Is Sergio Garcia... Really Back?

Sergio Garcia after hitting a shot while standing in water during the 3rd round 

Has anyone else noticed what Sergio Garcia has done lately? If not, I'll let you know. First off, he's had quite a solid year on the PGA Tour, with 3 top 15s in the majors, which showed he arguably had the best season in terms of play in majors this year. This is after 2 rough, rough years in which reports indicated he might even quit golf altogether.

Now, rather than just putting in solid play all year whilst not winning, he's even returning to THAT winning form. I don't know if you heard, but he absolutely dominated at the Castello Masters last week, putting on a clinic for his hometown crowd while on cruise control to at 11 shot. I don't think I've ever seen him play that well, other than at The Players Championship in '08.

This week, El Nino has a chance to win yet again! He currently sits 2 ahead of everyone this week at the Andalucia Masters, with a nice 3rd round 67. This course has shown to be extremely tough, as he's only at 6 under par so far. He's vying for three things right now: back-to-back wins, a spot in next week's HSBC Champions, and the first Spaniard to win this event while held at the challenging Valderrama golf course.

If Sergio goes on to win this thing, then I believe people will start to definitely take notice that he's coming back stronger than ever. We all know that he's one of the most talented players in golf, and when he is confident, he's easily one of the best. Even if he weren't able to capture this title, it wouldn't be so bad. Because even then, we still have seen the best out of Sergio since 2008, where I believe he was the Player of the Year.

I really hope Sergio wins this event. When he's playing well, it's good for the game and tv ratings. His talent and polarizing figure bring more interest to the sport. If he can keep this amazing form up and take it to the PGA Tour next year, then we should be in for something special.

Photo via Getty Images

Pick of the Week: The Barclays

Helllooooo everyone, and welcome to this weeks Picking blogs. Whelp, while the NFL is in the preseason and the MLB is nearing the end to their regular season, the PGA TOUR has officially ended their regular season, and we are now headed into the playoffs. This week, the top 125 finishers in the season long Fed Ex Cup points standing are heading to compete in the Barclays. From here, they will try to post a high finish and see if that will be good to get them into the field for the Deutsche Bank Championship, and so on, and so forth (Bernardo explained this in an earlier blog so go ahead and read his if you are a bit confused on how these playoffs work).

This season has been a long and quirky one, with many first time winners and rookies commanding the center of attention. But, disregard that. This is the playoffs, where the pressure is higher, and the payout is greater. This is where savvy and experienced veterans take hold, and show the golf world how elite golf is played for 4 weeks. This is why I'm going with Jim Furyk for my selection this week. He hasn't had the greatest of seasons so far, but I have three main reasons I'm picking him to start these playoffs with a bang: 1) He is the DEFENDING champion of these playoffs. 2) He is starting to round into form, with some good finishes as of late. 3) He plays the Taylormade Penta golf ball, which is my favorite golf ball to use.

Jim may not win this week as he's still starting to find his game and put it together, but this guy knows how to get it done at this time of the year, so I believe his experience alone will help me grab another point this week.

Already used- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Anthony Kim, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood, Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson, Nick Watney, Jonathan Byrd, Martin Kaymer, Ryan Moore, Charles Howell III, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, David Toms.

Pick of the Week: The Memorial

Hello all, and welcome to another edition of Pick of the Week. This week the PGA TOUR heads to Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio for The Memorial tournament. This tournament is one of the more well known events on tour; as it's hosted by the greatest golfer that's ever played- Jack Nicklaus. Stop and think about this- the last 3 weeks we've had the Crowne Plaza Invitational (a tribute to Ben Hogan), the HP Byron Nelson (a tribute to Byron Nelson himself), and we have The Memorial this week (the Golden Bear's event). Some of the greatest golfers to ever play, in back to back to back weeks. That is just plain awesome. Many high profile golfers come here to compete and try to win his event. This tournament, besides the majors, is usually one of the more interesting ones to watch because of the high profile names that come over to play. It also usually requires a lot of experience to win at this course. That's why I'm choosing Steve Stricker this week to grab me another point. When you think of consistent golfers, this guy has to come to mind. In fact, in 9 events this year, he's only finished out of the top 20 two times. He also had a tie for 17th here last year, so he knows this course fairly well. Hopefully he can snatch me a point and get me to 1 within Bernardo, I need to keep riding my momentum from last week. This is because my pick of Jason Day had 2 subpar days in the beginning of the HP Byron Nelson Championship last week, but finshed on the weekend extremely well for a top 5 finish, which allowed him to catch and overpass Bernardo's choice of American Dustin Johnson.

