I long ago dubbed myself the worst golf-playing golf writer in the world, yet I love monster golf courses. There’s nothing quite like a track that’s geared toward leaving bruises. I’ve played some of the toughest courses in the world and left feeling better about golf after most of them. Only one golf course has ever made me consider walking off in utter frustration. Only one ever had me raising a club to seriously consider flinging it - a la USA Today golf blogger Larry Olmsted. That one was Montreux Golf and Country Club. Which happens to be the same course that ... full post »

Greg Norman could have easily jumped at the paycheck that his sudden, post-British Open-run PGA Championship invite would have all but guaranteed. Another golfer his age, without his off-the-course tycoon status, would have had to jump at it. With the way the rest of golf’s supposed elite get even weaker with Tiger Woods out of the picture, Norman could have grabbed another Top 25 (he wasn’t going Top 3 like at the British Open) in a major too. Instead Norman did the smart thing, stayed true to his own vision and turned down the PGA of America’s Shark grab. Norman knew he’d ... full post »

Rudy Giuliani’s son is suing Duke because he was cut from the golf team. At first glance, this would seem cause to rip on 22-year-old Andrew Giuliani for being a baby who’s been protected by his father all his life (even if reality and Andrew’s shaky relationship with his dad shows this to be hardly the case). This news probably makes you think that the younger Giuliani is a typical trust fund kid who cannot cope when real world disappointment arrives. It turns out this story deserves a little deeper look though. Because if you look at some of the details from ... full post »

Forget Greg Norman holding the 54-hole lead at the British Open at age 53 having practiced almost as little as John Daly. The biggest upset of this golf season without Tiger Woods is Charles Barkley spending a week in Lake Tahoe for the American Century Championship without gambling once. I didn’t really believe the reports at first - let’s face it, most reporters in town for a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe aren’t going to spend their time trailing Barkley to see if he lives up to his self-imposed temporary gambling ban (unless it’s charity poker!) - but after talking ... full post »

A lot’s already been written about Michelle Wie accepting a sponsor’s exemption to play in the Reno-Tahoe Open, yet the larger truth’s gone unnoticed. This move reeks of sudden desperation from Team Wie, desperation they’d smartly largely avoided for the last year as Wie tried to rebuild a game that had been propped up by smoke and mirrors hype from the very beginning. Given the slightest taste of the old hoopla that surrounded Michelle’s every move with that run in the State Farm Classic - and for a few moments there last weekend, it was almost like old times for the ... full post »

Greg Norman could shoot an 85 today in the final round of the British Open and he wouldn’t have choked. Norman could pull off two Phil Mickelson’s at Winged Foot, fall face first into three different bunkers, hit a shot backwards and he still wouldn’t have choked. There is no choking when you’re a 53-year-old leading a major championship. A real major, not one of those trumped-up, propped-up faker events on the Geezer Tour (which thankfully, Norman mostly shuns). Norman’s already pulled off the amazing at Royal Birkdale by taking the lead into today’s final round. Not closing the deal will not ... full post »

Michelle Wie made one of those dumb mistakes that a golfer in contention just cannot make. One of those blunders that fits right in with the illegal drops and dubious withdrawals that have marked her winless career. Wie forgot to sign her scorecard before leaving the scoring area after the second round of the State Farm Classic Friday. So she earned her latest disqualification. There’s no doubt about that. Still, the LPGA doesn’t exactly come out rosy in the latest Wie fiasco either. There’s no way that Wie should have been left to play a full round today, to work her way to ... full post »

My son jolted me awake early this morning because he’d had a nightmare. While walking him around, I turned on the first hour of TNT’s coverage (which would start even earlier if anyone in TV cared about the West Coast, but more on that in a later blog). As the images from Royal Birkdale came into view, it became apparent that the little guy could have been dreaming about Phil Mickelson trying to play links golf. That’s enough to scare the sleep out of anyone. For there Mickelson was, bundled up against the whipping wet winds, kicking away another major opportunity. Mickelson ... full post »

Greg Norman is a former top athlete turned mega tycoon who is worth the kind of money only Tiger Woods can imagine. Christie Brinkley is a former SI swimsuit model turned budding real estate player who has the type of money only the Olsen twins can relate with. Both Norman and Brinkley just went through contentious bitter divorce cases. Norman ended up owing his ex-wife $103 million. Brinkley’s ex settled for $2.1 million. Look at that and you have to realize that it’s still much better to be a woman than a man in a divorce case these days no matter how much ... full post »

It’s ludicrous and borderline insane to suggest that Aaron Rodgers will be a better quarterback for the Green Bay Packers this season than Brett Favre would have been. Packers management’s stubborn decision to not go back to Favre out of spite proves just how dumb many leaders in pro football are - a sport that’s managed to convince all its gambling degenerate fans that it’s a game directed by geniuses who don’t know how to dress. Still, with that said, there’s no doubt that Aaron Rodgers showed much more class than Favre in sticking to his commitment to play in the ... full post »

The Dallas Morning News wrote a blog about my blog on attention whore Tony Romo going Woody Austin. Which proves two things. 1). That Texas’ biggest and most prominent newspaper understands who’s the recognized expert on golf, especially celebrity golf. 2). Most newspaper sports writers really do struggle to come up with blog topics (unlike this completely non self-promoting blog for example). Interesting how the Dallas Morning News failed to note how Romo choked in another sport this weekend though. That’s right, it turns out that Jessica Simpson’s dimmer half doesn’t just freeze up in football when something’s big on the ... full post »

Tony Romo is making a public spectacle of himself on another golf course. This time, Romo went Woody Austin. Yes, Aquaman has company. Say hello to the doofus Dallas Cowboys quarterback/attention whore Tony Romo as he falls backwards into the pond on the first hole at Edgewood Tahoe. That’s what Romo did in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship (which is a boring name for the best celebrity golf tournament out there) on Saturday. Romo tried to hit out of a bunker with an awkward lie and found himself tumbling into the pond, where he landed on his butt (otherwise known as ... full post »

Golf has long suffered from an obvious deficit of cool. While Tiger Woods may have changed this for himself with his dramatics, that hasn’t shifted the landscape for all the rest of pro golf. So what are golf’s best doing to be hip? Breaking out big, hulking, garish belt buckles of course. This trend’s been going on for a while, but Rocco Mediate brought it to the forefront with his peace sign belt buckles at the U.S. Open. With Rocco, the journeyman battling his sports’ great unmovable force shot for shot, it was sort of cool. Mediate wasn’t trying to promote himself ... full post »

You might recall that Inbee Park won the U.S. Women’s Open less than a week ago. OK, you probably don’t (if the 2008 men’s U.S. Open is the tournament that’s destined to be remembered forever with Tiger Woods winning on one battered knee, the 2008 Women’s Open appears doomed to forgotten as quickly as a new Matt LeBlanc sitcom). Still even as Park’s pushed aside, much like LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng was before her (women’s golf is really on some roll, huh?), at least one more thing needs to be pointed out about the youngest U.S. Women’s Open champion in ... full post »