European Championships and has since dabbled in politics.
He is looking forward to teeing off Friday in the European Challenge Tour event after initially taking up golf to help ease the pressure of playing elite football.
"It's quite different to football alright," the 36-year-old told the European Tour's website. "I started to play golf to escape from the pressure from football. "I come on to a golf course and turn off my phone and just walk the course and hit some balls. It's one of the reasons why I started to play.
"I just found this great game where you have to be focused and balanced and that's why I like it. I like that mental balance." He isn't the only athlete to try his hand at pro golf following a successful career in another sport.
Former tennis No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov became Russia's national champion in 2011 -- he is also in the field this weekend in Ukraine -- and eight-time grand slam tennis winner Ivan Lendl contested the Czech Open back in 1996.
After Lendl struck an 11-over-par 82 in the first round, he was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune that it was "five times worse than playing in a Wimbledon final."
Shevchenko, no stranger to pro-ams, hopes he fares better than that in his opening round.
"The course is nice here and it's quite difficult this week," he said. "I'm playing OK. I'm happy with my game so we will see."
Shevchenko is proud, too, that he will be participating in Ukraine's first major golf tournament.
"It's the first event for me and also in Ukraine so it's big for golf here," he said. "I love golf and I'm so happy that golf is starting to pick up in Ukraine and the people are starting to invest money long term."
Andriy Shevchenko to make professional golf debut - CNN-com
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Brandt Snedeker was making so many birdies that even an 18-foot putt looked like a mere tap-in.
When he finished his amazing run Thursday in the BMW Championship, he had seven straight birdies on his card and an 8-under 63 at blustery Conway Farms. "You get on runs like that, you get excited for the next hole because you know something good is going to happen, because you're in such a good frame of mind and everything is going in the right direction," Snedeker said.
In this case, everything was going in -- a 15-foot putt from the fringe on the 13th, another 15-footer on the next hole when he used the blade of his sand wedge to bump the ball out of the short rough, and a 40-footer from the fringe on the 17th stood out to him.
That gave him a one-shot lead over Zach Johnson in the third FedEx Cup playoff event. Tiger Woods sounded disgusted with his round of 66, mainly because he had a pair of three-putt bogeys and missed a 4-foot birdie putt over his last five holes.
"I'm not exactly real happy," Woods said. "I played well, and I just didn't get much out of that round. I missed three little short ones in there and then played the par 5s even par. That's just not very good."
Steve Stricker, Charl Schwartzel and Kevin Streelman also were at 66.
The opening round was mainly about the debut of Conway Farms, a Tom Fazio design north of Chicago which has a blend of strong holes and plenty of birdie opportunities on par 4s where players hit wedge for their second shot. Low scoring was predicted, and Snedeker's round was proof of that.
But as the wind picked up and shifted directions, the course was far from a pushover.
Rickie Fowler opened with a pair of double bogeys, followed by a pair of bogeys. He rallied for a 77. Rory McIlroy made a double bogey -- his ninth of the FedEx Cup playoffs -- on his second hole, and then three-putted from 4 feet for a triple bogey and staggered to a 78. Lee Westwood, fighting severe pain in his back and ribs, had an 80.
"There's a good mixture of really hard holes and really good birdie opportunities. I think that makes for exciting golf," Phil Mickelson said after opening with a 70. "That's why we have such a discrepancy in scores."
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup after the BMW Championship advance to the Tour Championship next week and a shot at the $10 million prize.
Westwood is at No. 30 and likely played himself out of a trip to East Lake, though he didn't appear to be healthy enough to play. McIlroy is at No. 41 and all but took himself out of the Tour Championship. He needs to finish somewhere around seventh in the 70-man field. His 78 put him in a tie for 66th.
"It's going to be a very uphill task," McIlroy said. "I'll try to get to even par as quickly as I can."
That still might not be enough the way Snedeker is playing.
Snedeker is at No. 9 in the FedEx Cup and assured of being the first defending FedEx Cup champion to make it to the Tour Championship. He is trying to move into the top five, for those players have a clear shot at the $10 million bonus -- all they have to do is win at East Lake no matter what anyone else does.
He wouldn't have imagined this kind of round at the start of the day. He didn't warm up well and didn't feel good with the putter. Snedeker missed the 10th fairway to start his round and had to make an 18-footer for par. He missed the 11th green and had to scramble for par. He missed a good look at birdie from the 12 feet on the next hole.
The next hour was a blur.
"When I get going good, I realize it doesn't happen all the time, so I instantly become more aggressive," he said. "I think being a good putter helps, too, because I don't really have to hit it three feet eight times in a row. Just got to hit the green sometimes and it's going to happen. I realize these runs are few and far between, so when I get on one, I try to run as hard as I can for as long as I can."
The blustery conditions kept scoring from getting out of hand, and the average score was at 71.3.
No one had less experience on the course than Mickelson, who had some personal issues earlier in the week that kept him from playing the pro-am. He didn't arrive in Chicago until Wednesday night and had never seen the course until he stood on the first tee Thursday.
Mickelson did not want to talk about what kept him away. When asked if it was a family matter, he said, "Everything is fine. I'm here now, I'm ready to play. But I just needed to be a little cautious this first round before I attack it tomorrow."
Snedeker, seven birdies, leads at BMW; Tiger two back - Golf, PGA Tour - CBSSports-com PGA, News, Leaderboard Scores, Schedule and Stats
When he finished his amazing run Thursday in the BMW Championship, he had seven straight birdies on his card and an 8-under 63 at blustery Conway Farms. "You get on runs like that, you get excited for the next hole because you know something good is going to happen, because you're in such a good frame of mind and everything is going in the right direction," Snedeker said.
In this case, everything was going in -- a 15-foot putt from the fringe on the 13th, another 15-footer on the next hole when he used the blade of his sand wedge to bump the ball out of the short rough, and a 40-footer from the fringe on the 17th stood out to him.
That gave him a one-shot lead over Zach Johnson in the third FedEx Cup playoff event. Tiger Woods sounded disgusted with his round of 66, mainly because he had a pair of three-putt bogeys and missed a 4-foot birdie putt over his last five holes.
"I'm not exactly real happy," Woods said. "I played well, and I just didn't get much out of that round. I missed three little short ones in there and then played the par 5s even par. That's just not very good."
Steve Stricker, Charl Schwartzel and Kevin Streelman also were at 66.
The opening round was mainly about the debut of Conway Farms, a Tom Fazio design north of Chicago which has a blend of strong holes and plenty of birdie opportunities on par 4s where players hit wedge for their second shot. Low scoring was predicted, and Snedeker's round was proof of that.
But as the wind picked up and shifted directions, the course was far from a pushover.
Rickie Fowler opened with a pair of double bogeys, followed by a pair of bogeys. He rallied for a 77. Rory McIlroy made a double bogey -- his ninth of the FedEx Cup playoffs -- on his second hole, and then three-putted from 4 feet for a triple bogey and staggered to a 78. Lee Westwood, fighting severe pain in his back and ribs, had an 80.
"There's a good mixture of really hard holes and really good birdie opportunities. I think that makes for exciting golf," Phil Mickelson said after opening with a 70. "That's why we have such a discrepancy in scores."
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup after the BMW Championship advance to the Tour Championship next week and a shot at the $10 million prize.
Westwood is at No. 30 and likely played himself out of a trip to East Lake, though he didn't appear to be healthy enough to play. McIlroy is at No. 41 and all but took himself out of the Tour Championship. He needs to finish somewhere around seventh in the 70-man field. His 78 put him in a tie for 66th.
"It's going to be a very uphill task," McIlroy said. "I'll try to get to even par as quickly as I can."
That still might not be enough the way Snedeker is playing.
Snedeker is at No. 9 in the FedEx Cup and assured of being the first defending FedEx Cup champion to make it to the Tour Championship. He is trying to move into the top five, for those players have a clear shot at the $10 million bonus -- all they have to do is win at East Lake no matter what anyone else does.
He wouldn't have imagined this kind of round at the start of the day. He didn't warm up well and didn't feel good with the putter. Snedeker missed the 10th fairway to start his round and had to make an 18-footer for par. He missed the 11th green and had to scramble for par. He missed a good look at birdie from the 12 feet on the next hole.
The next hour was a blur.
"When I get going good, I realize it doesn't happen all the time, so I instantly become more aggressive," he said. "I think being a good putter helps, too, because I don't really have to hit it three feet eight times in a row. Just got to hit the green sometimes and it's going to happen. I realize these runs are few and far between, so when I get on one, I try to run as hard as I can for as long as I can."
The blustery conditions kept scoring from getting out of hand, and the average score was at 71.3.
No one had less experience on the course than Mickelson, who had some personal issues earlier in the week that kept him from playing the pro-am. He didn't arrive in Chicago until Wednesday night and had never seen the course until he stood on the first tee Thursday.
Mickelson did not want to talk about what kept him away. When asked if it was a family matter, he said, "Everything is fine. I'm here now, I'm ready to play. But I just needed to be a little cautious this first round before I attack it tomorrow."
Snedeker, seven birdies, leads at BMW; Tiger two back - Golf, PGA Tour - CBSSports-com PGA, News, Leaderboard Scores, Schedule and Stats
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Jim Furyk crouched to study the 3 feet of green between his ball and the cup, a short distance with such large implications.
He thought back to a similar putt -- slightly downhill, sliding to the right -- that he made the last time he won a tournament three long years ago. That one at the Tour Championship was worth $10 million. Friday at the BMW Championship, it was for a piece of golf history.
Furyk capped off a magical day at Conway Farms with a birdie on his last hole to become the sixth player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59. And with a bogey on his card, no less.
"I guess the moment kind of struck me the most at No. 9 when I hit the wedge shot in there close, and the crowd erupted and I started looking around and it just hit me how many people had come over to that side to see the finish and how excited the crowd was," Furyk said. "It was kind of like winning a golf tournament, to be honest with you. It made it that much more fun."
It was a day he won't forget, in the same town -- the Chicago suburbs, anyway -- where he won his lone major at the U.S. Open in 2003.
