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Trending: Remembering when Tiger could putt

Friday, March 2, 2012 Comments

A lot has been made of Tiger Woods' putting in recent weeks. Once the most reliable part of his game, the past three events--AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, the Accenture Match Play, and his first day at this week's Honda Classic--has many wondering what has gone so terribly wrong with Tiger's putter? Being that I am not a trainer nor a pro, I don't feel it's my place to offer advice. Instead, I would rather take a look back and remember the good times. As Doug Ferguson recently pointed out, Woods never made every big putt, he just made it look that way. Here's some of his best.

We'll start with this cool home video of his birdie on the 72nd hole at the 2008 U.S. Open to force a playoff.

Tiger Woods Birdies 18 at 2008 U.S. Open

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Golf World Monday: Long putter demand is soaring

Monday, October 17, 2011 Comments
From the Oct. 17 issue of Golf World Monday:

Last week TaylorMade announced it was tripling its fourth-quarter forecast for long and belly putters to meet the increasing demand by consumers and, therefore, its retail partners.

Owing in large part to the success of belly and long putters on the PGA Tour -- most notably at the PGA Championship by Keegan Bradley -- the demand for these putters has reached levels usually reserved for hybrid cars during an energy crisis.

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Bradley's win in the PGA Championship was the first major win by a player using a long putter. Photo by Getty Images

In short, there is a feeding frenzy. TaylorMade says it will sell five times as many long/belly putters as it did last year while other manufacturers such as Cleveland and Odyssey also have significantly ramped up production as large retailers are now ordering bellies and broomsticks by the thousands instead of a few at a time. "It might be the hottest topic on our store's floor," said Leigh Bader, co-owner of Joe & Leigh's Discount Golf Pro Shop in South Easton, Mass.

"Manufacturers were caught short in supply, but who knew?" Bader said the trend shows strong signs of sustaining its momentum, aided greatly by the fact these putters are now seen as a legitimate means of improvement as opposed to an act of desperation. "Because of that it's verging, if not already registering, on the coolness scale," said Bader. Because of that, demand is far outpacing supply at the moment. In other words, if you're looking for one, good luck.

-- E. Michael Johnson
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Bradley looking to build off of PGA Championship win

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 Comments

EDISON, N.J. -- Ever since winning the PGA Championship, preparing for the next golf tournament had been on the back burner for Keegan Bradley.

blog_keegan_trophy_0824.jpgIt was a nice four days off.

"When I woke up on Thursday I was like, 'I've got to get going again and get started thinking about this week,'" Bradley said in a press conference at The Barclays on Tuesday. "The FedEx Cup Playoffs are an important part of our season."

The 25-year-old Bradley played a practice round at Plainfield C.C. in preparation for the first leg of this year's FedEx Cup Playoffs. It's also a homecoming of sorts for Bradley, who played his college golf at St. John's University in Queens.

By all appearances, it looks like the PGA Tour rookie isn't letting all the hype get to him. Bradley went back to Queens this past week, spending a night at the underwhelming Red Storm golf house.

"I kicked one of the guys out of their beds. I did pull seniority there," Bradley quipped. "It is cool to go back and hang out with those guys, we are basically the same age, a lot of them, and it's super cool, because like I said, it wasn't that long ago when I was sitting in a house in Queens with $85 in my bank account and struggling around for doing exactly what they are doing, and it's cool to look at them and know I'm one of them and they are one of me."

Bradley said he enjoys being a mentor figure to the Red Storm golfers, someone they can look up to on tour.

And he's enjoyed the time off, celebrating with the Wanamaker Trophy and sharing it with others. A congratulatory text message from Tom Brady, one of his biggest idols, was "a highlight of my career." A congratulatory phone call from Greg Norman--another reminder of how his life has changed since beating Jason Dufner in a playoff at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

"I swear to God, something like that happens every day that I can't really believe," he said. "It's pretty remarkable."

Bradley, the nephew of former LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley, has certainly gathered quite a bit of popularity in the last two weeks. Still, he's tried to share the limelight with others--taking the Wanamaker into his hometown of Jupiter, Fla. to let people see and touch it. After watching a Boston Bruins member take the Stanley Cup into the city of Boston for a day, he knew that's what he wanted to do.

As for being ready for all the extra attention that comes with winning a major championship, Bradley's not too worried about that.

