Masters Clothes

Jack Nicklaus is color blind so his wife Barbara often picked out the clothes he wore on the golf course. Now, major equipment companies are doing the same thing. Sports Illustrated’s special Masters preview issue includes a story that shows the outfits that Tiger Woods (Nike) and Sergio Garcia (Adidas) will wear all four days of the tournament. Tiger, naturally, will be wearing red on Sunday. If he makes the cut, Garcia will be dressed in black and tan after wearing orange, lime green and dark red. At least the Spaniard is not scheduled to wear that Tweety Bird yellow outfit or the baby puke green number he showed up in at the British Open. Apparently the equipment/clothing companies see huge jumps in sales following tournaments as wannabes go out and buy the exact clothes the pros wear. Not surprisingly, Tiger’s outfits for all four days of the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship were “scripted” a year ago. (I guess the weather at the British Open is too unpredictable.) That is done to make supplies are manufactured and shipped to retail outlets in advance of the tournament. Good ol’ Nike also scripts Paul Casey, K.J. Choi, Stewart Cink, Trevor Immelman, Justin Leonard, Grace Park and Michelle Wie. Adidas scripts Garcia, Sean O’Hair and Justin Rose. My only question is whether or not Tabasco scripts Kenny Perry and Woody Austin.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Doug Sanders.

ESPN Benches Berman for Masters

Good news for golf fans on several fronts. First, ESPN will televise the Wednesday par-three contest. That will mark the first time that the traditional pre-tournament event has been shown on TV. It should be entertaining. Note the historical fact that no winner of the par-three contest has ever won the Masters in the same year.

Speaking of ESPN, the all-sports network will broadcast the Masters on Thursday and Friday. The good news is that fans will not have to listen to the biggest blowhard on television, Chris “Boomer” Berman and his stupid nicknames at Augusta. Masters officials apparently were appalled at the thought of Berman bellowing, “Back-back-back-back” on Tiger Woods drive. The ESPN coverage will be led by the capable Mike Tirico.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Richard Crawford.

Wie Finds a Boy; Bubba Punks Elk

It’s just too good not to comment. Reports, that is, about Michelle Wie dating Stanford basketball player Robin Lopez, all seven-feet of him. It’s unclear how long the two have been an item but perhaps that explains why the Cardinal lost their NCAA game to Texas last week. Lopez and his twin brother reportedly are headed for the NBA.

Bubba Watson called out veteran Steve Elkington during Friday’s round in New Orleans for walking while he was hitting an approach shot on the 10th hole. “Are you going to stop walking, man?” Watson asked Elk. “Damn. You did it all day yesterday, (expletive). I tell you what, man, veterans can kiss my (expletive).” Golf Channel microphones picked up the comments. Watson and Elkington apparently had a further discussion in the scorer’s tent after the round. Mr. Fairway’s take: Go get him, Bubba. Nothing is more irritating than playing partners who move when you are hitting a shot or worse, trying to putt.

Finally, Tiger is having trouble with clicking cameras again. The PGA Tour has very specific rules for credentialed photographers who are allowed to take pictures during play. If any player, not just Tiger, has a problem then it’s up to tour officials to enforce the rules. If that means limiting access, so be it.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Jane Geddes.

Daly DQ'd From Palmer Invitational

John Daly was disqualified from this week's Arnold Palmer invitational after he missed his tee time for the Wednesday pro-am. Under PGA Tour rules, a player who misses the pro-am is automatically disqualified from the tournament unless he is ill or has extenuating circumstances. Daly's DQ also effectively disqualified two other players, Ryuji Imada and Nick O'Hern, who were the first alternates for the pro-am. Neither were at the golf course when Daly failed to show so they also were knocked out of the tournament. Hardly seems fair that they have to pay for Daly's mistake. It will be interesting to see how many more tournament sponsors will be willing to take a chance on Daly given recent events.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Kel Nagle.

Harmon Dumps Daly

At the same time that Butch Harmon announced he is fed up with John Daly’s antics, the pro from Hooters career on the PGA Tour may be headed to a crashing end. Less than a week after Daly celebrated missing yet another cut at the Pods Championship by hanging out in the Hooters beer tent on Saturday, Harmon informed him that he will no longer offer him swing advice. "My whole goal for him was he's got to show me golf is the most important thing in his life," Harmon told The Associated Press from his golf school in Las Vegas. "And the most important thing in his life is getting drunk." In case you missed it, Daly spent part of rain delay at the Pods in a Hooters hospitality tent and then emerged with Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John Gruden as his caddie. After shooting 77-80 to miss the cut, Daly returned to the tent on Saturday drinking with fans and signing autographs. The Tampa Tribune ran a series of photos, including one of Daly signing the back of a woman’s jeans. Real display of professional behavior, John. Daly, who has lost his tour status, is playing on sponsors exemptions. I’ll bet Arnold Palmer regrets handing him one this week. Daly appears to be setting new levels of self-destructive behavior and the sponsors, who still think he draws fans, are now enablers for the drunken clown prince of the PGA Tour.

Hitting range balls while wonder whatever happened to Jerry Heard.

Isenhour Tripped By Hawk

Nationwide Tour pro Tripp Isenhour's recent “birdie” has landed him in trouble with the Humane Society and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Isenhour killed a protected red-shouldered hawk during the filming of a TV show when he knocked it out of tree during the filming of a TV show. He has been charge with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird, misdemeanors that could result in 14 months in jail and $1,500 in fines. Isenhour apparently was annoyed that the hawk was make noise during shooting for a TV program in December at the Grand Cypress golf Club. He started hitting balls at the squawking hawk from 300 yards away. When the bird moved with 75 yards of the film crew and started squawking again, Isenhour stated hitting balls at it again and knocked it out of the tree, falling to the ground bleeding from its nostrils. Isenhour apologized Thursday, apparently after the Humane Society contacted the PGA Tour and demanded his be punished. "As soon as this happened, I was mortified and extremely upset and continue to be upset,'' Isenhour said in a statement issued through his management company, SFX Golf. "I want to let everyone know there was neither any malice nor deliberate intent whatsoever to hit or harm the hawk. I was trying to simply scare it into flying away.'' No one in the film crew stopped Isenhour.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Jack Rule.

Els Finally Wins

Ernie Els finally won another golf tournament. Els fired a final round 67 Sunday to win the Honda Classic by one stroke over Luke Donald for his first PGA Tour victory since his win at the Memorial in 2004. Earlier this year, he blew a four stroke lead over Tiger Woods in the final round in Dubai. Last year, Boo Weekley chipped in twice in the final three holes at Hilton Head to beat Els. Australian Matt Jones was one shot off the lead until he hit his tee shot on the par three 17th into the water and missed his put for bogey. He finished in a tie for fourth with Mark Calcavecchia who was tied for the lead until he made a double on the par three 15th hole.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Al Besselink.