Fresh off saving the American dream in his inspiring Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler, Clint Eastwood is taking on the challenge of saving golf. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Eastwood will be “creative board chairman” and “founding shareholder” for the Back9 Network, a fledgling golf lifestyle network.

In his new role, Eastwood, 81, will meet with the Back9 brass once per quarter to go over programming and casting choices for the network, which is currently in talks with distributors and is slated to launch later this spring. Back9 executives declined to comment on the nature of those conversations.

“He’ll be a big picture sounding board,” said Back9’s chief executive James Bosworth, who was an assistant pro at Pebble Beach in the mid-1990’s when he first met Eastwood. The pair remained in touch, and continue to play golf together. “It was natural to seek his advice,” Bosworth added, noting that Eastwood, along with his wife Dina, has been consulted and supportive of the Back9 concept since its inception some two years earlier.

“There’s no better guy to go to for a golf media company.”

Eastwood is a longtime golfer who owns Tehama Golf Club in Carmel, Calif., and he is a part-owner of Pebble Beach Golf Links. [Photo: Eastwood waits to tee off at the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am in Pebble Beach in January 1974. Associated Press]

Gary Player says Rory McIlroy has ‘as much talent as I’ve ever seen’

Nine-time major winner Gary Player said Rory McIlroy is one of the most talented golfers he has ever seen in an interview with Reuters.

"Rory's swing is so magnificent," purred Player, slowing down his voice for emphasis. "He's got as much talent as anybody I've ever seen," the 76-year-old told Reuters in an interview at a Laureus sports awards event at Championship (second division) soccer club Millwall in south London.

Player said the only imponderable about U.S. Open champion McIlroy, 22, was his desire.

"Nobody knows what's inside of the man, how much passion he has," said the nine-times major winner. "Is he prepared to go through the pain barrier?"

Tom Watson’s chip-in at 1982 U.S. Open named best shot in Pebble Beach history

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Ron Kroichick lists the top 10 shots in Pebble Beach history, and we don't think he'll get many arguments over his first choice.

1. Tom Watson's chip: This might be the most famous shot in golf history. Watson arrived at the 71st hole of the 1982 U.S. Open tied for the lead with Jack Nicklaus, who already had completed his round. Nicklaus sensed he might win when Watson's tee shot on No. 17 sailed left and settled in thick rough.

The pin was tucked close to that side, so Watson didn't have much room to maneuver. Caddie Bruce Edwards encouraged him to "get it close," prompting Watson to reply, "Get it close? I'm gonna make it!"

He dropped the shot softly onto the green -- and the ball zoomed downhill and into the hole. Watson skipped onto the green in celebration, pointing at Edwards and saying, "I told you!"

"I say what it was: a lucky chip," Watson said in a 2010 interview. "I took dead aim and fortunately it hit the pin and went in.”

Spoiler alert: Kevin Costner did not make the list. [Associated Press photo]

Tweet of the Day

From Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson:

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

Congratulations to Sports Illustrated senior writer and Golf Magazine columnist Joe Posnanski, who was named the 2011 Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Here are a few of our favorite Posnanski golf stories from his time at SI. If you like what you see here, you can find more great Posnanski stories on his blog Curiously Long Posts, in the Sports Illustrated archive, or in his 2001 book The Good Stuff: Columns About the Magic of Sports, available on Amazon.com for $24.95.

The Two Lives of Tom Watson (May 29, 2011)

I think Watson’s career is singular because unlike any of the other great golfers, Watson’s life is really divided in two. There was the young and wild Watson who hit the ball all over the place and won with one of the great short games in golf history. And there is the older Watson, whose ball-striking is so magnificent that men half his age salivate, but who has been held back by 5-foot putts that stubbornly go their own way.

If the game of the old and young Watson had ever met, they would not recognize each other.

If the old Watson and the young Watson had ever shared a season, they might have won the Grand Slam.

