Play begins today in the Players Championship, but the main story coming out of TPC Sawgrass concerns the lawsuit filed yesterday by Vijay Singh against the PGA Tour.

Steve DiMeglio of USA Today reported that Singh claimed “the PGA Tour violated its duty of care and good faith.” The lawsuit also accuses the tour of exposing Singh “to public shame and ridicule for months.”

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Charges of using a banned substance were brought against Singh when he admitted in a Sports Illustrated article in February that he was using Deer Antler Spray which apparently unbeknownst to him contained IGH-1.

IGH-1 was on the prohibited list prepared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The PGA Tour uses the WADA prohibited list in its anti-doping program.

Under its anti-doping policy the PGA Tour was forced to investigate Singh’s use of the illegal substance and he was notified that he would receive a suspension as punishment.

Singh then filed an appeal with the tour and the appeal process was under way when the announcement came last week that WADA was pulling IGH-1 off their prohibited list and it would not be a banned substance going forward.

WADA cited that IGH-1 must be consumed in extremely large quantities to affect individual performance. The American Medical Association (AMA) had advised WADA that IGH-1 was a nonfactor as a performance enhancing substance. WADA also admitted that a positive test for IGH-1 could not be proven because there is no current test available for IGH-1.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem held a press conference on May 7. He announced that upon receipt of this news from WADA the PGA Tour was dropping its pending suspension against Singh. He pronounced the matter closed.

There are some problems with Singh’s lawsuit.

It appears that the PGA Tour acted completely in accordance with its anti-doping policy. Every tour player receives a copy of the anti-doping manual and the banned substance list is continually provided to tour players.

The policy clearly states that each player is solely responsible for substances ingested. Each player individually signs an agreement that they understand the PGA Tour’s anti-doping policy and will adhere to it.

Singh publicly admitted in the Sports Illustrated article that he was taking a banned substance. The PGA Tour did not accuse him prior to the article being published. It only initiated action after it was forced to by terms of its anti-doping policy.

The PGA Tour did not deem to discredit Singh or take up a campaign against him in the media or otherwise. In fact the PGA Tour has a strict “no comment’ stance on any fines or actions taken against its members.

The process was continuing exactly as structured by the anti-doping manual.

Golf will become an Olympic sport in the 2016 games held in Brazil. The IOC has very strict drug abuse rules and the PGA Tour is attempting to conform to that rule structure in their anti-doping policy.

Additional blood testing of PGA Tour players will undoubtedly be required in the future to meet IOC rules.

When Singh joined the PGA Tour he signed a contract that states he will not sue the PGA Tour due to its actions. It seems his lawyers overlooked that clause.

He has been a member of the PGA Tour since 1993. He has won three major championships and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006. The PGA Tour has provided Singh the opportunity to earn over $67 million in his career and millions more in sponsor endorsements.

The filing of this lawsuit was timed for maximum coverage and to tarnish the Players Championship. The Players Championship is owned solely by the PGA Tour. It offers the largest purse in golf and annually hosts the strongest field of any golf tournament.

Singh has declared war on the PGA Tour and fired a very big shot across its bow.

The PGA Tour is run by the commissioner and his staff, but it is ultimately owned by the players.

Singh will have to face the people he is suing when he walks into the locker room at TPC Sawgrass. That may be a little awkward at best.

If this lawsuit is structured to bring about change in how banned substances are added or subtracted to the prohibited list. If it is directed more at WADA and the administration of its rules pertaining to individual athlete’s rights then it may have a some redeeming value for athlete’s that find themselves in the same situation in the future.

It appears, however, that this was born out of anger at the PGA Tour for trying to enforce its anti-doping policy which had been understood and approved by Singh as a member of the PGA Tour.

Maybe there are too many attorneys in the world.

Fred Altvater offers golf tips and videos at www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Email him at BackNine@toledofreepress.com or follow him on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: Deer Antler Spray, Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, Players Championship, The Back Nine, Vijay Singh

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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We are constantly bombarded with information about golf’s superstars, but for every Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods there are a thousand golfers like Scott Gutschewski who are just trying to make a living with their golf clubs.

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A professional golfer since 1999, Gutschewski is currently ranked No. 522 in the world and No. 45 on the Web.com Tour. He has earned $1.5 million on the PGA Tour with 16 top-25 finishes in 111 starts.

His two professional wins have both come on the Web.com Tour. He has 32 top-10 finishes in 132 events and has accumulated another $1.1 million in earnings on that tour.

He will join the top 60 golfers on the Web.com Tour this week at the Web.com Tour Championship at Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. His goal is to move inside the top 25 on the Web.com money list to get back to the PGA Tour for 2013.

