Chalk up a 2nd consecutive Houston Open for Vijay Singh. This is his first successful title defense on the PGA Tour believe it or not. This win didn’t come easy as he had to weather a Nick Faldo like birdie-less string where no putts seemed to fall. He also had to fend of big John Daly my gambling buddy (see this post).

Daly carded a great 67 to land himself in a playoff with Singh which included a clutch putt on 18. (see picture) On the playoff hole JD hit a decent 3 wood but turned it over a little too much. It hit the hard and fast fairway and bounced into the water hazard on the left. All Singh had to do was par the first playoff hole to win, which he did.

It is fun to see Daly in the mix. He’s such a freak. He isn’t the prototypical PGA Tour player of today who works out in the gym every morning or spouts off the same old politically correct answers to the press’ predictable questions. He’s a recovering alcoholic who chain smokes, he’s overweight and he’s got more natural talent than 98% of the PGA Tour. He can shot a 65 just as easily as he can shoot a 90. This is what interests us fans.

If you’ve never been to southern Utah, you are missing out on some of the most beautiful terrain in the world: Red Rock Country. In Red Rock Country there are stunning red rock plateaus, canyons and mountains. An old wives tale says the reason the rocks are red is because they are burned by the desert sun. If you go there in the summer, you too will turn red.

In the heart of this beautiful terrain in Washington County (5 minutes north of St. George, Utah) is Green Spring Golf Course. In 1991 Golf Digest rated Green Spring one of the top five new courses in the country.

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Cleveland Golf has announced their new iron series, the CG4.

This is Cleveland’s first jump into the “game improvement” iron market using a proprietary metal called CMM. CMM is 10% less dense and 15% softer than the typical metal used in forged clubs. With 3x more absorption than steel the player percieves the club to have a softer feel.

The sole of the club has 3 grinds to allow the club to contact the ground properly at address and at impact.

Designed for “players of all abilities” the CG4 is a cavity back with progressive offset throughout the set.

Retail price for the CG4 irons will be $864 for steel, $1000 for graphite.

The first shipment is scheduled for 6/1/05.

Cleveland Golf doesn’t have anything on this club on their web site yet, but I’m sure they will very soon.

I’ve got a fairly new pal Bob Weaver who just got back from The Masters. His family is from that area and has had badges for The Masters since the 1950’s. He has one pair of original Masters tickets for every year dating clear back to something like 1957. He travels to Augusta every year to attend the tournament. He hinted to me that in two years, I may be privileged enough to go with him. I will be counting the days.

Bob brought me back some Augusta National groceries (from my shopping list) and told me some great nuggets about this years Masters. I’m going through my Masters bag of goodies right now. The bag itself has the Masters logo! I’ll report and post some pics of this, the coolest shopping bag ever.

Bob had me completely in awe as he told me a great story about when he was at the 1986 Masters. You know, that Masters where a certain player won his 6th green jacket? If you don’t know who that certain player is…shame on you. That player is Jack.

Jack Nicklaus’ final Masters victory is always a highlight during Masters week, and throughout the year. They always show his putt on 17 for birdie to put him into the lead. That is only part of the story about 17 according to my friend Bob.

On that Sunday Bob placed himself in the landing area of the tee shots on 17. Jack’s tee shot landed just a few feet from him. The ball’s final resting place was right on a root of an old oak tree. When Jack and Jackie (his caddy and son) got to the ball perched on the root they surveyed the situation. Jack turned to Jackie and asked “what do you think?” Jackie turned to Jack and said “It’s an easy 8 iron for you. It’s a 7 iron for me, but it’s an easy 8 iron for you.”

Jack then took the 8 iron out and picked the ball so cleanly off the root it didn’t even leave a mark. The ball of course landed on the green and spun back to where Jack would make that most famous of Masters putts.

Now you know the rest of the story.

I’ve been happily wearing Footjoy golf shoes for about 20 years. I’ve gone through many of their styles and technologies and been completely satisfied with all of them…until now.

My Footjoy FitDogs finally wore out after two years of heavy use. I had about $150 in pro shop money at a local club so I decided to get some new shoes. I didn’t bother with anything but the most expensive shoe FJ had to offer: the Dryjoys P.R.O. Costing around $160 this was the golf shoe to end all golf shoes!

The Dryjoys P.R.O. just look impressive. They are beefy and very stylish. They have an Aluminized Fiberglass Stability Bridge (wow, say that 10 times real fast). Basically that technobabble is short for “fiberglass arch.” They have a 2 year warranty and use the fast twist spike system. Wow, let me catch my breath. READ MORE ->>

Vijay Singh was inducted into the World Golf Hall Of Fame today but not without controversy.

In order to be inducted a player must receive 65 percent of the vote, at least until a couple of years ago. A new stipulation added that if no player receives the 65 percent needed, the players with the most votes on at least 50 percent of the ballots would be inducted.

Singh was inducted on 56 percent of the vote. Larry Nelson finished second in the voting with 55 percent.

I’ve heard from many people that don’t like Vijay. One who just came back from the Masters. I’ve not met the man so I have no room to make an educated judgment. Despite is personality (or lack thereof), I do however know that he has hall of fame game.

Do you think VJ deserved to be inducted into the World Golf Hall Of Fame?

The final 3 was reduced to 2 tonight. My prediction that Cindy would win the whole thing is now incorrect since she’s gone. I thought her accuracy and short game would take her to the finals. Turns out it was her short game that cost her that chance. She didn’t hit a long enough ball to survive on the LPGA tour anyway.

Cindy did have a funny quote about Pam: “She hits it like a man.” The feminists are going to love that. Pam said about Danielle: “She wants it bad.” Then a few seconds later they have Cindy saying “Danielle loves to grind it out.” Those quotes just struck me funny.

So it’s down to Pam and Danielle. These two really don’t like each other at all. Danielle is either brilliant at playing mind games or she’s a total idiot who is putting her foot in her mouth constantly. It should be an interesting match next week.

I’ve just figured out how to get a poll plugin for the site working so let’s test it out! On the lower left column, vote for your pick between Pam and Danielle. We’ll see next Tuesday if the majority was correct.

Daren Clarke went 9 over par for his last 13 holes, including a double bogey at 18, to allow Peter Lonard to win the MCI Heritage at Hilton Head. Clarke tied for 2nd with Billy Andrade, Jim Furyk and Davis Love III at -5.

An interesting note in this tournament is that David Frost set a PGA Tour record for fewest putts in a tournament with 92. Frost had 23 putts on Thursday, 26 on Friday, 21 on Saturday and 22 Sunday.