Kerr heads to final round at Kingsmill with two-shot lead

Kerr heads to final round at Kingsmill with two-shot lead










Benjamin Standig, The Sports Xchange May 4, 2013 8:20 PMThe SportsXchange


JAMES CITY, Va. -- Success is no stranger to Cristie Kerr. Neither is winning after sleeping on a third-round lead.

While Kerr has 15 LPGA Tour victories to her credit, she has no interest in viewing herself as the front-runner. The 35-year-old has more moving to do.

Kerr shot a 5-under-par 66 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Kingsmill Championship on the River Course at Kingsmill Resort.

Fellow American Stacy Lewis carded a 68 and is tied for second with Suzann Pettersen of Norway. Angela Stanford is alone in fourth at 7 under.

"I've always loved it here," said Kerr, the only two-time champion in the eight-year history of the event. "I played a great round today."

The 2005 and 2009 champion at the River Course started the day two strokes behind first- and second-round leader Ariya Jutanugarn, a 17-year-old from Thailand who entered on a sponsor's exemption. Kerr rolled in six birdies, three on each side and all coming after a bogey on the second hole.

"Saturday is definitely moving day, but I got to look at it like I'm two back tomorrow," Kerr said. "That's when I play my best golf. I'm looking at tomorrow as moving day as well because if you're not moving, somebody else is gonna."

That someone could be either of the two accomplished golfers sitting right behind her.

Lewis, the top-ranked American and No. 2 in the world, described her round as "pretty boring and pretty frustrating," but she moved back into the mix with birdies on Nos. 15 and 16.


"It was nice I hung in there and made a few birdies at the end to keep myself in it for (Sunday)," said Lewis, already a winner twice on tour this season. "I know that my best round is still out there and I think that's what encouraging going into tomorrow."

Pettersen won this event in 2007. The top three players each have at least one major championship victory on their resume.

If Kerr tacks on a third title at Kingsmill, her putter will have been the reason. It's the same putter she used to dominate the 2010 LPGA Championship and claim her second major title. That season, Kerr emerged as No. 1 in the world on three separate occasions, but she has since slipped to No. 12 in the rankings.

"Yeah, I love this putter, I've always loved this putter," Kerr said. "Hard not to love a putter that you won a major by 12 shots with, so it deserves another shot and it's going to get it."

Jutanugarn, the current leader on the Ladies European Tour money list, finished her round with a 73 after bogeys on three of her first four holes and six in all.

She shot a first-round 64 and dominated the front nine on Thursday and Friday but opened Saturday with a wayward drive on the first hole, leading to a bogey. She also dropped a stroke on the second and fourth holes.

"I (was) never nervous with my game today," Jutanugarn said. "Just have bad for putting and just miss my driver on first hole, that's it."

Ilhee Lee's third straight 69 left her four shots back in fifth, though her day was hardly formulaic. The South Korean's wild round included an eagle, five birdies and consecutive double bogeys.

Inbee Park of South Korea, ranked No. 1 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings and a three-time winner this season, shot 69 and is tied for eighth.

Lizette Salas turned in the day's low score with a 65, jumping from 40th overnight to a tie for sixth with Jutanugarn.

Overcast morning conditions gave way to sunny skies once the final groups hit the course, but chilly temperatures remained throughout, as did swirling winds.

With Jutanugarm dropping back, several players took turns atop the leaderboard.

Lee initially emerged from the pack with a 30-foot eagle putt on the seventh hole and started the back nine with a two-stroke lead.

Four holes later, her lead vanished after back-to-back double bogeys on 12 and 13, although Lee carded birdies on the next two holes.

Kerr, who last won at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November, led almost exclusively from there.

Briefly joined by Pettersen at 8 under, Kerr jumped ahead for good with a birdie on 13. She extended her lead with a birdie on the par-5 15th.

Now Kerr needs another strong round for a sweet 16th tour win. Those in the hunt make that goal far from a certainty.

Asked if the current leaderboard gives the final round a major-type feeling, Kerr said, "Absolutely. There's definitely no chickens to be counted."

NOTES: Park, coming off a victory in the North Texas Shootout, bounced back from a 1-over-par 72 in the second round. She carded a bogey on the first hole but played the last 17 holes in a bogey-free 3 under. She will start the final round six strokes behind Kerr, ... Playing in her first event as a member of the LPGA Tour, 23-year-old American Katie Burnett has posted rounds of 68-70-71 and is tied for eighth with Park.

Lateral Hazard: Mystery golfer emerges from shadows for first victory on PGA Tour

Lateral Hazard: Mystery golfer emerges from shadows for first victory on PGA Tour











Brian Murphy May 5, 2013 9:05 PMYahoo Sports







View gallery.

Derek Ernst celebrates his first PGA Tour victory. (AP)



Derek Ernst is a winner on the PGA Tour, and that's big news for his family back in the central California town of Clovis, Calif., his buddies from UNLV who nicknamed him "Stripes" for his consistent contact and for the staff at the Foster's Freeze in Clovis who used to serve Ernst and his girlfriend the "Reese's Twister" when they went on nightly ice cream runs in their hometown.

Outside of that crew, nobody knew who Ernst was prior to his big day at Quail Hollow.

Oh, the things a golf writer can learn when researching the life and times of a 22-year-old, quick-swinging bomber ranked 1,207th in the world. Ernst stunned the golf world with a "Hoosiers"-like win over a leader board that included Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. What do we know of the guy? Turns out Ernst likes ice cream. Reporters covering his runner-up finish at the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Bandon Dunes unearthed that, along with an amazing story about getting 10 stitches in his eye as a second grader when he had an accident with a sharp object while making his Mom a present, leading to consistently blurry vision in one eye. Crazy, but true.

[Related: Derek Ernst's life-changing phone call]

Other than that, the kid's a cipher, a mystery man who appeared on our Sunday TVs from Quail Hollow almost like a hoax. Nobody had a clue how to process it. Rules officials probably were on walkie-talkies, wondering if they should check his ID. Even the guy he beat in the playoff with a par on the 18th hole, England's David Lynn, said afterward: "I'd never heard of him." Luke Donald chimed in on Twitter: "Never heard of Ernst before this week. Shows how deep the fields on the PGA Tour are. Welcome to the winner's circle. #goodforhim"






View gallery.

Ernst won the Wells Fargo Championship on the first playoff hole. (AP)The story makes other first-time winners on Tour this year – Russell Henley, Billy Horschel, Kevin Streelman – look positively bland. To think, Ernst only got a Wonka golden ticket to play as fourth alternate after a slew of big-name players walked away from Quail Hollow because the greens were atrocious. To say the greens resembled a lunar landscape is an insult to lunar landscapes, which probably feature smoother rolls.



Ernst was ready to play in a Web.com event in Georgia, but got the call to The Show. He didn't care if the greens at Quail Hollow looked like Candlestick Park's sloppy turf from a winter NFL playoff game. To him, they were carpets of splendor. After battling his way through four (!) stages of Q-School to get his card, every PGA Tour invite was gold-plated. Still, he'd yet to find his comfort zone, missing five of seven cuts and boasting a high finish of tie-47th at New Orleans last week.

He had a rental car in Georgia, but had to swap it out before driving to North Carolina, lest he incur a $1,000 location fee. That was six days ago. Today, he's hitting "refresh" on his online checking account every five minutes to stare at the new addition to his new account balance – $1,200,000 for the win at Quail Hollow.

[Related: Final scores from Quail Hollow]

Once he got to Charlotte, the talent that made him a four-time All-American at UNLV finally burst through. Rounds of 67, 71 and 72 put him in position on Sunday, but still, nobody noticed. Why would they? CBS came on the air with Ernst three shots behind Mickelson, and Jim Nantz did his best to re-emphasize the big-name leader board of Lefty, Rory and Lee. That Watney was in the mix, too, was an interesting twist – a fellow Californian who played college golf at Fresno State, just miles from Ernst's childhood home.

And then, while Mickelson made unforgivable bogeys on 16 and 17; while Rory double-bogeyed the 12th hole; while Westwood bogeyed 12, 13 and 17 … Derek Ernst went on a butt-kicking spree. He made no bogeys on his back nine, carving birdie on No. 11, on the par-5 15th and, most memorably, the 18th hole, his 72nd of the week.

