Golf Boys 2.0

Published on Mar 4, 2013

Brought to you by PGA Tour stars Ben Crane, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan, the Golf Boys' encore performance, "2.Oh", is here. Proceeds benefiting charity:water. Please visit http://mycharitywater.org/GolfBoys for more information about the cause and Golf Boys campaign. Available on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gol.... Music and lyrics by Mat Kearney. Directed by Ty Andre.

Spain Golf Vacation

A few years ago one of the Fore!Site's followers and I dabbled with a book idea "The Mechanic: Tuning Up For The Masters". We would propose to Miguel Angel Jimenez's "people" that we follow The Mechanic around for a few months leading up to the Master's. The premise is obvious, hang out in Spain with The Most Interesting Man In The World, drink great wine, enjoy world class dining and in general have the time of our lives "preparing" for the Master's tournament.

This idea, sadly, never came to fruition and Jimenez' invitation to Augusta may not be in the mail anymore. However, from those of my friends who have been to Spain they all say it is THE place to visit. Recently I found bookyourgolf.net and started dreaming of a Spanish stay and play sans the Mechanic. For anyone interested book a Spain golf holiday and tell them The Fore!Site sent you...Who knows they might hook me up with a trip too!

TEAM O'BRIEN WINS 3RD ANNUAL CCB CUP!

For the third year in a row the team captained by Colin O'Brien won the CCB Cup, 83-52. The Ryder Cup style tournament is put on every year to sponsor Colin's PGA PGM fees and PGA dues. You can Click Here to see the entire weekend results and the two years prior. Here are Sunday's Singles results and overall point total (note a familiar name on the last slide before the Overall):

2012 Ryder Cup Sunday Singles

Here are today's singles matches:

Bubba Watson

Luke Donald

VS 

Webb Simpson

Ian Poulter

VS

Keegan Bradley

Rory McIlroy

VS

Phil Mickelson

Justin Rose

VS 

Brandt Snedeker

Paul Lawrie

VS

Dustin Johnson

Nicolas Colsaerts

VS

Graeme McDowell

Zach Johnson

VS

Jim Furyk

Sergio Garcia

VS

Jason Dufner

Peter Hanson

VS

Matt Kuchar

Lee Westwood

VS

Steve Stricker

Martin Kaymer

VS

Tiger Woods

Francesco Molinari

VS

Oh how close we were to a what I think would have been the most explosive singles match in Ryder Cup history had Keegan Bradley moved up one slot to face Ian Poulter. As it happens Bradley drew Rory McIlroy which should be a terrific one, but how cool would it have been to have the two most excitable Ryder Cuppers facing off in the early going?

Looking at the setup my thought is if the US gets swept in the first four matches they are going to cough up the cup. The Americans best chance to close this thing out lies with Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson at least halving the first four points of the day. If those four lose to their respective opponents Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose the life will be sucked out of the crowds and the Euros will "Brookline" the Americans. 

Happy Ryder Cup Eve!

For those that read this blog with any regularity (thanks you two) you know that my favorite sporting event is the Ryder Cup. Every two years we are treated to golf as a true team sport. On the eve of the matches getting under way here is what the Fore!Site is looking for:

Ryder Cup Rookies To Factor Most:

Team USA - Keegan Bradley
I know, I know, Brandt Snedeker just won the FedEx Cup but, Keegan seems to me to have been built for this event. He has infectious passion for the game and loves to play from behind which is an invaluable asset when down in a match.

Team Europe - Nicolas Colsaerts
Only one rookie for Europe made this an easy pick. Colsaerts is Europe's version of Dustin Johnson in that he is a freak of an athlete that probably could have been pro at a number of sports and absolutely bombs it.



Ryder Cup Veterans To Factor Most:

Team USA - Jim Furyk
Furyk is obviously playing well this year and no one grinds the way Jim does. If I am Captaining the US side and it is close going into Sunday singles I probably use Furyk as my all important first out or anchor. When clutch putts or scrambling pars that rip the heart out of an opponent need to be made I look to Furyk.

Team Europe - Sergio Garcia
After Seve, this guy was team Europe. In Ryder Cups past Sergio could be coming in playing well or be off his game and it made no difference, when the matches got underway he was the best player in the field. The part that should be scaring the US side the most about El Nino is that the putter is working again. In Foursomes (Alternate Shot) matches Sergio is undefeated at 8-0-1 (W-L-H) and 5-2-3 in Four Ball matches for 15 points out of a possible 19 in team matches. Think this guy is going to play all 5 matches this week?

