It feels like I’ve been in a coma for the last few months and just woke up, reinvigorated, and ready to roll! Bubba’s double dip of my two favorite tournaments (Northern Trust and The Masters), all the back nine snooze-fests, the big names going into the witness protection program (looking at you Sneds), Horschel’s putting, JDay’s thumb injury? It was all a bad dream. It feels like I’m back to where we were in November, with the World Cup of Golf going on down under at Royal Melbourne and all the fascinating storylines lurking for the season ahead.

 is back!!! He made the cut on the number, make the most of moving day, and earn that card big man!

 looks like he was meant to wear the crown. Many have spoken about their reign as world number one in less than exhilarating fashion (Luke Donald springs to mind), and almost all have referenced the pressure and the attention that comes with such a designation. Scott looks the opposite. He looks invigorated, perhaps even relieved that he’s lived up to his outrageous potential, and that this validates everything his game stands for. No doubt last week’s win at Colonial only enhanced that feeling. You can’t help but look forward to what he has in store over the next 2-3 years, assuming his putter holds up in the limelight (not as worried about the move to a non-anchored stroke, as the stats show he’s mediocre with both).

 Does Phil really care what he does this week results-wise? Dude’s got tunnel vision for Pinehurst. He’s hitting fairways, he’s rolling the rock, and the ballstriking looks crisp. He’s not closing out rounds, but as a Phil fan I really don’t really care. Hell, it’s almost a positive. I’d be more worried if he was grinding on course management and wearing himself out.

 According to some relatively reputable sources (New York Times, WSJ, LOLZ), the Hefty Lefty is now under an FBI and SEC probe!? As if the U.S. Open needed more drama. Renovated Pinehurst. The legacy of Payne Stewart. Does Phil have enough left to avenge his loss there and convert all the pain of the U.S. Open runner-ups into something greater. The return of Michael Campbell (just kidding). And then you add the specter of a federal securities investigation!?!? HOLY. SHIT. You can’t write this any better. The course will be his refuge from the shitstorm going on around him. And how about the timing of this leak? You’re telling me they’ve been investigating him for two years and it just comes out now? Unreal story. Unreal timing.

And for the main event, let’s talk about 

. I’m not buying this whole “Paul Casey hasn’t been in this spot in forever” narrative, and I’m tired of people feigning surprise when they see his name up there. Sure, he was in the wilderness (both personally and professionally) for a couple years, and he doesn’t have status on the PGA Tour beyond his past-champ exemptions. However, Casey’s game has been trending in the direction for over a year. He won last year’s Irish Open in convincing fashion (OWGR strength of field was 157, which isn’t stout ,but it also ain’t the Puerto Rico Open), and rolled that momentum into the US Tour’s reacharound wraparound season, answering the bell almost every single time his number gets called. Relying on the mercy of exemptions, Casey has entered nine PGA Tour events this season, in which he’s finished top-20 five times. And for those who base everything on stateside results, just remember that he rose to #3 in the OWGR in 2009 with only one PGA Tour victory.

As far as this week goes, I like his chances. Booba’s aggressiveness is going to bite him at some point this weekend, as there’s trouble lurking everywhere at Muirfield and aside from about five holes it’s just not a track you can overpower. And his antics on the 18th alone showed he’s a a powder keg ready to explode at any point.

Looking beyond this week, Casey gives Paul McGinley 

 option in his seemingly endless supply of talent for his Euro team at Gleneagles. Casey’s won twice at Gleneagles and he’s held his own in the three Ryder Cup teams he’s participated in. More impressively, he beat Shaun Micheel 10&8 in the HSBC World Match Play Championship in 2006 and was twice runner-up in the WGC Accenture Match Play. I know you want to make a “but it was Shaun Micheel!” joke, but c’mon, you’re not supposed to beat another professional 10&8, even in a 36 hole match. He’s certainly a bulldog, to the point that in ’04 Bernhard sent him out first vs. Big Cat in Sunday singles matches, as a Ryder Cup rookie (he lost but I think it still speaks volumes). I’ll be shocked if the Euros don’t stage a boat race in September at Gleneagles.

Finally, I’m in AWE of the Clippers selling for $2 billion dollars. IMO they’re the third-most attractive pro basketball franchise in their own state (I’m obviously high on the Warriors) in a league that is the poster-child for some of the problems plaguing professional sports (i.e. crappy attendance, regular season too long, lack of parity). That’s a staggering amount of money. Scary to think about what an NFL franchise in L.A. would go for. I’m making a leap here, but 

at what point do rich dudes start straight-up BUYING golf tournaments stateside?

 I’m not talking about someone buying a course, making it sweet, and then a governing body deciding to award an event (i.e. Trump at Doral, Herb Kohl to a certain extent). Instead, I’m talking about individual offering to bankroll an entire tournament, cut out the sponsors, and just say we’re having a PGA Tour event here 

 because I want to, and it’s going to have a huge purse and a great field, solely because I want it 

. The closest examples I can think of are coal magnate Jim Justice’s Greenbrier Classic and the Abu Dhabi & Dubai events on the Euro Tour. I’d almost rather have an individual owner of a golf tournament than some faceless corporation. Why hasn’t this happened yet? The possibilities are endless.

Memorial: Friday Quick-Hitters

Perfect weather, soft conditions, and a big name leaderboard gave us a fantastic start to the Memorial. There’s five major winners in the top 11, and Michael Thompson is the only name near the top that golf scribes will be rooting against come Friday. Jack (and the sponsors) had to be thrilled with the developments he saw from the booth.

Rory put on an absolute freak show en route to a 63, and could have tied the course record of 61 if it wasn’t for a pulled wedge on the short par-4 14th that cost him two strokes. He gained 6.3 strokes on the greens (!), and was putting as if he was using Tiger Vision in a video game. I noted on twitter that his dominance was reminiscent of the way Tiger used to dominate this course: hitting the ball in places that no one else seemed to reach, bombing mid-irons into the greens, and rolling in putts like he was playing on those awful 15-inch cups. The lady drama and the knee injury rounded out the Tiger impression almost perfectly (only thing missing was a high five fail).

I watched Rory during his practice round on Tuesday, as I try to do every year. It’s easy to look good in a practice round, but he was hitting it differently than I had seen in the past. He got on the uphill, into the wind 570 yard par-5 7th with ease. Justin Hicks and Russell Knox were on the green and let Rory hit up, and they were just left laughing after he dropped a 3-wood onto the green like he was tossing a cornhole bag on the board. Confidence was oozing out of him, and that carried over into Thursday’s round.

