Gulbis on 82: Combination of all bad things golfer can do

NAPLES, Fla. - Natalie Gulbis' hopes of winning her second LPGA title were quickly swept away in Sunday's winds at the CME Group Titleholders.

Gulbis, tied for the 54-hole lead, stumbled to a 10-over-par 82. She ended up tied for 29th. She bogeyed four of the first eight holes to fall away.

"I mean, I played really bad," Gulbis said. "I did a combination of all the bad things a golfer can do."

Gulbis, 30, was looking to add to her 2007 Evian Masters win. She said Saturday night that she thinks about how long it has been since she last won every time she practices.

Gulbis said she couldn't find her swing right from Sunday's start.

"I didn't hit it well on the range," Gulbis said. "If you mis-hit shots on this golf course, it will really get you fast."

Michelle Wie, three shots back at day's start, couldn't make a charge in her bid to win her third LPGA title, her first in three years. She shot 72 and tied for 11th.

Lexi Thompson, looking for her third title in five starts, struggled in the wind. She started the day two shots back but shot 76 and tied for 16th.

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Punch Shot: Bring back the Skins Game?

The Skins Game was a staple on the fall golf schedule for the better part of three decades, but after 2008 the event was dropped. Is it silly that this former silly season event is no more, or should we petition to bring it back? GolfChannel.com writers debate.

By RYAN LAVNER

Yes, but not as the version that appeared on TV each fall for 25 years.

Money won’t entice any of the competitors, not in this era of FedEx Cup cash. The total prize money for the event used to be $1 million. That’s pocket change to these guys – less than what they could get for playing in, say, the John Deere or Mayakoba event. Even the purse at the Shark Shootout tops $3 million.

But the Skins Game could work, once again, as a kind of Tavistock Cup (R.I.P.) spinoff, only without the helicopter entrances and snooty spectators. 

My proposal is for a pair of two-man teams from different parts of the country squaring off against each other in the skins format: SoCal vs. SoFla, Texans vs. Sea Islanders, Las Vegans vs. Arizonans, Ponte Vedrans vs. Orlandoans. Add elements of a home-course advantage. All money donated to a charity of their choice.

A perfect idea? Maybe not. But it’s a better option than no golf in the U.S. on Thanksgiving weekend.

By JASON SOBEL

No.

I used to enjoy watching the Skins Game as much as the next guy – but I wouldn’t be in favor of bringing it back.

Nothing against the informal nature of the tournament or its format or structure, but it was previously contested during what was widely known as golf’s silly season.

Well, guess what? There’s nothing silly about this time of year anymore.

With the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai extending the seasons on their respective tours, followed almost immediately by the start of the next campaign, golf has become a 52-week-a-year endeavor with little time for such frivolities that don’t come armed with world ranking points and official money. Throw in a month of serious competition in Australia and Tiger Woods’ World Challenge and the dance card starts filling up quicker than that of Kate Upton at an all-boys school.

What it means is that elite players need to take their breaks when they can get ‘em. Unless you can guarantee me a foursome of one-named superstars like Tiger, Phil, Adam and Rory in an updated Skins Game, I’d rather not run the risk of so many invitations being denied that it features a watered-down version of its previous self with a quartet of third-tier professionals.

The Skins Game was great for what it was, when it was. The golf world has evolved since those days, though, and quite honestly the schedule doesn’t have room anymore for anything too silly.

By RANDALL MELL

No. Let the Skins Game rest in peace.

There is no way to re-create the wonder the original silly season concept possessed. There is so much money, so many monster purses, so many more big events in the game today than there were when the Skins Game was at the height of its popularity in the '80s and '90s. Back then, a $1 million payday was exciting stuff. So was the idea of seeing the game's biggest stars in the offseason. With the World Golf Championships, the FedEx Cup, the Race to Dubai and Tiger's December All-Star Game, there is hardly a month we don't get to see the game's biggest stars.

I suppose there would be intrigue if players were playing for their own money, the way the rest of us do when we play for skins, but that's never going to happen. The Skins Game is never going to regain its original appeal.

By WILL GRAY

No. Perhaps I wasn’t tuning in when the event was at its peak popularity, but I don’t miss the Skins Game and would be in no rush to spark its return.

In the early 1980s, I can understand how a televised exhibition like the Skins Game would be an interesting novelty. Fast forward 30 years, though, and players have no shortage of opportunities to play for unofficial cash, while viewers are not exactly hurting for chances to see their favorite players in action. The evolution of the tournament’s field – from Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus taking the first two titles to Stephen Ames and K.J. Choi claiming the last two – speaks volumes to the event’s gradually declining demand.

