Saturday, July 4, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Sony Open in Hawaii opened with a lot of fun and fanfare with the celebrities in town for the Pro Am and the Junior Challenge. The weather was perfect. Light winds blowing, a little rain but mostly sun, the conditions were perfect for the televised broadcast of 4 days in paradise.
But our local boys weren't thinking about the beautiful broadcast conditions viewed around the world. They were watching the putts that wouldn't drop. Our Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year found himself finishing the first round with an 81 and sitting at the bottom of the leaderboard. But with the class and poise only the best possess, Kevin Hayashi came back on Friday and parred the course. But that was his last round at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii.
Dean Wilson, one of our PGA Tour players, also watched those putts stop short or lip out and didn't make the cut.
Hawaii's top amateur, 15-year-old Alex Ching, had two good rounds but he also didn't make the cut.
Tadd Fujikawa, who turned 17 the week of the Sony Open, fell short of making the cut. That got all of the golf writers and commentators asking if Fujikawa had made a mistake turning professional at such a young age. They were most concerned about how his confidence would be affected repeatedly missing the cut. Fujikawa says he doesn't regret his decision.
This is the arena he needs to be in to challenge himself and to improve his game. He is working on his putting, changing his putting grip. And that led to more speculation about why such a young player would need to start restructuring his game.
Frankly we are all a work in progress and checking out different techniques is part of perfecting ones game, although “golf isn't a game of perfect”!
Parker McLachlin seems to excel in the crunch moments. Case in point: McLachlin had to go to Q school to earn his full PGA Tour card after failing to improve his status in the regular season.
He finished in 11th place at Q School, which means he gets to play all of the regular PGA Tour events.
McLachlin was also the only Hawaii player to make the cut – by a hair.
| Audio Clip (.swf) |
| Listen to Parker McLachlin talk about his 3rd round 65 on Saturday |
McLachlin made the cut into the Sony Open weekend play by one shot, one shot he knew he had to drop.
Fortunately he had read THE memo that went out to the Tour members over the summer.
THE MEMO came from the PGA Tour headquarters. The PGA Tour informed its members there was a new rule about the number of players allowed into weekend play, regardless of the cut number.
The PGA Tour's policy board approved a change. The top 70 players and ties will still make the tournament cut unless the weekend field exceeds 78 players. In that scenario, the cut would be made to the number closest to 70 players.
So, let's say the cut is even, but there are 15 players who tied with a score of 71, even par for the course they are playing, and that puts the number of qualified players over 70. Those 15 players won't get to play. They will be paid last place money and given a few Fed Ex Cup points but no chance to improve their position during weekend play cause even though they made the cut, there are too many players to make the tournament conditions comfortable.
That's what happened at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Eighty-seven players made the Sony Open cut at even-par 140, but only 69 qualified for the weekend. And since the rule went into effect last year but wasn’t ever needed, this caught a lot of players by surprise.
If you didn't read the memo, you were not only aware of how critical your Friday score was – you were also caught outside the ropes. John Daly was one of the players who had not read the memo. He was shocked at being locked out. Publicly he called the rule "stupid".
McLachlin said he read the memo and he knew how important the birdies were going into the final holes!
Stewart Cink talked to Reuters at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic about the new rule he and his fellow policy board members helped put in place.
"It's frustrating to me knowing that I put in a lot of time personally into decision making with the policy board. It's also frustrating for Joe Ogilvie and Brad Faxon and David Toms, and also our independent directors," the 34-year-old American added, referring to his colleagues on the Tour's policy board.
"We put a lot time into these decisions, there's a lot of study that goes on and then when something comes around, a lot of players blow the whistle and say: 'Hey, we didn't know.' "Well I don't know what else we can do. We tried to notify everybody in at least three or four different ways, and that includes managers and spouses. "Somebody needs to get the message to these players of the changes that are going on on their tour. It is their tour. It is very frustrating." Now there is a mandatory meeting at Torrey Pines where undoubtedly we’ll be hearing more about the new “cut” number.
