PGA Tour etc: Q-Schools etc: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).First Stage Q-School is history, and so are the aspirations of many Europeans, Messrs Karlberg, Lara and Richardson among the most active, either in Europe or the Natioinwide Tour. Second Stage begins in a fortnight, and Mesrs Gronberg, Richard Johnson (times two?) and Owen are expected to be in action. No word yet on overseas visitors.

2).First Stage Champions Tour Q-School is also history. While it was great to see Barry Lane, Miguel-Angel Martin, Mark Mouland and Mike Harwood, among others, advance, it was disappointing, but perhaps predictable?, that veteran European Tour players Forsbrand and Walton came up empty. It is just not realistic for a European Tour player to take many seasons off and then come, untried and untested, to Champions Tour golf and expect to succeed. Far better to hone your skils on the Seniors Tour and recover competitive edge. Then have a go.
Among PGA Tour members of yesteryear who also fell short were Danny Edwards, Fulton Allem, John Morse, TC Chen and Lon Hinkle. Final Stage begins in Arizona on Nov 15th, when Peter Fowler, Lane, Mouland etc will compete for a handful (probably just five) of Fully Exempt Champions Tour memberships. The Field will be published shortly but is certain to include a number of household names who, surprisingly, won't have retained Fully Exempt Status.

3).The Nationwide Tour Championship threw up a PGA Tour old lag as its Champion, the rather portly Ken Duke, but also confirmed 2012 PGA Tour Memberships for Scotland's Russell Knox, Surrey's Gary Christian, and Swedes Daniel Chopra and Jonas Blixt. I'd think they'll all have their work cut out to retain their status in 2012, and anything in the top 100 of the money list should be seen as a great success. Blixt and Knox were groomed in the US Collegiate system followed by mini-tours, and hopefully they'll follow in the footsteps of their countrymen, Laird and Pettersson.

4).It's only three years since the British press was touting Chopra as a European Ryder Cup candidate as he won twice in consecutive tournaments on the PGA Tour. But he is the classic "curate's egg" sort of golfer and mixes in the wildly erratic (usually with his driver) with bursts of short-game brilliance. Tough to keep that up profitably over four rounds and Chopra will struggle again.

5).Gary Christian is an interesting story and, seemingly, an awfully nice bloke. Forty years old, a graduate of College Football powerhouse Auburn University, he embarked on his Nationwide odyssey in 1998, only becoming a regular member in his mid-thirties. 165 tournaments, 99 cuts, 2 wins and $853K in the bank later and he's due to make his first PGA Tour start in Hawaii at the Sony Open. This is already a great story; he seems a bit of a character (in a positive, rather than a Dalyesque, way) and was very amusing when sharing guest commentary responsibilities with Nationwide lifer and very short Aussie Gavin Coles.

6).Others moving to the "show" include: Double heart-transplant survivor Erik Compton, Danny Lee, Aussies Goggin and Coles, Tour millionaires Duke and Mallinger, gaucho Carballo, "recreational drug" casualty Matt Every and one-time US Navy Officer Billy Hurley. Ryder Cupper Wetterich and Presidents Cupper Triplett both fell short.

7).I reckon that Tim Finchem would be apoplectic, real blue-in-the-face stuff, if a dozen among his leading Tour members dissed a US-based World Golf Championship. But HSBC absentees include the nucleus of a pretty good Tournament field: Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Laird, Woodland, Mickelson, Snedeker, Bubba Watson, O'Hair, Kuchar, Jason Day and Fowler. Add Champions Tour star Peter Senior (playing in the Schwab Championship), Luke Donald on paternity leave and Stricker on the sick list, and it's a case for the Americans of who's not there rather than who condescends to show up. No excuse.
Whenever there's a test of US commitment to World Golf, the PGA Tour in general, and Finchem in particular, fails. Nobody puts the w in World Golf Championships quite like Finchem.