Add in the increased options for televised sports around the Thanksgiving holiday, and the hole once occupied by the Skins Game on a viewer’s “plate” has been more than filled. With the advent of the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule and the increased number of playing opportunities in the winter months, the golf offseason is now measured in weeks, not months. Adding to the schedule at this time of year, even for a four-person cash grab, just doesn’t seem warranted.

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McIlroy flies with Anchorman, sees movie premiere

Boarding his 14-hour flight Saturday from Los Angeles to Australia, Rory McIlroy plopped down in first class and found himself seated next to Ron Burgundy – sorry, Will Ferrell – who was also headed Down Under for the debut of “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.”

Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

“We were all very tired,” McIlroy said, via the Australian Open TV. “I think most of us just put our heads down and got straight to sleep. It was great to meet all the crew, and I’m obviously a big fan of Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and a few of the other guys. It was a pretty cool thing to do. … I think (Ferrell) is a bit of a golf fan as well, so that’s nice.”

The next day, Ferrell reportedly contacted McIlroy, who is playing in this week’s Australian Open at Royal Sydney, and invited him to the Australian premiere. “I think everyone loved the first 'Anchorman,'” he said, “and the second one was just as good.”

You stay classy, Rory McIlroy.

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DJ joins Paulina at American Music Awards

Internet star Paulina Gretzky has elevated Dustin Johnson to new levels of celebrity – like the American Music Awards.

On Sunday night, Johnson posted a picture on his Instagram account of him and his fiancée, who was presenting an award for Favorite Male Artist (Soul/R&B) in Los Angeles. The award went to Justin Timberlake – former Vegas tournament host! – who spotted Johnson in the crowd and then mimicked a golf swing.

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Report: Augusta Nat. spends $8.3M for parking lot

Augusta National spares no expense to ensure that its tournament each April runs as smoothly as possible.

Even if it means spending $8.3 million for a parking lot.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Augusta National has begun plans to demolish a 456-unit apartment complex – for which it paid $8.3 million, in February 2012 – and build a parking lot for the Masters.

A club spokesman told Bloomberg that the 9.8-acre site was to be used for parking and undisclosed support services, and that “any other commentary would be misleading and potentially create public speculation that is unnecessary.”

In the report, Bloomberg said that although the land might be used for parking in the next few years, it eventually could turn into a site for lodging or corporate-entertainment facilities.

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What I'll Remember About 2013: Tears, joy, laughter and everything in between

Rose takes U.S. Open trophy to New York City

Following his U.S. Open win Justin Rose spent the day in New York City making rounds to media outlets.

PGATOUR.COM asked its staffers and writers what they will remember about the 2013 season. For the archived list of essays and a complete review of the season,

I remember … Billy Horschel trying to show off to Tiger Woods by jumping on top of a cooler at Bay Hill, only to provide a good laugh when he wiped out in front of Woods and everyone else on the range. 

I remember … seeing Steve Williams give a nod to Adam Scott as if to say “it’s not over” as Angel Cabrera, playing in the group behind Scott, prepared to stuff his approach shot to 2 feet in a steady rain on the final hole of regulation at the Masters.

I remember … playing 36 holes -- 18 at Palmetto Golf Club and 18 at Belfair Country Club -- the day after the Masters with a colleague and friend and finishing in the dark with both of us bogeying the final hole to halve the back 9 (he won the rest of the match).

I remember … fighting back tears Sunday of THE PLAYERS Championship as I watched the 15-year anniversary piece on NBC about Len Mattiace and his ailing mother, seven months after losing my own mom to cancer.

I remember … Phil Mickelson using the word heartbreak to describe another U.S. Open runner-up, this one more painful than any of the previous five.

I remember … watching Justin Rose point skyward in memory of his late father after winning the U.S. Open, and wishing my dad, who passed away 10 years ago this past September, was around to see it. 

I remember … walking around the streets of New York City with Rose, trophy in his hand, and one passer-by asking, “What’d that guy win?”

I remember … the Travelers Championship surprising the media with 20 boxes of Pepe’s, the best pizza on the planet.

Phil Mickelson shot a final-round 66.

I remember … Mickelson calling his final-round 66 to win The Open the most memorable of his career, and everyone else agreeing.

I remember … Jason Dufner telling me he had to change his phone number three times in the month since winning the PGA Championship.

I remember … Brandt Snedeker recalling instantly how when he was 9 years old Helen Alfredsson blew off his autograph request and how he never forgot that moment when he turned pro.

