In a Golf World Monday extended story, John Huggan looks at the absurdity of the World Golf Hall of Fame having an "International" ballot. This is one of those stories which, combined with several things pointed out by Huggan, where you sense the silly induction of George Bush last year (and his subsequent no-show) has opened the flood gates to questions about the Hall's credibility (I've noticed more negative comments than in the past regarding Phil Mickelson appearing on the ballot while still an elite player).
Don't miss Huggan's case for Peter Alliss and Sandy Lyle joining the hall. You'll love reading about their records versus other "internationals" who are in.
I scoured some of the early stories about media day at Medinah to read about the golf course, but according to AP's Nancy Armour, Mother Nature spared everyone involved from having to spin the reportedly awful conditions at next year's Ryder Cup host.
With financial losses at Hillandale over the last few years, the bank decided to close the course and give workers their notice.
Despite the impending close date, golfers remain optimistic the City of Durham will step in.
"Losing Hillandale would be a big blow to Durham, so I'm kind of in favor of them taking over," golfer Stu Burns said.
SunTrust has offered to donate the course to the city, but there are some financial strings attached.
"I certainly don't want to see them inherit any of these bad contracts, though, 'cause I don't understand how this place is losing money to begin with," Burns said. "It sees more play than any other course around."
City leaders have said they would be willing to operate the course but not take on its financial burdens.
So far, no decision has been made. SunTrust says it can't disclose the details of a potential last minute deals.
The Gibbs report on video shows a well-conditioned course with a loyal following that is struggling to understand why the busy course is losing so much money:
While the peacock logo has been a great comfort and value-builder for us Golf Channel viewers, the networks revealed something today that is far more exciting: 27.5 hours of live coverage of the Presidents Cup from Royal Melbourne, with Sunday's finale going live on Golf Channel and settling for a measely replay on NBC.
He might be using hyperbole to make a point (I know nothing about that), but Scott Michaux ranks Bill Haas' playoff shot as the greatest ever because of the appropriate amount of time he took to play it. Michaux clocks it at 55 seconds, but when you watch the YouTube version, it seems faster considering the circumstances.
It's been so long since we've had a wealth of riches for an American team, that the decision Fred Couples faces before Tuesday's announcement is actually not a fun one for the Captain.
For a small news operation they sure do land the exclusives, including this on Tiger's hiring of Joe LaCava. Tiger doesn't talk to a lot of media these days, but the intrepid reporters at TW.com pulled it off:
It's hard to imagine that Bill Haas was unaware that he won the $10 million FedExCup. After all, have you seen the PGA Tour's electronic scoreboards? You can get FedExCup standings, but apparently in September when it matters, information was tough to come by! (Maybe not surprising since you may recall I've written about how tough it is to get scores in between the ads, player info and other stuff on the video boards.)
Q. Could you clarify when you actually did find out that you had not only won the $1.44 but the 10 mill? And did you fall out of your chair?
BILL HAAS: Well, we went up and did some TV interviews up in the grandstands there on 18 and both trophies were there and there was no other player, (laughter), so I kind of assumed and I looked at my wife and she was there, and she nodded her head. So that was when I realized.
I saw Tim Finchem, I said, I didn't know I had won this, and he was like, congratulations, you won both. That's what he said, both are for you.
The scribblers in attendance weren't buying his claim.
Q. Two-part question: How is it possible that you didn't know you were playing for $10 million?
BILL HAAS: Well, I knew I was playing for it, but even winning it --
Q. No, that the playoff was for the -- when you teed off in the playoff, you did not know you were playing for the FedExCup title and the $10 million?
BILL HAAS: Uh-uh.
Q. How is that possible?
BILL HAAS: I didn't ask, and nobody told me and nobody --
LAURA HILL: Bill, come on now.
BILL HAAS: Well, I knew if I won, that was the only way I could win the FedExCup. If I finished second, I knew I couldn't win the FedExCup. So in theory I knew I was playing for it. I'm not going to sit there and say, well, it's not a million on the line here, there's $11 million, let's put some more pressure on it, because it's not worth it. It's not worth that stress. I was just trying to win that golf tournament. And actually even more than that, I was trying to hit good shots in the moment, and even though I did it some of the time, I still was trying to stay not thinking about what's going to happen if this doesn't come off. I was just trying to hit each shot, and now it just fell that way. It's awesome.
Q. The second question is if you did know you were playing for the $10 million in the playoff, would there have been more pressure?
BILL HAAS: I don't know, because like you said, I knew $11 million was on the line somehow, whether Luke Donald won it or Webb Simpson won it or I won it, it was there, so that was in my head. When I was putting for that 4-footer to win, it was just to win the TOUR Championship, knowing that was all I could do.
The highlights, including the shot on 17 and the final putt:
The Solheim Cup finish was positively brilliant, as Brian Keogh recounts. But it wouldn't be a team match if there wasn't a controversy and I have to say, I like the rule in place that forced the U.S. to lose a full point when Cristie Kerr's wrist injury prevented her from playing Karen Stupples.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
