ZealousGolfer.com

It's hard not to like a guy like Boo Weekley. He came up from the mini-tours to the big tour for the second time in his career. His first time on the TOUR, he wore tennis shoes due to foot problems, and rain pants due to an allergy.

Due to inclement weather, the Verizon Heritage's final round was pushed back for a Monday finish. Story lines were everywhere over the weekend. The Big Easy looks to return to greatness. Jerry Kelly to pick up a victory after an impressive Masters finish. Weekley might qualify for the 2008 Masters with a win due to a new rule put in place by Billy Payne last week.

In a big time fight between two great powers, Tiger fought not only his swing at The Masters, but none other than Mother Nature. These two videos were aired numerous timed on The Golf Channel and SportsCenter, but both of these risks still boggle my mind.

Both were posted on The Hooked on Golf Blog. Here is an extremely late check swing when a bird flew over Tiger's ball.
Ouch. Probably a bad idea for a guy who has suffered from wrist trouble in the past. Certainly comparable to a car speeding at over 100 miles per hour stopping on a dime.

If that escape wasn't enough, Tiger took another giant wrist on Sunday.

Stuck in the woods, Tiger reasonably felt that smashing his club against a tree would be a better option than punching out of the woods. He did make par, but at the expense of one of his irons.

I know firsthand how frustrating it is to be an avid golfer who has never made an ace. It seems like every time I open the paper, an assortment of duffers and old ladies are knocking their balls in left and right. Here's another one.

Elsie McLean became the oldest player to have a hole-in-one when she aced a 100 yards par three using driver at Bidwell Park.

Her response to this magnificent feat? "Where's my ball." Her group apparently was unable to see the ball after she teed off due to the shape of the hole. Add another one to the giant record book of golf feats ahead of my name.

Zach Johnson was in Butler Cabin on Sunday when U.S. Ryder Cup teammate Vaughn Taylor said, "he's not Superman, he's Superman's brother." There is probably a lot of truth in that statement.

The Goliath certainly fell today. Even the players who could be considered "fairly likely" to win fell to Zach Johnson. Johnson was certainly unlikely, the commentators on CBS were counting him out and assuming he would falter when Tiger made eagle early on the back nine.

Of course, Johnson wasn't just any professional golfer. Coming into the 2007 Masters, Johnson had a single win on the PGA Tour. He was the second best golfer on his high school team and was not invited to play collegiate golf at his dream school, Iowa. Johnson headed to Drake, the only school where he was offered a scholarship, and then went on to play assorted mini-tours for tiny purses and a sleep-in-your-car lifestyle.

Johnson faced barriers too in this week alone. No player has won The Masters without being in the final pairing since Nick Faldo. That said, not being in the last pairing isn't necessarily a bad thing. Especially when Tiger is in that pairing.

Stuart Appleby, partner of Tiger Woods on Sunday, played strong for awhile before dropping a ball into the drink. With that, Appleby fell soundly out of contention.

Young South African Rory Sabbatini made a Sunday charge after firing a three under par 69. That performance was matched by fellow South African Retief Goosen. Both finished in a tie for second with Tiger Woods. Goosen seemed to be in it all day after overcoming adversity when making the Friday cut on the number. A win would potentially be the greatest comeback in the history of The Masters.

Tiger's game was off for most of the day. Following a mediocre front nine, Tiger needed some energy. It looked grim once Tiger found himself in the woods behind a pine tree without any way out. He took a chance going at the green, but viciously snapped an iron on the tree. The energy came on the 13th hole when Tiger smashed his second shot on the short par five onto the back of the green. In true Tiger fashion, the ball began to slowly roll back toward the flag all the way to several feet. Tiger made the eagle putt easily causing an eruption from the patrons at Augusta National. Fast forward several holes, and Tiger needed a birdie on both the 17th and 18th in order to force a playoff with Johnson, who was already in the clubhouse. Tiger put his approach shot in the bunker on 17, and followed with a decent approach on 18 when he needed to hole out.

