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MI Golf Holidays

MI Golf Holidays / Events

Events

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19

Jun
Tue

Bunker Do's and Don'ts

Stan Utley shows you to how to get out of the sand like you hammer a nail.

19

Jun
Tue

Away Game: Un-Vailing Golf in Colorado

From one of the best bargains in the country to some of the best mountain courses in the world

18

Jun
Mon

How He Hits That: Webb Simpson's free-flowing swing

After Webb Simpson shot a pair of closing 68s to capture the U.S. Open Championship from a group of seasoned veterans--and a few fresh faces--we were hard-pressed to single out any one shot that won...

18

Jun
Mon

Furyk lets another U.S. Open slip away, and he blames no one but himself

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jim Furyk stood on the 13th tee looking at a scoreboard among the cypresses. Little more than an hour to play. He saw that he led the U.S. Open by a shot. How must that feel? To have it there, in reach? Furyk's eyes betrayed no emotion. Thousands of rounds had brought him there, tens of thousands of rounds in a life in golf. Now, six holes to play. He'd just walked off the 12th green. On that hole, he'd done the kind of stuff that wins Opens. After hitting three bad shots -- one caused him to slash a club through the air in anger -- Furyk knocked in a 35-foot putt for par. Men tough enough to turn bogeys into pars win U.S. Opens. Furyk had won the Open nine years ago. A pro 20 years, a Ryder Cup star, he belongs on any list of his generation's 10 best players.Jim Furyk reacts after hitting his approach shot into the bunker on 18 at Olympic Club. Photo by: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Which is nice. It's good. And with an hour to play in the U.S. Open, on a one-shot lead, it doesn't mean diddly. You gotta hit the shots. Time is a vice, cranked tighter by the minute. Bobby Jones said there's golf and there's tournament golf. He loved the first, quit the second. Sometimes, in that vice, you have to remember. Breathe. On the 13th, a par 3 playing 199 yards, Furyk saw his playing partner, Graeme McDowell, leave a 5-iron in a bunker short left. Furyk went with a 4-iron. But it, too, fell short. Maybe, on this day, when fog floated across Olympic Club like smoke, and when that fog was heavy with mist, maybe a Furyk 4-iron doesn't fly 199 yards. Then came a weak pitch and a bogey. In the nine minutes since Furyk studied the board, he'd lost the lead that he'd held nearly all day. A half-hour ahead, the young lion Webb Simpson, 26, four years a pro, had moved into a tie. Related: What's In My Bag: Jim Furyk The vice was closing. As Furyk walked to the 16th tee, someone in the gallery shouted to him, "Driver's seat, baby!" Simpson had finished the tournament, one over par. Three holes to play, two of them par-5s, the 18th a short par-4, and Furyk needed to play them in one-under-par to win. "There were probably six, eight guys today that felt like they were going to win the golf tournament," Furyk would say later. "I really felt like I had a lot of confidence in myself and a lot of belief in myself and you feel like you're going to win...." He also said, "It was my tournament to win." But you gotta hit the shots. On the 16th tee, Furyk walked the entire 99 yards that the teeing ground had been moved forward to reduce the hole to 571 yards. The USGA had informed players of the change. And though Furyk knew the shortening made it a different hole, though he knew it presented a different line of flight for the tee shot, he came to the tee confused. "I was unprepared and didn't know exactly where to hit the ball off the tee," he said. He had a 3-wood in hand facing a fairway that made an abrupt dogleg left. "I don't know what to say, other than there's no way anyone else in the field was prepared for the tee to be that far up. I just didn't handle it very well." In the vice of time, if breathing is sometimes difficult, to hear Furyk describe his thinking on the tee is to understand that thought comes hard, too. "And I'm not sure I hit the wrong club off the tee, but probably hit the wrong shot . . . and that, probably as much as anything, forced me to make a poor swing." He also said, "But the rest of the field had that same shot to hit today and I'm pretty sure no one hit as sh--y a shot as I did. I did the worst job of handling it and I have no one to blame but myself. I should have hit a different shot off the tee, and, if anything, you need to miss that fairway to the right, never to the left. So it makes mine twice as bad." Related: Jim Furyk's Ponte Vedra He wanted to turn the 3-wood into the fairway running left. Confused, uncertain, he spun the tee shot into trees no more than 150 yards away. On good shots, the pros pose, holding the follow-through prettily; on this tee shot, Furyk let the 3-wood fall across his shoulders in sad, sudden, collapsing despair. His tee shot flew into the shadows of cypress trees and nearly out of bounds. Furyk wedged back to the fairway, but could do no better than a bogey. Now, a shot down. Now, he needed a birdie to tie. But his 4-iron second shot to the par-5 17th came out weak. "A fluffy lie," he said. His pitch came up short. His birdie putt came up short. Still a shot down. With a wedge in hand from the 18th fairway, Furyk pulled the shot left of the green. When he saw what happened, he bent into a crouch, sitting on his heels. He put the shaft of the wedge between his teeth, for no reason and for every reason that a man does anything when he has failed to do what he most wanted to do. The wedge shot left Furyk with an impossible, half-buried lie in the bunker. He had no chance to get a sand shot near the cup. He ran it across the green into another bunker. McDowell wasn't done. He had a long, downhill putt for birdie that would have gained him a tie with Simpson. As McDowell lined up the putt, there on the green's edge stood the forlorn Furyk. With a putter in hand, he made a full swing. Maybe he was thinking of the 16th tee. Maybe the 18th fairway. Maybe he just wanted to be somewhere else. He called himself disappointed. "Very. Very." It had been a long, hard day. "You name a U.S. Open on any golf course that isn't hard to hold the lead." But he had it to win. "I'd take that position time and time again. You get me tied for the lead on the first tee on Sunday and give me a good start. Then I've got to make my game about putting the ball on fairways and greens and letting people chase me and have to do something special. And Webb did that." Then, his voice flat, Furyk said, "I just wasn't able to hit that one good golf shot, that one great golf shot that I needed." -- Dave Kindred

