Katie Connors. Miss Iowa 2010. In the news recently when Washington Nationals pitcher Miguel Batista "insulted" her for this comment;

Batista told reporters on Tuesday night that Nationals fans booing him, after he was named as the emergency starter to replace phenom Stephen Strasburg, is akin to showing up at an event where Miss Universe is supposed to be in attendance and instead you end up having Miss Iowa. "Those kind of boos," he said.

Connors responded to the slight, telling the Des Moines Register that she is certain she can throw a pitch or two, but wonders if Batista can walk the runway in a swimsuit.

BTW, she throws out the first pitch tonight at the Nationals game.

Our excellent AG publisher Robert Rodriguez fills in for Craig when we broadcast from Crest Infiniti in Plano Saturday morning from 8-10am. We debate the ridiculous ruling by a Future's Tour official and check if the Greenbrier Classic's bribe to win $100 is working. Is this Craig's Wally Pipp moment?

Tune in while you're skulling baawlzzz...

Rick Arnett

Erik Compton is living proof you gotta have heart. Specifically, 3 hearts. He's also leading the first round of the Greenbrier Classic. Started +2 before going 9-under on the final 15 holes. If he wins, its not only the best story by far this decidedly bland Tour season, but dare I say even trumps Tiger's 2008 U.S. Open win. Three hearts beat one broken leg.

Rick Arnett

The ongoing drama of Sarah Brown vs. the Duramed Futures Tour has reached a supposedly satisfying conclusion. This after Brown was DQ'd during the final round for allegedly using non-conforming wedge grooves (since found they were indeed legal).

"Sarah and I felt it was extremely important to get this issue behind us as soon as possible and am pleased that we have reached an agreement," Keith Brown said. "It is a confidential agreement. We can't give any details of it."

You can see later next week what that amount was by looking at the Futures money rankings. The Browns asked for $5,000 plus entry fees into next LPGA Q-School. My guess its somewhere in between--up to $10,000 or so.

However, the bigger issue is the confusing groove edict by the USGA causing this snafu in the first place.

What the USGA needed was, for lack of a better name, a School of Grooves. It should have been open to one and all. Golf associations, organizations and players should have been invited to attend.

Frankly, the situation has become terribly confusing. Many rules officials are not prepared to deal with the ramifications of the changeover in grooves. Most pros are blindly taking the word of someone else (usually a manufacturer or tour rep) that their wedges are permissible for competition. Most amateurs don’t understand whether their wedges are conforming or not. (Amateurs aren't affected until 2024).

Rick Arnett

The excellent golf writer Jaime Diaz pens an extensive piece outlining the battle of short game gurus. Stan Ultley vs. Dave Pelz vs. Dave Stockton. It's an age old circus. Recently the Stack and Tilt phase brought much pub, but who's touting it these days? Bottom line is milk it for all its worth before the next flavor of the day appears.

"It's sort of been overdue," says David Leadbetter, the seminal figure in the earlier rise of full-swing instructors. "Players used to learn short-game shots and get putting tips from other players, but now there are experts in every area. Putting was always considered an art, almost too mysterious to teach. But there is more science attached to it now, and maybe for the first time there's more knowledge than opinion."

None of the great putters of the last 50 years -- Bob Charles, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, et al. -- had a regular coach to help them on the greens. The same goes for today's acknowledged best: Woods, Steve Stricker, Brad Faxon and Brian Gay. For that matter, Stockton and Utley had no putting coach besides their boyhood teachers. The resistance is evident in the fact that the most recent partnerships were not initiated by the player. Stockton was suggested to Mickelson by his caddie, Jim Mackay, as Utley was to Garcia by Billy Foster. Stockton, at the behest of Mickelson, offered his services to Scott.

But when Stockton seemed to be the pivotal figure in Mickelson's immediate improvement, and when Scott and Justin Rose won soon after receiving a lesson from Dave Jr., it became

Continue Reading ""The Buzz In Their Court Right Now""

Arianny Celeste. 34-24-33. Hot mix of Hispanic and Filipino. Born in Las Vegas. UFC Octagon girl since 2006. #23 on Maxim's top-100 hots for 2010.pilates, kickboxing, muy thai, dogs, and her family.

Dislikes: cheese, sour cream, red meat, rude, judgemental,lazy, people.

