So I’m playing golf at the Duran Golf Club in Melbourne, FL., and it’s 10:39 a.m. My playing partner and I turn to the southeast and see a ball of fire ascending into the clear, blue sky, a plume of smoke billowing behind. Of course, it’s the space shuttle Discovery. Golf on the Space Coast is underrated. They have 22 courses there, from Titusville in the south to Melbourne in the north, some of them excellent. The Space Coast people are now trying to market themselves as a viable, Florida golf destination, and why not? There’s good golf, great scenery, a ... full post »

If you’re a golfer and haven’t seen Ben Crane play yet, do yourself a favor – don’t. If you aren’t a golfer, do yourself a favor and watch him, either in person at a tournament or on television. It will either amuse and delight you or horrify you and and prevent you from taking up the game. Crane, who won the US Bank Championship in Milwaukee this past weekend, is best known for being a slow player. An excruciatingly slow player. He drove Rory Sabbatini off the deep end at the Booz Allen. Crane might as well be a 9-5 office worker, ... full post »

I agree that The Rebel often has his hat on too tight and his cigar too loose, but I agree with him on his LPGA rant. Now, I have nothing against the LPGA. I like watching women’s golf, though I like women’s tennis better because the skirts are shorter and the legs are longer. BUT – if there are PGA Tour and LPGA events on TV simultaneoulsy – it’s a no-brainer. I’ll go with the men every time, just like probably 90 percent of all American sports fans, I’ll wager. It isn’t a question of gender – despite what those particular kind ... full post »

Being a native Floridian, I’ve been to Fort Lauderdale dozens of times in the past, but not in the last 10-15 years or so. Fort Lauderdale was the scene of the incredibly hokey movie, “Where the Boys Are,” but my hazy memories of the place involve road trips with girls in the back seat, their bare feet sticking out the windows, empty beer cans piling up (these were the days before they’d shoot you on sight for having open containers). Anyway, I’m back now, years later, looking for golf instead of more girls. You don’t ordinarily think of Fort Lauderdale ... full post »

Frank Deford has long been one of the few sportswriters I’ve admired, actually the only sportswriter I can think of I’ve ever really respected, along with maybe Scott Ostler and the late Shelby Strother. So I considered his opinion in his recent column for Sports Illustrated on Michelle Wie. I’ve been waffling on the Wie issue: should she really play with the big boys when she hasn’t really proven herself? Is it good for golf or only good for her? Deford makes a good point: Women’s sports have long suffered, relative to men’s, from a lack of exposure. When a phenomenal talent ... full post »

Yes, I had mixed emotions about Tiger Woods winning the British Open so easily Sunday. He’s a great champion, and a ball to watch. Nobody hits it like Woods, nobody playing golf today has such intense concentration and competitive fire to go with his soaring ability; he plays golf like an all-pro linebacker with both power and finesse. I’m hoping he has regained his form from several years ago, when he dominated, but I also hope the rest of the world has caught up with him, so we can have a little drama in these majors. His five-stroke Sunday makes me ... full post »

I understand this will prompt death threats and cause me misery, loss of income and possibly the estrangement of loved ones, but I’ve never liked Jack Nicklaus. Ever since I covered the Players Championship at Sawgrass years ago and saw him mercilessly berate his caddy in the parking lot – well out of the range of TV cameras – I’ve never liked him. I don’t like his thin, reedy voice. I don’t like what appears to be his shallowness. I don’t like his curt nature with those he doesn’t believe are as good as him. I don’t know – look, I’ve ... full post »

So I’m watching the British Open on the telly (see, I speak British) with my buddy Mike Malone from Alabama and he says: “Is that a golf course? Looks like the cow pastures we have back in ‘Bama.” Reminded me of Sam Snead’s quote when he first saw the course: “Down home, we wouldn’t plant cow beets on something like that.” Fouteen greens serve two holes – what, the cheap Scots didn’t want to spring for more greens? And what’s the deal with No. 18? Everybody but Michelle Wie is driving it. Golf has been played for 500 years at St. Andrews ... full post »

The Rebel has been inhaling too much of his own cigar smoke again. In a recent blog, he blasts Mississippi Golf Coast PR man Kevin Drum for…caring too much. Drum is a good man and a good PR guy. He set up an excellent itinerary for me when I visited the Biloxi area several months ago. His research was thorough and he knows a great deal about the golf history in the area. The trip went off without a hitch, and was better organized than most. He and his staff went out of their way to make sure they could do ... full post »

Greg Norman will inject some much-needed drama into the seniors tour. Norman, who recently turned 50, will play the 19th Senior British Open, according to press reports, and it’s none too soon. Everybody loves a charger, which Norman was in his heyday, and although he won more than his share and was the best in the world for a while, he had a tendency to choke in some big ones. Norman is still in denial about that, but the facts are there. Still, he’s enjoyable to watch and if he’s on his game, he could supplant Hale Irwin as the hero of ... full post »