Former Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band drummer Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, who quit the band because he "didn't blindly follow Bruce," will be backing up a different boss next week in San Francisco, Ian O'Conner of ESPN.com reports. Lopez was on the bag yesterday for Mark McCormick, a 49-year-old New Jersey club pro, who posted a 36-hole score of 4 under par to pick up one of the four spots up for grabs in the U.S. Open field at the Olympic Club. Unfortunately for Lopez, that means a week off from his current lounge act, License to Chill.

"Vini's the real celebrity out here," McCormick said. Lopez said he would cancel his band appearances to travel to San Francisco with his man. The drummer they called Mad Dog has been a longtime caddie and caddie master in Jersey, and he wants a piece of the big time.

"When you're on stage at Giants Stadium with Bruce," Lopez said, "the lights are on us and it's total darkness in the crowd. You don't see the people, you hear them. At Olympic, you'll see everyone. The people are right there."

The caddie wants to see Tiger and Phil more than the drummer wants to see the Boss. "Bruce calls and says, 'Hey Vini, I haven't seen you in a while, so why don't you come down and hang out?'" Lopez said. "Bruce calls me when he needs me."

After looping for McCormick the last 22 years, looks like Lopez will at last stop hiding on golf's backstreets.

Sabbatini, Levin among notables who failed to qualify for U.S. Open

So you know Davis Love III and Casey Martin are headed back to Olympic for next week's U.S. Open. But it's the morning after, and it's time to count casualties from Sectional Qualifying, which wrapped up at nine courses yesterday. (The last two -- in Oregon and Tennessee -- are slated to finish up in the next couple days.)

At the top of the heap is Spencer Levin, who followed up a disappointing Sunday in Ohio with a disappointing Monday in Ohio. Both Levin, currently ranked 61st in the world, and Memorial runner-up Rory Sabbatini posted two-round scores of 5-over, five shots out of the playoff at even par.

Sabbatini and Levin weren't the only notables on the wrong side of the cut line in a stacked Columbus qualifier. Big names who won't be at Olympic include Camillo Villegas, who delivered the dreaded, always mysterious NC ("no card"), Ricky Barnes, who withdrew after carding a first round at 1-over, Ohio-native Ben Curtis, who finished two shots off the qualifying score, and Ryan Moore, who finished three strokes out.

To see who else survived the scrum, head over to the USGA for results from every qualifier.  

Tahoe casino sets odds on celebrity golf event, makes Romo favorite

Coming to a bookie near you: Tony Romo (5/2) is the favorite to win the American Century Celebrity Golf Champion next month in Tahoe, according to The Sacramento Bee. For those who bet on stuff like that. Or those who care. Longer shots: Charles Barkley, Kevin Nealon, Dennis Haysbert are coming in early at 500-1. So you're saying there's a chance...

And finally...

"America's Finest News Source" (i.e., The Onion), is doing our job for us with this Tiger headline: "Tiger Woods Back Again After Being Back From Being Back. Or, you know, making fun of us. We earnest folks at Golf.com stuggle with snark.

Tweet of the Day

Here are the final-round highlights from Sunday at the Texas Open, where Ben Curtis won his first PGA Tour event since 2006.

The last time The Open Championship was played at Royal St. Georges, aka Sandwich, it was 2003 and Tiger Woods was still the Tiger Woods of old. So when he lost a ball on the first hole and made a triple bogey 7, it raised some eyebrows, as did the Jerry Kelly's 11 on the same hole. In fact, the difficulty of hitting fairways in general that year, particularly on the first hole where less than 30 percent of drives landed in the short grass, led a lot of pundits to proclaim Ben Curtis' eventual victory a fluke for the ages.

As a result, this year's field at the Open Championship at Sandwich will be aiming at a first fairway that's twelve-yards wider, and 17th- and 18th-hole fairways that also have been made easier to hit. In addition, the golf course will measure 100 yards longer than in the past and play to a par of 70 rather than 71. That reduction is due to an alteration to the famous 4th hole, which will now play as a 495-yard par 4 rather than a 497-yard par 5, as it has in the past. The 15-hole has also been lengthened from 475 yards to 496. It will still play as a par 4.  

Chubby Chandler Expands Business to the U.S.

Ex-golfer and renowned agent Chubby Chandler, whose company, International Sports Management, features notable clients like Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel, Darren Clarke, and Rory McIlroy, is setting his sights on America. Or -- at least -- signing some American clients. To facilitate this goal, Chandler's ISM recently purchased a New Jersey-based marketing firm that will be rebranded ISM USA.

Regarding the purchase, Chandler stated:

“We will now have the chance to extend our sponsorship opportunities as well as look into the possibility of managing American sportsmen and events.”

Donald Trump Battles Scottish Drug Dealer over Golf Resort

OK, it's not quite as salacious as it sounds, but attorneys for Trump are currently trying to prevent a Scottish ex-con named Jason McCallister from opening a dog kennel next to The Donald's $750-million golf resort in Aberdeenshire. McCallister did serious jail time for setting up a $1.8 million heroin deal, and has a long history of trouble with the law. Now he is reportedly trying to clean up his act.

Trump's attorneys believe the dog kennel would create a noise problem, as Trump's development will feature 950 apartments, 500 homes, a hotel and a golf course. In a letter to the local Aberdeenshire Council, Trump's reps have requested a noise impact assessment be done in hopes of killing the project.

Random Fact:

After setting a franchise record with 225,000 copies sold in its first week of release, EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour '12: The Masters, now sits atop the the charts as the most popular PS3 game on the market. Looks like Tiger and the Masters are still a good combo after all.    

TWEET OF THE DAY: 

@stewartcink: Lady Gaga show last night at Gwinnett Arena near my house. Early economic reports indicate a spike in sales of face paint.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Ben Curtis received a text message Tuesday. It read, “Go Europe.”

It was from his regular caddie, Andy Sutton. And it was meant as a needling joke. Curtis is playing in his first Ryder Cup this week and his caddie, an Englishman, is rooting for Europe. That’s why Sutton isn’t on the bag for Curtis this week, although he did have the job when Curtis won the 2003 British Open. They didn’t want to have even the appearance of mixed allegiances. So Sutton stepped off and was replaced by Tony Navarro, Adam Scott’s caddie.

Curtis and Sutton have been having fun with the whole idea. When the Ryder Cup began to look like a possibility, Curtis told him, I can’t have you caddying for me. And Sutton responded, I can’t work for you. They gave each other grief but, deep down, they knew they weren’t totally kidding.

“He said he’d do it if I really wanted him to, but it would be better if I found an American,” Curtis said recently.

So their badgering will continue this week. Curtis answered Sutton’s text with this: “Go bother a European player.”

They’ll be back together next week at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Asked how their reunion will go, Curtis grinned saying it would depend upon the Ryder Cup’s outcome.

“It’ll either be a middle finger or a big hug,” he said.

(Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

There’s a reason “EXPERIENCE” is the first thing we list on our resumes: It matters. Experience is where we’ve been. It’s what we’ve done. It’s who we are. It’s a “massive asset,” England’s Lee Westwood said today at Valhalla.

Westwood was speaking of Ryder Cup experience, and he should know, having amassed 15 1/2 points in five Ryder Cups. But what if a player has only losing Ryder Cup experiences in his back pocket? Or, worse yet, only drubbings? (See the Team USA members of 2004 and ’06.)

What’s that kind of experience worth?

“Anybody who has played Ryder Cups in the last 12 years, I mean, we've lost five of the last six Ryder Cups, so most of their experiences are bad experiences,” U.S. captain Paul Azinger said last month. “So it’s not like experience is going to be a great help.”

Zinger wasn't just yapping. He went on to award three of his four captain’s picks to players without a lick of Ryder Cup experience: J.B. Holmes, Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker. It’s better to have no Ryder Cup memories, Azinger seemed to be implying, than a scrapbook full of bad ones.

Westwood today took the discussion a step further, noting that to gain experience, you, well, need experience. “There might be a rookie on the American team that’s just made for the Ryder Cup, really raises his game for that situation. We’ve yet to find out,” he said. “I think it may be the same on our team. We've got four rookies and they might settle in quite easily. Who is to say Justin Rose isn’t going to be an unbelievable Ryder Cup player and never lose a match? So you never know all of these things.”

Which has helped make the Ryder Cup the game’s most consistently compelling drama. Even in blowouts, it’s great fun seeing which Ryder rooks can weather the pressure -- and which fold like Origami. 

“These guys have all withstood a lot already to get here,” Stewart Cink, a four-time U.S. Ryder Cupper, said today of the American debutantes, who also include Ben Curtis, Anthony Kim and Boo Weekley.

“I think being a first time Ryder Cupper in 2008 is maybe quite a bit different than it was in the ’80s or the ’70s because there are so many big tournaments around the world. Golf is scrutinized more than ever before, and the Ryder Cup is just another event of which you have to really perform well. So they are tested. The six guys that are on our team that have never played the Ryder Cup before have a lot of experience in other ways.”

Just look at their resumes.

One of the major differences between this year's Ryder Cup and those contested in 2004 and 2006 is that Europe will be the prohibitive favorite. Not only will Tiger Woods not be playing for the U.S., but the European team is also stacked with both experienced stars and golfers who seem to be peaking at just the right time. Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson are going to make the visiting team tough to beat.

In some ways they remind me of last season's New England Patriots. The Pats seemed invincible, and after going undefeated in the regular season they rolled into the Super Bowl with talk of destiny ringing in their ears.

So maybe it's a good omen that Ben Curtis, one of the eight players who has already qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, wore a New York Giants logo on his chest Sunday at the Barclays. Curtis turned in yet another stellar performance and tied for fourth. Only a loose approach shot on the 16th hole, which eventually led to his only bogey of the day, kept Curtis out of the playoff with Garcia, Kevin Sutherland and the eventual winner, Vijay Singh.

Aside from Justin Leonard's tie for seventh, Curtis provided Paul Azinger with the lone bright light at the Barclays. After taking the lead on Friday, Steve Stricker's 77 on Saturday did not bode well for how he might handle Ryder Cup pressure. And after shooting 62 in the opening round, Hunter Mahan's 73-74-73 finish was not encouraging either. Phil Mickelson was never a factor, and Stewart Cink missed the cut.

Curtis has quietly been very impressive on some of golf's biggest stages this season. He was the runner-up to Anthony Kim at Wachovia, tied for seventh at the British Open and tied for second at the PGA Championship.

John Huggins, while lamenting the fact that Colin Montgomerie will clearly not be on the European Ryder Cup team, recently wrote in the Scotsman:

We [Scotland] are devoid of golfers good enough to take on an American side that looks mediocre at best.

No one thought that Eli Manning was going to avoid the sack and complete that pass to David Tyree. The Giants shocked us all and beat the mighty Patriots, so who's to say that, with Curtis's help, the Americans can't get it done, too?

(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)