General
Golf: Weather doesn’t rain on Elsen’s parade to State Am title
Jul 23rd
By Bill Cooney, The Wisconsin State Journal
July 22–SHEBOYGAN FALLS — Turns out, Jordan Elsen just had to show up for his tee time Thursday morning to pick up the 109th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship title.
With a steady rain beating down on The Bull at Pinehurst Farms, final-round play was suspended with the leaders on the fourth green at 10:23 a.m.
Shortly thereafter, Wisconsin State Golf Association officials called play due to standing water on the course and an inclement forecast, and results were determined complete through 54 holes.
“It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get the whole tournament in but it still feels good to get the win and to know all the hard work and preparation and everything is starting to pay off,” said Elsen, the former University of Wisconsin golfer who will now turn professional. “I’m very proud of what I accomplished.”
Elsen, 22, can also hang his hat on the fact that he became only the fourth golfer in state history — joining J.P. Hayes (1988), Bob Gregorski (’98) and Ryan Quinn (2001) — to capture the State Am and State Match Play titles in the same season.
And even through three-plus holes of golf that ultimately didn’t count, Elsen showed why he was worthy of his first State Am title.
While his playing partners struggled to put a dent in his six-shot cushion Thursday, Elsen carded three pars — including a spectacular save after dunking his tee ball into the hazard on the 416-yard second.
Elsen took a drop, hit a pitching wedge to 4 feet from 120 yards out and slid in the putt. Elsen credited a Badger junior golf camp that he worked last week at University Ridge Golf Course that helped brush up his short game.
“I used to be a pretty solid ball-striker when I was a senior (in high school) and freshman year in college,” Elsen said. “But I remember playing my first (college) tournament at Memphis. I hit it great and I think I had eight three-putts that week and I think I only lost the tournament by six shots. That was just putting alone.
“That’s what the pros out there do so well. When they’re not hitting it so great, they have a solid short game to fall back on.”
Marquette assistant men’s golf coach Kyle Murphy (215) — who was six over through four holes in the final round before play was suspended — finished second and Beaver Dam’s Austin Ehlenfeldt (217), a UW-Green Bay senior-to-be, was third.
“I’m very happy with my finish,” Ehlenfeldt said. “Obviously I would have liked to have won. The putter wasn’t really working that well and I missed some really makeable putts that I normally would make. That’s the way it goes.”
Had the tournament resumed, Menomonie’s Braden Mork would have been in second place at even-par after making birdie on two of his first four holes.
“A little disappointing it got canceled,” said Mork, who tied for fourth with Madison’s Max Hosking at 218. “I was hitting it pretty well after four holes.”
Of course, Elsen wasn’t playing so bad, either. And behind a stellar short game and a determined demeanor — “I wanted to really give the course a beating (today),” he said — he would have been tough to beat.
Elsen said he will move back to Bradenton, Fla. — where he attended high school at The Pendleton School while going through the prestigious David Leadbetter Golf Academy — this fall to prepare for the professional ranks.
“Just to get in that competitive atmosphere where everybody there is working to get better at one thing and that’s golf,” Elsen explained. “You thrive in that kind of environment.”
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To see more of The Wisconsin State Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Wisconsin State Journal
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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Golf’s next Hall of Famers to get May enshrinement
Jul 22nd
The World Golf Hall of Fame induction festivities are moving to May, now serving as the lead-in event for The Players Championship.
After months of deliberation, including a proposal to take the event off Hall of Fame grounds in St. Augustine, officials announced Thursday that the Hall’s next class will be enshrined on May 9. Three days later, attention will shift up the highway to TPC Sawgrass for golf’s richest event.
The induction ceremony had been a November event for the past 10 years, in hopes of crreating some buzz as golf’s competitive seasons wound down. But the ceremony, frequently a chilly outdoor occasion, got few headlines in the middle of football season.
Jack Peter, Hall of Fame operations chief, called the date shift “a great opportunity.”
“The spring date is sure to give golf fans around the world an even better opportunity to witness the occasion,” he said.
