Plan executed, Spittle eyes first major crown

Plan executed, Spittle eyes first major crown











PGA.COM May 25, 2013 10:42 PM

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Rod Spittle has overcome a rough start to his week to put himself in contention to win.(Montana Pritchard/The …


By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

ST. LOUIS - Back in 2004, at age 49, Rod Spittle and his wife, Ann, made a life-changing decision.

After 25 years selling health insurance, Rod quit his job, Ann quit hers, they sold their house in Columbus, Ohio, and decided to try something new - professional golf.

That's right, at age 49, Spittle - who starred as a collegiate golfer at Ohio State, where he was a teammate of John Cook and Joey Sindelar - decided all those years later to finally take a crack at the pros.

"My dream was always to play again," Spittle said. "I played at Ohio State with John Cook and Joey Sindelar, who are great guys and great gentlemen. I just thought I could always play. I won my two Canadian Amateurs when I was in school. I just chose not to chase the lifestyle of being away from my family. My hat continues to go off to John and Joey because of that. I turned pro at 49. Our kids are grown. We have three kids - our daughter is 34, and we have two boys who are 32 and 29, as well as two granddaughters. That was when we figured it was OK to do this."

It might sound crazy, but the Spittles put together a five-year plan. If it worked out, great. If it didn't, it was back to the drawing board.

Fast forward to this week at Bellerive Country Club, site of the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. With just 18 holes left to play, the 57-year-old, nine-year professional is alone in fourth place, just four shots behind leader Kenny Perry at 6-under-par 207. Spittle shot a 4-under 67 on Saturday to go along with Friday's 71 and Thursday's 69.

The nutty thing about all this is that if it weren't for burning the midnight oil on that five-year plan, Spittle wouldn't even be here this week.

So let's go back to 2010 for a minute. Spittle's five-year plan was coming to an end and it wasn't exactly the end he had in mind. Bluntly, it was getting to "dust off the resume" time.

"Having not played the regular tour, our plan was to work our way on to the Champions Tour," he said. "And I did that for a couple of years playing the Monday qualifiers. I basically learned again how to play at this level."

In the last event on the 2010 Champions Tour schedule - the AT&T Championship in San Antonio - and with perhaps a final trip to qualifying school looming in the fall, Spittle changed everything: He won.


Talk about cashing in on a five-year plan.

Spittle defeated Jeff Sluman in a playoff, earned his full status on the Champions Tour and didn't miss a single start in 2011 or 2012.

"Everybody wants to play as well as they can - no matter what level that might be," Spittle said. "That win at the end of 2010 was huge. It changed everything. Like I've told my buddies and all my kids - I played golf for 40 years and made a 3 1/2-foot putt in 2010 to win a professional golf tournament.

"I still get goose bumps [thinking about it]. That's what's so great about this sport we play. I postponed my stuff a little bit later than John and Joey. They won their tournaments at 25 and I won mine at 55."

Adding to the legend of Rod Spittle is the perseverance he showed early on this week. With a 2:30 p.m. tee time in Thursday's first round starting on the back nine, Spittle began this journey at Bellerive in the worst of the week's conditions - howling wind, sideways rain.

Through his first three holes Spittle was 3 over par - a bogey, par, double bogey start.

Simply put, it was ugly.

"You just simmer down," Spittle said. "And I think I made three birdies on the back nine to get back to even par before the turn. I got back to even par and we've been playing well ever since. I guess I had my bad holes in that first hour instead of stretching them out over the four days. The first day it was just long, wet and cold. And I'm old, so it was just a brutal start.

"That's what the last few years have taught me. You've got to be patient. You just have to ride it out and simmer down. It dried out. The rain and the wind stopped and I was fortunate to make some birdies."

Now, Spittle - sitting where he's always dreamed of eventually being - has an opportunity to do something on Sunday that he's never before even given himself the time to imagine: the chance to win a major championship.

