Take on Michael Phelps in a speed putting contest

The Best of Us Challenge takes Olympic athletes out of their usual areas of expertise, shows off their other "talents" in a series of videos, and asks you to try to beat their "records." For instance, snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis is a master hula-hooper -- she can hula for 30 seconds. (It's a good thing she can fall back on snowboarding.)

Other Olympians' feats seem even more attainable for us average humans. Jamaican track and field star Asafa Powell thinks he can balance a stick on his foot longer than you can. U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson touched her ears 54 times in 30 seconds while standing on her hands. (Probably need to watch the video to understand that one.)

Michael Phelps, wearing flip flops and putting on a gym floor, nailed 12 five-footers in 60 seconds.Putt better than Phelps and you could win a trip to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Entering the competition? Leave us a link to your video so we can check out your speed-putting skills. Now off to practice...

(via Waggleroom)

Woods: Olympics must be played on public course

Tiger Woods might design only private golf courses*, but he doesn't believe that exclusive country clubs are appropriate venues for Olympic golf.

"I think you would have to have it on a public venue," Woods said. "I don't think you could have it at a country club. I think you'd have to have it at a public venue just because of what the nature of the Olympics is all about."

Woods was asked about the Olympics during a media conference at Cog Hill golf course outside Chicago, site of this week's BMW Championship. The question was salient because Chicago is a finalist to host the 2016 Olympics (along with Madrid, Rio and Tokyo) and Cog Hill is a public-access golf course. In August, golf received preliminary approval to join the 2016 Olympic Games.

Woods, who will be 40 in 2016, is almost certain to compete in those games, and if the Olympics are in Chicago -- a mecca of public-access golf -- he knows where he'd like to play.

"Certainly this golf course [Cog Hill] is stand-alone in public venues here in the Chicago area," Woods said. "I don't know another golf course that could rival this one as far as difficulty, a public course."

* Woods' first three golf courses will be private tracks in Dubai, Mexico and North Carolina, but he has said that he's committed to designing public-access courses in the future.

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Video: Golf's presentation for Olympic games

In this week's edition of PGA Tour Confidential with special guest PGA Tour executive Ty Votaw, golf's place in the Olympics was a hot topic of discussion.

Golf Plus editor Jim Herre mentioned the video the Tour used in their presentation. "A bunch of players gave testimonials, and I found myself thinking, 'This isn't going to work without Tiger.' They saved Tiger for last — perfect ending."

In the official video, which you can watch below, top PGA Tour pros, including Tiger Woods, explain why golf would be a worthwhile addition to the Olympic games.

Golf and the Olympics: A Tin Medal?

Lost a bit among the  hubbub last week surrounding Michelle Wie’s near-miss at the SBS Open, Tiger  Woods’s imminent return at the WGC Accenture Match Play, and Phil Mickelson’s victory at the Northern Trust Open was the International Golf Federation’s  formal submission of a bid to have golf included in the 2016 Olympic Games.  Whether the Olympics need golf, and vice-versa, is arguable. But let’s assume  its inclusion is a worthy goal — a Good Thing.

The IGF is  proposing 60-player fields for men and women, with the top 15 in the World  Ranking automatically included, and no more than two players per country for  any nation that does not already have two players in the top 15. The problem I  have is with the format, which would be a 72-hole tournament, with three-hole  playoffs to break ties for gold, silver and bronze medals. News accounts have  reported that leading players think this is the best and fairest  way to determine winners — just the way the majors and most other PGA Tour  events do. A 72-hole event also would conveniently compress the amount of time  that golfers would have to be at the Olympics, not unimportant given that the  Games take place during the Tour season.

Still, the format  strikes me as unimaginatively un-Olympian. It would be as satisfying as  Michael Phelps racing against a stopwatch. What might be better, for instance,  would be a literal mix-and-match competition. Start with two rounds of stroke  play; cut to the top 16; then have four rounds of match play, with the  semifinal losers playing for the bronze. This is similar to team events like  basketball and hockey, which begin with pool play, then segue to medal rounds.  To the argument that some players would only get in two rounds — well, wrestlers  and boxers and sprinters get knocked out of competition early, too, but they still bask in Olympic glory.

If the Games are going to use a straight-out 72-hole format, then why not also have a team component, with two players per nation? You can still have an individual medalist — but you can award a gold for the low team, too.

Without some tweaks,  Olympic golf will be merely the Valero Texas Open with medals.

