Tiger Woods widens lead at AMEX, en route to 6th straight win

It's over, even with 2 rounds left. Tiger Woods widened his lead to 5 strokes, shooting 7-under. It is very possible that Tiger Woods will never lose a tournament again.

Full leaderboard.

Listen to the PGA's podcast of highlights here.

Phil Mickelson in better days

This video was taken before things turned south for Phil Mickelson this year. It's eerily prophetic now on what led to Lefty's demise.

Phil Mickelson quits golf -- for now

After a terrible Ryder Cup performance, Phil Mickelson pulled out of the prestigious AMEX Championship this week. In fact, Lefty has pulled out of the PGA Grand Slam in November, a celebration of the 4 major winners in Kauai, Hawaii, and says he won't play competitively again for the rest of 2006. (More here)

Has his final hole debacle at the U.S. Open completely zapped Mickelson of his mo-jo?

Tiger Woods poised to win 6 PGA events in a row

Tiger Woods shot an 8-under 63 at the AMEX Championship in London, pulling a 1-stroke lead. Tiger eagled the closing par 5 18th hole. A victory this week would give Tiger 6-in-a-row for PGA individual play events.

Tiger said he considers his win-streak over after he lost in the World Match Play event two weeks ago and the Ryder Cup: "I'm going for six in a row on our tour, but not six in a row tournament-wise because I've played two since then and lost both." The PGA still considers his streak alive because the World Match Play was not a PGA event, and the Ryder Cup is a team event.

Full leaderboard, and here.

Back to US Dominance... A stroke play event!

After being destroyed in the Ryder Cup last weekend, many (J.J. Henry, Vaughn Taylor, and Phil aren't playing and Lehman withdrew to attend Lord Byron's funeral) of the US Ryder Cup teams is back at it in this weekend's World Golf Championships American Express Championships at The Grove in Hertfordshire, England.

And looking at the leaderboard, there is not much surprise....

Woods is leading at -6 thru 9 with Cink and Padraig Harrington tied for second at -5.

However, the more interesting stat...

US Ryder Cup participants over par -- 1 (Toms)
Euro Ryder Cup participants over par -- 3 (Westwood, Casey, and Olazabal)

Maybe the US just sucks at team/match play competition, but can certainly play stroke tournaments...

"Lord Byron" Nelson dies at 94

Sad news to report. The golf legend Byron Nelson passed away today at the age of 94 years old. Nelson, a winner of 5 majors, holds the single season record of 11 straight victories (which was a part of 18 victories in 1945). He retired at the young age of 34 to work on his ranch. His tournament, the Byron Nelson Classic, is a perennial favorite among PGA players. More from ESPN.

The Big Easy report

Like most golf fans, I spent a lot of this past weekend in front of the television watching the Ryder Cup at the K Club in Ireland. I’ve always thought it is one of the best sporting events in the world, but even by the normal high standards you expect in this event, I reckon this year’s Cup was really something extra special. The Irish put on a great show out there. And it’s hard to imagine a team playing better together than the Europeans did this time around. It was an incredible performance.

If you think about the millions of people who would have been watching at home, this was a great advert for the game as a whole. The golf was very competitive, but it was played in the right spirit, which is always good to see. I thought the standard of golf played was incredible – I mean, the European team put on the best short game show I think I’ve ever seen. Man, the chips and putts were going in from everywhere! That’s always going to be hard to live with. But I thought the Americans were very classy in defeat. And the galleries were amazing. (More from the Ernie Els blog)

Tiger Woods searches for answers to Ryder Cup slump

Tiger Woods identified three ways to improve the Ryder Cup team: (1) get younger players on the team who can play, (2) start making some putts, and (3) pick US sites to host the Ryder Cup that are played regularly by the PGA.

"They have a younger crop of players that are playing well. When our youngest player is 30 years old, that's not a positive thing. They have Luke (Donald) and Sergio (Garcia), Paul Casey, all in their 20s. We don't have anybody in their 20s on the team. And all three guys I just mentioned have won numerous tournaments around the world; most of our guys in our 20s haven't won tournaments yet," Tiger said.

My take: I can't argue too much with (2) or (3). The site of the next Ryder Cup is Valhalla, which will not have been played on the PGA tour for 8 years. As Tiger said, there's no home field advantage there. The PGA should have picked Firestone C.C. in Akron, where Tiger Woods basically owns the course.

I don't think the age of the players this year really mattered. Sean O'Hair, Lucas Glover, and J.B. Holmes are all in their twenties and have won on the PGA tour. Tom Lehman had a chance to pick any of these players, particularly Lucas Glover, but didn't. The team already had 4 rookies, so it's understandable for Lehman to go with experience. What Tiger is missing is that for every player you add onto the team, you have to remove one of the other "older" players. My guess is that at least Lucas Glover and Sean O'Hair will make the next squad, and they will still be in their twenties. So which "older" player would you like to see replaced? Phil Mickelson?

