The Ghost Of Clifford Roberts Surfaces In Scottsdale!

You may remember the "resignation opportunity" letter offered to Scottsdale National members by owner Bob Parsons. The GoDaddy.com founder had changed the name from Golf Club of Scottsdale and had dreams of building his own Augusta in Scottsdale. The results of the opportunity and revamped club appears to be borrowing liberally from the Clifford Roberts model for Augusta National, and that's not all bad! In fact, some of this is almost too good to be true.

To protect the innocent, this latest Parsons email to the members who survived the resignation opportunity has been copied and pasted from the original, emailed, stomped on, tilted and emailed again. But the ideas are undeniably those of Parsons who, if nothing else, will be considered reasonable for having backed off some of his original member demands (mandatory spending, big limits) and maybe even going full circle, turning into kind of a Santa Claus to those remaining members.

Here is the original letter.

And the latest correspondence, post-resignations and channeling his inner-Clifford:

No Bill Murray At Pebble Beach, Bring On The Suits!

Josh Sens explains why Bill Murray will not be making his usual mockery (with a few funny moments) this year at Pebble Beach. He's got a movie to plug.

Before you get too excited, Doug Ferguson reminds us how much this event means to the G4 set and the Cialis-replacing boost they get from making the cut.

And as much as Murray's antics may pain you, just brace yourself for more than you ever wanted to see of the PNC chairman!

Rory Still Really Sorry About Having A "Mistake" Toothache

Rory McIlroy's entered the Honda Classic, as have several other big names, but in announcing his attention to play, McIlroy keeps apologizing for WD'ing with a dental issue. Yet never mentions how his wisdom tooth thingy turned out.

Brian Keogh reports on today's announcement and quotes from Rory:

Rory McIlroy admits he has "unfinished business" and "should have adopted a more mature approach" rather than walking off as he played his 27th hole in last year's Honda Classic.

In a statement issued through his management company at the time, he later said that a wisdom tooth problem had led to his sensational decision to high tail it out of the event.

He apologised at the following week's WGC-Cadillac Championship, explaining: "I realised pretty quickly that it wasn't the right thing to do. No matter how bad I was playing, I should have stayed out there.  I should have tried to shoot the best score possible even though it probably wasn't going to be good enough to make the cut.

"At that point in time, I was just all over the place, and you know, I saw red, as I said, and you know, it was a mistake and everyone makes mistakes and I'm learning from them.  I guess for me, some people have the‑‑ I guess the pleasure of making mistakes in private.  Most of my mistakes are in the public eye. So it is what it is, and I regret what I did.  But, you know, it's over now and it won't happen again."

Translation: the tooth was pulled!

Carlsbad As A Golf Center: All A Big Accident

We know it wasn't the golf architecture that drew the creative types of manufacturing and marketing to set up shop in Carlsbad, now the west coast center of the golf club business.

And as Alan Shipnuck reveals in a look at the industry centerplace for innovation and the next marketing campaign touting the longest and straightest, northern San Diego's allure has nothing to do with the area's wonderfulness.

"Total bull----," says Mark King, the CEO of TaylorMade, who has been making the scene in Carlsbad since 1981. "It's all folklore. The truth is, the whole thing was coincidental. Basically, Ely Callaway lived here because his vineyard was nearby [in Temecula]. After he sold the vineyard in 1981, he was bored, so he bought into a little company in Carlsbad that made hickory-shafted golf clubs. Gary Biszantz was the big car dealer in the area, and he cofounded Cobra Golf with Tom Crow, so in the beginning they used a little tiny office of Gary's to run the company. Gary Adams founded TaylorMade in Chicago, but his West Coast guy, Gordie Severson, lived here. He could have been in Santa Monica, or Santa Barbara, or anywhere, but he happened to be here, so the company moved out here too. It was all a big accident."