DORADO, Puerto Rico – There’s still no one like former PGA Tour star Chi Chi Rodriguez, the Clown Prince of Golf, a walking one-liner who brings the Sun with him wherever he goes, and one of the key members of Puerto Rico’s Pantheon of iconic athletes. He can make the whole room fall apart with laughter, then shed a tear of joy after hearing him...
DORADO, Puerto Rico – Part I – The high-flying, death-defying, five-ring circus life of a sports writer Thursday, 7:36 a.m. Wheels up out of JFK and I’m frightened to the marrow of my bones. The plane has been shaking and wobbling since it taxied out of Gate B22 and it’s only gotten worse after a slow, tortured climb to 33,000 feet. As you...
“Who needs Johnny Depp? I’ve got Jay Flemma!” shouted the leggy firecracker of an actress as she put her arms around me at Temple Bar. The rest of the cast and crew roared with approval. Boy if only Britt Bonsoliel were around to hear that! Well for four days, I’ll get to play Johnny Depp, with Tony Korologos of Hooked on Golf as my Benicio...
I’ll have the entire story for you in an article later this week, but I co-wrote this poem with pre-eminent golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. It seems that the Red Course at Royal Dar-Es-Salam, the first truly great golf course in the Arab World and an important course in the portfolio and legacy of Trent, Sr. may be completely redesigned in an...
Robert Trent Jones, Jr. has been quite the jet-setter recently, working on projects from Morocco to Egypt, from to Eastern Europe to Asia, but this week all eyes are his work at Celtic Manor in Wales, the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup. Opened in July 2007, the course combines the routing of nine holes from the original Robert Trent Jones-designed Wentwood Hills golf...
This week is my fourth anniversary as a professional sportswriter, as well as the 4th birthday of this website. One of my traditions is an anniversary piece, so here it is: an interview with Robert Trent, Jr. He’ll surprise you, that for certain. JF: Who are some of your favorite architects? RTJ: Tillie (A.W. Tillinghast). Great golf course architects...