"We kind of got jerked around a bit, and I'm not happy about that"

Bill Nichols talks to EDS CEO Ron Rittenmeyer about dissatisfaction with the PGA Tour. I don't recall reading a CEO being so upset with the tour since Booz Allen's Ralph Shrader, and we know how well that worked out.

Rittenmeyer, talking about Tim Finchem:

 "Our title sponsorship comes to a close in two years, and if he wants us to continue, he's going to have to come to the table and help us," Mr. Rittenmeyer said.

Regarding the current date...

 "We kind of got jerked around a bit, and I'm not happy about that," Mr. Rittenmeyer said. "I made it kind of a personal goal of mine to see this course improve. So now we've accomplished the course. The next thing is to accomplish the right dates to field the best set of players. And the PGA Tour has got to help market this to their players."

And on the FedEx Cup... 

Mr. Rittenmeyer said the Tour's new FedEx Cup reduces the importance of regular events. The season-long format, which debuted last year, includes three playoffs for the FedEx Cup and the Tour Championship. Points earned in regular events determine playoff seeding.

"I wasn't happy with the FedEx Cup, and they know that," Mr. Rittenmeyer said. "They did it to get some more excitement, some more money in the game. But we didn't get a vote, and we didn't get to discuss it."

The Boo Files: "This golf is a crazy game. That's why I only want to do it for so long and get out of it."

Boo Weekley successfully defends his Heritage Classic title, drops three aint's and two reckons, and as usual provides more transcript entertainment than the rest of the PGA Tour's finest combined.

Q. Did you ever doubt yourself today?

BOO WEEKLEY: Yes, once or twice I did. I mean, I just kind of aggravated -- like on 10, I got probably the lowest point I got all day was on 10. They just put us on the clock, you know, we're under two minutes or two hours on our time, you know, and it's kind of hard to believe they had us on the clock. The guys in front of us were playing pretty quick. It kind of got aggravating and, okay, there you go, you kind of give it away now hitting shots like that. That was my lowest point.

It was the guys in front going fast, not Boo and buds playing slow. I like that rationalization.

Q. Do you think the adrenaline and your emotional state today had anything to do with you getting the rights?

BOO WEEKLEY: No, ma'am, I had the rights all day. I had them all week with the driver and a little bit with the iron. I was standing on the tee box or on the practice round this morning and I had the pulls.

This golf is a crazy game. That's why I only want to do it for so long and get out of it (laughter).

Not yet please.

Q. Golf has always had an elitist label on it. Do you think you might be an inspiration to guys out there who talk like you and chew like you?

BOO WEEKLEY: I'm pretty sure I do. I hope it's mostly the kids. That's who you want to touch anyway is the kids. And I hope they don't chew.

SI's Gary Van Sickle filed this Boo tribute on the golf.com Press Tent blog, including this killer Boo story (along with one other, so hit the link.)

I was standing behind the 18th green at the end of Saturday's round when CBS commentator Jim Nantz climbed down from the telecast tower and ambled toward the players' scoring trailer. I talked to him for a minute but he was interested in getting some face time, he said, with Boo. They had never met, Nantz said.

When Boo signed his card and came out, Nantz was there to introduce himself and have a short, smiling conversation.

Later, after Boo finished another rollicking interview session in the press tent, I asked him about meeting Nantz. "Wail (that's southern for "Well"), he said he just wanted to put a face with a name," Boo said. "He was real nice."

"What was the conversation about?" I asked, "Did he ask any deep questions?"

Boo shook his head. "I don't even know what he does," he said.

"He's a golf commentator," I said. "I'm sure you've heard him on college basketball or football."

"Wail, either I don't watch much of that or I just don't listen," he said, non-plussed.

"He only plays about 15 times a year anyway"

A wire story on surprise and shock at news of Tiger's knee surgery includes this comment from Tim Clark:

"He only plays about 15 times a year anyway," Tim Clark said. "So it's not going to do a lot" to affect the PGA Tour.

Last year Woods played in 16 official events, meaning that if he misses the Wachovia and Players, he's likely going to have to add one event this year to maintain full membership privileges.

Four playoff events this time, perhaps?

Steve Eubanks posts a Yahoo piece on the prospects for Tiger's recovery as well as what he might face in the future.

"Why bother trying?"

I normally don't pay attention when non-golf folks dare to write about golf, but in the case of Tiger and his peers seemingly being afraid of the man, I think Bill Plaschke's outsider take is worth noting. I'm not quite sold on this data though:

At least one study has shown that other golfers' fear of Woods is not only palpable, but measurable.

According to eight years of data collected by Jennifer Brown, a doctorate candidate in agricultural and resource economics at California, tour regulars average nearly a stroke higher in tournaments that include Woods.

Brown formulated her theory in a paper titled "Quitters Never Win: The (Adverse) Incentive Effect of Competing With Superstars."

She discovered a .80 stroke differential when golfers are confronted by Woods, a number that rises during periods when Woods is hot, and decreases during those rare times when he is perceived to be in a slump.

