Joey's Golf Bag

What a fantastic final group at the Blue Monster today!

Michelle Wie withdraws from Safeway International after reinjuring left wrist

Michelle Wie withdrew from the Safeway International on Friday after tweaking an injury to her left wrist during practice last week.

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“Fortunately, X-rays, an MRI and a CAT scan didn’t show any major injury,” Smoller said. “Her doctor diagnosed it as a sprain, and advised Michelle to rest the wrist for a few weeks to allow it to heal properly.”

I listened to Tiger winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on XM this afternoon while cruising up I35. I fully expected that Tiger would have to beat Bart Bryant in a tie breaker, but he rolled in the 24 footer on the 72nd hole to win.

Tiger has now won five PGA Tour events in a row (seven in a row worldwide, counting his silly season win at his Target World Challenge). Let’s keep a count to see how far he gets towards Byron Nelson’s eleven in a row.

1. Arnold Palmer Invitational
2. Accenture Match Play Championship
3. Dubai Desert Classic (European Tour)
4. Buick Invitational
5. Target World Challenge (Unofficial event)
6. Tour Championship
7. BMW Championship

Feherty suffers broken ribs after being hit by truck while cycling

Golf analyst David Feherty broke three ribs and punctured his lung when he was hit by a truck while riding his bicycle near his home in Dallas. He expects to be fully recovered in time for the Masters.

Feherty said Friday he was returning from his morning bicycle ride a day earlier when a truck hauling irrigation equipment pinched him into the curb and he was struck by the side mirror.

“He didn’t want to hit the car on the left, so he ran over the cyclist on the right,” Feherty said. “I don’t remember a whole lot about it. There was a lady on the scene quickly, keeping me conscious. The next thing I know, I’m at Baylor Medical Center, the only hospital in the United States that doesn’t have The Golf Channel.”

Dude! Get well soon!

Tiger has now won four PGA Tour events in a row (six in a row worldwide, counting his silly season win at his Target World Challenge). Let’s keep a count to see how far he gets towards Byron Nelson’s eleven in a row.

1. Accenture Match Play Championship
2. Dubai Desert Classic
3. Buick Invitational
4. Target World Challenge
5. Tour Championship
6. BMW Championship

Tiger had this to say about his game during an interview after winning the Accenture Match Play:

“I’ve got a plateful to work on,” Woods said. “You can always get better. You can always keep improving. Golf is fluid. It’s always evolving and always changing. You work hard on the short game, then you lose your long game. Work on your long game, then you don’t putt well. You don’t putt well, you work on your putting, all of a sudden you lose your long game.

You know, I’ve had this same complaint. 😉

Tiger Woods won 8&7 over Stewart Cink. Henrik Stenson beat Justin Leonard 3&2. Both were my picks. For the tournament, I was 24 of 32 for round 1, 6 of 16 for round 2, 2 of 8 for round 3, 3 of 4 for round 4, and 2 for 2 on the final day (I didn’t pick the semis), for a grand total of 37 out of 62. Not too shabby.

Paula Creamer rides late charge to victory.

Paula Creamer finished in a pink blur of clutch birdies to rip the Fields Open in Hawai’i out of Jeong Jang’s hands yesterday.

Creamer birdied four of the last five, including the final three, to win her fifth LPGA event. The $190,000 first prize gives her more than $4.2 million in career earnings and moves her into the Top 30 — at age 21. Her total of 16-under-par 200 was a tournament record by two shots.

Michelle, on the other hand, finished 20 shots back. Sigh.

My pick: Tiger Woods over Stewart Cink. Duh!

For the consolation match, Henrik Stenson over Justin Leonard.

I did better for the quarterfinals, 3 of 4. 🙂

Since I was out practicing golf during the playing of the quarterfinals, I wasn’t able to predict the winners of the semifinals.

After a stellar day 1, my day 2 and day 3 picks were awful. Here’s my best shot in the quarters of the Accenture Match Play.