TMZ Report May Explain Why David Duval Is Much More Willing To Talk These Days

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Never one to give the impression that he enjoyed answering questions or in general, talking, David Duval has been working for ESPN these days and was in the Open Championship media center longer than anyone a few weeks ago. For someone so reserved it's been a refreshing change. There may be a reason. TMZ reports Duval has a house in foreclosure.

With $18 million in PGA Tour earnings and at one time a massive deal with Nike, I hate to ask, but one does wonder where the money went?

As a former Open Champion, the Daily Mail's crack reporter Daily Mail Reporter, took special interest in the story.

Corrected: Only Top Four Top 15 Americans Would Have Made 2012 Olympic Golf

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There is a catch in the Olympic qualifying that I forgot about when posting this item last week but which Garry Smits got right in a post updating the status of golf in the Olympics with a list of the men and women who would have qualified this year had London included golf.

The key takeaway that might surprise people: the top 15 in the world golf rankings qualify with no more than four players per nation. That means only four Americans would have made it even though there are eight in the top 15 (Tiger Woods, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner).

In light of the controversy of world champion Jordyn Wieber not qualifying for the gymnastics all-around due to a similar rule only allowing a certain number of athletes from a country, I wonder if we are headed for a situation like it in 2016?

"Now, if the USGA would just stop slowing down play and increasing the cost of maintenance, and stop not having any control on the equipment, that would help."

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I just love reading how we've transitioned from gently suggesting that chasing distance might be causing the scale of the game to go in the wrong direction to flat out hostility toward the governing bodies. And it's well deserved!
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Are Average Golfers Anchoring To Great Advantage?

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I'm catching up on the week's chatter, so forgive me if you saw some of the pre-Canadian Open talk about a possible ban on anchoring long putters. Rick Young at Score Golf featured some intriguing comments from players in Canada and one stood out:

"The USGA and R&A will have a tough time changing a rule that hurts the average player," Pernice said. "Belly putters and long putters are helping average golfers. They don't want to take them away. I think it has to be a rule for competition at the highest level. If they do away with it, it does some injustice to the average player. We want average players to get as many advantages as possible. I don't want it taken from amateurs who may not play anymore because putting has them so frustrated they don't want to play anymore."

We are well aware that a lot of pros are getting an advantage from anchoring, but are average players really gaining much from anchoring?

Leaving London 2012

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After a quick vacation I took in the festivities in London 2012 and had a fantastic time. Despite the various boondoggles and controversies--of which there are many currently festering--the city is functioning well and the one event I was able to get into--beach volleyball--was absolutely fantastic, with an energetic crowd, stunning (temporary) venue and close matches.

Before boarding, a few quick thoughts:

- Golf is going to have to step it up to compete with the other sports for attention. Sadly, the current 72-hole stroke play format ensures it will get little attention and after watching the sensitive dynamics between teammates in beach volleyball and in other sports, we are completely blowing the Olympic opportunity by not showing the world that there is no more fascinating, intelligent, emotional, dramatic and beautifully awkward sport than golf when played with a teammate under Olympic pressure. So Tiger, since you helped influence this format, could you help influence its undoing now? Please?

- The empty seat fiasco, laid out beautifully by James Lawton in the Independent today, is as bad as you'd suspect. Tickets were difficult to get and for everyone here who tried and failed, or for visitors like me, it's insulting to see so many empty seats when you'd be willing to hand over good money to see an event. I'm less annoyed by the extensive dignitary seats going unfilled than I am by the large blocks in normal seating that went unsold. Most galling was turning on the BBC to see Caroline Wozniacki play at Wimbledon on a beautiful Saturday evening against a Great British athlete in front of maybe 1/3 the capacity of centre court, a session I tried to buy tickets for multiple times. Imagine how the residents who struck out must have felt.

-I will miss the papers terribly. The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and the tabloids are pulling out all the stops and while the coverage online is super and a must for your Olympic reading enjoyment, there is nothing like starting the day with a beautifully designed newspaper full of great writing and photography.

-The BBC here is remarkable. The coverage is extensive, easy to find and lacking many of the pomp that Americans seem to love and sports fans get annoyed with. But the jingoistic homerism really undoes their credibility, with the low point coming Sunday night by showing announcer reaction to a third place performance in women's swimming. NBC may be pro-American, but I don't think we'll ever see a replay of Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines rooting on someone to win a medal!

Cheers!

Who Says The Canadian Open Isn't Interesting?

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From the sounds of Doug Ferguson's lively game story, it sounds like Scott Piercy's "boring golf" win in Canada came at the end of an entertaining week and a fast play final round that ended early!?

It also sounds like Piercy was not a victim of another anti-driver setup, this time at Hamiton?

"That was taken a little out of context," he said. "I like to hit driver a lot, and this golf course I felt took the driver out of my hands. I did say, however, that at the end of the week if the score is good, it is exciting. So I'm pretty excited."

It was anything but boring at the start of his round, when he quickly erased a two-shot deficit by running off four straight birdies. He used iron off the tee for the first two birdies, then turned to his power.

First, he blasted a 5-iron from 236 yards in the rough onto the green on the par-5 fourth hole for a two-putt birdie. Then, he hit driver onto the green at the 296-yard fifth hole for another two-putt birdie.

He never imagined playing the rest of the way at 1-over par and winning the tournament. His 263 tied the record set by Johnny Palmer in 1952 at St. Charles in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That leaves The Barclays (Bob Gilder in 1982) as the tournament that has gone the longest without its scoring record being matched or beaten.

The video:

One Last Lytham Note: Narrowing

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In Wednesday's R&A Presented By Polo press conference, Peter Dawson disagreed with a suggestion that Lytham had been narrowed since the last time they were there, which was then heightened by this year's denser-than-normal rough along with additional bunkers. He denied the course was narrower. "Not factual" I believe would be the precise wording.

The Art Department did a little research and found that aerials could prove otherwise. Since we don't want to belabor the point, here is just one example of the effort to take driver out of the hands of players.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

 

The World's Golfers Embracing The Olympics, Will America?

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The rest of the world seems pretty excited about Olympic golf--thrilled in some cases like Wozilroy (as Derek Evers explains with an eye-opening quote from Graeme McDowell about Rory's struggles.

But Americans still seem averse to getting excited about 2016. Maybe this GolfDigest.com slideshow of past Olympic golf will get folks in the mood. Or maybe not.

Perhaps it's the format, perhaps it's the amount of time between now and then, or maybe they just haven't experienced the brilliance that is the Olympics. And now, there will be an added twist to get Americans excited: NBC's promotional efforts.