Stuffed

Do you have something to declare, Madam?

Authorities at Bangkok’s international airport found a baby tiger cub that had been drugged and hidden among stuffed toy tigers in the suitcase of a woman flying from Thailand to Iran, an official and a wildlife protection group said Friday.

The woman, a Thai national, had checked in for her flight and her oversized bag was sent for an X-ray which showed what appeared to be a live animal inside, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group.

The woman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport before boarding her Sunday flight. The cub, estimated to be about 3 months old, was sent to a wildlife conservation center in Bangkok.

“The cub arrived at our unit Monday,” said Chaiyaporn Chareesaeng, head of the Wildlife Health Unit at the Department of National Parks’ Wildlife and Plant Conservation Center, where the animal was put under close supervision.

“He appeared exhausted, dehydrated and couldn’t walk, so we had to give him oxygen, water and lactation,” said Chaiyaporn. “We have monitored him closely. As of today, he looks better and can walk a little now.”- Associated Press

The smuggler faces up to a 40,000 baht fine and four years in prison. Since 911 smuggling stuff on your body or in baggage has become incredibly difficult. Some people apparently haven’t gotten the memo.

In other Tiger news, a golfer by the last name of Woods shot 65 yesterday in a PGA Tour golf tournament. IMHO I think we need more than one excellent round before saying Tiger Woods has gotten his golf game back together again.

He's back

For the second year in a row, Tiger won at Bay Hill in Orlando Florida by making a dramatic birdie putt on the 72nd hole. Last year Bart Bryant was the loser, this year it was Sean O'Hair.

With the win the talk of Tiger not being back to form will end. It will instead be replaced by golf journalists opining on what his chances are of winning the Masters. The first men's major championship of 2009 begins on April 9th.

Sadly another big golf tournament will get lost in the buzz of Tiger's win today and all the hype for the upcoming Masters. The LPGA Tour's Kraft Nabisco Championship begins this Thursday. A few years ago the tournament's dates were shifted so it didn't butt heads with The Players Championship any more. The TPC has since moved to May, but the Kraft still gets short changed. Golf writers and the Golf Channel rather talk endlessly about The Masters that hasn't started yet than a major championship that is under way.

Back to Tiger. He'll win at least one major championship this year. What a reckless golf prognosticator I am.

The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Golf World writer Tim Rostaforte. He gets the award for the following-

Earl Woods would have cried, said Tiger. He would have cried remembering stories such as the one Golf Digest senior writer Jaime Diaz wrote in the New York Times on Nov. 9, 1990. The first three paragraphs paint a different picture than the press release issued Oct. 16 on Tigerwoods.com, when Aronimink was announced as host of Tiger's tournament:

The executive director of the PGA of America said yesterday that Aronimink Golf Club was right to withdraw as host of the 1993 P.G.A. Championship rather than risk a repeat of the furor that arose this year at Shoal Creek.

*****

Just to give the Tiger-AT&T announcement another layer of historical perspective, Woods was 17 at the time of Diaz's article. He had just won his third straight USGA Boys Junior title.

The Diaz article was indeed written on November 9, 1990. Here's a link to it. However Tiger wasn't 17 years old or a three time USGA Boys Junior champ at the time. Woods was 14 years old, and his first Boys Junior title was still almost a year away.

Tim isn't done screwing up yet.

For a city with such a rich tradition in golf, the Philadelphia market has been displaced on the PGA Tour calendar. The area hosted the SEI Pennsylvania Classic in 2000 and 2002. Before that the IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic was played at Whitemarsh Valley GC in Chestnut Hill in 1970s, and was won by headliners Billy Casper (1970), Tom Weiskopf (71-73), Hubert Green (74), Tom Kite (76) and Jack Nicklaus (78).

The IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic was a PGA Tour event from 1963 to 1980 not just the 70's. Rostaforte mistakenly says Tom Weiskopf won the tournament from 1971 to 1973, which is wrong because JC Snead won in Philadelphia in 1972. That could be chalked up as a typo but the real screwup is omitting The King Arnold Palmer from the list of great former IVB winners. Palmer won the inaugural event in 1963.

I probably shouldn't expect too much accuracy from anyone writing at Golf World. Alone one of their editors. Tim Rostaforte's sloppy reporting earns him today's Knucklehead of the Day.

Honesty wins

Ryan Palmer still wins the Gin sur Mer after calling a penalty stroke on himself.

Palmer, who was at No. 143 on the money list with two tournaments remaining, had to call a penalty on himself and made bogey on the 10th hole, then took double bogey on the next hole with a tee shot into the water.

But he rebounded with a 10-foot birdie he desperately needed on the final hole at Ginn Ocean Hammock Resort for his second career victory.

"What a feeling ... what a week," said the 32-year-old native of Amarillo, Texas and Texas A&M graduate. "I kept grinding and grinding. I proved to myself that I can win out here under any kind of conditions or circumstances."

Michael Letzig, the 54-hole leader, needed a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff. But his wedge spun 35 feet down the slope and he had to settle for par and a 73 to finish one shot behind.

Also tying for second were George McNeill, Nicholas Thompson, Ken Duke and Vaughn Taylor, who was at No. 129 on the money list and earned enough to secure his card for next year.

*****

Palmer appeared to have control with a two-shot lead until he reached the 10th green. He noticed his ball move slightly after he addressed his 30-foot birdie attempt, and after calling a rules official, assessed himself a one-shot penalty and made bogey.

"Once you address the ball, you can't un-address it," Tour rules official Steve Rintoul. "The rules are pretty clear."

Palmer got rewarded with a victory. Tom Kite in 1978 lost a tournament by one shot after invoking the same rule on himself. In 2003, NBC golf announcers strongly believed a ball being addressed by Sophie Gustafson moved but the Swedish golfer didn't call a penalty on herself. LPGA officials were then in the uncomfortable position of having to determine what happened. Sophie was the love squeeze of then LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw.(The two are now married.)

Sophie, who went on to win the tournament, said the golf ball didn't move, her playing partner Juli Inkster hadn't seen anything one way or the other, and the NBC video footage was equivocal. Sophie hasn't won an LPGA event since. Is it a case of karma?

Broken broken record

The 47-year-old PGA Tour veteran won for the third time this year. Beating two players in a playoff. Perry now stands #2 on the 2008 money list, only behind Tiger Woods.

Much has been made about Perry deciding to first skip US Open, and now the British Open. I'm of the opinion that the golf media really needs a life. Seldom has so much been written about so little. Since when has a ordinary player's tournament scheduling been newsworthy? Tiger Woods is one thing, but I've been around long enough to have watched Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and others and don't recall their decisions to play or not play a tournament dissected.

In Perry's defense, I'll point out the following

*- Lee Trevino chose to skip the Masters three times in spite of him being eligible to play. It may be 4, but in 1977 Trevino had back problems. That may account for him missing the tournament.

*- 1967 PGA Champion Don January refused to play the 1970 US Open at Hazeltine because of his dislike for the course.

*- Twelve time tournament winner and 1984 Vardon Trophy winner Calvin Peete never played the British Open.

*- Here's the best comparasion to Perry. In 1969 Dave Hill, who won 13 times on tour, skipped that year's British Open. Hill won 3 times in 1969, finished 2nd on the money list that year, was competing for a Ryder Cup spot(like Perry, and Hill made it as Kenny is likely to do), and took home the Vardon Trophy that year.

In fact Hill only played once at the British Open. If I look some more, I'm sure to find players of like ability to Perry who skipped the British Open.

This non-story has gotten to the point where non-golf writers are taking shots at Perry. Take for instance Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN who writes-

"I was going to have to miss Milwaukee [the U.S. Bank Championship], which is a tournament I've won," Perry told a small gathering of reporters earlier in the week at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. "I've had eight top-10 finishes there."

Is that right? Eight top-10 finishes in Milwaukee. Wow. Well, then I can certainly understand why you'd stiff the world's oldest major, and a Birkdale course where Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller won championships. And I'm just spitballing here, but maybe you've had those eight top-10s because, you know, the world's best players ARE AT THE BRITISH OPEN!

Let me fire a cannonball back at the careless and unoriginal Mr. Wojciechowski. How many times have the Milwaukee and British Opens been played the same week since Kenny Perry turned pro, not counting this year?

Once, in 2007. A simple check of golfobserver.com would have shown this. So 7 of Perry's 8 top 10s at Milwaukee didn't come alongside the British Open.

If you're going to play the same broken record Gene Wojciechowski, get your facts straight. Otherwise you look like a fool. Better yet, don't write about golf at all.

Will Golf World's Ron Sirak please pick up the white courtesy phone?

The Golf World editor and writer doesn't make a mistake this week as much as an error of ommision. In an article about Yani Tseng's win at the LPGA Championship last weekend, Sirak writes-

The closest any player from Taiwan had come to winning a major was T.C. Chen in the 1985 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. He had a four-stroke lead in the final round then unraveled after a double-hit on a chip shot. Tseng saw the shot on TV the week before the McDonald's and marveled because "that's not really a hard shot," she laughed, blaming the double-hit on poor technique. "But don't tell him that," she said, laughing more.

True Chen lost by only one shot, but he isn't the only Taiwanese golfer to come that close to a golf major.

May I present Lu Liang Huan.

1971 – Lee Trevino wins his first Open(British) as little-known Taiwanese player Lu Liang-Huan – affectionately known as “Mr Lu” – comes within a stroke of an incredible victory.

So in fact Chen and Mr. Lu came equally close. If Mr. Sirak answers my page I'll suggest he take some remedial lessons in golf history.

Phil Mickelson undergoes a gender change

If you don't believe me, check out the screen capture or go vist Golfweek's website and see what is listed under LPGA news.

Believe me now? The careless golf media has struck again. Maybe the magazine needs to do something outlandish every week. First it was a noose, now Phil Mickelson's gender, what's next? A Martian wants to try for a PGA Tour card?

Here is a website where Phil's breasts have been discussed. Will Phil be wearing a skirt in San Diego this weekend? If he does, expect those Phil lovers at Golf World to put it on the cover even if he or I mean she finishes dead last. Stay tuned.

PODS Championship

The Tampa area PGA Tour stop could be in jeopardy beyond 2008. From ESPN-

Less than a year after signing on as title sponsor of the PGA Tour event near Tampa, PODS Inc., is considering asking out of its deal, putting the future of the tournament in question beyond 2008.

PODS officials asked the PGA Tour for an extension until the end of December on its decision to renew sponsorship of the PODS Championship beyond 2008 -- although PODS franchisees were originally told that the deal would not be extended beyond the March 6-9 event at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Complicating the situation is the fact that the Clearwater, Fla.-based company is in the process of being sold, according to a PODS franchisee who did not wish to be identified.

Mark Calcavecchia won the 2007 event, which from 2003-2006 was called the Chrysler Championship and played in the fall.

The portable storage unit company signed a six-year agreement in January to sponsor the PODS Championship through 2012. But the company had an option to withdraw after two years.

*****

The tournament was one of the big winners when the PGA Tour announced its new FedEx Cup schedule, which began this year. When the Players Championship moved to May, it created an opening on the Florida Swing; the PODS event moved from its former fall date.

But the tournament has had sponsorship issues. Started in 2000 as an opposite event to the World Golf Championships, the tournament first had Buick as a title sponsor before that car company gave way to Chrysler. After four years, Chrysler bowed out, leaving the tournament scrambling until securing PODS just weeks before the 2007 tournament.

*****

PODS is contracted to sponsor the 2008 tournament, which will go on as scheduled.

Sponsors of pro golf tournaments come and go. In the seventies celebrity sponsors/associations were common. Today only this tournament still has a celebrity connected to it. Note that Bob Hope has been dead since 2003, but comedian George Lopez is sort of a unofficial host today.

More troubling than PODS possible cancellation, is the fact the tournament seems to have trouble keeping or getting a corporate sponsor. That makes me think this tournament, which I sometimes call the KJ Choi Championship for the Korean golfer has two wins there and a T-6 since 2002, will have an abbreviated history.

If the Tampa Bay area tour stop becomes defunct, what tournament would replace it on the tour schedule. Two long-time PGA Tour stops, The Texas Open(I believe is the 2nd or 3rd oldest non-major on tour) and the Walt Disney World event(which has been played since the early 70's), were relegated to the Fall tour after the creation of the Fedex Cup. It would only seem fair these tournaments would get a shot at returning to the regular season.

Linked to- Bright & Early, Bullwinkle, The World According to Carl,

Family Matters

From AP-

MONTREAL (AP) - The PGA Tour has approved a new regulation that offers medical extensions to players who deal with a family crisis, a decision that will help David Duval and Dudley Hart next year.

Duval used a one-time exemption as top 25 on the career money list to keep his card this year, but it looked as though it might go to waste when his wife was put on bed rest in February because of complications with her pregnancy. Duval felt his responsibility was at home to care for his wife and four children, and he did not play for more than seven months.

Hart withdrew from the Wachovia Championship in May when his wife became seriously ill, and he stayed home with their 5-year-old triplets as his wife recovered. She is doing better, but Hart has not played since late April.

Duval, whose daughter Sienna was born two months ago and is healthy, originally asked the tour about an extension in May and was denied based on the letter of the regulation. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was concerned that granting an exemption in his case might open the tour up to a bevy of other petitions.

But after the policy board met in late May, there was enough sentiment to take another look.

*****

Duval returned to competition last week at the Viking Classic, where he tied for 44th, and he plans to play one more event in the Fall Series. His schedule next year will be based on the average number of starts among the top 125 on the money list this year.

PGA Tour players are independent contractors unlike many if not sports athletes. I do think the tour's policy change is the correct move. A crisis at home(I can speak from personal experience for my wife spent three months on bedrest including two in the hospital when pregnant with our son Daniel, can sap a person physically, mentally and emotionally. Your ultimate concern is for family member(s). Work seems either trivial or an annoyance in comparison.) A tour player is fortunate in that they can schedule their work, but I think consideration should be given on a case by case basis like with Duval and Hart. Exemptions are given to players because of physical injuries they suffer, consideration for family emergencies is the compassionate thing to do.

Linked to- Bright & Early, Bullwinkle, The World According to Carl,

Former Masters Champ Gay Brewer dead at 75

I remember watching Brewer play when the Seniors Tour was first beginning. His swing wasn't pretty(I think Dave Hill said it looked like Gay was trying to kill snakes. Or was it my father who said that?) but it got the job done. Eleven tour titles and one major ranks as a successful PGA career in my book. RIP.

Linked to- Adam, Bullwinkle, Webloggin,

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Gay Brewer, the 1967 Masters champion who won 11 times on the PGA Tour, died Friday at his home after a fight with lung cancer. He was 75.

Brewer, who also won once on the Champions Tour before retiring in 2000, had been battling cancer since October, fiancee Alma Jo McGuire said.

"It was incurable," she said. "It was easier on him and the family that it didn't go any longer than it did."

Brewer won the 1967 Masters for his lone major title a year after he lost an 18-hole playoff to Jack Nicklaus after three-putting the 72nd hole.

