Josh Beckett’s gem puts golf game in bag – Boston Herald

May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nobody asked Josh Beckett [stats] before this start if he played a round of golf.

That’s a good thing, and not just because we learned Beckett was never hurt to begin with.

What matters now to the Red Sox [team stats] and their well-wishers with Beckett is not what he is doing on his off days or what he did last September but that he continues to do what he did yesterday, which is pitch like an ace.

Yesterday, in a 5-0 victory over Seattle that completed a five-game stretch the Red Sox needed to mount the comeback to respectability they believe they are capable of, it was Beckett who stamped his name on it.

Never an altar boy, Beckett was more angelic than anything else in terms of answering the prayers for what the Sox need going forward. Seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts to lead a nearly perfect turn in the five-man rotation for a team on a five-game winning streak.

The Red Sox will never go anywhere without more starts like that from Beckett this season.

Yesterday, he showed he was worthy of their trust.

“He had a great presence all week,’’ said manager Bobby Valentine. “David Ortiz [stats] whispered in my ear and said, ‘Watch him pitch today’ in the second inning. It was a 1-2-3 first, but he saw it in the first inning. There was something there. He belongs on that hill. That’s his saddle. He looked very comfortable today.’’

Beckett is a judo master when it comes to deflecting any questions that he does not want to answer, and questions that touched upon his tough week in the court of public opinion were brushed off like flies.

He said that his “family’s been great, as they always are. I heard from some other baseball guys and stuff like that. It’s been nice.”

Beckett seldom allows anyone to see his softer, warm and fuzzy side, such as it is, and there was no way he was going to reveal it after a solid start if he was not going to give in after his last tough start.

“There’s not a whole lot you can do different, you can’t have too many of those starts where you start changing stuff up,” said Beckett about what he tried to change from that previous awful start — 21⁄3 innings, seven runs — and was followed by days of abuse about his defiant rationale for playing golf with a sore lat.

“I try to do kind of the same workouts and everything like that,” he said.

Beckett offered he was better able to keep his fingers on top of the ball, which helps explain better command of his fastball and an overall demeanor that led Valentine to call him “king of the hill.”

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Beckett, booed off mound, offers no apologies for golfing – Chicago Tribune

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If Thursday night’s start were a golf outing, Josh Beckett would have shot 130.

Starting one day after he found himself at the center of a storm for hitting the links while ostensibly injured, Beckett had absolutely nothing in an 8-3 loss to the Indians.

And after the game, when even the tiniest bit of contrition might have assuaged an angry fan base, Beckett was even worse.

“I spend my off days the way I want to spend them,” he said defiantly. “My off day is my off day. We get 18 off days a year. I think we deserve a little bit of time to ourselves.”

That would be easier to take if Beckett had pitched well. However, he was pounded for seven runs and seven hits in just 2 1/3 innings as his ERA soared to 5.97 and his stock among Red Sox fans plummeted to an all-time low.

In what has quickly devolved into a dysfunctional season for the Red Sox, Beckett’s start represented the biggest controversy yet.

On May 3, Beckett played a round of golf on the Red Sox’s off day with Clay Buchholz. It wouldn’t have been newsworthy, except the team had already announced he’d miss his start two days later because of a strained lat muscle.

News of Beckett’s golf game didn’t break until Wednesday, and he was pilloried for 30 hours in the papers and on local talk radio, with fan outrage reaching a critical mass when he was booed while leaving the field.

“It was directed at me,” Beckett said. “I pitched like (expletive). That’s what happens. Smart fans.”

The bigger issue for the Red Sox is how he pitched. Until throwing 126 pitches in a win against the White Sox, Beckett had been on a roll, going 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA. But the good times came to an end Thursday night as he allowed seven runs for the second time this season.

“We’re big boys,” Beckett said. “We’ve got to make adjustments. When things are clicking for me, I can make an adjustment from one pitch to the next. I just couldn’t do it today. Everything was in the middle and flat.”

