Lefty, say it ain't so square man!

What the hell is that in this tour player's hand. Is Lefty really using the Callaway FT-i SQUARE shaped driver? Does he hit it off the toe and heel that much that he needs the MOI effect to help straighten his shots or it that driver the real deal?

What's in your bag?

I realize it's early in the season for some, but I thought it might be interesting to see what clubs each FPGPer has in their golf bag. For Excalibur, you might want to limit what you list to the names of your putters.

A golf club hitting a lighter

Yes, I do have too much free time.

Found

Phewwww... I just noticed that ol JL is in the field this week for the FBR. After not showing up for the first few events this year, I feared that Tev knew something I didn't (afterall, he shorted Justin).

While panning through the names on the field, I saw Cliff Kresge who was also in the hunt for a little while this past week. FPGP Veterans... remind me... wasn't there some kind of Kresge Controversy in our pool a few years ago? That name always sticks out, and I can't imagine why.

FIRST OFFICIAL UPDATE 1/28/07

Here's your first official update of 2007... Not unlike Tiger Woods, Da Bandit has picked up right where he left off.

Please note that for Tour Players who have not yet earned official money, their points are defaulted to zero. As silly as it is to take much stock in an update this early in the season, it is even more silly to invoke the David Gossett Rule (adding 1 to the last player on the money list for anyone making $0). We typically don't kick the Gossett Rule into effect until the trading season begins.



Let the ball bustin' begin!

Buick Open - South Course

JG, don't worry about your play today (Thursday). Everyone on the South Course put up a big number. You have a "go low" score in you. North Course is just the cure for playing the South Course. Only 4 guys that played the South Course on Thursday were in the top 50 at the end of the day.

Paleo-Tech

I ain't no genius of things aerodynamic, but it's crazy to think with all the wind tunnels in the world the best they could come up with is this block. Looks like they regressed to 1950's Soviet Union, fighter aircraft technology...maybe MIG-6 Fishpot would have been a better name. Am I mistaken, but if you zoom in on the bottom right you can read the pressure treatment rating and a Werehouser stamp. I am sure I saw this baby in Fred Flinstone's bag at Pebble Beach in the Water Buffalo Open sponsored by Slate Quarry Co. He hammer-threw the beeeyatch into the tar pit after a nasty snapper on the 4th hole. Understand I am not picky, I'd work up my own wood and hit it if I could guarantee 280 on the sprinkler line. That club is Rosey O'Donnell ugly...

Golf Action?

How about some (most, all) of us trying to gather for the 2007 annual fall Monkey Hill Classic in New Orleans, which raises money for charity (in honor of my dad). Not trying to raise money here guys. Thankfully, the event has lots of interest and many teams are turned down due to limited slots. It's simply a lot of fun (da Bandit and I haven't missed one yet). The thing is minimally about golf and much more about food (many N.O. restaurants have booths in the parking lot of the bar with free stuff), drinks (free), and music (blues by Luther Kent and his band "Trick Bag" -- one of the best around). There's also a sports memorabilia auction.
At left, da Rodent doesn't threaten the hole; this isn't Augusta folks! Center is Johnny V. with some of the cart personnel after many shots of booze. Last, the booze got to him and he tried to "bunghole" former Saints receiver Eric Martin. He decided to go back to the women.

Who on tour is going to use this?

I am considering the Callaway Square driver called the FT-i, but likely will end up with the FT-5. I just can't imagine hitting something with that different a shape at the end of the a shaft.

JG, have you hit that Nike Sasquatch Sumo2 driver yet?

No Tiger

For those of you partaking in that weekly fantasy golf pool on PGATour.com... Jeff and I are adopting a "No Tiger" rule for the purposes of our year-long wager, as there will never be a tourney in which we won't both take him... if you want to continue "competing" with us on an even playing field, don't take Tiger this week or any other...

Real Update Coming Next Week

I just noticed that Jeff put up an unofficial leaderboard...

Anyway, I was planning to pop one up in a couple weeks, but that won't happen. That Sunday night is the Super Bowl, and I have to go out of town to pick a jury the next day. So, I am going to post an update next week, rather than wait another three weeks. It should get the bullshit started. And, I need to make sure the spreadsheet is making the calculations correctly, so as always, I'd ask that you take a look at the "data" and make sure your team is being tabulated correctly. We were pretty good last year at not making mistakes and people not freaking out when some minor errors were made.

On a different topic...

Has anyone watched the Golf Channel coverage? I spoke with Jeff about it... he likes it, I think it sucks. That putting tracker thing makes me dizzy. I can't believe they are using gimmicks like that.

UNOFFICIAL Leaderboard

I had too much time on my hands this AM so I entered in the data into the worksheet and got an unofficial point total. This should just go to show how useless the data is until after about 6 or 7 events.

Is Duval Ready?

He [David Duval] said earlier this week that he's "played one round, maybe hit 30 balls and that was it," as far as preseason preparation went. Whatever the case, for the first two days of the Hope, at least, Duval is showing signs of being the talented guy we came to know in the latter part of the last decade.

-From ESPN Insider

Field for the Bob Hope

Not only will the FPGP's favorite player, Jason Gore, be in this tournament, but a handful of FPGP picks will take part in this event too. See the list of who's in HERE.

Good Luck JG!

FYI: Updates

I mentioned this in a comment somewhere last week...

We are not going to post updates until the end of the month... the rankings change too fast in the first few weeks, and it is really a waste of time. Anyway, once we get the first one up, we'll do it every other week until we get into the "trading window" and then we'll make sure we get them up weekly.

F'n Wie or F'n Me.

Well, that will be the last time I place a wager on Michelle Wie. Of course, I vowed to stop drinking a few times too.

All Payments Are In...

With the receipt of Robbo's check yesterday, everyone in the pool is paid in full. Actually, Vic paid $120 which means he already knows his picks are so bad he wanted to assure himself of a trade! With the extra $20 in the pot from Vic, assorted discounts for new players, other players paying off sidebets, etc., the total prize pool as of right now is $1310. If everyone makes a trade, the total pool will be over $1500... not bad at all. As always, I continue to encourage side wagers (especially if you get can get action from Shades...) and trash talking (ibid).

Don't expect an update until the end of the month... until most players have a few tourneys under their belts, the standings are too goofy to interpret. I'll probably post the first update around the time of the Pebble Beach tourney, and then go every other week until the trading window, at which point I'll make sure we have weekly updates.

Found: This Article | Missing: Craig Perks

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:47:41
Weeksy Awards, Part 1

This week, with golf news a little light after the end – finally – of Tiger’s Target, I’m going to list off the Weeksy Awards for 2006. Today I’ll focus on the PGA Tour, including the Majors.

Biggest Moment in a Major: Phil Mickelson’s disaster at the U.S. Open. Absolutely stunning. I was standing behind the clubhouse interviewing players as they came off the 18 th and I noticed Amy and the three kids, all neatly dressed, walking out obviously in preparation of an 18 th hole celebration. A few moments later, Amy was quickly hustling the kids back towards the player/family tent. Oops.

Most Surprising Win: Either the backhanded Chris Couch in New Orleans or J.B. Holmes at the FBR Open. Anyone who had either of these two guys in the pool step forward.

Most Impressive Win: No question here. Stephen Ames at the Players. Second place to Tiger at the British.

Biggest Comeback: Either Steve Stricker or John Daly’s fourth wife.

Best Player with a Waist Size under 28: Camillo Villegas. And am I the only one who thinks that funny thing he does to line up his putts looks like a curling delivery?

Most Impressive Winner’s Speech: Jim Furyk, for announcing that he’ll come back to play in the 2007 Canadian Open.

What Ever Happened To?: Jason Gore, Chris Riley, Steve Elkington, Todd Hamilton or Craig Perks.

See I Told You I Was More Than A One-Win Wonder: Ben Curtis, who won twice in 2006.