All Eyes Are Smiling (June 27, 2011)

Super Bowls ... World Series ... NBA Finals ... we tend to root for our own. But every now and again, golf gives us a chance to all root together. That's part of the charm of the game. It happened in 1986, when a legend named Jack Nicklaus, years beyond his prime, summoned a series of magical shots on Sunday and won the Masters. It happened in '91, when a chain-smoking ninth alternate from Dardanelle, Ark., named John Daly won the PGA Championship by hitting balls so hard you could almost hear them screaming. It happened in 1997, when a prodigy named Tiger Woods blew away the field at the Masters and for the first time made golf look cool, really cool, not only to those who play but also to those who are just drawn to cool things.

It happened again at Congressional, on a windless weekend, on a soft course, when the U.S. Open was won from beginning to end by another golf prodigy, this one from Northern Ireland.

The Best Never to Win a Major (April 9, 2011)

1. Colin Montgomerie

In making this list, there are many players — Adam Scott, Bruce Lietzke, Paul Casey, Darren Clarke, Doug Sanders, several others — who could have made the Top 10. But nobody else is even close to No. 1. Montgomerie led the Order of Merit eight times. Eight. He finished second at five major championships. He finished as one of the 10 best players in the world every year from 1994 to 2000, topping out, poetically, at No. 2.

There seemed something doomed about Monty, something difficult to capture. There are certain people in sports who just seem to have the Charlie Brown cloud over their heads, and Montgomerie had that.

--

This story was produced for Golf Magazine's weekly Front9 app. To keep up with the latest golf news, get great tips from the Top 100 Teachers in America, and weekly Rules Guy columns, download the Front9 app at the Apple iTunes store. A lifetime subscription is $2.99.

We know you remember Bill Haas’s $11 million up-and-down from the water, but what about Bubba Watson’s driver off the deck at Kapalua, or Steve Stricker’s ridiculous fairway bunker shot at the John Deere? Watch the year’s best shots and then tell us which was the greatest of them all. 

1. Bill Haas up and down from water at Tour Championship:

2. Rory McIlroy holes out for eagle in second round of U.S. Open.

3. Rory McIlroy hits tee shot on No. 10 to within a foot on Sunday at U.S. Open.

Watch at official U.S. Open site here.

4. Bubba Watson hits driver off deck from a downhill lie in first round at Kapalua to reach 663-yard par-5 18th hole in two:

5. Charl Schwartzel chips in for birdie on No. 1 on Masters Sunday.

6. Charl Schwartzel holes out from the fourth fairway for eagle on Masters Sunday.

Watch at official Masters site here.

7. Phil Mickelson asks caddie Bones Mackay to tend pin for 70-yard wedge shot on 72nd hole at Torrey Pines:

8. Keegan Bradley’s birdie putt on 17 on Sunday at PGA Championship.

Watch at official PGA site here.

9. D.A. Points holes out on 14 in final round at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am:

10. Hunter Mahan from water on 17 in first round of Tour Championship, keeps pants clean

11. Steve Stricker from fairway bunker on 72nd hole at John Deere and birdie putt for win

12. Tiger hits his approach to 10 feet on the eighth hole Sunday at Augusta and makes the eagle putt

Watch at official Masters site here.

13. Luke Donald’s 30-foot putt for birdie on 15 Sunday at Disney for sixth-straight birdie.

14. Adam Scott sticks his approach on 18 Sunday at Bridgestone to 5 feet to make birdie

15. Tom Watson’s ace on 6 in second round of British Open

Watch at official Open Championship site here.

This gallery debuted in Golf Magazine's weekly Front9 app. To keep up with the latest golf news, get great tips from the Top 100 Teachers in America, and weekly Rules Guy columns, download the Front9 app at the Apple iTunes store. Lifetime subscription is $2.99.

As they say in New Zealand, there’s no use locking the barn door after the sheep are stolen, but Steve Williams is finished talking about Tiger Woods, according to Fox News’ Robert Lusitech.

“I said what I said but I’m not going to say any more about Tiger,” he said.

