R.I.P. Andy Williams

/

The legendary crooner hosted the PGA Tour's San Diego stop 21 times under various tournament names including the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational, the Wickes-Andy Williams San Diego Open, the Isuzu-Andy Williams San Diego Open, the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open and of course most memorably of all, the Shearson Lehman Hutton Andy Williams Open.

The Kansas City Star has a nice photo gallery of Williams, including this shot with Tom Watson.


Video: Celebrity Tuesday At The Ryder Cup; Bill Murray Tries To Pilfer Samuel Ryder's Trophy

/
Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times was on hand and so was a video crew to capture the sweet-swinging Scottie Pippen, the also smooth-swinging Michael Phelps (who earned a groan for his tee shot) and the PGA Tour's favorite tournament host George Lopez. Bill Murray is in video #2.
Read More

Whoa: Tiger Shoulders Blame For Recent USA Ryder Woes

/

Not that I don't trust Steve DiMeglio, but I did have to go read Tiger's transcript to see that I wasn't hallucinating when he took some of the blame for the U.S. losing six of the last eight Cups.

"Certainly I am responsible for that, because I didn't earn the points that I was put out there for," said Woods, who is 13-14-2 in the Ryder Cup. "I believe I was out there, what, in five sessions each time, and I didn't go 5-0 on our side. So I certainly am a part of that, and that's part of being a team. I needed to go get my points for my team, and I didn't do that."

Sheesh, next thing you know he's going to be apologizing to the fire hydrant, nominating Hank Haney for a Pulitzer and announcing that he's joining the Peace Corps.

"Greenkeepers have played a starring role in home-team preparation since at least the 1980s when the Ryder Cup became more competitive after decades of U.S. dominance."

/

Mark Peters files an excellent WSJ look at the various course setup tactics, fetishes and other neurotic acts of Ryder Cups past, whether they really matter and how Medinah super Curtis Tyrrell will be doing his part for Team USA.

On a recent afternoon, Mr. Tyrrell, the director of golf-course operations, was zipping around Medinah in a cart overseeing last-minute preparations as corporate tents and concessions rose around the course. Even as players and fans start to see some of the gamesmanship Mr. Love has planned, other plans remain private.

"Some of it is real obvious, with the mowing heights in the rough," Mr. Tyrrell said. "But there are a lot of things that are meant for the team only."

There is also an audio segment featuring Peters talking to Tyrrell.

PGA Encourages American Fans To Wear Red This Sunday, Even If Sitting At Home In Their Favorite Jammies

/

From the Team USA portion of RyderCup.com--yes we're still splitting the website into teams--an unbylined report on the PGA of America encouraging a "Red Out" to make Sunday look like a Nebraska Cornhuskers tailgate party.

Fans attending the Ryder Cup are encouraged to wear red clothing on Sunday at Medinah to show their patriotic pride, while fans watching from home are encouraged to the same.

What is this, the Tavistock Cup?