On the morning of Sunday August 16th, two of the worlds premier athletes were preparing. Tiger Woods held the three round lead at the PGA Championship and was planning to win his 15th golf Major, while Usain Bolt was setting up to once again be the world’s fastest man. Bolt, the boisterous Jamaican, knowing that Woods has conquered that pressure countless times in his career, placed a telephone call to him that morning, and here is a transcript:


Tiger Woods: Usain. How do you feel?

Usain Bolt: Hey Tiger man! Yah man, I’m feelin’ great. How about you? How you feelin’?

TW: Fine. Just concentrating. Visualizing. Focusing.

UB: Tiger man, why you always lookin’ so angry on the golf course? Relax man! Be more like a Jamaican and just enjoy life! When someone yells “in the hole!” after you tee off on 600 yard hole, turn around and point him out to everyone, so they can all laugh at his dumb ass.

TW: I don’t think so. I have to stay emotionless and in the moment. And I always have to think about my next shot.

UB: Emotionless man? You look like you wanna kill someone out there! Anyways, I have a huge race today. The whole world is gonna be watchin’. How do I handle the pressure?

TW: Just put the spectators out of your mind. Concentrate on what you need to do. You can smile and celebrate after the race is over.

UB: But Tiger, I want to have fun! I love talking and joking with the people before I run!

TW: Geez, you sound like Phil Mickleson. I hate playing golf with him.

UB: Hey! Don’t compare me to that choker! Ok, so what are you gonna do if you win today? You need a signature pose, man!

TW: Signature pose? I don’t have any ideas for that.

UB: No worries man! You can use mine!

TW: Ok maybe I will. Thanks Usain. Good luck today.


Unfortunately Tiger didn’t win the PGA Championship, but we did catch him practicing:

The 2009 PGA Championship, the year’s last Major golf tournament, came to a stunning conclusion on Sunday, as South Korean, Y.E. Yang, a man no one had heard of, managed to take down the world’s best golfer in the final round. While the record books will have to wait a little longer for Tiger Woods to rewrite them, the finale was wonderful, and we should hope to see more finishes like this one in the future. The true test of greatness in an athlete is how well he responds to pressure.

It remains to be seen if Y.E. Yang will be but a splash in the pan, but there are some strong candidates emerging who will challenge Woods in the upcoming years. The first name that comes to mind is Padraig Harrington. Although he had a disastrous Sunday at Hazeltine – a quintuple bogey on the 8th hole put him out of contention – he has shown consistency and mental fortitude over the last two years, the likes of which few golfers can claim. There are others as well, but the name you should remember is Rory McIlroy.

Born and raised in Northern Ireland, the 20 year old McIlroy has long been touted as the future of golf, and with his development this past year, the future may come sooner than expected. In 2009, McIlroy played in the first four Majors of his career and incredibly made the cut in all of them. It started in April at The Masters where he finished the weekend in a tie for 20th. In June, he followed that up with a 10th place tie at the U.S Open. July’s Open Championship (commonly known as The British Open) was tougher for him, as he only managed a t-47th place finish, but keep in mind that Tiger Woods didn’t even make the cut at this tournament. Finally, this past weekend, McIlroy put together his best performance yet at a Major tournament, finishing tied for 3rd at -3.

The youngster also won his first professional golf tournament this year at the Dubai Desert Open in February. At the tender age of 20, McIlroy has achieved his success so far based on mental strength and god-gifted power. With only a few months left on golf’s 2009 calendar and then an off-season before the next Major, he will have some time to work on the variety and maturity of his game, and he will likely improve by leaps and bounds in 2010.

Woods, Harrington and the rest better be careful when they look in the rear-view mirror: objects are closer than they appear.

At the Bridgestone Open last week, as Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington were battling it out for the championship on the final few holes, the pair was told that they were taking too long to play before they teed off from the 16th. At this juncture, Harrington held a one shot lead over Woods, but a disastrous few strokes would land him a triple bogey to Woods’ birdie, turning the lead into a 3 shot deficit. After winning the tournament by four, Woods spoke about the rule’s enforcement, “"I don't think that Paddy would have hit the pitch shot that way if he was able to take his time, look at it, analyze it. But he was on the clock."

That “pitch shot” was the one that Harrington dropped straight into the water in front of the green. Much has been made of Woods’ comment, including debates about whether he should be fined or not, or if the rule should be enforced when the final pairing is slugging it out for a championship. The problem is, too many people have completely missed the point of Tiger’s words. Quite simply, he was only trying to take some of the sting off Harrington’s devastating collapse. A humble and gracious move by a consummate champion was unfortunately misread by too many.

Moving past that, isn’t it great to see that after day one at the PGA Championship, the two are once again at the top of the leaderboard, with Woods at -5 and Harrington at -4? Although watching Woods scorch the field and run away with victories has its merits, it’s always fun to see him get pushed and challenged, and the three-time major winner, Harrington, has what the mettle to do so.

When Tiger Woods returned from his ACL injury, a Nike commercial was released, depicting the PGA Tour in Tiger’s absence. The song “Sunshine and Lollipops” is playing, and the players are enjoying a fun filled party complete with success and fame. Near the end of the commercial, the players are relaxing in the locker room and Woods walks in. The music dies and the players realize their party is over. To see the commercial click here.

Tiger Woods won his 70th PGA Tour victory (sitting three behind Jack Nicklaus at #3 all-time) yesterday at the Bridgestone Open, his second victory in two weeks after winning the Buick Open last week. With the PGA Championship, golf’s fourth major of the year, beginning this Thursday, he appears ready to perform. The Bridgestone was won on the 16th hole, when, down by a stroke to Padraig Harrington, Tiger hit an approach shot within two feet of the hole. In answer, Harrington knocked his approach into the water, and that was the tournament. Woods will likely need a bit of luck this week, as his game still doesn’t appear to be where it was pre-injury, but if anyone can grind it out, it’s Woods.