———————————————–

MLB Team Report – Boston Red Sox – NOTES, QUOTES

–With the Red Sox looking for some more punch from the left side, OF Daniel Nava received a surprise summons from Class AAA Pawtucket and delivered in his first game. Batting sixth and playing right field, Nava doubled and drew two walks. It has been a long road back to the big leagues for Nava, who hit a grand slam on his first big-league pitch in 2010, then spent 2011 at Class AAA. “I’m obviously happy to be back,” he said. “I learned a lot last year, struggling and trying to find myself as a hitter again, just a lot of things, putting baseball in perspective.”

–3B Kevin Youkilis (lower back strain) is eligible to come off the disabled list Monday, but that seems unlikely. Youkilis is working on core and cardio exercises while he recovers, but he has yet to do a squat or perform any baseball activities. “It’s tough to watch,” Youkilis said. “It’s tough to not be a part of. For me personally, I just hate watching baseball and love to play it.”

–LF Carl Crawford said he remains at least two weeks away from throwing, but that he’s otherwise pleased with how his elbow has responded to treatment since he was shut down with a strained ulnar collateral ligament. He added that he expects to start hitting before throwing, and that his surgically repaired wrist is in good shape.

–1B Adrian Gonzalez showed signs of finding his swing by going 2-for-5 with a line single off the left field wall that probably would have been a home run in most parks. He also lined out hard to right field while looking more confident at the plate. “It’s coming,” he said. “It’s a process.”

–RHP Clayton Mortensen was optioned to Class AAA Pawtucket as the Red Sox recalled OF Daniel Nava. Mortensen posted a 0.96 ERA in three appearances for Boston since his May 2 promotion from the minors.

–LHP Justin Thomas was designated for assignment to clear a space for OF Daniel Nava on the 40-man roster. Thomas had been optioned to Class AAA Pawtucket on April 27 after registering a 7.71 ERA in seven outings for the Red Sox. He had a 3.38 ERA in four appearances for Pawtucket.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Josh Beckett’s golf round after missing start is further proof the Red Sox … – Yahoo! Sports (blog)

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

They took the beer out of the clubhouse, but nothing changed. They switched the man in the manager’s office, but he’s no better. The rot in the Boston Red Sox organization runs too deep for cosmetic upgrades, and nobody better personifies it than Josh Beckett, the clueless, defiant egomaniac who’s poisoning another Red Sox season.

Josh Beckett watches as a second-inning home run leaves Fenway Park. (Getty Images)By now, the story is etching itself into Red Sox lore alongside the beer-and-chicken episode of 2011: Beckett gets scratched from a start because of a sore lat May 2, plays a round of golf in the Boston area the very next day and can’t make it through the third inning of his next start before the Cleveland Indians fill out his scorecard with a triple-bogey seven. Fenway Park unleashed a torrent of boos, the Red Sox dropped to 12-19 – the fourth-worst record in baseball – and when asked about his golf game, Beckett offered this:

“I spend my off-days the way I want to spend them. My off-day is my off-day.”

Far be it for anyone to question Beckett’s activity on one of his precious off-days. That is not the point. Nor is it about him playing golf. Nor is it even about his dreadful performance on the mound Thursday. What runs through every incident involving Josh Beckett is the utter lack of respect he has for the franchise that pays him $17 million a year, the teammates who rely on him and the fans who pay his salary. This is about common sense, decency and responsibility.

Beckett still winces privately about how the fact that Red Sox starters drank beer and ate fried chicken in the clubhouse overshadowed the teamwide meltdown of September. He whines that it’s a media creation, which, in some respects, it is. The media did report it. But the visceral reactions of the Red Sox fan base – the confirmation that, yeah, Beckett sure had gotten fat over the course of last season, and the perception problem caused when picturing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of arms bonding over KFC and Bud Light as the Titanic sank – made the story what it was. The Red Sox didn’t lose because of beer and chicken. Their losses just had a face, and it was Beckett’s, with extra crispy on his extra chin.

When Boston replaced manager Terry Francona with Bobby Valentine this offseason, hoping to instill some discipline into a team gone wild, word leaked quickly that Beckett was none too happy about the hiring. He led the pitching staff like it was his fiefdom: Jon Lester, the would-be ace, looked up to Beckett, as did young Clay Buchholz, and the injured John Lackey was a running buddy as well. In a rotation of alpha dogs, Beckett was the alpha and omega, the conscience – or lack thereof – that guided the rest.

