April 6th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

Chef Schwartzel. It has a ring to it. Alas, defending Masters champion Charl Schwartzel will not be cooking his own Champions Dinner tonight at Augusta National Golf Club.

The Champions Dinner takes place the Tuesday evening of Masters week each year at Augusta, with the defending champion not only selecting the menu, but also paying for the dinner. All Masters champs who are able and willing show up to enjoy the food, the camaraderie and the stories.

Schwartzel’s menu consists of a braai (sometimes spelled braii). Think grilled meats, some exotic. A South African barbecue.

In the photo above, Schwartzel is pictured in mid-March “training” for the meal – because he hoped to cook it himself as the grillmaster. Schwartzel’s plan – his request to Augusta National – was to set up a grill under the large tree behind the Augusta National clubhouse and to cook the braai himself.

After mulling over the request for a while, Augusta’s poobahs eventually said no to Schwartzel. The defending champ’s meal will be cooked in the kitchen of the club’s grillroom.

There have been outside chefs in the past allowed to cook the Champions Dinner, but the key to such an arrangement appears to be the Augusta Naional staff chef’s own comfort level with the menu. For example, Vijay Singh brought in an outside chef to prepare a Thai meal. Presumably, the Augusta cooks had little experience preparing Thai, so Singh’s request was granted.

But a barbecue? Fire up the grill and listen to those steaks sizzle. I’m sure Schwartzel’s braai will be one of the more popular Champions Dinner menus, even though he’s not cooking it himself.

See also:
• Menus at previous Champions Dinners
• What is the origin of the Champions Dinner?
• More on The Masters

(Photo: David Cannon / Getty Images)

Schwartzel Serves Up Champions Dinner, But Not As Chef originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 08:59:32.

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April 6th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

Sun Young Yoo won the 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship. But this tournament will forever be remembered as the one I.K. Kim lost.

Kim was on the 72nd green with a 1-stroke edge over the leader in the clubhouse, a 2-stroke lead over the only player still on the course who could match her. And she had a birdie putt. Kim almost made that birdie putt, which would have clinched it; the ball stopped no more than 12 inches past the cup.

A 1-foot (at most) par putt. A 1-footer for the win. And Kim missed. The ball horseshoed around the back edge of the cup and stayed out. Shocking.

That dropped Kim to 9-under, into a tie with Yoo. When Yani Tseng – who struggled to a final-round 73, blowing her chance at major No. 6 – missed a birdie putt a few minutes later, Yoo and a clearly devastated Kim returned to the No. 18 tee for the playoff.

Kim nearly hit her tee shot in the water, then left a birdie attempt well short. Yoo calmly rolled in her own birdie putt for the title and was shortly jumping into Poppy’s Pond in celebration.

One can only imagine the feelings of I.K. Kim, who is known as one of the nicest players, one of most generous players on the LPGA (she once gave her entire winner’s check to charity), and one of the most talented.

How did she miss that putt? It’s inexplicable. It didn’t even look like a choke. She wasn’t rushed, but she also wasn’t fidgety. There was no sign of stress. Kim nearly made the birdie, walked over to the tap-in, marked it, lined it up …

… And wound up adding her name to those of Doug Sanders, Scott Hoch, et.al.: Golfers who missed short putts that would have won them majors.

Sanders’ missed a 2 1/2-footer on the 72nd green that would have won him the 1970 British Open. Instead, he lost an 18-hole playoff the next day to Jack Nicklaus. Hoch missed a 2-footer on the first playoff hole against Nick Faldo that would have won him the 1989 Masters. Faldo won it on the next hole.

But even all-time greats sometimes blow tournaments on tiny putts. At the 1947 U.S. Open, Sam Snead missed a 2 1/2-footer to keep a playoff going. At the 1946 Masters, Ben Hogan’s 2-footer to force a playoff didn’t even touch the cup.

Here’s hoping that I.K. Kim is resilient enough, mentally strong enough, to deal with such a heartbreaking loss.

The entire final day at the 2012 KNC was weird. Tseng blew it; Karin Sjodin and Hee Kyung Seo both had 3-stroke leads at different points and blew it. Kim charged ahead with late birdies at 16 and 17, only for the disaster on 18 to occur. Leaving Yoo as the survivor.

See also:
List of Kraft Nabisco Championship winners

Shocking Ending to 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, April 1st, 2012 at 21:54:43.

