The 47-year-old PGA Tour veteran won for the third time this year. Beating two players in a playoff. Perry now stands #2 on the 2008 money list, only behind Tiger Woods.
Much has been made about Perry deciding to first skip US Open, and now the British Open. I’m of the opinion that the golf media really needs a life. Seldom has so much been written about so little. Since when has a ordinary player’s tournament scheduling been newsworthy? Tiger Woods is one thing, but I’ve been around long enough to have watched Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and others and don’t recall their decisions to play or not play a tournament dissected.
In Perry’s defense, I’ll point out the following
*- Lee Trevino chose to skip the Masters three times in spite of him being eligible to play. It may be 4, but in 1977 Trevino had back problems. That may account for him missing the tournament.
*- 1967 PGA Champion Don January refused to play the 1970 US Open at Hazeltine because of his dislike for the course.
*- Here’s the best comparasion to Perry. In 1969 Dave Hill, who won 13 times on tour, skipped that year’s British Open. Hill won 3 times in 1969, finished 2nd on the money list that year, was competing for a Ryder Cup spot(like Perry, and Hill made it as Kenny is likely to do), and took home the Vardon Trophy that year.
In fact Hill only played once at the British Open. If I look some more, I’m sure to find players of like ability to Perry who skipped the British Open.
This non-story has gotten to the point where non-golf writers are taking shots at Perry. Take for instance Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN who writes-
“I was going to have to miss Milwaukee [the U.S. Bank Championship], which is a tournament I’ve won,” Perry told a small gathering of reporters earlier in the week at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. “I’ve had eight top-10 finishes there.”
Is that right? Eight top-10 finishes in Milwaukee. Wow. Well, then I can certainly understand why you’d stiff the world’s oldest major, and a Birkdale course where Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller won championships. And I’m just spitballing here, but maybe you’ve had those eight top-10s because, you know, the world’s best players ARE AT THE BRITISH OPEN!
Let me fire a cannonball back at the careless and unoriginal Mr. Wojciechowski. How many times have the Milwaukee and British Opens been played the same week since Kenny Perry turned pro, not counting this year?
Once, in 2007. A simple check of golfobserver.com would have shown this. So 7 of Perry’s 8 top 10s at Milwaukee didn’t come alongside the British Open.
If you’re going to play the same broken record Gene Wojciechowski, get your facts straight. Otherwise you look like a fool. Better yet, don’t write about golf at all.
This because of comments Miller made in last Sunday’s golf broadcast.
NEW YORK — NBC Sports golf analyst Johnny Miller apologized for his description of U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate , saying the comments had “absolutely nothing to do with his ethnicity.”
Mediate, a 45-year-old Pennsylvanian of Italian heritage, held a one-stroke lead over Tiger Woods during the fourth round Sunday. Miller said Mediate “looks like the guy who cleans Tiger’s swimming pool.” He also said, “Guys with the name ‘Rocco’ don’t get on the trophy, do they?”
“I apologize to anyone who was offended by my remarks,” Miller said in a statement Friday through NBC. “My intention was to convey my affection and admiration for Rocco’s everyman qualities and had absolutely nothing to do with his ethnicity. I chose my words poorly and in the future will be more careful.”
The apology by Miller is bogus. He didn’t feel Mediate’s name belongs on a trophy his name is on, pure and simple. Miller also could have apologized on the air Monday, but didn’t. A written statement of apology five days later is as bogus as most of the facts in the book ‘I call the shots’. I never knew Tiger Woods lost a playoff to Ed Fiori. Neither does Ed Fiori, the PGA Tour, and any golf writer/announcer around with the exception of Miller.
Johnny Miller is a disgrace to golf and television announcing. If Miller had any class he’d never work in the TV booth ever again.
Some idiot analyst named Dan Arkush at Pro Football Weekly thinks so.
Candidates
2007: WR Ted Ginn Jr. / Dolphins
2006: LB Ernie Sims / Lions
2005: CB Carlos Rogers / Redskins
2004: WR Reggie Williams / Jaguars
2003: DT Kevin Williams / Vikings
2002: DT John Henderson / Jaguars
2001: WR Koren Robinson / Seahawks
2000: LB Brian Urlacher / Bears
1999: LB Chris Claiborne / Lions
1998: RB Fred Taylor / Jaguars
And the loser is … Ted Ginn Jr.
