Happy Tuesday!
After months and months of blabbing on and on about the NHL lockout, this week on 15MOF we finally get to discuss the END of the work stoppage, breaking down the deal and trying to figure out who – if anyone – came out on top. Also, we recap a tough run for Team Canada at the World Juniors in Russia.
In the GABBYs: The NHL & the NHLPA, Alex Ovechkin, Jose Canseco, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Rory McIlroy & Trevis Simpson. The Punchline this week is NY Jets coach Rex Ryan!
Rory McIlroy (Ed McDonald, Wikimedia Commons)
For the second time in his golfing career, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland has won a major. On Sunday, he won the PGA Championship in South Carolina.
McIlroy shot a -6 Sunday to shoot a final round -13 and beat England’s David Lynn by eight strokes.
Despite a poor second round where McIlroy shot a +3 in extremely windy conditions, he was on his game and shot an amazing -16 on the three days where the weather was quite mild and calm.
Even though McIlroy has won his two majors (2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship) by a combined total of 16 strokes (eight strokes each time), he won his two majors significantly differently. Last year at Congressional, he had a six stroke lead after the second round, and nobody caught him. This past weekend, he had significant challenges from Carl Pettersson of Sweden, Vijay Singh of Fiji, Tiger Woods of the United States and Ian Poulter of England. It wasn’t until mid-way through the final round on Sunday he destroyed the field by shooting a six-under that he moved away from the field.
The entire golf world knows about 52 year old Fred Couples. The man from Seattle with his rich grey hair and the 1992 Masters Champion.
But what do we know about Jason Dufner, who like Couples is at five under par, and has a one stroke lead on golfers with great major resumes–Rory McIlroy of Great Britain (2011 U.S. Open Champion) and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa (2010 British Open Champion), along with American Bubba Watson and Spain’s Sergio Garcia, who are part of the elite group of the world’s best themselves?
Well, Dufner is a 35 year old golfer, born in the same year as I, from Auburn, Alabama, a town that is known more for its university football than golf. His most famous tournament to date was the 2011 PGA Championship where he lost in a playoff to fellow American Keegan Bradley. He has won twice on the Nationwide Tour, but never on golf’s largest stage.
Just remember, Couples and Dufner are the current leaders at -5, but it is Dufner that is in his prime at the moment, while Couples is the veteran on the Senior Tour.
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
Rory McIlroy (Ed McDonald, Wikimedia Commons)
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is red hot.
On Sunday, McIlroy passed Luke Donald of England as the best golfer in the world by winning the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
McIlroy shot a four day total of -12 to defeat Tiger Woods and American Tom Gillis by two strokes.
McIlroy also finished second last weekend to Hunter Mahan in the World Matchplay Championships in Tucson, Arizona. The back-to-back top two finishes for McIlroy was very impressive because of the long travel between Arizona and Florida. McIlroy also became the first non-American to win on the PGA Tour this year.
Another red hot golfer at the moment is England’s Lee Westwood, who was a semi-finalist at the World Matchplay Championships and finished in fourth place this past weekend.
There is another World Golf Championship this weekend in Miami, Florida with the Cadillac Championship. The course is known for its very difficult 18th hole. If golfers shoot anywhere left, it is highly likely they will land in the water, which is known as the blue monster. American Nick Watney is the defending champion.
Hunter Mahan (Rob Poetsch, Wikimedia Commons)
American Hunter Mahan won the World Golf Matchplay Championship on Sunday.
Mahan defeated Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy 2 and 1 in Tucson, Arizona to prevent McIlroy from passing Luke Donald of England into first place in the World Golf Rankings.
Mahan built a strong four hole lead after the first ten holes, before hanging on to the two hole advantage. Mahan earlier in the day defeated Mark Wilson of the United States in the semi-finals.
It has been a strong start to the year for Wilson, as in January he won the Humana Challenge (previously known as the Bob Hope Classic) in the standard 72 hole event for the first time in tournament history. Since the event’s beginning in 1960, the Bob Hope Classic has been 90 holes.
The World Matchplay Championships is the first of four golf events that are a part of the World Golf Championship. The WGC Cadillac Championship is in Miami in March, the WGC Bridgestone Invitational is in Akron, Ohio in August and the WGC HSBC Championship is in Shanghai, China in November.
This is a big weekend in Alberta curling. Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin will try to win Alberta’s first Canadian Women’s Curling Championship on Alberta soil in Red Deer. She has the capability and overall team skill. Nedohin just has to put it together and notch three victories against Team Quebec, Team Manitoba and Team British Columbia.
A major reason for Alberta’s success this week has been the solid play of their overall team. Lead Laine Peters was second to Manitoba’s Dawn Askin in overall shooting percentage (87%). Alberta’s Jessica Mair was second among seconds at 83% and Alberta’s Beth Iskiw was second among thirds at 84%.
Darren Clarke (Paddy Briggs, Wikimedia Commons)
Northern Ireland is now the world capital in golf.
On Sunday, Darren Clarke won the British Open, becoming the third player from Northern Ireland over the last two years to win a Major. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 United States Open and Rory McIlroy won the 2011 United States Open.
Northern Ireland also becomes the first nation outside the United States to have two different golfers win back-to-back majors since Scotland in 1910. That year Alex Smith won the U.S. Open and James Braid won the British Open.
Clarke, also set a record for the golfer to participate in the most British Opens before winning the Claret Jug. This was Clarke’s twentieth appearance at the British Open. Nick Price of Zimbabwe won the British Open in his 15th appearance in 1994.
Clarke, who shot -5, defeated Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson by three strokes.
Mickelson, who started the day at even par, was brilliant on the front nine, shooting a -5, and got to -6 on the tenth. But then he had four bogeys in six holes on the back nine to put him out of contention.
Darren Clarke (Paddy Briggs, Wikimedia Commons)
When Darren Clarke’s wife Heather died of cancer in 2006, the entire golf community mourned. But in the last five years, Clarke’s life has turned around a little. Last year, he got engaged to Miss Northern Ireland Alison Campbell, and after round two of the British Open on Friday, Clarke and American Lucas Glover are tied for the lead at -4.
Clarke, who is 42 years of age, is trying to become the third golfer from Northern Ireland to win a major. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 United States Open and Rory McIlroy won the 2011 United States Open.
Glover, meanwhile, is no stranger to major success himself, as he won the 2009 United States Open at Bethpage Black in New York.
However, Clarke and Glover are just the co-leaders in southeast England and have a long ways to go. A remarkable 31 players are within four strokes of the lead. Martin Kaymer and Miguel Angel Jimenez are in a group at -3, Americans Tom Lehman, Davis Love III and Dustin Johnson are in a group at -2, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and English amateur Tom Lewis are in a group at -1, and Y.E. Yang, Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia are in a group at even.
TSN’s coverage begins at 4am Saturday morning. I’m waking up when Garcia is teeing off, at 5:25am Mountain Time.
Tom Lewis (Bing Images)
If you didn’t know the name of Tom Lewis, well, I guess you know now.
The English amateur that is only twenty years of age was the story on day one of the third major of the 2011 golf season.
Lewis shot a -5, to tie for the lead with Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn. Lewis, who was named after his playing partner and British Open icon Tom Watson, birdied the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth holes in dominating the back nine of Royal St. George’s.
Bjorn meanwhile had the lead for the majority of the day, until Lewis soared to tie him. Like Lewis, Bjorn birdied each hole from the fourteenth to the sixteenth, but a costly bogey on the eighteenth hole means he is not leading Lewis by a stroke heading into round two.
The most fascinating shot of the day came from American Dustin Johnson, who got a hole in one on the 16th hole. He is sitting at even par.
Unlike the United States Open where Rory McIlroy dominated the field, the British Open is significantly tighter. There are 35 players within four shots of the lead. Among the three that are only one shot back at-4 are American Webb Simpson, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez (the Mechanic) and American Lucas Glover, the 2009 United States Open Champion.
Tiger Woods (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
Tiger Woods won’t be playing at the British Open next weekend.
According to the Associated Press, Woods’s leg injury will need some more time to heal. Woods also missed the United States Open almost a month ago at Congressional near Washington.
Woods injured his knee and Achilles’ tendon while hitting the ball from an awkward stance on the 17th hole during the third round of the Masters in April. He later admitted he made a mistake in trying to compete at the Players’ Championship in May, an event he withdrew from early.
Woods has also fallen down to seventeenth in the World Golf Rankings. He trails England’s Luke Donald by 4.97 points.
There’s also no word when Woods has the intention of practicing again, not just competing. Woods will be replaced by American Jason Dufner, who is ranked 68th in the world.
The British Open Championship takes place July 14-17 in Royal St. George’s. South African Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open in 2010, while American Ben Curtis won the British Open the last time the event took place at Royal St. George’s in 2003. South African Charl Schwartzel won the 2011 Masters and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland won the 2011 United States Open.
Yani Tseng (Bing Images)
Move over Rory McIlroy. You have company.
In a remarkable accomplishment this weekend at the LPGA Championship just outside of Rochester, New York, Yani Tseng won her fourth major today in hammering the field.
Tseng, shot a tournament round of -19, defeating American Morgan Pressel by ten strokes, who finished with a score of -9.
McIlroy defeated Jason Day of Australia by eight strokes a week ago in winning the U.S. Open at Congressional outside of Washington.
The blowouts in back-to-back weeks for golf, in my opinion are not great for the game. I tuned in to the LPGA Championship mid-afternoon today to see that Tseng had an 11 stroke lead. I switched the channel, knowing perfectly well that Tseng’s lead was completely insurmountable.
Rory McIlroy (Bing Images)
It could have been considered one of the most dominating golf performances ever.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, currently 8th in the world, won the 111th United States Open this afternoon at Congressional (outside of Washington, D.C.) in overwhelming fashion.
McIlroy shot a two-under 69 to beat Australian Jason Day by eight strokes.
McIlroy’s -16 is the best ever score over four rounds at the United States Open, breaking the previous record of -12 set by Tiger Woods in 2000 at Pebble Beach.
For the second consecutive day, McIlroy protected his large lead he built on Friday beautifully. He birdied the first, fourth, tenth and sixteenth holes, while only bogeying the twelfth and seventeenth holes. On the tenth, McIlroy came a few inches away from recording a remarkable hole in one.
Rory McIlroy (Bing Images)
Rory McIlroy is running away with the United States Open at the Congressional Golf Course near Washington, D.C.
McIlroy built his lead with a two under 68 Saturday to take an eight stroke lead (-14) on South Korean Y.E. Yang (-6).
It wasn’t a dominating performance by McIlroy on Saturday, rather a patient one. He recorded a par on 13 of the 18 holes he played, trying his best to minimize mistakes.
The lack of aggressiveness in my opinion showed great maturity, a characteristic McIlroy lacked a little during the final round at Augusta.
The best rounds of the day were put together by England’s Lee Westwood and Australia’s Jason Day. They both shot a -6, and moved into a tie for third place at -5 with American Robert Garrigus.
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, British Columbia is the top Canadian at +6 (tied for 54th), while Calgary’s Wes Heffernan struggled on Saturday, shooting a 79, and is tied for 71st.
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