Volume Four Hundred Eight

Ah, Fall golf. When watching the tour wrap up show will leave you wondering, “Who the heck is Ben Martin?”

Fall is a season for fast starts. With the new wrap around season on the PGA TOUR, new players to the tour and those who have yet to break through have a great opportunity to make some money and jump start their 2015. Just ask Jimmy Walker how that works.

Breaking News as we go to press: Tiger Woods is taking full swings again, and the U.S. is still not quite sure what to do about Ryder Cup performances.

There’s plenty to talk about. Let’s hit the links.

Hole #1: Task Force 2016
The PGA and other Ryder Cup muckety-mucks have named 11 members to the Task Force, which will examine all things Ryder Cup. Here’s a small sample of the task force chatter on Twitter.

Young Phil needs to stress at this task force how important it is to fly in to a Ryder Cup on your own private jet to build team spirit.

— Tweeter Alliss (@TweeterAlliss) October 14, 2014

Anyone else picturing the Euros sitting back smoking cigars, tipping a few pints and having a good laugh about this "task force"?

— Steve Flesch (@Steve_Flesch) October 14, 2014

What a massive pat on the back & confidence booster it is for Europe that team USA needs to create a Ryder Cup task force!!!

— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) October 14, 2014

Point…

Say what? Furyk, Phil and Tiger placed on panel to fix Ryder. They rank 1-2-3 in career US losses with 20, 19 and 17 defeats, respectively.

— Steve Elling (@EllingYelling) October 14, 2014

Counterpoint…

Lot of talk about how US RC task force made up of "losers", Tony Jacklin was member of 8 straight losing teams b4 captaining Europe to win

— Shosh Agus-Kleinman (@ShoshEAK) October 14, 2014

Hole #2: My Favorite Martin
Ben Martin got his first PGA TOUR victory Sunday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, due in no small part to draining a 46-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole on Summer. [Link]

Hole #3: Out with the Old
Greg McLaughlin has been tapped to succeed Mike Stevens, who is retiring as president of the Champions Tour effective Jan. 1. And…

Golden Slumbers! R&A Names Its New Chief Executive: For those hoping to have seen David Rickman replace Peter Dawson http://t.co/9lr3MwFR9f

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) October 15, 2014

Hole #4: Lost and Found

After nearly 100 years, the case of the missing Pebble Beach trophy (worth $75,000) is solved: http://t.co/4Ws5gqMfok pic.twitter.com/JRUGqEcXDV

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) October 17, 2014

Hole #5: Hushing Reed?
Mikko Ilonen eventually beat Henrik Stenson to win what might be the last Volvo World Match Play Championship, but earlier in the week Stenson and the other Ryder Cup players had some fun with Patrick Reed.

Shhhhhilarious! MT @IMGgolf: European Ryder Cup stars have fun with Patrick Reed pic.twitter.com/B5Gkb20KSm

— Kelly Tilghman (@KellyTilghmanGC) October 14, 2014

Hole #6: Well, There Is That

"The (Europeans) just played better." – Jack Nicklaus on the #RyderCup. Quotes of the Week: http://t.co/G0WbDaMgkp pic.twitter.com/9fofMkItX8

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) October 20, 2014

Hole #7: A Solid and Well Deserved Mashie

Did you hear about the guy who broke a golf club on a suspected church burglar? http://t.co/3RD8ukwK3R (via @AlexMyers3)

— Golf World (@GolfWorld) October 17, 2014

Hole #8: McIlroy to Miss Two Starts
Rory McIlroy will sit out the BMW Masters and WGC-HSBC Champions events in order to “prepare” for his lawsuit with Horizon Sports Management. Now he does understand that his lawyer will be doing the heavy lifting, right? [Link]

Hole #9: Elsewhere on Tour
Jay Haas won his third title at the Greater Hickory Kia Classic in North Carolina. Scott Hend won his first Euro Tour title at the Hong Kong Open in a playoff over Angelo Que. Kyu Jung Baek won the LPGA’s KEB-HanaBank Championship.