Joey's Golf Bag

I went out to the Byron Nelson tournament today, arriving around 10:30AM. The weather was warm, not much wind, and cloudy. While walking in, I saw group 24 tee off on #1 (Kris Blanks, Wil Collins, Troy Kelly — they started on #10). I went to our villa, had a quick snack, and saw groups #42 (John Sendon, J.J. Henry, Jason Bohn) and group #43 (Adam Scott, Fred Couples, Robert Allenby) come in on the 18th. Adam Scott hit a long drive and a wedge to about 3 or 4 ft and made the birdie putt. Fred Couples also holed his 12 footer for birdie.

I then followed group #31 (Anthony Kim, D.J. Trahan, Charley Hoffman) as they teed off on the first. I followed them for six holes. Among the notable shots:

• Charley Hoffman hit a perfect tee shot on the first hole and followed that with a perfect approach shot just left of the hole. He hit the putt for birdie.
• Anthony Kim hit a fade into the water off the tee on the long par-4 third hole. He slammed the driver on the ground and then threw it to his caddie. His third into the green after a drop ended up with a downhill lie just short of the bunker to the left of the green. He hit a magnificent cut lob to about 4 ft and made the putt for bogey.
• Charley Hoffman hit a drive just left of the fairway bunkers on the third. His ball was deep in the rough, but he hit a spectacular shot into the green and made par.
• D.J. Trahan hit his tee ball on the fourth hole right behind me about a foot off the cart path. He didn’t take relief, instead hit a perfect shot with his feet on the cart path to about 8 to 10 ft from the hole and made birdie.

After watching that group, I headed back to the villa for a margarita or two, stopping along the way to see a couple of groups hit into the third hole. Tyler Aldridge hit his approach into the left greenside bunker on the third and hit a pretty good bunker shot to about 6 ft. I saw Colt Knost hit a beautiful shot out of the fairway bunker on the third hole with a hybrid. Dean Larsson hit his tee shot on the third hole almost into the exact spot where Charley Hoffman had hit his drive earlier, but Dean pushed his approach shot into the first right greenside bunker. I didn’t see if he got up and down from there.

As I was leaving the tournament, Rory Sabbitini was leading the tournament at -8.

Michelle shot a 68 in the third round of the Sybase Classic that should have been at least a 66 had a few short putts dropped.

Good luck tomorrow!

Suzann Pettersen, Ji Young Oh lead LPGA Tour’s Sybase Classic.

Suzann Pettersen and Ji Young Oh seemingly won't have to worry about three-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa making a run at them in the final round of the Sybase Classic.

There are plenty of other challengers though, including recent major winner Brittany Lincicome, eight-time LPGA winner Paula Creamer and probably the most famous non-winner on tour, 19-year-old Michelle Wie.

Pettersen of Norway and Oh of South Korea shot 3-under 69s Saturday, taking a one-stroke lead over Lincicome after three rounds of the $2 million event that seemingly will have a new champion with Ochoa 10 shots back heading into the final round on the Upper Montclair Country Club.

The biggest story would be Wie winning her first title since the USGA Women's Amateur Public Links Championship in 2003. She turned pro in 2006 but that first win has eluded her.

I’ve been limited in my practices to short pitches, chips and putting for the last couple of weeks due to muscle spasms in the muscle just below my left shoulder blade. I’ve hit very few full shots since I last played in the April tournament. My short game and putting are improving, though, so I’m pretty happy otherwise.

I’ve made a few changes to the equipment in my bag. My two PCF Micro wedges are worn out, so I’ve put back into the bag my CX Micro SW and LW I built a while back. These have hardly been used.

I’m also going back to using my 949MC 4-wood and 7-wood, not because I’m unhappy with my 525FD 3-wood or 919THI 5-wood (after all, these clubs produced my first tournament birdie). I just thought I’d like to try a different arrangement in my bag. I also put my 525GRT driver back in the bag, just for fun.

Though my back still isn’t 100%, I plan to play tomorrow. I’ve found that if I limit my follow-through, it puts less stress on my back.

That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.