Tag: Golfing

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

By on • ( Leave a comment )

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.

The 300s Podcast: Golf is Hard and is the World Cup Un-American?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Get your Monday started the right way with a fresh episode of The 300s Podcast! Joey B joins the pod as we regale some tales from our latest golf outing, we debate if the World Cup is Un-American, and is Oprah secretly trying to sink the Patriots? Click here to listen or download on iTunes or Google Play. Subscribe and review today!

Also on this episode Joey B and I discuss:

-Our latest disaster on the links:

“Golf is the only sport where for whatever reason you just kind of expect to play well even though you only play once a month. Its also one of the few sports where having a six pack before noon actually improves your performance.”

-Tom Brady saying he’s going to retire “sooner rather than later” in his interview with Oprah.

-Joe and I argue about the true value of Kyrie Irving and whether he is now expendable for the Celtics.

-The MMA Minute

-Joe’s latest Snake It Til You Make It award winner

 

Was Sunday the Best Sports Day of the Year?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Sunday may have been the best sports day of the year with the Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins each playing home games all while the final round of The Masters was going on.
Patrick Reed won his first green jacket yesterday and I don’t think anyone summarized that battle down the stretch better than the wifey:

Reed had a slim lead heading into the final 9 and Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler were all gunning for him. Reed was putting his body on the line though, broken hands be damned.

Rory couldn’t capitalize on a couple of missteps by Reed and imploded himself so he was out, but Spieth was putting on an absolute show shooting -9 on the final day to almost come all the way back to take it, finishing 2 back.

Rickie Fowler once again sexed up the whole course with his wardrobe:

Fowler quietly and maniacally hunted Reed down like the goddamn Terminator and almost pulled it out. It ultimately wasn’t enough as he finished 1 back as Reed set himself up to 2-putt his way to the victory. I watched the last 2 hours of The Masters at a bar by the Garden and the energy was awesome.

During all this, the Red Sox were getting their teeth kicked in on Sunday afternoon and after starting the year 7-1 I wasn’t too broken up about it. Eduardo Rodriguez looked lights out in his first start back since knee surgery with 7 K’s through 3 innings though.

Throwing 73 pitches in 3 innings is not exactly peak efficiency though. So I left my house and headed to the bar to watch the end of The Masters. After sitting down with a couple Bud Lattes the bar had both golf and the Sox on and it was some of the best TV I’ve seen all year. Boston orchestrated a huge comeback scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. All with two outs in the inning. Incredible.


Kind of a kick in the junk that Xander Bogaerts got hurt as he’s been red hot absolutely crushing the ball. But this team looks real good so far. I’m not gonna get crazy after a bunch of W’s against teams like the Rays and the Marlins who are likely going to set baseball back 20 years in the state of Florida this season, but hey you play who’s on the schedule.

Meanwhile the Celtics and the Bruins, who both lost in uniquely painful ways, played back to back games at the Garden. Props to the crew thats responsible for flipping that arena from a basketball court into a hockey rink in like 2 hours. The C’s blew a game to the Hawks that they should have won, but this team is fighting tooth and nail with bench players as we head into the playoffs.

Once the C’s wrapped up the Bruins were going against the Panthers and just need a W to clinch first place in the East. Now they obviously lost following a listless effort from the team, but the buzz around the city was palpable on Sunday.

AND to top it all off it was Rene Night with the Bruins honoring the legendary National Anthem singer who is retiring after 42 years with the team. I was at the game last night and let me tell ya, the crowd was Fired. Up. about Rene. I think possibly more so than they were for the actual game. The Bruins also really dug deep with the giveaways, completely mailing it in by giving away Rene Christmas Ornaments (in April) that were from 2010 to random rows of fans.

There were sports on TV basically from the time you got out of bed until the time you went to sleep. You don’t get that very often, but Christmas came early yesterday.

The LPGA Is Implementing A New, Very Strict Dress Code and People Aren’t Over the Moon About It

By on • ( Leave a comment )

AOL – The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is under fire for “body-shaming” its female players after the organization introduced a stricter dress code including longer skirts and no plunging necklines. A reporter for Teen Vogue magazine wrote, “we don’t see why someone can’t look professional in leggings. If anything, policing these women’s bodies and clothes takes away from their professional accomplishments. And if the sport wants a positive image, body-shaming is not the way to get it.” The new dress code, according to Golf Digest, includes no “plunging necklines,” and “leggings, unless under a skort or shorts, are not allowed.” Additionally, “length of skirt, skort and shorts MUST be long enough to not see your bottom area at any time, standing or bent over.”

Little insight from your old buddy Danny C here folks, if you’re a regular old Joe Schmo chances are people are not going to take it well if you tell chicks what to where, especially if it has to do with certain body parts. So you have to be OUTSIDE OF YOUR FUCKING MIND if you are a major organization, especially a sports league, to publish something so tone deaf like this.

First and foremost is the fact that I like to think I have a general knowledge of the LPGA. I know who Michelle Wie is, I have a blog in the works regarding my love for recent Women’s PGA Championship winner Danielle Kang, I followed the dominance of Annika Sorenstam, etc. Also, while at a bar, having lunch or whatever, if the LPGA is on I’ll watch it. Maybe it’s not the Masters, but it’s still better players than me with different strategies to consider. With that said I have never, ever seen a competitor on an LPGA course or during an LPGA event and said anything along the lines of, oh I don’t know, “Ok girl. Ok girl I see you.” It just doesn’t happen.

And to be clear I get any professional environment needs a dress code, but the LPGA is just stirring the pot here for no reason. Sure you have Wie twerking on IG and Paige Spiranac (who’s basically retired anyway) burning down every off-the-course medium in general, but that’s their personal social media accounts and their prerogatives. They’re young people who like being young. Watch “Murder She Wrote”, take a nap, and fuck off, LPGA.

The other thing that is a little irksome is the timing of this decree, in the middle of the season. I never understand decisions like this. If you are going to overhaul what these 9-iron wielding minxes are wearing on the course, why wouldn’t you do it between seasons or during a lull? Why now?

The fact that the LPGA caused this mess for themselves is completely asinine. You have a young, likable champ in Kang. Golf is growing ever popular. Although she may not like what she wears or how she presents herself (my guess is?) Spiranac is bringing more attention to women’s golf than ever and you react by being what amounts to the fun police? Oh and can I just mention I’m friends with enough chicks (humblebrag) to know that sometimes they just get fucking hot, same as guys, so in the middle of the golf course on a dog day of summer I’m sure, yes, wearing a little a less probably does help. Idiots.

P.S – I’d be doing everyone a disservice to not quickly mention that there is nothing worse on planet earth than White Knights and the fact that most of the people internet-mad in the above article are dudes. Hey guys LPGA golfers aren’t going to find you more attractive because you defend their right to Amish country-slut it up on twitter.