It was announced this morning at the PGA Merchandise Show that Meg Mallon will captain the U.S. Solheim Cup team in 2013 as they look to extract revenge on the European side when they meet at Colorado Golf Club. 

Mallon is an 18-time LPGA winner, including four major championships, and played on eight U.S. Solheim Cup teams, sporting a 13-9-7 career record. She served as an assistant captain to the victorious 2009 team and also captained a winning American side at the 2011 PING Junior Solheim Cup. 

"It's an absolute honor to be selected as the 2013 U.S. Solheim Cup Team Captain," said Mallon. "I've participated in The Solheim Cup on nine occasions and each has been a proud moment for me, but to represent the United States as team captain definitely caps off my career. I look forward to working hard on getting the Cup back in U.S. hands." 

Back to school
Rory McIlroy, the scholar. That’s right, the U.S. Open champ is set to receive an honorary degree from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. According to the Irish Times, McIlroy will be awarded a Doctor of Science degree for his contribution to golf. 

The university said: “Rory McIlroy has quickly established himself as a major force in international golf as a Major winner and Ryder Cup hero.” 

Compatriots Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke have also been honored by the university in the past. 

Other notables to receive honorary degrees from the University of Ulster this year include Manchester United skipper Sir Alex Ferguson, Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody and actor Sir Ian McKellen, among others. 

Golf’s Oprah
Looking to build on a successful first season, Golf Magazine contributing writer David Feherty’s hit talk show, Feherty, will expand to a one hour time slot, beginning February 27. Due to viewer demand, Golf Channel has also ordered more episodes for season two and has pushed the original series back to the 10 p.m. time slot. In a press release, Golf Channel stated:

“We were blown away by the positive reaction our viewers had to this show and their appreciation for the truly heartfelt moments David was able to pull from each interview,” said Golf Channel President Mike McCarley. “People know David as funny and a bit irreverent, but they never knew how much emotion would come from this series. The one comment we heard repeatedly from viewers was ‘give us more’ -- so that’s exactly what we plan to do in season two.” 

If you can’t hold out an entire month for your weekly dose of Feherty, don’t fret. Before season two airs, viewers will be treated to a special from the Super Bowl with Feherty performing before a live theatre audience, armed with a slew of guests from the world of sports and entertainment. 

Additionally, Golf Channel will be airing bonus footage shot for two of the most popular Feherty episodes, including never-before-seen interviews with Johnny Miller and Tom Watson. The episodes will be re-aired in a one-hour format on February 13 and 20, respectively. 

Speed golf
Ben Crane isn’t the only one pumping out viral videos; rally driver and drifting champion Rhys Millen has teamed up with Hyundai to bring the largely underground world of Formula D to the golf course. Millen, who will race the 500bhp Hyundai Veloster in the US Rallycross championship, shows just how fast he really is, terrorizing the Purangi Golf & Country Club in New Zealand with his turbocharged golf cart. 

PGA Tour, take notice. We just solved your pace of play problem.

Tweet of the Day

Steve Sands @ Golfchannel reports from Abu Dhabi that Tiger Woods took off his undershirt on hole 4 yesterday.... #tigersyearhasstarted

— Steve Elkington (@elkpga) January 26, 2012

Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo broadcast the first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions [AP Photo]

The Golf Channel added some needed spice to its broadcast of the champion-challenged Hyundai Tournament of Champions (Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson all passed on the event)  by putting the network’s regular color commentator Nick Faldo in the booth with Johnny Miller of NBC. (Comcast now owns both Golf Channel and NBC.)

Here are some of their best exchanges, courtesy of the Golf Channel.

Hyundai Tournament of Champions Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo Quotes Round 1

Dan Hicks: Pretty civilized start between you guys.

Nick Faldo: We’re just warming up.

Johnny Miller: Sort of like the first round, just a few little taps.

Nick Faldo: Yep, just feeling it out.

On being inducted in the HOF together

Miller: It was very exciting. Every player was there, and that has never happened before. So we were really lucky. And we both got the 75% vote, which hasn’t happened very often since then.

Faldo: He knows his stats. What does 75% vote mean?

Miller: Well, it means they thought you were pretty good.

On the Plantation Course

Miller: When they built this course, they built it to handle wind. Big greens, big fairways, like the 18th hole has a 90-yard wide fairway, so you can sort of bomb it around on a lot of the holes.

Faldo: [Shaking his head] See, he is exaggerating already. 74.

Miller: I walked it this morning.

Faldo: I’ve got 74 and you’ve got 90.

Miller: Well you’ve got those little short English legs.

Hicks: Just a taste folks. It’s going to be a long ride.

