hr: Golfing

Thank Kenny Perry for providing the laugh track to the 90th PGA Championship, the fourth and final major of the season for many, the first and only major of the season for Perry.

No, this week’s laugh track is as plain and simple as Perry himself: “Ha, ha, ha.”

For the record, that’s a direct quote, Perry’s easy answer to what was evidently an easy question as he walked out of the media center late Tuesday afternoon.

You may have heard that Perry caught a little bit of flak for it, and not just from sportswriters on this side of the pond.

“It amuses me,” said Perry, 47, who has said time and again his only goal for this season was to play in the Ryder Cup, which is being played next month in his home state of Kentucky.

In 22 years, nobody cared where I played golf. On Tuesday, after walking off the 18th green, Perry made sure to sign autographs for everyone who was waiting for him. Perry even walked out of sight once, then returned because he heard someone scream for another signature.

Perry’s season has been both unusual and unexpected, not to mention great by most standards, whether he’s playing in his first major championship of the year this week or his 10th. “It’s just been magical,” said Perry. I really haven’t thought about – my only goal was to make the Ryder Cup team, that’s all I focused in on this year. Not that Perry isn’t trying this week. Don’t forget how this story could end if he recharges those batteries just enough.

Don’t forget that the best part of this whole story is that Perry could still win this week. Thing is, Perry wouldn’t say anything.

“Ha, ha, ha,” said Perry Tuesday, when asked what that victory speech would be like.

“I’d just laugh. I’d just laugh.”

Before nearly beating the world’s best golfer at last year’s PGA Championship, Woody Austin was a master of intergalactic warfare.

Austin was a Little League all-star in Tampa, Fla., his highlight a hard-hit single up the middle off future Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden. Austin still competes in softball and basketball leagues at home in Derby, Kan.

“He’s what we call in South Africa ‘an all-arounder,’ ” said former PGA Tour player Ronnie McCann, Austin’s college roommate. “Last year’s PGA Championship, where he finished two shots behind Tiger Woods, gave Austin a taste of stardom. I feel I played well enough to win.”

For a ballstriker such as Austin, many rounds are full of frustration as another birdie opportunity slides by the hole.

Austin made the most of his time in the spotlight at Southern Hills. Austin’s honesty gave his Q-rating a big boost. “What you see now with Woody is what he’s always been,” said former Miami teammate Tom Hearn, who played the PGA Tour and is now a Nationwide Tour rules official. Austin, 44, returns to the PGA Championship Aug. 7-10 at Oakland Hills Country Club. This year, Austin is 19th on Tour in greens in regulation but is 166th in putts per GIR.

The PGA also is the final week to earn points for the U.S. Ryder Cup team standings. Austin was 10th on the list after the British Open. “(The Ryder Cup) would kind of put a cap on the career,” Austin said. “I can say I’m a multiple Tour winner; I’ve stayed out here a long time; I’ve played the Presidents Cup; I’ve been in the top 40 in the world rankings for a good part of this year. Austin has won three PGA Tour events, most recently at last year’s Stanford St. Jude Championship after a final-round 62. Austin played along with the gag, sporting a snorkel mask during his singles match. Austin isn’t afraid to share his opinion. “We live in such an excuse-oriented society,” Austin said. It took Austin eight years to make it to the Nationwide Tour after graduating from Miami in 1986.

Michelle Wie has heard the criticism of her decision to play in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open this week instead of attempting to qualify for the Women’s British Open.

Reno sports books have made Wie a 500-1 long shot in the second-tier tournament, which opens Thursday. Sorenstam, who failed to make the cut in her only PGA appearance, said at the Women’s British Open earlier this week that if Wie can’t qualify for a women’s major, she has no business playing with the men.

David Leadbetter, who has worked with Wie for years, blamed her family for making bad choices and said she has more to lose than gain by playing at Reno this week.

David Duval, who has shown signs of regaining some of the form that won him the 2001 British Open, said Wie’s playing on the PGA Tour “has never bothered me in the least.”

“I don’t know if the PGA Tour is exactly the place to gain confidence. “All I’m thinking about is trying to play some good golf. How can I limit the number of bogeys I make? Good rounds and low scores can solve everything.”

Tournament director Michael Stearns said Wie and her family turned down several invitations to play the tournament before finally accepting late last month.

Ben Crane, the highest ranked player in the Reno field at 87th, thinks the Montreux Golf & Country Club’s 7,472-yard course through towering pines and mountain streams fits Wie’s game.

Wie admitted to reporters that she still gets butterflies before PGA events, but is excited about the opportunity.

“It’s almost like right before you go on a roller coaster — like kind of half scared, half really excited, knowing everything is going to be all right,” Wie said in a Golf Channel Interview.

Richard S. Johnson birdied three of his last four holes to shoot a 6-under 64 Sunday and win the U. S. Bank Championship for his first PGA Tour victory.

Johnson finished at 16-under 264 on the 6,759-yard Brown Deer Park Golf Course. He is the sixth golfer from Sweden to win on Tour and seventh first-time winner this year.

Johnson, the first-round leader after shooting a 63, sank a birdie putt of about 12 feet on the par-4 17th hole to break a tie with Ken Duke at 14 under. He then birdied the par-5 18th from less than 2 feet.

He needed that final birdie to win because Duke, playing in his threesome, also birdied the last hole.

Duke shot 65 to finish second at 15 under.

Dean Wilson (65), Chad Campbell (65) and Chris Riley (66) tied for third at 13 under.

Perry had been criticized for skipping the British Open to play here after winning three of his last five tournaments, including last week’s John Deere Classic. The event is being held in his native Kentucky.

Perry felt his finish vindicated that decision.

“I accomplished my goal,” Perry said in a Golfweek article. “I wanted to top-10 it. ”

Johnson started the day at 10 under, a shot back of third-round leaders Gavin Coles and Nick Flanagan. Coles and Flanagan each shot even par-70 and tied for 11th.

Johnson struggled early in the final round with bogeys on two of his first three holes. Troy Matteson, Duke, and Campbell all made the turn at 12 under, one shot ahead of Johnson. At one time four players were tied at 13 under but Johnson birdied the 15th hole and Duke the 16th to break away and tie at 14 under.

Defending champion Joe Ogilive failed in his bid to become the first player to win back-to-back titles in the tournament, which began in 1968. He shot a 67 and tied for sixth.

The guy who merely wanted to win enough to make the Ryder Cup team is now racking up victories at a rapid pace.

Perry beat Brad Adamonis and Jay Williamson in a one-hole playoff to win the John Deere Classic and escape with his third victory in five starts after bogeying the 18th hole Sunday.

The ball stopped 3 feet short and Adamonis was at 16-under 268 with the others. Perry, who was signing autographs, said he didn’t see the shot. While Adamonis and Williamson both hit approach shots into the pond on No. 18, Perry tapped in from 1 feet, 4 inches for par and the victory after his 24-footer stopped just short.

He picked the ball out of the cup and raised both arms, an ear-to-ear grin crossing his face.

“I told my dad I was going to make the PGA Tour and win a tournament,” he said in a Golf Channel interview. Perry (1-under 70), Adamonis (70) and Williamson (69) were one stroke ahead of Charlie Wi (69), Will MacKenzie (70) and Eric Axley (69) after 72 holes.

Williamson earned an invitation to the British Open and, unlike Perry, accepted it.

Like TPC Deere Run.

Perry pulled ahead at 17-under with a birdie on the par-4 14th, and stayed ahead with a putt to save par on the par-3 16th after a terrible chip from the fringe. After his tee shot settled about 19 feet from the hole, Perry overshot the cup by 16 feet.

Adamonis then missed a chance on the final regulation hole.

“I know there was a chance to win,” he said. I didn’t hit a very good putt, but maybe next time.”

Perry lost a playoff at the AT&T Classic in May and won the Memorial two weeks later. The galleries have been a little larger lately, too, and the PGA Tour even assigned him a security guard at the course.

It’s all new for Perry, who has played more than two decades on the Tour.

Not that he wouldn’t love to win a major, but his major goal at the moment is helping the U.S. team win the Ryder Cup at Valhalla in Louisville, about 40 miles from his birthplace.

“I play I hard, I play good, things will take care of themselves,” he said.

