Bethpage Press Conference Set For Tuesday

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It looks like PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua has cleared space with the five family air traffic control and buttoned up the deal with Andrew Cuomo and we get a Bethpage-Black PGA/Ryder Cup for 2019/2024 announced this next week.

Mark Herrmann posted a tweet on new of the event.



I have a poll question for those who've been to Bethpage. As you may recall the finisher at the Black isn't very strong while the neighboring finisher on the Red is a beauty.

What hole would you rather see used as the finishing hole at Bethpage Black, 18 on the Black or 18 on the Red? (The 18th on Red is right next to the 18th on the Black and is a long, uphill par-4). Keep in mind historical context and the many dynamics involved with playing a different hole from a different course (mostly political). Would you do it?**

What hole would you like to see used as the finishing hole for a proposed Bethpage Black PGA Championship and Ryder Cup?
  
pollcode.com free polls 
 

**Poll should now be working.

For Some Reason, Darren Clarke To Play PGA Tour In '14

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He hasn't been competitive on the European Tour since winning the Open Championship, but that's not stopping Darren Clarke from using his major-win exemption to play the PGA Tour in 2014. I wonder if he knows the season starts in a month?

From Sky Sports.

"I still feel I can be competitive at the highest level, I have always enjoyed America and the US Tour in the past and I am looking forward to playing there more often again."

Brandel: "I’m also critical, because I stood next to him and I watched the greatest golf swing the game has ever seen."

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Ed Sherman interviewed Brandel Chamblee about a number of topics and naturally as these things are prone to do, the talk went back to Tiger criticism. He tells Sherman that Tiger would have 25 majors by now if he'd stuck with Butch Harmon.

I found this interesting:

Tiger always was going somewhere with his golf game. Now he’s going somewhere with his golf swing.

That’s where I’m critical of him. He was in the middle of this one, long flawless note and he stopped or he was interrupted, whichever one you want to choose. And he’s trying to recreate it again.

I’m also critical, because I stood next to him and I watched the greatest golf swing the game has ever seen.

The greatest stretch of golf the world has ever seen. And he willfully dismantled it. That’s the craziest thing in the history of sports. Not golf. All of sports. There’s no equivalent to it, but if you’re a sports fan, it’s literally the ’27 Yankees starting with a new roster in 1928.

The full interview.

A Few More Photos: National Golf Links Panoramas

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Since it may be a while until we see a competition at The National Golf Links Of America again, I used the opportunity to take some panorama shots with the iPhone.

This is the Redan, No. 4 viewed from the side (tee to the left) to show the slope from front to back.

Click on the images to enlarge:


A match concluding on the 18th green (right, distance):


The Punchbowl, No. 16:

 The closing ceremony:

Back To Reality: Conway Farms Hole-By-Hole

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Merion, Muirfield, National Golf Links...and Conway Farms.

Back to reality as Sean Martin at PGATour.com posts a hole-by-hole tour of this week's BMW Championship host site, the utterly vapid-looking Conway Farms which does hold the honor of having hosted Pepperdine's 1997 NCAA Championship win.

Therefore, it's a masterpiece.

Slideshow: "Mid Pines has truly been reborn"

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Bill Fields goes to Mid Pines and photographs Kyle Franz's restoration of the other significant Donald Ross course in the Pinehurst area.

An eGolf Professional Tour event was recently played there as a re-introduction of sorts for the course.

Franz took out rough in many places, replacing it with sandy areas of pine straw and wire grass -- but the transformation isn't wall-to-wall or overdone. Trees were taken out in some areas, creating attractive vistas particularly on the 16th hole and around the second, eighth and 12th tees. The bunkers have been tweaked to give them more natural, less rounded edges. MiniVerde Bermuda grass was installed on the greens, which were enlarged a bit and the interesting contours restored on some. They already roll beautifully.

Calendar-Year PGA Tour Schedule Hits; Masters Is Week 23!

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Bob Harig breaks down the 2013-24 PGA Tour schedule which starts next month. I wasn't on Twitter much but judging what I read and the emails that came in, the absurdity of a year-round schedule finally hit home when the Masters turned up as event No. 23 and the prospect of a new season starting after the last one ends finally hit home.

But hey, no cent must be left on the table. Commissioner Blankfein's pay package needs to reach eight figures!

Oh and this will be fun next year when stars skip the playoffs...

• Unlike this year, the FedEx Cup playoffs will be contested over four consecutive weeks, with no break. That is in deference to the Ryder Cup, which will be played in Scotland. The PGA of America requested from the PGA Tour a week break prior to the biennial competition, meaning the Tour Championship in Atlanta will be contested Sept. 11-14, 2014. The Ryder Cup is two weeks later.