After a great week at the Players, we have a very good field at the TPC Four Seasons in Texas.

This is Event 3/4 in Month 5, Event 3 in the 2nd Half of the Season, and Event 20 overall. Here’s a reminder of the prize structure;

• Season Grand Prize: VR_S Iron Set
• Season Second Prize: VR_S Driver
• Season Third Prize: VR_S Fairway Wood
• First and second half winners: VR_S Hybrid (Chris Wang just won the first half)
• FedEx Cup Monthly Winner: Method or Method Core Putter (your choice)
• Monthly winners and 2nd place FedEx Cup Winner: 12 20XI-X balls

For a refresher on the rules, hit the link — Contest Guidelines and leave your Fantasy Four below (don’t forget your ONE Nike Athlete).

Check here for last week’s recap post >>

Kevin Chappell
After 3 Top 30′s and a T44 at the Masters, he missed the cut at the Players and had a T53 at Wells Fargo. Missed the cut here last year.

Carl Pettersson
40th here last year, 8th in 2008. Coming off of a 10th at the Players.

Patrick Reed
3 straight made cuts; 32nd Wells Fargo, 24th Zurich Classic and 35th Texas Open. First time here.

Jhonattan Vegas
Coming off of a 7th at the Players. First time here.

Other Nike athletes in the field; Stephen Ames, Scott Brown, Kevin Kisner, Jamie Lovemark

Matt Kuchar
recent finishes – 1st Players, 13th Texas Open, 44th Heritage, 3rd Masters
4/4 here. 6th last year.

Brian Davis
Recent finishes – 25th Players, 9th Wells Fargo, 13th Heritage, 4th Houston, 4th Bay Hill
5 Top 25′s and 3 Top 10′s in last 6 starts. Cut last two years here, but 2nd in 2009.

Phil Mickelson
Recent finishes – 25th Players, 26th Wells Fargo, 3rd Masters, 4th Houston
8 Top 30′s (4 Top 10′s)  in last 9 starts. 3rd here in ’07.

Louis Oosthuizen
Recent finishes – CUT at Players, 1st Malaysia, 2nd Masters, 3rd Houston
I’m ignoring the Players. He has 2 wins this year and the best scoring average in the field over the past 8 weeks (69.14).  First time here.

D.A. Points
best finishes – 3rd in ’09, 7th in ’10, 40th in ’11
DNS at Players, 2nd at Wells Fargo.

Jason Day
Best finishes at this event – 1st in ’10, 5th in ’11
CUT at the Players, 9th at Wells Fargo

Keegan Bradley
Best finishes at this event – 1st in ’11
11 straight Top 25′s before the Masters. 27th at the Masters. 2 MCs and 35th at Players after that.

Alan :: Adam Scott, Jason Dufner, Matt Kuchar and Carl Pettersson
Bob :: Pat Perez, Keegan Bradley, Louis Oosthuizen and Jhonattan Vegas
Damian :: Adam Scott, Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen and Patrick Reed

Other big names in the field;

• Jason Dufner
• Ernie Els
• Brian Davis
• John Huh
• Johnson Wagner
• Charles Howell III
• Ryan Palmer
• John Rollins
• Padraig Harrington
• Spencer Levin

Leave your Fantasy Four in a comment below.

Remember, you have to pick at least ONE Nike Golfer and have your picks in by WEDNESDAY at Midnight (PST).

It is also your responsibility to sub your player if they WD before the deadline

(email) damian [at] ngnation.com

(twitter) [at] d_daniels

Nike Golf Introduces the Method Midnight Putters: New Shapes, New Look, Proven Method Technology

- Polymetal Groove Technology with a New Dark Chrome Finish-

There’s a new addition to the successful Nike Method putter franchise and it has a dark side.  Nike Golf is introducing the Nike Method Midnight putter that features Nike’s revolutionary polymetal groove technology, which has been instrumental in the 34 wins by Nike athletes on the Professional Tours worldwide.

