The Common Golfer

A lot of unfair talk is circulating about Brandt Snedeker’s four-putt on the 72nd hole of the BMW Championship.  Snedeker needed to two putt from within 12 feet of the hole, and instead finished one spot outside of the top 30 in the FedEx Playoffs.  Not getting to play in the Tour Championship means that Snedeker will miss out on “guaranteed” money of at least $400k to $500k.  But to be frank – these kinds of presumptions are stupid.

It’s easy to single out a four-putt, because it’s something that’s rare for any golfer (let alone a professional).  However, Snedeker’s third and fourth putts had no greater bearing than his first and second putts did.  In his first round, Snedeker bogeyed the 13th hole at Cog Hill.  What if he had birdied it instead?  He also double-bogeyed the 12th hole on Friday.  What if he’d parred it instead?  There is a reason why they play over a span of four days – every shot holds equal importance.

Some people will say that not all shots are equally important, because there is a lot more pressure on Sunday.  While that may be true, you can also say that if Snedeker had scored lower earlier in the week that he wouldn’t have had as much pressure putting on the 72nd hole.

In addition, some people will say that I’m contradicting myself because just a couple weeks ago I talked about how Jim Furyk “forfeited” $131,250 for having too many clubs.  There’s a difference though, because there was a direct influence on Furyk’s four penalty strokes.

Regardless, it is entertaining to assign dollar amounts to professionals’ “blunders.”  But putting myself in Snedeker’s shoes, I can’t imagine the amount of stress that comes with knowing you’ve lost a minimum of $400 thousand.  Being a professional means being mentally tough, though, so maybe it’s not as big a deal to guys like Furyk and Snedeker as we’re making it out to be.

How much does it cost to carry a 15th club in your bag?  $131,250 and 188 FedEx points.  That is the final damage for Jim Furyk, after discovering a 15th club in his bag on Saturday of the Barclays.  He realized the error near the green of the second hole, and was penalized 4 strokes (2 per hole).  He still finished with a 70 for the day, but without the 4-stroke penalty would have finished the tournament in sixth place rather than fifteenth…resulting in a huge pay cut.

Furyk had been practicing on the range with a 60 degree wedge with extra bounce, and thought he may need that with all the run-off areas around the greens at Liberty National.  However, he decided to stay with his normal 60 degree wedge.  In the process, there was a lack of communication between Furyk and caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan. Read the rest of this entry »

Greg Norman’s spring 2010 line of clothing will be featuring magnetic “ion” golf shirts.  Liquid titanium magnetic crystals spun into the polyester of the shirt,

“…creates beneficial negative ions, which balance the positive ions and increase serotonin levels.” The “ion” is similar in principle to the various bracelets and necklaces that some athletes wear, which they say uses the mystic physics of “minus ions” to improve an athlete’s performance and promote an overall sense of physical well being. Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday, the top 10 players for both Presidents Cup teams were finalized.  Now all that remains are the two captains’ picks for each side.  The matches are just around the corner, from October 8-11 at Harding Park in San Francisco, California.  Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman will announce their captains’ picks on September 8.

The American team players so far are:  Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, Sean O’Hair, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim and Justin Leonard.  The International team players so far are:  Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, Mike Weir, Robert Allenby, Y.E. Yang and Tim Clark.

The American team players are determined by PGA Tour earnings over the past two years, with 2009 earnings worth double.  The International players are determined based on world ranking.  Couples has already said that Hunter Mahan will be one of his two picks.  Norman has made no indication as to who he may select.

I’m sure I hold a slight bias, just by being American, but it looks to me like the American team should be the heavy favorite in October.  Besides the obvious inclusion of Tiger Woods on the American team, Stricker, Johnson, and Perry have all been having great years.  When I look at the International players, there are a lot of big names on the team, but only a few of them have been playing consistently great golf this season.