KJ Wins AT & T Congressional

KJ was just awsome coming down the stretch again. I am thrilled at how his swing changes have taken effect and that he has the confidence to win with his improved action. CBS analyst Peter Kostis demonstrated the improvements in KJ's swing plane, set up and transition using the super slow motion camera during Sunday's final round. The highlight was the holed bunker shot for birdie on the 71st hole to take a 3 shot lead into the final hole. There is no reason why he can't be very competitive every week with the way he is swinging and with his mental discipline and confidence level. This was KJ's 6th PGA Tour victory and 3rd win since we started working together last August. He has now moved to just outside the World Top 10 rankings. I am in Ireland this week staying and practicing at Waterville where Stuart Appleby and I will work every day toward his British Open preparation. Apples put himself in great position to win on Sunday in Washington, but got off to a horrible start with two bad tee shots and three 3 putts in the first 7 holes that blew him out to 6 over for the day. At least he fought out the round well from there and managed to play the last 11 holes even par and finish in a tie for 3rd with Jim Furyk. We won't dwell on what went wrong on Sunday, except to analyse errors that could have been avoided. Mainly, we will focus on consolidating the things that got him into the lead before the final round.

Apples, Choi Boy, Flano & Pilks

I am currentlyback in Australia. I head over to Ireland tomorrow to catch up with Stuart Appleby next week, as we practice for 5 days at Waterville, and get ready for the British Open. It looks a lot like both Stuart and KJ Choi are already as ready as they need to be. They are both tied for the lead at 7 under in Washington at the AT&T at Congressional after the first two rounds. Both the guys have had a good week off after the US Open to clear their heads and re focus on the important stretch of tournaments coming up. Technically they are both in very good shape, and with KJ coming off a win at Memorial a few weeks back, he will still be mentally sharp. Apples has been in contention on Sunday in this year's first two majors, and this is a big step toward his goal of being more competitive in the big events. I spent the last couple of days down in Melbourne with Nick Flanagan. He has been home in australia for a couple of weeks and is now ready to go back to the USA for the run home on the Nationwide Tour. Nick's goal is to finish number one on the order of merit, if he doesn't have another win an achieve the 3 win automatic promotion to the main tour. Number one gets starts early in the year in most events, and this is a huge advantage in getting off to a good beginning, setting the playing schedule and working toward keeping your card in the first year out. We had a game yesterday morning at Kingswood with Terry Pilkadaris and it was about 3 deg C. I think Nick thought we were mad and couldn't quite see the point, being that it is about 35 deg most days on the US Tour. Terry is getting ready for the British Open as he qualified earlier this year in South Africa. Cold and windy could be a possibility in Scotland this year. The only one of the group who didn't quite look ready to compete was me, so I better stick to coaching.