Yea but who won!?!
It was K.J. Choi from wire to wire and he did it the same weekend the Korean folks in Hawaii were celebrating their arrival in the Hawaiian Islands. He says no one told him about that celebration before the event and he’s glad they didn’t!
| Audio Clip (.swf) |
| Click here to hear how tough the final round was playing at a very windy Waialae Country Club |
| Audio Clip (.swf) |
| Click here to listen to “The Golf Club” guests Bob Bubka and Kapalua’s Gary Planos talk about the renovation and expansion at Kapalua including the Kapalua LPGA Classic |
The weather was picture perfect Saturday and Sunday at the season opening Mercedes-Benz Championship at the beautiful Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui. It was not like that heading into the weekend. The play was wet and windy and it took a lot of fortitude on the part of the people who were working the event and the volunteers who found themselves at times ankle deep in mud!
Daniel Chopra of Sweden hits from the fairway down to the 17th green of the Plantation Course during the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship golf tournament in Kapalua, Hawaii, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008. Chopra won the tournament after defeating Steve Stricker on their fourth playoff hole. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
But it was a beautiful Sunday for Swede Daniel Chopra. It was in the fading light of a beautiful sunset on the fourth playoff hole that Chopra finally dropped the putt to beat Steve Stricker. Chopra birdied the fourth extra hole at to earn the winner's check for $1.1 million and his second Tour title.
Both players missed birdie opportunities from around six feet at the first playoff hole before Chopra sealed victory with a two-putt birdie at the par-five ninth, his eagle attempt having come to rest on the edge of the cup.
It was the seventh playoff in the last 14 years at the event that brings together the title-holders from the previous Tour season.
Chopra was very happy. "It was unbelievable. What a great round I played today. I kept making birdies and I tried to avoid looking up at the board. I looked a couple of times and I saw I had the lead and then I looked up again and all of a sudden Stricker kept making them (birdies).
Daniel Chopra, of Sweden, left, drops to his knees after missing a putt on the second playoff hole as Steve Stricker, right, walks to line up his putt at the Plantation Course during the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship golf tournament in Kapalua, Hawaii, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008. Chopra defeated Stricker on their fourth playoff hole. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Chopra, who had narrowly missed a 13-footer to seal victory at the 72nd hole, fell agonizingly short with a 24-footer for birdie on the second extra hole.
"All those putts in the playoff and in regulation, I thought I hit superb strokes. Every single one of them I hit exactly the way I wanted and I felt like they were going in the hole and then I thought maybe it wasn't meant to be.
Chopra started the day by holing a 45-foot birdie on the par-three second and picked up more to reach the turn in four-under 32. He had another awesome 30 footer on the par-three 11th and to see the putts come so close in the playoff, we all were wondering if it just wasn’t meant to be!
| Audio Clip (.swf) |
| Click here to listen to Daniel Chopra on his Mercedes Benz win and fulfillment of a dream |
KIMBERLY KIM UPDATE
Kimberly Kim, from Pahoa on the Big Island but going to school in Arizona to be closer to the competition locations, is getting a sponsor invite to the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year. She has also been named a member of this years Curtis Cup team and she is the No. 1 Junior Golfer in the current Golfweek magazine rankings.
“CHIC IS IN AT KAPALUA’S PRO SHOP”
This has been on ongoing topic and complaint on my radio golf show. Over the past ten years I've often lamented the lack of style on the LPGA Tour. The women players didn't "dress up" to their position and status as top female athletes in the world. And if not top athletes, than at least the top golfers! The PGA Tour players were wearing beautiful fabrics and looked sharp. The only pride in style on the LPGA Tour seemed to be on the Korean players.
Slowly that has been changing. The women are dressing for TV and expressing their own sense of fashion and style. Now I can't find some of the great cuts I've been seeing!
I don't mind wearing mini versions of the men's basic golf shirt but if I have the option, I'm going to look for something that reflects my personality. This is what I found in the pro shop at Kapalua!
