Opening comment: Who can suck worse??? (I may have to eat my words - Stenson's ice-water has thawed
considerably this morning....stay tuned...)
Follow up comment: I just realized - I'm mad at Henrik Stenson - he USED to be a Callaway staff player, and he bailed for Srixon...SRIXON, Stenson??? C'mon... (although my man has now gone TWO up on Ogilvy on the 17th hole, AND the Golf Channel has COMPLETELY lost their audio feed ....time for MORE commercials....ugh....now we're closing out with the studio crew trying to fill in...an inglorious end to the Golf Channel's weekend coverage....can't wait to see them get excoriated (now THERE's a good Scrabble word for ya...) on the other golf blogs and columns)
Wonder if a desert rat chewed through a cable or something???)
On a personal note - it just started DRIZZLING here, which is COMPLETELY screwing up my plans to mow and edge the lawn today....over the last week or so, the lawns and trees have been showing signs of springtime life...time to resume regular lawn maintenance....
Off we go to the NBC coverage at 11AM....(no, I'm not just watching the golf, I'm also working on our tax return...currently, I'm gutting my way through the investment income section...then I need to go feed the cats at Mom's place, and install three TartanGolfGrips.com golf grips - two putters and one full-swing for my wife...Cheri's keeping her Nebraska Cornhuskers putter grip, but she wants a TartanGolfGrips.com approach wedge, which I'm doing up in a Culloden tartan for her because it's mostly PURPLE...what the heck, let me go copy it (shown at right), so you can see what I'm talking about...
Update two: 12;45 PM PST - So, this match is getting more EXCITING, huh??? (C'mon Henrik - my cred's at stake here....)
Big time thanks to those of you that have e-mailed me to ask about the OTHER two Artans...to keep peace in the family, I've enclosed copies of them below. The "SCOTT" Artan is being made up for Cheri's brother, ALSO named Scott, who lives down in Tennessee...it incorporates the FLETCHER tartan along with Scott's name, and I'm installing it on a Never Compromise center shafted mallet putter as a belated birthday present for Scott (2/12)...
The OTHER one is one that I'm installing on ANOTHER Never Compromise putter for ME (there's going to be another one going up FOR SALE with your choice of Artan design during the 1st Anniversary "Tartan Day" sale that we're planning over at TartanGolfGrips.com in about a month, so now THAT cat's outta the bag...)
2:00 PM PST - I think the pressure that the media's put on Ogilvy is starting to get to him, as he's just launched his second or third shot in a row into the gap between the bleachers on the 31st hole....Stenson's putting from three point range, and he snuggied it up to within a yard of the hole....Ogilvy's putting from the collar - 20 FEET- NO SWEAT - that was CLUTCH, Geoff....(tip 'o the hat to ya, Mate!)
Now Stenson's mettle is tested from two feet, and THEY HALVE #13....it'll be interesting to see how they handle the last five holes....Cheri and I played 36 in a row once, and the last few holes were NOT FUN.....your hands hurt...your back hurts.....your HAIR hurts....you get the picture.... More to come down below (See Monday content)....
2:13 PM PST - Why I love golf (Vol 723) - Henrik Stenson's thumbs-up to Geoff Ogilvy's SECOND clutch putt in a row on #14 is just ANOTHER reason why I'm hooked on golf...
Mr. Ogilvy is beginning to exhibit that Tiger-toughness mentality that makes him a force in match play....
For what it's worth, the sun's been out for about an hour and a half, and I'm TOTALLY procrastinating by staying indoors, screwing around with the tax prep, sending e-mails about some upcoming Tartan Day activities and celebrations and collaborating on the promotional grip that I'm designing for D'Rae Ward... it's gonna look SWEET - she's decided to go for it with her design, so I've gotta get busy....
