Fluff and Bones to Appear on Next ‘Feherty’

By Golf Channel

THE NEXT EPISODE OF ‘FEHERTY’ on Golf Channel (Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET) will feature two of the best caddies in the game: Mike “Fluff” Cowan and Jim “Bones” Mackay.

David Feherty will chat with the two loopers about what it has been like to tote the bag for Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk during careers that have combined nearly a half century of heavy lifting and thousands of miles of walking the world’s best golf courses.

With all that wear and tear, Feherty chose a spa setting for the shared interview, and does his best pampering with a hilarious pedicure scene.

Player-caddie relationships often last no more than a few years, but Mackay has been on Phil Mickelson’s bag for nearly his entire career. Feherty finds out how the two became acquainted and what makes their relationship the exception to the rule.

Currently working for Jim Furyk, Cowan also has caddied for Peter Jacobsen and Tiger Woods. He talks about his experience as Tiger’s caddie and explains how being a good friend with a player can lead to success.

The two caddies also talk about how often their bosses want to hear their opinions or just confirm their own; describe some of the best shots they have ever witnessed; show some caddie hand signals; and discuss what they think is right and wrong with the game.

‘Feherty’ debuted in June as Golf Channel’s most-watched original series premiere in its history.

2011 Heritage TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2011 HERITAGE IS UNDERWAY at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Garrett Willis is the early leader after posting a 7-under 64. The first round is still in progress.



Purse: $5.7 million
Winner’s share: $1.026 million
Defending champion: Jim Furyk




2011 Heritage Leaderboard


Inside the field
Inside the course
Tee times
Interviews
Tournament overview
Tournament news
Tour report
Heritage website


TV SCHEDULE

TV coverage of the 2011 Heritage is on Golf Channel and CBS.

Thu, 4/21:
GOLF 3p - 6p ET

Fri, 4/22:
GOLF 3p - 6p ET

Sat, 4/23:
CBS 3p - 6p ET

Sun, 4/24:
CBS 3p - 6p ET

SIRIUS-XM broadcast times


−The Armchair Golfer

2011 Transitions Championship TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2011 TRANSITIONS CHAMPIONSHIP is underway at Innisbrook Resort-Copperhead in Palm Harbor, Florida. 2010 Player of the Year Jim Furyk defends his title in a field that includes 25 of the top 60 players in the world, including king-of-the-hill Martin Kaymer.

Purse: $5.7 million
Winner’s share: $972,000
Defending champion: Jim Furyk

Inside the field
Inside the course
Tee times
Interviews
Tournament overview
Tournament news
Tour report
Transitions Championship website

2011 Transitions Championship Leaderboard

TV SCHEDULE

TV coverage of the 2011 Transitions Championship is on Golf Channel and NBC.

Thu, 3/17:
GOLF 3p - 6p ET

Fri, 3/18:
GOLF 3p - 6p ET

Sat, 3/19:
GOLF 1p - 3p ET

Sun, 3/20:
GOLF 1p - 3p ET

SIRIUS-XM broadcast times

−The Armchair Golfer

2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

Tiger made a clutch birdie on 18 to square his match
with Thomas Bjorn, and then lost on the 19th hole.

THE 2011 WGC-ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY Championship is underway at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, in Marana, Arizona. The field of 64 sliced in half. Early high-seed exits: Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Ian Poulter, Dustin Johnson and Retief Goosen. This is match play, folks. Anything can happen.

Purse: $8.5 million
Winner’s share: $1.4 million
Defending champion: Ian Poulter

The brackets
The course
Tournament overview
Tournament news
Video
Interviews
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship website


2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship Live Scoring


TV SCHEDULE

TV coverage of the 2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship is on Golf Channel and NBC. All times Eastern.

GOLF
Wed 12 – 6 pm
Thu 2 – 6 pm
Fri 2 – 6 pm
Sat 12 – 2 pm
Sun 9 – 1 pm

NBC
Sat 2 – 6 pm
Sun 2 – 6 pm

−The Armchair Golfer

Players Select Jim Furyk as 2010 POY

IN A VOTE BY PGA Tour players, Jim Furyk was awarded the 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Others on the ballot included Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, but Furyk was the clear choice in my mind. Jim’s victory at the Tour Championship sealed the deal. He also walked off with the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. His two other wins came at the Transitions Championship and Verizon Heritage.

