“Golf Glance” plus 2 more |
- Golf Glance
- LPGA golf tour returns to Phoenix with Founders Cup
- Fine sends right message to Tiger and rest of golf's spitters
| Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:39 AM PST Site: Los Angeles. Schedule: Thursday-Sunday. Course: Riviera Country Club (7,325 yards, par 71). Purse: $6.5 million. Winner's share: $1.17 million. Television: Golf Channel (Thursday, 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m.; Friday, midnight-3 a.m., 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2-5 a.m., 1-2:30 p.m., 9:30-11:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m., 9:30-11:30 p.m.) and CBS (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.). Last year: Steve Stricker won the first of his two 2010 titles, beating Luke Donald by two strokes. Stricker also won the John Deere Classic in July. Last week: D.A. Points won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for his first PGA Tour victory and teamed with Bill Murray to win the pro-am title. Hunter Mahan finished second, two strokes back. Notes: Phil Mickelson, the 2008 and 2009 winner, is playing for the fourth straight week. He tied for ninth at Pebble Beach. ... Tiger Woods is skipping his hometown event. He last played at Riviera in 2006. ... Ben Hogan stamped the course as "Hogan's Alley" with three victories in 17 months — the 1947 and '48 Los Angeles Opens and '48 U.S. Open. ... Steve Elkington won the 1995 PGA at Riviera, beating Colin Montgomerie in a playoff. ... Former Lakers star Jerry West is the tournament executive director. ... The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is next week in Marana, Ariz., opposite the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. Online: http://www.pgatour.com ___
Site: Pattaya, Thailand. Schedule: Thursday-Sunday. Course: Siam Country Club, Pattaya Old Course (6,477 yards, par 72). Purse: $1.45 million. Winner's share: $217,500. Television: Golf Channel (Friday, 12:30-2:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 3-5 p.m.). Last year: Japan's Ai Miyazato won the season-opening event, holing a 30-foot birdie chip on the final hole for a 9-under 63 and a one-stroke victory over Suzann Pettersen. Miyazato, six strokes behind Pettersen after the third round, matched the tournament record of 21 under set by Pettersen in October 2007. Miyazato then won the HSBC Champions in Singapore to become the first LPGA Tour player in 44 years to sweep the first two events of a season. Notes: Taiwan's Yani Tseng won the Women's Australian Open and Australian Ladies Masters the last two weeks to take the No. 1 spot in the world. ... Michelle Wie is in the field. ... The tour has been off since Maria Hjorth won the LPGA Tour Championship on Dec. 5. ... Lorena Ochoa won the 2009 event. ... The tournament also is sanctioned by the Thailand Ladies Golf Association. ... The HSBC Women's Champions is next week. The tour will open its U.S. schedule March 18-20 with the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix. Online: http://www.lpga.com ___
Site: Naples, Fla. Schedule: Friday-Sunday. Course: The Quarry (7,094 yards, par 72). Purse: $1.6 million. Winner's share: $240,000. Television: Golf Channel (Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m.; Saturday, midnight-2 a.m., 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Sunday, midnight-2 a.m., 7-9:30 p.m.; Monday, midnight-2 a.m.). Last year: Fred Couples won the first of his three straight tour victories, holding off Tommy Armour III by a stroke. Couples closed with an 8-under 64, and Armour matched the tour record for lowest score in relation to par with an 11-under 61. Last week: Tom Lehman won the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, birdieing the final hole for a one-stroke victory over Jeff Sluman and Rod Spittle. Notes: Couples is skipping his title defense to play in the PGA Tour event at Riviera. ... John Cook won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii on Jan. 23. ... Loren Roberts won in 2006 at TwinEagles to become the first Champions Tour player to open a season with three straight victories. Roberts also won in 2009 at TPC Treviso Bay. ... The tour is off the next two weeks. Play will resume March 11-13 with the Toshiba Classic in Newport Beach, Calif. Online: http://www.pgatour.com ___
