The rankings: upside down

The days when golf was dominated by Annika Sörenstam and Tiger Woods are over; a long time ago -at least that's how it feels- both used to tease each other about majors. Today, things are completely different...

Woods hasn't recovered his mental side of the game due to his infidelity scandal, which came to light on November 2009, after he crashed his SUV in Isleworth; meanwhile, Sörenstam left the LPGA in 2008 to pursue two of her biggest dreams: creating her personal brand -ANNIKA- and starting a family. This brought changes in the world rankings.

In women's golf, it was Mexican Lorena Ochoa who assumed the top position, and managed to stay there for 3 years, before leaving the LPGA.

When Ochoa left, the Pandora box opened. After 11 months, we've seen 4 players atop the rankings - three Asian and one from the USA-. Still, non of them has stayed there for more than 15 weeks in a row. They are: Jiyai Shin (South Korea), Cristie Kerr (USA), Ai Miyazato (Japan) and Yani Tseng (Taiwan).

This seems to be expanding rapidly. After 5 years of dominance, Woods left the first place of the Official World Golf Rankings in October 2010, and ever since, men's golf has had an open season. Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer have had the privilege to lead golf, but haven't consolidated up there.

Throw Luke Donald in there, who has a 0.28 point difference with Westwood, and you'll get another guy on track to take over the first spot.

It's clear that the 'Monarchy' has come to an end, but far from being a mishap, it happens to be quite a treat for fans. For the first time in years, there's a range of possibilities ahead, there are no clear favorites, which brings excitement to the table, and to prove it, you have the first two majors of 2011: The Masters and the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Tweet of the week:

Anyone remember when media outlets were slagging the @LPGA for not having one definite #1 player? We are SUCH trendsetters, @PGATOUR!! -@TheChristinaKim-

Former world #1

If someone made the headers this weekend were Lorena Ochoa and Tiger Woods, both dominated golf in their respective fields for years, however, they continue to be news.

Woods y Ochoa in the 2007 gala of the
Golf Writers Association of America.

Tiger

The first time he became the top player of the World Golf Rankings was in 1998, after his 42nd pro-tournament, becoming the fastest player who rose to first place in the world rankings. However, a decline in his game and some problems with his swing led him to cede the spot to Vijay Singh, but a year later, Tiger ousted him after winning his tenth major.

Yesterday, after a season of scandals and the first in his pro career in which did not get a single title, Woods lost his position to England's Lee Westwood, who this year was runner-up at The Masters and The Open Championship, also won the St Jude Classic. Westwood is the second English to become the best player in the world, after Nick Faldo accomplished the feat in 1994.

Lorena

After announcing her retirement in April of this year, Mexico's Lorena Ochoa had focused on her new married life, as well as in her foundation. However, last weekend she made an exception and returned to course to play the Mission Hills Star Trophy in Haikou, China. The event served as the presentation of the newest Mission Hills' project, a 5-star resort which has over 500 deluxe rooms, shops, business center, 12 golf courses, among other amenities.

Thus, Ochoa was part of the 36-hole tournament, exclusive for professionals, which included the legendary Annika Sorenstam, Colin Montgomerie, Se Ri Pak and Greg Norman, it also was supplemented by celebrities such as Michael Phelps, Catherine Zeta- Jones, Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, to name a few.

The Mexican had two rounds of 71 shots, for a 2 under par overall, which earned her a check for 1.28 million dollars. Lorena's performance is especially important because next week she'll play the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in her hometown, Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Everything under the sun

Many things have happened in golf in the past few days... Tiger Woods' season was quite a mess, Kia Motors America extended its sponsorship contract with the LPGA and more, so keep reading and find out what's been going on.

The first sectional qualifier of the LPGA Q-School took place in Rancho Mirage, California. After four rounds, only 30 from the 112 players on the filed advanced to the final stage. Colombian Eileen Vargas earned medalist honors after shooting 10 under overall.

Tiger Woods left the 2010 season earlier than expected, his last event was the BMW Championship. For the first time in his professional career he didn't have a single victory and missed the final stage of the FedEx Cup.

The USA squad will try to defend its title at the 2010 Ryder Cup to be held in Celtic Manor, Wales. Euro player, Lee Westwood, might miss the tourney due to injury; meanwhile US members Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler made the event through Corey Pavin's picks.

Kia Motors has shown its trust in the LPGA with an extension of its sponsorship contract. Now, the company will move the Kia Classic to Los Angeles, California. This marks the first time the tour stops in the area since 2005.