And, Tiger, man, the reason these kids have not won more on the PGA tour is that you keep on winning all the tournaments. Maybe they should start playing on the European tour?

Ryder Cup: it's not as bad as it looks for US team

The U.S. team has lost 3 Ryder Cups in a row. So what? Sure, they got drubbed 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 in the last two Cups. Sure, the U.S. team got outplayed again. But I don't think it's as bad for the U.S. as people are making it out to be.

You have to remember that the scoring system for the Ryder Cup means that changing any win to a loss is effectively a "2 point" swing. For example, if Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco -- who had gone 3-0-1 at the 2005 President's Cup as a team -- would have swept their 4 team matches, the score would have been: 14 1/2 Europe and 13 1/2 U.S. And, if Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk (2-1-1 in the President's Cup) had also gone 3-1 in team play this year, the score would have been 14 1/2 U.S. and 13 1/2 Europe, and the U.S. would have won.

The numbers basically mean that if Phil Mickelson/Chris DiMarco and Tiger Woods/Jim Furyk had played better (and the rest of the U.S. team had played the same as they did), the U.S. would have won. But unfortunately, Mickelson and DiMarco did not get anything going, while Woods and Furyk could only manage a 2-2 split. That ain't going to cut it against the Euros.

The Ryder Cup awards

Best Player: Sergio Garcia (4-1)
Worst Player: Phil Mickelson (0-4-1)

Best Shot: Paul Casey, ace on 14; Scott Verplank, ace on 14
2d Best Shot: Darren Clarke's 100 foot putt Sunday; Darren Clarke's chip in on 16 Saturday
Worst Shot: NBC showing the streaker on 18's huge, flabby butt -- without censoring!

Best Call: Captain Ian Woosnam picking Darren Clark and Lee Westwood, who finished undefeated for the European side

Most Bizarre Moment: Caddie Steve Williams almost slipping and falling into the creek, and in the process dropping Tiger's 9-iron completely in the water

Most Gracious Moment: Irishman Paul McGinley conceding a 30-foot birdie putt to JJ Henry after McGinley had already birdied 18 himself; Darren Clarke breaking down and weeping after winning in singles today and getting a hug from his caddie

Ryder Cup: European domination continues in Tiger Woods era

It used to be the conventional wisdom that the Europen team was better at the team play format in the Ryder Cup, but were much weaker in the singles format -- where the U.S. team typically dominated. After today's routing of the U.S. team in singles, that is no longer the case.

The Europeans went 8-3-1, and it should have been 9-3, but Paul McGinley graciously conceded JJ Henry a 30 footer for birdie. Frankly, the European team appeared to have no weaknesses this past week, while the U.S. team had plenty. Just as in world basketball play, the tide has shifted to where the U.S. is no longer the perennial favorite to win the Ryder Cup.

Validating the record-setting victory of 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 at Oakland Hills two years ago, the Europeans equalled that "beat down" of the U.S. team. It wasn't even close. The European players played better, and more passionately and relaxed, in the Ryder Cup. They deserve all the credit in the world for figuring out a way to consistently beat the U.S. team, even when the U.S. has probably the greatest golfer that ever played in Tiger Woods. That is perhaps the most baffling part about this all. The Ryder Cup is the one thing that Tiger Woods has failed to leave his imprint on.

So where does this leave the U.S. team? Well, it's back to the drawing board. Captain Tom Lehman put together a good blue print for the Ryder Cup, but it didn't work. Nor did Hal Sutton's plan two years ago, nor Curtis Strange's, five years ago. Something needs to change, either in the selection of U.S. players or the preparation of U.S. players. Perhaps the Captain should select all the players on the team except for the top 2 point getters, and the previous Ryder Cup records of each player should be taken into account in the selection process. Call me crazy, but maybe the U.S. team should hold tryouts in team and match play format to determine the Ryder Cup players.

If all else fails, the U.S. should figure out a way to change the rules so that Geoff Ogilvy and Ernie Els can play for the U.S. squad.

Ryder Cup 2006 Reflection: What about Woods' and DiMarco's losses?

Without taking away from Darren Clarke's loss, I wonder why the US team did not rally around each other in similar fashion. I was really surprised that the US team did not rally around the fact that Woods' father and DiMarco's mother were lost this year as well. It appeared to me, having watched most of the matches, that the US team was playing without a purpose. As Lehman stated that the US team played with their hearts out... I don't understand why the US team didn't find a similar cause, when they had similar losses within their team, that the Euro's did. In fact, it almost seemed as though the US team was afraid to beat Clarke and friends, because it would have been immoral and unacceptable.