After starting his round on No. 10, Furyk stood in the ninth fairway, 103 yards away and a gap wedge in his hand, and realized what was at stake.
"I said, 'How many opportunities are you going to have in life to do this again?'" he said. "Got to take advantage of it. Tried to knock it in there tight and make it as easy on yourself as you can."
The gallery lined both sides of the fairway about 150 yards down from the green and gave him a huge ovation when he walked onto the green. One fan screamed out, "Jimmy, I'll give it to you!" Furyk smiled and waved at him as if he were more than willing to pick it up. He rolled it in and repeatedly pumped his fist, turning for the gallery in the grandstands to see, and then he hugged caddie Mike "Fluff" Cowan and tapped him on the head. It looked like a Sunday afternoon, and had the occasion of a winning putt.
There's work left for the trophy. Furyk was tied for the lead with Brandt Snedeker, who was nine shots clear of Furyk at the start of the second round and shot 68.
Snedeker knew Furyk was closing in on the lead; he just didn't realize Furyk had opened with a 1-over 72 and was on his way to a piece of history. That changed when Snedeker saw a video board as he was finishing on No. 18 that Furyk needed a birdie on No. 9 for a 59.
"I thought, 'What the heck? Are you serious? There's no way,'" Snedeker said. "On a day like this when the wind is blowing 20 mph out of the north, I don't think anybody out here saw that score coming."
The next best score in the second round was a 65 by Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker. Zach Johnson was alone in third after a 70, three shots behind. No one else was closer than five shots.
Tiger Woods thought he finished with a 70 to be five back, only to be given a two-shot penalty when video showed his ball moved while he was removing twigs around it on the first hole. That gave him a quadruple-bogey 8 on the opening hole and a 72, leaving him seven shots behind -- and paired with Sergio Garcia in the third round.
It was the first 59 on the PGA Tour since Stuart Appleby in the final round of the Greenbrier Classic in 2010. The others with a 59 were Al Geiberger in the 1977 Memphis Classic; Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational; David Duval in the 1999 Bob Hope Classic; and Paul Goydos in the 2010 John Deere Classic.
"There's not much I could have improved on today," Furyk said.
For a change, everything went right at the end. Furyk has been haunted in the last two years with a bogey on the 16th hole that cost him a shot at the 2012 U.S. Open; a double bogey at Firestone last year that kept him from winning a World Golf Championship; a bogey-bogey finish in the Ryder Cup to lose a key match to Garcia last year in Chicago; and a one-shot lead he failed to hold just last month at the PGA Championship.
Making it worse, he was left off a U.S. team for the first time in 15 years when Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples did not make him a wild-card selection. On this day, Furyk gave Couples 59 reasons to reconsider.
Furyk described himself as "grouchy" on Thursday after having breakfast with two friends, Steve Stricker and Johnson, who were talking about the Presidents Cup.
"But I felt like last night I kind of kicked myself in the rear end and said, 'You know, it's done with. It's over with. There's nothing I can do to change it now. It's over and let's just focus on this week.'"
Furyk was striking the ball so well in the windy conditions -- he hit every fairway and missed only one green -- that he made only three putts longer than 12 feet, including a 15-foot par putt on the 16th hole. He opened with three straight birdies, holed out from the fairway on the 15th for an eagle, finished with two birdies and had a 28 on his card.
Furyk realized a 4 under on the front nine would give him golf's magic number. It looked promising when he rolled in a 25-foot birdie on the third, and his 4-iron on the fourth hole bounced toward the flag and settled 5 feet away. He was 11 under through 13 holes, needing one more birdie.
And then he three-putted for bogey from 30 feet.
The key to his round might have come at No. 7, when he holed a birdie putt from just inside 12 feet to get back to 11 under.
Two holes, one birdie, and a 59. Even in the FedEx Cup playoffs, the math was that simple. And he knew with a par 5 at the eighth and a front pin on the ninth, he would have two good chances. He came up short of the green on No. 8 and made par, and then played the ninth to perfection.
Brian Davis, who had finished an hour earlier, came back to the ninth green to watch Furyk finish. Johnson finished when Furyk still had two holes to play and was told about his bid for 59.
"He's on No. 8 to go to 59? I don't have anything to say about that. That is ridiculous," Johnson said.
Furyk signed his glove
He thought back to a similar putt -- slightly downhill, sliding to the right -- that he made the last time he won a tournament three long years ago. That one at the Tour Championship was worth $10 million. Friday at the BMW Championship, it was for a piece of golf history.
Furyk capped off a magical day at Conway Farms with a birdie on his last hole to become the sixth player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59. And with a bogey on his card, no less.
"I guess the moment kind of struck me the most at No. 9 when I hit the wedge shot in there close, and the crowd erupted and I started looking around and it just hit me how many people had come over to that side to see the finish and how excited the crowd was," Furyk said. "It was kind of like winning a golf tournament, to be honest with you. It made it that much more fun."
It was a day he won't forget, in the same town -- the Chicago suburbs, anyway -- where he won his lone major at the U.S. Open in 2003.
After starting his round on No. 10, Furyk stood in the ninth fairway, 103 yards away and a gap wedge in his hand, and realized what was at stake.
"I said, 'How many opportunities are you going to have in life to do this again?'" he said. "Got to take advantage of it. Tried to knock it in there tight and make it as easy on yourself as you can."
The gallery lined both sides of the fairway about 150 yards down from the green and gave him a huge ovation when he walked onto the green. One fan screamed out, "Jimmy, I'll give it to you!" Furyk smiled and waved at him as if he were more than willing to pick it up. He rolled it in and repeatedly pumped his fist, turning for the gallery in the grandstands to see, and then he hugged caddie Mike "Fluff" Cowan and tapped him on the head. It looked like a Sunday afternoon, and had the occasion of a winning putt.
There's work left for the trophy. Furyk was tied for the lead with Brandt Snedeker, who was nine shots clear of Furyk at the start of the second round and shot 68.
Snedeker knew Furyk was closing in on the lead; he just didn't realize Furyk had opened with a 1-over 72 and was on his way to a piece of history. That changed when Snedeker saw a video board as he was finishing on No. 18 that Furyk needed a birdie on No. 9 for a 59.
"I thought, 'What the heck? Are you serious? There's no way,'" Snedeker said. "On a day like this when the wind is blowing 20 mph out of the north, I don't think anybody out here saw that score coming."
The next best score in the second round was a 65 by Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker. Zach Johnson was alone in third after a 70, three shots behind. No one else was closer than five shots.
Tiger Woods thought he finished with a 70 to be five back, only to be given a two-shot penalty when video showed his ball moved while he was removing twigs around it on the first hole. That gave him a quadruple-bogey 8 on the opening hole and a 72, leaving him seven shots behind -- and paired with Sergio Garcia in the third round.
It was the first 59 on the PGA Tour since Stuart Appleby in the final round of the Greenbrier Classic in 2010. The others with a 59 were Al Geiberger in the 1977 Memphis Classic; Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational; David Duval in the 1999 Bob Hope Classic; and Paul Goydos in the 2010 John Deere Classic.
"There's not much I could have improved on today," Furyk said.
For a change, everything went right at the end. Furyk has been haunted in the last two years with a bogey on the 16th hole that cost him a shot at the 2012 U.S. Open; a double bogey at Firestone last year that kept him from winning a World Golf Championship; a bogey-bogey finish in the Ryder Cup to lose a key match to Garcia last year in Chicago; and a one-shot lead he failed to hold just last month at the PGA Championship.
Making it worse, he was left off a U.S. team for the first time in 15 years when Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples did not make him a wild-card selection. On this day, Furyk gave Couples 59 reasons to reconsider.
Furyk described himself as "grouchy" on Thursday after having breakfast with two friends, Steve Stricker and Johnson, who were talking about the Presidents Cup.
"But I felt like last night I kind of kicked myself in the rear end and said, 'You know, it's done with. It's over with. There's nothing I can do to change it now. It's over and let's just focus on this week.'"
Furyk was striking the ball so well in the windy conditions -- he hit every fairway and missed only one green -- that he made only three putts longer than 12 feet, including a 15-foot par putt on the 16th hole. He opened with three straight birdies, holed out from the fairway on the 15th for an eagle, finished with two birdies and had a 28 on his card.
Furyk realized a 4 under on the front nine would give him golf's magic number. It looked promising when he rolled in a 25-foot birdie on the third, and his 4-iron on the fourth hole bounced toward the flag and settled 5 feet away. He was 11 under through 13 holes, needing one more birdie.
And then he three-putted for bogey from 30 feet.
The key to his round might have come at No. 7, when he holed a birdie putt from just inside 12 feet to get back to 11 under.
Two holes, one birdie, and a 59. Even in the FedEx Cup playoffs, the math was that simple. And he knew with a par 5 at the eighth and a front pin on the ninth, he would have two good chances. He came up short of the green on No. 8 and made par, and then played the ninth to perfection.
Brian Davis, who had finished an hour earlier, came back to the ninth green to watch Furyk finish. Johnson finished when Furyk still had two holes to play and was told about his bid for 59.
"He's on No. 8 to go to 59? I don't have anything to say about that. That is ridiculous," Johnson said.
Furyk signed his glove
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Jim Furyk put his 59 behind him with a round that was 10 shots higher in the BMW Championship. All that mattered was having a chance to win, which made Saturday a success.
Furyk recovered from a sluggish start with three birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn. A three-putt bogey from 30 feet on the par-5 18th forced him to settle for a 2-under 69 and a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker. "The goal was to go out and shoot a good number today, get myself in position to win this golf tournament," Furyk said. "It could have been better out there. ... Obviously, I dropped that shot at 18, which I'm disappointed. It was probably one of the easier holes of the day. But I've got myself in good position, so rather than harp on the last hole, I'd probably tend to want to think about tomorrow and what I have to do to try to win a golf tournament."
It was a far different finish from Friday, when Furyk hit a wedge to 3 feet for birdie on his final hole (No. 9) for a 12-under 59, becoming only the sixth player in PGA Tour history to hit golf's magic number.
