2007 PGA Majors/WGC/World Cup

Coverage of Indian players in USPGA , EPGA, Nationwide tour and Womens tour events

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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by ajay »

A bad bad finish by Jeev as he lost 4 strokes in last four holes. :(
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by ajay »

Jyoti Randhawa has withdrawn.  :damn:
Let's see if Bhushan will have any news on why Jyoti had to witdraw.
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by Kumar »

ajay wrote: Jyoti Randhawa has withdrawn.  :damn:
Let's see if Bhushan will have any news on why Jyoti had to witdraw.
Miserable day for Indian contingent today.. Jeev +6, Jyoti WD and VJ (+5 - BOGEY, double bogey and treble to go along with a birdie... Eagle would have made his day perfect)...Daniel is +2 thru 13 holes.. letz hope he can get his round completed with minimal loss of strokes
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

89th PGA Golf Championship in Tulsa - Round One

I was supposed to be away from Tulsa today afternoon to witness a ceremonial function early tomorrow morning involving my older son at his college, but a change of timing from Friday morning to evening gave me an opportunity to stay in Tulsa and watch the best golfers take on Southern Hills CC golf course. 

Southern Hills is like Tulsa – a quaint little golf course measuring 7131 yards in a small charming town of 400,000 people.  The newer golf courses are becoming big, some stretching over 7,500 yards, just like the big metropolitan cities, but the toughness of a golf course is not measured by its size, but in the challenges that it poses to those who try to conquer it. 

Southern Hills has now hosted more PGA Championships than any other golf course and the 89th version of this tournament drew the best golfers from all over the world to tame the par 70 course.  The closing hole, known as a villain to the pro-golfers since no winner of a major at Southern Hills has ever parred the 72nd hole, was made easier by reducing the slope of the green.  When you hand golf equipment made with latest technology to a physically super fit pro-golfer, one would expect the battle to favor the players on a short golf course.  Today Southern Hills lived up to its reputation of a challenging golf course and the dog-legged fairways with narrow sloping landing areas favored golfers who could hit accurately and the greens required a good approach shot and excellent putting skills before birdies could be earned. 

The morning session belonged to John Daly, a free spirited golfer better known for his smoking before teeing off and beer drinking instead of spending time in the gym.  Daly and Tiger Woods teed off about 5 minutes apart, one on the front nine and the other on the back nine.  Both drew the largest galleries and by the end of their rounds, Daly was the clubhouse leader at three-under-par 67 while Tiger was four strokes behind Daly with a 71.  The afternoon session belonged to Graeme Storm who ended at the top of the leaderboard with a five-under-par 65.  Storm who, you ask?  For starters, he is an Englishman, turned pro in 2000, worked in a cream factory in the off-season to finance his career, got his first win at Open de France in 2007, and made history at the Masters when his mother caddied for him making them the first mother/son combo in the tournament’s history.

Southern Hills has often favored the underdog and it was not unexpected that Storm and Daly are atop the leaderboard.  How well did the top ten golfers in the world perform in round one?  Only Padraig Harrington broke par today.  Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose along with seven other golfers played the course at even par while Tiger Woods (71), KJ Choi (71), Ernie Els (72), Luke Donald (72), Adam Scott (72), Phil Mickelson (73), Jim Furyk (75), Vijay Singh (75), Darren Clarke (77), and Mike Weir (77) left Southern Hills battered and bruised.  The PGA Championship pairs the winners of the Masters, British Open and US Open on the first two days and Zach Johnson (74), Angel Cabrera (81) and Harrington (69) played the course at a combined score of 14 over-par.  Daniel Chopra (76) and Jeev Milkha Singh (76) played the first nine holes well and then faltered on the next nine holes.  Jyoti Randhawa withdrew after playing part of the back nine holes (more later in next report about the Indian golfers). 
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

"Indian" Golfers at PGA Championship in Tulsa - First Round Report

I left my clinic when Jeev had just finished playing the front nine at one-under-par 34 and he was ranked in the top ten on the leaderboard.  I got home, picked up my son, had a quick lunch and reached the golf course.  My first stop was at the shop that rents the small handheld player tracker and quickly added the names of the players that I was going to follow today.  First I clicked on Jeev’s name and the news was not good – he had tripled bogeyed the difficult par four 12th hole and had dropped from -1 to +2.  I had watched Daniel Chopra and Vijay Singh spend a lot of time on the 12th hole yesterday during their practice round.  On the 12th hole, one has to tee off and try to land the ball on a blind landing area on the fairway because of a severe left dogleg.  The second shot requires precision iron shot to stay away from water on two sides of the green and avoid getting the ball on the right side because the green slopes severely to the right towards the creek.  I wonder if Jeev got his ball into the water and then had trouble putting the ball into the hole.

