The PGA Tour season is batting 100% this year. Every tournament has been very entertaining to watch, each with its own interesting story lines. This past weekend’s Northern Trust at Riviera had many interesting story lines.
Dustin Johnson
The tournament started off with Dustin Johnson nearly missing his tee time on Thursday. Had he shown up to the tee 10 seconds later he would have been disqualified. Johnson was penalized two strokes for showing up to the tee late, but that wouldn’t be the end to the story.
Jim Gray
Jim Gray was removed from coverage at Riviera on Friday as he attempted to interview Johnson and his caddy Bobby Brown during their Friday round. This is a no-no on tour, for media to initiate interviews during play. They can only talk to the players and caddies if approached by them. A heated and profanity laced discussion ensued, resulting in Gray’s removal from the rest of the tournament by Golf Channel.
Fred Couples
Man I was on the Fred Couples bandwagon, along with probably the rest of the golfing world this week. Freddy had a chance to win, but was derailed by a bogey – double bogey stretch on the front nine. Still he was in contention most of the round but he just couldn’t catch eventual winner Aaron Baddeley.
I’ve always loved watching Freddy’s swing, because it looks so much like my own. Ahem. Well, the part where we are both holding a golf club in our hands…
Stack and Wilt
Aaron Baddeley abandoned the stack and tilt golf swing and has been rebuilding his swing for a couple of years now. Apparently that was a wise choice, after winning at Riviera. There was one point when he doubled the par-4 12th which I thought he might break down and lose it, but he came right back with a birdie. He was steady the rest of the way and pulled off a solid win, his first since 2007. I’m happy for Badds.
Jump on the Freddy bandwagon!
Fred Couples hung in for the third round at Riviera today with a -1. He no longer has the lead but he’s only one behind Aaron Baddely, who who shot a nice round of -4 with some great ball striking. Also lurking is Kevin Na. Unless someone goes super low, the winner should come out of the top 4-5, which also includes Vijay Sing, who sits at -8, two back of Baddely.
Tomorrow should be fun to watch.
| RANK |
PLAYER |
TODAY |
THRU |
TOTAL |
| 1 |
Aaron Baddeley |
-4 |
F |
-10 |
| T2 |
Kevin Na |
-4 |
F |
-9 |
| T2 |
Fred Couples |
-1 |
F |
-9 |
| 4 |
Vijay Singh |
-4 |
F |
-8 |
| T5 |
Ryan Moore |
-1 |
F |
-6 |
Set your DVR – Northern Trust Open Sunday TV times
Sunday 2/20 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET GOLF CHANNEL
Sunday 2/20 3:00 PM – 6:30 PM ET CBS
Jim Gray has been pulled from coverage this weekend at the Northern Trust Open after engaging in a “profanity laced argument” with Dustin Johnson’s caddy, Bobby Brown. As you may or may not know, Johnson incurred a two stroke penalty for arriving to the 1st tee late yesterday. In fact, DJ had to sprint up a steep hill to get there with barely 10 seconds to spare before being disqualified.
“Our aim is to provide the best possible golf coverage for our viewers. Anything else is a disservice. In order not to provide further distraction, we’ve decided to remove Jim from this particular assignment.” ~Golf Channel network spokesman Dan Higgins
This is nothing new for Jim Gray, who engaged Corey Pavin in a heated confrontation at last year’s Ryder Cup.
I’m sure there will be more details coming on this so stay tuned for the fun.
UPDATE: Apparently the reason for the argument was because Gray initiated an interview with Johnson & caddy during the round yesterday, which is against PGA Tour media rules.
Speaking of Fred Couples, he’s currently atop the leaderboard at Riviera by one shot at -5. He’s two holes into round two, 20 holes into the week. There are 10 players currently one shot behind Freddy.
Fred was quoted as saying he’d crawl to this tournament if he had to. Can his back, his 51 year old putting stroke and his patience hold out through the weekend? I doubt it but I’d like to see it happen.
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