Sunday Backspin: Farmers Insurance Open

BUBBA WATSON HAD been a runner-up four times before his first career PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship last June, but ever since that breakthrough he's become a legit contender. He's always had the prodigious length -- having led or been second on Tour in driving distance in each of his five full seasons -- but what often got overshadowed was his shotmaking ability. He's capable of hitting the ball from right to left or from left to right and often because of his power, is using a far more lofted club than his competition. All of that came into play on Sunday as he was nearly unflappable, making just one bogey while hitting 16 greens in regulation and holding off Phil Mickelson and Jhonattan Vegas to win the Farmers Insurance Open.

Where it was won: It was an overall solid round of golf from Watson to get the job done, but there are couple of key moments that stand out most. At the 17th after carrying his approach shot a yard too far, he had a ticklish downhill pitch from the rough. He got the ball about as close as he could -- nine feet, five inches -- and then calmly and confidently rolled in the par putt. His play on the 18th showcased all the facets of his game. The power, as his 334 yard tee shot found the short grass; the creativity to escape a tricky lie in the bunker, with the ball nestled tight to the lip causing him to play his shot left of the flag in hopes that the slope would bring it clsoe; and the new-found confidence to drain the 10-foot championship-clinching putt.

Where it was lost: There are three distinct moments where Phil Mickelson lost this tournament. First -- and it's not as though you can really fault him for this -- was at the 13th where he was fractionally off with either his speed or his line and his eagle putt horseshoed out of the cup. Second was at the 14th where he mis-clubbed on his approach from the fairway and was unable to get up-and-down from the bunker. Finally there is his choice to layup on 18, rather than attack the green. Alan Shipnuck of Sports Illustrated thinks it was the right idea.

Awful lie. Better chance to make 3 by laying-up RT @GilroyTX Phil's never boring but never smart. Should have waited and gone for the green.less than a minute ago via webAlan Shipnuck
AlanShipnuck

And Mickelson certainly made sense in his explanation, saying "I had 227 to carry. If I hit a hybrid, the ball would have come out dead and there was hurt, so I couldn't have made it over the water. But the way my 3 wood is, the ball would have come out hot and it would have went screaming over. So I didn't really have a shot to get it on the green. I felt like I had a better chance to make a three from the fairway trying to use that bank and bringing the ball back or flying it in."

It's not that I think Phil's decision was wrong -- and it sure is easy to say he lost the tournament there with the clarity provided by hindsight -- but it just seems strange given his approach on the following shot (at 2:10 mark) and the margin for error he had there while leading.



I will say this. Tournaments often come down to a hypothetical "He can tie if -- and only if -- he holes out for eagle" but very few have provided the kind of theatrics that this did.

Jhonattan Vegas also found himself falling out of contention when he found the water trying to reach the green in two at the 18th. There are a couple of things worthy of mention here. 1. Had he made eagle, he would have ended up in playoff with Watson so you can't fault him there. 2. It seems indicative of his approach that, although par was salvagable, the tournament was not and he missed his putt. I don't think it will be very long before he wins again. Maybe even this year.

Shots of the week









Stat of the Week

Watson's ball striking was on point all week, as he led the field in GIR (81.9 per cent), driving distance (316.6 yards) and proximity to the hole at just under 26-feet on average.

How I did

Brandt Snedeker, -9 T9
Charles Howell III, -7 T14
Camilo Villegas, -1 T44
Robert Allenby, CUT
Ryuji Imada, CUT

Early look at next week

-I like: Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, J.B. Holmes, Pat Perez

Trunk Slammers: Farmers Insurance Open

Kevin Na, +3: It has been a pretty good start to 2011 with a T20 and a T5. It's his first missed cut on the PGA Tour since last year's U.S. Open when he shot 80 and 77.

Rocco Mediate, +3: Thanks for the memories, nice shot, see you in Phoenix.



Andres Romero, +3: His first event of the year and he fails to play the weekend.

Robert Garrigus, +3: His performance at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions -- losing in a playoff to Jonathan Byrd -- has not carried over as he's missed back-to-back cuts.

Steve Marino, +5: Similar situation for Marino who went from T2 to T66 to CUT.

Davis Love III, +5: After all four rounds in the 60s and a T9 at the Sony Open, he played both rounds over par at Torrey Pines.

