This is not giving away a trade secret, but journalists are a finicky bunch.
We don’t play well with others. We fuss about parking, we complain about access. We question the courage of those we cover while sitting in an air-conditioned room eating free ice cream.
But damn it, we recognize a good story.
We’re taught that there is no cheering in the media center. We cheer for no one, against no one. We root for the best story. We pull for history.
Many rules went out the window Sunday when Adam Scott won the Masters.
The dashing Aussie walked into an interview session an hour after winning his first major and nearly the entire room applauded for the most recent member of the green jacket fraternity.
Couldn’t help it. Scott, you see, was the best story this week. He deserved to win this major as much as anyone has ever deserved to win a major.
Not just any major. This major. The Masters. Where Aussies have struggled for decades. Where Greg Norman ran into Jack Nicklaus in 1986, Larry Mize in 1987, and himself in 1996 via an epic collapse against Nick Faldo. Where Scott shot 67-67 over the weekend two years ago only to lose to CharlSchwartzel’s four birdies over the last four holes.
Scott, 32, had major championship scar tissue, although he wouldn’t admit it. The 2011 Masters caused some of it, but last summer’s British Open caused the most damage when Scott blew a four-shot lead over the last four holes to cough up the claret jug to Ernie Els.
He handled that meltdown with class. In fact, Scott was so calm in the aftermath that it seemed like others felt sadder for Scott than he did for himself.
“Everything I said after the Open is how I felt, and I meant it,” Scott said this Sunday. “It did give me more belief that I could win a major. It proved to me, in fact, that I could.”
Well, he did. And now he never again has to answer why he hasn’t.
It’s amazing what draining epic putts of 20 feet in regulation and 12 feet in a sudden-death playoff to win a green jacket will do.
Just 24 hours earlier Scott, one of golf’s good guys, was a veritable underachiever who had won big events but didn’t have the toughness to win the game’s biggest, most important tournaments.
Now, the major floodgates have opened and Scott is on top of the world. He’s gone from a man who couldn’t win a major to a man we expect to win several majors.
Funny how that works.
“Everybody questioned whether he had the intestinal fortitude to do that, but we all knew it,” said Norman, Scott’s idol growing up as a young mate in Oz. “The players knew it. He’s got the game to do it, and I was just extremely happy for him.”
So now we look to the future.
Scott has won nine PGA Tour events, and there aren’t too many clunkers on his resume. He’s won a World Golf Championship, a Players Championship, a Tour Championship and now a Masters. Heady stuff.
Now that the major monkey is off his back, Scott can play with less pressure. Consider this: Scott should own two of the last three majors. Obviously he doesn’t, but he’s too good a player to falter as dramatically as he did at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. It’s an exception, not the rule.
It’s not foolish to believe Scott could win multiple majors over the next six to eight years. He’s proved he can contend at the British Open and has a great record at the PGA Championship. His U.S. Open record is spotty, but this year’s championship is at Merion, a place where you have to think your way around the golf course. Scott is one of the game’s great thinkers.
Besides, Scott seems to have figured out the formula for contending in majors, having done so five times in the last nine big events.
The newly minted champ has competitively starved himself the past two years. While many top players feel the need to mold their games into shape while battling tournament conditions, Scott only plays events he feels he can win. He wants to miss competitive golf, so when he shows up on the first tee he desires the chase.
An old approach where he globetrotted the first decade of his career nearly burned him out. Now he’s made peace with preparation and doesn’t need to play 30-plus times a year.
The Masters was only Scott’s fifth event of the year. He’s fresh.
“Adam can go on to win more major championships because of his age and because of his experience and because he’s finally got one under his belt,” Norman said.
If you’re not thrilled for Scott, you have no heart. This victory meant very much to many people. Every win does. But this is infinitely different. For Scott and his country.
“He probably had more pressure on him today than any other player on the planet, because he was playing not only for the millions of Australians, but he was playing against the entire field and there was more pressure on him because no Australian has ever done it,” Norman said. “It’s a monumental task, and I’m so happy for him.”
Said Scott: “It's amazing that it's my destiny to be the first Aussie to win (the Masters). Just incredible.”
As the rain continued to fall over the Augusta grounds late Sunday, Jason Day, heartbroken after coming up two shots shy of the playoff, searched for a television to watch the waning moments.
He couldn’t be the first Australian to win, but he was rooting for his compatriot.
“I’m pulling for Scotty to finally win the Masters and be the first player to do it,” Day said. “If it wasn’t myself, I really want it to be Scotty.”
It was. And most at Augusta National rejoiced, even those who have rules against it.
Adam Scott's Masters win popular the golf world over | Golf Channel
We learned that lazy Americans won’t bother learning how to correctly pronounce the names of foreigners, even if they’re 14-year-old sensations who make the cut at the Masters. It was easier to say “The Kid” or “the 14-year-old” on television than it was to say Tianlang Guan, which I’m told should sound more like shin-lahn than Tin-lang.
We learned that 33-7 isn’t the score of a football game but a rule that, if applied universally the way it was to Tiger Woods in Augusta, means no player guilty of a rules breach found after-the-fact should ever be disqualified for signing an incorrect score again. Of course, that’s not how it is going to work for the rank and file. There will be more DQs for wrong cards following post-round penalties. The Masters bent the rules for Tiger. Let me simplify the whole supposedly complicated Tiger issue for you: Yes or no, did Tiger sign for an incorrect score? Correct answer: Yes. He agreed that he took a wrong drop and should’ve had a two-shot penalty included. Tiger should’ve been disqualified. The rest of the story is smoke and mirrors and the more Fred Ridley talked, the worse it sounded. What a stain it would’ve been had Tiger won. He would’ve had to get to 20 majors to beat Jack because this one wouldn’t have counted in the eyes of a lot of observers. Luckily, that’s a moot point now.
We learned that Angel Cabrera is a stud. Is it really so simple that he started playing badly after he quit smoking and he started playing good again after he resumed smoking? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to face him in match play, ever.
We learned that no matter what anyone says, until Rory McIlroy gets his game together and wins again, maybe it is the new clubs.
We learned that 30 thrilling minutes at the end of the day makes up for three kinda boring hours leading up to it, which was what Sunday at the Masters felt like.
We learned the Masters folks want the tournament finish to stray into prime time so badly that they continue to risk a Monday-morning conclusion even without a weather delay. The late tee times Sunday don’t leave much room for a playoff. Scott and Cabrera could not have played another hole in the dark. Nobody wants to come back Monday morning. Is finishing at 7 or 7:15 really so important? It’s the Masters. Viewers would tune in if the last group finished at 3 in the afternoon. They’d tune in Monday morning, too, but those 60,000 or so fans wouldn’t be there to give the tournament its uniquely exciting atmosphere.
We learned that anybody who yells stupid stuff after a tee shot just to be heard on TV, like “Mashed potates!” or “Ridonkulous!” should be shot, dragged off the course and fed to raccoons.
Let’s go to the Van Cynical Mailbag. Please hold your applause until the end.
Will Steve Williams break Jack’s record of 18 majors? -- Bob Cayne via Twitter
Hah. Good line, Bob-o. This Masters win gives Stevie a piece of 14 majors (13 with Tiger). He could pass Jack but Adam Scott better win five more majors before the anchored putting ban goes into effect in three years. I don’t see Scottie racking up multiple majors with a short putter. A better question might be, who’s going to finish with more majors, Stevie or Tiger, since they’re both at 14. Stevie is 49, Tiger is 37. I’d lean toward Tiger but you never know. What if Stevie somehow wound up on the bag for Rory McIlroy? He could put the record out of reach.
Do you think trial by TV viewer is fair? (Re: Tiger’s penalty) -- Sanjay Iyer via Twitter
Absolutely -- if it takes a TV viewer to ensure that justice is done, so be it. Would it be fair for a player to get away with a rules violation that could be corrected? No. Is it fair that some players are on TV way more and therefore more scrutinized? No. But whatever it takes to play by the rules is fair. So keep those calls coming.
How quickly will we see Jason Day bounce back and win on Tour? -- Seph Anderson via Twitter
Before the summer ends. JD is back on his game after getting sidetracked by life and becoming a father and temporarily losing interest in working at golf. Even with those last two bogeys, his performance at Augusta was impressive. The Masters run was the affirmation he needed.
Were you surprised by the lack of attention Vijay Singh got at the Masters, for the first two days, at least? -- Keith D. Jackson via Twitter
Nah. He didn’t want any attention. Vijay would’ve been like a deer in the headlights.
Vans, why are all these young American stars (Bradley, Fowler, Mahan, Watney) struggling to contend in majors? -- Brian Rosenwald via Twitter
Struggling? Fowler was on the first page of the leaderboard going into Sunday’s final Masters round but backed up like a lot of top players did. Bradley has already won a PGA. Mahan and Watney sometimes struggle around the greens, where these things are actually won and lost, but hey, majors are hard. That’s why they’re majors. If they were easy, they’d be called Bob Hopes.
VanCynical, you seem to lack respect for the folks in Far Hills, who unselfishly run the United States Golf Association…blasting them about the proposed long putter ban. I think they have done a magnificent job letting the manufacturers dictate what the rules should be over the last 20 years or so. What gives with all the hostility? - Phil in Ventura, via email
Unselfish? I guess that’s why they wring every penny they can out of the U.S. Open, their big TV show. (Note I didn’t say their big golf tournament.) They pass themselves off as traditionalists yet where did the Monday playoff between Tiger and Rocco Mediate go when it was tied after 18 holes? Tradition would demand No. 1, obviously. But it went to No. 7. Coincidentally, Tiger had butchered No. 1 all week. Since when doesn’t a round of golf start at No. 1? Even the USGA has gone to split tees for the first two rounds. Also, the main part of the USGA’s anchored putting ba
Thai teenager Ariya Jutanugarn shot an 8-under 64 on Wednesday at breezy Ko Olina to take a one-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen and Hee Kyung Seo after the first round of the LPGA Lotte Championship in Kapolei, Hawaii.
Jutanugarn, 17, played the front nine in 6-under 30 in her afternoon round, dropped a shot on the par-4 10th with her lone bogey, then eagled the par-5 14th and birdied the par-4 15th.
Jutanugarn was in position to win the LPGA Thailand in February, only to collapse on the final hole to hand Inbee Park the title. Jutanugarn closed with a triple bogey to blow a two-shot lead, missing out on a playoff when she lipped out a 3-foot putt. She rebounded three weeks ago in Morocco, winning the Ladies European Tour's Lalla Meryem Cup for her first pro title.
Pettersen, a 10-time winner on the LPGA Tour, had nine birdies and two bogeys in her morning round.
"I tried to be really aggressive," said Pettersen, coming off a third-place tie two weeks ago in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. "My dad was so disappointed after the Kraft that I left all the putts short. He's like, 'You got to hit the ball past the hole to make putts.' "
Local favorite Michelle Wie posted a 2-under 70, while 15-year-old amateur Lydia Ko and Paula Creamer shot 71s.
Adam Scott's playoff win over Angel Cabrera helped provide a 26 percent boost in overnight ratings for the Masters on CBS. The final round Sunday went two extra holes before Scott made a birdie to beat Cabrera for his first major title.
According to Nielsen on Monday, the round drew an average household rating/share of 10.2/21, up 26 percent from last year's 8.1/19. Sunday's round peaked with a 13.4/25 from 7-7:30 p.m. EDT.
Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned to a program. Shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time. Overnight ratings measure the country's largest markets.
Ernie Els might have been the second happiest golfer at Augusta National on Sunday when good friend Scott slipped on the green jacket as the Masters' champion.
Els, who tied for 13th last week, is part of a strong field at the RBC Heritage, which begins Thursday at Harbour Town Golf Links (S.C.).
Els earned his fourth major at the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's last July when Scott threw away a four-shot lead with four holes left. Els consoled Scott before hoisting the claret jug, but Sunday's reunion was celebratory.
"We had quite a few beers," Els said smiling. "I was delighted for him."
Golf: Thai teen in charge at LPGA Lotte - San Jose Mercury News
World No 1 amateur golfer Lydia Ko has kept alive her perfect record of never missing a cut in a professional tournament.
The 15-year-old, who began the second round of the Lotte LPGA Championship in Hawaii in a share of 52nd place, climbed to tied 28th after round two with a one-under par 71 today (Fri) in the blustery conditions.
The New Zealand rep, who is the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour after her victory at the Canadian Open in 2012, has never missed a cut in the 16 professional events she has played over the past three years.
Ko, who will celebrate her 16th birthday next Wednesday, carded two birdies and a bogey at the Ko Olina Golf Club in Oahu to be eight shots back from the leader Suzann Pettersen of Norway who leads by one after rounds of 65 and 69.
In her 16 professional events Ko has won three times, finished runner up twice and finished as the leading amateur in three major championships in what is a remarkable record.
Ko is playing her in seventh event on the LPGA Tour after she finished as the low amateur, and in a share of 25th place, at the season opening major Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Following this event Ko will return to New Zealand for some down time with her family before she plays the World Ladies Championship on the JLPGA Tour from May 9-12 in Japan.
Golf: Ko fires second straight 71 - Sport - NZ Herald News
Suzann Pettersen shot a 4-under 68 on Friday at wind-swept Ko Olina course to maintain a one-stroke lead after the third round of the LPGA Lotte Championship.
The 32-year-old Norwegian, a 10-time LPGA Tour winner ranked sixth in the world, had a 14-under 202 total. South Korea's Hee Kyung Seo was second after a 66, matching the best round of the day, and defending champion Ai Miyazato was third at 11 under after a 70.
"I hit good shots, good putts," Pettersen said. "Been putting good all week, and really not trying to force anything, just let it come to me. I felt like I maybe left a few out there, but still, like Ai says, par is not a bad score around here. If you mix in a few birdies here and there, it really helps."
