Golf-Recuperating Snedeker withdraws from Tiger's event

American world number nine Brandt Snedeker has pulled out of next month's Northwestern Mutual World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California as he continues to recover from a leg injury.

Though Snedeker is "ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation programme," the 32-year-old did not want to push his return to competition with a busy early 2014 campaign fast approaching, the golfer's management company said on Monday.

Snedeker, a six-times winner on the PGA Tour, plans to defend his title at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am which will be held in California from Feb. 6-9.

In recent years, he has made a habit of playing in at least five events on the PGA Tour's West Coast Swing during January and February.

Snedeker bruised his left tibia and strained the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he fell off a Segway during a corporate outing in China earlier this month, after the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

Those injuries initially forced him to withdraw from the Nov. 7-10 Australian PGA Championship, and then the Dec. 5-8 Northwestern Mutual World Challenge which is hosted by world number one Tiger Woods.

No replacement has yet been announced for Snedeker in the 18-man field at Sherwood Country Club where Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell will defend the title he won by three shots last year.

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A year later, Choi not part of LPGA rivalries

NAPLES, Fla. -- Na Yeon Choi finished last year by winning the LPGA Titleholders and buying a new house at Isleworth outside Orlando. She was No. 2 on the money list with nearly $2 million. She was No. 2 in the world. She was the U.S. Women's Open champion.

One year later, Choi was missing from the conversation.

Inbee Park won three straight majors and last week clinched LPGA player of the year, the first South Korean to win that award. Suzann Pettersen has challenged Park and has a chance this week to win the LPGA money list. Stacy Lewis, who rose to No. 1 earlier in the year, has a slim lead in the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average.

As for Choi?

She gave up the lead on the back nine at St. Andrews and tied for second behind Stacy Lewis in the Women's British Open. She was runner-up in the HSBC Champions in Singapore. And those were the highlights. Choi has failed to win a tournament, has slipped to No. 6 in the world and is No. 9 on the money list.

Choi has won at least $1 million the last five years. She needs $80,000 at the Titleholders to keep that streak going.

''I think I put a lot of pressure on myself at the beginning of the season,'' Choi said Tuesday. ''I started the season No. 2 in the world, and I really, really want to be No. 1. But I think I got too much pressure, too much to think about - winning a tournament or about the results and lower scores.''

Choi's solution is to go back to being a rookie. That means working harder and not worrying about results. As a rookie, she had no fear.

''But right now, I'm kind of scared to play, too much thinking, too much worry about,'' she said. ''So I really want to go back to how I started golf, or when I came to the LPGA Tour, that kind of demeanor.''

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SPIETH TO SHERWOOD: Jordan Spieth's first round of the year was a pre-qualifier to get into the Monday qualifier at Torrey Pines. His last round will be at Sherwood Country Club, a last-minute alternate to the Christmas holiday bonus known as the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods.

Spieth was selected as an alternate Tuesday to replace Brandt Snedeker, who is being extra cautious from a slight knee surgery from when he lost his balance on a Segway during a corporate outing in Shanghai.

The World Challenge is Dec. 5-8.

Spieth never needed that qualifier for the Farmers Insurance Open. He got in on a late sponsor's exemption, missed the cut, and then headed off to the Web.com Tour. His plans shifted to the PGA Tour in March, and the results were amazing - enough money to secure a card, a win at the John Deere Classic to instantly get his card, No. 7 in the FedEx Cup standings and a spot in the Presidents Cup.

Sherwood will be a bonus.

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INKSTER TO THE BOOTH: Juli Inkster's closest friends in golf have always worried about whether she could ever retire. This might be a step.

Inkster is one of three additions to the Golf Channel's cast of on-air talent for the 2014 season. The others are Karen Stupples, already a strong voice of golf for the BBC, and Paige Mackenzie.

Inkster, the 53-year-old Hall of Famer, is not giving up on golf. She will work five events for Golf Channel, starting with the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic in May.

Stupples will work at just over a dozen tournaments as an analyst and on-course reporter. Mackenzie will be the co-host on ''Morning Drive'' and contribute to news programming while continuing to play.

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RULES OF THE GAME: Annika Sorenstam is one of the few players who has gone through a USGA rules seminar and taken the test, and it would seem to raise a question. If golf is their livelihood, shouldn't all tour players go through the seminar to know the rules of the sport they play?

Steve Stricker might have had the best explanation.

''We're playing for a lot of money,'' he said.

There is golf, and there is tournament golf, and while they are played the same, it's different. Even the highest-rated rules officials who have scored 100 on the test have blown calls, such as Trey Holland at the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont involving Ernie Els.

There are 34 rules. There are more than 1,200 decisions. With so much at stake - either money or prestige - players would rather put a decision in the hands of the experts, whose word is final.