Williams also said that his post-round comments Sunday following new boss Adam Scott’s win at the Bridgestone Invitational were “a bit over the top.” After Scott’s win, Williams told CBS Sports’ David Feherty that it was “the best win he ever had,” despite having caddied for 13 of Woods’s 14 majors, and also for Greg Norman and Raymond Floyd.

“Looking back on it, I was a bit over the top,” he told FOXSports.com from Atlanta, where he and Scott were preparing for this week’s PGA Championship. “I had a lot of anger in me about what happened (with Woods) and it all came out.”

Say goodbye to Holywood: Rory-mania helps drive McIlroy from Northern Ireland
One of the reason’s Rory McIlroy has decided to join the PGA Tour in 2012 is that he’s lost his privacy at home in the Belfast suburb of Holywood since winning the U.S. Open and becoming a global sports superstar, according to The Independent (UK) newspaper.

"It is part of the reason, yes," said the 22-year-old. "I have had security guards at my house every night since I won the US Open patrolling around the area. It is something that I just had to put in place I'm afraid. There have been people driving up the driveway and stuff which isn't very nice. It's tough but it is just the world we live in unfortunately. If you're in the position we're in you're so public."

Life has changed for McIlroy since he won the US Open in record style. If his profile was raised dramatically in America then in his homeland the roof blew off. Where once Holywood, the Belfast suburb he has lived in all his life, had been his sanctuary, now it became a goldfish bowl. No escape, little privacy.

"It's definitely a lot tougher than it was three months ago," said McIlroy. "There are moments when you think, 'what's happening here, what's going on?' But this is always what I wanted to do. When you grow up and dream of being a professional golfer and dream of winning majors, all you really think about is the golf and playing in front of great crowds on unbelievable courses, winning trophies. You never think about the other side of it and that is the side that takes a bit of getting used to. It is also something that you don't really expect."

Tom Watson’s driving range advice: Warm up with a 3-iron
The South Bend (Ind.) Tribune’s Jack Walkden caught up with Tom Watson at a First Tee charity event in Benton Harbor, Mich., on Monday, where Watson offered advice on warming up and handling pressure. Watson showed the huge crowd how to warm up. He stretches and then swings with a 3-iron.

"If you hit it great on the first swing, life is good," Watson said. "If you hit it lousy, it doesn't mess with your head because the 3-iron is the toughest club to hit. That's my warped sense of thinking."

He showed fans how to swing, though he said you can play well and have a poor swing.

"Adam Scott has a great golf swing," Watson said. "However, Lee Trevino had the best control of a golf ball that I've ever played with. He could make a ball do whatever he wanted it to do and he had terrible mechanics. It shows that you don't have to have a perfect swing, but it helps.”

Watson showed how to hit a draw, how to hook and slice. But most importantly, Watson explained how he handles pressure.

"I learned from Byron Nelson," Watson said. "He said when he was under pressure, he always wanted to get the round over with. So when he was under pressure, he had to slow his pace down. He had to walk slower because when you're nervous you always want to go fast.

"You will also see me yawning sometimes during a tournament. I yawn when I'm under pressure to fill my lungs with air. That helps me get my rhythm back."

Tweet of the Day

We all knew this was coming. When the European Tour’s leading bon vivant wins the major championship he wants the most, he’s going to throw a great party.

Here’s a report from Clarke’s manager Chubby Chandler from after 1 a.m. Sandwich, England, time:

The party continued straight through until morning, according to the European Tour’s web site. Here's the post-celebration report from a bleary-eyed Clarke posing with the claret jug Monday morning:

"I probably won't get any sleep until tomorrow at some stage. Have to enjoy it when you can.

"I had quite a few pints and quite a few glasses of red wine and it all continued until about 30 minutes ago.

"It's been a very good night."

Nothing, though, had been poured into the trophy.

"I'm a little bit of a traditionalist. I feel a bit funny about putting stuff in the Claret Jug that shouldn't be in there. "There's nothing in it as yet. That may not be the case as the week goes by!"

