Obama's golf game: He's no Jack Kennedy

One thing is clear about President Barack Obama's golf game: he clearly loves playing. In his first year as president, he's played 25 rounds, as much as his predecessor George W. Bush played in two terms. The state of his game is more murky. Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teacher Brady Riggs analyzed Obama's swing last summer and gave it a big thumbs-up for a beginner, while other reports say the commander in chief has become the hacker in chief.

Elizabeth Williamson of The Wall Street Journal checks in with the most detailed article to date on the president's golfing jones, interviewing teaching pros at the Vineyard Golf Club in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where Obama played his vacation golf. The verdict? The president has a long way to go if he wants his golf prowess to equal his ability on the basketball court.

Postings by golf observers on the Web site Baller-in-Chief, which is primarily devoted to the president's basketball game, posit a brutal answer: Mr. Obama has a golf handicap in the mid-20s, considered weak to average, and a cramped swing that's not so pretty.

A recent anonymous posting on Golf.com comes from a golfer who claims to have caught some of the action: "I had the misfortune of being stuck in a group on the same course as the Prez and his buddies and watching them play one hole in the time it took our foursome to play 3 was painful. The only thing stopping us from telling them to pick it up was the incredibly large security detail he had with him."

Williamson gets a couple good anecdotes from Vineyard Golf Club, including one teaching pro giving Obama an on-course bunker lesson ("Open the clubface more!") and the Secret Service tapping range balls to make sure they didn't contain hidden dangers.

A nice addition to the story is a gallery of presidential golfers, which includes some great pics I hadn't seen before: Richard Nixon with Jackie Gleason in Key Biscayne in 1968, Ronald Reagan teeing off in 1976 at the LA Country Club, and JFK, "the best golfer to ever inhabit the White House," at the Hyannis Port Country Club in July 1963.

U.S. needs to improve World Cup team

Just weeks ago, when golf became an Olympic sport for 2016, we heard a parade of top American golfers (including Tiger) saying how much they want to represent their country.

Those patriotic words ring pretty hollow, though, in light of what can be described only as an embarrassingly weak U.S. team at this week's World Cup at the Mission Hills Resort in China: Nick Watney (31st in the world) and John Merrick (139).

Nice guys, but is this the best America could do for golf's annual Olympic-like extravaganza? Merrick has never even won a Tour event, while Watney has a grand total of two victories.

Heck, Denmark, a nation with fewer people than New York City, has a team that on paper is more than twice as good as the Yanks: the Danes (Soren Hansen and Soren Kjeldsen) are a combined 77th in the World Ranking compared to the U.S.'s 170th.

The dismal U.S. World Cup showing is especially galling, because just two weeks ago some of the best Americans — Tiger and Phil among them — trekked to China to play in the HSBC Champions. That tournament, however, offered juicy appearance fees and a $7 million purse.

Trump calls course opponent 'village idiot'

Donald Trump Jr. — who is overseeing his famous father’s pledge to deliver “the greatest golf course in the world” on the windswept shorelines of Aberdeenshire, Scotland — recently said that he “wasn’t worried in the slightest” about the threat of legal action from disgruntled locals slowing the course’s progress. In as little as 18 months, DTJ said, the links could be open for play.

 

If only his old man were so cheerful.

 

The Donald last night unleashed a startlingly bruising attack on Michael Forbes, a salmon fisherman and quarryman who has made a stand against the resort. The diatribe, released in a written statement from Trump’s New York office, came after Forbes’s elderly mother Molly filed paperwork to prevent the local council from seizing the land occupied by her caravan, which is parked next to her son’s house.

 

Trump, who claims Molly is being exploited to further her son's "personal vendetta" against him, has never been one to temper his opinions but even by his jarringly forthright standards, this rant cut deep.

 

Trump dismissed Michael Forbes as “the local village idiot” who "has always been dirty, sloppy and unkempt in his personal appearance and demeanor.

