Golf Digest: Are You as Athletic as a Tour Pro?

YOU’VE PROBABLY SEEN THE periodic stories that question whether golf is a sport and whether those fancy-pants tour pros are athletes. They’re good fun, right? Often they’re accompanied by photos of players of the Mark Calcavecchia and Tim Herron variety.

Well, Golf Digest is throwing out a challenge in its September issue: “Are you as athletic as a tour pro?”

It’s no joke. It’s a part of the magazine’s athletes issue. Functional Movements System founder Gray Cook wants to “test your fitness with basic competency, core stability and balance exercises.”

If you can do this stuff, then Golf Digest says “you have the potential for greatness.” And if you can’t, you might not want to make fun of guys who wear white belts and chase golf balls for a living.

TAKE THE GOLF DIGEST COMBINE AND SEE HOW YOU STACK UP

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

U.S. Senior Open: Cochran to Attempt Langer Double

ONE LEFTY FINISHED SECOND at the British Open. That would be Phil Mickelson, whose final-round charge fizzled on the back nine. But the following week a lesser-known lefty won the senior British. The Champions Tour’s Russ Cochran claimed his first professional major at Walton Heath in England last Sunday.

Can Cochran win consecutive majors by capturing the U.S. Senior Open title at Inverness this week? Bernhard Langer performed the remarkable feat a year ago.

(Russ Cochran)

PGATour.com contributor Vartan Kupelian thinks Cochran can do it. Kupelian ranks the veteran lefty No. 1 in his U.S. Senior Open Power Rankings.

“Now that he’s [Cochran] back and fit again after a wrist injury,” Kupelian writes, “a back-to-back isn’t out of the question. Consider that Cochran’s first two Champions Tour victories, in 2010, came in successive tournaments last September in Korea and North Carolina.”

Cochran, a journeyman who won just once in 26 years on the PGA Tour, is flourishing on the second-chance tour. The 52-year-old Kentucky native has three victories since joining the Champions Tour in February 2009.

Cochran will face tough competition at Inverness. Other players have been knocking at the major door, including John Cook and Mark Calcavecchia. Calc perhaps only needs a good putting week to kick the door in. Troubled by a thumb injury this season, defending champion Langer might be rounding into form after last week’s T12 at the Senior British Open that included a pair of 69s on the weekend.

As Kupelian reports, there are five players in the U.S. Senior Open field who have won at Inverness dating back to 1973: Craig Stadler, Hale Irwin, Bob Tway, Paul Azinger (update: Azinger has withdrawn) and Bruce Lietzke. Inverness has hosted four U.S. Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens, two PGA Championships and one U.S. Amateur.

ESPN and NBC have the TV coverage.

−The Armchair Golfer

Mark Calcavecchia: When 50 Is Younger Than 47

WHO LOOKS FORWARD TO turning 50? Those rookies on the Champions Tour, that’s who. Mark Calcavecchia is one of them. Calc couldn’t wait to jump off the PGA Tour and have his ticket punched for the Champions Tour, a transcontinental gravy train for golf’s graying set with shorter back swings and thicker waistlines. Mark fits right in.

“I started thinking about 50 when I was 47,” Calc told The Associated Press in May.

The context was that he was joking. He might have chuckled when he said it, but it sounds about right to me. Except for late bloomers like Kenny Perry and Fred Funk, I would think a lot of those mid-40 players who have been grinding on the PGA Tour for years dream about the Champions Tour most nights.

Calc could really play, too, into his late 40s. He was 49th in the OWGR in 2007 and won just shy of $3 million. Still, 28 years on the PGA Tour will put an ache in your step and a twitch in your putting stroke.

The Champions Tour has so much to offer a frisky 50-year-old: Shorter courses. Fifty-four hole events. Going against Frosty instead of Lefty.

After shooting 64 and 66, Calcavecchia is poised to get his first Champions Tour win at the 3M Championship in Minnesota. He’s tied with David Frost at 14 under. He left the course mad today because he bogeyed the last two holes. He still shot 66. Tomorrow might be his day. If not, it’s coming because for Calc and those other freshmen on the old guys circuit, 50 is younger than 47.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Steve Newton/Flickr)

A First Edition of ‘Only at the British Open …’

I WAS DOING OTHER things today and unable to pay much attention to the British Open. Now I’ve been reading up on what I missed and had this thought: The Open Championship is the most unpredictable golf tournament in the world, just downright nutty. Anything can happen, thanks mostly to the Jekyll and Hyde weather.

So how about a quick edition of “Only at the British Open …”? It’s the first and may not be the last. Ready? Here we go …


(Photo: Old Tom’s shop in St. Andrews / Son of Groucho, Flickr)



Only at the British Open would a 21-year-old phenom who shot a record 63 in the first round back it up with an 80.

Only at the British Open would John Daly take a swing at a potted plant after signing for a 76. (On second thought, that could happen anywhere.)

Only at the British Open would the wind go from 0 to 50 mph in nothing flat and completely switch directions in the middle of rounds.

Only at the British Open would a South African nicknamed “Shrek” set a 36-hole scoring record and lead by five.

Only at the British Open would old-guy champions Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Lehman sneak into contention, a la Tom Watson. “The old guys can hang with the young guys,” Calc said.

Only at the British Open do they talk ad nauseam about the “draw.”

Only at the British Open are greens slower than LA freeways one day and have balls blowing off them the next.

And finally, only at the British Open would Tigers Woods wave Tom Watson (who has been very critical of Woods) up on the 18th hole so the five-time Open champion could have his final moment in front of adoring fans before darkness fell. (Nicely done, Tiger.)

I’ll be watching on Saturday and Sunday because, well, anything can happen and I don’t want to miss it when it does.

−The Armchair Golfer

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Gusty Breezes and Missed Putts at Puerto Rico Open

(Photos courtesy of Rob Hayashida of Golf Views)

ARMCHAIR GOLF is in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, for the Puerto Rico Open.

RORY SABBATINI TYPIFIED PLAYERS I watched on a windy Saturday at the Puerto Rico Open. Putts didn’t drop for the South African and the frustration showed. In fact, of the several groups I watched, I didn’t see any player hole a putt of more than a few feet on the grainy, undulating greens. And on a few occasions, I saw players miss short par putts.

It’s only the third year for this PGA Tour stop, and I imagine the players are still learning the subtleties of the Tom Kite-designed course, including the apparently tricky putting surfaces.

Sabbatini, who opened with a forgettable 77, was paired with Mark Calcavecchia (68) and 2008 Puerto Rico Open champion Greg Kraft (72). Course designer and Champions Tour player Tom Kite shot a respectable 73 on the lengthy layout. John Daly posted a 69. With preferred lies in play, I expect the tournament record of 14-under par to fall.

Cejka’s Break

What are players doing on their breaks between the first and second rounds? Hanging out at the resort mostly, except for Alex Cejka, who completed his opening round of 67 early on Saturday.

“I’m going to fly home and see my kids and come back tonight,” he said.

–The Armchair Golfer

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