Tiger And Kid Rock Dazzle On The Red Carpet

Robin Leach is outraged...outraged!...that Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn weren't photographed together for Saturday's Tiger Woods Foundation's Tiger Jam fundraiser in Las Vegas.

And frankly, having to look at Kid Rock instead of Vonn, I concur. Then again, there's Rock with Tiger on the golf course with Chris Paul. Open at your peril.

Leach tried to take his complaint a step further by suggesting the rumors of engagement--Tiger and Lindsey that is--kept Vonn off the red carpet because she was hiding a ring.

LOL: Steiny Lectures Media On Accuracy, "Misplaced Conclusions"

Ron Sirak has the laugh-out-loud sermonizing from agent Mark Steinberg--who had the audacity to suggest he knew nothing of his client's indiscretions yet somehow managed to negotiate a deal to cover them up--on the topic of Michael Bamberger's story from the Players. You may recall Bamberger quoted marshals who never green-lit Tiger to play, a point disputed by a follow up from Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union who spoke to different "marshals".

"The comments from the marshals in today's story definitively show that Tiger was telling the truth about being told Sergio had hit," Tiger's agent, Mark Steinberg, told GolfDigest.com. "I hope this demonstrates to some reporters the importance of accuracy and not jumping to misplaced conclusions."

Does Steiny really want the press to ask more questions of the "marshal" exonerating his client, who, according to Smits' story, was part of the Tiger security detail and not a marshal?

Or ask why he was calling Hank Haney a liar because the instructor was revealing things that had to make Steiny's negotiations all but impossible?

Speaking of those negotiations, Steiny suggested to his OB Keeler that blue chip companies were after Tiger. Since then, Steinberg hasn't inked any deals of late, which was highlighted when SI pointed out yesterday that Tiger had lost $20 million in endorsement income last year, dropping him from the top spot in SI's ranking of leading athlete revenue earners.

CSI: Tigerdrop Sawgrass '13 Winners!

Cork Gaines wins for the best forensic of Tiger's tee shot, noting the angle of splash and how it doesn't match the hard hook angle that would be necessary for the drop spot to have worked.

And there should be some sort of award for use of Photoshop.


And this "angle of view" importance breakdown is also quite impressive:

Video Tiger Will Never Tire Of: Sergio's 17th Hole Water Balls

Oddly, the editors of this package deprive us of one of Sergio Garcia's balls going into the TPC Sawgrass's 17th hole lake, but nemesis Tiger Woods will no doubt savor seeing Garcia's Players Championship hopes unravel.

From PGA Tour Entertainment.

Sergio-on-17 highlights from the NBC gang:

Johnny Miller, on Sergio Garcia’s first tee shot into the water – “It was almost too much for him.  The minute he hit that, he knew it was right.”
 
Gary Koch, on David Lingmerth’s tee shot on 17 – “That is the first tee shot I have seen end up right of the flag.”
 
Gary Koch, on Sergio Garcia’s second tee shot on 17 that hit the water – “Absolutely amazing he would come up short.”
 
Johnny Miller, on Sergio Garcia’s struggles on 17 – “Tough to watch.”
 
Dan Hicks, on Sergio Garcia’s struggles on 17 – “You just never want to be one of those guys at 17.  One of those guys in contention who feels all alone when things just start going the other way.”

And while we're piling on, golf.com's Ryan Reiterman posts a nice compilation of Sergio's greatest meltdowns.

“It wasn’t a shining Friday for Fred Ridley and he has at his disposal the best rules officials in golf."

David Eger's comment in today's Charlotte Observer story by Ron Green Jr. about sums up the sentiment I've heard most from the rules community in the story that won't go away: Tiger's Friday Masters drop.

“It wasn’t a shining Friday for Fred Ridley and he has at his disposal the best rules officials in golf,” Eger said. “I’m sure he had more resources available to him than I had sitting at home with my digital recorder playing it back. For the head guy not to use all the resources available to him is disappointing.”

Meanwhile, thanks to reader Chris for tipping me to the Jerry Tarde's just-posted July Golf Digest column stirring up what seems like a non-issue to many at this point: Tiger's decision to keep playing the 2013 Masters. Tarde goes with the what if angle and it's certainly a provocative take.

