Cryptogram 13 Answer

"I think winning once or twice proves to you that what you're doing works, and it can work more than once every blue moon." - Stuart Appleby

Cryptogram 13

In an effort to maintain my sanity, I am cutting back the puzzles to two a week - one on Tuesday and one on Friday. Here's a cryptogram from Stuart Appleby's second win of the year:

H ODHWI AHWWHWR EWST EB OAHST LBEYTU OE GEN ODFO ADFO

GEN'BT PEHWR AEBIU, FWP HO SFW AEBI VEBT ODFW EWST TYTBG

CJNT VEEW.

Cryptogram 12 Answer

"My golf doesn't have anything to do with who I am, it's my relationship with God defines who I am." - Aaron Baddeley

Cryptogram 12

Aaron Baddeley recapping part of his Easter service testimony:


IE TLHA SLDYC'O RKPD KCEORFCT OL SL NFOR NRL F KI,

FO'Y IE MDHKOFLCYRFU NFOR TLS SDAFCDY NRL F KI.

Cryptogram 11 Answer

"I'll crawl around here if I have to. I'm not going to stop, unless you have to pull me out of here." - Rocco Mediate at the Masters

Cryptogram 11

For all you Rocco Mediate fans out there, here's another Masters quote:

W'HH EICOH CIMBAK NTIT WX W NCLT FM. W'S AMF PMWAP

FM RFMU, BAHTRR VMB NCLT FM UBHH ST MBF MX NTIT.

Cryptogram 10 Answer

"If I don't get disqualified in the next five minutes, I think I'll get some money." - Michelle Wie

Cryptogram 10

AG A LFO'B ISB LAKECWYAGASL AO BTS OSHB GADS RAOCBSK,

A BTAOM A'YY ISB KFRS RFOSU.

Cryptogram 9 Answer

That's a little bit amusing. Everything thinks we can just hit it a mile... but being able to putt is the biggest advantage.

Cryptogram 9

J.B. Holmes keeping length in perspective:

YMOY'I O UGYYUH TGY OBEIGAL. HFHNVYMGAL YMGASI PH ROA

WEIY MGY GY O BGUH... TEY THGAL OTUH YK CEYY GI YMH

TGLLHIY OXFOAYOLH.

Cryptogram 8 Answer

"Maybe if I win the Grand Slam, people will quit calling me Brad, but I doubt it." - Bart Bryant

Cryptogram 8

Bart Bryant on being a little brother:

YWOHU EI E REL ANU VGWLF TSWY, DUMDSU RESS CBEA

KWSSELV YU HGWF, HBA E FMBHA EA.

Cryptogram 7 Answer

"It was the best shot I hit all day, no question about it. But it's lucky that it goes in. It has to be lucky it goes in. Otherwise, we'd hole shots all the time, you know." - Geoff Ogilvy

Cryptogram 7

Geoff Ogilvy on his double eagle:

QU ART UZG SGTU TZHU Q ZQU RYY ERP, OH LDGTUQHO RSHDU

QU. SDU QU'T YDJCP UZRU QU KHGT QO. QU ZRT UH SG YDJCP

QU KHGT QO. HUZGNAQTG, AG'E ZHlG TZHUT RYY UZG UQIG, PHD

COHA.

Cryptogram 6 Answer

"Momentum in match play, it's amazing what it can make people do." - Geoff Ogilvy

Cryptogram 6

Here's a quote from Geoff Ogilvy last week:

SMSOEWHS TE SUWRN AFUI, TW'D USULTEB KNUW TW RUE SUCO

AOMAFO YM.

Cryptogram 5 Answer

"Everyone is a great commentator on golf on Mondays." - Rory Sabbatini

Cryptogram 5

Here's a short, but good, little cryptoquote from Rory Sabbatini:

NONVELGN RU P WVNPI SLCCNGIPILV LG WLMA LG

CLGTPEU.

Cryptogram 4 Answer

"I think the hardest thing I think for humans is stop searching, stop searching for the X factor, and I think I've found what works for me." - Michael Campbell

Cryptogram 4

Here's a good quote from Michael Campbell:

RIN IGLSNER RIPCH P RIPCA TFL IYOGCE PE ERFD ENGLUIPCH,

ERFD ENGLUIPCH TFL RIN J TGURFL, GCS P RIPCA P'WN TFYCS

ZIGR ZFLAE TFL ON.

Cryptogram 3 Answer

"Sometimes it's like rolling the dice on that weather in Oklahoma, so I figure I knew it would be pretty nice out here." - Bo Van Pelt

Cryptogram 3

Being a Tulsa resident like Bo Van Pelt, I can vouch for his explanation for spending some time in Scottsdale a couple of weeks ago.


JURNALRNJ LA'J PLEN IUPPLOD ACN TLGN UO ACYA BNYACNI

LO UEPYCURY, JU L SLDMIN L EONB LA BUMPT ZN KINAAV OLGN

UMA CNIN.

Cryptogram 2 Answer

"Like I say, when every body expects you to wear colorful and be a certain way, I think it's time to change a bit." -
Jesper Parnevik

Cryptogram 2

I wasn't too keen on Jesper Parnevik's outfit on Sunday (white shoes, black pants, white shirt and sweater, red visor) but I certainly can't fault his reasoning:

WMXH M NVR, BOHP HEHCRYSLR HAIHGFN RST FS BHVC

GSWSCQTW VPU YH V GHCFVMP BVR, M FOMPX MF'N

FMKH FS GOVPDH V YMF.

