What's In Padraig Harrington's Golf Bag? - Open Championship

Padraig Harrington won the 2007 Open Championship two weekends ago at Carnoustie Golf Links Angus, Scotland. Do you want to know what he was carrying in his golf bag during his win?

Driver: Wilson Dd6 7.5°
3 Wood: Callaway X Hot
5 Wood: Wilson Staff FWS
Hybrid: Wilson Staff Dh6 19°
Irons:  (4-PW) Wilson Staff Pi5
SW:     Wilson Staff TW7 52°
LW:     Wilson Staff TW7 60°
Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball Blade
Ball:   Titleist New Pro V1x

Padraig won in a 4-hole playoff against Sergio Garcia. Harrington shot a 4-under 67 while Garcia shot a 2-over 73 with both finishing at 7-under par. The Open Championship playoff is 4 holes aggregate score. Padraig won by one after the 4th hole, but Sergio had a chance to tie with a 25-foot put that just barely missed.

Padraig was the first Irishman to win the British Open in 60 years. Andres Romero from Argentina finished at -6 and if it wasn't for his 2-double bogeys on the back nine he would have taken home the Claret Jug. Padraig took home $1.5 million for the win.

Tag(s): golf, golf reviews, golf equipment, golf products, Padraig Harrington

2007 Players Championship Goes To The 17th Island Green

What a weekend of golf at The Players Championship in Florida at the TPC Sawgrass. I watched every minute of the golf tournament this weekend and I wasn't disappointed. As a golf fan you had to appreciate how good these PGA pros are.

It seemed like I couldn't leave the room because I felt like I was going to miss some extraordinary golf shot or someone falling victim to the island green at the 17th hole. If you watched the golf play over the weekend then you saw 2-double ealges also know as an albatross. These things are supposed to come around once in a great while... not 2 times in 2 days. I also saw eagles from middle of the fairway and other shots that had no right going into the hole, but then again these guys are the best golfers in the world.

The TPC stadium island green 17th hole grabbed a few golfers by the throat and choked any chance they had of staying in contention. Rory Sabatini came to the 17th on Friday very much in contention and put one in the water... and walked away with a quadruple-bogey 7.

There were many others that feel victim to the 17th, but none were more painful to watch than Sean O'Hair's. Sean came to the 17th hole 2-shots down from Phil Micklson and in 2nd place all by himself, which was worth over $900,000. Sean decided to hit 9-iron straight at the pin where Micklson had just hit a pitching wedge to the middle of the green. Sean's shot had the flag covered, but it flew over the flag and straight into the water. Sean proceeded to the drop area and hit a knock-down wedge that skipped several times on the green and landed...

Sean's golf story growing up with his overbearing father was incredible and I felt myself and I'm sure many other golf fans routing for him to do well. Being paired with Phil in the last group had to have been a lot of pressure, but Sean seemeed to handled it like a veteran pro. Missing his very short birder putts on 15 and 16 proved to be very costly. If he had made only one of those then he wouldn't have had to go for the pin on 17 because he would've been only 1-shot behind Phil.

Sean's knock-down drop shot landed in the water and now he had to drop another ball hitting 5. He got this one on the green and 2-putted for a quadruple-bogey 7... and now tied for 6th place putting Sergio Garcia in 2nd place all by himself. Phil 2-putted for par and they both went to the 18th hole with Phil holding on to a 3-shot lead at 12-under.

Sean and Phil both hit great tee shots into the middle of the fairway. Phil hit first and made things really exciting with his approach shot. Hit a flare 5-iron that barely landed on the green and came about 8-inches from going into the water. They both bogeyed the whole and Phil won his first Players Championship.

I do have to admit that Phil's play on Sunday was awesome. He had great control over his entire game especially his driver. He hit every fairway and hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. The work he has done with Butch Harmon has done wonders for his confidence and ball striking. If Phil continues to progress like he has been then he'll be tough to beat come mid June for the US Open at Oakmont.

Phil took home around $1.6 million and Sean ended up in with a little over $200,000 and out of the top 10. If you do the math then the 17th hole cost Sean O'Hair around $700,000... ouch!

US Makes Late Run In Ryder Cup Matches

The US attempted a late run in Friday's foursome matches, but were only able to halve 3 of the four matches. Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk were the only US team to not secure any points during today's matches. Europe leads 5 points to 3, which is a lot better result than what it looked like late into the matches.

Here's a summary of the US's late run.

Through 14 holes it looked as if the US were going to possibly loose 3 of the 4 foursome matches, but the US made a late charge to halve a couple of those matches.

With being 2 down with 3 to play Chad Campbell and Zack Johnson were able to win the 18th hole to get back to all square and halve their match and adding a half a point to the US total.

Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk got their match to all square on the 14th hole where Woods knocked it stiff on a the par 3 and Furyk drained the putt. Garcia and Donald go 1 up on 17 with a great approach shot by Garcia within 4 feet. Woods and Furyk just needed to win 18 to halve the match, but Furyk picks a horrible time to hit his worst shot of the day when he pulls the Americans' third shot into the water. Europe's par putt is conceded when Furyk's put for par missed.

Stewart Cink and David Toms got their match to all square on the 15th hole where Howell found the water. David Toms had an excellent chance to with the 17th hole with a fairly easy putt, but the whole was halved. Cink and Toms were able to get half point in their match against David Howell and Henrik Stenson where both teams pared the 18th hole.

Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco went 1 up on the 16th hole where Montgomerie's 2nd shot into the par 5 found the water. Phil lagged his putt for birdie and the American's left the hole one up. Going into 18 the match was dormie in the American's favor and they could do no worse than a half a point. Lee Westwood made a 5-foot birdie putt with DiMarco missing his from 12 feet. The matched ended with a 1/2 point for each teams. The US missed a golden opportunity to get the only win of the day for the US.

Tag(s): golf, golf news

Taylormade Ultimate Golf Swing Analysis

I've been in the market for a new swing analysis of my golf swing and during my search I came across TaylorMade's Motion Analysis Technology or MATT. The reason why is because I've gotten stronger and I feel the shafts I'm using may be a little weak. I looked up Maxout Golf again, which is the company I used the last time for my swing analysis, but it didn't look like their technology had changed much compared to what I read on TaylorMade's MATT. I'm not saying they're bad, but it's been about 3 years and I know technology in golf has definitely advanced over that time.

The closest TaylorMade MATT facility to me is in Carlsbad, CA at the Aviara Golf School, which is run by Taylormade Performance Labs. I went through the entire website and I was fascinated by how sophisticated their technology was. The Motion Analysis Technology (MATT) is like something out of a sci-fi movie. This technology is incredible where you're hooked up with sensors on your body and several high speed cameras record your golf swing. They do all of this so they can generate a computer model of your swing and analyze it from any angle. They keep a database of all the swings they analyze and they can compare your swing to an Ernie Els or Sergio Garcia.

The price for 2 1/2 hours with TaylorMade's MATT swing analyis is $250, which I think is a bargain considering there's nothing like it in the world. TaylorMade has been at the forefront of technology in the golf industry and have yet again set the bar with their Motion Analysis Technology.

Tags: golf, golf school, golf instruction, golf lesson