It is time to hand out 50 PGA TOUR cards!

The cut at the Web.com Tour Championship, the last of the Four Final events to determine 50 PGA TOUR cards for next season is agonizing in and of itself. When there is a an hour or so weather delay on Friday, the sun still sets at 7:27 pm and there are golfers left on the golf course with their fate and the fate of others yet to be known. Saturday morning comes with no sun rise, at least not visible to those with golf clubs in their hands heading out to Dye’s Valley to finish Round 2. It is a dreary day and drizzling outside. Perfect weather to make the competition even more challenging and dramatic. Oh, the agony and sheer excitement to make it to the PGA TOUR.

Sunny and bright is Zac Blair who is 13-under, bogey-less and leading by three strokes with three holes remaining to be played in Round 2. Blair was ranked dead last coming into the Final Finale, one of 21, including 2003 Open Champion Ben Curtis, with zero dollars earned in the first three playoff events. Blair went birdie, bogey, par to post 13-under and maintain a three stroke lead going into Round 3. The number is important, relative to other numbers, not whether or not one is bogey-free at this stage. Three missed cuts and a top finish to be No. 50 or above is coming into focus for Zac. Only two more rounds to go.

Web.com’s hospitality on the 18th green was filled to the brim Friday afternoon.

At dawn Saturday morning there were 68 golfers at even par making the cut. Once all golfers finished Round 2 play the final cut of the year came at 66 players at even par. Jeff Curl, another Web.comer, in the 26-75 category with no golden Top 25 tour card bogeyed the 17th and finished outside the cut at plus-1.

Harrison Frazar, with only his last hole, the 9th, to play this morning, posted a 10 to go from 1-under to 5-over and miss the cut. It is reported that he found water left with his tee shot, took a drop then found water left with his approach shot last night. This morning he found his ball in the water and attempted to get it up and down for the much needed bogey on the par-4 hole. Frazar won the 2011 FedEx St. Jude Classic, his first win in 355 starts, played in 15 regular tour events this year and made 3 cuts. He missed all four cuts in the Web.com Finals. After sitting out the 2013 season with a back injury, he is playing on a Major Medical Extension and has 10 events to earn 332.25 FedEx Cup points or $548,236 to retain his PGA Tour card according to Wikipedia.

Midway through the Web.com Tour Championship six players are projected to move into the Top 50 and earn their tour card by virtue of their play this week. Note that these are only projected at this time. There are still 36 holes to be played. The hopeful group of six are led by Zac Blair who is projected to win the event and the $180,000 first place check. Updated ‘Bubble Boy’ is No. 50 Tag Ridings with $35,798 in Finals earnings. A sixth place finish alone earns $36,ooo. As in the financial markets, historic golf performance, even that within the last 48 hours, does not project the future final two rounds. Hopefully for those involved along with Blair- Sung Joon Park, Miguel Angel Carballo, James Nitties, Chad Collins, and Ridings future is what has been projected.

There was excitement inside and outside the ropes on Friday afternoon.

For every six that enter the Top 50 there are six that leave the Top 50 surprisingly whether or not they made the cut this week. Four missed the cut and can no longer make money, improve their position and rebound back into the Top 50- they are Dicky Pride, Greg Chalmers, Will Wilcox, and Patrick Rodgers. Even though Vaughn Taylor (T34, 69-70) and Carlos Sanz (T50, 70-70) made the cut they slid out of the Top 50 mainly due to Zac Blair  (1st, 63-65) and Miguel Angel Carballo (T3, 68-65) coming from oblivion to possibly winning a Finals event and a ticket to the BIG SHOW next year. The Web.com golf competition is as exciting as the PGA TOUR, except you may not know the players as well. That is why their caddies wear the number associated with the players Top 50 rank. Remember (sure you do) the Rocket, Billy Horschel’s meteoric rise to the FedExCup title?

Remember it is not necessarily the main combatants that determine their fate in this fighting format for a PGA TOUR card. The Golden Boys with tour card for next year securely in hand and those still playing this week and seemingly out of the tournament and the race for the Top 50 can suddenly emerge to impact the final outcome. If Zac Blair falters a bit and someone ties him for that needed sixth place finish his earnings drop from $36,000 to $34,750. Another one and one more to make it a four way tie and it is nearly $4,000 less than a singular finish. A Sunday 65 can topple the apple cart for some. That is why they payout in dollars and cents. It can literally come down to the last putt, a penny and someone’s prayer being answered.

Jim Furyk addresses the crowd in front of a decked out Clubhouse. The big star of the night was the war veteran seated to the right.

