Golf GIF Roundup: January 13th
Posted on January 13, 2014 Leave a Comment
Adam Scott in the bunker, narrowly avoids the twig beside his ball.
For the first time in months, the PGA Tour and the European Tour each had legitimate stops on the schedule, and it produced some quality moments. Louis Oosthuizen got back on the right track with a win in South Africa, Jimmy Walker was able to get his second victory in three months, and John Daly made headlines without getting himself into trouble. All in all, it was a pretty good week.
Here are the best moments from the week in GIFs, and photos.
Jimmy Walker wins the Sony Open
Posted on January 12, 2014 Leave a Comment
Jimmy Walker (Courtesy: Zimbio.com)
Jimmy Walker was able to outlast a massive amount of contenders on Sunday at Waialae, coming away with his second career PGA Tour win, both happening in recent months, at the 2014 Sony Open.
What Happened
Coming into Sunday, it was pretty much impossible to know who was going to come away with the win at Waialae, which is always what the PGA Tour wants going into a final day. With so many players having a chance to win, it was going to take something pretty special on Sunday to get it done, and that’s exactly what Walker was able to do, firing a 7-under par 63, including birdies on three of the last four holes to leapfrog a host of players.
Chris Kirk had a chance on 18 to force a playoff with Walker, needing an eagle to tie. His approach into the par-5 18th was just short of the green, giving him a good chance to hole out for his three. When Kirk sent his chip past the hole, Walker had his second PGA Tour win with a final score of 17-under par.
Louis Oosthuizen defends Volvo crown
Posted on January 12, 2014 Leave a Comment
Louis Oosthuizen kisses the Volvo Golf Champions trophy. (Courtesy: European Tour Twitter account)
With birdies on the 17th and 18th holes at Durban Country Club, Louis Oosthuizen was able to defend his title on Sunday at the Volvo Golf Champions.
What Happened
Oosthuizen entered the day two shots back of the lead held by England’s Tommy Fleetwood, and as usually happens at Durban, players were not going very low, with the 67’s fired by Thomas Aiken and Padraig Harrington ending up as the low marks. Oosthuizen started slow, but made an eagle on the par-5 8th, while the leaders were all crumbling around him. Fleetwood, after an early birdie, would go on to bogey three of his final five holes on the front nine, while Joost Luiten and Victor Dubuisson, who started Sunday one shot back of Fleetwood, could only manage going out in 36 and 37 respectively. Oosthuizen’s 34 and 2012 champion Branden Grace posting a 33 would put them in good positions heading to the back nine.
Oosthuizen started slowly on the back, opening with a bogey on the par-5 10th, but finished strong, playing the final six holes in 3-under par, while he waited for the final groups to roll in. Outside of Grace, no one was making a charge, and while Fleetwood birdied the 10th and the 18th, the damage incurred from 5-9 would be too much to overcome. Oosthuizen would go on to win by one over Grace to retain his Volvo Golf Champions title.
GIF: James Hahn and Joost Luiten each make an albatross
Posted on January 11, 2014 2 Comments
Holing out from anywhere on the course, regardless of how many shots you’ve taken previously is not easy, even for the best players in the world. An albatross, making a two on a par-5, is pretty much considered the rarest feat in all of golf. However, two of those best players in the world made everything look pretty easy on Friday, over 12,000 miles apart.
James Hahn, playing in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii and Joost Luiten, who is over in South Africa on the European Tour for the Volvo Golf Champions, each holed out from par-5 fairways on Friday. It is believed to be the first time ever that two players on professional tours have made an albatross on the same day.
Punch Shots: Moving the Match Play
Posted on January 10, 2014 2 Comments
Nice tan, Stewart Cink. (Courtesy: @BTtrey4)
Punch Shots is a collection of stories that I didn’t get around to earlier or didn’t fit into another article. I’ll give a link to a larger story and have some quick thoughts below.
The last Punch Shots: Tiger’s too old for Twitter
Accenture is done sponsoring the WGC-Match Play after 2014. Can we change the venue now?
Maltbie and Steve Sands have a battle in the snow.
