Tiger Woods Steals the Show Again

Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam are separated by continents this week but will probably wind up the winners in their respective tournaments. I get to stay home and watch only one of the two greatest golfers in the world on television.

While my sister and her husband enjoy a week's vacation in the Bahamas I sit here in the icy cold weather wondering when the snow will thaw. You see Barry and I have never played golf in the snow. It is much too difficult to try and find the golf ball (even if it IS my favorite color of yellow!)

So instead I am relegated to watching professional golf on television. The only problem is that the LPGA Lexus Cup, an inaugural event held in Singapore, is not televised.

Another week without Annika Sorenstam and yet another week of Tiger Woods.

It's not that I don't like watching the greatest golfer at the world in what is arguably his tournament to win, namely the Target World Challenge, it's just that I think I'm getting tired of the lack of challengers when Tiger is in the field.

I'm probably just suffering from golf withdrawal. I am unable to both watch as many tournaments as I can and go to the driving range. I made it a rule never to hit golf balls when temperatures drop below 32 degres fahrenheit. My hands freeze and when your hands get too cold they make your whole body tighten. Definitely not good for your golf swing!

I'm a bit disappointed that the LPGA doesn't put themselves out there as much as they should. Just last week when Ai Miyazato had her incredible win at LPGA Q-School there was no coverage and that was played in the USA!

At least the Lexus Cup is taking place out in Singapore. But tell me, don't they have satellites in Asia? I know I've watched the European tour regularly each week without a blip but when it comes to the LPGA either no one wants to sponsor the event or the LPGA is just too darn lazy to find a TV station willing to air an event.

I think Singapore is also to blame. The Singapore Council stated that they now have the ability to hold such an event but when push comes to shove they didn't make any efforts to get cameras out to Americans overseas. A typical case of poor planning overall both between the Asian community overseas and the LPGA or LET, whichever was involved.

So it's up to Tiger Woods to entertain me and I hope he's up to the task. He's been winning post season ( most recently at the Grand Slam of Golf) and even grabbed yet another Player of the Year award (was there any doubt?) I almost wonder what he will do for an encore! With Tiger running the show, you never know!

Photo Credit: © emol.com.

John Holmes, Ai Miyazato Win Medalist Honors at Q-School

Do so many more men than women watch golf on television that PGA Q-School is televised whereas the LPGA gets silence?

I was so excited to finally get to see LPGA Q-School finals that I looked everywhere, both on the internet and in my local T.V. listings. Guess what? Even ESPN2 didn't show it!

Don't women represent half of the population? Aren't more women today joining the golfing ranks than ever before? Why isn't anyone catering to them…I mean to US!

For any women who care out there, I think it's important to stand together and make our voices heard! I can't believe that Carolyn Bivens, head of the LPGA, wouldn't have made it a point to get this event televised! I mean, these are the stars of the 2006 LPGA season. Don't they deserve more press than the back page of the local sports section?

I read the Journal News today and the unfortunate finale to Meghan Francella's attempts at getting her tour card. That was a sad conclusion to alot of work and training on her part but I didn't even see Ai Miyazato's name mentioned, and she won!

I can say that in Japan, Miyazato is a household name. Her two brothers play professional golf on the Japan Tour and her father is a golf instructor. I wonder if there was coverage in Japan? I know that the reporters, both American and Japanese, were all over Miyazato. Cameras were rolling, bulbs were popping and the 18th green was covered with reporters.

I wrote a story on Miyazato's victory in my column on The Sand Trap. Did anyone out there even know that Ai claimed her first professional victory as an amateur on the Japan Women's Tour? Or that she was the first teenager to make over $1 million in one year?

Okay, so there are differences between PGA and LPGA Q-Schools. For one, the PGA tournament plays out over six days whereas the ladies have a grueling five rounds of golf to play. That's an extra 18 holes of pressure but the overall nerves must be evident either way. You can't take anything away from these ladies.

Also Miyazato only won a paltry $4,000 for her win whereas John B. Holmes took home a hefty $50,000. The top 24 players on the LPGA tour have exempt status whereas thirty male golfers get a PGA Tour card.

No wonder Michelle Wie wants to play on the men's tour! If she plays on the women's tour she'll earn a whole lot less money and coverage!

Aside…I just read on the Golf Channel website that Kevin Stadler only earned exempt status on the Nationwide Tour. I really thought he would be a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour by now. But in lighter news I noticed that Bill Haas has nailed his tour card. I bet he'll be sleeping alot more soundly tonight!

And just for the record, Morgan Pressel made the LPGA tour as did Brittany Lang. That makes me three-for-three on my picks!

Although I really enjoy watching any golf that's on the tube I still wish that the women got more of a chance to be visible. Okay, so they don't bomb 300-yard drives like the guys and their tee-to-greens are more predictable but it sure is exciting to watch their 100-yard and closer shots as well as their terrific putting. Pressure is the same, whether you're watching 19-year-old Paula Creamer finish off her competition or viewing Phil Mickelson trying to make a comeback after three-putting on an earlier hole.

I just wish I could have been there!

Photo Credit: © seoulsisters.com.

