golf

Tiger Woods once marched onto the practice range, found his favorite spot and told an unsuspecting rookie to take a hike. Phil Mickelson once asked a marshal to move out of his line of vision, but he neglected to say, "Please."

Wait, shouldn't these players incur a penalty for their grievous sins?

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Fifty-nine has long been the gold-standard score on the PGA Tour, with just three 59s carded since Jimmy Carter was president.

Until this year, that is.

Does anybody seriously think Tiger Woods won't be or shouldn't be on the American Ryder Cup team this fall?

I'm imagining Europeans offering their opinions.

"No way, laddie, the chap's a duffer."

"Zee Tiger? Non, non! He has lost heez game."

"Yah, shore. Keep him oot."

They wish.

According to the Rules of Golf, going strictly by the letter of the law, the folks officiating the PGA Championship made the right call at the end of Sunday's final round at Whistling Straits.

Dustin Johnson grounded his club in a hazard. A two-stroke penalty was assessed. The playoff, eventually won by German Martin Kaymer, went on without him.

HAVEN, Wis. - They stood high above their masterpiece, taking in a view resembling a watercolor.

Lake Michigan rippled in the distance. The 18th fairway glowed in the fading sunlight. The green, in the bowl of a valley, skulked menacingly in the shade. Every human on the course converged to watch the final playoff hole of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

HAVEN, Wis. - After a wild day of terrific theater and swaying emotions on the rugged stretch of landscape known as Whistling Straits, many of the principal figures in the 92nd PGA Championship did not come out looking good.

Not the stewards of golf.

Not Dustin Johnson.

And not course designer Pete Dye's funky creation alongside Lake Michigan.

HAVEN, Wisc. - One of the early contenders here at the PGA Championship doesn't know who designed Whistling Straits, never has taken a golf lesson, skipped a practice round before his only tour title to take his wife and caddie to a water park, and admits he can hit just about any golf shot except one that flies straight.

HAVEN, Wisc. - One year ago this week, an unheralded golfer from South Korea exposed the inaugural chink in Tiger Woods' armor. Y.E. Yang chased down Woods in the final round of the PGA Championship outside Minneapolis, handing him his first loss in a major when he held the 54-hole lead.

Just imagine if that was Woods' biggest problem these days.

My original thought, after seeing last week's RadarOnline.com report that Tiger Woods will get the Jupiter Island estate as part of his divorce settlement, was to write a tongue-in-cheek column about how much fun it will be to have the world's No. 1-ranked golfer as our neighbor here on Florida's Treasure Coast.

You know ...

Back in May 2006, when shooting 59 on the PGA Tour seemed preposterous, Arron Oberholser walked onto the 18th green at Cottonwood Valley in Irving, Texas, needing to make one 15-foot putt to reach golf's magic number. He already was nervous, and then he spotted a congregation of media members crowding the back of the green, suddenly interested in him.