Marino sitting on lead

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM: Third round

Marino could not take advantage of the easier, Monterey Peninsula course; but still maintains a one stroke lead heading into tomorrow’s final round. To win, he must sort out the putter because his 33 putts today won’t get the job done tomorrow. Last week’s fantasy pick, Jimmy Walker had a smooth seven under to jump 22 spots to second at -11. Hopefully, Bill Murray lightened his playing partner’s mood as D.A. Points struggled with three bogies and a double that derailed his third round.

1	Steve Marino (MP)	-12
T2	Jimmy Walker (MP)	-11
T2	Bryce Molder (SH)	-11
T4	Alex Cejka (PB)	-9
T4	Tom Gillis (SH)	-9
T4	D.A. Points (PB)	-9
T4	J.J. Henry (SH)	-9

Fantasy Results after round 3:

T73      Brian Gay                   -1

T4        D.A. Points                 -9

T29      Nick Watney               -4

T97      Brendon de Jonge       +2

Caddies know best

Larry Dorman of the New York Times published this great piece on how valuable local caddies are at Pebble Beach. Here’s a great story from the article:

When Donald Trump awakened Lytle early one morning in 1993 to hire him as his AT&T caddie, it was the beginning of a relationship that produced one of the more memorable tales in the history of the tournament. There have been a number of apocryphal retellings, and Lytle — with verification from Trump and others — set the record straight.

“I did not hang up on him,” Lytle said, chuckling. “I was sleeping, it was early, and the phone rings and he says, ‘Rocket, this is the Donald.’ And I said, ‘Who the hell is the Donald? This is the Rocket, and you woke me up.’ ”

After Trump laughed and Lytle realized Trump actually was the voice on the phone, they quickly worked out a deal. And a couple of months later at Spyglass, they worked out another while they were backed up on the tee at the 188-yard, par-3 12th hole.

“We’re paired with Paul Goydos at the time,” Lytle said. “So Donald wants to hit a 6-iron and Goydos wants him to hit 6-iron and I want him to hit 5-iron. So we’re going back and forth and finally I said to him: ‘O.K., Donald, I’ll tell you what, you hit the 5-iron and if I’m wrong you don’t have to pay me. If I’m right, you pay me double.’

“He looked at me and said, ‘You sure?’ ” Lytle continued. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m sure.’ I was sure, but I was thinking maybe he’d hit it too hard and try to prove me wrong. But he hit it perfect. Two bounces and it went in the hole.”

McIlroy heads lead group in desert

Twenty five players are within four shots of the leaders as players struggled to hold their ground in the windswept third round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy struggled early, bogeying his first three holes before he was able the right the ship. The biggest surprised is the steady presence of Sergio Garcia. Despite a three over seventy-five, he’s just two shots back from being relevant again. He is paired with Tiger Woods for the final round tomorrow.

Note: This is the second week this season that there have been three holes in one for the week.

T1	HANSEN, Anders	-8
T1	AIKEN, Thomas	-8
T1	MCILROY, Rory	-8
T4	VELASCO, Alvaro	-7
T4	QUIROS, Alvaro	-7
T4	ANDERSSON HED, Fredrik	-7
T4	RUMFORD, Brett	-7
T4	GONNET, Jean-Baptiste	-7
T4	WOODS, Tiger	-7
T4	GARCIA, Sergio	-7

Battle for number one race after round three:

T4        WOODS             -7
T13      WESTWOOD     -5
T47      KAYMER           E

Name that hole

You may have heard that in order to fill a sparse schedule, LPGA commissioner created the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup—a homage to the greats that have built the LPGA. For more details, read it here. The LPGA announced that they have named all 18 holes of the Wildfire Golf Club in honor of the LPGA founders and major contributors. The names were voted on by LPGA fans. 

 

The LPGA also announced that they have increased the money committed for charity from $500,000 to 1 million. The additional $500,000 will be split amongst the top ten to designate their winnings to their individual charities.

