Green Reading

Long Bay Club residents salute veterans at tourney

A group of Long Bay Club residents continued their five-year tradition Friday of paying homage to U.S. veterans during the 29th annual National Retired Military Golf Classic, which runs through Saturday.

When the retired military veterans playing Long Bay reach the 14th tee they'll see how they are being celebrated.

Residents congregated behind Jim and Theresa Watson’s home to share one message: Thank you. And the community adds to its message by painting a big American flag in the fairway and offering breakfast and lunch to the golfers on the 376-yard par 4 throughout the day.

The fairway is decorated with a 40’x22’ American flag that is painted three days in advance, using 12 gallons of red, white and blue paint. And when each of the 62 groups reaches its best drive in the captain’s choice (scramble) format, roughly 175 residents are waiting on the left side of the hole to give them a loud round of applause and offer refreshments and something to eat.

In addition to saying thank you, the community raised roughly $2,000 last year for veterans programs.

The tournament is touted as the largest and longest-running golf event for retired military in the world. The men’s competition uses three Myrtle Beach National courses and Long Bay Club, while the women’s competition is being conducted at Aberdeen Country Club.

 

Johnson out of practice with tour routine

The Associated Press caught up to Dustin Johnson on Tuesday as he prepares for his first PGA Tour event since March 11, and got a few comments from him regarding his return.

It's obvious he's been away from the tour for awhile.

The AP's account:

He was on the putting green at Muirfield Village with his light blue shirt untucked. It was a sure sign that he had not been at a PGA Tour event in nearly three months, only it had nothing to do with a dress code.

"I forgot to pack my belts," he said.

Johnson last played at Doral the second week of March. Coming off minor knee surgery in the offseason, he tweaked his back early in the year, and then injured it the weekend before the Masters while pushing a jet ski out of the water.

"And then when I went to try to play golf the next day, that was when I knew it was injured badly and I was not going to be able to play," Johnson said.

He sat out for two months, wanting to make sure it was completely healthy. Now he has fallen to 24th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. He was fourth at the start of the season.

"I just have to play good golf," he said. "Probably wouldn't hurt if I won a tournament between now and then. That would definitely help. I'm just going to have to get in contention a few times and have some high finishes and play good in the U.S. Open and PGA."

Johnson's record in team play is 2-6-1 in the last Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, though he badly wants to be part of the Ryder Cup team at Medinah.

"I want to be on the team and I'm going to do whatever I can to make it," he said. "Obviously, having a couple months off hurts a little bit, but I've still got plenty of time to make the team."

PGA should follow LPGA's lead on slow play

The PGA Tour needs to take a page from the LPGA’s rule book.

In the semifinal match of the Sybase Match Play Championship between Morgan Pressel and Azahara Munoz on Sunday, Pressel was penalized a hole for violating the LPGA Tour’s pace of play policy.

Pressel and Munoz had been informed they were on the clock for slow play two holes prior to the penalty on the 10^th hole, and Pressel still took too long to play her shots on the 12^th, resulting in the penalty.

Pressel won the hole and would have gone 3 up with six holes to play, and was likely headed to the
championship match. Instead, Munoz, who is a notoriously slow player and was probably responsible for the twosome being put on the clock, won the hole to pull just one hole down and eventually won the match.

Slow play is a chronic problem on the PGA Tour, and the tour does very little about it. If you don’t think it’s a problem, ask players on the tour. They tend to get rather effusive on that topic.

The last player to reportedly receive a one-stroke penalty on the PGA Tour for slow play was Glen Day in 1995. That’s hardly a deterrent to slow play, which adversely affects the players who play at the pace the game is meant to be played, including most of the game’s top players.

Somehow Kevin Na was never penalized a stroke despite taking more than a minute to hit several shots in the final two rounds of the Players Championship.

I wondered where rules officials were in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte a few weeks ago. I was following Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points – Points isn’t exactly speedy – in the penultimate group.

After they played the 13^thhole, I waited for the final twosome to reach the tee box. And I waited, and waited, and waited.

The final twosome of Webb Simpson, one of the tour’s slowest players, and Ryan Moore was a full two holes behind. If that’s not out of position, I don’t know what is.

And it’s not necessary, as the LPGA knows.

BMW Charity Pro-Am featured crazy finish

If you didn’t catch the finish to the Nationwide Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation at Thornblade Club in Greenville, Nick Flanagan pulled off a crazy victory over fellow Australian Cameron Percy.

Needing a birdie on the 72nd hole to tie Percy, who had just bogeyed the hole, Flanagan airmailed the green from about 190 yards. But tThe ball hit a cameraman behind the green, then caromed back onto the green, skirting past the hole.

He drained the resulting 15-footer to force a playoff, which Flanagan won on the third hole by getting up and down for par from a greenside bunker while Cameron was making a sloppy double bogey.

ESPN placed Flanagan’s miracle birdie on the 72^nd hole at No. 4 in its top 10 “Plays of the Week” segment on Sunday night and Monday morning.

Flanagan, 27, also won the BMW in 2007.

He was 19 when he defeated Casey Wittenberg in 37 holes at Oakmont Country Club to win the 2003 U.S. Amateur. Four years later he would earn a Nationwide Tour battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour with three wins, but after making 16 cuts in 29 starts in 2008, he failed to retain his card.

The crazy finish has Flanagan on his way to getting back on the PGA Tour.

Barefoot has eventful week planned with Fallen Angels tourney

The second annual Fallen Angels Charity Golf Tournament Thursday and Friday (May 24-25) at Barefoot Resort’s Fazio and Love courses gives players the option of participating for one or two days. The first round is on the Fazio Course and the second is on the Love Course.

The event has several unique features, including a flyover by two air medical transport helicopters and a third helicopter on display, the presence of the air medical honor guard accompanied by members of honor guards from the Grand Strand and a bagpiper. Flight crew members in uniform will be volunteering and long driver Tom Garber will be participating Friday.

The entry fee is $365 per player including a three-night stay in a Barefoot Resort golf villa and all activities. The cost without accommodations is $240 per player two rounds and $135 per player for one round, and that day’s accompanying activities. Foursome registration is discounted slightly.

The tournament includes an open-bar welcome reception on May 23 at Docksiders Bar & Grill, Fallen Angels ceremony, buffet, open bar and live music beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday at Docksiders, and an open-bar awards party Friday at Docksiders. Breakfast is included at the clubhouse both days and there will be a bloody mary and cocktail bar Friday morning. A silent auction Thursday will include memorabilia and music items.

Tee times begin around 10 a.m. Thursday and noon Friday. The registration deadline is Tuesday.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the non-profit Air Medical Memorial that honors those who have lost their lives or were injured in air medical transport accidents. It assists accident survivors in rebuilding their lives, promotes air medical transport safety, and is building the Air Medical Memorial & Survivors Garden, which will be located just outside Denver, Colo.

Visit www.fallenangelsgolf.org, call 720-340-2040, call Barefoot Resort at 843-390-3200 or email info@airmedicalmemorial.com for more information.