Kenny Perry Peaking Just In Time For U.S. Bank Championship

He shares the third round lead at the John Deere Classic, is looking for his third win in five weeks, but has one defender for skipping the Open Championship in Jay Williamson.

“He’s made a commitment to this Tour because he knows that this Tour has put him where he is, and I think other guys need to take a look at what he’s doing because he’s taken a lot of heat for that,” Williamson said. “He’s a guy that really values what the Tour means to him.”

Hey Jay, The Open Championship is a PGA Tour sanctioned event too, you know.

"If I had won, I would have a real cool trophy sitting in my office right now. And a couple more dollars in my bank account. And I'd be a part of history. That's what would have been different.''

I don't know about you, but I'm really struggling to get excited about the Open Championship, what with players dropping like flies, Tiger out, Kenny Perry staying home...well that's not the worst thing...and Birkdale's only real interest relying on a goofy green going bad (or not), but I did thoroughly enjoy two preview stories looking at Brian Watts.

You may remember he was the fellow that nearly won last time at Birkdale, which ESPN.com's Bob Harig reminds us in catching up with Watts, now on the comeback trail. And in Golf World, Lorne Rubenstein takes us through Watts' odd series of misdiagnosis' and those unforgettable 18th hole bunker shots.

BARKLEY: "Live blog? What's that?"

Rick Chandler at Deadspin will be live blogging Charles Barkley's play at the Tahoe celebrity event for NBCSports.com He checked in with Barkley at the range and the round mound of rebound did not know what a live blog was! Then again, I don't know if anyone has ever lugged a laptop around a golf course tracking someone's round. Blackberry maybe, but a laptop?

Deadspin featured this shot of Barkley on the range, accompanied by three friends named Corona. And msnbc.com is sharing this cruel video of his swing for all to study that mind-boggling pre-impact hesitation move.

"I feel it is not out of character. It's simply an extension of the bolder featuring I had attempted at 11 and 15"

I'm trying to get in the mood for the Open and know I will when I get that first whiff of links in HD next Thursday (and no Bobby Clampett!). Perhaps the most interesting pre-tournament item will be the new 17th green and the R&A's ability to manage it.

I was skeptical when they first announced in 2005 that they were redoing the green (a redo of a new green for the last Open at Birkdale) and even Peter Dawson, in his now infamous "the game has moved on since then" press conference understands they have to be careful with the speeds.

Golfweek ran a cartoon lampooning the new No. 17 this week, but Golf Digest's Ron Whitten likes it.

Prior to the 1998 Open, the club also cut down some 6,000 trees that had cluttered the dunes and buffered the mighty winds. Even with a new two-level green, the par-5 17th was the easiest hole in the 1998 Open, so Martin Hawtree rebuilt it a second time, using the back half of the old green as the front half of a new one, and running the remainder up into hand-carved dunes. The contours give the green real character, in contrast to Birkdale's other, more docile greens. He admits some club members don't like it, finding it freakish and out of character. "I feel it is not out of character," he says. "It's simply an extension of the bolder featuring I had attempted at 11 and 15, which were also somewhat controversial after the rebuild."

Ahhhh...the green is not out of character because it matches the other two Hawtree redid.

Now that's an architect who has been spending way too much time around The Donald!

"Where does the "w" go in awkward?"

I prefer Michael Bamberger's reasons for Tiger's Ryder Cup assistant captain invite rejection over the rationale Tiger offered. Especially the last two:

6) In the team room, I'd have to act like I feel we have a better team than the Euros. My acting's pretty good, but there are limits.

7) I have more good friends on the Euro team than the American team -- where does the "w" go in awkward?

"Both Opens need to introduce a multi-tiered entry-fee system whereby tour players are charged a sum they may think twice about relinquishing so easily."

John Huggan talks to agent Brian Marchbank, who helps explain the WD disease that keeps hitting the U.S. Open and Open Championship international qualifiers.

I'm not quite buying this from David Fay in year three of the WD shenanigans.

"I want to know what the players are thinking," said Fay. "Why are they entering in the first place? Has something happened? Or are we doing something wrong?"

"(I thought) what did we shoot here? Sixty? I didn't know. I didn't realize it."

Looks like Paula Creamer has recovered from her U.S. Open final round...Rusty Miller reports.

"I'm having a great summer"

Thanks to reader Steven T. for this story detailing the final (let's hope) chapter in the Norman divorce saga. Final tally for the Shark, who is labeled "golfer/vinter" in the story: $103 million. Understated quote from the ex leaving court: "I'm having a great summer."

