Arjun Atwal became the first Indian golfer to win the US PGA Tour title when he won the Wyndham Championship yesterday. The Orlando based golfer also became the first qualifier in 24 years to win a PGA tour event. Atwal had a final-round 67 to win the Wyndham Championship by one shot from 12-time PGA Tour winner David Toms. Atwal shrugged off his indifferent form which saw him lost his PGA Tour Card, as he fell short of the requisite earnings on the money list.

The 37-year-old Atwal , from Kolkata, gained a place in the tournament through a qualifier round on Aug 16. The victory earns him $918,000, playing rights on the PGA Tour for the next two years and a place in next year’s Masters Tournament, the only major championship he hasn’t played. Earlier in a blemish free first round Atwal slotted nine birdies and created a tournament record by firing a nine under 61 to grab a two stroke lead.

Going into the final round Atwal was tied at the first place with Brandt Snedeker. In the final round Atwal made an 8-foot par putt on the last hole to hold off Toms by a single stroke.

Atwal was the second Indian golfer to earn membership of the European Tour after Jeev Milkha Singh and the first to win on a European Tour event. Atwal, who experienced victory on the European, Asian and Nationwide tours, has been through tough times during the past few years. Three years ago, a driver trying to race him down an Orlando street died in a crash. Atwal was cleared of any wrongdoing, although the year-long investigation took an emotional toll.

However in this championship Atwal made up, for all the controversies and now he is once again eligible to compete in the PGA Tour atleast for the next two years.

Tiger woods in action

Tiger Woods finished 18 over par at Bridgestone Invitational but managed to hold on to his No.1 ranking. With Phil Mickelson needing to finish 4th or better to dethrone Tiger from the top spot, he himself managed to finish a lowly 46th and carded eight over in the final round. Woods carded three birdies, six bogeys and two double bogeys to finish 78th of the 80 men participating in the competition and also finished with a total of 298 which was also his highest score through four rounds of his PGA Tour career.

Prior to this year Woods had won seven out of the 10 tournaments that he played at the The Firestone Country Club which had previously been a happy hunting ground for him. Hunter Mahan won the tournament , Woods had owned. It is no surprise to see that the turmoil in Woods’ personal life is taking its toll, that the fallout from his very public indiscretions and the repercussions are causing enough distress which makes playing games nearly impossible. Since his comeback he has not managed to win any tournament and his form continues to fall.

Woods admitted that the way he played this week he would not be deserving a spot on the US Ryder Cup team, but also pointed out that there was time to correct his game. Woods will be in action in the  the fourth major of the year at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin later this week.

Tiger needs to make a remarkable and respectable comeback at Wisconsin to shut the mouth of his detractors. His fans are hoping that he reclaims his original form that won him 14 majors , and made him the greatest golfer of the modern era.

Coaches of Coaches the Tiger

The world number one Tiger Woods has no plans in appointing a new coach after Hank Haney his swing coach resigned. But will the tiger be affected? Well it doesn’t seem like it. “I’ve been using video and working on it that way, that’s the great thing about technology, I have no plans for a new coach,” he said.”

Woods has not been up to his best this year dealing both his physical and personal problems. He has just made it has made just three events this year – finishing fourth in the Masters but missing the cut at Quail Hollow and then quitting the final round of the Players Championship with a neck injury.

Hank Haney announced his resignation when he admitted that the reason for it was because of the sex scandals, he says, “When all is said and done, I’m better off out of it. That’s the bottom line. It is a huge weight off my shoulders.”

Woods added “I understand it, there’s a lot going on, life is moving forward. The last six months have been pretty tough but I’m starting to get into my routine of playing, which is something I haven’t done.”

With old rival Phil Mickelson now within touching distance of him at the top of the rankings, it will be nice to see the wounded tiger fight his way back to the green meadows after all the difficulties in the past few months and get his prey which he always longed for.

As Tiger Woods lurches from one PR disaster to another, it is almost incredulous to think that at the height of the ‘Tiger Mania’ he was being lauded as comparable to Muhammad Ali. In fact, when the golfer made his comeback at this year’s US Masters the press got themselves into such a frenzy that they equated his homecoming with Ali’s sensational return to the ring 40 years ago.

