6 Canadians to tee it up on new-look LPGA Tour in '11

he six Canadians on the 2011 LPGA Tour are about to embark on a fascinating season.

Lori Kane, Alena Sharp, Lisa Meldrum, Samantha Richdale, Adrienne White and newcomer Stephanie Sherlock and the rest of the golfing world learned yesterday, during the unveiling of the 2011 LPGA Tour schedule, that the tour has added ground-breaking ideas for tournaments.

New events in the U.S., Taiwan and China have been added to the tournament calendar along with a renewed commitment to the tour's existing and long-term corporate partners. Evidence of that commitment will happen through a unique qualifying format for the tour's season finale. The format will be a season-long celebration of tournament title sponsors called the Countdown to Titleholders.

“Our 2011 schedule reflects the key strategic initiatives of the LPGA: Global – new events in the U.S. and abroad; Partnership – consistently increasing the value to our current business partners; and responsibility – embracing the history of the LPGA and making a commitment to the future of the women’s game,” said LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan while he appeared on Golf Channel.

All three of these elements will be showcased at the inaugural RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, a tournament designed to honor the LPGA’s pioneers, showcase the world’s greatest female athletes of the present and, most importantly, build a strong and robust future for women in the game of golf.

Players participating in the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, a new 54-hole, stroke-play event to be televised on the Golf Channel, will forgo a tournament purse in favor of financially supporting the LPGA Foundation. The organization runs the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program. The tournament, with a field of 132 players, will help raise funds to grow the game at a grass-roots level much like Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Louise Suggs, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Bettye Danoff and the eight other LPGA Founders first set out to accomplish more than 60 years ago.

The event is slated for March 18-20 at Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Arizona. The tournament will be officially sanctioned, thus providing official LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame and Rolex Rankings points, as well as official statistics and impact to the LPGA Official Money List purposes.

The LPGA Tour begins Feb. 17-20 with the $1,500,000 Honda LPGA Thailand in Chonburi, Thailand, at the Siam Country Club, Pattaya Old Course.

From Aug. 25-28 Michelle Wie will defend her title during the $2,250,000 CN Canadian Women’s Open in Mirabel, Que., at the Canada Hillsdale Golf and Country Club.

The $1,500,000 Titleholders event happens Nov. 17-20 in Orlando, Fla., at Cypress Golf Club.

Soon anyone will be able to tee it up @ Augusta

The Masters is about to let anyone play Augusta National — at least in a video game.

In another step toward reaching a younger audience, the Masters will be featured in EA Sports' next edition of the popular "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12" golf game.

The game goes on sale March 29, a week before the Masters, and will be available for Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation. It will be the first time Augusta National has allowed its course to be used for a video game.

Proceeds from the game will go to the "Masters Tournament Foundation," a charity that will allow Augusta to invest in developmental programs.

Anthony Kim wants to quiet the gossipers with good golf in '11

Anthony Kim wants 2011 to be a season that changes his career.

He hopes it might be enough to change his reputation, too.

One of the most dynamic young talents in golf? That's what people were saying two years ago, when Kim blew away the field with a record score at Quail Hollow, then shot 65 in the final round at Congressional to win the AT&T National. It made him the youngest American since Tiger Woods to win twice in one year.

If that wasn't enough, he brought energy and attitude to the Ryder Cup and was the catalyst of a rare U.S. victory.

That now seems like a long time ago.

It's not that the 25-year-old Californian has disappeared. He is still among the elite at No. 31 in the world, having reached as high as No. 6 toward the end of 2008. And only PGA Tour winners enjoy the oceanfront room that Kim has at Kapalua, where the Tournament of Champions kicks off a new season Thursday.

But he has a bitter taste about how last year ended.

He won the Houston Open in a playoff, then closed with a 65 at Augusta National to finish third. Thumb surgery a month later kept him out of golf for three months, and he failed to make the Ryder Cup team when he couldn't make a cut upon his return.

Kim still managed to make news, or at least gossip columns.

He has a zest for living, which first came to life with tales from his Ryder Cup celebration at Valhalla and carried on through Twitter and blog reports from a night in the Las Vegas casinos in October.

Is he closer to being like Tiger Woods or John Daly?

"That's a hell of a question," Kim said, smiling at first before pausing to contemplate.

Daly makes more news off the course these days, so it's easy to overlook an amazing talent that brought him a PGA Championship title as a 25-year-old rookie in 1991 and a British Open victory at St. Andrews. Kim found it coincidental that after headlines he made in Las Vegas in October, Daly was the only tour player who reached out to him in a text message.

