But I digress. One of the big blind spots of people in regard to Love Of The Game Guys is the case of golfers. They’re eminently recognizable due to the fact that they wear nothing that obscures their faces on TV. They’re on TV frequently. Most tournament winners in the US pick up seven-figure checks with victories. And yet thanks to things like the arduous Q-School routine for the lower echelon, Monday qualifying, Wednesday pro-ams, and…okay, John Daly falling off the wagon again right in front of a branch of his major sponsor, they’re expected to have a human element. It isn’t helped by things like Boo Weekley going on talk shows and behaving like a Larry the Cable Guy routine. Golfers aren’t allowed an ego. They aren’t allowed to divert from Love Of The Game. There is something of a social contract going on where unabashed money grabs aren’t tolerated by fans, so much so that the Silly Season Events that are taking place now, the ones where golfers pick up six-figure appearance fees, are quietly ignored. After the Tour Championship, golf fans occasionally look at the scoreboard for the fall events and dream of Kapalua in January.

So there’s a big potential for cognitive dissonance when something comes along to shatter misconceptions, and that’s what happening right now. In case you missed it, and unless you’re a golf fan, you did, Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas are now paid-up members of the European Tour. Two of the hottest young golfers on the planet, who might be the participants in the Next Great Rivalry as soon as the 2009 Presidents’ Cup, are, in golf fans’ minds, taking a step down. Despite all the work of Seve Ballesteros (please, please, get well, Seve), the Euro Tour is still seen as inferior to the PGA Tour. There’s a mindset, especially among American golf fans, that Monty would trade all eight of his Orders of Merit for one win on American soil. This attitude, of course, is very provincial and someone xenophobic, but it’s there, and it can’t be denied.

So, therefore, one has to wonder why Kim and Villegas forked out the thirty-two-hundred dollar membership fee to play some tournaments in Europe, with all the jet-lag and potentials for foodborne illness this entails. We Americans (and Columbians) would like to believe that they’re just going to show off how good they are to the Euros and inspire dreams of them someday coming to America to ply their trade. Yeah, right. Two simple facts motivate these guys:

1) The Euro Tour now has its own version of the FedEx Cup. And this version has twice as much bonus money available.

2) The Euro Tour allows appearance fees, which the PGA Tour doesn’t.

And let’s not forget 2a) The dollar’s in the toilet against the Euro.

In other words, it’s a money grab. And it’s a money grab that doesn’t entail too much additional effort, as I’ll demonstrate later. Yes, there are also additional benefits to be had. Kim and Villegas are good-looking rich guys in their mid-twenties. They get the same reaction from certain elements of humanity that Russian grand dukes did a century ago in Monte Carlo. And don’t think that because they’re athletes, there would be some kind of “oh, I can’t do this, it might ruin my game” thing going on. Kim is a well-known party animal. So, yeah, there’s females to be had. And with the money that’s being thrown around, and the high profile that golf has right now, they can get supermodels if they want.

How much has that bonus money affected golfers? Eight of the top ten golfers in the World Rankings are now members of the Euro Tour. The exceptions are at One and Two, and Two is about to join the bandwagon. Phil Mickelson, a man whose public image tends to disguise some of the most rapacious, repulsive behavior of any active athlete today, is going to hop on board. The money’s just too good. Lefty completely avoids entire stretches of the schedule because of a demonstrated lack of success. Wouldn’t it be better for golf for him to at least show up at those events to increase the level of interest in them? No, not for him. He can’t pick up an appearance fee, and he tanks so badly in those events that he regards them as a wasted three days, heading home on his private jet after his MC is registered. Besides, any Love Of The Game has long been burned out of Lefty. He’s the Terrell Owens of the PGA Tour, only with better press.

And then there was One. But what’s his excuse? Tigger has never been averse to making easy money. That’s why he’s getting into course design in a big way, with three projects now underway, including what’s going to end up being a fabulous course in Mexico. He says that he doesn’t have time to fit the Euro Tour into his schedule.

