Pebble Beach - Mayakoba

Another week yet again where at least 2 of us picked the winner - and so the skinny jackpots again. We all owe $35, the Skinny is $84 and the overall is $56. I've copied Scott Irwin on this email, but more on that later...

Does anything of this weekend mean anything for the US Open to be held at Pebble in June? Most definitely not! The Pebble in the middle of northern summer, given the USGA treatment, will have much more rough, be drier and be a lot LOT LOT faster - and I'm just talking fairways. There will be none of that pop & stop shit that we have seen on the soft wet damp San Fran of the Crosby Clambake. I can't wait and I get the feeling, that Philly Mick is not going to let Tiger lap the field this time. (Tiger won by 15 shots in 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach for those that have Alzeihmers) .

Mickelson by any measure should not be a contender in US Opens, given his erratic "go for broke" playing style. Yet he contends most years. Why is this so? I can tell you that this guy is a patriot of the highest order, and there is nothing more than this guy wants than a US Open. Jack Nicklaus is on record as saying the US Open was his favorite major because "I'm an American, and it's my country's national championship". Many of the American Pro's feel the same way and especially Phil Mickelson. And Tiger may decide to make it purely academic. Who knows??? All I know is that I just can't fuckin' wait.....

On this point, I'm interested to get your feedback on your favourite major. Is it;

a) The Masters - played at the same course every year and thus you start to get to know & love it - e.g Rae's Creek on 11, the massive putt bend on the 16th green, that bunker off the the tee on 18

b) The US Open - no tournament has faster fairways, deeper rough, more concrete greens and the most insane pin positions - it makes these guys look like us wankers on a Saturday.

c) The Open - our oldest tournament played at the home of golf every 4 years - tradition, tradition, tradition. (And most likely a fuck load of wind and shitty weather)

d) The PGA - on every official survey the least favourite major, but over the last few years, played at the best courses, with the toughest yet most fair setup. Back at Whistling Straits this year which was a truly inspiring choice last time. Can Vijay Singh repeat??

or

e) the Australian Open. In the words of the great champion Dave Humphries, "It's my favourite because I'm an Australian, it's my country's open and they serve both VB & Tooheys there".

Anyway, back to our little Fantasy Golf world.....

What a difference a week makes. Get this guys - 9 points separates Tony in 1st place at 1043 with Rick in last place at 1034. In other words, we are all separated by no more than 4&1/2 strokes after 25 rounds of golf (the Bob Hope had 5 rounds). I find that pretty amazing and it is no wonder we are all in the top 8% of the 100,000+ participants in Fantasy Golf.

The only thing separating us is that we have all had a win, except for our great mate Gordon. He again has managed to get to the weekend with less than a full team thanks to the cut. And that's "Not that forkin' foony". However, Gordon has always managed at least one solid player per week, and is thus completely in the game. At some point though, he has to jump off Tim Clark's back.

Anyway.... This week sees the best players in the world head to Arizona for the World Golf Championship Matchplay, sponsored by Accenture. I hope they have a nice time, because Yahoo is taking us to Shit Face Country Club, in Shitsville, Shitface - zip code Who Gives a Fuck.

Oh Dear....

Whilst the best players are battling it out, in our games' oldest format (match play), we are trying to pick the winner of the Mayokoba Classic in Mexico. Now I dare you - yes I DARE YOU, to pick a different "A" Class from me (wait 'til you try)

There's not much I can say about this Mexican Tryst, except that it has no history (2007 is the 1st iteration). If Lorena Ochoa was playing along with Michelle Wie, I could possibly get interested - especially if they shaved their pussies, covered themselves with baby oil and called my dick an immovable obstruction. But I will just be picking a few players, watching for the cut, making my adjustments, and watching the other game over in Arizona (where I think Ogilvy and Paul Casey will rip it up again).

Happy Picking Guys...

Humpy