golf tips golftips002.blogspot.com: 01/22/13

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Donald Trump eyes U.S. Open

Updated: May 3, 2012, 5:11 PM ET

Associated Press

BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- Now that he has the U.S. Women's Open, Donald Trump wants more.

On the day that the USGA formally accepted his invitation to play the biggest event in women's golf at Trump National in Bedminster in 2017, the 65-year-old mogul and TV personality said Thursday he would like to host the world's biggest event in golf -- the U.S. Open.

Trump, who owns golf courses in North America and Europe, said the Tom Fazio-designed old course at Trump National is big, bold, and tough, and he believes it could stand up against the best in the world.

"I wanted to hold this course to the absolute highest standards of golf, the absolute highest in terms of quality and length," Trump said at a news conference. "This course can play 7,700, even 7,800 yards. It is one of the few places that you don't have to tinker with. You can set the greens not at 15 or 16 but 12 and the best players are going to have a hard time staying around par."

An avid golfer, Trump has been setting his sights on being the host to some of the world's biggest events since building and opening this course in 2004 on what used to be the estate of automaker John DeLorean.

The course set on natural rolling hills was the site of the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Girls' Junior championships in 2009. Trump impressed USGA officials with how he handled an event for more than 300 young men and women.

His next step was sending an invitation to host the U.S. Women's Open, and USGA executive director Mike Davis said it was an easy choice for the 2017 event.

"When it comes to women's golf, this is it," Davis said of the Women's Open. "I would say our site selection committee is particular about where we come, and this Trump National Bedminster absolutely, positively has earned it."

Trump said his course also is attractive for major events because it is accessible off a major highway and it has enough parking for 18,000 automobiles and major crowds.

"If that should happen, it would be a great honor," Trump said of possibly being the site for a U.S. Open. "I have no greater respect than for the U.S. Open. If I were of that caliber golfer, I know it would be my first pick."

Davis said he has played golf with Trump, and his game is good.

"I enjoy golf," Trump said. "I enjoy the business of golf. It's not my primary business, maybe that's a good thing. I love investing in golf. I think it is good for all of us, certainly good for me and I hope you enjoy the course. Trump National has been something close to my heart."

For now, he has the Women's Open, which will be played July 13-16, 2017 on the old course at Trump National.

This will be the first time the U.S. Women's Open has been held in New Jersey since 1987, when Laura Davies won at Plainfield.

"I have played with him a number of times," Davis said, "and when you hear about his low handicap, trust me, it is legitimate."

Three tied for Wells Fargo lead

Updated: May 3, 2012, 8:30 PM ET

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Webb Simpson was nervous playing in the same group withTiger Woods. It sure didn't show Thursday in the Wells Fargo Championship.

Simpson chipped in from 35 yards in front of the par-4 eighth green for eagle, and then made Woods shake his head and smile when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt that might have rolled off the 12th green if the cup didn't get in the way. It led to a 7-under 65 for a share of the lead Thursday with Stewart Cink and Ryan Moore.

Harig: Tiger rights ship

As Tiger Woods watched his playing partner Webb Simpson share the Round 1 lead, the former world No. 1 identified what he needs to do to win the Wells Fargo Championship, writes Bob Harig. Story

• Harig: Fowler ignores noise

"I was nervous playing with Tiger. I prayed a lot out there," said Simpson, who lives about a mile away from Quail Hollow and already was on edge about trying to perform well for the neighbors. "Once I made a couple birdies, I kind of enjoyed it."

There was a lot to like for just about everyone on a steamy day in Carolina. With temperatures pushing 90 and barely a breeze, scoring conditions were so ideal that even par was over the cut line going into the second round. The average score was 71.72, the lowest for the first round in the 10-year history of the tournament.

Woods failed to take advantage. In his first tournament since a tie for 40th at the Masters -- his worst performance as a pro at Augusta National -- he made too many mistakes early and had to one-putt three of the last four greens for a 71.

"I've got to obviously not make those little mistakes like that tomorrow," Woods said. "We've got a long way to go, and we've got some rain coming probably on the weekend, so we're going to have to go get it."

So many others did just that, including Cink, who has been mired in a slump. He ended an already solid day with three straight birdies, holing a 20-foot putt on the ninth for his lowest round of the year. Moore also birdied his last three holes.

Rickie Fowler, still searching for his first PGA Tour win in his third full season, led a group of five players at 66 that included Patrick Reed, the 21-year-old from Augusta State who has Monday qualified to get in the last two tournaments.

