Tees2Greens on Golf

The first time I remember seeing Matt Kuchar was at the 1998 Masters. As low amateur he finished the tournament tied for 21st, a feat that 90% of the professional golfers in the world still haven’t accomplished. I don’t remember anything about his swing, but what I do remember is his smile, which as it turns out, may be the most important club in his bag.

He was, without question, the next big thing in 1998, and why not? The Georgia Tech All-American followed his Masters performance with an even better one at the U.S. Open where he tied for 14th.  At the age of 23 he won his first PGA Tournament, then wouldn’t win another PGA Tour Tournament for seven years... that’s right, seven years, and it wasn’t even close. He wasn’t losing by a stroke here and there, he was terrible, so terrible that he lost his card and ended up on the Nationwide Tour. Still, through it all, some how, some way, Matt kept smiling.

To his credit, he never stopped fighting, and he never stopped smiling. The self-taught prodigy hooked up with Chris O’Connell in 2006 and Jim Hardy and started rebuilding his swing, and what a swing it is. By all accounts, it may be the flattest swing in golf, or maybe it just looks that way because he’s 6’ 4”. Nevertheless, Matt could take a full swing in your dining room and not hit the chandelier, but here’s the bottom-line… it works. Swing doctor Butch Harmon, put it this way, “Matt doesn’t do anything spectacularly well, but does everything very good.”

Butch was smiling when he said that, and Matt was starting to have a reason to smile.

In 2006, Matt finished 10th on the Nationwide money list, earning his PGA card for 2007. He finished 115th on the money list that year. In 2008, he finish 70th. Then, in 2009, seven years after his first PGA Tour Win, he won for a second time, but even that wasn’t easy. He had to win a playoff over Vaughn Taylor, which wasn’t completed until Monday due to darkness. That which does not kill me makes me smile.

Now Matt was really smiling.

By 2010 everything had changed. Matt Who, was now Matt Kuchar, Ryder Cup Team Member. At the time Matt was named to the team he lead the PGA Tour in top10 finishes, but he didn’t have a win in 2010; however in August he added an exclamation mark by winning The Barclays, and his smile got bigger.

He went on to win the Vardon Trophy and the Byron Nelson Award that year for lowest scoring average; then to top it off, he won the Arnold Palmer Award as leading money winner. Now, the entire Kuchar family is smiling.

By 2011, Matt his in a zone, three top-ten finishes in the first three weeks. In February, Matt had a great showing at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship before losing to the eventual winner Luke Donald. Then in June, he finished second behind Steve Stricker at the Memorial, causing fellow scribe Cathy Erickson to suffer palpitations for nearly a week. Now Cathy and Matt were both smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Matt went on to finish second at the Barclays in 2011, then he and Gary Woodland teamed up to win the Omega Mission Hill World Cup that November just for laughs… or smiles.

Now, assuming that you don’t play golf under a rock, you already know that Matt smiled his way to a tie for third at the Masters in 2012, which brings us to the Players and the infamous TPC Sawgrass, which Matt Kuchar whistled and smiled his way around for a two stroke victory. That’s right he not only smiled, he whistled.

I don’t know what to make of someone who smiles as much as Matt Kuchar does. It’s unnerving. Perhaps he already knew that he was about to become the 5th ranked player in the world. Heck, that would make anybody smile, but I like to think he’s a fan of Rudyard Kipling who famously said:

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.

I think Matt Kuchar has figured out that triumph and disaster are both imposters. That’s what keeps him going. That’s why he’s always smiling.

It’s been a while since golf had this many locked and loaded young guns on the tee box at the same time. Now add the orange crush and the bad mustache of Rickie Fowler to the list. This makes Puma a bit like me, not as dumb as we look.

Obviously, there are lists, then there are lists and Rory McIlroy is at the top of every list these days, but Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradley, Bill Haas, Gary Woodland, Hunter Mahan, Webb Simpson and now Rickie Fowler are all right there as well. Now, add to all this excitement the existing powers such as Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Louis Oosthuizen Sean O’Hair, Justin Rose, Charl Schwartzel, Nick Watney, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey, Darren Clark, Ian Poulter, Martin Kaymer and a dozen more guys that are capable of winning every time they tee it up, and winning a golf tournament is starting to become a lot more difficult, and a lot more exciting.

This week, the beneficiary of all this excitement is The Players. Already with one of best fields on tour, the PGA Tour guys have to be wetting their pants at this week’s tournament. And, speaking of not being as dumb as they look, the PGA grouped Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Tiger Woods together on Thursday. Think they might draw a crowd?

In the category of it’s better to be lucky than good, the PGA Tour guys were also able to group the three whitest guys in America, Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley and Matt Kuchar. Think about it; these guys have to spend a fortune each year on sun block.

Another great group to watch is Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker. McIlroy, the number one player in the world these days, won The Honda Classic earlier this year, and is returning to Sawgrass after missing a year. Mickelson is a one-man golf show and former Players champ, and Stricker, who won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January, always looks ready to win… again.

Now if you’re just out to improve your vocabulary you might want to follow Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day and Ian Poulter. Jason and Ian both claim to speak English although you couldn’t prove it by me. And frankly, nobody knows what language Louis Oosthuizen speaks. “Double O” is playing in the U.S. for the first time since he lost to Bubba Watson at the Masters and Jason Day, who is on a bit of a roll of his own, finished strong at the Wells Fargo Championship last week, and may be back on his game. Then of course there is Ian Poulter who has a shot at winning every time he spikes his hair and puts on a pair of ugly pants, but I digress.

