At times yesterday, Tiger Woods looked like he's back. At other times, Tiger Woods looked like the hacks at the local muni on the weekends. On the front 9, Tiger Woods managed to hit it close and sink some putts, good for a 32. On the back 9, he made a mockery of at least three bunker shots and made me feel much better about my bunker game. He finished with three bogeys on the back, along with two birdies to finish, and ended his round at 3-under for the day and 6-under overall. Phil … [Read more...]
Front9Back9’s Top Golf Stories of 2010
It’s that time of the year again. Yes, the time of the year when everyone starts putting together their “top 10” or “best stories of the year” articles. So with 2011 only a few weeks away, I have compiled my list of Top Golf Stories of 2010, complete with Tigers and Irishman and Youngsters galore.. So here you go, Front9Back9’s Top 10 Golf Stories of 2010. 10.) Grooves debate- The groove change in 2010 was by far the biggest equipment change in many years on tour. Phil Mickelson … [Read more...]
Tiger, Phil, Jim… Take a hike
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...]
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...]
Europe Wins The Ryder Cup
As you can tell by the boring title, I am not too excited Europe won the Ryder Cup. I woke up again at 5:00 a.m. today and watched about an 1 1/2 hours worth of the coverage until I had to leave for my real job. Then when I got to this real job, I streamed an hour worth of it on RyderCup.com until my colleagues starting showing up and then I decided I needed to turn it off so I just hit refresh on my browser every three minutes in-between catching up on other news. So as you may be able to … [Read more...]
PGA Championship Setting Up For A Great Finish
There was no fog delay Saturday morning and it looks as if they will get getting back on schedule by the end of the day. Some of the biggest names in golf are starting to get closer to the leader, Matt Kuchar. The conditions are perfect right now. Rain overnight has softened the course even more and the wind is pretty calm right now. That can change at anytime but right now is the time for Tiger, Vijay, and Bubba Watson to get some birdies before they go out for the start of their third … [Read more...]
Surprise, Surprise..Tiger Commits to Bridgestone
Can you honestly say you were expecting Tiger Woods to sit out the WGC Bridgestone Invitational next week at Firestone? Well the headlines on every golf and sports website today seemed to lead with Tiger committing to the tournament. A lot of people acted surprised for some reason. Tiger rarely plays the week before a major, but next week is different. He always plays this tournament the week before the PGA Championship. And why not when you seem to own the course, right? Tiger is the … [Read more...]
ESPN Low Ratings for The Open Championship
Just like I wrote yesterday, the final round of the Open Championship was an absolute bore fest. A great story, but a bore fest no less. ESPN received a preliminary rating of 2.1 for the Sunday final round, compared to a 3.8 last year. And guess what... You didn't see this headline of ESPN's website. I know. Of course they are not going to put it on their own website. I just don't care for ESPN that much for a variety of reasons. Tiger Woods was out of it early and Phil Mickelson did … [Read more...]
The Open Championship Bore Fest
Well, it's 11:22 AM CST right now. Phil Mickelson is finished for the day and Tiger Woods is already on his way back to Orlando. Rory McIlroy is putting together a good round but ESPN doesn't seem to care about that. Some guy by the name of Louis Oosthuizen is striping every drive down the middle and increasing his lead with every swing, now sitting at a comfortable 8-shots. Paul Casey is going backwards. Lee Westwood is not making a run and Martin Kaymer is just a couple under on his … [Read more...]
Chip-In’s and Chunks
Chip-In's Congratulations to Paula Creamer for winning the U.S. Women's Open this past weekend at the infamous Oakmont Country Club. It was great to see her mom and dad there to congratulate her at the end. The 23-year old Pink Panther shot a cool 3-under for the week, two shots ahead of the runner up. After a Paul Goydos 59 and Steve Stricker 60 in the first round at the John Deere Classic, the two ended up playing together in the final round and Steve Stricker pulled out the victory … [Read more...]
