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David Howell, current number one on the European Ryder Cup roster, is in the lead at this week's BMW International in Munich, Germany. The BMW International marks the final week for the European's Ryder Cup qualifying schedule with several players till lobbying for spots. Howell's -5 67 was nearly matched by Lee Westwood who carded a 68 and is trying to qualify for this year's Ryder Cup team. International favorite Long John Daly withdrew from this week's even in Germany. Following the event, Ruropean captain Ian Woosnam will name the final roster by choosing his two wildcard picks. The Deutsche Bank Championship begins tomorrow as the Tour's only scheduled Monday finisher. Tiger looks to win his fifth straight tournament in his last five starts.

Darren Clarke has been one of the best Ryder Cup players in the past decade as a member of both of Europe's last 3 winning teams. Unfortunately, Darren's life took a turn for the worse several weeks ago after the British Open when his wife Heather died from a battle with breast cancer. Darren planned to have his last tournament of the season be the British Open before he would take a break from golf to spend more important time with his wife. Clark reportedly called European Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam through his sports manager telling Woosie that he wanted and would play if he received a wildcard captain's pick. Clarke's decision to play despite the loss in his life is truly remarkable. If Clarke is chosen by Ian Woosnam, the Europeans will sureley improve as a team.

As the 2006 Ryder Cup looms nearer, the U.S. team may start to feel the pressure of being one of the first undedog American teams in Ryder Cup history. The Americans, despite a star-studded cast featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Jim Furyk, have lost an unheard of two consecutive Ryder Cups. Whether or not the U.S. team will win this year is uncertain, but we can look to the future of U.S. vs. the World golf and see that U.S. dominance may be on life support. The U.S. has already began to struggle in all international sports including a let down at the inaugural World Baseball Classic, last year's bronze at the World Basketball Championships, and this year's terrible pool play at FIFA. The Internationals may all be getting better. The new question for American golf is, "How did it get to this, and how do we improve." Looking at the U.S.'s top players vs. the European's top players would definitely favord the American team. Tiger, Lefty, and Furyk vs. Sergio, David Howell, and Colin Montgomerie. Obviously the U.S. has the star strength, but where we have started to fail is the lack of "B" players to match up to the Europeans solid roster all the way through. This year's U.S. roster will feature four rookies, some of which will certainly require player's badges to get into the parking lot at the K Club. The main problem we have with the Ryder Cup is that we need to get more solid players, especially ones who know how to play match play the "right way". That leads me to my next point, there is an area where the Europeans have us; match play. It is a statement of pure fact that Europeans favor match play over the long, slow torture of stroke play. Growing up playing many matches is certainly an advantage for the European Teams. How do we correct this problem? We need our major junior golf associations such as the International Junior Golf Tour and the AJGA and even the local PGA chapters to run more invitational match play tournaments to introduce the game's young elite to the world of match play. Succesful pros such as Aussie Adam Scott have criticized stroke play itself for a lack of American iniative to win big tournaments. In stroke play, mediocre or top ten finishes will still pay big check, and will still make millionaires who keep their tour cards. That iniative to win could easily be instilled in the youth by switching a couple of tournaments each year to match play events. Moving back to this year's Ryder Cup, the Americans may still win despite the high number of Cup rookies as we do have some aspects of the Cup in our favor. I think the biggest advantage is the K Club itself, an Americanized Arnold Palmer course with tree-lined fairways and speedy greens. At least a non-links course couldn't hurt the Americans in any way. Also, the Americans have some momentum coming off a tremendous victory at the President's Cup as Chris DiMarco's putt was easily one of the greatest moments in team golf history. The Ryder Cup will begin at the K Club in Dublin, Ireland on September 21st.

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Sergio Garcia was reportedly seen with Morgan-Leigh Norman at Firestone Country Club last weekend according to the Golf Channel. Norman is the daughter of Aussie golf great, Greg Norman who was ranked number one in the world during the early '90s.
Norman is a student at Boston College. Sergio is currently ranked in the World's top ten and will be a participant in the 2006 Ryder Cup as a member of the European team.

