W Visits The Walker Cup!

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The 43rd president of the United States, George Walker Bush, visited the Walker Cup Thursday and judging by the glove on his left hand, teed it up with the USA squad.

The event, named for his great grandfather George Herbert Walker, will witness a flag-raising ceremony Friday followed by rounds Saturday and Sunday (Golf Channel televises from 4-6 ET).

Photos by Chris Keane courtesy of the USGA:

European Tour Loses Another Event...

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Thanks to DTF For Amlan Chakraborty's Reuters story on the demise of India's Avantha Masters, a late March stop on the European Tour.

The event was four years old.

"Given the current economic conditions, the Avantha Group has concluded that this is not the appropriate moment to do so and has therefore not renewed its contract with the European Tour," the business conglomerate said in a statement.

Brandel Says Tiger's Driver "Might as well be a dead mackerel wrapped in newspaper at the moment."

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Alex Myers on all of the things Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee had to say about Tiger's swing and approach in a recent conference call to promote the final two Reset Cup events.

Wow...

"It's a very complicated golf swing that he's trying to work on, that much fold, shaft lean, the down and the up that he has, the excessive down, the excessive up; you know, his driver might as well be a dead mackerel wrapped in newspaper at the moment. It's just awful watching him hit that golf club, just awful. It's really fun to watch guys like (Graham) DeLaet and (Henrik) Stenson and Adam Scott drive the golf ball. So yes, I definitely think Tiger Woods is overcoached."

And such nice use of the Sicillian message imagery.

He goes on to lament seeing Tiger warming up with a glove under his arm at the PGA, just a week after dominating at Firestone. Though this isn't unusual, as I've noted in Golf World the last two years seeing him do this in his pre-final round Open Championship preparation.

More interesting to me is Chamblee's point about how different Woods' game seems to be week to week. Like I said yesterday, a pairing with the far more natural-swinging and playing Jordan Spieth at the Presidents Cup might do wonders for Woods.

Fay: Without Walker Cup, "There would have been no Bobby Jones story as we've come to know it."

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A fun premise from David Fay in the September Golf Digest: if it weren't for the Walker Cup, where would Bobby Jones' record stand?

According to the former USGA Executive Director, the Jones as we know him might not be the legend he became.

When played in Great Britain in 1923, 1926 and 1930 (as well as its precursor, the International Match, at Hoylake in 1921), the Walker Cup was scheduled such that the British Amateur and the British Open were played around the same time. Jones took full advantage of bundling the three competitions in 1926 and 1930 by winning the British Open in both of these years as well as his only British Amateur title, in 1930. In 1923, Jones had planned to take advantage of the bundling approach, but Harvard denied his petition to be excused early from classes, so Jones declined his spot on the team. He remained in school and, later that summer, won his first U.S. Open title.

During his competitive career, Jones made only one trip to Great Britain that wasn't in conjunction with a USGA-subsidized competition. That was in 1927, when he successfully defended his British Open title at the Old Course at St. Andrews—a course and a place he had come to love. He did not go for a third straight British Open title in 1928: Work and family obligations along with the steep costs of the trip were simply too much.

Johnny Thinks NBC May Be Grooming Johnny-Type Replacement

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Alex Myers with more from Johnny Miller on Tiger's game, the USGA's move to Fox Sports and the future at NBC for himself and his Johnny Miller-type replacement.

"It's not going to really impact my decision on what I do as an announcer," Miller said of NBC losing the U.S. Open. "I really don't know what NBC/Golf Channel has in store for me after two years. I would think they are starting to think about grooming a new Johnny Miller-type announcer but I don't know who it is, and I'll probably do some things, I just don't know how much. We'll just have to see."

Ed Sherman has more from Johnny's chat to promote next week's playoff from Chicago, not that you needed any reminder!

The People Speak: 85% Want Spieth On Prez Cup Squad

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I expected enthusiasm for the lad from Dallas but 85% with over 600 votes is a landslide.

Captain Couples, are you listening? We'll find out at 11 am PT Wednesday as the selections are made by the captains. Check out PGATour.com for the press conference stream.

Golf Channel's Win McMurry and Jason Sobel break down the picks and Sobel is all for Spieth making the team.

JT Tweets: Executive Producing Doc On 7 Y.O. Golfers

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I know I posted the trailer to The Short Game a few months back but could not find it. Not that it matters. The real story is that pop music star Justin Timberlake Tweeted to his 25,000,000 followers (!) the link and mentioned that he's an executive producer.

Here it is on YouTube. And by the way, I'm just so, so glad the PGA Tour got out of the Justin Timberlake business! Who would want someone with his influence and passion for the game Tweeting things like this? ;)

Eagle Golf CEO: More Consumerism Needed To Grow Golf!

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Thanks to the readers who send Eagle Golf CEO Joe Munsch's email newsletter rant about how the governing bodies are holding back the game by having an OB rule and restricting folks from buying more clubs to bring eternal happiness and allow them to hit it even longer and straighter than they do now, which is longer and straighter than the masses have ever hit it.
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