January 2011 Archives

This is a golf blog, but it's also MY golf blog and that means I can post non-golf items that I feel are worthy.

Ken Lipshez receiving the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance's Art McGinley Award is as noteworthy as he is worthy.

Lipshez, a longtime scribe at the New Britain Herald and now with the West Hartford News, will be honored at the 70th Gold Key Dinner on April 17 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. The award honors a current or former member of the organization for his meritorious service.

Except for the late Bo Kolinsky of the Hartford Courant, no one has given more meritious service to the Alliance than Ken. A member of the Alliance since 1995, he served as the organization's president from 2000 through 2003 and has been the treasurer since 2004.

Ken began his writing career at the Burlington Post and Bristol Press in 1991 before moving to the New Britain Herald in 1995, where he covered New Britain's Double A minor league baseball team for the next 16 seasons. Lipshez also covered high school sports and was honored by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association with induction into its Hall of Fame in 2009.

A 1982 graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, Lipshez worked in minor league baseball for his first six years after graduation, including as general manger of the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Tigers of the Eastern League from 1986-88.

Now, two decades after leaving Southern, Ken rightfully takes his place among those fortunate to receive the Alliance's highest non-athlete award. I was honored and humbled to join the ranks in 2005, and now, as Greg Norman said to Corey Pavin after Pavin won the 1995 U.S. Open for first major title, "Welcome to the club, Ken." You deserve it.

Since 1940, the Alliance has recognized individuals from Connecticut who have achieved excellence on the youth, high school, college and professional levels. Those receiving the Gold Key this year are UConn-Avery Point baseball coach Roger Bidwell, Simsbury boys golf and boys soccer coach Ed Lynch, Notre Dame-Fairfield boys hockey coach Marty Roos and retired boys soccer coach Bill Wallach.

The Gold Key Dinner begins at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased by contacting president Zac Boyer at zboyer@courant.com or by mailing a check to Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance, P.O. Box 70, Unionville, CT 06085. For more information on the history of the dinner, visit the Alliance web site at ctsportswriters.org. Additional honorees will be announced in the coming weeks.

You just knew one of the best Lefty battles in PGA Tour history would have an emotional end Sunday at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif.

Either hometown hero and back-to-back Canon Greater Hartford Open champion Phil Mickelson or 2010 Travelers Championship winner Bubba Watson seemed destined to have a reason for shed a few tears again at the end of the Farmers Insurance Open.

Mickelson was trying to capture his first victory since the 2010 Masters, which was the last time fans had seen his wife, Amy, at the course since she was diagnosed with cancer during the 2009 Players Championship.

Watson was trying to validate his playoff victory over Scott Verplank and 2010 U.S. Ryder captain Corey Pavin at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell seven months ago when he melted into wife Angie's shoulder after his 3-foot par putt gave him his first PGA Tour title as his father was fighting a losing battle with lung cancer.

A win for either would be heartwarming, and Watson prevailed with clutch putting down the stretch, including a 15-foot downhill birdie putt at No. 18 off a deft bunker shot that gave him a 5-under-par 67 for a 72-hole total of 16-under 272 and a one-stroke victory over Mickelson, who also birdied the final hole for 69

Mickelson needed an eagle from the fairway after laying up from the rough on the par-5 finishing hole, but he wasn't able to hole the wedge shot, hitting it five feet left of the hole.

When Mickelson's wedge failed to find the hole, Watson broke down as he hugged Angie.

"I'll probably cry all day, just like the last time in Hartford," the 32-year-old Watson told CBS afterwards. "The win means a lot. Every win is special, because you just don't know if you're going to have them again or not. My dad's not here. I love you mom."

If Watson's father was looking down Sunday, his son gave him plenty to be happy about. Watson made six birdies and only one bogey and finished the week 13 under for the week on the par-5 holes and leading the field in driving distance (316.6 yards) and greens in regulation (59 of 72, 81.9 percent). That enabled the gregarious Watson to withstand strong challenges from Mickelson, D.A. Points and Jhonattan Vegas, who beat Bill Haas in a playoff to win the Bob Hope Desert Classic a week earlier.

