Questions abound at the Presidents Cup

There are many questions and great story lines for this years Presidents Cup.

Which captain style will work out better?
Laid back Fred Couples or more highly energized Greg Norman.

How will Adam Scott play?
He's had one of his worst years ever, he's been in the spotlight more for surfing and starlets, and was the most controversial selection on either team.


How will Ryo Ishikawa play?
At 18, he's the youngest to ever play in a Presidents Cup.


Will Michael Jordan help the U.S. team?
Jordan was named assistant captain, but so far has been getting more headlines for smoking too many cigars on the course.

Will Vijay look yippy with the putter?
How will the greens hold up after being damaged?
Will there be any controversial pairings or strategies?
Who will be the U.S. team ping pong champion?
Will Tiger smack Phil across the face with a ping pong paddle?
Will there be a blow out or will it come down to the singles matches Sunday?
How many players will Johnny Miller grill during the weekend?

AP Photo Credits
Norman and Couples - Jeff Chiu
Ryo Ishikawa - Eric Risberg
Adam Scott - Marcio Sanchez
Michael Jordan - Marcio Sanchez

Golf travel in South America

The 2016 Olympics are a long way off, but now that we know they will be held in Rio de Janeiro, it will be interesting to find out what course they'll be playing on.

Supposedly the top two courses in Rio are:

Gavea Golf and Country Club

Itanhanga Golf Club

As far as South America goes, the top golf destination is Argentina. Golf was introduced there around the turn of the century by the British. Not only are there several quality locations to play, there is the constant festivals, food, wine, and amazing night life. This amazingly diverse and often beautiful landscape features beaches and vast expanses of natural forests and mountains.

The top two golf locations in Argentina are The Jockey Club and San Andres Golf Club. The Jockey club features both the red and blue courses. Both courses opened in 1935 and were designed by Alistair Mackenzie, who designed many famous courses throughout his life.


The course requires a great deal of accuracy of the tee and features sculpted and contoured greens that challenge any golfer. Angel Cabrera, current Masters champion, won the Argentina Open in 2001 at the red course.


San Andres is the oldest club in Argentina, was founded in 1892, and was named in honor of St. Andrews, the home of golf.


The course was designed by one of the early pioneers in golf design, Mungo Park. The par 72 course is 6772 yards, short by modern day standards, but features a difficult test of golf. This course is where golf in Argentina began and is a must play for anyone traveling to the country.

With golf officially becoming an Olympic sport, South America has now been thrust into the limelight for the event. It will be interesting to see how much bigger the game grows and how many new golf travel destinations come available throughout the continent.

Around the golf world

Tiger Woods is the first billion dollar athlete. Wow! That was fast and he's only 33. It will be crazy to see how wealthy he will be when it's all said and done.


Former NFL great Jerry Rice is trying to turn pro and will be playing in a Nationwide event in 2010. I believe he won Dancing with Stars. Why not become a pro golfer as well?

36 holes away from 11.35 million

(AP Photo / Dave Martin)

Round Two Slideshow

Third round tee times

Sean O'Hair leads after Round 1 at Tour Championship

(AP Photo / Dave Martin)


Sean O'Hair shot 66 today to take a one stroke lead over Tiger, Padraig, and Cink. Obviously, with only 30 top players in the field, it will be a great tournament, but the early leaderboard is looking very intriguing heading into round two.

Full leaderboard

Round 1 Slideshow

Round 2 tee times

Mickelson seeks advice after snowman

Phil Mickelson had a tough time on the 14th hole today on his way to a three over par 73.

Drive.
Approach shot into bunker.
Bunker shot over green.
Pitch shot over green back into original bunker.
Bunker shot left in bunker.
Bunker shot on green.
Putt.
Putt.

All in all, it equals an 8, otherwise known as the dreaded Snowman. Devastating for any golfer, especially one playing for 11.35 million.

Fed Ex Point System Whacked Out

Although this year's point system has added a lot of drama and brought more players into the mix, it will surely be changed again.

