- Bredemus & Maxwell’s Alley:  Ft. Worth’s Colonial Country Club, site of this week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational, has long rated among the PGA Tour’s most respected stops, and though I personally view it as slightly overrated relative to the Rivieras, Pebble Beaches and Harbour Towns, there can be no denying its standing as a first class professional venue.  The club has hosted the Colonial (sorry Crowne Plaza) since Ben Hogan’s victories in the first two editions in 1946 and ’47, but somewhat forgotten amidst that event’s rich history was the visit of the 1941 U.S. Open, the national championships first playing in Texas, the American Southwest or, for that matter, a genuine warm weather climate.  The popular Craig Wood won that, the final pre-World War II U.S. Open, with a 284 aggregate, defeating Denny Shute by three, but the event is also memorable for a substantial – and lasting – change made to the front nine’s outer reaches.  Known as the “Horrible Horseshoe,” Colonial’s third through fifth holes lie at the property’s northeastern tip and are not original, having been added by the great Oklahoma designer Perry Maxwell in preparation for the Open.  At the third, Maxwell only created a new green complex in the vicinity of the old fourth tee, lengthening the hole from 434 to 468 yards.  However, the old fourth (a 148-yard over-water par 3) and fifth (a relatively mundane 367-yarder) were replaced entirely with a pair of the club’s best-known tests, the 246-yard fourth and 459-yard fifth.  Curiously, Maxwell’s initial versions of these holes were both bunker-free, leaving them as little more than dull, colossally long challenges largely devoid of character (even if Dan Jenkins selected the fifth as one of Sports Illustrated’s best 18 holes in 1966).  With a total of five bunkers (and 60 years of tree growth) between them, they are today still among Colonial’s toughest holes – but also, I suspect, its dullest.  Also missing from the original layout – which, by the way, was designed by a former Princeton athletic hero named John Bredemus – is the 198-yard 8th, a dangerous one-shotter angled across a corner of the Trinity River that local native Byron Nelson once called “the toughest par three I ever saw.”  There wasn’t much the club could do to avoid its loss, however; it was completely rebuilt in 1968 when the Army Corps of Engineers mandated changes to resolve flood-control issues along the river. 

- Donald Trent Jones:  The site of this week’s Senior PGA Championship, vaunted Oak Hill Country Club, is frequently cited as a classic work of the celebrated Golden Age designer Donald Ross – but at this stage, the Ross credit is at best attenuated.  At best.  Ross laid out all 36 of the club’s holes in 1926, resulting in a regionally strong facility, but certainly not one in the class of such Ross standards as Seminole, Pinehurst No.2 or Oakland Hills.  But beginning with the 1949 U.S. Amateur, Oak Hill began hosting national championships, resulting in the favored East undergoing nearly a half-century of changes – both natural and distinctly man-made – that have made it virtually an entirely different golf course.  In preparation for the 1956 U.S. Open, Robert Trent Jones lengthened nine holes, removed more than 40 of Ross’s original bunkers, dramatically expanded many others, and added roughly 40 new ones of his own.  Jones also made minor alterations in preparation for the 1968 U.S. Open, though these would scarcely be noticed relative to those soon to follow.  Having slipped from the USGA’s championship radar a bit by the 1970s, Oak Hill hired ex-Tour player George Fazio and his nephew Tom to toughen things further.  Their 1976 work resulted in brand new green complexes at the 15th (where the putting surface was angled left-to-right behind a modern pond) and 18th, and entirely new holes at the fifth and sixth.  The biggest bone of contention was the loss of the old sixth, a grand, creek-menaced 440-yarder described by Lee Trevino as “one of the best holes I ever played.”  The Fazio replacement (presently hole number five) is some 35 yards shorter but features a green squeezed against another new pond, making the hole far more penal than strategic.  In sum, there are few who would suggest that it can hold a candle to its late lamented predecessor.  Less obviously, the East course has also seen the slow reshaping of nearly all of its putting surfaces (frequently to accommodate renovated or new bunkers) as well as several generations worth of tree growth; indeed, many of the strategic options inherent to Ross’s original wide fairways have been minimized by trees planted – literally by the thousands – well after the course’s opening.  In sum, when one combines these less obvious changes with the new holes, added hazards and near-complete alteration of Ross’s exquisitely crafted green complexes, it can be argued that less than five shots per round are in any way consistent with Ross’s originals.  Is Oak Hill better prepared to host new millennium Major championships as a result?  Without question.  But if you were a member of the club, would a less enjoyable, more overbearing layout be worth it just to entertain the pros for four rounds once every decade?   Hmm…

- The Big Not-So-Easy:  True, Ernie Els did end a more than three year American victory drought at March’s Honda Classic, but having followed it up with three missed cuts (including at Augusta) and a 75th at Doral, something had to give.  What gave was Els’s 18-year relationship with David Leadbetter, scrapped in favor of an alliance with the ever-popular Butch Harmon – and while we can easily read way too much into a single finish, a T6 at the Players Championship (an event he might actually have won with a break or two) at least suggested a positive trend.  Interestingly, much of Els’s problem – at least according to Ernie – lay in his set up and alignment, the most fundamental building blocks of the swing, yet aspects upon which even the world’s elite must stay perpetually vigilant.  So, swinging better but not yet fully confident, Els returns home this week – not to South Africa, but rather to his primary residence at Wentworth, where the European Tour’s centerpiece, the BMW PGA Championship makes its annual appearance.  And here lies another interesting storyline: after rotating sites since its 1950s inception, the BMW has been played exclusively at Wentworth since 1984, yet the homestanding Els has never won this most prestigious of E Tour titles.  A problem with the golf course?  Highly unlikely.  Aside from having helped with its new millennium renovation, Els has also enjoyed competitive success upon it, winning the World Match Play title there – seven times!  Given that he has thrice finished 2nd in the BMW (though the most recent was in 1998), we must write off this lack of stroke play success as something of a fluke, allowing the new-and-improving Ernie to charge into this week’s event with hunger, confidence…and an opening 75.  It’s way too early to write off a talent this prodigious, particularly as Els – who feels like he’s been around forever – is still only 38.  But at a certain point, we must start to wonder if the desire is still there, or if, just maybe, the many years of traveling, grinding, winning – and, perhaps, the off-the-course distraction of his son’s autism – have begun to dull the flame.  Personally I hope not, for few more imposing talents have crossed golf’s modern landscape; indeed, with nearly 60 worldwide wins (including 16 in America) and three Major championships, we have seen few more successful players, period.  So lets see what Butch can do…