It was Watson's first top-10 finish since he lost to Martin Kaymer in the PGA Championship in August. But after missing the cut in the Bob Hope Classic, Watson joined Mickelson (38), Mike Weir (8), Bob Charles (6) and Steve Flesch (4) as the only lefthanders to win multiple times on the tour.

Points and Vegas each charged down the stretch but hit second shots into the water on the 18th hole.

Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney also made major moves, shooting 66 and 63. Johnson tied for third at 275 with Vegas (68). Haas, who shared the third-round leader with Mickleson,struggled all day, shooting 75 to finish in a tie for ninth at 279.

Watson will try to join Mickelson (2000-01) as the only repeat winners in Travelers Championship history June 23-26. Watson's win last year helped qualify him for his first U.S. Ryder Cup team, and he finished eighth in FedExCup standings. Now he has his second tour in just his third start of 2011.

Congratulations, Bubba. It again was a bit bittersweet, but you know dad has a wide smile on is face in the Great Country Club in the Sky.

Forget about who wins the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., on Sunday.

Unless it's Phil Mickelson.

That would produce another emotional daily double for the well-to-do but suffering family the past two years.

Why? Because Amy Mickelson, Phil's wife, is back walking the golf course for the first time since the 2009 Players Championship.

The always gregarious Amy hugged dozens of fans, including members of the media, who spoke with the beaming blonde for the first time since she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 2009.

"This feels ... normal," Amy said to reporters, according to Helen Ross of pgatour.com.

Amy also chatted about their recent trip to Egypt to see the pyramids -- the "sweetest surprise" from Phil, she said -- and how well her treatments have been progressing.

Amy was able to travel to the Masters last year, but it wasn't known if she would be able to get to Augusta National on Sunday. She watched the final round in her pajamas on the couch but made it to the 18th for an emotional reunion as Mickelson won his third green jacket.

It was the signature victory of the 2010 season.

By September, Amy was able to ride in a cart and follow Phil's matches in the Ryder Cup matches in Wales. She was in Abu Dhabi a week ago as he opened his 2011 season but spent most of the time sightseeing with their three kids.

Walking 18 holes, as she had done with regularity for nearly 20 years, was a major step forward in her quest to reclaim a normal life -- literally as well as figuratively.

Phil, playing Saturday with 2010 Travelers Championship winner Bubba Watson, is challenging for his fourth PGA Tour victory at Torrey Pines, and he again is thriving with Amy in his gallery.

Could this be good karma again? Mickelson would only flash his aw-shucks grin.

"I don't know," Phil said. "But it sure is fun to see her out here smiling and having fun.  It's just we're in a much better place."

Danbury native Ken Green never ceases to amaze how he has kept his spirits so high throughout the 20 months since his horrific RV accident killed his brother, girlfriend and dog and led to the amputation of the lower part of his right leg.

Plus, a year ago last Saturday, his 22-year-old son Hunter was found dead in his room at SMU. But Green has continued to persevere and entertain his fans with some terrific blog fodder, as his latest entry indicates:

Blog-o,

Well, it's a good day at the Munch farm. I have returned back to the home of my 3 favorite dogs after 4 days in Orlando. All 3 are sleeping peacefully as I type on my iPad sitting my lazy tail on my bed.

We have improved the leg to its best yet. I actually have some zip on the ball and can hit down on the ball with much more authority. Some of you may have seen me on the new morning show that Golf Channel has. I don't want to rate my performance, but I do believe it was classic me. I also did a golf seminar with Jim Estes and a young Mr. Tim Lange, who is an amputee from the war. This man was an absolute pleasure to meet and I look forward to helping him improve in his golf game now that he is stricken with the bug.

For the first time I'm so happy that I have actually helped some amputees as my prosthetic is fitting my ideas to their legs, and they are seeing immediate results in their ability to hit the ball. There is no doubt in my mind that eventually a lot of amputees will be using these ideas in their legs. The good thing is that I'm not done trying to get more improvements. One of the only good things about losing my leg is that for the first time a really good and psychotic player is able to bring the reality of what must be done to try and mimic a golf swing to the prosthetic master Stan Patterson, and then he takes my thoughts and creates. We are Leonardo Dalostaleg. I pray we can continue to create. Now 'cause I must I will.