Pettersen, a stroke ahead of Miyazato entering the round, birdied the first three holes and got to 14 under with a birdie on the par-4 seventh. The European Solheim Cup star bogeyed the par-3 eighth, and got the stroke back with a birdie on the par-5 14th.
She had consecutive LPGA Tour victories late last season in South Korea and Taiwan and won a Ladies European Tour event last month in China.
"I found a few little keys yesterday on the range, just to tighten up the swing a fraction after two days in the wind, and I came up the back pretty good," Pettersen said.
Miyazato, who was in Pettersen's playing group, got off to a slow start, but rebounded after the turn with three birdies to remain in contention.
"It's just trying to play simple out there," Miyazato said. "I know my game really well and I know what I need to do, just keep making birdies and try and catch up to Suzann tomorrow."
Seo, the 2010 Kia Classic winner who lost playoffs last year in the Australian Women's Open and Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Canada, had an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys. She made three straight birdies on the back nine for a share of the lead, but dropped back with a bogey on the par-4 18th.
"The shot making was good, too, and I had lots of great birdie opportunities and great chances to make it. It was really windy, but I got a little used to about wind from yesterday, so it wasn't that hard for me," Seo said.
South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim, only 17, was 10 under after a 69. Second-ranked Stacy Lewis had a 69 to join Lizette Salas (67) and 17-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn (68) at 9 under.
Jessica Korda also had a 66 to finish at 8 under along with top-ranked Inbee Park (67) and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (68).
Lydia Ko, the 15-year-old New Zealand amateur who won the Canadian Open in August to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner, was 4 under after a 70. The South Korea-born Ko has two other pro victories and won the U.S. Women's Amateur last season.
Third-ranked Yani Tseng, winless in more than year, had a 71 to get to 2 under.
Local favorite Michelle Wie was 1 under after a 69. She broke 70 for only the second time in 21 rounds this season.
Pettersen maintains 1-stroke lead in Hawaii - Golf, PGA Tour - CBSSports-com PGA, News, Leaderboard Scores, Schedule and Stats
World No1 amateur Lydia Ko has stormed home in the final round of the LOTTE LPGA Championship in Hawaii.
The 15-year-old from the Gulf Harbour Country Club, who began the third round in a share of 21st place, jumped inside the top 10 with a superb six under par 66 at the Ko Olina Golf Club in Oahu.
The New Zealand representative, who has never missed a cut in the 16 professional events she has played over the past three years, finished in a share of 10th place in the world class field.
Ko, who will celebrate her 16th birthday this Wednesday, finished nine shots back from the champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway who defeated American Lizette Salas in a playoff.
Following a long stretch in the States Ko will now return home to New Zealand playing the World Ladies Championship on the JLPGA Tour from May 9-12 in Japan.
Golf: Ko storms home for share of 10th in Hawaii - Sport - NZ Herald News
With all the hoopla surrounding Rory McIlroy, it's easy to forget that his older buddy and countryman from Northern Ireland, Graeme McDowell, was the first of the two to get a major championship with the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Being so established and popular with that major and six European Tour titles and noteworthy appearances on three European Ryder Cup teams, it was also easy to forget that the win at Pebble Beach was McDowell's only official PGA Tour win.
Sure, he had won Tiger's World Challenge twice, including an exciting playoff victory over Tiger Woods in 2010, but those were wins against very small fields.
On Sunday, the 33-year-old former University of Alabama-Birmingham All-American beat Webb Simpson in a playoff at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town.
Ultimately, players are rated by their wins, but McDowell has already had a pretty nice career. And perhaps more than anything, his lean victory total is overshadowed by the weight of his U.S. Open win.
Most players always feel the pressure to win more after taking majors. But having a major doesn't mean a player is destined to have buckets of wins in his future.
On Sunday, McDowell beat Simpson, the reigning U.S. Open champion. At 27, Simpson is a three-time winner with one of the most promising futures of the American players in his generation, which includes Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler.
Johnson is likely to win more than any of these players, but he might be the last to win a major. If he never takes one of the big four, most of us will remember him for it. On the other hand, McDowell might have a career in which he doesn't win many tournaments, but he could be remembered for that U.S. Open win and his contributions to several Ryder Cup teams.
But whether it's the U.S. Open or the Reno-Tahoe Open, wins never come easy, even for the most elite on tour.
"The game kicks you more often than it gives you a pat on the back," McDowell said on Sunday night. "It's hard to win."
2. Windswept
After a bogey-free 5-under 66 on Saturday, Charley Hoffman had a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C. Then, he shot a 77 on Sunday that included a 40 on the back nine to finish in a tie for sixth.
The 36-year-old former UNLV star knows this feeling of losing the grasp on a golf tournament. Last June at the Travelers, Hoffman had a two-shot lead heading into the 17th hole at the TPC River Highlands course, near Hartford, Conn. Then, he went double-bogey-bogey over the last two holes to miss out on a playoff by a shot with Marc Leishman.
Now in his eighth season on tour, the San Diego native has two career wins, the 2007 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the 2010 Deutsche Bank Championship.
He's one of those players that retains his card year after year with little difficulty. On Sunday, Hoffman didn't get much help from Mother Nature, as harsh winds made Harbour Town very difficult.
"I live in Vegas; it blows out there," he said. "I like the wind. I'd rather have the wind blow than not blow. I'm usually a good ball striker. I usually hit the ball solid and control it better in the wind. I say 'bring on the wind.'"
Yet on Sunday, he was humbled by it.
"I actually hit more fairways and greens than I did yesterday," Hoffman said. "And the shots I hit good didn't turn out like I thought they were going to turn out. The wind gusting, and sometimes it doesn't work out, and it didn't work out today, unfortunately."
3. Anchoring wars
If Simpson had managed to beat McDowell on Sunday in Hilton Head, it would have marked the second consecutive week on tour that a player had won using the anchored putting method.
Last week at the Masters Tournament, Adam Scott became the first to win the green jacket with the controversial method. Both Scott and Simpson have been very vocal in their opposition to the proposed ban, set to go in force in 2016.
It was ironic that McDowell was matched against Simpson on Sunday.
Back in August, when the ban was still a few months away from going from mere speculation to a written memorandum by the governing bodies, the two players came out on different sides of the issue.
"Let's level the playing field again," McDowell said. "Let's get everyone with a short putter back in the bag as the game is meant to be played."
Simpson made his case with the facts, citing the statistics showing that no one from the top 20 in the tour's "strokes gained" category used the method.
"To me, to change something that big and to cost manufacturers millions of dollars, you've got to have some pretty good facts," Simpson said. "Just because some of us are winning majors or winning tournaments with the belly putter -- I don't think that's a good reason to say, 'Hey, we're going to take them away.'"
The debate over the anchoring method won't be settled on the golf course or in the court of public opinion. But on Sunday, McDowell took one for the pro-ban camp.