If he actually kept a straight face while saying this, he’s a better actor than anyone thought.

He doesn’t have time? The guy who only plays fifteen or sixteen events a year doesn’t have time for the Euro Tour? The one guy who could put golf over the top in Europe doesn’t have time? If you still had a conception that Eldrick Woods does stuff for the Love Of The Game, this should banish those thoughts forever.

There’s a simple fact: Mistah Woods, along with the rest of the PGA Tour contingent, would not be too hard-pressed to include Euro Tour appearances into their so-called busy schedules. This is because of the nature of the Euro Tour. The Euro Tour is a misnomer. They have events all over the world that count as part of the tour. Events in the Orient, the Middle East, and South Africa are Euro Tour events. The Euro Tour only requires twelve tournaments for participation. Included in that number are all four majors and the three WGC tournaments, six of which take place in the United States. And Tigger always shows up for those.

Ignore the fact that his knee’s still recovering. How many additional tournaments would Tigger have to add to his onerous schedule in order to be a full Euro Tour member? Let’s break it down:

As said, the magic number here is twelve. Let’s get the first seven out of the way:

The Masters
US Open *
Open Championship
PGA Championship
WGC Match Play *
WGC CA Championship *
WGC Bridgestone

* - Tigger is defending champion. He’s won the Masters and the Bridgestone four times and the Open and PGA three times. He’s the three-time defending champ at the CA and has won six times in total at Doral. He’s won two Match Plays. In other words, he tends to like these tournaments and do well in them.

Now, is there anything on the Euro schedule that might appeal to him? Oh, yes, there is. He always plays in the HSBC in Shanghai, the traditional kick-off to the Euro Tour season (well, not this year, since it starts next weekend and he’s still not healthy). He always plays Dubai, where he’s designing a course. So that’s nine. We only need three more.

Well, he could do the Abu Dhabi two weeks prior to Dubai and spend a week dicking around in the Emirates being treated like God On Earth, growing his design business by networking with incredibly rich people with way too much in the liquid assets department. There are certain wealthy Arabs who’d masturbate on the Kaaba for the opportunity to have Tigger design a course for them. So let’s put that down on his list. Only two more to go.

How about showing up a week early in the Sceptered Isle and participating in the Scottish Open? Lefty does that every year as his tune-up. But Tigger doesn’t like to play between the US Open and Open Championship. It would be a nice gesture to the Home Of Golf to participate in its national open. Good press, Tigger. Think about it. So let’s tick that one off. Only one to go. And there’s a perfect opportunity: a return trip to Scotland the week after the Tour Championship. The Dunhill Links. At St. Andrews. You love St. Andrews, Tigger. You won two Opens there. You said, when asked your five favorite courses, that there was only one, St. Andrews. You know you want to. Give in, Tigger.

So, to summarize, in order for Tigger to meet Euro Tour qualifications, he’d have to add a grand total of three tournaments to his schedule. In our scenario, we have him playing Abu Dhabi (where he can rake in one of the fattest appearance fees in the game), the Scottish Open, and the Dunhill Links, three tournaments where he’d be the prohibitive favorite to win. This still leaves him playing less than twenty tournaments a year. And you know what? With that particular schedule, he’d have an incredible opportunity to be the first man to simultaneously win the PGA Tour money title and the Order of Merit. He loves distinctions like that. It’s one thing he plays for.

So why not do it? Maybe he’s thinking about this for 2010. We have no clue. But a twenty-million-dollar bonus purse isn’t chicken feed, even for Tigger. You think that Veej didn’t like getting that nine million for the FedEx Cup? And you’ll be having another mouth to feed soon, Tigger. Think of the children.

