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Video: Adam Scott on Adam Scott

GolfDigest.com — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Still basking in his dramatic win at the Masters, Adam Scott reflected on his go-to dish, his hidden talents, and his renewed passion for golf when Golf Digest caught up with the Aussie superstar at his home in the Bahamas on April 29, 2013.

Speed Bumps

Jaime Diaz — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

While there may be hope for tackling slow play on the recreational level, expect change on the PGA Tour to occur, well, slowly. There are reasons things are the way they are

Lessons From A Slowpoke

Jaime Diaz — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

The last man to receive a one-stroke penalty for slow play at a regular PGA Tour event has become synonymous with taking 'all Day'

If we're to discuss growing the game, we must look at those discussing it

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:23:00 GMT

By Derek Evers

More than a week has passed. The furor has died down. Everyone within golf's inner circle is breathing a sigh of relief that Tiger Woods didn't win the Masters. And thanks to a dramatic finish by a guy with movie star good looks, there were plenty of feel-good storylines to bury the lede on Woods' drop fiasco at the Masters. But as great as Adam Scott's sudden death playoff victory over Angel Cabrera was, the game of golf could use a mulligan.

It's time we turn the camera lens on ourselves. Photo: Karim Jaafar/Getty Images

It's easy to reflect on the excitement surrounding Tiger Woods' penalty -- as many have -- from a historical perspective: What would the greats of past generations do if in his situation? Would they withdraw despite being assessed a two-stroke penalty because it would preserve golf's tradition of "values"? Did Tiger Woods miss an opportunity to grow the game?

Yet, to talk about "growing the game of golf" requires an outsider's point of view -- an outsider who views much of the dialogue around golf as an echo chamber of (mostly) white (mostly) men questioning Tiger's mistake from a preemptive position of integrity.

I won't attempt to rehash everything that occurred on Friday and Saturday at the Masters, but if you're looking for a refresher, you can start here. As Nick Faldo repeated throughout the televised coverage, the modern era has given us a lot of gray area for rules interpretations. What is not in dispute, however, is that golf owes Tiger Woods -- at the very least -- the benefit of the doubt.

For better or worse, the 14-time major champion remains the face of the game to everyone without vested interest. And yet, as a thirtysomething fan holding the remote control, I watched Fred Ridley's press conference on Saturday morning devolve into a witchhunt for a scapegoat as those being paid to cover the sport demanded to know why the world's most famous golfer wasn't being kicked out of the world's most famous golf tournament. It was enough to make you think he was but a cog in the sport, not the man solely responsible for putting their stories on the front page.

These same journalists would later pen how ratings of the final round were up 26%, yet gloss over how it peaked about an hour before the telecast ended when Tiger's round was finishing up. This, by the way, has been case in every Masters he's played in. Think Adam Scott will captivate audiences that way? By comparison, weekend ratings for the years Zach Johnson (11.9) and Trevor Immelman (11.0) won the Masters surpassed the 10.2 ratings share we enjoyed in 2013. Not coincidentally, Tiger factored prominently in both of those final rounds.

Yet, despite every panicked cry about the state of the game, when given the opportunity to showcase the inclusion we want to believe golf employs, we step all over ourselves in an attempt to show how righteous we are.

Deadspin's Drew Magary accurately summed up the culpability when saying "Golf's self-congratulating rule-keeping is dumb. . . To anyone existing outside of that bubble, golf has a reputation for being elitist, racist, sexist, wasteful, expensive, and dickish -- a game played by cheaters, liars, crooks, frauds, and brats. It has no more integrity than any other sport, and this little Tiger episode has forcefully demonstrated the disconnect between how golf people feel about their sport and the reality of how it's played and by whom."

"Nicklaus and Jones would've withdrawn," tweeted one reporter. Another blamed the disconnect on a younger generation that doesn't feel a responsibility to adhere to golf's traditions. And Saturday's live telecast opened with 30-minutes of Jim Nantz in the Butler Cabin explaining why Tiger Woods was allowed to keep playing, paying no mind to the fact that Woods was actually on the course at that time. As someone following the story all morning, it seemed redundant. As a casual fan who was forced to wait until 3pm to see live coverage, it played out like water torture. It was enough to make you turn off the TV and go outside... And we might have... If Tiger Woods wasn't playing.

When the joy over Australia's first Masters victory subsides, and the conversation returns to the state of the game, I would implore everyone who reports on golf for a living to imagine themselves as someone who lives outside of golf's "bubble" fraternity -- and there are many -- watching the television coverage and seeing the game's only true superstar getting interrogated for hitting not one, but two shots of impeccable precision. In essence, for doing what he is paid millions of dollars to do. Even in loss, Tiger Woods demonstrated he is still the best at wielding a stick at a little white ball, and that is all anyone outside the game cares about.

-- Derek Evers is a Contributing Editor for GolfDigest.com.

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Range Envy

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:14:00 GMT

By Ashley Mayo

Practice makes perfect: Augusta National's driving range. Photo by Donald Miralle

Augusta National's 18-acre practice range is as impeccable as the course, complete with azaleas, pines and rolling terrain. Situated where media members once parked their cars, the range debuted at the 2010 Masters and is on the other side of Magnolia Lane from the original range. It has four target greens and several strategically placed trees that serve as additional aiming points, the farthest one 315 yards out. Bunkers surround three of the four greens, and the closest green has three flagsticks.

