Only 57 players of the field of 114 were able to finish the round in Forth Worth yesterday. Scores were already low and the wet conditions will take some of the edge out of Colonial. Colonial greens are among the smallest on tour meaning that fast conditions leads to long misses that are accentuated in the dry. Now the PGA pros will be shooting darts at these greens with the softness that will follow the rain. Too bad since it means we may be looking another list of complaints about needing to make the courses the pros play on harder. Yet no one complained after the rain at Quail Hollow that produced birdies and great playing by some of the best players on the tour. Or that the Masters was boring until they softened up the greens for Sunday.

Let the golf courses be the golf courses and let the pros be the pros and beat the golf courses when the conditions allow.

Here are some pictures provided by Titleist of the goodies available to the average touring pro who uses their equipment. Many wouldn’t that be fun!

So much for hearing that Michele Wie was going to restrict her performances to the LPGA tour for a while. While I know there is no “appearance money” in US tournaments, I would bet that Wie receives some significant financail benefits from one of her sponsors for palying. This is old news though, since she is no longer 16 years old. Let her dominate the LPGA tour, which she can, and then come back at the ripe old age of 24 and try it then. She would be both physically and mentally stronger and able to play the game against the big bad old boys.

From  Golf.com:

“Michelle Wie accepted a sponsor’s exemption Tuesday to play in the John Deere Classic for the third straight year, continuing her effort to make the cut in a men’s event.

Wie, who is to graduate from high school next week, has not made the cut in six starts on the PGA Tour. A year ago at the John Deere Classic, she opened with a 77 and withdrew in the middle of the second round with heat exhaustion.

The John Deere Classic will be played July 12-15 at TPC Deere Run.

“She is a wonderful talent who attracts a tremendous amount of interest among traditional and nontraditional golf fans, which helps broaden the game’s appeal, especially among young people,” tournament director Clair Peterson said.”

Colonial is by far and away my favorite course in Texas. It is too bad that even though the pros unanimously praise the layout and the tradition of the course, that not too many of them play here. Regardless, the winner will be a great player because that is who wins at Colonial.

From SI:

“Sabbatini didn’t skip Hogan’s Alley, where the course itself is one of the biggest parts of the tradition. He has already withdrawn from next week’s Memorial, another tournament he has always enjoyed, but knows he needs a breather before the U.S. Open next month.

But a lot of other top players are skipping the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, which begins Thursday.

Only two players in the Colonial field are higher in the world ranking than 16th-ranked Sabbatini. They are Jim Furyk, now third after Phil Mickelson took over the No. 2 spot last week, and No. 14 Trevor Immelman.

Mickelson and Sergio Garcia are among former Colonial winners not playing, but defending champion Tim Herron is back, along with two-time winners Kenny Perry and Corey Pavin.

Furyk said Colonial is “probably my favorite course to play and probably my favorite tournament” even though he has only four top-10 finishes in 11 Colonial appearances.

While length is a premium at so many modern-day layouts, the old-style par-70, 7,054-yard tree-lined Colonial course is pretty much the same as it was when Ben Hogan won there five times from 1946-59.”

For the entire article, click here.

Great article in Sports Inllustrated on the “fixes” Butch Harmon brought to his man Phil Mickelson. I’ll summarize them here, but to read the entire article, click here.

Number 1

Square left foot
Check out Mickelson’s alignment—both feet are square to his target line. Photos of him at last year’s U.S. Open show Phil with an open stance, and he’d been known to flare open his back foot, a move that decreased the resistance in his left hip and allowed him to take the club back farther and with more hip rotation.

Number 2

Weight moved back
This one’s a bit more subtle, but dramatic in its consequences nonetheless. Our sources indicate that Harmon has moved Phil’s weight from his toes slightly back to the balls of his feet at address. The whirling flourish of hips, legs and arms seen in previous Mickelson swings has been replaced by a more stable turn through the ball with more of his spikes in contact with the ground.

Number 3

Shorter backswing, tighter coil
The most apparent change in Lefty’s technique is his abbreviated backswing—well, abbreviated for him. A backswing that once went way past parallel now stops short of full.

I liked this picture the best and I think it makes everything else work.