Here is a video, courtesy of pgatour.com on what to expect this week:



Already used- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Anthony Kim, Adam Scott, Jason Day


photo courtesy: sportinglife

Getting it Done

Whew, what a weekend at this week's PGA TOUR event, the HP Byron Nelson Championiship. So much went on this weekend- pros struggling, an amateur hogging the spotlight, a 5th playoff in 6 weeks for the TOUR, and an unheralded young gun taking the title. Oh and not to forget- Tony Romo married Candace Crawford (former Miss Missouri) on Saturday, and Manchester United was defeated by FC Barcelona by a score of 3-1 in the Champions league final as well. And, the French Open is entered its second week over these past few days, so yeah, lots of sports events have been occurring besides this wild finish.

For this tournament there was a lot of surviving going on rather than moving up the leaderboard. If you shot even par on Saturday or Sunday, chances are you shot up a few spots and made some more money. This was evident for Australian golfer Jason Day, who started of his tournament with a 2 round total of 3 over, but gutted out some good golf and finished in the top 5 at 1 under par. This tournament really gave many viewers a chance of how the U.S. Open will probably be- a tough mental and physical grind.

When Sunday began, quite a few notable names had a chance to take this tournament. This included talented Spaniard Sergio Garcia and fan favorite Jordan Spieth, who just graduated high school. Both struggled on this day however, with each shooting 77's and promptly knocking them out of contention. This opened the door for players such as Ryuji Imada, Ryan Palmer, and Keegan Bradley to have a chance to take the trophy home. In the end, it came down to Palmer and Bradley. Palmer made a clutch birdie on the extremely hard finishing hole, and forced a playoff. But in the playoff, when both players hit their tee shots both way right, it was Bradley who parred the whole and took home the win. It came a surprising win to many people, including myself, because prior to this, his best finish on either the Nationwide or PGA TOUR was a runner up finish. But obviously he was the one who outlasted the entire field on this day, and credit is given to him for hanging tough and getting it done.

Pick of the week: HP Byron Nelson Championship

Awwwww yeeeeah. Got a VERY MUCH NEEDED point last week with my pick of Zach Johnson coming through on the weekend to outplay Bernardo's pick of Stewark Cink at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. However, I'm still down three full points, so I need to keep this momentum rolling. Last week the TOUR held its annual tournament in honor of golfing great Ben Hogan, and this week they are holding another tournament for a legend: the great Byron Nelson. This week at the HP Byron Nelson Championship many players will be vying for this illustrious title. This includes defending champion Jason Day, who has posted many solid finishes this season and seems be on the doorstep for that next TOUR win. He strikes the ball well and can putt very nicely. And on a course where it's ranked as one of the toughest in terms of driving accuracy, striking is very important. That is why I'm going to go with this young, talented Aussie. The Taylormade staffed pro has 5 top-10 finishes in 11 starts with his best being 2nd in that magical Masters Tournament earlier this year. He tees off at 8:44 am EST on Thursday, and sits 25th in the FedEx Cup standing, and at a course where familiarity can play a big advantage for you, I expect him to be contending by Sunday afternoon.

Already used- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Anthony Kim, Adam Scott, Jason Day

Interview of Day before tomorrow's action.



photo courtesy: img.timeinc.net

Pick of the Week: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

Whelp, at this rate guys, this competition between Bernardo and me will blow up faster than the 2010 season of the Dallas Cowboys (yes, I just went there). I need to rack up some points, FAST. Just like guys are gonna need to rack up birdies at this week's PGA Tour stop, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. This is one of the oldest stops on tour, and always brings a lot of fun to it. Legendary golfer Ben Hogan is linked to this course, as the nickname "Hogan's Alley" is often tossed around here. This week, I'm going with American golfer Zach Johnson. Not only did he finish THE PLAYERS with an impressive 66 in his final round, but he also is the defending champion here, so he knows this course well. The dude can flat out putt and chip, and if you can do that, you'll be a factor a lot during the golf season. I've liked Zach ever since he won The Masters; he gives us kids who start to play golf late some hope to become a pro. Hopefully he can grab me a much needed point this week over Bernardo's pick, as my pick of Adam Scott failed me miserably and his choice of Sergio Garcia closed very strong for a 12th place finish.

