Next Ryder Cup captain should be ...

Now it should be Jay Haas's turn as Ryder Cup captain.

The next matches are two years and an ocean away -- in Wales -- but already there's speculation about who the next American Ryder Cup captain will be.

There's a natural wave of emotion to bring Paul Azinger back but he looked surprised when asked about the possibility Sunday evening.

If Azinger will do it again, great. But I'm guessing he'll turn it over to someone else. American captains have traditionally been one-term guys, plus Zinger will be 50 in two years and the Champions Tour awaits.

So the PGA of America should forget its unwritten rule that captains should be major championship winners, preferably PGA Championship winners, and give Haas an honor he deserves.

He's still in touch with the PGA Tour players, has a great touch with people and has earned it. When you've received the Bobby Jones Award from the USGA, the game's highest honor, you're worthy of a Ryder Cup captaincy.

Haas played in several Ryder Cups and he'll be one of Fred Couples' assistants at the Presidents Cup next fall in San Francisco, so he'll be perfectly suited.

Couples won't get it because of his Presidents Cup captaincy. Corey Pavin has been mentioned as the next Ryder Cup captain, with Davis Love in four years, when he'll be 49.

Jay Haas should be the next American captain.

Boo's influence more than words

The word is compatibate.

And the American Ryder Cup team can thank Boo Weekley for it.

Leave it to Boo to throw out a word that really isn’t a word to describe what made this Ryder Cup team different from the last three that, apparently, didn’t compatibate.

Boo couldn’t exactly define what compatibate means when asked Sunday night but it means something like 16 ½ - 11 1/2 , which was the final score at Valhalla Golf Club.

Maybe the Ryder Cup comes down to nothing more than which team plays the best. There is a strong correlation between holing putts and winning trophies, no matter which trophy is at stake.

But U.S. captain Paul Azinger had a plan that first popped into his mind a few years back when he was watching a documentary. If he ever captained the Ryder Cup team, Azinger decided he would use the concepts he learned from the documentary, which suggested breaking big groups into smaller groups.

With 12 players on his team, Azinger broke them into four-man groups for practice rounds, team matches and, I’m guessing here, seating assignments at dinner.

It was easy to pick out the groups.

The alpha group included Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan and Justin Leonard. Funny, how they were the first four guys to go out in Sunday’s singles.

The second group included southerners Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes Boo Weekley and Pennsylvania native Jim Furyk, who was an adopted southerner while in Louisville.
Those four, coincidentally, went out in the middle of the singles lineup.

The final group – Stewart Cink, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell – the mild-mannered, quiet guys went at the end.

“I had to sell it to the players and they were, to a man, behind this,” Azinger said.
See what happens when you compatibate?

Europeans rally in morning, trim U.S. lead

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Despite the decision by captain Nick Faldo to rest stars Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, the European team closed the gap on the United States in Saturday's morning session at the Ryder Cup, cutting the American lead to 7-5 entering the afternoon four-ball play.

The Europeans got a huge boost from the team of Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson, who rallied from 4-down to upset Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim 2 & 1.

Europe also got help when Miguel Angel Jimenez and Graeme McDowell won the 18th hole to salvage a tie against Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan.

Ian Poulter and Justin Rose easily defeated Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell 4 & 3 while the American's only win came in a 3 & 1 decision by Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry over Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson.

“We're digging deep,” McDowell said. “We're over here to win the trophy.”

Faldo's strategy to sit Garcia and Westwood, saying he wanted fresh legs in the morning matches, could have backfired with the Europeans starting the day three points behind.

When Mickelson and Kim began misfiring, however, the momentum shifted. The Americans lost six of the last 11 holes in the match, often creating their own problems with wayward tee shots.

“For Stenson to turn that match around with Ollie Wilson, that is just fantastic,” Faldo said. “I said, ‘Just chip away, one at a time, one at time' and he really looked after Ollie Wilson. Just unbelievable.”

- Ron Green Jr.

MJ shows up as Ryder Cup spectator

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In his blue jeans, white T-shirt and white Ryder Cup cap, Michael Jordan spent Friday just the way he wanted – watching the Ryder Cup matches at Vahalla Golf Club.

Jordan, who has attended every Ryder Cup since the 1997 in Valderrama, Spain, intends to spend the weekend at Valhalla before returning to Charlotte in advance of the Charlotte Bobcats’ preseason training camp.

