The PGA of America Turns 95

By PGA of America

THE PGA OF AMERICA MARKED its 95th year on Wednesday by returning to the site of its founding, the Radisson Martinique on Broadway in New York City. The world’s largest sports organization and historic hotel celebrated the occasion by opening a permanent PGA history exhibit.

A reception featured PGA of America officials, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dave Anderson and John Wanamaker-Leas, the great grandson of department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker. Wanamaker hosted The PGA’s first organizational meeting in 1916 and later donated a trophy that became the signature hardware of the PGA Championship.

The PGA of America’s founding on April 10, 1916 took place on the second floor of then-named Hotel Martinique, where a constitution was formed, a charter signed and 78 individuals were elected into PGA membership.

Today, The PGA of America represents 27,000 men and women professionals, upholding the solemn pledge of its founders to be leaders on all levels of golf and to grow interest and participation in the game.

“The PGA of America takes pride in the commitment of its men and women member professionals who after 95 years have elevated themselves by their dedication to a sport that elevates the human spirit on many levels,” said PGA of America President Allen Wronowski.

Opening in 1898 and completing a renovation last year, the Radisson Martinique unveiled a PGA of America photographic history exhibit on its second floor and dedicated the boardroom where The PGA of America founding fathers signed the association’s charter almost a century ago.

More coverage of The PGA of America’s history and 95th anniversary

Let the FedEx Cup Playoffs Begin

THE FEDEX CUP PLAYOFFS get underway on Thursday with The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey. The four-event playoff series, which includes the Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship, concludes in Atlanta with the Tour Championship.

After much criticism and formula tinkering, the FedEx Cup points race has slowly gained acceptance. No, it’s not the majors or the Ryder Cup. No, it can’t compete with football. But it’s far better than the days when everyone tuned out after the PGA Championship. With all that cash up for grabs, the top PGA Tour players surely welcome the playoffs and gladly play deep into the month of September. That’s good for core golf fans.

Above are PGATour.com’s top 10 shots from The Barclays. I remembered three of the shots. Four, actually. After seeing it again, I did recall Sergio Garcia’s putt in his 2008 playoff against Vijay Singh. Of course, I also remembered Vijay’s long one that he made on top of Sergio. And there was Matt Kuchar’s iron out of the rough to three feet. That was last year.

I think Heath Slocum got robbed, though. Slocum’s tournament-winning 20-footer in 2009—the biggest putt of his life and the one that beat Tiger Woods—is No. 6 on the list.

Really? Only No. 6?

That’s just wrong.

−The Armchair Golfer

God Puts Long Putter in Bag

THE GROWING POPULARITY OF THE long putter has now spread from country club gates to the pearly gates, as God Almighty announced in a statement that he has added the “broomstick” to his set after a few experimental practice sessions. The creator of the universe has watched with interest as players have won with long putters for three consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour.

Adam Scott was the first, rolling to an impressive win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. PGA Tour rookie Keegan Bradley followed, winning the PGA Championship with a belly putter in his first major appearance. And on Sunday in Greensboro, North Carolina, Webb Simpson claimed his maiden PGA Tour victory using a long putter.

The strong momentum of the long putter among the professional ranks caught the attention of God—who historically is not easy to impress—and was the impetus for the switch.

The Lord admitted that he putted “very well” with a conventional putter but wanted to try the long putter to see what all the fuss was about.

God expected some good-natured barbs from St. Peter, who is part of his regular group, but said with a chuckle, “I can handle Simon Peter. I’ve long known his weaknesses, both on and off the golf course.”

God characterized himself as a recreational golfer, yet declined to reveal how many rounds he has logged this year. Asked how much he plays, God simply said, “More than the Pope and less than President Obama.”

Next up, he added, is one of his favorite golf outings, the annual father-son tournament.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
Weary of Golf, God Rains Out Viking Classic

(This is an ARMCHAIR GOLF spoof.)

‘Rapid Rewards’ for Keegan Bradley at PGA Championship

PGA TOUR ROOKIE KEEGAN BRADLEY won the 93rd PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in his first appearance in a major.

Back in a moment.

Did you know that FedEx will ship your golf clubs to most any destination? We understand. Nothing’s more important than your clubs.

Bradley, who earlier this year won the HP Byron Nelson Championship, birdied two of the last three holes after carding a disastrous triple bogey on the par-3 15th to force a playoff with front-runner Jason Dufner. Dufner stumbled on the closing four-hole stretch, making three consecutive bogeys.

Stay tuned.

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On the first hole of the three-hole aggregate playoff, Dufner nearly holed his approach shot.

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“I’m disappointed now,” Dufner said, “but there’s a lot of good things to take from this week.”

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“I just kept telling myself, ‘Don’t let that [15th] hole define this whole tournament,’” said Bradley, the nephew of LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley.

A quick timeout.

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Bradley won the three-hole aggregate playoff by one stroke to win the year’s final major, “Glory’s Last Shot.”

Back to wrap up after this.

It’s Bridgestone or nothing.

“Oh, it feels unbelievable,” Bradley said.

That’s it until next time.

−The Armchair Golfer

Captain Love Contending at PGA

U.S. RYDER CUP CAPTAIN DAVIS LOVE III is playing good golf this summer. On Thursday Love fired a 2-under 68 in the opening round of the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club, a round that included five birdies. Love won the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot, his only major.

