Starting the new streak

Recently I posted about going 92 holes with one BlackMax ball.

I've started the new streak as of today. 18 holes. Tomorrow is a tournament and hopefully I'll be up to 36. A report will follow.

Abandon ship!

Former Masters champion Ian Woosnam has withdrawn from the rain delayed BellSouth supposedly due back problems. Yeah right. I bet his back feels better by Thursday.

Four other players withdrew Friday. They included Stuart Appleby, ranked No. 13 in the world, Chris DiMarco, ranked No. 15, Steve Flesch and David Peoples. David Peoples is not in the Masters however.

Here's the DNS list: Chris Perry, Chris Dimarco, Bob Burns, Ian Woosnam, David Peoples, Luke Donald, Ken Green, Steve Flesch and Stuart Appleby.

The players who no show do have to submit a reason to the PGA within 14 days. I'm sure all the players who are in the Masters will site "health reasons" for missing the BellSouth.

Jim Furyk on 18 Tee at Augusta

Jim Furyk on 18 Tee
Originally uploaded by mediaguru.

With The Masters coming up here is another sample from my 74 pic Masters and Augusta photo gallery. The photos in the gallery are much larger than this sample here.

If you haven't seen these pics yet, check them out here.

Photo credit: Everett @ The Grand Staircase 2002.

The Masters starts in 5 days 21 minutes and 31 seconds.

Still looking for more golf blogs!

Before I head out to the links today to play a great Authur Hills designed links course called Wingpointe, I thought I'd shout out to the blogosphere another request for golf blogs. I've got a bunch in my blogroll so far but there must be more out there!

Send me your links! Here are a couple that are on my new or hot list:

10 golf blogs for the price of one: Travel Golf, home of our pal Jay Flemma (A Walk In The Park)
The Golf Blog (could their name be any more descriptive?)
Grouchy Golf Blog (this blog has some golf balls)
The Reluctant Jam Boy is fresh out of the birthing room.
Golf Tips and News is run by a 17 year PGA pro.
The Sand Trap has great content on a daily basis.
Bogey Lounge is one of my favorites.
Golf Blogger is everything golf.
Major Championships - A Golf Resource and Blog
Sorta Golf ...they make up their own rules.

Nike One.....Platinum?

Our buddies over at Bogey Lounge dug up the scoop on the Nike One "Platinum" golf ball. Apparently Tiger has been "testing" this prototype ball for the last few months.

The engineers at Nike apparently still haven't fixed the problem Tiger had with the previous models:

It goes 300+ yards out, and 40 yards to the right....

Don't wake me up!

"Inclement weather has delayed the start of the first round of the BellSouth Classic until Saturday. Current plans call for 18 holes each to be played on Saturday and Sunday with a 36-hole finale on Monday."

If I were playing in The Masters I would probably bail on the BellSouth Classic. I wouldn't want to be playing 36 on Monday and then have to travel to Augusta on Tuesday to prepare for The Masters tired.

Gee, what else is new?

The first round of the Bell South Classic was moved to Friday because of rain.

ZZZZZZ.....yaaaawwwwn.

EXCLUSIVE Augusta National Photo Tour!

View from behind 15 Green up 15 Fairway
Originally uploaded by mediaguru.

EXCLUSIVE Augusta National photos! I've just posted a virtual tour of the ENTIRE COURSE from tee to green! See every hole. See angles you WILL NOT see on TV! Also see the amenities and some PGA Tour players on the course!

CLICK HERE for the tour at my sister site: Web Country Club!

This is an awesome 74 picture slide show of Augusta National and the Masters!

Photo credit: Everett @ The Grand Staircase
Year: 2002

And I golfed yesterday....

igolfedyesterday
Originally uploaded by mediaguru.

Here's the view outside my garage today.

And I golfed yesterday.... Geez.

My playing partner was on fire. In a string of 3 holes he went birdie, birdie, eagle! He won all the dough.

I couldn't agree more

Travelgolf's Tim McDonald hits this one right on the head:

Courses in bad shape should give discounts!

Masters Players List

Masters champions:@ Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir, Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara, Nick Faldo, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, Jack Nicklaus, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd, Tommy Aaron, Charles Coody.

U.S. Open champions (last five years):@ Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk.

British Open champions (last five years):@ Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis, Ernie Els, David Duval.

PGA champions (last five years):@ Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, David Toms.

Players Championship (last three years):@ Fred Funk, Adam Scott, Davis Love III.

