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| A Look Back: Feb. 15 1925: Eric Brown, who played on four British Ryder Cup teams in the 1950s and captained the 1969 and '71 British teams, is born. He died in 1986. 1951: Several PGA Tour players elect to skip the tour's Rio Grande Valley Open in Harlingen, Texas, to play in the Mexican Open for substantial appearance fees. 1970: Lee Trevino defeated Bob Murphy in a playoff for his fourth PGA Tour title and his seconnd straight Tucson Open. 1981: Hale Irwin cruises to a six-shot victory over Don January in the Hawaiian Open. Irwin shoots a final-round 69. 1998: John Huston shoots a final-round 66 to win the Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club. Huston finishes 28-under par, setting the PGA Tour record for most strokes under par in a 72-hole event. |
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Sponsorship
AMD,
a global manufacturer of high-performance PC processors and flash memory devices,
sponsors pro golfers Chris DiMarco and Brian Gay on a newly formed AMD "Extreme
Performance" golf team.
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more...
TaylorMade
Golf announces it will retain all equipment, headwear and tour staff bag rights
to long-time company PGA Tour staff members Kenny Perry and Ian Leggatt. Both
will play 11 TaylorMade clubs in total, including the company's 300 Series driver
and 300 forged irons.
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more...
Tours
The American
Amateur Golf Tour in Atlanta reaches an agreement with The Golf Experience
Co. to use the eGolfScore wireless real-time scoring system in the AAGT's first
tournament of 2002 at Windermere Golf Club on April 27.
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more...
Events
Ralph Maltby,
the golf clubmaker who authored the two best-read books on the subject, will headline
the seminar and workshop presentations at the 2002 Professional Clubmakers'
Society International Symposium and Expo in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 28-March
3.
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People
Textron announces
that John L. Garrison, Jr. has been named president of E-Z-GO. Garrison
will be responsible for all aspects of the golf car and utility vehicle company
including sales, marketing, engineering and manufacturing.
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more...
Softspikes,
maker of plastic golf cleats, names PGA Professional Bill Lytton as its
new sales representative for eastern North Carolina and the Piedmont region.
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more...
Equipment
component maker Coastcast Corporation elects Luann G. Smith as a new member
of the board of directors. Smith, 46, has been the President of Statoil Marketing
& Trading (US) Inc. since October 2000.
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more...
Author
Ann Liguori is elected to the Advisory Board of Doonbeg Golf Club, a new
Greg Norman-designed course located in the west of Ireland. Doonbeg, which will
be a private club with some public play, is expected to open for play in the summer
of 2002.
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more...
Associations
The
PGA of America, which provides employment services linking golf employers
with PGA Professionals, is expanding its services to the golf public through the
creation of National Jobs in Golf Week, March 18-22.
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more...
Travel
Spirit
Airlines partners with TeeBone Golf to provide its airline customers
with a centralized golf tee time reservation service. The new service allows golfers
to conveniently book tee times and travel services to Florida, Myrtle Beach, S.C.,
and Atlantic City, N.J.
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more...
Business
National
Golf Properties intends to enter into a business relationship with American
Golf Corporation to form the largest publicly traded company in the world specializing
in the ownership and operation of golf courses and related facilities. The combined
company's portfolio would hold more than 300 public, private and resort golf properties
in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia.
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more...
Technology
Back 9
Technologies, an online tee time reservation company, announces the purchase
of Teetimes.com, a pioneer in interactive golf course management technology and
marketing solutions. The agreement calls for Back 9 Technologiesto purchase the
former Teetimes.com software, golf course member contracts and the Web address.
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more...
Public Relations
The
PGA of America hires the public relations firm of Alday-Waynick Communications,
to promote its $2 million Growth of the Game Grant program.
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more...
Casual Friday
Creating a Ryder Row
The Ryder Cup is still four majors away, but how great was it to see Jose Maria Olazabal win last week's Buick Invitational and open the debate as to whether there should be special Ryder Cup reform for this year?
Because of 9/11, the Ryder Cup was pushed back a calendar year, but the teams would remain as they were announced last August. So, for players like Olazabal and Chris DiMarco, both of whom got bypassed by the respective captains, but have continued their stellar play by winning in 2002, there is little to look forward to in terms of the 2002 Ryder Cup.
At least DiMarco is already earning points -- no matter how minute -- toward a spot on the 2004 squad, but for Olazabal last Sunday's win counts nothing toward 2004. And that's the rub of the fallout from last September's postponement.
Through no fault of either captain Sam Torrance or Curtis Strange, the decision to delay the Ryder Cup for one year threw into limbo players' performances for most of 2002.
We're not advocating opening up all slots on each squad until August, like they would in a normal Ryder Cup year, but how about making a special provision where each captain is allowed a third wildcard pick.
Not only would it be a gentlemanly gesture, but just imagine the drama that would be created as maybe a half dozen players on each side battled for that one slot. We think Olazabal and DiMarco would be up for such a gesture.
FIRST CUT
OK, so we
at Casual Friday were a little disheartened with The Golf Channel's inability
to smooth things out with Peter Kessler and have him continue on the 24/7 golf
channel. At times he could be a bit grating to the ears, but he knew his golf
and was the ideal host for TGC's Viewer's Forum show.
But The Golf Channel
took a step toward getting back in our good graces by returning the popular Viewer's
Forum back to its original Sunday evening slot following final-round play. Even
better, TGC will keep the Wednesday edition, as well.
Now if it would only
give Kessler a ring....
A week ago, Casual Friday reported that Torrey Pines' South Course, Riviera Country Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links were on the short list to host the 2008 U.S. Open. It should also be noted, though, that Inverness Country Club is also being considered....
At
the recent PGA Merchandise Show, ING awarded its annual industry honors, one of
which was for best commercial. In the tradition of the Oscar, Casual Friday nominates
the Nike commercial in which David Duval has his dog chase down the Precision
Tour Accuracy DD ball he hits in the desert. Duval waits all day in the desert
only to have the ball returned -- by his dog that is now the size of a puppy.
OK, so you have to see it, but at least it's a nice segue into this week's
Double Click.
DOUBLE
CLICK
nikegolf.nike.com
Nike's 60-second Duval with Dog spot is housed at this address and worth a good chuckle, especially on a Friday.