Love, who is currently 1 under on his second round, is grouped with Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington. Both Woods (77) and Harrington (73) are struggling to regain the form that won them multiple major championships.

Meanwhile, Love is a motivated 47-year-old veteran. Yes, he is the Ryder Cup captain. But he also wants to be a Ryder Cup player.

“I made 12 (Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup) teams in a row,” Love said, “and I’ve been frustrated ever since. I want to make another Ryder Cup team.”

Love made his first Ryder Cup appearance in 1993 at The Belfry. That was the last win for the Americans until 1999. He played on that ‘99 squad, as well as the U.S. teams in 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2004. Last year Love was an assistant to U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin at Celtic Manor.

Except for the Masters, it has been a solid year in the majors for the new American Ryder Cup skipper. Love finished in a tie for 11th at the U.S. Open and recorded a ninth-place finish at The Open Championship. He has made 10 cuts in 16 starts and is 86th in the FedEx Cup standings.

While Love is sharpening his game in the hopes of making his team, he will also be keeping a close eye on the other talent. He will have four captain’s picks to make next summer.

“What I’m going to be looking for are guys that are hot and that are putting good,” he said.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Brought to you by YourGolfTravel.com, the online destination for UK golf and golf Europe.)

(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Rodman Wanamaker: The Man Behind the Trophy

(Plucked and updated from the ARMCHAIR GOLF archives.)

HERE’S WHAT THEY’RE PLAYING FOR in the 93rd PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club. (Plus $1.35 million, plus exemptions and endorsements galore, plus getting the major monkey off their back, if they’re Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, or others.)

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the Wanamaker Trophy. Shiny, isn’t it?

Of course, as with anything that’s 93, there’s a story behind it. It’s named after Rodman Wanamaker, a Philadelphia-born man of means who took up the cause of professional golfers when they were considered to be lowly working class and not allowed in the clubhouse or locker room. Think Walter Hagen era.

Wanamaker thought the treatment of pro golfers was wrong, so he spearheaded the formation of the PGA of America and its pros-only tournament, the PGA Championship. He launched the effort with $2,500 and ordered the silver cup. Every pro who teed off on Thursday playing for the $7.5 million purse should say a word of thanks for Rodman Wanamaker, a Princeton grad who owned the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph newspaper and financed designs for experimental seaplanes that made aviation history.

The original Wanamaker Trophy was huge—more than two feet tall and two feet wide (handle to handle) and weighing 27 pounds. That’s a lot of silver to hoist. Today the PGA of America awards a smaller replica to the winner.

Multiple Winners

Beginning in 1916, the PGA Championship was a match-play tournament until 1958 when TV helped dictate the move to stroke play. With Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus topping the list, following are multiple winners of the PGA Championship.

Walter Hagen 5
Jack Nicklaus 5
Tiger Woods 4
Gene Sarazen 3
Sam Snead 3
Jim Barnes 2
Leo Diegel 2
Denny Shute 2
Paul Runyan 2
Byron Nelson 2
Ben Hogan 2
Gary Player 2
Dave Stockton 2
Raymond Floyd 2
Lee Trevino 2
Larry Nelson 2
Nick Price 2
Vijay Singh 2

Notable majors winners who didn’t win the PGA Championship and wish they had: Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: kompuder, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Did PGA Identity Crisis Spawn ‘Glory’s Last Shot’?

WHEN DID THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP become known as “Glory’s Last Shot”? Did someone in Palm Beach Gardens come up with that, or maybe an ad agency?

It’s a serious question. I’ve been watching all four majors for many years and I can’t recall when I started hearing the PGA slogan. Now I hear it all the time. Too much, really.

I took to Google to investigate, a cursory research effort, I’ll admit. I didn’t come up with much. Within the first two pages of search results there are references to “Glory’s Last Shot” dating back to at least 2006. That’s as far as I looked.

A 2008 Associated Press story titled “Disrespected PGA Remains ‘Glory’s Last Shot’” touches on the issue.

“Ever since scrapping match play as its format 50 years ago, the PGA Championship has suffered an identity crisis,” reads the opening sentence.

Ah, yes. If you were picking majors the way you choose teams on a school playground, the PGA would be standing self-consciously against the chain-link fence while the Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship were fought over. Those three don’t have nicknames or mottos. They don’t need them.

The Masters is associated with Augusta National and Bobby Jones. The U.S. Open is often thought of as the game’s toughest challenge. The Open Championship is the world’s oldest major and the only one played on a links course.

“And what does that make the PGA Championship?” asked the AP story.

“The other one,” Geoff Ogilvy answered with a grin.

Ogilvy was quick to add that it’s still some pretty good competition, which is a bit of an understatement. The PGA Championship often has the best field in golf. And the players certainly want their name on the Wanamaker Trophy, engraved alongside Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

Any major is a career-defining or career-enhancing victory, including the PGA Championship, which went from match play to stroke play in 1958. Dow Finsterwald won that year, his only major. Bob Rosburg won the next year, his only major. Jay Hebert and Jerry Barber won the following two PGAs, their only majors.

So, yes, it’s an important major, even if it does have an identity crisis and is propped up with a slogan. I liked the PGA Championship long before it was tagged with “Glory’s Last Shot,” a phrase that I expect to hear too often this week.

