Remember Jan Stephenson, the original poster girl for the LPGA? She’s the one who said years ago the LPGA Tour should restrict foreigners, especially the Koreans, who even then were dominating on U.S. soil. LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens hasn’t gone that far yet. Bivens is making news this week by coming up with a rule that all LPGA players must speak English by 2009. Stephenson said she would take it much further. “If I were commissioner I would have a quota on international players and that would include a quota on Asian players,” Stephenson told Golf magazine in 2003. Stephenson, of course, was ... full post »

‘Zinger called me up on the telephone the other day and said, “Tim, if you were picking the Ryder Cup team today, who would you choose?” “Zinger, you’ve got to quit bothering me, I’m trying to write.” “Have you seen what I have to choose from? I’ve waited this long hoping someone would get hot, but NOBODY is hot. Please, help me, Tim, help me.” “OK, but this could change.” Rocco Mediate. Good Ryder Cup temperament. Loose enough to keep everyone relaxed, but that hides an intensely competitive spirit. Woody Austin. Emotional opposite of Mediate. He’s a little wacko, but wacko in a good ... full post »

Ian Poulter withdrew Monday from the Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland, pretty much thumbing his nose at any chances for making the European Ryder Cup team. Instead, Poulter chose to stay in the PGA Tour playoffs and its giant payoff. “It has been an extremely difficult decision to make given my burning desire to represent Europe again in defending the Ryder Cup in the United States,” Poulter told the International Herald Tribune. Poulter is about $105,000 short of the 10th and final spot for the Euro team, and could have made it by finishing top-5 at the Johnnie Walker. Poulter dropped 26 spots to ... full post »

Finally, someone in authority has said “enough is enough.” Mexicans arriving from the South by the hordes. I agree with that Mexican writer who said Mexico may have lost the Mexican-American War in the 1940s, but was winning this one by the sheer force of illegal immigration. In my state, Florida, you can stand pretty much anywhere and swing a squirrel by the tail and hit an illegal. I hang out in Wal Mart a lot and sometimes I’d swear I was in Tijuana. Used to be I could hang out there and know what the hell was going on around town. These ... full post »

I was waiting for Sergio Garcia to blame the gopher. But, since the gopher or mole or whatever it was got him a free drop, I thought he would go looking elsewhere after his latest choke. To his credit, Garcia did not, after another choke, losing the Barclay’s to Vijay Singh in the first round of the — I still have a hard time saying this – “golf playoffs.” This was about as thrilling as golf gets, those two long-distance bombs Garcia and Singh traded; it was like two heavyweight fighters exchanging round-house rights and staying on their feet. And a bunch of ... full post »

How are you reacting to the absence of Tiger Woods as the PGA Tour enters its playoffs today? If you’re one of those who say golf is more interesting now, you’re almost certainly a hard-core fan. If you’re not even bothering to read this, you’re probably a star-struck golf groupie. The hard-core fans are enjoying the fact the FedEx Cup playoffs are now wide-open. Kenny Perry, for god’s sake, is a favorite. You think Kenny Perry is going to inspire the masses? Get a $50 million contract from Nike? The casual fan attracted to the game only because of Woods has already tuned out. In the ... full post »

Carl Petterson, fresh off his win at a PGA Tour win, is a possible wild card choice for the Ryder Cup team, if he doesn’t make it outright? Which side, you ask? It’s a legitimate question if you didn’t know Petterson was born in Sweden, where he lived until he was 10 years old. From there, he moved to England, where he spent five years with the Brits. But, he’s spent the last 15 right here in the good ol’ US of A, and he won the Wyndham Championship last week in North Carolina, where he lives. He hasn’t played in Europe this ... full post »

I know the PGA Tour suits hate hearing this kind of stuff, but the FedEx Cup playoffs, which start this week at the Barclays, are sort of like the Subway series without the Yankees. With Tiger Woods out, interest is like the American economy, as in falling off the table. Still, there are some very interesting scenario which will keep hardcore fans interested. To the tour’s credit, they fixed some things that made last year’s playoffs seem bogus in some respects. First of all, that $10 million payoff. It sounded great, until we learned it came in the form of a retirement ... full post »

People who are all gaga over Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals in the Olympics are comparing what he’s done to what Tiger Woods did for golf. Phelps himself has said he hopes his performance will put swimming in the mainstream of sports. Look, I’m just as amazed at what Phelps did at the Olympics as anybody, but there’s no way in hell you’re going to find me in front of my TV on a Sunday afternoon watching a bunch of men, or women for that matter, swimming. Swimming is a great sport, with the aerobics and all that. I love to swim. But, ... full post »

