Tiger rolls in the last putt that matters in the 2009 golf season as team USA wins the President’s Cup. Sure, there’s the Fall series, but who watches those tournaments? Not me, as I don’t have Golf Channel (otherwise, I’d never leave the media room).
Bring on the Silly Season!
Unbeaten Woods leads Americans to dominant singles showing and Presidents Cup victory
The final score wasn’t indicative of the last-day whupping. The U.S. won the Cup, 19 1/2-14 1/2, but it wasn’t really that close.
How much of a rout was this? The Americans won the five matches they needed to clinch the Cup before the Internationals managed to score a single point. This time, Yogi Berra was wrong — it was over before it was over. The U.S. had the Presidents Cup wrapped up by 1:30 p.m. Pacific time. Woods did the honors himself, rolling in a putt for his fifth birdie to easily finish off Y.E. Yang, 6 and 5. Woods was a perfect 5-0 for the week.
Art and fashion, and no mention of golf.
Black Flamingo
Michelle is going to win, and soon.
$175,000 down to $175. That’s a pretty good cost reduction for testing grooves.
Of course, this groove testing is all for naught. The players will get softer balls and learn new techniques, and bomb and gouge golf will continue unabated on the PGA Tour.
Golfweek | USGA takes on-site groove testing for a spin.
Interestingly, the USGA developed its field test in-house. As the story goes, over a year ago the USGA purchased a state-of-the-art, 3-D optical-measurement device to analyze grooves. The price tag: $175,000.
“It was absurd to think of taking the machine on Tour,” Rugge said.
What to do? Well, after much experimenting the USGA settled on a solution featuring the V500 Epson flatbed scanner. Retail price: $175.
“We got the first one from Staples,” Rugge said.
On-site, here’s how it works. The USGA takes a mold of the grooves using two putty-like materials. Then a section of the mold (which takes 10 minutes to be cured) is sliced off with a device Rugge calls “the bagel cutter.” The mold is placed on the scanner and analyzed by a software program developed in conjunction with the R&A.
The USA team won the Solheim Cup 16-12. My favorite players:
Michelle Wie got it done in the Solheim Cup, scoring a 3-0-1 record, best of the USA players.
But Europe has caught up with the USA at the Solheim Cup, midway through round 4.
After the third round of the PGA Championship, my picks (odds at start shown) had the following rounds:
- Tiger Woods: 1-2 (-8, 1st)
- Padraig Harrington: 1-3 (-6, T2)
- Phil Mickelson: 1-5 (+8, T70)
- Stewart Cink: 1-12 (+2, T26)
- Lucas Glover: 1-25 (-4, T4)
- Angel Cabrera: 1-25 (+6, T55)
- Kenny Perry: 1-25 (+6, T55)
- Steve Stricker: 1-25 (+7, MC)
- Field: 2-1
Other good rounds: Y.E. Yang, -6, T2; Henrik Stenson, -4, T4; Ernie Els, -3, T6; Soren Kjeldsen, -3, T6.
You know the record, 14 of 14 when Tiger has at least a share of the lead in a major, and he’s up by two. Game over.
