1. 2005 Masters, 16th hole. We called this the best shot of the decade a week ago, and our opinion hasn't changed. Check it:

2. 2002 PGA Championship, 18th hole. The one shot we don't have video from, but it's here because Tiger has ranked it as the No. 1 shot he's ever hit in his professional career. He was 202 yards from the pin in a fairway bunker amid 20-mph wins. Not only did he clear the bunker, he stuck the ball to within 12 feet of the hole. A beauty that you'll have to picture in your mind's eye.

4. 2000 Canadian Open, 18th hole. A 220-yard bunker shot, carrying over water, to set him up for the eventual win. Unbelievable.

5. 2001 Players Championship, 17th hole. How many times did this one break before going in? "Better than most," indeed.

6. 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational, 18th hole. With a 24-footer to beat Bart Bryant, Tiger stepped up ... and threw down.

7. 2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational, 18th hole. One year after defeating Bryant, Woods stepped up and captured his first win after his return from knee surgery. Was there any doubt?

8. 2000 PGA Championship, first playoff hole. Against Bob May, Tiger drained a birdie on the first playoff hole with a classic chase-and-point. They'd play two more, but the birdie would hold up.

9. 2007 Masters, 11th hole. Tiger broke his club against a tree and still managed a perfect shot. Some things just ain't fair.

10. 2004 Masters, 14th hole. Check this beauty of a flop shot. This was the year Phil won, so Tiger was little more than a sidelight, but still -- what a shot. 

Bonus: The Jesus Shot. Because you always suspected this was true.

All right, your turn. What did we miss? Where do you rank each of these shots? Have your say!

"The second half is ours," Tiger finished, a bit lamely, but alas, it wasn't to be -- Cal beat Stanford 34-28 in the latest installment of The Big Game. It was no lateral-through-the-band classic, but still -- not a bad new chapter to add to Big Game lore.

Huh. Somebody clicking a camera in your backswing probably doesn't sound so bad now, does it, Tiger? 

(And since the comments are already beginning -- Tiger was booed because of the rivalry between Cal and Stanford. It has nothing to do with jealousy or politics or race or anything else; it was school spirit, plain and simple.)

Tiger Woods Booed At Stanford [Huffington Post]

Coming into 2009: It's been a long dry spell for Toms, who hasn't won since the 2006 Sony Open. The former PGA Championship winner hasn't placed in the top 10 in a major since 2007, and had seemed off his game for years entering the year. 2009 wasn't exceptional, but it was an improvement.

High-water mark: Toms had seven top-10 finishes and three top-3s, topped by a June sequence in which he finished tied for second in two of three tournaments, the St. Jude Classic and the Travelers. He was five and three strokes off the lead at each one, respectively. 

The low point: Unfortunately, the third of those three tournaments above was the U.S. Open, in which Toms missed the cut. And immediately after the Travelers, Toms missed the cut at the John Deere and the British Open. For the rest of the year, his finishes lingered around the 30s, broken only by a tie for 13th at the Tour Championship.

Outlook for 2010: Toms is still looking for a Hall of Fame berth -- he missed out on the Hall this year -- and so he's got incentive to keep the hammer down in 2010 and beyond.

Related David Toms posts from 2009:
PGAs past: Recalling David Toms' last-second 2001 triumph
The Clown's Mouth: Toms out of Hall running

The Wall Street Journal today focuses on a question of growing national importance: has the president ditched hoops in favor of golf?

Putting aside the resounding "who cares?" contingent, it's not an inconsequential question, at least from a public relations perspective. President Obama gained notoriety on the campaign trail as a regular guy who'd throw on some sweats and run up and down the court just like any other aging ex-jock. He apparently still has enough game to knock off the NCAA women's champion UConn Huskies in an impromptu game of P.I.G. 

But since he's taken office, he's played much more golf than basketball -- 25 rounds to seven games, according to the poor soul whose job it is to keep track of such minutiae. And that's apparently upset some people who'd like to see the president playing more basketball. (Really, though, can a president do anything without upsetting somebody?)

"The fact that he isn't playing [basketball]...is a metaphor for those people who think he's gotten soft, backed off of his promises, sold out," the WSJ quoted Claude Johnson, founder of the website Baller-in-Chief. "When President Obama goes back to basketball, that will be a sign that we haven't lost the original guy."

Yeah, perhaps. Or perhaps this is reaching just a wee bit too much for a story. Thing is, presidents golf. A lot. Dwight Eisenhower played Augusta National so frequently he's got a tree named after him. Bill Clinton enjoyed the game, though -- make of this what you will -- he took so many "extra" shots that his playing partners began calling them "Billigans." George W. Bush played plenty of golf early on in his administration, though he took grief for mixing pleasure with business (the infamous "now watch this drive" moment) and later stopped playing during wartime.

I understand the need for a president to be discreet about these kinds of activities; the last thing that someone who's struggling with his or her day-to-day life needs to see is the Commander-in-Chief strolling a golf course and laughing. Not quite the tighten-the-belt-and-work-harder image you want to project, you know? 

Still, I'm all for the president getting out and playing a few rounds. Guy's got a tough job; least he ought to be able to get out of the gig is a couple hours on the course. If I were president -- and this is one reason of many I'm not -- I'd have tee times on call at Pebble Beach, Augusta and Sawgrass. Any president has earned the right to big-time his way onto the country's marquee courses. 

Having said that, President Obama may not want to give up on hoops entirely. Put aside the whole "break the ankles of your opposition" thing; the Wizards are awful this year, and he could surely get a gig as a swingman coming off the bench. Would make more money than his current job, too.

Okay, your turn. Which sport should the president play? Or should he leave the games to others and work, work, work?

Quietly, the President finds that golf is no slam dunk [Wall Street Journal]

This weekend, though, there was nobody else even close to Westwood, and he made sure that he was the last man standing at the Dubai World Championships. He claimed both the tournament and the winner's check for the Race to Dubai, easily getting past Rory McIlroy along the way.

Spurred on by his caddy's advice to "go out and bully other people," Westwood did exactly that -- well, as much as you can bully somebody on the golf course.

And he got all up in McIlroy's head. The 20-year-old wunderkind couldn't come close to hanging with Westwood, and eventually got so ticked at the way his round was going that he plowed his club through a sign. And it helped; he reeled off six birdies over the next nine holes. But it wasn't enough, and now Westwood owns the day.

"Rory is only 20--I can't even remember what it was like to be 20--and he will have many more chances ahead of him to win the money list," Westwood said. 

True enough. Plus, Westwood has that killer trophy. Swing that thing around, and he'll be a better bully than ever.

Lee Westwood of England wins Dubai, money titles [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

So have you ever thrown a party at your place and there's one guest who just ... won't ... leave? I mean, you've hustled everybody else out the door, you're starting to pick up the spare beer cans and empty pizza boxes, you're maybe even brushing your teeth, and there's still one guest there, talking about how awesome the party was and looking very much like they're going to crash on the couch ...

Well, that hangaround guest is the LPGA. The PGA, the Champions, the Nationwide, even the little ancillary tours have all packed it in for the winter, but the LPGA hangs around, not quite ready to leave. And in a way, you can't blame them -- with a new commissioner and Michelle Wie's win, it's like they got their second wind right around the time everybody else is heading for the exits.

Still, there's drama afoot at the LPGA Tour Championship, which seems like it's been going on forever but has only been rolling since last Thursday. And believe it or not, the second round didn't even finish until this morning thanks to the heavy rains that have pounded the Houstonian course in Texas and shortened the event to 54 holes.

So here's where we stand heading into the third and final round.  Kristy McPherson leads the field at -8, just one stroke ahead of Jiyai Shin and two ahead of Lorena Ochoa and others. But while it's interesting that McPherson is looking for her first LPGA win, it's the battle between Shin and Ochoa that's the real focus of the day.

Shin and Ochoa are neck-and-neck for the player of the year title. As laid out here, Ochoa must either win the event outright, or place no lower than third and hope Shin falls out of the top 10.  That spot is only three strokes below where Shin now sits, so it's not out of the question. The two are also dueling for the Vare Trophy for the year's lowest scoring average, and a swing one way or the other would dictate that as well.

Hang tight, folks; this should all wrap up today. If not, we're gonna start charging these ladies rent. And since Thanksgiving is approaching and they're gonna have a hard time getting flights, they may not have a choice.

So with the Race to Dubai and the LPGA season now (almost) complete, we can all call it a round and head to the clubhouse to dissect our every shot. Even though the golf season is sort-of done until January, we'll still be hanging here at Devil Ball, talking anything and everything golf every day. Later today, we'll continue our "Best of the Decade" series, and after Thanksgiving, we'll start a complete breakdown of the 2009 season. We'll also be running podcasts and plenty of other fun stuff to get you through those lonely winter weeks. 

Come hang. We'll buy the first round.

