Glory's Last Shot (Again) For Jerry Pate

Doug Ferguson makes a strong case that the PGA of America has hit a new low with its mysterious exemption for Jerry Pate, who is making his “farewell to golf” this week...again.

This is ceremonial golf at its worst. The 57-year-old Pate confirmed as much Sunday when he finished the 3M Championship in Minnesota on the Champions Tour, where he tied for 73rd.

“I’m not going there with high expectations about my golf game as far as being competitive in the field,” Pate said. “But I’m going there for the enjoyment of just seeing old friends and playing the golf course.”

Paul Goydos, who shot 59 on the PGA Tour last year, is the first alternate. A little bit farther down the list is Chad Campbell, who tied for fifth last month in the British Open at Royal St. George’s.

But think of the gate, Doug!

What seems out of place with this invitation is that the PGA already gave one to Pate the last time it was in Atlanta.
That was 10 years ago.

“There are a few times in the history of the championship that we’ve looked at players who have won majors connected with a certain venue,” said PGA chief executive Joe Steranka.

But a former U.S. Open champion who already was given a chance to soak up the memories 10 years ago? For a major that promotes the strongest field in golf, that was a weak decision.

2011 PGA Photo Caption Fun: Stevie-Steiney Edition!

That would be the super-looper with his back to us, and the super-agent facing WSB Atlanta Zach Klein's camera. Klein Tweeted the image from Atlanta Athletic Club Tuesday.

I wonder what they are saying?

Update on 2011-08-09 21:38 by Geoff

**Naturally, I host a caption contest and the comment thread decides not to work!

I've submitted a ticket to Squarespace, thanks for your patience.

Stevie Vows To Stop Talking About Tiger; Admits Rage Spilled "Over The Top"

After sleeping on his post round WGC Bridgestone comments, former Tiger looper Steve Williams tells Robert Lusetich that he was a "bit over the top" and that he had "a lot of anger" and "it all came out."

There was also this pledge which ought to last about two days:

“I said what I said but I’m not going to say any more about Tiger,” he said.

Well, until the book, right?

Cameron Morfit thinks Stevie has already said enough. And while I think he gives Williams a little too much credit, the point is sound: the Williams rage over his firing for "disloyalty" speaks to a sadder story: Tiger hasn't changed a bit.

He's saying Woods is unchanged, and after all the swing changes, portfolio damage, apologies and promises to become a better man, that's the biggest disappointment of all.

This seems like a good place to admit I don't know Woods, I never have, and I probably never will. Behind closed doors he might have changed. But it doesn't look like it from here, and not from where Williams sits, either.

“I think caddie day is such a part of the fabric of American golf."

That's former USGA Executive Director David Fay, as quoted in Paul Rogers' NY Times Monday golf piece on caddie day at Sleepy Hollow. Not only is a fun read because of the characters that the club's caddies appear to be, but also because it's a fundamental example of why caddy programs have died at so many courses: they do not value caddies the way they do at Sleepy Hollow.

Kudos to the club for having a program, letting their caddies play on Mondays and for letting the Times write about the program. And thanks to all the readers who sent in the link.

The club’s current membership includes several Rockefellers as well as the best-selling author James Patterson and the actor Bill Murray, who starred in the popular 1980 film “Caddyshack.”

On a recent caddie day, however, the faces and names of the golfers at Sleepy Hollow were decidedly different.

They included Kevin Ceconi, a tattooed former PGA Tour caddie who was playing in a fivesome on the club’s lower course, a short nine-hole loop that’s easier to walk than the championship upper course, once the home of a Senior PGA (now Champions) Tour stop. Ceconi, who steered Blaine McCallister to two victories and Ed Fiori to one on the regular tour, carried a cold can of Budweiser along with his clubs.

“Playing golf with your buddies,” Ceconi, 58, said when asked about the appeal of caddie day. “It ain’t about the golf. It’s about the beer and your buddies.”

Pat Perez Should Handle Tiger's Damage Control

He wants to find the young man he shunned coming off the 18th yesterday, can you help him?

Meanwhile, taking analysis of the Tiger-Stevie spat fallout further, Robert Lusetich suggests that the bigger problem with Tiger's caddy firing and the subsequent manspat is that this is one more negative Tiger did not need on his plate.

The acrimony is sure to spill over into the coming week, when both men will be at the year’s final major, the PGA Championship in Atlanta.

Obviously, it’s the last thing Woods needs to deal with as he tries to salvage something of a year that’s shaping as a second straight lost season. But, like the adulterous behavior that devastated his life, this is something he brought upon himself.

If he felt, as some within his camp maintain, that he and Williams were no longer on the same page, then he needed to sit down and explain his feelings. Williams deserved that after 12 years. And he might even have agreed.

But to fire him summarily because he decided to caddie for Scott while Woods was recovering from injuries to his left leg was only going to make a very public enemy out of a friend and supporter.

Who Says PGA Tour Pros Aren't Passionate About Reno?

Look at Pat Perez's mini-tantrum as he storms off after missing birdie putts down the stretch to lose by one to Scott Piercy.

Perez apologized, calling it a "dick move" and "unprofessional." I'm guessing "dick move" will be another fine on top of the one he already accrued.