February 2011 Archives

Take miniature golf into your own home. This looks like fun miniature golf for kids or adults, like me, who are kids at heart. Here's the link to My mini golf.

Volunteers are still needed for the LPGA's Kia Classic at Industry Hills March 24-27. The volunteer package is $60 and includes $300 in benefits, including a round of golf at Pacific Palms. You can register at www.kiaclassic.com or call 1-888-SEE-LPGA. Deadline to register is March 4.

Aaron Baddeley pars No. 18 to win the NTO, his third career PGA Tour title.

The final group is through 15 holes, with Aaron Baddeley holding a two-stroke lead at 12 under. Vijay Singh birdies No. 16 to pull within two.

Aaron Baddeley double-bogeys the 12th hole to drop to 11 under, two strokes ahead of Fred Couples, Vijay Singh and Robert Allenby.

Aaron Baddeley shot a 2-under 33 on the front nine and has a two-stroke lead over Vijay Singh. Jimmy Walker, Fred Couples and Robert Allenby are tied for third, three back.

Baddeley is at 12 under.

Player Score Thru
Aaron Baddeley -12 7
Vijay Singh -10 8
Fred Couples -8 7
Kevin Na -8 7

Aaron Baddeley makes birdie on No. 7 while Fred Couples takes a double-bogey.

Fred Couples hits his drive on No. 7 into deep rough well below the level of the fairway.

Fred Couples bogeys the par-3 sixth at Riviera to drop into a tie for first with Aaron Baddeley at 11 under.

Mark Wilson, who has already won twice on the PGA Tour this season, is tied for 75th place at 9 over with two holes remaining. That's the polite way of saying he's tied for last among the players who made the cut. The good news: At least he'll still get a check.

Steve Stricker, the defending NTO champ, is 3 under for the day and has moved into a tie for 12th at 6 under.

Robert Allenby is currently alone in fourth place at 9 under, while Stuart Appleby is tied for fifth at 8 under.

Stuart Appleby shot a 4-under 31 on the front nine to move into a tie for fifth place at 8 under. Appleby birdied the first three holes, suffered a bogey on the long par-3 fourth and then added birdies on Nos. 7 and 9.

Of the top 20 players on the leaderboard, there have been two eagles thus far, both by Bill Haas.

Haas accomplished the feat on No. 1 and No. 11, both par-5s.

If you're at Riviera on Sunday, check out the Taylor Made demos at the driving range. Provided you don't spray one over the fence to the right and into the 11th fairway, you should be good. It's a chance to hit balls where the pros do before their rounds and check out the new R11 drivers and fairway woods with the white top and black face.

Fred Couples birdies the first three holes at Riviera, including a chip-in on No. 2, to regain the lead at 12 under. Aaron Baddeley is a stroke back, with Vijay Singh in third at 10 under. Kevin Na bogeyed two of the first four holes to drop back into a tie for fifth at 8 under.

All three of the players in the final group made birdies on the par-5 fifth.

Aaron Baddeley is now at 11 under, with Fred Couples and Kevin Na tied for second at 10 under.

Kevin Na, who enters the final round one stroke back, nearly hit his tee shot on No. 1 out of bounds, put his second into the bunker in front of the green and then nearly holed his sand shot for an eagle.

NTO third-round leader Aaron Baddeley hits his drive through the end of the fairway on the par-5 first hole. Approach to about 20 feet, eagle putt upcoming.

Fred Couples, who is a shot back, also reached the green in two.

It's a beautiful day at Riviera, with the NTO's final group on the first tee.

Aaron Baddeley, Fred Couples and Kevin Na are all in contention for the Northern Trust Open title. Baddeley shot a 4-under 67 for a one-shot lead over Couples and Na. Na's father is battling Leukemia, so a win would be extra special. And he's never won on the PGA Tour. Baddeley hasn't won since 2007. Couples is looking to win his third title here. His last was in 1992.

Here's a column on Fred Couples last week about his back problems, love for Riviera and such. More insight on the 51-year-old who led the Northern Trust after the second round by two shots and trails Aaron Baddeley by one shot with five holes to play here in the third round.

Jerry West presented a Ronald Reagan Foundation official with a $5,000 check on Saturday at the military outpost here at Riviera. Nice ceremony with a bunch of First Tee kids in attendance as well as Northern Trust CEO Rick Waddell.

Jerry West, executive director of the Northern Trust Open, was happy to see his friend in the lead at the Northern Trust Open. West and Couples attended a Lakers game together recently.
Couples had a two-shot lead after the second round, but now is tied for second with kevin Na and trails Aaron Baddeley by one shot.
``What you see with him is what you get,'' West said. ``He's one of the truly nice people. If you took a popularity vote out here of all the players, I bet he'd be close to a unanimous choice. He has such a nice way about him and smile.''