−The Armchair Golfer

Who Are Those Guys? Scott Stallings Edition

Editor’s note: In “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) kept saying, “Who are those guys?” That line reminds me of the PGA Tour some weeks, including this last one.

ON SUNDAY I WAS FLIPPING from the U.S. Senior Open to the Greenbrier Classic. I hoped Olin Browne would hang on to win his first major. I also was curious to see who would kiss the trophy at The Greenbrier at Old White.

As it turned out, it wasn’t Anthony Kim or Webb Simpson or Bill Haas. The Greenbrier Classic winner in a sudden-death playoff was PGA Tour rookie Scott Stallings, the sixth rookie to win on the circuit during the 2011 season.

So this bears repeating: Who are those guys? Or, rather, who is this guy? More on that in a moment.

Playing with AK, the 54-hole leader, Stallings knocked his drive out of bounds on the 71st hole and made a bogey that could have put an end to his hopes. But the 26-year-old rookie sank a dramatic birdie on the par-3 finishing hole to crash the playoff with veteran Bob Estes and Haas.

Then, like a relief pitcher running in from the bullpen in the late innings of a tight ball game, the excited Stallings sprinted into the playoff after signing his scorecard. Yes, he actually ran. Crazy fun stuff.

“Running from the back of the green to the tee to go to the playoff is something I’ll never forget,” said Stallings. “I’ve been working with a trainer for about a month, so he should be proud.”

The pumped-up rookie lofted another beautiful short iron on the 168-yard par 3 and the ball landed in nearly the same spot as before. After Haas and Estes missed their longer birdie putts, Stallings sank the seven-footer for his first PGA Tour win and high-fived and bear-hugged his caddie.

If you’re in the dark on Stallings like I am, here’s the sheet on him.

Stallings was an all-state high-school golfer who went to Tennessee Tech, where he won seven tournaments and was an All-American in 2006. He played the mini tours and missed making it through PGA Tour Qualifying School by a single shot in 2009. After finishing 53rd on the Nationwide Tour money list in 2010, Stallings went back to Q School last fall and walked away with his PGA Tour card after a T11 finish.

The rookie missed his first five cuts this season. A breakthrough came at the Transitions Championship, where Stallings finished third after Kenny Perry helped him get into the event with a sponsor exemption. (Perry and Stallings have the same agent.)

Now, with his first tour win, Stallings is in Akron this week for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and in Atlanta next week for the PGA Championship. He has gone from 562nd to 119th in the Official World Golf Ranking and from 88th to 26th in the FedEx Cup standings. That’s quite a sprint.

−The Armchair Golfer

More ‘Who Are Those Guys?’:
Keegan Bradley
Gary Woodland

Two Ping Engineers Qualify for Majors

THEY SIT NEXT TO EACH other in the engineering department of Ping headquarters in Phoenix. Now Ping engineers Marty Jertson and Mike Nicolette (pictured) will both tee it up in major championships this summer. The company said “it’s believed to be the first time two golfers who design golf clubs full time have accomplished the feat of qualifying for a major championship in the same year.”

These guys are good. They know how to design clubs—and play with them.

Jertson, a Class A PGA member, will play in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in August. He earned one of 20 invitations with his fifth-place tie at the PGA Professional National Championship. Jertson joined Ping as an intern in 2003.

Shooting a 66, Nicolette was the co-medalist at the U.S. Senior Open qualifier in Glendale, Arizona, earning one of two spots for the 50-and-over national championship to be played later this month at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Nicolette is a former PGA Tour player and winner of the 1983 Bay Hill Classic. With Ping since 1989, the 54-year-old employee recently won the Arizona Senior Open.

“Amazing,” said Ping Chairman and CEO John Solheim. “I couldn’t be happier for Marty and Mike. For one week this summer, they’ll get to put their talents up against the best in the game.”

−The Armchair Golfer

Y.E. Yang Is Hanging Around at 137

Editor’s note: I’m at Congressional Country Club this week covering the 2011 U.S. Open. Share your U.S. Open thoughts: Comment below or email me at armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

WERE IT NOT FOR Rory McIlroy’s record-setting pace at the U.S. Open, Y.E. Yang might just be the talk of the tournament. The South Korean who slayed Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship backed up his opening 68 with a hard-earned 69. Yang has posted a 5-under total of 137 through 36 holes, six shots behind the streaking McIlroy and three shots clear of the rest of the field.

With birdies at the par-3 7th and par-4 9th, Yang went out in 34. I caught up with him at the 11th and watched as he pulled his approach shot on the 494-yard par 4 into the deep stuff left of the green. He was unable to salvage a par, but got the shot back at the 12th with a birdie from short range after an exquisite wedge shot. (Playing partners Ryo Ishikawa and Anthony Kim also birdied the 12th to make it three for three.)

Yang bogeyed again after pulling his tee shot at the par-3 13th. The pulls, it seemed, were a trend—at least on the back nine. After making par at the 14th, Yang yanked his tee shot into the tall rough on the long par-4 15th. He laid up, wedged on, and sank the putt for a scrappy par. He followed with his fourth birdie of the round at the par-5 16th and finished with two pars.

It looked like a round during which Yang didn’t have his best game and yet manufactured a good score, which is exactly what you need to do at the U.S. Open. Take away McIlroy and Yang would have a three-shot lead on six players at 2-under, or 140. Instead, Yang will try to keep McIlroy within sight as they tee off in the final pairing on Saturday afternoon.