Former world number one, Lorena Ochoa, will be part of a new reality show, exclusive for Latin American golfers. The show will be aired in 2011 in the Super Golf Star channel (Galleon Holding PLC). The winner will secure a place for the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

Taiwanese Yani Tseng managed to come from behind and defeat Michelle Wie at the P&G NW Arkansas Championship. Tseng has three victories this season, tops the "Player of the Year" points race and is second in the money list with over 1.4 million dollars in earnings.

Nothing new

Tiger Woods is close to losing the first place in the Official World Golf Rankings after some dreadful performances in the last tourneys he's played. This has also stroke sponsors and ratings as their numbers and revenues are starting to decrease.

Woods missed the cut in the Quail Hollow Championship, his second event of the season

CBS hasn't shown Tiger live on Sunday for the last 2 months, since his performance has been far below from used to. The most recent proof of this was his appearance at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he shot 18 over and tied the last position.

Tiger's nightmare started in the AT&T National, played in July, where he finished 4 over par and T46. Later, he repeated the score in Ireland at the JP McManus Invitational ProAm, where he was 24th.

Then, he went to Scotland to dispute the Open Championship at the Old Course, nevertheless, his luck was the same and finished T23, even when he shot a 5 under opening round.

Now, Phil Mickelson is close to taking the top position of the rankings and is 0.44 perceptual points shy from completing the feat; if he has a good week at the PGA Championship he might awake on Monday as the world's best golfer.

Meanwhile, Tiger needs a great result at this year's closing major, his in 10th place in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings and outside the automatic picks. If he stays there his only chance to play that tournament relays in captain Corey Pavin, who will announce his wild cards until September 7, leaving Woods a great opportunity to go back to the top 8 of the standings.

He roared again

Tiger Woods attended, for the first time, a press conference and even when he talked about his infidelity exclusively with Golf Channel and ESPN, he hadn't given a shot to the rest of the media. Still, he finally broke silence prior to the Masters.

The press conference lasted around 30 minutes.

Forty thousand people went to Augusta National to follow closely Woods' first practice round. The galleries were huge and it seemed like it was a regular tournament day which reaffirmed that Tiger can make what others just can't. Besides the support he received was unbelievable and the fans showed him support.

Different from what happened in Australia, where he scorned the crowds, the best golfer showed he's thankful and, even with all he's dealing, style and class prevail in his life. Fred Couples joined him in the adventure and later, on 13, Jim Furyk did the same to complete the 18 holes of the round.

Shortly after, Woods went straight into the media room. Questions were precise and clear, something that was expected and that Tiger took politely. He spoke about his behavior, his short term goals and how much he suffered when he realized the damage he had done. The only time he answered with a "that's personal, thank you" came after questioned about the kind of treatment and rehab he was receiving.

Even when almost all subjects had been given an answer or were clarified in previous sessions, when asked is Elin and the kids were coming to support him, he said "no, Elin is not coming"; which showed that his marriage is still pretty much fragile.

About sponsors, he'll do whatever it takes to recover what he lost and to gain his fan's hearts in order to become a role model for all.

Now, the only thing left to see is if Tiger has what it takes to wear, for the fifth time, the green jacket and go back to the competitive status he's been used to, because media-wise it's obvious that he's still a phenomenon.

Until further notice

No, world #1 didn't come back to play, instead he apologized for his behavior; Woods stood up in front of a media frenzy that started 3 months ago, after he crashed his SUV into a tree in the gated community where he lives, or used to live, Isleworth.

 

 Woods has been in therapy for 45 days.

"Now, everyone of you has good reason to be critical of me; I want to say to each of you simply and directly, I'm deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior." Those were pretty much the first words he pronounced in a room with no more than 25 people and some cameras; there were no web statements and, certainly, his agent didn't speak for him. The world saw a shaken and profoundly ashamed man, whose voice tone changed constantly and whose eyes were full of tears.

Yes, he accepted that his actions needed to say more than words, that his wife and kids were nor responsible, therefore they didn't deserved to be chased by the media; he assured that he tried to convince himself that regular rules didn't apply to people with fame and money; he denied emphatically that Ellin had beaten him and asked for mercy and pardon to those in the room: loved ones, partners, sponsors, colleagues and others involve with the game of golf... still he made himself clear in one subject: when he'll leave the "retirement" behind him? well, that's just a mystery.