Anthony Kim, who grew up in Studio City, withdrew from the Northern Trust Open this morning after telling a PGA Tour official he was up all night and sick. Jason Gore (Hart High, Pepperdine) finished his second round yesterday with a 2-over-par 73 and then got sick with the flu bug. Read about his battle with the bug.

Finally! It started raining here at Riviera Country Club just before 2:30 p.m., but we've been expecting it most of the day. Good thing for guys like Fred Couples, who are already in. He's probably getting his back worked on right now, anyway.

Dustin Johnson is the king of drama. He had to sprint up the hill to Riviera first tee, and made it within six seconds of being DQ'd. He had 6 seconds. Johnson was penalized two shots for not being on tee at his 7:32 a.m. tee time. A player has five minutes to get to the tee after the tee time (although still is assessed a two-stroke penalty). Caddie responsible for not knowing correct time but at some point, Johnson is going to have to become more invovled in his own career. How many more mistakes will it take?

John Senden, who's in with a first-round 67, said he was warming up in the dark at Riviera this morning. He was on the putting green at 6:15 a.m. but couldn't really see. Thank goodness there was a man holding a ``torchlight,'' he said. And by torchlight, the Aussie means, flashlight.

This is probably Corey Pavin's last hurrah at Riviera. Pavin, a two-time winner of the Northern Trust Open, is 51 and will spend most of his time at on the Champions Tour. See the ycool thing that happened to him on Tuesday.

Know who Mark Wilson is? He's the guy who's won twice on the PGA Tour and the season is so young. Most just know he's from Wisconsin since he wore a cheesehead hat during the Sunday round he played in Arizona on Super Bowl Sunday. He's an interesting guy, and his victories mean victories for others.

Here's the transcript of Phil Mickelson's 43-second presser on the driving range at Riviera today. After arriving via the jet from San Diego, with 25 minutes before his pro-am...

Phil...
"It looks like the weathert's holding off nice, the course is in great shape, and we're excited to play this tournament."
Q: Will you be going up and back (from home)?
"I will. I enjoy staying there. I'm a little concerned the next day or two getting in with some of the low minimums of the clouds. It looks like it's going to be OK."
"Things are good, I've been playing well. I've got just a slight hurdle to get over where I've got to get the scores down to how I feel I'm playing. Some of that will be course management, some of that will just be getting a couple putts to drop, but I feel like I'm right on the cusp of playing some really good golf."
After a three-second pause, Phil says: ``All right? Very cool. Thanks, guys.''
And he went to work at the range.

and has a 43-second presser at the driving range at the Northern Trust Open today. He answered three questions, there was a slight pause and he was off to get in some practice swings. Mickelson flies in via jet from his home in Rancho Santa Fe and had about 25 minutes before his tee time. In 2009, as the defending champion of this tournament, he arrived to Riviera just before his tee time and gave a five-minute interview before he had to tee off in the pro-am.

Northern Trust Open GM Mike Bone has an idea to avoid the rain that seems to happen at Riviera Country Club during the PGA Tour stop each season: ``I think a witch doctor wouldn't be bad. Maybe we need to make a sacrifice.''

Northern Trust Open general manager Mike Bone was nearly incognito without a sports jacket and tie. Instead, he was wearing a jacket and golf cap on Tuesday since it was raining at Riviera.
Jerry West, who hardly ever watched Lakers games when he was the general manager, was worried Tuesday about the week's forecast for rain.
``I was teasing Jerry. That's why you played an indoor sport,'' Bone said laughing.

Ernie Els withdrew from the Northern Trust Open with a neck injury, and Michael Putnam (Pepperdine) made the field as the first alternate.

It's the Northern Trust Open this week, so you know it's going to rain. The forecast called for rain from Wednesday through Saturday. Mother Nature started the rain today. In 2005, Adam Scott won a rain-shortened event in just 36 holes and one playoff hole on that Monday morning. It was the worst rain storm for the tournament in 50 years.

Angeles National Golf Club is responding to an article in the Daily News in which former employee Wade Morris has filed a complaint of discrimination against the club. This response is from Eric Rose, a spokesman for the club, and it was sent in an e-mail:

Angeles National Golf Club announced today that it intends to
>vigorously defend itself against the meritless lawsuit filed by Wade
>Morris and other plaintiffs represented by attorney Ann A. Hull. The
>claims made by the plaintiffs are completely false. We trust the
>courts will recognize the cases for what they are - an unconscionable
>and irresponsible abuse of the state's civil rights laws and
>protections by disgruntled former employees.