It is a day projected of rain, a Northeaster sending waves of rain at times to Dye’s Valley to raise the bar of competition just a bit. Another variable for the competitive golfer to adjust to and perhaps another outside agent that determines one’s fate. Of course, any and all outside forces can be combated with stronger inside forces for golf, like life, is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to what happens to us. Vaughn Taylor and Carlos Sanz are still playing along with 64 other golfers that made the cut, some with a card securely in hand, others with a hunger to have one with their name on it come Sunday evening on the back lawn of the Clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass. Game on, whatever the inside or outside conditions or thoughts and golf clubs being swung to impact golf balls. Play well and keep praying whether you are playing or not.

A couple experiences from earlier in the week to report on from outside the ropes.

Excited to start my new journey…

The 9th annual ‘Taste of Golf,’ a fundraiser for The First Tee of North Florida, was another incredible and successful affair on Thursday night at the Clubhouse. If you get a chance go out to their home and play the Brentwood Golf Course. It is a regulation 9-hole reduction (the 6th hole is original) of the 1923 Donald Ross design that was redesigned by the PGA Design Services Group for the First Tee. Sam Snead won two Jacksonville Opens on the very same ground. If you are lucky you will meet some of the First Tee kids and hopefully get to play nine holes with them. The kids weren’t at the fundraiser but they were as their thoughts were present in the form of placards prominently displayed throughout the elegant Ponte Vedra Room and upper level of the Clubhouse. I liked the one best by Angelina because it referenced golf as a journey that she seems excited to explore. I am thinking that is how she approaches life and with her First Tee experience, will undoubtedly impact the world well after my years here have passed. It is a great feeling anytime I am connecting with The First Tee organization, playing golf or not, tasting golf or not, staffers or kids, it does not matter!

Erin & Joshua Spalding, a true love & golf story!

I came across a golf and love story when I met Erin Spalding while enjoying the deliciously sweet confections of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. Her fiance, now husband Joshua, was playing the local Arnold Palmer Signature Plantations Course with her father David back in November 2012. Starting on the back nine, he had it going and was 5-under par when they arrived at the par-3 third hole. Full of confidence he couldn’t wait until Christmas and politely asked David for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Evidently the answer was yes from both father, and later from the daughter, though the golf score suffered terribly for the remaining seven holes. The marriage, as you can tell in the picture, is going extremely well. Joshua Spalding’s golf game came back as this week he shot 68-71 to advance through the Web.com Q-School Pre-Qualifying in Texas. Golf and love do go together!

With Milan Moore of the ‘Milan Touch’ persuasion!

As surprising as the ins and outs of the Web.com Finals is the common link between the ‘Taste of Golf’ First Tee Benefit Event and the Dye’s Valley reconstruction- the always stunning Milan Moore. Milan, a golf course architect with the PGA TOUR Design Services Group, was both the Chairwoman of the Taste of Golf Committee and Project Manager for the Dye’s Valley project. The golf course is as stunning as she is and has received rave reviews from the players this week. Mother Nature tested the golf course with a deluge Friday afternoon that was a resounding ‘Awesome Yes’ as the players returned to playing golf in a little over one hour. A good Pete Dye design brought to modern life so much so that it seems as if there was a ‘Midas Touch’ during the reconstruction or maybe a ‘Milan Touch.’ Congratulations Milan and the entire PGA TOUR Design Service Group for a reconstruction well done!

Sergeant Sean Karpf, a American Hero is the story so far this week at TPC Sawgrass. WOW! Sean, thank you for your service to our country!

One more thing, and we saved the best for last, as we head into a Ryder Cup week. The Friday night Military Appreciation Ceremony was one of the best ever at TPC Sawgrass, right up there with President George H.W. Bush’s PGA TOUR Lifetime Achievement Award and Military Celebration at the 2009 PLAYERS Championship. There were chants of ‘USA, USA, USA’ for Jim Furyk as he heads across the pond to represent the United States of America in the Ryder Cup in Scotland. But Jim’s mission was bigger tonight as he introduced a true American hero Sergeant Sean Karpf. Sergeant Karpf gave a heartfelt account of his wartime experience and shared his gratitude for being alive and an American. All the best to you Sean and good luck in the Ryder Cup Jim!

Tournament Golf is back at TPC Sawgrass! This week its the Web.com Tour Championship on the Dye’s Valley Course.

It is a Battle of the Tours, the PGA TOUR versus the Web.com Tour, at TPC Sawgrass this week. They call the Battle the Web.com Tour Championship but it is really the FedExCup Points Nos. 126-200 from the PGA TOUR versus the Money List Nos. 26-75 from the Web.com Tour. The Top 25 from the Web.com are already golden and have a tour card in hand for the 2014-2015 PGA TOUR season. They are playing to improve their priority position. What is really at stake is an additional 25 tour cards based solely on money won in the four Finals events which culminate this week on Dye’s Valley Course. That competition pits 75 former PGA TOUR players versus 50 current Web.com Tour players who may or may not be former PGA TOUR players. It can be confusing!

