Though they'll never admit it, NBC and the folks who run the Deutsche Bank Championship would love to see Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson -- preferably both -- in the thick of things for Monday's final round of the PGA Tour playoffs at TPC Boston in Norton.
That's not going to happen.
Golf's two superstars are 8 and 10 strokes back, respectively. Even if Tiger were to go out and break the course record with a 60 -- not likely considering his recent play and how much more difficult TPC Boston has…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 6, 2009 at 8:53pm —
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Saturday is traditionally known as moving day on the PGA Tour, the day leaders move to the front and the pacesetters drop back.
With a Friday start and a Monday finish, moving day is today at TPC Boston. The weather again looks perfect, so it's time to see who might move up and who might move back.
The game's big names -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, who have won four of the six Deutsche Bank Championships in Norton -- have struggled so far.
If they don't move up the leaderboa…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 6, 2009 at 7:50am —
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Who's better, Tiger Woods or Steve Stricker?
For today, at least, it was Steve Stricker -- no contest.
The affable Wisconsin was paired with the man not only leading the FedEx Cup playoff contest but ranked number 1 in the world and came out on top handily. Stricker shot an 8-under par 63 today at TPC Boston in Norton to take the early lead in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Woods shot a 1-under 70 to sit seven strokes back.
A large group of players, including Scott Verpla…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 4, 2009 at 2:58pm —
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Going to the TPC Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship? Don't want to follow the crowd?
Here are two holes where you get great views of the players and the action, and you can avoid the mass of people around the 16th, 17th and 18th holes or following Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, etc.:
FOURTH HOLE -- A driveable par-4, you'll see everything from eagles -- at least attempts at them -- to double bogeys as players try to drive the green and end on the dance floor, or in the giant trap and bump…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 4, 2009 at 11:45am —
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You always know where Tiger Woods is on the golf course.
Just listen, you can hear the crowds, the roars when he birdies, the groans when he misses a putt.
You can see the mass of humanity following him around TPC Boston.
Want to avoid that?
Here are 4 players to watch who may not have a crowd but could be entertaining:
CAMILO VILLEGAS -- Showed last year that he's more than good looks and rippled muscles. Can really crank the ball, and when his putter heats up, he's near the top of the lea…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 3, 2009 at 11:46am —
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As has been the case in recent years, the smallest turnout of the Deutsche Bank Championship is today, the only scheduled practice day.
The few fans at TPC Boston are, however, enjoying a perfect golf day and have access to the pros that they won't get any other day this week.
Although fans have been asking, no Tiger sightings yet. In the past, Woods has hit some balls and played a few holes at the end of the Wednesday practice round, then is in Norton early for Thursday's pro-am.
He'll be VE…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 2, 2009 at 12:17pm —
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Sure, everyone is going to pick Tiger Woods to win the Deutsche Bank Championship. Or they'll be rooting for likeable guys like Phil Mickelson or Padraig Harrington.
But here are a couple of guys you may never have heard of that have a legitimate shot of winning in Norton and going on to capture the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus for winning the PGA Tour playoffs. If you're headed to the TPC Boston, you just might want to follow them rather than get lost in crowd around Tiger and Phil:
BR…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 2, 2009 at 8:34am —
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If you want to follow Tiger Woods during Thursday’s pro-am at the Deutsche Bank Championship, be sure to set your alarm clock early — real early.
Tiger is an early riser and likes to work out and get his practice in at the crack of dawn. The world’s top-ranked golfer will get his way in Norton. Woods will tee off from the first hole at the TPC Boston at 6:50 a.m.
Expect that Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, also to be in that group. Last year with Woods recovering from left knee surg…
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Added by Mike Kirby on September 1, 2009 at 2:28pm —
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Deutsche Bank Championship week begins a week from today, and there's one big difference between last year's tournament and this year's: Tiger is back.
As you may recall, Tiger Woods (aka the World's Most Famous Athlete) was recuperating from knee surgery last year at this time and never made it to Norton.
Once again, the Deutsche Bank Championship proved pivotal in the playoffs as Vijay Singh absolutely destroyed the field in the final round to essentially clinch the FedEx Cup and the $10 mil…
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Added by Mike Kirby on August 24, 2009 at 3:13pm —
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I recently had the good fortune to travel to Florida to visit my snowbird parents. The weather, the golf and the hospitality were all quite nice.
Also catching my eye was a shopping plaza which had been under construction when I last visited the Tampa Bay area a year ago. On one end was a supermarket, opened and in business. Construction had been completed on the rest of the plaza, another dozen or so stores — but not a single one was rented. At night, the vacant stores were lit, a symbolic spo…
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Added by Mike Kirby on March 18, 2009 at 9:16am —
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March 1 is just around the corner. Here are 10 reasons why I’m looking forward to getting this winter
behind me.