''We can always call one of the officials out of the woods,'' Stricker said.

''That's a week out of their life,'' Slugger White said when asked why more players don't go to a rules seminar. ''If you went to a rules school and you're coming down the stretch in a tournament, they'd call every time. They don't want to make a mistake.''

White is the PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition. When he played the tour, he gave himself a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 in his rules knowledge.

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FIRST LADY: The PGA of America has selected Annika Sorenstam for its ''First Lady of Golf Award.''

The award began in 1998 and is given every other year to a woman who has made significant contributions to promoting golf. That goes beyond Sorenstam's 89 worldwide wins and 10 majors. Since retiring five years ago, she has developed a teaching academy, golf course design firm, financial-planning group, an apparel collection and a foundation geared toward teaching children a healthy lifestyle through fitness and nutrition. She also has a junior golf program.

Sorenstam, a mother of two, is the first international woman to win the award. She will be honored Jan. 22 in Orlando at the PGA Merchandise Show.

''I have been so fortunate through my life to have people who helped pave the way for me to work hard and exceed my goals on and off the course,'' Sorenstam said. ''I truly feel like I am living a dream and want to help the next generation do the same.''

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SWANN'S WAY: Lynn Swann is the latest board director for the PGA of America.

Swann helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s, after playing on a national championship team at Southern California. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Swann, a member at Augusta National, joins the board Saturday at the PGA's annual meeting in San Diego. He will serve a three-year term.

''I came to the game late in life, but hope over the next three years to help the PGA bring golf to so many more people early in life,'' Swann said.

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DIVOTS: Nick Price has added a tournament to his schedule, all because his son (Greg) took up golf eight months ago. They will play the PNC Father-Son Challenge for the first time on Dec. 12-15 at The Ritz-Carlton Club in Orlando. ''I just want him to enjoy it,'' Price said. ''If he enjoys it, he'll want to do it again.'' ... Charles Howell III, who had five top 10s a year ago, already has three in five tournaments this year. ... The Players Championship raised $7.1 million for local charities, beating last year's record $6.5 million.

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STAT OF THE WEEK: The Official World Golf Ranking board has approved ranking points for the new PGA Tour China series next year. The winner of the China events will get six points, or the equivalent of 19th place at The Players Championship.

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FINAL WORD: ''You're witnessing the best player on the planet at the minute, for sure. I don't think there's anybody to go up against him.'' - Ian Poulter on Henrik Stenson, who won three of his last seven events to claim the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai.

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4 share lead at Champions Tour qualifying tourney

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Wes Short, Jr., Jeff Freeman, Doug Garwood and Bill Glasson all carded 7-under 64s to share the first-round lead at the Champions Tour national qualifying tournament at TPC Scottsdale.

Short then had seven consecutive pars for his 64.With conditions ideal for scoring, Short started the event with a five-foot eagle putt on his first hole (par-5 10th) and then added five more birdies on his next 10 holes.

A winner of the 2005 Michelin Championship at Las Vegas on the PGA Tour, Short has had back problems over the past three years and played on the PGA Tour on a major medical extension. He made the cut at the Shell Houston Open, his first on the PGA Tour since 2007.

''I hit it close four times over the first eight holes and it was nice to start off with an eagle,'' Short said. ''I then made a 30-footer for birdie at No. 18 and another 30-footer for birdie at the second hole.

''It was just a perfect day to play and if you kept the ball in play off the tee, you were going to have short irons into these holes. It's a four-day event and I need to keep playing like I did today.''

Garwood, who played just five tournaments on the Champions Tour this year after turning 50 in late March, finished tied for second at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach and tied for seventh in his debut on the circuit at The Principal Charity Classic.

He came into the event nursing an injury to his rib cage, but it didn't seem to bother him on Tuesday. He made eight birdies and also had a three-putt bogey on his round.

''I wasn't sure I was going to be able to play today, but I took three Advils this morning and was good. When you have conditions like this, you can make lots of birdies and I was able to do that. It was nice to get off to this kind of a start, especially how I was feeling coming in here,'' Garwood said.

Glasson, a winner of seven PGA Tour titles, used a pair of eagles on both of the par-5s on the back nine to also get in at 7 under for the day. He's trying to achieve fully exempt status for next season after finishing 33rd on the 2013 money list with $459,277.

Like Glasson, Freeman, the 2011 Q-School medalist and a conditionally exempt player in 2013 after he tied for eighth at last fall's national qualifying tournament, went bogey-free on his round, opening his day with birdies on four of his first five holes.

There will be no cut in the 72-hole qualifier. At the end of four rounds, the top five finishers earn fully-exempt status through the re-order in the 2014 season, while the next seven players will be conditionally exempt. In addition, the top 30 finishers and ties will be eligible to compete for spots in open qualifiers at all co-sponsored events on the Champions Tour in 2014.

