by Mike Livingston; Co-Host, The CaddyShack Radio Show
Some refer to The Players Championship at the famed Pete Dye masterpiece, Sawgrass Country Club as golf’s unofficial fifth major. Whether for the annual world-class field, the wall-to-wall media coverage, famed 17th green as a signature hole or the fat $1.7 million dollar winner’s check (you read that correctly), The Players Championship has become a crown jewel in the crown of any professional golfer and the tournament’s list of champions validates it’s place in golf’s elite stages……….names like Nicklaus, Dez-Rez Al Geiberger, Floyd, Sutton, Kite, Norman, Mickelson, Love III, Duval, Couples, Price, Scott, Garcia & Woods have all held the crystal at this great venue.
This weekend that elite group welcomed “nice guy” Matt Kuchar to the club as Kuchar put together a string of four sub-70’s rounds en route to -13, 275. No, those weren’t boo’s you were hearing throughout the day although I answered that question once myself….in fact it was a rather loud Sawgrass crowd and they were pulling for the 33-year old American all day with chants of “Kooch, Kooch!!!”, sounding more like a fraternity flag football game than a final round, final pairing on Mother’s Day but he embraced it as he has a few times on the big stages now and closed the door on Kevin Na, the 54-hole leader and his unfortunate and erratic starting and stopping routine throughout the weekend.
Martin Laird, Zach Johnson, a recently hot Ben Curtis and last week’s winner and crowd favorite Rickie Fowler all played well on Sunday for a very lucrative bunch-up and second place finish at -11. Also playing well and finishing in the large money were Luke Donald at -9; Kevin Na, Bo Van Pelt & Johnny Vegas at -8; & David Toms & Carl Pettersson at -7.
The rapidly increasing temperatures don’t affect the boys in the ‘Shack……. the weather in the desert is beautiful and warming and the golf on all tours is heading into the “Summer Swing” with multiple majors straight ahead.….so tune-in to The CaddyShack every Saturday morning to talk golf with Roger, Earl and I and keep yourself in the “loop” with what’s happening locally and on all of the different tours………Listen in, will you?
Mike Livingston is the Co-Host of The Caddy Shack Radio Show on KNEWS 94.3 FM on Saturday Mornings from 6:00-8:00 a.m.; Additionally, Mike is the Director of Management for Personalized Property Management Company, in Cathedral City.
