Archive for April, 2010

I said in my predictions a few days ago that I thought Tiger Woods would have a little rust this week. That’s why I didn’t pick him to win the thing. It’s probably good that I didn’t, since the world’s greatest player officially missed the cut today, after shooting a 79 in round two at the Quail Hollow Championship.

Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your TV schedule for this week’s Quail Hollow Championship:

After a busy week, we return today here at Pro Golf Now, and with it being Wednesday, you know what that means…..predictions! This week, it’s the Quail Hollow Championship, which has attracted some big names. The golf ratings will inevitably go up this week, with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both in the field at Charlotte, so it looks like we’re due for a great golf tournament this weekend. Let’s get right to the predictions!

Unfortunately, after two big names in Steve Stricker and Ian Poulter both withdrew from the Zurich Classic yesterday, TV viewership may not be so high this week. So it’s a good thing that I didn’t pick Stricker to win this week. The tournament definitely has lost some star power, with Sergio Garcia being the highest ranked player left in the field.

Welcome everyone to another exciting edition of predictions here at Pro Golf Now, as we get you ready for the Zurich Classic, which gets underway tomorrow in New Orleans. Not much of a loaded field this week, as most players are preparing for the Quail Hollow Championship next week in Charlotte (with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson being among that group) or playing elsewhere (with Ernie Els and Anthony Kim playing in Europe). But there’s still plenty of great golf to be played this weekend in the states, so let’s make some predictions!

Word has just come out that LPGA superstar Lorena Ochoa is set to announce her retirement from the game of golf. It sounds like the official word from her will come on Friday at a press conference, though the Associated Press is already confirming the story by way of sources on the LPGA Tour.

You don’t see many tournaments go the way that this week’s Verizon Heritage did. You had Jerry Kelly ace the same hole for the second time in his career on Thursday. You had first-round leader K.J. Choi finish eleven shots off the lead after the final round. And then you had Brian Davis give himself a two-stroke penalty in a playoff against Jim Furyk, which gave Furyk his second victory of the season.

All of our attention here on the site is usually focused around the PGA and LPGA tours, but this week, we’ve got a compelling reason to follow the Nationwide Tour. Why? Because Jerry Rice is playing, and well, if he can hit a golf ball like he can catch a football, then we’re in for a treat. However, it was evident that golf may be a little bit more of a challenge for him after round one at TPC Stonebrae, where he shot an 83, and is currently 20 strokes off the lead.

In my predictions for the Verizon Heritage this week, I pretty much gave K.J. Choi no chance to win this week. Although I came out of the Masters with a new found respect for him, I just wasn’t sure that he would be able to avoid a letdown this week, in a much different setting. Well, K.J. clearly read my picks (at least I hope he did), and is out to take the tournament by storm. He has a two-shot lead heading into the second round tomorrow, after shooting a 7-under 64 in the first round today at Harbour Town.

Golf fans, mark it down on your calendars. The next time we’ll see the world’s greatest player in competition will be in two weeks at the Quail Hollow Championship. The news broke a little earlier that Tiger Woods would indeed be in Charlotte for the event, which seems to pretty much tell us that Tiger should be back to the PGA Tour on a regular basis.

The Verizon Heritage gets underway this morning in Hilton Head, as some of the top players in the world are there to try and pick up the post-Masters victory, and try to start building momentum heading into Pebble Beach in June. In case you missed it yesterday, you can check out my predictions for the event, and see who I think will have the best week at Harbour Town.

Although you may still have the Masters hangover, there’s more golf to be played this week, with the Verizon Heritage taking place in Hilton Head, South Carolina. While it is hard to ever really sink your teeth into this one, it does provide us with some good golf, which is what we’re looking for. So let’s get right to the predictions for this week’s tournament.