“It’s my favorite event (outside of basketball),” Jordan said while watching Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim play Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson Friday morning.

“I love the competition. There’s no money. It’s all about pride. Every shot makes somebody happy or sad.”

Jordan said he’s been in Louisville since Tuesday, playing golf with friends before the matches began Friday.

Next fall, when the top American professionals face the International team in the Presidents Cup matches in San Francisco, Jordan is expected to be an assistant on captain Fred Couples’ staff.

“I heard I have no choice,” Jordan said. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

Mickelson gets wish, is paired with Kim

When Anthony Kim qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team earlier this year, Phil Mickelson quickly called captain Paul Azinger and asked to be paired with the Wachovia Championship winner.

“I said, ‘Way to go out on a limb, Phil. You want Anthony Kim, really?” Azinger cracked after announcing the pairings Wednesday afternoon.

Mickelson got his wish, pairing with Kim to face the powerful European duo of Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson in the first match at 8:05 a.m. Friday.

If there was a surprise to the pairings, it was that Azinger elected not to pair Kentuckians Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes in the first match, as he hinted he might.

Instead, Perry will play with Jim Furyk in the final morning match against Europe’s top duo, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

“It just made sense to me that it would be a really solid pairing,” Azinger said.

Azinger added that he will play all 12 players on Friday, meaning Boo Weekley, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis and Holmes will play in the afternoon best-ball matches.

Faldo wouldn’t make the same commitment about playing all of his players on Friday.

“I’m not going to make any promises or assumptions or anything,” Faldo said.

The United States has not led after the morning session since 1991 and has not led at the end of a day since its famous winning comeback on Sunday in 1999.

FRIDAY'S PAIRINGS

- 8:05 a.m.: Phil Mickelson-Anthony Kim vs. Padraig Harrington-Robert Karlsson.

- 8:20: Justin Leonard-Hunter Mahan vs. Henrik Stenson-Paul Casey

- 8:35: Stewart Cink-Chad Campbell vs. Justin Rose-Ian Poulter

- 8:50: Kenny Perry-Jim Furyk vs. Lee Westwood-Sergio Garcia

Missing Tiger, hidden dagger?

So how much does it matter that Tiger Woods isn't part of the United States Ryder Cup team this year?

Think about that for a second. He's the best player in the world by far, he's an intimidating presence and he's a good teammate, even if he isn't the rah-rah type in the room.

Of course, it makes a difference that Tiger isn't here at Valhalla.

Are you kidding?

I know all about his 10-13-2 record in these matches. That's not great.

But, no offense to Chad Campbell or Ben Curtis, but wouldn't you rather send Tiger out than one of them?

Captain Paul Azinger has Tiger on speed dial this week but not in his lineup. I doubt Azinger will ring Tiger to chat about the events but you never know.

Without Tiger, the Americans have another motivational tool at their disposal, as if they didn't have enough already given the recent history of this event. Imagine the satisfaction of taking down the favored Europeans without Tiger.

It's tougher without Tiger. But not impossible.

State secrets revealed at Ryder Cup?

During the Wednesday Ryder Cup practice session at Valhalla Golf Club, a television camera zeroed in on a sheet of paper held by European captain Nick Faldo as he talked with his team.

The image showed Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood paired together as were Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson while the other names were listed in no particular order.

It, of course, set of a frenzy of speculation that Faldo's Friday morning pairings, at least the first two, had been discovered. Alert the CIA. Mobillize the Secret Service. Call captain Azinger.

Faldo tried to tap-dance around the issue during his daily press briefing, saying first it was a sandwich list ("who wants tuna, who wants beef, who wants ham") then later said they are pairings for Thursday's final practice session.

Part of the fun in the run-up to the matches is how the captains will pair their players and how the pairings will fall. Unlike the Presidents Cup, where captains are privy to each other's selections, the Ryder Cup pairings are treated like state secrets.

It would be a bigger shock of Faldo doesn't pair Garcia and Westwood together Friday morning than if he does. It's what almost everyone else would do.

Captains like to play coy and may do that with their teams in order to minimize the disappointment to the four players who must sit out during each session prior to singles.

Azinger has been elusive when asked specifics but has made it clear he wants to put Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes together and, if he does, he'll put them out first Friday to start the fun.

He may put Boo Weekley with Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim with Phil Mickelson.