Cryptogram 1 Answer

Highlight below for the answer to the cryptogram in the prior post:

"I honestly couldn't understand sitting down to Christmas dinner having to think about my golf because I'd be playing golf in a week's time, something like that." Padraig Harrington

Cryptogram 1

I have decided to make a word puzzle a regular weekly feature here. Next week it will begin to appear in its regular weekly spot on Thursdays, but since we're on a 2-week break, I am presenting this week's puzzle early.

Padraig Harrington, on why he won't be at the Mercedes Championship next week:

S OXHDECFP RXIFNH'C IHNDTECYHN ESCCSHQ NXLH CX

ROTSECKYE NSHHDT OYBSHQ CX COSHA YUXIC KP QXFZ

UDRYIED S'N UD JFYPSHQ QXFZ SH Y LDDA'E CSKD,

EXKDCOSHQ FSAD COYC.

Golf Word Search

I've put together a word search containing the names of 16 of the top golfers in the world. (Sorry, Chris DiMarco, somehow your name got missed. The slight was unintentional.) This puzzle is set up so that the last name is at some angle to the first name. Enjoy!

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Tiger Woods	Vijay Singh	Phil Mickelson
Retief Goosen	Ernie Els	Sergio Garcia
Jim Furyk	Adam Scott	Colin Montgomerie
Kenny Perry	Angel Cabrera
David Howell	Luke Donald	Michael Campbell
David Toms	Padraig Harrington

Last OWGR of 2005

Well this is it. The golf year has come to an end. We end 2005 with 15 players in the top 5 tiers under the Tiger Rule. (Otherwise, the list would extend to Carl Pettersson at World Number 53.) Sadly, I had to drop Michael Campbell and Padraig Harrington from the list for the time being, and Kenny Perry has dropped to Tier V.

Tune in tomorrow for a special treat.

South African Airways Open

The only top golfers still going this week are South African as they compete in their national. We've got Ernie Els, fresh back in the game and already a win under his belt, and Retief Goosen who may be a little happier with his game after making it to the playoff in Sun City. Tim Clark is not currently in the tiers, but he's not too far out and a good showing this week could move him back into my tier list. (As long as he can keep his hair out of his face.)

Golfer to watch this week: Retief Goosen

"Easy" return from injury

It's nice to see Els sweep in and claim a victory in his first official event since his knee injury. It bodes well for the likelihood that he'll be back up a couple of notches where he belongs in the world rankings.

Adam Scott has had a disappointing end to his 2005 season. Every once in a while I decide for some random reason that I find him irksome, but despite that, I do sincerely wish him well as he works to improve his game.

With the Nedbank and Tiger's event not counting to official world points, Darren Clarke's position does not accurately reflect his play of late, so I hate to do this but this system shows a drop of Clarke and Davis Love III out of the top tiers this week while David Toms and Padraig Harrington slide down to Tier V for the week. The Tiger Rule is still in effect, but I'm hoping to retract it in January. (Without the Tiger Rule, the top tiers would include 43 golfers again this week.)

Tiger trek

Most of the top golfers in the world will be chasing down Tiger at the Target World Challenge this week leaving Ernie Els and Adam Scott as the only top golfers playing official events this week. Els hangs around in his native South Africa another week to play in the dunhill championship, his first official event since his knee injury. Scott returns to his Aussie homeland to compete in the MasterCard Masters.

(Odd thought: One has to wonder if Alfred Dunhill and E.E. Cummings were friends in their day.)

Golfer to watch this week: Ernie Els

Monty's turn

Davis Love III continues to be the only inter-tier activity hovering between Tiers IV and V with a return to Tier IV this week. The Tiger Rule remains in effect causing Tim Clark to drop out of the tiers for the moment otherwise the list would extend to Miguel Angel Jimenez at World Number 43.

Weekend highlights:

• Colin Montgomerie made the golf portion of my weekend with that win in Hong Kong vaulting him up to 9th in the world rankings as I had hoped. Four "best golfer in GB&I" title holders in four weeks.
• The Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa did not award OWGR points this year, but they will begin doing so in 2006. I look forward to seeing the effects this has next year.
• With points not being used this year, Sergio Garcia was able to pull within one one-hundredth of a point of Ernie Els. Sergio will be losing points this week for certain, while Ernie's points are a little more complex, so I'm not going to venture a guess as to where they'll stand at the beginning of next week. Ernie did post a better finish than Sergio in Sun City although Sergio's troubles at the 17th lent to that.
• One thing about the Nedbank Golf Challenge that left me scratching my head was the stats from Sergio's scorecard. Granted every week is a new event, a new course, anything can happen from week to week, but still... This is the man who had the best record for Greens in Regulation on the PGA Tour in 2005 and a man with a notoriously bad putting record for the year. His putting was average for the week with a T5 in a field of 12 for putts per round. Of course this was only a single event, but his average of 27.5 putts per round for the week was better than the best putter on tour for 2005. Meanwhile, in GIR stats, Sergio came in at 11th out of 12 with a GIR% worse than the worst on tour as of the end of the 2005 PGA Tour season.

Fantasy golf is back already!

CBS Sportsline/PGATour.com have begun signups for their first new fantasy golf competition of 2006. It's a league/stats-based competion. Signing up for drafts started today with the first live drafts on the 10th and the first auto-drafts on the 15th. Since I'm a rookie to this kind of fantasy sporting, I'm wimping out and going the auto-draft route. I've got my player preferences ranked and look forward to seeing how my team and the rest of the league turns out. Being day one, there's only 2 other people in my league at this point. (I know nobody who cares about fantasy golf, so it's obviously a public league.)