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Opinion, Comment and
Commentary
One player's take on
happenings in the world of golf.
Commentary
One player's take on
happenings in the world of golf.
| Over the Green |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Boy, Is Tiger In Great Shape!
May 20, 2008 - I won’t make any snide comparisons to others (including myself) but the current issue of Men’s
Fitness magazine says Tiger Woods is the ‘Fittest Guy in America.’ On the other hand I wonder if this will result
in Lumpy and J.D. cancelling their subscriptions?
It’s An Evolver
May 20, 2008 – The interchangeable shaft/head phenomenon has earned its first pro tour win with David Mathis
taking last weekend’s Nationwide Tour BMW Charity Pro-Am using a Nickent Evolver 4DX driver. Mathis has
been using the interchangeable component club since March.
USGA Sells Another Sponsor
May 19, 2008 – The United States Golf Association announced it has completed the foursome of corporate
sponsorships for its tournaments and other activities with the signing of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The
company joins American Express, IBM and Lexus.
Amateur golf at the highest level is now part of the marketing plan for these four international corporations.
“The USGA is honored to have RBS as its corporate partner to help build awareness for our Association,” said
USGA President Jim Vernon. “We are looking forward to working with RBS to support our new media content for
the USGA, including USGA.org and USOpen.com. We are gratified by their commitment to work with us to
introduce the game of golf to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity through our “For the Good of
the Game” grants initiative.”
Daly Still At It
May 1, 2008 – John Daly reached new heights (or depths depending how you look at it) of aberrant behavior in a
charity event recently appearing for a time, shirtless and shoeless but wearing blue jeans during a round. The
exposure was revealed when the local TV interview with the two-time major winner was posted to YouTube.
I assume no one sees this as “funny” or “John being John.” He’s over the top or the edge and needs some help
NOW.
Torrey Pines Open
April 30, 2008 – It’s been announced the USGA and NBC will put the U.S. Open Saturday and Sunday rounds in
prime television viewing time in the Eastern Time Zone. Though this is being touted as a great boon for golf fans
and an example of the USGA paying attention to the needs of potential viewers it’s more about the fact the San
Diego venue is four hours behind the big time east coast market.
Golf Channel Emmy
April 30, 2008 – The Golf Channel has always been something of a joke in the television business…compared
to baseball, football and racing low viewership and unending infomercials. Even some “sophisticated golf
media” have had a field day making fun of everything from programming to production values.
The Orlando-based channel started by Arnold Palmer and Joe Gibbs and now owned by Comcast pulled off a
real coup though when it became a prime outlet for the PGA Tour events this year and now has something else
to crow about.
The Aimpoint virtual graphics the Golf Channel uses to illustrate the line of putts has won a Sports Emmy Award,
the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award. Can it be too far in the future when there’s an award for
Commentators Attire or maybe Golf Product Tie-In to News Items?
It's Not Too Early for Christmas Shopping
April 23, 2008 - I'll give this to you straight. There are golfers' gifts that seem to go over the edge of
reasonableness and the platinum and diamond ball marker is one of them. Shano, well known jewelry
designers, have added a platinum marker with a 1/2 karat of diamonds for a cool $10,200 to their line. I waiting
to find out if it will be any help on those 3-footers.
NEWS FLASH: Tiger’s Human
April 13, 2008 –Trevor Immelman has proven he can stumble and bumble his way over Augusta’s final 18 and
win a major championship while the rest of the “world’s best players” show a they are just as susceptible to the
toughness of the course and difficulty posed by the cool weather and windy conditions as the rest of us would be.
The young South African can be proud of the way he handled himself and even though his 75 the last day was
really ugly he can rest in the knowledge he gets to wear a green jacket plus the opportunity to pick something
really weird for the 2009 Champions dinner.
The folks who should be hanging their heads are many of my fellow golf writers who talked as though Tiger
Woods was preordained to win this the first major of the year and therefore his inevitable taking of the other
three, thereby accomplishing the Holy Grail of golf, the Grand Slam.