An adjacent short-game area has a practice putting green and two target greens, protected by bunkers. The stations, which can comfortably accommodate everyone who makes the cut, are set in a gentle curve. There are 570 padded seats, and a leader board on the right side is updated throughout the Masters. Oh, and members still mostly use the old range.

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The 10 Best Golfers Without A Major

Alex Myers — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Now that Adam Scott has broken through, who is the best remaining golfer without a major championship? Our formula finds out.

Out With The Old: Last-minute equipment tweaks common, even at majors

Derek Evers — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:41:00 GMT

By E. Michael Johnson Draw it up: Tianlang Guan played two new fairway woods. Photo by David Cannon/Getty ImagesYou might think players would be reluctant to make equipment changes at the year's first major....

Big In Japan: Uniqlo hit the jackpot when it signed Adam Scott

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:40:00 GMT

By Marty Hackel

Thrilling as Adam Scott's victory was in his native Australia, there were some very happy golf fans in Japan, too. Just days before the Masters, Tokyo-based retail giant Uniqlo (you-NEE-klo) signed on as one of Scott's sponsors. Scott wore the company's shirts, pants, belts and logo all week. Even his underwear was Uniqlo! The company produces its clothing and sells it exclusively at reasonable prices.

You can wear Uniqlo designs all the time -- on and off course -- so to me that's additional value. I've shopped at Uniqlo's spacious store in New York City's SoHo neighborhood, and the clothing is modern and very stylish. The company, with 1,200 stores worldwide, will open its seventh U.S. store, in New York, April 19. You can also shop online at uniqlo.com.

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Pat Summerall, the voice of the Masters, dies

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:40:00 GMT

By John Strege

Pat Summerall was not necessarily destined to enjoy a long and distinguished career in golf broadcasting. When the opportunity presented itself, he had to pass muster with two powerful obstacles, one of them called the Ayatollah, the other called the Pope.

The Ayatollah (a nickname for which Summerall was responsible, incidentally) was legendary CBS Sports producer Frank Chirkinian, who was not thrilled that the network "sent me this football player" to work golf telecasts, he told the New York Times. "I thought the people in New York had lost their minds."

AP Photo

The Pope was Clifford Roberts, co-founder (with Bobby Jones) of the Augusta National Golf Club and chairman of both the club and the Masters. Every potential broadcaster had to meet with Roberts' approval, according to Curt Sampson's book, "The Masters: Golf, Money and Power in Augusta, Georgia."

Summerall recounted to Sampson his initial conversation with Roberts:

"You know you're better known as a football player," Roberts said.

"Yessir, I know that," Summerall replied.

"What's your handicap?"

"It's 12 or 13, Mr. Roberts."

"Well, the best golfer we've had has been Chris Schenkel, who was an eighteen. So you should be all right."

He was, it turns out, substantially better than that. Already an established football broadcaster on CBS, he became the voice of golf at the network and was part of 27 Masters telecasts before leaving the network in 1994.

Summerall, a former NFL placekicker who is in several sportscasting halls of fame, died on Tuesday, while in the hospital recovering from hip surgery. He was 82.

Among his colleagues on golf telecasts at CBS was Vin Scully, the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, who worked the Masters from 1975 through 1982.

"Pat had been a professional athlete, he was a good golfer and he related to either the golfers or to the football players," Scully said Tuesday afternoon, as he was preparing for yet another Dodgers' radio broadcast. "On the air he came across as what he was, the master of the understatement. Pat was the perfect man to work with whomever his partner was, to tie in with the analysts, because his statements were so understated."

This was a sentiment echoed by another Hall of Fame broadcaster, Jack Whitaker, who worked Masters telecasts with Summerall from 1968 through 1973.

"It was amazing that he and Frank Gifford had been on the same team [the New York Giants] and both traded football in for broadcasting and both became very successful at it," Whitaker said. "His great strength was that he didn't talk too much. He got out of the way and let his color man do the job. He was as good as there was at doing that."

Summerall's golf broadcast career ended when CBS lost its NFL rights in 1994. "I didn't want to give up golf," he told the Times. But after he joined Fox Sports to continue broadcasting NFL games, CBS declined to allow him to continue on doing golf broadcasts.

"I'm very saddened that he's not leaving under his own terms," Chirkinian told the Times. "He is CBS Sports. I thought he could work here until he was 75 or 80. He was loyal to CBS for 34 years."

Among the Masters broadcasts that stood out, he said in an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News in 1987, was his first, 1968, when Roberto de Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard, allowing Bob Goalby to win, and the '86 Masters, when Jack Nicklaus, at 46 won his sixth Green Jacket.

"Of all the events I've done," he said about the Masters in the same interview, "and that includes everything but a World Series, this one is still set apart because of the way it's run."

His successor as the voice of the Masters was Jim Nantz, who said in a statement: "Pat Summerall was a hero to me. I treasured the gift of friendship that I had with him. I was his understudy for 10 years. He could not have been more generous or kind to a young broadcaster. He was a giant and one of the iconic figures in the history of the CBS Television Network."

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Creature Of Habits

Tim Rosaforte — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Routines, both old and new, explain how Angel Cabrera contended again at Augusta.