Hi, friends across the pond. Just wanted to let you know the great game of golf is still being played somewhere in the world. Yeah, I know the Fed Ex and the Pres Cup is over. But not golf. the Hong Kong open is being played this week. And even if you can't be bothered with that, why not post something about golf you might be playing ? I played the other day with 3 clubs and a putter for 9 holes and shot 41...not bad, I don't mind saying myself. Is there any golf games you play in the winter ? ( Not the PS 3 BTW :) ). Tell us about it. Don't let Waggle room hybernate for the winter...tell us what you are up to. Who knows ? Emily might even post a round she played !

 Keep Waggle room going, or people will go, if you catch my drift . Cheers.

"I would rather play with 3 old codgers who were fun than 3 "good" players who were a pain in the toosh".

Thus said Chip when I told her about my half round of golf today. 

Byron (Welsh), Mac (Scots) & Tom (English) - I kid you not, invited me to join them.  I laid claim to my Irish ancestry just to make it representative of the UK.  (OK,  Grandad was actually from the south, but let's not be picky).   

They are well into their 70's;   Mac had a bad stroke a couple of years ago from which he has not fully recovered.. His wife died young and he brought up 3 daugters single-handed. Tom is apparently a High Court judge.  Byron feels the need to provide these personal details.  Actually he never stops talking, even when I am addressing the ball.  

They are totally relaxed in each other's company and put me at ease.  Supportive & sympathetic  in turn.  However, it cannot be said that they are conducive to low scoring.   They are oblivious to whose turn it is to play, whether from the tee, the fairway or on the green (where they merrily walk across, round, up/down, when someone (ME) is trying to putt).  The weather was cold but gloriously sunny and no wind.  The banter was gentle but hilarious. 

 

"I would rather play with 3 old codgers who were fun..............."    Ain't that the truth.  Thank you, Byron, Mac & Tom. 

I read an interesting article on David Duval by Iain Carter, BBC Sport Golf correspondent today.

 

My enduring memory of Duval was his most gracious acceptance speech on winning the 2001 Open Championship at Royal St. Lytham, and I have retained affection and respect for him.  

Duval has battled neck & wrist injuries, vertigo and depression.  He's run out of medical & earnings exemptions. Having had only 1 top 10 finish all season and finishing 152nd on the money list, he has the humility to go to Beaver Creek GC to begin his quest to retain his PGA Tour card for 2012, finishing 2nd.  Of course he will hope for and welcome sponsor invitations but he really wants to make the effort to play his way back .

To quote Iain Carter in his article "Polar opposite of John Daly who relies on sponsor invitations to carry on his career and then abuses them by walking off the course". 

1. Tiger said he'd be ready for the President's Cup. He was indeed ready looking very much like the Tiger of old. Is this an indication of things to come? Maybe, maybe not, but for me it was great seeing him play well under pressure again.

 

3. I'm glad Tiger took the high road with the Steve Williams thing.

 

2. Greg Norman needs to talk less. His statement of "they want to cut out the hearts of the Americans and hand it to them on the 18th green" was over the top; this wasn't a football game.It's also probably not smart or classy to criticize the opposing captain's picks.

 

3. Jim Furyk looked terrific, again.

 

4. Phil is going to make a good team captain one day.

 

5. Alabama is back in the National Championship hunt. Roll Tide!

The Singapore Open has been reduced to 54 holes after a rain delay that began at around 11.30 local time and turned into a no play at all, by mid afternoon. When it rains here - it pours!

via www.europeantour.com

Which begs the question - why play a major golf tournament in this part of the world with the south east monsoon just around the corner? To compound matters, they had 209 instead of the normal 142 players, tee it up this week using two courses, but only a one tee start. I understand the desire to allow as many young Asian players to be given a shot at a big time event in their own backyard, but surely not at the expense of the tournament itself?

Unfortunately, there hasn't been a Singapore Open since it's revival at Sentosa in 2005, that has not had weather delays and this will be the second time that it has been reduced to 54 holes. In that vein, it wouldn't be a surprise to see this event moved to February, when the weather is at it's most kind in this part of the world. 

There was no chance of going to a Monday finish because of the President's Cup next week and some players involved here, being part of respective PC teams. I feel for the sponsors, organisers and Sentosa Golf Club itself, because I know how much time and effort and proportionate blood, sweat and tears goes into this event. 

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

 

 

                              

 

The second round or rather, three quarters of the second round of The Barclays Singapore Open was suspended today because of bad light at around 6.40pm local time. A lightning delay of three hours was the culprit - that and a field of 209 players, who were never going to get it done with even the shortest of delays.

 

Note to Euro and Asian Tours – It’s the pre monsoon season and we will get weather delays. Having 209 players and using two courses may well be laudable for giving your young Asian players some valuable exposure against world class players, but for goodness sake – use two tees!

In the meantime, I caught up with an old mate of mine out there today, in Daniel Chopra. I think I put the jinx on him, because with a handful of holes to play, he was three over for the day and at one, possibly two shots away from the cut. This was after a handy 67 yesterday on Tanjong. C’mon Daniel – lights out tomorrow morning!