"Both have majors," Kim said. "I think I'm closer to Tiger because I love putting in the time. Now, I've gotten away from this. But I definitely feel like I'm closer as far as the values of the Asian culture and putting in time, not worrying about tough times. In a lot of ways, I think people see me as a guy who likes to have fun, and that's it. But I care about a lot of things."

Kim is careful not to be motivated for the wrong reasons.

He has trimmed the number of his traveling party and has heard from enough people whom he trusts that playing with the purpose of proving people wrong is the wrong route. Even so, he feels as though fans, the media and players are questioning his devotion to his sport.

"I have a lot of people doubting me, which I like," he said.

When asked why they are skeptical of his future, Kim first mentioned the arrival of so many players in his age group. Indeed, that's what makes golf more intriguing than it has been in years. Martin Kaymer, who just turned 26, last year became the youngest major champion since Woods in 2001. Rory McIlroy won at Quail Hollow at age 20. Ryo Ishikawa was still 18 when he shot 58 to win in Japan. Jason Day won in Dallas, and at 23 is the youngest player at Kapalua.

Slightly older than Kim, and still very young, are the likes of Dustin Johnson and Hunter Mahan.

"A lot of guys played well who are younger, and they're overlooking me, which is fine," Kim said. "It's not that I have something to prove. I know I'm capable of winning golf tournaments."

But it's more than the youth movement bugging Kim.

When asked whether he was troubled about players doubting him because of his activity off the course, Kim's eyes widened and he turned in his chair away from the Orange Bowl game on television.

"One hundred percent. Couldn't have said it any better," he said. "I feel that is a major reason why people doubt me. They don't think I care about golf. It's hard for people who don't know me to say, 'He's 25, having a good time with his friends.' If anyone knows me, they know I'm willing to admit to my mistakes. But when I do something, I want to be the best at it. I'm going to scratch and claw my way up the ladder. People around me see that."

Kim doesn't see the need to explain what happened in Las Vegas. If there was a lesson that came out of that, it was understanding that it's better to be the center of attention inside the ropes than under a neon sign.

"I feel obligated to my sponsors to do a better job of not even letting some of these stories come out," he said. "I don't want to be a player no one can relate to. Sure, I've made some mistakes. I know that I was brought up well by two very great people, people that everyone respects. I'm not the type of person to stray off course. Maybe I did for a minute, but I've realized that I've got to have a game plan — not for my next round, but for my life."

Leave it to Kim to draw an analogy from George St. Pierre, who said the Ultimate Fighting Championship was a lot like golf. He didn't get the sense the UFC welterweight knew much about golf, but his words stuck with Kim.

"He said once you make the golf swing and hit the shot, you can't control it. You have to do everything before the shot to control the outcome," Kim said. "I'm going to do whatever I can to control what I can."

That starts this week at Kapalua, and his hope is to carry that through this year and beyond to get his name back in the conversation for all the right reasons.

G-Mac banks a million a month

Graeme McDowell is on course to become Ulster’s richest-ever sportsman after his stellar year which climaxed with a US Open triumph and Ryder Cup glory.

The 31-year-old Portrush golfer, awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List, has signed three lucrative new sponsorship deals that will earn him an estimated £1m a month.

The new endorsement deals come at the end of a year which saw McDowell move into the sporting superstar bracket thanks to his Ryder Cup heroics — his putt clinching victory for Europe against America — and US Open success at Pebble Beach.

‘G-Mac’ also won a play-off against Tiger Woods in the Chevron World Challenge in California last month and earlier in the year laid the foundations for the Ryder Cup win when he secured the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, also the venue for Europe’s clash with the Americans.

McDowell is now up to fifth in the latest world rankings — the highest position ever for a Northern Ireland player — and competes in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the traditional season-opener on the US Tour, at the Kapalua resort in Hawaii, starting from tomorrow.

McDowell is the highest ranked player in the 34-man tournament, which has no cut.

The Ulsterman’s worldwide success over the past 12 months make him an obvious target for the major sponsors given his global marketability.

McDowell will make his seasonal debut in Hawaii tomorrow as the new face of golf equipment company Srixon, replacing Jim Furyk — the US Tour’s player of the year — who has moved to TaylorMade. The multi-year deal is worth a reputed €2.25 million annually to McDowell, who was a Callaway player when he won the US Open last June.

McDowell has also signed deals with Mastercard and shoe manufacturer Ecco.

He has existing arrangements with Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piquet, Middle East business empire Al Naboodah, Dublin tailor Louis Copeland and private jets company Marquis Jet.

But despite the megadeals McDowell is determined to keep his feet on the ground.

He said: “It’s important I re-adust my focus and take the positives and confidence out of this year and pour it back into next season.”

McDowell spent Christmas at home in Portrush, re-charging the batteries for a crack at the US Tour.

