Nationwide Irony

Did anyone else notice what was printed on the page following Ryan Herrington's November 11 Golf World piece detailing Sean Murphy's questions about the the Nationwide Tour's lack of a retirement pension?

That's right, a Nationwide "Life is on your side" ad with a reminder that "Life comes at you fast." (Hint, hint, sign up for one of our retirement programs.)

The next page features a photo of this year's 20 Nationwide graduates.

Sirak on Paula-Annika

Ron Sirak looks at the Paula Creamer-Annika Sorenstam antics and offers some interesting info. Scroll past the space filling stuff about rivalries and get to the juicy part.

Sure sounds like Creamer is a rules stickler. She even dared to say no to Annika on one of those "I-have-a-ball mark" when-it's-really-a-spike-mark situations.

Favorites

Instead of the usual boring pre-tournament release, the always efficient and helpful folks at Brener-Zwikel sent this list out to generate interest in this week's Grand Slam of Golf.

Favorite Course, U.S.?
Tiger Woods: Augusta National
Michael Campbell: Pinehurst No. 2
Phil Mickelson: Whisper Rock
Vijay Singh: Augusta National

Favorite Golf Hole, U.S.?
Tiger Woods: Cypress Point, Hole 16
Michael Campbell: Pinehurst, Hole 17
Phil Mickelson: Augusta National, Hole 12
Vijay Singh: Pebble Beach, Hole 18

Favorite Course Outside U.S.?
Tiger Woods: St. Andrews, Old Course
Michael Campbell: Kauri Cliffs, New Zealand
Phil Mickelson: St. Andrews, Old Course
Vijay Singh: Ballybunion Golf Links

Favorite Golf Hole Outside U.S.?
Tiger Woods: St. Andrews, Hole 18
Michael Campbell: Kauri Cliffs, Hole 4 "Cambo's Hole"
Phil Mickelson: Lahinch, Hole 5
Vijay Singh: St. Andrews, Hole 17

Favorite Golf Course Architect?
Tiger Woods: A.W. Tillinghast & Donald Ross
Michael Campbell: Tom Fazio
Phil Mickelson: Donald Ross
Vijay Singh: Alister MacKenzie

Best Shot of Your Career?
Tiger Woods: PGA Championship, Hazeltine, 18th hole, second shot from fairway bunker
Michael Campbell: My bunker shot at the 17th hole at St. Andrews, 3rd round, 1995 Open
Phil Mickelson: Putt on 18 at Augusta, 2004
Vijay Singh: Final round of 2000 Masters, Hole 15

One Mulligan You'd Like to Take?
Tiger Woods: No mulligans in golf
Michael Campbell: My 2nd shot at the 5th hole at St. Andrews, final round of 1995 Open
Phil Mickelson: Tee shot on 17 at 2004 U.S. Open
Vijay Singh: Final round of 2002 Masters, Hole 15 third shot

Favorite Club in Your Bag?
Tiger Woods: All 14
Michael Campbell: Callaway FT3 driver
Phil Mickelson: Putter
Vijay Singh: Putter

Oldest Club in Your Bag?
Tiger Woods: Putter, 6 years
Michael Campbell: Putter
Phil Mickelson: Putter
Vijay Singh: Cleveland 3-wood

Best Golf Book You Have Read, Not Written By You?
Tiger Woods: "Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" by Ben Hogan
Michael Campbell: "Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" by Ben Hogan
Phil Mickelson: "Who's Your Caddy" by Rick Reilly (A Good Laugh)
Vijay Singh: "The Natural" by Sam Snead

Last Time You Bought a Golf Ball?
Tiger Woods: In college
Michael Campbell: When I was 12 years old
Phil Mickelson: No idea
Vijay Singh: 2003

All-Time Favorite Movie?
Tiger Woods: "Caddyshack"
Michael Campbell: "Star Wars"
Phil Mickelson: "Usual Suspects"
Vijay Singh: "Forrest Gump"

 Favorite TV Show?
 Tiger Woods: ESPN Sports Center
 Michael Campbell: "Friends"
 Phil Mickelson: "The Practice"
 Vijay Singh: "CSI"

 Who would be in your dream foursome?
 Tiger Woods: Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones
 Michael Campbell: Gene Simmons, Michael Jordan, Nicole Kidman
 Phil Mickelson: Amanda Mickelson, Sophia Mickelson, Evan Mickelson
 Vijay Singh: Qass Singh, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen

Favorite Male Athlete?
Tiger Woods: Michael Jordan
Michael Campbell: Lance Armstrong
Phil Mickelson: Too many favorites!
Vijay Singh: Lance Armstrong

Favorite Female Athlete?
Tiger Woods: Mia Hamm
Michael Campbell: Sarah Ulmer
Phil Mickelson: Too many favorites!
Vijay Singh: Serena Williams

 Favorite Sports Team?
 Tiger Woods: Lakers, Raiders, Yankees, Dodgers
 Michael Campbell: NZ All Blacks-Rugby
 Phil Mickelson: San Diego Chargers
 Vijay Singh: New York Yankees

Favorite Sporting Event, Non-Golf?
Tiger Woods: Baseball World Series
Michael Campbell: Olympic Games
Phil Mickelson: NFL Football
Vijay Singh: World Cup of Soccer

Who Would You Buy a Ticket to Watch?
Tiger Woods: Ali vs. Frazier (1, 2 & 3)
Michael Campbell: U2 in Concert
Phil Mickelson: San Diego Chargers
Vijay Singh: Pink Floyd in Concert

Favorite Musician or Group?
Tiger Woods: Van Halen, Prince, Janet Jackson, Madonna
Michael Campbell: Kiss
Phil Mickelson: REM
Vijay Singh: Pink Floyd
 

To Bid Or Not To Bid?

Or a better question might be, how did people get these items to begin with? An Augusta member green jacket and an early Pine Valley plan (or so someone claims) can be yours.

It's About Fun

Lorne Rubenstein writes about fun in golf, and where he goes to find it.

Creamer-Sorenstam Implications

The Paula Creamer-Annika Sorrenstam spat at last week's Championship may tell us a lot about the state of the LPGA Tour under new Commissioner Carolyn Bivens.

Just a quick recap courtesy of AP:

The season-ending ADT Championship got off to a rocky start Thursday when the top two players on the LPGA Tour got into a tense dispute on the 18th fairway over where Sorenstam should have taken a drop from the hazard.

"Neither one of them was going to budge," rules official Janet Lindsay said.

After a debate that lasted so long it was almost too dark to finish at Trump International, the ruling ultimately went Sorenstam's way. She was allowed to go to a ball drop instead of returning to the tee, although she still made double bogey and fell out of a tie for the lead.

Hee-Won Han led with a 5-under-par 67 that essentially went unnoticed.

This round might be remembered as the start of a rivalry between the LPGA Tour's best players — one the undisputed star who already is in the Hall of Fame, the other a 19-year-old rookie with moxie.

"We were trying to determine where it went in," Sorenstam said. "We're standing 220 yards away, and we're talking about inches."

Creamer, who finished with a 68, stared hard at Sorenstam as the Swede spoke to reporters, and later had an animated discussion with LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens and Lindsay.

It would be interesting to hear what the animated discussion is about. It's hard to imagine that Creamer would be so insistent unless she believed Sorenstam was bending the rules.

Since the LPGA's firing of 18-year official Barb Trammell (who reportedly lost her job after she would not budge when a player wanted to belatedly enter an event after the standard entry deadline), the LPGA Tour has seen two high profile rules incidents since her departure. Neither of which was handled very well.

Golfweek's Jay Coffin reported that Trammell's "resignation" may have been motivatd by "a group of players who had made known to Bivens their increasing displeasure with Trammell's 'by the book' demeanor."

Just typing out loud here, but someone might want to tell Bivens that respect for the rules is vital to the integrity and image of a pro golf tour.

Pure Golf W/Peter Kessler

Peter Kessler interviews yours truly today, Monday the 21st at 8 am EST on XM Radio channel 146. The show repeats three more times after the original airing for those who have XM (or those on the west coas). It also appears that some sort of an audio archive is available online, since I know many of you will want to ad this moment in digital radio history to your itunes library.

They also have a free 3 day trial if you want to listen online.

Tiger's Injury

This AP story sort of explains how Tiger hurt himself in Japan.

Australian Open Week

This Martin Blake story from October previews the Peter Thomson designed Moonah Links, home to this week's Australian Open. Will Golf Channel will be televising it? I couldn't find any listings.

Jackson My Shot

This Golf Digest My Shot with Samuel Jackson gets off to a rough start ("If Darth Vader played golf, he'd for sure wear Nike"), but recovers quickly and there's some fun stuff worth reading.

Family, God, USGA

Arnold Palmer at the groundbreaking for the Palmer Center at the USGA: 

"It's like winning the [U.S.] Amateur, Open and the Senior Open all at once," said Palmer of the honor of having the new structure named for him. "I'm very flattered. I don't think you can put words to how important it is to me as an individual. When I was a kid, it was my family and God and the USGA. That was kind of the way I was raised."

Scoring From The Rough

Thanks to reader Tuco for the link to this interesting Tiger-related stat from his play at East Lake earlier this month.

3 FOR 19: The number of strokes that Tiger Woods was under par on the 19 fairways that he missed after 36 holes of the season-ending PGA Tour Championship. Translated, that means he hit it in the junk 19 times and was 3 under par on those 19 holes. This is more than scrambling; this is mystical. If he had played in Colonial days at the Salem Open, he would have been burned at the stake (after he was presented with the trophy, of course).

Lewis on TGC and the European Tour

SI's Chris Lewis turned on the Golf Channel to help him fall asleep, and instead, he writes about the reasons so many of us love their European Tour coverage.

CEO Challenge

Slow news day. Until this arrived in my email box. [Sarcasm in brackets, courtesy of this site's CEO.]

Who is the World's Best CEO Golfer?

BOULDER, CO - (November 17, 2005) - There has been much debate about which CEO is the best golfer. [There has?] In the past, rankings have been issued based on handicaps, but there has never been a tournament to bring together the best CEO golfers and find out who really deserves the number one ranking in head-to-head play. [Gee, I wonder why?]

CEO Challenge LLC is pleased to announce a series of CEO Golf Challenge events at six of the greatest golf tournaments in the world, with the ultimate goal of crowning the world's best CEO golfer! The CEO Golf Challenge will be held during the following tournaments in 2006:

The Masters
The U.S. Open
The British Open
The PGA Championship
The Players Championship
The Nissan Open

Each of the six events includes a 36-hole CEO Challenge tournament, deluxe accommodations, a Saturday Series Pro-Am tournament with PGA TOUR pros, [Lucky them!] and VIP access to the professional tournaments. [Clubhouse badge.]

Participants must be a CEO, Chief Officer, or company President, [Hey, I'm eligible!] and the field at each event will be limited to 28 golfers to ensure an intimate atmosphere in which CEOs will have the opportunity to get to know each other. [Cuts down on the potential witness list for the class-action suits.] The top four CEOs from each of the six events will be invited to the CEO Golf Challenge World Championship to compete for the title of World's Best CEO Golfer! [Hey, maybe they can have a CEO-Am at the World Championship?]

"Five years ago we came up with the concept of organizing competitions for CEOs, starting with the CEO Ironman Challenge," said Ted Kennedy, President of CEO Challenge LLC.  "It was only natural that we expand into golf events, given that most CEOs love golf and love to compete."

Kennedy continues, "We drew up a set of criteria for making this a first-class experience from start to finish, and found the perfect partner in the Saturday Series Pro-Am that let us hit every mark. [Nice CEOism there.] They have the expertise in organizing tournaments, and, being a PGA TOUR official licensee, [notice he got it right, Tour in caps] they have a close association with all the major PGA TOUR events, and great relationships with PGA TOUR Pros.  Through this partnership we will offer a series of events that will over-deliver to the high expectations of participating CEOs.  And, we will finally see who really is the best CEO golfer." [Let me mark my calendar.]

Kevin Laura, General Manager of the Saturday Series Pro-Am, stated that his organization is tremendously excited about this unprecedented and innovative program. "We are thrilled to be involved with the CEO Golf Challenge.  They have the expertise in designing events for CEOs, and we have the expertise in designing Pro-Am events for some of the largest corporations in the USA. It's a great relationship that we're sure will be a huge success."

Laura went on to underscore the basic philosophy of the joint effort. "Determining the best CEO golfer is a fun aspect, but what the CEO Golf Challenge is really about is affording hard-working company heads the chance to spend a few days 'inside the ropes' at the greatest golf tournaments in the world. There's no other way to do that unless you're a sponsor. Add to that a private tournament for the CEOs themselves on some magnificent courses and it's an unbeatable, full-immersion golf experience." [Full immersion? Jot that one down Commissioner]

Added Kennedy, "We made sure that CEOs who are not great golfers but simply love the game will have a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience as well. Kevin and his team have designed a two-in-one tournament format to ensure that the higher handicappers are right in the middle of the competitive action throughout the whole event."

CEO Challenge LLC capitalized on its deep experience organizing previous CEO challenge events to design an all-inclusive program for each location that includes:

-    Three nights first-class accommodation close to the tournament, usually at the same hotel where the PGA TOUR Pros stay [Oh and won't the pros be grateful for that.]
-    Tournament pass that, in most cases, includes access to the VIP Hospitality tent or clubhouse
-    CEO Challenge tournament and Awards Celebration Dinner [That'll be a barnburner.]
-    The opportunity to play with two (2) PGA TOUR Pros at a Saturday Series tournament
-    CEO Golf Challenge apparel and customized gifts
-    Charity contribution to the Prostate Cancer Foundation on behalf of each participant
-    Meals, snacks, and beverages
-    Transportation to and from the host hotel to all golf courses

About CEO Challenge LLC
CEO Challenge LLC (http://www.ceochallenges.com) is a company that specializes
in designing high end 'inside the ropes' exclusive multi-day sport experiences for CEOs.

For more information on the CEO Golf Challenge, including entry information for each event, please visit http://www.ceogolfchallenge.com, or contact Ted Kennedy at Ted@ceochallenges.com, or 720-222-3043.

Intelligent Design

Thanks to reader Pete for this intelligent discussion of golf issues between Mike Hurdzan, Richard Mandell, Tim Heirs, Bob Randquist and Jim Moore, courtesy of Golf Course News.

There is less reverence for the game now because of the changing demographic.

Maintenance is more important than design, and visual aspects are more important than playability. As an example, several of the Golf Digest top-rated courses are unplayable but have great views. But that’s what we have to deal with.

We need to have an easy point of entry into the game for people to help bring golf to communities. We need to be creative in bringing people into the game, and using existing facilities are the easiest way to do that.