The 2012 Players Championship

Here we are about a week away from The Players Championship and the competition is already starting to heat up. In a surprising turn, Masters winner, Bubba Watson announced that he’s going to take some more time off to spend with his family.

Bubba’s right though, The Players is still going to have a great field without him. Here are some of the major “players” (... get it?) expected to compete in this year’s tournament:

-       Tiger Woods will be there, looking to bounce back after a

disappointing Masters

-       Masters runner-up Charl Schwartzel

-       Lefty, Phil Mickelson

-       Rory McIlroy

-       World #1 Luke Donald

            For a full list check out the PGA tour website

K.J. Choi will be there looking to repeat as Players Champion. If you remember last year, he won after beating David Toms in a playoff late on Sunday. We should be in for an exciting 4 days of golf this weekend at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Stay tuned…

Three Way Tie At The Masters: Lefty, Louis, or Kuchar?

Late on day three at the Masters, the competition is heating up. There is a three-way tie for first place with Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, and Matt Kuchar – all at six under.

Phil Mickelson is making quite the run on day three and is in the hunt for his fourth green jacket. If he won this year, he would join Tiger Woods (4), Arnold Palmer (4), and Jack Nicklaus (6) as the only golfers to win four or more Masters Tournaments – that’s some club to be in. Lefty shot a 74 on day one, and a 68 yesterday on day two.

Mickelson eagled 13 and you could tell by the eruption of the crowd, that they’re pulling for him. With that eagle he took a share of the lead with Kuchar and Oosthuizen.

Louis Oosthuizen, last year’s Masters champion is atop the leaderboard again this year and looks to enter Sunday with a very good chance of repeating. If Oosthuizen were to repeat, he would become only the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus (’65-’66), Nick Faldo (’89-’90), and Tiger Woods (’01-’02). Louis has played very well thus far, shooting a 68 on Thursday and a 72 on Friday.

Matt Kuchar is a lesser-known name to most, but is playing just as well today. Kuchar’s best finish at Augusta was when he tied for 21^st in 1998. After turning pro in 2000 he has accumulated 6 wins (including 3 on the PGA Tour). He’s looking for his first green jacket this weekend, and will be facing intense competition on Sunday.

Kuchar may be the surprises of this year’s Masters Tournament, but it’ll be interesting to see who takes hold of the lead on Sunday evening. Will it be one of these three who take home the green jacket? Who’s your pick – Lefty, Louis, Kuchar, or the field?

Is Phil Mickelson The Best At Golf?

Ask anyone in the golf world who the best golfer on tour is and you will likely hear the name Phil Mickelson. With career winnings in excess of $65 million, a green jacket and an ability to make the most incredible backward shot ever, its hard to argue.

But lets not just look at earnings as an indicator of greatness. Lets examine his performance through the years. Phil has been on the tour for 2 decades now and has some impressive stats to show for it. He is currently ranked 13th in the world and with 835 points he is ranked 5th in the Fedex cup this season, which many consider to be the truest indicator of who is playing the best golf. His average score per round is an incredible 69.64! That's low enough to hurt your feelings.

Although he has suffered from injuries, he still is playing at the highest level. His best finish on the PGA TOUR in 2012 was 1st at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He ranks 22nd in scoring average on the PGA TOUR and has two top 10 finishes this season. With only six events played this year he has pursed $1,845,431.. Not too shabby!

Below is a comparison of Phil's present day stats to his early days on the PGA Tour.

1993


2012


From this data we can see an overall improvement over the past 20 years. His driving distance increased, his putting and scoring average dropped significantly and he is getting birdies and eagles more often. By far the biggest improvement has been in his earnings. From being ranked 90th in 1992 to 4th in 2011 he has seen a huge improvement, one that I'm sure he is happy about.

It is interesting to note that in 1993 his driving distance was 269.2 and he was ranked 25th. Today he hits farther at 291.8 but is only ranked 66th. This could be attributed to the rise in the level of play in the last decade, advances in equipment technology or a combination of both.

So, is Phil the greatest golfer to play the game? The short answer, perhaps. His career stats are impressive and he is one of the highest earning golfer's ever. He is currently faced with tough competition from a new generation of golfers. But if the past is any indicator of the future, we should expect to see Phil assert his dominance up and down the course. Look for him playing later this month at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.