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Jim Furyk
Jim Furyk hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR since the 2007 RBC Canadian Open. This is more anomaly than anything else. He racks up top-10s the way that lesser players rack up cuts. He is a four-tool player (out of a possible five). Furyk will never be long but then again, he never has been.
He is accurate off the tee, a terrific ball striker, has a wonderful short game and is a tremendous putter. Four out of five ain’t bad. Furyk has a killer instinct, dedication and heart. On top of all that, he is annoyed and tired of answering questions about his drought. Look for Jim to get into the winner’s circle early this season.
The other player to watch is Adam Scott. Until Greg Norman gave him the nod for the Presidents Cup, Scott was mired in a slump. Since then, he has played much better, winning for the first time as a professional in Australia and more importantly, finding old form. Scott and Furyk have been perennially ranked in the top-10 in the world over the last decade for a reason. They will show you that reason again in 2010.
Padraig Harrington
No name is more obvious for this list than Harrington’s. By the end of the 2009 season, he finally appeared comfortable with the swing changes that he surprisingly made following his wildly successful 2008 season in which he won two majors and took home PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors.
After struggling for the majority of 2009, Harrington was in serious contention each of the four weeks during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. A startling stat: He failed to break 70 only three times in the 16 rounds of the Playoffs. Like Phil Mickelson, Harrington didn’t want the season to end.
Make no mistake — he will be more determined than ever in 2010 to get back into the winner’s circle. I can see plenty of Harrington vs. Mickelson battles this year.
David Toms
There are so many candidates — Luke Donald, Anthony Kim, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els. Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk, to name a few — but my vote goes to David Toms. He came out with a renewed enthusiasm in 2009 and did everything but hoist the 13th trophy of his PGA TOUR career.
Toms tied for second three times last year, including in his first start at the Sony Open in Hawaii where he also won in 2007.
He’s the same steady player, ranking fourth in driving accuracy, 20th in greens in regulation and seventh in scoring average. Not to mention, this is a Ryder Cup year and Toms would like nothing better to play for Corey Pavin in Wales.
Steve Marino
I could have gone with someone easy like Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk or Tim Clark. But I like Steve Marino’s chances. He has a combined 15 top-10s the last three years and was a runner-up once each of the last two seasons — in 2009 at Colonial, where he lost in a playoff, and in 2008 in Cancun, where he shot 64-66 on the weekend.
Statistically, Marino was 35th in driving distance and 21st in greens in regulation in 2009, so it’s no wonder he ranked ninth in scoring average. More importantly, he’s got a healthy amount of confidence and the ability to back it up.
On six occasions, Marino shot 65 or better in 2009, and he ranked seventh on TOUR in par-5 performance. If there’s one area he definitely needs to improve, though, it’s his performance in the final round — he ranked 13th in scoring average before the cut and 16th in Round 3, but fell to 83rd in the final round.
2009 Offbeat Moments
A Flourish Golf—2010
GOLF HERE!!!
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/2010-winner-list-ii-1664317.html
NATIONWIDE PROMOTION: Michael Sim earned an instant promotion to the PGA Tour when he won his third Nationwide Tour event. The timing could not have been worse, coming right before the FedEx Cup playoffs.
As a result, Sim played only one time on the PGA Tour, on a sponsor exemption to Turning Stone. The Viking Classic was canceled, and he chose not to play Disney.
Should the rule be changed to create an automatic spot for such players?
Not necessarily.
Biggest Off-course Stories of 2009
The instant promotion is more about the following year than the current year. The payoff for Sim is that he is fully exempt for the 2010 season, meaning he is automatically in The Players Championship and is not subjected to the reshuffle that other Nationwide Tour and Q-school graduates face.
What not give Sim instant status? The tour wants to be sure the current crop of Nationwide/Q-school players have every chance to play an entire season without being bumped by someone who spent most of the year at a lower level.
TOP TEN: Europe uses the world ranking to decide half of its Ryder Cup team – not a player’s ranking, rather how many raw points the player has earned in the year leading to the matches.
That might be the best way to determine which players have had the best year in golf.
Using only points earned in 2009, the top three remain the same – Tiger Woods with 604.54 points, followed by Phil Mickelson at 367.29 and Steve Stricker at 333.57. Lee Westwood (299.54) and Rory McIlroy (283.06) round out the top five.
