Tag Archives: Golf

Fantasy Golf Results: Shell Houston Open

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Hunter Mahan won the Shell Houston Open.  If you have been reading my posts you know that Mahan is one of the Golf Boys.  This is Mahan’s second win this year so maybe I need to think about him in my fantasy picks more often.  My picks were not horrible this week but I was disappointed that one player missed the cut.

Here are my picks for this week:

(1)  Keegan Bradley — Keegan played well with a tie for 4th.  He shot the same score as the winner on Sunday (71) but his other rounds of 67, 69, and 69 were just not low enough to help him on the last day.

(2)  Kevin Steelman — Steelman missed the cut. This surprised me because I thought he would player better but it was not his week.

(3)  Henrik Stenson — My “what the heck” pick this week had a respectable showing with a tied for 21st place.  I’m happy with this pick.

(4)  James Driscoll — When I picked Driscoll, I stated that I hoped he had learning something from 2011 when he played the Houston Open and missed the cut.  Well, he certainly did learn from his past.  Driscoll played really well in round one and two (67 and 66) but on the weekend he shot 71 and 73.

Fantasy Golf: Shell Houston Open

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It is the week before the first and most exciting major of the season — The Masters — but first the players contend at the Shell Houston Open.  A lot of people hope that Ernie Els will win this week because the winner earns a place at The Masters.  I think it would be great if Ernie does win but I’m voting on other guys this week.

Here are my picks for this week:

(1)  Keegan Bradley — Keegan did not play last week and he fell apart during the final round of the Transitions tournament so I’m banking on the fact that he will have a “fire in his belly” to do really well.  He has 2 top 10 finishes and has been in the top 25 in all 8 tournaments he has played in this year.

(2)  Kevin Steelman — Steelman is another player that did not play last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.  He did well at the Transitions (tied for 10th) and he has had two top 10 finishes this year.

(3)  Henrik Stenson — I have not picked Stenson before but he looks like a good bet so he is my “what the heck” pick this week.  In his three PGA tournaments in 2012 he has finished in the top 25 and finished third in Puerto Rico.

(4)  James Driscoll — I have picked Driscoll before and decided to go with him again.  He did not make the cut last year at the Shell Houston Open but I am hoping he learned something in 2011 and will know the course better and make the cut this year.

So, you may have noticed I did not pick Phil Mickelson (the defending champion).  Well, I just don’t want to pick him since I feel like every time I do pick him he doesn’t play well — silly, I know, but this is just for fun so “silly logic” makes sense to me!

LPGA – First Major of the Season

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This week the ladies play in the first major, The Kraft Nabisco Championship.  In many ways this is “The Masters” for the women.  I say this because it is their first major of the season (as is The Masters for the men), it has been played at the same course (Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California) since its inaugural tournament (again, The Masters is always played at Augusta National), and the winner jumps into “poppies pond” at the 18th hole as part of the tournament tradition and they are given a bathrobe when they get out of the pond. Many have said the robe is the LPGA’s version of a green jacket (o.k., it is not a green jacket but hey, it’s better than just standing in dripping wet golf clothes).

The tournament was not always a major.  It started in 1972 as the Colgate – Diane Shore tournament.  I remember watching it as a young girl and thinking how exciting it was that the company my dad worked for had a golf tournament.  In 1983 it became a major and the sponsor was Nabisco.  Amy Alcott won in 1983 and two more times.  In fact, in 1991 when she won for the third time she jumped in the pond — this was the beginning of the tradition.  The video below gives a great overview of the history of this tournament.

This year all the golf pundits are saying Yani Tseng will win.  It seems like a “no-brainer” given she has already won 3 times this year, won last week by 5 shots, and is the number one female golfer in the world.  But I’m hoping for an upset like last year.  In 2011, Stacy Lewis beat Tseng by three shots.  Below is a nice video for Stacy Lewis.

Don’t get me wrong.  Yani Tseng is an amazing player but I want an exciting major — and that will only happen if someone can challenge Tseng.  My ideal ending on Sunday would be to see Cristie Kerr go head to head with Yani Tseng and win.

Fantasy Golf Results: Transitions Championship

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The Transitions Championship ended with a sudden-death playoff which was won by Luke Donald.  The big payoff for Donald was returning to the #1 position in the world golf ranks.  Rory McIlroy sure had a short run at #1 but I’m sure he will be in that position again.  Actually, I think the world number one position will change hands quite a few times this year.  There are just too many outstanding players within reach of number one.

My picks did not do well this week. Here are the results:

(1) Charl Schwartzel  — Schwartzel missed the cut.  I can’t believe he played so poorly (shot a 76 on the Thursday and 73 on Friday)  Just goes to show how difficult it is to maintain a consistent level of golf week after week.

(2) John Senden — Senden finished tied for 38th.  He had a great first round score of 66 but then shot 70,70, and 73. You can’t shoot three rounds in the 70’s and be in contention.

(3) Padraig Harrington — On Thursday, as bad as Schwartzel played, I was thrilled with Patty’s play.  Harrington shot a 61 (10 under par).  He shot a new course record!  Then day two came and the “luck of the Irish” left him — he shot a 73.  When all was said and done on Sunday, Harrington was tied for 20th.

(4) J. J. Henry — My “what the heck pick this week.”  I had hoped for a top 20 finish (because Henry tied for 20th at the Transitions Championship last year); but no such luck. Henry finished with an overall score of 285 (Tied 66th).

So one common theme for all my guys — they all had one round when they shot a 73.  Not a good thing to have in common.

Fantasy Golf: Transitions Championship

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Here we go with the third tournament in the “Florida leg” of the PGA Tour.  The Transitions Championship is being played at Innisbrook Resort – Copperhead · Palm Harbor, Florida.  It is a PAR 71 course and looks more like a course in North Carolina than Florida.

Here are my picks for this week:

(1) Charl Schwartzel  — Schwartzel is from South Africa and won the Masters last year.  He tied for 4th last week at the Cadillac and tied for 5th at the Honda Classic.  I’m hoping he will have a good week and win the Transitions Championship.

(2) John Senden — Senden is from Australia and also playing well this year. In the five events he has played, he has 3 top 10 finishes (including a tie for 6th place last week).

(3) Padraig Harrington — I have been a fan of Harrington for years and I’m hoping that picking a player from Ireland is a good strategy; after all, Saturday is St. Patty’s day!  Yes, I would have picked Rory McIlroy but he is taking the next three weeks off to get his “rest” before the Masters.

(4) J. J. Henry — My “what the heck pick this week.”  Henry has not played well this year but last year he tied for 20th at the Transitions Championship. I am hoping for another top 20 position this year.

Women of the Golf Channel

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SEE UPDATED POST ON WOMEN OF THE GOLF CHANNEL HERE

The other day I was talking to a gentleman that likes golf and he said “I like that woman on the golf channel. You know, she’s attractive and has a deep voice.”  I said, “The one that does the tournament coverage?”  He said “Yes.”  I replied “That’s Kelly Tilghman.”

There is great female on-air talent at the Golf Channel and I thought it would be fun to give my view on the women of the golf channel.

(1) Kelly Tilghman is the “grande dame” of the Golf Channel.  She has been with the golf channel since the very beginning and according to her bio, “in 2007, she became the first full-time female play-by-play commentator in the history of the PGA Tour.”

I have watched Tilghman for years and like her commentary and she does have a great voice.  She also has great golf credentials — she was on the golf team at Duke and played professionally from 1992 to 1996.  She is also very funny.  She recently was on Morning Drive and was great.  I hope they have her guest host again.

Unfortunately, her humor has gotten her into trouble.  Many will remember Tilghman because she made a remark during a PGA tournament broadcast in 2008 that Rev. Al Sharpton claimed was a racial insult to Tiger Woods.  Tilghman did apologize but that was not enough for Rev. Al Sharpton — he wanted her fired.  On the other hand, Tiger said he did not take offense.  In fact Tiger appears to trust Tilghman (which was evident in 2010 when Tiger selected Tilghman to do his first interview after his personal life scandal.)  And, Tilghman has been an announcer on Tiger’s very popular Video games.

Image of Holly Sonders(2) Holly Sonders is on the Morning Drive show. Her role is basically to do news headlines and setup segments for the main two hosts (Erik Kuselias and Gary Williams.)  She played college golf for Michigan State University.  You can tell from the few segments she has done on golf exercises and the swing that she really is a great golfer.  The golf channel executives must have noticed too because it was just announced she will be on The School of Golf every Wednesday.  She is also quite funny. I wish she had more air time on the morning show.

Image of Winn McMurray(3) Winn McMurray — McMurray is the fashion consultant and writes articles for “Fashion Focus” (a golf channel blog.)  She used to also host “The 19th Hole” but that has a new host (see below). Her big claim to fame is that she won the 2011 Fantasy Golf Challenge.  I’m always happy to see a woman win!

Image of Lauren Thompson(4) Lauren Thompson — Thompson hosts Golf Now, a travel show. And, the morning drive cast have given her the nickname of T3 (because she hosts the Top Ten series and her last name is Thompson — get it, Top Ten Thompson).

Image of Stephanie Sparks(5) Stephanie Sparks —  Most will know Sparks from the Big Break which is a reality show on the Golf Channel.  She also does on-course commentary for the LPGA and Nationwide tour.  Like Tilghman, she played golf at Duke University.  I like Stephanie Sparks on Big Break but you don’t see her on any other shows.

Image of Lara Baldesarra

(6) Lara Baldesarra — The newest member of Golf Channel’s elite women broadcasters.  She just started this year as the host of The 19th Hole.  She will also fill in as a co-host on the Golf Central show.  My first impressions of her on-air style is that she is very animated and I can tell she is Canadian by the way she says words like “about.”  I’m not crazy about the tone of her voice — it is a bit grating to me; but I’m willing to see how she does over time.