"Personally, I could not have been happier for a fellow player when Gay won the Masters in 1967," Nicklaus said. "A year earlier, Gay was playing arguably the most solid golf of anyone at Augusta, and I was fortunate to get into a Monday playoff with him and Tommy Jacobs. Gay had a tough day in the playoff, and although I was delighted to win, I felt badly for him. For Gay to come back the next year and win a green jacket was fitting for such a tremendous person and a darn good player. Around that time, Gay was as good as there was."

Nicklaus first met Brewer during their amateur days.

"What I remember most about Gay is his sense of humor and the kidding he always enjoyed doing," Nicklaus said. "He always had a joke. Gay was just a fun-loving guy and you always looked forward to being around him. One thing you had to do around Gay was to protect your clubs. Gay would walk up to you, look inside your bag, and say, 'Hey, that's a great-looking club. Can I try it?' If he did, there was a good chance he would never return it. Gay must have had the largest collection of borrowed clubs anyone's ever seen. Gay was just a great guy who was great fun to be around."

Brewer made his last appearance in the Masters in 2001.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Gay Brewer," said Billy Payne, chairman of the Masters and Augusta National Golf Club. "Gay was a wonderful champion and individual and will be dearly missed in April. We express our heartfelt sympathy to his family."

In June, Picadome Golf Course in Lexington, where Brewer learned to play, changed its name to honor him. Brewer played college golf at the University of Kentucky.

"He was just really personable," McGuire said. "I don't know anybody who didn't like him."

Brewer is survived by daughters Kelly Allen and Erin Provence and four grandchildren. McGuire said services would be Wednesday at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home in Lexington.

"Gay was great," Tiger Woods said at the Deutsche Bank Championship. "Man, he told more stories and was just incredible to be around."

Jim Thorpe and other Champions Tour players remembered Brewer's unique swing.

"He was a great player in his day," he Thorpe said at the Champions Tour event at Pebble Beach. "Some people just can't be replaced and he was one of those guys. He was like the Sam Sneads and the (Ben) Hogans of the world. He was one of those guys who had a little bit of an unorthodox swing and that sort of stuff, but it worked for him."

Apathy

That is pretty much what describes PGA Tour golfers and how they feel towards the the new Fedex Cup.

K.J. Choi of South Korea doesn't speak English fluently, but he clearly reflected the confusion surrounding the FedEx Cup when he recently said that if he won he would donate the $10 million first prize to underprivileged kids in his homeland.

While it's true that an oversized check with a dollar sign, a 1 and seven zeros on it will be handed to the points leader after the Tour Championship Sept. 16, the winner won't actually see that money for a while. The check is deferred money that goes into the player's retirement account.

I didn't even know the money was deferred. Then what's the purpose of the Fedex Cup?

Choi isn't the only one who doesn't understand the workings of the FedEx Cup, a four-tournament series run by the PGA Tour that starts with this week's Barclays Classic in Rye, N.Y. Said Boo Weekley: "I don't know nothing about the FedEx Cup. I never was good at math."

Jupiter's Brett Quigley added, "Don't have a clue. It's all ridiculous."

Hunter Mahan, who should care after shooting up the FedEx standings this summer, said he tried to study all of the nuances but to no avail: "I don't have a Harvard education."

Even Phil Mickelson, who seems to know something about everything, admitted after his final round at the PGA Championship: "I don't understand how it all works."

Pro Golf isn't team sports. Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and Football have playoffs. Sports like Tennis, Golf, Horse racing, have you call the Grand Slam or the Triple Crown. Everything else is window dressing. You can dress up a pig in the most beautiful garment but the trouble it. Its still a pig. The four Fedex tournaments are just tour stops to me.(Barclays will always be Westchester. I still remember most tournaments by their old names. Sponsors come and go with few exceptions. The Honda Classic being a notable exception.)

If players don't care about or understand the Fedex Cup, that doesn't bode well for this gimmick's future. Anyone want to make predictions on how long it lasts? I say 2014.(If there isn't a contractual agreement with Fedex for a date past that year.)

Linked to- Bullwinkle, Cao, Webloggin,

Deluded

Tiger Woods will be skipping the first event in the new Fedex Cup series.

The PGA Tour has touted its new FedEx Cup competition by making references to the Green Bay Packers and New York Yankees. But when golf's version of the playoffs begin new week in New York, it won't include Tiger Woods.

Golf's star attraction said Friday he will sit out the first playoff event at The Barclays, saying he was worn out from back-to-back victories at Firestone and Southern Hills.

"My body is spent and I need a break," Woods said on his Web site.

The announcement was a setback for the PGA Tour, which had promoted the FedEx Cup as a "new era in golf" and instead was left with an old problem of convincing fans that golf was still relevant after the majors were over.

The FedEx Cup is a season-long points race that culminates with the playoffs, when the points are reset for four tournaments through the Tour Championship. The winner gets a $10 million annuity from a $35 million bonus pool.

I'm not criticizing Tiger, but his withdrawal from the Barclays comes as no surprise to me. It is testimony to how irrelevant the Fedex Cup is when you come down to it.

The Fedex Cup was an effort by the PGA Tour to- 1- Shorten the golf season and 2- Give some meaning or significance to events played after the PGA Championship. Interest in pro golf wanes late in the year, not just for fans(Even for this golf nut, I spend little time paying attention to the tour once football season starts), but for stars like Woods and Phil Mickelson who often pack it in early for the year.

