Listed in roughly chronological order...

1. "It's disgusting what he's just done there. You look at his work ethic, and he's a credit to the game and an inspiration to all of us who are trying to be professional golfers, but some parts of him are arrogant and petulant. Somebody has to come on the green and maybe putt over his spit — it doesn't get much lower than that.” --Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray after Tiger Woods was shown spitting on the green at the Dubai Desert Classic. Woods was later fined by the European Tour and apologized for the incident.

2. "I'm glad he's out playing golf. I happen to be a golfer. I think presidents deserve down time. And believe me, he is in constant communication with what's going on." --Former Vice President Dan Quayle, on criticism of President Obama for playing golf

3. “Tiger was the dominant player. He won 14 majors. Think about it, 14 majors, in such a short period of time. Who is ever going to do that again? Who knows? That is pretty dominating. So for us, myself, Phil, Vijay, Davis, Fred Couples, guys like that to have played under a guy who was that good, we took a beating, not only from him, but from you guys, too. It's been a tough -- it was a tough 10, 12 years for us.” --Ernie Els at the WGC-Cadillac Championship

4. “As my social status in Japan is getting higher, I believe that is one of the responsibilities, to provide for those people who are in need." --Ryo Ishikawa, on his decision to donate all of his 2011 earnings to earthquake relief in Japan

5. "I’ve gone back and putted that putt a hundred times since. … [and] it’s never broken left again." --Jack Nicklaus at the 2011 Masters on his birdie putt on 17 at the 1986 Masters 

6. “I hate that word. It's just a terrible word. It's not something you want to be associated with -- worst thing you can be called in golf, apart from ‘cheat.’” --Rory McIlroy, on the c-word –- “choke” -- after his final-round meltdown at the 2011 Masters 

7. “I still can’t believe, with just 45 minutes left in that broadcast, how many people could have conceivably won it. It was so exhilarating because that’s what you want—to have the chance to keep people on the edges of their seats. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I got from people saying, ‘I couldn’t even go to the bathroom. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to miss anything.’ ” --Jim Nantz, on Sunday at the 2011 Masters

8. "You could see it a couple of weeks ago at The Masters. Tiger was playing fantastic the first nine on Sunday but there wasn't really somebody who was scared of him any more.” --Martin Kaymer after the 2011 Masters

9. “How are we going to count all the shots? I can’t keep track.” --Kevin Na, on his way to a 16 at the Valero Texas Open

10. "Our hat policy is the same as Augusta’s. Turn your hat around.’” --Quail Hollow member to Rickie Fowler

11. "His swing is definitely better than mine was at the same age. But in '99 my swing came together, and I had a pretty good next two years." --Tiger Woods, on Rory McIlroy’s U.S. Open win

12. “I can't f***ing hit it. I'm f***ing useless.” --Darren Clarke, on the putting green the week before winning the British Open

13. "I've caddied for 33 years, won 145 times and this is the most satisfying win of my career." --Caddie Steve Williams after Adam Scott won the Bridgestone invitational

14. “I don’t have any.” --Phil Mickelson’s caddie Bones Mackay after being asked how many wins he has

15. "I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again." --Roger Ebert, on the golf movie Seven Days in Utopia

16. "I don't recall ever saying the Tiger era is over." --Luke Donald after The Daily Express published a story with the headline, "Luke Donald: The Tiger Woods Era is 'Over' "

17. "If it were going to be banned, it should have happened 20-plus years ago. But now that it's been legal, I don't think you can make it retroactive." --Phil Mickelson, on belly putters

18. "Almost every guy who finished at the top of the leaderboard was in the top five in greens hit and ball-striking. To me, that's the ultimate.That's pure golf, not a bunch of scrambling crap." --Johnny Miller’s defense of the Cog Hill redesign after criticism from Phil Mickelson and others

19. “I feel like even if I went to HSBC and won, they’d find another event to add.” --Luke Donald, on learning that the PGA Tour decided to include the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai in the Player of the Year vote after Donald won the money title

20. “No. I make sure I remain totally illiterate in that state." --Jack Nicklaus after being asked if he tweets

All photos from the Associated Press, except for Johnny Miller (Getty Images)

Sergio Garcia capped his strong finish to the 2011 season with an almost flawless toss of his 5-iron into a lake after hitting a poor tee shot on the par-3 eighth hole at the Thailand Golf Championship on Thursday.