The Nike Method Midnight putter is available in new milled head shapes with a dark chrome finish and will be offered in three new models:  Method Midnight 006, 007, and 008.  All three models rely on polymetal face groove technology, which combine steel and polymer.

The ground-breaking Method putter technology was born of innovation and fueled by the demands of Nike Golf’s Tour athletes.  With major-winning technology, this putter delivers the roll, feel, and sound necessary for clutch putts in big moments.

“The multidimensional face is the primary technology of these products – everything revolves around this,” said David Franklin, Master Model Maker.

The revolutionary and visibly distinctive polymetal groove technology generates a forward roll almost immediately after impact for the kind of accuracy and consistency that is demanded by Tour professionals. While most traditional steel faced putters start the ball with backspin causing the ball to initially bounce, the polymetal groove technology starts the ball with forward spin to minimize bounce and keep putts on line.

The prototypes of the Method Midnight 006 and 007 already have proven Tour success.  Nike athletes Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink both used the Method Midnight 006 head shape to win the 2009 U.S. Open and Open Championship, respectively, and Michelle Wie’s first LPGA victory came with the Method Midnight 007 head shape.

Nike Golf’s Method Midnight putters ($323.99 MSRP/$269.99 MAP) will be available June 15, 2012 in all three models. The Method Midnight 006 will also be available in a left-handed version.

Nike Method Midnight

Availability: June 15, 2012

Specifications:

006 (RH/LH), 007 (RH), 008 (RH)

Available in 33”, 34” and 35”

MSRP: $323.99 MAP/Street Price: $269.99

Editor’s Note: The post above is from a press release from Nike Golf.

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Kuch-Daddy. You son of a gun. Great win, brother.

• Entries :: 58
• Tournament Winner :: Matt Kuchar (4 selections)
• Unique Golfers ::  31
• Most Popular Nike Pick :: Tiger Woods (29 selections, T40)
• Highest Nike Finish :: Jhonattan Vegas (T7, 0 selections)
• Most Popular Non-Nike Pick :: Lee Westwood (T61, 38 selections)
• Average Points ::  4.74 (11.00 last week)

4 people picked Fowler, but only 1 gets the dinner (1 win, 2 Top 10s, 3 Top 25s)

Weekly Winners
Peter Stanek :: Matt Kuchar (1), Luke Donald (6), Adam Scott (15) and Tiger Woods (40)

Diarmuld jumps 7 in the year long race to 28th. He also moves into 1st in our 2nd Half and Month 5 standings.

Overall Outlook
Top 11 stays the same.

2nd Half Outlook
Peter Stanek takes the lead!

Fantasy Four Weekly Leaderboard  (This Week’s Points and Entries) >>

PGATour.com Final Leaderboard >>

MONTH 5 and 2nd HALF STANDINGS

SEASON OVERALL STANDINGS

Hey all, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone – hope you all did something nice for the moms in your lives. And for our mom readers, we hope you enjoyed your day!

Here’s a look at some of the new women’s apparel from the Tour Performance, Sport, and Tour Premium apparel collections. Treat yourself to some new golf threads!

click to enlarge

Earlier this week Nike Golf tweeted a bunch of photos from their Twitter account which they shot at TPC Sawgrass on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I’ve taken the liberty if gathering them into a photo gallery so you can view them all together in one place. In the gallery there are several shots from the Nike Golf tour van, pics from the range and photos of the Athletes making their preparations for the tournament. Check them out in the gallery below:

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Tiger Woods shot a 74 on Thursday to finish at +2 on the day. Since his win at Bay Hill, Tiger has played 7 rounds of PGA Tour golf. Only one of those rounds has been under par. One.

Here’s what Tiger had to say at TPC Sawgrass yesterday;

Just be patient with it. Just keep plugging along. You know, obviously in the last few months, I’ve put together some good rounds; won a couple tournaments.

Any kind of momentum that I would build, I would shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole.

