(Photo courtesy of Rob Hayashida of golf Views)
ARMCHAIR golf is in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, for the Puerto Rico Open.
THE AVERAGE RAINFALL in Puerto Rico in March is about an inch. My question is, “Which March?” It’s raining cats, dogs and iguanas in Rio Grande, site of the 2010 Puerto Rico Open. Six inches of rain have fallen today as of 2 p.m. As torrents of rain continue to fall, play has been suspended until 7:15 a.m. on Friday. The plan is to play 18 on Friday, 18 on Saturday, and 36 on Sunday.
A frontal boundary—that’s weather talk I’ve picked up—has stalled over the area. The weather forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of showers on Friday. The weather is supposed to improve thereafter. But I can’t help but wonder if the weatherman is running scared now. I would be.
A few early groups teed off before the first round […]
(Photo courtesy of Rob Hayashida of golf Views)
ARMCHAIR golf is in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, for the Puerto Rico Open.
IT HAS BEEN TOO many years since my high school Spanish, so I cannot share many of the particulars of Tuesday’s opening media conference at the Puerto Rico Open since it was conducted mostly in the native language. There was a parade of speakers who made brief comments to open the tournament, including Chi Chi Rodriguez, defending champion Michael Bradley, a PGA Tour representative and various Puerto Rican dignitaries and tourism officials.
But I definitely got the gist of their remarks. All those associated with staging the Puerto Rico Open and showcasing the island as a friendly tourist destination are absolutely thrilled to be on the PGA Tour schedule. Smiles and gratitude require no translation. Hosting the Puerto Rico Open is a huge deal, sort of like a Super Bowl for the […]
ARMCHAIR golf is in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, for the Puerto Rico Open.
IF YOU CAREFULLY SCANNED PGA Tour scores from the early 1960s, you could spot one of the very few Hispanic names: Juan Rodriguez. (Another would be Roberto de Vicenzo, the great Argentine player.) I’m not sure when Juan became popularly known as “Chi Chi,” but that young man from humble beginnings in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, would become an accomplished and colorful player on the PGA Tour and ambassador for his small island nation.
Chi Chi won eight times on the PGA Tour and notched 22 victories on the Champions Tour. His first title came at the 1963 Denver Open when he was 28 years old. One of my most vivid memories of Rodriguez was watching him duel Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff at the 1991 Senior U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. Jack won with a 65; Chi […]
I AM PLEASED TO be writing from Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, tonight. ARMCHAIR golf is attending the 2010 Puerto Rico Open this week as the guest of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Played opposite of the WGC-CA boxing at Doral, this is the third year the PGA Tour has teed it up in Puerto Rico. Michael Bradley is the defending champion.
The tournament venue is the Trump International golf Course, a Tom Kite design (Tom will be here). The boxing course is a part of the vast Gran Melia Resort, my accommodations for the week. I must say, this is the perfect respite after such a long, cold, icy winter.
So check back for PGA Tour golf from near old San Juan, served up fresh and hopefully tasty. Lastly, congratulations to Camilo Villegas for his win at the Honda Classic.–The Armchair Golfer
THE 2010 HONDA CLASSIC is being played at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim share the 36-hole lead.
Purse: $5.6 millionWinner’s share: $1.008 millionDefending champion: Y.E. Yang
Inside the fieldInside the courseTee timesFull tournament newsThe live reportWhat players saidPhoto gallery
2010 Honda Classic Leaderboard
TV SCHEDULE
Six hours of weekend TV coverage are on tap for the 2010 Honda Classic.
Sat, 3/6:NBC 3p - 6p ET
Sun, 3/7:NBC 3p - 6p ET
PGA Tour radio coverage
−The Armchair Golfer
KIRK TRIPLETT IS WORKING on something. Only he and his caddie know for sure. Actually, I’m going to say that his caddie doesn’t know. He’s working the towel. That’s what he does.