Times Pencils Monty In For 2014 Captaincy; First The Great Scot Must Write Unprecedented Apology Letter

John Hopkins and the Times headline writer give Monty the gig based on Monty's presumptuousness. Quite generous for a paper of record, I must say. Funny, I can't seem to find an official announcement anywhere.

Oh, that's right, they need to pick Captains for the two Ryder Cup before 2014!

Meanwhile, Lawrence Donegan isn't quite ready to write Monty's name in yet.

Less reasonable, however, were his thoughts on the captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team in 2014, when the event will be staged in Scotland. "I will do my best to play in 2010 and possibly in 2012," he said in response a question about his prospects of becoming captain. "Then [I'll] do something else in 2014."

The implication was obvious, just as the presumption underlying the comment was outrageous. There are other candidates for the job - Sandy Lyle being the most obvious one - who might argue they deserve a shot at the captaincy in 2014. Montgomerie's legion of fans and media cheerleaders will no doubt view such interventions as "Monty being Monty" and, in some respects, they would be right. His outspokenness is part of what makes him such a fascinating sporting figure.

Meanwhile, seems Monty got a little carried away last week and will be sitting down to craft a doozy of an apology letter. Donegan again:

Less easily brushed aside, however, is his behaviour during the second round of last week's European Open in Kent, when he chided a Sky television sound man who wandered into his gaze as he lined up to play a shot. "I am the reason you are here and don't you forget that," he said, a remark which drew a stinging rebuke yesterday from Ewen Murray, who heads Sky's commentary team. "When he boards the first tee he is akin to an angry incredible hulk," said Murray said yesterday.

Montgomerie seemed suitable chastened when confronted with his friend's unfriendly view of his conduct, saying he intended to write a letter of apology to the sound man. "You know what I am like. I say these things on the spur of the moment. I don't mean them," he added.

Dear Sound Man, I say these things spur of the moment and I don't mean them. What I meant was, we are all here for the same reason and we must not forget that: to watch me play golf. Remember, we are in this together my friend. Yours in harmony and car detailing heaven, Monty

"I'm already in the British Open, and I'm still not going."

I guess I'm not surprised by Kenny Perry's ambivalence toward the Open this year. When he fired a course record 62 at Riviera I was in the final stages of the club history, I asked him if he would pose with a sign that read 62 and the day's date, course, etc.... You'd think I had asked him to read the Torah....backwards, on camera, for Golf Central. 

Since then I've always seen him as Bobby Joe Grooves of Dan Jenkins' You Gotta Play Hurt (not the more refined Bobby Joe of later years). Bobby Joe would have skipped the Open in heartbeat for a chance to play in Milwaukee, as Perry will be doing next week.

Doug Ferguson tries to understand Perry's thinking and concludes that Perry is a bit batty for skipping next week.

Why would anyone skip a chance to play one of four major tournaments that define a career? How does it look when one of the top Americans ducks a major to play against the B-Flight in Milwaukee?

The most peculiar part of Perry's decision is that he finished 16th or better in three of his last four Opens. His best finish was at Royal St. George's, where he wound up four shots behind Ben Curtis in a tie for eighth. That was in 2003, the best season of Perry's career.

Anyone playing this well - and few are better at the moment - can win anywhere.

Such a decision contrasts with Sean O'Hair going through hoops to get a passport to St. Andrews in 2005 after winning the John Deere Classic, or Bob Estes flying across the ocean as an alternate and leaving without ever hitting a shot.

And...

Besides, his captain is squarely behind him.

``I don't care and he doesn't care,'' Azinger said about the British Open flap. ``So why should it bother anybody else? The guy has the guts of a burglar. He's going to be 48. He can do whatever he wants. I'm happy for him.''

There's a metaphor Kenny's wife will want to stitch on a throw pill.

Kenny has the guts of a burglar. -Paul Azinger

Reading today's press conference, Perry comes off as less Bobby Joe and more genuine in his thought process, however limited you may think it sounds.

Q. The pundits are always telling you what you should do. You should have not been in the TV booth at Valhalla at the PGA, you were supposed to play the British Open next week. Are you a contrary guy and do you get tired of people telling you how to run your business?

KENNY PERRY: Well, you know what, I'm not going to lie; it kind of bothers me a little bit. But you know what, I'm an independent contractor. I can do whatever I want, and I like that. I like being able to make the decisions I want to make, and I think it's best for me and my family, and that's the way I want to live my life. If they don't like it, that's fine. They can say all they want to.

But my only goal was to make that Ryder Cup team, and if they're going to -- for me if I was going to play the British Open, I'd have to miss this week, and this is a week I love playing. I was going to have to miss Milwaukee next week, which is a tournament I've won. I've had eight Top 10 finishes there.

