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Saturday, March 17, 2012
Woods to get ball rolling again at Pebble Beach
Tiger Woods returns to the site of two of his most stirring victories when he makes his PGA Tour season debut at the $5.9 million Pebble Beach Pro-Am which begins early Friday morning (AEDT).
"I am excited to be back," Woods said. "Everything is kind of headed in the right direction."
Woods, who is playing in this event for the first time in a decade, had a magical season at Pebble Beach in 2000.
He won the 2000 US Open by a monstrous 15 strokes and earlier that year, Woods rallied from a seven-shot deficit in the final round to capture the Pebble Beach tournament.
It marked his only Pebble Beach Pro-Am win in a half dozen years from 1997-2002.
"Things were kind of going my way," Woods said of the comeback in 2000. "I figured I had to shoot 66 or lower to give myself a chance. All of a sudden, boom, three shots, two holes and I am back in the ballgame."
Those triumphs seem like a distant memory now for the 14-time major winner Woods who is looking for his first official PGA Tour win in over two years.
The former world number one has seen his ranking and personal life take a tailspin since a 2009 car crash and subsequent sex scandal that also led the breakup of his marriage.
Lately, however, things have been looking up.
In his only other appearance this season, Woods finished third two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi. This week Woods will be partnered with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
Woods, who is ranked 18th in the world, is one of just four of the top 20 players in the Pebble Beach field. The others comprise Dustin Johnson (number 10), Nick Watney (13) and Phil Mickelson (17).
American D.A. Points could also make some noise this week. Points will be hoping for a repeat performance starting Thursday when he tees off with playing partner actor Bill Murray of Caddyshack fame.
Points is off to a fast start this season with a pair of top 10 finishes.
"It is a nice feeling to be the defending champ," Points said Wednesday. "Hopefully this week I can try to make it feel as much like a normal Tour event as possible."
His hole-out from the fairway on the par-five 14th in the fourth round last year was considered one of the greatest shots of the 2011 season.
Since winning here last year, Points' game has headed south. But the 35-year-old American feels he has a better handle now on what went wrong.
"After I won I just really wanted to climb the ladder," Points said. "I had all these great expectations.
"I just wanted to excel in those events to really boost my world rankings and give myself all these opportunities that I've always wanted to have.
"I was pushing so hard that I just never let myself enjoy it or play well.
"What I need to do is to have myself as prepared as possible and then go play. Whatever happens, happens. Don't try to force it."
The Pro-Am features three golf courses -- Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill Golf Club and Monterey Peninsula Country Club -- which everyone plays at least once.
There is a 54-hole cut which advances the low 60 players and ties to the final round at the Pebble Beach course.
Fiji's Vijay Singh and Trevor Immelman of South Africa could also contend this week.
Former champion Singh has posted seven top ten finishes in 17 appearances at Pebble Beach. He won in 2004 and lost in a play-off four years ago.
Immelman tied for 12th in his latest outing at the Phoenix Open and has shot nine consecutive rounds of under par.
Singh is partnered with Adobe Systems chief executive Shantanu Narayen while Immelman is paired with comic George Lopez.
AFP
Tags: sport, golf, united-states First posted February 09, 2012 18:14:20Friday, March 16, 2012
Woods looks good at Pebble Beach
Tiger Woods got his 2012 PGA Tour season off to a solid start by firing a 4-under 68 at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to sit five strokes back of a trio of leaders.
Woods took advantage of some perfect weather in Thursday's first round at the Spyglass Hill golf course - considered the tougher of the trio of courses the field will tackle this week.
The 14-time major winner was five strokes back of a threesome at the top of the leaderboard, New Zealand's Danny Lee, Charlie Wi of South Korea and American Dustin Johnson who all reached nine-under.
Wi posted a 61 on the par-70 Monterey Peninsula Country Club course while Johnson and Lee carded 63s on the par-72 Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Ken Duke and Brian Harman were tied for fourth just one stroke back of the leaders.
Aaron Baddeley and Nathan Green were the leading Australians, tied 15th and 4-under alongside Woods.
Woods, who was paired with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, started from the 10th tee and began his round with back-to-back birdies.
He also birdied the first hole of his back nine and had another chance to close with a birdie on his par-four final hole but missed his 18-foot putt to settle for a par.
"Boy the guys are tearing the golf course apart," Woods said.
"With the course like this you can't get too far behind the leaders. You've got to take advantage of it (weather) because this (Spyglass) is the harder of the three courses."
Former world number one Woods hit 11 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation in a round that included six birdies and two bogeys. He needed just 29 putts.
Woods, who is now ranked 18th in the world, made the turn at 2-under on a bright sunny day on the Monterey Peninsula.
Woods rolled in a birdie on his first hole, the par-four 10th, after his approach shot hit the flagstick and settled three feet from the hole for a short birdie putt.
