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The book on Pete Dye

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:45:00 GMT

Island dreams: Pete Dye at TPC Sawgrass during construction. Photo courtesy Ken. E. May

Famous course architect and World Golf Hall of Fame member Pete Dye has released a new edition of his autobiography, Bury Me In A Pot Bunker. Written with Mark Shaw, it depicts the creation of 25 classic Dye designs, including TPC Sawgrass Stadium, Harbour Town, Whistling Straits and The Ocean Course at Kiawah.

Available on Amazon.com in paperback ($17) or for the Kindle ($9), the book is rich with insight on course design and, with stunning photography, includes a collection of humorous phrases -- or "Dye-isms" -- often spoken by the legendary architect. Although low scores on Dye's layouts are notoriously elusive, Dye isn't shy about sharing his secrets. "If players pay attention," he says, "they can outthink me or any designer who's trying to hoodwink them into attempting the difficult, gambling shot."

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Tweets We'd Like To Read In 2012

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

2011 was full of surprises, but we'd welcome these developments in 2012.

Matty G's Mailbag: Couples golf trip in January?

Matt Ginella — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:14:00 GMT

Hi Matt, Every year, four couples (my husband and I included) take a post-holiday golf trip. It’s golf for the guys, some golf and a lot of spa time for the wives. (After all, we have...

The Director's Cut: Exclusive images from the Golf Digest and Golf World photographers at Kiawah

Christian Iooss — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Christian Iooss, Golf Digest and Golf World's Director of Photography, picks his staff favorites images from this year's PGA Championship, and explains what makes them stand out

PGA Championship: The Shots That Defined the PGA Championship

Sam Weinman, Alex Myers — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:00:00 GMT

These are the shots that shaped the outcome at Kiawah

Immelman emerges from trying few years to get another major shot

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:09:00 GMT

By Pete McDaniel

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. -- In the pre-tournament conversation dominated by the difficult Ocean Course and the players most likely to challenge for the title in the 94th PGA Championship, fading lights like Trevor Immelman were no more than an after-thought. Fifty-four holes later, the 2008 Masters champion has thrust himself firmly into the discussion.

Immelman shot a two-under 70 in the rain-delayed third round to earn a spot in the penultimate group alongside Adam Scott and Steve Stricker. If not for a missed par putt on the 18th Sunday morning, he would have been in the final pairing with leader Rory McIlroy (7 under) and Carl Pettersson (4 under).

"I actually just misread that putt,'' Immelman said. "I hit it exactly where I wanted. I was expecting it to just fall left and it went the other way. So, not ideal but all in all I came back and played pretty solid this morning.''

Solid is a word that has been missing from Immelman's vocabulary in recent years, mainly because of a stubborn wrist injury that affected both his play and mental outlook.

"There were times when I wondered if I'd ever get back to playing the way I like to play,'' admits the 31-year-old.

The dark cloud over Immelman's career began building the year after his three-stroke victory over Tiger Woods that made him only the second South African to win the coveted green jacket (Gary Player was the first). Because of the wrist injury, he played in only 13 events in '09. Although he played in six more tournaments in 2010, he finished 163rd on the money list. Last year, however, both his wrist and game began showing signs of being fully mended as he improved to 81st in earnings.

"To be honest with you, the last year the wrist has been a non-factor,'' said Immelman, "and my health is the best it's been. Like I've said during the week, I've been working my butt off trying to get back in this situation. So, it's nice to be here.''

Immelman, who still uses older brother Mark as a compass for his swing, made his reputation on consistent ball-striking and a better-than-average short game. Both have served him well this week.

"I came here this week with some fresh ideas and my confidence started growing,'' said Immelman, ranked 156th in the world. "I started hitting shots that I was familiar with. More importantly, I was familiar with the misses I was hitting. And I was kind of understanding why they (the misses) were happening. And my short game has been real good. I've made some putts and I've chipped in a couple of times.''

He believes continued good form and the experience of being in a major championship cauldron on Sunday afternoon just might make him the main topic of conversation come dinnertime. Sorry, I mean, suppertime.

"At the end of the day I look forward to these,'' he said. "I've won one of these before, so I can go out there and have a go and see what happens. I've got that in my back pocket. I know what it's going to feel like. I know what it takes. And, if things go my way, you never know what happens.''

Woods fights his way back into picture

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 15:36:00 GMT

By Dave Kindred

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. -- He's not out of it yet, Tiger Woods insisted Sunday morning. After finishing a storm-delayed third round with his best back-nine score of the week, a two-under-par 34, he stood five shots behind leader Rory McIlroy and said, "I fought my way into it."

(Photograph by Getty Images)

Though Woods has never come from behind in the last round to win any of his 14 major championships, he said, "Absolutely, I'm right there. I was at one point six back, and we had a lot of holes to play. So I was very encouraged the way I dug down deep and got this thing turned around and gave myself a chance going into this afternoon."

Woods's third-round 74 followed days of 69 and 71 that gave him a tie for the 36-hole lead. As he let slip good halfway scores at both this summer's U.S. and British Opens, Woods finds himself in need of an unprecedented comeback in Sunday's last 18 holes. He found encouragement in his strong iron play on the back side where he made three birdies on short putts and had looks at three more from 25, 20, and 18 feet.

Woods began the morning play missing an 8-foot par putt at the 8th hole. He finished the front at four-over-par 40. He had made only one birdie in his last 23 holes and none in the previous 15. That changed at the par-5 11th when hed dropped a wedge to eight feet and made the putt. He also birdied the 13th from 12 feet and the 16th when he left a 20-foot eagle putt a foot short.

Related: Tiger's stalled comeback

His plan for the afternoon: "Just give myself chances, give myself looks. This golf course, you can take a double and a triple in a heartbeat without hitting bad shots. Just keep myself there where I'm right in it with a few holes to go because, as we saw at the last major championship we played, anything can happen."

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Sunday's Birdies and Bogeys

Sam Weinman, Alex Myers — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Who were the winners and losers on Sunday at the PGA Championship? Let's take a closer look with another edition of birdies and bogeys.

It takes just seven holes for Tiger to crash back to earth

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 22:49:00 GMT

By Dave Kindred

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. -- Tiger is done.

Sing a soft song, killing him gently.

We loved Tiger 1.0. We've been waiting for Tiger 2.0.

Not happening. Not now, not next month, not ever.

Oh, he can play. He can play brilliantly. So can a couple dozen other men.
On his A game, he can win. But there's a difference between now and back in the day. Now he can lose with his A game. Just another guy who can win.
Saturday afternoon, before clouds suggestive of Armageddon gathered over Kiawah Island and stopped play in the PGA Championship, Tiger began the day tied for the tournament lead. For two days, he had played well, showing grit and guile and a sure putting stroke. He had teased us at this summer's U.S. Open, tied for the lead after 36, only to come undone in the third round. This time, at Kiawah, he seemed ready to finish the job.

Related: The Tiger Woods timeline

But no. On a day when the leader boards ran red with birdies -- three 67s already in, six guys with 32s on the front -- Tiger didn't make a birdie in his seven holes. He nearly came out of shoes slashing at a shot in the rough. Another time, the ball below his feet in a waste area, he stood on a berm, half-crouched to reach the ball, and tottered off-balance after an awkward swing. Once the most elegant of movers, Tiger this day resembled nothing more than a wire-walker in a high wind.

He last won a major in 2008. He's oh for 17 since -- since the hydrant and Elin and the bimbo eruptions and the bad Achilles and Hank's book and sex rehab and knee rehab and firing Stevie and not getting any damned younger and seeing lesser mortals -- Rory, Graeme, Keegan, Bubba -- win majors while he tried every kind of swing but Jim Furyk's and wondered if he'd ever make another putt when he needed it most.

I remember Tom Watson, early on in Tiger's distress, saying, "Tiger used to have his head empty," meaning it was empty of all things other than golf. "Now," Watson said, "he's got a lot going on." It takes no great imagination to conceive of Tiger's mind as a Rube Goldberg contraption with pulleys and levers and slides and gears all working at the direction of little men shouting over each other: "Hit the stinger. No, a high fade. Wait, wind's up. What's Stevie think? McIlroy'd be OK if he ever got a haircut. You think we can sell the boat? Ah, hell, let's bag it and go to Perkins."

Maybe all that chatter gets louder during majors. A suggestion of that came on Tuesday of this week at a pre-tournament press conference. Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press asked Tiger, "Is it harder for you to win a major than it was 10 years ago?"

"Is it harder?" Tiger said. "Well, I haven't won one, so probably."

Certainly, he had won a major in the last 10 years -- he'd won eight. But the 0-for-17 streak must have been in the front of his mind.

Ferguson said, "I don't know if you heard it clearly. Is it harder than it was 10 years ago?"

"Oh, 10 years ago?" Woods said. "Yeah ..." And he said there were more players with a chance to win, greater depth, yadda yadda.

I came into Saturday afternoon thinking Tiger could win this time. It would be his 15th major, it would jump-start his chase of Jack Nicklaus's 18. He would be all over the teevee Sunday, every shot, every scowl, and, perhaps (cover the dog's ears), every oath uttered in protest of fate's unkindness.

For whatever you think of Tiger -- you may hope he commits a Calc Shank at the 17th and throws himself in the lake after it . . . you may wish him the triumphant creation of Tiger 2.0 -- whatever your antipathy or devotion, I reckoned Tiger would be the Sunday story.

Related: Tiger's stalled comeback

You don't have to be 85 years old to understand that. But if you are 85 and you're Bob Toski, a guy ought to ask you about Tiger. Maybe three hours before Woods teed off Saturday, I turned a corner in the Kiawah clubhouse and bumped into a little man in a Hogan cap.

