Amatocha's Blog

Tiger’s Hiatus

amatocha — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:36:38 +0000

As announced Friday Tiger Woods will be taking an indefinite leave from professional golf. Now everyone at present and by everyone I mean news reporters and analysts is saying how this is indeed to most appropriate thing for him to do and I agree with that but I will tell you this will soon change into how this will be impacting the PGA Tour. Now I know in the midst of all of this it may sound harsh and insensitive but it is a fact that professional golf will indeed suffer while Tiger is once again absent from the fields. Unlike his knee surgery when he never announced when he would return it was certain about how long the average recovery time was giving fans at least an idea of when he would return. Now however it literally is only a guessing game and will never be able to be more than that. Any channel that has ever broadcasted golf will tell you that ratings drop significantly when he is not in the field. We saw it when he was absent during his knee rehabilitation, he did compete for half of 2008 and the talk of the rest of the year was of his U.S. Open win, the other half of the year really went by the wayside as far as recognition. While the PGA Tour could of course survive without Tiger it is foolish to believe things will not be different, ratings will drop, winning shares may even drop, and tournament hype will of course drop. Again I am very glad to hear that he is taking the time to put all of his focus into his family and that should always be priority one but I have a feeling the conversations of how this will affect the 2010 season are just around the corner.

Tiger Woods and the Media

amatocha — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:24:36 +0000

As many would have expected Tiger Woods is still headline news as we now approach the third week of the Tiger drama. With his newest statement coming Friday evening he once again offered an apology only this time he came right out and said that he was apologizing for his infidelity. But what the real story was this night was his announcement to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I have to say that I do agree with what everyone else seems to be saying that this is indeed what he should be doing. It is in his best interest to take this time to get his personal life in order. If he were to go out and play now he would receive an insane rush from the media and one that I can’t imagine him being able to ignore enough to compete at the level he commands. One thing that I hope Tiger will come to realize is that the media however will not simply go away regarding this matter. Part of me believes that he thinks he is simply a normal guy and sometimes that he is not the most recognized and for the most part formerly the most respected. He pleads in every one of his issued statements that he wishes the media to stay out of his personal life and allow he and his family to resolve this matter on his own. I hope that he soon comes to realize that no matter how many times he requests it he will not see any sympathy from the media, after all it is their profession to bring to light these issues that others wish to be kept secret. I mean the media did not take any mercy on someone like Britney Spears and it is ludicrous to believe that they will just throw this story aside when it regards one of the most famous people on earth.

Chevron Challenge

amatocha — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:37:52 +0000

Amidst all of the drama surrounding Tiger Woods during this week many have forgotten completely about the tournament the very same man was supposed to be hosting. The ultra exclusive 18 player invite only field went off as scheduled even with the absence of its host. However the Tiger Woods story is still the key story even around the tournament grounds as the questions in the press room have had seemingly nothing to do with the tournament or the way each player has been performing during the week but rather all have focused on Tiger. Each player this week as it seems has had to deal with the burning question of “what do you make of the resent developments regarding Tiger”? Though the tournament has shaped up to be a very good one indeed it is a shame that it has had to take a backseat this week, and I say that as the entire post has been about Tiger thus far. But now let me update you on the tournament at hand. In a very exclusive field we have seen some very good golf this week. Leading the tournament are the only man to have ever taken down Tiger in a major in YE Yang and perhaps the only other person besides the paparazzi to be benefiting from Tiger’s predicament Graeme McDowell at 10 under par. However, just behind them is two of Europe’s best in Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington sitting pretty at 9 under. This tournament may not exactly boast a lot of prestige despite being hosted by the world’s number one, at least not compared to a major but they are certainly playing for an equal prize in that the winner will take home the sum of 1.35 million dollars. With that said you can definitely count on some stellar golf in tomorrow’s final round.

More of Tiger

amatocha — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:18:17 +0000

Well as many of you probably know by now Tiger released a statement this week saying that he regrets his “transgressions”. Now of course he never flat out said what exactly he did but we can all pretty much assume what it is given the recent evidence that several women have come forward with that link them to Tiger. Those include text messages from Tiger and also a voicemail that if it turns out to actually be from him a message asking one of the women to take her name off of her voicemail so that his wife will not know who the number is. Many have offered varying opinions about how Tiger should have handled this. Many crisis management experts claim that Woods should have apologized for exactly what he did and not danced around it with “transgressions”, and also he should never have attacked the media, they believe this will only fuel the flame that is the paparazzi frenzy. Recent news also claims that Elin has made some changes to her prenuptial agreement that includes an immediate payment of 5million dollars and if she is to stay for an additional two years another payment of up to 55 million. Now to me it seems the only way she can be compensated in this situation is perhaps with money but with the guarantee of money in two years it seems that if she does choose to stay how, will anyone be able to believe it is because she is simply sticking by her husband? To me it seems this will only cause more harm, and also the clause of the agreement that she must appear with Tiger at all events and appear as if there is not trouble. Not to mention the part that prevents her from ever telling the story. With all of these new additions to the story it seems even more likely that this once fairy tale story will ever be what it used to be, even though I hope it can be.

Tiger Accident 2

amatocha — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:28:49 +0000

This accident that Tiger Woods has gotten in to has become big news in not only the golf world but the world at large. The problem is that with each new bit of information the story seems to be looking increasingly worse for Tiger. To add more drama to the incident are the reports that surfaced just two days ago that Tiger may have had an affair with a club hostess. Now these reports have in no way been confirmed but it does give some intrigue into this new story. There have also been reports saying that their may have been a domestic dispute within the Woods house which may be explained by the rumors of an affair. The domestic dispute also would explain why Woods would be leaving the house at such an hour. Now apart from merely explaining why Tiger was leaving the house at that particular hour it may also explain some of the already shaky details of the actual crash. It has been reported that Elin, Wood’s wife heard the crash from their home and smashed a back window with a golf club and got her husband out of the vehicle. Now my question is this, why would she break the back window when her husband the only one in the car is driving in the front seat, would that not have been the most reasonable measure, at least break a front window even if it is on the passenger side that would be much easier for her to get him out. Now given the possibility of a domestic dispute it could also be considered that perhaps that window was broken before he even left his home. The fact is that with every new bit of information the story becomes just that more murky and possibly worse for Tiger. The domestic dispute possibility, the alleged affair, and the fact that alcohol was not at the scene but not revealed to have been a factor at his home 100 feet from the accident are all adding up very fast. Especially with Tiger about to be in the spotlight this coming weekend for his tournament absolutely every eye will be on Tiger this week.

Tiger Woods’ Accident

amatocha — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:59:06 +0000

A very unusual and potentially very bad story is in the making within the golf world today, that being the news of Tiger Woods’ car accident early Friday morning. I have heard the story several times today and from what I have heard so far the information they seem to be giving just doesn’t add up to anything that would be good for Tiger. For those of you who may not have heard at 2:20 am Friday morning Tiger Woods crashed his escalade into a fire hydrant and then into a tree in his residential neighborhood. Now one of the compelling bits of information is that this hydrant was roughly 100 feet from his house, now if you ask me that seems pretty hard to do, crashing your car 100 feet from your house. Now it has been released that he was taken to the hospital with cuts to his face and also that his wife Elin was the first on the scene after the accident and had to break out a window in order to get her husband out. Now police had also said that alcohol was NOT involved in the accident, but one reporter made the note that they never said DRUGS and alcohol weren’t involved so now there is speculation of possible drug use but I must stress this is only speculation. What I question is, yes alcohol may not have been found in the car but what about his home 100 feet away! Reports are also stating that Woods and his wife did have an argument prior to the incident which may explain his leaving at such an early hour but still nothing to justify crashing into a hydrant. I don’t know, based on the information thus far nothing to me seems reasonable that this accident could have been the result of sober driving, but then again accidents do happen, but 100 feet from the house most likely driving not very fast given the residential neighborhood plus how fast can you even go within a 100 feet. Whatever the case one thing we can be certain of is that it is only a matter of time before the truth comes out I just hope when Tiger does talk about it the truth is coming form his mouth.

Q-School

amatocha — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:49:40 +0000

Although the PGA tour is off this week there is certainly no shortage of golf drama to be had this week. In fact this could be one of the most compelling events of the entire year and hardly any one; even golf fans will know anything about it. So what exactly is this even you may ask, well this week is the week of the PGA tours Q-School. For those of you who are not familiar with this, this event is staged every year as a way for those who may have lost their tour card last year, as a result of finishing outside of the top 125 in the world, and also for those who are looking to make their breakthrough onto the PGA tour. So once again, there is no time during the year when a field of players will be playing the game quite like this. Why is that? Well unlike other tournaments during the year when players are playing for trophies or huge pay days this week players are competing to have a career next season, or to start their professional golfing career on the PGA tour. You can catch all of the action of this event each day on the golf channel through this coming Monday. Now I am not going to say that this is a star studded event by any means but if you are an avid golf fan there are definitely some names you will have heard somewhere along the way on the PGA tour, who knows you may even catch your local club pro competing for his spot.

