"The timing of the story feels odd."

I'm with Steve Elling on this one: People Magazine's piece on Elin Nordegren dropping today stinks, but I'm not sure exactly why. Neither is Elling, but he still has some Tiger sympathy in this instance:

Surely, for some who had begun to feel some pangs of sympathy for Woods over his free-fall predicament -- myself included, to some degree -- the interview certainly put the train back on the rails. His personal and professional lives are in utter disarray, and it has been surreal to watch it unravel, like when statues of icons are toppled during political coups. He has been humiliated in the public square, if not de-pantsed.

Wednesday morning, a few hours before the forthcoming Nordegren revelations were known, the New York Post printed a story headlined, "Here, Pussycat: Players don't fear the tamed Tiger." He's declawed and toothless, trying to make the cut and advance to the second round of the FedEx chase next week in Boston, an event that is hosted by his charitable foundation.

The People interview served to remind just how toxic his double life had become. With the tabloid media on hand and peppering him for a confessional, sharpening their cutlery, Woods fell on his own sword, which was probably a prudent move.

"My actions certainly led us to this decision," he said. "And I've certainly made a lot of errors in my life and that's something I'm going to have to live with."

Doug Ferguson in writing up today's Tiger presser, also noted this odd scene. Too bad Tiger's goons didn't turn into linebackers...

Before he completed the first hole, his agent and spokesman were outside the rope, each talking on a cell phone.

Then, after Woods hit his approach to the green, a tabloid columnist walked out into the fairway with notepad and pen to ask him questions. She had never been to a golf tournament and was not aware that reporters are to stay by the ropes.

And now that writers can touch on the subject of divorce and golf, Jason Sobel talks to several recent divorcees and gets some amazingly frank replies, including this from Chris Couch:

Though no active player has gotten divorced following the kind of professional success Woods has enjoyed, others have witnessed varying results in their own careers while enduring the process of marital separation.

"I was playing on the Nationwide Tour at the time and was either No. 1 or 2 on the money list," Couch said. "She delivered divorce papers after I shot 68 in the first round, then I went out and made a 9 on the first hole the next day. So that just goes to show you how it affects your mind."

Monty Calls Captain's Pick Task "Impossible" When You Set Annoying Parameters Like He Has

Not that anyone expected him to keep his word about players who showed up at this week's Johnnie Walker event at Gleneagles, but it's the sentiment that counts, Monty!

Martin Dempster on the captain's chat today.

"This isn't difficult, it's bordering on the impossible," said Montgomerie. "It is most unfortunate that I am going to have to leave out world stars. I am going to have to leave out players that feel they can help the European Tour cause."

"It's a bit like Fabio Capello having to leave out Theo Walcott, I suppose," he added. "He could only take 23, I can only take 12. I wish I could take 20, The standard on Tour has been the best it's ever been. This has been the hardest team to make of any Ryder Cup team I have been involved with."

Yeah, and we know how well that worked for Fabio.

Alistair Tait writes:

Montgomerie said in June that he would reward players for their loyalty to the European Tour, but appeared to backtrack on that promise here at Gleneagles.

“My remit at the start of this campaign was to assemble the best 12 players for Europe to try and regain the Ryder Cup for Europe,” Montgomerie said. “That has not changed.”

Lawrence Donegan notes this on Fabio Montgomerie's rationalization today.

"The situation of players not attending here has changed, in my opinion," he said. "I'm glad that the players [in the US] that might well get selected are playing competitive golf. I think the American team's performance at Valhalla [in 2008] was boosted by the fact that they were playing competitive golf right up to the Ryder Cup. If it boosts their performance, it can boost our own."

Five months ago, Montgomerie was insistent that an appearance at Gleneagles this week was all but mandatory for anyone still looking to find his favour. The Ryder Cup worm has turned, clearly, and in this rapid change of direction Montgomerie surely revealed that one decision has been made, even if the most decisive decision of all has not.

The lucky three will come from the FedEx Four. But which of them will be the odd man out?

But look at this educational moment Fabio's comments provided us today. The PGATour.com headline: "Monty supports European players choosing FedExCup"

Who knew FedExCup was all one word!? Well, now I know, thanks to Monty. For the final two years I'll type it's name correctly, I promise.

Anyway, back the analysis of his press conference. 

Mark Reason notes this about the Fab FedExCup Four:

For 12 months that was exactly what Montgomerie was doing. But at the PGA Championship a fortnight ago he was no longer telling, he was asking. Montgomerie asked Padraig Harrington, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Luke Donald to play at Gleneagles. They all said no. At least most of Fabio Capello's mob tend to turn up for qualifying matches.

