"If he's a former Ryder Cup captain, he ought know better, right?"

Steve Elling fleshes out the Bernard Gallacher-Jeff Overton incident. Gallacher really comes off poorly in this one.

Overton walked back toward his ball as his father, who had been stationed several yards away with a handful of other American fans, observed the broadcaster speaking to his son in demeaning fashion and stepped in to set Gallacher straight.

"Nose to nose," as Ron Overton described it.

If there is a truism in golf, it's that reporters are on the course to observe, not participate. Unless a player initiates a conversation, it's best to keep your trap shut. Gallacher was so far beyond the pale in antagonizing Overton that he ought to be ashamed of himself. Ron Overton didn't know Gallacher's name, much less his pedigree, until afterward. That only made it worse.

"If he's a former Ryder Cup captain, he ought know better, right?" Ron Overton said. "A ruling is between a player, the second player and the judge. Any player has the right to have a ruling explained to him. Nobody else has the right to say anything to either player."

And this was nice to read...

Ron Overton said he first spoke with Gallacher in a level tone that escalated from there. Fans were reportedly shocked by the exchange, and rightly so. Ron said it was the only cross words he had with anyone the entire trip.

"Please make a point of mentioning that I said that [incident] was the only rudeness we experienced from the 100,000 fans we encountered over the four days we were there," Ron Overton said Wednesday after arriving home in the States. "They have the greatest fans in the world. This was the only poor sportsmanship I witnessed the entire time."

G-Mac Takes PGA Tour Card; Euro Hero Status To Plunge?

But we will welcome the U.S. Open Champion with open arms!

"There's definitely going to be more of an American influence to my schedule for the first six months," McDowell explained.

"I want to give it a go next year because it's a non-Ryder Cup year and I would like to try to FedEx play-offs. I'll maybe not be quite as US-based as Luke Donald, Ian Poulter or Justin Rose, maybe like a Harrington-type schedule."

Uh Oh, Lee Westwood Caught Talking About Lee Westwood

The dreaded third person self references reared as he discussed sticking with the European Tour.

"I don't want to be dictated to by having to go to America to play FedEx Cup when it doesn't really mean that much to me," said the 37-year-old. "It doesn't mean enough to me anyway.

"I think they (the PGA Tour) would like me to go and be a member there, but as of Monday evening I became an individual again and I do what's right for Lee Westwood now."

Jumbo Into The Hall Of Fame; World Didn't See That One Coming Either

Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki Elected into World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum

Ozaki to Join Class of 2011 at Induction Ceremony in Florida in May 2011

Tokyo, Japan (Oct. 6, 2010) – World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum will induct Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki on Monday, May 9, 2011 at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida USA. Ozaki joins the Class of 2011 which includes South Africa native Ernie Els, Americans Doug Ford and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Scotland’s late Jock Hutchison.

Ozaki was elected through the World Golf Hall of Fame’s International Ballot.

Jack Peter, chief operating officer of the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum, who was at today’s announcement in Tokyo, said: “Jumbo Ozaki is most deserving of this honor as his long and impressive career shines brightly for golf in Japan and around the world. We look forward to sharing his story in the Hall of Fame & Museum for years to come.”

Ozaki will become the fourth World Golf Hall of Fame member from Japan, joining Hisako “Chako” Higuchi (2003 Inductee), Isao Aoki (2004 Inductee) and Ayako Okamoto (2005 Inductee).

”I am very happy, very honored and appreciate everyone who has supported me since I turned pro in 1970 … but to be honest I feel I am still an active player and I want to keep competing on the Tour,” said Ozaki. “The emergence of players like Ryo Ishikawa force me to keep my game sharp. I am delighted to join the other legends of the Hall. My only regret is not playing more outside of Japan, but I dedicated my life to Japanese golf and am extremely grateful the voters thought I was worthy of this honor."

Born in Tokushima, Ozaki has more than 100 wins in Japan and was the leading money winner on the Japan Golf Tour 12 times since 1973. His career includes competition in more than 40 major championships, which included top-10 showings in the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and Open Championship. He has won six Japan PGA Championships and five Japan Opens.

Ozaki received 50 percent of the votes on the International Ballot. A complete list of International Ballot results is below. Els was elected through the PGA TOUR Ballot. Ford and Hutchison were Veterans Category selections and President Bush was the Lifetime Achievement selection.

In addition to the celebration of Ozaki’s career at the 2011 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in St. Augustine, Florida USA, the Hall of Fame & Museum will recognize and honor his accomplishments among other greats of the game year-round. Ozaki will have a special inductee display of artifacts and photos, a bronze relief plaque on the Hall of Fame’s “Wall of Fame,” a locker in the “Member Locker Room” exhibition and his autograph etched in granite outside the Hall of Fame & Museum. His name will be added to the Japanese flag which, among 15 other countries, flies outside the Hall of Fame & Museum year-round.

