The Memorial and Social Media

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If you haven't guessed by the art department's latest creation by now, I'll be on-site at The Memorial Tweeting, hosting chats and offering up some on-site media reports as part of the tournament and new sponsor Nationwide's push to take social media coverage to another level.

If you are on-site, stop by the digital media house near the driving range. We've already had some great guests (video highlights forthcoming), interactive stuff and of course, if nothing else, it's a great place to check your email, send a tweet, charge your phone or take cover for the, uh, rain on the off, off, off, off chance this event gets hit with a freak spring shower.

As for Muirfield Village, I've only had a little time to walk around and Paul B. Latshaw's world-renowned conditioning is as stunning as you expect.

I'll be curious to see how the sophomore year for the par-3 16th--which debuted to player complaints in 2011--goes now that the green is more mature. From the limited number of shots I watched when it was playing downwind in practice, the griping will continue and is justifiable. The green looks like it would be great fun to play to from about 40 yards right of the current tee and from about a yardage 40 yards shorter than the 201 yards it plays as. Other than that, I loved it.

Anyway, tournament updates will be steady all day through Twitter with the usual golf coverage here at the blog.

Nick Price Aims To Have Prez Cup Decided On Sunday Instead Of The Usual Saturday Night Conclusion

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PGATour.com Staff reports on the suspense-free announcement of 2013 Presidents Cup Captains Fred Couples and Nick Price, with Price suggesting he has some ideas on how to prevent the issue of suspense-free Sundays.

"I have some ideas that I think will maybe make it a little closer on Sunday," Price said Tuesday.
Like his predecessor Greg Norman, who captained the International team in the previous two Presidents Cups, Price has prior playing experience in this event. In fact, no Presidents Cup captain on either side has ever made more appearances than Price's five between 1994-2003. Couples played in four Presidents Cups from 1994-2005.

As to why Greg Norman isn't getting another shot while Fred Couples is, Tim Finchem said the International candidates are stacking up. Not much of a compliment for the American prospects!

Asked about the switch from Norman to Price, Finchem said the list of potential International captains is getting long, and that unlike on the U.S. side, which has annual captain opportunities in both the Presidents and Ryder Cups, the International captaincy is available just once every two years.

"The list was piling up on players who should be captain. It was a more acute situation on the International side," Finchem said. "... That was the tilting factor."

Dave Shedloski says the Shark is handling it well. So far.

"I got an e-mail from Greg two days ago, a very nice e-mail wishing me the best of luck. That was very kind of him," Price said. "This is such a huge honor for me. I am so looking forward to it - and I don't look forward to too many things right now. The big thing is I want that buzz for the players. And then, you know, I want to win."

The video:

Johnny On Olympic, Dufner and Phil's Chances

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Ron Kroichick had the best roundup of highlights from Johnny Miller's entertaining conference call to plug Golf Channel/NBC's upcoming U.S. Open coverage, which starts with an all day presence at June 4's Sectionals and kicks into gear a week later at Olympic Club.

On Rory's chances at Olympic:

"Congressional was a good course, but it was almost like a tour course," Miller said. "This is a whole different ballgame and more like being back at a traditional U.S. Open. Rory won his Open sort of in a nontraditional setup.

"Now it's not going to be so much fun and games out there. It's going to be hard work and a sterner test. I think probably 3, 4 or 5-under-par will win."

Johnny likes Jason Dufner's demeanor for Olympic, and Dufner certainly has the name to fit in snuggly with the previous Olympic Club winners!

Dufner brings one all-important U.S. Open skill - he hits the ball straight (sixth on tour in driving accuracy). His stoic demeanor might also come in handy.

"The great Open players are guys who barely have a pulse," Miller said. "Dufner, who's playing so great right now, fits that mold - a guy who has learned to temper his emotions so well, like Hogan and Nicklaus did. Those are the guys who seem to flourish in a U.S. Open, not the flamboyant types who are always smiling."

And on Phil's chances...

"This is not an all-out, off-the-tee course - you can't hit the driver hard at Olympic, because it just doesn't pay off. So he's going to have to change his aggressive style and make it fit, or he won't have a chance of contending."

I think Amy's got something to put on the kitchen refrigerator!

Hostage Tiger's Hangout An "Improvement"; FBI Has Whereabouts Pinned Down To Massive Olympic Club Sofa

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Jonathan Wall reports on Tiger's latest social media experiment designed to cut down on facetime with the big, bad media members that so ruined his life, and says the Google+ Hangout was a huge improvement over his last hostage video.

After opening with a couple questions from a member of our Armed Forces and a few fans, Soltau had NBC Sport's Roger Maltbie ask Woods about his time spent playing Olympic Club earlier in the day, and his thoughts on the course.

It was an awkward moment in the chat because it seemed like Maltbie was doing a one-on-one interview with Woods. But after listening to a host of off-topic questions the last time around, it gave viewers a chance to hear Woods' thoughts on the upcoming U.S. Open site, something most people probably wanted to hear about from the outset.

The U.S. Would Like To Play The Ryder Cup This Week

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In recent years, a look at the U.S. Ryder Cup points standings a few months from the event could be eye-opening, even depressing, but as Jason Sobel notes, not this year.

Just look at the options after the first eight of Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler.

Sobel writes:

The next eight on the current points list – Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker, Ben Curtis, Johnson Wagner, Kyle Stanley and Mark Wilson – have each won a Tour event already in the year’s first five months, giving the captain plenty of ammo for his four wild-card selections.

All of which leads to one prevailing notion: The team will never be hotter than it is right now.

Granted, that only increases the U.S. chances by mere percentage points. As we’ve often witnessed over the years, the hotter team on paper hardly owns much of an advantage once the first balls are in the air at this biennial grindfest, but even the smallest advantage is still an advantage.

Holy Monty: Fails In His U.S. Open Bid, But Not Before Getting Some Quality Driving Time...By Himself!

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For a man who lost his license over his proclivity to drive too fast, especially when Coldplay comes on the radio, and who cheated death in a car accident, I think it's fair to say the former Ryder Cup captain made a strange call to drive 900-miles home after the BMW at Wentworth and then return immediately after some tea and upon fetching a new putter.

But that's what this wire story claims:

"Who in their right mind would do that? But yes, I did," Montgomerie said. "I left Wentworth at 2pm, was home at 8pm, had tea with the family, left at 11pm and got here just after 6am."

A four‑under‑par 68 put the 48-year-old Scot on course to play in San Francisco next month, but he followed it up with a 72.

And the round featured the usual Monty dramatics:

Montgomerie missed out on a play-off by two strokes, so could look back on his pitch to the 17th hitting the flagstick and rebounding 15ft away, then lipping out from the same distance on the last.

You can view the Walton Heath Sectional results here and also count up the number of WD's, a qualifying tradition in England.