After Thursday’s opening round of the San Diego Open, Phil Mickelson should have been praised for his opening round of 2-under-par.  Yet instead he had players complaining of his conduct.

As everyone knows, the USGA instituted a new rule on groove shape.  And while most players have decided to abide by the rules, several, including Mickelson, have experimented with 15-20 year old wedges that somehow, under lawsuit, are exempt from the USGA ban.

Read all of the Scuttlebutt Here

Before the Colts and Saints kickoff on Superbowl Sunday, get a little friendly competition in yourself at Herndon Centennial.   On Sunday February  7, you can assemble a 4-Person team and compete in the Superbowl Scramble.   The event is a 10:00am shotgun start  and has a $55 per person entry fee which includes greens fee, cart, range balls and prizes.

Click Here for More Information

When will we see Tiger Woods again?

Tiger Woods is no longer the man you thought you knew. Yet in all this hoopla; the dramatic fall from grace of the world’s most popular athlete, those who said that they actually knew Tiger as a man are just plain kidding themselves.

The fact is, Tiger Woods is a golfer. He’s the best anyone has ever seen. He has also never let any of you into his personal life, and has failed to throw his weight into any social agenda of world importance, save of course, his foundation and endorsement of President Obama. Yet now, because of his personal problems and subsequent media firestorm surrounding the details of his private business, the golf world has lost him. And it may be forever.

Tiger’s rapidly unfolding, remarkable story has been told by every sleazy publication in the world. Though I feel it is important for this media organization to now choose its side. We choose golf.

Pros N’ Hackers stands by Tiger Woods, the world’s greatest golfer. We’re in the golf business and no matter what anyone on the PGA TOUR, or otherwise says, golf can’t do business without its CEO.

Even though I’m still in love with golf, my confidence in the game’s future reached a new low on Friday, December 11^th 2009. The day the music died. The day Tiger said he would be hanging up the spikes for an “indefinite” period of time. Mark my word, until his return, minutes will seem like hours.

Part of the Never Ending Scandal

Am I the only one that’s willing to say… “Why couldn’t these sorted details have come out later in life or just remained hidden, for that matter?” because that’s how I feel. I don’t give a damn. Tiger Woods was in his prime, and in-sight of the two greatest records in this sport: Sam Snead’s 82 PGA TOUR victories and, more importantly, Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major championships. Who knows when he’ll be able to refocus on those tasks, or if he will be the unbreakable figure we all came to know. Does a broken Tiger dominate?

Woods, with 71 PGA TOUR wins and 14 major championships has done things on the golf course that are simply unthinkable. As a 34-year old lifelong golf fan, I only have room for a few dramatic golf memories that don’t involve Tiger Woods.

He won the 1997 Masters by 12 shots. He dusted the field by 15 at the 2000 U.S. Open. The list goes on and on.

He makes clutch shot after clutch shot, and every single putt that he needs to make, no matter the distance or opponent.

Say what you will about me, but I will not join the crusade to vilify this man. I don’t care about his wife, his girls on the side, his wrecked SUV or his wrecked personal life. I could give a damn about the millions of people, publications and web sites who cared nothing about golf or Tiger Woods, the magnificent corporate ornament, yet can’t report enough on the flawed infidel who is apparently addicted to sex, drugs and even rock and roll if they look hard enough I’ll bet.

Partly, Tiger Woods is being punished for creating Tiger Woods. There is no doubt in my mind that, in his veneer, he manufactured a double standard for himself. He’s up there with Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, in terms of his athletic achievement, popularity and importance to his profession, all of whom were supernatural athletes, yet flawed men.

I could write a novel about the indiscretions of sporting celebrities. And then I’ll follow it up with one about actors and entertainers, followed by Vol. III, The Politicians.

And suddenly, I’m supposed to think that my sport’s brightest star has burnt out, just like that. Just because Tiger can’t seem to get enough when it comes to the opposite sex. Maybe he shouldn’t have gotten married. And he definitely shouldn’t have made some of the choices that he has apparently made, time and time again. However, none of this has anything to do with Tiger Woods the world’s best golfer. But listening to many reports, one might think he’s the world’s worst human being.

This is the image of Tiger that most should want to remember.

This is disastrous in more ways than one. The PGA TOUR will take a huge sponsor hit from these shenanigans. Tiger will never play the schedule that he once did. In my opinion, he may begin a Hogan type existence- Reclusion for most of the year and then perhaps we’ll see him at the majors. This has all gone too far and has ripped golf apart at the seams. In terms of notoriety and financial impact, what Tiger once giveth, he now taketh away. But it doesn’t have to be lost forever. I know he will be back, healed and ready to excite us all over again.

