Ugh...The Masters

Every year, millions of golfers tune into Augusta Georgia to see what has become the United States' official spring right of passage...The Masters.

To me...and millions of allergy suffererers, this great golf event has become a right of passage of another sort...

Springtime.

Oh, to be sure, the Azaleas...Dogwoods...and Bradford Pears are all in full bloom, but that beauty comes with a price to folks like us...an excuse-me-while-I-sneeze price that even Jim Nance couldn't speak well of...let alone allergy sufferer Tiger Woods (overheard in a recent conversation on the green)..."Hey Stevie...this putt doesn't break to the right, it goes left." "No, Tiger...it goes right...here, wipe your watery eyes, and blow your running nose."...."Snughddesffulgh"..."Hey Stevie! Your right!"

...Yeah...I feel your pain Tiger.

So does LPGA superstar Jill McGill. In a recent article in SI, she gives an up close and personal account of her allergies and how they enter her daily life on and off the golf course. She even puts her money where her...um...runny nose is, by working with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to the benefit of sufferers like me, who struggle throughout the year with this dis-ease.

So, from one golfer who takes allergy shots, Advair, and Zyrtec, I salute you Ms McGill for helping out a great cause by spreading the gospel about allergies and asthma. If I ever get to meet you, I'm sure to have my autograph book in hand...

...and a box of Puffs.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Sport's Illustrated takes a divot

I got my copy of the annual SI 'Sportsman of the Year' last week, and I feel Brett Farve was the popular...but (and is usually the case) not the correct choice. Farve has had a great year, but he has had a better career...and I think that's where SI misses the mark. I would vote for Farve hand-down as a sportsman of the decade...but for this year?

Me thinks not.

My vote would have been for Lorena Ochoa, the number one woman golfer...in any language.

Winner of 8 Tournaments last year, she has become both Ayn Rand and Savior for her genders' golf, by successfully taking the hand-off from previous top cat Annika Sorenstam.
For women's golf, this was an important transition, because the golfer that was Annika's heir apparent...Michelle Wie, was too busy destroying her golf career...and was poised to do the same to the future of women's golf, had not this University of Arizona wunderkind stepped in with a wonderful rendition of the Mexican Hat Dance (Jarabe Tapatío) to save the future world of women's golf.

Because of Lorena Ochoa I dare say that women's golf has a better product going forward than men's golf.

Golf's version of the Mexican Revolution has just begun.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Playing baseball or basketball is much more strenuous than playing golf. But people continue going at the golf galaxy only because it is a relaxing sport. And unlike hockey or lacrosse, there is not a lot of running around.

A Giant of a man

I admit it...I love fantasy football. Last year my team (Nate's Playmakers) practically ran the table until I came up short in the semi's.

Eli Manning was my quarterback.

If ever there was a sports figure so hotly contested for during his senior year at Ole' Miss...he was it. His brother Peyton...his Dad Archie...what a bloodline! Everyone wanted a piece of Eli....and the New York Giants got him.

Last week, as a prelude to the HSBC Women's Match Play Championship, (the tournament featured in a recent post of mine), the storied Grand Central Station in midtown New York was the platform for the week-long HSBC Golf Experience.
Wednesday, they had a putting contest where Eli went heads-up with commuters. Throughout the week, New Yorkers tested their skills for the opportunity to compete against the NFL quarterback in a friendly putting competition.

I can only guess what the chatter must have been like: "Hey Rocko...let's catch the 10 to Brooklyn, and we'll eat a corned beef sandwich over at Milo's." "Uh...Vinnie...is that Eli over there with a putter in his hand?...o-my-God! it is!...quick...let's get him to sign my hat." "Um Rocko...you have a Jets hat on."... "Curses!"

In the end it was all for a good cause, and as a result, Manning's charity...St. Vincent Hospital, was the beneficiary of $5,000 courtesy of sponsors HSBC.

I'm happy for the donation for a good cause-and-all. But I'm wondering what Eli was doing taking time away from football practice?...I mean...he needs to FOCUS! We're almost into the season.

...did I mention I take this fantasy football seriously?


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

A story within the story

In 2 weeks the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship will be played in the tucked-in burg of New Rochelle, a town that has to have an state-line identity crisis, as it it shoe-horned in between NY, CT, NJ, and PA, along the Long island Shores.

It will feature 64 of the LPGA's top golfers, including defending champion Brittany Lincicome, competing for a $2,000,000 purse.

One of these 64 women is making a name for herself as we speak at the US Open this weekend: Twenty-year-old Julieta Granada hailing from Asuncion, Paraguay...currently ranked 24th in the world and winner of the 2006 ADT Championship, is currently is 6th place, 2 shots out of the lead.

She has been chronicling her preparation for this years HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, which...oh, by the way...includes the US Open. It's a great read!

Click on her picture to read her blog!

JFB

Michelle Wie...meet John Daly

About a year ago, I wrote about the coming problems for Michelle Wie.

Well, as of last Thursday they've officially arrived.