ESPN's weeklong celebration of Tiger's first decade on the PGA Tour has reached day two, known as "The Coronation". The article focuses on Tiger Woods breaking down the color barrier of golf, much as Jackie Robinson did when joining Major League Baseball. Tiger became the first black man to win the Masters, the first black competitor coming the year of Tiger's birth. Woods would go onto to win the event by the widest margin of Masters history; 12 strokes. Tiger would be only the fourth black player to compete at Augusta National, yet his victory would be spoiled in part by the comments of past Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller. Tiger's performance certainly will pave the way to professional golf and the game itself for many black and middle-class players.

Vengeance was sought in 2003 after Pete Bender, then a caddy for Rocco Mediate, put slugs on Phil Mickelson's cart seat. Caddy Pete Bender's prank would not go unnoticed, as Phil played the remainder of the round with several slugs attached to his pants at Kapalua Plantations in Hawaii. Phil decided then that he would get his revence on Pete Bender, that revenge coming this weekend at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Bender, now on the bag for Austrailian Aaron Baddeley, was shocked when walking off the 18th green with the bag as police officers stood waiting for him. Bender was escorted by officers to the back of a squad car as he demanded to know his charges. Baddeley and Mickelson walked off to the scoring table to sign their cards, and then proceeded to see what was going on with Bender. Bender was finally told his charges by one of the officers, "Illegal transportation of slugs on a golf course". Mickelson was now even with Bender. Also this week, teenage golfing phenomenon Michelle Wie has hired another caddy whose name is Andrew Lano. Lano's resume includes years on the bag of PGA Tour player Kenny Perry. Lano will be on Wie's bag for at least a month for the Omega Masters in Switzerland and the PGA Tour's 84 LUMBER Classic in Farmington, PA.

The Champions Tour will stay on the West Coast for the third straight week at the WAL-MART First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. The WAL-MART tournament is in its third year of operation and is unique to the tour for featuring 78 junior qualifiers through the First Tee program. Three regional qualifiers were held nationwide to give 40 junior spots into the tournament. Thirty junior golfers were chosen for life skills by the First Tee Program. The final 8 spots were awards by the Monterey Peninsula Chapter of the First Tee. In addition to the 78 juniors, 100 amateurs will pay to play with the senior professionals in the event.The tournament will take place between September 1st and 3rd. The Golf Channel and the NBC network will provide complete coverage of the event. Last year's champion Hale Irwin will return to defend his title as well as others Champions Tour stars such as Tom Watson, Craig Stadler, and Dana Quigley.

Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN recently wrote in an article on ESPN.com that Tiger Woods is the greatest ATHLETE of all time. To say that Tiger is the greatest athlete of any sort is certainly a very bold statement. Tiger obviously has much competition for that spot as greatest athlete, especially looking at greats like Michael Jordan. It is unquestionable that Tiger is the most dominant and poised. Tiger has never lost in a mjor while having the 54 hole lead. So what does that mean? Tiger Woods has never "choked" when the tournament is in his hands. Just look at Sergio Garcia who received a death sentence when paired with Tiger for the final round of the Open Championship; he was shaken. The difference in the way the two played spoke for itself, Tiger missed several makable putts on Sunday, but never has to be frustrarted because he is sure he will make more. The complete lack of pressure that Tiger feels in a golf tournament in front of crowds that could fill up a football stadium is very amazing. Tiger may be the greatest athlete of our or any time, but certainly the most dominant.

