I go to Rio...De Janeiro!

It's time for the HSBC Brazil Cup. This tournament is a 36 hole format, stroke play for the 30 players who will be participating. Hosted by the Itanhanga Golf Club and only in it's 3rd yr, the home course boasts a par 73 and 6,339 yards.

Defending Champion is Meaghan Francella, who won last year in a 6 hole playoff against Mariajo Uribe. Can you imagine a 6 hole playoff? Not often seen, but very exciting when it does occur. Meaghan shot a 69 & 71 to get to -6. This will be her 6th tournament played this year.

Some things you may not know about Meaghan, is the fact that she has earned over $1 million in career earnings. She has a career low of 66 and sits 1-0 in her playoff record, which came at this event last year. She had another win in '07, after just having her Rookie Year in 2006. She had also tied for 7th last year at the LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans.

Last week's winner Suzann Pettersen will be in the field, after winning the Sybase Match Play in NJ. Suzann is in the No.2 spot of the Rolex Rankings. I can only imagine the weather being night/day different from NJ to Rio De Janeiro! From a couple of pictures that Karen Stupples posted on Twitter, I am very jealous indeed! It looked gorgeous to say the least!

Want to check if your favorite player/s is in this event, then follow the link here for the  Final Field . There are 7 alternates as well, if one of the 30 players has to bow out for any reason. A couple of my favorites; Karen Stupples and Christina Kim will both be participating. Both of whom are on Twitter and have great followings! The tournament website is not in English nor do you get the choice of language; but for those who speak/read it, LPGA Brazil Cup 2011 .

Currently, there is no televised schedule for the LPGA Brazil Cup. But, you can always follow along via REAL TIME SCORING .

And remember, many of these great athletes are on Twitter!

Now, Go Hit Some Balls............

It's the SYBASE Match Play for the ladies of the LPGA this week!

Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, NJ will be the place for the Ladies of The LPGA this week. Sun Young Yoo is the defending champion as I stated in a prior posting. The course plays 6,585 yds and is a par 72.

This picture is from last year's Pro Am and shows Michelle Wie with her playing partners. The ladies team up with tournament sponsors and guests. Check out the pairings at the tournament link website which I have noted below as "Sybase Match Play".

Remember, You can catch coverage via the Golf Channel from 6:30-8:30 pm ET both thursday and friday, while sat and sunday will be 4:30-7:00 pm ET.

Also, follow along via the tournament Twitter feed: @SybaseMatchPlay . You can also follow the live scoring from the LPGA site via this link  LIVE SCORING . Check out the tournament website via this link Sybase Match Play .

Now, Go Hit Some Balls..................................

Visors off to KJ Choi!

Yes, no hat's off because KJ Choi does not wear hats. He wears Visors.....so Visors off to KJ for his win at The Players Championship yesterday. He won on the first playoff hole, #17 against David Thoms. While Thoms had a much closer putt that KJ had after they tee'd off; KJ was hot with his putter and left a very short 2nd putt to take the win after Thoms missed his.

And while Thoms had a higher driving accuracy at 78.57 and KJ's was 68.75, it wasn't enough to take the win! KJ is now only the 4th international player to win the Players Championship. And, by the size of the gallery following Choi, he certainly had the supporters on hand cheering for him to take home the win Sunday afternoon. Each walk during the final 2 holes in regulation and then the play-off hole; fans were there to get a high-five from KJ and cheer him on! He seemed to stay both focused and yet relaxed enough to enjoy the cheers and have fun finishing the tournament. 

Saturday at the Players Championship was a bit different scenario. There was a 5 hr rain delay and many didn't finish their round before darkness fell. During that rain delay, Luke Donald tweeted that he had just seen umbrellas go flying by the locker room windows.  The 3rd round finished Sunday morning before the 4th round began. Some of these fella's played 24 holes yesterday, which in itself is not the end of the world. The one thing they didn't want, was the extra early wake up call to get out there and finish before the final round could begin. As a matter of fact, Ian Poulter who made a dash to the 17th green after his shot, to 2 putt in and hurry over to the 18th Tee and tee-off; garnered some flack. Truth be told, Phil Mickelson (who was on the 18th when Ian tee'd off), had talked to Ian on #16 and told him if it was getting close; to hurry over and tee off so their group could finish. He simply wanted a heads up and he courteously waited for Poults' drive. So, there was no reason for anyone to get their undies in a bunch, since this was a plan from a couple of holes prior. It was far from rude, and was indeed courteous! I don't blame Poults for wanting to hurry and tee off so his group could finish. Who wants to get up at 5:30 am to finish 1 hole? 

The tourney finished with the following; 1st to KJ Choi, 2nd place to David Thoms and Paul Goydos took 3rd. 4th place was shared by Luke Donald and Nick Watney, followed by Jason Day and Hunter Mahan in a tie for 6th as well as JB Holmes, Alvaro Quiros and Jason Dufner. Holmes, had the best driving distance for the tourney at 312.9 yds. 

Now, it's off to Ft. Worth, Texas for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. The tourney is played at Colonial Country Club, where Zach Johnson is the defending champion. He beat Brian Davis last year by 3 strokes to go -21. This years Winner's share is a mere $1,116,000 and the win is also worth 500 Fed-Ex Points! 

The Golf Channel will have televised coverage from 3:00-6:00 PM ET on thursday and friday, while CBS picks up saturday and sunday's coverage at the same times 3-6:00 pm ET.

As always, you can follow along via LIVE SCORING  if your not near a tele. 

