The gate at Pebble Beach Golf Links

By John Craig 

I know it’s taboo on a golf course to break out the cell phone and start yakking away.  I frown on it, that’s for sure.  But heck, I was by myself on Pebble Beach, and I wanted to share the experience with someone who might appreciate it, and who I knew would answer the phone. On the 12th tee, I called my parents. 

My mother answered and even though she’s not a golfer, she was glad for me and understood the significance of the place and that the U.S. Open is being held there and that her son was playing the course. She then told me dad was taking a nap. Oh well.  That was one of two or three times when I was able to just look around and drink in the fact that I was playing Pebble Beach Golf Links for a moment. 

The second was on the 15th when I rolled in a 42-foot putt. But I’m getting ahead of myself.   

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John Craig hosts Capitalareagolf.com Radio, Fridays at 5pm on WOFX, 980AM

Capitalareagolf.com, your source for local golf coverage, brings you 18-holes in one hour every week on the air.

We are “teeing up” a radio show on Fox Sports 980AM, WOFX, which debuts this Friday, June 11, and runs weekly from 5pm-6pm. Capitalareagolf.com Radio gets you “game ready” – whether you are playing, watching or just headed to the range to hit a bucket.

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Notah Begay III at Turning Stone Resort

A dozen of the world’s best golfers – men and women – will triple the size of the annual Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge. The third annual event at Turning Stone Resort will feature a 12-player field at the Atunyote Golf Club on August 31.

Men: Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Hunter Mahan, Vijay Singh, Rickie Fowler and Begay. Women: recent LPGA retirees Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa, plus Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel and Anna Rawson. Begay and Villegas return from last year’s Skins Game that also included Tiger Woods and Mike Weir and raised $1.2 million.

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Berliner, Grissom, DeJohn qualify. Donovan and Jaycox alternates at Olde Kinderhook Golf Club

VALATIE – Scott Berliner, an assistant pro at Shaker Ridge Country Club, admitted he was “very nervous” on the first hole Tuesday as he pulled out his 3W and smacked his tee shot at 9:30AM. By 3:30PM, when most of the scores had been posted at Olde Kinderhook Golf Club, he had a big grin on his face as he held the medal signifying low round of the U.S. Open Qualifier.

“Every kid dreams of winning the U.S. Open and now I’m one step closer to actually competing in a U.S. Open, which is the ultimate goal,” said Berliner. “It’s something I try to focus on.”

(click on picture to view slideshow)

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By Benita Zahn
WNYT Anchor/Reporter
 
ORLANDO, FL – I can’t help but think that Tiger Woods, if he’s really serious about changing his ‘tude on the links, needs to play one of the courses at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Disney is known as “the happiest place on Earth” and that truly extends from tee to green.

I know. I just played three of its courses over five days.

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Ponte Vedra Beach, FL – Good morning, and thank you for joining me. Many of you in this room are my friends. Many of you in this room know me. Many of you have cheered for me, or you worked with me, or you supported me. Now, every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.

I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish.

People want to know how I could have done these things to my wife Elin and to my children. And while I have always tried to be a private person, there are some things I want to say. Elin and I have started the process of discussing the damage caused by my behavior. As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words. It will come from my behavior over time. We have a lot to discuss.

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By Chris Onorato

ALBANY – The biggest name dominating the sport of golf in the Capital Area, or anywhere else for that matter, is still Tiger Woods.

Nearly a month after Woods’ first public statement, Joe Steranka, the PGA of America’s CEO, was in Albany for a meeting regarding the Economy of Golf in New York State. We asked him about the world’s number one player. Specifically, about Woods’ words since the car accident the Friday after Thanksgiving which uncovered some dirty details of his personal life and about when Steranka thought Woods might return to the game.

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By Chris Onorato

ALBANY – Given the fiscal crisis facing New York’s budget, there’s cause for concern that the game of golf could be indirectly affected by cutbacks. So says Joe Steranka, World Golf Foundation Chairman and PGA of America CEO. He spoke in Albany with the New York State Turfgrass Association on Wednesday.

“It’s about priorities,” Steranka says. “We’re all having to reset the cost of doing our business. It’s important for the members of the New York State Legislature to realize golf is a very efficient economic model.”

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Editor’s note: This is the second of three stories on the USGA Museum in Far Hills, NJ. 

FAR HILLS, NJ –  On a random day, you can find a meeting of a state golf association, an average golfer and his wife from California who made a side trip, and even members of the “Red Hat Society” walking the halls of the USGA Museum.

“Our trip started out real small and it just grew and grew and grew,” said Clara Farris, who is not a golfer. “He took me golfing one time and I did divots all over the golf course and said ‘that’s it.’”

 Clara and husband Jack of Fullerton, CA were planning their first-ever trip to New York City and it expanded – to Philadelphia, Lancaster, Gettysburg and the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Jack was in the Air Force.  Since Jack pays his dues to the USGA each year, he suggested they make a trip to the new Museum and they spent the day.

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Editor’s note: The following is the first of three stories on the USGA Museum in Far Hills, NJ.
FAR HILLS, NJ – We’ve all seen the footage, and if you haven’t, they have it – and now they have the visor, too. Arnold Palmer flung his red visor high into the air and never gave it a second thought after his final putt dropped on the final day to win his only U.S. Open at Cherry Hills Country Club in 1960.

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