Over the past week, lots of digital ink has been spilled by envious golf writers talking about their game's return to the Olympics in 2016. Much of the chatter has revolved around the event's general haziness. How will the field be set? Will it really just be 72 holes of stroke play? Can't we change the format to something, I don't know, different?

Well, apparently we can put that fun little format debate right to bed. In an interview with The Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard, Ty Votaw, the executive director of the International Golf Foundation’s Olympic Golf Committee, explained that making any change to the tournament would be much harder than we all thought:

“It’s unlikely it’s going to change because (72-hole stroke play) was the way it was presented to the IOC,” Votaw said. “Most Olympic sports are individual sports, not a team competition. But we are open to a different format post-2016.”

So cast your eye towards 2020 Games in...wherever. Great. Eight years to develop bright ideas. We can't wait for that dream pairing of a 44-year-old Tiger and a 50-year-old Phil to don the red, white and blue.

Shame, too, because some strong suggestions have come up since the London Games started. Like this one, from Stewart Cink, reported by Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal:

“A 72-hole stroke play tournament doesn’t lend itself that well to the medal race. As we all know who are involved with golf, fourth place, sixth place, eighth place are really good showings. I almost think a long drive contest lends itself better to a medal, where you can have preliminaries and heats and guys are going for the gold like a sprint. In golf when you have 72 holes, it’s hard to be excited about it.”

We like where your head's at with this, Stewart. Let's brainstorm on it...for the next eight years.

It's U.S. Open time, and golf's style icons like Rickie Fowler have their look selected well in advance of the tourney. According to Puma's preview of Fowler's clothes for the U.S. Open, it looks like Fowler is planning to wear shorts on Sunday, but he will actually be sporting a custom pants version instead.

Check out what Tiger Woods will be wearing all week.

Here are some other players who will be sporting a more traditional look at this year's U.S. Open.

One last road trip for 2011 ...
Everyone wants to be home for the holidays, but not everyone can be. David Feherty (@Fehertwit) had a great reason to pack his bags this week.

Breakfast of champions
After winning the Australian Masters, Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) sat down to a traditional English breakfast and a little something to read. 

... meanwhile, back in the United States, Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) was doing the work he hopes will lead to a breakfast like Poulter's in 2012.

Batter up
It may not be baseball season here in America, but down in Venezuela, Jhonattan Vegas's (@JhonattanVegas) homeland, baseball is in full bloom. The winner of the 2011 Bob Hope Classic got a chance to show off his arm this week.

Whatever makes you happy
Last week it was a Pink Panther hat that made Paula Creamer (@PCreamer) smile. This week, it's a soda.

Boys and their toys
Robert Garrigus may like tiny putters, but he seems to have a thing for monsterously-big pickup trucks. In this message he says a new truck is on the way -- but his current beast doesn't look like it's been off-road too often.

Priase for Donald
When Luke Donald locked up the European Tour's money title on the heels of winning the PGA Tour's money title a few weeks ago, congratulatory notes poured in from all over the world.

Never forgetting where they came from
If you win a major championship, it's likely you won't need to clip coupons again, but pros still love getting free stuff. Even little things make them happy. 

Bad pants never die ...
These days, you need to be careful when critiquing others, because any skeletons in your closet will surely come out.

Meow
In more fashion news, Paul Creamer was presented with a hat last week.

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.

Golf's original king of Twitter, Stewart Cink (@stewartcink), did not qualify for last week's BMW Championship, but he still picked up a trophy.

Cink also enjoyed a night out on the town with his wife, Lisa (@lisacink), who clearly wasn't going miss a bite of her dinner.

Luke is no fan of the Golden Dome...
Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) did compete in the BMW Championship, but the Chicago resident was not too pleased when he learned that because NBC planned to show a football game Saturday afternoon, he'd have an early-morning tee time.

... and his wife is no fan of the peacock.
His wife, Diane (@DianeDonald), also took exception to NBC's decision to cut away from the action in order to show the start of Notre Dame's football game against Michigan State.

Welcome to flying commercial
Fans assume that rich tour pros all fly on private planes, but plenty of golfers use commercial airlines. And that means headaches like the one Henrik Stenson (@henrikstenson) had to deal with last week.

