I’ve heard a lot of lobbying from Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour and Phil Mickelson in particular about including golf in the Olympic Games by 2016 when they will potentially come to golf-rich Chicago. But I haven’t seen that same enthusiasm from the officials or players on the LPGA Tour. Maybe they’ve been in the back rooms lobbying and it’s just not making the papers, but they are the ones that stand to benefit most from inclusion into the games. The PGA Tour is already a global force. If you have a tour card you’re practically a millionaire. Sponsors are ...

Visiting Michigan during the summertime and not golfing is painful for me. It’s like going to Vail and not checking out the slopes. Like passing up an afternoon siesta in Spain. So over the weekend I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan’s second largest town with some seriously good golf, like Pilgrim’s Run, Thousand Oaks and the municipal - and really well conditioned - L.E. Kaufman Golf Course. One of the newest courses, The Mines, is a very unique course built by up-and-coming designer Mike DeVries. Unlike most of Michigan, Grand Rapids is booming, thanks to it becoming the Midwest’s new ...

Like a lot of travel publications, we here at WorldGolf.com are quick to jump on the airline-bashing bandwagon. Those fare-hiking, baggage-charging, ticket counter grouches who either need to be prescribed some Prozac or Focusin. I’m not exempt from this, I can blast off on a grizzled, whiny air travel rant as good as anyone. But when an airline does a good thing to benefit its passengers, we should commend them. Maybe if airlines got as much good press for their positives as bad press for their shortcomings, they might be inclined to do more of the good. Just a hair-brained ...

I first stumbled across JustinRose.com when I was writing a column about how it was Rose who should be feeling the pressure at the British Open and not the near-miss master Sergio Garcia. Rose, or at least his “people” obviously think pretty highly of him. “Europe’s No. 1 Golfer” is splashed across the top of his website. It’s a pretty bold, and now downright bogus claim after Padraig Harrington has gone from “really good” to “hall of fame” worthy over the course of about 13 months. Back in the good ol’ days of 2007 when Europeans were suffering through a ...

Browsing through the recent WorldGolf.com Reader Exit Polls has me taking a post-dinner stroll down memory lane. Turns out, readers have recently reviewed both a course in my hometown, the University of Michigan Golf Course, as well as my Alma Mater Indiana University Golf Course. Both were given 4/5 stars by its respective readers. One of them is right, one is a knucklehead. The U of M course is Top 100 in the Country worthy and easily the best course in Ann Arbor. It’s a classic Alister Mackenzie course with some of the finest holes you’ll ever play that continually ...

I was just reading over a story recently posted about a trip to Teton Springs Resort & Lodge in Idaho earlier this summer, and something triggered my taste buds, stirring a salivating memory: I am suddenly reminded of how delicious my French fries were at the halfway house grill at the Headwaters Club in the little town of Victor. Perfectly crispy texture. Oily and salty but not too much, they put any chips in England I’ve had to pure shame. I am a believer in the Idaho potato. Sounds cliche, I know. In fact, staff at the Teton Springs Lodge ...

I’m not going to be subtle: I’m pulling for Ji-Yai Shin to win the Ricoh Women’s British Open today. At 12-under, Shin sits one shot back of leader Yuri Fudoh. In the hunt are the likes of Christie Kerr, Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis. I like all those girls too, especially Ochoa. But I’m on the Shin bandwagon. I think for the casual TV fan, it can be tough to really root for a Korean player since there is less personal attachment and their look and mannerisms can blend together through a camera lens. In person it’s a different story. ...

Michelle Wie’s first round at the PGA Tour’s Legends Reno Tahoe Open is getting more attention than the first round at the Ricoh Women’s British Open - at least in mainstream U.S. sports media. On ESPN News’ looping coverage, they are showing several shots of Wie’s first round. First an approach shot into a par 5 that nearly went in, followed by the birdie make, followed by a nice up-and-down pitch for par. They didn’t show action of any one else at the tournament (are there any other players in the tournament?). According to the ESPN write-up (which dwarfs the ...

It’s not a friendly time to be a golf traveler who likes to bring their own clubs with them, now that most airlines charge either a mandatory checked bag fee of $15, or a $25 for a second checked bag. Delta Airlines just announced yesterday they would begin charging $50 per second bag checked. To their credit, the first is still free. That means it could cost each traveler up to $100 to bring your clubs on your golf trip these days. That doesn’t even guarantee your clubs will even show up on time. If you’re not playing three or ...