A notorious beast of a closing hole, the 478-yard par-4 18th has ruined many a day. Not Ernst's. He smoked a driver, then pulled 6-iron from 192, choked down, and hit the prettiest little draw to four feet you'd ever want to see. He made the putt for a birdie and final round 70 to force a playoff with Lynn and leave Lefty in the dust. We should also note Ernst did so without leaning his abdomen on a putter. What do you know? A young kid with a real putter.

[Watch: How Ersnst secured the win]

By then, Ernst was possessed. He didn't hesitate to repeat that swing with driver on the playoff hole, then hit a bold 3-iron to 15 feet and darn near jar the birdie putt before kicking in his par to beat Lynn.

These were profoundly unafraid golf swings, reminiscent of Streelman's work on the par-3s down the stretch at Innisbrook, or Horschel's work on the greens at TPC Louisiana. These new winners have some gumption.

How in the name of Ben Curtis did something like this happen? Donald's tweet provides one theory – the depth of talent on Tour these days is legitimate. There's also the fact that sports always provides unexpected magic. Milan High wasn't supposed to win the Indiana state high school basketball title, either.

Derek Ernst, welcome to fame. Be sure to keep that golf swing when you check in at this week's Players Championship, this year's PGA Championship, next year's Maui Tournament of Champions and, oh yeah, Augusta National next April. They have ice cream in the grill room there, too. Get some on your peach cobbler.

SCORECARD OF THE WEEK

68-67-73-73 – 7-under 281, Phil Mickelson, third place, PGA Tour Wells Fargo Championship, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, N.C.






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Bogies on the 16th and 17th holes cost Phil Mickelson a possible victory at Quail Hollow. (AP)I don't want to overstate this, because the guy won at Phoenix this year and finished third at Doral, and he's Lefty, after all.



But is Phil starting to look a little old out there?

Again, not pressing the panic button. Just observing. He turns 43 next month, and when contrasted against the lean-and-mean 22-year-old game of Ernst, you start to think: Holy heck, Lefty turned pro before some of these guys learned to walk.

And yes, we've seen Mickelson blow leads before. (Winged Foot, coughcough, Winged Foot.) The breakdown was just a startling reminder of his occasional frailty. This time, it was back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes to tumble from the outright lead at 9-under to signing a scorecard for 7-under to watching an Ernst-Lynn playoff.

Mickelson said afterward he was "bummed out" and thought he had the tournament under control. Yes, and yes. Now he heads to the Players Championship to take on an elite field. Last time we saw him versus an elite field was the Masters – where he finished tied-54th, his worst finish at Augusta National since missing the cut in 1997.

MULLIGAN OF THE WEEK

In fact, let's stay on this topic.

I was thinking it would be really fun to see Mickelson and Ernst tangling in a playoff: Two Californians going at it, one who can remember when MTV showed music videos; the other who thinks anybody who watches TV and doesn't stream video on their smart phone is a total loser.

[Watch: Mickleson struggles on Sunday]

It would be a clash of eras and a clash of résumés; Phil bringing the worldwide fame and glamour; Ernst bringing the Clovis Foster's Freeze fan club.

But it would require Mickelson to make par on the 17th hole, a brutal par-3 over water in the rain. Surely, though, a vet like Lefty could make a "3," right?

Instead, Mickelson tugged a 9-iron and missed the green right. That left him a very difficult lag putt, and his leave of 12 feet exemplified said difficulty. On those Quail Hollow greens, no way was Mickelson making the par putt from that far out, and the bogey was in the books. He'd miss the playoff by one stroke.

So, in the interest of an Ernst-Mickelson smackdown, a California clash in the Carolinas, let's go back out to the 17th tee, remind Lefty of the impending drama with the kid and … give that man a mulligan!

BROADCAST MOMENT OF THE WEEK

"He didn't want to make an illegal drop." – Jim Nantz, CBS, with the one-liner on Derek Ernst's rental car story.

Hey, now! Nice work by the usually buttoned-down Nantz. The story was that Ernst saved $1,000 by swapping rental cars in Georgia to make the drive to Quail Hollow, but Nantz made sure we'll never forget Tiger Woods' 2013 Masters. Like, ever. Especially after the story broke this week that it was former USGA rules official David Eger who was Tiger's "narc" on the drop, proving there's always somebody watching you – and he generally knows the rules better than you.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?






View gallery.

Tiger Woods hasn't played on the Tour since finishing in a tie for fourth at the Masters. (Reuters)Speaking of Tiger – yes, he will play at TPC Sawgrass this week, part of a Players Championship extravaganza that will feature all 30 of the world's top 30-ranked players. We know he's taking it seriously, because his main squeeze Lindsey Vonn made a red-carpet appearance at a gala last week and, asked where her dude Tiger was, answered: "He's practicing."



He better be. Sawgrass has been a house of horrors for Tiger of late – W/Ds in 2010 and 2011, and a tie-40th last year.

Rory will be there, too, after yet another disappointing weekend – back-to-back 73s that led to a tie-10th. He tweeted a picture of himself in his private jet flying home, prominently featuring his lime green Nikes on the leather seat in the photo. As a Rory fan, I didn't find any of it encouraging.

Meanwhile, the locker room at Sawgrass will have a spot for Derek Ernst. He should take his rental car from North Carolina down to Jacksonville for the drop-off and leave the radio on at full blast as he pulls in, just to show what a suddenly new baller he is.

Kerr claims Kingsmill crown in playoff

Kerr claims Kingsmill crown in playoff










Benjamin Standig, The Sports Xchange May 5, 2013 9:20 PMThe SportsXchange


JAMES CITY, Va. -- Cristie Kerr emits a confident if not boastful aura on the golf course, especially when the ultimate stakes are in play. Entering Sunday's final round with a two-stroke lead, the 35-year-old American had an extra level of motivation while in pursuit of her 16th tour title.

None of her previous LPGA Tour victories, including two on the Kingsmill Resort's River Course, came with her father on site.

Michael Kerr, a retired schoolteacher who traveled with his daughter early in her pro career, was on hand this time as Kerr shot a final-round, 2-under 69, then parred the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to outlast Norway's Suzann Pettersen and claim the Kingsmill Championship on Sunday.

"I wasn't going to lose, not today, not with my dad here," said Kerr after finishing at 12-under 272 for her first victory on tour this season. "He had never seen me win."

Previously the only two-time winner in the event's history, Kerr earned her third victory at Kingsmill, and it nearly came on the first playoff hole. After striking a 5-iron from the rough that sent the ball just passed the hole -- "beautiful, best shot I hit all day" -- Kerr missed a six-foot birdie chance.

While Pettersen's approach shot on the second playoff hole landed off the green, Kerr's landed safely 20 feet from the hole. Her subsequent lag putt settled just outside the cup. After Pettersen missed a par-saving putt for her first bogey of the day, Kerr completed her victory, improving her playoff record to 3-2.

The financial reward came via the $195,000 first prize. The emotional payoff came shortly after the winning putt as Kerr embraced her father, a Vietnam War veteran who has had both knees replaced.

"I think we just kind of cried and were just really happy," Kerr said about the post-round scene. "It's not only my day, but it's his day."

In order for it to become a winning day, Kerr had to overcome blustery winds, chilly temperatures and the match-play-like scenario. Oh, and sink one lengthy par-saving putt after another, including two on the final two holes of regulation. She also needed birdies on 15 and 16 to catch Pettersen at 12 under overall on the par-71 course.


"The way I hit it today, to even have a chance to win -- I made so many putts out there to save par, save any momentum," said Kerr, who hit only 10 greens in regulation through 18 but gave herself scoring chances on both playoff holes. "I started hitting it better late in the round, just in time to catch up a couple of shots."

Pettersen, who won the 2007 Kingsmill event in a playoff, fired a 4-under 67. A winner last month at the Lotte Championship, Pettersen made a playoff bogey on the 18th hole after she parred the par-4, 382-yard hole during all four rounds in regulation and the first playoff hole.

"I probably played my best today out of the four rounds," Pettersen said. "Obviously it's disappointing to lose in the playoff, but there was a lot of good to take from it."

The fifth-ranked player in the world had a lengthy birdie bid on the final hole of regulation roll just past the hole. Kerr then forced the playoff with a tricky up-and-down including, a testy six-foot par putt.

Ariya Jutanugarn, a 17-year-old from Thailand who led after the first and second rounds, matched Sunday's low round with a 66 and tied South Korea's Ilhee Lee for third place, two strokes behind the leaders.

"I played very good today, but not on the front nine," Jutanugarn said. "It's amazing for me to shoot like a 5 under on the back nine."