4. Billy-Ho!
On Sunday, Billy Horschel got his third consecutive top 10 on the PGA Tour with a tie for ninth. The 26-year-old former Walker Cup participant out of the University of Florida was the king of Texas with a tie for second and a tie for third in the two events played there in the two weeks preceding the Masters.
If he had won one of those events in the Lone Star State to get into Augusta, he probably would have gotten a top 10 there, too.
If there was an award for the best comeback after a shooting an 85, the Grant, Fla., native would've gotten it. It was hard to see all this great playing after Horschel shot an 85 in the final round at Bay Hill. But he saw it. And that's all that matters.
Don't be surprised to see him win later this season and contend in one of the three remaining majors.
5. City View
On the Monday after the Masters, I was in LaGuardia Airport in New York collecting my golf bag from the
Jack Nicklaus hails from an era when golf shoes resembled dress shoes with spikes, which is to say they were heavy and not particularly comfortable.
Golf shoes have evolved into something more athletic -- lightweight, comfortable and often with nubs, instead of spikes.
Nicklaus, in partnership with Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation, is attempting to combine the two -- honoring the traditions of the game, while providing the advantages of the contemporary golf shoe, "a line that included both a current, comfortable athletic shoe, as well as a more classic design for this Signature shoe, combining performance, comfort and stability," he said in a news release.
The result is the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Line by Allen Edmonds, featuring three series of shoes, each named for one of his course designs. The saddle shoe shown here is from the Muirfield Village line that comes in five models.
The shoes all come with what is called a Stability Rim sole to provide greater traction and footwork stability. The shoes feature leather uppers, are waterproof and are spikeless, allowing for wearing on and off the course.
The shoes will retail for $195. Belts, hats, gloves and socks are also available in the Nicklaus Signature Line.
Read More Golf shoes: Nicklaus Signature Line best of two eras: New Stuff: Golf Digest
RORY McILROY is almost certain to play for Ireland and not Great Britain at the next Olympics. The star golfer's dilemma over who to represent at the 2016 Games was resolved yesterday when world ruling body, the Royal and Ancient (R&A), revealed it was ready to instruct McIlroy and Graeme McDowell to play for Ireland in Rio.
World No 2 McIlroy was so torn by this issue, he suggested last year he might withdraw from the Games rather than have to choose between the two sides, while World No 8 McDowell appealed for the game's governing bodies to make that call.
That plea was answered yesterday when Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of the R&A and president of the International Golf Federation, said Ireland would have first call on the gifted Ulstermen.
"I would very much like to take this burden of choice away from the player if we can possibly do it because it's not fair to him," Dawson said.
"I think he's made it pretty clear in one or two pronouncements that he (McIlroy) is worried about it and the last thing we want is players worrying about this.
"I think, because of Rory's history playing for Ireland at amateur level and, I think, at World Cup level, there may be a regulation within Olympic rules that would require him to stay with that," added the Englishman, one of the most powerful driving forces behind golf's return to the Olympic arena.
"There is a rule in the Olympics that a player who has represented one nation at a previous world championship for a certain country will carry on with them," he explained.
Rule 41 in the Olympic Charter applies to McIlroy, who played for Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy (amateur golf's world championship) and then twice 'under the Tricolour' with McDowell at the professional World Cup of Golf.
Dawson is committed in his belief that everything possible must be done to ensure a player of McIlroy's enormous stature competes in the 2016 Games.
It's understood Dawson also had discussions with McIlroy, who declined to comment.
Far from feeling aggrieved at being obliged to play for the island of Ireland in Rio, McIlroy and McDowell are likely to be relieved the governing bodies are making moves to take the decision out of their hands.
Golf chiefs to tell McIlroy he must play for Ireland at Olympics - Independent.ie
Tiger Woods may have failed to regain the coveted Masters title at Augusta this season but if the current formbook is any yardstick then the Pakistani version of Tiger Woods seems all set to defend his crown at the country’s biggest golfing event.
Shabbir Iqbal, the reigning champion, is the hot favourite to retain the title at the Arkadians Pakistan Open Golf Championship 2013 — the equivalent of the Masters on the national circuit — which explodes into action at the well-manicured course of the DHA Golf and Country Club on Thursday (today).
The seasoned Shabbir, who is a member of the Ufone team, is by far the most consistent player on the national circuit. With his ability to hit long and straight and a reliable short game, Shabbir has garnered a huge reputation and once again the ‘Tiger Woods of Pakistan golf’ would be the man to beat at the Rs5 million contest to be played over four days. The lion’s share from the prize basket — Rs4 million — would be at stake in the professionals event.
But in spite of his credentials as the most consistent and inform golfer in the fray, retaining this prestigious crown won’t be a cakewalk for the Islamabad player. He faces a tough field of challengers which includes the vastly-accomplished Muhammad Munir, Matloob Ahmed, Shahid Javed and several other pros who would all be gunning for glory.
Most of the title contenders are from up country. They will have to quickly adapt to the breezy course of the DHA Golf Club that paints a scenic picture with lush green fairways shining in the backdrop of the Arabian Sea waters.
“It is going to be a very good tournament,” says Brig (retd) Nayyar Afzal, the newly-elected secretary of the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF). “All of our big guns are here and we expect a close fight for the title,” he added.
The tournament features a strong list of professionals as well as senior pros who would contest for a Rs500,000 prize purse but the entry for amateurs is quite a limited one with just 30 of them taking part. One of the prime reasons for the small list is a dearth of quality players.
Afzal said that during his four-year tenure as PGF secretary which began earlier this month, he would be focusing on steps aimed at broadening the base of the game in Pakistan. “PGF has been taking a keen interest in promoting golf among youngsters and I look forward to intensify those efforts in a bid to broaden the base of the game,” he said.
Afzal was elected secretary at the PGF elections in Islamabad where Lt Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam replaced General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani as federation’s president.
Sources privy to the exercise held earlier this month said that the entire process came across as “more of a selection rather than an election”.
However, Maj Gen Tariq Salim Malik, the PGF vice president, defended the elections stressing that the new PGF officials were elected unanimously.
“General Zaheer-ul-Islam was elected as the president unanimously and he proposed a list of fellow officials which was approved by the House.”
General Tariq was confident that the PGF officials will make all out efforts to provide a boost to Pakistan golf. “All of us are committed to the cause of Pakistan golf. It is a great sport and needs proper support in our country.”
Pakistan Open Golf tees off today - thenews-com.pk
AN Australian rules football jumper, a luxury golf bag and a statue of Abraham Lincoln are part of a treasure trove given to US President Barack Obama in 2011, officials say.
The list of presents given to Obama by foreign governments or dignitaries released by the US State Department on Thursday revealed an Aladdin's cave of gifts, ranging from the modest to the lavish.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's gifts included a specially designed red, white and blue Australian rules shirt with ''USA Revolution'' on the front.
Several items reflected Obama's fondness for golf. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave Obama an Hermes golf accessory bag valued at $US7750 ($A7563), as well as Baccarat crystal statuettes depicting golfers at play.