The fact of the matter is Woods played like most of the others in the tournament. Though he finished three shots
back in second he had trouble all week keeping the ball in the super wide fairways and certainly putting was not
his strong suit.
He proved he’s human and that’s good for the game.
What a Relief!
April 12, 2008 – The United States Golf Association has finally fixed one of the Rules of Golf that made the least
sense by a new interpretation of Rule 13-4 which will allow raking of one bunker if a player has hit out of it but
into another on the same hole. Stewart Cink was DQ’ed at the Zurich Classic for just his caddie raking a fairway
bunker he walked into to while lining up his shot of a ball laying just outside.
His stroke landed him in a greenside bunker but since his caddie had raked the one in the fairway he was hit
with a DQ after discussing the incident with a rules official the next day.
It all comes down to “testing” the playing surface of the hazard which is still a no-no but the new way the rule will
be applied does not call for a penalty if two different hazards are involved. It’s nice to see the guys in Far Hills
apply some common sense.
Neiman’s Ryder Cup
April 11, 2008 – Leroy Neiman has created a painting to commemorate the 37th Ryder Cup September 16-21,
2008 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky and Neiman fans will be enthusiastic of his capturing of the
action on Valhalla’s 13th hole.
Copies of the original painting are being offered in two versions: unsigned for $50 and signed for $250 plus a
limited edition numbered edition for $4200. If you’re interested visit cobaltartworks.com or call (502) 584-0020.
Els Makes America New Home
Mar. 22, 2008 – Family issues and a publicly stated goal to unseat Tiger Woods at the top of the world ranking
are behind Ernie Els’ move from London to the U.S. Though he says he will buy a home in South Florida he will
continue as one of the most traveled golfers keeping a schedule of events around the globe.
Also Ben, the Els’s six year old son, is autistic and presumably the family feels treatment possibilities are better
in this country than in England.
Sonartec Future In Doubt
Mar 21, 2008 – Former Edmonton Oilers’ owner Peter Pocklington has been in the golf business since investing
in the old Golf Gear International, makers of the well regarded Tsunami driver and after gaining control
essentially closing the California based company. It seems he has done something similar according to an
Adam Schupak story in the recent Golfweek issue.
Pocklington bought struggling club maker Sonartec last spring for an undisclosed amount and as for Feb. 29
fired the staff and shutter the company headquarters. In a 15 complaint lawsuit filed Feb. 13 by the former
president/CEO of Sonartec Toru Kamatari, among other items breach of contract is cited.
Adams Golf
Mar. 17, 2008 – With 2007 net sales of $94.6 million Adams Golf (ADGF) had an increase of $18 million over the
previous year. Profits were up $0.4 million to $9.4 million for the club maker who was recently accepted for listing
by NASDAQ.
No Surprise
Mar. 16, 2008 - Tiger Woods not only pulled off a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but as the tournament was
getting underway he was named, the 10th year a row, recipient of the 2007 Mark H. McCormack Award given to
the player ranked number one for the greatest number of weeks in the calendar year. Woods has been number
on for 135 and to save you doing the math, that just over 2 1/2 years.
Golf Geek Alert
Mar. 7, 2008 – Some of us are really into the technical aspects of golf. For those like myself who are interested in
getting an inside view of equipment manufacturing and in this case golf balls the National Geographic Channel
program “Who Knew? With Marshall Brain” will do a feature on the Titleist ball operation including their R&D
facility and manufacturing plant. Air time is 9:00 pm next Thursday Mar. 13.
Maybe a Do-Over for this Birdie
Mar. 7, 2008 – Journeyman PGA Tour player Tripp Isenhour, might want to rethink his reaction to distractions
while on the course. According to a front page article in today’s Orlando Sentinel, he faces misdemeanor
charges and the wrath of bird lovers after killing a red-shouldered hawk during a taping session of Play Like a
Pro.