Also, with regards to Douglas's last post, Bill Clinton as 2008 captain... Especially in a political year, probably not going to happen. Also, Golf is a game of Gentlemen, and I doubt that Clinton and some of his antics would still allow him to be considered a "gentleman" in the golfing sense.

Finally, I loved Verplank's comments after he won. Basically, he stated his frustration with Lehman taking him out for the afternoon fourman matches on saturday. His point revolved around the fact that he realized that he wasn't playing with his best game, but realized that his job as a "teammate" was to make sure that Johnson, who was playing awesome, would maintain his composure and insure that his team would win their point. Sometimes, and I think that the US team has a hard time doing so in the "team" formats, partners are required to pick each other up and make sure that they are doing what is best for the team. I'm sure that many of us have played in events with guys who stomp around and bitch and moan after hitting bad shots and it affects us. There is something awesome about a player, who even if he or she is playing bad, still make you play better. That is what the US team needs more of.

One more thing... What was Lehman doing playing Phil and DiMarco together every match except the last one? Obviously, they were playing poorly together and maybe they needed a "shake up" from coach lehman.

Some quick last day Ryder Cup thoughts

With the US going into the Ryder Cup singles trailing 10-6, I have these three quick thoughts:

1. A quick glance at the singles pairings should suggest anything is possible; were this not to Ryder Cup, the US player might be favored in most of the matches. And yet, I fear that Europeans might have the Cup wrapped up before most of the later groups even make the turn.

2. If Europe rolls over the US again, which would give the Euros 3 straight dominant victories, Sergio gets my vote as the all-time European MVP. Seve and Faldo and Monty all helped make the Ryder Cup competitive, but Sergio has helped the Euros become and play like heavy favorites.

3. Might it be time to have a non-golfer captain the US team? It is, of course, easy to second-guess choices by captains when teams lose, but if a team loses those choices all deserve to be second guessed. Here is a silly, but provocative, suggestion for heading the 2008 US Ryder Cup team: Bill Clinton.

UPDATE: Another stunningly unimpressive US showing in the singles has resulted in the second straight Ryder Cup blowout by the Europeans. (Details here.) I now think that if the US cannot right this ship in 2008, the Ryder Cup will no longer be an event to get excited about.

Ryder Cup: US team in serious trouble, down 7 1/2 to 4 1/2

The European team continued to outplay the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup. In the marquee matchups in the morning, the U.S. team was routed. (Full recap here).

Sergio Garcia, paired with Jose Maria Olazabal, beat the power team of Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco, 3-2. There is no question that Sergio Garcia is the best player in the history of the Ryder Cup, as Johnny Miller asserted on NBC today. But our own allCarry had the call yesterday here.

Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood shellacked Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk, 3-2. Ian Woosnam now looks like a genius for picking these 2 as his captain's picks.

It's not over yet, but the U.S. team is in a world of hurt. NBC's Johnny Miller was spot on with his analysis again: you can't expect to win as the U.S. team when your horses of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson keep on losing match after match in the Ryder Cup. This is not about having 4 Ryder Cup rookies. This is about your top guns not performing and getting flat outplayed. Tiger's losing Ryder Cup record of 8-13-2 is inexplicable for someone who, in close to every other category, is the best player ever.

Follow the afternoon matches, live. If the U.S. team does not rebound in the afternoon, this Ryder Cup will be all but over.

Ryder Cup: Is Sergio Garcia the best Ryder Cup player ever?

After soundly beating Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk in foursomes, Sergio Garcia commented with satisfaction: "It's always nice beating Tiger."

USA Network flashed the highest winning point percentage for the Ryder Cup, all time. Sergio Garcia is ranked No.1, all time, with a percentage somewhere over 70%. In the morning today, Garcia hit 6 birdies to help rout the U.S. team of David Toms and Brian Wetterich. In the afternoon match, Garcia stuffed two consecutive short irons on 16 and 17 to close the deal against Tiger and Furyk, who never had a lead the entire match.

For a guy who's never won a major, Sergio's Ryder Cup success is a bit baffling. Is Sergio Garcia really the best Ryder Cup player ever? His record is 14-3-2, pending the outcome of the afternoon match (Garcia just stuffed his approach to 5 feet on 17, to help pull a 1-hole lead over Woods/Furyk).

UPDATE: Sergio, along with Luke Donald, racked up another victory. Sergio's record is now 15-3-2. That includes an undefeated 7-0 in foursomes. The young Spaniard just doesn't lose at Ryder Cup. By contrast, Tiger is now 8-12-2 in Ryder Cup. All of the other matches were halved in the afternoon, so Sergio's victory gave the Euros a 2 point lead.

Europeans 5 to US 3

Ryder Cup match of the day: Tiger/Jim Furyk v. Sergio Garcia/Luke Donald

Alternate shot. Any predictions?