Wells Fargo Leaderboard

T-1. Moore (-7)
T-1. Cink (-7)
T-1. Simpson (-7)
T-4. 5 tied at -6

• Complete scores

The scoring was so low that about one-quarter of the field shot in the 60s, and half of them broke par.

"I think any time you get tour players in 90-degree weather with not much wind, it's naturally going to soften out the greens," Simpson said. "I think you've seen over the years, the hotter it is and the less wind there is, the scores are going to be really good. And I think that's what happened. They can't get the greens too firm with this weather. It will just burn them out."

He didn't have much of an explanation for his own golf, considering he had only two rounds in the 60s in his previous three starts at Quail Hollow. Plus, there was that apprehension about playing with Woods, and the large crowd the 14-time major champion attracts.

The only other time Simpson played with Woods didn't last long. It was the final round of Doral this year, where Simpson jokingly said, "I accidentally kicked him in the leg and he withdrew." Woods left after 11 holes that day with tightness in his left Achilles tendon, which raised questions about his future until Woods won two weeks later at Bay Hill.

Eleven holes at Doral at least gave Simpson a taste of what to expect.

"We went from 10,000 people every hole to zero people," he said.

Thousands of fans on a scorching day at Quail Hollow followed them around all afternoon, with Simpson and Geoff Ogilvy (71) in tow. Simpson is the one who generated most of the cheers. He stuffed his tee shot on the par-3 second and his approach on the third to inside 3 feet for birdies, holed a birdie putt just inside 30 feet on the sixth, and then chipped in for his eagle at No. 8.

Simpson joined the morning leaders with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 11th, but no birdie was more unlikely than No. 12. His tee shot went into the right rough, and because of trees blocking the flight of his ball, hit a low bullet that ran up the hill to the back side of the green, leaving him a 60-foot putt that swung sharply to the left and ran quickly away from him.

He was trying to get it within about 6 feet of the hole, and it dove into the cup. Simpson flung his belly putter to the ground and laughed, which is about all he could think of to do.

"I play here a lot, and I knew where I hit it was pretty dead," he said. "So, yeah, I'll take it."

Phil Mickelson recovered from a tee shot that went out-of-bounds and led to triple bogey and shot 71. Rory McIlroy, who earned his first PGA Tour win at Quail Hollow two years ago by closing with a 62, birdied three of the par 5s but three-putted from 18 feet on the 18th hole and had to settle for a 70.

Fowler led the parade of good scoring in the morning with a round of 66 that was so flawless he never came close to a bogey. He had a birdie putt on all but one green, and the longest putt he had for par was 4 feet. He hit 6-iron to the front pin -- a tiny target -- on the par-5 seventh hole for an eagle, then birdied three of his last four holes.

Fowler has become a fan favorite, especially with young kids in their orange attire, but he still doesn't have what matters. Fowler is not nearly as concerned as everyone else about his 0-71 mark on the PGA Tour. He won the Korea Open last year by beating McIlroy, and he feels as though his game is headed in the right direction.

"I feel that I'm good enough to win," Fowler said. "I definitely feel like the amount of people expecting or thinking that I can win is a compliment. I'm not too worried about the talk that goes on about when my first win is coming, but it's my main goal, and that's what I'm focused on."

Will Fowler's win bode well for golf?

Updated: May 7, 2012, 1:32 AM ET

By Bob Harig | ESPN.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The game of golf will be just fine if its young stars can produce as they did Sunday at Quail Hollow. Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy battling in a playoff, with journeyman D.A. Points playing the foil. Good stuff, and hard to call anybody a loser after the drama that unfolded.

Fowler emerged the winner, stiffing a 51-degree wedge shot at the first extra hole to 4 feet, then watching the more accomplished McIlroy fail to convert his birdie putt from a longer distance.

The victory was long-awaited for Fowler, 23, who emerged from Oklahoma State three years ago and almost immediately lost in a playoff, perhaps ratcheting up expectations that dogged him as he toiled in his all-orange Sunday garb as tournaments passed without victory.

"After 20 years of this, I've learned to stay pretty calm," said Fowler's mother, Lynn, referring to all the days of junior golf, amateur golf and now professional golf. "It's easy watching normal rounds. A playoff hole is sort of like watching match play. Every stroke counts, every hole counts. You feel like you're going to throw up every time they swing the club."