Golfweek updates the strange saga of Sarah Brown's mistaken DQ at the Duramed Futures event last week gets murkier.

Brown’s father, Keith, said Wednesday that Zayra Calderon, the tour’s chief executive officer, proposed $2,000 as compensation. Tour officials would not confirm any offer but said they have apologized to Sarah Brown and her father, which the Browns confirmed. The amount would cover Brown’s entry fees for the final four events of the year.

“It’s not that (the rules official) made a mistake,” Keith Brown said. “Everyone makes mistakes. It was the arrogance to say, ‘I’m pulling her off the course."

So, this is what the Brown's are demanding:

--$5,638, the amount Sarah Brown would’ve earned had she finished The International at Concord at 8-under 208. She was 3 under par for the event when she was removed from the golf course with nine holes remaining.

--A waiver of the entry fee to 2010 LPGA Q-School, a $5,000 value. Brown advanced to the finals last year, finishing 84th.

--An annual seminar for Duramed Futures Tour rules official outlining how to handle difficult situations. “I’d like it to be called the Sarah Brown Seminar,” Keith Brown said.

The Browns would like to be compensated with earnings equal to those for players who finished The International at 8 under par. Brown missed a 12-foot birdie putt as a rules official sifted through her bag, which was in Brown’s line of vision.

That putt would’ve put her at 4 under par. Brown’s best score on the back nine at Beaver Meadow Golf Course during the tournament was 4 under, Keith

Continue Reading "The Intrigue Continues"

Fanhouse.com Mick Elliot wonders if this is the most boring Tour season in memory (since maybe POY Wayne Levy's in 1990)?

The PGA Tour season is steaming hard toward the home stretch and there's something noticeably missing. Namely, a player of the year.

With the majors down to only next month's PGA Championship, the 2010 season is looking very much like an interesting story with no ending.

Phil Mickelson won the Masters and has done little else.

Relatively unknown Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open and Louis Oosthuizen was an even bigger surprise in the British, but what else have they done?

Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Justin Rose and Steve Stricker are the season's only multiple winners, all with two titles -- but none of them majors.

Tiger Woods may be Player of the Year, but he hasn't done diddly on a golf course.

So what happens if they give an award and nobody deserves it?

The most consistent is Lee Westwood who has two top-3 finishes in majors (16th at the U.S. Open) and only won when Robert Garrigus coughed up a 3-shot lead on the final hole. The PGA Championship is still ahead along with the FedEx playoffs, so hopefully someone pulls away from the sleeping pack. Otherwise, the winner is N/A (non-applicable).

Teen Bobby Wyatt shot a 57 yesterday at the Alabama Boys State Junior Championship. He had 5 birdies and an eagle on the par-71, 6,628 yard layout at the Country Club of Mobile. His birdie putt on 18 hung on the lip. Bummer.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "I got off to a fast start with birdies on my first two holes, then was 3-under after four and it kept going from there."

Wyatt has now 3-peated the championship and is headed for the University of Alabama.

Just in the last month we've seen a 58 from Ryo Ishikawa and a 59 from Paul Goydos.

I've said it before. The perfect score is a 54 (essentially a birdie on each hole). Someday, someone is gonna do it. Trust me.

Then again AG fan Mark Plese sends a link describing how shooting a 38-under par is apparently possible.

Golf promoters are starting to think outside the box to attract more fans. First, its allowing cell phones during tournament play (see below). Now, the folks at the Greenbrier Classic are offering a possible C-note incentive to have fans stick by the 18th hole...

Any ace at the par-3 18th hole is worth $1 million -- with $250,000 going to the lucky pro and $750,000 to the tournament's charities. But there's more. Every fan sitting in the stands around the unique finishing hole receives $100.

Should there be a second or third ace on the 162-yard par 3 that day, each would result in the same $1 million payout and distribution. But the fans will receive $500 and $1,000, respectively, for the second and third hole-in-one.

The promotion starts over each day so there is a potential maximum payout of $12 million for the actual aces and about half that much for the fans.

"I hope that will generate some real live excitement," said Jim Justice, who owns the Greenbrier. "There will be a lot of cheering going on for the pros and everything, and I hope they make a beaucoup of hole in ones, and I hope we have a lot of fun with it."

Odds on a Touring pro getting an ace is 2500-1.

