Golf Digest Search Results

Mixed Blessings: Tour pros are increasingly playing with diversified iron lineups -- with good reason

Derek Evers — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:03:00 GMT

By E. Michael Johnson Breaking up may be hard for some folks, but when it comes to irons PGA Tour pros have no qualms about splitting up matched sets. Heck, it's the thing to...

With Masters win, Scott and his long putter come a long way

Derek Evers — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:19:00 GMT

By E. Michael Johnson By winning at Augusta National, Adam Scott also became the first player to win a major using a long putter. The putter Adam Scott used to win the 2013 Masters....

Given another chance to make history, Couples embraces the opportunity

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:56:00 GMT

By Bill Fields

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Will golf justice, elder division, ever make up for the 72nd-hole bogey at the 2009 British Open that cost Tom Watson his sixth Claret Jug at age 59?

For the second straight year at the Masters, the scales have tipped teasingly toward the affirmative after 36 holes.

Fred Couples, 53, who led at the halfway point last April, is in great position again at Augusta National GC. Another green jacket, 21years after he won his only major championship and a few weeks before he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, is in the realm of possibility.

If Couples were a political candidate, he would have won a couple of early primaries but has a lot of work ahead of him. Instead of raising more money and getting more votes, he has to keep hitting it long and making putts.

He is five years older than the oldest man to win a major, Julius Boros, who was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship.

Boros' swing was syrup; Couples is wielding his driver like a sledgehammer, unloading on the ball as if to channel his younger Boom Boom.

"A couple of practice rounds, I just played horrible," Couples said. "Then on Wednesday afternoon, after the Par 3, I told [coach Paul Marchand], 'I'm going to swing as hard as I can.' You can't play this course driving it 275 or 289. On Thursday I went out there and just picked up a little speed. He said, 'Keep your balance and pound it.' And that's what I've been doing."

Couples didn't hold up well on Saturday afternoon a year ago, getting off to a poor start and shooting 75 en route to a T-12. "I think I was four over after five holes," he said of the disappointing third round. "That really wasn't good."

But the memory of that day hasn't tainted his hopes of what could be this year. "I've said it my whole life: This is my favorite spot in the world," Couples said. "At no given time, have I ever come here and not thought I could win. My goal is to always win this. I've had four probably really good shots at it. I got it once."

He is in position to get it again.

"I think it's possible," said Bernhard Langer, another fiftysomething, who is two under after 36 holes, of whether a senior could win the Masters. "I always thought that Freddie, with his length, can win it because he hits it a good 30 yards by me, which helps a great deal on some of these holes. For me to win, everything has to go my way."

Couples will need good fortune too, the likes of which he got in 1992, when his tee shot on No. 12 seemed to defy gravity on the bank and stayed out of the water.

"Hopefully tomorrow will be a little different [than 2012] and I will play well and have a shot at Sunday," Couples said. "I mean, that's my goal. But it is hard. I'm not going to kid you. You know, I did tee off Thursday with the idea of playing well, and it's Friday afternoon late. I mean, I'm surprised, but I'm not going to freak out over it."

The laid-back, bad-back one would save that for early Sunday evening, if everything had gone right to historic proportions.

"I would like to have another run," Couples said. "Last year Jason [Day] and I really struggled off the bat and we really were a non-factor on Saturday, and that was really not much fun."

He can make amends, then perhaps make some history.

Follow @BillFields1

[Photo: Getty Images]

Style notes from Round One at The Masters

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:39:00 GMT

Despite getting a sneak preview of what the pros would be wearing at Augusta, there were some notable exceptions that caught our Mr. Style, Marty Hackel's eye on Thursday. Here's a quick look at a few who turned his head on Day One.

Bernhard Langer

Which one is the caddie? Kind of hard to figure out why white has become so popular. Yes, I understand, it goes with everything, but gosh it's so bland.

David Lynn

Right on what I think will be one of the style themes of this years Masters, bright, almost neon colors. They make a serious and bold statement. By the way, I see this trend with the fans as well.

Lee Westwood

Confirms the bold color trend and does it well.