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Finchem: Olympic course progress "reasonably good"

MELBOURNE, Australia -- PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem says progress on construction of the troubled course for golf's return to the Olympics at Rio in 2016 is ''reasonably good'' and he would travel to Brazil early next year to check on its progress.

The course at Venue Reserva de Marapendi has been plagued by delays over land rights. It was originally scheduled to be completed by 2014 but American architect Gil Hanse, who is designing the course, admitted in July that it would not be tournament-ready until 2015.

''The progress is reasonably good, we were really concerned for a period of time,'' Finchem said Wednesday at a media conference on the eve the World Cup at Royal Melbourne. ''Gil Hanse from all indications is doing a good job.

''I was told yesterday that the irrigation system for the golf course had boarded a ship in Los Angeles and was headed for the Panama Canal. So we'll have some water on the golf course.''

Hanse was given the job of building the course for golf's return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904.

He said in July that the original plans were to have the course ready by 2014, giving organizers two years to fine-tune the course before the start of the Olympics. But Hanse said construction was now expected to be done by the first half of 2014 and the course would be ready to host a test event in the second half of 2015.

''If we were trying to stick to the original schedule - no chance,'' Hanse said in July.

Construction on the course was delayed by a court case involving the title holder of the property and a developer who claimed legal rights to the land and wanted to build houses instead of the golf course.

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Rule change tweaks penalty that hit Tiger in PGA playoffs

New York City  - Changes announced Tuesday by the US Golf Association and the R&A include no longer penalising players when ball movement can be detected only by enhanced technology, a rule that hit Tiger Woods in September.

Golf's governing bodies validated three other noteworthy changes, all of which will take effect starting January 1, 2014.

World number one Woods was issued a two-stroke penalty at this year's US PGA playoff BMW Championship after his ball was deemed to have moved as he tried to clear loose impediments around it.

But a PGA Tour videographer using high definition technology spotted a potential violation and reported it to tournament officials.

The replay was reviewed and Woods was assessed a penalty even though he said after the round that he could not detect the ball had moved, only that it appeared to oscillate and return to its original position.

Woods was upset at the decision even after watching the high-def replay.

"Where enhanced technological evidence shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time," the governing bodies said in a joint statement.

The governing bodies had been discussing the issue for two years and the change was announced as part of the rules review process.

"The rules of golf are constantly evolving," USGA senior rules director Thomas Pagel said. "The review process is an opportunity for the R&A and the USGA to continue to help make the game more understandable and accessible."

Other changes included allowing players to access weather reports on portable telephones during rounds as a safety protection issue, illustrations to help clarify when a ball is to be considered embedded and allowing a player to go forward up to about 50 yards without giving up the right to play a provisional ball.

"It is important to consider carefully new developments in the game," R&A executive director David Rickman said. "That is reflected in the new decisions on the rules which give greater clarity on the use of smart phones and advanced video technology."

As part of the review ahead of possible changes for 2016, the rules committee will examine other video issues, including the amount of precision needed in marking, lifting and replacing balls; making reference points for taking relief and appropriateness of penalty for a player returning an incorrect scorecard when unaware a rules violation had taken place.

"Adapting to developments in technology and video evidence is an important ongoing topic in making and applying the rules of golf," the joint statement said.

"In pursuing this continuing review, the USGA and The R&A will be guided by their longstanding position that a (tournament) committee should consider all evidence, regardless of the source, that may be relevant in determining the facts to which the rules must be applied.

"To reach a correct ruling, all evidence from witnesses concerning a possible breach of the rules should be considered.

"In their ongoing review of the use of video and other enhanced technology, the USGA and The R&A will continue to be guided by the view that, regardless of the timing or the type of evidence used, the integrity of the game is best served by getting the ruling right."

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Golf rules tweaked over use of video technology

Golf took another stand against video evidence Tuesday by announcing a new decision that would not penalize a player whose ball moves at rest if the movement is only detected by enhanced pictures.

It was the second time in the last two years that the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient have established new guidelines involving video.

The next edition of ''Decisions on the Rules of Golf'' effective Jan. 1 will include three new decisions, the most significant being 18/4. It says that when ''enhanced technological evidence'' shows that a ball moved, it will not be deemed to have moved if not ''reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time.''

The new decision did not stem from Tiger Woods being penalized two shots in the BMW Championship in September. His ball moved barely a dimple as he tried to remove a twig from in front of the ball. The movement was captured by a videographer, and the violation was detected by an editor going through the film. Even after watching video after his round, Woods said he thought the ball only oscillated.

