“Looking back at the 2010 golf season” plus 1 more

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Looking back at the 2010 golf season Posted: 26 Dec 2010 11:24 AM PST 1. The fall of Tiger Golf never had a story as sensational as the Tiger Woods affair, which began with a report of infidelity in the National Enquirer and led to a Thanksgiving night traffic accident that unraveled Tiger's secret life of girlfriends and sexting. It was a salacious brew that kept Woods on page one of the tabloids for three straight months and made him a steady punchline for late-night talk-show hosts. Tiger's most amazing feat, besides dodging a half-hearted local police investigation into his accident, may have been disappearing from public view after the crash for more than two months — rumors placed him at a Kenyan safari camp, in a congressman's Long Island basement, in a room at the Bay Hill Lodge (where he hit balls at night on the range!) and hiding aboard his yacht, Privacy. For the world's most famous athlete, it was an impressive vanishing act that officially ended when he gave a 13-and-a-half minute televised apology in February before a select gathering of friends and family at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Woods said he was "deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior," that he'd obviously lost track of his Buddhist roots, that he'd play golf again one day "but I don't know when that day will be," and "it's up to me to start living a life of integrity." Reaction was mixed, from ABC's George Stephanopoulos calling it "one of the most remarkable apologies ever by a public figure" to former New York Yankees player Rick Cerrone derisively concluding, "It was basically an infomercial." Tiger's talk was golf's TV moment of the year, but he provided more highlights when he made his highly anticipated return to golf at the Masters. ESPN's first-round Masters coverage averaged 4.9 million viewers, the biggest cable audience ever for a golf telecast. Woods played with Matt Kuchar and K.J. Choi and shot a stunning 68, the best first-round Masters score of his career. Woods stayed on the fringe of contention all week, thanks to a tournament-record-tying four eagles, until a careless three-putt on the 14th green on Sunday killed his chances. He finished a remarkable fourth. 2. And Lefty makes three Phil Mickelson reminded everyone that nothing is bigger than the Masters, not even Tiger Woods, who dominated all the pre-tournament talk. Mickelson's victory went down as the feel-good moment of the year as he dedicated his third Masters championship to his wife, Amy, who had been battling breast cancer since the previous year. After his win, they shared a tearful hug. Mickelson provided his usual drama, closing with a stellar 67 that included the shot of the year, a risky 6-iron off pine needles between the trees to five feet of the pin at the par-5 13th. He missed the eagle putt, but that was just about the only disappointment of this memorable Masters. Mickelson didn't win again in 2010 and later revealed that he's suffering from a form of arthritis. 3. Dire Straits The most talked-about shot of the year belonged to Dustin Johnson, who grounded his club in a fairway bunker on the 18th hole of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. The fact that the bunker was full of spectators, making it hard to tell it was a bunker at all, didn't matter, and he was assessed an after-the-fact penalty that kept him from joining a playoff with Martin Kaymer, who eventually won, and Bubba Watson. Johnson said he didn't realize he was in a bunker and admitted that he hadn't read a pre-tournament rules sheet indicating that all of the nearly 1,000 Straits bunkers were considered bunkers and not waste areas, where grounding is allowed. Johnson's mistake was the golfing gaffe of the year, overshadowing an otherwise fine performance. 4. Mr. 59, meet Mr. 59 This summer, 2010 turned into the Year of Going Low. Paul Goydos and Stuart Appleby became the fourth and fifth players to post scores of 59 on the PGA Tour, joining Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval. Strangely, they came barely two weeks apart. Goydos, ranked 137th in the world, fired a 59 in the opening round of the John Deere Classic in mid July. "That proves anyone can do it," joked Goydos. That gave him only a one-shot edge over Steve Stricker, who shot 60 and went on to win. Appleby, who had dropped to 159th in the world rankings and hadn't broken 65 in a tour event in six years, finished birdie-birdie for his Sunday 59 and a dramatic one-stroke victory in the inaugural Greenbrier Classic. Asked to explain the sudden low-scoring surge, Ernie Els said, "I don't know, there's even been 60s and 61s. It's starting to look like the Nationwide Tour." 5. One is the loneliest number Every good thing comes to an end. The run of Tiger Woods as the world's No. 1 player finally ended after 281 weeks when England's Lee Westwood replaced him atop the world rankings. While it was obvious that the slumping Woods would drop from the top spot, the rise of Westwood sparked a re-examination of the world rankings since he was just the fourth player in 25 years to reach No. 1 without winning a major. (The others — Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples and David Duval — won majors within two years of reaching No. 1.) In his first appearance as No. 1, at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, Westwood posed with Woods, PGA champion Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson for a photo op in which they wielded tai chi swords. Westwood, who has gained a Nearly Man reputation for his many close finishes in majors, was edged by Francesco Molinari for the HSBC title. 