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McDowell and his handling of a no-kilt wind

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:34:00 GMT

The conditions were more conducive to sailing or kiting than golf, unless a golfer hails from Northern Ireland and cut his teeth on the seaside links of Royal Portrush, learning to work its trademark winds.

The RBC Heritage provided Graeme McDowell with a touch of home on Sunday -- winds gusting upwards of 40 miles per hour and consistently blowing in the 20s at Harbour Town Golf Links, hard by Calibogue Sound in Hilton Head, S.C.

Photo by Getty Images

McDowell accordingly equaled the low round of the day, his one of just three 69s, sending him to a playoff with Webb Simpson that he won with a par on the first extra hole for his first official victory in the States since he won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2010.

Better than any wind gauge was how CBS' David Feherty chose to describe the wind. "One of the traditions here at the Heritage are the gentlemen who wear the kilts," he said. "It's not a great day to wear a kilt. The spectators might need therapy for months."

Provided they weren't blinded by the sight, they saw the kind of golf atypical for the PGA Tour, a winning score that doesn't reach double digits under par. It helped reinforce the benefit of Harbour Town's place on the PGA Tour schedule, a challenging but popular course that attracts a decent field and usually delivers an entertaining show that assists in alleviating the Masters hangover.

It helps as well that RBC stepped in as the title sponsor last year to save a tournament on the brink of folding. RBC, which also is the title sponsor of the Canadian Open, has a strong international field of players on its endorsement team, assuring representative fields in its tournaments.

McDowell is among them, as are Ernie Els, Brandt Snedeker, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk, all of whom played. On Tuesday during an RBC function, McDowell learned from Furyk the key to playing the Heritage: "Just hang around and hang around," he said. "You're never out of this tournament."

McDowell, who had played the Heritage only once before, was especially effective at hanging around on Sunday, notwithstanding the havoc created by the wind. He played without a bogey until missing the green on the final hole and failing to save par, providing an opening for Simpson.

Two former U.S. Open champions in contention made for a good show that was ratcheted up a notch by the windy conditions. "It's a hard game," CBS' Gary McCord said. "This wind just kind of makes it really hard. But these guys are paid well. They get everything for free. They're having a ball playing golf. Let's watch 'em struggle."

Most of them did; McDowell was the only player among the top five to have fewer than three bogeys on his card (and hence, we submit, the pronunciation of the body of water by which the Heritage is played -- cal-a-bogey).

It was a testament to McDowell's ability to play in the wind, even the kind that strongly encourages leaving the kilts at home.

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Media: 'He's the wizard of Oz'

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:24:00 GMT

By John Strege

The thought surely occurred to anyone recalling Adam Scott's inability to close out the British Open the summer before and CBS' David Feherty eloquently put it to words.

"The game of golf owes him one," Feherty said with Scott putting out on the 15th green in the final round of the Masters on Sunday, "but as we know the game of golf is a deadbeat debtor. It does not care."

Maybe it does after all. Scott erased the demons he took away from Royal Lytham & St. Annes last year and became the first Australian to win the Masters with birdie putts at the 18th hole in regulation and at 10 on the second playoff hole to beat Angel Cabrera.

When Scott holed the birdie putt at 18 in regulation that looked, for the moment, like it might deliver a victory, he shouted for joy.

"Did I just lip-read him, 'come on Aussies?'" Faldo asked. A slow-motion replay confirmed it.

"There's a great song at home called 'Come On Aussie, Come on,'" Australian native Ian Baker-Finch said. "That's what we've all been saying."

Here's the first verse, a fitting ode to Scott and Australian golf:

"It's been a long time comin'
"To silence all that drummin'
"To show them that it wasn't just a dream."

Aussome

It was a day for Aussies, from start to finish.

Early, Jason Day holed a bunker shot for eagle on the second hole. "A few of the tea cups fell off the breakfast tables down in Australia on that one," Faldo said. "That will get everyone rocking."

When Scott holed the winning putt in the rain, Faldo summed it up neatly. "It's now official," he said. "He's the wizard of Oz."

An emotional Baker-Finch, who has known Scott since he was a kid, added this: "From down under to the top of the world."

They weren't there for tennis

When CBS cut to Masters starter Toby Wilt to announce the final pairing of Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera, Wilt was overhead asking the players, "All right, guys, ready to play a little golf?"

Wilt, incidentally, is a member at Augusta National, and a friend of Snedeker's. They partnered to win the pro-am at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Put down that phone

When Angel Cabrera was brushing leaves with his practice swings beneath a tree right of the 10th fairway, Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo seemed to be calling off the rules experts watching at home and waiting to catch players in infractions.

"He'd better be careful back there with those practice swings," Nantz said.

