Green Reading

My furlough week

I'm off this week on a company-mandated furlough so don't look for any more blog posts until I return on Monday, Sept. 28. I guess I'll have to play some golf this week. My weekly Saturday notes column will run, however, so look for that.

Perry should be ashamed

I've recently seen the video of Kenny Perry patting down grass behind his ball in a playoff he eventually won earlier this year in the FBR Open.
Let me first state that I like Kenny Perry. A lot. I like him even more after talking to him for a few days at the Masters this year when he was more gracious in defeat than could ever be expected of anyone. He was entertaining and honest in interviews throughout the week.
Having said that, the video clearly shows Perry improving his lie in the rough near the green. Quite simply, he cheated. And contrary to what he has said about the incident since, he knows he cheated. Just as Stewart Cink knows he was cheating in a playoff at the 2004 Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links when he swiped his finger to draw a deep line behind his ball in a fairway waste bunker to improve his lie, claiming he was merely trying to remove loose impediments. Without the sand impeding his shot, Cink stuck the approach to 10 feet and holed the birdie putt to defeat Ted Purdy, who is still peeved about the ruling to this day. In my opinion, Cink got permission from a rules official to flick loose impediments, and knew he could use that as his defense. But, just as Perry did, Cink knew he was breaching a rule. Even weekend hacks aren't brazen enough to draw a line behind their ball in a bunker or pat grass down behind their ball in the rough and claim they're playing by the rules.
The game and its keepers have always prided themselves on golf being a gentleman's sport where players report their own violations. This makes you wonder how often players knowingly skirt or stretch the rules, or don't report blatant rules violations. Granted, some golf rules seem silly and unfairly penalizing. But either you play by them or you don't. And I know two guys who have chosen not to when a tournament was on the line.

Clemson's Stanley wins Ben Hogan Award

Kyle Stanley of Clemson is the 2009 Ben Hogan Award winner, possibly the most prestigious award in men's college golf. It is presented annually to the top NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or NJCAA college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during a 12-month period. It's presented by Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America.
A junior from Gig Harbor, Wash., Stanley opened his collegiate season with a win at the Carpet Capital Collegiate. He has also posted five other top 10 showings. In amateur play, Stanley claimed his second Southern Amateur and also captured the Jones Cup. He finished tied for seventh at last season
's NCAA Championships, and advanced to match play at the U.S. Amateur, Western Amateur and North & South Amateur. He was recently named to the All-ACC team.
The other finalists were Jorge Campillo of Indiana and Rickie Fowler of Oklahoma State. Stanley joins D.J.  Trahan (2002) as the second Clemson golfer to win the Hogan. Former Coastal Carolina standout Dustin Johnson of Myrtle Beach was a finalist for the award in 2007.

Players' opinions revealed in SI poll

Sports Illustrated recently conducted its eighth annual poll of PGA Tour players. It polled 72 players, including Tiger Woods, so the magazine says, to gauge their feelings on issues regarding the state of the game and other matters. They gave answers based on the condition of anonymity. Some of the questions and answers are highly entertaining. The Q&A results included:

Q: Do you have Tiger's phone number on your speed dial?
11% Yes
89% No

Q: Who is the second-best player in golf?
72% Phil Mickelson
12% Sergio Garcia
6% Padraig Harrington
The best result come in the ``Also receiving votes'' category: Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Geoff Ogilvy, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods. If Tiger is No. 2, who is No. 1?

Q: How many FedEx Cup points do you get for a PGA Tour win?
500* 54%
Other 46%
* 500 is the correct answer

Q: With the Dow around 8,000, have you lost more than $1 million in net worth?
Yes 23%
No 77%

Q: In light of the bad economy, should the Tour help sponsors by lowering purses?
No 55%
Yes 45%

Q: Who is the best-dressed player?
Tiger Woods 41%
Adam Scott 19%
Tommy Armour III 14%
Also receiving votes: Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Brian Gay, Shigeki Maruyama, Rocco Mediate, Jesper Parnevik, Ian Poulter

Q: Who is the worst-dressed player?
Steve Elkington 24%
Eric Axley 22%
Woody Austin 22%
Ian Poulter 16%
Also receiving votes: Kenneth Ferrie, Brian Gay, Phil Mickelson, Jeff Overton, Jesper Parnevik, Kevin Sutherland

Q: Which of these couples would you and your significant other most want to have dinner with?
Jack and Barbara Nicklaus 33%
Barack and Michelle Obama 33%
Brad and Angelina 24%
Todd and Sarah Palin 7%
Rory and Amy Sabbatini 3%

Q: Who knows more of your secrets, your wife or your caddie?
Wife 70%
Caddie 30%

QWho is the hottest significant other on tour?
My wife 27%
Kristy (wife of Parker) McLachlin 23%
Richelle (Aaron) Baddeley 13%
Liz (Bob) Estes 8%
Also receiving votes: ? Cortney (Eric) Axley, Jennifer (Glen) Day, Leot Chen (girlfriend of Vaughn Taylor), Amber Uresti (girlfriend of Nick Watney), Melissa Weber (girlfriend of Matt Jones)