This unbylined Telegraph piece quotes Peter Hanson, who is stirring up trouble already by suggesting the Gleneagles absentees have made a mistake.

''If you really want to make the team – and, of course, if you are that close – then you should be here and playing,'' he said.

James Corrigan reports on Edoardo Molinari believing he deserves a spot on the team.

Yet the bookies agree with Molinari: Montgomerie will go for the reputation over the desire. "To be honest, the guys who have turned up here must want it more," said the 7-1 fifth favourite.

"If the Ryder Cup is a goal of your season, then you come to the final qualifying event. Hopefully I'll play well enough this week to force Colin to pick me."

Tom English makes a strong case that Fabio shouldn't even be considering Padraig Harrington.

The argument for Harrington is as out of date as last week's milk. True, he's a three-time major championship winner, but we're harking back to 2008 here. The world has moved on since then. Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, YE Yang, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer have all won a major since Harrington last got his hands on one of golf's biggest prizes. To bang on about Harrington's Opens and his PGA is to rage against the dying of the light.

In 2010, he missed the cut at the Masters, the Players', missed the Open and the PGA. He was 22nd at the US Open, the best finish he has managed in his last seven majors. In the Accenture world match play, he lost in the first round to Jeev Milkha Singh. The previous year, he lost in the first round to Pat Perez.

Which brings us to another reason why Harrington - terrific bloke, though he is - shouldn't be on Monty's mind come Sunday. His matchplay form going back four years is utterly wretched. He's been a passenger at the last two Ryder Cups, contributing all but nothing. At Valhalla, he played four matches and won half a point. He somehow contrived to lose to Chad Campbell in the singles even though Campbell had been struggling to hit the ball out of his way all week.

Furyk Out Of Playoffs With Partially Dislocated Cell Phone Power Sprain

Who uses a cell phone as their only alarm? Oh right, your former No. 3 playoff seed, Jim Furyk.

You think Fluff's doing a little muttering today?

In related news, Dustin Johnson is preparing a thank you note for Furyk.

So Much For Elin Signing A Binding, Comprehensive, All-Inclusive Non-Disclosure Agreement!**

People has the exclusive first and purportedly last interview with Elin Nordegren that hits newsstands Friday.

In 19 hours over four visits to her Windermere, Fla., rental home, Nordegren shared never-before-seen personal photographs and opened up to PEOPLE about the emotional roller coaster she's been on, her life as a mother to Sam, 3, and Charlie, 19 months, and her hopes for the future.

"My immediate plan is for the kids and me to continue to adjust to our new situation. I am going to keep taking classes, but my main focus is to try to give myself time to heal," she says.

She tells the magazine this was her first – and last – interview, as she intends to remain a private person.

Update on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 06:18 AM by Geoff

**More details from the AP and Doug Ferguson include Elin denying she ever hit Tiger ("I did everything I could to get him out of the locked car. To think anything else is absolutely wrong") and that her people approached People. There was also this imagery from Ridgewood:

Shortly before 8 a.m. ET, when the People magazine story broke, his agent, Mark Steinberg, stepped outside the ropes of the first fairway and was on the phone for the next 10 minutes, as was Woods' spokesman, Glenn Greenspan.

Tiger Wins Web Award Categories Only Tim Finchem Could Love

Oddly, TigerWoods.com did not win for Breaking News even though it broke its fair share in 2010. However, check out these categories in the SportBusiness Group's annual Ultimate Sports Websites Awards.

TigerWoods.com won four of the seven categories -- Multimedia Content, General Content, Monetisation, and Partnership Activation.

Relaunched in June 2009, the site earned praise from the judges for its "general and multimedia content," and said it also "delivered for sponsors."

Well, until November 27. Wonder if there was a Partnership Deactivation category?

TigerWoods.com was also lauded for its attractive, clean layout, menu bar and easy access for fans to register, log in and search the site.

The judges also liked such features as Club Tiger, which enables members to receive regular newsletters from Woods, fantasy games and fan contests, and the message board.

"This is a nice honor," said Woods, the top-ranked golfer in the world. "A lot of people have worked very hard to improve our product, and the recognition is well-deserved. This year-round site was created for my fans, and I'm extremely grateful for their loyalty and support."

"It appears the USGA is still learning how to properly prepare Chambers Bay for tournament play."

In reading Sean Martin's follow-up story on Chambers Bay and its setup for the U.S. Amateur, it's hard not to wonder why this event has become a guinea pig of sorts for the U.S Open.

It appears the USGA is still learning how to properly prepare Chambers Bay for tournament play, somewhat understandable since this is the first national championship being held here.