In Beckett’s bubble, it’s OK to miss a start because of a perceived medical issue and engage in leisurely physical activity the next day. Because it wasn’t like the golf was going to exacerbate his injury. (Which it probably didn’t.) And, well, it was his off-day. (Which it was.) And if he had practice swung in his garage, nobody would know or care. (Which is true.)

[Related: Indians tee off on Josh Beckett as boos rain down at Fenway Park]

Beckett’s naïveté gleams through such rationale. The beer-and-chicken incident lost him the benefit of the doubt on everything. In his own clubhouse they question his dedication. Never his level of determination. Never his competitiveness. Both of those are legendary. But just how much Beckett cares, when he’s willing to miss a start because of an injury that’s not severe enough to keep him off the course the next day – well, by now it’s obvious that Beckett cares about himself first, and it colors each of his decisions.

If he cared about Francona, a manager who was losing his clubhouse, Beckett would have realized the culture he was helping foster through his actions and called them to a stop. The staff would have heeded his wishes immediately.

Josh Beckett didn’t make it out of the third inning on Thursday. (AP)If he cared about Valentine, a manager who more than anything needs an ally, Beckett would’ve recognized just how much the golf outing subverts the manager’s authority. Beckett’s not well enough to go for the most disappointing team in baseball with the second-worst starters’ ERA, but hey: 18 with Buchholz sounds like a fine idea.

Common sense should tell him it isn’t, and decency should yank him back from the me-me-me thoughts that pollute his mind, and responsibility should govern his life. Beckett turns 31 this week. He has been in this game more than a decade. He understands what plays and what doesn’t.

He just doesn’t give a damn.

“We have 18 off-days a year,” he said. “We deserve time to ourselves.”

Beckett’s professional reputation is on the line, his infantile choices – like Manny Ramirez’s – threatening to balance out his standing as one of the greatest postseason pitchers ever, and that’s his concern: the sanctity of his off-days. Beckett owes nobody an apology, never, because he’s Josh Beckett and you’re not, and if you don’t like it, you know what you can kiss.

[MLB Full Count: Watch live look-ins and highlights for free all season long]

At a time when the Red Sox look like a disaster – the bloated contracts, the fudged sellout streak, the Bobby V experiment getting worse by the day – the team needs Beckett to be a stabilizing force rather than a divisive one. The Red Sox are stuck with Beckett because he can be one of their best pitchers and they’ve got nothing else. Something has to change, and if history is any indication, it won’t be Beckett. Which leaves Boston in a painful state: forced to maintain the dysfunction. Similarly equipped teams have succeeded, so it’s not like Beckett will torpedo the season himself.

What his actions suggest, though, and what the responses have shown, is that if you’re a Red Sox player – or at least one with a great arm – common sense, decency and responsibility aren’t among the necessary tenets. They might as well set up a KFC window and tap a keg in the clubhouse. The asylum is broken, and inmate No. 1, Josh Beckett, has no intention of letting the reins go anytime soon.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• The Rangers’ Colby Lewis alone in record book after bizarre pitching performance
• Ben Roethlisberger suggests Niners went after his bad ankle
• Alex Rodriguez unworried as he fades in chase of Ruth, Aaron and Bonds

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Beckett’s golf game is at issue – Boston.com

May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

NESN analyst Jerry Remy, who has missed the last 11 games because of a sinus infection, is expected back in the booth for Thursday’s game . . . Dustin Pedroia, who was 1 for 4, is 14 of 43 over a 10-game hitting streak . . . Bruce Chen, who went 6 2/3 innings for the win, had not beaten the Sox since July 9, 2005, when he was with Baltimore . . . Will Middlebrooks, who left Wednesday’s game in the second inning with a tight left hamstring, was 0 for 4. He had hit safely in his previous five games . . . The Royals did not sell out any of the three games, drawing 18,339 for the series finale . . . Daniel Bard joined Kansas City’s Jeff Francoeur at Kauffman Stadium before the game to announce that Major League Baseball and the Players Trust would help Habitat for Humanity construct nine homes in the tornado-damaged communities of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Joplin, Mo. . . . Jon Lester will announce plans Thursday to help the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation raise funds . . . Johnny Damon will be with the Indians when they arrive at Fenway Park. The former Sox outfielder has played in eight games since signing in April.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kevin Na might want to skip the Valero Texas Open next season – CBSSports.com (blog)

