Tiger Crashes Masters Leaderboard

THE PUTTS WENT IN. After a sluggish start that included three bogeys in the first seven holes, Tiger Woods sank seven birdies in the last 11 holes en route to a 66 that moved him to within three shots of Rory McIlroy’s lead. Tiger’s touch on the glassy Augusta greens was back, like at 11 where he coaxed in a ticklish par-saver. His tee shots were still shaky at times, but many of his approach shots were on target, like at 18 where he carved his ball around the pines to set up a finishing birdie.

The look was also back as Tiger marched through the back nine and up the leaderboard late on Friday. On Saturday he’ll be paired with K.J. Choi, who posted a 70. The two played all four rounds together at last year’s Masters. They enjoy each others’ company.

Playing with leader McIlroy, Aussie Jason Day fired a brilliant 64, the day’s best round. Day is 8 under, two off McIlroy’s lead. Rory continued to stripe the ball, although the putts didn’t fall like they did on Thursday when he shot a 65. Rickie Fowler, the third musketeer, carded a 69 to keep himself in the hunt at 5 under.

After his second 69, Geoff Ogilvy is at 6 under along with first round co-leader Alvaro Quiros. Ricky Barnes, Fred Couples and Lee Westwood are tied with Fowler. Couples posted an age-defying 68. Freddie loves Augusta. It’s a crazy love. Phil Mickelson shot an even-par 72, and at 2 under has a lot of work to do on Saturday if he wants to crash the party.

The third round will be intriguing, for it’s a test. Will Tiger continue to hit good approach shots and hole putts? I think he can, especially at Augusta. On the other hand, Tiger hasn’t put together back-to-back rounds in a while. The pins will be tougher to get to; the greens will be harder and faster.

I’m also curious to see how the young bucks respond. For all the talk about Tiger’s intimidation factor being a thing of the past, I wonder if McIlroy and Day will have the twitches. My hunch is that Day will struggle. The Masters pressure might just beat him silly. Rory is a little more battle tested. But will he putt like Sergio Garcia?

As Rickie Fowler says, game on.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Gary Hisanaga, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

McIlroy and Quiros Lead Masters, Fowler to Wear White on Friday

THE 75TH MASTERS IS underway, golf fans, er, patrons. It was an especially gorgeous day at Augusta National, warm and no wind to speak of, a day for scoring. The field charged out of the gate like 2-year-olds at the Kentucky Derby. They’re all bunched up as they enter the first turn and it’s way too early to sort it all out.

But we know the horses leading the pack, a couple of strong thoroughbreds: Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Spain’s Alvaro Quiros.

Rory McIlroy, grouped with Rickie Fowler and Jason Day, set the early pace with a 7-under 65. Fowler had a 70. Day carded a 72. Quiros, playing alongside fellow power rangers Jhonattan Vegas and Gary Woodland in the day’s last grouping, matched McIlroy’s 65. Previously, Quiros’ best trip around Augusta National was 75.

I enjoyed watching Quiros, Woodland and Vegas blister the back nine. Woodland salvaged a 69 by playing the last six holes six under par.

With 67s, Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi are two behind the leaders. Matt Kuchar and Ricky Barnes fired 68s. Phil Mickelson and Tigers Woods had 70 and 71, respectively. World No. 1 Martin Kaymer stumbled to a 78.

The weather is supposed to be perfect on the weekend. The course will play firmer and faster as Sunday approaches.

Y’all know this isn’t a golf fashion blog, but the folks at COBRA-PUMA GOLF contacted me as they sometimes do. They wanted me to know what Rickie Fowler would be wearing all four days at the Masters.

Who am I to withhold this information from you?

So Rickie will slip into white with a blue-striped pattern on Friday, a green-striped polo with white pants on Saturday and his trademark all orange on Sunday. It might be the only thing I can say with any certainty about this year’s Masters.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Courtesy of COBRA-PUMA GOLF)

Rickie Roughs Up Phil

PHIL MICKELSON WAS SMILING. But inside he had to be hurting from the 6 and 5 smackdown he received from that young dandy clad in pink and white, none other than Rickie Fowler. The early Thursday match at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship got off to an ordinary start. Phil won the 3rd hole to go 1 up. Then Rickie climbed all over Lefty, reeling off birdie, eagle, par, par, birdie, a something (Phil conceded), birdie, birdie, par and, at last, another Phil concession. Match over.

I thought Fowler might beat the goofy grin off Mickelson’s face. I should have known better. Not going to happen. Besides, they’re friends, the Golf Channel talking heads emphasized.

Match play is a different animal. You can play pretty well and still get thrashed. Pars don’t get it done, as Phil and others (ahem, Rory McIlroy) learned. You and I might have some bad days at work. But I’ve never come home and said, “Honey, I had a tough day at the office, took an 8 and 7 beating.”

That, by the way, was the score of the Ben Crane-Rory McIlroy match. Rory, the No. 2 seed in his bracket, got “hammered,” as the PGATour.com headline writers put it, by gentle Ben. Let’s just say Crane birdied Thursday. The No. 10 seed will meet Miguel “The Mechanic” Jimenez on Friday.

