DJ COMPLETES WGC SLAM

Very few have done what Tiger has not.  Way to go, DJ!

Although Tiger Woods has won more WGC events than any other player – 18, to be exact – he didn’t win the HSBC Champions in either of his two starts. Johnson, meanwhile, has won the HSBC, back in 2013. He also won the Bridgestone Invitational twice. Earlier this month, he won the Mexico Championship.

And on Sunday, he became the first player to complete the WGC career slam, winning the Dell Technologies Match Play for the first time.

“Pretty awesome,” said Johnson after his dominant week, in which he played 112 holes and never trailed after any of them. “Definitely kind of cool to be the first one to win all four. These are the biggest events besides the majors, with the best golfers in the world.”

While Dustin can’t match Tiger’s success rate at the WGCs – Tiger has won 18 of his 44 WGC starts, a 41 percent win ratio, while Dustin has won five of 29 starts, a 17 percent clip – Johnson has the second most WGC wins of anybody other than Tiger.

But though Johnson – who also moved into No. 1 in FedExCup points with Sunday’s win — is the first to complete the WGC slam, he doesn’t expect to be the last.

“I feel like there will be some more to do it,” he said. “But I’m very, very pleased with it.”

Source: PGA Tour

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Day displays a son’s devotion

On the outside looking in, you would think these guys have it made…..but the truth of the matter is they have to play well even when they have major distractions.  I don’t know how i would react in the same situation, but i know it would be more difficult in the public’s eye.  Your thoughts…….

 

AUSTIN, Texas – His head in his hands and tears streaming down his face, Jason Day did what his mother, Dening, taught him – carry on.

It wouldn’t be on the golf course, not this week. The defending champion at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play had just withdrawn after just six holes, but even Dening would understand his motivations.

Some 1,200 miles to the north in Columbus, Ohio, Dening was preparing for something that was much more important than golf – even golf at the highest level.

Overcome with emotion, Day explained that earlier this year Dening was diagnosed with lung cancer. It was, essentially, a death sentence, with doctors in Australia initially telling her the ailment was terminal.

But about week ago, Dening arrived in Columbus, Ohio, to undergo a battery of tests at the Ohio State University Medical Center and her outlook improved.

“The prognosis coming here wasn’t very positive. But now that she’s been here, they are more optimistic,” said Bud Martin, Day’s manager. “They feel like it’s something that hopefully, God willing, that it’s manageable.’

Dening is scheduled to have surgery on Friday and although Day arrived at Austin Country Club with the best of intentions, because that’s what Dening would want, six holes into his opening-day bout with Pat Perez the enormity of the moment caught up with him.

“It’s really hard to even comprehend being on the golf course right now because of what she’s gone through,” Day said. “She had a test done in Australia, and the doctor said she was terminal and only had 12 months to live. I’m glad I brought her over here. It’s been really hard to play golf lately.”

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When Day’s father, Alvyn, died of stomach cancer when the would-be major champion and world No. 1 was just 12 years old, it was his mother, Dening, who pushed her son forward.

It was always Dening.

When Day fell in with the wrong crowd following his father’s death, it was Dening who worked two jobs to send the prodigy to a sport-specific school where he met Colin Swatton, who would become his swing coach, caddie, confidant and father figure.

“My mom took a second mortgage out on the house, borrowed money from my aunt and uncle, just to get me away from where I was to go to school, seven hours drive,” Day recalled after winning the 2015 PGA Championship, his first major triumph. “I mean we were poor.”

It was Dening who would cut the lawn with a knife because the family couldn’t afford to fix the lawn mower. It was Dening who would heat up kettles of water for showers because the Day’s home didn’t have a hot-water tank.

Day’s truly remarkable story is often lost among his golf accomplishments, but his tale of perseverance is straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. He was always talented, incredibly driven and, eventually, lucky enough to cross paths with the likes of Swatton, but throughout it all it was Dening who was equal parts moral compass and motivational beacon.

Dening sacrificed so Day could attend Koralbyn International School in Queensland, and his desire to build a better life for Dening and his sisters drove him to be better, to be the best.

Some ascend to greatness driven by the desire for fame and fortune or the adrenaline rush of competition, but Day simply didn’t want to let Dening down. Not after everything that she’d done for him.

Throughout that less-than-ideal childhood, Dening always maintained a brave exterior. She had to for her children.

“I had to be tough,” she told the New York Times last spring.

So on Wednesday at the Match Play, Day walked away from the game, not because he wanted to quit – Dening would never allow that – but because he was tough enough to understand that something much more important was unfolding in Ohio.

Day didn’t take questions after his withdrawal. He probably wouldn’t have been able to contain his emotions had he tried. The Masters would be his next start, and Martin said he’s certain Day wants to play the first major but it depends on Dening’s health.

