'16 Euro Ryder Cup Captaincy Decision Almost Here, Mercifully

/

A Reuters report says the 18th of February will be the day either Darren Clarke or Miguel Angel Jimenez get the buggy keys and while most think it's Clarke's job, the late run of Jimenez should give the gathering committee pause. Or they just like seeing his name out there to bring Clarke back to earth.

Jimenez is too busy leading another European Tour event, this time in Malaysia through 36.

And the 51-year-old can still dance:
__g

Tiger’s Skull Mask Doesn’t Make The Trip To Beaver Creek

/

As telegraphed in his mysterious statement, Tiger Woods spent more time with loved ones instead of working on his game Thursday. That entailed flying to Beaver Creek, Colorado to support girlfriend Lindsey Vonn on the slopes.

The good news? No videographers bumped into his teeth, keeping their record of contact spotless for 2015. But this meant no need for the dreaded skull mask he wore in Italy to hide the felled fang.

A Daily Mail story reports on Tiger's appearance, various rumors and images.

On a more serious note, thanks to readers who sent in Dave Merrill and Douglas Lavanture's four graphs posted for Bloomberg suggesting Tiger's chances of future success are looking more and more bleak (at least statistically).

And while most publications are taking Woods at his word that he's taking a break until this game is ready, golf.com's Eamon Lynch sees this as a leave of absence. Quite possibly a permanent one.

A decade ago, Jack Nicklaus birdied the last hole of his career at the British Open in St. Andrews, a sentimental moment that obscured the fact that Nicklaus had notched only two top 10s in majors in the previous 18 years. But at least Jack signed off with a birdie on golf’s greatest stage. Ben Hogan hobbled off the course after a front nine 44 in the 1971 Houston Open. “Don’t ever get old, boys,” he told his playing partners as he faded away.

If the leave of absence that Tiger Woods announced on Wednesday represents the end -- we are past being able to shade it as merely the beginning of a distant end -- then the indignities that golf has foisted upon him of late have been especially harsh.

Steiny: Tiger Wants "To Play Right Now" & "Chomping At The Bit"

/

You almost have to feel sorry for agent Mark Steinberg and Tiger's team as they watch the drama unfold and undoubtedly wake up wondering what is next. Almost.

Talking to GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard, see if you can read this part without at letting out a chuckle.

As to when Woods, who has played just nine events in the last year and a half, may return, Steinberg wouldn’t speculate, saying only that Woods plans to start working on his game on Monday in south Florida.

“He wants to play right now, to be honest with you,” Steinberg said. “He’s chomping at the bit. Honestly, he competes to compete at the absolute highest level. Clearly these last two events weren’t up to that. When that swing gets grooved he’ll be ready to go.”

Let's ignore the obvious: that playing golf is sheer misery for Tiger right now, and just stick to the practical.

If Woods wants to play "right now," the Northern Trust Open is still available as an option.

And when he gets that swing grooved? He still has that wedge game. The putter isn't thrilling either, but he did make some nice 8-footers at Torrey Pines at least.

Steinberg also told ESPN.com's Bob Harig about the relief the Woods camp felt when the physios inspected the patient "over the weekend" and found the glute deactivation was not related to the sacrum popping issues of last year. Oh yeah, you'd forgotten his sacrum popped and had to be put back into place.

Steinberg said there was "relief'' in the Woods camp when it was revealed that the latest back trouble was not related to surgery he had in March of last year. "He got treatment immediately and over the weekend when he got home, and it alleviated the discomfort quite a bit,'' said Steinberg, who also added Woods has been able to do some light chipping and putting.

Woods left open the possibility that he would play the Honda Classic in two weeks, but that would appear a bit premature. Steinberg suggested Woods would get back to work in earnest next week, which means he'd have five days to find his game before entering? Seems unlikely.

Golf Channel Prez On Ratings, More College Golf & Protracer

/

Golfweek's Martin Kaufman sits Golf Channel President Mike McCarley down for a three-part interview as part of the channel's 20th anniversary celebration. Part one is here, part two and part three.

Most interesting were his comments on ratings and Tiger in 2014.

GWK:Tiger Woods has been the big ratings driver. How do you feel about golf as we’re beginning to approach the post-Tiger era.

McCarley: This year was a great example. Tiger was out for basically his entire season, and for Golf Channel, the rating for the year was exactly the same as it was last year, which was the best year in the history of the network. That’s a testament to a lot of things. There’s a lot of programming and production changes and improvements that have been made that are reflected in those numbers. And two, there are a lot of things in the game that are working well. The LPGA had a terrific year. There are things like the Drive, Chip & Putt, which was new. The NCAA Championships were back on TV. The “Arnie” documentary (aired).

We had the highest-rated April in the history of the network, and there was no Tiger in April at all.

McCarley explains the channel's interest in college golf after years of not showing much:

One area where we’ll focus more because it’s an important piece of the fabric of the game is youth. So what we did this year with the NCAA (Championships) got a lot of people’s attentions, we saw a really nice lift in ratings, but more importantly we introduced the stars of the professional tours to the audience at a younger age. And hopefully that will start to make those kids more recognizable, so they . . . arrive on the professional scene with more cachet. I think college golf has been an overlooked and under-covered part of the game, and a lot of that is on us. We’re diving in and the response we’ve gotten from both the college golf community, the professional tours and the industry as a whole has been really positive.

The other topic of interest for those who (like me) want more Protracer will get it in 2015.

I think Protracer has been terrific, and we’re going to have Protracer at nearly 40 events this year – not only using it in tournament coverage but in our news coverage. One of the most interesting news shows we had (in 2014) was one of the pregame shows from Doral when Tiger was on the range and we had Protracer, and you were seeing the ball go left and right, and really didn’t know what was going on with this guy. Later that day, he had to get out of the event because of his back. There’s something weirdly mesmerizing about watching the path of the ball flight, especially when the players are on the range and are working on things. And there will be more things like that.

Robert Allenby’s Credit Card Thief Nabbed; His Kidnappers To Remain At Large In Perpetuity

/

Honolulu strip club regulars and tourists walking of the Amuse Wine Bar can breathe a big sigh as police have caught the man who took Robert Allenby's credit cards while the Australian PGA Tour golfer lay passed out after hitting his head on a rock.

Though Allenby concocted for multiple television interviews a story of kidnapping and ditch dumps and what sounded like offspring of the Manson family beating him up for national television, the Honolulu Police Department spokesman tells the Herald Sun's Aleks Devic that the media exposing the contradictions made their job more difficult.

A Honolulu PD spokesman said Allenby’s version of events as “very consistent” throughout and criticised media coverage of the incident, which he said had made the police’s investigation more difficult.

When asked if police believed the suspect had obtained the cards from a passed out Allenby, the police spokesman said: “We’re not speculating as to how he got it. We know he had it and he used it.”