Tournament Roundup: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

I know this is late, but I'm the captain of this ship and if you don't like it, you can take a swim.

Honestly, I didn't watch much of this tournament. Just like last year. I mean, I usually watch the first round or two, but that's about it. Pebble Beach is an absolutely beautiful course that produces some really entertaining golf, which doesn't really matter, considering CBS and the Golf Channel are just going to fill your screen with Chris Berman's fat face doing an on-course interview about how he just shanked his ball into the grandstand.

I don't care.

Look, I don't mind the interviews being a part of the broadcast, that's fine, but when Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo are interviewing everyone who walks off the 17th tee, its too much. I honestly couldn't care less what some 3-handicap country singer's golf swing looks like, and unless he has a hot take on Tiger Woods's back problem, he's pretty much useless as far as golf coverage goes. Show me the titans of the game fighting it out on a former U.S. Open Course. I watch golf to see golfers do things that I couldn't dream of doing on courses I know I'll never play.

It just feels like one of the best courses on the PGA Tour hosts one of the worst tournaments in terms of television viewing. When you have a course with holes like this...

...and this...

...and this...

...stop making me look at this.

Other Highlights

Since this blog is already late and I don't feel like going through all of the highlights from the two rounds I didn't see, here they are, presented mostly without comment.

It's good to see Sneds win again. He'd fallen out of the top 50 in the world and needed to get something going quickly, or else risk missing out on the Masters, a tournament he loves. If Sneds can carry some momentum into April, he could be a dark horse challenger for his first green jacket. 

Another thing I noticed was how little a factor the weather was this week. Usually, its about 40 degrees with a coastal fog. Not the case this week, with 70 degree temperature and sunny skies. This allowed players to be aggressive and challenge tight pin positions without worrying about the wind carrying your ball OB.

Looking ahead to next week, I like Bubba Watson defending. With a win, two runner-up finishes, and only one finish outside the top 10, he's already had a convincing season in only 5 starts.  Outside of him, don't sleep on Dustin Johnson. He finished T4 at Pebble and could look to build on that this week. 

Keep your head down.

Tournament Roundup: Farmers Insurance Open

You know what real star power is? Real star power is being the pariah of your sport for three years before coming back to win player of the year. Real star power is being the biggest story to come out of a tournament you didn't even play in. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Tiger's back.

If, by "back," you actually mean not back, and probably not coming back until the Masters. Tiger made it through eleven holes in his first round at Torrey Pines on Thursday before his back seized up and forced him to withdraw. As you might imagine, this withdrawal has people asking whether or not Tiger is done. Does he have it in him to get healthy in time for Augusta, or will he miss his second consecutive Masters for the first time ever in his professional career?

Can he get healthy in time? Probably, but I don't know if that's the problem. Tiger's golf swing, over time, has been critiqued and tweaked more times than a Presidential address. As he's moved from swing coach to swing coach, Tiger's never ending quest to squeeze more power out of his swing has lead to a swing that is literally tearing apart his already injured back.

If you watch his swing closely, you'll see at the top of the swing, as he's beginning his downswing, his head moves down and back, moving further behind the ball in an attempt to gain leverage to speed up the swing. As an athletic move, it makes sense. The more compressed your body is, the more rotational speed you can generate, which leads to higher club head speed and longer drives. As a concept, it makes perfect sense. Just not for a 38-year-old that's coming off of back surgery. 

Throughout his career, Tiger has continually shaped and revolutionized the game. When he first burst onto the scene in 1996, Tiger's overwhelming power and length off the tee hadn't been seen in professional golf before. Courses were "Tiger-proofed" in attempts to level the playing field for players without the same distance as Tiger. Now, in the third act of his career, it may be time to change the game again. 

When Michael Jordan was heading towards his fourth NBA title with the Chicago Bulls, he was still the best player in the NBA. He could still physically dominate anyone on the court, but he was getting older. So what did he do? He changed his game. He perfected the fade-away jump shot and slowed his game down. Jordan could still drive on anyone he wanted, but he didn't need to. Tiger could stand to learn a few things from his Airness. 