To many, Tiger may not fit the image of the squeaky clean, perfect man anymore. But he’s a perfect golfer. That’s all that I care about.

-Chris Counts, Editor

Tell Pros N’ Hackers how you feel about the World’s Number One Golfer.

FROM PGA TOUR PRESS RELEASE:

When 14-time Champions Tour winner Jay Haas defends his Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship title next season, he’ll be doing so at the newly renovated TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, Md., as the PGA TOUR Board of Directors approved a one-year move to the course for Oct. 4-10, 2010.  Baltimore Country Club, which has served as host for the Champions Tour’s fifth major since 2007, has one year left in its site agreement with the PGA TOUR and will host the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in 2011.

“We are delighted to announce this one-year move of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, and we would like to thank the TPC Potomac membership for affording this opportunity to our players – many of whom played there during the Kemper Open and Booz Allen Classic days – and will most certainly enjoy returning to since its incredible renovation,” said Mike Stevens, Champions Tour president.

The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship comes to the Washington, D.C., area, joining the Nationwide Tour’s Prince George’s County, Maryland, event as one of two PGA TOUR-sanctioned events in the region.  The PGA TOUR’s AT&T National will be played at Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, Pa., in 2010-2011.

“We want to thank the membership and leadership of Baltimore Country Club for graciously agreeing to delay the one year remaining in our contract to 2011, setting up this opportunity to showcase the Champions Tour at the new TPC Potomac,” said Stevens.  “With the Nationwide Tour’s Melwood Prince George’s County Open at the University of Maryland Golf Course in June, local golf fans will have the opportunity to experience both the PGA TOUR’s future stars and its legendary players first hand.”

“As the title sponsor for the 2010 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, we are pleased that this prestigious golf tournament will once again be held in and for the benefit our home state of Maryland,” said Mayo A. Shattuck III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Constellation Energy.  “Constellation Energy will continue to build on our efforts to ensure the tournament remains carbon neutral and showcases the very best of how energy and the environment can beneficially work together.  As has been the case in the past, we have enjoyed tremendous support from volunteers, particularly Constellation Energy employees and retirees, and we welcome their continued involvement in helping to make this year’s event a success. We look forward to a great tournament in 2010 at the new venue at TPC Potomac and to the return of the tournament to Baltimore Country Club in 2011.”

TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, which hosted a PGA TOUR event from 1987-2004 and 2006, was recently named No. 12 on Golfweek’s list of the “Best New Courses for 2009.”  Current Champions Tour stars who won PGA TOUR events at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm include Gil Morgan (1990), Morris Hatalsky (1988) and Tom Kite (1987).

“TPC Potomac is thrilled to serve as host of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in 2010,” said Mike Sullivan, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm general manager.  “There is little doubt that the Champions Tour players will be thoroughly impressed with the renovations to TPC Potomac and the upgraded amenities.  We look forward to providing our members, homeowners and fans with an outstanding experience, while at the same time supporting worthy non-profit organizations.”

“Baltimore Country Club has enjoyed hosting the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship for the past three years, and we look forward to welcoming back the best of the Champions Tour in 2011,” said Michael Stott, Baltimore Country Club general manager and COO.  “We are in full support of the TOUR’s opportunity to take the event to TPC Potomac next year and know that the D.C. area will appreciate the event – and its commendable charitable impact on the local community – as much as we have since 2007 and will again in 2011.”

“It’s going to be great for the Champions Tour to be in the Washington, D.C., area,” said Haas.  “A lot of us out here played TPC Potomac for many years when we were on the PGA TOUR, and from what everyone says about the redesign, it’s now without question a harder, better, championship-caliber course.  I think it’s one that the Champions Tour players will appreciate as the site of our final major of the season.”

The moderator at the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremonies couldn’t have said it better, “A native son of Richmond, Virginia will stand before up tonight to take his rightful place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.”

After a distinguished golf career, which saw him win numerous amateur titles and 21 PGA TOUR Victories,  including the 1977 PGA Championship, Lanny Wadikins entered the shrine where his accomplishments will forever be portrayed.

Jim Nantz:
I’m thinking, though, how much and how long Lanny has deserved this recognition tonight. I’m also thinking about two things I’ve heard him say so many times. We all have this kind of floating through our heads, thoughts, wishes. I’ve heard Lanny say so many times: Boy, I wish my dad were alive to see this. I heard him many times say: I wish my boys, Chad and Tucker, had a chance to see me in my prime.

Lanny’s father was a prideful man who loved his boys, Lanny and Bobby, and his daughter Ann. He was driving a truck for a living when Lanny learned how to play the game. During the week he was on the highway for Blue and Gray Transportation, and the weekends were all about any activity in which he could involve his kids.