Play Bethpage online

The USGA has partnered with the Web site World Golf Tour to host the first Virtual U.S. Open, allowing people to play the Bethpage Black course online in a competition or for fun. The virtual championship will allow playerse to experience the course in high-definition and play for an all-expense paid trip to the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Through June 30, golfers can test their skills on the Bethpage Black through World Golf Tour's Skills Challenge. Qualifying rounds begin on May 25 for the 18-hole Virtual U.S. Open Tournament, and on June 21 the top 156 qualifiers will square off for the Virtual U.S. Open title on June 22.
WGT was able to render U.S. Open course conditions with the guidance of the USGA _ the rough, the bunkers, the fairway and green contours _ online through data collected from the actual course and translated through a physics engine. The game claims to have championship tee boxes, hole placements and open-caliber green speeds.

Pick major winners for trip to Bermuda

The PGA of America has launched the 2009 Majors Fantasy Challenge, an online fantasy sports league at www.PGA.com where fans make picks for the four major championships and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Prizes will be awarded after each major championship with the grand prize of a trip to Bermuda for the 2010 PGA Grand Slam of Golf including airfare, transportation and hotel. Fans pick a foursome before each major they believe will finish the highest in that event, based upon tournament money winnings. Tiebreaker questions will be utilized for breaking point ties among players. Scoring is based upon tournament money winnings. Participants can enter prior to any major, but they will only begin earning points from the time they register to play. The winner will be announced after the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The top 10 finishers in each major and the Grand Slam win merchandise prizes.

A star is born

If you're a golf fan, you probably hope Tiger Woods encourages his 20-month-old daugher Sam Alexis and newborn son Charlie Axel to play competitive golf. If you're a fan of humanity, we can only hope he directs them toward medicine or science. You've got to believe the children of Tiger Woods are going to be extraordinarily successful at whatever they do. Woods was raised to be the ultimate champion by his parents, and you figure he's going to be raising his children with similar strenghts and values. If Woods' son isn't chasing his old man's records on the course, he might just be finding a cure for a debilitating disease. Either way, the world certainly isn't any worse off today than it was last week before Charlie Axel Woods was born.

Woods takes podium

Tiger Woods spoke Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington during ``We Are One'',
 an inauguration celebration for president Obama. It was a rare public speaking appearance for Woods. But in true Woods form, he didn't make the occassion about race a controversial issue. He solely used the opportunity and stage to salute the military, of which his father, Lt. Colonel Earl Woods, was a member in special forces. Woods remains his own person and seldom takes a stand on racial issues, which in the past has drawn the ire of outspoken athletes and activists such as Jim Brown. My personal experience is in regard to the Rebel Flag and an NCAA requested boycott in 2000 of South Carolina sporting events as long as the flag was flown at the statehouse in Columbia. I got Woods one-on-one outside the media center at Augusta National the week before the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head Island, asking him if the flag controversy impacted his decision not to play in the Heritage that year. Woods declined to comment on the flag or boycott, and would not acknowledge if it impacted his decision. It will be interesting to see if Woods becomes more outspoken after he ends his playing career and grows older.

Annika begins new journey

It hasn't taken Annika Sorenstam, perhaps the best female golfers ever, to get started on her life after retirement from the LPGA Tour. She married her boyfriend of three years, Mike McGee, Saturday near their home in Orlando. McGee, the son of former PGA Tour golfer Jerry McGee, has managed the Annika brand of businesses since Dec. 2006. Prior to a honeymoon ski trip, Annika will be hosting the first major initiative of her foundation, the Annika Invitational, an AJGA event at her academy at Ginn Resort featuring 60 of the top female juniors. She'll appear at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, will be honored at the Annika Celebration on Feb.1-3 at Ginn Reunion Resort, and participate in a skins game against Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis. If she remains this busy, she may not miss competitive golf much.

Golf provides reason to live

Apparently, golf provides a reason to live. Golfers live longer, according to a new study. The death rate for golfers is 40 percent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status, according to a study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
This equates to a five-year increase in life expectancy said the scientists, led by Anders Ahlbom and Bahman Farahmand at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Golfers with a low handicap are the best protected, they noted. The lowest rates of mortality were found in the group of players with the lowest handicap.
``A round of golf means being outside for 4 or 5 hours, walking at a fast pace for  about 4 miles, something which is known to be good for health,'' Ahlbom said in the magazine. "People play golf into old age, and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that can be of help.''
The study was based on data from 300,000 Swedish golfers. Other factors, such as a generally healthy lifestyle, may help explain the lower death rate seen among golfers, the scientists said. It is still likely that playing the game has a significant impact in itself on health, Ahlbom and Farahmand said.
The effect on the death rate was greater for golfers from so-called blue-collar professions than for those from white- collar professions, the researchers said.