On surfing

Faldo: Did you used to go paddle boarding and surfing when you used to play your events, Johnny?

Miller: No

Faldo: I didn’t either.

Miller: I did a little fishing but that’s it.

Faldo: Well, at least if you go fishing, the worst that can happen is you get the fly stuck in the back of your head.

Miller: Yeah, that’s not the worst thing, is it?

On Bill Haas winning the Tour Championship 

Hicks: I will never forget there was that drought in Atlanta, had there not been that drought for several weeks, that water would have been up on the bank and Bill Haas’ miraculous shot…Hunter Mahan would have been hoisting the trophy.

Faldo: That’s destiny, isn’t it.

Miller: Yep. I don’t know about that but I’ll go with it.

Faldo: Well it is. Things are going to happen in life for it to then happen, isn’t it? If it rained more he wouldn’t be here. With his 10 million dollars, he was building a house and they couldn’t decide about a pool in the back garden, and obviously that 10 million bucks made that a very easy decision.

Miller: Ok Sir Nick, that is enough of that.

Faldo: What? That’s how it happened. That’s how he got a swimming pool.

On the Plantation Course at Kapalua

Terry Gannon: It can sneak up on you though, with the wind, especially the opening holes here, if you take it for granted, Nick.

Faldo: Absolutely. It’s very interesting. Johnny sounds so good folks, he’s got all of these stats in front of him. All of these numbers.

Miller: Hey, what’s wrong with that?

Gannon: And here is what Faldo has in front of him.

Faldo: Yep, here is my information for the week [holds a Golf Channel coffee mug].

Breaking down Keegan Bradley’s swing in slow-motion

Faldo: Let’s have a look at this in close-up. Look at his lower back.

Miller: Low hands.

Faldo: Low hands, but the most important thing is his lower back and lower spine angle. He sets that pretty steep, just like you, Johnny, on your back swing.

Miller: Yeah I was going to say that looks familiar.

Faldo: Actually, that is you, we just cut your head off.

Miller: He braces that right leg at the top of the back swing.

Faldo: And he just feeds into it and traps the ball beautifully and cleared his way out.

Miller: The right hip at the two position coming down perfectly.

Faldo: Geez, that is a lot of information.

Miller: Hey, you know, we’re just saying what we see that’s all.

On Scott Stallings

Faldo: He’s a great story. He went to Augusta. He was so inspired obviously by the Masters. He took a Masters pencil, you know, the Augusta National pencil. And he has used the same pencil ever since. He uses that all of the time. That was his inspiration to win the Greenbrier. He was visualizing getting back to the Masters.

Hicks: See guys, just some of the tidbits you can have even without a handful of notes up here.

Miller: Yeah, it helps when you have won it three times too.

On Bubba Watson’s drive on 18 rolling down the fairway

Mark Rolfing: You can do a commercial break on one of these.

Faldo: Or you could just listen to us talking about how much the ball is rolling end over end.

Miller: And by the way Nick, I walked that twice today, it is 90 yards wide.

On Keegan Bradley teeing off at 18

Rolfing: He is looking at the chimneys. See the clubhouse there in the distance? There are two chimneys. The line is the chimney on the right. That is exactly where he is looking.

Faldo: Mark, what did the big chimney say to the little chimney?

Miller: Oh, here we go, this English humor.

Faldo: You are a little too young to smoke.

Rolfing: Johnny, are you laughing at him or with him?

Miller: I was thinking I was back in elementary school, I wasn’t sure.

Faldo: Gotta entertain the children.

On the 18th hole at the Plantation Course 

Rolfing: It is a huge elevation change going down. There is a difference of opinion whether the fairway is 90 yards of 76 between Johnny and Nick, but it’s wide.

Miller: What do you expect, an NBC guy to get along with a CBS guy?

Rolfing: I hope you guys do. We are all in here for four days. On watching surfers in the ocean:

Miller: Would you like to be that guy?

Faldo: I’d like to be able to do that. That is pretty darn cool.

Miller: Would you give up one of your Masters titles for that?

Faldo: Nuh-uh. Nuh-uh.

On the Hyundai Tournament of Champions

Hicks: If you don’t get off to a good start, you have this beautiful surf behind you. People with their families over here. It is an interesting mix of pleasure and business.

Miller: Well. let’s put it this way. There’s not too many players without their wives or family. If they left them home, there is a little problem, I think.

Faldo: Marriage guidance by Johnny Miller.

Hyundai Tournament of Champions Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo Quotes Round 2

Top of the Show

Dan Hicks: Guys, pretty much incident-free through day one. Nick you didn’t even get a chance to cut Johnny’s cable.

