It almost pains me to write this because no fan of Hale Irwin am I. He’s got one of those personalities that only a mother could love. But it’s that very same mental and emotional make-up strikes fear in hearts of most every golfer on the Senior … er, ah … Champions Tour. Well, that, and his excellent golf game. But Shanks, you all must be thinking, put down the crack pipe because nobody is similar to Tiger Woods. Irwin is close. Over virtually the same time span, Irwin won 44 Senior tournaments including 7 major championships while Tiger won 54 ... full post »

The question Phil Mickelson will try to answer on the course as soon as possible is whether or not he has recovered from the 72nd hole collapse in the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. One thing he is not doing – like Greg Norman always has done – is trying to act like it didn’t matter. That was the single biggest reason why Norman only won 2 major championships despite being the unquestioned best player in the world for nearly a decade. Upon being asked about the mental scars he may be carrying around, Mickelson admitted that it hurt and ... full post »

Only golf can produce a story so ridiculous that fiction writers would call it too unbelievable to put on paper. How in the world can a youngster – extremely small in stature at 5’1” & barely 16 years old – challenge a collection of some of the best golfers in the world? What I witnessed Tadd Fujikawa do over the past 4 days is nothing short of miraculous. Propriety demands we give this young man a nickname right now. I’m going with T-Fooj. What a delightful young man he is. If the golf gig doesn’t work out, he could always ... full post »

30 wins. 3 major championships. No. 1 player in the world DURING the Tiger Woods era. Member of the Golf Hall of Fame. Vijay Singh gets a bad rap, I think, because he is not a politician. He is blunt and honest to a fault. And the world is not ready to handle that. The world apparently prefers the saccharine answers that most athletes spew out these days. Me, I prefer the openness displayed by Colin Montgomerie, for instance, and Singh. His post round interview Sunday was pure Vijay. When asked about his setting the record for wins after the age of 40, he ... full post »