Live from The Northern Trust Open

Fred Couples magic ran out midway through his front nine of Sunday’s final round of the Northern Trust Open.

For three days, the 51-year-old Couples did his best to beat the odds, and his cranky back, staying in contention and being just one stroke off the lead heading into the final 18 holes.

A dream start of three straight birdies to open the final round had Couples in the lead by two shots and looking like he might become the third oldest winner in the history of the PGA Tour.

But after missing a 4-foot par putt on the sixth, the balloon burst, as an errant tee shot on No. 7 led to a double-bogey. From that point on, Couples looked more like a man trying to hold on rather than a guy trying to win the tournament.

Couples said trying to hit his approach shot out of the high grass on the seventh hole took its toll, not only because it led to the double bogey but also aggravated his back even more.

“I swung so hard at it and I just kind of jerked through it,” Couples said of his attempted shot out of the junk. “I didn’t feel my swing after that. I don’t have an answer for it. I never hit a shot for 12 holes, a really good shot off the ground.

“Up until that point I felt good about the way I was playing. After that, I just didn’t feel it at all. I started snap-hooking shots and I didn’t hit it very far. It just was rough. All I was trying to do to get finished.”

Despite the disappointing finish, Couples ability to hang in and compete was one of the major stories of the week. How does a guy compete with players half his age when his back hurts so much that he said by the end of the day he often feels like hitting someone?

The answer is a talent and a love for Riviera Golf Course.

“Riviera is a special spot for me,” Couples said all week. “If I was playing another course this week, another tournament, there’s no way I would have played this well. This is just my favorite tournament.

“If you watched me today, I slapped it around and shot 73. If I’d have played Bay Hill, I wouldn’t have made the cut and shot a couple of 74s. But this is a great course for me.”

It’s a great week no matter how you play here.”

Vijay Singh isn’t quite old enough for the Champions Tour, but his strong effort this week at Riviera showed everyone that the former Masters champion has his game moving in the right direction.

Singh had never finished in the top-10 at the Northern Trust before this week’s second place finish. A healthy and competitive Singh is good for golf.

“I haven’t had this feeling for a long time, but it’s really good,” Singh said of being in the hunt. “I had a little bit of it in Phoenix, but it was there all afternoon today. I’m feeling good and I think I’ve still got it.”

As for winner Aaron Baddeley, it will be interesting to see where the Australian’s game goes from here. When he won back in 2007, he failed to use than momentum to take his game to the next level. His Sunday round was solid. He looked in control and he seemed comfortable playing with the lead. Only time will tell if this time around he steps forward and becomes one of the more elite players in the game.

“I feel like my game is at a different level, where I’m not trying to keep working on stuff,” Baddeley said. “I’m just sort of maintaining the foundation and just trying to go out there and play golf.”

Sergeant first class Douglas Graham and Sergeant Sara Husbands were the given the honorary duty of announcing players off the first tee during Saturday’s first round of the Northern Trust Open.

The two army officers, who are currently stationed in Van Nuys had the chance to announce such golfers as Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson.

Both are golfers, who admit they have not had a chance to play much of late because they were deployed overseas until the middle of last year. Husbands was in Kosovo and Graham was in Afganistan.

Sergeant Husbands grew up in San Diego so she was excited to have the chance to introduce fellow San Diego-native Phil Mickelson. Mickelson’s parents live in the same neighborhood as Husbands’ grandparent.

“My family is a big fan of his so it was really neat to get the chance to meet him and talk a little about San Diego,” Husbands said. “It was a really neat experience.”

Sergeant Graham, who said he played golf a few times a month before his deploypment, said he was excited to get to meet and introduce Vijay Singh.

Both Graham and Husbands were at the tournament as part of Northern Trust’s continued commitment to honoring members of the military, both active and retired. Thanks to the financial backing of the Annenberg Foundation, the tournament was able to establish the Patriots’ Outpost, a military hospitality tent at Riviera Country Club located just off the tenth green.

All active, retired and reserve military personnel and their families have been able to attend the tournament for free. With the Annenberg Foundation’s assistance, military guests and local veterans have enjoyed complimentary food and beverages.

Husbands said all of the veterans who have taken advantage of the offer appreciate the support shown to them by the tournament and everyone else involved.

“To do what we do in the military and know there are people who don’s support what we do, it’s nice to know there are people and organizations who do support what we do,” Husbands said. “It’s not an easy task leaving your family and friends to go overseas for a year and go through the trials you do. Getting support from groups like the PGA really feels good.”

Sergeant Graham, who is a single-father of a 13-year-old daughter, has been deployed four times since 2001. He said it’s been difficult, but getting a chance to come to events like the Northern Trust and bring his daughter with him, make the tough times a little easier to take.

“It’s nice for her to see people who are showing appreciation for what we in the military do,” Graham said. “It makes us feel good to get this kind of support.”

Bethany Graham, who attends Van Nuys middle school, was also enjoying the day.

“It’s cool coming out here with my dad,” Bethany said. “It’s fun.”

Since coming on board as the executive director of the Northern Trust Open, Jerry West has made it one of his main goals to show support for those in military service. West’s brother David was killed in the Korean war and since then he has done what he can to recognize the effort made by servicemen around the world.

“The military is near and dear to me, and the Patriot Outpost is a very important part of this golf tournament,” West said. “The military does a number of things. We want them to be recognized. One of the best initiatives the PGA Tour has done is to show respect for all of our veterans.”

Jason Gore didn’t feel well all day on Thursday as he struggled to a 5-over 76 in the first round of the Northern Trust Open.

Things got a whole lot worse for the Valencia resident as he crept up San Vincente to go home following his round. It turned out Gore had come down with the flu that is sweeping across Southern California.

Things got so bad that Gore pulled over, opened his door and got sick. Unable to finish the drive, he called his wife Megan who left their kids with her mother fought the traffic down to Brentwood to get him.

“I sat in the car with the heat on 90 and the heated seats on just shivering the whole way home,” Gore said following his round on Friday. “At 12:30 last night I thought there was no way I could play. But I woke up this morning and felt decent so I decided to give it a go.”

Why would the former Pepperdine star would push himself to try and play a PGA Tour event while battling 104-degree fever and chills? Simply put, for this Southern California native, the Northern Trust Open is the fifth major.

Since he first started playing golf, Gore has been enamored with this tournament and its history.

“There are only a few places where you walk through the hallways and get that ghostly feeling,” Gore said. “I walk around here and I can just feel the history. From Hogan to Palmer, all of the great players have played here.”

The former SCGA amateur champion often attended the tournament while growing up. The first time he played in the Northern Trust Open as a professional, he said he was more nervous on the first tee than he was playing in the final group on Sunday at the 2005 U.S. Open.

“To look out and see so many friends and family members, it’s one of the places I love coming and playing,” Gore said. “Being from Southern California, this is my major. Winning here would mean everything to me. It’s so special; I want to join here (as a club member). If I won, half my winnings would probably go to joining the club. It’s an amazing place.”

That won’t happen this year. Needing a big round to even make the cut, Gore came out firing in the second round. He birdied four of his first seven holes, including three in a row to get to 1 over.

But all the adrenaline in the world couldn’t combat Gore’s severe flu symptoms. He bogeyed 18 to finish his front nine and then proceeded to post a 5-over 40 on his back nine to finish at 7 over.

“I just ran out of gas. I pooped out,” Gore said about the final 10 holes. “It’s extremely disappointing and just bad luck. My chipping and putting were the sickest part of my game. My ball striking was just mild fever. But my chipping and putting were awful.

“It’s tough. I played well on Monday (he won the qualifier) to get here but now I get to go home for the weekend. My whole goal is to not to have to do this next year (not go through qualifiers and look for exemptions into events)."

Gore has full status on the Nationwide Tour but also can get into some PGA Tour events with his status he has on that tour. At this stage of the season, Gore said he’s not sure what direction he wants to go to try and earn back full playing privileges on the PGA Tour.

For example, next week the Nationwide Tour is in Panama and the PGA Tour has an event in Mexico, which he has a chance to be in because the top players will be competing in the Match Play.

“I have plan reservations for both places,” Gore said. “Over the year, I flip a lot of coins deciding where I am going.”

Gore said his wife is great with handling all his travel but his goal is to make things easier for everyone in the future by playing well enough to get his PGA Tour card back. While the flu derailed him this week, Gore is optimistic.

“My game is really good,” Gore said. “It’s going to be a fun year.”

Fans can follow Gore on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGore59.

Dr. Joe Parent, noted mental game guru who works out of the Ojai Valley Inn, has coached the mental game in golf for over 30 years. Among his clients are Vijay Singh, David Toms, Juli Inkster and Cristie Kerr. In addition, Dr. Parent coaches many top level amateurs and juniors, and is the mental game coach for the men's and women's golf teams at Pepperdine University. Dr. Parent is also the author of the bestselling book ZEN GOLF: Mastering the Mental Game, and also Zen. As a result of his writing and his instruction of PGA TOUR players, Golf Digest named Dr. Parent to their first list of “Top Ten Mental Game Experts” in the world.

Parent has been out at Riviera CC all week working with another of his clients, Tim Petrovic, who he has worked with since just before the Massachusetts-native won the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

As Petrovic prepped for his Thusrday morning tee time, he and Dr. Parent frequently went over some of the basic thoughts they had been working on to try and allow Petrovic to perform at the level he wants to reach.

