PGA Tour: The Players Championship

Site: TPC at Sawgrass - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Yards: 7,215   Par: 72
Defending: Sergio Garcia 283   (beat P. Goydos in a playoff)
Field: World Top 20: All except Lee Westwood (16)   Other Notables: All who are physically able..

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European PGA Tour: BMW Italian Open

Site: Royal Park I Roveri – Torino, Italy
Yards: 7,222   Par: 71
Defending: Hennie Otto 263   (beat O. Wilson by 2)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: Darren Clarke, John Daly, Anders Hansen, Thomas Levet, Colin Montgomerie & Charl Schwartzel.

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Sunshine Tour: Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open

Site: Royal Swazi Sun Country Club - Mbabane, Swaziland
Meters: 6,166   Par: 72
Defending: Jean Hugo +56 (Stableford)   (beat N. Schietekat by 6)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: Desvonde Botes, Darren Fichardt & James Kamte.

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LPGA Tour: Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill

Site: Kingsmill Resort (River course) – Williamsburg, VA
Yards: 6,326   Par: 71
Defending: Annika Sorenstam 265   (beat four players by 7)
Field: World Top 20: The entire Rolex top 20 except Paula Creamer (4), Yuri Fudoh (14) & Jeong Jang (16)   Other Notables: Laura Davies, Rachel Hetherington, Juli Inkster & Se Ri Pak.

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Elsewhere...
JLPGA – World Women’s Championship – Ibaraki, Japan
Euro Seniors – Mallorca Senior Open – Mallorca, Spain

PGA Tour: Quail Hollow Championship

Winner: Sean O’Hair 69-72-67-69   277   (beat L. Glover and B. Watson by 1)
Site: Quail Hollow Country Club – Charlotte, NC

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


European PGA Tour: Open de Espana

Winner: Thomas Levet 64-67-71-68   272   (beat F. Zanotti by 2)
Site: PGA Golf Catalunya – Girona, Spain

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Japan Tour: The Crowns

Winner: Tetsuji Hiratsuka 67-66-64-66   263   (beat K. Kuboya by 7)
Site: Nagoya Golf Club (Wago course) - Aichi, Japan

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Crystal Geyser Ladies – Chie Arimura 207  (Story)
Futures – Texas Hill Country Classic – Allison Hanna-Williams 209 (Story)
Euro Challenge – Moraccan Classic – Robert Coles 275 (Story)

PGA Tour: Quail Hollow Championship

Site : Quail Hollow Club - Charlotte, NC
Yards: 7,442   Par: 72
Defending: Anthony Kim 272   (beat B. Curtis by 5)
Field: World Top 20: Tiger Woods (1), Phil Mickelson (2), Sergio Garcia (3), Geoff Ogilvy (4), Padraig Harrington (7), Vijay Singh (8), Camilo Villegas (10), Robert Karlsson (11), Anthony Kim (13), Jim Furyk (14) & Angel Cabrera (18)   Other Notables: David Duval, Steve Elkington, Danny Lee & Davis Love III.

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European PGA Tour: Open de Espana

Site: PGA Golf de Catalunya – Girona, Spain
Yards: 6,588   Par: 72
Defending: Peter Lawrie 273   (beat I. Garrido in playoff)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: John Daly, Anders Hansen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Colin Montgomerie & Charl Schwartzel.

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Japan Tour: The Crowns

Site: Nagoya Golf Club (Wago course) - Aichi, Japan
Yards: 6,514   Par: 70
Defending: Tomohiro Kondo 271   (beat H. Fujita in a playoff)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: Isao Aoki, Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Prayad Marksaeng, Tommy Nakajima & Craig Parry.

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Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Crystal Geyser Ladies – Chiba, Japan
Futures – Texas Hill Country Classic – San Antonio, TX
Canadian – San Luis Potosi Open – San Luis Potosi, Mexico

PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Winner: Jerry Kelly 68-66-69-71   274   (beat three players by 1)
Site: TPC Louisiana – Avondale, LA

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


European & Asian Tours: Ballantine’s Championship

Winner: Thongchai Jaidee 66-71-77-70   284   (beat G. Fernandez-Castano & S.H. Kang in a playoff)
Site: Pinx Golf Club – Jeju Island, Korea

STORY         RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Japan Tour: Tsuruya Open

Winner: Masaya Tomida 68-66-64   198   (beat D. Smail by 2)
Site: Yamanohara Golf Club – Mie, Japan