6. The big meltdown Dustin Johnson had already won two tour titles at Pebble Beach and looked likely to win a third, a U.S. Open, when he took a three-stroke lead into the final round at a course he has dominated. The rush to ordain Johnson as the Next Big Thing was put on hold when he came up short of the second green, had to chip out lefty just to advance the ball, fluffed his next pitch and made a disconcerting triple bogey. He compounded his problems by foolishly trying to drive the green at the third hole. That ball disappeared into the shrubbery near the 16th green (it was eventually found after the five-minute time limit had expired) and Johnson had to re-tee, making a double bogey. At the short par-4 fourth, he hit one over the cliff on the right and made a bogey. Three holes, six shots lost. It eventually added up to 82, the most memorable Open collapse since Gil Morgan, and Johnson finished five back of winner Graeme McDowell. 7. Europe reigns, steady rains Nobody could remember a wetter Ryder Cup, not that rain in October is unusual for Wales. The American team was unhappy with its leaky raingear and bought all new outfits in the merchandise tent at Celtic Manor after the first session. The wet conditions pushed the event to a nonetheless exciting Monday finish. There were heroes (Lee Westwood, Steve Stricker and Luke Donald, to name a few) and goats for both sides. In the end, American rookie Rickie Fowler birdied the last four holes in his singles match to give the U.S. a chance to earn a halve and retain the cup. In the final singles match, Hunter Mahan was down to Graeme McDowell most of the match, and after Mahan duffed a chip on the par-3 17th hole and missed a lengthy must-make putt from off the green, the Ryder Cup belonged to Europe. "It was a proud, proud moment for all of us in European golf," said a glowing Colin Montgomerie, the European captain. 8. Luck of the Irish Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell became a national hero after winning a tough U.S. Open at Pebble Beach even though he managed only one final-round birdie and played the last 10 holes in four over par. The man known as G-Mac, who played American college golf at Alabama-Birmingham, cemented his legend status by scoring the winning point in the Ryder Cup and then stunned Tiger Woods in a playoff at Tiger's own Chevron World Challenge event after coming back from four strokes behind. At Chevron, Woods stuffed his final approach shot to two feet but McDowell holed a 20-footer to force a playoff. They played 18 again as the first playoff hole, and McDowell holed a 30-footer for the win. Ironically, McDowell's breakthrough year was in part due to Tiger. McDowell was invited to last year's Chevron World Challenge to replace Woods, who pulled out because his personal scandal had already exploded in the media. McDowell finished second, earned enough ranking points to qualify for the Masters and later squeaked into the U.S. Open field at No. 50 in the rankings. So if not for Tiger's troubles, "Maybe I wouldn't have got into the Open and things like the Ryder Cup," McDowell said. "It was one of those very fateful moments." If the world had a Player of the Year, it had to be the gregarious McDowell. 9. Shrek 4: The Old Course Magician It seemed likely that little-known Louis Oosthuizen, the son of a dairy farmer from South Africa, would go the way of obscure British Open contenders like Hennie Otto, Bill Longmuir and others even though Shrek, as Oosthuizen is affectionately known for his gap-toothed smile, led by five shots after two rounds at St. Andrews. Oosthuizen surprised the world, however, by rolling nearly unchallenged to a seven-stroke victory that came the same day South Africa celebrated Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday. The signature moment came in Sunday's final round when, after Paul Casey had just cut the lead to three shots, King Louis drove the green at the 352-yard par-4 ninth hole and sank a 30-foot eagle putt. At least the Open trophy engraver didn't have to put the champ's full name on the jug — Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen. Phew. 10. The young guns History may come to regard 2010 as a changing-of-the-guard year in golf. As Woods and Mickelson, the longtime No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world, slumped, new young