For instance, Bud Cauley played in 19 PGA TOUR events this year, made $647,886 and finished No. 129 on the Money List. He did not make the FedExCup Playoffs and won the first Web.com Finals event, the Hotel Fitness Championship. His $180,000 in winnings ranks him as the highest non Web.com member behind Season Winner Carlos Ortiz and Adam Hadwin. Unfortunately, Cauley torn his labrum cartilage in his left shoulder, is recovering from surgery with a full recovery expected. Priority for the PGA TOUR next year is alternated between the Top 25 Web.com regular season finishers and the Other 25 from the Web.com Finals.

Bud Cauley posted this picture on Instagram. Get healthy soon Bud!

The other two Finals event winners Adam Hadwin (Chiquita Classic) and Justin Thomas (Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship), both Web.com Top 25 players, improved their priority. Adam improved to No. 2 just behind Ortiz and Justin to No. 4 just behind Cauley. One spot can make all the difference in getting into a PGA TOUR event especially early in the season. Remember there are 125 PGA TOUR members that kept their cards this year and with sponsor exemptions, prior champions and limited hours of daylight early in the year fields fill up quickly.

Colt Knost played in 21 Web.com events this year, made $106,460 and finished No. 34 on the Money List. So far in the Finals he has won $138,000 with a 2nd place finish at the Hotel Fitness Championship and a T8 at the Chiquita Classic. He chose to not play last week and is playing this week. The 2007 U.S. Amateur Champion is ranked the highest of any of the Web.com 26-75 Finisher at No. 5. Like Billy Horschel did on the PGA TOUR, you can make a season in the post season on the Web.com too.

Jonathan Byrd, a 5-time PGA TOUR winner, who ended the 2010 Las Vegas event with an ace on his final swing, needs a high finish to regain his tour card.

So how is the Battle of the Tours going through the first three Finals events? It is 14 versus 11 for the PGA TOUR (Nos. 126-200) and Web.com (Nos 26-75). Taking into account the different group sizes (50% more PGA TOUR players), the Web.com players are ahead on a percentage basis 22.0% to 18.7%.

Patrick Rodgers, the Tiger Woods protege out of Stanford University, is the Bubble Boy at No. 50. A nonmember of the PGA TOUR he played in seven events on sponsors’ exemptions. He made five cuts, $75,104, and most importantly 85 FedExCup points, the equivalent of No. 196 this year, barely enough to get a spot in the Web.com Finals. His T8 at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship earned him the $30,000 to place him No. 50 with a good shot at earning a PGA TOUR card for next season.

The next ten players below Rodgers are comprised of four PGA TOUR (Nos. 126-200) and six Web.com (Nos 26-75). The Web.com is definitely “the Path to the PGA TOUR” and the path back to the PGA TOUR.

Carlos Ortiz doing a media interview in the shade near the TOUR Academy.

After a morning of analyzing numbers and becoming more familiar with the field of 128 players I decided to head to the practice range to check out the players.

As fate would have it I found the following on Carlos Ortiz, the Season Winner on the Web.com Tour and currently the No. 1 ranked player in the Finals. To finish No.1 is huge as it comes with a fully exempt tour card and an invitation to come back to TPC Sawgrass and play the other course (The Stadium Course) in THE PLAYERS Championship.

Carlos Ortiz is the poster child for the 2014 Web.com season, winning three times in Weeks 4, 6, 23, the third time at the final regular season event. Officially a battlefield promotion to the PGA TOUR but that battlefield was in Playoff mode so has to wait for 2014-2015 season which starts in two weeks at the Frys.com Open. His birthplace is the same as Lorena Ochoa- Guadalajara, Mexico. Maybe it is his destiny to wind up in St. Augustine, Florida with her in the World Golf Hall of Fame? Ortiz is a ‘dot com hopper’? Played in two Finals event and missed cut in both. Time for celebrating is over. Time to get his PGA TOUR game face on and quickly!

With No. 1 golfer Carlos Ortiz and his mother ‘Chela.’