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


LPGA Tour: Corona Championship

Winner: Lorena Ochoa 65-65-69-68   267   (beat S. Pettersen by 1)
Site: Tres Marias Country Club - Morelia, Mexico

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Champions Tour: Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf

Winner: Tom Lehman & Bernhard Langer 61-66-62   189   (beat J. Sluman & C. Stadler in a playoff)
Site: Savannah Harbor Golf Resort – Savannah, GA

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Fujisankei Classic – Tamie Durden 137 (Story)
Futures – Historic Brownsville Open – Angela Buzminski 216
Nationwide – South Georgia Classic – Garth Mulroy 275 (Story)
Tour de Las Americas – Televisa TLA Player Championship – Eduardo Herrera 200 (Story)
Canadian – Mexican PGA Championship – Mauricio Molina 277  (Story)

So Brian Gay went wild over the weekend, tearing up Harbour Town Links to the tune of a 20-under-par 264 aggregate, logging a 10-stroke victory margin over Briny Baird and Luke Donald, and breaking a slew of tournament records in a superb all-around golfing performance.

Naturally, double figure victory margins are pretty rare things. Indeed, by my count (and discounting three such runaways in early Open Championships by the Tom Morrises, which the PGA Tour Media Guide curiously does not include), only 39 times in the official history of the PGA Tour have players won events by 10 or more shots, which break down as follows:

16 - J.D. Edgar (1919 Canadian Open)
       Joe Kirkwood (1924 Corpus Christi Open)
       Bobby Locke (1948 Chicago Victory National Championship)
15 - Tiger Woods (2000 U.S. Open)
14 - Ben Hogan (1945 Portland Invitational)
       Johnny Miller (1975 Phoenix Open)
13 - Byron Nelson (1945 Seattle Open)
       Gene Littler (1955 Tournament of Champions)
       Phil Mickelson (2006 BellSouth Classic)
12 - Byron Nelson (1939 Phoenix Open)
       Arnold Palmer (1962 Phoenix Open)
       Jose Maria Olazabal (1990 World Series of Golf)
       Tiger Woods (1997 Masters)
11 - Steve Jones (1997 Phoenix Open)
       Bob Lunn (1970 Florida Citrus Open)
       Tiger Woods (2003 Bay Hill Invitational)
       Willie Smith (1899 U.S. Open)
       Johnny Palmer (1952 Canadian Open)
       Tiger Woods (2000 World Series of Golf)
       Byron Nelson (1945 All-American Open)
       Jim Barnes (1922 California Open)
       Jim Ferrier (1951 Greater Jacksonville Open)
       Gene Sarazen (1927 Long Island Open)
       Craig Wood (1940 Metropolitan Open)
       Leo Diegel (1925 Mid-Atlantic Open)
       Don January (1963 Tucson Open)
10 - Byron Nelson (1944 Texas Victory Open)
       Sam Snead (1957 Texas Victory Open)
       Sam Snead (1950 Greater Greensboro Open)
       Mike Brady (1922 Western Open)
       Paul Runyan (1933 Coral Gables Open)
       Walter Hagen (1923 Florida West Coast Open)
       Ed Dudley (1933 Hershey Invitational)
       Byron Nelson (1946 Knoxville Open)
       Macdonald Smith 1925 (Long Island Open)
       Byron Nelson (1945 Montreal Open)
       Emil Loeffler (1920 Pennsylvania Open)
       Ed Dudley (1937 Sacramento Open)
       Johnny Farrell (1927 Shawnee Open)

Leaving Brian Gay aside for the moment, several things jump20out from this list, the first perhaps being that only thrice have Major championships been settled by such wide margins (the 1899 U.S. Open, the 1997 Masters and the 2000 U.S. Open), with the only post-19th century occurrences both belonging to Tiger Woods. Also noteworthy is the fact that Byron Nelson managed the feat a remarkable five times, with three of them coming during his record-breaking 18-win 1945 campaign.

And here’s a curious question: Why would such runaways have happened three separate times (Byron Nelson in 1939, Arnold Palmer in 1962 and Johnny Miller in 1975) at the Phoenix Country Club, a short, none-to-difficult venue where the ability of everyone to go low should, theoretically, have made it hard for anyone to break so far into the clear?