Woods hit a solid drive on the par-five 11, landing about 180 yards from the pin. His approach stopped 14 feet from the hole, giving him a shot at an eagle but his next putt just brushed the cup, leaving him with a tap-in and back-to-back birdies to start the day.
Woods missed his bid to open with three-consecutive birdies and had to settle for a tap-in par on the par-three 12th.
He made bogey on the par-four 13th but got back to 2-under with a birdie on the 17th hole.
Woods, who rallied from far back to win this event in 2000, chose the Pebble Beach National to make his PGA Tour season debut after not playing in this event for the past decade. Woods' last win on the PGA Tour was 27 months ago.
In his only other appearance this season, Woods finished third two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi.
Woods is one of just four of the top 20 in the world in the Pebble Beach field. The others comprise Johnson (number 10), Nick Watney (number 13) and Phil Mickelson (number 17).
AFP
Tags: golf, sport, united-states First posted February 10, 2012 13:04:22Mickelson outduels Tiger at Pebble Beach
Phil Mickelson totally upstaged playing partner Tiger Woods while charging past overnight leader Charlie Wi to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in spectacular fashion by two shots on Sunday.
Six strokes behind South Korean Wi going into the final round at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Mickelson fired a flawless eight-under-par 64 to clinch his 40th victory on the PGA Tour.
The American left-hander took control of the tournament with a stunning outward nine of five-under 31 and holed two monster par putts after the turn on the way to a 17-under total of 269.
"It feels awesome," a beaming Mickelson told the Golf Channel. "Hopefully it's just one of a few this year because I am starting to feel pretty good."
While Mickelson won the pro-am celebrity event for a fourth time, Woods had to settle for joint 15th place after closing with a five-bogey 75 in his bid for a first PGA Tour win in more than two years.
Wi, hunting a maiden title on the U.S. circuit, dropped four shots in the first six holes but recovered well, a birdie-birdie-birdie finish giving him a 72 and outright second place at 15 under.
Woods had been poised for a last-day charge after shooting a 67 on Saturday but missed several putts from inside six feet to tumble out of contention at the same venue where he won the 2000 U.S. Open by a record 15 shots.
"I didn't hit it as bad as the score indicated but I putted awful," the former world number one said. "As good as I felt on the greens yesterday was as bad as I felt bad today.
"I just could not see my lines, I couldn't get comfortable, I couldn't get the blade to swing. Anything that I tried to do wasn't working and consequently I made a ton of mistakes on the greens."
Took advantage
Mickelson, who had previously won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1998, 2005 and 2007, took full advantage of a poor front nine by the pacesetting Wi.
Three strokes ahead of the chasing pack overnight, the Korean made the worst possible start with a four-putt double-bogey on the opening hole.
He also stumbled with a bogey at the tricky par-three fifth after missing the green to the left off the tee, to drop back into a tie for the lead at 12 under.
Mickelson had charged to the top with birdies at the second, fourth and fifth, where he struck a superb mid-iron to just one foot.
He then rammed in a 21-footer to eagle the par-five sixth and vault two strokes clear with Woods, Kevin Streelman and Kevin Na tied for second place.
Out in 31, Mickelson did well to save par at the short 12th, where he rolled in a 30-footer and Woods holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie.
With huge galleries following the two biggest names in U.S. golf, Mickelson conjured an exquisite bouncing approach to just two feet at the par-four 13th, knocking in the birdie putt to regain a two-shot cushion.
Another birdie followed at the par-five 14th and he finished with yet another at the final hole to seal the win.
Reuters
Tags: golf, sport, united-states First posted February 13, 2012 11:15:06Korean Wi sets Pebble Beach pace
Charlie Wi evaded the worst of the weather and birdied three of his last six holes to surge three shots clear in Friday's second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am as Tiger Woods finished six strokes adrift.
South Korean Wi, among three players tied for the lead overnight, fired a 3-under-par 69 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, one of three venues being used this week, to post a 12-under total of 130.
American world number 10 Dustin Johnson, tournament champion in 2009 and 2010, was alone in second after carding a 72 on the tricky Spyglass Hill layout.
Fijian Vijay Singh, who returned a 68 at Spyglass, was a further shot back at 8-under with New Zealander Danny Lee (73), Irishman Padraig Harrington (66) and Americans Brian Gay (65) and Brendon Todd (69).
In pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory, Wi eagled the par-four 13th, his fourth hole of the day, before ending his round in topsy-turvy fashion - birdie-bogey-birdie-par-birdie-bogey - as mist and then rain swept across the course.
"I have some experience playing with the lead," a smiling Wi, who opened with a sizzling 9-under 61 at Monterey Peninsula on Thursday, told reporters.
