Womens Golf News and Aree Song

Michael Wilbon, the highly-respected Washington Post columnist, has stepped into the debate started last week by the former NFL player and African-American activist Jim Brown, who accused Tiger Woods of being “terrible” when it came to addressing social issues.

Wilbon is one of most thoughtful writers around and offers a terrific defence of Woods, whom he spoke to before writing the piece. Perhaps Tiger might care to steal a few lines and throw back at his critics when the occasion requires. I thought this was particularly powerful:

Just as important, Brown has to realize that the expression of social consciousness isn’t a matter of people singing the same song. Jim Brown took on the Crips and Bloods, and a lot of other demons. Tiger Woods attacks the problem as he sees fit, through education, which has always been at the root of Brown’s preaching anyway. And because men such as Brown and Earl Woods fought the toughest, bloodiest battles for decades, Tiger’s approach to activism ought to be different.

Plowing the exact same ground would suggest Brown and Earl Woods made no progress, which we know isn’t the case. We move on, probe for the newest ways to attack the old problems and new ones, too, using the most advanced methods we can find.

Meanwhile, Woods addressed the subject of Brown’s criticisms directly in his press conference at the AT&T National event in Washington:

TIGER WOODS: I think I do a pretty good job as it is what we’re trying to do with the Foundation. We have this event here, the Chevron World Challenge, our Jam in Vegas and our Block Party in Orange County, how many kids we’ve helped. What we’re trying to do not just here in United States, but what my mom’s doing in Thailand, all these different things that we’ve done.
And you know, I want to do it right and not just do it, but do it right. And that takes time, and you have to understand, you just don’t jump into something. You want to do it right. You want to have a plan, and I think what we’ve done so far has been very good, very efficient and it’s helped a lot of kids, and taught a lot of kids how to get back and learn, learn how to lead, learn how to give back. Learn how to teach others, have confidence in themselves to be able to do all these different things, and have these attributes going forward. That takes time. And I think we’ve done it right.

• US PGA Tour decides to accept groove changes for next year
• We’ve had plenty of time to make our adjustments, says Woods

The US PGA Tour will go along next year with a new rule that changes the grooves in irons and wedges, the tour’s commissioner Tim Finchem has announced.

The US Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club announced last year that from 1 January the dimensions in grooves – from the five-iron through to wedges – would change to create less spin when the ball was struck. The idea was to make shots out of the rough more difficult, putting a higher premium on driving accuracy.

Finchem was under increasing pressure from players and some equipment companies to postpone by one year the new rule, allowing for more research in what amounts to the first rollback in golf equipment since the second world war. However, after a discussion with the US PGA Tour policy board, Finchem decided to stay the course. “I think that we’re late in the process,” Finchem said. “I think there’s been a lot of reliance on the schedule by individuals, by equipment manufacturers, by other tours, by other golf organisations in taking steps to prepare for this schedule. We got a couple of requests to consider a delay and we challenged whether that was a problem. And we concluded that it was.”

Grooves previously were U-shaped with sharp edges, allowing high-skilled players to generate enormous spin. The USGA was concerned that players were able to spin the ball out of the rough, allowing for shots to stop more quickly on the green and felt that players no longer were penalised severely for missing the fairway.

“I think it’s great,” Tiger Woods said. “We’ve had plenty of time to make our adjustments. All the companies have been testing and getting ready for this, and the guys will make the changes.”

Woods said players are unlikely to be able to control the ball out of the rough with smaller grooves and it could change the way they attack par-fives or short par-fours that can be reached off the tee. It could mean a player “is obviously going to pay a little more of a price”.

Golf’s governing bodies announced in August last year that the grooves rule would take effect from 1 January for major championships and tour events around the world. However, each tour has a “condition of competition” clause that allows it to decide whether to follow USGA rules.

The USGA president, Jim Vernon, said two weeks ago that the US Open would follow whatever the US PGA Tour decided. Golf officials said recreational players could continue using irons that were manufactured through 2010 and the new rules would not apply to them until at least 2024. Also, the grooves rule would not apply for events such as the US Amateur until 2014.

Tiger Woods is hosting his own PGA Tour event in Washington DC this week and has made an interesting choice of partner for the pro-am

Those searching for clues about Tiger Woods’ thoughts on the world beyond the golf course will be interested to note that as the host of the AT&T National event he has chosen the Republican minority leader of the House John Boehner as one of his partners in today’s pro-am at Congressional Country Club. The Washington Times has the details.

Boehner is a seven-handicapper and was ranked 36th in Golf Digest’s Top 200 Washington political golf rankings. (No, I didn’t know such a thing existed either.)

What Digest failed to note is that Boehner is an old ally of the scarily right-wing Newt Gingrich and is a pro-business, anti-government “flat earther” who has had ties to the tobacco industry, oil companies and military contractors through the years.

As recently as last week, Tiger’s new golfing buddy had this to say about the Climate Change Bill as it passed through congress:

“Hey, people deserve to know what’s in this pile of shit.”

Hey, at least Boehner and Tiger have a pretty similar vocabulary.

Presumably, Woods’ first choice as partner was Barack Obama and presumably the President had other things on his mind. But why didn’t the world no1 then ask the American no2, vice-president Joe Biden? After all, Biden plays golf and has plenty of time on his hands.

Single day tickets for the 2009 Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest Farms are now available for purchase while supplies last at all Jewel-Osco locations and at www.SolheimCup.com. Weekly Grounds and PING Pavilion may still be purchased online only for $125 & $350 respectively.

On Monday, June 29th in Toledo, a “crowd” of thirty South Korean LPGA players paid a visit to the Ronald McDonald House of NW Ohio. The South Korean player base, which makes up about one-third of international players on Tour, had been searching for a U.S.-based community and charity that they could directly impact to show their support and gratitude for fans and sponsors here in the states.

LPGA Tour member Leah Wigger, of Kentucky, has formalized an endorsement relationship with Blessings in a Backpack - a program designed to feed children grades K-5 in Title 1 public schools.

With her tie for second at the Wegmans LPGA, Kristy McPherson earned 30 points and jumped from seventh to sixth place in the 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup Team points standings.