US Open Champ Angel Cabrera withdraws from French Open
Written by Chris Behan
Friday, 22 June 2007
I can't say we fully understand why he
was considering tennis anyway....we kid.
In all seriousness, we can't blame him for taking some time off
especially with a nice $1.2 million check in his pocket.
He didn't cite any particular reasons, but did mention that he's
still planning on playing in the Scottish Open one week before the
British Open at Carnoustie.
Citing personal reasons, John Daly pulled out of the BMW International Open in Munich today, only one day after taking home $220,000 in the Telus World Skins event.
It's only been two weeks since Daly claimed that his wife (that's wife #4 for those of you counting at hime) tried to attack him with a steak knife. His wife countered the story claiming that he was merely trying to cover up a drunken episode.
We here @ 3pb can't help but wonder if it's merely coincidence that this news comes out on the same day as Tim Finchem's anti-drug campaign.
No matter the reason, we can only hope for the best for a genuinely nice, but troubled Daly.
PGA commissioner Tim Finchem is calling
for the USGA and R&A to jointhe PGA in setting up standards for
drug testing for all sanctioned events.
Just to rest your worries, this does not mean that beer is going to
be banned from your Sunday foursome. Despite the fact that I
personally think that a six-pack does improve my performance on the
links, they are targeting officially sanctioned events.
There's no final word on what they're banning, but I would expect
something similar to the NFL in terms of illegal substances as well
as some pretty stringent steroids and HGH bans...especially
considering that this is the direction all major sporting leagues
seem to be headed these days.
Less than 48 hours after Sam Alexis came into this world, Tiger was in Dubai for the ground breaking of his first golf course, late last year he announced the formation of Tiger Woods Design and that Tom Fazio's right hand man (Beau Welling) has been brought onboard to oversee the project.
I can only imagine what might included in this course, whether there be atributes from some of the fantasy course's in EA's highly successful Tiger Woods video game franchise or perhaps a collection of his favorite design elements throughout the world. Al Ruwaya (serenity) will no doubt test every aspect of ones game at all levels. The layout is said to be a pr 72, over 7700 yards with a 50,00+ sq.ft clubhouse and community built around the course. This outlet will be the public's first chance to see what goes on inside his head.
Pictures will follow as soon as they become available.
John Philp, the head greenskeeper at
Carnoustie was suspended from his job today for a confrontation
with a 16 year old apprentice over smoke breaks.
In itself, probably not newsworthy, but with the Open Championship
taking place at Carnoustie in a month it's certainly an
interesting time to send your head greenskeeper home.
Philp was also the greenskeeper back in 1999, which was the last
time the Open was at Carnoustie, when the winning score was +6 and
the players complained about the almost impossibly conditions of
the course. Of course, that became the sidebar story once Jean Van
de Velde took a triple bogey 8 on the 72 hole of the Championship
to drop three strokes and put himself in a three way tie with
Justin Leonard and eventual winner Paul Laurie. (an interesting
note is Angel Cabrera took 4th place that year, one stroke out of
the playoff)
This is all most likely much ado about nothing, but if Philp is out
much longer and the course plays easier this time around, then
perhaps there's something to this story.
Is Tiger Still Tiger? and Other Oakmont Observations
Written by Bryan Spitzer
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Yesterday my cousin jokingly asked “is there a chink in his armor”?After watching on Sunday I would have to say yes, their certainly is but one I believe is repairable.He is a more consistent player right now but not a better champion.Soon enough we will all see his A game, once again.
There is a faction among tour players that seem and act in awe of Tiger Woods and then there are those who have come out and beat him.In both majors, the Masters and now the US Open where tiger was sniffing victory, but as the story tells a sniff is as close as he ever came.For this year’s US Open I was fortunate enough to witness the second most dramatic golfing event to take place in my lifetime.
Early Monday morning Tiger Woods announced via his website that Elin has given birth to a baby girl, Sam Alexis Woods (pictures to follow shortly on www.tigerwoods.com ).
While catching the Tuesday press conferences from the world’s #1 and #2 I heard a few comments worthy of noting. First, the common theme this golf course is an absolute titan, where par feels like a 63 and one sleeve of balls is a very good day at the office. During the later half of phi’s press conference he commented that this golf course was going to be won/lost between 7-10, so the inward three and leading hole out. Most are thinking, how can that be with dramatic 18th, the putting (green on 9) and the church pews either set but notoriously the stretch that grabs even soft draws off three and four. Let’s take a closer look at these 4 holes and understand why the tournament will in fact be won/lost right here.
The par 73, 7,411-yard Plantation Course, is the course of the champions, site of the PGA TOUR Mercedes-Benz Championship each January featuring an elite field of previous year's PGA TOUR winners. The field has included golf greats such as Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard, Ernie Els, Davis Love III and many more. The grand scale of the course designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore unfurls across natural geographic formations and pineapple plantation fields that take your breath away.
BALTIMORE SUN has news of even more trouble for Wie. It seems her playing partners at a Monday Pro-Am in Maryland were livid after a round with her - and complained to LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens about her somewhat bizarre behavior.
Rick Maese of the Sun describes the debacle: "On the second-to-last hole, she actually plopped herself onto the grass and sat cross-legged in the middle of the fairway, fingering one of the dolls that dangled from her golf bag.
"For a moment, Wie didn't seem to notice that her back was turned to one of her playing partners, who stood just a few feet away and was addressing his ball. She rose to her feet and the group continued the round.
"Just as puzzling, on two of the last three holes, Wie didn't even attempt a putt, scooping her ball as soon as a playing partner sank his and walking onto the next tee."
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