Charley Hoffman, +6: It would appear the worst thing that could have happened to Hoffman was to have the off-season cut short his strong close to 2010. In 2011 he's posted a T25 (in a 32-man field) and been cut twice.

Stephen Ames, +6: After a solid 2011 debut last week -- four sub-par rounds and a T33 -- Ames shots back-to-back 75s to miss the weekend. He hasn't posted a top-10 on the PGA Tour since last March.

Michael Sim, +7: It must be somewhat disappointing for the Aussie, given his T2 here last year.

TRUNK SLAMMER OF THE WEEK

Ryuji Imada, +3: His performance was the definition of trunk slamming. After opening with a five-under 67, he played the back nine at Torrey Pines South eight-over with five bogeys and a triple.

Expect big things from Tiger in 2011

TIGER WOODS HAS managed to overcome deficits before. It may not be remembered by most, but the first paragon in his pantheon of career accomplishments is his first U.S. Amateur title in 1994.

Six down through 13 holes of a 36-hole match-play final, Woods stormed back, finally drawing level on the 34th hole of the match and then taking a very aggressive line on the tee at the par-three 17th taking his fate in his hands, challenging the pin and flirting with the water at the famed island green at TPC Sawgrass. His successful shot ended up springing Woods into USGA history and golf lore.



It's important to remember some of these past accomplishments with 2010 now firmly in Woods' rear-view mirror and with 2011 getting started on the right foot with a bogey-free three-under par 69 (please, save the obvious and played out jokes) in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.



Make no mistake, this is an important year for the world number three -- as weird as that is to write -- and his third straight where there are seemingly more questions than answers about the state of his game, his health or his mindset.

Sure, saying 2010 was a rough year for Woods would be a colossal understatement. He didn't win once anywhere in the world.

For the sake of context, the last time that happened, Rory McIlroy -- he of the Ryder Cup call-out last fall -- wasn't even born yet.

So it was a big deal, but it wasn't the apocalyptic destruction of his game many thought it to be or at least presented it as.

With a resume such as his, winning the Greenbrier Classic or the Wyndham Championship -- with all due respect to those tournaments -- just isn't going to cut it.

He is now and forever will be measured on the merits of his performance in, at best 16 and at worst eight, rounds of golf in the four major championships.

And all things considered, his play wasn't so bad there.

A pair of ties for fourth place, a tie for 23rd and a tie for 28th.

I know, the upper crust of this game play for keeps; they play to win.

But if you were to offer those results right now to every exempt member of the PGA Tour, how many would take them?

Eighty per cent? Ninety? Maybe more?

We applaud Jack Nicklaus, not just for his 18 major championships, but also for his 19 runner-up finishes in majors. At least, we do when we're able to view those accomplishments through the prism of time.

In the 24-hour news cycle world, where breaking news can spread through Twitter or Facebook before it can even be posted to a website, our ability to compartmentalize a strong performance from a victory is lacking.

For years, there were scribes and TV talking heads saying Tiger needed a Jack to his Arnie or a Watson to his Jack. That is, he needed a rival to keep pushing him towards the extraordinary heights of which he was capable of reaching.

But now, at a time when he wasn't won a major championship in 31 months, nor a tournament in 14 and a half months we fail to acknowledge his resilience.

There have been those that foretold of his decline at nearly every stage of his career, but it has yet to come to fruition.

Will he be as dominant as he once was? No, probably not. But his stretch from September, 1999 until April, 2001 is one of the most magnificent and dominant in all of sports.

In those 19 months he won all four majors; he won The Players Championship.

He won at Augusta, St. Andrews, Bay Hill, Pebble Beach and Muirfield Village.

He won the Ryder Cup; he won the President's Cup.

If you want to be a stickler, he lost in the final of the World Match Play Championship and finished T5 at Doral, but other than that, he won every single significant tournament.

The point is, we've seen such spectacular things from Tiger Woods in his golf career that we've almost come to expect them all the time.

But it is those rare occasions when we're ready to write him off or lower our expectations, that his brilliance seems to radiate without peer.

On the tee: Farmers Insurance Open

Vitals
Yardage: 7,568
Par: 72
Designed by: William Bell, 1957. Re-design, Rees Jones, 2001
Bunkers: 78
Water Hazards: 1
Green speeds: 12-feet on Stimpmeter
2010 Difficulty rank: 16 out of 52
Course record: 62, Tiger Woods (1999)
Defending Champion: Ben Crane, -13.



