Golf notebook: Spieth pleased with decision to turn pro

Golf notebook: Spieth pleased with decision to turn pro










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange March 25, 2013 7:40 PMThe SportsXchange


--Jordan Spieth's gamble to turn pro without status on any tour after failing to advance past the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School late last year is about to pay off.


The 19-year-old, who left Texas after helping the Longhorns capture the NCAA Championship as a freshman last year, has earned $521,892 in four PGA Tour events this season, finishing in the top 25 of the last three.

"A lot of people told me I made the wrong decision," Spieth said after tying for seventh in the Tampa Bay Championship following a tie for second in the Puerto Rico Open.

Spieth can earn his PGA Tour card for next season by finishing in the top 125 on the 2013 money list. Last year, Kevin Chappell finished 12th on the money list with $647,510.

However, the events that made up the Fall Series will make up the start of the 2013-14 season, so it probably will take less cash to sew up playing privileges for next season.

That means Spieth is probably one more good finish away, and that could come this week for the Texan in the Shell Houston Open.

Already, he has earned enough money to be eligible for and accept Special Temporary Member status in the PGA Tour, meaning he can receive unlimited sponsor's exemptions for rest of the season.

"Right now it's excitement," Spieth said after a holing a chip shot for birdie on the 17th hole and holing a seven-foot birdie putt on the closing hole at the Copperhead Course to get his tie for seventh. "I'm just extremely happy. You know, obviously didn't think this would happen.

"When you go, at the beginning of the year, when you know that you only get seven unrestricted exemptions, first of all it's hard to get seven tournaments in, let alone make enough money to get your card. To be able to do it and really in three events ... .

"I missed the cut at Torrey, played well at Pebble, (Puerto Rico) and here, so I never would have guessed that I would get it this quickly."

Spieth planned to play mostly on the Web.com Tour, the PGA Tour's triple-A circuit, this season and earned $50,150 in his first two starts, leaving less than $5,000 from earning full status on that tour.

His tie for seventh in the Panama Claro Championship earned him a spot in the Colombia Championship, where he tied for seventh, with that top-10 finish earning him a spot in the Chile Classic in Santiago.

The only problem was that he had accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in Tampa Bay the same week and the smart money was in Chile.

But, again, Spieth proved he knew best.

--Stacy Lewis ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings with class and grace.

After coming from behind to win the RR Donnelley Founders Cup to become the seventh player, and second American, to top the rankings since they were instituted in 2006, Lewis thought of everybody but herself.

First, she said the victory was for her caddie, Travis Wilson, whose gaffe the day before handed Lewis a two-stroke penalty and left her four shots behind Ai Miyazato of Japan heading to the final round.

"Weird things happen when you play enough golf rounds, and I told (Wilson) that over and over and over again," the 28-year-old Lewis said. "He would have felt horrible if we lost by two, so that's why I just put the dagger in and made some more putts there coming in."

After hugging her father, Dale, once she putted out on the 18th hole to wrap up her seventh LPGA Tour victory and second this season, Lewis met with youngsters from the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program for a group hug, and later donated $50,000 to the organization.

While accepting her trophy, Lewis paid tribute to three LPGA Tour founders -- Louise Suggs, Marilynn Smith and Shirley Spork -- who were on hand along with two other women pioneers, Carol Mann and JoAnne Carner.

"What you did was way harder than anything I do right now," Lewis said directly to them. "Thank you, thank you 100 times. ...

"If those ladies taught me anything, it's to give back to the game and leave it better than I found it."

Finally, Lewis had something to say about herself.

She didn't have to say much, because her story by itself speaks volumes about the type of determination she has after growing up wearing a back brace much of the time, and needing a metal rod and five screws surgically attached to her spine because of severe scoliosis.

"Almost 10 years ago I was going into surgery to put a rod and five screws in my back," Lewis said. "I'm really not supposed to be here. People with metal in their back, how do you play golf?

"I don't know how, I don't know why I'm here. I know that there's a reason, and I know that everything happens for a reason. Every setback you have along the way, everything good that happens, it all happens for a reason."

Showing what her contemporaries think of Lewis, Yani Tseng, who Lewis replaced at the top of the rankings in the world after Tseng held the No. 1 spot for 109 weeks, sent her friend and the new No. 1 a congratulatory note on Twitter.

--After a long delay because of a legal dispute, construction has started on the course that will be played when golf returns to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The organizing committee for the Games in Rio said that clearing work had begun to remove "non-native vegetation" after a permit was issued by the city.