April 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Posted: 10:20 AM ET April 20, 2012

By Shane Bacon | Golf Blogger




The Valero Texas Open might not be on Kevin Na’s schedule next season. (Getty Images)

Years ago, when I was a junior golfer, I was playing a qualifier for an AJGA tournament down in San Antonio. The day started out with a fellow competitor flying off the back of our golf cart down some rocks (he withdrew due to obvious injury) and my golf game decided to follow suit. But we came to the ninth hole and I made a much needed birdie. I followed that up with a 10 on No. 10. And then a birdie on 11. Birdie – 10 – birdie. Golf is strange sometimes.

So it was rather peculiar a year ago when Kevin Na made a 16 on the ninth hole at the Valero Texas Open, but played the rest of his round 4-under and posted a rather astonishing 80 considering the disaster he had in the middle of the round. Most guys would give up at that point. Na kept on pushing and played some remarkable golf the rest of his round.

Before the week started, Na had as much fun as one can have poking fun at themselves for recording the highest score ever on a par-4 in PGA Tour history. He took a chainsaw to a tree that was a big accomplice in his 16. He hung a polo by the tree on Thursday.

But believe you me … after this week, I’m suspecting Na might skip the Texas Open in years to come.

On Thursday, the 28-year-old opened with a 7-over 79, just one shot better than his round a year ago that included that 16. He withdrew before his Friday round, which players do at times when they know the week is all but done. It is a rather pedestrian way of returning to the site of such an atomic golf bomb, but there will always be silver lining for Na when he thinks back to TPC San Antonio; Na made par on No. 9 in his opening round. It might not have helped much, but he was 12 up on his 2011 self.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Golf Roundup: Woods’ coach: Stop the criticism – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

April 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Share with others:

<!—->

The swing coach for Tiger Woods says criticism of his client is getting out of hand.

“I know everyone has a job to do, and I get it,” Foley said this week on “Fairways of Life,” a radio show on XM Sirius. “But if it is about the game of golf, Tiger Woods is an extremely important part of the game, and I think everyone understands that. It has just gotten to the point where the tearing down of Tiger as a person and a golfer has become just too much. I think it is just out of hand.”

Woods has been under more scrutiny than any other golfer since he turned pro in 1996 when he was 20 and won twice in seven starts on the PGA Tour. The criticism has sharpened in the two years since Woods was exposed for extramarital affairs that cost him his marriage and impeccable image.

Foley has gone through his share of criticism, too, especially in the early stages of Woods learning a new swing.

“I realize it is 2012 and we have dotcoms, and you have to write five articles a day, and you run out of things to write about,” Foley said. “But we should be in a position where we are trying to help and lift up and support a player like Tiger Woods instead of tearing him down, because everyone in the golf industry is better off because of his existence.”

Foley’s comments came at the end of a 20-minute interview, and he raised the issue without prompting.

“That is basically one thing I want to get out,” Foley said. “I think things have got to slow down, and it has got to stop, the daily referendums and the criticism.”

Jack Nicklaus was asked Tuesday about Woods’ game and said he didn’t know what was going on. “I don’t know what goes [on] between his ears. That’s really the X factor. His golf game and his golf swing looks pretty similar to what I’ve been looking at and he hits a lot of great shots. But you never know what’s going on in somebody’s head.”

• Texas Open: Matt Every shot a course-record 9-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead over Hunter Haas after the first round in San Antonio. Every had nine birdies in a bogey-free round. Ben Curtis opened with a 67, and Fredrik Jacobson, Cameron Beckman, Jason Gore, Troy Matteson and Derek Lamely shot 68.

• China Open: Matthew Baldwin shot a 7-under 65 at Binhai Lake to take the first-round lead in Tianjin, China.

• Indonesian Masters: Defending champion Lee Westwood shot a 65 to take a two-shot lead in Jakarta, Indonesia.

• Lotte Championship: Beth Bader shot a 68 Wednesday at Ko Olina in Kapolei, Hawaii, to take a one-stroke lead over top-ranked Yani Tseng and three others.



