2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2011 WGC-BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL tees off on Thursday at Firestone Country Club (South Course) in Akron, Ohio. Tiger Woods returns to action after an 11-week injury layoff. Woods will be paired in the first two rounds with British Open champion Darren Clarke. A field of 76 players will compete for an $8.5 million purse. The event has no cut, assuring Woods of four competitive rounds in advance of next week’s PGA Championship.


Purse: $8.5 million
Winner’s share: $1.4 million
Defending champion: Hunter Mahan (at right)

2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Leaderboard

Field
Course
Tee times
Tournament overview
Tournament news
Tournament video


TV SCHEDULE

TV coverage of the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is
on Golf Channel and CBS.

Thu, 8/4
2-6 pm ET, GOLF

Fri, 8/5
2-6 pm ET, GOLF

Sat, 8/6
2-6 pm ET, CBS

Sun, 8/7
2-6 pm ET, CBS

SIRIUS-XM broadcast times


−The Armchair Golfer

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

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

Ghosts of Jean Van de Velde Spook Yani Tseng

THE TOURNAMENT WAS SEEMINGLY OVER. Yani Tseng stood on the 18th tee at Carnoustie Golf Links with a three-shot lead over Brittany Lang. In a matter of minutes Tseng could claim her second consecutive Women’s British Open and fifth major title at the age of 22 years, six months and eight days. No one had won five majors so soon, not even Tiger Woods.

That’s when she was visited by ghosts of the past, if just for a moment.

In 1999 French golfer Jean Van de Velde walked to the 72nd hole of The Open Championship with a comfortable three-stroke lead. Then he strolled into history, but not at all like he or the aghast onlookers expected. Van de Velde splashed into the Barry Burn with his approach shot. All he needed was a double-bogey six and his name would be etched on the Claret Jug. He made a seven and lost the four-hole playoff to Paul Lawrie.

Tseng thought of Van de Velde as she walked to the final hole on Sunday. Maybe that was a good thing. She still had to take care of business. It was no time to get sloppy.

“When you come on this golf course, you’re going think about him,” Tseng said. “But I did think about it a little bit.

“I had a three-shot lead so I’d better hit a good drive here to win the tournament. I thought, okay, let’s hit a good drive, finish here.”

And she did, leaving herself about 135 yards to the hole. Still, the ghosts beckoned.

“I hit a 9-iron, and I was thinking about Jean Van de Velde.”

But Tseng isn’t Van de Velde. The Taiwanese star flew that “juiced” 9-iron straight at the flagstick and sank the short birdie putt for a four-shot victory.

Tseng is the new dominant force, not just in women’s golf, but all of golf. With the LPGA Tour adding a major to put five on the annual calendar, Tseng is looking like a serious threat to catch Tiger Woods and even Jack Nicklaus. She is already on a record pace.

−The Armchair Golfer