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Weekly Ezine April 5/04 |
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In this edition: |
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The Week on the tours:
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Masters week is finally upon us after several months of fun golf, the first major allows us fans to get serious about the season. This year there is definitely no obvious favorites. The tour is very rich with talent and it is no longer true that only seasoned veterans win majors. Augusta is the most forgiving of all the majors with only the greens providing any real defence to the great tour players. If the greens are hard and fast, experience and putting touch are the key factors. While you always expect Tiger to rise up for the Masters, unless he breaks free of his recent mindset and inconsistency, I don't believe he will be a factor. |
Having said that, you can never count him out, he may find it this week. Vijay Singh is always strong at the Masters, and Phil Mickelson is a perenial top five there. Watch for some European talent as well with the likes of Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal, and Thomas Bjorn. My dark horse for the week is Mark O'Meara. He is playing well this year, and has a win overseas against a very strong field.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, a little known fun tournament took place for the first time. Some of the best players in the world competed against each other at the Tavistock Cup. This a team event between the tour players that are members at Isleworth and Lake Nona Country Clubs in Orlando. Ernie Els and Mark O'Meara captained their respective teams, with Isleworth coming out on top. Among the competitors in addition to the captains were Annika Sorenstam, Stuart Appleby, Sergio Garcia, Nick Faldo, Retief Goosen, Darren Clarke, Nick Faldo, and Craig Parry.
On the PGA Tour we had a first time winner at the BellSouth Classic. Zach Johnson coming off player of the year honors on the Nationwide Tour, managed to hold off a charging Mark Hensby despite bogeying four of the last five holes. He had a big enough lead going into the day that none of the players close to him could catch him.
In California, Annika Sorenstam successfully defended her title and got her 50th win at the Office Depot Championship. She birdied three of her last five holes to stretch out a three shot victory over Ashli Bunch who fired a 65 on the final day.
Here's our top five picks for the Masters:
- Phil Mickelson
- Vijay Singh
- Padraig Harrington
- Jay Haas
- Stuart Appleby
PGA Tour:
2004
The Masters:
1 Zach Johnson
-13
2 Mark Hensby -12
3 Scott Hend -11
4 Padraig Harrington -10
5 Peter Lonard -8
T6 Lee Janzen -7
T6 Ben Crane -7
T8 Luke Donald -6
T8 Stewart Cink -6
10 Phil Mickelson -5
European
Tour:
2004 The Masters click
here for results
Champion's
Tour:
No event scheduled click
here for results
Nationwide
Tour:
No event scheduled click
here for results
LPGA Tour:
No event scheduled click
here for results
For full field scores and stats on all the tours, go to PGA
Tour.com.
This week:
PGA tour:
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2004
The MCI Heritage presented by Hilton Head Island |
TV
Coverage: |
European Tour:
2004 Open
de Sevilla
Apr. 15 - 18
Real Club de Golf de Sevilla
Sevilla, Spain
Purse: $1,232,100 ($205,349 to winner)
Champion's Tour:
2004 Blue Angels Classic
Apr. 16 - 18
The Moors Golf Club
Milton, Florida
Defending: Bob Gilder
Purse: $1,450,000 ($217,500 to winner)
Nationwide Tour:
2004 First Tee Arkansas Classic
Apr. 15 - 18
Diamante Country Club
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Defending: Ted Purdy
Purse: $450,000 ($81,000 to winner)
LPGA Tour:
2004 LPGA Takefuji Classic
Apr. 15 - 17
Las Vegas Country Club
Las Vegas, Nevada
Defending: Candie Kung
Purse: $1,100,000 ($165,000 to winner)
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Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game
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"I don't say my golf game is bad, but if I grew tomatoes they'd come up sliced." - Miller Barber
Tracking your game
Tracking your game is not only interesting but can also drastically reduce scores. By keeping track of your fairways hit, greens hit, number of putts, up and downs, and sand saves, you can start to see clear patterns that will show you where to focus your attention on the golf course.
Keeping track of these things does not have to distract you from your game. On each hole simply put a check mark above your score to the left for fairway hit, above right for green hit, below right for number of putts. Then put an "s" for whether or not you went into a greenside bunker. At the end of the round you can tally these stats.
For every one putt see if you were on the green in regulation or you chipped and then one putted. This would indicate a successful up and down, or sand save if you were in the sand. A two or three putt where you missed the green indicates a failed up and down.
Your goal (no matter what your handicap) should be to hit between 8-10 fairways, 10-14 greens, 32 or fewer putts, and 40-50% up and down and sand saves. When you do not reach these goals on a regular basis, you can focus your practice on these areas. Anyone can achieve the above if playing the appropriate tees for their ability. Hitting two more fairways and greens, and shedding two putts per round, can lower your scores by up to ten shots!
Our LowerScores Manual will help you do this and more.
For more
golf tips click
here.
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Do you have relevant questions, comments, or opinions about golf that
you would like to be heard? Have any suggestions to improve this ezine?
Please email them to sean@lowerscoregolf.com
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Top Ten PGA Tour money winners:
Through The Players Championship:
1
Vijay Singh 9 events $2,259,973
2 Phil Mickelson 7 events $2,197,100
3 Adam Scott 5 events $2,025,000
4 Stuart Appleby 7 events $2,020,120
5 Tiger Woods 6 events $1,859,850
6 Davis Love III 7 events $1,788,211
7 Mike Weir 7 events $1,446,867
8 Jonathan Kaye 8 events $1,356,470
9 Chad Campbell 10 vents $1,321,337
10 John Daly 7 events $1,284,206
Good Golfing,
SEAN HARDER
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