This is just frightening:

Class of 2011 International Ballot Results

Candidate Percentage of Votes
Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki 50%
Sandy Lyle 45%
Colin Montgomerie 29%
Peter Alliss 26%
Ian Woosnam 24%
Graham Marsh 21%
Retief Goosen 20%
Norman Von Nida 16%
Darren Clarke 6%
Max Faulkner 8%

Ryder Cup Question One: The Real Evil Is The FedExCup Or The European Tour Selling Ryder Cup Venue Selection To Highest Bidder?

I guess that's a bit of a misleading headline?

But after four days of watching the insipid sponge that is Celtic Manor with its flat greens, 70s bunkers and strategy-light design, I'm thinking all of this criticism of the FedExCup for sticking us with an October date is a distraction for writers to conveniently look past the European Tour's prostituting of the "purest" event in golf. Yes, the Celtic swooning was relatively minor, though one scribe noted the courses "fabled finale," referring to the spellbinding finishing stretch.

Still, as poor as most could see the course was, the critics came out against the FedExCup forcing a month later date, but as reader Mark said it best in another thread:

Pretty hard to take Euro journalist complaints about FedEx cup and that money grab seriously when their own tour auctions off the Ryder Cup venue to the highest bidder every 4 years. The fact that the RC is going to Scotland in 4 years and it is not going to St Andrews disqualifies them from ever complaining about someone else dies something for money.

Not only is 2014 not going to St. Andrews, it's not even going to the best course at Gleneagles, a posh but mediocre golf complex when compared to the options in Scotland.

Okay, I know the Celtic Manor surrounds looked pretty...when you could see them. But architecturally it made Valhalla look refined and timeless, but worse than that, accomplished the unthinkable: Celtic Manor actually has me longing for Medinah in 2012 just to see a few interesting decisions!

Celtic has little in the way of charming greens and surrounds, and as we saw, modern subsurface drainage is no substitute for good, old-fashioned surface drainage. Celtic offered little in the way of risk-reward question posing. And before you cite the short par-4 15th, can you recall a player ever agonizing over the decision to go for the green versus laying up? Most egregious of all were those bland par-3s, which created no drama. The Mahan-McDowell match would have been dramatic coming to a polo field of a golf hole, so no crediting No. 17 for fostering a dramatic finish, please.

We keep hearing how this course was designed for the Ryder Cup, however, it featured almost no match play-endearing qualities. Yet it's the big, bad FedExCup that tainted this into a sloppy mess of a Ryder Cup, even as they were enjoying links golf just fifty miles away at the same time Celtic Manor was unplayable. And all because the European Tour has made the event their financial centerpiece and for sale to the highest bidder.

So, after that misleading setup...real evil, FedExCup or European Tour venue selection?

Finchem Predicts Global, FIFA-type Platform Integration Of Tours To Capitalize On Multinational Corporate Movements

Doug Ferguson reports that Commissioner Finchem, still drying out from his Ryder Cup first tee duties, is predicting that a "world tour" is in golf's future.

“I think that at some point in time, men’s professional golf will become integrated globally,” Finchem said. “Now, what form that takes, whether it’s a total integration, whether it’s a FIFA-type, I don’t know. One question is how the competition is organized. Another question is how the organizational structure behind it is organized. The first one is the key thing.”

How the organizational structure is organized translation: how many VP's we lay off.

One reason Finchem believes a world tour is inevitable is marketing and sponsorship, which includes the players. Phil Mickelson is sponsored by Barclays, which promotes tournaments in Singapore, Scotland and New York. He is playing all of them this year.

The U.S. tour also has such multinational title sponsors as Deutsche Bank and BMW (both playoff events), Accenture and Zurich.

“I think it’s a matter of time,” Finchem said. “Golf generally is a splintered sport, multi-organizational at every level. But there’s movement. The last 15 years there’s been a lot of movement. I would see that continuing to develop toward integration.”

Movement to integration. He always knows how to make it sound so sexy!

They Did It For Their Good Old Buddy Monty!

It's just downright touching to read all of these European golfers fessing up that their authentic motivation in securing the cup was all in the name of their beloved father figure Captain, Monty. Lawrence Donegan explains how many overcame their fervent dislike for the man to get the Cup back in European hands.

“We wanted to do it for Monty,” said Pádraig Harrington after Sam Ryder’s coveted bauble had been returned to European hands. “I think everybody in the team was aware this was the one opportunity he would get to really cap off an unbelievable Ryder Cup career and we didn’t want to let him down.”

Uh huh.

“Going into singles I told the captain, put me wherever you want, I will get you a point. And I did,” the Englishman said last night, beaming. Montgomerie beamed back. Friends reunited, Ryder Cup-style.
And there was more of the same yesterday, as the 2010 captain identified Jose Maria Olazabal as his preferred candidate for the 2012 captaincy at Medinah.