I just didn’t score. I hit three decent shots in there and just got some of the worst lies. The best shot I hit all day was on 3, and ended up in a spot where I really couldn’t play from…It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots, and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots.

Check out the full transcript from PGATour.com here >>

Follow Live Scoring of the Players here >> 

This year Nike Golf introduced the Tour Premium apparel line in their new apparel structure along with the Sport, Tour Performance and the Tiger Woods Collection. To me, the Tour Premium line is an evolution of the Tiger Woods Platinum collection which had a cult following. The line, which includes both men’s and women’s wear, incorporates modern cuts with performance fabrics. The real distinguishing quality is in its craftsmanship and tailoring. The men’s apparel, for example, is slimmer and more form fitting, using blacks and grays but pops of bright colors like Spark – a bright yellow/green color. The women’s apparel is very fashionable and like nothing I’ve seen on a golf course.

The collection is driven towards the needs of the fashion conscious, and certainly the addition of Tour Premium apparel to your collection will enable you to look your best on the course. I see it as a great option to have for an on-course business meeting, or at one of the nicer clubs I’ve played. Those who are sartorially inclined in their everyday wear will see this as an extension of their wardrobe.

Here is an example of Charl Schwartzel in the Stripe Polo at the Maybank Malaysian Open. A perfect example of how to wear it.

Some of my favorite Tour Premium men’s pieces include:

Stripe Polo:

Engineered Stripe Polo:

Embossed Textured Polo:

Jersey Polo:

Have a look at the Gallery to see more pictures. Photo Credit: GCpickers.com where you get 10% off for using code #GCPickers during check out.

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There are 9 Swoosh Staff at TPC Sawgrass and here is a quick power ranking and fantasy analysis for each of them.

1. Francesco Molinari
Coming off of a win last week. 6th place before that and 19th at the Masters. 9th here in 2010.

2. Carl Pettersson
33rd here last year. Last 4 starts have been 46th, CUT, 1st and 2nd.

3. Simon Dyson
First time here. Made last 3 cuts since the Masters (12th last week, 36th and 24th the two weeks prior).

4. Stewart Cink
19th here last year, coming off of a 15th place last week. Decent sleeper.

5. Tiger Woods
WD from last two Players Championships, CUT last week, 40th at Masters, 1st at Bay Hill.

6. Kevin Chappell
69th here last year, 53rd last week and having a decent year.

7. Lucas Glover
50th here last year, 3rd here in 2010. CUT at Wells Fargo with a pair of 60th place finishes before that.

8. Paul Casey
Still recovering from his shoulder injury. 14th here in ’09 and 10th here in ’04. Missed last 2 cuts here.

9. Jhonattan Vegas
CUT here last year and hasn’t finished better than 46th in last 10 events.

Here are the scores after Round 1 of the Players Championship, for the 9 Nike Golf athletes in the field.

Vegas put up a great surprise round, while Francesco had a decent round himself. Tiger, Glover and Chappell will have some work to do on Friday.

Paul Casey’s WD because of shoulder issues (after dislocating it snowboarding). Simon Dyson WD because of a back injury. This must be new, given his 12th place finish on the European Tour last week.

All the best to the Nike Golf athletes the rest of this week.

Follow Live Scoring of the Players here >> 

Today is NG Nation’s third birthday, and I wanted to take a minute to thank all of our readers and supporters of the site, as well as the players of our Fantasy Four contest, for you are a big reason NGN is what it is today. A special thank you goes out to Damian Daniels for his tireless work on our Athlete posts and running of our weekly Fantasy Four Contest, and Alan Numsuwan for his hard work and informed insights that go into his posts about the world of Nike Golf equipment, footwear, apparel and accessories — without you guys this blog would be, well, a third of the site it is today. And a big thank you goes to Nike Golf, whose donation of Fantasy Four contest prizes and supplying of information and products for us to review is most appreciated.

If I get a cake this year, I’ll post a pic of it here in the post — you can see a pic of last year’s cake in my post about NGN’s second birthday. But for now it’s on to year four, and we’re looking forward to another year of bringing you the best of Nike Golf!

