Time for Some Golf

Do you know what tomorrow is?  It's the start of the PGA Season, and I'm fired up.  But not nearly as fired up as our golf writer here at DWG, Grandslam, who voluntarily wrote up a season preview without even being asked.  How do I have a golf writer and not a hockey writer, you ask?  Because hockey is super gay!

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year again, and NO, I’m not talking about the holidays.  The start of the 2011 PGA Tour season is right around the corner.  

The 2010 season was a season that will soon not be forgotten due to the craziness of certain events.  There are certain things we can count on every year like bad weather at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Phil contending at Augusta, and John Daly having a mental breakdown on the golf course.  In 2010 there was as much shock value in certain events as there would be for a Minnesota Timberwolves victory.  Other than Phil’s victory at The Masters, who would have correctly picked the other three major winners in McDowell,  Oosthuizen, and Kaymer?  Who could forget the collapse of Dustin Johnson in the final round of the U.S. Open?  More importantly, who can forget what happened to Dustin Johnson on the 72^nd hole at the PGA Championship.  Matt Kuchar was this year’s leading money winner, really?  How about team USA’s near improbable comeback at the Ryder Cup?  

The 2010 PGA Tour season was full of headlines with maybe the story of the year being Tiger Woods.  No majors, not a single worldwide victory, MC’s and WD’s.  Nobody could have imagined that when Tiger announced he would return at Augusta that we would see the season we did from the once invisible, FORMER  #1 player in the world. 

We can only hope that the 2011 PGA Tour season will be as entertaining and unpredictable as the year before.  I am extremely excited for the majors this year if they are anything like last year.  Just a few years ago when the question of, who’s the best player to not win a major came up, the list of those players were short.  In 2011, with the year Tiger had in 2010 and the emergence of the “young guns”, that list may be as large as ever with the likes of….

·        Dustin Johnson

·        Rickie Fowler (0 PGA Tour wins)

·        Paul Casey

·        Ian Poulter

·        Nick Watney

·        Steve Stricker

·        Hunter Mahan

·        Luke Donald

This is just a few of the players that could be on the unofficial list, but let’s not forget about the #1 player in the world, Lee Westwood. 

Last year, we had a huge surprise with the season that Matt Kuchar had leading the PGA Tour in earnings as well as leading the tour in scoring average.  A story like this is extremely hard to ever project, however I am going to give you two guys that could be this year’s Matt Kuchar.  Jason Day and Jeff Overton are two guys that I could see having huge years.  Jason Day got his first career PGA Tour win last year and finished 8^th in the Fed Ex Cup, while Overton, although still without a victory had a hand full of runner-up finishes as well as being a key contributor for Team USA in the Ryder Cup.

Last year we had a guy in the name of Louis Oosthuizen who shocked nearly everyone in the golf world with his win at the British Open.  This year’s Louis Oosthuizen is another guy that many have not heard of, and that’s the up and coming South African Charl Schwartzel who will win his first major this year. 

I’m going to give you two guys to watch for in the 2011 season, one from the PGA Tour and the other from the European Tour.  The man on the PGA Tour you need to keep your eye out for is Jamie Lovemark.  Lovemark was a college standout at USC and dominated the Nationwide Tour last becoming the youngest player to ever finish #1 on that tour’s money list.  Lovemark nearly won in his first month as a pro, only to lose in a playoff.  I look for big things out of this rookie this year.  

The player to watch out for on the European Tour is player that almost no one has heard of and his name is Matteo Manassero.   Some may recognize the name as Manassero is the youngest player to even make the cut in The Masters.  However the reason you need to keep an eye out for this kid is the fact that he got his first career win at the age of 17 last fall, he won’t even turn 18 until later next spring.  We probably won’t see much of Manassero in the states next year, but in time we will see him in all the big events. 

Finally my predictions for the 2011 PGA Tour season are as follows….

·        Rookie of the Year, Jamie Lovemark

·        Comeback player of the year, Tiger Woods (how could it not be?)

·        Surprise player of the year, David Duval, he will be back in the winner’s circle in 2011

·        Player of the year, Rory McIlroy

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I I I can honestly say I've never heard of Jamie Lovemark.  But if Grandslam likes him, he's certain to suck.