8).Should have mentioned last week that the Tour is reviving the idea of a "modified Stableford". Successful for 21 years at one Mountain venue, Castle Pines, in Colorado, "The International" was removed from the Tour schedule following an unseemly spat between Castle Pines owner and tournament promoter, Jack Vickers, and, inevitably, Tim Finchem (with a soupcon of IMG thrown in). But now the "Reno-Tahoe" Open, staged at a gorgeous location in the beautiful Lake Tahoe area on the California / Nevada state line, will adopt the modified Stableford format: 8 points for an albatross, 5 pts for an eagle, 2 pts for a bird, nuffink for par, -1 for bogey, -3 for double bogey or worse. Good luck to them.

9).The Top 30 money winners on the Champions Tour assemble at San Francisco's historic Harding Park this week for the "Charles Schwab Cup Championship". John Cook has won the last two Schwab tournaments, but Tom Lehman is leading the year-long Schwab Cup points system and will be hoping to close out the year with another win. That would bring him Champions Tour Player Of The Year, so becoming the first golfer to win POTY on the Nationwide/PGA/and Champions Tours.
Other non-Americans competing will be Peter Senior (would he rather be at the HSBC Champions??), Nick Price, Langer, Canada's Rod Spittle, David Frost and Chien Soon Lu.
Those who will either ride their luck among alternates next year or compete at Q-School to regain their status are: McNulty, Joe Ozaki, Romero, Jim Rutledge and Kiyoshi Murota. One assumes that Roger Chapman and Sandy Lyle will not be attending Q-School . . . . . .

10).Happy story (on pgatour.com) to end with:
Harding Park has two benches beside a practice green dedicated to four-time club champion and long-time leading San Francisco amateur Ovid Seyler. A fireman by trade he battled such San Francisco amateur legends as Harvie Ward, Ken Venturi and the young Johnny Miller. Apparently he was also a lifetime do-gooder, in the best possible way.
The plaque on one bench reads: In Memory of Ovid Seyler, who eagled EVERY HOLE at Harding Park.
The other reads: In memory of Ovid Seyler, "The Insitution", Harding Park.
So many of our clubs have our own institution, but how many have eagled every hole??!!

I see Michael Jordan has been replaced as a Presidents Cup Vice Captain by John Cook. Apparently Jordan's duties as owner of the NBA's Charlooe franchise preclude his travel to Australia. Cookie scores an invite into the Aussie Open as a reward!

Just had a gaze at Cook's long and distinguished career, 11 wins over a 20-year period; but no Presidents Cup appearances and only one Ryder Cup (at Le Belfry in 1993). Amazing really.

Saw that to Kwini, wasn't aware of Jordan being a franchise owner, shows how long i've not followed NBA. Why though does this prevent him being able to travel to Australia for the pres cup.

Cooks record was always very solid suprised he never achieved more in his career

Kwini, on the Michael Jordan thing, why was he vice-president in the first place? Also, was he due to play in the Australian Open or is it just now that John Cook has been appointed, as a pro golfer, he gets an invite?

Hi Mav, EmmDee,
Jordan has been part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats for eighteen months now and presumably has some sort of a role in the negotiations surrounding the NBA lock-out which threatens the 2011/2012 NBA season.

Don't think he was going to feature in the Aussie Open though, ED, the Pro-Am perhaps!!

John Cook is almost as close to Tiger as O'Meara was; these SoCal boys who scarpered to Florida to escape Cal taxes have got to stick together!

I loved watching Cook as a player - run of the mill much of the time but could get on hot streaks as red hot as anyone on Tour. Should have won Faldo's second Muirfield Open and probably just lacking some testicular fortitude at the very top events. Boring as hell as a commentator though, and has developed quite the unsightly gut.

Going for his third straight Harding Park win starting tomorrow.

Thanks Kwini but I still don't understand why he was appointed in the first place? I'd not be happy if Jose Maria appointed Raul or David Beckham as vice-captain for the Ryder Cup.