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Stenson, out of PGA, plays club championship

Monday, August 15, 2011 Comments

A little over two years ago, Sweden's Henrik Stenson won the Player's Championship by four strokes and rose to fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings. Last week, he teed it up in the club championship at his home course of Barseback in southern Sweden while the rest of the world's elite battled a tricky Atlanta Athletic Club in the PGA Championship.

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"I didn't qualify for the PGA and since I'm home in Sweden anyway, it was a natural thing to play my club championship," Stenson said to Golf.se's Tommie Gustavsson. "It's fun to see old friends and a tournament is always a little better than just practice."

Mired in a slump since a T-3 at the 2010 British Open, Stenson is currently ranked 130th in the world. At Barseback, he battled strong winds and plugged greens, a condition he doesn't often face on the PGA Tour. "I've only played seven holes here this year," he said. "It doesn't happen very often."

With his father, Ingemar, on the bag, Stenson shot a 54-hole total of 12-over 228 and finished second to Henrik Hilford Brander, who managed 227.

-- Stina Sternberg

Can Stenson still find success on tour? Join the conversation on our partner site, GolfWRX.com.

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GW Monday: Could a PGA be in Bethpage's future?

Monday, August 15, 2011 Comments

From the August 15 edition of Golf World Monday:

blog_bethpage_weinman_0815.jpgTalk was the PGA of America failed to dazzle with Atlanta Athletic Club, a brutish, largely unimaginative golf course that also happened to produce a leader board a few par 5s short of scintillating.

The fact that it was unbearably hot didn't help much, either. But with news that the PGA is discussing bringing the season's final major and possibly a Ryder Cup to Bethpage Black on Long Island, officials at least are looking outside their current rota.

(Related: America's 100 Greatest Public Courses)

PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka confirmed he made a recent scouting trip to the Black Course, with eyes on the course hosting the 2019 PGA and possibly the 2024 Ryder Cup. The New York State-owned course has already hosted two U.S. Opens, in 2002 and 2009, but it doesn't look like a third is imminent.

That means that just as it has already done with courses like Medinah, Oakland Hills, Baltusrol and others, the PGA of America could be content to woo a venue that has fallen out of favor with the USGA. Bethpage Black has already signed on to host the PGA Tour's Barclays in 2012, but the A.W. Tillinghast design deserves better. After a week at Atlanta AC, the PGA does as well.

-- Sam Weinman

(Photo: Stephen Szurlej)


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Bradley's college coach reflects on PGA Championship win

Sunday, August 14, 2011 Comments

Frank Darby could tell his former collegiate star was primed for history even before his final round started.

The first seconds of Keegan Bradley's pre-round interview with CBS gave it away - his level of composure made him a favorite Sunday to win a major championship.

"He had it, you could just tell he had that look," said Darby, Keegan's college golf coach at St. John's University in Queens, N.Y. "I've seen that look."

121152246.jpgIt was the same look Bradley had flashed in collegiate rounds, with significantly less pressure than a major championship. But the experience gained through college and playing on the Hooters Tour and the Nationwide prepared the 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie for the crowning moment of his career.

That's why Darby wasn't surprised to see Bradley rebound from a triple bogey 6 on the par-3 15th hole. Even after dropping three shots to fall four shots off the lead, Bradley birdied the 16th and 17th holes to put himself back in position. Jason Dufner shot 3-over over the final four holes, allowing Bradley another shot at the championship in a three-hole playoff.

Darby knew, too, that the 25-year-old Bradley had a strong advantage over Dufner heading into extra holes.

"You knew he had him after 18 because you could just tell the way he was hitting it," said Darby. "But that was a great second shot he hit after Dufner snuck his in at the playoff hole. Dufner sure played great."

The college coach was at a loss for words as he talked about the Vermont native's PGA Championship win. He recalled the blue Ford Fusion that Bradley would drive around on the Hooters Tour from tournament to tournament, and how much that fueled his passion for being successful.

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With one hand on the Wanamaker Trophy, Dufner lets it go

Sunday, August 14, 2011 Comments
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- From far behind him, where the winner stood, the sound of celebration followed the loser, and Jason Dufner walked on, his left arm around a beautiful woman, neither speaking until he said, "Amanda, yeah, meet me back there, right by the locker room." If his heart were broken by the day's events, no one would know it. Maybe even he wouldn't know, he said. Give him time, and if he never came this close again, well, maybe, yes, this one would hurt.