Already used- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Anthony Kim, Adam Scott

Zach speaking with the media before this week's tournament:

Fallen Stars

This sport called "golf" is known by many as "deceptively simple, yet endlessly complicated". The two men pictured above, Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia, have been known for making it look just like the first part of that quote. But as of right now, both are living on the end of the last part of that saying. Both of these golf superstars had a lost 2010 season that will both force them to play excellent golf to achieve their once elite forms.

Just 2 years ago, they were the top 2 players in the world, with Tiger ranked 1 and Sergio right behind him ranked 2nd, respectively. Now where are they? Well, by the end of this week Tiger is going to fall out of the top 10 for the first time since April 6, 1997 when he was ranked No. 13 heading into The Masters (according to ESPN). Sergio isn't doing any better. Garcia has fallen to a woeful 73rd in the world, and is in danger of missing a major championship for the first time since 1999. However, he is playing in this week's PGA Tour event, so he still has a chance to improve on his ranking.

Both had extremely subpar 2010 seasons. Let's start with Mr. Woods. Post-scandal Tiger has not been anywhere near the same since that fateful incident. He's not only gone through a divorce, but he's suffered multiple injuries and a massive swing change. All of this culminated in a 0-win year in 2010 with scarce top-tens. This season hasn't been much better, with only 2 top-10s and a shocking first-day bounce at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Champoinship. Also, last weeks WD at THE PLAYERS Championship doesn't help his cause, and keeps the critics alive and well. And with his ranking plummeting week after week, it will be interesting to see how this season is remembered for Tiger, as the months go by without a win and the questions of him being able to get back to form continue to rise.

Little video about Tiger, courtesy of ESPN:


Now, onto Mr. Garcia. The Spaniard had a horrendous 2010 season, with only one top ten, which came in his first start of that season. In fact, his game got away from him so bad that he decided to give himself a 2 month break after the PGA Championship to get his head back on straight. And although he has a relatively OK start to this season (3 top 15 finishes), the break dropped his world ranking to the low 80s, with it being currently No. 73. But, he is still danger of missing the U.S. Open at Congressional in June, with him needing to either crack the top 50 in the OWGR or reach the top 10 in the PGA Tour money list with 2 more weeks to go. If he doesn't, his consecutive streak of 49 majors played will come to an end, and that's something that he's not trying to think about. All he's been trying to do is go out everyday and play as well as he can, and let the chips fall where they may

Video about Sergio, again courtesy of ESPN:


Overall, both golfers have fallen off immensely with their golf skills, and are desperately trying to regain it back. Like I said before, it was only in 2009 when these two superstars were on the top of the golf world at 1 and 2, just as many golf analysts predicted many years back when they were young phenoms. They still both have the talent to reach great heights again, but only time will tell to see if these golfers can regain what they've lost. And if they do play well again, the golf world will happily greet them back, as this game is always more interesting when you see "Woods" or "Garcia" on the first page of the leaderboard.

photo courtesy: www.theage.com

Dazed and Confused

Another tournament, another question, another controversy. This has been the ongoing timeline of what the current state that Tiger Woods has with his golf game. As you may have heard, after shooting a front-nine 42 earlier on Thursday last week, Tiger decided to withdraw from THE PLAYERS, citing his achilles and leg injuries as the reason. Many noted that he was also clearly limping throughout the day, so he chose to not make a bad situation any worse. As a Tiger fan, this only makes me feel worse for the guy. Karma obviously isn't done with him yet, as he continues to have this run of bad luck with the injuries and sub-par play. This can only raise more questions of "Is Tiger Done?" and "When will he return?" and most importantly: "When will he, if ever, win again?". Although these questions have been continually been asked ever since post-Thanksgiving of 2009, this WD at THE PLAYERS will only bring more of questions like these at possibly an alarming rate. It's defintely just going to get worse.