But getting back to Brian Gay, it is equally interesting to note the caliber of players who have generally engineered such runaways. To wit: of the 39 above-listed occasions, 24 such victories were logged by World Golf Hall-of-Fame members, while fully seven more came from next-tier types who can fairly be described as rating among the very best players of their time (Joe Kirkwood, Jose Maria Olazabal, Willie Smith, Jim Ferrier, Mike Brady, Macdonald Smith and Johnny Farrell). Of the remaining eight, three were accomplished by players with at least 10 career PGA Tour victories (Ed Dudley – twice – who won 15 times, and Don January with 10 victories), while Steve Jones (eight career wins including the 1996 U.S. Open) would surely have reached double digits had he not been so injury-afflicted. Of a similar status was the cultishly famous J. Douglas Edgar, a first-class player from the U.K. who was widely considered among the best of his era before dying young, under mysterious circumstances, in 1921. Then there is Johnny Palmer, not quite a household name, but a seven-time winner and Ryder Cup player who enjoyed enough prominence to have a set of quasi-famous irons named after him. And finally, there is Emile (Dutch) Loeffler, a man less known as a player than as a Golden Age greenkeeper-turned-architect. But Loeffler’s 10-shot triumph at the 1920 Pennsylvania Open came on his home course – Oakmont – which must mark it with some sort of asterisk.

So where does this leave Brian Gay?

In approximately the same boat as Bob Lunn, a largely forgotten Californian who won six times on the PGA Tour between 1968-1972, including an 11-shot romp over Rives McBee at the 1970 Florida Citrus Open.

The point?

That while the 37-year-old Gay may well go on to do great things over the remainder of his professional career, his two PGA Tour victories make him the very rare man indeed to record a double-digit victory margin with so little else on his résumé. So far.

In fact, for the moment at least, he pretty well stands alone.

PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Site: TPC Louisiana – Avondale, LA
Yards: 7,341   Par: 72
Defending: Andres Romero   275   (beat P. Lonard by 1)
Field: World Top 20: Kenny Perry (5), Steve Stricker (12) & Mike Weir (20)   Other Notables: David Duval, Steve Elkington, Lee Janzen & Bob Tway.

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European & Asian Tours: Ballantine’s Championship

Site: Pinx Golf Club – Jeju Island, Korea
Yards: 7,345   Par: 72
Defending: Graeme McDowell   264   (beat J.M. Singh in a playoff)
Field: World Top 20: Henrik Stenson (9), Lee Westwood (15) & Ernie Els (16)   Other Notables: Fred Couples, Prayad Marksaeng, Graeme McDowell & Colin Montgomerie.

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Japan Tour: Tsuruya Open

Site: Yamanohara Golf Club – Mie, Japan
Yards: 6,770   Par: 71
Defending: S.K. Ho   272   (beat K.T. Kim by 1)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: Isao Aoki, Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Shingo Katayama, Shigeki Maruyama & Jumbo Ozaki.

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LPGA Tour: Corona Championship

Site: Tres Marias Country Club - Morelia, Mexico
Yards: 6,539   Par: 73
Defending: Lorena Ochoa   267   (beat S.H. Kim by 11)
Field: World Top 20: The entire Rolex top 20 except Jiyai Shin (3), Angela Stanford (7), Helen Alfredsson (9), Eun-Hee Ji (12), Yuri Fudoh (13), Angela Park (14), Jeong Jang (15) & Hee-Won Han (18)   Other Notables: Vicky Hurst, Juli Inkster & Michelle Wie.

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Champions Tour: Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf

Site: Savannah Harbor Golf Resort – Savannah, GA
Yards: 7,087   Par: 72
Defending: Andy North & Tom Watson   185   (beat J. Sluman & C. Stadler by 1)
Field: Ranked: Team Event Other   Notables: Lots, in three age divisions.

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Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Fujisankei Classic – Shizuoka, Japan
Futures – Historic Brownsville Open – Rancho Viejo, TX
Nationwide – South Georgia Classic – Valdosta, GA
Tour de Las Americas – Televisa TLA Player Championship – Acapulco, Mexico
Canadian – Mexican PGA Championship – Mazatlan, Mexico

PGA Tour: Verizon Heritage

Winner: Brian Gay 67-66-67-64   264   (beat B. Baird & L. Donald by 10)
Site: Harbour Town Golf Links - Hilton Head, SC

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


European, Asian & Australasian Tours: Volvo China Open

Winner: Scott Strange 70-73-69-68   280   (beat G. Fernandez-Castano by 1)
Site: Beijing CBD International Golf Club - Beijing, China