Key back-nine holes

12th hole, 504-yard par-four: A long par four that most often plays into the wind, the 12th play nearly a half stroke over par last year and has played as the second hardest hole on the course over the last quarter century. In 2010 there were only three more birdies (13) than there were double-bogeys or worse (10). Anyone walking off this green with a four, will feel like they actually made a three. Not a bad feeling with a par-five coming up next.

18th hole, 570-yard par-five: Of course the 18th is most known for Tiger Woods' epic birdie putt that put him into an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate at the 2008 U.S. Open, but over the last 25 years it has allowed more than a few contenders to have one last quality birdie chance. It's played as the easiest hole in that stretch, playing to a stroke average of 4.653.

Foursome Picks

Charles Howell III, 30-1 -- Over the last seven years at this tournament, Howell III has finished no worse than T42 and has five top-10s including a pair of runner-up finishes. It's been nearly four years since he won on Tour, so he may be overdue for a victory.

Ryuji Imada, 50-1 -- Since 2006, Imada has six top-40 finishes at Torrey Pines, including a T18 at the 2008 U.S. Open. He also had a runner-up finish that year. He -- like Howell III -- has suffered through a bit of a drought after picking up his first PGA Tour win in 2008. Still, it seems likely that he'll find the winners circle again at some point, at least, before he's assessed another 26-stroke penalty.

Camilo Villegas, 50-1 --It hasn't exactly been the start to the year Camilo Villegas was likely hoping for with a DQ at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and trunk slamming missed cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii. A cynic may point to his equipment change -- from Cobra to Taylor Made -- but Graeme McDowell's 62 at the Hyundai should go a long way towards dismissing the equipment change curse. Villegas finished T3 here in 2009 and posted a pair of top-15s at Torrey Pines in 2008 -- including a T9 at the U.S. Open.

Robert Allenby, 50-1 -- If Stuart Appleby can be the comeback player of the year in 2010, then perhaps Robert Allenby can do the same in 2011. He has 22 career worldwide professional victories, but none since 2009 and only three in the last five years. He's played well at Torrey Pines though -- T9 in '09 and '07, T18 at '08 U.S. Open -- and could be a factor this week.

Longshot: Brandt Snedeker, 80-1 -- Over the last two months of his 2010 season, Snedeker was playing some pretty good golf. He missed the cut at the Barclays, but in five other tournaments -- including the PGA Championship -- he finished no worse than T39 and had two top-10s. He has good history at Torrey Pines with a T2 here last year to go with a third place finish in '07 and a T9 at the '08 U.S. Open.

First Tee Links: January 24

Another week, another player DQ'd by a viewer. But at least Harrington could joke around about it.

It would appear that Tiger Woods was not the only one to suffer after his car-accident in 2009.

Here's what was in Jhonattan Vegas' bag when he won yesterday.

Martin Kaymer waxed a good field in Abu Dhabi and has passed Tiger for second in the world.

Could Bill Clinton get involved with future editions of the Bob Hope Classic?

Phil Mickelson may skip the World Match Play event next month.

John Cook won the opener on the Champions Tour.

A photo essay on how a volcano eruption in Indonesia last year affected a nearby golf course.

Adams Golf purchased Yes! out of bankruptcy court.

The Scottish Open is changing venues.

University day at the Farmer's Insurance Open? Interesting idea.

The RCGA elected its first female president in the organization's history.

Could Gary Woodland become a big time player? Jonathan Wall at Yahoo! Devil Ball golf blog thinks so.

He also thinks Martin Kaymer will be even better in 2011 than he was in 2010.

Sunday Backspin: Bob Hope Classic Edition

A WEEK AGO Jhonattan Vegas was the victim of one the most abhorred rules on the PGA Tour, the made cut, did not finish. For him, the MDF meant he finished in a tie for 57th, cashed a cheque for nearly $12K and didn't have to (get to?) play the weekend. With the 36-hole finish on Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. He's been very much the story of the week in the California desert, shooting five rounds in the 60s and -- in spite of a three-putt hiccup on the 90th hole -- outlasting Bill Hass and Gary Woodland in a playoff.