UPDATE: Here's how the first hole went down: "Furyk's drive sailed right and left Woods under a tree. Donald also put Garcia into the rough on the right. Woods was forced to swing left-handed to try and punch out, but left it in the rough. Furyk squirted the ball across the fairway and into the left rough. Garcia was able to play out and hit it into a greenside bunker. Woods hits the fourth shot from the rough on to the green and leaves Furyk a tough 15-footer for bogey. Donald hit a decent shot from the bunker to about eight feet. Furyk missed the bogey putt and conceded the holes to the Europeans who went 1-up."

Follow the Tiger/Furyk v. Sergio/Donald match live.


Other matches:

P. Harringon/P. McGinley v. C. Campbell/Z. Johnson, live.

D. Howell/H. Stenson v. S. Cink/D. Toms, live.

L.Westwood/C. Montgomerie v. P. Mickelson/C. DiMarco, live.

Ryder Cup: Tiger gets to square off against Sergio after "smack" talk controversy

The matchup that everyone wants to see -- Tiger Woods v. Sergio Garcia -- is about to happen. Woods will be partnered with Jim Furyk, while Sergio has his formidable partner Luke Donald for the afternoon foursomes matches.

The match has been intensified by the supposed "smack" talk Sergio made a couple weeks ago against Tiger's less than stellar Ryder Cup record. Sergio boasts a gaudy 14-3-2 record, while Tiger still has a losing record of 8-11-2. Sergio has a winning record over Woods in team pairings, 2-1.

Two weeks ago, here's what Sergio said: "Fortunately for us he doesn't have a great Ryder Cup record," but said on Wednesday thathe had not mentioned anything about personally wanting to face theAmerican." Someone in the press, itching to create a controversy, apparently reported that Sergio said he'd like to play Tiger 3 or 4 times. Sergio denies ever saying that.

"I definitely don't mind playing him. I've played him before in the Ryder Cup and I've been fortunate enough to do pretty well against him. I guess I've had some nice partners," Garcia said. "But, no, no, I've never said that (that he wanted to play him three or four times). I think that he's a wonderful player. He's playing really nicely and, as we all know, he's won five (events) in a row until last week."

Ryder Cup: Friday morning results - Euros pull 1 point lead

There's always a difficulty in knowing what to cover when the TV coverage is tape delayed and live scoring is available on the Internet. Because we imagine most of our readers are not watching the TV coverage, we'll go with the Internet coverage as it comes up. But if you don't want to know the scores, stop reading.

The Friday morning fourballs led to another lead for Europe. Europe 2 1/2 and U.S. 1 1/2.

Tiger Woods + Jim Furk over Colin Montgomerie + Paddy Harrington, 1-up

Paul Casey + Robert Karlsson halved w/ Stewart Cink + JJ Henry

Sergio Garcia + Jose Maria Olazabal over David Toms + Brian Wetterich, 3-up

Darren Clarke + Lee Westwood over Phil Mickelson + Chris DiMarco, 1-up

Ryder Cup: Tiger Woods tees off into water

Maybe it was first hole nerves -- Tiger Woods hit a duck hook 3-wood straight into the drink. He may have learned that shot from Phil Mickelson. Partner Jim Furyk just stuffed his approach, closest to the pin, however, and converted the birdie putt. U.S. team, 1-up.

Ryder Cup: Fourball matches, 8 a.m. Friday

Fittingly, the USA Network will be covering the Ryder Cup all morning and afternoon tomorrow. So will The Golf Blog, for those of you who have to go to work. We can't wait! The first and last matches look very huge. It will be the first event that Darren Clarke has played since the passing of his wife. Tom Lehman is throwing out 2 Ryder Cup rookies, while Ian Woosnam is using only 1 in the morning matches. This should be good.

8 a.m. C. Montgomerie + P. Harrington versus T. Woods + J. Furyk

8:15 a.m. P. Casey + R. Karlsson(r) versus S. Cink + J.J. Henry(r)

8:30 a.m. S. Garcia + J. Olazabal versus D. Toms + B. Wetterich(r)

8:45 a.m. D. Clarke + L. Westwood versus P. Mickelson + C. DiMarco

When you are in love with a beautiful woman, it's hard...

I suppose I am showing my age when this story about Tiger's reaction to fake and real pictures of his wife reminds me of the 1970s Dr. Hook classic. Here are some basics:

First, a Dublin magazine published rehashed topless photos that were wrongly identified to be of Woods' ex-model wife, Elin. Then an Irish tabloid sensationalized the bogus story in order to print gratuitous shots of a bikini-clad Elin in its editions yesterday. It was enough to bring an agitated Woods into the Ryder Cup interview session early in order to defend his wife's honor.

"My wife, yes, had been a model prior and she did do some bikini photos," he said before answering the first golf-related question. "But to link her to porn sites and such is unacceptable and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team."

The magazine, a rather obscure publication called The Dubliner, later issued an apology and said that the piece, under the phony byline "Lou Slips," was "an absurd parody of inaccurate tabloid publishing."

Sadly, I cannot seem to find links to any of the pictures.

Ryder Cup preview: Lehman pulls out secret weapon

You've got to give credit where credit is due: Tom Lehman is pulling out all the stops to win the Ryder Cup this year. First, he actually convened a special "bonding" week in Ireland for the players to get "touchy, feely" and develop some team comraderie. That's the same recipe Nancy Lopez used to get her gals to win the Solheim Cup last year. During the bonding week, players sneaked into the rooms of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at 3 a.m., apparently to give both players a noogie or maybe a wedgie. Now we know that Tiger sleeps with his shirt on! And that Phil Mickelson doesn't sleep! (More from NYT.)

Now, Lehman has called out his secret weapon: Dennis Trixler, a former PGA pro who caddied for Lehman. Trixler won't be giving any pointers, but he will be the team chef for the week. "He knows his way around the grill," Lehman boasted. (More from LA Times). This week is already shaping up to be an exciting week, at least in the kitchen.

Who is now the worst player ever to win a major?

For a few years, Ben Curtis seemed to have a shot at the dubious "worst player ever to win a major" title. But, as detailed here, big Ben took home more hardware yesterday after winning the 84 Lumber Classic. He has now backed up his improbable 2003 British Open win with three tour wins (two this year), and he should finish in the top 25 of the money list this season.

Similarly, though Shaun Micheel got blown out in the finals of the match play championship yesterday(details here), he has also had a pretty good year. Shaun will finish in the top 50 on the money list, and I think he has shown he has enough game to be a respectable major winner.

Considering modern players, we are thus left with Paul Lawrie and perhaps Todd Hamilton (both of whom, notably, won The Open) for the WPETWAM title. But perhaps I am not a sufficient student of golf history (or I forgot some PGA winners) to provide the definitive answer to my own question. Readers?

Wie need adult supervision?

Michelle Wie said after her 81 today, and finishing dead last again:

"I definitely want to keep playing out here and competing with them. I'm really enjoying it. Obviously, everyone knows my ultimate goal is to play in the Masters. I like playing out here, making cuts -- start making cuts -- start getting Top 10s. I mean, who knows what's going to happen?"

Michelle Wie, dead last again?

Things just went from bad to worse. After 11 holes, Michelle Wie is +8 for the day and +13 for the tourney, and now again in dead last among 134 golfers at the 84 Lumber Classic. To be fair, though, some PGA pros who shot poorly yesterday, simply withdrew. Someone needs to send out an SOS for Michelle. This can't be good for her development.

Leaderboard.

Dear Michelle Wie: practice

After a 5-over round in which she failed to convert a number of makeable birdie opportunities, Michelle Wie needs to regroup. In fact, she was the only player among the 138 players who failed to card a single birdie in her round. She currently is in 124th place.

Looking at Michelle's Round 1 statistics, it's quite obvious what is the biggest weakness of her game: putting. 34 putts yesterday is 10 more putts than the best PGA player struck yesterday, and is a number so large that it doesn't even register in the 200 listings of PGA tour player averages. For the tournament, 34 putts was tied for the second to worst -- 4 PGA players had 35 putts. Time to change that balky Nike putter, or call in putting guru Stan Utley.

And, once this tournament is over (most likely, today), the Wie camp needs to regroup. Its strategy is not working. Michelle's weaknesses are being exposed every time she tees it up with the men, yet there's little sign that anything is being done to address those weaknesses. In fact, after a few close calls in making a PGA cut, Michelle seems to have gone in reverse. Next year, Michelle Wie should only play one PGA event, the Sony Open. It's played on the course she's most familiar with, has come the closest, and has the home court advantage. Getting an LPGA victory should be priority No.1.

A bad omen for the US Ryder Cup team?

As detailed in this article, the all-powerful Tiger Woods got beaten badly by Shaun Micheel in the firsat round of the HSBC World Match Play Championship. And Jim Furyk got overwhelmed in his match with Robert Karlsson of Sweden, who will be playing for the Euros.

Is this an ominous sign, or just a blip?

Michelle Wie back with the men

Michelle Wie is currently in 75th place out of 140 plus men in the field at the 84 Lumber Classic in Pennsylvania, won last year by the ever popular Jason Gore. OK, so that's only after 4 holes, and she just had her first bogey of the day.

Follow Wie's progress here.

TGB reader mail

We need another Rules expert to answer this question from one of our readers:

If someone tended the pin while the partner chipped up onto the green. Is this a violation of the USGA golf rules? If so, could you stipulate which rule.

Tiger Woods in serious trouble at match play

Warming up for the Ryder Cup at the HSBC World Match Play Championship, Tiger Woods is currently being blitzed by Shaun Micheel, who's 3 up after 28 holes. Even if Tiger loses, the PGA has already announced that it would not count in his current 5 tournament win streak. Meanwhile, Jim Furyk appears about to be closed out by European Ryder Cup member Robert Karlsson, who is 4-up after 31 holes.

I'm glad this is only a tune-up for the Ryder Cup for Woods and Furyk. Things don't look pretty right now.

Leaderboard here.

The business of sport: money, looks, and talent

Watching Maria Sharapova win her second major in tennis last week, I was again struck by the importance of "good looks" for any sport, particularly on the female side. Maria Sharapova, who is only 19 years old, is the highest paid female athlete in history, making $20 million a year (most of it in endorsements). No one can doubt her abilities or dedication to the game, but there have been plenty of other female tennis players who have won more majors than her (some of whom, as Justine Henin-Hardenne, are still playing right now). Maria gets more money basically because she looks like a model and has in fact appeared in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. For the business of tennis, Maria Sharapova represents a gold mine in media coverage and viewer following. She's got the name recognition to be on David Letterman and clever commercials from Canon. She's better for tennis than Anna Kournikova ever was because Maria has what Anna never had: victories.

For purists of the sport, thinking about the marketing aspects of the sport is unpleasant, if not sacrilegious. But when it comes down to "making a living" on tour, the players can all benefit from having a few marquee players who will bring in the viewers and dollars to the tournaments. Tiger, of course, does it for the PGA. Right now, the LPGA is searching for its Tiger ... or, better yet, its Maria Sharapova.

Natalie Gulbis has great potential, but at age 23 she desperately needs a victory to validate her credentials. Then, of course, there's 16 year old Michelle Wie, the golfer who has the most potential for elevating the media coverage and sponsor money for the LPGA. Michelle Wie has been roundly criticized -- even by some writers on The Golf Blog -- for her strategy in playing with the men (which she'll be doing again this week). Some of it may be justified, but, from a business standpoint and the standpoint of the tour, Michelle Wie represents media coverage and viewer following. As one writer put it today, Journeyman pros owe thanks to Michelle Wie. Sure, if you are purist, you will dismiss the strategy as a marketing ploy or media creation. But, in the real world, sports is very much a business, in which -- rightly or wrongly -- looks and charisma of players, particularly for golf and tennis, matter more to the success of the sport than nearly everything else.

No fair: Tiger Woods joins Roger Federer's camp

It's tough enough for Andy Roddick to have to shoot down the No. 1 men's tennis player in the world, Roger Federer, who is described by many as the Best Tennis Player Ever. But it's downright unfair when Roger Federer has Tiger Woods, the Best Golfer Ever, sitting in his player's box, alongside wife Elin and Roger's girlfriend.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it -- for a few minutes while watching the final, I thought it was a Tiger look-alike! (More here.) Federer prevailed, clinching his 9th Major at age 25. Only 6 more to go to beat Pete Sampras's record.

Photo here, and here, and here.

Should Jack or Tiger mentor Wie?

All the interesting comments in the last two posts highlight that everyone has opinions about Michelle Wie's career choices. But, in all reality, there are only a few people on this planet who can really grasp and assess what Wie could and should be doing in golf in the months and years ahead.

Two names that jump to mind, not only for their golf ability but also for their professional and personal judgment, are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. In the wake of Wie's sad showing this week in Europe, is it time for Jack or Tiger to reach out to Wie and offer to serve as a mentor?

Michelle Wie finishes dead last

This ain't even a story anymore, so all I'll say is this: scoreboard. (Told you so.)

Michelle Wie shoots +7, almost tied for last

Hey, I don't want to seem mean to a 16-year-old girl, but I wanted to report that Michelle Wie shot +7 today in Europe. She did beat 5 male golfers, to her credit, but still is tied for 146th place. Wie bogeyed just about every par 3 on the course. Where's Leadbetter when you need him?

TGB reader mail

One reader asks: Does anyone know much about usga regs for dot punches? My club has the punches about 4.5 mm apart in horizontal rowsand about 3.75mm apart in vertical columns. The regs say that the punches must be greater that 4.25mm apart. Does either one or both of the dimensions apply?

Can anyone help out with an answer?

Michelle Wie on the Ryder Cup?

OK, I've heard enough talk about Tiger already. So the guy's good, we know that. But he doesn't deserve all the attention.