We’ll give Rory McIlroy the final word.

Tom Watson visited D-Day sites before playing British Open  

Before traveling to Royal St. George’s in Sandwich for the British Open, Tom Watson made an emotional visit to the World War II battlefields and graveyards of Normandy in northern France. Watson talked about the experience after his round on Sunday.

TOM WATSON: I visited the British military grave site at Ranville first and then I went on to Sword Beach, which was the eastern flank, and then we overnighted in Caen, and then the next day we went to the U.S. cemetery and Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach. It was very emotional.

Q. You've been here, seen it, done it. There must be few things that can move you, but that must have been...

TOM WATSON: Oh, there are a lot of things that can move me. There are a lot of things. That certainly is -- you know, that particular turning point in World War II certainly was a -- it was a feat extraordinaire.

Q. Describe your emotions around a place like that.

TOM WATSON: Well, the visuals there are -- I wanted to see, first of all, Pointe du Hoc. It was man against man and gun against gun. Talk about a disadvantage. It was like me playing Phil Mickelson on this golf course. The Rangers, the Second Battalion Rangers, had to go up 115 feet in the air, straight up, and the Germans were up there shooting at them. And they managed to do it. Omaha Beach was a disaster in a lot of different ways. The weather forecast was not exactly right, and the seas were really, really big, and they lost a lot of men before they even got to shore. They couldn't get to shore. To see the cemetery there and the 9,000-plus marble crosses is a striking reminder of what the human condition can do. I was very emotional, very emotional seeing that.

Jack Wagner takes down Tony Romo in celeb tournament

Darren Clarke’s win at the British Open was drama-free after Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson flamed out on the back nine, but that wasn’t the case for soap star and celebrity golf stick Jack Wagner, who had to shake a charging Tony Romo down the stretch at the American Century Championship in Reno, Nev., according to Dan Hinxman of The Reno Gazette-Journal.

By the time the two reached the par-3 17th, Wagner's lead was down to two. He sank a 10-footer for birdie right after Romo missed his 12-foot birdie try, and then both players hit their second shot on 18 into Lake Laimbeer. Romo needed to make about a 30-footer to force Wagner to get up and down in three shots, but he missed and Wagner claimed his second ACC title in five years.

It put the finishing touches on a day of quality golf, with Wagner shooting a three-under 69 and Romo shooting a 66. Wagner finished with 80 points, the second-highest total in the tournament's modified Stableford scoring history (since 2003).

Good thing it didn't go to a playoff. Cowboys fans know how that would end.

When is Tiger Woods returning to the PGA Tour?

In case you missed it, Tiger Woods is planning to play Stanford bud Notah Begay’s charity tournament on Aug. 31 in Upstate New York. However, the CEO of the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia said that rumors of a Tiger return at the Greenbrier Classic on July 28 are just that, according to Dave Morrison of The (Beckley, W. Va.) Register-Herald.

“There is absolutely nothing to the Tiger rumor, absolutely nothing,” Justice said, without even being asked. “That means I have heard nothing (from Woods’ camp),” Justice said. “Surely to goodness, I would have been the first to know that. It would be great news, and we would love to have Tiger. But as far as Tiger committing, there is nothing to it.”

In other Tiger news, Woods texted his pal Darren Clarke some final-round advice before, but Clarke declined to say what it was. (Via The Associated Press). Also, Palm Beach Realtor Jeff Lichtenstein does the math and figures that – in addition to his mortgage -- Tiger has about $5.4 million in monthly taxes and expenses on his Jupiter Island, Fla., mansion. No wonder he might come back soon! 

Sports Photo of the Year

If the average picture is worth a thousand words, this one posted on Twitter by Brian Keogh of IrishGolfDesk is worth 10,000.

SANDWICH, England – With flags crackling and divots rolling across the practice area like tumbleweeds, Y.E. Yang pelted one 6-iron after another. Instead of rising majestically, each shot seemed to be pressed down and to the right by a giant invisible hand that kept them short of the 150-yard marker.
 
