Lehman Cruises to Second Straight Schwab Cup Title

Tom Lehman fired a 5-under 65 Sunday to sail to victory at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, becoming the first Champions Tour player to win the season-long Charles Schwab Cup in consecutive years.

Lehman finished the event at Desert Mountain Golf Club at 22-under 258, six strokes ahead of runner-up Jay Haas. He entered the week in second place in the season-long points race behind Bernhard Langer, but was able to overtake Langer with a dominating performance in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"It feels great," he said after the round. "To have everyone here, to win this in my hometown, means a lot."

Lehman becomes the fifth player to win the Charles Schwab Cup twice in its 12-year history, but the first to pull off the feat in back-to-back seasons. Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Jay Haas and Loren Roberts each won the championship twice across respective three-year spans.

Langer, the 2010 overall champion, matched Lehman's 65 Sunday to finish the week in sixth place. Fred Couples, who entered the final round one shot behind Lehman, made only one birdie Sunday and struggled to a 3-over 73 to finish in a tie for fourth, nine shots off the pace.

After the round, Lehman shared thoughts on his long-time swing coach Jim Flick, who is currently battling cancer.

"The last four days have been somewhat difficult, trying to fight back tears at times," explained Lehman, who was emotional upon holing his final putt Sunday. "(Jim) has meant a great deal to me and I never would have gotten to where I've gotten in golf without him."

John Daly Closes in on European Tour Card

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – John Daly has a chance to be fully exempt and set his own schedule next year for the first time since 2006.

Just not on the PGA Tour.

After consecutive rounds of 63-86 in Las Vegas contributed to a last-place finish, Daly missed the cut in the Frys.com Open and the McGladrey Classic, losing a great chance at finishing in the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list. He did not ask for an exemption into final official event at Disney for a couple of reasons – he has never played particularly well there, and he still has a chance to qualify for the European Tour finale in Dubai.

Daly is No. 88 on the European Tour money list, courtesy of a fourth-place finish in Qatar, along with his tie for 11th in the Sicilian Open and tie for 18th in PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. He is about $226,336 short of the cutoff to qualify for the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, which makes this next month important.

Ryder Cup 2012: Hospital Encourages Fans to "Move on the Course"

Readers probably remember that while I am a golf blogger by night, I also work in healthcare during the day. Walking and cardiovascular exercise is something I take very seriously, so when the Hospital for Special Surgery informed me of their newest campaign aligned with the Ryder Cup, I had to write a quick post.

As the official hospital of The PGA of America, HSS is encouraging spectators to get moving by giving away pedometers as part of the “Let’s Move on Course!” initiative starting next week. A total of 25,000 pedometers will be given away with a limited supply distributed each day at Medinah Country Club on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, fans that scan their ticket at the “Let’s Move on Course!” booth or create a “walking” account and track their steps at HSS.edu/golf can enter to win an autographed pin flag by Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love III.

Golf Gamebook: USA vs. Europe Golf Challenge

The future of golf tournaments is here; for the first time all golfers in the USA and in Europe can enjoy golf together, regardless of age, gender or HCP. The six-week GameBook Cup, is open to all golfers from the two continents and can be played on any course in the world. With the help of the latest mobile technology, the GameBook Cup offers a more social and equal way of experiencing golf. Join Here

Inspired by the legendary golf tournament the Ryder Cup, the GameBook Cup launches as the first transatlantic golf challenge of its kind ever. All golfers from the USA and Europe are invited to play in the fun and friendly golf challenge. Experienced team captains have been nominated; Team USA has British Open Champion Stewart Cink as the Captain, and Team Europe is led by European Tour golfer Johan Edfors.

“I think this is a wonderfully innovative idea. In honor of the Ryder Cup year I think it is appropriate to expand the joy of golf with a truly global approach. And, I think that GameBook team’s creativity in utilizing social media and the latest technology is exceptional. Golf tournaments are fun and social, but they can be so much more with this new golf app. I will do my best to build to great Team USA.”, praises British Open Champion Stewart Cink.

“I had an opportunity to test this golf concept last year in a tournament between two nations, Sweden and Finland. It was very engaging and an extremely fun experience. I will recommend my fellow pros to join this contest. My vision is to have a diverse Team Europe, professionals and amateurs playing together.” says Johan Edfors, Captain of Team Europe in the GameBook Cup and three-time winner of European Tour events.

“Both in the US and in Europe we value the important landmark tournaments. The encouraging and inspiring culture deserves to be further embraced, and that’s what we are doing. GameBook Cup differs only by the fact that anyone can participate. And to make things more interesting, we will throw some nice prizes to random participants each week.” says Mikko Rantanen, CEO of GameBook Inc.

“We have managed to fine-tune our golf app and the supporting mobile technology into such good shape that we decided to put it to a real tough test. And of course, we wanted to offer an unforgettable golf experience to all golf lovers in the USA and in Europe.” says Kalle Väinölä, Founder of GameBook, PGA pro.

“The only thing a golfer has to do is to play a round of golf anywhere in the world and enter his or her scorecard using Golf GameBook. We will automatically include all scores from golfers who are registered respectively in the USA or in any European country”, continues Kalle Väinölä.

The world’s largest golf challenge will be held between July 30th and September 9th, 2012, and it is free for golfers and golf clubs.

For more details about the GameBook Cup http://www.golfgamebook.com/cup

About Golf GameBook

Golf GameBook has provided live scoring and leaderboards at hundreds of events in Europe and the US, including the 2011 HP Byron Nelson Championship Pro-Am.Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have hosted their own events with Golf GameBook Live Scoring; Arnold Palmer’s Kingdom Cup (2011 and 2012), and Jack Nicklaus International Invitational (2011). The Stanford Men’s Golf team used Golf GameBook for living scoring at its recent Amer Ali Invitational event in January. Golf GameBook was featured recently in the Apple iTunes App Store Highlights section in the Nordic region, a position that has only been achieved by a relative few Nordic companies, including Rovio, publisher of the popular ‘Angry Birds’ franchise.

Zach Johnson Reflects on his Recent Win

It was an amazing feeling to raise the trophy at Colonial as Crowne Plaza Invitational champion. My game has been really strong and I've taken advantage where it's been appropriate to attack the course. This is a good time to be playing well, carrying positive momentum into the U.S. Open.

Another highlight this year has been joining GolfLogix. On the PGA Tour we are fortunate to have caddies and detailed yardage books for every course. You have a tool that's just as good, with aerial flyovers, club tracking, precise distances to the pin or other key points on a hole and the ability to write digital yardage book notes. I've really enjoyed using these tools within the coolest app in golf.

In addition to the app itself, getting to know the GolfLogix leadership and interacting with the community has been outstanding. The team in Scottsdale is smart and innovative, creating incredible technology that we all enjoy to play better golf.

I've also received generous support from many members, who have sent me Twitter messages about their GolfLogix experiences and my performance on Tour. Believe me when I say that I read them all. Thanks for your encouragement. Keep it coming!

Hope you're all in full swing with your golf seasons. If you haven't yet tried the new GolfLogix features, check them out. They'll have a positive impact on how you play.


Thanks,

Zach

Click here to see my entire round, hole-by-hole in the GolfLogix online community!