So for the 2nd time this January I was able to play a round of golf! I played at one of my favorite courses with 3 buddies today. I had little expectations because after all I’ve played one round in the last 6+ weeks with 1 bucket.

So I go out and shoot 71 (par 72)!!! What the…? My buddies had to break open the wallets today!

Nice surprise today. Kind of like when you put on a jacket you haven’t worn for 4 months and you find a $50 bill in it.

Day one of Torrey Pines is today. Trying fantasy golf this year so go Vijay!

You don’t get to golf much here in Salt Lake in January. Usually there are a couple of feet of snow on the ground this time of year. But the temp got up to the upper 40’s last weekend.

For the first time this year I hit a bucket of balls last Saturday. Most of the clubs in the bag still worked moderately. The long irons (3, 4) were not quite working but that is to be expected. Those only work when you’re right on anyway. I didn’t get to hit more than 5-10 full buckets last year because of the terrible tennis elbow I got working on my basement. No more basement work, it’s killing my golf game! Happily I didn’t aggrivate my tennis elbow. I hope this year I can actually PRACTICE.

Sunday I got together with 2 other buddies, hit a few range balls (poorly), and played 18 holes. On the range I didn’t hit them quite as well Sunday as I did Saturday. I may have been a little tight or just expecting too much. During the round there were a few terrible swings, which on this course mean adios ProV1. I did have a birdie and a few pars (let’s not mention the “others”).

Lost 1 buck to each dude so it could have been much worse. It looks like my Thursday group will try to get together for the first time this year at one of my favorite courses: Bonneville.

With a golf trip to southern Utah with 20 guys or so lined up for the first week of Feb, being able to hit a few buckets and play a couple of rounds will help immensely. The southern Utah trip can be a costly trip bet-wise if you play poorly.

Looking forward to the Torrey Pines tournament this week by the way. That finish last year with John Daly making the best sand shot I’ve seen in years was awesome. On the playoff both the other two players were inside 5 or 6 feet for birdie and JD knocks a 60 foot downhill sand shot to about 1 foot. He makes birdie and the other to players choke on their birdie putts to hand the tourney to JD. JD’s driving was awesome but when he wins, his short game is what does it for him…

The Titleist Oil Can get’s it’s name from it’s finish. Each Oil Can wedge is unique looking due to a heat oxide treatment. This process provides a non-glare appearance as well as a very soft feeling wedge. Over time, the Oil Can finish will wear resulting in a raw wedge.

If the wedge gets wet it will rust. I would soak mine in a wet towel overnight and there would be a great deal of rust on the surface. (Don’t use a nice towel because the rust stains won’t wash out). The rust would act as a coating which would give the club even more grip on the face of the club which allowed me to impart even more spin on my shots.

This club is excellent in design, look and feel. It performed perfectly from full swings to small chips and pitches. On full swings the square looking grooves did shave a few different brands of balls. It didn’t work extremely well out of the sand but that may have been due to the lack of bounce on the model I tested.

The Vokey Oil Can Wedges will provide you with great performance and feedback.

Rating 8/10
MRSRP $125.00
Web site: http://www.titleist.com

Knowing Vijay he must have practiced extra hard after that one bad swing cost him the Mercedes title last week. He practiced enough this week to go 69, 68, 67, 65 and win the Sony Open from 4 shots back. Sounds like 4 of my rounds, just add 10 shots to each one.

#1 is still obviously #1. Unless Tiger wins several tournaments (preferrably with Vijay in the field) I think Vijay is the obvious best player in the world for some time to come.

Isn’t it about time someone else made some noise? Phil? Ernie? Afterall it wasn’t just Jack and Arnie in the old days. We had Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Tom Watson and many other big hitters. Let’s see some competition you other PGA tour players!

Shigeki Maruayama set the target with a 5-under 65 for a one-shot lead over Justin Rose among early starters Friday in the Sony Open. Michelle Wie had her sights set a little lower. The 15-year-old began her second round with one goal in mind making the cut.

Stewart Cink and 3 others are tied at -4. No major fireworks in the first full field PGA tour event this year.

The one interesting thing is that 15 year old Michelle Wie is playing. She struggled today. I doubt she’ll make the cut but I hope she does!

Last year Stewart Appleby played some great golf to win the Mercedes. After starting out with a round of 74, winning this year was doubtful. But some solid golf and some mistakes by other players netted Appleby his 2nd Mercedes Championship in a row.

Vijay Singh should have won the tournament but a triple bogey on 13 ruined that. Tiger was “close” but couldn’t make up enough ground. And Johnathan Kaye was greenside chipping at 1 stroke back. All he had to do was get up and down from greenside on 18 to force a playoff. His chip was terrible leaving him 30-40 feet for his birdie to force a playoff. Kaye missed the putt.

The tournament could have been won by any of 4-5 people today but Stuart Appleby was the only one who didn’t make mistakes.

The Mercedes championship is turning out to be a great tournament. Vijay followed up his great round yesterday with another great one today. He shot a 65 on the par 73 course to go to -15.

Mike Weir had a stellar 2nd round shooting a 10 under 63. Weir is at -13, 2 shots behind Vijay.

Ernie Els is right behind Weir at -12 after his round of 65 today.

Tiger shot his 2nd 68 in a row to finish the day at -10. Had Tiger not had putting problems he would be close to the lead.