The player tracker showed that Vijay was on the fourth hole and we headed towards it.  Vijay had finished playing three holes until then – all pars – and his shirt was completely drenched with sweat and he was drinking water by the gallons.  It did not take us being in the sun for ten minutes to realize how hot and humid it was in Tulsa today.  The next hole was the monstrous 653 yard long par five 5th hole and Vijay blasted off his drive.  It is a sight to see Vijay use his driver and his swing is so sweet and it reminds you of Sania’s forehand in tennis.  As soon as he launched his ball from the 5th tee, a gust of wind appeared from nowhere on a windless day and I watched the ball curve to the right and end up in the bunker.  David Love and Mark Brooks followed Vijay with their drivers,  I walked along Vijay and the ball was buried in the bunker close to the edge and all Vijay could do was to lay up.  His third shot found a green side bunker, but he saved par.  Love hit his third shot barely a foot from the hole and made an easy birdie. 

I debated if I should follow Vijay to the next hole – a par three 6th hole or watch Phil Mickelson who was playing two groups behind Vijay.  The player tracker is a great device because one could follow the location, performance and stats of all the players in real time.  I watched Chris DiMarco, Ian Poulter (dressed very conservatively in all-white), Tim Clark, Phil Mickelson, David Toms and Jeff Sluman.  Phil made a bogey on the 5th hole and dropped from -2 to -1.  I heard a loud groan from the 6th hole and wondered what had happened.  Little did I guess then that Vijay was in deep trouble.  Soon the player tracker showed that Vijay had made a triple bogey on a par three hole.  I watched Chris DiMarco do probably something similar on the 6th hole – send the ball into the water or hit the ball out of bounds as Darren Clarke did or perhaps what both of them did.  The 6th hole runs along the 61st Street that borders the north side of the golf course and golfers face tricky winds on this hole.  This hole produced 5 double bogeys and 4 triple bogeys or worse today and US Open champion Angel Cabrera took TEN strokes on this par 3 hole.  I then tried to catch up with Vijay and watched him make pars on the 8th and 9th holes.  Except for the triple bogey, he had played the rest of the holes at par.

It was time to locate the Indian golfers.  Jeev had finished his round – one-under-par on the front nine and the second half of the golf course at seven-over-par 42.  More on the reasons of his poor play on the back nine later on.

The player tracker showed that Daniel had finished playing the 13th hole (he started from the back nine) and was at even par.  Jyoti was +2 after playing the first four holes of the back nine and was playing two groups ahead of Daniel.  Something should have clicked in my mind why the player tracker was showing that Jyoti had completed only four holes when Daniel had also completed four holes, but sometimes the tracker would malfunction and not update the information in real time. 

I caught up to Daniel and followed him up to the 18th hole (his 9th hole).  Dan’s playing partner, Butch Sheehan, showed why the 18th hole is so treacherous.  His second shot landed in the rough around the green about 20 feet from the hole and then he needed four strokes to get the ball into the hole.

It was brutally hot and my son and I had each consumed four bottles of water by then and had walked over two miles.  We decided to go to the Wanamaker Club since our tickets gave us the privilege to use it.  I guess that the air-conditioned tent, delicious food and ability to watch the golf action on several large screen TVs convinced our mind to not torture our bodies anymore under the hot sweltering sun. We made an attempt to get back to the golf course, but ended up catching the shuttle to get to the parking lot. 

I do not know the real reasons why Jeev, Daniel and Vijay faltered in the second half of play, but my reasoning is that the conditions were so brutal that it was perhaps very tough for the golfers to stay focused on a tough golf course that punishes the players for small mistakes.  Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Jeev, Daniel and many other golfers played the first 9 holes well and then their play went downhill in the second half. 

I do not know why Jyoti Randhawa withdrew from the tournament after playing four holes and the news should become available soon. I could have called Jeev or Daniel, but did not feel like bothering them after their hard day’s work under tough conditions.

Vijay Singh 75 (+5)
Jeev Milkha Singh 76 (+6)
Daniel Chopra 76 (+6)
Jyoti Randhawa - withdrew after playing four holes at +2
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

Tiger Woods and Russell – Are they one and the same?

