He started the final round tied for fourth.  In the end, Tiger Woods won the Buick Invitational by 2 strokes after a final round 66 (low score of the day) to capture his 7th tournament win in as many starts – moving one win closer to Lord Byron’s record of 11 and into second place alone on the list of most consecutive PGA Tour wins.

Of those that Tiger was chasing or tied with at the beginning of the day, Charles Howell III gave him the biggest challenge, shooting a 4 under par 68. 

Brandt Snedeker, who opened the tournament with an 11 under 61, could only manage one more under par in the next three rounds, his final round 71 put him 3 back of Woods and third overall.

Other contenders didn’t fair very well up against Tiger in the final round.

Andrew Buckle, who pulled out in front mid-round, finished with an even par 72 on Sunday, good for a tie for fourth.

Kevin Sutherland shot a 2 over 74; Bill Haas a 3 over 75; and Troy Matteson a 4 over 76.

With the exception of Howell, who had an eagle putt on 18 to tie Tiger (he ended up with a 3 putt par), most of those with a shot at stopping Tiger’s streak were rookies, near rookies and/or much lower ranked players.

No one, including me, gave any of them much of a chance at the beginning of the day.  Much better and more experienced players than them have crumbled when up against Tiger.

Is Tiger’s current streak and dominance since joining the PGA good for golf?  I think so.  Just as Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan were great for hockey and basketball.

As Tiger continues to break every record, I think more and more people will want to watch him do it.    

Particularly, when golf is not top of mind for many people in North America right now because it’s too cold/snowy to play, Tiger’s streak is a reason to be insterested even though the golf season is 3 or 4 months away.

Next stop, the Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates, where Tiger is the defending champ.

This week, Tiger Woods makes his 2007 debut on the PGA Tour at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California.

He also puts his winning streak of 6 tournaments in a row on the line as he chases Bryon Nelson’s record of 11 straight wins set more than 6 decades ago in 1945.

Despite shooting an opening round 6 under 66, he’s 5 back of the leader Brandt Snedeker who played on the Nationwide Tour last year and fired an 11 under 61 today.

It’s unlikely that Tiger (or anyone) will get this close to Bryon’s record again, so it would be nice to see him win this week.

On another note, for a course that is hosting the US Open in 2008, Torrey Pines’ website really sucks.  They should call 76design.

After reading posts by Neville Hobson and David Akin about BlogJet 2, I downloaded it to give it a try.

I’ve only been blogging for a couple of months now and I wasn’t using posting software.

BlogJet 2, so far, works really well and makes posting a lot easier (e.g. spell checker).

I was having a hard time uploading videos directly from YouTube to my blog which is on WordPress.

I did it no problem with BlogJet.

I don’t seem to be having the issue Neville Hobson reported with the editor converting the word ‘BlogJet’ into a link every time I type it.

BlogJet 2 costs CAD $49.95 (USD $39.95) for a single-user license.  If you’re upgrading from version 1, it’s USD $19.95.

Here’s a couple of clips of the C-27J Spartan at airshows.

You don’t expect a military transport aircraft to perform a barrel roll, but the C-27J can do it. 

Alenia, who makes the C-27J, is a client of mine at Thornley Fallis. 

Alenia will be proposing the C-27J for the Canadian Forces Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue aircraft replacement program.

Let me start off by saying this: I like heading across the river to Gatineau — I worked there for a year, and I enjoy the restaurants, Gatineau Park, and the whole ambiance.

What doesn’t thrill me is the idea that, as someone driving a car with Ontario plates, I think I am much more likely to get a parking ticket, or to get stopped for traffic violations, than someone with plates from la Belle Province.

A night two weeks ago was the final straw — I pulled into a Gatineau parking lot at 6:30 p.m., paid the meter, put my ticket in the window, and then, when I came out two hours later with time left on my purchased ticket, there it was — a parking ticket from Le Ville de Gatineau.

