1st Round and 2nd Amex Desert Classic

and PHIL is hosting.  He has boosted the field a bit this week==He and I are unsure of his game but I hope he zooms up the scoreboard later today

Let's go PHIL

I just saw Phil putt it past the hole from edge of the green....but ran it 6 feet past, will have work to do for par. (there's a Twitter feed that is showing live video, but jumping around from one camera to another).

Phil is -1 through 6 at LaQuinta (I played that place but don't remember it, lol). The eventual winner will have to score approx. 7-under each day as they said lack of wind, moderate rough and no trees = high scoring and usually they've gotten up in the -25/-26-ish range; one day of -2 total can end a run.

He throws too many big numbers and strokes away. OK, -2 but he needed to be ~ -4/-5 or better. He shouldn't discount the Champions Tour so easily (i.e., "I'll be ready for the Champions Tour when I can't hit bombs anymore")

Okay but not his best today--

PHIL was a bit wild off the tee and yes a double bogie costed him. PHIL chomped on the par fives--where he could recover from wayward tee shots but on par threes and par fours nada.

Let's hope for something great this weekend==starting today

well Phil is behind the 8 ball after 1 round. This tournament you need to shoot 5 or 6 under every day just to have a shot on Sunday. his driver killed it for him. If he doesn't get better than 5 fairways he will never make the cut next week at Torrey. There is low rough here. The only reason he salvaged a -2

I don't know, -1 through 7 holes is not going to get it done around here. He's actually drifting backwards, now T-85 ?? The cut is top-65 and ties. He's at -3 and lead is already -14 (yeah, go Rickie!!).

Phil just bogied, to -2 overall and T-101. He is not making the cut! I got a feeling this year is going to be continuation of last year, maybe worse (at least last year he won the WGC, right?). He shouldn't have dissed the Champions Tour so easily.

If you listened to his presser at the beginning of the week he didnt completely diss the Champions tour. He said he wants to make the Ryder cup so he will likely play 22 events this year. He also said he will give himself 6 months to see if hes kidding himself about staying on the pga tour. I'm paraphrasing but it was a good 18 minute interview.

Well, at least that sounds realistic ("....to see if I'm kidding myself"), but golly, we'd like to see him fair well and all this stuff about 'hitting bombs' it just weird that he's making light of stuff....is he serious about his golf, or not?, does he care?

j58golf wrote:If you listened to his presser at the beginning of the week he didnt completely diss the Champions tour. He said he wants to make the Ryder cup so he will likely play 22 events this year. He also said he will give himself 6 months to see  if hes kidding himself about staying on the pga tour.  I'm paraphrasing but it was a good 18 minute interview.

Maybe this pro-am stuff is distracting to him when he needs to focus and concentrate.... he's chomping on that gum like a pro, lol.

I've got to ask my wife to let's visit her brother out there in Palm Springs.... I want to play on green lush grass!

Phil -2

Rickie -15

Ouch-languid day

He's only making par on the par-5's, not going to happen this week. And next week will be even harder.

I was expecting decent form on a course he loves. Plus his optimism  just because he hits it farther...the rest of the game is poor. Hopefully next week he will surprise us. And it will because because he hasnt played well there in years. Plus a strong field. This possible MC will be an embarrassing moment for Phil. Hopefully it gets turned like he usually thinks he will.

I'm not sure its a fair test of what he can do by this week's play as he's the tournament host. Wearing too many hats, IMO. What worries me is that I've not seen a player change his body and play well right away. The next thing that's already been mentioned is his mentality. Never, ever, in this lifetime will he quit wanting to hit it by everybody. He needs to hit his irons closer and make some putts. Somehow, I think he's been working on distance, and proud of it. He did say he'd see how the first 6 months went. Not a good start!