In all, the Sarkozys gave the Obamas $US41,675.71 in gifts that year alone.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's gifts to Obama included a golf putter as well as a training console. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper tapped into Obama's interest in hoops, giving him a basketball signed by members of the Toronto Raptors team.
Other gifts to Obama were more formal, including a 122-centimetre bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln by the artist Yuan Xikun given by former Chinese President Hu Jintao, valued at $US9800.
All federal employees in the United States must declare gifts from foreign governments or organisations with gifts to the president or the first family turned over to the National Archives.
The economy is out of the bunker, and Bay State golfers are back in the tee box.
After several slow years during the nationwide recession and a sluggish start to the recovery, Massachusetts golf courses are optimistic that business is on the upswing as the 2013 season gets underway.
Already this spring, rounds played are up 10 percent, compared with the same time a year ago, at Boston’s two municipal courses.
“And the weather hasn’t even been as good as it was last year,” said Dennis Roache, general manager of the George Wright Golf Course in Hyde Park and the William J. Devine Golf Course in Dorchester. “That’s why those numbers are surprising. It gives us hope that things are starting to turn around.”
Signs of a rebound began last year, when the number of rounds played in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ticked upward by 1.7 percent, according to the National Golf Foundation, following declines in three of the previous four seasons. The posh Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth, where a season pass costs $4,800, had its most profitable postrecession season in 2012, said John Tuffin, the club’s director of golf.
“It was certainly the best year of the last few, and we believe that’ll continue this year,” Tuffin said. “People were generally playing less, due to less discretionary income. Last year, people started spending more freely.”
The New England PGA reports that participation in tournaments sponsored by the regional chapter rose by 15 percent in 2012 and that the momentum is carrying over into this season, with sellout fields at its first two events of the spring.
“It appears to me that people are playing more, buying more equipment,” said Mike Higgins, the New England PGA’s executive director. “That’s the feedback I’ve been hearing from players.”
Though it is no longer a leisure activity only for the wealthy, golf remains a symbol of disposable income. As the economy faltered, many players viewed the game as an unnecessary expense, said Don Hearn, manager of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England.
“People just wanted to get in a cave and put a rock in front of it,” Hearn said. “There was this negative feeling, and people worried about their clubs’ and their own financial situations.”
Between 2007 and 2012, the number of active golfers in the United States shrank from 30 million to 26 million, according to the National Golf Foundation.
The economic downturn affected not only how often golfers played but also where they played, said Joe Sprague Jr., executive director of the Massachusetts Golf Association. For the most part, he said, well-established private clubs were not badly hurt by the recession, and business at bargain-priced public courses held fairly steady.
“It’s the other private clubs that got hit,” Sprague said. “Their members didn’t necessarily stop playing, but they might have gone for more affordable options.”
At the private Boston Golf Club in Hingham, which opened in 2004 with initiation fees of $125,000, membership declined during the recession, leaving the club without enough revenue to pay its lease. With the club on the verge of bankruptcy, four remaining members led a group that bought the property for $6.5 million in 2011 — a fraction of what it cost to build the course.
Today, membership has climbed back to its prerecession peak of about 150, surging since early last season, when club rolls barely registered triple digits. “The economy’s looking better, we now have a mortgage we can manage,” said Jack Ryan, the club’s president. “The last year exceeded our expectations. We’ve gotten a really good response from previous members, plus a surprising number of new members.”
Other private clubs also changed hands amid economic uncertainty. Courses sold at foreclosure auctions in the last two years included the Sterling Country Club, the Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, and the Hickory Ridge Country Club in Amherst. All three went to new owners who have kept the courses open. Not every course survived its sale, however. The Scottish Meadow Golf Course in Warren was sold last year to a Florida solar power company that plans to turn the land into a solar farm.
Sensing potential to increase golf participation in Massachusetts, the PGA of America last year created a position, a player development regional manager for Greater Boston. The PGA hired regional managers in only three other strategic markets, New York, Chicago, and Southern California.
Attracting new golfers “has been slow going since the recession,” said Brian Bain, who got the new job after spending nine years as the head professional at the Robert T. Lynch Municipal Golf Course in Brookline. But with things looking up, Bain said he is working to add female and junior players — two demographics in which participation declined in recent years — while also encouraging golf courses to make themselves more friendly to beginners.
Suggestions include shortening holes and introducing a pay-per-hole system that allows golfers to play as much or as little as time allows.
“Heck, even if you throw the ball out of the sand, what’s the big deal?” Bain said. “As long as you’re having fun. We just want people to play.”
Golf courses in Massachusetts on the rebound - Business - The Boston Globe
Kadin Neho made history today at the New Zealand Amateur Championship by becoming the first Northland golfer to win the title in the 120-year history of the event.
The 17-year-old from the Whangarei Golf Club, who admitted he was shocked to even make the final, withstood a late charge from Tasman golfer Ryan Chisnall to win the final 3 and 2 in windy and cool conditions at the Manawatu Golf Club.
The shy youngster, who struggled to come to terms with the spotlight this week, let his golf do the talking in the championship final. He delivered a four foot clutch putt on the 16th hole to win the title and become the first Northland winner since the event began in 1893.
"Wow that is a long time,'' laughed Neho amongst congratulations from his mates.
"This is a really special day for me. I really don't know what to say. I think Northland people will be stoked with this achievement. They have all been watching the scores and texting me. The people at the Whangarei Golf Club have been a great support and been egging me on. This is pretty cool.''
Neho made the turn 2up in the match but continued his momentum with a birdie at the first hole back in the afternoon. From there he never looked back and was never behind in the second half of the match.
"I played really solid today and got up nice and early in the afternoon round which helped the nerves again.''
The turning point of the match came on the back nine of the first 18 holes where Neho delivered four birdies in succession to go from being all square to 2up at a crucial stage.
"That was definitely a turning point - that stretch of golf I played really well and I felt like I took control the match there.''
Neho never really felt like he had won the match until the final putt dropped on the par three.
"He came back at me really well and made a couple of birdies [on 12 and 13] and then I didn't play 14 too well. I managed to hold on in the next couple of holes.''
Fellow Northland golfer Lee Neumann, who made a hole in one early in the tournament, offered Neho some sage advice heading down the 15th hole when he was 3up.
"I was thinking about taking on the green there but that was a good decision to pull a seven iron there [to lay up] and keep it in play. I have to thank Lee for that.''
Neho was not sure how he'd celebrate his momentous win. First things first he had a bus ride back home to Whangarei tonight at 10pm where ``I will just sit back and be really happy on the bus ride home. I never expected to get this far. It has all been a blur for me really''.
He hoped that this win is the start of some bigger things to come in his game.
"I saw the selectors out there today and I hope that they were impressed. Hopefully from here I can carry on with some good golf.''
Meanwhile, Wellington's Julianne Alvarez's eyes filled with tears of joy as she claimed the women's crown.
