Continue reading this post »

Continue reading this post »

Monday’s spotlight game between Euless Trinity and Shiloh Christian (Ark.) was supposed to be a battle between two of the state’s best high school football teams.

Instead, the game turned into a laugher that was over before halftime. Literally.

Trinity hung 53 on the Arkansas champs in the first half and coasted to victory. For a team that was ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps.com, Shiloh showed little in the way of moxy against the bigger and stronger Trojan squad.

“They showed why they’re the No. 1 team,” Shiloh quarterback Kiehl Frazier told the Star-Telegram after the game. “They were so fast and so big. We weren’t used to that.”

Terrence Tusan (128 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Tevin Williams (111 yards, 2 touchdowns) helped blow the game wide open on the ground, as Trinity racked up 10 rushing touchdowns on the day.

While the Trojans have had some complete games over the years, Monday’s demolition may have been their best yet.

Continue reading this post »

Continue reading this post »

Southlake Carroll’s hopes of making a run at another 5A state championship came crashing down on Friday, as Quarterback Daxx Garman was ruled ineligible by the District 7-5A executive committee in a 4-3 vote.

Garman, who enrolled at Southlake earlier this year after playing football in Oklahoma, was the center of a WFAA Ch. 8 investigation regarding a residence his family still had in Oklahoma.

After much discussion, it was decided that Garman had not filled out the necessary paperwork to gain residency in the CISD.

The young Dragons, who were already thin at the quarterback position, will have to go with inexperience under center in their opener 2010 opener against Copperas Cove.

This is the second time Garman has been ruled ineligible by an executive committee.

His previous school had to forfeit six games after Garman transfered without a hardship waiver.

It wouldn’t be Texas high school football if there wasn’t a bit of preseason controversy brewing.

Southlake Carroll, considered by most to be one of the top high school football programs in the country, is coming under fire after WFAA, ABC’s Dallas/Fort Worth affiliate, broke a story questioning the eligibility of quarterback Daxx Garman.

While the Oklahoma high school transfer, and University of Arizona commit, currently resides in Southlake, he still has a connection to a home in Oklahoma.

Given the UIL’s strict residency requirements, there’s a chance Garman could be ruled ineligible for the first game of the season.

A district executive committee will make a ruling on Garman’s eligibility on Friday morning, just hours before Carroll is set to face Copperas Cove.

This isn’t the first time Garman has been questioned about his residency.

His high school in Oklahoma had to forfeit games last year after he was ruled ineligible for transferring without a hardship waiver.

The 2010 football season is shaping up to be a memorable one for the Allen Eagles. With Baylor commit Jonathan Lee — considered by most to be one of the top receivers in the state — leading the way, Allen has a legitimate chance at winning a state championship later this year.

Aside from their success on the field, Allen is making news off the field as well for their new football stadium. The stadium, which is part of a $120 million bond package that was passed in May 2009, was set to cost Allen ISD $53.5 million.

As reported earlier today by the Dallas Morning News, Allen ISD trustees put their stamp on the initial cost of the new 18,000-seat stadium. But like most mega-structures in the state (See: World, Jerry), the initial figure just wasn’t enough to complete the project.

So the trustees had to go back to the drawing board, approving an additional $6 million for the stadium to cover a state-of-the-art weight room ($1 million), plus furniture and other items that will be added to the facility.

The almost $60 million figure has a lot of people questioning Allen’s motives to build such a stadium, when most school districts are making budget cuts across the board. But when you look at the school’s current following and the stadium they currently have, the new digs make sense.

Allen’s current stadium seats 8,000 people, a figure that will be dwarfed by the new stadium that has an expected completion date of 2012. The Eagles have also had trouble over the last couple of years finding seats for the fans that show up on Friday night, leading to another problem: a lack of bathrooms.

It’s a sure bet the new stadium will have enough facilities to meet the needs of Allen’s fanbase. Whether the football team can match the expectations of the new facility remains to be seen.

