Men's Golf Edges Out Track And Field, Bowling On Annual American Sports List
/2% cite men's golf as their favorite U.S. sport to watch, down 50% from 2009 in SBJ's annual survey.
The LPGA Tour gets an asterisk along with the WNBA.
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
Tiger's Getting Sentimental In His Old Age
/He sleeps in and passes up his traditional early morning practice round to answer questions on Twitter, and then I read he's emailed responses to a writer. And he's getting sentimental returning to Torrey Pines, but not for the reason you might think. Robert Lusetich writes:
Read MoreRory On Players: "I've decided no holes at Sawgrass is better than my usual 36!"
/If the golf thing doesn't work out, there is always hope for a career writing jokes, courtesy of Sky Sports:
Read More"You can’t just look at ratings and say the sport has a problem. People who say that don’t know what they’re talking about.”
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Nice reporting by SBJ's Michael Smith and John Ourand on where the tour stands with its television partners (who sound positively giddy) and we learn that the 30% ratings really doesn't mean much. Get our your value-count reference clickers..."If I'd been the sheik coughing up the reported $1.5 million appearance fee to get him there I would not have been happy."
/Phil Mickelson's game comes under scrutiny in this week's Steve Elling-John Huggan Pond Scrum.
Read More2011 Farmers Insurance Open Scouting Report
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The view from the 5th tee looking toward the North. Brrrr! (Click to enlarge and get really depressed if you live outside of SoCal!)I write to you having donned a sweater as the sun sets and the winter chill finally dropped the temperature below 70 here in La Jolla. But, battling the barely discernable breeze, lush turf and bright sun, I toured parts of Torrey Pines North and South today. I can safely say the courses have never looked better. The combination of heavy December rains, warm weather most of January and the addition of Paul Cushing as superintendent has the place looking remarkable.
A few notes, for what it's worth:
- The greens are stimping just over 12 and they've actually had to slow them down a bit. Staffers were out applying water this afternoon on hot spots, an almost unfathomable notion just a few weeks after the deluge.
Rough on the 5th hole helps accent the artistic bunkering (Click to enlarge at your own peril)- The rough is extremely dense and a solid three inches. You might gravitate to a fairways and greens guy for your fantasy pick this week.
- Even with a few new back tees, the supreme conditioning of the North has it ripe for a super low score. The native push-up soil greens on the North look much smoother than the USGA greens on the South.
- The weather forecast is perfect for the rest of the week, though some possible winds and weekend cooling into the mid-60s with a wind chill making it feel like the low 60s, might mean players will have to keep their sweaters on all day. Again, that's for your fantasy players who have the stat breakdowns on sub-par rounds with sweater versus without.
RIP (for now) Trump National Engineers/Long Island
/I hate being the bearer of so much bad news these days, so I'll let Evan Rothman fill you in on the mortifying news that The Donald has pulled his offer.
Respect Tiger's Privacy And Read All About His Backyard Practice Facility
/I remember getting quite a bit of grief for posting the item first revealing Tiger's backyard practice area in Jupiter. I countered the privacy complainers about how cool it is to have the means, space and desire to do what every golfer dreams of: building your own backyard course.
Read MoreRule May Change, But Rules The Ignoramus Will Still Be DQ'd
/As first reported here, the USGA has reversed its position after Padraig Harrington's ball nudge and subsequent incorrect scorecard signing DQ, deciding to revisit the situation in hopes of finding a way to not disqualify players who believe they sign for a correct score.
Read MoreScottish Open At Castle Stuart Now Official
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It took a while but now it's official. Here's the press release with canned quotes from players about their excitement at playing a links a week before The Open Championship.
"David Fay To Write Column For Golf Digest"
/My money is still on Fay becoming Dick Ebersol's Tom Hagen for the golf side of NBC Sports/Versus/Golf Channel, also allowing him to still do his rules thing during USGA events.
But for now Jerry Tarde nabs the former USGA Executive Director to write a monthly column "from the perspective of the passionate player."
New York, NY—Golf Digest has signed on former USGA Executive Director David Fay as a monthly columnist beginning in the April 2011 issue.
“David Fay has one of the brightest minds in sport, as his friends in golf have known for 30 years,” said Golf Digest Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde. “He’s incisive, witty and opinionated. He understands the game at the highest level from the perch of the U.S. Open—and the lowest level as a passionate golfer with a bag full of hybrids. He has participated in every major decision and event in golf for the last generation. And he brings to all this a democratizing sense of inclusion. It was no accident he’s known as the man who took the Open public. This kind of refreshing attitude and insight is what he’ll share with readers. In other words, don’t be fooled by the bowtie.”
South American Wins; Reminds World Of The Olympic Golf Movement It Has Already Forgotten About**
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Sean Martin, in Golfweek's "Rapid Reaction," tells us the reasons we should be excited about Jhonattan Vegas' exciting win at the Hope and not one of his reasons has anything to do with the 72-holes of WGC-lite stroke play golf headed to Rio in 2016.
Update on 2011-01-24 07:01 by Geoff
**In the SI roundtable Gary Van Sickle points out this:
Van Sickle: Actually, Olympic golf is an individual event, not a country-vs.-country team event, which I think would've been better. And on the contrary, we do have to worry about Venezuela because Vegas will almost certainly be in the field if he's among the top 300 ranked players in the world by then.
Even better, Vegas may be the first to clinch a spot in the field! Gosh this format and qualifying has me so excited for 2016!
Speaking of Vegas' Venezuelan roots, the sacrifices he and his family have made and why he has the potential to be a huge draw, Martin filed this piece earlier in the week that's worth a look.
Phil Wavering On Match Play; Finchem Wonders Out-Loud If He Can Dock Mickelson Brood's Allowance
/Bernie McGuire with the news that Phil Mickelson is pondering another pass on the WGC Match Play because it's a vacation week for his children.
Read MoreBill Clinton And That Means What, Exactly?
/As Larry Bohannan writes, "And what about a sponsor?"
That and a long list of questions will hound the PGA Tour's pursuit of its very own original idea to pursue Bill Clinton for a Bob Hope Classic partnership.
My questions:
Kaymer Passes Woods In World Ranking; That Should Kill At Least 10 Minutes During This Week's Tiger Presser
/Not to go all Caroline Wozniacki on you here, but I'll be sitting in on Tiger's Wednesday presser at Torrey Pines and you can already envision the opening moments after getting passed by HSBC winner Martin Kaymer.
Q: Tiger, Martin Kaymer has just passed you in the World Rankings and you are No. 3, he is No. 2. Does this inspire you to play better?
TW: I'm really happy for MarKay, he's a great guy and has worked really hard to get to this point. What was the second part?Q: Does this inspire you to play better?
TW: I have plenty to inspire me to play better.Q: Tiger, the last time you were here it was you, Rocco, the U.S. Open and 25,000 screaming San Diegans. Does dropping to No. 3 in the world put a cast on what should be an otherwise emotional homecoming, of sorts?
TW: Not really, Seany and I have been working hard on some great things and I'm eager to get out there and test them out.
Q: Tiger, how's the Achilles since the cortisone shot and has it been aching more since you dropped from No. 2 to No. 3?
TW: My Achilles has won 14 majors. (Smiles) (Laughter for joke that wasn't really very funny).
