THAT FURRY PROGNOSTICATOR in Punxsutawney, Pa., caught sight of his shadow Monday, giving us six more weeks of winter.
Fitting then, that this weekend brings us golf events celebrating the hardened golfers battling the weather during the darkest season.
SkyRidge Golf Course in Sequim offers up its annual 27-hole Winter Links Open with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Saturday.
The four-person event requires players to split into pairs for a scramble nine holes, then switch partners for nine holes of better ball, before moving on to the last pairing for nine holes of alternate-shot play.
Combine your scores with your partners for each nine played and teams will reach a 54-hole total.
Each four-person team must have a handicap of 24 or more.
Cost is $160 for each four-person team.
The fee include golf, food, range balls and a chance at four KP’s.
An optional honey post is $80 per team.
Cart seats are available for $15.
Arctic Open
Port Townsend Golf Club head pro Gabriel Tonan checked in with information on the club’s 29th annual Arctic Open.
The 36-hole, two-person best ball format event is set for a 10 a.m. shotgun start Saturday and Sunday.
A practice round to help golfers acclimate to the conditions will be available Friday.
Entry fee is $100 per person ($200 per team_ and includes play, lunch served on the course both days, range balls and special hole-in-one prizes.
Daily cash honey pot and skins games are also planned.
This tourney tests your mettle as it will be played in any weather condition: snow, sleet, hail, rain, sub-zero temps (it’s possible!) or even sunny and 55 degrees (less possible).
Golfers should bring all-weather gear and be ready to play.
Awards will follow right after play concludes Sunday.
Cedars ladies tourney
The women of Cedars are looking for players from other courses to participate in a Spring Swing golf tourney Thursday, Feb. 26.
This is a preseason, introductory tourney for all women interested in a fun golf league.
Players can choose from nine holes for $14 or 18 holes for $25.
There’s no mandated score posting. Winter rules and organizers call for a “loose format of good fun.”
There will be a golf clinic provided by a Cedars pro and tee favors for participants.
Organizers invite participating ladies to “freeze your tees off,” during the event.
To register, phone 360-797-3450.
Tiger drooping
It’s not a good sign when Tiger Woods pulls out a 4-iron for something other than a fairway approach or to layup off the tee.
On the first hole of the first round of the Phoenix Open, Woods grabbed his 4-iron to play a short bump-and-run shot from just off the green.
Woods took a page from many amateur playbooks, myself included, and relied on the bump-and-run for most of his abbreviated tenure at the tournament.
His worst-ever professional round of 82 came last Friday, with Woods looking like he had contracted the dreaded “Y-word.”
His old swing coach, Hank Haney, who worked with Woods from 2004-10, confirmed that the once-dominant player, is dealing with the yips in short-yardage situations.
Kind of sounds like the ending to the Super Bowl, too.
“When you have the yips, you have issues,” Haney said to FoxSports.com.
“This isn’t going away. This isn’t just a turn of the switch.
“It starts with technique and morphs into something else,” he said.
“It just doesn’t go away. It’s not just chipping and pitching. He’s blading it out of bunkers.”
Haney noted that Woods has slipped from fourth on the PGA Tour in scrambling in 2012 to 44th in 2013 and 160th in an injury-hampered and abbreviated 2014 campaign.
Johnson back on tour
Dustin Johnson makes his return to the PGA Tour this week after a six-month break for “personal challenges.”
He and Tiger will join a host of pros competing at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif.
He told USA Today that’s he 10 pounds heavier and in better physical shape than before his break.
Johnson and his fiance, Paulina Gretzky, the daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, also welcomed their first child, a girl named Tatum, last month.
Hopefully these positive life changes can keep a truly talented golfer on the right path.
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or pdngolf@gmail.com.
