December 2010: Local Knowledge: Golf Digest

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Results for December 2010 Back to Local Knowledge Index

Betting on Tiger Woods in 2011

Friday, December 31, 2010 Comments

Tiger Woods' regrettable, forgettable year is over, so what are the odds that he'll rebound? Ladbrokes, the U.K. bookmaker, has them, at least regarding the major championships.

Woods is a 3/1 favorite to win the Masters. Curiously, Lee Westwood, who ended Woods' reign as No. 1 in the World Ranking, is 14/1 to win the Masters. Will the U.K.'s own punters have enough faith in their own to bet him down to odds closer to Woods'?

Odds on Woods winning one major championship in 2011, meanwhile, are 11/8; two majors 8/1; three majors 33/1; the Grand Slam 100/1.

-- John Strege

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Tiger turns 35, still tops the Golf Digest 50

Thursday, December 30, 2010 Comments

Golf Digest has released its exclusive ranking of the top 50 earners in golf, both on and off the course. The eighth annual list was put together with the help of countless Golf Digest interviews and compiled by Ron Sirak.

Not surprisingly, Tiger Woods, who turned 35 on Dec. 30, leads the way once again. What may turn some heads, however, is that his overall earnings for 2010 went down a cool $48 million from what he made in 2009. In other words, Woods lost more money than any other player made, including No. 2 Phil Mickelson.

Then again, considering all he has gone through in the past year, perhaps it's even more amazing that Woods still managed to make $74.2 million.

Other impressive stats? How about 81-year-old Arnold Palmer pulling in $36 million despite not playing in one official event to place third. Or Jim Furyk jumping up six spots to No. 6 thanks in large part to that big bonus for winning the FedEx Cup. And Lee Westwood may be the current No. 1 player in the world, but he only checks in at No. 9 on this list to barely pass a player who had to take a break from the game altogether in Sergio Garcia.

Of course, sometimes there's a lag between success on the course and a player cashing in. Graeme McDowell ($9,714,379 total) went from unranked to No. 14 following a dream season that included claiming the U.S. Open and becoming a Ryder Cup hero. But you can be sure the native of Northern Ireland will easily crack the $10 million barrier next year when the new endorsements he's picked up start to kick in.

Same goes for Matt Kuchar and Martin Kaymer, who each earned more than $9 million this year despite making a relatively small amount from things other than tournament earnings. And who knew the soft-spoken and not-particularly-flashy Zach Johnson made more money off the course ($4.5 million) than Michelle Wie?

But regardless if a player saw his/her earnings rise or fall in 2010, one thing is for sure. If you're on this list, you're doing pretty well for yourself.

-- Alex Myers

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Obama: 56 (or 57) rounds, but who's counting?

Wednesday, December 29, 2010 Comments

Emily Miller is. An editor at Human Events, Miller has been tracking President Obama's golf and, via Twitter, reporting on it in the wake of his Hawaii rounds this week and setting in motion a string of commentary that somehow came to include death panels.

"President Obama played golf today in Hawaii, his 56th round since taking office," she wrote on Tuesday.

A short time later, she posted this: "whoa. third time playing golf in hawaii? if so then I have to adjust my count to 57 for presidency. SERIOUS BUSINESS."

Then this: "I need to keep my golf tracking up to date. Do you count 56 or 57? I had 52 on Oct 10. Played 2x in DC, 3x"

Whatever the number, John Kim, a coordinating producer at PGA.com, chimed in with this: "That's more than me! But then my job is ...golf. Wait, that doesn't seem right."

Kim's post was re-tweeted by Miller, who added this: "Obama golfs more than a PGA producer?!"

Kim's turn again: "the old adage is: those who work in golf never get to play. Guess I need to run for President to hit the links!"

That prompted this response from Doug Powers, writing at michellemalkin.com, beneath the headline, "PGA Producer Wishes He Could Golf as Much as Obama": "Kim later noted how he should get elected president so he'd have more time to play golf. Careful dude, those deat... er, I mean -- 'end of life counseling committees' -- aren't just going to be for old people, you know.'"

-- John Strege

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Only Putter Boy is on the golf course today

Monday, December 27, 2010 Comments

There isn't much golf weather around the continental U.S. today. Even Pinehurst's Putter Boy is knee deep in snow, as shown in this photograph taken by Golf World Senior Editor (and North Carolina native) Bill Fields:

Fields has posted other photos from Mid Pines Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., on Twitter.

-- John Strege

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Report: Gillette ends relationship with Woods

Thursday, December 23, 2010 Comments

Tiger Woods, who previously lost endorsement deals with AT&T, Accenture, Gatorade and Tag Heuer, will no longer represent Gillette, effective the end of December, the company has announced.

"His contract ran its full term like many other athletes that were part of the Champions program," the company said in a news release. "We are ending the Gillette Champions program after three years. Like any brand, we refresh our marketing efforts to ensure they continue to be relevant for our consumers."

