Tiger Sounding Non-Committal (At Best) On Euro Tour Membership

From today's presser to announce the field and new sponsor for the year-end World Challenge at Sherwood.

Q.  Wondering what your thoughts are on ‑‑ you mentioned before that you might be joining the European Tour a few weeks back.  I want to know what that would mean if you chose to do that.

TIGER WOODS:  Well, they asked me the question whether or not I would entertain it, and I said, yeah, I entertained it early on in my career, there's no doubt, because at the time there was only 11 events, and I believe it was eight cross‑overs, and I played once or twice in Europe, and that put me at nine or ten ‑‑ usually at 10 because I played in Asia and I played as well in Germany for all those years.  So I was only one event away.

Now it's at 13.  13 is a little bit more difficult to get to, but that's one of the reasons why I think they implemented the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup as events that count towards that number.  I certainly can see the benefits and also see the negatives of playing that much golf.  But going forward, I don't know.

First Putter Anchoring Poll: Yes Or No?

Rex Hoggard gets another confirmation from the USGA's Mike Davis that a decision on anchoring putters is coming soon: "We do plan to make some kind of announcement, as promised, later this year.”

Most feel a decision has already been made and language has been developed by the governing bodies banning anchoring a putter against your torso, with a likely implementation date in January 2016.

So the initial poll question is not very deep, but there are so many elements to the notion of an anchoring ban that it'd be informative to start off with a simple, completely unscientific poll: Yes or No on anchoring. (I'd like to save the question of bifurcation or long putters or length of club for later on.)

So for now...

Should anchoring the putter against the torso be outlawed?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

''I can be miserable, play fast all day and wait, or I can slow down a bit, which can't hurt.''

Doug Ferguson tackles a subject that speaks to the absurdity of Commissioner Brand Image's bizarre determination to not even consider the penalization of players for slow play as a solution: fast players are openly talking about learning to play slower.

Dustin Johnson:

''Guys out here play really slow, and they're not going to speed up,'' Johnson said. ''I can be miserable, play fast all day and wait, or I can slow down a bit, which can't hurt.''

Johnson is still quick and much quicker than most. He takes a little more time when he gets to the ball, waits a few seconds to pull the club from the bag. And he's taking more time on the green, looking at putts from multiple sides of the hole.

But that's what golf has come to in this generation. Instead of the faster players bringing everyone else up to speed, they have to downshift.

''It can be painful if you play quick,'' Fowler said. ''You're going to be spending a lot of time standing there. It almost starts hurting your legs and feet when you're just standing there. I learned quickly that you have to be patient.''

Holy Cow: A New Public Golf Course Is Opening!

We knew from previous reports that there were only a handful of golf courses under construction and now Laredo's new public course by Robert Trent Jones Jr. is opening this week. Thanks reader Scott for the reminder.

PGA.com's John Holmes has the news of the first noteworthy course opening in a while, which even PGA.com noted is a bit of a stop-the-press moment.

The Max A. Mandel Municipal Golf Course – already nicknamed "the Max" -- is the first city-owned golf facility in Laredo, as well as one of only a handful of new courses to open in the United States this year.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects, the par-72 layout is routed along bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande and winds through 270 acres of sandy terrain. Encompassing almost a mile of riverfront property, the course presents four holes that play adjacent to and high above the water as it traverses deep arroyos and navigates through 30-foot tall mesquite woodlands and open farmland.

With five sets of tees and wide, inviting fairways throughout, the course can be configured as a tournament test of more than 7,200 yards, yet is still a perfect fit for golfers who desire a more manageable challenge of less than 5,000 yards.

Yada, yada, yada... more importantly:

Green fees for Laredo residents range from $33.50 to $46, while non-residents – including the flocks of snowbirds who winter in south Texas – will pay between $46 and $56. There are also discount rates for seniors and juniors.

Video: Phil's End Zone Shot

I don't think Phil Mickelson's MNF chip shot for charity was nearly as bad as the Tweets made it out to be. In fact, considering the circumstances it's pretty impressive.

Though he probably forgot to compensate for the extra few yards of artificial turf mat bounce.

More Photos From The Match Re-Match

GolfDigest.com posted more of Stan Badz and Chris Condon's PGA Tour shots from the Fowler/Watson vs. Love/Watney match for First Tee fatcats last week and it's always fun to look at different views of Cypress Point. But in particular I loved this rear-view of the 9th hole for totally wonky reasons.

Superintendent Jeff Markow has been gradually removing non-native invasive grasses and other junky stuff like iceplant to reveal the dunes again. That's not only better for the environment but also returns a temptation to drive the green lost when the overgrown dunes became an automatic lost ball.

Berman! ESPN Opts Out Of Phil's Halftime Shot To Discuss What Will Ray Lewis Do Next?

I feel like I've lived my worst nightmare, turning on Monday Night Football to see Phil Mickelson's cool attempt to try a shot in front of 60,000 Chargers fans during halftime. And what does ESPN give us? Halftime highlights, notes and profound discussions anchored by Chris Berman. And once again, he wasn't as entertaining as this.

So there is no video (yet), just this photo from KPMG and a report on PGATour.com that Mickelson earned $50,000 for First Book.

Update on 2012-10-16 06:04 by Geoff

**From an unbylined AP story:

The crowd responded with a mixture of boos and cheers when Lefty's shot missed the circles.

"I must have had a little bit more adrenaline because the ball was a little bit long. I thought I hit a pretty good shot but it flew long," Mickelson said.

Still, he had a good time.

"I haven't had this experience. This is an amazing experience. In golf, we don't get this," he said. "The 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale has nothing on this. This was awesome, seeing the Jumbotron with my picture, as I'm looking up taking the shot, that was unique. That was something that was pretty cool."

Here is Phil on ESPN before the game talking about the Ryder Cup loss and dealing with a mess of a question from Steve Young.

And there's a neat shot of Mickelson at the top of his backswing with Jonathan Wall's Yahoo blog post.

Chubby: Turkey Final A Model For Others

Dermot Gilreese assesses the Turkey Final cash grab that so enriched the lives of eight men last week. The primary organizer explains how it could be a model for future events.

Meanwhile, the money flows. And given his success in attracting such leading names to last week's enterprise, Chubby Chandler of International Sports Management believes it could work in other countries as a promotional vehicle. Indeed as an early by-product, it is hoped that several of last week's octet will return to compete in the Turkish Open in 13 months. As Chandler put it: "I've already established that it's a free week for Tiger."

And Chandler explains how he insured that there were no last minute WD's:

Even with attractive figures being thrown around, it seems that good faith is crucial to the success of these ventures. Which explains why Chandler made sure that $150,000 -- half the minimum guaranteed prize money -- would be lodged to each player's bank account on September 1 of this year -- almost six weeks before the event. "As a gesture, I felt it appropriate to assure them that they were going to be paid," he said.

So much classier than a brown paper bag full of cash or chips to the casino!