Bieber: I Played Music To Pay Green Fees!

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There is a Justin Bieber cover story (not posted online) by Josh Eells in the July 18 Rolling Stone where the writer shadows the teen idol for various appearances and an infamous round of golf at Calabasas Country Club--when paparazzi ambushed.

Fathers whose daughters are inexplicably in love with the lad?  I envision this as a wonderful opportunity for you to use the story to point out the merits of the Royal and Ancient to daughters who are perplexed by your fascination with the game. After all, if Bieber is Bieber because of golf, well...they might be more understanding?

You might have heard the numbers for Bieber--the 375,000 copies his new album, Believe, has sold, making it the biggest debut of the year; the 25 million followers on Twitter, second only to Lady Gaga; his 45 million Facebook fans, more than Mitt Romney and Barack Obama combined. But did you know it all started with a golf game?

Back when he was growing up in Stratford, Ontario, Bieber was a regular at the local municipal course. He'd play almost every day in the summer; he says his handicap was a very respectable seven. And then one day, as he wrote in his 2010 memoir, First Step 2 Forever: My Story

Wait, he has a memoir already? With 2 instead of "To" in the title? Sorry, go on...

"I wanted to go golfing with my friends...but I didn't have any money." So he took his guitar and started busking on the steps of a town theater, hoping to make $20, enough scratch for a round. He came home with $200, as well as a new career.

There was also this, teased online:

Midway through a golf game at a private country club, Bieber and his entourage are confronted by paparazzi. Bieber responds by taking out his nine-iron and hitting a golf ball at them. He later tells an employee at the club that "we'll probably never play here again."

Flash: Olazabal Names Clarke To Vice Cart-Driving Role After Assurances He Will Not Repeat Past Buggy Crashing Antics

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Alistair Tait says the naming of Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley as three of four vice captains for September's Ryder Cup at Medinah will be rounded out by Miguel Angel Jimenez, assuming the Spaniard does not make it on points and the team hotel has smoking rooms.

Clarke has a bit of history behind the wheel, getting out of a speeding ticket by flashing the Claret Jug and more of a concern for potential European players, rolling a buggy at his home and sustaining minor injuries.

"You know Darren, I'll just catch a ride from Oly or Miguel or Thomas or Paul, if you don't mind," could be a popular refrain at Medinah.

American captain Davis Love recently rounded out his foursome of Senior Ego Masseurs, adding Scott Verplank and Jeff Sluman to the previously announced Mike Hulbert and Fred Couples.

"The debate about Rory and the Olympics, however, refuses to wither."

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I'm already sick of this debate and I'm not Irish, British or the least bit worried that Rory McIlroy will figure it out by 2016, but Oliver Brown delves into the question that continues to hound the PGA Champion: which country's bad uniforms will he wear in 2016?

It is regrettable that McIlroy should be facing such a dilemma, when his second major title at the US PGA is a cause for jubilation on both sides of the Irish border. And yet he is under pressure to declare his hand for the Rio Olympics because he is Catholic. His great friend and compatriot, Graeme McDowell, is spared the same predicament as a Protestant, since it is widely expected that he will compete for Britain.

But Northern Irish Catholics tend, as boxing medallists Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan showed at London 2012, to align themselves with the Republic. Representing Britain would, at one time, have been deemed perfidious, equivalent to backing a state that they perceived as oppressive.

"So if the PGA of America is considering returning to Kiawah, it should think again and just say no emphatically."

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Golfweek's Jeff Rude touches on the miserable time players, media and fans had with transportation, parking and actual spectating of the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah and says once was enough.

Kiawah might be suited for a four-man PGA Grand Slam or Skins Game or two-man Shell’s match or maybe even another Ryder Cup, but it was overmatched when putting on the spectacle of a major championship with 156 players (and their caddies and entourages) because of the infrastructure issues.

Some veteran writers seemed to think it was the worst major ever, and that wasn’t even factoring in the 5 1/2-hour rounds.

“The only way the PGA should come back here is if they have flying buses,” one scribe said.
Couldn’t agree more.

Bamberger: "At Kiawah, Woods dabbled in some new material, and it was kind of weird, experimental and New Agey."

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Michael Bamberger isn't knocking Tiger's "too relaxed" suggestion because he wants to "encourage his artistic growth" but it also means he isn't buying the 2012 PGA postmortem.

Some odd thing was going on as he played on Saturday. He did seem to be ­approaching the round in an uncharacteristic way. He looked almost detached. Now and again he stared out at the churning ocean. He stayed last week on his yacht, Privacy, and he clearly did come to shore on Saturday with some sort of different approach. But not relaxed.

The guy must get sick of hearing the word major. Major, major, major. But it’s a conversation of his own making. He set the bar higher than anyone ever has. Big Jack had 18 majors, and Tiger was going to first match and then pass. He has been stuck at 14 for four years and two months.

It will only get harder and more intense.

Rory-Faced Biscuits A Hot Item Again

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I bet Tiger never had his face put on a biscuit.

Just wish we could see them better in the photo The photo accompanying this Anna Maguire Belfast Telegraph story also includes a photo gallery.*

Within three hours of going on sale, 300 German biscuits carrying the face of Rory McIlroy had disappeared from the shelves of Skinner’s Bakery.

By noon on Monday, workers at the Holywood bakery were frantically preparing another batch.

“It’s because he’s a Holywood boy,” was how co-owner Valerie Skinner explained the success of their best-selling product.

“My husband (and bakery co-owner) Wilson had the idea of making the biscuits when we were watching Rory win the US Open Championship last year. We sold thousands of the biscuits then.

Clark Taking Wait-And-See Approach On Anchoring Ban

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Interesting to see Tim Clark's anchoring ban rhetoric, which has hinted at litigation, toned down today at the Wyndham.

Q.  Can you speak on the belly putter controversy going on right now?

TIM CLARK:  It's been going on for so long so it's not just right now I guess but, you know, I guess they're going to try and make a decision here this year and who knows what that's going to be.  It's hard to say either way.

You know, be easier to comment once they do make a decision.  But, obviously, it's something that's been used a lot more on the Tour now than it had been in the years gone by and that's probably why it's become an issue now.

In my mind they left it way too long to come down and say we're going to ban it.  It should have been banned 20 years ago if they were going to ban it.

The fact that they haven't by now, I think they've left it too long and too many guys have made their career out of using a certain piece of equipment that they're suddenly going to take away from them.

Again, I don't know what decision they're going to make but I'm going -- I see it going to be a much tougher decision than it seems to be, I think.

Q.  Tim, some of the guys have practiced, some of the ones using belly putters have practiced with the lower.  Have you tried the traditional?

TIM CLARK:  It's not something I'll worry about now.  I'll wait, like I say, for a decision to be made and then take it from there.  But it's not something I've played around with.