“The year just keeps getting better is all I can say,” Furyk told reporters at the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California. “I’m not sure I want 2010 to end at this point.”

In a year defined by Tiger Woods’s free-fall off and on the golf course, the 40-year-old Furyk had the best season of his 18-year career to rise above other contenders for the tour’s largest pot of gold (FedEx Cup) and top award. No one—not even Furyk himself, I expect—could have seen it coming. No knock on Jim, but I wouldn’t expect him to win POY again. The Tiger vacuum created unexpected opportunities this season for Furyk and other veteran players and rising stars. What happens in 2011 is anyone’s guess.

Rickie Fowler won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

−The Armchair Golfer

Jim Furyk Snags PGA Player of the Year Award

CONGRATULATIONS TO JIM FURYK for winning the PGA Player of the Year, an award given by the PGA of America. Furyk earned 60 points under the PGA’s points system. Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker each collected 50 points. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson tallied 46 and 42 points, respectively.

Furyk ended a three-year drought when he won the Transitions Championship in March. That was just the beginning for the 40-year-old. He went on to capture the Verizon Heritage in April and the season-ending Tour Championship, making it his first three-win season in 18 years on the PGA Tour. He also won the FedEx Cup and its $10 million payoff. It was a career year for Furyk, and the player of the year award caps it off.

Kuchar won the Vardon Trophy, which is given to the player who has the lowest adjusted scoring average and has played a minimum of 60 rounds. Kuchar had a 69.61 scoring average. Stricker was a close second at 69.66.

In 2009, Tiger Woods won both the PGA Player of the Year Award and Vardon Trophy.

Ben Hogan won the inaugural PGA Player of the Year Award in 1948. Harry Cooper was the first recipient of the Vardon Trophy (named for British great Harry Vardon) in 1937.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Captain Pavin Addresses Media and Heckling Chant (Clip)

THE U.S. RYDER CUP team arrived at the Cardiff Airport in Wales on Monday. Captain Corey Pavin, as seen in the above clip, made some brief comments to a lukewarm crowd that included members of the media.

“The boys and I are getting to know each other,” Pavin said, “see who we are and what we can be. So far I like what I’ve seen.”

The U.S. Ryder Cup captain then presented his squad. A band played in the background.

Soon after things took an uncomfortable turn. An unidentified male voice began to chant “We want Jimmy.” It caught on, spreading throughout the crowd. Jimmy? No one on the American team understood what it meant, unless it was a call for FedEx Cup winner Jim Furyk to step to the microphone.

The fiery Pavin was not pleased. “I would hope you would support who we are, not who we are not. These individuals have made a choice to work, a choice to sacrifice, to put themselves on the line ... that kind of commitment and effort deserves and demands your respect.”

The captain’s stern response was followed by an awkward silence.

It’s uncertain how the episode will affect the team, but some expect Pavin to use it to further motivate his squad, already considered heavy underdogs.

Related:
Captain Pavin’s Picks: ‘My Team Is on the Floor’ (Clip)

−The Armchair Golfer

(This is an ARMCHAIR GOLF spoof.)

It Rains Money in Atlanta for Jim Furyk

2010 Tour Championship Recap
Winner: Jim Furyk
Score: 8 under, 272 (67, 65, 70, 70)
Quote: “It’s my second biggest win.”
Fact: Won $11 million with used $39 putter.
Thought: Winning Ryder Cup would cap off best year of Furyk’s career.

I DON’T TALK TO the TV a lot. Certainly not as much as I used to. And usually not with my family around (not that they care). But I was talking to the TV late this afternoon as I tuned in to the final holes of the Tour Championship. I was talking Jim Furyk through those last few holes because I didn’t want to see him blow the tournament and FedEx Cup.

I don’t understand how the the FedEx Cup points work. I let the talking heads and graphics help me keep score. What I did understand was that if Furyk won the tournament, he’d also win the FedEx Cup (and $10 million). The same was true for Luke Donald and Retief Goosen as they played the closing holes.

I decided Furyk is my guy. Nothing against the others, but I’ve always liked Furyk’s grind-it-out style.

So then he bogeys 16. Me: “Um, Jim. C’mon, buddy.” Good drive at 17 and then a weak approach shot. (I thought he hit his second shot fat long before Johnny Miller asked him what happened in the post-round interview. Was it that hard for the TV guys to see?) Another bogey. Me: “JIM!”

