Friday, April 30, 2010

“Tiger gets lot of cheers, just not for his golf” plus 1 more

“Tiger gets lot of cheers, just not for his golf” plus 1 more

Tiger gets lot of cheers, just not for his golf

Posted: 29 Apr 2010 03:51 PM PDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The cheering was loud and enthusiastic when Tiger Woods stepped to the tee on a chilly morning, another sign that perhaps people are becoming more interested in his golf than what kept him away for so long.

About the only thing that bothered Woods on Thursday was not hearing much applause the rest of the round.

He went seven tee shots without hitting a fairway. He hit into the water on consecutive holes, the first one leading to double bogey. And right when it looked as if he might limit the damage, Woods flew the green at No. 9 on his final hole for one last bogey.

Woods wound up with a 2-over 74, ending his streak of 21 consecutive rounds at par or better dating to last September. It was his worst opening round at a regular PGA Tour event since he shot 75 at The Players Championship three years ago.

It left him nine shots behind Bo Van Pelt and outside the cut line going into the second round.

What did he plan to fix?

"Not a damn thing," Woods said. "I'm just going to go hang it up today and come out tomorrow."

Suddenly, the goal is to stick around longer than two days at Quail Hollow, where he won two years ago and has never finished worse than 11th in his four previous starts.

The rust everyone expected at the Masters, where Woods tied for fourth in his first competition in five months, showed up at Quail Hollow. After a risky flop shot that Woods pulled off to near perfection at the par-5 10th for a birdie to start his round, it was a mad scramble to save par for so much of his day.

He pulled some tee shots to the left, one of them banging off a rake next to the bunker, another one bounding into the stream that winds along the 18th fairway. He hit to the right on the par-5 15th, under a large holly bush, forcing him to battle for par.

And when he did find his swing late in the round, he left himself 10-foot birdie putts on the wrong side of the hole, making it tough to pick up birdies that he desperately needed.

"I had a lot of issues out there trying to figure out where my balls were going to go," Woods said. "I hit a bunch of balls left, I hit a bunch of balls right, hit a few down the middle. And that was about it."

If he wants to make more eye contact with the fans, this was the day. Woods was among them for so much of his round. And if he wanted to keep toning down his emotions, this was ideal practice, too. Woods kept his language clean, the only four-letter word coming at the 16th hole when he screamed, "Fore!"

Beyond the golf, Quail Hollow figured to be another hurdle in his return to golf after tawdry affairs that make him an easy target for tabloids and talk-show hosts.

The Queen City was on her best behavior.

This is the first tournament for Woods with open ticket sales, and while the gallery is always strong enough to make this tournament feel close to a major, it sold out quickly after Woods announced he would play.

There were no hecklers. A couple of single-engine planes flew overhead, none carrying banners. Uniform police officers were scattered among the gallery, yet there were no incidents.

Woods didn't notice one way or the other. He kept his head down, even after a few of his good shots. He was asked after the round if it was therapeutic to at least be out among so much positive energy.

"I'll tell you what, I would like to say 'Yes,'" Woods said. "I was struggling so bad today, I didn't know which way I was going to go, whether I was going left or right. I didn't really hear much, to be honest with you. I was struggling so bad out there. I was just trying to piece together a round to keep myself in the tournament. As of right now, I'm only six back of second, and one good round tomorrow can get me right back in it."

The last time Woods failed to shoot par or better was a 1-over 72 in the third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship in September, the only FedEx Cup playoff event where he failed to contend.

He had his chances on his back nine when he started hitting fairways, with a slight draw on No. 3, a slight fade on No. 4. He appeared to have full command on his shots, picking up three birdies until a finish that left him with a sour taste.

"I chose the wrong club on the last hole," he said. "The wind came up, and I thought I could take something off a 4 (iron) and hit it over the green. It should have been 5, put it in the center of the green, two-putt and move on. But I didn't do it."

He was surrounded by three dozen media outside the scoring area, then ducked into the locker room. His caddie waited in the parking lot, loaded up the car and off Woods went.

Woods now has played five rounds of competition in nearly six months. The expectations haven't changed.

"I try and be easy on myself," he said. "But I know what I can do and I'm not doing it. And that's certainly frustrating."

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

John Jacobs helps DePaul grab Passaic County golf title

Posted: 30 Apr 2010 02:30 AM PDT

WAYNE — DePaul hadn't won the Passaic County golf title in more than 10 years and John Jacobs carried the program the final 5 feet to victory.

Jacobs sank a 5-foot putt for par on the first playoff hole Thursday to lift DePaul past Wayne Hills at the Passaic County Golf Course Red Course.

"I knew I had to make that putt to win," the junior said. "I was pretty nervous at first, but once I realized it was for the tournament, I got pretty excited."

"They had a great heart, and they played like they wanted to win," said DePaul assistant coach Nancy McGrady. "And Johnny came in and really stepped up for us in that extra hole."

In the preseason, McGrady stepped in to replace coach Paula Lasalandra, who has been sidelined with a broken elbow, but was there with her left arm in a sling Thursday to see the win.

Wayne Hills' fabulous freshman, Anthony Alex, won the individual title by five strokes with a 1-under-par 68. His older sister, Marina, was the first girl to win the coed Passaic title in 2007, and she repeated in 2008 and led the Patriots to the team title.

"I played pretty well," said Alex, a nationally-ranked 15-year-old. "Everything was fairly decent. I was happy with my putting and chipping. I made a good amount of putts. My ball striking was solid. I just had a tough time hitting shots close to the pin because of the wind. I couldn't gauge the wind right."

DePaul and Wayne Hills headed for the playoff after each carded a shoot-five, count-four score of 318 under windy conditions to finish seven shots ahead of defending champion Wayne Valley.

DePaul made the playoff after junior Collin Donovan shot 74 to finish second, one stroke ahead of Hawthorne senior Craig Doller. Donovan's 74 was a stunner and he started by playing the back nine of the shotgun event at even-par 35.

Spartans senior Kyle Watzich, last year's individual champion, shot 79 to tie for fifth. Senior Jay Guggiari shot 80 and Jacobs 85.

Wayne Hills made the playoff courtesy of Alex's 68, senior Kevin Heyman's 80, junior Alex Choi's 84 and senior Peter Samylenko's 86.

DePaul won the 4-on-4 playoff on the par-4 first hole, 19-21. While Jacobs had the par, Donovan, Watzich and Guggiari had bogeys.

For Wayne Hills, Alex got up-and-down for par and Heyman bogeyed. Playing in the second foursome, Samylenko and Alex Choi suffered double-bogeys.

Jacobs' win-clinching putt caught the right edge and fell in. He hit his approach shot to the back fringe to set up his two-putt.

"It feels great to bring [the title] back to DePaul," Jacobs said. "It's really an honor to have it back at our school."

"That was our goal from the beginning of the year," Watzich said. "It was everything we wanted."

E-mail: mattura@northjersey.com

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)