LPGA creates Japan Relief Zone
while closing hard in bids to win this weekend at the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup.
RR Donnelley announced Thursday that it will donate $500 for every eagle and $100 for every birdie made on the 15th through 18th holes this weekend to UNICEF's Japan relief effort.
The tournament's designating the four closing holes at Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa as €Japan's Relief Zone.€ The 15th hole is a reachable par 5 at 485 yards.Is the BMW PGA Championship growing anywhere close to a fifth major?
No. 1 Lee Westwood didn't come out and say it, exactly, but he suggests it is his fifth major, and you can see how European Tour players might view it that way. It is their tour's flagship event.
€The BMW PGA Championship is the biggest title that I play for outside of the majors€ Westwood says. €It's bigger than the World Golf Championships because of what the tournament represents for us as the European Tour.€
There's no denying the BMW PGA Championship is growing in stature. The 470 total world ranking points it is projected to award this week is 100 more points than it awarded two years ago and about double the points it awarded in 2000. The BMW PGA winner will receive 64 world-ranking points, a fixed figure established by Official World Golf Ranking administrators. But the BMW PGA runner-up will receive 38.4 points. That's more than the winner of this week's HP Byron Nelson Championship will receive on the PGA Tour (38).
If you are using world-ranking points as your gauge, however, the BMW PGA still doesn't compare to The Players Championship. The Players awarded 790 total world-ranking points this year. That's roughly the same as it awarded in 2000.
Still, the BMW PGA Championship is rising in stature. The European Tour is billing this year's field as its strongest ever with all four reigning major championship winners playing in the event for the first time in history.On his way home from Colonial Country Club late last Sunday, fresh from a closing 3-over 73 and a tie for 31st, Ryan Palmer called his longtime caddie James Edmondson. The duo had been here before, like last summer when Palmer inexplicably missed 11 of 13 cuts, and Edmondson knew Palmer was close to another breakthrough.
€I told him, €You're right there I can see it. I know your record is not great (at the Byron Nelson Championship), but I see it,'€ Edmondson told him. The pep talk led to a startling suggestion, €You know what, I'm going to let you call the shots next week. You tell me to do everything,€ Palmer said.
For two windy days on the TPC Four Seasons Resort course, Edmondson has led the way and Palmer has executed to near perfection. He's covered 36 holes in 8 under par (65-67) and leads the Byron Nelson by two strokes.
€All I did is get on each tee and waited until he told me what to do,€ Palmer said on Thursday. €(Edmondson) told me what side of the tee box to get on, and what side he wanted me to be on, what target he wanted me to hit, and it was my job to hit the shot. I think there is something there because I was really relaxed and calm and at ease. It came easy.€
Although it's difficult to argue with the results, giving up strategic control is not an easy leap for a professional golfer and Edmondson said there have been moments the last two days when Palmer seemed a tad reluctant, like each day when the caddie instructed him to hit 5-wood off the par-4 finishing hole.
€On Wednesday in the pro-am after about eight or nine holes he was like, €Should we hit something else?'€ Edmondson told GolfChannel.com on Friday. €I was like, €Are we doing this or not?' He's just being an athlete and playing golf.€
The unique relationship likely wouldn't work for every player-caddie combination, but Palmer and Edmondson are not a normal player-caddie combo. The two have been competing against each other since 1992 when they were in high school and play regular games at Colonial when they are home.
€If there's anyone in the world he will trust to do it, it would be me,€ Edmondson said. €We know what the other guy is thinking most of the time anyway.€
RR Donnelley announced Thursday that it will donate $500 for every eagle and $100 for every birdie made on the 15th through 18th holes this weekend to UNICEF's Japan relief effort.
The tournament's designating the four closing holes at Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa as €Japan's Relief Zone.€ The 15th hole is a reachable par 5 at 485 yards.Is the BMW PGA Championship growing anywhere close to a fifth major?
No. 1 Lee Westwood didn't come out and say it, exactly, but he suggests it is his fifth major, and you can see how European Tour players might view it that way. It is their tour's flagship event.
€The BMW PGA Championship is the biggest title that I play for outside of the majors€ Westwood says. €It's bigger than the World Golf Championships because of what the tournament represents for us as the European Tour.€
There's no denying the BMW PGA Championship is growing in stature. The 470 total world ranking points it is projected to award this week is 100 more points than it awarded two years ago and about double the points it awarded in 2000. The BMW PGA winner will receive 64 world-ranking points, a fixed figure established by Official World Golf Ranking administrators. But the BMW PGA runner-up will receive 38.4 points. That's more than the winner of this week's HP Byron Nelson Championship will receive on the PGA Tour (38).
If you are using world-ranking points as your gauge, however, the BMW PGA still doesn't compare to The Players Championship. The Players awarded 790 total world-ranking points this year. That's roughly the same as it awarded in 2000.
Still, the BMW PGA Championship is rising in stature. The European Tour is billing this year's field as its strongest ever with all four reigning major championship winners playing in the event for the first time in history.On his way home from Colonial Country Club late last Sunday, fresh from a closing 3-over 73 and a tie for 31st, Ryan Palmer called his longtime caddie James Edmondson. The duo had been here before, like last summer when Palmer inexplicably missed 11 of 13 cuts, and Edmondson knew Palmer was close to another breakthrough.
€I told him, €You're right there I can see it. I know your record is not great (at the Byron Nelson Championship), but I see it,'€ Edmondson told him. The pep talk led to a startling suggestion, €You know what, I'm going to let you call the shots next week. You tell me to do everything,€ Palmer said.
For two windy days on the TPC Four Seasons Resort course, Edmondson has led the way and Palmer has executed to near perfection. He's covered 36 holes in 8 under par (65-67) and leads the Byron Nelson by two strokes.
€All I did is get on each tee and waited until he told me what to do,€ Palmer said on Thursday. €(Edmondson) told me what side of the tee box to get on, and what side he wanted me to be on, what target he wanted me to hit, and it was my job to hit the shot. I think there is something there because I was really relaxed and calm and at ease. It came easy.€
Although it's difficult to argue with the results, giving up strategic control is not an easy leap for a professional golfer and Edmondson said there have been moments the last two days when Palmer seemed a tad reluctant, like each day when the caddie instructed him to hit 5-wood off the par-4 finishing hole.
€On Wednesday in the pro-am after about eight or nine holes he was like, €Should we hit something else?'€ Edmondson told GolfChannel.com on Friday. €I was like, €Are we doing this or not?' He's just being an athlete and playing golf.€
The unique relationship likely wouldn't work for every player-caddie combination, but Palmer and Edmondson are not a normal player-caddie combo. The two have been competing against each other since 1992 when they were in high school and play regular games at Colonial when they are home.
€If there's anyone in the world he will trust to do it, it would be me,€ Edmondson said. €We know what the other guy is thinking most of the time anyway.€
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