Category Archives: tournaments

2012 PGA Championship Preview

Three of the four major championships of golf are played on old, familiar courses. The Masters is always played at Augusta National, of course. Traditional courses are getting the U.S. Open once more, and the British Open has a set rotation of venerable links and parkland courses. It takes the PGA Championship to break new ground.

The PGA will be played this year at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina, near Charleston. The black tees stretch out to 7,873 yards, but the PGA will be played from 7,676. You won’t find the short par 4s that the USGA loves so much anywhere in sight here (maybe).

In fact, let’s just be up front about it. This is a really, really hard course. Really hard.


The first nine holes of the Ocean Course lie a few hundred yards away from the surf. The back nine is right against it. Ten through thirteen are a fairway’s width away, and fourteen through eighteen are hard against the beach. Prevailing wind? Forget it. It will blow from any direction it wants to and switch at any time.

The Pete Dye design tries to lure players in playing shots they really shouldn’t be hitting. On number two, a par 5 that is almost a right-angle dogleg to the left, the more of the marsh you cut off, the shorter your second and the better the look at the green, but you’d better make the carry you planned for off the tee.

The par-5 11th is designed to make it look like you should go for it in two, when you should really try to make your birdie by laying up.

The 12th, on the card at 415 yards, can be shortened, due to Dye’s trademark runway tee boxes, to 300 yards. It would be an intriguing challenge, with failure not an option.

Fairway bunkers are now in the modern player’s landing area, about 330 yards off the tee. Given the course’s length, there will be no laying back with fairway woods or long irons to avoid them.

Speaking of bunkers, there is so much sand lying about that confusion could reign. Not wanting to have another incident like at Whistling Straights two years ago, the PGA decided that there are no bunkers on the course. None. Everything that looks like a bunker, and all the sandy areas (except the ones inside water hazards) have been designated for the week as “through the green.”

The PGA is supposedly the weak link in the modern majors family, but I don’t think so. It has the strongest field, is played on tough, modern courses, and while it has had a few flash-in-the-pan winners, its roster of champions lacks only Palmer and Watson.

The weather forecast as of this writing is for temperatures in the mid-70s, a welcome break from the 90s and 100s which frequently plague this tournament. That’s the good news. The bad news is that showers and thunderstorms are possible each day. It could be a mess.

Who do I think will win? I’ll try to extend my perfect record in predicting winners of the majors this year (0 for 3) and go with Jason Dufner or Robert Garrigus — two guys who hit it awfully long and have been playing well this year.

For me, this tournament signals the end of the professional golf season. College football starts three weeks later, and the FedEx Cup never has, and I imagine never will, capture my attention.

Just asking while the question is topical: Four years from now, when the summer Olympics* are held from August 5-21,** when will the PGA Championship be scheduled?

Official PGA Championship website.

* at which the best golfers in the world will be playing for a gold medal(s)
** which is actually winter in Rio de Janeiro

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

2012 British Open Preview

Winner: Ernie Els by one stroke over Adam Scott.

The British Open will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes this week, for the tenth time. Set on the west coast of England in the city of Blackpool, the course is a blend of seaside and urban settings. The ocean is only a half mile away, so it will not be seen from the site, but winds off the Irish Sea still affect play. The course is surrounded by domestic housing and is bordered on its south side by a British Railway line.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes has left behind some of the most finishes in Open history. Bobby Jones’s flawless shot from a fairway bunker on 17 in 1926 put his ball on the green inside Al Watrous’s approach. Watrous went from thinking he had Jones beaten to three-putting and handing Jones the title. A plaque now marks the spot of Jones’s shot.


In 1963, Jack Nicklaus was on the 17th tee, two fours away from winning the championship. Two fives instead let Bob Charles and Phil Rogers slip into a playoff, which Charles won the next day. He was the first left-handed player ever to win a major title.

Seve Ballesteros won in 1979 when he hit his drive on 16 into a temporary parking lot, but got a drop, hit onto the green and made a birdie. That saved his round in which gave him a three-stroke victory over Ben Crenshaw.

