I know I say the same thing every time I attend an event, but I’m serious! This morning, I had the opportunity to attend the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. When I say I had the “opportunity”, I mean, I moved to Fort Worth and live three or four miles from the course, so how could I not go? No, my blogging juice carries no weight to get me in the gates, so I tossed my $45 into the hat, and drove on over. First of all, if you’re a fan of professional golf, there’s nothing like being there. I mean, come on. How can you not get a thrill out of standing there watching the pros that you see on TV, week in and week out? Granted, there was no Tiger or Phil, and I was hoping John Daly would make the weekend, but when they say “These Guys Are Good”, they’re not kidding. The worst players on Tour are better than the best players most of us have ever played with. Still, there

It’s rare that I use this space to talk pro golf, but the recently completed FedEx Cup race put a burr under my saddle so I really feel the need to vent a little. I typically try and remain positive too, but I feel drawn to direct some negativity at the whole FedEx Cup playoff scheme. This year’s “playoff” marked the third since the FedEx Cup was introduced in 2007, with Tiger Woods winning in somewhat predictable fashion.  Then, the following year, Vijay Singh took the Cup home while an injured Tiger Woods sat home recuperating.  The joke of that year was that the outcome was pretty much decided before the last event and Singh basically just had to continue breathing to take home the cup. Over these first three playoffs, the Tour tweaked the format each year to try and make sure there was a little drama going into the last event.  Well, this year the situation was a little better.  Sunday at the Tour Championship was dramatic, and ultimately, the FedEx Cup was

I don’t often cover pro golf, but sometimes I just can’t resist, especially because I love the majors so much.  Today I was fortunate to have an opportunity to sit down and have a telephone chat with Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated senior writer, about the upcoming 2009 U.S. Open tournament, ready to kick off next week at Bethpage Black on Long Island. The U.S. Open was last there in 2002, where Tiger Woods won by three strokes over Phil Mickelson and was the only player to finish the tournament under par. We discussed a variety of topics, including: The course Tiger Phil Is there an older player that can make a splash like Rocco did last year? Young guns, specifically Rory McIlroy A possibly surprising dark horse pick Click the little player below to listen to the interview.  Or, if you’d like to download it and listen on the player of your choice, you can access the file here. Thanks to Court for helping me clean up the audio some!