Because of all the news Canadian Mike Weir made over the weekend at the U.S. Open, a fellow countryman’s story was overshadowed. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, BC, is the number one ranked amateur golfer in the world, and he played in his first Major tournament this week.

At just 21 years old, very young and inexperienced for a golfer, most first timers are happy to just be playing in their first Major championship tournament, let alone attempting to make the cut. Taylor was able to do just that after two rounds based on an incredible second round score of 65. Put in perspective, Mike Weir tied a U.S. Open single round score record with his first round 64, and the best round Tiger Woods turned in was a 68.

In the end, Taylor finished at +8 for the championship, placing him in a tie for 36th – first out of the amateurs. Near him on the leaderboard were pre-tournament favourites, Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas, at +7 and Vijay Singh at +6. Playing so well under the pressure of golf’s largest stage is an affirmation of Taylor’s number one ranking, and this young man will soon be making Canadians very proud.

If you have work today, skip it! But if that’s impossible, NBC.com has live streaming coverage for you to stay tuned, while your unsuspecting boss is none the wiser.

The U.S. Open is always golf’s toughest test, requiring mental toughness, physical strength, and this year, incredible adaptability. Due to an unbelievable amount of rain in New York, Thursday’s first round was almost completely pushed to Friday, and the players have been attempting to catch up ever since. Three full days of golf later, and the co-leaders, Lucas Glover and Ricky Barnes, are on the second hole of their fourth and final round, both at -7. If either of these two, who have absolutely no PGA Tour victories between them, can hold on to their emotions and win, good for them. But there are a few players directly below them on the leaderboard who have been there before and are ready to pounce if they can’t hang on.

Phil Mickleson:

“Lefty” sits in third place at -2, five shots back. He is playing in his first PGA tournament since his wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer two months ago. The world’s number two ranked golfer, who is always a fan favourite in New York, certainly has received the largest cheers this week, as he is the sentimental favorite as well.

Tiger Woods:

Before the light failed on Sunday night, Tiger popped in a birdie on the 7th hole at Bethpage Black. Even though he’s been off his game for three rounds, he has a chance. If he can get dialed in for the 11 holes he has left to play, the seven shot deficit he faces may very well be overcome.

Mike Weir:

Canada’s best golfer is once again showing that he is one of the best in the world. His first round score of 64 tied an all-time U.S. Open Record and forced the others to catch up. Unfortunately they did, and three holes into the final round, he sits at -1, six shots off the lead. After his second round, Weir wrote on his blog,

“Before I won the Masters if you'd asked me what major I thought my game was best-suited for, I'd have said the U.S. Open. I like the difficulty, like the challenge both mental and physical, that's presented.”

Sitting between Woods and Mickleson on the leaderboard, if Weir plays like he did on Friday morning, his U.S Open dreams may finally come true, and America’s Championship trophy may very well travel north of the Border.

GO CANADA!!

After years of following golf, attempting to recognize and understand talent and to figure out which players will perform well in any given week, I have realized that trying to predict who will win a PGA tournament is like playing roulette. Instead of choosing from 38 numbers, you can choose anyone ranked in the world’s top 50 and most have an equal shot at winning.

Of course, heading into the 2009 US Open Championship, there are a few players with higher odds than the table’s 1 in 38 chances. Picking Tiger Woods or Jim Furyk this week can be equated to choosing the “first 12” spot on the roulette board. Woods’ game is rounding into form at the right time, and he showed this by winning the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago over a strong field. Perhaps the most promising aspect of the win was the fact that he was hitting straight and true with his driver, the club that failed him repeatedly at the Masters earlier this year. Jim Furyk finished second at the Memorial, but more impressive is his consistency of late. He has three top 10 finishes in the last 6 weeks, including a fifth place finish at the Players Championship on May 10th; a tournament in which Woods finished eighth. Quality performances at this one, the tournament the players consider to be “the fifth Major”, hold a lot of weight.

Picking from the rest of the field is a gamble, but you know what they say – high risk, high reward. A few other players have been playing well recently: Zach Johnson and Vijay Singh are past Major champions and both could be in the mix this week.

Canadians may be wondering what’s going on with our two enigmatic hopefuls. Both Stephen Ames and Mike Weir have the ability to beat the best and win a Major and they’ve been playing fairly well lately. Ames finished ninth at the Valero Texas Open on May 17th, and then 27th two weeks later at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, while Weir has three top 20 finishes in the past six weeks, including placing 14th at the Players Championship. It may be hard to see these seemingly average results as positive, but in golf, where one never knows who will win a particular tournament, the ones who have the best chance are those who put themselves in the mix consistently. That being said, it looks like Weir has tuned his game to peak for this year’s US Open Championship, and Canada should put their hopes behind him.

Other than that, look for breakouts from the young gun, Camilo Villegas, and the extremely young gun, Rory McIlroy. It shouldn’t be long until these two are winning tournaments.

Armed with this information, make your bets. Choose your players and book your wagers. Then just sit back, enjoy the ride, and wait for the ball to drop on Sunday evening.

Dear Faithful Readers,

I just want to let you all know that this is not solely a Vancouver Canucks site. I am, admitedly, a hardcore Canucks fan, and as such, when my team is in the playoffs, it is hard to focus on anything else. However, I aim to attack a number of issues and write on an array of sports including tennis, golf, basketball, maybe a little football, and of course hockey. I am going to post at least every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but hopefully more than that, so please check back often.

Regards,

Omar