“Riviera is one course where your preparation schedule is different depending on the tee you are starting on,” Dr. Parent said. “If Tim starts on the first tee like today, he starts his practice with some putting, than goes to the range and the short game area before finishing with some putting. If he starts on 10, he finishes on the range because he doesn’t want to have to climb back up the hill to the putting green.”

As Petrovic worked on hitting shots out of the bunker before his round, Dr. Parent took an empty driving range ball basket and put it about 15 yards from Petrovic. He then challenged him to try and hit his chips into the basket.

“Tim, like most of the guys out here, is just a big kid, and he likes playing games,” Dr. Parent said. “When I challenge him to try and hit balls into the basket, he’s not thinking about his swing mechanics, he’s just focusing on the result. That’s what I want him to do out the golf course.”

At this year’s Bob Hope Classic, Parent was standing on the range with Petrovic when they noticed a bank of portable toilets about 100 yards away sitting just over a fence. Knowing how much Petrovic loves to play games, Parent challenged him to land a shot off the roof of a porta potty.

“Tim goes a step further and says he will slip the ball between the fence and the potties and then does it with several shots,” Parent said.  “So I told him when you go out on the course imagine a bank of porta potties sitting on the green and aim to hit them. He went out, played well, made the cut and made some money.”

On the practice range Thursday morning, Parent mentioned to Petrovic that Jack Nicklaus was quoted as saying when he played at Riviera, he never looked at a pin sheet, he simply aimed at the middle of the greens.

“Aiming at greens and not pins takes some pressure off, and allows him to just try and hit good shots,” Parent said.

In addition to getting Petrovic focused on what they have been working on, Dr. Parent also kept his client loose, joking with him and keeping the mood light.

Just before Petrovic stepped inside the ropes at the first tee, Dr. Parent gave him one last piece of advice, to have fun.

From that point on, all Dr. Parent became was a concerned witness, following his client around Riviera from outside the ropes. He encouraged him and pulled for him, all the while watching to see what areas might need some work after the round.

Dr. Parent discourages his clients from thinking about their scores during the round.
“I do not want him thinking about score because it can be a limiting factor and a pressure factor,” Dr. Parent said. “I want him playing quality golf shots, I want him focusing on whatever shot he is hitting and staying in the moment. If you keep playing quality shots, the score takes care of itself.”

Not thinking about score ideally means not looking at scoreboards.  That said, Parent leaves it up to each player he works with to whether he or she looks at scoreboards during the round.

If they must look, he tells them to look at results this way.

“If someone goes low, you tell yourself it’s hard to do that two straight rounds, reducing pressure to try and match the other guy’s low round,” Dr. Parent said. “If no one goes low, you remind yourself to keep grinding because 1 or 2 under is going to put you in good position.”

Parent said the advice he gives to pros like Petrovic can be just as effective for us weekend hackers, who are all trying to play a little better.

The men in charge of TaylorMade Golf’s tour van are golf’s version of a NASCAR pit crew. But instead of changing tires and putting in gas, these guys work dawn to dusk at every PGA Tour stop making sure each player on the TaylorMade staff has the right equipment they need to have success that week.

Since Sunday night, the large white truck has been parked alongside the 11th fairway at Riviera Country Club, serving as a manufacturing plant on wheels. The crew consists of technicians Wade Lilies and Henry Luna and tour reps Paul Loegering and Keith Sbarbaro.

“We’re here to fine tune the equipment,” said Loegering, PGA Tour manager for TaylorMade. “We are the PGA Tour’s version of a Nascar pit crew. That can mean just checking a player’s loft and lies, or making bigger changes to his equipment. Everything we can do in our manufacturing plant in Carlsbad, we can do out here.”

TaylorMade's state-of-the-art mobile workshop travels an estimated 40,000 miles per year, spanning roughly 35 PGA Tour events.

Before the start of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the truck received a complete interior and exterior redesign to meet the demands of a growing line-up of Tour Staff professionals. Featuring a stealth new look, the van was equipped with flat-screen televisions, WiFi Internet, speakers, a secluded office for player meetings, sliding doors, additional storage space and more.

With the company’s recent introduction of its new white clubs, the R11 and the Burner 2.0, Loegering said this is the busiest West Coast swing he has seen in his 10 years with the company.

Much of that is due to the new equipment. Every player in the TaylorMade stable is busy changing over to the new R11 and Burner 2.0 drivers and fairway woods, so clubs were flying out of the truck on Wednesday morning as quickly as the technicians could finish them as they get ready for the start of tomorrow’s Northern Trust Open.

Launch monitors have been working overtime on the range the last few days as Loegering and the other reps worked with the players to get them into a new R11 or Burner 2.0 that has the same specs as the models they have been playing.

“It’s not just a different colored club, it’s an improved product,” Loegering said. “We’re helping players get more ball speed and clubhouse speed. The neatest thing about the R11 is that with this club the loft, lie and face angle can be changed independently of each other, allowing players to have a club set-up exactly like they want.”

