Phantastic Phil’s phabulous phorm at its inphallible phinest

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, February 13th, 2012
Categories: PGA TourPro GolfTiger Woods

With snow flying here at HOG World Headquarters, I was hunkered down in the man cave with computer in lap and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the 42-inch.  What a fantastic and entertaining Sunday to watch golf.  I’ve got so many random thoughts to pry out of my cerebral cortex.  I hope they make some sense.

Tiger WoodsTiger Woods

Before Sunday’s round, the media had practically handed Tiger Woods the trophy.  The previews for CBS were 100% Tiger Saturday.  After Saturday’s round Golf Channel did a whole show on Pebble and I unscientifically measured it out at 96.8% Tiger coverage, almost as high as the percentage of ED ads in their programming.

Have they all seen something I haven’t?  Tiger had yet to put together four complete rounds of golf since he had “returned.”  There’s always that one round, usually the last, which costs him the chance at victory.  And yes, I’m not counting the Chevron.  The short game hasn’t been up to a Tiger-like level and the putting inconsistent.

During Sunday’s Pebble round Tiger’s body language was quite telling and hard to watch.  I can’t remember seeing Tiger’s shoulders slumped and his head down like that.  Every amateur golfer, myself included, has been like that but it was really something to see TW like that.  He was no doubt dejected and frustrated.  He couldn’t make anything happen.  The putts he missed were low side and weak.  On poa greens, especially later in the day, you must putt aggressively.  It was shocking to see TW miss those five putts under five feet and especially those two around 20 inches.  That never used to happen.  The 3-putt for par on the final hole was hard to watch, and symbolic of the day.  Tiger’s putts per greens in regulation was 2.222, and he only hit 50% of his greens Sunday.

At this point Tiger is 100% physically healthy.  What’s going on inside his head is the question.  Short game, putting especially is about confidence.  No doubt those issues will need to be resolved for him to win.  There’s NO way he can contend putting like that at Augusta.

Phil MickelsonPhil Mickelson

Arguably there’s no player on the PGA Tour with more raw talent than Phil Mickelson.  It is quite something to watch what we saw yesterday, when all the talent, focus and game plan are in perfect form.  Sorry, “phorm.”  When that happens, Phil drops a 64 and comes back from six shots to win, beating Tiger by 11 shots.

Ironically the only real “bad” shot I saw from Phil was the flop on #12 when Tiger had holed out from the bunker for birdie.  But the super hot putter for Phil shut down any chances Tiger had when he drained a 31 foot par saving put.

Thinking about Phil’s career at this point…  This win was his 40th on the PGA Tour, most of those 40 coming during the “Tiger era.”  That is quite amazing.  Phil turned pro in 1992 and Tiger in 1996.  That 40th win puts him past Tom Watson to #9 on the all time win list.  Four major wins and 2nd place finishes in six other majors.  He’s got 2x as many major wins as Greg Norman and over 2x as many tour wins.

Almost Made It

I was quite happy to have made it through to Sunday’s coverage at Pebble without once seeing George Lopez.  Thanks to Nick Faldo for ruining that buzz by putting the un-funny comedian in a bunker drill piece during final round coverage.  Despite some of the bad parts of CBS’s and TGC’s coverage, I was happy to not have to endure too many amateur golf swings.

Other Players

Tough to see Charlie Wi lose the lead, but not unexpected.  He did make quite a comeback though.  The strong finish Sunday gave him a solid 2nd place finish.

Mike Weir…  Weir missed the cut with rounds of 70, 73 and 78.  Wonder if he will ever come back to form?

Two Wilson guys played well, Ricky Barnes and Padraig Harrington.  They record 3rd place and a T7 respectively.  Nice to see that, seriously.


AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Final Leader Board

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, February 12th, 2012
Categories: PGA TourPro GolfTiger Woods

Below is the final leader board for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where Phil Mickelson shot a stellar 64 in the final round to beat Tiger Woods by 11 shots for the win.