EmmDee,
I think that's just Freddie - Jordan was also VC in 2009. Jordan's been turning up at these matches like a bad penny anyway - think Fred's rationale was that he'd be good in the clubhouse and less of a distraction than if he just followed the matches - as he was often wont to do.

Surely Faldo's lad and some DJ were in his inner circle at Valhalla. Whether to the detriment of the team or not, of course.

Arh DJ Spoony the VC at the Ryder Cup.... Pointless

Is there any reason for the high number of US based absentees at the WGC? Would have thought the appeal of the World Ranking Points would have been a pull for them.

EmmDee57 wrote:Is there any reason for the high number of US based absentees at the WGC? Would have thought the appeal of the World Ranking Points would have been a pull for them.

Because it's not in the US and they get nose bleeds travelling outside of US borders

I think that's a very big part of it, the only caveat being the fact that Couples has also demanded his Pres Cup Team plays next week before Royal Melbourne festivities.

Certainly doesn't excuse Sneds, O'Hair, Laird, Woodland or Fowler. Or Thomas Levet.

As for Steve Stricker: Very mixed signals in the US Media as to whether he's going to be good to go. No sign of him in any field next week, except the one he uses to beat balls into from his heated trailer-cum-driving range on the Wisconsin tundra.

Mav, EmmDee,
But I blame the PGA Tour - no commitment from them whatsoever and, as in everything, if the leaders don't lead (perhaps they are of course), the followers will do their own thing.

Funny how we moan about US golf being so self-centred... but Couples asks his players to turn up to a minor tour event (albeit one with history), and they all appear on parade, even forsaking a WGC for it. Monty asks his players to turn up to a ET event, with a decent prizefund and being played on the same course the RC will be, and half of them don't bother. Rather be self-centred than money-chasing, I think.

Fields for Q-School, Second Stage, have been published and there are enough good players across the six sites tocontest a decent tournament in its own right.
There are dozens of former winners and Tour veterans and among some notables by category, some doubtless inadvertently missed, are:

Europeans:
Cejka (I think he'll have some medical exemption available to him also)
Gronberg
Hafthorsson
Johnson (can only find one Richard Johnson, assume it's Richard S)
Owen
Rafferty
Rominger

Major Champions:
Beem
Duval
Hamilton
Janzen
Micheel

Ryder / Presidents Cup Team members:
Austin
Begay
Franco
Hensby
Lonard
Maggert
Riley
Weekley

Aussie notables:
Flanagan
Nathan Green
Aron Price
Michael Sim

Eccentric:
Mac O'Grady
Blaine McAllister

As well as Cejka, I see that Jamie Lovemark has signed up, presumably he is trying to belt-and-braces his status in the same way that Billy Horschel did last autumn.

I was unable to unearth any European Tour players who didn't contest Stage 1.


Ned;
Agree with that, but part of his request was due to the time elapsed from the end of the Tour season, plus the desire to have his players well adjusted to the time change.
Also would say a few of the Europeans are coming across as increasingly self-serving, certainly to the detriment of their own Tour. Which of course is your point!

Champions Tour Q-School: Final Stage:

This will be contested in Arizona in two weeks. There are no surprise entrants, and no entries from Europe that we hadn't anticipated.

Notables:
Barry Lane, Peter Fowler, Mike Harwood, Miguel-Angel Martin, Mark Mouland, Trevor Dodds, Angel Franco, Steve Jones, Gary Hallberg, Chris Perry and Tim Simpson.

Clearly Roger Chapman has given up, while Sandy Lyle, Eddie Romero, Denis Watson are among those banking on tenuous status and invites for 2012. Forsbrand's "alternate" status expected to be to no avail.

Kwini did Ronan Rafferty get thru the first stage somewhere? havent heard his name mentioned in years!

There's the shame hend0. Twenty years ago (more than that really) he seemed to have the golfing world at his feet.
A salutary warning to all athletes that health and form can be fleeting.
Almost the exact same age as Colin Montgomerie, yet most of his best moments came before Monty hit the headlines.

