"Half the players on tour do that."

John Huggan looks at the intent question in light of the Kenny Perry video surfacing and offers this summation:

Let's go back to Perry and the clump of grass he did or did not deliberately pat down, thereby improving his lie. During the recent Players Championship, I showed a recording of the incident to a prominent PGA Tour player. He took one look, snorted, and announced: "Half the players on tour do that."

Again, such revelations come as no surprise. Every tour on the planet is rife with rumour when it comes to those who cheat for a living. And why, you may ask, is nothing ever done about it? The reason is simple: professional golf, to a large extent, is sold to commercial sponsors on the basis that it is whiter than white. Unlike footballers and rugby players, all golfers, ahem, play strictly by the rules. Or so, predictably, the tours would have you believe. Their economic health depends on public perpetuation of that myth, so they look the other way when naughty things happen.

"Good grief Sergio. Man up dude."

Mike Freeman is miffed at Sergio's revelation that his slump has been driven by a woman.

A woman? A woman is ruining your golf game?

Other Garcia revelations:

Oprah rocks!
Barry Manilow is my homey.
I own seven cats.
MMA fighters are a bunch of meanies.
Thrice weekly pedicures are the way to go.
Does anyone else find all of this particularly wimpy?

Sergio Roasted, Toasted By Internet Sports Writer Of The Year

"In the face of some tough questioning" Sergio Garcia endures a withering cross examine from the Internet Sports Writer of the Year, who also close-talked and ordered the former World No. 2 to read putts pose for a lame photo during a round at Turnberry. Refreshing to see Britain's top tabloid pursuing the questions we've all been wanting answered: What's wrong with your puttin...oh, wait, sorry.

So on Monday he was prepared for bad weather. What he was not prepared for were questions about his relationship with Morgan-Leigh Norman, the daughter of Greg, a relationship that had ended in March. Yet when confronted with the unexpected, Garcia did not flinch. He spoke truthfully and honestly. He did not ask for the conversation to go off the record or say that he did not want to talk about it ask for the tape recorder to be turned off. In fact, at one point he was given the opportunity to end the interview and play the last hole but declined, saying instead, "I don't want to play. I'm talking."

I'm weeping. The courage! The focus!

The interview, which took place between the 14th and 18th holes of the Ailsa course on Monday afternoon and was tape recorded, began with his memories of the 1996 Amateur. It soon moved to his current poor form and he explained that the break-up of his relationship with Morgan-Leigh was the reason for that and he went on to speak about it. An article about this appeared in The Times on Wednesday, May 27, headlined "It was being dumped by my girl that drove me into the rough, Sergio Garcia reveals." In the story Garcia said: "It was probably the first time I have been really in love. It took me a while to get over it.

Well at least the original story was given proper attribution. You don't often see that in a tabloid like The Times!

"I don’t feel like changing my schedule for an event where if I’ve played well, I have only finished in the top ten."

I thought the sheer magnitude of The Players was cause for Padraig Harrington's reason not to play the BMW at Wentworth, but actually it's the greens according to Peter Dixon:

However, with the club about to dig up all of its greens and rebuild them to modern standards, the Irishman says he will commit himself to playing the famous West Course in 2010. Speaking yesterday at Turnberry, venue of the Open Championship in July, Harrington said: “I find the greens very difficult. I don’t feel like changing my schedule for an event where if I’ve played well, I have only finished in the top ten. I am positive I will be there next year. It is one of the best courses in Europe and I love its challenges from tee to green.”

Martin Dempster reports that Padraig turned up at Turnberry for a practice round and Wilson outing. He offered this scouting report:

"I played one or two shots out there that come up a lot on this golf course and I will work on those over the next two months so that I am ready when it comes around to the Open. For instance, there are a number of elevated greens out there, so you are going to have a lot of chip and runs from rough across fairway on to the green.

"If I had not looked at the course, I would probably have been practising my chip and runs at home from tight lies but, in actual fact, it looks as though we'll be playing those from soft, fluffy rough.

"Also, some of the greens have three to four-feet drop offs and that's something I'll also be practising, either chipping over those or running them up. Just being here five minutes has shown me some different shots to practise coming into the tournament."

Lowry Going Pro

Alistair Tait says don't expect to see Shane Lowry at Merion for the Walker Cup. He's turning professional after his Irish Open win.

"They don’t ‘make ‘em like that anymore."

Al Barkow remembers Bob Rosburg and tells us a few things we probably didn't know about the man.