U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up:@ Ryan Moore, Luke List.

British Amateur champion:@ Stuart Wilson.

U.S. Mid-Amateur champion:@ Austin Eaton III.

Top 16 players and ties from 2004 Masters:@ K.J. Choi, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Chris DiMarco, Nick Price, Kirk Triplett, Padraig Harrington, Charles Howell III, Casey Wittenberg.

Top eight players and ties from 2004 U.S. Open:@ Jeff Maggert, Shigeki Maruyama, Robert Allenby, Steve Flesch.

Top four players and ties from 2004 British Open:@ Lee Westwood.

Top four players and ties from 2004 PGA Championship:@ Justin Leonard, Chris Riley.

Top 40 players from the 2004 PGA Tour money list:@ Stewart Cink, Stephen Ames, Stuart Appleby, Mark Hensby, Rory Sabbatini, Zach Johnson, Chad Campbell, John Daly, Scott Verplank, Jerry Kelly, Darren Clarke, Jay Haas, Kenny Perry, Carlos Franco, Rod Pampling, Tim Herron, Jonathan Kaye, Luke Donald, Ted Purdy, Ryan Palmer, Bo Van Pelt, Jesper Parnevik.

Top 50 players from the final 2004 world ranking:@ Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Bjorn, Angel Cabrera, Ian Poulter, Peter Lonard, Fredrik Jacobson, Thomas Levet, David Howell, Nick O'Hern, Joakim Haeggman, Trevor Immelman.

Top 10 players from the 2005 PGA Tour money list after The Players Championship:@ Joe Ogilvie, Tom Lehman.

Top 50 players from world ranking published the week after The Players Championship:@ Tim Clark, Craig Parry, Graeme McDowell.

Special invitations:@ Shingo Katayama, mediaguru (just seeing if you are paying attention)

Tiger returning to amateur status?

Did you see Tiger in SHORTS today at the Tavistock cup? Haven't seen him in shorts since he was an amateur. NO he's not turning amateur.

The Tavistock cup is the the biggest inter-club championship which takes place between Isleworth Country Club and Lake Nona Golf and Country Club. Members of the clubs include the biggest names in golf such as Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and more.

Host Isleworth Country Club and Lake Nona Golf and Country Club ended the one-day competition in an 8 ½-8 ½ tie.

Short hitters rejoice!

Finally The Players Championship is over. After days of starting and stopping due to rain delays, they are done.

Today the wind was brutal to the players. #17 claimed many victims, including Bob Tway who recorded a tournament record 12 on the par 3.

Short hitters everywhere rejoice! Fred Funk is The Players Champion! Finally a tournament where driving accuracy means something! I think more tournaments need to be set up to evenly reward not only driving distance, but driving accuracy as well.

And now for the Funky picture show:

Funky break dancing (when Fred missed a putt)


Fred's lie in the bunker on 18. He had to get up and down to stay at -9 and win the tournament.


Funk does "the funky fist pump" (his version of the Tiger fist pump)


Fred throws his hat down knowing he has probably won the tournament after making his par saving putt on 18.

The greatest golfer ever?

Who is "the greatest golfer ever?" Is it Jack or Tiger? Jack or Tiger? That is all we hear.

Annika Sorenstam has just won her 5th tournament IN A ROW. She has also notched her first major win of the year (8) at the Nabisco.

She has won more times in her career than Tiger, and is on a much faster pace than he is in career wins. Barring injury or early retirement Annika could eclipse just about any professional golfer's career wins.

So is she the greatest golfer ever? Does it matter that she's female?

Pub about pub about pub

My pal BogeyMan over at Bogey Lounge gave me some nice pub so I'm returning the favor!

Now get your golf balls over to Bogey Lounge and check it out. Join up their forums too (after you join ours of course!).

My streak ends at 92

Unfortunately today I knocked my Maxfli BlackMax prototype ball in the drink on the 2nd hole. Harder than anticipated fairway bunkers caused me to thin one over the green into the water.

My record of holes played with that one ball ended at 92. Time to start a new streak.

Saturday at the TPC

They didn't finish the 2nd round Saturday so they're going to finish it today (Sunday). 3 players who did finish are in the lead at -10: Luke Donald, Joe Durant and Lee Westwood. Third-round play will begin around 11:30 a.m. ET.

On a monetary and logistic standpoint I wonder how much it costs the PGA tour when these events get postponed and they have to move to a Monday finish.

Ok, that's it for now. I'm off to play 18. A report will follow.