POS Player To Par R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1
Phil Mickelson
-17 70 65 70 64 269
2
Charlie Wi
-15 61 69 69 72 271
3
Ricky Barnes
-13 70 66 70 67 273
4
Aaron Baddeley
-12 66 72 69 67 274
T5
Kevin Na
-11 66 69 70 70 275
T5
Dustin Johnson
-11 63 72 70 70 275
T7
Padraig Harrington
-10 68 66 72 70 276
T7
Ken Duke
-10 64 73 65 74 276
T9
Spencer Levin
-9 69 69 71 68 277
T9
Jimmy Walker
-9 69 68 71 69 277
T9
Jason Kokrak
-9 68 67 72 70 277
T9
Greg Owen
-9 68 67 72 70 277
T9
Kevin Streelman
-9 70 69 68 70 277
T9
Brendon Todd
-9 67 69 69 72 277
T15
Richard H. Lee
-8 65 71 73 69 278
T15
Steven Bowditch
-8 71 67 72 68 278
T15
Hunter Mahan
-8 65 70 70 73 278
T15
Bob Estes
-8 67 70 69 72 278
T15
Tiger Woods
-8 68 68 67 75 278
T20
Davis Love III
-7 70 70 70 69 279
T20
Robert Garrigus
-7 68 69 71 71 279
T20
Brian Gay
-7 69 65 74 71 279
T20
Brian Harman
-7 64 73 71 71 279
T20
Ryan Moore
-7 72 64 71 72 279
T25
Danny Lee
-6 63 73 74 70 280
T25
Vijay Singh
-6 68 68 71 73 280
T25
Geoff Ogilvy
-6 70 69 68 73 280
T25
Kevin Stadler
-6 69 70 73 68 280
T29
Miguel Angel Carballo
-5 69 71 69 72 281
T29
Sean O’Hair
-5 68 74 69 70 281
T29
Zach Johnson
-5 67 72 72 70 281
T29
Brian Davis
-5 70 74 68 69 281
T29
Ryan Palmer
-5 72 71 64 74 281
T29
Rocco Mediate
-5 71 66 76 68 281
T35
Mathew Goggin
-4 69 71 69 73 282
T35
Mark D. Anderson
-4 69 71 71 71 282
T35
Josh Teater
-4 64 71 77 70 282
T35
Charley Hoffman
-4 67 73 73 69 282
T35
John Huh
-4 71 71 71 69 282
T40
D.J. Trahan
-3 70 69 71 73 283
T40
Jonas Blixt
-3 70 69 69 75 283
T40
Daniel Summerhays
-3 65 73 73 72 283
T40
Joseph Bramlett
-3 66 69 73 75 283
T40
Nick Watney
-3 66 73 69 75 283
T40
Jim Furyk
-3 69 69 74 71 283
T40
Tom Gillis
-3 74 72 66 71 283
T40
Nathan Green
-3 66 76 71 70 283
T40
Heath Slocum
-3 74 71 68 70 283
T40
Harris English
-3 75 68 70 70 283
T50
Joe Ogilvie
-2 68 73 70 73 284
T50
Roberto Castro
-2 70 68 73 73 284
T50
Bobby Gates
-2 72 70 69 73 284
T50
Ian Poulter
-2 69 72 72 71 284
T54
Roland Thatcher
-1 71 68 70 76 285
T54
Tom Pernice Jr.
-1 72 70 70 73 285
T54
Gary Christian
-1 72 70 70 73 285
T54
Hunter Haas
-1 72 69 72 72 285
T58
Matt Bettencourt
E 73 69 70 74 286
T58
John Mallinger
E 70 71 72 73 286
T58
Pat Perez
E 67 72 74 73 286
T61
Shane Bertsch
+1 68 75 65 79 287
T61
Tim Petrovic
+1 70 70 72 75 287
T61
Cameron Tringale
+1 71 71 70 75 287
T61
Sang-Moon Bae
+1 68 73 72 74 287
T65
Lee Janzen
+2 72 71 70 75 288
T65
Kyle Reifers
+2 69 72 72 75 288
T67
D.A. Points
+3 72 65 74 78 289
T67
Stuart Appleby
+3 72 71 70 76 289
MDF
Kevin Chappell
E 71 70 73 214
MDF
Graham DeLaet
E 66 77 71 214
MDF
Kent Jones
E 71 74 69 214
MDF
Kris Blanks
E 70 72 72 214
MDF
Billy Horschel
E 70 72 72 214
MDF
Ryuji Imada
E 67 74 73 214
MDF
Martin Flores
E 73 73 68 214
MDF
Bryce Molder
E 67 74 73 214
MDF
Martin Laird
E 70 71 73 214
MDF
Derek Lamely
E 74 68 72 214
MDF
John Peterson
E 70 75 69 214
MDF
Sam Saunders
E 72 68 74 214

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Leader Board Through Three Rounds

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, February 12th, 2012
Categories: PGA TourPro GolfTiger Woods

PGA Tour LogoBelow is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am leader board through three rounds. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are paired together in the final round today and in contention just four shots back. The big question with Tiger is can he put a fourth good round together and if so, will it be enough to catch Charlie Wi.

