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5. Why Rickie likes to play the week before majors
JuliaKate E. Culpepper at Golfweek….”Fowler chose to compete in the Valero Texas Open this week, one week before the Masters, because he knows it will make him more confident when he arrives at Augusta National.”
- “I like playing competitively if I can leading up to majors or some big weeks,” Fowler said Tuesday at his Valero Texas Open news conference. “So for me, like I said, I played Houston in the past leading up to Augusta. I typically play the Scottish Open into the British (Open). Sometimes into the U.S. Open or the PGA (Championship)… I have definitely seen it be beneficial to play the week before.”
- “You know, you’re not far coming off competition when you tee it up Thursday morning in a major. It just makes me feel more comfortable, more confident.”
6. G-Mac and his 6-iron
Among Doug Ferguson’s assorted Tour notes is this bit on a pair of well-struck 6-iron shots in the career of G-Mac.
- “Two of the most significant shots Graeme McDowell has hit in his career were a 6-iron, for different reasons and on entirely different stages.”
- “The most famous was on the 16th hole at Celtic Manor in 2010 at Ryder Cup, which came down to the final match between McDowell and Hunter Mahan. McDowell had a 1-up lead when he hit 6-iron to 15 feet for a birdie that gave him control of the match and led to victory.”
- “The other was Sunday in the Dominican Republic, where McDowell was trailing Chris Stroud by one shot with two holes to play. On the par-3 17th, the 6-iron was so pure that McDowell didn’t even watch, walking over toward caddie Kenny Comboy and looking up only when it settled 8 feet from the flag.”
- “The Ryder Cup made him a hero….The birdie he made in Punta Cana restored his PGA Tour card.”
7. Haley Moore perseveres
Superb piece from Ryan Lavner at Golf Channel on the difficult path of Haley Moore (who tees it up at the ANWA this week)
- “…SIX YEARS LATER, HALEY Moore is an NCAA legend, an invitee to this week’s inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, a graduating senior who expects to enjoy a long and fruitful pro career. But during that initial trip to Tucson, her family had its reasons for wanting – no, needing – Haley to be handled delicately. Her life hadn’t been as easy as her scores made it seem.”
- “Hers was a classic case of teenage bullying: Bigger than kids her age and socially awkward, classmates stared and gossiped about her. She was always one of the last kids picked in gym class. She steered clear of extracurricular activities. Lunchtime was a necessary evil. “They’d say that I was fat and I was ugly, and I’d go sit down at a table at the end, and right when I’d sit down, they’d get up,” she says. “And I’d just be like, OK, whatever.”
- “In sixth grade, a group of students stole her backpack, filled it with water and tossed it into the boys’ bathroom. Everything was ruined – her bag, her notes, her new Justin Bieber book. Haley was mortified, but the bullies weren’t punished. A hard lesson instilled early.”
8. Wie back from injury for ANA
….with fiance, and armlock putting stroke, too…
Golf Channel’s Randall Mell...”Michelle Wie played nine holes of practice Monday at Mission Hills and another nine Tuesday in preparation for the ANA Inspiration, the year’s first major championship.”
- “She’s looking to make her first start since withdrawing in pain in the first round of her title defense at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore almost five weeks ago. It will be just her third start in five months, since she underwent season-ending surgery last fall to repair an avulsion fracture, bone spurs and nerve entrapment in her right hand.”
- “It feels pretty good, knock on wood,” Wie told GolfChannel.com on her way to the range Tuesday after nine holes of practice. “I should say no comment on that because every time I say I’m feeling pretty good, something else happens.”
9. Bounce breakdown
If I might call your attention to the third feature from WRX’s resident “Wedge Guy,” Mr. Terry Koehler. This week, the former Eidolon and Ben Hogan CEO discusses a subject that’s very much in his fairway, if you will: wedge bounce.
- “Very simply, “bounce” is the design feature of the sole of a wedge (or actually, any golf club) that helps it perform properly when it makes contact with the turf. A “worm’s eye view” of any wedge shows that the sole of the club has a downward angle from the leading edge back to the trailing edge. That angle, in relation to the horizontal line of the turf is what is defined as the “bounce angle”
- “In general, the higher that angle (measured in degrees from the horizontal plane of the turf), the more the club will tend to be “rejected” by the turf upon impact. Conversely, the lower the angle the less “rejection force” will be experienced. But also realize that the width of the sole and the bounce angle combine to produce a certain playability. A wide sole with a low bounce angle might perform very similar to (but also very differently than) a narrow sole with a higher bounce angle. Bounce is just not a simple subject.”
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19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole2 weeks ago