The plan, Azinger said, is for all 12 Americans to play Friday. Faldo said he intends to play all of his players on the first day too. But, Faldo added, the matches start and things change.

That's part of the fun.

Five questions for Ryder Cup week

Five questions as Ryder Cup week begins:

1. Will the Americans finally win?

That's a definite maybe.

Considering there's no Tiger Woods -- even if he is 10-13-1 in the Ryder Cup -- maybe is better than no.

The edge going in belongs to the Europeans if for no other reason than they have Sergio on their side. He's playing great and he plays the Ryder Cup like he's possessed.

But I'm not as down on this American team as some may be. I like what Anthony Kim brings and Jim Furyk is always solid. If Phil MIckelson plays well and guys like Hunter Mahan and Kenny Perry are on, this might be the end of the streak.

2. How much do the captains matter?

Not as much as everyone believes.

Sure, they're high profile, particularly in this case with Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo the perfect foils for each other. And they get a ton of attention in the build-up because they're the ones waiting for their teams to come together.

Azinger and Faldo are both dominating personalities. It's been amusing to watch the mini-storm about the fact Faldo has just once assistant captain -- the wise Jose Maria Olazabal -- while Azinger has Olin Browne, Dave Stockton and Raymond Floyd.

Ultimately, both captains will make their own decisions.

And the winning captain, strangely enough, is the guy whose players tend to make the most putts during the week.

3. Aside from Sergio, do the Europeans have a secret weapon?

He's not a secret but beware Robert Karlsson. He won Sunday on the European Tour and has three top-10 finishes in major championships this year.

Karlsson has a great short game and a cool demeanor. Watch for him to be a big factor this weekend.

4. Who are some likely pairings?

Well, Faldo killed the automatic Lee Westwood-Darren Clarke pairing when he selected Ian Poulter instead of Clarke. It's possible Garcia and Westwood may go out together given their past success together in team play.

Padraig Harrington can play with anyone and Faldo may send him out early with a rookie, maybe Soren Hanson or Oliver Wilson, to help them get comfortable.

As for the Americans, Azinger may go with Kentucky boys J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry together one time, banking on some bluegrass magic. The fact is most spectators at the Ryder Cup are from around the country, not around Louisville, so that emotional edge may be minimal.

5. Who will be the American team leader?

That's a question Azinger is probably asking.

On paper, it should be Mickelson and he'll try, though it may not be a role that fits him well. Furyk is a tough guy and he'll be a steady presence as will the underrated Stewart Cink.

As for a fiery guy, Anthony Kim is just a rookie but he may feel right at home.

Golfing greats gather at Rock Barn

Walking into the banquet room inside the clubhouse at Rock Barn Wednesday morning was, as someone there said, like walking into a museum.

Outside, the pro-am for the Champions Tour event was being played with today's stars on a tour that's built around yesterday.

But in the banquet room, scattered around circular tables with bacon, eggs and coffee in front of them, were the so-called Great Grand Champions of the PGA Tour.

There was Billy Casper, the most underrated great player of all time. There was Miller Barber, Don January, Dow Finsterwald and Gene Littler.

There was Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford, who didn't win as many events as some players in the room but had everlasting impacts on the sport. There was Walter Morgan and Jim Ferree and others.

Bob Goalby told stories as he introduced each player to the amateurs who were playing in the nine-hole pro-am with the legends. He made jokes about Doug Sanders missing a short putt to lose the British Open and found other targets, all in good and gentle fun.

A few times each year, these old guys get together to play a little golf, tell some stories and bask in the glow of who they are and what they did.

Golf is bigger, flashier and different than it was when they were among the best in the world.

But like it does for all of us who play, it remains the tie that binds.

In any language, LPGA plan was a disaster

After getting blowtorched in the court of public opinion, the LPGA has wisely decided to rescind its plan to penalize players who are not coversant in English by 2009.

The question is whether the tour, which has traveled a rocky road under commissioner Carolyn Bivens, has done serious damage to itself or, as the marketers like to say, its brand.

It certainly didn't help itself.

In the days and weeks after the policy was revealed -- it had not officially gone into effect -- the tour was ripped by the media, some players and, more to the point, some sponsors and advocacy groups.

State Farm Insurance, a long-time supporter of the tour, urged adminstrators to reconsider the idea.

