April 1, 2003

WARREN, PA — It was a very strange week in golf.  By lunchtime Friday it looked as if the king of golf, Kyle Marti was going to break away and make splashy headlines in the sports sections of the weekend newspapers.  At Jackson Valley Country Club, Marti carded at least 1 NOOG point on every hole including 5 pars and 41 points to start the season.

"I particularly played well on the par 3's", said Marti.  "Jackson has it's strengths, but they are not the par 3's."

Before we get to the heart of why Marti played so well, we need to first look at one of the last week's major subplots, an "young age" tale that could be my favorite of the year: twenty-three year old Kyle Marti trying to become an early contender for the On Tour Championship.

I think we can all take away from the Spackler an amazing display of talent by Marti.  Not only does he hit the ball farther than most players on tour, he has a great iron game.  His putting is suspect along with his focus, but I foresee a very bright future for Marti and expect he will win a lot of championships on the Spackler Open history.