- Power Shift:  Recent stories reporting that England’s Justin Rose plans to play more events in Europe beginning in 2009 likely garnered little attention in America, for the world’s 11th-ranked player has never won here, nor has he ever finished higher than 19th on the PGA Tour money list.  But the key to this story isn’t the shifting of Rose’s schedule so much as the continued growing threat of the European Tour to the American circuit’s never-challenged status as the professional golf tour.  This is not so much a current news item as one that has been building over the last few seasons – enough so that it is no longer unheard of for E Tour events to offer more world ranking points (essentially meaning they have stronger fields) than their weekly counterparts across the Atlantic.  There are many reasons for this impressive growth – the development of the E Tour’s international schedule (which have made it truly a world tour), the skyrocketing number of international players atop the world rankings (virtually all of whom still play significant portions of their schedules overseas) and, of course, the growing purses available on foreign shores.  Ironically, the E Tour’s biggest sponsorship questions lie at home, in continental Europe; in Asia and especially the Middle East (where the government of Dubai will literally change the face of international golf in 2009 with a massive infusion of dollars), the pickings could scarcely be lusher.  If I were Tim Finchem, a story like Justin Rose’s (and the bigger picture it is emblematic of) would scare the hell out of me.  Then again, whatever one may wish to say about Finchem – MBA blather and all – the man is a master of keeping sponsorship balls in the air.  So far.

It’s not as though it happened overnight – indeed, watching a quasi-Nationwide field contest the Greater Milwaukee Open has been a snoozer since the days of Howie Johnson and Buster Cupit – but it seems that of late, the PGA Tour has become, well...really dull.

I hear this frequently from regular golf watchers but in reality, I don’t require much in the way of outside opinions; few people have tuned the Tour in more regularly over the last two decades than myself, and increasingly it’s becoming a chore.  That I might occasionally opt for the LPGA when events go head-to-head is perhaps nothing for Tim Finchem & Co. to worry about, the Ochoa vs. Sorenstam storyline being a uniquely compelling one.  But when I’m routinely flipping the dial to MSNBC’s political shows or ESPN’s mock 2014 NFL Draft…  Lets just say that if there was a Nielsen box atop my television, the legions down in Ponte Vedra Beach might have cause for concern.

So what, exactly, is the problem, and (how) is it fixable?

Thinking this through for the requisite 30 seconds, I’ve identified seven items which I believe are adversely affecting televised golf.  The degree to which each comes into play varies from week to week, and they are presented in no particular order.  So without further adieu…

1) Slow Play – Coming from well off the pace, this has become a hot issue of late, perhaps a testimonial to the wide-reaching effects that five-hour twosomes (!) can have at The Masters.  Of course, while this may adversely affect the Tour in numerous ways, I doubt that it should bother television too much, simply because while some self-indulgent automaton is taking three minutes and 20 practice swings to hit a routine 5 iron, the producer can simply...  (Continue)

The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour are in action this week, but most discerning eyes will instead turn to Europe (for the BMW PGA Championship) and Rochester, New York (for the Senior PGA Championship.  Nothing wrong with a little change of pace, particularly since Lorena (and Annika) is taking the week off...

PGA Tour:  Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

Site: Colonial Country Club  -  Ft. Worth, TX
Yards: 7,054     Par: 70
Defending: Rory Sabbatini 266  (beat J. Furyk & B. Langer in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: Phil Mickelson (2), Jim Furuk (5), Steve Stricker (6), Geoff Ogilvy (7), K.J. Choi (8), Rory Sabbatini (14), Anthony Kim (17) & Stephen Ames (24)   Other Notables: Mark Brooks, Steve Elkington, David Frost, Lee Janzen, Tom Lehman & Corey Pavin.

Notes: The Colonial Country Club’s borrowing of the nickname “Hogan’s Alley” (which began at Riviera) is slightly dubious, but the great Ben Hogan did win the first two Colonial National Invitation tournaments (1946 & ’47), four of the first seven (through 1953) as well as a fifth title in 1959………He was also close friends with club founder Marvin Leonard and, of course, resided in Ft. Worth, so his connections with the club were extensive………Given the international face of modern professional golf, the Colonial has not benefited from being scheduled directly opposite one of the European Tour’s marquee events, the BMW PGA Championship………This year’s field matches the E Tour with eight world top 25s present – a somewhat lesser haul than has been typical for the vast majority of the event’s history………Not overly long and requiring a fair amount of tee-to-green thought, Colonial does tend to offer shorter, craftier hitters one of their better opportunities for victory on the modern circuit.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
European PGA Tour:  BMW PGA Championship

Site: Wentworth Golf Club (West course)  -  Virginia Water, England
Yards: 7,308     Par: 72
Defending: Anders Hansen 280  (defeated J. Rose in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: Ernie Els (3), Vijay Singh (9), Justin Rose (11), Henrik Stenson (13), Luke Donald (19), Lee Westwood (20), Angel Cabrera (21) & Andres Romero (22)   Other Notables: Retief Goosen, Paul Casey, Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Colin Montgomerie & Jose Maria Olazabal.