Red-tail hawks are a protected species and Isenhour said the bird was screeching loud enough to disturb the
taping. After a attempt to frighten the bird away by hitting iron shots at it he switched to a driver, hitting and killing
it on the tenth drive.
Faldo Messed Up But Not That Bad
Feb. 27, 2008 - Is there anyone so naïve as to believe golf equipment manufacturers don’t work very hard to get
the most prominent tour players to endorse their products? They do it the old fashioned way by paying them
large sums of money and there is certainly nothing wrong with that…except that the average golfer sometimes
forgets Tiger or any other big name tourster might not be using a particular ball or driver were it not for the money
they were receiving.
This has been going on since golf became an economically viable business, certainly for more than 100 years.
The newest flap (media and otherwise) was started by Nick Faldo’s comments from the broadcast booth during
the Sunday morning round of the Accenture Match Play Championship about the Nike One Platinum being ill
suited for the average weekend warrior compared to the TaylorMade TP Black.
It’s true Hall-of-Famer Faldo isn’t out on the circuit any longer and it’s true until two years ago he was a paid
endorser of Nike products and it’s true he signed a deal with TaylorMade-adidas last week, however what’s the
big deal?
It may not have been the most judicious thing Faldo could have said and it may reveal a lack of journalistic
professionalism by him but the reaction from the media has been way out of proportion. That’s no surprise given
the feeding frenzy state of mind many media-types have and especially since the Golf Channel issued an
apologetic statement distancing itself from their star personality who complicated everything by a public hand-
wringing.
What Faldo said fell far short of being worth the articles and over the top opinions of the past few days…gee, it’s
almost like his words were as serious a mistake as Kelly Tilghman’s.
Cuba – the New Myrtle Beach?
Feb. 23, 2008 - According to a Wall Street Journal today there are at least a dozen golf course developments in
the works on the island of Cuba being built by companies based in Great Britain, Canada and Spain.
While this probably doesn't’t qualify Cuba as any threat to America’s number one golf destination Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina it does raise some interesting questions about the mixture of golf and world politics. Though
dictator Fidel Castro has announced his brother Raul will succeed him and Raul is known to be interested in
long term development of tourism to Cuba, there are potentially overwhelming problems.
At the top of the list are property rights in the Communist ‘paradise’ where real estate leases are being used by
developers to secure land for their projects since according to Cuban law land may not be purchased or sold. In
addition, tourists expect modern services and infrastructure not to mention personal service from locals, each of
which is probably very hard to find in a nation isolated for the better part of a half-century.
Airport Screening & the Snap Slice
Feb. 20, 2008 - Ever wonder about how your golf bag gets through airport security screening? We’re all familiar
with the long lines and scanners for carry on bags, but golf bags? It seems over size luggage such as golf bags,
in or out of a carry cover, are inspected by hand…one at a time by Transport Security Administration personnel.
Technology is now providing a partial solution with the installation of explosive detection equipment at two
airports, Denver and Jacksonville, to check golf bags, ski carriers and the like. Made by Reveal Imaging
Technologies, Inc. of Bedford, Mass., the units are part of a pilot program for automated inspection of bags up to
eight feet long.
Now if they just could do something about the snap slice in my driver.
Golf in 8th Place!
Feb. 17, 2008 - It’s a presidential year meaning we are all familiar with exit polls, party polls, issue polls…polls
ad nauseam. So it is with some trepidation I report to you the rankings from the latest Harris Interactive poll done
each year online asking the question, “which is your favorite sport?”
There is no surprise…men’s golf stayed in eighth place behind pro football, baseball, college football, auto
racing, hockey, pro basketball and college basketball. Our game has been named number one by between 4%
and 6% of respondents for over 20 years. This in spite the good efforts of the PGA of America, the USGA, PGA
Tour, LPGA, the First Tee, Play Golf America and maybe thousands of other local programs spending million of
dollars and untold numbers of man- and woman-hours.
