First rule of the “Op Ed” world: If you’re gonna dish it, better be ready to eat it. TravelGolf.com’s own playground spat has Chris Baldwin calling blogger Ron Mon a teacher’s pet for his remarks on Balls Out’s latest post. On a more serious scale, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is calling Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti a “fag” for his write up’s on the Sox pitching. Guillen is giving the whole “well in my country, ‘fag’ doesn’t mean what it does here” defense. Actually Ozzie, like many words in English (and Spanish), “fag” has several meanings of varying offense. ...

It’s not fun to watch refs decide games on touch fouls, especially if a championship is on the line. I’ve got to give props to my boy Bill Simmons - whom I had a slight falling out with when he was Miami-biased last year - for this column on Page 2. While the next ten years of the NBA will be filled with one-man shows and free throws, I think I’ll turn my attention to the LPGA. It’s got everything I thought the NBA did, including fresh phenoms, savvy vets and high drama on a weekly basis (at least ...

Sunday’s first tee times are a few hours away, but there’s nothing more fun than throwing a bunch of predictions out the night before, especially when everyone has penciled in Phil by now. And I agree with Tim, by the way, about having some balls when making predictions. Here’s some not-so-obvious picks: WINNER: The final grouping of Mickelson and Kenneth are just too lovable. Have you seen their press conferences? Did they just won a spot on American Idol? Don’t be so damn nice! I like my champions grizzled and tough, not pudgy and cordial. On the 18th on Sunday, ...

Threetops Par 3 Shootout is right around the corner, and believe it or not, the resort is having a heck of a time finding some regular folk to play in the Pro-Am. Regular folk with $6500. . . Ford pulled out its sponsorship since its having a bit of a problem making ends meet these days, meaning this is the first year the tournament’s Pro-Am is open to the public. That means for $6500 you can be paired up with one of the 2006 contestants (Mickelson, Fred Couples, Andy North, Craig Stadler) or PGA pro/designer/Treetops owner Rick Smith. Don’t have $6500? ...

I don’t know if it was because a major championship was on the line, or because I’ve always found Asian women cute (a little of both of course) but I was giving the LPGA way more viewing attention on Sunday than Vijay and the boys in New York. And I’m still not sure whether to be impressed or not with Michelle Wie’s good-but-not-winning finishes at her youth. I suppose as long as she’s playing with the women where she belongs (for the next decade at least) I must commend her, even though down the stretch she still showed signs she’s ...

“The course is playable for all skill levels” I’ve heard this from designers and golf PR guys about few dozen times, read it even more, and I’ve never really thought it’s an effective way to market a golf course. “Google” it and about 10,000 courses show up. The only purpose a saying like this has is trying to include every golfer with a set of clubs in their market share. I heard a marketing rule once, that if you market a product to generalize, you end up marketing to no one, right? On the flipside, I think about a course ...

Let’s not go overboard about Mexican hospitality, Chris. It’s still a long way from Grandma’s house. Mexico is by no means the Valhalla of unshady, feel-good service by any stretch of the imagination. And the service folk are after your money as much –if not more– than US service workers. The only place I’ve been in Mexico is Cozumel, but from what I’ve been told is it’s no different than any other tourist hot-spot in Mexico. Anywhere you go, you’re bombarded with requests to buy fake silver, t-shirts, or any kind of crap possible. Don’t even try to “relax” ...

I was told the 18th at Pilgrim’s Run, just north of Grand Rapids, Michigan was an “exciting hole” in the clubhouse by employees there. But what I witnessed yesterday took the cake. As I approached the 18th tee, I saw six guys with their complimentary range bucket wailing away on the tee. The green is drivable (apparently Lee Janzen did it a few years back), but wraps around a little pond, making it an ultimate risk-reward hole, as well as plain-old fun. These guys were wailing away, with at times multiple splashes occuring in the pond at once. They unloaded ...

I basically watched ESPN all day Friday, so in an attempt to convince my bosses I was “working", I’d like to share some thoughts. . . First off, I think Jack’s got the right idea as far as this whole bunker mess. Since when did it become okay to have bunkers that were more manicured than Ryan Seacrest? Pine Valley, regarded by many as the best golf course in America, doesn’t use rakes. Frankly, I think the tour should let the bunkers go starting on Monday, thus making lumpy, PENAL lies in sand traps. If you look in the rule book, ...

So what, Arnold Palmer doesn’t steamroll the competition anymore. Ya, he might shoot 95 at the Open, but most retired people are bored out of their mind. His legacy makes a lot of golfers a lot of money these days, so it’s his tour, welcome him with open arms. Golf tournaments, especially on the Senior Tour, are about more than just where you place. You know, I once entered a golf tournament I knew I wasn’t going to win. Come to think of it, I entered about 150 tournaments growing up I knew I had no chance at. Why did ...