It was the biggest win of her young golf career and she did it in style with a dominant performance to overcome Waikato golfer Hanna Seifert by 7 and 6 in the 36 hole final.
The 16-year-old from the Manor Park Golf Club, who defeated the defending champion Munchin Keh to make the championship final, saved her best for last to fulfil her long heralded potential.
Each week, GolfChannel-com offers thoughts on "what we learned" from the world of golf. This week, our writers weigh in on Billy Horschel's maiden PGA Tour victory at the Zurich Classic, yet another strong effort by Inbee Park, and a most interesting auction of golf memorabilia.
It was Tuesday morning on the practice range at last month’s Honda Classic when Billy Horschel and I got into one of those “What if…?” types of discussions usually better left for the 19th hole. This one centered on the ongoing NFL Scouting Combine. “What if there was a combine for PGA Tour players?” we asked each other. “Who’d be the strongest? The most agile? The fastest?” At this final query, Horschel threw his hat into the ring, before sadly admitting that Sergio Garcia could probably run faster. Still, the University of Florida product contested that he could run the 40-yard-dash in under 4.7 seconds … or maybe 4.8 … well, definitely under 5.0. Since then, we’ve had a running – pun intended – debate about his speed. But there’s no debating the speed at which Horschel has burst onto leaderboards lately. Entering this past week, he had finished in the top 10 in each of his last three starts, including a pair of top-three results. And it’s been a relative quick jaunt to the winner’s circle, too, as his solid month turned special with a first career victory at the Zurich Classic. Despite getting stalled off the blocks with a pair of final-round weather delays, Horschel lapped the field with nine birdies, including a dramatic and passionate one to clinch the victory. Won’t be his last, either. I still don’t know what his combine numbers would be, but in typical draft-speak, this guy’s got a great motor and a ton of upside. – Jason Sobel
Rolex world No. 1 Inbee Park is beginning to separate herself from the rest of women's golf with her victory Sunday at the North Texas LPGA Shootout. It was her third LPGA title this season and her fifth in her last 18 starts.
When Park ascended to No. 1 two weeks ago, it felt like she came in through the back door, given she moved up on an off week in the women's game to take the spot from Stacy Lewis, who had gained the No. 1 ranking with a dramatic victory in Phoenix. Park left no doubt about how deserving she is winning in Irving, Texas.
That doesn't mean we aren't going to see a real battle for the top ranking this summer with Lewis also in strong form with two titles already this season. It might very well be Lewis and Park who pull away together from the rest of the women's game. They've won five of the eight LPGA events staged this year. Lewis won the LPGA's Rolex Player of the Year Award last year with Park winning the money title and the Vare Trophy for low scoring average. So far this year, Park and Lewis are 1-2 in Player of the Year points, money winnings and scoring with Park leading Lewis in POY points and money. – Randall Mell
Here's what I want to know – who was willing to pony up $1,811.25 at this past weekend's auction for the bucket hat Al Geiberger wore while shooting his 59 in 1977? I get the $12,456.80 for his Spaulding clubs, and the $3,201.60 for his trophy from that Memphis Classic seems like a huge bargain. His Wanamaker trophy from his 1966 PGA Championship win fetched $62,967.10, according to Green Jacket Auctions' website. Hey, Doug Ford won the PGA in 1955, but his trophy sold for only $347.30. What I don't question is Geiberger's willingness to sell. He admitted the memorabilia was mostly collecting dust in storage. The most precious thing about that 59 is his memories, and no one can buy them from him. If he can improve his lifestyle now that his playing days are mostly behind him, more power to him. – Al Tays
What We Learned Zurich Classic 2013 | Golf Channel
A minivan carrying six members of a Michigan high school boys' golf team collided with another van on a rural road, killing the coach and a 17-year-old golfer, and a 27-year-old woman in the other vehicle.
Four other members of the Grayling High School golf team were in critical condition after Monday morning's crash in Kalkaska County's Excelsior Township, 25 miles east of Traverse City.
The condition of a fifth golfer was not immediately available. The names of the victims were not released.
"It was pretty horrific," Michigan State Police Sgt. Don Bailey said of the crash.
Bailey told The Associated Press he came upon the crash shortly after it occurred about 11:30 a.m. Monday in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula. He had to use a fire extinguisher to put out a fire in one of the vehicles.
"There were three ejections and those bodies were laying around," he said.
Excelsior Township is about 15 miles west of Grayling, which is in Crawford County.
The golf team was in a silver minivan and left Grayling for an invitational tournament in Traverse City. The minivan was northbound on Crawford Lake Road when it smashed into the side of a white minivan traveling east on County Road 612.
"Our initial investigation shows the white van may have been speeding," Bailey said. "There's also a question if the silver van stopped at a stop sign."
A woman driving the white minivan was in serious condition, while a 3-year-old girl in that vehicle appeared to be unhurt. Bailey said the girl was in a child restraint seat.
Students at Grayling High School were notified of the crash Monday afternoon, and events and practices were canceled, according to Joe Powers, superintendent of the Crawford AuSable Schools.
Crisis team counselors will be at the school Tuesday.
"We do have classes because we believe the students need each other," said Powers.
"We will delay the formal start of school to have an opportunity for students to talk to each other. We will have counselors throughout the building, including the hallway, so students can lean on adults they know and who they are comfortable with."
Mich. Golf Team Van Collides With 2nd Van, 3 Dead - ABC News
Greg Norman has described golf's anti-doping procedures as "disgraceful" and says he wants blood testing introduced by the sport's governing bodies.
Three-time major winner Vijay Singh has admitted to using Deer Antler Spray, thought to contain a banned substance only detectable by blood tests.
"If you really want to be serious about it, we need to do blood testing," Norman told The Australian. "I think it's disgraceful, to tell you the truth."
He added: "The golf associations have to get together and step it up. You only have to look at what happened to Vijay Singh just recently to know the drugs issue is there."
Norman said he had "no idea" how big a problem doping was in golf because "we only do urine analysis instead of blood testing".
Three-time major winner Singh, 50, told an American magazine in January that he had been taking deer-antler spray as a supplement, saying he was unaware it is believed to contain the hormone IGF-1, a banned substance.
The PGA Tour is still investigating the issue and is expected to reach a verdict in the next few weeks. Singh is free to continue playing.
Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A, one of golf's ruling bodies, said blood testing was "up for consideration".
"I can't speak from the Tours' position on this and week-in, week-out," he said. "Of course it's the Tours who are administering drug testing.
"As far as Olympic golf is concerned, when the players come under the International Golf Federation (IGF) policy, that will be a different story.
"We have a medical team working at the IGF now looking at golf's testing regime and coming up with recommendations for what's going to happen pre-Olympic games.
"So the issue of blood testing is up for consideration at the moment."
BBC Sport - Greg Norman criticises golf chiefs for lack of blood testing
It is the drop that nobody in the golf world seems able to, well, drop. On Wednesday, the sport’s ruling bodies issued their interpretation of Tiger Woods’s rules violation at the Masters, 19 days later. In the second round on April 12, Woods’s third shot on No. 15 hit the flag and rolled off the green and into the water. Woods took a one-stroke penalty and dropped the ball in the fairway, a few feet from his original divot, and played his fifth shot.
Woods unwittingly called his drop into question when he said in an ESPN interview that he took it two yards from the original spot, which was not “as nearly as possible” to the spot from which he first hit, as the rules require. The next day, the Masters rules committee assessed Woods a two-stroke penalty and allowed him to play on, invoking Rule 33-7, which allows the penalty of disqualification for signing an incorrect scorecard to be waived in exceptional individual cases. Woods finished tied for fourth.
The United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient released a statement Wednesday, saying that Woods did violate the rules by playing his ball from the wrong place and that the ruling to allow him to remain in the tournament was correct. The application of Rule 33-7 was reasonable because the Masters rules committee failed to meet with Woods before he signed his scorecard.
The ruling bodies made clear, though, that Woods’s case was an “unusual combination of facts,” noting that “nothing in the existing Rules or Decisions specifically addressed such circumstances of simultaneous competitor error and Committee error.” The ruling at the Masters, according to the statement, should not be interpreted as a “general precedent for relaxing or ignoring a competitor’s essential obligation” to sign a correct scorecard.
About the same time as the ruling bodies issued their statement, a Sports Illustrated article identified the Champions Tour player David Eger as the television viewer who brought the possible violation to the attention of Masters officials.
Eger, an experienced tournament official, told Sports Illustrated he thought Woods’s drop looked improper. He notified a rules official who was at the tournament, who in turn relayed the message to Fred Ridley, the Masters competition committee chairman. Ridley said committee members reviewed video of the drop before Woods finished his round. Seeing nothing improper, they did not talk to Woods about it before he signed his scorecard.
BAHRAIN Golf Club beat Royal Golf Club in an annual match of the Royal Golf Club V Bahrain Golf Club Trophy on the Royal Golf Club's challenging Montgomerie championship course. After dominating the matches since 2010, the Royal Golf Club suffered a narrow loss in this year's match.
Two teams of 12 players each faced others in the pairs Betterball match-play event. The first flight was contended by the scratch teams and a second social flight also played in the same format.
The first three matches were all won by the Bahrain Golf Club with Royal Golf Club representatives Tim Backhouse, Deanna Ngo, Dan Owen, Graeme Newport, Cormac Flannery and Ray Bruhn all suffering losses. However there were wins for the pairings of Stephen Hoey and Marius Esterhuizen and Chris McDonnell and Ben Elsworth as well as a halved match for Barry Hobday and Martyn Wright. Overall, the Bahrain Golf Club team secured a narrow win with a three and a half to two and a half scoreline.
Both teams enjoyed some refreshments in the Royal Golf Club's exclusive Members' Lounge after the match and Club Captain Ebrahim Esbai was on hand to pass over the trophy to Bahrain Golf Club Vice President Diab Sager Al Noaimi.
Gulf Daily News » Sports News » Bahrain Golf Club win back match trophy
It all started a quarter of a century ago when Craig Stadler got down on his knees to propose hitting his golf ball from under a tree at the San Diego Open. There was one problem. Fashion plate that the Walrus was, and is, he did not want his pants to get dirty. So he spread a towel on the ground.
And the phone rang. Stadler had technically “built a stance.” And phones haven’t stopped ringing since as golf rules “officials” have moved off the course and into the family room.
Rarely, if ever, has it been bigger news than almost a month ago at the Masters when Tiger Woods was assessed a two-shot penalty, but not disqualified, for executing an improper drop.
Up until the point Adam Scott holed a dramatic putt at the 72nd hole and Angel Cabrera followed with his dead-solid-perfect approach shot to set up a playoff, won by Scott, Woods’ penalty was the story of the tournament at Augusta National.
Two days ago, the phone rang on Sergio Garcia at the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina. A viewer thought he had improperly marked his ball on a green. PGA Tour rules officials on site at Quail Hollow cleared him of an infraction but got an insightful response from Garcia, who had not yet signed his scorecard.
“If this is going to make anybody think I’m a cheater, I’d rather get a two-stroke penalty and move on,” Garcia said.
That likely was Garcia at his best, or perhaps he was taking a veiled shot at nemesis Woods, who ignored calls to withdraw at Augusta. It’s hard to know with Sergio.
In mid-March during an LPGA tournament in Arizona, Stacy Lewis was about to sign her scorecard for a 66 when she was told a viewer had called in to say her caddie had “tested the surface” of a bunker with his shoe before she had entered it to hit a shot.
Lewis and rules officials watched a replay, she agreed there had been an infraction, added a two-shot penalty, and signed for a 68. The Toledo native nonetheless went on to win the Founders Cup. Only in golf can and does this happen. After the Woods incident, a reader e-mailed me and asked, tongue-in-cheek, whether there was someone he could call to get the decision reversed that cost former Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game in June, 2010.
No, it doesn’t work that way. If you think the Bears’ defensive end was offside on a key sack against the Lions last season, you can’t phone a friend and get a five-yard penalty assessed the next day. You think LeBron pushed off before burying that game-winning shot? Tough. Don’t reach for the phone. Nobody cares.
In golf they do care. In fact, the game almost welcomes the viewer oversight, although there is no remedy to the imbalance of some players, like Woods, having every act and shot scrutinized. Duffy Waldorf? Not so much.
“I don’t even know how these people get a number to call,” the 2012 Masters champion, Bubba Watson, said of viewers/callers after the Woods flap at Augusta. “They must have more time on their hands than I do, because I don’t know the number, and I’m playing in the golf tournament.”
It turns out two calls led to the Woods review. The first was a text message to an on-site rules official from David Eger, a former USGA and PGA Tour rules official, who was watching from his Florida home and felt Tiger had dropped improperly after his approach shot at No. 15 hit the flagstick and ricocheted across the green into a water hazard during the second round.
Masters officials reviewed the tape of Woods returning to the area of his original shot, thought the claim was nebulous, and decided to act no further, not even discussing the situation with Woods before he signed his card.
Later, a CBS-TV employee was reviewing tapes of postround interviews, heard Woods admit to doing exactly what Eger claimed, produced video footage to support it, and another call was made to tourney officials.
Woods was penalized two shots the next morning, but was spared disqualification by a fairly new rule that deals in part with video-related issues.
The fact Woods was so candid about what he did surely indicated he didn’t realize he was misinterpreting or misapplying a rule. The fact that some thought Tiger should nonetheless DQ himself indicated how seriously golf — as Garcia’s comment indicates — takes its position as a sport made up of honorable competitors who self-police and penalize themselves when rules are violated. If they don’t do it adequately, then anyone who has a copy of the rule book and a telephone at hand can do it for them.
Only in golf.
Pro golf can truly be sport for masses - Toledo Blade
Just one shot and six centimetres of rain separated Kiwi golfer Tim Wilkinson and his maiden win on the Web-com Tour.
