Gloves Are Off: Romney Goes After Obama's Grip!

Jennifer Jacobs reports that Republican hopeful Mitt Romney took a jab at President Barack Obama for his upcoming Christmas vacation and expected multiple rounds of golf.

In a tele-town hall meeting tonight with Iowans, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized President Barack Obama as someone who “watches affairs and has not guided affairs.”

“The other day I understand that Chris Christie said that he was a bystander president. That he watches affairs and has not guided affairs,” Romney said during the 30-minute telephone call, referring to the governor of New Jersey, who has endorsed Romney.

“And in some respects, his idea of a ‘hands on’ approach to the economy is getting a grip on his golf club. He’s going off for 17 days in Hawaii,” Romney said.

Romney made the comments in this "tele-town hall" from his San Diego, uh, large home.

City May Buy Back Papago At Bargain Price

Thanks to reader Joel for Lynh Bui report suggesting that the City of Phoenix may essentially buy back Papago Golf Course after it had outsourced the restoration and management of Papago to "the Arizona Golf Foundation’s management arm because the city couldn’t afford to do it." And $10 million in debt later, it went into default.

Those close to the matter say Phoenix is looking to spend $1.5 million to $2 million to buy the debt from Compass Bank and take complete control of the golf course.

Phoenix already regained control over management of the golf course, which it is temporarily outsourcing to a private company. But if Phoenix bought the debt from Compass Bank, the city’s investment would retire the debt completely.

If Phoenix didn’t buy the debt, Compass Bank could sell the debt to another investment company or bank and the golf course would still be in debt of $10 million, just to another entity.

Wrap: Second To Last Q-School We'll Care About

The unbylined AP story on Q-School winner Brendon Todd, who closed with 68.

Rex Hoggard writes about the Georgia grad's success and the incredible number of top players the program has produced of late.

In order, former Georgia players Brendon Todd (pictured above), Brian Harman, Harris English and Kevin Kisner earned Tour cards, and even Hudson Swafford, the final member of the Bulldog five-some at Q-School who missed his card by two strokes, could appreciate the achievement.

“We had seven guys on that team that could play anywhere week to week,” Swafford said. “Our qualifiers my freshman, sophomore, junior years were as intense as any event.”

And that’s saying something considering this year’s Fall Classic was as intense as any on record.

John Strege looks at the Q-School graduating class of 2012 with ages, career highlights and other notes, including some of the notables who missed out on getting a chance to make three, or if they're really lucky, four West Coast starts before the reshuffle.

Strege also notes that David Duval did not make it, along with Lee Janzen and Shaun Micheel. Duval was low major winner for the week at T70.

The PGATour.com folks also list the group, with face shots, college and their total number of tour starts. Bob Estes' 589 do stand out!

Sean Martin leads with the story of Tommy Biershenk who "was working on a North Carolina farm two years ago, earning $500 a week as he tried to keep his golf dreams alive." But he also notes this year's crop of Korean hopefuls, who sound ready to make some noise.

This is the second consecutive year that two 20-somethings from Korea earned PGA Tour cards. Sang-Moon Bae, No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and Noh, who’s ranked 101st, were the two top-ranked players in the field. Bae has won three Japan Tour titles this year. Noh won on the European Tour at age 19 and finished 30th at this year’s U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Their graduation came at the same site, PGA West, where Y.E. Yang earned his PGA Tour card at the 2008 Q-School.

Brian Wacker talks to a fortunate few survivors, including Biershenk, along with others who know both heartbreak and jubilation at making it.

The Australian PGA covers the Aussies who made it, including the amazing Jarrod Lyle.

The PGA Tour's excellent notebook from round 6 features a mix of stats and notes.

The final scoreboard for what is likely to be the second to last Q-School anyone pays attention to before the intended change to a Nationwide-only qualifier in 2013.

Tiger's Mojo Is Back, And So Is The Taiwanese Animation

I so missed seeing Tiger in rugby shirts, but I was a bit shocked by seeing Donkey from Shrek and dancers at the end, including the one looking suspiciously like Charles Howell in drag.

Golf Tiffs, Spats, Tussles, Snarls, Lovers' Quarrels, Brouhahas And Other Egomaniacal Battles Recounted

The Ogilvy-Allenby fracas allowed two talented writers to open the history books and regale us with memories of golf's finest man and woman-spats. 