Americans Stacy Lewis and Angela Stanford finished at 9 under. Inbee Park of South Korea, who retains the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, shot a 67 and finished in seventh place, four shots back.

Kerr, No. 1 in the world for stretches of the 2010 season, ranked 12th entering the week, but she is projected to enter the top-10 when the next rankings are released.

While others threatened to contend, the final battle came down to the duo in the final pairing.

"I was really proud of the way I tried to ... take care of my own game today, especially with Suzann," said Kerr, who won at Kingsmill in 2005 and 2009. "She likes to try and intimidate people out there, but I'm not easily intimidated."

Peterssen, referring to finishing at 12 under par, said, "Thirteen was the number I had in my head, and it seems like that would have (won it). I was one short of where I wanted to be."

NOTES: Already a three-time winner this season, Park pulled within one stroke of first place by birding four of the first seven holes, but she made only one birdie over the final 11 holes despite consistently reaching the green in regulation. ... Lewis, the top-ranked American, started the round two shots behind Kerr. The world's No. 2 player fell back after bogeys on three of the first 12 holes.

Inside the Ropes: Dufner hopes to avoid sleepy Sundays

Inside the Ropes: Dufner hopes to avoid sleepy Sundays










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange May 20, 2013 1:30 AMThe SportsXchange


Unfortunately for Jason Dufner, the most excitement he's caused this year came from what has become known as "Dufnering."

Dufner, who had a breakthrough season last year on the PGA Tour at the age of 35, was making an appearance at youth community center in Dallas in late March when a staffer took a picture of him seemingly zoned out while sitting on the floor during a relaxation period.

The staffer posted the picture on the Internet, and it went viral.

"What can I say, I was tired, my back hurt from sitting on the floor, and we were talking about relaxation and focusing," Dufner said. "Just caught me at a perfect time. The funny thing about it is the photo taken represents how I act all the time. It was a sheer moment of Jason Dufner by whoever captured the moment for the 30 seconds I checked out."

Since then, PGA Tour pros including Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Brandt Snedeker have posted pictures of themselves "Dufnering," and fans have done so, too.

You can find them all on Twitter.

Dufner said the best one he has seen is of "a guy who was on a transport plane in the military and they dropped the bottom part (of the plane) out and they were about 20,000 feet in the air and he was doing it right on the back end of the plane."

After losing in a playoff to Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Dufner shed his journeyman status and became a star last year, starting when he captured the Zurich Classic of New Orleans by beating Ernie Els in a playoff.

Then, after getting married, he came back a few weeks later to win the Byron Nelson Championship and seemed to be headed to another victory in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial before shooting 74 in the final round and finishing second behind Zach Johnson. He returns to the Fort Worth, Texas, event this week.

Dufner capped his year by playing in the Ryder Cup, posting a 3-1 record, including a 4-and-2 victory over Peter Hanson of Sweden, one of only three United States victories in singles as the Europeans retained the trophy at Medinah.

"I think a couple things happened," said Dufner, who is back at Colonial this week. "I was close to winning a major, the PGA, lost that in the playoff. After that, that gave me a lot of confidence to go out and play well no matter what the events were, if they were majors or global events or just PGA Tour events.

"From a physical standpoint, I feel like I've really worked hard on my golf game. I've been very consistent with my practice, same focus on what I'm trying to get better at now for about 4 1/2 years. Same with the preparation. I'm diligent about having the same routine for about four years now.

"And being consistent with that practice and that preparation has given me a lot of confidence that when I show up at events, I feel like I'm going to play good week in and week out no matter where I might be playing that week."

Although Dufner has played well at times this year, his best golf came when he tied for ninth in both the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on the Middle East Swing of the European Tour in January.

Dufner doesn't believe it's because he's trying to live up to expectations, his own or those of others, after last season.

"I'm not sure," said Dufner, whose best finish on the PGA Tour this season is a tie for 12th in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. "I'm kind of going through it right now. Not much experience with it. I don't know. I don't feel like I've added any pressure on myself.

"I've had some opportunities to play overseas. That put me a little bit behind because that cut my schedule here on the PGA Tour. I played in a lot of bad weather, wind. Got into a position where I wasn't really happy with where my golf swing was.


"But I think I've turned the page and kind of going in the right direction."

Dufner tied for 20th in the Masters and seemed headed toward a high finish at the Players Championship before shooting 80 in the final round to slide 49 spots to a tie for 62nd.

Actually, that's been the story of his season, the Sunday blues. Dufner has been in position to contend or even win more than a few times before finishing badly.

His final-round scoring average is 72.56, and he hasn't broken 70 on Sunday in eight tries on the PGA Tour this season.

"I played pretty decent golf," said Dufner, who admits that putting is his least favorite part of the game, and it shows. He is averaging 29.46 putts per round. "I haven't had a realistic chance to win in any of the events I played this year.

"Just one round kind of slips away shooting 74, 75, that kind of gets you behind the eight ball. But I've had a lot of good play. I feel like my game's coming around. I'm just trying to figure out how to put four good rounds together to score a good score for the week."

Possibly all he needs is a little less "Dufnering" on Sundays.



COMING UP

PGA TOUR: Crowne Plaza Invitation at Colonial at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

LAST YEAR: Zach Johnson holed a five-foot putt for par to give him what appeared to be a three-stroke victory over Jason Dufner for his second title at Colonial in three years. However, Johnson forgot to re-mark his ball after moving it because his coin was in Dufner's line, and he was assessed a two-stroke penalty, leaving him with a one-stroke victory after a closing even-par 70. Johnson also won the John Deere Classic in July, giving him two victories in a season for the third time in his PGA Tour career. Dufner, a 35-year-old journeyman who had never won on the circuit before 2012, seemed to be headed for this third victory in four tournaments by opening with scores of 65-64-66 before closing with a 74 that included a double bogey and a triple bogey.



CHAMPIONS TOUR: 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, noon-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

LAST YEAR: Roger Chapman of England built a nine-stroke lead early in the final round and held on to claim his first victory on the Champions Tour by two shots over John Cook at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich. The 53-year-old Chapman, who had only three professional victories previously, added the U.S. Senior Open less than a month later. In the Senior PGA, he built a five-stroke lead after 54 holes with rounds of 68-67-64 before closing with a 1-over-par 72, carding bogeys on three of the last five holes. Kenny Perry posted a tournament-record 62 in the final round, but all it got him was a tie for ninth, five strokes behind Chapman.



LPGA TOUR: Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic at Ocean Club Golf Course in Paradise Island, Bahamas, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: This is the inaugural tournament and the first time an LPGA Tour event will be played in the Bahamas.

Golf notebook: Faldo will play when Open returns to Muirfield

Golf notebook: Faldo will play when Open returns to Muirfield










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange May 20, 2013 1:30 AMThe SportsXchange


--Sir Nick Faldo announced that he will play in the 153rd Open Championship in July at Muirfield, where he won the oldest tournament in the world in 1987 and 1992.

The 55-year-old Faldo, a six-time major champion, will play in the Open for the first time since 2010. That year, he missed the cut on the Old Course at St. Andrews, where he claimed a third Claret Jug in 1990. He has missed the cut in his last four appearances in the Open.

"I've been fighting it for years," said Faldo, who is the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports. "I was in the gym on Monday, and it suddenly just hit me. I thought, 'Come on, this is one more walk, and I'll probably never (again) get a chance to walk at Muirfield.'

"If I can just get over the hurdle and say to myself, 'What will be, will be' ... I can't be any fitter. If I can just hit a few solid long irons, who knows what could happen? I could just go play and enjoy the shot.

"I've got just over two months to go to get myself to pretend that I'm a golfer."

Faldo chose his son, Matthew, to be his caddie for the week at Muirfield, saying he is playing in the tournament primarily to allow his family to experience the event.

--The World Cup of Golf will be played Nov. 21-24 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the International Federation of PGA Tours announced.

Royal Melbourne, which hosted the Presidents Cup in 2011, will host back-to-back events in November, with Masters champion Adam Scott defending his title on the course in the Australian Masters a week earlier.

"We're thrilled that the World Cup will return to Australia, bringing this historic event to a venue, city and country that have hosted the biggest and best international sporting events for many years," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

"The Presidents Cup 2011 was the best in event history, thanks in no small part to the welcome provided to us by the incredible Australian sports fans, the Victorian government and the Victorian Major Events Company.