Where it was won and lost: Even in a playoff the deciding blow for a tournament doesn't always come during sudden death but that was not the case this week. Woodland appeared to have a serious advantage on the second playoff hole, finding the fairway with an iron after Vegas splashed his tee-shot in the water. But he made a loose swing and ended up in the green-side bunker and couldn't get up-and-down to make par. Vegas, meanwhile stuffed his side-hill third from the rough 167-yards out to under 15-feet. Lots of credit has to go out to him for a) rebounding from the disappointment of his three-putt on 18; b) playing a gutsy second shot that gave himself a chance to salvage par; and c) stepping up and making a clutch 12-foot, eight-inch putt to win his first PGA Tour title.

Shot(s) of the week









Stat of the week

For the week, Vegas notched 34 birdies and one eagle. After 72-holes he had 32, which is equal to the record for a 72-hole PGA Tour event held jointly by Mark Calcavecchia (Phoenix Open, 2001) and Paul Gow (B.C. Open, 2001).

How I did

John Rollins -- T72
My other four picks did not make the cut
Let's move on.

Trunk Slammers: abbreviated four-round cut edition

Brandt Snedeker -- Inconsistency plagued the Tennessee native all week. Take his first round for example -- two eagles, two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.

Bubba Watson -- One of the favourites heading into the tournament, Watson looked primed for a nice round after an opening round 66. He couldn't keep that up though and over the next four rounds he carded just eight birdies to go with seven bogeys.

Charley Hoffman -- It was his second round -- and particularly the end of it -- that made the difference for Hoffman. After notching a double bogey on his opening hole, four birdies had gotten him to two-under on the day and six-under for the tournament. He bogeyed his final two holes though and all his hard work was for naught.

Rory Sabbatini -- If it were a regular tournament with two rounds before the cut and he was able to use his second and fourth rounds, Sabbatini would not only have made the cut, he would be among the pack of contenders. He played those two rounds bogey free at nine-under par. His third round was a mess though -- two double bogeys, two bogeys and just two birdies.

Ryan Moore, Ricky Barnes, Scott Verplank -- All three withdraw. Barnes did so -- citing a back injury -- after the playing the first two rounds at nine-under.

Early look at next week

-Tiger returns (more on that later this week)
-Mickelson will play after playing in Abu Dhabi this week.
-I like: Camilo Villegas, Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker, Robert Allenby.

Bob Hope Classic Preview and Picks

The Courses

There are are four courses in the rotation this week, but for our purposes we're only going to look at the one that all the pros will play on Sunday.

Arnold Palmer Private at PGA West
La Quinta Country Club
Palmer Course at SilverRock
Nicklaus Private at PGA West

Vitals
Yardage: 6,950
Par: 72
Designed by: Arnold Palmer, 1986
Bunkers: 100
Water Hazards: 5
Green speeds: 10 on Stimpmeter
2010 Difficulty rank: 49 out of 51
Course record: 59, David Duval (1999)
Defending Champion: Bill Haas, -30.

Key Back Nine holes

10th hole, 433-yard Par-four and 11th hole 512-yard Par-five - It's famine then feast when players make the turn on Sunday. The 10th hole ranked as the hardest last year and has been the third hardest over the last ten years playing to a stroke average of 4.198 a year ago. The 11th on the other hand has been the easiest both last year and over the 12 year span, playing to an average of 4.311.

18th hole, 543-yard par-five - The 18th green was the scene of David Duval's epic finish to the tournament in 1999 giving him the win, but more importantly putting him in the record books by shooting the hallowed number of 59. On that day he had at least a birdie putt on 17 holes and only four were longer than 10 feet. It's been the fourth easiest hole over the last 12 years and anytime you end a round with a par-five, fireworks can ensure.

Some of his highlights are in the video below.



Foursome picks

Bo Van Pelt, 30-1 -- He missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, but given the fact that he would have had to play 36 holes on Sunday and then had two days to prepare for five rounds of competitive golf, it's probably not the worst thing. In two previous appearances here he finished T5 and T26.

Charley Hoffman, 30-1 -- There are a couple of reasons to like Hoffman in this spot. For one, he's had success here before winning in 2007 and posting a T8 in 2008 and a T19 in 2009. Additionally, he closed 2010 strong with five top-10s -- including his impressive final round showing to win the Deutsche Bank Championship -- in his last nine events, while missing the cut only once. His confidence is likely still soaring since then and could carry him a long way in 2011.