Team bonding
Darren Clarke (@Theprincedc) enjoyed a big seafood dinner with his Vivendi Seve Trophy teammates last week, including his pal Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter). While the 2011 British Open champ couldn't help mentioning that Poulter soiled his shirt, Poulter was more fixated on the tasty looking chow.

She hopes it's spam
Before she arrived in Alabama for last week's Navistar LPGA Classic, Paige Mackenzie (@Paige_Mackenzie) got a disturbing message.

All in a day's work for Rory
Computers, high-speed cameras and other gizmos can help today's pros break down their swings in ways that would make Buck Rogers jealous. Last week, when he wasn't battling with Lee Westwood on Twitter, Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) got hooked up to the machines and shared a photo of the experience with his followers. Craig Connelly (@theweeman77), Paul Casey's caddie who is known on tour as Wee Man, couldn't help needling the U.S. Open champ.

If anyone has seen the best of Tiger Woods, it's Rocco Mediate. Their showdown at the 2008 U.S. Open was one of the most memorable in the history of the Tour, and, as of right now, stands as the last great moment for Woods. Even though he was on the losing end of that story, Rocco has always been a huge Tiger fan, and according to Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle, Mediate sympathizes for the former world No. 1. Oh, and of course he has some thoughts on what Woods is doing wrong.

"I love the way he plays, but I'm disgusted with what's going on with him because it's sad for our game," Mediate said Tuesday from Pittsburgh, where he will play in this week's Nationwide Tour event. "A lot of guys are happy Tiger isn't playing well. I'm not.

Rocco also has some advice for Tiger, and it doesn't reflect well on his former swing coach.

"The physical motion is wrong," Mediate said. "To get that stress off his body is a piece of cake - the guys working with him just don't know. Sean knows some stuff, but what's going on with Tiger is not correct. That's why he keeps breaking and that's why the ball keeps going sideways."

Mediate also took a none-too-subtle swipe at Woods's current and former swing coaches.

"Starting with Haney until now, it was a complete and absolute destruction," he said. "If it was me (as Woods' instructor), I would say to Tiger, 'Look, dude, I'm not helping you. You're getting worse. You've broken down three times and you've had 57 knee surgeries. It's not happening.'"

When trying to get some insight on Tiger, it's always good to hear from guys like Rocco who actually know him (and his game) pretty well, but I think Sean Foley and Hank Haney may take a bit of exception with having their coaching methods questioned by the No. 339 player in the world.

Bradley Sweats First Pitch

Keegan Bradley may have displayed nerves of steel while winning the PGA Championship in a pressure-packed playoff, but he has been very open about another knee-buckling athletic performance: Throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park last night, before his beloved Red Sox took on the Yankees.

According to Waggle Room's Emily Kay, Bradley has been sweating his day on the mound all week.

Indeed, Bradley grew increasing anxious about his turn on the Fenway Park mound to throw out the first pitch before a three-game series between the BoSox and their arch rivals, the New York Yankees. After all, he said in a Twitter blast on Monday, he had no desire to become a member of the first-pitch Hall of Shame.

"Every time I think of the first pitch tomorrow I get butterflies and sweaty palms," Bradley tweeted. "Needless to say I'm nervous. #nobababooey"

Howard Stern fans, among whom Bradley counts himself, are well aware that the radio talk show host’s long-time producer threw a ceremonial first pitch before a 2009 New York Mets game that all who saw it believe was "the worst in the history of modern Major League Baseball," according to MLB.com.

So how did Bradley do? You be the judge:

Juuuuust a bit outside.

Tweet of the Day

Does Stewart Cink seem different to you this morning?

Tiger Woods will have to wait even longer to see his first U.S. golf course built because developers of the Cliffs luxury community in Asheville, N.C. are having trouble selling homes, according to Charlotte’s NewsChannel 36. Woods had announced plans to build his first golf course on the site in August 2007. Now, with construction halted, the course won’t be finished until at least late-2013, according to developer Jim Anthony.

Woods and Anthony are partners in High Carolina. Anthony is a successful developer, responsible for eight luxurious Cliffs communities around the world. When we toured the High Carolina site with him this week, he admitted, things are a little off course.

