Bubba Makes Clear What He Thinks Of Golf Channel's Daytime Programming

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Nice catch by Jonathan Wall. And nice focus by "On The Range" correspondent Alex Miceli to be so locked in as to be oblivious to the background activity.



The real gift of this video was the Bentley the bulldog puppy video that flashed up after Miceli. Much more cuddly and funny.

"That essentially leaves Love having to look at five players - maybe more - for two spots."

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It wasn't that long ago that Captain Davis Love appeared to have a wealth of attractive options for his four Ryder Cup Captain's picks, but as Doug Ferguson lays out, Love now faces a tough decision made tougher by Nick Watney's win Sunday.

Working on the premise that Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk are locks and leaving two more picks, Ferguson writes:

Watney was enduring a lost season until winning The Barclays. That doesn't make him a frontrunner, but he is a big blip on the radar at the very least. Brandt Snedeker already was under consideration - a winner at Torrey Pines, a contender at the British Open and a guy who can putt. He showed that at The Barclays, making a 15-footer for par on the 17th and a birdie putt from about that length on the 18th to finish alone in second.

Dustin Johnson, who has won every year since his rookie season in 2008, tied for third at Barclays. His sheer power and talent is difficult to ignore. Fowler showed up on the leaderboard until Saturday, when Bethpage Black became Bethpage Brown and sent scores soaring. Not to be forgotten is Hunter Mahan, who was poised to make the team on his own until he finished toward the bottom of the pack at Firestone and missed the cut at the PGA Championship and the Barclays.

The list can get even longer depending on the Deutsche Bank Championship, especially if Bo Van Pelt or someone like Bill Haas were to win.

No one will be under greater pressure than Mahan. He won twice this year, but has only one top 10 over the last five months. And he is the opposite of Furyk, who has qualified for every team. Mahan has been a captain's pick twice for the Presidents Cup, once for the Ryder Cup.

No love for Rickie?

I'd go with who is playing (and putting) well, meaning Watney and Snedeker. You?

Video: Fairway Hole-Out Leads To Walk-Off Win In Canada

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How many times have we heard announcers say a player has to hole out from the fairway to have any hope of winning only to be disappointed. Not on the Canadian Tour, as Jay Busbee explains Eugene Wong's final hole eagle from the fairway to win the 2012 Canadian Tour Championship by a shot over Joe Panzeri.

It was caught on video and posted by PGATour.com.

2012 European Ryder Cup Team Set

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An unbylined Telgraph story on nearly unrecognizable (he shaved!) Jose Maria Olazabal announcing captain's picks Nicolas Colsaerts and Ian Poulter.

As protocol demands, Captain Ollie made the tough phone calls Sunday night, none tougher than the one to old sparring buddy Padraig Harrington.

"It's never an easy decision," he said. "Obviously there's a few more players in the mix every time. I talked to the vice-captains quite a bit regarding the picks. We studied different possibilities. We had a few discussions regarding that. The last time we talked was on Friday this week.

"It's not an easy moment. They are all disappointed. I know they really wanted to be in the team. I talked to the next four or five guys on the list – I talked to David [Lynn], to Rafa [Cabrera Bello], Alvaro [Quiros] and Padraig [Harrington]. I made those phone calls. It's not easy. I've been in that equation. They took the news well. That's the way it is."

While he's the only rookie, Bob Harig explains how the long-off-the-tee Colsaerts should have little problem with Medinah's length. And Alistair Tait says this was a long time coming for Colsaerts, a former party animal.

A Guardian slideshow of the 12 players. Besides Colsaerts and Poulter, the others: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Francesco Molinari, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Peter Hanson and Martin Kaymer.

Olazabal also talked about the state of Kaymer's game.

15 And A Winner: "Without doubt the golf story of the year"

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Check out David Ebner's excellent Globe and Mail game story, courtesy of reader Matthew, covering U.S. Women's Amateur Champion and 15-year-old Lydia Ko's historic win in the CN Canadian Women's Open. 

The victory makes Ko the youngest LPGA Tour winner...ever.

Ebner's lede:

As she walked to the 13th tee box, as 15-year-old amateur Lydia Ko pulled away from a star-studded field of professional women golfers like a Ferrari firing away from Fords, her mother Tina handed her a Ziploc bag of cherry tomatoes.

Ko proceeded to crank yet another long and straight drive off the box and then, walking up 13, snacked, offered some to her playing partners, and waved to her math teacher and his wife, in the gallery, visiting from her home back in New Zealand. Ko, earlier in the round, popping some grapes, said to her caddy that she likes to eat during a round of golf, as an empty stomach, for her, can be prey to butterflies.

In what is without doubt the golf story of the year – and one of the great sporting victories in recent memory – the kid betrayed no nerves at all as she booked a fantastic, historic and resoundingly decisive victory in a national championship halfway around the world from her home in Auckland.

