The Loop
Missing Links: 'Stevie's what Tiger used to call me. I hate that name,' and slighting Paul Lawrie
Stories of interest you might have missed…
Steve Williams was introduced as Stevie at his Caddie Hall of Fame induction ceremony recently and bristled. "It's Steve," Williams said. "Stevie's what Tiger used to call me, so that's what everybody calls me. I hate that name." Karen Crouse of the New York Times profiles Williams and his intention to begin winding down his career.
Steve Williams and Tiger Woods (Getty Images photo)
"It really is difficult to follow the thinking behind the Irishman's decision," John Huggan writes in the Scotsman. The Irishman is European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, who has five assistant captains, none of them Scotland's owns Paul Lawrie. "That a man who lives only 90 minutes from the venue, who played with some distinction on the previous team and who has won on the host course is somehow deemed outside the top-five is strange indeed."
"Sympathy can be a form of persecution; just ask Jim Furyk. Since being cast in one of the main roles in the Ryder Cup Meltdown at Medinah, the pity for the American has piled up with each agonising individual capitulation," writes James Corrigan in the Telegraph, this before Furyk bogeyed the last two holes in the Tour Championship on Sunday to tie for second.
Paul Azinger is not a product of country clubs, but rather learned the game at the beleaguered municipal course, Bobby Jones Golf Club, in Sarasota, Fla. Tonight, Azinger will speak to the City of Sarasota Commission "to address the future of the historic municipal course," Tom Balog of the Herald-Tribune writes.
The LPGA is in Alabama this week, for the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic, and it's an important week for the best women's player in the history of the University of Alabama. Stephanie Meadow, who finished third in the U.S. Women's Open in her professional debut, needs a strong finish to secure full exempt status on the LPGA and avoid having to go to Q School, Ian Thompson of the Tuscaloosa News reports.