Site: New Delhi. Schedule: Thursday-Sunday. Course: DLF Golf & Country Club (7,156 yards, par 72). Purse: $2.43 million. Winner's share: $405,400. Television: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.). Last year: Australia's Andrew Dodt won the inaugural event for his first European Tour title. England's Richard Finch was second, a stroke back. Last week: Spain's Alvaro Quiros won the Dubai Desert Classic, making a hole-in-one in a final-round 68. Anders Hansen and James Kingston finished a stroke back. Tiger Woods closed with a 75 to tie for 20th, seven strokes behind Quiros. Notes: Indian star Jeev Milkha Singh is a three-time winner on the European Tour. ... New Zealand's Mark Brown won the 2008 Johnnie Walker Classic on the Arnold Palmer-designed course. ... The event also is sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India. Online: http://www.europeantour.com Asian Tour site: http://www.asiantour.com ___ NGA HOOTERS TOUR: Members Only Shootout, Wednesday-Friday, Black Bear Golf Club, Eustis, Fla. Online: http://www.ngahooterstour.com SUNSHINE TOUR: Dimension Data Pro-Am, Thursday-Sunday, Fancourt Hotel and Golf Estate, Montagu, Outeniqua and The Links courses, George, South Africa. Online: http://www.sunshinetour.com LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR/AUSTRALIAN LADIES PROFESSIONAL GOLF: New Zealand Women's Open, Thursday-Sunday, Pegasus Golf Club, Christchurch, New Zealand. Online: http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com http://www.alpg.com.au 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 | ||||||
| LPGA golf tour returns to Phoenix with Founders Cup Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:09 AM PST by Eugene Scott - Feb. 15, 2011 11:01 AM When Ladies Professional Golf Association officials decided in late 2010 to have a tournament that could pump millions into a local economy and raise $1 million for golf programs and charities, they concluded northeast Phoenix would be the best place. The Valley, which had given LPGA tournaments strong support since the 1960s, lost its spot on the LPGA schedule after the 2009 J Golf LPGA International tournament at Papago Park in Phoenix.
More than 130 LPGA golfers will participate March 18-20 in the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup at the Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa. Instead of players earning prize money, $500,000 will go to LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, a nationwide program that runs camps for girls ages 7 to 17 An additional $500,000 will go to charities designated by the top-10 finishers. Because the resort is fully booked, most of the out-of-town fans are likely to patronize other Phoenix-area hotels, restaurants and spas, said Kelly Hyne, vice president of LPGA Properties. Officials hope for 75,000 fans to attend the tournament. "I know from a direct spending point, the tournament could bring in $2 million to $3 million" for the Phoenix economy, Hyne said. "Then you have the people that come in and support the event and spend money in the event. And that's what drives it up to $8 million to $9 million." The LPGA picked the Desert Ridge Marriott because its two golf courses could be combined to create one course, with the benefits of being at a resort. "Just doing things inside of meeting rooms, as opposed to all the tents and trailers, was probably the biggest thing," Hyne said. Leaders of the North Phoenix Chamber of Commerce look forward to Founders Cup players and visitors getting to know northeast Phoenix beyond the resort and Desert Ridge Marketplace. "Anytime when you bring in anything of this magnitude, the local small businesses benefit greatly," said Edward Gomillion, executive director of the chamber. He said it's refreshing to have a nationally televised event choose Phoenix just months after numerous events were canceled in connection with Senate Bill 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law. "This will also generate attention to our state," he said. "I'm very glad that it's happening, and I just look forward to hosting more events like this." Organizers began planning the tournament in late December and concluded that the easiest place to pull off a quickly organized tournament was Phoenix. "Phoenix is certainly a market we've been in and had a lot of history in where could we do and execute at a high level," Hyne said. "There are volunteers in place, and the community supports it. Fans come out." The Founders Cup is the first tournament completely managed by the association and it's the first tournament with all proceeds going to charity, Hyne said. The idea is for golfers to give back and help grow the sport. "The Founders Cup never actually existed until December, which is when RR Donnelley stepped in and said they wanted to sponsor it," she said. RR Donnelley, a printing and digital solutions company based in New York, is the official print provider of the LPGA. Phoenix City Councilwoman Peggy Neely represents northeast Phoenix and spoke at the Founders Cup kickoff event this month. Neely said she believes the area will benefit financially from the tournament long after it's over. "I would expect it would have a ripple effect in terms of the economy after people see what's available to them in Phoenix during the best time of the year and come back," she said. 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 | ||||||