"We are delighted that work has begun on the golf venue and we remain on track to deliver the golf course for a test event in 2015 as scheduled," Carlos Nuzman, head of the Rio organizing committee, said in a statement.

The International Olympic Committee has repeatedly downplayed the ongoing legal dispute, but was officially notified about it by court officials during a recent inspection visit to Rio.

Two companies have claimed ownership of the land, with one having announced plans to build a housing complex there instead.

Gil Hanse, whose company was selected to design the course, has been frustrated by the problems because he has been on site for several months waiting to start work.

"We are very excited and pleased to have begun the initial clearing of the site," Hanse said. "It is the start of a long process to transform this property into a beautiful golf course, and we are happy to get started."

Official construction of the course, which will host the first Olympic golf tournament since 1904 in St. Louis, is scheduled to begin April 1.

The course will be built on a 240-acre piece of sandy, partly marshy terrain inland from the Atlantic Ocean in an area of Rio called Barra, about three miles from the Olympic Village.

--J.B. Holmes, who has been battling to reclaim his spot among the best golfers in the world since undergoing brain surgery in 2011, will be miss the next 8-to-12 weeks because of a broken left ankle he sustained in a roller-blading accident near his home in Windermere, Fla.

Holmes, whose ankle is in a cast, has missed the cut in four of the five tournaments he has played this season, in addition to tying for 50th in AT&T National Pro-Am.

"Just a freak little thing," said Terry Reilly, Holmes' agent with Wasserman Media Group.

The 31-year-old Holmes, whose two PGA Tour victories came in the 2006 and 2008 FBR Opens (now the Waste Management Phoenix Open), finished in the top 20 in only two of his 25 events last year after his return from brain surgery.

Holmes, one of the longest hitters on the circuit, missed the last part of the 2011 season after having brain surgery to repair Chiari malformations.

Reilly said his client was rollerblading, part of his training regimen, with his fiancee, Erica Kahldin, when he hit a rut in the road that caused his ankle to collapse sideways.

Holmes and Kahldin are scheduled to be married on April 20.

--Yani Tseng of Taiwan, knocked off her perch atop the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings by Stacy Lewis, was looking forward to trying to regain the No. 1 spot last week in the Kia Classic.

Tseng never got to the first tee on Thursday, being forced to withdraw the day before per LPGA Tour rules because she missed her tee time for the pro-am at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, Calif.

"I'm embarrassed to admit that I wasn't feeling well last night and accidentally overslept and missed my tee time for the pro-am this morning," Tseng said in a statement. "I was extremely excited to compete this week to defend my title at the Kia Classic and to try to regain the No. 1 spot.

"This was an unfortunate mistake and I want to apologize to Kia, my sponsors and all of the fans. The Kia Classic is one of my favorite tournaments and I have so many great memories in San Diego. I can't wait to come back here next year."

Tseng, who won the Kia Classic last year at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, will get her next chance to regain the No. 1 spot in a week at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first LPGA Tour major of the season, which he won in 2010.

--Ye Wocheng, a 12-year-old from Dongguan in the Chinese province of Guangdong, will become the youngest player to compete in a European Tour event when he plays in the Volvo China Open.

Ye shot 68-74 -- 142 in a qualifier at Wolong Valley Country Club in Chengdu, China, earning his spot despite stumbling a little down the stretch with a triple bogey on his 16th hole of the second round after three-putting the last two holes in round one.

Guan Tianlang, who went on to capture the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last November and earn a spot in the Masters, set the record when he played in the China Open last year at the age of 13.

"A year ago I set out to break Guan's European Tour record," said Ye, who captured titles in the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego in 2010 and 2011, before finishing second last year.

"My dad was my first coach, so I owe him a lot for starting me off and helping me to develop my swing. He's a pretty good player himself, an eight handicap."

The Volvo China Open will be played May 2-5 at Binhai Lake Golf Club in Tianjin, near Beijing.

--Tom Watson wants more of his players on the 2014 Ryder Cup team to make it the old-fashioned way: he wants them to earn it.

Watson announced that he has cut the number of Captain's Picks he can make from four to three for the matches next year on the PGA Centenary Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, at Gleneagles Resort in Scotland.

"Giving our players one more opportunity to earn a spot on merit, I believe, is the right thing to do," said Watson, who will make his three picks after nine players qualifying through the point standings.

Americans can begin earning point toward the Ryder Cup next month in the Masters. Only points earned from the majors count this year, but all PGA Tour events, with an emphasis on the majors, will count in 2014.