"With all of those ingredients still in place, and added to them Adam Scott's win at the Masters Tournament in April, there is tremendous momentum and excitement for the World Cup 2013."

The World Cup has been played three previous times in Australia, each time at Royal Melbourne. The event was last played in Australia in 1988 as part of the nation's bicentennial celebrations, and Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber of the United States beat out Masashi (Jumbo) Ozaki and Tateo Ozaki of Japan.

The World Cup of Golf boasts an $8 million total purse and returns to an individual, stroke-play competition for $7 million, with a team component (adding the total scores of two-man teams) for $1 million.

The qualification system for the event is similar to that which will be used in the Olympic Games, when golf returns to the program in 2016. The field will include 60 players, with eligibility taken from the Official World Golf Rankings.

Up to four players can qualify per country, if they are in the top 15 of the rankings. Beyond No. 15, up to a maximum of two players per country can qualify.

The World Cup of Golf was first played in 1953, with Roberto De Vicenzo and Antonio Cerda of Argentina winning at Beaconsfield Golf and Country Club in Montreal.

The event was played annually until becoming a biennial event in 2011, when Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland of the U.S. claimed the title on the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in Hainan, China.

The U.S. has dominated the event with 34 titles, followed by South Africa with five. Spain and Australia are tied with four championships.

--Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, has been selected as the venue for the 2019 Walker Cup matches, the United States Golf Association announced.

The 47th edition of the biennial matches that pit the best amateur golfers of Great Britain and Ireland against those from the United States will be played in September 2019 as Royal Liverpool celebrates the 150th anniversary of its foundation.

"The Walker Cup is one of the most historic and prestigious events in golf," said Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, executive director of championships for the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. "We are delighted to be taking the match back to Royal Liverpool in its 150th year. Hoylake will provide an outstanding challenge for both teams. It is one of the finest tests of links golf to be found anywhere and has hosted many successful championships over the years."

Hoylake was the venue for a 1921 match between amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain that led to the Walker Cup matches being established. The first official Walker Cup was played at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y., in 1922.

The Walker Cup was held at Hoylake in 1983, when the U.S., led by captain Jay Sigel, beat Charlie Green's team from Great Britain and Ireland, 13 1/2-10 1/2.

The Open Championship will return to Hoylake, where Tiger Woods claimed the title in 2006, for the 12th time next year.

In 2012, Royal Liverpool hosted the Ricoh Women's British Open won by Jiyai Shin of South Korea, and the course has been the site of the British Amateur Championship on 18 occasions in addition to the 1992 Curtis Cup, the event that matches the top women amateurs from Great Britain against those from the United States.

This year's Walker Cup will be played at the National Golf Links of America on Sept. 7-8.

The 2015 event will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, and the 2017 venue will be Los Angeles Country Club.

The Walker Cup is contested between teams of 10 players from Great Britain and Ireland and the United States. It is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes matches.

Great Britain and Ireland holds the Walker Cup after defeating the U.S., 14-12, at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in 2011, but the Americans hold a commanding 34-8-1 lead in the series.

--Ken Venturi teamed with Pat Summerall to form one of the most respected broadcast teams in sports in the 18th hole tower for CBS Sports at PGA Tour events for more than a decade in the 1980s and '90s.

Venturi, who impacted the game of golf on the course and in the broadcast booth, died last week at the age of 82 in Ranch Mirage, Calif., only 11 days after he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

His death came a month and a day after the death of Summerall, also at the age of 82.

Venturi, who won the 1964 U.S. Open and later became one of the best commentators in the game for CBS over 35 years until 2002, had been hospitalized for two months because of a spinal infection, pneumonia and an intestinal infection.

"He was a deeply principled man with a dynamic presence; he just exuded class," said Jim Nantz, his partner in the CBS booth for several years after taking over for Summerall. "Through his competitive days and unequalled broadcasting career, Kenny became a human bridge connecting everyone from Sarazen, Nelson and Hogan to the greatest players of today's generation.

"Kenny faced many adversities in his life and always found a way to win."

Venturi's greatest moment as a golfer came when he captured the 1964 Open at Congressional, despite nearly collapsing because of exhaustion, dehydration and heat stroke in temperatures that surpassed 100 degrees.

It was the last time the national championship was determined by a 36-hole marathon Sunday, and a doctor told Venturi between rounds that he was putting his life in danger, but Venturi went back out anyway and came from two strokes back to win his only major title with scores of 66-70.


"I dropped my putter and I raised my arms up to the sky," said Venturi, who was so weak that playing partner Raymond Floyd had to retrieve his ball from the hole after his final putt. "I said, 'My God, I've won the Open.' The applause was deafening. It was like thunder coming out there.

"I felt this hand on me, and it was Raymond Floyd handing me the ball. I looked at him, and he had tears streaming down his face."

Sports Illustrated selected Venturi as Sportsman of the Year in 1964.

Venturi, who graduated from San Jose State and spent part of his U.S. Army stint in Korea, was born in San Francisco and turned to golf at 13 because it was a solitary sport after a teacher told his mother that his case of stammering was incurable.

Following a brilliant amateur career, which included California Amateur Championships in 1951 and 1956 plus three San Francisco Amateur Championships, he turned pro in 1956. He also posted the highest finish in the Masters by an amateur, losing a four-stroke lead by shooting a closing 80 in windy conditions to wind up second behind Jack Burke Jr. in 1956.

Venturi claimed the first of his 14 PGA Tour victories in the 1957 St. Paul Invitational and his last in the 1966 Lucky International at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, where he learned to play the game.

Forced to retire in 1967 after he was diagnosed with carpel tunnel syndrome in both wrists, Venturi forged a distinguished career in the broadcast booth.

Venturi is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and two sons, Matthew and Tim, who represented him at his Hall of Fame induction.

--The European Tour, which lost several events in Europe in recent years during the worldwide economic downturn, announced that the Made in Denmark tournament will be played for the first time on Aug. 14-17, 2014, at Himmerland Golf and Spa Resort in Farso, Denmark.

"It's fantastic news for the tour and the country that we're having a new tournament in Denmark next year," said Danish golf star Thomas Bjorn, who has won 13 times on the European Tour. "I think Himmerland will be a perfect venue, and I hope the Danish golf fans will come along and support the tournament in good numbers.

"With Thorbjorn (Olesen) playing so well and a lot good young amateurs coming through the ranks, it's a good time for Danish golf, and having a European Tour event in Denmark can only help grow the game even more.

"My first win as a professional was the Himmerland Open on the Challenge Tour in 1995, so in many ways that's where it all began for me."

Ian Poulter of England claimed the only previous Euro Tour event in Denmark, beating Colin Montgomerie of Scotland by one stroke in the 2003 Nordic Open at Simon's Golf Club in Humlebaek, near the capital city of Copenhagen.

The new tournament will be played on the Backtee New Course at Himmerland, which measures 7,382 yards and plays to a par of 72.

The Backtee New Course re-opened at the start of the year after a 2 million pound renovation program that included the re-sodding of all 18 greens and the re-shaping of every bunker.

"This dream opportunity has now become a reality," said Lars Larsen, co-founder and owner of Himmerland. "Made in Denmark will focus partly on Danish golf, but also focus on Denmark as a golfing destination.

"By working with a number of sponsors, Sport Event Denmark and other organizations across the North Jutland region, we will ensure that Danish design and innovation are both integral to the event marketing."

Himmerland is Northern Europe's largest golf resort, offering two 18-hole courses, a nine-hole course and extensive practice facilities in the Nike Performance Centre.

--Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium arrived in Kavarna, Bulgaria, last week all set to defend his title in the Volvo World Match Play Championship at a new venue, the Thracian Cliffs Golf and Beach Resort on the Black Sea.

However, his clubs and the rest of his luggage didn't make it.

Colsaerts was caught up in a strike at Brussels Airport, and apparently his luggage never got off the ground, so in desperation he turned to Twitter.

"Does somebody know someone from Brussels Airport or SN Brussels Airlines to make possible that my people would have access to the luggage and take them back," he tweeted. "Somebody would then travel from Paris or Amsterdam to bring them to me! How can you be unlucky defending a world title."

As a backup, he arranged for his mother to travel from Paris to Bulgaria with another set of clubs and some clothing.

Colsaerts was on hand at the beginning of the week, but he was unable to get a head start on seeing the new venue for the tournament that might have given him an advantage over 11 players who arrived from Florida on a chartered jet after playing in the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

That group included Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Geoff Ogilvy, Carl Pettersson, Bo Van Pelt and Henrik Stenson.