I couldn't resist commenting about Michelle Wie's press conference today in Europe, where she will play with the men this week. Not only does she want to play competitively against the men, she also hopes to make the Ryder Cup one day. Is she serious? She hasn't even made a PGA cut yet, much less win the Women's U.S. Amateur. What kind of street cred does she have in match play and team play competition? Zilch.

My response to comments. Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. I'm so glad we stopped talking about Tiger, I love the guy, but I think the media like to hype him way too much. I also wanted to respond to one suggestion that Michelle Wie was only being sarcastic. She wasn't. Just listen to her comment, there's not a trace of sarcasm in it:

"Hopefully, I will be able to play the Ryder Cup one day, that would be awesome and I think it is totally possible. Anything is possible in the future ... we are starting to get stronger and work out more and are mentally tough and we can do it."

I did agree with the one commenter that it would interesting to see Annika Sorenstam as a captain's pick in the Ryder Cup. She would bring a lot of team competition experience with her.

Tiger's losing Ryder Cup record

As dominant as Tiger Woods is, only one mystery remains about his game: why does he have a losing Ryder Cup record of 7-11-2? Except for the miraculous comeback at The Country Club, Tiger Woods has not led a U.S. team to victory in the Ryder Cup. Even in singles, he only has a 2-1-1 record. As one writer put it, "He beats the pants off everyone during the regular season, but when it comes to this bi-annual postseason, he has underachieved."

I will have more to say why I believe that Tiger Woods is the greatest player ever, right now -- regardless of whether he beats Jack's 18 majors. But this is the one mystery that I still cannot explain. Tiger should be able to dominate the Ryder Cup even more than Jack did. But he hasn't, at least not yet.

Tiger will never lose again

It's official: Tiger Woods just won No. 5 in a row, posting a spectacular 8-under par. Tiger plunked 2 birdies and 2 eagles on the front nine (thanks minsuhson!), to come back from 3 shots behind Vijay Singh within what felt like a heartbeat. That was virtually the knock-out punch. Although Vijay shot a respectable 68 today, he seemed to be standing still while Woods got off to a ferrari-fast start. And, in answer to mulligan's question, neither men wore facial hair today. Go figure.

The way that Tiger is playing, he doesn't look like he will ever lose again.

Tournaments thinking about "Tiger proofing" their courses should start thinking of better ways to ramp up the competition. For example, one simple way to bring out more competition for Tiger would be to reduce 72 hole tournaments to 36 or 18 holes. Call me crazy, but some tourneys might even be 9 hole tournaments on Sunday. Shorter tournaments will bring more players into contention. Tiger rarely wins tournaments wire to wire. Tiger's good for TV ratings, but the only way he will face any real competition is making the golf tournament harder to produce separation of scores. Let's see Tiger win 5 consecutive 9-hole tournaments in a row.

The other alternative is to switch to putt-putt style greens.

62 + 61 = We're back

Annika Sorenstam shot a 10-under 62 yesterday to win the State Farm Classic in Illinois by two strokes over Cristie Kerr.

Meanwhile, in rainy weather in Boston, Vijay Singh shot a course record 61 to go -11 and to pull a 3-stroke lead over Tiger Woods and Justin Rose, who are back at -8. Vijay and Tiger will be playing in the final group, together again. Any predictions? Can Vijay put an end to Tiger's win streak? And who will be sporting better facial hair, Tiger or Vijay?

Thanks, Andre

We will miss you.

Ryder Cup set: big mismatch?

Ian Woosnam picked Ryder Cup veterans Darren Clarke (who recently lost his wife to breast cancer) and Lee Westwood as his captain's picks. The Euros have:

Colin Montgomerie
David Howell
Sergio Garcia
Robert Karlsson
Henrik Stenson
Paul Casey
Padraig Harrington
Luke Donald
Paul McGinley
Jose Maria Olazabal
Darren Clarke
Lee Westwood.

The U.S. team consists of the following:

Tiger Woods
Phil Mickelson
Jim Furyk
Chad Campbell
David Toms
Chris DiMarco
Vaughn Taylor
J.J. Henry
Zach Johnson
Brett Wetterich
Stewart Cink
Scott Verplank

Four of the twelve U.S. guys I could not pick out of a line-up.

TGB Go Clubbing: TaylorMade R7 Draw Driver

Back in July, I reviewed the R7 425 driver, and absolutely loved it (see here). It was the first driver that made me switch from the Titleist family, which I've been married to for the past eight years.

For all of you who hit banana slices off the tee, listen up: TaylorMade has just come out with a less expensive R7 driver called the Draw. (It's built on the same concept as the old R5 draw.) The new driver has 460 cc of titanium, with the weight concentrated in the back heel, in order to encourage a quicker rotation of the clubface to produce a draw. The R7 does not have any movable weight screws like the other R7s. Instead, it's essentially pre-set to hit a draw. Without the adjustable screws, the R7 Draw retails for $299, nearly $100 cheaper than the standard R7.

