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Love still figuring out Ryder Cup plan

Monday, January 16, 2012 Comments

HONOLULU -- Two years ago at Waialae CC, then Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin recruited two of his assistant captains for the U.S. team, Paul Goydos and Davis Love III. A month later at the Northern Trust Open he revealed the identities of all four assistants.

When Love, the current U.S. Ryder Cup captain, conducts his first press conference of the year at next month's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he likely won't be ready to announce who his assistants will be. There are contingencies to consider, including the PGA Tour's captains selections for the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village GC.

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Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

The United States and Europe square off in the 39th Ryder Cup September 28-30 at Medinah CC near Chicago.

"We're thinking March (for naming assistant captains)," Love said at the Sony Open in Hawaii. "Jose Maria (Olazabal the European captain) is not real sure when he wants to do it, and we don't want to get too far ahead of him. Just trying to stay on the same page with him as much as I can."

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Laird adjusts schedule with sights on Ryder Cup

Thursday, January 5, 2012 Comments

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Scotland's Martin Laird is rearranging his summer schedule to compete on the European Tour in hopes of qualifying for the Ryder Cup team that defends the cup this fall at Medinah CC near Chicago.

"I haven't decided quite yet how many tournaments, but I'm going to go back and try to show Jose Maria [Olazabal, the European captain] and the other guys that I'm not just hanging out here in America expecting a pick or hoping for one," Laird said Wednesday at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. "I know I have to earn it, and I want to show that I want to be on that team and that I'm good enough, if not to earn it on points, then to warrant a pick."

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AP Photo

Laird, 29, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., accepted an affiliate membership to the European Tour this year specifically to try to qualify for the Ryder Cup. He had to wait until the start of the year to join, meaning he has missed four months of collecting points. European Tour members can qualify via the money list or a world points list. Olazabal also gets two captain's picks.

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Sergio's tree at Medinah gone, but not forgotten

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Comments

blog_sergio_tree_0928.jpgMEDINAH, Ill. -- Members of Medinah CC spent an estimated $3 million renovating its No. 3 Course in preparation for the 2012 Ryder Cup. But perhaps the most noteworthy change at the revered layout where Tiger Woods won the last two PGA Championships contested there was out of their hands.

Disease forced the club to remove about 400 oak trees in the last few years. Among them was a giant oak standing right of the 16th fairway under which Sergio Garcia pulled off one of the more remarkable shots in recent major championships.

"Yeah, it lived its full life, but it was dead, unfortunately. It was a safety hazard, so we had to take it down," said Curtis Tyrrell, Medinah's director of golf course operations, said Monday during festivities marking the one-year countdown to the 39th Ryder Cup.

Pursuing Woods in the 1999 PGA, Garcia sliced his tee shot on the par-4 16th into the right rough. His ball came to rest inches from the base of the oak, partially blocking his view of the green. Rather than taking relief and the accompanying penalty stroke, the 19-year old took a huge swing, spinning out of the shot and closing his eyes as he made contact. The ball found the left side of the putting surface. No sooner had he hit it, Garcia raced up the fairway and leaped to see where it ended up.

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Remembering Seve Ballesteros' grit and guile

Saturday, May 7, 2011 Comments
The most entertaining nine holes of golf I ever saw was at the 1995 Ryder Cup in the singles match between Seve Ballesteros and Tom Lehman. Seve's level of play had already begun its downward slide and Lehman was at the top of his game, contending in virtually every major and winning the British Open the next year.
 
Watching Seve play that day was like watching Catfish Hunter pitch on a sweltering Sunday in August without his good stuff. He got by on guile, determination and a skill level that was at one time so massive that reserves of it still remained in the memory bank in great enough quantity to be accessed just often enough to rattle an opponent.

(Related: Look back at Seve's remarkable career in pictures.)
 
Seve and Tom were the first group out that Sunday morning at Oak Hill near Rochester, N.Y. On No. 1, Seve blew it 30 yards left and made a bogey to go 1 down. On No. 2, the Spaniard flared it out 20 yards to the right, had to play an 8-iron over a tree and could only land the ball short of the green with a bunker between his ball and the pin. With Lehman looking at a 15-foot birdie putt, it seemed as if Seve would go 2 down. Instead, he chipped in, Lehman missed, and the match went to all square.
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Fields: Love captaincy a fitting milestone

Thursday, January 20, 2011 Comments
Becoming a Ryder Cup captain certainly doesn't signal that a golfer's playing career is over, because owing to better fitness, equipment and the Champions Tour it's been a long time since fortysomethings were put out to golf pasture, but the occasion remains a milestone.
 
That is certainly true for Davis Love III, 46, who Thursday in Chicago was named captain for the 2012 United States team that will go up against Jose Maria Olazabal's European side at Medinah. For golf writers of a certain age -- in my case, just five years older than Love -- it also is cause for reflection.
 