Notes: This venerable event dates to 1955 but was contested only by British professions (the “British Closed PGA”) until 1967………It is also one of a handful of pre-1970 events (save for the Open Championship) which remins a major stop on the modern-day European our………The BMW will be one of a growing number of Euro events which, based on strength of field, figures to match its opposite PGA Tour stop (in this case Colonial) for World Ranking points………Nick Faldo has won the title more than anyone else, with four triumphs between 1978-89………Both Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie have won it thrice, with Monty’s coming in succession from 1998-2000………The great Peter Alliss also hoisted the trophy on three occasions, but those were all during the closed era.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
Japan Tour:  Munsingwear Open KSB Cup

Site: Tojigaoka Marine Hills Golf Club  -  Okayama, Japan
Yards: 7,072     Par: 72
Defending: Ryo Ishikawa (a) 276  (defeated K. Miyamoto by 1)
Field:   World Top 25: None    Other Notables: S.K. Ho, Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Wen-Chong Liang, Frankie Minoza, Jumbo Ozaki & Craig Parry.

Notes: Though not necessarily one of the glamour stops on the J Tour, the Munsingwear has claimed a potentially large spot in history as the site of last year’s victory by Ryo Ishikawa, the a 16-yea-old amateur………Ishikawa returns to defend his title against a mid-strength field, headed by Korea’s S.K. Ho and Toshi Izawa.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
LPGA Tour:  LPGA Corning Classic

Site: Corning Country Club  -  Corning, NY
Yards: 6,223     Par: 72
Defending: Young Kim 268  (defeated P. Creamer & M.H. Kim by 3)
Field:   Rolex Top 20: Paula Creamer (4), Jeong Jang (8), Mi Hyun Kim (13), Angela Stanford (18) & Seon-Hwa Lee (19)    Other Notables: Danielle Ammaccapane, Rosie Jones & Meg Mallon.

Notes:This is the 30th playing of the Corning, with the inaugural (1979) championship won by Australian Penny Pulz, who shot 284 to beat Judy Rankin by two.........The Corning ranks among the LPGA's longest-running single-site events, having been contested solely at the Corning Country Club.........The last three editions have witnessed Korean winners: Jimin Kang in 2005, Hee-Won Han in 2006 and Young Kim in 2007.........Only two of the world's top 10 players are scheduled to compete this week (#4 Paula Creamer and #8 Jimin Kang) and, truth be told, the event does inevitably lose a bit of luster in the absence of Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam (among others).

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
Champions Tour:  Senior PGA Championship

Site: Oak Hill Country Club (East course)  -  Rochester, NY
Yards: 7,001     Par: 70
Defending: Denis Watson 279  (defeated E. Romero by 2)
Field:   Ranked: The entire Charles Schwab Cup to 20 except Fred Funk (11), Brad Bryant (13) & Andy North (19)   Other Notables: Isao Aoki, Bruce Fleisher, Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman, Mark O’Meara, Curtis Strange & Fuzzy Zoeller.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL
 
 
Elsewhere…
On the women’s side, the LET ventures into the Alps for the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, the JLPGA returns to the city of Toyota for the Chukyu TV Bridgestone Ladies Open, while the KLPGA changes format for the Doosan Match Play Championship.  Meanwhile, on the men’s side, the Nationwide Tour returns to Maryland for the Prince George’s County Open, the European Challenge Tour charts new ground at Poland’s inaugural DHL Wroclaw Open, and the China Tour ventures to Nanjing for the Sofitel Championship, while both the Tour de las Americas and Canadian Tour journey to Mexico for the Televisa Players Championship (Acapulco) and the San Luis Potosi Open respectively.

A breakthrough for Ryuji Imada, a splashdown for Richard Finch, a major J Tour win for Shingo Katayama...and, oh yes, yet another win for Lorena Ochoa.  Just another enjoyable week worldwide...

PGA Tour:  AT&T Classic – Duluth, GA

In  a result that bordered on the surreal, Ryuji Imada claimed his first PGA Tour victory at the AT&T Classic in Duluth, Georgia, defeating Kenny Perry in sudden death a year after losing this very same event in a playoff himself.  On that occasion, the 31-year-old Imada suffered defeat after hitting his second shot into the water which fronts the green at the par-5 18th.  This time he chose to lay up safely and made a five – but only after Perry’s aggressive 5 wood second carried the green, ricocheted off a pine tree, then bounced back across the putting surface and into the water.  For Perry, who shot himself out of contention with a closing 81 at last week’s Players Championship, the loss was especially frustrating, particularly as he fights for a position on the upcoming Ryder Cup team.  Ditto for Camilo Villegas, for whom the Ryder Cup is irrelevant, but for whom a missed eagle putt at the 72nd wasn’t; it left him alone in 3rd place, one struck out of the playoff.  For Imada, a former University of Georgia star who has been trending towards this victory for some time now, the breakthrough jumps him from 69th to 49th in the World Ranking, secures his first invitation to the Masters and moves him into 4th place in official earnings.

     FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          PGA TOUR STATS          INTERVIEWS
 
 
European PGA Tour:  Irish Open – Adare, Ireland

Concluding with one of the more memorable finishes in E Tour history, England’s Richard Finch claimed his second victory of 2008 at the Irish Open – but only after falling into a river while playing the 72nd hole.  Finch arrived at the par-5 closer with a three-stroke lead over fellow ’08 winner Felipe Aguilar of Chile, and thus laid up his second shot just shy of the River Maigue.  The ball finished a bit closer to the bank than planned, however, and while Finch’s third managed to find the putting surface, his momentum sent him tumbling forward, into the water.  His closing par gave him a 278 total and a two-shot margin of victory.  Even more importantly, the win moved Finch up to 5th in the Order of Merit and 10th on the all-important Ryder Cup points list.  Though operating a bit off the radar (at least in America), Finch also climbs to 134th in the Official World Ranking.

    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          E TOUR STATS          INTERVIEWS
 
 
Japan Tour:  Japan PGA Championship – Gunma, Japan

Shingo Katayama, Japan’s number two-ranked domestic player, captured his second Japan PGA Championship in runaway fashion, posting rounds of 67-66-65-67 over the Raysum Golf Spa & Resort course to route China’s Wen-Chong Liang by six.  Katayama’s 265 total easily broke the tournament record of 269 (jointly held by Jumbo Ozaki and Australia’s Wayne Perske) and was sparked by a run of five birdies in six holes during his opening nine on Thursday.  The popular 35-year-old, who is known worldwide for his upturned cowboy-style hats, held a seven-shot lead over Kazuhiko Hosokawa after 54 holes, then birdied both the first an second on Sunday to open up a lead which ultimately proved insurmountable.  The victory lifts Katayama to 1st place in the J Tour Order of Merit, and from 57th to 44th in the Official World Ranking.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          J TOUR STATS
 
 
Sunshine Tour:  Nashua Golf Challenge – Sun City, South Africa

Thirty-six-year-old Keith Horne claimed his third official Sunshine Tour title at the Nashua Golf Challenge, defeating Nic Henning on the second hole of sudden death after the pair deadlocked on 210.  With no leader boards on the golf course, Horne had little idea where he stood prior to the 53rd fairway, but managed to par the closers for a final-round 70, which matched Henning who finished with a 72.  In truth, neither man likely fancied their chances going into the final day, as 15-time Sunshine winner Desvonde Botes held a commanding five-stroke 36-hole lead off rounds of 68-65.  But Botes double-bogeyed the third hole en route to an outgoing 41, ultimately limping home in 78 and tying for 3rd, one stroke out of the playoff.  The win lifts Horne – who has only played in for 2008 events – to 44th in the Order of Merit, and to 479th in the World Ranking.

                  FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          SUNSHINE STATS
 
 
LPGA Tour:  Sybase Classic – Clifton, NJ

The week began with a lightning bolt – red-hot Annika Sorenstam will be retiring at the close of the season – but it ended with what is fast becoming old news: world number one Lorena Ochoa winning yet again.  But Ochoa’s sixth victory in nine 2008 LPGA starts (and her third straight in the Sybase) was hardly as one-sided as several that preceded it; in an event shortened to 54 holes by rain, she put herself in good position with opening rounds of 68-67, then closed with a steady three-birdie, two-bogey 71 that saw her home but a single shot ahead of a five-player posse comprised of Morgan Pressel, Catriona Matthew, Na Yeon Choi, Brittany Lang and Sophie Gustafson.  Ochoa actually experienced some nervous moments at the finish, her slim lead appearing at least slightly in jeopardy after she missed the last fairway wide right.  But a slick recovery led to a routine par five and, yet again, the hoisting of the winner’s trophy.  Sorenstam, who came into the week with victories in her last two starts, seemed well-positioned to contend through 26 holes, but a double-bogey seven at her 27th proved detrimental, before an outgoing 37 on Sunday left her too far in arrears going into the final nine, and she ultimately tied for 11th.  There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Ochoa’s season to date, but suffice to say that with her Sybase victory, rumors of Sorenstam’s riding into retirement by reclaiming her status as the game’s best have proven greatly exaggerated.  In fact, the way Ochoa is playing, perhaps Annika has chosen the right time to go.

       FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          LPGA STATS          INTERVIEWS
 
 
Champions Tour:  Regions Charity Classic – Hoover, AL

Claiming his second career Champions Tour victory, Andy Bean hung on to win Alabama’s Regions Charity Classic despite bogeying the 53rd holes and hooking his tee shot well left at the 54th.  Playing his approach from some 230 yards out, Bean lofted a clutch iron shot to within 20 feet of the hole and safely two-putted, winning by one shot over Loren Roberts and two over Jeff Sluman, the later charging home with the tournament’s low round of 64.

                    FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          CHAMPIONS STATS
 
 
Elsewhere…

Korea’s Eun-A Lim won the JLPGA Vernal Ladies title in Fukuoka with a 209 total, one stroke better than Akiko Fukushima………In Korea, 20-year-old Ji-Yai Shin claimed her 18th  international victory at the Korean Women’s Open, defeating So Yeon Ryu in a playoff after the pair tied through 54 holes on 213………On the Futures Tour, Californian Mindy Kim won her first professional title at the Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City Championship, carding a 210 total to beat Jessica Shepley by four………David Mathis won the Nationwide Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina with a 20-under-par 266 total, beating Roger Tambellini by three………England’s Steve Benson carded a four-round total of 269 to win the European Challenge Tour’s Piemonte Open in Torino, Italy, defeating Switzerland’s Raphael De Sousa by three………Mong-nan Hsu became Taiwan’s second straight winner on the Omega China Tour, his 285 total claiming the Shanghai Championship by two over Xiaoma Chen and Guiming Liao………Argentina’s Sebastian Saavedra defended his 2007 title at the rain-shortened Copa Tres Diamantes on the Tour de las Americas, his seven-under-par 206 total beating countryman Daniel Barbetti by three………Spencer Levin captured the Canadian Tour’s Iberostar Riviera Maya Open in Mexico, his seven-under-par 267 total edging Derek Gillespie by three.