No one expected another round like that from him -- though Matt Kuchar had a 61 in the morning when conditions were calm -- with firm fairways, fast greens and increasing wind. Three other players who had 59 in an earlier round followed with anything better than 68, but Furyk did enough to give himself another chance to end three years without a victory. But his work is far from over.
He was at 13-under 200 and will be paired in the final group with longtime friend Stricker, who holed out for eagle from the 15th fairway and had a 64.
Brandt Snedeker, tied with Furyk to start the third round, got up-and-down from behind the 18th green for birdie to get back to even-par 71 for the day and remain in the hunt just two shots behind.
And very much in the picture was Tiger Woods, who made it through the day without any drama.
Woods still objected to the two-shot penalty he was given after his second round for his ball moving ever so slightly as he tried to remove a small stick next to it. And he played Saturday before a massive crowd with Sergio Garcia, their first time together since Garcia ended some verbal sparring by jokingly saying he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open and serve him fried chicken.
In the suburbs north of Chicago, there was hardly any heckling beyond what is heard at a normal golf tournament in America.
Woods ran off six birdies in seven holes and at one point got within two shots of the lead until his momentum was stalled with a par on the par-5 14th and a bogey on the 15th hole after driving his first shot into the water. He still had a 66 and was only four shots behind.
"I had a nice little run to at least get myself in there where I have a chance tomorrow," Woods said.
Of the five previous 59s on the PGA Tour, only two failed to win the tournament -- Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and Paul Goydos at the 2010 John Deere Classic. Beck had his 13-under 59 in the third round of a 90-hole tournament and tied for third. Goydos had his 12-under 59 in the opening round and was runner-up.
Al Geiberger shot 13-under 59 in the second round of the 1977 Memphis Classic and went on to win. David Duval (13-under 59 at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic) and Stuart Appleby (11-under 59 at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic) shot their rounds on Sunday to win.
Furyk and Snedeker made quick retreats in the early going before Furyk got back on track. He built a two-shot lead with a short birdie on the 15th hole, but he drove into the rough on the 18th, laid up in the rough and ran his 30-foot birdie putt some 5 feet by the hole. He missed the par putt and watched his lead shrink to one.
Furyk has struggled closing out tournaments over the last few years. He had a one-shot lead in the PGA Championship, losing to Jason Dufner last month at Oak Hill. A year ago, he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead in three tournaments and failed to win.
"It's been three years. No one has to remind me of the Tour Championship in 10, and as I've had some of the close calls last year, I definitely put some more pressure on myself," he said. "That will be part of the mental game and the mental aspect of it tomorrow, to go out there and stay in the moment and just play golf and not really worry about it. I'll play my best if I'm focused on the task at hand, not on the results."
Jim Furyk takes one-shot lead at BMW Championship - Golf, PGA Tour - CBSSports-com PGA, News, Leaderboard Scores, Schedule and Stats
Furyk recovered from a sluggish start with three birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn. A three-putt bogey from 30 feet on the par-5 18th forced him to settle for a 2-under 69 and a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker. "The goal was to go out and shoot a good number today, get myself in position to win this golf tournament," Furyk said. "It could have been better out there. ... Obviously, I dropped that shot at 18, which I'm disappointed. It was probably one of the easier holes of the day. But I've got myself in good position, so rather than harp on the last hole, I'd probably tend to want to think about tomorrow and what I have to do to try to win a golf tournament."
It was a far different finish from Friday, when Furyk hit a wedge to 3 feet for birdie on his final hole (No. 9) for a 12-under 59, becoming only the sixth player in PGA Tour history to hit golf's magic number.
No one expected another round like that from him -- though Matt Kuchar had a 61 in the morning when conditions were calm -- with firm fairways, fast greens and increasing wind. Three other players who had 59 in an earlier round followed with anything better than 68, but Furyk did enough to give himself another chance to end three years without a victory. But his work is far from over.
He was at 13-under 200 and will be paired in the final group with longtime friend Stricker, who holed out for eagle from the 15th fairway and had a 64.
Brandt Snedeker, tied with Furyk to start the third round, got up-and-down from behind the 18th green for birdie to get back to even-par 71 for the day and remain in the hunt just two shots behind.
And very much in the picture was Tiger Woods, who made it through the day without any drama.
Woods still objected to the two-shot penalty he was given after his second round for his ball moving ever so slightly as he tried to remove a small stick next to it. And he played Saturday before a massive crowd with Sergio Garcia, their first time together since Garcia ended some verbal sparring by jokingly saying he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open and serve him fried chicken.
In the suburbs north of Chicago, there was hardly any heckling beyond what is heard at a normal golf tournament in America.
Woods ran off six birdies in seven holes and at one point got within two shots of the lead until his momentum was stalled with a par on the par-5 14th and a bogey on the 15th hole after driving his first shot into the water. He still had a 66 and was only four shots behind.
"I had a nice little run to at least get myself in there where I have a chance tomorrow," Woods said.
Of the five previous 59s on the PGA Tour, only two failed to win the tournament -- Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and Paul Goydos at the 2010 John Deere Classic. Beck had his 13-under 59 in the third round of a 90-hole tournament and tied for third. Goydos had his 12-under 59 in the opening round and was runner-up.
Al Geiberger shot 13-under 59 in the second round of the 1977 Memphis Classic and went on to win. David Duval (13-under 59 at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic) and Stuart Appleby (11-under 59 at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic) shot their rounds on Sunday to win.
Furyk and Snedeker made quick retreats in the early going before Furyk got back on track. He built a two-shot lead with a short birdie on the 15th hole, but he drove into the rough on the 18th, laid up in the rough and ran his 30-foot birdie putt some 5 feet by the hole. He missed the par putt and watched his lead shrink to one.
Furyk has struggled closing out tournaments over the last few years. He had a one-shot lead in the PGA Championship, losing to Jason Dufner last month at Oak Hill. A year ago, he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead in three tournaments and failed to win.
"It's been three years. No one has to remind me of the Tour Championship in 10, and as I've had some of the close calls last year, I definitely put some more pressure on myself," he said. "That will be part of the mental game and the mental aspect of it tomorrow, to go out there and stay in the moment and just play golf and not really worry about it. I'll play my best if I'm focused on the task at hand, not on the results."
Jim Furyk takes one-shot lead at BMW Championship - Golf, PGA Tour - CBSSports-com PGA, News, Leaderboard Scores, Schedule and Stats
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She didn't win the title and she doesn't get to take home the NZ$365,769 runners-up cheque, but Lydia Ko is still a very happy young lady.
the 16-year-old Ko finished second in the final golfing major of the year, the Evian Championship in France this morning (NZT), two shots behind Norway's Suzann Pettersen.
Ko shot a final round one-under 70 to finish the rain-reduced, 54-hole tournament at eight-under. Pettersen, the world No 3, shot a final round three-under 68 to secure her second major title.
Ko, whose world No 8 ranking is set to improve after this performance, has now played seven majors with her best previous result being tied for 17th - twice.
That in itself, and featuring in the final round of a major, was reason enough to make the North Harbour schoolgirl smile and think of this tournament, her 14th of the year, as a success.
"It was really good to know that I could come so close to the winner at a major," she said.
"Second is my best finish at a major tournament."
Ko made three birdies in her final round, including on the difficult par-four first, but she struggled to get the ball as close as she did during yesterday's 67 and the hot putter that helped her win last month's Canadian Open, was only warm.
"I mis-read some putts," she said.
"Some were challenging putts where I thought it was right to left and it was the other way. I had a couple of putts like that. Obviously not everything is going to be right where I see it.
"[But] I was pretty happy with my round today. Yesterday I gave myself a lot of the chances to make birdies, so I hit it much closer to the pins. I probably did half of that today."
Ko played in the leading group with Pettersen and overnight leader Mika Miyazato and while Miyazato went backwards in a big way with an eight-over 79, Ko hunted Pettersen and showed no nerves.
After starting birdie, bogey, birdie, Ko made nine straight pars, unable to make ground on the Norwegian.
She bogeyed the 13th to be two behind and, like Pettersen, made a birdie-four on the 15th, but could not close the two shot buffer on the final holes.
"I knew it was a very tight leaderboard coming into today. Everybody was playing great," she said.
"I tried to play my own game, set my own goals. If somebody else played better, like Suzann did today, I can't do anything about it.
"I don't think I felt that nervous today, especially coming down the last couple holes. I personally thought that Suzann had it in the bag today. She was playing very solid. If I stuck it close, she stuck it close. It was that kind of thing today." This was Ko's 14th professional tournament of the year and is likely to be her last.
She has qualified for the season-ending Titleholders Championship in Canada, but that tournament is the week after her school exams and Ko said she was unlikely to play in it due to a lack of practice time.
Golf | Lydia Ko Second in Evian Championship | Stuff.co.nz
the 16-year-old Ko finished second in the final golfing major of the year, the Evian Championship in France this morning (NZT), two shots behind Norway's Suzann Pettersen.
Ko shot a final round one-under 70 to finish the rain-reduced, 54-hole tournament at eight-under. Pettersen, the world No 3, shot a final round three-under 68 to secure her second major title.
Ko, whose world No 8 ranking is set to improve after this performance, has now played seven majors with her best previous result being tied for 17th - twice.
That in itself, and featuring in the final round of a major, was reason enough to make the North Harbour schoolgirl smile and think of this tournament, her 14th of the year, as a success.
"It was really good to know that I could come so close to the winner at a major," she said.
"Second is my best finish at a major tournament."
Ko made three birdies in her final round, including on the difficult par-four first, but she struggled to get the ball as close as she did during yesterday's 67 and the hot putter that helped her win last month's Canadian Open, was only warm.
"I mis-read some putts," she said.
"Some were challenging putts where I thought it was right to left and it was the other way. I had a couple of putts like that. Obviously not everything is going to be right where I see it.
"[But] I was pretty happy with my round today. Yesterday I gave myself a lot of the chances to make birdies, so I hit it much closer to the pins. I probably did half of that today."
Ko played in the leading group with Pettersen and overnight leader Mika Miyazato and while Miyazato went backwards in a big way with an eight-over 79, Ko hunted Pettersen and showed no nerves.
After starting birdie, bogey, birdie, Ko made nine straight pars, unable to make ground on the Norwegian.
She bogeyed the 13th to be two behind and, like Pettersen, made a birdie-four on the 15th, but could not close the two shot buffer on the final holes.
"I knew it was a very tight leaderboard coming into today. Everybody was playing great," she said.
"I tried to play my own game, set my own goals. If somebody else played better, like Suzann did today, I can't do anything about it.
"I don't think I felt that nervous today, especially coming down the last couple holes. I personally thought that Suzann had it in the bag today. She was playing very solid. If I stuck it close, she stuck it close. It was that kind of thing today." This was Ko's 14th professional tournament of the year and is likely to be her last.
She has qualified for the season-ending Titleholders Championship in Canada, but that tournament is the week after her school exams and Ko said she was unlikely to play in it due to a lack of practice time.
Golf | Lydia Ko Second in Evian Championship | Stuff.co.nz
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Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, used a late charge to finish at 16-under-par 268 for a two-stroke victory over fellow American Nick Watney, who shot 64 on the rain-softened course in the penultimate event of the FedExCup play-offs.
Lifted by clutch birdie putts at the 16th and 17th holes, Johnson moved to fourth from 27th on the points list going into next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, where the overall winner of the four-event series pockets a $10 million bonus.
The top five in the standings among the 30 players on the points list that qualified for the season-ending event are assured of winning the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake.
Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Australian Adam Scott top the standings with Matt Kuchar holding the fifth spot.
It was the 10th career US PGA title for Johnson, who has yet to win in back-to-back weeks during his 10 years on the tour.
"Frankly, I'm going to have to forget about this week," he said about his approach to winning the Tour Championship.
"I'm going to have to take Atlanta for Atlanta and just play. East Lake is not Conway Farms. It is a beast. It's a classic and a challenge that myself and all my peers get juiced up for."
Johnson made three birdies on the outward nine and then pulled away with a slick downhill 20-foot birdie putt from just off the green at the 16th and followed it with a 13-foot birdie on the next hole to build a two-shot advantage.
Watney was already in the clubhouse after his brilliant round that moved him to 12th on the points list after beginning the tournament outside the Tour Championship field in 34th place in the FedEx standings.
Jim Furyk, who surged into early command of the tournament with a second-round 59, led by two shots after a birdie at the 10th took him to 15 under par, but three late bogeys in gusting winds dropped him to a level-par 71 for third place at 13-under 271.
For Furyk it was the sixth time since his last victory at the 2010 Tour Championship to clinch the FedExCup title that he has failed to win after holding the 54-hole lead of an event.
"I hit the ball plenty good enough, but I didn't make the putts when I needed to," said Furyk, who began to round with a one-shot lead.
Sharing the lead with playing partner Steve Stricker during the round, Furyk said they both suffered from the same fate.
"I think that was kind of the story of our group. Strick hit some beautiful putts today and lipped a bunch out, and it just seemed like he was all over the hole, and we didn't see a bunch go in today."
Tied for fourth place at 11-under were Americans Steve Stricker (72) and Hunter Mahan (67), Australian Jason Day (66) and Briton Luke Donald (66), who moved from 54th place in the standings into 28th place on the points list to qualify for the Tour Championship.
"It's very surreal to play a PGA event on your home course," said Donald, a member of Conway Farms, who closed with 67-66.
"I needed a big week this week and I needed all the help I could get. But it was nice to come up with the goods the last couple of days."
Dustin Johnson barely hung on to the 30th spot on the list by finishing with a 72 for nine-over 293.
The two players that were inside the top 30 entering the tournament and fell out were Briton Lee Westwood and American Harris English.
Westwood, who came to Conway Farms in 30th place, shot a final-round 74 to finish on 12-over 296 and fell to 41st on the list, while Harris just missed out in 31st after a 72 finish put him at three-over 287 as he fell from 28th place.
Golf - Johnson wins BMW Championship - Yahoo Eurosport UK
Lifted by clutch birdie putts at the 16th and 17th holes, Johnson moved to fourth from 27th on the points list going into next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, where the overall winner of the four-event series pockets a $10 million bonus.
The top five in the standings among the 30 players on the points list that qualified for the season-ending event are assured of winning the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake.
Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Australian Adam Scott top the standings with Matt Kuchar holding the fifth spot.
It was the 10th career US PGA title for Johnson, who has yet to win in back-to-back weeks during his 10 years on the tour.
"Frankly, I'm going to have to forget about this week," he said about his approach to winning the Tour Championship.
"I'm going to have to take Atlanta for Atlanta and just play. East Lake is not Conway Farms. It is a beast. It's a classic and a challenge that myself and all my peers get juiced up for."
Johnson made three birdies on the outward nine and then pulled away with a slick downhill 20-foot birdie putt from just off the green at the 16th and followed it with a 13-foot birdie on the next hole to build a two-shot advantage.
Watney was already in the clubhouse after his brilliant round that moved him to 12th on the points list after beginning the tournament outside the Tour Championship field in 34th place in the FedEx standings.
Jim Furyk, who surged into early command of the tournament with a second-round 59, led by two shots after a birdie at the 10th took him to 15 under par, but three late bogeys in gusting winds dropped him to a level-par 71 for third place at 13-under 271.
For Furyk it was the sixth time since his last victory at the 2010 Tour Championship to clinch the FedExCup title that he has failed to win after holding the 54-hole lead of an event.
"I hit the ball plenty good enough, but I didn't make the putts when I needed to," said Furyk, who began to round with a one-shot lead.
Sharing the lead with playing partner Steve Stricker during the round, Furyk said they both suffered from the same fate.
"I think that was kind of the story of our group. Strick hit some beautiful putts today and lipped a bunch out, and it just seemed like he was all over the hole, and we didn't see a bunch go in today."
Tied for fourth place at 11-under were Americans Steve Stricker (72) and Hunter Mahan (67), Australian Jason Day (66) and Briton Luke Donald (66), who moved from 54th place in the standings into 28th place on the points list to qualify for the Tour Championship.
"It's very surreal to play a PGA event on your home course," said Donald, a member of Conway Farms, who closed with 67-66.
"I needed a big week this week and I needed all the help I could get. But it was nice to come up with the goods the last couple of days."
Dustin Johnson barely hung on to the 30th spot on the list by finishing with a 72 for nine-over 293.
The two players that were inside the top 30 entering the tournament and fell out were Briton Lee Westwood and American Harris English.
Westwood, who came to Conway Farms in 30th place, shot a final-round 74 to finish on 12-over 296 and fell to 41st on the list, while Harris just missed out in 31st after a 72 finish put him at three-over 287 as he fell from 28th place.
Golf - Johnson wins BMW Championship - Yahoo Eurosport UK
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2006/12/07
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It really doesn’t seem that long ago, but this week’s Tour Championship marks the 25th anniversary of an interesting and important mile marker for the PGA Tour.
It was in 1988 when the Tour Championships, in just its second year, was held at Pebble Beach when Curtis Strange won the title and a remarkable (at the time) $360,000. But more importantly, the win propelled Strange’s earnings for the year to $1,147,644, making Strange the first player in tour history to win $1 million in a single season. Amazingly, two years later Corey Pavin won the tour money list just over $20,000 shy of $1 million.
That might all seem a quaint concept in a world where the winner of the Tour Championship this week will take home $1.4 million just for the week, and the winner of the FedEx Cup will take home $10 million in FedEx Cup bonus money. Win both and it’s a week of $11.4 million or more than $10 million better than Strange’s record-setting 1988 season.
Still, it show just how far golf--and perhaps sports in general – have come in terms of money being a measuring stick for the game. Remember, it took Arnold Palmer nearly 13 years (from 1955 to 1968) to earn a total of $1 million for his career.
So it took 20 years between the time Palmer won $1 million for his career and Strange won $1 million for a single season. It only took 11 more years before Jeff Maggert became the first player to win $1 million in a single event, the 1999 Accenture Match-Play Championship at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad.
You can see, of course, what money means in terms of determining a player’s greatness. Maggert’s one win in the Accenture was equal to Palmer’s entire career from 1955 to 1968. Of course, Palmer won 54 tournaments in that span, including seven majors. Maggert had won a single event, one of three wins in his career. Strange had a very fine career on the tour, including back-to-back U.S. Open wins. But Strange won 17 career events, while Palmer finished with 62.
Like many things in sports, money in golf can only be compared to the money other people in the same era are winning. Tiger Woods has won more money than Phil Mickelson on the golf course because Woods has won more tournaments in basically the same span of years. Palmer won more money from 1955 to 1968 than anyone else because in that span he was the best player on the tour.
Now, just to make you giggle, here’s an interesting number. In 1934, the first year the PGA Tour money list was kept, Paul Runyan won the title with $6,767. Scott Stalling, who finished 70th and last in the BWM Championship with its Monday finish, earned $16,080.
You have to think that Runyan, who will be inducted in the Southern California Golf Associations’ Hall of Fame next month, would wonder if he was born at the wrong time, or if he was perfectly happy winning the tournaments when he did.
www-mydesert-com/article/20130917/SPORTS05/309170007/-1-million-isn-t-what-used-golf
It was in 1988 when the Tour Championships, in just its second year, was held at Pebble Beach when Curtis Strange won the title and a remarkable (at the time) $360,000. But more importantly, the win propelled Strange’s earnings for the year to $1,147,644, making Strange the first player in tour history to win $1 million in a single season. Amazingly, two years later Corey Pavin won the tour money list just over $20,000 shy of $1 million.
That might all seem a quaint concept in a world where the winner of the Tour Championship this week will take home $1.4 million just for the week, and the winner of the FedEx Cup will take home $10 million in FedEx Cup bonus money. Win both and it’s a week of $11.4 million or more than $10 million better than Strange’s record-setting 1988 season.
Still, it show just how far golf--and perhaps sports in general – have come in terms of money being a measuring stick for the game. Remember, it took Arnold Palmer nearly 13 years (from 1955 to 1968) to earn a total of $1 million for his career.
