- Old Guns:  Only one round has been played (and not even that, actually, with play suspended due to darkness) but it is interesting to note the overwhelming presence of veterans atop the Thursday leaderboard at the PODS Championship.  Bart Bryant, who holds a one shot lead with a six-under-par 65, is 45 years old – and, we note, he has played far and away his best golf since turning 40.  One behind Bryant is 47-year-old Kenny Perry, 44-year-old Jeff Maggert and 43-year-old Lee Janzen, plus the baby of the family, 34-year-old Stewart Cink.  Coincidence?  Perhaps.  At 7,340 yards, with a par of 71, Innisbrook’s Copperhead course is hardly the sort of kinder and gentler track upon which the old and infirmed thrive.  It is, however, tightly tree-lined and dotted with doglegs, a circumstance which often requires a degree of shotmaking skill (and, perhaps, judgment) less common among the hit-it-as-far-as-I-can younger set.  These leaders probably aren’t worth getting too excited about just yet, but if they’re still atop the board on Sunday evening, we’ll certainly have something to talk about.
 
- What Was He Thinking?:  There will be enough negative press on this to make further comment borderline superfluous, but what on earth was Nationwide Tour member John Henry “Tripp” Isenhour III thinking when he drove golf balls at – and subsequently killed – a red-shouldered hawk during a TV filming in Florida?  Preaching is pointless here; the man obviously has no love for animals, nor for the glorious outdoor environment that he is privileged enough to earn a living in (or rather try to earn a living; he’s currently 94th on the Nationwide money list).  My question is: Assuming the story is true as reported, and ignoring its abject heartlessness, how dumb is this man?  To kill this helpless animal by repeatedly driving golf balls at it in front of a film crew?  Forget about conduct unbecoming a professional; Can Tim Finchem discipline players for simple, unmitigated stupidity?  Sheesh….
 
- English As A Second Language:  It is the intention of this website to provide fairly equal coverage of the world’s major professional tours, but on occasion factors beyond my control make this difficult.  To wit: I would love to cover the Japan LPGA Tour (which boasts four of the world’s top 20 female players) on a level similar to the LPGA and Ladies European Tours.  Unfortunately, the JLPGA is the lone major tour worldwide that does not provide an English language version of its website, and though obviously well-intended, Google’s automatic translation is, well…erratic.  On a good day.  So we’ll do the best we can with this, providing what information and decipherable links are available while awaiting the day when the JLPGA joins the men’s Japan Tour and the Korean LPGA in recognizing that their larger audience is an English-speaking one.  Or perhaps they’re guessing that they have no larger audience?

Thursday’s Round of the Day

Even though parts of the PODS field haven’t even finished play, this is a no-brainer.  Nick Dougherty began his opening round of the Malaysian Open with a routine par, followed by three birdies, two more pars and…a run of seven straight birdies, leaving him 10 under through 13 holes.  Three birdies in the remaining five for 59, Dougherty thought hopefully.  In the end, none of them materialized, but 62 was a pretty good number in its own right.