Tiger Woods on Saturday tossed the coin before the start of the the Stanford-Cal game in Palo Alto, Calif., but the Cardinal proved less adept at holding a lead than its most celebrated former student. Stanford, leading 14-10, at halftime, lost, 34-28, to end its Rose Bowl aspirations.

Here is Woods with Stanford's star running back Toby Gerhart at midfield after the coin toss.

-- John Strege

(Photo by Getty Images)

Or, perhaps, a better headline is this: Yes, we've lost our minds.

The glove that Michael Jackson wore when he introduced his so-called moonwalk dance in 1983 was sold at auction for $350,000 to Hoffman Ma of Hong Kong.

It's a golf glove. With rhinestones.

-- John Strege

And the sooner the better, for those in the crowded anti-Steve Williams camp. Woods' caddie apparently would consider retirement if and when his boss wins his 19th major championship, according to this story in New Zealand's Sunday News.

Williams' often boorish behavior has not endeared him to many in golf. Recall John Huggan's column in Scotland on Sunday earlier this month, headlined, "Tips for the Tiger: Nine ways for Woods to improve himself and golf."

No. 9 was that he should fire his caddie. "Go on," Huggan wrote, "make us all - journalists, spectators and, most of all, photographers - happy. Get rid of golf's biggest boor. Banish him forever to New Zealand. Anywhere will do though, even if nowhere will ever be far enough."

-- John Strege

Former NBA player Sam Bowie has applied for membership to the Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington, Ky. Should he be accepted, he would become the first African-American member in club history.

"We have no restrictions with respect to race, color and creed and national origin," Chairman of the Board Phil Scott said told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Membership is made up of a diverse group of folks that enjoy one another's company. That's the sum total of it."

The board will address Bowie's application on Monday, the newspaper reported. Bowie starred at the University of Kentucky, which is located in Lexington.

-- John Strege

The fawning press coverage by Australian media outlets of Tiger Woods' Australian Masters appearance and performance was not universal, it turns out. Peter FitzSimons, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, demonstrably (and colorfully) took Woods to task for his temper tantrums, specifically the incident when he let go of his club and it wound up in the crowd.

"Had the likes of John Daly done the same thing, it likely would have made fierce headlines and drawn extremely negative comment from all and sundry," FitzSimons wrote. "But because it was Woods, the fawning television commentators all but ignored it, as did most of the golf writers. The question has to be asked though - who does this (bleep) think he is? And how does he get away with it? Is there not some level of responsibility that goes with being the best in the world, to not behave like a petulant prig?"

The bleep is ours, not FitzSimons'. He used a word that would not find its way into mainstream U.S. publications.

-- John Strege

Michelle Wie, who shot an even-par 72 in the first round of the LPGA Championship, has withdrawn with a lingering ankle injury. She issued this statement:

"This tournament, and the support shown from the fans in Houston, meant a lot to me and I wanted to do everything I could to fight through the injury. It bothered me last week in Mexico, but I was able to play through the pain. I realized today that I wouldn't be able to continue to play through it. I want to make sure that I'm being smart with it, so I will return home to have it looked at by my doctors and follow their advice for treatment."

-- John Strege

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Lindsay Knowlton called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, begging the question, Who's lifetime? Employers don't routinely send employees around the world to play golf; hence Knowlton's partner in this adventure, Josh Sullivan, likened it to winning the lottery.

They are employees of Adidas Golf, who were the chosen two following a copmany-wide global casting call to find a pair of employees to front a marketing campaign it's calling "Wear in the World," designed to test and promote its all-climate golf apparel.

Their sendoff took place Thursday at TaylorMade headquarters here, and included a helicopter landing down range at its test center and whisking them off to Palomar Airport nearby to begin a journey that will start in a California desert and will take them to three Southern Hemisphere continents.

Their itinerary includes golf at Furnace Creek Golf Course in Death Valley, the lowest elevation golf course in the world, at 214-feet below sea level. From there, they go to Bolivia, for a round at LaPaz Golf Club, the world's highest-elevation course, at 10,800 feet above sea level.

Then it's on to Ushuaia, Argentina, and golf at the southern-most 18-hole course, "600 miles from Anatarctia," said Knowlton, a native of Canada and a former Ohio State golfer. "Total penguin territory." From there, it's a 20-hour flight to South Africa, for golf at Walker Bay Resort, Africa's southern-most golf course. And, finally, it's on to Alice Springs, Australia, to play the world's hottest course, where temperatures often exceed 120 degrees.

On the same trip, they'll also ride mountain bikes down Bolivia's Death Road, cage dive with great white shakes off the coast of South Africa, and play a better ball match against Argentina star Andres Romero.

"Checking things off our bucket list in the process," said Sullivan, a scratch golfer who works at company headquarters here.

Their progress can be followed at adidasgolf.com/wearintheworld/.

-- John Strege

RICHMOND, Texas -- The 2010 LPGA schedule was released here Tuesday and the fact it contains only 23 or 24 events, depending on how you do the math, explains why several LPGA members are trying to get the their cards for next year on the Japan LPGA. More than a dozen members were in the mix originally, but now it is down to Seon Hwa Lee, Candie Kung and Inbee Park. These are not insignificant players. Kung has four LPGA careers victories, as does Lee, who was the 2006 Rookie of the Year. Park has won once, but it was the 2008 U.S. Women's Open.

The JLPGA has 34 tournaments on its 2010 schedule as of now, and sources familiar with the Japan women's tour say the worst-case scenario is that it will have 31, still significantly better than the LPGA. While the LPGA says it expects to have 24 tournaments in 2010, it began the 2009 season with 31 but played only 27, losing the Ginn Open, Kapalua and China along the way with the Bell Micro being pushed to next year.

Purses on the JLPGA have been about two-thirds those of the LPGA in recent years, but that gap will narrow significantly next year when the total LPGA purse drops from $60 million in 2008 to a little more than $40 million in 2010. And if Kung, Lee and Park play both tours they will have ample opportunity. There are 17 off-weeks on the 2010 LPGA schedule between its mid-February start and finish the third week of November.

-- Ron Sirak

Just how important Michelle Wie in a starring role is to the LPGA can't be appraised until we know that she can fulfill the role consistently and should she do so that enough time has passed to accurately gauge her impact.

But for a glimpse we need look no further than a charitable auction that was part of the pro-am party at the LPGA Tour Championship in Richmond, Texas, on Tuesday. The high bid to play a round of golf with her was $25,000.

It got the attention of new Commissioner Mike Whan. "I came in late and when I walked in, I noticed the bidding was up to $22,000," Whan said. "I asked somebody what they were bidding on and they said, 'They're bidding to play golf with Michelle Wie.'

"Now, that's star power right there. It's going to be a very exciting week, and it could be a very exciting couple of years."

-- John Strege