At the time, rules officials already had gone through multiple drafts of the new decision.

Decision 18/4 instead was an offshoot of Decision 33-7/4.5 in 2011. Under that decision, officials can waive disqualification for an incorrect scorecard if a player was unaware of a rules violation. The example was Peter Hanson, who double-hit a chip shot. The violation was only detected through HDTV played in super slow-motion.

Thomas Pagel, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition, said an example of Decision 18/4 would be a player addressing his ball in the rough, and only a camera zoomed in on the ball showed it moving fractionally based on the blades of grass around the ball. In that case, the player would have no idea it had moved.

The ''Decisions'' are updated every two years. The Rules of Golf are updated every four years.

The latest decisions were part of a movement by the USGA and R&A to deal with increased advances in video technology. In a joint statement, they said the Rules of Golf committees continue to look at other issues related to video. That includes the precision in marking, lifting and replacing a golf ball; estimating where to take relief; and the appropriate penalty for returning an incorrect scorecard when the player was unaware of a violation.

''As is true of the rules in many other televised sports, adapting to developments in technology and video evidence is an important ongoing topic in making and applying the Rules of Golf,'' the statement said.

What remains unaffected is television viewers reporting potential violations. Golf officials say it is important to consider all evidence from any source. The only change is that a player might not be penalized if the only clear evidence is from enhanced video.

The other chances to the 2014-15 edition of ''Decisions:''

-Decision 14-3/18 allows players to use smart phones to access weather reports. The new decision also clarifies that players are permitted access to information on the threat of an approaching storm for their own safety.

-Decision 25-2/0.5 was revised to clarify when a golf ball is embedded. Officials have noticed an increased in tour players asking for relief, and a debate on whether the ball has broken through the soil. The revised decision will be accompanied by illustrations.

-Decision 27-2a/1.5 was revised to allow players to go forward 50 yards without losing their right to return to play a provisional ball.

The new edition of ''Decisions'' includes three new decisions and 59 revised decisions, while 24 decisions were taken out. Pagel said this done for the sake of clarity.

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Oosthuizen sidelined after recurrence of back injury

Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen will be out for two weeks after suffering a recurrence of a long-standing back problem, his management company said on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old South African has been told to rest after having cortisone injections.

"My back has been sore during the last few tournaments and it has been frustrating," Oosthuizen said in a news release.

"I'm hopeful the injections will free up the problem and enable it to go away completely."

The injury also kept 2010 Open champion Oosthuizen on the sidelines for two months earlier this season.

He is planning to return to the European Tour at the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City starting on December 5.

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World Cup set for Olympic-style preview

MELBOURNE, Australia -- The World Cup this week will offer a glimpse of what to expect when golf returns to the Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

After that, the similarities begin to fade.Individual stroke play and world rankings will determine who plays and, for the most part, players will carry the flag of their countries on their golf bags.

The World Cup begins Thursday at Royal Melbourne and will have its traditional team component - the Olympics will not have a team competition - and the situation involving Britain and Ireland is much different. That's raised a bit of a quandary for Rory McIlroy: Which country will represent in 2016 in Brazil - Britain or Ireland?

At the Olympics, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as Britain. But at the World Cup, England, Scotland and Wales will compete as separate countries. To muddy the waters a bit more at the World Cup, the tradition is for Ireland and Northern Ireland to compete as Ireland. McIlroy is not competing at Royal Melbourne this week, and is confident it's still his choice which nation he plays for in Rio.

For the international players who are at the World Cup the rules are more cut and dried, and use the same rankings format that will be in place to determine Olympic places.

Players in the top 15 on the Official World Golf Ranking gain access to the World Cup, with the exception that there will be no more than four players for any country. After the top 15, up to two players are allowed per country until the field of about 60 is filled.

Matt Kuchar, who is representing the United States this week with Kevin Streelman, won the last World Cup in 2011 with Gary Woodland. That tournament at Haiku, China, featured four-ball competitions on Thursday and Saturday and foursomes on Friday and Sunday.

Individual stroke-play was instituted this year for all four rounds to mirror the Olympic format, and the best two scores from each country will determine the team placings.

Adam Scott, who will team with Jason Day this week for Australia, likes the change in format and the fact it attracts world ranking points.

''It's an important tournament ... and now it's got that individual focus,'' Scott said after winning the Australian Masters on Sunday.

''I think it's going to take a step up from where it was. Certainly you can see that a lot of guys are coming a long way to play for a huge purse and world ranking points.''

Twenty-five teams are set to play, including Italians Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero, the Irish pair of Graeme McDowell and Shane Lowry and South Korea's K.J. Choi and Bae Sang-moon.

Fiji's Vijay Singh, who finished third in the Australian Masters, will be one of the approximately 15 players competing only in the individual competition which offers $7 million in prize money. The winning individual player gets $1.2 million; the winning team gets $600,000.