A month ago, Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, told CNBC's Darrell Rovell that Woods was close to adding endorsement deals, that Woods would "have a bag deal with a new partner and within time I am confident there will be a global brand that will be using his name and likeness. We're close to a deal coming out of Asia and we're in discussions with a number of companies interested in being on his golf bag."

-- John Strege

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Why you shouldn't get hit by a golf ball

Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Comments

A ruling by a New York judge says golfers are not liable for not yelling "fore" when they hit someone outside of their target line. This is yet another reason why you should avoid getting hit in the first place.

A June 1999 Golf Digest story examined the ramifications of players getting hit by errant balls and even clubs. At the time of the story, some 40,000 people were admitted annually to emergency rooms from such injuries. The good news is the cases of fatalities are low, but seeing how the New York case stemmed from a player who was blinded in one eye, golf still presents risk.

So what measures can you take to avoid injury? Read the full story here.

-- Sam Weinman

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Woods has cortisone shot in right ankle

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 Comments

At least this December has been a little quieter than the one a year ago for Tiger Woods. But the former world No. 1 can still send the golf world into a frenzy on occasion, as he did for a brief period on Tuesday.

After reports circulated on the Internet that Woods had torn his Achilles' tendon, the player's representatives clarified that he merely had a cortisone shot in his right ankle to relieve soreness.

Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told the Associated Press the player was long scheduled to have the shot.

"This was always the plan," Steinberg said. "He's looking at 2011 as a big year for him."

Woods does have a history of Achilles problems, revealing earlier this year that he tore the tendon in his right leg in December 2008. But the circumstances apparently weren't nearly as dire this time around. Following the shot on Tuesday, the player was already back Tweeting from a commercial shoot for his video game for EA Sports.

-- Sam Weinman

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BBC Awards vitriol: A 'farce,' Poulter says

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 Comments

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an otherwise innocuous awards show that was anything but this time around, most of the controversy created by golf.

Jockey A.P. McCoy and World Darts champion Phil Taylor finished one-two in the SPOTY, ahead of U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland and England's Lee Westwood, No. 1 in golf's World Ranking. This didn't sit well with England's Ian Poulter, who expressed his displeasure via Twitter.

"Why Poulter was Tweeting mad!" a headline in the Daily Mail said.

"IAN POULTER TEED OFF AT 'FARCE,' a headline in the Daily Star said.

Here's a Poulter sampling from Twitter:

-- "BBC Spoty farce, sorry how could @Graeme_McDowell or @WestwoodLee not win. GMac wins a major westy world no 1. That's Bollox"

-- "Darts comes second in the BBC Spoty voting get a grip. Congrats to AP. Great sportsman and a gent but wasn't my choice"

England's Oliver Wilson also weighed in via Twitter: "Just getting #spoty update, can't believe westy nor gmac won or even placed! Absolute Rubbish."

Then there was Colin Montgomerie, who received the coach of the year award for the European Ryder Cup victory.

"Colin Montgomerie coach of the year? You must be joking," said the headline on a blog post by Lawrence Donegan in the Guardian. Donegan wrote: "...if you know anything about the Ryder Cup you will know the title of 'captain' carries about as much weight as a punch in the guts from Gyles Brandreth. Bad captains win Ryder Cups, great captains lose them. It's the players, stupid."

Former British Open champion Paul Lawrie was among those mocking this award.

"Didn't know monty was a coach? Must ask him for a lesson........," he posted on Twitter.

"What has pete cowan [sic] got to do to win coach of the year"

Pete Cowen coaches both Westwood and McDowell.

-- John Strege

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Daly awarded custody of his 7-year-old son

Saturday, December 18, 2010 Comments

A circuit court judge in Tennessee on Friday awarded John Daly custody of his seven-year-old son Little John and sentenced Daly's ex-wife Sherrie to three days in jail for contempt of court.

Sherrie had been awarded custody of Little John in February, when her divorce became final, but in the intervening months she interfered with Daly's court-ordered visitation rights and, according to this story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Little John was not receiving the speech therapy he needed, while accumulating excessive absences from school.

Daly, the story said, intends to "take his son on tour with him and will arrange for tutors and online schooling."

Daly posted his reaction via Twitter: "The best Christmas gift a father can ask for & a great day in this 2 year journey for what is best for my son. So, proud being awarded full custody today!"

-- John Strege

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Video: The story of Manuel De Los Santos

Friday, December 17, 2010 Comments

In October, we shared video of Manuel De Los Santos, the former baseball player from the Dominican Republic who lost his leg in an an auto accident. After that accident, De Los Santos says he was introduced to golf by way of the film, "The Legend of Bagger Vance" (some might say this is the best thing to come out of a movie that was a critical and commercial flop); and has since worked his way into a 3-handicap. In October, he competed for the second time in the the pro-am portion of Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

While the simple footage of De Los Santos' powerful swing is in itself remarkable, the filmmaker Peter Montgomery explores his story even further in the short film below. The resulting effort is not only a testimony to the human spirit, but also the therapeutic powers of golf.

As De Los Santo says, "When I feel bad, I go to the golf course, I find my second leg. I forget my problems."