Tiger: "I’m a lot better off."

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Not really.

The press conference to launch this year's AT&T National at Aronimink offered yet another less-than-pretty look into the world of Tiger Woods' post accident media management. Instead of simply appearing, answering questions and doing his part to promote an event that his name clings to by a thread, Woods used an probably planned-for $1 million foundation donation as a backdoor way of showing the deep rage he holds toward a golf media that once kissed his feet and now which poses straightforward questions about his game and physical well being.

 

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Get Your Tiger Woods Bingo Boards Out...

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It is what it is, it's a process, it's all right in front of you, will follow the docs orders...

MEDIA ALERT
 
Golf Channel to Air Tiger Woods’ AT&T National News Conference, Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET
 
ORLANDO, Fla., (May 23, 2011) - Golf Channel Tuesday will air live Tiger Woods’ news conference from Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, Penn.  Coverage will begin at 11 a.m. ET and will continue until the conference concludes.  The news conference is a part of media day for the 2011 AT&T National, a PGA TOUR event benefiting the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Kelly Tilghman will anchor coverage, and will be joined by GolfChannel.com senior writer Jason Sobel from the network’s Orlando studios.

“I’ve noticed more and more people I used to count on for 36 holes saying, ‘Uh, I don’t think I’ll play another 18."

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Far be it for me to question Mike Keiser's business acumen, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept of a $100, 13-hole par-3 course to compliment the full-length courses at Bandon Dunes. Thanks to reader Bob for Mike Stahlberg's story about the latest Coore-Crenshaw-The Boys addition to the resort

Featuring holes ranging from 65 to 180 yards in length, Bandon Preserve sits atop a swath of sand dunes that tumble toward the Pacific just west of the first tee at Bandon Trails.

The site is bounded by the beach on the west, Cut Creek on the north and McKee Preserve on the south.

The land affords some spectacular ocean views and contains “a lot of great golf terrain,” Keiser said.

That inviting terrain is the second reason, Keiser said, that he decided to build a par-3 for those “aging Boomers to have a golf experience in the afternoon.”

The Preserve course has already been roughed out and shaped.

After irrigation and drainage systems are installed, the goal is to have it seeded by June.
Public play is expected to begin in mid-2012.

“Now that we see how good it will be — because I think it’ll really be super, and much more popular than I ever thought — we’re going to charge a lot and give profits to the south coast conservation effort,” Keiser said.

“We think we’ll charge $100.”

"The resulting litigation and subsequent out-of-court settlement in 1990 had a far greater impact on the game than any performance enhancement offered by grooves."

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Adam Schupak saw Frank Hannigan's Voices item in the May 23, 2011 issue of Golf World (not online) in which the former USGA Executive Director comments on the recent New York Times story about the Polara ball. John Strege recently reminded us of the settlement the USGA paid, but as Schupak notes based on his study of Hannigan's oral history stored in the USGA Museum, that $1.4 million also permanently changed the way the USGA regulates equipment.
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Match Play Sunday, Colonial Open Thread

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Poulter and Donald are in the finale in Spain, they've a nice final foursome at the Sybase and Colonial has gotten more interesting. And I'm sure the only thing anyone will want to talk about is Ian Poulter falling and losing his diamond encrusted ball marker.

Me, I'm just forwarding through the telecast to see...if we can figure out what happened to the marker. Ian declared himself "alright," but only after checking to see if his pants had been stained. We wouldn't have him any other way.

“Shackleford is hot and wound up. I don’t like anything I’m seeing.”

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Before you got all, "but he spells it 'le'" do keep in mind that my name has been spelled Shackleford more often than the correct way. It even appeared that way in a magazine I write for recently, which, along with a jockey named Jesus on Rapture day should have been your cue to bet on Shackleford to win the Preakness. And he did, as Jay Privman reports. Or Joe Drape if you want the NY Times perspective and photo gallery.
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USGA Embracing Alternatives To Golf...Sort Of

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John Paul Newport looks at the attempts to attract new players and retain longtime golfers through twists on the way most play golf. Interesting to see how the USGA is not resisting. Seems like a wise approach.

You might think that the USGA, as official keeper of the rules of golf, would be appalled at these newfangled notions. Not so. "Our job is to protect the traditional game as people know it," Mike Davis, the USGA's new executive director, told me. "But if people like Flogton come up with different kinds of games that relate to golf, we are fine with that." The scramble format commonly used in outings is not USGA-legal, he pointed out. Neither are gimmes or mulligans. But all are part of the fabric of golf as it is actually played.