Tag: Francesco Molinari

The 300s Previews the 2019 PGA Championship

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The second major of the season, the PGA Championship, tees off at Bethpage Black on Thursday morning with coverage starting at 1 pm on TNT. The PGA Championship actually got bumped up from its traditional August slot up to May after some schedule shuffling, which seems like a smart way to build off the momentum of the Masters Tournament to be honest. I blogged about the 2018 PGA Championship last year, which was an absolute show as Brooks Koepka barely edged out a surging Tiger Woods to win by two strokes. I also predicted that Tiger would win a major sooner than later after that event, which he did so just 8 months later. So not a big deal, but you’re welcome, Tiger.

This year’s PGA Championship is at Bethpage Black on Long Island, which to put it bluntly is a bitch of a course:

“The sign behind the first tee of the Black Course at Bethpage State Park says all you need to know about what the world’s best golfers will face when they tee it up in May. In the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, only one player — Tiger Woods — finished below par for the tournament. In 2009, Lucas Glover won finishing at 4-under and only five players finished under par.” – PGA.com

So that sucks for these guys, but its also awesome for fans like me who are mediocre at golf. Seeing a world class golfer shank a shot and f bomb their way down the fairway just makes me feel better about shooting +4 on a Par 4 or as I like to call it “Double Par.”

Tiger and Koepka will be paired together so that makes for A+ golf entertainment right out of the gates as the winners of the past two major tournaments will be teeing off next to each other.

Of course heading into this weekend the main storyline is going to be can Tiger do it again?

Tiger Woods (+1100) is playing his first event since winning the Masters in April and is one of the favorites to bring it home. For the first time in a while it feels like he deserves that distinction too. Old Tiger is gone, but New Tiger is still a pretty dominating player when he’s on his game.

“Tiger Woods broke through at the Masters to pick up his 15th major championship and first major win since 2008 at the U.S. Open. Can he make it 16 and pull within two of Jack’s record at Bethpage? Well, history would say it’s quite possible. Tiger Woods conquered the first two legs of the grand slam back in 2002. The courses he played? Augusta National and Bethpage Black.” – PGA.com

There was a great article on ESPN the other day about how all the young guys are chomping at the bit because they all want to play against Tiger at his best. To which David Duval told all the millennials to go get their shinebox: “The hell you do,” Duval said.

After winning the Tour Championship, Woods noted how many of the young players lauded his comeback and said they wanted to go against him.

“Well, all right,” Woods said. “Here we go.”

Brooks Koepka (+1100) is your defending champ after winning the 2018 PGA Championship so coming into the weekend as one of the favorites feels about right. Especially after he finished just one stroke behind Tiger at the Masters and if not for some shaky putting could have earned himself another major (as well as some nice pocket change for you favorite blogger). Koepka for whatever reason seems to shine at the biggest events; he’s won three of the last 9 majors and in those 9 majors he’s placed in the top 6 a total of 6 times. So expect him to show up at Bethpage this weekend.

Dustin Johnson (+1000) is the favorite to take home the Wanamaker Trophy and its well earned, finishing one stroke back of Tiger at the Masters and oh yea he currently sits as the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world. Johnson is a solid bet, but he has been pretty up and down in recent tournaments. His last 6 finishes have been 28th, 2nd, 40th, 6th, 5th, and 1st.

Xander Schauffele (+2500) – My man Xander still gets no respect despite finishing ONE stroke behind Tiger (and losing me hundreds of dollars) at the Masters. The guy was one stroke (and a classic Tiger performance) away from winning a green jacket and he is yet again 25-1. I’m gonna ride with Xander here for my long shot because he looked like a major winner in the makings at Augusta.

Rory McIlroy (+1100) – I am fully expecting Tiger to stunt on Rory this weekend after the young Irishman said last year that he’s got no fear of Tiger.

“…asked if players were going to have to “deal with Tiger now for a few years.”

“Not Tiger that Phil [Mickelson] and Ernie [Els] had to deal with,” McIlroy said. “It’s a different version. … I wouldn’t say we’re worried about him, but he’s one of those guys who is always in there with a shot.”

Do I believe that?

Rory has been playing very well this year though with eight Top 10 finishes in his last 10 events, including a W at the Players Championship, so he’s not a bad bet to win this major.

Rickie Fowler (+1800) – Probably the most dangerous guy on this list to never win a major. Fowler started off the year pretty rough with a 47th place finish at the Players Championship and a 17th place finish at the Valero Texas Open, but he’s rebounded to 9th at the Masters and 4th at the Wells Fargo Championship most recently. I love watching Rickie play, mainly because he’s a tatted up guy thats my age playing against a lot of old boring golfers. Plus you have to respect his game after he wifed up legendary pole vaulter Allison Stokke who went viral a few years back for making people pay attention to pole vaulting.