ANOTHER 16 YEAR OLD TURNS PRO – HAWAII BOUND
The Japanese media is treating the latest teenage sensation in the world of golf as the answer to Tiger Woods and the force that’ll boost the Japan PGA Tour to new heights.
The headlines were amazing. “Bring on Tiger!” shouted Nikkan Sports and "Little Ryo wants Woods!" declared the Sankei Sports daily, splashing pictures of a grinning Ishikawa across their pages.
Ishikawa said “It’s a dream come true. I want to play against Tiger and win the U.S. Masters.”
Ishikawa promised his schoolteachers he would not neglect his studies after making a decision that could net him close to $10 million over the next five years.
The Pearl Open at the Pearl County Club begins on February 8th and Ishikawa will be in the field. Word is that there will be a lot of coverage from the Japanese press corps. It’s a shame Tadd Fujikawa will be at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and not here to defend his title!
HONORING EARL WOODS AT THE TIGER WOODS CENTER
Golf player Tiger Woods, left, smiles as he stands with his daughter Sam, center, and mother Kultida, next to a bronze statue bearing the likeness of Tiger with his late father Earl Woods, during its unveiling inside the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, Jan. 21, 2008.
MASTERCARD CHAMPIONSHIP AT HU’ALALAI
Some “rookie” Champions Tour players play a couple of events outside the schedule but Fred Funk says he’s splitting the year between the PGA and Champions tours.
Funk won the Champions Tour’s season-opening MasterCard Championship on Sunday, with birdies on the final two holes for a 7-under 65 and a two-stroke victory over Allen Doyle. The 51-year-old Funk, coming off a 10th-place tie last week in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open, finished with a 21-under 195 total for his third Champions Tour victory in 14 starts and his second title in Hawaii in two years.
Funk screamed “Yes!” and raised his club in the air after he chipped in from 20 feet on No. 17. He then holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 54th hole, after hitting a 6-iron shot out of the bunker from 149 yards.
“What are you going to do?” said Doyle, who blew a four-stroke lead with 11 holes to play and had a 68. “The chip on 17. The great sand shot on 18. That’s the way it goes.” Plus Funk has been playing in the Islands for week! Doyle says, “I’m sure that helps. He was probably coming here, feeling very good about his game.”
After winning the Turtle Bay Championship last year and now the MasterCard Championship this year, Funk says “We’ve got to stay in Hawaii,” said Funk, who opened the season tying for 25th in the Mercedes-Benz Championship and tying for 10th at Waialae on the PGA Tour.
Jay Haas, seeking a record third straight money title and player of the year award, closed with a 67 to tie for third with Bernard Langer at 17 under and a 65 on his final day.
You should check out “The Golf Club” January 19th show at http://www.radiogolfclub.com/. I had a great time talking with Langer for about 20 minutes starting an hour into the show. Langer has a very interesting history in the game, including the fact that he got hooked on golf while caddying. He started caddying at the age of 8!
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP OF GOLF
Dorothy Delasin, who plays on the LPGA Tour for the Turtle Bay Resort, and Jennifer Rosales won the Women’s World Cup of Golf in Johannesburg, South Africa.
SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA - JANUARY 20: Dorothy Delasin of The Philippines celebrates holing a birdie putt on the 17th green during the final round of the Women's World Cup of Golf at The Gary Player Country Club on January 20, 2008 in Sun City, South Africa. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The victory is sweet for Delasin and for Rosales, who is free from pain and injury for the first time in four years.
She plans to play in 29 tournaments this year, and the first one will be right here in Hawaii with Delasin at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, the first full field event of the LPGA Tour.
Rosales says the World Cup victory was a team effort, “Dorothy and I were trying to make things happen early on. We were very tight, but on the back nine, we relaxed a little and we started to play well," Rosales said. Four birdies did the trick.