There had been talk about moving the ceremony to New York, as NASCAR does for its season-ending awards. In the end, an alliance with The Players was considered better than a stand-alone event.
“Moving the ceremony to the spring will heighten the event’s exposure in a variety of ways,” said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, a member of the World Golf Foundation board that oversees the Hall of Fame.
New Hall of Fame members will be announced later this year, with the deadline for returning ballots just last week. Ernie Els and Davis Love III are among those on the PGA Tour ballot; Retief Goosen appears on the International ballot.
Read Jeff Shain’s golf blog, The Downswing, at OrlandoSentinel.com/golfblog and e-mail him at jshain@orlandosentinel.com.
Course is easy for Veazey
Jul 22nd
Nick Taylor is one of 18 Canadians participating in the Canadian Open this week. (REUTERS/Matt Sullivan)
TORONTO — Vance Veazey, whose only previous claim to fame on the PGA Tour was holding the course record in the Western Open for about a minute, has something new to crow about.
This time, he doesn’t have to worry about Tiger Woods stealing his scene.
The fun-loving, 45-year-old, good old boy from Memphis, Tenn., shot a course-record tying six-under 64 Thursday at St. George’s Golf and Country Club to lead the RBC Canadian Open with half the field still on the course.
Veazey tied the competitive course record with his opening round 64. Late great Canadian PGA star George Knudson shot 64 during the third round of the 1968 Canadian Open at St. George’s.
Six other golfers in the clubhouse, including Hunter Mahan, shot 65s — surprising considering most felt the course would play harder than this.
But a combination of dry fairways and soft greens with true rolls turned St. George’s into a walk in the park for some of the 156 entrants.
Veazy, who finished among the top 25 money earners on the Nationwide Tour last year, earning exemption into the Canadian Open, has never won a PGA event.
In 2003, he shot a tournament-course record 64 at Cog Hill, but Tiger Woods had yet to complete his round.
“Tiger shot a 63 so I never got to have my name on the deal,” Veazey laughed. “I believe he beat me by 18 shots the rest of the week.”
Of course, Woods isn’t here this week, and with winds picking up in the afternoon, long after Veazey was off the course, his 64 looked like it may stand up.
“I’ve won four times on the Nationwide Tour — but I’ve been doing this a long time,” said Veazy, who still lives in Memphis. “It’s been a grind. I’m a journeyman, so to speak. I’ve had some success and I just keep plugging and believing eventually something good is going to happen.
“I’ve played out here or on the Nationwide the last 15 years. I’ve played a lot of golf, I just need to get over the hump.”
Veazey, who started his round from the ninth tee, birdied four of his first five holes. A bogey on 13th, the par-3 third hole, was his only blip of the round.
Mahan, Charley Hoffman, Jimmy Walker, Steve Wheatcroft, Rich Barcelo, and Dean Wilson were at five-under.
Barcelo, 35 and from Long Beach, Calif., finished with nine birdies, including a run of five in a row.
Matt Hill, who fired a one-under par 69, was top Canadian in the clubhouse.
Volkswagen packs a lot into the compact 2010 Golf 2.5
Jul 22nd
Before she became President John F. Kennedy’s favorite blond birthday singer, Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson. Rapper Diddy was previously P. Diddy, Puff Daddy and before that plain old Sean Combs. By the time you finish reading this, he’ll probably call himself “Did.”
Which brings us to the 2010 Volkswagen Golf 2.5.
The U.S. version of the car, available in both two- and four-door styles, was formerly known as the Rabbit (2006-2009). Prior to that it was the Golf (1985-2005). And it started life as the Rabbit (1975-1984). They should just call the thing a Gabbit or a Rolf and be done with it.
Despite suffering from the moniker confusion, the identity of this compact car has been consistent: It’s an economical, practical vehicle that draws on its German heritage and engineering for doses of refinement and poise rarely found in its segment. This latest Golf continues that legacy.
The biggest change for 2010 is the exterior. Volkswagen is in the process of revising the look of their entire brand, and the Golf was the first to go under the knife. Gone is the amorphous, bug-eyed look of the previous version. The front and rear are more horizontally oriented and use tasteful angles to give the car a sporty and upscale presence. But the 2010 Golf is easily one of the best-looking compact cars on the market.
This VW’s interior is equally impressive. The cabin is certainly sparse — after all, this is a car that starts around $17,000. But the materials and construction are better than that found in vehicles costing twice as much. This is German efficiency at its finest. You have every button, knob and gauge right where you need it, without any superfluous design or overwrought aesthetics. Everything, from the seats to the stereo to the high-end (yet standard) trip computer between the speedometer and tachometer, feels like some guy with an umlaut in his name ripped them out of an Audi A4 and shoehorned them into the Golf on some side-strasse in Wolfsburg.
The rear seats easily accommodate the Dirk Nowitzkis in your entourage (they’re just slightly harder to get into on the two-door). And with the seatbacks folded down you have plenty of space for cargo.
As one might expect given the Golf’s heritage and driver-oriented siblings such as the Golf TDI (turbo diesel) and GTI (turbocharged), piloting the 2.5 is fun at any speed. Rather than starting with a base model and then fortifying it with an embellished drivetrain and amenities for its higher-priced performance variants, Volkswagen appears to have done the opposite. It started the Golf 2.5 with the much-lauded chassis and basic suspension from the journalist and fan-boy favorite GTI, and then dropped in a more proletarian engine, transmission and feature list to hit their price point for the 2.5.
That’ll work.
The handling on this Golf is more mature than you might expect from a compact car; the chassis and independent rear suspension make for an agile yet comfortable ride. Understeer is evident if you push the car hard, but no more so than with any other front-wheel-drive car in its segment. The weak link within the Golf 2.5′s handling is the standard 15-inch steel rims and all-season tires (How do you say “smushy” in German?). The pairing is not pretty, literally and figuratively. If you want GTI handling without the $6,000 to $9,000 premium over the 2.5, the most important upgrade you can make to the base Golf is an investment in bigger rims and stickier summer tires. You’ll smile at every apex.
The drivetrain is good for the money, though nothing radical. The 2.5 liter inline five-cylinder engine is basically the same unit found on the previous Golf. It puts out a healthy 170 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, beating most of its rivals. And it will get you from 0 to 60 mph in about 8 seconds. The only downside is some drivers will notice that, under hard acceleration, the engine sounds like a car-sick teenager moaning.
Transmission choices are simple. A five-speed manual is available on only the two-door Golf, and it’s standard. A six-speed automatic with Tiptronic is standard on the four-door model and optional on the two-door. The automatic I sampled doled out power and torque efficiently and without complaint. The only time I really noticed the transmission was when I had it in sport mode and noticed that the downshifts were rather curt. Trust me Golf, I wanted to speed up too, but the 405 wasn’t having it.
Fuel economy is on par with other four-bangers in its class, with the Golf rated at 23 city/30 highway for the automatic. If you like the essence of the Golf but yearn for more efficiency, consider the Golf TDI. For some $3,000 more than the 2.5, the turbo-diesel will give you 30/41 city/highway.
So what’s in a name? It depends how you look at it. Regardless of whether they call it the Golf, Rabbit or Engelbert Humperdinck, this venerable compact car consistently gives drivers German craftsmanship and poise they would otherwise pay much more for. This 2010 Golf 2.5 is no different.
Besides, Humperdinck’s real name is Arnold Dorsey.
david.undercoffler@latimes.com
Langer among the leaders at Senior British
Jul 22nd
Bernhard Langer posted a four-under 67 on Thursday to share the first-round lead with Jay Don Blake and Carl Mason at the Senior Open Championship.
Bruce Vaughan, the 2008 winner, Mark Wiebe and Dan Forsman are knotted in fourth place at three-under 68 at a wind-swept Carnoustie.
Tom Watson, who won his first of five claret jugs at Carnoustie back in 1975, struggled on Thursday with a three-over 74, but is still in the hunt for a fourth Senior Open title.
While Watson has been one of the most prolific winners in both British Open and Senior Open history, Langer was never able to hoist the claret jug in his younger days.
Langer, a two-time Masters champion, has never even earned a major title on the Champions Tour, despite being the two-time reigning Player of the Year and leading money winner.
