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.