Many thought that today he was going to give a surprise, but nobody put attention to the treatment he's receiving. The Pine Grove Clinic is based on the 12 step program and it lasts for 6 weeks, in almost all cases; why is this important? well, Tiger will go back to therapy which makes clear that he's not finished yet.

What we saw today might have been his 9th step: "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others".

No more damage could be done to his family, since he aknowledge his infidelity a couple of months ago; and his sponsors are safe and sound, those who trust him keep him in the payroll; those who doesn't left quite some time ago.

The only commitment he has is with rehabilitation; the date for his come back can wait, still it wouldn't hurt to mark down April 8th, the day when The Masters begins, an event he hasn't missed since 1995 when he was still an amateur.

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So long 2009

Another year goes by and with it many memories and achievements stay in our memories. When any of us think of 2009 the names of those golfers who lived the season in the limelight will come into our minds, so let's remember some of them, shall we?

 

Tiger Woods: yes, he cheated and it's been mentioned on a regular basis. Nevertheless, let's not forget that this guy had some pretty nice accomplishments on the course: he won six times, he had 3 top tens in four majors, was named PGA Player of the Year, won the FedEx Cup and took home 10 million dollars in earnings. If this was not enough, Forbes magazine named him the richest athlete in the planet with a 1 billion estimated fortune and AP considered him the Athlete of the Decade.

Y. E. Yang: he took home the PGA Championship, which was special for several reasons; one, he became the first Asian player to accomplish that feat; and two,  he overcame a 2 shot deficit to surpass Tiger. This was the first time Woods lost an event after being the 54 hole leader.

Steve Stricker: he had his best season ever thanks to three victories: Crowne Plaza Invitational, John Deere Classic and Deutsche Bank Championship. This and other good results during the year gave him the opportunity to grab the 3rd position at the World Golf Rankings.

Lorena Ochoa: the Mexican superstar won her 4th Player of the Year Award, which came as a result of 3 wins and 10 top tens. Even when Ochoa didn't get as much titles as she used to in previous years, she maintained the first position at the Rolex World Rankings. She experience some changes in her personal life since she got married to Andrés Conesa, Aeromexico's CEO.

Jiyai Shin: the South Korean won 3 times and was named Rookie of the Year. She almost grabbed the tour's most prestigious awards in a single season, something that has been only accomplished by Nancy Lopez (1978). Shin has shown that she's a very classy lady, with both fans and media, which makes her a favorite in the golf community.

Anna Nordqvist: along with Shin, she was the only rookie who won multiple times in the tour. In her fifth appearance she kept it calm to claim the second major of the season, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, which gave her exempt status and media attention; she was also compared to fellow Swedish woman Annika Sörenstam. Nordqvist closed her season in style after winning the LPGA Tour Championship with a 2 stroke advantage over Lorena Ochoa.

It's pretty obvious that there's a lot of talent and next year's performances should be solid and fun, even with Woods' "retirement", which might end by the Augusta Masters, and Lorena's marriage, which kept her focused on different matters, the toughest difficulty that the executives from all tours will experience will be the financial crisis; they need to find new business models in order to bring more sponsors and, at the end, new tournaments. 2010 must be the year in which golf reemerges.

No more roaring

It was definitively a big surprise, no one expected to hear, read or listen to it. Yesterday world's best golfer, Tiger Woods, said he was stepping out from competitive golf until further notice after living 2 intense weeks of constant media harassing and public embarrassment.

Woods is considered by many as the best golfer ever. He's won 97 times all over the world.

Friday, November 27th was marked the beginning of the storm. Tiger had a car accident around 2 in the morning and was reported to be badly injured; later the reports were changed and apparently he has some lacerations and bruises and was resting at his home in Isleworth.

One day later TZM announced that Tiger's injuries were inflicted by his wife after finding out that he was cheating on her. Things got messier and in a 15 day period Woods was accused of having more than 10 mistresses; obviously the information was obtained from the so called "booty calls". Finally this devastated the public image of a man who was a champion on and off the course. His family and the way he was believed to live put him as an honorable man and people thought he was a great husband and father, with no flaws at all.

Media continued to look for more dirt and harassed Tiger as if he was a Hollywood star, the even camped outside Isleworth expecting to get an exclusive. All of a sudden there was a complete media avalanche surrounding one of the most influential men alive. Woods appeared in dozens of magazine covers, most of them gossip publications who teared apart his privacy and continue to do so as if they were lions chasing a zebra. Finally Tiger published an apology on his website.

