This summer’s Open Championship
has the makings of one of the more
memorable weeks in golf history, filled
with both a mix of celebration and raw
emotion. For one, 2010 marks the 150th
anniversary of the venerable championship, and, furthermore, it will be played
at the home of golf for the 28th time,
the Old Course at St. Andrews.
And sure to rev up the emotions will
be the return of Tom Watson, who at
age 59 a year ago at Turnberry battled
to the end only to bogey the 72nd hole
and then lose in a four-hole playoff to
Stewart Cink. Watson, who won at Turn-
berry 32 years earlier for the second
of his five Open titles, enhanced his
legendary appeal among world golf fans
with his grace and honesty after ward.
People magazine’s latest issue includes
an interview with President Obama in
which he addresses the Tiger Woods’
situation. The president said he “
absolutely” believes that Woods can rehabilitate his broken personal life.
“I’m a strong believer that anybody
can look within themselves, find their
flaws and fix them,” he said. “I’m sure
he feels terrible about what happened,
and I suspect that he will try to put his
life back together again.”
Tiger has lost his wheels. General
Motors Co. says an agreement with Ti-
ger Woods that allowed him free access
to its vehicles is over. His endorsement
deal with GM’s Buick brand ended in
2008, but an arrangement remained in
place for him to keep several GM loaner
vehicles. That ended on Dec. 31.
USA Today reported GM’s decision in a
blog post.
Greg Norman and tennis great Chris Evert,
who had split ways in late September 2009,
were secretly divorced Dec. 8 in Key West,
Fla. It was Evert’s third divorce and Norman’s
second. The superstar couple married in
June 2008. In the settlement, neither paid any
money in alimony.
at Royal Troon — the same year he won his only
PGA Tour event, the Honda Classic — hopes
a return to the continent will revive his game.
Hamilton’s Open win earned him a 10-year ex-
emption on the European Tour compared to five
years on the PGA Tour, which has elapsed. After
failing to regain his full-time status on the PGA
Tour through Qualifying School, he opted for
Europe and has entered next week's Abu Dhabi
Championship.
the property’s owner, BentleyForbes, took out
in 2006. The filing is not expected to affect the
tournament, which will be played May 20-23.
European Tour event, the final week of Janu-
ary. “I’ve always wanted to visit the Middle East,
they’re giving me decent money to go, so I’m
going,” Perry said.
Karrie Webb, ranked 13th in the world and a
seven-time major champion, has committed to
the HANDA Women’s Australian Open for the
next three years. The four-time Women’s Aus-
tralian Open champion will return to Melbourne
in March in the hope of securing her fifth title at
Commonwealth Golf Club.
Todd Hamilton, 44, whose last victory was a
playoff over Ernie Els in the 2004 British Open
A foreclosure filing has been issued against the
Four Seasons Resort, home to the PGA Tour’s
Byron Nelson Classic since 1983. The filing was
made in Irving, Tex., for the upcoming February
foreclosure auction, according to Foreclosure
Listing Service Inc. U.S. Bank NA filed against
the Four Seasons on a $183 million loan that
After opening the
season with a tie
for sixth at the
SBS Championship
in Hawaii, Kenny
Perry is taking a
leave from the Tour
until the WGC-
Accenture Match
Play Championship
in mid-February.
Perry’s next sched-
uled event is the
Qatar Masters, a
Rocco Mediate, Duffy Waldorf and Natalie
Gulbis are coming to a small screen near you.
They are scheduled to play themselves in an
upcoming episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Inves-
tigation." The plot of the Jan. 21 show on CBS
centers on the discovery of the body of a star
player during a high-profile tournament.
Jack Nicklaus will celebrate his 70th birthday
on Jan. 21 at the earliest time possible. He’ll
be on a fishing trip on Christmas Island, one of
the easternmost spots before the International
Date Line.
