I am so captivated by the Fedex Playoffs that I am prepared to throw 100% of my support behind Commissioner Finchem if he would only pronounce the following two mandates: Tiger, you are tired? Then STAY HOME for the next three weeks. You are out. No soup for you, no Coca-Cola, no Deutsche, no BMW, no East Lake. Ernie, you want to see your little daughter off to school? BE A ROOM DAD as long as you wish. You are out, also. Mr. Finchem, we of the golfing public are ready for you to boot Tiger’s tired tushy ... full post »

The Passion of RonMon: Conversion to a FedEx Cup devotee. (Set to the lyrics and rhythm of Dr. Seuss’ immortal Green Eggs and Ham) Act One: Denial I do not like it on tee-vee. I do not like it on a tee. I do not like it in my house. I do not watch it with my spouse. I do not know them here or there. I do not find them anywhere*. I do not know you, Gavin ... full post »

Now that I’ve slept on it, I have a clearer vision of the USGA Walker Cup selection committee’s hypocrisy. Here’s what we had to perceive as their premise: we value our own Amateur championship so little that we will only hold out two spots based on its results. The irony is, the player that stepped up and played out of his gourd to reach the final, did not make the team. Let’s take a look at Rickie Fowler versus Michael Thompson. Fowler came to the final nine of his qualifier well within the number…and shot five-over par ... full post »

Rickie Fowler and Kyle Stanley were selected by the USGA to round out the USA Walker Cup team. Stanley was as deserving as the next guy, but Fowler was the big question. I’ll run down the three-for-one decision as I see it. Michael Thompson: Too much lip. Should have shut his mouth when questioned about the team. Didn’t anyone teach this kid anything at Tulane and Alabama? Don’t demand a spot (a la Bill Gates at Augusta); the USGA is old-school, and likes a bit of humility. Did you hear anything from Fowler? ... full post »

It will only last for a moment, as the 18th is a par five, but I want you to feel what I’m feeling, if only for a brief time. Denis Watson just double-bogeyed number 17, and Ray Stewart birdies 16. Stewart has spent the better part of the day returning the event to a competition, after starting with a sizeable lead. Watson had a two-stroke advantage with two to play. Take a chew out of this morsel: Watson, Stewart, and Gil Morgan are still on the course, while Joe Ozaki, R.W. Eaks, Dana Quigley and David Eger are ... full post »

That’s not entirely true, but it makes for a good headline. I can now suggest unambiguously and unequivocally that the USGA should select Michael Thompson and Kyle Stanley for their 2007 Walker Cup side. I like Thompson and Stanley over, say, Rickie Fowler based on age alone. Fowler is easily as talented as the other two, but his failure to make match play at the Am reveals an inability (immaturity?) that we don’t want creeping in on Sunday of the matches. Stanley got through to round two before losing to unheralded David McDaniel, who would go on one ... full post »

It is a safe bet that Colt Knost, this Summer’s new, dominant amateur, and Michael Thompson are the favorites in Saturday’s USGA Amateur semifinal matches. In what might better have been a later confrontation, Thompson seized control and never relinquished his choke hold, defeating underdog Derek Fathauer, 5 and 4. Knost dispatched the other, sizzling no-name, Canadian Nick Taylor, by the same score. Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas will rendezvous with Knost in match 2, while Thompson squares off against the final American no-name, medal round playoff-survivor Casey Clendenon. RonMon’s Walker Cup Watch 1. Michael Thompson…if he’s not a lock ... full post »

Unlike my erstwhile colleague, Chris “White Line” Baldwin, this blog entry is all over the road. No monochromatic themes for the RonMonster…instead, let’s look at the first round from all angles Mr. Baldwin -Vijay Singh, formerly ranked number 2 in the FedEx Cup standings, missed the cut. –In the PrezCup CapnsPick sweepstakes, World leads USA. Nick O’Hern, the Tiger Tamer, is in the top 15 after twin 6, while Mike Weir found a way to make the cut on the number. Luke Glover missed the cut by a putt, while Hunter Mahan is tied for 31st. —JB Holmes and JP Hayes ... full post »

1. The foreign contingent is through to the quarters. Canada, Colombia and Taipei will all be represented in the round of 8. 2. The stock of Derek Fathauer and Michael Thompson is rising in the eyes of the USGA’s Walker Cup selection committee. Unless Fathauer wins the whole kit and kaboodle, I see Thompson and Kyle Stanley as selections to round out the USA side. 3. The old coot bid farewell, but not without a fight. George Zahringer lost at the hands of the hottest amateur in the country, Colt Knost. The reigning APL champion, ... full post »

1. The foreign contingent is through to the quarters. Canada, Colombia and Taipei will all be represented in the round of 8. 2. The stock of Derek Fathauer and Michael Thompson is rising in the eyes of the USGA’s Walker Cup selection committee. Unless Fathauer wins the hole kit and kaboodle, I see Thompson and Kyle Stanley as selections to round out the USA side. 3. The old coot bid farewell, but not without a fight. George Zahringer lost at the hands of the hottest amateur in the country, Colt Knost. The reigning APL champion, ... full post »