The PGA Tour moves from Ohio and Reno to Boston this week for the Deutsche Bank Championship. The Deutsche Bank will be played at the TPC of Boston, located in Norton, Massachusetts. Olin Browne, 2005 champion, will return to defend his title as Tiger Woods attempts to win his fifth straight victory in five starts. Tiger has captured a victory in each of the past two weeks, and goes into Boston hoping to find a third. Other notable players in the field include former world number one Vijay Singh, and former PGA Tour superstar David Duval. The telecast will be shared by the USA Network(Thursday and Friday) and ABC (Saturday and Sunday). The tournament's purse is 5.5 million dollars with $990,000 going to the winner. Also this week is the popular Champions Tour event, the WAL-MART First Tee Open. The First Tee will be played from September 1st-3rd and feature junior playing partners who qualified through the first tee program. The defending champion Hale Irwin returns to Pebble Beach in hope of finding his putting stroke again. The evnt will have a total purse of $2,000,000.

Golf Digest has an article and statistical comparison of both golf greats, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Golf Digest's article shows Tiger as being ahead of Jack in both career victories and major championships. Golf Digest also has several other articles in celebration of Tiger's first ten years on tour.

The Fall Finish of the 2007 season was announced on August 28th by PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. The schedule was released in a press conference at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. The Fall Finish will take place after the the FedEx cup finishes at the TOUR Championship. The Fall Finish will be a total of 7 events with 32 million dollars in prize money. The seven event Fall Series will include:
*TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP, Sept. 17-23
Atunyote Golf Club at Turning Stone Resort, Verona, N.Y.
*VIKING CLASSIC, Sept. 24-30
Annandale Golf Club, Madison, Miss.
*VALERO TEXAS OPEN, Oct. 1-7
LaCantera Golf Club, San Antonio, Texas
*FRYS.COM OPEN IN LAS VEGAS, Oct. 8-14
TPC Summerlin and TPC The Canyons, Las Vegas, Nev.
*FRY’S ELECTRONICS OPEN, Oct. 15-21
Grayhawk Golf Club (Raptor Course), Scottsdale, Ariz.
*RUNNING HORSE GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP, Oct. 22-28
Running Horse Golf & Country Club, Fresno, Calif
*WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT CLASSIC, Oct. 29-Nov. 4
WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort (Magnolia and Palm Courses), Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
The Fall Series will feature all eligible players who will be able to compete to improve their position on the PGA Tour's Official Money list in hope of retaining their tour cards.

The Ryder Cup Matches will come back to the U.S. at Valhalla for the 2008 competition. The Golden Bear himself, Jack Nicklaus, hopes to "spice" up the course in order to avoid the Ryder Cup players beating the course with driver-wedge play. Nicklaus has been employed to redesign the Valhalla course in Louisville, Kentucky hoping to add yardage and hazards to make more difficult competition. Valhalla has played host several times to the PGA of America's tournaments, hosting the 1996 and 2000 PGA Championships and the 2004 Senior PGA Championship. Nicklaus said on modern golf, "In the 20 years since we did the golf course, golf equipment has changed dramatically. The ability of the players has changed dramatically with the equipment. To challenge the players of today ... we need to add a little bit more spice to it." Nicklaus also felt that the "old" game of golf prior to modern technological advancements was more enjoyable. The current championship layout plays at 7,200 yards, yet will be expanded probably well over 7,500 yards.

Ten years after a young golfer who had received his tour card without going to Tour Qualifying School told reporters and the world,"Hello", not any sports fan would be unable to reconize the face of Eldrick Tiger Woods. Tiger's career is certainly unrivaled. Sunday brought Tiger his 52nd career Tour victory which would tie Tiger with Byron Nelson and push Tiger past Billy Casper's 51 victories. Tiger's first ten years include 12 major championships, including four in the past two years, more than all other professional golfers combined. Tiger has confronted adversity coming from racist remarks, and also the death of his deeply loved father, Earl Woods. Possibly more important than all the victories and trophies, is the legacy that Tiger Woods has already made. Tiger changed the demographic of golf itself, making golf appealing to all people; not just the rich or white. Tiger has found thousands of constituents who have taken up or will take up the game of golf because he popularized the sport. The average tour purse has almost doubled since Tiger's arrival as media coverage continues to increase. Tiger also has left tracks as a dedicated philanthropist creating the Tiger Woods Foundation and building the Tiger Woods Learning Center. Tiger's first ten years were truly remarkable and unmatched by any golfer and it is very difficult to believe that Tiger's next ten years could be any more spectacular. Ron Sirak and other ESPN writers will cover Tiger's career this week on ESPN.com