 

"His property is a disgusting blight on the community and an environmental hazard, with leaking oil containers, rusted shacks and abandoned vehicles dumped everywhere. It is a very poor image and representation for the world to see of Scotland.

 

“While he is a terrible representative for Scotland, whenever the cameras are rolling, he parades in front of the press looking groomed and wearing a kilt — he truly enjoys the attention that he would never have received without Donald Trump. In a recent television interview that was broadcast in the United States, Mr. Forbes made Scotland and its people look terrible. He is a loser who is seriously damaging the image of both Aberdeenshire and his great country.

 

“Instead of wasting the court’s resources, he should spend time cleaning up his land so it does not look like a slum — and a low-level slum at that. Perhaps he thinks that by creating an eyesore I will pay more for his land.”

 

According to The Guardian newspaper:

Trump's attack has significantly increased the likelihood that he will ask Aberdeenshire council to use its powers to compulsorily purchase Forbes's 23 acres of land, outbuildings and home, and the homes of two other residents, to enable him to demolish every property within the resort's boundaries unnecessary to his development.

 

Molly Forbes said: "I never expected in my life to face eviction from my home, let alone for a golf course. This is not a battle I would ever have sought, but Mr Trump and Aberdeenshire council should know that I will never give up, and I urge them to think again."

 

This could get ugly. Well, uglier.

 

 

Cal fans boo Tiger Woods at Stanford game

It's not exactly Philly fans booing Santa Claus, but Cal fans surprised Tiger Woods with a hail of boos on Saturday night. At halftime of the Big Game, Woods spoke to the crowd after being inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. Even though the game was played at Stanford, enough Cal fans were in the stands to rattle Woods just a little. You can watch it here:

Of course, Woods recovered from his momentary surprise and delivered the rest of his speech smoothly. Stanford wasn't so lucky, losing to the Golden Bears 34-28.

See more photos of Tiger Woods at the game.

Shaun Micheel, Jason Gore among players advancing to PGA Tour Q-school finals

Former PGA champion Shaun Micheel was among the notable players advancing to the finals at Q school, Dec. 2-7 at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Over the past four days, six different sites across the country hosted the second stage of qualifying. Here's a list of the medalists from each site, and the notable names who are moving on and going home.

Brooksville, Fla.

Medalist: Jay Williamson

Notable Name Moving On: Arjun Atwal

Notable Names Who Failed to Advance: Joe Durant, Dean Wilson, Eric Axley, Ty Tryon, Frank Lickliter, Erik Compton, Jay Haas Jr., Robert Gamez

Panama City Beach, Fla.

Medalist: Garrett Osborn

Notable Names Moving On: Casey Wittenberg, Shaun Micheel, Skip Kendall

Notable Names Who Failed to Advance: Guy Boros, Jarrod Lyle, Peter Lonard

Pine Mountain, Ga.

Medalist: Kevin Kisner

Notable Names Moving On: Ken Duke, Carlos Franco, Robert Damron

Notable Names Who Failed to Advance: Len Mattiace, Drew Weaver, Mike Van Sickle

Kingwood, Texas

Medalist: Emmett Turner

Notable Names Moving On: Glen Day, J.P. Hayes

Notable Name Who Failed to Advance: Jamie Lovemark

McKinney, Texas

Medalist: Martin Flores

Notable Names Moving On: Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey, Paul Stankowski, Colt Knost

Beaumont, Calif.

Medalists: Jeff Brehaut, Brendan Steele

Notable Names Moving On: Mark Hensby, Jason Gore, Jonathan Kaye

Notable Names Who Failed to Advance: Bob May, Kirk Triplett

No. 1 golf home comes with 18-hole course for $68 million

Living in the NYC area, I know how tough it is to get a tee time. Too bad I don't have $68 million to spend.

Toptenrealestatedeals.com ranked a Bridgehampton, N.Y. home the No. 1 golf home in America. And why not? It comes with an 18-hole Rees Jones designed golf course, which makes getting a tee time pretty easy.