Shortly before Bivens announced the policy would be revised to eliminate the threat of suspensions, there were reports that the Asian Pacific American Legal Center planned to publicly demand the policy be rescinded.

It all swirled into a public relations disaster for a tour that can't afford one.

There is no question the tour has had a problem with so many of its Asian players -- there are approximately 45 Koreans on tour -- not speaking English. It has made pro-ams, where much of the money comes from, awkward, media room sessions difficult and trophy presentations strained.

However, the threat of suspension was too much.

It is not wrong for the tour to encourage its foreign players to learn to speak English and it has had a program in place to help them for three years.

But the heavy-handed policy was a mistake.

Intent on dealing with one problem, the LPGA created an even bigger one that may leave a stain.

Singh: Not bad for an old guy

Recently, NBC commentator Johnny Miller said Vijay Singh is playing the best golf any 40-something has played since Ben Hogan was hitting soft fades in his heyday.

He's probably right.

Singh has been on a remarkable roll, winning three of his last four starts, including the first two FedEx Cup playoff events to sap the drama out of the season-ending money grab.

In the process, Singh has reminded us of what an exceptional player he is, not just now but over the span of his career. He's not in the best of the best class -- that's Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and a few others -- but Singh is just outside it.

And imagine if he could putt.

Singh is, at times, a terrific putter. You don't win 34 PGA Tour events including three majors by slapping it around on the greens. It's no great revelation, however, to point to Singh's perpetual love-hate relationship with his putter as his most glaring deficiency.

His reputation has been built on his legendary practice regimen and his devotion to the gym, where he spends more time than some basketball coaches. Sheer work and will account for a sizeable portion of Singh's success but he also possesses rare talent.

It has been tough for the public to warm up to Singh over the years, in part because he's been so guarded with the media. There's obviously a funny, playful side to Singh -- there are too many stories and compliments to dispute it -- but it's been hard for the world to see.

I don't think Singh cares much about how popular he is, though he's earned enormous respect. In the process, Singh seems to have softened and why not?

At 45, he's still close to the prime of his career.

And he keeps reminding us of it every week.

Azinger throws a zinger into Ryder Cup choices

As U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger announced his four at-large choices for his Ryder Cup team Tuesday morning, everything was going fairly close to expectations.

Steve Stricker was a lock. He's too good to leave off and he's playing well, something in seriously short supply among the American side.

Hunter Mahan made sense. He made some silly remarks last month about how guys didn't want to play in the Ryder Cup and, discovering he sounded like a jerk, Mahan recanted and deserved the spot Azinger offered.

J.B. Holmes wasn't a surprise. Azinger has seemed infatuated by Holmes' enormous power off the tee and his familiarity with Valhalla, where the matches will be played in two weeks. It didn’t hurt that Holmes is a Kentucky native, though the fact remains that the vast majority of fans on site in Louisville will be from someplace outside Kentucky state lines. This isn't going to be like Rupp Arena, in other words.

The shocker came when Azinger named Chad Campbell as his final choice.

Chad Campbell?

What about Rocco Mediate? Or Scott Verplank? Or D.J. Trahan? Or any of a half-dozen other guys?

No, Azinger chose Chad Campbell, who finished tied for seventh Monday in the Deutsche Bank Championship, thereby earning a spot based on Azinger's pre-determined criteria -- whomever is playing well at the moment.

Azinger was, in effect, trapped by his determination to go with the hottest American players because there really aren't any.

He thought about rookie Kevin Streelman but that would have been an ultra long-shot pick.

He thought long and hard about Mediate, whose personality would have been worth at least half a point to the American side.

He thought about a bunch of guys and settled on Campbell, who seemed almost as surprised as everyone else that he was picked.

Campbell had a nice run in July when he finished tied for seventh at the John Deere and third at Milwaukee but those aren't high-profile events. He did have a tie for 14th at the World Golf Championship event at Firestone but, until his top-10 in Boston, he had a missed cut and a tie for 65th. Not exactly smokin.'

The truth is Azinger didn't have many easy choices.

Across the pond, European captain Nick Faldo was already getting beaten up for picking Ian Poulter over Darren Clarke, a move that has the tabloids in a frenzy.

By his own admission, Azinger is a control freak and likes to be a dominant personality. He restructured the team selection process to give himself more say-so in his roster in part because he wanted it that way and, in part, because nothing else has worked for the Americans since 1999.

