by Jeff Skinner

Chip Shots…

The Tiger watch has heated up in the last few days.  Reports have Tiger and Hank Haney working together at Isleworth and the speculation is that Woods will return sooner rather than later.  Tiger watcher and insider, John Hawkins thinks this is a sure sign Woods will play The Tavistock Cup then Bay Hill on his way to Augusta.

Ping Chairman and CEO John Solheim has once again shown the same class and dignity that made his father one of the most respected men in golf.  Solheim has agreed to waive his right to keep the Ping Eye 2 clubs from being banned from tour play.  The Pings created a firestorm of controversy when Phil Mickelson played them earlier this year.  Solheim made life easy for the PGA Tour and really took them off the hook.  He took the high road in allowing his clubs to be classified as illegal even though his company had won a lawsuit in 1990 to keep them legal forever.  Solheim didn’t want his clubs to be a distraction to the game of golf.

Some kids grow up and mature faster than others.  A 20 year old on the professional golf tours has no choice to grow up faster than most kids or he’ll be in trouble for sure.  Rory McIlroy showed he is wise beyond his youthful years when he sat down for lunch with Jack Nicklaus last week.  McIlroy wanted to “pick his brain” and glean any tip The Golden Bear could give him about closing the deal on a win.  Nicklaus told him what many parents preach to their eager children that want everything right away, patience.  “Learn to wait and bide your time and know that if you believe in yourself, that it will happen,” he said. “It will happen one of these days, so it’s just a matter of waiting and staying patient,” Nicklaus told him.  Pretty solid advice from a guy that knows what it takes to be the best.

Okay, so this is only remotely golf related but I have to vent about this one.  One of the funniest and most unique advertising campaigns is “The E-Trade Baby.”  You know the ad where the baby calls his buddy “Shankapotamus.” Well, in one of the most recent ads the kid looks to be having girl issues, yea, even at that age, and his female friend accuses him of two-timing her with “that milkaholic Lindsay.”  So in this world of narcissistic, self-important morons another one shows her colors.  Lindsay Lohan is suing E-Trade for $100 million for using her name without permission.  Are you kidding me?  Lohan actually thinks that was a reference to her?  Get real Lindsay. You’re not Elvis or Madonna.  Maybe if they called her “Skankapotamus” I might have made the connection.

It’s impossible not to be worn out by the John Daly saga.  I have run the whole gamut when it comes to John from cheering for him to dismissing him as an accident that is about to happen, to pulling for him during his many comebacks, especially during this most recent one.  But with the overkill by The Golf Channel promoting his show and his Twitter attack of a golf writer, I am just plain fed up with Daly.  I’m not the only one.  John Feinstein calls John out for his lack of effort on the golf course.  It seems Daly has been fined 21 times by the PGA Tour for “failing to give his best efforts on the golf course.”  Feinstein goes on to suggest that Daly could take a lesson from veteran Steve Flesch on how to do his job like a professional.