Yes, Paula Cremaer is still better than Michelle Wie now, will always be better than Wie. But will Creamer ever start demanding more than that of herself? You have to wonder after Creamer lost a playoff to Annika Sorenstam and then essentially brushed it off to nerves and inexperience today in South Florida. Creamer told reporters at the Safeway International that the putter shook in her hands on the first playoff hole - also the last playoff hole after a Creamer bogey. On the one hand, you could chalk this up as refreshing honesty that’s too rare in the world of sports. ... full post »

The LPGA of Carolyn Bivens has taken a lot of criticism - much of it well earned. But you have to give Bivens and her staff credit for being willing to try new things. More international tournaments - which are good idea no matter what Dottie Pepper says, especially with the PGA Tour so rarely allowing even World Golf events to be held outside of U.S. soil these days - are a smart play. So is bringing back the old celeb pro-am event to the women’s game. That’s what happening this weekend with the Stanford International Pro-Am in South Florida. For the ... full post »

Several trips to San Diego later, I’m still searching for a great fish taco in a region that should - the operative word being should - produce great seafood. When my Castle Baron Boss Mark Nessmith suggested Rubio’s, I had high hopes. After all, the Baron knows food. Heck, he cannot even talk about a golfer choking without bringing up grub (see Chris DiMarco and the infamous pizza bone). Rubio’s loomed as possible salvation. Sure, it’s a chain, but it began as a local chain, one that started out of what was essentially a glorified shack on Mission Bay in the mid ... full post »

I’ve never been much of a Big Break fan. Reality shows don’t do much for me and the Golf Channel’s version was never in much danger of changing my mind. I once ran into David Gunas Jr. - the barefoot-golfing supposedly funny Big Break II contestant - at Torrey Pines and didn’t recognize him at all (though most of the cart kids did). When Gunas handed me a business card showing his travel agent business, I must admit I wondered what kind of big break he’d actually gotten too. The latest edition Big Break Kaanapali intrigues me though. It helps that it ... full post »

The news that Tiger Woods is likely out from knee surgery until the Memorial, just two weeks before the U.S. Open, is bad for the PGA Tour. But it’s probably good for Tiger. No great athlete enjoys not actually competing in his sport more than Tiger Woods. Serena Williams was close for a while, but Tiger’s likely passed her. The greatest golfer in history - and please let’s stop any of this ridiculous talk that Tiger might not blow by Jack Nicklaus anymore just because he finished second at the Masters - has gotten to the point where he likes to actually ... full post »

Let’s face it, sports fans are suckers for a good comeback story. Give us Hoosiers over the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl every time. Lance Armstrong actually got America to care about bike racing because of his own brush back of cancer. Heck, Armstrong had half of the U.S. wearing cheap yellow braclets, including about 95 percent of our golf pros. At one point, you couldn’t be a golf pro without a Livestrong bracelet and a killer pair of shades. Even if everyone in France still thinks Armstrong was as juiced as Barry Bonds, Lance will never receive ... full post »

Soon after Trevor Immelman backed into the most uninteresting green jacket ceremony ever, I received an e-mail from a sports writer colleague who wondered if I agreed that Immelman’s wife Carminita is hotter than Elin Woods. Which immediately caused me to spit up Pepsi on my keyboard and rip off the kind of expletive string that Tiger Woods used to fling out back when he was still good. Sure, Carminita is another hot blonde golfer’s wife, but comparing her to Elin is akin to comparing Jennie Garth to Elisha Cuthbert. No offense, Trevor. Especially since you landed Carminita before anyone knew ... full post »

Tiger Woods used to be a truly graceful loser. This is one of the things he’s never received nearly enough credit for - his classy sportsmanship. In the rare occasions when he did come up short in a big tournament, he’d always heap praise on the other players, never stoop to lame excuses. Some people are too preoccupied with the colorful expletives he’d drop in frustration (at himself) to recognize this. But it was true. Apparently, the emphasis is on WAS though. For the good loser Tiger was nowhere to be found after he threw away a great chance to force the tepid, ... full post »

The Masters is incredibly still right there for Tiger Woods to grab it. Even after his bogey on No. 10. Tepid Trevor Immelman is going to go wobbling back to 8-under, maybe 7-under. Yet what’s Tiger doing? He’s letting playing partner Stewart Cink pretty much match him during the final round at Augusta. Yes, that Stewart Cink, the guy Tiger calls “Stewie.” I’ve seen Tiger and Stewie Cink matched up before live. Indeed, I watched six excruciatingly boring hours of it in the World Match Play Championship outside of Tucson. Woods treated Cink like his own jovial, goofy pin cushion that day. ... full post »

Lorena Ochoa is rolling toward another comically large victory margin, leading the Corona Championship by seven shots after going 66-66-66. She’s doing this in her home country of Mexico, making it an even better story. And who’s paying attention? Well, just about absolutely no one in the world of golf. It’s Masters week and the entire golf universe tends to get a little fixated when the green jacket’s on the line and Tiger Woods is talking grand slam. Which begs the question: Why is Ochoa being forced to play in Mexico Masters week? It’s not just bad scheduling by the LPGA. It’s a ... full post »

It was amusing seeing all the golf publications that touted Phil Mickelson as the favorite going into the weekend at the Masters. Phil’s right there, he’s ready to pounce, this is his chance with Tiger on the outs … yada, yada, yada. It’s like 95 percent of the golf media have never actually seen Mickelson play. This is what he does: He shoots a 75 on a perfect day for scoring at the Masters, shows the real difference between himself and Tiger Woods. Tiger always grinds, always gives himself a chance no matter how off his swing is or what goes wrong. ... full post »