Well, not exactly Mount Olympus, but close. The list of Walker Cup hopefuls thins even more as the great eight loses weight. Allow me to elaborate. Kyle Stanley bogeyed two of his final three holes to lose to the outmatched David McDaniel. Jon Curran ran into a Columbian Buzzsaw (not an illegal cocktail on the DEA hitlist) named Jhonattan “Las” Vegas and was demolished, demoralized, and demithified, 7 and 5. Gene Elliott is out, 4 and 2 to Eddie Olson. Only Michael Thompson of the great unwashed (read as not yet on the Walker Cup team) ... full post »

Derek Fathauer, one of the battling Fathauer twins from Louisville, dismissed a wimpering Chris Kirk, ‘only’ the number one ranked amateur in the USA, by 7 and 6. What is disturbing about the slaughter is the fact that Kirk played 12 holes in six over par. To quote my own fine self, I Do That! Fathauer began round two of match play with seven consecutive pars…not a Dimaggio-esque streak by any stretch, and worth only even par. Guess what? He found himself four holes up, as Captain Kirk had clearly teleported to some distant galaxy, far, far ... full post »

To begin the updated rankings. Alex Prugh made a valiant comeback against Jon Curran. 3 down with 4 to play, Prug made 3 birdies and a bogey while Curran went par-bogey-bogey-par. Just when it seemed the 15th-ranked Curran might succumb to pressure, he birdied the 19th hole to oust Prugh. RonMon Walker Cup Rankings 1. Kyle Stanley 2. Michael Thompson 3. Jon Curran 4. Gene Elliott 5. Anyone else who might win Signs that the USA Walker Cup team is in trouble 1. Tripp Kuehne and Jonathan Moore missed match play by a zip code. 2. Webb ... full post »

In my previous entry, I detailed how two 2007 USA Walker Cup selections (Kuehne and Moore) failed to advance to match play. The first of the remaining six has been eliminated, 4 & 3, at the hands of the monstrously-talented Michael Thompson. Michael whom? Well, only the ninth-ranked, nobody’s-mentioning-me amateur in the land. I EVEN MISSED HIM! Brian Harman failed to make it out of medal play, and Rickie Fowler was eliminated during the medal-playoff phase, so their candidacy is done. Like Thompson, Kyle Stanley also came through big in his first-round match, winning ... full post »

For those of you who miss my beat-by-beat coverage of important events, welcome home. Having perfected the skill of covering major events on-site, I strive now to reach farther, to events located nowhere near my present geographic distinction. I apprenticed in early August with the PGA and USGA Women’s Amateur championships, and now attempt to bring you breathtaking news from San Francisco’s Olympic Club. Here goes: Comical: the weather. Fog delayed medal play some three to four hours on Monday, further delaying play on Tuesday, carrying the medal rounds into Wednesday. Match Play is scheduled ... full post »

I played the Holiday Valley resort coursein Ellicottville, NY, yesterday. The course was recently renovated by Paul Albanese, former partner of Ray Hearn, and is obviously to my liking. After 18 holes, 12 greens and two fringes in regulation, I walked off with 72 strokes on the par 71. Sometimes planets align and sometimes they just freaking collide, as happened yesterday. Guess what I learned? I learned how far I am from being a competitive amateur golfer. I missed 10 or so birdie putts inside 25 feet. CAGs don’t do that. They ... full post »

Although things simply evened out for Jerry on Seinfeld, for me and the girls I coach, things seem to be moving in a different and positive direction. On Monday, I discovered five other high school teams within two hours that have girls’ golf teams in Spring, affording us more competition opportunities. On Tuesday, the first issue of Golfer Girl Magazine arrived. Turns out a triumvirate of Cali sisters took their father’s advice to heart and started a magazine for golfing girls, ages 18 and under. I’ll not reveal the themes of articles, no matter how much you plead. ... full post »

Words are my wand for today, and I’ll use precious few of them. Chew on this quote for a moment: “You go outwork everybody and days like today or weeks like this week, it shows,” Woods said. It comes from a GolfWeek article by Jeff Rude. Tiger Woods referred to his fitness and performance at Southern Hills during the August PGA Championship. Why do we tolerate this arrogance (you go outwork everybody) from Tiger, but vilify and degrade much less from others? You know the answer, complex as it is. full post »

Unless I’m mistaken, the land upon which Tiger “Tiger” Woods will inscribe his first USA golf course tends a bit toward hilly. All right, I’ll cease the chicanery: it’s a freakin’ mountain! How does Tiger Woods think that this little old track will be a walkers-only course? Can he ensure that the trip from green to next tee will be a fairly brief one (see Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes)? There is a walk from, let’s see, the 13th green to the 14th tee at Bandon Trails that gifted three men with heart attacks the ... full post »