"If it so happened that I won tomorrow night, we'd have to break out the handkerchiefs," he said. "I can't even think about what that would be like. The classic answer is tomorrow is just like any other day. You hit it in the fairway, you hit it on the greens. We'll try not to watch the scoreboard too much. You get yourself in position come tomorrow afternoon about 3-4 o'clock and we'll see what happens. I have a brilliant strategy - just try to make more birdies than bogeys. Either way, we're in a pretty neat spot."

Neat and unbelievable.

Overton DQ Suggests Golf Rules Need a Facelift

Overton DQ Suggests Golf Rules Need a Facelift
Jeff Overton was Disqualified from the Crowne Plaza Colonial Invitational for a Mild Offense. Would Tiger Woods Have Also Been DQ'd?











Adam Fonseca May 25, 2013 11:13 PM





> COMMENTARY | Jeff Overton was disqualified from the Crowne Plaza Colonial Invitational Saturday in one of the most peculiar ways you'll ever see. As a result, it may be time to update the rule book.



While waiting to tee off at hole no. 10 due to a traffic jam of players, Overton walked over to a nearby practice putting green to work on his putter alignment. Overton used a plastic rod to help him with his alignment, which is apparently a huge no-no in the Rules of Golf. He was informed of the disqualification while playing the next hole.

According to PGA Tour officials, Overton violated rule 14-3, which states that "a player is disqualified under Rule 14-3 as [an alignment rod] is unusual equipment and such use, during the stipulated round, is not permitted". A "stipulated round" consists of playing the holes of the course in their correct sequence unless otherwise authorized by tournament officials.

For the sake of clarity, a player is prohibited from using any training aid or device during a competitive round. Furthermore, it is not against the rules for Overton to carry the alignment aid rod in his bag during competition. Surely a practice green that has no bearing on the completion of a golf round would be fair game, right?

According to Mark Russell, PGA Tour vice president of rules and competition, the answer is a resounding no.

"You can go to a designated practice area and chip and putt if you'd like while you are waiting to play," Russell stated. "But you cannot use an artificial device. That's what he did. The penalty for that is disqualification."

So you can literally hit a small bucket of pitches and chips on a practice green in the middle of your round, but as soon as you lay down an object to help with alignment, you break the rules. Not only that, you don't just get penalized; you get disqualified. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Just for the sake of comparison, other rule violations that result in player disqualification include:
Misrepresenting your handicap under USGA Rule 6 (which will never be an issue on the PGA Tour);


Missing your starting time, a la Jim Furyk at the 2010 Barclays (prior to a pro-am round, at that);


Starting your round too early, as Ed Oliver discovered at the 1940 US Open;


Turning in an incorrect or unsigned scorecard;


Playing with nonconforming equipment, which includes the presence of a foreign substance on your clubs or using balls that do not conform to USGA standards. The Rules can even regulate your golf glove design.



As many golf fans learned during Tiger Woods's illegal drop debacle at the 2013 Masters, the USGA and Royal & Ancient Golf Club added an addendum in 2011 to offer tournament officials the option of waiving disqualification under certain circumstances. Despite the fact Woods was deemed to have taken an illegal drop - and since a television viewer whistle blower identified the violation after the fact - Augusta National officials decided to penalize Woods two strokes instead of disqualifying him.

Why didn't Colonial officials opt to simply penalize Overton instead of disqualifying him in this case? Rolling a few putts on a practice green that has no impact on his competitive round seems pretty mild in comparison to taking an illegal drop.

Where's the addendum on enforcing the Rules of Golf consistently?



Adam Fonseca has covered professional golf since 2005. His work can be found on numerous digital outlets including the Back9Network and SB Nation. Follow Adam on Twitter at @chicagoduffer.