1. Daylight — Did you know that Daylight Savings Time begins one week from today, the earliest it can possibly take place? That means it won’t be dark around here until nearly 7 p.m. Sure, the sun won’t rise until nearly 7:30 a.m., but who cares? The end of the day is when you want sunlight, and we’ll soon be getting more of it.
2. Color — OK, it will take a few weeks but aren’t you…
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Added by Mike Kirby on February 24, 2009 at 11:38am —
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So, the federal stimulus bill could send up to $30 million for projects in the Attleboro area?
That’s a lot of money, right?
Not really.
Whatever Uncle Sam does in the area — and none of it is certain right now — pales in comparison to what it spent and did during the construction of the four interstate highways which crisscross the area.
Fifty years ago this winter area officials and residents first began hearing details about the “super road,” as Interstate 95, the first of the highways, w…
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Added by Mike Kirby on February 18, 2009 at 11:23am —
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So, you Attleboro High School fans, you thought it was pretty special when your Blue Bombardiers finally won last Thanksgiving?
Sure, you had reason to thump your chest and be proud. That 14-year losing streak to North Attleboro had hung over you like the Curse of the Bambino to the pre-2004 Red Sox. Even if you had a good team, you just couldn’t seem to beat those guys.
Imagine what it felt like to be in the gym of what is now the Community School in North Attleboro 40 years ago this month.…
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Added by Mike Kirby on February 12, 2009 at 10:36am —
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I learned a lot of things at Bishop Feehan High School, but one thing I’ll always remember wasn’t taught by a teacher.
The lesson was learned in the gym, either my freshman or sophomore year. I was shooting around with friends, getting ready to play a pickup game when an upperclassman made a shot.
I grabbed the rebound, dribbled to a corner and went to take an outside shot when...
“Hey! How about some respect?” said a stern Tom Lynch.
Lynch was one of the best players on a very good Feehan t…
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Added by Mike Kirby on January 28, 2009 at 1:08pm —
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Are there any great places in your town? Quick, tell your state rep or you may get shut out of government’s greatest gift to your local chamber of commerce.
One of the final acts of the 2008 Massachusetts Legislature was to create a 13-member special commission to “identify, catalogue, evaluate and designate the 1,000 great places in the commonwealth.”
I know what you’re thinking: “That’s a lot of great places.” After all, there are only 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, giving each commu…
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Added by Mike Kirby on January 21, 2009 at 3:18pm —
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I think Mansfield High School should fight the MIAA on this whole ineligible player deal. There’s no question they should relinquish their Hockomock League championship. And maybe they shouldn’t have gone to court to get a berth in the Super Bowl — even though they knew they were wrong. On one hand, it wasn’t fair to the kids — who did nothing wrong — to get deprived of playing in Gillette Stadium. On the other hand, lots of things in life aren’t fair, and this might have been a good lesson for…
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Added by Mike Kirby on January 13, 2009 at 9:52am —
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I don’t need the weekly reports from AAA. I see it on my daily commute along Pleasant Street.
Those big signs deliver the news: Gas prices are going back up.
Just days after prices at some stations in the Attleboro area had dropped below $1.50 a gallon, they jumped back up last week to $1.69 or more — a more than 10 percent increase.
If you’re saying gas is still pretty cheap, you’re absolutely correct. In fact, 25 years ago this month, I wrote a front-page story for this newspaper which told…
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Added by Mike Kirby on January 8, 2009 at 7:07pm —
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Here are some of the big stories in recent days:
In Norfolk, police are trying to crack down on gangs who have been seen carrying knives and who have marred the landscape with grafitti. In Attleborough, police have launched a crackdown on teen drinking.
Is Kirby cracking up, you must be asking? Gangs in leafy, bucolic Norfolk? And teen drinking, you must be saying, has been everywhere, not just in Attleboro, which, by the way, dropped the “ugh” from its name 95 years ago.
Well, those are the…
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Added by Mike Kirby on December 31, 2008 at 2:16pm —
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Sometimes, newspapers are their own worst enemy.
For months, even years now, there have been stories in many national newspapers about the struggles of our industry, how the Internet and the many options available to news consumers have undermined the business.
People are reading those stories. More and more, I get asked, “How are things at the paper?” And the question is asked the way people softly ask about your aging grandmother.
Well, there’s no doubt that the newspaper industry faces cha…
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Added by Mike Kirby on December 23, 2008 at 8:40am —
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When a couple of the classic rock stations I have tuned to my car radio switched to all-Christmas music on Nov. 1 — the day after Halloween, for Pete’s sake — I had two immediate reactions.
1) Don’t bother listening to these stations for the next seven weeks.
2) Some radio programmers didn’t get the memo.
Christmas had been getting bigger and bigger and earlier and earlier — until this year.
A slap of financial cold water to our faces has changed all that.
Those radio stations endlessly pla…
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Added by Mike Kirby on December 15, 2008 at 4:04pm —
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