Ah, July 5th. How tough it is to overcome that midweek hangover that inevitably follows our annual celebration of the Greenbrier Classic's Wednesday Pro-Am.

But Rumors never rests. And if you needed proof, there's this video, presented without context or explanation:

While that video inspires more questions than answers, let's take a shot. That's Cindy Lacrosse (La-boss) hyping up the runway, Tiffany Joh firing off the verse (with occasionally impressive fluency), and, of course, Michelle Wie dancing around with torn up bits of paper.

The song, as every golf fan surely knows, is DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win," off his album "Victory," released on his label We The Best Music. 10-4, Khaled. Message received.

From what we gather, that's a chartered flight headed to Kohler for the U.S. Women's Open and -- just guessing now -- the plane wouldn't take off until everyone's hands went up, and they stayed there.

The U.S. Women's Open starts Thursday at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wisc. At this point, any jokes about winning are too low-hanging to actually carry humor. So just remember this while watching the action over the weekend:

Wonder why it's different on the LGPA?!
'Cause Wie-Wie's dancing like a weirdo all up on the Jetway!

Speaking of the Open...
The USGA will allow cell phones on the course, according to The Golf Channel's Randall Mell. Player reaction, the article suggests, has been mild:

What do the players think about that? "It's fine," Michelle Wie said. "I think even when you didn't allow them, they were still out there. As long as everyone just turns them off, it doesn't really bother us that much. Just take pictures, but turn the sound off."

That's a far cry from the brimstone forecasts predicted on the men's side. If Phil needed a second reason never to compete in the Women's Open, this is it.

There will be some restrictions: Phones must be (gasp!) silenced, no photography, videography or audio recording will be allowed. Which, unfortunately, rules out making more music videos. Calls, though, can be made in assigned areas. But email and text messages may be sent anywhere, except "in the precense of a player who has addressed her ball."

It's a fair guess I wouldn't get service out there, anyway.

How to count to 100:
In the cloud of dust and ratings Tiger Woods kicked up at last week's AT&T National - where he notched his 74th PGA Tour victory - the Tour itself took to Twitter to congratulate Tiger on his 100th professional victory. Which seemed odd.

Well, it seemed odd enough that Doug Ferguson at the AP took a look at how they came to that number. Here's what he found, via The Detroit News:

By counting two wins from one tournament (1999 World Cup). By counting seven wins from the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, a 36-hole exhibition for major champions. And by counting a World Cup with David Duval that featured alternate shot for two of the rounds.

The most peculiar decision is the World Cup. Before the PGA Tour took it over and tried making it a World Golf Championship, it was stroke play in which both scores counted. Woods was medalist in 1999 in Malaysia (one win), and he and O'Meara won the team total (another win).

So it's technically correct, maybe. If anyone would count that double, it'd probably be O'Meara. But there you have it. The way Tiger is playing, there's little reason to manufacture the path to milestones. Wait a month. But hey, why put off for tomorrow what can be Tweeted today?

Dottie's out of the dog house
Adding some spice to the 2013 Solheim Cup, Dottie Pepper is back with the U.S. team as an assistant captain, five years after causing a firestorm by inadvertently describing the American team as “choking freakin’ dogs” during a Golf Channel Broadcast of the 2007 cup.

According to Randall Mell of the Golf Channel, team captain Meg Mallon announced that Pepper will serve as her assistant Thursday:

Pepper, 46, was in tears Wednesday saying how grateful she was for this opportunity to return to the team.

The announcement opens the door to the possibility Pepper will one day become the U.S. Solheim Cup captain. For a time, that didn't seem possible.

“I just felt it was enough,” Mallon said of the alienation of Pepper. “It was just Dottie’s passion; it wasn’t ill will. I felt like Dottie needed to stop carrying this burden around.”

Pepper regrets her comment caused such a maelstrom.

“I don’t know if any broadcaster in sports hasn’t said something they regret, whether they intended it for air or not,” said Pepper, who is currently an on-course reporter for Golf Channel on NBC. “It was hurtful. It hurt both ways. I was hurt, players were hurt.”