Perry leads Haas by two shots after third round

Perry leads Haas by two shots after third round











PGA.COM May 26, 2013 6:23 PM

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Kenny Perry had an eagle, five birdies and four bogeys in his 68 on Saturday.(Getty Images)


ST. LOUIS -- Kenny Perry has been here before, and been crushed by disappointment. Whatever happens in the final round of the Senior PGA Championship, he plans on leaving with his head held high.

If his two-stroke lead over two-time champion Jay Haasdoesn't hold up Sunday, Perry said, "It's not going to be the end of the world."

"I played beautifully for three rounds," Perry said. "I'm just going to go out there and play like I did, and point and shoot."

The 52-year-old Perry is close to an elusive first major championship in a career known more for near-misses in the 2008 Masters and 1996 PGA Championship than his 16 total tournament victories. He was at 10 under overall at Bellerive Country Club, which held up fine after a rain delay of more than two hours before the last twosome of Perry and Russ Cochran teed off.

Perry is the lone player in the field to break 70 all three rounds, capitalizing on booming drives and finesse. On Saturday, he chipped in from about 30 feet from an awkward lie for an eagle on No. 4.

"I couldn't stand there all day and do that again," Perry said. "That was a one in a million shot."

The odds did not help Perry when he faltered and lost in a playoff to Mark Brooks in the PGA Championship. When it happened again in the Masters, it hurt a lot more. Perry led by two strokes with two holes to go but finished with a pair of bogeys, ending a streak of 22 holes without one. Then he bogeyed the second playoff hole and lost in a playoff to Angel Cabrera.

"That Masters loss put a big dent in my life," Perry said. "So this right here, this is awesome. I'm just going to try to do my best and hopefully the cards will fall my way this time."

Perry had the eagle, five birdies and four bogeys in the third round, mixing spectacular shots with some stumbles and doing enough of the right things for a 3-under 68. Though Perry had just one bogey the first two rounds, his closest pursuer doesn't see any weaknesses in his game.


"It was nice to stay within a few of Kenny," Haas said. "It looks like he's really going to be tough to beat."

Haas finished with a pair of birdies for a 67. Cochran was three strokes back after rallying for two birdies on the back nine for an even-par 71, and Rod Spittle was four shots back after a 67.

The 59-year-old Haas, who won the championship in 2006 and `08, shot 66 in the first round to share the lead and credited a telephone tip from coach Billy Harmon about keeping his right shoulder down for helping to steady his game.

"I think I missed maybe one or two fairways and just hit some real quality shots," Haas said. "So, that was a lot of fun."

Haas has played Bellerive a couple dozen times, but doesn't consider it much of an advantage.

"Golf is such a different game than playing at your home court or something with the fans," Haas said. "I don't know what it makes a big deal of a difference."

Perry had a three-stroke lead after the chip for eagle from an awkward lie on No. 4, with both feet in a greenside bunker and the ball on the lip. He was aiming at the gallery and just hoping to get it on the green.

"When I hit it, man, it went straight toward the flag," Perry said. "And it hit and checked a little bit and rolled right in there like a putt."

The lead was down to one after he followed up with consecutive bogeys, but he was back up by four over Cochran and Haas after birdies on Nos. 7 and 8, and no one got closer than two strokes on the back nine.

Defending champion Roger Chapman shot 66 for the second time, matching the tournament's best round, and was 1 under. Bernhard Langer shot a bogey-free 67 for the second straight day to climb back to even par for the tourney after opening with a 79.

Donald focused more on win than being No. 1

Donald focused more on win than being No. 1












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Luke Donald, ranked sixth at the U.S. Open, says the pressure to win his first major hasn't gone away just because No. 1 has slipped away.(Getty Images)

PGA.COM June 11, 2013 6:44 PM


By Dan Gelston, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. - Luke Donald enters the U.S. Open more focused on a different No. 1 than reclaiming his old ranking.

Like winning major No. 1.

Donald heads into his 10th U.S. Open, starting on Thursday at Merion Golf Club.

