Tiger's New Practice Facility Has Double Decker Option

Why? Because he can.

Pretty soon, I'll be moving into my new home in Jupiter, Fla. I'm excited about that and even more excited about my new practice facility. It's phenomenal. Working with my team, I designed the short-game facility and oversaw its construction. It features four greens, six bunkers with different depths and kinds of sand, a video center and a putting studio. If no wind is blowing, the longest club I can hit is a 7-iron. It's also set up so I can hit shots out of my second-story studio.

Golf Digest To Let Golfers Sample 15-inch Cups...

Peter Finch with the details on a one day event at Pine Needles to play with 15-inch cups for $100 in the W-I-D-E Open, a response to the Flogton/Mark King kvetching about the USGA having a hand in all world evil.  Finch also Tweeted a photo of the proposed cup size.  Ron Whitten Tweets that the cup cutter was created by Baltusrol mechanic Todd Simms.

The 18-hole event will feature holes created with a specially designed cutter that measure 15-inches in diameter. That's more than three times the diameter of a standard golf hole and only slightly smaller than a basketball hoop.

The competition was inspired by recent comments from Taylor Made CEO Mark King, who suggested using 15-inch holes as a way to make golf more fun and appealing to newcomers. Intrigued by the idea, Golf Digest Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde created Thursday's W I D E Open event to measure how fun experienced players -- from club pros to scratch golfers to high handicappers -- would have on such a course set-up.

"Dougie - you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you'll be very sadly missed."

More tributes for late golf writer Douglas Lowe, starting with Martin Dempster in the Scotsman:

Five months ago we reported together on Colin Montgomerie leading Europe to a thrilling Ryder Cup victory, but the high of that occasion has now been replaced by a feeling of shock and disbelief. Diagnosed with a brain tumour early in the new year, Dougie passed away at his Helensburgh home surrounded by his family at the age of 59 - the surgery he had undergone and subsequent treatment having proved unsuccessful.

Dougie, a long-time member at Helensburgh, was our 'statto'. He knew everything from the vagaries of the World Golf Rankings to how many children had been introduced to clubgolf.

He was also a stickler for the rules, as was witnessed when one of his playing partners conceded him a putt during a media event in the build up to the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry. Dougie didn't do anything wrong but, still, he played it by the book and penalised himself, though, thankfully, that didn't stop him from winning that day.

Dougie wasn't your all singing, all dancing types, but he certainly made me laugh when recalling a story about himself last year on the walk back to his house from Helensburgh railway station after a night out in Glasgow. Passing the local park, he ventured in and made a bee line for the football pitch, where he duly scored an imaginary headed 'goal'.

Little did he know that he was being watched by two members of Strathcylde constabulary who, after letting him finish his subsequent celebration, had a quiet word in his ear before sending a smiling Dougie off into the dark to finish his journey.

Press rooms won't be the same this season.

Bernie McGuire, contributing golf correspondent for the Daily Record and Herald, posted this in the comments on the initial post:

Sadly, it was while I was out in Abu Dhabi earlier this year when I learnt my good friend Dougie Lowe was suffering from a brain tumour.

As a contributing correspondent for the Daily Record along with the Scottish Herald, it was a huge shock to be informed Dougie would probably never return to report on the European Tour. However, I had the rug pulled right out from under me today (MON) when Jim Black (The Scottish Sun) advised me Dougie had passed away.

I first met Dougie around 2003 and soon after he had been appointed golf correspondent for the Herald.

Dougie quickly settled into life on the Tour and I remember his immense delight in being afforded the job of covering the Walker Cup later that year in the States. But it was early in 2004 when I really got to know Dougie better.

That was in when Dougie travelled to Australia.  So excited to be out covering golf he bought himself an around world ticket. Dougie pencilled in coverage of the co-sanctioned Heineken Classic in Melbourne and the ANZ Championship just north of Sydney. He thrilled at being offered a spot in the Pro-Am at Royal Melbourne and delighted also at the thought of spending the next week in a beach cottage at Nelson Bay, some two hours drive north of Sydney.

It was the year Laura Davies accepted a highly-controversial sponsor's invitation to compete against the men in the ANZ. Dougie was his element, surfing every morning before breakfast and then heading off to cover the event before delighting all of us around a barbeque later in the day with his unique style of humour. Davies finished last in the field but it was Dougie who came out on tops.

Next stop on his reporting schedule was the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship. And as Dougie had spent so much time on the beach, I remember saying to him before he left to the States he looked so tanned he could have easily passed for a native Australian.

My partner and fellow European Tour journalist, Fatiha Betscher last July delighted in joining Jim (Black) in spending the week of the Barclays Scottish Open as guests of Dougie in his nearby Helensburgh apartment.
I teased him about a pile of un-ironed washing in the corner but Dougie was a great host that week. Fatiha cooked meals and Dougie entertained the three of us with more of his tales and jokes.

Bizarrely, as you look out his lounge room window the building dominating the view is the church right across the street from where he lived and from where he will be buried next Monday. Dougie - you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you'll be very sadly missed. 

"Explosive device dismantled at Pebble Beach golf course"

Thanks to reader Chip for this Bay City News report:

A Monterey County bomb squad was dispatched Sunday morning to Pebble Beach Golf Links, where an apparent explosive device was found near the golf course, according to the sheriff's office.

At around 8:30 a.m., a beachcomber reported spotting a suspicious device that looked like two pipe bombs taped together at the base of a 40-foot cliff near the 9th hole at Pebble Beach, according to the sheriff's office.
The Monterey County sheriff's bomb squad went to the scene, examined the device and rendered it safe.

The incident remains under investigation.

2011 Honda (Delayed) Classic Open Comment Thread

So it's not live on Golf Channel or NBC and Rory Sabbatini has a five stroke lead. But if anyone's ball gets stuck in a tree, you can chat about it here.

RTJ Jr. Goes To The Whip In Olympic Course Designer Derby!**

An unbylined AP story looks at the circus that has become the race to land the Olympic golf course design bid.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. visited Brazil this week and secured a spot in the race to build the course, joining a field that includes Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman and others.

You know, I don't want to be cruel, but...Seve?

"The game of golf is in Brazilian hands," said Jones, who formed a partnership Wednesday with retired Brazilian golfing great Mario Gonzalez to vie for the Olympic course design work.

Nice touch. I was wondering when someone would sign Gonzalez up!

Uh, I was able to confirm a 1953 Argentine Open win for Mr. Gonzalez. I wasn't sure if it was 52 or 53. How the memory fades.

"We have dozens of designers interested in this course, the international reaction has been great," said Paulo Pacheco, the Brazilian golf confederation's vice president of marketing. "I think it's even possible that one of these designers will offer their work free of charge just because of the importance of having their name associated with this historic tournament."

Just remember that when they charge you a $1.5 million shaping fee!

Update on 2011-03-06 07:36 by Geoff

**I pulled out my handy copy of Daniel Wexler's wonderful Book of Golfers. He desribes Mr. Gonzalez as "the greatest player ever produced by Brazil," having first won the Argentine Open in 1940, played in three Masters and having captured eight Brazilian Open titles. He was born in 1923.