Without question, the Players has a chance to be one of the best tournaments of the year. It’s got the field, it’s got a good, if not great golf course, and it seems to have momentum. With the U.S. Open a month away, and the British Open a month after that, golf, the young guns and the steady veterans seem to have everything going their way. That’s great for you and me, but it’s also great for golf.

If you don’t love what’s going on in golf right now, you must be living under a rock. That’s no excuse either. I know a guy that lives under a rock and even he has cable.

Enjoy the tournament. Then go and enjoy playing a round or two.

 

The Wells Fargo Championship being played at Quail Hollow Club this week features the likes of Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Lee Westwood, and Tiger Woods to mention a few.  Eleven of this year’s PGA tournament winners will be represented along with nineteen Majors winners. There are also eight past winners including last year’s champ Lucas Glover who is starting to get his game back, and 2008 winner Anthony Kim who at present can only be described as a lost ball in the high weeds.

Ranked 210 on the money list with less than $34,000 in his pocket so far in 2012, Anthony Kim is in serious danger of losing his card. It’s a position the flamboyant, diamond belt-buckled, life of the party, twenty-six year old golf star never envisioned. But, that’s what happens when you finish only two of nine tournaments. He has missed four cuts and was disqualified after shooting a 78 at Riviera and not signing his card.

From an injury standpoint, his troubles started with his left thumb that was operated on in 2010. It cost him a spot on the Ryder Cup team and most of the 2011 season. Then came the right elbow and right wrist. “They” say there is no structural damage that should keep him from playing, but they don’t feel the pain that Anthony says he feels with every swing. It didn’t help the cause when he connected with a rock in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, sending more shockwaves up his right arm and directly into his fragile ego.

Even his Mom is piling on. "Hey, there's a caddie that said he made $60,000 caddying at my club,” Kim’s mother told Anthony. “The caddie stays at home and works four days a week. He's made $60,000. You've only made $30,000.”

That’s cold, Mom.

Speaking of cold, Anthony lost his bag deal and is now sporting his red Oklahoma Sooners college bag, which brings to mind the wisdom of the old quarterback Bobby Lane who said, “It’s not far from the penthouse to the outhouse.” It's hard to believe that only four years ago, Kim was the rising star. He won Quail Hollow by five shots for his first PGA Tour win, then won the AT&T National two months later to become the first American under 25 since Tiger Woods to win at least twice in one season. At the Ryder Cup that year, he was a catalyst in the American victory.

That was then and this is now. Gone are the entourage, the diamond AK belt-buckles and much of the swagger, all replaced by the locker room whispers asking, “What’s wrong with Anthony?” There are also the doubters who question his dedication, his work habits, and his life style.

Sounding a bit like a guy whistling through the graveyard, Anthony is keeping a stiff upper lip. "It's been a frustrating year, and I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, but it gets tougher and tougher every day. My body has been fine for a long time, but it's been one little thing after another," Kim said. "I hit it better (today) than I've hit it in a long time. To come out here and hit the ball in the middle of the face over and over felt pretty good. I haven't had the opportunity to practice and get better. It's not so much the injuries, but the confidence I get from practicing is what I can't get.

"I feel closer than everyone thinks. I don't see why I can't go out there and shoot in the mid-60s every day. I know I've been closer to shooting 80s than 60s, but I still don't see why I can't shoot good rounds."

Perhaps he’s right, but Quail Hollow and the stellar field that’s assembled for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship seems an unlikely place to go searching for one’s game.

Anthony laughed at his mother’s joke about the caddie making more money the he has this year. Then the smile ran away from his face and he said, "She asked me if I wanted to keep playing golf. She doesn't care if I play golf as long as I'm happy. I told her I plan on being out here a long time. I love playing golf. I love competing.

“I’m okay with where I'm at right now. If I didn't believe I could win out here I wouldn't be here."

 

This week’s Zurich Classic in New Orleans boasts a very good field: four of the top ten players in the world, three of the top money winners on the PGA Tour, and four of the top ten FedEx Cup point leaders. It also has nine 2012 tournament winners, and twelve previous winners of their own tournaments. However, their big catch is last year’s winner, and this year’s Masters Champion Bubba Watson, who is one of twelve major winners in the field. There are also a ton of international players who stopped by for some crawfish and grits before heading to the Players in two weeks.

The Zurich Open is a very good golf tournament, with a really good field, that benefits greatly from a good schedule, and a great city, but like most golf tournaments, it’s not a Major, and for reasons known only to the golf gods, it has no shot at ever becoming one.

Why not? Why are the majors the majors, and the Zurichs the Zurichs, and while we are at it, why is the Players Tournament trying so hard to become a major? The reason that question is so difficult to answer is that nobody really knows how majors become majors. There’s not a majors committee. No secret votes. No white smoke from the chimney. Apparently majors are polymorphism. One day you’re a caterpillar and the next you’re a butterfly.

As best I can tell golf writer Herbert Warren Wind started using the term back in the fifties. He said golfers ought to be judged by the major tournaments they win, but once again no one called a meeting and said okay these four are majors and the rest of your guys are not.

As a matter of fact, back when golf pros were considered little more than hustlers four, but not all, of the majors consisted of the British Open, the British Amateur Championship, the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur Championship, which was Bobby Jones’ 1930 Grand Slam, and later became breakfast at the IHOP, but that’s another story.

At the same time, years before the Masters even existed, the Western Open, first played in 1899, was also considered a major, as was the British PGA Match Play Championship. There was also the North and South Open, which was played annually at Pinehurst resort in North Carolina starting in 1902, it was also considered a major by the media and the players.