Jordan Spieth (+4000) – Jordan has great odds at +4000, but the guy’s game is incredibly volatile. Spieth is either dominating the field or he is out of it before we even get to Sunday. In fact he’s been awful this year. Currently ranked No. 39 in the world, he’s failed to finish in the top 20 yet in 2019, and hasn’t won a tournament since 2017. He’s a big name who just needs to cross off the PGA Championship to complete the career grand slam, but he’s far from his best right now.

Here are the rest of the odds for the 2019 PGA Championship courtesy of OddsShark and Bovada as of Tuesday afternoon. I cut it off at +15000 because after that you get into some real long shots that won’t even make the cut.

Dustin Johnson +1000
Brooks Koepka +1100
Rory McIlroy +1100
Tiger Woods +1100
Rickie Fowler +1800
Jon Rahm +2000
Justin Rose +2000
Jason Day +2200
Francesco Molinari +2500
Xander Schauffele +2500
Tommy Fleetwood +2800
Tony Finau +3300
Bryson DeChambeau +3500
Hideki Matsuyama +4000
Jordan Spieth +4000
Patrick Cantlay +4000
Sergio Garcia +4000
Matt Kuchar +4500
Adam Scott +5000
Bubba Watson +5000
Paul Casey +5000
Gary Woodland +6600
Henrik Stenson +6600
Louis Oosthuizen +6600
Marc Leishman +6600
Patrick Reed +6600
Phil Mickelson +6600
Webb Simpson +6600
Ian Poulter +8000
Jason Kokrak +10000
Kevin Kisner +10000
Rafa Cabrera-Bello +10000
Aaron Wise +12500
Branden Grace +12500
Cameron Smith +12500
Charley Hoffman +12500
Hao Tong Li +12500
Jhonattan Vegas +12500
Keith Mitchell +12500
Lucas Glover +12500
Matt Wallace +12500
Matthew Fitzpatrick +12500
Ryan Moore +12500
Scott Piercy +12500
Alex Noren +15000
Billy Horschel +15000
Brandt Snedeker +15000
Byeong-Hun An +15000
C.T. Pan +15000
Charles Howell III +15000
Daniel Berger +15000
Eddie Pepperell +15000
Emiliano Grillo +15000
Graeme McDowell +15000
Jim Furyk +15000
Joel Dahmen +15000
Keegan Bradley +15000

The Masters Was an Instant Classic and I’m Happy for Tiger Woods, But My Wallet is Not

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Joey B previewed The Masters last week and boy was this year’s event a doozy. That was a full four days of entertainment. From watching in between meetings at work on Thursday and Friday to sitting my ass on the couch all day Saturday and then waking up early on Sunday to watch the last 5 or so hours. It was an instant classic.

The Masters was awesome last year too with Patrick Reed swooping in and snatching the green jacket like an 80’s movie villain. Just an emotionless robot looking rich kid with ice in his veins. Reed finished at a just ridiculous -15 to win the event. I watched last year at my house and then at the bar before heading in for a Celtics playoff game and it was thrilling. So I figured 2019 would have a tough time topping what was such a great event last year.

Really all you’re hoping for is that Tiger is in contention come Sunday. I know a lot of people say that, but it’s true. Whether thats a reflection on the absolute void of exciting and entertaining personalities in golf is a valid question. Either way though, Tiger is must see TV when he’s within reach of victory. Going into Sunday he was just 2 strokes back and there was about 6 or 7 guys all within 3 strokes so it was going to be a battle. Add in the fact that they pushed everyone’s tee time up on Sunday because of an incoming storm and it was Tiger time before I even had my morning coffee. It was too early the perfect time to crack that first Sunday morning Bud Latte too.

Tiger looked like a man on a mission, but a couple of gimme putts he missed had me thinking he just wasn’t going to have enough in the tank.

The legend of Tiger has faded a bit in recent years, or so I thought. Less and less do we see guys just wilting under the mere presence of Tiger on their six. Well lucky for us the guy Tiger was chasing, Francesco Molinari, is exactly who he was paired up with on Sunday morning. So every time Francesco tee’d off, Tiger was staring a fucking hole in the guy’s back. And Molinari could *feel* that.

With a two stroke lead he started to melt when he put his first shot in the water on No. 12. Even Tiger’s caddy, Joe LaCava, was shocked:

LaCava said that Tiger was all business after Molinari, inexplicably, put his tee ball in Rae’s Creek. For LaCava, it wasn’t something he saw coming. Molinari, who’s so steady it’s borderline infuriating, wasn’t a player you’d peg as a candidate to drop a ball in the water on the back nine of a major.

“[Molinari]’s one of those guys, he’s not going to go away,” said Lacava. “I was a little surprised he hit it in there. I was thinking this is a perfect 8 iron for him, it’s probably a smash 9 iron for us. I actually thought he was going to hit not to two feet, but 15 feet left. I was very surprised. Things definitely changed.”

The cameras cut to Tiger and you can see his eyes come to life.

It’s like when Eminem gives the mic to Papa Doc in the final rap battle and he slowly realizes that Papa Doc just doesn’t have anything left.