But even the Masters, which Day has made no secret is the tournament that means the most to him, doesn’t hold much appeal if Dening’s future is still uncertain.

“I just need some time away with her to make sure that everything goes well because this has been very, very tough for me,” Day said. “I’m going to do my best and try and be there the best I can for her because she is the reason that I’m playing golf today. And family is first.”

Martin spoke with Dening a few days ago and despite her own medical issues her matriarchal instincts remain as sharp as ever.

“The most important thing in her world is him playing golf and being happy,” Martin said. “I said, ‘I hear the news seems to be getting better. I want to make certain you are there during his Hall of Fame speech.’ She loves it.”

On Wednesday, it was the best of Dening that prompted Day to walk off the course, to be there for her, to carry on.

Source: Golfchannel

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An awesome tribute to the “King” Arnold Palmer

It is awesome to see how the PGA tour and players are paying homage to “Legendary” Arnold Palmer.  As we get closer to the Bay Hill Invitational, you can feel how much he is really missed.  There will never be another like the “King”! Your thoughts…..

Rickie Fowler is nothing if not a sportsman. He loves golf history and equally loves rocking unique apparel. There needs to be more Rickie Fowlers in the sport. So it was no surprise this week when he revealed the golf shoes he will wear at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to honor the man for whom the tournament is named.

The high-top Puma kicks feature a litany of Palmer photos as well as his logo and signature. They are colorful, tasteful and perfect.

Fowler actually chose to not play this tournament last year. He drove to Bay Hill to tell Palmer personally and called it “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

This year, he made it a point to attend even during the crazy busy Masters lead-up schedule that includes two WGCs, the Honda Classic (which Fowler won) and prep work for Augusta at the Houston Open and/or the Valspar Championship.

The tournament at Bay Hill this week will be a celebration in many ways. Golfers all over the field are honoring Palmer with umbrella-themed gear , but Fowler’s tribute will definitely stand out.

Source: cbssports

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It is that Time Again!!!!!

I know….I know…..We can’t believe it either! Don’t forget to spring your clocks forward this Sunday morning!!!!

That also means Master’s Week is approaching!!!!!!

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DJ’s star once again shines at WGC

DJ is red-hot and looks like a front runner heading into Augusta.

MEXICO CITY – So begins the age of DJ.

That would be the preferred hot take following the broad-shouldered bomber’s second victory in as many starts to become just the sixth player to win in his first event after taking over the top spot in the world rankings.

Dustin Johnson, the man who looks like he was made in a laboratory to play golf, overcame a quirky-cool golf course, inconsistent greens and the year’s deepest field to win his 14^th PGA Tourtitle on Sunday at the WGC-Mexico Championship.

Simply stated, he was better. Better than anyone with his iron play (first in proximity to the hole), better than all but four players in greens hit, better than all but three in driving distance, not that his length has ever been a surprise.

His only blind spot, relatively speaking, was the “goalie” guarding every hole for the better part of 2 1/2 days, which was DJ’s unique way of saying that putts that could have gone in and should have gone in, simply, had not.

But that wasn’t a problem on Sunday as he began the day in the final group, a stroke behind Justin Thomas. There was a 15-footer at the second, 5 1/2-footer at No. 6, 29-footer at the eighth and 8-footer at No. 9 – all for birdie.

Just around siesta time in Mexico City, Johnson made the turn with a four-stroke advantage, his second victory of the season and place atop the world order all but assured.

That he stumbled bringing this title to the house only adds to the style points, with Johnson losing his four-stroke advantage in four holes to Jon Rahm. But he prevailed with a late birdie at the 15^th hole to reclaim the lead and a clutch par at the last to keep it, which is what truly great players do.

“Starting the beginning of last year my game really has felt solid and it hasn’t really let up any,” said Johnson, whose lead in the Official Golf World Ranking has now been extended to a decisive 2.36 points advantage. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in the game. I feel like I’m controlling my ball very well and I feel like my driver is a little straighter, which if I can drive it straight I’m going to play well every week.”

Johnson’s current run has been impressive – dominant, even. But like most hot takes, the view from 30,000 feet often provides a skewed perspective.

With a monsoon of respect, giving DJ the keys to the kingdom before the season’s first major would ignore so much.

It would gloss over the fact that Thomas already has three victories this season and said of his swing earlier this week that it made him want to “throw up” and yet he still found himself in contention late on a Sunday at one of the game’s biggest events.

That Rory McIlroy went from the trainer’s table and six-weeks of rehabilitation for a rib injury to in the WGC-Mexico hunt with a performance that the Northern Irishman admitted exceeded his own expectations.

