NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – My cabbie in Austin couldn’t stop gushing about Malaysia as he drove me to the airport at 6 a.m. this morning. “It’s muslim, but very tolerant, and very beautiful,” he described, though warned me that dealing drugs over there carries a mandatory death sentence (so much for the late-night golf writer parties, I guess). He also confessed the reason he’s a cab driver is because he can’t concentrate on one thing long enough to get a career going. “I’m surprised that I remembered you wanted to be dropped off at the airport,” he said, a little ...

It’s all teary eyes and sentimental moments at the ADT Championship as Annika Sorenstam plays in her last LPGA Tour event for awhile. While there has been a ton of fanfare about her “retirement", we should remember she said this is more of a “stepping away.” I’d bet my bottom dollar we haven’t seen the last of Annika. That said, she leaves the tour at a time when they may need her the most. Thanks to a struggling economy and some controversial decisions coming from the tour, like the bad PR they received for their english ultimatum directed towards foreign ...

It’s official (pretty much). Donald Trump’s $1.5 billion golf resort has been given the green light by Scotland’s national finance secretary. After being thwarted by local Aberdeen environmentalists and officials last year, it appears the economic benefits of the resort, which will bring an estimated 6,000 jobs and loads more corporate and vacation tourism to a city with a dwindling fishing and oil business, were far too great. I visited the site two Octobers ago. Then, onsite officials were confident they would break ground the following June, which of course didn’t happen. From a touring golfer’s perspective, you couldn’t help ...

With the Children’s Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart long gone from the land of Mickey, now is the time to pencil in the family vacation getwaway to Walt Disney World, and reap a foursome of golf courses in tip-top shape. I visited Disney’s four courses last January before the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, and was blown away by how smooth the greens were. Over the last several years, each of Disney’s courses reseeded their greens with TifEagle Bermuda, and they rolled as smooth as any bent strain I’ve putted on, especially at the crack of dawn when you’re ...

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – As I often do whenever my layover allows, here is another installment of “Airport Thoughts", where I serve up a few closing opines on a recently completed trip. This time, I come from JFK airport after spending six days in Morocco’s capital city, Rabat, for the King Hassan II Trophy, won by Ernie Els Sunday. I’ve never been on a trip quite like Morocco. - First of all, I must say I am always happy to return to America after spending time abroad. That said, I just had a rude awakening here in the JFK lounge: ...

RABAT, MOROCCO – It’s no secret who the big ticket was this week at the King Hassan II Trophy in Morocco (aside from Prince Moulay Rachid residing over the tournament, of course), but it was none other than the Big Easy, Ernie Els. This is the first time the South African has been to Morocco, and he was the biggest draw in a 24-man field filled with mostly European Tour players like Johan Edfors and Paul McGinley. Mark O’Meara and Bobby Casper rounded out the American contingent. While the big money is in China this week for the HSBC Champions, ...

RABAT, MOROCCO – Morocco has a much longer history with golf than you might expect. It’s famous neighbor to the north, Spain, generally receives most of the ink, but many Europeans spend their golf holidays in Morocco, too. They don’t have the sheer quantity like Costa del Sol and Portugal’s Algarve, but there are a handful of solid resort courses. Casablanca doesn’t have much, but Marrakech is a popular holiday town with a couple solid courses (even Hillary Clinton goes there often, though I’m not sure if Bill tags along with her to hack it around on some courses himself). ...

RABAT, MOROCCO – Normally I try and avoid any political topics in my golf blog, though I think we can all agree it is not a “normal” time in the world this week. And the big news in America is especially notable for me because today is my second day in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, covering the King Hassan II Trophy. You’ve probably never heard of the event if you’re in North America, but this is the 36th staging, named after Morocco’s King from 1961-1999, and each year they’re usually able to attract a few big names. It’s a small, relatively ...