Comeback stories are the best!

Last week, we saw two great champions who fell down to deep depths only to rise again, and it was great.  Both Henrik Stenson and Trevor Immelman won tournaments.  Stenson won the Deutsche Bank Classic on the Fed-Ex Cup finals and Immelman won the first leg of the Web.Com finals/PGA Tour Q School.

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Both are terrific stories of persistence and determination to get back to world class status.  Stenson looks to be having fun on the course and Immelman took his potential loss of a tour card in stride.  I embrace these stories and I hope you do, too.

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Immelman had injuries that stymied his career after winning the 2008 Masters. Severe tendonitis in his left wrist and elbow cut short his 2009 and 2010 seasons, and since then he struggled to regain his form.  Only a positive outlook and a great family rooting section kept his spirits moving forward.  He is indeed a champion again. Welcome back, Trevor, you are where you should be!

Stenson won the 2009 Players and climbed to number 4 in the world golf rankings. That was followed by a monumental loss of his game which led a dramatic drop to a low of 230 in the world rankings in early 2012.  His rise has been nothing short of spectacular—coming in second at this year’s British Open and third at this year’sPGAChampionship.  Therefore it came really as no surprise at all when he won the Deutsche Bank last week and is now #1 on the Fed Ex Cup Standings heading into the final two events.

These two men are proof that the talent never goes away, confidence and form may but talent never does.  A commitment to getting back never left them for even one moment. It is a lesson we can all learn from—persistence, determination and love of and for the game never ends.

Web.com/PGA Tour Q School confusion galore!

I have yet to talk to anyone who completely understands the Web.Com Tour finals and its connection with the PGA Tour Q school.  It was very loosely defined by so-called experts and now that it is here—well, it is still a bit of a tough learning experience for us all.

My problem is that you could, at first glance, think that the web.com tour finals equates to web.com tour cards for next year—this is not the case.  The web.com tour season was cut dramatically short this year because of the PGA Tour changeover from a January season start to the new October start. Therefore, these four tournaments beginning this past week with the Hotel Fitness Championship are PGA Tour Q School and at the same time the last four events on the web.com tour.

O.K. now that we have settled that—or at least explained that it is way more interesting than the old Q school that we have become accustomed to the last 40 plus years. The guys have 4 tournaments instead of 6 rounds.  It is a more complete examination of talent. It allows you to have a bad week or two and still get your card.  I like it better than the old way, but it will need to be adjusted because it is part of the web.com tour and really should be separated and have its own identity.

Congratulations to Trevor Immelman winner of the Hotel Fitness Championship at 20 under par by one stroke over 23 year old Patrick Cantlay.  This assures Trevor of his full PGA Tour status for next year.

Interesting to me, is the fact that Trevor came into this pressure packed 4 weeks with a great attitude—this is a guy who won the Masters 5 years ago and was flirting with losing his card for 2014—he took it as a challenge and advances—great stuff. Your approach to adversity tells a lot about your character.  Now they move along to Davidson, North Carolina, for the Chiquitta Classic.  Then it’s the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Classic in Columbus, Ohio before a week off and the Tour championship on the Dye course near Jacksonville, Florida—its does promise to be an explosive race for the 25 cards.

Bob’s top 10 women golfers of all time – #1

Annika Sorenstam

 

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Annika Sorenstam—The Swedish superstar is our number one female golfer of all-time. She came to the U.S. to play college golf at the University of Arizona and it was quite clear as to her immense talent. She won the NCAA Championship as a freshman a feat never accomplished before or since.

Annika turned professional after two years at Arizona and promptly went out and won the 1995 U.S. Open as her first tour win. She amassed 72 LPGA tour wins including 10 majors.  She is the first woman to surpass 20 million in prize money and has been voted LPGA player of the year a record 8 times.. Sorenstam is also the only woman ever to break 60—firing a 59 in the 2001 Standard Register Ping event in Phoenix; forevermore she is called “Ms.59”.