The low scores indicate that Muirfield is playing easy, and in person that rings true. There was enough rain overnight to keep the greens soft and take a little edge off the course. The more I walk the grounds, the more I think it’s not a real long course by tour standards. The par 5’s are gettable, and there aren’t any of the obnoxiously long, awkward par 3’s (although 16 is a really quirky hole). The conditions were really mild in the afternoon, and I’m guessing they won’t be as easy tomorrow, which will give the guys who played this afternoon the overall advantage. I don’t think Tom Lehman’s 268 (-20) scoring record is in danger, but there is a strong chance that Rory runs away and hides this weekend.

Thanks to The Memorial staff for arranging media credentials for our small shop. I spent my morning following the Kyle Stanley-Hunter Hahan-Mark Wilson trio. Mahan striped it all over the yard, and although he was positive strokes gained putting for the day, it seemed as if he couldn’t get a putt to drop. A lot of burned edges and putts that were just slightly off in speed kept him from being in that pack at around -6.

Mark Wilson was even more impressive today. He missed a four foot birdie on 11 (his 2nd) and a six foot birdie on 12, and 

 went out in 33 on the back nine, which is the more difficult nine. What I love the most was that he went for EVERY par 5, even though he would end up short every time. He physically could not hit it far enough to reach the greens, but he still hit 3-wood as far as he could. No Laying Up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended the week in the top 10.

Stanley hit it well, but lost a stroke and a half on the greens, and had two bizarre penalties with a putter in his hand. On the 18th (his 9th), his ball backspun off the green up against the collar of the rough after a fantastic fairway bunker shot. He was only 13 feet from the hole, but tried to use the toe of his putter 

like he did successfully last year during the final round

, but the result was a double hit, and a bogey. Then on the 5th, he went to tap in his par after a missed seven foot birdie, and either whiffed the tap in, or took an illegal stance to finish the hole. Those two mishaps are the difference between T87 and T45 after day one.

Thursday at The Memorial

Muirfield was the site of Jack Nicklaus’ first career Open Championship, and became the name of his pride and joy in Dublin, Ohio, a small suburb of Columbus. Muirfield Village Golf Club was built in 1976 and designed by the Columbus native, and has played host to one of the best stops on tour annually since then; the Memorial Tournament. Growing up in Dublin, Memorial Tournament week was a testament to how cool your parents were, as you spent most of the week begging for a note to get out of school to go seek autographs and golf balls from guys most of us had never heard of. To this day, I use it as a get-out-of work excuse and make the eastward trek “home” from Chicago for a week of playing golf, drinking beers with old friends, and watching the world’s elite in the Masters of the Midwest. To say that this tournament hits home to me would be understatement. This tournament is the defining event for my hometown, and has been a memory maker for me for two decades.

It may be blasphemous to say, but Muirfield Village may be the closest thing on The Tour to Augusta National. Nicklaus admits that Augusta was a huge influence on the design, and to this day, the tournament is run in a similar fashion to the Masters. Like Augusta, the course is known as a second shot golf course, it’s defined by its tall trees, elegant water hazards, and underrated elevation changes that just can’t be appreciated until you see them in person. The similarities on the back nine get a little bit creepy to the point where it almost feels as if Jack used Muirfield Village as an excuse to remind you of his six Masters titles.

Here are the 12th holes at Muirfield and Augusta, respectively: And the 16th holes at Muirfield and Augusta, respectively (it should be noted that the 16th at Muirfield was reconfigured a few years ago and featured one of the deepest bunkers on tour in the place of where the pond currently sits – Jack moved a massive amount of earth to create the semblance below):

Those two examples are the easiest to illustrate visually, but that is not where they end. At both courses, the first hole is a long, difficult, dogleg right par 4 that is protected by fairway hazards to the right. The third holes are each short par-4’s that don’t require a driver. The fourth holes are long par-3’s that serve as one of the most non-descript holes at both courses. The 17th is a long, straight away par-4 on both courses, and the 18th is a long, dogleg right par-4 that chutes straight up the hill toward the clubhouse. The par-5’s are all reachable, and the course is ALWAYS being tinkered with, be it lengthening to keep up with the technology pace, adding/moving bunkers, or resurfacing the greens. Muirfield is Jack’s lego set.

A new tee went in on 18 last summer after the Memorial that was used for the Presidents Cup in October, and initial reviews from players are mixed at best. Jack grew tired of seeing guys hit 2-iron down the fairway from 440 yards, then a 9-iron into the green, so he stretched it to 480 yards to a spot I wasn’t sure it was possible to put a tee box. The problem isn’t the added length necessarily. It’s that it now brings the tree that guards the right side of the fairway squarely into play for a well struck tee shot, as seen here:

Here's your angle to 18 green after a 285 yd drive in fw. Pin is behind the trunk. Not sure I agree w new tee box 

The 18th usually plays downwind, but if the wind shifts this week, you could see some ugly numbers on this beast.

When the course was built in the 1970’s, Dublin was nothing but corn fields, and was home to less than 3,000 people. Today, over 40,000 people call Dublin home. The city sits to the north of downtown Columbus, and is less than 20 minutes from the Horseshoe where Ohio State fans have gathered for a century. Columbus prides itself on being a huge sports town, and anyone who has come in contact with Ohio State fans over the last decade-plus can likely attest to that (be prepared to hear some “O-H” chants, followed by “I-O” on the broadcast).

When Columbus finally got its first professional franchise in 2000 with the expansion Blue Jackets, the passion the Buckeye community had for their city was evident from day one. A Jackets game at Nationwide Arena was rated as the number 2 experience 

 by ESPN the magazine. Every game was seemingly sold out, and that area rocked every night despite the team’s lack of success.

What does that have to do with the Memorial Tournament? Well, for nearly a quarter of a century, the Memorial was the only professional event in town, and this week still remains as the second biggest sports week of the year in Dublin, outside of the OSU/Michigan game. The natives come out in droves to watch Tiger dominate this course year after year, and is truly the place to see and be seen in Dublin. The weather has traditionally been awful, and it looks questionable again early in the week, but the people will trudge through with their umbrellas and golf shoes to watch the world’s best.

And an equal-opportunity bit from our resident SEC-homer, Tron Carter:

I’d imagine that the galleries at this event are a great sideshow for the majority of pros on a tour so predominated by SEC and Big-12 alums as it is. Hot, homegrown, wholesome midwestern women roam the premises, and in tow are bros of all-ages pimping Buck Tech shirts and lids, with some outdated Abercombie gear sprinkled in (corporate hq just east of here). Surely they’ll ramble on into eternity about how overrated the SEC is as they congregate on the 12th and (especially) 14th holes, causing headaches for the marshals patrolling those holes. Overall, it’s a hell of an entertaining scene and one that I appreciate more and more now that I’ve moved back to Georgia after my four-plus years at Miami of Ohio with Soly and Fil (and yes, I know, 

there are a legion of stereotypes in play there

). This is my favorite course on tour outside of the majors, and the scene is there to match.