I saw an interview with the good-looking Suzanne Petersen, who I'm sad to say I'm not sure where she is from, but one of those Swedish type joints. Anyway I was saddened to hear her critique the LPGA event where they are only going to play for charity but I think the money is official. She made the statement that we do enough for charity. She needs a good leg in the tail end. You can never do enough, and she and pretty much all athletes have forgotten how lucky they are to be playing games and entertaining so many while making a damn good chunk of cash. That tour is hurting, and they better pay attention or life on the links might not be so great.

Now for my thoughts on Westwood and McIlroy playing tweet games and not playing the players. First, that is their choice, which is fine. How they and their manager Chubby did it was a disgrace to golf. Now you all know I can't stand (PGA Tour commissioner Tim) Finchem, but you should always respect golf and what it has done for you. Secondly, Westwood being No. 1 is even worse. That's not even worth explaining. That's like saying I know how to write. 

I'm spitting out to much, so I say good day and all the best. I handled the one year anniversary of my son Hunter, Jan. 22, (dying) pretty well, but it really does stink. All are still constantly on my mind, and I will work hard to complete our duties on this planet.

Ken

Danbury native Ken Green has earned yet another well-deserved award that he will share this time.

The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance announced Monday that Green, a five-time PGA Tour winner recovering from a horrific RV accident 20 months ago, and Bristol Eastern grils soccer team goalie Jamie Botteon have been selected to receive the Bob Casey Courage Award.

Congratulations to Fairfield resident Jerry Tarde on being named recipient of the 2011 PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism.

Tiger Woods in now chanting, "I'm No. 3."

Woods' record five-year grip on No. 1 ended on Oct. 31 when Englishman Lee Westwood moved to the top spot for the first time.

Then with an eight-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy on Sunday in the star-studded Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Martin Kaymer leapfrogged Woods into the No. 2 spot.

Kaymer, winner of his first major with a PGA Championship playoff victory over Travelers Championship titlist Bubba Watson, took a five-stroke lead into the final, shot a closing 6-under-par 66 and cruised to his ninth European Tour victory with a 72-hole total of 24-under 264.

Kaymer is 80 under in 18 rounds at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, where he has won nearly a tenth of his career earnings (937,561 euros in five trips). And this time, the opposition included Westwood, reigning Masters winner Phil Mickelson, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, British Open titlist Louis Oosthuizen, Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Retief Goosen. It was the best field in tournament history and likely the best in the world until the Masters in April, when Mickelson defends. He was the top American but never a threat at Abu Dhabi, finishing in a tie for 37th at 283, a whopping 19 strokes behind Kaymer.

Woods makes his 2011 debut Thursday at Torrey Pines GC in La Jolla, Calif., where he earned his inconceivable fourth U.S. Open victory in a sudden-death playoff with Rocco Mediate in 2008 with a torn knee ligament. Mickelson is also in the field. 

The Westwood-Kaymer standing at the top of the rankings is the first time Europe has occupied the first two spots since 1993 when it also was an Englishman (Nick Faldo) and a German (Bernhard Langer). Germany hasn't had a No. 1 since Langer in 1986, when he won the Masters, but that might end soon.

Fairfield native J.J. Henry can only hope the 2011 season approaches his opening round on the PGA Tour.

Henry, whose lone tour win is in the 2006 Buick (now Travelers) Championship, shot an 8-under-par 64 and is tied for second in the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Desert, Calif.

Henry is tied with Jhonattan Vegas, who is playing his fifth tour event, his previous low being 67, which he shot five times. Henry is making his seventh start at the tourament, having missed the cut twice and his best finish being a tie for 50th in 2008. His previous low round in the tournament was 65 in the fourth round at Indian Wells Country Club in 2004.

Henry and Vegas are one stroke behind Derek Lamely, who was 7 under from the second to the seventh holes with four birdies, an eagle and another birdie. It's the best on tour since Brandt Snedeker recorded an 8 under in 2007 on the North Course at Torrey Pines at the Buick Invitational.