Another wax job: Bubba Watson polished off Mark Wilson, 6 and 5.

With Tiger and Phil already gone, Lee Westwood became the third No. 1 seed to be eliminated, losing to Nick Watney. Kaymer, No. 1 in the Gary Player bracket, is still alive. The Germanator faces Hunter Mahan in the quarterfinals.

It could be a bloodbath. Because anything can happen in match play.

−The Armchair Golfer

The Greenest Show on Grass

ONE WEEKEND, A HALF MILLION PEOPLE and 100 some odd of the world’s best golfers equal the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It also equals a whole lot of trash. But it’s the perfect advertisement for tournament sponsor Waste Management. They can handle it with ease because they’re pros at the four R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle and recover.

Saturday is “Green Out!” day at the tournament. Waste Management is showcasing a number of green initiatives at TPC Scottsdale. There are recycling stations staffed by 200 recycling ambassadors. (Yes, ambassadors.) There are 60 solar-powered compactors for food waste disposal. There are recycling kiosks where fans can receive coupons from tournament sponsors. And there are food composting bins. Food waste will be sent to a “food digester,” where it will be turned into compost for local use. Finally, compressed natural gas trucks will transport waste and recycled materials from the tournament site.

The players are in the act. Several are wearing green today, such as Jonathan Byrd (shirt), Bill Haas (shirt) and Rickie Fowler, who has become the color green for the day.

The PGATour.com staff brainstormed some “green” costumes for those crazed Phoenix-area golf fans. They came up with the Jolly Green Giant, Green Hornet, The Riddler and the Green Lantern. (What, no Incredible Hulk?)

They also looked into the history books for PGA Tour players named Green. For me, three immediately came to mind: Nathan Green (current), Ken Green and Hubert Green. That’s barely a start. According to the tour staff, there have been a total of 36 players named Green. There also have been players named Greenbaum, Greenbach, Greene, Greenfield, Greenhill, Greenhaw, Greenleaf, Greenwood, Greenwell and Greenwald.

With that, I’m greened out.

−The Armchair Golfer

Brothers Molinari Are Augusta Bound

THIRTEEN PLAYERS HAVE QUALIFIED for the 2011 Masters based on their Official World Golf Ranking, including Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari, both members of the winning European Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in Wales. The Masters invites players who are in the world top 50 at year’s end. Francesco is No. 15 and big brother Edoardo is No. 18. It will be Francesco’s first trip down Magnolia Lane. Edoardo has played at Augusta National twice, in 2006 and 2010, missing the cut on both occasions.

(Photo: Tiger practicing, patrons gawking. / Keith Allison, Flickr)

Rickie Fowler can also expect his first Masters invitation after finishing his rookie season on the PGA Tour ranked 28th in the world. Other players who have qualified are Robert Karlsson of Sweden (No. 17), Charl Schwartzel of South Africa (No. 34) and Ryo Ishikawa of Japan (No. 36). A total of 92 players are in. Additional players can qualify if they win an early-season PGA Tour event or slip into the top 50 by late March.

It’s only 105 days until Phil Mickelson defends his title. The 2011 Masters will be played April 7 through 10.

As AP reported, Tiger Woods will attempt to end his longest stretch without winning the Green Jacket or a major. By April, it will have been six years since Tiger’s last Masters title in 2005. Tiger has also come up empty in his last 10 majors.

The 2011 Masters field, so far

−The Armchair Golfer

Players Select Jim Furyk as 2010 POY

IN A VOTE BY PGA Tour players, Jim Furyk was awarded the 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Others on the ballot included Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, but Furyk was the clear choice in my mind. Jim’s victory at the Tour Championship sealed the deal. He also walked off with the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. His two other wins came at the Transitions Championship and Verizon Heritage.

“The year just keeps getting better is all I can say,” Furyk told reporters at the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California. “I’m not sure I want 2010 to end at this point.”

In a year defined by Tiger Woods’s free-fall off and on the golf course, the 40-year-old Furyk had the best season of his 18-year career to rise above other contenders for the tour’s largest pot of gold (FedEx Cup) and top award. No one—not even Furyk himself, I expect—could have seen it coming. No knock on Jim, but I wouldn’t expect him to win POY again. The Tiger vacuum created unexpected opportunities this season for Furyk and other veteran players and rising stars. What happens in 2011 is anyone’s guess.

Rickie Fowler won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

−The Armchair Golfer

VIDEO: Rickie Fowler Four-Putts in Miniature Golf

U.S. RYDER CUP TEAM star Rickie Fowler got in some putting practice between rounds of this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Orlando, Florida, where he is currently 10 under par. Judging from the video, I don’t think it helped him. Fowler four-putted from five feet. Those mini-golf greens are tricky.

“You know what I’m doing?” Rickie said in the clip. “I’m saving it up for tomorrow.”

It looked like he really tried on the first putt. Then it sort of turns into hockey. We’ve all been there. (Well, I have.) I’m also guessing that Disney’s Fantasia putt-putt course plays tougher than it looks.

−The Armchair Golfer

Graeme McDowell Etches Name in Ryder Cup History

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh is a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a regular contributor to The Irish Times, Golf Digest Ireland and other golf publications. The following piece is excerpted from his blog, Irish Golf Desk. 