If you’ve ever watched Tour pros beat balls, you know that after the initial excitement wears off it’s pretty boring. Pick any guy out there and watch them hit for awhile. You’ll see what I mean. Here’s what’s going through my mind as I watch them go through the bag—the wedges, the irons, the metals—and slowly dismantle that perfectly stacked pyramid of shiny white golf balls on the practice tee:
“Good one. Good one. Good one. Good one. Good one.” (Player pauses to stare at something or chuckle with caddie.) “Good one. Good one. Good one.”
They might be working on something. They might just be warming up. They might be showing off. I have no idea. All I’ve got is […]
Editor’s note: The Rules Geek may be an occasional and annoying feature at ARMCHAIR golf. We’ll see how it goes.HUNTER MAHAN FIRED A 65 in the final round and cruised to a one-stroke victory over Ricky Fowler at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. In addition to the alcohol-fueled enthusiasm of Phoenix fans, Mahan’s round included a driver malfunction on the second hole.
“I looked down at it, and it had a little crack in it,” Mahan said, “and I was able to take it out of play.”
Correct.
Rule 4-3 Damaged Clubs: Repair and Replacement allows a player to replace a club that “is damaged in the normal course of play.”
Mahan exercised the replacement option, but, of course, there’s a caveat: “The replacement of a club must not unduly delay play and must not be made by borrowing any club selected for play by any other person playing on the course.”
That’s where Mahan’s […]
I HAD NO IDEA. By closing with a 69 to win the New Zealand Open on Sunday, 46-year-old English golfer Laura Davies collected her 73rd worldwide title. Wow. Where have I been? I’m guessing trophy room rather than trophy case.
I knew Davies was one of the top women golfers for a lengthy stretch in the 1980s and 1990s, but she has never stopped winning golf tournaments since she got her first victory at the 1985 Belgian Ladies’ Open. In her quarter century as a professional, the long-hitting Davies has played all over the world. Here’s how her wins break down:
LPGA Tour: 20Ladies European Tour: 39LPGA of Japan Tour: 6Australian Ladies Professional golf Tour: 6Ladies Asian golf Tour: 2
To my surprise, 14 of Davies’ 73 wins have been in the 2000s. Four wins are majors. She may not be the dominant player she once was—especially on the LPGA Tour—but she just […]
IMAGINE BEING ON THE BAG for Curtis Strange, John Daly, David Duval, Mark O’Meara, Scott Hoch and Gil Morgan. One word comes to mind: intense.
Greg Rita, who died Saturday on his 54th birthday after a two and a half year battle with brain cancer, strode the fairways with those and other players in a PGA Tour career that spanned more than three decades.
Nicknamed “Boats,” Rita looped for Strange when he won consecutive U.S. Opens in 1988 and 1989, the first repeat winner in 40 years. And he was the bag man when Big John was presented the Claret Jug at St. Andrews in 1995. Rita was inducted into the Professional Caddies Association Hall of Fame in 2000.
In his 2nd Annual David Feherty Golden Ferrets, Feherty conferred ferret status on Rita and wrote, “It’s not the same without you. And we don’t care if part of your brain is missing. (In […]
IMAGINE BEING ON THE BAG for Curtis Strange, John Daly, David Duval, Mark O’Meara, Scott Hoch and Gil Morgan. One word comes to mind: intense.
Greg Rita, who died Saturday on his 54th birthday after a two and a half year battle with brain cancer, strode the fairways with those and other players in a PGA Tour career that spanned more than three decades.
Nicknamed “Boats,” Rita looped for Strange when he won consecutive U.S. Opens in 1988 and 1989, the first repeat winner in 40 years. And he was the bag man when Big John was presented the Claret Jug at St. Andrews in 1995. Rita was inducted into the Professional Caddie’s Association Hall of Fame in 2000.
In his 2nd Annual David Feherty Golden Ferrets, Feherty conferred ferret status on Rita and wrote, “It’s not the same without you. And we don’t care if part of your brain is missing. (In […]