The Ryder Cup will take place in less than a month at the K Club in Ireland. The Americans came to the Arnold Palmer design on August 28th to play some practice rounds and get a feel for the course. The K Club, which is not in any way a links course, is a better venue for the American team as the course provides a very American feel with tree-lined fairways. Several American players who competed in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational arrived today via of charter, including U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman. Tiger Woods responded when asked about the American team's trip effecting the Europeans, ""Whether it sends a strong message or not, our whole deal is to come together, gain experience, gain some knowledge on the golf course and be ready to play come time for the cup, "Whether it sends a strong message or not, our whole deal is to come together, gain experience, gain some knowledge on the golf course and be ready to play come time for the cup," After decades of American domination, the European Ryder Cup team has won four out of the last five Ryder Cups. The American team has several of the world's best out front, but the team may have weaknesses among several unknown rookies who found their way onto the team. The American team's roster has been finalized as captain Tom Lehman made his captain's selections last week. The team includes:
*Tiger Woods
*Phil Mickelson
*Jim Furyk
*Chad Campbell
*David Toms
*Chris DiMarco
*Vaughn Taylor
*J.J. Henry
*Zach Johnson
*Brett Wetterich
*Stewart Cink (Captain's Pick)
*Scott Verplank (Captain's Pick)
Lehman's choice Stewart Cink put on a very strong showing at the WGC-Bridgestone finishing in second place. Cink lost in a four hole playoff to world number one Tiger Woods, while fellow captain's pick Scott Verplank struggled finishing in the bottom half of the field. The European Ryder Cup team, captained by Ian Woosnam, has not finalized their roster yet, but as of August 28th has 7 players locked onto the team. Those 7 players are:
*Luke Donald
*Sergio Garcia
*Henrik Stenson
*David Howell
*Colin Montgomerie
*Robert Karlsson
*Paul Casey
The 2006 Ryder Cup matches will take place between September 22nd and September 24th in Dublin, Ireland.

Golf Heaven would like to add an equipment review section to aid our readers on club purchases. If your company is interested in having equipment reviewed on Golf Heaven, please contact us at GolfHeavenBlog@yahoo.com . In the meantime, I will write on whatever equipment I can get a chance to use.

Richie Ramsay,23 of Scotland beat John Kelly of St. Louis in the 36 hole final at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Richie Ramsay discards American John Kelly after a flawless final round for the young Scot, highlighted by missing only two of Hazeltine's fairways, and missing only a single green in regulation. Ramsay built a 3 hole lead over Kelly after only 13 holes. Kelly, whose biggest victory prior to coming so far in the U.S. Amateur was winning the Missouri State Championship, made a charge during the afternoon round of the 36 hole final moving to one down after the 24th, but was unable to capture another hole the rest of the match from Ramsay. Both Ramsay and Kelly were looking at birdie putts on the 34th green as Kelly lipped his birdie putt out of the hole, and then conceded the hole and the match to Ramsay. Richie Ramsay becomes the first Scotsman since 1898 to capture the Havemeyer trophy, the award given to the U.S. Amateur's champion. Though the Scots have not fared well in the U.S. Amateur, foreign domination continues as three of the last four champions have been from Europe and Austrailia. Ramsay follows Eduordo Molinari of Italy as European Champs. Ramsay, when asked about his win, responded, "I think this could have a big impact on Scottish golf". Ramsay followed a succesful 2005 season, capturing the Irish Amateur Stroke Play Championship. Ramsay has guaranteed himself a spot as long as he retains amateur status in the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, the 2007 Open Championship (British Open) at Carnoustie, and will probably be invited to the 2007 Masters at Augusta National. Ramsay was the most excited about playing in the 2007 Open Championship to be contested at Carnoustie, near Ramsay's home course of Royal Aberdeen. Hazeltine National Golf Club, which hosted all but the first two days of play, played as the longest U.S. Amateur course of Amateur history at 7,453 yards. Hazeltine has hosted two U.S. Opens, and most recently a PGA Championship in 2002. Quarterfinalists Yip, Keuhne, Fisher, Kelly, Simpson, Prugh, Fowler, and Ramsay will all receive exemptions from qualifying as long as they retain their amateur status for the 2007 U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club. More information about the championship may be found at:
http://www.usamateur.org/