The forecast calls for 35-mile-per-hour gusts today, and the winds on the range felt at least that strong this afternoon as players prepared for what promised to be another challenging day at the 2011 Open Championship.
 
Thirty feet to Yang's right, Tom Watson, a five-time Open winner, was hitting a series of shots with his driver. Low and piercing, it was clear that Watson was trying to keep the ball below the gusts.
 
If the wind and the pending challenge were weighing on Watson's mind, he didn't show it. Stopping his warm up, he called to a nearby BBC cameraman, "Hey, I've got question for you? How do you keep that camera lens from getting so wet?" The two men then chatted for about five minutes before Watson went back to work.
 
After hitting a series of 15-yard chip shots into the wind and then with the wind, Watson left to a loud ovation.
 
The only player whose shots seemed to defy the left-to-right gale was Adam Scott. One after another, his wedge and short-iron shots sailed into the air and held their line, going straight at his targets. But the Australian's spell was broken once he started hitting his longer irons, which peeled to the right like everyone else's.
 
"Rebel weather," he said to Chad Campbell, who like Scott played college golf at UNLV. "It's a rebel day."\

(Photo by Andrew Reddington/Getty Images)

Tom Watson, 61, a five-time British Open champ and fan favorite in the U.K., gave the crowd something to cheer about today with a hole-in-one on the par-3, 178-yard sixth hole.

The shot took one hop before landing in the hole. Watson celebrated by high-fiving his playing partner, the British amateur Tom Lewis. As he walked to the green, according to the Associated Press, he said, "Wish I could have seen it go in."

The ace moved Watson from two over to even par and may have fans remembering his run at the 2009 British Open at Turnberry, where he lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink. Watson won the Open in '75, '77, '80, '82 and '83.

Watson's was the second ace of the tournament. Dustin Johnson made one Thursday on the par-3, 163-yard 16th.

Photo: Jon Super/AP

Last week Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor who treated Tiger Woods after Woods's 2008 knee surgery, pleaded guilty to bringing unapproved drugs into the U.S. As part of the plea deal, Galea may provide authorities with a list of his clients, many of whom were athletes, and the methods and substances he used to treat them. Naturally, this touched off speculation as to how Woods's name could eventually surface. But the New York Daily News reached a lawyer representing Galea's ex-assistant, who stated that Woods never received performance-enhancing drugs from Galea.

An attorney for the chief witness in the Anthony Galea case said that one of the controversial Toronto physician's most famous clients, Tiger Woods, never received performance-enhancing drugs while a patient of Galea.

Rod Personius, who represents Galea's former assistant Mary Anne Catalano, told the Daily News Monday in an email, "I tell you categorically that Tiger did NOT receive either banned or performance enhancing drugs when treating with Dr. Galea."

St. George's set up for old-timers?
It's been two years since Tom Watson, then 59, made a historic run at the Open Championship (if not for one bad bounce on his approach to the 72nd green, he probably would have won the thing). This week Watson is once again in the field, and he told Reuters that the layout at Sandwich could favor some of the older players in the field -- including himself.

"I don't see why it's not feasible for a 50-something to win this week," Watson, 61, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"Links courses are great equalizers. You don't have to pound the ball or hit the ball particularly long although they have added length to many of the holes here."

Watson conceded that some of the holes at the extended 7,211-yard, par-70 layout would prove particularly difficult for him to negotiate.

"There are two 240-yard par-threes at the third and 11th where length is definitely an advantage," he said while attending a MasterCard presentation at Royal St George's.

"But I am here to contend, without a doubt. I may have some problems with those two par-threes but if I'm playing well I can compete on this course.

The oldest player to win a British Open was, appropriately enough, Old Tom Morris, who was 46 when he won the claret jug in 1867.

Stray Shots:

* Excellent feature in The New York Times on how Rory McIlroy is transcending religious and cultural boundaries in Northern Ireland and Britain.

* ESPN's Bob Harig examines why players hate Royal St. George's.

