Golf Digest Search Results

The Grind: Broken windshields, too much Guan and a historic streak on the line

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:33:00 GMT

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we've had this week circled on our calendars all year. No, it's not the U.S. Open, but it is Crowne Plaza Invitational week, and that means we'll be trying to extend our improbable streak of predicting the past two winners at Colonial.

In other words, we're going for the "Grind Slam" (Copyright pending). And while a fantasy golf achievement may not garner the notoriety of the Grand Slam or the Tiger Slam or Byron Nelson's 11-tournament winning streak, it should because prognosticating the sport is only getting more difficult. Have you watched a non-Tiger PGA Tour event lately?

"Guys, this isn't even close to my ugliest jacket."

WE'RE BUYING

Sang-Moon Bae. We're especially happy for the latest surprise winner on the PGA Tour. Why? Because no one has ever been a victim of more bad geography jokes in history.

Oklahoma State golfers. First, Peter Uihlein picks up his first professional win at the Madeira Islands Open. Then another former Cowboy, Morgan Hoffmann earns his best PGA Tour finish with a T-5 at the Byron Nelson. Rickie Fowler better watch out or he might not be the most famous orange-wearing tour pro soon.

American women golfers. Stacy Lewis became the first U.S. woman golfer to win the LPGA's Player of the Year in 18 years last season, but she has company. Cristie Kerr won earlier this season and last week Jennifer Johnson picked up her first LPGA win in Alabama. Add in popular and talented players like Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson and there's no excuse for U.S.-centric fans not to watch the LPGA anymore.

Martin Kaymer. Remember this guy? He's German? He won the 2010 PGA Championship? He was ranked No. 1 in the world? He sunk the winning putt at last year's Ryder Cup? Well, the 28-year-old finished T-5 in Dallas, perhaps indicating a return to the glory days way back when he was 26-27.

WE'RE SELLING

Anchored putting. USGA President Glen Nager couldn't have said it any better when he stated "It can never be too late to do the right thing." Golf's founders may not have had the foresight to see this becoming an issue, but we're pretty sure they never envisioned guys putting with broomsticks tucked into their chests, either.

Cruel timing. We're happy 14-time winner and longtime golf announcer Ken Venturi was elected to the Hall of Fame before he passed away, but we're sad he was passed over long enough to the point he was unable to attend his own induction ceremony. If golf can elect players who are still in their prime, why does it wait so long to give others their proper due?

Guan's latest sponsor's exemption. It was fun while it lasted. Tianlang Guan dazzled us all by making the cut at the Masters and the Zurich Classic before finally coming up short at the Byron Nelson. But now he's getting an invite to the Memorial, a limited-field event, as well? We're sorry, but enough is enough, especially when he's taking away precious spots from tour pros. Not to mention, Jason Dufner has probably seen the inside of a classroom more than this 14-year-old over the past couple months.

ON TAP

As mentioned, the PGA Tour stays in Texas for the Crown Plaza Invitational. Last year, Zach Johnson overcame a red-hot Jason Dufner (Dufsanity!) and a brain cramp on the final hole to win. ZJ received a two-shot penalty when he didn't move his mark back to its original spot before holing his final putt. Good thing he did or we would have had #Markgate on our hands!

Random tournament fact: Like the RBC Heritage, the winner at the Crowne Plaza Invitational dons a plaid jacket. Unlike the Heritage, this event can claim that Ben Hogan wore its ceremonial piece of clothing five times. Advantage: Crown Plaza Invitational.

WEEKLY YAHOO! FANTASY LINEUP

While we have an incredible two consecutive correct predictions here, we also have a heartbreaking streak of two straight weeks our pick has shared the lead late on Sunday before coming up short. Hopefully, Mr. Hogan's spirit will put us over the top. Again.

Starters -- (A-List): Tim Clark. A former runner-up here is our pick as we look for the unimaginable trifecta. He also happens to be one of the most vocal supporters of anchored putting. Fight for what you believe in, Tim!

(B-List): Zach Johnson. Coming off a disappointing week, it'll be nice for him to return to the site of his first PGA Tour title.