Many thought his letter was a mistake, since they alleged he should have done it at a press conference, which finally provoked more criticism, infidelity accusations, and rumors who talked about a sex video. The only battle the golfer won was a British court order banning publication in Britain of any photo or video showing him nude or having sex.

His sponsors were by his side until PepsiCo announced that Gatorade Tiger Focus wouldn't be produce any more. Executives said latter that the decision was taken before the scandal, though.

Yesterday, after hundreds of speculations about his return, it was clear that his career was going to stay on the freezer until further notice according to his website:

"I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but i want to do my best to try."

Woods hasn't been seen at his home in Florida and it's been said that he left the property some time ago.

Those are the first lines of a letter that was published yesterday around 5 o'clock and that establishes the athlete's desire to regain his wife's trust and public respect, since he's determined to become a better husband, father and human being.

Will he come back? maybe, but first he needs to clean his public image and conceive a strategy to comeback as cautious as possible 'cause his problems won't just go away thanks to his career hiatus. The  PGA will wait for him with arms wide open, and so will Nike, one of his biggest sponsors, at least that was said by Tim Finchman, Tour comish, and a Nike spokesperson.

Today golf feels kind of incomplete but at least knows that no one is perfect and that appearances are deceptive.

Just another drop in the ocean

It hasn't even been a week since Tiger Woods' car accident and the trouble hasn't gone away. His alleged affair with Rachel Uchitel seems like it was just the beginning; now world number 1 has a lot more to explain.

Woods has to pay a 164 dollar fine and will lose 4 points on his license for careless driving.

This time is Jaimee Grubbs, a Los Angeles based waitress, who assured that she's had a 2 year fling with him. The 24 year old conceded an exclusive interview to The Sun and said they met in Las Vegas in 2007 and that Tiger didn't have his wedding band on. By that time they just kissed but a few days later he invited her to his W Hotel suite in San Diego, where they had sexual intercourse for the first time.

She stated that they never talked about golf and that Tiger had trouble sleeping with another person in the same bed. If this isn't enough Grubbs said Woods wasn't comfortable with his financial situation and that his knee injury not only kept him away from the course but also from their relationship, they spoke on the phone regullarly though.

Jaimee, who participated on VH1: Tool Academy, said she's had more than 20 sexual encounters with the golfer.

Finally the young woman assured Tiger never talked about his family and he even visited her a coouple of weeks after Sam was born. They saw each other for the last time two months ago, but Woods left her a message a couple of days before the accident which said:

"Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. So if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."

The icing on the cake was Grubbs showing some of the alleged text messages Tiger used to send her on a regular basis:

The issue has been the gossip talk since last week and it doesn't seem like it's gonna stop any time soon. Tiger must be having more headaches due to his affairs than to his accident. Meanwhile, he hasn't talked about them but he'll probably do some time later this week through a statement on his website as he usually does.

Where are the claws?

Last weekend Tiger Woods was news, as usual. Nevertheless, world number 1 draw media attention for a very particular issue which had nothing to do with his golf skills.

Tiger married Elin Nordegren in 2004 . They have two kids : Sam (2 years) and Charlie (9 months).

On Friday morning  TV stations and websites reported the accident Tiger had near his home in Isleworth, one of the most exclusive golfing communities. Apparently, Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a hydrant and then a tree; the sound made some of the neighbors woke up and finally one of them called 911, meanwhile Elin grabbed a golf club, broke the back window and pulled Tiger out of the car.

Apparently the airbags didn't activate.

The first reports assured Woods was badly injured and that he was recovering at the Health Center Hospital; later, around 1:30 pm, it was informed that he had some lacerations on his face.

Everything seemed fine until the police officers didn't find blood on the steering wheel which made them believe the injuries were sustained before the crash. Besides, TZM published a declaration from a so-called close friend who didn't hesitate to say that Tiger was cheating on his wife.

The informant assured Elin asked his husband about the issue, which he denied, but she lost control and went all over him and scratched his face. Therefore Tiger jumped into his SUV and drove away, meanwhile Elin grabbed a club to break the car's windows, which led into Woods' distraction and subsequently the crash.

Lots of media stood outside Isleworh hoping to get a photo or declaration from the athlete.

Afterwards, the reporters start looking for the mysterious woman; finally it was the National Enquirer who revealed a name: Rachel Uchitel, a club manager in New York.

Tiger tried to cool down the whole incident by releasing a statement through his web site:

"This situation is my fault, and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again. This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible. The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false".

Uchitel hired celebrity layer Gloria Allred, since "I have nothing to do with him and I just want to be alone".

