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He won’t be allowed to play in a PGA or Nationwide event for one year. From ESPN-
Doug Barron became the first PGA Tour player to be suspended for violating its performance-enhancing drug policy.
Barron, 40, a veteran who played just four times this year on the developmental Nationwide Tour and once on the PGA Tour and failed to make a cut, will begin his suspension immediately — although his status was in limbo because he was playing the Nationwide Tour this year on a medical exemption.
“I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the tour or its players resulting from my suspension,” Barron said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “I want my fellow tour members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on tour.”
It is unclear what substance Barron took or what he did to produce a positive drug test. The tour said it would have no further comment on the matter.
Barron has never finished better than 3rd at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship. More recently he has struggled on the Nationwide tour. In 2008 he only made 5 cuts in 17 tries. The drug use certainly didn’t help Barron’s play.
Jason Sobel at ESPN writes-
That said, let’s hold off on the witch hunt for the time being. In a twisted way, it’s actually a good thing that Barron got caught, as it proves the PGA Tour’s ongoing efforts toward wiping out any potential PED use weren’t fruitless nor a waste of time and money. It also discredits the theory that Tim Finchem and the folks at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., headquarters would cover up any positive tests to keep suspicions to a minimum.
I’m not naive enough to believe no PGA pro would ever use PEDs. I will be surprised if one of the sport’s better known players get caught. A former winner who has fallen on hard times but not to the extent of Barron has is the type of player who may get caught.
She wasn’t disqualified however.
And in another development round one co-leader NOCERA, GWLADYS was penalised two strokes for reporting two minutes late to the starting tee on Friday’s opening round. Naturally, Nocera was fuming mad and did not even speak to her flight-mates CHUTICHAI, PORANI of Thailand and China’s YE, LI YING, while playing the second round today.
Nocera’s negative attitude raised eyebrows from her flight-mates and officials, when she even refused to talk to the Press and officials after completing her round. Nocera even questioned her round one marker Chutichai and asked her if it was she who complained to the officials about her late appearance to the tee box to start the first round.
“We never spoke at all after I had told her that I did not make the complaint when she questioned me. All I know is that she was late but I never made a complaint thinking that the officials there would have handled it,” said Thailand’s Chutichai Porani.
However, it was the other professional in the group ? China’s Ye Liying, who told Nocera that it was she who made the complaint.
“We play to competition rules. This is a tournament and all players should abide by the rules,” Ye said.- Ladies Asian Golf Tour
Pro golfers are supposed to know the rules and if they violate one, are supposed to take the appropriate action which can include penalizing themselves. It is also the duty of the players in a group to make sure everyone is following the rules.
For example- Three years ago Karrie Webb called out Annika Sorenstam at the 2006 LPGA for improperly repairing a divot. Go here if you would like to see video.
Note how Nocera wanted to know who reported her. I’d also point out that Annika was less than pleased with her being called out by another player in 2006.
“The Committee made a mistake by not imposing the penalty in round one but they can still correct the mistake before the start of round two. It would not result in disqualification because the player was unaware of the mistake and she was not informed at any time that she was late on the tee therefore we have corrected the score for round one and the Nocera’s 4-under 68 score becomes 2-under 70.”- Ladies Asian Golf Tour
Nocera should have been disqualified. I’m not saying this because of her reported rotten afterwards but because players are supposed to know the rules. Also there is more than ample precedent for players being disqualifed a day or two later, not just assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Craig Stadler at 1987 San Diego Open was ruled to have improperly built a stance when playing a shot during Saturday’s 3rd round. He wasn’t disqualified till 4th round play was complete and Stadler finished 2nd that particular week.
In 2005, Esteban Toledo and Brandel Chamblee were both disqualified for not penalizing themselves for taking improper drops and then signing their cards incorrectly by not showing the penalty strokes. This was a bit controversial because in both instances, the same PGA Tour player ratted them out told officials about the improper drops sometime after play was finished and all scorecards were signed.
There’s plenty of other cases I can cite as proof the officials in China didn’t rule correctly. Nocera didn’t put the penalty on her scorecard, therefore she signed a wrong scorecard and should have been disqualified as soon as this was discovered.
Hat tip- Waggleroom
He was playing in a tournament when symptoms first presented themselves. From AP-
Joey Sindelar remained hospitalized Sunday after having a pulmonary embolism during the third round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championships.
The Champions Tour said Sindelar’s condition had improved but doctors at Sonoma Valley Hospital wanted to keep the 51-year-old for further observation.
Sindelar withdrew Saturday and was taken to the hospital for dizziness and shortness of breath after playing the 204-yard, par-3 fourth hole. Sindelar rested in between holes and tried to play the fifth before withdrawing.
Sindelar was a two-time winner of my all-time favorite PGA Tour tournament, the now defunct B.C. Open. I wish him a speedy recovery.
In 2005 I almost died from a PE. In my case, I was struck by a saddle emboli which has a high mortality rate. By some miracle I pulled through, but only after spending 10 days in the hospital.
It was her second win of 2009. From ChannelnewsAsia-
South Korea’s Choi Na-Yeon fired a final round 67 to win the USLPGA Hana Bank Kolon Championship on Sunday by a stroke from Taiwan’s Yani Tseng and Sweden’s Maria Hjorth.
Choi, runner-up to Tseng as Rookie of the Year in 2008, closed it out to take the 255,000 US dollars winners’ cheque, sinking five birdies for her first win on the LPGA Tour since joining.
Fellow Korean Ran HongThe was four shots back in third while Kim Song-Hee was fourth and Shin Jiyai fifth.
Tseng and Choi finished respectively 1-2 in the 2008 LPGA Rookie of the Year race. Tseng won twice on tour before Choi got her first victory. Which was the Samsung Championship in September. Now Choi and Tseng are even victory wise.
Choi’s win was the tenth by a South Korean golfer this year on the LPGA.
The article doesn’t mention Choi having to birdie 18 to win by one shot. Tseng also birdied 18 but Hjorth could only make a par 5 on the finishing hole.
With her fifth place finish, Ji Yai Shin solidified her lead for both Player of the Year and leading money winner for 2009. She holds a 10 point lead in the first and an almost $200,000 lead in the later. Shin is the defending champion of next week’s LPGA Mizuno Classic.
Sorry for the hurried post. I have plans for today that will keep away from the computer almost all day.
The Constructivist is also blogging about Na Yeon Choi’s victory.
The last time this happened was over a decade ago. From AP-
PGA Tour officials canceled the weather-stricken Viking Classic on Saturday because of unplayable course conditions.
There will be no makeup date and players will move on to the final event of the season, the Nov. 12-15 Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Orlando, Fla.
Annandale Golf Club received 1.75 inches of rain overnight Friday and Saturday, completely soaking an already marginal course that had areas of standing water and large tracts of mud.
Madison has received more than 20 inches of rain in the past six weeks.
“I told them this was closer to a FEMA disaster site than a golf course,” tournament director Randy Watkins said. “Somebody asked if you could play somewhere else. I don’t think you could play golf within 150 miles of here.”
Officials postponed, then canceled play Thursday and Friday mornings after nearly constant rain. There had been hope officials might shorten the tournament to 54 holes and play next week or weekend, but groundskeepers didn’t believe the course would dry that quickly.
Slugger White, PGA Tour vice president for rules and competition, said commissioner Tim Finchem had asked the board for permission to play a 36-hole tournament as early as Monday but was unsuccessful.
“We just couldn’t get there,” White said.
This is the first time a tournament has been scrapped outright because of weather since the 1996 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which was canceled due to unplayable conditions. The last rainout came in Houston in 1991, though that tournament was rescheduled.
The Viking Classic was important to players who wanted exempt status in 2010. Now it will come down to the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Orlando for about a dozen players. Honestly I think 125 is a way too high number for exempt players. There are players who have entered hundreds of tournaments and not been able to win. Even in a weak Fall Classic field. I think there should be a bigger turnover of players every year to avoid just that. Bring back the Top 60 days? Maybe not, but 80 or 90 has a better feel.
The search for Carolyn Bivens replacement took barely three months. From AP-
The LPGA Tour has picked Michael Whan to be its new commissioner, turning to a former marketing executive in golf and hockey equipment to rebuild the tour’s relationships with sponsors.
Whan previously worked for TaylorMade and Wilson golf companies and most recently was president of Mission-Itech Hockey.
“I was that crazy high school kid cutting greens at 5:30 in the morning so he could play free golf in the afternoon and caddying on Sundays,” Whan said Wednesday, during an introductory news conference at Madison Square Garden.
He was selected following a three-month search to replace Carolyn Bivens, whom the players forced out in July as the LPGA Tour kept losing sponsors.
Whan will start in his new job next January. In the meantime, acting Commissioner Marta Evans will continue to run the LPGA.
Sal Johnson at Golf Observer notes how the LPGA’s PR department dropped the ball on the announcement of their new Commissioner and maybe attributing this to their recent letting go of VP Connie Wilson. Sal, whose views I have come into disagreement with in the past, may be right. Connie did a mostly thankless job at LPGA HQ for a long time. I had some interaction with her on the phone and via email, and for the most part it was good. She would always answer my inquiries promptly. If Connie was still around in Daytona, the announcement about Whan would most likely have been handled better.
That said, I’m going to cut the LPGA and its new Commissioner some slack at this time. The Bivens era was a disaster, and I was very critical almost from the beginning. Ladies professional golf right now is facing its worst ever crisis. I want the LPGA to succeed and prosper. Whan has a very difficult road ahead of him to accomplish that. At this point I don’t know if he’ll be successful, but I do wish him good luck.
Also blogging on the hiring of Michael Whan- Ryan at Waggleroom and Stephanie Wei.
The previous mark of 123 had only been established earlier this year. From AP-
Troy Matteson had never shot a 61 until this week. Now he’s done it twice in a row to set a PGA Tour record.
His second straight 9-under round at the Frys.com Open on Saturday gave him a three-shot lead at 16-under 194 heading into the final round.
Matteson’s 122 score in consecutive rounds broke the tour record of 123 set this year by Steve Stricker in the third and fourth rounds of the Bob Hope Classic.
Ron Streck shot 124 at the Texas Open in 1978. I don’t recall if anyone else equaled that mark before Stricker broke it.
Streck won in Texas but Stricker failed to bring home the Hope. Matteson, who won the Frys in 2006, I predict to win tomorrow.
It was done by Nicholas Thompson, who has never finished better than 2nd in a PGA Tour event. From AP-
Nicholas Thompson gained five shots in quick fashion with a double eagle and a hole in one to storm into contention at the Frys.com Open.
Thompson, using a 3-wood, sank his shot from 261 yards on the par-5, 562-yard 11th hole on the Raptor Course at the Grayhawk Golf Club.
After a par on No. 12, Thompson’s tee shot with a 7-iron went in on the par-3, 199-yard 13th. In three holes, he moved from 6 under to 11-under par.
It was the fourth double eagle on the PGA Tour this year.
I think four may be a record for one year. Double eagles were seldom seen in tournaments when par 5’s were only reachable with a driver and a wood. Club technology has made many unreachable holes now only a driver and mid-iron away.
BTW Thompson stands -11 after 3 rounds and four shots behind the leader, Troy Matteson.
It is her 3rd win in 2009. From AP-
Lorena Ochoa successfully defended her Navistar LPGA Classic title, overcoming early troubles to shoot a 2-under 70 on Sunday for a four-stroke victory over Michelle Wie and Brittany Lang.
Ochoa finished at 18-under 270 on The Senator course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex to snap an 11-start winless streak dating to the Corona Championship in late April. The top-ranked Mexican star has three victories this year and 27 overall on the LPGA Tour.
Ochoa wiped out her three-stroke lead coming into the day with a bogey and double bogey in the first five holes. She erased any drama with a birdie on No. 17.
Wie overcame a gimpy left ankle to close with a 66, while Lang had a 70.
After winning 8 times in 2008, most members of the golf media have labeled Ochoa as being in a slump this year. True she didn’t win for 11 tournaments this year, but has anyone looked how competitive the LPGA is right now? There hasn’t been this wide open a money and player of the year race in a decade at least. Ochoa is unlikely to win the former but still has a shot at the later. Why is it bad for ladies professional golf when you have exciting races rather than one player dominating?
Michelle Wie finished in a tie for 2nd. She probably won’t get a victory in 2009 but I’ll be surprised if she don’t get her first professional triumph in 2010.
The World Championship had been sponsored by the Korean conglomerate for 15 years. From The Golf Channel-
Amid a rash of positive sponsorship news on the LPGA front, GolfChannel.com learned via a memo from acting commissioner Marty Evans that the circuit will lose Samsung as the title sponsor of its World Championship held last month at Torrey Pines.
According to the memo the tour was “surprised” to learn of Samsung’s intentions early Oct. 2 because, “all indications during tournament week were to the contrary.”
IMG Golf, which owns the event, is optimistic they will find a replacement sponsor before next year’s event, which was won this year by Na Yeon Choi.
“Samsung was a terrific title sponsor of this event for 15 years, which is an incredible run,” Jon Wagner, the senior vice president of IMG Golf, told the Sports Business Journal. “This tournament is one of the gems of the LPGA Tour schedule and we will begin actively talking to new potential title sponsors as the World Championship heads into its 30th year of play.”
Holes continue to appear in the LPGA schedule almost as quickly as acting Commissioner Marta Evans gets one plugged. Her successor has their work cut out for them.
Note- State Farm did renew its LPGA tournament sponsorship this week.
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