According to the Sotheby's listings, other amenities include "eight bedrooms, 12 baths, two three-car garages, two-story pro shop, with second-floor golf club featuring bar and bathroom."

Time to start playing the lottery.

(Photo: sothebysrealty.com)

Allenby: American players have it too easy

Poor Robert Allenby. He knows his outspoken ways can get him in trouble, yet he just can't stop speaking his mind. Fans of golf should appreciate the guy; we don't have many players like him. At the Dubai World Championship, a reporter asked Allenby why more American players don't play international events. You can almost hear the angel and devil arguing across his shoulders.

"You know what, I've got to word this right so I don't get into trouble, because I'm good at getting myself into trouble," Allenby said.

Did he word it right? Sure, if he meant to say that American players are spoiled and that PGA Tour courses are dull. Common enough opinions, but not usually heard from a Tour pro. Here's his answer:

"You know, Americans play for so much money, and when you've got a purse where $1 million, a million plus, is first prize, not to say that they are spoiled, but it's a little bit that way. It's like, well, why would I want to travel, when I can make a million bucks instead of going to Europe and only making $500,000 or $600,000?"

"The reason why I want to travel and play elsewhere is because I want my game to get better, and always, even at the age of 38, I want to get better. And the only way you can get better is to play different golf courses. If you're playing the same golf course every week, every year that you come back to, it just gets a little boring. For me, that's what I've found. I've got a little bit bored playing in America. I'll still play there full time, but I'm still going to try to play more tournaments in Europe at the same time and combine the two together."

"But I just think, you know, they have got it a little bit too easy. It's just everything is handed to them on a silver plate. And not to be rude or anything like that, because I'm very respectful for the amount of money that we do play for in America. We are very lucky and very fortunate. But I think the money that we play for in America, that's the reason why you don't see a lot of Americans or a lot more international players coming over and playing in Europe. They are in a comfort zone, and I think that's pretty much what it is."

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Harrington: Golfers don't cheat (unlike French soccer players)

Padraig Harrington is an Irishman and a sportsman, so it's no surprise he has an opinion on France's controversial win over Ireland in the final World Cup qualifying match this week.

(If you haven't seen it yet, France's Thierry Henry used his hand to set up the deciding goal in extra time. With the goal, France earned a 1-1 tie, enough to get them into next year's World Cup and eliminate the Irish. You can see a particularly damning picture of Henry's handball here.)

At the Euro Tour's Dubai World Championship finale, reporters asked Harrington how he felt about Henry's handball considering Harrington plays a sport where players routinely call penalties on themselves.

"Golf has a different attitude," Harrington said. "If somebody makes a mistake and ... putting your hand out as a reaction is a mistake, the great thing in golf is if we do do something wrong, we hold our hand up and say, 'Hey, hang on a second, didn't mean to do that, sorry.' You go back and you take your penalty."

Soccer is obviously a different sport and Harrington said he understood that players don't call penalties on themselves. (Although Henry did say a rematch would be "the fairest solution" to the controversy.) It was what happened after the game that really irked him.

"Celebration of the cheating was particularly galling, and that's as far as it goes," Harrington said.

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USGA offers special offer on 2010 U.S. Open tickets

If you've been thinking about buying tickets to next year's U.S. Open, to be played at Pebble Beach in June, now might be the time to act. If you make a purchase by Dec. 14, the USGA will throw in a commemorative ball marker and divot-repair tool. You can learn more about the offer and buy tickets at usga.org.

Why is Ernie Els dead last after two rounds in Dubai?

It's no surprise that Ernie Els is dead last after two rounds of the European tour's season-ending big-money bonanza, the Dubai World Championship. Els, whose four-over 148 (74-74) leaves him 15 shots off the lead, must be wiped out from globetrotting, which may also be a big reason why he's been majorless since taking the 2002 British Open and winless for five years on the PGA Tour.