Golf is a game of honor and integrity. Those two words are the basis for the game of golf, where we are our own referees and the only ones who can protect the sacred values of the game. In an age of performance enhancing drugs dominating headlines in the sports world, with the stars such as Giambi, Mcguire, and of course Bonds, and even the lesser known being found guilty such as Gatlin and Grimsley, should golf start to test? At the time, golf is the only major sport not to have established a list of banned substances for tour players, let alone test for them. In the "power" generation for golf where the tour's weight rooms have been brought to life by players like Tiger Woods and Camillo Villegas it could be possible that players look for an extra edge in the power game. At the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem defended the tour's policy of denying use of performance enhancing drugs saying,"I don't think we're naive, I think we're very aggressive in having the capability to do whatever is necessary. But we need more than somebody just saying, 'Why don't you go test and make sure?" The questioning of the PGA Tour's policy comes in response to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club decision to give random drug tests during the World Amateur Championship in South Africa. When asked what Finchem would do if a player was suspected of using a performance enhancing supplement, Finchem stated,"I don't know that we would go out there and start testing everybody because we had a problem with one player". Tiger Woods' said afterward in a press conference,"I don't know when we could get that implemented, tomorrow would be fine with me." Woods felt that the PGA Tour needs to step-in to protect the purity of the sport iteslf, not neccesiarily react to the problem already occuring. Woods related the current problem to his accusations about players using extremely high COR drivers, "Just like the driver situation, we were reactive there instead of proactive".