After the tournament, the fun moves over to the Bogey Inn, a local gin-joint turned once-a-year speakeasy/temporary John Daly bus-side merch-tent/beach-volleyball haven. Basically, imagine an off-site version of the 

. And while I’ll probably get a bit of flack for my anti-OSU diatribe above, I can take solace in two things: 1) with the new playoff format OSU football will never again be allowed to skate untested into a national championship game, and 2) my friends and relatives who reside in Columbus know that it’s one of my favorite cities in the country – a veritable golf mecca, a surprisingly progressive cultural oasis in the middle of Ohio, and home to a bunch of salt of the earth people prone to some good-natured ribbing.

Kuchar was unflappable on Sunday (making Tron’s oft-repeated assertion from our podcast that he “lacks pop and can’t play” that much more outrageous), and he outlasted Kevin Chappell and NLU favorite Kyle Stanley. The smiling Georgian didn’t miss a shot, and Stanley’s furious front nine run stalled out on the back nine when his drive on the par-5 11th plugged in the face of a fairway bunker, leading to a momentum killing bogey. Here’s Kuchar’s clinching putt on 18: (GIF courtesy of 

(all lines courtesy Ladbrokes.com, the Official Bookmaker of NoLayingUp.com)

– Hard not pick him right now. Former champ here who has been his normal self as of late. He’s in contention almost everytime he tees it up – at this point he just needs a hot putter.

 – A weak showing last week at Colonial with a T51, but was coming off back to back runner ups in his previous two events. Outside of a missed cut in 2011 at Muirfield, he’s finished in the top 21 four of the last five years, including a runner up finish in 2009. He’s not a sexy pick, but he’s a safe one.

 – I love the way Muirfield sets up for his baby fade, and I love the way he’s played recently. If he runs into an “uh-oh Happy learned how to putt” week, he’s going to win an event by about six. He’s going to turn the par 5’s into mush this week, and has a solid history here with a T16 a year ago, and a solo 6th in 2011.

 – BVP has slowly played his way back into relevance, and has landed top 25’s in three of his last four events, including a T14 a week ago. In true Horse for Course fashion, he’s finished in the top 21 here in each of the last four years, including a 3rd place finish in 2010. (negotiable, but i still feel good here)

 – Finished in the top 22 three of the last four years, including a 5th placed finish in 2010. We’re whores for ballstriking.

 – We define his game as “tidy,” and this course requires buttery precision of your irons. Great success here in the past, including a first round 65 a year ago. His form’s been solid of late.

 – Love this play this week. Chapell’s game has quietly been on point over the last month, and he pocketed a T10 at Colonial last week. He finished runner up here to Kuchar last year, and if he had made some putts at all on Sunday, he could have snatched it from The Good Guy.

 – This is yard sale type value! Following a win at the Byron Nelson, Todd notched a T5 at Colonial, which is almost equally as impressive considering the differences in the two fields. Muirfield favors strong putters, and he’s currently 7th on tour in strokes gained putting.

 (love him on the course, just can’t advise a play at 8/1 as he could very well be exhausted), 

 (we simply can’t quit him, and he’s got a wonderfully consistent track record here), 

 (tidy as hell, in form, great value at 100/1, just don’t think he can 

(he’s going to win, and soon), and finally 

 (obviously finished 3rd here LY and keeps making cuts but shooting himself out of it on the weekends. He’s due.)

Muirfield Village is well known among the players for their world class milkshakes. Get ready for a lot of tweets this week from players on how many milkshakes they’ve had (and be ready for Bubba to complain about them in some way).

The practice facility at Muirfield is widely known as the best on tour. The range spans 180 degrees so that players can practically simulate any wind environment they’d like. It’s relatively flat, there’s a ton of greens to hit, too. It makes Augusta’s facility look small.

Web.com is off this week – we’ll dive in for some mid-season observation at some point in the coming weeks.

We’re keeping the fringe short this week, as we’ve got a bonus section for you:

I’ve got story after story from the Memorial. Some are interesting, and some aren’t, so eject from this at your own leisure:

Armed with my best friend and fellow golf addict Frank, we decided to follow Justin Leonard around one year for reasons that are still unknown. Leonard make a double-bogey on one of the holes on the back, but followed it with a birdie. My 13-ish year old self felt the need to give our guy a boost, so I gave him a “Way to fight back, Justin!” call in a high pitched voice that did not come off nearly as cool as I thought it would in my head. To this day, whenever I follow a terrible hole with a good one, Frank will give me a “Way to fight back, Justin!” call that brings me right back to that awkward encounter every time.

In either 2006 or 2007, Fil, Tron, and I (along with our friend Kyle) are walking into the tournament. When I say that everyone snuck their phone into the tournament, I mean EVERYONE. Cell phones were still prohibited at this point, and to say security was lazy about it would be complimenting the volunteers at the entrance gates. The procedure consisted of them literally just asking you if you had a cell phone on you. Sure enough, I get asked if I have a phone on me. “Yep, absolutely….. I mean NO, NO.” And they STILL didn’t search me for the phone.

 founders were in search of some alcoholic beverages, yet we had not yet reached the legal drinking age. With the abundance of corporate parties, this was rarely an issue. A friend of ours from Indy tipped us off on a house that we should go to. The only problem was, we didn’t know a single person at this party. He told us not to worry, and to just show up at the Duke Realty house off to the side of the 12th hole, and if anyone asks who we know, just say that we’re friends of a “Wes Podell.” If they really ask questions, say that Wes couldn’t make it because he’s been busy working on the 

. We gathered up the courage to check out the scene, and obtained our beverages, and were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We watched golf from the yard and joked about how it just wasn’t the same to not have our old buddy Wes there with us (a joke we still continue to this day). After a couple beers, someone finally realizes that there are teenagers there drinking beers in their yard, and they asked us who we knew. We went into our speech, but the middle aged man was not impressed. He very kindly asked us to leave. Thanks for nothing, Wes.

It’s 2006, and Nick Price is putting on the practice green after his round. The green is pretty crowded, and there’s a decent amount of people standing around watching. There are two gentlemen there that are CLEARLY attending their first ever PGA Tour event. Cut-off tees, jeans, and cans of PBR that weren’t even available for purchase within the grounds (I’m actually extremely impressed that they pulled that one off, and still don’t know how). These guys are determined to get Nick’s attention…. only they think this is Nick Faldo, not Price. They are stunned when Price doesn’t turn around to constant “Faldo! Hey FALDO!” yells from less than 30 feet away. This goes on for long enough that finally Price has to run around and yell at them: “I’m not Nick Faldo. I’m Nick Price!” About fifteen minutes later, we’re walking the front-nine backwards when we see these guys getting escorted out the gate on the 8th tee, with their female significant others bitching all the while about how dumb they were.