Last year I wrote the following about the Fedex Cup-

TFM's opinion of the FedEx Cup? I hate it and think it is dumb and counterproductive. First because in Pro Golf there are the Major Championships and then everything else. Attempts to hype other touraments like the Players Championship, Memorial, The old World Series of Golf into major championships have all failed. Golf isn't NASCAR. Just look at the sports ratings and fan support. Fan support is mostly week to week, if it isn't a major and no Tiger playing, alot of people don't care. I'm hardcore, but I'm an exception. The PGA Tour hasn't sold the FedEx to me, how do they think the average golf fan will take it?

and this on how long-time PGA Tour events were being scuttled while forming this gimmick-

No one but Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and a few other people like this idea. Golf writers have panned it, fans in Chicago, Washington DC, Texas and Upstate New York are unhappy, so are many tour players. What made Finchem think this was a good idea? History has shown, the only tournaments that create a special interest are the majors. Besides the playoff system Finchem has devised is flawed. In five years this thing will be in the Sports disaster dustbin but golf fans in long-time golf markets will be without their tour stops. All for a misconceived idea to create interest. Golf doesn't have a Super Bowl, it has four majors. Everything else is window dressing.

Apparently Woods still wants a shorter golf year, and the Fedex excites or interests him as much as blog posts written by some nutty blogger in South Florida. Right?

This could have been predicted too. Go to this website and bring up Tiger's tournament history from 2oo2-2006. Show me the last time he played four PGA tournaments in a row? Are you still looking? Because he never did in those years. Actually Tiger has seldom played four non-west coast tournaments in a row in his career.(You have to go back to 96 and 97. I may have missed another year. 96 shouldn't be counted either, because Tiger played many weeks in a row in order to gain a tour card so as to not go through qualifying school.) I could told have told Commissioner Tim Finchem, Tournament sponsors and the world a year ago that Tiger was never going to play all four Fedex events. Plus the President's Cup is two weeks after the Tour Championship. That means Tiger would have to play five weeks in six.

Also note this article. Tiger isn't the only one apathetic about the gimmick.

Bottom line- It still wouldn't surprise me if Tiger withdraws from another Fedex Cup event. Further proving the whole series is a joke and I don't expect it to last ten years.

Linked to- Big Dog, Mad Pigeon, Perri Nelson, Right Voices, Right Wing Nation,

Two degrees of Tiger Woods separation

The PGA Championship finishes today in Tulsa Oklahoma. Guess who is leading?

TULSA, Okla. - Tiger Woods saved his best golf for the last major. Woods followed his record-tying 63 at Southern Hills with a round that wasn't anything special Saturday, but no less effective at the PGA Championship. He made 15 pars in his 1-under 69, giving him a three-shot lead over Stephen Ames going into the final round.

It felt much larger considering the history of the world's No. 1 player.

Woods is 12-0 when going into the final round of major with at least a share of the lead, and he has never lost any tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes.

*****

Woods finished at 7-under 203 and will play in the final round of a major for the third time this year. He was trailing at the Masters and U.S. Open and never caught up, but the odds are much higher in his favor of capturing his first major of the year.

Ames made a 12-foot birdie on the final hole for a 69 that put him in the final group of a major for the first time. Just his luck he gets Woods, spotting the 12-time major champion a three-shot lead.

*****

Only five players remained under par at Southern Hills.

Woody Austin lost his chance to be in the final group when he took bogey on the final hole for a 69, leaving him at 207. Johnson Senden had a 69 and was another shot back, followed by Els.

Verplank held his own until a double bogey from the rough and trees on the signature 12th hole, and a three-putt from the back of the 18th green for bogey sent him to a 74.

Anyone want to bet against Tiger winning today? I don't think there is a sucker out there to take me up, but feel free to leave a note if you are. Even money odds, Ok?

I was thinking about Tiger and Southern Hills yesterday. There is a golf saying, 'Horses for certain courses'. This can be easily done with PGA tour stops that play the same course year in and year out, but the PGA is a major that changes courses every year. The last PGA at Southern Hills was in 1994, and the last major(The US Open) held at the course was in 2001.

Don't worry, I still have come up with a formula or comparison. Consider it golf's version of that Kevin Bacon game.

Tiger has won majors at Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Medinah, Vahalla, Hoylake and St. Andrews. Forget Hoylake and St. Andrews, only one former British Open Champ, 1994 winner Nick Price, has also won at Southern Hills.(Nick does co-hold the course record for Augusta, a 3rd round 63 in 1986)

For our little game remember these names- Hubert Green, Dave Stockton, Arnold Palmer, Lou Graham, Ray Floyd, Lanny Wadkins, Retief Goosen, Mark Brooks, Phil Mickelson, Gary Player and Corey Pavin.

First, the only person to have win at Augusta and at Southern Hills, is Ray Floyd. He took the 1976 Masters at Augusta and the 1982 PGA at Southern Hills. Tiger has won four times at The Masters.

Retief Goosen has won two US Opens, the 2001 US Open at Southern Hills and the 2004 title at Shinnecock.

