I’ll be tuning to catch some Honda Classic coverage over the next four days. Even with no Tiger Woods, no Phil Mickelson and nothing news worthy likely to take place. My viewership has nothing to do with a sudden love for all the Golf Channel’s fancy graphics. Or a need to pretend that Henrik Stenson is interesting. Instead it has everything to do with having played the Jack Nicklaus renovated Champion Course at PGA National Resort that this lackluster field will be going against. I want to see how the pros blast shots down the wide fairways I strolled down with my ... full post »

One more thing before this year’s Oscars fade away, only to be recalled by insomniacs who need something more boring than sheep to conjure up. The only thing more egregious than Peter O’Toole being denied Oscar for the eighth time is Martin Scorsese finally getting his for The Departed. That’s the equivalent of Phil Mickelson receiving credit for Tiger Woods’ 10 majors wins. Forget for a moment that The Departed isn’t close to as good a movie as Little Miss Sunshine. That’s never the point with the Academy Awards. The problem is it’s a remake of a much better movie that’s only four ... full post »

In their infinite wisdom, the folks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected to deny Peter O’Toole an Oscar for the eighth time. Which makes about as much sense as most of the lame acceptance speeches. Robbing one of the greatest actors of all time of one of those golden statues that everyone wanted to put on the floor this year is the equivalent of giving Michelle Wie a sports lifetime achievement award. Peter O’Toole is nearly the Tiger Woods of acting and he gets treated like a two-bit journeyman by his voting peers. Plus, O’Toole is damn funny. ... full post »

Tiger Woods is clearly the greatest golfer of all time. His supposed winning streak is also clearly the most egregious fraud in the history of sports streaks. Nick O’Hern did everyone in a golf a favor - including Woods and especially PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem who trumpeted this travesty streak - when he beat Tiger on the second playoff hole of the Match Play Championship in Tucson. So Woods’ “PGA Tour events winning streak” ends before it reaches eight. Of course, anyone who knows anything about sports understands it ended months ago. To have a winning streak, you actually cannot lose. ... full post »

High-end chain restaurants have long been a culinary phenomenon with few rational benefits for the diner. Ruth’s Chris makes good steaks, but the setting’s basically no different in Cabo than it is in Charlotte. And the fact Cheesecake Factories are always packed with long waits even though the not-so-reasonable food’s ordinary at best looms as one of the great mysteries of our time. Then, you eat in a place like Seasons 52 and begin to rethink some of your feelings on higher line chains. This is a Florida chain that’s spreading, but it’s unlike any other chain restaurant you’ve ever seen before. ... full post »

Siena Golf Club isn’t one of the first courses you think about in Las Vegas golf. It’s not one of the no-doubt showstoppers like Paiute Wolf, The Falls or TPC Canyons. But Siena just might intimidate you like no other. That’s because it does bunkers like Robert De Niro does acting. These are some of the most over-the-top sand traps you’ll face anywhere. And there are 97 of them. No wonder why Siena first timers can often look as battered as their 60-degree wedges. “I was playing at Siena with a guy who’s bringing a group out the other day,” said Scott Bowles of Las ... full post »

In a weekend when NASCAR’s Skoal-smacking band of cheaters held their version of the Super Bowl - only shirts and showers are optional - it’s only fitting that Paula Creamer won for the fifth time in her young professional career. After all, Creamer is the anti-jet-fuel-sneaking racing lout. This noble athlete once turned herself in for having an extra club after she got home from a tournament. When Creamer found out, there was no way anyone else ever would without her saying something. That’s honor, something that’s obviously missing in the grease pit of American sports. You can’t help but be happy when ... full post »

Strolling the restaurants along the Worth Avenue section of Palm Beach can bring sticker shock - not to mention suit shock - for even a former New Yorker. Forget the $30 entree. Try the $45 entree and the $20 appetizer. And everyone seems to be wearing a suit, a tie and a Rolex. The suits are actually sort of refreshing. People long ago stopped dressing up like this for dinner even in sophisticated Gotham. Though to be fair, many think Palm Beach is about two decades behind the times in most things. Still, it’s nice to know you can still get a ... full post »

You can work with someone for years and not know anything about them. That’s just a fact of life in our alienated computer, home entertainment system society of today. Then one day, you find out the lovely prim & proper redhead whose writing often appears above or below yours is a dominating dominatrix. I’m talking about Michelle Wie author Jennifer Mario of course. Mario has taken the bold, forceful step of trying to enforce civility in a blog (I know, this is like trying to tell Ozzie Osbourne not to bite off the head of a bat or to sing on ... full post »

Usually, I shun conspiracy theories. Unless they involve NBA referring or Patrick Ewing’s draft status. I let WorldGolf.com’s own Willie K. Wolfy hang out with the crowd that lives in secret basement bunkers and favors hand-cranked radios. But Michelle Wie’s busted wrist while jogging incident is raising all kinds of weird vibes (and no I haven’t been using any of the stuff Andy Reid’s kids apparently favor). Sure, it’s crazy. Absurd even … But is it possible - possible - that our beloved Winless Wonder battered her wrist on purpose? Either consciously, or even subconsciously, could Wie have taken a fall to ... full post »

Port St. Lucie, Florida will never be confused with South Beach. Even if a number of dancers - who are no doubt working their way through college - will likely show up when the New York Mets do for spring training. Still, it turns out this largely sleepy town may be an even better spot for spring break for the golf obsessed young man than BTuck’s suggested storied St. Andrews. That’s because little Port St. Lucie is crawling with Swedish babes, Korean babes, maybe even a few Polish babes. These young women can play golf better than 95 percent of the adult ... full post »

Anyone who’s been anywhere near South Florida in the last week has run into hordes of one of the most annoying species on earth: fair-weather Chicago Bears fans. They’ve clogged the fairways of golf courses as far north as Palm Beach. No matter what course you played, you were bound to run into several groups of hackers in Bears hats. At first, I wanted to like the guys. After all, they’re obviously some dedicated golfers. And part of the five percent of Chicago’s population smart enough to flee the Freezing City for the winter (they don’t make geniuses on Lake Michigan). But ... full post »

If you get away from the swamps and The Mouse, Florida holds plenty of often surprisingly inventive golf. Take Palm Beach County. There are 170 golf courses in this region where the rich range free and they run the gamut from ultra private high end tracks to a barebones muni where PGA Tour players still stop by for a regular Friday game. I’m in the midst of a two week journey through Palm Beach golf and you’ll soon be seeing stories on everything from the St. Louis Cardinals’ fan friendly spring training home course to the paradise of snob shops on ... full post »

Scottsdale’s Camelback Golf Club is changing its course names and adding a newfangled GPS system in its carts. The club announced it in one of those proud press releases that golf courses love. Which is all fine and dandy. But it will not help Camelback Golf Club’s real issue: its golf courses are average blah in a Phoenix Valley that offers so much more. A real cynic - as opposed to this feel-good golf writer - might even wonder if Camelback’s going back to the original names for its two 18s (Indian Bend & Padre) because experienced Scottsdale visitors know Camelback’s Club ... full post »