It wasn't supposed to be this hard. After building a seven shot lead with 17 holes to play, Steve Stricker watched as his once-enormous lead diminish in a matter of hours. When Stricker's bogey putt on the 72nd hole fell, his lead was all the way down to two shots. 

It of course didn't matter, as Stricker still walked away with his second victory of the 2010 season at the John Deere Classic. A closing round of one-under 70 was enough to get the job done and hold off a hard-charging Paul Goydos on the back nine. 

"You don't want to give shots away and then you end up playing a little safer than you normally do and it leads to tougher birdie putts," Stricker said. "Then they creep in closer because they were playing some good golf."

Stricker's mindset seemed to change overnight, as the realization of being only 18 holes from his second tour victory of the year started to creep into his head. His go-for-broke play disappeared, replaced by a much more guarded game plan that forced Stricker to stay within the moment as the lead widened. Given his stellar performance over the first three days -- he set the record for the lowest 54-hole score in tour history -- it seemed like Stricker would have had to miss his tee time or play left handed to give the title away. 

While it wasn't exactly the final round performance he envisioned, Stricker was able to get the job done. And that's all that mattered at the end of the day. 

Even a 5-under 66 wasn't enough to get Paul Goydos close enough for a possible playoff. With the win, Stricker added his name to the list of players peaking right before the British Open. Given his affinity for hitting golf balls in the elements, the Wisconsin native should feel right at home in the blustery conditions at St. Andrews. 

Edoardo Molinari outlasted the field at the Scottish Open, but not before Loch Lomond got one last shot in during Sunday's final round. The weather during the opening nine holes turned a relatively easy course into a preview of the possible conditions players could face during next week's British Open at St. Andrews.

With 30 mph gusts and occasional rain plaguing the final round, most players found it increasingly difficult to make a move on Moilinari. Seven players managed to break par during the final round, as opposed to the 35 that managed to fire under par rounds on Saturday. 

Molinari captured his first European Tour victory, making him the 10th first-time winner this year on the European Tour, and one of the odds-on favorites going into next week's British Open. Unlike most first-time winners, Molinari enjoyed a relatively stress-free final round.

Darren Clarke, who was only two shots off the lead at the start of play on Sunday, looked lost for most of the day, his putter all but deserting him when he had to make a critical putt. His inability to put the pressure on Molinari, coupled with the large lead the Italian had over the rest of the field, allowed Molinari to coast to victory with a final round three-over 74 when his game was floundering.

Continue reading this post »

The chances of John Daly winning this week's Scottish Open are about as good as LeBron James pulling out of his verbal commitment to the Miami Heat and signing with the New York Knicks, but that hasn't stopped the former British Open champion from making his mark prior to his return to St. Andrews next week, the very same course where he hoisted the Claret Jug in 1995. 

"I'm close. I feel I'm just starting to slowly get some confidence, which is good," Daly said after Saturday's third round. "You know, when you can play four days each week like I have been for the last few weeks, you just build on it, no matter what you shoot, you're just building on something and I'm starting to hit my long irons better and the wedges are still a little rough but I'm getting better around the greens with them."

While Daly's finishes on the PGA Tour haven't been spectacular, the consistency and his ability to just make the cut proves how much he's worked on turning his game around from a couple of years ago, when his game and his health were in disarray.

His 2-under 69 on Saturday put him at T-9 for the tournament, but still 11 shots back of Edoardo Molinari. Even still, it's good to see Daly somewhat in contention for a top five finish at a big international event. While I'd never put Daly's name at the top of the potential winner list for the British Open, the fact that he's playing well at the moment, coupled with his knowledge and success at St. Andrews, would lead some to believe he could end up contending for a top-25 finish. 

Molnari and Darren Clarke may be the head-to-head attraction in today's final round, but Daly should be a player to watch as well, if for any other reason that you never know what he's going to do. I'm pretty certain nobody expected him to be the top American name on the leader board (I think that title was supposed to go to Phil Mickelson -- but he of course missed the cut). It's that kind of unpredictability that makes him such a draw at tournaments. 

