Tiger Woods skipping first FedEx Cup playoff event at The Barclays

The world's No. 1-ranked player, who had said previously that he "intended" to play in all four FedEx Cup events, announced Aug. 17 that he was skipping The Barclays, which starts Thursday at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. In a statement posted on Woods' Web site, he said he simply wasn't ready to return to tournament play.

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Robert Baker gives online lessons to golfers.

With a simple You Tube style upload, any hacker can now improve their golf game by studying the video response to their swing from Golf Magazines top 100 teacher Robert Baker. Robert has taught 5 world number one tour players

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Guide du Golf : Un week-end golf, un voyage d’affaires, un tournoi de golf…

Golf Rendez-vous, un séjour golfique réussi dans la région Nord Pas de Calais et la Flandre Occidentale en Belgique. Liste complête des Golfs et informations pratiques, les Hôtels, la gastronomie, les musées…

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How Many Golf Stats Do The PGA Track?

A Lot! Technology used to collect the massive amount of data collected on the PGA tour is mind boggling. Talk about info overload!

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Learn How to Easily Add 50 Yards to Your Drive and Lower Your Golf Score

Learn how to add distance to your drives with great golf swing tips and instructions.

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Golf: Akhmal beats Taiwan’s Hsu in sudden-death playoff

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's Akhmal Tarmizi Nazari maintained his cool throughout a nail-biting sudden-death playoff against Taiwanese Hsu Hao-sheng to wrest the 100Plus Malaysian Junior Open title at the Saujana Golf and Country Club here yesterday.
Both Akhmal and Hao-sheng, who started the day on 142, carded three-over 75s for a total of 217.
The 17-year-old Akhmal performed remarkably to recover from a four-stroke deficit against Hao-sheng at the 11th hole. He fired two consecutive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes while Hao-sheng was undone by a double bogey on the 12th.
The Malaysian could have clinched the title earlier but for a bogey on the par-four 18th hole. In the playoff, Akhmal pushed for a birdie but missed a 10-footer to par the hole. Hao-sheng shot a bogey.
“I wasn’t even thinking about beating my opponent. All I was thinking about was how best to play the hole,” said a jubilant Akhmal.

Cool Akhmal: Malaysia’s Akhmal Tarmizi Nazari (left) kept his cool to edge Taiwan’s Taiwanese Hsu Hao-sheng in a sudden-death playoff to wrest the 100Plus Malaysian Junior Open title at the Saujana Golf and Country Club on Wednesday. The Philippines’ Chihiro Ikeda (right) claimed the girls’ title.“My drive from the tee found the rough on the left of the hole. But my approach shot landed about 10 feet from the hole. I had the comfort of knowing that I had two strokes to make par and win the title ? and that was just what I did.”
Hao-sheng said that the sweltering conditions did not bother him but was let down by his putting.
In the girls division, Chihiro Ikeda and Mia Piccio of the Philippines took the top two spots.
Chihiro shot a four-over 76 for a total of 218 while overnight leader Mia carded a poor 78 to finish one stroke behind.
Malaysia’s Amanda Chin finished in joint third place with another Filipina, Cyna Rodriguez, on 222.
Chihiro said that the win was totally unexpected.
“I came here without any targets but to gain the experience but it feels really good to win the overall title. I will be heading to Indonesia at the end of the month to play a junior event,” said the 16-year-old Chihiro,
Defending champion Michelle Koh of Malaysia settled for joint fifth spot on 224.

This week in golf

Five things to look for on the professional golf scene:1 The playoffs begin today, or at least the PGA Tour's version of a golf playoff system, and it's probably a little short-sighted that there's more focus on who's not playing than who is.Chances are that's going to change, but Tiger Woods' absence from the Barclays, the first of the $63-million, four-tournament FedEx Cup playoff chase, hasn't helped the concept get much lift in its debut.One way to look at it: When they start playing, he won't be a distraction. Maybe some of the weekend will be spent trying to figure out how the FedEx Cup scenario will work out and whether the players, media and fans understand any more about it than they have been letting on, which isn't much.The FedEx Cup might not be the best idea in the history of golf, but it could be just fine once it plays out, so everyone should stop bashing it even before it begins. It's going to rise or fall by itself.2 Handicapping the FedEx Cup playoffs, it might be worth noting that Vijay Singh has won on three of the four tournament courses -- a total of five times. Singh opens as the No. 2-seeded player with 99,000 points, 1,000 points behind Woods. The points were re-set after the Wyndham.Also, No. 3 Jim Furyk has never played in the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of the four events, and neither has No. 4 Phil Mickelson. The BMW Championship is the third event and the Tour Championship the last in the playoffs.3 Woods is taking some serious heat in the New York Post, which called him "selfish," and said his missing the Barclays at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., was "slapping the PGA Tour across its cheek" and he had placed the future success of the FedEx Cup playoffs in peril.That's probably not enough to interrupt Tiger's tranquillity on his yacht. But "selfish?" Does anyone really think the pros would be playing four consecutive tournaments with at least $7 million in prize money, with $35 million in bonuses if Woods weren't around to drive up the interest in golf?4 It has happened only eight times before -- a player winning three tournaments on the Nationwide Tour and being promoted directly to the PGA Tour -- but that's what Nick Flanagan did. Flanagan, the 2003 U.S. Amateur champion and a 23-year-old Australian, won his third event of the year, the Xerox Classic, over the weekend. That means he is conditionally exempt on the PGA Tour the rest of 2007 and fully exempt in 2008.But as hot as Flanagan is, here's something to cool him off: Because the FedEx Cup playoffs are just getting underway, he must wait a month before there are any PGA Tour events he can enter.5 Pat Hurst is the defending champion and Natalie Gulbis (who won the Evian Masters) and Michelle Wie (who is having trouble making cuts) are in the field, but Lorena Ochoa is still the player to watch at the Safeway Classic. Ochoa, who has won five times this year, won the Women's British Open and the Canadian Women's Open in back-to-back tournaments and could be the first player to win three straight since Annika Sorenstam two years ago.