Global Golf Post - March 1, 2010

CBS analyst David Feherty became a U.S. citizen
Tuesday, joining 30 other green-card holders in a
swearing-in ceremony in Dallas. The 51-year-old
Irishman, who now resides in Dallas, said a trip
to Baghdad two years ago to visit U.S. troops gave
him the idea. “I wanted to be able to call them my
soldiers, my pilots, my sailors,” he explained.
Paul Casey fulfilled a promise last week that
he made after winning the 2009 Shell Houston
Open – his first on the PGA Tour – to give back
some of his winnings to the community. Casey
showed Monday that it wasn’t an idle promise
by announcing that he and his wife, Jocelyn, are
donating $100,000 to a Houston charity.
The fledgling OneAsia Tour scored a major
coup last week, signing an exclusive five-year
contract with Asia’s biggest sports content
provider, ESPN STAR Sports. The deal includes
live daily coverage of OneAsia tournaments
across 24 territories through 2014, reports on
SportsCenter and Score Tonight and a weekly
magazine show, Golf Focus. ESPN STAR Sports,
which has 300 million viewers over 18 networks
across Asia, is a joint venture between Walt Dis-
ney Co. and News Corp.
The Bank of Ireland, a victim of the world-
wide credit crunch, has opted not to renew its
sponsorship with Padraig Harrington when the
contract ends in May. In the three years Har-
rington represented the bank, he won two Open
Championships and a PGA. Harrington reported-
ly earned at least €400,000 a year, plus bonuses.
The USGA named Fred Ridley and Roberta
Bolduc to captain the men’s and women’s U.S.
teams, respectively, at the biennial World Ama-
teur Team Championships this fall in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. The women’s championship
will be played Oct. 20-23 and the men’s Oct. 28-31.

PGA Tour rookie Billy Horschel, a two-time
SEC Player of the Year for the University of
Florida, will have season-ending surgery on his
left wrist to repair a torn tendon. The 23-year-
old had failed to make a cut in his four starts in
2010 and will receive a Major Medical Extension
for 2011.
The International Golf Federation’s Olym-
pic Committee announced it is searching for a
full-time executive director, who will co-ordinate
day-to-day operations from Lausanne, Swit-
zerland, as preparations intensify for the 2016
Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
European Ryder Cupper Paul McGinley,
sidelined by left knee problems that resulted in a
sixth surgery in November, says he hopes to re-
turn to play in time for the Hassan II Golf Trophy
in Morocco, March 18-21.
The Duramed Futures Tour announced that
its tournament in Decatur, Ill., will be named the
Tate & Lyle Players Championship and will be
played June 17-20 at Hickory Point Golf Course.
Annika Vineyards, a joint venture between An-
nika Sorenstam and Wente Vineyards, has added
a 2008 Chardonnay, available through its website
( www.annikavineyards.com) this spring. The
suggested retail price is $40 a bottle. l