Nick Faldo: Best buddies.

Hicks: It was fun.

Faldo: Yeah, good day.

Hicks: But I think it is going to intensify as the round goes on. I’ve got a feeling

Johnny Miller: It’s got to come naturally, though, right.

Faldo: We are going to go with the intensity, which is from the player. We will respond that way. If they are jumpy and are having a few fights out there, I think we will.

On Jonathan Byrd

Hicks: He’s got some Johnny Miller pants of yester-year on.

Miller: Yeah, they just never go away.

Hicks: Nick went plaid a few times as well.

Faldo: I wore plaid. Ever watch Johnny at Troon? I was there as a young kid in the crowd.

Miller: Oh yeah, didn’t match though.

Faldo: Didn’t match and that is what was wrong.

On Webb Simpson’s pitch at the 15th hole at the Plantation Course

Miller: Look at how close that right toe is to the ball. He puts it right on the ball, and it is just a real quick little flick, as probably Nick would say. They probably have a word for that in England. What is that shot, quick flick?

Faldo: Quick flick is very good, Johnny.

Hicks: You know, you are rubbing off on Johnny here. As the golf broadcast season goes on here, you might hear traces of some Nick-isms in Johnny’s vernacular.

Faldo: I’ll have him talking English by the time we are finished this week.

Hicks: Johnny has his own language.

Miller: That’s right, I’ve got my own way of doing things.

Faldo: Really?

Miller: I have about 50 swear words that are not swear words.

Faldo: That’s useful.

On the Maui scenery 

Hicks: Well, Nick and Johnny, I believe it was close to 60 degrees in Central Park, New York, today, so we’re not going to wow you. But, pretty unbelievable scenery Nick, and you have been coming here for years. It never gets old.

Faldo: And now we have got this plane that we can see these aerial shots. It’s quite amazing. All of these natural things. We have got the rainforests on top of the hill and we have got the whales…

Hicks: Has it all distracted you from Johnny?

Faldo: It makes Johnny look way more beautiful than he really is.

Hicks: I can’t top that.

On Nick and Johnny shooting 63s

Hicks: Johnny, you had 10. The great Jack Nicklaus had six. And Nick, do you care to venture what your number was?

Faldo: Three

Hicks: You did have one.

Faldo: Well, a really good one. No, wait, I had more than that. Oh, on the U.S. Tour, yes, but I’m an International golfer. I had a couple more of them.

Hicks: We do need to do a little more research.

Nick: Yeah, come on, come on.

Hicks: But you got Stricker and Johnny in the Major department.

Faldo: I shot a 62 up in Yorkshire, I did. I finished 64-62 to win.

Frank Nobilo: The Lawrence Batley International.

Faldo: That’s right, the Lawrence Batley International.

Miller: I’ll just let the facts state just what it is.

Faldo: At least we’ve shot 63, Johnny, in Majors, so that’s all right.

Miller: Yeah, that’s true.

Faldo: We just don’t want anybody to shoot a 62 in a Major, we want to just keep that record.

Miller: Nah, I don’t care.

Faldo: Really?

Miller: You can have it.

Faldo: Oh, no, I want to keep that one.

Miller: I had enough fun in my career. I would have liked to have won a couple more majors, but it was fun walking up that 18th hole 25 times for the win.

Golf analyst David Feherty is known for his quick wit and impeccable analogies, his Irish accent and unapologetic sense of humor. Perhaps that’s why the Golf Channel gave him his own show, Feherty (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. EST), where Feherty’s multiple talents promise to be displayed.

If the “Missed Cuts” video from his interview with Lee Trevino is any indication of the show’s future content, then Feherty is off to a nice start. The topics –- everything from Jack Nicklaus to Trevino’s influence on Latinos to his current analysis of the game’s young players –- were diverse, informative, and sincere.

That’s not to say Feherty is going to be boring or traditional. As Feherty himself said during his extended preview, “What’s the point of doing a show like this if you can’t make a few Golf Channel suits a little jumpy?”

From the look of the extended preview, it seems as if the mood surrounding Feherty will depend as much on the guest as anything else. Interviews with golfing greats Tom Watson and Johnny Miller are scheduled. Charles Barkley and actor Don Cheadle also will be on the show.

Steve Elling of CBSSports.com listened to John Daly’s interview with Atlanta's Mayhem in the AM morning show at 790 The Zone so you didn’t have to. The hot topic? Tiger, of course:

"But I told him, ‘If you would have come out that night after the [Thanksgiving] incident and told the world what was going on — not listened to your agents, not listened to anybody else, just what your heart said and thought what you just told me — this story would have ended in one day.’ And he said ‘I know, I know. I just had to listen to everybody.’ "I said, ‘That’s the thing you’ve got to understand, Tiger, you’re the greatest player that’s ever played, you don’t have to listen to anybody, you have to listen to what your heart tells you to do.’ And he says, ‘I thought about talking to the media right after it all happened, I really did, and told them the truth and told them what was going on. But I was told not to.’ So, I don’t blame him in that aspect of listening to the bad advice, which I totally think he got throughout the whole situation.”

And what was the situation, John?

“Well you should [be loyal] if your wife’s good and makes love to you when you want to be made love to, and does things with you and wants to do things with you, and wants to support you, and wants to be with you in your career, wants to take the selfish side of the player. I mean, in this sport, in major sports no matter what, even a guy that runs a multi-billion dollar corporation — a woman has to understand that it’s a lot on a person’s shoulders to deal with."

Golf Channel denies knowledge of alleged Ponzi scheme

We thought Morning Drive was adding enough excitement to the Golf Channel. Now Bloomberg News’ Laurel Brubaker Calkins reports that the Golf Channel is facing questions about F. Allen Stanford’s alleged Ponzi scam:

The Golf Channel said $5.9 million received from companies run by indicted financier R. Allen Stanford was for media services and not proceeds from an alleged Ponzi scheme as the receiver for Stanford’s businesses claims.

TGC LLC, known as the Golf Channel, said in response to the receiver’s lawsuit that it had no knowledge of what the government charges was a $7 billion fraud scheme. Golf Channel officials also threatened to counter-sue the receiver for $14.3 million for breach of contract if the judge presiding over Stanford’s civil fraud trial grants permission.

“The payments at the center of this case have nothing to do with a Ponzi scheme,’’ Theodore Daniel, the Golf Channel’s lawyer, said in papers filed yesterday in federal court in Dallas. Payments received from the Stanford Financial Group in 2007 and 2008 “were entirely legal’’ and the result of “arm’s- length, market-based, written contracts,’’ he said. 

John Mayer, Keith Urban headline Tabloid Jam in Vegas this weekend

Say what you want about him, Tiger Woods knows how to put on a show and this weekend’s Tiger Jam benefit in Las Vegas is no exception. Woods landed John Mayer and Keith Urban as headliners. However, Corey Levitan of The Las Vegas Review-Journal notes the irony of having Urban and Mayer, no strangers to tabloid gossip, headline the event for Woods, who is hoping the public will receive him favorably after his sex scandals:

Woods' predicament makes the choice of Urban and Mayer seem interesting. Both headliners have occupied unwanted tabloid covers alongside Woods -- Mayer for publicly disrespecting ex-girlfriends Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson and using the N-word during a magazine interview, Urban for allegedly cheating on wife Nicole Kidman. In fact, last year, Mayer -- known then for commenting on just about everything he was asked to -- took on the Woods scandal. He jokingly told the U.K.'s The Independent newspaper that it made him feel hopeful.

"With this whole Tiger Woods situation," he said, "I wish more people would be like, 'You know what, Mayer? You didn't (expletive) up at all.' "

In contrast, if you follow the statements issued by the Tiger Woods Foundation, nothing significant ever occurred. For example, when the charity concert sat out last year, for the first time in a dozen years, foundation president Greg McLaughlin blamed the schedules of artists, saying that they could not be coordinated with Mandalay Bay's availability.

Tweet of the Day

Luke Donald on the royal wedding:

With news earlier this week that the first course designed by Tiger Woods was being shelved in Dubai, the focus turned to his first course design in the U.S. Keith Jarrett of The Citizen-Times in Asheville, N.C., where Woods is designing a course in the Cliffs community, caught up with the developer, Jim Anthony, and found out that despite slow sales, construction will resume on Tiger's course.

“We've invested $150 million in this project, so we are fully committed, and Tiger is fully committed to seeing this through to completion,” said Anthony, who indicated the course may not be ready for play until 2013. There was a time Anthony had been optimistic for an opening in late 2011 or early 2012.

The Cliffs' Asheville region director of sales, Mac Triplett, said Monday that 42 home sites have been sold in a development that features 1,000 to 1,200 lots. Sales officially opened in November 2008.

Not So Fast, Young Guys!
There was a lot to take away from Phil Mickelson's engaging press conference Wednesday at the frosty Waste Management Phoenix Open. Among the highlights:

* Mickelson loves the marquee pairings the PGA Tour is implementing this year. (Mickelson is paired with Bubba Watson and Bill Haas. All three players were in the hunt last week at Torrey Pines.)

* Before he's done, Mickelson hopes to finish with at least 50 wins. He's 12 shy at the moment. He also thinks the British Open will be the toughest major for him to win.

