Let the golf games begin, 2010
The professional golf season is a few weeks old, but in one respect it is just getting started, and so is the layoff of Tiger Woods.
In a normal year, Tiger may have played last week at San Diego. Having won many events at Torrey Pines, including the spectacular U. S. Open in 2008 over Rocco Mediate, Tiger knows how to win there. But Buick dropped Tiger and the San Diego event, so Tiger may not have played this year anyway. Most speculation has Tiger playing in one event before the Masters in early April.
The first weeks of the season start with the limited field event for winners only in Hawaii, then the Sony Open (also in Hawaii), and then the Bob Hope Classic (Pros and Amateurs) played over 5-rounds in Palm Springs.
So, with Phil Mickelson in the field at San Diego and the standard fields ready to play the Los Angeles Open and the AT&T at Pebble Beach, it feels like the year has just started.
There has been lots of talk about the new grooves for tour players, which will make it harder to stop the ball from long or wet grass. The true overview on the groove issue will not be evident until they play on hard fast greens.
Here are two rookies to watch this year. Rickie Fowler has been a superstar at every level he has played and was dominant playing at Oklahoma State. The end of 2009, Rickie lost in a PGA-Tour playoff and it looks like he is the real deal. Also, watch Troy Merritt, the winner of the tour qualifying event and a stand out at Boise State.
One more sign of the economy hitting golf. Recently, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus won the Senior Skins game in Hawaii. This is a “made for TV event” , but it was not televised because of a lack of sponsors.
Did you see the news about Champions Tour player Jim Thorpe? He was sentenced to 1 year in prison for not paying his taxes. Jim is known as a big gambler, I guess that has not gone well for him.
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