2.Phil Mickelson - Course Designer

3. Q School Decision for Fowler & Lovemark

If you remember watching the PGA Tour Frys.com Open, (Oct.22-25) collegiate All-Americans Rickie Fowler and Jamie Lovemark played into a 3-way playoff with Troy Matteson for the win. They lost, but each player complicated their chances to earn their Tour card for 2010.

Lovemark and Fowler were both playing on sponsor exemptions; each figured they would need to play in this week's first stage of q-school in pursuit of their TOUR cards for 2010. By making the playoff, they both complicated their options -- in a good way.

Tying for second at Grayhawk after losing in a two-hole playoff to Troy Matteson on Sunday, they looked at different options for the following week. Lovemark teed off in the first stage of q-school at Pinewild Country Club in Pinehurst, N.C. Fowler, meanwhile, planned to keep on the sponsor exemption track for the next PGA Tour event.

Their respective options were defined by prize money.

When the $440,000 Fowler won was added to the cash he made in his pro TOUR debut the previous week, he had a total of $553,700. Since his earnings surpassed those of the player (Todd Hamilton) who finished 150th on last year's money list, Fowler received Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR.

As such, Fowler is exempt into the second stage of q-school -- at the very least. Should he remain inside 150 on the current year's money list when the season ends in three weeks, Fowler gets a free pass all the way to the q-school finals.

Of course, if Fowler finishes the year inside the top 125 of the money list, he would automatically get a TOUR card without having to sweat out q-school. And of course, a win would give him a two-year exemption. This option too, became more complicated because the tournament following the Fry's.com Open (the Viking Classic, in Madison Mississippi) was rained-out -- another chance at PGA Tour top 125 money gone.

So the former Oklahoma State standout will play in the Viking Classic while Lovemark -- who fell $84,287 shy of working his way inside the top 150 from last year -- heads to the first stage of q-school, albeit with momentum after his fine play in Scottsdale, Ariz.

In addition to the tournament in North Carolina, there are five other first-stage events being held in Georgia, Florida, Texas and California. The second stage features just six events and will be held Nov. 18-21 -- which is the week after the Children's Miracle Network Classic (Disney's tournament) concludes. Both Lovemark and Fowler are in the field for the Disney.

I hope both these guys make the Tour in 2010. They surely have the juice to play with anybody in the top 125. Though these college kids have only played a few events at on the PGA they've shown that they have what it takes. Being a staple on the PGA demands long term consistency and a solid work ethic, it will be phenomenal if Fowler and Lovemark get to show what they can do ver a full season with the big boys.

The Q School finals, contested over 108 holes, will be held at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., Dec. 2-7. Only the low 25 scores and ties there earn TOUR cards for 2010.

Once again, the Golfchannel has the Q School telecast, six rounds in the toughtest tournament in golf.

4. New Grooves Mean Player Moves

PGA Tour rules are changing the shape of grooves to V-shape for 2010. Players have had it easy with the U-Shape that has been standard to irons and wedges for the last decade. The V-shape means that contact with the ball has less "bite" than before. This means different (lower) spin rates imparted to the ball at impact. This means different distance from the fairway, different holding characteristics of balls on greens and an increased tendency to hit the dreaded flyer (low-spin) ball out of the rough.

If changing grooves mean a change in ball (e.g. softer cover to get more bite or spin), then the driver will also be affected. Factors such as distance or trajectory may be altered so a golfer will need to optimize all these parameters before he/she is truly ready and confident with the new equipment.

For players preparing for next year, these and other considerations mean that they better get testing their new equipment, and fast, if they are to be competitive under the new rules.

The following story in Golf.com reported on Stewart Cink's readiness regime. It gives some insight as to the impact the rule changes are having on PGA players:

On the windswept Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Cink was planning to put Nike's new Victory Red driver into play for the very first time. This was the Grand Slam of Golf -- put on for the winners of the four majors in 2009. But that's only the beginning of the changes he's facing. Just like the skies that he Twittered about on Monday afternoon, there are ominous clouds on the horizon for Cink and other PGA Tour players: pending rule changes that limit the volume and sharpness of grooves.

"I want to be ready to go and not have any big surprises with the grooves," he said Monday afternoon from Bermuda. "So I'm going to play a little extra this year just to be familiar with that."

Winning at Turnberry qualified Cink for the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, and he's also going to play the Wendy's Three Tour Challenge in Las Vegas and the Chevron World Challenge (Tiger Woods's event) in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

While the former Georgia Tech All-American isn't crazy about the idea of changing both his irons and his golf ball at the same time, there is no way around it. The grooves in his Nike Forged CCi irons, as well as his wedges, will become non-conforming starting on Jan. 1, 2010.