He's had big wins over an 11-year pro career. He's even been No. 1 for a total of 56 weeks until the run ended late last year. Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros are the only other players who have been No. 1 longer since the ranking began in 1986.

Some viewed Donald's top spot without a major as a flaw in the system. That wasn't his concern. Hoisting that U.S. Open trophy on Sunday is his lone goal this week.

"It always crosses your mind when it's going to happen," he said. "You always go back to the successes you had. The fact I was able to get to No. 1, win seven times the last couple of years, you just keep going back to those things and try and focus on that. You try and focus not on, if I can, but, when is it going to happen. Just be comfortable that what I'm doing is the right thing."

Ranked sixth, Donald said the pressure to win his first major hasn't gone away just because No. 1 has slipped away.


"There's always more attention, more requests of your time and that takes management, and that's tough," Donald said. "But within myself, the pressures are just the same. I want to win a major championship just as badly this year as when I was No. 1. It's about managing those expectations, managing those feelings and knowing what you have is good enough."

Donald played two practice rounds last week at Merion. He arrived for the tournament late Monday and skipped the day of rain that soaked the course.

"It's a real shame that we've had so much rain," he said. "I think that most people would really like to see this course play firm and fast. And I don't think we're going to get that this week. But it's a good challenge, this course. I think if it was firm and fast, this course, even despite the length, would hold up just as well as any other U.S. Open course."

The 35-year-old Donald failed to make the cut at last year's U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco because of putting failures. He has never finished better than 12th in an Open (2006) and missed the cut three times since his 2002 debut. He was 45th in 2011 and 47th in 2010.

"I think in U.S. Opens, usually success comes from hitting a lot of fairways and hitting a lot of greens. And I think my game is more from the hole backward," he said. "I've always kind of worked that way. This year I've made a little bit more of a conscious effort to try and change that, to get a little bit more control, to work some things around, spending a little bit more time on the range working on really solidifying a few things. And it hasn't happened yet, but statistics will show I've improved in those areas."

Donald and Lee Westwood are the only players to be No. 1 without having won a major. Donald was No. 1 entering the 2011 U.S. Open and held it going into the 2012 PGA Championship. He lost the ranking after Rory McIlroy won last year's PGA Championship title.

Regarded as a mild-mannered Englishman, Donald is ready to show some ruthlessness at Merion as he chases that elusive win.

"It has a lot of tradition, this course, and I'm excited to see what it has to offer," he said.

Woods and Garcia say their case is closed

Woods and Garcia say their case is closed












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Sergio Garcia is trying to focus on his golf game now that he has met with Tiger Woods.(Getty Images)

PGA.COM June 11, 2013 6:53 PM


By Doug Ferguson, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. - Unable to arrange a private meeting, Sergio Garcia left Tiger Woods a note in his locker Tuesday at the U.S. Open with hopes of moving on from his racially charged comment and getting back to playing golf.

"I did leave him a note - a handwritten note," Garcia said. "And hopefully, he can take a look at it. It's a big week and I understand that it's difficult to meet up and stuff. So hopefully, I'll be able to do it. If not, at least he has read the note and he's happy with that."

The note presumably was an apology. Garcia said it would be up to Woods to share the contents.

It was the latest - and perhaps final - chapter in a messy feud that ended badly for the Spaniard when he jokingly said at awards dinner in England that he would invite Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open. "We will serve fried chicken," Garcia said.

He apologized to Woods and everyone he offended in a news conference the next day and said he left a message for Woods through his agent.

Garcia approached him on the practice range Monday at Merion for a handshake, and little more.

"We didn't discuss anything," Woods said. "Just came up and said, `Hi,' and that was it."

Asked if Garcia apologized, Woods said, "No. It's already done. We've already gone through it all. It's time for the U.S. Open, and we tee it up in two days."


That handshake might be their only meeting this week.

Garcia said the range on Monday was not the right time to apologize to Woods, but that the world's No. 1 player was gone when Garcia was done practicing, and the opening day of U.S. Open practice was delayed three times by rain.