Lastly, it’s still 2006 and we’re hanging out around the 10th green and see David Duval teeing off. We’re curious to see him as he was in like year three of his prolonged stint in the wilderness (at this point he’d made 13 of his last 61 cuts). As he’s getting announced, this sales-type in his mid-thirties decked out in Nike gear turns to his buddy and says “Look at Duval. That guy is such a menace. I bet he shoots 65 today.” Tron, Fil, and I turn to one another in awe of this absurd proclamation and refer to Duval as a “menace” to this day.

Enjoy the week and catch us on twitter during coverage 

The Memorial Tournament Preview

In our trusty college football parlance, last week’s mediocre Byron Nelson was the GoDaddy.com Bowl, which gives way to this week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, our equivalent to the Cotton Bowl: prestigious, traditional, and entertaining. As one of only five invitational tournaments on tour (only the first 80 on the prior year’s money list are guaranteed spots), it serves as one of the most underrated stops on the circuit. Before proceeding further, it must be noted that Colonial hosted its proudest moment in 2008 when Scoops Callahan took his game to the next level:

Dating to 1936, Colonial Country Club is more commonly referred to as “Hogan’s Alley,” as the long time Fort Worth resident won the eponymous event five times in a fourteen year span. The 7,200 yard, par 70 layout is almost universally revered on tour, and hence rated as the 

, behind only Augusta, Harbour Town, Riviera, and Pebble Beach. Tour players tend to love courses that reward good ball striking with fair, predictable results, and that’s exactly what Colonial gives you. What’s amazing is that in nearly 70 years, the course has been lengthened by less than 200 yards, which owes to the fact that the course was considered long when it was built.

Colonial is a certified bird sanctuary, with the winning score being at least -11 every year since the year 2000, including Zach Johnson’s near 72 hole PGA Tour record of 259 (-21) in 2010. Every couple of years it seems we get a reasonable 59-watch, only to be disappointed. The course record of 61 is shared by six players, two of whom are Texas forever. You have to think there’s a good chance that we’ll see someone post a 60 in the next couple years.

) is rare in that it’s feature holes are often played before coverage starts, but the three hole stretch of holes 3, 4, and 5 is the most demanding and most feared trio on the course. Framed by the Trinity River to its right, the fifth hole is known as one of the best par 4’s in the world. Yet again, we’re subjected to an unfortunate nickname for the three hole stretch, this time called the “Horrible Horseshoe.” (Sidebar: How long until a corporate sponsor sees the marketing potential for a stretch of holes and slaps a brand name on it? The possibilities are absolutely endless. Can’t you already hear Nantz, in his hushed tone: “Well David, we know what’s waiting for him around the corner, it’s the dreaded Deepwater Horizon brought to you by BP. We’ve already seen several oil spills here, but let’s see if he has enough 

Since none of the four of us have actually been to Colonial, we asked longtime NLU ambassador 

 for his thoughts on the track, as he heads north to begin his 2014 conquest of the Canadian circuit:

The 1st hole is one of my favorites because it is a gentle hole to start on. Only par 5 on that side and a birdie is imminent BUT if you don’t hit the fairway it can make you start grinding right away. Holes 4 & 5 have to be grouped together. Until I actually played here I never realized the hole is over 240 yards and every time I’ve gotten out here it’s been 60 degrees and blowing 20 in my face and necessitated a 3 wood. Such a simple, yet difficult par 3. On #5 you can hit an absolutely perfect drive and still being saying to yourself, “Okay, bogey is good here.” Without a doubt the toughest drive on the course. A cut off the tee is what it calls for and if you are anywhere on the left side, a draw will most likely be the shot of choice coming in, with anything from 4 to 6 iron (save for a select few who’s distance supersedes logic). Incredible hole.



As for the back. The holes coming in are pretty neat. On 15, many guys will hit 3 wood, then a short to mid iron. I personally hit chief absolutely everywhere here (and really whenever I can). It’s a good birdie hole. But the 2nd shot makes the hole. It’s pretty with the water hazard left. A little tug and the hole just got harder. My favorite hole on the course is probably 16. It’s stuck in this corner of the property and at first glance you think it would be a flip wedge hole the way with the way it’s set up…but it’s 2 bills to a pretty tricky green. Just a sneaky difficult hole. Overall, the greens are PURE and so easy to read, which I think contributes to why the scores are consistently low. I love a guy like Sendo to play well here.

Obviously if you can’t tell already, the proprietors of NLU think VERY highly of this course – it’s nice to know we’re not alone! It should be noted that as our network of readers and followers keeps expanding we hope to incorporate more stuff like this into the site, and most especially our previews. (If any of our readers have experience or resources that could help us for future locations, please let us know!)

Another guest spot here – back by popular demand is NLU’s trusted, longtime MetroPlex correspondent, Andy Staron. After growing up in Dallas, Andy took his talents to the midwest for college, but failed to resist the Texas siren song, opting to return within a couple of years, this time to Fort Worth. Here’s his take on the area:

This week, the Tour heads over to the western confines of the Metroplex for a tournament right in the heart of Fort Worth. As with most of the state, it’s good times financially in Fort Worth for business these days. I’d imagine there are economic indicators out the ass that demonstrate this, but there’s probably none stronger than me actually landing a job here (and one that is basically a Ticket Oak this week, holla!). That and literally every damn road and a building every 3 blocks are under construction right now. The Mexicans

 haven’t had a day off in years! And while the denizens of Fort Worth are all happy to be collecting a paycheck, it’s 

good times for the local oligarchs: the Bass’s, Moncrief’s, Carter’s et al are absolutely cleaning up. The city’s power brokers have sprawled into the worlds of high finance, government, media and even the arts, but of course they all kick started their path to power with Black Gold. Texas Tea. Oil that is. This is Texas after all.



So what kind of characters can we expect to see on the grounds this week? Well, of Texas’ 5 major cities, Fort Worth easily best lives up to the stereotypical depiction of a Texan. I mean, when the rodeo is in town, I’m actually 

 to wear boots and jeans to work. Hell, there’s a twice daily cattle drive that stops traffic just a mile or so north of downtown. Sadly, I don’t think too many belt buckles or ten gallon hats will be popping up in the background of your telecast this week. And the tank-top game probably won’t be as strong as last week either (the ‘see and be seen’ scene doesn’t drive as much of the attendance as it does at The Byron). Nope, I think you’ll pretty much see your stereotypical golf fan. White guys in their late 30’s/early 40’s with polos tucked into their high-waisted shorts following around their kid decked out in Puma (maybe Under Armour this year?) gear.