Pepper was, well, essentially telling the truth at the time. It took a serious singles rally on Sunday for the U.S. team to take the cup after a rough start. But the comment caused serious damage to Pepper’s rep with the squad. Little matter that she played in six Solheims herself, and ranks third in points won for the American side.

If anything, the comment suggests that she’ll make a great assistant captain. Pepper was acting like a fan – a very frustrated, very patriotic fan. Pepper, who went so far as to dye her hair red for the ’94 contest, was too engrossed in the competition to keep from cheering in the press box. About time to let her out of it.

Tweet of the Day:

Made it to the Greenbrier in West Virginia for Greenbrier Classic. Finally. Thought getting to Abu Dhabi was tough.

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) July 5, 2012

Last month, Meg Mallon was picked to lead the U.S. team at the 2013 Solheim Cup. So who's going to captain the European squad? Well, not Annika Sorenstam. On Golf Channel's Morning Drive show Thursday morning, Sorenstam announced she has declined an offer to be the European captain. She also made the announcement on her website.

The Solheim Cup has been an important part of my career, and I hope to one day lead the European team. However, after working with Captain Alison Nicholas and her team this past year as Vice Captain, I saw firsthand the incredible amount of work and dedication it takes to be the Captain. With my young family, foundation, businesses, and other commitments I have already made to try and help grow the game, I simply cannot provide the necessary time that the European team, Solheim family, and the entire event deserves.

Something doesn't add up
I was told there would be no math with this job, so fortunately Golfweek's Alex Miceli points out the absurdity of Phil Mickelson earning fewer world ranking points from his win at Pebble Beach than Tiger Woods did for his win at the Chevron in December.

When Woods beat Zach Johnson by a stroke at the Chevron, which is an unofficial event, he earned 44 world-ranking points and moved from 52nd in the world to 21st in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Mickelson, with his two-shot margin against Charlie Wi at Pebble Beach, earned only 38 points. That also was 10 less than the 48 points that Rafael Cabrera-Bello gained for winning the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the same amount that Lee Westwood garnered for winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge, a 12-man exhibition event in South Africa in December.

Golf gets really social
Players can't tweet during their rounds, but starting this week players sponsored by TaylorMade will have a Twitter hashtag on their hats, #driverlove. The hashtag name plays off the club company's recent advertising campaign. Mashable has the details.

While other sports have added interesting social media twists to their players and fields, golf is a game deeply rooted in tradition and not necessarily eager to humor cutting-edge fashion trends and tech fads. But that leaves an opening for brands willing to innovate, according to TaylorMade’s chief marketing officer, Bob Maggiore.

“For our sport as whole, the social media space has really been a slow-moving river,” Maggiore told Mashable. “So it’s interesting for us, because we’ve kind of given up on doing certain things the old way. We like to get out in front and try different things.”

Tweet of the Day

Drinks are on me!!!!!!!! Hole in one today on number 12!!! The car was sitting there but didn't get it! What the heck! Not cool! #tease

— Paula Creamer (@ThePCreamer) February 16, 2012

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

There are at least three ways a deliveryman can draw the ire of his customers: show up late, show up with the wrong order, show up and steal their golf clubs. Such was the fate of Atlanta Falcons placekicker Matt Bryant [right], whose sticks—valued at more than $3,000—were swiped from his garage by a Chinese-food deliveryman a couple weeks ago. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the bizarre details:

"He went into the open garage, took the clubs, delivered the food and went on his way," said Braselton Police Assistant Chief Lou Solis. Kristian Vail [the deliveryman], who was arrested on Sept. 22, faces felony burglary charges.

Maybe he was looking for Maxfli Noodles?

Investigators found the clubs on the Internet using their serial numbers, Solis said. Vail had traded the clubs and golf bag to Michael Gibson, 22, for 80 Ecstasy pills, Solis said.

All but three of the clubs have been recovered, Solis said. A Midtown jazz club owner returned one club that he said he bought from Gibson for $120, according to Solis. He won't be charged.

