By Brendan Mohler

By now you know that Vijay Singh has filed suit against the PGA Tour. Yes, he's suing the organization that let him off the hook after admittedly using a banned substance, the organization that has made him rich and the same organization that named him Player of the Year in 2004. How could he do such a thing?

Singh greets fans during the practice round at The Players Championship. Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Forget about Singh's past: the cheating allegations, the unfriendly manner with which he's been known to treat playing partners, the often rude avoidance of the media. Is it possible that the tour acted carelessly because Singh's reputation wasn't worth saving? Singh and his lawyers apparently think so, and the case they've leveled has some compelling elements. Despite the public ridicule the lawsuit has created, Singh's lawyers actually make a few strong points.

• Aside from his cantankerous reputation, Vijay is commonly recognized as the hardest working player on tour. As the lawsuit points out, Singh currently holds the record for most wins after the age of 40. Yes, his negative reputation has only been reinforced by the lawsuit, but his reputation as the hardest working range rat on tour has weakened.

Related: The PGA Tour drops doping case against Singh

• Paragraphs 12 and 13 of the lawsuit explain the tour's willingness to rely on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for proper testing of banned substances, and to impose action based on the results of that testing, without the slightest effort to verify the accuracy of that information. The tour did not hesitate to suspend Singh and thus left him to deal with the wrath of what the lawyer's claim was baseless action by the tour.

• After the Sports Illustrated story (in which Singh admitted to using deer-antler spray) ran, Vijay provided the Tour with a urine sample (that tested negatively) and a supply of deer-antler spray that the Tour could test. After having the spray tested by UCLA, the tour found no evidence that the spray contained enough IGF-1 to warrant its banning. Furthermore, the tour withheld Singh's earnings during the proposed suspension and alerted Singh that the choice to appeal his suspension would require him to forfeit those earnings, even though he was allowed to continue competing during the appeal process.

• The tour received the results of UCLA's testing on February 14 and, on the same day, sent a letter to Singh notifying him of his violation. Five days later, the Tour notified Singh of his suspension. The timeline of the tour's decision-making process is unclear, but by either deciding on a suspension without proper information about the spray, or by leveling the suspension after finding out about the contents of the spray, the tour seems to have acted preemptively.

Related: Singh is no longer stopping the clock

• The lawsuit includes a section titled "The Truth about IGF-1" which summarizes UCLA's findings and might be the most interesting aspect of the document. Singh's lawyers point out the biological inactivity of IGF-1 in deer-antler spray in an effort to downplay its effectiveness. They also compare the effect of IGF-1 in the spray to the effect of pouring a shot of bourbon into a pool, then taking a shot of the pool water.

The strengths of the lawsuit do not change the fact that, above all else, Singh admitted to taking a substance that was banned by the PGA Tour. The Tour's Anti-Doping program treats admission of use the same as a positive drug test, meaning Singh has a huge hurdle to clear before this case can gain traction. As in most lawsuits, there are significant barriers that the plaintiff must overcome (the tour's bylaws include language that protects against legal action from members on tour decisions), however, Singh and his lawyers have created a compelling case that's worthy of attention and could have a lasting impact on the Tour's drug-testing policy and procedures.

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When Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters at age 46, we know it was for his sixth green jacket. What we don't know -- or at least can't seem to agree upon -- is whether the win was Nicklaus' 18th or 20th in a major championship.

The gray area has to do with whether you count Nicklaus' two wins in the U.S. Amateur as a major, an argument that has even greater relevance these days since Tiger Woods has three U.S. Am wins of his own (putting his career major total at either 14 or 17 depending on your definition).

So should the Amateur be considered a major, counting as much as the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, or the PGA Championship? Two of our writers, Ryan Herrington and Alex Myers, square off in one of golf's great debates.

