Some think so, as this headline in the Mail indicates: "Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson caught in political storm in Shanghai."

The writer Graham Otway notes that when the WGC events were established in 1999 the major tours around the world agreed that the tournaments would count as official in each of them, yet PGA Tour Commissioner ruled that that would not be the case on the PGA Tour this year.

"As a result, the world's first- and second-ranked players [Woods and Mickelson] found themselves caught in the middle of a power struggle between their own US Tour and the rest of the world's," Otway wrote.

The vote here is that it is much ado about nothing. The HSBC Champions did not gain WGC status until the end of April. Better not to change the rules in the middle of the season. Presumably, it will count as official in the future.

Moreover, money spends the same whether it's official or unofficial. The results, too, count toward the World Golf Ranking, which is more important than the money list.

Then there's this: A final round featuring the two best players in the world vying for the championship doesn't require anyone's imprimatur other than own. Woods and Mickelson give it stature, not Finchem.

-- John Strege

The Australian Masters purse this week is $1.5 million, while Woods is receiving a $3 million appearance fee.

"Would Woods do the same as Nicklaus this week?" Stone asks in conclusion. "Dream on."

In fairness to Woods, no one else today would follow the Nicklaus example, either.

-- John Strege

Tournament host Carlos Franco shot a 79 in the Carlos Franco Invitational at Carlos Franco Country and Golf Club. Hence, Franco flops in Franco at Franco.

-- John Strege

Much has been made about China as golf's next frontier and the importance of the HSBC Champions in Shanghai having been designated a World Golf Championship event, thus enticing the best players in the world to China. All that is true, of course, but interminably slow play is probably not the best way to sell the game to neophyte golfers and golf fans.

-- John Strege

Is the LPGA sure it wants to be doing this? Apathy was always an issue when the men played at La Costa, even with Tiger Woods in the field -- hence the the Mercedes Championship wound up on Maui and the Match Play Championship moved to Arizona. Why would anyone believe the LPGA would deliver a different result there?

The LPGA Classic presented by J Golf, as the tournament apparently will be known, ought to have stuck to its original plan, to play in the greater Los Angeles area, where the enormous Asian population might have been a boon for a tour laden with Asian stars.

On the bright side, a new event played anywhere is a welcome development for the LPGA (or any other tour, for that matter).

-- John Strege

Tumangan had six birdies and back-to-back eagles, one of them when she drove to the fringe of the green on the 277-yard, par-4 11th hole, then made a 35-foot putt. She had no bogeys on the 5,278-yard layout to win by seven strokes. Among CIF-CCS past champions is Christina Kim, who now is on the LPGA.

Last July, Tumangan, then 15, qualified for and played in the U.S. Women's Open.

-- John Strege

To accommodate those in Sydney who can't watch him play live, two sites will broadcast all four rounds on big screens, at no cost. More than 100,000 are expected to watch Woods' rounds there each day, the Daily Telegraph is reporting.

-- John Strege

Victories by Ross Fisher in the Volvo World Match Play and Ian Poulter in the Singapore Open last week jumped each into the top 20, giving Europe nine players in the top 20 to America's eight. Each has five players in the top 10.

Of course, the ranking is still top heavy with Americans, who rank one (Woods), two (Phil Mickelson) and three (Steve Stricker).

-- John Strege

Or not, given that neither likely know how to play Chinese chess. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson appear here at a Chinese chess table in a publicity photo shoot for the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai this week.

-- John Strege

(Photo by Getty Images)

How can tour players who might be considering a chemical assist to their cause not be deterred in the aftermath of the PGA Tour's revelation on Monday that it had found its first scofflaw, Doug Barron?

Obscurity probably does not accurately portray his standing in professional golf in recent years, so invisible had he become. He last made a cut on the PGA Tour in 2006. He played four Nationwide Tour events in 2009 and missed the cut in all four. He's never won a tour event.

Yet when the PGA Tour announced that he had failed a drug test and had been suspended for a year, his obscurity instantly gave way to notoriety. A check of his name on Google News, which prior to Monday would have turned up zero mentions, revealed 545 mentions, including these from international news sites:

"American Barron banned for doping by PGA Tour" -- Reuters.

"PGA Tour player banned for doping" -- CNN.

Imagine the reaction had an established, known player failed a drug test and received a suspension. If that isn't a deterrence, nothing is.

-- John Strege

Rounds at public courses are up 0.8 percent, while rounds at played at private facilities are down 0.7 percent over a year ago.

In September alone, rounds were up 4.1 percent over September '08.

Hawaii, a state that depends largely on tourism, predictably has been hit hardest by the recession. Rounds there are off 15.5 percent year-to-date from '08. The biggest percentage jump has occurred in Kansas, where rounds are up 10.5 percent from a year ago.

-- John Strege

The Monterey County Herald is reporting that the entities jointly announced that they were reducing the size of the field from 180 pros to 156, which effectively takes 48 players (24 pros and their 24 amateur partners) off the three golf courses -- Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club (the latter having replaced Poppy Hills in the rota).

It should help ease the congestion (and six-hour rounds) that has beleaguered the tournament and contributed to the deterioration in the quality of the field.

-- John Strege

-- Bill Fields