In many ways, the North and South was the Masters before the Masters, but the tournament was discontinued in 1951 after a dispute between the Tour and Pinehurst’s patriarch, Richard Tufts. Then, only a year or so later, the Masters prestige would totally eclipse the Western Open when television executives checked out the weather in Illinois and then chose to spend April in Augusta. Did you see the smoke coming from the chimney?  

It is hard to determine when the definition changed to include the current four tournaments. Many give credit to Arnold Palmer's 1960 season, when after winning the Masters and the U.S. Open to start the season he remarked that if he could win the Open Championship and PGA Championship to finish the season, he would complete "a grand slam of his own" to rival Bobby Jones’s 1930 feat.

Remember, in the 1940s and 1950s, very few American players made the Atlantic crossing, a notable exception being Ben Hogan’s single, victorious visit in 1953. That’s also the year of the “Hogan Slam,” which included the Masters, British Open and the U.S. Open. The PGA Championship was played at the same time the British Open was played making it impossible to win all four.

However, once Arnold Palmer and then Jack Nicklaus started making annual pilgrimages to the British Open in the early 1960s, and the PGA Championship moved to August in order not to conflict with the British Open, the current group of four major tournaments was more or less carved in stone.

So, how do majors become majors?  The answer seems to be that three of today’s majors are national championships, which makes sense. However, the Masters seems to owe its status to Pinehurst’s patriarch, Richard Tufts’ being ticked-off at the Tour, and some TV executive deciding that he’d rather be in Georgia than Illinois in early April. Granted, it didn’t hurt that Bobby Jones was hosting.

Interestingly, back in the 50’s nobody talked much about who was and who was not a major. Also lost in translation is the how and why it became four and not five, or twenty-five. One guy who could never figure it out either was former PGA Commissioner Deane Beman the driving force behind the creation of the Players Tournament. It’s been said that he was so frustrated that he couldn’t control the majors that he was determined to create his own. There was even talk that he wanted to make it a head-to-head battle to the death by scheduling the Players Tournament the same week as the U.S. Open, but cooler heads prevailed.

The majors; the whys and the why nots are mysteries. It’s like the origins of life itself. How are we here? Why are we here? What is our fate? Surely, it’s one of the great questions of the cosmos. Why are there only four majors… and what ever happened to D.B. Cooper?

 

Bubba Watson was not the “Kid from out of no where” winning the Masters. He had already won three times on tour. True, many non-golfers didn’t know his name, but the rest of us did. He’s made more than 15 million dollars already, including more than 3 million bucks in each of the last two years, so needless to say Bubba isn’t playing with shag balls these days.

There is, of course the name Bubba, which conjures up all that good old boy stuff from the Dukes of Hazards, but to me that’s more Boo Weekly than Bubbas Watson.  Still, he is from the South, he does own the General Lee, and there is the hair, which is about one trim away from being a mullet.

So, who is Bubba Watson? I like to think he’s you and me with a lot more golf talent. Bubba has the kind of A.D.D. that most of us have and his mind wanders during a match now and then. Like you and me, he loves to play golf, but it’s not the only thing in his life. Once again, like you and me, he likes to try and make crazy shots. Unlike you and me he makes most of his, but he laughs when he doesn’t, which may be something Bubba can teach all of us.

Bubba twitted, “Hooked it about 40 yards, hit about 15 yards off the ground until it got under the tree and then it started rising. Pretty easy… I know how to get out of the trees pretty good.”

Bubba is six-foot-three and cries more than John Boehner, but that’s okay. Hey, I got choked up watching Bambi.

As has been well publicized, Bubba “Never had a lesson,” but once again like many of us, his Dad showed him a few things.  Like you and me, he says he’s not a very good putter. Unlike you and me he is a very good putter.

Bubba tweeted about next year’s Masters Champion’s dinner menu, “I have it narrowed down to three: Waffle House, Chipotle, Lexington Barbecue or In-N-Out.” Okay, that’s four choices, but there is something Bubba about that, as well.

It’s also very Bubba to call out the President, and I don’t mean the President of the Masters or golf. Bubba sent the following message to President Obama, “Hey@BarackObama when we playing a game of Bball at your home court?? #WhiteHouse”.

I can’t imagine that he won’t get invited.

He also tweeted Piers Morgan before his appearance on his show, “Hope you’ve got your putting game on today@bubbawatson – because I’m taking you down.” Then, after Morgan questioned Bubba about Augusta not allowing female members, Bubba said, “I know who’s not going to be a member – You.”

However, the quote I like best came when David Letterman asked Bubba to describe his personal style of play, Bubba said, “Awesome.” Don’t all of us have a friend that couldn’t pass up a straight line like that?

I think what we like about Bubba is what we like about our friends. They are funny, unpredictable, surprising, and real. They’ll hit the crazy shot, then laugh at the results, good or bad. I think he is also the guy who would help you look for your ball and kick it back inbounds without telling you.

Bubba is that rascal; he is also Masters Champion and of all of the things he’s said lately, he’s right about one thing… He’s awesome.

 

Even though Bubba Watson just won the Masters, it is obvious to all of us connoisseurs of the great game that his swing needs help… and like the government, I’m here to help. Granted, I’m not qualified to carry Bubba’s golf bag, but let’s not quibble over technicalities.

Let’s start with the most obvious. Finishing your swing with both arms over your head like a football referee is not the ideal position. But to err is human and it’s understandable because Bubba hasn’t had the benefit of all of the fine coaching that I have had. I’ve read Byron Nelson’s, Ben Hogan’s and Butch Harmon’s books. I’ve been to golf school. Sure, they made me stand in the corner all day, but that’s another story. It’s also true that every time I’ve had a golf lesson, I left a worse player than when I arrived, but that’s just me and my tiny little brain and my insufficient athletic ability desperately lost in the high weeds of life. 