Matteo Manassero

Matteo looks to be in great shape and solid form. His RLX Ralph Lauren opening outfit looked great in person and on High Def TV's, which is a good thing. Wish I could say the same for this image as the red trousers do have a tendency to moire.

Jamie Donaldson

Galvin Green has a designer, Mats Lundqvist, who has a great feel for pattern and these green plaid trousers really make a great statement... and the hole in one doesn't hurt either.

Follow @MrStyleMH

Podcast: Paul Azinger on Riviera's 10th and Obama/Tiger's round

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:01:00 GMT

Listen to the podcast

By Ryan Herrington

With the drivable par-4 10th at Riviera CC again proving pivotal in the outcome of the Northern Trust Open, Paul Azinger recalls his approach to playing the risk/reward hole--and some of the trouble it caused him--in the latest edition of Zinger's Corner. Paul and Golf World editor Jaime Diaz also discuss the benefit of having a someone in the Oval Office who plays golf after President Obama's round yesterday with Tiger Woods at The Floridian (Exclusive: Details of Obama's round with Tiger) as well as Bernhard Langer's continued excellence on the Champions Tour and just what keeps him going.

Download and subscribe to the Zinger's Corner series in iTunes

Is Finchem opposed to anchoring ban? Stay tuned

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:08:00 GMT

By John Strege

Keegan Bradley lines up a putt during the second round of the Northern Trust Open. Photo: Chris Condon/Getty Images

Here we are again, at the intersection of golf and politics, though not to bear witness to the heavyweight pairing of President Obama and Tiger Woods. Nothing so trivial as that.

On Monday, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem will convene a conference call with members of the PGA Tour policy board to discuss the USGA's proposal to ban the anchoring of a putter against the body. And if former board member Brad Faxon is correct, the potential ramifications won't be insignificant.

Faxon predicts that Finchem will attempt "to persuade the board that the tour should urge the USGA to withdraw the proposed ban," he wrote in a column for Golf.com.

This would put the tour in direct conflict with golf's governing bodies, the USGA and the Royal and Ancient, who have proposed the ban because they believe it necessary. "This decision gets back to the USGA and R&A feeling that fundamentally golf for 600 years has been about picking up the club, gripping it with two hands and making a free swing away from the body," USGA Executive Director Mike Davis told Golf Digest's Mike Stachura in November.

It also would pit two important and powerful entities, the PGA Tour and the PGA of America, against the two governing bodies. Previously, PGA of America president Ted Bishop said that the organization opposes the ban.

Faxon also predicts that the USGA won't back off its position and that ultimately the tour will acquiesce. But if it doesn't? Section I in the Rules of Golf, dealing with etiquette ("the game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and to abide by the Rules"), will be tested.

The tour conceivably could override the USGA, allowing anchoring as a condition of play on the PGA Tour. But it would have no jurisdiction over the U.S. Open, the British Open or the Masters, none of them PGA Tour events. "If that happens there will be chaos," Faxon wrote, this an understatement.

The PGA Tour is not immune from controversy, but neither is it the partner with whom other professional sports are forced to dance with alarming frequency. A solitary player confessing to his use of deer antler spray is a big deal in golf. Elsewhere, it's business as usual.

But the possibility, however remote, that the most powerful and visible group in golf might unilaterally choose to play by different rules would qualify as bona fide in the controversy industry.

The USGA and R&A have reserved the right to stand down and allow the status quo to prevail. Ostensibly, that's the purpose of their open comment period, to entertain all opinions before rendering a final decision.

Obama beating Woods from the back tees at the Floridian on Sunday seemed more likely than the USGA backing down. As Davis told Golf World editor-in-chief Jaime Diaz recently, "If we don't do what we think is the right thing for fear of a lawsuit, then shame on us. We shouldn't be in the governance business then."

All we know for certain at this point is that that Monday conference call will be a spirited one. Meanwhile, Bernhard Langer won the Champions Tour's ACE Group Classic on Sunday using a long putter anchored to his chest, and Webb Simpson was in contention at the PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open using a belly putter.

The beat goes on.