Muhammed Ali: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

Much has already been said and written about the transgressions which have left the golfer so professionally and personally wounded.
Before the sordid revelations of flings with cocktail waitresses and porn stars were revealed to a shocked world, Woods was primarily known as a sporting phenomenon and for that there can be no doubt.
Since he altered the sporting landscape in April 1997 when he became the youngest US Masters winner, and first Afro-American, he has amassed 14 majors and built a personal fortune of a billion dollars. For a coloured man to smash the cosy white dominated world of golf is a supreme achievement.

But comparisons between Tiger and Ali are not only ill thought out and odious –they do both men a great disservice.

Ali was also no saint –just a cursory look his private life will also reveal his fondness for the ladies. But, he was fortunate in that he lived in a time before the rolling 24 hours news channels and the paparazzi culture which now stalks Tiger’s every move.

Greatness, will you marry me?

But it’s their achievements away from their respective sports which makes the comparisons laughable.

Tiger Woods is a supremely talented golfer; probably the best there’s ever been and has a wonderful smile.
Muhammad Ali was a supremely talented boxer, probably the best there’s ever been…and not only did he have a wonderful smile but he challenged America’s attitude to non-whites and shook the existing natural order. He aligned himself with the controversial black power movement in a bid to politicise his status as the heavy weight champion of the world.

He refused to be drafted into the US army to fight in Vietnam on the grounds of being a conscientious objector after his conversion to Islam. He once famously declared ‘I aint got no quarrel with the Viet Cong, they never called me n*****’.
This principled stance led to him being convicted, sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000, stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from fighting in the USA. All this robbed Ali, and the world, of his best boxing years, yet he still returned and regained his heavyweight crown in some of the greatest fights ever to have taken place.

Can you imagine any modern day sportsman even considering an action like this?

So comparisons between Ali and Woods should be rendered useless and this is no fault of Tiger’s.
For Woods is a great sportsman and money making machine but he is no cultural icon like Ali.

For Ali’s achievements in and out the boxing ring, means he stands alone as the greatest.

Jason Bohn clinched his second PGA title by winning the Zurich Classic Tournament, a day after his birthday, on Sunday at New Orleans Classic in Avondale, Louisiana. The weather-hit tournament saw Bohn shooting an opening 65 in the previous rounds. He was leading in all the rounds after that. Bohn has finished his title drought after a long five years.

Bohn birdied three of the final fours holes for a 5 under 67 to oust Jeff Overton with a two stroke to put his claim to the title. Overton consistently challenged him firing a bogey-free of 66. However, Bohn unnerved by Overton’s challenge made birdie putts of 51/2 feet on No.15 and 22 feet on number 16 finishing with 18th for the fifth birdie of the round. Overton birdied the first, fourth and fifth of the 12 holes in the third round.

Overton said after losing the tournament that though he played beautifully,it was Jason who deserved to win the title. This title makes Jason riches by $1,152,000. Bohn who was struggling with injuries before returning to play added that it was a life-changing moment for him.

Overton finished second at 16. Troy Merrit finished third making two strokes less than Overton. Double US Champion Lee Zanzen finished at the fourth place.

The World’s No.1 woman golfer Lorena Ochoa announced her retirement from professional golf on Tuesday(20th April,2010). The 28 year old Mexican star who married last year has been the World’s No. 1 in the last three years and have won 26 times over the last three years. Her decision to quit LPGA( Ladies Professional Golf Association) is uncannily similar to Annika Sorenstam who retired two years ago.

Ochoa who hails from Mexican City of Guaduljara turned professional in 2002 displaced Annika Sorenstan from the top spot in 2007. Ochoa, who has not register win since October wants to devote time to her family. Her retirement has deprived the game one of its greatest ambassadors. The golfer is expected to announce her reason of retirement on Friday. She has married to Andres Cones, Chief executive of AeroMexico airlines  and is a mother of three will share this new stage of life with her sponsors,family members and friends.

She has set up a foundation to support primary education and has a set up a school for the education of poor children,s education on academic subjects, sports and culture.

However, LGPA stated that she has not withdrawn from next week’s Tres Marias tournament in Morias, Mexico city.

England’s Lee Westwood kept the lead after a fascinating day of golf at the Augusta Masters. Most of the Patrons of the game were hard pressed to  remember when was the last time a Saturday felt like the Sunday at Augusta’s. Phil Mickelson’s back to back eagles brought the crowd to their feet and him one shot behind Westwood going into the final day. The roars are back at the green and so is the much revered and much maligned Tiger Woods. The now sublime, now erratic Wood heads into the final round tied third with Choi and three strokes behind the leader. There was enough wow and aww moments with eagles, birdies, near misses to keep the crowd going on Saturday. But Lee and his devoted English fans cannot be blamed for thinking that they were at a different tournament at the same course. There was cheers for almost everyone except for Lee as he went about the course in a clinical fashion .While Lee has played enough to concentrate on his game rather than concern him self with what others are doing, it is not easy not to be swayed by the emotions surrounding the Major.