That wasn't the case when Fowler lofted that wedge shot onto the 18th green in the playoff. It played as the hardest hole of the day, the green was treacherous, the pin tucked near the left side where a creek came into play.

A regular pitching wedge might have been more prudent, but Fowler wasn't going to be cautious.

"It was either going to go there or it might go in the creek," Points said. "The shot he hit was spectacular."

[+] Enlarge Rickie Fowler

Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesRickie Fowler birdied the first playoff hole Sunday at Quail Hollow to earn his first PGA Tour victory at the Wells Fargo Championship.

"I definitely didn't want to play safe," Fowler said. "I had a good number [133 yards], and I was aiming right of the hole with the wind coming out of the right, and if I hit a perfect shot, it comes down right on the stick, and I think we came down just left of it.

"I hit the perfect shot at the right time, and I was going for it."

Said McIlroy: "You wouldn't have called the 18th today a birdie hole with that pin. For Rickie to go out and play that hole the way he did, he deserved to win."

McIlroy, 23, was understandably dejected afterward. The reigning U.S. Open champion, who won the Honda Classic in March, went back to No. 1 in the world with his second-place finish, an achievement he called a small consolation. "I wanted to win," said McIlroy, who has now finished in the top three in four of his five tournaments this year on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy finished second to Fowler by six strokes last fall at the Kolon Korean Open, a OneAsia Tour event that Fowler claimed for his first professional victory. It wasn't given a lot of credence at the time, because the tour is well beneath the level of the PGA Tour. But Y.E. Yangwas also in the field and it can't hurt to beat McIlroy twice.

Like many, McIlroy believed it was just a matter of time for Fowler, who despite a good bit of promise, really had not been in contention this year. Although he was picked to the U.S. Ryder Cup team as a rookie in 2010, he failed to make the Presidents Cup team last year. And there was a good bit of talk that perhaps Fowler was overrated.

But he never appeared deterred. Fowler has gone it alone since his only coach, Barry McDonnel, passed away at age 75 last year. Talking about him Sunday nearly brought Fowler to tears, although it is clear he expected this day to come.

"He's 23 years old and he knows how good he is," said Joe Skovron, Fowler's caddie since he turned pro.

The two have known each other since Fowler was 4, when they met at the same driving range and course in Northern California.

"He knew it was coming, just a matter of time," Skovron said. "Maybe some frustration at times, but he always handled it great."

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As was the case last month when Fowler was in the gallery for Bubba Watson's victory at the Masters, several of Fowler's tour friends, including Ben Crane, waited around Sunday and were on the 18th green to congratulate him.

Crane, along with Watson, Fowler andHunter Mahan, make up a goofy group known as the Golf Boys that produced a You Tube video that most consider funny, if not unwatchable.

"I'm really, really excited for him. He's a member of the band, c'mon," Crane said. "For his sake, I'm thankful it's sooner as opposed to later. I think it just opens the gates from here. I'm just thankful for my friend, who has done a lot of things right. His game is so good.

"To do it at such a great event like this, one of the best fields we face all year, and then to get in a playoff and play two perfect shots like that and seal it with a putt. … That's a pretty cool way to do it."

Aaron Baddeley, who was also in Watson's gallery at Augusta, was there to greet Fowler as well.

"It's kind of a burden lifted off your shoulders and also the confidence that you can win on a golf course like this beating now the best player in the world, Rory, who is going to go back to No. 1. That's twice he's beaten Rory head to head."

Watson did not enter this week's event, but he did send out two congratulatory tweets, proclaiming that "Golf is better than ever!!"

It is certainly not bad when it works out as it did Sunday. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were nowhere in sight, the reigning Masters champion as well as the deposed No. 1, Luke Donald, were not even in the tournament.

Rickie and Rory were left to provide the drama, and they did a terrific job.

Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.

David Frost leads Champions opener

Updated: January 19, 2013, 7:46 AM ET

Associated Press

KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii -- David Frost of South Africa had a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

The tournament opens the 34th Champions Tour season at Hualalai Golf Club.

The field of 40 has champions from the past two years and major champions from the past five, plus eight sponsor exemptions.

Mitsubishi Electric Leaderboard

T-1. David Frost (-7)
T-2. Tom Kite (-6)
T-2. Kirk Triplett (-6)
T-2. Willie Wood (-6)
T-2. John Cook (-6)
T-2. Fred Couples (-6)
T-2. Tom Lehman (-6)
• Complete scores

Frost made a 40-foot eagle putt on the seventh hole to reach 5 under. His only bogey came on the next hole, and three birdies on the back nine put him into the lead.