In what perpetually feels like a heavily one-sided dick measuring contest favoring Dallas, this is the one week a year where Fort Worth gets to whip out a trouser cobra, and they get to do it a week after Dallas fails to grow and/or show on a national stage. Colonial is absolutely a point of pride among locals. And that’s before mentioning the city gets to lay claim to Ben Hogan… 

his NYT obit sums it up better than I could ever attempt to

Boo Weekley notched his first win in five years, edging 

Weekley tried to pimp step this birdie putt that would have given him a two shot win, which I have nothing but respect for:

all of his 2013 Crowne Plaza GIF’s here

Apologies in advance for being so chalky this week. It felt imperative to form a stable of ballstrikers for this week.

 – The very definition of a horse for course, I’d argue these odds are shockingly long (would seriously bet him at 7/1 here). Over the last five years, his worst finish is 9th, and it includes four top-4 finishes, and two victories. He’s without a top-10 since the Valero Texas Open, but we’re back in Texas, and he obviously loves this place. Absolute must play for fantasy and a hammer for gambling purposes. WE TOOK THE PLEDGE!

 – See last week’s blurb on Spieth, and expect to see him here a lot over the next few months. He made it a point to say that this course really fits his eye better than the TPC Four Seasons does, and his T7 finish a year ago supports that assertion. No hesitation here.

 – On the heels of T7 LW in Dallas, Delaet’s odds are a bit inflated but we’re still taking him. He was exceptional with his irons last week and is trending in the right direction after a midseason mini-slump. Finished T22 here LY with three rounds in the 60’s before fading on Sunday. Strong results in 2010, as well.

 – First round 62 LY. He finished T14 LY (62-72-71-67), T5 in ’12, T31 in ’11 (firmly in the mix until final round 73), carded a 63 in ’09, and finished T15 in ’08. As a Texas man, it’s almost like he wants this title too bad. However with two second place finishes already this year, Palmer’s been beating on the door. Also, he only wins in even-numbered years (’04, ’08, ’10), meaning it’s time. He’s a ballstriker’s ballstriker.

– Kirk really intrigues me here as he’s trending in the right direction and has been wayyyy too solid on this track with a T16 in his ’11 debut, T5 in ’12, and T33 LY after a lackluster Sunday. Feel like he’s been working on some things and showing glimpses of being close. We followed him at the Heritage and was impressed with his demeanor and ball flight.

Great track record here (T11 and T5 here the last two years), and coming off a T16 at the Byron Nelson along with a T3 at the RBC Heritage about a month ago. Surprisingly solid pick based on the metrics.

 – Winner here last year, and quietly posted a T5 a week ago at the Byron Nelson. His history here other than his win is less than stellar, and his season other than last week is spotty, so this is far from a safe play, but there’s enough here to make it worth the risk.

 – Great value here. Plays well here (T18 and T13 the last two years), and has quietly had a solid if not spectacular stretch over the last 12 weeks or so. He finished T5 at the Zurich, and has made every cut this year outside of the AT&T in February.

Kisner (form), Harman (hunch + final round 65 at Byron), Knox (hunch), Fowler (track record), English (hunch, feel like he’s on the verge of making some noise again in the same vein as Kirk) Sendo (would’ve put him above but mediocre track record here scared us off – his form is as good as it gets right now).

Television cameras simply don’t do this course justice. It’s not lusciously green like Augusta, nor is it set against the mansions of the Pacific Palisades like Riviera, and it lacks any discernible flair other than the banks of the lazy Trinity River that ambles by. And the tournament itself doesn’t carry the street cred of The Players or The Memorial, and doesn’t 

 like a huge event when you watch on TV. NLU will be rolling out a set of power rankings that rank each and every PGA Tour event beyond the bounds of the obvious. Colonial is borderline top-ten (inclusive of the majors). Stay tuned!

David Frost won this event in 1997 and cashed a check for $288,000. Lefty won it 

 and took home $594,000. He won it again in 2008 for $1,098,000. Does Phil have a separate wing of his house dedicated just to Tiger? Does it have its own zip code? #TigerTax

In 2005, Kenny Perry won $1,008,000 for his victory. In 1990, the TOTAL purse of the event was $1,000,000. I can never get enough of these bizarre money facts. It feels like I’m looking at mid-90’s steroid-infused baseball stats.

 memories of 2001 when Sergio donned the plaid jacket after shooting 66-63 on the weekend. While most of us hated Sergio at the time, it’s impossible not to respect the insane traj he sported at the time – at one point during the final round his tee balls were clipping the rough fronting the tee box and he was getting 100-150 yards of roll. It was insane. If someone can somehow dig up footage of this please show it to us. I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Sergio finished T8 the week prior at Byron Nelson, won Colonial, T2 at Memorial, T12 at US Open (ejected with a final round 77), won the Buick Classic (miss that course), T9 at British, and T11 at The International. Serg was 21 at the time.

At what point do we send out a search party for Brandt Snedeker’s game? He’s making cuts, so that’s good. But with just one top ten finish on the season, he looks lost with the irons. To be fair, his 111th place FedEx Cup Standing has yielded well over $600k, so it’s tough to lament his standing too much. Mahan is wandering a bit these days, too.

Hats off to Kenny Perry, who is busy vaporizing the Champions Tour after bagging his third straight major at the Tradition on Sunday. And he’s skipping the next major (Senior British) because his traj is too high. Classic! Also a fitting mention this week because he’s won Colonial twice (’03 & ’05), and his margin of victory was a combined 13 strokes. If we had a Champions Tour 

In the discussion area below can we talk about the plaid jacket bestowed upon the Colonial winner and how it compares to the plaid jacket given out by Heritage? They’re almost identical. Hell can we just talk about 

I’ll leave you with a video that summarizes Texas. In the meantime, enjoy the week and catch us on twitter for the pithiest of observations during coverage 

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Preview

Brendon Todd cruised to a final round 66 in route to his first career victory, joining Patrick Reed as the only winners this year with two first names. The 28-year-old was firing on all cylinders and executed every shot down the stretch, including a 14-foot putt on the penultimate hole to maintain a two shot lead going into the finishing hole. The story of the weekend in our opinion was Mike Weir, who posted his first top-3 finish since the 2009 AT&T, and first top-10 since the 2010 Bob Hope Classic (back when it was still called the Bob Hope!). The veteran from the Great White North came out absolutely blazing with birdies on four of his first five holes, but was unable to maintain the momentum, and Todd marched flawlessly to the finish while the American people napped on their Sunday afternoon.