Another possible contender on Sunday was Vijay Singh. Singh fired an extremely respectable two under par front nine, but made several bogeys on the back to finish the week at eight over par.

Zach Johnson ultimately won by two strokes to receive the green jacket from Phil Mickelson in Butler Cabin. Johnson's Sunday 69 was the best of the week for him and tied the lowest score on Sunday.

Augusta National provided an extremely difficult test of golf this week. Sunday played the easiest with a stroke average for the field at around 74.5 strokes. The winning one over par score tied the highest in the history of The Masters.

I finally got a chance to review a set of Alpha RX-2 irons this past week when the weather was little better. In case you are not familiar with Alpha, the company is a division of Kent Sports which makes extremely solid golf clubs. While you may not have heard of their sticks before, the company has captured numerous titles in the World Long Drive competitions and has been named as a top smaller golf company by several publications. I was fortunate enough to get to try another Alpha product having already tried out their Plasma woods.

My Test:
Out of the box, the irons look like a solid set of game-improving sticks. The design itself resembles some of Callaway's better models with a deep cavity for forgiveness and workability. The RX-2 improves upon some of the characteristic of Alpha's RX-1 iron, most importantly, more workability. This GI iron possesses forgiveness while still letting the better player shape and work the ball with a fair amount of ease. The only problem that I had with the iron was the top line being a little bit thicker than what I am used to. That said, the player who is not quite ready to take on "blade" irons would certainly want to look into purchasing the RX-2. The shaft in the set I played was True Temper, but was slightly heavier than my regular set of irons. I found the clubs very easy to hit with a solid, piercing trajectory. In terms of distance, the RX-2's were approximately as long as the Nike set I currently play.

Tech:
According to Alpha, the RX-2's cavity back provides optimal trajectory and playability for advanced played. Moreover, the RX-2's feature a deep heel which provides more workability to complement the forgiveness. The heads are plated with nickel-chrome which provides some resistance to reflecting the sun. Overall, the RX-2's are right on par with most of the industry's popular technology for a game-improvement iron. However, the top line and face of the iron did reflect sunlight fairly easily which gave me some trouble. Overall, the technology in the RX-2's will be benefit most intermediate to advanced golfers.

Final Thoughts:
I found the Alpha RX-2's to be a fun club which will help most experienced golfers improve. The RX-2's will certainly give you your money's worth. When buying products from smaller golf companies, players may get great technology while not having to pay for the million dollar endorsement deals the bigger companies possess. My only problems with the RX-2 were: top line was fairly thick, but probably on par with other "GI" irons, tended to reflect sunlight, slightly heavier than what I am used to. ZealousGolfer.com gives the Alpha RX-2 irons 4 stars out of 5 for ease of use. More information about the product as well as its distributors can be found at http://www.alphagolfclubs.com.

I am glad to be back writing for ZealousGolfer.com after a long, but enjoyable vacation. Anyways, the second half of Christmas (Masters Sunday) takes place today. As of 2:30, 9 players are within three strokes of leader Stuart Appleby, who has not yet teed off.

This could be the most exciting Masters Sunday in a long time. Just pointing out, no Australian has ever won a green jacket as Geoff Ogilivy seeks to be the first. A European hasn't won a major since Carnoustie. Most importantly, Tiger has never came from behind after 54 holes to win a major championship. One of those facts almost surely will change today.

Appleby shot a solid one over 73 on Saturday to take the lead, but left many players in the hunt. The Aussie's game has continued to be solid, but he will have a chance to prove himself after faltering on the 18th hole at the Shell Houston Open last week. With a chance to enter a playoff with fellow Australian Adam Scott, Appleby dumped his approach shot into the water while trying to be a hero.

While the premier South African, Ernie Els, dropped his consecutive cuts made stat on Friday, young gun Rory Sabbatini and two time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen are within two strokes.