One of Bryant's prized clubs—a Scotty Cameron putter—has yet to be recovered. "Matt Bryant wasn't too happy about that," said Solis. 

For Gustafson, talking more nerve-wracking than playing

Pressure isn’t standing over an eight-footer to win a decisive match. Pressure is answering questions under hot, bright lights, in front of a rolling camera, while battling a maddening speech impediment. That’s the challenge Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson faced in the run-up to last week’s Solheim Cup when she agreed to sit for a rare interview with Val Skinner of the Golf Channel. Gustafson this week told Golf Digest’s Stina Sternberg:

"I told Val, 'this is worse than actually playing in the Solheim,' even though I was alone in a room with the camera rolling. I probably sat there for an hour talking, answering questions they had written down. Once I'd done a decent job I tried to improve on it. Then the Golf Channel had to cut out the bad stuff."

When asked if she'd do it again, Gustafson says, "I'd love to do more of this, but it remains to be seen if anyone out there would be interested in putting in the time. It's hard, because I never think [my stutter] is as bad as it actually is. I guess I should know better by now."

Gustafson is too modest to say it, but it was as clutch a performance as we saw all week:

The icing: She went a perfect 4-0 in Ireland to win MVP honors for the Euros.

Mediate recalls the putt “for my life”

Next week marks the one-year anniversary of Rocco Mediate’s thrilling win at the Frys.com Open, which was “the golfing equivalent of a wild game of H-O-R-S-E, with Mediate pouring home shot after improbable shot,” writes Ron Kroichick in the San Francisco Chronicle. Battling a balky arm, Mediate jarred an ace on Thursday and holed out from the fairway for eagle in each of the three ensuing rounds. On Sunday, he faced a five-footer at 18 for the win.

…Mediate knew exactly what was at stake. He would earn a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour if he made the putt, taking him to his 50th birthday in December 2012.

Mediate suspected the arm problem was serious, so missing the putt was not something he wanted to contemplate.

He made it.

"It wasn't for the money or the trophy—it was for my life," Mediate said, not above occasional hyperbole. "In essence, I was finished [on the PGA Tour] if the putt didn't go in. ... It was the whole world, everything."

The next day, an MRI exam showed tendon tears in Mediate's arm, near his elbow. The injury wasn't severe enough to require surgery, but it proved troublesome enough to persist well into 2011, despite various attempts at rehabilitation. He called the injury "an absolute nightmare" and described his arm as "OK at best" heading into this week's tour event in Las Vegas.

In other words, don't expect a repeat performance.

Tweet of the day

An early start (or a late night?) for Kevin Chappell, who is in the field at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Vegas:

[Matt Bryant photo by Mike DiNovo-US PRESSWIRE]

Butch Harmon criticized his former student Tiger Woods for hiring caddie Joe LaCava away from Dustin Johnson. Harmon, who is now Johnson's swing coach and had recommended that Johnson hire LaCava, said Woods should have asked Johnson's permission to speak with LaCava about the job, which has been vacant since Woods fired his longtime caddie Steve Williams in July. On Sunday, Harmon told Sky Sports he was "shocked" by the move.

"The thing that bothered me the most was T.W. not calling Dustin and asking if he could talk to Joe. That's the way it's done. I'm a little disappointed with the way Tiger handled it. But I'm not surprised."

But Tiger’s camp has a different version of the story, stating that LaCava reached out to them. LaCava corroborated this story on Woods's website.

“I contacted Tiger and Mark [Steinberg] because this is a unique opportunity to be part of something very special. Tiger and I have been friends for a very long time, and I know what he can do. I want to thank Dustin for the opportunity to work with him, and I wish him nothing but the best.”

According to Lawrence Donegan of The Guardian UK, the Johnson-LaCava partnership wasn't a perfect fit.

This comes as no surprise to those close to LaCava, who was apparently telling friends at last month's US PGA Championship in Atlanta he had quickly become disillusioned with life on the fairways with Johnson. The caddie is a well-rounded individual, an old-school type who found it hard to come to terms with his young employer's free-wheeling style on and off the course. In short, they were a bad match.

