There is so much exciting golf happening this weekend it is difficult to keep up on all that is going on. I’ve been surfin the web for all the news I can get on all these tournaments throughout the world.
Good news, bad news for some big family names at the first stage of Q-School. Gary Nicklaus, Sam Saunders (Arnie’s grandson), Danny Lee and Tadd Fujikawa all failed to advance to the second round. Jay Haas Jr. made it through to second stage and will try and join his brother Bill on the big tour. Of course, he is Jay Haas of the Champion’s Tour son and his uncle is Jerry Haas, coach of the men’s golf team at Wake Forest. Now that’s a golfing family. One of last year’s best stories on the PGA Tour was Erik Compton. You remember him; he had two heart transplants and was trying to earn his way onto the PGA Tour. He is trying again this year and he made it through to the second phase of qualifying by taking medalist honors at his section by seven strokes.
At the European Tour’s Castello Masters at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, yea, it is in Spain, Michael Jonzon (no, it is not misspelled) has a one stroke lead over Martin Kaymer and tournament host Sergio Garcia. This is Sergio’s home course and his dad is the pro there. Talk about a home field advantage. Sergio should be giving strokes to the field.
On the other side of the world, in Japan, our two favorite LPGA golfers are playing in The Masters Ladies of the Japan LPGA. Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer are Twittering their hearts out from Japan while they try and pocket some major yen with the LPGA on a break. Stacy is T12 and Paula is T33 in the third round. Check out the live scoring on the JLPGA website, just click on “Realtime Scoring” in the upper right corner.
Troy Matteson set a PGA Tour record by shooting back to back 61’s and took a three stroke lead at the Frys.com Open. Two 61’s, are you kidding me? Matteson started the week at 131st on the money list. He is looking like a lock to keep his card. Chris Stroud started at 125th on the money list and is tied for second with Webb Simpson and Tim Clark. Could this be Tim Clarks’ first PGA Tour win?
At The Champions Tour AT&T Championship in San Antonio, Texas, Andy Bean and Russ Cochran are tied for the lead at eight under. Jay Haas, third in Charles Schwab Cup points is one stroke back and points leader Bernhard Langer is tied for ninth and four strokes back.
At the most important tournament of the week, The Nationwide Tour Championship, Matt Every of Big Break fame is playing his best golf at the right time. He has a one stroke lead over Michael Sim but more importantly, he is projected to move from 49th on the money list to 10th and is all but guaranteed his PGA Tour card. Forty-four year old minor tour veteran Fran Quinn has slipped back from #20 on the money list. We are pulling for this guy! Projections courtesy of Golfweek.
PROJECTED MONEY LIST THROUGH 54 HOLES
- 23. Vance Veazey, $196,713
- 24. Fran Quinn, $193,017
- 25. Fabian Gomez, $187,308
- 26. Craig Bowden, $183,608
- 27. Brian Stuard, $181,253
WHO’S PROJECTED TO MOVE INTO THE TOP 25
- Matt Every, from 49th to 10th
- Steve Wheatcroft, from 31st to 18th
- Fabian Gomez, from 30th to 25th
WHO’S PROJECTED TO MOVE OUT OF THE TOP 25
- Craig Bowden, from 24th to 26th
- Brian Stuard, from 23rd to 27th
- Alistair Presnell, from 25th to 28th
One more subject to cover. Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of Payne Stewart. It’s amazing to think that it has been that long already. When Payne died he left his wife, Tracy and two young children. Chelsea and Aaron Stewart are now young adults making their way in the world. See how close they have stayed to Payne’s world in this piece we published earlier this year.
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