March 2008 Archives

Ben Fox of Sherman Oaks qualified for the Canadian Tour today. He shot 68-72-72-72--284 and finished fourth. Fox played two years at Arizona, then quit school to turn pro.

Check out this Web site on CBS if you can't wait for Augusta.
CBS videos

... And the winner is Stanford 7-foot center Robin Lopez. What do you think about this matchup?

Arnold Palmer is the new host of the Bob Hope Classic, ending speculation that he would
be the one to replace George Lopez. Below is the release.

Here is a release regarding a $60,000 donation the Bob Hope Classic made in the name of ousted host George Lopez and his wife Ann.

Denis Watson birdied the third playoff hole to beat Loren Roberts at the AT&T Champions Classic at Valencia Country Club. It was Watson's third Champions Tour victory.

Brad Bryant, Loren Roberts and Denis Watson are heading to a playoff since Bryant parred the par-5 18th hole. The playoff will go No. 18, 18, 10 and 18, if necessary.

Six players have had the lead at some point today...Loren Roberts, John Cook, Brad Bryant, Tom Jenkins, Jay Haas and Denis Watson. Bryant, Watson and Roberts - who eagled the 18th by holing a wedge from 43 yards - all lead at 7 under.

Jay Haas double-bogeyed the par-3 16th hole - three-putting from 12 feet - to fall into a tie for third at the AT&T Champions Classic. Denis Watson - who's been in the clubhouse for nearly an hour - leads at 7-under. Brad Bryant is one back at -6. Bryant is on the 16th hole.

Brad Bryant, Jay Haas and Denis Watson are all tied for the lead at 7-under. Watson is in the clubhouse and had a one-shot lead but Bryant made a nine-foot putt on No. 15 to birdie and Haas made an 11-footer to move into the tie for the lead.

Denis Watson and Brad Bryant are tied atop the leaderboard. John Cook bogeyed No. 15, missing a tap-in putt to fall back to second place. Watson shot a 7-under 65 and is in the clubhouse tied for the lead. Loren Roberts and Jay Haas are still on the course.

Brad Bryant is in the lead at 8 under, with John Cook a stroke back and Denis Watson at 6 under. Watson started the day at even par.

Brad Bryant, who holds a one-stroke lead through the front nine at Valencia Country Club, found out on the 10th hole that his younger brother, Bart, had just been beaten by Tiger Woods at the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
"I'm glad he played well," Bryant said in an interview with the Golf Channel's Billy Ray Brown while walking the 10th fairway. "What a week he had."
Woods made a 24-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to edge the younger Bryant, who shot a 67 Sunday.
"Playing well down the stretch will do a lot for his confidence the rest of the season," Brad Bryant said. "He's giving me something to shoot for today."

Tiger Woods sinks 24-foot birdie putt on No. 18 at the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, beating Bart Bryant by a stroke.

Brad Bryant, Bart's older brother, holds lead at Valencia Country Club in Champions Tour's AT&T Classic.

John Cook shot a 4-under 32 on the front nine to move into the lead at 8 under, one stroke ahead of Brad Bryant.

Tom Jenkins is 2-under through five holes and is tied for the lead with Brad Bryant at the AT&T Champions Classic at Valencia Country Club.

Scott Simpson (USC) birdied the par-5 first hole to move to 5 under and into a tie for third with Loren Roberts and Jay Haas.

Brad Bryant parred first three holes today and remains in the lead at 7-under. His brother, Bart, is tied for the lead with Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Brad Bryant, nicknamed Dr. Dirt by Gary McCord nearly 30 years ago, fired a 5-under 67 Saturday to take a two-stroke lead entering the final round of the AT&T Champions Classic at Valencia Country Club.
Bryant is at 7-under 137.
He was 5 under on the four par-5 holes in the second round and one-putted his last six greens. He had an eagle (on the par-5 15th hole), five birdies and two bogeys. His eagle putt was a 37-footer.

While Bart Bryant is among those tied for the lead at the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, older brother Brad Bryant took the lead at the AT&T Champions Classic with a birdie on No. 17.

As The Associated Press' John Reger mentioned, the leaderboard at the AT&T Classic is more clogged than a Los Angeles freeway.
There currently is an eight-way tie for the lead at 5 under among Tom Purtzer, Jay Haas, Bernhard Langer, R.W. Eaks, Tom Jenkins, Brad Bryant, Loren Roberts and Graham Marsh.

The final group of the day played the front nine in 11-over par, and that includes Tom Purtzer shooting an even-par 36. Dana Quigley shot a 41 and Nick Price had a 42.

Nick Price, who shot a 6-under 66 in the opening round, gave all of those strokes back on the front nine Saturday by shooting a 6-over 42.

Graham Marsh birdied the par-4 eighth hole just moments before Tom Purtzer took a bogey on the par-3 seventh, meaning the two swapped spots.

Marsh is now in the lead at 6 under, while Purtzer dropped into second at 5 under.

Mark McNulty, Jay Haas, R.W. Eaks and John Cook are currently tied for third, another stroke back.

Not only did it start to sprinkle out at Valencia Country Club, but word over the walkie-talkies in the media room indicated the sprinkler system inadvertently went off on the ninth hole.

The final threesome, which includes leader Tom Purtzer, is just finishing up on No. 7.

Nick Price took a bogey on the par-3 third hole to drop into a second-place tie with Loren Roberts, one stroke behind Tom Purtzer (6 under).

It's 57 degrees at Valencia Country Club, but a storm is quickly moving in from the northeast. Rain is predicted to hit in the next 15-20 minutes.

Tom Purtzer birdied the second hole to move into a tie with Nick Price for the lead at 6 under.

Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe also shot a 4-under 32 on the front nine to move into a tie for sixth at 3 under.

Tom Kite opened the second round with an eagle on the par-5 first hole and followed with a birdie on the second.
Kite, the 2006 AT&T Classic champion, dropped a shot at the fourth hole but made a birdie at No. 9 to shoot a 3-under 33 on the front and move into a tie for 13th at 2 under.

Hale Irwin, who led for the first two rounds last year at Valencia, shot a 4-under 32 on the front nine Saturday to move into a tie for fourth at 3 under.

Defending A&T Classic champion Tom Purtzer certainly likes Valencia Country Club.
Purtzer, who shot a 5-under 67 Friday to trail leader Nick Price by a stroke, has won this event twice and has five top-10 finishers in six starts here. His worst finish at VCC was a tie for 14th in 2005.

The field averaged 73.316 strokes Friday, more than two strokes higher than last year's first-round average of 71.227.
Of course, last year was the only time in the eight years at Valencia Country Club that the field bettered par in the opening round.

The key to Nick Price's opening-round 6-under 66 was his play on the par-5 holes.
Price was the only player in the field to birdie all four of the par-5s Friday at Valencia Country Club.

Raymond Floyd and Craig Stadler (USC), both former Masters champions, withdrew before Saturday's second round of the AT&T Champions Classic at Valencia Country Club.
Floyd, who shot an 82 in the opening round, has been battling a bad back. Stadler, who had a 79 Friday, took ill.

Nick Price shot a 6-under 66 at Valencia Country Club for a one-shot lead in the AT&T Champions Classic. Price - a three-time major winner - has his first outright lead on the Champions Tour. He's one shot ahead of defending champion Tom Purtzer, who shot a 5-under 67.

Bernhard Langer makes his career debut at today's AT&T Champions Classic at Valencia Country Club. Here's what he said about the course.
``Most guys like it, and I can see why,’’ Langer said. ``It’s really a shot maker’s golf course. You have to maneuver some tee shots, turn the ball left to right and right to left and put the ball in the right place. You’ve got to be very precise with the iron shots.’’

Scott Hoch, the Champions Tour leader in Charles Schwab points, has withdrawn from the AT&T Champions Classic with a bad back. Mike Reid, the first alternate, will take his place.

This is the transcript of John Daly's interview with the Golf Channel that aired on Golf Central on Wednesday. It discusses the missed pro-am tee time, his drinking beer in the Hooters tent during a rain delay last week, using Jon Gruden as a caddie and his split with coach Butch Harmon.

Champions Tour pro Allen Doyle and his group of Brad Uptgraft, John Tucker, Tom Tucker and Larry Helmle shot an 18-under-par 54 to pace the field.
The AT&T Champions Classic tees off on Friday at Valencia Country Club.

L.A. Baptist High is hosting a golf tournament May 5 at Robinson Ranch Country Club to benefit christian education. The entry fee is $225, which includes cart, tee package, driving range, lunch and buffet dinner.
For more information, go to www.labaptist.org/golf.htm or call Shawn Bristol at 818-894-5742 ext 377.

John Daly actually showed up for his tee time in the pro-am at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Invitaitonal, but he said he was told the wrong time. Daly told the Associated Press that he called Palmer to aplogize.

John Daly missed his tee time this morning for the Arnold Palmer Pro-Am.
If a pro player missed his pro-am tee time, he can't play in the tournament
unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Remember how Phil Mickelson nearly missed his tee time at Riviera last
month but Daly bailed him out by switching tee times with him?

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3289290

Butch Harmon has dropped John Daly as a client, according to the Associated Press. Doug Ferguson wrote a great story about it, in which Harmon rips Daly for drinking and his shennanigans. Read on.

The junior day at Valencia Country Club just kicked off. Five Tour players - Raymond Floyd, Dave Ogrin, John Harris, Keith Fergus and Des Smith - each took a group of juniors to play five holes. James Hurst, 17, of Palmdale was one of the juniors. He has a 1-handicap.

Dave Ogrin, a seniors tour player, gave a putting clinic to 14 members of the Santa Clarita Valley Special Olympics. I'm told it was a big hit. Ogrin is here in Valencia for the AT&T Champions Classic, which starts Friday at Valencia Country Club.

Want to play a few holes of golf with Tiger Woods as your caddie? Can you imagine Tiger reading your putts. All you have to do is predict what he'll shoot during tournaments and sign up at www.teeoffwithtiger.com....
The press release follows:

Fred Funk is in the field for next week's AT&T Champions Classic at Valencia Country Club. The tournament starts Friday.

This is from the Associated Press. Always something with John Daly.

John Daly walked along
the path from the 18th
green Thursday as a dozen fans chanted his name. Turns out the cheers
were for his caddie —
Jon Gruden.
The coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was carrying the bag for Daly
after a 2½-hour rain
delay at the PODS Championship, where Daly was 3 over at the turn and
toward the bottom of
the pack.
It was not clear what happened to Daly’s caddie or how he hooked up
with Gruden.
The fans who remained after the storms heard that Gruden might be
caddying, and some
whispered, “It is him,” as they walked off the green. Gruden didn’t
help Daly read putts and
stayed some 20 yards short of the green.
And with fans calling out to him, he kept his head down — just like
Daly.

Pro golfer Tripp Isenhour is charged with killing a red-shouldered hawk with a golf ball. He was shooting a commercial, and the bird was making noise. The Orlando Sentinel has some video of a red-shouldered hawk, so you can see the type of bird Isenhour killed, and an expert who talks about how making noise comes naturally to the hawk.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bk-bird-030608,0,7880171.story