<!–

–>

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MMSC: Pettersson shows golf isn’t always biceps and sit-ups – CBSSports.com (blog)

April 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Posted: 11:06 AM ET April 16, 2012

By Shane Bacon | Golf Blogger




Carl Pettersson’s win at the Heritage shows that there isn’t just one way to get it done on the PGA Tour. (Getty Images)

Golf is probably the hardest sport in the world to play, and play well, so it makes total sense that everyone is a critic, and that’s what we’re going to do here at Monday Morning Swing Coach. Cover just the PGA Tour? Nope. We’re going to try to expand this Monday feature to anything and everything that happened the past weekend.

The story of Carl Pettersson is a strange one. A rotund Swede with game for days that seems more fit for the 1980s PGA Tour than that of 2012, where personal trainers and protein and “say no to alcohol” seem to be the norm (just a week ago, the man that won the Masters once told me he’d never a drop of alcohol in his life).

For all his accolades, Pettersson is far from a small man, as you can see, and when Tiger Woods introduced working out to the golfing community, Carl decided to get onboard. Four years ago, the man lost 30 pounds and subsequently, his golf game. The sudden body change had Pettersson missing cut after cut, to the point that he realized something; being big wasn’t that bad.

He gained the weight back, and has had some serious success since.

His win on Sunday was his fifth of his career, and his second in the last three seasons. He shot the exact same score to win this past weekend as he did in 2010 at the Canadian Open, where 14-under was good enough to edge Dean Wilson by a shot.

It’s actually great to see a guy like Pettersson have success. Golf is a sport full of differences. Guys have different golf swings, putting strokes, pre-shot routines and paces of play. There is no “right way” to do things on the golf course, and that should apply to the way certain guys on tour look.

Camilo Villegas’ veins can pop out of his biceps all he wants, but there are men on the other end of the spectrum that can play just as good a golf in a completely different fashion.

Remember, it was the British Open a year ago that saw the champion show up on Monday for a photo shoot without a single wink of sleep. Professional golf is a job, but it’s also a pretty incredible life. I’m glad Pettersson seems to get that.

Regression for Rickie?

If you were to rank the top names in the game of golf, you’d start with Tiger and Phil, and then move to Bubba, Rory and probably Luke. But right around that second group would be Rickie Fowler, the youngster with the flat-billed hats and tons of young fans.

Problem is, his golf game sure doesn’t seem to warrant all the press. Fowler nearly won in his second ever start as a professional back in 2009, but things have started to slip for Rickie.

This past week was a missed cut at Harbour Town, meaning in 10 starts this season Fowler has more missed cuts than top-10s.

It isn’t exactly time to push the panic button, but was the hype a little too loud for Fowler? It sure seems like it right now.

A great summary of this weekend

It is never easy for golf fans to get pumped for a golf tournament the week after a major, but it sure seemed the Heritage struggled more than most after such an incredible Masters. No real star power at the top of the leader board made it tough for fans to get totally involved, and a runaway win at the end sure seemed to push the remote in another direction.

The best summary of the week came from Ryan Ballengee, who threw up this tweet on Monday.

Yep, that’s about right.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MMSC: Pettersson shows golf isn’t always biceps and sit-ups – CBSSports.com (blog)

April 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Posted: 11:06 AM ET April 16, 2012

By Shane Bacon | Golf Blogger




Carl Pettersson’s win at the Heritage shows that there isn’t just one way to get it done on the PGA Tour. (Getty Images)

Golf is probably the hardest sport in the world to play, and play well, so it makes total sense that everyone is a critic, and that’s what we’re going to do here at Monday Morning Swing Coach. Cover just the PGA Tour? Nope. We’re going to try to expand this Monday feature to anything and everything that happened the past weekend.

The story of Carl Pettersson is a strange one. A rotund Swede with game for days that seems more fit for the 1980s PGA Tour than that of 2012, where personal trainers and protein and “say no to alcohol” seem to be the norm (just a week ago, the man that won the Masters once told me he’d never a drop of alcohol in his life).