He solicited advice from many people, crunched some numbers and, finally, made his own choices.

There is a tendency to give the captains too much credit for what goes right and what goes wrong in the Ryder Cup. They make the pairings, pick the outfits then sit back and watch.

Azinger will bring the fire to the American team. In Faldo's case, there is reason to wonder if the players can warm up to a coach who was so coldly dismissive of others for so many years. Is this the year when the Europeans' famous cameraderie finally fails them?

Questions, questions.

And it's still more than two weeks before we get any answers.

U.S. Amateur champ may be golf's next big star

There’s a tendency to quickly label someone the next big thing after they’ve won a significant event and it’s the same with 18-year-old Danny Lee after his dominating performance in winning the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst.

Is he the next big thing?

It’s too early to say for sure, but he definitely bears watching.

Lee has plenty of power but, more than that, he has an exceptional short game and a putting stroke he believes in. Lee was able to continually hit shots close at Pinehurst No. 2 by virtue of his high ball flight and, by his own admission, it was one of those weeks when it felt like every putt was going in.

He made believers of a lot of people, and it will be interesting to see if he sticks to his plan to remain an amateur through next summer to play in the major championships he’s now exempted into. Potential agents were walking around No. 2 watching Lee and you know equipment companies are lining up to sign him.

He may be that good.

-The FedEx Cup playoffs may not have Tiger Woods, but they got off to a good start at the Barclays with Vijay Singh beating Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland in a playoff.

Not only did the win add another gold brick to Singh’s Hall of Fame career, the finish gave the FedEx Cup standings the kind of dramatic reshuffling they need. Singh jumped to the top and Sergio is second and Kenny Perry, who had been No. 1, tumbled to seventh.

Ideally, a handful of players will still have a legitimate chance of winning the whole thing when the Tour Championship arrives next month.

- If you’re European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo, don’t you pick Paul Casey and Darren Clarke as your two at-large choices now?

Casey had a solid week at Greensboro and followed it up with a stronger week at the Barclays while Clarke has resurrected his game, winning twice recently. He’s been at the heart of the Europeans’ success and it seems natural to put him and his mate Lee Westwood together again.

- Former Charlotte 49ers golfer Trevor Murphy picked up a win on the Gateway Tour over the weekend, his first since turning pro. Murphy, who shot 60 during one round of the event, is pointing toward tour qualifying school in the fall.

Golf doesn't need to be an Olympic sport

Golf’s power brokers – the ones not named Tiger, anyway – have gone to the Olympics in Beijing as part of a lobbying effort to convince the International Olympic Committee to put golf back in the Games.

Golf used to be part of the Olympics, long, long ago, but lost its spot to the more traditional Olympic sports like beach volleyball.

I don’t much care one way or the other about golf in the Olympics.
Golf already has more important events than the Olympics – they’re called major championships. And the Ryder Cup.

Playing for Olympic gold isn’t going to be bigger than those. It would be important to the players who choose to participate – Phil Mickelson has endorsed the idea but I don’t see Tiger ever showing up in the Olympics – but the golf world won’t revolve around the Olympics.

Quick, who won the men’s tennis gold medal in the last Olympics?
Nicolas Massu from Chile.

Didn’t exactly make him a household name did it?
Golf could be helped by the Olympics because it would, theoretically, expose the game to more people. Participation has hit a flat spot and officials want to spike the number of new players and, perhaps, the Olympics would help.
Would it?

I don’t see the world rushing out to take up badminton or archery.
But golf needs to grow and if people smarter than me (no wisecracks, please) think being part of the Olympics will help, then fine.

However, I grew up thinking the Olympics were about swimming and diving and running and weightlifting and all those other sports that get ignored except during the Olympics.
Tee times were for VIPs in town for the Games.

Count on Sergio Garcia winning a major soon

Padraig Harrington got Sergio Garcia again Sunday at the PGA Championship, demonstrating in wide-eyed wonder the career-defining line between being a major champion and not.

Harrington has supplanted Phil Mickelson as the world’s second-best player, having now collected three of the past six major championships. I know Tiger Woods didn’t play in two of those, but that Harrington still went out and won majors the way the great ones always have – by hitting gutsy shots and holing the gritty putts when they matter most.

Which brings me back to Sergio, who is now 0-for-41 in majors. It looked as if the PGA would be his breakthrough victory, but it wasn’t and there are a handful of places to point if you’re looking to lay blame.

