Weekend Wrap

The polar vortex has reportedly moved on and it's reportedly safe to go outdoors again, but why take unnecessary risks?

The Phillibuster - Vaughn Taylor?  I'm sure you saw that coming, but in its own way it's part of what makes our game so great:

Taylor, who hasn't had a full PGA Tour card for the last the three years, ran off four

straight birdies on the back nine to close with a 7-under 65 and won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday when Mickelson missed a 5-foot putt on the final hole. 

''It's been a long time. I didn't think it was going to happen,'' Taylor said. ''I worked so hard. I kept getting knocked down, knocked down. I'm just at a loss for words.'' 

A week of spectacular weather on the Monterey Peninsula ended with a stunning conclusion for both players. 

Taylor is No. 447 in the world and won his first PGA Tour event against the top players. His previous two victories were the Reno-Tahoe Open (2004 and 2005), which is held opposite a World Golf Championship. He just returned from South America and a pair of Web.com Tour events.

That should give Tiger hope...  Cam Morfitt explains that while Phil needed a win.... well, let him explain:

Mickelson needed a win? Taylor REALLY needed a win.

Depends on your definition of "need," but let Cam continue:

The fact that Taylor was even in the field at Pebble was something of a surprise. He is so light on sponsors these days his caddie totes his clubs around in a lightweight carry bag. (That has its plus side, Taylor says: He avoids excess-baggage fees.) He is playing the Web.com Tour this season. 

What’s more, Taylor came down with such a bad case of stomach flu in Colombia last week he withdrew from the tournament. He considered flying home to Augusta, Ga., to rest, but instead came straight to Monterey because it was cheaper. When he got here, he was first alternate, but he got in when Carl Pettersson withdrew. A revived, relieved Taylor was in.

As I understand it, Taylor had no status on any tour, though he certainly does now.  He's also in the Masters and PGA, and can make his own schedule for the next two years.  He's not exactly an unknown, having played himself onto that dreadful 2006 Ryder Cup team.  To jog your memory, that was Tom Kite's team that lost badly at The K Club to a so-so Euro team that was fueled by the emotions surrounding Darren Clarke playing shortly after his wife's tragic death.

The U.S. team feature four rookies that were supposed to drive U.S. golf for the ensuing decade or two, including J.J. Henry, Brett Wetterich and Zach Johnson.  How'd that work out?  Not well that week for sure.... Of course that was before we had RoboGolf Pro:

I want one of these, but Willow Ridge can't afford divot mix, so I don't see it happening any time soon.

Shack got some interesting stuff in his round-up, including this item from the Augusta Chronicle (Taylor is an Augusta native) one year ago when he finished tenth in this event.  He also shows us in one little graphic how Taylor did it:

Wow, that's Adam Scottish....

The Tour Confidential gang kicked around Phil's week and whether he's forgotten how to close:

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated (@GaryVanSickle): His short game is back. Phil barely hit half the greens in regulation on the weekend and coulda-shoulda-woulda won. That was impressive. His long game wasn't. He's still maddeningly Phil, which I think is good.

Cameron Morfit, senior writer, GOLF Magazine (@CameronMorfit): I disagree, sort of. He hit 10 of 14 fairways but only nine greens in regulation Sunday. Phil would normally be able to work around that, but he was a shadow of his usual self with the short game. It wasn't just the missed five-foot putt at 18. From above the third green I watched him hit an awful pitch from just 71 yards. He duffed it, hit it just 45 yards, and had to get up and down for par. He couldn't get up and down from the sand at the fourth hole, or the 14th, bogeying both. He three-putted from the fringe at the par-3 fifth, for another bogey. He threw away a lot of shots.

Phil is the ultimate Rorschach blot, you can see in it just about anything you chose.  But I'm left with two lingering images, the no-good awful drive on No. 11 when he shouldn't have had driver in his hand and that the guy with reputedly the best short-game in the world failing to make a simple up-and-in to force a playoff.

Our Lydia -  I've long noted that the girl should change her first name to Preternaturally Calm, but this is ridiculous:

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) Unfazed by an earthquake just before she teed off, top-ranked Lydia Ko won the New Zealand Women's Open for the third time in four years Sunday. 

The magnitude 5.7 quake rattled the area about 10 minutes before Ko began play. She started the round on time and play wasn't interrupted by the quake.

''It was interesting, I've never been on a golf course where there is an earthquake,'' Ko said. ''It was a lucky I wasn't out there playing because I wouldn't want to be in the middle of my swing and the ball moves somewhere else.''

Nothing seems to get to her, perhaps excepting those stupid replica holes in Ocala....

I let this from earlier in the week go until now:

Ko, who will defend her New Zealand Open title from Friday, said there was ''so much

excitement and vibe'' around the Olympic tournament, ''especially as it's the first time women will play at the Olympics in golf.'' 

The 18-year-old New Zealander said ''ever since they announced that golf will be in the Olympics I said, 'Hey, I want to get myself on that team.' For any athlete to say you're an Olympian is a whole new proud feeling, and to represent your country on such an international stage it's going to be a pretty special week.''

You might think I'll feel compelled to bring her to her senses, but not so much...  First, she's still very young and impressionable... but she comes from a tiny country and there The Olympics is still a big deal.  And let's face it, being in the Olympic Village is and will be cool.

But I'd point her to Olympic Tennis as an example of high hopes dashed against the rocks of reality....

It Doesn't Suck To Be DJ -  I had a lovely Valentine's Day with the insubordinate Employee No. 2, and I hope you did as well.  I've not heard from Maggot and the Bride Thereof, and while this will do nothing for the latter, I'm guessing that the former will find his....ummm spirits, lifted:

I'm guessing that'll take the sting out of T41.