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By Jason Comack  August 30, 2009, at 1:56 am  News from the post fight press conference:
- Dana White confirms Couture signs a new 6 fight 28 month contract.
- White said Chuck Liddell was texting him all night about fighting. “When Chuck gets done dancing he’ll come looking for me”
- White said he won’t use 5 rounds for non-title fights even though it was approved by the NSAC
Overall an eh card for me. Of course, I went home happy as a battle of two legends more then exceeded expectations.
Stock Up:
Evan Dunham – Sure, Maximus took this fight on short notice but Dunham looked good. He trains with a legit camp, X-Treme Couture, and has a good deal of potential.
Todd Duffee – Undefeated heavyweights, who are a legit 260 LBS, and train at ATT are a welcome site in the UFC. Duffee seems raw but surely an impressive performance tonight. Keep an eye on this guy.
Gabriel Gonzaga – Move over Cro Cop there’s a new head kick master in town. Look I love Gonzaga, a legit brickhouse at 6′2 250 he’s much more then just a ju-jitsu master. Think he’s a real bad match-up for Lesnar.
Aaron Simpson – It’s a shame he’s 35 because damn he looked good. The fight will go down as TKO/Injury but he whooped Herman from start to finish.
Brandon Vera – A little bit of a slow fight but Vera outclassed the bigger Soszynski. I think a match-up with Luis Cane makes sense.
Nate Marquardt – Whats not to love? He stopped Maia, who many including myself, fell in love with. I don’t want to see him fight Anderson Silva again but a match up against Dan Henderson is tantalizing.
Thiago Silva – How quickly we all forget this man is 14-1. He lost to Lyoto Machida, that’s it. He outclassed Jardine and it shouldn’t shock anyone. Not really sure what the UFC does with him however. He’s at or near the top of his weight class but can’t get a title rematch any time soon.
Antonio Nogueria – Wow. In a word wow. I’ll be honest I really thought he was done. He got KO’d for the first time against Mir who’s not a stellar striker. He looked old and slow…but that was then and this is now. Nog looked quick, showed great boxing and stellar ju-jitsu. He almost submitted Couture twice and knocked him down a ton. Nog also showed off his trademark chin. It was also revealed that Nog has a meniscus injury as well as a staph infection that put him in the hospital for a week. That would explain a lot…it’s nice to have Big Nog back in my life.
Randy Couture – What a warrior. At 46 the fact that he can hang with bigger heavyweights is remarkable. I’m not sure what’s next for the natural but I would assume a move back down to 205 is necessary. I just don’t think he can keep fighting guys 20-30 LBS heavier and expect to have a long career. Dana Whites comments at the post fight presser seem to think he’ll be moving down in weight.
Stock Down
Chris Leben – Why the UFC doesn’t just cut ties with this guy is beyond me. He’s slow, has no ground game….he’s a one trick pony.
Jake Rosholt – I’m sorry but he looked absolutely terrible. His game-plan was beyond awful and his ground game was atrocious. Against Chris Leben none the less. Ew.
By Jordan Lauterbach July 6, 2009, at 1:34 am The Trend continues.
For a third consecutive time, Tiger Woods rolled to victory in his tune up for a major championship. This week, it was his own tourney- The AT&T National at Congressional.
Woods shot a three under, 67 to capture his third win of the season. What made this victory just as impressive as his comeback win at The Memorial was the fact that a playoff with Hunter Mahan was just one slip up away. Mahan, who entered the clubhouse long before Tiger did, shot a course record-tying eight under 62 and climbed to within one shot of the greedy host. Mahan was showed anxiously hitting balls at the course range, waiting and wishing for a playoff hole or two. He quickly learned that waiting around for Tiger Woods to make a mistake on the Sunday back nine is often an endless proposition .
It was a fine way to close the tournament. In many ways, it was the only way to close this tournament. The head of the Tiger Woods Foundation was on the radio on Friday afternoon talking about what had gone into preparing for this weekend. He told us that in April, he handed Woods a general outline for the weekend. The laundry list of obligations for Tiger was a vast one. Certainly more then any regular pro is used to on a tournament weekend. But the very last line of the itinerary made Tiger a little less trepidation about the whole ordeal. It read “hand the trophy to yourself.” While it was certainly a humorous way to look at the end to a daunting weekend, it proved symbolic. After all, despite his hosting duties, he was still a competitor in the field. The speeches and galas and pro-am on Wednesday was nice. But Woods didn’t come to smile, shake hands, and slap some golf balls around. Woods came to win. Unlike his victory at The Memorial, you never got the sense that he wouldn’t.
Sunday left no doubt. After a bogey on the par four 11th (the same hole that Tiger doubled up on Saturday), Woods was nothing but consistent. Six pars and a birdie later, this weeks host was handing the trophy to himself. Now Tiger must turn his attention to Turnbury, the site of the British Open. While Tiger is one tour win away from the “major tuneup grand slam”, he is 0-2 in Major tournaments this year. In both The Masters and the U.S Open, he entered the final day within striking distance, but was not really a factor by the final few holes. You can guarantee that Tiger takes no solace in his three pre-major wins if he fails to get one of the big titles. The “major tuneup grand slam” is fun for golf geeks like me to write about, but no one really remembers any individual non-major tournament triumphs as “great”. Tiger thrives on being great.