Colsaerts' clubs were finally found in the Brussels airport, and his father, Patrick, brought them to Bulgaria on a private plane that arrived late Tuesday night, giving Colsaerts a chance to play the course with them the day before the tournament started.

In his title defense, Colsaerts reached the quarterfinals before being ousted by eventual champion McDowell, 2 and 1, despite making a remarkable up-an-down for par on the 10th hole after his ball wound up in an open restroom near the green.

--The Class of 2013 had barely been inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame when commissioner Tim Finchem of the PGA Tour said there might be some changes with several parts of the process.

Finchem has no direct influence of the day-to-day operation of the Hall of Fame. However, he has a seat on the board of the World Golf Foundation, which oversees the Hall of Fame.

"I think it's timely to take a look at everything we're doing and take a fresh look," Finchem said. "We haven't done that in several years. The World Golf Foundation board is very open to change, and has indicated to the (Hall of Fame) staff that we want to."

The induction ceremonies at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla., originally were held in the fall, but they were moved to May to coincide with the Players Championship, a short drive away at TPC Sawgrass.

At the start of this year's ceremony, Hall of Fame members in attendance were introduced, but it was embarrassing that only eight were on hand, all of them women.

The only male golfers in the audience were Blaine McCallister and John Cook, who both play on the Champions Tour.

"Getting players to come back has always been a bit of a challenge over the years," Finchem said. "It does raise a question in my mind about whether this is the best time of the year to do it.

"It was phenomenal ceremony, a compelling night. But if you do it this week or the week of a really big tournament, the golf interest is kind of split. There are three or four things we're looking at, and that's one of them."

Finchem had to be persuaded to move the Hall of Fame induction ceremony to the week of the Players Championship because he feared it would take away from the tournament, but it appears the opposite has happened.

There also was controversy this year over the inductions of Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, who never won a major championship, and Fred Couples, whose only major title came in the 1992 Masters.

Finchem said the idea of having two voting ballots, one for PGA Tour players and one for international players, might be outdated. In addition, the minimum age of 40 years will be re-examined, he said.

Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh have been inducted in recent years after turning 40 while continuing to play on the PGA Tour, another aspect of the Hall that has been questioned.

The LPGA Tour has its own criteria, based on a point system, for players qualifying for the Hall of Fame.

Course Source: Bell Bay Golf Club, World Golf Village

Course Source: Bell Bay Golf Club, World Golf Village










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange May 20, 2013 1:31 AMThe SportsXchange


IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Bell Bay Golf Club in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada.

THE LAYOUT: Thomas McBroom, one of Canada's most noted designers, crafted 18 exceptional holes on Cape Breton Island with sweeping views of the Bras d'or Lake -- North America's majestic inland sea.

Also in view across Bell Bay is Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for Beautiful Mountain), the estate of Alexander Graham Bell, where the inventor of the telephone spent the latter part of his life and died in 1922.

The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site houses the largest collection of Bell artifacts and archives in the world.

Bell Bay Golf Club, which plays to 7,037 yards from the back tees, has a course rating of 74.3 and a slope of 136. However, Bell Bay is eminently playable for all golfers, with a rating of 69.9 and a slope of 125 from the white tees.

The season at opens in May and runs through October, weather permitting, at Bell Bay, which was voted best new course in Canada in 1998 and hosted the 2005 Canadian Amateur Championship in addition to the 2006 Canadian Club Champions Championship.

GENERAL MANAGER: Michael Gillan.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Bell Bay Golf Club received international recognition in 2001, when the Wayne Gretzky and Friends Invitational was held there and televised on the Golf Channel. NHL stars Gretzky, Brett Hull and Joe Sakic played a match against Mike Weir, the left-hander who won the 2003 Masters and is considered the best Canadian golfer of all-time.

Every hole at Bell Bay is named for a ship that sailed the Seven Seas from Baddeck, which was settled by Scottish shipbuilders. The course starts with three strong par 4s, measuring 407, 415 and 433 yards from the back tees.

The best of the opening threesome is No. 3, a 433-yard hole named for Scrapper, a legendary craft built at Bell's laboratories at Beinn Bhreagh. The hole gets its difficulty from the second shot, which is uphill from between 135 to 175 yards into the prevailing wind.

No. 6 is the most challenging of the par 3s at 227 yards from the tips to a green guarded by seven bunkers. The hole is named for Typhoon, a 45-foot ketch that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a then-record 15 days in 1920. The voyage was made even more remarkable because it was accomplished entirely under sail after the engine failed two hours into the trip.

When you make the turn at Bell Bay, the best is yet to come, especially what the locals call "The Final Four." But before the golfer gets there, he must navigate No. 13, a 508-yard par 5 named for the brig Challenger, which was built in Baddeck in 1848 and lost at sea the following year on a journey from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Boston. Like the ship, many golf balls find a watery grave in the lake that runs nearly the last half of the hole and guards the left side of the green.

The last four holes are considered one of the best windups in Canadian golf.

No. 15 is Perseverance, a daunting 463-yard par-4 with one of the smaller greens on the course. The hole was named for a brigantine built in 1845 that was later re-rigged as a schooner.

The 16th hole is Argyle, named for a brig built in Baddeck that was given the name of a town in Scotland. This is the shortest par 4 on the course, at 365 yards, but perhaps most scenic, routed through a densely wooded corridor of trees that is especially impressive when the fall colors are in their glory.

But the best at Bell Bay is saved for the absolute last. No. 17 is the signature hole, while No. 18 has the signature view.

On the 182-yard, par-3 17th, called Banshee, the tee boxes are perched on a hillside and the shot must carry a spectacularly wooded ravine. Banshee was a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose wailing warned the clan of danger. The cry is similar to that heard from golfers as their tee shots disappear into the ravine.

The 18th hole is named for Bradalbane, a 101-foot barque that is believed to be the largest and best vessel built at Baddeck. It was instrumental in Rev. Norman MacLeod's expedition to New Zealand in 1857. There is a spectacular panoramic view overlooking the Bras d'or from the tee box on the 566-yard par-5 hole, and the prevailing wind from behind the golfer allows him to let out the sails with the driver.

OTHERS COURSES IN THE AREA: For the perfect golf doubleheader, play Bell Bay and Highland Links in Ingonish Beach, a classic Stanley Thompson layout on the edge of Cape Breton Highland National Park. Highland Links was selected as the No. 1 course in Canada in 2000 by Score Golf magazine and has been rated one of the top 100 courses in the world several times by Golf magazine.

Also worth the trip are Dundee Resort and Golf Course in West Bay, Le Portage Golf Club on the banks of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Cabot Trail in Cheticamp, Passchendaele Golf Club in Reserve Mines, Lingan Golf and Country Club (established in 1895) in Sydney and Seaview Golf and Country Club in North Sydney.

WHERE TO STAY: The Inverary Resort in Baddeck, known for its Celtic charm and lakeside boardwalk, offers stay-and-play packages for Bell Bay Golf Club, as do Glenghorm Beach Resort in Ingonish and Ceilidh Country Lodge in Baddeck.

First-class lodging also can be found at Dundee Resort in West Bay, Castle Moffett in Baddeck, the Maritime Inn in Port Hawkesbury, Chanterelle Country Inn in Baddeck and Haddon Hall Resort Inn in Chester -- Nova Scotia's version of the French Riviera near Halifax, where many of the Titanic victims are buried.

ON THE WEB: www.bellbaygolfclub.com



THE LAST RESORT: World Golf Village, which features the King and Bear Course, and the Slammer and Squire Course, in St. Augustine, Fla.

THE LAYOUT: At the top of the list for any golf vacation to Florida has to be the World Golf Village and Hall of Fame, located in St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.

Not only can golf fans browse through artifacts the greats of the game utilized in their diverse roads to glory, they also can play the two world-class courses on the property, named after four of those all-timers.

The King and Bear Course, about three miles from the Hall of Fame, but still on land owned by the World Golf Village, is the only collaboration in golf course design by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, opening in 2000.

Palmer and Nicklaus played a match that was televised for Shell's Wonderful World of Golf to mark the opening of the course, which also hosted the Champions Tour for the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in 2001 and 2002.


The Slammer and Squire, named for Sam Snead and Gene Sazarzen, was designed by Bobby Weed, although he received input from those great champions, who were still alive when the course opened in 1998.

