-- If the LPGA decided its player of the year via a vote, as the PGA Tour does, as opposed to computer, Jiyai Shin might have won rather than Lorena Ochoa. Winning and money are the two most important considerations, and Shin and Ochoa each won three times and Shin earnings exceeded Ochoa's by more than $300,000. The only advantages Ochoa had were minute -- in scoring average (70.16 to 70.26) and top 10s (13 to 12).

-- Michelle Wie's ankle injury flared up at a most opportune time, sparing her the fits and starts of the LPGA Championship that eventually was reduced to 54 waterlogged holes and ended on Monday. Moreover, it allowed her to attend the Big Game, Stanford's annual clash with rival California.

-- If there could be a bright spot to a bad economy, this is a candidate: No Skins Game. No sponsor stepped forward to resurrect this tiresome event, thus putting it out of our misery, at least for a year.

-- Robert Allenby: "You know, Americans play for so much money, and when you've got a purse where...a million plus is first prize, not to say that they are spoiled, but it's a little bit that way. It's like, well, why would I want to travel, when I can make a million bucks instead of going to Europe and only making $500,000 or $600,000?" That logic tends to argue on behalf of Americans staying home. Why would someone go overseas to make $500,000 when they can stay home and make a million bucks?

-- John Strege

Rory McIlroy has joined Sergio Garcia as the only 20-year-olds ever to have been in the top 10 in the World Ranking. Even Tiger Woods, who won two PGA Tour events in 1996 as a 20-year-old, wasn't ranked in the top 10 until '97.

McIlroy moved past Jim Furyk and into the 10th spot by virtue of his third-place finish in the Dubai World Championship.

-- John Strege

Ordinarily, an amateur qualifier for a PGA Tour event warrants scant (or no) attention, but the qualifier Saturday for what used to be called the Buick Invitational produced some intrigue based on the ensuing duel between players with familiar last names and their player/coach relationship.

Gunner Wiebe, a junior at the University of San Diego, shot a three-under par 69 on the South Course at Torrey Pines, as did Tim Mickelson, his coach at the University of San Diego, to top the 100-man field vying for one spot in the PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines at the end of January. Wiebe is the son of Champions Tour player Mark Wiebe, while Mickelson is the brother of PGA Tour star Phil Mickelson.

They went to a sudden-death playoff and were still tied after four extra holes, when play was suspended because of darkness. The two won't continue the playoff until a predetermined day in January, according to a news release on the qualifier.

-- John Strege

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.

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

And here he is with wife Elin and daughter Sam.

-- 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