Tweet of the Day

You'd think it would be pretty easy to find a hotel room in Akron, Ohio. It's the rubber capital of the nation, not the tourist capital.

But since the Bridgestone Invitational was moved to the week before the PGA Championship, a scheduling switch to accommodate the FedEx Cup playoffs, the tournament overlaps with the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in nearby Canton. (Yet another example of the intersection of golf and the NFL.) Hotel rooms are scarce and, when available, expensive. Hoteliers aren't happy with the situation; what used to be two weeks of brisk business has now merged into one.

Even though the PGA Tour was the latecomer to this date, Commissioner Tim Finchem said there isn't much he can do about it, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

"This date works perfectly for getting every top player here," he said Wednesday after speaking at an Akron Roundtable Luncheon. "That's not so easy. This is the perfect week for the international players because they're coming in to play next week (in the PGA Championship). Our difficulties are more serious than the NFL's, but I can't speak for (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell.

"We wouldn't mind moving it, but we want to do what's in the best interest of the tournament. That has broader implications than what's happening here. It's a global event. It's a prize event for our television partners and one of the reasons is because of the field."

The Bridgestone used to work just fine when it was held the week after the PGA Championship, but positioning it there now before the four-week playoff run would create a whole new scheduling problem for players. As the Beacon Journal noted, however, the event does come with a nice perk. The first prize for this limited-field event is $1.53 million, larger than any of golf's four major championships.

Tiger Woods fuels Ryder Cup speculation
If you're wondering whether Tiger Woods will play in the Ryder Cup, or if he'd be a wild-card pick if he doesn't make the team on points, you'll have to keep wondering. Woods wouldn't offer any information or opinions Wednesday despite persistent questioning, and subsequent criticism, from Steve Elling of CBSSports.com:

Too many times to mention over the years, Tiger Woods has bemoaned the notion that many speculative stories have been authored about him with little basis in fact. Wonder why that is? Offered the opportunity to put an increasingly hot-button issue to rest on Wednesday, he waffled and only contributed to the speculation that he might not play in the upcoming Ryder Cup matches in Wales.

I asked him three direct questions about making the U.S. team as an invitee and not as an automatic selection. For your amusement and illumination, here's the verbatim exchange:

Q. There's been a lot of speculation on the Ryder Cup. We're two weeks out from locking up the top eight. If you were asked to go as a captain's pick, are you all in?

Woods: "I'm planning on playing my way into the team."

Q. If it doesn't happen….

Woods: "I'm planning on playing my way into the team."

Q. That's still kind of an equivocation.

Woods: "I'm planning on playing my way into the team."

Elling finished his column by blaming Woods for the speculation that surrounds him.

Woods drew laughs with his stubbornness, but with a simple answer, he could have cleared up the discussion and ended the questions. Let the conjecture continue. He rekindled the speculative bonfire himself.

Watson dines on award
The late comedian Red Buttons relied on his "Never got a dinner" routine when he used to appear on the old celebrity roasts. Well, Tom Watson got a dinner when he was honored as this year's Ambassador of Golf, awarded by the Northern Ohio Golf Charities. Watson has been very involved in fundraising for ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ever since it claimed the life of his long-time caddie, Bruce Edwards. Watson has also made several trips to entertain U.S. troops in the Middle East.

You know you've made it when you finally get a dinner -- and a painting. The Firestone clubhouse features paintings of previous award-winners, and Watson was impressed with the company he's now keeping, according to the Beacon Journal.

"Everybody from Bob Hope to Bing Crosby to Jack Nicklaus to Barbara Nicklaus to Pete Dye, Deane Beman, there's just a variety," Watson said. "It's the people that comprise the whole fabric of the game and to be included in that is a great honor."

Watson capped off his special night with a special dessert.

Said Watson: "I saw the old waitress and I said, 'Do you still have that butterscotch pie?' And she said, 'It's not butterscotch, it's crunchy cream.' I said, 'It sure is butterscotch to me.' She came to me 15 minutes later and said, We're making you one."