Even though many haters continue to relish the "cheetah's" demise, a majority of the golf contingent are rooting for him now. The math is simple; Tiger+Tiger Win+Big Tournament= $$$. The PGA Tour and the television networks need the guy. Their ratings go up, and their finances increase. The fans also become happier because the man is such a polarizing figure it creates a lot of buzz whenever he can do something like that. This recent setback can only hurt the TOUR even more.

I think the thing we all have to do now is just stay patient for the man. He needs to get healthy and not rush this injury, or we will be back to square one quickly. If we give Mr. Woods patience, space, and time to get his life, golf game, and health back together, I think he can return back to his winning ways. If he can do that, the PGA Tour will soar, because not only will he be back to normal, but since we have a huge amount of players playing great golf right now, we can see how they all stack up with one another. But for now, we just can only hope and believe as golf fans. The greatest golfer of our generation, at one point heralded as our Superman, has at some point been stuck with Kryptonite for about a year and a half now. Faith is needed for our fallen star to get back to normal, and its needed now more than ever. There's no doubt that he still has the potential to bring his game back to form for good. But until then, get well soon, Tiger Woods. I'll be rooting for you like never before.

Pick of the Week: THE PLAYERS Championship

Here we are ladies and gentlemen- THE PLAYERS Championship, aka the 5th major!! The tournament with the biggest purse, the deepest field, and the course that nobody owns. Famed TPC Sawgrass in Florida favors no particular golfer, as nobody here has collected more than 2 wins on this course (and the list of two-time winners is small as well). The one thing that can be said about Sawgrass is this: you better be in excellent form the whole week with your golf game, and you better be mentally tough, or you will get eaten alive. Not having those components usually spells disaster. Generally, another rule of thumb around Sawgrass is you must be accurate and be able to putt on Sunday. Watch out for these things as the tournament rolls on. Also, watch out for a few notable story lines this week, such as how Tiger does and how his injury impacts him (or not), if Luke Donald can back up a great season with a great win, if Martin Kaymer can show people he is World No. 2 worthy, and if Sergio Garcia can continue to find his form to continue his streak of majors played at next month's U.S. Open. Now, off to my choice for this week. I'm going to go with Aussie Adam Scott. The 2004 Champion obviously knows what it takes to win here, capturing that aforementioned win with a clutch putt on the 18th hole en route to his victory. He's been in good form this year too, posting a runner-up finish at the Masters with a sprinkle of other top-10's as well as he continues to roll with the long putter. Adam has arguably the best swing in golf, so once he figured out how to putt well again, his form has returned. I expect good things out of the still young 30 year-old, and a good finish to this tournament to boot.

P.O.W. Re-Cap: Last week things got a bit confusing in our Pick of the Week standings. Bernardo's pick Rory McIlroy missed the halfways cut, while my pick Anthony Kim just made it in. Yet, with the new two-cut policy the TOUR can apply to tournaments nowadays, Kim was cut after the third round. After talking to Bernardo I decided that this should be a tie, since neither of our playing techiniallly finished the required 72 holes last week to post a number. So it sits at Bernardo-6, JJ-3.

Already used- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Anthony Kim.

Adam before the tournament action this week:

photo source: telegraph.co.uk

Pick of the Week: Wells Fargo Championship

Alright y'all. No more time to fool around. I'm a deep hole against Bernardo, and I need to make up ground FAST or this Pick of this Week competition is going to get out of control. This week the big boys are teeing it up at famed Quail Hollow, which is the site of this years Wells Fargo Championship. The Charlotte, NC golf course usually tends to attract some of the bigger names for this event. Names like defending champ Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Bubba Watson are all in this feeling looking to get a piece of the roughly 6.5 million dollar purse. Former world #1 Tiger Woods originally had planned to compete here as he usually does, but is missing out due to injury. With all that said, I'm going with a guy who still might be under the radar this year: Anthony Kim. This young American is still only 25, and although some may still consider this year a "struggle" for him, he has huge success at this 7,500 yard, par 72 track. He's 4 for 4 on cuts made here, and has set the tournament record here in terms of lowest number of total strokes, and has the lowest score relative to par here as well, with both coming in his 2009 victory. Even though the dude parties a little more than most of us would say is good enough, he is so talented that when he is playing well, he will shoot at pins that nobody else will and will play with literally no fear on every shot. I expect Kim to use his talent and comfortability on this course to snatch a nice win to truly shrug off the doubters, and for him to grab much a MUCH NEEDED point this week.