There were concerns Saturday, two days before the tournament started, that the course was playing too firm. The USGA increased its watering after that, but it may have been too little, too late. Chambers Bay is built on sandy soil that doesn’t retain moisture well, especially in dry, windy conditions, Davis said.

The grounds crew placed twice as much water on the course as originally planned on the eve of Monday’s first round, then watered again Monday morning.

“Our hope was that amount was going to get us through the day. It didn’t,” Davis said. “It played very well (Monday) morning, even early afternoon. We really did feel that somewhere between 2:30 and 4 o’clock (Monday), it just got too firm on us.”

All of Chambers Bay is covered in fine fescue, which can handle extreme dryness better than most grasses, and allowed the USGA to push the course to the limit.

“On these greens, depending on the quadrant, we’re seeing 3 to 5 percent moisture, which is incredibly low,” Davis said. He was expressing concern, not bragging. “If you did this on bent grass or poa annua greens, these things would be dead. But the fescue just goes dormant.”

Update on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 09:57 PM by Geoff

**Martin follows up with a tweet on Chambers Bay's scoring average in U.S. Amateur stroke play: 79.25

"It was kind of a freak thing and unfortunate. But it happened."

Dustin Johnson chatted with a group of scribblers for the first time since his PGA penalty. The highlights:

Q. Have you read the rules sheet this week?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: No. I might do that. (Laughter).

Q. Wanted to know if you've talked much with the caddie about this, and will you approach it a little differently going forward?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's pretty -- there's not much to talk about, really. But, yeah, we've talked about it. And it was -- I mean obviously now you know when he gets to the ball, especially if I'm in a situation like that, he's going to remind me to be careful and maybe tell me that I might be in a bunker, I might need to ask somebody what kind of situation I'm in.

But it's not really much -- there's nothing that -- I can't blame him at all because he never thought we were in a bunker. I didn't either. And a lot of other people that looked at it. So I can't blame him. It's not his fault. It's my fault, if anyone's.

Q. Just to follow up, obviously there's a lot of bunkers. A lot of players have said if you were able to see in its entirety without people everywhere you may have approached it differently. Do you feel that way, too?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's hard to say, because it didn't happen like that. So I mean, maybe. But maybe not. It's hard to say. It was kind of a freak thing and unfortunate. But it happened.

Tiger Slam Irons Back On The Market

This time, with a polygraph test and the backing of Green Jacket Auctions, and just in time for Tiger to be asked about it Wednesday at Ridgewood.

How confident were we that these golf clubs were used by Tiger Woods' during the Tiger Slam? Well, we hired a certified polygraph examiner to perform a lie detector test on Steve Mata. Have you ever even heard of someone taking a polygraph to support a piece of sports memorabilia? We hadn't, but figured one of the greatest pieces of golf memorabilia in history deserved for us to think outside the box and go all-out to prove its authenticity. Steve Mata, of course, passed the test. These clubs were used in the Tiger Slam. The polygraph results are available for review to any and all prospective bidders, and will be included with the winning bidder of this auction.

NBC's Ebersol Tours TGC Headquarters: Michael Breed Screams Offer For Free Lessons

John Ourand reports on an intriguing development for followers of the NBC-Comcast merger.

Ebersol flew in and out of the Golf Channel’s headquarters the same day, a trip that increased speculation that Comcast will pick the longtime media executive to oversee the merged company’s sports channels, including Versus, Golf Channel and Universal Sports, as well as NBC Sports.

Ebersol long has been viewed as the odds-on favorite for that position, which would report to Comcast’s chief operating officer, Steve Burke.

It appears unlikely that Comcast’s regional sports networks would be grouped with the national sports networks. Rather, sources say, Comcast seems to be leaning toward grouping the RSNs with NBC’s owned-and-operated stations.

Line Develops At U.S. Amateur To Handle Slow Play Penalty Mediations!**

If only I was joking. Guess 7,700 yards and brick greens rolling 13 on the Stimp isn't meshing with the pace-of-play guidelines.

Sean Martin writing for The Onion Golfweek:

There were times Monday that groups had to wait outside the tent as the group ahead of them appealed penalties.

Four groups did not complete play Monday, as the final groups were on pace to play in nearly 6 hours. In all, 12 players were given one-stroke, pace-of-play penalties at Chambers Bay. Three players at The Home Course, the other layout for stroke play, were assessed three penalty strokes apiece.

Mike Davis, the U.S. Golf Association’s senior director of rules and competition, estimated that 50-70 penalty strokes for pace-of-play have been given at the U.S. Amateur since the USGA’s checkpoint policy was adopted for the 2006 U.S. Amateur.