I mean, the British Open is a great tournament, don't get me wrong. If you win, you know, a major, everybody looks at all the people in the world when they win majors on your résumé. That is the ultimate.

But it's just at this stage in my career it's just not a goal of mine. I love my family, and I want to play the golf at the courses I enjoy playing at these last couple years, and I'm going to go out on my terms, not on their terms.

Q. If you win this week and get a spot in the British Open, you'd pass it up?

KENNY PERRY: I'm already in the British Open, and I'm still not going.

Oops.

Q. How hard is that -- how different would your perspective have been 20 years ago making the same decision?

KENNY PERRY: I wouldn't have made the same decision 20 years ago.

The World's 10 Most Expensive

Matt Spector of ABCNews.com (!?) pieces together an unofficial list of the world's 10 most expensive courses. The Royal Melbourne inclusion (and cost) really surprised me.

"How to solve the problem of the 'ball going to far' is not easy. Liability is not an issue. Doing it correctly is."

Ran Morrissett talks to former USGA President Grant Spaeth for a GolfClubAtlas.com feature interview. It's all very enjoyable, but as always I can't resist clipping a few highlights:

9.  What are your thoughts on classic golf courses, like Stanford, that are subject to continuous renovations?

Regrettable. We are in the midst of an “updating” which means pushing tees back.  Some modernization is inevitable, given how far we hit the ball. And one is forced to wonder whether there should be two sets of equipment rules, because distance is not a factor for non-tournament players, or older ones. But the foregoing suggestion of two sets of rules is sacrilege in many quarters.

This surprised me as an answer, but speaks to how much the game has changed:

10. The State of California was blessed with numerous outstanding designs during the Golden Age of golf course architecture. Time has not been too kind to many of the courses. Is there one course in particular that you lament, either its passing, or wish its original playing character could be restored?

Cypress Point, clearly. I am told the Stanford Golf Team went down and to capture the way the course originally played, each player had to take his drive and go back 40 yards and play. Awful shame that it is pitch and putt for the good players although the greens still hold up for today’s play.

And...

20. You have mentioned the ball numerous times.  It was an issue when you were President and still and issue today.   Is it inevitable that a tournament ball must be implemented sometime soon?   Is the liability issue to the USGA the reason it has not been implemented?

The process must be thorough and fair.  How to solve the problem of the “ball going to far” is not easy.  Liability is not an issue.  Doing it correctly is.

TCC and USGA Finally Come To Terms

Joe Gordon reports that the 2013 U.S. Amateur has now been officially awarded to The Country Club.

"Then someone confused equipment advances in golf with juicing as an explanation for soaring drive lengths."

Troy Phillips in the Star Telegram gives PGA Tour execs a column that'll turn them into bobbleheads this morning, doing a nice job of piecing together how drug testing came about but naively assuming that it's the silliest "witch hunt" ever.

Yes, the dumbest, most unnecessary witch hunt in sports is finally here.

For more than a year, it has been forthcoming. It was inevitable in 2006 when Woods issued a challenge that golf should test to validate its cleanliness in the sports era of steroid/performance-enchancer cheats.

Then and now, golf had no steroid issues. No regular drug issues have surfaced. Aside from John Daly’s massive alcohol consumption and consequential stupefying behavior, even booze seems barely a concern on the Tour, if at all.

So, how did golf get here?

Maybe it started when baseball, cycling and track and field scandals, as well as national drug surveys indicating widespread steroid use among high school athletes, became a high-profile issues in sports.

Then someone confused equipment advances in golf with juicing as an explanation for soaring drive lengths.

Someone? I think that would be the Commissioner, actually.

"Energy costs are going up, and the cost of fertilizer has doubled in the last two years"

Matthew Rudy pens a lengthy examination of the state of the golf industry for Golf Digest and Businessweek. I didn't finish it yet, because I can see there's a lot in it worth considering. Starting with this...

This sophisticated research shows that course operators are facing problems more complicated than just a reduced flow of customers. Courses' peak fees have gone up at the same rate as inflation, but off-peak rates -- which account for a majority of the rounds played -- increased 33 percent more than the CPI. In other words, prices have risen even in the face of flat or reduced demand. That doesn't bode well for attracting new and younger golfers in a weak economy. "Energy costs are going up, and the cost of fertilizer has doubled in the last two years," says Longitudes President Sara Killeen. "Course operators had to raise rates or go under -- and the number of daily-fee courses has dropped 2.5 percent in five years. They're feeling it from all sides. The successful ones are working very hard on their business 365 days a year and managing the details very astutely."

I'm thinking (hoping?) one of those details might be less fertilizer if indeed it's doubled in cost? Or are we going to go down with the ship making sure that turf is pumped up on stuff?