Ummm, Well, That's One Way To Do It

I was scouring through my Google Reader this morning and came upon this video over at With Leather, which is, well, some Asian television show that has some "instructor" teach a very busty girl how to hit bunker shots.

I mean, it's cheap and all, but what man wouldn't watch this if we had it in the states? That stupid ass "Surviving a Japanese Game Show" got time on network television, and you're telling me this girl and her enormous rack wouldn't land a million golf fans on the "The Golf Channel."

Friend #1 -- Hey dude, I heard that at 4 they're showing a 1987 Shell Wonderful World of Golf on The Golf Channel. You down to watch?

Friend #2 -- /punches friend in face ... replays Asian girl golf lesson for the eighth time

Just a quick congrats to one of my good golfing buddies from back home, Bryan Baker, on making it through pre-qualifying for Q-School. Baker, a scrappy player that hits a ton of fairways and always carries a hot putter, finished t-14 at the Seaside, Calif. site, shooting rounds of 74-78-69-71.

Nice playing, Bak. Keep it up.

Consider This FedEx Cup a Success

There is one simple recipe for every PGA Tour golf tournament -- Tiger + Phil = Win. On Sunday, at East Lake, that recipe happened both literally and figuratively -- Tiger and Phil both won, and the network won and the PGA Tour and the FedEx Cup and Tim Finchem and probably some Eskimo hanging out in his little ice hut in the northern expanses of Canada that loves golf.

Yep, call 2009 for the FedEx Cup. Yesterday, with three TVs hooked up in my apartment, hanging with my roommate, we decided to switch the big, HD television to golf for a decent amount of time in the later afternoon, deciding against the NFL or the Yankees-Red Sox game because golf was good television. In week three of the NFL season, you could argue it was the best TV.

People (myself included) worry about what the PGA Tour will do once Tiger and Phil decide to move on to other things. Sure, some young kid (Ryo Ishikawa and Rory McIlroy, for instance) will come along, flashy in their new digs and blow us all away, forgetting about a Woods and Mickelson, but for now, those two are the PGA Tour, and without them, they might as well save money on transporting the cameras from event to event.

At Augusta National this year, those two were paired together in the final round of the Masters, an hour before the leaders' names were even called and you would have forgot that anyone else was playing by the crowds and the attention that non-group got.

On Sunday, it was Phil and Tiger again, this time in different groups but as much in the mix as they could be. Tiger was struggling to keep his round in the red, but his bank account was about to get very much in the black with a $10 million bonus that comes with the FedEx Cup.

Phil on the other hand didn't ever have a realistic shot at the FedEx Cup (Tiger would have had to finish 8th), but his tournament was the actual one, and he was playing East Lake like it was a Saturday muni. The only bogey-free round on Sunday, Mickelson polished a beautiful 65 that was oh-so reminiscent of his 2000 final round at this same event on the same golf course. That year, Phil fired a 66 to beat Tiger by two. This time, it was a 65 to take down the biggest name in golf by three.

Maybe it wasn't so much a win for the FedEx Cup as it was a win for Tiger vs. Phil 6.0 (or 7.0, I could be losing count), but the golf world is still in need of these two, maybe more than ever. Next season, the PGA Tour will begin to feel the effects of an economy that hit the LPGA pretty hard this year. Finchem said the tour might lose tournaments next season, which probably should happen with sponsors pulling out.

That reality means the need for more Tiger and more Phil at more events. They need to show up and shake hands and smile for the cameras in the pro-am even if they'd rather be thousands of miles from Bill and Rich, the top employees at McGladrey & Pullen last year.

Those thoughts will be our offseason ... for now, we can all rejoice once more with Tiger and Phil, saving the FedEx Cup. It was good television, a good tournament and a battle until the final putt dropped. It's hard to imagine another name added to this mix to make it any better than the current outcome.

Scott Halleran, Getty Images

Tiger Woods, One Day Away From Becoming Even Richer

It doesn't take someone with Robert Langdon's mind to figure out that Tiger Woods is a rich fella. He wins a ton of million dollar golf tournaments and companies pay him even more than that to pose with other athletes ("Look, the Mach 3 blades are smoooooth!") to help sell product.