Your Saturday golf tour update: Lee Westwood is running the show at the Dubai World Championships, owning a two-shot lead after three rounds. He's also leading Rory McIlroy in the hunt for the Race to Dubai championship. If Westwood takes both the tournament and the race, he'd become Europe's No. 1 player and pocket a handy $2.75 million. McIlroy was within one shot, but collapsed to fall five strokes back after three rounds. Ross McGowan is in second place, and Padraig Harrington and Alexander Noren are in third with McIlroy.

Meanwhile, things aren't quite so rosy in Houston at the LPGA, where rain has caused no end of havoc.  The second round is supposed to go off Saturday afternoon, but persistent rain could push the tournament to Monday or shorten it. Lorena Ochoa is currently leading with a six-under 66, but hasn't played a shot in her second round yet.

Stay tuned for more updates!

1. Phil Mickelson, 2006 U.S. Open. For a brief moment, it appeared Phil Mickelson was ready to challenge Tiger Woods for the title of best golfer in the world. He had a two-shot lead on 16 and a one-shot lead on 18, but spanged his drive off hospitality tent, then dinged his second shot off a tree trying an overly aggressive shot. Agonizing moments later, he'd surrendered the Open to Geoff Ogilvy in one of the most painful collapses in golf history.

2. Sergio Garcia, 2005 Wachovia Championship. Sergio had a six-shot lead going into the final round, but gave it all away in the worst collapse since Greg Norman's 1996 Masters meltdown.

3. Kenny Perry, 2009 Masters. All he needed to do was make par on one of the last two holes. He bogeyed both. All he needed to do was drain a reasonable putt on 18. He missed. But like #10 on this list, being a great guy doesn't keep the Choke Monkey off your shoulders.

4. Thomas Bjorn, 2003 British Open. Bjorn had a two-shot lead with three holes to play, but double-bogeyed 16 and bogeyed 17 to gift-wrap the Open for Ben Curtis. 

5. Greg Owen, 2006 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Owen all but had the Arnold Palmer Invitational wrapped up when he three-putted the 17th from about two feet out. Owen would bogey the final hole, giving Rod Pampling the surprising win.

6. Matt Gogel, 2000 Pebble Beach. Gogel was seven strokes up on Tiger Woods with seven to play, and ended up losing in one of the most dramatic collapses in the face of a Tiger charge ever.

7. Stewart Cink, 2001 U.S. Open. Cink missed an 18-inch virtual tap-in that kept him out of a playoff at the U.S. Open. But as you may have heard, he did okay on another 18th-hole putt that led to a playoff a few years later.

8. Suzanne Pettersen, 2007 Kraft Nabisco. There are ways to win a tournament, but going bogey-bogey-bogey-double bogey over the final four holes isn't one of them.

9. Lorena Ochoa, 2005 U.S. Women's Open. Standing on the 18th tee with a chance to either win with a birdie the Open or at least get onto a playoff, Ochoa utterly grounded her driver and skulled the ball into the water to the left of the tee. Her approach ended in the grandstands, as did her tournament hopes with a quadruple bogey. 

10. Tom Watson, 2009 British Open. Oh man, was this hard to put on this list. Watson's 2009 Open was almost the best day ever in golf. But when all he had to do was make par on 18 -- and when he left short a winning putt that he's made a million times before -- what else is there to say? Take the emotion out of this -- and believe me, we wanted Watson to win, badly -- and replace Watson's name with any other golfer on Tour, and you'd call it a choke without a second thought.

Also receiving consideration: Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA, Colin Montgomerie at the 2006 U.S. Open, Sergio Garcia at the 2008 British Open, Michelle Wie failing to sign her card at the 2008 State Farm Classic.

Your turn. What did we miss? What belongs higher (or lower) on this list? (And no, if we were in the position of these folks, we would have done even worse. So would you.) You're up!

Today, Shane discusses caddying for Erica Blasberg at the LPGA Tour Championship, as well as his own pro tour experience. (Yes, folks, he's a blogger who's actually played a sport! Amazing!) We also talk Michelle Wie and Tiger Woods, and finish with a discussion of the guy you least want in your golf foursome.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. And if you've got a question or comment for Shane and I to kick around, call our Skype line at 678-389-9173 and leave your message. Click the little arrow below to play the podcast or right-click it to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Have at it!

Devil Ball Golfcast, Episode 25 -- The joys of carrying somebody else's bag

Wie first hurt the ankle at the Solheim Cup this past summer, and said it had been bothering her on and off ever since. She played well in the opening holes of the Tour Championship, getting as low as three under through 12, but then had trouble on tee shots. After an hour of treatment, she called it a tournament and a season.

Wie, of course, caused all kinds of controversy back in 2007 when she may or may not have had a wrist injury called by a fall; not that it really matters, but she was off the course for awhile and had trouble once she returned. Conspiracy theorists guessed that she'd fabricated the injury to take time off from the game, and maybe she did, but bottom line -- as with many other elements of her game, it seems Michelle has learned a lesson or two, and this injury certainly appears legit.

That weeping sound you heard last night? Yeah, that was the LPGA brass, crying at the ratings bonanza that just vanished into the ether. Sure, it'll still be a dramatic weekend of women's golf -- stop giggling, I'm not being sarcastic -- but Wie would've brought in that many more viewers. Ah, well. Get well soon and start fresh in '10, Michelle.

Wie withdraws because of ankle injury [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

Coming into 2009: 2008 was Johnson's first year on Tour, and he made a splash right off the bat by winning the Turning Stone Resort Championship. 

High-water mark: Johnson took the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in a win shortened by rain. It was the best of five top-10 finishes. He wrapped the year 15th on the money list with nearly $3 million in earnings.

The low point: Johnson was arrested for DUI in March. but immediately said he'd learned his lesson. A couple weeks later, he played at Augusta for the first time, ahd he's been a model citizen since.

Outlook for 2010: Strong. Johnson finished the majors season with a tie for 10th at the PGA Championship, and he's set up well to have another solid season in 2010.

Related Dustin Johnson posts from 2009:
2009 hasn't been kind to rookies on the PGA Tour
Hey, ho, Pebble Beach has got to go

But then came August, and an ill-fated trip on a go-kart. He wrecked and broke several toes, and just like that put a huge dent in his chances to win the Race to Dubai. 

He entered the current Dubai World Championships in third place, more than $330,000 behind leader Rory McIlroy. Now, he could still win the championship and the monstrous Race to Dubai, but it's much harder now. Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher are also in the mix.

If Kaymer wins, he becomes the youngest Vardon winner since Bernhard Langer in 1981 -- though, it must be pointed out, McIlroy would be the second-youngest of all time, behind the 19-year-old Seve Ballesteros in 1976.

Regardless, Kaymer is poised to be one of the major players on the golf scene for the next few years ... though it sure sounds like he's not giving up the golf carts: "It was just unlucky," he said. "It was not my fault. It was the fault of the other driver. He crashed into me and pushed me into the guys in front ... I'm sure I will do it again in the future and have fun."

All right, then. Well, for now, Kaymer in a tie for 22nd, six strokes off the lead, after the first round. Good thing there aren't any carts on the course.

• Robert Allenby is off to a first-round lead at the Dubai World Championships, with Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy lurking close behind. Drama! [PGA.com]

• Speaking of McIlroy -- how well will the young lad fare once he comes to America in 2010? [Armchair Golf]

• Mostly Harmless gives us a comprehensive breakdown of the 2010 LPGA schedule. Impressive work, and a more optimistic view than most. [Mostly Harmless]

• Would it be worthwhile to combine all the money won on all tours into one big global money list? [Golf Digest]

• A new take on the Doug Barron-vs.-PGA Tour debate. As we predicted, this one is ugly and getting uglier. [The Golf Channel]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

Professor Jennifer Brown analyzed every single player in every PGA tournament from 1999 to 2006, and found scientific and psychological proof for what every television broadcaster and viewer has known all along – the presence of Tiger Woods in a tournament has a dramatic and measurable effect on the performance of other players. (Visor tip to Press Tent and The Frontal Cortex blog for the find.)

Brown found that playing against Woods significantly decreased golfers' performance. When Tiger was in the field, other golfers' games increased by an average of 0.8 strokes, and that figure increased when Tiger was playing well. In other words, everybody in the field is giving Tiger a stroke to start with ... and it gets only worse from there.

Brown suggests that the "competitors scale back their effort in events where they believe Woods will surely win" – in other words, they're thinking, screw it – second-place money will still make me rich. Over at The Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer takes the opposite tack – that competitors try too hard and run out of talent or, put more indelicately, choke. Interestingly, David Feherty offered this exact same explanation in our interview with him last year:

What the hell kind of hold does this guy have over the rest of the field, anyway?

That's it, it's a hold. You might be the second-best guy in the tournament, but then you watch him make some unbelievable shot. And you're thinking, I can't just do that ... I've got to do better than that. I lay up here, I'm going to look like a total [kittycat]. So Tiger birdies the hole or eagles it, you make a stupid shot and bogey or double-bogey it, and that's how the gap widens. That's how the pattern goes over four rounds of a tournament.

So there you have it – statistical proof that Tiger Woods gets in the heads of the rest of the field and sets up camp. Shoot, by this point he's probably built housing developments.