As has been well documented with her WD last Thursday at The Ginn Tribute in North Carolina due to a "wrist injury" right before "Rule 88" was to be christened upon her...as well as the events leading up to this weekend's LPGA Championship, Wie's lack of class and professionalism have suddenly enabled her to become the new bad-boy(ess) on the golf circuit.

Maybe this is her way of getting street cred.

Last Saturday, she missed the commencement at her high school in Honolulu. How did she miss that? Her Blackberry had to have had a big X marked through the weekend? Surely she'd have made the time to be with her graduating class for that momentous occasion?

No, she was practicing at the Bulle Rock Golf Course...in Maryland...on the other side of the world from Hawaii...with nary an ice-pack or an Ace bandage.

Can you say "Let's have a Luau Hawaii-style?" I'm thinking pig roast...with Wie in the pit. To make it really sexy, let's have Sorenstam fit her mouth with the apple.

Okay...so she missed one of the most important days of her life...she obviously feels bad that she mailed-it-in with a "bad wing" just to collect an appearance fee at The Ginn...and wants to make it up to the Golf Gods by grinding it out a couple days early to really start the LPGA Championship with a bang.

So she plays Monday in the pro-am...and...her playing partners file a complaint on her.

Talk about buzzkill.

Michelle Wie was a marketing phenom....nothing more, nothing less, but she is well on her way to becoming a media-induced toxic blend of Anna Kournakova and John Daly.

She's lost respect for her elders as evidenced over the last 2 weeks. And her crutch of being "a young teenager going through a hard time" doesn't hold water anymore. She's old news because she's not "the new kid" on the scene anymore. If your not fresh...your trash in the media-world. Wie is 2-week old stale bread.
I'll be surprised if she's making half of what she earned in endorsements next year.

The LPGA Championship is in a little town called Harve de Grace...it means "harbor of grace".
If Michelle Wie cares anything about her career in the future, she needs to be a harbor of grace...

...but unfortunately, I think her ships have sailed.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Girls just wanna have fu-un.

Girls, mark your calendars for June 2nd through the 9th, as American Express and PlayGolfAmerica.com have teamed-up to bring the softer gender closer to the great game of golf.
AMEX cardmembers can participate in free golf lessons from over 100 golf courses throughout the country when the better half plays and pays with their card. In addition to the free golf lessons, ya'll will get 20% off the rate of play.

So pull out your finest pink-laced polos, stuff a sleeve or two of pink Ice Noodles in your Coach-appointed golf bag, and head on over to American Express Women's Golf Week to see where the closest participating golf course is for you!



JFB

Want to learn more about credit
cards? There's all kind of benefits like the ones mentioned
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cards tend to have benefits too. There is a lot to learn
about credit so take your time and make sure to review all
the fine print about low
interest credit cards and don't get stuck in credit
trouble.

K-Y Jelly: branding problem solved!

Today, Businessweek featured an interesting story about the travails of re-branding K-Y Jelly.

I have a couple suggestions for the K-Y company of how to kickstart a new campaign.

Develop a brand new golf league. Pool the kicked-to-the-curb, forgotten tournaments from the PGA and the LPGA. Call it the Shafted Tour.

Feature tournaments that were dropped this year. Loveable sites such as Cog Hill (blued) or En Joie (screwed), or my personal favorite: TPC at Avenel (tattooed). Oh yeah, let's add an LPGA tournament to the list: The Nancy Lopez Classic at Eagles Landing CC.

Get this K-Y; there are volunteers and charities from these tournaments that were banished like the last kid chosen on a pick-up kick-ball team. I don't have to tell you how fired up they'd be to bring these events back for you.
Looking for sponsor money? I bet you could get Florida's Natural, Cialis, Booz-Allen AND BC to re-up with you. You want re-branding? Just think of the money generated from a Cialis/K-Y ad campaign!

The format could be a co-ed stableford system with PGA rejects from the Finchem-Fed Ex Cup, and from the LPGA; anyone who doesn't have a Rolex-modeling contract.

Here's a basic sampling of the rules:
Men play the tips, women play the forward tees. No drivers allowed. All players wear shorts, and caddies cannot read putts for the players.

Anyone complains about your rules and you can give them a complimentary bottle of your jelly to help them un-clench.


Thanks for reading. keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Wanted: Ad Director

I was thumbing through the July edition of Golf Digest yesterday, when my fingers stuck on a page advertising what looked like the second-coming of The Yellow Submarine Tour.
Training my eyes over the psych-o-delic ad, I thought for a moment that it was an ad for the Mojo ball.

Unfortunately, it was worse.

In the ad, the main character is Annika Sorenstam in a pose reminiscent of Pete Townsend, with four other LPGA tour players flanking her with rather goofy cut-and-pasted-poses as if each were saying "I'm a rock star...er...no, I'm a golfer....just take the damn picture! Annika, her left arm punching through the air, is hefting a golf bag.....please, the only bag Annika carries has the words Coach embossed on it.

The tag line to the ad is "These Girls Rock".

I am not making this up.