The verdict is definitely still out on Ginn, but draft experts far and wide continue to question the wisdom of his selection in last year’s draft over Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, who eventually dropped into the Browns’ lap at the No. 22 spot. Truth be told, Ginn is victimized in this context by what must be considered a pretty solid cast of candidates. Robinson, who no doubt has had his share of baggage, was given consideration, but he had his moments during his time in Seattle, especially his second season, when he gained 1,240 yards receiving and averaged just under 16 yards a catch. Reggie Williams also was considered based on his mediocre track record in his first three years with the Jags, but it appears the light might have finally gone on for him last season.
I didn’t defend the Ginn selection when it happened. Not because the Dolphins passed over Brady Quinn(who I’d remind everyone that the book is still out on. Quinn spending 2007 riding the Cleveland Browns bench and throwing 8 passes for the entire season.) but because Miami didn’t concern address its most pressing needs. Finding players for a aging defense. This is what I wrote at the time.
I stick to what I said before, the Dolphins should not draft Brady Quinn. Rather the team should either pick
1- DT Amobi Okoye
or
2- LB Patrick Willis
or
3- Trade down
Miami has the oldest starting defense in the NFL. Its time to upgrade it.
Willis was AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year for 2007.
The age of the Dolphin defense was known(Oldest Average age for a team’s line and linebackers in the NFL) going into the 2007 and took full effect last year. One South Florida sports columnist jumped on the ‘why didn’t Miami pick a defensive player’ bandwagon about six months after the draft.
Ginn wasn’t the right move for Miami, but is he a bust at this point in his career? I watched every single game Miami played last year. Ginn returned one kick for a TD and had two more taken back by penalties. His 34 receptions for 420 yards and 2 TDs is hardly impressive(Ginn had his best game in the season finale against the Bengals may I note) but you have to remember how pathetic the Dolphin QB situation was last year. I ought to know, I watched every minute of every 2007 Miami Dolphin game. Did Dan Arkush?
As to some of those other number nine picks, Koren Robinson and Chris Claiborne each lasted just four years with the teams that originally drafted them. I hardly think that’s what the Seahawks and Lions were hoping from these players when they were selected at #9 in their respective drafts. A strong case can be made for both Claiborne and Robinson as draft busts.(Claiborne is out of the NFL entirely at this moment)
The jury is still out on Ginn(Something Arkush admits as much as it is on Brady Quinn. It is downright stupid to call Ted Ginn after only one NFL season.
Jones joins Jim McKay as the second well recognized sportscaster to die in the last week. Like McKay, Jones was a professional at bringing the events on the sporting fields to life for viewers. Unlike some announcers today who will go on and on about absolute nonsense while play is happening on the field. RIP Charlie.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Charlie Jones, the deep-voiced sportscaster whose career as a play-by-play announcer dated to the beginning of the American Football League in 1960, has died. He was 77.
Jones died of a massive heart attack Thursday at his home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, said his wife, Ann.
Jones, who retired in the late 1990s, had been in poor health for several years, she said.
Jones worked for ABC and NBC in a career spanning 38 years.
“He said, ‘I never felt like I ever went to work,’” Ann Jones said Friday. “He loved it. He said, ‘I’ve got the best seat in the house.’ ”
Jones started at ABC in 1960, the year the AFL made its debut. He moved to NBC in 1965, remaining with that network until 1997.
Jones announced 28 different sports, while with NBC, from golf to tennis, baseball to figure skating. He called events at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
“He really liked them all,” Ann Jones said. “He really did. He wasn’t particular, because they were all so different.”
NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol called Jones “one of the great pioneers of NBC Sports. His work in particular on the NFL, golf and the Olympics left a lasting legacy.”
Longtime agent Martin Mandel said Jones was “one of the legends of sports broadcasting.”
“He had a wonderful kettledrum voice. He was known for that and his versatility,” Mandel said.
Jones will be cremated and his ashes spread over the Pacific Ocean. A celebration of his life will be held Wednesday afternoon at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.
“He had it in his will that men cannot wear ties,” Ann Jones said.
Jones also is survived by two children and three grandchildren.
Associated Press who uses two-time Knucklehead winner Doug Ferguson to cover pro golf, now employs another similarly incompetent writer. His name is Eddie Pells. Pells writes-
Woods is in search of his 14th major win and his first U.S. Open since 2002. His seven closest pursuers (OK, so Appleby isn’t officially a ‘pursuer’) have combined for one: the PGA championship won by Davis Love III more than a decade ago.
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! How can a competent golf writer forget the US Open winner from two years ago?(Geoff Ogilvy). How can a competent golf writer forget a two-time US Open champ, and three-time major winner?(Ernie Els) Both Els and Ogilvy are within two shots of Woods and within his closest seven pursuers. To make sure I wasn’t unfairly picking on this latest idiot golf writer, I checked. Els and Ogilvy were playing in the same morning group together. Both these players were through and in the clubhouse while Woods was still out on the course. There is no excuse for a golf writer to be forgetting two players of this caliber.