So it took 20 years between the time Palmer won $1 million for his career and Strange won $1 million for a single season. It only took 11 more years before Jeff Maggert became the first player to win $1 million in a single event, the 1999 Accenture Match-Play Championship at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad.
You can see, of course, what money means in terms of determining a player’s greatness. Maggert’s one win in the Accenture was equal to Palmer’s entire career from 1955 to 1968. Of course, Palmer won 54 tournaments in that span, including seven majors. Maggert had won a single event, one of three wins in his career. Strange had a very fine career on the tour, including back-to-back U.S. Open wins. But Strange won 17 career events, while Palmer finished with 62.
Like many things in sports, money in golf can only be compared to the money other people in the same era are winning. Tiger Woods has won more money than Phil Mickelson on the golf course because Woods has won more tournaments in basically the same span of years. Palmer won more money from 1955 to 1968 than anyone else because in that span he was the best player on the tour.
Now, just to make you giggle, here’s an interesting number. In 1934, the first year the PGA Tour money list was kept, Paul Runyan won the title with $6,767. Scott Stalling, who finished 70th and last in the BWM Championship with its Monday finish, earned $16,080.
You have to think that Runyan, who will be inducted in the Southern California Golf Associations’ Hall of Fame next month, would wonder if he was born at the wrong time, or if he was perfectly happy winning the tournaments when he did.
www-mydesert-com/article/20130917/SPORTS05/309170007/-1-million-isn-t-what-used-golf
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2006/12/07
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EVEN the sweet crunch of a loosener from Mark Bylsma turns every head at Thornleigh driving range. The ball hits the net at the far end with speed.
"Mate, that was only 40 per cent," Bylsma says, putting down his driver. "With this wind, I could hit the fence with my 5-iron."
The fence is 244 metres away. The heads turn again. It’s no contest.
"There you go," he says. "One bounce."
With two golf shots, Mark Bylsma has summed up why he is banned from every driving range in Sydney.
There’s not a range long enough to allow Bylsma to rip-and-grip a full-blooded driver, let alone unleash one of the custom-made Thor hammers that helped him become a six-time Australian long driving champion.
Health and safety concerns are different when someone who hit a golf ball 420 metres walks in.
"Yeah, I have been asked to leave a few driving ranges," Bylsma grins.
"I am more than welcome here at Thornleigh, as long as I hit five iron. If I started hitting drivers over the fence onto Pennant Hills Rd, there might be some dramas."
Bylsma has to wait until after dark to use Moore Park range, so he doesn’t hit golfers past their fence. He put a few balls over the hill and onto the Eastern Distributor once, so these days many of the 500 balls he hits a week are iron shots to practise rhythm. When Bylsma gets down to business in Las Vegas next week, however, there’ll be no holding back.
The 39-year-old big man will be one of four Australian representatives at the $250,000 World Long Driving Championships, where 192 of the globe’s biggest hitters will gather to do measure their manhood.
It’s golf, but only just. Long driving is to golf what bazookas are to archery. Power, aggression and club-speeds of up to 250km/h rule, and after psyching up with music, contestants often roar after they hit a boomer.
"The Swedes are mad, they even scream at the ball before they hit it," Bylsma says.
Australian long driving boss Wayne Stewart adds: "It’s like rock-and-roll wrestling. It’s the opposite of golf as far as etiquette goes."
Professional golfers avoid the long-drivers as much as possible, but only because they’re embarrassed off the tee by them. The driving distance average of the PGA Tour in 2013 is 262 metres. The longest, Luke List, averages 274 metres, and Tiger Woods six metres less. In 1985, Greg Norman averaged 253 metres off the tee.
To put that context, go back to the Bylsma five-iron. Long drivers have to hit 340 metres just to get a start. The world record on grass, downwind, is 430 metres – more than four football fields. Bylsma holds the official Australian record of 401m (the 420m wasn’t registered) and believes he can go longer.
Bylsma, a Kings Langley resident who works at the Mean Fiddler, is not a fan of subtlety. He uses every ounce of his mammoth size, bolstered by a heavy weights program, to grievously assault the ball.
"I would rather use a sledgehammer to hit something than a tack-hammer. So hard and fast is the way I go at a golf ball," he says.
"Ability will take you so far, swing will take you so far. But at the end of the day, grunt will take the furthest. I am six-six, there are guys over there who are six-ten." A few little men do get by, with the help of genetics and backgrounds in baseball, or like two-time world champ Jamie Sadlowski, ice hockey.
Though he weighs only 76kg, the slim Canadian’s double-jointed wrists help him generate similar club-head speed to Bylsma – 240 km/h. Professionals get up to 200km/h.
With $250,000 prizemoney up for grabs next week, long drivers laugh at the old saying: "Drive for show, putt for dough." In any case, says Bylsma, there is a different saying in the fraternity of driving range pariahs.
"If it doubt, smash it," he says, addressing another ball. It topples off the tee in the wind and rolls away.
"See? That ball just s**t itself."
No Cookies | Herald Sun
"Mate, that was only 40 per cent," Bylsma says, putting down his driver. "With this wind, I could hit the fence with my 5-iron."
The fence is 244 metres away. The heads turn again. It’s no contest.
"There you go," he says. "One bounce."
With two golf shots, Mark Bylsma has summed up why he is banned from every driving range in Sydney.
There’s not a range long enough to allow Bylsma to rip-and-grip a full-blooded driver, let alone unleash one of the custom-made Thor hammers that helped him become a six-time Australian long driving champion.
Health and safety concerns are different when someone who hit a golf ball 420 metres walks in.
"Yeah, I have been asked to leave a few driving ranges," Bylsma grins.
"I am more than welcome here at Thornleigh, as long as I hit five iron. If I started hitting drivers over the fence onto Pennant Hills Rd, there might be some dramas."
Bylsma has to wait until after dark to use Moore Park range, so he doesn’t hit golfers past their fence. He put a few balls over the hill and onto the Eastern Distributor once, so these days many of the 500 balls he hits a week are iron shots to practise rhythm. When Bylsma gets down to business in Las Vegas next week, however, there’ll be no holding back.
The 39-year-old big man will be one of four Australian representatives at the $250,000 World Long Driving Championships, where 192 of the globe’s biggest hitters will gather to do measure their manhood.
It’s golf, but only just. Long driving is to golf what bazookas are to archery. Power, aggression and club-speeds of up to 250km/h rule, and after psyching up with music, contestants often roar after they hit a boomer.
"The Swedes are mad, they even scream at the ball before they hit it," Bylsma says.
Australian long driving boss Wayne Stewart adds: "It’s like rock-and-roll wrestling. It’s the opposite of golf as far as etiquette goes."
Professional golfers avoid the long-drivers as much as possible, but only because they’re embarrassed off the tee by them. The driving distance average of the PGA Tour in 2013 is 262 metres. The longest, Luke List, averages 274 metres, and Tiger Woods six metres less. In 1985, Greg Norman averaged 253 metres off the tee.
To put that context, go back to the Bylsma five-iron. Long drivers have to hit 340 metres just to get a start. The world record on grass, downwind, is 430 metres – more than four football fields. Bylsma holds the official Australian record of 401m (the 420m wasn’t registered) and believes he can go longer.
Bylsma, a Kings Langley resident who works at the Mean Fiddler, is not a fan of subtlety. He uses every ounce of his mammoth size, bolstered by a heavy weights program, to grievously assault the ball.
"I would rather use a sledgehammer to hit something than a tack-hammer. So hard and fast is the way I go at a golf ball," he says.
"Ability will take you so far, swing will take you so far. But at the end of the day, grunt will take the furthest. I am six-six, there are guys over there who are six-ten." A few little men do get by, with the help of genetics and backgrounds in baseball, or like two-time world champ Jamie Sadlowski, ice hockey.
Though he weighs only 76kg, the slim Canadian’s double-jointed wrists help him generate similar club-head speed to Bylsma – 240 km/h. Professionals get up to 200km/h.
With $250,000 prizemoney up for grabs next week, long drivers laugh at the old saying: "Drive for show, putt for dough." In any case, says Bylsma, there is a different saying in the fraternity of driving range pariahs.
"If it doubt, smash it," he says, addressing another ball. It topples off the tee in the wind and rolls away.
"See? That ball just s**t itself."
No Cookies | Herald Sun
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Jason Dufner walked off East Lake Golf Club’s ninth green on Thursday after making an eight-foot birdie putt with his shoulders slouched, his cap pulled over his eyes, his gaze directed downward. Dufner, the reigning P.G.A. champion, is known for his impassivity, but his posture straightened and his lips nearly curved into a smile when a fan in the crowd shouted, “War Eagle!” Dufner, 36, has two great loves: his wife, Amanda; and Auburn football. For Dufner and other avid college sports fans, weekends in the fall are a comfort-food potluck of prognosticating, tailgating, spectating, and second-guessing or crowing.
If he were not at this week’s season-ending Tour Championship, Dufner, who was last in the field after an opening four-over 74, would be gearing up for Auburn’s game Saturday at L.S.U. The start of autumn is the time sports fans give thanks for their bountiful viewing choices. In addition to the college football season getting in gear, the N.F.L. is back in action, and the baseball season is winding down while wild-card races are tightening up. And then there are the golf playoffs, with the best players in the world spending a month jockeying for a $10 million bonus.
The FedEx Cup playoffs have provided great theater, with Adam Scott winning the Barclays while on the range preparing for a possible playoff; Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing in the same group at the Deutsche Bank Championship; and Jim Furyk tying the tour scoring record with a 59 in the second round of the BMW Championship. Henrik Stenson, one of five players in the field who would win the bonus with a victory here, produced additional drama with four consecutive birdies Thursday on his way to a pace-setting six-under 64.
It has been a great diversion from raking leaves for people already ardent about golf. But are the playoffs delivering a new audience to the game? Dufner doubts it.
“Golf fans are always going to watch golf no matter if football’s going on or not,” he said. “But you’re going to have a tough time pulling guys away from watching their favorite universities, their favorite N.F.L. teams, during this time of year. I don’t think us doing the playoffs really has that much of an impact on it.”
