- May 4, 2009
- Posted by Gerald Goodman
Since I last checked in with you, we've had a few things of interest going on around here.
We had an evening meeting on April 22 to wrap up the 2009 tournament. Dick Dailey from our board put together a great video that showed just how special our tournament was this year.
The meeting marked the changing of the guard with our board. Peter Jones, who has been an exemplary general chairman for the last two years, saw his term end to the accompaniement of a standing ovation. He did a great job to keep us going in the days before we found Transitions as our sponsor.
Bob Banks is the new general chairman. He's been active on the board for several years, so he knows exactly what's going on. We look forward to working with Bob.
Brett Craig and David Cole from Transitions spoke at the meeting, and they were both very excited both about what we have accomplished, as well as where we are heading.
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Congratulations to Sean O'Hair, our 2008 champion. He was unable to defend his title on the Copperhead this year, but he just added another victory to his collection with his win at the Quail Hollow Championship. Having been successful on our course and at Quail Hollow, this young man has shown the kind of game that can go a long way at a Major Championship like the U.S. Open.
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I have a big week ahead of me. I'm off to THE PLAYERS Championship in Ponte Vedra for meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, this weekend, my daughter Caroline will become Mrs. Tom Amenita. I'm looking forward to the wedding in Jupiter this Saturday.
- April 14, 2009
- Posted by Gerald Goodman
With both Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell in the three-man playoff, we almost had a Masters champion who had played on the Copperhead a few weeks earlier. It would have been the third straight year since we moved to the spring if either Perry or Campbell had won.
Even so, we are proud to note that seven of the top 14 finishers in this year's Masters also played in the Transitions Championship. Besides Campbell and Perry, they inclued Steve Flesch, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Sean O'Hair and Tim Clark.
- April 11, 2009
- Posted by Gerald Goodman
I'm fortunate enough to be here in Augusta for the Masters, and it is a great place to be this week.
As I'm looking at the leaderboard, I'm seeing some familiar faces. Of the nine players who ended the 3rd round at -5 or better, seven are regular PGA TOUR players - and all seven (Kenny Perry, Chad Campbell, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Tim Clark, Todd Hamilton and Rory Sabbatini) played with us at the Transitions Championship a couple of weeks ago. International players Angel Cabrera and Shingo Katayama did not.
So there is a pretty good chance that when the winner puts on the green jacket Sunday we will have a Masters champion who made testing the Copperhead part of his preparation - just like Trevor Immelman did last year and Zach Johnson in '06.
Of the four tournaments on the Florida Swing, the Transitions at the Copperhead, with our pine trees, some hilly terrain, bunkering style and fast greens sets up the most like Augusta. The other three are played on flatter, more open, Florida-style courses. I don't want to over-think anything, especially since none of the seven who played with us were among the final leaders although Furyk had the low round of the tournament at 65, but it seems to me that playing championship rounds on the Copperhead could be a valuable preparation for success at Augusta.
- March 25, 2009
- Posted by Gerald Goodman
I should let you know that I received a very classy letter from Geoff Ogilvy who apologized for withdrawing from our tournament. He had some health issues, both personally and within his family and could not continue his Florida swing after playing in the CA Championship. He expressed how much he was looking forward to testing the Copperhead and promised to return in the future.
- March 25, 2009
- Posted by Gerald Goodman
As you may have noticed, a variety of bloggers filled in for me during much of tournament week. I'd like to thank Rick Odioso, Todd Kalas and Lauren Hartmann for keeping you up to date while I was out and about on the course.
I also would like to reflect on last week's event. With the help of so many people - the Transitions Optical team, the folks at Innisbrook, the Copperheads, our tournament staff and especially, our more than 1,000 tournament volunteers - we had a great, great week. We also had some help from the weather.
It all came together for a tremendous tournament. Retief Goosen is a very accomplished champion who only won after being pushed to the limit by an extremely difficult course and a host of tough rivals. Watching our leaderboard with Goosen, Lehman, Howell, Immelman, Stricker and all the others on Sunday and listening to the roars through the pines, it was all reminiscent of Augusta and the other major championships.
I cannot say enough about the management team at Transitions. Brett Craig, David Cole, Connie Falvo and Paul Castner were everywhere throughout the week, always upbeat, always looking for ways to assist the tournament, always thinking about how to make things even better next year.
I thought the Live You Vision pavilion behind the 18th green with its positive messages about health was a wonderful addition to our tournament and based on the crowds it drew, so did the public.
If you were out here at Innisbrook, you probably saw the Transitions team in action, as well as Sheila Johnson, the owner of Innisbrook, and her management team.
What you probably don't realize though is how pro-active they all were with the players. Believe me, the passion of Transitions and Innisbrook will carry through to future tournaments. As good as this year's event proved, it will only get better in the years to come.
- March 22, 2009
- Posted by Admin
With the Copperhead again resisting scoring despite the better weather conditions, there aren't many new entries in the record book.
One new record is that there was only one round of 65 or better, shot by Jim Furyk in the first round. That's the fewest we've had in any one tournament on the Copperhead.
Another note would be that Jonathan Byrd and Kenny Perry joined Vijay Singh with a tournament-record fourth top 10 finish.
Earlier in the week, Woody Austin extended his tournament record by making his eighth cut - having never missed. But his best finish in those eight tournaments remains 30th in 2004, after he finished 33rd Sunday
- March 22, 2009
- Posted by Admin
Joe Waskelis, the tournament's longtime transportation chairman, was honored with the Don Harrison Volunteer of the Year Award. Joe may work the longest hours of anyone on tournament week as he coordinates all the travel of the pros, both to and from Innisbrook as well as around the course. Always organized, always on duty, always smiling. A great choice.
- March 22, 2009
- Posted by Admin
Retief Goosen is the 2009 Transitions Champion. This is Goosen's second win here, the first was in 2003.
Goosen finishing at -8 beat Brett Quigley and Charles Howell III by a stroke. This is Goosen first win since his victory in 2005 at International. While fans yelled "GOOOSE" Retief accepted his trophy from tournament director Gerald Goodman.
This is Goosen 7th win on the PGA Tour. He had an exceptional week here only making 5 bogeys all week. Retief show all four rounds under par.
After winning the tournament Retief said about the difficulty of the course " 18 was a hard hole. It's one of the great courses on the PGA TOUR, this course. It shows it by the score. The guys work hard to shoot under par.
Retief credits South African legend Gary Player with inspiring him to re-dedicate himself to a new diet and fitness program with which he lost 22lbs. Goosen said that " in the beginning of last year, I was looking at myself in the mirror thinking, I look a bit out of shape. I just thought, you know might as well try and turn everything around. When asked about his workout routine he says he "started working very hard in the gym. I was in the gym this morning for one hour working out."
Goosen dedicated this winter working very hard to improve his game hitting balls almost every day this December.
" I didn't have much of a holiday. Played a few events in South Africa, which I won the South African Open. My whole game started getting a little bit better. It's just a matter of getting a bit more consistency going. This week, I played consistent."
Retief was 55 out of 55 on putts five feet shorter. Was asked about how he did this he said laughing "almost sounds like Tiger Woods, doesn't it."
- March 22, 2009
- Posted by Admin
Nicely out from the rough, then a steady three-footer for par. One up, one to go.
- March 22, 2009
- Posted by Admin
5:46 - Retief Goosen is standing on the 17th tee with a one-shot lead. His two closest competitors Brett Quigley and Charles Howell III are in the house at -7. Two pars to win $972,000 and a first PGA TOUR victory since 2005.
Yikes, in the deep rough near the green.