Tiger 101? College prof explains the 'Woods effect' [Press Tent]
The Tiger Woods Effect [Frontal Cortex]

• Breaking down the value of Michelle Wie's win from a marketing perspective for both her and the LPGA. Short answer: it kinda helps just a wee bit. [Bloomberg]

• And still on the LPGA beat -- Ron Sirak's five-part plan for breathing new life into the LPGA. This makes an awful lot of sense, and it's worth a read. [Golf Digest]

• PGA/LPGA caddy Bill Harke holds a unique distinction in sports -- he caught Tom Brady's first-ever pass, way back in high school. [Out of Bounds]

• Two mens' victors this weekend, two sets of conforming grooves. Maybe this whole grooves-ban thing won't matter as much as everybody thought. [CBS Sports]

• The short, happy life of a golf ball retrieving tool. [Hooked on Golf]

• The Vice President snuck in a few holes of golf in Vegas, even though The Golf Club at South Shore initially told him that it was members-only. One phone call -- which I'm sure was not threatening at all -- and the veep was on. [Local Knowledge]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

Michelle Wie: Of course. You expected any different? After this past weekend, we now expect Michelle Wie to win every single tournament from here on out, and if she doesn't, she's a total failure. Hey, that's the price you pay for winning.

Jiyai Shin: One of the best stories of the year, the Rookie of the Year and money list leader could grab the Player of the Year title too.

Paula Creamer: She's still looking for her first win of the year, a 2009 in which the Pink Lady was buffeted by stomach trouble for much of the season. A disappointment? Perhaps, but one she could erase with a strong showing this weekend.

Lorena Ochoa: It's been as anonymous as a year can be for a three-time winner and current reigning No. 1. She could close out the year on a high note and cement Player of the Year, or she could fall short and wrap what would be, for her, a down year.

Cristie Kerr: She's got an outside chance at the Player of the Year, accordng to Hound Dog, but that's not particularly likely. Still, picking her won't make ya look stupid, as she's in the top 3 in scoring average, money and POY points.

Check Mostly Harmless and Links Life for more previews of the LPGA Tour Championship, and tune in all weekend. Now, make your own picks! Go!

Coming into 2009: While Mahan had an unspectacular 2008, he did play well on the Ryder Cup team. He entered 2009 riding that high, and all seemed primed for Mahan to make his run at the top of the leaderboard. 

High-water mark: Mahan played a reliably consistent season; he only had six top-10 finishes, led by a 2nd-place finish at the AT&T National in July, but he nonetheless ended up 16th on the money list. He also had two top-10 major finishes, a tie for 10th at the Masters and a tie for sixth at the U.S. Open.

The low point: Bethpage. The U.S. Open. Mahan deep in the hunt. Approaching the 16th hole, he hit an 8-iron dead at the pin -- so dead that it caromed off the pin and into the rough. He ended bogeying the hole and finishing four strokes off the lead. So close, and yet so far ... to coin a phrase.

Outlook for 2010: Outstanding. Mahan missed the cut at the British Open, but other than that, he finished in the top 16 in all the other majors. He's starting to put it all together, and while he's only got one Tour win right now -- the Travelers from 2007 -- expect that to change soon.

Related Mahan posts from 2009:
Add Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan to the list of Tiger victims
Ten storylines for the final (?) day of the 2009 U.S. Open
Michael Jordan lights fire under U.S. Presidents Cup squad

Golfweek's Beth Ann Baldry was apparently the first one to post a leak of the 2010 schedule, revealing that there will be 23 events but only six before June. Last year, the LPGA announced 31 events for this year, but only 27 of those were actually played. (2008 had 34 events announced, all of which were played.) So the backloading of events for 2010 doesn't necessarily mean that there will be even 23 events played. On the plus side, Baldry announced that Wegmans will sponsor the LPGA Championship next year, replacing McDonald's and providing a welcome infusion of cash.

About 90 minutes after Golfweek, Golf Digest delivered a comprehensive schedule with specific dates. As Golf Digest LPGA expert Ron Sirak noted, "The 2010 schedule was put together under extremely trying circumstances: A mix of a bad economy and bad blood among tournament owners left over the the Carolyn Bivens commissionership. Many of the tournaments acting commissioner Marty Evans was able to lure back returned at lower purses."

There are 17 off weeks -- 17! -- between the season-leading Honda LPGA in mid-February and the LPGA Tour Championship nine months later. A big chunk of that time comes in the spring, when the LPGA plays two events, takes four weeks off, plays two more events, then takes another four weeks off, plays another two weeks, takes another four weeks off. That's six events in four months. 

The LPGA has substantial challenges before it, but this one's the biggest. If they can't stay on the course to play the freakin' game, all the PR outreach efforts in the world aren't going to matter one bit.

Wegmans to sponsor 2010 LPGA major [Golfweek]
Patchwork LPGA SChedule for 2010 [GolfDigest.com]

According to the Detroit News, Armour owes more than $583,100 in taxes from 2002 and 2005-2007, and in September, the federal government sought permission to sell Armour's Irving, Texas home to satisfy the debt. Government officials charge that Armour "neglected, failed and refused" to pay the debt, and now he's losing his house.

Armour has denied all three of those accusations, and according to the Detroit News, blamed the tax problems on "a mix of bad management, inconsistent earnings and his lifestyle":

"If you get used to living a certain lifestyle and you have a couple of bad years, suddenly things start building up," Armour said last year. "It's a hole that was dug. I made some bad decisions and had some bad management for a moment."

He further contends that the IRS misplaced one of his payments, and that his payment arrangements were altered unbeknownst to him. Armour earned $503,306 this year, a third of what he earned in 2008, and has career earnings of $9,447,118.

Here's hoping it all works out for Armour; it's tough putting with the tax man on your shoulders.

Tommy Armour trapped in deep bunker [Detroit News]

Ow. Sorry. I just caused myself physical pain with that hack lead. Hang on a second. Wow, that was bad.

Okay, back at it now. McIlroy is just 20 years old, but he's currently sitting atop the rankings of the European Tour's Race To Dubai following his runner-up finish at last weekend's UBS Hong Kong Open. The Dubai World Championship starts this week, and McIlroy leads the impressive field that will include Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher and Geoff Ogilvy.

And that's not all. McIlroy now stands at 13th in the world rankings, the highest of his career. He's hitting new highs every week, also now leading the European Ryder Cup standings. 

McIlroy's getting to where he is based on talent, but I'm betting he'll stay based on the way he's been brought along -- slowly, with a minimum of hype and hoopla generated by his own camp. (Unlike some other golf prodigies we could name, McIlroy has a support system in place that appears dedicated to his on-course success, not creating Rory McIlroy Inc.)

And others are taking interest in his success, too. Earlier this year, Tiger Woods declined to play a practice round with McIlroy at Augusta, but not from arrogance -- no, Tiger wanted Rory to learn the course without the swelling monstrosity of a gallery that would follow Tiger anywhere. It was one of many protective moves, and it's one of the reasons he was one of the few golfers to make the cuts in all four majors this year. (He recorded top-10 finishes in both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.) And now he's about to break worldwide -- but it sure seems like he's ready.

I'm not going to break out the "next Tiger" tag, because that thing's tattered and worn and ugly and it never really fit anybody anyway. I will say that of all the post-Tiger generation of golfers -- Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, and so on -- Rory McIlroy has impressed me the most in the short amount of time I've seen him at work. This kid's got majors in his future -- and perhaps a monster paycheck even closer than that.

The L.A. Times (via Waggle Room) brings us this story of a one-hole course at U.S. Army Camp Bonifas, South Korea, right at the edge of the DMZ. It's a par 3, 192 yards, which sounds easy enough, even factoring in the narrow, 40-yard-wide fairway.

Oh, but let's not forget the hazards. There's a sign along the course that you're probably not going to see at St. Andrews or Pebble Beach: "Danger. Do not retrieve balls from the rough. Live mine fields." So that's an unplayable lie, then?

This is the Army, and there's the threat and history of violence at every moment. Shoot, the camp itself is named for Capt. Arthur Bonifas, who, according to the Times, was "axed to death by North Korean soldiers in 1976 during a disagreement over a tree-pruning project along the DMZ." Again, we're a long way from the traditional gentlemen's game here.

The Times article recounts all the cool little elements of the course -- players hit two balls off the tee, combat boots are acceptable footwear, many players are armed. Nobody's yet hit a hole in one in the 37 years the course has been in existence. But amid the concertina wire that rings the entire course, there's something just perfect about it all. 

So, yeah -- next time you hear a PGA pro whining about how tough a country-club course is, point him in the direction of South Korea. 

In Korea, a round on the world's most dangerous golf course [LA Times]

• Bigger bonehead move: Phil Mickelson getting stupid on the 18th at Winged Foot in 2006 or Bill Belichick going for it late in Sunday night's Colts game? [Waggle Room]

• And as good as Michelle Wie's win is for the LPGA, there's plenty of bad to go with it -- the LPGA's Board of Directors remains embroiled in argument and controversy. [Local Knowledge]

• Happy birthday to Corey Pavin, who's got an interesting year coming up. (He's captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, you know.) [PGA.com] 

• How many other Tour players besides Doug Barron have tested positive for drugs but haven't had their tests made public? [A Walk in the Park]

• It was one of the more dramatic weekends for many players in all of 2009, and the PGA Tour's website wasn't there to cover it? [Geoff Shackelford]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter.