Before hitting the R7 Draw, I had two reservations. First, I love the 425 cc version of the R7 that I currently play with and I've never been too fond of big heads. Second, my usual ball flight is a draw, so I was worried that I might overcook my drives too much with the new driver.

Well, after two sessions on the range, I must say that I may be a new convert to 460cc. After hitting about 10 to 20 balls with the R7 Draw, I got into a pretty good groove. Even though I don't like large heads, the larger head on the R7 is easy to swing, and it has a lot of forgiveness. I occasionally switched back and forth between the 425 cc and the 460 cc, and, eventually, I did notice the greater forgiveness on the 460 cc version. Once I got used to the 460cc head, I was belting it out more consistently than the 425cc -- although, to be fair, I hadn't been practicing the 425cc driver as much during the session.

As far as hitting a draw, the R7 Draw definitely helps to promote a right-to-left ball flight. I'd say that 90 percent of my drives on the range had right to left action. But you should take that with a small grain of salt. As I said above, a draw is my more natural ball flight, so it may be easier for me to hit. The way the club is weighted, however, made it pretty easy to consistently hit a draw, something I don't always do. Sometimes, I did overcook the ball too far left, but that came from my overswinging. Once I settled in on the range, most of my drives were a controlled draw. Of course, if you like to work the ball both ways, then the R7 Draw may not be the right set-up fo you. I did not test to see if I could purposely fade the ball, although I did hit several drives unintentionally to the right.

So will the R7 Draw Driver cure your slice? I doubt that any club can be expected to be a panacea for a bad swing or a faulty swing path. If I were to swing the club from way out to in, no club would produce a draw for me. But if you do attempt to swing the club around your body and are at least halfway successful, I think the R7 Draw should be easier to rotate through impact. As with all clubs, I would recommend test driving the R7 on the range to see if it suits your eye and swing. Good hitting!

Tiger, unstoppable: poised to win 5 in a row

Tiger Woods flew to Ireland for Ryder Cup practice after winning the Bridgestone last week. Luckily, the Deutsche-Bank in Boston did not start until Friday, because Tiger was all jet lagged. Anyway, Tiger kept his red-hot playing going, shooting 5-under, to start at the top of the leaderboard. In thinking about Tiger's dominance over his competitors, compared to Jack's over his competitors, I think there are two essential questions to ask:

1. How much better is Tiger's game (if at all) than Jack Nicklaus's, trying to control for technology changes in equipment?

2. How much better were Jack's competitors (if at all) than Tiger's competitors today?

To me, the answers to these questions are very, very clear today, but I will wait to reveal them until after the weekend, so others can chime in.

Say it's not so, LPGA: Wendy's Tournament cancelled

The Golf Blog has covered the Wendy's Championship for Children for the past two years. It has been such a treat, with a very strong international field. Last week's tournament was won by Lorena Ochoa and the year before, Cristie Kerr. The sponsors of the tournament treat reporters so very well, even supplying a frostie machine!

So it's with great sadness that we report today that Wendy's has pulled out of the LPGA, allegedly after the LPGA would not agree to continue to allow Wendy's a tournament date in August (see here). What a bummer! The golf tournament helped raise $3 million for childhood cancer research and treatment at Columbus Children's Hospital over the last six years.

Money in women's golf v. tennis

I read mulligan's last post with interest, thinking about the money disparity between men and women in golf. The story got me thinking about what the situation is for women's tennis. Here are my preliminary findings:

1. Greater parity in pay versus the men in tennis. There's no doubt that tennis pays women more evenly compared to the men. At this year's U.S. Open, for example, both the men's and women's winners will receive $1.2 million. That also means that the champion's purse for women tennis players is typically much greater than for LPGA golfers.

2. Women tennis players seem to make close to the same as women golfers, on average. But here's what surprised me. If you do a side-by-side comparison of the Top 100 money leaders on the LPGA and WTA tours, the money leaders appear to be pretty comparable in income earned thus far. Although the very Top Two women in tennis have earned a million more dollars than their LPGA counterparts, right now the LPGA has 2 more women over the million dollar mark than the WTA. Als0, the LPGA players ranked No. 4 through No. 82 have currently earned more than their WTA counterparts, in many cases by a lot.

Of course, there are several qualifications to this comparison. I'm not sure the LPGA and WTA have played a comparable number of events in their schedules thus far. The U.S. Open, which is occurring right now in New York, is a major tournament for tennis, which has a very large purse. Also, it may be that women's tennis has many more players than the LPGA, so that more people are fighting for the larger purses in tennis -- making the take-home money spread out more thinly among the ranks. On the PGA tour, however, the large purses appear to be "trickling down" from top to bottom.