This past week marks so many things, for many of us it is the weekend where we begin our golf season or at least start putting on the carpet as we watch Saturday and Final Round coverage at the Masters. For the Tour, it’s the start of the Majors season and six straight months of world class golf with a major in each month thru August, if you count the TPC and perhaps for Tiger/Phil this is the beginning of a rivalry, a real beginning.
Tiger Woods announced Thursday, on his website that he will be returning to competition at the Accenture Match Play in Tuscon, AZ on Feb.25th. This announcement comes just days after Steve Williams (Tiger's Caddie) and Mark O'Mera hinted that he would be back very soon. He remaining number one in the OWGR is scheduled to face-off against on Wednesday 1 PM.
This is definately a good move for Tiger, to start with the match play, a one on one scenario that will build confidence and minmize exposure were he to have a bit of rust coming out of the gate. This event will allow him to test that newly reconstructed left kneeas he moves through the ball, in competition. As he and many otehrs have assured everybody, he is ready and his return to the Tour is welcomed.
Golf is one of the unique sports where every player can have a nuance to his/her swing that will not greatly impact or affect their performance. In other sports such as basketball, baseball, and many others the wrong technique translates to poor performance. In golf so long as your swing is on plane and square through the impact zone the results will be similar across the board, now granted, the trajectory will not be the same, nor will club head speed and ball control but essentially the ball will go in the same direction.
Dustin Johnson escapes with a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, his second PGA tour Victory making he and AK the only players under 25 with 2+ wins. He did not have to face either of the final rounds formidable foes - the PGA tour competition and the gnarly weather crashing into the Monterrey coastline.
This week marked the unofficial beginning of the 2009 PGA Tour season, while the field was limited to 2008 tournament winners (33 players), the frontrunners picked up where they left off last year and did not disappoint, AK (Anthony Kim), 2 Time '08 winner and Ryder Cup phenom came within 7
inches of holing out his second shot on the Par five 18th on Sunday,
from 273 after a 381 yd. drive and eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy
squandered his lead early with 4 bogeys thru the first eight holes, on
the ninth he turned it around with a clutch 20 footer for eagle that
sparked a -5, 32 coming in.
As the PGA Tour begins its final major of the 2008 season the FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup leader boards are surprising, to say the least at the top of the FedEx Cup Points sits Kenny Perry one of the games best drivers of the golf ball while being one of the streakiest putters around. His decision to play in events which play to his strengths have certainly paid off despite the double points and bonus points awarded for the Ryder and FedEx Cup's, respectively. Perry, now with three wins is a lock for Ryder Cup next month being contested in his home State of Kentucky.
With little over two months away from the grandest team event in all of golf, the US Ryder Cup team sits poised to reverse the unfortunate, shellackings they have received over the past 3 events, particularly the two most recent 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 embarrassments. The team now consists of 5 veterans and three rookie's that are mathematically on the team at this juncture. Additionally the next four players in point totals have absolutely no prior ryder cup play and only one of those four (Stricker '06) has any Presidents Cup experience, as well.
A mere week after capturing his 14th Major, Tiger Woods undergoes ACL reconstructive Knee Surgery to repair ligaments he tore while running at home after the 2007 British Open. According to tigerwoods.com his doctors are pleased with the results and doubtful any long term effects will arise from the procedure, his fouth on the left knee in 10 years.
In a statement released Tiger Woods said, "It was important to me to have the surgery as soon as possible so
that I could begin the rehabilitation process,... "I am very appreciative of Dr. Rosenberg and Dr. Cooley and
his staff's guidance and look forward to working with them through the
necessary rehabilitation and training.
"I look forward to working hard at my rehabilitation over the coming months and returning to the PGA Tour healthy next year."
As Tiger is now out for the remainder of the 2008 season what and Who will drive the PGA Tour and 2nd Annual FedEx Cup. It is no secret that Woods drives revenues, ratings, and a whole lot more. This past week NBC had 13.8 millions viewers for Sunday's primetime final round, more than double any other single program. How will the PGA tour and Tim Finchem (Commissioner) repackage the sport for the next 6+ months and how will they fill the void Woods occupies. The rest of the elite talent on the PGA tour will have to step up and not one at a time then to fall away from the leaderboard the next several weeks, the way Trevor (Immelman) and Sergio (Garcia) have after their respective wins (Masters and TPC).
Tiger Woods said in his Trophy presentation speech that he would be shutting it down for a while, we didn't think it would be this long. According to the Golf Channel and confirmed by tigerwoods.com, Tiger Woods has announced that he will undergo season ending knee surgery that will involve reconstructive work on his ACL and to relieve a a double stress fracture he acquired a couple of weeks before the Open. Sources say he should be back to 100% for the 2009 season. Read More (theburiedlead.com)
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As Tiger is now out for the remainder of the 2008 season what and Who will drive the PGA Tour and 2nd Annual FedEx Cup. It is no secret that Woods drives revenues, ratings, and a whole lot more. This past week NBC had 13.8 millions viewers for Sunday's primetime final round, more than double any other single program. How will the PGA tour and Tim Finchem (Commissioner) repackage the sport for the next 6+ months and how will they fill the void Woods occupies. The rest of the elite talent on the PGA tour will have to step up and not one at a time then to fall away from the leaderboard the next several weeks, the way Trevor (Immelman) and Sergio (Garcia) have after their respective wins (Masters and TPC). 
