Sergio On Padraig: "He wouldn’t be a sure pick for me!”

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Brian Keogh with a terrifically entertaining look at the bad blood between European Captain Jose Maria Olazabal that appears to pale compared to the general dislike Sergio Garcia has for the Irishman dating to the '07 Open and '08 PGA losses. Padraig Harrington shares the feeling.

Though Sergio at least is honest in his assessment of Harrington's chances to make the Ryder Cup team as a Captain's pick.

“I don’t think he’s a sure pick personally. He wouldn’t be a sure pick for me!”

Fazio On Renovating His Original Designs: "To take something that originally was so well received and make it substantially superior is a special achievement.”

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Longtime readers know I can't get enough of architects getting the job to renovate their designs which probably needed a fine tuning because the original wasn't very good. All of the big names have this industry cornered and well, it's so moving reading about a $15 million upgrade after 20 years, this time Tom Fazio's Emerald Dunes.
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Keegan And Sneaking On The Black

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From Keegan Bradley, talking about playing Bethpage Black in his college days, courtesy of Mark Herrmann in Newsday:

This week, he will take major delight in the site. He knows where the superintendent's office is near the third tee because that is where the St. John's players used to park, far from the clubhouse so as not to attract attention while the course was closed to the public. "I get in trouble for saying that. My coach called me and said to stop talking about that," Bradley said, sheepishly, at a tournament recently. "But it was awesome."

So you didn't hear it from him. And it is confidential when he admits, "We played inside the road, which is 3 through 14." Credit the resourcefulness of St. John's coach Frank Darby, the former head pro at Nissequogue Golf Club, for finding the best spots.

Great News: Charleston At Huge Occupancy During PGA; 31% Mark-Up For Privilege Of Scenic Commute!

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I am so glad the PGA of America's official PGA Championship twitter account shared the news of huge occupancy rates in Charleston during the 2012 PGA at Kiawah. I know all of the folks who stayed there were overjoyed by Laura Ratcliffe's story.

But just in case:

For the week of Aug. 6, Charleston County hotels were 86.4% occupied with an average room price of $148.62. This represents an increase of 12.3% in occupancy and 30.9% in room prices over the same week last year, according to the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hey only a 31% mark-up for an event that Golf World's Jim Moriarty wrote was so logistically challenged that the only thing missing from the Fantasy Island PGA "was Herve Villechaize in a tiny tropical suit greeting the daily arrivals yelling, "Da bus! Da bus!"

Monty: If I Were Captain, Padraig Would Be Selected!

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Okay, I officially feel like an idiot.

Merely trying to stir up a little Ryder Cup discussion and maybe a nasty Tweet from Ian Poulter, I suggested Padraig Harrington would make a great Ryder Cup captain's pick even though he has the yips.

Well, now European Captain Emeritus Monty has endorsed Paddy, reports Brian Keogh.

“I would encourage Jose to pick as many experienced players as possible but that is not my position right now.”

I feel ashamed, yes.

Rulings Roundup, Open Championship Edition

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There is an unbylined piece posted by the R&A analyzing the 339 rules incidents handled by the "international team of referees" at the 2012 Open Championship, with a numerical breakdown of the Rules situations that arose.

I'm not sure why I found this surprising considering the severity of the rough, but it did sound like a lot of unplayables:

One of the most commonly used Rules in golf is the unplayable ball Rule (Rule 28).  In total, 32 unplayable ball rulings were dealt with at the Championship, including Phil Mickelson’s drop after he found the deep rough above a bunker on the 8th hole. Click here to read more.

The weather, of course, can have a big impact on the Rules and 2012 was no exception.  Due to the unusually wet weather that Britain has experienced this summer and, in particular, following a heavy rainfall on the Thursday night of the Championship, no less than 58 casual water rulings were overseen by referees.  Of these, 37 related to casual water in a bunker where Rule 25-1b(ii) was applied. Click here to read more.