Thursday, August 7, 2014

PGA Championship



I am rooting for Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes, Brian Norman and Tiger, too.

55 comments:

  1. Brian Norman, a qualifier for the tournament who took his first golf lessons at Madisonville Country Club and then played for Henderson County High School, is 7-over for 15 holes. And Tiger, 2-over through 10, faces a fairly lengthy putt to save bogey on No. 11.

    But I'll bet Mr. Toy is having a very good day.

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  2. Kenny Perry of Elizabethtown, Lone Oak and Franklin and J.B. Holmes of Campbellsville tee off in the afternoon.

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  3. Tiger saves his bogey. The PGA.com live-stream team were just having a conversation about how much worse a double bogey is than a bogey. (They didn't quantify, but, given their explanation, I would estimate it's about twice as bad.) Once Tiger made his long putt, though, one of the dudes said that "sometimes a good bogey is as good as a good birdie." (I'll have to get back to you on the math on that one.)

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  4. "Twos are always welcome on the scorecard."

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  5. OK, here goes TNT's live coverage of Round 1, and the opening is comparing and contrasting the golf tournament to the Kentucky Derby. It was pretty good, actually.

    Ernie Johnson's on the mike for TNT. Please let Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith be in the booth with him! Pleeeeeeeease!

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  6. No Charles Barkley or Kenny Smith with TNT Ernie. It's Ian Baker-Finch. He's good, too.

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  7. T1. Lee Westwood, 41 years old, of Worksop Nottinghamshire, England, -6 (18)
    T2. Kevin Chappell, 28, Fresno, Calif., United States, 5-under through 17 holes
    T2. Edoardo Molinari, 33, Turin, Italy, -5 (14)
    T4. Joost Luiten, 28, Bleiswijk, Netherlands, -3 (18)
    T4. Ian Poulter, 38, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, -3 (17)
    T4. Bernd Wiesberger, 28, Vienna, Austria, -3 (14)

    Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk are part of a big tie for T7 at 2-under. I am rooting for Rickie Fowler and Jim Furyk also.

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  8. Chappell birdies No. 18, as Westwood did, so we have co-clubhouse leaders at 6-under as the afternoon session sets in.

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  9. Valhalla Golf Club is out Shelbyville Road, beyond Middletown. It's about 10 miles east of one of my favorite Whole Foodses in the world.

    Shelbyville Road is, of course, U.S. 60. So maybe Mr. Toy just drove it the whole way up this morning. Google Maps says it's about a five-and-a-half-hour drive from Heath up to Valhalla.

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  10. Furyk birdies 16, and he moves to 3-under.

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  11. Tiger finishes 3-over. Phil Mickelson, who played in the same "featured group" on the PGA.com video stream, comes in at 2-under.

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  12. Furyk records his second straight birdie, and he's at 4-under. (Furyk is actually finishing his round on the front nine, so he's playing No. 9 right now.) Peyton Molinari bogeyed No. 16 (the real 16), and so now Furyk and Molinari are tied at 4-under for T3 behind Chappell and Westwood.

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  13. I'm on a conference call with the TV on mute, so I have no idea why. But TNT is now showing Tiger out in the parking lot at Valhalla, closing the trunk of some kind of Tour-issued station wagon. Earlier this week, I saw some pictures on Twitter of Tiger driving onto the lot. It's interesting to think of Tiger out tooling around on Shelbyville Road. If I were him, I'd go for lunch at Whole Foods and or maybe one of those hot-dog pretzel rolls at the Auntie Anne's in Oxmoor.

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  14. And Furyk closes his round with a birdie at No. 9. That's three birdies in a row for Old, Reliable Jim, and he's 5-under and alone (for the moment; Peyton's on 18) in second place.

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  15. KENNY PERRY OPENS HIS ROUND WITH A BIRDIE!

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  16. Kenny is back to even through two holes.

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  17. Molinari joins Furyk at 5-under and T3. Our top four are all done for the day.

