THE NCAA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS COME TO ILLINOIS AND RICH HARVEST FARMS IN MAY. These back-to-back national championships will bring the best men and women college golfers in the country together to compete for the honor of being national champions. The championship is hosted by the Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, come see players that will be on various professional tours in some cases just weeks after the completion of the NCAA. Visit NCAA.com for details. ______________________________________________________________________
The Gog Blog by Rory Spears, Editor and Director of Content. Follow Rory on the winter trip and on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy.
The winter road trip has come full cycle, with a short return to Pinehurst North Carolina. Before I know it, I’ll be on my way to the French Lick Resort again on my final stop before heading home.
I’ll have a full trip report coming up in the next day or two.
This morning I wrapped up four wonderful days on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, as i wrote on the weekend, the island is still cleaning up from Hurricane Matthew, but in a couple of months, most everything should be back to normal. From local sources I spoke with, it appears that only 2 course and 9 holes at another remain closed. In some cases a few properties held up the clean up work until they had settled with their insurance companies. A few of the bigger golf properties just got rolling with the work, and will settle the paperwork down the road.
Speaking of the road, I’ll be hitting it on Tuesday to head north towards the Windy City, and will be home just in time to attend the 6th annual Tinley Park Golf Show this Friday-Saturday and Sunday, at the Tinley Park Expo Center. Show owners Joe Copeland and Gregg Tengerstrom tell me the show should be even better again this year, and there is no reason to doubt them. See You there.
I KNOW THE WM-PHOENIX OPEN pack a lot of people around the 16th hole for some great excitement, but a new PGA Tour record of almost 200,000 fans in one day at TPC Scottsdale, that’s a big number. One that is a little hard to believe, I saw about 60,000 on the course last year at Hazeltine during the Ryder Cup, and that was crazy. If there were 200,000 there, well thanks for coming out.
TIGER WOODS and another WD with back issues. Regardless of how bad they were, Woods pulled out 1 hour before tee time at the Dubai-Desert Classic. His opening round in great golfing conditions was a +5 (77). How long is he on the shelf now, hard to say but a few folks think Woods might have to retire. I’m not saying he will right now, but you have to ask, when can Tiger play pain free golf for four straight days, if he ever makes another cut. Some reports suggest that his new swing will put even more pressure on his back, something Woods does not need.
More news tomorrow from around the Pinehurst area, so stay clicked in. RS