It looks like Byron Nelson's streak is still safe for now. Geoff Ogilvy ended Tiger Woods win streak this morning with 11 pars in 11 holes. Ogilvy didn't have a single bogey until the seventh hole of the final round, whereas Tiger struggled a bit on the greens, and just couldn't find the rhythm he wanted, though he still managed to stay near the front of the pack for the entire tournament.
Though Tiger Woods may not have his perfect season that the media was hyping so much (after only three official events, and five total starts), the way he is playing is absolutely phenomenal. In five starts this season, he has four wins and one fifth place finish. Phil Mickelson, second in FedEx Cup points, on the other hand has seven starts, only one of which is a win, one second place, one sixth place, three top 25 finishes and one 128th.
I doubt that this will affect Tiger's confidence at the Masters and he is still favored to win there in a couple weeks. I am still looking to Tiger to put together a season for the record books.
I just got news that the company that I have worked for since 2004 isn't going to be giving me a raise this year, and unless I'm a member of the GST (Global Sales Team) I can forget about a Christmas bonus either (and that wouldn't come until December 2009 now anyway). It's just a sign of the times that we live in, and another new notch on my already tightening belt. Now if I could only match David Lutterus on tour. For thouse of you who don't know, David Lutterus has made $34,171 on Tour so far this year, which would put him on course for making $100,000 this year assuming he makes an average of 11,111.11 per month and doesn't compete in the Silly Season. See, I'm not greedy. I'm just asking to be good enough to make a decent income on Tour, and once you take out travel expenses and money for my caddy, 100K really isn't a lot, now is it? All that I'm asking is to average 70.94 per round, and make half of the cuts. Though my name suggests that I seek Tiger level fame and game, really, all I want is to not get kicked around by some big corporation that has had my loyalty for almost four years. Is that too much to ask?
Now all I need is an instructor who will take me to that level of play. If you can help an inexperienced, 24 year old golfer who has yet to break 100 to get to just a tad better than scratch, contact me. Payment will be received after I reach my desired skill level. Any takers?
Thank you for reading today's rant.
I heard on the radio this morning that Ladbrokes was taking bets at 12/1 odds that Tiger would win the Grand Slam. Well, I just checked out the site for myself, and it looks like Ladbrokes is a little more confident that he will, as it the odds are now 8/1. The odds are only twice as good (4/1) on the site that Tiger wins zero majors. I am not a betting man, but if I was, I would prefer going with the 8/1 odds that Tiger will win the Grand Slam. I think that anyone who bets against Tiger even winning a single major this year needs to get his head examined.
I don't know how many of you have been following the PGA TOUR so far this year, but Tiger Woods is on fire! He is putting like the Tiger that made me select my name, hitting the greens so close to the pin that it almost doesn't matter, and he is a lot more accurate with his drives so far this year. He has won every tournament that he has entered, and in only two official PGA TOUR events, he has nearly 1,000 more points toward the FedEx Cup than Phil Mickelson does in five events.
If Tiger is ever going to win the ever-elusive Grand Slam (all four majors in one calendar year), this is the year that it will happen. Tiger is on such a hot-streak right now that it will be very surprising if he doesn't win the Masters next month. The US Open is at Torrey Pines, which Tiger has won at seven times, so they might as well give him the trophy and the check right now. The Open Championship (British Open) is at Royal Birkdale, which Tiger has only played at once, but it is a set-up that he will do well in. Finally, the PGA Championship is at Oakland Hills, which is another Tiger Woods favorite.
Now, I'm not such a homer that I'm saying that Tiger Woods is a shooin for the Grand Slam, but if he is ever going to do it, the conditions are almost perfect this year for him to do so. You could say that the conditions are right for a perfect storm. And all I can say is I would love to see history made.
I want to thank everyone that has shown their concern about my injury. It's nice to know that I have so many people that I've never met in person that truly seem to care.
Since I can't golf for a while, I have a lot of time to think, and I've come up with a few ideas for products that I want to share (and don't go stealing my ideas!).
Well, those are a couple of my ideas for now. I'm actually working on the hydration pack golf bag right now. Who knows if it will ever make it to market. I'll fill you in on a few more ideas that I have later.
Well, my season came to an early end today. I was out taking pictures with my digital camera for my Digital Media Essentials class, when the sprinklers came on where I was taking pictures. Not wanting to get wet, I tried to hurry away from the spot, and slipped down a hill, landed on my wrist on the curb (the hill was right along a street). My lens broke, and my wrist is badly sprained. This has taken me three times as long to write as it normally would have. So, because of this wrist injury, I'm going to have to put the clubs up, probably for the rest of the season, barring unseasonably warm weather in late November. It sucks, but at least I know that I have my friends on Golf Link to help me keep up on golf.
Tournaments are interesting. It usually costs a lot less money to enter a tournament than it does to play a round of golf at the course that is holding the tournament. Talon's Cove in Saratoga Springs, UT, the host club of the company tournament, costs $47 for 18 holes. That is without prizes, and without a cart. For the company tournament, it is $15 per person, cart included. There are also prizes! It makes me wonder how much of the cost tournament operators absorb. I know that the prizes are all provided by the company, but still! Golf clubs must love to host tournaments because it guarantees that they receive revenue even if the course doesn't fill up. Check out tournaments in your area. They are great opportunities to golf at a cheaper price, at a more competitive level than you're probably used to, and possibly take home some prizes.
I'm excited to play Talon's Cove. I've never paid over $40 for a round of golf, as there are several well-priced clubs in my area. It is supposed to be one of the nicest courses in the valley, and it is affiliated with other highly rated courses such as Sun River in St. George (Utah's golf mecca, as I have mentioned) and The Lodge at Cloudcroft, in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I'll probably have one or two more blog entries on my preparations, and then on Sunday or Monday, I'll provide pictures of the course, and...the results of the tournament! I'm really getting pumped up!
It's Monday, and I decided to pull out the putter and putt into a cup from varying distances at the office. This is something that I have always liked to do. In fact, if it wasn't for those little putt-into-a-mug games that they have at little fairs, I may not have picked up golf at this point in my life. I used to try every single putting game that I could, and I would usually walk away with a prize. But those were straight, usually flat, putts from about 10 feet. No one told me that I'd have putts that would have to do a loop around the back of the green before finding the hole.
The putt-into-a-mug games caught my interest, but were a poor preparation for real-life putting. On my first round, I didn't have anything less than a 3-putt. I have improved gradually, and though I'm nowhere near the putter that I'd like to be, I'm confident in my ability to sink short putts, and get long putts close. Wanting to hone my long-range putting skills, I set a cup against the wall of my row, and hit balls ranging from 20 feet up to 40 feet. At first, I noticed that I was missing right nearly every time. I found that the reason I was doing this was that I did not have my dominant eye positioned over the ball correctly. After that, most of my putts were on line, but finding the right speed for that distance is tricky. If any of my putts hit the wall with power to produce more than a small tap sound, I would start my count to ten over. Eventually, I was able to get 10 in a row to the cup, or the wall with no more than a tap sound. Tomorrow during lunch, I'm going down to the putting green at Sleepy Ridge, which has a great little 9 hole putting green on which to test every type of putt. I'll let you know how it goes. Until then, I'm getting excited, and my confidence is building. Back-to-back, here I come!
Each year, my company has a 4-man scramble tournament. Last year was my first time to participate, and it was also my first tournament to enter and win! So this year, I'm coming back as the defending champion, trying for a repeat. My team is a little bit different this year, so I hope that we have the skill sets to pull it off.
I've been practicing very regularly to try and prepare. I've nearly eliminated three-putts, and my chips are coming in a lot tighter than before. I'm still working on my driving distance/accuracy, and I will update my blog with my progress.