Monday, February 24, 2014
Golf glance
COMING UP
PGA TOUR: Honda Classic on the Champion Course at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Thursday through Sunday.
TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EST, on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-3 p.m. EST on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EST on NBC.
LAST YEAR: Michael Thompson capped his first PGA Tour victory by getting up and down from a greenside bunker for a closing birdie to shoot 1-under-par 69 in cold, windy weather and beat Geoff Ogilvy of Australia by two strokes. Thompson, coming off two missed cuts in his previous three outings, holed a 50-foot eagle putt on the third hole while building a four-stroke lead. He held off Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, who made birdies on two of the last three holes and also shot 69. Luke Guthrie, who was tied with Thompson for the 54-hole lead, dropped back with a bogey on the second hole en route to a final-round 73 and wound up third, four shots behind.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif., March 14-16.
TV: Friday, 6:30-9 p.m. EST; Saturday and Sunday, 6:30-9:30 p.m. EST, on the Golf Channel each day.
LAST YEAR: David Frost of South Africa opened with an 8-under-par 63 and led virtually all the way in claiming a five-stroke victory over Fred Couples. Frost, who played the weekend in 66-65, earned his fourth victory on the Champions Tour, adding the Regions Tradition later in the year, after winning 10 times on the PGA Tour. Couples birdied the first hole of the final round to pull even with Frost, who regained control with birdies on the next two holes and finished things off with Couples still in contention by carding four birdies on the last five holes.
LPGA TOUR: HSBC Women's Champions on the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore.
TV: Wednesday through Saturday (in the United States), 10:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. EST, on the Golf Channel each day.
LAST YEAR: Stacy Lewis overcame two bogeys on the back nine, making a short putt for par on the final hole to complete a 1-under-par 71 that gave her a one-stroke victory over Na Yeon Choi of South Korea. Lewis, who claimed her sixth victory on the LPGA Tour, took the lead for good on the par-5 seventh hole when she hit her approach shot from 200 yards to within five inches to make an eagle. Choi, who closed with a 72, was runner-up in the tournament for the second consecutive year after losing to Angela Stanford in playoff in 2011. Paula Creamer, hampered by a shoulder injury from a car accident a week earlier in Thailand, held a share of the lead early in the final round and finished third after a 71.
Golf notebook: Health scares for Harrington, Micheel
-Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland revealed that he recently underwent treatment for skin cancer.
Harrington, 42, said his condition is especially concerning because his father, Patrick, who was a policeman in Dublin, Ireland, died of cancer of the esophagus in 2005.
"I've had a number of skin cancers removed from my face," Harrington said on Irish radio. "When you get a symptom, don't ignore it. Do something about it.
"My father had symptoms but didn't do anything about it. It's the nature of men in Ireland, and certainly older men. If I get a pain, I go and get it checked out."
Since his father's death, Harrington has become a spokesperson Oesophageal Cancer Fund.
Harrington played three times on the West Coast Swing of the PGA Tour, missing the cut in the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Northern Trust Open in addition to tying for 27th in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
He is in the field this week for the Honda Classic, which he won in 2005.
--According to reports, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship was played at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., for the final time last week.
Accenture said it would not renew its contract as title sponsor, and in a poll of players last year taken by Golf Digest, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course ranked 51st on the PGA Tour, ahead of only Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J.
Although one tournament official said there is an outside shot that Dove Mountain could get a last-minute reprieve, almost everyone concerned figures there will be a new venue for the tournament next year.
Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson, three of the top four players in the World Golf Rankings, stayed away this year, and although only Scott said so, it is believed the course entered into the decisions of all three.
"I guess I'm more concerned with where we're going and what course we're playing," Jim Furyk said.
One course mentioned as a possibility is TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, and there also were reports that Florida and Bogota, Colombia, might be the site of the tournament's new venue.
A Golf Channel source said only about 12 companies in the United States are in the running to be the new title sponsor, which means the PGA Tour might look outside the country for a new sponsor and course.
It also seems possible that there will be a change in the format, according to one member of the PGA Tour's Player Advisory Council.
Instead of 64 players playing in a lose-and-go-home match play tournament, the PAC discussed in recent meetings going to 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying followed by a cut to either 32 or 16 players.
The rest of the tournament would be contested as match play.
--Shaun Micheel, who captured the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, took to Twitter last week to inform his followers that he had a heart problem.
Micheel, who missed the cut in all five events he played on the PGA Tour last year and has not played since the PGA Championship returned to Oak Hill last August, called it a "multi-vessel heart blockage."
The 45-year-old first posted this message:
"Got some scary news late today, but have a great team of doctors in place. Ready to get this procedure done and back out on the course soon!"
That was followed the next day by this: "Hospital at 6 am. Thx for all of the calls, texts and tweets! Sure wish it was a shoulder or knee issue. Will know more tomorrow afternoon!"
Later, it was: "Why do doctors tell you to relax as they give you the worst case scenario? Deep breathing has taken on a whole new meaning."
Finally, after the diagnosis, he tweeted: "Multi vessel heart blockage...R(ight) coronary artery blocked 99%. Heart created another vessel that bypassed the other. Very lucky. Bypass may Still be necessary but going to try another method of treatment first. Hope that works. Thanks for all of your support!"
Micheel's heart issue came a week after Hal Sutton, who won the 1983 PGA title at Riviera, suffered what was described as a mild heart attack while playing the first round of the Ace Group Classic on the Champions Tour.