Golf without Tiger Woods doesn’t look quite so bleak now that Anthony Kim has caught fire. Stars like Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh skipped the event. Weekend attendance at Congressional Country Club fell by 22,000 from last year. Worst of all, the tournament host called in sick. AK to the rescue! Wearing a pink shirt and a jeweled belt buckle the size of a banquet tray, the 23-year-old Kim came from three strokes behind on Sunday to breeze to a two-shot victory over Fredrik Jacobson. In doing so, Kim validated his five-stroke win at April’s Wachovia Classic and calmed the Chicken Littles who have been running around screaming, “The season is over!” ever since Tiger went under the knife.

“Anytime there’s a younger guy who plays well, there’s always a little buzz,” Kim said in a Golf Channel interview afterward. “People are looking and hoping to find the guy who’s going to challenge Tiger.”

That shouldn’t be too hard — not while Woods is on crutches, anyway. But some golf pundits say that the winners of the upcoming British Open and PGA Championship should go into the record book with asterisks next to their names (*Tiger Woods Not in Field). Tour veteran Paul Goydos was asked to comment last week, and he had a glib rejoinder: “Then we need to put an asterisk next to all 18 of Jack’s majors, because Tiger didn’t play in any of those.”

It’s possible, of course, that the winner of next week’s Open Championship got his asterisk in gear at Congressional. Jacobson qualified for the British as the top player among the top five and ties at the AT&T. Rocco Mediate, the 45-year-old backslapper who gained millions of fans by taking Woods to a 19th playoff hole at the U.S. Open, qualified by finishing second to Kenny Perry on a special British Open money list of bewildering complexity. “Hopefully I’ll be at the British,” a grinning Mediate said after finishing 18th. “Awesome,” said Dean Wilson, who tied for third at Congressional. “For a guy who hits it that far [301.0 average, eighth on Tour], he really hits it straight.” Added Jacobson, “He has good flight on his long irons as well. So he’s a guy who can play really well on tough courses.”

So, could Anthony Kim be … the guy?

From anywhere in the States it’s an overnight flight to Manchester and a one-hour drive to Royal Birkdale.

Ten years ago this summer, a billboard went up on U.S. Route 1 south of Sanford, N.C., proclaiming the arrival of something totally different. “Tobacco Road: A Whole New Playing Field,” blared the ad. For those of us used to turning right just beyond the sign to go to Pinehurst, word of architect Mike Strantz’s latest creation was reason enough to have a peek.

Tobacco Road Golf Clubs is described as “Pine Valley on steroids” and “golf’s rock and roll thrill ride”. Mike Strantz created one of the most celebrated and talked about courses in the world. Consistently rated amongst the nation’s best, Tobacco Road is the one course that leaves you and your golfing friends begging for more.  The scene is so breath-taking you will want to bring along your camera to forever capture the greatness of “The Road”.  Playing at a length of 6500 yards from the Ripper tees, Tobacco Road was rated as high as second in slope in the Carolinas to the famed Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. 

The look and feel of the place would prove unlike anything ever seen in golf. If the asphalt plant at the entrance wasn’t enough, there was the rustic cabin behind a green to the right and an overblown shed that looked like a halfway house until you realized it was, in fact, the clubhouse.

But that’s nothing compared to the view from the first tee. Here, the player looks out upon a 558-yard par 5 that weaves and bobs through massive dunes that narrowly pinch the fairway landing area. Most courses shun blind shots entirely. By the looks of things, Tobacco Road had three on the first hole. It’s a good indication of the ensuing walk on the wild side.

The overall effect is stunning and also hysterically funny. You can toss the book out on all sorts of routing rules – you know, the ones that preach an easy opening tee shot or visible landing areas or well-defined options. In military parlance, the opening tee shot passes through a narrow “defile,” or choke point. When you break through to the other side, you have entered a netherworld of distracting beauty, psychological distortion and cruel teasing. We always knew golf could be hard or demanding, but who knew that a single round could be such an emotional roller-coaster of imagery, texture and sensuality? It’s the golf course you love and hate on alternating shots. And the golf course that made you think everything else in its generation was two-dimensional and black and white.

“That Friday I was sitting in the locker room packing up my things to go home,” Creamer said in a Golf Channel interview after shattering the tournament’s 36-hole record by six shots. I’m going to come back and play this golf course well,’ ” said Creamer, who stands at 17-under 125 – the lowest 36-hole total on the LPGA this year by five strokes.