“To put four good rounds together here, in the red numbers, you need to play some extremely good golf,” said Langer, a 10-time winner on the Champions Tour, including two this year.
Langer started well with a birdie at the first, then parred his next five holes. The German finished off his opening nine with three consecutive birdies to make the turn at four-under par.
Langer parred his first four of the back nine, then played classic links golf en route to a birdie at the par-five 14th. He putted from well off the green, but lagged up close and tapped in for the birdie to reach five-under par for the championship.
The Hall of Famer immediately lost that stroke thanks to a bogey at the 15th. Langer parred out and certainly didn’t mind the tough close to his opening round.
“I’m very happy with it,” acknowledged Langer. “I played very well. I kept the ball in play, I drove it pretty good and hit a number of fairways. When I didn’t hit the fairway, I was either fortunate enough to get a reasonable lie or miss some trouble and hit those shots out of the rough pretty good. Made a few putts and hit my irons fairly close.”
Blake had an up and down front side with two birdies and a bogey. He did most of his damage at the start of the second nine with three birdies in a four- hole span from No. 10.
Like Langer, Blake reached five-under par with a birdie at the par-four 17th. Blake fell victim to the demanding closing hole and walked off with a bogey to fall into a tie for first.
“I just tried to execute myself around the golf course and be patient,” said Blake. “It’s a golf course that you can’t be aggressive because everything runs up to the pin so much that you can’t fly it to the flags like we are used to over in the courses we play in America.”
Mason, an Englishman, played in the afternoon on Thursday and had a spectacular front nine with five birdies and no bogeys. Trouble loomed right away on the back with a double-bogey at the 10th, but he got those strokes back with birdies at 12 and 14.
Following in the footsteps of his fellow co-leaders, Mason was five-under, but Carnoustie got him late. He bogeyed the par-four 15th to fall back into the tie for the lead.
Mason may not be a household name in the U.S., but he has been downright dominant on the European Senior Tour. He won the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open in early July and that tied him with Tommy Horton for most wins on that circuit with 23.
“If this was the 24th, that would be something special, wouldn’t it?” noted Mason. “I was thrilled to bits the way I played, I played great. Best I’ve played for a good few weeks, so that was good. I felt good, and I started rolling in the putts and hit some great shots.”
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, Sam Torrance, John Cook, Mike Donald, Jeff Sluman and Larry Mize, who won the last Champions Tour event, the Montreal Championship, are tied for seventh place at two-under 69.
NOTES: Defending champion Loren Roberts shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 19th place…Boonchu Ruangkit leads the European Senior Tour Order of Merit, but shot a four-over 75 on Thursday and is tied for 61st.
Sports Betting Canadian Open Golf Odds
Jul 22nd
Today, Thursday July 22, 2010 we will see the final stats for the Canadian Open Golf Odds and Canadian Open Golf Betting lines for the Annual RBC Canadian Open from St.George’s Golf and Country Club at Toronto Ontario, Canada from July 22 to July 25, 2010.
This tournament has prize money of $5.1 million and of that $918,000 goes to the Winner. This tournament makes available a place for American Golfers to win a country’s championship. Why? Because it’s easy to qualify for this tournament and normally has a lower quality type of participation. It gives those who would not likely win a major tournament that opportunity to win a national open.
Next one might ask, why this is their first tournament in more than 42 years. Some reasons are that is a neighborhood where the residents are really fond of it, and the property does not have sufficient practice areas among a few reasons. It has taken the club member that long to get the tournament back!
A strong characteristic of this course is its 103 bunkers that are very difficult to play through! And also the greens slope away from the bunkers making it hard to stop the roll of the ball. This should have an influence on the Canadian Open Odds and the Canadian Open Betting lines for this tournament.
In addition to the above factors for this weeks participants is the fact that weather forecasters are projecting for their to be rain practically every day of the tournaments schedule with 40-50% thunder storms so this could turn out to be the Canadian Mudder.
At his time the RBC Canadian Open Betting and Canadian Open Odds with Matchup Odds for the entire tournament. Coming to you from the St. Georges Golf and Country Club in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada.
