“(The Ryder Cup) is the most important event of the year to him."

That's Anthony Kim who Rex Hoggard is writing about, according to his swing coach Adam Schreiber. When was the last time you heard of an American circling the Ryder Cup on his schedule? Especially as he faces hand surgery.

The math is simple, at least to a 24-year-old with a bag full of Advil. He wants to play all four majors, secure his spot on captain Corey Pavin’s team and, when the pain becomes too unbearable, have surgery on his thumb, a procedure that will take between two and three months to recover from.

They may not have believed in excuses in the Kim childhood home, and they must not have been big on calendars, either. Not when the last putt at “Glory’s Last Shot” drops 45 days before the United States and Europe resume the Transatlantic grudge match.

Even if he skips the PGA Championship and has the surgery following July’s British Open that would leave little time to rehab his thumb and his game for what is clearly the Super Bowl of Kim’s year.

“(The Ryder Cup) is the most important event of the year to him,” Schreiber said. “So for him to find this out in a Ryder Cup year, it’s pretty challenging.”

For an entertaining look at this week's SI Golf Plus cover shoot of Kim, check out snapper Darren Carroll's blog post and gallery (embedded below) recounting how he got his shots. It's becoming clear that AK has watched one-too-many episodes of Entourage.

"Letting in a few breathless, bleach-blond TV reporters to report the sideshow might not be such a bad thing, given golf's apparently graying viewer demographics."

Regarding this week at Quail Hollow, Steve Elling notes this in his Up & Down column the decision to keep certain media outlets away from the press tent.

When saucy celebrity TV shows such as Inside Edition and Extra applied for credentials after Woods committed last week, they were told they had missed the application deadline. Yet when traditional print outlets and sports magazines asked for more credentials, they were green-lighted for admittance. We're all for maintaining some semblance of dignity and decorum here, but is there any more damage that the tabloids and celeb shows can do? The Woods scandal seems to have mostly played out -- a few loose ends about how he will be received by his peers and the public notwithstanding -- and golf probably can use the exposure. At this stage, the sport has already been tainted. Letting in a few breathless, bleach-blond TV reporters to report the sideshow might not be such a bad thing, given golf's apparently graying viewer demographics. I guess sex sells -- everywhere but in golf.

2010 Masters Images: How Do They Do It?

I always marvel at the post-Masters images because it's such an awkard tournament to photograph without inside-the-ropes access and the lens masters usually shoot from the same club-designated perches. But more than that, I'm always fascinated by the thought process of whether to shoot scenes like No. 18 tight or wide, as Robert Beck did with Phil's birdie putt on 18. Despite Jim Nantz declaring that final putt a no-brainer for Phil to have made (is there any automatic putt at Augusta?), Beck's instinct was to go with a wide frame shot, hoping for a great reaction from Phil and fans. It paid off with this week's cover:

GolfDigest.com posts their "outtakes" from the week, including this beauty from J.D. Cuban:

Golf Digest's Dom Furore also offers this exclusive look at Tiger's return:

New Details Of Tiger Sunday Interviews

A reliable source tells me:

- The ESPN and Golf Channel interviews were shot at Isleworth today.

- Golf Channel was given 5 minutes, with no restrictions on questions. The interview ran long and went 6 minutes. Topics include car crash details and Buddhism.

- The Golf Channel interview was set to air at 7:30 but was pushed back to not compete with the PGA Tour telecast of the Transitions Championship.