- So Long Baby, Goodbye?:  Unlike some who have long considered him too intellectual (read different) for their golfing tastes, I have always been a big David Duval fan.  Anyone who watched this prodigious talent play during the late 1990s understands viscerally how much there was to like about his game, but I also found his general outlook to be refreshingly unique.  In a game where 99% of his fellow professionals eat, breath and sleep their pursuit of excellence, Duval actively embraced other interests.  In short, though he was probably tipping his hand regarding the apparent lack of competitive drive that has derailed his career of late, any world-class player who guessed that by age 40 he’d be running a used book store in Jacksonville sounded pretty good to me.  In any event, Duval began 2008 playing on what the PGA Tour calls a Major Medical Extension – that is, he is being given extra time to extend his playing privileges due to missing most of 2007 while helping his wife with a difficult pregnancy.  He arrived at his first event, the Bob Hope, sounding optimistic, talking about winning again and playing his way onto the next Ryder Cup team.  He then proceeded to miss the Hope cut by a wide margin and has yet to make one since, his early exit this week in Atlanta (off rounds of 78-77) representing his eighth straight MC in as many ’08 starts.  He has yet to shoot a single round in the 60s (though to be fair, he hasn’t ballooned into the 80s either) and arrived in Atlanta ranked a stunning 926th in the world – a long, long way south for a former world number one.  So is Duval absolutely, irretrievably finished? As I’ve written previously on this site, few players of his era have possessed his majestic ball-striking ability (anyone who heard the sound of his impact up close during the late ‘90s knows what I mean) and much of that physical talent still remains.  But clearly this is a man whose other interests – which now include marriage and a family – have superceded whatever desire he has left to play competitive golf.  True, Duval’s probably genuinely happier today then when he was winning the 2001 British Open – and it’s hard not to admire him for that.  But his slow fade is also a real loss to the PGA Tour, because aside from being one of the rare players to actually prove himself capable of battling Tiger Woods on at least somewhat equal terms, Duval was simply a rare talent who could play the game like few others.    Here’s hoping…but I’m not holding my breath.

- But Should He Wish To Continue...: On the assumption that David Duval will not earn enough money to retain his playing privileges for 2009 (I wonder what sort of odds Ladbrokes might offer on that), will he still be playing competitive golf next year?  Duval could return to his roots on the Nationwide Tour (fat chance) or he could go overseas (for some of those family educational trips touted by Phil Mickelson), but neither of those seem like options he’s likely to pursue on a regular basis.  Instead, Duval, winner of the 2001 British Open, would probably take advantage of the PGA Tour rule allowing Major champions to receive unlimited sponsor exemptions (aka the John Daly Rule), thus allowing him to tee it up at any Tour event that welcomes his presence.  Of course, it will be most interesting to see if the various tournament directors are as enthralled with the former world number one’s potential drawing power as they clearly are with prospect of watching Daly implode (or, more likely, withdraw) during the course of their tournaments...

- Already Gone:  Not that anyone can blame him, of course, but I was a little disappointed to see Franklin Langham withdraw on Friday morning rather than return to complete his rain-shortened Thursday round in Atlanta.  I say this not because I take any pleasure in watching a man post a score in the 90s, but rather because Langham showed a lot of grit even finishing the first 17 holes after opening his round with a nightmarish 13 at the par-5 10th hole, and he would have further cemented his status as a gamer had he returned to post a score.  Still, it’s hard not to sympathize with his plight during what is, by any measure, an almost surreal period of his career.

- It Was Good While It Lasted (the PowerHouse Fizzles): With Desvonde Botes carding a flawless seven-under-par 65, it might not have mattered anyway, but our favorite son, PowerHouse McIntyre, blew himself out of contention at the Sunshine Tour’s Nashua Challenge on Friday with a disappointing 75 over the shorter Lost City Golf Course.  But in true PowerHouse style, he at least made it exciting: coming to the long par-4 ninth (his 18th) at even par for the day, he managed to rack up a smooth triple-bogey seven, falling from a tie for 3rd to a tie for 13th.  I mean seriously, who else on that tour would you want to watch?

- According To Plan:  It’s early yet, but initial reports suggest that an anticipated shootout between Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam at the Sybase Classic in New Jersey remains right on schedule.  Playing in back-to-back groups off the first tee, Ochoa and Sorenstam shot 68 and 67 respectively on Thursday, with Annika’s bogey-free round proving good enough to tie Song-Hee Kim and Rachel Hetherington for the first-round lead.  Ochoa matched Sorenstam’s five birdies, but also bogeyed the par-4 12th, to join a group of six players in a tie for 2nd.  That’s a lot of bodies lingering around the lead…but hopefully not too many to boil it down to Ochoa vs. Sorenstam on Sunday.
 