Doesn’t seem right but then no one ever said life was fair. By the way and in case you’re interested, women’s
golf polled less than 0.5%.
Creamer & Sorenstam Join Tavistock Cup Teams
Feb. 14, 2008 - Word is the 'made-for-real-estate-sales-promotion' Tavistock Cup March 24-25 between
crosstown rival teams from Lake Nona Golf & Country Club and Isleworth both in suburban Orlando will include
two of the LPGA's best.
Paula Creamer who recently purchased a home in Isleworth joins the team captained by Mark O’Meara for the
first time and Annika Sorenstam will be on Ernie Els’ Lake Nona team for the third time. No word as yet if
Isleworth’s most famous resident Tiger Woods will be playing but one expects he might since O’Meara is one of
his best friends.
This is the fifth year of the Tavistock Cup featuring competing teams from the two exclusive communities both
owned by Tavistock Group. Purse for the Golf Channel televised event is $3.8 million with the winning team
donating $1 million to charity. Among the prizes up for grabs for the team with a hole-in-one are Cadillac
Escalades, Correct Craft Air Nautique boats and Full Swing Golf simulators.
St. Andrews Links Callaway
Feb. 8, 2008 - The St Andrews Links Trust, the organization that runs the golf facilities in St. Andrews, Scotland
including the Old Course, has linked a licensing deal with Callaway Golf for the Carlsbad, Calif. company to
produce dual branded clubs, balls and accessories. This could be a virtual golf mine for both since Callaway is
working hard to increase its market share around the world and St. Andrews plays host for the Open
Championship in 2010. Terms of the five year agreement were not announced.
Tiger vs. The King
Jan. 28, 2008 - Not only did Tiger Woods tie Arnold Palmer for fourth in all time number of victories on the PGA
Tour at 62 after his win of the Buick Invitational, but he did it in a lot less time. Arnie was 43 and a pro for 19 years
when he captured his last victory on the regular tour the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic. Tiger however just
turned 32 the end of December and is in his 11th season. A sign of the times though, Woods win paid $936,000
while The King's final win $32,000.
May 20, 2008 - I won’t make any snide comparisons to others (including myself) but the current issue of Men’s
Fitness magazine says Tiger Woods is the ‘Fittest Guy in America.’ On the other hand I wonder if this will result
in Lumpy and J.D. cancelling their subscriptions?
It’s An Evolver
May 20, 2008 – The interchangeable shaft/head phenomenon has earned its first pro tour win with David Mathis
taking last weekend’s Nationwide Tour BMW Charity Pro-Am using a Nickent Evolver 4DX driver. Mathis has
been using the interchangeable component club since March.
USGA Sells Another Sponsor
May 19, 2008 – The United States Golf Association announced it has completed the foursome of corporate
sponsorships for its tournaments and other activities with the signing of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The
company joins American Express, IBM and Lexus.
Amateur golf at the highest level is now part of the marketing plan for these four international corporations.
“The USGA is honored to have RBS as its corporate partner to help build awareness for our Association,” said
USGA President Jim Vernon. “We are looking forward to working with RBS to support our new media content for
the USGA, including USGA.org and USOpen.com. We are gratified by their commitment to work with us to
introduce the game of golf to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity through our “For the Good of
the Game” grants initiative.”
Daly Still At It
May 1, 2008 – John Daly reached new heights (or depths depending how you look at it) of aberrant behavior in a
charity event recently appearing for a time, shirtless and shoeless but wearing blue jeans during a round. The
exposure was revealed when the local TV interview with the two-time major winner was posted to YouTube.
I assume no one sees this as “funny” or “John being John.” He’s over the top or the edge and needs some help
NOW.
Torrey Pines Open
April 30, 2008 – It’s been announced the USGA and NBC will put the U.S. Open Saturday and Sunday rounds in
prime television viewing time in the Eastern Time Zone. Though this is being touted as a great boon for golf fans
and an example of the USGA paying attention to the needs of potential viewers it’s more about the fact the San
Diego venue is four hours behind the big time east coast market.