Score one for the R&A Golf Club, which addressed a suddenly-problematic exemption rule by allowing Tom Watson to play in another five Opens.

Of course, they didn't mention Watson by name, but they didn't need to. Under the old rules, Watson would have been booted because of age, but the new exemption allows former champions who finish in the top 10 of any Open another five years' worth of exemptions. It's a smart move, ensuring that legends will continue to be in the field for as long as they're playing quality golf.

Watson, as you no doubt recall, played fairly well in this past year's Open at Turnberry. There was considerable concern that his days were numbered in the Open because of the age limits, but we called that out as a dumb idea. And the R&A took our advice! How about that?

In the end, that's really good news. After the way he took Stewart Cink to a playoff in last year's Open Championship, I've got a feeling it's only a matter of time before this Watson kid breaks through.

As you probably already know, David Duval fell short in his bid to stay in the top 125. But he wasn't the only one. Some big names hung on to get their card (the pictured-at-right Ricky Barnes, Rich Beem) and some others dropped out of the mix (Chris Riley, Jeff Maggert). Over at CBS Sports, Steve Elling did a fine job of breaking down all the vomit-inducing turns of fortune as players pinballed back and forth between salvation and damnation. For instance, check out the story of Nicholas Thompson:

Thompson started the week at 132nd and was sitting at a projected 116th as he played the 18th, then hit his drive next to a tree and found his ball among the roots. He bent the hosel of his 6-iron trying to hit a big slice left of the green, but overcooked it and it almost sailed into a water hazard along the right side of the green.

[snip]

It was dry by perhaps 10 feet, and Thompson badly chunked a wedge shot onto the green, leaving him an uncomfortable 50 feet. How unsettling was it? His lag put was nearly a gag putt -- he left it nine feet short. But he somehow collected himself and ran it in.

Oh, but it got worse from there for Thompson, who bounced in and out of the top 125 based on how later players fared. (Read the whole account here.) Same deal for Jimmy Walker, who most certainly was not dynamite when he was closing out his round, dunking his ball on 17 and bunkering it on 18. But he still managed to stay at 125. 

For the current money list, click here and see how your favorite golfer did (or didn't) fare. Exemptions are all over the map, but I like the fact that Tom Watson made it into the top 125 with only two events played. So fear not, dudes who didn't make the cut this year -- there's always hope.

See that? The fans applauding Woods? That's why he gets away with tossing clubs. (To be fair, he threw the club onto the ground, and it bounced into the crowd ... if that makes a difference.) Look, I'm a huge Woods fan, but this club-tossing garbage has to stop. The cussing doesn't bother me at all; the guy is human, and everybody gets frustrated enough to let a word or two out now and then. But the club-tossing is beneath him.

The problem is, the way that everyone perceives Tiger allows this stuff to perpetuate. It's high time that we stop taking Tiger Woods as an all-or-nothing package. You can't just excuse his on-course actions like this "because he's competitive" or "because other golfers do it" or "because they used to do it like this in the old days." The guy's got enough control to stick a ball to within inches of a cup from 200 yards out -- you're telling me he doesn't have the control to keep a club in his hand after his backswing?

And on the other side of the equation -- these tantrums don't automatically mean he's less of a golfer and less of a sportsman than Nicklaus or Palmer. He's got one flaw in his makeup, and critics seize on that to dismiss his entire career. Ridiculous. Enough with the "bad role model" nonsense. Tiger's got this one mark against him, and it's something that he can -- and should -- correct, but it's not like this is some deep, dark stain on his legacy.

The possibility that he could have brained someone with his club is a side issue, but an important one -- it would've been worldwide news before Tiger even got to his ball. (Still, if anybody could get away with clocking somebody on the head with a golf club ... ) This isn't a PR battle that Tim Finchem and the golf powers-that-be need to be fighting, not when it's within Tiger's power to control. It's okay to think Tiger's the greatest of all time and think he needs to get his temper under control.

Is it fair that we spend this much time scrutinizing his golf game? Hey, "fair" went out the window when Tiger started accepting seven-figure checks. This is part of the agreement -- all that money comes with a price. Now, granted, throwing clubs is not the worst thing he could be doing; heck, he could be throwing matches. But Tiger Woods is an icon, and this is low-rent behavior. He's got to be above it.

(Visor tip: A Walk In The Park)

_____

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Congratulations to Stephen Ames, who won for the second time in three years at this tournament. Later today, we'll have a full recap of which players hung around the Top 125 and which fell out of the hunt. Come on back, won't you?

Wie notched a two-stroke win over Paula Creamer at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, marking a new high point in a 10-year career that began when she qualified for a USGA event at age 10. 

It wasn't an easy win, and Wie had every opportunity to give this one away. Creamer and Cristie Kerr were even with Wie as late as the 12th hole on the final day, but this time around it was the others, not Wie, who faded in the stretch. And all of a sudden, Michelle Wie's story looks much different today than it did four days ago.

Because she had so much so soon for so little effort, Wie has naturally attracted legions of detractors who critique her every misstep. And it's easy to see why; she got untold millions based on potential alone, and then appeared to squander that potential time after time. But right around this time last year, she buckled down, played her way onto the LPGA, and now here we are.

Sure, this is just one win. She could easily go into a tailspin. But combine this with her outstanding, undefeated play at the Solheim Cup and a newfound sense of perspective on the course, and you could be looking at that rarest of all sports breeds – a prodigy who lives up to her potential.

As we wrap, it's worth pointing out one little statistic. Here are the ages when several of golf's most prominent names won their first LPGA tournament.

Annika Sorenstam: Age 24
Lorena Ochoa: Age 22
Cristie Kerr: Age 24
Jiyai Shin: Age 20 years, six months.

Oh, and Michelle Wie? She turned 20 a month ago. 

At long last, Michelle Wie gets 1st LPGA Tour win [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

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In that yellow jacket, Tiger Woods looks like he's ready to sell you a house ... perhaps in Australia, which he now owns.

Yes, while you were sleeping Tiger Woods was adding yet another feather to his overloaded cap, winning the JBWere Australian Masters by two strokes and proving that his stunning $3 million appearance fee was a worthwhile investment. Woods was in a three-way tie for the lead but ditched the pack with three birdies in his first six holes. This is Tiger's 82nd worldwide victory in 13 countries, but his first in Australia.

Australia welcomed Tiger like a visiting head of state, and he didn't disappoint. The worst thing that could have happened would have been for Woods to show up to pomp and circumstance, then wander to some anonymous fifth-place finish behind some little-known PGA Tour pro. (Well, the worst would have been for him to miss the cut, but you know what I'm getting at.)

This win is huge for worldwide golf, for the simple reason that the sport has its greatest leaps in popularity when there's a dominant figure -- Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer -- atop the leaderboard week after week, year after year. People gravitate toward the iconic, and Woods is standing as tall right now as he has in many years.

Tiger conquered the United States around the turn of the millennium, and now he's picking off the outlying continents. Phil Mickelson snagged Asia away from him for the moment with the win at the HSBC Champions, but if you think Tiger's going to let that slide, well, you haven't been watching the man in red particularly long. Ahead on the docket: South America, home of the 2016 Olympics.

Interestingly, Tiger's overseas dominance comes at a time when, stateside, he appears as vulnerable as he's ever been. He surrendered a final-day lead at a major for the first time in his career at this year's PGA Championship. This is a time when, every week, somebody could beat Tiger ... but it's still not the same somebody every week. But he's still the guy that golf fans in America want to see ... and now, the bandwagon's welcoming on a growing international contingent.

Still, congratulations to Australia's golf officials and fans for getting maximum return on their investment. And congrats to Tiger. At this point, he's got the whole world in ... well, you know.

The long, hard fall of David Duval, the onetime world No. 1, is over. Barring some sort of statistical lunacy, Duval will fall out of the top 125 on the PGA Tour's money list and thus lose his PGA card for 2010.

Duval entered this weekend's Children's Miracle Network tournament at Disney sitting right on the bubble -- the No. 125 spot -- and only needed to make the cut and play halfway decently to hold off his challengers. Instead, he utterly imploded, missing the cut by seven strokes. He's now projected to finish the season at No. 131.

After his second and final round of the season concluded, Duval was philosophical. "It's not a position you want to be in," Duval said. "It's not fun, but really, I haven't been focusing on it a whole lot." And maybe he's right. Maybe everyone else around him and observing him has focused more on this than he has.

After all, it's not like Duval's going to be gone from the Tour entirely. He's got conditional status by staying in the top 150, and his performances at the U.S. Open last year and the British Open in 2001 -- he won it, remember -- will get him into the first three majors of 2010. So he'll be in at least a dozen tournaments, and he can get sponsor's exemptions to many others. But seeking that kind of charity is a hard fall for the guy who was once proclaimed the best in golf.