Most big-time pros routinely crisscross the globe in search of trophies and dollars, but Els logs so many thousands of miles that his travel schedule stands out even among his peers. Take Els's November as an example. Two weeks ago, he played in China at the HSBC Champions before jetting to his home outside London to work on the redesign at Wentworth and see his wife and two children. (They were there on holiday from their new home base in Florida.) Now Els is in Dubai; he must feel like a zombie.

I often read the weekly diary entries at Els's website, and it's amazing to read about his travels. He's like Marco Polo for most of the year, hopschotching between tournaments, course-development projects and sponsor outings. I can't fault him; Els knows what he's doing. I might perpetually be on the road too if I could earn money like he does. Still, I would not expect Els to return to the old Ernie, the one who consistently contended in majors and won Tour events, until he dramatically scales back his travel schedule.

Tiger 101? College prof explains the 'Woods effect'

Top players play worse against Tiger Woods. You can measure it, which is what Northwestern professor Jennifer Brown did. Her conclusion, related in Jonah Lehrer's Frontal Cortex blog, is that players don't believe they can win when Woods is in the field, resulting in worse performance.

Despite the individualistic nature of the sport, the presence of Woods in the tournament had a powerful effect. Interestingly, Brown found that playing against Woods resulted in significantly decreased performance. When the superstar entered a tournament, every other golfer took, on average, 0.8 more strokes. This effect was even more pronounced when Woods was playing well. Based on this data, Brown calculated that the superstar effect boosted Woods' PGA earnings by nearly five million dollars.

Brown argues that this phenomenon is caused when "competitors scale back their effort in events where they believe Woods will surely win." After all, why waste energy and angst on an impossible contest?

Lehrer, whose Frontal Cortex blog is one of the best out there, has a different take on the Woods effect. Instead of giving up, Lehrer believes pros playing against Woods have the opposite problem.

I'd argue that the superstar effect has more to do with "paralysis by analysis" than with decreased motivation. I'd bet that playing with Tiger Woods makes golfers extra self-conscious, and that such self-consciousness leads to choking and decreased performance. The problem, then, isn't that golfers aren't trying hard enough when playing against Tiger -- it's that they're trying too hard.

Another guy who thinks this? PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang. After he outlasted Woods at Hazeltine in August, a reporter asked Yang how he was able to wrestle a major from Woods when so many others had failed. Yang's response jibes completely with Lehrer's explanation of the Woods effect: "I think that the good players, the great names that you've mentioned, when they tee off with Tiger, they try to -- their competitive juices sort of flow out and they go head to head and try and win. For me, I don't consider myself as a great golfer. I'm still more of the lower than average PGA tour players. So my goal was today to just hit at least even, not go over par. I think probably that's the different mind-set that I had."

Alan Shipnuck's Mailbag: Paula Creamer, Tiger's club throwing and U.S. Open venues

"Now that Wie is getting all the attention again, I am wondering why Paula Creamer gets such short shrift? She is young, gorgeous, a winner, and from all accounts a fun and well-liked person. But Wie wins one tournament and she is viewed as the savior of the game? Is it just because she hits it further? I really do like the LPGA, and hope to see the two of them go head-to-head often. That to me is what will bring in attention, not if Wie repeats of Annika's dominance. Your thoughts?"

I like Paula Creamer as much as the next guy, but I think a couple of things are keeping her from a larger crossover stardom. She hasn't won a tournament in 14 months, so there's that. Not only has she failed to win a major in her otherwise excellent career, but she's also shown a distressing habit of coming apart mentally when she's had a chance. She let the Lorena Ochoa Invitational get away and it was irritating to watch Paula pout about it between the ropes. I think she still needs to grow up a little bit. Wie may be younger but she's been through so much drama I think she's tougher. You definitely diagnosed one factor in the more widespread interest surrounding Wie: Creamer is a short hitter who plays a pretty boring percentage game. Nancy Lopez once told me that for an LPGA player to become a superstar she has to look like a woman but hit the ball like a man. That's Wie, not Creamer. But each of these talented, telegenic players can push the other to greater heights. There hasn't been a really great LPGA rivalry since Annika-Karrie around the turn of the century. Wie-Creamer potentially has a lot more to offer.