Nevertheless, there are those who have had success. Take Hank Haney’s success with the worst golf swing in America, Charles Barkley… oh, wait a minute, that didn’t go well, or maybe his success with Ray Romano… oh, that didn’t work either. Perhaps he should just write a book… oh, that didn’t go so well either.

On the other hand, Tiger has had a million golf lessons. He’s changed his swing three or four times since winning everything in sight. Granted, he is swimming the backstroke right now, but I understand why. Heck, if I have more than one thought at the top of my swing I’m lost. I can’t imagine how many swing tips are running around inside Tiger’s head at the top of his swing.

Here’s the point (and it was in all of the papers), we’re not all alike. We’re tall, short, skinny and not so skinny, and some of us are more than one of those things at a time. We’re also different kinds of athletes. I grew up with guys who never lifted weights and were still strong as an ox. I played on football teams where the guy who looked like a Greek god couldn’t play a lick, and the funny looking skinny kid was a stud. That’s not really the point either. We all understand that Billy Casper and Bobby Jones are from different gene pools, but both played at a really high level.

In a way, we are born with our golf swing. It’s in our DNA. That’s not to say that you can’t make it better, but if you’re five-foot-five with a twenty inch inseam it’s going to be difficult, if not impossible for your golf swing to look like Tiger’s. However, as my sainted Mother use to say, “Who cares and don’t chew with your mouth full.”

Here’s the bottom-line: Swing DNA didn’t seem to bother guys like Seve Ballesteros, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Doug Ford, Jimmy Demaret, Henry Picard, or Angel Cabrera. They all had unique swings. They all had people suggesting that they change their swings. They all chose to dance with who brought them, and like Bubba Watson, they all won the Masters.

Bubba Watson is the 2012 Masters’ Champion and that’s real a hoot.

 

A few years ago Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon was a popular trivia game based on the concept of the small world phenomenon. Now, I don’t know if Kevin Bacon plays golf, or for that matter if he has ever been to the Masters, but I don’t see why that matters.

Now that we have eliminated logic as a contributing factor in this rant, let me start by reminding you that I live in Dallas where the Azaleas are also in bloom these days. Okay, the Azalea thing is not exactly six degrees of anything, but how about this; I have actually conversed with four-time Masters’ champion, Tiger Woods. Granted, I was working in the media room when he asked me to get him a drink of water, and all I said was “Sure,” but he could have just as easily asked me for a swing tip… he didn’t, but he could have.

For what it’s worth, I also met Elin Nordegren, perhaps better known as the former Mrs. Tiger Woods. It was the year Jasper Parnevik won the Byron Nelson Championship. Ms. Nordegren was babysitting for the Parnevik’s gaggle of towheaded kids. Jasper had just won and kids were running wild. Interestingly, the Elin I met that day was not a glamour looking blond; she looked like someone who had been chasing kids around for eight hours, which she had. Then, with barefooted blond children running in all directions she asked me to hold her jacket while she tried to catch them. She also could have asked me for a swing tip… she didn’t, but she could have.

Getting a few degrees closer, I also know Butch Harmon, Tigers’ former swing coach, and also the son of Claude Harmon the winner of the 1948 Masters, who was also best friends with Jackie Burke, Jr. the winner of the 1956 Masters. I’ve been to Butch’s golf school. I’ve had dinner with him twice, and I sat around in a bar listening to Butch and his brothers tell funny stories about the likes of Masters’ winner Ben Hogan and just about every golfer you ever heard of. It was about the most fun I ever had talking to anyone about golf. Once again, Butch, or any one of his brothers, could have asked me for a swing tip… they didn’t, but they could have.

In a way, you are also six degrees closer to the Masters than you think. Not because you read my ranting (that alone might get you disqualified), but because T2G’s Virtual Golf Pro, Stuart Smith coached Masters Champions Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo, and Sam “Bogey” Johnson. Like Jose and Nick, I also share my winnings with Stuart. And, just for the record, none of those guys asked me for a golf tip either… they could have, but didn’t.

That’s about as close to the Masters as I’ve been. Tiger could have invited me, but he didn’t. Elin also could have invited me, but she didn’t. Butch and any one of his brothers also could have invited me, but neither did. Understandably I’m a little miffed.

Perhaps your six degrees closer is closer than my six degrees. For your sake I hope you are unwrapping the traditional “Masters” green cellophane wrapped egg salad sandwich as your read this. For all I know you are sipping on a one dollar Lemon Lime in a souvenir Masters’ cup (that’s right, they still only cost one dollar). If you’re looking for an adult beverage, be sure not to order a Bud. They only sell Domestic for $2.75, or Imported for $3.50 (which is actually a Bud and Heineken). In case you didn’t know, brand names are gaucher.

Come to think of it, you could have invited me to the Masters. We could be sharing an egg salad sandwich and a cool beverage right now. All I can say is; don’t be looking for any free swing tips from me any time soon.

 

I’m not sure if this is a good time to ask the question, especially since he just won for the first time in almost three years, but here goes: Will Tiger Woods ever be the same? More precisely, is the greatest golfer most people younger than 40 years old have ever seen on the back nine of his career?

I understand that Tiger just won Bay Hill by five shots and that the whole world expects him to now win the Masters, and certainly there’s a chance he might do just that, making me look totally stupid. But I’m not worried because this is not the stupidest thing I have ever said. Heck, it may not even be the stupidest thing I’ll say today, but that’s another story, or perhaps a book.