"Sorry," I said, and then realized I'd bumped into Golf History Its Ownself.

"Mr. Toski! Could I talk to you about Tiger?"

Bob Toski, once a caddie and one of nine children of Polish immigrants, turned pro in 1949. He won five PGA Tour events. He was the tour's leading money winner in1954 ($65,820). He was out there with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead and the kid Arnold Palmer. He retired from the tour at age 30 to begin a teaching career that became legendary.

For all that, he said, he has never seen anything in golf to match Tiger Woods.

"He has been given a gift of talent that no man before or after ever had," Toski said. "What Michael Jordan had in basketball and Ted Williams in baseball, Tiger has that in golf. He has an intuitive and instinctive feel for the game, which, along with his mastery of the mechanics, and his athletic strengths make him unique for all time."

Yes, yes. But we haven't seen that Tiger for a while.

"Did you see the 11th yesterday?" Toski said.

At the 11th on Friday, from a downhill line 165 yards out, Woods punched a low cut shot that landed on the left half of the green and rolled to the right, stopping six feet from a flagstick only four steps from water on the green's right side.

"How many guys," Toski said, eyes alight, "even try that shot?"

Not many, maybe only Tiger.

"He's a shotmaker. Think about it. How many of his shots do we still talk about?"

The long-iron bunker shot over water in Canada. The last-roll chip at Augusta. This summer's flop shot at the Memorial.

A case can be made that the majors stand on their own, their measure fuller than any one man can provide. Keegan Bradley at the PGA, Bubba Watson at the Masters, Ernie Els the British -- Tiger was there for all of them and was rendered a bit player by those heroes. Toski, though, isn't buying that case.

"Tiger's presence changes everything," he said. "Arnold Palmer came along in my time -- the All-American boy. Now we have Tiger. He's, well, a different character, but he certainly has had the same kind of impact on the game as Arnold did. Any time Tiger's in a tournament, he's the focus. Good or bad."

I asked the wise old man -- thinking of the Watson allusion -- if it were possible for Tiger to get his head right again.

"It's terrible, what happened in his marriage, and I hope he recovers," Toski said. "He does seem to be getting better, professionally and personally. Maybe this is the week."

Or maybe not.

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In focusing on one goal, Stricker moves closer to another as well

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 22:16:00 GMT

By Dave Shedloski

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. Steve Stricker was almost too busy thinking about the Ryder Cup Saturday to realize he improved his chances of winning the 94th PGA Championship. Almost.

(Photograph by Getty Images)

"Yeah, it is on my mind," Stricker said of his push to earn one of the eight automatic berths on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, a two-year process that ends with the conclusion of the PGA at the Ocean Course. If he fell short on points, he could still make the team as one of four wild-card picks of U.S. captain Davis Love III.

Stricker, 45, of Madison, Wis., certainly helped his cause either way with a solid five-under-par 67 that lifted him 30 spots into T-7 before severe weather caused a delay in the championship at 4:50 p.m. EDT.

Stricker owned the low round of the day alone until fellow American Bo Van Pelt equaled it about 90 minutes later. Van Pelt was in the house at T-5 with 3-under 213 total.

"My goal was to get back to even, and I did even a little better than that," said Stricker, who is coming off a T-2 at last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. "It kind of gets me back in it. It all depends on what happens this afternoon."

Well, nothing happened in the afternoon, not to any conclusion with the nasty weather moving in. Stricker left the grounds knowing only that he was in the hunt for his first major title and his fourth Ryder Cup team. Guess which one was weighing on his mind more.

"If I don't make it on points, there's still time for other guys to play well. I don't want to leave anything to chance," said Stricker, 10th in the U.S. standings. "I want to keep playing well so that Davis has a legitimate reason to pick me and not just because of what I've done in the past."

At the time he also was three off the lead.

"Well, there's that, too," Stricker said, smiling. "It's one big day playing for two things. But I really can't be thinking about that tomorrow. I just have to think about playing as well as I can and everything takes care of itself.

"I've had a great run on these teams. It's been a blast."

Seldom does Stricker, one of the game's best putters, miss enough putts to lament ones that got away, and the 26 putts he had Saturday seemed like a reasonable performance to go with hitting 12 fairways and 13 greens in regulation. But the 12-time PGA Tour winner knew he'd let a startlingly low number get away.

"I'm hitting it as good as I ever have, and now my putter is letting me down a little bit," he said. "If I can get that going ... today I had a bunch of opportunities it could have been 6-7-8 under pretty easily, that's how good I hit it."

In last year's PGA at Atlanta Athletic Club, he opened with a 63 before finishing T-12. Since turning 40, he has been one of America's best players, rising as high as No. 2 in the world rankings. With Tiger Woods faltering early Saturday -- he was three over through seven holes -- Stricker and Van Pelt were the low Americans on the leader board.

"Yeah, it's been 6 or 7 years of good, solid play. It's been a lot of fun, and I think I can keep it going," Stricker said.

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