"Alan - any comment on the Tiger club-throwing incident? He threw it into a crowd and could have injured someone. If this goes away quietly, it will prove it's still a society for the privileged."

My colleague Michael Walker has a hilarious take on this episode that I wish I had written. Obviously Tiger screwed up, but he didn't mean to tomahawk his club into the gallery, it just slipped out of his hand during a more conventional bit of pique. I think most of us would like to see Woods stop dropping f-bombs and slamming clubs – it's unbecoming and a little tacky. But you can't have it both ways. What makes Tiger the greatest winner in all of sports is how hot he burns on the inside, and it his ferocious competitiveness that produces such riveting theater. He's got his flaws, but Woods is a class act and we're all lucky to have him in our sport. (Imagine if Allen Iverson was the world's top golfer.) So I can live with Tiger's occasional lapses, even at the risk of being mocked by Michael Walker.

Still no sponsor for PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines

When Buick ended its sponsorship of PGA Tour events last summer, the organizers of the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines were optimistic about finding another sponsor. After all, the Buick Invitational is one of the Tour's marquee regular season events. Tiger Woods wrote the most stirring chapter of his legend at the photogenic course at the 2008 U.S. Open and always plays the regular season event, and the TV ratings are excellent. Maybe more marginal Tour events would have trouble attracting new sponsors, but not Torrey Pines. You'd think they'd be lining up, right?

Not exactly, says Tod Leonard of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Leonard checks in with the Century Club, the group that runs the Torrey Pines tournament, and finds that even the high-profile Tour events aren't enough to attract sponsorship dollars in this poor economy.

Yet here the Century Club stands, a suitor spurned by numerous possible brides over the past three months. Not because the former Buick Invitational isn't handsome or worthy, but because Dad doesn't have enough money to pay for the wedding.

This is a dilemma far more dire than the concerns of the Century Club, and if the PGA Tour was slow in realizing that — and it's very clear now that it has been — the suits in the headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Fla., — and the players — are starting to come around.

“I've seen it in the last 90 days. The PGA Tour is completely aware the world has changed,” said Tom Wornham, the chairman of the Century Club, who along with tournament director Tom Wilson has been entrusted with finding a new sponsor.

The Century Club has pledged to host the 2010 tournament in January with or without a sponsor, but the implications for other Tour events are ominous. Leonard crunches the numbers and can only think of one way to bring in more sponsors: lower purses.

Now look at it from the PGA Tour's perspective. Over the next two years, the tour has around a dozen events that need to re-up with sponsors. If one of its premier events in San Diego is having so much trouble, what does that mean for everyone else?

It means the model will have to change. In a setup unique to major American sports, the golfers are their own bosses, and they're going to have to decide to take a pay cut, because the only way deals are going to get done is if the sponsors are paying less.

Follow Mike Walker on Twitter.

Doug Barron appeal denied, but he will fight on

Doug Barron, who last week sued the PGA Tour for reinstatement after becoming the first player to be suspended under the Tour's anti-doping policy, has had his motion for a temporary restraining order denied. According to the AP,  U.S. Magistrate Judge Tu Pham ruled on Monday in Memphis that  Barron did not show a likelihood that he would win on his claims argued in a hearing last Friday. Barron was suspended for a year after testing positive at last June's St. Jude Classic for beta-blockers and testosterone, both of which he has claimed should be allowed under a medical-necessity exemption. Had Barron been successful in receiving the restraining order, he would have entered a Q school tournament in Houston later this week. 