After that it was a wrap. Tiger slowly but surely chipped away at Molinari’s lead before just having to two putt on 18 to win The Masters. No problem.

It was an incredible scene to watch and say what you will about his past transgressions, but I love a good comeback story. People thought his career was over, his back was in shambles and here he was putting for his fifth green jacket.

It means so much more to him these days too. I first saw it at the PGA Championship last year where he narrowly lost to Brooks Koepka and he walked off and hugged his kids and looked like he was about to cry, but in a good way. Like he was beaming with pride because all though he didn’t win, he was healthy, he played his balls off, and his kids saw it.

He was a fucking legend back in the day, a complete force of nature, but his kids were too young to see that. Tiger even said it in one of his interviews Sunday, for the longest time he was just “the YouTube golfer” to his kids. So for him to be dominant and winning majors in front of his kids who are now old enough to understand and appreciate what they’re seeing is a huge change for Tiger. And now the chase of Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors is back on.

It wasn’t all gumdrops and rainbows though as the price of admission for me seeing Tiger return to his former glory was a shit ton of my own money. I had Brooks Koepka at +2,500 and Xander Schauffele as my longshot at +4,000 to win The Masters. Both of them finished ONE stroke behind Tiger. That hurt. Xander was a guy I bet on solely because of how confident my barber was in telling me to do so just a few weeks ago. So I thought well I’ll feel like a real schmuck if I ignore this divine intervention and Xander goes on to win. Welp, my guy was gunning for it late and missed a couple of putts, but would have at least gotten into a playoff or even won it outright if not for Tiger. Tiger picked a great day to pull a vintage performance out of his ass.

I Was Sweating Tiger Woods Hard at the British Open. The Comeback Story is Coming

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The British Open crowned a first time champion on Sunday, Francesco Molinari, in what was, as my girl described it, “surprisingly entertaining.” And thats exactly what it was. On Saturday Tiger had clawed his way back into contention climbing from 29th all the way into the top 10. So when Tiger walked out onto the links for the first time on Sunday morning in the *collar-less* red henley I was SWEATING.

Pure style. Pure swagger. An absolute game changer. Hell even Nike was going back and forth with me on Twitter, they know when they have a monster on their hands.

As rough as the entire course was at Carnoustie I loved it because it made golf harder for everyone, which makes me feel better because I am not good at golf.

Now say what you will about Tiger the person, but Tiger the player? Golf is hands down better when he’s playing well and in contention. And man was he in contention. Tiger climbed all the way up from the basement with a monster 66 on Saturday and continued rolling on Sunday to eventually take a share of the lead on Sunday afternoon. It looked like Tiger was going to threaten to snatch his first major since 2010.

He was playing cocky too. He wasn’t playing it safe, he saw a field crumbling around him and knew he’d have to take some chances if he wanted to steal a win. Mickelson was playing out the string, Rory was making a charge but up and down, Speith was forcing his way out of contention with a brutal short game and a drop after hitting it into a goddamn bush. So Tiger saw his chance. Tiger was playing so well that he should have been cocky, but that might have been his downfall.

After crushing it all day, he suddenly imploded with a double bogey on 11 and a bogey on 12 that sealed his fate. Tiger landed in some rough patches and some bunkers and rather than two hit it and play it safe he opted for the Happy Gilmore approach to try and win it now.

Didn’t quite work out the way he had planned, as he bogeyed and double bogeyed, sinking any chance he had of winning. Thats where the flashbacks of old Tiger vanished.

Not to mention that heathen in the gallery on 18.

I am far from an old school golf purist, but with that being said, I want that dude’s head. More so than the lady who brought her baby in a carriage to the front row of the gallery. You gotta be a special breed of dickhead to go all the way out to the British Open just to yell in Tiger’s backswing on 18.

Now Tiger would have had to essentially eagle it to even force a playoff, but still what the fuck dude? Take that shit to a public course, not the 18th tee at the British goddamn Open.

So Francesco went on to win his first major ever. I cant say I’m familiar with his work, but its hard not to root for a guy who was doing this not too long ago.

Never stop grinding.

I know there has been a lot of hate directed at Tiger the last few years because he can come off as a phony at times, but I don’t know man I just love the redemption story. Winning a shit ton of majors when you’re young is awesome, but being the old guy, the last samurai, the old wily vet, playing with nothing but grit and balls trying to grind out a victory is way more entertaining to me. You can just tell it means more to him than it ever did before, despite having put 20+ years into the sport already. Just look at this quote from Tiger about what he said to his kids after he came off the 18th green.

“I know that they know how much this championship means to me and how much it feels good to be back playing again. I’ve won a lot of golf tournaments, but they don’t remember any of them.

“The only thing they’ve seen is my struggles and the pain I was going through.”

As Bodhi says in one of my all-time favorite movies Point Break:

I’m rooting for old Tiger to pull one out and it looks like he’s closer than he’s been in a long time.

God damn I love golf.