Alex Prugh, 40-1 -- His fifth place showing here last year sparked a run where he posted back-to-back top-fives and three straight top-10s. He struggled to find his consistency for the rest of the year with only two more top-25s and one more top-five -- a runner-up finish at the Frys.com Open. He seems to have started 2011 on the right foot though, finishing T20 while playing the his final two rounds in the Sony Open on Sunday at five-under.

Mike Weir, 50-1 -- Given the struggles he had with his elbow that eventually required surgery last year, it's hard to gauge where Weir's game will be to start the season. But he needs to put together some good finishes early to keep his exempt status. Currently playing on a medical exemption, he has five tournaments to win about $165,000 to maintain his full playing privleges. And this may be the best place for him to start. He won here in 2003 and has been inside the top-six four times, including the last two years.

Longshot

John Rollins, 100-1 -- He lost in a playoff to Hoffman here in 2007. When he did so, his success was tied to his results on the par-fives where he was 15-under par for the week. Conversely, he was even on the par-fours and two-under par on the par threes.

Bonus picks

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

Since the field over on the European Tour is miles better this week -- all four major winners from last year and the world number one are teeing it up -- I felt it appropriate to make some selections for that tournament as well.

Ross Fisher, 40-1

Edoardo Molinari, 60-1

Johan Edfors, 150-1

First Tee Links: January 17

We already knew that DL3 was going to be the next Ryder Cup captain, but it looks like it's now one step closer to being official.

This is just a straight up sad story about the state of our society.

Steve Marino credits a pairing with Michelle Wie a couple years ago for helping his development.

Here's what was in the bag for Mark Wilson when he won yesterday.

Oh yeah, they play golf across the pond, too. And Charl Schwartzel defended his title at the Joburg Open.

For the record, Dustin Johnson is denying that he and Natalie Gulbis are dating.

Former Open champion (1973) Tom Weiskopf doesn't think Tiger Woods has the same intimidation factor anymore.

Noted hater of the western swing, Stephen Ames is playing the Bob Hope Classic knowing he needs a good start to the season.

Mark McQuillan had a solid debut in his first tournament on the PGA Tour.

It's not as entertaining as his workout video, but Ben Crane is back with another viral video. Too bad, it takes longer for him to play a round than it did to conceptualize, film and edit the vid.



And since this video is now available online, Steve Marino with the real shot of the tournament at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Sunday Backspin: Sony Open in Hawaii

Mark Wilson was nearly flawless on Sunday, carding a five-under 65 in his morning round and following it up with a workmanlike three-under 67 in the afternoon to clip Tim Clark and Steve Marino by two strokes at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He did not record a bogey in either round.

Where it was won

Wilson struck the ball pretty well all day hitting 71.4 per cent of fairways and 77.8 per cent of greens in regulation, but perhaps more importantly every time he got in trouble he had an answer. His sand saves at the 11th and 17th holes -- where he had to coax in a 10-footer for par -- are what really made the difference. Of course, he had opportunities to really push the lead out of reach, but complaining about that would certainly be a little nit-picky. All-in-all he did what most winners on the PGA Tour do: beat up the par-fives. With only two of them -- albeit the two easiest holes on the course -- opportunities were few and far between, but he still got it done playing them at seven-under for the week.

Where it was lost

Marino -- First of all, full marks for his effort at the 18th hole. Knowing he needed an eagle to really put the pressure on Wilson he was aggressive off the tee. He was a little unfortunate that the ball stopped on the lip of a bunker, forcing him to hit a hook three-wood with the ball just about level with his belt buckle. Given the circumstances, it may have been the best shot of the year so far -- okay, it's early -- and he very nearly hold the eagle putt from 37-feet. But that miss is not where he lost the tournament. He played the eight, ninth and tenth holes at two-over and made a mess of all three. He missed his tee-shot way right at eight and wasn't able to save par; at nine he had just 185-yards on his second shot to a par five -- again, the easiest hole on the course -- and failed to even make birdie; and at 10, he hit a poor tee-shot, a poor pitch, a poor chip and a poor putt before tapping in for bogey.

