Shriners Cut Ties With Timberlake In Less Than Classy Fashion

Steve Carp on an unseamly ending to the relationship between Shriners Hospital and Justin Timberlake on the eve of this year's PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas.

The event chairman, tournament chairman Raoul Frevel, who probably a few chilly calls from Ponte Vedra over these remarks. And deservedly so.

"We're a world-class organization," Frevel said. "At the time we got involved with golf, we were told by the Tour we needed a big name, and that's how our relationship with Justin came about.

"Justin's a wonderful person. But we tried everything we could to get him more involved with our kids and the hospitals. But it seemed that when the TV cameras weren't on, he disappeared."

I'm not sure if Las Vegas is just spoiled by all of the celebrities or the parties involved just don't like Timberlake, but I noted last year after visiting the event how impressed I was with Timberlake's energy during the Wednesday pro-am, but that didn't stop some pretty tough criticism in the Las Vegas press. Apparently these events never saw how tour stops went with Andy Williams and Glen Campbell who couldn't put on the kind of fundraising concert that Timberlake did in Vegas.

They also have the tour's best tournament logo.

NY's Ferry Point Is Millions Over Budget

The New York Daily News's Greg Smith reports that Ferry Point, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course to be managed by Donald Trump, has been put on notice by New York city controller John Liu due to staggering cost overruns.

On Thursday, Liu informed Parks that the audit “will determine whether the Parks Department carried out or implemented recommendations” from that prior audit.

The recommendations included tracking progress of the project against its start and completion dates, preparing an “itemized breakdown of all required activities” at the project and carefully monitoring all “invoices, canceled checks and other related documentation.”

Parks spokeswoman Vickie Carr did not respond to requests for comment about whether the agency had implemented the 2007 recommendations.

The Parks Department says the project is expected to cost the taxpayers $97 million, although The News found contracts assigned to the Ferry Point golf course totaling $120 million.

As a result, commentaries (here and here) are questioning the wisdom of spending so much while other city services are falling apart.

In a speech last week endorsing Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Nicklaus bemoaned the number of Americans on government funded food stamps and lamented excessive government spending.

Third Ryder Cup Question: Did The Course Setup "Backfire"?

I've seen and heard in several places how the course setup (fast greens and no rough) backfired on Captain Davis Love. Before the matches, there had been suggestions the USA had a few tricks up their sleeves while Lee Westwood said he saw the approach favoring neither team.

Now, the match was decided by a point. The U.S. played particularly well in the foursomes and four-balls where they historically haven't been as strong.

The only impact I saw was in the way the setup tactics possibly inspired the Europeans to overcome a perceived obstacle. There may have been many other instances we'll learn about in time from players about little things that were done to aid the Americans.  Otherwise, Curtis Tyrrell and team's beautifully conditioned Medinah seemed to reward shots from both sides and allowed skill to dictate the outcome instead of rough or the actions of PGA setup man Kerry Haigh.

Thoughts?

If You Watch The Ryder Cup Singles Re-Airing...

...from 4-9 ET Tuesday on Golf Channel, watch the moments immediately after Martin Kaymer sinks the winning putt and pay special attention.

We'll talk about it on Wednesday, class. There might even be a pop quiz.

Meanwhile, historian Cliff Schrock of Golf Digest posed this in a GolfDigest.com column Monday:

But an opportunity was missed for the European team to have a double victory at Medinah. If the final match was allowed to end with a halve on 18 for a Woods victory and 14-14 tie, it would have demonstrated that Ryder's code of fairness has stayed foremost among the minds of players and captains. The Europeans would have demonstrated a respect for the effort and huge advantage the Americans had made to go into Sunday with a 10-6 lead. A tie would have given the home crowd and madly supportive Chicago-area crowd a kiss on the cheek for how much they made the event a success with their financial backing. It would have been a "thank you" to the state trooper who made sure time-zone confused Rory McIlroy didn't miss his tee time.

And the tie would have followed some notable gestures of its kind, such as Jack Nicklaus' famous concession in 1969 with Tony Jacklin, which ensured an overall tie, and, quite interestingly, something that occurred in 1999, the year a team -- the Americans -- first came back from a 10-6 deficit to win.

Euros Party Into The Night; Traditional Post-Ryder Cup Wig Wearing Ritual Ensues

Hey, maybe this is why you-know-who is so eager to be Captain again?

Anyway, Brian Keogh has all of the details of Team Europe's post Ryder Cup party.

Captain I-Want-To-Win-Not-Halve had some Spanish wine, while the team received a visit from Captain Love along with a few unnamed American players.

Former DJ Colsaerts added: “I haven’t slept. But I’ll be alright. This used to be my first job so it’s okay.”

Asked where the party ranked, he said: “It was just the length of it, the intensity of it after all that work.

“We were just stretching it out and stretching it out. I don’t know how bumpy this plane ride is going to be but I might give it 10 out of 10.

“It was just a good old fashioned party with drinks flying in the air and other stupid stuff going on.

“There were a few Diana Ross wigs and things like that. Frankie Molinari was wearing a blonde one which made him look like Marilyn Monroe!"

Ian Poulter Tweeted a couple of photos from the party, including one with the cup and a classic of his daughter wondering "where she gets it."

"The best-televised sporting event of the year – if not the young century – was almost spoiled by the stop-start nature of the action."

Brad Klein wasn't too keen on NBC and the PGA of America's commercial-heavy Ryder Cup broadcast, though he noted the nice "last three-quarters of an hour went without an ad or a break," but by then the damage had been done for most viewers.

And Klein documents the damage, totaling up how many times certain ads ran. The top eight:

NBC Network Programming: 31
Omega Watches: 16
Get Golf Ready/Tee It Forward/Play Golf America: 13
Cadillac: 10
Mercedes: 10
National Car Rental: 10
Samsung Galaxy: 9
Royal Bank of Canada: 8

Europe May Be Ready To Move On After Geno Apologizes For Highly Inoffensive Column Declaring Matches Over

I'm not sure why there was so much outrage over Gene Wojciechowski's column suggesting the Euros had no chance Sunday since it would take a comeback of Brookline proportions to win. A view many of us shared.

But the BBC 5 Live's Colin Murray hunted down the not-evil ESPN.com scribe to wring out an on air concession for the United Kingdom listening audience, allowing Geno to take higher ground over Captain Don't Halve in the class department. And Geno, wisely hoping to show his face in Europe sometime soon, said he was sorry.

The audio is here.