And think of the other children while you’re at it. In all of the premature obituaries for Seve, one theme that kept being expressed time and time again was the fact that Seve was the primary inspiration for the generation of Euros that are truly making golf a world sport. One thing that the Euros showed during the Ryder Cup, despite the loss, was the depth that Euro golf now possesses. The Who Are They roster of the Euros masked all of the great young players that are coming up in the world. Some of them will go over to America full time. Others, the Robert Karlssons of the world, will only enter our radar screens during the majors and proceed to surprise us when they hang around the leaderboard well into the weekend. And it was one guy who set this in motion. We already know how many children were inspired to pick up a club when they saw Tigger. The first of that group are now entering the PGA Tour. How many children elsewhere can be inspired if, only for a few weeks a year, Tigger goes global?

Despite the fact that it would be done for the worst of all possible reasons, from the perspective of a sports fan, the results would be incredibly positive for the game. And that’s reason enough to add twelve days of work a year.

She’s finally entering LPGA Qualifying School — not like she had many options.

Wie is already in the Palm Springs area practicing for the first-stage event at Mission Hills Country Club on Sept. 16-19. The deadline for entry is Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

A source close to the Wie camp who asked not to be identified said it was unclear whether the family would make a formal announcement about Michelle’s new career path.

“You know the Wies, they like to make a big splash,” the source said.

After two largely checkered seasons wracked by injury and mostly disappointing play, some of the exemption opportunities for Wie had begun to dry up. As a non-member of the tour, she was limited to six LPGA tournaments a year on sponsor exemptions.

The first-stage qualifier will be held at the same facility where the first women’s major of the year is staged, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, an event Wie nearly won in 2006.

If she advances, the finals are Dec. 3-7 at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla.

A second first-stage qualifier is set for Venice, Fla., on Sept. 30-Oct. 3. Players who pay a $5,000 Q-school application fee can enter both first-stage qualifiers if they don’t advance out of the Palm Springs event.

It was unclear whether Wie, believed to be the highest-paid athlete in women’s sports, paid the extra $1,000 that would allow her to take two cracks at the first stage if she fails to advance in California next week. Otherwise, the entry fee is $4,000.

If Wie makes the Q-school finals, the tidal wave of resulting publicity would almost certainly eclipse the media barrage of three years ago when eventual medalist Ai Miyazato drew droves of media from her native Japan.

Her 2008 season included a disqualification in July. In all, she played nine events in three tours, including the Reno-Tahoe event on the PGA Tour. In addition to the disqualification, she missed three cuts and her best finish came on the second-tier Ladies European Tour, where she finished sixth in the Ladies German Open in June.

Her best finish on the LPGA was at the Canadian Open last month, where she tied for 12th, although she finished eight behind the winner. She won $62,763 on the LPGA.

She turns 19 on Oct. 11.

Source: CBS Sportsline

He was the young Colombian with model good looks and chic clothing, limber enough to strike a pretzel-shaped pose on the green to read putts, earning him the nickname “Spider-Man.” Trouble was, not many of those putts went in.

That changed Sunday at the BMW Championship.

Clinging to a one-shot lead on the back nine at Bellerive, Villegas saved par with a 12-foot putt, followed that with two birdie putts and finished off a 2-under 68 for a wire-to-wire victory and his first PGA Tour title.

“It was a pretty good little stretch there that just tested my nerves and showed myself that I was good enough to stay out there,” Villegas said.

Villegas pulled away from Jim Furyk, held off Anthony Kim and wound up winning by two shots over Dudley Hart, who birdied his final two holes for a 65. It was Hart’s best finish in four years and it earned him two trips to Georgia — the Tour Championship in two weeks and the Masters next April.

With one playoff event remaining, the FedEx Cup essentially is over.

Vijay Singh, who won the first two events, tied for 44th and earned enough points that all he has to do is complete four rounds at the Tour Championship in two weeks to collect the $10 million payoff.

But the surly Singh didn’t seem terribly grateful.

In a move that took some shine off the tour’s new prize, Singh refused to speak to NBC Sports and walked briskly past a group of other media after finishing his round.

A marketing dream, Villegas gave golf fans a real reason to pay attention to him.