Golf Channel Emmy
April 30, 2008 – The Golf Channel has always been something of a joke in the television business…compared
to baseball, football and racing low viewership and unending infomercials. Even some “sophisticated golf
media” have had a field day making fun of everything from programming to production values.
The Orlando-based channel started by Arnold Palmer and Joe Gibbs and now owned by Comcast pulled off a
real coup though when it became a prime outlet for the PGA Tour events this year and now has something else
to crow about.
The Aimpoint virtual graphics the Golf Channel uses to illustrate the line of putts has won a Sports Emmy Award,
the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award. Can it be too far in the future when there’s an award for
Commentators Attire or maybe Golf Product Tie-In to News Items?
It's Not Too Early for Christmas Shopping
April 23, 2008 - I'll give this to you straight. There are golfers' gifts that seem to go over the edge of
reasonableness and the platinum and diamond ball marker is one of them. Shano, well known jewelry
designers, have added a platinum marker with a 1/2 karat of diamonds for a cool $10,200 to their line. I waiting
to find out if it will be any help on those 3-footers.
NEWS FLASH: Tiger’s Human
April 13, 2008 –Trevor Immelman has proven he can stumble and bumble his way over Augusta’s final 18 and
win a major championship while the rest of the “world’s best players” show a they are just as susceptible to the
toughness of the course and difficulty posed by the cool weather and windy conditions as the rest of us would be.
The young South African can be proud of the way he handled himself and even though his 75 the last day was
really ugly he can rest in the knowledge he gets to wear a green jacket plus the opportunity to pick something
really weird for the 2009 Champions dinner.
The folks who should be hanging their heads are many of my fellow golf writers who talked as though Tiger
Woods was preordained to win this the first major of the year and therefore his inevitable taking of the other
three, thereby accomplishing the Holy Grail of golf, the Grand Slam.
The fact of the matter is Woods played like most of the others in the tournament. Though he finished three shots
back in second he had trouble all week keeping the ball in the super wide fairways and certainly putting was not
his strong suit.
He proved he’s human and that’s good for the game.
What a Relief!
April 12, 2008 – The United States Golf Association has finally fixed one of the Rules of Golf that made the least
sense by a new interpretation of Rule 13-4 which will allow raking of one bunker if a player has hit out of it but
into another on the same hole. Stewart Cink was DQ’ed at the Zurich Classic for just his caddie raking a fairway
bunker he walked into to while lining up his shot of a ball laying just outside.
His stroke landed him in a greenside bunker but since his caddie had raked the one in the fairway he was hit
with a DQ after discussing the incident with a rules official the next day.
It all comes down to “testing” the playing surface of the hazard which is still a no-no but the new way the rule will
be applied does not call for a penalty if two different hazards are involved. It’s nice to see the guys in Far Hills
apply some common sense.
Neiman’s Ryder Cup
April 11, 2008 – Leroy Neiman has created a painting to commemorate the 37th Ryder Cup September 16-21,
2008 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky and Neiman fans will be enthusiastic of his capturing of the
action on Valhalla’s 13th hole.
Copies of the original painting are being offered in two versions: unsigned for $50 and signed for $250 plus a
limited edition numbered edition for $4200. If you’re interested visit cobaltartworks.com or call (502) 584-0020.
Els Makes America New Home
Mar. 22, 2008 – Family issues and a publicly stated goal to unseat Tiger Woods at the top of the world ranking
are behind Ernie Els’ move from London to the U.S. Though he says he will buy a home in South Florida he will
continue as one of the most traveled golfers keeping a schedule of events around the globe.
Also Ben, the Els’s six year old son, is autistic and presumably the family feels treatment possibilities are better
in this country than in England.