Quote of the Day: Daly was asked to expound on the loud colors he wore during Saturday's third round. Daly responded: "It's the Loud Mouth stuff. It's the most fun you can have with your pants on." Only John Daly could get away with saying that during a press conference. 

If there's one thing golfers have nightmares about before a big tournament, it's getting the yips in the middle of a round. Like the dreaded shankapotamous that's known to rear its ugly head at a moments notice, the yips can have the same detrimental effect on the most important part of your golf game. 

The saying "drive for show, putt for dough" is one that's known worldwide by golfers of all skill levels. We all know the importance of a putter that just feels right when we put it in our hands. So when a putter goes awry, the tendency is to throw in the trash and find a new one. That's the easy part of the game. 

The yips? Well, that's another story. It doesn't really matter if the putter cost you $10 or $5,000; you're not making that 3-footer when your mind can't get past the fact that the shorty in front of you looks like a 50 foot, double-breaker. 

Plenty of players have dealt with the yips and lived to tell about it; while others have given up the game all together after fighting what amounts to a massive roadblock in your golf game. 

Geordie Cassoff is one of those players currently fighting the yips. As he told the Charlotte Observer's Ron Green Jr.recently, he's of the mindset that he'll try anything that works to get rid of the yips. And that includes using a driver during a tournament round. 

Yes, a driver, as in the same club he uses to bomb 300-plus yard drives.

"I'd stand over a three-foot putt - and I still feel like this sometimes - and think I couldn't make it," Cassoff says.

He smiles when he talks about himself. It's not necessarily a happy smile.

Cassoff has tried a little of everything with putters, but nothing worked very well. He's not afraid to go his own way, obviously. He carries only six clubs because he usually walks when he plays and the bag gets too heavy with 14 clubs.

He plays with a driver, 3, 5, 7 and 9 irons, and a 56-degree wedge. It forces him to hit different shots, backing off some swings, powering others, working the ball in different directions with his limited club selection.

So the driver is just part of Cassoff's quirky personality. While I've carried only a couple of clubs before during a summer evening playing a quick 9, I usually like to have my whole bag with me during a round. So not only does he have to use his imagination when he doesn't have the "right" club in the bag; he also has to worry about visualizing that three-footer going in the hole. This guy's brain must be going a million-miles-a-minute.

But ultimately this story comes back to the fact that he uses a driver to putt. A driver!

As a high-school golfer in the Pittsburgh area, he started getting jittery over the short ones. He putted well enough with a 3-wood that he shot two of the lowest scores for his team one season, but the coach forced him to use a conventional putter.

Last summer, with the support of Furman golf course pro Kyle Stam, Cassoff went with what felt right on the greens - his driver.

"I'm still self-conscious about it," Cassoff says. "When I'm on the putting green, I'll usually hear a few one-liners about it."

And did I mention he'll be using his driver/putter to try and qualify for the U.S. Amateur Public Links? Good luck to the guy. I for one always feel bad for a guy dealing with the yips. He just needs to make sure he stays the hell away so I don't contract the disease. 

Justin Rose always knew he had the game to win on the PGA Tour; he just never expected the road to be so arduous after he burst onto the scene at the 1998 British Open as a 17-year-old amateur. Since then his career has taken a number of diabolical turns -- including 21 consecutive missed cuts -- that would have tested the wills of even the most gifted player. 

But on Sunday, there was Rose with his son Leo, holding the trophy for the first time in his PGA Tour career after firing a final round 6-under 66 to beat third-round leader Rickie Fowler by three shots.

As the rest of the field failed to make a move, it became increasingly obvious that the back nine was turning into a head-to-head battle between Rickie Fowler, the up-and-coming 20-year-old sensation, and Rose, once considered a future star on the PGA Tour.  

Fowler found himself in prime position to win his first professional tournament within six months of coming on tour when he managed to take a three-shot lead into Sunday's final round. But like most rookies, Fowler found things a little more difficult in the final round. The putts that were falling from all over the map stopped going in, and suddenly Fowler was forced to grind for the win.