In the last two years, Rosales struggled with a new swing and wrist injury that limited her participation. "I tried to be mechanical, but it did not work for me. I’m more of a ‘feel’ player. With the help of coach
Bong (Lopez), I’m slowly getting back into the groove," she said. Rosales said her wrist is now working 90 percent after undergoing therapy to repair a tear ligament.
"It’s hard to play well when you’re thinking too much on what will happen to your wrist every time you hit the ball," she said. Rosales said her confidence is slowly coming back and she partly credits it to yoga. Since coming back into the country late November, Rosales has been taking yoga lessons every other day. "Yoga gave me peace of mind and helped me to relax," she said.
This is what I call wildlife on the course!
A baboon takes a walk while Japan's Miki Saiki plays a shot on the fist fairway hole on the third and last day of the Women's World Cup of Golf 20 January 2008 in Sun City. South Korea and The Philippines share the lead on 11-under-par 133 going into Sunday's final round. (Photo by ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images)
REMEMBER PRO TOUR HAWAII?
It's hard to believe but it's true. Gregg V. Wood is a free man. He has been since December 11th when the 9th Circuit Court ruled a crucial piece of evidence in the case against Wood needed to thrown out and the conviction overturned.
The case is all about the attempt to create a golf mini tour in Hawaii. It was called Pro Tour Hawaii. Pro Tour creators Sandy and Tina Mohr went all out in their attempt to make it top drawer.
They hired former CBS golf commentator Ben Wright to be the voice of Pro Tour and the presenter of the television coverage. They hired award winning radio producer and writer Michael Patrick Shiels to be the PR and Marketing director. Both men are very successful and respected in the world of golf. Their names and others, many young men threw their names onto the leaderboard and $10 thousand dollars of their hard earned or borrowed money.
All was going well. The first and second events went off without a hitch. The checks were being cashed and the excitement was mounting as the Tour was moving from the Big Island to Maui and then Oahu.
By the second event, the cracks in the foundation of this fledgling enterprise turned into disaster. The checks were bouncing. The promises were being broken. The money had disappeared.
Gregg V. Wood was convicted in a scheme to Pro Tour Hawaii out of more than $60,000. But he's now been released from prison and won't have to repay any of the money, following a federal court ruling.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the wire transfer of money was improperly used as evidence against Wood in the case that involved Sanford and Tina Mohr and their golf tournament business, Pro Tour Hawaii Inc.
The court ruled, "There is no doubt that Wood stole $5,000 of Pro Tour Hawaii's money and wired it.” But the act of wiring the money to a man on the Mainland was "in furtherance of a different scheme" and should not have been used in the Mohr case.
Without that transfer, the rest of the case dissolved and was dismissed. Wood was released from Lompoc and the order that he repay the Mohr $62,675 was dismissed.
The question many people have asked over these years and no one has answered it – where did the money go. There was a lot more money involved than the $60,000. No one has adequately answered that question and others. Not the Mohrs, their attorney, or the federal authorities who reportedly still hold much of the Pro Tour financial paperwork. This is another ugly mark on the ”entrepreneurial” spirit in Hawaii.
GOLFWEEK AND KELLY’S “LYNCH”
Kelly Tilghman apologized to Tiger Woods. The Golf Channel apologized to its viewers and anyone who heard about the remark Tilghman made. Tilghman was suspended and Golfweek magazines editor was fired.
From the beginning: During a golf tournament telecast, from Hawaii I might add, Kelly Tilghman and co anchor Nick Faldo were talking about the invincible Tiger Woods. Faldo suggested the only way to beat Woods would be for the “younger players to gang up on him” and Tilghman, laughing, added “lynch him in a back alley”.
Nothing more was said until a small newspaper reported the statement. That’s when the action started.
The Golf Channel said her comment was “hurtful and grossly inappropriate”. Woods agent said the comments were a ‘non-issue’ and that Woods and Tilghman were friends.
Next thing you know, The Golf Channel has disciplined Tilghman by suspending her for two weeks.
