Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
What’s In The Bag Richard Green with Donal Hughes, Irish Examiner SpinDoctor
Full name: Richard George Green
Born: 19 February 1971 (age 38)
Residence: Williamstown, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia & Bagshot, Surrey, England
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Nationality: Australian
Turned professional 1992
European Tour Wins: 2
Richard Green was born in Williamstown, Melbourne, Australia. He learned the game at Huntingdale in Melbourne and attended the Victoria Institute of Sport. He turned professional in 1992, and joined the PGA Tour of Australasia the same year. Green has been a member of the European Tour since 1996, with his first win coming at the 1997 Dubai Desert Classic, where he became the first left-hander to win on the European Tour since Bob Charles at the Swiss Open in 1974. His consistent performances in 2004 took him to a career best European Tour Order of Merit finish of 17th. That same year he won the MasterCard Masters, which is one of Australia's most prestigious tournaments, and also topped the PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit. In 2007 he won his second European Tour event at the BA-CA Golf Open in Austria, winning in a play-off, defeating Jean-Francois Remesy. Green holds a share of the course record at Carnoustie with a 64, achieved in the final round of the 2007 Open Championship. The round saw him jump 27 places on the last day of the tournament to finish in a tie for fourth with Ernie Els. That was Green’s highest finish in a Major, which earned him an invite to the Masters Tournament for the first time. Another consistent year in 2008 saw his best finish of tied third coming at The Barclays Scottish Open. Off the course Green is a fanatical motor racing fan who loves to race Porsches and competed in the 2009 Australian Grand Prix GT Category
What’s In Richard Green’s Bag
Bloggy Underfoot: Streamlining The Fed-Ex Cup
With the US Tour season wrapping up with the Tour Championship they can reflect on a surprisingly successful season played out in a recessionary climate. Tim Finchem and Co. really have thrown off their boring meat and two veg. image of recent seasons replacing it with the nouvelle cuisine of the playoffs. Ironically with the demise of Setanta’s subscription golf channel, the popularity of the PGA tour has also grown in Ireland with its “free” coverage on Eurosport. The time difference between the US and Europe, means live US golf at supper time, an alternative to Tubridy on Friday, with a tipple on Saturday and on the couch after a round on Sunday. Spice it all up with the thrice times major winner Padraig Harrington for a bit of local interest and you have the perfect recipe for success. And did I mention Tiger yet, the rarest of delicacies? Just when we thought Woods was tiring, the guy from ten years ago who wins by landslides reemerges.
The FedEx Cup playoffs are a bit like NAMA for the USPGA. They haven’t quite figured out the best strategy yet and keep changing the format. Going into this week’s Tour Championship five players stand a realistic chance of winning the Cup; Woods, Stricker, Furyk, Slocum and Johnson. Harrington lies just outside the top five- amazing really given his excellent run of results of late. Surely if the Cup was structured more fairly, Harrington would enter this event with a more than a mathematical chance of the top prize.
An interesting member of the top three Cup contenders is Jim Furyk. With his tie for second with Marc Leishman at Cog Hill Furyk moved into third place in the FedEx Cup standings entering this week. With a win at East Lake he would clinch the Cup no matter where anyone else finishes. Actually the same goes for the other four players in the top five.
Of course, with Tiger in the stripped down 30 man field that's easier said than done. Furyk hasn't won a PGA Tour event since the 2007 Canadian Open, 52 starts ago. If he does prevail at East Lake, you just know there will be even more questions in regard to the FedEx format. Should a player be able to win it all without previously winning this year? I say yes. Furyk, Slocum, Johnson and Stricker have all timed their runs perfectly to peak for the playoffs. Isn't that what they are all about?
We can’t end without doffing our cap to Tiger Woods, the nailed on favourite for the Cup. At Cog Hill Tiger took no more than 27 putts per round and his win was reminiscent of his British Open triumph in 2000. Everyone else might as well have been playing two extra par fours. With no major to show for the season but with a bucket load of tour titles, 2009 ranks statistically as Tiger’s seventh best season of his 13 year career. Seven out of 13, that’s just above average for Tiger! Enjoy what will most likely be his last start of the season.
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TaylorMade Interchangeable Face TP Wedge Review, Grip Pressure Game Improvement Tip and the Rules Quiz from Barry Rhodes
I Want One Of Those:
TaylorMade Interchangeable Face TP Wedge
Until now when the grooves in your wedge wear out, you have go out and but a new wedge. TaylorMade have now come up with an easier, and less expensive, way to get new-groove performance. Their new TP wedges with xFT, short for Exchangeable Face Technology, offer a new innovation in the market: replaceable face plates. By using a torque wrench that is identical to the one that comes with the R9 driver, players can remove the face plate and screw in a new one with fresh grooves. The whole procedure can be done in about 60 seconds. For professionals and amateurs who have custom grinds on the heels or toes of their wedges, being able to replace just the grooves could mean less time tweaking new wedges. Available in even-numbered lofts between 50° and 60° (as well as 64°), the TP wedges have a classic teardrop shape, several bounce options and come standard with KBS High-Rev shafts.