“I think he has watched what was done this time and he has notes over his playing career the same as mine. We both played eight Ryder Cups – and a lot of them together – so he has a lot of experience, as much as I have, and he will do as good, if not a better job than I did,” he said.

Eighteen months ago Montgomerie and Olazabal were not speaking, choosing instead to air a misunderstanding about the offer of a vice-captaincy to the Spaniard for the Celtic Manor match through various media outlets. But when the call for help went out, as it did when bad weather forced the captains to put six pairings out on the course at the same time, Olazabal, on site as an “ambassador” for a coffee-machine company, gladly accepted his battlefield promotion.

"Lloyd, Cole and the Commotion"

Lawrence Donegan was feeling old recently after what sounds like a typical major championship press room conversation.

Kids today, they just don't know their mildly successful 1980s indie bands. More worryingly for the folks over at the Sun, 31-year-olds don't either. Which brings me to the headline above yesterday's story about Cheryl Cole's controversial – some might say "tone deaf" – decision to send Cher Lloyd into X Factor finals. Lloyd, Cole and the Commotion, it read. Geddit? You know: big(ish) in the 1980s, singer looked like a young Elvis, bass player looked like Paul Simonon, only uglier.

I have a colleague. She is 31. "Never heard of him,'' she says.

"I was the bass player,'' I say.

She is mortified. "I was eight at the time."

I try to console her. "Don't worry."

She's distraught. Almost. "Sorry."

I'm sorry, too – but only for the poor sub-editor whose creative genius went unappreciated by 99% of those who read it.

Speaking of Lloyd, he has a splendid new album out that has deservedly received rave reviews.

Snapper Lives To Tell The Early Show About Getting Plunked By Tiger Shank

The CBS Early Show has the exclusive chat with Mark Pain, who captured a wayward Tiger shot in memorable fashion.



Ryder Cup Sites Draw Huge Numbers; Imagine If They Had Actually Functioned Properly!

Saturday's format reshuffling caused a meltdown both online and with the mobile apps, yet...

PGA.com Sets a new Single Day Record in Daily Uniques for Monday’s coverage; Sees Triple Digit Increase in Live Streams

PGA.com and Ryder Cup Europe announced today that RyderCup.com delivered record setting numbers for Monday’s final round as well as a vast increase in daily uniques, page views, and live streams for its comprehensive online coverage from The Celtic Manor Resort in the City of Newport, Wales. The traffic to RyderCup.com, which is a part of PGA.com, also helped deliver a new single day record for daily uniques to PGA.com.  On Monday, Oct. 4, rydercup.com reached 2.3 million daily uniques breaking the record set during the second round of this year’s PGA Championship (2.0 million).

Highlights of rydercup.com’s four day coverage (Oct. 1 – Oct. 4) of the 2010 Ryder Cup include:

§       A triple digit increase in live streams with 1 million streams compared to 2008, a 224% increase from the 2008 event.

§       A record number of average daily unique visitors for the Ryder Cup with 1.5 million average daily uniques, a 90% increase from 2008.

§       A triple digit increase in total page views with 145 million views, a 119% increase from the 2008 tournament.

§       The rydercup.com mobile web site received 413,000 unique visitors during the tournament.

PGA.com is the official site of The PGA of America operated by Turner Sports, and RyderCup.com are managed by Turner Sports on behalf of both The PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe.

It Was The Stitching!

Golf World Monday (subscribers only) fleshes out the rainsuit debacle a bit more and reveals that Sun Mountain and the Pavins met 20 times, and that the embroidery was going to be an issue in Sun Mountain's mind.

Update on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 05:01 PM by Geoff

**Sun Mountain issued this today, click on it to enlarge:

 

Gallacher On Overton Gamesmanship: "Typical Americans"

I just saw this Daily Mail item and from what I can tell, Jeff Overton was well within his rights. Though Lord knows, the Europeans have never stooped so low as to question a ruling! That didn't stop former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher from accusing the U.S.A. rookie of gamesmanship.

Overton’s opponent Ross Fisher asked match referee David Williams for a ruling on the eighth hole when his ball landed among the battered rough. The ruling was duly given by Williams, an official on the European Tour, but when Overton questioned it.

Gallacher, working for BBC Radio 5 Live, questioned the rookie’s motives. Gallacher then muttered: ‘Typical Americans,’ a remark to which Overton objected.

The debutant’s father, Ron, exchanged angry words with Gallacher in front of shocked fans.

Debutant? Very nice. Here's guessing dad was listening to the on-course radio?

If the incident did not help Fisher, two up at the time, it certainly fired Overton, 27, into a stirring comeback. He won the hole and eventually the match 3&2 as Englishman Fisher fell apart.

Gallacher, captain in 1991, 1993 and 1995 - winning the latter - remained unrepentant.

The Scot said: ‘It was just typical American gamesmanship to try and put Fisher off his game. I told Overton he should respect the referee’s decision. He wasn’t too happy.’