18

Jun
Mon

Even Simpson is surprised by U.S. Open win

SAN FRANCISCO -- As he waited in the locker room, Webb Simpson tried to distract himself. He and his wife, Dowd, watched videos of their son on Dowd's phone. He tried to ignore the camera pointed right at him, tried to avoid the players hovering over his shoulder. And he tried not to think about how the events playing out on the TV in front of him might alter his life forever.Within minutes, that transformation was complete. A skulled bunker shot by Jim Furyk. A missed downhill birdie putt by Graeme McDowell. And just like that, a guy who never led the U.S. Open outright until he had already finished was now its champion. In an era of surprise winners in golf, the 26-year-old Simpson doesn't completely fit that definition. A standout at Wake Forest, he won his first two events on the PGA Tour last year and finished second in the FedEx Cup standings. Still, he had been immersed in a sluggish start to this year, even missing his last two cuts. And while he certainly hoped for this sort of result eventually, he didn't see it coming just yet."If I was honest with you I believed in myself I could win a major, but maybe not so soon," Simpson said. "This is my fourth or fifth major. And I just gained all the respect for the guys who have won multiple majors, because it's so hard to do. The level of pressure is so much greater than a regular event."Related: Webb Simpson shows you how to use a long putter Somehow, though, Simpson handled that pressure better than everyone else. Six shots off the lead after his fifth hole, he embarked on a string of three-straight birdies, with one-putts on six-straight holes. He said he tried to avoid looking at leader boards throughout his round, but he sensed enough to know his final hole was for more than a decent paycheck. It was there that Simpson hit the best chip off his life. Tied for the lead at the time, and with his ball in a funky lie in the greenside rough, his chip to three feet set up a closing par and a final-round 68.That's when the waiting began. With Dowd by his side, Simpson took the outright lead when Furyk bogeyed the par-5 16th, then was assured the win when both Furyk and McDowell's birdie attempts on 18 missed."I was so nervous all day, but especially there at the end," Simpson said. "Even when I was done I was nervous. I wanted to go some place quiet with (Dowd)."The quiet didn't last. When Simpson was assured the Open, making him the ninth-straight first-time major winner, he was ushered quickly to attend to his post-round duties. By the time he sat down in an interview chair, he took time to scan his phone. He might not have looked at a leader board, but he knew exactly where he stood now."I have 135 texts as of five minutes ago," Simpson said with a smile. "I was just thumbing through them trying to see all the congratulations."--Sam Weinman Follow @SamWeinman !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

