2007 - The Year Of Cheating

Hello. 2007 will go down in the sports world as the year of cheating. There were very few sports that escaped.
Cycling has Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. Sprinting had Marion Jones. Baseball's Mitchell Report cited Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Eric Gagne, etc. Football had Shawn Merriman. Hockey had Rick Tochett. Basketball had a ref scandal. Tennis had a match fixing scandal.
Even golf was forced to act with new drug policies, especially when Gary Player said someone confided to him about using.
Fortunately curling went through without a Joe Frans repeat.
Does this hurt sports? Absolutely! Will 2008 be different? Time will tell.
This is my last blog of 2007. Happy holidays! Talk to you in 2008.

Regards,
Steve

Rory Being Rory?

Hello. Rory Sabbitini doesn't care what anyone thinks. Period. He makes Vijay Singh's past runins with the media seem like a Kumbaya festival.
Rory, in case you didn't hear, withdrew from the Target World Challenge sometime after the 3rd round. The story varies at this point. Some say Saturday afternoon, others say Sunday morning. Was it because of shin splints, or for personal reasons.
The outcry has been great. Rory is disrespecting Tiger Woods, the tournament host. Rory's the first person in the event's history to withdraw. He shouldn't get the $170,000 the last place finisher receives no matter how many rounds are played.
Please, spare me. What Rory did was within the rules. If you don't like the last place money rule, change it. If you want him to have to make an "official" report as to why he's leaving (complete with doctor's note?), then make that a rule. If someone just leaves, maybe they can't play in a major or something.
It seems the top players are the last ones to complain about Rory, as they hold events hostage weekly.

Regards,
Steve

Tiger Shows No Layoff Hangovers II

Hello. I think Tiger may, either this year or in 2009, experiment with playing on the European Tour only. Why?

1. He's proven the long layoffs don't affect him. He may start playing less events.
2. Believe it or not, he's losing money playing the PGA. Tiger can command 7 digit appearance fees on the Euro. Why not do it?
3. It will be a chance for Tiger to see other continents. Since his wife is from Europe, it would be a nice thing to do for her.
4. The Euros will give Tiger whatever he wants to play there.
5. Tiger loves Dubai. His first course is there. In 2009 a $10 million purse will be there.
6. I think Tiger has little interest in the Fedex Cup, especially now that he's won it.
7. The Euros have given Tiger more competition than the regular PGA players.

I defintely think it's something Tiger will consider.

Regards,

Steve

Tiger Shows No Layoff Hangovers

Hello. Congrats to Tiger Woods for winning his event, the Target tournament in California. Tiger beat the elite 16 player field easily, with a 7 shot margin.
So much for taking a big layoff, huh? Tiger is now on a different plane than everyone else again. The thing is, I think everyone else has improved in the last 10 years because Tiger raised the bar. That can only mean Tiger has improved that much if not more.
Does this win whet the appetite for a 2008 season to be even better than Tiger's 2000 season? I think it could. I'll say it quickly - Grand Slam. The US Open, which Tiger has won "only" twice (Andy North made a career out of just winning two US Opens), is in Torrey Pines, where Woods has dominated. The British is at Royal Birkdale, where Tiger finished behind Mark O'Meara and Brian Watts. I think he'll beat them this time. The Masters is at Augusta of course where Tiger has won 4 times. Tiger has won the PGA 4 times as well, the last being at Southern Hills, which which was not supposed to set up for him.
My question now is, does Tiger have to play any other tournaments, other than the one he hosts? More tomorrow.

Regards,
Steve

Stricker Defends Comeback Award

Hello. Congratulations to Steve Stricker for achieving a rare defense. Stricker was named Comeback Player of the Year for the 2nd time in a row. How do you do that? Actually in Stricker's case it makes sense.
In 2006 Stricker started the year with no PGA Tour status. He finished by making the Tour Championship field (top 30 on the money list). Needless to say a huge comeback.
While he did earn lots of money, Stricker did not win. He also wasn't completely back to his late '80s form, when it looked like he'd be one of the top players in the world.
In 2007 Stricker did make it all the way back to his previous form. He won a Fedex Cup playoff tournament in Westchester and is now #4 in the World Rankings. Stricker is now right back where he used to be, which is also a comeback.
In all sports (and even the Oscars) awards are sometimes given out to a "flash in the pan" performance (see Driving Miss Daisy, Eric Lindros, etc) instead of a sustained career achievement. Stricker definitely falls into the latter category. Whatever he's doing is working.
Congrats Steve (great first name by the way)!

Regards,
Steve

Team Martin On A Roll

Hello. Congrats to Team Kevin Martin for winning the Casino Rama Skins Game.
With this win, and his fourth Grand Slam title in a row last week, Team Martin is proving to be a curling force. And while no one is surprised at how talented this team is, there was some concern prior to its formation about the group dynamics between Martin and third John Morris.
Morris had been a skip in Ontario throughout his career, and a darn fine one. He won two World Junior titles, and was runner up to Team Ferbey in a Brier. He also made it to the semifinals of the 2005 Canadian Curling Trials (better known as the Olympic Trials) before losing to Jeff Stoughton.
Morris is known as being fiery, so it raised eyebrows when he and Martin hooked up. How would they mesh? Well, we now know the answer, and it's quite well, thank you very much.
Can this team go the distance in 2008? Alberta is probably the toughest province to get out of, with Ferbey and others in waiting. Then there's the Brier with Manitoba, Ontario and other fine teams vying for the title. Time will tell.
Congrats again!

