When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Tip of the cap to Kyle Porter for spotting this Andy Reid story on the racoon that took an Okeeheelee Golf Course customer iPhone and tucked it away in his nest.
The video.
Steve DiMeglio reports on the LPGA adding a second event to the 2013 schedule, which unfortunately has not been finalized as we...are ten days into 2013.
The positive news only: a 144 player field in May with a $1.3 million purse.
The North Texas LPGA Shootout will also provide a unique opportunity for amateur players in the area to earn spots in the field through qualifying. Tournament exemptions will be awarded to the winners of a high school and collegiate "shootout" played in advance of the event. Tournament proceeds will benefit The Nexus Club which primarily supports and raises funds for the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf in North Texas.
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to play in my home state again," said Angela Stanford, a four-time member of the U.S. Solheim Cup Team and native of Saginaw, Texas. "North Texas is a community with a passionate golf fan base and I know they will love having the Tour in town."
The early reports said Rory McIlroy stands to sign a 10-year, $250 million deal with Nike.
Bob Harig hears that the original number may be inflated. Severely.
But make no mistake, McIlroy is going to be paid handsomely to do so. Various reports have pegged that number at $20 million a year over 10 years, although the estimates are apparently inflated and the terms of the deal shorter. Still, what if it is "only" $10 million a year?
**A GolfCentralDaily.com reader sent in a photo of Rory's Nike clubs and bag from Dubai where he is practicing at the Els Club. Thanks to Irish Golf Nut for passing this along.
Martin Dempster talks to Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen about R&A Chief Inspector Architect Dawson's changes to the Old Course.
Louis, the last man to win the Open at St. Andrews, not surprisingly had no idea what Dempster was asking about. Els, the 2012 Open Champion, tried to defend the changes but in doing so unknowingly offered the worst indictment possible.
“Most of the courses we’ve played in the past ten or so years have changed, including Troon, Royal Liverpool and Sandwich. In fact, they’re making changes to all of the courses on the rota in a bid to make the challenge as tough as possible.”
A course designer himself, Els added: “The only thing that bothers me a bit about it is that, when the wind changes direction sometimes on these courses, it can be tough to get to the fairway from some of these new tees.
Quibble, quibble! These pros today are so spoiled. Go on...
“But I think these courses do need to change. The R&A want to have the same kind of scores winning today as you did back in the 1920s."
Psssst....Ernie, that's about the most cynical, small-minded thing a governing body charged with ensuring skill is rewarded can end up doing! Especially one constantly touting their lack of concern for winning scores far under par.
John Strege wrote about it in more detail last September, but it's still interesting to see the potentially cool SwingTip data collector get a launch at the Consumer Electronics Show and backed by $4.4 million in financing.
But for its Santa Clara maker, the selling point is the gadget’s ability to track and analyze users’ golf swings using motion sensors. SwingTip then wirelessly transmits 3-D animations of the golfer’s movements via Bluetooth to iOS or Android mobile devices.
The tool can gauge swing path and speed, club face angle, impact zone and more. The metrics are broken out individually into a scorecard and also used to compile an animated video tutorial showing the swing from three different angles.
Bernie McGuire quotes Commissioner Crawley at length talking about Rory McIlroy and you can just see the dollar signs in his eyes as the PGA Tour's big bonus giver speaks.
Because after all, he and his VP's need cash to pay the rules staff.
"Last year, the PGA Tour had an incredibly strong year," said Finchem. "It was as if everything just came together and the fact that Rory advanced a couple of levels in his career and continued demonstrating he's got the capability to this juxtaposition that he can mix it with the better players like Tiger was the key factor in helping the PGA Tour have the great season we had.When a guy takes on the mantle, or identity level, Rory's taken on, it has a ripple effect heading into the future."
Forgive me, but I think that's a fancy way of saying: he's now a legitimate world No. 1 and we are going milk him for every penny we can.
"As an individual, Rory stirs the imagination of people and the amazing thing is that he's like Tiger in a sense in that we saw in the [FedEx Cup] Play-offs, he clearly did not play well as he had on the Saturday, but he can absorb a bad round and bounce back and win. Not many players can do that.
Uh, pssst...Lord Tim, Rory didn't win the FedExCup. He should have but well, you reset the points twice on him!
"From an image standpoint, I like the way Rory handles himself off the golf course," said Finchem. "I notice also when he is asked questions by the media that he is clearly focused on who's listening.
I'm going to give Tim the benefit there and assume he said "focused on who's talking." I hope that's what he said.
"He's complimentary; he's polite and when he speaks there is always a message in there that has real impact. He's smart. Very smart.
Rory's messaging is impactful! He activates and energizes his core audience!
Dustin Johnson won the Hyundai Tournament of Some Champions and while it had its moments, according to Doug Ferguson, the reaction first centered on Johnson again teasing us with his epic talent (John Strege has that covered) before the online chatter turned to Paulina Gretzky, interested spectator.
Alex Myers provides the speculation on her presence, J.D. Cuban the images.
Meanwhile Brent Musburger is taking some heat prompting ESPN to apologize for the 73-year-old announcer fawning over Alabama QB A.J. McCarron's girlfriend early into the BCS title game.
Mary Pilon's NY Times story on Musberger included this condemnation of the geezer game caller:
“It’s extraordinarily inappropriate to focus on an individual’s looks,” said Sue Carter, a professor of journalism at Michigan State. “In this instance, the appearance of the quarterback’s girlfriend had no bearing on the outcome of the game. It’s a major personal violation, and it’s so retrograde that it’s embarrassing. I think there’s a generational issue, but it’s incumbent on people practicing in these eras to keep up and this is not a norm.”
Generational? That goes for you too, Myers and Cuban! Different generation.
Jason Sobel writes about Johnson's win and all the reasons to envy him and it sounds like Johnson was better prepared than an understandably stunned McCarron was when he realized how much personal life prying was going on.
When asked about his relationship with her after the tournament, Johnson responded, “Does it matter?” When informed that inquiring minds wanted to know, he followed, “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” while a huge smile splashed across his face.
We need to cut Musburger some slack. It’s true that a guy who has renewed his AARP discount card this many times should know what’s creepy and what’s not and what’s the time and place and what’s not. Still, he has this affliction. He is one of hundreds of millions of human beings who carry the Y chromosome. It causes them to shout out the occasional geriatric-perv-whoop.
The difference is, most do it in privacy. Musburger did it on national television. Viewers were shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- to hear a grown man go slightly off his rocker in the presence of a beautiful woman. But it has happened before. The first time it happened to me, I asked the girl to marry me. She said yes. Mumblety-mumble years later, we’re still married and she sat alongside me when Musburger sang his aria to Miss Alabama.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
