|
Keegan Bradley defending at the Nelson, match play in New Jersey for the LPGA and Spain for Euros
Changes for
GOLFOBSERVER & GOLFSTATS The pages inside Golfobserver is now a subscription based site. For those that have joined, you should have your user name and passwords to access the site. For others, we hope that you will join us, we have just reduced our price to $50 for the rest of the year. At the bottom of this page is more information but for those that haven't joined, click here so you can get to our membership page, to subscribe today at our reduced $50 fee for the rest of the year. ------------------------------------------------------------- HP Byron Nelson: The Tour moves to Dallas and the TPC Four Seasons as we remember one of the great players and kindness man in golf, Byron Nelson. This tournament was very dear to his heart and he was a big part of it meeting and greeting all of the players as they finished their round. As a sign of respect, players flocked to this event to not only support it but to get a chance to meet with Nelson. Byron died in September of 2006 and since then the tournament hasn't seen the same amount of marquee names, but the greats like Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els are in the field this week along with seven of the top-25 players off the World Rankings. One of the reasons that Byron loved this event was Salesmanship Club of Dallas and what they mean to the many underprivileged children and their family. Since taking over the event in Dallas, the Salesmanship Club has raised more than $121 million placing it at the top of the list of all-time tournament contributors on the PGA Tour. Big news this week is that Keegan Bradley is defending, before the week began nobody knew him as he was a rookie on tour. But with his win at the Nelson, it led to him winning the PGA Championship and then becoming rookie of the year and one of the hottest players on tour.
Check out Sal Johnson's preview of this weeks Nelson with historical data on what it will take to win this week plus the buzz and story lines for the week Open de Espana: Francesco Molinari shot a final round 65 as he birdied 7 of his first 14 holes and then finished with four pars. His 8 under total was three better than Soren Kjeldsen and Pablo Larrazábal who both shot 71 and Alejandro Canizares who hod a final round 69. Molinari’s display was all the more impressive as he was the only player from his side of the draw in the top ten at the halfway stage, having had to face the worst of the wind and rain over the first two days. It was his third European Tour win, his first since the 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions. After that event he got to 14th in the world rankings, since he fell back to 46 but now stands at 29. For the Italian it helps with some goals like getting him into the race for a spot on the Ryder Cup team. He still has a way to go, he is tenth on the European Points list, but he needs to be in the top-five. Another nice aspect of the win was that it came in the 100th year of the tournament and on the first anniversary of Seve Ballesteros' death. As for third round leader Simon Dyson, he started with two birdies but that was to be his last for the day. He played his last 14 holes in six over par to shot 76 and drop into a T12th. All week the overnight leaders appeared cursed. Shaun Micheel followed his opening 67 with a 77, then Grégory Bourdy went from 66 to 80. Another note of another Italian that made a run, Matteo Manassero shot 70 and finished T7th. The good news is that he moved up into 60th in the world rankings, the USGA is giving U.S. Open exemptions for those in the top-60. The bad news is that those rankings will be used in three weeks, so Manassero is still on the button as he is ranked 60th. ------------------------------------------------------------- Insperity Championship: Fred Funk birdied four of the last five holes to overtake Tom Lehman and won by a shot. After making 14 consecutive pars starting at the 2nd hole, Funk trailed by two shots and appeared headed for a second-place finish after Lehman made the second of his three consecutive birdies at the 12th hole to increase his margin to two strokes. However, Funk rallied by matching Lehman’s birdie at the par-5 13th and then he holed short birdie putts at the 15th and 16th holes to move back into a tie for the lead. After both players made pars at No. 17, Funk hit a 5-iron shot from 174 yards over water to within a foot of the hole at the 18th, forcing Lehman to take dead aim with his second shot at the par-4. His approach shot landed 12 feet from the hole but Lehman’s birdie bid just missed on the right side of the cup, setting the stage for Funk’s kick-in birdie for the victory. It is Funk's first Champions Tour event since the 2010 JELD-WEN Tradition, ending a victory drought of one year, eight months, 13 days or 29 Champions Tour tournaments. Funk claimed his seventh career victory in his 95th career start and he became the first player since Tom Watson (1980 British Open/2007 Senior British Open-Muirfield, Scotland) to win a PGA Tour tournament and a Champions Tour tournament at the same course. Funk won the 1992 Shell Houston Open on the Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club. Finishing in third four shots back was Mike Goodes while in a pack at 8 under, six back were Bernhard Langer, Brad Bryant, Bobby Clampett, Bobby Clampett, Dan Forsman and the winner of the last two Champions Tour events, Michael Allen. ------------------------------------------------------------
May 16, 2012 12:15 pm - Golf Channel Jason Sobel on how Joey Synder returns to PGA Tour after six years of medical mysteries. May 16, 2012 2:51 pm - USA Today - Golf Steve DiMeglio on how Keegan Bradley gets used to life in spotlight. May 16, 2012 1:45 pm - Golf Channel Rex Hoggard on how the PGA Tour needs to impose harsh methods to curb slow play. May 16, 2012 12:11 pm - Forbes.com Monte Burke talks with Michael Whan on the state of the LPGA Tour, foreign players and Augusta's female problem. May 16, 2012 12:10 pm - MLive.com Kyle Austin has this Q & A with Hank Haney who talks about Tiger Woods, Charles Barkley, Rush Limbaugh, the Dog Whisperer, his favorite golf courses and more. May 16, 2012 12:05 pm - PGATOUR.com - PGA Tour Ben Crenshaw on Byron Nelson: 'A substantial human being'. May 16, 2012 3:44 am - Golfobserver previews Sal Johnson with his HP Byron Nelson preview looking at what it will take to win. May 16, 2012 3:39 am - GolfObserver blognews - eventpicks Blog Sal Johnson with this week's picks from the HP Byron Nelson plus who's hot and who's not. |
ADVERTISEMENT
|
||||||||||||