If Tiger can find a way to slow down his game, it could significantly decrease the number of back injuries he experiences as well as preserve his power, thereby lengthening his career. Tiger's 14 majors clearly show he's had enough game to beat anyone on the planet, and I think he still does, but he's going to need to fundamentally change the way he attacks golf courses. 

Definitely less of this.

For a long time, he dominated the game by physically overpowering the course and driving his golf ball further than anyone in the field. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the power to maintain his lead on big hitters like Gary Woodland or Bubba Watson, so he needs find another way to create a competitive edge for himself. Maybe, instead of trying to drive the ball 320 yards off of every tee, look to drive it 280-300 yards down the middle of the fairway. A more conservative play off the tee would also eliminate some of the errant tee shots that we've seen lately because Tiger won't be swinging out of his shoes. Plays like these would leave Tiger with short iron shots into greens that he has more than enough ability to stick close enough to holes to leave himself reasonable putts. Then, when he has an opportunity to stripe one on a short par 5, he'll be able load up and do it because he won't have swung his back out three times in the round already.

Anyway, that's probably enough space dedicated to a player who played about 17% of a golf tournament. Let's move on to things that actually happened over the weekend.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

What a finish to this one, huh? A two-hole, four man playoff to decide the tournament? Great stuff. If I'm honest though, I can't say I was surprised by the outcome. I mean, between World No. 4 Jason Day, and three other players whose rankings ranged from 49th in the world to 88th. It was more a question of how long it would take him to win, not if he would win. 

On the first playoff hole, Day was the only player to hit the fairway with his tee shot and went on to birdie the par 5 18th along with 54 hole co-leader JB Holmes, dispatching playoff competitors Scott Stallings and Harris English, who was also tied for the lead after 54 holes. However, when Holmes overshot the green on the par 3 16th on the second playoff hole, he wasn't able to get up and down for par after Day two-putted from 15 feet for the win. 

Day's best highlight of the tournament didn't come on the final day though. For my money, his best shot was on the par 4 17th in the third round. Day holed out for eagle from 146 yards, putting him on track for a great finish in the final round. You can see the highlight here, because the tyrants that run the PGA Tour YouTube account won't take pity on lowly bloggers like us. 

Beyond that, the standout highlights were Chad Campbell's third round ace on the 3rd hole and the PGA Tour's prodigal son Dustin Johnson's eagle in the opening round from 159 yards. Once again, shoutout to the soulless minions at the PGA Tour for denying me content for my blog. Heartless. 

Also, as an aside, Tiger Woods was only 2 over when he withdrew, and the cut for the tournament was -1. When I made my prediction, I assumed Tiger was healthy and would have a couple days extra to prepare A healthy Tiger would have been on track to finish the tournament 2 or 3 under par, making the cut by a couple strokes. So, technically, I'm 1-0 on predictions. Take that.

As far as the ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am goes, I would expect 2013 winner Jimmy Walker to make another good run at it, but I'd also keep an eye on 2-time winner Dustin Johnson to play big in his second event since returning from his cocaine suspension sabbatical. Johnson finished tied for second in 2014, and after missing the cut at Torrey Pines by one stroke, Johnson will have two extra days of preparation, he'll be fresh to hit the course at Pebble Beach...if he's healthy.

Keep your head down.

Tournament Roundup: WM Phoenix Open

Welcome to the first Tournament Roundup. I'd like to make this a weekly thing, but I'll let you know how I feel about it after I'm done writing.

First off, I know I should have written this blog on Monday, but the Patriots won the Super Bowl this weekend and I'm lazy. For real though, I just rode the bus around the corner. Like one stop. The bus was probably stationary for longer than it was moving. It might not be healthy. But, I know my readers (Hi Dad!) are dying for a rundown on the weekend's action, so here goes.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open happened, which is always a treat. Lot of stories and highlights coming out of this one, and not one of them had anything to do with Tiger Woods, so we're just going to go on with our lives and not stop to reflect on things that may or may not have happened over the weekend. I think what's important here is that we're all safe and in good health and I refuse to let Tiger Woods go because he's the last piece of my childhood left.