Kirk Triplett, the 2012 Champions Rookie of the Year, bogeyed the last hole to fall into a six-way tie for second at 66. He also had an eagle, hitting his hybrid club 244 yards to 6 feet on the par-5 10th.

"I hit the ball real well all day, had a lot of chances," Triplett said. "I made a nice eagle and had a couple birdies early on the back nine that got me to a nice score, then I couldn't get it any lower."

He was second with 63-year-old Tom Kite, Willie Wood, John Cook, Fred Couplesand Tom Lehman, the senior tour's Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012.

Frost won his last start a month ago on the European Senior Tour. He also captured two Champions titles last year and tied for fourth at the Pacific Links Championship in Hawaii in September.

It was his best year since joining the Champions Tour in 2009. Friday was simply a continuation, despite missing three putts inside 6 feet.

"I hit the ball very well out there today," said Frost, who has gone without a three-putt in 218 consecutive holes. "I missed a couple short putts, made one really long one for eagle. I wouldn't say my game was rusty, it was quite good considering I took one month off. It was just a matter of concentrating at the right times."

John Huston, Russ Cochran and Kenny Perry are eighth at 67. Australian Steve Elkington shot 68 in his senior debut and is tied for 11th with Corey Pavin and Jay Haas.

Only eight players, including defending champion Dan Forsman (73), failed to break par in calm conditions at Hualalai. This course has been the easiest on the Champions Tour in nine of the past 10 years.

The average score Friday was 69.550, just a bit better than last year's opening round (69.610).

Long putters on agenda

Updated: January 18, 2013, 7:42 PM ET

Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The PGA Tour is bringing a guest speaker to its mandatory players' meeting next week at Torrey Pines -- USGA executive director Mike Davis.

A proposed rule that would ban the stroke used for belly putters and broom-handle putters is on the agenda for the Tuesday night meeting at the Farmers Insurance Open. The U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club announced in November that anchored strokes would be outlawed starting in 2016.

Davis said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and the policy board invited him to speak.

"It's just part of the process, to explain the anchoring, talk a little bit about our rationale and explain how the rule operates," Davis said Friday. "I'm going to do that and answer some questions. And then Tim is probably going to toss me out of the room and he'll talk to the players."

Typical of any proposed rule, there is a 90-day comment period before the USGA and R&A decide to adopt it. One issue for the PGA Tour and other professional circuits is whether to enact the ban on anchoring before 2016, to avoid a stigma attached to players using long putters or to have the topic become a distraction.

Three of the last five major champions -- Keegan Bradley (PGA Championship),Webb Simpson (U.S. Open) and Ernie Els (the Open Championship) used a belly putter.

Davis said he would have no input on that decision.

"It would be ludicrous for us to even intervene at all," Davis said.

Ty Votaw of the PGA Tour said having Davis would be nothing more than an "opportunity for there to be good discussion about the proposed rule." He did not say how soon the tour would work on when to implement the new rule, if it even does this year.

Player meetings are rarely contentious unless it's a divisive topic such as the introduction of drug testing in 2008. The proposed rule is a game-changer, however, with more players going to the anchored stroke in recent years. Even so, Bradley suggested a month ago that players using long putters are part of a small minority. Among players who have praised the new rule are Tiger Woods,Steve Stricker and Graeme McDowell.

Carl Pettersson said in Hawaii that the proposed rule seemed to be the product of a "witch hunt," and that it didn't seem fair to someone like him who has invested thousands of hours practicing with a long putter. It's the only method the 35-year-old Swede has used since his sophomore year in college.

Davis is not expecting any protests.

"From what the tour wants, this is just an educational thing and a chance to ask players any questions they have," he said. "I don't think it's designed for players to say how they feel about it."

Davis has been cautious not to speak publicly about the proposed rule during the comment period, which ends after the West Coast swing at the end of February. He even turned down an invitation to speak next week as part of a "State of the Game" panel at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.

Davis described comments the USGA and R&A have received in the last six weeks as "very good feedback," though nothing enlightening or that has caused them to feel as though they missed something in writing the rule.

The main reason for the new rule, as Davis and R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said Nov. 28, was a concern that anchored strokes was taking away some of the skill inherent to golf. Davis said the rule simply defined what a golf stroke is supposed to be.

"I don't think I'll say anything that's going to be new," Davis said. "Then I'll leave the room, and I'm sure it will be different."