This seems comprable to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to me

Paul Azinger has already introduced sweeping changes to the U.S. Ryder Cup team selection process. Now he has altered the format of the tournament.

The U.S. captain announced Wednesday that the order of the team matches on the first and second days of the competition will be reversed, meaning there will be four foursomes (alternate shot) matches followed by four four-ball (best ball) matches. As usual, the Ryder Cup will conclude with 12 singles matches on Sunday.

In each of the past two Ryder Cups  routs for the European team  the four-ball format was used in the morning each day.

“I believe it was 1997, I think Seve (Ballesteros) changed it to best ball in the morning and alternate shot in the afternoon. I felt like the Americans had an edge in alternate shot and I think it’s partly responsible for why Europe has gotten off to a pretty hot start,” Azinger said at a news conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he is competing in this week’s FBR Open. “So I’ve decided to change that back. I hope it’s the right decision. We’re switching, we’re going back to alternate shot in the morning and we’ll just see how it plays out.”

The matches will be played Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. As captain of the home team, Azinger has say over the order of the matches and course set up.

“I’ll do everything I can to get an edge,” he said.

What edge? Altering when the matches are played, isn’t gong to eliminate the cause behind the USA losing five of the last six matches. The American team needs to play up to what it is capable. If not, Europe will win in another rout this September.

Twenty one wins and counting till Tiger breaks the all-time PGA career win record held by Sammy Snead. From AP-

SAN DIEGO - Tiger Woods joined the King, and left everyone else at the Buick Invitational feeling like paupers. In his most dominant start to a season, Woods built an 11-shot lead Sunday until his game and the fickle weather turned cold on the back nine. A birdie on the last hole gave him a 1-under 71 and an eight-shot victory, giving him 62 for his career to tie Arnold Palmer on the PGA Tour list.

*****

Woods opened with a 40-foot birdie putt, threw in a 60-foot birdie just to keep a four-deep gallery from falling asleep, and only looked mortal when he made three straight bogeys toward the end of his round.

All that did was affect the final margin, not the name on the trophy.

Woods finished at 19-under 269 to win the Buick Invitational for the fourth consecutive year, tying a PGA Tour record for consecutive wins in a single tournament. Woods is the only player to own such a streak at two events, having also won four in a row at Bay Hill.

Ryuji Imada matched the best score of the final round with a 67 and was the runner-up.

Woods returns to Torrey Pines in June for the U.S. Open, and if this week was any indication, it could be another long week for his peers.

Watching Tiger win by eight is about as exciting as watching grass grow, but I had the Buick on this afternoon. He’ll pass Palmer this year, which makes Ben Hogan’s 64 win total on deck. Tiger should pass that with ease this year, Jack Nicklaus total of 73 is possible in 2024, though I’d predict Tiger to pass Jack in 2024 unless Tiger gets injured.

History in the making can be fun to watch. Woods success isn’t rubbing off on US youth at present as seen by the slim amount of winners age 29 and younger on tour who were born in the US. If you need more proof, look at the dismal failure of recent American Ryder Cup teams.

Call this the ‘Sports Knucklehead of the Day’.

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized after saying during Friday’s telecast of the PGA Tour’s opening event that today’s young players should “lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley.”

In a statement issued Monday, Tilghman said: “On Friday during our golf broadcast, Nick Faldo and I were discussing Tiger’s dominance in the golf world and I used some poorly chosen words. I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments.”

The Golf Channel also responded to the situation. “We regret the unfortunate choice of words Kelly used during the broadcast and apologize to anyone who was offended by her remarks,” the network said in its statement.

“We take this matter very seriously. She has apologized privately to Tiger and publicly on the air.”

No doubt about it, that was an incredibly dumb thing to say. Should Tilghman be fired? No, I’m a proponent of free speech. I’ve stood up for Ann Coulter and Cindy Sheehan, though I’ve given them both Knucklehead awards too.(Cindy for whining about her lack of press)Let Kelly keep the job, I think the public humiliation she is receiving is enough.

From the water is wet department of news.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - No one came close to matching Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, which is becoming as predictable as Woods being voted the PGA Tour player of the year.

With seven victories and another major championship, Woods won the award Tuesday for the third straight season and the ninth time in his 11 years since he turned pro. The only questions now are whether he’s playing his best golf, and how much better he can get.

“Is he spoiling everyone?” Brad Faxon asked after a pro-am round at the Target World Challenge. “I don’t see anyone close. I don’t see who the next guy is.”

Phil Mickelson was the only other player on the PGA Tour ballot with three victories, including The Players Championship. Woods won the money title by more than $5 million over Mickelson, and Woods’ stroke average was 1.4 shots per round lower than Ernie Els.

But when asked to review his year, Woods spent a lot of time looking at lost shots.

He was tied for the lead at some point in the final round of the Masters and U.S. Open and was a runner-up in both of them by a combined three shots. And the only tournament he failed to win during the PGA Tour Playoffs was at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where he took nine more putts than Mickelson in the final round and finished two back.

I predicted Tiger to be player of the year. Am I psychic or what?