Westwood is World No. 4 and amongst the best the only one without a major. After Saturday’s play he said” I think I am ready”. He better be.  Lurking behind him is Phil Mickelson , Tiger Woods and Fred Couples.

Phil is just one shot behind Westwood. He became only the third Golfer in Augusta history to hit back to back eagle. The crowd went into frenzy when he missed his third straight eagle by six inches. The World No. 3 Mickelson is sentimental favorite of the crowd as he faces the toughest time a family  can with  both his wife and mother battling breast cancer. His devoted family man image makes him a White Knight with Halo over his head in stark contrast to the Bad Boy image of the now fallen from grace , Mr. Golf Tiger woods.

Tiger waves to his fans who seems to have forgiven him

After a self imposed five month hiatus from the game, Tiger is back on familiar turf. Haunted by a Golf Club Swinging wife, who as of now is still weighing the most lucrative option, his dozen and counting clandestine affairs and girl friends ,  he checked into rehabilitation centre. Though it rehabilitated what is not clear, it at least kept the hyper active media and paparazzi who were rubbing their hands in glee at the first opportunity( Multiplied by 12+) provided by the Perfect Role Model, at bay. He received a warm welcome at the Masters and for a change the man was more human when acknowledging perhaps for the first time  the role of  his fans and colleagues in his success. He is not in the best of form. He has been spraying the ball all around and making one to many of near misses. But he has played well enough to be in contention still.

Fred Couples is  behind only 4 players bur  believes to win Major at his age would be a pipe dream  but not ruling himself out yet. Win if he does at Age 50 , he will be putting on the Green Jacket 28 years after he did it for first time. While romantics in us would absolutely love to see the fight between Phil and Woods for more of non golfing reasons as a contest between the good and the bad, the saint and the devil. Golf itself could not have scripted it better. With World No. 1, 3, 4 all in fray the leader board has not looked so strong in almost a decade at Majors. Throw in Poulter , Barnes,  Choi . The tournament has not been decided yet on one of the most demanding golf courses in the world.

Things change fast at Augusta Nationals as Mickelson proved. The Green Jacket will be worn by the   truly deserving. If Woods is playing for pride and more, Phil is getting his inspiration from things that cannot be defined. In the midst spare a thought for Westwood. His time has come and if keeps his cool, nothing can deny him the title which is long overdue.

Over to another exciting Final day at the Augusta National Masters 2010 as the game begins.

Tiger woods need no introduction , though i will quote some paras from Wikipedia and his website to refresh your memory …

He was a prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show, this was the first ever glimpse of a champion to be, the greatest sportsperson of the new millennium He turned pro in 1996 and up till now he has amassed a whooping 71 PGA tour titles and 38 European tour, 3rd in the all time list behind the “Perfect Swinger” Sam Snead and Jack “The Golden Bear” Nicklaus.

Eldrick (Tiger) Woods, now at the age of 34 has had an unprecedented career as a golfer. He dominated the golf world over the last decade and is the hottest choice as a marketing tool. He landed deals with the likes of Accenture ,AT & T ,NIKE, Gillette, TAG Heuer, EA Sports, Gatorade to name a few in the unending list of sponsorships and deals. A total rundown of sorts as an endorser. He is the world’s first athlete to make a billion dollars. An epitome of true sportsman he is considered the American hero, little weird though as he refers his ethnic make up as “Cablinasian” from Caucasian, Black -American, Indian, and Asian. Off the course also he is just perfect, The Tiger Woods Foundation, launched by Woods and his father in 1996, has raised millions of dollars to help underprivileged youth get started in golf and succeed in life.

It seemed he just cannot take a wrong foot, but he did. The lightning hit him, or rather his Cadillac hit a fire hydrant and all hell broke lose, by December the sports page regular Woods had pushed the likes of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian etc. to the obscurity of inner pages of leading Tabloids. Tiger woods had become the Tabloid celebrity of the year.

It all started with Rachel Uchitel, and he ended up with half a dozen porn stars, couple of models and some waitress. Woods went into hiding while Tabloids were having a time of their life. Tiger’s wife, Elin Nordegren his very loyal but a very feisty wife had every reason to be angry, form filing divorce papers, to moving out with their children to hitting with a golf club she made her stand clear on the issue of her beloved husband’s infidelities. Tiger in order to save his marriage decided to take a break from golf, a right step in a long time, just imagine if Tiger would have been playing amidst this fiasco and after each hole sprang a new mistress out of the spectators, wow then it would have been tough to keep the count.

Anyways, on 19thFeb,2010 Tiger decided to come out of the woods and his rehab(ha, what a joke) to give a public apology in front of a select few, I guess he did not want any golf clubs or shoes flying at him, that’s why he hand picked his audience.
According to the great golfing legend Sir Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods 13 minute painstaking apologia was sincere enough. But the hype and frenzied build up before the press conference was just too much, even back in India were very few people indulge in knowing golf as more than a sport of putting a the ball in a hole, news channels were at top gear for this telecast, Times Now’s Arnab Goswami abruptly stopped a discussion on unlawfulness in India to get the live feed of Tigers press Conference.

And the verdict, not convincing, many a sports journos thought of this as completely staged managed, lack of Human warmth, not having a sense of true remorse.For many business analyst this apology looked more like trying getting back his endorsement deals, more than anything. From Buddhism to work at his foundation he put in a lot in his apology and that also kind of backfired. The surprising thing came at the end of the speech, about his golfing career, thats what people wanted to know and the answer was a bleak one, he would come one day, but did not know when. This was one thing his fans and supporters cared about and he came out with the lamest of all responses.

Well on the Hindsight, this scandal could be regarded as the most ill treated malicious gossip by the media, and poor John Terry and Ashley Cole are also facing its similar kind of backlash. This scandal though had its beneficiaries as well, Tiger Woods official site got more hits in these 2 months than ever before, and he became most talked about celeb and as for his endorsement deals, those guys can still make some bucks out of the woods by reducing the deal money and fitting in Tiger Woods. And as for the mistresses, they are smelling the moolah, One of them has landed a job on TV, another one is going to write a book, no prizes for guessing the plot.

In the end if Tiger really wants to apologize, he should do it to his own wife and no one else, and once he comes back to the course and becomes the Tiger Woods we know, this whole incident will be done and dusted with and the world will once again call him the greatest exponent of “The Greatest Game Ever Played”.

Tiger Woods finally issued a statement of leaving him alone. He also rubbished rimours which states that his wife, Elin and Tiger quarreled after she confronted him about an alleged affair and when she chased Tiger in his car with a golf club caused the commotion leading to Tiger’s accident.

tiger-woods-sad

But in this press conference he clears the air or atleast tried to do so by saying “The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false”

Earlier on 27th nov Tiger Woods had an accident while droving his SUV where it SUV got bit smashed to a tree causing him some bruises on his face.
He earlier refuses to give any statement which instantly ceded control of his story not only to legitimate news outlets, but also to celebrity gossip mongers on the hunt for a tale –- made up or otherwise -– of adultery and mayhem
Although he has full discretion to handling & sharing his private affairs but clamming up and avoiding the police, issuing rejections through attorneys, very much gives the appearance of something to hide to police, whose job it is to ferret out the truth.
I must say on this regardless of how you feel about Tiger, the media or this entire situation, you’ve got to admit: blowing off the cops may not have been the wisest course of action.

And now, because of this the police has started raising the ante. TMZ is reporting that the Florida Highway Patrol is now pursuing a search warrant that would permit them to seize Tiger’s medical records from the hospital.

This statement though to media but not to police may evaporate some rumours but police is still investigating doing investigations.

Slumdog Millionaire has caught the attention of the Western audience so much so that there is a tremendous interest now in India and in Bollywood. Some Western cities now have full fledged Bollywood dancing schools, and many, from Jay Leno to Milan fashion shows, seem to take keen interest in the personal lives of Bollywood starts.

Now, even the Western sports world is copying the Bollywood stars.

Earlier in the year, Tiger Woods made a come back from a long injury lay off. And the PGA was worried that their revenues were nose diving without his presence. He came back and made a splash. And how! His fit-pumping was back and so was his game.

Woods has apparently asked for a 3 million dollar (Australian) appearance fee to appear in the Australian Masters in Melbourne this November (he surely must have had a chat with Akshay Kumar). The Victorian government has agreed to pay half the appearance fee.

Why?

