Mickelson wins HSBC Champions in an Unbelievable Finish

There is only one word that can describe what transpired in the final round at the HSBC Champions tournament in China: UNBELIEVABLE! Phil Mickelson started out the day with a two shot lead over Ross Fisher, and after seven holes he held a five shot lead at 16 under par. Then it all went wrong. On the eighth hole Mickelson hit his drive out of bounds and eventually ended up with a bogey on the hole while Fisher birdied it. Then Phil proceeded to bogey the ninth to finish the front nine in even par 36. Then Fisher and Mickelson went to the back nine. This is where Phil hoped to turn his round around. Going into the final round he hadn’t dropped a shot on the back nine. Unfortunately, things only got worse for Phil. He bogeyed eleven and fourteen and he double bogeyed thirteen. Before you knew it Phil was standing on the sixteenth tee two shots down to Ross Fisher. This is when Phil regained some of his form with a birdie while Fisher pared. While all of this was going on Lee Westwood mounted a back nine charge to finish at 10 under par, which was one stoke back of Mickelson and two shots back of Fisher at the time. After both men pared the seventeenth Fisher went to the eighteenth one shot ahead of Mickelson. This is where the proceedings turned unbelievable. Both men hit decent drives. Then both men decided to go for the green in two at the par five. This is tough because of all the water around the green. Hitting first Fisher hit his shot just left of the green in the rough. Then it was Phil’s turn. He put a mighty blow on the ball and did initially carry the water, but the ball just carried the water landing on the bank and then it rolled back into the water. At this point it looked like Ross Fisher had the tournament all rapped up, only needing to get down in four shots from just off the green to win. Unfortunately for Fisher he hit a terrible pitch shot that landed on the edge of the green and rolled into the water. Phil was back in the tournament from the dead now! After taking a drop after going in the water himself Phil hit a wedge shot to about 15 feet. Fisher also took a drop and hit up onto the green. Fisher was first to putt and he missed. This left Phil with a putt to win the tournament! He put a great stoke on the ball, but missed giving him a bogey. Fisher then rolled in his putt for double bogey putting him in a tie at 10 under par with Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood. This meant a playoff was to come. They would play the eighteenth hole until a champion was crowned. On the first playoff hole all three men barely missed their birdie putts. Then on the second playoff hole all three men hit good drives and decided to go for the green in two. Westwood was first to go. He hit it into the water and was in all likelihood out of the running, but in golf anything can happen. The both Phil and Ross hit their shot up next to the green with Phil in the rough and Ross in the bunker. Fisher played first and hit it to about 18 feet. Then it was Phil’s turn. He hit a beautiful pitch shot to about five feet, so it would be Fisher to putt first for birdie. Fisher’s putt was never on line as it missed. This left Mickelson with a 5 foot putt to win the HSBC Champions. After his caddy “Bones” and he took a look at the line Phil stepped up and promptly knocked down the putt to win. This was Phil’s first win on the European Tour and his first win on foreign soil since he won the 1993 Tournoi Perrier Paris tournament on the European Challenge Tour.

The International Golf Season Heats Up

Most people in the United States of America think of November as the time when the professional golf season winds down, but people that keep track of international golf events know that this is one of the best times of the year to watch golf. Last week marked the end of the PGA Tour season; what most people don’t know is that last week also kicked off a solid stretch of international events. This solid stretch started with the Volvo Masters on the European Tour, and the Barclay’s Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. At the Volvo Masters Justin Rose led throughout, and eventually won in a playoff after finishing regulation play at one under par. Then at the Singapore Open, which was played at the Sentosa Golf Club, Angel Cabrera of Argentina beat a star studded field with a score of eight under par. This star studded field included the number two player in the world Phil Mickelson, who unfortunately finished at eight over par while battling illness, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Adam Scott. The field also included top Asian players like Liang Wen-chong of China and Shiv Kapur of India. This week all of the top players from the Volvo Masters and the Barclay’s Singapore Open will be gathering in China for the HSBC Champions event along with a host of other great players. Also in future weeks we will be seeing many more great international golf tournaments including: the Casio World Open and the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, the UBS Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour, the Michael Hill New Zealand Open, the MasterCard Masters, the Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship, and the MFS Australian Open Championship on the PGA Tour Australasia, and finally there are the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open on the Sunshine Tour. Also many of these events are co-sanctioned with the European Tour. All in all this is a great time of year for an international golf fan, especially if someone has The Golf Channel.