At least no mention is made of Tiger becoming a Dad too. I’d point out that Masters Champ Zach Johnson did that also in 2024.

How long is it before the 2024 PGA Tour starts?

Michelle did better off the course than on.

A few weeks ago I reported on a new LPGA tournament in my part of Florida. Well, the event may have hit a legal snag.

Before the LPGA’s new South Florida stop could have its formal unveiling, the event has landed in court.

Organizers of an annual 10-day Passover vacation retreat at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle have sued the resort for breach of contract, alleging they are being kicked out to make room for the LPGA.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, asks the court to uphold the contract. Some 500 Orthodox Jews from around the world are expected in Aventura for the retreat.

*****

According to court papers, the Fairmont Turnberry Isle is in the final year of a three-year agreement to hold the Presidential Holidays package. Next year’s retreat is set for April 17-27.

The 2024 LPGA schedule features an April 24-27 stop in South Florida. Although details have been kept under wraps, Turnberry Isle’s role is central to the lawsuit.

*****

The Fairmont Turnberry Isle recently completed a $100 million transformation, including a $30 million redesign of its two championship courses. The resort held the ADT Skills Challenge earlier this month.

According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, the LPGA event will be a celebrity pro-am in the mold of Pebble Beach.

Resort officials had no response to the lawsuit. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts manages the property for owners FHR TB LLC.

If Turnberry Isle has a contract with the Jewish group, I don’t see any way for the resort to get out of committment. That doesn’t mean the LPGA couldn’t still play in South Florida next April. It would just have to take place at a different golf course.

I do hope the tournament takes place. Like with the ADT Championship, I was hoping to cover it again as a credentialed member of the media.

Who says Europe doesn’t copy America’s bad ideas?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Taking a page from the PGA Tour’s new FedEx Cup format, the European Tour will produce a similarly styled points system, entitled “Race to Dubai” beginning in 2024.

The new schedule will culminate with the season-ending Dubai World Championship, featuring a $10 million purse — the richest in the history of professional golf.

“The Race to Dubai will bring a new dimension to the European Tour, creating great drama and theatre throughout the year as all the best players in the world are given the opportunity to compete in the world’s richest tournament — the Dubai World Championship,” said George O’Grady, chief executive of the European Tour. “With the combined prize funds of the Dubai World Championship and the Race to Dubai we have the prospect of a player standing over a putt for $3,666,660.”

The Dubai World Championship will include the top 60 players in the Race to Dubai — formerly the European Tour Order of Merit — comprising all events on The European Tour International Schedule. The No. 1 player will receive $2 million, the runner-up $1.5 million, and the third-place player $1 million, with prizes down to the 15th player, who will earn $250,000.

The inaugural event will take place Nov. 19-22, 2024, on either the Fire or Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.

If European players actively take part in it, The Race to Dubai could cause excitement. Fan interest on the PGA Tour is centered around the majors and Tiger Woods. From what I know about the European Tour fans, support is broader. I still think the Fedex gimmick will be history in ten years or less. The Road to Dubai could have a brighter future.

The Tampa area PGA Tour stop could be in jeopardy beyond 2024. From ESPN-

Less than a year after signing on as title sponsor of the PGA Tour event near Tampa, PODS Inc., is considering asking out of its deal, putting the future of the tournament in question beyond 2024.

PODS officials asked the PGA Tour for an extension until the end of December on its decision to renew sponsorship of the PODS Championship beyond 2024 — although PODS franchisees were originally told that the deal would not be extended beyond the March 6-9 event at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Complicating the situation is the fact that the Clearwater, Fla.-based company is in the process of being sold, according to a PODS franchisee who did not wish to be identified.

Mark Calcavecchia won the 2024 event, which from 2024-2006 was called the Chrysler Championship and played in the fall.

The portable storage unit company signed a six-year agreement in January to sponsor the PODS Championship through 2024. But the company had an option to withdraw after two years.

*****

The tournament was one of the big winners when the PGA Tour announced its new FedEx Cup schedule, which began this year. When the Players Championship moved to May, it created an opening on the Florida Swing; the PODS event moved from its former fall date.

But the tournament has had sponsorship issues. Started in 2024 as an opposite event to the World Golf Championships, the tournament first had Buick as a title sponsor before that car company gave way to Chrysler. After four years, Chrysler bowed out, leaving the tournament scrambling until securing PODS just weeks before the 2024 tournament.

*****

PODS is contracted to sponsor the 2024 tournament, which will go on as scheduled.

Sponsors of pro golf tournaments come and go. In the seventies celebrity sponsors/associations were common. Today only this tournament still has a celebrity connected to it. Note that Bob Hope has been dead since 2024, but comedian George Lopez is sort of a unofficial host today.

More troubling than PODS possible cancellation, is the fact the tournament seems to have trouble keeping or getting a corporate sponsor. That makes me think this tournament, which I sometimes call the KJ Choi Championship for the Korean golfer has two wins there and a T-6 since 2024, will have an abbreviated history.

