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| A Look Back: Mar. 22 1934: The inaugural Augusta National Invitation Tournament opens at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. Within a few years, the tournament that was started by Bobby Jones will be renamed to the Masters Tournament. 1964: Billy Casper shoots a final-round 70 to win the Doral Open by one stroke over Jack Nicklaus. 1981: Raymond Floyd wins the Tournament Players Championship in a one-hole playoff over Barry Jaeckel and Curtis Strange. Floyd also wins a $250,000 bonus for having won the Doral Eastern Open and TPC in back-to-back weeks. 1987: Ben Crenshaw wins the USF&G Classic in New Orleans by three strokes over Curtis Strange. 1992: Fred Couples wins the Nestle Invitational at Bay Hill by nine strokes over Gene Sauers. |
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Media
GolfServ, NBC
Sports and NBCSports.com, the sports section of MSNBC.com, launch a new golf portal
(www.golfserv.com) that provides
news and coverage of the professional tours and allows players to track, manage
and improve their games.
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more...
Events
The Tiger Woods
Foundation announces that comedians Dennis Miller and Kevin James will make special
guest appearances at the Tiger Jam V benefit concert presented by Coca-Cola
and hosted by Tiger Woods. The fifth annual event features musical performances
by Don Henley and Train, and will take place on April 20 in the Mandalay Bay Events
Center in Las Vegas.
For
more...
Sponsorship
Plastic
cleat maker Softspikes extends its longstanding agreement to help support
the Golf Coaches Association of America, which represents coaches of men's NCAA
golf teams at Division I, II and III.
For
more...
Tommy
Hilfiger Golf renews its contract with World No. 7 player David Toms. Toms
will wear Tommy Hilfiger apparel for all tour and media events on and off the
course.
For
more...
Instruction
Gary
Edwin, one of Australia's leading golf instructors, joins Queensland's No.
1-ranked golf course, the Glades Golf & Spa, to establish the Troon Golf Institute
with Gary Edwin.
For
more...
Apparel
Bite Footwear
teams with LPGA player Sophie Gustafson to announce a golf footwear line designed
specifically for women. The 2002 Sophie Line features the Matrix TG sandal, the
Slingshot SG and the Snakeskin Tradition Lite shoe.
For
more...
Health
GolfSafe,
Inc., will be present a "Managing Medical Emergencies on your Golf Course"
seminar on Tuesday, April 2, at 1 p.m. at the New England PGA Spring meeting in
Boxborough, Mass. The seminar provides PGA members with information and methods
on how to prepare their golf operation for managing a medical emergency on the
golf course.
For
more...
Courses
Three facilities
of the Troon Golf Australia portfolio, The Glades and Pelican Waters
Golf Clubs in Queensland and Huntingdale Golf Club in Victoria, are
selected by Golf Digest magazine as three of the country's top 100 golf courses.
For more...
People
Eaton Corporation's
golf grip division appoints Roderick A. Jones to the position of plant
manager responsible for its Golf Pride grips operations in Laurinburg, N.C.
For more...
Business
Nike
reports its third quarter revenues grew 4 percent and its earnings increased to
$0.46 per diluted share from $0.35 for the same quarter last year.
For
more...
Travel
The new Spa
at Pinehurst opens to the public on March 27, and includes a 1,300-square-foot
fitness center, an indoor lap pool and co-ed cascade whirlpool, 28 private centers
for massage and body treatments and an Image Center for hair and nail care.
For more...
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The 19th Hole See what one reader had to say about The Wire's commentary of March 20 about the health of the major professional tours. |
Casual Friday
Loss of Two
Legends
Golf lost two links to the history of the game recently when both Paul Runyan and Alice Bauer died.
Runyan, the winner of two PGA Championships, was still teaching at age 93 before becoming ill with pneumonia. He began his playing career in the 1920s, when golf in the U.S. was still in its early childhood.
Known as "Little Poison" both for a deadly short game and his diminutive size (5-foot-7 and 125 pounds), Runyan's most famous victory among his 26 on the PGA Tour was his 8 and 7 win over Sam Snead in the 1938 PGA Championship. Although he averaged only 230 yards off the tee, Runyan defeated Snead in that 36-hole match with his accurate approach shots and a precision short game.
Runyan himself credited another reason for the win -- a soak in ice-cold water in the mornings before his round and another between rounds to refresh himself in the heat and humidity of August at Shawnee Country Club in Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pa. Runyan had carefully watched his diet in the weeks prior to the PGA and exercised to prepare himself for the rigors of match play.
"I don't suppose anyone ever got more out of their golf game than Paul Runyan," Snead once said. "He could get the ball up and down from a manhole."
Perhaps Runyan will be most remembered for the thousands of golfers he helped during his teaching career in California. Among the most well known are Gene Littler, Mickey Wright, John Schroeder and Craig Stadler.
Alice Bauer did not have the playing success of Runyan, but she was one of the 13 founding members of the LPGA Tour in 1950 and was a top player, along with her sister Marlene Bauer Hagge, an LPGA Hall of Famer.
The Bauer sisters were two of the early stars on the tour, and Marlene went on to win 25 tournaments. Alice never won, although she did lose in a playoff once.
When her father died in 1958, Alice devoted most of her time to taking care of her mother and raising her own family. It was something she said she never regretted.
"I know a few people who all they have left are the trophies they've won," she once told the Tucson Citizen. "I can look at all the people I have to love."
DOUBLE
CLICK
www.pgatour.com/mm/liveat17
Yes, there are holes with vistas that will take your breath and there are holes
that will be forever linked to tradition. The vista at TPC at Sawgrass' par-3
17th island green hole isn't all that bad and it has a bit of history. This link
will allow you watch the thrills and spills that dramatically shape this week's
Players Championship.
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Reader's Forum With Tiger Woods' win at the Bay Hill Invitational last week, he became the first player to win three tournaments in three successive years and the youngest player to ever win 30 PGA Tour events. But his win did not come as easy as he was making it look on Friday evening when he held a four-stroke lead or on Sunday when he survived all comers and posted a 3-under 69 to win by four shots. Is Woods as dominant a player as he was two years ago or has his game already peeked at age 26? If Woods has peeked, are the rest of the world's top players truly raising their games to his level? Or is it possible that Woods' game has slipped a notch, bringing him back to a level to those in his pursuit? Let us know what you think and send your responses to stuart@gpagolf.com with the subject line RE: Woods. Also include your first name and last initial. |