Volume Four Hundred Ten

Bishop fallout, flyer lies and landings, and what is happening to all the trees?

Hittin' the LinksIt was quite a week in golf. Ted Bishop used his new-found free time to go on an apology tour and got in a few snipes at Phil Mickelson in the process. Ian Poulter, for his part, just got on with the business of selling his autobiography. Meanwhile, Tom Watson offered up a few golf tips via his Twitter account.

One of golf’s most famous trees was lost. All of the major tours were active, most of them in Asia. The Fall equipment launches carried on with a surplus of hype. And His Airness pronounced judgment on the President’s game and put a youngster in his place.

Let’s hit the links.

Hole #1: On Tour
On the Champions Tour, Tom Pernice, Jr. won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Arizona beating Jay Haas on the fourth playoff hole, though Bernhard Langer had wrapped up the Charles Schwab Cup last week. Ryan Moore successfully defended his title by three strokes at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to claim his fourth PGA TOUR victory. A week after taking over the top ranking in women’s golf from Stacy Lewis, Inbee Park strengthened her claim by winning the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship with a two-shot win over a charging Lewis. Finally, in Shanghai, China, it was Frenchman Marcel Siem in a three-way playoff to take the BMW Masters on the European Tour (where they like to call every tournament “Masters”).

Hole #: Queen (er, Girlie-comment) Takes Bishop
If there’s one way to get the American golf world to stop obsessing over the Ryder Cup, it’s by giving them a social media controversy to obsess over. Was frustration over Mickelson’s comments at the Ryder Cup the reason Bishop lashed out at Poulter And what’s all this about “manufactured outrage“?

And more…

Hole #3: Trees
Trees have been struggling on golf courses the last several years. The emerald ash borer has wreaked havoc on ash trees in the midwest and an insecticide is blamed for the loss of hundreds of thousands of Norway Spruce, White Pines, and other varieties. But this year has been hard on some of golf’s most famous trees. First, an ice storm forced the removal of the Eisenhower Tree at Augusta early this year. Now the tree that framed the tee shot on Sawgrass TPC’s sixth hole will also disappear.

Hole #4: Fore!
When someone yells “fore!” on a golf course, it is usually good advice not to look toward the sound or up, lest you catch a Titleist in the face. But in this case, looking up probably would have been advisable.

Hole #5: Speaking of Flyers
Do you know how to recognize a flyer lie? Tom Watson can show you to read your lie and hit a shot appropriate to that lie.

Hole #6: Cars
Two golf stories with automotive bents:

Hole #7: Don’t Mess with Jordan
Michael Jordan made the news in the golf world twice last week. Once by putting a name to POTUS’ golf game, and once by winning a trash-tweeting match with Keegan Bradley in just a single retort.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2250226-michael-jordan-says-barack-obama-is-sh-y-at-golf

Hole #8: Most Interesting Golfer Has Very Interesting Hole
Miguel Angel Jimenez hit four balls in the water and made a 13 on the 9th hole (his last) at the BMW Masters on Sunday. No bueno. [Link]

Perhaps it had something to do with his new workout routine…

Hole #9: Multi-Discipline Trick Shots
Yet more trick shots mostly with at least a golf theme if not actually involving a golf ball. [Link]

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