 

1st place: $200,000 to charity of player’s choice
2nd place: $100,000 to charity of player’s choice
3rd place: $55,000 to charity of player’s choice
4th place: $40,000 to charity of player’s choice
5th place: $30,000 to charity of player’s choice
6th place: $25,000 to charity of player’s choice
7th place: $20,000 to charity of player’s choice
8th place: $15,000 to charity of player’s choice
9th place: $10,000 to charity of player’s choice
10th place: $5,000 to charity of player’s choice 

 

Here is the list of player named holes:

Holes/Player Names
Hole 1:  Patty Berg*
Hole 2: Nancy Lopez
Hole 3:  Juli Inkster
Hole 4:  Annika Sorenstam
Hole 5:  Mickey Wright
Hole 6: Kathy Whitworth
Hole 7:  Alice Bauer*
Hole 8:  Helen Hicks*
Hole 9:  Marilynn Smith*
Hole 10: Shirley Spork*
Hole 11: Opal Hill*
Hole 12: Sally Sessions*
Hole 13: Helen Dettweitter*
Hole 14: Betty Dannoff*
Hole 15: Betty Jameson*
Hole 16: Marlene Hagge*
Hole 17: Babe Zaharias*
Hole 18: Louise Suggs*
*Indicates LPGA Founder

Marino maintains pace

Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: Second round

Steve Marino separated himself from the field with a six under round at Pebble Beach. Conditions were benign and Marino took full advantage, making seven birdies to just one bogey. He’s in a good position to progress well into the weekend playing the easier Monterey Peninsula course tomorrow before returning to Pebble Beach on Sunday.

1	Steve Marino (PB)	-13
2	D.A. Points (SH)	-9
3	Keegan Bradley (SH)	-8
T4	Padraig Harrington (PB)	-7
T4	Bryce Molder (MP)	-7
T4	Bill Lunde (PB)	-7
T4	Chris Riley (PB)	-7
T4	J.J. Henry (MP)	-7
T4	Sam Saunders (PB)	-7
T4	Nick Watney (MP)	-7
T4	J.B. Holmes (MP)	-7
T4	Tom Gillis (MP)	-7
T4	Hunter Mahan (PB)	-7

Fantasy Results after round 2:

T89      Brian Gay                   +1

2          D.A. Points                 -9

T4        Nick Watney               -7

T43      Brendon de Jonge       -2

No love for Lovemark

It is certain that Jamie Lovemark didn’t think it would be easy, but did he think it would be this hard? Lovemark had an outstanding career at USC and finished atop of the money list on the Nationwide tour last year. Only to find that the PGA has been all he can handle. Lovemark missed the cut three times in first four starts and his stats are abysmal to start the season. It’s still early in the season, but Lovemark has now withdrawn from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am due to back problems.

Not bad for a day’s work

Arabianbusiness.com reported here that Tiger Woods’ design company was paid 55.4 million in 2008 for a golf resort in Dubai. The resort was scheduled to open in September of 2009, but the project was suspended last week by Dubai Properties Group (DPG). The contract was totaled at 98.8 million.

Say hello to my little friend

John Daly's new bag. Complete with 10inch flat screen that plays ads, videos, and music.

Rory holding court; Tiger in the mix

Tiger had a clean sheet with six birdies and no bogeys for a sixty-six after two rounds at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic to position himself nicely for the weekend. McIlroy made just one bogey to his five birdies to maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard.

Battle for number one race:
Woods           -7
Westwood     -5
Kaymer         -4

Clambake love-in begins

Round 1: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am 

 

Steve Marino and D.A. Points lead after the opening round on the Monterey Peninsula. Marino’s clean sheet netted him seven birdies, while Points had eight birdies and one bogey. The story/shot of the day belongs to Alex Cejka who made an albatross on the par five opening hole of his round.

