When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Finally someone with some sense on this issue. Isn't it odd that a prominent professional is the one advocating amateurs to represent countries in the Olympics while the governing bodies of amateur golf want to see professionals playing?
I know, I know, he warmed our hearts last year. But he was an amateur then. In January he'll return as a pro.
Several interesting stars aligned Thursday to form what seems to be the makings of a "World Tour" in...Europe. Well, and maybe Asia. And Dubai.
Jim Gorant recaps the wacky week in Singapore and how it overshadowed the PGA Tour, while Lawrence Donegan reveals that the good folks in Dubai are ponying up even more money.
Details are to be announced in Dubai later this month but the Guardian has learned that the event, to round off the 2009 season, will have a prize fund of $10m (£4.95m) for the tournament itself with the other half to be divided as "bonus" money among the highest-ranked players at the end of the 2009 season.
Donegan also blogs about the European Tour's efforts to expand and offers this:
Beyond that there is the strong possibility the tour will change its name - a move that meets with the approval of another of the big names in European golf, Guy Kinnings, Montgomerie's manager and head of IMG's European golf division. "The name 'European Tour' has definitely got some value but in the long term it remains to been seen whether it is really necessary to keep it, especially if the tour is travelling more and more around the globe."
I guess the only question I'd ask is, what's taken so long?
I think it's safe to say that Stuart Appleby and Rory Sabbatini will not be talking cars anytime soon after Appleby's backlash over Rory's Australian PGA appearance fee. Yes, that's right, someone paid Rory Sabbatini to be at their golf tournament.
Many of Australia's best golfers are said to be unhappy about the reported $200,000 appearance fee being paid to the cocky South African and Stuart Appleby underlined this fact on Thursday when he questioned Sabbatini's worth.And if that wasn't enough...
"To me the question is: How much is Rory getting paid and how much is he worth? "That's what I want to ask the Australian PGA," Appleby, who has slipped back to No 38 in the World this year, told the Telegraph
"If a player is being paid ten times as much as someone with comparable standing, we want to know whether it's a good investment.
"I don't know if $200,000 is the correct figure. That's something I want to find out."
"He is maybe not as well known for his golf as he is for his words ever since he said Tiger was vulnerable (in June)," Appleby continued.
"The thing about Rory is that he has not based his career purely on golf equipment. He's a really streaky player and maybe he needs his golf to speak louder than his words.
"I'm not sure that should be the type of player we are looking for. They've had John Daly there before. What do we want: a talented golfer or a loose cannon?"
An unbylined Dallas Morning News story looks at the TPC Las Colinas redo by D.A. Weibring, with plenty of insights into the project. Most interesting of all is this note, which would seem to indicate that the PGA Tour is taking its architecture seriously these days.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem stamped his approval on the project's status last week after touring the facility with Henry Hughes, the Tour's chief of operations. Officials from EDS, Four Seasons and the Salesmanship Club also gave a thumbs-up.
Craig Dolch asked Natalie Gulbis whether the shocking news of her rebranding was really true. Gulbis thankfully assures us that she will continue to show as much as humanly possible without revealing her most private parts and that news of her "rebranding" was premature.
“That’s not true at all,” she said of a story that originally appeared last week in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “I haven’t tried to tweak my image at all. I’ve been proud of everything I’ve come up with.”
Gulbis said what happened is a PR person for a Richmond-based branding agency that produces her calendar, Circle C Studios, overstepped her boundaries when she said Gulbis was trying to downplay her sexy image.
And...
“My calendar is a lot of different shots,” she said. “It’s a golf calender (with) no glamour shots. We’re just trying to do something different. You can’t do the same pictures every time.”
Oh I don't know about that. Looking tan in a skimpy bikini?
More good news, Brian Hewitt has official confirmation that the rebranding of Gulbis will not happen yet!
Typed too soon. Two weeks ago I pointed out that the driving distance average was finally going to top the 290 mark, but as that lovely state is prone to do, Florida messed things up.
