Ken Green's At Senior PGA, Still Fighting For A Shot

Ken Green, who five years ago lost everyone close to him in an unimaginably awful accident and who hit such a low a year ago that he admits to having contemplated suicide, opened with an 80 at the Senior PGA Championship, writes Bill Fields.

Even better, despite struggling to get any sponsor's invites in his efforts to come back, Green hasn't lost his sense of humor.

Fields writes:

Disappointingly for Green, he hasn't had much success gaining sponsor's exemptions into Champions Tour events in an attempt to "tell his story" and inspire others with disabilities. He said he's 0-for-12 in his latest attempts, but got a spot at Harbor Shores as a former United States Ryder Cup team member. The undulating Jack Nicklaus design was a tough challenge for Green, who opened with a nine-over 80.

"I heard the greens were off the charts. I didn't know Jack also did the fairways a litle bumpy," Green said. "For your average two-legged person, maybe they're not [that difficult], but for the one-legged yo-yo that I am, these fairways are nasty. It's discouraging. The one thing I didn't want to do is embarrass me or golf. I know it's not, but in my brain I feel like it is."

Why Does Martin Kaymer Warm-Up With A Tennis Ball Around His Neck?

Far be it from me to question someone who just posted a 63 on a very difficult golf course (Smits game story here), but if you were watching Morning Drive today you saw Martin Kaymer warming up for round two of The Players with a tennis ball tied to a string around his neck.

I repeat, a tennis ball worn like a credential. Around his neck. Whoa Nellie!

Golf Central Doc noticed the next craze in wacky warm-up techniques back at the Masters and posted this clip.

Update on 2014-05-09 14:46 by Geoff

**Brian Wacker's got some great insights from Kaymer and Bernhard Langer on the resurgence of the former PGA Champion's game.

A feel player by nature, he had become too mechanical. It was Das Beste oder nichts -- the best, or nothing -- and soon it was the latter for the German.

“When you change, you have to think automatically,” he said. “You need to reflect and you want to improve, you want to get to the goal a lot earlier, and then sometimes you can get caught up in the thinking process. So you need to go back where you came from, and that's just -- it's feel, it's your natural shot. It's the fade, so it is my shot, accept it.”

Update on 2014-05-09 18:56 by Geoff

**Kaymer explained the thinking behind the device and its origin after the round. I wrote it up for The Loop.

If he wins The Players, how long before these are on ranges all over the world?

Wie Pushes Back: Jack Bent Pretty Low Too

It is funny to hear how many people were taken aback by Michelle Wie's putting stance over the last year or so, but now that it's working she's pushing back just a bit.

And while golf has had many great putters doing it all sorts of strange ways, Wie picked a pretty good example and with help from the editors at golf.com, has photographic evidence to back up her assertion (and show she has better posture).

From AP's Janie McCauley on the eve of the Swinging Skirts in San Francisco, a new LPGA event.

“I did it like about two years ago, year and a half ago now. … just something that I felt feel comfortable with,” Wie said. “I haven't had a plan to keep with it or not keep it. Just feels comfortable and I see the line better.”

Her putting style was not inspired by Jack Nicklaus, who in his prime bent over his putts to see the line, Wie said.

“I practice at the Bear's Club and there are pictures of Jack everywhere.,” Wie said. “I saw a picture of him like putting and I was like, Oh, he is actually pretty low as well. I don't feel that bad anymore.”

World's Most Interesting Golfer Ryder Cup Worthy?

With his Masters performance and now a win in his Champions Tour debut, should Miguel Angel Jimenez be consideration of Captain Paul McGinley?

Jimenez wants on the team and Derek Lawrenson says the idea doesn't seem as nutty as it did last summer after a win in Hong Kong Open when Jimenez made his ambitions clear.

And now? If the match was taking place tomorrow, you'd want him in the team.

Never mind that he doesn't hit the ball very far and his Ryder Cup record isn't great.

Think about what he does bring to the party, what he'd be like in the team room, the  crowd reaction when he walks to the first tee, and the fact  that in the only home Ryder Cup he has played in, at Celtic Manor in 2010, he won two matches  out of three.

And so, this summer, the world's most interesting golfer - to quote the headline accompanying an American magazine feature - will become the most intriguing sub-plot. Will he achieve his once-impossible dream? One thing's for sure: every overweight, 50-something club golfer from here to California will be cheering him on.