The Austrailans simply adore Woods, and his first ever appearance in Australia is estimated to bring between 10 and 20 thousand foreign and interstate visitors to Melbourne to catch a glimpse of Woods! And that would mean an influx of 19 million dollars (Australian) into Victoria’s economy according to the auditors of Ernst & Young.

Now that is ingenious. You use the tax payers’ money to pay for Wood’s appearance fee, and then expect the same tax payers to spend more money to come and watch Woods play! Hello! Isn’t that cheating?

I just wonder if such a scenario would work in India. Well, I am not toosure about the number of people that would flock to see Woods play in India (I would, and would ask for tax exemption if the government was paying his appearance fee!), but it certainly may not bring the same millions as it would in a nation like Australia.

May be it would work if the person happened to be a certain Maria Sharapova. With her, I am certain that you don’t even need her to ‘appear’ in one of our WTA tournaments, a simple rumour would do and our television channels would bring in the millions!

Power play golf come to India

Though I am not familiar with even “G” of Golf, still writing this post!! After all India is a democracy and we all have freedom of speech, unless its vituperative. So dear Readers, please read the following with a sympathetic attitude towards me!! Recently, a new version of Golf – PowerPlay Golf – was introduced in Mumbai.  PowerPlay golf is just a two years old sport but promises to metamorphose the perception people currently have towards the sport – just like T20 did for Cricket (though I bet there will not be as much money involved as in Cricket). And what else, if Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta can rock the dias in IPL then Neha Dhupia makes sure that she is not left behind (at least here, since she has nowhere to go in Bollywood) in Signature Club Golf Championship. Yup, she is the “glamor ambassador” for this sport.

PowerPlay Golf was introduced by Peter McEvoy, leading British amateur golfer and now golf course designer and administrator, around two years back. In this shorter version of  Golf, the game would be finished in just 2 hours. What a mind!! 4 days to 2 hours (actual Golf is of 4 days)?? Seems like every weekend there would be a PowerPlay Golf championship in one or the other street of India!! But 1 thing is for sure that this sport would soon be in a race to give T20 Cricket a run for money. Anyways, in this version, played over nine holes, there are two flags on each green — with bonus points on offer for golfers, who score nett birdies or better when going for the difficult Black Flags. Mr. McEvoy believes that due to a conspicuous and steady drop  in Golf audience, this new version would be able to attract more people to watch Golf. The Signature Championship will be played from 26^th September to 14^th December across 30 cities in India in which around 40 clubs would be participating.

In PowerPlay Golf, players can choose to play to the easy white flag or the more difficult Skull and Crossbones black flag. If they score a birdie or better to the black flag, they earn double points. Each golfer is compelled to take exactly three PowerPlays in the first eight holes while having the option of the fourth PowerPlay on the final hole. The game was first played by 16 UK golf journalists at Playgolf Northwick Part Golf course in London on February 6, 2007. Since then the format has expanded its reach with 140 UK courses set up for the format, 14 in Australia and 30 in South Africa. David Kemp, a 3-handicap golfer from Surrey won the first ever National PowerPlay Golf Championships at Hampton Court Palace Golf Club in London on September 6, 2007. The world’s first dedicated PowerPlay Golf course, however, is currently under construction in East Kilbride, Scotland.

The sport was launched in India last week in a glittering function in Mumbai, with the damsel Dhupia in a voluptuous red dress. So lets see how many Rohit Sharma or Venugopal Rao or Manpreet Gony of Golf emerge from this tournament to match the likes of Jeev Milkha Singh and other Indian Golf greats.

Tiger Woods has cruised to an eight shot victory at the BMW championship held recently in Chicago. This is Tiger’s sixth win of the season and the 71^st of his career. The victory puts him only 2 short of Jack Nicklaus, who leads the PGA Tour’s all-time career victory list with 73 wins.

Earlier on Saturday, Tiger had set a new course record 9-under  62 in the $7.5 million tournament. Woods started the day with a 7 shot lead. Courtesy of a round of 68, he finished with 19 under-par overall, taking him 8 clear of compatriot Jim Furyk and Australian Marc Leishman. There was a late charge from Furyk, but he never got close enough to threatening Tiger’s lead. Furyk ended the day with a 5 under-par. The other challenger Leishman finished with 2 under-par, courtesy of 2 birdies and 2 boggies. Padraig Harrington ended up tied sixth with Sergio Garcia of Spain. 

This is Tiger’s fifth victory at Cog Hill, putting him back on top of the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup ranking. Courtesy of this win, Tiger’s lead at the top of the world rankings is now at a 12-month high.