What can I say about the 14/1 odds on Tiger to win the Masters for the fifth times? Everything has been said allready by everybody.... for my inside story I watch it all in a Camper next to the Waldkirch Golf Club in Switzerland on my way to Swiss PGA General Assembly where our Swiss PGA Chairman Keith Mariott main moto was: "One Direction - One Roof" Focusing on Visibility, Influence, and Income > https://swisspga.ch/fr/news
It was hard to believe that Tiger would win on Sunday after Molinari 3 shots advantage on 12th... but how great it was for golf... now that its all done is it even harder to believe the story of broke gambler James who according to Golf World quoted: "Everything I had that I could afford to lose," I place it on Tiger. Why? "I just thought it was pre-destined for him to win," and Sunday night James was 1,190,000 USD richer!
On the stats side maybe this one from 15th club might be interesting to you: Before dropping a shot on the seventh hole Sunday, Francesco Molinari put together a run of 49 consecutive holes without a bogey or worse, the second-longest such streak in the history of The Masters. Molinari wound up with four bogeys or worse – two of them double-bogeys. That is tied for the fewest bogeys or worse in the last 30 Masters – Steve Stricker also made just four back in 2009.
I recall Molinari having a holiday house in my home town Crans Montana, Switzerland and remember seeing him every morning 8h00 during summer holiday practicing his swing.... To finish with, Li Hao Tong and Emiliano Grillo, two players I assist in the past, finished (T43 and T62) where for the first time 65 players made the cut...this is just to show how the general golf level has improved and in that respect Tiger and James luck was extraordinary the best things that could happen for the WORLD OF GOLF. > http://www.augusta.com/
What would be the best MotherDay dream day? We think that this one from a Son and a Father doing an extraordinary win on MotherDay can hardly be better.... How proud they must all feel!
Thanks to GolfDigest reporter John Huggan, here the perfect picture/story of Golf MotherDay PerfectSunday!
"Stephen Gallacher picked up his fourth career European Tour victory at the Hero Indian Open despite carding a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 7th hole. Gallacher is the only player in the last 20 years on the European Tour to make an 8 in the final round of a win. "
Son Jack and Player Stephen by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Image
They say you can’t win a tournament on a Thursday but you can definitely lose it. There’s a reason most modern day tournaments are played over four days. It's proved to be the ideal balance between allowing the best player to come out on top, and maintaining a high level of variance that keeps everyone (players and fans alike) on their toes week after week. The reality is that over the first three days of an event, all players can do is position themselves as well as possible to be in contention on Sunday. But how important is that positioning, and how does the ability to close out tournaments from a strong position vary between players?
When looking at guys who’ve held a lead after 54-holes on golf’s two main tours since 2001, only 39.1% of them have gone on to convert that lead in to a win. It’s a similar number for the guys in WGCs and Majors, where 54-hole leads have only been converted 41.1% of the time.
So what makes the best and brings the cream of the crop to the top? In a game of such tiny margins and close scoring, anyone who can build a 54-hole lead is a great golfer. Anyone who does it more than once is a world class player, but if you’ve done it over 15 times you’re amongst the very best. In fact since 2001, only 17 players have done it, but how well have they closed them out?
As tends to be the case with golfing records, Tiger tops out the list, converting a 54-hole lead in to a win 87% of the time. Not only is that the highest conversion rate, but from a guy who’s held the lead 40 times after three rounds - Phil comes in second in total leads with 28 (57% conversion rate) - it’s once again super-human. As mentioned, the group of players to have held 15 leads on golf’s main tours is pretty special, and in terms of ability are all superbly similar. But not all of them get it done. The top five are some players you might have heard of…
1. Tiger Woods (87%)
2. Ernie Els (76%)
3. Vijay Singh (68%)
4. Rory McIlroy & Jordan Spieth (59%)
5. Phil Mickelson (57%)
Tiger and Ernie clearly combine the two, almost separate, skills of positioning themselves over the first three days and closing the deal on Sundays. That’s what makes them greats. All of the 17 players on who have had 15+ leads have the first skill nailed down, but the closing percentage varies from 26% to Tigers 87%, indicating that mastering the latter is not a certainty even in the best players.
Ian Poulter continued one of the most impressive starts to a season in his brilliant career as he secured a tie for third at the WGC-Mexico Championship after taking a week off to go skiing so did Lee Westwood...
CaddiePlayer Richard Sterne will tee up this thursday in Mexico WGC at 12:51 so will Matt Kuchar at 12:03 > The golf club will not be El Cameleon where last november "El Tucan" David Cortiz made the Social Media Buzz as the local club caddie assisting Matt Kuchar to win USD 1,3 Million that was for the" fairy tale".
Shockingly "WE" the social media lovers found out that "CaddieCortiz" received 5'000 USD only from Matt Kuchar.... Then another buzz started... we could call it the "greedy tale" more contrevarsy followed and after 3 months of bad/image, Kuchar finally had to "Apologize" and pay what "We" all thought to be fair...
The caddie is in such a difficult predicament because how is he to "negotiate" when asked by a World Star to caddie? Even if $2000 had been suggested he'd have nodded appreciatively & to suggest $5000 was a life changer, or whatever he said, was a insult. Yes, $5000 would have been a lot to a poor(so suggested) caddie, but to suggest that's the reason for limiting payment to $5000 & defending his decision is something that will haunt him for ever. > Comments from a anonymous world class Caddie
To my knowledge this is not the first time that such a case have happened ... Zhang Lian Wei did worst in 2003 winning his first european tour event in Singapore. That week on his bag a local caddie Osman Juaini, Zhang after the win gave Osman 700 USD after complaining and more pressure from the Media, Caddie Osman received an extra compensation of around 5% from the USD 150.000 winning check from Zhang > https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/golf/furore-over-us700-caddy-fee-at-2003-singapore-masters
To go further on this issue of local Caddie getting under payed by Tour Players.... I have personaly experience a few cases where I felt "Greedness" from the players this is really shamfull and I am pretty sure that Kuchar and Zhang cases are just the tip of the ICBERG where/when local Caddies must be feld down by their week players...
As "The Marquis de Sade" a philosopher wrote in his biography: "HUMAN KIND IS PRIMITIVLY EGOCENTRIQUE"
Thanks to the social Media and more pressure Caddie Cortiz and Osman got away "Happy".... Lets see how Matt Kuchar will handle this week the pressure of playing again in Mexico for a prize fund of 10 Millions USD ? > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGC-Mexico_Championship