After the ruling, Barron spoke exclusively to Golf.com's Cameron Morfit in Houston and said that he is planning his next legal move. "I thought that regardless of the ultimate outcome that they'd let me compete in Q school," the 40-year-old Barron told Morfit. "I've got to find a way to provide for my family in the next year. I don't think this will be the end of it."

Cink bunker decision part of USGA's Rules revisions

The USGA released revisions to the "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" on Monday which will take effect on Jan. 1. The 2010-2011 edition will include 28 new Decisions, 51 revisions and one withdrawn Decision. USGA Rules committee chairman Jim Bunch described the number of changes as "fairly typical" for the two-year cycle during which revisions to the Decisions are made. (The Rules of Golf are revised every four years).

While the Rules of Golf is the svelte little book that fits handily into the top pocket of your golf bag, the "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" is a manifesto of more than 1,200 entries, which deal with the various situations that the Rules do not specifically cover. Bunch doesn't believe that any of next year's changes qualify as "earth-shattering news," but instead described the process as fine-tuning.

One area that the USGA covers in the new edition is Decisions surrounding raking the bunker. One such Decision was actually foreshadowed last March, when Stewart Cink was disqualified from the Zurich Classic. Cink unknowingly incurred a penalty for "testing the condition of a bunker" in a bizarre sequence of events. After hitting a drive near a bunker, he was forced to take a stance in the bunker to hit the shot. After he hit his shot, his caddie raked the bunker. The problem? Cink's shot landed in a greenside bunker. Because his caddie had raked a similar bunker, Cink had violated the Rule against testing the conditions of a bunker.  He was disqualified after signing his scorecard. The new Decision reflects the position that the USGA took almost immediately after the tournament: While the Rule was interpreted correctly as written at the time, such an action should not be considered a violation of the Rules.

The process for amending the Decisions (as with the Rules themselves) is a tag-team effort between the USGA and the Royal and Ancient. Proposed changes are presented to both the USGA Rules committee and the R&A Rules committee, where they are debated separately and together in a joint Rules committee.

"The people on the committee are all very well versed on the Rules, so you'd think the decisions would be easy," Bunch said. "But we have some very serious debates about which way the Rules should go." Once the joint Rules committee has decided it wants to pursue a change, it sends the proposal to the executive committee of the USGA and the R&A General committee. On top of the volunteer committee members, most of the major bodies of the game (including the PGA, LPGA, Nationwide Tour and NCAA) have a seat on the USGA committee, ensuring that a variety of voices are heard. If both the USGA and the R&A agree that a change or addition is in order, only then will it become an official Rule or Decision.

Though most proposed changes arise from the questions of Rules officials, recreational players have a place in the process. Bunch estimated that about 20,000 people call the USGA every year looking for help with a Rules-related query. "Some of the answers are just quick interpretations right from the Rules, but if USGA staff come to us and say, ‘We keep getting this question over and over again,' then the committee can make a change or put out a guideline," Bunch said.

The USGA and The R&A also issued a joint statement dealing with electronic devices, specifically rangefinders that have the ability to measure more than just distance (including slope, temperature and wind speed). The USGA and R&A reaffirmed their early decision that such equipment can only be used to measure distance, and that any other measurement would be in violation of the Rules.

For a complete look at the Rules of Golf and Decisions on the Rules of Golf, check out usga.org.

Alan Shipnuck's Mailbag: Send in your questions

With Michelle Wie's breakthrough, another win for Tiger Woods and the final tournament of the PGA Tour season, there's plenty for Alan Shipnuck to address in his mailbag. Submit a question below and come back Tuesday to see his answers.

Wie tweaks Woods in post-round comments

For Michelle Wie, 2009 has been a breakout year in a few different ways. She won the respect of her peers by earning her Tour card at Q school and she's played well all year, especially at the Solheim Cup where she posted a 3-0-1 record.

