The 2010 Golf Season – One to Remember

        After the 2009 golf season, all of the press was about the successes of Tiger Woods.  He was just coming off a victory in Melbourne, which was his sixth of the season.  With the sites of the 2010 major championships being held at courses where Woods has had a plethora of success, some thought that he could run the table. However, the events that occurred on November 27, 2009 changed fans views of Tiger Woods forever.

        The initial news reported that Woods had been in a car accident.  I remember when I heard about it, my heart stopped and I thought that he could be in serious trouble. Turns out he was, but in a whole different magnitude. There’s no need to explain all he did, but as an aside, did you hear Tiger Woods is changing his name to Cheetah?

         With Tiger Woods’ life in shambles, some thought the game of golf would head down the gutter.  I remember last year I asked a classmate if he watched the golf tournament from the past weekend. His response was, “Tiger Woods isn’t playing, so there’s no point.”  I strongly disagree with this perspective and believe that the 2010 golf season was one of the best in recent history.

         Let’s get started at the Masters, where Woods was making his much anticipated season debut. I was shocked that he wasn’t heckled and in fact wasn’t really jeered at during any point this season. What an unbelievable tournament. Phil Mickelson nearly making three consecutive eagles in the third round and his absolutely remarkable shot from the pine needles in the final round were breath-taking. Having Woods and the spike-less, sock-less, age-less wonder Freddy Couples in contention really added some drama. In the end, I was happy to see Phil triumphantly sink the final birdie putt on the 18^th green and raising his arms in the air. He’s been through a lot with both his wife and mother having breast cancer. By the way, has anyone else noticed that Phil’s trio of kids have really grown up fast?

         Tiger was in the hunt at the next major, which was the US Open at Pebble Beach. Several key moments highlighted that tournament. Tiger’s three wood on the par five 18th with the sun setting on Saturday was amazing. Thanks to NBC’s coverage, everyone not only saw the shot in slow motion, but his celebration, when he yelled ‘POP’, ‘YEAH’, and then his patented fist pump and awkward embrace with caddie Stevie Williams. Dustin Johnson folding at in the final round was painful to watch, but I was happy for Graeme McDowell to win his first major. I’m sure he had a pint (or seven) out of the US Open trophy afterward. 

         So how do you pronounce British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen’s name? I heard about 100 different ‘butcherings’ of his name on Thursday and Friday, but by the weekend, he was just Louis, or lucky Louis. He made the game of golf look about as easy as stopping the Toronto Maple Leafs on the powerplay.  I’m sure hundreds of weekend hackers tried using his technique and marking his glove with a red dot. I am glad to say that I didn’t, even though I have a knack to try different golfing aids. 

         And who could forget the PGA Championship, when Dustin Johnson was robbed by a questionable bunker rule. Many things could have been done to prevent this scenario. Of note, I thought it was uncanny that Jim Nantz, the NBC commentator, announced that Johnson was in one of the 1000ish bunkers before he got to the ball. Also, when it showed where Johnson was relative to the hole on their graphics screen, it clearly showed him in a bunker. All I can say is thank goodness he didn’t make that putt on 18. In the end, it was Martin Kaymer winning his first major title, barely edging Bubba Watson in a playoff.

         The FedEx Cup was very exciting, especially with Woods out of the final event. It was a crapshoot on the final day of the Tour Championship, and Steve Sands did a great job outlining the possible scenarios in the NBC ‘war room’. Jim ‘Loopy’ Furyk, backwards hat on and all, won $11.35 million in one day. Do you think he’ll now be able to afford an alarm clock?

         Another tournament that was unbelievable was the Ryder Cup. It almost looked like the Americans were going to pull off another miracle on Medinah-esque performance, but Graeme McDowell would have none of that. His putt on the 16^th green, combined with the atmosphere in the crowd gave me goose bumps. If you missed it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTtFh9bupCU&feature=related My favourite moment after the event was finished was seeing a ‘tweet’ from Rory Mcilroy saying, ”What a week!! Think I’m still drunk! Jaegerbombs out of the Ryder Cup! Great banter with Euros and Americans last night!”