Rick Arnett

Happy 20th yesterday to Cheyenne Kimball. 32-23-34. Country singer born in Frisco, Texas. Plays in group Gloriana (top-20 hit Wild at Heart). Won America's Most Talented Kid at age 12, winning $50,000. Both parents are personal trainers.

Officials at the Wyndham Championship will allow the gallery to bring cell phones to the course. The Tour hears the biggest reason fans don't attend events is because they can't live without their cells while watching Tour play.

Tournament officials said Tuesday that they would allow fans to use mobile phones at Sedgefield Country Club - as long as the devices are kept in silent mode and calls are made only in designated areas around the course. Also, fans won't be allowed to take pictures or video during the four competitive rounds.

Tournament officials said Tuesday that they would allow fans to use mobile phones at Sedgefield Country Club - as long as the devices are kept in silent mode and calls are made only in designated areas around the course. Also, fans won't be allowed to take pictures or video during the four competitive rounds.

"We're going to be kind of the guinea pig tournament on allowing this," Brazil said. "We're just going to test it here."

Though wireless devices have long been a no-no on the tour, Moore said he usually hears rings from contraband cell phones roughly once or twice per tournament. He joked that he might send some text messages from the course, then said he expects fans to use their phones responsibly.

Defending champion Ryan Moore said, "People are going to sneak (phones) in anyways, somehow get them in. It's adults. I feel like if you let them actually bring them out there, they'll probably respect the fact that you let them have it and actually go use those (designated) areas a lot more," he said. "People

Continue Reading "Remember to hit Vibrate"

Champions Tour player Ken Green had to WD from the Connecticut Open citing extreme pain in his amputated leg.

"It was just too much for me to handle," he said in a telephone interview. "I just wasn't able to get up and move around. The leg just went nuts, and it was too hard to even put the prosthetic on."

"My hope is to play again [this year], but I'm not real confident it'll happen."

Rick Arnett

 

The addicted to everything singer Amy Winehouse has found a new drug. Golf. She's reportedly taking lessons in St. Lucia. But the real-life Caddyshack character is already wearing out her welcome.

“She’s been banned from hotels, the bars don’t want her there and locals see her as a nuisance when she’s drunk.

“Her friends have all left and gone back home, her mum and dad couldn’t stay in St Lucia with her as she was acting up too much.

“She thinks driving the golf carts is hilarious."

Well, golf is a little more than that, but its a start. I smell a new GolfChannel reality show in the works.

Rick Arnett

Geoffshackelford.com posts more outrageous news from Golfweek on the aftermath of the mistaken DQ of a Duramed Futures Tour player Sarah Brown for illegal grooved wedges. The pompous official really, really screwed up. Oh, he's an idiot too.

“I asked him (Linyard) what he would do if he was wrong,” said Keith Brown, who was caddying for his daughter. “What if he disqualified Sarah and later found out he was wrong? How would he rectify that? He refused to answer. He said: ‘The club is illegal. Sarah is disqualified.’ That was it. It was like giving someone the death penalty on hearsay.”

At this point, there has been no discussion about a financial payment to Brown.

“She had averaged 4 under on the back nine,” her father said. “I pleaded with them to let her finish the round. She had a real shot at a top 5 or even a top 3. Instead, they held up play for probably 20 minutes. They were sitting in a golf cart with a laptop. A crowd was gathering. Sarah was sobbing the whole time. It was a circus.”

“The rules official came up when Sarah was on the ninth green,” said her father. “He started pulling clubs from her bag. She had a 10-foot birdie putt on 9, and she could see him pulling the clubs because he was directly on her line. She burned the edge of the cup on 8, and she did it again on 9. She was ready to play the back.”

Keith Brown, a former mortgage banker who has not had a job for the last year and a

Continue Reading ""It was like giving someone the death penalty on hearsay.""

Kate Beckinsale. 34-24-34. British actress turned 37 yesterday. Pearl Harbor, Underworld, Van Helsing & Aviator. Studied at Oxford University. Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive 2009.

“If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humour was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex!”

Humor is overrated...

Lee Westwood has had some close calls in recent majors. Like 4 top-3's in the last 5. Now, he's got a chance to overtake Tiger Woods with a win at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

Less than one point now separates the world's top three golfers – Westwood, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson – and any of the three could be No1 after the event in Ohio. This will be Mickelson's 6th straight chance to topple Tiger.

Westwood, the world No3, has been in fine form this year, finishing in the top 25 in eight of his 10 Tour events in 2010, and has closed the gap on the current No1, Woods, who has held the position for the past 268 weeks.

Westwood, who is yet to win a major, would become only the 13th world No1 – and only the second Englishman, Nick Faldo having spent nearly two years at the top of the sport – in the 24 years of the official rankings.

Rick Arnett

An author who's written a book on swing tempo says Tiger's winless issues are simply that his tempo is off.

I clocked you at a perfect 21/7 in the second round, when you nearly aced the par-4 18th. I had you at 24/8 on several other shots, which is how you swung a decade ago when you were winning tournaments by Oosthuizen-like margins.

Not following me? A quick tutorial. My research (and a subsequent study by Yale scientists) proved that virtually all tour golfers have the same tempo: a 3-to-1 elapsed-time ratio of backswing to forward swing, measured to impact. This ratio is expressed in frames of broadcast-standard video — e.g., 27 frames to the top of the backswing and nine frames down to impact for a relatively slow, Bobby Jones-type swing (a "27/9" in Tour Tempo parlance). Ernie Els in his prime was a 24/8. Jack Nicklaus was a brisk 21/7.

With the short stick, sad to say, you were the post­scandal Tiger. Two-to-one is the Tour-standard putting tempo, but your practice-green five-footers varied from 16/7 to 17/9. That left you frustrated and grumpy.

I'm sure he'll take that under advisement. By the way, if Woods fails to win the PGA Championship, it will be almost 3 years since his last major victory at the 2008 U.S. Open by the time he tees up at Augusta in April.

Rick Arnett

Sarah Brown of the Duramed Futures Tour was 6 shots back entering the final round of the International. She was using a Ping Tour-W wedge that officials thought had nonconforming grooves. DQ. Well, not so fast.

"Unfortunately, Sarah Brown was the victim of an inaccurate ruling regarding the conformity of her PING Tour-W wedge," said John Solheim, chairman and CEO of Ping. "The wedge is properly identified as conforming to the 2010 'New Groove Rule.' This has been confirmed by the USGA. We're disappointed that the rules officials at the Futures Tour event took the action they did without properly investigating the situation. We've received an apology from the Futures Tour and more importantly, they'll be apologizing to Sarah for the mistake."

At least she wasn't leading...

Rick Arnett  

Dead man walking.

Dean Wilson discovered that holding a six-shot lead with 11 holes left is not a slam dunk. Wilson only managed one birdie and 3 bogeys the rest of the way allowing Carl Pettersson to roar back and take the victory. Wilson is one of many dying to regain his full Tour status and chances like this don't come often enough for these journeymen. 

"I knew exactly what it meant, and I just didn't execute my shots. And that's a little disappointing."

One could almost feel his schincter puckering as the lead shrank. Always a tough watch.

Rick Arnett

Ray Halbritter is the CEO of Nation Enterprises including Turning Stone Resort and Casino. Its the lead sponsor for the Turning Stone tour event (opposite the WGC Bridgestone at Firestone CC). He caused quite the stir by giving himself a sponsor's exemption into the event. He's 60 and says his handicap is down to a 2.

“I had a conversation with the people in charge — myself — and I got lucky and got approved to play,” Halbritter deadpanned, drawing laughter from the gathered media members. He then went on to explain how seriously hard he has worked to make his game respectable.

Good luck with all that. A 2 on the home course is light years from the track he'll face that week. Longer course, higher rough, tougher pins, faster greens and a tough gallery will make him feel like a 20 handicap hack. Oh, and there's the snipes from tour players...

Notah Begay chimes, “Most of it you can’t print,” he said, drawing laughter. “It’s going to be an exercise in controlling nerves. That’s what we do. I’m nervous every day on the first tee. Every player that plays at our level is. It takes a few holes to calm everything down. This will certainly be the biggest event he’s ever played in, and I’m sure there will be a lot of interested spectators coming by just to see how it turns out.”

It'll be a high price to gain some curious PR. You thought Jerry Rice's failed attempt was bad. My guess is Halbritter doesn't break 90.