Follow @JohnStrege

Ryder Cup captaincy has eluded Irwin, too

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:18:00 GMT

By Dave Shedloski

ORLANDO - Larry Nelson is getting a lot of ink - and receiving plenty of sympathy - after getting passed over again for the job of Ryder Cup captain. But Nelson isn't the only three-time major winner to have never led a U.S. Ryder Cup team.

True, Hale Irwin did lead the first U.S. Presidents Cup team as a player-captain in 1994, which perhaps explains why he doesn't garner the same support as Nelson is getting after the PGA of America on Thursday selected Tom Watson as the 2014 U.S. captain. Nevertheless, Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open champion and five-time Ryder Cup player, admits he's disappointed to have never gotten the call.

"I would love to have been a Ryder Cup captain. It's one of those things every player who values the traditions we have in our game would want to do," Irwin, 67, said at the PNC Father-Son Challenge, where he is competing with his son, Steve. "Certainly if you're a member of the PGA Tour and have been around the game as long as some of us have and who have played in the Ryder Cup, absolutely I would have loved to have done it. It's not my choice. I never politicked for it. Would I have accepted it? With glee I would have done it.

"Anybody can make an argument for any name player to be a candidate and would think that player would be a capable captain," he added. "I have played with some of the best players in the history of the game. I have played for some of the best captains. I feel honored to have been on those teams. But I think for any of us to go wading into the quicksand of should someone be a captain and do they have the qualifications, I think produces negative results and conversation that takes away from our task of getting 12 players prepared to win back the Ryder Cup for the United States."

Irwin, who won 20 PGA Tour titles and a record 45 times on the Champions Tour (including four Senior PGA Championships), compiled a 13-5-2 record in his five Ryder Cup appearances.

He was involved in one of the most consequential and pressure-packed singles matches in Ryder Cup history when he earned a half-point against Bernhard Langer in the 1991 matches at Kiawah Island, S.C. Langer missed a six-foot putt that allowed America to escape with a 14 Â¿-13 Â¿ victory.

"To think that a Ryder Cup could come down to one six-foot putt on the last hole of the last match ... the last possible stroke, it doesn't get any better than that," Irwin said.

Irwin qualified for that '91 team on the strength of his third U.S. Open victory the previous summer at Medinah CC, where he beat Mike Donald in a playoff.

"In the span of 15 months, I had probably two of the biggest adrenaline rushes I could ever have," Irwin said of his playoff against Donald and his singles match against Langer. "Those were two far different events, and yet the pressure was something that, let's just say it was something I still think about. On the anxiety meter, they both were off the charts. But it was fun. Regardless of the outcome, I could say I was there. I was in the very heat of it. I could feel it.

"Even today when I look back, I get chills thinking about it. Even today, there is an element of shock that all of us felt, on both sides of just how emotionally draining it all was. And you wouldn't trade that for anything to have been there."

(Getty Images photo)

Your reactions to a passionate Masters....Bubba's, Phil's and (oh yeah) Tiger's.

Bob Carney — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:23:00 GMT

What an amazing Masters, right? Yep, and viewership was down 22 per cent reports say. That, after a resounding Thursday when viewership was up just as much. The difference, of course: Tiger Woods. When he's...

Friday stats: Big day for No. 373

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:02:00 GMT

(Henrik Stenson is attempting to turn a dubious record into a positive one. Photo: Getty Images)

Ten notable second-round Masters stats from Golf World contributing writer Brett Avery, who compiles the Rank and File statistical sections for the magazine's major championship coverage.

1. Stellar play at Augusta National by Fred Couples late in his career is anything but a surprise -- he has cracked the top 15 three times in his last six Masters, including solo sixth and T-15 the last two years. The 373rd-ranked player in the world starting the week, now age 52, became the oldest second-round Masters leader (Lee Trevino, 49 in 1989). Couples sets the pace at five-under 139 with Jason Dufner, who was 6 years old when the University of Houston product made his ANGC debut in 1983.

Another take on Langer's high swing speed distance boost

Mike Stachura — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:22:00 GMT

Misinformation is a dangerous thing, and were it not possible that a misinformed opinion would unjustly shape an argument that already is more about heat than light, it would remain comical. Fortunately for all of...