"This shows that if you are competing against an opponent you believe will win, you think, 'Why bother trying?' " said Brown, whose study has been embraced by several national media outlets.
 

"I would say given the efforts that I've seen this week, I would plan on making this a permanent stop."

What little I saw today of the golf in Houston, it appeared the organizers have really pulled off something special by emulating Augusta's setup to lure more players. Steve Campbell explains the promises made to players, the thinking behind the event's setup and quotes Phil Mickelson.  There are also these bits from Mickelson's pre-tournament press conference that speak to how good a job they did. Love that they even mow the grain toward the tee as Augusta does.

Q. Why did you decide to play here this year?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, I was told, and accurately, that they were going -- the golf course was going to be set up similarly to Augusta. It was tremendous. The greens are fast. The fairways are perfect and tight. They even mowed the grain into you in the fairway just like Augusta does. There's no rough.

The first cut just like Augusta. It's a great place to get ready for next week. I'm very appreciative that the tournament made such an effort to make the course so similar.

And...

Q. Phil, lot of guys yesterday kind of said the course is set up similar to Augusta but there's only so much they can do. Can you kind of address? Do you think it's ideal preparation or only so much you can do?

PHIL MICKELSON: It's ideal. It really is. It may not be exact, but all the shots that you have to hit next week, you have the same conditions here. You have the same shots out of the first cut, same shots around the green, tight lies, grain into you. It's very similar. It was just a tremendous job. I'm very impressed.

 Q. Is it too early to say you'll be back here again next year?

PHIL MICKELSON: It might be too early, but I would say given the efforts that I've seen this week, I would plan on making this a permanent stop.

Update on 2008-04-04 15:21 by Geoff

Stephanie Stradley at AOL Fanhouse shares this video of Redstone super Roger Groettsch talking about what went into the Augusta-like preparation.

"Finchem believes it adds to the telecast and thus the boom won't be banned."

Tim Rosaforte interviews his boss at NBC to follow up on the Bubba-Elk incident and find out if the Tour is going to ask the networks to back off. Mercifully, they are not. (Oh, and don't you love the photo of Bubba and Elk chatting it up after the round. No eye contact, stiff body language...)

Anyway, Rosaforte writes: 

I've heard that one high level player and caddie don't like the boom mike listening in on their decisions. I also remember controversies that erupted years ago when a seven-second delay wasn't enough time to censor Fred Couples at La Costa and Curtis Strange at the TPC Sawgrass. Thankfully, the use of sound is an element that comes down from the top; Finchem believes it adds to the telecast and thus the boom won't be banned.

"One veteran wondered aloud how a guy with 64 career starts can carry himself as a player with 15 wins or 15 years in the big leagues."

John Hawkins weighs in on the Bubba Watson outburst with a less than ringing endorsement for Bubba's ways. And not to pile on, but there was also this incident to remember back in January.

"We should have caught that for prime time and didn't."

Steve Elling, the Hogan, Snead, Nicklaus and Woods of press room cussing, a true master of the medium, says these fancy new microphones picking up saucy language may turn out to be a very, very...bad thing?

But still, there's no reason the masses in the audience must be involuntarily subjected to Watson's screed, right? Some citizens, not to mention the FCC, take a dim view of this sort of speech.

Someone has lived in Orlando way too long. This is interesting:

Oddly, the Golf Channel rightly saw fit to bleep out the objectionable language in its post-game news show, where the disagreement between Watson and Elkington was examined in detail, but let the objectionable language fly live and nationwide in the raw replay. That's irresponsible or lazy, if not a bit of both. According to Golf Channel spokesman Dan Higgins, there is no fabled seven-second delay on the broadcasts and the re-airing of the comments without editing was a mistake the network acknowledges.

"That's something we have to improve upon," Higgins said Monday. "We should have caught that for prime time and didn't."

I seem to recall the "crawl" during the rebroadcast was offering up a teaser about the incident. Hmmm...

If you didn't catch Bubba apologizing to God, country and every volunteer who has ever been subjected to an entertaining on course spat between millionaires, here it is on PGATour.com.

Why People Hate The Rules Files: Stewart Cink DQ'd In N.O.

Jason Sobel explains what happened to Cink and John Vander Borght explains the thinking behind the rule, which makes little sense. Why can't we just play it as it lies? Sheesh.

"Oh, I puked my guts out, no doubt about it."

No matter what you think of Woody Austin, you have to love his honest take on Sunday's final hole meltdown in New Orleans where Andres Romero took the title. Photo courtesy of golf.com.

His post round comments:

Q. Woody, tough day out there today. It's tough to say, but you admitted it, you said you choked it coming in the last nine holes.

WOODY AUSTIN: Oh, I puked my guts out, no doubt about it. I didn't have control of my golf swing and I put two hands on the steering wheel and was trying to steer it around, and it caught me at the end.

Q. Talk me through 18 because we got you on our sound talking to Brent about that second shot. You wanted to go for it, and it sounded like he wanted you to lay up.

