Welcome to PGATOUR.COM’s newest feature.
Each Monday, the Backspin will provide insight and analysis on the latest results, happenings and news on the PGA TOUR. We welcome your feedback to let us know what you think! Here’s what we do know: We’ll have an answer, at least on the Accenture Match Play Championship, by Friday at 5 p.m., the deadline to enter. Stay tuned. — Brian Wacker CHARLEY MANIA: It’s still early in the season, but has already done enough to lead me to believe this is going to be a monster year for the TOUR’s Hulk Hogan look-alike. In four starts this season, Hoffman has finished no worse than a tie for 19th — and that came in his first start at the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by , an event he won in 2007. Since then, Hoffman has rattled off a runner-up finish in a playoff at the FBR Open, a tie for seventh at the Buick Invitational and a tie for 14th at Pebble Beach. Hoffman grew up out West, so perhaps his hot start shouldn’t be too surprising. We’ll see what happens when the TOUR moves east, but for now, you might want to think about penciling in Hoffman as a name to mention as a contender for the majors. — T.J. Auclair The GOLF CHANNEL telecast was followed by a re-airing of “Uneven Fairways,” which I had not yet seen. It was a fascinating program that brought to life a cruel part of the history of this grand game. I can remember once talking with Charlie Sifford about the death threats he received when he played in the 1961 Greater Greensboro Open. More than 20 years later, his face was grim and his hands gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in tightly as he spoke. Those memories clearly will always be with him, and we should never forget, either. — Helen Ross TIGER OR BILL: A San Francisco Chronicle columnist tried to make the argument over the weekend why, if forced to choose, he would rather have than Tiger Woods playing at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
No doubt Murray brings smiles to plenty of faces at Pebble Beach, and seeing him in action, he appears to have as much fun as the fans he’s entertaining. As I noted a few days ago, in his own way, Murray helps bring interest to golf.