In 2003 she accepted an invitation to play in the Bank of America Colonial Invitational in Ft. Worth,Texas.  She missed the cut but was heralded for her efforts to play against the men in a PGA Tour event.  She retired from competition in 2008 to start a family and direct her efforts into her golf academy, golf course design, to assorted  business interests and  many charitable causes.  Annika Sorenstam is our number 1 female golfer of all-time.

Bob’s top 10 women golfers continues…

Bob’s top 10 female golfers of all time continues with numbers 4, 3, and 2.

4. Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias—We will get to the Babe’s golf exploits in a moment, but to discuss this amazing lady without first mentioning her world-class athletic background would be a great injustice. This Texan is considered by most experts to be the single greatest female athlete of all time—she won 2 golds and one silver in the 1932 L.A. Olympic Games. The gold medals came in the 80 meter hurdles and the javelin throw the silver was in the high jump.  This showed her amazing athletic versatility.

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Then came her AAU basketball career, her outstanding abilities in bowling, roller skating, softball, baseball, diving, pocket billiards and for extra measure she was renown for her sewing—making all of her own golf outfits.

 When Babe was introduced to golf it was like a walk in the park for her—a natural. She was a founder of the modern ladies golf tour and proceeded to dominate on the links—winning 41 events including all of the majors of the time-10 in total. She won all of the majors in the same year, 1950. She was voted a record 6 times women athlete of the year by the Associated Press. Her career came to a tragic end when cancer struck Babe in the middle 1950’s and she passed away at the age of 45 in 1956. She was an athlete we simply have not seen before or since the great Babe Didrikson Zaharias comes in 4th.

3. Patty Berg—This Minnesota native was a natural golfer from the age of 13. She attended the University of Minnesota following a runner-up finish in the 1935 U.S. Amateur at the age of 17. It was a natural progression for patty to turn professional right after college. She was one of the first women teaching pros having conducted over 16,000 clinics promoting the game she loved to an estimated ½ million golfers. Patty was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1951.

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Her golf exploits went into overdrive with the formation of the LPGA Tour that she founded with fellow pros Babe Zaharias and Louise Suggs. Berg went on to win 60 tournaments including 15 majors—a record number of majors that still stands today as the most ever won by a woman. Patty Berg comes in as a solid # 3 on my list.

2. Mickey Wright. This San Diego product had a relatively short professional career starting out at the age of 19, and ending some 15 years later due to foot problems, but those 15 years were so dynamic she vaults into second place.

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Mickey won a staggering 82 events including 13 majors during that short span including 4 consecutive years winning at least 10 titles in each year. Along with Kathy Whitworth, they combined to win almost ½ of the events contested during the decade of the 1960’s. The true testimony of her greatness came from none other than the legendary Ben Hogan who said of Wright’s swing that it was simply the greatest swing he had ever seen man or woman! She was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1964. Mickey Wright #2.

Something is missing in the Playoffs.

I know the playoffs are here, and I know I should be extra excited, but I am not.

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There is something missing and I know what it is—the greatest players in the world, who for the most part are already very wealthy –  are just chasing money.  I get pumped up when they are chasing majors, playing on historical courses, and chasing the sport’s iconic records, but  none of that exists here.  No offense, especially for Liberty National, but it is not historical in any way or fashion.  It is just another golf course.

In addition, when you can not only miss the cut but not even play in the event and still advance something is amiss.  Both of these occurred this week. Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker passed on the event for good reasons, but they still passed knowing that their carryover points were more than enough for them to advance. Many players missed the cut and they also will advance to the Deutche Bank.  Including Ernie Els, Graeme Mc Dowell, Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwood to mention only a few.  They should be bid a fond farewell—see you next year.  But they indeed will play next week.

I have the solution—everyone starts from scratch—zero points carryover from the regular season. The pressure would be fantastic—single elimination—I would be glued on every shot.  That would be a true playoff system and would be so compelling.  That way a true playoff champion would be crowned.

