This And That

Let's catch up on some stuff, shall we?

Emma Talley

Who Doesn't Like College Girls? - Those starved for televised golf or those that just like to ogle college chicks should check out Golf Channel's coverage of the Women's NCAA Championship from The Concession Club in Bradenton, FL.

Yesterday was the individual competition, won by Alabama's Emma Talley (winner of the 2013 U.S.

Women's Amateur), as well as qualifying eight teams for the team match play championship.  I very much enjoy the atmospherics (above and beyond the sweet young things), such as the girls carrying their bags and tending the pin for each other.

Back To County Down - An item that slipped my mind is that RCD has as much gorse on the property as any links I can remember.  Now gorse, technically Ulex, is really nasty stuff, prickly and imparts a noxious slime to anything that comes in contact with it.  If your golf ball ends up within a gorse bush, you may let your caddie take a shot at retrieval (though that should affect the gratuity), it takes only one experience to learn to leave it be.

Now, gorse has only two redeeming features:

1. The planting and spread off gorse, and the resulting fire hazard (it's highly flammable, who knew?) led to the building of Bandon Dunes;
2. The gorse bushes bloom with yellow flowers, typically in May.

Shack brings us news that the gorse is, in fact, in bloom....so the place will look stunning.  here's an example from Kevin Markham:

It's quite a place...

Fox Shanks - No, we've moved on from their dreadfull coverage of the USGA Fourball events, but it turns out that the President of Fox Sports goes by the name of Eric Shanks and, well, you can't make this stuff up, folks...  

We had recently noted their obvious interest in bidding on the Open Championship package currently out for bid, which seems consistent with this comment:

Eric Shanks

“It wasn’t necessarily the start of a large golf strategy but we are big believers in broadcasting big event sports on broadcast TV,” Shanks said. “This is a big event that captures the attention for at least a week if not more. It’s a major sports championship where you get to crown a champion at the end of it, and that was the appeal. It fits well with our big-event strategy. It’s not about us getting us into 23 weeks of golf.”

Last time I inquired, you don't get to braodcast the Super Bowl without "getting into" sixteen  weeks of regular season games...  But of greater importance, when do you get around to figuring out how to do the job?

 Men At Work - Shack links us to some photos of the new 17th green at Pebble, including this promising one:

What I like is that the contours provide some depth perception, sorely missing previously.  Oh, that and the fact that there might actually be enough room to set a golf ball down...  Now, any news on the 14th green?

Bigfoot?  Nessie? - There is news about a similarly mythical creature, implying an actual public appearance:

Anthony Kim's mysterious disappearance from pro golf continues, but it appears he'll

pay for play at some point in the near future. Sort of 

According to NewsOK, a round with Kim was auctioned off at the 12th annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic. There aren't any details on when the round will take place, but someone paid $24,500 to play with the three-time PGA Tour winner. Of course, that money will go to Keith's charity.

Kim, who hasn't played in a tour event in more than three years and who is reported to be sitting on an eight-figure disability settlement, was spotted at a Las Vegas nightclub in April. He turns 30 next month.

He always did like to party, and eight-figures will fund a lot of those...

First World Problems - Brandt Snedeker attempted to start some playful fun with Billy Horschel at the U.S. Open, but business got in the way:

Brandt Snedeker 

✔@BrandtSnedeker

@BillyHo_Golf @@usopengolf U Scared??

 Follow

Billy Horschel 

✔@BillyHo_Golf

@BrandtSnedeker @usopengolf.... Never! Just not able to do that week. Clothes have been picked for 6 months now.

11:22 AM - 24 May 2015

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 Yanno, scripted clothing and all...

He Gets A Pass - If you follow my advice and check out the Irish Open, you may notice Rory in some non-conforming footwear:

Sunday's shoe.

By now we all expect Rory McIlroy to add a bit of flavor to his outfits, whether it's by wearing a loud belt, blocks of color or bold patterns. But he generally stays away from making fashion statements with his shoes—until now.

At the Irish Open this week McIlroy will wear four colorful, eye-catching Nike Lunar Control 3 shoes that were each designed by a kid whose life has been impacted by cancer. McIlroy, the Rory Foundation and Nike worked together with the Cancer Fund for Children, a charity in Northern Ireland that provides support to kids whose lives have been affected by cancer, to raise awareness through these NIKEiD designs.

I'm anxious to see what he thinks matches that Sunday show, but it's a nice gesture by the young man.