 |
2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
The 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans is being played at the TPC Louisiana. The 2007 champion was Nick Watney. It is the last PGA tournament for the month of March. A Rich History New Orleans has had a great history of PGA Tour golf. There are many great names who have been champions, and even more great names that have been runner up. The tournament has changed names a dozen times. It started off as the Southern (Spring) Open where the winner was Gene Sarazen. Could you have a better first champion in the 1920’s than Mr. Sarazen? The event was not played again until 1938 as the Crescent City Open. It then became a regular stop in the 1940’s as the New Orleans Open. Byron Nelson won twice during that stretch, and Ben Hogan was a two time runner up. In 1958 the tournament became the Greater New Orleans Open Invitational for the next 13 years. In 1972 it dropped the Invitational from the name. Since 1975 the tournament has changed names 11 times. The current version is the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This has been the name since 2005, with the winners being; Tim Petrovic, Chris Couch and Nick Watney. The 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans The TPC of Louisiana is another Pete Dye TPC. It is not as famous as the TPC of Sawgrass…but what course could be? Still this course is another great Championship design by Mr. Dye. It is a 7,341 yard par 72 track for the pros. It could be stretched to over 7500 yards if necessary. One of the key features to this golf course design is that most of the green side bunkers do not border the greens. They are actually set back from the greens, and there are chipping areas between the bunkers and the greens. Therefore, if a player hits into one of these sand traps they will faced with a much longer explosion shot than you will typically see. Pete Dye was also trying to create optical illusions with those traps, so the player will also have to trust his yardage because the approaches will be visually deceiving. The Last Three Holes The layout makes for a great tournament as the last three holes give choices that can provide great reward, but could also be a costly risk. The 16th is a par 4 that has been shortened by 80 yards! That is unheard of in the era of course lengthening and long bomb tee shots. However at 348 yards do you pull driver or lay up with a middle iron? If you hit driver you must avoid fairway bunkers, overhanging trees, and water to the front and left of the green. The 17th is a long par three over 215 yards. The newly reshaped green will be unfamiliar to most players and that will make birdie harder especially down the stretch. The 18th has seen the most changes but it is now a risk reward par 5. Dye actually reduced the amount of trouble to tempt the players to go after the green in two shots. It will be fun to see if that works, and how many players take the bait. See you on Saturday! Remember to check back here Saturday morning before you watch the golf on the weekend, for tips on the tour players that are in the lead of the event. Take your watching to the next level by seeing particular skills the leaders will perform and learning from them. The 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a tight race after 2 rounds. Briny Baird is the leader at -8, but close behind is this set of players.
All are previous PGA Tour winners, and Watney is the defending champion this week. I think that these three players will be featured in the 2008 Zurich Classic by the network during Saturday and Sunday’s telecast, so long as they don’t drop wildly out of contention. Here are a couple of things to look for from these players this weekend. Peter Lonard – 2008 Zurich Classic ‘Golf is a game of rhythm’. ‘Tempo is so important.’ We have heard this many times, and I am sure we will hear it for many more years to come. The question is…what does that really mean? It means you want to keep your body moving the same speed throughout your entire golf swing. Everyone has their own tempo. Some players are faster than others when they swing. That is why Ernie Els (the Big Easy-slow swing), can hit it just has far and consistently as Peter Lonard (fast swing). In most sports, change of speed is the key to success. Football, car racing, hockey, and basketball all use change of speed effectively. A player will start slow and then try and catch the opponent of guard by suddenly going faster. In golf, change of speed will ruin you. You don’t want to start your body slow and then suddenly go as fast as you can. That kind of change will jerk your club out of position and you will lose speed and good ball contact. Nor do you want to start fast and slow down. The key to golf tempo is to have your body move the same speed throughout the swing. I promise that your club head will move faster as it reaches the ball and you will hit longer and straighter shots. Peter Lonard is a fast tempo player. When you watch take note of the speed that he swings and how consistent it is throughout his entire move through the ball. Don’t try to copy his speed…use your speed but copy his consistency. Nick Watney – 2008 Zurich Classic Last year’s champion is having another good run at the tournament. He has a modern yet simple golf swing. The best thing you can learn from Watney is during his back swing. Watch his right leg. From just below his hip bone to his toes his leg does not move. It is rock solid. His hip turns but his leg stays where is started. This is to help him create great power and consistency. If your right leg straightens it will raise your right hip which then raises your right shoulder and that will get your club off line. If your right leg moves sideways then you are going to have to slide back into position to hit a good shot. Remember, any movement up or down or side to side with your body, will have the same effect on your club. This will move your club off the line that it started, which means you are going to have to find a way to get it back on line before you reach contact with your golf ball. That is too hard to do consistently. When they show Watney, focus on his right leg in his backswing and try to copy that into your own game. For more information on the back swing, please click here to go to tip #5 of The Driver section. Shigeki Maruyama – 2008 Zurich Classic Maruyama is not the tallest player on tour. According to his PGA Tour profile he is 5’7”, but he can still hit it out there with some of the big boys. His game starts with his set up. You want to be ‘tall’ at address, especially if you are not overly tall to begin with. I stand at 6’5”, but I still try and keep my height during my setup. It is the best way to keep your club on line and help generate width and height in your swing for power. When they show his shots in the 2008 Zurich Classic from down the line (the camera is behind the golf ball and pointing down the fairway), look at how tall he stands. He still has his knees bent and there is a small bend at his hips, but he is not hunched over. Look at how straight his back and shoulders are…that is a great way to maintain your height in your setup. For more on a great setup, please click here to look at the "Learn the Basics" section and the Full Setup for the Driver. Please note that because of our natural height difference our setups will be a little different, but the concepts are the same. Good luck with your practicing, playing, and watching. I hope you enjoy the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. May you ‘Play Your Golf Dreams’ sooner with the help of Free-Golf-Lessons.com. Return the main PGA Tour page from the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Return to the Home Page from the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
|