We'll see what happens the next few days, meanwhile Woods was supposed to play the 2009 Chevron World Challenge, but he has withdrawn due to the injuries and soaring.

Remember a GIANT

Ten years ago a tragedy covered the PGA and turned off one of its brightest stars. Married, with two kids and a passion for golf that only a few have, Payne Stewart died abruptly.

Stewart won 11 times in the PGA and 13 more in other tours.

The last time he lifted a trophy was in the 1999 US Open, tournament in which he grabbed his 3rd major victory by defeating a young Phil Mickelson, who was waiting, along with his wife Amy, the arrival of their first child.
His class in and out the course and his dressing code, which resembled golf’s first years, were some if the characteristics that made him stand out.
Stewart’s interest for the sport came when he was only 3 years old and grew faster when his father introduced him to Herman Keiser and Ky Laffoon, both PGA members.
Then, Payne continued his formation at Greenwood High School; by this time he won the SMSU High School Relay and two years later, in 1973, he lead his school team to the victory of the same event.
His talent was recognized by some recruiters and he finally went to the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. It was precisely in that instance where he became a mature golfer.In 1979 he was the best of the Southwest Conference and he was voted All-American.
After his college accomplishments Payne decided to become professional and in 1980 he was part of the Asian Tour where we won twice as a rookie but two years later decided to go into the PGA
Q-School, where he got exempt status.
Seven years after that, and being one of the biggest golfing figures of the world, he lifted his first major trophy, by catching up with Mike Reid, who was 5 strokes ahead.It was the PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes.
His next great feat came at the 1991 US Open played at Hazeltine National Golf Club, where he defeated Scott Simpson in the second hole of playoff-
His accomplishments between 1989 and 1993, put him in the world ranking’s top ten for 250 consecutive weeks. He was part of the Ryder Cup team in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1999, making him not just one of the most recognizable faces but one of the classiest players of the event because it was not just about rivalry, for Payne it was friendship, coexisting and union.
In October 25th, 1999 Payne was flying in his Learjet 35 from Orlando to Houston, where the Tour Championship was going to take place. However the aircraft suffered a suffered a loss of cabin pressure and everybody died due to hypoxia. Some time later it was known that the Learjet was set in autopilot and it crashed in South Dakota after running out of fuel.
The memorial service was held in October 30th and it gathered around 100 golfers such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.
Many things have been done in his memory, but those which stand out are:

• Since 2000 the PGA gives annually the Payne Stewart Award, which is handed to an individual that has shown respect for the game’s traditions, commitment to maintain the heritage of it and personal presentation through conduct and performance.
• He was inducted into the Wolrd Hall of Fame in 2001.
• In June 2009 the Payne Stewart Golf Club was inaugurated in Branson, Missouri. Each of the 18 holes of the course is named after the most important episodes of Stewart’s life, both on and off the course.

¡Habemus golf!

Just as it was expected, last Friday the IOC approved the inclusion of golf into Rio de Janeiro 2016 program. The news buried other sport’s hopes, such as baseball, softball, squash, karate and others.Golf debuted in Paris 1900 and the last time it was part of the Olympic Games was in St. Louis 1904.

Golf’s comeback isn’t a surprise, the International Golf Federation used as many resources as it had and had the best players in the world to speak on behalf of the sport:

Here’s a time table with the highlights of the process:
11/14/08: Ty Votaw (PGA) and Peter Dawson (R&A) talked with the Olympic Program Committee.

12/22/08: a questionnaire was sent in order to contend for a spot.

02/16/09: the document was sent back to the IOC.

06/15/09: Annika Sörenstam, Colin Montgomerie, among others, talked to the Executive Board of the IOC.

08/13/09: the Board recommends golf for its inclusion into the 2016 Program.

10/09/09: Michelle Wie, Pagraig Harrington and Suzan Pettersen went to Copenhagen to give the last speech. Finally golf got a spot with 63 votes and 2 absences.
The International Golf Federation proposed a format of 72-hole individual stroke play for both men and women. In case of a tie a three-hole playoff is recommended to determine the medal winners.
The Olympic field should include 60 players for each of the men's and women's competition, using the Official World Golf Rankings as a method of determining eligibility. The top-15 world-ranked players would be eligible for the Olympics, regardless of the number of players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, each country will have a maximum of two eligible players.
If this becomes a reality, then at least 30 countries would be represented. Still there’s a doubt in the air: will Tiger, Lorena and other dominant players will continue to play until 2016? Will others, such as Annika might leave retirement? We’ll see, it’s a long ways to go and we can have a few surprises.

