"The USGA, their heads will explode"

When we last heard from Rob O'Loughlin he was trying to speed up the game with Laser Link, now Gary D'Amato reports on his new gimmick to improve the game: increase the size of the hole.

"It will be worth three shots a nine," O'Loughlin said. "It takes me from 82 to 76 all the time. And let me tell you, that's fun. I've shot a million 82s in my life. It's fun to be in the 70s.

"You won't make many 25- or 30-footers, but you never did. But you virtually eliminate the three-putt. What happens is you're not missing the 3- and 4-footers because this makes them play like 1-footers."

Surely, The Big Cup will never be approved for play by the United States Golf Association. And that's OK with O'Loughlin, who battled the USGA for years over Laser Link before the governing body finally relented and allowed distance-measuring devices for everyday play.

"The USGA, their heads will explode," he said with a laugh. "They've got to understand it's a game, not a gauntlet. Their focus is on the top 300 players in the world. I think they are obsessed with those 300 players and they don't give a damn about the other 20 million.

"The truth is, a little easier is what we need."