Hey! LPGA! Who is signing off on this bunk? What era and demographic are you going for here? The hemped-up 60's?! What's next....tie dyes for the caddies? Are we going to see air-guitar performances during the tournaments?
It's really sad. In the ad, not one of the girls is smiling, arms are crossed, or on their hips...save for Annika, with her white-gloved fist-pumped harkens back the Black Panther days.

The LPGA is blessed right now with uber-talented youngsters who want to bring this tour out of the back-alleys and into the mainstream. They can do it, but it seems when they take one step forward, they regress four steps back.

Something tells me they are not manning the submarine, and it's losing its mojo.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Adventures in Movement

This week the LPGA rolls into town, riding a wave of popularity and high expectations. Florida's Natural Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez
will be played again at Eagles Landing C.C. in Stockbridge GA just outside of Atlanta.
I was fortunate enough early-on in the tournaments' history to volunteer as walking scorer. That gave me the opportunity to meet some fantasic LPGA pros, (Pat Hurst and Wendy Ward rock!) and to play the course multiple times on volunteer day. It is a beautiful layout, and there are tons of azaleas stitched throughout the lob-lolly pines on the course....should look great on an HDTV screen this weekend!

The tournaments hostess, Nancy Lopez has been the steady hand throughout the tournaments' history. Once known as the Chick-fil-A tournament, last year it backed out as the main sponsor, and left the tournament to be a multi-sponsor event. Last week however, Nature's Made stepped up to fill that void.
Ms. Lopez, from Albany GA, has used this tournament since its inception to raise funds for her favorite charity: AIM for the Handicapped , in which she is its National Ambassador.
Her charity focuses on movement exercises (primarily through music) to help all kids with various disabilities increase their motor skills.
Her charity is experiencing increased demand because of another in-need generation: geriatrics. The older our generation becomes, the more these type services will be needed in nursing homes, and other in-care facilities.

Simple motor skills are taken for granted every time we tee up a ball. This weekend though, thanks to Nancy Lopez, the awareness and funding for this disability will not be taken for granted.

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Maybe she should do an Alzheimer fundraiser

Morgan Pressel made her 2006 LPGA debut this weekend in Oahu, Hawaii for the SBS Open. Her finish (T5) made her a cool 33k+.

But the real story was her Grandmother.

Looks like Grandma Pressel was in charge of Morgan's new wardrobe from Polo Golf (which provided her with 15 new 2006 collection shirts that Morgan was to debut at the event). From her blog she explains how she wanted to pack them, but her Grandma wanted to "hang them so they wouldn't wrinkle."
Well, you can check out her blog, but to summarize: Grandma forgets to pack them, and Morgan is in Oahu with no shirts from Polo. She blames Grandma because "I was doing a charity tournament for Hospice."
Thanks to her Aunt who diligently had them FedEx'd from her home to Oahu, a crisis had been averted.

I'm not sure if the crisis was Pressel's or Polo's .....:-)

I can just see John Daly in this predicament: "Boss, we've left the Lumber84 shirts back at basecamp, all we've got are shirts with Diet Coke and ketchup stains." I believe Daly's reply would have been: " Oh hell Jimmy, just pull over at a Walmart, and get a blue one from the rack."

That was then, this is now. These days, sponsors rule the roost. All sponsors in golf events are putting big money down, in the hopes of attracting the elusive high-income image, as it seems they are the driving force to exceeding quarterly numbers for these sponsors. One shirt not on display by Pressel could literally mean millions of dollars lost to a company like Polo (Ralph Lauren).

BTW: If this story would have had a sad ending (meaning the shirts didn't make it), I would have re-named this post Grandma got run over by a reindeer.


Thanks for reading, keep it in the short-grass.

JFB

Why the LPGA will be the next "hot" media property

Let's face it. Back in the day of the Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino, media (as we know it today) was nascent at best. Yet the sport of golf was able to capture the imagination and excitement of viewers and readership. Both magazines and TV thrived on this sport because of rivalries, and the wonderment of the skills of these players of the time. The LPGA wasn't on the map.

Now it's 2006.

Mens golf is borderline exciting at best (it's not very fun to watch these guys hit driver/wedge/putt on EVERY hole). Money is generated not from passionate viewers, but rather from media that has found the many, many media-driven-avenues that technology has (and continues to have) found, and the ad dollars that are generated by the combo of old and new media.

Enter the LPGA.

With its load of bright new stars and far less baggage of controversies from the past, the LPGA is primed for a massive media moonshot. Why? Because of the fantastic personalities of these players, the rivalries of these young guns, and the desire for media to find the "next big thing".
Toward the end of last year, I increasingly found myself watching an LPGA event over a PGA event, and realized that I am not only more entertained, but I can also learn more from these ladys' shotmaking skills. They are more deliberate, and fundementally skilled than there counterparts, because they use every club in their bag.
In fact, I would recommend watching the girls over the boys if you are wanting to learn the correct way to swing a golf club.

My prediction.

The PGA will end up being a selectively-watched sport...people will only tune into the majors and select TPC events, while the LPGA will increasingly gain viewers year-over-year. The media follows the money, so within 10 years we will see a reversal of fortune in these two golf associations.

Thanks for reading, keep it in the short grass.

JFB