Note Ray Floyd won the 1986 US Open at Shinnecock. Retief Goosen was second to Tiger Woods at the 2002 Masters. Tiger wasn't a factor in the only US Open(2004) he played at Shinnecock as a pro.

Corey Pavin the 1995 US Open Champ at Shinnecock, was 2nd to Nick Price at the 1994 PGA at Southern. Lanny Wadkins was 2nd at the 1982 PGA at Southern, and the 1986 US Open.

Phil Mickelson was 2nd at the 2004 US Open(Shinnecock) and 3rd at the 1994 PGA. Heck Phil was third at the 2001 Masters which Tiger Woods won .

Arnold Palmer won at Augusta, and was second at the 1970 PGA at Southern. Note Gary Player also a former Masters winner was second at Southern when it hosted the 1958 US Open.

The reverse Palmer, Player Southern-Augusta connection goes to Dave Stockton. He was 2nd at the 1974 Masters, and won the 1970 PGA Championship.

Besides the Shinnecock-Southern connection, there is the Medinah-Southern connection. Lou Graham won the 1975 US Open at Medinah and narrowly lost the 1977 US open to Hubert Green, finishing in 2nd place one shot behind. Tiger of course won 2 PGA Championships at Medinah.(99 and 06)

How does Vahalla work in? Woods won the 2000 PGA there, Mark Brooks was the 1996 PGA champion, played at the same course. Mark Brooks lost the 2001 US Open playoff to Retief Goosen played at Southern.

Cherry Hills(Outside of Denver) is connected this way. Arnold Palmer won the 60 US Open there, and I already mentioned his other connections above. Hubert Green won the 85 PGA at that course and the 77 US Open at Southern.

Note- Hubert Green was 2nd at the 1978 Masters to Gary Player.

Dave Stockton the 70 PGA Champion at Southern, was 2nd at the 1978 US Open at Cherry Hills.

So we have the Medinah-Southern-Augusta-Vahalla-CherryHills-Shinnecock connection that revolves around at ten or twelve golfers. What's the signifigance of all this? Absolutely nothing, I'm just showing off some of the golf trivia stored in my head.

Update- Corrected my post to say only Ray Floyd has won at Augusta and Southern Hills. Tiger is trying to become the second.

Linked to- Adam, Bullwinkle, Cao,

KJ Choi- He's the man

From AP-

AKRON, Ohio -- K.J. Choi can think of 10 million reasons why he wants to win the FedEx Cup, and it adds up to one reason why he might be a sentimental favorite.

"If I'm able to win it, I want to give it all to charity, 100 percent," Choi said.

The FedEx Cup is a yearlong points race that culminates with four tournaments at the end of the year, with the winner getting $10 million in deferred compensation. Choi was asked what it would feel like to be paired with Tiger Woods in the final group with something that large riding on the outcome. That led him to talk about charity.

"I could think of so many things I could do with that money, so many good things," Choi said through his agent and interpreter, Michael Yim of IMG. "I want to help a lot of the unfortunate kids around the world. I want to set up my own foundation, like Tiger. Thinking about what I can do with that money, it just motivates me.

"I think I'd be too happy thinking about that to feel any pressure playing with Tiger," he said. "I'm looking forward to the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup. It's just a lot of opportunity for me to do some good deeds for those kids that really need it."

Choi already has won twice this year, at the Memorial and AT&T National, putting him at No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings.

Another South Korean golfer with a big heart. Remember Mi Hyun Kim's donation to Kansas tornado victims? KJ has had excellent year in 2007 with two victories so far, but I don't understand how the Fedex Cup winner is determined. Maybe because I think the Fedex is a dumb gimmick. I do wish KJ good luck in his quest.

Linked to- Adam, Bullwinkle, Third World County, Yankee Sailor,

Balls

Some news from last weekend's Canadian Open

Trinity graduate Jay Williamson had a sudden and unceremonious divorce from caddie Mike Mollet on Thursday in the first round of the Canadian Open.

A 69-year-old man Williamson pulled from the gallery carried his bag for the final four holes.

Williamson, who reunited with Mollet a week before losing a playoff to Hunter Mahan at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell last month, got in an argument with Mollet after hitting his second shot over the green at the 14th hole on Angus Glen's North Course in Markham, Ontario.

"I never had anyone bark at me like he did," Williamson said Monday on his way to the Reno-Tahoe Open. "He overstepped his bounds, kept running his mouth. He was loud and obnoxious, even used a racial slur, and I'm glad I did what I did."

Mollet responded to his firing by throwing three balls in the water, leaving Williamson with one.

Don Alexander, who played in the 1962 Canadian Open as a amateur, replaced Mollet. After completing his 1-over-par 72, Williamson gave him a dozen balls.

I don't know, but Williamson sounds kind of cheap. Just a dozen golf balls for toting a golf bag for four holes? I'd given the guy at least $100. Who knows, maybe Alexander is happy with what he got.

Caddy-player relationships in Pro golf are often tumultuous, with frequent turnover. Caddies are hired to be fired. Long term relationships like Tiger Woods and Steve Williams or Jim Furyk and Mike 'Fluff' Cowan are more the exception than the rule. Look at how many players this caddy has worked for since 2003. Granted, Larry may not be the best example.

