Stanford Who? Daly To Return At Memphis

It's a bit odd that John Daly is returning to the tour at the Memphis event considering some of the past events there, then again, what city doesn't have a Daly episode that might bring back bad memories? And besides, he'll serve as a great distraction from the memory that it was once the Stanford Financial St. Jude Classic.

PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said the tour does not comment on player discipline; it never confirmed that Daly was suspended and now cannot confirm that a suspension has been lifted.

Daly told The Associated Press over the Christmas holidays that he had been suspended for the second time in his career, and he said he found out two weeks ago while playing in Ireland that he had been reinstated.

"I don't really feel I deserved to be suspended," Daly said. "But I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm going to turn it into a positive. I'm getting my life back in order and I'm more organized."

Vagaries Of Match Play Warning: NCAA Men's Championships

I've spared you the various stories over the last few weeks where college coaches whine about the new NCAA championship format because, well, I can only take so many ignorant comments about the "flukiness" or "vagaries" or "luck involved" with match play.

To review, from the Golfweek staff (you can also read their picks here):

Teams will play 54 holes of stroke play to determine the individual champion and the eight teams that advance will play match play. The quarterfinals and semifinals will take place Friday, with the championship match being held Saturday.

Personally, I think it's a more pure and logical way to find out who has the best team. Sure, the 54-holes to determine the individual winner isn't ideal and there is still a reliance on stroke play to determine the final 8. And oh yes and there's the motivation behind the move: to lure television.

Regardless, doesn't this have the potential for excitement and to deliver a more worthy team champion than a traditional stroke play event?

Ryan Herrington thinks so provided the weather doesn't become a story, and he also makes his picks for the week:

Think of how much grinding we're going to see in the final stroke-play round as the 30 teams try to earn a spot in the Elite Eight?

And if that doesn't seem compelling enough, think of how intense the head-to-head, school-versus-school showdowns will be as we narrow the field to four teams, then two and ultimately a national champion. Tell me you don't think a Georgia vs. Georgia Tech match-up in any round won't be interesting? What if UCLA must face USC to get to the championship match?

"Campbell, who swings like Ben Hogan, managed a carry of 232 yards using an old balata ball."

Thanks to reader Jim for the heads up on this note in Bill Nichols' Dallas Morning News coverage of the Nelson.

Pros go old school with equipment: Curt Sampson, working on a story for Sports Illustrated, drew a crowd on the practice range when he unveiled a MacGregor Byron Nelson persimmon driver. Everybody wanted to hit it. Vijay Singh went the longest at 253 yards, one yard farther than Colleyville's Chad Campbell. Campbell, who swings like Ben Hogan, managed a carry of 232 yards using an old balata ball.

Tail Of The WD Tape

At the end of Jeff Rude's story, Golfweek.com lists the Open Championship qualifiers in Texas, which included Davis Love. It's fun to see who tried, and also to note who threw in the towel after one round.

I couldn't find a listing of scores and WDs from Europe for the U.S. Open qualifying, just this story.

"With the passing of the Corning Classic the tour was losing a massive block in its foundation, a vertebra in its backbone."

Ron Sirak covered the final Corning Classic (won by Yani Tseng) and had this to say:

The Corning Classic truly captures the spirit of the LPGA, an organization that throughout its 59-year history had relied on the love and support of small-town America. And there is no market smaller or more supportive than Corning, a town of fewer than 11,000 people that managed every year to turn out 850 volunteers and upwards of 50,000 spectators.

While the community was losing the Memorial Day event that kicked off the summer tourist season in the Finger Lakes region of New York, it felt like the LPGA was losing much more than Corning. With the passing of the Corning Classic the tour was losing a massive block in its foundation, a vertebra in its backbone.

For as long as this tour has existed, places like Corning and Rochester and Toledo have been its heart and soul. And there is a sense now that is going away as the LPGA tries for bigger-market events with a more international accent.

"I wonder if they will still have the crab legs"

Thanks to reader Rick for Eli Saslow's Washington Post story on Uniontown Country Club caving to the economic crisis by allowing non-members to dine at the club.

Amid some protest from what he called "the hard-core, conservative members," Hughes fired the old chef early this spring and hired Michael DiMarco, a local chef known for his many tattoos and for serving gigantic portions at budget rates. He remade the menu to his liking, adding onion rings with ranch dressing for $3.95, topping his signature salads with french fries and eliminating all steaks smaller than 16 ounces. A few dozen locals started arriving at the club for meals each week, occasionally rankling members by parking their pickup trucks in preferred spots and exiting through the lobby with to-go containers.

Oh yes, you want to read this one.

Ah The Nostalgia: Greg And Chrissy Moving Back To Where It All Began!

Thanks reader Steven T. for Jose Lamblet's report.

"For it to resurface now would be laughable if it didn't involve a good man's reputation being called into question due to insufficient reasoning."

Since Donegan's story Sunday and over 35,000 views of the video, a few writers have spoken out in Kenny Perry's defense.  Steve Elling and Scott Michaux both say it's time to move on, that cheating was clearly not Perry's intent.  John Hawkins also is fired up about Perry's reputation coming into focus.

The Perry situation didn't receive an ounce of attention when it happened at the FBR Open back in early February. For it to resurface now would be laughable if it didn't involve a good man's reputation being called into question due to insufficient reasoning.

Perhaps, but suppose a bigger issue is at stake here: the wink-wink, look-the-other-way blurring of certain rules that has become all too common in professional golf. (You know, the same sport where the guys don't need to be drug tested because they police themselves.)

After seeing the Perry video several players said something to the effect of, "that goes on all the time on the tour." (And we've all watched guys fix ball marks in their line without blinking, much less pointing out to their playing partner as a courtesy that they were performing major surgery on their line).

I point these out in the context of the Perry episode because I vividly recall as a young, impressionable lad, studying how tour players walked, dressed and behaved. For a few weeks after taking in tour golf at Riviera or Sherwood, I'd typically play better after absorbing the tempo, gentle grip and overall relaxed-but-focused demeanor exuded by such elite players.

Particularly fascinating was a player's care around the greens or when making a recovery shot from the rough or trees.  Both situations provided unique opportunities to get close and hear the conversation with the caddy and to observe their actions.

Consistently I was always fascinated by the manner in which they treated their ball. It was as if a meteor had landed off the fairway and they didn't want to get too close until they had to bat the thing back into play. I remember watching many players gently approach the ball--maybe stare at the lie or delicately lift away a leaf--but always treat a live ball as something to be careful around. Practice swings--if they even took one--were often a bit away from the ball and the player was typically cautious not to be seen as testing the surface in anyway by pressing their clubhead down behind the ball. Furthermore, when that final moment arrived many would just barely lay the club behind their ball.

And again, I'd take this image of gentle club placement for a few weeks and that absorption of studied, careful and gentle demeanor would lead to better golf. Then I'd eventually revert back to old bad habits.

So it's with that image in my mind that I watch Kenny Perry pull his club and walk up to his ball, jabbing away like he's armed with a poker, trying to jumpstart some stubborn logs. And as you can see in this longer version of the playoff posted, the mashing does not occur at the address position, as many defenders have noted. It happens in the moment that he initially arrives, long before the honor has been established or the shot is actually addressed.

I hope the takeaway from this is not to demonize Perry. The event is long gone and we'll never know just how close that clump of grass was to the ball.

However, let's hope this encourages tour players to take the rules and club grounding a bit more seriously. In other words, to take the rules of golf more seriously.