Maybe Tiger should sit out more majors. Okay, not really. But c’mon, this leaderboard at Royal Birkdale is one of the most intriguing in years. Just when you thought this year’s U.S. Open was the greatest sports event in the history of homo sapien competition, the British may offer up its own classic - albeit a 180-degrees different. Except for Rocco, of course. Talk about a throwback leaderboard. Look beyond Greg Norman (man, I need to marry a tennis pro. Is Anna K. still on the market?), and the story lines are endless. The golf writers at Royal Birkdale are ...

Sergio Garcia. He’s gotta do it this time. Okay, I picked Sergio to win the U.S. Open. I’ve picked Sergio to win a lot of tournaments. In fact, I’m going to pick him to win every tournament as long as he’s playing or I’m writing about golf. I’m not picking him for his newfound putting stroke or his Players Championship win or his new mindset. I’m picking him for my own selfish reasons. I envision a world where Tiger is No. 1 and Sergio is No. 2. This is how the order of golf is supposed to be. Add ...

Kenny Perry isn’t being selfish, he’s not slapping tradition in the face and he’s not risking his Ryder Cup spot by not playing in the British Open this week at Royal Birkdale. I’m siding with those who are telling Perry to stick to his guns and compete in the PGA Tour event he already committed to playing in well before he started going gangbusters in 2008 (and can someone tell Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN they don’t serve “luke warm beer” in any decent pub in England anymore? I’ve never had a pint anywhere in the UK that wasn’t cold. They ...

WorldGolf.com & GolfEurope.com reader Evan has been planning his trip to Ireland’s North & Northwest links and has written in to us: My father, uncle, cousin and me are booked to play, in order, Castlerock, both Ballyliffin courses, Portstewart and Royal Portrush. Unfortunately, Royal County Down says they are booked the entire time of our stay, so I have not yet booked Ardglass and am trying to decide a substitute for County Down (unless you know of any subtle way we could squeeze on). You wrote highly of the Valley course at Portrush but what about the Annesley Links at ...

The steady climb in green fees at golf courses in Scotland appears to be slowing down. The St. Andrews Links Trust announced today it will freeze its 2009 green fees at current 2008 levels. Green fees in St. Andrews and around Scotland and Ireland have steadily rose for the last decade, some £3-5 a year average, and today clubs that aren’t even famous can get three-figure green fees. A “steal” is a course generally in the $90-100 range. Due to higher fuel and transportation costs and a weakening economy that’s spreading globally, those days of price rises seem to be ...

Ever wonder what golf would be like if the hole was bigger? A lot bigger?? Check out Coca-cola Family Course in Northern Germany about 1.5 hours from Berlin. This one-of-a-kind approach to golf is at the SAS Radisson Fleesensee, a remarkable resort complex complete with everything from spas to ziplines to petting zoos (they have this bunny there that is so big I think it’s the offspring of a rabbit mating with a bear). The resort is great for families. It’s the kind of place where you could sneak away from your kids all day for golf and they wouldn’t ...

Even if Tiger Woods wasn’t crazy about the par-5 18th hole at Torrey Pines as a U.S. Open finishing hole before the tournament, there is no denying it’s the hole that won him his 14th major. It was also a key element as to why this year’s Open will be celebrated for years to come. The 18th at the newly built Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor in Wales, host of Europe’s next Ryder Cup Matches, is of similar breed. It’s a par 5 with numerous tee options, playing straight away to a green guarded in front by water. The only difference ...

24 hours later, I’m still digesting this U.S. Open classic… -Has anyone else watched the replay of Rocco Mediate’s tee shot on the par-3 3rd hole? I slow-mo’d it about ten times on my HD. The ball seems headed straight into the hole, until it rolled over some little piece of dirt - maybe it was from his pitch mark, maybe it was a speckle of goose poop. Whatever it was, it sent the ball off-line just enough to skirt right. That really should have been a hole-in-one. It probably wouldn’t have changed the inevitable outcome, but it would have made ...

After a captivating U.S. Open week at Torrey Pines, two things are certain: That was the most entertaining golf tournament I’ve ever watched (though I’m not going way of the horribly overused “greatest ever” label that the media and even you, the feeble readership, fall victim to too often in our instant gratification culture - as if any of us not around in the 1950s, or 1913 for the Francis Ouimet upset could accurately determine that). And the other: Rocco is Ryder worthy. Even after his runner-up finish and 6th place at Memorial, Mediate won’t be in the standings’ ...

What was originally billed as the Tiger vs. Phil Open has blossomed into something beyond our wildest imagination. I can already envision myself, grizzled old man on the porch, telling my grandkids the match of Tiger and Rocco at Torrey Pines. The game of golf couldn’t have asked for a better weekend of action. This isn’t David Vs. Goliath. This is the Terminator versus Rodney Dangerfield. Tomorrow, Rocco gets his wish. He will tee it off against the Alpha Male after playing ahead of him today. He is already smack-talking Woods in public call-outs in the media room. I hope ...

On the Golf Channel tonight, Phil Mickelson’s short game guru Dave Pelz is answering question after question about Phil Mickelson’s controversial strategy to leave driver out of the bag on day one of the U.S. Open - and what seems like any dry day at Torrey Pines this week. But I want to know what Butch Harmon is thinking. Mickelson went to Harmon shortly after his Winged Foot debacle, mostly for the celebrity teacher’s genius in shoring up the tee ball. Mickelson has had some success with Harmon but has also been hampered by injuries over the last year, so ...

I may not know how Phil Mickelson still has a full head of hair, or how a Detroit-area native like WorldGolf.com’s Chris Baldwin could hate hockey so much. But I do know how to calculate the winning score of major tournaments. Excerpt from my blog during Friday’s action at this year’s Masters: I am now introducing a new and simple mathematical formula that will predict the final score of the winner. Take whatever grim number the players are predicting and drop five shots. In this case, we’ll use O’Meara as the whistle-blower. Given his “3-under” prediction, I am calling a ...

I’m not sure if Tiger Woods is the fittest athlete like some magazines suggest, but at least he’s not an attention-milking drama queen like the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce and most other NBA players. As much as the NBA got its Celtics-Lakers “dream series", it’s becoming apparent the league is less of a sport and more of a sideshow, full of crybaby players and coaches. Tonight at game three, I suggest playing the “Rasheed Wallace” drinking game: take a drink every time a player makes an outburst after a foul is called (and reserve a bed in detox tonight in ...

The Ryder Cup’s most memorable moment of the last decade - on the Yanks side at least - is courtesy of Justin Leonard’s miraculous putt to clinch the 1999 win at Brookline. That was Leonard’s last Ryder Cup appearance and the U.S. haven’t come close to winning the cup since. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But Leonard’s win at St. Jude’s should catapult him into at least the Top 10 standings for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He’s played solid golf over the last year and a half and has contended in some big time tournaments. I don’t expect him to do ...

Next week’s U.S. Open is already getting plenty of buzz, thanks in part to the announced pairings in the opening rounds. The world’s top three golfers will play together: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott. And the hype is already all over the sports media, just as I’m sure the USGA intended. The LPGA could have one-upped them Sunday, and they didn’t even have to intervene and create a new pairings rule. All they had to do was let nature take its course and Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa would square off in a mighty duel in the final ...

Tiger Woods can rip hockey and follow the L.A. Dodgers and his boy Roger Federer all he wants, when he comes to metro Detroit later this year for the PGA Championship, he’ll be playing in Hockeytown, thanks to the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup victory Wednesday. Oakland Hills north of Detroit was supposed to be the venue where Tiger Woods went after the grand slam. After faltering at Augusta and undergoing knee surgery, it’s looking more likely he’ll come to the Detroit looking for his first major of the year. Few places in the world are as fanatical about golf ...

Sports Illustrated has just released its Top 50 richest U.S. athletes for 2007. Topping the list are two golfers: Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie. Wait a second, just kidding. It’s Tiger and Phil Mickelson. Tiger dwarfs over everyone on the list with nearly $128 million earned last year, including over $100 million in endorsements alone. Analysts estimate Woods is about two years away from becoming the first ever billionaire athlete. At second, Mickelson makes less than half of what Woods does at $62 million, $53 million of which comes from endorsements. There are four NBA players in ...

Bloomberg is reporting that airlines are discussing charging passengers by weight. Just when you thought airlines couldn’t get any more impersonal, it turns out they really do view you like a piece of meat. I’m a little biased as a short guy who only eats when imminent survival is on the line, but unlike the golfer-hating new standard of charging for a second checked bag, I’m in favor of this charge. It will be another incentive for the most overweight and gluttonous nation in the world to hold back on the McNuggets. And I think we can all agree that ...

Kenny Perry’s performance today in the final round of the Memorial was a thing of beauty. On a day where all the leaders seemed to falter, Perry coasted to a two-shot victory and $1 million payday. More importantly perhaps, Perry now stands to be among the favorites to join the U.S. team at the 2008 Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky. A Kentucky native, Perry has made no secret of his dream of playing on the U.S. team in his home state at Valhalla this fall. Captain Paul Azinger said earlier this week that for any player to ...

I can only imagine the look on Donald Trump’s face when he was browsing the net over his morning java, clicked on his “Aberdeen” Google News alerts and saw: “New £100,000 bridge will save Scotland’s red squirrels” I haven’t had multiple run-ins with The Donald like TravelGolf.com’s Chris Baldwin, but I would like to believe he had a spit take, then furiously and repeatedly brushed his comb-over. The planned bridge is specifically designed to allow red squirrels and other wild life to scamper across a major Aberdeenshire bypass safely. There are 120,000 red squirrels in Scotland, and apparently are V.I.P. ...

Does anyone else get the feeling that rewarding Phil Mickelson with a Colonial victory after he blew another tee shot left on the 72nd hole is like buying your daughter a convertible right after she flunked out of college? This behavior cannot be encouraged. If you missed it this afternoon, Mickelson came to the 18th tee tied for the lead with his playing partner Rod Pampling and Tim Clark, who was in the clubhouse. Mickelson blew his drive left into the trees ala Winged Foot. Pampling was straight down the middle. The commentators deemed Mickelson in jail, and said his ...

It was one of finest shots I’ve ever hit. I’m walking Prestwick Golf Club on a cold, rainy October morning with a stroke saver as my only company. There are easier courses to get around solo than Prestwick, that’s for sure. As I stood on the tee of the par-3 5th hole, not only could I not see the flag, I had really no clue which way the hole went. It took me five minutes to figure it out that I would hit east, uphill and blindly between two dunes. The yardage said about 190, but given the wind and ...

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – I just couldn’t wait before I got back across the pond. I had to order some Burger King here at Manchester Airport. So this England and Wales recap blog before I head home is brought to you by a double cheeseburger from B.K. - What’s with golf clubs in the U.K. charging 20p for little pencils? Yes, it’s not included in the green fee. At one club, I mentioned pencils are generously included in the green fee in the States. “They are???” one bright-eyed member said overhearing me. It’s true. The U.S.A. also has free refills on ...

I’ve finished up my 12-day trek through the golf courses of southwest England and North Wales. I’m knackered, sure, but I’ve picked the right night to be in Manchester before flying home tomorrow. It’s the night of the heavily anticipated Man. U v. Chelsea Champions League Final from Moscow. I watched it tonight from a hotel bar which is filled with Man. U fans. I had originally planned on perhaps heading to the city centre to watch the match. I was in Prague during the World Cup, and watching matches from Wenceslas Square was great fun. I still remember the pandemonium ...

NEFYN, WALES – There is a course out there you have probably never heard of, unless you’re one of those golfers well versed in the many lesser-known gems of the British Isles: Nefyn & District Golf Club. I played it yesterday and was blown away. Not literally. In fact, winds were unusually tame on this exposed peninsula on Wales’ north coast, where in the winter time can see gusts up to 100 miles an hour. But Nefyn will go down as one of the most memorable rounds I ever play. It isn’t your traditional links amongst sandy dunes, but more ...

HARLECH, WALES – I paid a visit to Royal St. David’s in North Wales this afternoon, a lovely 19th century links where the ancient Harlech Castle ruins loom over you at every turn. It was a sight I’d never seen before, playing so closely beneath a ruin straight overhead. The castle is so close in fact, a former Welsh Open champ, Captain Carter in 1922, succeeded in hitting a ball from the course up into the castle and won a 100-1 pound bet - which isn’t exactly chump change given the era he achieved this feat. Personally, I wouldn’t mind ...

PADSTOW, CORNWALL - Unless you are well versed in the countless links gems of the British Isles, or are an avid reader of GolfEurope.com, where architect Tom Doak listed St. Enodoc among his top five “undiscovered” links, you’ve probably never heard much about St. Enodoc. In fact, it’s hard to believe many golfers outside of the U.K. have heard a great deal about any of the courses in England’s rural Southwest. But St. Enodoc, part of England’s Atlantic Links cooperative, has all the makings of a fine, 19th century gem. It has the coastal scenery playing over the “Doom ...