Clark -- Hard to fault a guy for playing the final two rounds at 10-under, eventually having to limp your way around the course because of the blisters on your feet, but -- much like Graeme McDowell who was the hottest guy in the final round a week ago -- Clark will likely roux a couple of his missed opportunities, most notably the ones at his last two holes. At the eighth (his 17th) he missed an 11-foot birdie putt and followed that up by missing a 16-foot eagle putt at nine (again, his 18th), either of which could have put him into a playoff.

Shot(s) of the week





Stat of the week

69.10 -- That was Mark Wilson's final round scoring average in 2010, nearly two strokes better than his overall average of 71.10. He fired a bogey-free 67 in the final round today.

How I did this week

Steve Marino -- T2, -14
Justin Rose -- T13, -9
Boo Weekley -- T27, -7
Michael Sim -- 53, +1
Adam Scott -- MC

Early look at who I like next week

Bubba Watson, Mike Weir, Alex Prugh, Bo Van Pelt.

Trunk Slammers: Sony Open in Hawaii edition

Our weekly look at the notables who didn't make the cut.

Camilo Villegas +4 -- A DQ and an MC. Not quite the start to 2011 Villegas envisioned. Then again, maybe he just wanted some extra down time in Hawaii.

K.J. Choi +4 -- 2008 champ misses the cut for the first time since 2000. Had five top-25s and three top-10s in eight appearances between cuts.

Jamie Lovemark +2 -- Much heralded rookie was a sleeper pick by many (including almost by this guy) but nine bogeys 39.3 per cent driving accuracy and 58.3 per cent greens in erg isn't going to get it done.

Adam Scott +2 -- Yeah, I picked him. Get over it. I still think he has a good year.

Robert Garrigus +2 -- From playoff performer to early departure.


Shaun Micheel +2 -- Nice ace, Shaun. See ya next week.



Jim Furyk +1 -- Furyk hit just half of the fairways in the second round -- an uncharacteristically low number for him -- and carded eight bogeys with only seven birdies.

Even worse than the group that missed the cut is the large group -- including Zach Johnson, Vijay Singh, Pat Perez, Charles Howell III and Rocco Mediate -- that received the dreaded MDF.

Sony Open Preview and Picks

The Course
Waialae Country Club, Honolulu

Vitals
Yardage: 7,044
Par: 70
Designed by: Seth Raynor, 1927
Bunkers: 78
Water Hazards: 4
Green speeds: 11 on Stimpmeter
2010 Difficulty rank: 21 out of 42
Course record: 61, David Toms (2006)
Defending Champion: Ryan Palmer, 15-under 265.

Key Back Nine holes

13th hole, 477-yard par four - A year ago it played as the second hardest hole on the course with a stroke average of 4.24. It also had the third furthest proximity to the hole on approach shots of all holes on Tour, with an average of 49-feet, four inches.

18th hole, 551-yard par five - The closing hole was the toughest fairway to hit on Tour through all of last year, with just a little over 20 per cent of players finding the short grass. That didn't really seem to matter though, as it was the second easiest hole on the course playing to a stroke average of 4.44.

Foursome Picks

Adam Scott -- 25-1. In 2007, there were -- statistically speaking -- only two players in the world better than Scott: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. He's struggled a bit since then -- even falling outside the top 50 at one point -- but 2010 seems to have been a turning point for him. In the year he turned 30, Scott won twice -- first at the Valero Texas Open in May and then again on the European Tour at the Barclays Singapore Open in November -- and ended the year back inside the world's top-25 players. But perhaps more importantly than those two peaks in performance he began to show more consistency and in his last ten tournaments he produced one win, four top-fives and seven top-10s, with no finish being lower than a tie for 39th. He's also had success at Waialae in the past, posting three top-20 finishes the last three times he's played there, including a runner-up showing in 2009.

Justin Rose -- 30-1. In a way, it's hard to believe Rose has been on the professional golf scene since 1998 when he finished T4 as a 17-year old amateur at The Open Championship. Perhaps even more surprising is that it took him until last year to finally win on the PGA Tour. The big key for him seems to be how he controls his distance in his approach shots. In both of his wins last year -- at The Memorial and the AT&T National -- he hit exactly 73.61 per cent of greens in regulation. He finished T12 here last year.

Steve Marino -- 40-1. Marino suffered a bit of a dip last year, having two less top-fives (three), three less top-tens (10) and falling from 79th to 107th in the world rankings. He had back-to-back top-tens here in 2008 and 2009 (T4 in '08 and T7 in '09) and has the type of game that can eventually get him off the list of best players never to win on the PGA Tour. To get there, he needs to start getting it done in the final round where his scoring average is more than a full strike higher than his normal average score.