Back in 2009, I wrote, “Tiger’s game will suffer because he is no longer infallible. In clubhouses all over the world golfers are whispering, Tiger is human. And guess what? We don’t like our gods, even our golf gods, to be human.”

Then in February 2010  I wrote, “When all is said and done, Tiger will not miss the millions in endorsements he has lost, but what he will miss is his aura of invincibility. He is no longer the 500-pound gorilla. He will win again, but he will never achieve the greatness he believed his stars foretold.”

In 2011, I ranted the following words of wisdom, “Believing you’re the best is important and any time that belief is shaken all kinds of other crappola starts running through your head. The other side of believing is whether or not others believe they can beat you, and for the longest time a lot of golfers were happy to play for second when Tiger was in the field. That’s no longer the case.”

So, has Tiger slain all of his demons as so many people are writing? Is Bay Hill his return to greatness? Or, as it appeared to me, did the guy in second place shoot 74 on Sunday never threatening Tiger, or anyone else for that matter (Holy crappola, Graeme McDowell had to sink a fifty foot putt for an eagle to keep from shooting 76).

I understand that a win is a win, but let’s tap on the brakes a bit. If Graeme McDowell, or anyone else for that matter, had been firing darts at the pins on Sunday making Tiger respond in kind, I’d be willing to cut Tiger some slack, but that’s not what happened. Graeme missed everything and Tiger shot a pedestrian 70, so excuse me if I don’t give Tiger the Masters just yet.

After everything I have written here, you may not believe me when I say that I really want Tiger to succeed. Really. I want him to end up being the greatest golfer that ever lived, not because I have a man crush on the guy, but because golf needs a great player to lead it through the financial doldrums it’s experiencing, and right now Tiger is our best shot.

I also have selfish reasons. I want to sit on the porch at the senior center with my tapioca and tell one and all, “Yep, I saw the greatest golfer that ever played.”  Interestingly, my Great, Great Grandfather, Old “Bogie” Johnson, had this same conversation about Old Tom Morris, as did my Great Grandfather about Bobbie Jones, and my Grandfather about Jack Nicklaus. So, I will advise my Grandson, Little “Bogey” Johnson, to be patient. The next great golfer may be on some obscure high school team right now, or perhaps he’s fifty years away from being born. He may even be the guy in the red shirt named Tiger Woods, but let’s not crown him just yet.

The Forest Gump lesson incorporated here is that greatness is not an everyday occurrence; otherwise it would be called ordinary, and let’s face it ordinary don’t sell tickets in any sport. It won’t get you an extra serving of tapioca at the senior center either.

 

It’s Transition Championship week, meaning that it’s one week ‘til Bay Hill and three weeks before the Masters. However, for many of us non-Tour players, it’s also time to shake off the winter doldrums and transition into our own game.

Like many of you, I haven’t played a round since late October, but unlike many of you I don’t have the weather as an excuse. As a matter of fact it’s been pretty nice in Dallas. However, my game was in such a state of disarray, I thought it best for me, and the game itself, to take my clubs out of the car and be one with the universe until I could get my head around my game.

Now all that sounds good if in fact I had taken my own advice, but the best laid plans, so forth and so on. The truth is I installed a zip-line from my easy chair to the frig and sat there for hours on end changing pant sizes. Frankly, the only thing Zen about me was that I was starting to look like Buddha, which brings us to my New Year’s resolution. Remember this rant:

I awoke to see a two-inch hair growing out of the center of my forehead and had no choice but to consider that something may have changed in my life. Later that same day I reached into the trunk of my car for a package that weighed no more than a pound and hurt my back and ended up spending the Holidays nursing said back.

This is not a condition that came about suddenly. For a couple of years now I have parked my keister at the head of the buffet-line and as far away from the gym and practice range as possible. As a result my already weak game has become... in a word, dreadful.

Now, at this point a weaker person would have opened a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, picked up the TV remote and looked for the next episode of Hoarders, but I’m better than that, or at least I hope I am. Before I reach the point where I’m forced to choose over or under with the position of my belt, I need to act and January 1 seems like the perfect place to start this act. So, resolution one is to get my game back, which is not resolving all that much; however, it will require that I drop about twenty pounds, get in shape, and practice at least once a week.

Okay, here we are two and one-half months later. I am about 16 pounds lighter rather than 20, but the finish line is in sight and I think I’m going to make 20. I’ve started going to the gym at least four days a week, and even though my legs look like I stole them from a jaybird, I’m feeling better, if not looking better.

I’m also working on my game. Actually, with a tip or two from my buddy Stuart Smith, T2G’s Virtual Golf Pro, I’m trying to rebuild my golf swing. On the range at the PGA Show Stuart changed my grip, my take away and my footwork, leaving nothing of my old swing except my skinny legs.

To be honest, with my teacher in England, it’s been difficult, but I’ve been going to the range a couple of time a week and I’ve gone from horrible to bad, and I’m hoping to get to fair in the next couple of weeks, but I’ve run out of time.

Today, I’m playing golf with my friends at UST Mamiya, which includes a couple of PGA Pros, and a half dozen single digit handicappers. Okay, to be honest, there are also a few high handicappers in this group, but regardless of their skill level, they all point and laugh, and they like nothing better than to point and laugh at someone who writes better than he plays (which tells you just how badly I play).