* Due to the cold weather, Mickelson is using a softer golf ball in order to hit the ball straighter.

* How does Mickelson dial in his irons? "I do a towel drill where I try to fly my irons a specific yardage, and I hit 1,500 balls a month to those specific yardages and have for the last seven years," he said. "So when I get a wedge shot like No. 18 [at Torrey Pines last Sunday] that's 72 yards and my towel drill number is 75, I only have to alter it three yards to get it to fly to my number. And over seven years of doing this I can usually fly it within a yard 95 percent of the time."

But the item that stuck out to me was when a reporter asked Mickelson if he felt the youth movement on Tour signaled a changing of the guard. Mickelson was quick to stick up for himself and Tiger.

"I feel like I've got a lot of really good golf in me," he said. "In fact I feel like I have some of my best golf coming up. I feel like I've learned a lot, I feel like my swing has evolved and I feel like from this point forward my game is more about refinement and touch and creativity and shot-making as opposed to golf swing and basic fundamentals.

"I also feel that from what I have seen with Tiger, even though he struggled last week, his swing speed is back, and I think his golf game will be back shortly, despite a lot of doubts."

Golf Channel's New Prez
With the Comcast-NBC merger complete, Golf Channel announced it has a new president, Mike McCarley. The good news for him? He gets to move from New York City to Orlando, where he's guaranteed better weather and more opportunities to play golf.

Tweet of the Day

@IanJamesPoulter: I can safely say my head was firmly wedged up my arse on the front 9. But Terry managed to unplug it for the back 9. Level par result.

If you're a golf fan who currently subscribes to DirecTV, you could be out of luck in 2011. According to SportsBusiness Journal, the satellite distributor very well might discontinue carrying the Golf Channel next year, cutting off approximately 15 million subscribers from 24-hour-a-day golf coverage.

Currently DirecTV pays about 25 cents a month per subscriber to carry Golf Channel on the company's Choice Xtra tier of programming, and Golf Channel is supposedly planning to increase its license fee. Golf Channel is also apparently trying to prevent DirecTV from placing it on tier of programming with less distribution.

So far DirecTV has dropped two other channels also owned by Comcast, G4 and Versus, in both cases over rate increases. But Golf Channel's viewership hasn't been great either, especially as of late: in November it ranked 78th out of 90 cable networks in total-day viewership. Golf Channel's current affiliate deal with Comcast expires December 31st.  

Darren Clarke to wed former Miss Northern Ireland

The golf world mourned when Darren Clarke's first wife, Heather, died of breast cancer in 2006. The well-liked Euro Tour star soldiered on through his personal struggles and helped Europe win the Ryder Cup that year, but speculation on his playing career and private life have continued to circulate.

The current news on Clarke, as reported by The Belfast Telegraph, is that he's engaged to former Miss Northern Ireland, Alison Campbell. The two have supposedly been dating for over a year since being introduced by mutual friend Graeme McDowell. After ten years of living in London, Clarke has recently moved back to Northern Ireland and enrolled is two sons in local schools. Word is the renowned jet-setting playboy is ready to settle down into a more quiet home life. Hopefully the situation will help him get his golf game back in gear.   

Congressional Blue Course ready for 2011 U.S. Open

After a careful redesign by well-known architect Rees Jones, Congressional Country Club's famed Blue Course is fully prepared to test the best players in the world. Site of five previous USGA championships including the '97 U.S. Open (won by Ernie Els), Congressional's Blue Course was originally designed by Devereux Emmet in '24, and then revised by Robert Trent Jones in '59. Since the '97 Open, Rees Jones has apparently changed every hole in one way or another, stretching the course to 7,568 yards. 

Of all the changes, the most significant may be the addition of a back tee on the 18th hole. The new tee adds approximately 50-yards to the finishing hole, which is now a challenging 521-yard par four that travels downhill to a peninsula green that is partially surrounded by water. "With the added length," Jones explains, "most players will be left with a mid-iron shot as they were in 1997. The player must guard against going left and into the hazard, but the right side of the green ties directly into the existing fairway grade so that running shots can roll onto the putting surface." 

The 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional will mark the 10th time the championship will be played on a course that Jones reworked prior to the tournament. The U.S. Open tracks Jones altered include The Country Club ('88), Hazeltine ('91), Baltusrol ('93), Pinehurst No. 2 ('99, '05), Bethpage Black ('02, '09), Torrey Pines South ('08) and Congressional ('97, '11).

After reading our extensive interview with Brandel Chamblee, we figured you might have a question of your own for the Golf Channel analyst. Many of you sent in questions, and Brandel answered a select few. Check out your questions and Brandel's answers here.

