South American Wins; Reminds World Of The Olympic Golf Movement It Has Already Forgotten About**

Sean Martin, in Golfweek's "Rapid Reaction," tells us the reasons we should be excited about Jhonattan Vegas' exciting win at the Hope and not one of his reasons has anything to do with the 72-holes of WGC-lite stroke play golf headed to Rio in 2016.

Update on Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 10:56 PM by Geoff

**In the SI roundtable Gary Van Sickle points out this:

Van Sickle: Actually, Olympic golf is an individual event, not a country-vs.-country team event, which I think would've been better. And on the contrary, we do have to worry about Venezuela because Vegas will almost certainly be in the field if he's among the top 300 ranked players in the world by then.

Even better, Vegas may be the first to clinch a spot in the field! Gosh this format and qualifying has me so excited for 2016!

Speaking of Vegas' Venezuelan roots, the sacrifices he and his family have made and why he has the potential to be a huge draw, Martin filed this piece earlier in the week that's worth a look.

Phil Wavering On Match Play; Finchem Wonders Out-Loud If He Can Dock Mickelson Brood's Allowance

Bernie McGuire with the news that Phil Mickelson is pondering another pass on the WGC Match Play because it's a vacation week for Phil's children.

"Right now I may end up playing and I may not, and it will depend on some out-of-school stuff that could prohibit us actually going on a family vacation which is what we did last year," the U.S. Masters champion told Reuters.

"Tucson is one of my favourite places to play and the Match-Play is one of my favourite tournaments to compete in but with the kids having a week off school I would say I am 50-50 right now whether I do play."

The Match-Play Championship starts on Feb. 23. Mickelson has missed the event just twice since the inaugural tournament in 1999 -- in 2001 and last year.

Bill Clinton And That Means What, Exactly?

As Larry Bohannan writes after learning that the PGA Tour is contemplating jumping into bed a global brand and platform-intrinsic partnership with Bill Clinton to save the Bob Hope Classic: "And what about a sponsor?"

That and a long list of questions will hound the PGA Tour's pursuit of its very own original idea to pursue the former President of the United States for a Bob Hope Classic partnership.

My questions:

- How would Clinton help the field? If I recall, we had a Ryder Cup team that didn't want to go visit the White House--with Paul Azinger's childish antics really standing out--why would the PGA Tour's petty partisans be any less immature now when the man doesn't even have the cache of the Oval Office to dangle?

- How does this get the Hope a sponsor or the ability to match appearance fees paid in the other desert?

- Why is lining up another charity on the radar for this event?  Charitable causes to contribute to are not the issue. Field, visibility, date, sponsor, format, 6-hour rounds and dreary courses are much bigger issues.

Kaymer Passes Woods In World Ranking; That Should Kill At Least 10 Minutes During This Week's Tiger Presser

Not to go all Caroline Wozniacki on you here, but I'll be sitting in on Tiger's Wednesday presser at Torrey Pines and you can already envision the opening moments after getting passed by HSBC winner Martin Kaymer.

Q: Tiger, Martin Kaymer has just passed you in the World Rankings and you are No. 3, he is No. 2. Does this inspire you to play better?

TW: I'm really happy for MarKay, he's a great guy and has worked really hard to get to this point. What was the second part?

Q: Does this inspire you to play better?

TW: I have plenty to inspire me to play better.

Q: Tiger, the last time you were here it was you, Rocco, the U.S. Open and 25,000 screaming San Diegans. Does dropping to No. 3 in the world put a cast on what should be an otherwise emotional homecoming, of sorts?

TW: Not really, Seany and I have been working hard on some great things and I'm eager to get out there and test them out.

Q: Tiger, how's the Achilles since the cortisone shot and has it been aching more since you dropped from No. 2 to No. 3?

TW: My Achilles has won 14 majors. (Smiles) (Laughter for joke that wasn't really very funny).

USGA To Re-Open Discussions About Rule On Scorecard DQ's

First we learned the R&A is open to revisiting the scenario of disqualifications for signing incorrect cards that, at the time players signed them were not incorrect. Now, Mike Davis, Senior Director of Rules and Competitions, confirms to the USGA is "absolutely going to reopen" discussions with the R&A. The Padraig Harrington situation was the final straw.

"We're all bothered by what is a narrow set of circumstances where someone can get the facts right and still be disqualified. In Harrington's situation, he thought ball was replaced and only television is telling us otherwise. He knew the rules, he thought he did everything right, he just didn't know all the facts. So the USGA and R&A will open it up again, but we also have to make sure we don't do something that has domino effect."

Davis was speaking after just returning from R&A meetings in St. Andrews and said emails have already been exchanged between the USGA and R&A on ways to remedy the rule without creating unintended consequences, such as allowing players off the hook for not knowing the rules. Which was not the case in the Harrington scenario.

Ogilvie: Bring Clinton On Board To Save Hope

Like most of the PGA Tour's finest didn't have enough reason to skip the Hope!  Nonetheless, Joe Ogilvie's given this a lot of thought and like most logical PGA Tour-related ideas, it probably has little chance of happening.

