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By KrisF on
2/26/2009
Have you ever sat down and tried to fill out a bracket for a PGA Tour match play tournament? After the first two days at the WCG Accenture Match Play event in Tucson, I'm convinced it's harder to predict than any NCAA tournament.How can I say that? Let me lay it out for you.Since 2000, I've participated in an NCAA office pool with between 75 and 100 entries. For some reason, I've always been pretty luck and have wound up winning the thing four of the last nine years. Now let's look at my success in picking the winner of the past few match play events.I did pick Tiger last year to win it all. He's the world's top player and it's hard not to pick him to win anytime he tees it up. On the other hand, missed like 20 of the first 32 matches. Not good. This year, I had both Sergio and Tiger into the semifinals with Sergio actually winning it all. Well, following he second day of play in the desert, all four number one seeds are out and Camillo Villegas and 19-year-old Rory McIlroy look great.When you compare...
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By KrisF on
2/24/2009
Winning the US Amateur is a major accomplishment. It takes a talented, well-rounded golfer to weave his way through medal play and then win out in match play. One thing I've noticed over the last decade is that winning the Amateur doesn't always lead to professional success.Since Tiger Woods wrapped up his three-peat in 1996, there have been 12 different winners and we have yet to see a professional win (Nick Flanigan had three wins on the Nationwide Tour). These are all great players, they just haven't seen much success on the big Tour. I'll contradict myself by highlight Jeff Quinney and Ryan Moore (both natives of the Northwest), who have won about $3.8 million and $4.8 million respectively. There have been plenty of second place and top ten finishes in regular Tour events, which I would call successful.What's this all about, you ask? I wanted to take the time to point out that the 2008 winner, New Zealand's Danny Lee, won a professional event over the weekend. Lee, who had just hoped to make the cut,...
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By KrisF on
2/22/2009
How many times have we seen this? Phil Mickelson, leading the field at Riviera Country Club. We got to see it again over the weekend and things could have gone either way for Lefty.Mickelson had the largest lead of his career going into Sunday's final round of the Northern Trust Open. With only three holes to go, though, he found himself two shots behind Steve Stricker. Was it going to be a repeat of 2007 when Mickelson failed to make par on the final hole and ended up losing in a playoff or would Lefty be able to close things out like he did in 2008?I'll admit, I really thought Phil would choke. I figured he'd be pressing a little too much and come in as nothing more than a bridesmaid. I was wrong.Lefty stuffed a nine iron on the 16th for a birdie, made a two-putt birdie on 17 and then closed with a par on the final hole. Stricker had his chances, but just couldn't keep up. Well done Phil.The thing I was most disappointed about was Fred Couples. He was just a few strokes behind going into Sunday's round...
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By KrisF on
2/20/2009
It's been eight long months, but Tiger Woods announced yesterday that he was ready to make his return to the PGA Tour. While the world's top player was recovering from knee surgery, I really thought we'd see one of the Tour's young players step up and make a big name for himself. For some reason, that never happened. Instead, we had 38-year-old Padraig Harrington win the final two majors of the year, not exactly a sign for the future.Sergio, Phil, Anthony, and all the other great players under the age of 30 had their shot, but Tiger is returning healthy and rested. Good luck guys.Is it a surprise that Woods chose the Accenture Match Play Championships to make his return? He won the even last year and it's not nearly as grueling to play as a regular Tour event, because a lost hole here or there can be recovered from. When it comes to match play, Tiger typically finds a way to win.There have been a lot of pundits talking over the last few weeks about how many tournaments and how many majors Tiger might be able...
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By KrisF on
2/13/2009
It's that time of year again, the official kick-off of the golf season for folks in Portland. That's right, it's Golf Show time.As always, Northwest Golf Adventures will be on hand with information about some of our best destinations and packages. We'll even have some Bandon Dunes package prices that you'll only see at the show.The Portland Golf Show is always nice because we get to see a lot of the same clients come through our booth each year. I get to catch-up with some repeat customers about last year's golf trips and talk about what they'd like to do this year. For many exhibitors, it's three days of dread, but I actually look forward to this show.Check back on the blog throughout the weekend. I'll keep you updated on some of the cool new stuff I see at the show.One thing that I'm really excited to introduce is our new fantasy golf game: Fantasy Foursome Golf Challenge. It's going to be free to play and you'll have the chance to win rounds of golf, equipment and even a dream golf trip. Pre-registration...
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