I ask again- Why do golf publications, newspapers, and wire services only hire the most incompetent people to cover the sport? With a few exceptions(Craig Dolch at the Palm Beach Post is one. Jason Sobel at ESPN is another.), golf writers seem to be among the dumbest people covering pro sports today.
The Golf World editor and writer doesn’t make a mistake this week as much as an error of ommision. In an article about Yani Tseng’s win at the LPGA Championship last weekend, Sirak writes-
The closest any player from Taiwan had come to winning a major was T.C. Chen in the 1985 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. He had a four-stroke lead in the final round then unraveled after a double-hit on a chip shot. Tseng saw the shot on TV the week before the McDonald’s and marveled because “that’s not really a hard shot,” she laughed, blaming the double-hit on poor technique. “But don’t tell him that,” she said, laughing more.
True Chen lost by only one shot, but he isn’t the only Taiwanese golfer to come that close to a golf major.
1971 – Lee Trevino wins his first Open(British) as little-known Taiwanese player Lu Liang-Huan – affectionately known as “Mr Lu” – comes within a stroke of an incredible victory.
So in fact Chen and Mr. Lu came equally close. If Mr. Sirak answers my page I’ll suggest he take some remedial lessons in golf history.
Sports fan my age(mid 40’s) will not forget Jim McKay due to his work on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. No question, McKay was a legend in the field of sports broadcasting. RIP.
Jim McKay, 86, a longtime television sports journalist, has died of natural causes in Maryland, according to a statement from the McKay family.
McKay is best known for hosting “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” and 12 Olympic Games.
McKay won numerous awards for journalism, including the George Polk Memorial Award and two Emmys — one for his sports coverage, the other for his news reporting — for his work at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which were tragically affected by the Black September terrorists’ attack on the Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village.
“There are no superlatives that can adequately honor Jim McKay. He meant so much to so many people. He was a founding father of sports television, one of the most respected commentators in the history of broadcasting and journalism,” ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer said in a statement.
“For more than 60 years he brought sports into the homes of Americans on Wide World of Sports, the Olympics and many other programs that captured the essence of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
“Jim was the ultimate colleague, having helped generations of people who have now taken his mantle. He was also a warm and devoted family man. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Margaret, Sean and Mary for their loss. And I know that countless people, around the world, have been touched by this great man. We will miss him.”
In 1968, McKay won the first of his 13 Emmy Awards, becoming the first sports commentator to receive that honor.
His 12th Emmy, in 1988, was not for his talents as a broadcaster but as the writer of the openings for ABC Sports’ coverage of the 1987 Indianapolis 500, the British Open and the Kentucky Derby. He is the only broadcaster to have won Emmys for sports and news broadcasting and for writing.
In 1990 he was the recipient of the first-ever Lifetime Achievement in Sports award from the Academy. In 1992 he was the recipient of an Emmy Award in the Individual Achievement category for the ABC Sports special, “Athletes and Addiction: It’s Not a Game.”
In 1989 McKay received the Peabody Award, which is presented annually to recognize the most distinguished and meritorious public service programming rendered each year on radio and television.
McKay was the first American network sports commentator to visit mainland China. In 1991, he visited Cuba to interview Fidel Castro.
McKay was with “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” since its inception in April 1961.
Jim McManus (McKay’s real name) was born in Philadelphia on September 24, 1921, and moved to Baltimore when he was 15.
For dark horses consider impressive rookies Na Yeon Choi and Yani Tseng, as well as Juli Inkster, who turns 48 this month and just needs to remember that she is a great putter to win again.
A Hall of Famer, barely a month separated from losing a tournament in a playoff, somehow qualifies as a dark horse? That is laughable.
The laughs aren’t done yet. Sirak’s article is datelined Maryland, where the tournament is taking place. How does a sober golf reporter not know a player he’s writing about isn’t even in the field? Inkster isn’t, she’s back in California in order to attend her daughter’s junior high school graduation. I heard of Inkster’s plan to skip the LPGA Championship at least a month ago. It was also reported in last Sunday’s Baltimore Sun.
Anyone tell me why Golf World lets this idiot cover the LPGA?
For further examples of Sirak’s cluelessness, click here, here, here, here.
RICHMOND, Va. - Richard Childress always tells his drivers that luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity. Clint Bowyer proved the boss right on Saturday night.