Yang said he isn’t concerned about McIlroy at the moment, focusing instead on his own game and how to get around a rugged U.S. Open layout.

“I do have a strategy and that’s just to zone out everything around me and just play my game,” he said.

But he also doesn’t believe that McIlroy has an insurmountable lead. Yang cited last year’s Korean Open where he won after trailing by 10 shots.

“I know it’s sort of a different kind of level of golf tournament,” he said, “but still there are many amazing things that happen in golf.”

There’s a long way to go, 36 holes of pressure-filled U.S. Open golf. If McIlroy keeps playing like he did the first two days, no one will catch him. But if he runs into a rough patch, Yang might have the fortitude and game to rise to the top of the leaderboard. After all, he’s already taken down a Tiger.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
2011 U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy Beats Up ‘Neighborhood Bully’
2011 U.S. Open: A Rock and a Hard Place
2011 U.S. Open TV Schedule and Tournament Notes
2011 U.S. Open: A 16-Year-Old Player and Other Notes
2011 U.S. Open: ‘Big Blue’ Ready to Challenge Field of 156

(Photo: Courtesy of Ballantine’s)

2011 U.S. Open: William Cauley In, Tiger Woods Out

A FRIEND ASKED ME last Friday at our local Lion’s Club tournament if I thought Tiger Woods would tee it up at Congressional. “I don’t know,” I said. “But I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t. Tiger isn’t right.”

I meant physically—the left knee and Achilles tendon. It’s one of multiple obstacles to regaining his form. A huge one. It seemed to me that Tiger would be smart to get healthy before playing more tournament golf, even if it meant missing the national championship.

Today Tiger announced at his website that he won’t play in this year’s U.S. Open.

“I am extremely disappointed that I won’t be playing in the U.S. Open. But it’s time for me to listen to my doctors and focus on the future. I was hopeful that I could play, but if I did, I risk further damage to my left leg. My knee and Achilles’ tendon are not fully healed.”

Tiger isn’t Superman anymore, if he ever was. He’s damaged goods. He can’t will his way around the golf course like he did at Torrey Pines in June 2008. This was the only sensible choice after the re-injury at the Masters and the forced 9-hole march at The Players Championship last month.

Tiger added that he hopes to play at his AT&T National Tournament, as well as the British Open and PGA Championship. The wait-and-see game continues.

U.S. Open Qualifying

Meanwhile, with Tiger out, a bunch of other players are in, such as the one noted in the headline—William Cauley. I picked Cauley’s name off the lengthy list of those who made it through Sectional Qualifying because he posted one of the lowest scores—132. And not just in Memphis, where he qualified, but anywhere.

Cauley tied for low man at Tunica National with 67-65 in a Sectional Qualifier that included many tour pros. One other thing stood out about Cauley: he’s an amateur.

Following are some notable (or known to me) names who are headed to Congressional.

Thomas Levet, France 66-71--137
Johan Edfors, Sweden 70-70--140
Sam Saunders, Orlando, Fla. 69-72--141
Kirk Triplett, Scottsdale, Ariz. 69-64--133
Fred Funk, Ponte Vedra, Fla. 67-68--135
Ty Tryon, Orlando, Fla. 71-64--135
Chez Reavie, Scottsdale, Ariz. 69-63--132
Brandt Jobe, Westlake, Texas 62-70--132
Robert Garrigus, Charleston, S.C. 67-66--133
Nicholas O'Hern, Australia 68-67--135
D.A. Points, Windermere, Fla. 68-68--136
John Senden, Flower Mound, Texas 68-68--136
Marc Turnesa, Jupiter, Fla. 69-67--136
Marc Leishman, Norfolk, Va. 68-68--136
Webb Simpson, Charlotte, N.C. 68-69--137
Tim Petrovic, Austin, Texas 69-68--137
William Cauley (a), Jacksonville, Fla. 67-65--132
Fredrik Jacobson, Hobe Sound, Fla. 67-67--134
Sergio Garcia, Spain 68-67--135
Brian Gay, Windermere, Fla. 68-67--135
Chad Campbell, Andrews, Texas 66-69--135
Briny Baird, Palm City, Fla. 68-67--135
Todd Hamilton, Cleveland, Ohio 67-68--135
Harrison Frazar, Dallas, Texas 72-64--136
Greg Chalmers, Colleyville, Texas 66-70--136

I was also going to list notable names that didn’t make it, but now I don’t have the desire or heart to do it.

I’m In

I’ll be at Congressional next week, my first U.S. Open as a credentialed media member. I’m not sure how I’ll cover the action. But I’ll definitely show up and post my dispatches from the year’s second major. I’ve been looking forward to it for quite a while and can’t believe it’s almost here. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to email me at armchairgolfer@gmail.com.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Nick Price, Ambassador of Golf

CHAMPIONS TOUR PLAYER NICK PRICE has been named the 2011 Ambassador of Golf by Northern Ohio Golf Charities. Ambassador of Golf is an annual award given to a person who epitomizes the ideals of the game and demonstrates concerns for others on and off the golf course. Still very much an active player, Price was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003 and is someone who has been described as the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet.

“Nick has been a world-class player for more than four decades and has truly been an international ambassador for the game of golf,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. “With 29 international victories in addition to his 18 wins on the PGA Tour, Nick has helped to grow the game and give back to those less fortunate since turning professional in 1977.”

