Ernie Els changes his mind, decides to play Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) -Ernie Els changed his mind Tuesday and will play in the Memorial, a tournament he won four years ago.
Els surprised tournament officials Monday with a posting on his Web site that he would not play again until next week in the Stanford St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn.
But he changed that posting Tuesday.
"Originally, this week was going to be a gap in my schedule, but I've changed my mind and decided to play in the Memorial," Els said.
It's the second time this year Els thought twice about a tournament. He said he would not play in the Accenture Match Play Championship outside Tucson, Arizona, then changed his mind on the final day. He lost in the first round.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Fond memories give Langer a boost at Senior PGA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -Joyful memories came rushing back to Bernhard Langer as he drove through the gates of Oak Hill on Monday to prepare for the Senior PGA Championship.
He looks eager to fashion a few new highlights.
The Champions Tour newcomer, already a three-time winner, shot a 1-over 71 at the punishing Donald Ross-designed course to land in a tie for fourth after Thursday's opening round. He's two strokes behind Jay Haas - the only player to beat par on a brisk, blustery day when extra layers of clothing were a must.
"You don't win a tournament the first day," said Langer, part of the European Ryder Cup team that scored a stunning comeback victory at Oak Hill in 1995. "I'm just trying to be near the leaders going into the weekend."
New Jersey golf pro Bill Britton briefly took the lead late in the afternoon, getting to 2-under through 14 before catching a pair of bogeys when he three-putted No. 6 and then landed his approach shot in the bunker on No. 8. He finished at 70 alongside local favorite Jeff Sluman.
Langer was in a logjam of nine players, including Scott Hoch, Ian Woosnam and Eduardo Romero. Defending champion Denis Watson from Zimbabwe and Greg Norman were in another group of nine who shot 72.
Haas, attempting to win his second Senior PGA in three years, got as low as 3-under with a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-5 No. 13. But he was undone by two bogeys that followed errant tee shots - one that landed behind a tree on No. 16, and one into the lip of a fairway bunker on No. 18.
Haas has now shot 1-under in each of his past three rounds at Oak Hill, dating to the final two rounds of the 2003 PGA Championship in which he finished in a tie for fifth.
"It was pretty miserable this morning, everybody's got long johns on and ski caps and wind-breakers," said Haas, who was happy to head straight to his warm hotel room to watch everyone else deal with the elements.
The temperature edged up from the low 40s into the 50s in the afternoon but the wind gathered pace too, gusting above 20 miles an hour to create additional havoc on the narrow, tree-lined fairways at Oak Hill's East Course.
"Well, I survived. And that's what it is, a survival test," said Tim Simpson, who flirted with the lead before carding a 71.
Langer is playing Oak Hill for the fourth time in his career and views the 7,001-yard East course as "very, very difficult" even in fine weather. Since joining the Champions Tour after turning 50 last August, however, he feels like he has a leg up on the competition again.
"There's a saying, 'Once you turn 50 there's not many tournaments that are won by 60-year-olds,"' the two-time Masters champion and former Ryder Cup captain said. "Maybe five or 10 years make a difference. The body starts aching more, you lose some muscle strength and some flexibility. So I would think the guys between 50 and 55 definitely have more chance than 60 or 65 on an average."
"We wouldn't be here if we were not competitive," Langer said, adding that he prefers the Champions Tour camaraderie.
"On the PGA Tour, it's many times just business" while on the Champions Tour "the guys all hang out together," he said. "It's not all about building a career, you know? Many of us have made a living already, we're out here to play golf for fun. And that's the great part."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Daly in the news, and Finchem takes notice
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem stressed in a players meeting last week the importance of having a professional appearance. About the same time, a video was making the rounds of John Daly looking anything but that.
Daly was in Branson, Mo., at a golf course that bears his name, John Daly's Murder Rock Golf and Country Club, for a television appearance. He showed up wearing only blue jeans - no shoes, socks or shirt, and played with a local TV anchor.
Finchem declined to say whether he has spoken to Daly, but he made his expectations quite clear Tuesday.