For all his accolades, Pettersson is far from a small man, as you can see, and when Tiger Woods introduced working out to the golfing community, Carl decided to get onboard. Four years ago, the man lost 30 pounds and subsequently, his golf game. The sudden body change had Pettersson missing cut after cut, to the point that he realized something; being big wasn’t that bad.

He gained the weight back, and has had some serious success since.

His win on Sunday was his fifth of his career, and his second in the last three seasons. He shot the exact same score to win this past weekend as he did in 2010 at the Canadian Open, where 14-under was good enough to edge Dean Wilson by a shot.

It’s actually great to see a guy like Pettersson have success. Golf is a sport full of differences. Guys have different golf swings, putting strokes, pre-shot routines and paces of play. There is no “right way” to do things on the golf course, and that should apply to the way certain guys on tour look.

Camilo Villegas’ veins can pop out of his biceps all he wants, but there are men on the other end of the spectrum that can play just as good a golf in a completely different fashion.

Remember, it was the British Open a year ago that saw the champion show up on Monday for a photo shoot without a single wink of sleep. Professional golf is a job, but it’s also a pretty incredible life. I’m glad Pettersson seems to get that.

Regression for Rickie?

If you were to rank the top names in the game of golf, you’d start with Tiger and Phil, and then move to Bubba, Rory and probably Luke. But right around that second group would be Rickie Fowler, the youngster with the flat-billed hats and tons of young fans.

Problem is, his golf game sure doesn’t seem to warrant all the press. Fowler nearly won in his second ever start as a professional back in 2009, but things have started to slip for Rickie.

This past week was a missed cut at Harbour Town, meaning in 10 starts this season Fowler has more missed cuts than top-10s.

It isn’t exactly time to push the panic button, but was the hype a little too loud for Fowler? It sure seems like it right now.

A great summary of this weekend

It is never easy for golf fans to get pumped for a golf tournament the week after a major, but it sure seemed the Heritage struggled more than most after such an incredible Masters. No real star power at the top of the leader board made it tough for fans to get totally involved, and a runaway win at the end sure seemed to push the remote in another direction.

The best summary of the week came from Ryan Ballengee, who threw up this tweet on Monday.

Yep, that’s about right.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MMSC: Pettersson shows golf isn’t always biceps and sit-ups – CBSSports.com (blog)

April 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Posted: 11:06 AM ET April 16, 2012

By Shane Bacon | Golf Blogger




Carl Pettersson’s win at the Heritage shows that there isn’t just one way to get it done on the PGA Tour. (Getty Images)

Golf is probably the hardest sport in the world to play, and play well, so it makes total sense that everyone is a critic, and that’s what we’re going to do here at Monday Morning Swing Coach. Cover just the PGA Tour? Nope. We’re going to try to expand this Monday feature to anything and everything that happened the past weekend.

The story of Carl Pettersson is a strange one. A rotund Swede with game for days that seems more fit for the 1980s PGA Tour than that of 2012, where personal trainers and protein and “say no to alcohol” seem to be the norm (just a week ago, the man that won the Masters once told me he’d never a drop of alcohol in his life).

For all his accolades, Pettersson is far from a small man, as you can see, and when Tiger Woods introduced working out to the golfing community, Carl decided to get onboard. Four years ago, the man lost 30 pounds and subsequently, his golf game. The sudden body change had Pettersson missing cut after cut, to the point that he realized something; being big wasn’t that bad.

He gained the weight back, and has had some serious success since.

His win on Sunday was his fifth of his career, and his second in the last three seasons. He shot the exact same score to win this past weekend as he did in 2010 at the Canadian Open, where 14-under was good enough to edge Dean Wilson by a shot.

It’s actually great to see a guy like Pettersson have success. Golf is a sport full of differences. Guys have different golf swings, putting strokes, pre-shot routines and paces of play. There is no “right way” to do things on the golf course, and that should apply to the way certain guys on tour look.

Camilo Villegas’ veins can pop out of his biceps all he wants, but there are men on the other end of the spectrum that can play just as good a golf in a completely different fashion.

Remember, it was the British Open a year ago that saw the champion show up on Monday for a photo shoot without a single wink of sleep. Professional golf is a job, but it’s also a pretty incredible life. I’m glad Pettersson seems to get that.