He never took a lesson in his life, and rarely practiced. He was not a ball beating range-rat in the Hogan mode. Fact is, he reminded me that when he won the PGA Championship he never hit one practice ball all week. Not even a couple or three warm-ups. “It was really hot in Minneapolis that week,” Rosburg said, “and the practice range was across the road and down in a hollow. I’d watch these guys coming back up from the range all sweaty and I said to hell with it. I’ll never forget the first hole, a 470-yard par four, hardest hole on the course. Every day I hit a four-wood on the green” Drive and a four-wood, the first shots he hit every day on the way to winning his one major.

Update on 2009-05-19 02:39 by Geoff

Thanks to reader Taylor for this Bob Weeks post featuring another great Rossie story. Somehow I don't this one will be submitted for the USGA's new Arnold Palmer "memory book."

Rossie, R.I.P.

The great player and later on-course announcer has left us, Rex Hoggard reports. Here is his memorable Golf Digest My Shot. Sal Johnson, who worked with Rossie at ABC, files this remembrance. And here is his Wikipedia bio.

Thursday At The Players

Take the kids and military guests away and boy did the vibe change Thursday. It didn't help that the players were slogging through a 5:30 minute round, but I couldn't get over the difference between the two days. Personally, if I were a corporate sponsor of a tour event, I'd support more days that encourage family and military guests if it builds that kind of vibe. (Or how about lower prices? There I go again!)

But with more folks and more passion, the corporate hospitality areas become that much more coveted.  Take away the buzz, the place grows quiet and there isn't as much cache in spending on a "chalet."

Now that we have that important statement on corporate hospitality addressed, what about the golf?The scene at 17 Thursday morning (click to enlarge)

I hate to judge the course setup and architecture after just a day of tournament viewing, but it's painfully clear that the situation with rough still has not been properly addressed. You may recall there have been many debates over the years about Pete Dye's intentions and trying to bring the pine scrub and other hazards more into play by having less rough. We've been told that post-move to May, this has been addressed. I'm not feeling it.

Jeff Klauk, son of longtime and now retired TPC super Fred Klauk, tees off on 17 in his first Players (click to enlarge)Though the grass is kept at a lower height than the March Players days, it's still a penal 2-3 inches and fairway cuts appear surprisingly narrow.

Judging by Thursday's excellent scoring, it's not having much effect. Instead, the course still overemphasizes putting and downplays any kind of strategic placement. Not to take away from first round leader Ben Crane's round in any way, but he did have 14 one-putts. And as firm as it was despite a Wednesday night spritzing that eliminated some of previous afternoon's shine, the rough is still stopping balls from reaching trouble. It's most noticeable around some greens where apparently someone on Golf Channel suggested they are growing it at 3 inches, compared to 2 off the fairways. I hope to find out if that's true (doubtful).Trees down the right of No. 6 fairway

I'll try and get a few photographs to illustrate where short grass would make the course more interesting and more difficult (in a good way). But the image to the right shows that it's not just Augusta National resorting to small pines to penalize slightly off-line shots.

Tiger's 7-iron approach to 16 was a highlight (click to enlarge)I followed Tiger in the morning and saw his 7-iron approach that set up his 16th hole eagle. That prompted this stat from the ShotLink crew, working their tales off this week:

With his eagle on the par 5 16th hole, Tiger Woods has now played the hole in 38-under par for his career at THE PLAYERS. His next-best hole is the par 5 second, which he has played at 22-under in 45 rounds. Below is a chart showing how Tiger has played the different holes at TPC Sawgrass.

Par 3s: +25
Par 4s: +40
Par 5s: -88
Front 9: -3
Back 9: -20

As for No. 17, I'll get into the specifics later this week, but the atmosphere and videoboards make it an incredible place to hang out. And for all of the talk about how unfair the hole is, the ShotLink team shares this:

A total of 14 balls were hit in the water off of the tee on the famed 17th hole on Thursday. Interestingly enough, there were 18 balls hit in the water on the par 3 13th hole on Thursday.

More tomorrow on No. 17 and Friday night's media bash, the Commissioner's "Southern Style Pig Roast."

Here's A View I Didn't Remember...

The sixth tee, TPC Sawgrass. It's about as overhanging as a tree can get.

Redesigning No. 17

You gotta love the Photoshop work by the Golfweek gang who took on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass. I loved them all, but this is a favorite:

I Don't Know About You, But...

...Seve looks incredible for a guy who has had his head opened four times and is in round four of chemotherapy. The Telegraph reports on his first public appearance.