"I took the approach today by telling myself that this is just a new day and whatever happened yesterday that I was going to put it behind me and just start fresh."
The big-hitting Johnson, who has always relished competing on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula, had to negotiate his final holes in the worst weather of the day.
"It played really, really hard coming in," he said.
"It seemed like every hole we played was into the wind, too. It got cold, it was wet and the ball was going nowhere.
"But still my score was a lot worse than how I played. I really gave away some shots. I three-putted twice from really close and didn't get up and down a couple of times from right next to the flag."
Woods was also left frustrated after shooting a 2-under 68 at Monterey Peninsula, the easiest of the three layouts.
"It was decent," the former world number one said after finishing his round in steady drizzle and plunging temperatures.
"I drove it good again today, unfortunately I just didn't make enough birdies.
"The hard part was just getting the ball in there (on the greens) where you could give it a free run. I was hitting the ball in wrong spots.
"I am six back so I need to make something happen a little bit over there," Woods added, referring to his third round on Saturday at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Three-times winner Phil Mickelson carded a 65 at Monterey Peninsula to finish five strokes off the lead, level in a large group with fellow US Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan (70).
"It was an interesting day," said left-hander Mickelson.
"We had perfect weather and then on the back nine when the (bad) weather came in, I don't know what happened but I started to play a lot better and make some birdies.
"In the perfect conditions, I struggled. But to play these golf courses in such great conditions either way has been a lot of fun."
Reuters
Tags: golf, sport, united-states First posted February 11, 2012 14:17:14Thursday, March 15, 2012
Woods on the prowl at Pebble Beach
Tiger Woods evoked memories of his glory days with a blistering run of six birdies in eight holes as he charged into contention for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Saturday.
Six strokes off the pace overnight, the former world number one fired a 5-under-par 67 to end a day of intermittent rain, sunshine and tugging sea breezes four behind pacesetting South Korean Charlie Wi in third place.
On the picturesque Pebble Beach Golf Links where he won the 2000 US Open by a record 15 shots, Woods mixed six birdies with a lone bogey to post an 11-under total of 203.
His only disappointment was not to take greater advantage of the easier outward nine, his back nine on Saturday, in his pursuit of a first victory in a full-field event since the 2009 Australian Masters.
"I didn't hit it as well as I did the last two days but I made some more putts and really managed my game well," Woods told reporters after totalling only 25 putts in the third round.
"Even though my game was slightly off today, it's not as off as it used to be," added the American, who has battled form over the past two years while working on a swing change and being plagued with injury problems and the breakdown of his marriage.
"I don't hit the ball as far off line as I used to and my ball doesn't curve as much, so consequently my off-days are not as far off."
Woods, who two months ago won the limited-field Chevron World Challenge which he hosts in California, was especially pleased with his outward nine
"If you make a few putts like I did today, you can get it rolling," the 36-year-old said.
"I had a nice little stretch there where I probably could have birdied six holes in a row."
Woods made an unpromising start to the third round after teeing off at the 10th in overcast conditions, parring his first two holes before bogeying the short 12th after missing the green to the left off the tee.
He then jumped into overdrive. He birdied the 13th, after hitting an exquisite shot from the left fairway bunker to just two feet, and also the 14th, where he sank an 11-footer.
Woods rolled in 22-foot birdie putts at the 15th and 17th before laying up in two at the par-five 18th and knocking in an eight-footer to reach the turn in 4-under 32.
That put him at 10 under overall in a four-way tie for second place with the easier nine to come.
Woods picked up another shot at the par-five second, where he was just short of the green in two, but failed to make up any further ground as he closed with seven consecutive pars.
Seeking his first victory on the PGA Tour since the BMW Championship in September 2009, he will go into Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach Golf Links with only Wi and fellow American Ken Duke ahead of him.
"That's why we play, is to be there, and that's why I train as hard as I do and practise as hard as I do is to put myself in those positions," Woods said.
"A win is a win.
"I've won my share of events, and it feels good. That's the ultimate goal and that's what we set out to do at the beginning of every event is to win it. That's the goal tomorrow, as well."
Reuters
Tags: golf, sport, united-states First posted February 12, 2012 11:33:54Elkington pulls out of Pebble Beach
Former PGA Championship winner Steve Elkington of Australia pulled out of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Friday with a rib injury.
The 49-year-old from Sydney withdrew after just five holes with a rib injury, the PGA Tour announced.
Elkington has made just two starts this season and withdrew from both tournaments. He also pulled out of the Humana Challenge with a similar problem.
Elkington fired a 1-over 73 in the first round at Pebble Beach and was 4-over for the round after a double bogey and two bogeys on the back nine of the Spyglass Hill course.
He has 12 international victories, including the 1995 PGA Championship.
AFP
Tags: golf, sport, united-states First posted February 11, 2012 08:31:42