Price said he was extremely honored to be the recipient of the award. “It has been a privilege for me to have played golf professionally throughout the world and I hope that I not only inspired young golfers along the way, but also set an example for them to follow as did those before me.”

Price will be honored in a ceremony at Firestone Country Club on August 3 during the Bridgestone Invitational.

Three of Nick’s career victories were majors: two PGA Championships and a British Open. He won two of them back to back when he took both the British Open and PGA Championship in 1994. As noted here yesterday, he was ranked No. 1 in the world for nearly a year.

The wins have slowed down, but Price continues to display the long game that helped make him the game’s best player in the early 1990s. He has won four times since joining the Champions Tour, including this year’s Toshiba Classic.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

A Comfortable Conversation with Davis Love III

LAST WEEK I HAD THE opportunity to interview Davis Love III as part of the Dove® Men + Care™ media outreach. Called “Journey to Comfort,” the ad campaign features Love, Stewart Cink and other athletes such as Magic Johnson and Bobby Hurley. We discussed the campaign, his mom, his golf game, the U.S. Open and his 2012 Ryder Cup captaincy.

Love has 20 PGA Tour titles, including one major, the 1997 PGA Championship. He also has played on six U.S. Ryder Cup teams and was an assistant captain for Corey Pavin’s 2010 squad.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I heard you had the stomach flu. How are you feeling?

DAVIS LOVE: I’m feeling better, practicing every day, getting ready for a big stretch—Charlotte, Players, Fort Worth, Memorial, all those good ones. I’m excited for the rest of the year.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: Yeah, a bunch of good tournaments coming up. I’m going to get to your playing, but I wanted to ask about this campaign you’re working on. I’m old enough to remember the Dove soap ads growing up. You’ve had a lot of golf-related sponsors, but I’ll bet you could never have anticipated having someone like Dove as a sponsor. What has it been like for you?

DAVIS LOVE: It’s been great to be in national ads for a national brand that, as you said, we both grew up with. To be in a campaign like this that has other athletes … Joe Girardi and Bobby Hurley and Magic Johnson and Davis Love and Stewart Cink, it’s pretty amazing. The response has been incredible. So many people come up to me and say, “I’m comfortable in my own skin, too.” People are asking me which soap I like best. They’re saying I sure like that one [TV spot] about your mom. Not only is it brand building, it’s also telling my story. People know that my dad was a pro, that I got lessons from my dad. But my mom was such a big part of my golf life. It’s great to give her some credit and tell that story. It’s been a lot of fun. We’ve been good friends with the Cinks for a long time. It’s been fun to partner with them on this.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I think my favorite one [commercial] was with your mom. Of course, I knew about your father. A lot of people have heard about him. But you say that you got your talent from your mom. Obviously, she was a pretty good golfer herself. How would you say that she helped you in the game?

DAVIS LOVE: In reality, she was the one who taught us to compete, because she was the one who took us out on the course. My mom was a single-digit handicap for 50 years. She didn’t start playing golf until she was in her early 20s. She just picked up the clubs and immediately started playing well. She was very competitive. Not in a U.S. Amateur or tour pro sense, but just competitive with herself. She just wanted to play her best every single day. My dad was a great player and a great teacher, but we didn’t get to play nearly as much with our dad as we did with our mom. My dad was working at the shop, or practicing, or playing. When we were 10 years old, it was a fantasy to try to beat your mom. Not worried about beating your dad. Got to beat your mom first. She didn’t want to get beat by her kids or the ladies she played with. She drove us all over the Southeast to play in tournaments. She was the one to make it happen, for sure. Nice for her to get the credit she certainly deserves.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: It’s a nice story, especially with Mother’s Day coming up. I saw a couple of weeks ago you were concerned about your chipping. How’s your game right now, and what are you working on?

DAVIS LOVE: Right now I am working on chipping. I was chipping yesterday and my son walked up and said, “So how are you chipping?” I said, “That’s the problem. I’m thinking about my chipping, I’m talking about my chipping [chuckling], everybody’s concerned about my chipping.” Yes, I need to work on my short game. As Bob Rotella says, the scoring clubs is what I need to be working on. I can hit the ball plenty far, hit plenty of good shots. I know how to play. I just got to work on the scoring clubs, and that’s as much mental as it is physical. So it’s pre-shot routine, playing games, hitting bunker shots. Not just hitting 50 bunker shots. Trying to hole one to each hole, trying to chip some chips in, play some putting games. With my son or Brad Faxon, I just love to play this back and forth putting game. Practice is more practicing shots and playing games. Hitting high cuts instead of just standing there and smacking 7-irons.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: Is all that work still fun for you?

DAVIS LOVE: It’s a lot of fun. I find myself lost in the practice, just like when I was a kid. Yesterday when I was on the range, the high school team was practicing, a little clinic of 10-year-olds, and the 47-year-old tour player that’s been doing it forever. I still love doing it, I still love the challenge, I still love competing. If you don’t go out and practice your chipping, you’re not going to be competitive. As I said, I’m looking forward to this next big stretch of tournaments. I’m excited about the year. I still have goals in my career that I haven’t reached. I’m not going to sit back and relax. I don’t like missing cuts. I don’t like not winning. The tough thing is to try not to work so hard that you’re trying too hard. Get the work done, be consistent with your work, be prepared when you get to the tournament, and then go play. That’s what’s been disappointing since the Florida Swing started. I just don’t feel like I’ve gotten to a tournament 100 percent prepared. So that’s my goal for Charlotte, Players, right on through the summer, getting ready for the U.S. Open. Just be prepared and go out and play and get your confidence back.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I was looking ahead to the U.S. Open. You had a nice finish there last year. You tied for sixth. I looked at 1997 to see how you did, and you had a top-20 finish at Congressional. How do you like Congressional, and how does it set up for your game?