Give Duval all the credit in the world, though; he's not griping and moaning about this, he's facing up to reality. He's already signed up for Q School, and he's trying to shrug off the ugliness of the past few years.

For a moment this summer at the U.S. Open, it seemed like all was finally breaking Duval's way. He was within sight of a career-altering victory, and it looked like he might be undergoing a career resurgence. But as Armchair Golf notes, a key putt on the 17th hole looped the cup and rimmed out, and that was that for Duval's hopes in Bethpage.

And that hoped-for revival never happened. As Dogs That Chase Cars points out, without that U.S. Open check, Duval earned less than $64,000 on tour, barely enough to tip your caddy -- relatively speaking, of course.

So here we are. Duval has run out the string on his exemptions, but perhaps that's for the best. He can step back, take a breath and fight his way back onto the Tour. Bethpage proved there's some fight left in the old dog; let's hope he can tap into that again soon.

2009 is a rim out for Duval [Armchair Golf]
Former No. 1 Duval likely losing PGA Tour card [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

Udorn Duangdecha gets his inner John Daly on at the UBS Hong Kong Open. That's one heck of a fine ensemble right there, Mr. Duangdecha.

We'll be checking in all weekend with updates on David Duval, Rickie Fowler and that guy in the red shirt. Have a good one, everybody!

Coming into 2009: Cink was a well-regarded but majorless pro, always lingering around the top 10 of the majors but never quite breaking through. For much of the year, he was best known as golf's most popular Twitterer. And then came a Sunday afternoon in Turnberry ...

High-water mark: Cink played decently in the Accenture Match Play and recorded a third-place ... aw, just kidding. As anybody who hasn't been living in a cave knows, Cink triumphed over Tom Watson in a playoff for the British Open. While almost nobody wanted Cink to win, everybody was okay with him once he did.

The low point: With a chance to come up big in his hometown tournament at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Cink, while holding the lead on Friday, drove two straight shots on the tenth hole right onto the neighboring residential street. And that was that for his chances in Atlanta. 

Outlook for 2010: Cink is playing as well as he ever has on Tour, though it's worth noting that he only had four top-10s all season. But he's got that major in his bag now, and that brings you all kinds of confidence. While 2010 can't possibly match 2009 for breakthroughs, it could easily be Cink's best season ever.

Related Cink posts from 2009:
In beating Tom Watson, Stewart Cink becomes the villain
Stewart Cink is not a favorite of Wikipedia users
Stewart Cink stars in 'The case of the missing Claret Jug'
How the heck does Stewart Cink have 66,000 Twitter followers? (That item's a bit dated. He's now got 1.1 million.)

In his complaint, Barron indicated that the drugs for which the PGA Tour suspended him were the beta blocker Propranolol and exogenous testosterone. Barron charged that both drugs were properly prescribed to him by a physician, even though they are on the list of the PGA Tour's banned substances.

The complaint further notes that Barron specificaly asked the Tour for a "therapeutic use exemption" for both medications but was denied. The complaint charged that the PGA Tour instructed Barron to "wean himself" off the Propranolol and immediately stop the exogenous testosterone. 

As Golfweek notes, Barron used the beta blockers in connection with mitral valve prolapse, a condition in which the valves of the heart do not close properly. The testosterone was prescribed to help counterbalance his apparently naturally low testosterone levels.

There's another component to the complaint, as well; Barron charges that the PGA Tour defamed him by allowing the image to persist that Barron had used the drugs as performance enhancers, when it clearly knew the medications had no such effect.

The case was filed in Shelby County (Tenn.) Chancery Court.

So ... this puts a little different spin on things, doesn't it? If you believe his side of the story, Barron's not quite the 'roided-out monstrosity that a suspension would seem to imply. Waggle Room does a nice job of breaking down the intricacies of the Tour's policy, and also notes that Barron's quote in the immediate aftermath of the suspension takes on new meaning.

Hang tight, everybody. This one's going to get uglier before it gets resolved.

Barron sues PGA Tour over drug test [Golfweek]

• If there are going to be new golf movies treading the same hack snobs-vs.-slobs ground, why isn't there room for one satirizing golf's Christian-right base? [The Guardian] 

• Robert Allenby didn't show up at the Australian Masters, and the Aussies were polite and understanding. Just kidding -- they tore him a new one! [Press Tent]

• Tiger Woods isn't the Comeback Player of the Year? Why the heck not? Sorry, PGA Tour, Tiger left, came back, and still kicked your butts. Don't be hatin', y'all. [Waggle Room]

• Revealed at last: the appearance fees for every player at the Australian Masters! (Hint: satire.) [Fore Right]

• On a more serious note, Tiger is demonstrating that he's worth the monstrous appearance fee he got paid to come to Australia. [Golf Observer]

• And just one more, 'cause I love this angle: Tiger Woods is leading after the first two rounds at the Australian Masters, and one columnist says it's over and done with. Y.E. Yang would like a word with you, sir. [Herald Sun]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

1. Tiger Woods, 2005 Masters, 16th hole. "In your life, have you seen anything like that?" Nope. Never. Beautiful.

2. Shaun Micheel's approach, 2003 PGA Championship, 18th hole. One of the most impressive shots ever to clinch a major championship, it was instantly ranked the "shot of the decade" by many pundits. Of course, that was before Tiger's shot above, but no. 2 is still a good spot, yes?

3. Y.E. Yang's approach, 2009 PGA Championship, 18th hole. It wasn't until Yang hit this beautiful approach shot that his surprising victory over Tiger Woods became complete. 

4. Phil Mickelson's seeing-eye approach shot, 2008 Colonial, 18th hole. How Phil put this shot where he did will forever remain a mystery, but he won the tournament with an approach for the ages.

5. Padraig Harrington's second shot, 2008 British Open, 17th hole. With the Claret Jug in sight, Harrington unleashed one of the prettiest golf shots in memory against howling winds. Anybody else, this ball would have ended up out of bounds; the way Harrington was playing, it nestled up to the flag.

6. Tiger Woods, bunker shot, 18th hole, 2002 PGA Championship. You probably don't remember this shot, and we don't even have video of it, but it's here for one reason: Tiger has ranked it as the No. 1 shot he's ever hit in his professional career. He was 202 yards out, in a fairway bunker, facing 20-mph wins. The ball sat below his feet, and he had to clear trees and hook it to put it onto the green. Naturally, he put it to within 12 feet of the hole. The shot came in the second round of the championship, and Woods didn't win; Rich Beem did. Even so, this shot ranks as one of the finest of his career.

7. Phil Mickelson's final putt, 2004 Masters, 18th hole. In 2004, Phil Mickelson stood over an 18-foot birdie putt that had the potential to change his life. On the 18th at Augusta, with his first major finally within reach, Mickelson tapped the putt just enough that it caught the edge of the cup and dropped, giving him -- at last -- a green jacket. It was the most important putt of his life, and he nailed it.

8. Tiger Woods, 2008 Open, 18th hole. This was the putt that put him in the playoff with Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines. You knew this was going in, and so did Rocco.

9. David Toms' ace, 2001 PGA Championship, 15th hole. Toms held off Phil Mickelson to win his first major, and no shot was more critical than his ace in the third round on the 15th at the Atlanta Athletic Club. He was trailing Mickelson by a shot, but that ace -- at 243 yards, the longest ever recorded by a major champion -- proved to be the difference in the tournament.

10. Geoff Ogilvy's chip, 2006 U.S. Open, 17th hole. Phil Mickelson threw open the door by falling apart on the 18th at Winged Foot, but Ogilvy couldn't have taken advantage were it not for this beautiful chip on 17:

Honorable mentions: Leif Olson's amazing bank-shot ace at the 2009 RBC Canadian, Tiger Woods' playoff birdie at the 2000 PGA, Jamie Lovemark's insanely lucky break at the 2009 Frys.com Open.

Bonus! We had so many demands for Craig Parry's hole-out to win the 2004 Doral, we had to include it. Slot it in wherever you like. 

All right, your turn. What did we miss? Where do your favorite shots of the 2000s slot in? Have at it!

Coming into 2009: Sabbatini is well-known for his controversial stances cutting on Tiger Woods and the slow play of Ben Crane. Coming into this year, he hadn't exactly lit it up golf-wise, having notched only four wins over his entire career. Would he be another all-sizzle, no-steak flash?

High-water mark: Sabbatini played in 25 events and notched 4 top-10 finishes, capped by a win at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, his first PGA win in two years. He posted a -19 card, highlighted by a final-round 64.

The low point: After a solid season, Sabbatini was in line for a Presidents Cup berth thanks to his earnings, but Y.E. Yang's astonishing PGA Championship win bumped Sabbatini out of the mix. Still, everyone expected International captain Greg Norman to select Sabbatini anyway ... and when he didn't, picking Adam Scott instead, the criticism started at 10 and only went upward from there.