On Monday, Singh was out on the 18th hole at Royal Melbourne practicing putting to various parts of the green.

''I'll take a lot from last week, and know the course coming into the World Cup,'' Singh said. ''I had six of everything yesterday, six pars, six bogeys and six birdies. I intend to learn from my mistakes and play better this week.''

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Chi-Chi Rodriguez hit himself in the leg with a ball during ‘Big Break’ cameo

One of the coolest golf tricks anyone ever pulled off was done by Chi-Chi Rodriguez. The now 78-year-old golfer would set up two golf balls next to each other, take a full swing with the first one and hit a nice cut, then as quick as Usain Bolt is off the blocks, Rodriguez would twirl around and hit the other ball, this time with a hook, and every so often the balls would collide in mid-air.

I bet Rodriguez's leg wishes he was trying that trick when he made a cameo on The Golf Channel's "Big Break." Rodriguez was on to try the "shattered glass" challenge, and as his ball barely missed the glass, it hit something solid and came screaming back at him, nailing him in the leg and causing the cast of the show to make sure the golf legend was alright.

Chi-Chi appeared to be okay, but it was a scary situation for a moment and it poses the question that I first wondered when watching this video - is it appropriate to yell "FORE!" when you're about to get hit by your own ball?

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English notches second PGA Tour win with Mexico triumph

A steady finish by Harris English coupled with a late stumble by Swede Robert Karlsson helped lift the American to a four-stroke victory at the $6 million OHL Classic at Mayakoba on Sunday.

English closed with a six-under-par 65 at the El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, to cruise to his second PGA Tour victory following his breakthrough win at the St. Jude Classic in Tennessee in June.

The 24-year-old English bogeyed the par-four second, birdied seven of his next 11 holes and then closed the tournament with five consecutive pars for a 21-under 263 total and a $1.08 million payday.

Fellow American Brian Stuard (67) claimed second place at 17 under, while compatriots Jason Bohn (68) and Chris Stroud (68) and South African Rory Sabbatini (70) were a further shot back.

Karlsson, who led by a stroke at the turn, sent drives into jungle hazards at the 12th and 13th holes for successive bogeys and then double-bogeyed 14 to fall out of contention and hand a big lead to English.

The Swede finished tied for sixth at 15 under.

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Chinese teen sensation Guan to star in Hong Kong Open

Hong Kong - Chinese golf prodigy Guan Tianlang will star in December's Hong Kong Open, organisers announced Tuesday, just weeks after he celebrated his 15th birthday.

The Guangzhou schoolboy sent shockwaves through the sport at the US Masters in April when, aged just 14 years, five months and 18 days, he became the youngest golfer to make the cut at a major tournament.

He will return to the world stage at the beginning of December at the Hong Kong Golf Club, where Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez will defend his title.

"This year has just been an incredible journey for me. Making the cut at the Masters was a very special achievement for me and I hope to be able to produce a similar performance at the Hong Kong Golf Club in December," Guan said.

"When you get the opportunity to play against world class players you cannot refuse because it is the best environment to learn and gain experience."

Before he tees off at the US$1.3 million tournament, the teenager will take part in a special golf skills clinic Wednesday, where he will meet children from four local schools.

Hong Kong golfer Jason Hak will join Guan in the tournament. In November 2008, aged 14, Hak made history as the youngest player to make the cut in a European Tour event at the Hong Kong Open.

Guan will be hoping to make up for failing to defend his title at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships in October, where South Korea's Lee Chang-Woo, 19, claimed victory and a place in the US Masters.

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Golf-New ball movement rule would have spared Woods' blushes

LONDON - Eighty seven changes have been made to the 2013-14 edition of the "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" manual but one in particular will be of interest to world number one Tiger Woods.

New Decision 18/4, agreed by the Royal and Ancient and the United States Golf Association (USGA), aims to clarify when a ball has been inadvertently moved by a player - a scenario that left Woods fuming at the BMW Championship in September.

Woods suffered a two-stroke penalty at the first hole in his second round after he tried to remove a twig from behind his ball.

The American 14-times major winner insisted his ball had merely "oscillated" although detailed video footage of the incident suggested the ball had rolled slightly away from its original resting place.

However, under new guidelines announced on Tuesday, Woods would probably have escaped punishment.

"New Decision 18/4 provides that, where enhanced technological evidence (e.g. HDTV, digital recording or online visual media, etc.) shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time," the new rule states.

A joint statement from the R&A and USGA explained the decision, saying it was made to counter the increased level of scrutiny players are under at elite tournaments owing to the rapid developments in video technology.

"This has led to an increasing number of inquiries to officials from television viewers and others about whether a breach of the Rules has occurred, sometimes resulting in breaches of the Rules being identified (and penalties being applied) after the incident itself has occurred.

"Occasionally, the identification of the breach has been after the player has returned his or her scorecard, which has therefore resulted in disqualification under Rule 6-6d.

"These developments have generated considerable discussion concerning whether, how and when such video evidence should be used."

Woods also fell foul of rules officials at the Masters after taking an illegal drop during the second round when his wedge approach at the 15th struck the flagstick before ricocheting backwards off the green and down the slope into Rae's Creek.

In another change, players will now be allowed to access weather conditions on smatphones during their round without breaching Rules.

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Chi-Chi Rodriguez gets hit by ball in groin

Dear God, please let this never happen to me.

Chi-Chi Rodriguez was helping out with Golf Channel's Big Break NFL and he was trying to break the glass pane you see above with his shot as part of a competition.

The glass fought back though and Chi-Chi's power just isn't what it used to be. Disaster was averted (apparently) but that was much closer than anyone (especially Chi-Chi) wanted it to be.

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Video-enhanced penalties removed from golf rules

The USGA has issued a new rule that will begin to take golf fans out of the equation when it comes to being able to assess penalties on professional golfers.

You all remember the situation Tiger Woods faced at the BMW Championship where his ball moved in the woods, he said he didn't see it happen, but a rogue photographer caught the entire thing on film (see above), and Woods was later penalized.

It was one of the catalysts for Brandel Chamblee implying that Tiger Woods was a cheater in his end-of-season grades on Golf.com.

The new rule, though not a direct response to that incident, would have been nice for Woods to have in place about two months ago.

The new rule, called Decision 18/4, states the following:

"Where enhanced technological evidence shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time."

Essentially the USGA and R&A are saying "if you (the golfer) didn't see it then it didn't happen, even if we have video evidence."

The rule will go into place on January 1, 2014.

That's pretty interesting to me. And it's definitely a first step to totally removing the entire call-in culture that was spotlighted during Woods' drop-gate at the 15th hole at this year's Masters.

That has to be the next step for golf. They wouldn't have issued this ruling otherwise.

In fact, this ruling is taking Decision 33-7/4.5 one step further, as Ryan Lavner of Golf Channel pointed out.

That rule "authorized a committee to waive the disqualification penalty if a player was unaware of a rules breach that was identified only after consulting HD video."

But as of now viewers can still call in for things like the Woods ball drop at the Masters. Just not for a ball that has moved.

The USGA and R&A issued a joint statement saying that they would continue to do research regarding fans and anyone other than a golfer or golf official being able to note a penalty.

"In recent years, the rapid development of video technology, such as HDTV, digital recording and on-line visual media, has brought a new level of scrutiny to Rules issues arising in elite golf tournaments.

"Beyond these Decisions, as part of the 2016 Rules review, the Rules of Golf Committees will be discussing other issues concerning the possible effect of video technology on the application of the Rules to the playing of the game, such as the necessary degree of precision in marking, lifting and replacing a ball, the estimation of a reference point for taking relief, and the overall question of the appropriate penalty for returning an incorrect score card where the player was unaware that a penalty had been incurred."

That's a really wordy way of saying, just like football, basketball, and baseball have said "we have no idea what to do here."

I don't mind fans being able to call in but the problem with it, and the reason that rule will eventually be eradicated, is that it creates an uneven playing field.

All 68 or 74 or 80 (?) of Tiger Woods' shots are shown on TV every round. That's a fact. He sells and TV networks sell him. Not so for Harris English or Charles Howell or Kevin Streelman. Those guys might have one or two or six shots shown for their entire round.

Because of this there's more of an opportunity for Woods to be "caught." That's not a fair situation and likely a precedent the USGA and R&A want to reset.

Decision 18/4 is the forerunner to completely removing rules decisions from folks not inside the ropes and while that might not be the just thing to do, it's definitely going to happen.

I just hope we don't have any more major incidents (at majors) between now and when that ruling takes place.

Other rules announced by the USGA and R&A on Tuesday include the following:

• The .... Players can now access weather reports on their cell phones (I can't believe they couldn't before!)

• Players will be allowed to walk forward approximately 50 yards to determine the ball's location without forfeiting their right to play a provisional.

• Extra illustrations were provided to show if a ball is embedded.

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Golf pro tries to get Tim Tebow job with Jaguars

Dewey Arnette is a golf pro who lives in Jacksonville and has taught Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington and makes $400 an hour teaching other people how to play the game.

Last week he used some of that hard-earned cash to buy an ad in the Florida-Times Union for $1,200 in which he begged the Shahid Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, to sign Tim Tebow.