Michael Sim -- 80-1. Sim's 2010 campaign on the PGA Tour was a bit of an up-and-down one. He finished T2 in his second tournament at the Farmers Insurance Open and had two additional top-fives, with third place showings at the Turning Stone Resort Championship and the Wyndham Championship. But the 2009 Nationwide Tour player of the year struggled with injury problems as well, even having to withdraw from The Masters -- a tournament he got into by virtue of his place in the top-50 of the world golf rankings. He closed out 2010 with four top-25 finishes in his last seven events.

Longshot: Boo Weekley -- 100-1. Call this a gut pick. There are a lot of reasons not to like Weekley this week -- he missed the cut in half (five) of the tournaments he played in from July until the end of 2010 and he hasn't posted a win since the Verizon Heritage nearly three years ago -- but I still like him in this spot, especially at the price. His quality ball-striking -- having finished sixth in that category a year ago -- should fit in well on the tight fairways. He has a pair of top-20 finishes -- T9 in 2009 and T20 in 2007 -- at Waialae, but has also missed the cut twice in five starts.

First tee links: January 11

One week into the season and already we have a high profile WD as Dustin Johnson pulls out of Sony Open.

Not the only piece of DJ news though as he also pulls into Natalie Gulbis?

After three of four major winners and the top-ranked player in the world skipped the tournament of champions, here are some good ideas to get a better field.

Graeme McDowell's 62 on Sunday is certainly a best case scenario for all the Tour pros switching equipment providers.

David Feherty is set to join the Golf Channel. Love it.

Nike signs Q-school grad Joseph Bramlett.

Bob Weeks with some thoughts on tonight's debut of Pipe Dream on Golf Channel.

Geoff Shackelford, though he's contributed to the Digest for quite some time, officially partners with the pub. Also it gives us another reason to watch this.

Hyundai Tournament of Champions Rewind

Jonathan Byrd became the first American to win the Hyundai Tournament of Champions since 2001 as he defeated Robert Garrigus on the second hole of a sudden death playoff. He also had to hold off a hard-charging Graeme McDowell -- who fired a course record 11-under 62 -- to win his second PGA Tour event in his last three starts.

Where the tournament was won

After missing a 41-inch putt for birdie at number nine, things seemed to be slipping away from Byrd, who had jumped out from a three-way tie with Garrigus and Steve Stricker with birdies at the first, third and fifth holes. McDowell was surging and Garrigus had responded from an opening hole bogey to pull himself back into contention. So when Byrd drained an 18-foot eight-inch putt for a fairly unlikely birdie on 10, it kept him in a solid position to contend.

Where the tournament was lost

It's hard to criticize the guy who a) started the day six shots back and finished just one out of a playoff and b) broke the course record and was, but you can't help but think that McDowell should have played more prominently in the result. He missed a glorious opportunity at number-12, missing a birdie putt from just over eight feet that ultimately would have put him in the playoff. Add to that the fact that he carded just one birdie on the two back-nine par-fives all week and you can really pinpoint a couple places where the tournament slipped away from the Northern Irishman.

If you can place blame on McDowell for coming up short, then you certainly can for Garrigus, though not necessarily for the reasons you think. While it was a missed par putt that ultimately brought the playoff to its conclusion, Garrigus had three opportunities to really put the pressure on Byrd and never did so. First, after hitting a great approach to the 72nd hole -- becoming the only man in the field to reach the par-five 18th in two shots twice during the tournament -- his bid for eagle looked timid andt never had enough speed to go in. Sure, his birdie was enough to get into the playoff, but he would have made life much more difficult for Byrd if he had forced him to make birdie to tie.

Second, his chip shot on the first playoff hole was just dreadful. He didn't look like he really knew what line he wanted to take and may have had a club that was too lofted for the type of shot he tried to play. Leaving yourself a 21-foot putt when your approach was only from 49-yards away isn't going to get it done on the PGA Tour. And finally, his approach into the second playoff hole also seemed to lack confidence. He had nearly an 80-yard edge over Byrd off the tee, but could only get 10-feet closer to the pin. It's entirely possible he was worried that he might have a jumper lie and maybe I'm making a sweeping generalization without all the facts, but his approach seemed like he was playing not to lose, rather than playing to win.

