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
Steve Elling reports that Florida Highway Patrol investigators have recommended that Arjun Atwal, currently making a return to his home country for this week's European Tour event, be charged with vehicular homicide for his role in a fatal car accident.
Today's L.A. Times Page One column features an extensive Paul Lieberman story on what it takes to be a Golf Nut of the Year.Rex Hoggard says that being on Tiger's pass list of tournaments doesn't equal a death sentence, pointing to creative, atmospheric events like at Scottsdale and Connecticut as prime examples of great tournaments making do.
“We would love to have Tiger and Phil,” said Nathan Grube, the Travelers Championship tournament director. “But we didn’t have Tiger and Phil last year and our charity dollars doubled. There are lot of different matrixes to measure success.”“The players will say it’s one of the best TPCs out there,” Grube said of TPC River Highlands.
Staking your claim to “one of the best TPCs out there,” is akin to being the most honest used-car salesman on the lot.
But you have to give Grube credit. In 1998, Pete Dye and Bobby Weed gave River Highlands an impressive nip and tuck, and officials further sweetened the pot with a 22-acre, state-of-the-art, $4.5 million practice facility. They had Vijay Singh at 22 acres.
The new and improved Travelers, which for nearly 40 years answered to the name Hartford Open, moved to a more family friendly slot on the calendar, treated the players who did show like kings and enjoyed what could arguably be 2007’s best Sunday shootout (between Hunter Mahan and Jay Williamson).
But maybe the best matrix to measure the Travelers’ success was at the turnstile, where ticket sales tripled in 2007.
The math is simple enough. If Woods continues to average 18 events per year, that means some 30 stops will enjoy something less than a must-see tee sheet.
The off-Broadway events can wave the “Where’s Woods?” flag like Vickers, or they can make lemonade out of their scheduling lemons, like Grube.
Mark Lamport Stokes reports that like just about everyone else on the planet, Greg Norman isn't too wild about the direction the WGC events have headed.
"I am very disappointed with it," Australian Norman, 52, told reporters during preparations for Thursday's opening round at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.And hard to disagree with this as well...
"I felt that the whole concept was a fair concept. It obviously was, or it wouldn't have been picked up and run with on another level.
"At the end of the day, my priority is the game of golf and hopefully we'll be able to get a true World Tour one day because then we can all share.
"Golf is a truly international game and we've been represented by great players on just about every continent on this planet," added Norman, who was a leading proponent of a global golf tour in the early 1990s.
"I always wanted to make sure that the general public and the other 24 million golfers had an opportunity to see the best players in certain locations around the world.
"We play all over the world, so it (a World Tour) does fit, it really does."
"There's a new direction on the European Tour where they actually start thinking about doing a global approach to the game to have an ultimate goal, which is the Road to Dubai."
Going back to his roots with KPMG, Phil Mickelson vetted the tax-shelter fraud specialists before signing a three year deal.
“I’m equally proud to join with KPMG,” said Mickelson. “After talking to its leadership, I came away convinced that KPMG is passionately focused on ‘being the best,’ through building a culture based on professionalism and integrity. It’s that culture and the shared passion to be the best that drew me to this relationship. I’ll be bringing everything that I can to our relationship, both on and off the golf course. I want to be sure that KPMG, its partners, its professionals and its clients enjoy the full benefit of our relationship.”
“Phil commands a great deal of respect around the world and shares our dedication to giving back to the community, with a particular focus on education and improving the lives of children,” Flynn said. “And we are in good company when it comes to other companies that are associated with Phil – Rolex, Callaway and ExxonMobil.”
As part of his agreement, Mickelson will be available to appear at an agreed-upon number of KPMG-sponsored marketing events, client meetings and local office events, as well as advertising opportunities.
Oh yeah, he's going to earn his money.
Reader Scott noticed this legitimate benefit of USGA membership (2008 U.S. Open tickets available), unlike the one we learned about earlier this week. 
Ron Green Jr. profiles David Clark, who returns to the linksland to remember his late daughter.
Thanks to reader Steve for this interesting Jerry Potter chat with Padraig Harrington about his thought process in selecting where he will play.
Harrington chooses based on whether he enjoys the event, and how it prepares him for a major. He says it is best for him to play just two events in a row leading into a major.
The March 20-23 CA Championship at Doral falls three weeks before The Masters. Harrington plans to play the two leading into Augusta National — the Zurich Classic near New Orleans and the Shell Houston Open.
"Maybe if there were half the number of tournaments, then they would be special," Harrington said. "But there are so many to choose from."
It is rather amazing that the purse amount means so little anymore. Of course, knowing that players go where they are treated well and the course is good makes you wonder how so many tournaments end up on mediocre courses.
