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

After back-to-back wins at Hilton Head and scoring 2 1/2 points for the victorious 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup team, Boo Weekley has only four top 10s in the past two seasons. Fortunately, everyone's favorite orangutan fighter is coming out swinging in 2011. The Pensacola News Journal caught up with Boo as he prepares to start his season this week at the Sony Open, and he said he's ready to be his old self again, even if it means ruffling a few blazers in Ponte Vedra.

"I'm ready to get back to the old Boo and play golf, show a little more attitude on the golf course," said Weekley, who makes his 2011 debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Thursday. "Once you get out there (on the PGA Tour) they lure you into their perspective of how things should be done on tour — You can't act up, you can't do this, you can't do that. I'm ready to get back to being who I really am on the golf course. If I want to throw a golf club, I'll throw the (darn) thing. If I want to beat my bag ... I know they don't want to see that, but hey, that's me."

It's also good to hear Boo worked on his game during the holidays, something he said he's never done, and he also played practice rounds on the Bob Hope courses in California before heading over to Hawaii. Hopefully the work pays off. Boo is one of the most entertaining players on and off the course. Here's a small sample below from the 2008 Ryder Cup.

Them's the Rules
ESPN's Bob Harig talked with PGA Tour rules official Geoff Russell and the USGA's Mike Davis about Camilo Villegas's DQ at Kapalua. Harig poses the question a lot of people are asking: Why not just assess the penalty to his score and let him play?

"We have had formal requests to review that," Davis said of both the USGA and the R&A, which governs the game outside of the United States and Mexico. "We've gotten it from the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour … and we have looked at it. One thing that has been proposed is assessing the penalty, and then adding an additional 2-stroke penalty -- so it would be a total of 4 strokes [if the penalty came to light after the card was signed]. At least the player would still be in the field.

"We looked at it long and hard. At the end of the day, it just didn't gain traction. There are just so many ramifications. We don't really like how the golf world is viewing these type of things, but at the end of the day, it is the players' responsibility to know the rules."

There is nothing stopping the PGA Tour from instituting a local rule that is not covered in the USGA rule book.

But good luck with that.

"We could do that, but I don't know if we want to do that," Russell said. "It just doesn't work like that."

Storyteller
There are 26 rookies this week at the Sony Open, and with the pro-am washed out on Wednesday, Golfweek's Jim McCabe used the opportunity to ask Jim Furyk about his first event as a rookie.

Prepared to warm up in a traditional manner, meaning he took out his wedge, Furyk surveyed a hard right-to-left wind he was going to hit into and took aim at a flag to his left.

“I hit it really fat . . . I blew all this dirt and sand up in the air and it just coated the guy next to me,” he said.

Furyk looked and was sick to discover it was Lanny Wadkins, sort of an iconic figure on the PGA Tour back then, renowned for being the ultimate no-nonsense guy.

Tweet of the Day

@RealRickyBarnes: Pulled out of the Sony. I will b[e] back soon either Bob Hope or Farmers in San Diego. Back was bothering me a bit but another weeks Rest need[ed]

It was a rough 29th birthday for Camilo Villegas, who was disqualified from the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Maui after he made a mistake that was caught on television by some eagle-eyed fans (or anti-fans). On a happier note, it was the first major Rules violation of 2011, which means the Rules Guy is back on the job!

Here's the video that got Camilo in trouble:

By moving that divot, even ever-so-slightly, Villegas violated Rule 23-1, which explicitly states that:

When a ball is in motion, a loose impediment that might influence the movement of the ball must not be removed.

There's not much controversy on this one--the evidence speaks for itself and from all reports Camilo didn't put up any kind of a fight when he saw the footage.

The reason that Villegas presumably never noticed that he violated the Rule was because of how long it took his ball to come all the way back to the spot where he had already moved the divot. By that point, Villegas was probably thinking a lot more about snapping his wedge than Rule 23.

If Villegas had realized his mistake at the time, he would have only incurred a two-stroke penalty. By missing it and signing the wrong scorecard, the young Colombian got himself a DQ and a couple extra days off.

Team Europe captain Colin Montgomerie quickly distanced himself from a report in the British press that said Montgomerie would not want Tiger Woods on his team at the Ryder Cup.

“I don't know where that came from,” Montgomerie said Monday. “I never spoke to any press yesterday, and I don't know where that came from. I've always said that ‑‑ I've always said that Tiger, the best player in the world, and in my opinion, the best player who has ever played the game. Of course he would be on my team. I said that at the U.S. PGA.”

Montgomerie was in damage-control mode over a story in The Sun UK on Monday with the not-so-subtle headline: “Monty: I’d Snub Tiger.”

Euro captain Monty insists he would pick other Americans ahead of Woods as he still has a lot to prove after the sex scandals that destroyed his marriage.

Monty said: "Tiger hasn't been himself on or off the course and it's a matter of seeing what he does." World No 1 Woods and the rest of the US team land in Cardiff today ahead of the clash which starts on Friday.

Asked who he would have if he could have the pick of the US players, Monty said: "Someone like a Jim Furyk or a Steve Stricker.

"They might not be household names but they're very steady.

"It's interesting I didn't mention Tiger. Obviously Tiger hasn't been himself."

At the PGA Championship last month, Montgomerie said he hoped Woods would be on the U.S. team because it would be a “bigger, better” event with the world's No. 1 player teeing it up.

“Of course, it's a huge aura playing against him, and something that my team will relish the opportunity of playing against what we all believe is the best player of our generation,” Montgomerie said last month.

Montgomerie is choosing his words carefully this week. Everything he does will be to gain some strategic edge, so it’s likely Montgomerie sees Tiger as a vulnerable spot for Team USA and wants to increase the pressure on him.

Sometimes it feels like Montgomerie is playing chess while Team USA captain Corey Pavin is playing checkers.

Camilo Villegas to appear naked in sports magazine
Following the trail blazed by the LPGA’s Christina Kim, Camilo Villegas will appear nude in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” according to The New York Times.

Villegas’s body will be on display in all its naked glory in ESPN The Magazine’s coming Body Issue. The photo shoot took place a few months ago, in and around Villegas’s home in Jupiter, Fla.

“I haven’t seen the pictures,” he said. “I’m excited about it. I’m also a little anxious.”

Villegas, the 2008 Tour Championship winner, is used to being photographed, from close range, in awkward positions.

On Friday, as he hit his ball from a side hill lie in the rough, three photographers knelt on the ground or lay on their stomachs a few feet away, their lenses trained at him. Having nowhere to hide from the cameras is not the same as being fully exposed.

“It was uncomfortable,” Villegas said. “Getting naked in front of a camera is not what I do for a living. In those moments when it was really awkward, I kept thinking I’ve worked really hard to accomplish these results, and that helped me to relax.”

Proof once again that the most intense romance on Tour is the one between Villegas and himself.

Rocca screams for ice cream
Tom Kington of The Observer (UK) files a nice profile of Constantino Rocca, whose 4 & 2 victory over Tiger Woods is the only time a European player has ever beat Tiger in Ryder Cup singles. However, the best part of the story has nothing to do with Tiger or Rocca’s hurt feelings about not getting a nod for vice captain this year. It’s about what happened after John Daly beat him in a playoff at the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews.

"I said afterwards: 'No one remembers who comes second,' but strangely enough people remember the competition more for me than John Daly, as if I had won not him." When asked why he collapsed to the ground instead of leaping in the air, Rocca grins. "I was coming up the slope, it was just easier."

The fact Daly beat him makes him no less fond of the American. "The following week we played together in the Dutch Open and Häagen-Dazs sent ice cream to John and me at our hotel. I went down to get it and the receptionist said: 'John Daly took it all.' He beat me in the Open then stole my ice cream."

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Today at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, I'll be watching for more low scores because it looks like another perfect day in the making. Check it out on Golf Channel later—you'll wish you were here. Here are the people I'll have my eye on in round 2:

Camilo Villegas. It's an axiom in golf that it's always difficult to follow a really low round with another good one. Villegas shot an easy 62 in the first round. He looked extremely sharp last week in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, losing only an overtime match to Paul Casey, and he picked up where he left off yesterday. With his power, there's no reason to think he won't play well again. It's too early to say he's the guy to beat this week but… he may be the guy to beat this week.

Phil Mickelson. A 68 wouldn't sound bad normally except that left him six shots behind Villegas and tied for 29th. It's a home game for Lefty, who played college golf at Arizona State, so he's got a big following. But he needs to gain a little ground and get into position for the weekend.

Rickie Fowler. After a week off, the cool rookie from Oklahoma State looks ready to rumble and finally start holing some putts, except when he chips in, which he did twice in the opening round en route to a 65. Expect him to stay in the mix to the end.

Noise. The famed 16th hole was pretty tame Thursday. But this is Friday, as in T.G.I.F., so look for a larger, more enthusiastic and better-lubricated crowd.

Do you think there's a natural point as a golf fan when you start relating to the senior tour as much if not more than the regular tour? I'm in my mid 30's and never thought it would happen now but watching Freddie and Watson battle it out in Hawaii I caught myself thinking it was more compelling than watching the spoiled tour regulars (esp with the flair-less Bob Hope going on the same week). Couples and Watson were playing for the love and playing for the win. Not for money, not for fame (they already have that). It was wonderful to watch. Am I off base? Am I aging at some unusually rapid pace?
—Mackenzie

Sorry to be the first to tell you this, pal, but you're dying. Slowly but surely. A sudden interest in the Seniors is one of the first clinical signs. But if you've been paying attention to the ads during the telecast, you know there's hope. Cialis, Viagra, Lipitor et al should help you enjoy your golden years.

Alan, I love reading golf books — history, not how-to. Are there any you would recommend?
—Stephen Lavallo

SAN FRANCISCO — During a typical week on the PGA Tour, professional golfers get to set their own schedules. They can practice as long as they like, eat where and when they choose, and prepare for the start of the tournament however they want. In short, golfers get to be selfish.

But the Presidents Cup is all about the team, and a player's time is not his own. Canadian Mike Weir, an International team veteran who has played in four previous Cups, noted that players have to attend several functions early in the week and are constantly being shuttled all over town.

Still, each player has to get his homework done. In order to be ready to play his best, Weir says, it's important take full advantage of the practice time he gets. "You have got to make the most of when you're out there on the range and on the golf course to get done what you need to get done."

Camilo Villegas (above), a native of Colombia who is making his Presidents Cup debut this week at Harding Park, seems to have an attitude tailored for weeks like this.

"There is time for everything," he said Tuesday afternoon. "Yes, you have your commitments with the team and with the media. Yes, you have to sign X and Y stuff. But at the end of the day, you still have two or three hours that are your time. I'm one of those guys who think that it's important to be in the gym, so I'm going to find time to go to the gym. I'm going to find time to do my practice. I'm going to find time to be with the team. It's a matter of being organized. If you are organized you can have time for everything and prepare yourself for the best."

South Africa's Tim Clark, preparing to compete in his third Presidents Cup, takes a slightly different approach.

"I don't do a whole lot of practice during tournament weeks," he said. "I play the pro-am and hit a few putts on a Wednesday, and I'm pretty much ready for the tournament. So adjusting to this is not a big deal."

Clark said that the event's off-the-course commitments — like team dinners, Ping-Pong matches and bus rides — are part of the fun of competing in a Presidents Cup. But don't confuse Clark's relaxed attitude with ambivalence.

"Come Thursday, everyone will have done what they need to do to get their game right," he said.

(Photo: Monica Davey/Getty Images)

Phil Mickelson, still.
He’s a hometown guy, he’s got a great track record here and he played pretty well most of Thursday with one or two glitches that kept him from taking a respectable two-under 70 even lower. And that 70 is better than you think, since he played the South Course, where scores were 3.5 strokes higher than on the easier North Course. So Phil shot the equivalent of 66.5 if you look at it that way. Like a staggered start of a 440 race, you don’t know who’s really leading until after the second round here and everyone has played each course once.

Cloudy skies
I’d vote San Diego the best climate in the U.S., hands down, but the weather even here can turn to crap this time of year, as we used to note when the World Match Play was held at La Costa, which was usually flooded this time of year. Several cold fronts are blowing through. One rolled in mid-afternoon Thursday with some light rain. A second, more severe front is scheduled for Friday afternoon. Will it hold off until play is done? Maybe. This front could bring an inch of rain—that’s a veritable monsoon in these desert climes—plus possible thunderstorms and, according to the report I read, possible waterspouts. I’d like to see a waterspout—from long distance, that is. Conditions could get dicey as the bad weather persists into Saturday. Friday is the big day. Tour officials can’t resort to lift, clean and place rules in the second round because playing conditions on the two courses have to be the same for everyone, so if the downpour hits early today, suck it up and play on, fellas.

Camilo Villegas
His opening 63 was head and shoulders above the rest of the field as he took advantage of the North Course. He also finished just in time. The first sprinkles started just after he teed off on the 18th hole. The South Course will play tougher and longer in today’s windier, wetter conditions. It’ll be a real slog. Factoring in that 3.5-shot differential, Villegas shot the equivalent of 66.5, too, just like Phil. That can’t be right, you say? Yeah, that’s some pretty fuzzy math. But it’s already starting to look as if those two wins at the end of last season weren’t flukes for Villegas. His putting and short game continues to look markedly better than earlier in his career. He may be for real. Let’s see how he survives the South.

Tommy Bahama
The Hilton, adjacent to the 18th hole on the South Course and next to the Torrey Pines Lodge, had a sign in the lobby Thursday with an arrow pointing toward a Tommy Bahama Sample Sale. I missed out, so I’ll be looking today to see if it is a two-day event and whether there’s maybe, uh, some kind of media discount. -- Gary Van Sickle