Wilkinson was well-placed after the third round at the Stadion Classic on the United States' second-tier tour, but an overnight downpour at the University of Georgia course saw the final round washed out.
The former PGA Tour professional had to settle for a runner-up finish after the tournament reverted back to the 54-hole standings and American Brendon Todd edged Wilkinson by one stroke.
Todd's two-under 69 in the third round on Sunday (NZT) moved him to eight-under 205, one shot ahead of playing partner Wilkinson. But with Wilkinson set to chase his first victory on the tour, more than 6cm or rain fell in the Athens area in a 24-hour period, leaving tournament officials with no choice but to deem to course unplayable.
The decision to cancel the final round came mid-morning, with light rain still falling in northeast Georgia.
"This was not a difficult decision," said Web-com Tour tournament director Jim Duncan. "The course is completely unplayable. When you get a long, soaking rain like this on the clay, it basically becomes mush. There is not a tee on the golf course right now that's playable, anywhere."
In finishing runner-up, Wilkinson matched his career-best finish on the tour. His previous second-placed finish came at the 2005 Oregon Classic, which was also cut short to 54 holes because of rain on the final day.
Providing some consolation for the missed opportunity, Wilkinson climbed 17 places to 11th overall on the Web-com Tour money list. The top 25 players at the end of the season automatically qualify for the PGA Tour in 2014, while fellow Kiwi Danny Lee is also inside the cut-off in 17th place.
Meanwhile, New Zealand professional Pieter Zwart came from behind to claim the Papua New Guinea Open over the weekend.
Zwart's final round of six under par was good enough for a 15 under par total and a two shot victory over Australian Lincoln Tighe, marking the biggest win of the Kiwi's young professional career.
"It is a pleasure to now be known as the national champion of Papua New Guinea," Zwart said. "This victory has no doubt set me up for the year and I look forward to defending the title in 12 months' time."
With his win, Zwart will be exempt in almost every pro-am played across Australia for the next 12 months while he also gained entry to a number of tournaments on the Australasian Tour later in the year.
Elsewhere, New Zealand No 1 Michael Hendry slipped back in the final round of the China Open to finish in a share of 55th place.
The 33-year-old, who is the highest ranked Kiwi at 151st in the world, was three under par and in a share of 24th place midway through the back nine on Sunday before he faded with a poor finish.
Golf: Wilkinson denied by rain - Sport - NZ Herald News
We don’t play well with others. We fuss about parking, we complain about access. We question the courage of those we cover while sitting in an air-conditioned room eating free ice cream.
But damn it, we recognize a good story.
We’re taught that there is no cheering in the media center. We cheer for no one, against no one. We root for the best story. We pull for history.
Many rules went out the window Sunday when Adam Scott won the Masters.
The dashing Aussie walked into an interview session an hour after winning his first major and nearly the entire room applauded for the most recent member of the green jacket fraternity.
Couldn’t help it. Scott, you see, was the best story this week. He deserved to win this major as much as anyone has ever deserved to win a major.
Not just any major. This major. The Masters. Where Aussies have struggled for decades. Where Greg Norman ran into Jack Nicklaus in 1986, Larry Mize in 1987, and himself in 1996 via an epic collapse against Nick Faldo. Where Scott shot 67-67 over the weekend two years ago only to lose to CharlSchwartzel’s four birdies over the last four holes.
Scott, 32, had major championship scar tissue, although he wouldn’t admit it. The 2011 Masters caused some of it, but last summer’s British Open caused the most damage when Scott blew a four-shot lead over the last four holes to cough up the claret jug to Ernie Els.
He handled that meltdown with class. In fact, Scott was so calm in the aftermath that it seemed like others felt sadder for Scott than he did for himself.
“Everything I said after the Open is how I felt, and I meant it,” Scott said this Sunday. “It did give me more belief that I could win a major. It proved to me, in fact, that I could.”
Well, he did. And now he never again has to answer why he hasn’t.
It’s amazing what draining epic putts of 20 feet in regulation and 12 feet in a sudden-death playoff to win a green jacket will do.
Just 24 hours earlier Scott, one of golf’s good guys, was a veritable underachiever who had won big events but didn’t have the toughness to win the game’s biggest, most important tournaments.
Now, the major floodgates have opened and Scott is on top of the world. He’s gone from a man who couldn’t win a major to a man we expect to win several majors.
Funny how that works.
“Everybody questioned whether he had the intestinal fortitude to do that, but we all knew it,” said Norman, Scott’s idol growing up as a young mate in Oz. “The players knew it. He’s got the game to do it, and I was just extremely happy for him.”
So now we look to the future.
Scott has won nine PGA Tour events, and there aren’t too many clunkers on his resume. He’s won a World Golf Championship, a Players Championship, a Tour Championship and now a Masters. Heady stuff.
Now that the major monkey is off his back, Scott can play with less pressure. Consider this: Scott should own two of the last three majors. Obviously he doesn’t, but he’s too good a player to falter as dramatically as he did at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. It’s an exception, not the rule.
It’s not foolish to believe Scott could win multiple majors over the next six to eight years. He’s proved he can contend at the British Open and has a great record at the PGA Championship. His U.S. Open record is spotty, but this year’s championship is at Merion, a place where you have to think your way around the golf course. Scott is one of the game’s great thinkers.
Besides, Scott seems to have figured out the formula for contending in majors, having done so five times in the last nine big events.
The newly minted champ has competitively starved himself the past two years. While many top players feel the need to mold their games into shape while battling tournament conditions, Scott only plays events he feels he can win. He wants to miss competitive golf, so when he shows up on the first tee he desires the chase.
An old approach where he globetrotted the first decade of his career nearly burned him out. Now he’s made peace with preparation and doesn’t need to play 30-plus times a year.
The Masters was only Scott’s fifth event of the year. He’s fresh.
“Adam can go on to win more major championships because of his age and because of his experience and because he’s finally got one under his belt,” Norman said.
If you’re not thrilled for Scott, you have no heart. This victory meant very much to many people. Every win does. But this is infinitely different. For Scott and his country.
“He probably had more pressure on him today than any other player on the planet, because he was playing not only for the millions of Australians, but he was playing against the entire field and there was more pressure on him because no Australian has ever done it,” Norman said. “It’s a monumental task, and I’m so happy for him.”
Said Scott: “It's amazing that it's my destiny to be the first Aussie to win (the Masters). Just incredible.”
As the rain continued to fall over the Augusta grounds late Sunday, Jason Day, heartbroken after coming up two shots shy of the playoff, searched for a television to watch the waning moments.
He couldn’t be the first Australian to win, but he was rooting for his compatriot.
“I’m pulling for Scotty to finally win the Masters and be the first player to do it,” Day said. “If it wasn’t myself, I really want it to be Scotty.”
It was. And most at Augusta National rejoiced, even those who have rules against it.
Adam Scott's Masters win popular the golf world over | Golf Channel