This week the PGA Tour heads to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and the TPC Sawgrass for The Players Championship, and major champions Tiger Woods, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink will representing Nike Golf in the field along with six other Nike athletes. With many major champions in the field this week, I wanted to pose a question to our NGN readers, one which I’ve been pondering for a while now:

Should The Players Championship be an official fifth major on the PGA and European Tours?

In this post, I am going to present the case that it should be—please let me know your thoughts, whether you agree or disagree, in the comments below. Here are six reasons why I think the Players Championship should be the fifth major on the PGA and European Tours:

1. After the four existing major championships, The Players is the next most important tournament to the PGA Tour players.
It has been well documented that many PGA Tour players consider The Players to be the most important tournament to them outside of the 4 existing major championships — more than the Ryder Cup, President’s Cup or World Golf Championship events. The Players is known as “their championship”, and it’s how the tournament got its name.

2. The PGA Tour schedule is set up perfectly for this to be the fifth major.
If you look at the PGA Tour schedule, there is one major event every month from February through November:

February: WGC Accenture Match Play Championship
March: WGC Cadillac Championship
April: The Masters
May: The Players
June: The US Open
July: The Open Championship
August: The PGA Championship
September: The Ryder Cup or The Presidents Cup
October: CIMB Asia Pacific Classic
November: WGC HSBC Champions

With the Players in between the Masters and the U.S. Open, if it were an official major championship there would be five major championships in a row, one each month from April through August. This would be great for golf fans and for the sport itself in my opinion.

3. It has the best and deepest field on the tournament schedule.
The Players routinely boasts the best and deepest field in tournament golf, drawing the best players from both the PGA and European Tours, many of whom are major champions and most of whom are inside the top 150 in the World Golf Rankings. Here are the average field sizes for the four majors and The Players:

The Masters: 95+/- (tour professionals and amateurs)
The Players: 144-145 (tour professionals only)
The US Open: 156 (tour professionals and amateurs)
The Open Championship: 156 (tour professionals and amateurs)
The PGA Championship: 156 (tour professionals and PGA club professionals)

4. It has the biggest winner’s check on the PGA Tour, bigger than any of the four existing majors.
Money talks, especially in this case. In terms of the winner’s share of the tournament purse, The Players is the clear frontrunner. Here are the champion’s share for the four majors compared with The Players:

The Masters: $1,440,000
The Players: $1,710,000
The US Open: $1,440,000
The Open Championship: $1,452,078
The PGA Championship: $1,445,000

Other tourneys dole out large winner’s checks, but still not as big as The Players:

The Barclays: $1,440,000
Deutsche Bank Championship: $1,440,000
BMW Championship: $1,440,000
Tour Championship: $1,440,000
WGC Match Play Championship: $1,400,000
WGC Cadillac Championship: $1,400,000
WGC Bridgestone Invitational: $1,400,000
WGC HSBC Champions: $1,200,000

5. The Champions and LPGA Tours already have a fifth major.
The precedent has already been sent by the Champions Tour with its designation of the Senior Players Championship as its official fifth major championship. And the LPGA tour has designated next year’s Evian Masters as that tour’s official fifth major championship.

6. Four is just a number.
Traditionalists will say that there should be four majors because there always have been. Some say if the door is opened for a fifth major, what about a sixth and a seventh? But I don’t see that happening, five would be enough. Some say it opens a can of worms, one example being what about past champions, are they then credited with an additional major? I say yes, the same way the Tour now retroactively names tournaments (Jack Nicklaus would then have 21 majors, Tiger would currently have 15). Other issues can be dealt with on an as-needed basis.

Some have argued that the U.S. Amateur should be designated as a major golf championship, and although I don’t disagree with that either, I am talking about professional majors here. And some have argued that in recent years, The Players has lost some of its status as the Tour’s unofficial fifth major, and that the WGC events have moved ahead of The Players in terms of importance.

So what do you think, should The Players be a major or not?