"I'm not a very patient person and certainly we're working to get the construction back up in the summer and move ahead," said Anthony said. "I think frustration is a proper term."

The course with spectacular mountain views is supposed to be surrounded by spectacular, multimillion-dollar homes. We visited the first completed house there with Anthony more than a year ago. It is still the only home built. And of the 1,200 available lots, only three percent have sold.

However, Anthony told NewsChannel 36 that he believes Woods’s brand is still strong.

Anthony says he's forgiven Woods for the affairs that tarnished his image and believes most others have as well.

"The way I look at it is Tiger is still the number one name in golf," Anthony said.

'Out there is the 2010s, at Quail Hollow it’s 1954!'

A Quail Hollow member told Rickie Fowler he needed to turn his cap around because apparently it’s club policy that you can wear a cap but you can’t wear it backwards. Stephanie Wei of WeiUnderPar.com has the details:

With his shirt untucked and hat flipped around, Rickie Fowler had just finished working out in the fitness trailer at Quail Hollow on Wednesday. While he was in the parking lot, a member approached him and informed him of the club’s dress code.

I ran into him near the valet and jokingly called him a trouble-maker. “It happened just right there,” he said. “I was standing right there with a group of caddies and some players.”

As the 22-year-old relayed the story, he tried to hide his bewilderment by the whole incident.

“[The member] came up to me and said, ‘Our hat policy is the same as Augusta’s. Turn your hat around.’”

Ailsa Craig, famed rock island visible from Turnberry, is for sale

Are you a supervillain looking for a new location for your lair? Today is your lucky day. ForArgyll.com reports that the Ailsa Craig rock island—visible from the second green at Turnberry—is for sale.

Two miles wide and 1,100 feet at its highest point, the island is an RSPB nature reserve with one of the world’s largest colony of gannets, the wonderfully gregarious guillemots, herring gulls, razorbills, kittiwake and the photogenic sardine-eating puffins. It is also the place where world-class curling stones – for Scotland’s national and Olympic sport – are quarried from the island's blue hone granite. The lease for this activity brings in around £26k per annum.

Arguably, Ailsa Craig’s liveliest period in history was the 16th century during the Scottish Reformation when Philip of Spain tried to take it – leading to the building of the defensive castle – and the island became a sanctuary for Roman Catholics.

As its shape suggests, it was formed from the plug of a volcano more than 500 million years ago. It echoes the shape and character of the inshore island of Davaar, at the entrance to Campbeltown Loch, in line of sight.

Ailsa Craig has a Stevenson (Thomas) lighthouse, a ruined castle and four cottages. It has not been inhabited since 1990.

Caddie says Seve’s imagination was greatest ever in game

Caddie Billy Foster now carries Lee Westwood’s bag, but from 1990-1995 he worked for Seve Ballesteros. Golf has never seen a mind like Ballesteros's, Foster told The Telegraph UK.

“I have seen them all, Tiger at his best, Phil [Mickelson], some great champions. But there has never been another like Seve with his imagination.

“Plenty of people have missed fairways, been in the trees. They wouldn’t give it a second thought. Just put another ball down and hit it in the fairway,” Foster said. “Seve would get down on his hands and knees and find that ball. Through pure will he found a way of getting it out. Nine and a half times out of ten he would pull it off. Just amazing.”

Tweet of the Day

Has Stewart Cink, golf's most popular player on Twitter, sold out? You decide.

Aspiring Artists
Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson played a digital game of graffiti tag this week.

Two Ways to Prep For a Major
Stewart Cink lives next to a golf course in Atlanta but chose another Georgia spot for one of his practice sessions this week. Every one of his 1.2 million followers was jealous.

Meanwhile, Lee Westwood, who was home this week getting ready for the Masters, didn't seem as happy about his day ahead.

One of the Guys
Newly married Hunter Mahan made a solid observation while out with his wife, Kandi.

Kostis loves his Cats
Scottsdale resident Peter Kostis lives closer to the campus of Arizona State, but Thursday night he was excited about the University of Arizona's win over Duke. Really excited.