(B-List): Matt Kuchar. The "Matt Kuchar Rule" states this guy can't have two bad performances in a row. Maybe we need to change that to he can't have four mediocre performances in a row. . .

(C-List): Kevin Streelman. A winner in Tampa, he is quietly the hottest player on the PGA Tour not named Tiger Woods with three straight top-six finishes.

Bench -- Jason Dufner, Fredrik Jacobson, Bo Van Pelt and Rickie Fowler.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Mike Miller, an up-and-coming amateur who I had the pleasure of covering when he was in high school, had quite a day last week. Playing in a pro-am, he made two eagles and a hole-in-one that won him a two-year lease on a Lincoln. But then this happened when he tried to imitate Rich Beem's celebration for winning a car with an ace in 2007:

In the words of Ron Burgundy after jumping into the bear pit at the end of Anchorman: "I immediately regret this decision."

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Nicolas Colsaerts had to take relief from a toilet during the Volvo World Match Play. No, seriously. And yes, this will probably be the easiest video to choose for this spot all year.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

-- Zach Johnson will get penalized again for putting from the wrong spot: Million-to-1 odds

-- Tim Clark will win now that we've boasted about our streak: TEN Million-to-1 odds

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY DISPLAYS OF PUBLIC AFFECTION

Two observations: 1. I think I have that shirt. 2. Is that a bracelet around her arm?

THIS WEEK IN TIGER WOODS-LINDSEY VONN DISPLAYS OF PUBLIC AFFECTION

Lindsey watches Tiger play poker during his Tiger Jam charity event in Las Vegas. Hey, it's not much, but perhaps when it comes to Tiger, Vegas and girls, the less we see and hear, the better.

THIS AND THAT

Tiger Woods doesn't plan on making nice with Sergio Garcia. Good, it gives us more to talk about. Now if only the USGA would pair them together next month at Merion. . . . This week marks the 10-year anniversary of Annika Sorenstam's historic round(s) at Colonial. Something tells me Vijay Singh isn't throwing a party at his house for people to come and watch the new Golf Channel documentary. . . . These chocolate chip/chunk cookies from Costco are the best chocolate chip cookies EVER. Um, make that second best. Sorry, mom!

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Would Ben Hogan have liked Twitter or fantasy golf? (Nope)

Does Vijay Singh have any regrets? (We hope)

Will Tim Clark make the "Grind Slam" a reality? (Not a chance)

-- Alex Myers is an Associate Editor for GolfDigest.com. Feel free to email him and please follow him on Twitter since he has self-esteem issues.

Tim Clark: Keys To Better Irons

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The Grind: Dustin Johnson, Paulina Gretzky & other Hawaiian tales

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:46:00 GMT

By Alex Myers

Welcome to the first edition of "The Grind," where we sift through everything golf (and a little beyond) to get you caught up on the week that was -- and to set you up for what's to come. And what a wild first week it was on the PGA Tour. Between the gale-force winds and Johnny Miller in the TV tower, I'm not sure a tour event has ever featured so much hot air. Speaking of which, why was everyone so surprised by the wind delays? When I played Kapalua's Plantation Course a few years back, the thing I remember most was a a guy in my group popping up a tee shot at one point and our group watching in amazement as the ball blew back over our heads. Was that a quick round in tropical paradise? No, it was not. In any matter, let's move on before the wind picks up again. . .

WE'RE BUYING

Dustin Johnson. The guy is on top of the world right now. I mean, just look at his new gal pal, Paulina Gretzky (Yes, that's her to the left. Need a minute? I'll wait. . . Still looking? OK, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, now move on!). Oh yeah, Johnson is also coming off that win in Kapalua. But back to Paulina, the daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones. I had the pleasure of meeting her when her dad was playing in the 2010 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge at Pebble Beach. I didn't even notice her being that attractive*.

*FALSE.

Steve Stricker. Starting to enter the retirement phase of your life when you're 46? Nice. Having golf being the working part of said retirement phase? Even nicer. Starting all this having earned more than $25 million in just the past six years on the PGA Tour? OK, now I'm starting to really dislike this guy. By the way, he finished runner-up in his cameo at Kapalua.

