Posted Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:54 AM
I was on PGATOUR.com the other day and found a fascinating stat.
Of the past eight British Open Champions, seven of them ranked inside the top 11 at the tournament in scrambling (ability to make par or better after missing the green). Only Stewart Cink, who lucked-out with a Tom Watson missed put on 18 to eventually win in a playoff, finished outside that group.
And with a huge wind expected at Royal St. George’s it figures to make scrambling again a key stat on the links style course.
So who is best suited to take advantage?
White-hot Steve Stricker (+3000), coming off a three-peat at the John Deere Classic which moved him into second place in the FedEx Cup Standings, is the current tour leader in scrambling at 66.27 percent. Other notables include Jason Day (+3500) at 65.42 percent and Zach Johnson (+8000) at 64.72.
Still not sold? Ben Curtis (+10,000), who last won the tournament at Royal St. George’s in 2003, ranks eighth on the tour at 64.21 percent.
Who do you have to win the British Open? What do you think will be the biggest factor?
Posted Friday, July 01, 2011 03:14 PM
Would you smoke pot at work?
Well that’s exactly what Robert Garrigus said he and a number of other pro golfers did some years ago on the Nationwide Tour. Garrigus claims he and other tour members would actually get high during rounds.
"Oh yeah, there were plenty of guys on the Nationwide Tour who smoked in the middle of the round," Garrigus told Golf Digest." The PGA Tour did not institute drug testing until six years later.”
I think that the drug testing might have curbed this kind of behavior, but would the PGA Tour really suspend a guy for randomly failing a pot test? Doubtful. If this kind of brazen behavior was going on, what happened behind the scenes that we don’t know about? In 2010 the PGA Tour suspended Matt Every for “conduct unbecoming a golfer” when he got busted for possession of marijuana. But just failing a drug test seems like it would be a much smaller slap on the wrist.
Hell, if other leagues were strict, there would no longer be an NBA franchise in Portland.
But this is my favorite quote from our resident grass enthusiast.
"We always talked about it,” Garrigus added. “You could go in the Porta John and take your drags."
Now that is well played.
Could you golf if you were stoned? Do you care if Garrigus was high?
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