Captain Paul Azinger overhauled the U.S. points system before the 2008 matches at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky. He based the point standings on PGA Tour earnings instead of points assigned to top-10 finishes, put more emphasis on the season in which the Ryder Cup is held and increased the Captain's picks from two to four.

The changes led to a United States victory, but the European has won the biennial event the last two years, including last year, when the Euros rallied from a 10-6 deficit on Sunday by dominating the singles matches.

Watson, who will be 65 when the matches are played in Scotland, is the oldest captain in Ryder Cup history and plays only on the Champions Tour, so he might not know his players that well, yet.

"I've watched a lot of golf on Golf Channel and the networks," Watson said. "I know who Russell Henley (who won the Sony Open in Hawaii) is. I know Kevin ... Streelman (who won the Tampa Bay Championship). You're starting to see players really surge right now.

"Then you have the old stalwarts like Phil (Mickelson) and Tiger (Woods). They have got to step up to the plate as well and lead the team. That's my job as captain, to get the right frame of mind for the team as they approach the Ryder Cup and during the Ryder Cup."

Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/

A Lesson Learned: Tiger's Putter the Great Equalizer

A Lesson Learned: Tiger's Putter the Great Equalizer











David Damesworth March 25, 2013 9:29 PM


I hope you had the opportunity to watch Tiger Woods win at Bay Hill. But more than that, I hope you appreciate what you saw.


I had the good fortune of playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational a year ago. Mr. Palmer has always been kind enough extend an invitation to the North Florida PGA Section champion, and as the winner of that event, I was able to test my playing skills against the best in the world. While I didn't make the cut, I learned a lot about the conditions those guys see week in and week out, and I gained a greater appreciation for how good those guys really are.

For starters, I couldn't play from the rough. Bermuda rough is thick and gnarly under the best of circumstances. Throw in a little rain and tour mowing heights, and it becomes darn near impossible. I found myself playing defensively to keep the ball in the fairway.

But for Tiger, the fairways didn't matter. He missed more than he hit and still won by a comfortable margin, because he had the greatest equalizer in the game - a hot putter.

Tiger finished in the bottom 10 percent of the field in driving accuracy and the bottom 50 percent in greens hit in regulation. That would normally mean missing the cut, not running away with a win. But Tiger led the field in putting. Once again, he did not miss from inside 10 feet, and he was in the top 10 percent in up-and-downs.

He didn't hit a bad putt until the 13th hole of the final round, when he left his first effort eight feet short and low. But he proceeded to roll the second putt in the center of the hole as if it was a tap-in. His confidence with the putter is reminiscent of the days when he made every important putt.

And that is the lesson that you can take away from Tiger's win. He could have spent hours on the range at Bay Hill fighting his swing and figuring out a way to hit every fairway. But instead, he spent a great deal of time on the putting green, working on his one-handed drill that helps him keep his hands high and promotes the release of the putter face through impact.

And he putted between two tees he placed in the ground just far enough apart for a ball to fit through them. That drill helped with his posture and grip by forcing him to focus on his alignment and starting the putt on line.

Both drills improved his feel, his rhythm and, ultimately, his confidence.

Never was that more evident than on the ninth hole of the third round when he snap-hooked a drive that hit a tree and almost went out of bounds. Over half the field would have made bogey from where Tiger left that drive. But because of his supreme confidence in his short game, he hit a 7-iron short of the green in an area where he knew he could hit a wedge close. From there, he hit his third shot to three feet and made the putt for an easy 4.

That's why he won this week, and why he's a heavy favorite to win the Masters. You can miss fairways at Augusta National as long as you can putt. And Tiger can certainly putt.

Confidence on the greens takes pressure off the rest of your game. So, rather than spend hours fighting a swing that might help you hit one or two more fairways, take that practice time over to the putting green and work on a few of Tiger's drills.

I promise you, if you make every putt inside of 10 feet, you will shave a lot of shots off your scorecard, and probably have a career round.

David Damesworth is the PGA Head Golf Professional and TPI Fitness Instructor at Orange Tree Golf Club in Orlando, Fla.

Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/

Rickie Fowler Failing to Live Up to Potential

Rickie Fowler Failing to Live Up to Potential
Young Phenom is a Trendsetter Idolized by a Generation of Young Golfers but He’s Underacheived so Far on the Golf Course











Mark McLaughlin March 26, 2013 3:40 AM




COMMENTARY | And now, we turn to the rest of the golf universe being drowned out by the floodlights following Tiger Woods and his reclaimed No. 1 ranking to Augusta National … and his latest date with Lindsey Vonn.