NFL Playoffs. Green Bay at San Francsisco this week? A potential matchup between Peyton Manning's Broncos and Tom Brady's Patriots the following week? And all this before the Super Bowl? We should be in for a treat the next few weeks. Why was I mentioning this again? Oh yeah, a lot of these guys play golf as well.

WE'RE SELLING

Carl Pettersson. The big Swede played well at Kapalua (solo 8th), but called out the USGA for going on a long putter "witch hunt" and then didn't return a call from USGA Executive Director Mike Davis. Watch out, CP, that could mean a U.S. Open pairing with Kevin Na and Ben Crane. And you thought waiting out some wind delays was rough. . .

College football. The PGA Tour faced a fair amount of criticism for scheduling its season opener to end on the same night as the BCS Championship Game. That didn't end up happening, but shouldn't more of the blame fall on the NCAA for having its break between conference championships and the final bowl game last about as long as golf's entire "offseason"? And speaking of that title game between Alabama and Notre Dame, we waited all this time for that?

Kyle Stanley. Conditions at Kapalua were tough, but Stanley was the only player to put up an 80 during the season opener. His 11-over-par total left him five shots behind anyone else in the 30-man field. Nike will have to wait another week for one of their newest investments to start paying dividends.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour goes island hopping in Hawaii for the Sony Open in Honolulu, where Johnson Wagner and his Tom Selleckesque mustache stole the show last year. It's the first full-field event of the season.

Random tournament fact: Tadd Fujikawa made the cut at 16 years and four days in 2007. Yawn. Nowadays, we have 15-year-olds winning LPGA events and 14-year-olds qualifying for the Masters.

WEEKLY YAHOO! FANTASY LINEUP

Starters -- (A-List): Tim Clark. I'm expecting big things from the small South African this year. Plus, this allows me to link to our "13 Sleepers To Watch in 2013" feature.

(B-List): Dustin Johnson. Stop looking at the picture of Paulina Gretzky!

(B-List): Matt Kuchar. Also my knockout pick of the week.

(C-List): Matt Every. He was the 54-hole leader here last year and also provided one of the most awkward interviews of the season.

Bench -- Charles Howell III, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Scott Piercy.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

-- Michelle Wie, who played in this event four times as a teen phenom will be mentioned daily during the TV broadcast: 1-to-10 odds

-- There will be a new FedEx Cup leader come Sunday: Even money

-- That the new FedEx Cup leader will actually win the FedEx Cup at the end of the season: 100-to-1

CELEBRITY/ATHLETE WE'D LIKE TO PLAY GOLF WITH

Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson. I'm not sure if either of these guys even play golf, but do I ever enjoy watching them play football. After what happened to RG3's knee in last Sunday's playoff tilt, however, I hope he isn't relegated to only playing golf just yet.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Yao Ming was a tremendous basketball player, who had his career cut short by foot and ankle injuries. Since his retirement from the NBA in 2011, it doesn't appear like he's played too much golf. The above clip from a couple months ago shows the 7-foot-6 Ming struggling to make contact on a pitch shot. He also seems to be struggling with his wardrobe. The untucked off-white shirt with white pants? Our Mr. Style might have to make an emergency trip to China. . .

UNSUNG TOUR PLAYER OF THE WEEK George McNeill. The two-time tour winner wound up giving a fan a ride to the course when he mistakenly got into his courtesy car. Apparently, the fan didn't recognize McNeill (would most of his fellow tour pros even recognize him?) In any matter, you deserve praise for the fact that you drove this guy to the course and didn't kick him to the curb. I'll let you know the next time I fly to a tour event you're playing in so you can pick me up from the airport.