The final 2007 PGA Tour driving distance average landed at 289.1, compared to 2006's 289.3.
In 2007, 18 players averaged over 300 yards, while 20 players averaged over 300 in 2006.
This season saw 26 drives over 400 yards and, courtesy of the stat gurus in Ponte Vedra, we know there were 1748 of 350 yards or longer.
In 2006, there were 30 over-400 tee shots and 2,183 drives of 350 or more.
Now before our friends at the USGA start patting themselves on the back, let's remember a few things.
The premise of a U-groove ban says that players will throttle back to hit more fairways because V-grooves won't save them from the rough. But if their driving distance average is flat lining, it's hard to make the case that this is really necessary. But there's still that pesky Statement of Principles authored when the guys were 10 yards shorter on average, though one probley, they also had U-grooves back in 2002. Why weren't guys flogging it back then?
Judy DeHaven reports that The Donald is going to build another self-proclaimed masterpiece in New Jersey, but someone needs to tell him to stop using Gary Player's line to describe courses he hates. Thanks to reader Tom for this:
Real estate developer and casino boss Donald Trump said today he has inked a deal to rescue the troubled Encap development project in the Meadowlands.
Trump will now hire a master developer, but he said he already envisions a world-class golf course designed by golf course architect Tom Fazio - akin to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster - as well as residential housing, open space and perhaps a hotel.
"I look forward to working on the development," Trump said this afternoon, hours after signing the agreement. "When completed, it will be one of the finest of its kind anywhere in the world."
Finest of its kind? The Donald is getting sloppy!
According to the numbers crunched this week by statistical guru Jeff Sagarin, who does rankings for Golfweek magazine, all seven Fall Series events had better fields than the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., and the John Deere Classic, both regular-season tournaments.
It's interesting to note that, in a move that was widely applauded, Masters chairman Billy Payne last spring reinstated the rule in which all PGA Tour winners will be offered automatic exemptions to Augusta National.
That is, everybody but the seven Fall Series winners and those who won events staged opposite the three remaining majors or World Golf Championship tournaments.
Sounds like the Augusta brass should revisit their plan, especially since two of the seven Fall Series winners, Stephen Ames and Mike Weir, had already qualified for the Masters via other means. Thus, had the fall winners been included in Payne's plan, it would have meant adding a maximum of five more players to Augusta National's limited invitational field in 2008.
Moreover, the Fall Series had a list of winners that was more familiar to fans than many of the names who won in the regular season. Included were Justin Leonard, Chad Campbell and Steve Flesch, who all have multiple tour victories. The seven winners have combined for 29 career victories, two majors and two Players Championship wins.
Hardly a bunch of complete stiffs, in other words.
Craig Dolch catches up with Greg Norman who offered this:
"I have no desire to watch golf on TV and I don't read about it that much," he said. "But now that I'm chairman of the board of MacGregor, I'm going to have to keep my finger on the pulse of the sport to know what's going on with my business."
Uh, yes that would be a good idea.
SI Golf Plus runs a My Shot by yours truly this week on Jim Vernon's relatively unnoticed nomination as the next USGA President.
**Oops, here's the link to the story.
From the GolfChannel.com, a Ross Kinnaird image taken at "preview day" of the H$BC Champions Trophy meet and greet. What's Phil hearing?
How about that alliteration?
Doug Ferguson's weekly notes featured this item, which hopefully will have Billy Payne reconsidering Augusta National's stance on the Tour's Fall Finish:
Four tournaments during the Fall Series had a stronger field than the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, which counts as a FedEx Cup event and whose winner (Brandt Snedeker) got an automatic invitation to the Masters.
Nice spot by Bob Carney at the Golf Digest editor's blog: the esteemed Michael Lewis has obtained ousted Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O'Neal's scorecards, including notes to himself.
Good irreverent fun if you enjoy humor at the expense of a golden parachute recipient.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