Pace-of-play woes at Solheim Cup
While this year’s Solheim Cup might go down as the most exciting edition of the biennial event, very few people wanted it to go on any longer. The prescribed pace of play was an extremely generous 5 hours and 20 minutes. On Day One alone, three out of four afternoon matches exceeded that timeframe. John Huggan of Golf Digest Woman has the details:

“It wasn't pretty but it was definitely ponderous. A huge factor in the slowness being the much-criticized need of so many players to have their caddies line them up for both full shots and putts. It is surely time for that time-consuming and often-pointless practice to be outlawed.”

Obama and Clinton tee it up
President Obama and former President Bill Clinton played golf at Joint Base Andrews golf course in Maryland on Saturday. According to USA Today's David Jackson, Obama said that he and Clinton discussed various strategies for creating jobs as they played.

During a speech last night to the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama said he and Clinton talked about creating jobs, as well as Republican opposition to higher taxes on the wealthy to finance a new jobs plan.

"They say it kills jobs -- oh, that's going to kill jobs," Obama said. "We're not proposing anything other than returning to the tax rates for the wealthiest Americans that existed under Bill Clinton."

"I played golf with Bill Clinton today," Obama said. "I was asking him, how did that go? Well, it turns out we had a lot of jobs. The well-to-do, they did even better. So did the middle class. We lifted millions out of poverty.

In a written statement, the White House said Obama and Clinton played for about four hours and were joined by Clinton’s longtime aide Doug Band and White House Chief of Staff William Daley. No scores were disclosed.

Tweet of the Day

Special Delivery
Before the start of the Solheim Cup last week, Suzann Pettersen (@suzannpettersen) and Michelle Wie (@themichellewie) showed how they were putting their faces on the event.

Azinger still believes in Tiger
In an interview with Golf Magazine, Greg Norman said he thinks Tiger Woods will not win another major championship. Paul Azinger (@PaulAzinger) clearly disagrees.

Woods and Westy banter on footwear
Since he was not playing in the Tour Championship last week at East Lake, Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) had a chance to be filmed wearing his prototype Nike footwear. Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) couldn't resist needling the former top-ranked player ... who surprisingly answered Westwood's wit with some of his own!

Basking in the glow
Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter), another player who didn't qualify for the Tour Championship, took his family on a vacation to the Bahamas last weekend. It didn't appear he was too heartbroken about not being in Atlanta.

Let him rephrase that
Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) loves his barbecue and last week helped the Women's Club of Sugarloaf prepare for a charity cookoff. Apparently there was an awkward moment during a meeting.

Faldo's instant course
Nick Faldo (@TheSirNickFaldo) spent most of last week in Vietnam and shared many of the sights with his followers on Twitter, including these before-and-after photos that show the work his golf course design company had done.

Reactions to Haas's amazing shot
It seems like golfer writers aren't the only ones who watch tournaments and tweet. After Bill Haas pitched his ball from the lake on the 17th hole to within three feet in his playoff against Hunter Mahan, golf tweeters started typing.

With Tiger Woods's game in disarray, his swing coach, Sean Foley, has had a lot of arrows slung his way. But Tiger's swing plane has been the last thing on Foley's mind lately, writes ESPN's Bob Harig.

Kieran Foley was born Aug. 26 in Orlando and Foley and his wife, Kate, lived the past four months knowing that the outlook for their son's long-term health was bleak.

"There was a 50-50 chance my son would die at birth," Foley said Tuesday by phone, on his way home from working with another of his clients, Tiger Woods. "For lack of a better term, it's a medical miracle. The doctor told us he has trumped the best-case scenario for this disorder by 100 times."

Kieran was born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a condition in which an abnormal opening in the diaphragm can lead to parts of the stomach or other abdominal organs moving into the chest cavity. In Kieran's case, his heart was located on the right side of his chest.

Harig also notes that Justin Rose, another Foley pupil, made a nice gesture after winning the BMW Championship last week. Rose dedicated his last two shots to Foley's son in a post-round interview.