They are followed by Paul Casey, Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry, Sean O’Hair and Retief Goosen.
This also shows who had a poor season, for only three players in the top 50 failed to earn at least 100 ranking points – Vijay Singh, Ben Curtis and Robert Karlsson, who missed the heart of the season with an eye injury.
DIVOTS: Rory McIlroy plans to make his debut as a PGA Tour member at the Accenture Match Play Championship, with his road to the Masters going through the Honda Classic, Doral and the Houston Open. Also on his schedule are the Quail Hollow Championship and the Memorial. … Tiger Woods lost more world ranking points (485.82) than any other player earned last year. … Six players under 50 took a one-time exemption from career money to keep their PGA Tour card for the 2009 season. Only one of them, Bob Estes, finished inside the top 125 on the money list. The others were Jeff Maggert (128), David Duval (130), Chris DiMarco (135), Tom Lehman (142), who turned 50 in March, and Brad Faxon (221).
STAT OF THE WEEK: Ernie Els failed to win a golf tournament for the first time since 1990.
Who will be in Winner List of 2010?
golf here!!!
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/continue-world-rankings-things-1658277.html
By John Lynch
The secret to consistent golf is to build a simple golf swing – a swing without a lot of moving parts and one you can repeat time and time again – even under pressure.
Eighty percent of the 27 million golfers in this world do NOT achieve a handicap of less than 18. The vast majority of these golfers credit inconsistency as the culprit – inconsistency in their golf swing.
How many strokes per round do you think you could save if you hit the ball solid, straight, and long every time?…
7 strokes?…
10 strokes?…
Even more?
So how do you build a simple golf swing that will allow you to consistently hit solid shots at your target every time?
Read on…
The secret: A simple golf swing starts with using your stable spine as an axis to keep your swing on plane – you must swing around a stable spine!
Most high handicap golfers do not swing around a stable spine – they have more sway and unnecessary movements than you could shake a stick at.
Your simple golf swing will be most effective if you coil around your stable spine with limited hip rotation – the secret to tremendous power!
Since you are limiting your hip rotation you don’t have to swing the club back too far, your backswing will be shortened yet you will still be storing plenty of power.
So what have we learnt so far in creating a simple golf swing?
- You must swing around a stable spine – this is your axis of rotation.
- Your hip rotation is limited.
- Your backswing is shortened – you don’t have to swing back to parallel.
The truth is the most effective swing does not have a lot of moving parts to it. The best golfers on the planet have built themselves a simple golf swing utilizing only the movements that promote solid contact and consistency.
You want a simple golf swing you can perform correctly over and over again – even under the pressures of tournament play.
In fact, once you have programmed your subconscious with a simple golf swing through practice that is fundamentally sound, you no longer have to think about it – your simple golf swing will become automatic!
Conventional wisdom says a fundamentally sound golf swing should have lateral sway in it and the golf club should go back to parallel at the top…
This is hogwash!
The more moving parts to your golf swing – the more room for error.
Even Tiger Woods eliminated the lateral movement in his backswing for more consistency… he is now more “stacked” at the top of his swing.
The less moving parts to your swing, the easier it is to hit solid golf shots time after time – the secret to playing great golf!
Once you have programmed your golf swing into your psyche, you now only have to think about hitting your target.
What a beautiful feeling it will be when you are not thinking about your swing out on the golf course – you are only thinking about what matters – things such as your target, your lie, the wind, the slope, or any other factor that affects getting your golf ball to your target….
Isn’t this the objective of golf?
So go build yourself a simple golf swing and start scoring on the golf course like you’re capable of!
Hit ‘em Long and Straight!
John Lynch
John is an accomplished writer and has published hundreds of golf instruction articles. To learn more on how to build a simple golf swing, John recommends you visit ===> SimpleGolfSwing.com
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/golf-articles/how-to-build-a-simple-golf-swing-1657160.html
Playing golf professionally sounds like one of those dream jobs that everyone wants. Those that are successful at playing golf professionally get to travel to beautiful locations all over the world, their idea of work is playing a sport that they love every day, and the money is pretty attractive as well. It does not take a lot of imagination for figure out why someone would want to be a professional golfer. The Characteristics of a Professional Golfer That is only one side of the story though. There are a number of ingredients that are required to produce a successful professional golfer.