Aided by a late charge from Woods, who finished one stroke behind Scott, the final-round coverage of the Barclays, the first event of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup, earned a 3.7 overnight rating on CBS, up from 2.7 last year. Nielsen figures showed the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the next event, had 3.2 million viewers on NBC, down 34 percent from 2012, when the final round was the most-viewed FedEx Cup telecast since 2007.
Golf Channel’s coverage of Furyk’s sub-60 round drew an audience of just under 1.1 million.
“The guys that are into football aren’t going to pay too much attention to the playoffs, especially at the beginning of the year,” Dufner said. “Guys are excited about their teams or their fantasy teams or universities that they went to or root for. I even find myself in the same predicament at times, wishing that I could attend games or watch games.”
Auburn’s game at L.S.U. is at night, which means Dufner will not have to ask for scoring updates the way players with other allegiances have the past two Saturdays.
“I’m glad that I’m playing at East Lake and definitely putting my best foot forward,” Dufner said, “but another part of me was wishing that maybe I was at home enjoying a couple of beers and watching some football.”
The third playoff event, the BMW Championship, had a Monday finish because of inclement weather, which sent sighs through the television broadcasting trailer and booth and sent everybody else scurrying to change travel arrangements. But Dufner found the rainbow after Sunday’s daylong rain.
“We weren’t playing,” he said, “so we got to watch some football.”
Brandt Snedeker, the reigning FedEx Cup champion, is a fan of his alma mater, Vanderbilt, and his home-state N.F.L. team, the Tennessee Titans. He said he had received texts from people who told him they were switching back and forth on the weekends between football games and the golf telecasts.
Speaking of the playoffs, Snedeker, who carded a 69, said, “The last four weeks going up against the N.F.L., I think it’s our best product.” He added: “I would like to think it is making a dent, because you have Tiger, Phil playing, and there are a bunch of different scenarios playing out this week that can really draw a viewer in.”
In a news conference Tuesday, the PGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem, pointed to the television viewership throughout the year as evidence that golf’s popularity is on an upswing.
“We had 165 million different Americans tune in at one point in time,” Finchem said. “Over 100 million tune in on 10 or 12 events or more.”
Keegan Bradley, an unabashed fan of New England teams, was asked Thursday which he had perused first this past month: the golf results and FedEx Cup rankings or Red Sox box scores and Patriots game summaries? Bradley, after carding a 72, did not hesitate. “Baseball and football,” he said, “and what the Celtics are doing for sure.”
www-nytimes-com/2013/09/20/sports/golf/the-season-when-golf-and-football-collide-html?_r=0
If he were not at this week’s season-ending Tour Championship, Dufner, who was last in the field after an opening four-over 74, would be gearing up for Auburn’s game Saturday at L.S.U. The start of autumn is the time sports fans give thanks for their bountiful viewing choices. In addition to the college football season getting in gear, the N.F.L. is back in action, and the baseball season is winding down while wild-card races are tightening up. And then there are the golf playoffs, with the best players in the world spending a month jockeying for a $10 million bonus.
The FedEx Cup playoffs have provided great theater, with Adam Scott winning the Barclays while on the range preparing for a possible playoff; Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing in the same group at the Deutsche Bank Championship; and Jim Furyk tying the tour scoring record with a 59 in the second round of the BMW Championship. Henrik Stenson, one of five players in the field who would win the bonus with a victory here, produced additional drama with four consecutive birdies Thursday on his way to a pace-setting six-under 64.
It has been a great diversion from raking leaves for people already ardent about golf. But are the playoffs delivering a new audience to the game? Dufner doubts it.
“Golf fans are always going to watch golf no matter if football’s going on or not,” he said. “But you’re going to have a tough time pulling guys away from watching their favorite universities, their favorite N.F.L. teams, during this time of year. I don’t think us doing the playoffs really has that much of an impact on it.”
Aided by a late charge from Woods, who finished one stroke behind Scott, the final-round coverage of the Barclays, the first event of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup, earned a 3.7 overnight rating on CBS, up from 2.7 last year. Nielsen figures showed the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the next event, had 3.2 million viewers on NBC, down 34 percent from 2012, when the final round was the most-viewed FedEx Cup telecast since 2007.
Golf Channel’s coverage of Furyk’s sub-60 round drew an audience of just under 1.1 million.
“The guys that are into football aren’t going to pay too much attention to the playoffs, especially at the beginning of the year,” Dufner said. “Guys are excited about their teams or their fantasy teams or universities that they went to or root for. I even find myself in the same predicament at times, wishing that I could attend games or watch games.”
Auburn’s game at L.S.U. is at night, which means Dufner will not have to ask for scoring updates the way players with other allegiances have the past two Saturdays.
“I’m glad that I’m playing at East Lake and definitely putting my best foot forward,” Dufner said, “but another part of me was wishing that maybe I was at home enjoying a couple of beers and watching some football.”
The third playoff event, the BMW Championship, had a Monday finish because of inclement weather, which sent sighs through the television broadcasting trailer and booth and sent everybody else scurrying to change travel arrangements. But Dufner found the rainbow after Sunday’s daylong rain.
“We weren’t playing,” he said, “so we got to watch some football.”
Brandt Snedeker, the reigning FedEx Cup champion, is a fan of his alma mater, Vanderbilt, and his home-state N.F.L. team, the Tennessee Titans. He said he had received texts from people who told him they were switching back and forth on the weekends between football games and the golf telecasts.
Speaking of the playoffs, Snedeker, who carded a 69, said, “The last four weeks going up against the N.F.L., I think it’s our best product.” He added: “I would like to think it is making a dent, because you have Tiger, Phil playing, and there are a bunch of different scenarios playing out this week that can really draw a viewer in.”
In a news conference Tuesday, the PGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem, pointed to the television viewership throughout the year as evidence that golf’s popularity is on an upswing.
“We had 165 million different Americans tune in at one point in time,” Finchem said. “Over 100 million tune in on 10 or 12 events or more.”
Keegan Bradley, an unabashed fan of New England teams, was asked Thursday which he had perused first this past month: the golf results and FedEx Cup rankings or Red Sox box scores and Patriots game summaries? Bradley, after carding a 72, did not hesitate. “Baseball and football,” he said, “and what the Celtics are doing for sure.”
www-nytimes-com/2013/09/20/sports/golf/the-season-when-golf-and-football-collide-html?_r=0
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Despite the fact that Tiger Woods will remain stuck on 14 career majors for at least the next seven months, Jack Nicklaus believes the odds still favor the current world No. 1 in his quest for a record 19 titles.
Speaking at the opening of a South Carolina pizza restaurant in which he and son Gary are investors, Nicklaus explained that Woods remains likely to match and even surpass his record total of 18 majors despite his current drought that now spans more than five years.
"If you look at it realistically, Tiger's probably got another 10 years of top golf," Nicklaus told the Associated Press. "That's 40 majors. Can he win five of them? I think he probably will."
Though he believes the 37-year-old will some day become golf's most decorated major champion, the 73-year-old Nicklaus admitted that Woods faces an ever-growing burden of expectation until he breaks a winless streak that dates back to the 2008 U.S. Open.
"Each time you don't win, obviously, makes it harder," he added.
While Woods has five titles to his credit this season, including a pair of WGC events and The Players Championship, he went 0-for-4 in the majors, with his best result coming when he tied for fourth at the Masters. The venues of golf's four biggest events in 2014 include Augusta National, Royal Liverpool (British Open) and Valhalla Golf Club (PGA Championship), each of which have previously hosted a major that Woods went on to win.
Jack Nicklaus Believes Tiger Woods 'Probably Will' Break Majors Mark | Golf Channel
Speaking at the opening of a South Carolina pizza restaurant in which he and son Gary are investors, Nicklaus explained that Woods remains likely to match and even surpass his record total of 18 majors despite his current drought that now spans more than five years.
"If you look at it realistically, Tiger's probably got another 10 years of top golf," Nicklaus told the Associated Press. "That's 40 majors. Can he win five of them? I think he probably will."
Though he believes the 37-year-old will some day become golf's most decorated major champion, the 73-year-old Nicklaus admitted that Woods faces an ever-growing burden of expectation until he breaks a winless streak that dates back to the 2008 U.S. Open.
"Each time you don't win, obviously, makes it harder," he added.
While Woods has five titles to his credit this season, including a pair of WGC events and The Players Championship, he went 0-for-4 in the majors, with his best result coming when he tied for fourth at the Masters. The venues of golf's four biggest events in 2014 include Augusta National, Royal Liverpool (British Open) and Valhalla Golf Club (PGA Championship), each of which have previously hosted a major that Woods went on to win.
Jack Nicklaus Believes Tiger Woods 'Probably Will' Break Majors Mark | Golf Channel
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If the 'show's not over until the fat lady sings', perhaps it can't begin until David Feherty has told a string of flatulence stories.
Kelly Tilghman and Feherty welcomed the Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships competitors at a welcome dinner by sharing some untold tales from the tour, including a few nuggets from Feherty that are debatably unfit for print.
A little off-color humor that CBS might not approve of is just a little slice of the reward for those nearly 1,200 competitors teeing it up this week. Golfers qualified by placing in the Top 3 of one of the Am Tour's 29 major events since the 2012 National Championships. Now, finalists can get a good night sleep and prepare for round one, which will be staged among four courses at PGA West.
At tonight's welcome dinner, the hosts also took timeout to announce that Am Tour raised $76,534 for the Troops First Foundation in 2013 through 50-50 raffles at local events, surpassing last year's total of just over $64,000. This is also the biggest Nationals field in the event's history since it began in 2004. The Hogan flight (8-11.9 handicaps) will be the most competitive with 142 entrants.
Some players will tee it up at PGA West on the heels of particularly hot seasons.
Paul Nault, from Victoria, B.C., won Nationals last year in the Snead division (20 handicaps and above) but now finds himself bumped up two flights to the Sarazen flight (12-15.9). His 2013 season thus far, which includes four victories on his local tour plus two third place finishes in majors, is highlighted by a 74 at Druids Glen Golf Club near Seattle.