Golf For Beginners Podcast 12-04-05

Golf for beginners 12-04-05 episode seven discusses how Ai Miyazato is a shoo-in as champion of LPGA Q-School, Jim Furyk wins Nedbank Challenge in second playoff hole against Retief Goosen, Adam Scott and Darren Clark. Ernie Els is playing golf again. Colin Montgomerie wins Hong Kong Open by one stroke. We also give a great golf tip and help another golfer with a dilemma in our weekly golf mailbag.

Contact us at golfforbeginners@aol.com with your comments and questions.

Gulbis and Amiee…Friends?

Oh no! Could it be that Danielle Amiee, winner of Big Break III and most notably known for abusing Pam Crikelair on that show, is golfing buddies with Natalie Gulbis?

C'mon, give me a break!

On this Tuesday's episode it sure looked as if Gulbis was being pal-sy with the bleached-blonde. Could this have just a marketing ploy to pair the two for advertising dollars and increased ratings? Gulbis is increasing in popularity with her new 2006 calendar while Amiee's popularity has been slipping since her m/c at Kingsmill in the Michelob Ultra Open.

I wonder if that eye roll was real (you know, the one Natalie threw the camera when Amiee was throwing around one of her one-liners)?

In other Natalie Gulbis Show news, What did you think about that hot, red Dodge Viper? Now that's my type of car although carrying that large set of golf clubs didn't look too comfortable for neither her nor the clubs!

Cristie Kerr is friends with Natalie Gulbis. I wonder whether or not Natalie knows Donald Trump? My bet is that they all play golf together. But who would be their fourth?

Trump, Kerr, Gulbis and hmmm…

Well, that's all I have for now. I think I would make a good fourth. I don't think Danielle Amiee would fit in that foursome, do you?

Golf for Beginners Podcast 11-27-05

Golf for beginners 11-27-05 episode six relates how Tiger Woods easily won at the sports spectacular Grand Slam of Golf against the grand talents of number-two rated Vijay Singh, the third best on the PGA tour Phil Mickelson and Michael Campbell who won the US Open.

Michelle Wie missed the cut (again) at the Casio World Open in Japan (at least she's improving her Japanese!) and we discuss driving range tips for the off-season as well as mental game strategies.

Contact us at golfforbeginners@aol.com

Give Michelle Wie a Break!

She's only sixteen!

Being a relatively new golfer I can identify with Michelle Wie's recent bid to try and make the cut at the Casio Open in Japan this weekend. You've got to give her credit…she keeps on trying. After six attempts in men's events Wie still hasn't come up with one Sunday finish.

Chalk it all up to nerves.

Nerves can play havoc with a golfer right from the first tee straight through a round of golf. I don't care whether you're Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie or a beginner just trying to make your first drive of the day. If there are several people standing around waiting to see your swing (or you think they even care) right down to the wire when you putt into a hole for bogey and the guy before you putts in first making the hole that much smaller, being nervous can make you do stupid things. Even the best golfers miss putts from five feet and in, choking on a relatively simple putt that never would have missed if they were on the practice green. So how is it so impossible to reason that Michelle Wie would miss relatively easy putts like the one at 18 which would have given her the score she needed to move on to the weekend?

Michelle isn't the only golfer who has come up short when the chips were down. In 1996 at the Masters Greg Norman let a six-stroke lead disappear to Nick Faldo. Several weeks ago Tiger Woods, the best darn golfer in the world, allowed David Howell to defeat him in Shanghai with putting that just wasn't up to par.

I blame her mistakes on inexperience and nerves, nothing more. I scan through the golf blogs on the internet and found that most bloggers really think Michelle has a chance.

In thegolfblog.com, although there are people that don't believe Wie should take a spot away from the men on tour the writer has a point about the sponsors' interest in the phenom, "blame the sponsors of the tournament. They're the ones inviting the golfers, and they foot the bill." Some tournaments suffer from a lack of interest in their event. Putting Wie in the mix would solve that problem. For example, in Japan Wie had hundreds of followers on the course where last year's winner David Smail had only a handful of viewers.

Try to recall the names of golfers on the PGA Tour. I bet you can only come up with ten or twenty. But everyone around the globe, from the US to Japan knows the name of sixteen-year-old Wie.

And I'll bet that if the Masters' ratings slip a little, Michelle Wie's management will be getting a phone call from Hootie.

As far as the LPGA is concerned, Michelle Wie's camp possibly thinks of this step as a marketing no-no, that it doesn't benefit her career. I don't. I believe that Wie should be able to win a at least a single tournament in the women's market also, if not just for the purpose of having women around the world become a cheering section for her.

Wie is getting pulled around both by her dad, her new management, Nike, Sony and everyone else who wants a piece of her for their own growth. Poor Michelle...she doesn't seem to have any say in her own future. Being a teenager sure has it's disadvantages!

Michelle will eventually come back from these distressful incidents. Let's hope she figures things out before she turns 21 or she might not be able to change her path.

Getting back to the present, I predict that Wie will play at the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii in January filled with renewed confidence. She will make the cut this time and will start her LPGA season on a strong not. I think she might even win an LPGA tournament. She does especially well at the majors so I'm hoping all of the jitters she encounters when playing will all but disappear once her confidence comes through. She's a great player already and can only get better.

Photo Credit: © seoulsisters.com.