stars seemed to come out of the woodwork and offer golf a glimmer of hope for the future. For starters, there was Germany's Martin Kaymer, who won the PGA Championship. Dustin Johnson made a big impression at the Open and the PGA despite coming up short both places. Francesco and Edoardo Molinari won on the European Tour and were impressive in the Ryder Cup. Japanese teen Ryo Ishikawa shot 58 in one of his wins in Japan. American Rickie Fowler didn't score a win but was named the PGA Tour's Rookie of the Year over Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, whose final-round 62 to win the Wachovia Championship was as strong a finish as any during the summer. The youngest of all was Italy's 17-year-old Matteo Manassero, who became the European Tour's youngest champion when he won the Castello Masters by four shots and was admittedly at a loss about what to do with his $460,000 prize. "I am too young to have a drink, too young to drive so I will not be buying a car," he said, "and I do not have a girlfriend who would like a present. I never thought my first chance to win a tournament would come so quickly." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

Golf-Houdini acts can't keep denying Westwood - caddie Posted: 26 Dec 2010 11:12 AM PST By Tony Jimenez LONDON, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Lee Westwood has been criticised in some quarters for reaching the top of the rankings without winning a major but that does not worry the world number one, according to his caddie Billy Foster. "In four out of his last five majors he's finished in the top three and all he's got to do is keep doing more of what he is doing," Foster told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Harry Houdini is not going to pitch up all the time like he did at the U.S. Masters this year. What Phil Mickelson did to him by birdying the eighth, 12th, 13th, 15th and 18th in the final round (to win)—that was unbelievable. "People won't keep doing that sort of thing to him in majors. All Lee can do is keep putting himself in position and his time will come," added the experienced Foster who is recognised as one of the best caddies in the game. "He always seems to bounce back after a couple of days, that's the beauty of Lee. He's very down to earth and level headed and he doesn't let things bother him too much." Foster, who has also worked with Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia among others, said he and fellow Briton Westwood always made sure they had a good time on the course regardless of the situation. "It's like working for your best mate," said the 44-year-old caddie. "He is so relaxed out there. "Certain golfers you don't feel comfortable with, it's all fairly intense and sometimes you can't say what you want to say. But with Lee we have so much fun together," added Foster. "He doesn't really take things out on me on the golf course, 99.9 percent of the time he's pretty relaxed. Now and again you have to shut up for a minute or so but then we get back to having a bit of a crack and some banter." CHIEF MOTIVATOR Foster has been working with Westwood for just over 18 months and there are times when he has to get serious and act as motivator in chief. One of their best victories together came at the European Tour's season-ending Dubai World Championship in 2009 when the caddie decided a bit of bullying was in order. "It was the right time for me to say a few things to Lee, some of which I can't repeat," said Foster. "He was starting to doubt himself to a certain degree and I tried to get the mindset back to where it was 10 or 12 years previously when he used to dominate European golf and other players would say, 'Oh, no, there's freaking Westwood on the leaderboard again'. "I tried to explain he had won more tournaments on his own than the three guys who were chasing him (Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Rory McIlroy) put together and it should be them who were afraid of him, not the other way round. "It was time for him to start bullying them. It got inside his head and it had the right effect." Foster, though, is equally aware there are times when Westwood plays so well he barely needs a bag-carrier. "There is a lot of psychology behind the scenes, saying the right thing at the right time and also staying 'schtum' (quiet) at times," he explained. "I know there are some weeks when Lee could go out with his grandmother on his bag and he'd win but there are other weeks when you need your caddie behind you, especially in the Ryder Cup and at majors when the pressure is at its most intense. "The secret is to slow things down. Players tend to rush things when they are under pressure but the caddie has to pull on the reins, make sure they limit their mistakes… and keep their heart rate down." Then, when victory is secured, Foster celebrates in the time-honoured caddying tradition. "Yeah, with plenty of ale," he said. (Editing by Ken Ferris. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

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