Student Section Demonstrates Spotsmanship

Students of Lincoln High School unite! The Esko student section showed great sportsmanship and class at the Willow River/Moose Lake vs. Esko football game on the 17th of October. The Principal of Lincoln High School Greg Hexum said, "...Your group demonstrated sportsmanship and class, even when being taunted by opposing fans." Since that game Esko has won two playoff games and is heading to the section 7AAA championship game. The student section has been out in full force in these past two game, and you can expect them to be out in full force again at the championship game. Also the student section will be tailgating before the game. Hopefully we will see The Punisher getting rewarded around the goal line and some eskTDs (Not to be mistaken with STDs). Proctor is NOT THAT GOOD!

Armor Fuel's Customer Appreciation Day was a Success

Last Thursday Armor Fuel decided to give back to its loyal customers by having a customer appreciation day. When a friend of mine and I heared about this went went right on over to our local Armor Fuel station to partake in the cheap gas, free hot dogs, chips, and pop. It was nice to see a big time fuel company like Armor do something like this for its customers. It makes buying gas a little easier when you know another event like this could be on its way. Sure it is only a some token of appreciation for spending a lot of money on gas throughout the year, but it is better than nothing. After an event like this one can only hope that other fuel providers will step up and show some appreciation for their loyal customers, but for now I congratulate Armor Fuel for a job well done.

The United States takes a Big Lead Going into the Sunday Matches

The United States started the day with a 2 point lead over the International squad, but ended the day with a 7 point lead thanks to winning all of the morning alternate shot rounds. The suprise pairing of the week has to be Phil Mickelson and Woody Austin, though, who have played well together. They started out by winning a half a point on Thursday, but today was the day that they showed what they really could do. In the Morning alternate shot round they won 5 & 4 capped off by a birdie on 14 by Phil. Then in the afternoon best ball round they found themselves in a battle with Retief Goosen and Adam Scott. The match was close throughout with the Internationals finding themselves with a one up lead on the 16th when Goosen holed out from a bunker to give them a two up lead with two to play. This is when Austin and Mickelson stepped up to the plate. On the par three 17th they both hit it close and Woody Austin holed his birdie putt to win the hole. Then they moved to the 18th needing to win again to halve the match. Retief Goosen hit a terrible drive and was out of the hole from the begining, and Woody Austin hit his approach over the green. This left Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson to battle it out. Adam Scott was on the fringe and lagged his birdie putt close to force Phil to make his 20 foot putt to win the hole and halve the match. After reading the putt with the help of Woody and his caddy Jim "Bones" Mckay Phil stepped up and knocked the putt in to secure half a point. I think that this pairing really works because of their camraderie. Before the President's Cup I wasn't much of a Woody Austin fan, but after watching him have so much fun with Phil I think that I will root for him a little more. It has been great to see Phil have so much fun playing in the President's Cup. Overall the United States has a 14.5 point to 7.5 point lead over the International squad, and I expect them to win easily on Sunday.

NOT THAT GOOD!

To most people the tone for the Purdue-Minnesota football game was set when Purdue returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Deep down though the tone was set about an hour before the game outside the stadium. It all started when the Minnesota faithful were walking towards the Metrodome, and one fan spoke up and said that Purdue wasn't that good. This bold statement was followed by a progression of yells of "NOT THAT GOOD"! I was so inspired by this that I myself had to let out a yell of "NOT THAT GOOD"! Although Purdue won the game murmurs of "not that good" were present inside the Metrodome throughout the game. I think that even Joe Tiller had to wonder after the game if they are really "not that good".

One More Major Title for Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson has had an exceptional career on the PGA Tour. He has 32 wins including 3 major titles. His first major win at the 2004 Masters was huge; his second and third major wins just validated this win and proved that he is one of the all time greats. I feel that he needs to add one more major before the end of his career to seperate him from the pack. With one more major win he could pass some of his peers like Theodore Earnest Els and Vijay Singh, who both have 3 major wins as well. It would also be good if he could accomplish this task before the age of 40. Then I feel that everything else including more majors would just add to his hall of fame resume, and he can truly enjoy golf in his forties with his critics having fully forgotten the debacle at Wingedfoot. Of course I would like to see him win many more majors, but I think that one more would really solidify his career. In closing I would like to say that I think Phil will accomplish this task, most likely next year. He could have won his fourth major this year, but unfortunatly he injured his wrist. Phil is in good as position as ever to add another major, since he finally beat Tiger Woods in a sort of head to head dual. I will admit that Tiger is the best golfer of this era and probably of all time, but you have to applaud Phil for coming back from failure time and again. Next up for Phil: The Presidents Cup. Hopefully Phil and team United States of America will play well and secure a win at Royal Montreal.