The two nines are as different as two nines can be. Unlike at Olympic last month, players will be make birdies by the fistful on the front nine. They will, however, spend the next nine holes giving them all back. The course closes with six par 4s, all of them tight and most of them long. On the 15th, the hardest hole on the course, the field averaged almost a half stroke over par in 2001, and in 1974, over a full stroke over par.

The first hole is a long par 3 which will be remembered as the hole on which Ian Woosnam, only a few shots off the lead in the closing round, discovered a 15th club in his bag. The two-stroke penalty ruined his chances of winning before he had holed his first putt.

The tee of the eighth hole, pictured below, is the highest point on the course. The imposing cross-bunkers are about 40 yards from a green that is difficult see from the landing area in the fairway. Trees currently along the right side of the fairway now hide the evidence of the railway shown in the older picture below, detracting from the former charm of the hole.

          Eighth hole, Royal Lytham & St. Annes

For more, see this hole-by-hole course description.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes is known for its pot bunkers (204 in total) that surround greens and landing sites in the fairway. For example, the green on the little ninth hole, 164 yards long, is surrounded by nine of them. It is because of all these bunkers that the greens are relatively free of contour. The control of roll through the fairway to avoid those bunkers makes or breaks a score.

Like Olympic last month, this is a short course for a major championship. It will play at 7,110 yards. It is likely that a driver will not be needed at any time. The strategy that Tiger Woods used at Royal Liverpool in 2006, when he used a 2-iron off the tee almost exclusively, might be followed by more than a few contestants.

Who will win? I’m going to pick a golfer who can play a controlled game and keep his head on straight when things go sour, as they will for everybody — Zach Johnson.*

The U.S. Open is the toughest championship, but this one I think you could say is the world championship of golf. I love the ground game British courses force you to play, I love the international flavor of this tournament, I love how to win you have to keep figuring out how to get the ball in the hole. The U. S. Open is a steak dinner. The British Open is a rich chocolate dessert.

*This review was written and this pick was made before Johnson won the John Deere Classic.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

2012 U.S. Open Preview

Winner: Webb Simpson by one stroke over Graeme McDowell and Michael Thompson

For the fifth time, the U.S. Open will be played at the Lake Course of the Olympic Club in San Francisco, but it will be a much different course than before. A devastating disease that stuck eight years go killed hundreds of Monterrey pines that lined the fairways. While that opens up the fairways, it might make things harder, not easier, because that will let in the nearby ocean wind.

  Eighth green

You might not know that Olympic was founded as an athletic club, not as a golf club. Olympic trained, well, naturally, Olympic athletes, who won medals in the early part of the 20th century. In that era as well, Olympic fielded its own football team, which played, and occasionally beat, California and Stanford. Golf came into the picture in 1918, with the Lake Course being built in 1924. As much as I enjoy the Open just for what it is, I enjoy it even more when the course is nice to look at. I can’t think of one that is prettier in itself and in the views of its surroundings than this one.


This week’s course is listed at 7,170 yards, quite short for a major championship. Because position is so important off the tee, and the fairways will be hard to hit, drivers will be the club of choice on less than half the time. This is starting to cause some controversy.

Traditionally, the U.S. Open has been the one tournament that requires the winner to play well with every club in the bag. When the driver is removed, when the Open becomes a lay-up tournament, its reputation a golf’s toughest test gets tarnished. The problem is, of course, continuing to play the tournament on yesterday’s Open courses that are just not big enough for today’s game. I would not be surprised if anyone leaves their driver at home when the Open is played at Merion next year.

It’s time to let history go and build new courses which present the challenge of an Open and which fit today’s players. It pains me to say that, too, because I grew up revering these old courses. But it’s time to move on. End of editorial.

The greens at Olympic are small, averaging 4,100 square feet in area. That’s 72 feet in diameter. Once the ball is on, it will be close to the hole. Good putters will have little advantage over good ball-strikers. Getting the ball on the green in regulation will be the challenge.