A double bogey on the par 3 12th all but ended his chances of becoming another twentysomething winner on the PGA Tour in 2010. Instead, Fowler was forced to learn from the opportunity and the extreme pressure that comes with securing your first tour title.  Fowler will have little time to recoup and reflect on the week with a 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier tomorrow.

For Rose, the round on Sunday was more of a walk in the park than a grind-it-out heart-pounder. The Englishman was methodical in the way he went around the course, never putting himself in a position to make a big mistake. Even though he was behind at the start of the day, Rose played like a player who knew he was going to win.

He hit 93 percent of his fairways on the day -- his best driving day of the entire week -- and hit 72 percent of his greens in regulation to go along with 25 putts. But those numbers paled in comparison to the most important number on his card, which happened to be a zero. As in zero bogeys on the day. Simply put, Rose was spotless when it mattered.

With the win, Rose found validation in something he knew all along, that being the fact that he belonged on the PGA Tour. But Rose wasn't the only one with belief in his game. The tournament host knew he'd win at some point, at his tournament ,no less. 

Jack Nicklaus, who happens to be a huge fan of Rose's game and ability, told the 29-year-old years ago that he'd win one day at Muirfield Village. As usual, Jack was right.

The Canadian Open could be returning to one of the most historic clubs in Canada for the country's only PGA Tour event. Hamilton Golf and Country Club, one of the best golf layouts in Canada, could be back hosting the event in 2012. 

The Hamilton Spectator is reporting that the course and its membership are in negotiations with Golf Canada (formerly the Royal Canadian Golf Association) to bring the course back into the rotation currently hosting the event. 

George Pinches, the COO at Hamilton G&CC, confirmed to The Spectator Friday night that negotiations are under way.

He said they hoped that they would have a proposal to take to the membership within the next six weeks, and he noted that the Canadian Open could only be played there if the membership approve.

The e-mail to the members from the executive indicated that they had already negotiated a good financial arrangement with Golf Canada on behalf of the club.

The tournament was last hosted at Hamilton back in 2006 to rave reviews from the players. It only seemed like a matter of time before the course hosted Canada's most prestigious golf event once again.

To tie this story into this week's Memorial event, the Canadian Open happens to be one tournament that eluded Jack Nicklaus over the years. He was a 7-time runner up at the event.

If there's a title in professional golf that no player wants to be associated with, it's the BPTNWAM. We're talking about the best player to never win a major, a title Phil Mickelson was very comfortable with until his victory at the Masters in 2004. Since then, the title has been passed to a number of players.

Lee Westwood is the unofficial holder of the title at the moment. While other might disagree with Westwood, it's safe to say he's had enough pain recently at major championship venues to warrant the title going to Pebble Beach.  

Aside from Westwood, there are host of other names out there that deserve consideration. One of those happens to be another player from across the pond, that being Luke Donald. Unless you're a fan of Donald, or you follow the British contingent on the PGA Tour, you'd probably be surprised to know that  he was having a solid season prior to his win last week in Madrid. 

His season on the PGA Tour already includes a second-place finish at the Northern Trust, as well as six top-30's. Throw in a T-2 at Wentworth and a win last week in Madrid, and you could be looking at the most in-form player in the game going into the U.S. Open. (Side note: he's currently T-14 at the Wales Open.)

To be honest, Pebble Beach sets up perfectly for Donald's game. The tournament has always favored players with precision off the tee. Donald has never been long but what he lacks in distance, he makes up for in accuracy. While he's never had the best of luck at the U.S. Open, his form going in has never been this good.

His best finish at the major was back in 2006 (T-12), the very same year he happened to win his last professional tournament prior to 2010. Call it a hunch but I think Donald is worth a look at Pebble Beach.

Sure, he probably doesn't have the same name appeal as Tiger, Phil or Rory; but name me another player out there playing with as much confidence as Donald at this very moment? Truth is, there are very few.

If there are three things Zach Johnson seems to enjoy more than anything else, it's tailored suit jackets, Texas, and Georgia. Johnson added another jacket (a tartan one) and another title in the Lonestar state on Sunday, capping off consecutive 64s on the weekend to keep Brian Davis in the bridesmaid role once again. 