Just say no to Olympic golf

Maybe you're gripped by Olympic fever. Maybe Michael Phelps really is the Tiger Woods of swimming. (I don't think so). Maybe four-man kayak racing is the best sport in the world.

I've seen enough of the Olympics, though, to know that it doesn't need golf. Olympics officials have already ruined basketball, baseball and tennis as Olympic events by allowing professionals to compete. There is no compelling reason to add golf. For one thing, golf is already a global game with plenty of tours and tournaments worldwide. Second, the Olympics don't fit in the PGA Tour's schedule very well in August, which currently has the World Golf Championship event in Akron, the PGA Championship and the start of the FedEx Cup.

Men's golf already has four major championships. So does women's golf. The only reason Olympic golf is being considered again (after that failed try at the '96 Atlanta games, when it was shot down due to Augusta National's membership practices) is Tiger Woods. He's the most famous man on the planet, the most admired sportsman and, in the eyes of the International Olympic Committee, he would be money in the bank. This Olympic golf movement isn't about advancing the game or bringing it to the world. Golf already is global.

No, this Olympic movement is all about trying to cash in on Tiger's legend and charisma. Olympic golf with Tiger teeing it up would probably be a ratings (and money) bonanza. In my opinion, it's just another cash grab.

I'm not sure Tiger would even consent to play. He doesn't appreciate others cashing in on his likeness,  and he's not looking for more tournaments he's obliged to play in. The Olympics doesn't need golf. Golf doesn't need the Olympics. I don't know why we're even still talking about it.

IGF to IOC: We're Going for the Gold

SOUTHPORT, England --You’ll be asked for your opinion at the end of this, so pay attention.

The big guns of the International Golf Federation announced today that they have formed a committee to lobby the International Olympic Committee for the inclusion of golf at the 2016 Olympic Games. The R&A's chief executive, Peter Dawson, cited “over 90%” support among polled golf federations and governing bodies, and described Olympics golf as “the biggest grow-the-game opportunity that exists.”

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem then announced that the Tour’s executive vice-president, Ty Votaw, will take 15 months off to run the IGF’s let-us-play campaign.

That means that pretty much the entire international golf community is now, in Dawson’s words, “speaking with one voice” for Olympic participation –- the notable exceptions being a few dead-enders among the tournament players and yours truly.

The tour players, to hear the men in suits tell it, are not as universally opposed to Olympic golf as they once were. “We haven’t had one player come to us and say anything negative,” said George O’Grady, executive director of the PGA European Tour. Finchem, while dodging a reporter’s question about the willingness of superstars Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to suit up for Team USA, said he expected “wide and deep support” from Tour players.

Those, of course, would be the same Tour players who wish that the Ryder and Presidents Cups were played every 20 years instead of biennially, and for whom an invitation to play in the annual World Cup is as welcome as a summons for jury duty.

My own feelings about golf in the Olympics range from mild indifference to, I don’t know -- total indifference? That’s because the world’s top golfers are already overexposed. You’ve got the four major championships and the four LPGA majors, the second-tier biggies like The Players and the WGC events, the invitationals like The Memorial and the Mercedes Championship, the dripping-with-money free-for-alls like the ADT Championship (gals) and the inaugural Dubai World Championship (guys), the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup, the Presidents Cup, the Skins Game, the Skills Challenge, the Tiger-and-Padraig-Play-Sergio-and-Phil-Under-Mercury-Vapor-Lamps Classic … need I go on? What’s so exciting about a once-every-four-years square-off between national teams made up of the same weary road warriors who are already burnt into our TV screens?

But that’s just me. Your heart might pump faster at the sight of Jim Furyk reading a putt if he’s got the five-linked-rings logo on his hat. Either way, feel free to weigh in. We’ve got 15 months before the IOC decides if golf is in (“You ‘da game!”) or golf is out.

Mr. Olympia

Are golfers really athletes? Walk 18 holes with Tiger Woods (or Vijay Singh or Camilo Villegas, for that matter) and you'd swear they are. But then there are other sights that raise doubts. Mark Calcavecchia sweating through his golf duds. John Daly lumbering over a tee box. John Daly lumbering over a tee box with no shirt on. Truth is, Jack Nicklaus was a very good basketball player growing up. Woods ran cross country (though his baseball exploits, according to his late father, Earl, left something to be desired). Jim Furyk was also a tremendous high school hoopster. The question of golfers being athletes may never reach a consensus, but the game may one day find itself on the Olympic stage, according to this piece by Jeff Shain of the Miami Herald. A gold medal dangling from Woods's neck? It would be hard to argue that golfers aren't athletes if that happens.