It was 25 years ago this very day, cold and blowing in New England, a Nor’easter having dumped a foot of snow on the field at Foxborough Stadium. The Englishman was the kicker for the New England Patriots, and broke a sloppy, scoreless duel with a snowplow-aided field goal late in the fourth quarter. Final Score—Patriots 3, Dolphins 0. Smith was assisted that afternoon by an ex-con named Mark Henderson, out on work release, who veered his snowplow over to the hash-mark, clearing the snow (although not the ice, as Smith told me recently) so he could make the ...

I planted my golf spikes firmly in the Georgia clay more than a decade past. But I’ve developed no allegiance to the Braves, Falcons or Hawks in all that time. My only local rooting interest is the Georgia Bulldogs, primarily because my oldest daughter is a freshman pup. Because as the saying goes, you can take the boy out of the Bay State, but you can’t take the Bay State out of the boy. So these are heady times for New Englanders, with the Red Sox two games from another World Series title, the Patriots undefeated ...

C.C.. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona are an excellent pitching tandem for the tribe, and match the Sox duo of Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling handily. But despite the usual pronouncements that October baseball success is predicated mostly on pitching, the Bostonians are clear favorites to reach the World Series. This goes beyond their first-rate closer in Jonathan Papelbon, their hot-hitting duo of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, and the fact that the Boston roster has literally twice as much experience at this level of the playoffs than do their counterparts. (The Red Sox personnel have played in ...

I recently had the distinct pleasure of spending some 24 hours at the only golf club officially named for the world’s foremost architect. The Pete Dye Golf Club, like its namesake, is quirky, unforgettable, and pure genius. There are three things to note about this magnificent walk through West Virginia woodlands. The first is that the construction dragged on for a full 16 years—longer than it took to build the Brooklyn Bridge, about as long as it took to construct India’s famous Taj Mahal. One of the principal reasons it took forever to produce is because ...

Visited Athens, Georgia this past Saturday, where our daughter is a freshman at the University of Georgia, and attended our first-ever Bulldogs game. The pageantry of major college football is unforgettable, but both the opponent (Western Carolina, which lost its twelfth straight, and hasn’t won a game in literally a full year) and the weather were disappointing. While this was an out-of-league game (and the opponent was completely out of its league, losing 45-16) the game time temperatures were definitely SEC-caliber. (Sauna-like, Extremely Clammy.) The remorseless sunshine, lack of breeze and metal benches combined to induce a sweat-fest ...

Just back from a four-day foray to Destination Kohler–the Five-Diamond Mega-Resort and Spa that has made the unlikely blue-collar outpost of Sheboygan, Wisconsin one of the most sought-after destinations in golf. The trip began with a bang—a one-hour face-to-face with the Billionaire owner, the Grand Poobah of Plumbing himself—Herb Kohler. Our chat was illuminating, as he was providing some excellent insight into the subject of my next book - the great golf course architect Pete Dye. But the conversation, no matter how stimulating, was an absolute yawner in comparison to the opportunity to play the quartet of stunningly beautiful courses, ...

The concept of employing a caddie makes a significant percentage of the golf public rather uncomfortable. I conduct straw polls wherever my travels take me, (60-something new courses played this year through August) and the laundry list of reasons why golfers eschew caddies when they’re available include the following: • I don’t like to walk, I always take a cart. • They are too expensive. • I’m not good enough, and I don’t want to be embarrassed. • ...

The U.S. Open is upon us once again, and the world’s toughest tournament will be tougher-than-ever this year, being contested at frightening Oakmont, outside of Pittsburgh, where the members like to say the superintendent slows down the greens for the world’s best players. Will there be a train wreck at tournament’s end, like last year’s final—hole debacle? For those with fading memories, here’s a quick encapsulation and perspective on last year’s gory finale: Television commentator Johnny Miller summed it up best, watching Phil Mickelson spraying tee shots like a lawn sprinkler throughout the final round of the ...

Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of one of golf’s greatest feats—Al Geiberger shooting a then-unheard of 59 at what was known as the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic. “I am amazed that it’s been 30 years and the record still hasn’t been broken,” said Geiberger recently. “I still wonder sometimes how I ever did it.” Not hard to understand. All you need to do is make 11 birdies and an eagle, keep the bogeys off the card, and there you are. Meanwhile, he remains the only player to ever win a PGA Tour event without shooting a round ...

Columbus, Ohio, site of this week’s Memorial Tournament, is arguably America’s top golf city, particularly in the private sector. Though it ranks 14th nationally in terms of size, the high-end clubs in and around the city make it a major player in the golf world. Of course, there’s Jack’s Place—Muirfield Village, site of this week’s Memorial.(#37 in the GOLF Magazine list of world-wide Top 100 Courses) There’s Scioto (#71) where young Jack learned the game from legendary instructor Jack Grout. There’s The Golf Club (#48) a Pete Dye beauty. And there’s Double Eagle, (#31 on Golfweek’s America’s ...