Well at least the golf course didn't get away from them...

“We really did feel that somewhere between 2:30 and 4 o’clock today, it just got too firm on us,” Davis said. “Really well-struck shots were ending up in places that the player wasn’t being rewarded for. In the last 4, 5, maybe 6 hours of golf today, it played firmer on the greens.”

Craig Hill tells the story of Nick Ellis and his group missing three of four timing checkpoints, resulting in penalty shots.

“It’s an unfortunate thing,” Ellis said. “They (USGA rules officials) obviously didn’t see the situation the right way.”

The USGA requires golfers to be no more than 14 minutes behind the group in front of them at checkpoints after the fourth, ninth, 13th and 18th holes.

Ellis was particularly upset that his group, which included Michael Brown of Pennsylvania and Tevis Upton of Georgia, was told to mark balls on the green on No. 4 to allow the group behind them to play up in order to alleviate congestion. While they waited the group ahead of them started pulling away.

USGA rules official Jeff Hall said Ellis’ group was less than 14 minutes behind after the fourth hole and should have been able to stay within that window.

“Is the process perfect?” Hall said. “No. No pace of play policy is perfect, but this puts the onus where it needs to be (on the players).”

Ellis’ group was 24 minutes behind after the ninth hole and they were given a warning. They were 31 minutes behind after the 13th hole and were told they’d receive a 1-stroke penalty.

They were given an additional 2-stroke penalty after the 18th hole when they were 16 minutes behind.

Despite making up 15 minutes, Hall said the players could have done more.

“I’m looking for effort,” said Hall, who watched Ellis’ group for the final nine holes. “I didn’t see anybody consistently try to drag the others along.”

Hall said he wanted to see players running between shots, selecting their clubs faster and playing out of turn if needed to improve the pace.

Update on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 10:14 AM by Geoff

**This Dave Boling story would seem to indicate that the course was on edge Sunday.

Kim said that players believe that the USGA, already notorious for toughening up courses for championship competitions, is using these amateurs as guinea pigs to test conditions under tournament pressure for when Chambers plays host to the 2015 U.S. Open.

“Our practice round on Saturday was very close to unfair, maybe even unplayable,” Kim said, noting that the greens hadn’t been watered and were running close to “13 or 14” on the gauge that tests such things. Readings that high are reserved for Wal-Mart parking lots.

“I think they want to test things out to see just how far they can take it and still make it playable,” Kim said.

Not a lot of links courses push 14 on the Stimp.

62 In A Major!

Okay, only Jack Nicklaus counts it as a major, but still...former touring pro Jeff Wilson has a seven shot lead after day one of the U.S. Amateur.

As a side note I know two people attending the U.S. Amateur today at Chambers Bay. Both slipped, with one broken wrist.

"Although golf's ruling bodies should constantly look at every aspect of the game, a ball that flies 20 yards less is not what the game needs right now."

Golf World Monday noted my report on the Canadian ball testing and issued this response to the news:

Among the notable comments: The ball flew approximately 20 yards shorter and was more difficult to shape; it seemed to impact distance more for big hitters and feel around the green was suspect. On the plus side, it required longer iron shots into greens (two to three clubs more) and a wider variety of shots around the greens.

Great, so they can't wait to see the data and results of the player surveys too!

Wait, what?

Although golf's ruling bodies should constantly look at every aspect of the game, a ball that flies 20 yards less is not what the game needs right now. Golf fans want power (seriously, is John Daly a draw if he hits it 275 yards?) and to watch pros do things they cannot.

Gee, and here I thought the USGA had already made up its mind!

Is John Daly a draw at any driving distance?

Plus, driving distance has remained essentially flat for six years. Finally, coming off a groove rule that appears to have no impact whatsoever, is now really the time to be studying another potential rollback?"

Does this mean ratings are flatlining and galleries thinning because driving distance is not on an upward trajectory?

Not to sound like a broken record: it is a miracle the game survived those dreary days when the long hitters only belted it 275. Or even 220! How could anyone have enjoyed those shorter walks from the tee to the ball, and rounds taking less time to play and a that dreary emphasis on shotmaking over power. I bet Vardon and Ray even talked about that as they whapped it around.

Ted R.: "I think this is the last time I can play this way, Harold. They'll have it so much better in the future with five mantel Urethane balls and rounds dragging out at least 90 minutes longer to accommodate the 300 yard drive."

Harry V: "So funny you said that. Just as I was laying that gem of a stymie on your ball at the last, I was thinking, some day they'll end this silly intrigue and get this game the way it was meant to be, so that fans can see proper drives of 330 yards, only after a proper session at a Carlsbad-based testing center!"