DAVIS LOVE: I think it really sets up well. It’s a big, long, hard course. It looks like a major championship, whether you’re playing Tiger’s AT&T tournament or a major. I’ve always liked it. I’ve played there all the way back to ’86. Pebble has always set up well for me, and I played well there. I felt like at the Players and at the Open last year at Pebble I was right there, like Dustin Johnson and so many other guys. A double here, a double there—I could have won the tournament. I’m excited about Congressional. I’ve always enjoyed playing there and I feel like it suits my game. In the U.S. Open, it comes down to hitting fairways and making putts. That comes with confidence. I think I have the experience. Once I get near the lead, I do pretty good. I just got to get a little more consistent on the Thursday, Friday.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I have to ask you one Ryder Cup question. You’ve been a part of a lot of Ryder Cups and now you’re captain. What does the Ryder Cup mean to you, and what does it mean that it’s your turn to be at the helm?

DAVIS LOVE: It means a lot to me. It means a lot that six captains that I’ve played for, and then Corey that I was assistant for, have put so much into making those seven weeks of my golf career so incredible. I want to give these next 12 guys—who hopefully six or seven of them have played before—I want to give that back to them. I want it to be … an incredible week for the players. Of course, we want to win. But I think, whether win or lose the Ryder Cup or the President’s Cup, it’s still an incredible week for the players. I want to do everything I can to give that back to the game and to the Ryder Cup and to the players what was given to me by the Kites and the Crenshaws and Watsons, Curtis Strange.

I want the guys to feel like they’re a little bit more prepared for Friday this time than they were last time. It’s not a normal week. It’s a Super Bowl week. I want our Super Bowl week to at least have enough normalcy that we can feel like when we go to the first tee on Friday that we’re ready to play. I know what it feels like not to be prepared. I want these guys to feel like we’ve done everything we can to prepare. Let’s just go have fun and play and win this thing. Take a little pressure off of them. Let them just go have fun. I think we’ll do well.

ARMCHAIR GOLF: I wish you all the best, Davis, with that, and also with this next stretch of golf. Thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

DAVIS LOVE: Thank you very much.

−The Armchair Golfer

Coming soon: Stewart Cink

Martin Kaymer’s Golf Wish for 2011

MARTIN KAYMER HAS WON a major, the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits where he defeated Bubba Watson in a playoff. Kaymer was also closing in on World No. 1 until he cooled off at the end of the 2010 season. Now what does he want? What’s on the German golf star’s wish list for the 2011 season?

A hole-in-one. Wait, a hole-in-one? Yes, a hole-in-one.

If you’re like me, you were expecting something else. I was surprised, to say the least. That’s like my daughters asking for a pair of socks for Christmas. It’s something, but not exactly ambitious.

There’s a pretty good reason, though. Are you sitting down? Martin Kaymer has never made a hole-in-one. I find that shocking. No wonder he wants one. Imagine ascending to No. 1 golfer in the world—without a hole-in-one. People would say you’re undeserving. “He’s not worthy,” they’d say. I’m joking a little. Lee Westwood gets it.

But here’s what I wonder: How does a player of Kaymer’s caliber not have a hole-in-one? Not even in practice?

“I’ve never made one in my life …” he said.

Wow. He’s playing catch up with me, of all people. I have one. It was a long time ago. I’ll spare you that story.

Kaymer said he has other goals, too. He’d like to win another major this year, preferably the British Open. He’d like to establish himself as the best player in Europe and someday rise to the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. He figured he wasn’t quite ready for No. 1 at the end of last season.

But that first hole-in-one would be sweet. It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: blakehall, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Old-Time Tour Pro Dragged Putter Behind Car

By John Derr
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

AT THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP in Louisville, won by Jim Turnesa, the morning of the first round, I arrived at Big Springs Country Club in the car with Sam Snead. He parked in the first open parking space. As he got out he noticed the car parked beside him was the courtesy car assigned to Tommy Bolt, who arrived in the club parking lot at about the same time.

Snead said he’d have to move our car to another place, several rows over, because if Bolt lost, he would gun his speeding car when leaving the lot. Chances are he would spray gravel and rocks from the unpaved lot, on any cars parked near him, according to Snead. And he did.

At the same PGA championship at Big Springs when another one of the top players (I hesitate to name him, for I am not sure and he may still be around), I was standing in the parking lot when the caddy dropped the pro’s bag of clubs in the car trunk. The player opened the trunk, took out his putter and what looked like the belt from his trousers. He secured the belt around the putter shaft, then tied the putter, head down, on the bumper of his car and zoomed onto the street.

Sparks from the errant putter, as it bounced along, looked like a Fourth of July celebration. He raced down the road, after saying to no one in particular, “I guess that’ll take care of the little bastard.”

