Links Trust Finally Cracks Down On St. Andrews Meddlers!

...just not the ones screwing around with the most sacred ground in golf.

No, it seems the Links Trust of St. Andrews that is charged with caring for the seven courses and the same group that rolled over when R&A Chief Architect Peter Dawson decided he could improve golf's most sacred architecture, has decided to crack down on St. Andrews companies that have been using the St. Andrews name for just a mere 150 years. How dare they!

According to an unbylined Scotsman story, the Links Trust is fighting the club and bag makers after learning they were attempting to trademark some of their stuff.

Ewan Glen, chief executive of the St Andrews Golf Company, said: “What has happened is absolutely outrageous. The trust was set up to run the golf courses and it is dripping with money received from the public in green fees. Money and power seems to have gone to its head and [it is] now resorting to bullying and threatening businesses that have been in St Andrews for generations.

“I fully understand that the ‘St Andrews’ name needs to be protected from the threat of counterfeiting and copying but the trust is acting like a hard-nosed commercial company, rather than a not-for-profit trust. They [the trustees] are pretending to be the only legitimate custodians and seem to want to play God with the name of St Andrews.”

Glen added: “We have been told by the trust they will take us all the way legally even if it means going to judicial review and they have made it clear they will spend as much as it takes to knock our company out of this battle."

If only we could get them this worked up over changes to the trademark design features.

And as you can see from the St Andrews Golf Company website, they're not exactly using the town name in vain!

Snedeker: "The important thing now is to win majors."

Doug Ferguson tells us in his game story that Brandt Snedeker's five starts this year include a win, two second-place finishes and a third. Now Snedeker is off to Maui for a vacation.

More interesting was this tucked into the story later on:

Snedeker made five bogeys this week, and answered with a birdie four times.

The PGA Tour's "With This Win" list of impressive facts and figures surrounding Snedeker's win. This one especially:

Is 33/37 for subpar rounds in official TOUR events, dating to the start of the Wyndham Championship in August of last year. The week before the Wyndham Championship, missed the cut at the PGA Championship.

John Strege notes this:

Snedeker arrived in Pebble Beach sixth in the World Ranking and was expected to move to fourth with his victory. CBS' Jim Nantz noted that since the start of the 2011 season, Snedeker is tied with Woods in PGA Tour victories with four, second only to Rory McIlroy's five wins.

"To think what's happened the last four months has been pretty crazy," Snedeker said. "Finishing a tournament like this off with the lead gives me a ton of confidence going into the Masters, the U.S. Open, all the great venues we have. That's next on the list. I've won five times out here now. The important thing now is to win majors."

Golf.com pieces together Snedeker's retro bag which includes a THREE-year old driver. He's anti-capitalism! Mike Stachura explained the story behind that driver last fall.

Sean Martin includes five things from the week at Pebble, including a note on Patrick Cantlay's top 10 not getting him in the field at Riviera (but it doesn't matter...he was already in on an exemption).

'13 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Final Round Comment Thread

Can Brandt-Snedeker--the hottest golfer on the PGA Tour--get the win?

Will James Hahn break out in another dance?

Will a hologram of Phil Harris visit the booth on 18? Actually, a cardboard cut-out of Mr. Harris would still have more to say than Clint Eastwood did during his exhilarating Saturday visit.

These are more questions answered starting at 10 a.m. to 11:30 on Golf Channel, some time after 12 p.m. PT on CBS following the conclusion of Indiana-Ohio State. Hopefully it doesn't last as long as Notre Dame-Louisville yesterday.

Expect Vijay To Be Exondeerated By Late April, Early May

Alex Miceli lays out the timing and various avenues of the appeal process for Vijay Singh after he admitted to a doping policy violation in a Sports Illustrated story.

Shockingly, Singh has several ways out of this even though the ban on the substance in question was well publicized, regardless of whether it contains IGF-1 or not.

One of Singh's defenses might include an invocation of Commissioner Tim Finchem's words. I never quite imagined the Commish and his resistance to drug testing could be used against him this way...

5) Singh could use the commissioner's own words, that no drug benefits golfers. At a news conference on July 1, 2009, at the AT&T National, Finchem talked about potential drug use in golf.

"In some sports, cycling, clearly there are drugs that can help you win," Finchem said. "You can gain a real competitive advantage. I don't think that's true in golf, either, but it's not really relevant. What's relevant is, there's a rule, players play by the rules, they believe in that, and in a way it's helped us reaffirm that culture. So maybe that's good.”

Perhaps this (and other statements like it by Finchem until Tiger announced his desire to see testing) explains the tour's seemingly slow and nurturing response to Vijay's situation, words that would never be used to describe the Doug Barron situation. In a wide-ranging column on the topic, John Huggan quotes a European Tour source suggesting doping policy abuse on the European Tour, but more importantly he lays out this picture of the PGA Tour's handing of the Barron and Singh situations.

Back in June 2008, wee Timmy could hardly wait to punish journeyman Doug Barron, who tested positive for beta-blockers at the Memphis Classic. What wasn’t made clear at the time was that Barron had been prescribed said medication by his doctor as part of treatment for low testosterone and had duly informed the tour of that fact. Initially banned for a year, Barron was eventually cleared of wrongdoing, forcing the Tour into a humiliating climbdown.