Already used: Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald.

Preview for this week, courtesy of PGATOUR.com :

Party In 'NOLA

This week on the PGA Tour the players stopped in the Big Easy to compete in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The fans were in for quite a tourney this week, with Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson duking it out on the 18th hole a few times before Bubba ground out a win. They entered the playoff both at 15 under par. Webb could have won the entire thing outright, but an honest mistake penalty of him touching his ball down the stretch on a tap in par putt cost him a shot and had him head in the clubhouse parring out. Bubba too had a chance to win the tournament, but he left his birdie bid on the 72nd hold just inches short, and off to the playoff went. The playoff saw some pretty good golf action, with Bubba birdieing 2 out of the 3 times they played it, with the final birdie to beat Simpson. Bubba now leads the Fed Ex Cup with his 3rd win in 10 months, while the young Webb still searches on for that elusive first PGA Victory.

WORLD NEWS: President Obama has declared that the US troops have shot, killed, and obtained the body of terrorist Osama Bin Laden earlier today. This is a monumental moment in American history and a proud moment for many people around the world!!

Highlights of the final round here:

Pick of the Week: Zurich Classic of New Orlean

Luke Donald 

This week the PGA Tour visits the wonderful city of New Orleans, for the Zurich Classic. My pick of the week is Luke Donald. After the disappointment last week at The Heritage, Donald will certainly have a comeback this week. Firing at all cylinders trying to achieve the No1 position in the world. Donald hasn't play here before, but that wont't be a problem for the pin seeking Englishmen. My fellow blogger JJ finally got a point last week using Donald, so now its my turn to take advantage of this talented golfer. Some notable players to watch are Jeff Overton, Nick Watney, and Brandt Snedeker. This course has suited Overton's game the past few years with T2 and T13 finishes. Watney has been pretty silent the past few weeks but is one of the hottest players on tour. He is in second in scoring average and first in overall ranking on tour. Snedeker coming off a great win over Donald at The Heritage. Its difficult to win two weeks in a row unless your Tiger in his prime. But the sudden death playoff revealed that maybe he will be a valuable player in the upcoming Ryder Cup. A quick side note, It was great seeing Barcelona overcome Real Madrid today.  

Note: So far the golfers I have used this year are-  Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer, Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Jason Day, and Luke Donald.    

Who's the best couple on tour?

Pick of the Week: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Helloooooo everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of Pick of the Week. This week the PGA Tour stops in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Nola is a famous sight to come see, as there are many festivities and party themes that are around those parts. It usually can attract some good stars, even this week. Studs like Nick Watney, Luke Donald, and Graeme McDowell have come to pay a visit. Also, my Pick of the Week for this tournament, Justin Rose, is making a stop here. I'm picking the Englishmen for this week because he has a relatively quiet but solid start to his season. He just top 15-ed in The Masters and had even been playing well before then. I see him to play pretty well this week, and hopefully come out with a win so I can make this race a little bit more interesting....

Till then, see you soon! And stay tuned for more blogs.

Note: So far the golfers I have used this year are- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, and now Justin Rose.

Pick of the Week: The Heritage

Hellooooooo everyone, and welcome back to this week's edition of "Pick of the Week". This week, the TOUR heads to famed Hilton Head as the professional golfers compete in what is now simply called "The Heritage". Much like Augusta, this tournament holds a lot of tradition and the winner receives a jacket as well. Albeit a red plaid jacket, but a stylish one none the less! This week should be a lot of fun to watch, as it brings a lot of big names year in and year out. Names such as Jim Furyk, Aaron Baddeley, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar, and Jason Day are here to compete and win at this event. And since it might not be back next year due to sponsorship issues, they would all like to be known as the last to win here. For this week's pick, I'm going with Englishman Luke Donald. The aforementioned world number 3 has had a great season so far, with a win at the WGC Match-Play earlier this year along with a string of top 10's to boot. The guy doesn't hit it far, but he is arguably one of the best iron players on the planet and has world-class short game. It's no surprise that he is in the top 5 in the world, and with a win this week he could even vault all the way to top. So, I predict him to take the crown this week, and help me get one step closer to catching my fellow blogger Bernardo.

Note: So far the golfers I have used this year are- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, and now Luke Donald.

Little preview of what's to come this week: