Love and Pavin On Call, No Micheel?

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Golfweek's Jeff Rude reports on the slim possibility of Davis Love or Corey Pavin being called upon should Scott Verplank's chiropracter-induced rib injury force him out of the Ryder Cup.

Why is Love the first captain's choice when Shaun Micheel just finished second in the PGA and defeated Tiger Woods and Luke Donald in the World Match Play?

K Club Quotes

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Reuters offers these player and Captain insights into the K Club's design.  

U.S. team captain Tom Lehman, a veteran of three Ryder Cups as a player: "It is a good driving course. With the rough up the way that it is, you need to put the ball in the fairway. The greens are somewhat unique, there is a lot of personality to them. The challenge is there and the firmer it gets the harder it is going to become."

Ireland's Paul McGinley, who holed the winning putt for Europe in the 2002 Ryder Cup at the Belfry in central England: "It will be great. The course has matured with age, much like a fine wine, and is getting in better and better condition every year. It will be something everyone in Ireland is going to be proud of. Those three final holes now having water in play will be fantastic for match play. The finishing stretch down the (River) Liffey will be nerve tingling."

The 7,335-yard Palmer Course has water in play on 13 of its 18 holes.

European team captain Ian Woosnam, who tasted victory at four of his eight Ryder Cups as a player: "This is just about as good as it gets for match play golf and it is going to be a brilliant setting for the Ryder Cup. Subtle changes have been made to the course especially around the greens, where mown humps and hollows will allow for more creative chipping and putting as (designer) Arnold (Palmer) originally intended. It will be a supreme test."

Excited? 

"It just goes to show..."

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Lawrence Donegan on the day one massacre at Wentworth:
As the old golf saying doesn't go, to lose one favourite in the first round at Wentworth is careless but to lose three-quarters of them is likely to evoke the hoariest of sporting clichés.

"It just goes to show that anyone can beat anyone on any given day," chimed the likes of Colin Montgomerie, Shaun Micheel and Paul Casey here yesterday after defying the seedings to progress to the last eight of the World Match Play.
Meanwhile, Martin Johnson writes about Monty in a column you won't want to miss.
There is no one quite like him for fitting PG Wodehouse's description of golfers who get distracted by the sound of butterflies in an adjacent meadow, and reincarnation theorists would be fairly confident in the belief that he must have lived out a previous existence as a bat. So quite how Monty does so well around Wentworth — three PGA titles and one World Matchplay — is a bit of a mystery.

With the roadways winding through the trees resembling the M25 at times, there are more distractions here than on almost any other course you could mention. Little wonder Monty had a mild attack of road rage yesterday, although, this being a large and exclusive residential estate, one of the drivers he was waving his arms at could have been delivering Ernie Els' groceries.

"Navel Academy"

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10candyhannemann.jpgSomehow I have a hard time understanding how Golf For Women finds this "Navel Academy" photo spread to be in good taste.

I'm guessign that if SI or Maxim made the comments they make (pointing out a player's scar as in the photo to the left), there would be hell to pay.

But because it's a women's magazine, they can make comments about a player's weight?

Hmmm...pretty tacky.

Oh, and don't miss the Creamer picture. The second one! ;

Kostis: Golf Will Survive!

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Titleist Golf Products Design Consultant Peter Kostis weighs in with one of those mysterious columns he pens on occasion to reminds us just how difficult it is to balance the whole pro-golf ball technology position while acknowledging the ugly stuff that comes with the whole deregulation mindset.

From the days of English aristocracy and class warfare, through racial and gender inequalities and to today's technological world,

 Oh Lordy...jumping ahead:

Some people consider today's golf to be boring. They say it relies too much on power and technology while reducing the skill requirements of the player. But that's a simple, easy conclusion to a much more complicated issue.

And shame on Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and all of the other greats who have said so! They don't understand margins.

Today's golf isn't better or worse than the golf played 20, 50 or even 100 years ago. It's just different, just as our lives and our world are different.

Ahhh...here comes the point of this column, which, oddly, does not include a disclosure of Kostis's corporate affiliation... 

To try and roll back golf to some better time is like saying that life in the 1950s was, across the board, better than it is today. In some cases maybe it was, but in many other cases today's world is far preferable. This concept of yearning for a return to better times has been around forever and coincides with a reluctance to accept change. Dismissing all change as bad is stupid.

While we're doing cliche's, how about not confusing change with progress? Naw, that doesn't fit.

Funny too, but I guess he's referring to the USGA thinking about taking away our grooves, because most people would just like to see a little ball rollback, and let all of the other "change" stand.

Anyway, time for Kostis to break out into full Gloria Gaynor mode:

When steel shafts were in the process of replacing wooden shafts in the 20s and 30s, traditionalists of the day cried out that equipment was going to reduce the skills required to play the game.

Golf survived.

When the Haskell ball replaced the gutta-percha, traditionalists cried out that this was going to make golf courses obsolete and the game too easy.

Golf survived.
I swear I've read this speech before. Hmmm, but where?
With metal shafts replacing wood shafts, was there any doubt that eventually metal club-heads would replace wooden club-heads? No! Neither was there any doubt that traditionalists would bemoan this innovation as bad for the game.

But golf survived.

Finally, graphite is replacing some steel and the solid-core, muti-layered golf ball has replaced the wound, balata ball, and, you guessed it! Traditionalists are saying golf has become too easy and courses obsolete.

Golf will survive. It will just be different.

I wonder how Peter would feel if he paid an assessment at a club because they had to renovate their course, all because the ball can't be rolled back a bit...eh, why am I wondering?

Ah, but then the conflicted view of supporting equipment on steroids clashes with that stuff about people on steroids. 

Golf has, seemingly, been proactive only when it comes to preserving traditions. Golf should be proactive against performance enhancing drugs too, but it won't happen. The, bury your head in the sand, "we have no evidence to indicate a drug problem," philosophy will prevail and golf will lose another opportunity to be a leader. That's a reality that I find revolting and at the same time, laughable.

We need to be diligent in protecting the game of golf. We also have to realize that just as the world around us changes; the game of golf will reflect and not lead those changes. Golf is not a social game. It is society's game. Look to the way we lead our lives and the way the world is evolving, if you want to see what the future of golf will be. There are many who claim golf to be the beacon of civility and reason and, as such, steadfastly reject change. Those people feel strongly that tradition is a commodity to be protected. That thinking kept women from clubhouses in Great Britain, blacks from the PGA Tour in America, and will allow for drugs to invade the game in the future. Golf, because it changes so stubbornly, will always be a follower and never a leader. That is the price to be paid for traditions.

Wow, that was a lot of work. Hope the pay is good!

GOLF Mag Going SI

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From the memo on Time Inc selling some of its magazine titles...

Golf and Golf.com will join the Sports Illustrated group. The publishing side of Golf will report to SI president Mark Ford. Golf�s top editor will report to SI managing editor Terry McDonell. The move to Sports Illustrated is significant as it combines the number one general sports title with one of the leading golf titles and brings together two category leading web sites with a total of 9,000,000 unique visitors a month.

 

The Golf New Media Landscape

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Strap yourselves in, we're building league brands, using metrics and platforming the new golf media landscape. And most of all, we're trying to out MBAspeak one another in the quote department. Declare your winner in the comments section.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL and ATLANTA - The PGA TOUR and Turner Sports New Media, a division of Time Warner, announced today the signing of a multi-year Internet and Mobile agreement. Turner Sports New Media will partner with the PGA TOUR to produce and sell PGATOUR.com, the official site of the PGA TOUR.

PGATOUR.com is the number one site in golf, leading other sites in key user metrics, including number of fans, times spent per fan and consumption per fan. PGATOUR.com leads coverage of the tournament competition of PGA TOUR players and of other facets of golf with a strong combination of exclusive assets, including exclusive live scoring, exclusive use of ShotLink distance data, including Emmy Award winning TOURCast coverage; exclusive audio and video coverage, highlights, unparalleled "access" and much more.

"We are excited about the future of the New Media business, and especially with our new partnership with Turner Sports New Media," said Ed Moorhouse, Co-Chief Operating Officer of the PGA TOUR. "With the coming of the FedExCup in 2007, truly a new era in golf, the timing is perfect to partner with Turner, a leader in the digital media space and to increase investment in our New Media offerings, beginning with PGATOUR.com. We look forward to even more innovation, compelling coverage and entertainment value on these platforms."
Not bad. Ed got New Media in there capitalized (nice touch) twice. And a platform always earns bonus points. Next contestant please... 
"Golf lends itself perfectly to the New Media platforms as there is a great deal, over 30 hours worth, of competition each week that fans want to know about," said David Levy, president of Turner Sports. "The Internet and mobile platforms are the best way to deliver this additional information to fans in their offices, homes or on the go. In addition, our new alliance with the PGA TOUR speaks volumes about the reputation that Turner Sports New Media has established in the marketplace. From production to sales to technology, Turner Sports has a reputation of maximizing opportunities and building league brands."

Hmmm...lot of commas, but mobile platforms, New Media platforms and whoa, "building league brands." That's a new one. Levy's going to be tough to beat...

"We couldn't be more pleased to partner with Turner Sports New Media in this venture," said Paul Johnson, Vice President of PGATOUR New Media. "Turner brings world-class digital media capabilities, and has shown it can partner successfully with leagues to create compelling fan experiences and businesses. The partnership positions the TOUR and Turner to take the fan experience to the next level in the golf new media landscape."

First of all, there'a a .10 point deduction from the Ponte Vedra judge for not capitalizing New Media. And compelling fan experiences and businesses? That's like, so 1999. So's this:

Turner Sports New Media also handles PGA.com. This venture is structured to unlock the synergies between the properties and create an even stronger, more dominant position for each in the golf new media landscape.

Unlock synergies between properties? In other words they'll actually provide the occasional link between the two. How big of them!

DMD's In Ireland

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Thanks to Smolmania for noticing this from SI.com rangefinder aficionado Gary Van Sickle's column:

If you don't think laser range-finders are going to be commonplace and widely accepted within a few years, think again. They're apparently going to be used during the Ryder Cup matches -- just not by competitors during the competition. Many Tour pros and caddies already use laser range-finders during practice rounds to check yardages.

At the Ryder Cup, range-finders may be used by SkySports and NBC so their television spotters can relay accurate yardages to the broadcast teams. The K Club, the host site, was an early customer of Laser Link, the range-finder firm based in Madison, Wis. Reflectors are installed in the flagsticks so the lasers can more easily pick up the target, and the K Club plans to leave the reflectors in during the matches.

Laser Link founder Rob O'Loughlin was surprised when John McHenry, the K Club's golf director, told him the plan. "I don't see how the PGA of America would sit still for that. It'll never happen," O'Loughlin said. "John said, the Ryder Cup host makes the decision and I'm the host. I've already talked to the European PGA Tour. The decision is made. It's wild."

Then a PGA of America rules official heard about the idea and thought the Laser Link guns would help the officials who officiate the Ryder Cup matches. Their purpose? To determine who's away from out in the fairway, a common match-play question.

There's a moment to look forward to. Some bloated rules official sauntering between balls, pulling out his distance measuring device, and declaring who is away. What progress.