"He can't knock a leaf off," Faldo said. "Now with HD, we can see a leaf falling."

The HD reference is to high definition television, responsible for the new rule designed to protect the player from inadvertent rules infractions spotted on television, the same rule that kept Tiger Woods around for the weekend.

"You're really flirting with a penalty," Nantz said. "One of those leafs fall it would be a penalty."

None fell.

He used to play like that with pressure

Peter Kostis after Tiger's second shot from the pine needles to the green at 13, leading to his third birdie in five holes: "Once Tiger kind of was out of it, there's been a freedom about his attitude and golf swing that has really taken over."

On Twitter

Dennis Miller, comedian and radio talk show host: "re CBS opening montage. Has the Masters become too meaningful to actually play it? Is Nantz performing Extreme Unction or announcing golf?"

(Getty Images photo)

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Media: 'I'm stupefied by the slow penalty'

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:30:00 GMT

By John Strege

News unfolds at a languid pace in golf, but a languid pace was the news in the second round of the Masters, introducing a note of controversy that provided a seamless segue from the end of the Golf Channel's "Live from the Masters" show to the beginning of ESPN's telecast.

Tianlang Guan, the Chinese teenager who earned widespread admiration for his poise and ability a day before, again was the center of attention on Friday when on the 17th hole he was assessed a slow-play penalty that jeopardized his making the cut. He made it on the number.

Near the end of its show, Golf Channel's Steve Sands interviwed Ken Schofield, the former executive director of the European PGA Tour, regarding the penalty called moments earlier by European Tour rules official John Paramor.

"John Paramor was my first recruit in 1976," Schofield said. "I didn't regret it then and I would not have regretted it in all of my time. John will have applied the penalty in accordance of the competitions of the 77th Masters tournament. Clearly this is very, very unfortunate, but it's a fact of life. Whether the guy is 14 or whether he would have been 60-year-old Tom Watson, John would have applied the rule."

ESPN's Mike Tirico, meanwhile, paid homage to Guan. "The 14-year-old handled it with class, saying afterwards, quote, I respect the decision [end quote], his maturity the equal of his ability, adding to the global admiration for an eighth-grader half a world from home."

Otherwise, opinion was largely the domain of those on Twitter, most coming down on the side of Guan, some curiously so. For instance, Joe Ogilvie, whose Twitter avatar bemoans slow play (a cap with a red circle, the words SLOW PLAY inside them, and a red line through it), wrote: "I'm stupefied by the slow penalty. Hope he still makes the cut."

Ogilvie is among golf's faster players, incidentally, is ardently anti-slow play, and seemingly would be expected to applaud the penalty.

Then there was tennis star Andy Roddick, who wrote, "I understand everyone saying he was warned etc....... My stance is simple to all of those arguments. He's 14."

What does his age have to do with the rules?

Speaking of age...

Given seven hours to fill on its "Live from the Masters" show, Golf Channel featured a couple of interesting interviews, one with Raymond Floyd, once a mentor to Fred Couples. Even at 53, Couples believes he can contend in the Masters, and, indeed, he finished Friday tied for second.

"He has a very good chance to win here because he has maintained his length," Floyd said. "That is paramount. Experience is huge. Huge. The more you play here the better you get a feel for the golf course. I see where Freddie's coming from. I agree with him totally. He has a chance to win here where he might not at any other tour event."

The big question, however, was posed by ESPN's Curtis Strange: "Can his nerves hold up?"

Speaking of slow play....

When the ESPN telecast began, the first we saw of Tiger Woods was on the tee at the par-3 fourth hole, where there was a backup. Rickie Fowler and Jason Day, playing in the threesome following Woods' group, were standing near the tee box and visible in the background.

'The most sin...'

That was all of the sentence that David Feherty got out when Jim Furyk chunked his third shot into the water at the 15th hole.

He was about to say, he said moments later, "the most sinister 75 yards in golf."

Tiger Woods might concur, his third from a similar distance striking the flagstick and bounding back into the water, a stroke of misfortune that would demoralize lesser players. Instead, he took a drop, hit it to within four feet and made the putt for a bogey.

"And that right there is why he is who he is," Arron Oberholser posted on Twitter. "#15th club strongest mind in the game."

On Twitter

David Duval: "The only way to deal with slow play is simple. Give the rules officials the ability to time players without warning them."

(Getty Images photo)

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John Merrick, a Bruin who bared it all

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 15:35:00 GMT

By Alex Myers

John Merrick's first PGA Tour win came on familiar terrain at Riviera, down the road from where he played his college golf at UCLA. But as he posed for pictures at the trophy presentation, we couldn't help but recall a much different photo shoot he was a part of nearly a decade ago.