 Although we’ve made a living making Mike Weir jokes over the last year, you’d struggle to find any non-Canadians that were rooting as hard for the Canuck as we were at NLU. Weir’s game has literally been a punchline for years, and with the amount of money he’s made in his career (he just passed $30 million!), it’s astonishing that he didn’t just cash in and just 

 while letting the clubs collect dust in the garage. On the 

, we discussed guys who had gone into the wilderness, but have somehow emerged and returned to peak form. The depths to which Weir had fallen seemed to be the point of no return, but he damn near almost won this thing this week. He looked completely rejuvenated while pimp-stepping drives that were missing the fairway, and three woods that were coming up 35 yards short of the flag. You could tell how much this meant to him, and it was cool to see the Canadians on twitter rally around him. He basically locked up his card for 2015 with this paycheck worth three quarters of a million. Below is a shot he hit on Saturday that literally made me jump off the couch. #WeirTheNorth

 I’ll admit, I don’t know a lot about Brendon Todd. He’s another product of the University of Georgia, and by my count, this is his first ever top-5 finish on the PGA Tour. I respect the guys that grind out their struggles (seriously, 

), but I don’t think we’re necessarily looking at an American superstar, or an elite player by tour standards. Again, hate to downplay a PGA Tour win (these things are extremely hard to come by), but this is one of the worst courses the guys play all year, and this field was very weak by tour standards. All in all, he’s a fitting winner for an event that is utterly forgettable, in a PGA Tour season that is nothing if not bizarre. Seriously, winners this year include Todd, Steven Bowditch, Matt Every, Matt Jones, Seung-Yul Noh, Scott Stallings, and Kevin Stadler, and a list of non-winners that includes Big Cat, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, etc. Regardless, Todd’s play needs to be commended and recognized. I also loved his reaction to making the huge par save on 17 to preserve the two shot lead:

 Again consistent with all of 2014, the big names faded on the weekend. Martin Kaymer looked poised to make another run, but ran out of steam and didn’t break par on the weekend. It’s hard to fault him considering how difficult this week was for him. I mean, my goodness, did you see how he had to 

sit on the floor at the airport to charge his phone like the rest of us

?!? How was he expected to play golf after that?!? (What am I missing here? Do people really not know that most tour guys fly commercial everywhere, and they also are humans that need to charge their cell phones?)

 A very confusing week for Gary Woodland. He finished T7 while playing the par-5’s one over par, and did so on a course that doesn’t really reward power as much as many other tour courses do. We’re pointing this out because Woodland is going to put together a week here soon enough, and his putter is going to get hot enough to win one of these things going away. His 2014 campaign has been an absolute model of consistency that we’ve never seen from him. Ignoring his MC in the first event of the season back in October at the Frys.com, he’s finished no worse than T38, meaning he’s essentially finishing in the top 25% of the field every single week. On the podcast this week, I noted I would easily have him as one of my captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup team, and at this point, he’s feeling like a near sure thing.

 Adam Scott moved to #1 in the world today. I’m just using this as an excuse to post this (from 

Pat Perez – DNP (Could we be anymore on this bandwagon? We picked him this week, and he wasn’t even in the field!)

Overall a pretty poor weak. Leishman threatened to continue our hot streak, but didn’t have the firepower to last through the weekend. Kaymer was two back going into the weekend, but ran out of steam. Brendon Todd wasn’t even on our radar this week, so we’re hardly kicking ourselves for not nailing the winner this week.

Oil Spill of the Week (Brought to you by BP)

Our boy Steve Marino gets the double dip this week. Marino made like a Ukranian protester and lit himself on fire on his way to a 79. Greenside in three on the par-4 third hole, he walked away with an 8, including a three putt from 7 feet.

Marino went on to post two more doubles on the front nine, before this triple on the 11th.

This is, without a doubt, the most you’ve seen Marino’s face in 2014. He holed his second shot on the 9th hole on Saturday before his blow up above.

We didn’t watch a ton of coverage this weekend, so we don’t really have a #TourSauce. But we couldn’t let this shot from Brendon Todd just slide by without noting it. Ridiculous up and down on the back nine that required him to flip an 8 iron around backwards, and do this:

 and has some great #TourSauce there that we’re now adding.

Spieth with the Follow Through Club Drop:

Louis with the Wayward Drive Directional Point:

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano with perhaps the club toss of the year here:

Back to big boy golf this week, as we head to a ball striker’s paradise in Hogan’s Alley at Colonial. We’re hoping to catch up with our boy 

, who recently played the course and will give us some insight as to how it will play this year. Three out of the next four weeks are some of the best on the PGA Tour, so getcha popcorn ready!

HP Byron Nelson Championship Recap

The HP Byron Nelson Championship is to the PGA Tour what the GoDaddy.com Bowl is to College Football. If you didn’t know better, it’s placement on the schedule suggests a big time event, when in reality it’s simply odd schedule-filler fodder for the marquee tournaments nearby as it’s sandwiched on the calendar by Wells Fargo, Players, Colonial and Memorial. In reality, this used to be a bigger stop on the schedule, as evidenced by the 

The field has a few big names scattered amongst it, but so many fully exempt players chose not to play this week that the tournament ended up giving out six spots to players from the 126-150 range that are not fully exempt, as well as seven spots to the “re-order category” (you can read about that 

). We’re not complaining about this, as it got our boy Brooks Koepka into the field, but I’m not going to be glued to my couch this weekend.

Before proceeding, in the interest of full disclosure I will go ahead and say that I do work for a rival luxury hotel company (rhymes with Schnitz-Tarlton), which is an obvious rival of Four Seasons in the lux hospitality game. However, any biases I harbor are on the back burner when it comes to golf, as Four Seasons does a fantastic job, and I haven’t been afraid to express disappointment for a couple of the course designs in my company’s portfolio (see: WGC Match Play venue). So, I’m not at all hesitant to proclaim that Dallas deserves a better showcase course than this bland resort course. By all accounts the resort itself is topnotch and the conditions are pristine. However, the course itself was rated the 

fourth worst course on the entire tour by the players

, and was described by an anonymous tour pro (who I always envision to be Jeff Maggert for obvious reasons) as: “The worst course we play on tour. It doesn’t reward a good shot. Just terrible all around.” If that doesn’t get you fired up for this week, I’m not sure what will!

The TPC Four Seasons has somehow hosted this event since 1986 (at one time over two courses in an effort to spread the field out and combat weather-related delays), and despite a redesign in 2007 by D.A. Weibring, I’d imagine the strength of the field speaks volumes about the event. The course is defined by its large and undulating greens, along with manufactured creeks and ponds that scream “resort course” and smack golf purists in the face with their stacks of dollar bills. Although come to think of it, well-manicured, artificial mounding doesn’t sound too out of character for Dallas.