The original course on the property, located a short walk from the Hall of Fame and the hotels on the property, the Slammer and Squire hosted the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in 1999, and also has been the venue for PGA Tour Qualifying School and Champions Tour Qualifying School.

DIRECTOR OF GOLF: Jeff Hartman.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: The King and Bear is the more challenging of the two courses, playing to 7,279 yards and a par of 72 from the back tees, with a course rating of 75.2 and a slope of 122.

It is what the British would call a parkland course, with wide fairways (for which Nicklaus designs are known) on the front nine lined by loblolly trees. The more winding fairways on the back side are framed by 200-year-old live oaks.

The 17 lakes that dot the King and Bear are lined by coquina rocks.

"Arnold and I have varying styles on how we do golf courses," Nicklaus said. "(The King and Bear) reflects both of our styles."

The course opens with two strong par-4s, measuring 426 and 435 yards respectively, but there are five sets of tees and plenty of room in the driving areas.

Stay well clear of the water and sand all down the right side at No. 1, where the green is guarded by a large bunker complex. The water on the tee box at No. 2 should not come into play, and the shot to a green protected by three bunkers on the left is slightly uphill.

The best par-5 on the course probably is No. 7, at dogleg that swings left and measures 573 yards, with a large lake on the left to deal with on the layup and the shot to the green.

The front nine finishes with two more challenging par 4s, No. 3 and 1 in difficulty on that side, at 462 and 448 yards from the back, respectively. The eighth has water on both sides of the fairway and the ninth features a large lake all the way to the green.

Palmer included No. 12, a 412-yard par 4, as one of his "Dream 18" in a Sports Illustrated article in 2006. Considered the signature hole on the King and Bear, it winds around a lake to the left to a green sitting on a small peninsula.

No. 14 is a 200-yard par 3 with water and sand on the right, although there is bail-out room on the left, and it leads to a strong finish.

Following three more exceptional par 4s at 360, 467 and 427 yards, the King and Bear finishes with a 563-yard par 5 devoid of water, although there are wetlands to swallow any shot that goes left of the bunker that runs the length of the hole on the left side.

The par-72 Slammer and Squire Course, more of a user-friendly resort course even though both are eminently playable for golfers of all abilities, measures 6,939 from the tips, with a rating of 73.8 and a slope of 135.

The course plays through native wetlands, hardwood hammock trees and old-growth pine trees.

After a relatively straightforward start, the golfer reaches the No. 1-handicap hole on the course, with No. 4 a par 5 that measures 522 yards from the back tees. Water and sand run down the right side off the tee before the hole doglegs dramatically to the left to a green protected by water on three sides.

The seventh is a 178-yard par 3 on which the water on the left must be carried from the back tees, with bunkers guarding both sides of an elevated green that requires an extra club.

The front nine concludes with a 401-yard par 4 that plays back toward the Trophy Tower that sits atop the Hall of Fame, and although there is no water on the hole, there are eight bunkers to deal with from tee to green.

The best hole on the back nine probably is the par-4, 442-yard 12th, which has a water hazard that cannot be seen from the fairway about 120 yards from the green. Collection areas on three sides of the green make it difficult to get up and down for par if you miss the putting surface.

The finish is challenging, starting with the 576-yard, par-5 16th, the longest hole on the course with sand and water to deal with all the way to the green.

The Slammer and Squire finishes with par 4s measuring 459 and 425 yards, respectively, both bending to the left. The penultimate hole has water on both sides as you approach the green, and the final green has a spectacular view of the Hall of Fame across the water.

The fun isn't over when your round ends at the World Golf Village, because there are hands-on exhibits in the Hall of Fame, which features "Shanks for the Memories," an exhibition dedicated to comedian Bob Hope's career and love of golf.

In addition to the largest PGA Tour merchandise shop in the world, on the property is Caddyshack Restaurant, owned by the Murray brothers, which is a tribute to Bill Murray's role of assistant course superintendent Carl Spackler in the movie "Caddyshack."

If you don't have time for a round of golf, you can still play the 18-hole natural grass putting course, take a shot to an island green on the 132-yard Challenge Hole reminiscent of No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass or watch a movie in the IMAX Theatre.

As Gary Player, World Golf Hall of Fame Global Ambassador, says in TV commercials for the Hall: "For the love of golf, go."

OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: The World Golf Village and Hall of Fame are only about a 20-minute drive from TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, home of the PGA, Champions and Nationwide tours. On the property are Pete Dye's Valley Course and the Stadium Course, with its infamous island 17th green, site of the Players Championship every May.

Also in the area are Royal St. Augustine Golf and Country Club, St. Augustine Shores Golf Club, the Golf Club at South Hampton in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Golf and Country Club at Sawgrass, St. John's Golf and Country Club in St. Augustine, the Ocean Course designed by Jack Nicklaus at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Queens Harbour Yacht and Country Club in Jacksonville, Magnolia Point Golf and Country Club in Green Cove Springs, and Eagle Harbor Golf Club in Orange Park.

About an hour's drive south on Interstate 95 in Daytona Beach is LPGA International, home of the LPGA Tour, with the Legends Course, designed by Arthur Hills, and the Champions Course, designed by Rees Jones.

WHERE TO STAY: Stay on the grounds of the World Golf Village at the Renaissance Resort, the Comfort Suites, Laterra Resort and Spa or the Grande Villas, which all offer golf packages for the Slammer and the Squire, and the King and the Bear.

Historic St. Augustine is the oldest European settlement in the United States, first visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513, and there are numerous hotels and B&Bs in and around the city. Among the best are the Bayfront Marin House, the Casablanca Inn on the Bay, Casa Monica Hotel, the Bayfront Westcott House, St. George Inn, Our House Bed and Breakfast, Alexander Homestead Bed and Breakfast, the Pirate Haus Inn and the Carriage Way B&B.

In Ponte Vedra Beach are the Sawgrass Marriott Resort and Beach Club, Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, the Lodge and Club at Ponte Vedra Beach, the Hilton Garden Inn and the Fig Tree Inn B&B.

Golf resorts in the area include the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast and Amelia Island Plantation.

ON THE WEB: www.golfwgv.com

Inside the Ropes: Memorial field gets preview of Presidents Cup course

Inside the Ropes: Memorial field gets preview of Presidents Cup course










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange May 27, 2013 2:10 AMThe SportsXchange


Tiger Woods has won the Memorial Tournament a record five times, but the iconic moment at Muirfield Village comes from none of those victories.

The most enduring image from the events at Jack Nicklaus' course in Dublin, Ohio, is of Spain's Seve Ballesteros spraying champagne from a giant magnum on his European teammates after they won the Ryder Cup for the first time on American soil in 1987.

It rubbed many of the Americans the wrong way, but it was a turning point in Ryder Cup history, and not only because the Euros won on the course of the greatest player of all time while he was serving as captain.

The United States had dominated the Ryder Cup until that time, but the Euros started an 8-4-1 run on that Sunday. The passion that originally came from Ballesteros has permeated the event since, making it a major sporting event on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Presidents Cup, which hasn't produced nearly the same emotion, is hoping for the same type of boost when it comes to Muirfield Village in September.

That's why a number of players who figure to be on the U.S. and International teams in a few months, and others who hope to be, are in the field this week for the Memorial.

Captain Fred Couples, who plays mostly on the Champions Tour, also will tee it up at Muirfield Village, where he claimed the title in 1998 by four strokes over Andrew Magee.

Among those playing this week who figure to be in his team room, or at least be in the running, come September are defending champion Woods, Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, Zach Johnson, Nick Watney, Bill Haas and Kevin Streelman.

Nick Price of Zimbabwe, captain of the International team, isn't in the field but also will be at Muirfield Village this week to scout some of the projected members of his squad.

"I think it's a spectacular golf course for match-play format," Price said. "I think we saw that in the Ryder Cup back in '87, and I know the changes that have been made.

"In fact, I have to come up and start checking and see all the changes because it's been a while since I've played, but all the players really love the changes. ... But I think it's a spectacular back nine for match play."

Australia's Adam Scott, the Masters champion, leads the International contingent, which also includes Ernie Els of South Africa, Jason Day of Australia, Sang-Moon Bae of South Korea, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, Y.E. Yang of South Korea, Branden Grace of South Africa, Geoff Ogilvy of Australia, Brendon De Jonge of Zimbabwe, George Coetzee of South Africa, K.J. Choi of South Korea, John Senden of Australia, Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Marc Leishman of Australia.

