Foursome Forecast this week

Planet Golf — 12 March 2012 by Bob Sherwin

One: The PGA Tour understands it’s no use going up against first week action in the NCAA Tournament. That would be a potential ratings disaster. So golf takes a back seat with the second-tier event, Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. Tiger, Rory, Phil, Bubba, among others, are skipping it but WGC-Cadillac champion Justin Rose will be there along with Luke Donald, Charl Schwartzel and John Daly, among others.

Two: The NCAA tournament actually begins Tuesday with play-in games. Two of those early games involve West Coast interests. Tuesday, BYU plays Iona in Dayton, Ohio, with the winner moving on to play Marquette in the West region. Wednesday, Cal faces South Florida, also in Dayton, with the winner moving on the Midwest bracket to play Temple.

Three: It’s mid-March and the LPGA finally plays its first tournament on U.S. soil, the RR Donnelley Founder’s Cup at the Wildfire GC in Phoenix beginning Thursday. The tournament honors the 13 players who were the original creators of the women’s Tour back in 1950.

Four: NFL free-agent signing period begins Monday. QB Peyton Manning, the hottest commodity on the market, has said he wants to make a decision as early as Tuesday, although that’s unlikely. Arizona and Denver appear to be the front-runners. Also, look for a lot of interest in Houston’s OLB Mario Williams. Atlanta, Seattle and San Diego will chase him – if the Texans can’t sign him.

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About Author

Bob Sherwin

Bob grew up in Cleveland, an underdog city with perennial underdog teams, and that gave him an appreciation and an affinity for the grinders in golf, guys such as Rocco Mediate, Jhonattan Vegas and star-crossed John Daly. This is the 53rd year for Bob as a sportswriter, the first 34 working for newspapers throughout the west, Tucson (Daily Star), San Francisco (Examiner) and Seattle (Times), and the past 19 years as a freelancer. He has covered just about every sport, including golf tournaments, Tucson Open, Bing Crosby/AT&T Pro-Am, the 1998 PGA Championship, the 2010 U.S. Senior Open, the 2010 U.S. Amateur the 2015 U.S. Open and the annual Champions Tour Boeing Classic. He also writes articles for Cascade Golfer Magazine and Destination Golfer. For most of his 20 years at the Seattle Times his primary beat was the Mariners. He then picked up Washington men's basketball in the winter. He also was the beat writer for the Sonics, including 1996 when they played the Bulls for the NBA title. After a lifetime hacking on public courses, he finally gave in and joined a country club in 2011, Aldarra near Seattle. Despite (or perhaps because) of his 14 handicap, he won the 'Super Senior'' (65 and older) championship in 2017. He has a pair of aces – 37 years apart – and in 2009 came agonizingly close to his ultimate golf goal of scoring in the 70s when he finished with an even 80. He lives in Seattle.