“I was hoping to sort of improve as the week went on,” said McIlroy, who faded on Sunday with a 71 to tie for seventh in his first Tour start of 2017. “That was obviously the plan, that’s the plan every week. I hit it pretty well every day. The course changed a little bit as the week went on. I didn’t quite adjust to it.”

That Phil Mickelson is showing the kind of life that will make him much more than a novel pick at the Masters despite a tee ball that spent more time in the trees than an arborist. Lefty wasn’t entirely pleased with his tie for seventh place, but his optimism going forward is well-founded.

“This is a good tournament for me to build off of. It was disappointing yesterday, but to come back and play a good solid back nine and get a little bit of momentum now, I’m looking forward to the upcoming stretch,” said Mickelson, who at 46-years-old may still be the most entertaining player in the game.

That first-year Tour player Rahm may actually be better than advertised, as evidenced by his Sunday rally at Club de Golf Chapultepec that propelled the Spaniard into the lead late in the round until a pair of sloppy three-putts at Nos. 16 and 17 dropped him into a tie for a third.

That Jordan Spieth has finished inside the top 15 at five of his six starts this year (he was T-12 in Mexico), won at Pebble Beach by four shots and should be, regardless of the official line, the favorite next month at Augusta National.

Johnson might be the most underrated player of his generation, having won at least once every season since he joined the Tour in 2008. Only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus started their careers with that kind of consistency in the modern era.

On his way to victory, he had his golf ball get stuck in a tree just long enough to cost him a stroke at the 16^th hole on Saturday, rolled in 137 feet of putts in Rounds 1 and 2 combined (16 feet less than Tyrrell Hatton rolled in just on Day 1) and began his week with a relatively pedestrian 70. Despite it all, he still claimed his fourth WGC title, second only to Woods, with a one-stroke victory over Tommy Fleetwood. But even after that performance, DJ acknowledged the champions-by-committee reality of today’s Tour.

“The competition is so good out here, they are all good players,” he said. “You look at a leaderboard and there are a couple of names you don’t want to see, mine would be one of them.”

One of them.

Winning last year’s U.S. Open turned a page in the novel that is DJ and he’s come by his lofty position atop the world heap honestly, but this is far from a one-man show. He might be the lead character in golf’s current production, but the marquee still has plenty of stars.

Source: Golf Channel

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Wie (66) takes lead for first time in nearly 3 years

It is good to see her back on contention for the week!!!!

March 2, 2017, 10:23 am

Michelle Wie’s long, hard climb has her back atop a leaderboard again.

With a 6-under-par 66 Thursday, Wie took the first-round lead at the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore. It’s the first time she has led an LPGA event in almost three years, since she led after the second round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Wie is one shot ahead of five major championship winners: Inbee Park, Ariya Jutanugarn, Anna Nordqvist, Brooke Henderson and Mo Martin.

“It’s a marathon this week,” Wie said. “It’s not a sprint, but I have to say I’m very proud of where I’ve positioned myself. Hopefully, the next three days I can keep it going, keep it rolling and keep having fun.”

Wie abandoned the claw putting grip she used at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open in her last start, but she hasn’t gone back to the “table-top” posture. She is still putting with a more upright posture, but with a conventional grip.

“Michelle is in a really good place mentally,” said David Leadbetter, her swing coach. “This is exciting for her. Her ball striking has been good for a while now, and she’s holing a lot of putts.

“A player like Michelle, if she can get her confidence going, there’s no telling what she can do.”

Wie hit 11 of 14 fairways Thursday and 17 of 18 greens in regulation.

“It’s the first time in a long time she’s really sticking to a swing and not deviated from it,” Leadbetter said. “If you look at her driving stats, they’ve been really good recently.”

It’s early, but Wie is finding the fairway off the tee more than 81 percent of the time this year. Leadbetter said Wie has committed to a fade as her stock shot, and it’s paying dividends with more consistent ball striking.

Wie sought out Leadbetter at the Honda Classic last week, and they met again later in the week at the Bear’s Club in Jupiter.

“I kind of stole him away for a little bit,” Wie said. “I begged him to come over and watch me putt. We worked on it quite a bit.”

Wie’s putter was hot in Singapore. She made eight birdies against two bogeys.

Wie is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption. She slumped to 105th on the LPGA money list last year, outside the top 100 who secure full tour privileges. She’s competing out of category 3 of LPGA priority list, a category that includes tour members who won a major championship over the last five years. Wie won the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst in 2014, the last of her four LPGA titles.

“It’s always exciting to be on the top of the leaderboard or near the top of the leaderboard,” Wie said. “I want to just keep building, and, hopefully, the next three days I can take it day by day, hole-by-hole, shot by shot and play as hard as I can.”

Source:Golf Channel

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