Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, please take a hike. It's 2011 and you are no longer needed. That is the message PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem conveyed in his final teleconference of 2010. Well to be fair, that wasn't exactly what he said. It was more along the lines of: I've never in my tenure seen so much buzz and interest about rookies and young players creating exciting performances. Finchem continues to say the buzz has led the PGA Tour to believe they need to focus … [Read more...]
The Golf Channel launches new show: Pipe Dream
The Golf Channel is a big part of my TV watching duties, and I think they have done a pretty decent job in making "reality" type shows over the last few years. The Big Break series, The Haney Project and a few others are all on my DVR list. Now comes another interesting story which I will be sure to tune in to. "Pipe Dream" is a new series featuring a golf pro by the name of Mark Burk, who at age 53 is trying to get his life back on track, and in the meantime get his golf game back along … [Read more...]
2011 PGA Tour Schedule
The PGA Tour finally got around to releasing the 2011 schedule this past weekend, with just four weeks to spare until the Hyundai Tournament of Champions begins at Kapalua. There are a few new sponsors on board this year as well as five new courses. I have picked out a few things below that stick out to me: The Valero Texas Open, the PGA event in my hometown of San Antonio, has moved again this year to the week after The Masters. This week was typically when the Heritage took place at … [Read more...]
Front9Back9 Weekend Tap-ins
The first weekend in December normally is pretty boring in the golf world, but this one turned out to be pretty entertaining. Here is a quick recap of what happen this past weekend. If you don't know already, Tiger Woods blew a four shot lead and lost his own tournament at the Chevron World Challenge. Tiger says it's a positive step and he's fine with blowing his lead. I doubt that. He probably got up this morning and made himself do 1,024 pushups and situps. Either way, he is close and … [Read more...]
Close, but not close enough
In what normally shapes up to be a boring December golf tournament, the final round of the Chevron World Challenge turned out to be a spectacular event. Tiger Woods dominated Sherwood Country Club the first three days of the tournament, but a little pesky Irishman hung around, sort-of the same way he just hung around at Pebble Beach in the U.S. Open, and sank two huge putts to rip the heart from Tiger Woods. To be honest, Tiger blew the tournament. It was the first time he has lost a golf … [Read more...]
Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler take home PGA Tour awards
Congratulations to Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler for taking home some hardware today. Jim Furyk was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year by the players and Rickie Fowler was voted Rookie of the Year. No real surprise with Rickie Fowler. He is the youngest player since Tiger Woods to win the Rookie of the Year. Tiger was 20 years old in 1996 when he took home the award and Fowler is 21. He finished 32nd in the Fed Ex rankings and ended the year ranked 25th in the World Golf Rankings after … [Read more...]
Tiger Woods continues his dominace at Sherwood
On Saturday, Tiger Woods continued his great play firing a 68 to keep a four shot lead over Graeme McDowell. Tiger got off to a little bit of a slow start today by bogeying the par-5 second hole, but came back with three birdies in a row on 5,6 and 7 to finish the front9 with a 34. He continued his great play on the back 9 shooting another 34. Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell made a semi-run at Tiger today but faltered in the end, and Tiger was able to hold onto the four shot lead going into … [Read more...]
Well, well, well… Look who’s at the top…
Somebody by the name of Tiger Woods, that's who. Sure it's only the first round, and Tiger has had flashes of good rounds this year, but Woods shot a first round 65 today in his annual Chevron World Challenge, the limited field golf tournament which benefits his foundation. With the 7-under round today, that puts him atop the leader board with Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell one back at 6-under. The next closest group is 3-under with Dustin Johnson and Stewart Cink. It's a good first … [Read more...]
Michael Jordan vs Tiger Woods: Who has the best house?
So it looks like two of the most famous athletes in the world won't have to travel too far to get a $50,000 game of Wolf going. Michael Jordan is reportedly building a new home in Jupiter, Florida, not too far from the new home of Tiger Woods. The same people who brought us the pictures of Tiger Woods new home now have the exclusive photos of the home Jordan is building on the Bear's Club. The real estate firm of Jeff and Cary Lichtenstein broker exclusive estates in the Palm Beach area of … [Read more...]
Golf Picks & Predictions: Chevron World Challenge
Typically during my Picks & Predictions post each week, I pick four players in which I think have a great chance to win. To be honest, most of my choices are just a random pick. I do actually look over the field for the week and use a few stats here and there and I do take in to account how hot the player has been playing recently. But mostly, I might-as-well just put all the names in a hat and draw from there. I would probably have a better chance at picking the winner like that. … [Read more...]
