Sunset_Hils-059resized-400x600It's Friday afternoon, which means most of you have already skipped out for the day to hit the links. But for those of us that are counting down the minutes until the weekend, we here at Devil Ball figured we'd leave you with a bizarre story going into the weekend.

If you're like us, you probably love the game of golf. You most likely show your love for the sport by buying more golf clubs, balls, gloves, and instruction aids to outfit an entire golf team.

But there's one thing you don't have, friend, and that would be a burial plot on a golf course. Sounds kind of morbid, huh? Well get over it; we're all going to go at some point. So to get you excited about the afterlife, a funeral home in Bellevue, Washington is building a golf hole -- complete with green and sand bunker -- where golfers can be buried!

Sounds great, right? As Seattle Weekly notes in a recent article, the funeral home has gone to great lengths to make this hole as realistic as possible. Honestly, I can't wait until

Like the rest of her Southampton (Va.) Academy teammates, Mina Johnson was supposed to be getting ready for a junior varsity football game on Thursday night against Lasker (N.C.) Northeast Academy. The 5-foot-2, 170-pound defensive stalwart may have been the first girl to play football for the academy, but when she got on the field, she was just one of the guys.

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As the Tidewater News reported, Johnson recorded four sacks in a recent game against Rocky Mount, and was gaining a reputation in the league as a standout junior varsity player. It all seemed to be going right for the eighth-grader -- until she suddenly decided to sit out her team's most recent game against Northeast.

Why? It wasn't due to injury. Rather, Johnson decided not to play in the game after the opposition threatened to forfeit if Johnson was allowed to play. Apparently, Northeast had a problem with its boys playing football against a girl. So instead of making a fuss about the whole situation, Johnson sat on the sidelines for her team's 60-0 victory.

"There is nothing in the rule books for junior varsity football in North Carolina or Virginia that says a girl can't play," the teen's mother, Mona Johnson, told the Tidewater News. "No one is breaking any rules by allowing her to play."

Northeast isn't the only upcoming opponent considering a forfeit if Johnson doesn't sit out. Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God Christian Academy is also reportedly considering a forfeit as well; the two schools are scheduled to play a game on Oct. 27.

The fact that Word of God may follow Northeast's lead isn't a coincidence. As the Tidewater News noted, both schools have something in common: They play in the same athletic association.

Both teams belong to the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association. According to the league website, participation by boys in girls' sports and vice-versa is prohibited.

Regardless of what Word of God decides to do, the move to force Johnson to sit out and miss playing a game is beyond wrong. While Northeast's athletic association may say one thing, the school could have looked past the rule and played the junior varsity game anyway.

Not to discount JV football, but teams' records don't mean a thing at the end of the season. Most players are just happy to be on the field, playing the game they love. That was certainly true of Mina Johnson, who enjoyed playing for the love of the game, and the chance to play with her teammates.

[Rewind: Homecoming queen plays hero at high school football game]

Unsurprisingly, playing football has instilled a whole new level of confidence in the teenage ... and pride among her teammates.

"This is something you can't take away, ever, and it's me doing it," Johnson told the Tidewater News. "My first game, I took down a 6-foot quarterback."

strickerstevePCLess than three weeks ago, the news sounded pretty grim. After pulling out of the BMW Championship and getting a cortisone shot for his ailing neck pain, Steve Stricker showed up at the Tour Championship and told reporters the injury was still giving him trouble.

With the Presidents Cup less than two months out Stricker said he was so frustrated with the way the injury had altered his game, that he was on the verge of having surgery for the herniated disk in his neck, casting further doubt on his status for the Presidents Cup.

But on Tuesday, Stricker sounded upbeat about his chances, telling GolfDigest.com that while the injury had sapped the power from his left side, and partial feeling in his left middle finger, he still had "every intention of playing in the Presidents Cup".

Stricker, who shut his game down for the last couple of weeks to give his neck some rest, plans on heading out to Scottsdale, Ariz., to work on his game before flying to Australia for the event.

The decision to

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Sizing up the TV coverage from the Frys.com Open ... and away we go.

Nobody ever expected Tiger Woods to play a Fall Series event in his lifetime. If you know Woods' schedule, then you know he's predictable and calculated when it comes to choosing his events. Unlike guys on tour who are willing to take a chance playing another event, the former No. 1 sticks to a strict schedule each year.

But with the Presidents Cup only a month away -- and Fred Couples demanding some logged rounds -- Woods needed reps before heading to Australia. Suddenly, Woods' pain became the Golf Channel's gain.

You rarely see a Fall Series event get this much coverage, but for four days, the Golf Channel treated the Frys.com Open like the Memorial or Bay Hill -- giving the tournament wall-to-wall coverage, and an additional hour of coverage during each round.

Considering Woods' affinity for playing the same events, we've never really had the chance in recent years to see how his presence influences smaller tour

When Christmas cards are sent out later this year, don't expect Harvest Prep to be on the Ohio High School Athletic Association's list. The prep school in Ohio is in hot water after a former administrator at the school turned over evidence that the school was not only recruiting players to come to the school, but also changing grades to keep players eligible, and not maintaining proper paperwork for transfers.

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As the Columbus Dispatch reported, the athletic association handed down a one-year ban that will keep the prep school from participating in postseason play for one season. The ban, while harsh, could have been much worse. Based on the severity of the penalties, athletic association officials were on the verge of dropping the hammer on Harvest Prep.

Commissioner Dan Ross said the OHSAA considered giving Harvest Prep the "death penalty," essentially expelling Harvest Prep from the OHSAA. Ross said such action was "a topic'' during the investigation that lasted approximately seven months.

The school will not only go on postseason probation for this season, football and boys and girls basketball will also have to serve a ban during the 2012-13 season. The school will then serve three years probation starting the 2013-14 school year.

Boys basketball will also be required to hand over its 2011 district championship and state runner-up trophies. As you can see from all the numerous punishments, the school has put itself in a difficult position going forward. And with all the violations now out in the open, you can be sure Ohio High School Athletic Association will be keeping tabs on the prep school going forward.

123907971Don't tell Webb Simpson that the tour's season-ending money list isn't a big deal. For a guy who was struggling to keep his card last year, you'd think he'd be content with his runner-up finish in the FedEx Cup and two wins this season.

With only two events left on the tour's schedule, the Fall Series is usually a time where golf's top players take some time off before the Presidents Cup, and golfers on the bubble grind it out to get inside the top 125 on the money list.

That's why it seems odd that Simpson's in the field this week at McGladrey Classic in Sea Island, Ga. For the North Carolina native, the event is a relative home game, so it makes sense to show up and pocket some extra cash before the end of the year.

But Simpson seems to be in the field for one reason: to make Luke Donald sweat. Sitting just $68,971 behind Donald on the PGA Tour money list, Simpson knows a top-15 finish or better this week would see him leapfrog the Englishman with just one event remaining on the

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You knew the R&A couldn't stay away for very long. After hosting the Open Championship in 2010, the R&A announced on Tuesday that St. Andrews would be hosting golf's oldest major championship once again in 2015.

It will mark the 29th time in the tournament's history that the Home of Golf has been the site of the Open. While the announcement is still a big deal, St. Andrews has hosted the event every five years since 1990, so the decision wasn't that big of a surprise.

If you've never been over to St. Andrews before to see the course and the town, well, this could be a great opportunity to visit. I hate to sound like a travel agent, but every golfer should really consider making the trip just once in their life.

And who knows, if you show up for the 2015 Open, there's a good chance you'll get to see a 38-year-old Tiger Woods tee it up. Whether he produces a 2000 or 2005 Open Championship performance remains to be seen.

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It might not have been the green jacket and trophy he was hoping for, but on Sunday afternoon on the other side of the globe, Rickie Fowler finally captured his first professional victory.

At first glance the victory doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Sure, he finally won a pro event, but after watching him blow leads and crumble down the stretch on the weekend in PGA Tour tournaments, the move to fly clear across the world to South Korea to play in the OneAsia Tour's Korea Open seemed like a desperate attempt to get a win against a watered-down field.

But if you look closer at the leaderboard, you'll notice a couple big names right behind Fowler: Rory McIlroy and Y.E. Yang, two guys with major championship wins on their resumes.

Fowler didn't just win another tour event; he took down an international event with some of the best names in the field making a push in the final round, including McIlroy, who fired a 64 on Sunday.

Fowler won by an impressive six shots, but it may have