Tag: The Open

Bob’s top 10 golfers of all time – #2

2. Tiger Woods (featured in this post)

An oldie, but a good one. http://www.nj.com/golf/index.ssf/2009/07/tiger_woods_claims_title_at_at.html

The best closer/door slammer of all time no one even comes close—having won over 90% of the tournaments he has lead going into the last round. When everyone is choking, he is thriving! Still, to this point, a career in the making, as he could catch Jack and become the most prolific major champion of all time.  There is no doubt that he will catch Sam Snead with the most wins to boot but he is still number 2—like Avis, he tries harder, and I do believe he eventually will become the number one golfer ever to play this great game.

 

Bobby Jones – #3 in Bob’s top 10 golfers of all time

3. Bobby Jones

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/BobbyJonesAge14.jpg/218px-BobbyJonesAge14.jpg

 

The single most dominant player of his time and he never turned professional.

He won the grand slam in 1930—at that time the 4 majors were the British Amateur and Open and the U.S. Amateur and Open.

Upon that amazing feat, he promptly retired from active competition at the ripe old age of 28.

He had a dynamic powerful swing and backed it up with an equally adept touch.

Jones co-founded the Augusta National Golf Club and The Masters Tournament.

Did you miss the rest of the top 10 so far? Here they are: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4.

Any guesses for #2 and #1?

It was Phil’s day, and quietly, Woody’s day, too.

What a day of golf Sunday July 21, 2013.  It will be remembered for the almost Herculean performance from Phil Mickelson finally winning the British Open a championship.

http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201307211129413944027
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/golf–lateral-hazard–phil-mickelson-s-legacy-grows-with-british-open-victory-030723530.html

In his own words, he never fully believed he could win.  Phil’s brilliant shot making and superb putting overcame a 5 shot deficit at the outset of the final round to overtake Masters Champ Adam Scott and third round leader Lee Westwood.  For Westwood, it was another bitter ending to a major—this makes a career record for the Englishman of 0-62 in the majors—he contends and falters-I do hope one day he breaks through and finally wins one—he in simply too good of a ball striker to end a career winless in majors—maybe next month at Oak Hill.

As for Scott, he failed last year, and again, this year, at The Open.  He does have the Masters on his resume, but losing majors when you have the lead is always a bitter pill to swallow.  As for Mickelson, only one major eludes him the U.S. Open—a tournament he has come in second a record 6 times.  Pinehurst next year could be the time to conquer golf’s grand slam.

You may recall what we mentioned in last week’s blog that it would take a player who had already been in the major winners circle to win at Muirfield and it did—as Phil pointed out, it was probably the best pure round of golf he had ever played! To watch him share the moment with his family, well, that is why Phil is so endeared to the public—he is American golf’s man of the people.  Congrats to Philly!

On a steamy day inMississippi,a veteran of nearly 20 years on tour, Woody Austin, regainedPGATour status with a dramatic win at the Sanderson’s Farm Championship in a 3-way playoff with Cameron Beckman and Daniel Summerhays.   Austin, who is 49 had only Web.com status and without this win, he would be back on the minor league tour, instead he is headed to the Canadian Open, ThePGAnext month and the tournament of champions next January plus a two year fully exempt status on thePGATour. An emotionalAustin, not unlike Mickelson, has no problem showing his emotions to us all—we can relate to Woody who, in his quest to get on the tour, was a public school teacher and a bank teller-well now he can visit the teller with his $540,000 first place check.  So happy for you, too, Woody, on this mid summer victory!

 What a journey, what a victory for two men one who wasn’t sure he could win a certain major and the other who wasn’t sure he could win again—period.  It is a great day in golf. July 21st, 2013.

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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.