Bob’s top 10 women golfers of all time – installment #2

“Bob’s top 10 women golfers of all time” list continues with three more amazing LPGA golfers.

7. Betsy Rawls—One of the true pioneers of the LPGA Tour, joining the fledgling group in 1951, it became apparent that this young South Carolinian could more than hold her own against the stiffest competition.  Rawls won a total of 55 tour titles, including 8 majors.  Her victories spanned 22 years from 1951 through 1972 inclusive—a remarkable achievement of longevity.  The Hall of Fame arrived for Betsy in 1960.  Today, at the age of 85, she is still seen at golf events throughout America—a treasure of ladies golf –  the great Betsy Rawls comes in at #7.

6. Louise Suggs—Another true LPGA Pioneer—one of the three original founders of the ladies tour Louise Suggs smashed the competition—by winning 61 titles and 11 major championships in her illustrious career.  As she approaches her 90th birthday, like Betsy Rawls, Louise tries to attend important golf events whenever possible.  Her marks in the golf world were dramatically written on the course, but the fact that she, Patty Berg and Babe Zaharias founded the Tour as we know it today will be her lasting legacy to the game—World Golf Hall of Famer Louise Suggs is our 6th all time greatest female golfer of all time.

5. Kathy Whitworth comes in 5th and for good reason.  The Native of Monahans, Texas was a teenage superstar and it has never ended—she would be higher on our list but Kathy was onl y(we say only tongue in cheek) able to win 6 majors but her total tournaments won on the tour is more than any man or woman ever—88! She started winning on tour in 1962 and didn’t stop until 1985.  She won at least one tournament every year from ’62 through ’78 an amazing 17 consecutive years.  Kathy was perhaps best acknowledged as a player who could win on any type of course anywhere a true winner—still the all-time tournament winner man or woman—the great Kathy Whitworth #5.

Who do you think belongs on this list?

Bob’s top 10 women golfers of all time

The top ten men golfers of all time was difficult, I think picking the top ten women golfers of all time is even tougher.  There are simply so many great women golfers who have achieved so much that separation between them is a task. In evaluating the greatest women golfers of all time, I have sort of divided the outcome into 4 distinct timeframes:

 

l. The “old timers”—or in better jargon the original women who started the ladies tour.

2. The next group of players who intersected the first group but also transcended into the more modern players.

3. The intermediate group incorporating the transcending group and

4. The modern players.

It just happened that all 4 groups are represented in my top ten women golfers of all time and here they are:

 

10. Juli Inkster—Juli is the winner of 31 LPGA events, including 7 major titles encompassing the Grand Slam.  She was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000 and her incredible career is still ongoing past her 50th birthday.  She won 3 consecutive women’s amateur titles and has been the most prolific winner on the American side in Solheim Cup history—a remarkable career still going strong— Juli Inkster#10.

9. Nancy Lopez—Nancy burst  – and I do mean burst –  on the LPGA Tour in 1978, winning a record 9 titles in her rookie campaign, including five tournaments in a row at one point in that season and  the prestigious LPGA Championship—one of her three major wins.  Lopez’s dominance of the tour continued for a decade and a half in tournaments won and player of the year honors galore.

Although she failed to win the U.S. Open—4 second place finishes still embellish her resume.  Hall of Fame election was an automatic in 1987.  Nancy is considered by many to be the Arnold Palmer of ladies golf as she loved the galleries and they in turn adored her right back, fan favorite—Nancy Lopez #9.

8. Karrie Webb—One of two non-Americans to crack my top ten is the amazing Karrie Webb from the land down under, Australia.  Karrie knew at an early age that she must venture to America to pursue her golfing exploits to their fullest, and she has not disappointed anyone.  She has won 39 LPGA events including all of the majors (7 total). Webb became at the time in 2000 the youngest person ever elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame—no doubt the greatest Aussie woman ever to touch a golf club—Karrie Webb #8 all time.