"There are certain things about presentation that we must insist on," Finchem said. "There are certain things about presentation that are not going to be tolerated. I think that the world changes and you make adjustments, but I think perhaps we need to be more direct in our comments to players about specific do's and don'ts, and increase focus in that area to make sure that we have a level of professionalism going forward that we're comfortable with."
It was the latest incident with Daly that some found offensive.
Two months ago at the PODS Championship, he spent a rain delay in a Hooters tent, then used Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden as his caddie for the final few holes. Daly was playing on a sponsor's exemption.
That led swing coach Butch Harmon to fire Daly for spending more time drinking than working on his game. Daly said last week that Harmon called and apologized for such harsh comments, and how it cost Daly his endorsements.
Harmon said he never apologized to Daly, then offered a quick look Tuesday at a text message he sent Daly that urged the two-time major champion to start taking responsibility for his own actions.
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USGA contemplates a daunting wedge at Torrey Pines
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -Torrey Pines will be listed at 7,643 yards (6,989 meters), making it the longest course in major championship history.
But what gets Mike Davis excited is the potential for the shortest par 3 at a U.S. Open in eight years next month.
The third hole will measure 195 yards on the card, about the same distance used in the Buick Invitational. With the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, it typically requires a long or medium iron down the hill into a breeze to a green that is protected by a bunker in the front. Anything long or left falls off the cliffs into a hazard.
Davis, senior director of rules and competition for the U.S. Golf Association, stumbled across a tee from 142 yards that might be even tougher.
"It not only sits at a different angle, it sits up in the air even higher," Davis said. "It should be dead into the wind. That puts them up in the air with a wedge shot, dead into the wind."
Davis said it reminded him of No. 7 at Pebble Beach, which is 107 yards and among the most famous holes in golf. Even though it's barely a sand wedge, it can be a brute for even the best players trying to get the right distance and trajectory.
"We plan to use it a couple of days," Davis said of the forward tee at Torrey Pines in San Diego. "And when we go up, we'll be more aggressive with the hole location. It's not going to be a real easy hole with a wind into you."
The toughest hole locations will be front left (just over the bunker) and back left, where anything long will go into the hazard.
That might not be the only hole with a forward tee.
Even though the course will be the longest in history, Davis said it probably never will play its full 7,643 yards (6,989 meters). The par-5 13th hole has three tees that make it play either 614, 599 or 539 yards (meters).
One change to the 13th is a short cut of rough to the right.
The fear of playing that hole at 614 yards is an unexpected shift in wind, which could leave players with a 250-yard carry into the wind just to reach the fairway. Davis said there is a short cut of rough to the right for such situations, meaning players would only have to hit it 220 yards to at least have a chance at the second shot.
The Open is from June 12-15.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Lorena Ochoa setting her own course
Of all the trophies Lorena Ochoa has collected since her magical hands first touched a golf club, one of her favorite mementos is a photograph taken when she was 12, standing beside a teenager who even then looked like a giant in the game.
Her head doesn't quite reach the shoulders of 17-year-old Tiger Woods.
They posed in 1993 after Ochoa won her age division for the fourth straight year at the Junior World Golf Championship. They did not see each other again until last year at the Golf Writers Association of America dinner in Augusta, Ga., where Ochoa and Woods were honored as players of the year.
Woods' eyes lit up when he saw the Mexican phenom, and he wrote an extensive message on the photo before signing it.
Now they are linked by more than just a snapshot.
As Woods continues to rule his sport, Ochoa has emerged as a force in women's golf. She has won five of her six tournaments this year, including a major, by a combined 37 shots, raising questions about who is the more dominant player.
"That's something that's out of my hands," Ochoa said. "That's more the fans and the media point of view. But to be able to put my name next to him is always an honor, and I'm happy with that."
Each seemed destined for greatness at an early age.
Woods learned the game before he could walk, mesmerized by his father swinging a golf club as Woods sat in a high chair. Ochoa was climbing trees at Guadalajara Country Club when she was 5 and broke both wrists after falling some 15 feet. She was in a cast from her shoulders to her fingers for three months.
"They said the doctor gave me magical wrists, some magic in my hand," Ochoa once said.
