Nicklaus says he'd cheer for FSU over Ohio State in BCS

For Jack Nicklaus, family has always come before golf. But what about college football?

According to the Palm Beach Post, Nicklaus said he would cheer for Florida State -- the team of his grandson Nick O'Leary -- over Ohio State -- his alma mater -- in the event those two teams play in the BCS Championship game.

“I’m an Ohio State guy, but blood is thicker than anything else,” said Nicklaus, who along with wife Barbara attended a kickoff cocktail party Sunday night at The Bear’s Club for the two-day Celebrities Fore Kids Golf Classic.

Nicklaus has deep ties with Ohio State. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, he played Big 10 golf for Ohio State in college, he's had the honor of dotting the "i" during the Ohio State band's halftime performance, and the Jack Nicklaus Museum is on the Ohio State campus. However, Nicklaus' grandson is a star tight end on Florida State, and that's enough to tilt the scales toward Florida State. Nicklaus left this year's Presidents Cup at his Muirfield Village course (near Ohio State of course) to watch O'Leary play.

In a recent appearance at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Nicklaus said, “Golf has always been a game to me. Not my life. My life is my family. Golf is a game.”

He means it.

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Scott tops Tiger, McIlroy in popularity contest

Adam Scott has been creeping up on Tiger Woods in the World Golf Rankings, but he has already surpassed him in a popularity contest.

That's according to the results of a recent poll by the global sports marketing and sponsorship research company, Repucom, which took the measure of three top golfers -- Scott, Woods and Rory McIlroy -- in a survey of fans from Australia and the United States.

The poll, which attracted 11,000 respondents from across both countries, focused on the impact of each player in six categories: awareness, appeal, breakthrough, trendsetter, influence, trust, and endorsement/aspiration.

In each of the categories, Scott took the top spot, and Woods finished last. And Repucom says the results hold true in the United States, not just Australia:

The Sunday Telegraph can today reveal the fascinating results of a study conducted last week by leading global sports marketing and sponsorship research company Repucom, which shows that Scott is now considered more popular in the U.S. than Tiger Woods.

Here's a sampling of the results.

In the "trust" category, a measure of the faith the public has in a player's words or image, 44 percent of respondents said that they trust Woods, compared to 68 percent for Scott.

That's not surprising, given the fallout from Tiger's tabloid-making infidelities.

More of an eye-raiser was the "awareness" category, where Scott topped Woods and McIlroy by drawing 75 percent of the vote.

Of course, if you torture statistics for long enough, they'll tell you anything you want.

And in assessing these Repucom results, it's fair to ask: of those 11,000 respondents, how many were Australians?

It's also reasonable to wonder: what sort of real-world impact will this survey have?

Professional golf isn't high school. It's not a popularity contest.

And Woods, for one, has rarely seemed overly concerned about his "likability."

Then again, his sponsors are.

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