Tiger Woods has not won a “major” so far this year and the PGA Championship in Tulsa is his last chance to win one in 2007.  It is not a secret that he is determined to conquer Southern Hills Country Club golf course and win the 13th major of his career.

Tiger showed up in Tulsa on July 30-31 to play a practice round at Southern Hills before leaving for Akron, Ohio to take part and subsequently win the World Golf Championship.  He walked in alone at Fuddruckers restaurant in Tulsa to eat dinner.  To hide his identity, he wore his cap backwards, covered his eyes with sunglasses and sat in the back of the restaurant.  No one bothered him with requests for autographs and he ate his dinner in peace.

He stayed at Renaissance Hotel and showed up at Starbucks restaurant at 6:40 a.m. with his swing coach Hank Haney.  Only one Starbucks employee failed to recognize Tiger and that employee ended up being the one to take his order – a pastry and nonfat hazelnut latte.  Starbucks employees are trained to address the customers by their name and when the employee took Tiger’s order, he asked him for his name.  Tiger replied, “Russell”.

When Tiger’s order was ready, the store manager called out the name Russell twice but Tiger did not respond.  The manager tried calling by the real name Tiger and he responded to it, picked up the order and left to play 18 holes of golf.

The store employees had a big laugh and the employee that took Tiger’s order has a new name – it’s Russell.
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by Prem »

BSharma wrote: Tiger Woods and Russell – Are they one and the same?
Thanks Doc for the detailed report and the Russell incident was hilarious...
Lets hope Jeev & Co. have a better day today and atleat someone makes the CUT.
Doc when u mentioned on Wednesday that Jyoti had not turned up for practice, I had sensed something wrong.
Hopefully its just a flu or viral and not a major injury as Jyoti has been playing consistently well in last few weeks.
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by jaydeep »

Bhushan hats off to ur acute first round report and very interesting though funny 'Russell' Tiger Woods story ... :notworthy:

Jaydeep.
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

Prem wrote:
Doc when u mentioned on Wednesday that Jyoti had not turned up for practice, I had sensed something wrong.
Hopefully its just a flu or viral and not a major injury as Jyoti has been playing consistently well in last few weeks.
I will not be going to the golf course today to watch the PGA Championship, but I have been trying to find out the reason for Jyoti's withdrawl from the tournament and today's newspaper reported that Jeev and another golfer withdrew due to heat related illnesses.  The report did not state that they required hospital care and I hope that he is doing ok.

Over 20 spectators required medical care due to heat related illnesses yesterday and the temperatures are going to be higher today and on the weekend.  Yesterday I commented to my son while watching the PGA Championship that most spectators were dehydrated or were near dehydration and he asked me how did I know it.  My reasoning -- there are scores of portable restrooms all over the golf course for spectators and golfers to use and not one was being used yesterday!  My son was amazed at my observation.  :)
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

John Daly - The Incredible Golfer

John Daly is the talk of the town at the Southern Hills Country Club.  He shot a three-under-par 67 yesterday and ended up in second place.  Daly is a player with loads of talent, but has had a troubled life – alcoholism, gambling, wives getting into trouble with the law, being some of them.  He can hit the ball far and he has a large fan following.  He is ranked above 400 in the world but the Tournament Directors love to have him in their tournaments because he draws so many spectators.  Daly is fat – obese is a more appropriate word to describe him – smokes a cigarette on nearly every hole and would drink a beer on the golf course if the tournament directors would allow him to do. 

Daly prepared for the 89th PGA Championship by gambling at a casino in Tulsa for two days and then practiced on the golf course owned by the casino on Wednesday for three hours.  He did not play a single practice round at Southern Hills CC. 

Daly showed up for the PGA Championship and while other golfers were gulping down water by the gallons to stay hydrated, he drank only caffeinated drinks and smoked cigarettes.  When asked how he managed to card a round of 67, he responded that he can’t explain it.

While other golfers playing at the PGA Championship are staying at luxury hotels or in rented homes, Daly lives in his mobile home.  Any guesses where his mobile home is parked in Tulsa this week?  At the Hooters restaurant. 
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by VReddy »

Thanks for the awesome reports, Bhushanji !!
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

Are Pro-golfers Real Athletes?

The photographs of 2007 US Open Champion Angel Cabrera and former PGA Champion John Daly conjures up images of weekend hackers rather than winners of golf majors.  I followed Daniel Chopra’s group yesterday at Southern Hills golf course, and his playing partner Butch Sheehan looked more like a beer guzzling semi-retired couch potato who spends long hours in front of a TV set than a golfer who has qualified to play at a PGA Championship. 

You would not expect to see an out of shape tennis player vying for the singles crown at Wimbledon or an obese player on the field kicking in the winning goal at World Cup soccer final match. 

So are these pro-golfers real athletes?

Don’t let these images of Daly, Cabrera and Sheehan fool you.  Most obese men are not as flexible and neither can they twist their hip and trunk as fast as Daly and Sheehan can do.  Hitting a golf ball 350 yards away is not only about strength but also about agility, flexibility, good muscle conditioning, balance, timing and great hand-eye coordination. 

Let’s look at what these pro-golfers have to do six days a week for about 35 to 40 weeks a year.  The seventh day is for traveling from one place to another.  Most of them start their day with some sort of “mental zoning” work.  Jeev Milkha Singh and Daniel Chopra are known to do yoga and in fact Jeev begins every morning with 30 minutes of yoga.  The golfers then spend at least 90 minutes to get ready to play golf.  Two 18-wheeler trucks full of treadmills, weights and other equipments found in gyms are located at the tournament site for use of golfers.  They start off with 20 minutes of warm-ups and 20 minutes of stretching under the watchful eyes of trainers and then they head to the practice area where they will work on putting, chipping and driving the ball.  A quick bite later, it is time to play 18 holes of golf that will take about 4 hours.  There are days when the temperature is over 100 degrees and is humid such as is seen during the 89th PGA Championship in Tulsa or it may be cold and windy, or it may be a wet rainy day, but the play must go on. 

After the pro-golfers sign their scorecards at the end of their round, it is time to head back to the practice area for another couple of hours of hitting, chipping, putting, or working on sand play.  What went wrong on the golf course must be corrected right away in the practice area and their coaches are nearby to give them advices.  After consuming more refreshments to keep the body well fuelled, it may be the day to work on the upper body or lower body in the truck that houses the weights.  The sun has set by then and it is probably time to eat dinner.  What time did Jeev and Daniel eat dinner at an Indian restaurant in Tulsa?  9:30 p.m.  In fact, Jeev was still in the gym at about 7 p.m. when I called him up via telephone.

These golfers usually do not go out anywhere in the evening during the four days of the tournament although there is a possibility that Daniel and his wife may go and see a group of Indian musicians (Indian Oceans) from Delhi perform at Tulsa’s Performance Art Center on Saturday, but there is a big if… it depends on his tee time on the weekend.  A proper sleeping time comes before pleasure during tournament days.

These pro-golfers look larger in real life than on TV.  They are in superb shape.  I walked along Daniel (hey, don’t get me wrong and feel that I was walking inside the ropes with him  :)) on the 18th hole from tee to green and the green is about three storey higher than the fairway and there is a steep incline.  He and all the other golfers walked up that incline without missing a beat under the baking sun while I had to stand in front of a mist fan at the top of the hill to cool myself down a bit before heading to the green and watch Daniel make his par putt.

Are Pro-golfers Real Athletes?  You can bet your bottom dollar.
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by Kumar »

VJ finished the day at +1 and +6 for the tournament.. He is currently T82 and will probably make the cut..
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by BSharma »

How hot and miserable it was for players yesterday at PGA Championship in Tulsa?

I was walking along the 18th fairway to get to the 16th hole and noticed that Jerry Kelly was about to hit an iron shot to the green.  I quickly found a tree to stand under the shade alone as I watched him hit the ball and the ball flight and the reaction of the people around the 18th green did not show a good ball positioning on the green.  Another golfer was getting ready to hit next and Kelly noticed me standing in the shade.  He was about 10 feet from me in the fairway and he left his caddie and stood next to me for about a minute before getting back into the fairway and heading off towards the green.  I had checked my handheld player locator and knew that Kelly was not doing well, hence I had no heart to make small talk with him.
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Re: 2007 PGA Majors/WGC - PGA Championship (Jeev, Jyoti, Dan, Vijay)

Post by arjun2761 »

Great posts!  Following a player and viewing them close-up is one of the joys of attending a PGA event especially if you walk the course and do not sit on the embankments arounding the some of the tees or greens.

I followed Vijay for 9 holes at the congressional CC a couple of years ago and got real good close-ups of him and his playing partners (Charles Howell and Chad Campbell) on several occasions especially when they missed the fairways and were often less than 10-20 feet away.  Did not remember whether a player locater was available.
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