In 2008, Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Charlie King demonstrated the “Proper Way to Throw a Golf Club” in the most popular video in Golf.com history.

Yup, the pros make it look easy.

House Speaker Boehner says Golf Summit almost brought Ohio guv to tears
Outside of professional golf, the most famous golf match of the year had to be the Golf Summit, where President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner beat Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Recounting the match earlier this week, Boehner said Kasich was nervous before the match and became even more so when he learned Boehner would be playing with Obama, according to The Cincinnati Inquirer. 

“So Kasich gets in town the night before,” Boehner told a roomful of reporters this morning, and he was a nervous wreck. “I spent all night getting Kasich in the right place,” the West Chester Republican recalled.

“Kasich, calm down, calm down,” Boehner recalls telling his friend and political ally. The next morning, as they were getting ready to go out to Andrews Air Force Base, it was the same thing. ‘I said look, ‘they’re going to be far more nervous about this than we are. Just relax… I hear Biden’s been out there hitting balls for an hour’.”

Indeed, when they arrived, Biden was already on the course “pounding balls.” But then Obama switched things up on them. “The president says ‘Hey Boehner, you and I, we’re going to take these two on’,” Boehner said, describing the last-minute team change. “I thought John Kasich was going to cry.”

Tweet of the Day

Mitt Romney has launched a full-bore offensive on President Obama's scandalous hobby: yep, golf. During a conference call earlier this week, Romney took a shot at the Prez for scheduling a 17-day vacation to Hawaii. (“I just think it’s time to have a president whose idea of being 'hands on' doesn’t mean getting a better grip on the golf club," Romney said.) Now the Republican presidential hopeful has launched a web site that lists the number of holes Obama has reportedly played in office (1,584). The site also implores visitors to “donate $18 to send President Obama on a permanent vacation." (Isn't that a Schwarzenegger line from Red Heat?)

Question is, when you get past the rhetoric, is Romney's dig warranted? Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post explores:

The fortyfore.com Web site, saying Obama needs to go on “permanent vacation,” strongly suggests he is a slacker while many Americans are looking for work. In fact, a case could be made that Obama is not taking enough time off. Take a look at these vacation statistics provided by Mark Knoller, the White House correspondent for CBS Radio:

At this point in their presidencies:

Obama:

— 11 vacations, totaling all or part of 70 days

— 22 visits to Camp David, totaling all or part of 54 days

Bush:

— 28 visits to his Texas ranch, totaling all or part of 207 days

— 72 visits to Camp David, totally all or part of 228 days

Coming soon to a European Tour stop near you: Mike Weir 

Former Masters champ Mike Weir, who is winless since 2007, says he is seeing some positive signs after a recent surgery to his balky right elbow. “I can really feel my fingers on the club these days and that's something that was missing the last few years,” Weir wrote on his blog. Weir also stumbled upon some other good news, which he might want to share with other long-ago major-winners scrambling to maintain their Tour cards.

As far as my overall schedule, I'm hoping to play as much as I can on the PGA Tour through exemptions and my status. But I recently discovered that I'm fully exempt on the European Tour. It seems they give major champions a 12-year exemption and so I've taken out membership there.

(In fact, Mike Weir earned a 10-year exemption on the European Tour for his 2003 Masters win. In 2009, the rules were changed so that a major win now results in only a seven-year exemption on the European Tour.)

While I still would like to play most of my golf in North America, I'm also kind of excited about the chance to play in Europe. I think it would be fun to tee it up in the different countries they have on their tour and I'll likely use that to fill in when I'm unable to play over here.

Tweet of the Day

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney took a shot on Monday at President Obama’s upcoming 17-day vacation in Hawaii. Romney said the president needs to focus on fixing the economy, not his golf game:

“I just think it’s time to have a president whose idea of being 'hands on' doesn’t mean getting a better grip on the golf club," Romney said.

You’d think a Republican candidate would be more concerned about the golf vote.

Don Draper, meet Arnold Palmer
At age 82, Arnold Palmer is still considered the coolest golfer on the planet. According to E.J. Shultz of Ad Age, Palmer and his Arnold Palmer Enterprises crew are taking steps to make sure his brand endures beyond Palmer, making plans for the next 20, 30 and even 40 years.