Golf scramble to raise money for Western Plains
Jul 22nd
By Rowynn Ricks, The Woodward News, Okla.
July 22–WOODWARD, Okla. — Western Plains Youth and Family Services is having yet another fundraiser.
But this time it is a group of individuals from the community who have come together to organize a golf tournament to benefit the organization.
In recent months, Western Plains Youth and Family Services (WPYFS) has stepped up it’s fundraising efforts to help make up for state budget cuts. The agency’s started 2 new fundraising programs on its own this year, a salsa sale in April and the highly successful Western Plains Challenge race that was held June 12.
Kevin Evans, WPYFS director, has said the fundraisers are important to ensuring that Western Plains can continue to offer its variety of programs to families in the community. The agency not only operates an all-ages youth shelter in Woodward, but also oversees a therapeutic foster care program at several locations throughout the state. In addition, Western Plains offers various counseling services for children and their families.
It is because of what the organization offers to children who may be going through tough times, that Dave Harzman and a few of his oilfield buddies have gotten together to sponsor the 1st Annual Summer Shootout golf tournament.
“Helping kids is probably the number 1 thing,” Harzman said in explaining why the guys wanted Western Plains “to be the benefactor of the tournament.”
He said they also wanted to make sure that proceeds from the tournament would be going to “a solid non-profit organization,” which they feel Western Plains is.
Harzman said he is working with Dirk Mullins, Eric Balcer, and Darren Batt in organizing the tournament, which will be held July 31 and Aug. 1 at Boiling Springs Golf Course.
He said the tournament will be a 3-man scramble and is based on a similar tournament that an oilfield company had previously sponsored in Shattuck.
However, with the tough economic times, Harzman said the company wasn’t able to continue the tournament anymore.
“But it was such a popular tournament that we wanted to keep it going, so we brought it over here,” he said.
The tournament will be limited to the first 54 teams, and as of Tuesday, Harzman said “we still have openings at this time.”
As for prizes the tournament is offering an 80 percent payback after expenses, he said. Teams will be flighted after the first day of play and then the top teams in each flight will be awarded prizes after play on the 2nd day.
Teams are encouraged to sign up by this Friday, but Harzman said he is keeping a waiting list in case anyone has to back out before the tournament starts. Registration for the tournament will be at 8 a.m. on July 31, with game play starting at 9 a.m. on both July 31 and Aug. 1.
Besides the 3-man scramble on the weekend, there will also be an individual shootout competition between 12 golfers starting at 6 p.m. Friday, July 30, Harzman said, noting that contest is almost full already but the public is welcome to come out and watch.
In addition to playing in the tournament, Harzman said the community can get involved in the tournament by either sponsoring a hole for a fee or signing up to “cook on the course” and provide refreshments to participating teams.
For more information or to sign up a team, call Dave Harzman at (580) 216-5111, Dirk Mullins at (580) 334-5928, Darren Batt at (580) 334-2007 or Eric Balcer at (580) 571-7599.
Beyond benefiting Western Plains directly, Harzman said he is confident the golf tournament can benefit the community of Woodward as a whole.
“Nearly 2/3 of the tournament will be out of town players, so it’ll be good for the community,” he said.
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To see more of The Woodward News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://woodwardnews.net.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Woodward News, Okla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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Cobra Golf signs European veteran Edfors
Jul 22nd
Cobra Golf signs European veteran Edfors July 22, 1:47 PM
Golf Equipment ExaminerSteve Pike 
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Cobra Golf has signed three-time European Tour winner Johan Edfors, 34, to an endorsement deal. Edfors already wears Cobra sister Puma Golf’s apparel and footwea. Edfors will play Cobra equipment and will be featured in future marketing campaigns, consumer and trade.
“Johan’s performance and visibility on the course make him the perfect ambassador for Cobra Golf, and his signing demonstrates our focus and expansion in the European market,” said Bob Philion, President of Cobra-Puma Golf. “As a long hitter, Cobra clubs are well suited to his game. He has a bright future ahead as a professional golfer, and we’re thrilled to have him now representing Cobra.”
Edfors, a native of Varberg, Sweden native and former member of the University of Texas at San Antonio golf team, turned pro in 1997 and spent several years playing the Challenge Tour, where he won twice in 2003 and topped its Order of Merit.
In 2006, Edfors captured the European Tour’s TCL Classic, Quinn Direct British Masters and Scottish Open. Those three victories catapulted him into the Official World Golf Rankings’ top 50 in July of that year, and he finished the season in 10th place on the European Order of Merit. He had two top 10 finishes in 2007 and another five in 2008. In 2009, he won the Asian Tour’s inaugural Black Mountain Masters in Thailand. This year, Edfors has played in six European Tour events with his strongest finish to date a T8 at the Scottish Open.
Search on for only golf’s only Olympic gold medal
Jul 22nd
TORONTO – With golf set to make a Summer Games comeback, the search is on for the sport’s first and only Olympic gold medal.
The whereabouts of Canadian George S. Lyon’s long-lost prize from the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis has been a mystery for years, and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame is optimistic a new documentary may provide some answers.
“Lyon Hunt” will chronicle the 46-year-old’s surprising Olympic victory, and it’s also hoped the film will shed light on what happened to golf’s only gold.
The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame has Lyon’s championship trophy, but his medal is the real prize.
“Being an Olympic championship you would think that you would actually have a medal and that’s been a mystery for us for many years. Where (is) the medal?” Hall director Karen Hewson said Thursday at the RBC Canadian Open.
Lyon’s great grandson, Ross Wigle, said the family has always wondered what happened to the medal.
“During the (1930s) things got pretty tough for everybody and the family generally believes that more than likely it was disposed of at that time to put food on the table,” Wigle said.
Another possibility is that one of Lyon’s nephews took the medal into the street one day to show friends and it was lost.
Wigle’s hope is that someone still has it and the documentary will bring it to light.
“Maybe it is sitting in a drawer someplace,” he added.
Meanwhile, with the sport set to make its return at the 2016 Olympics, at least one Canadian golfer has his sights set on Rio de Janeiro.
Mike Weir turned 40 in May would love to play for his country.
“I have some things (to look forward to), the Olympics being one of them,” the native of Bright’s Grove, Ont, said Wednesday. “That’s one I sure would love to do, for sure. That’s something I’d love to play.
“It’s six years away. That’s something that’s really going to motivate me for a long time until that comes.”
The documentary of Lyon’s Olympic triumph is scheduled for release in 2014.
Golf Blog: Weather delay at State Amateur
Jul 22nd
SHEBOYGAN FALLS — The final round of the Wisconsin State Amateur Championship is in a weather delay.
Play was suspended at 10:23 a.m. as the leaders were on the fourth green at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms.
Jordan Elsen, a 22-year-old former University of Wisconsin golfer, has increased his six-shot 54-hole lead to 10 strokes after three-plus holes in the final round. Elsen opened with three pars — including a great save after dunking his tee ball into the hazard on the par-4 second — while Marquette assisant men’s golf coach Kyle Murphy has opened double bogey-triple bogey-bogey-par to drop to 5-over for the championship.
Beaver Dam’s Austin Ehlenfeldt was 2 over through four holes and at 3 over for the championship.
Elsen had a 4-footer for par on the fourth green and chose to mark his ball until after the delay. His father and cart caddie Rick stopped by to chat with me a few minutes ago and it appears that his son is in control of his game. Jordan Elsen is swinging the club quite well and his short game is pretty impressive, too. A tricky 3-foot save for par on the second is evidence of that.
A steady rain began to fall about the time the leaders teed off at 9:09 a.m. On the fourth hole, Wisconsin State Golf Association officials suspended play due to standing water. No word on how long the delay will last, although the radar does not look promising.
Meanwhile, golfers, caddies, family and friends — and even media members — are stationed inside the clubhouse, restaurant or clubhouse No. 2 here. I see the Gyro sandwich is on special, and while I’m sure it’s tasty, I think I’ll pass.
By the way, no sight of Lenny this morning. Thank goodness.