The 26-year-old from Medellin turned his fortunes Saturday after four-putting for double bogey that cost him the lead in the middle of the second round. He didn’t have another three-putt the rest of the tournament.

“It rattled me in a good way, because I had been putting so good all week, and all of a sudden I four-putt,” Villegas said. “But I looked at my caddie and said, ‘Listen, man, let’s don’t let those two bad strokes get in our way.’”

Villegas finished at finished at 15-under 265 and collected $1.26 million.

“It’s awesome to be here,” said Villegas, who wore a solid white outfit accented by a yellow belt and painter’s cap. “Hopefully, it’s the first of many.”

Villegas had been building toward a moment like this in the last few months. He was near the lead going into the weekend at the British Open, rallied to finish fourth in the PGA Championship, then started the final round last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship one shot behind until faltering.

He had ample opportunity to let this one get away, too.

First came back-to-back bogeys on the front nine, losing the lead to Jim Furyk. But the real test came on the back nine, when Villegas found a bunker off the tee at the par-4 12th, laid up short of the green and hit wedge to 12 feet.

He sank the par putt to keep the lead, then seized control.

Furyk hit his tee shot into a bunker on the par-3 13th and made bogey, while Villegas took yet another aggressive line and holed a 10-foot birdie to build a three-shot lead. Then came a 35-foot birdie putt on the 14th that sent him on his way to victory at Bellerive.

Kim rallied late to get within two shots, but he sent his approach into the bleachers on the 18th and made bogey for a 67, leaving him a tie for third with Furyk, who shot 70.

“Camilo played great,” Kim said. “He deserved it, made some key putts when it counted, and overall he just handled himself beautifully out there.”

Villegas’ appeal began two years ago at Doral when he finished in a tie for second behind Tiger Woods before a Miami crowd loaded with Hispanic fans. Then came his “Spider-Man” style of reading putts, contorting his body into a horizontal position to keep his eyes as close to the ground as possible.

Endorsement deals and photo shoots followed, not to mention a strong following of females in his gallery. All he lacked was a PGA Tour trophy, which he earned over three days in a weather-plagued event.

Villegas went over $3 million in earnings for the year and likely will move into the top 20 in the world ranking.

And he still has a mathematical chance for the FedEx Cup.

He moved up to No. 2 in the standings, but even if he wins the Tour Championship and Singh finishes last, Villegas still would finish 101 points behind. His only hope is to win at East Lake and for Singh to withdraw or get disqualified.

The volatile points system introduced his year brought some fresh faces to East Lake for what once was the tour’s All-Star game for the top 30 players on the money list. Among those who advanced to the final round of the playoffs were Kevin Sutherland, Ken Duke, Tim Clark, Bubba Watson and Hart, who moved up 53 spots to No. 14.

Hart saw that he was tied for third as he stood in the 18th green. He turned to his caddie and said if one person passed him, he was out of the top 30.

“I basically told him, ‘Birdie or bogey.’ I said, ‘Let’s try to give this thing a run,’” Hart said. “It was one of those things where I was going to give it a run and hit the best putt I could. And fortunately, it went in.”

The final spot went to Chad Campbell, who got no points this week after withdrawing Saturday to fly home to Dallas after learning his wife went into labor. Dix Phillip Campbell was born later that evening.

Golf now goes dark next week — no PGA Tour events — before the Ryder Cup matches Sept. 19-21.

Source: AP NEWS

LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens said she would have a revised plan by the end of the year that would not include suspensions for players unable to speak English in pro-ams, trophy presentations or interviews. Fining such players remained an option.

Bivens disclosed the tour’s original plan in a meeting with South Korean players two weeks ago at the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore., Golfweek magazine reported. The policy, which had not been written, was widely criticized as discriminatory, particularly against Asian players.

The LPGA membership includes 121 international players from 26 countries, including 45 from South Korea. Asians won three of the four majors this year.

“We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions,” Bivens said in a statement. “After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player.”

The reversal was quickly hailed by two California lawmakers who challenged the original policy.

State Sen. Leland Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco, had asked the Legislature’s legal office to determine whether the English policy violated state or federal anti-discrimination laws. If it was deemed legal, Yee said he would have pushed for legislation banning such policies in California.

The LPGA Tour plays three events in California, including its first major championship.

“I’m very pleased that the LPGA saw the wisdom of the concerns that we raised,” Yee said. “It’s a no-brainer for those of us who have been the recipient of these kinds of discriminatory acts.”

State Assemblyman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area, said he would target corporate sponsors if the LPGA persisted with its English requirement.

“I’m pleased they have come to their senses,” he said.

Bivens’ announcement came two hours before the Asian Pacific American Legal Center planned a news conference in Los Angeles to demand the LPGA overturn its policy.

“Until they completely retract it, issue an apology to the players and the fans, I think we’ll remain very concerned and interested in what happens,” said Gerald D. Kim, a senior staff attorney for the center. “The LPGA has gone about this totally the wrong way.”

One of the tour’s title sponsors, State Farm, already weighed in this week by saying it was “dumbfounded.”

“We don’t understand this and we don’t know why they have done it,” State Farm spokesman Kip Diggs told Advertising Age on its website. “And we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this.”

Bivens said the tour will continue to help international players through a cultural program that has been in place for three years and offers tutors and translators.

Earlier this week, Bivens sent a 1,200-word memo to the LPGA membership to outline the goal behind the new policy. She said players would never be required to be fluent or even proficient in English, rather get by on fundamental aspects that would enhance the tour and the players.

She argued that international players who could communicate effectively in English would improve the pro-am experience, sponsor relations and could held land endorsements for the players.

“We do not, nor will we ever, demand English fluency, or even proficiency, from our international players,” she wrote. “To the contrary, we are asking that they demonstrate a basic level of communication in English at tournaments in the United States in situations that are essential to their job as a member of the LPGA Tour.”

Yee said he understood the tour’s goal of boosting financial support, but disagreed with the method.

“In 2008, I didn’t think an international group like the LPGA would come up with a policy like that,” Yee said. “But at the end of the rainbow, the LPGA did understand the harm that they did.”

The lawmaker said he will continue with his request to the Legislative Counsel’s Office, as a way to prevent similar policies in the future.

Lieu said the LPGA’s explanation made it seems as though the tour felt it more important to socialize with sponsors than to play golf.

“If you’re a sports fan, you should be outraged,” Lieu said.

Source: AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Tournaments officials hope to begin the third playoff event Friday.

The PGA Tour returned to Bellerive for the first time since the American Express Championship, which was canceled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The 2004 U.S. Senior Open also lost a day because of rain, and the one time Arnold Palmer played a Champions Tour event, rain kept most fans from getting to the course.

Source: AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

I go to anywhere from 10-40 games a season (this year less because of my daughter) and try to get autographs at most of them. I’ve hit up teams in Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Florida among others.

The number on thing about getting autographs is to make sure the kids get them first. Too many times, adults (and normally E-Bayers) will not let the kids get autographs. If a kid is near me, I tend to let them slide in. It’s also fun to watch them light up when a player signs their ticket stub.

Always go prepared. I always have spare pens and sharpies with me. I’ve been face to face with John Smoltz to have my sharpie die as he was signing my card – luckily he’s a professional and keeps one on his key ring.

Learn what works best. If you want a baseball signed, don’t use a sharpie. Sharpies on baseballs bleed or fade with time. On Major League Baseballs (ROMLB), ball point pen works the best. I prefer blue, but it doesn’t really matter. ROMLBs normally run anywhere from $12-20 depending on where you go. If you go with the cheaper balls, the ball point pens fade on those. I’ve had good luck with the fine point sharpies – they can still fade if the ball is sitting in direct sun light, but they’ve tended to last longer in my experience.