Merrick was a member of the UCLA men's golf team photographed in the nude by Joe McNally as part of a feature on "The New Athlete Golfer" in the June 2004 issue of Golf Digest.

Merrick is pictured fourth from the left.

According to Golf World's Campus Insider Ryan Herrington, UCLA's golf coach at the time, O.D. Vincent, was reprimanded by school officials, but did not get fired. A similar photo was taken by the Bethany College golf team in 2011, earning those players a suspension and causing McNally to reflect on his 2004 photo shoot with Merrick and Co.

Related: Golf's most provocative photos

The image is just part of our look at some of golf's most provocative photos through the years. Our jumping off point was last week's Golf World cover, which featured David Feherty with his pants around his ankles. Merrick's win just made the timing that much better.

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Provocative Golf Images

GolfDigest.com — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Golf World's cover of David Feherty with his pants down got us thinking about other provocative photos of golfers

Podcast: Golf World's cover story on David Feherty

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:13:00 GMT

Listen to the podcast

Did you know David Feherty auditioned to be Andy Rooney's replacement on "60 Minutes"? Or that Feherty, sober since 2006, takes nine different medications to keep his various maladies in check? These are some of the many details Franz Lidz shares in his cover story about the European-Tour-pro-turned-golf-TV-celebrity appearing in the Feb. 18 issue of Golf World.

Chatting on this week's Inside Golf World Podcast, Lidz, a former senior writer at Sports Illustrated, discusses interviewing golf's favorite interviewer. Lidz contends Feherty's schtick is genuine and that he really is comfortable talking about pretty much any topic. That doesn't mean he doesn't want to have a mulligan on some of the things he says, as Lidz relates with a story about how a few pages from his reporter's notebook went missing after their interview.

--Ryan Herrington
Follow @GWCampusInsider

(Photo by Bob Croslin)

Scorecard From The Edge

Franz Lidz — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

David Feherty is intense, intelligent, irreverent, improvisational and inexhaustable. And he may just be the best interviewer in the game.

Media: 'They can get tired next week, OK?'

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 23:50:00 GMT

(Getty Images photo)

By John Strege

Even on a day the U.S. opened a commanding lead, 8-4, in the Ryder Cup, American captain Davis Love III was unable to dodge criticism, most of it on Twitter, for his decision to sit the suddenly dynamic team of Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley in the afternoon fourball on Saturday.

Love was following on his intention of providing every player a rest for the purpose of having him fresh for Sunday singles. Yet Mickelson and Bradley dispatched Luke Donald and Lee Westwood in only 12 holes Saturday morning, in an alternate-shot format.

"Just saw the afternoon draw. Don't like that Phil and Keegan are sitting. They only played 12 holes earlier. They bring so much passion!" former U.S. Ryder Cup player Chris DiMarco said.

PGA Tour player Bob Estes replied with this: "@ChrisDiMarco Good point! 12 holes hitting every other shot. How tired can they be?!"

From PGA Tour player Joe Ogilvie, who is never shy about offering an opinion: "Herb Brooks decides not to play Mike Eruzione against Finland for the gold medal game...sorry I meant to say Davis not playing Phil/Keegan."

The inimitable Dan Jenkins summed it up this way: "So to recap: Davis is benching a 3-0 team (Phil & Keegan) and is trying again with an 0-2 team (Tiger & Stricker)."

Finally, NBC's Johnny Miller weighed in: "They can get tired next week, OK?"

It did nothing to support Love's case that the team of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker lost again to go 0-3 in this Ryder Cup.

Good call, Johnny

Miller questioned the wisdom of Zach Johnson hitting driver at the short par-4 15th, when he possesses one of the best wedge games in golf. Indeed, Johnson proceeded to drive it into the water right of the fairway and green, leaving partner Jason Dufner to lay up.

They would up losing the hole to Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter, who evened their match there.

Careful, Gary

NBC's Gary Koch might have run afoul of Ian Poulter, as Johnny Miller once did, and Miller was there to warn him.

"Look at statistically, his ball striking by tour standards, pretty average," Koch said of Poulter.

"You're going to be tweeted for that one, Gary," Miller said.

"Statistics don't lie, Johnny," Koch replied.

Two years ago, Miller was critical of Poulter's ball-striking and Poulter responded via Twitter:

"Johnny miller saying today I wasn't a good ball striker. I guess I do alright for a duffer then. He talks such bollocks at times," Poulter wrote.

Related: What's Not To Like?

Stanford teammates? No

When discussing Luke Donald it was noted that he considered attending Stanford before settling on Northwestern.

