Azinger -- "I did it my way ..."

Frank Sinatra would be proud of Paul Azinger. He made his captain’s picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup team and should they should go down in flames at Valhalla, he can always say “I did it my way.”

One of the major criticisms of American teams of recent vintage has been the overall lack of clutch putting. So, with this in mind, Azinger opted for Hunter Mahan, JB Holmes, Chad Campbell and Steve Stricker. As he named his picks he qualified them as tremendous ball strikers; never was there a mention of their putting prowess. With the exception of Stricker, there was a reason for this. They are, ahem, tremendous ball strikers.

Now, in fairness, it must be said that Mahan can get white hot and shoot 62 in any given round. However, don’t ask him to back it up in the next round. He’s recently shown a proclivity to be consistently inconsistent. I don’t think this is what ‘Zinger wants. It’s certainly not what he needs.

Is it just me, or do a lot of people question the putting prowess of anyone who uses a belly putter, ala Holmes. Sure, he’ll hit the ball to places no other human can reach, although at times he’ll put his ball in places no one wants to reach. This may intimidate one or two players, but he’ll have a tough time getting any opponent to concede him a putt once he takes that bad boy out of the bag. No one and I mean no one uses an elongated putter as a first choice. It makes the bag because of an affliction. I can’t see the pressure cooker that is the Ryder Cup smoothing out any putting strokes.

I would think the aforementioned Stricker will give a good accounting of himself. Although he’s a Ryder Cup rookie, he has acquitted himself well in a couple of President Cups, aka Ryder Cup Light. He has the all around game to bring the consistency that’s needed for success.

The real wild card in the mix is Campbell. He finished 20th on the points list. He has Ryder Cup experience; however it’s been on teams that have lost by record margins. He has a pair of top ten finishes in his last four tournaments, but he hasn’t challenged for the lead. It’s usually the early Sunday morning 66 that gives him his T7 finish. At this stage in his career, the word “underachiever” is used more and more when describing Campbell. He hasn’t reached Davis Love III proportions yet, but he’s farther along that trail than he should be. He’s finding that being born under the sign of Potential isn’t always the easiest way to go through life.

When you look at the 12-man lineup Azinger will bring to Kentucky, you can almost see the remake of the movie Dirty Dozen unfolding. There’s not a superstar in the bunch, save for perhaps Phil Mickelson. It has a B movie feel to it, but with solid actors capable of giving a solid performance.

In order for this blue collar bunch to succeed at least three players are going to have to have to play totally out of their gourds and I don’t know if there are three capable of stepping out of the shadows and into the limelight. I could be wrong, but I really don’t think so.

Bartender, a bourbon and branch water if you please and make sure it’s Kentucky bourbon of course,

See you on the first tee.

Jack

The British Open - "Champion Golfer of the Year"

This Week we’ll find out if there really is “Life Without Tiger” as the British Open, or the Open Championship as the Brits haughtily call it becomes the first Major Championship sans Tiger since Woods started his professional career.

Trust me on this, the tournament will be played. It will last a minimum of 72 holes and the player with the lowest score will be declared the “Champion Golfer of the Year.” The only difference there is that it’s guaranteed the winner won’t be Tiger.

There has been some bollix (a British term roughly translated as BS) about putting an asterisk beside the winner’s name because Woods is in absentia. That is truly bollix. The winner is the winner—period. His accomplishment is no less than if Tiger was in the field.

A quick visit to Ladbrokes.com, the official bookie of the PGA European Tour has installed Sergio Garcia as a 12/1 favorite followed by Ernie Els at 16/1. Personally, I’d put a bob or two on Ernie way before I’d think about Sergio. The Spaniard’s melt down at last year’s Open is too fresh in my mind to even think about him. Rounding out the Top 10 and ties, Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson are 20/1 Geoff Ogilvy, Jim Furyk and defending champion Padraig Harrington are installed at 25/1. Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Stewart Cink and Vijay Singh at 33/1 round it out.

Westwood is making a nice comeback, but his putting might get shaky in the clutch. Mickelson hits the ball too high for a true links course. There’s just too much wind. Out of the rest of the Top 10 the names that stand out are Ogilvy and Rose. Ogilvy can usually be found hanging around the lead in a Major and Rose has matured into a fine player in his own right. Also, as a teenager Rose exploded on the world golf scene in the Open on Royal Birkdale 10 years ago finishing fourth.

There were some interesting odds posted. Greg Norman and John Daly are 500/1 which is better than Mark O’Meara’s 1,000/1. Rocco Mediate the hero of the U.S. Open is a 200/1 pick. Watch for Miguel Angel Jimenez at 40/1. The Tour’s new glory guy Anthony Kim at 50/1 is a bit over valued. He may have the game, but he doesn’t have the experience. Boo Weekley and Camilo Villegas are teeing off at 100/1.

Regardless of who wins, he deserves it whether Tiger is there or not.

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The New York Times ran a story this week about how much cheating goes on in golf. It didn’t focus on professional golf, but by the rank and file average golfers. They said that most of it is changing the lie from bad to good. They’re probably right. The USGA and the R&A could alleviate this problem with just one rule. DON’T TOUCH THE BALL. Think about it if the only times you touch the ball are to tee it up and clean it on the green, everything else is simple. If you do touch the ball, it’s a two stroke penalty. It eliminates any misunderstandings.

While they’re at it, there are a couple of other changes that should be made. Stroke and distance is double jeopardy. When a ball is hit out of bounds the golfer should be able to drop a ball within two club lengths from the spot the ball crossed the out of bounds marker and penalized one stroke. The same goes for a lost ball. Once it is agreed by all players in the group where the general area a ball was lost, the player who lost the ball should be able to drop a ball with a one stroke penalty. I think this is fair and I know it would cut down the time it takes to play a round.

I would like to think that most golfers follow the rules. In truth, the rules help the golfer more than they hurt him. Follow the rules and maintain your integrity. Bend them and lose it.

Bartender a pint of Watneys if you please, it’s British Open week and one must have a pint of British ale to get in the mood for the proceedings.

Cheers!

See you on the first tee.

Jack