Sonartec Future In Doubt
Mar 21, 2008 – Former Edmonton Oilers’ owner Peter Pocklington has been in the golf business since investing
in the old Golf Gear International, makers of the well regarded Tsunami driver and after gaining control
essentially closing the California based company. It seems he has done something similar according to an
Adam Schupak story in the recent Golfweek issue.
Pocklington bought struggling club maker Sonartec last spring for an undisclosed amount and as for Feb. 29
fired the staff and shutter the company headquarters. In a 15 complaint lawsuit filed Feb. 13 by the former
president/CEO of Sonartec Toru Kamatari, among other items breach of contract is cited.
Adams Golf
Mar. 17, 2008 – With 2007 net sales of $94.6 million Adams Golf (ADGF) had an increase of $18 million over the
previous year. Profits were up $0.4 million to $9.4 million for the club maker who was recently accepted for listing
by NASDAQ.
No Surprise
Mar. 16, 2008 - Tiger Woods not only pulled off a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but as the tournament was
getting underway he was named, the 10th year a row, recipient of the 2007 Mark H. McCormack Award given to
the player ranked number one for the greatest number of weeks in the calendar year. Woods has been number
on for 135 and to save you doing the math, that just over 2 1/2 years.
Golf Geek Alert
Mar. 7, 2008 – Some of us are really into the technical aspects of golf. For those like myself who are interested in
getting an inside view of equipment manufacturing and in this case golf balls the National Geographic Channel
program “Who Knew? With Marshall Brain” will do a feature on the Titleist ball operation including their R&D
facility and manufacturing plant. Air time is 9:00 pm next Thursday Mar. 13.
Maybe a Do-Over for this Birdie
Mar. 7, 2008 – Journeyman PGA Tour player Tripp Isenhour, might want to rethink his reaction to distractions
while on the course. According to a front page article in today’s Orlando Sentinel, he faces misdemeanor
charges and the wrath of bird lovers after killing a red-shouldered hawk during a taping session of Play Like a
Pro.
Red-tail hawks are a protected species and Isenhour said the bird was screeching loud enough to disturb the
taping. After a attempt to frighten the bird away by hitting iron shots at it he switched to a driver, hitting and killing
it on the tenth drive.
Faldo Messed Up But Not That Bad
Feb. 27, 2008 - Is there anyone so naïve as to believe golf equipment manufacturers don’t work very hard to get
the most prominent tour players to endorse their products? They do it the old fashioned way by paying them
large sums of money and there is certainly nothing wrong with that…except that the average golfer sometimes
forgets Tiger or any other big name tourster might not be using a particular ball or driver were it not for the money
they were receiving.
This has been going on since golf became an economically viable business, certainly for more than 100 years.
The newest flap (media and otherwise) was started by Nick Faldo’s comments from the broadcast booth during
the Sunday morning round of the Accenture Match Play Championship about the Nike One Platinum being ill
suited for the average weekend warrior compared to the TaylorMade TP Black.
It’s true Hall-of-Famer Faldo isn’t out on the circuit any longer and it’s true until two years ago he was a paid
endorser of Nike products and it’s true he signed a deal with TaylorMade-adidas last week, however what’s the
big deal?
It may not have been the most judicious thing Faldo could have said and it may reveal a lack of journalistic
professionalism by him but the reaction from the media has been way out of proportion. That’s no surprise given
the feeding frenzy state of mind many media-types have and especially since the Golf Channel issued an
apologetic statement distancing itself from their star personality who complicated everything by a public hand-
wringing.
What Faldo said fell far short of being worth the articles and over the top opinions of the past few days…gee, it’s
almost like his words were as serious a mistake as Kelly Tilghman’s.
Cuba – the New Myrtle Beach?
Feb. 23, 2008 - According to a Wall Street Journal today there are at least a dozen golf course developments in
the works on the island of Cuba being built by companies based in Great Britain, Canada and Spain.
While this probably doesn't’t qualify Cuba as any threat to America’s number one golf destination Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina it does raise some interesting questions about the mixture of golf and world politics. Though
dictator Fidel Castro has announced his brother Raul will succeed him and Raul is known to be interested in
long term development of tourism to Cuba, there are potentially overwhelming problems.