Luke Donald, who my wife loves for some reason, is out of the Ryder Cup because of his wrist problems. This is worse news for the Europeans than the fact Tiger Woods won’t play for the U.S. because of his knee injury. Why? Donald has a 5-1-1 Ryder Cup record, whipping up on the U.S. team like a dog. Donald, currently 11th on the Ryder Cup World Points List, made a great team with Sergio Garcia, going 4-0. I’m sure the Europeans will say this makes them the underdogs. I won’t be fielding questions about why the wife likes Donald so much. full post »

Ben Curtis takes some shots as being a one-hit wonder, since he won the 2003 British Open but little else. He did win twice in 2006, but hasn’t come close in a major until the great showing at the PGA Championship last week, which puts him on the Ryder Cup team. But, he brings something to the U.S. team it hasn’t always had: He’s a quiet fighter, a grunt, a grinder. He’s also slow. Maybe that will get on the Europeans’ nerves. “Ben has got that kind of demeanor we need on the Ryder Cup team,” Captain Paul Azinger told Reuters. “He’s a little ... full post »

I love good golf courses that could charge high green fees but don’t, and always try to highlight them. Such is the case with the St. Johns Golf and Country Club. It’s a sprawling, near-pristine golf course in a ritzy neighborhood in upscale St. Johns County, in Florida, with a clubhouse like a mini-Taj Mahal. What’s surprising is that the green fees are so reasonable amidst such opulence: $39 to $79 in peak season for this upscale, semi-private club. The course is a hoot from the blue tees at 6,801 yards. The course has water hazards on 12 of the 18 holes, but you ... full post »

Sergio Garcia doesn’t deserve to win a major, which he never will if he keeps this up. He has the talent, he just doesn’t have the class. Not only does he choke when the tough gets going, he blames everything but the one thing responsible for his collapses – himself. I used to pull for Garcia. He’s a beautiful ball-striker and passionate about the game. No more. His talent and passion are nullified by his self-delusion and lack of character. This seems to be a characteristic of your choker – it’s always someone else or something else’s fault. He’s a little like Greg Norman. Norman ... full post »

You’ve got to like Hunter Mahan’s honest comments on the Ryder Cup, though he’s already backtracking. Mahan, who is in line to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team heading into this week’s PGA Championship, had some harsh things to say to Golf Magazine about why the U.S. team keeps losing. The PGA of America “could care less about winning” because they decide where it’s played based on where they can make the most money, is one little bomb Mahan let go. Then: “And from what I’ve heard, the whole week is extremely long. You’ve got dinners every night – not little dinners, but ... full post »

The cultural difference between American and foreign golfers is all too evident in the way Phil Mickelson, Trevor Immelman and Ian Poulter view the possibility of golf being added to the Olympic games. Mickelson, being an American, thinks it would “grow” the game. “Having golf as an Olympic sport is exponentially more important to the game of golf than the majors,” Mickelson said at a pre-PGA Championship press conference. “It would bring in 168 different countries and their Olympic foundation and all those revenues and that would go towards the growth of the game of golf.” Immelman, as befits a Masters champion, is ... full post »

This is not a big deal to most hackers, but a ruling by golf’s governing bodies is a big thing to the pros. Modern groves can allow golfers to get as much spin on the ball out of the rough as they can on the fairway. Not after 2010. At the top amateur level, the new rule takes effect in 2014. The new rule will limit groove volume and sharpness, with the exceptions of drivers and putters. “We believe this rule change is necessary to reinforce the importance of accuracy at the highest levels of the game,” said David Rickman of the Royal ... full post »

As we continue to wait for the return of Tiger Woods, why don’t we take a moment to consider one of the few guys many thought could challenge him, Ernie Els. Els won the Honda Classic at the beginning of March and there were many who thought he was on the comeback trail after injuries forced his game to suffer. But ever since – not much. It appears putting is Really Hard for the Big Easy. At Firestone, Els was a machine in ball striking, finishing second in greens hit in regulation at 73.6 percent. But, he finished in a tie for 68th in ... full post »

It’s true. Michelle Wie is close to being a household name and has never won anything involving golf outside of her home state of Hawaii. Hey, if the Republicans can say the same thing about Barack Obama, I can say it about Michelle Wie. She’s now 0-for-8 in trying to make the cut at a PGA Tour event after flaming out at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open. Wie fired an 80 in the second round on Saturday, including a quadruple bogey on No. 17. Never has one person garnered so much publicity while doing so little. True, in her first try, she missed a men’s ... full post »

The Georgia state park golf course system was already a top-notch golf trail, and now it’s added another: Brazell’s Creek Golf Course is in Reidsville, at the Gordonia Alatamaha state park. Architect Denis Griffiths added nine new holes to the original nine, which opened in 1991. The different thing about this course is the new holes were cut out of a hay field, and Griffiths, who designed a 36-hole layout in St. Andrews earlier this year, has given the new holes a links-like feel, wide open and susceptible to the wind. The new holes start at No. 8 – you take a ... full post »