| Fine sends right message to Tiger and rest of golf's spitters Posted: 14 Feb 2011 02:01 PM PST This has to be the most important golf news story that the AP will move all month: VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Tiger Woods has been fined by the European Tour for spitting during the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic. The tour says tournament director Mike Stewart reviewed the incident, which took place Sunday on the 12th green, and 'there has been a breach' of conduct. The tour would not disclose the amount of the fine. Yes, Virginia, there are still standards, somewhere, and in the interest of being able to walk across saliva-free greens, golfers everywhere should applaud this long overdue move by the European Tour. If U.S. Tour officials had any true sense of golfing decorum, they would be doing exactly the same thing, handing out citations like meter maids in Beverly Hills. The essence of golf has two parts: getting the ball into distant holes in the fewest strokes possible, which Tiger Woods in his prime did better than anybody ever, and showing respect for your playing partners and your playing field while doing it. The two are linked. Woods has been raked over the coals for years for being a surly, club-throwing, spittin'-and-cussin' playing partner. Much of that has been ridiculously overblown. But the fact is, when it comes to on-course comportment, he has not remotely followed in the steps of his trailblazer, Jack Nicklaus. Jack didn't spit on the course. Arnold Palmer didn't spit on the course. Snead and Hogan and Nelson didn't spit on the course. Mickey Wright? Nancy Lopez? Annika Sorenstam? Absolutely no chance. In the '80s, I caddied some on Tour. Back then, many more players than today chewed tobacco or smoked cigarettes while playing. (There was more drinking on the course, too.) If guys were going to spit, they did it discreetly, underneath a tree or in a water cup. No fan should ever see spit coming out of a player's mouth. It's uncouth, and it's unsanitary. Tiger is by no means the only spitter out there. It's open season these days. Have at it, boys — fill the pool! Boo Weekley, I love him, but get a spittoon, brother. Garcia, Singh & Daly is not an international law firm; it's a collection of world-class international golf-course spitters. Rory Sabbatini and Scott Verplank, get a hankie or something. Jhonattan Vegas? Not a spitter. Another thing to like about the guy. I'm not sure why there's so much more spitting today than there used to be. There's more golf on TV, so you see more. That's probably part of it. But I'm guessing Tiger made it legit for others. Tiger has suffered from allergies for years and has used that as an excuse to explain his spitting. That doesn't fly. He could still spit discreetly if that's what he wanted to do. His spitting increases with his frustration; he spits in disgust when he's playing poorly. Would he spit in his mother's garden? He would not. He should take that same view when he plays Augusta National or anywhere else. These courses are somebody's garden. Woods acknowledged as much on Monday afternoon. "The Euro Tour is right — it was inconsiderate to spit like that and I know better," Woods said on Twittter. "Just wasn't thinking and want to say I'm sorry." In baseball, they spit. In football, they spit. In boxing, in the corner, they spit like crazy. The golfers want to feel like they're real jocks, too. They want to spit. The fact is that golfers are real jocks. They're athletes. But the players' decorum is what makes golf golf. Golfers leave traps in better condition than when they entered them. Golfers call penalties on themselves. Golfers help their playing partners find MIA golf balls. Golfers don't spit, or at least they shouldn't. It's rude to the golfers coming after them, and it's unattractive to the fans. If they must do it, they should find the right place — an out-of-the-way spot, not normally in play. The green should always be off limits. Years ago, I was caddying for a golfer named Peter Teravainen in a European Tour event in Spain. He yanked one wildly into the woods, and when we got to the ball it was up against a tree, sitting in a puddle of urine that had been recently deposited by the Irish golfer Ronan Rafferty. Peter was upset, but not unduly so. Rafferty had followed the longstanding golfing custom of finding a remote spot. On Sunday in Dubai, and on many other days in many other places, Tiger Woods has not. See what our experts had to say about Tiger's spitting incident in this week's PGA Tour Confidential roundtable. 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 |
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