"Tommy is such a good boy and for somebody to come from a small town like Bishopville, be a little unorthodox, never went to college and win on the PGA Tour? How hard do you think that is?"

From Doug Ferguson's game story on the course-record-60-shooting Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey breathing life into the McGladrey Classic, which feels like a fall version of the Tavistock Cup only with much smaller galleries.

"Oh, man," Gainey said. "I tell you, you're out here on the PGA Tour. You're playing with the best players in the world. Ninety-nine percent of these guys have already won, and won majors, big tournaments. The only show I can say I've won is the `Big Break.' Now I can sit here and say I've won the McGladrey Classic here at Sea Island, and I'm very proud to be in this tournament and very proud to win. And wow, it's been a whirlwind day.

Tim Rosaforte does a nice job capturing the Gainey backstory beyond the Dexter Morgan two black glove look, including this from Tommy Sr.:

During the two-and-a-half-hour wait between when Gainey posted his 60 and Furyk, Tommy Sr. and Tommy Jr. talked on the phone. When Toms hit a drive, Tommy Jr. could hear Tommy Sr. rooting it into a fairway bunker.

"He said, 'Dad, you can't pull against these guys," Gainey Sr. said. "I said, 'Tommy, those three guys they have everything, they're Hall of Famers."

When it was over, Tommy Sr. headed back to his house in Bishopville so his wife, Judy, could punch the clock for the graveyard shift at the wood plant. He took early retirement when he was 57 but now, at 65, he does consulting work for A.O. Smith, the factory where Tommy Jr. worked as a teenager wrapping insulation around water heaters for $8.25 an hour.

The miniscule PGA Tour highlight package that would look so much better on YouTube:

Yao Ming Looks Great At Address...

...and then there is his swing.

Thanks to Alan Shipnuck for Tweeting this golf.com photo gallery of Eugene Hoshiko's AP images from the World Celebrity Pro-Am at Mission Hills. Included are shots of Adrian Brody, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Phelps, Ronaldo, Andy Garcia and three shots of actress Minka Kelly.

Yao looks tremendous at address and so I went to YouTube to see if the rest of the seven-foot and then-some former Houston Rocket had a decent move.

I think you'll feel better about your wedge game.

"Going 'old school' will give you a whole new appreciation for the greatest game we know."

Here's a nice Saturday morning read from John Kim at PGA.com who played hickories for the first tie as part of Ansley Golf Club's 100th anniversary celebration, with Stirling Hickory Golf providing the clubs.

And as a student of golf history, to play with those clubs was not only a great education in golf equipment and the advantages of today's technology - but it enhanced my appreciation of the skill and talent that the greats of yesterday possessed.  Nothing against Tiger, Rory or even Jack and Arnie - I don't see how they could put up the numbers that Bobby Jones and company could put up using the same set of equipment. 

 

At the end of the day, it was like any other golf outing. Food and drinks were enjoyed, stories were shared about putts that should have gone in and promises were made to get together again soon.  But every golfer walked away with a little more passion and love for the game. If you're looking for a different perspective and a great way to love golf even more - going "old school" will give you a whole new appreciation for the greatest game we know. 

Rory's Agent Has Not "Heard" Of Any Suggestion His Client Is Signing A 10-Year, $250 Million Deal With Nike

Brian Keogh reports that ten-percenter Conor Ridge may want to sign up for some Google news alerts as the rumors of a massive deal for Rory McIlroy refuse to go away. And with Acushnet/Titleist known for showing fiscal prudence by not ponying up silly amounts of money to re-sign high profile players, a deal elsewhere seems likely at year's end.

Unless you are Rory's agent!

It’s no secret that McIlroy’s deal with Titleist expires at the end of this year. And while we’ve been assured by our sources that he’s going to Nike to the tune of $250 million over 10 years, we’re going to have to wait until he turns up in Abu Dhabi in January for confirmation that he will wear the famous swoosh from head to toe.

Horizon Sports Management’s Conor Ridge successfully negotiated a move from Titleist to Nike for McIlroy’s stablemate Ross Fisher this year. But he is duty bound to deny all knowledge of plans to make McIlroy a Nike player in 2013.

“I hadn’t even heard it, to be honest,” Ridge said this week when asked about the strong rumours linking his client to Nike. “Look, he’s a Titleist player and there is no way I am going to make any comment on anything like that.”

If Rory goes to notoriously anti-other-corporate logo Nike, that would mean he wouldn't be able to have the fourteen logos including the "what was I thinking" Jumeirah Estates doozy on the hat. He'll want to win 16 more majors just to never see himself in career highlight films sporting the Jumeirah lid.

Totally Unscientific Polls: Ban Anchoring Via Rules Of Golf

With nearly 500 votes, 56% want to see the Rules of Golf rewritten to ban the anchoring of the putter. Bifurcation took 32% but if you were to lump on the 13% for some form of split between the everyday game and the professionals, that would get us up to 45% thinking some split between the two is called for.

Previously, nearly 1000 votes were cast with 69% casting in favor of a ban.

The numbers here, which Nate Silver would not find very scientific, back up what the USGA is suggesting they have heard from the public on this delicate topic.

It's been suggested both publicly and privately that there may be player lawsuits over this, but if the public support is so strong, do those players risk reputational harm or do they have a legitimate gripe?

Either way this should make for an interesting winter.

"The development of elite players is one of the major functions of this TOUR, and we're all excited about when the next Mike Weir will emerge."

That's Commissioner Canuck Thursday talking about the PGA Tour saving the Canadian Tour from extinction and providing a feeder tour to the Web.com Tour.  Someone asked the Commish about money. Big no no!