As it looks to the future, the group is culling nonstrategic licenses while seeking out new ones that dig deeper into Mr. Palmer's past, evoking a 1960s-era younger, stronger Arnie in hopes of capitalizing on the retro fever captured by the likes of the hit TV show "Mad Men." Among the projects in the pipeline are a new clothing line featuring styles Mr. Palmer wore decades ago that seek to recapture the spirit that this year vaulted him onto GQ magazine's list of "The 25 Coolest Athletes of All Time." Mr. Palmer, GQ said, "marshaled his own army by uniting golf with charisma at a moment when the sport's most-popular fan was President Eisenhower."

Taiwanese animators recreate Tiger’s Chevron win
A new chapter in the Tiger Woods saga means a new Taiwanese animated video from Next Media. Enjoy…

Tweet of the Day

President Barack Obama has played more than 70 rounds of golf since taking office, including a high-profile round with his biggest rival in Washington, Republican House Speaker John Boehner. Clearly, Obama views golf as an acceptable part of business. But in Vietnam, government officials have a different take on the game. The nation's transport minister has banned his staff from playing golf -- even during non-working hours.

Vietnam's transport minister has ordered his senior staff off the golf course, complaining that their focus on the game is hurting their work.

High-ranking officials were instructed not to play golf or organize golf tournaments but instead concentrate on their jobs, according to the transport ministry website.

The ban even includes golfing outside of office hours.

"As the country and businesses are in economic difficulties, we would do better to focus our intellect and time on our work," Transport minister Dinh La Thang was quoted in Tuoi Tre newspaper on Thursday.

Golf was once seen as a bourgeois activity in the communist country, but it has become increasingly popular among officials in recent years.

How will this policy be enforced? Through the use of spies, of course. Ben Bland at Beyondbrics has more:

The head of the transport ministry’s organization department, a key Communist party-controlled unit responsible for internal monitoring and promotions, warned that his spies will be out watching for bourgeois recidivist golfers.

“We will have many secret methods to supervise how staff will follow the minister’s regulation,” Pham Tang Loc told Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper. “In this very difficult time, senior officials should concentrate on completing important projects rather than spending time playing golf. It’s a waste of money and time and they even use their government-provided cars for this.”

So, just so we're clear here: playing golf after work is a waste of government time and money, but hiring spies to covertly tail potential golfers during their day-to-day activities is an acceptable use of federal funds. Communism, everybody!

(*Note to communist readers: no offense intended. In a democratic society, journalists are allowed to make jokes. Please don't spy on me.)

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Add James Driscoll to the list of the PGA Tour pros who want the belly putter banned from competition. But that doesn't mean the 34-year-old won't consider dropping one in his bag soon -- he's 125th on the money list and looking for an edge. Emily Kay at Waggle Room has the report.

“Why wouldn’t you switch to this?” Driscoll said of the long putter he tested with almost 100 percent accuracy from some 20 feet during a stint Monday at The International Golf Club & Resort’s TaylorMade Performance Center. “I think it should be banned.”

A purist as far as the flat stick is concerned, Driscoll believes the longer models eliminate “the art of putting.” But as long as they’re legal, the 34-year-old Boston native won’t be left behind by the hordes of pro golfers tinkering with sticks that Bridgestone Invitational winner Adam Scott, PGA champ Keegan Bradley, and money-title leader Webb Simpson have used with such success.

“It’s not just people looking for a cure for their bad putting,” Driscoll said. “Good putters are going to it too -- [Jim] Furyk, [Phil] Mickelson. It’s clearly an easier, better way to putt.”

Rory McIlroy tribute video of the day

Devout YouTube watchers are no doubt familiar with the stylings of German producer/singer/songwriter Flula Borg, aka "D.J. Flula," but since I am not, I was only recently directed to Flula's tribute to U.S. Open champ Rory McIlroy. Here it is.

Short Game

* J.B. Holmes is in good spirits and expected to fully recover from brain surgery, according to GolfWeek's Jeff Rude.

* Rafael Nadal teed it up with his buddy and fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia at the Castello Masters pro-am.

Tweets of the Day

In a less-than-subtle jab at President Obama's love for golf, Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry sent a fundraising request to supporters Thursday asking them to "open their pocketbooks to the amount of $76 — exactly the number of rounds of golf Obama has played since entering the White House," according to Arlette Saez of ABCNews.com. The e-mail read in part:

“In honor of his prodigious golf habit, I ask you to donate $76 today — a dollar for each round of golf Obama has played since becoming president.

