For the second year in a row, the announcer at the WGC Bridgestone-International neglected to introduce Paddy Harrington as the British Open champion. Harrington, who was steamed last year, shrugged it off this year. “I wasn’t waiting for it this time and I certainly didn’t need for him to tell me I was the Open champion,” Harrington told the media. “I know I’m the Open champion.” Harrington is an old hand at winning it these days. Last year, it was different. “He just said Padraig Harington, Ireland,” Harrington said about last year. “I was gutted!” How much you want to bet if the British Open ... full post »

Yes, another blog about Michelle Wie playing in yet another men’s event. But here’s the issue: A recent Michelle Wie blog of mine prompted some to ask why Wie is still even getting attention, much less being invited to play in another men’s tournament. Why even bother to blog about her, in other words, when she has so publicly and totally played her way out of earning the right to any publicity, positive or negative? And it’s true that those multitudes of former Wie fans have clammed up tighter than Uncle Harry’s hat band. So I done me some thinking on it. Here’s why she ... full post »

The TPC Network of Clubs and the Heritage Golf Group have teamed up to expand privileges for private club members nationwide, according to a press release. They have something called a “TPC Passport,” a “premium concierge program designed to deliver a memorable golf experience to qualified members of private clubs within the TPC Network and the Heritage Collection.” Full golf members of those two networks can schedule starting times at “premier” TPC and Heritage clubs. You can schedule online, you get priority access and reduced rates at all Tour Academy facilities and discounts on PGA Tour golf vacations. You can call the TPC ... full post »

Michelle Wie may very well be suffering from multiple personality disorders – she’s definitely suffering delusions of grandeur – but I say it’s time to point the finger elsewhere, if only from Wie fatigue. Let’s say, for example, that you get fired from your high-profile job. Everybody in your chosen field knows it. Then you get fired again. And again. For really stupid stuff as well as total incompetency. And yet some bonehead keeps offering you another job at an increasingly higher salary. Who’s to blame here? In this case, it’s the Legends’ Reno-Tahoe Open next week. “I know Michelle is a great competitor and ... full post »

So I’m on vacation and I accidentally see that Greg Norman is leading the British Open after the third round. Normally, I try not to have golf thoughts on vacation, but I couldn’t help being both amazed and skeptical. “There’s no way he’s going to win this thing,” I said. He didn’t, of course, but at least he didn’t choke like he has so often in the past. I envisioned Norman with a must-make four-footer on the 18th. I envisioned his knees knocking, his breath short and raspy and a putting stroke like a bad hockey player. It never came to that; Norman ... full post »

Men yelled helplessly at the top of their lungs, women screamed while clutching their babies, the world seemed to burst at the seams in chaos and confusion and danger. The woman held the phone high, high over her head, gripping it with both hands. “I’m calling the police!” she shrieked. Third-world revolution? Riot? Armed robbery? No, just another day at American Airlines. I won’t bore you with the gory details. You probably have your own story if you’ve ever flown American. Suffice it to say it involves a weather delay, an endless amount of time sitting on the tarmac like a big, fat duck, anger, ... full post »

It’s been a while since I’ve been to play golf St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands – I used to live on St. Thomas – but things haven’t changed much. Downtown Christiansted looks like a ghost town, especially at night. “St. Croix has been dead for 20 years,” said one cabdriver, while other cabbies nodded agreement. Little wonder. Crime scares people off here, from potential tourists to residents. Tourism suffered greatly when the cruise ships left. Too many passengers were getting robbed and beaten when they ventured out and the government refused to do much about it, so the cruise ships pulled out. There ... full post »

One of my favorite golf courses in Myrtle Beach has always been Pine Lakes Country Club. It’s got that big billboard out there on Highway 17 that makes it look like a mid-level Grand Strand course, but once you get back into it, it’s a very classy layout – especially the back nine - and a very classy joint. The problem is it’s been under the knife for some time now, it being a 20-month project. It’s now being reported that the course is on schedule for its March, 2009 re-opening. The idea is to re-build “The Grandaddy” to its 1927 ... full post »