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April 6th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

The Green Jacket is one of the most famous “trophies” in golf, presented every year to the winner of The Masters. But it’s not a traditional trophy, is it? What about a traditional trophy – a golden or silver or crystal construction that the winner of a tournament holds aloft? Does The Masters have one of those? Yes, it’s just not nearly as well-known as the Green Jacket.

The Masters actually presents multiple trophies, plus medals and other awards every year. Check out The Masters trophy, plus trophies for low amateur and Par-3 winners, and the rest of the Masters awards.

See also:
Masters FAQ

Trophies, Medals and Awards at The Masters originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, April 1st, 2012 at 09:40:50.

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April 6th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

The start of The Masters is one week away. Everyone is excitedly looking ahead, but we also look back: View the list of Masters champions.

That page is more than just a list, however. From that page, you can also view the final scores and read recaps of every Masters ever played, back to the first one in 1934. Check out the Masters winners.

See also:
Best players never to win The Masters
Who was the first 4-time winner of The Masters?

Winners, Scores and Recaps of Every Masters originally appeared on About.com Golf on Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at 18:35:22.

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March 27th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

There’s a new belly putter coming to retail outlets in May, and this one has a shaft that the golfer can easily make longer or shorter. Yes, an adjustable-length belly putter. It’s the Ping Nome 405. Telescoping shafts have been around for a long time, but they have mostly been just a novelty. But over the past few years, adjustability has become a major selling point in clubs of all kind. Check out Ping’s adjustable-length belly putter.

See also:

• Belly putter fitting method
• Review: Cleveland Classic driver

Ping’s Adjustable-Length Belly Putter originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 17:17:30.

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March 27th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

At the conclusion of the first major of the LPGA season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the winner will take a flying leap into the waters next to the 18th green. But why?

The tradition of the Champion’s Leap goes back to 1988. Read our Champion’s Leap FAQ to learn which golfer jumped first, and why it has become a tradition at the KNC.

And take a look at our “Ladies of the Lake” photo gallery to see all the recent winners making the jump.

The Champion’s Leap at Kraft Nabisco originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 12:28:43.

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March 27th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

The Shell Houston Open is the final tuneup on the PGA Tour prior to The Masters.

The defending champion is Phil Mickelson, and you can bet Tiger Woods’ win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational is motivation for Mickelson to do something big this week heading into The Masters.

Mickelson won last year’s Houston Open with a score of 20-under 268. That was Lefty’s only PGA Tour victory in 2011, and he didn’t win again until this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February. Mickelson lost in a playoff the following week, and has placed 43rd and 24th in his two other tournament appearances since winning at Pebble.

Mickelson tops a quality field in Houston that also includes Lee Westwood, Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan, Charl Schwartzel, Darren Clarke, Keegan Bradley and Padraig Harrington. Graeme McDowell, runner-up to Woods at the Palmer last week, is playing. And so is Ernie Els, coming off a fourth-place finish at the Palmer and needing to win to get into The Masters field. Paul Casey, Anthony Kim and Fred Couples are also in the Houston Open field.

The European Tour plays the Sicilian Open this week, headlined by Matteo Manassero (John Daly is also in Sicily).

And there’s a major this week – the Kraft Nabisco Championship on the LPGA Tour. But we’ll have more on the Kraft during the week ahead.

See our Shell Houston Open tournament page for the list of past champions plus more about the tourney.

This Week: Shell Houston Open originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 11:54:49.

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March 27th, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

Tiger Woods is back in the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour. Finally.

Woods won the 2012 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday (view photos), pulling away from runner-up Graeme McDowell for a 5-stroke victory. It is Woods’ first PGA Tour win – first win on any tour – in 2 1/2 years.

Woods’ most recent PGA Tour victory entering the week was the 2009 BMW Championship; his last win on any tour was the 2009 Australian Masters; his last victory anywhere was the 2011 Chevron World Challenge, an unofficial event.

The victory also comes only two weeks after Woods withdrew from the WGC Cadillac Championship with soreness in his previously injured left Achilles tendon. That problem obviously didn’t crop up again at the Palmer, where he looked like the Tiger of old: hitting great shots, making important putts. No question Woods had his best putting week in a very long time.

Is Woods about to dominate again? It sure looked like it at the Palmer – but how many wins Woods manages from this point forward will probably be determined as much by his health as his swing.