Overall I think all of the Golf Channel Women are entertaining and do a great job.  My favorites are based on their on-air personality and how they display their knowledge of the game.  Kelly Tilghman is my favorite and Holly Sonders is fast becoming a close second. I think Sonders has a very promising future with the Golf Channel.

The Gender Gap in Golf Prize Money

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Wage gaps have been reported for years and it has been a sore point for anyone that believes in pay equity.  If you are not aware of the statistics, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity, “The wage gap remained statistically unchanged in the last year. Women’s earnings were 77.4 percent of men’s in 2010… according to Census statistics released September 13, 2011.”

If you accept that there is an overall pay gap then it should not be a surprise that ladies golf tournaments have much lower total purses (prize money) than men’s tournaments.  The basic logic for the gap is popularity of the tour.  The PGA is more popular and has a larger fan base so it attracts big sponsor dollars.  It should be noted that the PGA purses have increased greatly since Tiger Woods turned professional. Why, because Tiger made the sport so much more popular and even bigger sponsor money followed.

I thought it would be interesting to see what the difference was in recent tournament prize money for the various tours.

PGA versus LPGA

This week the top male players are at the Accenture Match Play, the other PGA players are at the Mayakoba, and the Ladies (LPGA) are in Singapore at the HSBC.  Here are the total purses and winners take for each tournament:

Tournament Purse Winner’s Take Home
Accenture Match Play $8.5 Million $1.4 Million
Mayakoba Open $3.7 Million $666,000
HSBC Women’s Classic $1.4 Million $210,000

I also was curious to see the difference between events sponsored by the same company. Lucky for me, HSBC sponsored both the Dhabi Desert Classic and the Women’s event in Singapore.  The Dhabi Desert Classic had a purse of $2,031,296 and the winner took home $451,131. The HSBC Women’s Classic (as noted above) had a purse of $1.4 Million and the winner took home $210,000.  I do think HSBC should be given credit for sponsoring both a women’s and men’s event; even if the prize money was not equal.

To give even more perspective on the gap, let’s compare the second place prize money of recently completed events.  The second place money for the LPGA HSBC was $102,564 and for the PGA Northern Trust Open was $580,800.  Another comparison of note — At the Northern Trust Open, the four men players tied for 4th place, each made $259,875.  That’s right, they made $49,875 more than the winner of the LPGA player at the HSBC.

Nationwide Tour versus Futures Tour

Now here are some numbers for the tournaments that the up and coming stars of golf play (i.e. think of these like the farm team leagues in other sports).  The PGA has the Nationwide Tour and the LPGA has the Symetra Futures Tour.

Tournament Purse Winner’s Take Home
Nationwide
Bogata Open		 $600,000 $108,000
Future Tour
Florida Natural Classic		 $125,000 $11,000

Champions Tour versus Legends Tour

There is also one final comparison to be made and that is the senior tours (for players over the age of 50).  The men play on the Champions Tour and the women play on the Legends Tour.  Now this is a bit less fair of a comparison because the senior ladies really do not play as much compared to the senior men but since they do have tours, I want to share an example.

Tournament Purse Winner’s Take Home
Campions Tour (Men)
Allianz Tourament		 $1,8 Million $270,000
Legends Tour (in April)
Walgreens Charity Classic		 $200,000 not listed (but obviously it will be lower than the men)

It is clear the gap in prize money is huge across the board.  Since the main earning years are on the two main tours (PGA and LPGA) I think that is where the issue really hits home.  It’s hard to say what would be fair if you assume that purses are driven by the ability of the tour to increase the popularity of the tour and in turn the size of the fan base.  You could even say that the payout for the men on the PGA tour is outrageous given the winner on the PGA often takes home over a million dollars for a week of work.  But it is what it is.

Obviously, as a women I find this an incredibly sad state of the game. I would like to see larger purses for the women.  Unfortunately, I don’t think the purses in women’s golf will ever be as large as the men’s but let’s hope over the next few years the leadership of the LPGA can make strides in increasing popularity of the tour and the fan base so that they can impact the size of the gender gap in golf tournament purses.

E*Trade Baby – Great Golf Commercial

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The super bowl was last night and hard-core New England fans might be down in the dumps because the Pats lost. Not me. I am focused on humor today.

Once again there were some great commercials during the super bowl; including a new E*Trade Baby Commercial.  I love the E*Trade Baby and it reminded me of my favorites ads.

Of course, one of my favorite’s is the ad with the golf theme where he calls his golf partner, Frank, a “Shankopotomis.”

But my all time favorite commercial is when the baby is in a “time out.”

It’s Monday, football (like golf) is just a game.  If the ads above don’t make you chuckle, find something that does put a smile on your face today.