At the top of the list are property rights in the Communist ‘paradise’ where real estate leases are being used by
developers to secure land for their projects since according to Cuban law land may not be purchased or sold. In
addition, tourists expect modern services and infrastructure not to mention personal service from locals, each of
which is probably very hard to find in a nation isolated for the better part of a half-century.
Airport Screening & the Snap Slice
Feb. 20, 2008 - Ever wonder about how your golf bag gets through airport security screening? We’re all familiar
with the long lines and scanners for carry on bags, but golf bags? It seems over size luggage such as golf bags,
in or out of a carry cover, are inspected by hand…one at a time by Transport Security Administration personnel.
Technology is now providing a partial solution with the installation of explosive detection equipment at two
airports, Denver and Jacksonville, to check golf bags, ski carriers and the like. Made by Reveal Imaging
Technologies, Inc. of Bedford, Mass., the units are part of a pilot program for automated inspection of bags up to
eight feet long.
Now if they just could do something about the snap slice in my driver.
Golf in 8th Place!
Feb. 17, 2008 - It’s a presidential year meaning we are all familiar with exit polls, party polls, issue polls…polls
ad nauseam. So it is with some trepidation I report to you the rankings from the latest Harris Interactive poll done
each year online asking the question, “which is your favorite sport?”
There is no surprise…men’s golf stayed in eighth place behind pro football, baseball, college football, auto
racing, hockey, pro basketball and college basketball. Our game has been named number one by between 4%
and 6% of respondents for over 20 years. This in spite the good efforts of the PGA of America, the USGA, PGA
Tour, LPGA, the First Tee, Play Golf America and maybe thousands of other local programs spending million of
dollars and untold numbers of man- and woman-hours.
Doesn’t seem right but then no one ever said life was fair. By the way and in case you’re interested, women’s
golf polled less than 0.5%.
Creamer & Sorenstam Join Tavistock Cup Teams
Feb. 14, 2008 - Word is the 'made-for-real-estate-sales-promotion' Tavistock Cup March 24-25 between
crosstown rival teams from Lake Nona Golf & Country Club and Isleworth both in suburban Orlando will include
two of the LPGA's best.
Paula Creamer who recently purchased a home in Isleworth joins the team captained by Mark O’Meara for the
first time and Annika Sorenstam will be on Ernie Els’ Lake Nona team for the third time. No word as yet if
Isleworth’s most famous resident Tiger Woods will be playing but one expects he might since O’Meara is one of
his best friends.
This is the fifth year of the Tavistock Cup featuring competing teams from the two exclusive communities both
owned by Tavistock Group. Purse for the Golf Channel televised event is $3.8 million with the winning team
donating $1 million to charity. Among the prizes up for grabs for the team with a hole-in-one are Cadillac
Escalades, Correct Craft Air Nautique boats and Full Swing Golf simulators.
St. Andrews Links Callaway
Feb. 8, 2008 - The St Andrews Links Trust, the organization that runs the golf facilities in St. Andrews, Scotland
including the Old Course, has linked a licensing deal with Callaway Golf for the Carlsbad, Calif. company to
produce dual branded clubs, balls and accessories. This could be a virtual golf mine for both since Callaway is
working hard to increase its market share around the world and St. Andrews plays host for the Open
Championship in 2010. Terms of the five year agreement were not announced.
Tiger vs. The King
Jan. 28, 2008 - Not only did Tiger Woods tie Arnold Palmer for fourth in all time number of victories on the PGA
Tour at 62 after his win of the Buick Invitational, but he did it in a lot less time. Arnie was 43 and a pro for 19 years
when he captured his last victory on the regular tour the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic. Tiger however just
turned 32 the end of December and is in his 11th season. A sign of the times though, Woods win paid $936,000
while The King's final win $32,000.
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