They are on opposite sides of the draw - Garcia plays Thursday morning and Friday afternoon, Woods tees off Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Unless they are near each other on the leaderboard on the weekend, they might not see each other again.

And there is some question whether Woods will even see the note.

Woods rarely goes into the locker room at the majors, except for the Masters. Through the years, his locker has been filled with requests for him to autograph various items, and outside vendors try to leave messages for him.

The dispute with Woods began during a rain delay at The Players Championship. Garcia implied in a TV interview that Woods purposely riled up the gallery by pulling a 5-wood from his bag to play a risky shot out of the trees, and that Woods should have been paying enough attention to realize the Spaniard was about to hit.

Woods, who typically prefers to avoid confrontations, denied that was the case. But then he added, "Not real surprising that he's complaining about something."

Woods won The Players, and the needling continued for a week until Garcia made the "fried chicken" remark in a light moment with the emcee at a dinner honoring Europe's winning Ryder Cup team.

The Spaniard appeared contrite in his news conference, and he said Tuesday he remained "a little bit nervous."

"But like he (Woods) said, with him taking the step forward and saying that he considers it closed, a closed deal, that obviously means a lot to me," Garcia said.

Rickie Fowler Seeks to Rekindle Merion Magic

Rickie Fowler Seeks to Rekindle Merion Magic
Contender at This Week’s U.S. Open Dominated as Amateur in 2009 Walker Cup at Storied Course











Mark McLaughlin June 11, 2013 9:29 PM




COMMENTARY | Rickie Fowler will carry some fond memories into the U.S. Open this week at Merion Golf Club.

Fowler was a star of the 2009 U.S. Walker Cup


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hat beat Great Britain & Ireland 16-1/2 to 9-1/2 in the last USGA competition to be hosted at the historic course outside Philadelphia. The then 20-year-old amateur compiled a perfect 4-0 record to lead a team captained byMerion member Buddy Marucci.



So what did Fowler pick up from that September weekend nearly four years ago that he can put to use as he chases his first major title on the 6,996-yard par 70 Hugh Wilson gem?

"My best memory is after we won it, standing on the 18th green with two of my teammates from Oklahoma State,Peter Uihlein and Morgan Hoffmann. Peter and I both went 4-0 and Morgan didn't lose a match (2-0-1)," Fowler told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week. "And playing for Buddy [Marucci] in the two years I got to play the Walker Cup was awesome. Those are pretty cool memories to be able to draw off."

Fowler and Hoffman are two of a handful of players in the U.S. Open field who have played Merion in competition. No one in the field has played a professional tournament at Merion.

Hoffman, making his third Open start, also competed in the 2005 U.S. Amateur at the Ardmore, Pennsylvania course. He was one of 64 players to qualify for match play before losing in the first round. Others in the 2005 U.S. Amateur field included:

Webb Simpson: The defending U.S. Open champion shot a 3-over-par 143 to qualify for match play before losing in the second round.

Kevin Chappell: If's there a favorite among the Merion veterans, it's Chappell. In addition to the local knowledge gleaned from making it to the third round of match play in the 2005 Amateur, Chappell tied for third in the 2011 U.S. Open at a soggy Congressional and finished tied for 10th in last year's Open at Olympic. And don't forget his late charge two weeks ago at the Memorial Tournament where he finished a close second to Matt Kuchar.

Billy Horschel: Horschel didn't qualify for match play in 2005 but he comes into Merion riding the high of his first PGA Tour win and a career year in the making.

Kyle Stanley: Stanley also missed the match play segment in 2005 but like Chappell, he's coming off a strong third-place showing in his final tune-up at Memorial.

Nicholas Thompson: Thompson, who lost in the second round of match play at Merion, is making his third U.S. Open appearance.

