Tag: golfers are athletes

It is Open Championship Week

British Open week ( I still like to call it the British Open although the name was officially changed to The Open Championship in 2011, o.k. I succumb, it’s simply The Open).

The year’s 3rd major is here and it is being contested at one of the world’s greatest golf courses—the venerable Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland.  This will be the 16th time The Open Championship has been played at Muirfield and it promises to produce a truly superior major champion.  The past champions at Muirfield is a virtual golf’s who’s who—including H.H. Hilton, Harry Vardon, James Braid, Ted Ray, Walter Hagen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and  the last time the Open championship was contested at Muirfield Ernie Els in 2002.

I look for some of the same this week—primed and ready is Phil Mickelson fast coming off his victory last week at the Scottish Open, a rested Tiger Woods, Masters Champ Adam Scott, and the rest of the world’s greats a list too long to complete here but the cast of characters is formidable. I do not foresee a relative unknown winning here at Muirfield—the winner will not only have to control his nerves but also the many types of differing shots required to conquer Muirfield.—no I indeed believe the winner will be a man who has already won a major championship.

Muirfield requires the golfer to be able to play right to left, left to right, high shots, low shots against the wind, with the wind, across the wind you name it and Muirfield requires it!  The front nine goes in a clockwise direction and the incoming nine goes in a counter clockwise direction making the shots completely different. The winner will truly be the Champion Golfer for the year 2013!

You may recall I did pick Justin Rose to win the U.S .Open at Merion last month so here goes on my 3 picks to take home the Claret Jug:

Charl Schwartzel, Phil Mickelson and Graeme McDowell.  All past major champions and all primed to win the world’s oldest tournament dating back to 1860 atPrestwickwon by the great Willie Park Sr.

I can’t wait until Thursday morning when the distinctive voice of the legendary starter Ivor Robson announces the names of the players on hole number 1 and the contest is on.

Gene Sarazen – Bob’s #8 top 10 golfers of all time

#8. Gene Sarazen

Keeping true to my colors, if you won the grand slam of golf you are indeed in my top ten.

Sarazen was the winner of 7 majors including all four majors and  a grand total of 39 PGA Tour events.

His stature was small standing only 5 feet, 5 inches but his heart was that of a lion.

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A gracious but tenacious competitor, Gene was part and parcel of the fabric of professional golf in the early 1920’s through the 1940’s.

Following his brilliant playing career he became a golf television commentator especially known for his color analysis on television’s Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf series running from the early 1960’s to the late 60’s.

 

Did you miss #9 and #10? Click their numbers to check them out!

19 year old Jordan Spieth youngest PGA Tour winner since the 1930s

Did you see this coming? Come on, no one could have fully predicted this. Jordan Spieth is the youngest PGA Tour winner since Ralph Guldahl won on tour in 1931. He turns 20 in less than 2 weeks and becomes only the 4th ever teenager to win a PGA Tour event.

http://www.pgatour.com/content/dam/pgatour/getty/2013/6/29/171733875-jordan-spieth-tips-his-cap-to-the-gallery-on-the-12th.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/original

Spieth, the Dallas, Texas, native playing on a temporary PGA Tour card, outlasted 9 time PGA Tour winner, 2007 Masters Champion 37-year-old Zach Johnson and 34-year-old Canadian David Hearn to win on the fifth playoff hole at TPC Deer Run in Silvis, Illinois,—thus earning fully exempt status on the Tour for the next two years and a quick trip across the sea to this week’s Open Championship.  Spieth admitted in an interview following his victory that he actually had no long sleeve shirts for the trip as Scotland. This time of the year can be cold—I guess he can find the local pro shop for sturdy clothing to accommodate.

What a journey for this young man—we remember him playing as a 16-year-old in the HP Byron Nelson Classic 3 years ago and bolting after the Saturday round to attend his high school prom.  Could he be the next coming of Tiger? That’s what my wife asked me, and I said probably not, that’s just too much to expect of anyone, but I can hardly wait to see what is next on his agenda.  I do not expect miracles this week but with Oak Hill (site of this year’s PGA) on the horizon, and a potential slot on the President’s Cup squad, who knows.

No question the talent is there, putting it all together is always another factor that completes the golfer—he joins a group of first time winners on tour that makes a golf enthusiast salivate with expectation as the deep player pool on the PGA Tour just got deeper!

Jordan Spieth a PGA Tour champion.

Golfers have injuries, too!

We rarely think of golf as an injury-prone sport on the professional level.

It’s easy to get caught up in the injuries of athletes from other sports like football, basketball, hockey and baseball have their stars all the time having to be on the “DL”.  We don’t think of golf that way but we should –  its really no different at all, except for the fact that golfers don’t have personal contact with other golfers.

Let’s examine some of the stars in golf that have been or are currently “on the shelf.”

  • Tiger is out right now with an elbow injury that may actually keep him out of the British Open
  • Dustin Johnson has been in trouble this year with a shoulder
  • Anthony Kim is out this year with a wrist
  • Mike Weir is still not the same from an elbow
  • Tim Clark missed tons of time with his elbow

… the list goes on-and-on. The point here is thatgolfers are athletes and suffer with injuries just like athletes in other sports.

The key is to not come back too soon. The best example of doing it right was Davis Love who waited at least 3 extra weeks before coming back from his neck injury earlier this year—it has paid off as he has not had to go off tour again.

Here’s my final point if you are suffering from an injury get proper medical care, don’t come back too soon and take it easy in your return as to not lose more time.