I see that the Puerto Rico Open may offer Yani Tseng a sponsors invitation to play the tournament next March (opposite Doral).
As reported by pgatour.com.

Hi kwini,

Very good reading and info while I'm testing the network systems at work. Hope to be cleared to access internet full-time at work by next week.

On the playing front, started chipping a few days ago as my ACL is improving daily. Hope to move on to pitching and some 60+ wedge shots next month.

Very difficult to get psyched up for the President's Cup until the matches actually get started. Not enough history and bad blood in the air to match the Ryder Cup intensity. Interestingly, this is one instance where Finchem could serve the sport by bad-mouthing the ROTW golfers to get the juices flowing. It doesn't help that the PGA Tour is really most of the Aussies' tour also. And the Saffers are just too nice of a bunch except for maybe the other Rory. I've seen more rivalry and gamesmanship during the local course friendlies.

Hi venice,
We're in the golfing doldrums for sure.
Looking forward to the Pres Cup though, we (you especially) should be able to watch all but the Saturday afternoon play at a reasonable hour, from what I understand.

Your mate Pavan had a nice round today in the Challenge Tour finale.

Elsewhere, CC signed, Cano and Swisher re-upped and Epstein's fired his manager!
Ooh, and Les Habs have just remembered how to win.

Hope you'll be off the DL soon . . . .

Good news and bad news for Luke Donald as he reviews the day's action from the HSBC;
The good: Rory McIlroy did little to advance his efforts to take a chunk out of Donald's lead in the E.T. money race.

The bad: A Bradley win (improbable I'd say, even after a ripping start) would almost certainly hi-jack the PGA Tour POTY from Donald or Simpson.


Meanwhile, it seems that John Cook has been given a Vice Captain's role on Couples' Pres Cup Team as a sort of chaperon to Tiger Woods. Right Said Fred:
"If Tiger Woods and John Cook are really close friends and buddies, that's an easy call."

(Cautionary note to Fred: Bernard Cribbins fans will recall that his other Top Ten hit was "Hole In The Ground".)

Great read as ever Kwini - Bobby Gates is not a name that I'm that familiar with...... is he sponsored by Bill? I know he's had a few good results recently in the States but I can't recall him winning any comps. I was just wondering how he qualified to get in the field?

Thanks Yads,
Don't think Bill has opened any windows on golf yet, but Bobby was the winner of the New Zealand Open, a qualifying "Champion". And even lesser-known Jim Herman, no relation to Woody or (cricket fans) Lofty, won another qualifying event, the world famous Moonah Open.

Both have dates at PGA Tour Q-School unless they win this week, as do a couple of the Aussies - and even Paul Casey should he fancy retrieving his full PGA Tour status.

Hi Kwini, great stuff again this week.

Particularly like the notes on Gary Christian and Ovid Seyler. (and the recent efforts of everyone on here to keep us all up to date re q-schools. Fantastic.)

Do you think after last year Casey will play full time on ET so not to split his RC points between lists? Would seem logical but its hard to tell where Casey's priorities lie.

I seen a few Tiger form stories popping up this week. Always seems to happen during a large event that he's not attending. Remember the WGC Matchplay last year? In fairness most of the time its tough to work out if its his doing or the media's.

Cheers Lairdy,
Gary Christian is an intriguing case to me; no idea how he'll fare on Tour and imagine he'll have plenty of weeks to double-dip on the Nationwide. Under the old dog/new tricks thesis you'd think he might struggle but, hey, this is what dreams are made of.
Regardless, every dollar earned at this stage is valuable to him as Nationwide earnings plus PGA Tour earnings = career earnings for criteria for Champions Tour exemption eligibiliity so that must be in the back of his mind as he progresses through his forties.

No idea about Casey, the "personal issue" rumours still simmer on the back-burner; sure he will be anxious to secure Ryder Cup qualification as a by-product of whatever strategy he pursues.