A special note I would like to make regarding Michelle Wie, last weekend she captured her first LPGA win of her career. As someone who has seen her play golf since she first appeared on tour I can say it was only a matter of time despite some shaky stretches. As any player would say the first win is always the hardest and because of that fact I fell confident in saying that now that she has one trophy on her mantle the flood gates are indeed going to open and we can expect nothing but good things during the rest of her sure to be long and compelling career.

JBWere Masters/ Kiwi Challenge

amatocha — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:32:52 +0000

Tiger Woods was again playing this week only to many American’s dismay he was not even on the same continent. Wood’s was competing in Melbourne Australia in the JBWere Masters. This weekend Tiger has the potential to break one of his records only he will be the first to admit that it would be one that he would rather remain intact. In 268 starts Wood’s has never gone three straight tournaments without a win with at least a share of the lead going into the final round, After a third round of even par his once three stroke lead landed him into a three way tie for the lead in the final round. Now just because Wood’s is currently in this three way tie I as well as many others will consider him the favorite by far. First of all we have to look at why this record is even in jeopardy. By having this record even be in question it must first mean that for three weeks in a row he is going to be playing in the final round on a Sunday. It doesn’t matter who it is that is some really good, consistent golf. Now if we take that fact into consideration, that for three weeks in a row Wood’s has been in the final group playing some of the best golf of the year we now have to add that to the fact that Woods is by far the highest ranking player in the field. So as we have seen so many times before if Wood’s can manage merely an average round tomorrow something around one, two under par he should have no problem putting this tournament away as his playing partners will by far be feeling the pressure more than Tiger. However, nothing is a sure thing, Wood’s is human after all and he will definitely realize that he has much more to lose, at least in his mind than he has to gain.

Just off the shore of Australia four of the tour’s young guns were competing in the Kiwi Challenge in New Zeland. The foursome consisted of Anthony Kim, Camillo Villegas, Sean O’hair, and Hunter Mahan. At the end of the day it was Anthony Kim who ended up with the win and also the one million dollar prize.

HSBC Wrap Up

amatocha — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:05:04 +0000

Phil Mickelson will definitely consider this win at the past weekends HSBC Championship to be a very influential one in his storied career. For the first time in his career he captured a tournament when paired with Tiger Woods in the final group. However, on this occasion Woods was not the key contender against Mickelson. A struggle on the front nine Tiger managed only 6th in the tournament including a scramble for bogey on the 18th hole after going in the water on his third shot something that we would are not at all familiar from seeing from Tiger. Ernie Els Mickelson’s biggest threat in this competition. Els however, was not immune to the difficulties of the finishing hole either as he to put a ball in the water leaving Phil to capture his second WGC event this year. Phil showed he was human as well on the 16th hole on Sunday when he wiffed on an attempted flop shot. But just as Phil has always done he was able to still save par on the hole. Earlier in the tournament we were also treated to some classic Mickelson ingenuity as he was force to flip a wedge upside down and hit a shot right handed. Something I know every golfer has tried at one time or another, because I sure have, only not with anything close to the result Phil is able to produce. A note to other players on the tour Mickelson has very high hopes for 2010 believing he is playing the best golf of his career as of now, I know for me as well as other fans of Phil we would love to see Mickelson make a big impact next year especially in the major scene, but we won’t know for sure until April, giving us just another reason to want spring to be here even sooner.

HSBC Championship/World Gofl Hall of Fame

amatocha — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:20:25 +0000

I’ll be the first to admit that the past few weeks of golf hasn’t been the most entertaining of the year with the fields lacking many big names and the purses being close to half of those during the rest of the year but fear not this weekend will bring some life back into fall golf. But before I get into I would like to bring attention to a special event taking place on November 2nd, that being this years Hall of fame induction ceremony. This years hall of fame inductees include of course some of the best players in the game but this year the Hall of Fame will also induct a very special honoree, that being former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. You may be questioning the reasoning behind this decision but it is one that is extremely valid. As president Eisenhower always had the public eye on him and when the public saw him on the course it led to some of the biggest expansion of the sport since its creation, and not just in the U.S. but all over the world as well. The other honorees include Lanny Wadkins, Jose Maria Olazabal, and Christy O’Connor.

As I said earlier this weekends tournament will not dissappoint. In fact this may be one of the most exclusive events in all of golf as far as invitations are concerned. Unless you have won a tournament on one of the worldwide tours this year you would not have received an invitation unless you were in the top five on those particular tours behind those already exempt. So without question we will be in for some of the best golf this year. Tiger Woods as well as Phil Mickelson will return this week in Shanghai for the WGC World Golf Championship. Now if you choose you can watch live action beginning Thursday on the Golf channel each day beginning at 3am. Now if you don’t suffer from insomnia you can also catch the days replay beginning at 11am.