The remaining Merion vets competed in the 1989 U.S. Amateur and include:

Phil Mickelson: Lefty made it into match play on a Merion course that played quite differently 24 years ago due to poor maintenance. Mickelson has proven to be a good mudder - witness his 2012 win at Pebble Beach - so he's got that going for him on what should be a soggy track.

Steve Stricker: The plethora of short approaches should suit Stricker's precision wedge game. He's second in greens in regulation on the PGA Tour this year and 13th in putting -- a powerful combination if he can find enough fairways.

Jim Furyk: The 2003 U.S. Open champion grew up just 20 miles from Merion. Winning on his home turf on the 10th anniversary of his only major would be something special for Furyk. And it would provide a measure of redemption after his back-nine collapse at Olympic.

Mark McLaughlin has reported on the PGA Tour for the New York Post, FoxSports.com, Greensboro News & Record, and Burlington (N.C.) Times-News. He is a past member of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. Follow him on Twitter @markmacduke.

Five things to know as you watch this week

Five things to know as you watch this week












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The Crosswater Course at Sunriver River is no stranger to big golf events.()

PGA.COM June 22, 2013 7:16 PM


By John Kim, PGA.com Coordinating Producer

SUNRIVER, Ore. -- The 46th PGA Professional National Championship might not be at the top of many golf minds when it comes to great championships, but those close to the game understand its history, its significance and its cherished view among the golf industry. A very respected media veteran once remarked there were only two golf championships that really meant something: Q-School and this PGA PNC event, because they were about people playing for their lives.

There's no way I could put it any better.

As you watch and follow the action this week, understand that people are playing for the chance to change their lives. This is not millionaires playing for more millions or simply to add another trophy on the mantle.

This is a chance for history, to significantly add to your finances, to play in a major championship alongside the biggest names in golf. So with that in mind, here are five items that will help you understand and follow the drama that will unfold here at Sunriver Resort.


• The tournament runs Sunday through Wednesday so that the majority of play will be televised by the Golf Channel and covered by all other golf media unopposed by any other professional golf event.

• The most wins by any player on the PGA Tour is 82, held by Sam Snead. Snead also won this event in 1971 and came in second (losing in a playoff) in 1974.

• The Crosswater Course will play at 7,530 yards - making it longer than any major championship on any tour this year. In fact, from 2007-2010, this same Crosswater Club course hosted a major championship (the Tradition) on the Champions Tour. And to give it an even more of a major championship vibe, four players (Jeff Coston, Sonny Skinner, Bob Gaus and Don Berry) who made the cut at the 2013 Senior PGA Championship held at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, are also competing here this week.

• The Golf Channel will air live coverage from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, and from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. ET on Monday. Coverage on Tuesday and Wednesday will air from 4:00-7:00 p.m. ET. You can, of course, follow all the action - from scores to photos to highlights - right here on PGA.com.

There also will be several social media accounts covering the action including, from PGA.com (PGA.com on Facebook, @PGA_com on Twitter, PGA.com on Instagram and @ThePGAofAmerica on Twitter. And with 312 PGA Professionals representing courses, PGA Sections and states from all over the country, you can probably follow every shot in some way, shape or form. Search for #2013PNC for all the best posts and tweets on social media.

• As many know but some do not - and all golf fans should - there is more at stake than national bragging rights, a $550,000 purse (winner gets $75,000) and the coveted Walter Hagen Cup. The top 20 players (ties will go to a tiebreaker so that 20 is a set number) will earn an exemption into the PGA Championship this August at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Players also will use this championship (along with last year's PGA PNC and this year's PGA Championship) to earn points toward earning a spot on the U.S. PGA Cup team - the PGA Professional version of the Ryder Cup.

Many viewers and readers will follow this event with a strong vested interest in a particular golfer - one from their home club or someone they know. But all golf fans should understand and appreciate that lives will be changed this week, and so will golf history. Many people in the golf world consider this their favorite event to attend, cover or read about. With some of these notes in mind, we hope your enjoyment and appreciation of the week increases as well.