17

Jun
Sun

Trending: Heckler interrupts Webb Simpson's US Open victory interview

I'm not going to say the finish of the 2012 U.S. Open was rather unexceptional, but which will you be talking about tomorrow: Webb Simpson's par save on 18, or this guy? -- Derek Evers Follow @derekevers !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

17

Jun
Sun

Overheard in the gallery on Sunday at Olympic

SAN FRANCISCO -- Welcome to Olympic Club, where Webb Simpson became the ninth consecutive first-time major champion. A complete U.S. Open experience involves eavesdropping on spectator chatter. Below, some of the odd exchanges we overheard in the gallery on Sunday.The galleries were packed on the 18th green on Sunday. (Photo by Getty Images)Woman: "So, you're a golfer?" Her female friend: "Yeah, and you?" Woman: "Heck no. When Bill plays golf, that's my alone time. And it's so much better than our together time."Man standing near the second green, noting the pin that is tucked in the right front corner, behind the greenside bunker: "Pretty ideal pin placement, huh?" Hi buddy: "Sure, if you're a glutton for punishment."Spectator, observing the increasing fog: "If this fog keeps rolling through, they better start playing with yellow balls." His buddy: "Stop saying yellow balls, bro."Spectator, watching Sergio Garcia: "All the chicks just like saying, 'Ser-geee-oohh! Ser-geee-Oohh!' I'd have way more game if I just change my name."Man standing in front of the second tee box: "See that tree right there? From the tee, it gets in the way of your eye. Your visual eye." His buddy: "As opposed to your audio eye?" Man: "Jerk, you know what I mean."Related: Sh-t Golfers SayYoung, attractive marshal working on second fairway: "I didn't bring my jacket, so I'll have to do some jumping jacks to stay warm." Woman: "Oh, I'm OK with that."Spectator, dressed in a Tiger uniform (seriously, a Tiger costume): "Tigerrrr! Today I am you, Tigerrrr!" Man standing next to him: "But you're not wearing red. You've gotta wear red." Tiger-man: "The red is in my bloooooood."--Man, to his buddy: "Some day, you can tell your children that Tiger got spanked by a 17-year-old kid with braces and a stand bag."--Spectator, standing behind the eighth green: "This hole has played easy all day. Even TIGER got his first birdie here."--Obnoxious spectator, after Fredrik Jacobson hits: "GRAVY MEATBALLS!" Same spectator, after Lee Westwood hits: "CHICKEN SOUP!" Normal spectator: "When will these morons realize that yelling random pieces of food isn't funny at all? It's actually unfunny. Opposite of funny. Negative funny."--Woman: "Why did we just hear that roar?" Man, who is listening to golf coverage on ESPN radio (which has commercials): "Not sure, but I can tell you all about this medication that controls uric acid."Related: Overheard in the gallery on Satruday--Spectator, standing near the 16th tee: "Tiger's coming, that's why all these people are here. He could play like sh-t for the next 10 years and still lure a healthy crowd."--Man, walking down the 16th fairway: "It's crazy that Tiger was standing just 10 feet away from me. He's one of the most well-known people on the planet. Not the world, the PLANET."--Spectator, noting Padraig Harrington's unusual pre-shot routine: "Harrington looks like he's about to do a pirouette. Or sprint. Or anything but swing a club."--Ashley Mayo Follow @AshleyKMayo !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