When I went out to the practice range I came across him doing a television interview. I didn’t understand much because it was in Spanish but I met his mother ‘Chela’ which is short for Graciela. I thought it interesting that she mentioned Carlos Jr. (his father is also Carlos) did play at the same Guadalajara Country Club as Lorena. Carlos Jr. was ‘sporty-like’ Mom & Dad and began playing tournaments at age 7. He went to a German school growing up and they sent him to Germany for a year at age 12. His only wish was to continue playing golf which was possible after their search found a year-round golfing school. I wonder if Martin Kaymer winning this year’s PLAYERS and the German flag flying over Champions Circle at TPC Sawgrass is a good omen for Carlos to lock in that top spot this week?

A Google search for Carrie Underwood-Golf returned this picture. Maybe Justin will teach her how to play golf?

One other interesting thing I came across researching a few of the players. Justin Thomas won a playoff over Richard Sterne last week in the third Finals event, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on the Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University. The 21-year old was a star freshman at Alabama in 2012 on a team that lost the national championship on the final hole in the final match that year. Justin won one national championship as a sophomore before turning pro and missing Alabama’s second consecutive NCAA Championship this year. His other profile data included: “Favorite courses played are Augusta National and Cypress Point” and “Would like to play Pine Valley and Shinnecock Hills.” I am thinking that will happen. His Dream Foursome would include his Dad, Carrie Underwood and Nick Saban. I don’t know who Nick Saban is? I did not know Carrie Underwood played golf?

I am very excited for tomorrow to come so we can begin the Web.com Tour Championship! With a Scott McCreery Military Appreciation Day Concert Friday and College Game Day Saturday for crossover football fans the tour slogan “Come for THE FUN, Stay for THE GOLF,” probably makes sense for a lot of people.

I am coming back for the golf, will have fun and MORE FUN after the golf is over!

Kevin Sutherland was 9-under par after eight holes. It was GO time to see history at En Joie GC.

When I arrived at the media center around noon for Round Two of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open and checked the leaderboard I saw Kevin Sutherland was 6-under par after five holes. Hmm I thought pretty good start. My plan was to write for a few hours, watch the leaders John Cook and Olin Browne tee off with Steve Lowery at 1:31 pm and then have a spiedie and wait for them to come around and walk with them on the back nine. Then the Champions Tour rookie continued his birdie barrage with three more on Nos. 6, 7 and 8. It was time to go! Nine-under through eight holes, this is more than a 59-watch! Like when your wife tells you it is time to go to the hospital, I thought it might be time to see a 59 or lower birthed on the senior tour.

Kevin Sutherland’s birdie putt on 9 green. Missed it to shoot 9-under on the front nine at En Joie GC.

When  arrived at No. 9 green I saw a ball not far from the green and two back in the fairway. As the players lined up with their ball I realized the one nearer the green belonged to Kevin Sutherland Thinking he somehow had to chip out of the woods and lay up I was informed that it was his drive. Impressive! He pitched up from about 70 yards to a back hole location and missed the putt. Ugh oh maybe I was going to jinx him like it seems so many television broadcasters do when they make a point that a player hasn’t missed a  3-footer in the last zillion rounds and he misses one. Kevin would say later in his interview that “I missed it, so my first par of the day but I turned at 9-under, so I wasn’t griping.”

I was surprised when the guy who shot 71 in the first round and is now on fire walked by me and continued down the road along billboard alley going countercurrent to a slew of spectators heading from the clubhouse area to the golf course. His playing partners Jeff Hart (71-70) and Gene Sauers (71-70) headed to the first fairway and opted to walk to the 10th tee (double tee with No. 1) inside the ropes. I could sense everyone, caddies included, except his own caddie Billy Lewis were giving Sutherland his distance. Everyone knew what was at stake but no one was saying anything to acknowledge it. In some way I thought of him being in a self imposed quarantine, a positive one, not like the ebola virus.

In the zone, Sutherland walks past and passes on a Lupo’s spiedie on the way to the 14th tee.

Sutherland nailed his hybrid on No. 10, lobbed up and made a 10-footer to get back on the birdie train. On eleven he pulled an 8-iron but drained the 45-footer like the bombs he made on the front side at Nos. 2 and 4. Other good memories of the front side for Kevin included a 6-foot eagle putt made on the par-5 fifth hole and a hole-out deuce from a difficult downhill lie in the bunker at No. 7. A bunkered drive on the par-5 twelfth hole dictated a layout and a missed a 25-foot birdie putt after a mediocre wedge. A missed 10-footer on No. 13 and all of a sudden it is three pars in a row with only five holes left to make the two birdies needed to shoot a 59. I watched him pass the Lupo spiedie girl on the way to the 13th tee. Lupo’s has the best spiedies in the Southern Tier and it is their custom to provide the local culinary creation on a complimentary basis to players, caddies and media. While Kevin said “No thanks, I am fine” to the smiling Jan Nolis I said “sure” and indulged in my  childhood favorite to the extent I wasn’t quite sure, when I saw from a distance, Kevin make a short putt on the 13th green if it was for birdie or par?