Over-Rated (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap): Charles Howell III.

Most Disappointing Year: Ernie Els, who at least won the South African Open.

Real Start To The PGA Season (from ESPN Insider)

HONOLULU -- Now this is what I'm talking about!

I joked prior to last week's Mercedes-Benz Championship about needing to carry my 2007 PGA Tour media guide around with me, just to identify some of the champions from the previous year. But in reality, after a day or two at Kapalua, I could pretty easily tell John Senden from Eric Axley, and D.J. Trahan from Will MacKenzie.

So forgive my enthusiasm, but it's nice to arrive at the Sony Open and see some unfamiliar faces -- or at least some that I couldn't recognize right away. Just got back from the practice range and putting green after checking out the likes of Jason Dufner and Paul Sheehan for a few minutes each, which is a golf geek's version of checking out spring training baseball games.

Can't say I saw much in the limited time I was out there that would lead me to say whether some rookie would be a bust or a journeyman is ready for a breakout season. Still, I almost got chills knowing that those stories are out there; we just have to wait for them to develop. (And yes, you can get chills in 82-degree weather.)

Last week was nice, a small gathering of 34 champions from the year before, but this week is a PGA Tour event at its best (though certainly not the best PGA Tour event).

There are 144 players in the field this week. Many you (and I) don't recognize. Some will struggle on tour, fade away and never be heard from again. Others will find success, make names for themselves and become recognizable faces.

I can't wait to find out who's who.

A Wie or Wi little wager

New Texan and I (Shade's) have another side bet going on this week and hopefully into the weekend for me. I have Wie making the cut. I also have Charlie Wi in our other weekly pgatour.com fantasy golf side bet action this week. At first New Tex thought I was trying to pull a fast one on him by having him agree to the Wie bet but then telling him I said Wi, as in Charlie Wi. I figure this might be the best chance Wie has of making a cut on the PGA Tour. Heck, this could be the best chance that Charlie Wi has of making a cut on the PGA Tour as well.

Shades, This Is For Your W(h)ine

In response to Mr. Shades views of our weekly side bet...

1. I am not excited about winning $5. I am excited about winning 40 weeks in a row, at $5 a pop.

2. Your comments are exactly what "making excuses" are. Half my points came from Vijay? Ha! Ok, drop Vijay's 4500 points from my total. I still have you beat!

I love it... one week in, and the smack/trash talk has already hit full stride!

Weekly Side Bet

Looks like I bitch slapped Shades this week... my boys came through for 7909 Fed Ex points to his lowly 2259. Yikes. That's a $5 hole you are in son. I am not looking back either. Good thing you didn't want to do an overall or segment bets.

Da Bandit had a respectible 6511 points. "Bozos" came in with 3866. Which of you guys is "bozos?"

If anyone else wants to join, let me know and I will "invite" you to the league. It is free and kind of fun. You pick 5 players each week with salary cap limits on the picks.

Why Tiger couldn't play in the Mercedes Tournament.

Just another reason I can't pull for Tiger. I have trouble pulling for a guy who plays only 15 events and wins $9 million. Yes, he earned it, but I can't pull for him when he is too busy pushing cars for Buick rather than playing in tournaments that got him that opportunity. If he's not playing a tournament because of his family or is gearing up for a long season with another event in mind, that would be fine. That simply wasn't the case this week, unless he has family in the greater Detroit area.

I want to pull for PGA Golfers that play golf. 15 events is not enough for the top golfer in the world. Tiger is just a rock star that happens to be the best golfer in the world. What a shame for the PGA tour and the game of golf.

I guess if you want to see the greatest golfer in the world, you have to go to the Detroit Auto Show.

From ESPN Golf Insider

Just a few tidbits of useless information.

Holmes on the range: I could just tell J.B. Holmes was in for a tough second round at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Watching the super soph on the range before the day started, I told a fellow scribe that it looked like J.B. was blocking most of his drives to the right and seemed to be struggling with his swing.

