Sportandfashion-news PGA: From Doves to Bear Traps - PGA Heads to Florida

The competition at Dove Mountain is not considered a major but it sure does not disappoint in the thrill

department. I confidently picked number one seed, Justin Rose to win the whole thing but I could not have been more wrong. Rosie fell in a second round thriller to Ernie Els, whom continued to shock everyone by making the coveted Final Four. Although Ernie is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard, I did not expect him to be a factor in this cutthroat environment.

Joining Ernie in the Final Four were Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, and Victor Dubuisson. All four put on quite a show. Although Fowler fell to Day in the semis, this week served as a showcase to prove that Rickie’s efforts to fix his swing have paid off and the leadership of Butch Harmon may point him to a couple victories in 2014. Fowler ended up notching a third place finish in Arizona and will be a favorite in weeks to come.

The battle took place with the head-to-head match up of Day (Two seed) and the Frenchmen, Dubuisson (Seven seed). Day seemed to be cruising to victory, until the 17th hole in the championship match, when he let the feisty Dubuisson have a sniff of success. Vic ending up winning the hole, along with the 18th, to send the premier match to extras.

I thought it was all over in the playoff round when Dubuisson shanked his approach on 17 off into the desert but his fine short game kept him alive, yet again. In the end, the consistency and experience of Day reigned supreme and lead him to his first victory of 2014 and first World Championship title. There is a lot to like about Day’s game, and he will be a name talked about in the top five in the world by the end of the season.

As for the remaining top players in the world, the will look to knock Jason of the podium at The Honda Classic. The PGA Tour will begin the famous Florida swing this week, with the players teeing it up at PGA National, with the notorious ‘Bear Trap’. Last year here, we saw Michael Thompson edge out Geoff Ogilvy, to get his first Tour victory. I don’t think Thompson will hang around this year as length off the tee and hometown advantage will play a role.

As for my favorite, I give you Graeme McDowell. Graeme makes his home in Florida and knows his way around this course. In the past three years, he is yet to finish outside of the top 10, as he tied for ninth last year. The weather looks to possibly be a bit windy, and everyone knows a Northern Irishman thrives in those conditions. If last week was a momentum builder, this week good be McDowell's 2014 breakthrough.

Looking at another guy who played well last week, I think Louis Oosthuizen should have a good showing here. Louis putted well last week, in route to finishing in the final eight. He is yet to finish this tournament, so watch for that storyline come Saturday, but I expect him to get back in major championship form.

Although I don’t think he can win quite yet, watch for Brooks Koepka to make a splash at The Honda. He does not currently hold a Tour card but he will be playing his hometown course this week and has the talent to shake up some leaderboards.

I can’t believe it. I have made it to my final statement and have yet to mention the return of Tiger Woods to the track. The media will be circling the World’s Number One from day one but keep an eye on the field to pounce on the Tiger while he is down. Until next week, enjoy the best in the world, doing what they do best.

Bryan

Sportandfashion-news PGA: Walker's Hot Start & West Coast Swing Begins

Bryan Reynolds is on vacation for the next two weeks so I decided to write about golf for a couple weeks.  Truth be told, I did not have much for Thursday so I went with it and I hope it turned out alright. I will return next week.  

In golf, there are many people whom have to grind their way to the top. It is the beauty of golf and tennis because there are only a few cases where the golfer's ascent is very quick and easy. Jimmy Walker won the Nationwide Tour in 2004 essentially a sign that he could be ready for big times to come in the future as guys like Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and Jerry Kelly had won before him. It did not happen for Walker as he went up and down for the next several years yet in late 2013, everything seemed to click for him.

Walker has been a professional since 2001 and went without a PGA win until October of 2013 and now is a multiple winner as he took home the Sony Open with a closing round 63 giving him a one-stroke win over Chris Kirk. Walker's back-nine is what won him the tournament. He went five under in the final nine holes, and it vaulted him over Kirk who had the three-day lead. Walker is now eligible for all majors, World Golf Championships meaning he puts himself in the mix for a Ryder Cup spot. Now it is still way too early to talk like that yet it is always fun to see a golfer break through. Walker now earned victories in two of his last six starts which is a hell of a way to start the PGA season.

The PGA West Coast swing begins on Thursday with Humana Challenge which what used to be the Bob Hope event where golfers played five rounds of golf. People realized this sounded a bit nuts therefore it scaled back to a regular tournament out at PGA West in La Quinta, California. Brian Gay took home the title last year in a tournament where he and two other golfers broke the tournament four-round record. Basically if you enjoy guys going low like that Flo Rida song, this is your tournament.

It is hard to really peg whom will actually make birdies when out on the course so it is tough to make a prediction. I honestly do not know how Bryan does it each week, but we will throw out some names worth watching this weekend. The first one is Webb Simpson. He leads the PGA in scoring average thus far and second in Greens In Regulation. Also Simpson is in the top five in Par 4 and Par 5 birdies which is important with a Par 72 course. If Simpson stays with how his season has went thus far, he will probably be hunting another PGA trophy this weekend.

Let's stay with the theme of converted birdies because that's what it will take to win this tournament for a couple more picks... Rickie Fowler seems like a natural choice to take control of the course and win the tournament. He also does very well with coverting Par 5 birdies. Same goes for Keegan Bradley who tees off for the first time this season. For an international flavor, David Lingmerth made his name known here last year and I see no reason to believe he will not be near the top of the leaderboard this time around.

I feel like this is the calm before the storm. We have a tournament away before Tiger Woods makes his debut along with some others. This should be a good one to keep us at bay for another week.

Charlie.