Sutherland’s pitch into the 15th green nearly spun back into the water.

It was for par. Four holes remaining, two birdies needed. Still good odds considering the scorecard up to this point included one eagle, four pars and nine birdies. On No. 15, the hole local hero Richie Karl birdied to beat Bruce Crampton in a playoff in 1974, Kevin hits an aggressive driver, then sand wedge to ten feet and drains the putt. Using the backboard on the approach shot, the rebound roll caught his full attention until the ball came to a rest safely above the water line near the front hole location. Better to drain a birdie putt than an approach wedge. Three holes left, only one birdie needed to shoot 59.

With a booming high fade drive, the fifty-year old drives the green on the short par-4 16th hole. It’s a good thing when a player takes his putter out of the bag on the tee after teeing off, especially on a par-4. Though a difficult 35-foot eagle putt missed he clanked in the 4-footer for birdie and now only needed two pars for the 59. A 6-iron that released over the ridge on the 17th green to tap-in birdie brought a light moment on the tee when Richie, the Golf Channel cameraman let him know it was only one foot away. Keith responded that he would take a 3-footer. Deuce made, par 18 for a 58 to start a new and better club than the 7-some in the professional Club 59.

Honorary Observers Kathi & Dr. George Roberts showing good MoJo on the 13th hole.

Though only a one-time winner on the PGA TOUR in the match play World Golf Championship, my observations of Sutherland was that of a seasoned finisher- walked slowly though usually off the tee first, kept to himself with a little distance from the pack of players, caddies, scorer, standard bearer and honorary observers and typically on the inside away from the gallery side (though walking to the 10th tee was an exception). Though he would say later he knew exactly where he was in relation to 59 after the eagle on the 5ht hole but thought nothing of his place on the leaderboard in terms of the 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. His use of a white towel, pre-shot and putting preparation seemed routine. Frequent use of chap stick, two trips to the port-a-john on the 12th and 15th tees, and interaction with his caddie all seemed normal and supportive of a horse that does not fade until the finish line is crossed.

Scorer Joann Matarese and Standard Bearer Brandon Wanchisen witnessed history!

With a 58 on the par horizon and at worse a Champions record 59 with a bogey he drove right to avoid water left on the dog-leg-right home hole at En Joie GC. Fairly deep in the trees and 110 yards to the front of the green he had a good angle from a bad position on the inside of a dogleg. How would the guy who I remember seeing in a wild playoff loss to Vijay Singh in the 2008 Barclays FedEx Cup playoff event at Ridgeway CC respond? On the first playoff hole Sutherland faltered and marked a 6-footer for par to watch Sergio first, then Vijay attempt rather lengthy birdie putts to win. Sergio drained his 27-footer with gusto and Kevin not only picked up his mark but seemed to congratulate Sergio on the victory. Singh, as patient as Olazabal on the 17th hole at Brookline in the Ryder Cup after Justin Leonard’s bomb goes in, made his 26-footer and won on the next playoff hole.

Sutherland played  his role to perfection with a recovery shot that stopped just four feet off the front of the green. This was his moment in golf history for sure, the only question was how big of a moment will it be? Chip putt in from 40 feet for a 57 and it is unthinkable, a less-than-four-minute-mile. Get it up and down for a par and 58 and it is huge, a new level of performance in professional golf. BE a bit nervous and roll it seven feet by the hole and miss the comeback putt for 59 and it is a remarkable feat. And that is what happened, a bogey on the last to shoot 59!

With the newest ‘Mr. 59’ Kevin Sutherland and ‘Mr. 61 Year Sportswriter’ John Fox.

Sutherland takes a one-stroke lead over Steve Lowery (66-65), two strokes over John Cook (65-67), three strokes over Scott Hoch who shot the day’s second best round, a 64, five strokes worse (69-64) and four strokes over the ever present, consistent and competitive Bernard Langer (67-67).

This is Kevin Sutherland’s moment. He is in the 59 club with the original ‘Mr. 59’ Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Annika Sorenstam, the only woman to do so, his buddy Paul Goydos, who with fifteen other golfers watched the grand finale on the 18th green, Stuart Appleby and Jim Furyk.

The first Kevin Sutherland’ signed ’59’ ball went to fan Mike Zwick.

This article is formatted like the 164th “Backwards Episode” of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. Most recent at the start! Note that there are 27 additional stories in the picture show at the bottom of this post.

Evening:

The Zac Brown Band concert.

Afternoon:

Hello again John Fox, local sportswriter for 61 years!