17

Jun
Sun

Media: '[Furyk] just fell apart, is what it amounts to'

(Getty Images photo) The anti-Johnny Miller brigade was out en force over the weekend (see Twitter), but there is a reason that he occupies the analyst chair for NBC. The final round of the U.S. Open -- at the Olympic Club, a course on which he grew up -- there still is no one better. His credentials: He has won the U.S. Open, but also is candid about his own inability to handle pressure at times, which from an experience standpoint covers the gamut on an Open Sunday. He, too, is refreshingly renowned for his reluctance to temper his opinions. Here's a highlight reel from Sunday's telecast: -- On Jim Furyk's tee shot hooked left at the 16th hole (the photo above shows his reaction), while tied for the lead with the pressure mounting: "That's the Arnold Palmer shot from 1966 right there. That is just a flat duck hook. That was one bad swing right there." "If he doesn't win this Open he'll remember that tee shot on 16 the rest of his life." -- On his errant second shot at 18 when he needed a birdie to tie, essentially ending his bid: "He just fell apart, is what it amounts to. Forty-two years old and wanting it so badly." -- On 17-year-old Beau Hossler, who shot 76 on Sunday and tied for 29th: "The only thing he did wrong I think is say publicly, 'I've changed my goals, I think I've got a chance to win.' He should have kept that to himself. It seems like a kiss of death when you say that." -- On a misguided Graeme McDowell tee shot: "That's just pressure, that's all it is. As straight as he normally hits it, that's all it is." It's still missing, Johnny Miller on Tiger Woods, pre-final round: "One thing we've missed out of Tiger is a great final round, a 63, 64 or 65. Bottom line is he's due for some historic final round." He's still due. Woods started bogey, bogey and double-bogey, shot 73 and tied for 21st. Should Tiger be taken at his word? Interviews with Woods aren't often enlightening and can be misleading, according to his former instructor Hank Haney. "I would soon learn that what Tiger told the media about his round was way different from what he would later tell me in private or on the phone," Haney wrote in his bestselling book, "The Big Miss." "There were...times he would tell the media he hit it badly and then tell me he'd hit it well." With that in mind, here's what Woods said in his post-round interview with NBC's Jimmy Roberts: "I was just a touch off. That's fine. I was still in the ball game, but today I just got off to a horrific start. I just never got it going early and unfortunately put myself out of it. "There's a lot of positives, a lot of positives to be taken away from this week." Is this a misdirection play, given his abject failure on the weekend (75-73)? Was his performance a negative as another opportunity passed in his bid to win five more majors? "The more majors that go buy the tougher it's going to be to beat Jack's record of 18 professional majors," Miller said. Furyk's action Jim Furyk's swing is as interesting as descriptions of it. The late Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "he comes into the ball in increments, segments. Kind of like the Tour de France. He also has this massive detour at the top of the swing. Kind of like going from Philadelphia to New York by the way of Pittsburgh. L.A. to San Francisco through Tucson." David Feherty once described it as "an octopus falling out of a tree." Here's how San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler described it in Saturday's newspaper: "Looks as though it was designed by committee." Choppers Phil Mickelson chunked a chip from thick rough just off the green at 14, similar to what Woods had done at 18 on Saturday. "Phil and Tiger looking like they're turning back the clock to when they were about five," Miller said. On Twitter -- Joe Ogilvie: "I fear that Mike Davis will go from the golden boy to a complete disaster with the back nine set up. Tricked up & could lead to Shinnecock." Comment: Ogilvie shot 79 and was dead last, 72nd, when he posted this. -- Paula Creamer: "Beau I will go to prom with you!!!" Comment: The ball's in your court, Beau Hossler. -- Total Frat Move: "Beau Hossler making braces cool again." Comment: He's got another year of high school before he can even join a fraternity. -- John Strege