(Photo: Ben Van Hook)

Wide-Open Race for No. 1

Who's going to be the No. 1 player in golf at the end of 2010? For the first time, there is no sure answer to that question in men's and women's golf. Tiger Woods is about to be replaced by Lee Westwood in the men's rankings, although several other players, including Martin Kaymer, could surge past them both by the end of the year.

On the LPGA tour, the top spot has turned into a game of musical chairs ever since Lorena Ochoa's retirement. Cristie Kerr, Jiyai Shin and Japan's Ai Miyazato have all been No. 1 at some point this year. Before that, Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam had Tiger-esque strangleholds on the position.

The best thing about the women's battle for No. 1 is that the title is truly coveted. The top players, like Kerr, embrace the spot for the honor that comes with it and openly admit they want it. In men's golf, the chase for No. 1 is mostly met with an if-it-happens-it-happens attitude, a recipe for buzzkill.

With this week's CVS Pharmacy LPGA Challenge in Northern California, the chase for No. 1 resumes. Kerr could have reclaimed the top spot last week but blew a lead and stumbled on Sunday at the Navistar Classic, finishing third when a victory would have bumped her to No. 1. Instead, she inched past Shin into second behind Miyazato. Kerr is the only top-five player teeing it up this week, so she has another shot. She told the Associated Press that she's excited about the pursuit of No. 1.

"It's been crazy and it's been fun," Kerr said Wednesday. "It's been kind of like a roller-coaster ride. It's a good time for us."

Miyazato, who has held the No. 1 ranking for eight straight weeks, is skipping this week's Northern California stop on the tour. That means Kerr can regain the No. 1 ranking for third time this year with a win. Even a top-five finish will likely push her past Miyazato. That would give Kerr — owner of 14 LPGA career titles — a shot at becoming the first American to end the season No. 1 since the rankings began in 2006. Beth Daniel (1994) is the last American to earn player of the year honors on the tour.

"The more we can get the word out that the LPGA is exciting and it's something to watch and there is an American, me, now up there in the mix to be No. 1 in the world, I think we'll get a lot more fans, a lot more people interested," said Kerr, who celebrated her 33rd birthday Tuesday.

"It's been a long time since Americans had the ability to end the year No. 1, so I think that you've just got to go for it. We need to grow our fan base in the United States again, so that we can grow and have more tournaments and more sponsors here. When I first came on tour we had over 40 tournaments. Now we have 26. It's quite a change in 10 years."

LPGA Struggles for Attention

The LPGA's battle at the top hasn't gotten big media play, and Golf Channel.com's Tom Abbott wonders why the LPGA hasn't drawn more attention.

This would seem like a sponsor and media dream. So why the lack of tournaments and why the lack of coverage in the mainstream golf media?

The stop-start schedule plays a big-role. This season, the tour began in the Far East, then halted for a few weeks before re-starting in March with a couple of great tournaments in California. The tour disappeared in April, stopping briefly for an event in Jamaica buried on CBS and Lorena’s swansong in Mexico, which wasn’t even televised in the U.S., before reappearing for two events in May, one in Mobile, Ala., the other in New Jersey... but bottom line, the tour must play when and where sponsors want them to and sometimes that simply doesn’t fit into making the tour flow. This doesn’t look likely to change next season.

A second factor surely has to do with Tiger Woods. For most of 2010, the golf media was all Tiger all the time and other stories simply got forgotten. At the Kraft Nabisco Championship,  the first major of the season, a large number of golf writers departed on the eve of the final round; they had to be at Augusta National Golf Club in time for Tiger’s big comeback press conference. After a really close finish, where Pettersen barely missed a chip-in for a playoff with Tseng, an earthquake ensued, literally, during the champion’s press conference, but it barely registered on the media Richter scale.

Playing second fiddle is nothing new for the Nabisco, which used to be played opposite the PGA Tour's Players Championship until the Players moved to a new date in May. And Woods has dwarfed all things in golf that he's not a part of--the women's tour, the senior tour and even the PGA Tour events he doesn't play.

There's also the issue of foreign players, he said, with whom U.S. fans struggle to identify. A bigger issue: because of the foreign influence, more events are being played in other countries. Barely half of the LPGA schedule is in the U.S., and American media doesn't cover those events. Even if the event is televised to the States, it doesn't have an American flavor.

