Golf FanHouse

Tennis: Nadia Petrova From Russia With Love

Elie Seckbach — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:50:00 EST

Filed under: Los Angeles, Tennis, Women's Sports, International Tennis, The Word, FanHouse TV, US Open

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.

In this video we talk to tennis star Nadia Petrova who tells us why she is more popular in the United States than in her homeland, Russia. We also learn why it's not wise to get in the way of any serve unleashed by this tennis powerhouse. Around 1:15 into the video Nadia tells us why Russia produces so many talented tennis players.

AOL Video link. Youtube link.

Tennis: Nadia Petrova From Russia With Love originally appeared on Golf FanHouse on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tom Lehman Cares About Your Heart Health Even If You Don't

Stephanie Stradley — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Houston, Golf, FanHouse TV, PGA

Notes from on site at the Shell Houston Open:

Where are you likely to find a lot of people with heart disease? A PGA Tour event is likely a good place. Or maybe you peoples out there, just sitting there like a blob, reading about sports and licking your Cheese Doodled-stained fingers.

So Merck partnered up with PGA great Tom Lehman and asked him to be their spokesman for a heart disease educational program. He wants people to learn more about their cholesterol numbers, what they mean, and things they can do to prevent heart disease. On Thursday, he was signing autographs at the Shell Houston Open and giving away educational information. I asked him to say a few words in a video to you about why he cares about heart disease education.

You can find more detailed information at triplethreatchallenge.com. (autoplay audio in link). Some people may not like drug companies using sports figures to educate people about diseases, but if folks are more likely to listen to their favorite athlete over their doctor, I'm okay with whatever works.

You don't need eat mass quantities of Cheese Doodles to have heart disease. The problem with heart disease is that you can have really high cholesterol and not look or feel bad at all, until uh, your heart says screw it . So get your cholesterol checked regularly, and you can use that website to learn more about what your test results mean.

Though it isn't in the video, we talked about what blogs are all about and the different ways they can be used. I told him about FanHouse. I told him how much I liked the writers here, and that it was especially good for sports fans who travel a lot and want to keep up with what is happening with sports in general and their favorite players and teams. He said he'd check it out.

So if you are reading this, I'll say "Hi Tom!" See, that's one of the differences between a blog and traditional media.

In a newspaper article about this subject, the writer likely won't say "hi" to you. Who cares if that isn't terribly professional, whatever that means in modern journalism?

Hello Tom Lehman. Thanks for the nice conversation, and educating people about stuff that most people want to stay willfully ignorant about so they don't have to think about how poorly they are eating and how little physical exertion they get. And maybe helping those people who do eat well and exercise, but have genetic risk factors for heart disease.

If you want to have a nice chat with him too, not just about heart disease or the blogosphere, please check out his schedule of upcoming appearances. If you would like to know how his golf game is going, check out this link.

Tom Lehman Cares About Your Heart Health Even If You Don't originally appeared on Golf FanHouse on Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Shell Houston Open as Preparation for The Masters

Stephanie Stradley — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:05:00 EST

Filed under: Houston, Golf, FanHouse TV, PGA

Notes from on site at the Shell Houston Open:

On day 1 of the Shell Houston Open, Adam Scott, the defending champion and later Johnson Wagner shot a 63, tyingfor the course record. Scott obviously has an eye for the course, and Wagner had a share of the previous course record of 64. For more info, check out the SHO website, leaderboard, and Ed Fowler's recap of Day 1.

After the date of the SHO was changed to the week before the Masters, the SHO decided to try to create course conditions that force players to make shots similar to what they will make next week. The elevation changes and green undulations can't be the same, but there are other ways that you can prepare the course to make it similar. Roger Groettsch, Director of Agronomy at Redstone explains how they set the course up in the above video.

Last year, a number of players skipped the Shell Houston Open because they mistakenly believed that the conditions in Houston wouldn't be a good preparation for the Masters. However, it turned out that 20 out of 23 players who played both tournaments made the cut at the Masters.

The word got out about what they were doing in Houston, and the quality of the field improved. According to Briny Baird who shot -5 on Thursday:

"Going through the locker room and stuff, you should hear what the guys are saying about the condition of the golf course. Best they've ever seen. That's saying a lot coming from guys playing what we think are perfect conditions every week. The golf course is great."

Clearly golfers won't be shooting as low in Augusta, but as Phil Mickelson notes, the SHO makes the players use a lot of the same shots they will need next week. Conditions are expected to be wet tomorrow, which may lead to more low scores, but is expected to be dry for the weekend.