Fear not, MetroPlexuals, as it sounds like 

Ben Crenshaw & Bill Coore are coming to your rescue by way of Trinity Forest Golf Club

). Though there’s a paucity of information on relevant facts like if construction started yet, when the course will open, and when the tournament will relocate, it does seem that this site on a former landfill 

presents a unique canvas for the Crenshaw & Coore dream team

 (I’m betting the results will be better than another high profile landfill track – Liberty National). Ironically enough Crenshaw consulted on the original TPC Four Seasons design.

‘s longtime MetroPlex correspondent, Andy Staron, was kind enough to sprinkle his local knowledge this week:

Las Colinas (née El Ranchito de Las Colinas) is a perfectly nice, little planned community set in Irving, Texas that is basically 22 million sq ft of office space and some statues of galloping horses that have somehow garnered the tiniest amount of local notoriety (no word on if they’re the same breed as Ricky Barnes). Las Colinas is sandwiched between DFW and Love Field, and the ease with which you can get in/out/get/grab/bonk is probably why it’s home to nearly as many companies as it is people. Dallas sits just to the east, and shares a regional catch-all designation (The Metrolplex) with Fort Worth, and I’ve got to believe the thousands of businessmen keep the multitude of nearby “massage” parlors in business. Ultimately, everybody knows somebody who works in Las Colinas, but I don’t think anybody cares to know shit about it.

Horses for Courses? 

Dallas is a sports crazy city with a ton of golfers so I expect a full house, but with Scottie Scheffler in the field. I think the grounds are going to be crawling with Highland Park citizens in particular. What does that mean for the people watching? Just imagine a strong contingent of Matt Stafford and Clayton Kershaw look-alikes milling about (minus the athletic prowess) sporting names like 

. In that same vein, expect a strong showing from the SMU crowd. The more discerning fans in and around The Metroplex will hold out until next week’s event to fulfill their PGA Tour quota.

We’ll try to get Staron back next week to drop some knowledge on us for the Fort Worth-based Colonial!

Sang-Moon Bae hit a ballsy approach to the 18th on Sunday to seal a two shot win over Keegan Bradley, who struggled on his way to a 72 on Sunday:

See the rest of his GIF’s from the 2013 HP Byron Nelson here

 – It’s not like us to pick the favorite, but I really think he wins this week. At 12/1, he’s not tremendous value, but here is the approach: Plan on betting him almost every week over the next ten weeks, and just assume he wins one of those tournaments. Assuming he wins one, we’re guaranteed a profit. He’s familiar with this course, having played in this event three of the last four years, including finishing T16 in 2010 as a 16 year old (yeah, that happened).

 – Back to back winners are extremely rare on tour, and for good reason. It’s damn hard to win one tournament, much less two in a row. It’s also rare of us to pick a guy to repeat, but (shaky, rain-influenced finish aside), Kaymer played absolutely lights out golf on one of golf’s biggest stages. A final round 75 in Charlotte cost him a top-10, or else he would have been on more peoples’ radar last week. Add in that he finished T5 here a year ago (before he even got his game back in shape), and he’s absolutely worth another look this week.

 Winner here in 2012, another top 10 in 2011, and some signs of life shown in Ponte Vedra last week. He’s using a new counter balanced putter, and could easily catch fire on the greens. Sometimes it just takes a small change to really light a fire in someone’s game.

A true horse for course in every sense of the term. He’s got four top 12 finishes in his last five starts here, including a T3 in 2012. His game has been shaky since his T2 at the Farmers earlier this year, but I’d make this play on his track record here alone. Pretty shitty value at this price but track record speaks for itself.

 – the value flier approach yielded huge returns last week, let’s go to the well once more with small plays featuring huge upside!

 – Back to the well. See: previous week’s write-ups. We’re making a small, nominal play on him, per usual.

 He hasn’t made it to a Sunday since his solo 4th at the Zurich Classic, but he’s got a history here that includes a T8 in 2011 and a T2 in 2010. At these odds, and considering how close he was to winning the Zurich, we’ll make this play based on the value and at least try to disregard the fact that he puts off an exceedingly apathetic, lazy, soggy vibe and let his raw talent win you over.

 – As the founders of the Koepka fan club, 

 sees a lot of value in this play, as he makes his first start since gaining special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. He’s finished outside of the top 33 once in his last six starts, and now is his time to get noticed and not have to worry about dealing with exemption snafus ever again.

– Five top 32’s in his last six starts, four in the top 23, and a runner up. He’s a K-State grad back in Big12 country. I’ll take him at these odds, with or without the horrific threads.

 – Started hot each of the last two weeks only to fade on the weekend. T-17 here last year suggests a comfort level. At some point he has to win a non-major.

– Superb value. Poised, confident and playing a home game this week as he resides in the ‘Plex. Oklahoma grad’s form is as good as it gets. Let’s take a flier here.

Scott Verplank is making his 27th career start in this event. That’s over half of a year of your life spent at the HP Byron Nelson Classic! He’s a Dallas resident, but still: 27 weeks of the Byron Nelson Classic kind of sounds like a punishment sentence along the lines of community service.

Patrick Cantlay is making his first start of the year due to a back injury that’s had him sidelined for months – he’s much too young to be dealing with lumbar issues! Any mentions of Cantlay on the broadcast will certainly inspire us to make a “Patrick Cant-Lay Up” joke….. (you just stopped reading didn’t you).

The Byron Nelson tends to rattle off ridiculous stretches of winners: ’08-’12…Adam Scott, Sabo, JDay, Keegan, Dufner. ’03-’05…Vijay, Ted Purdy (!!!), Sergio. ’95-’97…Els, Mickelson, BigCat. ’78-’80…Tom Watson, Tom Watson, Tom Watson. ’44-’46…Nelson, Snead, Hogan.

Would like to make special mention of Dick Mast’s inclusion as an alternate this week. 

Hell, the entire alternates list is great fodder!

Paul Casey is making his Byron Nelson debut after two weeks he was forced to take off after missing a putt in New Orleans that would’ve sent him to Charlotte. He’s going to play his way to temporary membership, no doubt. Hope his good form continues.

Byron Nelson was a gentleman and a class act. Always enjoyed when he held court up in the booth with the CBS crew, damn near up to his death in 2006. Along with his wife Peggy, Mr. Nelson was a wonderful steward of this event. It’s a shame to see the tournament lose it’s footing over the past few years. 

The New York Times took note of the trend way back in 2010

. In my opinion, several things need to happen – the Texas Swing needs to be recombined into a consecutive four week stretch, create a little four week “Texas Cup” for the best finishers in those four events, and the Byron Nelson obviously needs to move to a better course. Texas’ economy is going gangbusters, can’t imagine it would be too tough to dredge up some increased sponsorship dollars.