"And had he gone to Stanford, maybe he would have played on the golf team with Tiger Woods," NBC's Peter Jacobsen said. "What a team that would have been with Notah Begay and Casey Martin."

Well, no. Donald was a Northwestern freshman in the fall of 1997. Woods left Stanford in 1996, Martin and Begay in 1995.

On Twitter

Arron Oberholser: "If Ian Poulter played this way every week he'd be #1 in the world"

David Feherty: "Bubba and Poulter are what the Ryder Cup is all about! Magic on grass, joy in sport, love to the fans. You've got to love them."

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Media: The best way to get Tiger's autograph?

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 22:55:00 GMT

(Getty Images)

By John Strege

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One of the few highlights of Saturday's washed-out telecast of the third round of the PGA Championship was CBS' David Feherty's response to Tiger Two Gloves.

Twice on the par-4 fourth hole on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Woods hit spectators with shots (the photo above shows him after one of those shots) and gave each of his victims a signed glove. When he nearly hit a third person at the seventh hole, Feherty said this:

"He's signing more autographs on the course than he does off," Feherty said.

Tiger no doubt would not have appreciated the remark, but surely viewers did.

McIlroy treed

Another high spot was coverage of the search party looking for Rory McIlroy's ball on the third hole. CBS eventually put a slow-motion replay of the ball in flight.

"It hit the tree, that little dead limb," CBS' Gary McCord said, referring to a dead tree in the middle of the third fairway. "Where'd it go after that?"

"That tree's so rotten it may have embedded," Feherty said.

They finally were able to ascertain that it stuck in a hollow atop a branch of the tree, about eight feet off the ground.

"Somebody tell them," McCord said.

Someone eventually did and McIlroy reached up and retrieved it.

"I've never seen that," Feherty said.

"I haven't," McCord said.

They have now.

How to weather the storm

If you're a viewer, you reach for the remote. Here's how CBS filled the time:

-- A recap of the day's play

-- An interview with Kerry Haigh, managing director of tournaments for the PGA of America.

-- A Tiger swing analysis from Peter Kostis, using the Konica Minolta Bizhub Swing Vision Camera.

-- PGA Championship anniversaries.

-- Final-round coverage of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine (Y.E. Yang beating Woods).

Where's the video?

Jim Nantz told this story at the top of the telecast on Saturday: "I'll tell you how intimidating this course is. We had these microphones that are on the tee areas. This morning on the 17th tee, an alligator popped out of the marsh and ate the microphone."

On Twitter

Luke Donald, after rounds of 74, 76 and 74: "Pete Dye 3, Luke Donald 0"

Quotable

"We're going to hunker down here in the 18th tower. It is grounded. They say it is. We're going to find out." -- Nantz when the weather delay that was to include lightning began

Media: 'I never got this far in my dreams'

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:53:00 GMT

(Photo by Getty Images)

CBS' mandate in televising the Masters is rather simple, really. Don't mess it up. Uncannily, it is handed a remarkably entertaining script year after year, this one even featuring a character named Bubba and another nicknamed Shrek.

Bubba Watson won and Louis Oosthuizen (aka Shrek) lost, but CBS achieved its objective.

"Oh, my goodness, just a classic excuse to conjure up another piece of magic," Nick Faldo said eloquently, after Watson's second shot, a duck hook from the woods, on the second playoff hole, the shot that delivered victory.

David Feherty also shined on Sunday, starting with his unusual call of Oosthuizen's double-eagle at the second hole.

There was no television -- and therefore no commentary -- when Gene Sarazen made his double-eagle at 15 in the 1935 Masters, but had there been, suffice it to say that it would not have resembled Feherty's call:

"This one could be very nice...could be very nice...oh, come to papa, yes!"

Feherty ably summed up Oosthuizen's apparent unflappability in the heat of a Masters Sunday. "It was not meant to look this simple," he said.

"I'd just love to know his heartbeat," Faldo added.

But the star of this show was Watson, down to the Butler Cabin interview.

"I never got this far in my dreams," Watson said.

All in all, a performance worthy of the script with which it had to work.

A few objections, meanwhile

-- Phil Mickelson's conversations with caddie Jim Mackay are entertaining, but not at the expense of seeing another contender's shot. While the audience was listening to Mickelson and Mackay talking over the second shot at 15, Watson was hitting his tee shot at 16 and he hit it close. The roars gave it away.

-- Peter Oosterhuis said this about Watson: "He's the most creative player ever." Never say ever, notwithstanding Watson's magic on second playoff hole. Remember Seve?

-- Adam Scott made an ace on the 16th hole, but CBS did not show it until Scott was playing the 18th hole. Odd.

-- What happened to that man felled by Peter Hanson's drive on the eighth hole?