Olympic hits hard early in the round. Holes 2-5 were labeled “Quake Corner” in the 1966 Open. Holes 1 and 6 have been toughened up, so it will not be unusual for a player to step onto the seventh tee at +2 or +3. Part of the problem these holes present is the reverse camber of the fairway. #2 curves to the right, but the fairway slopes left. Number 4 does the opposite. Playing for the green on the par-3 3rd is risky. Better to play short and have the ball run on.

Number 16 is the longest hole in major championship competition, a 670-yard par-5 that curves left from the very start, all the way to the green. It is a legitimate three-shotter, but will played shorter one or two days for players to take a chance at reaching in two.

Of no real consequence, but unusual, is that players will tee off on #1 and #9 on Thursday and Friday, because of logistical problems in involved in shuttling players to the tenth tee.

Here’s Ken Venturi’s hole-by-hole tour of the course.

The USGA is having its typical fun with the pairings for the first two rounds:
The Roberts: Robert Karlsson, Bob Estes, Robert Rock
The Hyphens: Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Sang-Moon Bae, Rafael Cabrera-Bello
The Initials: K. J. Choi, Y. E. Yang, K. T. Kim
The C(h)arls: Carl Pettersson, Charl Schwartzel, Charles Howell III
The Belly Putters: Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson
The PGAs: Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, David Toms
One Major and Disappeared: Stewart Cink, Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover
Former Champions: Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, Angel Cabrera
How Did These Guys Qualify?: Joe Ogilvie, Stephen Ames, Tim Herron

Who will win? This is a shot-maker’s course. That brings Hunter Mahan to mind. Luke Donald? You might think a course requiring precision down the fairway and deft around the greens would be his cup of tea, but he has yet to step up on a big stage. Matt Kuchar? Has the game, has the mind. Dustin Johnson won yesterday, and he’s familiar with the lead in a major.

Tiger Woods? You have to hit fairways, and Woods is hitting lots of them now, but you also have to play well into and around the greens, which he hasn’t been doing this year. Don’t let his two wins fool you. Woods built up his PGA record by winning frequently on a few courses. This year he won at Bay Hill for the seventh time and at the Memorial for the fifth time. Those are essentially home games for him. So far, playing on the road has been disappointing.

I know that all the pros want to win the Masters, because champions get treated like a god for the rest of their life. I suspect, though, that that if you asked, the one they would be proudest of winning is this one. For me, the golf season leads up to this championship, and the remainder of the season is an afterthought.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

Phil Mickelson Wins the AT&T

Normally I don’t write about golf tournaments. There are enough places on the web where you can read about that. I watched the final round of the AT&T yesterday, though, and I just have to have my say.

We didn’t get to see the action until the Mickelson group was on the ninth green, because the Illinois-Michigan basketball game on CBS went over the scheduled time. By then, the Mickelson-Woods pairing had sorted itself out. Mickelson began the day at -9, Woods at -11. When they walked off the eighth green, it was Mickelson -14, Woods -10. The rout was on.

Woods was putting under ten feet like a 15-handicapper, and continued to do that for the rest of the round. Mickelson, on the other hand, couldn’t miss from anywhere. Woods was hitting fairways, but hitting indifferent irons and never giving himself decent birdie chances. Woods’s moment of hope arose when, trailing by 5 with seven holes to go, he jarred a shot from the bunker for a birdie and a certain two-shot swing on Mickelson, who was facing a par putt of over 30 feet. Phil canned it. Moment of hope over. Tiger picked up only the single stroke and resigned himself to defeat.

On the day, Mickelson was eleven shots better than Woods, and if it had been match play, would have won 7&5. No one beat the old Tiger Woods like that, but the new version could be a different matter. First Robert Rock, now Phil. Tiger is good enough still to contend on Sunday; he hasn’t forgotten how to play golf. He’s not good enough to close the deal, though. Even though Woods was a front-runner, and never a chaser, this performance wasn’t even a valiant try. As for Tiger the Intimidator, Phil played like it was “Tiger Who?”