After watching some golf I came back into the media center and found John Fox, longtime sports columnist for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin Newspaper. By longtime I mean 61 years. I saw him here in 2010 and reintroduced myself and congratulated him like countless others when he wrote his final column on June 27th which was entitled “After so long, it’s ‘So Long.'” The man was ingenious with his thoughts, perspectives and words. Sixty-one years before, on June 27th, 1949, his first assignment on his first day was to cover an exhibition by Dr. Cary Middlecoff a few weeks after he won the U.S. Open at Medinah CC. It was played at the old Vestal Hills CC which was a 9-holer on the opposite side of the Susquehanna River a few miles upstream from the En Joie Golf Course. That golf course was moved into the hills to more accurately reflect its name. John Fox has kept himself moving ever since and hopefully for a long time more. What a delight to see John Fox today and here old stories about Ely Park and golf in the Triple Cities!

Olin Browne shot 64 in Round One and is tied for the lead with John Cook.

Olin Browne out at 10:53 am with Tom Pernice Jr. (74) and John Riegger (67) posted a 7-under 65 that was only tied later in the day by John Cook. Browne became the fifth player to win on the Web.com, PGA TOUR and Champions Tour when he won the 2011 U.S. Senior Open, his only age 50-plus win. ‘OB’ spoke of the cycles in golf: “Winning is hard, it’s really hard… all you can do is show up, keep making some putts, hit some good shots, and when it is your turn, it’s your turn (to win).” asked about his preparation for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open he responded, “I really worked on my preparation last week. I went fishing with my daughter for three days and hung out at the beach.” Playing with Ed Stack, son of Dick’s Sporting Goods founder and CEO since 1984, he didn’t contribute on one hole, evidently saving all his birdies for Round One.

Woody Austin is loving life on the Champions Tour.

Woody Austin, the 1995 Rookie of the Year on the PGA TOUR, shot 5-under on the front nine and even par coming home to post a 67 good for a T6 position after Round One. After giving details of his brilliant front nine he joked that he made the turn and “unfortunately I woke up.” Austin, the 2007 President’s Cup ‘Aqua Man,’ won the PGA TOUR’s Sanderson Farms Championship last July and then turned 50 in January. In 22 tour events this year he has only one Top-25 finish. In his debut and only other Champions Tour competition he finished T3 at the U.S. Senior Open won by Colin Montgomerie. asked about his conflicting levels of performance he went into a rather logical explanation that centered on technology and skill. “I am no longer that guy that’s 40 yards behind everyone… I hit more sand wedges today than I’ve hit all year long.” Welcome to the Champions Tour Woody!

Steve Lowery has stopped fiddling with his swing and opened with a 66 in Round One.

Steve Lowery had nine birdies, five straight on holes five thru nine, and shot 66 in Round One to trail the leaders by one shot. David Frost and defending champion Bart Bryant also shot 66 and are tied for third place. A 15-footer for par on No. 11 kept the round going for Lowery who won three times on the PGA TOUR, all in playoffs, but is yet to win in 77 Champions Tour appearances. Steve admitted to fiddling too much with his swing: “I’ve been out there playing golf for a couple of years trying to work on my swing hoping it would work. It never does… I was trying to get better and I was getting worse.” No more fiddling Steve Lowery!

John Cook shot 65 and is tied for the lead with Olin Browne after Round One.

John Cook’s round was more balanced that Olin or Woody’s round as he shot 33-32=65 in the second to last pairing, with two birdies to finish, to tie Browne for the lead. It was a comfortable pairing with Jeff Sluman (67) and Jay Haas (71). It is amazing to me that ‘Cookie,’ with 11 regular tour wins and 9 on the Champions Tour has not won a major on either tour. He was sidelined for 10 weeks early in the season after slipping on carpet at home and literally cracking his back. The recovery did not require surgery only rest and he came back rusty. He is ready for the weekend at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open and the home stretch of 10 straight tournaments in a row with only one off week.

Morning:

Bobby Clampett emerging from the ‘IMPACT ZONE.”

I arrived at the course a little after 8 am but didn’t make it to my spot the media center until well after 10 am. I wanted to see Jim Rutledge hit the first tee shot, the first of 81 golfers, off No. 1 in the 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. But I missed that too. When I volunteer at the World Golf Hall of Fame they call me the “Wanderer” as I admittedly seem to meander from one exhibit to another when my next new friend in golf has yet to arrive at my post. Today I was drawn, actually given a ride in a golf cart, by Dave Baker the man who presented the key to Endicott to Fred Funk yesterday and has been volunteering at En Joie for the last 39 years. That means he is 1976 vintage, the year Bob Wynn won, five years after Butch Harmon won the 36-hole inaugural Broome County Open and two years after Johnson City’s own Richie Karl became the last club professional to win a PGA TOUR event. I was 14 years old and remember being there on the 15th green and seeing Richie drain a 35-foot putt to beat Bruce Crampton in a playoff.