Arjun Atwal, talking to the media in India, site of this week's European Tour event:Asked what sort of questions he gets asked by American players, Atwal replied: “Just generally, people who know India through Indiana Jones think we eat monkey brains, stuff like that. You’d be amazed.Meanwhile Golfweek's Alistair Tait probably wishes he was in Pebble Beach this week based on this assessment of life in New Dehli.
“Guys like Tiger, they know everything about what’s going on in India and Asia. So I’m not generalising — there are quite a few guys who do know, as well.”
Bob Verdi's FBR Open Golf World game story features a couple of intriguing items. The first relates to the new cut rule:
The world's No. 2 golfer is precisely the type of marquee name who would be welcomed by a smattering of peers disgruntled about working conditions: specifically the new cut rule and the drug policy to be instituted July 1. But whether Mickelson would expend any energy on any form of a movement by labor against the tour's authority or administration is unclear. In fact, when Mickelson was asked to touch on reported grumbling among peers, he indicated he did not have sufficient information on the subject.This is even more fascinating related to drug testing:
If one were to estimate the number of golfers sufficiently vexed to ponder action via an association, the hunch would be more than a few but fewer than enough. "About 30," said one player. But 30 guys banging their fists doesn't make for much noise, especially if the stars aren't aligned, and the proletariat isn't receiving much encouragment from the penthouse. In San Diego, for instance, Tiger Woods was asked about unrest over the controversial new cut policy (known as "Rule 78"). "Play better," he said. That doesn't provide much ammunition for the agents of change.
But it also doesn't mean Woods would feel any different than a lot of players about a scenario whereby they would have to provide urine samples with an inspector in the same room. "Not a [bleeping] chance," promised Vijay Singh.
Am I reading that right? Vijay Singh is not too excited about playing by the rules? Now, I thought golfers would never use stuff because they were honorable, upstanding, rule-abiding, eh...
Concluded Tim Herron, "We need an association." He added, however, that the means toward that end requires a certain consensus among independent contractors with differing agendas. Meanwhile, at least one tour player has contacted a legal eagle about representing a group of the disenchanted. Ten years ago, there was an effort to organize a Tour Players Association, but it enjoyed a very short shelf life. Whatever happens, David Toms, one of four player directors on the PGA Tour Policy Board, supposes the next meeting will be "lively."
Wow, these guys really don't want to be tested.
So much for the Tour's spin that the media will focus on the one positive test and ignore the fact that the rest are all clean.
If they resist testing, the media will be the least of the PGA Tour's concerns.
...Daniel Wexler does a nice job setting up this week's tournaments along with all of the relevant links. I love the links to the course aerial images, which this week come in extra handy if you're looking for that hidden design genius at Poppy Hills. Let me know when you find it.
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AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Set to Continue Through 2014
Title Sponsorship Agreement Provides AT&T the Opportunity to Deliver Brand Messaging to 500 Million Households in 200 Countries
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 5, 2008 — AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), the PGA TOUR and Monterey Peninsula Foundation Inc. today announced that AT&T has extended the title sponsorship of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, one of the nation’s premier golf tournaments, through 2014. AT&T has been the title sponsor of the tournament since 1986. The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which will be held Feb. 4 – 10, 2008, provides AT&T with a unique platform to showcase products and services to a worldwide audience. As the title sponsor, AT&T will receive benefits, including:
Exclusive naming rights. AT&T will remain the exclusive title sponsor of the event through the 2014 tournament.
Promotional Benefits. For each of the next six years, AT&T will receive on-site benefits, including name and/or logo placement on scoreboards, caddie bibs, tee markers, pin flags, tee back signage and the official tournament trophy; advertising in the tournament program and on daily pairings sheet and event tickets; and involvement in all press conferences and media events. In addition, the company will receive in-market promotional rights and technology integration throughout the tournament.
Media Exposure. AT&T will receive significant title sponsor branding within network and cable broadcasts, promotional spots and news coverage. The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am will be broadcast to more than 500 million households in more than 200 countries.The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is one of several golf tournaments sponsored by AT&T; others include the Masters Tournament and the AT&T National, hosted by Tiger Woods.
AT&T Masters? I didn't get that press release. Here I was just thinking they had the privilege of buying ad time on the Masters.
Note where J.B. Holmes is aiming in relation to the actual fairway bunker scheme created by Weiskopf and Morrish. He's teeing off Sunday on TPC Scottsdale's 18th in this Patrick Hagerty image, lifted from the latest Golf World:
From John Huggan's Golf World game story:
"The Americans on the PGA Tour seem to have given up," said one high-profile European on the eve of the 13-time major champion's now anual pilgrimage to the Dubai Desert Classic. "Look at the Buick [two weeks ago]. All Tiger has to do is turn up, give them a stare and they drop down dead at his feet. At least over here we take him on and give him a game. I mean, what have you really got to lose? You might as well go for it."
That's right, you guys give him a game before you fold like accordians.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