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks Yads,
Don't think Bill has opened any windows on golf yet, but Bobby was the winner of the New Zealand Open, a qualifying "Champion". And even lesser-known Jim Herman, no relation to Woody or (cricket fans) Lofty, won another qualifying event, the world famous Moonah Open.

Both have dates at PGA Tour Q-School unless they win this week, as do a couple of the Aussies - and even Paul Casey should he fancy retrieving his full PGA Tour status.

Kwini, thanks for the info...... interesting New Zealand Open eh, I never thought of that, I just naturally looked at his home PGA form; silly of me not to realise that some American golfers like to travel Good luck to him I say, at least he's shown that he's prepared to get off his rectum. Talking of Casey, it's uncanny or is it me but there's a bit of a resemblence bet Bobby Gates and Casey! come to think of it, I've never seen them in the same room or round together!

OK, It's fair to say these notes have included mentions of some of golf's less well known personalities, and one whose name crops up from time to time is our favourite Welshman. No, not Yadsendew, but Bangor's Errie Ball.

He has just been elected into the PGA Of America's Hall of Fame.


pga.com reports as follows from Wednesday's induction ceremonies:

"Errie Ball, who at 100 years of age is the last survivor of the inaugural Masters field of 1934, is the second longest-serving PGA Professional, and continues to amaze colleagues and students by teaching at Willoughby Golf Club in Stuart, Florida."

And super_realist considers anyone over 30 to be a coffin dodger . . . . . .

Congratulations to Errie Ball, perhaps our friends at the BBC and the UK golfing press will think of real lifelong achievement before posting mindless inanities from Tiger, Rory and the rest.

100 years old, still teaching, and he's still only the second longest-serving?!? Who on earth is the first?

Ned,
Good question.
Don't think he's British though, and doubt if he played in the Masters.
Not sure whether Mr.Ball taught that much at the beginning of his career. Obviously got his years in though!

Better withdraw any negative inference regarding Snedeker's absence from the HSBC Champions.
Apparently he suffered a recurrence of a long-term hip problem last week in Malaysia and has undergone corrective surgery in Colorado. Good health to Sneds.
And this is an early Christmas present for a lucky alternate who will replace Snedeker in the Chevron World Challenge next month.

Tee-times in an hour in China and here's hoping for a good day for the Europeans. A repeat of the Franny and Lee masterclass from last year would be very welcome.
Franny Lee, are you reading this?

Looks like that lucky alternate is Rickie Fowler. Why wasnt he there in the first place?

Course in Shanghai seems to be set up just about right to allow all those present to give us a show.

Cheers Lairdy,
Was searching for alternates and couldn't find anything published - nice bonus for Rickie.

PS: Bizarre that your namesake is absent this week - assume there's some sort of delayed honeymoon going on . . . . . ?

That was one of the reasons I came up with. He did well in the CIMB and ok in the HSBC last year if I remember. Very surprised not to see him out there. Perhaps just finishing early in order to save his usual late season form for the start of next season... He managed to start this season well for a change so wrapping up early should not be a worry for him. He'll be resting so he can maximise his chances at all those early desert events. Should go well at Kapalua again too! Cant wait!

I see pgatour.com are describing this as Jacobson's "career year"... clearly they don't consider his 3 wins and 4th in the 2003 OoM to be very noteworthy!

Lairdy,
ML is still scheduled to play in Tiger's Chevron shindig all the better to pay for his honeymoon presumably.

Ned,
There you are, the PGA Tour's view of the world in a nutshell.
Nicely summed up also by Fred Couples last night by him casually referring to Keegan Bradley's fine round 1 at the HSBC as in Hong Kong or wherever the hell they are.

Sounds like Couples has a notion he might like Keegs down in Australia but won't call to invite him. That's OK, John Cook can stand in for Stricker . . . .
Sounds as if Fred thinks this is going to be easy; let's hope he's wrong.

