Planning Going As Expected For Pinehurst Opens

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AP's Joedy McCreary reports from Thursday's press conference at Pinehurst to promote next year's U.S. Open/U.S. Women's Open combo platter.

It seems green speeds will be the same for both men and women...

The course will be slightly longer for the men and the greens will be a touch softer a week later for the women.

Davis says No. 2 will play at roughly 7,500 yards for the men’s event and approximately 6,800 yards for the women. Par will be 70 for both. He says the greens will be roughly 11½ to 12 on the stimpmeter.

“Our goal really is to have the women hitting roughly the same kind of shot into the greens and roughly the same kind of shot off the tees,” Davis said.

Also interesting is the lack of consideration (for now) given to a joint Opens sequel.

"There has not been discussion in-house about, 'Let's name another back-to-back Open site,'" Davis said. "I really do think we want to see how this goes and take it from there. It could be a giant hit and we say, 'This is great for the game.'

"There's things that can go wrong on this, too," he added. "I do think we're very bullish on this. There's a lot more upside to this than downside, but there certainly are risks and we knew going into it."

John Dell also covered the day and focused on what will be one of the first Opens with hardly any rough as we've come to know it at the U.S. Open.

Geoff Ogilvy On Adam: "He's so balanced he's never sweated the small stuff."

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Jaime Diaz talked to Geoff Ogilvy about his friend's Masters win.

You may recall it was Scott who returned from the airport to Winged Foot when Ogilvy won the 2006 U.S. Open.

That road led to a monumental Sunday in Augusta, and if Ogilvy's projections are right, more majors. But probably none will be as meaningful as last Sunday's.

"This is a big day for Greg [Norman], especially," said Ogilvy. "It's very appropriate that of all the Australians, it was Adam who did it, because he is the closest of all of us to Greg. 

Right now, I know Greg is 100 percent joyous."

Has Hot Seat Finally Shifted From Tiger To Ridley?

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Kevin Ferrie takes the analysis of the Tiger drop incident at Augusta a bit far in quoting Neil Hampton, GM of Royal Dornoch, who says...

"We are trying to encourage more juniors to play our game and one of the most important things we address is the ethics involved: how to treat your fellow man, and doing so with integrity. We're looking to put great people out into the world through golf, so this is sending the wrong message to the youngsters," he said.

"We are trying to get them to police themselves but now they can look at that and say, 'if Tiger can do it, so can I'.

"He has been given a chance to stay in the tournament by people who have selfish reasons for wanting him to stay in: because it is good for their viewing figures or whatever. However, having realised that he made a mistake, Tiger should have withdrawn from the tournament."

This was my initial reaction, but as we've learned what happened, it's clear the committee made the right move and set a bold precedent in an effort to remedy its mistake. Fred Ridley was not acting out of concern for the tournament so much as for his job as competitions chair (and a possible future club chairmanship).

Considering how badly Ridley missed the opportunity to take the viewer's call seriously enough to call Tiger in for a pre-scorecard signing, the 33-7 remedy was a pretty good save. Yet it's clear as time passes that Ridley's competence will continue to be questioned because of this incident.

Based on your reading of the situation and talking to other golfers, is it fair to say the ire/blame/annoyance at the entire episode has shifted from Tiger to Ridley?

Boston Bombing Persons Of Interest In Branded Golf Caps

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The Smoking Gun makes the easy ID of a black Bridgestone cap on suspect number one while I'm pretty sure Daily Mail Reporter gets it wrong in claiming suspect 2 is wearing a Ralph Lauren hat (the hat they show has the "3" on the left side, the suspect's hat has the number, possibly a 7, on the right side).

Either way, they're both the lowest form of being on the planet and no companies are at fault here. Other released FBI images of the suspects can be seen here.

Lord Tatum: "The ruling body blew it."

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Criticism of Masters Competitions Committee Chair Fred Ridley has come from about the highest place possible to anyone associated with the rules of golf world: Sandy Tatum.

Ron Kroichick talked to the former USGA President about the Masters rules incident.

Lost in all this, as Tatum noted: Did Woods not understand the rule? He could have moved farther back if his original shot had gone straight into the pond at No. 15 - but it hit the flagstick and caromed left into the water. That was the line where the ball last crossed the hazard.

Woods later said he wasn't "really thinking," but he deftly talked around the question of whether he knew exactly what the rules allowed.

As for the television analysts who called for Woods to withdraw before Saturday's third round, Tatum cut him some slack and returned to his original point.

"In that context, it's asking too much of him," Tatum said, "because the ruling body blew it."

Stevie Defends Tiger, Also Says He Should Have Been DQ'd

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New Zealand's 3 News tracked down looper Steve Williams at the airport and talked to him about all things Masters, those who think caddies are mere luggage toters (nostrils expand!), and in the most enjoyable portion at minute 12, Tiger's penalty. (Thanks to reader Chris for this.)

Williams stammers and struggles with the situation, prefacing his comments and even giving the likely explanation for Tiger's mistake (confusing the hazard lines on 15), before also matter-of-factly stating that despite the lack of intent to circumvent the rules, there should have been a disqualification.

Golf World Feature: "Behind Closed Doors."

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In his latest blog post, PGA of America President Ted Bishop writes that watching Adam Scott win "was probably as painful as swallowing a handful of nails for USGA and R&A officials."

The increasingly confrontational tone between Bishop's PGA and Peter Dawson's R&A is just one of the many topics covered in my Golf World feature from Augusta, posted on GolfDigest.com.

The centerpiece topic, of course, is the Woods ruling and the handling by Fred Ridley as yet another recent black eye for casual observers of the Rules.