Fijian Nightmare Strikes Again and again and again?

Hope everyone enjoyed a great Labor Day, I know one 6’ 4” Fijian that did. That’s right for the second week in a row the last man other than Tiger Woods to be ranked the #1 player in the world won again this time in dominant fashion over what was a very good field on the first page of the leader board heading into the final day. Veej closed with a 63 to blow everyone away, he did it by hitting 82% of the greens in regulation (2nd for the week) and combine that with a putter as hot as the new Republican Vice Presidential Candidate (T7 putts per GIR and T21 in putts per round) and you have the reasons for this streak of very solid play. Another interesting stat is Singh’s Bounce Back %, it has almost doubled in the playoffs (reg season 19%, playoffs 36.5%) that means every time Singh bogeys (or worse) he comes back on the next hole with a birdie (or better) almost 40% of the time, this is a truly great stat that is often overlooked but all great golfers are usually judged by how they respond to set backs and Veej is responding and responding well. In the last 6 tournaments Singh has either won or missed the cut, but right now he is the best player playing and if he continues to make putts there is no one that can beat him, yep not even the great Black/Thai/Indian (native) hope Tiger Woods. This is what really sucks right now, everyone will say “well Tiger wasn’t there so it doesn’t count” well I say fuck off to that. When Veej is putting like he is putting now, there is no way Woods could hang with him. That’s my personal opinion and I will stick to it. As for my guy Sergio, well again he put himself in position to win but could not make enough birdies on the back nine to put any pressure on Singh, he also visited the drink coming down the stretch and I think although he is learning a lot by being in the final group week after week he has to be kicking himself for not closing the deal on at least one of these last two events. Sidenote#1 – Tim Herron excused himself from the buffet table in the clubhouse long enough to go out and fire a smooth 65 on Monday backing up his 67-67 in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, this ensured him a trip to the 3rd round by moving up 51 spots on the Cup points list and also guarantees him at least two days of buffet time at the BMW this week. In all fairness Herron is a solid player and always seems to play well enough to not only to just stay on tour but to make a good living at it and for the life of me I cant understand how he does it. He is fat, smokes and wears his pants somewhere in that trying to hide the gut but why is his belt touching his boobs range but year after year he just continues to power through, here’s to you Timmy!

Alright this week marks the third installment of the Fed Ex Cup and we head to St. Louis and Bellerive CC, a course that has held a PGA Championship and a US Open. It is a long course and has big greens so I will go out on a limb and say better drive it long and straight, hit a lot of greens in close proximity to the hole and putt well. Looking at all those stats it adds up to Vijay locking down the Cup with another top 5 finish but I do not think we will win this week. I am going to go to the bullpen and call up the lefty, that’s right Phil will make a stand this week to try and save some dignity in this year’s playoff chase. He needs to win both the BMW and the Tour Championship to overtake Veej, but Singh would need to implode as well. That’s not going to happen but Phil will still make his presence felt this weekend. I see a guy like Hunter Mahan turning in a sold week as well, the pressure is off as he was selected to the Ryder Cup and he should be free wheeling this week and I think he might make some noise to try and validate the selection. Also, we cut down to 30 players after this week so look for some major jockeying being done from the rest of the field as they try to book their ticket to a cut free, big check and free Atlanta lap dances Tour Championship in two weeks. So to recap, Phil somehow wins, Mahan plays well, Veej is right there come Sunday, Weir keeps turning in good, not great performances and Sergio may upset them all, don’t bet on it though.

Ryder Cup

So the teams are decided and the cards fell pretty much as I predicted they would. Zinger chose Mahan, Stricker, Holmes and Mediate, what he chose Campbell!?!? Well I for one think that was a chicken shit pick, I can get behind the other three but Campbell, that’s a joke. If you didn’t want to pick Rocco that’s fine then pick Verplank but Chad Campbell should have been no where near the radar screen.

Faldo managed to slight a few with his picks, Poulter and Casey, however I think these are far more justifiable than Azinger’s. He ousted long time cupper Colin Montgomery and fan (and team) favorite Darren Clarke. Could have went either way here, personally I would like to have seen Casey and Clarke or Clarke and Monty, the old boys are just too clutch to keep at home during this kind of event.

I will preview, in depth, next week the Ryder Cup and go over all the hoopla surrounding it but I will leave this parting thought, both Captains are trying to instill the importance of this event to the young players, they are trying to put the guys out there who are going to and should be playing in this event for the next ten years not just the ones who are coming off a ten year run of playing it. I think its good for the Cup and yes even Chad Campbell should be one of those guys, just maybe not this time as I do not think Rocco will ever have another shot at this team, but you never know.

News and Notes

Need to wrap it up here but as the PTI boys would say “a melancholy farewell” to Tommy “Thunder” Bolt, for those of you who don’t know he was the Tiger before Tiger was Tiger, not for his game but for his club throwing, trucker mouth temper tantrums he would throw on a consistent basis. He won 15 times on tour including a US OPEN and played on two Ryder Cup teams; he had one of the best swings in golf during his era but will always be remembered for his temper. Tommy was 92, which spits in the face of all those jackasses that say you have to always be nice and calm to live long, fuck it keep swearing and throwing those clubs.


Big Gulps then…


NF