There are some players in the event who already have some good memories about PGA West, which hosted the Western Classic, a two-day major earlier this year. Sanjay Prasanna won the Jones flight (16-19.9 handicaps) with a two-day total of 170. That said, he will have to face down the infamous Alcatraz hole on the Stadium Course again, which bit him for a six during the event.
In the Championship Flight is Mark Mulder, former Major League Baseball pitcher and a regular on the Am Tour circuit and National Championships. Mulder, from Scottsdale, won the Western Classic at PGA West with a two-day total of 140. Though well decorated on the Am Tour, Mulder has never won the National Championship in four tries, finishing 7th last year at Sawgrass. While La Quinta was the site of the 2011 National Championships, 2013 brings two new golf courses to the lineup. Joining the side-by-side Nicklaus and Stadium Course at PGA West as well as the Greg Norman Course is the Palmer Private Course at PGA West, which is in the course rotation for the Humana Challenge on the PGA TOUR.
The 2013 Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships are officially under way | Golf Channel
Kelly Tilghman and Feherty welcomed the Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships competitors at a welcome dinner by sharing some untold tales from the tour, including a few nuggets from Feherty that are debatably unfit for print.
A little off-color humor that CBS might not approve of is just a little slice of the reward for those nearly 1,200 competitors teeing it up this week. Golfers qualified by placing in the Top 3 of one of the Am Tour's 29 major events since the 2012 National Championships. Now, finalists can get a good night sleep and prepare for round one, which will be staged among four courses at PGA West.
At tonight's welcome dinner, the hosts also took timeout to announce that Am Tour raised $76,534 for the Troops First Foundation in 2013 through 50-50 raffles at local events, surpassing last year's total of just over $64,000. This is also the biggest Nationals field in the event's history since it began in 2004. The Hogan flight (8-11.9 handicaps) will be the most competitive with 142 entrants.
Some players will tee it up at PGA West on the heels of particularly hot seasons.
Paul Nault, from Victoria, B.C., won Nationals last year in the Snead division (20 handicaps and above) but now finds himself bumped up two flights to the Sarazen flight (12-15.9). His 2013 season thus far, which includes four victories on his local tour plus two third place finishes in majors, is highlighted by a 74 at Druids Glen Golf Club near Seattle.
There are some players in the event who already have some good memories about PGA West, which hosted the Western Classic, a two-day major earlier this year. Sanjay Prasanna won the Jones flight (16-19.9 handicaps) with a two-day total of 170. That said, he will have to face down the infamous Alcatraz hole on the Stadium Course again, which bit him for a six during the event.
In the Championship Flight is Mark Mulder, former Major League Baseball pitcher and a regular on the Am Tour circuit and National Championships. Mulder, from Scottsdale, won the Western Classic at PGA West with a two-day total of 140. Though well decorated on the Am Tour, Mulder has never won the National Championship in four tries, finishing 7th last year at Sawgrass. While La Quinta was the site of the 2011 National Championships, 2013 brings two new golf courses to the lineup. Joining the side-by-side Nicklaus and Stadium Course at PGA West as well as the Greg Norman Course is the Palmer Private Course at PGA West, which is in the course rotation for the Humana Challenge on the PGA TOUR.
The 2013 Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships are officially under way | Golf Channel
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Shooting the lowest score is the main thing, so you can be sure that Henrik Stenson very much wanted both trophies Sunday at the Tour Championship -- even though he could have lost the tournament and still gone home with a $10 million bonus.
Life is pretty good, isn't it, when you can walk away with that kind of consolation prize? Stenson made sure that awkwardness didn't enter in the FedEx Cup scenario at East Lake Golf Club, holding off a late charge from Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker to capture the season-ending tournament. Points permutations and mathematical madness are part of the FedEx Cup, and there were a few scenarios that would have made for a strange 18th green ceremony.
But for the fourth straight year, the PGA Tour crowned one man its champion of the tournament and the points bonanza. For Stenson, it capped a comeback of immense proportions.
Just 18 months ago, the hard-hitting Swede was ranked 230th in the world. He was exempt on the PGA Tour due to his victory at the Players Championship in 2009, the year his life and game began to unravel. He didn't have a single top-10 finish in 2011 and 2012 saw him post just one.
A year ago at this time, he had qualified for just one FedEx playoff event and was still outside the top 100 in the world.
Today he is the FedEx Cup champion after winning the Tour Championship as well as the Deutsche Bank Championship earlier this month.
"I think it says that I never give up," said Stenson, who is now fourth in the world. "I went from way, way back down in 2001 and got back up to No. 4. So I'm obviously touching my personal best there.
"It's been a great summer, way beyond what I could imagine. Since mid-July has been incredible. But obviously the work that I'd done before … it wasn't like you wake up in the middle of July and start playing fantastic. I put the work in in the spring."
Stenson shot a final-round 68 to win by three on Sunday. There are many who will say the money at stake here is obscene. Each of the four playoff events came with an $8 million purse. That means Stenson received $1.44 million for winning the Tour Championship (as well as for his victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship). He also takes the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup, $1 million of which goes into a tax-deferred retirement account -- not that anybody is concerned with that.
He has been on an amazing run of late, but there had been steady progress earlier, as he slowly climbed in the rankings after a victory late in 2012 in South Africa. But nothing foretold the stretch of golf he would produce over the past two months.
Starting with the Scottish Open in July, Stenson's results read as follows: T-3, 2, T-2, 3, T-43, 1, T-33, 1. That's six top-three finishes, including two victories, in eight events. Stenson was runner-up at the Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, third at the PGA Championship, then won two of the four playoff events.
Stricker said he'd consider Stenson along with Tiger Woods for the PGA Tour's player of the year, and the notion has some merit. It was a great run, at a perfect time, and if the tour still gave out a comeback player of the year honor, Stenson gets it with ease. "It's very rare when a player doesn't go through some sort of struggles," said Stricker, who shot 65 to finish tied for second and ended up third in the FedEx Cup standings as a part-time player in 2013. "The careers out here last pretty long sometimes, and it's hard to maintain top form all the time.
"Henrik had a little blip on his screen there for a while, much like everybody. It's nice to see that he's put in the work and the energy and the time to get it back and to reach really the ultimate thing in our sport, to win the FedEx Cup. I can relate. A lot of players can relate to where he was and where he is today. It's a pretty amazing journey."
Although he didn't win as often as Tiger Woods (five victories) in 2013, Stenson's victories came during the playoff run. Woods led the FedEx Cup standings since March, was passed briefly by Stenson after he won the Deutsche Bank Championship, and then Woods led again going into the Tour Championship.
But Stenson won and Woods finished tied for 22nd at East Lake. Stenson had two victories, a tie for 43rd and a tie for 33rd while Woods was second, tied for 65th, tied for 11th and tied for 22nd.
"He's played incredible," Woods said. "From basically the British Open on, he's basically put it together, and he's played so consistently, while at a high level. He's hit it great, made his share of putts, but he's just been so consistent. It's good to see. He's a good guy, we all like him, and it's good to see."
Although it is a story Stenson is reluctant to discuss in much detail, most in the game are aware of the financial hit he and many others took a few years ago due to the Stanford Financial collapse. Stenson had invested a significant sum of money -- believed to be several million dollars -- in 2008, only to learn that most of those involved had been swindled by Allen Stanford, who ran the company.
The unraveling of the reported pyramid scheme began around the same time that Stenson went into his slump in 2009, and he had reluctantly admitted that it played a role in his struggles.
Of course, Stenson also made sure to point out that others were hurt far worse than him; and he has the ability to make plenty playing golf, as the $11.44 million payday on Sunday will attest. "I'm not struggling by any means," he said.
Still, if it's possible to root for someone who has the ability to make millions, Stenson is the guy.
And there is more to be earned. Stenson leads the European Tour's Race to Dubai and will resume that quest next month with a couple of tournaments in China followed by the season-ending event in Dubai.
For now, he will enjoy himself. Since July, Stenson has made more than $15 million, including the FedEx bonus. And Stanford is
Life is pretty good, isn't it, when you can walk away with that kind of consolation prize? Stenson made sure that awkwardness didn't enter in the FedEx Cup scenario at East Lake Golf Club, holding off a late charge from Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker to capture the season-ending tournament. Points permutations and mathematical madness are part of the FedEx Cup, and there were a few scenarios that would have made for a strange 18th green ceremony.
But for the fourth straight year, the PGA Tour crowned one man its champion of the tournament and the points bonanza. For Stenson, it capped a comeback of immense proportions.
Just 18 months ago, the hard-hitting Swede was ranked 230th in the world. He was exempt on the PGA Tour due to his victory at the Players Championship in 2009, the year his life and game began to unravel. He didn't have a single top-10 finish in 2011 and 2012 saw him post just one.
A year ago at this time, he had qualified for just one FedEx playoff event and was still outside the top 100 in the world.
Today he is the FedEx Cup champion after winning the Tour Championship as well as the Deutsche Bank Championship earlier this month.
"I think it says that I never give up," said Stenson, who is now fourth in the world. "I went from way, way back down in 2001 and got back up to No. 4. So I'm obviously touching my personal best there.
"It's been a great summer, way beyond what I could imagine. Since mid-July has been incredible. But obviously the work that I'd done before … it wasn't like you wake up in the middle of July and start playing fantastic. I put the work in in the spring."
Stenson shot a final-round 68 to win by three on Sunday. There are many who will say the money at stake here is obscene. Each of the four playoff events came with an $8 million purse. That means Stenson received $1.44 million for winning the Tour Championship (as well as for his victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship). He also takes the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup, $1 million of which goes into a tax-deferred retirement account -- not that anybody is concerned with that.
He has been on an amazing run of late, but there had been steady progress earlier, as he slowly climbed in the rankings after a victory late in 2012 in South Africa. But nothing foretold the stretch of golf he would produce over the past two months.
Starting with the Scottish Open in July, Stenson's results read as follows: T-3, 2, T-2, 3, T-43, 1, T-33, 1. That's six top-three finishes, including two victories, in eight events. Stenson was runner-up at the Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, third at the PGA Championship, then won two of the four playoff events.