Stephen Ames announced plans today to pen a tell-all book on how not to make the Presidents Cup team. Knowing that the home country (in this case, Canada) needed a representative, that the canadian-borne Mike Weir was playing like hog jowls, Ames tossed rounds of 68-69-69-76 to finish t-12, all the while paired with the eventual winner, one Tiger Woods. In the meantime, Weir missed the cut by four bumps with 36 holes in 149 strokes. I will swear on a stack of bibles that the way Ames played in the those first three rounds would earn ... full post »

Amanda Blumenhurst, Maria Jose Uribe and Simon Dyson are on fire this Sunday. The ladies finished the first 18 all square, each at five-under par. Uribe posted four birdies and an eagle to offset a single bogey, while Blumenhurst ’simply’ sashayed five birdies amid thirteen pars this morning. Simon Dyson is minus-five on the day at the PGA Championship, good for a move to plus-one overall, up 31 spots on the day. His six birdies countered a bogey on number ten. Other than Dyson, no one is lesser than minus-two this day. The leaders ... full post »

As you know from prior post readings, there are two major championships set for conclusion today, so let’s get to the predominant one…the women’s, err, men’s, uhhh, US Ama…PG..Oh, goodness, I cannot decide. Let’s not settle the tie of importance, but instead, look to the valor of combatants in both. For chivalry’s sake, we’ll start with the young ladies. Maria Jose Uribe and Amanda Blumenhurst are set to do battle at Crooked Stick in the two-round, final chapter of the USGA Women’s Amateur. Uribe went -5 over 17 holes to dispatch Ha Na Jang, conqueror of Alexis “da’ ... full post »

There are many who concede that Tiger Woods has buried the field already, that Scott Verplank, Stephen Ames, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott, all within six strokes, will not muster enough of a challenge to threaten his hold on first place. They may be correct in the secondary assumption, but the primary presumption is not yet a done deal. This year’s Bob May is the recently-vilified, never-repressed, Woody “Woody” Austin. Woody Austin has won on tour this year, in a place (Memphis) known for its humidity. After 68-70, he is four strokes off the lead at the halfway pole. ... full post »

Yep, Tiger did what tigers do. Stripes and all, eight birdies, one bogey, hello, PGA record round. The story this week is the girls of Indiana. That Alexis Thompson kid? She had destroyed her opponents all week (scores of 3&2, 5&4, 5&4), until she lost by that brutal 5&4 today at the hands of Ha Na Jang. Amanda Blumenhurst, Duke’s leading lady, survived a 19-hole, first-round match, then won the next three by 5&4, 5&4 and 6&5. She faces defending champion Kimberly Kim, who has won three matches by one hole, along with one breather ... full post »

Lost amid the jubilation and general giddiness of a major championship week are the other events taking place in the world of high-profile golf. The US Women’s Amateur is being disputed at Crooked Stick in Indiana. Site of John Daly’s coming-out party in 1991, two kids born in 1996 are battling in today’s second round of match play. Neither one figured in the medal race but…they’re twelve!! Hopefully both will maintain amateur status through college, avoiding the material trappings and temptations of turning pro early. The real players to watch are Kimberly Kim, incredibly the ... full post »

Forget the club pros. They are our connection to great golf, they teach us, they sell us stuff, they compete when the cameras are off. No doubt one of them will certainly challenge on day one or even to the weekend. For a club pro to finish in the top 25, however, is a bet that our punter would not like to back. Picking the one to do it is an even greater longshot, for if you believe that tour-pro form varies from week to week, imagine how much club-pro form differs from day to day! No, ... full post »

If you don’t want to count on hacks like us to bring you information, go to the source. Reading post-round transcripts of player interviews is a rediscovered art form, and one to which the public typically does not have access. Now, on to the PGA Championship… Athletes on football and soccer pitches typically contend with every atmospheric element (save asteroids) that Mother Nature can throw their way. Snow, rain, wind, cold, heat…it’s all there. Cyclists and runners deal, too. Professional golfers? If it gets too extreme, they postpone the round…why? Safety, I guess. This ... full post »

Monday PGA Blog: Last major at Southern Hills… 2001 USGA Open I did a little digging (with a kid’s beach shovel) and came up with these results from a few year’s back. What’s interesting is how many players are still viable threats this year. One interesting, totally-unrelated footnote is…Steve Flesch is off the waiting list and into the tournament proper with his R-T win last week (rest of waiting list at bottom.) 276 R Goosen (Rsa) 66 70 69 71, M Brooks 72 64 70 70 The putting adventure, part one. 277 S Cink 69 69 67 72 ... full post »

The man feared most at Southern Hills by Tiger Woods and his PGA Tour cohorts has been nabbed for abuse of diuretics. Alessandro Pissilli was suspended for a positive test result for finasteride by the Italian olympic committee. Pissilli, Shadow Figure “Vivienne and I have known little Alessandro since he was a caddie at Crans Sur Sierre, where I won a number of unofficial international, mixed-species, four-ball events. Alessandro, as we called him, was never a very muscular lad, had little hair, even as a child, and always complained of discomfort in the nether regions. He still is not ... full post »