FedEx Changes

The PGA Tour announced that there will be two-week break in the FedEx Cup playoff schedule, allowing players to take time off prior to the Ryder Cup. Commissioner Tim Finchem said that following the first three playoff tournaments, there will be break so players can rest for the Ryder Cup, which will be played in Louisville. The Tour Championship will be played the week after the Ryder Cup. Top players complained that this year’s schedule included too many tournaments in a row and several players, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and K.J. Choi, sat out at least one tournament.

Finchem also announced that there will be no change in the way FedEx points are distributed but did not rule out changes when the Tour Policy Board meets in February.

The Tour’s drug testing program will be phased into the PGA Tour, the Nationwide Tour and the Champions Tour over the next two years. Players will receive information about the program and will be required to attend a meeting in January to learn how it will be administered. Testing is due to begin on July 1 on the PGA Tour. Testing on the Nationwide Tour will begin late next year and on the Champions Tour in 2009.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Steve Spray.

Sam Woods Holds Club

Tiger Woods reports that his four-month-old daughter Sam has held a golf club for the first time. "She can grab things now and has held a golf club in her hands," he said. "I didn't start swinging a club until I was 11 months, so she's got seven months until that happens." One question: overlapping or interlocking grip?

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Betsy King.

Rules Changes

The USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club issued a number of amendments to the Rules of Golf. Under the changes, players will be allowed to lift a ball in a bunker or a water hazard for identification purposes. However, playing the wrong ball from a hazard or bunker will result in a two-stroke penalty. The rules bodies also reduced the penalty for the accidental deflection of a ball by a player, his partner or either of their caddies or equipment to one stroke in both stroke play and match play. The previous penalty was two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play. In the 2003 Masters, Jeff Maggert was leading the tournament when his shot from a fairway bunker on the third hole hit the lip and struck him in the chest. Maggert was assessed two strokes and make a triple bogey on the hole, losing the lead which he never regained. Visit the USGA web site at http://www.usga.org/ for more information.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Dan Sikes.