As for Phil, it seems that he needs to be inspired, and that he certainly was this week. Technically, he switched shafts on his driver and tweaked the clubhead, letting him put ball after ball in the fairway off the tee. His putting was perfect, not only holing the 30-footer mentioned above, but a 40-footer for par two holes later. His irons always found the right part of the green,and his wedge game was razor sharp. Watching him play the back nine at Pebble Beach, we saw an amazing display of one right shot after another.

There was more going on than shotmaking, though. Things in the Mickelson family have been in a bit of turmoil lately. They’re selling their house. Their eldest daughter was ill. He is suing to find the identity of a blogger who posted defaming comments about him and his family. I can only guess that there needed to be something going right, to put something positive in the family arena, and winning a golf tournament would be just the thing.

Phil was focused all day. Not too high, not too low. Once he took the lead on the front nine, there would be no giving it back. It was a good win for golf, a great win for the Mickelsons, which, considering the context, might be looked back on as important as one of his major titles.

Golf needs a star to emerge this year. One swallow does not spring make, but I’m hoping Lefty follows up this win with a tremendous year.

Jessica Korda Wins in Australia

I’ve written about this before, but on the golf course, you never give up. Never. You just don’t know that’s going to happen next. Jessica Korda stayed with it and won a major tournament (at least I think it is) on a difficult golf course.

Paula Creamer won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2010 at Oakmont. This, to me, is different from winning the same tournament on a course you’ve never heard of. Now Korda can always regard winning the Women’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne, one of the world’s classic golf courses, as a major achievement in her career.

I watched the taped broadcast from the start on Sunday morning, but there was something odd that I couldn’t explain. With two hours of air time available, we opened with the leaders on #15. We should have been picking them up at #10. Little did I know what was coming.

Korda was playing well at -5, poised to cruise in for the win. But three straight bogeys on #14-16 dropped her to -2, two shots back of the leaders at -4, with two holes to go. Right here is where you decide whether you want to win or lose. She birdied the par-5 seventeenth to go one back. Then standing in the eighteenth fairway, she saw co-leaders So Yeon Ru and Hee Kyung Seo miss short par putts to fall back to -3.

You can’t count on getting a birdie on #18, but Korda tried and missed a long but makable birdie try to tie with the disappointed duo ahead of her. Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, and Julieta Granada had all finished at -3, too, so we had a 6-way tie for first and a playoff.

Joining Ru and Seo in the race for Most Disappointed Player had to be Lincicome, who had a three-footer on the first playoff hole for the win, but the Royal Melbourne greens being what they are, that’s not a gimmee. The announcer said the putt would break slightly right to left. Lincicome must not have seen that, because the ball broke just that way, hit the rim, circled the cup, and stayed out.

We could also mention the disappointed Stacey Lewis, who, at -7 on Friday, drove off fourteen into the primeval rough that lines Royal Melbourne fairways, had to take an unplayable lie, and ended up with a triple bogey. She had two rounds to recover those strokes, but you don’t get to do that on this course.

Yani Tseng? She finished two back in regulation, despite getting bitten twice, carding a quad on Friday and a triple Sunday morning. Good players don’t make those kinds of scores, but they do here.

Long story short, the playoff consisted of playing #18, a 398-yard par 4, as many times as it took to get a winner. All six players parred the first time, through, but you have to figure that when the hole gets played twelve times by golfers of this caliber a birdie has to crop up somewhere. So indeed, the second time through, Korda canned a 25-footer for the win.

Again. Never give up. You have to keep hitting your shots, because that makes the other players have to keep hitting theirs, too, and you never know.

A Day At the LPGA’s Safeway Classic

You were expecting a post on a different subject today. But I try to be topical, and since I went to the LPGA tournament yesterday, I thought I’d talk about that.

I took my grandson. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. He plays golf with me. I’m a 9, so I hit shots good enough to be a 9. Believe me. My good shots are nowhere near what a professional golfer’s good shots look like. He needed to see what a good golf shot really looks like.