The first pair at the Charles Schwab Championship is out of the traps in Round 2. Scoring tricky in cool, sometimes damp conditions on Thursday - at least a couple of golfers reached five under par before giving shots back as they turned for home.
Pres Cup Captain and VC, Couples and Haas, lead the way but Harding Park specialist Pres Cup VC John Cook strugled before collecting two late birdies.

Some great golf on a very attractive public (sort of, TPC management) course with plenty of the obligatory views of San Francisco peppering Golf Channel's coverage.

One frightening aspect of yesterday's coverage was news that Calcavecchia attended a Halloween party dressed up as Rickie Fowler . . . . . . .

Fine write up per usual Kwin.

Yes, that is scary -- Calcavecchia puts the frump in frumpy. I can't imagine him as an orange clad Fowler. He might be mistaken for "Otto" at the Carrier Dome.

Curious, why do you think Fred thinks this will be easy? I can't imagine either side would think that given the level of inconsistent play from so many of the "name" players at the PC.

Kwini,
Long time no 'talk'. It's great to see most of the usual suspects are still here.

First I want to remind everyone that it was kwini who nailed it about the sub-par year GMac will have. Just didn't think it was going to be this bad, did you?

While TW is still messing around with his swing, it's nice to see temperamental Sergio finally snapped out his doldrums. It's amazing how in such a short 6 months, so much has changed and so much hasn't. Wasn't it yesterday that people was predicting that Martin Kaymer is going to take over the world by storm. Then that same excitement erupted after the Rory US Open master piece. Of course yours truly thought for sure TW will be back to no. 1 and have at least three wins by now. Yuk! It's amazing how the game of golf has a way of making its own plans.

Being a Tiger fan, can't wait for the next two weeks. Great to hook up with everybody on here.

Venice, was in NoCal last week and finally experienced the ultimate golfing day at Pebble. OMG, what a place and what a golf course! Hope to track down to SoCal and try the other US Open site.

Now there's a match I'd like to see ... Steve Williams Adam Scott v Tiger Woods.

Welcome back Simba.

Hi Shotrock,
Surprised your mate SO'H is not wielding the clubs in China . . . . .

I know Fred puts the blase into nonchalant but he seems even more casual about this than he usually does, as if he's confident "it'll be alright on the night". Not so sure that approach will work on this team that looks pretty leaderless to moi, the guys who you'd expect to take the lead like elder statesmen Furyk and Toms (and Tiger?) only just making the Team. Unfathomable to me that he doesn't invite Keegs for insurance/experience.

Perhaps he'll be pleased to be done with the whole thing - then the next question will be: Who will the next Captain's be?


Simba,
Bloody Hell, Get lost??
Great to hear from you; yup, I certainly didn't think McDowell would have a good year, but then he came up with some super early results! I still don't think he's long or accurate enough to excel on many US Tour courses, which was my concern back in January.
A year is a long time in golf, but no-one told us that Tiger would bugger up his knee or that Kaymer would try to change his swing.

By the way, "venice" is only on the air very intermittently at the moment, full service expected to return shortly.

Still tightly bunched at the "Schwab", Calc going nicely in the lead, only O'Meara and ArmourIII getting tailed off.

All the best,

Hi, Gael,

Great to be back. Hopefully, the next few weeks will give us something to talk about.

Remember the PC format is one captain puts down a name and the other puts one down afterwards. They then switch. So, if they really wanted, Norman and Couple would be able to pit Stevie and Tiger together. Just wonder if Adam feels up to it. With all the trash talking by Norman and the International team, this is starting to warm up like the RC.

Kwini,

Got sent overseas for a few months due to work. That got me off the track and couldn't locate this site. Finally googled it today and to find all of you here and doing well. Great to have some true golf fans to chat to again.