The decision to, in effect, disqualify himself would go down as one of the legendary gestures of sportsmanship alongside Nicklaus conceding Tony Jacklin the two-foot putt that would tie the 1969 Ryder Cup and German long-jumper Luz Long advising Jesse Owens to start his long jump short of the foul line to ensure qualifying for the final after fouling in his first two attempts at the 1936 Summer Olympics. (Long would go on to get the silver to Owens' gold.) 

Tiger Skipping Quail Hollow & Its Troubled Greens

Doug Ferguson surmises that Tiger's decision not to play the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow is a product of its week-closer-to-Augusta date.

However, photos making the rounds show troubled putting surfaces on a few holes recently rebuilt (again) by the Fazio family re-doing their previous work. And knowing Tiger's history of avoiding potentially suspect greens out of fear of messing up his stroke, it's not a surprise he is passing.

Alex Miceli has the lowdown on the Quail Hollow greens situation, which includes Tour player and member Johnson Wagner blaming the PGA Tour's agronomy staff of making things worse.

Wagner played at Quail Hollow two weeks ago during the Masters and putted on temporary greens at Nos. 8 and 10. Upon seeing the greens Monday, he said it was clear that the putting surfaces would be bumpier then usual, but the eighth and 10th greens were in trouble.

Wagner blamed the problems at No. 10 on extensive top-dressing by the Tour's agronomy staff, which oversees conditions at host courses in advance of tournaments. “It went from a perfectly sodded green three weeks ago, which I thought was unbelievable, to being dead,” Wagner said.

Pazder vehemently disagreed as to why the 10th green needed to be re-sodded. “There were a number of factors involved which contributed to the decline in the conditions of the 10th green,” said Pazder, without elaborating, "but over-top-dressing was not one of them.”

Stevie Defends Tiger, Also Says He Should Have Been DQ'd

New Zealand's 3 News tracked down looper Steve Williams at the airport and talked to him about all things Masters, those who think caddies are mere luggage toters (nostrils expand!), and in the most enjoyable portion at minute 12, Tiger's penalty. (Thanks to reader Chris for this.)

Williams stammers and struggles with the situation, prefacing his comments and even giving the likely explanation for Tiger's mistake (confusing the hazard lines on 15), before also matter-of-factly stating that despite the lack of intent to circumvent the rules, there should have been a disqualification.

Two Follow-Ups To The Woods Drop Controversy

The Tiger Woods 15th hole drop story went a couple of directions Sunday.

In the case of this appropriately measured Barry Rhodes blog post sent in by another member of the rules community, you're seeing how the experts on these matters are reacting to Fred Ridley's invocation of Rule 33-7 to resolve the situation.

So, to be absolutely clear, the Committee waived the penalty of disqualification, because they considered that this was an exceptional individual case where such a penalty would have been too harsh. I am not aware of any other situation where a player who did not know a Rule of Golf (or if they did, they forgot about it) has been favourably treated in this way. I am therefore surprised at the ruling and believe that it may have adverse consequences in the future in similar situations.

In the conspiracy theory with just enough validity department, Augusta Chronicle photographer Michael Holahan's images today were analyzed in this unbylined wire story which suggests that Woods was

While the photos may not be conclusive evidence and they will no doubt be picked apart, Tiger does appear to be standing within inches of where he took his first shot, not the two yards that he himself thought he had moved.

Holahan maintained his location for both shots, offering a clear comparison. Television replays, on the other hand, came from different locations as an ESPN cameraman on the course set up in slightly different locations.

The photo comparison prompted more questions of Woods about the drop after his final round 70 left him four shots out of the playoff.

Q.  Is there any chance that you were mistaken when you said you were two yards back, because there were photos that looked like you were in the exact same spot?
TIGER WOODS:  No, I saw the photos.

Q.  What do you think?
TIGER WOODS:  I was behind it.

Q.  You do?
TIGER WOODS:  Yeah.

Q.  So you're pretty sure that the two yards is actually ‑‑
TIGER WOODS:  One, two yards.  But it certainly was not as close as the rule says.