Regards,
Steve

Chicago Was A Great Experience II

Hello. So, what happened at Pearson? I'm glad you asked.
Three of us were travelling together (the fourth was in Chicago already). We taped our brooms together. There were 4 in total, because one guy had a sweeping broom and an old throwing corn broom.
I was carrying the brooms. When we got to the customs line, I was asked what the brooms were. When I replied "curling brooms", there was no response. I mentioned it was a sport, and that we had to play in a Chicago tournament.
The customs person looked at the throwing broom and asked what it was made of. I said "corn?". She wrote down "agriculture" on my card, and pointed me to secondary inspection!
When I got there, I was peppered with fruit and vegetable questions, which I answered "no" to truthfully. My bag was scanned. Then the question, "why are you here?". I pointed to the corn broom. This customs person told me to leave.
I then caught up to my teammates. They asked me where I was. I told them that the corn broom was deemed a potential food hazard. Laughter and disbelief ensued.

Regards,
Steve

Chicago Was A Great Experience

Hello. Many thanks to all the people I met at the Exmoor Continental Curling Bonspiel in Chicago. We played 5 games, going 2-3. We had to forfeit our last game Sunday due to catching our return flight, but we didn't care. We more than got our money's worth.
As someone mentioned to me last year, you don't know how much effort something like that takes until you do it yourself. All the lunches and dinners were preplanned. The schedules were laid out in advanced. Everything was made to treat us like royalty.
One thing I liked too was the Canadians (myself included) were never put down in any way by our American hosts. Players from both countries respected each other.
Would I go back? Yes, but it unfortunately it's not at a good time for me. I just got back in time to see my children in a church Christmas play. And with next year's event scheduled for even closer to Christmas and my son's birthday, I don't know if it will happen.
While there were some funny stories that will stay in Chicago, the funniest happened at Pearson airport on the way down. That story tomorrow.

Regards,
Steve

Off To Chicago

Hello. FYI I'm off to Chicago. Tomorrow at this time I'll be at the airport waiting for my flight.
Why? It's my first international curling experience. Our team is going to play at Exmoor Golf and Country Club. Many other teams from our club have gone. Apparently last year our club had 8 of the 40 teams in the bonspiel.
How will we do? I'm not sure. In fact I don't even know who's going to play on our team. As mentioned last week, our skip dislocated his shoulder after falling on the ice. I hope he comes anyway, but I don't know if he'll play. If I were a betting man, I'd say no. Since I haven't heard anything, yes has a chance.
No matter what, I hear it's a great bonspiel. And Chicago is a lovely city. I'd rank it second to San Francisco on my Most Beautiful Cities list. My list is shorter than most because I've only ever been to Canada and the US.
I don't really care how we do. It'll just be nice to go.
I won't be writing tomorrow, so everyone have a great weekend.

Regards,
Steve

Carballo Has A 3 Hole Nightmare

Hello. How would you like to be Miguel Angel Carballo today?
You're -17 after 105 holes. You have 3 holes to play. One of them is a par 5. No problem to finish even par, and be 3 inside the number, right?
Wrong! 2 bogies and a double later, and you're sitting at -13, one shot too many.
Needless to say, Carballo wasn't the only one to play himself out of it. And there were others who came up one short. It's cruel in some ways that -13 isn't good enough to get your card, or that winning $500,000 wasn't enough last year to keep it. That just shows how tough it is to compete in pro golf.
Can these guys compete against the world's best? Well it was reported that at least one member of each Q-School class since '81 has won a tournament the following year. That's quite a statement. And if I had to pick one now, it would be Frank Lickliter, who blew away the field.
Good luck to all 26 players who got their PGA cards, and the rest of the field who will be competing on the Nationwide Tour.

Regards,
Steve

18 Holes Away From A Dream

Hello. It's tough to get more story lines than what the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (also known as Q-School) gives.
There are the veterans (Bob May, Duffy Waldorf, Skip Kendall, Carlos Franco) who are trying to get back their PGA status. There are other veterans (Ian Leggett, Steve Lowery) who will be lucky to have full Nationwide status. There are Big Break contestants (Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey, Matthew Early) who are knocking on the door. And a US Amateur champ (Colt Knost) who needs a big day.
Players just out of college. Journeymen. Mini-tour legends. All 18 holes away from finding out what their fate is. Whether they keep trying. Whether they stay on this continent. All can be decided by how they play today.
Is there any other sport or profession whose outcome can be so drastic? None come to mind.
Let's hope all players play their best golf today. Make everyone win their spots, instead of having someone lose it. Have all scores 70 or less. That would be something to see.
Good luck gentlemen!

Regards,
Steve