I started covering golf full-time in 1984, and after only a couple of months on the job saw Love, then a 20-year-old student at North Carolina, play for the first time. It was a sunny May day at the North and South Amateur on Pinehurst No. 2 course, and Love's talent was as stunning as the weather.

Love_1997_470.jpg Love's memorable win in the 1997 PGA at Winged Foot was his only major championship. (Photo by AP Images)

He had an all-around game, but his power was what you noticed first. Defeating Tar Heel teammate John Inman in the 36-hole final, Love routinely outdrove Inman by 40 or 50 yards. I went to a bound volume to check my memory, and I was right. He drove it over the  547-yard par-5 fourth hole with a 7-iron, and he reached the 578-yard par-5 10th hole with a 1-iron. This was with a steel-shafted driver with probably a 160 cc-sized persimmon clubhead and a balata-covered ball with rubber bands on the inside. Tiger Woods' early long-and-straight driving is the only thing I've seen since that rivals what Love could do in those days. It was something to behold.
 


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Corey Pavin: 'I thought I did the best I could'

Saturday, October 9, 2010 Comments

POTOMAC, Md. -- While getting Corey Pavin's autograph Saturday at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, spectator John Wertman had a few words of encouragement for the 2010 United States Ryder Cup captain. "Thanks for everything you did last week," Wertman said. "You should be proud."

Nearly a week after Pavin's squad lost narrowly to Europe at Celtic Manor in Wales, the U.S. captain has turned his attention back to his own game, satisfied that he did everything he could in pursuit of an American victory.

"I thought I did the best that I could do," Pavin said after a third-round 75 at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. "I have no second thoughts about anything I did. I'm very comfortable about that. It's done. The guys played hard. I know what I did and how I did what I did. It's nice to hear it from other people, but to me it's about me giving it my best effort, and I did. It's the Ryder Cup. It's important, but it's done."

Pavin blamed rust, not fatigue, for his 76-70-75 effort heading into the final round of the Champions Tour's last major championship of 2010.

"I'm not tired at all, I'm just not golf ready," Pavin said. "I haven't really touched a club in 45 days. That's the issue this week. I'm just rusty. For me, once the Ryder cup was over, it's over. It's time to move on, time to play golf and finish the year off on the Champions Tour."

-- Bill Fields

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Three men and their babies

Friday, October 8, 2010 Comments

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Martin Kaymer, Colin Montgomerie and Graeme McDowell are all playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and posed at the Old Course at St. Andrews were their most prized possessions -- Kaymer with his PGA Championship trophy, Montgomerie with the Ryder Cup and McDowell with his U.S. Open trophy.

(Photo by Getty Images)

-- John Strege

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The mysterious Cigar Guy goes viral

Thursday, October 7, 2010 Comments
Days removed from a particularly riveting Ryder Cup, the most popular figure to emerge from Celtic Manor might end up being a guy who didn't hit a shot.

We are talking about the unmistakable Cigar Guy first noticed standing behind Tiger Woods in the now-famous photo by the Daily Mail's Mark Pain (Look to the right of Woods).

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Who he is, whether he is being completely serious, is secondary to the comedic gold he has helped spawn, featuring such creative use of Photoshop, it's now being used as a lesson in some public schools.

There are, for instance, Cigar Guy variations of famous album covers.

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Or Cigar Guy appearances in famous sports photos.

Like this one.

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Or this one.

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No truth to the rumor the Cigar Guy is now in the mix for the European Ryder Cup captaincy.

Click here for more classic Cigar Guy photos.

-- Sam Weinman



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Was the anti-Twitter captain's account hacked?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Comments

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, who asked his players to avoid posting on their Twitter accounts during Ryder Cup week, apparently has encountered issues with his own Twitter account.

First, there was a message that said this: "Hold up! Sorry, the profile you were trying to view was suspended due to strange activity."

Then this: "Sorry, that page doesn't exist!"

Presumably, his account was hacked and then taken down, though what use is there any more for the Twitter user name RC_CAPTAIN_2010?

-- John Strege

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Video: Ryder Cup from players' perspectives

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Comments
Much was made of the Twitter ban U.S. captain Corey Pavin imposed on his players last week at Celtic Manor. Whether that was a necessary means of keeping the Americans focused on golf is open for debate. But judging by the various posts from European players both during and after the matches, it was Twitter that provided a window into the competition the average person has never been afforded before.

That was particularly apparent from the updates provided by Ian Poulter, who while never divulging any deep secrets, at least gave his followers a flavor of the team atmosphere. And clearly, it didn't affect Poulter's focus. At 3-1, he was arguably Europe's best player, especially in his drubbing of Matt Kuchar in Monday's singles.

Perhaps because of that, Poulter made sure to enjoy the revelry that followed the European win, whether it was the walk up to the stage for the closing ceremonies depicted in this video...


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