What's more, she's grown more comfortable with showing her personality in public through her artistic blog and her quirky Twitter feed. Wie's off-beat sense of humor was on display after her 2-under round Saturday at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico. Asked about her sore ankle at a press conference, Wie had some fun with the favorite phrase of her fellow Stanford Cardinal Tiger Woods.

Q. On the first tee, I saw you with the ankle, you looked like you were limping, how much does it impinge on your game?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I don't know how to answer that question. It is what it is. (Laughing).

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Lefthander Flesch gives clubs away after Friday's round at Disney

ORALANDO, Fla. -- This is the kind of thing that only happens in the last tournament of the year. Lefthander Steve Flesch finished his round on the Palm Course at the Children's Miracle Network Classic here Friday morning with a 73, leaving him at one over par and almost certain to miss the cut.

Flesch came out of the scoring room, walked over to his bag, grabbed all of his irons and took them back into the room. When he came out again, his hands were empty. Yes, he had just given away his complete set of irons to a friend whose son was a lefthanded golfer.

"With the new rules on grooves next year, I'm never going to be able to use them again anyway, so I might as well give them to someone who can," said Flesch, who lives near Cincinnati in Union, Ky.

What if scores in the afternoon round balloon in the wind and one over makes the cut? Flesch chuckled and said, "I'm pretty sure that can't happen."

Rickie Fowler dating Olin Browne's daughter

One member of Rickie Fowler’s inner circle is undaunted by his new life in the spotlight -- his 18-year-old girlfriend, Alexandra Browne, daughter of PGA Tour player Olin. “She’s used to it,” Fowler said. “It’s nothing new to her, and it’s nice to have someone around like that.”
 
Fowler has made the transition from amateur play to Tour-level competition look easy, tying for seventh and second in his first two events as a professional. But he’s not worried about getting a big head—his mother and father are making sure his attitude stays in check. “My parents, they’re not people to get caught up in the attention and stuff,” Fowler said. “They keep me grounded and always have.”

If Fowler can manage to finish in the top 10 at this weekend's Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., he’ll be the first player since Ryan Moore to gain exemption on the PGA Tour without having to go through Q school, and only the seventh player since 1980.

Aussie fans rip no-show Allenby

Anthony Kim must love these guys.

In the midst of Tigermania at the Australian Masters, Peter Hanlon of The Age newspaper found "Robbie Rousers," a group of fans who come to cheer the golf and heckle Australian player Robert Allenby, who withdrew from this year's event. It's a must-read. Here's Hanlon's description of the shirts:

Beneath a pair of clinking beer tankards* on the left breast, their mission was writ large: ''Robert Allenby Cheer-Up Squad.'' On the back, Allenby's face was superimposed onto a large image of the elusive children's book character in the red and white hoops, Wally, carrying a giant dummy under the reworked slogan, ''Where's Robbie?''

Allenby got under Kim's skin after this year's Presidents Cup when he accused Kim of partying until 4 a.m. the night before their match. (Kim won easily.) The guys in the Robert Allenby Cheer-up Squad have a similar beef with Allenby, according to Hanlon.

Their testy relationship with Allenby goes back to The Vines a couple of years ago. ''He just came over to us on one hole and said, 'How's the beers working out for you boys?''' one of the Colins said. ''We were like, 'Yeah, good thanks.' Next hole he comes over and has another crack: 'Jealousy's a wonderful thing, isn't it boys?' We all blew up. We followed him for the rest of the round just giving it to him. My brother's said to him on the par three, 'Robert! Water on the right mate! Water on the right!' Sure enough, he's hit it in the piss. Next hole he's walking up the fairway flipping us [the bird]. His caddie's come over and had a go at us. He got security involved in the end. We actually didn't say too much to him, apart from just giving him a bit of heckling after he started into us. We saw him in the bar afterwards and said, 'Come and have a beer, Rob'. Nah, he was filthy at us. He's just a miserable so-and-so. Am I allowed to say that?''

*Tankards just means beer mugs. I had to look it up too.

Follow Mike Walker on Twitter.