Stricker said he'd consider Stenson along with Tiger Woods for the PGA Tour's player of the year, and the notion has some merit. It was a great run, at a perfect time, and if the tour still gave out a comeback player of the year honor, Stenson gets it with ease. "It's very rare when a player doesn't go through some sort of struggles," said Stricker, who shot 65 to finish tied for second and ended up third in the FedEx Cup standings as a part-time player in 2013. "The careers out here last pretty long sometimes, and it's hard to maintain top form all the time.
"Henrik had a little blip on his screen there for a while, much like everybody. It's nice to see that he's put in the work and the energy and the time to get it back and to reach really the ultimate thing in our sport, to win the FedEx Cup. I can relate. A lot of players can relate to where he was and where he is today. It's a pretty amazing journey."
Although he didn't win as often as Tiger Woods (five victories) in 2013, Stenson's victories came during the playoff run. Woods led the FedEx Cup standings since March, was passed briefly by Stenson after he won the Deutsche Bank Championship, and then Woods led again going into the Tour Championship.
But Stenson won and Woods finished tied for 22nd at East Lake. Stenson had two victories, a tie for 43rd and a tie for 33rd while Woods was second, tied for 65th, tied for 11th and tied for 22nd.
"He's played incredible," Woods said. "From basically the British Open on, he's basically put it together, and he's played so consistently, while at a high level. He's hit it great, made his share of putts, but he's just been so consistent. It's good to see. He's a good guy, we all like him, and it's good to see."
Although it is a story Stenson is reluctant to discuss in much detail, most in the game are aware of the financial hit he and many others took a few years ago due to the Stanford Financial collapse. Stenson had invested a significant sum of money -- believed to be several million dollars -- in 2008, only to learn that most of those involved had been swindled by Allen Stanford, who ran the company.
The unraveling of the reported pyramid scheme began around the same time that Stenson went into his slump in 2009, and he had reluctantly admitted that it played a role in his struggles.
Of course, Stenson also made sure to point out that others were hurt far worse than him; and he has the ability to make plenty playing golf, as the $11.44 million payday on Sunday will attest. "I'm not struggling by any means," he said.
Still, if it's possible to root for someone who has the ability to make millions, Stenson is the guy.
And there is more to be earned. Stenson leads the European Tour's Race to Dubai and will resume that quest next month with a couple of tournaments in China followed by the season-ending event in Dubai.
For now, he will enjoy himself. Since July, Stenson has made more than $15 million, including the FedEx bonus. And Stanford is
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Former President George W. Bush says President Barack Obama should not be criticized for the amount of golf he plays.
In an excerpt from "In Play with Jimmy Roberts," airing Tuesday night on the Golf Channel, Bush says he understands the pressures of the White House and that playing golf is a good outlet.
"You know, I see our president criticized for playing golf. I don't — I think he ought to play golf," Bush says in the interview. "Because I know what it's like to be in the bubble. And I know the pressures of the job. And to be able to get outside and play golf with some of your pals is important for the president. It does give you an outlet."
Fifteen of the last 18 presidents have played golf, and two are in the World Golf Hall of Fame — Dwight D. Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush. Eisenhower was a member at Augusta National.
George W. Bush quit playing golf in the fall of 2003 after 2½ years in office, saying it was inappropriate for the commander in chief to be seen on the course while Americans were fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When Roberts suggested that golf is a good release, Bush agreed.
"I think it is," he said. "And I think it's good for the president to be out playing golf."
Obama has played more than 140 rounds of golf since he first took office, according to CBS News. Earlier this year, he played with Tiger Woods in south Florida.
Bush Says Obama Shouldn't Be Criticized for Golf - ABC News
In an excerpt from "In Play with Jimmy Roberts," airing Tuesday night on the Golf Channel, Bush says he understands the pressures of the White House and that playing golf is a good outlet.
"You know, I see our president criticized for playing golf. I don't — I think he ought to play golf," Bush says in the interview. "Because I know what it's like to be in the bubble. And I know the pressures of the job. And to be able to get outside and play golf with some of your pals is important for the president. It does give you an outlet."
Fifteen of the last 18 presidents have played golf, and two are in the World Golf Hall of Fame — Dwight D. Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush. Eisenhower was a member at Augusta National.
George W. Bush quit playing golf in the fall of 2003 after 2½ years in office, saying it was inappropriate for the commander in chief to be seen on the course while Americans were fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When Roberts suggested that golf is a good release, Bush agreed.
"I think it is," he said. "And I think it's good for the president to be out playing golf."
Obama has played more than 140 rounds of golf since he first took office, according to CBS News. Earlier this year, he played with Tiger Woods in south Florida.
Bush Says Obama Shouldn't Be Criticized for Golf - ABC News
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A four-time national champion from Yuma is getting herself into uncharted territory.
While her sport of choice was always softball, former Kofa standout Chelsie Mesa is going to hit the links to help boost the University of Arizona, where she won the NCAA Division I National Championship in 2006 and 2007.
Mesa will be a part of the University of Arizona Alumni Association 33rd Annual Wildcat Alumni Scholarship Golf Tournament and Barbecue on Tuesday at Yuma Golf and Country Club.
“I’ve been hearing about it for a long time and (Arizona softball) Coach (Mike) Candrea gives me a hard time that I should do it,” said Mesa, who was on a Phoenix College team that won the NJCAA National Championship in 2004 and 2005. “For me, personally, I find comfort in athletics and it’s in my comfort zone. I’ve been doing sports all my life.”
According to YUMACATS Alumni President Jeff Byrd, there’s three ways somebody can participate in this fundraiser, which helps raise money for scholarships for local high school seniors and Arizona Western students who plan to attend University of Arizona.
It costs $150 – $70 of which is tax deductible – to play a round of golf, which has a shotgun start at 1 p.m. For those who don’t want to golf, there’s a $25 dinner at 5 p.m. with a silent auction, where Wildcat fans can buy memorabilia. Finally, there’s the option to make a 100-percent tax deductible donation.
Byrd said the association is just shy of $900,000 with a goal of hopefully passing $1 million.
The tournament will get a big boost from having a participant like Mesa, Byrd said, considering she is a local athlete who ended up on the grand stage of Division I athletics.
“I think it’s phenomenal. She’s a great role model and the kids look up to her,” Byrd said. “It shows you can be from here and go to the big city and be productive and be successful.”
For Mesa, it’s a chance to get involved with her Alma mater and separate life after softball and help get local students to the school and city she loves.
“Tucson is a smaller town so U of A is a big part of it, so you fall into the idea that you bleed red and blue,” Mesa said.
Read more: Golf tournament set as fundraiser for UA scholarships | territory, getting, time - YumaSun
While her sport of choice was always softball, former Kofa standout Chelsie Mesa is going to hit the links to help boost the University of Arizona, where she won the NCAA Division I National Championship in 2006 and 2007.
Mesa will be a part of the University of Arizona Alumni Association 33rd Annual Wildcat Alumni Scholarship Golf Tournament and Barbecue on Tuesday at Yuma Golf and Country Club.
“I’ve been hearing about it for a long time and (Arizona softball) Coach (Mike) Candrea gives me a hard time that I should do it,” said Mesa, who was on a Phoenix College team that won the NJCAA National Championship in 2004 and 2005. “For me, personally, I find comfort in athletics and it’s in my comfort zone. I’ve been doing sports all my life.”
According to YUMACATS Alumni President Jeff Byrd, there’s three ways somebody can participate in this fundraiser, which helps raise money for scholarships for local high school seniors and Arizona Western students who plan to attend University of Arizona.
It costs $150 – $70 of which is tax deductible – to play a round of golf, which has a shotgun start at 1 p.m. For those who don’t want to golf, there’s a $25 dinner at 5 p.m. with a silent auction, where Wildcat fans can buy memorabilia. Finally, there’s the option to make a 100-percent tax deductible donation.
Byrd said the association is just shy of $900,000 with a goal of hopefully passing $1 million.
The tournament will get a big boost from having a participant like Mesa, Byrd said, considering she is a local athlete who ended up on the grand stage of Division I athletics.
“I think it’s phenomenal. She’s a great role model and the kids look up to her,” Byrd said. “It shows you can be from here and go to the big city and be productive and be successful.”
For Mesa, it’s a chance to get involved with her Alma mater and separate life after softball and help get local students to the school and city she loves.
“Tucson is a smaller town so U of A is a big part of it, so you fall into the idea that you bleed red and blue,” Mesa said.
Read more: Golf tournament set as fundraiser for UA scholarships | territory, getting, time - YumaSun
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Cook County Sheriff’s Department Spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said the fire was reported around 8:50 p.m. by an employee of the Chick Evans Golf Course, at 6145 Golf Rd.
Ansari said it appeared that a “tiki torch” may have been used to start the fire which spread across a set of golf carts parked on the south side of the clubhouse area, damaging nearly four dozen of them.
“It’s not an accidental fire,” Ansari said. “At this point, the cause and the motive are under investigation.”
Morton Grove Fire Chief Tom Friel added that the fire was “definitely suspicious and most likely intentional.” He would not say if it appeared that an accelerant had been used, though he noted that each cart is powered by gasoline which likely contributed to it spreading rapidly.
The golf carts had a value of about $3,000 each, Ansari said, resulting in estimated loss of $135,000.
According to Friel, roughly two dozen carts were left untouched by the flames. A nearby oak tree was charred, but no injuries were reported.
Morton Grove and Glenview Fire Departments responded to the fire, which Friel said was extinguished in minutes.
“We got control of it fairly quickly,” he said.
Jered Wieland, regional manager for Chick Evans Golf Course, said the fire destroyed about 80 percent of the fleet of carts. The course has reopened since the fire and will use carts from other area golf courses through the remainder of the golf season, Wieland said.
“It really hasn’t impacted the other courses because we’re pulling from a few different facilities,” he added. “We’ve been able to get Chick Evans back up and fully functional.”
The extent of the damage that occurred is a first for the course, Wieland said.
45 Golf Carts Destroyed In