Rio de Janeiro and golf?

Today around noon the IOC announced that the venue for the 2016 Olympic Games will be Rio de Janeiro.The question here is: how is this related to golf?, a sport which is basically making its return to the programme after more than 100 years, unless something weird happen next week when the Committee votes (October 9th).

Talking about golf, Rio de Janeiro doesn't have a huge structure or lots of tough course, actually there are only 2 that migh be selected to become venues:

Gávea Golf and Country Club 

It has a par 68 course - 6,000 yards. 

The course was fundated in 1921 and designed byScot Arthur Morgan Davidson. It runs thru the Gávea Stone and the Tijuca National Park. The first 9 holes are player, literally, at the mountain's foot; from 10 to 14 the golfer will found himself next at the sea level and from 15 to 18 the course goes behind some hills.The players must display tremendous skills with the irons, specially on the tee shots.

In 2005, the 5th, par 3, was acknowledge as one of the mos beautiful holes by Golf Illustrated magazine. The lowest round was scored by Gary Player; Tom Watson and Billy Casper have also played this course.

Itanhangá Golf Club

Par 72  -6, 600 yards- and it hosted the  HSBC LPGA Brazil Cup 2009.

It was founded in 1993 and has held the Andes Cup and the Brazil Amateur Open. The greens are small, therefore the precision on the approach is a must. The 18th is considered the toughest hole in Brazil. On the other hand the 5th is particularly demanding, it has a dog leg with a water hazard on the left, which usually compromises the tee shot.Some player who have played this course include Gene Littler, Gary Player, Christina Kim, Kristy McPherson, Catriona Matthew, among others.

So don't be surprised if we start to see or hear that Rio is investing in golf venues, maybe we even have the chance to see some designs from Jack, Tiger o Annika!

Billionaire!

He's by far the best golfer in the world, and maybe in history; his presence in the course, no matter which one, drags a wave of respect and sometimes fear, thanks to his magnificent game and his mental strength. He's the only PGA player who has won more than 3 times this year, that's why he leads in earnings.

Forbes published that Tiger Woods is the first athlete to cross the 1 billion mark, which includes: prize money, appearance fees, endorsements, bonuses and golf course designing.This year Woods has made 100 million dollars in off the course earnings

Other athletes close to the feat are Michael Jordan, who might accomplish it in four years or so, and former Formula One driver, Michael Schumacher, who has earned around 700 million during his career.

So, no worries Sam, Charlie and Elin... your future has been secured!.

Publicity...

Creativity and marketing have been a huge influence in golf. Here are 5 ads which are worthy to watch...

Paula Creamer

Lorena Ochoa


Nike golf


Tiger Woods


FedEx Cup

Make it 3 for "Lefty"

What a surprise for Woods and Perry at The Tour Championship. Phil Mickelson played a sublime fourth round to claim the last event of the FedExCup, leaving Kenny far from his 3rd. victory of the season. Still, there was another winner, Mr. "I'm thye best of all these guys", Tiger Woods who lifted the FedEx Cup.

Mickelson driving distance average is 300 yards and 28.92 putts per round.

Kenny Perry besieged Woods from day one, after the effort he finally enjoyed the results and raised himself to the very top of the leaderboard, thanks to 72, 66 and 64 rounds. Perry was ready to battle Tiger on Sunday, not only to grab The Tour Championship throphy, but also to have a chance to take the FedEx Cup home. Meanwhile, Steve Stricker gave everything he got on Saturday, posting a 66 and eventually chasing the leaders.

The American domination on the scoreboard was undeniable, but Padraig Harrington managed to put the European Union uo there with great performances during the first to days of tournament, afert scoring 67 and 69.

Everything pointed to a Perry triumph, but no one saw Mickelson coming, unless not until Sunday when he put up his "A" game.

Mickelson showed his intentions in number 4 after making his birdie putt, this put him two strokes behing Perry and one ahead Woods. At 9 he scored another birdie and became the leader. Phil's control over the green was amazing and he sealed the job at 16 after chipping in for another birdie. Mickelson had a 5 under round and entered the winner's circle for 3rd. time this year, a feat onely reached this year by Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods.

Tiger averges 64.29% in driving accurancy and 68.43% in GIR.

As ironic as it might seem Phil's victory was actually good for Tiger, since his position at the FedEx Cup race was never at stake. This year he claimed the event again, after Vijai Singh took it in 2008 taking advantage of Woods absence due to a knee injury.