PopeyeIt is so much fun watching Peter Lonard play golf. If you ever get a chance to see him in person, leave the big names behind and head over to Lonard’s group. Peter looks much more like a college wrestler or weight lifter than a golfer. Forearms the size the watermelons, Lonard always seem in full attack mode.
This weekend, that attack mode almost cost him a trip to Augusta. On the 16th hole, without his knowledge, Lonard moved to number 50 in the world and a tie for the lead of the Zurich Classic. After the round, Lonard said that he thought his only chance of making it to The Masters was a win at New Orleans or at this week’s Shell Houston Open. Lonard proceeded to bogey 17, leaving him a shot out of the lead. On the Par 5 18th, he had a 50 footer to tie for the lead and forced a playoff with eventual winner Andres Romero. Again, not knowing that a Par would get him into The Masters, Popeye attacked the putt and ran it a good 6 feet by the hole. He made it… finished 2nd alone and heads to Augusta.
WinnersThanks to a move by The Masters committee, for the first time since 1999, winners of PGA Tour events (other than the Fall Series and opposite field events) are getting invites into the 2008 field. That means Daniel Chopra, DJ Trahan, JB Holmes, Steve Lowery, and Sean O’Hair will be a part of the Augusta field.
With the World Rankings closing at the conclusion of the Zurich, 93 spots are filled. That leaves one spot for the winner of this week’s Shell Houston Open.
4 Players to watch at HoustonEach of the players has consecutive top 10 finishes. All are searching for Masters Invites by winning the Shell. Rookie Tim Wilkinson recorded his career best finish with his third place effort this week at TPC Louisiana. With last week's tie for sixth at the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular, he has now posted back-to-back top-10s for the first time in his career.
Marco Dawson has also posted top-10s in back-to-back weeks. He closed with a 1-under 71 to tie for 10th this week in New Orleans and last week he tied for sixth in Puerto Rico. It is just the second time since he joined the TOUR in 1991 as a rookie that Dawson has recorded top-10s in back-to-back weeks; he had back-to-back top-10s at the 2003 Buick Invitational (tie for seventh) followed by the Nissan Open (tie for 10th).
Tommy Armour III is another player with back-to-back top-10 finishes this week. He tied for seventh Sunday in New Orleans after closing with a 6-under 66 and last week he tied for sixth in Puerto Rico Open.
James Driscoll, who is making his 72nd career professional TOUR start, tied for 12th Sunday thanks to a closing 6-under 66. It is his best finish on TOUR since losing in a playoff to Tim Petrovic in the 2005 Zurich Classic. In fact, his playoff loss in New Orleans is his only career top-10 on TOUR. He did post a tie for 14th earlier this season at the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am, his only other top-15 finish on TOUR in his career.
I choose Tommy Armour. Why? How cool would it be to see the 48 year old have one last shot? One other factor… if Tommy wins, I get to go with him.
Instead of inserting foot; it’s attach hand to neckFirst, was Dottie Pepper letting the American Solheim Cup know that they were unbelievable chokers? Now, it’s Woody Austin. And the best part, he called it on himself. Needing a birdie on the Par 5 18th hole in New Orleans, Austin topped his second shot, and then hit his 3rd way right into the water.
“Oh, I puked my guts out, no doubt about it…I know I was choking…I’m not going to lie…I choked,” said Woody.
Hitting it far ain’t that importantEveryone talks about the “big” hitters, but Thursday, Angela Stanford, one of the shorter hitters on the LPGA Tour, broke the course record at Superstition Mountain in Arizona. In the first round of the Safeway, Stanford shot a 62. After the round, Angela said, “I had no idea what my score was. I guess that is the definition of being in the zone.”
Try keeping track of thisEver keep track of your putts per round? Try it some time. See how many you have in 4 rounds of golf. Forget that it’s probably not a PGA Tour event when you are putting, but see how close to 100 you can come.
Daniel Chopra and Parker McLachlin both managed to play the Zurich in under that magic number. Image, it’s only the four and fifth times it has happened this season. Previously, Carl Pettersson, Shand Bertsch and Aaron Baddeley have stayed under the 100 putt mark.
10 days and counting…