This one followed on one from the week before Christmas, when I got one as I was parked in a row of cars, all with expired meters (including mine, I confess), but the one car — the only car out of at least 15 — in the parking garage two weeks ago with a parking ticket on it?  Mine, with the Ontario plate.

Do I view this as a grand conspiracy?  I do not.  But it does drive me nuts that I got two tickets in a month in situations that I felt indicated unfair treatment from a friend and neighbour.  If every car in the line had gotten a ticket last month, I probably would have put down this month’s ticket as an accident.  Instead, this month’s ticket led to this post — and a request:

Am I wrong, or do others perceive the folks on the other side of the river as quickdraws with parking tickets for out-of-province plates?

The only time I’ve ever been pulled over in what I have to say was a random fashion (I wasn’t speeding that time, cop just asked to see my licence and registration, then he wished me a good day) was in Montreal, and the only time I’ve ever been pulled over out of a line of cars in the fast lane was just outside Quebec City.

I won’t be paying this current parking ticket — I’m sending a copy of my paid receipt, and the ticket, to the mayor’s office, and to the ticket folks, but it still irks me that I feel like I was deliberately targetted, in a parking garage, because of the province of origin of my car.

Just a thought — it wouldn’t kill us, on both sides of this provincial border, to be a little more neghbourly to each other this winter …
Let me close with this free advice to Le Ville de Gatineau: when I was younger, the City of Charlottetown decided not to ticket out of province plates with parking tickets for meter violations in downtown (they stopped after a couple of years, but the principle was, I believe, sound and correct).  Instead, they issued a “Welcome to Charlottetown” ticket, wishing the visitor all the best in Charlottetown and reminding them to please pay the meters but we did hope they enjoyed their stay …

Terry Fallis, the ‘Fallis’ in Thornley Fallis has written ‘The Best Laid Plans’, a satirical novel of Canadian politics. 

Terry has set up a podcast where he’ll be reading a chapter each week.  A Prologue and Chapter 1 are up now.

Larry MacDonald of Canadian Business today posted about some of the best RRSP article ideas he’s been pitched – ’tis the season, RRSP season that is. 

He highlights pitches in the following categories:

• Most personable
• Most off the beaten path
• Most unexpected
• Most newsy
• Most intellectual

I found the ‘Most Newsy’ one, well… the most newsy.  It was a release from TD Bank on its survey of RRSP contributors.

It noted, as Larry points out, that ”Prairies most likely to contribute to an RRSP this year, will make biggest contribution” and “propensity to have a financial plan increases in a straight line east to west”.

Joe Thornley, owner of Thornley Fallis (the firm I work for) and author of Pro PR, today posted to announce the launch of a blog by the recently formed Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF).

The CCPRF is the organization that represents public relations consulting firms in Canada. Its membership is restricted to the principals of the firms.

Joe’s first post on the blog says the CCPRF plans to use the site to provide information about public relations in Canada. Posts will be written by and from the perspective of the principals of CCPRF member companies.

For this year’s Super Bowl, Doritos, Chevrolet, CBS, and the National Football League have invited consumers to create their ads.  The average 30-second ad is likely to cost up to US$26-million.

In this National Post article published on January 17, 2007, Scott Deveau reports:

CBS is offering 15-seconds of network time for an inspiring message from one of its viewers. The submissions were uploaded on to a YouTube site and CBS Web sites, before the broadcaster selected one to be aired on Feb. 4 during the Super Bowl.

Chevrolet has honed in on its target demographic, calling on college students to pitch an ad complete with story board and script that will be selected and produced by the automaker.

The NFL will produce its ad after the winner is selected by a combination of company input and online voting after open auditions were held across the United States.

Company officials for Doritos narrowed a field of more than 1,000 pre-produced, 30-second spots to five last week. The winner will be determined this Friday by online voting for the finalists on the contests Yahoo! Web site.

Oh no wait, that’s Charley Hoffman who won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs, California this weekend. 

But, if a replacement for one of the Hanson Brothers is required for Slap Shot 3…