John Strege reports:

"I think it might need an A-list host that says, 'you know, this is an important event. The Eisenhower Medical Center has touched a lot of people's lives,'" Ogilvie said following the third round of the Bob Hope Classic on Friday. "I think the guy I'd have host this tournament is Bill Clinton. I think he was a Republican's best friend, even though he was a Democratic president. He obviously holds huge cachet with the Democratic party. And this tournament has always had a political element. I remember watching it when [former Speaker of the House] Tip O'Neill played it, and it had the three presidents play [in 1995, when Clinton, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush played]. A Bill Clinton would add instant cachet. He also would bring in an A list-clientele and he could walk a sponsor in."

Tour To Westwood: You'll Be Missed But The Fifth Of Four Majors Will Go On

Somehow I'm not sensing they are worried about a sales dip in Ponte Vedra on the news that Lee Westwood won't be coming to The Players. Garry Smits reports:

Ty Votaw, the PGA Tour's executive vice president for communications, pointed out Westwood has until May 6 to make a final decision on entering The Players.

"Lee is a great player and if he ultimately chooses not to play in this year's Players he will be missed," Votaw said. "Regardless, The Players will still have one of the deepest and best fields in all of golf."

The Annual Anthony Kim-Snubs-Childhood-Hometown-Event-Update

This is only fun to recall since it was Kim who complained about tournament directors not returning his calls but who received an invite to the 2007 Bob Hope in his hometown, and who now makes sure to pass on the struggling event. Including this week, even though he's been spotted around town, reports John Strege.

Hey, at least he's not in Abu Dhabi!

The Mysterious Obsession With Playing 72 Holes At The Expense Of A Proper Conclusion

I've long found great comedy in the PGA Tour's insistence that playing 72-holes, no matter how inconvenient and expensive, is essential to insuring that Indonesian tidal patterns and the London Tube remain on schedule.

My issue has always been with the Monday finish even though everyone wants a Sunday conclusion. Yet Steve Elling raises an interesting point after Sunday's 36-hole finale in the Sony Open, where Tim Clark was 45 minutes ahead and another nine away from Mark Wilson.

Clark, who has certainly had trouble closing the deal in the States over the years, wasn't experiencing remotely the same pressures as Wilson or playing partners Matt Kuchar and Steve Marino, who had to watch his every move and knew acutely what needed to be done to win.

Worse, who were the fans at the course supposed to track on foot when Wilson and Clark were on two different sides of the course?

The worst example of the tour's misguided devotion to completing 72 holes, damn the drama, came three years ago when Andres Romero won in New Orleans. The circumstances were nearly identical -- everybody played rain-delay makeup golf on Sunday and the leaders were not repaired before being sent out for the final 18 in the afternoon.

So what's more important? Getting in the extra 18, or having a traditional tournament finish with the leaders playing together?

"Even in today's must-know everything culture, if pro golf's TV fortunes rise or fall on whether someone is miked up, that is a sign of greater problems."

That's what Bill Fields says in today's Golf World Monday. He also writes:

TV could better utilize the mics already on course, and the tour mandate its players to do interviews during a round. The latter would give viewers more without taking away something from the stars of the show.

I think a bigger point has been missed in the player-mike debate: hearing on-course dialogue, especially down the stretch, creates drama.

Sunday at the Sony Open, Golf Channel did a stellar job picking up Mark Wilson's 16th fairway discussion with his caddie. The confab consisted of your basic back-and-forth about club selection and wind direction chatter. But when the announcers stopped to let the conversation be heard, the player-caddy banter created a moment of drama that I suspect caused most viewers to stop anything else they might have been doing to listen in.

Now, would a mid-round interview with Wilson--no candidate to host SNL anytime this century--create the same interest?

Whether the sound is picked up through microphones or more aggressive sound technicians, it's drama we're after. And yes, to answer Fields' statement in the headline, the debate does speak to a problem: golf is on way too many hours and isn't that interesting 98% of the time. But when we are treated to these moments of tension and we're taken inside the huddle, it's as compelling as any sport.

"Just get it up-and-down."

If you watched the Sony Open finale you know Mark Wilson won by two thanks to a birdie on the last hole. It turns out the birdie wasn't necessary after Steve Marino missed his lengthy eagle putt, but as Doug Ferguson notes, Wilson did not know where he stood. I never know how guys do this, but it worked!

Wilson hit into a bunker and blasted out some 12 feet past the hole. But his par putt caught enough of the lip to fall, and he clutched his fist. Only later did Wilson reveal that he didn't look at a leaderboard, not wanting to think about anything but making birdies.

He asked his caddie as they walked toward the 18th green where they stood, and the caddied told him, "Just get it up-and-down." Wilson obeyed, pitching to 4 feet. The putt became easier when Marino missed his eagle.

Natalie, Don't Update Your Facebook Relationship Status Just Yet

Dustin Johnson spoke to Doug Ferguson to clarify the rumors about his Sony Open WD and his fling with LPGA star Natalie Gulbis.

"For people to say I went home to repair the relationship is completely false," Johnson said. "We're not in a relationship. And yes, me and Natalie have spent some time together, but we're not in a relationship. There's all kinds of stuff going on in the media. Actually, some of this stuff is comical."

Johnson, a four-time PGA Tour winner two played in the final group of two majors last year, competed in the Three-Tour Challenge with Gulbis in Las Vegas in November. She was in his gallery last week at Kapalua on the weekend of the Tournament of Champions, and told golf.com they were dating. "I'll let Dustin handle our PR," she told the website.

"We're not dating," Johnson said Saturday in a telephone interview.