Contrast that draconian and unfeeling attitude with the treatment of Singh. This past week the resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida – also the home to the PGA Tour – competed in the AT&A Pro-am, only days after openly admitting his prolonged use of a banned substance, one not prescribed by his doctor as treatment for any medical condition. Clearly, in Finchem’s world, there are rules for relative unknowns like Barron and rules for three-times major champions who are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. At the very least, Singh should have taken a leave of absence from competitive golf until this matter was sorted out.

15-Year-Old Lydia Ko Wins THIRD Pro Title

The amateur will be playing the Kraft Nabisco next month on a sponsor's invite, but in the meantime she's won her adopted homeland's national championship.

The 15-year-old Korean-born New Zealander approached the last hole in a tie for the lead at 10-under par with American Amelia Lewis. But Lewis, in the penultimate group, three-putted from 25 feet for bogey and Ko, playing in the last group, made par to complete a final round 68.

If Vijay Found Guilty Of The Violation He Admitted To, He'll Be Unable To Play Champions Tour

Rex Hoggard answers one question many have had considering that the Champions Tour doesn't test for PEDs and Vijay Singh turns 50 in June on February 22.

John Deere Donates $1 Million to The First Tee

A nice donation but I thought this component was even more interesting:

The $1 million donation will be used to enhance the experience of The First Tee participants in a variety of ways. Besides supporting The First Tee network, funds will be used to create and launch a golf maintenance career- oriented youth development program, in conjunction with the PGA TOUR. Local chapters of The First Tee will partner with the TOUR’s Tournament Player Courses (TPC) to provide the opportunity for high school-aged participants to learn about topics in agronomy and golf course maintenance careers. As a planned extension, participants will also have the chance to experience what it’s like to maintain a TPC golf course during a tournament week.

Zoysia Fairways For The 2016 Olympic Golf Course

The primary portion of the grassing for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games course was announced at the Golf Industry Show.

For Immediate Release...

SAN DIEGO, CA, February 7, 2013: After more than a century’s absence, when golf returns as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Games in Rio, the grass in the fairways, roughs and tees of the new golf course built especially for the Games will be Zeon Zoysia, it was confirmed today at the Golf Industry Show in San Diego by Dr. Frank Rossi, associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University who is a consulting agronomist on the project.

“Everything approaching the greens, 88 percent of the grassed area, will be Zeon Zoysia,” Rossi says.The greens grass selection has been delayed, Rossi says, because the salinity and quality of the water to be used for irrigation is still unknown.

“The decision on the greens and green surrounds hinges on the quality of the water,” Rossi says. “If the water is good, the greens will be an ultradwarf bermudagrass. The surrounds will be another type of bermudagrass. If the water is not good, the greens and surrounds will be some type of paspalum because the bermudagrass may not hold up to poor quality water.”

“As it marks the return of golf to the Olympic Games after over a century of absence, this course represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sport. It will enable Rio to host important events in the international calendar and it will be an example of sustainability and preservation of an environmentally protected area,” said the President of Rio 2016, Carlos Arthur Nuzman.

The choice of Zeon Zoysia as the grass for the majority of the acreage on the golf course, approximately 88 acres of fairways and roughs, reinforces the organizing committee’s desire to create a sustainable golf course. Zeon Zoysia has very low requirements for maintenance and inputs, according to David Doguet, president of Bladerunner Farms, the company that bred Zeon Zoysia.

 “Zeon Zoysia is very environmentally friendly. The grass needs very little water, and very low amounts of nitrogen fertilizer, while still looking and playing great. The grass will create a world-class playing surface for the Olympics, and for many years to come,” Doguet said.

Zeon Zoysia was developed in Texas by Bladerunner Farms, the largest privately held zoysiagrass breeding facility in the world. Zeon is licensed by The Turfgrass Group and Doguet Ventures. The grass will be grown in Rio for use on the golf course by Green Grass Brazil, a licensed sod producer of Zeon Zoysia.

Annual AT&T National Pro-Am Viewer Discretion Alert

Some people live for seeing A-listers like Kenny G and Andy Garcia or top (cranky) coaches like Jim Harbaugh, or Bill Belichick, QB's like Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo, or maybe elite flamethrowers like Matt Cain and Justin Verlander.

For me, the AT&T National Pro-Am is always a chance to imbibe some liquid upon seeing shots, plugs, paybacks or other totally predictable moments. This year my support will be in the form of Dayquil to help get through the annual awkwardness that is watching famous people play golf while stepping way close to the hole in mud-filled Softspikes.

I plan to take a swig of my beloved cold and flu remedy for the traditions unlike any other: Jim Nantz referring to a CEO as "Mr." because anyone with a C-level pass is just that much more important, CBS director Lance Barrow showing his favorite Monterey restaurant or the CEO that he mysteriously can't seem to get enough, and most of all, any time Chris Berman comes on the screen.

Brendan Moehler previews the celebrities to look for and is there any question who will be the most watched team?

Speaking of hot girlfriends, Dustin Johnson is playing alongside his new squeeze's father, also known as "The Great One." Wayne's daughter, Paulina Gretzky, is a fashion model and Instagram star, and has been posting a lot of photos of her and Dustin's off-the-course escapades. Dustin won at Pebble in '09 and '10, but didn't have the distraction of playing with his girlfriend's father.

Golf Channel airtimes for the first two rounds are as follows:

Thursday 3-6 p.m. (Live) / 6:30-9:30 p.m. / 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (Replay)
Friday 3-6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30-11:30 p.m. (Replay)