"Hello World", those were the words that golf's best player said after his first tournament in Milwaukee, a decade before Sunday. Though most rookie pros probably would not be as comfortable with the media attention and to sit in front of the mic as the young Tiger was, Tiger's words were the proper introduction to his career. It is unclear if Tiger knew that he would be in the same conversation as Niclaus, but he sure knows now. Tiger Woods' fourth consecutive victory came in dramatic fashion at Firestone Country Club at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Tiger faced an epic showdown with fellow Nike Golf staffer Stewart Cink as it took four playoff holes before Stewart Cink finally fell to the World's number one golfer. Tiger's fourth consecutive victory (British Open, Buick Invitational, PGA Championship, Bridgestone Invitational) came not without its fair share of struggles including Tiger's shot on Friday at the ninth hole where his nine iron airmailed the green, and then hit the cart path behind the green only to bounce off the roof to roll across behind the clubhouse in the kitchen's garden. The shot, crowned the champion of ESPN Sportcenter's Not Top Ten, resulted in a free drop as the clubhouse was surprisingly not marked out of bounds. Tiger smiled in an interview after the tournament as he also was in disbeleif that the clubhouse had not been marked out of bounds. Tiger almost made the par putt following a great wedge shot from the equidistant of where the ball was found, but missed slightly and took his only bogey of Friday's round. Saturday brought many more struggles as Tiger made four consecutive bogeys, the first time since his rookie season, bringing Tiger in with a disappointing 71(+1). Despite a poor Saturday, Tiger came to play on Sunday chasing third round leader Stewart Cink by one stroke. Cink was coming off a great round of 64(-6) and looking for a great finish to validate his selection for the Ryder Cup by U.S. captain Tom Lehman. Tiger was able to turn a two shot deficit after nine holes into a 3 stroke lead after the thirteenth which should have given Tiger the go-ahead to enter cruise control as no other player was able to make birdies. Jim Furyk, ranked third in the World Ranking, charged on the back nine to enter the fight with Cink and Woods, but was unable to find birdies despite strong irons play and putting. Furyk's chances died on the 18th, a hole in front of Woods and Cink, as his drive found the right trees forcing the West Chester native to pitch out into the fairway where he would fire at the flag and hit a tricky eight footer to save par. On the 16th, the longest holes, a 667 par 5 with an approach over water, Tiger's drive found the trees deep right forcing Tiger to pitch out onto the fairway. Tiger would hit a long iron from 230 yards over the green into deep rough, but hit a magnificent rolling chip to about four feet only to miss the par putt and drop another stroke to Stewart Cink. The 17th, a short par four, would give Cink a birdie to Woods' par which tied the two at ten under par. On the 18th, both golfers stood on the elevated tee of the finishing par four watching as thousands of fans shuffled in to watch the grand finale of the WGC Invitational. Woods was able to find the fairway with a long tee shot as Stewart Cink found trees. Woods had the first shot, knocking his to a safe 14 feet. Cink now had all the pressure as he had to keep his shot very low to avoid trees in front of him and the green. Cink's approach was 90 feet short of the pin, yet still on the green giving him a tough birdie putt of several undulations in the green. Cink's putt would finish near the hole giving him an easy par, and Tiger Woods a chance to have one of his magical moments to win the entire golf tournament. Tiger putt would break hard to the left forcing a playoff. Both players went back to the 17th, both making pars in front of thousands all finding every space to stand. The next two holes would go the same way, with pars on the 18th and bogeys on the third playoff hole. The dramatic finish would be on the 18th hole, the fourth of the playoff as Woods hit an approach to 7 feet, Cink would find a greenside bunker. Cink's efforts to make par would prove futile as Tiger finished Cink with a perfectly struck birdie putt dropping in the center of the cup as rain began to por down in Akron. Tiger's fifth victory at the WGC Bridgestone would rewrite the record book in more ways than winning four straight for the first time. Winning the Bridgestone for the fifth time puts Tiger on a list including Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, and Jack Nicklaus as the most common champions of a professional golf event. More importantly for Tiger in chasing the Golden Bear, Tiger would tie the great Byron Nelson in career victories at 52, only one week after tieing Billy Casper for career victories at 51. Tiger now only trails Jack Nicklaus by 21 career victories. Stewart Cink also validated his Ryder Cup captain's pick by U.S. captain Tom Lehman, only one week after Lehman struggles to decide. Davis Love III, who was not selected for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, would take fourth place while struggling on Sunday. The PGA Tour will move to the Deutsch Bank Championship in Boston, Massachusetts where Woods will attempt to win five straight victories. The Bridgestone Invitational brought several top ranked players to their knees, especially former second ranked Ernie Els of South Africa who continued his struggles during the 2006 season by posting a 78 (+8) after starting Sunday in contention. Els has consitantly struggles with putting four good rounds together which has prevented Els from victory in the 2006 season. Remember, Els did not play a single event in the 2005 season after the British Open due to knee surgery. Els world ranking will certainly suffer as we move further into the Fall Finish as Els has no wins this year, and no performances in the end of 2005. Former world number one, Fijian Vijay Singh also struggled during the week finishing in the middle of the field with a total score of 6 over par. The most shocking finish was certainly world number two, Phil Mickelson who has struggled in every tournament he has entered following his double bogey on the 18th at the U.S. Open giving the win to Aussie Geoff Ogilvy. The PGA Tour's Reno-Tahoe Open was won by first-timer Will Mackenzie who birdied the eighteenth to win by one stroke at 20 under par over Bob Estes.

Welcome to Golf Heaven, the new home of golf news and information. As an avid blog reader, I have noticed that there have not really been any good golf blogs and so, I created Golf Heaven. I will try to provide information pertaining to equipment, tour coverage, Tiger Tracks, and other golf news.
Thank you for coming to Golf Heaven, and enjoy.



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