{"id":327849,"date":"2011-03-21T20:44:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/21\/woodland-just-as-intriguing-as-woods-yahoo-sports\/"},"modified":"2011-03-21T20:44:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T20:44:00","slug":"woodland-just-as-intriguing-as-woods-yahoo-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/21\/woodland-just-as-intriguing-as-woods-yahoo-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodland just as intriguing as Woods (Yahoo! Sports)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Let\u2019s call this week\u2019s quandary \u201cThe Gary Woodland<\/a> Question.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, does a win by Woodland at Innisbrook intrigue you, the golf fan? Maybe you\u2019re interested in a young American (26) who has barely played on Tour (33 starts), who hits it roughly 6,000 miles off the tee (eighth in driving distance) and who carries an unusual back story (college basketball player whose dream day was a nonconference game in Kansas\u2019 Allen Fieldhouse).<\/p>\n

Or, maybe you\u2019re like my two sports fan friends with whom I conversed this weekend. As we channel-surfed and the notion of a Woodland-Webb Simpson<\/a> duel on Sunday was broached, they balked. To them, the idea of watching Gary Woodland play golf was as appealing as a time-share pitch from a neighbor over dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cDude, I haven\u2019t paid attention to golf since Tiger started slumping,\u201d said one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out until Tiger is back, also,\u201d said the other.<\/p>\n

In other words, they answered the Woodland Question, and their answer was pretty much, \u201cSorry, Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n

This has been the story of the 2011 golf season. Golf fans are divided into two camps. Those who say, \u201cYes, a player like Gary Woodland, who will rock the 2-hybrid 284 yards off the 18th tee on Sunday, who will pump drives 337 yards uphill, appeals to me. He is fresh-faced, he is the new generation. Vote \u2018yes\u2019 on the Gary Woodland Question.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the other camp that says: \u201cGary Woodland? When I have Texas and Arizona dying to the last tick in the round of 32 in March Madness; when I have VCU introducing itself to America by way of Purdue\u2019s backside in March Madness; and when I have Duke and Michigan reviving the Fab Five v. Grant Hill wars in March Madness; why would I watch a guy ranked 153rd in the world be the next faceless winner of a tour that desperately needs Tiger Woods<\/a>? Vote \u2018no\u2019 on the Woodland Question. And pass me my bracket, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

Me? I\u2019m voting \u201cyes\u201d on the Woodland Question. Granted, the PGA Tour has a Q-rating problem when eight of this year\u2019s winners were ranked outside the top 100 in the world (!), but now may be the time to put in the extra effort to get to know these guys. It\u2019s called \u201cthe future,\u201d sports fan, and it\u2019s never bad to be on board. There were those who once scoffed at electricity, telephones and TV, too, you know.<\/p>\n

Woodland\u2019s distance is stunningly watchable, and when you learn more about him, you realize he could be one of the game\u2019s fun stories. An all-state hoops player in Kansas in high school, he turned down a golf scholarship to KU to play basketball at Washburn. As a result, Woodland got to score three points in a game at Allen Fieldhouse, then decide it was time to quit basketball and play golf, transferring to KU. Now, he lists Jayhawk coach Bill Self in his dream foursome and wakes up to a world where he is $990,000 richer, has an invite to Augusta in two weeks and enjoying that Kansas is safely through to the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

Remember how good the Johnny Vegas story was back in January? Woodland\u2019s story is almost as fresh. And, by the way \u2013 in case you didn\u2019t remember who Vegas beat in the playoff at the Bob Hope \u2013 it was Gary Woodland.<\/p>\n

See how it all comes together? There is<\/i> \u201cL.A.T.,\u201d friends \u2013 Life After Tiger.<\/p>\n

Scorecard of the week<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 71-67-66 \u2013 12-under 204, Karrie Webb, winner, LPGA Founders Cup, Phoenix.<\/i><\/p>\n

Two odd facts jump out: 1.) Karrie Webb, who first burst on the scene in 1996 with a four-win season, has little to no interest in going away anytime soon. 2.) Turns out the LPGA does<\/i> play events in the United States of America. Who knew?<\/p>\n

The Arizona stop was the LPGA\u2019s first Stateside tournament of 2011. But don\u2019t get too excited. Despite spending the next two weeks in California, including the year\u2019s first major, Kraft Nabisco Championship, at Rancho Mirage next week, there are only 11 scheduled LPGA events in the U.S. for the rest of the season. We have to take our ladies\u2019 game when we can find it.<\/p>\n