Chip-In’s and Chunks
This is a new little feature I am going to try featuring the previous weekends good (chip-in's) and bad (chunks). If you have a nomination for either, please feel free to send an email to front9back9@gmail.com. Hope you enjoy. Chip-In's Of course I have to start off with congratulating Graeme McDowell for hanging tough and pulling out the victory in the 110th U.S. Open. He hung tough when everyone was pretty much writing him off, including me in my Sunday post. I am sure he drank … [Read more...]
Happy Fathers Day
I first want to start by saying Happy Fathers Day to my dad. A man who has always been there for me and will do anything for his family. He is truly a great man. The best memories I have with him are on the golf course and I can't wait to get over to his house today to talk about the Saturday happenings in the US Open and what we think will happen today. The best being in 2008 for Fathers Day. We were in San Diego for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines when Tiger forced a Monday playoff with … [Read more...]
Get Your Facts Straight Tiger…
These words from the Executive Director of the USGA, David Fay, when questioned about the greens this week at the 110th U.S. Open. On Thursday, after his first round 74, during his post round interview Woods said the greens were "just awful." I saw the interview live during NBC coverage yesterday with Jimmy Roberts and Fay just flat out called Tiger Woods out. Making a distinct comparison between Phil and Tiger, Fay said: I think two players used the word awful on Thursday. Phil … [Read more...]
Who Will Take The Lead Into Sunday?
As NBC coverage fires up and Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller take over for the next 6 1/2 hours, I cannot help but look at the scores on the course right now and wander if someone in the afternoon groups can go low and take the lead going into Sunday. Tom Watson and Davis Love are having great rounds so far so the low scores are out there. Tiger is teeing off in less than 5 minutes. He received a big cheer at #1. Phil is just arriving to the course. So what do I think will happen? I … [Read more...]
Yahoo Fantasy Golf Update
So after last week at the Transitions Championship, I moved up two spots to #18 in the Fans of Devil Ball Yahoo Fantasy golf league. Thanks to a great win by Jim Furyk. I had Furyk in my B group so that got me some great points. And why is Jim Furyk in the B group? The #6 ranked player in the world and he still is in the B group. Maybe they will re-position the players at the start of the spring season. Either way, I was hoping to move up closer to the top 10 so I would have a good shot … [Read more...]
Fantasy Golf Free-Fall
So the last two weeks have been a free-fall in my Fans of Devil Ball Fantsay Golf League. I went from 27 to 38 to sitting at 53rd place as of now. I don't know what is going wrong. Phil and Justin Leonard and Mike Weir and basically everyone I have picked so far has failed miserablly. So here we go, week 6. I am starting Luke Donald and having Phil back him up in my A group. In the B group I am staring Dustin Johnson and Sergio. Backing them up Jim Furyk and Alex Prugh. In my C group … [Read more...]
Three Questions With Phil
This week Phil Mickelson will be making his PGA Tour debut playing at the Farmers Insurance Open at the great Torrey Pines. Phil met with the media today and granted me a quick one-on-one interview after he fulfilled all his other press duties. I am hoping to be landing a lot of these interviews during the 2010 PGA Tour so I hope you come back to check them all out. front9back9: Hey Phil. You are looking trim and fit. How to you feel physically? Phil: I feel great. I stopped eating … [Read more...]
Bill Haas Wins the Bob Hope
Bill Haas pulled out his first PGA Tour victory today in the final Round of the Bob Hope Classic. A birdie on the 18th hole gave him a one shot victory over Bubba Watson, Tim Clark, and Matt Kuchar. Good for Bill Hass but DAMMIT!! I wanted to see Bubba Watson take the victory. Oh well. Bubba will get his first victory sometime and I hope it's sooner than later. This year seemed to not be as big of a circus as years past. When you have to play five rounds of golf for the week and top … [Read more...]
Final Golf World Rankings for 2009
The final World Golf Rankings for 2009 were released today and there was really no surprise in the top 30. There were no changes compared to last week's rankings until you get to #38 and 39 where Graeme McDowell and Francesco Molinari swapped places. The United States has five of the top ten players in the world with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Steve Stricker ranking #1-3 respectively. Jim Furyk ends the year at #6 and Kenny Perry rounds out the top ten ranked #10. Just looking at … [Read more...]