"A notice in Monday’s sports section would do more to speed up the circuit’s habitual snails than a private fine, and it would show the Tour is dedicated to stopping slow play."

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Although Tim Finchem made a decent case for why the PGA Tour doesn't need the penalty/fine/suspension transparency found in other sports, Rex Hoggard points out the most glaring weakness of the Commissioner's argument.

That other sports embrace transparency over secrecy seems of little interest to Finchem.

“We are in a little different situation; that if a fight breaks out in the NBA between a couple of players and some fans, the commissioner pretty much needs to say, this is what I did to protect that from not happening again.”

But then if the Tour’s rules, like all laws, are aimed at prevention, then what harm would come from, say, publishing the complete list of “slow play” fines? A notice in Monday’s sports section would do more to speed up the circuit’s habitual snails than a private fine, and it would show the Tour is dedicated to stopping slow play.

"A 'dog sandwich.' Only in the British Isles."

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Great blog item by Alistair Tait on yet another major divide between golf in the U.K. and the bastardized version we play here: hounds.

The Sunningdale Foursomes is a unique event in British golf since it features tour pros, club pros, elite amateurs and ordinary club amateurs with a handicap of three or better. Men and women can compete.

Dogs, too, are welcome at Sunningdale, even encouraged. My dog Izzy felt very welcome during her visit to this year’s Sunningdale Foursomes, but then my dog feels welcome at many British golf courses.

Dogs are almost de rigueur at traditional clubs like Sunningdale, The Berkshire, Swinley Forest and many others. Ryder Cup player Paul McGinley felt slightly disconcerted during qualifying for the Open Championship at Sunningdale a few years ago. McGinley is a member of the club and felt out of sync because he had to play the 36 holes without his dog. The Irishman couldn’t remember the last time he’d played Sunningdale without his faithful hound in tow.

That's McGinley and his friend pictured above.

Stunner: Daly's Fourth Wife Gets A Book Published By Supposedly High-Minded Outfit

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It's good to see the literary lions at Simon and Schuster--who once brought us books like Harvey Penick's Little Red Book--are going for quality these days, inking John Daly's fourth wife Sherrie (the prison one) to a book deal. Can't you just see the editor who inked this deal slamming down his phone and declaring to no one in particular, "I got Sherrie Daly!"

The vital tome, with a title blatantly ripped off from Dave Hill's classic, is apparently about to hit stores and hopefully this series of highlights captured by Garry Smits is all you will choose to read:

1. She said there were two versions of her ex-husband: John Daly, who she admitted could be "sweet" to her, and "JD," the hard-drinking, emotionally and physically abusive side who would call her the most vulgar of names.

I know, it's hard to keep reading when you learn something like that about one of your heroes, but we must soldier on...

2. Daly's reaction to things that displeased him often resulted in public urination. She described one incident where Daly came home and was displeased with the color of paint she had ordered for their kitchen. In front of his wife and his mother, Daly urinated on the walls.

That's going to be a tough image to get out of my head.

4. She was with Daly during his famous casino session in which he spent almost all of a million-dollar prize for finishing second to Tiger Woods in a World Golf Championship event within one hour, that same night. When she told Daly that every $500 pull on a slot machine could have paid her bills for an entire month before she married him, he replied, "don't interrupt me while I'm gambling."

You have to side with him on that one. After all, when you're trying to get back on the winning side of a cerebral competition like slots, you need 100% focus.