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
From Tod Leonard's update on the Farmers Insurance Open field at Torrey Pines in three weeks:
Tom Wilson, tournament director and executive director of the Century Club, said six-time tournament champion Tiger Woods has not committed, but the expectation remains that Woods will be here for the first time in three years.
"I talked to Mark Steinberg (Woods' agent) last week, and he said unless something disastrous happens he feels Tiger will be here," Wilson said. "He's trying to get Tiger to commit earlier, as he did for some tournaments last year. What earlier means, I'm not sure. I hope it's sometime in the next week or two."
Great news Ty! Your two favorite writers will be gathering in the same spot every week to bicker about golf!
From the first Pond Scrum between Steve Elling and John Huggan at CBSSports.com. The topic is the Hyundai Tournament of Some Champions:
Elling: I have no problem with the notion of appearance fees. The purses in Europe are lower. They need to draw the top guns. The point being, if the PGA Tour's season opener was any more sleep-inducing, they'd need to give hammocks to the 1,000 fans that are actually in attendance. Maybe Mark Rolfing of NBC Sports has it right. Open field to guys who have won over past two years. More warm bodies that way. Then, maybe Hawaii is the right locale for the opener. It's a sleepy start. The whales are cavorting in the Pacific. Sharks like Tiger and Phil stay home. Everybody in the States gets to watch the palm trees swaying in prime time. No stress, no strain ... little drama?
Huggan: Open it up to European Tour winners! What a concept, eh? Cooperation between tours.
There was also this from Huggan on young players to watch:
Huggan: Matteo Manassero also springs to mind. But that is hardly an original thought. Pencil this 17-year-old Italian in for the next Ryder Cup in Chicago. Schwartzel wants it more than Oosthuizen, who already shows signs of being happy with what he has already achieved.
Ooshuizen did his best to confirm that fact with this quote about staying in South Africa to play a minor event instead of flying to Hawaii to test out that new PGA Tour card.
"I decided not to go and play the two tournaments in Hawaii because that won't leave me with enough off time before the start of the new season," Oosthuizen said in a story posted on the European Tour's website
Who knew people cared so much about a video game?
Apparently Tiger Woods 12 including the current iteration of Augusta National is quite the exciting moment in golf gaming history. Especially since they'll have to update it every two years to reflect the latest changes. Planned obscolescence baby!
The Twittersphere is errupting over the news of Augusta National jumping into bed an international partnership with Tiger and EA Sports to grow the game around the world. But the more interesting news for me is this new foundation and its mission to grow the game around the world even though the place growth is most needed would be here in the good ole USofA. Where, it should be noted, the tax benefits of this foundation will be most enjoyed!
From Jason Sobel's ESPN.com story:
Martin Kaufman braved all two hours of Golf Channel's new Morning Drive and writes that the show needs a lot of work.
Interesting that in Thomas Morgan's Providence Journal obituary of Leonard Decof there is no mention of his role in the PING lawsuit against the USGA. E. Michael Johnson picks up the slack and files an item about Decof's impact on the game.Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