- Not According To Plan: Former PGA Tour regular Franklin Langham has been struggling on the Nationwide Tour of late, missing six cuts and withdrawing once in seven 2008 starts.  Mired in a slump that may be bordering on an Ian Baker-Finch-like breakdown, Langham failed to break 80 in six straight Nationwide rounds from late March through early May, lowlighted by a staggering 18-over-par 90 in the opening round of last month’s Athens Regional Foundation Classic.  In this light, it may well have been dangerous for Langham to accept a sponsor exemption into this week’s PGA Tour stop, the AT&T Classic in Atlanta – but then who can blame the former University of Georgia star for jumping at the chance to compete with the big boys for the first time in nearly a year?  Unfortunately, such a step up in class is not always advisable during a crisis of confidence, and the beleaguered Langham wasted little time in collapsing, carding kneecap-breaking 13 on his very first hole, the par-5 10th.  Whether this is some sort of opening hole record remains to be seen, but one has to feel for the struggling Langham, who soldiered gamely on with a round that subsequently included four sevens (a feat managed by Tommy Armour in the 1929 Los Angeles Open – but perhaps not too many times since…)and saw him standing a debilitating 22 over par through 17 holes when, mercifully, darkness intervened.  True, as an ex-Open champion, Ian Baker-Finch’s fall perhaps represented the steeper plunge, but as Langham’s sad story once again reminds us, it really can happen to anybody.
 
- Our Faith Is Rewarded: …By the first-round performance of PowerHouse McIntyre at the Nashua Golf Challenge, where the thrill-a-minute Sunshine Tour rookie stands tied for the lead with Desvonde Botes after carding a solid 68 over the famed Gary Player Country Club course in Sun City.  Of course, the PowerHouse being the PowerHouse, he did it in style, logging an impressive eight birdies in a round strangely (for him) devoid of any eagles, double-bogeys or “others.”  With 36 holes left to play, and contenders like 15-time Sunshine winner Botes, plus recent champions Jean Hugo and Tyrone van Aswegen lingering within three, we will soon find out just what the PowerHouse is made of…

Jim Brown, move over.

With her Tuesday news conference announcing plans to retire at the close of the 2008 season, Annika Sorenstam will apparently walk away from competitive golf as close to peak form as any athlete in memory.  This, after all, is a woman who might well have seemed on the down side during a winless 2007 campaign, a frustrating year which required a prolonged rest to nurse neck and back injuries.  But Sorenstam returned with an exclamation point in ’08, winning the season-opening SBS Open, then April’s Stanford International Pro-Am, and finally, in a truly epic performance, last week’s Michelob Ultra Open in a seven-shot runaway over a world-class field.

Lorena Ochoa, with five wins in her first six 2008 starts, is certainly the world’s best woman golfer – but suddenly a resurgent Annika seems to once again have Ochoa very much in her sights.

So why the decision to retire?

Sorenstam has hinted for years that, like the great Mickey Wright nearly four decades ago, she might exit the competitive arena...  (Continue) 

With most of the world's male elite taking the week off, discerning eyes should zero in on the LPGA event in Clifton, New Jersey.  The ladies are certainly missing a number of ranked players as well, but with Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam in attendance and appearing poised for a major battle, they've got all the field they need...

PGA Tour:  AT&T Classic

Site: TPC Sugarloaf  -  Duluth, GA
Yards: 7,293     Par: 72
Defending: Zach Johnson 273  (beat Ryuji Imada in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: Stewart Cink (15) & Zach Johnson (22)   Other Notables: David Duval, Steve Elkington, Retief Goosen, Lee Janzen, Greg Norman & Corey Pavin.

Notes: Beginning life as the Atlanta Open back in 1934, the AT&T Classic ranks among the PGA Tour’s older stops, though it was not contested from 1948-1966………The AT&T was played the week before the Masters prior to 2007, and while its present post-Players Championship slot would figure to draw a stronger field, such has thus far not proven to be the case………Defending champion Zach Johnson, an Iowa native, is a two-time winner here which, combined with his 2007 Masters title, means that Johnson has never won a PGA Tour event outside of the state of Georgia………World number two Phil Mickelson is a three-time winner here (2000, ’05 &  ’06) but will not be participating this week………Fifty-three-year-old Greg Norman makes a rare PGA Tour appearance, but only because the TPC Sugarloaf was designed by his firm.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

European PGA Tour:  Irish Open

Site: Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort  -  Adare, Ireland
Yards: 7,453     Par: 72
Defending: Padraig Harrington 283  (beat Bradley Dredge in a playoff)
Field:   World Top 25: Padraig Harrington (12) & Lee Westwood (20)   Other Notables: Niclas Fasth, Martin Kaymer, Robert Karlsson, Colin Montgomerie & Charl Schwartzel.

Notes: The Irish Open dates to 1927, when the great George Duncan captured the inaugural title at Portmarnock………With his 2007 victory, Padraig Harrington became the first native winner since John O’Leary in 1982, and  will now attempt to join Harry Bradshaw (1947 & ’49) as the only Irishman to win the title more than once………Ben Crenshaw (1976) and Hubert Green (1977) have been the only American winners………In the modern era, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie have all claimed the title three times.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

Japan Tour:  Japan PGA Championship

Site: Raysum Golf Spa & Resort
Yards: 7,125     Par: 72
Defending: Toshi Izawa 283  (defeated Satoru Hirota by 1)
Field:   World Top 25: None    Other Notables: Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Shingo Katayama, Wen-Chong Liang, Frankie Minoza & Tommy Nakajima.