A gas explosion inside the new Ocean Course clubhouse kitchen at Kiawah Island Golf Resort injured four construction workers this past Friday, course officials said. Two of the workers were taken by helicopter to a hospital burn unit in Augusta, Georgia according to course and hospital officials. The Ocean Course is readying to host the Senior PGA Championship later this week, arguably the highest-profile event that’s come to Kiawah’s marquee golf course since the infamous “War by the Shore” Ryder Cup in ‘91. Some readers might recall the trauma of that contest, with Mark Calcavecchia shanking his tee shot into the ...

Deane Beman was the first Hall-of-Famer to swat a ball at what was to become the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, just south of Jacksonville. On February 12th, 1978, the then-PGA Tour commissioner hit a ceremonial drive into 415 acres of wooded wetlands and swamps, filled with creatures both snuffling and slithering. It was part ceremonial, part celebratory, as the Tour had just purchased the morass for a single dollar bill. In the ensuing decades, practically every contemporary Hall-of-Fame member and modern golf star have followed Beman onto the property. This puts the ...

Was I the only observer struck by the similarity between Scott Verplank’s fall-to-the-knees manuever after holing the short putt to win the Byron Nelson Classic the other day, and the comparable “I can’t believe it” moment of Ben Crenshaw, back in ‘95, when he won an improbable second Masters? Avid PGA Tour fans might recall that Crenshaw won the title just days after serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of mentor and long-time instructor Harvey Penick, who taught him the game at Austin CC in Texas. Verplank, a Dallas native, might not have had the same lifelong bond with Lord Byron ...

Once upon a time, only the best won the dubious privilege of wearing the tartan blazer, signifying victory at Harbour Town. “The King” set the precedent at the inaugural event in 1969, and a roll call of the game’s luminaries followed Arnold Palmer to the victory circle. I’m talking Nicklaus, Watson, Norman, Stewart, Faldo, Miller, Zoeller, Price, Langer and Love, the last no less than a five-time winner. Then things changed. Since Glen “All” Day won what to this point remains his only Tour title in ‘99, the list of champions has become decidedly more pedestrian. Stewart ...

My hometown PGA Tour event begins Thursday, and what a thrilling sight it will be. The Verizon Heritage is one of the most appealing events of the year from a visual perspective, and it goes well beyond the familiarity of the candy-striped lighthouse, the mega-yachts in the harbor, the sparkling waters of the nearby Calibogue Sound, and the centuries-old, moss-draped hardwoods that define the playing corridors of Harbour Town. Its the stunning female scenery that sets Harbour Town apart. Sure, it’s nice to see Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Leonard, Love, Lehman, and newly-minted Masters champ Zach Johnson. But ...

Even playing indifferently in round one of The Masters, Tiger Woods isn’t far from the lead. He’ll probably lap the field in the days to come, winning his fifth Green Jacket. But Tiger, where’s the decorum? In at least three or four televised incidents, Top Cat lost his cool, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. He slammed the sand one-handed after a bunker shot wasn’t to his liking. He dropped the putter when a birdie bid turned away, muttered incessantly, and a lip reader could tell you he wasn’t saying “Golly Gee.” A poor ...

It was a tremendous thrill to play with “Mr. 59″ two weeks ago while on assignment in Palm Springs, California. Geiberger is the pro emeritus at a fabulous new private facility, the Tom Doak-designed Stone Eagle. Words defy description, so “Google” the course and see for yourself. Anyway–it was just me and Al for 4 hours, maybe there were three or four other groups on the golf course. He’s pushing 70, but still busting it 280 off the tee, scattered five birdies in posting a 1-under 70, all the while providing me aiming points, putting lines and breaks ...

Allen Doyle’s swing makes Jim Furyk’s look like Ben Hogan’s, he makes Lee Trevino look like Ernie Els. There was only one full-swing highlight of Allen Doyle on Sunday’s sportscasts, and believe me, it was enough to make toddlers cry and women run from the room. Doyle didn’t win the ACE Group Classic. He was caught and passed by Bobby Wadkins on the final hole. But the silver medal did little to diminish Doyle’s stature as one of the most successful and compelling Champions Tour figures of the last decade. He’s got 11 wins, including four majors, including back-to-back Senior ...

I’m busy squabbling with my friends (term used loosely) at Delta Airlines. The phone calls, the passenger property loss claims form, the internet searches, all because they’ve mislaid the tools of my trade. My golf bag. Where could my weaponry be? Pilfered by a malevolent baggage handler in Cancun? Sitting unclaimed in some dusty corner of Hartsfield International? Picked off a baggage carousel by some numbskull whose travel bag was the same shade of royal blue, too preoccupied to check the nametag? Sent off to some other city, a myopic airline employee mistaking Savannah’s airport code of SAV for SAB? ...

Good to see “Fairway” Fred Funk win the PGA Tour’s Mayakoba Golf Classic south of Cancun this past Sunday. I was privileged to visit the resort this past December with a few members of the golf press, and was most impressed with Greg Norman’s El Camaleon course. It’s a stunning amalgamation of jungle-lined fairways, ball-gobbling cenotes (mid-fairway caves that lead to underground rivers) ice-blue canals, rock quarries, and a couple of seaside par 3s. The only downside to the trip was having my entire golf bag, and all contents therein, ripped off at the Cancun airport on the way home, ...