Golf blogger B Tuck here, back again with another popular installment of airport thoughts, where before I officially vacate the time zone, I shed a few notable observations over a cup of Joe. - If you have an Oregon golf or business trip on the horizon - and especially if you’ll be in fashionable Portland - don’t buy any clothes until you get here. Not only is there no sales tax on anything (including food, it feels like I’m back in Europe again where the price you see on the tag and the menu is what’s on the bill), there’s ...

If you’re anything like me, that means 90% of your liquid intake consists of coffee and beer. That said, after two weeks in Oregon, driving everywhere from Bend to Eugene to Bandon and now in Portland, I can’t say I’ve had the same beer or cup of joe twice. They say Oregon is the nation’s capital of microbreweries like Deschutes, Widmere, Steelhead, and plenty others. There is “Terminal Gravity", which sounds more like a Six Flags roller coaster than a beer, but has a tremendous following nonetheless. I even hear there is a “Tuck’s Brewery", as to which I’ll most ...

The Bandon Dunes Resort succeeds mightily in what it’s trying to be: modern, comfortable hotel and resort facilities but golf courses at their most elemental: fast, firm and subject to mother nature on remote, barren coastline. It’s fairways are among the widest I’ve ever seen, and the greens are enormous (in my mind, only the Old Course in St. Andrews’ are bigger). After six rounds in three days, 80-foot putts and Texas wedges from 30 yards off the green seem all too commonplace. But after walking 108 holes on its firm dunes in 72 hours, there was no sweeter sight ...

Pay attention to the weatherman over the last week, and you would be led to believe Tuesday would be a golf washout at Bandon Dunes. I’d been checking the weather about three times a day over the last week, and Tuesday looked to be the worst day: rain all day with highs topping out in the mid 40s. It’s hard to really look forward to the sound of your alarm clock in the morning when you’re anticipating that kind of punishment - even on the finest of links. So what happens? Well, by the time we woke up, the rain’s ...

Golf course architect David McLay Kidd is one hot tamale. He’s a relative up-and-comer and I’m not horribly versed in his works, which include Bandon Dunes down the road and Fancourt in South Africa. But I do know any designer who lands the St. Andrews No. 7 project has more street cred than that internet fighting sensation Kimbo Slice. I had the opportunity to get a sneak preview of one of Kidd’s newest courses slated to open this summer: Tetherow Golf Club in Bend, Oregon. Bend is a little city in the central Oregon desert that has experienced an incredible ...

After just a few days in Oregon driving between Portland, Sisters and Bend, I feel like I’ve already visited three different golf destinations - and I haven’t even been to Bandon Dunes on the Pacific coast yet. Courses twenty minutes apart from each other are in their own micro climates. If I’m driving tomorrow and a left turn runs me smack dab into a flock of penguins camped out around an oasis of palm trees, I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. I’ve already seen roadside sheep and llamas. I was especially surprised to discover Oregon even has a desert climate ...

For golfers coming to the Grand Strand who want to spend as little time as possible in the car without being in the epicenter of Myrtle Beach, there are two options I would suggest over the rest: Pawleys Island or Little River. Little River is about a half hour’s drive north of Myrtle Beach, just past North Myrtle Beach below the North Carolina State line. Here’s what’s great about Little River: the land rolls a little more than just about everywhere else. There are great natural elevation changes of up to 50 feet, and the Intracoastal Waterway offers some fantastic ...

Trevor Immelman is a slowpoke golfer and not very animated on the course. His blowout of the field today didn’t make for very compelling television (had I known, our group definitely would have played an extra nine this afternoon instead of rushing home to watch). It’s hard to really get behind a major champion who shot a final-round 3-over with no real threats. My opinion of the guy changed at the press conference. I love a guy with a self-deprecating sense of humor. “I hadn’t been looking at the leaderboard all day, but I figured I must have been doing ...

Trevor Immelman may be cruising his way to a green jacket, but he’s doing so going 45 in a 65 in the left lane with his blinker on. Immelman and Brandt Snedeker teed off at 2:30 pm. It’s 7:00 now and they just barely teed off the 17th, they are nearly two holes behind the group ahead, Paul Casey and Steve Flesch. Have they been put on the clock? I think Jim Nantz is getting sleepy. At the very least, he’s texting his agent demanding overtime comp. Now it looks like my local news is going to be bumped. When ...