"The one thing that I learned last week at The Oven [Nike's test facility] is that the golf ball I'm using now [Nike's ONE Tour D] is probably a little too hard to be a realistic option for next year with the new grooves," he said.?

A softer ball could cut into driving distance for Cink and other Tour pros, but it should also produce more control around the greens, which will be critical when playing the lower-spin grooves. Within Nike's current ball line, the One Tour ball might be Cink's best choice in 2010.

"I'm okay with the changes," Cink said, "but I don’t know that going this aggressively was necessary because it’s a radical change with the wedges. If you are on the edge of the rough, or if conditions are damp like they are here in Bermuda right now, there are going to be some shots hit that are quite ugly and not too attractive to fans. And that scares me a little."

Grooves that are less sharp can't dig into the ball's cover as easily, so the ball comes off the face with less spin. Grooves with less volume than the current square grooves will channel less water and debris off the face at impact, possibly leading to fliers out of light rough and maybe even the middle of the fairway on dewy mornings.

"That's where I think you cross over into a little bit of absurdity," he said.

In Bermuda, Cink is going to closely watch Glover in the fairways; the U.S. Open champion won at Bethpage using a set of Nike Forged CCi irons that are nearly identical to Cink's. Glover will be playing this week with a new set of Nike's Victory Red Forged Half Cavity irons made with grooves that conform to next year's rules.

The 2010 season starts the second week of January. That's in 7 weeks. That's not a lot of time left to practice and break-in new equipment. We fans will know soon, who has made the adjustment and who has not.

5. Can a New Commissioner Save the LPGA?

From a report in Golfweek, Oct.28/09 (material from: Jim McCabe,author and contributors: James Achenbach and Beth Ann Baldry):

Michael Whan has been officially named commissioner of the LPGA. He comes from a business career marketing golf clubs, toothpaste and hockey skates as CEO of Mission Itech Hockey. Now one is sure if that qualifies him for his next challenge – he needs to sell the LPGA tour to corporate America.

Not to mention selling the LPGA to its own members. They've just banded together and asked the last commish (Carolyn Bivens) to leave, remember?

When asked how he reacted when he knew he was the new commissioner, Whan was quick to respond.

“This is a personal passion,” Whan said atthe news conference at Madison Square Garden, where he was introduced as the eighth commissioner in the 60-year history of the LPGA. “It’s a calling. I’ll take it that seriously.”

Whan worked in the golf division of Wilson Sporting Goods in the early 1990s, then served as executive vice-president and general manager of TaylorMade’s North American region for five years – so he possesses a golf background that many thought was mandatory for the next commissioner. Whan was selected by a search committee organized in July to find a replacement for the ousted Bivens.

Helen Alfredsson, one of two players (the other being Juli Inkster) to serve on a four-person search committee, was quoted as saying it was,“...a tough (process), but it’s really exciting to come to the right decision.”

Asked what makes Whan the right choice, Alfredsson replied in a theme that was echoed throughout the half-hour news conference, “Just listen to him; he’s passionate,” said the veteran player, who was reacquainted with Whan during the interview process.

Alfredsson signed a contract with TaylorMade under Whan’s watch, so she is familiar with his style.

“He’s not afraid,’’ she said. “He’s totally aware of the whole situation. There isn’t going to be any unknown.”

The Swede was referring to the landscape into which Whan enters: Having had 33 tournaments totaling $60.3 million in purses in 2008, the LPGA in 2009 was down to 28 and $47.6 million. Next year, 18 tournaments are under contract, with a target of 25.

Of course, the economic climate has caused some of the downturn, but what contributed to much of the trouble in 2009 was widespread player unrest with then-commissioner Carolyn Bivens. As longrunning tournaments in Corning, N.Y., and Kingsmill, Va., chose not to renew contracts and a popular event at Kapalua in Hawaii dropped from the calendar, players grew disenchanted with Bivens’ aggressive business model that seemingly turned corporate sponsors away.

One of Whan’s first jobs, Alfredsson said, is to reassure players that the LPGA is headed in the right direction. “To get the players’ confidence (is important),” Alfredsson said, “because that is something that’s been on the low side.”

Acknowledging the economic climate that has contributed to cracks in the LPGA foundation – “issues or challenges,” Whan said – but doesn’t look at those as bad words. Instead, “what they represent is tremendous upside potential. I can’t wait to get started.”