Bleacher Report - Golf

PGA Calender Should Add Two Majors

Sameer Damre — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:07 -0500

The golfing world should consider increasing the number of majors from four to six because the interest in weekly non-major golf tournaments is generally not very high unless Tiger Woods is playing.

The major golfing organizations (in the United States and Europe, in particular) should get together to discuss expanding the majors. The addition will not dilute the importance of the current four, but rather generate even more excitement for golf.

I would propose that these majors not be played in the United States or Europe. They should be expanded to new continents that do not currently host a major. They should be played during the summer months of December through February in the southern hemisphere nations of South Africa and Australia.

Both countries have rich golfing traditions and have produced many fine golfers during their history, which is quite amazing given their relatively small populations, Australia has about 21 million people, and diverse sporting interests.

During a large part of its history, South Africa was under apartheid. The game was effectively restricted to the minority white population which today constitutes around 4.3 million people. Despite the negative and controversial history of apartheid, South Africa has produced one of the greatest golf players in history, Gary Player, who won all four majors. Other South African major-winners include Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman.

I believe golf players in America and Europe would welcome majors in South Africa and Australia. Many are already playing in golf tournaments in these places. Tiger Woods just won the Australian Masters in Melbourne.

South Africa and Australia deserve to have majors given the popularity of golf in each country, the quality and quantity of golfers each produces and the relatively high number of golf courses each has. In short, South Africa and Australia are important golfing nations and it is mind-boggling that no majors are played there.

Australian golf in particular would receive a much needed boost. It took a $3 million appearance fee to lure Tiger Woods to the Australian Masters this year but otherwise that tournament's interest and the business of Australian golf in general has been in decline recently. Golf has an obligation to do what it can to help the game not only survive but also flourish in Australia.

Possible locations for these two majors. The South African Open which is played on the beautiful Cape Peninsula near Cape Town and the Australian Masters in Melbourne could be converted into majors.

It is not clear how a major becomes a major, but with universal agreement by top players such as Tiger Woods, major golfing bodies of the world and, of course, American television networks, it would seem that the addition of two majors could be accomplished.

Read more Golf news on BleacherReport.com

The Magic of Disney For Ames

Andy Reistetter — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:57:06 -0500

On the enchanted back nine where there are no hole yardage numbers posted on any tee box in the Magic Kingdom for fear the guests would be stressed, Stephen Ames continued strolling merrily down the middle of the fairways with his 10-year-old son Ryan at his side making birdies like they were included in the price of admission on his way to his fourth PGA title, his second at Disney in three years.

A family man won at a family resort.

"I enjoy life. I enjoy the quality of my life. I enjoy the fact of watching my kids grow up. I think that's what's important about life," is how Ames characterized his life on the PGA Tour after receiving the hardware from Mickey Mouse and his wife Minnie.

Not to understate his intensity for the game when compared against the likes of Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh, the 2006 Players Champion stated the obvious: "I've put my time in where I need to practice and get myself ready for each event each year."

Though he closely followed that statement with a "but" and the most obvious: "I do enjoy the quality of life that I live in Calgary with my family, and to me family comes first. Golf is secondary. It always has been."

The 45-year-old golfer born in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago with dual citizenship in Canada has won $2 million in each of the past four years on the PGA Tour.

Second on a spectacular Floridian sunny and warm November day were Justin Leonard and George O'Neill. Both exited the playoff with mojo and title-killing three putts— Leonard's an official 3-putt from 63 feet on the first playoff hole and McNeill's an unofficial one from off the fringe and over a ridge 30 feet from the hole on the second playoff hole.

All four Falls Series events played on the PGA TOUR ended with playoffs.

Leonard who barely missed a 17-footer to win in regulation thought he had made it with a fist pump that was stopped mid-pump. He was visibly disappointed likely because this playoff loss runs his playoff record to won two, lost five.

"To be this close and not be able to pull it out is disappointing. I had such good putts in regulation on 18, and you know, obviously I thought I made it by my reaction. Surprised it didn't go in, but you know, it is what it is. I hit the ball great. Didn't putt that well this weekend, and you know, that was the difference."

It would have been the third straight year with a victory for the 37-year-old Texan and 12-time winner on the PGA Tour who resurrected his game a decade after his glory years as a player when he won the 1997 Open at Royal Troon and the 1998 Players Championship, lost the 1999 Open at Carnoustie to Paul Lawrie amidst the Jean Van de Velde collapse and made that huge putt on the 17^th green at The Country Club to ignite the American 1999 Ryder Cup victory.

McNeill, a Florida State alumni and journeyman of sorts has had three solid years on tour after winning the 2006 Qualifying Tournament, a.k.a. Q-School. He won the Frys.com tournament in the Fall series of his rookie year.

"Eagle" McNeill, who eagled three straight par-5s starting with both par-5s on the back nine on Saturday before finishing bogey-double bogey, came back to the field and was caught by Ames' 66-64 and Leonard's 71-67 when all was said and done at the end of regulation on Sunday afternoon.

McNeill also lost in a playoff to Martin Laird two tournaments ago at Justin Timberlake's event in Las Vegas. The 34-year-old golfer won there in 2007 when it was the Frys.com Open which is now held in Arizona.

Though ranked No. 1 in putting this week in terms of total putts per round and average putts when hitting a green in regulation in the end the difference between victory and defeat came down to six footer and the ultimate rim out on the second playoff hole.

"(My putt) made a full 360. It went down in the hole and came back at me. So obviously that's not what I was looking for. I was looking for it to go in. But I guess we're looking for them all to go in."

Both Nicholas Thompson (T11) and Jimmy Walker (T15) found the magic they were looking for this week and moved into the Top 125 on the money list at the season's final event.

David Duval, playing on a Top 50 career money list exemption this year and a runner-up at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black along with Robert Garrigus dropped out of the top 125 this week.

That puts them behind the Golden 25 from the Nationwide Tour and a similar number expected from Q-School finals the first week of December as far as priority ranking goes on the PGA TOUR in 2010.

Still though partial exemption is not anything like full exemption when it comes to getting into tournaments.

As Porky Pig would say "That's All Folks" for the 2009 edition of the PGA TOUR.

But in the Magic Kingdom it was a storybook ending for Stephen Ames and his son Ryan.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel.

He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to Andy@MrHickoryGolf.net

Read more Golf news on BleacherReport.com

Doug Barron: The Face Of Performancing Enhancing Drugs in Golf

Michael Fitzpatrick — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:17:31 -0500

Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Shawne Merriman, and Barry Bonds are names commonly associated with steroids in professional sports.

Doug Barron is not.

At 40-years-old, Baron is slightly overweight, has a heart condition, was diagnosed with an unusually low testosterone level back in 2005 and has never won a PGA Tour event in his 17 years as a professional golfer.

Heck, Doug Barron is a walking billboard for those people who still think that golf is not a sport and professional golfers are not athletes.

But in an almost comical chain of events, Doug Barron has now become the face of performance-enhancing drugs in golf.

He is the first man to be officially suspended by the PGA Tour for testing positive for banned substances.

Less than two weeks ago, The PGA Tour announced that Barron would be suspended for one year after testing positive for testosterone and propranolol (a drug that could be used to steady nerves) at the St. Jude Classic.

“You could give me a list of 500 tour players and I would not pick Doug Barron’s name off the list to be first,” Brad Faxon said on the Golf Channel.

Barron has been plagued with so many physical ailments over the years that his lawyer is arguing that he is “a disabled individual” as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When the PGA Tour issued its list of banned substances in July of 2008, Barron immediately asked for an exemption based on his his physical condition, but was denied by the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour has stated that Barron’s “blatant and intentional use of two different prohibited substances despite the denial of his T.U.E. applications” was the cause of his suspension.

Barron released a statement on November 2nd saying the following: “I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the tour or its players resulting from my suspension. I want my fellow tour members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on tour.”

Gain an unfair advantage?

