John Daly: "I think I may get in trouble for saying this, but..."

From an unbylined wire story:

John Daly was in the group at 69 along with Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen, Y.E. Yang and Robert Karlsson.

"With a small field like we have here, and I think I may get in trouble for saying this, but I'm kind of glad it's not sanctioned by the European or PGA Tour," Daly said. "It shows that China is doing something on their own. They're saying, 'Hey, we may not need the PGA Tour or European Tour, no disrespect."

When did China become IMG? Or IMG become China?

Jack: "China...is shut down right now golf-wise."

Greg Stoda covers an array of topics with Jack Nicklaus who spoke at a charity event.

Two of interest in the architecture world:

On the weak global economy and its impact on golf ...

- "China, for example, is shut down right now golf-wise. We were over there about a month ago with a course two weeks from being finished that was shut down. They put a satellite up to monitor it to see that nobody was working."

Or maybe they just played the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain and don't want you to get carried away again?

On the situation in the United States ...

- "I haven't been to a country in the last year where the outlook is as bad economically as it is here for us."

So we got that going for us. We're at the top of the bottom of the charts.

"Rolex hopes that Tiger, with his Thai mother, will be demographic catnip for the golf-obsessed Asian market."

Slate's Seth Stevenson tries to better understand why Rolex would sign Tiger Woods and ends up profiling the company, revealing many interesting and surprising things about this $5 billion company.

Privately held since its formation in 1905, Rolex is a notoriously tight-lipped company. It doesn't release revenue figures, or explain leadership transitions. (It had a total of three CEOs from 1905 until 2008, when then-CEO Patrick Heiniger resigned under mysterious circumstances.) Even the corporate structure is a bit murky. Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf died childless in 1960, leaving control of his company to a charitable foundation he'd established. The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation runs Rolex to this day. When I emailed a polite-but-elliptical media-relations woman to ask whether Rolex is essentially a nonprofit, and who the foundation’s major beneficiaries are, she responded with this sentence: "The principal focus of the foundation is to support a variety of philanthropic endeavors."

And regarding the Tiger signing, Stevenson concludes it all comes down to the Asian markets.

Instead, he argues, this move is in large part about Asia. That’s where the growth in luxury watches will come from in the future. Right now, Rolex’s nemesis Omega dominates China—Omega is the other “mass class,” entry-level luxury timepiece—simply because it’s better-established there. Rolex hopes that Tiger, with his Thai mother, will be demographic catnip for the golf-obsessed Asian market.

College Golfers Need To Keep Pretending They Are Not Talking To Agents

Ryan Herrington analyzes the new USGA/R&A rule allowing amateur golfers to enter into agreements while retaining their amateur status and explains that it came about because of an R&A desire, with the USGA capitulating in the name of maintaining civilized cocktail receptions and next year's San Francisco Golf Club four-balls.

The reality of the situation, however, was that many elite golfers were already having discussions with agents, outside the view of the public and sans the signed contract. The new RAS rule at least tries to keep such practices from becoming too shady by keeping them in the open to help attempt to control them.

According to officials I've spoken to, the RAS rule change was something proposed and pursued by the R&A in an attempt to offer young amateurs golfers outside the United States (and thus less likely to enroll in American colleges and use the college golf to developing their games while remaining amateurs) some incentive to keep from turning professional too soon in their careers and without the right guidance that could help them make the transition more successfully. It might not have been what USGA officials desired, but to be a good partner they went along with it.

And now, college coaches must deal with the consequences. 

Rules Roundup Reviews: Unity Good, But How About The Belly Putter?

Jim Achenbach feels the Monday joint announcement by the USGA and R&A is "is unprecedented for golf" and bodes well heading into the next few years and Olympic games. 

In the past, the rules were the same around the world, but individual countries or golf associations often created their own layouts and formats.

The rulebook is reissued every four years by the USGA and R&A, the two governing and rules-making bodies that oversee golf around the globe. This time, they vowed to produce a uniform rulebook.

“Well, it may sound easy, but it wasn’t,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s director of the Rules of Golf. “It was complicated and difficult, and it took a lot of time to get it done properly.”

In the past, the USGA occasionally reprinted the Rules of Golf every two years. There is a 2010-2011 edition of the rulebook, although it is the same as the previous printing. The only change is the title.

Pagel affirmed there will be no more two-year editions. All new rulebooks will read 2012-2015 to support public recognition of the four-year rules cycle. However, the comprehensive Decisions on the Rules of Golf will continue to be published every two years (the 2012-2013 edition will be available in November).

In another fun Pond Scrum, Steve Elling and John Huggan bat the changes around and praise the adjustments made, but also long for one that does not seem to be on the governing body radars.

Elling: Yeah, Simpson is probably sitting at home saying, "I'd rather have this new 'Simpson rule' informally named after something that didn't cost me my third tournament victory this season." Speaking of tweaks, the joint announcement by the two rulemaking bodies called it "an exhaustive, four-year review of golf's 34 playing rules." You ever seen a USGA or R&A guy who looked exhausted?

Huggan: If exhausted means the same as "mildly inebriated," then, yes.

Elling: I guess they were too tuckered out to weigh in on the real rule issue du jour, the belly putter and the question of whether anchoring the club to the body in some fashion should be permitted. Oh, well, there's always 2015!

Huggan: I interviewed USGA director Mike Davis at length during the Walker Cup last month. It was for another media outlet, but I can tell you not to expect any action there any time soon.

Elling: Isn't inaction an action?

Huggan: In R&A and USGA world, anything is possible. And nothing.

Kinder, Gentler Donald? Denounces Film, But No Lawsuit

The Daily Beast's Lizzie Crocker reports on the growing feud between the documentary filmmaker of "You've Been Trumped" and The Donald himself. Oddly, as the film is winning awards and decent enough reviews on the festival circuit, The Donald has not done what he does best: threaten or file a lawsuit! What's gotten into the man?

In a phone conversation with The Daily Beast, George Sorial, the Trump Organization’s managing director and assistant general counsel, elaborated on the statement:

“Anthony Baxter was a guy that hid in the bushes, we dealt with him for weeks. He showed a shot of a field [in the film] and described that area as this terribly important scientific site. He will allege that we destroyed it, when we only ended up touching 3 or 4 percent. He stole footage from the golf channel and David Letterman. That gives you some insight into the veracity of this guy. Once the truth gets out there, everyone will know he’s just another guy out to make a dollar by using the Trump name.”

Baxter brushes off Sorial’s scathing remarks. Using the Trump name only put him at an economic disadvantage in Scotland, where every major organization he reached out to refused to fund the project. It’s not easy to take down a celebrity billionaire.