Woods, shooting his second round 82 at the WM Phoenix Open

Just kidding, literally all of the stories have to do with Tiger Woods. He was bad. Like really bad. I like to think that I'm something of an authority on the subject of bad golf, and believe me, that was the finest example of bad golf that these eyes have ever seen. Performances like that are what make me proud to be a bogey golfer. I don't want to throw stones in a glass house, but come on Tiger, be better than that.

Tiger's Thursday round wasn't bad. I mean, I'm sure he was disappointed when he went two over after two holes, but finishing +2 with a couple birdies and an eagle isn't really a bad way to start your year. He looked to have righted the ship on Friday when he knocked out three pars in a row, but then the proverbial shit hit the fan on the par 3 fourth. Woods shot a double-bogey 5 on the fourth and, despite two birdies on the front nine, that would set his round into a tailspin with double and triple bogies on the 15th and 16th holes respectively.

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

So what's next for Tiger?

He's committed to play in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines next week, which is good for him. He loves Torrey Pines and he's won this event seven times, most recently during his 2013 Player of the Year campaign. 

Vegas has him at 50-1 to win the event, which is probably fair. I don't think anyone is picking Tiger to win the Farmers, but I don't think its outside the realm of possibility for him to play well enough to make the cut. He's comfortable with the course, which may not have been the case in Scottsdale, considering it was his first time playing the course in 15 years. Additionally, this week marks the return to competition of the soul patch-having cocaine enthusiast and professional golfer, Dustin Johnson. 

"Oh! Well, hello. I didn't see you there. Welcome to the cocaine room."

So, hopefully for Tiger, the media will be mostly focused on DJ and his soul patch. Which will leave Tiger enough time to focus on finding his short game, which was the most glaring weakness in his game, outside his penchant for white belts. Tiger's biggest enemy right now is himself and what's between his ears. We know he can still win, he had five wins on tour only two years ago. The question now is whether or not he can put it all together when it counts. Fourteen majors don't win themselves, and provided his back stays healthy, he's probably better equipped, physically, than he has been in his entire career. 

Tiger looking for his short game.

I would look for Tiger to finish in the middle of the pack and probably make the cut by a stroke or two. I'd pick him to finish three to five strokes under, depending on how the course is playing.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Crazy to think that there were other people playing in this tournament that weren't shooting in the 80's on Friday, but there were. 

Brooks Koepka got his first win on the PGA Tour, which was good to see. The former Florida State Seminole opted to go to Europe to start his professional career, eschewing Q-School and the Web.com Tour in the United States. Over the past few years, he's been consistently improving, winning four events on the European Challenge Tour before graduating to the full European Tour and claiming his first big tour victory in November at the Turkish Airlines Open. 

Arizona State's Jon Rahm, an amateur player from Spain finished at -12, good enough for a tie for fifth. How awesome is it to be that kid right now? You already go to Arizona State, where you bump into an attractive girl every time you turn around. Rahm is a varsity athlete at a golf powerhouse, who was in contention in the final round on national television. Plus, he has a Spanish accent? Has he ever left a party alone? Does he even know what that feels like? Nope. He's Jon Rahm.

Francesco Molinari had a good day on Friday, sinking an ace in the stadium on the 16th hole. It doesn't change the fact that he and his brother, Edoardo, could easily be two henchmen for a mob boss in a buddy cop movie. 

Look me in the eyes and tell me that isn't true. You can't.

By far my favorite moment, though, was Jason Bohn at the 16th. I don't know if I love this because it's on the 16th hole and everything that happens there is great, or if its because I have a complex where I want every sport to be more like pro wrestling. Either way, loved Bohn going Degeneration X in everyone's face. Just laying it out there with no regard for human life. Absolutely savage.

This is exactly what golf needs to drive up interest. More bad guys. Don't get me wrong, I love players like Adam Scott and Martin Kaymer, with their picture-perfect swings, but they're not really that entertaining. The closest thing golf has ever had to a real bad guy was Tiger in his prime, back when he was legitimately intimidating on the golf course. Back then, if you fell down, Tiger was going to step on your back if it meant winning a tournament. But even Tiger is getting soft. What we need is another John Daly.



Keep your head down.