We got to the course at about 10:30, and the morning wave had all teed off. We picked up a few unknowns and followed them for a few holes and by chance ran smack into Ai Miyazato, Vicky Hurst, and Anna Nordqvist going the other direction. So of course, we switched to following them. Miyazato turned a drive that would have given me a double bogey into a routine par, Norqvist sank a birdie putt from downtown, and Hurst, well, she wasn’t having a great day.

Later we saw three players about 70 yards away on a par 5 all put their pitch birdie-close to a tucked pin. That was impressive.

I also noticed the around the green, the players kept the ball on the ground hitting it up to the pin. No flying it up there with a lob wedge. Ground all the way.

We saw players who had it clicking and players who were just that much off that the strokes were piling up. There are so many golfers and the course is so big, you can’t see everybody. We did have a chance to see Morgan Pressel, Grace Park, and Suzann Pettersen play a few holes. Park and Pettersen were doing well, Pressel wasn’t, long story short. I noticed that Pettersen moves her head all over when she putts. Maybe that’s why she isn’t making those 8-10 footers in the crunch.

As for Grandson (age 12) he followed with interest for a while, then made a golf club out of the foil wrapper his hamburger came in, a sign his interest had faded. We made our way back to the clubhouse, watched the last of the afternoon wave warm up on the range (a succession of easy, unforced swings), headed out toward the parking lot, pausing to watch one group tee off, then went home.

An airport nearby has an annual air show on the same weekend as the tournament, so Grandson was fascinated by the aircraft flying over, especially the F-15s. Try putting with all that racket sometime.

We got caught in Friday afternoon traffic on I-5 coming home, so a long day ended up being a bit longer than we had planned on. We both had fun watching the golf and with each other, though, so I think we’ll be back next year.

My father took me to see the Portland Open Invitational in 1960, the year he became ARNOLD PALMER. Billy Casper won, and I got Arnold Palmer’s autograph. It was just the two of us. I still have vivid memories of that day, which I might share with you sometime. I don’t know what of today’s trip got into Grandson’s head, but I gave him the exposure, and no doubt it is something that he will remember forever.

2011 PGA Championship Preview

The final major of the year starts tomorrow. The one that gets too little respect, in contrast to the first one, which gets too much. Even I think that the golf season is essentially over after the British Open, but that’s mainly because I’m starting to get amped for the college football season.

The question, as usual, is who is likely to win. For the past three years, predictions have been pointless. A different player has won each of the last 12 majors*. The last six have been won by a first-time major winner. Given the parity that exists in men’s golf today, the answer to the question, Who is the best player to have never won a major, is, Everybody.

At the top right now, we have Luke Donald, a consistent player, but not an intimidator, Lee Westwood, who always finds a means of getting in his own way, Adam Scott, who might finally be coming into his own, and Jason Day, who keeps coming close so often that he has to have learned how to break through.

Personally, I would like to see Westwood take the trophy. I’m a sucker for the comeback story. Here is a guy who was the Next Big Thing for a few years and whose game just collapsed. He worked his way back with a swing that is the antithesis of the cookie-cutter swings on the Tour today. It looks homegrown (though it’s not) in the way he just seems to rear back and whack it. Through all his disappointments in recent majors, he has never complained or made excuses. That means a lot to me, too.

The Championship will be played on the Atlanta Athletic Club course, the site of two memorable major wins. The first one was when Jerry Pate won the U.S. Open there in 1976. He came to the 72nd hole with a slim lead and a 5-iron to a pin next to water. Commentators were discussing whether he should go for it or lay up. I thought to myself watching on TV, “If he wants to be a champion, he’ll hit the 5.” He did, and won by two over Al Geiberger and Tom Weiskopf.

The next one was the PGA in 2001, when David Toms came down the same fairway and had the same dilemma. His tee shot was farther from the green than Pate’s was and I was thinking. “If he doesn’t lay up, he’ll throw it away.” He chose to lay up, then pitched over the water to eight feet and sank the putt to beat Phil Mickelson by a shot.