If the Tampa Bay area tour stop becomes defunct, what tournament would replace it on the tour schedule. Two long-time PGA Tour stops, The Texas Open(I believe is the 2nd or 3rd oldest non-major on tour) and the Walt Disney World event(which has been played since the early 70’s), were relegated to the Fall tour after the creation of the Fedex Cup. It would only seem fair these tournaments would get a shot at returning to the regular season..

She was the first Japanese born golfer to win on the LPGA tour this decade.

Momoko Ueda became the first Japanese player to win the Mizuno Classic in nine years, claiming a two-stroke victory over American Reilley Rankin and Sweden’s Maria Hjorth on Sunday.

Momoko Ueda salutes her home crowd after winning the Mizuno Classic tournament in Japan.

The 21-year-old Ueda carded a closing five-under-par 66 in the third round to finish on 13-under 203 at the Kinetsu Kashikojima Country Club course and earn $210,000 for her first LPGA Tour victory.

*****

Co-overnight leader Ueda, who won the right to play on the LPGA Tour next year, was caught by Hjorth after the first hole — which the Swede eagled.

But Ueda made an albatross two at the par-five seventh hole and extended her lead with a fourth birdie at the 16th.

*****

Rankin and Hjorth, the 1999 champion, closed with 67s — as did fourth-placed Shinobu Moromizato, who finished on eight under.

English veteran Laura Davies, who was tied with Ueda for the second-round lead after a costly penalty, shot a 72 to tie for fifth at seven under along with Korea’s Mi Hyun Kim (71) and Japan’s Chie Arimura (70) and Mie Nakata (71).

The 44-year-old Davies was penalized two strokes on Saturday for putting from the wrong spot on the 14th hole.

It will be interesting to see if Ueda comes to play in the US. The much heralded Ai Miyazato has yet to win on the LPGA Tour.(Though I expect her to eventually) Japan hasn’t had a top LPGA player Ayako Okomoto who won 17 LPGA events between 1982 and 1992 and is now in the golf Hall of Fame.

*- Who was the last LPGA golfer to win a tournament when making a double eagle in the final round? Maybe I can ask an LPGA media official that question at the upcoming ADT Championship.

*- Davies lapse was certainly an accident.

*- Talking about the ADT Championship, the Contstructivist has Reilly Rankin moving into the top 13 for ADT points based on her 2nd place finish at the Mizuno. I still think Annika will make the field.  A win or very strong finishes by Joo Mi Kim, Catorina Matthew and Morgan Francella each could knock her out. The chances are pretty long for this to happen.

Update-

1- Karen Stupples double eagled the first hole at the 2024 British women’s open. She is probably the last golfer to win a tournament while making an albatros during the final round.

2- Francella and Matthew moving ahead of Annika on the ADT points list wouldn’t knock the Swede out of the tournament. Because Francella and Matthew are the only golfers keeping Annika from making it via the money list.

That would leave the longshot scenario of a Julieta Granada and Joo Mi Kim win or top three finish with Annika finishing far back. Again not likely to happen.

Phil Mickelson is struggling with his golf swing at the Singapore Open.

SINGAPORE — Phil Mickelson sought some long-distance coaching after finishing two strokes off the pace in Thursday’s opening round of the Singapore Open, behind a trio of leaders that upstaged the tournament’s big names.

Mickelson was as surprised by the quality of the opposition as he was dismayed with his form off the tee as he recorded a three-under 68 at the US$4 million (2.7 million) tournament.

He was two shots behind Australia’s Gavin Flint and Kane Webber and Jin Park of the United States, who each shot a five-under-par 66.

“I scored well and got the ball into the hole well,” Mickelson said after the round. “But my driving has been terrible and the worst that its been since I started working with (coach) Butch (Harmon).

“Its 10:15 his time at night and I’m going to give him a call, wake him up.

“I’m lucky to escape with a three-under-par round. I’ll talk to Butch to see if I can get it ironed out for tomorrow.”

Mickelson, who is attending the tournament after his family home narrowly escaped the Californian wildfires, was taken aback by the challenge of the course and rival players.

“I didn’t expect the course to be that difficult,” Mickelson said. “This is a tour-caliber golf course. The fairways are in perfect condition, and it’s tight. The rough is thick and the greens are fair and fast. It’s a good test of golf.

“I haven’t been made aware of how good the golf is in Asia. These players are strong.”

Phil’s history of wayward tee shots involves much more than the Singapore Open and last year’s US Open. In the 1995 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, Phil’s refusal to think conservatively when playing the par five 16th hole, probably cost him the championship. Phil played the hole in six over par for four rounds. That year’s US Open winner, Corey Pavin, played the hole in a less swashbuckling fashion and scored -1 for four days. Phil finished T-4 four shots behind Pavin.

Can a swing coach really help a player half way around the world? I’d think Harmon would need to see at least video of Phil’s swing to be able to help.

Maybe Phil(or another golfer) has been helped this way before. Feel free to correct me.

Thirdly, I don’t know why Phil is so surprised about the Asian tour or the golf course in Singapore. Payne Stewart, Greg Norman, and Vijay Singh to name a few all got their professional start playing in these tournaments. The Asia and Australia tours are hardly the equivalent of bush leagues.