The fact that Woods won again after such a long drought is the major storyline, obviously. But the win was significant for Tiger in other ways. Such as:

• It was his 72nd career victory. That puts him one way away from tying Jack Nicklaus on the all-time PGA Tour wins list.
• It was his seventh victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Needless to say, that’s the most victories by anyone in the history of the Palmer. Only Sam Snead has won one tournament more times (Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times). But Woods also has seven wins in a second event, the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

What do you think: Will Woods be back to his dominant ways moving forward? Or will he have to win again before you’ll be convinced? Masters week is only one week away now.

See also:
Tiger Woods’ career wins
Golfers with most wins on PGA Tour
Golfers with most wins in the same tournament

Tiger Woods a Winner Again on PGA Tour originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, March 25th, 2012 at 19:07:32.

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March 23rd, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

Arnold Palmer doesn’t like long putters, and specifically believes anchoring a club against the body is wrong. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t give a long putter a try if he was still on tour trying to earn paychecks!

Palmer gave an interesting reply to a question about long putters on Tuesday during a Q&A with the media prior to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Here’s the transcript of the exchange (via asapsports.com):

Q. I think it’s pretty well known that you have hundreds, if not thousands of putters in your garage and everything. I’m wondering, have you ever‑‑ how often have you tinkered with a belly or a long putter and how close have you ever come to putting one in play? And what are your general thoughts about those types of putters?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, you’re opening up a big subject there. Of course, I don’t think there’s ever been a club made that I know of that has not been in my bag. (Laughter) May not stay long, and the long putter is one of them. I’m not a fan of long putters.

I suppose that if I were playing, and a long putter, being totally legal, and would help my game, I might use it. But I’m opposed to it personally. I just think that there shouldn’t be a place in the game for anchoring a club against the body, which is what the long putter does.

So, technically, and principally, I am against it. But would I use it if it were going to enhance my game in the competition? I might.

As usual, Palmer is on point. He doesn’t like the long putter and says “there shouldn’t be a place in the game” for anchoring, but there’s nothing wrong with any player taking advantage of clubs that are, under current rules, perfectly legal.

We sometimes see tour pros accused of hypocrisy if they once criticized long putters or belly putters, only to, later on, start using them. But there’s no hypocrisy there, as Palmer very succinctly demonstrates. It’s possible to a) play golf abiding by the rules as they are currently written; while also b) favoring changes to those rules. Most of us do it all the time, because we all have a rule or two that we believe should be changed or done away with. Yet, we abide by that rule when we play golf.

So next time you hear a pro golfer accused of hypocrisy after switching to a long or belly putter when they previously have said they favor banning such clubs, remember: they aren’t hypocrites. They are just playing golf under the rules as they currently exist.

Palmer: ‘I Am Against’ the Long Putter originally appeared on About.com Golf on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 at 13:15:04.

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March 21st, 2012 by Phil Reich PGA Golf Art

Beginning with the 2014 season, the PGA Tour will:

• No longer award PGA Tour membership through Q-School;
• Award PGA Tour membership only through Nationwide Tour tournaments;
• And change its season from a calendar year to an October-through-September schedule.

Q-School isn’t dead, but players going through the Qualifying Tournament will be competing for spots on the Nationwide Tour, not the PGA Tour.

So how does a golfer earn his PGA Tour card once the changes take effect? The Nationwide Tour season will conclude with a 3-tournament series open to the Top 75 players on the Nationwide Tour money list, plus the golfers who finished Nos. 126-200 on the PGA Tour money list (plus some non-members who meet yet-to-be-determined eligibility requirements). Fifty golfers will emerge from that series with their PGA Tour cards for the following season.

And that “following season” will follow quickly, because the 2014 PGA Tour season will begin in October of 2013. What used to be the “Fall Series” portion of the PGA Tour schedule will now be the season-opening tournaments, awarding FedEx Cup points on a scale yet to be determined.

After a 6-week break from mid-November through December, the 2014 season will start up again in January 2014 with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, and continue until its conclusion at the Tour Championship in September.

Oh, and by the way: The Nationwide Tour won’t be called “Nationwide Tour” when these changes take effect; insurance company Nationwide’s sponsorship ends following the 2013 season.

The tours, they are a’changin’. You can read the full details in this PGATour.com article.

What’s your opinion of the changes?

PGA Tour Announces Big Changes to Qualification, Schedule originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 18:26:49.

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