Steiny: It's The iPad's Fault!**
/Darren Rovell Tweets this quote from Tiger agent Mark Steinberg on the split with Golf Digest:
Update on 2011-01-07 03:31 by Geoff
**Steinberg provided a similar quote to Michael Buteau, writing for Bloomberg.
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
Golf Digest And Tiger Part Ways
/USA Today's Game On blog tracked down editor Jerry Tarde for a statement:
Read More"Cliffs Communities Halts Most Spending, Including for Tiger Woods Golf Course"
/Larry Gavrich of Golf Community Reviews (thanks reader Stone) posts a report suggesting that "Gary Player gets to finish his golf course on schedule; Tiger Woods doesn’t." Hardly a shocker in this economy.
Read MoreHyundai Tournament Of Some Champions Field Still Dwindling
/With Geoff Ogilvy's unfortunate finger injury and Zach Johnson iffy despite pledging to play, the Hyundai Tournament Of Even Fewer Champions just can't buy a break.
Read MoreDrug Testing Still An Annoyance Tim Finchem Would Like To Fiddle With!
/The big takeaway from Tim Finchem's presser Wednesday was his generous comment that a healthy European Tour is in everyone's best interest. But I got a big chuckle out of Finchem's answer on the success of the drug testing program that he initially resisted. On the future of testing:
Read MoreLPGA To Test Freemium Model...On Themselves!
/Beth Ann Baldry reveals that when the LPGA Tour announces its 2011 schedule Jan. 6, there will be a Phoenix event March 18-20 featuring no purse but all of the other stuff that goes with playing in an event.
Read More"SiriusXM Announces Comprehensive Coverage of 2011 Golf Season"
/Quite a schedule they've put together...
Read More"The Tour needs to help Golf Channel and the networks deliver a much better broadcast product than viewers currently are getting."
/Martin Kaufman, writing about the Golf Channel's new graphics package and desire to mike players at Kapalua this week, pens this cautionary note to PGA Tour players who are resisting the mikes.
Read MoreMorgan Stanley Selected To Handle Acushnet "Auction"**
/Bloomberg's Jeffrey McCracken, Zachary Mider and Duane D. Stanford use the auction word and drop Nike and Adidas as possible suitors along with Sumitomo Rubber (Srixon).
Read More“If you look at where we are compared with other sports, we’re pretty far behind."
/You can't say the Golf Channel isn't trying. Besides unveiling a slick new graphics package this week that'll make network graphics look antiquated. And Doug Ferguson reports that they've been given permission by the Deathstar Ponte Vedra to mike players this week. Assuming they have any willing participants.
Read MoreHickory Golf Tournament For Pros!
/All the info is at USProHickory.com. They're playing a 1922 Bendelow design in Tampa.
Read MoreSteiny Still Trying To Get Tiger To Commit Early, To No Avail!
/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."
"Each week, from both sides of the Pond, the twosome of Huggan and CBSSports.com's Steve Elling will kick at corpses and hornet's nests, tip over a few sacred cows, poke and prod..."
/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
“It’s hard to believe we haven’t had a leak."
/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!