It seems as if this guy required these medications in order to simply stand upon two legs for the duration of 18 holes.

"He was using these drugs for medical reasons, not to enhance performance,” said Barron’s Lawyer, Jeffrey Rosenblum.

Barron is currently awaiting a decision by the Federal Magistrate in Memphis, Tennessee to see if his suspension will be overturned and whether or not he will be allowed to attend the second stage of the PGA Tour’s qualifying school.

There’s nothing funny about performance enhancing drugs in sports.

However, it’s difficult to look at the new poster boy for the PGA Tour’s anti-doping policy and not at least chuckle.

Read more Golf news on BleacherReport.com

At $3 Million, Tiger Woods Still Comes with a Temper

Michael Fitzpatrick — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:47:30 -0500

Tiger Woods is currently taking part in the 2009 JBWere Australian Masters, which is being held this week in Melbourne, Australia.

The JBWere Australian Masters is co-sanctioned event between the Australasia and European Tours, and is being run by Woods’ management company, IMG.

Outside of the PGA Tour, players are allowed to accept appearance fees, and Woods was given $3 million just to show up at the JBWere Australian Masters.

$1.5 came from IMG and the other $1.5 came from the Australian Government.

The $3 million has so far proved to be money well-spent as a crowd of more than 25,000 has been following Woods' every move at Kingston Heath Golf Club over the past five days.

However, when the Australian Government wrote Woods a $1.5 million check, they probably didn’t envision some their citizens being put in harms way as a result.

Still running hot from a missed five-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole, Woods pushed yet another tee shot into the right rough on the 13th.

What came next was an ugly scene to say the least, even when considering the numerous temper tantrums Woods has exhibited throughout the 2009 season.

As Woods eyed his tee shot heading towards the 10-deep gallery lining the right-side of the fairway, he completely lost it.

He threw his club into the ground with such force that it bounced off the tee box and flew at least three-deep into a gallery that had probably been waiting out in the Australian heat for two hours just to catch a small glimpse at the world’s No. 1 golfer.

Woods’ club missed a woman and a child by less than six feet and narrowly missed the heads of several men whose faces had previously been painted with ear-to-ear smiles before seeing a large titanium driver with a Nike logo on it speeding directly towards them.

It’s not often that you see Tiger Woods look embarrassed by anything he’s done on a golf course, but on this occasion, "embarrassed" is the only word to describe the look on Woods’ face as he walked over to retrieve his driver from the gallery.

Luckily for the crowd surrounding the 16th tee box, Woods managed to find the fairway and they were subsequently sparred from a flying Nike driver.

When Woods lipped out a short birdie putt on the 16th green he paused and gave the hole a cold stare as if couldn’t believe it had just spit out the golf ball of the world’s No. 1 player.

However, Woods should have known by this point that the golf Gods do not look kindly upon those who throw clubs at the heads of innocent bystanders.

To make matters worse, Woods slammed his putter down and let out, well, lets just say a loud expletive, after a poor lag putt on the 17th green. He was rewarded by the golf Gods for this action by missing another short birdie putt on the 18th.

In typical Woods fashion, he still found a way to tie for the lead after 54-holes despite his extremely poor play on Saturday.

However, as the renowned sports writer Grantland Rice wrote in 1963, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”

Woods’ extreme temper is nothing new to golf fans. But this most recent tantrum was one of his worst for several reasons.

He is not only representing himself this week but he’s also representing IMG and the Australian government, who each paid him $1.5 million to attend the JB Were Australian Masters.

Aside from IMG and the Australian government, he’s also representing the PGA Tour and his home country of America. Luckily Woods’ playing partner and fellow American Jason Dufner was nothing short of a true gentleman all afternoon. We wouldn’t want us getting a bad reputation overseas or anything now would we.

As the dust begins to settle on Woods’ latest tamper tantrum, the Australian Government is probably contemplating whether or not the $1.5 million would have been better spent on bringing a loveable lefty to town instead.

Read more Golf news on BleacherReport.com