Here is an excerpt from a Golf.com article explaining a few scenarios involving Tiger which really show the system is not quite right.


Tiger Woods was jolted at the start of the playoffs to learn he could win all three playoff events, finish second at the Tour Championship and still not win the FedEx Cup.

Wednesday brought another scenario that only made him smile.

Given his five victories before the playoffs began, and a system of cumulative points until the Tour Championship, Woods could have skipped all three playoff events and still been the No. 3 seed at East Lake.

Then, all he would have had to do is win the Tour Championship.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was asked if he was aware that Woods could have stayed home the last month.

``No, and I'm glad he didn't,'' Finchem said. ``Tiger is pretty adept at this. Tiger's view was his best chance of winning was to play them all, and make sure he was the No. 1 seed. I think the No. 1 seed has an advantage this week. Tiger usually plays to have an advantage.''

Woods is not likely to ever miss the Deutsche Bank Championship, which benefits his foundation. He has a long history with the Western Golf Association, which runs the BMW Championship at Cog Hill, where Woods has won five times.

Even so, the idea that having a big regular season allows him to miss a playoff event raises questions about whether he'll be at The Barclays next year.

Definitely needs to be fixed for next year.

The Tour Championship tee times and pairings

(AP Photo / Michael Dwyer)

Come Sunday, someone is going to be 10 million dollars richer. Sorry ladies, it's not going to be the author of this blog. Most likely, it will be the guy above.

At least there will be some drama as all 30 players have a mathematical chance to win, although, odds are someone in the top five will take it down.

Tee times and pairings

Fed Ex standings

Kerr to line up own shots - What a story!

In huge golf news, it's being reported that Kristie Kerr, the #5 LPGA player in the world, will now line up her own shots without the help of her caddy.

This is one of the most ridiculous aspects of golf anyway, and hopefully they make an official rule against allowing caddies to stand behind the player and help line them up.

These are world class players. Are they really not able to line themselves up? From 220 yards away, does a caddy say move 1 centimeter to your right and you will be perfect.

Nothing at all against Kerr and I'm glad she made this decision. Hopefully other players will follow her lead or this will be banned for good because it is absurd.

Nicklaus and Saunders at Q - School

Two very interesting names will attempt to make it to the PGA tour through Q - School this year.

Gary Nicklaus, the son of Jack, is now 40 years old and looking to make it back after losing his card in 2002. He has played in 100 tour events and has gone through Q - school several times.


Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, has decided to leave Clemson a year early and attempt to make the tour.


Pre-qualifying events begin September 22-25 at The Golf Club of Dallas.

Million dollar hole in one video

Utah golfer Jason Hargett drained a nine iron on this 150 yard hole to win a million bucks at the Mark Eaton Golf Classic.

Back on Top

Tiger put on a sick performance at the BMW Championship, reminiscent of his dominating 2000 season. He was accurate off the tee, his irons were all over the pins, and his putter finally got hot. This was the best he's played all year, and his performance may have answered some of the critics questioning whether or not the "old Tiger" will ever be back. Tiger won the tournament at 19 under par by eights shots which included a course record 62 on Saturday.

He's now regained the lead in the Fed Ex Cup playoffs which will conclude at The Tour Championship in Atlanta in two weeks.

Fed Ex Cup Standings

Photo credit (Nam Huh /AP)

The Tiger Woods of Basketball

Before Tiger, Michael Jordan was far and away the most spectacular and clutch athlete on the planet. In honor of him being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame tonight, here is a video of a few of his top dunks.

Happy Birthday Arnold!

(One of the coolest golf photos ever featuring Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan puffing away)

Arnold Palmer just turned 80 and is still promoting golf as much as ever. There have been a lot of articles written recently describing what a great influence he has been throughout the years.

Check out this Arnie section for a look back on his career highlights and stories.

Continue on with the club throwing theme

Top 100 teacher Charlie King presents how to throw your club.

Courtesy of Armchair Golf Blog.