I should be a Tour caddy.

The course will be 254 yards longer this week than in 2001, with all but 33 of the additional yards being added to the first four and last four holes. The 6th hole has a pond fronting the green that is new. It will reign in long hitters when the hole plays as a 425-yard par 4, and be a risk element when the hole plays at 296 yards.

Jerry Pate hit his 5-iron on an 18th hole hole that measured 460 yards. David Toms’s 18th was 30 yards longer at 490. This weeks it will be 507 yards long, with more trouble around the green than before. If you play a drinking game where you have to down a shot every time someone goes for the 18th green in two, you’ll finish the day stone sober.

The weather forecast is for low 90s heat and near-60% humidity. There will be a lot soaked shirts by the third hole.

This one could be fun. I’ll be watching. When it’s over I’ll be heading to Pre-Snap Read for the last three weeks before the college football season starts. FedEx Cup? Are you kidding?

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

*In order, staring with the most current winner: Clarke, McIlroy, Schwartzel, Kaymer, Oosthuizen, McDowell, Mickelson, Yang, Cink, Glover, Cabrera, Harrington. Note: only three Americans in the bunch.

2011 British Open Preview

Winner: Darren Clarke by three stokes over Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson

The U.S. Open is the most important tournament of the year, but the British Open is the most fun. This is real golf. Hit the ball in the air, run it along the ground, just find a way to get it in the hole. You see more creative shot-making in this tournament that in all the others combined.

It’s also the most cosmopolitan tournament of the year. Entrants come from more countries to play in the Open than in any other tournament. You might say it is the World Open.

This year the championship is being played at Royal St. George’s, on the south England coast. This is where Ben Curtis won in 2003. I remember tuning in early to see the fourth round, and the composed look on his face just gave me the notion that he could win. I called my Dad, who lived in a another city, and who I knew was watching, and said, “Pay attention to this guy. I think he could be our winner.” With a little help from Thomas Bjorn taking three strokes to get out of a bunker, he was.

There are two other Open-quality courses right next door to RSG, Deal and Royal Cinque Ports. It would make a great golfing vacation to pay all three.

In the early days of golf, course designers liked blind shots. There’s the vestige of one at RSG between the 5th and 6th holes. The 5th is a par 4 that doglegs left. the 6th is a par 3 that runs in the opposite direction. Between the 6th green and the spot where the 5th makes its bend, there is a 40-foot hill called The Maiden.

In the original routing, the 6th tee was at the bend, and your shot had to go over The Maiden, carrying a distance of 190 yards. A small post on top of the hill served as a directional marker. Woe betide you if you didn’t make the carry.

If 190 yards doesn’t sound like much, remember this: the hole was built in the 19th century when players used gutta percha ball and wooden clubs. The equivalent with today’s equipment would be a 250-yard carry with the peak of the hill at the 230-yard mark.

“Maiden,” by the way, derived from the original name of the hill, “Jungfrau,” a mountain in the Bernese Alps. Look for this bit of history if the broadcast lets you.

Now for the part you’re all dying to read. Who am I picking to win? Though McIlroy is the easy choice, lightning can strike twice, but not three times. The course isn’t that long at 7,211 yards, so short hitters won’t be left out. This is my birthday month. The day is the 28th. The #28 player in the World Rankings right now is Miguel Angel Jimenez. There’s your Open winner.

I might miss the tournament this year, since I’ll be in Japan during Open Week. Because of the time difference, I’d have to watch at around midnight. Probably won’t happen.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

2011 U. S. Open

Winner: Rory McIlroy by eight strokes over Jason Day

The U. S. Open starts tomorrow. It’s my favorite golf tournament of the year. In fact, I have told my family that I am available for them 364 days of the year, but for that one day, the one which they play the fourth round of the U.S. Open, I’m not there. It’s my day to spend watching the greatest golf tournament on earth.

This year it’s back at the Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C. , where Ken Venturi won in 1964 while almost having to be hospitalized for heat stroke. I remember watching on TV and wondering how on earth he was even staying upright, much less playing golf.