I’m obviously a little biased in this view, but Golf Channel is a good partner for the tour. It’s a permanent home for the broadcasts with resources worldwide and a team of people who really enjoy the tour and care for the product. The problem is, not all the events are branded by Golf Channel. When the tour goes to Asia, Golf Channel simply airs a world feed without familiar commentators or the look of what you might expect from one of our broadcasts. A consistent look throughout the season breeds familiarity with the viewers. Sponsors are sometimes more concerned by hospitality rather than visibility. That’s great, but not for the long-term health of the overall product and certainly not for people like you and me who enjoy watching quality golf broadcasts on television.

Golf Channel is an obvious home for the LPGA. The problem is, it's also home for telecasts of the European tour, Nationwide tour, Champions tour and PGA Tour. That's too many tours and not enough hours in the day to televise them all when they all conclude at about the same time on the same weekend days.

It's surprising that one of the smaller tours hasn't experimented with Saturday finishes or something really radical like a Saturday-to-Tuesday schedule. A Monday or Tuesday final round could be the focus of attention at Golf Channel, which has no live golf to televise the first three days each week. Of course, that would also be an admission of what we already know--they aren't golf tournaments anymore, they're television shows.

Maybe Tiger Woods read those Q Scores earlier this week about being one of America's six most-hated athletes and decided to work on his image. He answered a few questions from fans Wednesday on Twitter, holding a 30-minute session on Nike Golf's page, according to Sean Martin of golfweek.com:

It was an unprecedented use of social media for the world No. 1. Many athletes use sites such as Twitter and Facebook to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at their lives.

Most of the questions during Woods’ Wednesday ‘Twitterview’ focused on equipment. The answers weren’t incredibly detailed, but that had as much to do with Twitter’s 140-character limit as Woods’ propensity to disclose little.

Here are some highlights:

• TW: I don’t practice as much as I use to but I am often thinking about it. RT @CraigVogt: @nikegolf TW - How much do you practice?

• TW: Yes about 10 years ago, a 4-iron, I shot a 76. RT @mattybo24: @nikegolf Tiger, Have you ever played an entire round with only 1 club?

• TW: As of right now, no. RT @waggleroom: @nikegolf Tiger, Any changes to your equipment in response to working with Sean Foley?

• TW: I know we are going to try as hard as we can to retain the cup. RT @rodeoclown693: @nikegolf how do u think the Ryder cup team will fare

Other stuff we'd still like to know: Tiger, have you ever mowed a lawn?... Do you know how to change a tire?... What's the capital of Vermont?... Do you drink coffee? If so, how do you take it?

Guess those pressing questions will have to wait until next time.

Sounds of Silence

Silence is golden. Or is it? Remember that NFL experiment in which a game was televised with no commentators and graphics were used to keep viewers informed on the proceedings? (Wonder if some TV exec was trying to figure out an excuse to get rid of some high-paid lame commentators?)

That experiment was interesting, but a failure. The telecast was every bit as entertaining as a dial tone.

So good luck to Golf Channel, which is going to take a similar innovative step this weekend. During Saturday's telecast of the Nationwide Tour event in Boise (please keep reading despite the phrase "Nationwide Tour" in this sentence), Golf Channel is going to take some unusual steps.

For starters, talking heads Jerry Foltz and Curt Byrum will limit their comments on air but will interact with viewers "via social media channels such as Twitter," according to a network release.

Kay Cockerill and Stephanie Sparks, the on-course reporters who usually follow a specific pairing, will instead park at "interview stations" on the 13th and 15th holes and chat with players.

Meanwhile, Phil Parkin will hang around the practice area, describe what the players are working on and turn them into lessons for viewers. Of course, he'll have to talk to do that.

It's worth noting that this is an otherwise dark week in golf. The PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and Champions Tour have no domestic events this week. The only golf on the air this weekend will be the Nationwide event. Saturday's experiment may be worth watching.

A day or two ago I got a call from a TV industry heavyweight who is a faithful reader of Tour Confidential. He wanted to weigh in on our trashing of the Golf Channel for 1) cutting away from the French Open playoff in favor of meaningless early action at the AT&T National and, 2) not showing a second of the LPGA's Jamie Farr Classic.

My source said that top Golf Channel execs were also upset about how the French Open overtime was handled. It sounds like a lower-level staffer made a bad call in the midst of the Fourth of July weekend and in the aftermath the Channel has clarified a policy to never break away from coverage of a playoff on any tour. As for the Jamie Farr, turns out the absence of TV coverage is the fault of the LPGA and the Farr, not Golf Channel.

The new 10-year deal that kicked in this year pays the LPGA a much heftier rights fee but shifts the television production costs to the individual tournaments. This is the depressing reason why so few LPGA events are in high definition – it's costs an extra $100,000 to present Natalie Gulbis's legs in HD and the cash-strapped tour, and its penurious sponsors, won't pony up.