About Keeg, I think his game is perfect for match play and team play. The kid is incredibly long. His putting is streaky, a lot like a Dustin Johnson, only more polished with his iron play. What I think was lost in the debate is the selection of Bill Hass, who got lucky and won the jack pot and with his daddy being the assistant cap, slide right underneath into the team. Tiger is only the greatest match player who ever lived beside the old timers in the prehistorical days. You have got to have him on the team. I would have taken keagan and drop Hass.

G'day Simba.

Well, if Scott and Woods were 'picked' to play each other and, given Tiger was Scott's hero in addition to Scott's caddie having previously been Tiger's caddie, it certainly has the makings of being one of the more surreal golf matches in the annals of the game.

It would certainly be sweet revenge by Shark for Woods saying "I want Norman" in 1998.

I'm looking forward to the Pres Cup - Simba, we should be able to watch a lot of it, perhaps all except Saturday afternoon's play will be at a decent hour.

gael,
Glad you mentioned Laura Baugh earlier on; a name not remembered by many in Europe perhaps, but still iconic among those of a certain age here for the promise her game held as a teenager, and her spectacular tribulations.

Welcome back Simba - the place hasn't been the same without you

kwini .. she's had a quite extraordinary life. All the more power to her elbow for coming through the bad times.

Incidentally, don't know if you were ever able to catch her on the commentary/announcer side of things but she was excellent.

Strange to think she played in the same team event as (our own) Belle Robertson.

Haven't heard anything new about her, gael, for quite a while. She's certainly not commentating over here now and I can't help but think she had an incident when commentating many years ago.
Hope she's in good health now.

Kwin -- Seems to me that Scott is in the middle of this Shark/Tiger thing ... Poor Greg, as dominant as he was, just not in Tiger's league and certainly not in his prime when Tiger came onto the stage. My observation is that Greg has not fully embraced this reality. Maybe beating TW through Adam will help him.

Greg not in Tiger's league? Who was??

I think Greg Norman has the immense respect of almost everyone in the non-American golf world, plus Jack Nicklaus and one or two others here.

Extraordinarily unlucky not to have won more, but an inspiration to an entire country. Plus, amidst marital mis-steps he's created an empire and his vision of World Golf is what World Golf is inexorably turning in to (as usual in spite of Finchem).

I don't think Norman has too many sleepless nights worrying about his legacy. But he'd love to beat the US Team in two weeks' time, no doubt about that whatsoever.

kwinigolfer wrote:Haven't heard anything new about her, gael, for quite a while. She's certainly not commentating over here now and I can't help but think she had an incident when commentating many years ago.
Hope she's in good health now.

Ah, sorry to hear that. Of course it could be she's got a couple of dozen grandchildren under her feet by now.

Got to say I'd never heard of her - but she does have a wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Baugh

Hi, Shotrock, Kwini,

I'm a little baffled by the intense words uttered by Norman regarding Tiger's pick. First it could be interpreted as gamesman ship. But it almost sounded like he is settling a score from past. It also borderlines disrespect to Couple. The other part of an earlier interview saying Tiger will never win another Major is really coming off as sour grape. It does not befit his legacy. It seems a little petty. If you read or hear of Faldo's take, it is pretty much along the the same line except it doesn't sound so convincingly negative or absulote.

The way Norman commented on Tiger, it almost sounded like he wishes Tiger would fail. That in a nut shell is what baffles a lot of fans, not just US fans.

As to his legacy being a little tarnished in the US, it was due in large part of his failing at the 1996 Masters. Before that you could chalk up his losses to pure bad luck. But that one and the total fading of his play afterwards signal to the fans that he is quiter. He folded when the going got tough. Making matter worse, it actually coincided with the rise of a young fearless Tiger. So, Norman maybe a hero for the ozzies, Americans looked at him only with a sympathetic eye. Unfairly or not, he is the epitome of a 'choker' in the history of modern sports. It really had nothing to do with his nationality.

Maybe, subconsciously, Norman blames Tiger for all that fall out in the late 90's. Just speculating on my part.