Eighteenth tee, long par 3. It’s raining hard, sure. Tough conditions. I get it, TV guys. (Hey, I’ve played in lots of rain and with soaking wet grips, just not for the Gross Domestic Product of a small nation.) Me: “Just get it on the green, Jimmy. C’mon now.”

Bunker.

Some work to do here. Making it interesting, eh Jim? Nothing to say now. I’m just watching. The ball comes out clean, hops, spins and checks two or so feet from the cup. I could make that one. Well, maybe. At least the soaking rain might hide the soiled spot on my pants.

Jim turns his cap around so the rain won’t drip off the bill and taps it in. He later called the putt dummy proof.

It was a nice ending. The guy who missed The Barclays because of a faulty alarm ends up winning it all. And with that used putter he picked up at Joe & Leigh’s in the Boston area, which sounds something like the House of Putters.

“It was like 65 bucks,” Furyk said, “but they sold it to me for $39, I think. I didn’t ask for that, trust me. I didn’t barter.

“It was a used putter. It’s got a nick on the back flange. It’s got a little ding in the top line. I never loft and lied it which is rare for me because I’ve always got my putters on a loft-lie machine at home, and the way the grip is on it, it might be slightly off center but that’s kind of how I like it anyway.”

Next stop for Jim and his $39 putter is Wales for this week’s Ryder Cup.

So, with three wins and the FedEx Cup, Jim Furyk is player of the year, right? I can’t make a stronger case for anyone else.

−The Armchair Golfer

Rules Fatigue Grips Golf World

IF JIM FURYK’S CELL PHONE didn’t lose power last week at The Barclays, would the PGA Tour have suspended its pro-am policy for the rest of the season? In a word, no. I don’t think so. No one would be talking about the rule and the so-called unfairness of it. Popular, headline-grabbing Phil Mickelson wouldn’t be sounding off and the PGA Tour wouldn’t have a PR problem.

(Photo: Dustin Johnson is in a bunker, and knows it / Gordons, Flickr)

Furyk is a good guy, a gamer who fulfills his tour obligations. His cell phone battery failed him. That, and his lack of a backup. To play the PGA Tour, you need to guard against equipment failure on and off the course. In addition to carrying those three or four wedges, you’d be wise to have two alarms.

It was an odd incident, just like the Dustin Johnson bunker incident at the PGA Championship, and Juli Inkster’s donut DQ at the Safeco Classic, and last weekend’s cheating allegations at the LPGA event in Canada, which is a different kettle of fish.

People are fed up. Stupid rules. A guy doesn’t know he’s in a bunker. A gal is trying to warm up after a 25-minute delay in the middle of her round. A guy overslept and showed up five minutes late for the pro-am. Rules, rules, rules.

The golf world is ready to throw the book at the rules book. Granted, golf does have some odd rules. And the PGA Tour does make up its own policies concerning things like pro-ams to protect its interests. But it’s not like this stuff is new.

What if this last month has simply been an odd confluence of rules violations affecting name players? Unfortunate, yes. Time to throw out the rules? Maybe not so fast. The bunker fiasco was by far the worst situation. The PGA of America needs to think hard about how they’ll conduct future championships at Whistling Straits.

As far as the PGA Tour pro-ams, here’s what Stewart Cink told Michael Whitmer of Boston.com:

I’d say less than 50 percent of the players really understand how important they are, and that’s a shame. And despite the tour’s efforts, I think that trend is going down. I don’t think players make the connection between the pro-am and the support. We aren’t born into this world with the entitlement of playing golf on the PGA Tour. All this happens through hard work and sponsorship, and we have to be attractive to business sponsors who want to put their name and their money behind us.

Did the PGA Tour buckle due to the backlash? Did Dustin get shafted by an unusual local rule? Should Juli have known to stay away from donuts?

I say yes to all three. And all because the past month in tour golf has been as odd as some of the rules.

−The Armchair Golfer

PGA Championship: Young Guns Dominate at Birdie Straits

NICK WATNEY PUTTED AND GRINNED his way to a 66 at the PGA Championship to take a three-shot lead into the final round at Birdie, er, Whistling Straits. The Pete Dye track had no defense against the precocious genius of the young guns. The wind was down, the greens were soft, and the scores were low.

Tied in second place, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy are Watney’s closest pursuers. Three more of the youth movement—Martin Kaymer, Jason Day and Wenchong Liang—are T4.