Since setting an NCAA record at Arizona by winning eight straight tournaments as a sophomore, the 26-year-old Mexican has hit her stride and is running side-by-side with Woods.
Both are No. 1 in the world rankings, with more than double the points of the next-best player.
Woods skipped the PGA Tour's first two events in Hawaii, then began his season with an eight-shot victory at Torrey Pines. Ochoa skipped the LPGA Tour's first two events in Hawaii, then made her 2008 debut in Singapore and won by 11 strokes.
Woods won four straight times to start the season, extending a streak that began in September. Ochoa won her fourth straight start last week in Orlando, Fla., the first woman in 45 years to win four consecutive events on the schedule. Next week in Tulsa, Okla., she can tie the LPGA record for consecutive victories held by Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez.
Ochoa has won 19 times since the start of the 2006 season, including the last two majors. Woods has won 18 times on the PGA Tour since 2006 with three majors, although he has played 20 fewer events.
The biggest difference between them - at least this year - is their quest for a Grand Slam.
Woods was the runner-up, three strokes back, at the Masters, ending his bid before it could get started. A week earlier, Ochoa ran off three straight birdies around the turn to pull away and win the Kraft Nabisco Championship by five shots.
It was her second straight major, having won the Women's British Open last summer at St. Andrews.
"I guess right now I'm a little bit ahead because I won the last two," Ochoa said.
Perhaps more parallels await.
Ochoa will be going for her third straight major at the LPGA Championship the first week of June. Pat Bradley in 1986 was the last woman to win three straight majors, while Woods is the only professional - male or female - to capture four in a row.
What can stop her?
"I'd like to believe nothing and nobody," Ochoa said after winning the Nabisco. "I know this is just the beginning of the year. I know I put some high goals this year, but I want to try to keep going."
It was only three years ago that similar comparisons were made between Woods and Sorenstam, who dominated women's golf for five years. Sorenstam won six of her first eight tournaments in 2005, including the first two majors, by wearing down the field with her consistent, precise, robotic play.
Ochoa brings far more sizzle, not to mention power, and it shows in how badly she is crushing her competition. Ochoa twice has won tournaments by 11 shots this year.
At the Safeway International outside Phoenix, the strongest field in women's golf, she won by seven strokes.
"Everything that she's done this year has been phenomenal," Brittany Lincicome said.
Even more remarkable is a graciousness rarely found in an athlete so ruthless.
Ochoa is proud of her heritage and her people, and often goes to the maintenance barn at golf tournaments to visit with the grounds crew, most of whom are Latino. She spent a half-hour with them at the Kraft Nabisco in Palm Desert, Calif., helping them cook breakfast, talking soccer and thanking them for their work.
When she closed out last season with a $1 million payday, Ochoa pledged $100,000 for flood victims in Mexico and set aside a large amount to help build schools for needy children in her town.
LPGA officials still rave about last year at the Ginn Tribute, which honored the women who founded the LPGA Tour in 1950. Some of the founders asked for Ochoa's autograph, and only after signing did she go back and ask for theirs. She also had her picture taken with them.
"To keep for memories," Ochoa said.
No doubt, she will treasure it along with the photo with Woods, both in their own way reminding her of an amazing journey.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Immelman's Masters victory not too big a deal back home in South Africa
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -Trevor Immelman's Masters victory failed to create much of a splash back home in South Africa.
The 28-year-old Immelman tapped in his winning putt to hold off runner-up Tiger Woods at about 2:30 a.m. - after most people, and papers, went to bed.
Still, Johannesburg daily The Citizen led its front page with the headline "Super Immelman wins Masters." The Cape Times, near Immelman's home town of Somerset West, also found space on its front page.
But Johannesburg daily The Star led with a robbery committed in the city's high court buildings, relegating Immelman to a front page anchor piece headlined "Immelman masters art of taming Tiger."
The Pretoria News carried a local cricket story on its front page.
Immelman lives in Florida, but he is two-time champion of the South African Open. His last victory before the Masters came in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City last November.
Some people in South Africa are already awaiting Immelman's triumphant return, however.