Outlook for 2010: Sabbatini is no longer the most highly regarded Rory in golf -- that would now be McIlroy -- but he's still one of those guys who's got it in him to make a run now and then. Nobody inside the top 20 on any money list should get taken for granted, but it's probably time for Sabbatini's clubs to start making more noise than his mouth.

Okay, let's be honest -- the words "putting green" and "bra" have probably never been uttered together in the same sentence, except in conjunction with words like "she left her" and "on," and even then only in magazines of a certain character. So credit to the Japanese designer who had the foresight to combine these two. And in perfect Japanese-style English, it's called the  "Nice Cup In Bra." Well, what else would you call it?

Here's how it works: the lucky lady who owns this creation simply takes off the corset-like contraption (...type ... slower!!! ...) and unrolls the mat concealed within. The bra's cups form the dual holes at which you can putt. The skirt turns into a "Quiet Please!" flag, and ... well, heck, just take a look at it:

Oh, and by the way -- if you hit the putt, a tiny speaker says, "Nice shot!" Don't you dare make a joke about that. Don't you dare.

The bra is billed as an artistic response to the popularity of golf among Japanese women, which is good -- if it was aimed at the women's boyfriends, I'd have to seriously reconsider Japan's priorities. And see if I could get a franchise distribution deal for America.

Bra that can be used as a golf putting mat [Telegraph]
A Bra That Doubles as a Putting Green? [Waggle Room]
Make the putt bra [The Golf Blog]

I don't even know where to begin with this photo, which Daly posted over on his Twitter account. Check out the cigarette and Bud Light there on the right side of the photo, and check out where Daly's right hand is resting. John, you're a player for the ages, a theme that Sports By Brooks picked up on.

Daly's a natural fit for country music, seeing as how his life -- drinking, crazy women, more drinking, calamitous collapses followed by redemption -- is a country song come to life.

Plus, Daly's got some experience in the musical field himself, having written a song or two of his own (and recruited heavyweights like Kid Rock to record with him.) I know Daly gets tons of grief, and this harvested-off-a-scarlet-zebra getup isn't going to bolster his image any. But I think the guy is the kind of player that golf needs, as long as he's able to keep his head above water. And since we're coming up on a year from his last major blowup -- the camera-smashing incident in Australia -- we've got to hope that Daly is holding the pieces of his life together. In an eye-blasting package. 

• Good beginning for Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood at the UBS Hong Kong Open as they battle for the Race for Dubai lead. [PGA.com]

• And over in Australia, Tiger posted a first-round 66 in the Australian Masters. It's cool if you didn't hear about it; hasn't been much in the news lately. [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

• In honor of Veterans Day, a post on a nine-hole golf course meant for veterans only. Jack Nicklaus is reportedly designing the next nine. [Links Life]

• Anthony Kim won the Kiwi Challenge over Sean O'Hair even though Kim bogeyed a playoff hole. Man, I just cannot keep up with all these wacky little overseas tourneys. [PGA.com]

• Getting to know new LPGA Mike Whan ... or not. These profiles are all kinda the same, and I'm not sure we can blame the writers for that. [Golfweek]

• Adam Scott may end up giving up the European Tour in order to focus on the U.S. Tour. Whatever works there, my man, whatever works. [Golf Channel]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

Here's the deal. The Kodak Challenge was a season-long competition in which players combined their 18 best scores against par at designated holes at 30 different tournaments. The holes were selected from the less-prominent tournaments -- the best-known are probably the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the AT&T Pro-Am -- which means that this is an award that favors the players who grind it out, week after week.

With two tournaments left to play, Kevin Streelman led Nathan Green, Bo Van Pelt and J.J. Henry by two strokes. The Viking Classic's Kodak Challenge hole was the par-5 18th, meaning that the pursuers could have sliced one and maybe even both strokes off that lead with a good outing. But when the Viking Classic got rained out, that hole went with it -- and the Kodak Classic now rests on the par-4 17th at the Children's Miracle Network Classic. And because Streelman has played more than 18 holes, it doesn't matter if he makes bogey. The only way the other guys will catch him is with an eagle on a 485-yard hole. Good luck with that.

So, congrats to Streelman, who will almost certainly get himself a big ol' check with a lot of zeroes. For a guy who's only on his second year on Tour, this win would represent nearly half of his total career earnings. I'm thinking he'd be just fine without any drama, even if Kodak would like a little more love.

Kodak Challenge [Official site]

• Here's one of those posts that has me banging my head that I didn't think of it first: a photo gallery of all the lame golf trophies out there. Simply a must-read. [About.com]

• Is this the end of Cobra Golf's "youth movement"? Say it ain't so, Camilo! [Bushwood Country Club]

• Okay, now Rory McIlroy apparently is coming to play in the U.S. after all. Huh. I'll believe it when I see it. [Waggle Room]

• On this Veterans Day, a fine tribute to golfers who served in World War II. [Armchair Golf]

• Oh, and by the way, Tiger -- while we're happy for you in Australia and all, one writer would like to see you show even the tiniest bit of interest in fulfilling your obligations off the course. This one veers perilously close to the intolerable poor-little-us media whine, but there are some good points within. [Golf Digest]

• Lorena Ochoa is the three-years-running LPGA Player of the Year, but she could lose that title to Jiyai Shin -- and at Ochoa's own tournament, yet. The indignity of it all! [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

• Want to buy some of Bernie Madoff's golf clubs and other golf memorabilia? I've got an idea where you could stick 'em. [Local Knowledge]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

The 2010 U.S. Open will be played at Pebble Beach, which I hear is kind of a nice place for golf. And once again, Golf Digest is offering you -- yes, you, Joe or Jane Average Golfer -- a chance to play the course at its championship distance, along with some celebs and NBC cameras.

Nervous yet?

The contest was inspired by Tiger Woods' 2007 declaration that a 10-handicapper couldn't break 100 at Oakmont, site of that year's Open.  Earlier this year, Ben Roethlisberger, Justin Timberlake and Michael Jordan played Bethpage with an everyday fella named Larry Giebelhausen. (Roethlisberger won.)

Ah, but they're not letting just anybody play. No, you've got to win their contest -- explain in 60 words or less why you deserve to get the coveted fourth spot. (Giebelhausen's winning entry last year: "I'm a cop, I'll shoot low.")

Suggested topics to pursue: a round with your father, introducing your child to the game, recovering from illness, reunion with long-lost relatives, maybe even all at once. Suggested topics to avoid: your irritable bowel syndrome, "golf isn't really a sport," your tendency to use the ol' foot wedge now and then. 

So have at it, folks -- go to the official site to sign up, and why not give us a sample of your literary prowess right here in the comments section?

Golf Digest U.S. Open contest [Official site]

The Tiger Woods World Tour '09 rolls on, playing to sellout crowds everywhere. Last week it was China, and this week, Mr. Woods finds himself in Australia, preparing for the Australian Masters.

He was induced to come here for the first time in a decade for several reasons -- a willingness to promote the game, an altruistic sense of duty to bring golf to the masses Down Under, a desire to win the Aussie Masters ... oh, and a choice little $3 million appearance fee.

Even so, it looks like Australia's getting its money's worth. Woods has met with a public reception befitting a head of state or religious icon, and Australian officials estimate that Woods' visit will have a $20 million economic impact, and that a global television audience of 380 million will watch him play.

And in return, Tiger's getting the royal treatment. (As one Australian writer put it, "Messiah descends into feeding frenzy.") Consider some of the perks and oddities of  Woods' visit:

-Helicopters whirred and shutters clicked as Tiger stepped from his private plane onto the tarmac at Essendon Airport. Frenzied media described everything right down to which members of Tiger's entourage boarded which convoy vehicles -- both of which, entourage and convoy, are apparently color-coded.

-He had an estimated 7,000 fans follow him during his practice round. That's about the same amount that watched him play the final round in China.

-However, the fans were well-behaved. Consider this observation from the AP's Doug Ferguson on his Twitter feed:  "Amazing: Tiger stopped to use the loo and everyone kept going. In China, there would have been a great wall around him when he walked out."

-All 100,000 tickets to this week's tournament sold out within hours of going on sale.

-His press conference -- an event which is usually about as lively as cleaning the sand out of your wedge -- was broadcast live across the nation.

And the tournament hasn't even begun yet. Way to set the bar high for the rest of us, Australia. Now we're going to have to name a state after him to get him to play in America again.

The Tiger Woods Australian Stimulus Plan [Armchair Golf]
Messiah descends into feeding frenzy [The Australian]

Zach Johnson: The most anonymous of the heavy hitters of the 2009 season, Johnson is always a guy to watch. He's the kind of player who could run away with this tournament and finish the year with a flourish. But then again, he's not playing for his career, so that could have an impact on how seriously he takes this tourney in relation to the rest of the field.

Davis Love III: DL3 has some fond memories of this tournament -- he won last year, and that marked his 20th win on Tour. The significance of that? He now has a lifetime exemption. Only Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh have won more among active players. 