Mollet's actions with the golf balls could prove to be detrimental if he wishes to continue working as a caddy. If a player loses all his golf balls, and none of his playing partners play the same brand, the golfer is out of luck and the tournament. Other players may not want to risk a repeat with this caddy, even if Williamson was at fault for the argument.

I do however find what Mollet did funny.

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British Open- Sergio Garcia leads by three

Will the Spaniard nicknamed 'El Nino' finally win a major Championship?

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland - The cheers grew louder as Sergio Garcia crossed the bridge over Barry Burn toward the 18th green at Carnoustie, a reception so warm it gave him chills. He removed his cap in a steady rain and soaked up the adulation. It was a scene fit for a coronation at the British Open.

For Garcia, the odds have never been better. He has never played better or felt so confident.

Garcia played close to perfection Saturday, a 3-under 68 that gave him a three-shot lead over Steve Stricker, with no one else closer than six shots. And while this will be the third time he has played in the final group at a major, there are two drastic differences.

Garcia finished off his bogey-free round with a 5-iron that never left the flag and sent him chasing after it, screaming out instructions with an intensity that showed he already knew the outcome.

"Oh, be good," he said. "BE GOOD!"

It hopped onto the green and stopped 12 feet left the flag, and the only disappointment was having to settle for par.

Sergio's play was near flawless yesterday. He only has one player within five shots of him. I think Sergio will pull off his first major today.

Stricker might have to match his record round to give Garcia a fight. He ran off three straight birdies at the start Saturday, and was equally impressive with four par saves at the end for a 64, the best score ever at Carnoustie during a British Open.

*****

The 27-year-old Spaniard has held a 54-hole lead nine times in his career, and he has only converted five of them. Two years ago at the Wachovia Championship, he squandered a six-shot lead in the final round and lost in a playoff.

Sergio has had a history of near misses in major Championships. The 99 PGA Championship where he finished second to Tiger Woods after making a recovery shot from behind a tree was Sergio's best chance to win a major previously.

Sergio also had his chances at the 2001, 2002 and 2005 US Opens. He finished in the top five at both last year's British Open and PGA Championship.

Els, a three-time major champion, overcame a triple-bogey 8 on the easiest hole at Carnoustie to shoot a 68, leaving him in the large group at 3-under 210 that included Chris DiMarco (66), Padraig Harrington (68) and K.J. Choi (72).

These players are all good and capable of shooting a low number. But they would have to hope Sergio either falls back or plays par golf. If Sergio is under par today, he will win.

How about Tiger?

One guy Garcia won't have to think about is Woods.

Trying to become the first player in more than 50 years to win the British Open three straight time, Woods beaned a 63-year-old woman in the head. It left her bandaged and bleeding, and Woods queasy at the sight of blood on the links.

He wound up with a 69, leaving him eight shots behind at 1-under 212. Woods has never won a major from behind, and only once has he made up an eight-shot deficit on the final day of any tournament — the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.

Tiger is out of it. Paul Lawrie came back from 10 shots behind at the 1999 British Open also played at Carnoustie. I don't expect similar miracles today.

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Good luck Seve

The Spanish golfer who helped to revitalize European golf, has announced his retirement.

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AFP) - Golfing legend Severiano Ballesteros on Monday announced his retirement from the sport after a 33-year long professional career.

The Spaniard won three British Opens and two Masters and also played and captained winning European Ryder Cup sides becoming one of the most popular sportsmen in the world in the process.

Ballesteros turned 50 in April after the Masters and a month later made his debut on the US Seniors Tour, but he finished joint last with 67-year-old Lee Trevino and admitted he had been contemplating his future since then.

"For a few months there was something confused inside me, an internal fight," he said ahead of this week's British Open here.

"My head said 'I think you should retire' but my heart was telling me you would be better to continue playing and competing.

*****

Ballesteros rose from humble beginnings (his father was a greenkeeper) in Spain, a country with little or no track record for golf, and made his Open debut at Carnoustie in 1975.

But it was four years later that he struck gold with a typically swashbuckling win in the 1979 Open at Royal Lytham where he became known as "the car park champion" in honour of one of his remarkable recovery shots.

During the next two decades he strode the golfing world like a colossus almost single-handedly reviving the struggling European PGA Tour and leading the challenge to the decades-long US hegemony in the sport.

He was the first European to make the breakthrough at the Augusta Masters in 1980, opening the floodgates for the likes of Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and his Spanish compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal.

His Ryder Cup exploits were equally impressive spearheading the landmark 1985 win over the Americans, the first since 1957.

Two years later the Ballesteros-inspired Europeans won on American soil for the first time and what had been a one-way contest had been changed for ever. These days it is the Americans who are struggling to compete.

Back problems though started to trouble him in the late 1990s and his form and confidence gradually ebbed away.

He attempted a succession of comebacks in recent times, but nothing worked and rounds of 86 and 80 at this year's Masters where he finished last sounded the death knell for his game.

*****

Ballesteros denied that his retirement announcement had anything to do with the state of his health and again poured scorn on Spanish media reports that he had recently tried to commit suicide.