Under this kind of pressure, the old Sam would have grabbed another pint of Ben & Jerry’s and quit. However, this is the new Sam, the 185 pound Sam, I am determined to fight through it. Granted, my short game may very well be in disarray, but I have a new pair of golf shoes. The same may be said about my driving, but I still look good in my Oakley’s. Okay, I can’t putt either, but you should see how good I look in my new golf shirt at 185 pounds.

I’m not saying it’s better to look good than to play good, but it’s a start, and that’s all I have to hold on to right now.

 

As I write this exactly no one has teed off at the WGC be played at Doral’s TPC Blue Monster. The new number one player in the world, Rory McIlroy is heading up the field. As a matter of fact, the top 24 players in the world are munching on the free food in the clubhouse as I write this, but I digress.

The elephant in the room this week is number 16 in the world, Tiger Woods. The question everyone wants answered is whether or not his final round of 62 last week, was a predictor of things to come, or is it simply one great round scattered in a sea of good, but not great rounds that he has authored over the last two years. That’s what shooting a 62 will do for you when your name is Tiger.

Golf wags north and south love to talk about Tiger having his swagger back. “He’s got that look in his eyes” they say. “He’s stalking once again,” they announced; but frankly I’m skeptical. I’m not from Missouri, but I think I’ll wait for Tiger to actually show me that he’s back.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for Tiger making a comeback, and in an ideal world it would be crazy dramatic. My fantasy is a fight to the finish featuring Rory and Tiger in the golf equivalent of a heavyweight title fight. Birdies and bogies would be flying like punches. The two combatants would each be staggered by eagles, but get up off the fairway to sink a 20-foot putt to surge back into contention. And just when you thought it was over there would be another miracle shot… and the crowd would go wild. Head-to-head, toe-to-toe, mano-a-mano, and one-on-one. In Portuguese it is donner quelque chose de mano y mano, but I digress.

Okay, maybe hoping for the match of the century is too much to be wishing for, but frankly that’s what golf needs, and it needs more than one of them. Not to make light of the country’s financial problems, and the terrible cost many people in this country have had to endure over the past three and a half years, but if you combine the country’s financial troubles with Tiger’s fall from grace, you get triple bogie for the game itself.

So, my completely unbiased political advice is to vote early, but once you have voted your conscience, go ahead and tee it up once or twice a week with your friends. Talk politics if you must, but focus on winning. If golf is going to win, golf needs all of us to win as well. And, if Tiger and Rory want to square off at the WCG, or better yet the Masters, golf will be better for it, and it will be more fun than all the debates combined.

Welcome to Florida and The Honda Classic at PGA National. It is also the home of Tiger Woods, Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, the Bear Trap, and mosquitoes the size of Buicks.

By now the season has usually taken on a certain flavor. Last year it was the new kids. Except for Kyle Stanley, there are few surprises thus far in 2012, unless you consider that you know who is still missing-in-action.

Who better to launch the 2012 season than steady Steve Stricker. Looking like Jimmy Buffett, Steve seemed to be a message from the golf gods that things are back to normal. As a guilty pleasure, I’ll admit that I like that Phil Mickelson won Pebble Beach, and although I hated the way Brandt Snedeker won at Torrey Pines, I dearly loved Kyle Stanley’s bounce-back in Arizona.

There was also something calming about Bill Haas’ win at Riviera. He is so quiet and so unassuming that sometimes you forget that he can really play. It was also important for Bill to prove that he’s not a ten million bucks fluke. It’s safe to say that Bill is never going to be a stand-up-comic, but it’s also safe to predict that he will never be on Dancing With The Stars, but that’s okay. It is also unlikely that you see him dressing from head-to-foot in orange, but that’s okay, as well. Bill is the new Steve Stricker, or more accurately the new Jay Haas.

Last week’s winner, Hunter Mahan, is by no means a new kid on the block. He’s already won five times on Tour. The fact that he was born near Disneyland may not be as important to know as that he grew up in Texas and lives not far from me, however he has yet to invite me over.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Hunter is also one of four golfers in the PGA Tour exclusive boy band "Golf Boys" (Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane and Bubba Watson and the others). The Golf Boys currently have a popular YouTube video for the song "Oh Oh Oh." Farmers Insurance will donate $1,000 for every 100,000 views of the video. The charitable proceeds will support both Farmers and Ben Crane charitable initiatives.

Another interesting fact about Hunter is that he also is married to Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and Dallas Mavericks dancer Kandi Harris… which may or may not be the reason that he has never invited me over.

To say that Hunter has come a long way since his flubbed chip shot at the 2010 Ryder Cup is an understatement. He is determined that the missed shot and his tearful break down at the team’s news conference would not be the defining moment of his golf career. "I didn't want to have my identity stuck with my golf score. They needed to be separated, and I needed to play golf because I enjoyed it and accept the result and move on and not get attached to it," he said.

Hunter has played five straight weeks, so he decided to skip the Honda Classic before his return at the WGC at Doral.

I started by writing about how seasons are defined. Certainly Hunter Mahan’s win last week is part of what will define 2012, but so is Steve Stricker’s win, Phil Mickelson’s return, Brandt Snedeker’s unlikely finish, Kyle Stanley’s come back, Bill Haas’ humility, and all of the stars that are still missing-in-action.

It’s been fun so far and we still have a long ways to go.

The Northern Trust Open at Riviera is known as Hogan’s Alley because the great Ben Hogan used to rule the roost at the posh LA shooting gallery; but Riviera is only one of Hogan’s Alley’s.

The most obvious challenger is Hogan’s Alley at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas where Ben Hogan won 5 times, and has a statue. He also had his own table in the dining room, and his own parking spot. Colonial was where Hogan watched the sun go down and did his dead level best to never speak to a stranger.

For the purest among you, the sixth hole at Carnoustie, a par five which Hogan took a famously difficult line off the tee during each of his rounds in the 1953 British Open Championship, has also recently been renamed Hogan’s Alley… But there’s more.

Hogan’s Alley was an 1890’s comic strip of the same name, which is where the sports writers likely borrowed it. The Yellow Kid was the name of the lead character that ran from 1895 to 1898 in the New York Journal. Hogan's Alley was one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in American newspapers. The Yellow Kid is also famous for its connection to the coining of the term, Yellow Journalism, a term previously though to have something to do with my uncontrolled rants.

You should also know that Hogan’s Alley is also a Nintendo video game that has nothing to do with golf. Then there is Hogan’s Alley the magazine, a publication devoted to comics not golf. There is also Hogan’s Alley the song. That’s right the song. It’s a traditional folksong that was performed by Cecil Gant and Odetta, and I can only presume that neither Ben Hogan nor golf is included in the lyrics. 

And, if you presumed that the name Hogan’s Alley had something to do with making great shots you would be correct if you were talking about Hogan's Alley the tactical training facility operated by the FBI. This particular Hogan's Alley was designed to provide a realistic urban setting for training agents. Contained in the FBI’s Hogan’s Alley community is Hogan’s Alley Bank and Hogan’s Alley Post Office. Under the heading of who knew, the term "Hogan's Alley" is apparently used generically to refer to any shooting range devoted to tactical training. I have no way of knowing, but I suspect that this kind of Hogan’s Alley is actually named for Ben Hogan and his legendary shot making ability.

But the real point of this exercise is unless you’re toting a Glock, or are 125 years old, you know where Hogan’s Alley really is, at least where it was first used to describe Ben Hogan’s stunning skill with a golf club. In 1948 alone, Ben Hogan won 10 tournaments, including the U.S. Open at Riviera.

In 1949 Ben was almost killed in an auto accident, then shocked and amazed the golf world by returning to tournament golf only 11 months after his accident, winning second place in the 1950 Los Angeles Open. "His legs simply were not strong enough to carry his heart any longer," Grantland Rice said of Hogan's near-miss.

In 1951 Glenn Ford stared as Hogan in “Follow The Sun: The Ben Hogan Story,” and in 1953 after winning the British Open (the only one he ever played in) he even received a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

So, the stakes are high this week at Riviera, because in the end, winning is not about money, it’s about ticker-tape parades, and having a movie made about your life, and the immortality that comes to a few.

 

Brandt Snedeker, last week’s winner at Torrey Pines, knows what runner-up Kyle Stanley is going through. On a stage even bigger than Torrey Pines, after rounds of 69-68-70, and on the cusp of winning the Masters, Brandt shot a whopping 77 on the final day and watched Trevor Immelman take home the green jacket and the place in golf history that Masters’ winners occupy.

Only a few hours before Brandt had garnered the biggest cheer of the day when he rolled in an eagle on the par-5 second hole. But momentum is a fickle lady, and as the day drew late, there were too many loose shots and too many short putts missed and 39 strokes to count on the front-side. A birdie on the par-3 12th hole got him to within three of the lead, but it was as close as Brandt would get the rest of the day. He was devastated and his tears made YouTube.

"I need a minute," he said after being driven in a golf cart to the media center. His eyes were red, and he got out of the cart and walked a few paces away to try to pull himself together. "Just a rough day out there," he said. "It's hard to put that much effort into something and get so little out of it. But it's just part of life, part of growing up. Obviously, I need a lot more of that. It's just tough right now."

Kyle Stanley understands exactly what Brandt was talking about. With his ball less than a hundred yards from the final hole with a three shot lead, the engraver was already scratching his name on the trophy. Brandt Snedeker was in the media room talking about how he almost caught Kyle and maybe next week stuff... then Kyle sucked his third shot back into the water and Brandt Snedeker put the runner-up interview on hold and headed to the range.

Still, all Kyle needed to do was hit a wedge to the middle of the green and two putt for the win. Maybe he would make a joke about making it closer than he really wanted. It would make a good story... but stories have all kinds of endings don’t they, and instead of hitting a wedge to the middle of the green he hit it long and faced a tricky downhill chip to get it close for the one putt he needed to win, but it was not to be. Instead his chip was short and he missed the putt and his three shot lead was zero. But he was still tied you say... perhaps, but the mortal wound had already been struck, and two holes later in a sudden-death playoff it was mercifully over. Kyle Stanley would have to wait for another day to win his first PGA tournament.
Sure, there is a bit of irony being that it was Brandt Snedeker crashing Kyle Stanley’s coming out party; but when all is said and done, the only thing he’ll remember is not that Brandt Snedeker beat him, but that he blew a three stroke lead with one hole to play. Granted, no matter how you say it, everything ends up in the same place, but that’s not important. What is important is to understand that we are only in charge of our game.

Someone once said, experience is not the only teacher, but experience is the only thing that teaches us that. That’s what makes learning how to win so hard. But you can take this to the bank; Kyle Stanley is not a fluke. His swing and putting stroke are things of beauty. No matter what happened last Sunday, Kyle Stanley is a good player, and good players eventually win just like Brandt Snedeker did.

 

It’s official. Bob Hope is turning over in his grave. The wonderful tournament that was attached to his name for so many years is now the Humana Challenge in Partnership with the Clinton Foundation (flows trippingly off the tongue, doesn’t it?). I understand that things change, and I also understand that without Bob Hope’s heart and soul the relic of the sixties had little or no chance to survive. The Crosby had the same fate, and to a lesser degree, my tournament, the Byron Nelson Classic, has suffered as well.