Regression for Rickie?

If you were to rank the top names in the game of golf, you’d start with Tiger and Phil, and then move to Bubba, Rory and probably Luke. But right around that second group would be Rickie Fowler, the youngster with the flat-billed hats and tons of young fans.

Problem is, his golf game sure doesn’t seem to warrant all the press. Fowler nearly won in his second ever start as a professional back in 2009, but things have started to slip for Rickie.

This past week was a missed cut at Harbour Town, meaning in 10 starts this season Fowler has more missed cuts than top-10s.

It isn’t exactly time to push the panic button, but was the hype a little too loud for Fowler? It sure seems like it right now.

A great summary of this weekend

It is never easy for golf fans to get pumped for a golf tournament the week after a major, but it sure seemed the Heritage struggled more than most after such an incredible Masters. No real star power at the top of the leader board made it tough for fans to get totally involved, and a runaway win at the end sure seemed to push the remote in another direction.

The best summary of the week came from Ryan Ballengee, who threw up this tweet on Monday.

Yep, that’s about right.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MMSC: Pettersson shows golf isn’t always biceps and sit-ups – CBSSports.com (blog)

April 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Posted: 11:06 AM ET April 16, 2012

By Shane Bacon | Golf Blogger




Carl Pettersson’s win at the Heritage shows that there isn’t just one way to get it done on the PGA Tour. (Getty Images)

Golf is probably the hardest sport in the world to play, and play well, so it makes total sense that everyone is a critic, and that’s what we’re going to do here at Monday Morning Swing Coach. Cover just the PGA Tour? Nope. We’re going to try to expand this Monday feature to anything and everything that happened the past weekend.

The story of Carl Pettersson is a strange one. A rotund Swede with game for days that seems more fit for the 1980s PGA Tour than that of 2012, where personal trainers and protein and “say no to alcohol” seem to be the norm (just a week ago, the man that won the Masters once told me he’d never a drop of alcohol in his life).

For all his accolades, Pettersson is far from a small man, as you can see, and when Tiger Woods introduced working out to the golfing community, Carl decided to get onboard. Four years ago, the man lost 30 pounds and subsequently, his golf game. The sudden body change had Pettersson missing cut after cut, to the point that he realized something; being big wasn’t that bad.

He gained the weight back, and has had some serious success since.

His win on Sunday was his fifth of his career, and his second in the last three seasons. He shot the exact same score to win this past weekend as he did in 2010 at the Canadian Open, where 14-under was good enough to edge Dean Wilson by a shot.

It’s actually great to see a guy like Pettersson have success. Golf is a sport full of differences. Guys have different golf swings, putting strokes, pre-shot routines and paces of play. There is no “right way” to do things on the golf course, and that should apply to the way certain guys on tour look.

Camilo Villegas’ veins can pop out of his biceps all he wants, but there are men on the other end of the spectrum that can play just as good a golf in a completely different fashion.

Remember, it was the British Open a year ago that saw the champion show up on Monday for a photo shoot without a single wink of sleep. Professional golf is a job, but it’s also a pretty incredible life. I’m glad Pettersson seems to get that.

Regression for Rickie?

If you were to rank the top names in the game of golf, you’d start with Tiger and Phil, and then move to Bubba, Rory and probably Luke. But right around that second group would be Rickie Fowler, the youngster with the flat-billed hats and tons of young fans.

Problem is, his golf game sure doesn’t seem to warrant all the press. Fowler nearly won in his second ever start as a professional back in 2009, but things have started to slip for Rickie.

This past week was a missed cut at Harbour Town, meaning in 10 starts this season Fowler has more missed cuts than top-10s.

It isn’t exactly time to push the panic button, but was the hype a little too loud for Fowler? It sure seems like it right now.

A great summary of this weekend

It is never easy for golf fans to get pumped for a golf tournament the week after a major, but it sure seemed the Heritage struggled more than most after such an incredible Masters. No real star power at the top of the leader board made it tough for fans to get totally involved, and a runaway win at the end sure seemed to push the remote in another direction.

The best summary of the week came from Ryan Ballengee, who threw up this tweet on Monday.

Yep, that’s about right.

Filed Under: Golf News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts