The PGA Tour is just oozing with class this year, isn’t it? Take a gander at how Rory Sabbatini’s wife, Amy, responded to a heckler in his facebook gallery.

[Via gospeedracer.com]

Tiger stood up there with a 10-page pre-written speech and apologized to the universe for his infidelities. Was this necessary? I don’t think so.

First, in my opinion, Tiger doesn’t owe anything to anyone in this world, except his family. His indiscretions, vulgarities, or whatever he decides to do in his personal life, have nothing to do with his abilities as a golfer.

If you are one of those people that think he was a role model, or should be viewed as one, you’re stupid. He never claimed to be. You assumed it because he’s good at a game that has been associated with gentlemen (also ridiculous).

And don’t even give me that crap about golf giving Tiger everything. Make no mistake, TIGER gave golf everything! More than half of golf’s excitement in the past 10 years has come from Tiger. And if you think he owes his sponsors for “all of the money that he’s made,” you’re stupid.

Tiger has made THEM insane amounts of money through exposure and branding. And those sponsors pay him to increase their business, nothing more. Then they hypocritically drop him, claiming that’s not the image they want to portray. Way to turn your back on a guy whose success you’ve ridden for the past decade. A guy that you’ve touted as your money-making puppet.

Anyway, back to the apology speech. Needless to say, it was just more of a confirmation that Tiger really is a robot. It would have been so much smarter if he went outside the words of the speech a little bit.

Or if he didn’t look directly into the camera to make important points. All that did was make it looked coached and fake. Then again, he didn’t owe that apology to anyone other than his wife and kids.

But it was obvious that he knew that. Maybe, it was a necessary rouse for the crazed media and naive public. Either way, I would have liked to see some honesty. But it doesn’t make me appreciate Tiger any less. I’ve always thought of him as the King of Golf.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Great article by Matt from The 20th Hole Golf Blog:

Throughout my time working on this blog, I’ve tried to be as positive as possible about golf and everything golf related.

However, after attempting to watch the Golf Channel’s coverage of the AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am today, I have to say that it 100% sucked. It was awful. Terrible. Atrocious.

First of all, they would show one or two golf shots, show some guy walking his dog on the beach, cut to commercial, show one or two shots, show kids making sand castles, cut to commercial. Same thing over and over.

I get it. Pebble Beach is the most scenic golf course in the world but how about maybe showing some actual golf.

Second, how about showing the professionals. For some reason, they did not show any shots by first round leader Dustin Johnson or any of the other leaders with the exception of David Duval. They only had cameras on Pebble Beach apparently. No shots by Phil Mickelson or any of the other leaders that everyone actually wants to see.

Instead, who do they show? Chris Berman, one of the worst golfers ever, as well as one of the worst golf commentators ever, taking pathetic swings, chunking shots, and taking five shots to get out of the bunker. Berman then acts as if he is mad at his poor shots. Ridiculous display. They also enjoyed showing Pederman from Seinfeld more than any professionals.

Even funnier is when Jim Gray interviewed Berman after the round. He asked Berman if playing Pebble Beach would help him when he does the ESPN coverage at the U.S. Open in June. Uh, no Jim, he shot 175 today. He can offer no insight whatsoever as to the strategies the players will use. One thing is for sure, if Berman does the coverage, I will have my mute button on the entire time.

Read about others not amused by Berman here and here. After one minute of browsing, I’ve found there are many Berman haters out there but that is besides the point for now.

Why is the golf channel showing terrible celebrities play rather than the professionals? It makes absolutely no sense.

(We tried finding an angry picture of Lefty for this article, but the guy is permanently smiling. So we had to make do.)

Maybe you’ve seen or heard about some of the latest groove controversy. It all started with a small rule change that seemed to be just another “nit picky” implementation by the USGA. Now it’s developed into a major feud between players and USGA officials, led by Phil Mickelson on the players side.

When we first started hearing about the groove rule controversy, we assumed that it was just another pro athlete “prima donna” case. We thought that maybe the top 150 golfers in the world shouldn’t be complaining about a simple equipment change, but we were wrong. It’s really quite a cluster.

We run a spy golf news and reviews site, and we still don’t fully understand what’s going on. But we do know that when pros are going on Ebay to buy wedges from the 1980′s that are exceptions to the rule, things are screwed up. What you have is basically a ridiculous specification change that is really effecting how golfers play the game, and it’s completely unfair. Mickelson being one of the best players in the world, arguably has the most reason to be pissed. He essentially built his career around the 64 degree lob wedge, and is now being told that he cannot physically use it. According to Nick Faldo, it is now “impossible” to use a 64 degree wedge. The new groove rules have made such a drastic change that the ball literally slides up the face of the club, and can cause a variance in distances up to 20 feet when chipping. On top of that, the bafoons at the USGA have decided that a specific Ping Eye 2 Wedge from the 1980′s, which has the old square grooves, is acceptable becuase it’s grandfathered in yada yada yada.

“I agree that the rule, it’s a terrible rule,” Mickelson said. “To change to something that has this kind of loophole is nuts. But it’s not up to me or any other player to interpret what the interpretation of the rule is or the spirit of the rule. I understand black and white. And I think that myself or any other player is allowed to play those clubs because they’re approved. End of story.”

So Mickelson adheres to the nonsense and puts a Ping Eye 2 wedge in his bag, only then to be called a “cheater” by Scott McCarron.

According to the golf channel: “After testing an array of scenarios (U groves, V-like grooves, and no grooves) with players of all levels, the USGA, jointly with the R&A, determined that the V-like grooves are the best way to add the question back into the game.”

Well they certainly have added question to the game. We are questioning if they have any common sense. Probably very little, if any. Anyway, we wish Phil luck in his battles with the USGA.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Champions Tour player Jim Thorpe has been sentenced to a year in prison for failing to pay more than $2 million in income taxes.

Thorpe’s attorney, Mark Horwitz, said Friday that Thorpe must turn himself in to authorities by April 1. The 60-year-old player also was sentenced to two years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. He must try to repay the taxes while he’s on supervised release.

In September, Thorpe pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to pay income taxes and faced up to two years in prison.

Horwitz said Thorpe “has accepted his punishment and will be getting on with his life.”

Thorpe has 13 Champions Tour victories after winning three times on the PGA Tour.

“While it is unfortunate and regrettable that this is the final resolution, Jim has taken responsibility for his actions and has expressed his remorse,” the PGA Tour said in a statement.

The following is a detailed story about what really happened with Tiger, Elin, the mistress’, and how it all developed up until now. This information was received through a prominent golf resource, and it all seems to make sense – but we are not absolutely sure about it’s complete accuracy. So read at your own risk.

“As you all know Tiger’s agent is Mark Steinberg. I have a Member who lives 10 houses down from Tiger in Isleworth. My Member plays golf with and is a good friend of an IMG insider who got the following information directly from Steinberg and related it to me. I was told that the following is up to date as of yesterday.

On Thanksgiving Day, after he and Elin and the family had Turkey Dinner, Tiger spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching football and texting Rachel. After he received and sent text message back and forth to Rachel, he would clear his message box to destroy the evidence. At some point during the afternoon texting session, one of Tiger’s Orlando buds called him to see if he wanted to get together at the Clubhouse to play poker with the guys. Tiger agreed and left the house around 7:30 to go play poker. He left behind his cell phone….and one message he had forgot to delete from Rachel.

When Tiger returned home around 11:30 -12 that night, Elin confronted him about the text message she had found on his phone. A heated discussion ensued. According to what I was told, there was more “incriminating evidence” than just the text message (i.e. photos). Tiger told Elin that she was reading too much in to it, and that she did not know the whole story. Tiger went upstairs to change into his gym shorts and t-shirt, came back downstairs were Elin confronted him, again. Tiger gave her the same story as before and sat down in a chair in the living room.

Elin sat across from him. She urged Tiger to just come clean. Tiger stuck to his story and denied everything. At one point Tiger turned away to look at the TV, and as he turned back, Elin, enraged, hit him on the right side of the face with the head of a 9 – iron. When she struck Tiger, she put a huge gash in the right side of his face next to his nose (causing his nose to bruise some), virtually knocked out two of his upper teeth, and broke the bone on the upper right side.

Tiger, scared as hell, ran down the hallway, out of the house to the garage (explaining why he had on no shoes) followed by Elin swinging the golf club. Tiger hopped into the Escalade and tried to leave. As we know Elin knocked out the windows in the Escalade in the process as well as doing considerable damage in the hallway.

When Tiger crashed, Elin panicked and was not sure what to tell the police (which is why there are two conflicting stories from her). When this happened, Elin immediately called Mark Steinberg to tell him what happened, and Mark told Elin to tell him what hospital they were going to, and he would meet them there.

If you remember FHP kept showing up at Isleworth to talk to Tiger, and was told by another FL attorney, hired by Tiger for PR reasons, that Tiger was not ready to talk. This is why.

As amazing as it may seem, Tiger was in Phoenix. Tiger was originally transported to the hospital in Orlando with Elin in the ambulance where they were met by Mr. Steinberg. Tiger was taken in for X-Rays, etc. to assess the damage. The doctors told Steinberg there was not much they could do to repair the teeth and the gash, but did know a cosmetic dentist and plastic surgeon in Phoenix who could make Tiger look as if nothing happened. Tiger told Steinberg to get the jet ready and he and Steinberg flew to Phoenix to see the surgeon. The resulting procedures were more intense than what everyone had expected which meant Tiger was in PHX longer than expected. Tiger and Steinberg did not arrive back in Orlando until either late last Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Since arriving back in Orlando, Tiger and Elin have been in intense marriage counseling sessions (up to 6 to 7 hours a day) every day! Both Tiger and Elin have told the counselors they love each other, and want to make the marriage work. The reports you are reading on TMZ and RadarOnline are about 30% accurate at best according to Mark.

Tiger has not returned to his house at Isleworth since the day of the accident except for the therapy sessions. IMG has enlisted the assistance of one of its most recognized sports figures, and Tiger has taken up residence in his neighborhood – Bay Hill. Because of the high regard in which Tiger holds him and based on his public persona when he was at the height of his game, the person IMG contacted was Arnold Palmer. He has agreed to intervene with Tiger. IMG is convinced that if anyone can get through to Tiger, Mr. Palmer may be the only person who can.

As to other rumors, my source claims that the moving trucks being shown on TMZ and RadarOnline are moving out pictures and furniture which was damaged during their Thanksgiving Day argument – not because of Elin moving out. Yes, Elin has retained a divorce attorney, but has not filed any papers. As of yesterday, she had no intention on doing so.

Tiger has not made any public appearances or statements due to the surgery and plastic surgery he had in PHX. It will be about another month if not more before he gets in front of a camera. Yes, Tiger is hitting golf balls late at night at Bay Hill out of their teaching center (which is equipped with lights). In regards to Tiger’s boat being in Palm Beach this week, along with Rachel; that part is true. However, Tiger is not on the boat, is not in Palm Beach, and Rachel is not on the boat. Her parents live 6 blocks from where the boat is, but that is it.

That is as up to date as I have……..”

According to Butch Harmon, Tiger’s ex-swing coach, we could see Tiger return to the game of golf as early as March. Harmon thinks that by at least April we should have some Tiger sightings leading up to the Masters, which Harmon says Tiger will definitely play. Pretty interesting to hear that an ex-coach has so much information on a player that he’s not in contact with anymore. Then again, maybe that’s part of the reason the relationship never worked out in the first place.

“Those who say he won’t play again are crazy,” Harmon said in an interview with Sky Sports on Friday.

“People who say he probably won’t play this year, I don’t really believe that (either). If you want to put a timetable on it, I’d say you may see him in Florida before the U.S. Masters (in April).”

Apparently Monty is at it again with the ridiculous comments. Recently on a BBC radio show he was claiming that some of Tiger’s “mystique” would be lost if he did return to the game of golf. Is there anyone on the planet that would think Monty is anything but insane for saying this, let alone agree? I think not. If anything, all of the new found Tiger scandal will increase the mystique and hype surrounding the 1 in a 100 year athlete. Were not talking about presidential approval ratings here, just public interest. And you can bet that everyone in the world will be watching the god of golf when he does return. Whether or not people will continue to look at him as a personal role model is another thing; however, in my opinion, those people are just as ridiculous as Monty.

“Europe’s Ryder Cup captain told BBC Radio on Sunday that he had no doubt Woods would come back and add to his 14 majors, but said his mystique had now gone.” London (AP)

On New Year’s Day, it seems appropriate to look toward the future. Rickie Fowler, a former All-American at Oklahoma State who won the Hogan Award as a freshman, earned his 2010 PGA Tour card by finishing T15 at Q school. His powerful, fearless game almost won earned him a two-year exemption when nearly won the FRYS.com Open, a Fall Series event played in Scottsdale, Arizona.

DRIVER: Titleist 909D2 (7.5°) with a Diamana White Board 73 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: King Cobra S9-1 Pro (15°) with a Fujikura ZCom Pro 95 shaft
HYBRIDS: Titleist 585H (17°) with UST Proforce V2 100X shaft, Adams Pro Black (20°) with a Matrix Ozik XCON
IRONS: Titleist Forged MB (4-9) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (47°, 53°) Spin Milled (59°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
PUTTER: Scotty Cameron for Titleist Newport prototype
BALL: Titleist’s Pro V1x

[Via golf.com]

Here is a complete list of the clubs that he used to win at Warwick Hills:

• Driver: Nike SQ Dymo (10°) with a Mitsubishi Diamana White Board 83x shaft
• Fairway woods: Nike SasQuatch Sumo (15°, 19°) with Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 103g shafts
• Irons: Nike Forged Blades (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
• Wedges: Nike Victory Red (56°), SV (60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
• Putter: Titleist by Scotty Cameron Newport 2
• Ball: Nike One Tour

“After being banned from the tour for six months, John Daly waits to make a shot during a qualifying round in Germantown, Tenn., for the U.S. Open on Monday, June 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Lance Murphey)”

He weighed in at 218 pounds and shot 1 over for 36 holes to miss 1 of the 13 available qualifying spots. Not bad though, considering the overall progress. (weight + score + playing in the US + not taking a mug shot = improvement)

P.S. As you can see from our Spy Chick of the Month postings, we at spygolfer.com love pictures. And we just can’t seem to get enough of them when it comes to big John. Each one is its own piece of golf art, and we look forward to many more.

Most people that have an interest in golf are aware of Tiger’s awesome close out performance last week at The Memorial. He shot a final round of 69 which included a narley chip in on the par 5 11th, and resulted in an overall score of 12 under 276. This was enough to propel him to the winers circle, beating out Jim Furyk by only one shot.

After the win, Jack Nicklaus made the comments ”it may be his best driving tournament.” Then to Tiger, ”you found your swing.” If anything, these quotations were understated. On Sunday Woods hit 14 of 14 fairways and has never looked better of the tee! Another interesting fact is that before the tournament, Tiger changed his driver to a 10.5 degree. Doesn’t seem to have a sensical correlation to his accuracy improvement, but it’s definitely a change that should be noted. Either way, his final round performance completely silences the ideas that he should drop the Nike driver for something else. If he can keep this 10.5 degree Nike driver in the fairway, there’s no doubting that he will be unstoppable.

Driver: Titleist 909D2 (8.5°) with Mitsubishi Diamana Blue Board 73 shaft

Fairway woods:  Titleist 909F2 (13.5°) with Mitsubishi Diamana White Board 73 and (18.5°) with Fujikura ZCOM Pro95 shaft

Hybrid: Titleist 909H (21°) with Fujikura Speeder 904HB shaft

Irons: Titleist AP2 (4-9) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design (48°), Vokey prototype (54°), Vokey 60 V (60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts

Putter: SeeMore FGP

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x