by Mike Livingston; Co-Host, The CaddyShack Radio Show
Jason Dufner would be thrilled if the calendar never changed from May. He WANTS it to be like that movie Groundhog Day……He’s won twice (his first two wins on Tour), had a top-10 finish at The Players Championship last week. He’s very quickly moved from a respectable Top-50 all the way up to #14 in the World Golf Rankings, oh, and he managed to fit getting married in the middle of all of that. I think the guy is due for a honeymoon…….or is he living that?
Dufner’s simplistic swing and mellow demeanor have very quickly gained him a ton of fans and a huge respect from his fellow players. He outlasted another world-class field this past weekend by winning the HP Byron Nelson in dramatic fashion with a 25-foot bomb on the eighteenth hole to avoid what would have been a playoff with longtime tour veteran Dicky Pride who himself made a bomb on 18 to get himself to -10 for the tournament. Finishing in a logjam for third and playing some great golf on the always challenging TPC Four Seasons resort were Joe Durant, Mark Leishman, Jonas Blixt and J.J. Henry who had an ace during the round to get him in contention. Dufner picks-up another fat check for his effort and with the way he is playing, has to consider keeping the hot streak alive, keeping the honeymoon at bay and playing again this coming week at historic Colonial.
The gals got together in New Jersey for the Sybase Match Play Championships which proved to provide as much drama as any Sopranos episode. However it was in the semi-finals that all of the hub-bub took place that substantially changed the road to and ultimate outcome of the finals, themselves. American Morgan Pressel lead Argentine Azahara Munoz by 3 holes after parring the 12th and seemed like she was in cruise control. However, she was informed by an LPGA rules official that she was being penalized for slow play and in match play the results are much more costly than the standard one shot. In this instance it resulted in the loss of the previous hole and that brought Munoz right back into the match which she ultimately, of course, won. Munoz would go on to beat Candie Kung 2 & 1 in the final. Ironic that any golfer is actually penalized for slow play but in this instance, Munoz is known on Tour as the slower player……
The Champions Tour fires up again this week with its next major on the docket, The Senior PGA Championship. This will be the inaugural event to be held and the Jack Nicklaus-designed Golf Club at Harbor Shores, in Brenton Harbor, Michigan. All the horses will be in the field as the stars you grew-up with take on Jack’s latest jewel.
Hey Desert listeners……..tune-in to The CaddyShack every Saturday morning to talk golf with Roger, Earl, myself and some of the valley’s coolest celebs…..you never know who is going to pop in!!! Keep yourself in the “loop” with what’s happening locally and on all of the different tours………we’re waiting to hear from YOU so listen in, won’t 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.
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