During her first appeareance at the championship last year, Lansing, 21, posted a two-round score of 161 during stroke-play qualifying, missing the chance to advance into the match-play round. The Lady Bulldog came closer yesterday, with a 36-hole score of 156, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut, which came at 151.
Lansing looked good in the second round, shooting a 5-over-par 76, including four birdies (on the first, sixth, 15th and 16th holes), cutting four strokes off Monday’s opening-round score of 80. But it wasn’t enough, as she tied for 102nd place, five points shy of advancement.
PGA TOUR: Buick Open, today-Sunday, Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, Grand Blanc, Mich. TV: Golf Channel (today-Friday, noon-3 p.m. and CBS (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.). Notes: Tiger Woods, the 2002 and 2006 winner, is in the field. After Woods won his own AT&T National for his third victory of the year, he missed the cut in the British Open. … Woods and rock ‘n’ roll legend Bob Seger headlined Wednesday’s pro-am, and their fivesome finished 8 under par. At least one member of the group paid more than $100,000 for the opportunity to play with Woods and Seger. … Defending champion Kenny Perry is skipping the tournament to stay near his cancer-stricken mother. Mildred Perry is battling blood cancer. … General Motors Co. will end its half-century run as sponsor of the Buick Open, a person briefed on the decision said Tuesday. The decision calls into question the fate of the other tour stop sponsored by GM, the Buick Invitational held in February in San Diego.
LADIES GOLF UNION: Women’s British Open, today-Sunday, Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Lytham St. Annes, England. TV: TNT (today-Friday, 7-9 a.m.) and ABC (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-noon; Sunday, 10 a.m.-noon). Notes: Last year, Jiyai Shin won her first major title, a three-shot victory over Yani Tseng at Sunningdale. … The tournament became an official LPGA Tour event in 1994 and was elevated to major status in 2001, replacing the du Maurier in Canada.
USGA: U.S. Senior Open, today-Sunday, Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Ind. TV: ESPN (today-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.) and NBC (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.). Notes: Last year, Eduardo Romero won at the Broadmoor (Colo.), beating Fred Funk by four shots. … The Pete Dye-designed course opened in 1964. … John Daly won the 1991 PGA at Crooked Stick. … The 2010 tournament will be played at Sahalee (Wash.).
PGA EUROPEAN TOUR: Moravia Silesia Open, today-Sunday, Prosper Golf Resort, Celadna, Czech Republic. TV: Golf Channel (today-Friday, 6-9 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 5:30-8 a.m.). Note: This is the inaugural event, and Miguel Angel Jiminez, the course designer, tops the field.
NATIONWIDE TOUR: Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational, today-Sunday, Ohio State University Golf Club, Columbus. TV: Golf Channel (today-Friday, 3:30-5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 3:30-6:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4-6:30 p.m.). Note: In 2007, BYU star Daniel Summerhays won the inaugural event to become the first amateur champion in tour history.
By now you’ve heard all about 59-year-old Tom Watson’s phenomenal showing at the 2009 Open Championship.
Watson, who shot a first-round 5-under 65, just one stroke behind the leader Miguel Angel Jimenez, and tied for the lead in the second round after sinking a dazzling putt on the 18th green, became the oldest man to have the lead after any round of a major. He also became the oldest player to lead a major going into the last round.
But what should be heralded as a genuine accomplishment and a testament to one man’s athleticism is being tarnished. People are coming out of the woodwork to comment on Watson’s ultimate defeat by compatriot Stewart Cink – solely based on his age. In fact, one golf reporter – CBSSports.com’s Mike Freeman – suggested that golf shouldn’t be considered a sport “when it takes a playoff round to finally beat Watson despite Watson’s age.”
Harsh criticism from someone who stands on the sidelines, Mr. Freeman.
To add insult to injury, Watson’s said to be grieving over his loss, with his wife Hilary declaring that “her husband’s failure to par the 72nd hole to secure his sixth Open title will live with them forever,” according to Britain’s Mirror.co.uk.
Heartache or not, Mr. Watson, you’re a grand golfer – and we here at GolfEtail enjoyed every minute of your triumph. You may not think you prevailed – but we do. And it gives us great pleasure to bask in the glory of this game with you.
We look forward to seeing you give your all at the Senior British Open tomorrow!
Wow! What a week. After Tiger missed the cut I was honestly thinking it would be a ho-hum Open Championship, and franky Tiger missing the cut would be THE story. So, thank you Tom Watson … what a run!
I have to admit I was pulling pretty hard for him on Sunday and thought he would make that put on 18 to win. He had been magical with that Odyssey White Hot XG#7 putter all week. Could you believe the 30 footer on #1, the 25 footer on #9, or the 60 foot bombs on #16 & #18 all on Friday; or just when you thought he was fading how about the 40 footer on #16 on Saturday. He had done it all week, but this just wasn’t meant to be.
Paul Azinger’s comment basically stating that " … If Tom had won it again it would not have changed his life at all, but with Cink winning it is a life-changer…", I thought was dead on, and it’s the only consolation I could derive from the outcome.
Anyway, I found the entire story simply compelling. Too bad it didn’t have quite the story book ending I was hoping for. It would have been nice to see the final Open Championship Scoreboard reading "Well done Tom. See you at St Andrews 2010".
In late 2007, Justin Timberlake bought the former Big Creek Golf Course to save it from commercial development. An avid golfer and entrepreneur, Timberlake then invested in the course’s $16 million eco-friendly renovation. Next week (July 25, to be exact), the newly renamed Mirimichi golf course will open – and it’s safe to assume that its owner, who calls Tennessee home, will be there to kick things off.