“31 months, 12 days and 76 rounds of golf later, we still await the president’s plan to create jobs. Or, more precisely, his next plan following the failed stimulus that spent our children’s inheritance, exploded the debt and led to greater unemployment. Now the president wants a mulligan.

“Help us yell a pre-emptive ‘fore’ before the president takes a three-iron to the economy and makes matters worse.”

Yikes, somebody get this guy a speechwriter!

Have long putters "neutered the skill factor"? 

Pop riddle: It helped Adam Scott snap out of a slump, it led Keegan Bradley to PGA glory, and now Phil Mickelson is dabbling with it. Religion? Nope. HGH? Not that we know of. The cabbage soup diet? Wrong again! It’s the long putter, and it has some folks asking, “Is it cheating?” Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel explores:

“If it was cheating you’d see every single person using it,” said Spencer Levin, who switched to a belly putter late last season and has become a convert. “I don’t think it is the cure-all. You still have to be good to use it. But there’s no doubt, you give a good putter a long putter and he’s only going to get better.”

...One man’s cheating is another’s second chance, and, despite the escalating debate over the long putter’s use on Tour, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no going back.

“Once something is approved it’s difficult to go back,” said Wally Uihlein, CEO of Acushnet Company, the parent company of Titleist, FootJoy and Pinnacle. “The statistical evidence here, similar to the grooves, one of the things that no one ever measures is the guy who plays 18 holes and leaves himself on the right side of the hole for 18 consecutive holes, he’s going to have fewer putts than the guy who is on the wrong side of the hole.

“How do you do any kind of statistical analysis, long putter vs. short putter, to argue that inherently we’ve neutered the skill factor as a result of benefiting technology? I don’t know how you do that.”

Shocker! Another woeful golf movie…

The critics’ scorecards are in for the new Robert Duvall golf movie, Seven Days in Utopia, and let’s just say it’s no Godfather. More like Gawd-awful. I haven’t seen a movie panned this mercilessly since She-Devil. First, the plot, courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle:

The protagonist for "Seven Days in Utopia" is an angry young fella (Lucas Black) who has a well-publicized meltdown on the last hole of a Texas golf tournament, then crashes through the fence of a wise old fella (Robert Duvall) on the drive home. Turns out the wise old fella is something of a Golf Whisperer: He peers inside the broken heart of the exasperated youngster and understands all that ails him.

And now the carnage, courtesy of just about every newspaper in the land:

“…A cluttered, empty drama that uses (or tries to use) golf, painting, dinner-table prayers and fly-fishing as pathways to enlightenment.” — The Seattle Times

“…though the drama has its heartfelt moments, it unrolls as flat as the Texas terrain...” — The Los Angeles Times

“The movie is terrible partly because it’s badly written, directed, and conceived and partly because it lacks the necessarily thematic coherence to accomplish proselytism of any kind. It’s handing out leaflets that don’t say anything. — The Boston Globe

“A stultifying hybrid of athletic instruction film and Christian sermon…” — The New York Times

“I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again.” — Roger Ebert

All the rotten-vegetable throwing aside, there is at least one compelling reason to go see the flick: K.J. Choi makes a cameo, playing the role of a “fearsome golfer.” Yep, the K.J. Choi.

Seven Days opens Friday.

Tweet of the day

Presidential Slump
Thomas Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for The New York Times and a 6-handicap, takes a look at how President (and avid golfer) Barack Obama's current slump matches an only slightly less powerful international force.

He has accomplished a lot more than he’s gotten credit for — with an opposition dedicated to making him fail. But lately he is seriously off his game. He’s not Jimmy Carter. He’s Tiger Woods — a natural who’s lost his swing. He has so many different swing thoughts in his head, so many people whispering in his ear about what the polls say and how he needs to position himself to get re-elected, that he has lost all his natural instincts for the game. He needs to get back to basics.

Thankfully, that seems to be where the comparisons between Obama and Tiger end, but Friedman definitely has a point: Both Woods and Obama are struggling through big slumps, and time might be running out for both of them to finish their big goals.