He goes on from there and it makes for a fun read of an impressive victory.

LPGA correspondent Beth Ann Baldry for Golfweek:

Lydia Ko went on Golf Channel after her historic victory and said she’d like to have the winner’s check so could buy a dog and give money to the poor. And she said it in that darling New Zealand accent. Could she be more impressive?

Her new nickname should be “Knockout.” As in, Ladies of the LPGA, you’ve just been KO’d.

Ko won the New South Wales Open in January when she was 14. Here was the post from back then and a game story link by Patrick McKendry provided by Colin.

Randall Mell on the historic nature of the victory as well as Ko's matter-of-fact answers.

With the FedEx Cup playoffs off to a start this weekend, World Golf Hall of Fame officials weren’t calling PGA Tour officials at Bethpage Black Sunday for mementos to put on display. Instead, they were calling Vancouver Golf Club. They were looking for some keepsake from Ko to commemorate the victory in one of their exhibits.

Ko stole the show in golf Sunday. She is so young she can’t say watching Tiger Woods win the Masters in a rout in 1997 inspired her. She was born 11 days after Woods won.

Asked if she wore “power” red Sunday to emulate Woods, Ko shook her head no.

“It’s just another color,” she said.

Mell also has a fun note on Ko caddie Brian Alexander, a Vancouver Golf Club member, real estate developer and senior champ who helped read putts and had a blast.

Brian Alexander picked up Ko’s bag for the week to have some fun. A senior champion as a member at Vancouver Golf Club, Alexander volunteered when Ko needed somebody to tote her bag. He’s a 63-year-old real-estate developer.

John Strege on the event overshadowing the "playoffs" and the many reactions from the LPGA community, including her "older" competitors.

"This is making me feel old," Jiyai Shin, one of those in pursuit at the outset of the final round, told the Golf Channel in the midst of Ko's back-nine assault that included four consecutive birdies and five in a six-hole stretch.

Shin, it should be noted, is 24.

Greg Stutchbury of Reuters talks to New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy who says Ko's win was easily the biggest day for women's golf in that country.

LPGA notes from the historic day center mostly around Ko and include the transcript of her final round interview.

A few of the key facts:

Becomes the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history, eclipsing the previous mark set by Lexi Thompson, who was 16 years, 8 months, 8 days when she won the 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic

Youngest winners in LPGA Tour history

Lydia Ko, 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open (72-hole event) at 15 years, 4 months, 2 days
Lexi Thompson, 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic (72-hole event) at 16 years, 8 months, 8 days
Marlene Hagge, 1952 Sarasota Open (18-hole event) at 18 years, 14 days
Marlene Hagge, 1952 Bakersfield Open (18-hole event) at 18 years, 2 months, 15 days
Paula Creamer, 2005 Sybase Classic presented by Lincoln Mercury (72-hole event) at 18 years, 9 month, 17 days
Morgan Pressel, 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship (72-hole event) at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days
Paula Creamer, 2005 Evian Masters (72-hole event), 18 years, 11 months, 18 days

Becomes the fifth amateur in LPGA Tour history to win an official event and the first in more than 40 years

Amateurs to win an LPGA event

Lydia Ko, 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open
JoAnne Carner, 1969 Burdine’s Invitational
Catherine LaCoste, 1967 U.S. Women’s Open 
Pat O’Sullivan, 1951 Titleholders Championship
Polly Riley, 1950 Tampa Open

Golf Channel's recap of the win with fellow New Zealander Frank Nobilo's analysis:

Captain Ollie Adds Mechanic To Team Europe's Elite Cart Driving Squad

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Miguel Angel "The Mechanic" Jimenez hopes to have an extra large ashtray in his six-seat Club Car as he whizzes around Medinah next month looking important.

From the wires and posted on GolfChannel.com, a confident sounding Team Europe Lead Driver Jose Maria Olazabal:

“Miguel’s announcement means that I now have four world-class golfers as my vice captains – all with tremendous experience of playing in the Ryder Cup which is absolutely invaluable," Olazabal said in a statement.

Now, if The Mechanic would just lead the European squad in a pre-round team driving range warm-up session, we'd be in for a fun week.

Ex PM Gordon Brown: Royal And Ancient's Position An "unacceptable blot on Scotland's traditions of justice for all."

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That's what Gordon Brown was quoted as saying by the Scottish Daily Record in a speech at the Scottish parliament festival of politics in Edinburgh Friday.

The Guardian's Severin Carrell also had this quote:

"If the golf club in Augusta can admit women, then shouldn't St Andrews? If they can do it in South Carolina, can we not do it in Scotland?" 

South Carolina, Georgia-schmeorgia. We know what you meant. Those bastions of progressivism to all kind of bleed together.