THIS AND THAT

Norm Macdonald is now writing golf columns for Grantland.com. That is not a misprint. . . . Rory McIlroy is set to become a Nike man, but just as importantly, his deal with Jumeirah Estates is done. That means no more of those ugly hats. . . . David Duval took to Twitter to complain about not getting a sponsor's exemption to the Humana Challenge, where he famously shot a final-round 59 in 1999. He also happened to miss the cut by 18 shots there on a sponsor's exemption last year. . . . Why is there a picture of a chocolate cake coated in M&Ms and encrusted by Kit Kat bars? Because it's AWESOME.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Imagine if there was a "Black Monday" for swing instructors like there is for NFL coaches following the Tour Championship?

The proposed anchor ban isn't set to start until 2016, but when will the nightmares begin to creep in for all of the players who use belly putters?

Does Paulina Gretzky have any sisters?

-- Alex Myers is a contributing editor for GolfDigest.com. Feel free to email him and please follow him on Twitter since he has self-esteem issues.

PGA Tour Sleepers To Watch In 2013

Alex Myers — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:45:00 GMT

Our bold list of 13 lesser-known PGA Tour players we expect big things from in 2013.

The Travelers: That's entertainment...or not

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 22:58:00 GMT

The entertainment value of a tournament post-major is generally dubious anyway, but this one that once was hosted by the late Sammy Davis Jr. came up a Candy Man short on Sunday. A little song and dance might have helped.

It's not that there wasn't great golf played in the final round of the Travelers Championship, just that it mostly was played out of sight. Hunter Mahan shot a 61 that didn't matter, Marc Leishman a 62 that did.

Leishman won the Travelers on the practice green, his round having been completed more than two hours earlier and thought not to have been enough. "I was pretty confident it wouldn't be," Leishman said.

Charley Hoffman finished double bogey-bogey. (Photo: Getty Images)

The rest of the afternoon was largely unworthy of applause and played out like an extension of the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club a week earlier rather than as a respite from the torment an Open typically causes. As Casey Stengel once said in neighboring New York, New York, can't anybody here play this game?

The TPC River Highlands outside Hartford is amenable to theatrics, with the accessible par-5 13th and the drivable par-4 15th, but it has its angry side, too, and it was in a particularly foul mood on Sunday afternoon.

Bomb & Gouge: Is The Long Putter Good For Golf?

E. Michael Johnson and Mike Stachura — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Long putters, or 'belly' putters, are nothing new. But after three straight PGA Tour events in August, including the PGA Championship, were won by golfers using them, suddenly long putters are all the rage. But are they good for golf?

Still no repeat winner at TPC Sawgrass

Fri, 13 May 2011 21:24:00 GMT

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- For a third time in two days, a golfer withdrew from the Players with an injury. None, however, would fall under the category of shocking.

Defending champion Tim Clark and his bad right elbow became casualty No. 3 on Friday afternoon at TPC Sawgrass. Clark made a par on the 10th hole before walking off the course. He was four-over par at the time and unlikely to make the cut.

"I hit a shot out of the rough on nine, and I could feel it getting worse," Clark said. "There's just no point in staying. I tried as good as I can for two days."

Injury still bothering defending champ Clark

Wed, 11 May 2011 22:10:00 GMT

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- No one has repeated at the Players Championship since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, so last year's winner, Tim Clark, was facing long odds to begin with. A nagging injury, however, has made the defender a mere afterthought coming into this week.

A year after breaking through for his first PGA Tour win, the South African would be happy to just make it through a weekend of golf. Clark began 2011 in strong fashion with a runner-up at the Sony Open following a T-17 in the winners-only event at Kapalua to open the season. But the good times ended when he left Hawaii.

His bad elbow first flared up in February causing Clark to withdraw before the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He followed that up with a couple other late scratches before finally teeing it up again at the Masters. Things didn't go much better as he shot a pair of 73s to miss the cut.

The Curse Of The Players

Dave Shedloski — Tue, 03 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Winning the year's 'fifth major' is worthwhile, but in recent years taking the title at TPC Sawgrass has come with a price

Equipment: Putter Brings Scott A 'Long' Way (And Nearly History) In Short Time

E. Michael Johnson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Using a 49-inch Scotty Cameron by Titleist Kombi at the Masters, Adam Scott handled Augusta National's greens with skill in his best chance to win a major