You can’t hit the ball in the water at the 16th hole when you’re playing for the championship. Do what Ben Curtis did – play to the left corner of the green, make par and go on.

Sergio made a mistake trying to be aggressive. It’s not the first time. The secret to winning majors is often not in forcing the action but in letting the tournament come to you. Just ask Jack Nicklaus.

Then there was the 5-foot birdie putt that Sergio missed on the 17th hole, giving Harrington a one-stroke cushion going to the too-hard 18th. That stroke proved to be the difference (I don’t count the miss at 18 because the tournament had already been lost at that point).

Sergio insists he hit the putt he wanted and it just didn’t break like he expected. Fair enough. It happens.

Harrington, meanwhile, was holing every putt he looked at. That’s where he is right now in his career. He expects them to go in. Maybe there’s a whisker of doubt in Sergio’s mind and why not.

But I think Sergio will win majors, not one, but more than one. I think he’s getting more comfortable in the chase and he’s not going to away. Had the putt fallen at Carnoustie last year and again Sunday on the 17th hole, Sergio might be getting the praise Harrington is now getting.

Sergio handled this loss better than the one at Carnoustie, a step in the right direction. One day soon he’s going to be the guy holding the major championship trophy.

Next 3 weeks will steer U.S. Ryder Cup captain

By Sunday evening, eight of the 12 spots will be set for captain Paul Azinger's U.S. Ryder Cup team in September in Kentucky.

Though this week's PGA Championship could alter one or two of the eight automatics, we know Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Kenny Perry and Justin Leonard will be at Valhalla, among others.

The larger question is who Azinger will choose with his four captain's picks, which he doesn't have to make until Sept. 2. He will keep the points tally going and use it as an element of his choices but, more than anything, he'll be paying special attention to who's playing well over the next few weeks.

Captain Azinger made it clear earlier this week that he'll pay attention to who plays at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro next week and how they play. Maybe that's why Zach Johnson, one of many guys bunched just outside the top eight, added his name to Greensboro's commitment list this week, as did Paul Casey, who's trying to play his way onto Nick Faldo's European team.

Azinger must sort through a lot of guys who are good players but haven't been particularly spectacular recently. In fact, the 17 players ranked eighth through 24th entering the PGA Championship have won a combined three events this year.

Rather than find the hot players, Azinger may have to take guys who are warm. Right now, D.J. Trahan, Hunter Mahan, Sean O'Hair, Rocco Mediate, J.B. Holmes and Johnson are among the guys closest to the cut line in points.

Somehow, I don't think Faldo is worried. He has his own problems because he has more good players than he can use. Right now, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Colin Montgomery and Casey, are among the players who haven't qualified -- and Faldo has just two at-large spots to award.

This weekend will tell a lot. But the most intriguing part of the story may be told over the next three weeks.

New partner helps Tarheel Tour expand

For seven years, the Tarheel Tour has been an increasingly popular and successful mini-tour based in Charlotte but with tournaments played throughout the Southeast.

With new partnership with egolf, which runs golf practice centers, an aggressive Internet site and other golf-related enterprises, the tour will be able to continue its expansion while increasing the purses available to players.

The plan for 2009 includes 20 tournaments with an average purse of $200,000 per event.

Though the schedule has not been finalized, it's expected to reach from Georgia to New Jersey, with three or four events in the greater Charlotte area.

Professional mini-tours come and go, but the egolf Tarheel Tour has further entrenched itself as a solid tour. It's where guys such as Jason Bohn, Steve Marino, John Mallinger, Tommy ‘Two Gloves' Gainey and Kyle Thompson, among others, have played.

“We feel like our partnership can only be good,” tour president David Siegel said. “It gets us closer to our goal of being the third-best tour behind the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour and eventually getting official recognition from them.”

Siegel said the Tarheel Tour's success, helped by a lineup of quality courses, has convinced more aspiring young professionals to move to the Charlotte area. The tour will remain based in Charlotte with PGA Tour media official Stewart Moore returning to become the tour's chief operating officer.

Thoughts as the PGA Tour Championship nears

Five thoughts on the golf scene as the year’s final major championship arrives:

1. Watching Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson trying to lose the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Sunday afternoon was perversely entertaining.