2012 Fore!Site PGA Tour Prediction Review

1.Young Gun You May Never Have Heard Of To Watch Out For: Ryo Ishikawa

Okay, so this potential noise maker turned into a dog whistle.






2. Most Likely To Have An Even Better 2012 After A Very Good 2011: Steve Stricker

This prediction looked really good when Stricker won the tournament of champions to kick off the season. He could only sprinkle in a few top five finishes throughout the rest of the season so a good year, but certainly not better than the 2011 campaign.


3. Player To Win His First Major And Where: Rickie Fowler at The PGA Championship

Do I get any credit for getting part of this prediction right? As part of the prediction I wrote "I wouldn't be surprised if he picked up his first win earlier this season..." which came true at Quail Hollow. Rather than gain confidence from the win the back half of Rickie's season was a total dud leaving him not only without a major but off the Ryder Cup team as well.

4. 2012 Comeback Player Of the Year: Tiger Woods

Let's get real, no one had a better shot at this award. Three wins after two years of futility should lock this down.


5. 2012 Ryder Cup Captains' Picks:
Europe - 1. Ian Poulter  2. Alvaro Quiros
USA - 1. Gary Woodland 2. Matt Kuchar 3. Justin Leonard 4. Lucas Glover
At least I got Ian Poulter right and Matt Kuchar automatically qualified. Other than that I couldn't have been more wrong.

6. 2012 PGA Tour Rookie Of The Year: Bud Cauley

Cauley played very well this season and if not for out of nowhere rookie John Huh, Bud could have won the award. Huh ended the season with a win and a trip to the Tour Championship so that should be all for that.

 

7. 2011 Major Winner Most Likely To Win Another In 2012: Rory McIlroy

PGA Championship by 8 strokes...Done! 







8. 2012 FedEx Cup Champion: Hunter Mahan

What happened? Two wins early in the year basically got him into the Tour championship but he almost hacked his way out of that. Like Fowler, Mahan played terribly the last half of the season and got bumped from the Ryder Cup team as a result.




9. Best Major Of 2012: The Masters

This is usually such a grey area category that it's impossible to tell if I got it right. That being said I nailed it! Oosthuizen had the albatross, it came down to a playoff and Bubba Watson hit the shot of the year. 





10. 2012 PGA Tour Player Of The Year: Steve Stricker

Oops.

Golf As An Extreme Sport

Starting our golf season off in Vermont has been an up again down again experience...Typical New England stuff. Perfect days have been followed by low temps and high winds. On the bad days we have still seen a handful of hearty souls out playing when they should be stoking a fire. I figured these folks love their golf enough to play in near arctic conditions making them the toughest breed of golfer I've come across. Then I was sent the following document by one of our members and I have an entirely new definition of tough when it comes to golf.

Weigh in with your comments on which rule shows the most "phlegm" as they say.

Bubba Watson's Masters Is A Win For The Golf Boys

The 155 yard wedge with a forty yard hook that Bubba Watson used to win the 2012 Masters ushered in a new era in golf. Not only in how majors can be won, but who might be winning those majors. I have never seen a golfer who won a major tournament have anyone other than family and maybe close friends waiting for them on the final green. Bubba Watson had family, friends and other Masters competitors waiting for him. Fellow "Golf Boys" Ben Crane and Rickie Fowler and other young tour pros like Aaron Baddeley hung around for hours upon hours after their Sunday rounds to see if Bubba could put on a Green Jacket. That show of support from Bubba's fellow tour pros was maybe more surprising than the shot that captured the title. Professional golf looked a bit like NASCAR in that fellow competitors are competing individually but under the halo of a team.

The part that makes a place like Augusta National a bit nervous about this is that the "Golf Boys" crew look more like professional X-Gamers than golfers. Despite the bad boy image consider the negative headlines from last week's event and you'll see old guard guys like Tiger Woods kicking clubs, swearing and Sergio Garcia whining like a little kid that he sucks and has to play for second. Bubba, on the other hand, cried tears of joy at winning, thanked his lord and saviour Jesus Christ and humbly said he had never dreamed this big. As the Golf Guy with the most wins and accolades (i.e. Ryder and Presidents Cup teams) coming into last week Bubba now certainly finds himself the ring leader of the new look to professional golf.  If that's the case golf's future is in a magical pair of hands.