Sam and I were the only people within earshot, so I guess he was talking primarily to his putter, a farewell of sorts.

I wish I could positively recall the pro, but I wouldn’t want to pin it on the wrong man, though others may have done the same.

John Derr is an award-winning golf journalist who covered 62 Masters and the author of My Place at the Table. He lives in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

How Pete Dye’s Dog Killed Herb Kohler’s Sheep

Editor’s note: This tale originates with Monte Burke at Forbes.com. Visor tip to John Strege at Local Knowledge.

HERB KOHLER LOVED HIS black-face sheep that wandered Whistling Straits, the Wisconsin golf course that hosted the 2010 PGA Championship won by Martin Kaymer in a sudden-death playoff against Bubba Watson. (And, of course, the home of the bunker controversy that ruined Dustin Johnson’s bid for his first major.)

The sheep made the Kohler property on the edge of Lake Michigan seem more like Scotland. They also provided photo-ops for golfers. They even trimmed the rough.

(Photo: The black-face sheep of Whistling Straits /
Dan Perry, Flickr)

In advance of the 2004 PGA Championship, famed course designer Pete Dye was summoned to Whistling Straits to build an ambulance road. Dye brought along one of his Belgian shepherds for company as he mapped the road. It was a habit of his. Apparently, Pete loved his dogs. But a problem arose.

“I wasn’t paying attention to my dog,” Dye told Monte Burke. “And the next thing I know, that dog is chasing the sheep.”

Desperate to escape the canine, one of the sheep plunged into Lake Michigan. The dog jumped in after it! The sheep swam out farther. The shepherd followed.

“I ran down and jumped into the lake and grabbed the dog, but by that time, the sheep had gone upside down,” Dye said.

Uh-oh.

Steve Friedlander, general manager of Kohler’s golf courses, descended a hill and made a beeline for the course architect. You are in big trouble, he told Dye. Dye: I know. I’ll tell Mr. Kohler. But that wasn’t what Friedlander meant. An editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was playing the course and saw the entire dog-sheep episode.

Dye trailed the editor and approached him on the 14th. He asked the editor not to make a big story about what he saw, otherwise Dye could write the following day’s headline: “Herb Kohler shot Pete Dye.”

The editor smiled and returned to his mediocre golf game. The anecdote ran as a small item the next day, and Dye surely breathed a sigh of relief.

−The Armchair Golfer

Afternoon Tea With Gary Player

SINCE GARY PLAYER TURNED 75 on Monday, I thought I should share a story about the Hall of Famer and one of the Big Three along with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

The problem is, I don’t have a Gary Player story. I haven’t met golf’s first globetrotter. I have seen him play on a few occasions. Author friend John Coyne had a terrific Player story, though. He told it to me when we attended the 2008 Masters and watched Player walk up one of Augusta’s fairways.

It’s 1969. You’re traveling through South Africa and decide to pick up the phone book and find the listing for Gary Player. There it is. You call and the South African golf great and five-time major winner (at that time) invites you over for tea. No kidding, that’s how it happened.

Here’s the story in John’s words:

I interviewed Gary years ago at his home in South Africa when I was visiting all the countries I hadn’t seen when I was with the Peace Corps. Gary invited me to his farm for tea one Sunday afternoon.

His father was there, a retired mine worker, as well as his step-mother. Gary’s wife was playing in a golf tournament. She, too, was a fine player, a South African women’s champ.

Gary had designed his ranch home so that each room was a collection of items he had picked up from around the world. For example, he had a Western Room full of saddles, horse gear, and wild west paintings from America. There was a Spanish Room, as well as an Asia Room.

In the doorways of his kids’ rooms he had a bar installed so that his boys (Vivienne and Gary have six children) could do one or two chin-ups entering and leaving their bedrooms. It is not for nothing that Gary is nicknamed Mr. Fitness. (He is also called the Black Knight for his history of always wearing black when playing tournaments.)

Gary was a poor kid who lost his mother when he was 8 or so, and started to play golf at 14 when his father took out a loan to buy him a set of golf clubs that he could play with. His father worked in the gold mines of South Africa. Gary had a brother who is a famous environmentalist.

Gary only finished secondary school and then turned pro. His father wrote a letter to Bobby Jones more than 50 years ago asking him to invite young Gary to the Masters, saying how great his son was, and it worked!

When I visited Gary back in 1969, he kept talking about the “winds of change” coming to South Africa as he led me around the farm and introduced me to his African workers, all of whom he knew by name. I was there, of course, during the apartheid years. It took over 20 years before apartheid finally ended in South Africa.

Player later said his views about apartheid began to change as he traveled the world. Nonetheless, many assumed that he supported the system. He had said so in his book in the mid 1960s.

At the 1969 PGA Championship in Dayton, Ohio, someone threw water in Player’s face. At the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, he received death threats. That same year, Player invited Lee Elder to play in the South African PGA Championship in Johannesburg. It was the first integrated golf tournament in South Africa’s history.

In 2004, Charlie Sifford, the first black man inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, asked Player to handle the introduction. In his speech, Sifford called Player “my man forever.” A product of a racist system, it seems to me that Player had a genuine conversion.