This year, the weather should be rather pleasant. The temperature forecast is for the mid-80s the entire week, though rain is possible on Thursday, and thunderstorms are possible on Friday.

Did you know that the Congressional CC grounds were taken over by the OSS during WWII to train teams of spies, saboteurs, commandos, and undercover agents? And that the fee paid to the course owners for the favor probably saved the course, which was in financial trouble at the time?

The USGA likes to play with its first- and second-round pairings. Part of the fun is trying to decode what the threesomes have in common. This year, Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari, and Matteo Manasero are playing together on Thursday and Friday. Get it? Another group is composed of Brian Gay, Thomas Levet, and Gregory Harvet. For those of you who aren’t students of the French language, all those last names rhyme.

These might be a little harder. Charl Schwartzel, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson. Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer. Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson.

Give up? In order, former Masters winners, the top three in the current World Golf Ranking, and three players who have blown a commanding major tournament lead.

The traditional pairing is Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, and Peter Uhlein this year. The USGA always pairs the reigning U.S. Open, British Open, and U.S.Amateur champions the first two days.

The opening shots will be hit by this year’s dew-sweepers, Daehyun Kim, Chez Reavie, and Shane Lowry on #1, and Chad Campbell, Harrison Frazar, and Marc Turnesa on #10.

I know all the players love the Masters because of the gifts everybody gets and the lifelong adulation accorded past winners, but it really isn’t a major tournamant. It’s just an over-hyped invitational. The British Open is historical and the most cosmopolitan tournament, the dean of the majors. The PGA is a major because it is the championship of a major governing body, but it doesn’t have the same sense of a major, really.

It’s the U.S. Open title that carries the most respect. It’s the one that deep down, players want to win the most. It’s the one I won’t miss.

So who’s my pick to win? I’ll go with Alvaro Quiros. This is a long course, and he’s silly long, and straight. His short game is up to snuff, too. He has already won this year, and I think he is a force whose time will come. Maybe this week.

While you’re waiting for the Open to start, get the tips you need to become the best player you can be at www.therecreationalgolfer.com

2011 Masters

The broadcast of the final round of every golf fan’s favorite tournament is a few hours away, as I write. Rory McIlroy starts off with a four-stroke lead. He has been exposed to fourth-round pressure at the top before (PGA, 2010). If he can cruise home with a 2-under 70, he will be awfully tough to catch.

Tiger? A 70 from McIlroy means Tiger needs to shoot 63 to tie. That party is over.

Playing with McIlroy, though is Angel Cabrera. This guy is an old pro, and sneaky good. He knows how to win, and he knows how to take advantage of an opponent’s slip-ups. A little stress could be added to McIlroy’s game by knowing that he is playing with the guy who can best pounce on his mistakes.

Some observers say the guard is changing, but I think it has already changed. The old leaders face too much pressure from younger players who are too good. That’s the way it is in sports. What better venue to see that happening than in the first major tournament of the year?

Remember the Big Five? (actually, Tiger and the Next Best Four). Phil is a footnote this week. Ernie Els tees off four hours before the leaders today and will be finished by the time they start. Vijay Singh is watching on TV, if at all, as is Retief Goosen. And Jim Furyk. Steady player, but never one of the guys you had to beat.

As for Tiger, I would not be surprised if he never wins another major. That edge he had is gone.

Not that he has forgotten how to play. Friday’s 66 was an amazing display of iron play. He was sticking shot after shot so close to the pin that I could have converted the birdie putts. It’s just that he can’t expect to do that every day. No one can.

What won all those majors for him was his putting. Saturday, he missed putts of two, four, and six feet. His legendary ability to convert every must-make putt he faced is history. That’s enough to stick him in with the Rest of the Pack. And yet his focus is on changing his swing. Go figure.

It’s time for a new set of heros to emerge, and quite frankly, it’s more than overdue.

The weather forecast for Augusta today is sunny and 88 degrees. It will be time well spent to watch the final today. While you’re waiting for it to start,

visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com