Mancil Davis Podcast- Part Two

Part Two: I interviewed Mancil Davis, The King of Aces for Hole-in-OneNews.com. This was shortly before Mancil recorded his 51st hole-in-one. Mancil talks about how he got started and most importantly, how he goes about getting hole-in-ones. Enjoy!

To hear the podcast, click here:

http://eaccountable.com/hio/mancil_davis_041307-002.mp3

“And not one person answered, “The hole.” The typical response was, “The grain.” or “I’m trying to miss the bunker.” or “I’m trying to get it over the water.” But most of them said, “The grain.” or “I’m just going for the center.” It was amazing that not one person said, “I’m trying to make it.” So I do believe there is something to it.

Ben Hogan. This is an incredible story. Ben Hogan, and I have a hard time saying this, Mr. Hogan and always will be. I had the honor of meeting him several times throughout my career and I was actually the director of golf at the only golf course Mr. Hogan ever designed right there in the Dallas area, the Rowan Oak and the Trophy Club but I had been told by every source out there that Ben Hogan had never made a hole-in-one. And I would laugh and say, arguably, at that time the greatest ball striker in the world never made one and at the time I had 35 or 36 or whatever. I said, “It doesn’t seem fair or right.”

Well, I found out that just before he died, about two years before he died, Golf Digest was doing an article again on golfers who made holes-in-one and somebody elected to double check the Hogan story. And he said, “That’s not true.” He said, “I’ve had two.” And what followed was a comment that I thought was incredible. He didn’t say, “I might have had more.” or “I should have had more.” and “Maybe I would…” He said, “I would have had more holes-in-one but I rarely aimed at the flag. I aimed at a position on the green affording the best birdie opportunity.” 

Thank God, Mr. Hogan was a practical soul or he would have the record. [Laughter] But what a great story. Maybe he would have had more and he was very sincere with it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Golf Channel provided a great AP write up of the Tiger Woods-Michael Jordan Pro Am meeting at the Wachovia. Really funny and pointed in how good friends these two superstars have become. I think there are a lot of people who would agree with me, that coverage of 18 holes of a Pro Am with these two guys would really be wonderful theater. Great job Golf Channel, not only in the television coverage but also providing the writing.

Tiger and MJ Thrill Fans, Needle Each Other

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The gallery stood a dozen rows deep and spilled down both sides of the fairway, the kind of scene Tiger Woods is used to seeing on the weekend at a major championship. This was only a pro-am round Wednesday at the Wachovia Championship.

And for once, Woods felt part of the crowd.

This is what happens when two of the most celebrated icons in sports are together on the golf course in a public event for the first time. Woods, owner of 12 majors, gladly shared the stage at Quail Hollow with Michael Jordan, owner of six NBA titles and five MVPs.

“This is great,” Woods said as he waited on the 10th tee. “No one knows I’m here.”

That much was clear when he walked out of the clubhouse toward the practice range and some three dozen people didn’t even realize he was there because their eyes trained on Jordan pulling his car up to the valet.

  

For more, click here.

Mancil Davis Podcast- Part One

I interviewed Mancil Davis, The King of Aces for Hole-in-OneNews.com. This was shortly before Mancil recorded his 51st hole-in-one. Mancil talks about how he got started and most importantly, how he goes about getting hole-in-ones. Enjoy!

http://eaccountable.com/hio/mancil_davis_041307-001.mp3

For the transcription of the interview, please read below: 

Durk Price: Here I am. This is Durk Price, the editor of Hole-in-One News and, of course, what would be a better way to do our first podcast on Hole-in-One News than to have the all-time, record holder in number of hole-in-ones, Mancil Davis. And so, Mancil we are extremely excited to have you here at Hole-in-One News

Mancil Davis: Well, first of all, I’m excited to be here. It’s not the greatest of days here at the Woodlands where I live. I am not hitting golf balls which I desperately need to do. [Laughter] But let me actually clarify one thing. I actually have the PGA or Professional World record version. I don’t know all of the details.

Golf Digest recognizes my record but there is an amateur by the name of Norman Manly out in Long Beach, California. I don’t know if Mr. Manly is still alive. I know he would be well up in years if he is. I hope he is. I hope he is out playing. He actually has 57 or 58 and I don’t know all of the details very bluntly but at one point Gold Digest decided to just avoid any confusion, they elected the list minus the professional or PGA world record. So, I want to give Mr. Manly his due. 

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