>The plaintiffs have made numerous unfounded and salacious allegations
>and we believe that when the cases are heard in court, we will be
>absolved of any and all wrongdoing. We strongly contest both the
>factual foundation and legal basis of the claims asserted and we look
>forward to our day in court to publicly expose the false allegations.

>Angeles National Golf Club has an unwavering commitment to civil and
>human rights and equal treatment for our employees and guests,
>regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
>
>We stand proudly behind bias-free employment practices and we look
>forward to having this unnecessary distraction tossed out by the courts
>so that we can continue to focus on providing our guests with the
>finest golf course, restaurant and banquet facility in Southern
>California.
>
>The fact is that Mr. Morris is not allowed to play at Angeles National
>Golf Club because of his legal action against the club, and for
>breaking several club policies including smoking and discarding lit
>cigarettes in fire prone areas.

>Sadly, some lawyers make their living initiating speculative lawsuits
>merely as a way of leveraging settlements that result in large
>attorneys' fees awards. Although some attorneys may wish to profit from
>rumors and misinformation, we have every confidence that we will
>prevail in the various meritless lawsuits filed by Ann A. Hull.
>
>
>

Here's the field...and a quick interesting note... All of the tournament winners from this year are in the field: Bubba Watson, Mark Wilson (2), Jonathan Byrd and Johnny Vegas.
Blake Adams
Robert Allenby
Stuart Appleby
Arjun Atwal
Aaron Baddeley
Ricky Barnes
Cameron Beckman
Rich Beem
Matt Bettencourt
Kris Blanks
Jason Bohn
Michael Bradley
Joseph Bramlett
Jonathan Byrd
Angel Cabrera
Chad Campbell
Paul Casey
Alex Cejka
Greg Chalmers
K.J. Choi
Stewart Cink
Tim Clark
Chad Collins
Michael Connell
Fred Couples
Ben Curtis
Brian Davis
Jason Day
Brendon de Jonge
Chris DiMarco
Luke Donald
Jason Dufner
Joe Durant
David Duval
Steve Elkington
Ernie Els Brad Faxon
Jon Fiedler
Steve Flesch
Rickie Fowler
Harrison Frazar
Fred Funk
Jim Furyk
Tommy Gainey
Robert Garrigus
Tom Gillis
Lucas Glover
Retief Goosen
Paul Goydos
Nathan Green
Bill Haas
Hunter Haas
Padraig Harrington
J.P. Hayes
J.J. Henry
Charley Hoffman
J.B. Holmes
Charles Howell III
Yuta Ikeda
Ryuji Imada
Trevor Immelman
Ryo Ishikawa
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Matt Jones
Robert Karlsson
Anthony Kim
Kyung-tae Kim
Chris Kirk
Matt Kuchar
Martin Laird
Derek Lamely Marc Leishman
Justin Leonard
Spencer Levin
Bill Lunde
Jarrod Lyle
Will MacKenzie
Jeff Maggert
Hunter Mahan
Steve Marino
Ben Martin
Troy Matteson
Billy Mayfair
Scott McCarron
William McGirt
Rocco Mediate
Troy Merritt
Shaun Micheel
Phil Mickelson
Bryce Molder
Ryan Moore
Kevin Na
Sean O'Hair
Geoff Ogilvy
Louis Oosthuizen
Jeff Overton
Ryan Palmer
Jesper Parnevik
Corey Pavin
Pat Perez
Tim Petrovic
Carl Pettersson
Scott Piercy
D.A. Points
Alex Prugh
Chez Reavie
Chris Riley John Rollins
Andres Romero
Justin Rose
Rory Sabbatini
John Senden
Michael Sim
Vijay Singh
Brandt Snedeker
Kevin Stadler
Brendan Steele
Kevin Streelman
Steve Stricker
Chris Stroud
Daniel Summerhays
Kevin Sutherland
Vaughn Taylor
Josh Teater
Roland Thatcher
Peter Tomasulo
D.J. Trahan
Cameron Tringale
Marc Turnesa
Bo Van Pelt
Jhonattan Vegas
Jimmy Walker
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir
Charlie Wi
Dean Wilson
Mark Wilson
Y.E. Yang

Here's the story about Tiger Woods' not entering the field at the Northern Trust Open once again.

No. The 2 p.m. deadline today came and went, and Woods did not enter the field for the PGA Tour event at Riviera next week. This was no surprise. Woods has skipped the tournament for the fifth consecutive year. He had played it 11 times, including two as an amatuer, and never won. It's the most times he's played a tournament without winning.

Golfer Wade Morris, a Van Nuys resident, says he's the victim of discrimation by Angeles National Golf Course. Here's his story.