The best place on a baseball to get an autograph is the sweet spot – the narrow part of the laces, opposite of the Rawlings logo (or who ever makes the ball). A lot of players won’t or can’t sign the sweet spot; some suspect that the baseballs will be sold for profit or they have signed a contract with a company that prohibits it (like Tristar or Steiner). Most people will get special balls signed on the side panel, or the area where the space between the laces is the biggest. You can normally ask for the sweet spot; most players will tell you if they can’t sweet spot or completely ignore your request. Also, some players will inscribe stuff on a ball. The standard inscription is some bible verse that has meaning to a player. Other times, players will inscribe milestones – ROY, MVP, a specific stat. I normally ask if they will inscribe something like that; again, they will tell you if they can’t or ignore the request.

For other sports, most people will get autographs on balls/pucks, mini-helmets, or floor boards (at least for basketball). A sharpie is best for these; color is really an opinion. For hockey pucks, silver sharpie or paint pens show up the best. I think black works best for basketballs, footballs, and golf bals, but that’s just my opinion.

On sports cards, sharpies work on most cards. The new Topps and Upper Deck cards are somewhat glossy and don’t hold autographs well, much like the chrome cards that are released (Topps and Bowman normally have chrome cards). The sharpie tends to bubble on these cards. One way to avoid this it to rub baby powder on the cards with a cotton ball; the baby powder fills in un-seen wholes that from in the glossy/chrome finish on the cards. The other way is to use a Staedtler Lumocolor – they are a better version of a sharpie that dries faster.

I find the best way to have cards ready to be autographed is to keep them in a binder. I’ve bought card stock pages and attached photo corners for the cards. You can get up to 9 cards per page like this. It’s easy to hold the book out and for the player to sign. Some times, handing individual cards to players works well; just beware that after you get the card back and put it on the stack it could smear on other cards.

Here are some examples:
Travis Hafner sweet spot.
Brad Ausmus side panel Baseball.
Lee Smith 478 Saves inscription.
Curtis Granderson bubbled card.
Mike Hampton faded sharpie.
Carl Everett bleeding baseball – a cheap ball signed in ballpoint; it should have been signed in a Fine Tip Sharpie to last a little better.
Steve Kline bleeding baseball - a good ball signed in red sharpie; it needed to be in ball point pen so the signature would last.

A word about the last column:
Last time I wrote about getting TTM autographs. I’m going to chronicle my latest batch I’m sending out. I’ve decided to get 2 books of stamps and send out 2 cards per player. I will also be typing a letter with some questions that I’ll print here if I get them back. I’m sending to the players listed below:

Jay Bruce - Louisville Bats
John Danks - Chicago White Sox
Todd Frazier - Dayton Dragons
Jon Jay – Springfield Cardinals
Ubaldo Jimenez – Colorado Rockies
Jon Knott - Rochester Red Wings
Matt LaPorta – Huntsville Stars
Fred Lewis - San Francisco Giants
Mark McCormick - Palm Beach Cardinals
Joe Nathan – Minnesota Twins
Ross Ohlendorff - New York Yankees
Jerry Owens - Charlotte Knights
Dustin Pedroia – Boston Red Sox
Chris Perez – Memphis Redbirds
Joe Smith - New York Mets
Miguel Tejada – Houston Astros
Jarrod Washburn – Seattle Mariners
Jordan Zimmerman – Potomac Nationals

I’ve checked around and all of these players have signed TTM this season. Here are some of the trends I’ve noticed:

- I’m a little worried about Bruce and Owens. I know as soon as I send them, they’ll get promoted.
- Lewis wouldn’t sign anything when he was in St. Louis recently; I always find it funny when a player won’t sign IP but will TTM or vice versa.
- LaPorta will sign, but it’s hit or miss. I attempted him in Spring Training and never got anything back.
- Washburn is about as automatic as you can get; I’ve never read someone not getting their cards back signed.

As I get cards in, I’ll supply what they signed, how long it took, and pictures of the signed cards.

A question for everyone…
I want to get together stories people have about getting autographs. They can be good, bad, unusual, what ever. Sent them to me here.