Below there are three abbreviations: 1. CUT = Player missed the cut. 2. MDF = Made cut, didn’t finish (that strange recent rule where players can actually make the cut and be in the money without playing following cut day).  3. WD = Withdrew.

Click here to see the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am TV coverage schedule. (more…)


AT&T Pebble Beach Leader Board Through Two Rounds

Written by: Tony Korologos | Saturday, February 11th, 2012
Categories: PGA TourPro GolfTiger Woods

Here’s the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am leader board through two rounds.  Phil Mickelson is T8 and Tiger Woods starts Saturday six shots back of Charlie Wi.  Good news for Phil and Tiger is that they’re playing Pebble, which is playing easier.
(more…)


Wilson FG Tour X Golf Ball Review

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, February 10th, 2012
Categories: Golf BallsGolf EquipmentGolf GearReviews
Tags:

With the PGA Merchandise Show in the rear view mirror and spring coming, I’m happy to get back on my review schedule.  Love doing golf equipment reviews.  Fortunately the weather around here hasn’t been like the massive snow-in we had last winter.  We have been very thin on the snow here in Salt Lake, meaning many of the lower altitude courses have been open much of the winter.  This has allowed me to record some rounds, albeit not terribly warm, and evaluate some gear like the Wilson FG Tour X golf balls.

FG Tour X Overview

Wilson Staff FG Tour X Golf Ball

Wilson Staff FG Tour X Golf Ball – click to see more

The FG Tour X is a multilayer golf ball with a cast Urethane cover. Urethane is typically the material used in the outer layer of “premium” golf balls.  The design of the golf ball is geared for distance first and spin second, but read my comments below on the spin and cover.

The compression level of this ball is said to be 93.  I would call that a medium compression ball.  Back in the old days 90 was softer and 100 was hard.  A visit to the Wilson FG Tour X product page is a bit confusing on the compression.  Under the product details the first sentence says “–piece features a higher compression distance ball wrapped in a thin, soft veneer of cast urethane.”  I’m not sure what “–piece” means.  Sounds like they need to fill in the blank there.  To the right on product specs the first line says “Compression Low.”  So we have two seemingly contradicting statements, one saying the ball is higher compression and one saying it is low compression.

On The Course

Typically I don’t like the hardness of “distance” balls, except for a few which now includes the FG Tour X.  This ball does not feel “hard.”  In fact I really can feel it compress on every club in the bag, except of course the putter.  On 2nd thought, if I were putting on the massive greens at St. Andrews, I might actually compress it with a 400 foot putt.  I’ll have to go try that.  …Okay I’m back.  The ball compresses nicely and easily, even for my slower “granny dual chicken wing” swing.

Driving the ball is fun.  This ball flies very straight and does a very fine job in windy conditions.  I have a very strong and mid-height launch angle with the FG Tour X, which I really like.  And yes of course–this ball is long.

Irons are a pleasure to play with the FG Tour X.  I can feel the ball compress on the club face and I feel like I have great control of the ball.

Short game is the BEST part of this ball, which does sound odd and contradicting to the ball being a “distance” ball.  Every time I chip or pitch with this ball, my playing partners comment on the spin and check I’m getting.  They’ve watched me fail to check those types of shots for years and it surprises them and me when I can check/stop the FG Tour X on a dime.  The urethane cover of this ball seems a bit different than others.  Just taking the balls out of the box they feel more sticky and tacky.  That extra tackiness is big for me around the greens.

When putting, the ball rolls straight and true.  Distance control on the greens is easy.

Wilson FG Tour X Golf Balls

Wilson FG Tour X Golf Balls – click for more

Durability

Unlike most urethane covered high performance golf balls, this ball is actually durable!  Even cart paths (and I’ve hit several with these balls) don’t do much damage.  High spin square grooved wedges (yes I’m not on the PGA Tour and can still play square grooves) don’t shred the cover.

I’m very happy with the durability.

Conclusion

Admittedly I wouldn’t normally get excited if I found a Wilson ball in the bushes when searching for my previous errant shot.  But if I find an FG Tour X, that one is going into the gamer pocket on the golf bag and not the shag bag.  These balls are good!

 


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