Dottie Pepper: Well That Was Quick

Posted on Monday, May 20, 2013 by Bill Rand

Last Tuesday I wrote a romantic piece, “Dottie Pepper: Home is Where The Heart Is,” about Dotty Pepper’s odyssey through the world of professional golf and a second career in on-course announcing which finally led her back home to her New York roots. And I linked to Ron Sirak’s lovely 2½ page story which was its inspiration.

She had to retire from NBC to get back home, but she was at peace with the decision and happy to move on to her third career, serving on the board of the PGA of America to get more juniors involved in golf. Ah, bliss.

This Tuesday I’m writing about her enthusiastic response to ESPN when they came calling to get her to come back to announcing golf. They have enticed her to come back to do just the majors on the men’s and ladie’s tours, beginning with the U.S. Open at Merion in June.  Continue reading →

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Sang-Moon Bae: No Stranger to Victory

Posted on Monday, May 20, 2013 by Bill Rand

As I said in yesterday’s post, I first saw Sang-Moon Bae at the 2012 Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Arizona, a northern suburb of Tucson. I was on the half-empty range speaking with his U.S. agent who was beside himself with this young man’s career possibilities. And as he excitedly burbled on, we watch Bae hitting balls.

I was within 20 feet of him and as I said yesterday, “His energy seems to just flow into the ball and transform it into a work of art against the sky.”  Continue reading →

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Keegan Bradley Still in the Lead at the 54-hole Mark

Posted on Sunday, May 19, 2013 by Bill Rand

Keegan Bradley is doing what he has to do to maintain his lead in the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas. After 54 holes, he still has the lead although it’s now down to just one stroke. He shot 2-under today while Sang-Moon Bae locked up 2nd by himself with a 4-under 66, his third in as many days. Bradley is feeling pretty good about his game:

I played solid today.  One of the most solid rounds of the year considering all that was going on: windy, putted very well, looking forward to the weekend.

And he is very aware of the prime spot that he has worked himself into with big Texas winds forecast for Sunday’s final round:  Continue reading →

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Keegan Bradley Limps in With 3-Shot Lead Intact

Posted on Friday, May 17, 2013 by Bill Rand

Thursday, Keegan Bradley was all the rage. Anybody who shoots 60 on the first day of a PGA Tour tournament would be. In this case, the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Dallas. He had the best of the draw with a windless morning tee time and playing with his good friends Jason Dufner and Matt Kuchar. He said it was like playing with his buddies on a Saturday morning.

Friday was a different story. He had the afternoon wind, but still managed to scrape it around in 1-under 69. That took him another stroke deeper which kept Thursday’s close chasers at bay; they all shot Even par to lose ground to him. And it moved the brass ring a little further away for Friday morning’s hard chargers.  Continue reading →

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Keegan Bradley: Shooting 60 is Easy

Posted on Thursday, May 16, 2013 by Bill Rand

Keegan Bradley certainly got off to a good start in the first round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He shot an “easy” 60 playing with his good friends, Matt Kuchar and Jason Dufner. He beat his best round on the PGA Tour by 3 shots and he set a new course record.

Can you imagine being as good as he is, and then beating his lowest score by 3 shots?  Continue reading →

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Jason Dufner: A Putting Lesson

Posted on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by Bill Rand

The PGA Tour rolls on and into Dallas for the HP Byron Nelson Championship, the namesake of the late Byron Nelson. He passed away in 2006 and was a contemporary of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, all treasured, superlative players.

The “Nelson” used to be quite prestigious when he was alive; it was an opportunity for the Tour players to be in the presence of and honor greatness. His widow, Peggy, is making her best efforts to keep that connection going for the players. But in this world of elite players scaling back and tailoring their schedules to peaking for the four majors, it is a stretch for many of them to play the week after big tournament like The Players Championship.  Continue reading →

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Dottie Pepper: Home is Where The Heart Is

Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by Bill Rand

In December of 2012, I wrote, “Dottie Pepper: Goodbye to a Master,” an homage to one of the best on-course golf commentators ever. There was just a way that she used words sparingly that conveyed the situation completely and, given her unquestioned playing accomplishments on the LPGA Tour, authoritatively. I mention a memorable instance in that post.

I also wrote about coming across her during a match I was following at the Accenture Match Play Championship. It was an understandably frosty encounter.  Continue reading →

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Three Feel-Good Nuggets From The Players

Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by Bill Rand

A couple of really nice things happened in the background of Tiger Woods’ dominant, 2-shot win at The Players Championship on Sunday. The TPC Sawgrass did a pretty good job of identifying players who had the best control of their games. After Tiger, it was the three men who finished 11-under and T2: Kevin Streelman, Jeff Maggert and rookie, David Lingmerth.

In “Kevin Streelman: Paid His Dues in Blood, Sweat and Years,” I documented all the hard work and effort that Streelman went to in order to become a member of the PGA Tour and, with his win at the Tampa Bay Championship back in March, a winner on the PGA Tour.  Continue reading →

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Tiger Woods: The Value of a Fine Mind

Posted on Monday, May 13, 2013 by Bill Rand

Tiger Woods won The Players Championship at the ferocious TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Florida, not only because he showed up with the best swing, but because he continued to believe that when the swing went missing.

It was a tough battle.  I mean, the golf course played tricky today.  It was fast and difficult, and I hit it so good today, it was fun.  I hit it high, low, left to right, right to left, whatever I wanted, except for that tee shot at 14.  I didn’t really miss a whole lot of shots.  I pured a lot of putts, too.  Could have been something pretty low today, just had a bunch of lip‑outs.  But they were all good putts, and we were joking on the front nine, through nine, Joey said, you might want to hit a bad putt, maybe it might go in.  So I hit one on 14 [and made double bogey].  (Laughter.)

His mistake on the 14th hole was the kind of mistake that is a stake in the heart to any hard-charging player trying to cruise to the clubhouse. He balked on his first attempt at this tee shot because a dragonfly suddenly flashed by his ball; stopped his downswing like it had industrial brakes on it. How does he do that?  Continue reading →

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David Lingmerth: Calm Warrior or Sitting Duck?

Posted on Saturday, May 11, 2013 by Bill Rand

After a two hour weather delay on Saturday, the third round of the The Players Championship was called by darkness with eight players still on the TPC Sawgrass and led by Swede, David Lingmerth. A Web.com graduate, he leads a tough trio of Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and, uh, Tiger Woods. He leads by two at 12-under par and is 4-under on the day with one hole to play.

Lingmerth leads despite the fact that his first two rounds didn’t go that well in his mind even though he shot 68 both days: Continue reading →

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