Sutton, 55, was taken to a hospital where he had a stent placed in his heart to open a blocked artery, and he was released two days later.
--The Irish Open struggled in recent years without a title sponsor, even though major champions Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke continued to support the event.
Two years ago, the tournament was played at Royal Portrush, the first time the event was contested in Northern Ireland in 60 years, and was such a success that it is going back to the North.
The European Tour announced that the event would be played at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, in 2015.
"I think it's a good idea to maybe alternate it every year and have it in the south one year and then go back up north the next," said McIlroy, a two-time major champion. "It spreads it around and it gives people in Northern Ireland the chance to see some of the best players in the world play."
The Northern Ireland Executive provided funding of 1.5 million pounds in support of the 2012 event at Portrush, and a similar investment will be required this time round.
It paid off in 2012 with record attendance of 112,000 over four days of the tournament and a total of 131,000 over six days, including practice rounds.
"Irish golf has strengths on both sides of the border, and it is important that the fans get to see their favorite players north and south," said McDowell, who captured the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
"We support the Irish Open no matter where it is, and as Northern Ireland players, to get to play Portrush and County Down is very special. Royal County Down is one of my favorite courses in Ireland."
The tournament, which has existed under one name or another since 1927, was last played at Royal County Down since 1939.
This year's Irish Open will be played June 19-22 at Fota Island Resort in County Cork, with Paul Casey of England as defending champion.
--Brad Faxon, who won eight times on the PGA Tour and is the most famous male golfer to come out of Furman University in Greenville, S.C., is among a group of alums trying to save the men's golf program.
Furman announced recently that it is discontinuing the men's program after this season.
"I was surprised," said Faxon, who was an All-American for the Paladins in 1982 and 1983 after coming south from his home in Rhode Island. "I didn't see it coming, and I'm in pretty close contact with the program. ...
"Maybe the university gets back on track. It's got a reputation of being a great school. In another year or two, maybe money comes back and the program can be reinstated. But right now, it's complicated, it's terrible. I feel bad for (18-year coach) Todd Satterfield and the players, including the recruiting class he had coming in."
Faxon said the first step is to raise about $300,000 to fund the 2014-15 golf season. The deadline for raising the money, if approved by the Furman board, would be July 1, sources said.
Nearly 3,000 Paladins supporters signed an online petition since the school announced the end of men's golf about two weeks ago.
"Can those people who were very emotional about the news, can we ask everybody to dip into their pocket to somehow come up with the money to save the program for one year and then two years, and then go forward from there?" Faxon asked.
Furman has had a men's golf team since 1930, but the women's team has had more of an impact on pro golf, sending major champions Betsy King, Dottie Pepper and Beth Daniel to the LPGA Tour.
Canada's Alena Sharp wins Symetra Tour opener
MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- LPGA Tour player Alena Sharp won the Symetra Tour's season-opening Visit Mesa Gateway Classic on Sunday, beating Marissa Steen by two strokes.
The 32-year-old Canadian closed with a 1-under 71 for a 12-under 204 total at Longbow Golf Club. She finished second last year, two strokes behind Jaclyn Sweeney.
''It feels amazing, I've worked really hard the last five months and I've finished second a lot on this tour and this is my first win,'' said Sharp, who earned $15,000. ''It feels really good. I struck the ball well all week, putted well and hung in there. ... It was a little bit of a grind today, but I used my mental toughness and training to get through it and I'm happy that I'm holding the trophy.''
She will return to the LPGA Tour on March 20-23 at the LPGA Founder's Cup in Phoenix.
''This is a big confidence boost, I played well in the Bahamas and missed the cut in Australia so I was a little bit down coming into this week,'' Sharp said. ''These three days have brought me back up and now I have a month off until the next tournament, the LPGA Founder's Cup, and I'm looking forward to that.''
Steen finished with a 68.
Emily Talley (65), Becca Huffner (68), Sadena Parks (68) and Jennie Lee (71) tied for third at 9 under.
Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods' niece, had a 71 to tie for 14th at 3 under. She won the Australian Ladies Masters this month.
Mouth cancer in the spotlight
The British Dental Health Foundation is appealing for dentists to help halt the growing number of mouth cancer deaths by educating their pat...
The British Dental Health Foundation is appealing for dentists to help halt the growing number of mouth cancer deaths by educating their patients on the main symptoms and risk factors.
The most common causes of mouth cancer are smoking and drinking alcohol to excess. It kills one person every five hours in the UK. In fact, people who do both are up to 30 times more likely to develop the condition. Poor diet is also a contributory factor.
However, around 25% of mouth cancer cases in younger people present none of the common risk factors. So although leading a healthy lifestyle will cut a person's risk considerably it is vital that patients are taught to be aware of the possible symptoms too.
The plea for help is being issued in the run up to this year's Mouth Cancer Awareness Week. Running between 13-19 November, the campaign is using the tagline 'It Could Be You' to demonstrate that the condition can strike anyone at any time.To help get people started, the Foundation is providing a free Mouth Cancer Awareness Week Guide for anyone wanting to get involved (call 0870 770 4014 or visit www.mouthcancer.org for your copy), with campaign supporters, Denplan, providing a free poster.
Dentists can also claim a free Collection Box and Blue Ribbons by calling the same number, or by emailing mca@dentalhealth.org.uk.
All money generated through the sale of ribbons will go towards raising awareness of mouth cancer.
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