Anne Williams carrying on Dave Thomas’ legacy with Wendy’s Walk for Kids, Steps to a Brighter Future.

Dave drove me to the front gate area where I visited with each exhibitor. The very first one was I met was Anne Williams of Wendy’s Walk for Kids. A franchiser of 17 Wendy’s Restaurants in the Central New York region with partner Jeff Coghlan, she wanted to do something for children during the National Children’s Awareness Month of June. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s was born to a young unmarried woman he never knew. Adopted six weeks later, the philanthropist became a well-known advocate for adoption.  Five years ago, when the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open was in June, Anne teamed up with Tournament Director John Karedes and Broome County Catholic Charities and simply started to walk for the kids on tournament Sunday morning, taking steps to a brighter future. In 2009 they raised $40,000, last year $245,000 and likely will cross the $1 million mark this year. I can see why the PGA TOUR awarded Wendy’s Walk for Kids and Broome County Catholic Charities the Champions Tour 2012 Charity of the Year Award. The charitable donations from the generous people of the Central New York Region have funded an adoption recruiter. Somehow I think Dave Thomas is smiling down from above, just like Wendy, knowing his spirit is alive and well both in a tasty  Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy 1/4 lb. Single and a young child finding a home.

One of Bobby Clampett’s ‘BC’ Endicott Johnson spikeless shoes sold on EBAY.

I missed Rutledge’s tee shot but did manage to say hello to Bobby Clampett and watched him tee off at 10:09 with Hal Sutton and John Inman. Right now Bobby is 1-under through eleven holes. He mentioned to me that Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company sponsored him back in the day and he was one of the first to wear soft-spike shoes. Sure enough I googled him and EJ’s and there was a pair of his size 11s for sale on EBAY. They went for $11.50 a couple of months ago. I liked the ‘BC’, what we would have called ‘Whatchamacallit’ back then or crocs jibbitz™ strap charms today. ‘BC’, Bobby Clampett or ‘BC Open,’ originally Broome County Open. then Johnny Hart’s BC comic strip, now the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. Maybe a hunch that Bobby Clampett will win this week at En Joie?  Right now he is even par through seventeen with Sandy Lyle leading at 7-under through tweleve holes. The final threesome of Colin Montgomerie, Bernard Langer and Mark O’Mara have teed off. Morning is over. It is officially afternoon.

Twenty-seven more stories from today in the picture show:

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Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, the 8th edition, but really the 44th!

If you want to fully experience the Champions Tour then you may want to consider a trip to the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, contested on the En Joie Golf Club in Endicott, New York.

Why? Because there are the plaques that say it is so. That the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, now in its eight year, is one of the best events on the Champions Tour. In reality, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, is older than the Champions Tour itself which began in 1980. The precessor regular tour event, the B.C. Open, was played at En Joie dating back to 1971. With the same precision, progression and persistence that the Charles Schwab Cup points leader Bernard Langer demonstrates on the golf course, Tournament Director John Karedes and his team have taken this smaller-market extravaganza to new heights of “together, everything is possible.” Hanging in the En Joie clubhouse are the 2012 and 2013 Champions Tour President’s Award plaques, an acknowledgement from those who know that the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open is doing some pretty amazing things inside and outside the ropes.

Bernard Langer is the guy to beat in the 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

It is good to be back in my hometown and yes, maybe I am a little biased. I reminded Joey Sindelar this afternoon that it was here at En Joie that he and Mike Hulbert beat me by many strokes in the Section IV high school golf championship. I let people think it was only a few and maybe that it was even a four-day tournament but that is not so. Those guys were and are good, better than most and certainly way further up any leaderboard than this John Daly-Jim Furyk like swinger with no results other than a club championship or member-guest here and there.

It’s another great field this year with Bernard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Jay Haas, Jeff Sluman, Gene Sauers,  and Michael Allen present and amongst the contenders for the Charles Schwab Cup. Understandably a guy like Kenny Perry, who competed all four rounds at the PGA Championship at Valhalla and won in Minnesota the week before, is taking a week off. After all if you are from the state of Kentucky you know that some times you have to rest the horse. As for Tom Watson, well, we need the Ryder Cup Captain to focus on his Tiger Woods-less team and his strategy for the competition that is only six weeks away.

Fred Funk has the key to Endicott, presented by John Karedes and Dave Baker.