         Just when you thought the golf season was over, not so fast! Possibly the two greatest endings to tournaments in recent golf history occurred during the “Fall Series”. Fan favourite Rocco Mediate holed out on four separate occasions to win the Frys.com Open. How about when Alex Prugh nearly aced the par four 17^th hole, and then Rocco casually sunk his shot from the fairway. The two simply laughed at each other, and that’s the beauty of golf. If you missed it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqViO_fO_to&playnext=1&list=PL6D0E4A29772E211E&index=15

         If you thought that ending was good, then Jonathan Byrd’s ace to win Justin Timberlake’s tournament was simply surreal. If you missed that, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5CvsG7olm0rom

         The year closed with the change at the top of the world rankings, where Lee Westwood is now the man to chase. Who could of "thunk" it? A few years ago, Westwood was 266^th in the world with a beer gut. Now he's a lean, mean fighting machine who's as about as consistent as the Toronto Maple Leafs being cemented at the bottom of the NHL's Eastern Conference. Tiger Woods drops to second in the world, and if he isn't careful, he could be declining further and faster. Martin Kaymer is third. You might think, who the heck is Martin Kaymer? He has also had some very steady play all year. With six Europeans in the top ten, this is a great time for European golf.

         This year wasn't one to remember for Canadian golf fans. Mike Weir had tendonitis in his elbow and has to resort to his all-time PGA earnings to remain on tour next year. However, Graham DeLaet had a stellar rookie season, faring close in some tournaments. The fate of Canadian golf may be in the future. Folks, you may want to keep track of Albin Choi in the coming years. The 18-year-old Toronto native won the Canadian Amateur Championship in August. He has already been victorious in two tournaments as a freshman at NC State. Fellow NC State graduate Matt Hill's steady development also continues.

         Tiger Woods radically changed the world of golf when he obliterated the field by 12 shots at the 1997 Masters, and he changed the game again when his infidelities became public. Instead of the field playing for second place, a slew of players have a legitimate shot to contend each week.

         There’s really only one word I can say to summarize the 2010 golf season. WOW! Thank you Tiger for making professional golf exciting again to watch and I can’t wait until the 2011 golf season.

Dissecting the Phil Kessel Trade

               When Brian Burke was first hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 29, 2008, he claimed that he had a plan for the club to immediately be competitive. His first major move was when he traded three draft picks for Boston Bruins winger Phil Kessel. There has been a lot of press about the deal, and below I will give my ‘two cents’ about it.

            In my opinion, this has to go down as one of the most lop-sided trades in the recent history of the NHL.  When the deal actually occurred, fans were excited because the Leafs had acquired a perennial sniper in Phil Kessel.  First off, Kessel missed his first month of the season rehabilitating a shoulder injury. Kessel has had a history of injuries, especially in the shoulder region. This alone is a huge risk for any person, especially for a 23 year old NHL player.

            Brian Burke essentially traded an important piece of the Maple Leafs future in this trade. Toronto hasn’t made the playoffs in the post-lockout era, and this trade was supposed to turn things around for the Buds. The complete opposite happened, and as we all know, the Leafs finished second last in the NHL last season.  This all meant that Boston would use the Leafs pick to choose second in the upcoming draft.

            Many thought that the Bruins would falter when they gave up Kessel and didn’t receive any immediate NHL talent, but they did make it to the second round of the playoffs.  Boston used the pick to draft Toronto native Tyler Seguin, who was the OHL player of the year.

            Many people only look at this deal comparing the results of Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin.  In essence, there is actually so much more to this deal.  Boston used its second draft pick from Toronto to choose Jared Knight from London in the OHL.  The Michigan native scored 36 goals in 63 games last season.  Who knows how the Leafs will finish this season.  In any case, Boston is likely to get another top-15 prospect in this year’s draft.  But that’s not all they acquired from Toronto.

            On draft day 2010, Boston acquired Nathan Horton from the Florida Panthers for Dennis Wideman and their own first round pick.  In actuality, the Maple Leafs allowed the Bruins to make this deal.  Since Toronto gave Boston their second overall pick, the Bruins had the leverage to trade their own first round pick, which was the 15^th overall pick for NHL talent.

            Horton, who was the third overall pick in the 2003 draft, has scored 20 or more goals in his past five seasons, and is well on his way for a banner year this year in Beantown.

            In Leafland, we have seen many similar trades go down.  Toronto has repeatedly tried to impress their fan base by trading their young prospects for supposedly good players. Remember Tuukka Rask?  The Leafs traded Rask, their first round pick in the 2005 draft for Andrew Raycroft.  I don’t need to explain how bad this trade worked out for Toronto, but let’s just say if they still had Rask, Boston wouldn’t have been able to draft Tyler Seguin.

            From all of these points, it could basically be argued that the Leafs traded Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight, a top 15 2011 prospect and Nathan Horton (well kind of, but it really gave the Bruins a chance to acquire him) for Phil Kessel.  Or in other words, the Leafs acquired Kessel, a former first rounder, for three first round picks and a second round pick. 

Does this seem even?  To quote Borat, “Not so much!”