Camilo Benedetti is currently No. 25 on the Web.com money list with $168,941. Gutschewski is just $52,910 out of the top 25 with $116,031 in total prize money for 2012.

The Web.com Tour Championship features a total purse of $1 million with approximately $180,000 going to the winner. Based off the projected payout, Gutschewski will need a top-3 finish to regain his PGA Tour status.

With the Web.com Tour winding down and the first stages of PGA Tour Q-School beginning around the country this week, golf professionals hopefuls are getting their chances to make it to the big tour.

Regardless of how the week turns out for him, Gutschewski will have status on the Web.com Tour for 2013, assuring him a place to play and provide a living for his family.

The Web.com Tour doesn’t have the glamour and glitz of the PGA Tour, but it provides professionals like Gutschewski the opportunity to continue working on their games and working to get back to golf’s bright lights and big checks.

For golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, Scott Gutschewski, The Back Nine, Web.com Tou

This entry was posted on Friday, October 26th, 2012 at 11:22 pm and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back 9, The Back Nine.
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The European Tour announced this week the addition of the new $7 million Turkish Open to be played in early November 2013. Will this entice more PGA Tour members to try dual membership on the European Tour?

Several European Tour members currently reside in the U.S. and play on both the PGA and European Tours. Most notable of that group is Luke Donald, who won the money titles for both the PGA and the European Tours in 2011.

The European Tour announced this week that it will include participation on a Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup or Seve Trophy team as a qualified appearance to meet that tour’s annual number of entry requirements.

The European Tour currently requires members to appear in 13 sanctioned events. The PGA Tour requires 15 appearances.

Players can earn eight official appearances for both tours in the four majors plus the four World Golf Championships events. Add to that one appearance for an international team event and a player is at nine official appearances for the European Tour as well as the PGA Tour.

Most top golfers travel to the Middle East in January for lucrative appearance fees. They can also pick up a European Tour appearance in one of the co-sponsored events on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa.

Big purse hunters will want to add the new Turkish Open to their bank account which adds another European Tour event to the list. If they qualify for the 60-man field for the European Tour’s season-ending Dubai World Championship the following week, a player would only be required to add one additional European Tour tournament to reach the 13-event mandate.

This is very possible for the top golfers.

Can a true World Golf Tour be far behind? Maybe the “Silly Season” won’t be so silly after all.

Will we see Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson or Keegan Bradley jumping on private jets and hopping across the ocean to hit golf balls in more European Tour events?

I am not much of a betting man, but I would definitely bet on that. They tell me that Euros spend just as well as U.S. dollars.

For golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: European Tour, Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, The Back Nine, Turkish Open

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 at 10:12 am and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back 9, The Back Nine.
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We have all heard about the death of the impending PGA Q-School in 2013 but the exact details of the new qualifying process have been sketchy at best.

We knew that there would be 25 PGA Tour Cards issued for finishing inside the top 25 on the season-long Web.com Tour. That fact remains the same as in past years.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem explained on Tuesday the details of how an additional 25 tour cards will be awarded to players from a three tournament schedule called the Web.com finals to be held in October of 2013.

The Web.com finals events will be made up of the old “Fall Series” and gives the tournament sponsors of these events a new marketing angle as the last hope of young golf professionals’ dreams of making the big tour.

These events will also mark beginning of the new PGA Tour golf season with FedEx Cup points awarded for the following season. Awarding FedEx Cup points in these events eliminates a long-time problem for the tour and the “Fall Series” sponsors.

The details of the new qualifying structure are outlined by Commissioner Finchem on the PGA Tour Website.

The Web.com Finals is basically the same as the old PGA Q-School concept except that it involves 12 rounds of play in three events over three weeks rather than a grueling six consecutive days of intense golf pressure.

Players who are inside the top 25 of the season-long Web.com money list will be automatically eligible for the Web.com finals. They will already have earned their 2014 tour cards but can improve their tour status by performing well in the Web.com finals. Also eligible for the Web.com finals will be players ranked 126-200 on the PGA Tour money list at the end of the end of the regular season prior to the FedEx Cup Playoffs, as well as the top 75 players from the Web.com regular season.

The Web.com regular season money winner going into the finals will be fully exempt for the PGA tour and will receive an invitation to the Players Championship.

Cumulative earnings during the Web.com Tour Finals will determine the remaining 25 cards as well as player priority entering the following PGA Tour season.

If the leading money winner in the Web.com finals is different than the season-long Web.com No. 1 ranked player, he will also earn full exemption status and an invite to the 2014 Players Championship.

These changes will take effect with the 2013 season. PGA Q-School will be held as always in 2012.

Beginning in 2013 a qualification tournament will still be held annually but it will only be for eligibility to the Web.com tour.

For more golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: FedEx Cup, Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, The Back Nine, Tim Finchem, tour cards, Web.com Tour

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2012 at 12:14 am and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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If you remember back to January and February, big name golfers like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson chose not to play in several events, citing the length of the PGA Tour season. They feel that they need to save themselves for the big events that come toward the latter part of the season.

There is a lot of serious golf to be played over the next three months with very little time off between rounds.

Phil and Tiger are both playing this week at the Greenbrier Classic for their final tune-up prior to the Open Championship July 19-22.

The WGC-Bridgestone at Firestone is held Aug. 2-5, and the following week the final major of the year, the PGA Championship, will be held at Kiawah Island.

The players get a week of down time and then they head right into the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The playoffs feature four tournaments in a five-week span with $8 million purses and $1.4 million going to each winner.

The Barclays at Bethpage opens the race to the $10 million check for the FedEx Cup Aug. 23-26.

Dustin Johnson won the 2011 Barclays, has a win in 2012, and is playing well again after returning to the tour from injury.

Bethpage Black is one of the most difficult courses in the world and New York golf fans will provide the sideshow.

The tour then moves up the road to Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship.

2012 U.S. Open winner Webb Simpson is the defending champion and had a phenomenal finish in the FedEx Cup Playoffs in 2011, eventually finishing second to Luke Donald in the PGA Tour money race.

The playoffs then move to the Midwest for the BMW Championship to be held at Crooked Stick just outside of Indianapolis.

Justin Rose collected the BMW trophy last year and is having a fantastic year in 2012.

The players get a well-earned week off before invading the home of Bobby Jones, East Lake Golf Club, in Atlanta for the season-ending Tour Championship.

Who can forget Bill Haas’ chip from the edge of the water on the 71st hole last year to capture the FedEx Cup and the $10 million?

Oh, and don’t forget that little international golf outing called the Ryder Cup to be held at Medinah Country Club the very next week.

Beginning with the Greenbrier this week, the top players in the world will be playing in eight big-time events over the next 12 weeks.

Player of the Year, FedEx Cup, PGA Tour money title, plus two major championships are all up for grabs over the next three months.

Can Tiger collect a couple more wins, ascend to the No. 1 Official World Golf Ranking and reclaim his throne as the “Best Golfer Walking the Fairways”? Can he win at Royal Lytham or Kiawah and get one major title closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors?

For more golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: FedEx Cup Playoffs, Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson, Ryder Cup, The Back Nine, Tiger Woods, U.S. Open Championship

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2012 at 9:49 am and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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The PGA Tour has announced changes to its tournament scheduling and qualification for PGA Tour membership over the past few weeks.

Although the exact details are still somewhat sketchy, we do know a few things.

FedEx Cup points and PGA Tour money list earnings will begin to accumulate for the next year beginning with the Fall Series events that will be played in October and November after the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Tour Championship.

The argument for this is two-fold. The Fall Series events will give younger or lower-ranked players a chance to get a leg up on the higher ranked players by starting their season in the lower quality fields of these fall events. It also will provide golf tournaments on television that will be in the heart of football season for the hard-core golf fan.

Bleacher Report featured columnist Kathy Bissell posted a very informative article supporting the PGA Tour schedule changes for 2013.

I tend to disagree with the PGA Tour’s arguments for these changes.

First I like Q-School and I hate to see it go away.

PGA Tour Q-School is universally hated by PGA Tour players. The most common gripes are: It is too much of a grind, it places too much importance on just six days of play, too many good players get left behind, and it is not a harbinger of future success on the PGA Tour.

Hogwash! Competition is the American way! It brings out the best. The cream always rises to the top. The little guy has a chance to get to the top. If you want to avoid Q-School, play better throughout the PGA Tour season.

Under the new qualification system for PGA Tour membership, prospective players would serve an apprenticeship on the Web.Com Tour (previously called the Nationwide Tour). Players could also earn enough during the new Fall Series to earn a card for the upcoming season, if they can qualify to get into them.

The new qualifying requirements and lack of Q-School is the reason we are seeing the top young amateur golfers running to collect sponsorships and declare their professional status this summer. Purses and sponsor dollars are a lot less on the Web.Com Tour than the PGA Tour.

The other main change is to the fall scheduling.

The fall events will now start the following year’s FedEx Cup points and prize money earned in Fall Series will count toward the following year’s money title and rankings.

This wrap-around scheduling is similar to the European Tour’s method of starting their season in the fall.

In the United States, football starts in September. Tim Finchem and PGA Tour executives believe all of America tunes out golf and only watches football.

If you put lesser tournaments opposite football, that may be true.

Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups do very well in the October-November time slots. The FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Tour Championship are not that old and are still gaining history.

Even though the playoffs have been relatively successful and seem to be gaining momentum, they are held too early in the year. The FedEx Cup Playoffs and Championship should be the culmination of the professional golf season.

Play the Fall Series events after the PGA Championship and before the Playoffs begin. This gives the top players a chance to rest prior to the start of the four weeks of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Plus it provides a definitive end to the golf season.

A bigger problem for the PGA Tour has always been the start of the season in the first week of January. It is difficult to get Phil and Tiger to fly all the way to Hawaii to play in a no-cut, big-purse event that soon after the New Year. The PGA Tour season begins with a PFFFT, rather than a BANG!

The tour should take a lesson from NASCAR, which starts their year with their super bowl the first week at Daytona.

Start the season with a WGC event in Hawaii. Double the world-ranking points, big purse, promote Hawaii surf and sunshine. Get all the big boys to show up, even Phil and Tiger.

One thing about professional golfers: If you pay them enough, they will come.

If the big boys show up, so will the television rankings.

For golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: Fall Series, Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, Q-School, The Back Nine

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2012 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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The BBC announced June 19 that Lee Westwood will move to the United States to increase his chances of winning an elusive major title.

Westwood, who is 39 years old and has won 36 professional tournaments around the world, has never won a major.

He said, “I haven’t got that much time left at the top and I want to give myself the best chance of staying there as long as I can.”

Westwood resides in Nottinghamshire, outside of London and the English weather does not permit him to practice as often as he wants.

He accepted PGA Tour membership this year in an attempt to increase his chances of winning a major and to qualify for the lucrative FedEx Cup Playoffs.

PGA members are required to play in a minimum of 15 PGA-sanctioned events annually. To play a full schedule in the U.S. and also play a few European Tour events presents a very demanding travel schedule.

Other European Tour players that play on the PGA Tour have taken up residences in America: Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy just to name a few.

Westwood has played in 64 major tournaments and has had eight top 10 finishes in the last 14 majors.

He has been a European Tour standout and a leader on the European Ryder Cup Team for many years.

He has won the European Order of Merit twice and been the European Tour’s Golfer of the Year on three occasions.

It’s time for Westwood to win a major or two and become a certain World Golf Hall of Fame candidate.

For more golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: European Tour, Fred Altvater, Lee Westwood, PGA Tour, The Back Nine

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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Webb Simpson won the 112th U.S. Open at Olympic Club on Sunday evening in dramatic fashion.

He started Sunday four shots behind the leaders, 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.

No one expected them to shoot themselves out of a U.S. Open win.

Simpson turned in a masterful performance and posted his second consecutive 68 of the weekend to capture the trophy.

Webb Simpson attended Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer Scholarship and is just one of the many talented young American players on the PGA Tour.

Is this just the start of an above-average career for Simpson or will this be his only major title?

Webb Simpson turned professional in 2008 and joined the Nationwide Tour. He entered eight events on the junior circuit, made five cuts and had two runner-up finishes.

He also got invites into six events on the PGA Tour and made three cuts and $38,460, not an auspicious start to his professional career.

Simpson was able to finish seventh in the 2008 PGA Q-School and earn eligibility to the 2009 PGA Tour.

In his first year full-time on tour, Webb only missed three cuts, had eight top 25s and posted four top 10s. He earned $1.2 million and finished No. 62 in the FedEx Cup standings.

Webb did not have quite as successful year in 2010 but he did manage to get two top 10s, earn $972,000 and finish No. 85, securing his card for another year.

With two years’ experience under his belt, more confident and now more familiar with life on tour, 2011 became his breakout year.

Simpson won twice in 2011, was runner-up three times, earned $6.3 million and finished second to Luke Donald for the PGA Tour Money Title.

With his future on the PGA Tour now secure, two year exemptions from his wins and a pocket full of money, he could now focus on the big tournaments.

He had a slow start to the 2012 season and missed consecutive cuts at the Players and the Memorial heading into Olympic Club.

Simpson was completely under the media radar at the U.S. Open, even on Saturday night after he had posted his third round 68 and moved to within four shots of the lead.

He will not be overlooked by the media again.

Webb Simpson has had a steady progression in his golfing career thus far. He started on the Nationwide Tour, progressed to the big tour and has had multiple wins, as well as, experienced heartbreaking losses and set backs.

He is a family guy with one young child and his wife, Dowd, is getting close to delivering their second. He has announced that he may skip the Open Championship next month for the birth.

Simpson’s major at Wake Forest was religion. He is well-grounded and has his head in the right place.

It is also important to recognize another important member of Simpson’s team, his caddy, coach, and friend Paul Tesori.

Tesori is a great swing coach and keeps Webb calm and focused while on the course. Tesori recognized flaws early on in the young Simpson’s swing and they set about correcting them. Together they have developed a swing that has proven successful in the severest pressure situations. He has done a masterful job of bringing a raw talented player from the lowest level of the professional golf ladder, step by step, to the top rung.

With Tesori on his bag and watching him on the range, Simpson has a strong support system in place to help him attain future success.

The golf media always want to anoint the latest major winner as the next “Great Messiah of Golf Greatness.”

Webb Simpson is a very talented golfer who has had a very nice progression to his golf career. He is blessed with a good family, as well as a knowledgeable coach and caddy.

The next “Golf Messiah”? Maybe not, but barring injury or other unforeseen catastrophes he should be a factor on the PGA Tour and in the majors for several years to come.

For more golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: Fred Altvater, PGA Tour, The Back Nine, U.S. Open, Webb Simpson

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 10:31 am and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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Bubba Watson is at Muirfield Village this week for Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Golf Tournament.

Bubba was T-18 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in his only other start since his win at the Masters in early April.

He met with the press on Tuesday and was jovial, upbeat and very candid with the golf media.

He made it through the entire interview without crying once.

He has been busy adjusting to family life with his newly adopted son and the increased fame from his Masters win.

Bubba and his wife are still completing the lengthy adoption process because of the extensive paperwork involved with the change of his Arizona address to his new Florida address.

Bubba still thinks it is “cool” that the press wants to talk to him and is interested in what he has to say.

He took 2½ weeks off and since then has been playing and practicing at his new home at Isleworth in Orlando.

Watson expects to hit some quality shots, make the cut on Friday, and be top 25 at the Memorial.

He said his game is all about driving the ball well off of the tee: “Everything revolves around good tee shots.”

When asked about the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco, “I have heard reports that it is unplayable, so I can’t wait to get there,” then chuckled.

After watching Bubba hit 140-yard wedge shots on the range Tuesday morning, it appears that time off and fatherhood are good for his golf game.

For more golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: Bubba Watson, Fred Altvater, Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Golf Tournament, Muirfield Village, PGA Tour, The Back Nine

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 at 9:12 am and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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The 36th Memorial Tournament will be played this week at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

The course and the tournament are the realization of Jack Nicklaus’ dream of a challenging championship golf course and PGA Tour event for the Columbus area.

It annually has one of the strongest fields of any nonmajor golf tournament and this is year is no exception.

Seven of the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking — including No. 1 Luke Donald and No. 2 Rory McIlroy — will tee it up on Thursday.

Luke is coming off of a win at the European Tour’s BMW Championship, and Rory has missed his last two cuts.

2012 Masters champion and No. 4 ranked Bubba Watson will make his first start in several weeks. He has only played once since his Masters win, deciding to spend some family time after he and his wife adopted a baby son.

No. 6, Justin Rose, who won the WGC-Cadillac at Doral and last week finished T-2 to Luke Donald in England, won the Memorial Tournament in 2010.

No. 7, Hunter Mahan, who has two wins in 2012, the WGC-Accenture and the Shell Houston Open, is also in the field.

No. 9 Tiger Woods will make his first foray back to the PGA Tour wars since his less-than-stellar performance at the Players. Woods went T-40 at the Masters, missed cut at the Wells Fargo, and T-40 at the Players in his last three starts since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.

Tiger has won the Memorial four times and will try to find some consistency in his game as he prepares for the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco in a couple weeks.

2011 Memorial Champion and No. 10 world-ranked Steve Stricker also has a win and four top 10s in just eight starts in 2012.

Other players of interest in the field this week are Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, hometown boy Ben Curtis, Rickie Fowler, $10 million FedEx Cup winner Bill Haas, Nick Watney, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year candidate John Huh.

The Memorial Tournament can be seen on television from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday on the Golf Channel. CBS will provide the coverage from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Muirfield Village Golf Club will test every aspect of a player’s game and demands superb shot-making from the golfer who wants to claim the big check and the trophy on Sunday evening.

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Muirfield Village honoree Tom Watson, and a strong field make for a can’t-miss event for golf fans everywhere.

For more golf tips and video, visit www.toledoohiogolflessons.com. Follow on Twitter: @tolohgolfr.

Tags: Fred Altvater, Jack Nicklaus, Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village Golf Club, PGA Tour, The Back Nine

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Golf, Sports, The Back Nine.
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