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

GRAEME MCDOWELL BECAME THE fifth Irish player to clinch the winning Ryder Cup point for Europe with a sensational 3 and 1 victory over Hunter Mahan in the final singles match.

The Ulsterman provoked a mass invasion of the 17th green he described as “bananas” as the American crumbled under the pressure in the decisive game of a classic Ryder Cup.

(Photo: Captain Montgomerie / Welsh Assembly Government, Flickr)

Two down and needing to win the last two holes to help the USA retain the trophy, the Bridgestone Invitational winner came up 20 yards short of the green with his tee shot, fluffed his chip in front of him and then failed to convert a 30 footer for par after McDowell had putted up to five feet from the fringe right of the green. But like Christy O’Connor Jnr and Philip Walton, he didn’t have to hole out for victory as Mahan conceded defeat.

Despite not being comfortable with his game all week, the 31-year old from Portrush showed just why he is arguably the gutsiest golfer on the planet as he withstood incredible pressure coming down the stretch when it became clear that Europe’s Ryder Cup hopes rested on his shoulders. Three up with seven holes to play, he lost the 12th to a par and the 15th to Mahan’s sole birdie of the day before producing the goods with an incredible birdie from 18 feet at the 16th.

Rickie Fowler birdied the last four holes to come back from three down to halve his match with fellow rookie Edoardo Molinari and force McDowell to win his match to win back the Ryder Cup. And he did it in incredible style with a brilliant six iron to 18 feet at the 16th setting up a birdie that left Mahan needing to win the last two holes to give the USA a 14-14 tie that would have been good enough to see them retain the trophy.

His left to right putt tracked perfectly, falling into the hole on the last roll to crush Mahan’s will.

“That was absolutely amazing. That was bananas,” McDowell said. “The putt on the 16th was stuff I have dreamed about all my life.

“The US Open felt like a back nine with my dad at Royal Portrush compared to this. I was really nervous - there was so much pressure.

“The putt on 16 was massive, and these spectators are massive. I had to get the putt going on 16, and it was the biggest one I have hit in my life.”

Mahan was crushed by the defeat and barely capable of speech at the US team’s media conference.

“I’ve played with Graeme before. I don’t even know what day it was. But he didn’t miss a shot. I think it was alternate shot, and he played he played great today. Didn’t miss a shot. Hit a bunch of key putts, probably the last four or five holes, and you know, he … that birdie on 16, after I got it to one down, was huge. He played …. he just beat me today.”

Padraig Harrington, who lost 3 and 2 to Zach Johnson, could have found himself in McDowell’s position as he played at No 11. But he was delighted to finish on a winning team for the fourth time in six appearances.

“Every Ryder Cup’s the same,” Harrington said. “It’s phenomenal. There’s nothing like it in golf. That’s incredible.”

Montgomerie paid tribute to McDowell, saying: “Graeme McDowell was put there for a very good reason. He’s full of confidence and that showed. That birdie on 16 was quite unbelievable.

“I’m very proud. It’s a very proud moment for us all here in Europe. They all played to a man magnificently, they all gave 110 per cent and that’s all you can ask.”

McDowell added his name to the list of Irish Ryder Cup immortals at Celtic Manor.

1987 Muirfield Village, Ohio - Eamonn Darcy
1989 The Belfry - Christy O’Connor Jnr
1995 Oak Hill, New York - Philip Walton
2002 The Belfry - Paul McGinley
2010 Celtic Manor - Graeme McDowell

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.

Captain Pavin’s Picks: ‘My Team Is on the Floor’ (Clip)

U.S. RYDER CUP CAPTAIN Corey Pavin announced his four picks today at a PGA of America press conference. They are Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler. Pavin, as seen in the above clip, revealed his picks in the kind of defiant fashion that marked his competitive career, pointing his left index finger and declaring, “My team is on the floor.”

I have no problem with it. I’ve always admired Pavin’s bulldog spirit.

All the reports I’ve read have emphasized the unity of Pavin and his assistants, so I was slightly surprised when assistant captain Tom Lehman leaned in and said, “What are you trying to do?” Maybe it has something to do with Lehman being a former captain. Who knows?

The crowd reaction was a bit unruly, but that’s not a huge surprise. With all the hype, you have to expect the picks aren’t going to go down easy with a lot of folks. Second and third guessing is the nature of the Ryder Cup beast.

But look at Corey! He just sets his jaw and waves his small black book.

The camera panned to Lisa Pavin and she gives the coach what could be interpreted as an adoring look. I might be reaching, but there it is.

And you got to love assistant captain Paul Goydos. Mr. 59 just smiles and shakes his head. He seriously needs a shave.

U.S. RYDER CUP TEAM

Automatic Berths
Phil Mickelson
Hunter Mahan
Jim Furyk
Steve Stricker
Jeff Overton
Bubba Watson
Dustin Johnson
Matt Kuchar

Captain’s Picks
Zach Johnson
Stewart Cink
Tiger Woods
Rickie Fowler

−The Armchair Golfer

(This is an ARMCHAIR GOLF spoof.)