As for the feature “non Tiger story” of the weekend, Anthony Kim, he faded a little to finish third. Kim was a bit off all day. He shot a one over, 71. At one point during the final round, it seemed like Kim hit more people than fairways. More than once, the 24-year old launched his tee shot into the gallery. He recovered nicely on some holes, considering the placement, but playing golf’s version of dodge ball with the paying public seldom results in PGA Tour wins. However, Kim’s week should not go unnoticed. A year after winning at Congressional, Kim spent much of the weeked with at least a share of the lead. As I’ve written all weekend, golf experts tend to think he’s the next big thing. This weekend did nothing to disprove that theory. Hey fellow golf geeks!- Want a ridiculously early favorite for the 2011 U.S Open at Congressional?….how about Anthony Kim?
Next up on Tour: The John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois- Because of Phil Mickleson at The St. Jude, I don’t think we got the full “weekend before a major” experience in June. The field isn’t the greatest, but some big names still are making the trip. Defending champion Kenny Perry returns from his week off to try and continue his outstanding season and take back the FedEx cup lead (Woods took control with his win this weekend)……. U.S Open champion Lucas Glover looks to prove he will never take a week off……. David Duval is back. He hasn’t played since his back-from-the-dead performance at the U.S Open. Was that just a fluke, or as I wrote after the Open, has Duval awoken from a Rip Van Winkle-like nap….Steve Stricker also plays for the first time since Bethpage and looks to add to his six top ten finishes…
By Jordan Lauterbach July 5, 2009, at 12:10 am Anthony Kim answered the bell on Saturday afternoon. After an even par round on Friday, I wondered yesterday if Kim would be able to hang at the top. Would he be able to put a few faulter holes behind him and play like he did on Friday, when he set a course record at a future U.S Open site? At first, It didn’t look like it.
Kim boggeyed his first hole of day. The fall was on. But to his credit, Kim did not let a poor start bother him. He boggeyed only one other hole on Saturday (the par 5, ninth) and now sits atop the leaderboard. Kim made big putt after big putt to save par and make the occational birdie. He ended the day tied for first at ten under par. The round was more about saving par and staying afloat then moving up on the board. And that was all right. Kim didn’t have to win the tournement on Saturday, or make much of a move up the leader list. His round on Thursday took care of that. I have more confidence in Kim’s ability to stay on top and have a real chance to win the tournement after the third round.
Joining Kim on top is the host of this weeks event, Tiger Woods’. Woods’ round was a lot more frustrating then Kim’s. After an eagle at the ninth, Tiger looked to have the tourney well in hand. At one point, he had a three shot lead and was pulling anyway. As anyone in golf will tell you, their are few things more dangerous than Tiger Woods with a multiple shot lead. Then, Tiger did a very un-Tiger thing. He let multiple players back into the tournement. Much to the chigrin of Woods, he was became a good host after double boggeying the eleventh. He recovered nicely after the hiccup, birdieing the sixteenth and making par on the rest. However, it still was odd. Tiger botched a pottential chance to end the tornement on Saturday. You don’t see that very often.
The feel good story of the tournement is obviously that of Michael Allen. The 50 year old Allen has played in 336 events in his PGA career and won none of them. He’s the kind of guy who hangs on until he’s fifty and then goes to the senior tour, hoping to rake in what never came on the regular tour. Looked like a good plan, too. Allen won the Senior PGA championship. A great story. Never wins a PGA event and then captures a Senior tour Major. But don’t speak too soon on Allens’ PGA record quite yet. After a fantastic 65 on Saturday, Allen sits one shot off the lead at -9. However, I wouldn’t expect this to continue. Generally, you go 0-336 for a reason. Look for Allen to fade early on Sunday and end up fifth or sixth. Still a solid finish for this unlikly factor.
I would look for Sunday to be a two and a half man race. I like Anthony Kim to play well and stay in it until the end with Tiger….Maybe a playoff?? (I hope). Don’t sleep of Jim Furyk either. Furyk is two back at -8. He shot a 69 on Saturday, his worst round of the tornement. I like Furyk to be one shot off the lead at one point, but fade in the back nine. It will be hard to jump over four players and win. Jumping over Allen and Cameron Beckman is more then do-able. I don’t know about Kim and Tiger.
By Jordan Lauterbach July 3, 2009, at 3:11 am Anthony Kim really likes Congressional. No, he really likes it. If recent history is any indication, Congressional is the only course that Kim looks competent at. Of course, that last statement is inherently unfair- but no less the truth.
After struggling through what has been an absolutely disastrous year for Kim, the 24year old returned to the site of his last victory yesterday with a bang. Kim birdied the last eight holes of his first round and set a course record with an 8-under 62.
You would generally think that setting a course record would put you well in the lead. Especially because Thursday is useully a day where players are still working out the kinks of the course, all while trying to put themselves in a position to make the cut on Friday. Not the case this week. Kim holds only a two shot lead over Tiger Woods, D.A Points, and Bryce Molder.
Other notable “top 10ers” include Jim Furyk, who is tied for sixth after at four under 66, and Boo Weekly. Weekly is tied for ninth after a three under 67.
K.J Choi (+7), WCWP fav John Merrick (+6), and last weekends near hero Paul Goydos(+3)are all in danger of missing the cut.
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