If Tiger can avoid a very un-Tiger like blowup tomorrow at East Lake, and hold on to a share of second place or even win the tournament over Kenny Perry, he will add another $10 million to his pregnant bank account.

Oh the life of Mr. Woods.

If he holds on, this will be two-for-two when Woods actually plays in the playoffs, and it seems that with the way he avoids high finishes, he might claim ten of these before he finishes his career (or more, but I'm being generous).

The interesting part of this week at the Tour Championship has been how representative it's been to Tiger's year. He hasn't had his best stuff at all, much like most of 2009, but he still might win the damn thing, something that basically says what you should know about Tiger and golf.

He has never had to come to the course with his best, just something that resembled it and the trophy was still a plausible feat. Now, Tiger needs a good round on Sunday and a hopeful stumble by Perry, who was leading the Masters earlier this year until he placed both hands around his neck (or too tightly on his wedges) on the last two holes, eventually losing in a playoff to Angel Cabrera.

The good news -- Perry has a decent lead. The bad news -- Tiger doesn't want his year to end with people asking questions.

He is already the Player of the Year, and will most likely add FedEx Cup champion to his '09 resume. Just think, at this time last year, we were just hoping the guy would be walking properly.

Also, Vijay Singh was in his position. Strange what a year can do to some people.

Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images

Tiger Woods Leads Tour Championship, Should Be Leading By More

As Tiger Woods was walking up the 15th fairway, having just hit a 5-wood from 247 yards to 4-feet, 7-inches, the announcing group on hand at the tournament started chatting about Tiger's largest margin's of victory this season.

They discussed the eight shot victory Tiger just incurred on the field at the BMW Championship earlier this month. Tiger would make the eagle, play the last three holes some number under par and be five shots up before the rest of the field knew what happened.

Then something strange happened. Tiger missed the short eagle putt. Then, on 16, he missed an equally short birdie putt, catching a nasty lip. A scrambling par on 17 followed by a bogey on the 18th left Tiger only a shot clear of the field at the Tour Championship when it looked like he might blow this thing out of the water.

Now, instead of walking into Saturday with a whoknowshowmany shot lead, Tiger will be a single stroke ahead of Padraig Harrington and Sean O'Hair, who followed his opening round 66 with an even-par round of 70.

Tiger has set himself up for the $10 million prize that comes with the FedEx Cup trophy. The four guys chasing him the race are currently all out of the top-10, with only Jim Furyk breaking the top-17.

I'm fairly certain Tiger will be kicking something tonight after those short putts didn't fall.

Scott Halleran, Getty Images

No Reason Why Walking 18 Holes Can't Make You Fatter

Face it -- you aren't going to be losing any weight by riding around in a golf cart. It isn't going to happen. You'll most likely be drinking and breaking the 90 degree rules (As my uncle says, "You're always 90 degrees away from something") and eating a hot dog at the turn.

But walking ... walking can burn some calories. You can lug your bag or use a pull-cart and the three mile trek is good enough for a solid exercise. Well, unless you get your hands on the Mantys Golf Caddy.

I mean, this is America, and we cut corners more than a fourth-grade art class. You can "walk" 18 holes without walking at all! Next up -- Sumo wrestler just carries you to your ball.



h/t Busbee via Shackleford

Titleist Gives Out Free Round of Golf With the 101st Man on the Money List

Alright, so the headline isn't fair ... Titleist is giving out a free round with Adam Scott, and all you have to do it is show Adam how to avoid making consecutive bogeys sign up on their website.

The offer ends on October 15, so make sure you're over there, because even if Scott can't bring his "A" game, you might get lucky enough to land some free Burberry gear and you get a free round at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.

I'm going to sign up, just so I can live blog the round. Who wouldn't want that?

Update -- Yeah, gotta read the fine print ... I guess you have to be an Aussie to win the thing, because I am not from Scottsdale, Queensland or Scottsdale, Tasmania.