I hope all the swear police are happy. And you know who you are. You’re the gang of greatness bashers who went after Tiger Woods for his supposed lack of decorum on the course (mostly focusing on the fact he sometimes swore like a salesman at himself) for years, then had an apoplectic fit of joy when he threatened a few photographers with neck rearrangement at Doral. Because it meant you could whine and moan even louder. Well, you’ve done it. You’ve turned Tiger into a mere mortal at The Masters, made the best player in golf history more tentative than a ... full post »

When the NFL Draft rolls around, are we subjected to full features on Heath Shuler and Akili Smith every year? Sure, they’ll get the occasional mention in a biggest busts of all time story, but no one’s hearing about their every move. So why is Sports Illustrated giving us more Michelle Wie - the biggest bust in golf history - during Masters week? Couldn’t they have worked in a story on an emerging star with a great Masters shot - like Brandt Snedeker, he of the 69-68, for example? Instead I flip through the Golf Plus section of my SI this week ... full post »

Last year’s PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Brandt Snedeker is only one shot back at the Masters after round one and he could be tied for the lead if he hadn’t recorded his first bogey of the day on 18. While you can expect most of the first round surprises to fade away (Dustin Rose for the second straight year no doubt), don’t be surprised if Snedeker’s still in the hunt on Sunday. The 27-year-old Snedeker doesn’t get too shaken by much of anything. When I played with Brandt’s older brother Haymes Snedeker - a former All-SEC golfer himself at Ole ... full post »

Tiger Woods just hit one of those shots that only Tiger hits, a chip-in eagle on No. 15 after he couldn’t get anything to fall all day in Augusta. As the ball disappeared into the hole, Nick Faldo - who’s thankfully being used in the ESPN broadcast that’s centered around CBS personnel - noted that the eagle should relieve some of the pressure that Woods surely felt. Faldo argued that even Woods clearly isn’t immune to the pressure he’s heaped on himself with his Grand Slam talk. I love Faldo, but I don’t know about that. It seems like a stretch to ... full post »

ESPN made a big deal out of covering the Masters Par 3 tourney for the first time this year. It sounded good in theory. I was even OK with the blatantly deceiving promos they put out showing Tiger Woods pumping his fist in a long-ago par 3, even though ESPN producers knew full well he stopped playing in these years ago and wasn’t going to this year, next or anytime soon. Then, the Masters Par 3 started and … well, suddenly those afternoon soap operas that no one in their right mind watches didn’t look so bad. OK, it was sort of ... full post »

TravelGolf.com National Editor Tim McDonald wrote a nice story on what to do in Augusta Masters week. He only included a brief mention of the “fine dining” you could enjoy though and that’s probably a good thing. My dining experience with McDonald consists of one day when we had a sit-down meal at Denny’s for lunch and got TGI Friday’s takeout for dinner (both his choice) and one other time when we hit the Cracker Barrel (his pick again, I believe). I have a pretty good notion that these were the culinary highlights of my swamp-dwelling colleague’s life too. So well Augusta ... full post »

Unlike many New Jersey sports writers who dealt with John Calipari while he coached the Nets, I liked him. Yes, he’s slick, but he’s also funny and surprisingly honest for a coach (in other words, there’s no holier-than-thou Mike Krzyzewski fakeness). With that said, Calipari is a moron. He made excuses for his team’s free-throw shooting all year, never demanded that his ultra-talented players and should-be-national champions addressed it and then watched them blow the NCAA Championship game by missing four of five foul shots in the last 72 seconds. So much for the Memphis Tigers making them when they count, Calipari’s ... full post »

Sometime between when Lorena Ochoa knocked in her last par and when she jumped into that lake with her parents and a couple of dozen friends, someone slipped her Tiger Woods cell phone number right? After all, we were fed that shared-sponsor-friendly story for years of how Annika Sorenstam and Tiger text messaged each other major challenges. Sorenstam loved to tell that one about the “10-10″ majors won message. Of course, now that Tiger’s zoomed past Sorenstam like she’s Arnold Palmer standing off the green in a loud sports coat, now that Sorenstam suddenly doesn’t seem like she’ll be adding much major ... full post »

The LPGA’s first major of the season begins in a matter of hours. Not that you’re likely be aware of this, considering it’s gotten all the buzz of the return of How I Meet Your Mother. Where’s that Sports Illustrated special preview issue on the Kraft Nabisco? Yeah, your mailman must have stole it. Still even if the LPGA’s first big tournament of the year finds itself going up against the Final Four (oops! - schedule makers), there are plenty of compelling stories in one of the Palm Springs’ region’s biggest party weeks. Only the little coverage the Kraft Nabisco has ... full post »

I always found Aloha Airlines name a little curious. I don’t want my airline saying hello and goodbye to me. Like Men In Black director and frequent Esquire Magazine contributor Barry Sonnenfeld, I consider “every airplane flight to be an unsuccessful suicide attempt” (and both Sonnenfeld and I fly a lot, though his travel is surely decidedly less commercial). Given that, I don’t want to be reminded of any chance of goodbyes while in the sky. Still despite any quibbles with their name, I found Aloha Airlines to be one of the better carriers in my recent experiences. Which makes Aloha’s sudden ... full post »