Dr. and The Medic: Proper Grip Pressure
Problem
You want more yardage and need to improve on accuracy.
Cure
Avoid applying pressure too soon with your trailing hand.
Therapy
Great players tend to apply pressure with their trailing hand just before impact and eleven inches past impact. Golfers lose potential power when they apply pressure as soon as they start their forward swing. Allow your trailing hand to simply be on the club for support and focus on letting your forward hand to almost feel as if it is pulling the club down along with gravity. You will then feel your trailing hand gain pressure and power as you approach the impact zone.
The Doc’s Rules Quiz
Just for fun this week, have a go at our rules quiz. Questions from “999 Questions On the Rules of Golf”, by Barry Rhodes.
Q1. True or False? A player may remove a divot that is still attached lying just in front of her ball on her line of play without penalty.
Q2. True or False? A player whose ball lies within a ditch designated as a lateral water hazard may drop a ball within the Rules on either side of the ditch.
Q3. True or False? If a player’s ball is on a putting green he may mop up casual water lying on his line of putt with a towel.
Last weeks answers:
Q1: True or False? There is no penalty for looking into a fellow competitor’s bag to determine what club they used. Answer: True. However a player may not gain such information by a physical act such as moving a towel covering the clubs.
Q2: True or False? There is no restriction on the length of a tee peg. Answer: False. A tee must be no longer than four inches.
Q3: True or False? A player may not putt with one hand while holding the flagstick in the other. Answer: False
Tailored Shorts: Ian Dempsey and Vijay!, The Fed-Ex Cup Bench, Watson on Tiger’s Tantrums, Tour Wrap and how the Irish Fared in the Austrian Open. 22 sep 2009 with Donal Hughes, Irish Examiner SpinDoctor
Singh While You’re Grinning Iano
Ian Dempsey mentioned recently on his breakfast show that one of the few p
eople he could never warm to was Vijay Singh! This time last year sneaky Singh was fresh off wins at The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship, and just had to finish the Tour Championship alive to clinch the FedEx Cup. But how the mighty have fallen. Winless all year, Singh didn't even qualify for the final two playoff events. In the year when he turned 46, Singh blamed pushing too hard to hasten his return after undergoing knee surgery. They say that every household in Fiji has a portrait of Vijay in the hall with an everlasting light beneath- maybe we could one on ebay for Iano!
FedEx Cup Bench
Bizarrley only one of last years top five FedEx points list have made it into this years Tour Campionship at East Lake. Aswell as Vijay Singh, who won the first two events en route to winning last years FedExCup; Camilo Villegas, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim, all failed to make his years 30 man decider. They finished first, second, third and fourth, respectively, in the 2008 FedExCup points standings. Of last years contenders only Jim Furyk is back this week. Another man who wont be in the playoffs is Players Championship winner Henrik Stenson. Stenson is not eligible to rceive FedEx Cup points as he not a full member of the PGA Tour.
Tantrums and Tiaras
There has been a lot of spotlight on Tiger’s temper over this Summer. Specifically about his use of expletives, temper tantrums and club throwing. Woods is certainly not the only culprit but because he occupies most of the limelight his issues tend to be magnified out of proportion. It seems now like Tom Watson is having his say on the subject. In October’s Golf Digest, Watson reveals "I did write Tiger a note earlier in the summer about his behaviour, but it's personal. Don't know whether he received it, and I really don't want to go there." Sounds like a thinly veiled scolding from Watson who wrote the book on gentlemanly on-course conduct.
Tour Wrap
With the focus this week on the US Tour Championship, European golf will be focussed on the Vivendi Trophy at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche Golf Club in Paris which sees Thomas Björn’s Continental Europe Team against McGinley’s Great Britain and Ireland Team. The Ryder Cup style event, though missing some of Europe’s top stars, still boasts 12 of the top 50 world ranked players including Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlory and Soren Hansen. Seve Ballesteros had hoped to be present at the event, formerly known as the Seve Trophy, but is currently in the midst of a course of radiotherapy as he continues treatment to fight the brain tumour with which he was diagnosed last October.
On the LPGA tour’s first visit to Torrey Pines, South Korean Na Yeon Choi triumphed by one over Ai Miyazato of Japan. Choi looked to have thrown away the title after blowing a seven shot lead but rallied to shoot a one under 71 Sunday to win the Samsung World Championship on the 18th hole.
Meanwhile on the Champions Tour, Jay Haas claimed the 13th over-50’s title of his career winning the Greater Hickory Classic by two shots over Russ Cochran and Andy Bean. Haas shot a seven under 65 on Sunday, setting a tournament record
Paddy Watch
| European Tour- Austrian Open | |||
| Finishing Position | Name | Score | Prize Money € |
| 10 | Damien McGrane | -12 | 17925 |
| 14 | Gary Murphy | -10 | 14700 |
| Missed Cut | Michael Hoey |
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