COUNT IT AS A MAJOR

To apply the label of major championship to a golf tournament is a subjective task, but it is one that can be done using objective truths. A "major" is a tournament that has the mortar of history providing its foundation. It annually assembles the best available competitors, all of whom aspire to win the championship above most any other title. It provides a superior challenge inside the ropes, one that separates the sensational from the standard and identifies the best player for that week.

Set against these measures, the U.S. Amateur Championship wears the label of "major" quite well. For 112 years the USGA has given out the Havemeyer Trophy, longer than any U.S. organization has been naming a winner of any golf tournament. The names that appear on that hardware have defined the game for generations.

Related: The best golfers without a major

The event is taken to the country's best courses, set up under conditions as demanding as any event in the world. (I might remind you that it wasn't until the participants at the 2005 U.S. Amateur were sufficiently stymied by Merion GC did the USGA decide to bring another U.S. Open to the course). There isn't a golfer alive who is eligible to play who wouldn't accept a spot in the 310-player field and longingly hope to obtain the spoils of victory at week's end.

There is one thing that the U.S. Amateur doesn't have that the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship possess: professional golfers. Some will consider that a deficiency. For me, it's hardly a major problem.

-- Ryan Herrington

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DON'T COUNT IT AS A MAJOR

Even the casual golf fan knows that Bobby Jones' "Grand Slam" in 1930 included the U.S. and British Amateurs. And while at the time those events were considered majors, guess what? Times change.

The U.S. Amateur remains a big event, but it doesn't have the prestige it once had and isn't nearly the stepping stone to a golfer's career it once was. Unlike in the days of Jones, today's amateur events, even the pinnacle of the amateur golf calendar, cannot be compared to professional tournaments due to the obvious disparity in talent. The U.S. Amateur has a terrific field of talented prospects, but it consists mainly of American golfers who aren't old enough to drink yet.

Related: Golf's all-time biggest phenoms

Also, today's best amateurs don't stay amateurs for long, giving them only a small window to win the event. Yet for some reason, despite the wide gap in competition, keeping amateur and professional accomplishments separate is more of a sticking point in golf than in other sports. Take basketball, where Michael Jordan's six rings with the Chicago Bulls aren't grouped with the NCAA title he won at UNC.

And if we are to include the U.S. Amateur when counting a golfer's major championships, where do we draw the line? Wouldn't the British Amateur count as well since it did for Jones? If so, then congratulations, Sergio Garcia! You have won a major!

No, let's continue to count the professional majors separately, meaning Jack Nicklaus has 18, Tiger Woods has 14, Jones has seven and Garcia (sorry!) has zero. Keeping score in this game is hard enough as is.

-- Alex Myers

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By Dave Shedloski

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Since golf's governing bodies proposed to ban a stroke in which a club is anchored to a player's body, Keegan Bradley has felt like he's been under a microscope, and it's adversely affecting his game.

Photo by Getty Images

The first player to win a major championship by anchoring a belly-length putter, Bradley said Tuesday at the Honda Classic at PGA National that accusations by fans and some writers that he is cheating have become more common since the USGA and R&A announced an amendment to the rules on Nov. 28.

Related: Why the PGA Tour is opposing the ban

Bradley first heard a fan call him a cheater in December at the World Challenge, the invitational hosted by Tiger Woods. The catcalls have only increased, he said.

"It's been actually pretty difficult," said Bradley, who began the season with a T-4 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, but hasn't been in contention in a final round since. "Especially lately. I'm being called a cheater more than ever by fans, by some writers. . . . I can't imagine how people can say that to me or to anybody out here. It's been really difficult, and I'm sick of it to be honest. I'm ready for it to be over."

The issue isn't likely to end soon. Though the 90-day comment period pertaining to Rule 14-1b ends Thursday, the USGA announced Sunday that a decision on whether or not to adopt the rule would be delayed until spring. If golf's two governing bodies go forward, the new rule wouldn't go into effect until Jan. 1, 2016.

Related: The "Do's and Don'ts" of the USGA's proposed ban

That commissioner Tim Finchem said that the PGA Tour does not support the ban has thrown the issue into further uncertainty. The tour joins the PGA of America in opposition to the proposed rule change.

"It's just a bit of a mess," World No. 1 Rory McIlroy said.

Bradley, who has slipped to 60th on the tour in the telltale statistic, strokes gained putting, said he wasn't surprised by Finchem's comments.

"Commissioner Finchem and the PGA Tour have always had their players' backs, no matter how big or small the group is," Bradley said. "You know, I'm very proud and makes me feel good that my tour, the tour I play on, has my back. I think now that this comment period that the USGA has been talking about, they have heard from two of the biggest organizations, golf organizations in the world, the PGA Tour and The PGA of America saying that they don't agree with the USGA.

"If they are really taking this comment period seriously, I think they really need to look at what's been said by both those organizations."

Meanwhile, the invective hurled towards him has seriously hurt Bradley.

Related: What to expect at the Honda Classic

"Some of the guys that have come out strongly against it, I don't understand," Bradley said. "Because it doesn't affect them, it affects me. . . . For the most part people are super respectful, but it's very easy to pick out those few, and the word cheater . . . it's amazing that people can say that. It's probably the worst thing you could ever say to an athlete."

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By John Strege

The overriding question that evolved from the extensive coverage of the PGA Tour's response to the USGA regarding a ban on anchoring the putter was this: Why couldn't this have waited until Monday?

Photo by Getty Images

What an odd final day for one of the showcase events in professional golf, one that carries the prestigious designation of World Golf Championship. The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship began on Wednesday with 64 of the best players in the world and ended on Sunday with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem making the most news.

Related: The players most affected by the proposed ban

In the midst of the Match Play final between Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan (Kuchar prevailed, 2 and 1), Finchem held a news conference outlining the PGA Tour's position on the USGA's proposal. Then he was summoned to the NBC booth for an extensive discussion that relegated the golf to a secondary role.

"We did give the USGA our position last week and our board and player advisory council concluded that we should be opposed to it, which we articulated," Finchem said. "We're very supportive of the USGA. We hold it in high regard. We were asked our opinion and we feel strongly that going down that road would be a mistake.

"If there's one thing that would prevail across a lot of our players and a lot of our board members is that it's been around for a generation and the game of golf has done quite well. Unless you have a compelling reason to change we shouldn't. And the USGA has indicated there's no performance advantage to using anchoring . . . What the data shows is there isn't an anchoring putter on the PGA Tour that's in the top quartile in the putting stats."

OK, but why now, when this viewpoint was relayed to the USGA several days earlier? Finchem might have been using the WGC television stage to bolster the tour's position by lobbying golfers at large.

The USGA countered via Twitter, then with a statement that read in part: "We continue to listen to varying points of view, and have had many productive conversations across the golf community, which is a reminder of just how much people care about the game - regardless of their position on this issue.

"As we consider the various perspectives on this issue, it has always been our position that Rule 14-1b aims to clarify and preserve the traditional and essential nature of the golf stroke, which has helped to make golf a unique and enjoyable game of skill and challenge."

So we have an apparent stalemate, with the next move up to the USGA. It said it would have a final ruling in the spring, and should it choose to stand by its intention to ban anchoring, it would not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2016, nearly three years hence.

So, again, why the urgency for Finchem to outline the tour's position? Would his urgency have been the same had it been Rory vs. Tiger rather than Kuchar vs. Mahan in the final?

Related: The anchor ban explained

So it was less than compelling, a match between two players who weren't ranked in the top 20, one of them, Kuchar, taking a 4-up lead through eight holes to quell the drama for much of the afternoon. Was that sufficient for Finchem to interject himself into the proceedings by calling a news conference?

For an old political hand from the Carter administration, one apparently set on working the crowd, the answer was yes.

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By Ryan Herrington

For the first time since 1987, the USGA will be adding an event for individual golfers to its championship calendar. And for the first time ever, it will be retiring tournaments.

In a simultaneous announcement Feb. 11, the governing body will unveil the creation of men's and women's four-ball championships to be played starting in 2015 while disclosing it would no longer be conducting its men's and women's Amateur Public Links tournaments after 2014.

Photo by Getty Images

The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship and U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball Championship will be two-person team competitions played annually between mid-March and late May. There will be no age requirement for eligibility, and partners won't be required to be from the same club, state or country. Each male competitor must have a USGA handicap index of 5.4 or lower. Competitors in the women's event must have indexes of 14.4 or lower. Sectional qualifying will consist of 18-holes of better-ball play with 128 teams reaching the men's championship and 64 reaching the women's. (many qualifiers will be held the previous fall or winter).

Related: An inside look at the new USGA

After 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying at the championships proper, the fields will be reduced to the low 32 teams that will compete at match play to determine a winner.

According to Thomas O'Toole, chairman of the USGA Championship Committee, the popularity of similar events at the state and regional level -- in 2012 more than 150 events, either strictly four-ball or as part of a competition format were held in the U.S. -- made the creation of a national championship seem appropriate.

"We've been pretty mindful and steadfast that we would not just jump into something that may be a fade or not have some longevity," O'Toole told GolfDigest.com. "And we think the four-ball is certainly a very well accepted format in this country, and we think it's ripe for a national championship."

Conversely, USGA officials concluded that the APL, started in 1922 and currently the USGA's fourth oldest championship, and WAPL (begun in 1977) no longer seemed to be serving the purpose for which they were originally created -- the establishment of a national championships for public, working-class golfers. You have to go back to 1996 and 30-year-old Tim Hogarth to find the last APL champion who wasn't a college-age golfer. And the last everyday golfer who won the event was in 1984 when Bill Massey, a 29-year-old truck driver from Hayward, Calif., took the title. Meanwhile the oldest WAPL champion in the history of the event was Amy Fruhwirth, who was just 23 when she won in 1992.

"What it all boiled down to was an essential question: If we were starting over today and founded the USGA, starting the championships, would we created these two championships today?" noted John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, rules, competitions & equipment standards. "And the answer is no, because the original mission is no longer needed."

Related: How things have been shaken up at the USGA

"I think it was part of what I'll call a new vision or new directive from the USGA," said O'Toole since the start of Mike Davis' tenure as executive director in 2011. "We want to govern and make decisions for the right reasons. And if it makes sense to retire this championship from an administrative perspective, then lets do the right thing for the USGA and amateur golf and not avoid or shy away from a hard decision. . . . And this was a hard one."

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By John Strege

The PGA of America's search for a successor to retiring chief executive Joe Steranka has culminated with the appointment of former USGA executive Pete Bevacqua.

It seemed a natural fit for an organization involved in both the business of golf and operating championship events. Bevacqua was the director of the U.S. Open for the USGA before becoming that organization's first chief business officer in 2007.

Steranka announced in April that he would retire at the end of the year, his seventh at the helm of the PGA of America, an organization of 27,000 golf professionals and one that conducts the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup.

Related: How the U.S. lost the Ryder Cup

Bevacqua, 41, is a graduate of Notre Dame and earned a law degree from Georgetown. He joined the USGA in 2000 as in-house counsel. He resigned from the organization in March of 2011, three weeks after the USGA appointed Mike Davis as its executive director, a position for which Bevacqua reportedly was a candidate.

He also was rumored to have been a candidate for LPGA Commissioner, before the LPGA hired Mike Whan in October of 2009.

Bevacqua, who has run the golf division of CAA Sports, a division of Creative Artists Agency, since May of 2011, is an accomplished golfer, carrying a 2.4 handicap index at Manatee Golf Club in Branchburg, N.J., and at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y.

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By Alex Myers

Earlier this week, Keegan Bradley said he would fight a potential ban on anchoring putters, and he encouraged fellow tour pros to join his cause. But would he and other golfers who use long putters have a case?

Apparently, they might, says attorney Jeff Rosenblum of the Memphis-based law firm of Rosenblum and Reisman.

"It's a potential legal issue. . . . There are ways to challenge," Rosenblum said. "Would it be a frivolous lawsuit? No. Would it be a good investment? That all depends."

Photo by Getty Images

Rosenblum has experience dealing with the governing bodies of golf. Three years ago, he represented Doug Barron, the first golfer to be penalized under the PGA Tour's drug policy. Despite the fact that this case would involve the USGA and R&A first implementing such a rule that would then be imposed by the pro tours, Rosenblum said, "There's not a whole lot different than the anti-doping issue, really."

Related: See what clubs are in Keegan Bradley's bag

What could be different, though, is the number of players such a ruling would affect, and just how effective Bradley is at rounding up fellow golfers to take their cause to court.

"It makes more sense if 10 millionaires get together and say 'we want to contest it,'" Rosenblum said. "Legally, the last guy on the Web.com Tour has just as much standing to sue as Keegan Bradley or Tiger Woods. The practical reality is, though, it's extremely expensive."

Related: Webb Simpson shares his belly putter tips

In other words, the push back has to come from players who are very confident their cause is worth it and probably not from guys like Barron, who fought his drug fight alone and who happened to go back and forth between belly and conventional putters this past season on the Web.com Tour.

As Rosenblum pointed out, cases against sports organizations -- like the recent one involving the NFL and "Bounty Gate" -- are becoming more common. Leagues and commissioner's can't just arbitrarily change/make rulings, but instead, must prove that there "is a nexus between the rule and the game and a need for the rule."

Rosenblum said that if a case like this ever went to court, it would probably be heard by a federal judge, "who doesn't care about the politics involved." Even if a trial were to be held in Jacksonville, Fla., the headquarters of the PGA Tour.

What could make that more complicated, however, is if golf's governing bodies decide not to make the ban across the board. For instance, what if established players like Bradley and recent U.S. and British Open winners Webb Simpson and Ernie Els could continue to anchor, while tour newcomers are forced to putt with a more conventional method? That seems unlikely, but as Rosenblum said, "It's amazing how decisions and compromises are made to keep things out of court."

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By Alex Myers

FAR HILLS, N.J. -- From the back of the room came a familiar question for Lee Elder. The man best known as the first African American to play in the Masters has been answering it in some form or another for more than 37 years: What are your recollections from your first trip to Augusta?

"I was scared to death," Elder said without hesitation.

Nearly four decades after that historic event, Elder's chilling words are just as meaningful -- if not even more important. To a younger generation of golfers, some of whom were in the crowd Wednesday at the USGA's headquarters, it was a reminder that it wasn't too long ago that a black man could feel fear on a golf course that went well beyond a daunting tee shot.

Photo courtesy of the USGA

Elder addressed the 1975 Masters along with plenty of other aspects of his storied career during a talk and Q&A with a crowd ranging from children in the First Tee program to older fans familiar with his record. The 78-year-old's best days on the golf course are well behind him, but that doesn't mean he's finished doing what he can for the sport he loves.

"I think you should give back until you're not longer here. I would never walk away from the game," said Elder, who splits his time between homes in Fort Lauderdale and San Diego. "Golf has been so good to me. Golf gave me my livelihood. Golf made it possible for me to enjoy a lot of things I probably wouldn't have enjoyed had I not been involved in the game of golf. And I think once you do that, you should keep on trying to improve the game of golf and how you do that is by helping the younger people that are going to come after you."

Related: A collection of Masters memories

His message was well received by those listening, including the younger portion with whom he took photographs and signed autographs for afterward.

"It was encouraging to me to hear about his life in golf because I want to be a golfer," Sebastian Gonell, 8, of Jersey City, said.

Speaking in the shadow of the USGA museum, Elder represents a living piece of history. It's for this reason that he was sought out by the museum's director, Robert Williams, to help improve the building's exhibit on minorities in golf.

"He is a real pioneer, along with (Charlie) Sifford and others, and that pioneering spirit, that ability to stand up in the face of all adversity and succeed is a uniquely American story," Williams said. "It's not just inspirational to the minority community, I think it's inspirational to us all."

The exhibit includes material on Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson and Joe Louis, all pioneers in their own sports who used their influence to help open golf's doors as well. Elder had close relationships with all three and noted that "It's really important to me that I carry on that legacy that they started."

Elder's groundbreaking appearance at Augusta -- for which he says he received up to 100 death threats -- rightfully gets a lot of attention, but his career also included four PGA Tour titles and eight wins on the Champions Tour. After dominating the United Golf Association (a professional tour for African Americans), he earned his PGA Tour card through qualifying school in 1967. His best year came in 1978 when he won twice, including a playoff victory over Lee Trevino at the Greater Milwaukee Open. That led to what he described as the only "tear-jerking" moment of his career: Representing the U.S. at the 1979 Ryder Cup.

"To be sitting in that chair and to have them announce your name. And you stand up as a member of the team, and to have the U.S. flag behind you . . . that was so significant for me," said Elder, who also became the first African American to play in the biennial event that week at the Greenbrier. "I'd never experienced anything like that."

Related: How the U.S. lost the Ryder Cup at Medinah

Speaking to reporters before his talk, Elder also recalled his most frightening experience on a golf course. That came at a 1970 tournament in Memphis when someone in the crowd on Saturday picked up his ball out of the left side of the fairway and threw it onto a road. No one in the gallery spoke on Elder's behalf, but playing partner Terry Dill vouched for Elder and he received a free drop.

"They really didn't want me to win the tournament," Elder said. "After that, it led to a lot of hollering and name calling, so I had to play in the rest of the way with a police escort."

The on-course atmosphere is a lot different now for Elder, who still plays from time to time in the "Grand Champions" division of the Champions Tour. He is also currently working on a book and is in the process of trying to set up clinics for young, minority golfers in his name -- something he wishes Tiger Woods did more of.

"I'm surprised because I felt he'd be a little more involved. I thought he'd be more outspoken," Elder said of Woods, who he is still friends with, but with whom he acknowledges his relationship is not as close as it once was.

Elder still keeps close tabs on the world of golf. He attended last week's Ryder Cup at Medinah (If he were captain, he wouldn't have sent Tiger Woods off last on Sunday), and he was thrilled when Augusta National was in the news earlier this year for breaking down another barrier and finally opening its doors for women by admitting its first two female members: former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore.

"I thought that was fantastic and I thought they selected great people," Elder said.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- On the eve of the 112th U.S. Open, the United States Golf Association will announce that it is dedicating the gold medal presented each year to the U.S. Open champion in honor of Jack Nicklaus, Golf World has learned.

A press conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. PDT at Olympic Club with Nicklaus, winner of a record-tying four U.S. Open titles, expected to be in attendance.

The gold medal, to be officially named the Jack Nicklaus Medal, dates to the first U.S. Open in 1895 when it was presented to winner Horace Rawlins. The medal never has had a name, and its design has evolved over time. It now will incorporate a silhouette of the Golden Bear in a follow-through pose.

"While every major championship is meaningful and memorable, I have always considered the U.S. Open the most important major championship to me," said Nicklaus, 72, of North Palm Beach, Fla. "The U.S. Open represents our national championship, and because I am an American there is a special connection to that major. The dedication of this medal, and to be associated with this great championship going forward, is among the most special recognitions I have ever received.

Related: Jack Nicklaus' career highlights

"Honestly, it's something that I haven't quite gotten my head around totally," added Nicklaus, winner of 18 professional majors and two U.S. Amateur titles. "To think about your name being attached to something like that for years to come is pretty overwhelming."