At 2:12, Tiger has moved into a T3 with a -4 performance on the first nine at Pebble.

It would be nice, though, if the TV would cover some of the other golfers. I’ve decided that its not Tiger I can’t stand; its the fawning, sycophantic television producers and announcers. 

UPDATE:

Charlie Wi finished with a -3, going to fifteen under and staying alone in first place. Ken Duke is in second, having gone -5 on the round and -12 overall. Tiger is in third, having shot a -5 and climbed to eleven under. Phil is in a T4 at minus nine with Dustin Johnson, Kevin Na and Brendon Todd.

It looks to me like Tiger and Phil will be paired tomorrow, although as of right now, there’s been no official announcement.

I have a strange fascination with John Daly. So much talent for golf, and so much talent for self-destruction. His ship seem to be temporarily righted, though. He finished solo fourth at last week’s Quatar Masters, and right now is in a T29 at the Omega Dubai Classic following a 67.

Maybe the European Tour is what he needs. There, he is away from the “friends” and associates who in the past have enabled his behaviors. I’m rooting for the big guy.

Most of the media buzz seems to be about Tiger Woods’ second consecutive 68, but the real story is that Charlie Wi went 61-69 to get to 12 under. He leads the tournament all alone.

Dustin Johnson is alone in second at -9, while Brian Gay, Vijay Singh, Danny Lee, Padraig Harrington and Brendon Todd all are T3 at -8. Mickelson ran up the leaderboard 34 spots with a 65 into a T8. Tiger, in the meanwhile, is T17, six strokes behind. That’s one stroke and one position worse than the previous day. Still if he keeps it up, he’s headed to a very respectable finish. At this rate, he should end up at twelve or thirteen under. That would have earned him a T4 in 2010 and a T2 in 2011.

He’ll have to go really low the next two days to win. Over the last ten years, the winner has averaged -17.2 strokes to par. The tournament record is -20, set by Phil Mickelson in 2007 and Mark O’Meara in 1997.

Wi, on the other hand, is well on his way to reaching a winning number. That should garner the relative unknown some interest.  He’ll also draw attention for his unusual “stack and tilt” swing. Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, who codified that swing, apparently think of Wias their model players.

Wi has seven pro wins, all on the Asian Tour, with one of those being co-sanctioned by the European Tour. The closest he’s come to a PGA Tour victory was the 2011 Crowne Plaza Invitational, where he played into first only to lose to David Toms by a stroke.

On Saturday, Tiger and Phil both will be at Pebble Beach—a course where they both have on in convincing fashion in the past. That’ll be their chance to get to the top. Wi, on the other hand, will be at Spyglass, which is rumored to be a tougher track.

Should be interesting.

At least Ricky’s honest about how loud his outfits have gotten:

I ran across an ad for an Arnold Palmer Tractor toy on my local Craigslist. Who knew?

Turns out there are several right now on Ebay.

I ran across a book of golf poetry from the Edinburgh Golf Society from 1856. Here’s an ode to the Gutta Percha ball. It seems the satisfaction of having the latest in technology isn’t a new phenomenon:

Of a’ the changes that of late
Have shaken Europe’s social state—
Let wondering politicians prate,
And ‘bout them mak a wark a’—
A subject mair congenial here,
And dearer to a Golfer’s ear
I sing—the change brought round last year
By balls of _Gutta Percha_!

Tho’ Gouf be of our games most rare,
Yet truth to speak, the tear and wear
O’ balls was felt to be severe,
And source o’ great vexation;
When Gourlay’s balls cost half-a-croun,
And Allan’s no a farthing doun,
The feck o’s wad been harried soon,
In this era of taxation.

But times are changed—we dinna care
Though we may ne’er drive leather mair,
Be’t stuffed wi’ feather or wi’ hair—
For noo we’re independent.
At last a substance we hae got,
Frae which for scarce mair than a groat,
A ba’ comes that can row and stot—
A ba’ the most transcendent.

Hail, _Gutta Percha_, precious gum!
O’er Scotland’s links lang may ye bum;
Some purse-proud billies haw and hum,
And say ye’re douf at fleein’;
But let them try ye fairly out,
Wi’ ony balls for days about,
Your merits they will loudly tout,
And own they hae been leein’.

And noo that a’ your praise is spent,
Ye’ll listen to a friend’s comment,
And kindlier tak on wi’ paint,
Then ye wad be perfection.
And sure some scientific loon,
On Golfing will bestow a boon,
And gie ye a cosmetic soon,
And brighten your complexion.

There’s an AP article making the rounds that opens

In what Robert Louis Stevenson called “the most felicitous meeting of land and sea,” the sea was winning Wednesday at Pebble Beach.

Other writers have picked up the line, as writers and editors are wont to do, feeding off each other.

It’s a nice quote, but it didn’t sound familiar to me. I’ve read Stevenson extensively, including his travelogues, and I just couldn’t place the quote (I actually re-read much of them recently, looking for source material for the AP US History Class I teach). Stevenson lived in Monterey from August to December 1879 while recovering from an illness caused by his transcontinental US trip. From that trip, and his subsequent stay in California, Stevenson wrote The Silverado Squatters, the Amateur Emigrant, Across The Plains and The Old And New Pacific Capitals (specifically about Monterrey).

Wondering in which work he made the comment, I downloaded the books’ text files from Project Gutenberg and ran a search: nothing. I then downloaded the collection of his letters. Again, nothing. Finally, I downloaded the 25 volume collection of Stevenson’s works. Not only does the quote not appear, he never once used the word “felicitous.” Felicity, yes. But not felicitous. The phrase “land and sea” is used in a couple of places, but the closest that came is San Diego.

So there doesn’t appear to be any record of Stevenson having said this. My only supposition at this point is that the quote either comes from an unpublished letter, or from some sort of oral lore from the course. My suspicious are raised, however, because “felicitous” doesn’t appear anywhere else in Stevenson’s works.

For the record, after the break, you’ll find Stevenson’s description of Monterey from The Old and New Pacific Capitals: