Alan Ross has the story of Pinehurst looper Willie McRae, who once caddied for Donald Ross. As well as many others over a long career. Mike Aitken reports that St. Andrews is being pushed as the Olympic golf site if London receives the 2012 bid. Another sport must be dropped though, and golf will be competing with rugby, squash, karate and roller sports for any opening.

Thomas Bonk in the LA Times talks to Johnny Miller about the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Miller has many interesting things to say about the “big 4.” And Bonk writes that Miller said Pinehurst “should be a good U.S. Open setup, not like last year's too-tough Shinnecock Hills in New York. Last year, the setup was over the top, said Miller, who admitted he kept his mouth shut about it on the air. There's your upset. Johnny Miller without an opinion is like John Daly without a driver.”

Johnny, don’t be so hard on yourself. You did say that the course was “unplayable” at one point Sunday. That’s pretty strong.

This Telegraph story reports Gary Evans' remarks on the Monty incident. And this story reports on a call from European Tour director George O'Grady for Evans to apologize. Alan Campbell writes about the Els IMG departure and the demise of the agency.

Speaking of hole locations and low score prevention tactics, Colin Montgomerie had this to say after round 2 at the BMW:

Q. How about some of the pin placements?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I've seen a few today that I haven't seen before. 7 for five, I don't know where that came from; it was dark, I suppose. And then there was one, a few others I think that were very near, cutting into slopes, but I suppose that's okay. Don't get me wrong. Technology is making it that way that the pins are a lot, lot closer to the edges of the green than I've ever found before. There used to be a rule that it used to be three paces, three paces on the greens, but they don't seem to be adhering to that rule anymore. Technology I suppose says that. You can stop the ball quicker, the balls are stopping quicker, so there's no problem there. It's preventing scoring around here, that's for sure.

The excellent issue also features John Strege’s outstanding piece on the Big Stakes Match Play even in Nevada that airs next week on The Golf Channel, while John Hawkins explains the bizarre TPC Avenal/Booz Allen Classic situation.

“John Jacobs averaged 246.5 yards off the tee in 1988. Now, at 60, Jacobs' average drive travels 286.0. In 1990, Tom Purtzer led the PGA Tour with an average driving distance of 279.6. Now, as he moves farther away from his athletic prime, he's also moving closer to the pin: Last season, his usual drive flew 294.8 yards.”

And these quotes from Dana Quigley stood out: "I hit one ball 338 yards last week. I hit one 346 [one month ago] in Austin, Texas. Used to be, I couldn't hit it that far with a driver and a pitch."

"I won the first tournament this year, came in second in the next, and I don't have any of the 14 clubs I used in those tournaments," Quigley said. "There's always something better. Always. I come here every day and, honestly, it's like Christmas. Like, what new thing can I have?"

Remember the good old days when players had favorite clubs they wouldn’t dare take out of the bag?

Tod Leonard writes that the Tour is considering moving the match play to Innisbrook in Florida, possibly the second least interesting course in America for match play, right behind La Costa. David Feherty answers mail at Golfonline. Alistair Tait at Golfweek writes about Colin Montgomerie's character being called into question, while Mike Aitken provides some very interesting details about the brewing storm with European Tour players . And now posted at Golfdom.com is my May column on course setup's gone awry .

“On the PGA Tour this year, the average score of players has risen, by 0.28 strokes, compared with the average 10 years ago.”

Accompanying the story is a graph showing that scores have remained consistent over the last ten years. So this year’s rise just might have something to do with the horrid weather or fairway widths at 25 yards or holes cut 4 feet from the fringe. Nor is it clear what Tour scoring has to do with the premise of the piece, which is the relationship between average golfer scoring and high-priced equipment.

The story points out that the average handicap has only dropped a half-stroke in the last five years, but he doesn’t point out that there’s been a 1.5 average drop over the last 10. Another curious portion of the piece involves comments from Rick Martino, the director of instruction for the P.G.A. of America, who suggested that three factors had influenced the lack of change in average scoring, which actually has changed.

"The golf courses are much harder than 20 years ago - longer, more bunkers, more water," he said. "Also, the average age of the average golfer has gone up considerably because people are living longer and baby boomers are retiring and taking up golf. But these golfers are less fit and less accomplished at the game. And, there are more golfers who play fewer rounds per year. If you only play two to seven times a year, what's your average score going to be?"

Another overall message of the story is that instruction hasn’t done much to help golfers either because no one wants to talk about the short game. Oh and “what of the PGA pro? Why isn't his score declining?”

Pennington writes, “Unquestionably, most courses on the professional tours are longer, and greens are mowed to be faster.” Oy. How about 400 inches of rain this year?

Overall, it’s refreshing to read something not blatantly celebrating consumerism and proclaiming the USGA evil for daring to look at the effects of equipment deregulation, but it would be nice to see a front page New York Times story with a little more clarity and context.

On the freak show news front, check out the story of 14-year-old Carmen Bandea who is playing in the men’s U.S. Open qualifying. Like Creamer, she goes to the IMG/Titleist/Polo Acade…err, The Pendleton School in bucolic Bradenton . According to the wire service story – and I am not making this up - Bandea likes playing with the men because, according to the writer, “it gives her a chance to pair up with someone cute. She was especially eager to check out her two playing partners Monday.”

"She's very mature in some ways, but in some ways she's very immature," her mother said. "She's kind of acting her age right now." Then what better time to enter the U.S. Open qualifying!

And for those searching for the gift that keeps on giving, check out the Tour wives charity wrist bands for charity. These are bound to go over well in the men's card room. How long before we see players having to wear these to appease the wife?