The players on both sides will get a feel for the course, but they will not get a taste of the atmosphere Nicklaus expects for the Presidents Cup.

"It's going to get a little bit loud and raucous (in September)," said Nicklaus, a four-time captain of the U.S. team in the Presidents Cup. "I'm very pleased with what has happened here. We've had the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup and now the Presidents Cup. It's pretty neat."

Of course, this week it's about whether Woods can win at Muirfield Village for the second consecutive year and the sixth time overall. His other titles came in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2009. His average margin of victory in his five victories is 3.4 strokes.

Not only that, but he has won four times in six stroke-play events on the PGA Tour this season, including the Players Championship in his last outing.

"I always look forward to playing in Jack's tournament," Woods said when he committed to the Memorial. "It's a wonderful course, and we are always treated well.


"We, as players, are very appreciative of what he has meant to the game."

Last year, Woods closed with a 5-under-par 67 to win by two strokes over Rory Sabbatini and Andres Romero, carding three birdies in the last four holes to erase a two-shot deficit.

Woods tied Nicklaus with his 73rd PGA Tour victory and did it after running a temperature of 102 degrees on Friday and Saturday.

When Woods hit his tee shot on the par-3 16th hole over the green in the final round, it appeared his chances to win were slipping away, but he holed a remarkable chip shot from 50 feet for birdie.

"He had one place to land the ball," said Nicklaus, who was watching from the television booth. "He's playing a shot that if he leaves it short, he's going to leave himself again a very difficult shot. If he hits it long, he's going to probably lose the tournament.

"He lands the ball exactly where it has to land. Going in the hole was a bonus. But what a shot. I don't think under the circumstances I've ever seen a better shot."

It's the kind of shot in the arm the Presidents Cup could use.



COMING UP

PGA TOUR: The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT on CBS, and Sunday, noon-2 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 2:30-6 p.m. EDT on CBS.

LAST YEAR: Tiger Woods birdied three of his last four holes while closing with a 5-under-par 67 to claim a two-stroke victory over Andres Romero of Argentina and Rory Sabbatini of South Africa, winning the tournament for a record fifth time. Woods, who tied tournament host Jack Nicklaus with the 73rd victory of his PGA Tour career, was two strokes behind Sabbatini, who carded a bogey on the 16th hole en route to a closing 72, opening the door. Woods, who birdied the par-5 15th, knocked his tee shot over the green on the par-3 16th, but chipped in for birdie from 50 feet to take the lead. He added a nine-foot birdie putt on the final hole. Romero closed fast with an eagle on No. 15 and a birdie at No. 18 to shoot 67 and tie Sabbatini.



CHAMPIONS TOUR: Principal Charity Classic at Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday through Sunday.

TV: Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday, 6:30-9:30 p.m. EDT, and Sunday, 7-9:30 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: Jay Haas put together rounds of 66-65-66 at Glen Oaks Country Club to run away with the title by five strokes over Kirk Triplett and Larry Mize, becoming the first player to win the tournament for the third time, all in the last six years. Haas, who also won the tournament in 2007 and 2008 and has 16 victories on the Champions Tour, posted a 54-hole total of 16-under-par to tie the tournament record set by Gil Morgan in 2006, and matched the largest margin of victory in 2012 on the Champions Tour. Triplett closed with a tournament-record, 9-under-par 62, breaking the mark of 63 held by four players. Mize finished with a 68.



LPGA TOUR: ShopRite on the Bay Course at Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., Friday through Sunday.

TV: Friday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: Stacy Lewis carded five birdies in the first eight holes of the final round to build a nine-stroke lead at the turn and coasted to a four-stroke victory over Katherine Hull of Australia despite struggling on the back nine and closing with a 1-under-par 71. Lewis, who took charge of the tournament by opening with rounds of 65-65, won for the second time in her last three events, also having won the Mobile LPGA Classic a few weeks earlier. Even though Lewis carded a bogey on the ninth hole, a double bogey on the 11th hole and a bogey on the 12th, she was never challenged and righted the ship by holing a 35-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole. Hull sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole to close with a 68 and finish alone in second place.

Golf notebook: Euro captain adds wild-card pick for '14 Ryder Cup

Golf notebook: Euro captain adds wild-card pick for '14 Ryder Cup










The Sports Xchange May 27, 2013 2:11 AMThe SportsXchange


--Captain Paul McGinley of the European Ryder Cup team announced that he will have three wild-card selections to complete his team for the 2014 matches, which will be contested at Gleneagles Resort in Scotland on Sept. 26-28, 2014.

McGinley will have one more wild-card selection that his predecessor, Jose Maria Olazabal, had to fill out his 12-man squad for the matches won by the Euros last year at Medinah, near Chicago.

Tom Watson, captain of the United States team, announced in March that he was reducing his wild-card selections from four to three. The other nine spots on both teams will be determined by point standings based on tournament performance.

The Americans have one list, while four players for McGinley's team will come from the European Points List, with another five coming from the World Points List.

"I have said on a number of occasions that if something ain't broke, then don't fix it, and I think that applies to the qualification process for the European Ryder Cup team," said McGinley, whose proposed selection criteria received unanimous backing from the European Tour's Tournament Committee during a meeting at Wentworth. "You only need to look at the record books to see that we haven't done too badly of late, so I didn't see the need to make sweeping changes.

"I've kept the qualification list order the same as Olly had it for Medinah, the only difference being that I've increased the number of picks from two to three. I've done that to give myself a little bit of extra flexibility when it comes to making my selections. Hopefully this will ensure that I have the right players to face the examination paper that Gleneagles will set out next September."

The European Points List will consist of points gained by a player from all Race to Dubai tournaments during the qualification process, with one point equaling one euro.

The World Points List will be comprised by Official World Golf Ranking points gained in officially sanctioned tournaments around the world during the qualification process. The qualification system will begin at the ISPS Handa Wales Open on the European Tour at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales from Sept. 5-8, 2013.

--Even though Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia have not been together since the Players Championship, the war of words in the media between the two wouldn't go away, so it probably was inevitable that it got out of hand.

It all started when Woods, surrounded by fans and deep in trees to the left, pulled a club from his bag as Garcia was preparing to hit from the other side of the fairway on the second hole in round three of the Players at TPC Sawgrass.

Garcia claimed the reaction of the crowd to Tiger pulling a wood, rather than an iron to lay up, bothered him in his backswing as he hit the ball into the right trees, leading to a bogey.

Side-by-side replays showed that Garcia actually was still addressing the ball when the crowd reacted, and Woods was unapologetic later.

"Obviously, he doesn't know all the facts; the marshals told me he had already hit," Woods said. "I pulled the club and played my shot. Then I hear his comments afterward. Not really surprising that he's complaining about something."

Last week, on media day for the AT&T National that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, Woods was asked if might consider contacting Garcia and bringing the feud, which has simmered for years, to an end.

Woods had a one-word answer: "No."

The next day, Garcia was speaking to the media at Wentworth in England, where he would play in the BMW PGA Championship later in the week.

Naturally, the topic came up again.

"(Woods) called me a whiner," Garcia said. "He's probably right. But that's also probably the first thing he's told you guys that's true in 15 years. I know what he's like. You guys are finding out."

The following night, Garcia was at the European Tour's annual awards dinner when he was asked about Woods again.

Steve Sands of the Golf Channel asked him on stage if he would invite Woods to dinner in two weeks during the U.S. Open at Merion.

"We will have him round every night," Garcia said. "We will serve fried chicken."

Later, Garcia issued this apology through the European Tour: "I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during the European Tour Players' Awards dinner. I answered a question that was clearly made toward me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner."

Garcia apologized again at a news conference the following day.

While Woods has made it known that he does not like Garcia, the war of words has been almost as one-sided at Tiger's domination of Sergio on the golf course, with Garcia taking most of the shots and Woods responding.

On the course, Woods has beaten Garcia head-to-head the last seven times they have played on the weekend, and Woods has gone on to win the tournament each time.

They were not paired together Sunday at the Players, but they were tied for the lead late in the final round when Garcia had a chance to get at least a little bit of redemption.

Then he hit two balls into the water at the famed island green on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass and another at No. 18, handing the title to Woods.

There were cheers from the crowd as Garcia's ball splashed down, and it will be interesting to see how the crowd greets him when he gets to the U.S. Open at Merion in two weeks.

--Josh Teater, a 34-year-old with 107 starts on the PGA Tour, shot 64-69--133, 7 under par on the Queens Course at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, Texas, to win International Final Qualifying-America for The 142nd Open Championship.