Compromising Position?
With the recent successes of Keegan Bradley and Adam Scott (amongst others) using long putters, it has been almost impossible to escape the back-and-forth arguments about the plus-sized club's influence on the future of golf. On one hand, amateurs want to score better and enjoy the game more; on the other, we expect professionals to truly test their abilities. Robert Lusetich of Fox Sports thinks the solution might actually be pretty simple:

“Historically, most of the people who use long putters or belly putters are golfers who have mental demons—I hate to use the 'Y' word [for that dreaded affliction known as the yips]—or maybe have trouble bending over because of some physical ailment," Mike Davis, the USGA's executive director, told the Wall Street Journal. “We'd hate to pull these putters away from them, because golf is a game. It's for fun and recreation.”

Perhaps the answer lies in allowing long putters for recreational play, but outlawing them for professionals. Because there’s little doubt that putters whose nerves are shot can be re-born with a long putter. Doesn’t that give them an advantage they don’t really deserve? Shouldn’t dealing with nerves be an integral part of winning a golf tournament?

I'm actually a little surprised I haven't heard this suggestion being proposed more often, as it does seem like a simple, reasonable solution to the "problem" of long putters. It's essentially the same way that rangefinders have been handled: The USGA sets limitations but allows them, while the PGA Tour outlaws them from professional events. Mr. Finchem, make it so!

Tweet of the Day
The war between Hank "The Hammer" Haney and Tiger "Wipey Swing" Woods continues:

At some point, Tiger is probably going to have to explain just what the heck he was talking about...

As a 5.8-magnitude earthquake rattled Washington D.C. and much of the Northeast on Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama was vacationing in Martha's Vineyard and preparing to tee off to start a round of golf, according to CBS News.

Obama and many of the nation's leaders were out of town on August vacation when the quake struck at 1:51 p.m. EDT. The shaking was felt on the Martha's Vineyard golf course as Obama was just starting a round.

By most accounts, Obama has become a bit of a golf addict. The President has reportedly played more than 68 rounds (including a highly publicized match in which he teamed up with his lawmaking rival, Republican House Speaker John Boehner) since taking office in January 2008. His official handicap is a mystery, although Golf Digest listed Obama as a 17 in its annual recap of golfers on Capitol Hill.

CNN later reported that Obama continued with his round after learning of the quake.

Photos: U.S. Presidents playing golf | Obama, Boehner tee off in D.C.

It must be tough getting in 18 when you’re president of the United States. President Obama, who famously went directly from the golf course to the White House situation room the day Osama Bin Laden was killed, didn’t finish his vacation round on Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday either, according to CBS News.

Next stop: the Vineyard Golf Club, a private course whose website boasts it to be "the most environmentally sensitive golf club in the world." Joining the President were White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson, long-time friend Dr. Eric Whitaker, and UBS America Chairman Robert Wolf.

The foursome played "more than 9 holes, but less than 18" in under 4 hours, falling short of a full round on what is described as a "completely organic" course.

Michelle Wie defends college decision against Sorenstam, Cal students  
Not many Stanford students are put in the position of having to defend their choice of college, but Michelle Wie has always been a special case.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Wie responded to criticism from Annika Sorenstem, who recently questioned her focus, and talked about her decision to choose school over full-time professional golf.

"I'm making my own decisions, though, and going to Stanford was something I needed to do for myself. It was not a decision made for my golf career, it was really solely a decision I made. It's been one of the first things in my life I did for myself."

Wie added that college also helped the one-time phenom have a sense of normalcy in her life.

"Growing up in the spotlight, playing tournaments when I was 12, I grew up a lot faster than maybe I had to," Wie said. "Going to college helped me be a normal 18-year-old and that was something I needed. I could keep training, but I needed something more to help me be well-rounded.

"I dreamed all my life about going to Stanford. My grandpa was a visiting professor; both my aunt and uncle went to Stanford. My dad, he didn't get into Stanford so that was kind of a competitive thing for me. I've been obsessing about going there since I was 4. It was never an option for me to not go to school."

Who is the best player to have only won one major?
Forget the best player without a major. Scott Michaux of The Augusta Chronicle came up with a creative idea for a column in the post-PGA Championship, pre-FedEx Cup doldrums last weekend: Who is the player with one major who is most likely to become a multiple major winner?

