Tag: Golf

Golf: Farmers Insurance Open Preview

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The name of the tournament suggests big pastures, long grass and lush greenery.  That’s the way the Farmers Insurance Open is shaping up too, with reports the rough has grown to unmanageable levels.  It was difficult to play from last year and 2015 could be worse for the erratic hitters who miss fairways regularly.

The green nature of the course might also mask the true speed of the greens, which are also reportedly playing trickier than last year.  A score of 9-under took it out last year (Stallings won and denied the masses a six player playoff); that score probably won’t hold this year with predictions the winner will shoot around 13-under.

Tiger Woods is having another hit out.  He practiced (poorly) on Wednesday, and as he’d admitted needs a lot of rounds if he’s to compete at the Masters.

The Course

Torrey Pines is most famous for the 2008 US Open showdown between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate.  The two played an extended playoff that went right down to the wire.  The Farmers Insurance Open will be play on both the North and South Torrey Pines course.  Torrey Pines GC (South) is a 7,698 yard, par 72, William Bell layout.  Players will play one of their first two rounds on Torrey Pines’ North course, a much shorter (7,052) par 72.

The Sound Bites

“You can swing like Jim Furyk or Adam Scott, and still be effective” – Phil Mickelson talking about the confidence and swing battles Tiger is facing.

“My phone’s been off the last couple days, I’ve just been working on my game. Just Chris and I” – Tiger’s not taking advice from anyone other thing swing consultant Chris Como.

The Defending Champion

Scott Stallings prevailed last year, beating K.J. Choi, Jason Day, Pat Perez, Marc Leishman and Graeme DeLaet who all tied for second.  Stallings birdied the 18th when few others were able to.  He’s back again to defend his title this week amongst another quality field.  The filed includes Woods and Mickelson who failed to make it to the final day last year.  Woods missed the Saturday cut and Mickelson withdrew.

The Contenders*

Jordan Spieth – $9.00

Brooks Koepka – $10.00

Rickie Fowler – $15.00

Dustin Johnson – $15.00

Keegan Bradley – $46.00

Tiger Woods – $81.00**

*Waste Management Phoenix Open odds courtesy of Sportsbet Australia.

**Update: Tiger Woods withdrew midway through the first round.

The Winner

We’ve had a rough time picking winners in 2015.  So without any confidence whatsoever, we’re backing Koepka and Spieth to be battling it out on the final day.

Golf: Waste Management Phoenix Open Preview

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Tiger Woods isn’t the only big name golfer making his first appearance in a while.  While most of the attention will be on Woods – the last time he played was at his own tournament when most onlookers watched on in shock as he flubbed chip after chip, and more recently he’s received publicity for losing a tooth while supporting Lindsey Vonn at a ski event – others including Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth also return to tournament golf.

Woods’ performance at the Waste Management Phoenix Open will help bring the golfing world back to stories of more sporting significance after Robert Allenby’s Hawaiian incident.  Watching Woods compete for tabloid space with Phil Mickelson who is bidding to become the player with the most wins in Arizona will be fascinating over the coming (hopefully) four days.

The Course

TPC Scottsdale (Stadium) is famous for its party atmosphere and for it’s enclosed arena par 3 16th.  Tiger Woods made the hole famous when he aced it as a 22-year-old, and it has held onto it’s raucous reputation ever since.  The par 71 course has undergone $12 million worth of renovations affecting most of the course.

Crowd favourites Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson should expect plenty of support from the huge galleries encompassing the 7,266 yard course.

The Sound Bites

“We wanted to rebunker the golf course, there wasn’t a lot of pressure on the TOUR player from the tee. The equipment outdated the bunkering. They were blowing it way by (the bunkers), very easily past them. So, we took 73 bunkers and pared it down to 66, but their specific locations were relative to ShotLink.” – Course co-designer Tom Weiskopf speaks about the changes.

“It’s going to be a fun year” – Short and sweet from Tiger Woods when discussing his chances on tour this year.

The Defending Champion

Stadler held steady as Watson stumbled, collecting his first PGA TOUR victory when the once-and-future Masters champion couldn’t save par on the 72rd hole. Watson actually bogeyed two of his last three holes, allowing Stadler to draw even at the top when he couldn’t convert a 6-foot par save at the par-3 16th. After both birdied No.17, Watson flew the green with his second shot at No.18 and ran his chip from a spectator mound 5 feet past the hole. After Stadler two-putted from 10 feet for a 68, Watson’s putt to force a playoff slid past on the left. The result allowed Stadler, son of 12-time PGA TOUR winner Craig Stadler, to complete the ninth pair of father/son winners in history.