Now, Go Hit Some Balls.................

Next up for the European Tour, The Iberdrola Open

Beautiful Mallorca Spain will be the backdrop for this week's tournament on the European Tour. The Pula Country Club in Son Servera, Mallorca, Spain will host this week's tourney, May 12-15th. In Mallorca, Spain it is 9:36 PM as I write this blog (a 7 hr difference).

From the mourning in Pedrena, to the silence on the entire course in Mallorca, the European hearts are heavy this week as services for Seve Ballesteros took place.

There was a respectful moment of silence on the entire course at the Pula CC this week. The picture below shows players and caddies alike, remembering Seve. A very honoring moment for one great golf legend leaving this physical life too soon, but whom's legacy will go on for infinity.

One gentleman, Peter Hanson is last year's winner of this event. He carded the lowest final round by a winner, with a -4  66. He also had the biggest final round comeback in the first year history of this event as the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca, Spain. Peter beat Alejandro Canizares in a play-off for the inaugural event.


On the European Tour, the Race to Dubai Rankings are as follows: Charl Schwartzel, Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer, Anders Hansen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Aiken, Alvaro Quiros, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Nicolas Colsaerts rounding out the top 10.

Fascinating to me, the leader Charl Schwartzel, also has his private pilot's license! In 2011, he won his first Major Championship at The Masters. He also successfully defended his title at the Joburg Open. In 2010, he had back to back wins at the African Open and then the Joberg Open. Another fact about Charl is that he follows in the family footsteps; his father George was a professional golfer and his brother Adrian, who is making his own name on the South African circuit sometimes caddies for Charl.

You can follow the leaderboard via The European Tour Site or via The Golf Channel .

In Memory of Seve, May he Rest In Peace.    

Now, Go Hit Some Balls................

TPC Sawgrass is the place for The Players Championship this week!

After a solemn tourney last week, saddened by the loss of one of Golf's Greats Seve Ballesteros; the PGA heads to TPC Sawgrass, The Players Stadium Course this week.

There are so many articles, posts, blogs, newcasts, etc. about the great Seve, I would be remiss to not say that his spirit and how he played the game, will be in the hearts of players and fans everywhere! His legacy in the golf world, will remain forever! Prayers to his family as they begin their lives without Seve, and yet gained a larger family with the entire Golf World.

Ponta Verde Beach, Florida is the home of TPC Sawgrass. It is also the birthplace of the TPC network and backdrop to the PGA Tour headquarters. Sitting just outside of Jacksonville and north of St. Augustine, the two courses are open to the public. While the players will be playing the Stadium Course, the other is called Dye's Valley Course. And while TPC Sawgrass is home to The Players Championship, it is also home to the Nationwide's Tour, Winn Dixie Jacksonville Open.

The interesting history of how the TPC Sawgrass became is from one man's dream. The then commissioner Deane Beman. Long story short, he approached the owners of Sawgrass Country Club and offered to buy the facility. They didn't want to sell to him nor did they believe he could get financing or approval for such. Well, he found allies and his dream was built. A plaque commemorates that dream coming to fruition, which is on display in the clubhouse. March of 1980 was the date and the inscription reads "To Deane Beman, the man who did what we said couldn't be done. From Chuck and his associates at Arvida, who bet on the difficulty of the task, not on the capability of the man doing the task."

You can follow the tournament twitter feed via @TPCSawgrass . And of course, live scoring via PGA Tour Live Scoring .

The Players Championship will be televised via: The Golf Channel for rounds 1 & 2 from 1:00-7:00 PM Thursday and Friday. Rounds 3 & 4 will be via NBC from 2:00-7:00 PM both days.

Now, Go Hit Some Balls...............

Sybase Match Play May 19-22nd for LPGA

Only in it's 2nd year, Hamilton Farm Club in Gladstone New Jersey will be the site for the ladies of the LPGA next week. Last year, Sun Young Yoo became the innagural Champion with a scoring of 3-1. She defeated TCU alumni Angela Stanford in the final round to take home the trophy!

As you can imagine, it is a Match Play format. One exciting thing about this event, is the FREE ticket promotion going on. That's right....FREE! All you need to do, is text the word LPGA to 792273. You will bel able to obtain 2 free daily tickets. These tickets are of course limited, so get to texting while they still have some left! The course plays 6585 yards. This event will be televised via the Golf Channel at the following times; May 19th & 20th 6:30 - 8:30 PM ET and May 21st & 22nd 4:30 - 7:00 PM ET.

9 of the World's Top 10 have committed to this event. Yani Tseng, Jiyai Shin and Suzann Pettersen will be amongst them. Also playing will be 9 of the top 10 from the 2011 money list, 6 of the top 10 from the all-time career money list. The field also is comprised from the top 48 players on the LPGA Tour's Official Money List.

Recent Avnet LPGA Classic winner Maria Hjorth has committed to the field, after winning her 5th career victory just over a week ago.

The charity for this years match play event will be Somerset Medical Center, a 355 bed nonprofit teaching hospital. After recently undergoing a huge expansion and updating, it is a top notch facility. While boasting a 650 board-certified staff of physicians, it was recently a recipient of the HealthGrades 2010 Joint Replacement Excellence Award. Also ranking among the top 10% of hospitals nationwide in joint replacement surgery.

So, if you're not quick enough to grab onto a couple of FREE tickets as stated above; you can go to Sybase Match Play Website and get them. If you're not able to go, as always you can follow live scoring via lpgascoring.com

Now, Go Hit Some Balls.....................