Rickie Fowler did his best to take down Tiger in Monday's finish to the Arnold Palmer Invitational but a bogey-triple bogey stumble down the stretch once again doomed his chances. It's becoming an all too common trend for the talented 24-year-old but one that needs to be corrected if he hopes to become a regular winner on the PGA Tour.



Maybe too much was expected of Fowler when he blazed onto the scene with a clinic on clutch putting at the 2010 Ryder Cup. That display backed up Corey Pavin's gutsy pick of Fowler as a captain's choice and the young gun out of Oklahoma State seemed destined to become a perennial Ryder Cup presence.



Fowler took a big step last May in capturing his first tour victory against a deep field on a stellar track at theWells Fargo Championship. Fowler followed up his maiden win with a runner-up showing the next week at the Players Championship and added a T5 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial for good measure.





Then the roof fell in. Fowler played his way off the 2012 Ryder Cup team by failing to post a top 20 finish the rest of the season. Davis Love III made the wrong call picking a flawed Jim Furyk for the team over Fowler as the darling of Puma-wearing young golfers everywhere would have added some needed pizzazz to the U.S. lineup.



I thought Fowler would enter this year with a chip on his shoulder, kind of like getting back on his dirtbike after a bad fall and charging the motocross course even harder. His 2013 campaign has shown flashes - he's got three top six finishes - but it's been done in by final-round blowups. Fowler ranks 126th in final round scoring average and you're not going to win too many times with those numbers.



Loose iron shots have been the main culprit. The 7-iron second shot he rinsed into the water fronting Bay Hill's par 5 16th hole is the latest and most memorable example. That errant swing led to a triple bogey, extending a streak that PGATour.com's Fred Albers notes has seen him make a double bogey or worse in 15 straight tournaments. Fowler has been hitting such shots all year as he ranks 133rd in greens in regulation.



Despite the poor finish, Bay Hill marked Fowler's best showing since his run of good play nearly a year ago. And he was encouraged about standing toe-to-toe with Woods, the best closer ever, for most of the final round.





"That's the best I've felt in the final group," Fowler said in his post-round press conference. "It was fun to go after him a little bit, I just wish it could have been a little bit more coming down the last couple holes."



Add to that growing confidence a dose of maturity. Since coming on tour, Fowler has putted aggressively, almost fearlessly. Such boldness creates more opportunities to convert long birdie putts like he did at Bay Hill but also introduces more three putts. Now he sounds ready to ease off the throttle.



"It's not fun having three or four footers coming back all the time," Fowler said. "I'm working on dropping the speed back a little bit."





Fowler is also trying to learn as much as he can from his late mistakes.



"Putting myself in position to win a golf tournament and kind of taking myself out of it…it was kind of kick in the butt to go out there and finish off tournaments."



Sounds like that chip is back on Fowler's shoulder. Only another win can knock it off.

Much Ado About Anchoring Putters

For all the fuss about the belly putter this season, the long stick has yet to be wielded by a tournament winner. Maybe the threat of having to switch back to a normal length putter is playing with their heads but whatever the reason, the PGA Tour's most well known long putters have been mostly missing in action on 2013 leaderboards.



Webb Simpson: The first U.S. Open winner to anchor his putter, Simpson has sandwiched six top 25 finishes around two missed cuts but has yet to be in contention down the stretch on Sunday.

Adam Scott: A sample size of four tournaments is not much to judge but Scott sits in the middle of the pack in strokes gained putting and has made a single cameo appearance in prime time thanks to a final-round 64 to finish third at Doral.

Ernie Els: The long putter worked wonders for Els at the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Anne's but hasn't helped much since. He has just one top 25 finish in five U.S. starts and has been seen on practice greens stroking a standard length putter.



The lone exception to the long-putter-as-an-anchor theme is Keegan Bradley, who is trending in the right direction with the Masters on the horizon.





After a lackluster West Coast Swing, Bradley has heated up in his adopted home state of Florida. The Jupiter resident has finished T4, seventh and T3 in his three starts on the Bermuda greens of the Sunshine state. And those performances could have been better as each was capped by a final-round 71.



Bradley would seem to lack the seasoning to win at Augusta - he'll be making just his second Masters start - but he's been doing course recon with none other than Phil Mickelson, a mentor who's not afraid to pass on his vast knowledge to his Ryder Cup and weekly money match buddy.



Mark McLaughlin has reported on the PGA Tour for FoxSports.com, the Greensboro News & Record, Burlington (N.C.) Times-News and New York Post. He is a past member of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. Follow him on Twitter @markmacduke.

Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/