The Contenders*

Bubba Watson – $15.00

Jordan Spieth – $17.00

Matt Kuchar – $21.00

Phil Mickelson – $21.00

Tiger Woods – $21.00

Rickie Fowler – $21.00

*Waste Management Phoenix Open odds courtesy of Sportsbet Australia.

The Winner

Plenty of reasons to pick one of the guys above: Mickelson has six wins in Arizona;  Watson lost by one last year and has multiple other top 10’s at the course;  Spieth has won his last two, he could make it three;  Kuchar’s coming off a T2 and a T3 in his last two events.  But for desert reasons and some nice golf last week we’re going with Mickelson.

Golf: Haas holds on at Humana

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Bill Haas prevailed in the latest event of the PGA Tour at the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.  Breaking a deadlock of six players, when an epic playoff seemed likely, Haas triumphed for the second time in this tournament after a 2010 win.

Haas was one of six players tied at 21-under after he made a par on 15 and finally managed to pull free when he made a composed birdie on 16 to get to 5-under for the day.  Of the six, Haas was probably the most underrated, despite his FedEx Cup win in 2011 and especially with Matt Kuchar in the mix.

But when Kuchar failed to birdie the par 5 18th, Haas took the title by a single shot over him, Charley Hoffman, Brendan Steele, Steve Wheatcroft and Sung Joon Park.  Three others were a shot further back which outlined the strength of the field and the closeness of the final round.

Haas’ four rounds in the 60’s were matched by others, but his second round 63 was bettered only by Ryan Plamer’s 61 in the same round.  The round was ultimately the decisive effort in a low scoring that demanded consistency and fight.  His gritty determination was seen down the final hole when he was forced to play an off balanced bunker shot in a bid to save par and close out his sixth PGA Tour win.

Jimmy Walker retains his lead in the FedEx Cup race over birdie-leader Robert Streb and another 2014/15 season winner, Charley Hoffman.  Because the big names are yet to play much of  a part in the new season, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and Tiger Woods are paying the least to land the FedEx Cup.

Golf: Walker improves his closing to win Sony Open

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One week after letting a final round lead slip, Jimmy Walker proved he had learnt his lesson by expertly closing out the Sony Open.  The 36-year-old Oklahoma native won the Waialae hosted Sony Open for the second consecutive year; this time empathically.

Setting the record for the largest victory margin in the tournaments history – a whopping 9 shots – Walker made seven birdies on the closing 11 holes to win at 23-under, and jump into the familiar position of FedEx Cup leader, a position he held for the bulk of last season.

Walker’s repeat win is undoubtedly a big confidence boost after he was rundown by Patrick Reed last week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, but it’s also an excellent example of the best response to a narrow defeat, and a testament to his steely determination.  Rather than overthink the finish at Kapalua, Walker just shot 62-63 over the weekend to round of his 257 total.  In the process he became the first repeat winner at the Sony Open since Ernie Els won in 2003/2004.

He did however admit that he used last week as motivation.  “I really wanted to finish out the day like I didn’t do last week,” Walker said.

He started the final day two clear; where it was expected that Matt Kuchar would provide the sternest challenge.  However, their contrasting rounds – Walker without a bogey in his 63; Kuchar without a birdie in his 71 – meant the challenge never eventuated.  Kuchar’s disappointing effort meant he finished in a tie for third with Harris English and Gary Woodland, who both had 67’s.

Scott Piercy was alone in second thanks to a 66.

The result of Walker’s two stop Hawaiian excursion was a scoring average of 66, just under $1.7 million cash, and an expected leap to number 13 in golf’s official word rankings.  His opinion of Hawaii will be vastly different to the unlucky Robert Allenby.  The Australia golfer was on the receiving end of a scary robbing and kidnapping after missing the cut.

Of the tips we dished out last week, we had Walker (1st), Day (17), Kirk and Howell III (26), Johnson (64) and Matsuyama (MDF).  So we probably didn’t get you too much money unless you picked Walker and nobody else.  See how we do later in the week when we preview the Humana Challenge.