Notes: Toshi Izawa defends at one of the J Tour’s marquee events………Only five overseas players have taken this title since its 1972 debut: Min Nan Hsieh (Taiwan) in 1979, David Ishii (USA) in 1987, Brandt Jobe (USA) in 1998, Dean Wilson (USA) in 2001 and S.K. Ho (Korea), a two-time winner in 2004-05 – and both Ishii and Wilson are of at least partial Japanese descent………Three-time winner Tommy Nakajima is scheduled to compete, as is the legendary Jumbo Ozaki, a four-time winner here who thus far in 2008 has withdrawn from the Token Homemate Cup and the Tsuruya Open, and been DQ’d after one round at The Crowns.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

Sunshine Tour:  Nashua Golf Challenge

Site: Gary Player Country Club & Lost City Golf Course  -  Sun City, South Africa
GPCC: Yards: 7,831     Par: 72          LCGC: Yards: 6,983     Par: 72
Defending: Warren Abery 207  (beat Adilson da Silva by 4)
Field:   World Top 25: None    Other Notables: Desvonde Botes, Marc Cayeux, Darren Fichardt & Des Terblanche.

Notes: This is only the second playing of this event, which draws a typically lean Sunshine Tour summertime field………The event is contested in a pro-am format over 54 holes, with the first 36 holes being split between the neighboring courses and the last round being contested of the Gary Player Country Club course.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

LPGA Tour:  Sybase Classic presented by ShopRite

Site: Upper Montclair Country Club  -  Clifton, NJ
Yards: 6,433     Par: 72
Defending: Lorena Ochoa 270  (defeated Sarah Lee by 3)
Field:   World Top 20: Lorena Ochoa (1), Annika Sorenstam (2), Karrie Webb (5), Cristie Kerr (6), Jee Young Lee (10), Momoko Ueda (11), Morgan Pressel (14), Stacy Prammanasudh (15) & Seon Hwa Lee (19)    Other Notables: Helen Alfredsson, Meg Mallon, Liselotte Neumann, Jan Stephenson.

Notes: The roots of this event go back to the 1970s, though in its present form it dates to 1990………Prior to 2007, it enjoyed a long and successful run at New York’s Wykagyl Country Club before moving across the river to New Jersey………World number one Lorena Ochoa is the two-time defending champion, having also claimed the final Wykagyl playing in 2006………Only nine of the world top 20 are scheduled to compete this week, but with both Ochoa and a streaking Annika Sorenstam present and at the top of their games, it’s doubtful too many observers will be looking beyond numbers one and two………Will this be the week the two finally battle it out on a Sunday afternoon?

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

Champions Tour:  Regions Charity Classic

Site: Robert Trent Jones Trail – Ross Bridge  -  Hoover, AL
Yards: 7,473     Par: 72
Defending: Brad Bryant 204  (defeated R.W. Eaks in a playoff)
Field:   Ranked: The entire Charles Schwab Cup to 20 except Jay Haas (3), Tom Watson (4), John Cook (6), Craig Stadler (7), Fred Funk (10), Andy North (17)   Other Notables: Isao Aoki, Bob Charles, Bruce Fleisher, Hubert Green, Hale Irwin, Curtis Strange & Fuzzy Zoeller.

                      ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

Elsewhere…
On the women’s side, the JLPGA returns to Fukuoka for the ninth playing of the Vernal Ladies, the KLPGA gathers for the Korean Women’s Open, and the Futures Tour visits the American heartland for the Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City Championship.  On the men’s side, the Nationwide Tour returns to South Carolina for the BMW Charity Pro-Am, the Euro Challenge Tour journeys to Italy for the Piemonte Open, the Omega China Tour features the Shanghai Championship, the Canadian Tour the Iberostar Riviera Maya Open (Mexico) and the Tour de las Americas risks being nationalized at the Copa 3 Diamantes in Venezuela.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to scheduled maintenance, Squarespace websites will not be accessible from approximately 1:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m. on Monday, May 12th.  This may delay posting of the upcoming Week In Review page slightly...but we'll see. 

It's not a Major, but...  Sergio Garcia ends a three-year PGA Tour victory drought at the Players Championship, while Annika Sorenstam makes a BIG statement at Kingsmill.  Though exciting events all, everything else was, by comparison, largely irrelevant...

PGA Tour:  The Players Championship – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

One might not have expected the golfing gods to respond favorably to Sergio Garcia’s self-pity-fest following last year’s Open Championship at Carnoustie, but perhaps they have.  Under difficult, wind-driven playing conditions, Garcia finished with a fine 71 in the final round of the Players Championship, then sat back and watched tournament leader Paul Goydos miss a 10-footer to bogey the TPC Sawgrass’s demanding 18th hole, leaving the pair deadlocked at five-under-par 283 and forcing sudden death.  The playoff naturally commenced at the ultra-dramatic par-3 17th, where Goydos, perhaps emotionally spent, plunked his tee shot in the water.  But taking immediate advantage of this second good break, Garcia rose to the occasion, hitting a clutch pitching wedge that trickled down to within five feet of the back-right Sunday pin, and two putts later, he was the Players Champion.  The 28-year-old Spaniard began the final round three shots behind Goydos and did little to improve his position with an outgoing 37.  However, clutch birdies and the 11th, 12th and 14th (built around a bogey at the par-3 13th) represented about as much of a charge as the firm, windy TPC layout would allow, placing Garcia in position to be the beneficiary of Goydos’s 72nd-hole bogey.  A third player, Jeff Quinney, might well have found himself in the playoff as well, but he too bogeyed the last, Pete Dye’s famous 462-yard par 4 which curves gently leftward around a lake.  Quinney thus took solo 3rd at 284, while Briny Baird and Stephen Ames claimed 4th and 5th respectively, with 287 and 288 totals.  Goydos’s Sunday playing partner Kenny Perry, who began the day one off lead, stumbled badly to an 81 and a tie for 15th, while Ernie Els attempted to mount several back-nine charges before a double-bogey at the last left him tied for 6th at 289.  The victory is Garcia’s first on the PGA Tour since 2005, and easily his biggest career triumph to date, its elite field helping to bump him from 18th to 10th in the World Golf Ranking.  Or this one afternoon at least, it seems that he wasn’t playing against “more than just the field.”

      FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          PGA TOUR STATS          INTERVIEWS
 
 
European Tour:  Methorios Capital Italian Open – Milan, Italy

South African Hennie Otto narrowly missed claiming his first victory on the European Tour back in March at the Madeira Island Open, when he lost a sudden-death playoff to Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth.  In the aftermath, Otto missed the cut at Andalucia, then tied for 15th at the Spanish Open, before unleashing spectacular rounds of 65-66-63-69 (for a 25-under-par 263 total) to capture this week’s Italian Open in Milan.  The 31-year-old Otto played exceptional golf over the first 36 holes, yet his 131 halfway total could only tie him for 2nd, two back of Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, whose second-round 61 set a new course record.  But Otto stepped up with an 11-birdie, two-bogey 3rd round that vaulted him into a lead he would not surrender.  England’s Oliver Wilson closed with 64 (Sunday’s low round) to finish alone in 2nd, two back, while Karlsson, who was ranked 48th in the world but passed up a bid to the Players Championship in hopes of racking up valuable Ryder Cup points, finished with a 67 to claim 3rd.  With the victory, Otto jumps 78 places in the Official World Ranking, from 154th to 76th.

                      FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          E TOUR STATS
 
 
Japan & Asian Tours:  Pine Valley Beijing Open – Beijing, China

One week ago, Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita suffered heartbreaking defeat at the J Tour’s prestigious Crowns tournament, birdieing the 72nd hole to tie Tomohiro Kondo, only to lose in sudden death when Kondo holed a long putt at the second playoff hole.  But the 38-year-old Fujita, a six-time J Tour winner, showed championship resilience following his loss, opening the Pine Valley Beijing Open with rounds of 67-65, then posting a pair of solid 72s to coast home to a three-shot victory over countryman Shintaro Kai with a 72-hole total of 12-under-par 276.  While the Asian circuit has thus far resisted overtures for a regional OneAsia super tour, it did agree to co-sponsor this event with the Japan Tour – and despite the world elite being in Florida, and the second tier largely in Europe, the field was apparently strong enough, as Fujita climbs some 40 spots in the World Ranking, from 148th to 108th.

                 FINAL RESULTS          ASIAN ORDER OF MERIT          ASIAN STATS

                                    JAPAN ORDER OF MERIT          JAPAN STATS
 
 
Sunshine Tour:  Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open – Swaziland, South Africa

Having finished no worse than 6th in his last three Sunshine Tour starts, South African Jean Hugo wasn’t a bad bet going into the Royal Swazi Sun Open, an event played under the Modified Stableford scoring system.  After trailing 17-time Sunshine winner Des Terblanche by six points following Wednesday’s opening round, Hugo fired a stunning 61 on Thursday, an obviously spectacular round which translated to 26 points and a huge 15-point lead.  A third-round 67 kept the 54-hole lead at 14 points, a margin which, despite a missed-putt-ridden 73 in the finale, ultimately proved unassailable.  The victory was Hugo’s sixth on the Sunshine circuit, with the final margin being six points over Neil Schietekat and seven over the 42-year-old Terblanche.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          SUNSHINE STATS
 
 
LPGA Tour:  Michelob Ultra Open – Williamsburg, VA

Now, perhaps, we’re going to have a contest.  Proving herself eminently capable of still winning when Lorena Ochoa – or, for that matter, anyone else – is in the field, Annika Sorenstam claimed her 72nd LPGA victory in hugely impressive fashion at the Michelob Ultra Open, her 19-under-par 265 total proving good enough to route the foursome of Allison Fouch, Jeong Jang, Christina Kim and Karen Stupples by seven.  It was truly a virtuoso performance by the 37-year-old Hall-of-Famer, beginning with a flawless seven-birdie 64 on Thursday, a statement-making opening which Sorenstam methodically followed with rounds of  66 and 69.  Thus staked to a three-shot 54-hole lead, the world’s second-ranked player went out in one-under-par 35 before turning on the jets on the final nine, recording six birdies between the10th and 17th before logging an utterly irrelevant bogey at the last for a closing 66.  Ochoa, meanwhile, stumbled a bit for the second straight week, although she remained in contention through 36 holes with rounds of 65-68.  A Saturday 74 left her eight back of Sorenstam, however, with an uninspired closing 70 ultimately seeing her home in 277, tied for 12th some 12 shots in arrears.  With her third victory in eight 2008 starts, Sorenstam will still remain well behind Ochoa in the Rolex Rankings – but perhaps not so very far behind her in real terms, an impressive turn of events given Ochoa’s overwhelming dominance during the month of April.

         FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          LPGA STATS          INTERVIEWS
 
 
Elsewhere…

Sweden’s 24-year-old Lotta  Wahlin claimed her first LET victory in epic fashion, carding a seven-under-par 285 total to win the Turkish Ladies Open by 12 shots in Antalya………Former two-time LPGA Tour winner Akiko Fukushima claimed her 22nd career JLPGA title at the World Ladies Championship on Tokyo, defeating Korea’s Ji-Yai Shin in sudden death after the pair deadlocked on four-under-par 284………One-time LPGA Tour player Aram Cho won the KLPGA’s KB Star Tour in Chungcheong event in a three-way playoff with Young Ran Jo and Sun Ju Ahn after the threesome tied at 209………Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Colt Knost claimed his first Nationwide Tour victory at the Ft. Smith Classic, closing with a fine 65 to edge Darron Stiles by one.