Teater led eight qualifiers for the Open, which will be played at Muirfield on July 18-21.

"I am really looking forward to playing in my first Open Championship," said Teater, who also will be playing in his first major championship.

"You always want to get off to a quick start in these qualifiers, but I went out and bogeyed my first hole of the day. I think that may have been good for me because I was able to refocus."

The 78 players battled difficult conditions, with winds from the south at 20-25 mph, gusting to 35 mph.

Johnson Wagner and Camilo Villegas of Colombia shot identical scores of 68-66--134 to tie for second.

Wagner, who has three victories on the PGA Tour, earned his second trip to the Open Championship after missing the cut last year at Royal Lytham.

Villegas, who has won three times on the PGA Tour, will be making his fifth start in the Open Championship and 22nd overall start in a major, but his first since 2011.

Scott Brown shot 71-64--135 and tied for fourth with Brian Davis of England, who finished at 66-69.

Brown made two eagles in his second round, holing out with a pitching wedge on the par-4 fifth hole and then sinking a 20-foot putt on the par-5 10th hole.

"I'm usually not as good at qualifiers to be honest," said Brown, who earned his first PGA Tour victory this year at the Puerto Rico Open. "I am really excited to earn a spot in my first major.

"I played the World Junior Cup at St. Andrews years ago, so I have some experience playing in Scotland."

Luke Guthrie (65-71--136), Bud Cauley (70-66--136) and Sweden's Robert Karlsson (67-69--136) earned the final three spots by surviving a playoff. Each recorded a par on the first extra hole.

Andres Echavarria of Colombia shot 67-69--136, but he carded a bogey on the playoff hole and was eliminated.

Davis Love III, who has made 26 consecutive starts at the Open Championship dating to 1987, shot 70-72--142 and failed to qualify.

--The PGA of America and the PGA Tour made it clear that they were against the proposed ban of anchored putters from the time the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews announced their intentions in November.

So, with the ban coming down last week, with the implementation of Rule 14-1b scheduled to take place in 2016, where do they go from here?

"It's hard for me to answer that question right now because I really haven't thought much about that," said Ted Bishop, president of the PGA of America, when asked if his organization might ignore the anchoring ban.

"I held out hope really all the way up through the week of the Players Championship that there might be some consideration given to this compromise. I hadn't thought too much about it, seriously thought about it, as being a potential real next step. But I think those are the two options: Either you follow the rule or there's potentially another set of rules created.

"I don't think I'm going out of school by making that statement. I don't see us as an association going down that road. But I think we'll sit back and wait to see what the PGA Tour does for sure."

There are those who believe Keegan Bradley winning the 2011 PGA Championship, Webb Simpson capturing the 2012 U.S. Open and Ernie Els claiming the 2012 Open Championship set the wheels in motion for the ruling, as all use belly putters.

By that line of thinking, Adam Scott sealed the deal earlier this year when he captured the Masters while using a putter anchored to his chest, completing what has been called the Anchor Slam.

Commissioner Tim Finchem, with input from the organization's Player Advisory Council and Policy Board, said during the comment phase that the PGA Tour is against the ban.

"We will now begin our process to ascertain whether the various provisions of Rule 14-1b will be implemented in our competitions and, if so, examine the process for implementation," the PGA Tour said in a statement.

"In this regard, over the next month we will engage in discussions with our Player Advisory Council and Policy Board members. We will announce our position regarding the application of Rule 14-1b to our competitions upon conclusion of our process and we will have no further comment on the matter until that time."

Adam Scott, Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson and six other players on the PGA Tour who use anchored putters have retained an attorney, Harry Manion, to represent them, indicating legal action could be possible if the PGA Tour goes along with the ban.

Stay tuned.

--Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan, who played college golf at Oklahoma State, said they will take part in the donation drive to help citizens of Moore, Okla., which was devastated by a tornado last week that killed at least 24 people.

Fowler, who played for the Cowboys from 2007-09, said he would be participating in a donation drive that started last week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

"I'm going to be matching the first $100,000 brought in by spectators," Fowler said. "I will be matching that and see if we can get the spectators involved here, and thanks for Crowne Plaza and the Crowne Plaza Invitational for giving me the opportunity to do it."

Mahan played college golf at Oklahoma State in Stillwater in 2002-03. He was selected as Big 12 Conference player of the year in both seasons after transferring from USC following his freshman year.

He said he would to make a donation through the Red Cross.

"It's a tough thing because it's so sudden," said Mahan, who lives in Colleyville, Texas, a suburb of the Dallas. "You really can't imagine ... how people's lives change so drastically and so fast, and how they lose so much in a matter of minutes."

"I think (the Red Cross) seems like the best place for it. They drop everything to go help out, and they always do a great job. People need so much right now, it's really crazy. It's crazy to think what the people are going through right now."

Several sports figures have donated to the Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund, including Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose check to the Red Cross was for $1 million.

Kuchar, Westwood Show Winning from Final Group a Challenge

Kuchar, Westwood Show Winning from Final Group a Challenge
Boo Weekley is Latest Example of a Hot Player Rallying to Win from Behind on the PGA Tour











Mark McLaughlin May 27, 2013 10:32 AM




COMMENTARY | Boy was I wrong about Lee Westwood.

In my post on Saturday, I predicted that Westwood's


0017.html">strong showing at the BMW PGA Championship, where he started the final round in the last pairing, would bode well for the future.



Instead, Westwood's game totally fell part with the lead. He hit more drives in the woods than the fairway at Wentworth and an improved short game reverted to its old, mediocre form.

"I'm struggling in my swing a little bit at the moment," Westwood said after a final round 73 that left him three shots out of a playoff won by Matteo Manassero. "You know, when you're in the last round, it just gets found out."

Matt Kuchar couldn't blame a faulty swing for his near miss at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. He was run down by a streaking Boo Weekley, who fired a final round 4-under-par 66 to hold off Kuchar by a stroke.

''It's difficult at the moment coming just one shot short but you can't control what other guys do,'' Kuchar said afterward.

Kuchar and Westwood did share one thing in common: They started in the final pairing on Sunday, which is becoming quite a difficult spot from which to lock down a win.

Only two winners in the last 10 events on the PGA Tour have started the day in the final group. Before Sang-Moon Bae's win last week at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, you have to go back to Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March to find another last group champion.

And of the last four major winners, only Rory McIlroy has closed the deal from the final pairing. Graeme McDowell couldn't get it done from the final group last summer in both the U.S. Open and British Open.

What makes it so tough to close the deal playing in the final twosome of the day? Besides Woods, no one else on the PGA Tour feels totally comfortable in the driver's seat.

During that latest stretch since Woods' Bay Hill win, the likes of major champions Phil Mickelson, Angel Cabrera, and Webb Simpson as well as veterans Sergio Garcia and Brandt Snedeker have failed to convert from the last pairing.

Billy Horschel broke through for his first win by firing a final round 64 to overtake the leaders at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans after failing to convert from the pole position a month earlier at the Valero Texas Open.

Horschel says he learned from the disappointment in San Antonio not to scoreboard watch during the final round, something that's tough to do when the rest of the field is ahead of you.

"I was finally able to do my thing on the final round and not worry about who I was playing with or what the people in front of me or behind me are dealing with,'' Horschel said after his win. "So that was a big turning point. Knowing that I could go ahead and be focused on what I wanted to do and not be caught up in anything else that's going on the golf course. ''

Mentally, the players in the final pairing may approach their final round trying not to make mistakes while those pursuing them feel less pressure and have nothing to lose by being aggressive. Adam Scott couldn't hold on down the stretch at last year's British Open but he fired a final round 3-under-par 69 to capture the Masters. Scott's win was made possible by an aggressive, clutch birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff with Cabrera.

In Westwood's case, his downfall at the BMW PGA was a faulty swing that he covered up for three days. In Kuchar's case at Colonial, a hot putter simply cooled down at the wrong time.

The pro tours are chock full of talented players who can throw a 64 or 65 on the board early in a final round before the greens get hard and crusty and the nerves start fraying for the leaders. Anyone who plays golf knows how tough the game is under normal conditions. Throw some pressure and high expectations into the mix and nailing down a win gets that much more difficult.

Mark McLaughlin has reported on the PGA Tour for the New York Post, FoxSports.com, Greensboro News & Record, and Burlington (N.C.) Times-News. He is a past member of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. Follow him on Twitter@markmacduke.