The Shell Houston Open as Preparation for The Masters originally appeared on Golf FanHouse on Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Phil Mickelson's Exit Strategy: Jet Pack

Stephanie Stradley — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:15:00 EST

Filed under: Houston, Golf, FanHouse TV, PGA

Notes from on site at the Shell Houston Open:

"You wouldn't happen to have a jet pack, by any chance?"

That's the question Phil Mickelson asked when he saw the impossibly long line of people gathered to get autographs from him after Tuesday's pro-am round. (at :07 in the video)

The crowds on Tuesdays are usually fairly light relative to the weekends and most golfers were able to easily leave the 18th hole. When you watch on TV, and even with this video, you don't have a sense of the crushing group of people trying to get Phil's attention to sign autographs.

It was an ordeal getting him off the course. First, he signed autographs for his pro-am partners. Then tournament officials chatted with him for about 5 minutes talking about how they were going to get him through the rope line to talk to the media.

After he slowly went through the rope line signing autographs, instead of going to the media center, he did an open air interview in a media scrum that was pressing uncomfortably close to him and each other. Here is my viewpoint of the media orgy press conference:

(I was not a part of the media horde as I was shorter than everyone else. And well, I'm not writing any AP kinds of stories so it wasn't like I was going to get any cogent quotes. And more centrally to the point, it is gross to be smushed up against 15-20 photogs and assorted media guys, I don't care who they are interviewing. No offense, media dudes, but that had to be smelly and repulsive in every respect. Ew.)

The hordes of people around Mickelson on the rope line and the media session made me feel panicky for him just watching it. I don't know how the high profile golfers do it.

Then he went to the media center, and was requested to do a promo for an event in August. He politely asked if he could postpone it, but they really wanted him to do it then. So he memorized a script, and did the promo, and kept goofing up the takes. He's played a round of golf, there's about 20 people milling about, and he is doing a blooper real of outtakes.

Finally he finishes that, and some more journalists want to get more interviews from him. He declines, explaining that he is just tapped. Finally, he gets on a cart and rides away.

I know that some folks believe that Phil Mickelson's public persona is a little phony, but I have to say I was impressed with how cordial and professional he was in dealing with people screaming at him.

Tuesday's conventional media story of the Shell Houston Open is how much Phil Mickelson and others are complementary about the condition of the course, and how it sets up for a Masters prep for next week.

(By the way, here's a "hi" to Gary, the boy who got the autographed glove from Phil in the video. Hope you like the video memento, my friend).

Phil Mickelson's Exit Strategy: Jet Pack originally appeared on Golf FanHouse on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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John Daly Is Working Hard, Needs Chest Massage From Trainer With Huge Arms

Stephanie Stradley — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:48:00 EST

Filed under: Houston, Golf, FanHouse TV, PGA

Notes from on site at the Shell Houston Open:

At the Shell Houson Open, John Daly is working hard. Hard enough that he needed a trainer to massage his back and uh er chest at :08 in the video link above.

I heard he spent six hours practicing on Sunday, before official practice rounds started. He showed up early before playing in the pro-am on Monday, and then practiced three hours after the round. Yesterday, he was practicing before I got to the range, and was there for at least four hours in the on and off rain showers.

Those who have seen him through the years at the SHO said it is the most they have ever seen him work, and the earliest they have seen him at the course

The practicing and pro-am habits of a PGA golfer shouldn't be news, but it is with Daly. Recently, in a 48 hour period, he got dumped publicly by his instructor Butch Harmon and was disqualified from the Arnold Palmer Invitational for missing his pro-am tee time. I guess Daly is trying to make amends one day at a time, and I figure it was worth mentioning the mundane details of the work he is doing.

People wonder why tournament directors keep giving him sponsor exemptions despite his repeated problems, and if you are at the course it is easy to see why.

Other than Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, John Daly is probably the most recognizable and hounded players on the tour. And despite (and maybe partially because of) his faults, people just love him.

They love him so much that out of the guys on the range yesterday, he had the most people trying to interrupt what he was doing to talk to him or ask for interviews. While he was hitting, he was all business. He did his work on the range, then he signed autographs before he left with a police escort that most of the other players did not need.

The SHO has been kind to Daly in the past. He is the 8th highest money winner in the tournament's history with a career $950,821 in earnings. His best result was in 2005, a playoff loss that he finished second. The Tournament Course that they are using now probably doesn't suit his game as much as the one that was used at the SHO in 2005.

Update on FanHouse:
Followup: About John Daly's Chest Massage.....

John Daly Is Working Hard, Needs Chest Massage From Trainer With Huge Arms originally appeared on Golf FanHouse on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:48:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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