Rick Arnett

With 3 weeks to go, Tiger Woods is eighth in Ryder Cup points. It's come to the this; Captain Corey Pavin will meet with Woods to gauge his interest to be on the team...he could drop down the standings and need a wild card if the likes of Ricky Barnes and Hunter Mahan outperform him at the Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA in August.

If Tiger does indeed fall to Captain pick status, one wonders what he'll honestly say.

Rick Arnett

Jennifer Walcott. 36C-22-33. Born in Youngstown, OH. Moved to Los Angeles in 2000. Wrote a poem that earned a Readers Digest award. Attended enough Playboy parties to finally be selected a 2001 playmate. Now married to former NFL safety Adam Archuleta.

Played with fellow AG compadres Robert Rodriguez and Jason Wesch yesterday at Texas Star. Good times, especially when greeted by a friendly and hungry troop of raccoons. They surveyed our carts for morsels and gave us dirty looks upon finding nothing. Hey, hit up the cart girl next time...

Rick Arnett

17-year-old Jordan Spieth lost in the second round to a 15-year old. But the ultimate winner in the U.S. Junior Am is only 14. 14. Jim Liu is the youngest ever in the 63-year event. It's hard to be surprised by anything anymore...

Rick Arnett

The SI.com golf boys lament over the struggling events and throw Commish Tim Finchem under the bus. I agree 1000%. The WGC has become the devil. The FedEx run is simply irrelevant.

Godich: Sadly, the weak field is becoming a recurring theme on the PGA Tour. If you’re not a major or one of the handful of other marquee events, chances are that you’re not going to draw a strong field. My rotisserie league is proof of that.

Van Sickle: Inventing the WGC events and the FedEx Cup playoffs completely undermined and devalued all the other regular Tour events and helped create this preoccupation with Tiger and Phil and superstars only. The Tour needs to get back to its roots of democracy, where every event was significant and relevant and not just some qualifier for the FedEx Cup.

Dusek: But does anyone really think that the PGA Tour, getting ready to negotiate the next series of television deals, will do away with the FedEx Cup Playoff system?

Van Sickle: The PGA Tour will do what it has to do to sell the next TV deal. If TV doesn't want it, they'll have to get rid of it. I know the other events would like to strangle it, as sponsors who spend big money to promote their own companies get FedEx signs jammed down their throats at their own tournaments. I'm not sure I'd put up with that if I was a sponsor.

Morfit: I agree with Gary that the Cup just hasn't worked. I find myself thinking, Oh, so five more weeks until we pretend to be excited about

Continue Reading ""WGC and FedEx Cup Ruined the Tour""

January Jones. 36-25-36. Mad Men begins its 4th season this Sunday on AMC. Can't wait. Maybe its 'cause I'm an aging baby boomer. Maybe its the great storyline. Or maybe its the wonderful way Jones fills a screen.

Jordan Spieth was 1-up thru 16 before losing yesterday to 14-year-old Robby Shelton in the U.S. Junior Amateur. Jordan was the talk of the town by finishing 16th at the Nelson in May. But, that's the iffy scenario with match play.

Spieth was attempting to follow Tiger's 3-peating the Jr. Am's. Oh well, onto the next challenge.

Rick Arnett

I was only half kidding when wondering yesterday if the 56 shot at the Nationwide pro-am was played on a 5,000 track. Come to find out I wasn't far off.

Trevor Murphy played Tuesday at the adjacent Gray Course and posted a 14-under par score that included 12 birdies and an eagle. The Gray Course plays to a par 70 at 5,800 yards with 5 of the 10 par-4s measuring less than 326 yards. The longest par 4 is only 400 yards and one of the three par 5s plays to only 460 yards.

Still, a 56 ain't chopped liver no matter the course.

Rick Arnett

Open winner Louis Oosthuizen cash prize is already blowing a hole in his fatter wallet. Typically, some major winners would splurge on an exotic car, big boat or maybe a cool watch. But the son-of-a-farmer Louis opted instead for a John Deere tractor (courtesy of waggleroom.com).

"Being a farm boy, it was one of my big dreams and I got a nice John Deere tractor," said Oosthuizen before the Scandinavian Masters this week . "I made sure that there is space for my little daughter in her car seat next to me, so, yeah, we are going to have a lot of fun in it."


Rick Arnett