110814_dufner.jpgJason Dufner walks up the 18th fairway of regulation play. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

For most of three and a half hours in the Sunday heat of this PGA Championship, Dufner was somebody. That's a new thing for him. He's 34 years old and has never won on tour. When his name came to the top of the leader board here, there was serious furrowing of brows among people who'd never heard of Jason Dufner. But for three days he went 70, 65, 68 on a course that embarrassed Tiger Woods, sent Rory McIlroy to the hospital, and had Phil Mickelson muttering about course design, as if we cared.

On the fourth day, for those three and a half hours, Jason Dufner was as efficient a golfing machine as the game allows. As he stood on the 15th tee, he had missed only two greens all day. He'd made four birdies, no bogeys. He was 11-under par for the season's last major. There were four holes to play. For a moment, as play happened around him, Jason Dufner led the world by five shots.


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In Bradley's first major, plenty of new ground broken

Sunday, August 14, 2011 Comments
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- This was a day of firsts, some unique, others not, for the new PGA champion, Keegan Bradley. In no particular order, the 25-year old Vermont native is the first-ever major winner with an Auntie Pat in the World Golf Hall of Fame. He is the first "Keegan" to join golf's most elite club. He is surely the first man to win one of golf's four most important events after chipping not so deftly into a lake three holes from the end of the final round.

110814_bradley_460.jpg(Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

And -- sorry to introduce a depressing note -- he is the first man to achieve all of the above wielding a so-called "belly" putter, an implement many purists (see Tom Watson and Ernie Els before he needed one himself) feel allows an unfair and improper advantage on the greens.

Perhaps most impressively and memorably, Bradley became the seventh consecutive first-time major champion by first overcoming a five-shot deficit with three holes to play in regulation, then claiming the three-hole play-off by one stroke from the gallant if rather stern Jason Dufner, who at this time has no known relatives in any Hall of Fame. All in all then, this was quite a performance from a PGA Tour rookie with only a paltry 23 events -- none of them majors -- under his trendy white belt.

(Related: Player Profile of Keegan Bradley)

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For trio of major-less stars, it's wait 'til next year

Sunday, August 14, 2011 Comments
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- Unrequited they came, unrequited they leave.
 
110814_donald_290.jpgForm charts in golf -- if you want to consider the World Ranking a form chart -- don't mean much when it comes to major-championship performance. Luke Donald  (No. 1), Lee Westwood (No. 2) and Steve Stricker (No. 5), the three highest-ranked golfers on the ranking without a major victory to their credit, challenged, at times strongly, in the 93rd PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club but each came up short.
 
Donald and Westwood each closed with a 68 and finished at three-under 277, five shots out of the Keegan Bradley-Jason Dufner playoff. Stricker, who shot a major record-tying 63 in the first round, slumped to a 73 Sunday and was two strokes further back at 279.
 
Donald, 33, who will now try to top the 2011 money lists on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour, a feat no one has ever accomplished, was four shots behind going to the difficult par-3 15th hole Sunday, but hit his tee shot into the water, an error that ended whatever slim hope he had remaining.
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Allenby goes from hot to hot under the collar

Sunday, August 14, 2011 Comments

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- Robert Allenby went from hot man on the golf course to hot under the collar when his caddie called him off a club on the par-3 17th Sunday that resulted in a second bogey in three holes and put the brakes on a final-round run in the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

"I really wanted to hit 8,'' Allenby said of the tee shot over water after firing a 68 to finish at one-over-par 281. "I didn't think the wind was going to affect it that much. But when you've got outside interference with a caddie who says you can't hit 7 in the back trap, you know. I hit 7 three-quarters and flew it in the back trap.''

Allenby also bogeyed the par-4 18th for three bogeys over the treacherous Final Four holes on the Highland Course. That came after making five birdies through 13 holes and narrowly missing another at 14 to get to two-under for the championship.

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Despite faltering down the stretch, the Aussie picked up enough valuable points to move up in the standings for the International Presidents Cup team set to battle the Americans on his home turf at Royal Melbourne in November. He entered the PGA Championship in 13th place trailing Geoff Ogilvy by .31 points and Ryo Ishikawa by less than 10. Both of them missed the cut.

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