(Photo: This is going to hurt, ball. Dustin Johnson tees off at the Quail Hollow Championship / Ed McDonald, Flickr)

The young guns rode into Whistling Straits on Saturday and loaded up on birdies like it was the dessert buffet at Golden Corral. Leader Watney carded eight on his way to a 66. Johnson had five and no bogeys for a 67. McIlroy had six in his round of 67, as did Kaymer (67) and Day (66). And, with eight birds on his card, Liang set the course record of 64.

There are fossils in contention: the ancient Steve Elkington, a 47-year-old former PGA champion; world No. 5 Jim Furyk, 40; and Masters champion Zach Johnson, 34. Yes, even Mr. Johnson is an old man. I’m telling you, anybody over 32 on this leaderboard is old, old, old.

Which of the boys will pass the examination tomorrow? Nick? Dustin? Rory? Martin? Jason? One of the fossils?

This is going to be fun.

−The Armchair Golfer

Furyk Wins Plaid, Davis Wins Praise

2010 Verizon Heritage Recap
Winner: Jim Furyk
Score: 13 under, 271 (67, 68, 67, 69)
Quote: “I think my confidence level is obviously very high.”
Fact: Ranks 4th all time in career PGA Tour earnings.
Thought: Are the recent and soon-to-be 40-year-olds (Els, Mickelson, Furyk) taking over?

I SPENT PART OF SUNDAY afternoon (and evening since I watched the replay on Golf Channel because I didn’t see the last few holes) wondering about two things: 1) Is Jim Furyk going to win again so soon? 2) Who the heck is Brian Davis?

Let’s start with the latter. After the CBS crew explained that Davis had finished second on the PGA Tour three times, I felt as if I should know something about the Englishman. But it didn’t rattle anything loose in my brain. Turns out he finished 43rd on the PGA Tour money list in 2009 and has won twice on the European Tour. Maybe I should have noticed. It’s a reminder that there are a bunch of Brian Davises, top 100 players who are good enough to win on tour at any moment. One good week can change everything.

Furyk is a prime example. He ended a three-year win drought a month ago at the Transitions Championship, and now he has another. Home of the Verizon Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links is old-school golf, not a long track by any means (under 7,000 yards, actually) but narrow, breezy, sandy and watery, perfect for the boring, down-the-middle, short-knocking style of golf Furyk plays. I’m impressed, not just because Furyk won again so soon but because he did it the week after missing the cut at the Masters with ugly rounds of 80 and 76. Talk about shaking it off. Just throw the clubs in the trunk and head to the next event. Tomorrow is always a new day. Furyk demonstrated perhaps the most important attribute in golf: a short memory.

Getting back to Davis, we now know something else about him. He called a penalty on himself on the first playoff hole, certainly a laudable thing to do. Davis suspected a loose impediment moved in the hazard on his back swing and immediately called over the PGA Tour’s Slugger White after the ball came to a stop on the far side of the green. When the situation was finally sorted out, Davis was assessed a two-stroke penalty and Furyk was the new owner of a plaid sport coat.

The self-called penalty seems to be the bigger story in the tournament’s aftermath, and I get that, sort of, since it came at such a highly visible, climactic moment. But wasn’t Davis just doing what most golfers would do under the circumstances? I hope so. And do there really need to be so many lofty commentaries about the integrity and honor of golf? We know this.

I like the quote I saw at ESPN Golf about Bobby Jones, who called a penalty on himself during a playoff in the 1925 U.S. Amateur. When he was praised afterwards, Jones said, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”

So I say well played and well called, Brian Davis. And I say the same to you if you’ve ever called a penalty on yourself on the golf course, even if it didn’t cost you the club championship.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Dietary Changes Turn It Around for Jim Furyk

SOMETIMES IT TAKES TIME to see results, but no one grinds harder or stays more committed to what he’s doing than Jim Furyk. Not long after his last PGA Tour victory at the 2007 Canadian Open, Jim got some pregame-meal advice from former Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome Bettis.

Jim cut out the eggs (too much cholesterol), the pancakes (not good) and the bacon (bad for you, real bad). Although he didn’t see immediate results, he stayed with it and stayed hungry. On Sunday at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida, it finally paid off.

Congratulations to that lean mean golfing machine, Jim Furyk, for winning the 2010 Transitions Championship.

−The Armchair Golfer