"I am going to strongly recommend a civic reception hosted by the city," Cape Town mayoral committee member Simon Grindrod said. "Our champion golfer must come and show off his green jacket to his proud fellow Capetonians."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Par 3 romp at Augusta broadcast to the masses for first time
AUGUSTA, Georgia (AP) -Barefooted kids frolicked on pristine greens. Caddies stepped up to take putts for the real golfers.
The home of the Masters let down its guard on Wednesday and finally allowed the rest of the U.S. to get a glimpse of the rollicking good time known as the Par 3 Contest.
Jack, Arnie and Gary teamed up to provide a glorious threesome for those lucky enough to see it - and thousands of golf fans were, crammed into every nook and cranny of the picturesque nine-hole course.
Televised live for the first time, the just-for-fun tournament before the real thing provided another side to a place known for its stoic traditions and zealous resistance to change. There's plenty of fudging on the rulebook, which is why it was OK to let your kid or caddie - sometimes, they were one in the same - take a putt or two or three.
Ian Poulter's 3-year-old son, Luke, isn't as tall as the clubs his dad uses, but that didn't stop him from lining up a birdie putt on No. 9.
Decked out in downsized white coveralls, just like the ones worn by the regular caddies, he broke out the mini-putter he lugged around the course just for this moment. The first attempt went rocketing past the cup. Luke scurried after it and took another whack. Strike two. Finally, with some help from his father, he tapped in for a three-putt bogey.
But who's counting?
"He was awesome," the proud papa said after scooping his boy off the short grass.
Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, who no longer play the Masters, still tee it up for the Par 3 Contest, going wedge to wedge on the marvelous little 1,060-yard layout that was built on the northeast edge of Augusta National in the late 1950s. It winds around DeSoto Springs Pond, Ike's Pond and the azaleas blooming in an explosion of white, pink and fuchsia.
Gary Player joined the dynamic duo, making it a threesome with 13 green jackets among them. They posed together on the first tee, arm in arm, a photo op for the ages.
"The most important thing is we've remained great friends," said the 72-year-old Player, who'll play in his record 51st Masters this year. "To have great friends in your life is something you can count on one hand, and these two men both go on my one hand."
Nicklaus' bag was carried by grandson Jackie, who knew he would be expected to putt at the final hole. As the Golden Bear stood over his tee shot, the teenager gave the winner of 18 major titles some sage advice.
"Please get it close to the hole," Jackie said, "so I don't have a long putt."
Nicklaus promptly stuck it 2 feet from the hole, and then turned it over to his grandson to complete the birdie.
"He plays a little bit of golf. Not a lot, but a little, like they all do. It was fun having him with me today. I've got 21 grandkids," the 68-year-old Nicklaus said. "I'll be playing here for a long time."
Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw brought along 10-year-old daughter Anna Riley, who had already kicked off her shoes by the time they got to No. 9. Dad offered her a chance to take the 25-foot birdie attempt, but she shook him off. When he rolled in the putt, she leaped in the air to celebrate.
"He let me line it up," she said proudly.
Not that anyone was paying too much attention to the scoreboard, but Rory Sabbatini shot a 5-under 22 to claim the crystal trophy that goes to the Par 3 winner. He rolled in a 30-foot downhill putt at the final hole for the birdie, thrusting his fist in the air to show how much he cared.
Of course, he might have been better off missing the putt. No winner of the Par 3 Contest has ever gone on to win the Masters in the same year.
"I'm not a very superstitious person," Sabbatini said with a shrug. "I don't believe in jinxes or curses or anything like that. It's going to happen. It's inevitable that someone will win both. And you can't do both without starting the first part."
The Masters decided to televise the Par 3 tournament as part of club chairman Billy Payne's initiative to build on golf's popularity. Maybe they'll even get Tiger Woods back. The overwhelming Masters favorite stopped playing the Par 3 Contest after 2004, believing the raucous atmosphere hurt his mental preparation for the first major, but Augusta hopes he'll change his mind as his infant daughter, Sam, gets older.
"I will tell you," Payne quipped, "that I have instructed them to save for the future those little caddie uniforms in Sam's size."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
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