Bus Blues
The 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team lacked proper rain gear, and now it looks like the U.S. Solheim Cup team could use a new team bus, according to Golf Channel's Jay Coffin.

The team bus broke down Monday on the way from the Dublin airport to Killeen Castle. To make matters worse, "Born in the USA" was blaring' on the radio when the incident occurred.

Then, once at the course, Juli Inkster's golf cart broke down at the farthest point from the clubhouse.

"She broke down out there where there are only wolves around," Christina Kim said.

Age of Parity?
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem gave a "state of the tour" address Tuesday at the Tour Championship, and NBC's Ryan Ballengee writes the commish is happy that parity is the new buzz word in golf.

As 2011 ends, no player on the PGA Tour has more than two wins and only one of those guys has a major this year. For the second consecutive year, it appears the Tour Championship will not only lock up the FedEx Cup winner but seems likely to identify the player of the year.

Commissioner Tim Finchem is very pleased with the rampant parity that has gripped his tour.

“We’ve gone very quickly from a point in time when we were very much a sport that had a dominant player (Woods) to all the way to the other end of the spectrum,” Finchem said Tuesday at East Lake.

“We’re at a point of total parity. Anybody out here can win any given time. So far the fans seem to really like it, and it’ll be interesting to see what develops in that regard going forward.”

But is parity a good thing for the tour? Paul Azinger doesn't think so ...

Tweet of the Day

So, Bandon. In case you missed it, a few days ago my boyhood friend Kevin Price and I became the first dudes to play all four courses at Bandon Dunes on the same day. (We knocked in our putts on the 72nd hole at the exact same instant, so there wouldn't be any dispute about who was the first to summit, a la Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.) It was a crazy, giddy dawn-to-dusk adventure. I'll give you the long version sometime soon here on Golf.com, and you can watch us on "Golf in America" on Golf Channel, Monday Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. Eastern. In the meantime, allow me to address a few questions about the day and plenty of unrelated queries, too. (Click the images to enlarge.)

How much did the pace of other golfers on the courses affect you? Did they let you play through? - Dave Andrews
When I hatched this plan, my initial thought was to play the courses in the order they were built, but there was some maintenance work being done on Bandon Dunes that precluded us from beginning the day there. So Todd Kloster, the resort's P.R. whiz who handled the logistics, sent us off Pacific Dunes first. Kevin and I played that round in 2:35, which was crucial. The first scheduled tee time at Bandon Dunes was 10 a.m., and we were off well before that so there was no one in front of us for either round. There was a lot of play at Old Macdonald in the morning, but we didn't peg it there until around 1:30. We blew through another twosome on the third hole and didn't see anyone again until 15. The last few holes were slow, but I didn't mind catching my breath a little. Trails was deserted when we teed off there after 5 p.m. So in four rounds we had to wait on four holes. Bliss.

What was your favorite course? - T.C. Ford
Well, I loved them all. Shortly after completing the epic day I tweeted that Pacific was my fave, followed by Trails, then Bandon and then Old Mac. As I've replayed the rounds in my mind since, a lot of the holes I think about are at Bandon and Trails. I think I need more time to let it marinate—it was sensory overload!

What did you eat/drink to keep your energy up without crashing later or getting sluggish now? - Kristen Williams
At the excellent breakfast buffet I basically had four of everything—eggs, bacon, hash browns, fruit, cereal, a muffin. It was ridiculous. I didn't have another bite until midway through the second round. Then I pretty much never stopped eating, in this order: Builder's Bar, apple, banana, big turkey sandwich (after the second round), chips, humongous chocolate chip cookie, apple, Builder's Bar, two hot dogs (after the third round), banana, almonds, Snickers. Plus various waters, waters with Cytomax, Gatorade, and, on the back nine at Trails, a Pepsi for extra energy. Then, at 10 p.m., Kevin and I had a big dinner. Gawd, I'm getting a stomach ache just typing this.