Q.  I know that the PGA TOUR had lent both strategic and financial support this past year.  Can you elaborate on how much financial assistance was given to the Canadian Tour?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM:  It wasn't an extreme amount.  I don't see any reason to talk about that publicly.  We wanted to be of assistance, and we certainly wanted to make sure that every opportunity was available to look at the future here, both from the standpoint of what it wound up to be, but also from the standpoint of if it didn't go this direction, our assistance allowed other options maybe to come on the table.  It developed, and it is going to go this direction.  Now we're past all of that and moving forward.

Ian Hutchinson with the details from the Canadian perspective, including the loan amount, which turns out is nothing more than a low level PV VP salary.

The tour floated the struggling Canadian Tour an operating loan last year believed to be in the $750,000 range. Over the years, the Canadian Tour has faced limited fan support and rapidly changing sponsors.

“This is the logical next step for the tour’s sustainability and growth,” said Pierre Blouin, chairman of the Canadian Tour board of directors.

The Donald Is Positively Thrilled About BBC Airing Of "You've Been Trumped"

Following a scathing Guardian column by filmmaker Bill Forsyth, whose Local Hero is used in Anthony Baxter's You've Been Trumped documentary on the building of Trump International Scotland, The Donald is agitated.

Couple that with Trumped airing on BBC2 this Sunday, The Donald took to Twitter to (apparently) encourage viewership by insulting the fillmmaker. Severin Carrell reports:

Trump reacted to news that the documentary was being shown on BBC2 by launching a tirade on Twitter against its director, Anthony Baxter, and other "morons" who criticised his now mothballed £750m resort, which was to be built at the course.

Trump stated: "All the morons that cause the controversy in Scotland have made my development far more successful than anticipated."

He then added that the film, which has now been screened in US cinemas and was acclaimed by the radical filmmaker Michael Moore, had helped him "promote & make Trump International Golf Links Scotland so successful you stupid fool!" In another tweet, he told Baxter: "Your documentary has died many deaths. You have, in my opinion, zero talent."

Second Anchoring Poll: How To Implement The (Inevitable) Belly Putter Ban

Okay, now we know anchoring a long putter against your stomach or chest is about to be banned.

A lot of very bright people make the case that this is only an issue in the professional game and that anchoring has kept many average golfers with the yips or back issue playing the game. I'm in the camp that would hate to see someone give up the game over this and would make it reason #2,093 why bifurcation is worth considering.

So with the results from our first poll resoundingly in favor of doing away with anchoring (70% to 30%), how would you go about implementing this ban?

I offer three options and the last two would obviously protect the everyday golfer who wants to continue bracing the putter against their presumably not-flat belly. I'm pretty sure the rules wonks will lambast me about the Local Rule, but I've never heard a convincing case why the Local Rule can be used to waive some rules or enforce others to protect a field or course. It would also seem to be an easy way for a professional tour to have a few of its own rules while remaining loyal to the "Rules of Golf."

Anyway, as always thanks for voting. These unscientific polls of late have been quite fun!

How should anchoring ban be dealt with?
	Wording change in the Rules of Golf
	Local rule, a back door form of bifurcation
	Bifurcating PGA Tour and USGA/RandA Rules
pollcode.com free polls

USGA's Davis Holds Closed Door Top Secret Presentation To Tell PGA Tour Policy Board How Anchoring Ban Will Work, Share Public Feedback And What To Expect When It Happens

Credit weight loss Tweeter Alex Miceli with the scoop that Mike Davis confidentially told the PGA Tour Policy Board how the governing body intends to act on anchoring putters this fall, only to have the player members blab away about the specifics of what sounds like an upcoming ban on the act of bracing a long putter against the torso.

Davis' appearance before the Policy Board indicates the USGA expects opposition when it makes an announcement, which the association has said would be by the end of the year.

According to Goydos, Davis’ presentation indicated that the USGA has received overwhelming support in letters and e-mails from the general public to ban anchoring. Davis Love III, a Sea Island resident and the recent Ryder Cup captain, expects a different sentiment from the Tour's rank and file.

Rex Hoggard had this from board member Davis Love:

“I don’t know what (the Tour) would do,” Love said. “I told Mike Davis, ‘We are going to have 10 guys who are vehemently against, and then 10 guys who are vehemently for you, and then the rest of them are just going to go play.’ That’s the way it is on any issue.”

Love’s only concern was whatever the USGA and Royal & Ancient do, they should move quickly and avoid dragging a potential rule change out.

“If they said today, ‘We met with the Tour we’re going to change putters,’” Love said. “Keegan Bradley is going to get himself a different (conforming) putter and he’s still going to be a really good putter. He’s just going to have to make a change, but you’d rather not talk about it for three years and have it be a distraction.”

It's amazing Tim Finchem doesn't have any grey hair when you know he gets reactions all the time like this one from Paul Goydos. Back to Miceli's story:

If the verdict is to ban anchoring in 2016, then Goydos thinks other issues – foremost, integrity – will emerge.

“If a player who has played with a belly putter decides to switch to a regular putter in 2014 and plays poorly, they will be looked at as a player that has cheated before,” Goydos said.

Davis counters by noting that Bobby Jones and Sam Snead used equipment and strokes eventually banned, but Goydos dismisses that point.

“That was a different world, 1930 to 2013,” Goydos said. “The USGA has a responsibility to make sure they are not labeled cheaters.”

And what exactly would you propose they do? A special non-cheaters wing to the Anchoring Hall Of Fame?