Brandt Snedeker just drained a prayer on 12. Immelman is looking at bogey but will still hold a three shot lead going into 13 at the Masters. We counted Snedeker out yesterday as he bogeyed Amen Corner, then he rallied in furious fashion. There is no quit in this guy. If he can get two or three more birdies like he did yesterday, he could mount the comeback everyone thought Tiger Woods was ripe for. Woods’ miss on 13 probably sealed his fate. Now it’s him versus Snedeker and Flesch for second. Can someone tell me what happened to Paul ...

WorldGolf.com has been featuring a piece highlighting the advances of Martha Burk’s crusade against the members of Augusta National for too long without a counterpoint. William K. Wolfrum, WorldGolf’s resident liberal who is up to pick any fight against The Man, wrote a feature on the infamous feminist Burk and her organization shed some light on just how deep they continue to go after Augusta National and the corporations that support it. The Women on Wall Street organization is hitting Augusta’s members where it hurts: in the checkbook. According to Burk, they’ve won lawsuits totaling up $70-80 million versus ...

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Tiger Woods is really grinding out there at the Masters this afternoon. His good shots aren’t good enough. His bad shots, judging by his facial expressions, seem catastrophic. He can’t make any putts, and it’s going to be hard to stick any shots that close in this wind (unless of course you’re leader Trevor Immelman, who is throwing darts). Woods failed to birdie both par 5s on the front nine. He probably needed both to have a shot at contending for the Green Jacket. Looking at how intense he is, and the ...

After Brandt Snedeker’s third consecutive bogey on the 13th hole, I pronounced him toast, banishing him to the land of Masters pretenders with Justin Rose and Ian Poulter. His bounce back, notching two consecutive birdies on 14 and 15, followed by an even more impressive 3 on 18 has him in the final group going into Sunday. This turnaround was nothing short of remarkable. Snedeker is a true master at damage control. If golf doesn’t work out for him, I’m sure he’d make a fine CEO at Bear Sterns. Who thought he had it in him? He has this goofy, ...

Las Vegas-based sports talk DJ Papa Joe Chevalier invited me onto his drive time radio show Friday afternoon to elaborate on a Friday morning blog that caught his eye. Papa Joe calls the Masters an “anachronism", which is beyond any WorldGolf.com writers’ vocab (probably other than know-it-all Ph.D. Kiel Christanson). For the layman, that means “out of its place in time". Of course, once I got into the discussion there were few five-syllable words tossed around…Papa Joe and I talked about all the things the Masters & Augusta National can get away with that other institutions can’t, like how can ...

Tiger Woods has somehow found his way back into the Masters after putting together by far his finest nine of the tournament, shooting a 33 on the backside of Augusta National this afternoon. It’s Tiger and a bunch of newbies without any major experience at the top of the leaderboard. Brandt Snedeker, Paul Casey and Trevor Immelman are all youngsters with no major wins. They have yet to crack under pressure like Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and plenty others. I wouldn’t like Tiger’s chances as much if Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk were able to keep pace. But ...

For being one of America’s most old fashioned country clubs, Augusta National & the Masters sure are ahead of the curve in terms of live Masters coverage from all angles. I don’t know about Martha Burke, but I’m all too willing to kick the ladies to the curb here if that means having total 360 access this week. We don’t have to wait until 4 p.m. to watch ESPN’s live coverage thanks to multiple channels broadcasting the back nine online at Masters.org, including the “Amen Corner” channel and my favorite, the “15 & 16″ channel (15 is my favorite hole ...

When players compare scoring conditions at Augusta National to the U.S. Open, it isn’t a compliment. But that’s all we seem to be hearing after Day 1 of the Masters. “It felt like a U.S. Open out there,” Woods told ESPN, who scored an eagle but no birdies in an even par round. More analysts agreed. “We’re not hearing the ‘roar’,” said Woods and plenty others, referring to the back nine which is accustomed to yielding a slew of birdies and eagles. There were only three eagles Thursday, including one from Woods. These guys know it’s a major, right? I ...

Phil Mickelson isn’t my favorite golfer, and he’s certainly not the best out there. But if I can get a front row seat to watch any PGA Tour player for 18 holes, it’s gotta be Lefty. It seems like every round of Mickelson’s these days is a wild adventure, full of duck hooks, bail outs, miraculous chips and long prayers to save par. He has more hot and cold moments than a recovering junkie. How can Mickelson stomach this insanity round after ro