Here's the ad:

This is strange behavior for a man who does not seem flamboyant in his actions (he drives 200 miles to work every day) but I suppose that's what Tim Tebow does to people.

"I don't want to come off as odd," Arnette said to ESPN. "The thing is, having done these things, I know how supportive people are of Tim Tebow around here. And our standards for the team are just so low right now."

Arnette knows the effort was likely futile but he's still glad he did it.

"I expect it to completely fall on deaf ears," he said. "But I just wanted to give it a try. Yeah, this isn't one of those real injustices in the world. But I feel bad for him. He deserves a shot."

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Some good value bets for 2014 Masters

 

The European Tour is finally over.

The PGA Tour's six fall events are finally over.

Silly season is winding down.

You know what all of that means? 2014 is right around the corner and once the calendar flips to January we aren't that far from Augusta.

So why not some mid-November Masters odds with a few bets I really like right now.

The favorite

Tiger Woods: 5-1

The other favorites

Phil Mickelson: 11-1

Rory McIlroy: 12-1

Adam Scott: 16-1

Contenders

Brandt Snedeker: 25-1

Henrik Stenson: 25-1

Justin Rose: 25-1

Jason Day: 28-1

Charl Schwartzel: 33-1

Dustin Johnson: 33-1

Lee Westwood: 33-1

Luke Donald: 33-1

Fringe contenders

Bubba Watson: 40-1

Jason Dufner: 40-1

Keegan Bradley: 40-1

Louis Oosthuizen: 40-1

Matt Kuchar: 40-1

Sergio Garcia: 40-1

The value pick

Jordan Spieth: 66-1

Sweet mercy, you can get Jordan Spieth at 66-1 right now?! I mean, I don't think he's going to blow through Augusta and grab a green jacket but that should be no higher than 40-1. Maybe 35-1.

I also like Oosthuizen at 40-1 (he will have recovered from his injury by then) and Stenson at 25-1 (though his best finish there is T17).

I don't love Donald or Westwood at 33-1 -- those are bad bets.

Also, Scott at 16-1 is a steal. He's going to be in the mix in every major he plays for the next few years. I have no idea why he has worse odds than McIlroy.

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Ian Poulter waves white flag, will have to serve Henrik Stenson drinks

Here's the story: A couple of weeks ago Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson made a $100 bet about who would finish first in the Race to Dubai. Stenson had a big lead but Poulter was closing hard.

Before the DP World Tour Championship, Stenson upped the ante by giving Poulter 10-1 odds.

Poulter then said the loser would have to play waiter to the winner for a night out.

"I like to make these silly things, and he said he'd like to take the bet on," said Poulter. "I also said that if I do manage to pass you, we will have a nice night out, and he will have to pour my drinks for the evening. I think $1,000 isn't an issue to him but pouring my drinks all night might be a big problem."

Stenson, who's been nursing an injured right wrist, agreed to the wager.

"If he catches me, I can only pour them with my left, so he's going to have to hold the glass himself,” Stenson said.

Of course Stenson won by seven strokes on Sunday -- on a day when Poulter literally waved a white towel on the 18th green as Stenson finished -- so the $100 and night of Poulter in a waiter's suit is all his.

Poulter said Stenson earned it.

"I would expect him to be rather relieved to be honest with you, because I've thrown a lot at him in the last four weeks, I've given him so much stick and so have you guys, which is brilliant. So I'm sure he's a relieved man. He's had an incredible back end of the year, and you know, best player on the planet right now."

Stenson fired back that he hasn't forgotten about the bet.

"Yeah, I've still to collect that hundred dollar bill, ain't I. I'm going to get a photographer with me when we do that. Yeah, I'm not going to be serving him drinks. He can feel free to serve me one."

Pretty great stuff from two awesome competitors.

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Peter Uihlein wins European Tour rookie of the year

Peter Uihlein eschewed the PGA Tour to go over to Europe a few years ago and try his hand at the Challenge Tour (Europe's version of the Web.com Tour).

That went well as he won the Madeira Islands Open this May, thus earning his European Tour card for the rest of the season.

He took full advantage of it notching five top 10s the rest of the year and finishing 14th in the Race to Dubai -- ahead of bigger names like Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy.

On Monday he was honored for his success by becoming the first American to win the European Tour rookie of the year award.

"It's an honor to win the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award," said Uihlein. "I wasn't expecting it, but it's been a great year and I'm very pleased. I think I'm the first non-European to win it, so that's a great honor. Any time you're the first of anything, it's neat."

Uihlein also noted what a launching pad his first win was for the rest of his season.

"The win in Madeira was great and I had a lot of top tens. I played well all week in Madeira and handled myself well in the wind, and it was nice to get the job done. The win opened a few doors for me and I was able to play at Wentworth (the BMW PGA Championship) the following week.

