Billy Paultz Reconsidered

Some things that have annoyed/amused/intrigued me lately:
*Re: The Phillies nice win over the Mets Friday. Nobody I heard mentioned that Johan Santana - who averages 200 innings a year and over 100 pitches a game - left a 2-2 game after eight innings having thrown 95 pitches, with a lefthander, Ryan Howard, leading off the ninth. The night […]

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Did a phone interview last week with Ben Crenshaw, for a story about an outing he’s doing here. Most of our talk wasn’t really for the story, just stuff I was interested in. Following are some highlights.
Crenshaw was captain of the 99 Ryder Cup team, which beat the Europeans with the famous comeback including Justin […]

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When Tiger won his historic first Masters, by 12 shots, in 1997, Augusta National was a 6,800-ish yard course with no rough.
It was the ultimate strategic (as opposed to penal) design - you could hit tee shots six different places on many holes and give yourself six different approaches to playing the hole. There was […]

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It’s getting to be that time of year, but today was  dense one by any standard:
1. Dubya “reluctantly accepts,” the resignation of his pathetically overmatched attorney general, continuing a glorious tradition of patronage and cronyism gone horrifically bad. (See today’s other post, headlined “Gonzo”)
2. Michael Vick formerly enters his plea, then makes a reasonably effective apology statement. […]

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from vacation, during which I had some time (while lying on the beach, or driving to and from) to think about the direction I want to go with the blog, something that obviously hasn’t been clearly formed in my head.
It’s going to be more of an actual diary from now on. Throughout the day I’ll […]

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about this is how low the number is. Only four out of 10? Most golfers aren’t having sex once a month anyway.

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Notes on a (triumpant?) return from vacation….

If somebody told you in April that in late June, Freddy Garcia, Brett Myers, Tom Gordon and Jon Lieber would all be on the DL, and Garcia and Lieber likely done for the year, you’d be wondering if the Phillies could catch the Nationals, not the Mets.

Considering their run-prevention […]

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I know it was three days ago, gimme a break, I’m on vacation….

The defense for Jim Furyk hitting a driver on the 17th hole on Sunday is that he’s one of the best golfers in the world, and he certainly knows his own game better than anyone.

It’s a real argument. I’m not dismissing it. The problem is it’s the […]

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It all revolves around Tiger, of course.
There’s a certain type of course and course setup on which he’s not the best player in the world - extreme tests of target golf like Winged Foot, Oakland Hills, South Hills, Oak Hill, Baltusrol.
Almost all of his worst performances in majors have been on such courses. He finished […]

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Three years ago I followed Michelle Wie around Manada Golf Club near Grantville as she played a practice round for the following day’s qualifier for the U.S. Public Links.
Wie, a Hawaiian, spent most of that summer touring the mainland, playing in tournaments and qualifiers, with an entourage that included her parents, a caddie on loan […]

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