2:32 PM PST - Obviously Johnny Miller was paying attention in Physiology class...but we don't need to hear every single muscle involved in Henrik Stenson's drive on 17....BTW, that was a classy move on Geoff's part in conceding the awesome shot Henrik made on 16....
2:42 PM PST - Stenson wins!!! I called it right.....THAT was exciting!!! Two classy guys...now I've got two more guys to watch and support on the Tour.... MONDAY, Feb. 26, 2007.... Follow-up to "More to come" from up above: It's nice to know that we're not the only ones that think that 36 consecutive holes of golf is akin to the Bataan Death March - this from Henrik Stenson's post-round press conference:
RODDY WILLIAMS [Moderator]: Henrik, only the second European to have won the WGC- Accenture Match Play. Pretty exhausting day. Tell us how you feel right now.
HENRIK STENSON: Tell me about it. It's been a long week and a good week for me, and now I'm just exhausted. I don't know what's up and down and back and forth, really.It's been such a long day and such a hard day, and I'm just delighted to come out on top. I was struggling big time with my game and especially in the second round here when we started and didn't feel comfortable neither off the tee or with the putts.Somehow I managed to fight my way through the round and keep -- not letting Geoff [Ogilvy] run away with it, and then all of a sudden turned around and finished with some good birdies. {snip}
Q.: When you're talking about being exhausted are you talking about being mentally exhausted? STENSON: Everything. It's everything. Playing -- see, I don't know how many rounds, seven rounds in five days? I mean, feet are aching, head is aching, wallet is aching.
Q.: Too heavy?
STENSON: (Laughing) but just to play that much golf in five days, I had a lot of tight matches. I mean, probably everybody had the same. I mean, Geoff was tired, as well. I know how much he would have liked to defend his title.Obviously he's devastated with that. I'm happy with the way I managed to play the last couple of holes there. {snip}
Q.: Do you think the format is maybe a round of golf too far?
STENSON: I don't know, it feels like it right now. No, I think it's a good thing with a 36-hole final still though, because you really need to -- 18 holes might be a little bit more decided over bounds, but I think on 36 holes it probably in the end gives you the one that fought the hardest and so on.
Q.: Are you more emotionally drained now than you were after the Ryder Cup?
STENSON: I don't know. I mean, normally it hits you a day or two later. I don't think it's going to be too much happening tomorrow or on Tuesday. But yeah,
I don't remember when I was this tired.
I'm too tired to be happy almost (laughter). {snip}
Q.: When you talk about struggling with your own swing, is there any consolation looking over at Geoff and realizing that he's going through some battles, as well, with it?
STENSON: Well, I mean, we weren't playing great in the afternoon. But I think, as well, a hard and tiring week like this one, it just wears you down. Every day, every round just wears you down a little bit. In the end you've got nothing left in the tank, and still, I managed to find some on the back nine today. But it's really hard, and we made some silly mistakes, both of us, and sharing holes with bogeys and making bogeys from the middle of the fairway and stuff. I think that's sort of mainly down to us being really exhausted.
Q.: What was the tougher tournament to win, a really strong field 72 holes at Dubai, or beating six guys this week?
STENSON: I'm much more tired now for sure, much more.
Q.: Which was harder to win do you think?
STENSON: Can't we have any easy questions at this time of the day (laughter)? I'll go for this one. Q.: Physical?
STENSON: And also down to it's only one shot at the wrong or right time and you're knocked out. Obviously in a stroke play you can come back a little bit easier if you end up in trouble somewhere.
And then, to dispel the stereotype that the Swedes are a stoic, humorless lot:
Q.: How do you say match play champion in Swedish?
STENSON: Match play champion (laughter).
Good job, Henrik - I think you won over quite a few fans with this performance...I think the comment I liked the most was on one of last night's retrospectives where they likened the final match to two prizefighters slugging it out...the lead changed hands quite a few times, and all in all, it was an exciting weekend's worth of golf....I thoroughly enjoyed watching it - even if it WAS Tiger-less....
