2009 PGA Tour Tales

Few golf courses elicit such a wide range of descriptions like TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship. Several players were asked this year to describe the course in one word. Padraig Harrington served up "exciting." Woods opted for "tricky." Paul Goydos called it "surprising."



Geoff Ogilvy was stumped. He is considered among the most eloquent players on the PGA TOUR, someone who puts great thought into every answer and usually nails it. On this occasion, he couldn't come up with the proper description.



Five days later, Ogilvy was headed for another middling result. He has never finished in the top 10 at THE PLAYERS Championship, missing as many cuts as he has made. Walking off the 14th tee, Ogilvy saw the reporter who had asked him the question earlier in the week and called him over.

Blue Moon Rings 2010 in New York


"Annoying," he said, with no context, although it was quite clear what he meant.




Stewart Cink knew he would get his fill of questions about Woods during the Chevron World Challenge in December, and he didn't shy away from answering them -- on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.



After the third round, and another batch of questions, Cink called a reporter over to where he was signing autographs.



"Are you going to be writing stories about Tiger?" he said quietly. "Could you somehow work in there that it's been real easy for everyone in our country -- including PGA TOUR players, writers, TV people, everybody -- to whip up on Tiger? But let's not forget that we all make mistakes. While it's easy to tee off on somebody in the press, they deserve for us to remember that we also make mistakes."

2009’s Shots Stick in Memories

And with that, he reached for another flag and kept signing.

One of the most poignant moments of 2009 came on the Monterey Peninsula for Phil Mickelson's caddie, only it wasn't a tournament.



Jim "Bones" Mackay helped arrange a golf trip for close friend Bob Carson, father of Eve Carson, the North Carolina student body president who was shot to death in 2008. They wanted him to get away for a week and spend time with friends on a golf course.



As Carson later noted, it was a trip of incomparable camaraderie, a time for sharing burdens, some larger than others, and a chance for a friend to be lifted up. Mackay said the first round of golf was at Cypress Point on a peaceful morning of stunning beauty. What took his breath away, however, was when he walked into the pro shop.



By coincidence, the staff that day was dressed in a shade of Carolina blue.