PGA Tour: Reistetter's Top Five Insider Chip Shots into the Golf World

PGA TOUR: Reistetter's Top 5 Insider Chip Shots into the World of Golf by Andy Reistetter, 8/20/10

Featured Columnist Andy Reistetter has attended over 60 PGA TOUR events the last three seasons. As a golf researcher with a worldwide perspective, he shares the latest insights into the golfing world. Reading and knowing these five "chip shots" will make you the golf expert at home or in the office.

Chip Shot 1: Atwal, With No Chance To Make the Playoffs

First round leader Arjun Atwal is playing for the money at the 2010 Wyndham Championship

He has no other choice, since he is ineligible for the FedExCup Playoffs.

Playing on a Minor Medical Exemption this year, he had eight events in which he had to earn $586,007 to gain status for the remainder of the season. He failed to do that at the conclusion of the RBC Canadian Open on July 25th.

Atwal, a pro since 1995, has yet to win on 119 PGA TOUR starts. He shot a nine-under par 61 at Sedgefield CC and has a two-stroke lead, but cannot make the playoffs regardless of his finish.

Let's hope the No. 450 ranked player in the world and No. 171st in FedExCup points can win enough money to make the Top 125 at the end of the year, or get his card through Q-School.

Chip Shot 2: Tiger Woods' Year is Just Beginning

To win his third FedExCup title or his third TOUR Championship, this fellow named Tiger Woods needs to put his game in gear next week in The Barclays. Ranked No. 108th in FedExCup points, Woods came back strong early on with two T4s in the season's first two majors.

After that, he has been flat, while playing only nine events this year. Still No. 1 in the world, it could be "ten and out" for the 14-year pro with 71 tour wins, including 14 majors. Woods needs to play well enough to get into the Top 100 to advance to the BMW Championship.

Then, he needs to play really well to get into the Top 30 field at the TOUR Championship at East Lake. No matter how he plays, he is almost certain to be one of Captain Pavin's four picks for the Ryder Cup team. There is no "gray" area in that decision.

Pavin's team is young and restless, with four first timers already on the team—Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton, and Matt Kuchar. Overton is the first American ever to make the team without having won a PGA TOUR event.

At 50 years old, hopefully Pavin's short term memory is good. Team Woods with Stricker, a la the 2009 President's Cup, and voila, you will have four automatic points!

Chip Shot 3: If You are a Golfer, You are Now a Citizen of the World

In Rio de Janiero, golf will be contested in the 2016 Olympics. Camilo Villegas helped stage a Nationwide Tour event, the Bogota Open in his home land of Columbia, South America. Asian golfer Y.E. Yang upset the apple cart known as the Tiger Woods Dominance last year at the PGA at Hazeltine. He was the first to ever defeat Tiger in a major when he had the lead going into the final round.

The PGA TOUR has been in China the last two years, with the HSBC World Golf Championship. The winners of the four majors in 2010 come from Germany, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and the United States. Golf is truly an international, worldwide sport. Check out the website www.AsianGolfTV.com for an enhanced international perspective on the game we love so much.

Chip Shot 4: Where in the World is Fred Couples?

Fred Couples, with three wins on the Champions Tour in his rookie season, is not playing in the Tradition this week. Missing the fourth of five majors on the Champions Tour? The 1992 Masters champion and the winning captain of last year's President's Cup team is looking for his 16th win on the PGA TOUR.

It's all about a girl, right? Rumor has it that Fred's girlfriend, Amy O'Keefe, lives nearby in Charlotte, and he is staying with her this week while trying to improve on a respectable T5 finish last year.

At 227th in the FedExCup points standing, the playoff picture is bleak without an outright win. You can bet we will see Fred at the Senior Players Championship at TPC Potomac in Maryland in early October.

It's all about the girls—but not for Bernard Langer, who is going for a third straight senior major to match

Chip Shot 5. Trevino to Cost Nicklaus the Title of "Greatest Golfer of All-Time?"

Speaking of major victories on the Champions Tour, here’s a historical trivia fact from when those champions of today were competing for majors of yesteryear.

Today, Jack Nicklaus is considered to be the greatest golfer of all time, even by his rival Tiger Woods. If Woods goes on to win that 18th major victory, the tiebreaker might be who was the most dominant player in his career.

Tiger has the "Tiger Slam" of four consecutive majors—the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the 2000 British Open at St. Andrews, the PGA Championship at Valhalla, and the 2001 Masters.

Nicklaus would be able to match Tiger in that regard except for one man—Lee Trevino. Nicklaus won three consecutive majors—the1971 PGA Championship at PGA National GC, the 1972 Masters, and the 1972 US Open at Pebble Beach. He was unable to win the British Open before and after that streak, finishing T5 at the 1971 British Open at Royal Birkdale and finishing 2nd at 1972 British Open at Muirfield.

The man who won both those British Opens—Lee Trevino.

That's all for the chip shots in the world of golf today! Good living and better golfing, my friends!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering and working part time for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Reistetter enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]