Re: The 1999 US Open replay that was on Golf Channel on Tuesday night…Payne Stewart had ice running through his veins down the stretch on the back nine. Legendary performance from a man who departed prematurely. And Mickelson’s verve was at it’s peak: repping Yonex graphite-shafted irons, a HUGO BOSS clothing deal, a crispy white visor and an aggressive blade putter, Lefty really looked the part. If Big Cat makes a few short putts its his tournament to lose.

Enjoy the week and catch us on twitter for the pithiest of observations during coverage 

HP Byron Nelson Championship Preview

The Players Championship again delivered a dramatic finish with an abundance of storylines. Kaymer opened with a blazing 63 that included a 29 on his back-nine (the course’s front nine). He shared the 54-hole lead with our crush guy, Jordan Spieth. While the 20 year-old struggled on Sunday, Kaymer appeared unflappable until the rain hit but was able to outlast a surging Jim Furyk by one. More details below.

 Jordan Spieth made our hearts flutter through 54 holes sharing the lead with Kaymer, but struggled on Sunday and was unable to capture his second tour title. I’m anticipating reading a lot about Spieth’s “struggles” over the course of this next week, which is why we went ahead and 

. Anyone that’s embracing the “Spieth needs a win” campaign needs to get some perspective on history. At this age, Tiger didn’t even have a win yet, and Tiger happens to be the best player of all time. Let’s give the kid some time, because he’s got plenty of that.

Martin Kaymer just oozes class. He’s always seemed robotic to me before this week, but 

this quote from Spieth on Kaymer got my attention

“I’m extremely impressed,” countered Spieth. “What I’m most impressed with is the way he approaches the game. He was out there truly having fun. He came up to me after I missed the putt on 10 and he’s like, don’t worry about it, just have some fun, this is where you want to be.

After Finchy was done awkwardly thanking Kaymer for making it interesting down the stretch, Kaymer took the mic and immediately began praising Spieth:

“I was really happy to play with Jordan the last two days. I think you have a really nice guy who you can support for the next few years for sure. I’m sure we’re going to see him at the Ryder Cup as well. But then, we’re going to be trying to beat each other. It was really, really nice to play with him, and he’s such a mature guy already. It’s a bit of a pity that he didn’t play as good as the first three days, but still, it’s a great accomplishment the last few months, and obviously coming here to play in one of the biggest tournaments all year, it pretty much does mean he’s going to win another major, at least in my books.”

Martin, if you’re going to consider the John Deere Classic a major like we do, you’re going to fit in well. But seriously, how often do you see a guy grab the mic after a win and praise an opponent like that? He was making eye contact with the crowd as he spoke, almost trying to get an applause for Jordan. He just won the second biggest tournament of his life, not to mention $1.8 million, and the first thing he did was dap his competitor. Good on you, MK.

 The final four-hole stretch was absolutely torturous to watch. Kaymer had been so unflappable all week, solidly building and then protecting a three-shot lead when the horn blew at 14 (he also left at least four birdie putts under a foot short dead-center). Shortly after they sent the players back out in the rain, Furyk tapped in to get in the house at -12. Kaymer made a mess on 15 on his way to a double, failed to birdie 16, and almost got wet on 17 only to hole this dramatic putt:

And to top it off, failed golfer high five alert!

 another top-10, which seems to be happening as often as we see Spieth’s name on the leaderboard. I’m going to assume this is a good thing, and keep saying “he’s close” in hopes that it eventually becomes true.

Geoff Ogilvy allegedly acted like a prick

 during a local radio hit after his round Friday, then got served a heaping helping of karma with a 76-78 weekend. G’day, mate!

 Russell Henley book-ended his opening 65 with a Sunday 66. All kinds of impressive. Had he not gone thermonuclear on Saturday with an 80, this tournament likely was his.

Heat check for NLU! This was our 7th winner in 20 tournaments, putting us up 134.5 units on the year. It’s a certified 

! Here’s what we said about Kaymer in our preview:

 – A final round 75 at Quail Hollow dropped him into a T18 finish, but for the majority of the week, he was looking like the Martin Kaymer of old. His history here is a mixed bag of mediocre finishes, but always makes the cut, and has two top 20′s in the last three years.

There were a LOT of oil spills this week. In fact, these guys had to get involved:

Let’s start with Ted Scott’s Gerry Watson’s implosion on 13 on Sunday. He could have had swim trunks on and been doing laps in a pool and he would have been more dry than he was on this par-3:

Jeff Overton basically broke shot tracker with his ten on #11 on Saturday (part of a back-nine 46). Only 9 shots fit on the diagram, and you can’t really even see them all:

By this week’s standards, Kevin Na’s triple is pretty mild, but I just can’t figure out what happened behind this green:

Shot tracker doesn’t do this next image any justice, so we’ll just go with 

This shot from Luke Donald was bad ass (not something we say very often). However, it was the Johnny Football “Money Team” celebration that earned him the Shot Tracker image of the week

Writing

Memorial: Friday Quick-Hitters

Thursday at The Memorial

The Memorial Tournament Preview

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Preview

HP Byron Nelson Championship Recap

HP Byron Nelson Championship Preview

The Players Championship Recap

Jordan Spieth and The Hype

No Laying Up PGA Pigskin Team -Coaching Staff

The Players Championship Preview – Part 2

Taking the Gloves Off: This Week's Golf Twitter Feuds

The Players Championship Preview – Part 1

Wells Fargo Championship Recap

Wells Fargo Championship Preview – Part 2

Wells Fargo Championship Preview – Part 1

Some Ideas on How To Fix the Tour's Pace of Play Problem

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Recap

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Preview

Writing

Memorial: Friday Quick-Hitters

Thursday at The Memorial

The Memorial Tournament Preview

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Preview

HP Byron Nelson Championship Recap

HP Byron Nelson Championship Preview

The Players Championship Recap

Jordan Spieth and The Hype

No Laying Up PGA Pigskin Team -Coaching Staff

The Players Championship Preview &#8211; Part 2

Taking the Gloves Off: This Week's Golf Twitter Feuds

The Players Championship Preview &#8211; Part 1

Wells Fargo Championship Recap

Wells Fargo Championship Preview &#8211; Part 2

Wells Fargo Championship Preview &#8211; Part 1

Some Ideas on How To Fix the Tour's Pace of Play Problem

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Recap

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Preview

The Players Championship Preview – Part 2

The Players Championship Preview – Part 1

Wells Fargo Championship Preview – Part 2

Wells Fargo Championship Preview – Part 1