I've totally lost touch with the golfing world over the past few months. Need to start watching or recording a few rounds.

Looks awful when players have one glove putting.

David Duval looks really out of shape...

Not over Stricker? You're crazy. Results oriented be damned everyone knew Stricks was an awful captain's pick.

Not sure what Tiger did today as I'm typing this from work but sounds like at the very least he saved himself from total disaster and can possibly get himself right back into the mix with a solid low round tomorrow.

Yea its not like Stricker was ranked higher at the time or playing much better than Hunter leading up to the captain's picks....

Oh wait, yes he was

Villegas coming out of nowhere, making everything today.

Or that Stricker is known as a bulldog and Mahan's last Ryder Cup memory was crying on the dais.

BO

I bet his spine has been dipping up and down a lot while he's been banging Woz.

2 bogeys on the front, 2 birdies on the back for an even round. He saved a par from the muck, too.

Basically, TIGER GOAT as usual. No one else ****ing matters.

Or had won a Match Play WGC or Had a better match play record

Everyone has their criteria. I don't put as much weight into a guy playing well heading into the event as most people seem do. It's overrated. Stricker had 1 win in 2012 mad early, Hunter shipped 2 tournaments after him and those were early too. Neither one exactly lit it up in the later months June thru August with only a handful of top 10's between them.

Stricker was only picked because he's Tiger's boy. Too bad Davis Love III failed to pay attention how that pairing fared in the President's Cup leading up to the RC. It was stale and outplayed. Bad pick. Take ****ing Watney or Fowler too before I take Stricker. Youth infusion.

Precisely. Those in the know have theirs and you have yours.

Stricks finished 5th in the Deere, and then 2nd in a WGC event with a 7th the next week in the PGA. Back to back top 10's in huge events.

After the Open Championship Mahan shot his temperature every event.

And Tiger and Stricks were only paired once at the President's Cup.

BO

So you would have picked Ricky or Watney over Stricker solely bc of age?

And bc Tiger and Stricker lost the only match they played together in the 2011 Presidents that pairing is dead? Also conveniently ignoring Mahan was 1-2 in the 2010 Ryder Cup. Not that anything that happened 1 or 2 years before matters at all. I can't think of a worst predictor for how someone will play than to look at their results from a year(s) prior at a completely different venue.

Again, I will just continue taking the best players available. Stricker was the highest ranked American not on the team, he's 100% getting picked and Mahan should have been picked too.

Is it just me that feels Jack is a mediocre course designer? aren't holes 15 and 17 basically the same hole?

even money Camillo shoots +2 or higher tomorrow.

Having two holes that wrap around water be "kinda similar" makes him a mediocre designer?

I think 17 kinda sucks though. I'm not super familiar with this course as I've only been watching golf for a couple years now but they showcased 17 the other night on Golf Channel and it seems kind of silly. Par 3 and if you miss short or right it's in water. If you miss long or left it's in a bunker with a downhill comebacker ....toward the water.

I'm not a huge fan of these types of holes but I guess it's fun to watch once in a while.

I think the 15 green is significantly larger and the bailouts around the green are far less penal than those on 17. 15 seems like the warm-up for 17.

Go boo weekly!!

PGA national is a boring complex. I've played the championship course twice, and he really didn't have great real estate to work with there. It's fine, but forgettable. 15-18 are a solid finish though.

I play a Nicklaus course in Florida regularly... and barring one incredibly stupid table top green (and an island green par 3 I don't care for), it's a really fun course. It's also very "new florida" and quite unlike PGA national in a lot of ways. I've also played the bears club down there a few times, which is right next to the course I play (lots of pros are members there). That's a pretty solid course too.

I guess it depends on what you consider mediocre. The only active designers whose name really makes me want to play a course just because it was designed by them are

Coore and Crenshaw
Doak
Gil Hanse

There's another tier of guys who have done some awesome courses but also some stuff that is not for everyone

Dye
Robert Trent Jones III
may be missing someone here


I would put Nicklaus in a 3rd tier with a lot of other guys including name architects and other former players like Norman

I love Nicklaus designs mostly bc they tend to be more difficult and require more thought/decision making.

Rory off to an atrocious start, looks sure to miss the cut. Terrible 2013 thus far, is it the clubs?

A guy I play with some that's pretty well connected on Tour says Rory is really struggling with the ball change. He's an ex Titleist guy, so maybe a little biased, but that's what he's hearing.

That said, I don't completely see how the ball could make him hit some of the shots he is hitting. I've always been somewhat critical of his swing, and I think we're just seeing it when it's bad right now. I guess you could make the argument that the ball isn't reacting the same way and thus he's compensating with his swing, but I think that's a stretch.

Can't nike just replicate a prov1 to whatever specs Rory is used to and stamp a swoosh on it?

Nike has been a major player in the golf equipment industry for a long time. They make top of the line balls, including Tiger's.

WD for Rory, he must be hurt.

From the times I've watched him he seems to be coming so far from the inside nowadays. Either leaves shot way right or hooks them, even with the wedges.

Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) tweeted at 10:14 AM on Fri, Mar 01, 2013:
McIlroy walks off course at Honda and says he's not mentally there. But not sure what that means yet

Sounds pretty weak.