In many ways the Hope, Crosby and Nelson are the victims of short-sighted marketing strategies, but in other ways they are victims of the digital age and our impatience with life at the speed of random access memory. In 1975, Gordon Moore, the cofounder of Intel, definitively stated that computing power would double every two years. Still, Gordon never dreamed that humankind would find even that inconvenient.

We are becoming the old joke standing in front of the microwave shouting hurry, hurry!!!

In an age where revolutions are created on Google and Facebook, what chance does a game that requires patience and discipline have? Golf, especially tournament golf, is a game of patience; however when both the fans and the players become impatient, something’s gotta give.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in favor of the six hour round of golf, and I’m not against technology, or the digital age, or the magic of the PhotoShop program that I use to make me look a lot younger than I am. What I am against is forgetting to stop and smell the roses. Golf, more than any other sport is in a partnership with nature. Golf is the lake, river, forest and meadow that your mind needs to refresh itself. Golf is the slow that balances the fast; the serene that calms the craziness; and the Abbott to your Costello.

Granted, I have not always been the picture of calmness, and it is true that I cuss and I pout from time-to-time during a round. However here is the deepest secret nobody knows. Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life (my apologies to e.e. cummings). Golf makes me laugh and those of you who have seen me play know why. Laughter and the time I spend with my friends playing golf will always be special.

Tournament golf is also special, and the digital age has contributed greatly to its success and our own appreciation. Technology allows all of us to witness the greatness of the modern athlete broadcast live from almost anywhere in the world from the comfort of our living room. Perhaps only 30,000 people saw Ben Hogan’s iconic 1-iron live on the 72nd hole of the 1950 U.S. Open, whereas millions saw Tiger Woods’ dramatic 213-yard shot over water from a fairway bunker on the final hole of the 2000 Canadian Open.

I understand the benefits, but let’s also remember that even if we didn’t see it, Ben Hogan did hit that 1-iron, and it was great.

The bottom line is that it’s okay to use your new range finder and your new high-tech driver. It’s also okay to play fantasy golf and use the Internet to confirm your tee-times, reserve a golf cart and your table for lunch. Just do yourself a favor; the next time you’re standing on the first tee look around and tell yourself how lucky you are to be with friends playing the great game of golf... Then clear your mind and kick the dog out of them.

 

Okay, one down and one more to go... in Hawaii, the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club. From last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Maui it’s about 66 miles to the big island. A bit too far to swim, but only an afternoon boat ride, or a ten minute flight across the azure sea.

When you think about it, it’s amazing that the game of golf ever made it to Hawaii. Sure it’s got great weather, but as my Daddy would say, “It’s way the hell out there in the middle of nowhere.” As a matter of fact it is 2,390 miles from California, 3,850 miles from Japan, 4,900 from China and a whopping 5,280 from the Philippines. That 66 mile swim from Maui is looking a lot closer, isn’t it?

Waialae, which is Hawaiian for to many “A’s”, is a reminder that there are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. Five vowels: A, E, I, O, U, and seven consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, W. This is exactly why the Hawaiians have names like Kalaaupapa (with five “A’s”) and Kaanapali Beach, which also has five “A’s” if you count the word beach.

Technically speaking, you can’t even spell “Golf” using the Hawaiian alphabet, nor can you spell “Birdie”, or “Eagle”. This is also why there are no Hawaiians named Bubba or Tiger. Come to think of it, there are no Jack’s, Arnold’s, or Gary’s either, and don’t even ask about Calcavecchia, or Retief.

Since Hawaii is about 30% Japanese-American it makes sense that the field includes guys like Shigeki Maruyama, Tadahiro Takayama, Hideki Matsuyama, and Ryuji Imada. Also in the field is the diminutive Tadd Fujikawa.

Born in 1991 (I have sock older than that), the 5 foot one inch golfer qualified for the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, the youngest golfer ever to do so. He shot 81-77(158) and missed the cut by nine strokes. Not bad for a kid who wasn’t old enough to drive a golf cart. One year later, he made the cut at the Sony Open... That’s right, the same one he’s playing in this week. This wasn’t some kind of sideshow trick the Tournament was playing either. Young Tadd gained entry to the Tournament by shooting 67 in the Open Qualifier, and thus became the youngest player in nearly 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut. A birdie on the 16th hole put him within the cut line, and his 15-foot eagle on the 18th hole was his most memorable shot of the day. With that shot, Tadd made the cut by three shots.

Fujikawa followed up his history-making cut by shooting a second straight 66 in the third round, a score which, on that day, was bettered only by tournament leader Charles Howell III. Tadd made a 50-foot birdie on the 11th hole, and finished the third round tied for eighth place. In Sunday's final round, which only included 2 birdies, Fujikawa shot 2-over-72. He finished the tournament tied for 20th place at 5-under-275.

The magic of 2006 and 2007 has abated somewhat for young Tadd, but it’s important to remember that he’s only 22 years old and still too short to get on most of the rides at Disneyland. I don’t know if Tadd Fujikawa will ever win a PGA Tour event, but I do know that he already finished higher in a PGA even than I ever will.

Can he win the Sony Open? Why not? He knows the course better than most of the field and since he lives in Hawaii he’ll be sleeping in his own bed. However, the biggest advantage he has is that he knows how to read all of the street signs. For example, how do you even ask for directions when you’re at the corner of Kalaaupapa Ave. and Kaanapali Blvd?

Good luck Tadd.