It's Not a Streak

Sorry, but it's just not. Byron Nelson won 11 starts in a row, and that just isn't comparable with Tiger's current 7 "PGA Tour" wins in a row. Tiger has lost in the midst of his streak, albeit not in an official PGA event. As impressive as it is, it's not a streak. His last streak ended at 5 as far as I'm concerned and his current streak sits at what... two?

Here's my take on it: Tiger is great enough without the media or anyone else trying to make up his breakage of records. What if this year or in a couple of years he actually DOES break Mr. Nelson's record (which is entirely possible)? Will it not be that big of a deal because he's already done it in some eyes? Give the man time and don't rush it by trying to grasp at straws. It just cheapens his eventual legacy.

Where'd Phil Go?

Philly Mick showed up at the Hope yesterday appearing much more physically fit than in recent years. Nothing to get excited about, as this tends to be his MO. He tends to drop a few pounds in the winter and gains it all back as the year progresses. But one will have to admit, he does seem to be much more fit than in recent years. He may well have dropped 30 or more pounds and, according to him anyways, he's been pumping a little iron as well. One would hope he has latched onto a plan that will allow him to keep it up through the home stretch, but time will tell.

Unfortunately for him, the new fitness didn't seem to translate to lower scores. But it is only his first tournament of the year, and again, time will tell.

Fujikawa Makes the Cut

Tadd Fujikawa stunned the golf world yesterday by becoming the youngest player in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut. Looks like this kid isn't a one-hit-wonder after all. Fujikawa, who we first got to know last year when he qualified for the US Open at 15, beat out Michelle Wie and a boatload of others to finish the second round of the Sony Open tied for 25th.

I guess for now you would have to say Tadd has bragging rights against Michelle if he ever sees her: Tadd qualified for the US Open, Michelle didn't. Tadd made the cut at the Sony Open, Michelle didn't.

A Wie Bit More

Today Michelle Wie continues her quest to actually make a PGA Tour cut with her fourth attempt at the Sony Open in her home state of Hawaii. Nobody knows what will happen, and I believe she does have the talent to make a cut in a men's event. But that is all. I'm sorry, but I just don't think her game is there to actually WIN a men's event, and isn't that what it's all about? Can anyone imagine Tiger entering an event with the intention of just making the cut? Never going to happen. Michelle is a talent, and I wish her all the best... and by "wish the best" I mean, let's win an event or two Michelle, and then come back in a few years when you're a little more confident and an little more seasoned and give the PGA Tour another shot.

Podcasts, Podcasts, Podcasts

Just a quick post to share some of my favorite golf-related podcasts.

• USA Pro Tour
• Golf Gear News
• Golf Smarter
• Golf for Beginners

Unfortunately for now there aren't a lot of golf-related podcasts out there. Hopefully that trend will not continue and 2007 will be the year of the golf podcast. I would think podcasts would be a great vehicle for golf, with instruction materials, updates on tournaments, fitness and equipment promotion as some subjects that could be covered. I would love to see The Golf Channel get into the podcast game with possibly some live interviews from tournament venues turned into audio and posted as a podcast. Obviously they don't have the time to talk to everyone and put them on screen, so it would be great to see some on-demand type service offered on their website to take up the slack.

For the past couple of years I have been working on this blog in an attempt to combine my love of technology with my love for the game of golf. While I think I've done a pretty decent job, I have always felt it was a little off, that tech and golf wasn't a good combination. Sure, golf technology is at an all-time high, what with new drivers, computer programs, GPS and all that. But my combining of the two into one blog has been more primitive... in other words, if I wanted to talk about my new Mac Mini in one post and have the entire diatribe relate in no way to golf, I did it. And vice versa. I might talk extensively about how I needed to clear my hips on the downswing, and it would have nothing to do with the newest MP3 player to hit the market.

So it didn't make sense to me, and as a result I have decided to create this latest blog and finally separate the two. So now we have Tech.rub and Rub of the Green. Tech.rub will focus on technology, and Rub of the Green will focus on golf and my hopeless pursuit of becoming a scratch golfer.

All of my previous tech-related posts will remain at Rub of the Green, as I have no desire to move them all, and being tech, they're all probably outdated anyway. But going forward, tech is there, golf is here.

And that's all I've got to say about that.