And when we do find it, make room for Webb, or \u201cWebby,\u201d as she was called in a congratulatory tweet by runner-up Paula Creamer. In figuring out the ladies\u2019 game, I hadn\u2019t figured on a career resurgence by the once-dominant Webb. With one win from 2007-2010, Webb appeared on her way out, making room for the new generation.<\/p>\n

Now, the Australian has two wins in her last two starts, including last month in Singapore, and eclipsing in two starts her win total from the previous four years.<\/p>\n

Her prize money of $150,000 was all donated to charity, as per the mission statement of the Founders Cup, and Webb chose to give to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, dedicated to fighting spinal cord injury, which is a personal mission for Webb since an Australian youth coach of hers was paralyzed.<\/p>\n

All told, a fine weekend in the life of Karrie Webb. There may be more good stuff where that came from.<\/p>\n

Broadcast moment of the week<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cThank you for having the courage to come on a late-night comedy program, because it must have been a painful and awful situation, the whole thing you went through. But from a comedian\u2019s standpoint and my monologue writers, thank you! So much! It kind of wrote itself. I mean balls, shafts, holes, foursomes. It really writes itself. Thank you! Thank you!\u201d \u2013 Jimmy Fallon to Tiger Woods, \u201cLate Night,\u201d NBC.<\/i><\/p>\n

Correct me if I\u2019m wrong, but I believe this would mark the first time since Nov. 27, 2009, that Tiger Woods dove headfirst into self-mockery, a worthy bit of behavior under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

Yes, Tiger had a video game to sell, but he could have chosen alternate venues to peddle the wares and not subject himself to late-night teasing. Fallon, to his credit, did not shy away and stared the elephant in the room straightaway, making for a good opening chuckle. And Tiger, surprisingly, chuckled right along.<\/p>\n

Now, knowing Tiger, Fallon is probably now on Tiger\u2019s \u201cMust Be Obliterated Soon, In Some Fashion\u201d list, like Sergio Garcia<\/a> and several golf writers through the years, when Tiger was able to obliterate, through any means necessary, his enemies. There is some question as to how much ability Tiger has to obliterate his enemies anymore, but rest assured, if he gets a chance, he will.<\/p>\n

Still, for Tiger to sit on the couch, take the needle and not stone-face Fallon into awkward silence shows growth, in my estimation. Between that and his final-round 66 at Doral (or \u201cDoor-ell,\u201d as Fallon called it in a fine bit of lack of preparation), maybe Tiger is cobbling a small comeback.<\/p>\n

Mulligan of the week<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 The other young gun of the weekend was Wake Forest product Webb Simpson, who only needed a par on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Woodland. Alas, Simpson goosed his second shot past the flag on 18 and had an impossible up-and-down from above the hole. He could not execute, made bogey and Woodland was a winner.<\/p>\n

So, for the sake of watching two young\u2019uns in their 20s play a little extra-time golf, let\u2019s go back to that 18th fairway, remind Simpson of the severe slope behind the flag, have him go one club down and \u2026 give that man a mulligan!<\/p>\n

Where do we go from here?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 Here we go again. With Bay Hill on the schedule and Arnold Palmer<\/a>\u2019s soiree as Tiger Woods\u2019 last dance for before the Masters, we have to ask: Is this<\/i> the week Tiger breaks through?<\/p>\n

Frankly, I\u2019m getting tired of asking that question.<\/p>\n

Yes, the positive vibrations are intense for Tiger at Bay Hill, a place he\u2019s won six times.<\/p>\n

Then again, the positive vibrations were intense for Tiger at Torrey Pines; and at Augusta National last year; and at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach last year; and at the British Open at St. Andrews last year; and at Doral two weeks ago and \u2026 you get the point. He won none of them. The vibrations were not vibing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good field. Bubba Watson<\/a>, who donated his check last week to Japan tsunami relief, is in. Also, Phil (Mystery Man) Mickelson is playing Bay Hill, but don\u2019t count on anything from enigmatic Lefty. Graeme McDowell<\/a> also is playing, as is red-hot Nick Watney<\/a> and our man Woodland.<\/p>\n

So, for all of you who answered \u201cThe Gary Woodland Question\u201d in the negative, fear not: Your man Tiger is teeing it up. For those of us who voted yes, we call it a win-win.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Originally posted here:
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