PGA TOUR: What It Means: April 29, 2012 — New Orleans

(This post originally appeared on Prosportsblogging.com)

Here’s this week’s What It Means:

1) Congrats to Jason Dufner, winning his first PGA Tour event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans today on the second playoff hole. They say it’s better to be lucky than good and that’s Dufner, getting lip ins on 13, 15 and 17 for par and then birdieing the second playoff hole, #18, to beat Ernie Els in the playoff.

Dufner is very hard to read, doesn’t really crack a smile and at times looks very shaky. I’m not sure where he goes from here, but getting your first win is a good starting point.

[Click here for the rest of the story.]

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TIGER WOODS: Will No Longer Do Pre-Tournament Interviews at “Handful” of Events

Did not expect this announcement.

Tiger Woods, through his agent, announced tonight that he won’t speak to reporters before a handful of tournaments each season, instead answering questions from fans via social media, according to Bob Harig at ESPN.com. This begins with next week’s Wells Fargo Championship.

“We’ve been thinking about this for a couple of months now,” Steinberg said Friday night. “We wanted to have a little bit more direct interaction with fans, and they’ve been very good to him over the years. We’re probably a little bit behind with social media and this is a way to do that.”

…

Steinberg said that post-round access would not change, and he stressed that this pre-tournament arrangement would only occur “a handful of times” during the year. Woods likely would continue to do interviews prior to major championships, events where he is the defending champion and selected tournaments, possibly including the Players Championship in two weeks.

“It’s just a chance to have him interact more with fans,” Steinberg said.

Okay then. It is true that Tiger talks more to the media at any event than anyone, but this announcement does mystify me a little and we’ll have to wait and see what the media thinks about it come tournament time.

In any case, it’s the new lay of the land.

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PGA TOUR FANTASY: New Orleans

Here are my picks for this week:

A: Keegan Bradley (Backup: K.J. Choi)
B: Bubba Watson (Backup: Jason Kokrak)
B: Justin Leonard (Backup: Danny Lee)
C: Harris English (Backup: Bud Cauley)

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PGA TOUR DIGEST: Vol. 5 No. 17

This week on the PGA Tour it’s the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Bubba Watson is the defending champion and makes his first start since winning The Masters. My sleeper for this week is Webb Simpson.

TV Coverage is: Thursday-Friday, 3-6pm ET, Golf Channel, Saturday-Sunday 1-2:30pm ET, Golf Channel, and 3-6pm ET on CBS.

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PGA TOUR: What It Means: April 22, 2012 — San Antonio

(This article first appeared on Prosportsblogging.com)

Here’s this week’s What It Means:

1) Congrats to Ben Curtis on winning the 2012 Valero Texas Open for his first win since the 2006 84 Lumber Classic, an event which no longer exists.

That par putt on 17 was dynamite and one of the more unlikely major champions in the history of golf is now back in the winner’s circle.

I have absolutely no idea where Curtis goes from here. Maybe a win or two here and there but right now he seems a little too inconsistent to get into the winner’s circle again. Parity reigns right now on the PGA Tour, and I’m not sure he has the game to rise above that.

[Click here for the rest of the story.]

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PGA TOUR DIGEST: Vol. 5 No. 16

I’m a little late this week for the Valero Texas Open, so let me point out that the remaining TV times for this week are:

Saturday-Sunday, CBS, 3-6pm ET.

My fantasy picks for this week were:

A: Matt Kuchar (Backup: K.J. Choi)
B: Justin Leonard (Backup: Danny Lee)
B: Brendan Steele (Backup: Jason Kokrak)
C: Harris English (Backup: Bud Cauley)

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NEW YORK JETS: 2012 Schedule Released

Here is the 2012 New York Jets schedule:

9/9 — Sunday — Buffalo, 1 p.m., CBS
9/16 — Sunday — at Pittsburgh, 4:15 p.m., CBS
9/23 — Sunday — at Miami, 1 p.m., CBS
9/30 — Sunday — San Francisco, 1 p.m., FOX
10/8 — Monday — Houston, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
10/14 — Sunday — Indianapolis, 1 p.m., CBS
10/21 — Sunday — at New England, 4:15 p.m., CBS
10/28 — Sunday — Miami, 1 p.m., CBS
11/4 — Bye
11/11 — Sunday — at Seattle, 4:05 p.m., CBS
11/18 — Sunday — at St. Louis, 1 p.m., CBS
11/22 — Thursday — New England, 8:20 p.m., NBC
12/2 — Sunday — Arizona, 1 p.m.*, FOX*
12/9 — Sunday — at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.*, CBS*
12/17 — Monday — at Tennessee, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
12/23 — Sunday — San Diego, 8:20 p.m.*, NBC*
12/30 — Sunday — at Buffalo, 1 p.m.*, CBS*

My first pass has this as an 11-5, 12-4 schedule. I’ll do a game-by-game analysis of it after the draft and right before the season but I think this can be done. Thanksgiving night will certainly be rough, however.

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PGA TOUR: Players Advisory Council: Full FedEx Cup events for Start of Season Events

There has been an ongoing question about if the events that would start the new FedEx Cup season but occur in the previous calendar year (in other words the 2014 FedEx Cup events that will occur in the fall of 2013) should receive full or half points. Well, according to Dave Shedloski of Golf Digest, the answer appears to be full:

The current Fall Finish events that will move to the beginning of a split-calendar season in 2013 are likely to be worth full FedEx Cup points. The PGA Tour Policy Board still has to vote on the measure, but that was the recommendation the board received from Player Advisory Council, which met Tuesday at the RBC Heritage.

…

“The thinking was that if we’re going to go through all this trouble to change the schedule and incorporate the fall events into the regular season, the points should be equal to the other events on the schedule,” said Jim Furyk, one of four players on the Policy Board.

I’m all for this — I believe every event except for the events that occur parallel to the World Golf Championship events deserve full points. And to those who say that it will diminish the importance of Australia or the West Coast Swing I disagree. I can see how it affects Australia (people staying home to play versus traveling abroad) but I don’t see how it affects the West Coast Swing.

Players play the events they want to, and that’s the bottom line. Unless the math works out so dramatically so that you HAVE to play these events to have a viable shot of making the Playoffs and the only way to do so is to eliminate events somewhere else, I don’t think any swing or state or event will get hurt.

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TIGER WOODS: Commits to Wells Fargo Championship and The Players

Tiger Woods surprised no one by committing to the Wells Fargo Championship and The Players, which are the first two weeks in May. That will be his return to the PGA Tour after his disappointing 40th place finish at The Masters.

Needless to say, Tiger will need a quick start to silence the doubters who have returned after the Bay Hill victory.

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PGA TOUR FANTASY: RBC Heritage

Here are my picks for this week:

A: Matt Kuchar (Backup: Webb Simpson)
B: Brandt Snedeker (Backup: Ernie Els)
B: Bo Van Pelt (Backup: Bill Haas)
C: Sang Moon Bae (Backup: Aaron Baddeley)

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