T1	Steve Marino (SH)	-7	65
T1	D.A. Points (MP)	-7	63
3	Alex Cejka (MP)	-6	64
T4	Tom Gillis (PB)	-5	67
T4	Gary Woodland (PB)	-5	67
T4	Keegan Bradley (MP)	-5	65

Fantasy Results after round 1:

T59      Brian Gay                    E

T1        D.A. Points                 -7

T16      Nick Watney               -4

T59      Brendon de Jonge        E

Old Rory meet the new Rory

From the start, Rory McIlroy never conducted himself in a manner that reflected his age. At age 21, he was a public relations dream. No wild nights a la Tiger Woods or Anthony Kim and no comments to retract—just wholesome kid playing in a man’s world.  Ironically, the most immature aspect of McIlroy is the very thing that has made him who he is—his golf game. When you’re 21, have the world by a couple of Titleist and making boat loads of cash; it’s easy to have aggressive strategy on the course. This will not be the case anymore as Reuters reports that McIlroy is taking a more mature approach to the game.

"I'm working a little bit on strategy, working a bit on the swing and basically just trying to develop into a more mature golfer.”

"So you'll see me playing away from the pins more and knowing when it's a good time to be aggressive and when it's a good time to go for the middle of the green."

Content with his station in life he may be, but Rory is looking to take his game to the next level if he wishes to be relevant in the analogs of golf history.

Twitter thread of the day

Sports Illustrated’s Alan Shipnuck spent the morning tweeting is tale of woe about being shut out of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as an alternate. Steve Elling responded with this tweet and the thread has taken a life of its own:

EllingYelling Steve Elling

@AlanShipnuck Thus, a new term is added to golf lexicon. "I got flat Shipnucked" means left at altar, holding bag, rained out, unfulfilled.

Brad Eakman

by EllingYelling

@

@EllingYelling oh dude, trying to get off the Titanic and the last lifeboat just hit the water. Curses Shipnucked again!

Daniel Price

by EllingYelling

@

@EllingYelling @AlanShipnuck E.G.   Haney left Foley completely Shipnucked!

Steve Elling

A true Twit wit just wrote, brilliantly, that 1,000 ticket-holding fans got "Shipnucked" at the Super Bowl last week. Best of bunch so far.

Jay Townsend

by EllingYelling

@RandallMell @EllingYelling Mubarak is @alanshipnuck 'd

Randall Mell

by EllingYelling

Definition may be evolving, like a virus. RT @ProImpactGolf: @EllingYelling GMac "shipnucked" Tiger at his own tournament.

Steve Elling

Phil Mickelson played his stellar career in shadow of Tiger and has never quite climbed to top spot in rankings. Definition of Shipnucked.

Golf’s Ayatollah gets hall call

The PGA has announced that Frank Chirkinian will be inducted the World Golf Hall of Fame the week before the Players Championship on May 9.  Nicknamed the Ayatollah by his CBS bretheren, Chirkinian is responsible for dramatically changing the way golf is viewed on television. Most notably, the relative to par scoring we see on television today. He has never minded saying that “[he] was probably the most innovative and brilliant son of a bitch that ever worked in television. I've done so damn many things I can't remember half of them."

The hall call came in an emergency session to induct Chirkinian due to his battle with lung cancer. Tim Rosaforte was with Chirkinian when he received the phone call and reported this response:

"Considering my current health situation, this has given me an incredible boost in my attitude toward life because this award is the most coveted in the game of golf," he said. "I am so proud to be a major part of that story."

As far as being called the Ayatollah, he noted as saying, "I accepted that as a compliment. It means you know what you want and how you want it."

Long live the Ayatollah.

Duel in the desert

Omega Dubai Desert Classic: Round 1

Round one is in the books and McIlroy has set the pace with an seven under 65, which included eight birdies and one bogey. Sergio continues to show signs of life in 2011 with a five under 67.

The real tournament though, is the battle for number one. Westwood has been accused of being a false number one and has started 2011 season a touch rusty from a long winter holiday. Kaymer has failed in two attempts to dislodge Westwood from world's number 1 and who knows what Tiger will do.

1	MCILROY, Rory	-7	18	65
2	GARCIA, Sergio	-5	18	67
T10	WESTWOOD, Lee	-3	18	69
T10	KAYMER, MARTIN	-3	18	69
T27	WOODS, TIGER	-1	18	71