The DealTeam wonders what other big names will be there to help Timberlake out? Any guesses?
I’ll probably never understand the obsession with those cockamamie contraptions, but I thought I’d give all you GolfEtailers a heads up on the new “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.” Mrs. Spooner and I just bought it for our son for his 30th birthday (I don’t think that boy will ever grow up!) and before we could slip out the door to hit the real-life links, he roped me into a couple of rounds. I may not be well-versed in the world of Wii sports – whoever came up with that name needs a stern talking to, by the way – but this old man’s still got a little power in his swing – digital or not. That’s right – I showed my boy who’s still the boss; he’s not too old learn a lesson or two!
Anyway, the reviews are in on “Tiger 10.” Here’s what unbiased folks are sayin’:
“‘Tiger 10′ is the definitive golf game, but it is by no means a revolution.” -Matt Casamassina, IGN.com
“Digital duffers, you’re in for some nice upgrades: real-time weather conditions, a fancy precision putter, and tournament modes that let you battle other gamers or try to best the pros in live competitions. So even if you didn’t make the cut for the real U.S. Open, you can still tee off against Tiger Woods. Best of luck with that.” -Entertainment Weekly
“You wanna go? I’ll put a pixelated hurtin’ on you that’ll make you run home to momma. Rain or shine.” -Brassie Spooner, GolfEtail.com
Apparently – and my son made me write this down – “Tiger 10″ is available on PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and XBox 360. All those numbers and letters … It’s like an algebra equation.
Ironic. Because if my boy was half as good at math as he is swinging an imaginary golf club in front of the TV… well, he probably wouldn’t be living above our garage.
OK … so I was at The Open on Friday. I arrived at the course around 10:30AM and left about 5PM. A few thoughts and observations:
First, the weather. It was overcast when we got there and appeared it would be another rainy day, but around Noon the sun came out and stayed that way for the duration. So there were no weather issues on Friday.
The course is wet and muddy! In the spectator areas the trails are very muddy. At times we were ankle deep in slop. When you cross the fairways (eg, 15 or 16) those brown areas where the spectators walk is just mud … they are not roads! There were many spectators wearing hiking boots & those knee high rubber ‘fireman-like boots’ — I must say they were appropriately dressed. While we were waiting to cross I was talking to a marshall and asked him what it was like in between the ropes and he said it was really wet. While there I heard some (unsubstantiated) horror stories where many of the parking lots at course had flooded and cars were having to be towed.
With that out of the way let me give you some observations about the play and course. We sat on the hill behind the green for quite some time on Friday. Some of the better shots I saw including Phil making a great, long putt for birdie, David Duval making a nice shot onto the green and good birdie, Goosen hitting a fabulous shot to within 5 feet (but missing his birdie), and Rory putting his ball into the primary rough to the right of the green (just missing the fescue) but followed up with a unbelievable flop shot to save par. It was one of the few places on the course to sit and watch (other than the grandstands).
We also watched several 3-somes come through on #2. I really like this hole … in fact the combination of #2 & #3 really appealed to me. While there Rory put one in the trees on the left and ball came to rest about 5 feet from me. He showed his inexperience by trying to hit through the trees to the green and putting only advancing it about 30 yards and still stayed in the rough. He should have taken his medicine and punched straight out. Phil also put one in the left rough, but made a great recovery with his 2nd shot and snatched a birdie.
I really liked the course and would love to play it; although the course is not a good spectator venue. The majority of the greens are above the spectators so it is difficult to see. I can’t imagine the USGA coming back to Bethpage anytime soon for it does not handle water well and does not layout well for spectators. Conversely, I had the good fortune to go to the 2004 Open at Shinnecock and thought that was a fabulous venue!
So I could ramble on, but won’t. However, if you get a chance to go to a US Open, go! I have been to two and look forward to my third, but first I want to get to Augusta.
All I can say is “WOW! … what a great finish”. It should be clear to all Tiger is back … and back in a big way. In case you missed The Memorial, coming into the final holes on Sunday there was a 4-way tie on top of leaderboard, until Tiger went Birdie-Birdie on 17 & 18. Then suddenly, there was no doubt who was going to win! We all know how good he is with those NIKE Victory Red Blade Irons and how deadly he is with those putts to nail the coffin shut. But It is amazing how low he can go when he gets off the tee, and in fact Tiger hit 14 of 14 fairways on Sunday and only missed 5 fairways all week!
Tiger needs to keep that NIKE Dymo Driver in the bag for The Open come June 18th when he will be tackling that monster at BethPage Black. At the Memorial, Tiger was 2nd in driving accuracy and 12th in driving distance, and given BethPage Black will be playing a lengthy 7,426 and will impose severe penalties for not hitting the fairways, he will need both accuracy and distance.
FYI… NewsDay.com and several other medial outlets are reporting Tiger played a practice round today (Monday, June 8th) at BethPage Black, teeing off around 9:30AM and finished up around 1PM.
I will have the pleasure of being at The Open on Friday and will report in.
The Olivet College women’s golf team tied for 11th place at the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championships this week at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., according to Michigan’s BattleCreekEnquirer.com.
Those ladies must have been eating their Wheaties!
Maybe the guys should join them for breakfast since the Olivet College men’s golf team sits in tie for 28th place after the first round of the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship.
Gotta do better than that, boys!
The DealTeam congratulates the Olivet Lady Comets – seniors Lindsay Pipkin and Kate Misko, junior Megan Rimmel, sophomore Amber Conrad, and freshman Lauren Campbell – on a championship well played. Time to celebrate!