Stat of the week

It really goes to show how easily this course played as their were 114 rounds under par, nine at even par and just 14 over par.

Shot of the week

Bubba Watson drained an 11-foot four-inch putt for eagle on the 18th hole during the opening round. But the shot that set him for the attempt -- a controlled banana slice from 305-yards using driver off the deck -- is something you're likely to see for quite some time.



Honourable mention: Jason Day rolling in a 17-foot par putt at the 13th hole after chunking his tee shot -- travelling just 106 yards -- and then pushing his second shot -- also using the driver off the deck -- into a bunker 62 yards from the cup. Maybe the best sand save of his career.



How I did this week

Ian Poulter -18, T6
Jason Day -14, T9
Ryan Palmer -12, T15
Anthony Kim -10, T19
Derek Lamley +4, 32

Early look at who I like next week

Dustin Johnson, Charles Howell III, Steve Stricker, K.J. Choi, Jerry Kelly.

Hyundai Tournament of Champions Preview and Picks

This weekend is the kick-off of the 2011 PGA Tour campaign. Yeah, golf is already back. It hardly feels like they were gone. Anyway, the opening tournament is the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and a few notables -- Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy -- are sitting this one out.

The Plantation Course at Kapalua is once again the site for this year's tournament, having hosted the season opening event since 1999.

Last year with a scoring average of 69.884, it played as the easiest course on Tour all year. Of course, a part of that is is the smaller field but it's also a par 73 -- often the difference between winning and losing on Tour is how they players perform on the par fives -- and has a lot of downhill, downwind holes.

It's entirely possible -- likely even -- that the longest drive anyone on Tour hits this year will be at number seven, a par four that's list at 516 yards but plays downhill and downwind. Last year Steve Stricker -- of all people -- registered the longest drive of the year with a 424-yard bomb.

In fact, 18 of the 30 longest drives in 2010 took place somewhere at the Planation Course, with 10 of them coming on number seven.

On to the picks. Each week I'm going to give a foursome pick, plus one long shot. While I won't rule out the possibility of picking one of the favourites in my foursome, I will tend to lean more heavily towards those that may not be the first that come to mind.

Jason Day -- 30-1. Fact: Australians have won five of the last seven tournaments. Fact: Day is coming off a year where he won once -- the HP Byron Nelson Championship -- finished in the top-10 in a major (the PGA Championship) and was a serious threat to win the FedEx Cup with two top-fives in the PGA Tour playoffs. Combine the two and add in the fact that Greg Norman thinks Aussie's play so well at Kapalua because the wind is similar in Australia and it means the 23-year old Australian is a legit contender.

Anthony Kim -- 25-1. Kim was absolutely on fire just prior to thumb surgery last spring. He had seven straight top-25s with four of them being top-10s -- including a win, a runner-up and third place finish. Though he struggled after he returned in August, eventually he started to right the ship posting a tie for 25th at the WGC-HSBC Champions event in China. He also had success at Kapalua in his only trip there in 2009, firing a final round 67 to finish in a tie for second.

Ian Poulter -- 15-1. It was a very strong end to 2010 for Poulter who closed out the year with a 13th place finish in Shanghai, sixth in Singapore, a win in Hong Kong and a runner-up placement in Dubai, losing under dubious circumstances to Robert Karlsson in a playoff. The knock on Poulter's game has always been his ball-striking ability, or lack thereof, I suppose. But in 2010 he ranked 14th in driving accuracy and first greens in regulation on the European Tour, hitting 77.4 per cent of them -- a number that would have been the best mark on the PGA Tour by a landslide.

Ryan Palmer -- 50-1. There are a couple of reasons to like Palmer in this spot. One: he won the Sony Open last year in Hawaii, the first full-field event on Tour. And two: his ability to make putts from five-feet. In the last two years Geoff Ogilvy has won the tournament after making all 110 putts he faced inside five feet. Last year, Palmer ranked sixth on Tour, converting 89.25 per cent of his putts from five feet.

Longshot: Derek Lamley 150-1. While it may be strange to pick a player that had just three top-25 finishes all season in a tournament of only winners, all three of those finishes -- and four of his five top finishes overall -- came in the first three months of the season in 2010. That includes his victory at the Puerto Rican Open.