The Year of The Rookie

Hello Folks. This week’s PGA Tour event exhibited an exciting finish with yet another rookie winning their first PGA Tour title. This year’s Greenbrier Classic champion is Scott Stallings, Tennessee Tech alumni. With this victory Stallings jumped to 26th in FedEx Points Race, revealing that a win can have a dramatic change in the standings. Stallings certainly provided a roller coaster ride for the viewers, shooting a front nine 4-over 38, but Stallings soon reached the highest peak of his round, firing a back nine 5-under 31. Stallings bogeyed the 2nd to last hole, forcing the rookie to birdie the final hole. That was no problem for the up and coming star, striking a beautiful iron within feet of the pin, resulting in a birdie and a spot in a three way playoff which included Bill Haas and Bob Estes. The trio headed to the par 3 #18, in search of a much needed win. All three would hit the green in regulation, but Stallings was the only one who was able to convert and birdie the 18th hole, disclosing that tournaments are won with the short stick. The biggest disappointment this week was Anthony Kim’s performance during the final, after producing a errorless round on Saturday. Kim fired a 4-over 74, taking the young star out of contention. Hopefully Kim’s play is a sign of good to come since this guy is too talented, not to be winning multiple tournaments every year. On a side note it was great seeing Andres Romero back in contention, one of my favorite golfers. This week my fellow blogger JJ came out victorious since his pick was able to out play my pick. The current score is Bernardo (me) 11, JJ 10. 

Round 4 Recap:

Greenbrier Classic Pick of Week

Jeff Overton at the British Open

Its Wednesday and its time for the Pick of the Week. This week the PGA Tour heads to West Virginia for the Greenbrier Classic, played on the Old White TPC course. Stuart Appleby was able to shoot a rare 59, to win by one stroke over Jeff Overton last year. Old White TPC is ranked among the easiest courses on tour, causing the tournament directors to make some changes to the course layout. Hopefully hindering  pin seekers from destroying the course and taking its popularity among top players with it. Since this might not attract the class of players they need in order to boost T.V. Ratings. Lacking the challenging course conditions, isn’t stopping some big names like Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, and Tom Watson from adding this event to their schedule. My pick of the week is Jeff Overton, last year’s runner up at the Greenbrier. Overton has had a slow season, recently exhibiting some great play at the AT&T National finishing in a tie for third. So far this year Overton has played 18 events, making the cut in 16 of those events which reveal he is a worthy pick and most importantly reliable. Many critics are pulling for Overton to win since he is a tremendous talent, who should be able to produce a win per year.
 

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, Luke Donald, Rory Mcllroy, Stewart Cink, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, David Toms, Lee Westwood, Webb Simpson, Ryan Moore, Steve Stricker, Ian Poulter, and Charl Schwartzel.

Pick of the Week: The Greenbrier Classic

Hellloooooo everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of Pick of the Week, brought to you by.... US! This week the TOUR heads to play the 2nd annual Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia. The course that they'll be playing at is Old White TPC, which has had some changes from the previous year. This field also attracts a notable amount of big names. Ryder Cup stars like Jeff Overton and Phil Mickelson are here. The never aging Tom Watson is here. Mr. 59 himself, Stuart Appleby, will be trying to defend his title here. And, Spanish star Sergio Garcia will also be playing. All of them are primed to have a good week, and hopefully most of them will be in contention by Sunday afternoon. But, alas, none of them are my pick for this week. This week, I'm going to go with a relatively quiet American. I'm going with Charles Howell III, or "chucky 3 sticks". Howell has had a super solid yet super quiet season so far, posting 5 top 10s this year and staying 24th in the FedEx cup race. This one famed "next big thing" hasn't really panned out the way many had hoped, but he is still very young (early 30s), and has many more solid years to come. And if he can win here- who knows, it might just be a springboard for something bigger.

Here is a video of the Greenbrier, courtesy of PGATOUR.com:

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.

Comeback Kid

Another post-major week, another thrilling tournament. This time, an extremely talented American that was in one of the worst slumps of his career has made himself relevant again (and nope, not Tiger Woods). Sean O'Hair, now 29, came out on top this weekend, winning the RBC Canadian Open in a playoff over Kris Blanks. O'Hair, a now 4 time winner on the TOUR, had been having such a bad year that the only thing that he hasn't changed so far is his family. He changed coaches, swings, mentalities, and his mojo. His last win came in 2009, and when he won then in Quail Hollow over a quality field, I was very impressed and wouldn't have been surprised if he could take down a major or two by now. But oh, how this game can be sometimes. At least one week can change your fortunes again. Sean is one of the nice guys on tour, and it was good to see him win in the end, even though many were also rooting for Kris to win in the playoff. Sean got so teared up at the end; it was a sight to see him that emotional. It showed what he's been through this year and how bad he wanted to win again. It was something quite special to see and hopefully it gets his confidence up, because he is one heck of a player when he gets his game in shape. He won on an impressive golf course too, pretty much the toughest all year in relation to par so far. His ball striking was solid, and his putting was pretty clutch. Hopefully this sets him back on the right track again to start winning more and fulfill the unlimited potential that he has in his grasp.

Pick of the Week: RBC Canadian Open

Hellloooo everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of pick of the week, brought to you by Bernardo and JJ. This week the tour makes a stop out of the country and to our neighboring country of the north- Canada. A surprising load of British Open participants will be playing here, regardless of jet lag or not. That includes Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, and Matt Kuchar, to name a few that will be teeing it up. It will be interesting to see how they do here after an 8 hour time zone difference. My pick this week also played in the British Open, and also had a respectable finish. I'm going with Ryan Moore, who finished in 28th place at Royal St. Georges last week. Washington born, Moore has finished runner up here in 2005, so he does have the experience needed. He also has had a runner up finish this year at the Travelers, so he hasn't had a terrible season either. The former UNLV star should be a formidable choice this week, and I hope that the man that dresses with class can give me a classy win to tie this year long race.