Bowyer was a surprise winner at Richmond International Raceway, stealing a win that first seemed destined for Denny Hamlin, then Dale Earnhardt Jr. Neither made it to Victory Lane, though, because of a wild ending that saw three drivers denied the trip Bowyer made to Victory Lane.
*****
Hamlin, the hometown favorite, ran away with the race and led a record 381 of the 400 laps in search of his first Cup victory at Richmond. Nobody came close to challenging him until a leaking right front tire allowed Earnhardt and Kyle Busch to catch him.
The two drivers split Hamlin as they moved past him, with Earnhardt emerging as the leader with 18 laps to go. Hamlin’s tire finally failed with eight to go, and NASCAR accused him of intentionally bringing out the caution that regrouped the field and gave Busch a chance to race Earnhardt for the win.
The two staged a strong battle for the lead when the race resumed, but contact between the two cars in turn three sent Earnhardt into the wall.
*****
Bowyer used the opportunity to slide past both Earnhardt and Busch and into the front for the first time all night. Bowyer then held off Busch on a final restart to score his first Cup victory of the season, second of his career.
Here’s the video of what happened between Earnhardt and Busch last night.
I watch next to no auto racing these day. Back in the 70’s before I went in the military, I followed NASCAR quite a bit. These days my auto racing is pretty much confined to the Indy 500.
Clint Bowyer won last night’s race, he didn’t steal it. Hamlin’s car quit on him, fine. Busch and Earnhardt tangled with each other putting the kibosh with both these driver’s chances. Bowyer crossed the finish line first, he’s the winner. Memo to AP- Drop the ’steal shit’
For did Al Unser steal his 4th Indy 500 in 1987, when Mario Andretti who was running away with the race for 180 laps, had his day end due to electrical failure?
Did Richard Petty steal the 1979 Daytona 500 after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison collided on the final lap? That was the race with the famous fight afterwards that also involved Donnie’s brother Bobby.
I don’t remember anyone saying those races were stolen. The difference between A. Unser and Richard Petty versus Bowyer is that they were stars and Bowyer isn’t. So Bowyer gets slighted in his moment of triumph by it being said he stole the race. What a bunch of bull crap.
The only reason I’m writing this, is the ‘Morgan Pressel had the US Open stolen from her’ meme that is still floated by the golf media. Remember the 2005 US Open and Birdie Kim’s bunker shot that won the tournament? The way you here it today is that Morgan had it stolen from her. Let me point out a few salient facts.
1- Pressel finished 2 shots behind Kim.
2- Pressel finished tied for 2nd with fellow amateur Brittany Lang.
So even if Birdie hadn’t holed out, and made bogey or worse on 18 like almost the entire field did that day, Morgan still would have had to go 18 holes in a playoff with at least Lang, and possibly Kim also. In other words Morgan still hadn’t won the tournament by any stretch of the imagination.
Yesterday’s broadcast of the LPGA tournament in Oklahoma, mentioned Lang’s 2nd place finish in 2005. For a change it was nice to hear the media remember someone tied Morgan that day.
Note- The golf media has another meme going about the 2005 US Open also. That Lorena Ochoa lost it. Lorena hit 2 balls in the water at 18 on Sunday, finishing with a quadruple bogey 8 and 7 over par for the tournament. If Lorena scored what most of the field did on Sunday at 18, bogey she would have finished 4 over. Now if Kim had finished bogey too like the media wishes, how can they say both Ochoa lost the 05 Open and Pressel had it stolen from her? The two memes are contradictory.
Bowyer was opportunistic, Kim may have been lucky the hole got in the way of her ball. When it is all said and done, they are the champs. No member of the media can take that away from them.
Trevor Immelman has the lead after two rounds at the Masters, Tiger Woods trails by seven but this is a featured link on the AOL welcome page.
During today’s Masters broadcast, CBS announcer Bobby Clampett referred to Chinese golfer Liang Wen-Chong as “the chinaman.”
According to CBS spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade, Clampett later apologized on the Masters webcast.
Clampett has been working Amen Corner the last two days, and his commentary can be heard both online and on DirecTV. He used the “chinaman” slur while describing Liang’s round and explaining that he will not make the cut.
There is no word yet on whether Clampett will be disciplined by CBS.
Clampett is only a part-time announcer. If you suspend him for three months and that’s about when he’ll next be scheduled to work a broadcast. Not really, Clampett is working next week’s Ginn Open on the LPGA Tour.
I don’t know what the controversy is. He called Liang what he was. I refer to my wife Leonita sometimes as a Filipino, a Filipina, a Flip, and even a member of the Filipina(or Filipino) mafia, she doen’t get upset with me. She was born in the Philippines. Golf is getting politically correct.