    T1. Chappell -6
    T1. Westwood -6
    T3. Furyk -5
    T3. Molinari -5

    Ryan Palmer, a 37-year-old from Amarillo, Texas, is alone in fifth and 4-under through eight holes.

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  18. Palmer is now down to 5-under. He has played 10 holes. He's the only golfer on the course this afternoon who is better than 2-under.

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  19. Kenny Perry is even through six, and J.B. Holmes is 1-under through five.

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  20. No new word from Mr. Toy, per his Facebook page. Last dispatch was five hours ago, when he was trying to help a friend find some barn homes for a couple of feral cats.

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  21. Rory McIlroy, a strapping 25-year-old from Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, birdies No. 7, and he's now 2-under and part of a big tie for 10th place, four strokes behind the leaders.

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  22. Palmer goes to 6-under; McIlroy, to 3-under, and Holmes, to 2-under.

    Meanwhile, Uncle Kenny has slipped to 1-over through nine holes.

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  23. The ride for Rory has gotten a little rollicking. Birdie at 9, double at 10, bogey at 11 and birdie at 12 ... he's now 1-under for the round.

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  24. The PGA.com live stream is employing Muzak-ish background music that sounds a little like 1993's "Linger" by the Cranberries. When I'm on hold for conference calls for one of my clients, their background music sounds a little like 1998's "Reptile" by the Church.

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  25. Birdie for McIlroy at No. 13, and he's back to 2-under and T20. He has only six pars among his first 13 holes.

    Holmes is to 4-under and T7 through seven holes.

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  26. Rors goes birdie at 14 and 15 (four straight birdies after opening his back nine double and bogey), then, after a couple of pars, birdie at 18. He's 5-under and T4.

    We've got majorless Westwood and a couple of relatively unknown Americans tied for the lead. McIlroy and Furyk are part of a group just one stroke back. Fowler, Holmes and Mickelson are all 2-under and T20. Yup, this will do.

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  27. T1. Kevin Chappell, 28, Fresno, Calif., 6-under through 0 holes today
    T1. Ryan Palmer, 37, Amarillo, Texas, -6 (4)
    T1. Henrik Stenson, 38, Gothenburg, Sweden, -6 (1)
    T1. Lee Westwood, 41, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, -6 (0)
    T4. Jim Furyk, 44, West Chester, Pa., -5 (0)
    T5. Edoardo Molinari, 33, Turin, Italy, -5 (0)
    T5. Rory McIlroy, 25, Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, -5 (0)
    T5. Chris Wood, 26, Bristol, England, -5 (0)

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  28. Kenny Perry again birdied his first hole of the day. He's now even for the tournament through two holes of his second round.

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  29. J.B. Holmes opened his second round with a par today, and he remains 3-under for the tournament, T11.

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  30. My other faves--Rickie Fowler (2-under, T22), Tiger Woods (3-over, T107) and Brian Norman (7-over, T136)--all tee in the afternoon today.

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  31. "GOSHDOGGIT!"

    That's what Bubba Watson just yelled after his tee shot on No. 12.

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  32. Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy are the featured group on the PGA.com live stream this morning.

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  33. 1. McIlroy -9 (18)
    T2. Palmer -7 (18)
    T2. Westwood -7 (4)
    4. Chappell -6 (4)

    Fowler is 2-under through five holes today, and now he's 4-under/T10 for the tournament.

    Furyk is even through two holes today; he's 5-under/T5 for the tournament.

    Uncle Kenny shot 2-under today, and he's T33/1-under. He's going to make the cut.

    Holmes was 1-over today, and now he's 2-under/T24.

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  34. Tiger misses a 5- or 6-footer for birdie on No. 3, same distance for par on No. 4. Now 4-over for the tournament, with the cut line currently at 1-over, it appears Tiger will be heading over to Standiford Field this evening back home to Cypress, Calif., or wherever it is in Florida or wherever that he now lives.