The Rev. Al Shelton weighed in. He was demanding her dismissal. CBS Sports.com quoted him as saying that the light tone of her remark and the friendship between Tilghman and Woods was no defense.
“This cannot just go with, ‘I apologize, me and Tiger are friends. We are in an era nowhere we see hangman’s nooses all over again. I don’t know why that would pop into her head, but it popped out of her mouth and she should be accountable.”
Later he added: "Are we at the point where you can talk about lynching and then walk away like it doesn't mean anything? Some things are beyond the pale of discussions. Some things, under any set of circumstances, you have got to be held accountable for using this kind of language."
Golfweek magazine, one of two highly respected golf editorial magazines, featured a stark image on its January 19th edition: a noose. Golfweek, saying it sought to prompt debate. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem wasn’t happy. He issued a sharp statement criticizing the magazine for not allowing the issue to die. “It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion," said Finchem after accusing Golfweek of “tabloid journalism”.
Next thing you know, Golfweek editor Dave Seanor is fired and William Kupper Jr., the president of Turnstile Publishing Co., says “We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country.”
So what was Seanor thinking when he and his colleagues decided on “Caught in a Noose…Tilghman slips up and Golf Channel can’t wriggle free” with a noose on the cover?
Seanor told USA Today, "We chose it (the noose) because it was an image we thought would draw attention to an issue we thought deserved some intelligent dialogue."
"There was a great deal of debate over it," Seanor said of the magazine's in-house deliberations, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. "But it was the news of the week, no question about it. That's what everybody in the game is talking about."
"Most people who are objecting to it -- within the golf industry -- are saying this episode was just about over," Seanor said. "I think it's indicative of how, when you bring race and golf into the same sentence, everyone recoils."
Asked if he regretted the cover, Seanor paused before answering.
"I wish we could have come up with something that made the same statement but didn't create as much negative reaction," he said. "But as this has unfolded, I'm glad there's dialogue. Let's talk about this, and the lack of diversity in golf."
"I was a little shocked by the commissioner's reaction," he said. "It was rather strong, particularly from someone who rarely comments on things on his own tour."
Seanor said he was struck by the paucity of black customers among the thousands of people at golf's largest merchandise exposition.
"Look at the executive suites at the PGA Tour, or the USGA, or the PGA of America. There are very, very few people of color there," he said. "This is a situation in golf where there needs to be more dialogue. And when you get more dialogue, people don't want to hear it, and they brush it under the rug. This is a source of a lot of pushback."
And to think all of this comes to a head in the days before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
I can’t help but believe that we are better off having a national debate and look the issue squarely in the eye. Today there are people hanging nooses in the South to scare and intimate their black neighbors. I believe as a society we need to talk openly about our faults and work on improving our relationship with our neighbors of all cultures and color.
We can’t sweep our “family secrets” under the rug and pretend they don’t exist. If golf is teaching our children such great values, as golf enthusiasts like to proclaim, then this is one topic we can’t ignore.
Of all the weeks that this debate in golf should happen, we in Hawaii have our own “family secrets” we need to talk openly about. It was the same week a man killed his ex girlfriend with the butt of a rifle. It happened just before 6 PM in the evening on a Kailua street. The people who tried to help were threatened with the gun while she lay dying on the Kailua street in front of strangers who couldn’t tried to intervene but couldn’t.
It was the same week a man threw a baby from a pedestrian overpass to the freeway below. His father said his son had a history of mental illness but couldn’t get him help.
We can’t let family violence and family health issues get swept under the carpet. We need to acknowledge that it’s happening here, and we need to do something about it. If we don’t, it’ll kill our spirit, our community.
THE ECONOMY OF GOLF
This just in: Golf is big business. Bigger than movies and other spectator sports according to The 2005 Golf Economy Report. Despite its name, prepared by SRI International of Menlo Park, Calif., the report was released Thursday at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.
