Checking In At Sawgrass

by Mulligan Stu on May 11, 2008 3:58 PM EDT Comment 11 comments

I was mostly paying attention to the Michelob Ultra Open early this afternoon, so once that ended I flipped over to The Players Championship.

The leaders were on the sixth hole. Ben Crane was chipping to the 16th green. And Dan Hicks threw it to Gary Koch, saying, "Crane is not out of it."

The leaders were at 5-under. Crane was at even. Hmm, that's strange, I thought. Guy's got two holes to go and is five shots back, and they're talking about his position as if it's good.

Then I noticed how hard the wind was blowing. And it suddenly made sense. They're in wind-causing-balls-on-the-green-to-move territory (literally, Nicholas Thompson's ball on No. 17 started moving several minutes after it landed on the green, rolling about 15 feet closer to the hole).

Looks like it might be a brutal final round at Sawgrass.

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Brutal, indeed.

On some of the less-protected greens, the flag sticks are bending with the wind - sometimes as much as 6" or 8", it seems. Thompson's ball on 17 was insane; he was literally bending down to mark his ball when it began rolling, and a 20'+ putt became about a 6' putt through no doing of his own.

I would probably shoot about 76 there today. On 17 and 18.

by turnover on May 11, 2008 4:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Brutal for them ...

means fun for me! I love watching this kind of golf once in a while.

You know why divorces are so expensive? They're worth it - Willie Nelson

by Shank You very much on May 11, 2008 4:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Me too.

Sometimes it's fun to watch the golf course and the weather win.

by turnover on May 11, 2008 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Goydos

Been amazing so far. Just birdied 12 to go to 7-under, 2 ahead of Sergio. ... wonder what will happen at 17 ...

by Mulligan Stu on May 11, 2008 5:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He doesn't look nervous.

He's been making some great shots to follow up not-so-great-shots.

by turnover on May 11, 2008 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You know, as stupid as 17 is....

...it's still a helluva lot of fun.

by turnover on May 11, 2008 6:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

good things for Goydos ?

The guy came into the week with a nearly empty cup of sponsors. He has turned down club manufacturers because the money wasn't good enough to make up for the comfort he has with what he's playing now. He turned down a hat deal on Friday to keep up the hometown mojo.

How can you not like this guy ? He was all class with the lead and when he lost. (we old joke lovers had to like his pre-round interview answer to "how did you sleep last night ?" "On my back." bah-dum-bum)

I think he's going to see some good offers for clothes and hats and maybe a good bag deal after this week. Probably not Michelle Wie money...but hey, who does draw like that ? (LOL)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on May 11, 2008 9:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I loved his hat

awesome - had a chance to change it and instead liked the mojo he had going with the hat and kept it on.

Can't remember which hole it was (14, 15?) but he kind of got screwed when he almost jarred it from the fairway and the ball bounced over the green instead and into a drain. Do they still call the guy 'Ee-ore'?

You know why divorces are so expensive? They're worth it - Willie Nelson

by Shank You very much on May 11, 2008 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eeyore ?

I had never heard that one. If that's true, they really picked the wrong Pooh character. Eeyore always walked around with a cloud over his head and a pessimistic outlook. That's the last thing Goydos is.

Hard to say he got "screwed". With the firm conditions of the greens and the wind, stopping a ball was a real challenge. I think he would say that he carried the ball too far into the green to have a chance to stop it...but it sure looked good in the air !

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on May 12, 2008 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

80 or higher, and other ramblings

>There was one constant existing between Players 2007 and Players 2008: There were 21 players scoring 80 or higher in both years.

>At the Wachovia last week, the TVidots were commenting about the "stern test" - check out Wachovia 2008 "80s or higher": five.

>The Players wants to be a "major" - they even start TV coverage at 2 pm Eastern and run to/through 7 p.m. To attain the Masters' "major" level they have to cut the commercials to two-per-hour. Over their dead bankbooks.

>Re: Difficulty in picking winners, strong finishers, etc.-- Goydos at 2007 Players missed the cut scoring 80-77, eight-over the cut line, 149. 2008 Players Goydos almost made the earth move with his minus-five finish.

Never up, never in.

by rcrusoe on May 12, 2008 2:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

more traps at Sawgrass...

The Wachovia IS a stern test of golf - it just doesn't have the number of traps, and usually doesn't face the same weather conditions you see at Sawgrass.

The winds at Sawgrass are always going to be the biggest single factor that makes the course as difficult as it can be.