17

Jun
Sun

Another disappointing finish for Woods reveals a fragile psyche

SAN FRANCISCO -- Let's start with this premise: Golf is a difficult game, comprised of skills that are rented and never owned. What works one day, one hole, one shot, is not always there the next time you need it. That's why we love the game. The challenge is special and constant, a journey not a destination. Scoring is all about being able to repeat the swing, especially under pressure, and it's about eliminating doubt when committing to a shot. That commitment, that belief, was never a problem for Tiger Woods for so many years. When it came to confidence, Woods had cornered the market. Tiger Woods walks to the eighth tee at Olympic Club. Photo by: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Years of success at every level of play had built up in Tiger a mindset of domination. But after his stumbling finish Sunday in the U.S. Open, playing the weekend eight over par, there is reason to question the mental aspect of Woods' game. While Woods is much more comfortable with the mechanics of his Sean Foley swing, no longer appearing to be going through a mental to-do list before each shot, he seems to be fighting doubt, and as the week went on at Olympic Club, he was losing more and more of those fights. When Tiger won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March -- his seventh victory at Bay Hill -- many thought he had turned a corner on the road back to domination. Then he finished T-40 at the Masters, missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship and was T-40 at the Players. Confidence came and went just like that. Related: 20 things that have happened since Tiger's last major His victory at the Memorial provided new reason to think he might be on the way back. Unlike at Bay Hill, Woods was pressured on the back nine Sunday and birdied three of the last four holes. But like Bay Hill, Muirfieid Village is a course Tiger can play in his sleep, having won there five times. He still had more to prove. The real test, it seemed, would come when Woods took his game to San Francisco and tested it under U.S. Open conditions. For two days, he breezed through the exam with a 69 and a 70. Then it was as if he had lost his study guide. His 75 on Saturday, in which he played the last three holes two-over par, was exceeded by only eight of the other 71 players in the field. And on Sunday it was just ugly, as he had to rally for a 73. "There were a lot of positives this week, a lot of positives," Woods said after his round Sunday, sounding very much like a man trying to convince himself that there were a lot of positives. Woods drove the ball extremely well on Thursday, but the overall quality of his game deteriorated with each round. It was as if as the pressure of the competition increased, his belief in his ability to get the job done decreased. Of course, this is something few athletes would ever admit -- especially Woods. Also problematic for Woods is that his game from inside 150 yards is nowhere near as sharp as it once was. On consecutive days, while still in contention, he missed the green on No. 18 with a wedge in his hand. That ragged play with his scoring clubs has been the rule rather than the exception for Woods of late. On Sunday, with an outside chance to overcome a five-stroke deficit and win his first major championship in four years, Woods missed the first fairway with a 3-wood, had to lay up on the 532-yard par-4 and made a bogey. On the next hole, he missed the green into the back bunker and made another bogey. Related: Rory vs. Tiger: The new rivalry? Any doubt about how the day would go was erased on No. 3 when he made a double bogey on the par 3. He played the treacherous opening six holes six-over par. Then, almost as if relaxed now that he was past the stretch that played a combined 1,109 over par for the week, Woods handled the last 12 holes three-under par. The Old Tiger would start a major with solid rounds, put the hammer down on Saturday to take control of the tournament and then close like Secretariat on Sunday. Woods was positioned to do that at Olympic Club, but when the bell rang for the final two rounds his form abandoned him. With each major that slips by for Woods, who turns 37 in December and has a had physical issues with his left knee and both Achilles tendons, achieving his stated goal of breaking Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors becomes more doubtful. And with each disappointment there is another brick missing in the wall that was his rock-solid belief system. Since winning the last of his 14 major championships at Torrey Pines in the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods has gone 0-for-12 with a half-dozen top-six finishes -- opportunities to win that he failed to capitalize upon. The only time Nicklaus went as long between majors was the gap from No. 17 in 1980 to No. 18 at the 1986 Masters. Where does Woods go from here? Well, in terms of his schedule he'll compete next at the AT&T National at Congressional CC beginning June 28, then it will be the Greenbrier Classic the next week followed by his next shot at major No. 15 at the British Open on Royal Lytham St. Anne July 19-22. But where does he go in terms of his game? That is the real question. Right now, Woods is an enormously-skilled guy facing the same doubts every other guy on tour has about performing when it matters most. This is a place Tiger has never visited before and it is the greatest challenge of his career -- no doubt. And that's exactly what he needs: no doubt. -- Ron Sirak Follow @ronsirak !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