"I was supposed to start the year on the Challenge Tour, but instead I was 11th in The Race to Dubai heading into the final event, so it wasn't what I'd planned on but obviously it's fantastic the way it has worked out."

Lee Westwood said on Twitter he got to break the news to Uihlein.

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What's next for Henrik Stenson?

Henrik Stenson won the DP World Tour Championship (Europe's year-end event) in convincing fashion on Sunday with a final-round 64 that capped off a week in which he hit 68 of 72 greens in regulation.

Yes, 68 of 72 greens in regulation.

In doing so he became the first golfer to ever win both the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai in the same year.

Ian Poulter, who finished second by seven (!) shots, said Stenson is on top of golf right now.

"You're witnessing the best player on the planet at the minute for sure," he said. "I don't think there's anybody to go up against him."

Stenson isn't satisfied, though.

If you were to ask European golfers what their career goals are as, say, 20-year-olds they would probably say the following in some order:

1. Win a major

2. Play on a Ryder Cup team

3. Win Race to Dubai

4. Win FedEx Cup

5. Become World No. 1

Stenson has accomplished Nos. 2-4 (and will likely play another Ryder Cup team in 2014) but Nos. 1 and 5 are still outstanding.

He spoke on Sunday about what a major would mean to him.

"I don't know how I am going to be able to top this next year but I am going to give my best in the majors and that would be the icing on the cake," he said.

He nearly won his first this year -- finishing second at the British Open and third at the PGA Championship.

There are other goals, too. Namely overtaking world No. 1 Tiger Woods. Stenson trails world No. 2 Adam Scott by .77 world golf ranking points and Woods by 3.33.

"Yeah, I'm certainly going to keep on trying. You know, it's going to take a lot of good golfing from where I am to reach No. 1. But I'm going to keep on trying. Like someone said, everyone that's won The Race to Dubai managed to be world No. 1 at some stage, so it wouldn't be fair not to try then, would it."

But how much better can Stenson get? The No. 3 ranking is his highest ever and he's 37-year-old (the same age as Tiger).

Nonetheless Stenson still says that despite a stretch at the Tour Championship in September that was his best stretch of golf ever, he still has room for improvement.

"I think the display on the front nine the first round of the Tour Championship in America was pretty spectacular. That's probably the most or the closest number of shots that I've hit so close to the pin in a nine-hole stretch. It was inches, feet away, with 5- and 6-irons."

"It's all about just getting out of bed and keep working away and trying to be better. Sometimes you improve but it doesn't necessarily means that your results are going to improve over a period of time."

And of course Stenson said he wants to be on Paul McGinley's side when the Ryder Cup hits Gleneagles in October 2014.

"No, I mean, that's one of my big goals, of course, it was to try and get some points on the board early for The Ryder Cup.

"Some of my greatest moments in my career is part of The Ryder Cup in '06 and '08, and then I stood out twice. So I was always going to try hard to make it back on the team for Gleneagles and it seems like if we are not cemented, we are pretty close to it. It's going to be a great experience again and really looking forward to it."

Like Poulter said, Stenson is the best player in the world right now, despite what the rankings tell me.

There's seemingly nothing he can't accomplish, but these things fade quickly. Just ask Rory McIlroy, or heck, ask Stenson himself -- he was ranked in the 200s at the beginning of 2012, just under two years ago.

Contrary to what we sometimes believe, the good times do not go on forever and the party does, at some point, end.

But that end doesn't seem to be coming quickly for Stenson who has gone through all the valleys professional golf offers.

He's on the mountaintop right now and he knows it.

"To be able to come back this year like I've done and play so many good rounds and so many good tournaments; and enjoying the golf the way I've done this year and being up there in the big events where it's tense and a bit of nerve and all the rest of it; that's what we practice and play for."

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Jason Day loses eight relatives in Typhoon Haiyan

Eight of Jason Day's relatives died recently in the Philippines typhoon.

This Jason Day news is pretty much the worst.

Typhoon Haiyan, which has claimed nearly 4,000 lives according to CNN, killed eight of Jason Day's relatives in the Philippines.

Day's grandmother, uncle, and six cousins were among those who died in the storm.

"I am deeply saddened to confirm that multiple members of my family lost their lives as the victims of Typhoon Haiyan," Jason Day said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. "My family and I are thankful for all who have reached out with their prayers and concern.

"We feel devastated for all who have been affected by this horrific tragedy. While I understand the media's interest in this matter and hope that any coverage can spread awareness to assist with the relief efforts that continue in the Phillippines, I hope that all will respect my family's privacy during this difficult time. I will have no further public comments at this time. Please pray for all who have suffered loss. Thank you."

Day will play the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, Australia, this week.

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