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  35. "If you don't think Louisville is a great sports town, a great golf town, just look at those galleries following around this group," says one of Verne's comrades following this afternoon's threesome of Tiger, Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington.

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  36. "There's not much energy in this group," somebody on TNT's broadcast team says of the Tiger/Phil/Harrington parade.

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  37. Old, Reliable Jim rolls in a long, long birdie putt on the par-3 third, and he has joined Chappel in the fourth-place tie at 6-under.

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  38. OK, I think my Tiger-fanboy creds are firmly established, and I do appreciate TNT's ongoing interest in Tiger, even though he's not in contention.

    But I am surprised at just how Tiger-centric this afternoon's coverage is. It's unlikely he's going to even make the cut. Meanwhile, Furyk just sunk his second-straight birdie to get to 7-under and T2. We got only a very short clip of that on tape delay.

    And now we're back to watching Tiger gingerly creep up a hill toward the green on No. 6. He'll have a lengthy putt for par.

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  39. And now Tiger has missed from a few feet for bogey. He's now 6-over for the tournament, and I am muting TNT and seeing what alternatives the PGA.com coverage might offer.

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  40. My main man from West Chester, Jim Furyk, is now 3-under for the day and 8-under for the tournament after birdieing No. 7. He's alone in second place and one stroke behind young Rory McIlroy.

    Jim Furyk graduated from Manheim Township High School 1988, where he played for the Blue Streak basketball team, in addition to winning a Pennsylvania state golf championship. He would've been a sophomore when I was a senior at Heath, so I'm going to start referring to Old, Reliable Jim as "Sophomore Jim Furyk."

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  41. 1. Rory McIlroy -9 (18 finished today)
    T2. Sophomore Jim Furyk -8 (7)
    T2. Lee Westwood -8 (10)
    T4. Jason Day -7 (9)
    T4. Ryan Palmer -7 (18)
    6. Rickie Fowler -6 (11)

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  42. Brian Norman and Tiger Woods are both now 7-over for the tournament.

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  43. Westwood takes bogey on the par-4 13th, and he's back to 6-under and T5. Sophomore Jim Furyk stands alone, a stroke off Rors.

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  44. Through two rounds:

    1. Rory McIlroy, 25 years old, of Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland, 9-under
    T2. Jason Day, 26, Beaudesert, Australia, -8
    T2. Jim Furyk, 44, West Chester, Pa., -8
    T4. Rickie Fowler, 25, Murrieta, Calif., -7
    T4. Ryan Palmer, 37, Amarillo, Texas, -7
    T4. Mikko Ilonen, 34, Lahti, Finland, -7
    T7. Sophomore Phil Mickelson, 44, San Diego, Calif., -6
    T7. Bernd Wiesberger, 28, Vienna, Austria, -6

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  45. Phil is a 1988 graduate of University of San Diego High School. He and Old, Reliable Jim are in quite a duel for the Class of '88 championship.

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  46. I'm pretty sure that Kenny Perry, ex of the Lone Oak High Purple Flash, has the Class of '78 locked down. He's 1-under and tied for 38th.

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  47. J.B. Holmes, Taylor County High Cardinals Class of '01, is 2-under.

    Also a Taylor County Cardinal: The Gem!

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  48. Justin Rose, winner of the 2013 U.S. Open, has soared 37 spots up the leaderboard this morning with four birdies and three pars over the first seven holes of his third round. He is now 4-under for the tournament and tied for 16th. This could get interesting because lots of rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast for the Middletown/Simpsonville area this afternoon, around the time the leaders will be about midway through their front nines.

    Kenny Perry tees off in about 20 minutes.

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  49. For the third straight day, Kenny Perry comes out and birdies the opening hole of his round.

    A mystery contributor emailed me privately yesterday that the Guardian remarked, "The most popular man out on the course right now is surely Kenny Perry."

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  50. OK, new hourly forecast for 40245 stipulates 0-percent chance of precipitation. Lots of low scores so far today. Should be lots more coming with tiptop of leaderboard nearing tee time.

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