WGC Matchplay Tucson

It was an average 1st day of the World Golf Championship Matchplay for the Aussies at the Gallery in Tucson. Stuart Appleby was beaten 4 & 3 by the hottest player on tour at the moment in Charles Howell. It wasn't so much that Charles was hot but Stuart cold, particularly with the putter. Apples had several chances early to get two or three up in the match, but never looked confident on the greens. Charles never made a bogey, made 3 birdies and holed all his clutch putts inside 10 feet. Stuart and I are heading to his home in Orlando to work hard for a few days on his game, so he can have a good build up to the Masters. Of the other Aussies playing Adam Scott, Rob Allenby and Richard Green lost. I thought Rob Allenby would be a great chance to go all the way through this year as he has been in great form with 4 top ten finishes already. Aaron Baddeley, Rod Pampling, Nick Ohern and defending champ Geoff Ogilvy all got through and progressed to the second round. Ogilvy and Pampling both had convincing wins. K.J Choi got up for a 2 & 1 win after being two down early against Carl Petterson. K.J is happy with the progress he has made with his putting and chipping changes we have made and his continues to consolidate his swing. I catch up with K.J for two days next week at his club in Houston, Carlton Woods.

Appleby LA Open

Stuart is swinging the club very well at the moment so there is no need to do any technical work. What we are working on for his preparation for this weeks LA Open is starting the ball down the correct line. There are a lot of illusions in golf because we are trying to play a precise target sport from side on. In the drill we are working on in the picture Apples has two shafts down pointing to the target on the target line. One behind the ball and one in front and another shaft standing up a few feet down the line. The object is to start the ball on line and hit the stick down the line. Often when we do this drill at first he will miss the shaft to the right until his coordination adjusts. But after two days of practice he managed to totally destroy the shaft we had sticking up vertically on the target line. The modern ball doesn't curve much in the air, so if you can start it down the correct take off line you will hit a lot of fairways and greens.

Nissan LA Open

I am in Los Angeles this week for the Nissan LA Open. Rivierra Country Club is one of my favorite courses in the world. It has hosted US Opens and US PGA's and been the home of the LA Open for many years. Ben Hogan won four times at Rivierra in his career and interestingly Tiger Woods has never won here. This is the only tournament on the US schedule that tiger has played more than once and not won. In fact Tiger has played this event 11 times, with one of those times as a 15 year old amateur. Tiger is not playing this year for the first time in many years. Rivierra is a classic traditional design with subtle doglegs and by todays standards small and often elevated greens. they have lengthened many holes over the years to keep up with the advancements of technology, but this hasn't altered the character of the course. You have to drive it well, place your irons below the hole and as always putt well, if you are going to win. Stuart Appleby's best finish here was 3rd behind Mike Weir three years ago. Stuart finished 3 shots behind Mike, but had 15 more putts than him for the week. Stuart led greens in regulation that week, but just couldn't convert enough birdies.

KJ Choi Pheonix

KJ birdied the last three holes to shoot one over today. He is happy to keep working on his swing changes for the next two weeks as he wants to be totally comfortable by the LA Open and World Matchplay coming up. We worked very hard on Wednesday on his back swing pivot. I want him to turn his shoulders on a steeper plane. He does this very well in practice, but not so good on the course yet, as everyone who has tried new things in their swing will understand. Normally on the Wednesday the day before a tournament we work on very little technique and like to concentrate on shot making and short game. In particular, we practice hitting the shots that the course the player is playing requires. It was obvious for the first 12 holes today tha KJ was too swing conscious, and as a result, tense in his arms and upper body. As he relaxed and focussed more on playing golf the last few holes he looked good. We worked for a couple of hours on chipping this afternoon as well. He left four shots out there because he didn't get up and down in situations that a player of his skill normally would. On Friday, even though he is still thinking predominantly technique, I expect he will shoot a good round on the back of today's finish and make the cut for the weekend.