Paul Goydos recently made a name for himself by finishing second at The Players Championship as well as for his humorous and insightful quotes to the press that week.
He kept the witty comments coming at the AT&T Classic, where he was still a hot commodity in the media room.
On why he had no endorsements entering the season: “To me, you know, we're playing for $275 million. Somebody offers me $100,000 to switch my equipment; I'm going to look at them like they're insane. I play golf for a living, I don't sell golf clubs for a living.”A World Without Tiger
Australian newspaper The Age assessed the PGA Tour with Tiger Woods on the sidelines recovering from his third knee surgery and wondered how current players would have been affected had their never been a Tiger: “Ernie Els is destined to go in the annals as the man most scarred by Woods, for the South African had two majors by midway through 1997, and seemed destined for an incredible career. Since then, he has won only one major, been runner-up five times and third three times.
“How many majors would Els have won in an era without Woods? Maybe seven or eight? Which, of course, would make him one of the best ever.”
Ouch.
Doing It Her Way
Annika Sorenstam’s announcement that she will quit golf at the end of this season caught many by surprise, but once she explained her decision, it made more sense.
First of all, Sorenstam said she didn’t want to limp or hobble into the twilight of her career an injured mess.
“Now I'm leaving on my terms. This is the way I played for all these years. That's the way I want to remember my career out here,” she said.
Her plans after golf are lofty ones: "My goal is to be one of the first females to really build a brand outside of golf," she said.
Sorenstam already has successful golf schools and a course-design business, so who is to doubt her?
Golf in the Slow Lane
The slow play issue is among the most common topics in professional golf and Peter Dawson, executive director of the golf rules body, The R&A, says something has to change.
“It certainly needs something done about it, not just for the running of these events but for the effect it has on grass-roots play," Dawson said. "We do see people copying the stars, and I think it has had an effect on the pace of play.”
PGA Tour player J.B. Holmes takes the opposite view.
"You're playing for $1 million. If someone thinks I'm slow or taking too long, I don't care,” he said.
If TV ratings continue to slide and, as a result, tournament purses diminish, one might imagine Holmes would be willing to pick up the pace.
Finch's Big Splash
Richard Finch made his second and third big splash on the European Tour recently. His first came in December in New Zealand when the Englishman took home his first tour title.
The next came on the final day of the Irish Open, when he fell into a river and then won the tournament.
Standing on the bank of the River Maigue that bordered the par-5, 18th hole of Adare Manor, Finch’s momentum on his third shot carried him onto the water, reminiscent of Woody Austin’s dunking at last year’s Presidents Cup.
“I never gave a thought to falling in,” Finch said. “Making decent contact was the only thing I was bothered about.
"But the momentum of the shot took me in and once I got out again, I thought ‘God, I'm going to take a while to live this one down.’ I was absolutely dumbstruck, but I had swimming lessons as a kid, so I wasn't fearing for my safety.”
Finch made a bogey and won by two shots over Felipe Aguilar.
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