golf Tag

As the Augusta National finished hosting the Women’s amateur tournament this past weekend, my thoughts are about the continuing growth of women’s sports and women's golf, and also about the women that have lead the sport throughout history.

I remember seeing the name Patty Berg for the first time on the clubs in my mother’s golf bag. From her first clubs when she was a teen, all the way through her adulthood, my mom's clubs were Patty Berg’s woods and irons. I started golfing when I was 3 years old and even before I was big enough, I was obsessed with those Patty Berg’s! I was convinced my little kid clubs were holding back my game.

In the summertime, I golfed every week with grandparents and recall being told numerous times by them that Patty Berg was the greatest female golfer in history. She was a founding member of the LPGA, and from 1937 to 1961, she dominated the game with 57 LPGA and WPGA tournament wins. She won 15 majors during her career

When you think of Augusta, Georgia, you almost automatically think of The Masters and the historic Augusta National Golf Club. Despite visiting Augusta numerous times to host Masters Golf Tours, I admit, I had barely explored beyond the street that the Augusta National is located on, Washington Road.

A few years back, during one of my long weeks of working during Masters Week, I decided to escape to the Augusta Museum of History and eventually found myself on a trolley tour hosted by local historian and author, Stan Byrdy. Stan is the author of two great books that every golfer and golf fan should own, The Augusta National Golf Club: Alister MacKenzie's Masterpiece, and Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age.

As we toured around, Stan talked about the Revolutionary War and Civil War history of the city. We explored neighborhoods with stately homes and the homes of famous city residents, including Ty Cobb and Woodrow Wilson. Then Stan began tracing the history of golf and how the players

I recently traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland to see exactly where I come from. I ended up in the little coastal town in Northern Ireland called Annalong located an hour north of Dublin, right at the base of the Mourne Mountains. 

I walked the shores of the Irish Sea on a gravel-like sand, visited the church where my great-grandfather worshipped, and hiked The Kingdom of Mourne, a place my cousin described as the ‘Center of the Universe’. Here you can see the mountains, the sea, and the green earth all in one glance. Incredible.

The largest field of the 4 majors belongs to the U.S. Open Golf Tournament.  Some say that the U.S. Open is one of the purest competitions in  sports because of the opportunity it creates for golfers all around the country and the world.  This events holds the top level of prestige, difficulty, and excitement.  Last year we got the pleasure of seeing amateur Beau Hossler compete for the championship until the last round.  The U.S Open is one of the few events where pro's and amateurs get a chance to compete for one of the game's highest honors.

The casual golf fan probably knows that the Masters Tournament happens every April, but can the average fan tell you when the U.S. Open takes place?  The Masters is on of the most covered sporting events in the US and I think the events proximity in time to the Final Four has something to do with it.  Especially since the same network carries both events (CBS).

Whoa!  The sports world is going crazy right now!  So much going on and it is all too exciting to miss.  To catch up with the sports world I have harnessed all the major news/results from the recent events.  I am going to briefly hit on each sport and give a few predictions for the Masters, MLB, NBA, and NHL.  Ready?  Lets go!

NHL

Seems like the season just started but it will shortly be coming to an end.  But I guess that's what happens when you are in a shortened and compressed 46 game season.  Thanks lockout.  The story early on in the season was the winning streak by the Chicago Blackhawks and then both the Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins went on their own winning streaks.  Although no one has matched a start like the Blackhawks, it seemed for a while like the Penguins might be the best team.  Now that Crosby is out the battle for best appears to be between the Ducks and Blackhawks.

It has been quite some time since you could say Tiger is the best golfer in the world and be accurate.  Whether or not he is the best is up in the air right now but his world ranking indicates that he is currently the top dog.  Tiger climbs to number 1 after a 29 month hiatus from the top spot.

He does so by claiming his record tying eighth victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.  He already owns the record for most navy jackets but this time he ties the record with Sam Snead for most victories at a single event.  Woods also continues to chip away at the all time victories record which is also held by Snead.  Woods earned his 77th victory and is now just 5 behind Snead.

It has been a hot minute since we checked in with the world of golf so this week we are going to reconnect with that pesky little white ball.  There has been some early excitement thus far in the PGA season.  Tiger has already pulled off another dominating win at Torrey Pines and Phil Mickelson was a lipper away from breaking 60 in the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

We are just 6 tournaments into this young season and the action picked up again this past weekend at the famous Pebble Beach Resort.  The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has been a tradition since the mid 1900's.  In modern times it still a great tournament that offers up some entertainment with celebrities and gives golfers a chance to begin fine tuning for the Master's.  The defending champion of this event was Phil Mickelson but he was unable to take the win to give him back-to-back victories in 2013.  Instead, Brandt Snedeker took the win and has put together a nice run in the last 3 weeks.  Snedeker finished second to Tiger at Torrey Pines and Phil at the Phoenix Open.  Pretty impressive 3 tournament run.  One might goes as far to say that Brandt is a favorite heading into the Masters this year.  I won't go that far, but some might.  So in light of this recent surge from Snedeker, lets take a look at the current world rankings in golf.

Super Bowl Sidebar

What a week folks.  As if there aren't enough headlines for the Super Bowl, we get slapped in the face with allegations from SI that Ray Lewis used a banned substance.  It seems no sport, including golf, is safe from PED's.  Vijay Singh also admitted that he was using the same product Lewis has allegedly used.  Miami New Times also released a story this week that a company down in Florida was selling PED's to several MLB players.  It is a sad state of affairs when every sports accomplishment seems tainted these days.  At some point I think we all just have to accept that PED's have been and will always be prevalent in professional and collegiate sports.  The drive to be the best is what put these athletes in the position they are in and many times an athlete will compromise integrity for success.  We can sit here and judge all day but can you honestly say you would do different?  I would like to think I would but until put in that position I'm not sure how I would respond.  We now know how athletes like Alex Rodriguez and Ray Lewis allegedly responded.

Every other year we get the chance to see the best golfers in the world compete in the Ryder Cup and this year the tournament blows through the Windy City.  The 2012 Ryder Cup will be hosted by Medinah Country Club in Medinah, IL.  Medinah is a small suburb of Chicago that is located about 15 minutes west of O'Hare airport.

The regularly scheduled alternating bid for the Ryder Cup brings international competition back to the Midwest in September.  The last Ryder Cup on U.S. soil was hosted by Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, KY.  The 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla also marks the last victory for the U.S. and the only yankee victory in the last 5 Ryder Cup competitions.