OK, a few non-Bandon items…

As highlighted by last week's "Confidential," why are so many of the writers so eager to bash the FedEx Cup setup? Maybe it is overhyped, but it seems that most people appreciate it for what it is: week after week of top-flight golf. You could easily say this is the best month of the year for golf. But it gets ridiculed, people are always complaining about the scoring, and now there is a death watch for when the sponsor will bail. Is it just resistance to change? - Brian Sullivan
I've taken a few shots at the FedEx Cup over the years, but I agree with Brian's basic premise, that the Cup has added a quartet of excellent tournaments during what used to be a dead time of year. Yes, the scoring is cumbersome, and yes, the Tour badly oversold the “playoff” concept, but I think we're all ready to move on. Last year's Tiger/Phil double-dip at the Tour Championship was a big moment for the FedEx Cup, and this season's edition should be the best one yet. Tiger's ongoing search for form will be a big story, and the player of the year race will be determined during the Cup unless Mickelson, McDowell or King Louis wins the PGA Championship. The biggest subplot has would-be Ryder Cuppers auditioning for captain's picks, which will be announced halfway through the FedEx playoffs. So, I for one, can't wait for the whole thing to kick off.

Does the Solheim Cup matter anymore when Asian countries can't play in it? - Anonymous
Of course it does! It's a crucial event for women's golf and has been an important proving ground for young Americans. The lack of Asian players doesn't devalue the Solheim, it just underscores the need for a second event modeled after the Presidents Cup, in which the U.S. would take on the rest of the world (minus the Euros). There have been ongoing discussions about just such a competition, and I have no doubt it will get done in the next few years, especially now that golf is back in the Olympics and the women's game is becoming more global with each passing year.

Who are your 4 picks for the Ryder Cup team if you're captain? I say Fowler, Mahan, Couples and Barnes. - Brian Rosenwald
Well, you got one of them right. Mahan is a given if he doesn't play his way into the top 8 in the points race. (As of this week, he's 9th.) To me, there are two other no-brainers in Stewart Cink (13th) and Zach Johnson (20th), major champions and stalwarts of recent U.S. teams.

So that leaves maybe only one more pick. Fowler is a strong candidate—fearless birdie machines are always helpful at the Ryder Cup. But it's a big-time gamble to go with a player who hasn't won as a pro. (In this category, I'd rather have Fowler over Barnes.) Freddy would be a popular choice, but his back limits him to one match a day, and that jabby putting stroke is worrisome, too. If you're going to go old, I'm not sure that Kenny Perry isn't a better choice. Sean O'Hair has many of the same virtues as Fowler and a lot more winning experience, plus he's coming off a strong performance at the Presidents Cup. As of this moment, he'd be my pick, along with Cink, Z. Johnson and Mahan. But there's so much golf left, it's hard to forecast who will get bounced out of the top 8, and how that will affect the captain's picks.

One final thought: Tiger Woods better play his way onto the team. Don't forget, the wives are a big part of Ryder Cup week, and they're all pissed at him. Given Woods's so-so track record at the Ryder Cup, the shaky state of his game and all the distractions he brings, I wouldn't pick him if he falls out of the top 8. And I have a feeling Captain Pavin won't, either.

Photos: Kohjiro Kinno/SI

The Flogging is a smorgasbord of news, opinion and occasional grass clippings from around the wide world of golf. Here's what you've been missing …

The PGA Tour's biggest problem, as any tournament sponsor or TV network can tell you, is its inability to deliver its best players. In NASCAR, the best drivers race week in and week out. Not in golf, where top players cherry pick their spots and sometimes opt to play on different continents, thus hurting their home tour's product. As Larry Bohannan points out in The Desert Sun, SBS champ Geoff Ogilvy won't be playing the Bob Hope Classic, which starts next week. He'll be at the Abu Dhabi Championship, a European tour event in the United Arab Emirates. So will American Anthony Kim, who lives in La Quinta, site of the Hope.

"The disappointment is that American players raised on the PGA Tour are choosing to play in Abu Dhabi or Doha, Qatar (opposite the San Diego tournament) rather than playing on PGA Tour events those weeks.

Some players, such as La Quinta's Anthony Kim, will play in Abu Dhabi. Others, such as Steve Stricker and Kenny Perry, won't play in Abu Dhabi but will begin their travel around the world the week of the Hope to play in Doha a few days later."