Front9Back9 One Year Anniversary
I feel pretty confident in saying 8-out-of-10 people think one year anniversary blog posts are pretty boring...So with that being said, I would like to be the first to congratulate myself on the one year anniversary of Front9Back9.com. It was quite a coincidence that I started the blog a few days after the Escalade vs Fire Hydrant episode that left the #1 golfer in the world with a busted teeth and a busted marriage. I really did have the domain name many months before that infamous night and … [Read more...]
Escalade vs Fire Hydrant: One year later
It was one year ago today. Thanksgiving 2009 at around 2:30 a.m, when the most famous sports figure in the world began his fall from grace atop golfing supremacy. Amid a leaked story by the National Enquirer about a possible affair with Rachel Uchitel, Tiger Woods crashed his Escalade into a fire hydrant and tree as he fled from his Florida mansion, bare foot and reportedly high on Ambien. I remember where I was when I found out about the crash. Sort-of like I remember where I was when the … [Read more...]
Golf Picks & Predictions: PGA Tour Player of the Year
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour released the finalists for the 2010 Player of the Year honors. While I agree with four-of-the-five nominees, there is one I don't think should be on the list. The five players listed have never been named as the Player of the Year, all because of some dude named Tiger, who has won the award ten times in the last 13 years. So while all five of these players are great, there is one player who deserves it most. And the nominees are: Ernie Els- Two wins in 2010, … [Read more...]
Former United Stated Naval Officer makes it to Q-School finals
What a great story this is. A former Navy officer, Billy Hurley III, has made it to the final stage of Q-School thanks to an 18-under four days at Southern Hills Plantation Club. The 28-year old has fulfilled his obligation of four years in the Navy, and now is determined to fulfill his lifelong goal of playing on the PGA Tour. After spending the last 16 months on a destroyer ship in Pearl Harbor, where he only played a total of five rounds of golf, he is looking to become the first Naval … [Read more...]
Tiger Woods is Redefining Victory
Tiger Woods is on a mission to improve himself. Last week, he went on a quasi-media blitz, where an op-ed article was released by Newsweek, he joined Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio, and decided to give Twitter a try. But is any of this helping his image? In the Newsweek article, How I’ve Redefined Victory, he said he likes giving Charlie a bath rather than chipping another bucket of balls, and making macaroni and cheese for his daughter Sam more than going out to eat. He spent two segments … [Read more...]
Golf terms to use this weekend with your buds
I got an email today from a golfing buddy and thought I'd share the love. It's some newly minted golf terms that you can use this weekend when you're hacking the course up at the local muni. Some are pretty funny. I have seen a few of them passed around before, but a few are new. *Disclaimer. Some of these terms could be offensive to some people. If you're easily offended please don't read past here. If not, use them this weekend* 1. A 'Rock Hudson' - a putt that looked straight, but … [Read more...]
Jim Furyk takes home the PGA Tour Player of the Year
Only four players have been named PGA Tour Player of the Year over the last decade. On Monday, Jim Furyk was added to the list thanks to his three victories and runner-up finish on the money list. When you think about it, four different players over the last ten years is pretty special, but with a guy by the name of Tiger Woods winning seven of the last ten, it doesn't seem so special. Vijay Singh took home the honor in 2004 and Padraig Harrington won the trophy in 2008. But other than that, … [Read more...]
Troy Merritt takes home $1 million for the Kodak Challenge
Troy Merritt out lasted Rickie Fowler and Aaron Baddeley in a one-hole playoff to win the Kodak Challenge and the $1 million prize that goes along with it. The million dollars is probably nice to have in the bank, but I wonder if he is happier he was able to keep his PGA Tour card for 2011? Merritt finished as the last player inside the cut line in order to retain his tour card, which ended up being a total of $786,977 in earnings this year. The Kodak Challenge is a season-long competition … [Read more...]
Tigers’ New Bachelor Lair
Apparently a hefty divorce settlement hasn't delayed the plans to build a nice little bachelor pad for the world's #2 ranked golfer. Tiger Woods is reportedly ready to move into his new bachelor pad. What a better way to celebrate the one year anniversary of the infamous Thanksgiving fire hydrant mishap, then moving into a $50 million Jupiter Island mansion? Aerial pictures of Tiger Woods new mansion have begun to surface, thanks to Jeff Lichtenstein, a Palm Beach County real estate agent … [Read more...]
Golf Picks & Predictions: Children’s Miracle Network Classic
The Children's Miracle Network Classic tees it up on Thursday in the final official event of the 2010 PGA Tour season. There are eight 2010 winners in the field this week and 11 major winners in the field. For a tournament in the middle of November, the field is pretty good. My picks for the Children's Miracle Network Classic go a little like this: Rickie Fowler- Yes, I am going to pick Fowler again. A win would only cap off a great rookie season where he has basically already locked up … [Read more...]