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Japan Tour: Token Homemate Classic

Winner: Koumei Oda 69-70-67-68   274   (beat J.D. Kim in a playoff)
Site: Token Tado Country Club - Nagoya, Japan

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Champions Tour: Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am

Winner: Nick Price 66-67-71   204   (beat L. Nelson by 2)
Site: TPC Tampa Bay – Lutz, FL

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Lifecard Ladies – Ji-Hee Lee 213 (Story)
Nationwide – Athens Regional Foundation Classic – Patrick Sheehan 274 (Story)
Euro Challenge – Tusker Kenya Open – Gary Boyd 271 (Story)
Tour de Las Americas – Abierto del Centro – Fabian Gomez 273
Futures – Louisiana Pelican Classic – Samantha Richdale 136 (Story)

Yes, it might seem tacky to question the record of a man who’s just rung up a near-epic win in a Major championship, but I’m a big Angel Cabrera fan, so I’m not doing this critically.

Honest.

But I wonder: Has any golfer in history proven himself so capable of winning on the big stage, yet hoisted so few trophies on the smaller ones?

For the record, Cabrera, Argentina’s biggest gift to the golfing world since either Roberto de Vicenzo or Henry Cotton’s wife, has won at least 14 events of significance in South America, including the Open Championships of his own country, Paraguay and Columbia. Unfortunately, such wins generally came against limited competition that would not, in the main, equate even to that of the average Nationwide Tour event. He has also enjoyed a bit of success against European Tour fields, claiming the 2001 Argentine Open (perhaps Ken Schofield’s farthest-reaching co-sanction ever...) and, more prominently, the 2002 Benson & Hedges International (played at The Belfry) and the 2005 BMW Championship at Wentworth.

But, rather remarkably, he has never won in America......outside of a U.S. Open and a Masters, that is, which is really rather perplexing.

This, after all, is a man who, in an era where distance is king, absolutely kills it off the tee. And it’s not just statistical length we’re talking about here; the ball comes off his club with a vengeance and carries, flying on an awesome parabola that immediately announces Cabrera as one of a handful of players literally capable of overpowering a golf course. Meanwhile, the rest of his game – at least what we’ve seen in several Major championships and President’s Cups – appears similarly high in caliber, and if Oakmont didn’t conclusively prove his mettle under fire, this past Sunday at Augusta certainly did.

And then there’s the icing on the cake: a 2006 Golf Digest piece in which the legendary Mickey Wright listed Cabrera (along with Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Gene Littler and Louise Suggs) as possessing one of the five finest swings she had ever seen – and that was before he won the U.S. Open.

Now that's impressive stuff.

Angel Cabrera is now 39 years old, a two-time Major champion and, barring blatant malfeasance, financially set for life. Breaking through to win U.S. Open was a career watershed – and, frequently, the sort of thing that takes the edge off one’s hunger as the well-earned rewards start rolling in. But by winning at Augusta, Cabrera has moved well beyond that, elevating his legacy and establishing himself as one of the elite players of his era. Thus isn’t it time he start winning regularly in America......or anyplace else he tees it up?

And one final, wonderful postscript: Not surprisingly, Cabrera was long ago taken under the wing of de Vicenzo, Argentina’s greatest-ever champion who, most conveniently, celebrates his 86th birthday tomorrow. More famous for his legendary scorecard snafu (and subsequent playoff disqualification) at the 1968 Masters than a 150-win career that included the 1967 Open Championship, de Vicenzo is reported to have given Cabrera a picture of the Green Jacket following the 2007 U.S. Open, instructing him that it was now time “to go after one of those.”

Given the torment that the extremely affable de Vicenzo has endured for decades since his Masters disaster, one can only assume that Cabrera’s victory has given him cause to celebrate his birthday in richly deserved style.

As for the rest of the week’s contenders/pretenders...

While we cannot help but be impressed by Tiger Woods’ ability to drag himself into contention despite clearly being far off his game, I find it sort of refreshing to see his occasionally alarming wildness off the tee actually prevent him from winning. This may, at a glance, seem faintly hypocritical coming from someone who penned a pre-Masters commentary in the Los Angeles Times decrying the artificial narrowing of Augusta National with rough and trees, but several of Tiger’s more errant drives wouldn’t have sniffed even Bobby Jones’s original mile-wide fairways – particularly his Sunday snap-hook off number one, which was so far left that it actually reached the edges of the 8th hole!  I’ve long believed that Hank Haney is merely a P.R. prop for Tiger, a red herring employed mostly so the press will bother someone else with whatever questions they have about Woods’ swing. But at times like these, I find myself wondering if perhaps Haney actually is calling the mechanical shots...

