Allenby's Mouth Reaps Reward

Shortly after losing to Anthony Kim in their singles match at last month's Presidents Cup, Robert Allenby made some disparaging remarks about Kim having been out drinking late the night before.

It was a classless move by Allenby, and even though the two reportedly had met to clear the air, it seems Kim hasn't forgotten what was said.

The duo met up today during the semifinals of the World Match Play Championships in Casares, Spain, and Kim exacted some revenge on Allenby with a 5 & 4 victory to advance to the finals against Angel Cabrera.

But it wasn't the win itself that gave Kim his vengeance, it was how he went about it. During the first half of the 36-hole semifinal, Kim refused to concede any putt to Allenby, no matter how short the length. Usually in match play a short putt is concede quickly, but Kim was having none of it in the early part of the match and by the time they completed the first round Allenby was displeased.

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Remembering Payne Stewart

This Sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of the tragic death of Payne Stewart and as I will be traveling this weekend I wanted to take a few moments to mark this sad event.

Stewart had capped a great year for his career in 1999 by winning the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and helped spur the U.S. to a Ryder Cup win three months later. Then, just one month later, Stewart left his Florida home to head for a meeting in Dallas, Texas (ironically, the same city where I will be spending this weekend) before heading down to Houston to play in the season-concluding Tour Championship.

As we all know, neither Stewart, his agents Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, the pilots Michael Kling and Stephanie Bellegarrigue, nor Bruce Borland, who was a golf architect with Jack Nicklaus' golf course design firm, made it to Dallas that day.

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Did Phil Just Seal the Cup?

Yes Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker are a big part of why the U.S. will go into Sunday's 12 singles matches with a three-point lead, but why the U.S. kept that three-point lead can be placed on the shoulders of Phil Mickelson.

Trailing the International team of Tim Clark and Vijay Singh all round, Mickelson rolled in a 40-foot putt, lasered in a brilliant approach on 16 to stay tied and all while getting little, if any, help from his playing partner, Sean O'Hair.

Michael Jordan's "project" hasn't faired too well and will need to step up tomorrow for his team. If O'Hair can right the ship and at least salvage a half in his match tomorrow, it would go a long way toward redeeming the Cup rookie's dismal performance so far.

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Of Alligators and Gold Medals

There's always a few things you need to keep an eye out for on the golf course when it comes to personal safety.

The occassional golfer who does not know you are supposed to yell "FORE" when a ball is getting too close to another golfer, thus exposing you to an unexpected golf ball off the noggin. The occasional snake in the rough when you go searching for your wayward shot, especially in Texas and yes I speak from personal experience.

The other day I finished putting at my course's 13th hole, retrieved my ball and turned around to see an adult kit fox sitting on the green about 20 feet away. We spent about 30 seconds staring at each other before he decided to trot off, but it was a long 30 seconds as I was trying to remember if kit foxes liked to munch on humans or not.

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Double Your Golfing Pleasure

So exactly what was it with the month of September anyway?

No, I am not talking about Tiger Woods rolling to another FedEx Cup championship and another $10 million dollar check (that likely went to the petty cash fund anyway)that Mr. Woods deposited into his account.

What was truly amazing about the recently concluded month was a flurry of holes-in-ones across the globe. Now, I don't know what the exact numbers are on how many times a day someone, somewhere, experiemces the ultimate joy of golf. I'm sure there has to be at least one or two every week if not more.

But what we saw in September was above and beyond the norm for golf. Three people not only carded a hole-in-one in September, they did it twice. In the same round. And that number we do know.

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Tips From a Golf Coach

One thing I have wanted to do with this blog was to do more than just comment on the state of professional golf. I have been looking for a golf coach who could provide the kind of useful tips for the every day golfer to help him or her improve their game.

So it was a fortunate set of circumstances that led me to meet up with such a coach while playing behind a tournament at my course here in Colorado.

His name is Robert D. Bates and from time to time, Coach will provide tips to improve your game. I can vouch for him as he dropped one on me as we were playing and I have already reaped the rewards of his tutelage.

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Bittersweet Ryder Anniversary

It was 10 years ago today that one of the most remarkable comebacks in golf history occurred at the 33rd Ryder Cup match in Massachusetts. It was dubbed the "Battle of Brookline" and saw the American team rally from four points down on the final day of play.

With Ben Crenshaw telling everyone that he had a feeling about Sunday's finale his team charged out on Sunday and won the first seven matches to take a 13-10 lead. Jim Furyk defeated Sergio Garcia and Justin Leonard halved his match against Jose Maria Olazabal with an incredible putt on 17 to seal the biggest come from behind win in Ryder Cup history.

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PGA's Off Week Still Eventful

So we take a week off from the chase for the FedEx Cup in the PGA and you think that means all's quiet on the golfing front do you?

Not so fast.

A 57-year-old Southern California man decided to pay tribute to fallen duffers everywhere by throwing golf balls out his car window while driving through Joshua Tree National Park, located in the Mojave Dessert just northeast of Los Angeles.

By the time park rangers discovered who had been tossing the golf balls in the park, Douglas Jones had deposited nearly 3,000 golf balls in the dessert. Park rangers, who had to pick up each golf ball, along with some other items Jones left in the park for various reason, were not amused.

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Tiger Puts Stricker on Notice

Coming into Round 3 of the FedEx Cup, both Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods needed to just finish in the top 10 to all but secure that one of them would win the Cup this year.

Tiger got the memo, currently tied for first after 36 hole of the BMW Championship at Cog Hill in Chicago. Woods usually does well at Cog Hill, so it is really no big surprise to see his name atop the leaderboard on a Friday evening. And while Tiger cannot clinch the Cup with a win this week, he certainly can put a huge amount of pressure on the current Cup leader Stricker.

Maybe that is why Stricker is struggling horribly after two rounds this week.

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Two-Man Horse Race for FedEx?

Barring an amazing back-to-back win performance over the next two weeks, the chase for the FedEx Cup has pretty much become a two-man race between Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods. Based on their play over the past two weeks, Stricker goes into this weeks' BMW Championship outside of Chicago with the advantage.

Stricker's win on Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship put him in first place by 909 points over Woods. While Woods usually does well at Cog hill, the simple fact is he is struggling with his game, Monday's 8-under, 63 notwithstanding. Woods' balky putter either runs red-hot or ice-cold and it not only cost him a chance to put the FedEx Cup out of reach, it has opened the door for Stricker to cruise right on by.

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