The bill for a week's telecast is upwards of half a million dollars. The Farr does not have a big national corporation as a sponsor, and for the smaller regional companies that support the tournament exposure on the Golf Channel is just not that meaningful. They're involved with the tourney mostly for entertaining clients. Ergo, the TV blackout. Surely the LPGA wants its events televised and it would have stepped in and covered the costs if the money was there. Thankfully, there will be no more dark weeks the rest of the year, at least for domestic events.

One last bit of intrigue: During Confidential we kicked around the merits of having the LPGA finish on Monday, when it wouldn't have to compete for attention with the other tours. My source tells me the Golf Channel has been advocating this for years and that there's a strong chance there will be some Monday finishes in the future, maybe as early as next year. The Golf Channel is also pushing for prime time finishes anytime the LPGA is out west or in Hawaii. Monday Night Golf sounds swell to me.

If it were not the "Home of Golf," where do you think the Old Course would rank in the Open rota? Or in general?
Bert Stewart, Philly

That's like asking, If not for the sex tape, where would Paris Hilton rank? You can't divorce the Old Course from its grand history and setting. I see what you're getting at – if you placed the same holes on some tacky stretch of English coastline would the course be so celebrated? Many of us would still appreciate the incredible subtlety and challenge, but no question some prestige would be lost. Luckily, the Old Course will always be the home of golf and the Open's greatest venue.

Isn't it just brilliant by the USGA to host the Women's Open on a classic Open course? Will they continue that? If so, what other courses would be considered? Pebble, Torrey Pines, Bethpage, Pinehurst and any chance on getting on Augusta?
Petter Claesson, Stockholm

Yes, it's great for women's golf to visit famous courses that have long been part of the sport's history. The Women's Open will enjoy this extra buzz in 2014 when it's played at Pinehurst No. 2, the week after the gents play the same course. Years ago Pebble Beach committed to hosting the Women's Open but it will be sometime after 2019, due to corporate foot-dragging. I've been saying for a while that a lot of classic courses are the perfect length for the best women – Cypress Point at 6,500 yards is the perfect example. The members' tees at Augusta National would be about right, too. Bobby Jones was a huge supporter of women's golf and there would be no better way for this all-male club to improve its rep than to host a Women's Open. The timing is problematic—Augusta National annually closes from late-May until October because of the heat—but something tells me the LPGA calendar could be tweaked for a chance to visit Amen Corner.

I also like that the Women's Open is cultivating its own courses. In 2012 it returns to Blackwolf Run, the site of Se Ri Pak's epochal victory. And in '13 it will be the first big-time event to be played at Sebonack, one of the most celebrated courses to be built in the last few decades. So I like the mix of the old and new, giving the Women's Open a unique identity even as it spends more time at vintage Open sites.

If you could mix and match TV commentators from the current set, who would you bring together? Color guy? On course? In the tower?
MacKenzie

My ears are bleeding just thinking about this, but here goes: I'd want Mike Tirico doing play-by-play and have a three-headed color monster of Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo, and Paul Azinger. Faldo was much better with Zinger as his wingman. Miller is great, goofy fun but he so lords over his NBC colleagues they seem incapable of challenging him. That wouldn't be a problem with Faldo or Azinger. On the course I'd want David Feherty, Roger Maltbie and Dottie Pepper. Pepper is extremely knowledgeable and prepared while the other two are great fun. In the towers I'd go with Peter Alliss (great storyteller, totally unpredictable), Judy Rankin (smart, low-key, erudite historian), and Gary McCord (existential/absurdist comedy by way of golf commentary).

I know that Ernie Els, one of the taller players on tour, uses clubs that are 1/2" longer than standard, but I was wondering how true this is across the tour. Do most players stick with standard-length clubs, or do a lot of them adjust the length?
Pete Mohs, Saint Louis Park, Minn

Tour player specs are incredibly specific and idiosyncratic—clubs are endlessly bent, chopped and tweaked for fractional differences that are measured in grams and quarter-inches. Many players use sticks that are longer or shorter than "standard," the grips, shaft flex, kick point, lie and loft are also adjusted on a case-by-base basis. I remember at a long-ago Presidents Cup David Duval damaged his 8-iron and didn't have a replacement. He borrowed one from a guy in the pro shop and then spent the round inventing shots with his 7- and 9-iron so as not to have to use the foreign club. Finally, late in the match, he came to a watery par-3 and it was a perfect 8-iron yardage. He grudgingly pulled the club and hit a nice shot to the middle of the green. I clearly remember afterward Duval expressing amazement that he was able to hit a club that didn't perfectly match his exacting specifications. You know, like the rest of us have to.