And then we have Phil Mickelson, whose outgoing 30 on Sunday represented all-time epic stuff, but whose ability to close the deal – particularly with the putter – remains a volatile thing.  When we consider that he came to the 72nd tee only a single stroke out of the eventual playoff after dumping a ball in Raes Creek at the 12th and missing short putts at the 15th and 17th, this one really was right there for his taking. Instead, Mickelson logs his fifth non-winning top-five at Augusta since 2001 and his 14th non-winning Major top-five overall......and yet we know he’ll be back. This, after all, is a man who lost the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills by three-putting the 71st green from four feet (!), yet only a month later missed the Ernie Els-Todd Hamilton playoff at the Open Championship by a single stroke.

Say what you want about Mickelson, but his sheer resilience is something to marvel at.

Not so Sergio Garcia, whose whining about Masters playing conditions sounded far more like the self-pitying Sergio of 2007 than the apparently more mature model we saw in 2008. I’ve had several people in a position to know tell me that Garcia’s really a very nice guy, but he is once again looking like a petulant sideshow act – and yes, those New York galleries figure to be brutal at Bethpage in June.

And finally, we cannot close without a tip of the cap to Kenny Perry, a man whose career was resurrected from the ashes – at age 47 – during a three-win 2008, and who has somehow managed to carry this splendid form forward into the new golfing year. That Perry, who seemingly had his Green Jacket fitted after nearly acing the 70th hole, did not claim this championship will surely stand as one of the sadder golfing stories of the decade. But therein lies the difficulty of our game on the professional level, for unlike the World Series or Super Bowl, where half of the participants will emerge victorious, only one golfer gets to hold up the trophy on Sunday evening.

It makes for compelling drama, but a lot of sad endings.

PGA Tour: Verizon Heritage

Site: Harbour Town Golf Links - Hilton Head, SC
Yards: 6,973   Par: 71
Defending: Boo Weekley   269   (beat A. Baddeley & A. Kim by 3)
Field: World Top 20: Paul Casey (7), Camilo Villegas (10), Jim Furyk (13), Ernie Els (16), Rory McIlroy (17) & Stewart Cink (19)   Other Notables: Steve Elkington, Brad Faxon, Lee Janzen, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Jose Maria Olazabal & Corey Pavin.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


European, Asian & Australasian PGA Tours: Volvo China Open

Site: Beijing CBD International Golf Club - Bejing, China
Yards: 7,321   Par: 72
Defending: Damien McGrane   278   (beat three players by 9)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: James Kingston, Paul McGinley & Colin Montgomerie.

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Japan Tour: Token Homemate Cup

Site: Token Tado Country Club - Nagoya, Japan
Yards: 7,200   Par: 72
Defending: Katsumasa Miyamoto   276   (beat T. Teshima by 1)
Field: World Top 20: None   Other Notables: Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Masahiro Kuramoto, Shigeki Maruyama, Frankie Minoza, Jet Ozaki, Jumbo Ozaki & Craig Parry.

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Champions Tour: Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am

Site: TPC Tampa Bay – Lutz, FL
Yards: 6,783   Par: 71
Defending: Tom Watson   204   (beat J. Haas & S. Hoch by 1)
Field: Ranked: The entire Charles Schwab Cup top 20 except Eduardo Romero (9)   Other Notables: Bruce Fleisher, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Larry Nelson , Andy North, Jerry Pate, Nick Price & Fuzzy Zoeller.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Lifecard Ladies – Kumamoto, Japan
Nationwide – Athens Regional Foundation Classic – Bogart, GA
Euro Challenge – Tusker Kenya Open – Nairobi, Kenya
Tour de Las Americas – Abierto del Centro – Cordoba, Argentina
Canadian – Ixtapa Open – Ixtapa, Mexico
Futures – Louisiana Pelican Classic – Lafayette, LA

The Masters

Winner: Angel Cabrera   68-68-69-71 276   (beat C. Campbell & K. Perry in a playoff)
Site: Augusta National GC – Augusta, GA

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Studio Alice Open – Sakura Yokomine 212  (Story)