WOODY AUSTIN: Well, I mean, he was just asking if he thought I could get it out, and I could have got it out. The only reason why I topped it or whatever is because I didn't go down in and get it. Again, I flinched, like I said, and it really -- it really wasn't that hard a shot as I made it out to be. But again, like I said, I'm not afraid to admit, when I choke, I choke, and I choked.

Update on 2008-03-31 13:43 by Geoff

John Strege chimes in on Woody Austin and Sunday's final round.

"But I mostly sat around talking to the guys about stuff guys talk about in locker rooms."

John Huggan talks to Geoff Ogilvy about his win at Doral on the eve of the Masters.

Rain delays during both the third and fourth rounds forced the event into a fifth day, a state of affairs that inevitably weighs heaviest on the man with most to lose, the tournament leader.

"The last thing I wanted was more time to think about what was going on," admits Ogilvy. "Everyone who plays golf knows that the more you think about something the worse it generally gets. So sitting around wasn't great. I just had to sit around and wait because we never knew exactly what was going to happen. My wife and kids came over for a bit.

"But I mostly sat around talking to the guys about stuff guys talk about in locker rooms. Sex and sports basically!

"Having said that, I enjoyed playing in the last group on Saturday, even with the delays. For me, it was an ideal pairing. I play with Adam (Scott] all the time and who doesn't want to play with Tiger in the last group? So that was perfect."

"I Tell You What, Veterans Can Kiss My Ass"

Here's a better version of the Bubba moment at New Orleans. I do believe that's an accurate quote, but I'm open to other interpretations. It's a classic.

Bubba and Elk Agree: The Sennheiser 816 Is The Golf Innovation Of The Year

I'll see if I can get a less Shell's Wonderful World of Golf circa-1962 quality version of this on the rebroadcast, but the audio comes in just fine. Sit back and enjoy the tension, courtesy of reader Chuck! (From round 2 of the Zurich Classic, probably picked up by the same sound instruments detailed earlier this week.)

Update on 2008-03-29 01:45 by Geoff

Well there's more here we don't know because Bubba apologized after his round according to PGATour.com.

Bubba Watson moved quickly to diffuse a tense situation that developed between he and playing partners Steve Elkington and Shigeki Maruyama during the second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

After he finished his round, Watson apologized for any misunderstanding that might have happened among the threesome. Watson apparently heard some movement while he was playing a shot and lashed out at Elkington and Maruyama.

"Who knows what (the movement) was,'' he said. "I was already mad for the day and I just took it out on them and I shouldn't have. I want to apologize to everyone in the tournament, whoever heard it, whoever saw it and especially to Steve and Shigeki and their caddies."

Tournament director Arvin Ginn spoke to the three players in the scorer's tent following the round. He said they were "very gentlemanly about the whole thing. They shook hands and there's no incident here.''

Steve Elkington was not asked about the incident in his post round interview. Guess they had the volume turned down in the press center!

Celebrity Chef Grazed By Bullet At Zurich Classic; Hillary Clinton Reportedly Jealous

From AP:

Paul Prudhomme was setting up his cooking tent on the practice range at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf event when he felt a sting in his right arm, just above his elbow.

Prudhomme shook his shirt sleeve and a .22 caliber bullet fell to the ground, a spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies believe Prudhomme was hit by a falling bullet, probably shot about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday from somewhere within a 1 1/2-mile radius of the golf course, said Col. John Fortunato. The celebrated chef didn't require medical attention.

"He thought it was a bee sting," Fortunato said. "Within five minutes, he was back to doing his thing."

Witnesses said the bullet cut Prudhomme's skin on his arm and put a hole in his white chef's coat. But Prudhomme continued cooking until he left the course about 3:30 p.m.

Prudhomme was at the course to cook for players, their caddies and guests at the annual PGA Tour event, which begins Thursday and runs through Sunday.

Prudhomme, who grew up outside Opelousas, rose to prominence after being named the first American-born executive chef of New Orleans restaurant Commander's Palace in 1975. He landed on the national stage as the chef-owner of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. He's also appeared several times as a guest on television network morning news shows and late-night talk shows.

If Hillary only had been so lucky. 

“These guys would bitch about ice cream.”

Jim McCabe offers a mix of thoughts on the season to date. My favorites:

After hearing all the talk about those bad greens at the Bay Hill Club, you wanted to remind the players that Arnold Palmer won all 62 of his PGA Tour tournaments — including those seven majors — on greens that were probably worse than what they were playing on that week.

Then again, that goes along with what Ed Dougherty once said about the fickle nature of professional golfers: “These guys would bitch about ice cream.”

And...

Let me see if I have this right: Ten players who had to come back Monday morning to finish the $8 million CA Championship were then whisked off in limousines to the Miami airport where private jets took them to Orlando where helicopters then relayed them to Isleworth for a VIP corporate outing? Yeah, that sounds like the way Byron Nelson and Jug McSpaden made their way out of town after winning the Miami Four-ball March 11, 1945.