Trip to Colorado

Well since there really isn't too much going on in the golf world right now(even though Lorena Ochoa retired....weird), I figured I would write about my golf during our visit to Colorado.

Broadlands
My first round was played at Broadlands golf course up north in Broomfield. I met my longtime friend Dan who works for the course, at about 7:15am. He got us out for free, which was very nice, plus we were the first two out, so it was wide open in front of us. I was super nervous about the round after hitting a duck-hook off the first tee, then toeing my second shot about 40 yards short and right of the green. Somehow I was able to get it up and down for par so that was a big confidence booster. The rest of the round was all over the place, hitting really bad shots and really good shots. I was able to pull out an 87, which I was pretty happy about. The weather was pretty cool but there was no wind and no rain so I couldn't ask for much more. Also, playing with Dan who is roughly 74 years old was great. Hopefully I will still be swinging the club as well as him when I'm that age.

Coal Creek
The second round was played at Coal Creek Golf Course, also up north in Louisville. This is one of my favorite courses and I was super excited cause I was playing with my dad, father-in-law(Bernie) and brother-in-law(Jeryd "I think I hit it long"Arellano). The weather again was cool, but there was no wind and no rain, so it was bearable. This was a rematch of teams consisting of my dad and I vs. Bernie and Jeryd. Last time we squeaked a victory out playing at Heritage Todd Creek Golf Course. The first few holes were a little rough for most of us but after a little while we all began to find our groove. I went even par on the last 5 holes on the front so that really helped. Thanks to my dad for giving me the line to help me sink a 20 footer for birdie on #9. Jeryd decided it was time to numb his nerves by indulging in the land of Kahlua on the back nine. Boy did it help, he ended up really turning things around and shot a 45 on the back. My dad, Bernie and Jeryd had almost identical scores and luckily I was able to squeeze out another 87. So for the second year we were able to claim victory! :) It was great to get to spend time with everyone and even though it rained on the last 5 holes, I thought the weather was pretty nice.

I'm looking forward to our next round together.

You The Man Phil!

Wow, what a great Sunday at the Masters. Not even Sunday, almost the entire weekend was action packed and the fans could not have asked for a better person to win.

Now going into the Masters, Phil was not on my list of people who I wanted to win, only because I think he is too flaky for all the talent he has. Although when he is in contention, especially in a major, I find myself having a soft spot for the guy and really pulling for him to win. We all know all the struggles he and his family have been through with his wife Amy having cancer, so that makes him winning that much more special. It was also great to see his wife make the trip there to greet him after he finished on the 18th.

It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he put that 2nd shot on the par 5, 13th into the creek. In all honesty, when I saw him about to smack his 6-iron, 207 yards out of the pine needles, between two trees, to a green that you can't be short or long on, I thought, "well here goes Phil about to screw things up again". He proved me wrong and I'm ok with that. The man produced zero bogies and shot a 67 on Sunday, the first champ in 12 years to shoot that low of a final round. Good work Phil!




Now Tiger did a little better then expected but really showed his rust on Sunday. I laughed during his post interview because he said people are making too big a deal out of him losing his temper. Well maybe in his press conference he shouldn't have made it sound like he was going to try to control his temper and celebrations. Those are two of his biggest trade-marks so of course the media is going to be all over that when you lose your temper right off the bat on Thursday. You should have just said you are going to work on the swearing and club throwing, that would have made more sense.

Good showing for my boy AK! Keep it up!

New Tiger? / Masters Prediction

New Tiger?

So after reading about Tigers practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday and listening to his press conference, it seems like he has really changed how he will interact with the public and go about his business on the course. It was said by people following him during his practice round with Fred Couples and Jim Furyk that he was acknowledging the crowd when they would say something to him. One guy yelled, "Its good to have you back Tiger" and Tiger looked at him, nodded and said, "Thanks man". Tiger also said during his press conference that he would acknowledge the fans more and said, “I haven't done that in the past few years, and that was wrong of me, I’m just trying to be more respectful of the game". When talking about getting hot on the golf course, Woods also said he is going to try and not be, but that means he will also not be as "exuberant, either".

Now if you ask me, there is a lot of bologna in here and it smells pretty bad. I think it is great that Tiger is talking about interacting with fans and all, cause I would love to get a "fist pump" from him, but I am curious if this is something that he will only do in practice rounds and also if its something that will die down in a year from now. As far as his temper goes, I think he will be cooler off the tee box when he has a bad shot but I don't think that will make him cooler if he sinks a 40 footer for birdie in a big situation. I also think that over time Tiger will start to lose his cool almost as much as he was in years past. Tiger also talked about meditating and practicing his Buddhism like he did a while back. Except for as long as I can remember Tiger has had a bad temper and has thrown clubs, so I'm not sure if practicing Buddhism will help much with that. I'm all for it though if it helps him.

Masters Prediction

So after last weeks Shell Houston Open I thought that Anthony Kim might be the favorite for winning this weekend, but I think if his driver is as bad as last weekend, he is in for a rough week. I also believe that Woods will make the cut by a few strokes, but will probably finish somewhere just outside the top 10. Now I hope that AK or Tiger will win it but my bold prediction is that.....oh man......it kills me to say this.......but I think its.........Ian Poulter' s year.

Who I would like to win:
Tiger Woods
Anthony Kim
Adam Scott
David Duval
Sergio Garcia

Who I would not like to win:
Ian Poulter
Lee Westwood
Ian Woosnam
Robert Allenby
Soren Hansen

AK = Yes.....DJ = No

So, we are about a quarter of the way through the golf season now and I have been kind of disappointed with our winners. Now if I was about 40 years old I might be stoked because we have had guys like Els, Furyk, and Stricker winning this year. Now I must admit, a part of me does feel good for Furyk and Els who have not had a win in awhile and have found their game, but a bigger part of me is dying for some of the "young guns" to start tearing up the tour.

Now by saying "young guns", unfortunately I don't mean guys like Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Bill Haas, and Ben Crane because I feel like watching them is like watching paint dry. I mean guys like Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, and Rickie Fowler(although the last two are fresh out the gate so we will give them more time). It just seems like the players I have listed are huge fans of doing really well and even winning, like Camilo earlier this year and then dropping off the radar for almost the rest of the year. I am just dying for someone to really compete almost every time they tee it up and it would be even better if they could give Tiger a run for his money.

I know Jack in his prime dominated the game, but it seemed like he had more exciting players competing really well against him and either coming in second or barely beating him. Jack has 19.....yes 19, second place finishes in majors, Tiger I believe only has 5. Tiger will pass Jack in Majors but come nowhere close to his runner-up finishes, unless someone starts to really challenge Tiger at every major.

This isn't about just majors though, I think golf really needs some of these younger studs to step up and show that the game right now is slowly shifting towards a newer generation of golfers. Although the only way to prove that is to consistently show up in every tourney, especially majors, which I have faith that they will do.