Justin Leonard: He may be slowing down a touch, but he's always dangerous in these late-season events, and is riding a solid recent history. He may or may not be a marquee player at this point, but with most of the marquee guys at home, he's as good a bet as anyone.

Rickie Fowler: Fowlermania is rolling right along, and if Rickie is able to make some noise here -- leapfrogging Q School and moving straight onto the Tour next year -- it'll reach fever-pitch levels. We'll see how Rickie responds to pressure this weekend.

David Duval, Ricky Barnes, et al.: No disrespect to the gentlemen named above, but the real interest will be on how the bubble boys -- those hanging around No. 125 on the money list -- perform in this tournament. Play well, and 2010 is in the cards; play poorly, and things get much trickier.

All right, your turn. What's your take on the final event of the PGA season? Go!

As CNN reports, researchers at the Danish Golf Union have determined that it takes between 100 and 1,000 years for a golf ball to decompose naturally. That's bad enough in and of itself, but consider the fact that an estimated 300 million balls are lost each year -- I'm responsible for about a third of that total -- and you can see that we're talking about some serious waste.

The scope of the problem became apparent recently when researchers diving to the depths of Loch Ness -- looking for evidence of the monster, of course -- were stunned to find "hundreds of thousands" of golf balls littering the sea floor. Zero monsters, untold numbers of Titleists.

Remember the old urban legend about golf balls having radioactive cores? Turns out that wasn't quite so farfetched. The Danish researchers found that golf balls release high quantities of heavy metals when they dissolve, and zinc in the core infiltrates surrounding sediment and wildlife.

It's not like this is a new problem. The poet T.S. Eliot once said that the only relics of Western civilization that would endure would be "the asphalt road and a thousand lost golf balls." (To be fair, he was writing before Keith Richards was born.) It looks like he was off target only in terms of quantity. 

A United Kingdom government official, Patrick Harvie, characterized the problem this way: "From the moon to the bottom of Loch Ness, golf balls are humanity's signature litter in the most inaccessible locations." I'm sure Loch Ness qualifies as a water hazard, but the moon? That's got to be out of bounds, right?

The solution to this growing problem is simple: we need to switch all our tournaments to putt-putt, effective immediately. Nobody ever loses balls there.

Golf balls: "Humanity's signature litter" [CNN.com]

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• Check out Tiger Woods' gargantuan new house. Not bad, eh? $40 million will apparently buy you a whole parking lot. [Dogs That Chase Cars]

• Oh, by the way, Tiger won his 10th PGA Player of the Year award and eighth Vardon Trophy. Ho-hum. [PGA.com]

• Sad news from the world of women's golf, as Mallory Code, a former junior golf star, has passed away at the age of 25 from cystic fibrosis. [Local Knowledge]

• Phil Mickelson is livin' in the future -- he's already started his 2010! [Links Life]

• Loch Ness: home to one monster, hundreds of thousands of golf balls. [Press Tent]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

This is the Olympics, so the solution is simple: throw money at the problem until it goes away.

The Rio Olympic organizing committee opened the doors to golf design firms about a month ago, but as Global Golf Post notes, there's already a potential frontrunner -- the Rio de Janeiro International Golf Resort's course being designed by Sir Nick Faldo and Steve Smyers, which just happens to be about 30 miles from the Rio airport. And it'll be ready -- in theory -- in 2012, with plenty of time to break in for the Games.

Ah, but here's the catch. That project has been in the design stages since 2005, and is still stuck in the permitting process. Work won't begin until next spring at the earliest, and that's if everything runs smoothly from here on out. There will be two courses, one a mountainous one set at 2,800 feet above sea level with vistas of 70 miles, and the other in valleys. Beautiful -- but will it be enough to get the gig?

Brazilian officials have already talked to Jack Nicklaus, and of course Tiger Woods' name has come up as well. As Global Golf notes, it's possible that a Woods guarantee to play in the event could be parlayed into the design gig on top of that.

Whoever gets the job can expect their course to be scrutinized more closely than any in decades, and perhaps ever. This is, after all, golf's coming-out party to the world, and we don't want our ladies and gentlemen playing on the equivalent of a glitzy puttin' patch, do we?

(Visor tip to Shackelford.)

Faldo Design Team on Inside Track for Olympic Gold [Global Golf Post]

Coming into 2009: Na was lightly regarded coming into the year, having never notched more than three top-10 finishes in a season in the four years he'd been on tour. Still, people were touting him as a player with potential -- aren't they all? -- and pointed to 2009 as the year he'd break through. And what do you know? "They" were almost right.

High-water mark: Na started strong with a fifth-place tie in the very first tournament of the year, and he followed that with a solo third two weeks later. But the best finish of the year came in The Players Championship, where he tied for third. 

The low point: Na pinballed between top-10 finishes and missed cuts, but his low point doubtless came in June and July, when he withdrew from the Travelers and missed the cut in the AT&T National. But he followed that up with a tie for 7th at the U.S. Bank Championship, and from there was back in the saddle again.

Outlook for 2010: Na finished with 9 top 10s and 2 top 3s, by far his best year on tour. Success breeds success, and joining the elites in Atlanta for the Tour Championship will almost certainly have a positive effect on Na's psyche and his career. We expect to see him much higher on this list come next year.

Related posts from 2009:
When photographers (and volunteers) attack: Mayakoba tales
Five to watch @ The Byron Nelson Championship

Hey, check this! Nick Faldo is now Sir Nick, courtesy of a knighting at the hands of Queen Elizabeth II. Faldo is the only living golfer to receive the award, which may or may not come with a big ol' sword for him to take on the course.

Faldo receives knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

The rainout of the Viking Classic two weeks ago was a devastating blow to the PGA card hopes of a dozen on-the-bubble golfers. Mother Nature eliminated the margin of error, and now the Children's Miracle Network is the final hope for some big names. The cut line is No. 125 on the money list, and here are some of the people we'll be watching:

121. Ricky Barnes: Johnny Painter Cap nearly made history at the U.S. Open at Bethpage this summer, but since then has gone into total freefall. 

124. Rich Beem: One of the few guys to best Tiger Woods in a major and live to tell the tale, Beem won the PGA Championship in 2002 despite a furious charge from Woods.

125. David Duval: Once one of the world's finest golfers who showed a brief flash of hope with his strong finish at Bethpage, he's since slid back down the list.

126. Chris Riley: Onetime Ryder Cup member with two top-5 finishes at the PGA (2002, 2004).

138. Chris DiMarco: The loser in that famous 2005 Masters duel with Tiger; he has six top-10 major finishes. 

141. Rocco Mediate: Also a loser in an even more famous battle with Tiger. Surely you don't need to be reminded.

This weekend's for golf fans only, but that's a shame, because there'll be every bit as much drama at Disney as there has been at everything short of a major. Expect to see a lot of long, nervous looks at short putts. Three feet doesn't seem like a long way to go, but when you're talking about your future career, it can stretch a mile.

Anyway, you know what stinks about being a golf journalist? The whole writing-a-story thing. Without having to actually do the job, being a golf writer would be the greatest job ever. Is there anything that can be done to help the poor overworked golf media?

Thanks to Waggle Room, now there is! Check out the Tiger Woods flowchart there at right; click on the image or right here to get the full version. Basic gist is this: since there are only two stories in golf: "Tiger played"/"Tiger didn't play" -- this flowchart lets you construct your own narrative for how each tournament affects the media standing of Tiger Woods.

For instance, if you run last weekend's loss to Phil Mickelson through the ol' flowchart, you end up with multiple handy excuses for Tiger's defeat -- the knee isn't 100 percent, Phil is Tiger's next challenger, and so on. Amazingly enough, those are exactly the reasons trotted out by the golf media and commenters!

Oh, and be sure to read the bottom line, which puts it all in perspective. Thanks, Waggle Room! I'm going to go write my entire 2010 series of posts now! 

Thanks to his win at the HSBC Champions, the Phil Mickelson lovefest is in full flower, with every corner of the Internet checking in and offering up strikingly similar assessments of Phil's chances come 2010. And, surprise, surprise -- everybody is already measuring Phil against a certain red-shirted icon.

ESPN.com's Jason Sobel sets up the rivalry this way:

There have only been a handful of occasions over the past dozen years in which Mickelson and Woods have purported a true mano a mano rivalry, battling each other down the stretch at an important tournament. With each man seemingly at the top of his game entering the next decade -- and with the four majors being held at magnificent venues (Augusta National, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Whistling Straits) during the upcoming year -- golf's two biggest stars may finally be aligned for the most dramatic, entertaining season we've witnessed in a long time.

Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte points out that both men are getting better at the same time:

But this run by Mickelson is more than just a two-month hot streak while Tiger fights his putter and shakes off the final pieces of rust. This is enough of a competitive message that the 2010 season, with majors at Augusta, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Whistling Straits, could be epic, should Mickelson and Woods keep on their competitive tracks

And the AP's Doug Ferguson notes that the time is perfect for Phil to make a run:

What makes next year so tantalizing is that Tiger Woods hasn't been challenged like this in 10 years. Sure, Vijay Singh won nine times and dominated the PGA Tour in 2004, but Woods spent the entire season overhauling his swing. That's simply a fact, not an excuse. Woods has recovered from reconstructive knee surgery, or so it would suggest with six victories this year. He might have lost some of his mystique when Y.E. Yang became the first player to topple Woods in the final round of a major. And it is worth noting that the last four times Woods has played in the final group, he failed to win three times.

