the golf collection

For Tiger Woods, it was a great Father’s Day. Well that’s a great Father’s day one day removed. After playing his good friend Rocco in sudden death on Monday Tiger finally won the US Open. Now this would be a fantastic accomplishment at any time but given that Tiger is still recuperating from knee surgery, it’s stunning.

This young father of one, beat the odds when he came back from surgery after a few short weeks. Most of use mere mortals need 3 months to recover. So early back to the game, Tiger goes the extra, grueling day to win it.

Tiger is now back playing. He feels pretty good and has been quoted as saying:

“Hopefully, it will be close to a hundred percent,” Woods said Monday. “But if it’s not, no big deal.”

The US Open is now just a week away and it’s nice to see Tiger not only back but feeling fit and ready to impress us all.

Tiger has announced he’ll be back ‘on the course‘ soon with the Buick Memorial on June 24. Tiger has been out of commission after knee surgery that was performed just after he finished the Masters.

According to Buick Open marketing manager Larry Peck, Woods doesn’t usually commit to tournaments until the last minute, but his plans are concrete enough that the tournament announced he will host a clinic.

After knee surgery to clean out some cartilage in his left knee, Tiger Woods is now at least lightly back at practice. Chipping and putting to be specific. Tiger is hoping to be fully back in about two weeks to play in the Memorial. As Tiger himself put it:

“I couldn’t compete against those guys, unless we were playing a putt-putt course,” he said. “All I could do was chip and putt. I think they would have a distinct advantage over me for anything over 30 yards.”

The Memorial, is hosted by Nicklaus and starts May 29. And it’s a course on which Tiger has won 3 times. The U.S. Open is June 12-15 at Torrey Pines, where Woods has won 6 times as a professional golfer.

As the country has moved close to recession one has to wonder about the impact on golf. Recently I was reading up on the Wachovia Golf Championship and saw this quote:

” I think you always have to look ahead and see what is going on with the economy,” said Kim Hougham, executive director of the Wachovia Championship. “We’ve been very fortunate with the support we get with the public. Most of our major sponsors have four-year contracts through 2010, so that helps us out. We sold out our new venue and there is still a strong interest in the tournament. So we haven’t totally felt the effects.

“But I think you have to be concerned. Even though our demographics in golf are a little different than in most sports. But if you are not concerned, you’ll be in trouble.“

Yes, even though golf has been a fortress against many of the economy’s up and downs we do need to sit back and take stock. Gas prices are sky high and I noticed my membership dues are up again this year. It’s getting to be a bit tough to fit this indulgence in as much as I’d like.

Hopefully the economy will quickly bounce back. This year for Father’s Day I’m asking for golf gifts of clubs and balls. Maybe I’ll get lucky.

After a way too long, too cold spring, we have finally warmed here and I have to say I’m enjoying it. This week the temps have soared to 80 and the sun feels good. Of course I have to mow regularly now but it’s a small price to pay for great golf weather. A couple rounds a week is now my norm.

Life is good.

In a mean April Fool’s joke, Mother Nature has kept cold weather throughout much of the US. Not a nice joke for golf enthusiasts! While global warming is an important issue, one begins to wonder when winter seems to go on way past it’s time whether a little warming wouldn’t be a good thing.

Nobody’s perfect and Tiger Woods is no exception. Despite a stellar streak of wins, it appears as though Tiger is getting a bit more than miffed at photographers chronicling his every move. At last week’s WGC-CA Championship at Doral, Fla., Tiger snapped at a photographer after being snapped at with a camera with obscenity laced verbiage.

“It’s been frustrating because that’s what been happening lately,” Woods told “ESPN First Take.” “It’s one of the things that comes with playing in the last group, one of the distractions we have to deal with.”

What’s more, Woods said, the distractions have affected his play. “Each time it’s happened, well three out of four times, I made bogey,” Woods said. “At the time I needed to make birdie, I flinched on it. [The photographer] got me in transition on my downswing.

Fair enough but rather than bear his teeth at the photographer and his golf swing picture taking, Tiger might do better - and certainly look better by fighting the camera bug issue with the PGA.

Easter has come with rather cool weather where I live. At least the sun has been shining but it has made the morning round a bit chilly. One way I can still go out and enjoy a round is to stick a couple of Grip Heat hand warmers and put them in my jacket pockets. Then after a stroke, I can quickly reheat my hands and keep them warm and limber.

Cold or warm, it feels good to get out and play again.

I was quite encouraged on Thursday when Freddie Couples showed his old self and pulled into first place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. I was encouraged because Freddie and I are very close in age and a victory for him would be, in effect, a subtle victory for all of us staring 50 in the face.

But it was not to be. Freddie ended up with one round of glory. And the odds on favorite, Tiger Woods, is now positioning himself to take another big win.

Well if the old guy isn’t going to win it then I’d like nothing more than to see Tiger continue his record setting play. And I’m going to go out and practice some tee shots before the tournament commands my full attention.