Singh looked like he was holding a rattlesnake every time he stood over a 6-footer and Mickelson managed to toss away a win with bogeys on three of the last four holes.

Mickelson’s critical error came at the 17th, where he tried to force a driver into the fairway rather than take a more conservative approach. It backfired, naturally, with a tee shot into a tough lie in a fairway bunker leading to a bogey.

Singh, meanwhile, was just happy to see his final putt fall in, even if it seemed to go in by accident.

I think it was David Feherty who said the level of play seemed to bounce between world championship and club championship level. Right again.


2. The good thing about the World Golf Championship events is they bring the best players together, something that happens too infrequently.
But the WGC events haven’t seemed to separate themselves in the eyes of the public. They have better players than most other events, but that’s about the only difference. The buzz factor, especially with no Tiger Woods, isn’t very high.


3. When the most memorable thing about the U.S. Senior Open is a visit by a bear that ambled across the golf course on Friday, you’ve had a dull tournament.
Nothing against champion Eduardo Romero, but there was no drama over the weekend. The Senior Open is usually the most compelling event of the year on the Champions Tour, but this one never seemed to catch fire.


4. Michelle Wie missed another cut in a second-tier PGA Tour event. Exactly how did that help her career?


5. Charlotte 49ers golfer Corey Nagy won the Carolina Amateur event played at NorthStone Country Club over the weekend, and it did two things for him – reinforced the notion that he might be the best player Charlotte has produced in many years, and it got him a spot in the pre-qualifier for the Wydham Championship in Greensboro. Nagy must advance from the pre-qualifier into a Monday qualifier and advance from there to get into the PGA Tour event in two weeks.

Charlotte's Wagner hoping for big finish

Johnson Wagner spent the past two weeks hanging around home in Charlotte, playing some golf, relaxing and getting ready for what he hopes will be a big finish to his 2008 PGA Tour season.

Wagner, who won the Shell Houston Open in April, opened the World Golf Championship-Brdgestone Invitational Thursday in Akron, Ohio, with a solid even-par 70, putting himself in position to be a factor at Firestone when the weekend arrives.

The victory in Houston in April not only got Wagner into the Masters at the last minute, it affirmed his belief that he belonged on the tour. His record since Houston, however, has been spotty.

He made four straight cuts in one stretch but his best finish has been a tie for 27th in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

Wagner ranks 45th in FedEx Cup points and went to Firestone intent on improving his standing as the four-tournament playoff stretch approaches in three weeks.

"I'm starting to play better on tougher courses and in bigger events and I feel like I can play well in this stretch," Wagner said. "I want to make the top 30 in the FedEx standings so I can play in the Tour Championship and winning another tournament would certainly take care of that."

After the Bridgestone this week, Wagner will play the PGA Championship next week, bypass the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro then being the FedEx Cup playoffs at the Barclays in mid-August. Ideally, he would play his way into a spot at the Tour Championship Sept. 25-28 at East Lake in Atlanta.

As for his breakthrough victory at Houston, Wagner said he needs to focus on what's next rather than on what he's already done.

"I need to quit thinking about (the win)," Wagner said. "I need to focus on the good things I did to get in that position and start doing them again."

Again, Wie elects to be sideshow at men's event

The Women's British Open, pardon me, the Ricoh Women's British Open, is being played this week at Sunningdale in England and Michelle Wie is playing instead in the PGA Tour's Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

Need I ask, what's wrong with this picture?

The question I've always had about Michelle Wie is whether she's more interested in being a great golfer or a great star.

The fact she's in Nevada rather than England this week raises that question again.

Sure, she would have had to qualify to play in the British Open, but if you're serious about being great you try to play in the biggest events. Unless you're Kenny Perry - but he's 47 and deep enough in his career to skip the British Open even if it's a decision he will likely regret down the road.

Wie was a star. Now she's a curiosity, which means she's moved in the wrong direction.

Playing in another men's event - a second-tier PGA Tour event that includes none of the top 50 players in the world - seems the wrong thing for her to do right now. Maybe she will make the cut - she's shown signs of getting her game back - but what would that prove?

I would love to see Michelle Wie become everything we've projected her to be. She could further transform women's professional golf if she could become a regular winner.

She makes you watch.

If it can all come together for her, Wie could have an enormous impact on the game.

But bypassing a major to be a sideshow in Reno-Tahoe isn't the best way to do it.