Golf success builds on itself; you play well when you're playing well, to coin a Zen-like phrase. Right now, nobody else on the planet is playing better and more consistently than Mickelson. It's almost a shame that we have to wait until early 2010 to see Tiger and Phil go at it on the course again.

Oh, and here's hoping that all this isn't a setup for another Phil letdown. I don't think his fans could take it ... and I'm afraid his detractors would keel over with sublime happiness.

Without picking a dog in that hunt, I will say this: as long as they give us some back-nine Sunday drama, I'll be more than happy. Enough with the teasing, gentlemen; bring us some game, both of you.

Nonsense. Lefty will find a way to make the wrong mistakes at the wrong time and remain how he will be forever defined: a tremendous player, even a Hall of Fame-caliber player (he'll likely finish with about 50 victories), but nowhere in the class of Mr. Woods. Nobody is. That is no crime.

Mickelson had his chance in the June 2006, and then came the Massacre at Winged Foot. If he had made one more lousy par on the 72nd hole of the Open, he would have recorded his third straight major victory and a legitimate case could have been made that he had surpassed Woods, at least temporarily.

Since then, Mickelson has failed to capture a major in 13 appearances, and that is how greatness in golf is measured, not in winning Tour Championships and certainly not in winning a European event in China despite the quality of the field. He squandered two excellent opportunities in 2009, at the Masters and the Open, with costly miscues on the back nine. Admit it: You weren't surprised he let them slip away, not one bit.

Much of the optimism for 2010 is due to his effectiveness on the greens after working with putting expert Dave Stockton. He made everything the final weekend in Atlanta. Yet there is a vast difference between East Lake and Augusta National, in the difficulties of the putting surface and the magnitude of the event. It remains to be seen whether he can again make the biggest putts on the biggest stages. He has three majors to his credit, but should have at least five or six by this point in his career.

No doubt Mickelson will win more events in 2010, perhaps even four or five. But that still won't be enough to dethrone Woods, who will be more motivated than ever after a year without a major title of his own.

Time is running out for Mickelson, who will turn 40 in June.

Woods will be only 34.

Anyway, the rule is, as always, don't be like me. Especially not when it comes to the Ryder Cup, which is currently warning fans that scads of counterfeit tickets could soon be flooding the market.

"We need to make it clear to anyone intending to be at the 2010 Ryder Cup that they are strongly advised to purchase tickets through the official channel," Richard Hills, the European Ryder Cup Director, said in a statement. "We urge everyone to check and double-check before parting with their money, as there appears to be an increasing number of operators seeking to sell hospitality packages through unauthorized channels."

The tickets are going for £370 (about $620 in American coinage) through the Ryder Cup website for a four-day package, though you've got to apply for the tickets via lottery. A quick survey of the big ticket websites didn't turn up any tickets just yet, which makes sense, because the tickets won't be awarded until spring 2010. But a three-night, two-day package with lodging is already going for about $2,000 per person, double occupancy -- which makes it $4,000 -- over at Broach Sports. And SportsTours.com is offering a five-night gig for $3,000 per person, double occupancy. 

Not sure yet if I'll be going to the Ryder Cup, but I will say this: I'm taking some of those Knicks hustlers along with me if I go. Those guys'll set me up.

Fans warned on bogus Ryder Cup tickets [Reuters via Yahoo! Sports]

• Does Colin Montgomerie belong in the Hall of Fame? I say no ... if only because it'll be great watching him turn horrifically red-faced and blow up every year his name isn't called. [The Golf Channel]

• Here's one award Tiger Woods won't be getting this year: Comeback Player of the Year. The PGA Tour has decided that nobody is worthy of the award this year, and so for the first time since 1991 won't be handing out the award. [Golf Digest]

• Anybody remember The Big Easy? Ernie Els had a lovely ace in Shanghai, and was the third wheel in the Tiger-Phil brawl. Could he too be up for a big 2010 as a result of his play in Asia? [The Golf Blog]

• Bo Bae Song knocked off Lorena Ochoa, Brittany Lang and Hee Young Park en route to notching her first LPGA win at the Mizuno Classic. [PGA.com]

• A measure of sympathy for Doug Barron, who's likely to only be famous in golf for being the first guy nabbed for a drug violation. [Armchair Golf]

• In praise of Dave Stockton, who may have singlehandedly saved the 2010 golf season thanks to the lessons he gave prized pupil Phil Mickelson. [Waggle Room]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter. 

Case in point: this column in the Scotsman by John Huggan (visor tip: Local Knowledge) in which he offers up nine ways Tiger Woods could improve his public image. And amid the usual -- sign more autographs, stop swearing -- he suggests that Tiger play somewhere for nothing whatsoever.

That's right, zip. No appearance fee at all. As Huggan puts it, "In 2010 and every year thereafter, find a place where golf needs a boost, go there and play for free. Or take the appearance fee from a corporate sponsor and give it straight back to the local golfing body so that they can put it to good use. Whatever. Do the right thing once a year and see how much you can contribute around the globe."

That, friends, is a damn good idea, and not just for the world's No. 1. Tiger, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and other marquee golfers make the vast majority of their income away from the course, via endorsements and other ancillary projects. I'll leave the number-crunching to the finance majors, but just a guess: these guys can afford to leave a few bucks on the table now and then. And a free appearance, or a huge cash infusion to local golf efforts, would pay itself back several times over in positive exposure. (Don't worry, sponsors, the guys could wear the Nike swoosh or the Titleist hat while they do it.)

Golf has teetered on the brink of worldwide acceptance for a few years now, and one of the elements dragging it back is the perception of elitism. A little selflessness by the game's stars -- and not in a tax-deductible-"foundation" kind of way -- would be an exceptional way to spread the love around the world.

And if he really needs cash, Tiger or Phil can always put on a mustache and go hustle some of the local muni jockeys. Shoot, they might be doing that already. I sure would. 

Tips for the Tiger: Nine ways for Woods to improve himself and golf [Scotsman.com]

Over the weekend, while you were sleeping off your Saturday night, Phil Mickelson knocked off two of the top players of the last decade en route to capturing the splashy HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Sign of great things to come, or meaningless victory in a faraway land? Great thing is, there's evidence for both Tiger's and Phil's camps!

Phil fans can take heart in the fact that Mickelson handily dusted Tiger, extending a two-shot lead to six shots early in the match and making sure that the world's No. 1 never got within shouting distance again. Lefty also dispatched Ernie Els, fighting through some typical Lefty-esque flubs -- he actually whiffed on a flop shot on the 16th -- but held on to win by a single stroke. It was one of his more impressive performances in some time, and when combined with his Tour Championship victory, you've got to figure Phil's game is as sharp as it's ever been. Oh, and there's this: in the two final rounds they've played together this year, it's Phil 2, Tiger 0.

On the other hand, Tiger fans can brush this one off by saying it's an irrelevant tournament, that it doesn't matter that Tiger missed a relatively easy putt early in the round that would have put him within one stroke of the lead. Tiger's Army can say it's the fault of overly active shutterbugs who altered Tiger's swing and put him six strokes back. And they can counter that Tiger has absolutely mastered Phil for most of the years they've competed, and that until Phil gets within sniffing distance of double-digit major wins, his fans need to hush.

The HSBC is thus like a Rorschach Test: you see what you want to see. So, have at it, friends -- what does Phil's win over Tiger mean to you? Share your feelings, share the love.

Mickelson caps his week with win over Woods at HSBC Champions [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

Here's the story: GolfChannel.com selected five stories from one of golf's most memorable years in recent memory, and prepared in-depth accounts of each, in most cases by people who were there at the time. The stories included Tiger vs. Sergio at the PGA, the rise and fall of David Duval, Payne Stewart's tragic passing, Jean Van De Velde's British Open meltdown, and the 1999 Ryder Cup. We spoke with Rex Hoggard and Jay Coffin, authors of two of the pieces, to get their perspective on the year and on their subjects. It's good stuff, and it's all free -- just click right here to get it. 

As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Click the link below to play the podcast or right-click it to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Have at it!

Devil Ball Golfcast, Episode 24 -- The Golf Channel's Project '99

Colbert -- it's "Col-bert," not "Col-bear," Comedy Central fans -- won eight times on the PGA Tour and already has 20 wins on the Champions, and he's one of the most eloquent defenders of the Champions arrangement. He's also a rabid Kansas State fan and has his own golf course, Colbert Hills, in Kansas -- the story of which leads to a good story contained herein. He also spent time broadcasting for ESPN, and today kicks back and plays golf when he feels like it. A good life, all the way around.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Click the link below to play the podcast or right-click it to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Have at it!

Devil Ball Golfcast, Episode 23 -- Jim Colbert