PGA: Heritage, Indonesia Masters, & The Zurich Classic

I have to first say Congrats to Brandt Snedecker, for his playoff win this week against Luke Donald. First, they went to the 18th, then to the 17th and then the 3rd and final hole was the 18th; where Luke found the front left bunker just as he did with his regulation play of the 18th.

Brandt and his boyish looks, were up for the challenge to say the least. He kept his composure and focus and walked away with the trophy!

Luke Donald also played a phenomenal tourney. He has been hot with the clubs lately and another WIN is likely very near for him. After the teasing at the Masters from Ian James Poulter and others, Luke was out in true Easter style with Pink slacks and black polo ensemble. While I wasn't a fan of the green and pink at the Masters, he pulled  off the Easter Pink well! He remains the World's #2, but I forsee him taking #1 very very soon!

The men head off to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic.  This 72 par course was originally designed by Pete Dye in 2003. It plays 7,341, which is what it has played since 2007 when it was changed from 7,520 yards.

Jason Bohn won last year, defeating Jeff Overton by 2 strokes, with a -18 followed by Troy Merritt at -14 and Lee Janzen at -13. TPC Louisiana will be the place to be in Avondale, La this week. The win of course, will bring 500 Fed Ex points to the one who hoists the trophy on May 1st.

The Golf Channel will have coverage from 3:00 - 6:00 pm ET every round! To check out hole by hole information, go to http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r018/course.html . As always, you can follow LIVE Scoring via the PGATour.com link here http://www.pgatour.com/r/leaderboard/ .

Lee Westwood returned to the #1 spot of the World Rankings on Sunday, after Luke Donald lost in a 3 hole playoff to Brandt Snedecker. A win @ the Heritage would have put Luke at #1 however, that was just not to be....yet!  Meanwhile, Lee Westwood celebrated his birthday with a win at the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta, Indonesia. A lightening delay occurred on the final hole however, Lee returned from such and defeated Thongchai Jaidee from Thailand by a 3 stroke, -19 finish. He not only got cheers for his win, but received a warm "happy birthday" from the crowd as he walked off the 18th hole. A great Birthday indeed for the Englishman! Congrats Lee!

Avnet LPGA Classic April 28th-May 1st

Yay! It's time for the next LPGA Tournament this week! The ladies will be playing in Mobile, Alabama for this 72 hole format event; which is in it's 3rd year. The 2010 reigning champion is Se Ri Pak, who defeated Brittany Lincicome and Suzann Pettersen in a 3 hole playoff!

The event will be on the Crossings Course, at the RTJ Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove. Se Ri Pak will be there to try and defend her title. Here is a link for the rest of the field: http://www.bellmicrolpgaclassic.com/players/ . There is a Pro-Am that started this am @ 9:00. Practice rounds will be on tuesday, with the Avnet LPGA Pro-Am on wednesday, with both morning and afternoon tee times.

Thursday's first round coverage will be LIVE via the Golf Channel, as will the rest of the rounds. Set those DVR's for Thursday and Friday @ 12:30 am - 2:30 pm ET. Saturday & Sunday's rounds coverage will be from 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET. Like many tournaments, extend your recordings for Sunday's final round in the event this goes on into a playoff!

Something very neat on the Tournament website, is the layout of all the holes; and you can take a tour of each one via http://www.bellmicrolpgaclassic.com/course/ . Just click on the number of the hole you want to tour and you will get an up close and personal view!

For those TWITTER fans out there; you can follow the tourney via @AvnetLPGA . You can follow LIVE scoring via the tournament website at Scoring or via the LPGA website as always via LPGA Live Scoring .

The Legendary Masters Tournament

The Par 3 contest begins at 12:30 PM ET today. In the history of the Par 3 event, there has never been anyone who won the Par 3 contest, go on to win the Masters in the same year. Tom Watson was the closest to doing so. He won the Par 3 contest in 1982; just a year after his last Masters win in 1981. He previously had won in 1977 as well.

The Par 3 event began in 1960. Always played on the Wednesday before the tournament, Sam Snead was the innaugural winner of such. The contest is a Par 27, 1060 yd layout. To say that this gets the momentum going for the players, would be putting it mildly. After the events such as the Champions Dinner, this is one more thing that will have players feeling the jitters and beginning their dreams. 

The Masters Tournament begins Thursday. The course is always in exquisite condition. The pictures themselves are amazing as well as the Landmarks of the course. The picture to the left is hole #2. Every yard of this course is filled with beautiful scenery and the prestige of playing for the first time can be overwhelming to players. This year, first time Masters Players are: Arjun Atwal, Hideki Matsuyama, David Chung, Jeff Overton, Jason Day, D.A. Points, Rickie Fowler, Hiroyuki Fujita, Peter Hanson, Gregory Havret, Charley Hoffman, Kevin Streelman, Peter Ulhlein, Jin Jeong, Jhonattan Vegas, Kyung-Tae Kim, Mark Wilson, Gary Woodland, Lion Kim, and Martin Laird. Can you imagine how weak their knees will feel when they tee off on Thursday, or how their hearts will pound? 

Amateurs competing in this years Masters are: Hideki Matsuyama, David Chung, Jin Jeong, Peter Ulhlein, and Lion Kim. What a an exceptional honor they must feel for having this not only be their first Masters but yet, being an Amateur and being invited to the most prestigious tournament they will ever play.

One of the most beautiful Landmarks is "Amen Corner" as seen to the picture on the left. If you haven't checked out the Masters website, you must do so and look at all the holes and landmarks. You can click on the following link to check it out; Masters.com . At Amen Corner, it is said you can see the action from holes 11, 12 &13.

Another great photo is of holes 15 & 16. They consider this the "Pivotal Pair of holes" and you can see why, in this photo. 

All week, you can view via this link Live Coverage . Golf Channel coverage will be 8:00 - 3:00 pm Thursday & Friday as well as CBS on Sat 3:30 - 7:00 PM and Sun. 2:00 - 7:00 PM. Additional air time is on ESPN as follows: Wed 3-5:00 PM, Thurs 3-7:30 PM, Fri 3-7:30 PM and replays from 8-11 pm.

As always, you can follow via PGA.COM  .

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