This Week In Golf Channel Ratings: Christmas Day Is Huge!?

Four Christmas Day airings of the World Long Drive Championship netted 461,000 total viewers, giving Golf Channel surprisingly good numbers for a week of re-runs.

Even more bizarre: 118,000 viewers on average for a Saturday, December 28th prime time re-run of the BMW Championship, landing fourth for the week behind the World Long Drive airings whose numbers were easily explained by the need for families to take a break from one another. And what could be more soothing than watching grown men bash a ball?

As always Son of the Bronx posts the numbers.

Wozilroy Engagement Fall-Out: Twitter Up, Ladbrokes Down

Miriam Donohoe analyzes the young couple's decision to announce their engagement on Twitter and says that while the sharing of private moment might be odd to one generation, it's also a sign of savvy media management by Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki.

Donohoe writes:

However, while this kind of sharing may seem like self-inflicted privacy invasion, in many cases it amounts to savvy media management. It is a way for celebrities to actually control privacy rather than giving it up.

WHILE the paparazzi won't stop stalking the tweeting stars such as Britney Spears, what they can get from them now is often devalued. We know it already -- directly from source.

The truth is we all love knowing about the lives of celebrities. And by sharing information authentically, celebs are engaging with fans and are building their brand. Twitter is one of the quickest ways to reach millions and millions.

So congratulations Rory and Caroline. Look forward to your updates. And one question for you Rory? How much did that huge rock on Caroline's finger cost?

Esther Addley in The Guardian reports that bookmaker Ladbrokes will pay up on the news.

The bookmaker Ladbrokes, which offered odds of 5-1 last January against the couple getting engaged in 2013, confirmed that it would pay out, even though the announcement came after midnight New Year's Day, Australian time. "It's not the time to be pedantic as far as we are concerned," said a spokesman.

Green Jacket Auction Of Old Tom's Photo Collection

With pretty lousy weather around the country, you might yourself with a few minutes of extra web browsing time and I highly recommend the latest Green Jacket Auctions auction.

There are many neat objects, but the Old Tom Morris photos up for sale are the real prize. Many are believed to have decorated his walls and were found after Eric Auchterlonie passed and these were discovered in an old horse stable.

From the auction description:

On the property grounds, inside an old horse stable and hidden behind two large hessian coal stacks, was one of the most historically significant golf collections in the world. Word of this so-called “Stable Find” quickly spread throughout collecting circles.

The collection – consisting of more than 40 original photographs from the 1800’s – was personally owned by the legendary Old Tom Morris, and then passed down in the Auchterlonie family for almost 90 years.

Maybe because I sought out the golfing ghosts at Leith Links this year, this one from there with Old and Young Tom Morris really looked special. From the description:

1867 Leith Links Gravure w/ Old & Young Tom Morris

At the 1867 Grand Golf Tournament, a photographer was present to take 3 group photographs of the early professional golfers. This was simply unheard of at the time, though the exact reason for the photographer's presence has been lost over time. That group included both Old Tom Morris and his then-16 year old son Young Tom Morris. This is Old Tom Morris' personal copy of one of those rare images.

This original gravure (Version 1 - Young Tom on Steps) depicts the greatest golfers of 1867. The entire piece measures 15 1/4” x 12”, with the image (including names) measuring 9 7/8 x 7 3/4.

The auction ends January 18th.

And the image: