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Covering a PGA Tournament for the first time |
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Monday, 19 September 2011 08:46 |
by Hannah Petrukovich
I am the type of sports fan that normally enjoys hard hits and fast moving plays. So when asked if I would like to cover the 2011 BMW open at Cog Hill in Lemont IL, I took the challenge in learning a sport that I never paid much attention to. The most I ever experienced of the sport was a driving range and a putt-putt course with a clown head at the end of it. So you can see this was way out of my element.
Saturday was the third round of a four round tournament. The players and spectators couldn’t have asked for a more perfect weather day to play.
Grabbing a favorite beverage, I proceeded to walk the course. There are two ways to watch a golf tournament. One being, follow your favorite player from hole to hole supporting them through it all. The second, which seems to be the favorite among the spectators, is to camp out at one hole and then you get to see them all.
I began to follow Y.E. Yang, the 5’9” south Korean pro through the course. He finished the day at one under par. Moving from hole seventeen to the eighteen, I was able to watch as the top three players, Rose, Wilson, and Simpson finish their round. It was obvious the amount of skill and athleticism that is required to play the game of golf.
Each player has his own style in playing this game. Webb Simpson takes a long time to tee off, while Rose and Wilson appear to not think as much and just hit their shots.
At the end of the day, Rose finished two under par, Simpson finished two over par, and Wilson six over for the day.
When all is said and done I was glad I experienced this tournament at Cog Hill because this is the last year it will be played here.
There are so many positives to this sport - great family time, exercise, and beautiful surroundings. However, I am not quite ready to convert. Give me the hard hits and quick play of football or hockey.
For more information on the players and their standings you can visit www.pgatour.com.
Editor’s note: On Sunday, Rose won the tournament by two shots over John Senden.
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Last Updated on Monday, 19 September 2011 10:22 |
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Written by Steve Schreck
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Monday, 20 June 2011 10:47 |
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Rory McIlroy’s performance in the 111th United States Open at Congressional Country Club was something that people had never seen. In 2000, Tiger Woods dominated Pebble Beach and the field, winning by a ridiculous fifteen shots, shooting twelve under par. It was that tournament and that player, many people drew comparisons to, even McIlroy. McIlroy reached that twelve under mark during the second round remarkably, and set the record for lowest under par during a U.S. Open at thirteen on the 35th hole of the tournament. Thirteen under par through thirty-five holes is golfing your ball even at the Quad Cities (one of the easier tournaments on the PGA Tour) but this was the U.S. Open. Going into the weekend McIlroy was eleven under, six shots ahead of second place.
However impressive and flawless McIlroy was in the first thirty-six holes, questions about his collapse at the Masters and his final round eighty still masked the outstanding and historical golf that was being played. He had to prove that he could handle the pressure of the weekend at a major, and he did that by shooting another impressive, methodical round of three under par on Saturday to increase his lead to eight going into Sunday. Saturday was the day he needed to prove people wrong and because of the sizeable lead, McIlroy cruised without much pressure, leading by eight or nine shots for most of Sunday, and eventually won by an unthinkable eight shots with a final score of sixteen under par.
McIlroy’s resilience, humbleness and pure talent is a combination that has everyone talking. Players on Saturday were comparing him to Tiger Woods, not just his performance this week. Three time major champion Padraig Harrington went so far to say that McIlroy would be the one to challenge Jack Nicklaus’ major record set at eighteen. What? He had yet to win a single major when this was said on Saturday.
As a golf fan, I think we need someone that is dominant in order to make golf more entertaining. Tiger Woods was that guy for more than a decade and because of his recent struggles, fans and media are quick to label McIlroy the next great thing. I’m not sure Tiger will ever be the same player he was, but to label McIlroy the next Tiger Woods after winning one major, albeit a historical one, is borderline psychotic. People tend to forget through all the tough times Woods has gone through that he was possibly the best golfer its sport has ever seen. As for the comment made by Harrington, all we can do is just laugh it off because that’s exactly what McIlroy did as he was asked about it on Saturday following his round. But for now, since everyone is so intent on putting labels on young players, let’s just label McIlroy as a great young talent with unlimited ability and enjoy the ride.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 23 June 2011 18:29 |
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