This Week in Golf

PGA Tour – This week’s tournament will be shadowed by the following week’s US Open. However, a strong international contingent has entered the field at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis. Three world top ten Europeans will be playing, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, and Rory McIlroy. Other notables include John Daly, Zach Johnson, Camilo Villegas, Padriag Harrington, Boo Weekley, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Leonard, and Retief Goosen. My pick to win is Lee Westwood. He finished in the top ten in his two previous Euro Tour starts. He has been in serious contention in quite a few majors the past couple years, and a win at Southwind would only increase his stock. David Toms will be my sleeper pick this week. He is coming off his best finish of the season, and he always performs well at the St. Jude Classic. The action from Memphis will be seen on CBS.



US Open Qualifiers – Our country’s national golf championship is a tournament any pro or amateur can get into. A handful of the world’s best receive exemptions into the field. However, most golfers must survive a few rounds of qualifying to make it to the final 72 holes that we see on television. Over 9,000 golfers entered local qualifying events hosted at over 100 sites across the nation in early May. PGA Tour members teed it up along side club pros, college players, amateurs, Tony Romo, John Smoltz, and others. This past Monday was sectional qualifying day when players dueled it out for a small number of spots at fifteen various locations. Some of the more notable survivors that clinched their places in the final US Open field include Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Ben Curtis, Ty Tryon, Jason Gore, and Scott Langley. Scott led the University of Illinois men’s team to this season’s Big Ten title. He then went on to be the top individual medalist at the NCAA championship medal play portion. Last week’s Memorial champion, Justin Rose, and Rickie Fowler failed to qualify in Columbus.