Golf: Sony Open Preview

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For many of the PGA Tour professionals making the trip to Waialae Country Club for the Sony Open it will be their first golf of 2015.  After a reasonable break, once the wraparound had got underway, players have the luxury of travelling to a place of known luxury.  With scorching temperatures and unbelievable hospitality it’s understandable players would want to make themselves available for this one.

That said, the field is not the strongest that will compete in 2015.  World number 8 Jason Day is the highest ranked player, Matt Kuchar at 11 is next, and then four others in the top 25 make up the main contenders.  Whether the winner comes from that list will be dependent on who handles the heat and the narrow setup of the course the best over the challenging four days.

The Course

Waialae Country Club has been associated with the PGA Tour for 50 years.  It’s no surprise either, for Waialae is a beautifully designed golf course which references plenty of international courses in its 7,044 yards.  The par 70 venue from designers Seth Raynor and Charles Banks may be familiar to a lot of observers because it features in a large number of golfing video games

The Sound Bites

“I think (instructor Butch Harmon) was texting my wife with about four holes to go, and he said, four fairways, four greens, and we’re home…and that’s what we did.” – Jimmy Walker thought he ha done another to win in his final round at Kapalua before he was pipped by Patrick Reed.

“No. I do it myself.” – Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama’s quick response when asked if he had a swing coach to help him prepare for the Sony Open.

The Defending Champion

Jimmy Walker was in the middle of a ridiculously good stretch of golf when the tournament was here in 2014.  Walker won for the second time in six starts and perched himself atop of the FedEx Cup points for some time thereafter.

The Contenders*

Jason Day – $14.50

Jimmy Walker – $19.00

Chris Kirk – $21.00

Zach Johnson – $27.00

Hideki Matsuyama – $28.00

Charles Howell III – $50.00

*Sony Open odds courtesy of Betfair Australia.

The Winner

Charles Howell III is attractive.  In thirteen appearances in this event he has an incredible eight top-10’s.  Zach Johnson, who we predicted would win last week but just missed out, is also a popular pick after winning at the course previously.  His accurate game is well-suited to the small greens of Waialae.  However, where going to pick Jason Day.  He’s due a win and will be full of confidence after his final round 62 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Golf: Reed champion of champions at Kapalua

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Patrick Reed rallied to play his last four holes in three under par before making another birdie on the first playoff hole to capture the Hyundai Champion of Champions title ahead of Jimmy Walker.

Reed’s final round 67 meant he grabbed the headlines for the Hawaiian trip despite strong challenges from his own forehead, and a pair of scorching 62’s shot in the final round.  His forehead initially stole the show after images emerged of him without his cap on, revealing an extremely pale brow (check Google images) that raised plenty of eyebrows amongst Twitter uses.  But golfers also contributed; Jason Day and Chris Kirk fired 11-under final rounds that tied the course record.  Kirk’s round propelled him from last place to a tie for 14th.

Despite the excitement all around the golf course, and the obvious burning his skin was enduring, Reed managed to charge back from four behind with four to play to win for the first time since the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Dora.  It’s a fourth PGA Tour win for the 24-year old who once proclaimed he was one of the top 5 players in the game.  The win might help justify the tag considering it was against pretty good opposition who had all experienced the winners circle in the past season.

The closest challenger throughout the final round was Jimmy Walker (69).  Walker held the lead for much of the final day, and regrettably expressed afterwards that the tournament “was there for me to win, it was a bummer I didn’t close the door on it.”

Before Reed’s heroics down 16 and 18, Walker held the ascendancy.  A position he also maintained during the playoff as Reed struggled to get near the green in two.  He would find rough however, and never even get to putt for par as Reed drained an 18ft birdie putt to clinch it.

Walker will look to holes 10 and 14 as the root cause of his second place.  He failed to birdie 10 and made a first bogey for 33 holes on the short 14th.  Those two holes, and Reed’s hole out on 16 were the key turning points.

Jason Day (62), Russell Henley (67) and Hideki Matsuyama (70) all mounted challenges at various times but couldn’t quite get themselves into the playoff.  They will receive FedEx Cup points as consolation, which in Day’s case skyrockets him up 160 places in the standings.

Of the players who featured heavily at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions several have seen their odds to win the money list at BetEasy improve.  Notably:

Jason Day – $26.00

Patrick Reed – $67.00

Chris Kirk – $67.00

Hideki Matsuyama – $67.00

Jimmy Walker – $51.00