A gloomy, chilly, most uncharacteristic day in Arizona. It looks and feels more like what I remember from upstate New York. Television viewers tuned in to the Waste Management golf tournament are used to seeing our clear skies and the several hundred thousand spectators in shorts and golf shirts. Not this Sunday, though. Instead, we have light drizzle (Now there's a word I thought I'd never use to describe a day in Arizona) and temps in the mid-fifties. Brrr!
Rickie Fowler is leading and looks like he'll probably hang on for the win. The poor weather conditions will make it hard for anyone to post a low number and he presently has a 4-stroke lead. But, as Johhny Miller might opine, a choke is always possible. Oh, how tour players hated to hear that word and Johnny used it rather often. Miller is being celebrated for his nearly thirty years in the broadcast booth. There have been all kinds of accolades from golfers and fellow broadcasters this weekend, most of them now saying how much they admire his straight shooting. But many of them in the past disliked him, labeling him as a wise-ass egotist. I always thought what he had to say was spot-on accurate even though what he said may have been painful to those about whom he said it. His farewell was appropriate and brought him a few red eyes and tears. And the song Peter Jacobsen wrote for him was clever and really well done with help from his band, Jake Trout and the Flounders, and some of the golfers, like Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson, and other commentators, especially his old buddy in the booth, Roger Maltbie. Paul Azinger will be replacing Johnny. Let's hope he can do as well. What else did we learn about Johnny? He was always barefoot in the booth and he liked Cheez Wiz straight from the can to his mouth. So, Zinger, you can easily fill his shoes since he never wore any, but you may need to get your own shtick instead of the Cheez Wiz.
The Waste Management continues to be the most unusual tournament of the year with attendances approaching one million for the six days (which includes the practice rounds). Nearly 20,000 each day race screaming into the stadium to get a seat in the triple-decker seating at the 16th. Just how bad does one want to be able to say "I was there" that they would wait from midnight to 7:00 a.m. when the gates opened, then wait another hour and a half for the first players to come through (the ones at the bottom of the leader board), and another five or six hours for the leaders to show up? Just how much beer do they want to glug? In both cases, more than I'd want.
What other golf goodies do I have? Still not very many who choose to leave the flag in when they putt. That will change over the course of the year when more and more players see the advantages of leaving the flagstick in. Still some rules that need further refining, like the knee-high ball drop and the rule against a caddie standing behind a golfer when he takes his stance. This not a rule, but a trend--the distances these guys are hitting their drives is prodigiously outlandish. Cameron Champ now averages--AVERAGES!--about 340 yards. I keep wondering if it's true or if I only dreamed it: that Cameron Champ can throw a baseball 106 m.p.h. Another change in this year's rule book, that what we used to call a hazard will now be called a penalty area. Don't you U.S.G.A. rules people have more important things to consider? Not all shots that end up in a penalty area result in a penalty, so why call it a penalty area? But then, I guess calling it a hazard is equally stupid.
Here's an item not related to the Waste Management but to women's golf. In early April, the gods of Augusta National have deigned to allow some women to play on their august grounds the final round of the women's amateur tournament called The Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship. But only a few will be allowed to grace their hallowed halls. A field of 72 of the top amateurs in the world will play the first two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday at the Champions Retreat Golf Club in Geneva, Georgia. The field will then be cut to the top 30 and ties, who will play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday and a final round on Saturday. So, a week ahead of the Masters, the world will be able to see how the ladies handle this iconic course. I hope they tear it up and kick some Augustan butts.
Rickie Fowler is leading and looks like he'll probably hang on for the win. The poor weather conditions will make it hard for anyone to post a low number and he presently has a 4-stroke lead. But, as Johhny Miller might opine, a choke is always possible. Oh, how tour players hated to hear that word and Johnny used it rather often. Miller is being celebrated for his nearly thirty years in the broadcast booth. There have been all kinds of accolades from golfers and fellow broadcasters this weekend, most of them now saying how much they admire his straight shooting. But many of them in the past disliked him, labeling him as a wise-ass egotist. I always thought what he had to say was spot-on accurate even though what he said may have been painful to those about whom he said it. His farewell was appropriate and brought him a few red eyes and tears. And the song Peter Jacobsen wrote for him was clever and really well done with help from his band, Jake Trout and the Flounders, and some of the golfers, like Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson, and other commentators, especially his old buddy in the booth, Roger Maltbie. Paul Azinger will be replacing Johnny. Let's hope he can do as well. What else did we learn about Johnny? He was always barefoot in the booth and he liked Cheez Wiz straight from the can to his mouth. So, Zinger, you can easily fill his shoes since he never wore any, but you may need to get your own shtick instead of the Cheez Wiz.
The Waste Management continues to be the most unusual tournament of the year with attendances approaching one million for the six days (which includes the practice rounds). Nearly 20,000 each day race screaming into the stadium to get a seat in the triple-decker seating at the 16th. Just how bad does one want to be able to say "I was there" that they would wait from midnight to 7:00 a.m. when the gates opened, then wait another hour and a half for the first players to come through (the ones at the bottom of the leader board), and another five or six hours for the leaders to show up? Just how much beer do they want to glug? In both cases, more than I'd want.
What other golf goodies do I have? Still not very many who choose to leave the flag in when they putt. That will change over the course of the year when more and more players see the advantages of leaving the flagstick in. Still some rules that need further refining, like the knee-high ball drop and the rule against a caddie standing behind a golfer when he takes his stance. This not a rule, but a trend--the distances these guys are hitting their drives is prodigiously outlandish. Cameron Champ now averages--AVERAGES!--about 340 yards. I keep wondering if it's true or if I only dreamed it: that Cameron Champ can throw a baseball 106 m.p.h. Another change in this year's rule book, that what we used to call a hazard will now be called a penalty area. Don't you U.S.G.A. rules people have more important things to consider? Not all shots that end up in a penalty area result in a penalty, so why call it a penalty area? But then, I guess calling it a hazard is equally stupid.
Here's an item not related to the Waste Management but to women's golf. In early April, the gods of Augusta National have deigned to allow some women to play on their august grounds the final round of the women's amateur tournament called The Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship. But only a few will be allowed to grace their hallowed halls. A field of 72 of the top amateurs in the world will play the first two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday at the Champions Retreat Golf Club in Geneva, Georgia. The field will then be cut to the top 30 and ties, who will play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday and a final round on Saturday. So, a week ahead of the Masters, the world will be able to see how the ladies handle this iconic course. I hope they tear it up and kick some Augustan butts.
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