Fred Funk was presented a key to the Village of Endicott for being the first and only golfer to earn $1 million competing on the En Joie Golf Course. Again the acknowledgement of what the history of the BC Open and Fred’s popular win in 1996 means to the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. The presenter of the key was Dave Baker, the Deputy-Mayor of Endicott and longtime head of the volunteers. He complimented Fred two ways as a favorite of the marshals. One, he hits it straight, so the marshals are safe with minimal work moving gallery ropes (probably also why he does so well on the tight fairways of En Joie). Two, he always smiles.

Something else caught my attention. Tournament Director John Karedes acknowledged and thanked the tournament sponsors including the spectators. The spectators are sponsors too? What a great perspective to consider the patrons, the paying public, as a sponsor, someone who expects to receive a benefit, and then work feverishly to fulfill that customer expectation. It takes me back to the Valley of Opportunity that the Triple Cities is and was way back when with George F. Johnson running Endicott Johnson Shoe Company and Tom Watson running the International Business Machines Company.

En Joie GC is all set for the golfing competition and the stage is set for the Zac Brown Band concert Friday night.

It is only Thursday and the 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open is already a success. What great fun and entertainment I witnessed today. From Phil Brook getting Scott Hoch’s autograph to consuming a tasty Mario’s Pizza from Owego meatball sub. I had a spiedie for breakfast. a meatball sub for lunch and have reservations with some good friends for dinner at the hsitoric Oaks Inn on Oak Hill Avenue. The golfing competition starts tomorrow with two-time 2014 major winners Colin Montgomerie and Bernard Langer in the marque group with two-time major champion Mark O’Meara. Plus Friday with the Zac Brown Band is sold out and 27,000 people will be having a good time on the 18th fairway. It doesn’t get anybetter than this.

There was a loving interchange between Langer and Monty in back-to-back interviews on Thursday. Colin, when asked how he thinks the Schwab Cup race will play out responded: “I think it’s going to play out very poorly for me for the rest of the year.  Knowing how well he’s (Langer) playing, I think it’s going to pan out very poorly.  I think he’s playing marvelously well.” By the way someone with great intuition asked that question!

Langer, when informed of Monty’s gesture returned the favor graciously. “Well, he’s being very nice but Colin is a great champion himself.  He won two majors this year and he can outplay any of us when he’s on.  Depends on who’s at the top of the game, who gets the breaks.”

John Karedes and his wife Michelle and two sons. The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open is a family affair whether it comes to the Sponsor, Tournament Director and his team or the charities served.

Besides those two President’s Award, two of the many charities supported by the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, Broome County Catholic Charities and Wendy’s Walk for Kids, won the Champions Tour 2012 Charity of the Year Award. When Bart Bryant won here in 2013 he became the 1,000 winner on the Champions Tour. Perhaps this year’s competition will set a new record somehow as well. Zac Brown Band and their 27,000 fans surely will. So come out and enjoy one of the finest, if not the finest, tournaments on the Champions Tour. You deserve it! Enjoy it at En Joie!

There are several other storylines told in the captions of these pictures:

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Rory is all smiles in the Media Center after winning his second straight Major Championship.

The proclaimed motto of the 96th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club was “This is Major.” It use to be “Glory’s Last Shot.” At this point in his life, Rory McIlroy is rewriting golf’s history like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods did before him. Rory roared to his fourth Major in the PGA Championship as he won his third event in a row after winning the British Open, his third major, only three weeks ago and a World Golf Championship, a pseudo Major like THE PLAYERS Championship, last week at Firestone CC. His goal now is to become Europe’s best all-time golfer surpassing Seve Ballesteros and his five majors and Nick Faldo and his six majors. Rory is Major and this is his first shot at Glory in golf!

With host Andrew Catalon and analyst Billy Ray Brown at the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

I had an awesome week at the PGA at Valhalla assisting host Andrew Catalon and analyst Billy Ray Brown for DIRECTV’s par-3 coverage. It is a lot of fun to do so and being around such talented people on the golf course and in the broadcast booth. I do what ever is needed to help them make the broadcast the best possible from getting them a bottle of water to pretend I am at home watching and providing supplement information that they may or may not use on the air. Either way it is a blast. a bonus this weekend was that the last par-3 was the 14th and the TV compound was located near the 15th green so I could follow the leaders in as they finished their rounds. On Saturday Jason Day had a putt to take the lead on the 14th and finished three strokes behind Rory. On Sunday, well, you know what happened! Rory eagles the 10th and passes three golfers- Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson to embrace the Wannamaker Trophy on the 18th green.

More experiences and more pictures to come from an exciting week in Louisville, Kentucky!