Goes to show how much I know. Though Holmes did take a while to warm up, making bogey on his first hole en route to a front-nine even-par 36, he went low on the back with five birdies to finish with a tournament-best (so far) 68 for the day.

Backing out: I was greeted by the AP's Doug Ferguson this morning with a sarcastic, "Good job." Figuring he was blaming me for the torrential rain, I apologized, but he was instead chiding me for putting an apparent hex on Arron Oberholser, the subject of this week's Hot Seat interview.

Turns out Arron suffered a back injury and was forced to withdraw from the Mercedes prior to Friday's second round. At least, he contends it was a back injury. But you and I both know he was too mentally drained from those tough questions to continue competing. Of course.

Rob da "Gambler"

Speaking of betting, and thanks to da Bandit's suggestion, here's a shot of Robbo at Johnny V's Monkey Hill Bar in New Orleans. He's looking at a TV after a triple by Scott Spiezio in the Cardinals-Mets series. Da Rodent was on his way to lose another baseball bet, this one to me! Those wanting some betting action are hereby advised to contact Rob, it's like money in da bank (just ask Joel).

Duffer Award

My first decree ever as Commish... Let's hope the power doesn't get to my head like it did with our Former Commish and his meetings with the so-called "Central Committee". Since we were going to give $100 back to the last place finisher anyway, I think this will be reasonable.

THE DUFFER AWARD - 2007

The FPGPer with the lowest point total at the end of this year will get a "free roll" into next year's FPGP.

So it is written; so it shall be done.

Can Axley make the cut?

Sure he can. There is no cut this week. Gulp!

All Picks Are In...

Robbo made it in just under the gun. Thirteen total players this year, a record high!

I am sending Jeff the spreadsheet so he can adjust our sidebar and whatnot, so you should be able to see everyone's picks in the next day or so. Again, in the interets of transparency in this administration, here are Jeff and my picks:

My Regulars: Dimarco, Els, Furyk, Kuchar, Leanord, Na, Perez
My Shorts: Durant, Wetterich

Jeff's Regulars: Axley, Couch, Gutschewski, Hoffman, Kuehne, Na, O'Hair, Perks
Jeffs Short: Micheel

We have an interesting first time phenomenon (as far as I can remember) this year. Three players were both shorted and picked as regular picks. This could create some intersting fireworks. The players were Wetterich, Axley, and Leanord.

In the original rules, I indicated that if we had 15 players, we'd give $100 back to the last place finisher... the so-called "Duffer Award." We did not meet that number, but I would like to suggest that we institute the Duffer Award anyway, but rather than take $100 out of this prize pool, this year's Duffer just gets a free entry into next year's pool. If anyone has a problem with that, speak up. Otherwise, I am making it so.

Let the games begin!

PGATour.com Fantasy League

I just sent a few of you invites to play on a weekly PGATour.com fantasy league... it is simple to use and easy to understand... for those who are more interested in a "fantasy" experience where you juggle your roster from week to week, this will be a nice addition to our FPGP experience. If anyone else is interested, let me know.

Have You Seen Me?

The Diddler is living up to his nickname... everyone else has their picks in, with the exception of MG's friend. If any of you Floridians have contact with Robbo, get him to turn his picks in!!

Greetings, Happy New Year, Etc.

OK FPGPers, we have most of the picks in now... still waiting on Robbo (what a shock), MG's friend, Stan (who is dutifully working on his picks in the office next to me) and Shade's brother in law. If anyone can scrape up a few more players, that would be great, otherwise I think we will have 12. Not shockingly, Fraser sent me an email indicating that he was not going to join...

In the interest of transparency, I'll post my picks to the blog on Wednesday night. It will take me a little longer to get the others put together in a spreadsheet so that Shades can change the side bar, and I don't want to be accused of cheating...

I thought I'd ring in the new year on the FPGP with a Bobby Knight instructional video. Some bad language (shocking, right?), so if you are at work, turn down the volume.



A class act all the way...