I remember … Jonas Blixt wearing playing partner Rickie Fowler’s orange pants and orange shirt at The Barclays. Literally.

I remember … Henrik Stenson’s wife telling me that her FedExCup champion husband is such a jokester that he once donned a ski mask and dressed like a robber before jumping onto Carl Pettersson’s hotel balcony from the room next door.

I remember … Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel showing up on the driving range at The Presidents Cup wearing wigs and looking like the band Spinal Tap only to see the International Team get beat again.

I remember … Mother Nature striking again … and again … and again.

I remember … Rory McIlroy looking dazed and confused a lot this season but still showing flashes of the brilliance that’s still deep inside him.

I remember … Woods winning five times, returning to No. 1 in the world, being named Player of the Year and being involved in three rules snafus along the way.

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What I'll Remember About 2013: McIlroy struggles to find his game

Interview: Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy talks about his struggles during the Deutsche Bank Championship.

PGATOUR.COM asked its staffers and writers what they will remember about the 2013 season. For the archived list of essays and a complete review of the season.

In 2013, Rory McIlroy proved that he's not a robot, even though he played against one on TV.

That's the irony of his year. It was a four-minute YouTube video in June, showing a smiling, laughing McIlroy in a spot promoting the European Tour, playing against something that is a polar opposite of McIlroy himself.

McIlroy's game is not about analytics or mechanics. He's the ultimate feel player in a game loaded with feel players, and when he's off, he can make some big numbers. He didn't win a tournament in 2013, and realistically, he never came close.

Oh, he finished second once, but that was his only finish in the top five in 16 tries. This came after a staggering 2012 season in which he finished in the top five eight times.

Yes, he changed equipment after the 2012 season, but it goes a lot deeper than that. He looked rusty from the start, and by the time the TOUR hit The Honda Classic, his game was a mess. The Honda Classic, played right near his new home in South Florida, was supposed to be HIS week. He was the defending champ, still ranked No. 1 in the world, but after an ugly 7 over start after eight holes in the second round he walked off the course. The very next week, at the no-cut World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, he finished with a 65 that gave him a top-10 finish.

That basically defined his year. When his swing felt OK, he looked more like himself and it took pressure off his putting, a skill that was exposed when his swing was off.

Even when he's playing his best, McIlroy is always going to be on the hook for some big numbers and wild shots. He simply made a lot more of them in 2013, and his slide was the surprise of the year.

The good news? He already looks a lot better early in the 2013-14 season. If he can avoid the distractions that plagued him in 2013, he will avoid the bogeys that invariably come along with them.

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What I'll Remember About 2013: Duke wins for first time in 187th start

Duke wins the Travelers Championship

Ken Duke birdies the second hole of a playoff with Chris Stroud to claim his first win on the PGA TOUR.

PGATOUR.COM asked its staffers and writers what they will remember about the 2013 season. For the archived list of essays and a complete review of the season,

Major victories by emerging stars, a superstar and a crowd pleaser with major upside – as well as five wins by the sport’s resurgent megastar – dominated golf’s 2013 headlines. But the worthy winner of the Travelers Championship should not be forgotten.

Here’s to Ken Duke, the pro from Hope, Ark., whose childhood scoliosis could have ended his career before it began. Instead, he fought back. And on his 187th try, at the age of 44, some 30 years after surgeons implanted a metal rod to straighten his severely twisted spine, Duke won for the first time on the PGA TOUR.

Mirroring his life in microcosm, Duke started two strokes back. He still trailed when his approach at No. 10 looked lost into the deep woods left. Came an audible “thwack” from a treetop, and the ball appeared 4 feet from the hole.

In a beginning rather than another end, Duke birdied the hole, pointed to the heavens, made three more birdies, saved par at the 18th and, one stroke clear at 12 under, waited in the clubhouse. It seemed he had won. But Chris Stroud birdied the 18th on a 50-foot pitch and, appropriately, a playoff ensued.

It might have shaken Duke in bygone days. But, recalling what his teacher, the legendary 87-year-old Bob Toski, had told him earlier in the day, he birdied the second playoff hole and promptly credited the man who had predicted the outcome.

“I owe a lot to Bob Toski,” he said. “He won his first tournament up here in '53 at Wethersfield. He called me this morning and said, ‘It’s your time, too.’”

Toski also told Duke, in his colorful way, not to bother teeing it up if he wasn’t ready to shoot a low score. Duke, who responded with a 66, showed his appreciation again months later by bringing the Travelers Championship trophy to St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., where Toski still gives lessons.

“He deserved it,” said an appreciative Toski. “That's a milestone in my life as a teacher and his as a player.”

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