When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
"Wells Fargo's $7 million secret?"
/"'Inside Edition' and 'Extra' requested credentials but were denied because the application deadline passed."
/Tiger Commits To Second Event In Same Day; Scribblers Think 2026 Champions Tour Commitments May Be Next
/"We've settled down now to a glacier pace here on the 10th hole."
/Thanks to John Strege for documenting Gary McCord's comment on the last group's slow play Sunday at Harbour Town. I heard it and swore I must have been wishfully thinking that an announcer just called out the leaders of a PGA Tour event!
When Davis and Furyk appeared to be dawdling on the 10th green on Sunday, CBS' Gary McCord said, "We've settled down now to a glacier pace here on the 10th hole."
They were playing twosomes on Sunday at the Verizon Heritage and it still took more than four hours to complete play.
Do you think that just maybe the networks are tired of the slow play and extended finishes caused by slow play? Finally?
Well Wasn't That A Strange Way To End A Golf Tournament...**
/I'm not sure what was more bizarre about the conclusion to the final Verizon-sponsored Heritage Classic...
- That Brian Davis seemingly explained to Slugger White that he might have violated the rules because Slugger didn't see it happen, even though it was a playoff and there was nothing else to be watching
- That fans were booing the time it took to check with the replay booth whether a rule had been broken
- That CBS was showing its credits over a compelling playoff situation prior to Davis hitting his shot.
- That Davis actually violated the loose impediment rule when the item in question appeared rooted in the ground, but clearly someone thought it wasn't
- That CBS didn't have time for a quick post round interview (you go affiliates!)
Anyway, odd but as Jim Nantz noted, quite admirable of Davis to have immediately questioned what happened and to have called this on himself.
If you saw it, thoughts?
**John Vander Borght explains what went wrong during the Heritage playoff and why it was indeed a penalty.
Slugger White explained what happened after the round and it sounds like he issued a gentle warning prior to Davis entering the hazard, which might explain why Davis called out his mistake so quickly. Davis doesn't mention that in his comments.
Well, when he hit the ball in the hazard, I cautioned him not to touch anything loose. When I went down in there, he said fine. And it's really strange, all these reeds that were loose, most of them were going this way, and this one reed was sticking out just outside his ball, I guess. And he looked and looked and looked, and when he took the club away he ticked it. And he immediately came to me -- I couldn't see it. The wind was blowing, so I couldn't see it against the sand. And he assured me that he ticked it when he took the club away. He called it on himself immediately.
The SI/golf.com Confidential team, in between debating Jim Furyk's place in golf history and what's wrong with Sergio--those hot button issues--were not very positive about CBS's coverage of the situation.
Van Sickle: TV did a lousy job of explaining the penalty. Viewers had to be confused. I was.
Herre: Faldo wouldn't shut up! You could make out the conversation Slugger White was having on his handheld — whenever Faldo wasn't talking over what was being said. Poor job by CBS.
Herre: For a journeyman who has never won on the PGA Tour, Davis was impressive. I don't think even the armchair rules officials would've picked up on his error.
Morfit: In the end it was much ado about nothing, right? Doesn't Furyk win the playoff on that hole even if Davis doesn't touch a loose impediment? Weird scene down on the beach, though. I thought I'd clicked on the Clamming Channel.
Evans: Not sure what to make of Davis not finishing the hole after all that overly officious professionalism and honesty. It was funny to see Slugger White tell Furyk that he still had to putt out after Davis shook his hand.
James Commits Early To Charlotte
/Tiger Committed!
/To Quail Hollow.
Mark Soltau breaks the news for TigerWoods.com (nice scoop!). Ron Green noticed an encouraging sign in the news:
“I know a lot of guys said I should take Ricci, but we have made a decision."
/2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational Final Round Comments
/It's looking like an Ernie Els run-away victory and an impressive second straight win as we inch closer to the Masters. And since just about everyone on the planet would like to see him win that, it's exciting stuff. Nonetheless, I won't be watching live. Then again, neither will you be since the round is tape delayed to get in before possible inclement weather.
But feel free to post your various thoughts here on any and all things Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“All (the changes) are for the better.”
/"It’s a sucker pin if one ever existed."
/"So maybe I was selfish; call me selfish."
/Hard to say without being there, but it sounds like Ernie Els came up with a clever way to not back down from his "selfish" remarks last month at the Accenture Match Play.
You know, to come back to your remark, what I said, I said it because, you know, I just felt the Friday was not the right place for that. We had to play a tournament and I was maybe selfish from my point of view that all I wanted to do was a play golf tournament instead of talking about, you know, his personal life. That's basically what I meant by that. I felt that the Monday would have been great. Friday wasn't great for us. So maybe I was selfish; call me selfish. That's maybe where I'm coming from.
And now, again, you know, questions keep coming. We cannot give you insight because we don't know. I love everybody to stop asking questions about Tiger and his personal life. That's his life; go ask him, basically.