Loegering used the example of Justin Rose. Rose wants a driver with as much loft as possible but also one with an open face.

In the past, the technicians would have taken a 10.5 degree loft driver and then bent the face open, which decreased the loft. But with the R11 they can give Rose the 10 degree loft he wants and also a 2 degree open face without having to bend anything on the club.

“On the launch monitor, he raised his ball speed by three miles per hour which translates into about an extra 10 yards,” Loegering said. “That is huge out here for these guys.”

How much these guys see a player varies. Loegering said there are some guys who come in a lot and some who once they are fit for equipment don’t show up much.

Rory Sabbatini is a player who is in the truck all the time, and he actually likes to do a lot of his own tinkering with his clubs.

“He loves to grind wedges and he wants to know his specs and he checks his own lofts and lies,” Loegering said. “It’s part of the process for him. It gives him more mental confidence. Retief Goosen is same way. This is his first week in the U.S. so he is getting refitted and we see him in here a lot.”

Mike Weir is a player who once he gets fitted tends not to tinker much but he’s still a regular at the truck.

“I mostly come in to check my lofts and lies and get my clubs re-gripped,” Wier said in between bites of a sandwich. “But I also just come and hang out. It’s a great place to come and relax and unwind.”

With wet weather expected this week players have been scrambling to make last minute changes to give them more carry because they figure not to get much roll on wet fairways.

While it’s a little crazy, Loegering said no one minds.

“We are here to help,” he said. “They trust us and that gives us great satisfaction. When a player raises a trophy at the end of the tournament, we take pride in feeling like we had a little something to do with it.”

Jerry West popped up at the driving range here at Riviera CC late Tuesday morning to make the rounds, talk with players and thank them for playing in this week’s Northern Trust Open.

Each time West stopped to chat with a player he was greeted warmly and with respect, with every player calling him Mr. West.

Defending champion Steve Stricker actually took off his cap as he shook the former Laker great’s hand. And West even got an impromptu chipping lesson from Shaun Micheel.

Now in his second year as the executive director for the Northern Trust Open, West is having fun in his quest to try and put the excitement back into an event that used to be one of the premier tournaments in golf.

Since taking over as executive director in June of 2009, West has made it his goal to restore the buzz to the Northern Trust Open.

“I feel more enthusiastic this year because last year I was feeling my way around,” West said. “Even though I have a great love for golf, being involved from another end has been a different story. “It’s been fun, getting to visit a lot of places and trying to rekindle enthusiasm for the event. I feel a lot better about where we are compared to last year. I feel good about the progress.”

As both a player and a general manager, West was known for his uncompromising focus, and he’s brought that same type of focus and passion with him to his latest post.

“I feel like we have moved the ball forward and created more buzz,” West said. “To me, passion is something you can see in people. When I get involved with something, I get pretty passionate about it. We have a small staff that has worked hard to change the course of this event.”

Northern Trust General Manager Mike Bone has worked side by side with West since 2009. Bone said West has brought his direction and aggressiveness and passed it on to the Northern Trust staff.

“If the PGA has a goal of  $500,000 in sales, Jerry wants to raise $1 million,” Bone said. “He pushes people to exceed what they think they can do. That vision and leadership has been every bit as important as him playing golf with sponsors, which does not hurt either.”

“His name opens doors, no doubt,” Bone continued. “I have seen him place a call and leave a message with a secretary and get a call back five minutes later.”

Both West and Bone are excited about the field that will compete this week. Both had hopes that Tiger Woods would finally return after a prolonged absence, but despite West’s calls, Woods opted not to come.

“Even without Tiger, we have 30 of the top 40 money winners, so it’s quite a group of players,” Bone said. “And we got some of the great young players in the game to play here. They have come in and gotten involved, helping with clinics and talking to youth groups. It’s been nice to see.”

Pre-tournaments are way ahead of last year and even though the weather forecast is not good, both West and Bone are optimistic that attendance will increase 20 to 25 percent from a year ago.

The two men have also gotten more corporations to get involved, bringing several national and international companies back to the event after having not taken part in a decade.

Bone said it was not easy in this economic climate but feels this event resonates as a community investment.

“We gave $1.5 million to charity last year and our goal is to do a lot more in the future,” Bone said. “Sponsors want to be part of something in Los Angeles. We had sponsors who went to the Grammy’s last weekend and who are going to the NBA All-Star this weekend. One company is entertaining 50 people a day here and taking another 20 to the All-Star game at night. We are selling the market.”

West, who is an avid golfer, says he has great respect for the players who make a living at a game that he jokes was invented by the devil.

“I admire these guys,” West said. “To watch how they cope with adversity when things are not going well is amazing.”