Tiger Will Play the US Open.

@TigerWoods Bummed that my left leg has me on the sidelines, but I want, and expect, to be at the US Open. Will do all I can to get there.

Pavin and Gray and Tiger and Phil...The Ryder Cup Circus

So is Tiger gonna play in the Ryder Cup? Has Corey sat with him.. Is Jim Gray telling the truth? ..Listen here folks and let's be fair, I ran big organizations in my career.. thousands of people...never would a few days go by without me at least talking with 20-25 of my top people. They would include the 10 or so Presidents/VPs  that reported to me, but also top sales and service people as well as Sales Engineers and generally the brightest stars in our universe.. Don't know if Corey was caught without an answer here but did he really think he was not going to be asked about the number one and two players in the world.. He's not doing his job very well IMO... from the little mistakes on Twitter and now with Jim Gray.. There is something about a lot of these guys I don't like. They are great competitors and guess they don't need good organizational skills or something but this is another mess. It will be forgotten quickly if the US wins the Cup, but the likelihood of this beginning is a lot of young players (Kuchar and Overton come to mind quickly) and going to be looking for leadership..not only from Phil and Tiger but from Corey as well.. He needs to step up his game. Monty would pick Tiger.. So there. Get real. He plays.. even with a broken leg.

St Andrews... Looking forward.. to what?

@SFBAYGOLF Kerr & Creamer unless Tigre wins this week RT @johnraser In your opinion, what's the most exciting story in golf right now?

@PlayersTowel St Andrews: Woods Appears to Be Confident but Is Searching for Consistency http://is.gd/drZTa

I so look forward to the Open.. have, it seems, all my life... but my golf story is two Americans on top of the LPGA after a lot of years of asking the question: where are the Americans? I'm not a nationalist, but I root for the home team and sure find Paula and Cristie a bit more accessible than an interpreter.. Paula and Cristie are the biggest story in Golf unless Tiger makes a run.. Agreed. But, can I pick Westwood again?  ...beware of the wounded golfer and the "experts" have picked the top players in the world. how about Darren Clarke? Who's your pick?

Saw the story about Tiger dumping his Cameron for a  Nike Method Putter... will it matter to anything but his bank account? There is the logical answer about it being heavier and Tiger thinking that will help him on the slower greens of St. Andrews. And KJ Choi borrows a page from the handbook of one Randy Haag... Look him up at Amatuergolf.com.

I've finished watching the miserable job the Golf Channel has done to preview the Open and the much better job that ESPN has done...It's time to get this show on the road and let the players do the talking. My hope is that someone someday puts someone with an ounce of intelligence in charge of the Golf Channel someday. It is truly an embarrassment most of the time.

So..Think You'd Hold Up Against the Us Open Set-Up at Pebble?

First you might want to check out the article written in May about the process the USGA goes through to "design" the course...

and then some commentary from Bubba Watson and Chris Wilson on Twitter about the Golf Digest Challenge: 

@bubbawatson so what would a player like you shoot if a 3 shoots 102?

@TheRealCWilson 77

@bubbawatson thats legit funny, play well next week

Gets it all in perspective very quickly...saw a bunch of guys who have no trouble shooting 65 on their home courses get a taste of what tournament Golf at the highest level is all about as they failed to qualify for our National Championship... 

The Pebble caddies have been telling me that you will need a wedge to get out of the rough and the spots that were playable last time around will not be this time...if there is wind the new tee on 13 will make the hole one of the toughest par 4's on tour not to mention how 14 will play. The fairway on 6 has been repositioned so

I'll be out there starting Tuesday of next week.. the guy with the Boston Red Sox hat on prowling around at the southern end of the course... holes 10,11,12,13... Marlboro Country...

There is more to the Tour than Tiger and Phil...right Golf Channel?

For many (the "in the hole" yellers who consider a Budweiser the drink of champions) the PGA tour is entertainment.. The USGA and the R&A are the guardians of the game and have grappled with how to teach the finer aspects of the game to the ever growing "I'll wear jeans if I want to crowd "(and if you don't think this is a topic for debate, check out any golf forum. These particular discussions go on for pages and pages). Last week, as we watched, my friend Ali commented that the announcers were more mellow.. more like the Euro Tour announcers. More like gentlemen. Less like entertainment and the Kelly Tillman over the top type fake adoration that has a way of creeping into even the best at the game of broadcasting. The PGA tour is the envy of all major sports (except maybe NASCAR). Until Tiger got caught running around, relatively scandal free unless you include not paying one's taxes or an occasional DUI.. Millions to charity and a clean cut image rarely tarnishing until Tiger.. you get the point.. So Quail Hollow is up this week.. a great course.. a sponsorship problem with Wells Fargo thinking over how to "use" the venue to their advantage... meanwhile TGC channel in it's usual classless approach to things, is marketing the event as a showdown between Tiger and Phil... It's not Shell's Wonderful World of Golf.. It is one of the great stops on tour.. super course and usually a great field.. the fans deserve better.. The Golf Channel needs to stop being so downright goofy. Start by hiring Peter Alliss.. he who is not afraid to stand up for the gentlemanly aspects of the game... we could learn a thing or two from Peter...BTW: Does Tiger have a new caddie yet?

Tiger - It's great to have him back...

Nearly halfway in his round today, Tiger hit one of those shots.. The kind only he hits.. On the 460 yard 9th hole  he has 207 to the hole  for his second shot and he hits a 5i that draws 30 yards around a tree and lands 2/3 of the way onto the green,  holds and rolls easily to the back of the green. He then makes a 15 foot putt for birdie.. he missed 3 or 4 other putts by less than an inch.. his speed was good.. and he seemed to be having a good time as he interacted with others and even putting his hand on his playing partner's shoulder and sharing a smile as they made their way to 16. Nice. Hope this all works out for him..again...Oh and  By The Way: Couples has a one shot lead at -6 with Watson right behind him. It's the Masters.

Tiger at Augusta

I have to write this for my own sanity. Too many emails and so forth.. I understand recovery. I started the journey almost 30 years ago.. seen 'em come and go and I have no idea what Tiger should or should not do..BUT I do know this. When I was free of the things that brought me to my knees I was not free of the things that troubled me and I had to find peace. The easiest way to do that was to be decent in all my affairs. 

I met an old man.. Near 80 at the time who had been sober for nearly 40 years. He was willing to spend time with me. A lot of time with me.. and he showed me by his actions how to find the comfortable way of living that seems to elude so many who come in for a break in the action.. So if Tiger asked for my help, I'd know what to do with him... the same thing that kind old man (well there were times he was not so kind) did with me.. and as he used to say, "if you stop doing what you were doing, 85-90% of your troubles will go away in time. The steps will fix another 5% of your troubles and the rest you are going to have to learn to live with and be a man about it.".

But there's another Problem. Brad Faxon wrote on Golf.com that he was "much more concerned about Tiger's being treated by the Toronto doctor, Anthony Galea, who was arrested in Canada last October on drug charges, a doctor who admits to using human growth hormone.". Tiger needs to square up and be a man about everything.. He needs to fire Stevie and his management team and hire decent human beings with good manners. As we say, "if you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it, you only need to change one thing.. and that's everything." Good for Tom Watson  and Arnold Palmer for explaining their thinking about Tiger.. He's needs to take the questions and start to humbly act like a gentleman.. no more F-bombs on the course.. We've heard enough.. what a talent he is.. time to grow up.

A New View of Tiger

Almost 30 years ago I started to make my way through life on a spiritual basis. I made a vow to help those who came after me and Tiger appears to have asked for help so my hand is out and my prayers are for him...Everyone's favorite dancin' fool, "You can't touch this" MC Hammer pointed me to an article I think is worth reading: Tiger Woods, The Atonement Process

Let's see if he can get through the maze...another good article from the New York Times: An Apology With Echoes of 12 Steps

So let's give him some room.. good luck my friend...learn to breath.. healing takes place in the calm.

Are You Kiddin' Me? Rocco Mediate

Are You Kidding Me? is the story of Rocco Mediate's  battle with Tiger at the US Open in San Diego at Torrey Pines in 2008.... But not for me... For me the story is about drive and courage...about stickin' with it when things aren't going so well.... of course that happens in every round of golf... the trick is to get over it in one hole with perhaps two poor decisions and two bad shots at most... to win on tour there is very little margin for error... a bad round and the train just goes blowing by you.

In the product description on Amazon a reviewer states that this is a story about five life changing days.... Like the overnight success it took years... all most folks see is the five days... but the story is about a decent High School player who caught fire through a series of circumstances and made himself into a great player... a player who, though he hits the ball only reasonably long, is as smart and savy as anyone on tour.... and never stops talkin'.

What makes Rocco cool to me is this... like Fred Funk's wife who walks around Pebble barefoot, Rocco's main squeeze does the same thing.. I like the Peace Sign Belt Buckle and the beer he shared at 10 in the morning as he put on a clinic out there on one of those days that has made Pebble one of Golf's great destinations.... too bad the place isn't better run but that's a story for another post... one day at Pebble in a Pro-Am called the Callaway Invitational which is a low key, ~$80,000 to the winner, end of season event, Rocco has his girlfriend walking with his group... holding his cigar when he hits and sharing sips of beer that was only a 1/3 finished by the time it was warm... Or the time he showed for the ATT and walked down to the caddie bench before heading to the range to practice just to say hello to a couple of old friends...On the range he made bets on Ball games and chattered non-stop as he peppered every flag on the range.. talking in his own backswing ...excited to be alive on a beautiful day at Spyglass in Pebble Beach... He makes everyday great... A true hero of the spirit.. The game could use more Roccos... Oh and BTW he plays those darn easy to hit type clubs.. X-22 Cally's the last time I noticed.. why make the game more difficult than it is? Dunno my friend...Dunno...but Rocco's is my kinda hero... a decent guy with the good word for everyone... Great read BTW.

Author's note... I have never been a JF fan.. Loved  Bruce Edwards and what he did for the art of being a caddie... Tried "Caddy for Life" and was overwhelmed by the superlatives and overblown/over-the-top language... there is a little of that here... Golf is just a game... a glorious game, but play it long enough and though when you wake up you still want to get out there, some days you can wait... This is a little better than the life and death stuff... Any good?... there is a big difference between casual, competitive and tournament golf... but it ain't religion... Good job JF.. Great Story.