With tours struggling to find sponsors, it's a serious slap in the face for Kim to skip the Hope, his hometown tournament. But Bohannan points out that Kim seems to have the Tour's blessing: "Tour players are not allowed to play in events conflicting with the PGA Tour. That is, unless the player receives a conflicting event waiver from the tour." If this issue doesn't come up at the next player meeting, it should.

Free advice: To be eligible for the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus, a player should be required to play three events from a list of, say, 12 non-major tournaments that would rotate every year. You want to play for $10 million, fellas, then you've got to jump through one or two small hoops. Is that too much to ask?

Feel-good moment of the day
The victorious U.S. Solheim Cup team earned an audience with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. No doubt it was a glorious photo op, though photos of the team with Obama have not yet been released. Mr. President asked the champs for tips on how to get his daughters into golf, wrote GolfWeek's Beth Ann Baldry. "We told him to get them out to a tournament and let them drive a golf cart," suggested LPGA poster girl Michelle Wie. Just don't let them steer to far to the right.

The deal that provided General Motors cars for Tiger's use ended two weeks ago, according to USA Today, and Tiger's famous hydrant-kissing Escalade will be repaired and sold. (Are you listening, World Golf Hall of Fame and/or Phil Mickelson?)

It is all but certain that the PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines will not have a title sponsor this year, writes Union-Tribune golf expert Tod Leonard. The paper quotes Century Club chairman Tom Wornham as saying the tour will likely be on the hook for most of the event's $5.3 million purse. "This is a very special arrangement," Wornham told the paper, "and they're not going to want to replicate it."

When the tour assumed control of the Memphis tour stop last year after Stanford Financial's collapse, it promptly cut the purse by $1 million. The Torrey Pines event was sponsored by Buick before GM filed for bankruptcy. Before the Great Recession, the tournaments that struggled to find sponsors were mostly events that Tiger Woods seldom (or never) played, but Torrey Pines is one of his favorite stops. He usually plays (and wins). No sponsor for Torrey should have the PGA Tour at DefCon 1.

That's right, Johnny. Veteran tour player Brad Faxon, an eight-time winner who has struggled to come back from knee surgery, will join the NBC Sports golf team in 2010. Fax, as he's known, also hopes to compete in some tour events. "I'm hoping that for at least one tournament, I can walk off the course and right into the booth to provide a first-hand account," Faxon said. It's a minor surprise that NBC didn't sign John Daly, who is considerably more experienced at walking off the course.

Today's tip of the retro golf visor goes to... Jack Renner, who once lost the Hawaiian Open when Isao Aoki incredibly holed out from the fairway on the final hole.

• Has it really been 18 years since Fred Couples defied gravity and Augusta's 12th hole to win the Masters? Couples and Corey Pavin will make their Champions tour debuts next week at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course in Hawaii.

• The 28 players at the SBS Championship matches the smallest field at the season-opening event since 1999. Twenty of those 28 planned to play in this week's Sony Open.

• Roberto de Vicenzo showed up at the final round of the Copas de las Americas, a semiannual mixed-team amateur event that was played this year at Olivos Golf Club in De Vicenzo's home country of Argentina. The 1968 Masters runner-up handed out trophies and posed for pictures, which turned out to be a cozy assignment since De Vicenzo's compatriots finished second overall to the U.S. team of Jessica Korda, Nolan Smith, Jennifer Song and Peter Uhlein, while the Argentine men, Emiliano Grillo and Tomas Cocha, won the men's title.

• It's good to see that even in the wake of the Tiger Woods scandal, President Obama doesn't consider golf toxic. Besides his recent play in Hawaii, the President was scheduled to meet with captain Beth Daniel and the U.S. Solheim Cup team at the White House on Tuesday.

• Yogi Berra, who has played in the Bob Hope Classic (Jan. 20–24) multiple times and this year will serve as a special ambassador at the event, was asked the key to winning a celebrity pro-am. Said Berra, "You've got to have a hot pro."