There are some well known names on the leaderboard while some equally interesting others looking like missing the cut. We have a Molinari one off the pace set by James Morrison, but not Fransesco, rather the sometimes forgotten brother, Eduardo.  Justin Rose, Anders Hansen, Louis Oosthuizen, Y.E Yang and Anthony Kim are some notables lurking near the top of the heap.

At the other end of proceedings and struggling to make it to the weekend, are Phil Mickelson, Paddy Harrington, Camilo Villegas and Jhonathon Vegas. Phil The Thrill, played a very pedestrian round of even par yesterday on the far easier Tanjong course and today has it at 2 under on Serapong. I think he’s going to need one more to be there for the weekend. The good news is that if he does miss the cut, he can get to Melbourne a couple days earlier and knock a little more of the rust off after a six week break.

The courses are in magnificent shape as always, so kudos to Peter Downie, the Sentosa GM and Andy Johnston, the Super. A funny aside to the condition of both courses, the greens are stimping at 12 and the tees at 9!! So the tees this week are quicker than the greens were last week in Taiwan for The Mercuries Taiwan Masters. Great effort boys!

 

 

John Daly withdrew from the Australian Open today.

(photo:via ceogolfshop.com)

That's nothing new, given that he has had twenty-seven previous withdrawals (WD's) from PGA Tour events since 2000. That's right - 27 WD's, usually citing injury as the reason. I have noticed however, that he is nearly always several shots over par when doing so. That was becoming a joke in itself, but...

Today  was vintage Daly at his most obnoxious, petulant best - or worst. Standing on the tee of  the drivable par 4 tenth hole, Daly was already 4 over the card. The tenth hole runs along side the range at The Lakes and some balls were finding their way over the fence and into the greenside bunkers of that 10th hole. Making a triple bogey after hitting the wrong ball and incurring a two shot penalty, Daly was now 7 over. I'm sure there will be repercussions and excuses made because of the wayward ball situation, but the bottom line is that you identify your ball before you play it. If you mess up, you take your lumps, get over it and go play some golf. The what the sponsors gave you the invite for, right?

On to the par five 12th. Water down the right. for the second shot if you're going for the green - six balls into the water and Daly WD's. Running out of balls is his excuse. To add insult to injury, his GF took a swipe at a TV camera on their ignominious march off The Lakes and out of the Australian Open,  hopefully for the last time.

When are the powers that be going to stop this man from bringing the game to a level that belongs more in something akin to a staged wrestling arena? For me, it can't come quickly enough.

This just in from the Australain PGA at a bit after 6 pm Aussie time.

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They're just 18 holes into The Emerates Australian Open, but I was fairly impressed with Tiger's play on Thursday....that's Australia's Thursday, of course.

He ddin't overreach or play unneccesary shots with the driver.  He controlled his trajectory well in the wind.  His distance control was solid with just a couple of noteable misses - especially the tee shot at #9.  He didn't try to fight the wind to pull off a hero shot.

On and around the greens, he chipped well and his putting showed definite improvement.  In his last few starts, we saw Woods miss the hole by several inches on some relatively short putts.  In the first round, his misses were lip outs instead of complete misses. 

Since I noted the tee shot at the par 3 9th that flew the green - the recovery was spectacular to keep his roll of bogey free holes going.  And how about that lag putt on #10 with all those twists and turns and hills ? 

A few times you could tell he was disappointed with his play when he slumped his shoulders or gave some other negative body language.  He hasn't made a bogey, and that's bound to happen on a course where the weather is going to affect his score somewhere along the way.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with Tiger's progress since his last start at the Frys.  I'm sure Chip would have a more professional and technical breakdown of Woods' play, but I am encouraged to this point....and I'm sure Captain Fred is as well.