Lanny at age six would pull his dad’s pull cart so that he could spend time with the man he idolized. And by ten, well, he was playing the game at such a high level they were writing about him in Richmond.

He was breaking 80 at the age of 10. So notable that when he did that at Meadowbrook country club, the Richmond Times Dispatch wrote a story about it. A picture ran in the paper. There was Lanny. There’s the picture. Standing next to his golf bag, the bag bigger than the boy. Still the case, too, by the way.

A few years later he would meet a PGA TOUR professional for the first time. It was a big occasion there in the Richmond area when he played an exhibition match at Country Club of Virginia with Arnold Palmer. He remembers beating his hero that day.

I’m thinking it’s been a long time coming for Jerry Lanston Wadkins, Jr., to take his rightful place in the World Golf Hall of Fame with the best who ever played. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the Hall of Fame Lanny Wadkins.

Said Wadkins of this momentous occasion, “It’s something that I never dreamed of. You start out playing golf, you don’t think about playing for a Hall of Fame. You think about trying to win tournaments and support your family and maybe accomplishing some wins and stuff, you never think it will culminate in something like this. It’s just very exciting. “

Put your thinking caps on. This course needs a name.

Baltimore County Golf announced today the opportunity for greater Baltimore area golfers to help rename Timonium-based Longview Golf Course, which is undergoing a $2.9 million renovation. Potential names can be submitted online by visiting Baltimore County Golf’s Web site at BaltimoreGolfing.com/Longview and clicking on the “Submit your idea for a new name” button. Names will be collected through the end of October and the public can vote for their favorite name in November.

“The renovations that are taking place will create a totally new golfing and training experience,” said Chris Hanson, head golf professional at Longview. “The creation of a new name is consistent with the fact that we have changed the overall feel, playing characteristics and capabilities of the facility.

In June 2009 Baltimore County Golf began its renovation of Longview Golf Course with several goals in mind: to dramatically improve the back-nine playing conditions while maintaining the existing par and length; to create the area’s top training facility and to eliminate the problems associated with the former driving range. Five new greens have been seeded and shaped, the new entranceway was recently paved and, construction of the new driving range (with adjacent parking) has begun. Once construction is complete, the new golf and training facility will feature:

• 300-yard bi-directional range with multiple target greens for right- and left-handed golfers
• More than 50 practice stations
• Covered tees
• Two natural-grass training areas with bunkers for private and group instructions
• Two ball distribution areas
• New range building
• Parking adjacent to the pads

To receive updates on course renovations, golfers can follow Baltimore County Golf on Twitter @BaltCountyGolf or sign up for e-blasts via BaltimoreGolfing.com/Longview.

During construction, Longview has 9 holes open and golfers can still play an 18-hole round. For more information on special rates and tee time availability during the renovation, visit baltimoregolfing.com/Longview or call the course at 410.887.7735.

*from Press Release dated 10/19/2009

The PB Dye Golf Club in Ijamsville is certainly on any Middle Atlantic golfer’s wish list.  And now if you wish, you can play the course for free for the rest of this year. Check out the details below.

The Champions Tour has released tee times for Thursday’s first round of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship; the final major of the year in professional golf.

Come Out and See Tom Watson and the Rest of the Champions Tour

The final senior major championship of the year is set to convene right here in our back yard, as the Champions Tour’s Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship tees it up at the Baltimore Country Club this week.

Anticipation is high for this event as it features the biggest purse on the Champions Tour and some of the best names in golf; Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Loren Roberts, Nick Price, defending champion D.A. Weibring and many, many more.

The preliminary weather report looks good, with temperatures in the low 70’s and mostly sun for the tournament days of Thursday-Sunday.  Click Here to purchase tickets for this week’s tournament.  Click Here for tournament information such as directions and parking.

Another Day, Another $10 Million Dollars

Way to go Tiger! Even in a year when you didn’t capture any of the four major championships, you still managed to outshine the competition with 6 wins and 14 top 10s.  Though this year was a little too close for comfort, and exactly what the 3-year old FedExCup competition need.

You see, on the back nine, following a Tiger Woods bogey and a Steve Stricker birdie, the $10 Mil actually switched hands momentarily.   Then, after a Padraig Harrington birdie and a Stricker bogey, Tiger went back to the top of the standings.  It was the PGA TOUR’s best scenario taking shape, the actual leaderboard at the TOUR Championship affecting the season-long FedExCup leaderboard.

Phil Mickelson may have won at East Lake, but it was Tiger who brought home the real hardware and the biggest check ever presented to one individual in professional sports.  What a great season it was.  Now let’s look forward to the Presidents Cup next week.