His 21 under total for the week at Colonial bested Kenny Perry's previous total of 19 under. Playing through three weather suspensions during the final round, Johnson managed to close with a 31 on the back nine that included six birdies. That back nine, coupled with only 26 putts for the round, allowed Johnson to blitz the field and walk away with the tartan jacket. It was the kind of weekend he needed given the perfect scoring conditions.

Like a lot of players on tour, it only takes one week to turn a mediocre season into a successful one. Johnson hasn't been the model of consistency this year. His best finish in 2010 was a T-12 at the Sony Open, and the tournament prior to this one was a missed cut at the Valero (a tournament he'd already won twice) that included a first round 80. 

Sometimes there's no way to predict when success will come your way. 

Notes:

Brian Davis was 54 for 54 inside 8 feet until his missed birdie putt on the 17th. The Englishman started walking towards the hole, already certain the putt was going down. It didn't fall, going in and out of the cup to end Davis' chances for the second time this year. He also led the field in putting for the week. ... The final rain delay on Sunday was a strange one. After spending 45 minutes waiting for the weather to pass, the final two groups finished in a light summer rain with the sun still shining. How often do you see that? ... Scott Verplank enjoyed a nice stretch of golf on Saturday and Sunday. While his final round 65 was impressive, his stretch of 35 straight holes without dropping a shot to par was even better.

Lehman wins in Colorado to claim second major championship

It's not exactly one of the four majors on the PGA Tour, but it's a major non the less. Lehman captured the 71st Senior PGA Championship on Sunday with a three-man playoff victory over David Frost and Fred Couples. 

After grinding it out during the final round, Lehman found things a lot easier in the playoff. Couples was forced to take a drop after finding the brush off the tee; Frost's tee shot found the bunker on the left. Neither was able to recover from there.

Lehman, who just turned 50 in October, joined Couples in the group of new fifty-somethings to make their mark on the Champions Tour. Watching Couples and Lehman on the tee during the playoff, I could've sworn I was watching a replay of an old PGA Tour event. To be honest, it was pretty damn cool. 

It's just another reason why the Champions Tour is so watchable these days. 

Want to give a PGA Tour player an early birthday present? Give him a tournament round where conditions are absolutely perfect. Colonial Country Club has been giving out early birthday presents like they were going out of style this week with three perfect scoring condition days. 

With Sunday's final round at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial underway, Kenny Perry's tournament record 19 under 261 appears to be in jeopardy. Through six holes today, Brian Davis is already 18 under. While most people associated with the tournament wouldn't want to admit it, the course is completely toothless this year.

That's not to say Colonial isn't a difficult track. It just so happens this year's tournament has produced optimal scoring conditions over the first three days. Instead of pulling out all the stops on Sunday and turning the greens into glass, Tour officials decided to go against the grain and do something they normally never do: they made the course easier.

"When I was 7 under through 11, I was thinking 59, course record – all those things go through your head," Jerry Kelly said after Saturday's third round. "I've got to commend the Tour staff on how they set up this course. It was really fun out there. And then, No. 2, drivable? I've never seen that before, and I think that was a really cool thing."

Fun? For a Tour that prides itself on being masochists most weeks, Colonial has provided the players in the field with a chance to enjoy a rare opportunity to go as low as possible in the final round.

Tournament leaders won't have the luxury of holding a lead with as many pars as possible. The player draping the tartan jacket over his shoulders later today will most likely be the one who takes as many risks as possible. 

I may be looking ahead too much but maybe this is exactly what the PGA Tour needs. We as fans want to see the miraculous happen when we turn on the television. While I understand that not all tournament weeks can mimic the conditions at Colonial, there's no reason why the Tour couldn't making things easier when the conditions allow it.

You'd have the opportunity to get as many players as possible in the mix. Leads could swing from hole to hole; eagles could be there for the taking; and you'd most likely get a tournament that would leave people watching until the final putt dropped. Now tell me that doesn't sound like fun?