This is certainly the biggest story of the day. Sports Illustrated reports the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, including Promobolan in 2003, according to four independent sources. According to the article: “Rodriguez’s name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in...
It’s good to see Brian Keogh and Karl McGinty giving us an update on Paddy Harrington and Rory McIlroy. Brian has this story about Paddy’s benign sun spots that were removed recently, but more importantly, some details about Paddy’s Masters prep. Also check in with Brian at Irish Golf Desk. Not to be outdone, fellow Irishman Karl McGinty has...
Ginn Resorts has announced it will end all golf sponsorships immediately, spelling doom to two tournaments this year – one on the LPGA Tour and one on the Champions Tour. From the article: “Ginn still had three years remaining on its title sponsorship contract with the Champions Tour. PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw, who learned of the decision from a press...
78,000 people lost their jobs yesterday across the country. More than half the population of one town in Ohio alone lost their jobs when a plant closed. Across all sectors of the economy, the slide continues to pare away assets and consumer confidence. In golf, the news is just as dismal. The Sports Business Journal reports the PGA trade show will be about 5% in...
How would you like to have every program from every PGA TOUR event for the entire year, from Kapalua to the last silly season cash-grab? What if you also could have had every stat you could possibly need, whether it’s for answering that pesky trivia question or for handicapping the field for a tenner or quid wager with Paddy from Doonbeg ? But wait...
Ouch. Things look bleak. Steve Elling of CBS Sports has this outlook on the state of both the PGA and LPGA Tours. I would be especially worried about the LPGA tour. I also think it’s time for something other than more medal play events. Nicklaus once wrote that team golf was the salvation of the tour. He may have been right. Wouldn’t you pay to see...
Boy, talk about a non-story; they get us all worked up for what was billed as Tiger’s first political speech, and all he did at the Three Day Inauguration Obamapalooza was introduce the U.S. Naval Glee Club. Next, Anthony Kim and IMG are being sued by his old agent, Hambric. Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal is the place to go for all thye...
I’m finishing my piece on Dallas Public golf today. Until then, here’s the Colonial piece. Click over to Cybergolf for more pictures. Texas sunrise: the pale, grey light of dawn slowly blossoms into broad, golden beams of sunlight. It’s a new day, and as the sun slips over the horizon to shine a little light on Colonial Country Club...
Sal Johnson – who just finished his ’09 PGA TOUR guide – has this great write up on the business end of things at Golf Channel in ’09.
Also, ESPN reports Tiger may return for the Accenture match play.
It’s here. Colonial in Winter: The Yellow Rose of Texas.
Enjoy.
The members of the Golf Writers Association of America recently voted Padraig Harrington, Lorena Ochoa, and Jay Haas players of the year for their respective tours. Harrington got my vote. Two majors will do that.
Proving that he can’t pass the screen test, Steve Williams put an end to any broadcasting career with a brutish, unprovoked, and sophomoric tirade that defied common decency and spat in the face of golf’s altruistic ethos. Repeatedly attacking Phil Mickelson, making direct references to man-breasts, and calling him slurs for the male anatomy, and...
Lawrence Donegan of the Guardian has this interview with Paddy. From the interview: “We have zero in common, bar the fact that we both play golf. He is the antithesis of me, and I am the antithesis of him,” said Harrington, who was yesterday named the European Tour’s player of the year in recognition of his two major victories in 2008, at the Open...
…another forty-something who fell into a major selected for a Captain, Corey Pavin will provide fire and experience to the team, but little else. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, and he’ll be walking into a buzz saw in Wales. Believe me, the European team and Captain won’t repeat Faldo’s gaffes, and they’ll be madder than...
Nicely done, Brian. Slante to you, Dermot, and Karl. Harrington is gearing up for what might be the toughest Masters of all.