Gary Player was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He has 165 professional wins, including 24 PGA Tour victories and nine majors.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Images: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Martin Kaymer’s Quiet Golf Takeover

MARTIN KAYMER IS A SOFT-spoken German with the skills and nerve of an international cat burglar. On Sunday, the 25-year-old was spotted slipping away from the Old Course with yet another piece of valuable hardware, his third trophy caper in 56 days. He is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2006 to win three consecutive titles on the European Tour.

While Lee Westwood is poised to take the No. 1 ranking away from Woods, Kaymer is sneaking up on both of them. His victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship moves him to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking behind Woods, Westwood and Phil Mickelson.

At St. Andrews on Sunday in cold and blustery conditions that produced plenty of sock hats and occasional over-sized mittens to warm hands, Kaymer posted a clever 66 that featured a birdie-birdie finish to win by three strokes. On the 17th, the famous Road Hole, he rolled in a lengthy putt from off the back of the green for an improbable birdie three. Then, at 18, Kaymer struck his approach shot from the paved road that crosses the fairway. The ball stopped six feet from the hole and rolled into the cup on the next stroke.

The German golf star flashed a grin like he had just cracked a safe and slipped the diamonds into his satchel, which, in a way, he had. The win was worth €580,046.40 and raises his season money total to €3,134,447. Kaymer now leads Graeme McDowell in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai by a wide margin.

“It was always one of my dreams to win here at St. Andrews,” he said.

Sure, why not? Martin Kaymer is checking a lot of things off his list in recent days. First major. (Check.) First Ryder Cup. (Check.) First win at the Old Course. (Check.)

In addition to winning the PGA Championship in August and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this weekend, Kaymer took the KLM Open in the Netherlands in September. Except for a thrashing in Ryder Cup singles at the hands of Dustin Johnson, it’s been a near-perfect two months for the Dusseldorf native.

At the moment, Kaymer is the world’s hottest player. Perhaps he’s also on his way to being the world’s top-ranked player.

−The Armchair Golfer

Cary Middlecoff, Golf’s Greatest Slow Player

I STOPPED BY THE World Golf Hall of Fame today. Not in St. Augustine, Florida, but at the website. I was looking up something and stumbled onto the page of Hall of Famer Cary Middlecoff. I know a fair amount about Middlecoff, nicknamed “Doc” because he was an actual dentist who ventured out on the PGA Tour. Fred Hawkins has told me stories about Middlecoff; they were pals on tour and socialized off the golf course.

Today I ran across a couple of stories I hadn’t heard or simply forgotten. I’ll get to them momentarily, but let me start with a bit of background. The first thing you need to know about Cary Middlecoff is that he was a great player. He never took a lesson and had a swing that made Bobby Jones swoon. “I’d give the world to have a swing like that,” Jones once said. Middlecoff won 40 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including three majors (two Masters and a U.S. Open). Those are Phil Mickelson numbers. Doc had six-win seasons in 1949, 1951 and 1955.

The second thing you need to know about Middlecoff is that he was a slow player. How slow? “Glacial” is the adjective the World Golf Hall of Fame uses. It fits.

When Doug Ford played Middlecoff in the 36-hole final of the 1955 PGA Championship, Doc lit a cigarette when he got to the green and didn’t putt until the entire cigarette was gone. “The gallery really got on him,” Ford said, “but you couldn’t rush Doc. I didn’t care.” The reason Ford didn’t care was because he sat in a chair while he waited. His son brought it along for the final against Middlecoff. Ford won.

At the 1957 U.S. Open, defending champion Middlecoff closed with a pair of 68s at Inverness to make up eight shots on Dick Mayer and force an 18-hole playoff. Guess what Mayer did. He brought a camping stool to the playoff. Maybe it didn’t bother Doc, but something did. He shot 79 to Mayer’s 72 and missed his opportunity to be one of only a handful of players to win back-to-back U.S. Opens.

Golf writer Dan Jenkins once joked that Doc had to quit the dentistry because no one could hold his mouth open that long. Middlecoff was even known to stop at the top of his backswing.

So I’m tagging Cary Middlecoff as golf’s greatest slow player. I know there have been other slow pokes. Jack Nicklaus could be a tortoise. But I feel comfortable with Middlecoff as my pick. In fact, Doc is probably holding up play in the afterlife as I write this.

−The Armchair Golfer

Life After 59 Not So Hot for Goydos and Appleby

PAUL GOYDOS FIRED A PGA Tour record-tying 59 at the John Deere Classic in July. He went on to finish second to Steve Stricker. Stuart Appleby matched Goydos a few weeks later with a final-round 59 that earned Appleby a victory at the inaugural Greenbrier Classic.

Their games have cooled off considerably since, especially Goydos’.

“I haven’t even made a cut,” Paul told reporters last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Goydos went on to break the MC slump in Boston, finishing 70th, after missing cuts at the British Open, Greenbrier Classic and PGA Championship.

Appleby said he’s happy with the way he’s playing, even though he hasn’t broken 70 since the 59, a streak of 16 rounds. It surprised him to learn that. On the plus side, Stuart hasn’t missed a cut since winning the Greenbrier. On the minus side, he hasn’t finished higher than 50th.

“I just haven’t been able to get the magic with the putter,” the Aussie said. “I can’t get to that point where I’m tipping my cap.”

Is there a 59 curse?

Must be. Appleby can’t make a putt and Goydos is out of the playoffs. Payback from the golf gods. Trust me, you don’t want to get on their wrong side.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Alex Barth/Flickr)