Alex Miceli has the story at Golf Week that Accenture has decided that 2014 will be the last year that it sponsors the WGC-Match Play, so the PGA Tour will have to start looking for a new company to fork over millions for the naming rights. In that same story, he mentions that the tournament could also be looking at not only a new date on the calendar, moving from February to later in the year, but also at a new location. Dove Mountain has played host to the tournament since 2009, and has consistently ranked as one of the worst venues as voted by the PGA Tour players.
I’ve been on the record several times about the need to move the event, and thankfully, that looks to be possible now. From the awful weather that you see in the Sands/Maltbie GIF, to the uninspiring layout that causes many players to not even want to show up, the event is in desperate need of a change. Just about anywhere will do, but I’d love to see it taken overseas to say, Royal County Down and you wouldn’t have to twist my arm to watch the event at Royal Melbourne, either.
2014 Sony Open Betting Preview
Posted on January 8, 2014 Leave a Comment
Steve Williams and Adam Scott (Courtesy: Zimbio.com)
Adam Scott heads up a quality field of major winners and past champions in Honolulu as the PGA Tour returns to Waialae for the 2014 Sony Open.
2014 Sony Open Fact Sheet
- Course: Waialae Golf Course
- Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
- Yardage: 7,044 yards, par 70
- Defending Champion: Russell Henley
- Five Consensus Favourites: Adam Scott, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth and Jason Dufner
TV Schedule
- Thursday – 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM ET (Golf Channel)
- Friday – 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM ET (Golf Channel)
- Saturday – 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM ET (Golf Channel)
- Sunday – 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (Golf Channel)
2014 Volvo Golf Champions Betting Preview
Posted on January 8, 2014 1 Comment
2010 Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen is set to defend at Durban. (Courtesy: TourProGolfClubs.com)
Louis Oosthuizen is set to defend his title at Durban Country Club, as the European Tour kicks off 2014 with the Volvo Golf Champions from South Africa.
2014 Volvo Golf Champions Fact Sheet
- Course: Durban Country Club
- Location: Durban, South Africa
- Yardage: 6,734 yards, par 72
- Defending Champion: Louis Oosthuizen
- Five Consensus Favourites: Charl Schwartzel, Jamie Donaldson, Thomas Bjorn, Louis Oosthuizen and Joost Luiten
TV Schedule
- Thursday – 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM ET (Golf Channel)
- Friday – 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM ET (Golf Channel)
- Saturday – 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM ET (Golf Channel)
- Sunday – 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM ET (Golf Channel)
Zach Johnson wins Hyundai Tournament of Champions
Posted on January 6, 2014 2 Comments
Zach Johnson celebrates with his kids after finishing out at Kapalua.
What Happened
Coming into the final round, Jordan Spieth, Webb Simpson and Dustin Johnson held the lead at 14-under par, but Johnson and Simpson started slow. Johnson made bogeys on three of his first six holes, while Simpson would be two-over par as he headed to the fifth tee. Zach Johnson started the day two shots back of the lead, and would come out hot with a front-nine 33 to sit just one back of Spieth’s lead heading to the back nine. Spieth couldn’t seem to get much going on the back though, settling for all pars, while Zach went on a tear with his superb wedge game, with four birdies in five holes from the 12th to the 16th.
Adam Scott wins GWAA Player of the Year award
Posted on January 3, 2014 1 Comment
Bubba Watson presents Scott with the green jacket.
To me, the Golf Writers Association of America had two pretty obvious front runners for their annual Player of the Year vote: Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson. In saying that, I don’t mean to diminish the accomplishments of players like Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Jason Dufner and others who certainly had great seasons in 2013, but from start to finish, it seemed like Tiger and Stenson were the two most dominant players out there for the last twelve months. The GWAA clearly thought differently, voting Scott as the Player of the Year, narrowly edging out Tiger as you’ll see from Ryan Lavner’s tweet below.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first, and that’s the criteria at play here when it comes to this award. The GWAA voters are told to look at the entire season from a worldwide view, not just through the eyes of the PGA Tour. This is, you’d think, how Scott was able to garner so many votes.
Is there something wrong with golf writing?
Posted on January 2, 2014 3 Comments
As 2013 came to a close this week, many sites were offering their standard “Best Of” lists. I even got involved, with nine separate posts on the GIFs of the Year. Last week though, Jason Sobel of Golf Channel went on a mini-rant on Twitter on the current state of golf writing, asking questions about where the industry sits as we enter 2014.
AdamSarson.com 