Pro Golf is in town!

The PGA Tour is back in the Philadelphia area this week at Aronimink. For the second and final year, the AT&T, is being played here because the usual course, Congressional Country Club near Washington, D.C., was preparing for and hosting the U.S. Open.

As many golf fans know, the Philly area went without PGA Tour golf for decades. Remember the old IVB Golf Classic at Whitemarsh? They stopped playing that event because the 1981 Open was held at Merion, and they didn’t think it was a good idea to have 2 events in the same region in the same year. We lost our spot on the schedule, and didn’t get it back.

There was a brief return near the beginning of the century, but the tournament , the Pennsylvania Classic, rotated between eastern and western PA.

Last year, our region proudly and successfully supported this tournament, and I hope we do it again. It would be great to give Tour officials plenty of reason to schedule a more permanent event here.

I checked pgatour.com for a listing of the field. There are a lot of great players here this week. There are some big names missing of course, but there is still a field crammed with wonderful players. Just to name a few who will be here: Jim Furyk, former U.S. Open winner and area native, former British Open winner Justin Leonard, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, former Masters champ Mike Weir, and former No. 1 in the world Vijay Singh.

Check the tournament web site for more information:

http://web.tigerwoodsfoundation.org/events/attNational/index

I hope to see you at Aronimink.

David Feherty show

David Feherty’s new show begins tomorrow night. The Golf Channel has been advertising it for weeks. They should, because I think it's going to be a huge hit. Feherty is going to host a talk show, with some great guests. Naturally, it will have its main focus as golf, but it looks like there will be some variety. For those who don’t know, David is a former professional golfer of some success, and has been a popular announcer for years. He’s from Northern Ireland, which has become increasingly relevant as a golf power over the last year. Last year, as fans know, Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open, and just yesterday, Rory McIroy, also from Northern Ireland, continued his amazing play to win the Open by 8 shots.

I’ve had the chance to briefly converse with Feherty. He is a very funny man, really knows his stuff when it comes to golf, and has had a very popular column on the back page of Golf Magazine. Feherty has a wonderful way of providing great insight on the game, while not losing sight of the fact that it is a game – and meant to be fun.

Rory McIroy - The new greatest player in the World?

Three rounds into the second major championship of 2011, and Rory McIlroy is positioning himself as the new greatest player in the world.

Rory’s performance this week reminds me of Tiger’s at the 1997 Masters, dominating the field and winning by a huge margin. If you have been watching on TV, you have probably heard countless comments on how Rory had a terrible fourth round at Augusta and did not win.

Many commentators expected McIlroy to fade away, the stigma of one bad round too much for him to bear.

I’m writing this about 6 hours before he tees off. I predict that this phenomenal young champion will shoot a steady 70 and win by 8 shots.

Will he have the longevity to challenge Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors or Tiger’s 14? Let’s face it; Nobody has any idea what is going to happen. But for those of us who are fans of big-time pro golf, it should be a blast to watch.