17

Jun
Sun

Tiger Woods puts extra distance between himself and Foley

SAN FRANCISCO -- This week at the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods wants less from other people and more from himself.Just as Woods has been opting for more 3-woods and 2-irons this week, he's also been leaving extra yardage between himself and swing coach Sean Foley. While Foley has been working with his other students -- Hunter Mahan, Justin Rose and Stephen Ames -- before their tee times, the sharply dressed golf guru has been conspicuously absent from the driving range each day when Tiger has arrived to warm up.(Photograph by Alan Pittman) "All these guys have different requirements," Foley says. "Hunter plays his best when he's jovial, and Rosie's the same. Tiger likes to get into a concentrated state."Related: Sean Foley's Simple Swing Fixes So while Hunter Mahan gets a pat on the butt and Justin Rose a club shaft across his chest to indicate alignment, Tiger is going it alone. Rolling his first practice putts after lunch on Saturday, Tiger's only extra eyes were those of caddie Joe LaCava, who wasn't even looking. The way LaCava was facing, he noticed what the eager crowd didn't -- a lone figure in a tight argyle sweater walking directly over their heads. The temporary footbridge leading from the practice area to the 1st tee rises fifteen feet in the air, and Sean Foley was actually heading all the way to the third tee, securing a good spot to catch his first glimpse of Tiger's moving day swing."The key of Buddhism is for the teacher to make himself obsolete to the student," Foley says. That Tiger is no longer requesting his services before tee time, like he did some at this year's Masters where he finished T-40, is encouraging to both. "That we're only working on technique after his rounds shows how much further ahead he is in the process," Foley says.Related: Sean Foley on teaching, temper tantrums and the science of golfAsked to elaborate on this decision, the ever-guarded Woods bluntly yet cordially confirmed the question. "Sean and I don't work together before rounds. We only work after rounds."Like keeping the headcover on his driver, it's easy to admire the simple confidence of the strategy. Woods has drawn criticism from some about "over-tinkering" with his swing, and this move to get ready alone feels like a shift back to the basics of a clear mind. The best athlete in the world needing to rely, to believe, in nobody other than himself.  However, Woods' solo warm-up sessions, especially after Saturday's 75 (+5), can raise other questions. In his heyday, Tiger always warmed-up with either Hank Haney or Butch Harmon standing by. Still major-less under his tutelage, is it possible Woods doesn't trust Foley to the same degree he trusted his past teachers? Or is it that Tiger wishes to avoid the exhibition and ingloriousness of being physically instructed during this tough stage in his life? Or is it as Foley suggests? That they are so far along that Woods doesn't need help with the little things.  The only thing that's clear is that Woods is still searching for the solution to the problem that has plagued him his entire career, and which indeed plagues so many golfers, and that is how to take your range game to the first tee. The highlight reel of Woods' poor performances on first holes at major championships lives in inverse to the many times he's been clutch down the stretch. He's both lost a ball and hooked one into water on inaugural tee shots at British Opens, and he's had week-long troubles like making three opening double-bogeys at Torrey Pines in 2008. Over a career at Augusta National, his worst scoring average is far and away the first hole. Tiger has been striping it on the range at the 2012 U.S. Open. "The warm-up was good," Woods said after he released control of the tournament on Saturday. Foley or no Foley, it's the distance over that temporary footbridge that Tiger needs to figure out if he's to win.          --Max AdlerFollow @MaxAdlerGD !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");