Ballesteros was a short game wizard. As seen in his wins at Augusta and from the car park at the 1979 Open.(I was doing my Navy Basic Training in Orlando Florida at the time of that Open. So I only saw Seve's miracles that year afterwards) I followed golf even more heavily in the 80's. and Seve's exploits are very vivid to me.

Note- This golf article is pretty shoddy. There is no mention of Seve's five Major Championship wins(3 British Opens, 2 Masters), his first splash on the international scene when he led the 1976 British Open after three rounds at age 19, or his heated Ryder Cup rivalries with some American golfers like Paul Azinger. The sloppy, error prone, and incomplete writing by those who cover golf never fails to amaze me.

It is sad Seve can't play any more, I hope it isn't due to any serious health problems. The golf world will miss him.

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Michelle Wie withdraws from John Deere Classic

She was scheduled to play the PGA Tour event July 12-15.

Unable to break par against the women, Michelle Wie is taking a break from competing against the men. Wie decided Tuesday to withdraw from the John Deere Classic as she tries to return from wrist injuries that have sent the 17-year-old from Hawaii into a deep slump of high scores and shrinking confidence.

"While my rehabilitation is on schedule, I do not have all of my strength back yet," Wie said in a statement. "The TPC Deere Run course is obviously very long, and I just don't have the length to play there right now."

Wie said she still plans to play next week in the U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles, and she said she would keep playing the rest of the summer as she tries to regain strength in her wrists.

Wie has played the John Deere Classic the last two years on sponsor exemptions, nearly making the cut as a 15-year-old in 2005 with a performance that made her a celebrity with the community. She was one shot below the cut line until a double bogey and a bogey late in her round, missing by two shots with rounds of 70-71.

She opened with a 77 last year, then withdrew midway through the second round with what was said to be heat exhaustion. Wie was taken from the course on a stretcher.

I agree with Golf World's Ron Sirak, who says this was the first common sense move by the Wie camp in some time. So far as Michelle playing the LPGA, I'd think it would be wiser for her to take an extended rest to allow her wrists to heal properly.

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Going for three

The US Open finishes today-

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) - Aaron Baddeley teetered on the edge of a collapse, staring at bogeys on the golf course and Tiger Woods' name high on the leaderboard.

He showed he might be up to the challenge.

Baddeley escaped with an amazing par from deep rough at the base of a bunker on the 17th hole, finished strong with a birdie for an even-par 70 and wound up with a two-shot lead over Woods after three rounds of the U.S. Open on Saturday.

The Australian kid who was beating world-class players as an amateur now faces the biggest test of his career.

Woods was nearly perfect from tee-to-green, hitting every green in regulation until he had to lay up from the rough on the 18th hole and took his only bogey for a 69, one of only two rounds under par even though Oakmont's fearsome greens showed a softer side.

Woods, who has never won a major when trailing going into the final round, will be playing in the last group at a major for the second time this year. He was one shot behind at the Masters and tied for second.

"I've been there before, and I know what it takes," Woods said.

Paul Casey shot a 72 and was at 5-over 215 with Stephen Ames (73), Justin Rose (73) and Bubba Watson (75), who made a triple bogey from the left side of the ninth green but steadied himself with pars and a lone bogey the rest of the way.

*****

Still, a dozen players were separated by five shots going into the final round on a course that is tough even when the USGA wants it to play slightly easier.

"This golf course doesn't lend itself to too many birdies," Ames said. "So the guy who makes the least mistakes will be the guy to win."

Baddeley is a good golfer but never been in this spot before. He has two tour titles, Tiger has two US Open victories. If Tiger were to win today, he'd join Hale Irwin(1974, 79, 90) as the only other three-time US Champ. The group of two-time winners is large. Retief Goosen was tied for the lead going into the 2005 US Open final round before blowing up. Hale Irwin did similarly at the 84 Open when having a chance for his third.

You can't bet against Tiger. If anyone were to sneak up from behind, I'd put my money on Jim Furyk, the 2003 Champ and a runnerup last year.

She's back

The latest Michelle Wie news-

EAST MOLINE, Ill. -- Michelle Wie accepted a sponsor's exemption Tuesday to play in the John Deere Classic for the third straight year, continuing her effort to make the cut in a men's event.


Wie, who is to graduate from high school next week, has not made the cut in six starts on the PGA Tour. A year ago at the John Deere Classic, she opened with a 77 and withdrew in the middle of the second round with heat exhaustion.

The John Deere Classic will be played July 12-15 at TPC Deere Run.

Wie has not played since missing the cut by 14 shots at the Sony Open in January. She played that week with an injured right wrist and then injured her left wrist a short time later when she fell while running.

She is to play her first LPGA Tour event of the year next week at the Ginn Tribute in South Carolina.

Skepticism about Wie's scheduling increased late last year when she finished last in consecutive weeks on the European Tour and the PGA Tour and was next to last at the Casio World Open in Japan. She has failed to break 70 in her last 16 rounds, including two LPGA Tour events.

Michelle needs to concentrate on women's golf. I still predict she won't ever be force in men's golf. Her playing with the men is a unneeded diversion, most likely based on marketing Michelle not on what would be best for her career.

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