2006 PGA Majors/WGC/American Express Championship / Jyoti & Vijay

[BSharma]

The 2006 majors are still a few months away, but the Masters announced the field today for the 2006 edition.  Vijay Singh is in the field but Daniel Chopra and Arjun Atwal are not.

Here is the entry criteria for the 2006 Masters (it was tweaked a little this year and the PGA Tour winners are no longer automatic qualifiers):

1. Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
2. US Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
3. British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
4. PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
5. Winners of The Players Championship (3 years)
6. Current US Amateur Champion (6-A) (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and the runner-up (6-B) to the current US Amateur Champion
7. Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
8. Current US Amateur Public Links Champion
9. Current US Mid-Amateur Champion for 2005
10. The first 16 players, including ties, in the 2005 Masters Tournament
11. The first 8 players, including ties, in the 2005 US Open Championship
12. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2005 British Open Championship
13. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2005 PGA Championship
14. The 40 leaders on the Final Official PGA Tour Money List for 2005
15. The 10 leaders on the Official PGA Tour Money List published during the week prior to the 2006 Masters Tournament.
16. The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for 2005.
17. The 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the 2006 Masters Tournament.

Arjun Atwal, Daniel, Jyoti and Shiv can still make the field but they will have to fulfill criteria #15 or 17.

[BSharma]

Shiv Kapur, Amandeep Johl, Jeev Milkha Singh and Rahil Gangjee will try to earn a place in the field of 2006 British Open. Thirty-seven golfers will play 36 holes at the Open Championship International Final Qualifying for Asia at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on April 6, 2006, and four golfers will earn their ticket to play at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England from July 20 to 23.

Good luck to Shiv, Amandeep, Jeev and Rahil.

Four Indians to bid for British Open

[ajay]

Masters

In past few years, Phil was generally in top form at the start of the season. But by the time Masters come, he would lose momentum and rest of the year would be below his par. Although one year was exception when he won the Masters. But this time looks like he has made some changes so that he peaks at the right time. The way he played last week, I'd consider him favorite. Ofcourese we can not write off any of the other big five and any thing can happen.

Hopefully Vijay would be charged up to win his first oturnament of the year. Go Vijay!!!

[ajay]

The Open Championship Qualifier

Shiv Kapur and Jeev did enough on day 1 to keep them in the hunt for a place in The Open Championship. This is a two day qualifier. So today is the final day. Good luck Shiv and Jeev!

First round scores
67: Jarrod Lyle (Aus)
68: Unho Park (Aus)
69: Shiv Kapur (Ind), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind)
70: Richard Moir (Aus), Soushi Tajima (Jpn)
71: Scott Barr (Aus), Lee Sung (Kor), Adam Le Vesconte (Aus), Chang Tse-peng (Tpe)
72: Bryan Saltus (USA), Yeh Wei-tze (Tpe), Marcus Both (Aus)
73: Jochen Lupprian (Ger), Akinori Tani (Jpn), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Amandeep Johl (Ind), Scott Strange (Aus)
74: Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn)
75: Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Jason Dawes (Aus), Corey Harris (USA), Angelo Que (Phi)
76: Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn), Andrew Buckle (Aus)
77: Kyi Hla Han (Myn), Rahil Gangjee (Ind)
78: Danny Chia (Mas), Adam Groom (Aus), James Stewart (HK)
80: Gavin Flint (Aus), Mahal Pearce (NZL)
81: David Gleeson (Aus)
DQ: Terry Pilkadaris (Aus)

[arjun2761]

Vijay has made a blazing start to the Masters and is leading at -5 after 16 holes. The longer course should favor the long controlled hitters like Vijay, Tiger, Phil etc.

[forpar]

I waited to post till Vijay finished his round this time
Vijay caught fire in back nine, at Amen corner, and blazed away to finish at the top(currently).
Vijay shot an error free round with 5 under par 67.
Go Vijay!!
Woods had an eagle, followed by costly double at 15 to end at even par for the round.
Goose finished with -2 and Ernie at even after 7 holes.
I predict one of the above four will win it.

[BSharma]

forpar wrote:

I predict one of the above four will win it.

I wish his prediction about Vijay comes true. Win your 4th maajor, Vijay!

[PKBasu]

Good to see Vijay at the top of a PGA leaderboard after quite some time -- and even better to see him do it at a major. As he ages, Vijay must be even more cognizant of the fact that it is winning the majors that will gain him golfing immortality, not winning scores of other titles on the PGA and other tours. I hope he can sustain his form through Sunday.

[ajay]

Excellet start for Vijay. Nice to see him play a blemish free round. Tomorrow will be a tough day as it would be Windy and Vijay has a late start. It was nice to see that he and his playing partner Oberholser(-3), both played a good round. Many players, especially new and young players enjoy playing with Vijay as Vijay's company has a positive effect on them. See what Oberholser had to say after a good round with Vijay that put him on 3rd position on the leaderboard, just two strokes behind Vijay.

He (Oberholser) learned watching one of the best Thursday -- playing partner, first-round leader and two-time Masters champ Vijay Singh, who opened with a 67.

“I love playing with Vijay because his swing tempo and my swing tempo are very similar,’’ he said. “We both have kind of languid swings. When you have a good visual reference like that it’s great to play with a guy like that.

“He’s slow moving. He moved about the course very methodically and not too quickly. You can feed off a guy like that and I kind of fed off it today a little bit and started to hit some good shots and make a few putts.’’

[BSharma]

PKB made an excellent point that professional golfers are considered great because of the number of Majors they win in their career. A couple of Majors win over the next few years will put Vijay on a higher pedestal, and I hope he starts this journey by winning the Masters this year.

[BSharma]

Most Professional Majors:

Jack Nicklaus - 18
Walter Hagen - 11
Tiger Woods - 10
Ben Hogan - 9
Gary Player - 9
Tom Watson - 8
Bobby Jones - 7
Arnold Palmer - 7
Gene Sarazen - 7
Sam Snead - 7
Harry Vardon - 7
Nick Faldo - 6
Lee Trevino - 6
Seve Ballesteros - 5
James Braid - 5
Byron Nelson - 5
JH Taylor - 5
Peter Thomson - 5
Willie Anderson Jr. - 4
Jim Barnes - 4
Raymond Floyd - 4
Bobby Locke - 4
Tom Morris Jr. - 4
Tom Morris Sr. - 4
Willie Park Sr. - 4
***************
Vijay Singh - 3
Ernie Els - 3

[Kumar]

Great news

After a nerve wracking playoff with Deaf Korean player Lee Sung which went four holes, Kapur qualified for the british open..

Not so good, Jeev faltered big time with 73 to finish 3 strokes out of playoff..

[jaydeep]

So last year's Rookie of APGA tour in British Open ... And rubbing shoulders with all biggies in golfing world ... So now we r having Jyoti and Shiv in British Open ... And I m hoping Shiv will make some noise in his 1st Major ... Go Shiv.

This news will definetly make my weekend ... Thanks Kumar for sharing this excellent news.

Jaydeep.

[Prem]

:So last year's Rookie of APGA tour in British Open ... And rubbing shoulders with all biggies in golfing world ... So now we r having Jyoti and Shiv in British Open Jaydeep.

Excellent News......Shiv gets the chance to play in a major so early on in his carrier...great stuff. Jyoti - Jaydeep r u sure he has qualified already....If so on what basis...please let us know.

[jaydeep]

Prem it was my mistake, I was too excited and made blunder ... Currently Shiv is only one but I hope Arjun, Daniel and Jyoti will join him.

Jaydeep.