John Huggan writing in Scotland On Sunday:

Other examples are not hard to find. Not so very long ago, the late Dave Hill and his fellow Champions Tour player, JC Snead, were to be found rolling around on the ground at the end of a practice range in a physical effort to resolve their latest dispute. Former US Ryder Cup player Corey Pavin had an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with Golf Channel reporter Jim Gray before last year’s Ryder Cup matches at Celtic Manor in Wales. And it can’t have failed to escape the attention of many golf fans that there is a definite edge to the relationship “enjoyed” by world number two Rory McIlroy and the man right behind him on the rankings, Lee Westwood.

Peter Stone downplays the Ogilvy-Allenby imbroglio, shares the not-very-well-known tale of Americans Henry Ransom and Frank Strazza having a row, but also drops this little anecdote about another run-in the same night as the Ogilvy-Allenby war of words.

Around midnight at Fraser's, blood was spilled. American Rickie Fowler's caddie, a gridiron enthusiast, became involved in a difference of opinion with a rugby league man over which code handed out the biggest hits. They decided to settle the argument physically. The league chap laid a tackle on the American and then it was the American's turn with what they do in gridiron. The league guy (not known to our reliable witness) decked the caddie as he charged, and the caddie fell to the ground, splitting his head open.

This Weekend's Airplane Banner Won't Be Heckling Tiger

For those wondering what that plane is doing at the Chevron World Challenge this weekend, here's a news release explaining what's up. Though I'm not sure about cleverness of announcing such a stunt in advance.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 3, 2011

Chevron Challenged for Environmental Crimes at Golf Tournament

Groups Demand Company Follow Court Orders and Clean up Toxic Mess in Ecuador

Thousand Oaks, CA – Today Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and Amazon Watch challenged Chevron Chairman and CEO John S. Watson with a high-flying demand that he clean up his company’s toxic mess in the Ecuadorian Amazon. An airplane banner will circle overhead for three hours on two days of the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament, calling on the executive to remediate the environmental disaster in Ecuador after three decades of contaminating the country's rainforest in reckless pursuit of profit.

RAN and Amazon Watch sponsored this message to Chevron, demanding that the company abide by the $18 billion judgment resulting from one of the world's largest oil-related disasters in history. In a historic ruling this fall, a group of Ecuadorian indigenous and farming communities prevailed over Chevron in both U.S. and Ecuadorian courts in their legal efforts to hold the company accountable for human rights violations and the ongoing environmental crisis it caused in Ecuador. CEO Watson and other Chevron executives routinely defy court orders by stating publically that they will never pay.

“Chevron has spent the last 18 years waging unprecedented public relations and legal campaigns to avoid dealing with the environmental and public health catastrophe it left in the Amazon rainforest,” said Ginger Cassady, Director of RAN’s Change Chevron campaign. “Today we’re challenging Chevron to clean more than their public image and repair the toxic legacy left in Ecuador.”

Today’s banner action comes on the heels of damning statements from another group of Latin Americans: government and regulatory officials in Brazil. After Chevron spilled an estimated 110,000 gallons of pure crude into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the state of Rio, Brazilian officials were outraged by Chevron executives’ response. At first Chevron lied about the origin of the spill, then they low-balled the number of barrels spilled into the ocean and told regulators the damage was contained when it wasn’t. Brazilian officials are threatening fines up to $145 million, as well as possible prison terms, for what they describe as Chevron’s "environmental crimes."

“From Ecuador to Brazil, Chevron has cemented its position in South America as an ambassador of arrogance and environmental racism,” said Mitch Anderson, Corporate Campaigns Director at Amazon Watch. “This is a company that consistently flouts the rule of law with tremendous hubris. As we know from the ancient Greeks, hubris comes with an awful price.”

The Brazil spill is the most recent embarrassment for Watson during his tenure as Chevron’s chief executive. The Ecuador disaster has generated negative publicity for 18 years and cost Chevron hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees.

Both Chevron and the Ecuadorians have appealed the $18 billion judgment in Ecuador. The Ecuadorians are arguing for a higher damage award. If the judgment is upheld by the country's appeals court, the Ecuadorians will prepare to seize Chevron's assets in other countries, possibly in Latin America, as the company no longer owns assets in Ecuador.