Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.
Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Welcome to this week's Confidential. Plenty to talk about, but let's start with the juiciest bit. What did everyone think of Anthony Kim's 5-and-4 beatdown of Robert Allenby in the World Match Play Championship? Justice served or just another day on the course for AK?
David Dusek, deputy editor, GOLF.com: Kim lost in the final to Ross Fisher, but getting to the final and beating Allenby in their grudge match was impressive. And I'm sure he enjoyed every minute of it. The whole thing reminded me of the beating that Tiger gave Stephen Ames after Ames spoke a few unflattering words about him.
Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Yeah, I have to think Kim was loving every minute of it, but good to see he didn't get into it afterward. Ross Fisher is a pretty impressive player. He's done well in a few majors and is still a young guy.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I was in a bar once with Anthony Kim. All he was talking about was boxing. He knew the different weights, the different ABCs, who was up, who was down. How many people in their mid-20s do you know who are that into boxing? I can almost assure you he took that approach to his Allenby smackdown. Kim's a jock. It's one of the things he has going for him.
Gorant: It does seem like he's really into that head-to-head showdown kind of thing. Made for Ryder Cups, etc. Maybe he ends up having a career more like Sergio's.
Dusek: As long as it's not like Monty's ... majorless.
Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: The whole Anthony Kim/Robert Allenby almost-feud speaks to the golf media's desperation in late October and November. What was so bad about calling Kim a loose canon? The guy is not exactly a practicing monk and everyone knows it. So what? Maybe there's something to this rivalry that I'm not aware of?
Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: I don't know, Allenby also said he arrived "sideways" to the hotel in the wee small hours of the morning. That's more than calling him a loose cannon. That's questioning his professionalism. You'd better have the goods when you're making such strong claims.
Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Bamberger, sorry to tell you, but boxing is still very popular in the urban areas. Kim is a product of that environment. But to your point, Kim carries himself like a champion fighter, complete with the entourage and the way he walks ahead of his stable mates in public.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Beatdown of the new millennium. AK is my favorite player this week. The fact that he lost to Fisher is irrelevant. The Allenby match was AK's championship.
Ryan Reiterman, producer, GOLF.com: Apparently Allenby didn't take AK's advice to practice more. He was chunking chips and missing short putts.
Dusek: Maybe Kim's erratic play has as much to do with a lack of week-to-week motivation as his injuries? He certainly gets up for match play. He was on fire against Sergio Garcia at Valhalla, he got it going as the matches wore on at Harding Park, and he clearly wanted to make a point against Allenby.
Gorant: And it shouldn't go unnoticed that the long-lost wonder boy Adam Scott emerged from the doldrums. After a birdie on the 36th hole to make the cut on the number in Singapore, he shot 65-68 on the weekend to finish T3. Could Scott finally be turning it around or was it just two good days strung together? The season's just kicking off Down Under, and a little hot play and home cooking would be nice for him.
Dusek: I would have a lot more faith in those final two rounds if they had been preceded by two other high-quality showings. As you point out, he had to birdie the 36th hole just to make the weekend. Let's see four good rounds or a series of top 5s before we say his comeback is on.
Shipnuck: His real comeback was hooking up with tennis player Ana Ivanovic after Kate Hudson moved on.
Gorant: Impressive rebound no doubt, but golfwise the guy has been dying.
Dusek: His play at the Presidents Cup was decent, and this result is also good. Both came after his departure from Butch Harmon. Coincidence?
Gorant: Oooh. Getting tough on Butch. I saw Haney took a shot this week from Charles Barkley. Sir Charles said Tiger was easy to coach because he's Tiger. Just stay out of the way. But Charles was the real problem case and Haney couldn't get it done.
Morfit: Adam looked like a guy who suddenly wasn't sure why he was chasing a little white ball all over the world in 2009. That's not a good place to be if you're trying to beat Tiger. This stuff is 100 percent mental. Look at the guys like Tiger, Jim Furyk and Zach Johnson when they're going good — the intensity is astounding. Once Adam gets back in the right frame of mind to play golf, he'll see to it that he irons out whatever kinks he has in his non-Harmonized swing.
Evans: Charles is only telling the truth. Tiger's swing coach is almost like a therapist, a specialist who can talk shop and help him run maintenance on his steadily evolving golf swing. Most pros on the tour know that Haney is a fine fella, but having Tiger as a client has certainly vaulted him into a different category of teacher, at least in prominence if not influence.
Bamberger: We put way too much emphasis on the swing coach. Tiger would be Tiger with Elin checking out his positions.
PGA Tour Confidential: Justin Timberlake Shriners HospitalCelades, Giants Stadium end soccer careers