After noting that Tiger Woods is the only multiple major winner under 40 (save for Padraig Harrington, who turns 40 on August 31), Michaux divides the contenders into probables, possibles, improbables and impossibles. Rory McIlroy is the leader, of course. I don’t want to give too much away, but Keegan Bradley is six spots ahead of Louis Oosthuizen. What a difference a year makes.

Tweet of the Day
From Steve Elkington’s entertaining series of Old School/New School tweets...

Bubba Watson played his first-ever European Tour event in Paris Thursday. It might also be his last. While carding a three-over-par 74 at Le Golf National, the 2016 Ryder Cup site, Watson, who earned a reported $240,000 appearance fee, hardly endeared himself to the galleries or, for that matter, French historians. Graham Otway of The Express has the ugly details:

Followed closely by French TV during his round, he constantly snapped at local cameramen. And after finding a lake in front of the green, he was asked if he would play more European events in future.

“This might be the only one,” said Watson. “I miss my home.”

Watson has also been stunned by the criticism he has received for his total ignorance of French history and culture. After a trip around Paris, he could only refer to three big landmarks as “the big tower” (Eiffel Tower) “the arch way” (Arc de Triomphe) and “the L building” (The Louvre).

And he added to the anger locally when he referred to Versailles’ historic Louis XIV Palace as the castle next to his five-star hotel.

Watson then ordered a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite and poured it off his hotel balcony.

Nicklaus sees double at Wimbledon

Tennis nut Jack Nicklaus—he has three grass courts at his West Palm Beach home—dropped by Wimbledon en route to a business meeting in Moscow. On Wednesday, he took in the action with Greg Norman. On Thursday, he watched a doubles match featuring the powerhouse American twins Bob and Mike Bryan, reports Karen Crouse of The New York Times:

It was hard for the Bryans not to get distracted when Nicklaus showed up to watch them practice two hours before their match. Some fans did double takes as they walked past the court. It was as if they recognized the gentleman in the suit and tie, but couldn’t place his face.

“It was awesome,” Bob Bryan said. “He was out at Court 6 watching every ball we hit.”

When the Bryans were done, Nicklaus approached Mike, extended his hand, and said, “Hey, Bob.” Mike took no offense. As if to prove it, he slipped his wristband off after the victory and hit it with his racket into the stands in Nicklaus’s direction. Bob followed suit. Nicklaus gave them a thumbs-up, one champion acknowledging the greatness of two others.

Why Rory Sabbatini doesn't play pro tennis

Speaking of Wimbledon, tennis’s third major has brought to light a problem that plagues both tennis and golf: “slow play — intentionally, strategically, maddeningly slow play,” Christopher Clarey of The New York Times reports. 

… [It’s] not a new concern at tennis’s major events. In 1979, during a riotous match at the United States Open, Ilie Nastase protested the excessive time that the argumentative John McEnroe was taking before beginning the next point by stretching out on the baseline and pretending to fall asleep.

No one has gone as far as Nastase, a master of high jinks, to make that point against Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Mardy Fish, the most deliberate of today’s men’s stars. But frustration among their rivals — fueled by Djokovic’s bounces by the dozen or Fish’s overdependence on his towel — continues to percolate.

It has gone on long enough, in fact, that a perhaps once heretical notion has gained some momentum: the installation of a shot clock, an on-court countdown that would require a player to get the ball back in play by a set time: 30 seconds is one working figure.

The folks in Ponte Vedra ought to take note. Golf could use a shot clock of its own.

Romney criticizes Obama for excessive use of 5-iron

As the 2012 presidential campaign heats up, President Obama will have plenty to defend: the housing market, his foreign policy and, yes, the reported 72 rounds of golf he has played since taking office. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, raised the issue while speaking at a metal works plant in Allentown, Pa., Thursday, reports Steve Holland of Reuters:

Romney, arguably the front-runner in the field of candidates competing for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, said Obama is not sufficiently focusing his attention on the economy.

"The president's time is being focused on playing golf and campaigning, campaigning in Pennsylvania today, and blaming. He should be spending his time and his energy working on getting Americans back to work and fixing this economy."

This isn't the first time that an Obama opponent has chastised his love of golf—and it won't be the last. Look for it to be a frequent talking point in the coming months.

Tweet of the Day

From Tiger Woods' niece Cheyenne Woods, who is competing in the Women's U.S. Amateur Public Links this week.