Then the 21-year-old needed a birdie on one of the two closing par-5 holes on Friday to tie the tour record for fewest shots taken through two rounds. Instead, she parred both holes, missing a short birdie putt and then saving a par on the 18th after missing the green with her approach.

“She has been incredible and her score is unbelievable,” said Eun-Hee Ji, the only player within 10 shots of her. Ji has rounds of 65 and 66 and still trails by a half dozen strokes.

Creamer had seven birdies and her only bogey of the tournament a day after she birdied nine of the final 11 holes and totaled 11 birdies. The 60 eclipsed by a shot the course record of defending champion Se Ri Pak.

Pak, trying to become the first LPGA player to win the same event six times, shot a 69 and was 12 shots behind. She went 63-68 a year ago in the first two rounds to match Kelly Robbins’ tournament record, set in 1997.

Rachel Hetherington, who won the 2002 Farr, shot a 67 and was tied for third with H.J. Choi (68) at 135.

The scary part is that Creamer used the word “terrible” to describe three shots – and still matched the lowest round of the day with her 65.

“I don’t think I hit one solid iron shot out there.”

“Gosh, if somebody would have told me par was 71 yesterday, maybe I could have shot 59.” Creamer’s 17-under score in relation to par matches the third-best ever on tour.

No, she made it by 17 shots.

Jamie Lovemark has not played the 18th hole at Pinehurst’s No. 2 course since his second round of stroke-play qualifying on Tuesday.

Lovemark, however, is certain to see the 445-yard, par-4 finishing hole at least once Sunday as he takes on Florida State senior Matt Savage in the 36-hole final of the 108th North & South Amateur Championship.

Lovemark, a junior at USC and a two-time first-team All-American, advanced to the championship match Saturday with a 6-and-4 victory over North Carolina sophomore Kevin O’Connell.

Savage also cruised in his semifinal showdown with a 4-and-3 win over Duke junior Adam Long.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Savage said in a Golfweek interview. “Jamie’s the favorite and is a great player.

Lovemark, the 2007 NCAA Champion, has been on his game throughout the week. After medaling with a 5-under 136 in stroke-play qualifying, he won his first two matches on the 13th hole.

He was stretched to the 17th hole in the third round when he beat Zack Byrd, 2 and 1. In the quarterfinals, he beat Ferdinand Aunzo, 3 and 2.

“Right now I’m feeling good about my game,” Lovemark said. “It’s been a successful week so far, especially learning the golf course and getting the needed knowledge you have to have around and on the greens.”

After O’Connell won the second hole with a par, the match belonged to Lovemark. He won No. 3 with a birdie and Nos. 5 and 6 with pars to go 2 up. Another birdie at No. 8 and a conceded tap-in birdie at No. 10 extended his lead to 4 up. He closed out the match with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14.

O’Connell never had a chance to capitalize or build momentum in the match.

Savage was given a quick dose of reality on the first hole when Long holed out his approach shot for eagle.

For Long, who was the last player to qualify for match play as the 64th seed, it would be his only lead of the day.

The two engaged in a back-and-forth battle throughout the day, but Savage’s seven birdies – including an 18-footer on the 15th – eventually gave him the win.

The traditional golf mat we use in the driving range often times cannot really fully simulate the feel of hitting the green. These golf mats usually gives us a painful experience when our swing goes wrong as these mats have hard surfaces and obvious imitated grass.

The Golf Mat by Vijay Singh uses a revolutionary Virtual Turf technology that utilizes military-grade spring as the ones used in the vibration dampening system of F-15 fighters under the putting mat. This results in the putting mat bouncing at the golfer’s swing. It not only results in softer feel of hitting the ball but also in the avoidance of “flexes” in the golfer’s swing resulting in longer distances.

With the golf mat, the golfer needs no swing adjustment thereby resulting in a more consistent swing as this mat really feels like the real thing.

Too bad that it seems this golf mat still has to produce “leftie” versions. So, for golfers out there like me who are lefties, we’ll stick with our current golf mats. The Golf Mat by Vijay Singh retails at around $299.00 with a 30 day money-back guarantee.