Golf’s impact on the U.S. economy is valued at $75.9-billion, the report says, although that takes into account not just spending on golf clubs and public-course rounds but also $3.5-billion spent on golf-related charitable giving (think charity-golf tournaments) and nearly $15-billion spent on houses built near golf courses. It will be up to you and the economists to decide whether that’s stretching the definition of golf’s economic impact.
FUTURE OF CHAMPIONS TOUR IN HAWAII
It seems like it’s always been the MasterCard Championship at Hu’alalai. In fact it has been for the past 13 years. Champions Tour president Rick George says that long run is over. The Champions Tour is in taking with the Hu’alalai Four Seasons Resort to continue playing the event at that location but MasterCard is ending its sponsorship.
George went on to say, at a pre tournament interview teleconference, “Unfortunately, in Turtle Bay, we haven’t been as positive. We’re still looking for sponsorship. We’re in the market for the event at Turtle Bay, and it does come to a conclusion at the end of this event. Our hope is and what we’ve been working on collectively as a staff, is that we continue to start our season in Hawaii. We think it’s good for the Tour. We think the primetime television we can offer is real positive to start this Tour. So we have every intent of coming back to Hawaii for our first two events. However, you know as well as I do that you’ve got to get the right title sponsors in place to continue those.“
When does the Tour expect to know the answers to the question of the future of the Champions only event at Hu’alalai and the first full field event at Turtle Bay, if it continues at Turtle Bay? George said “Our timetable, our objective in this regard is we’d like to have our schedule for 2009 complete by June 1st”, adding “I’m in Hawaii for the next ten days to talk to different sponsors and to meet with different groups locally. Again, our intent is to be back in 2009 to start our year in Hawaii.”
For the many charities who’ve enjoyed the years of contributions through the Champions Tour events, I’m sure some would like everything to remain the same while other charities would like the events to move closer to their homes!
GOLDEN YEARS
If we aren’t in a recession yet, then the media will certainly scare us into one the way it’s been bombarding us with negative economic news. The “experts” all tell us not to panic, don’t sell your stock and just sit tight but that we should be examining our portfolio’s to make sure we are invested correctly, with stocks and bonds and whatever else you may have.
Who do you talk to without getting pitched to buy from their portfolio? I’d like to suggest Golden Years Retirement Specialists, Inc. headed up by Michelle Tucker. Tucker is a CFP, Certified Financial Planner, with 25 years experience in financial planning. Tucker is a PFS, Personal Financial Specialist, certified by the American Institute of CPA’s. She is also a Certified Public Accountant with 25 years experience in Income and Estate Tax Planning. She is also a Registered Financial Consultant with 10 years experience in the financial services industry. And she has five years experience helping clients control the costs of Long Term Care. Plus she has co-authored books on Estate Planning and Wealth Management. Tucker provides objective, independent advice and specializes in Retirement Distributions providing you with objective, independent advice. Call her at 791-1444.
FUN TIMES AHEAD
I took a tour through the Holland America Line ms Statendam stopped over in Honolulu at Pier 10 by Aloha Tower. Wow, that’s a nice ship. I’ve had a pleasure of sailing on what amounts to a 5 star hotel between Europe and Hawaii. It’s a wonderful way to see the world.
If you’d like to take a trip to the Orient with overnights in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong get in touch with Cruise Holidays Hawaii. The stops include Kobe, Nagasaki, Pusan – South Korea, and Dalian.
If I could take off from March 26 to April 9th, I’d be on board. My boss won’t let me out of the traffic center. So while you’re having the time of your life, I’ll be watching the traffic cameras for accidents and stalled vehicles! Call Lisa at 597-7447 or 1 800 495-3434. I’d love to do “The Golf Club” radio show from the bow of a ship!
You can listen to the show wherever you find yourself by logging on to http://www.radiogolfclub.com/. The show is streaming and archived there. Just click the listen button. See you Saturday, 7 AM to 8:30 AM.
In the meantime, thank you for your Mana and may you hit the sweet spot every time!
Danielle