Bob’s #1 golfer of all time!

l. Jack Nicklaus—

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Nicklaus has won more majors(18) and is by far the most dominant player of his era.   As Lee Trevino said, if Nicklaus was in the tournament we all knew we had to beat Jack to win the event.

There really is no authentic argument, Jack Nicklaus is the number one golfer of all time. Even USA Today says so!

Solheim Cup – Why Not the Rest of the World?

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This is the week of the Solheim Cup Championships, played every other year between the United States and Europe for the ladies. I have one intrinsic problem with the event. It really does not invite or pit the best women on the planet playing in a team event— Korea, Japan and other assorted countries are left out in the cold. It works for the men, with the Ryder Cup, because Europe is loaded with great men golfers. We know how great the American men are, so once again, the Ryder Cup works.

The Solheim Cup would be dramatically better if they made it a 3 team “tournament, inviting “the rest of the world” to participate—that way the greats from the Far East, Australia, Canada, etc., could be a part of the event. It would make for a true international competition and would have much more world appeal.  As it is right now, most avid golfers would be hard pressed to name more than a couple of European players.  I would take that one step further even after reading their names coming up with the country they are from would be another task of magnitude.

To prove my point, you don’t have to look any further than the latest Rolex Ranking—the official ranking of women golfers around the world to find that 7 of the top ten are all non-Solheim Cup eligible players and 12 of the top 20—including the number one ranked player on earth In Bee Park of Korea are non Solheim Cuppers.

This is totally not to say the Solheim Cup may indeed be compelling competition, but just not the best players competing.

The wonderful, well meaning men and women who run the world of women’s professional golf need to take a real hard look at this because the way it is set up right now  – interest levels could not go much lower than they are currently.

By the way, I am picking the Americans to demolish the Europeans. The Europeans feature 6 rookies to the Solheim, and playing on U.S. soil in Colorado, I favor the Yanks.

Jason Dufner wins the PGA Championship at the age of 36

Jason Dufner wins the PGA Championship at the age of 36. He provided a ball-striking performance to remember—a week of golf his idol Ben Hogan would have been very appreciative of. By the way, not unlike his idol, Dufner was a bit shaky with the flat stick, but he stuck it close enough that even with that issue it never surfaced on Sunday. He was his usual stoic self showing no emotion on the outside but admitting to being a fireball inside.

Dufner overcame a devastating loss two years ago in the PGA at the Atlanta Athletic Club blowing a 3 stroke lead with 4 holes to play, and eventually losing a playoff to Keegan Bradley. Bradley was the first to congratulate Jason after his victory Sunday with a bear hug.

This young man starting out his life on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland, Ohio then on to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, next to Auburn University where he was a walk-on golfer to major champion is an amazing true rags to riches story.

Lee Trevino won his first major at Oak Hill in 1968. Now, 45 years later, Jason Dufner wins his first major at the same venue. Trevino the all-time rags to riches story must be very proud of Dufner because they are from the same mold—their own. They did it their way—Trevino with his homemade swing and Dufner with his old-fashioned waggle.

He walks like he is about to fall asleep and yet he has the look of “I want to kill you.” This young man has “IT” and you can’t buy IT, you can’t fake IT and you cannot manufacture IT. You either have IT or you don’t. He is a marketer’s dream—look for commercials popping up everywhere with Jason Dufner selling products. He is down-to-earth Americana and now has 8 months to savor this victory before the next major, which is of course, The Masters.

Jason Dufner drops off the list of golfers who have not won a major—the list has dwindled a bit this year, with Adam Scott and Justin rose also winning majors for the first time. This great year in golf continues with the Fed Ex Cup in two weeks and the ladies Solheim Cup this week. Oh, now its time to toot my own horn I did pick Dufner to win the PGA—that’s three in a row for me. Stick to me like glue and you can’t go wrong!

Congratulations to the newest major champion Jason Dufner the 95th PGA Champion.