Every Saturday morning I wake up early for golf, no not to tee off with the sun rising but, because of time zones, to watch celebrity golf on fox sport. Its my favorite TV program, not only because of the golf, and the sentimental value of watching black and white golf, but because of the people who play it, a young Ben Hogan, a young Arnold palmer, a young Gary Player, a young etc, etc, etc, etc…. The wagon with the camera on the roof, the presenter with his microphone wrapped around his neck and the fans dressed like they are going to the races, with a damned good sense of fashion, considering the period. What most impress me are the way the professional golfers carry themselves during the 2 ball event, honor, conviction and humility, and at the end, the acceptance of their checks for playing, win or lose, and their kind words for their playing partner. Now my daughter has a strong love for Hollywood gossip and glues herself half an hour a day to E news listening to the rises and falls of her favorite celebrity's and deciding that its all part of being rich, famous and talented. Golf seems to have joined the tabloid excitement, especially in the last year, and guess what? We can't really blame it all on Tiger, though he has had his fair share of high percentage front page news, despite the fact that he is, after all a billionaire with a feisty sexual appetite, and a dramatic closer of golf tournaments. Others seemed to have jumped on the train of "notice me too". When you have the top talented golfers walking away with 8 digit incomes over a year and the decent tour players walking away with 7 digit figures over a year, they will get noticed every time they make an illegal U-turn. Is this good or bad for golf? The advertisers will say its good because there is more exposure on their products, the fans will say its bad because they expect mechanical robotic shots like 2 irons out the rough from 240yds to the green over trees, water and sand traps to make an eagle, and this publicity reminds them their holy hero's are, after all, only human, and maybe that shot was just lucky. The PGA, EPGA, LPGA etc don’t really care so long as the tournaments are sponsored and they receive their retirement annuities and TV time. What really seems to have failed this year is the quality of golf journalism, in my honest opinion. The sports journalists and golf writers are leading us to the gossip and not the game, making predictions that have no accountability and fighting to be read rather than reviewed, not totally their fault, mind you, they also have demands from publishers and editors, but where the hell is the ethic? For instance, Bubba's lack of pronouncing French words was far more important to the journalists than the fact he tried to create a global experience for his golf, though, yes his mouth seemed to be more noticed than his huge off the tee shots that sliced and hooked, but they missed the point of his experience and the summit of where golf is going and how to share it with their readers, the ethic has changed in golf and sports journalism, in general. There has been some extraordinary individual player contribution to the sport, this year, that has not been explored enough by sports writers, like Rory Mcilroy's quest for number one, and the fantastic year that has taken him to the number 2 spot, at the tender age of 22. It was far more important for us to know that he moved from Chubby to another manager and how Lee Westwood felt about it, than the fact that he is now the second best golfer in the world and so young. Ok we do experience Rory's comes back from hell and wins the US Open, etc, etc, but we also get the details of past and present romances and we get needy for gossip about him and Chubby and when we don’t get it we are encouraged, by journalists to make it up. Since Tigers demise from the top, golf seems to have moved, in terms of the players and fans, but the writers won't let go, will they? Besides Rory, Webster, Bill Haas's FedEx win, Yani Tseng's total domination of the golf world, LPGA or not, American Players desire to compete more in Europe like John Daly, Dustin Johnson, Bubba, etc, and the dramatic swing at the end of the nationwide tours top 25 selection, and so many more I can think about, the main headlines on Golf Channel, Waggle Room and PGA tours websites are Steve Williams remarks after a bit of fine food and alcohol and euphoria of winning a prize, of course it was a bit out of fair play to refer to Tiger's rear end in such a way, but is it truly so important to golf and the sport and the fans that it is so widely published and pushed down our throats. I surmise 2011 as follows: 1. The players have impressed us with good golf 2. The tour has grown much closer to being a world tour 3. The sponsors have remained committed to the tour 4. The affiliate tours like the Hooters, Futures, college tours, etc have been sadly unnoticed. 5. The Champions tour continues to impress us, but has failed to reach out to the rest of the planet 6. The LPGA tour is mostly and unfairly put aside, when it has produced the current best golfer in the world, in the league of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and many others. 7. The Managers, committee's and autocrats of the major tours have unsuccessfully evolved, yet they are producing wonderful opportunities for charity that they are forgiven for not moving with the cheese. 8. Golf Journalists, writers, blogs, networks, etc have totally failed the sport, they have brought it down to the level of a long going T.V. soap opera and there needs to be urgent change that only the fan can bring by not supporting such cynicism. We, the fans, need to include ourselves into the global social revolution for change and self thinking and demand our writers give us value and philosophy, or we too, have failed the sport that is the greatest in the world, in my opinion. Wishing you all a fantastic 2012 loaded with birdies, straight drives and good health. Roy

Martin Kaymer won his tenth Euro PGA event and his first WGC tournament  in a dominant display today at the HSBC Champions with a spectacular 63, closing with a magnificent 29 on the back nine of Sheshan International in Shanghai.

via t0.gstatic.com

With his win, also comes a move up the OWGR rankings, from 6th to 4th. At the beginning of the year, he won in Abu Dhabi and looked to carry on his form of 2010 when he won the PGA Championship. In February of this year he was the number 1 ranked player in the world. It was looking like a big year from the German lad, but after tinkering with his swing to enable him to hit a draw around Augusta, he seemingly lost the plot.

"Hey Martin - Jack won 6 and he cuts it. Just sayin!"

Well he found the plot today and in a big way. In a brilliant display of precision golf, he got home by three shots from Freddie Jacobson and four from G Mac, who showed a welcome return to form after what has been nothing short of a horrible year for the Irishman. Schwartzel, Casey and McIlroy finished another shot further adrift.

Looking at those names, there seems to be some bright light shining from a few notables who have had less than stellar years and that is good to see. Casey, GMac and Kaymer are all big drawcards, so to see them back on top and in charge of their games, is a welcome fillip to the world wide professional tour.

Today's results, also mean that the top four on the OWGR are European - more on that in another post, but for those who think that they golf year ends at Disney.... Think again. This week we have the Aussie and Singapore Opens, then the Presidents Cup.The Race to Dubai is more than a month away from completion, so we have loads to look forward to in the coming weeks.