Archive for August, 2008
Tiger Woods won’t be holding a golf club until 2009!
0 Comments Published August 14th, 2008 in Golf News, Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods won't be holding a golf club until 2009!
It looks like Tiger Woods won’t be holding a golf club until 2009 folks. Well, that’s what I expected after all those surgeries but the real bad news is for the PGA Tour sponsors.
With absence of Tiger Woods, TV ratings have dropped over 50% over last year. That won’t be a big problem for most folks but for people who are sponsoring the tournaments, they are really losing 50% of their ad revenue.
What’s amazing is that a single human being can effect the TV ratings, especially when you consider the other 200 top players in the world.
Yes, most people would like to watch #1 golfer in the world, not #2 or #3.
As for waiting, I am also really tired of watching golf tournaments without Tiger.
My typical thought process when watching a major these days, “If Tiger was playing, he’s probably going to be 3 better than the field, of course leading the tournament”.
I am sure Padraig Harrington will have plenty to worry about when Tiger comes back. In the meanwhile, he’s free to take all the freebie tournaments as he can.
“As far as swinging a club, that’s not going to happen until next year,” Woods wrote in a blog on tigerwoods.com. “I just don’t have a choice. We simply don’t know what type of swelling there would be or if there would be any residual effects the next day once you start wheeling and dealing on the knee.
Without Woods, the Nielsen ratings for the last two majors were dramatically lower, despite consecutive inspiring victories by Padraig Harrington.
The PGA Championship on CBS had a final-round overnight rating of 3.0, a drop of 55% from last year when Woods won. And the final round of the British Open on ABC had an overnight rating of 3.5, a decrease of 14.6% from last year.
If the Ryder Cup on NBC can’t deliver big numbers, without Woods, it doesn’t bode well for the upcoming FedEx Cup series, in which Woods won $10 million last year.
One thing I realized though, “Tiger Woods is golf, golf is Tiger Woods“. Without Tiger, there would be no $10 Million in prizes, we might still have boring PGA Tour pros fighting for $1 Million.
At least for the time being that Tiger Woods is breathing, we will get to be part of golf where purses are worth 10 times more than what they should be.
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Bob Heintz’s Wishes May Come True This Weekend!
0 Comments Published August 14th, 2008 in Bob Heintz, Golf News.
Bob Heintz's Wishes May Come True This Weekend!
You’ve probably never heard of Bob Heintz or the fact that Heinz ketchup is actually spelled without the t.
The fact is that Bob Heintz has been trying to gain fans so he can enjoy his round more.
Of course, you need to score great scores week-in and week-out on the PGA Tour to accomplish that.
Today, Bob Heintz did just that, attracting about 50 fans to follow his partner who is a local amateur.
Of course, if Bob Heintz keeps shooting 63s for the rest of the weekend, it will be possible that one of Bob’s wishes may come true.
Quoting from interview today:
“I said, ‘I imagine y’all are here to watch Drew, right?’” Heintz said. “They kind of laughed and felt bad that they weren’t there to watch me. I relayed to them that one of my career goals was to get where I’m good enough where someone might actually go to a golf course, pick up a pairing sheet and say, ‘I’ll follow Bob Heintz’s group today.’
“That’s kind of a vague career goal, but they started to tease me about that as the day went on — ‘I guess I’ll follow you now.’ I’d rather have attention than, you know, have nobody know who I was.”
Yes, the hardest fact of life on the PGA Tour is not that everyone who qualified makes at least $100K/year. But the fact that if you don’t finish near the top, no one will ever notice you.
How cruel is that if you were a PGA Tour member most of your life, only to have no one notice you when you retire?
Of course, those spotlights are reserved for players like Tiger Woods but still, professional golf is a mirror-image of our capitalist society. In order for you to be happy at what you do, you need to be near the top whether that’s golf or business.
Now, I really want this Bob Heintz guy to win this weekend. Before today, I didn’t even know he’s a PGA Tour player!
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Golf Fact - David Duval and Bob Duval are Father-Son Pros who won Tournaments on the Same Day!
0 Comments Published August 14th, 2008 in Golf Facts, Golf News, david duval.
Golf Fact - David Duval and Bob Duval are Father-Son Pros who won Tournaments on the Same Day!
Did you know?
David Duval and Bob Duval are the first ever father and son combo who have won professional golf tournaments on the same day?
When he won the Players Championship he became the first player in history to win on the same day as his father, Bob Duval, who won a Champions Tour event that same day.
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David Duval Swing Analysis!
0 Comments Published August 14th, 2008 in A+Featured Swing Analysis, Golf Video, Slow Motion, Swing Tips, david duval, swing analysis.
If you are new to golf, you’ve probably never heard of David Duval. But for me, he’s the #1 or #2 golfer of all-time in the 90s.
For whatever reason that David Duval has not been winning again, let’s take a look at his swing from Doral in 1997 to see what made him “tick”.
One thing I really like about David Duval is the way he finishes his swing with his back straight. This is really good for painless-back golf.
On the takeaway, David Duval looks pretty good.
At top of his swing, David is in perfect plane.
Between his backswing and downswing, you can clearly tell that David is really transferring his weight back to the left.
Also notice that his head is actually turning towards the target at impact. David Duval is the only other professional golfer I know who lets his head move freely during impact other than Annika Sorenstam.
I believe this head move can actually help the golfer hit the ball better if done right. But if you simply move your head at impact, it will probably make you chop the ball more times than not. To do it right, try following the golf ball as it takes off.
Watch David Duval’s wonderful wind-up finish. He’s almost wind-up too much but you get the idea here.
Hopefully David Duval does recover from his long-term winning draught. I have seen signs of him playing better lately at the British Open where he finishes Top 10 for the first 2 days. Time will tell whether David Duval is able to come back to competitive golf or not but he’s still a British Open champ.
David Duval Links
David Duval Offical Profile at Pgatour.com
Here’s David Duval’s Swing from Doral Open in 97:
Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
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Martin Laird and Bob Heintz in the lead at Wyndham Championship!
0 Comments Published August 14th, 2008 in A+Featured Golf News, Bob Heintz, Golf News, Martin Laird.
Martin Laird and Bob Heintz are both in the lead at Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour.
Both pros shot a whopping 7-under 63s on Sedgefield Country Club with par of 70.
Bob Heintz actually was at 8-under until the last hole where he scored a bogey.
Other notables include Scott McCarron at 5-under par, Zach Johnson at 4-under par, and David Love III at 4-under par.
From purely scoring point, tour players seem to be having an easy time on this golf course after weeks of hard golf on U.S. Open, British Open, and the PGA Championship.
Of course, a lot of big-name pros are missing this week probably due to the fact that the end of the year is near.
It’s still terrible too early to tell who will win this week, at least Bob Heintz and Marin Laird got their low scores in today.
In the meanwhile, we will do some swing analysis of Martin Laird and Bob Heintz to see who has a better swing.
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