Lining up against McDowell in the Tournament of Champions tomorrow will be Hunter Mahan, whom G-Mac beat in the singles to secure Europe’s Ryder Cup victory. McDowell has also retained membership of the European Tour. His fellow Ulsterman Rory McIlroy, whose win at Quail Hollow last year earned him a place in the Hawaii field, has decided to wait until the Abu Dhabi HSBC tournament on January 20 before making his competitive return.

Looking back to some key memories of '10 between the ropes

Framed photographs large and small hang in every room and adorn the walls of every corridor inside the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, memories of Arnold Palmer and more than a half-century he devoted to golf.

He is flinging his visor after winning the Masters. He is posing with one of his best friends, Dow Finsterwald, and his longtime rival, Jack Nicklaus. In one picture, he is wearing a Chinese hat during his first trip to China to design a golf course.

Unmistakable in nearly every photograph is a smile.

In his design company office one day in December, he was asked why he was always seemed happy.

“I loved what I was doing,” he said. “I got to play a great game. I have a great life, a great family, all the things you could want. I love the feeling of getting out of bed each morning.”

Golf featured its share of unpleasant moments this year—Tiger Woods, leaning back against his locker at Sawgrass with his eyes closed after pulling out of The Players Championship, perhaps the low point on the golf course in a year filled with them; Dustin Johnson, erasing his scorecard to change a 5 to a 7 after being told he was in a bunker on the last hole of the PGA Championship; Paul Casey, facing reporters who wanted answers he didn’t have as to why he was left off the Ryder Cup team.

The photos of Palmer are a reminder that it’s a great game, and a great life. As always, there were plenty of poignant moments from a year on the PGA Tour that go beyond birdies and bogeys and bunkers:

Lee Westwood shot 68 in the final round of the Honda Classic, and when he signed his card, he was in a seven-way tie for 15th.

He retreated to the bar with his agent, Chubby Chandler, and watched the follies unfold as one player after another dropped shots coming in at PGA National. When it was over, Westwood was in a three-way tie for ninth, the difference of about $87,000.

“The best drink we’ve ever had,” Chandler said.

Paul Goydos didn’t want to wait for officials to stop play, not when he was facing a tough tee shot on the 11th hole at Riviera in a cold rain that was starting to come down sideways.

That’s when he declared that the tee box was in casual water and someone would have to call for the maintenance crew. He figured that would take enough time for the tour to decide to suspend play. What he didn’t realize was the maintenance shed was right behind him.

In less than a minute, three workers arrived carrying squeegees.

Goydos was startled, finally breaking the silence by saying under his breath, “Well, that didn’t work out too well.”

Play on.

Tiger Woods was in the second-to-last group at the U.S. Open, five shots behind Dustin Johnson. He was playing with Gregory Havret. The final group was Johnson and Graeme McDowell, none having ever contended in a major.

Before leaving the putting green and walking up the steps to the first tee, Woods hit a 50-foot lag putt toward the hole at the far edge of the green. He left it 5 feet short, then settled over that putt.

He missed. Woods reached with his putter to bring the ball back to him, stood over it, and missed it again. He pulled the ball back and missed a third time, then missed a fourth time. With that, he handed the putter to his caddie and headed to the tee.

On the first hole, he three-putted for bogey. Within an hour, his U.S. Open hopes were gone.

Phil Mickelson walked off the 10th tee at St. Andrews during a practice round and saw the concession stands. His eyes lit up, not just because he was hungry, but it was an opportunity for one of his favorite treats. Mickelson is known to walk up to a food stand at tournaments and announce he’s buying for everyone in line.

He took his wallet from his bag and told his caddie and coach he would be with them in a few minutes. It didn’t take long for Mickelson to rejoin them, however, and he wasn’t happy.

It was Sunday. The concession stand was closed.

For the last several years, Ryder Cup officials have arranged for the U.S. captain to make a tour of the big cities leading to the matches. That stop includes Los Angeles in September, and it was a natural for Corey Pavin. He grew up in Ventura County and starred on the UCLA golf team.

The media turnout was strong, but Pavin seemed an afterthought midway through his news conference. He noticed several reporters stepping outside to answer cell phones. One Ryder Cup official thought it extremely rude.

Only later did they learn Joe Torre had announced he was retiring as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Ryder Cup charter to Wales was either oversold or there were not enough seats. Whatever the case, two caddies were bumped from the charter – Frank Williams, the caddie for Stewart Cink, and Steve Williams, who works for Tiger Woods.

How fitting.

Not only are they close friends, but Frank Williams doesn’t like traveling to Britain and Steve Williams doesn’t like the Ryder Cup.

“You know why Stevie hates the Ryder Cup so much don’t you?” Frank Williams said. “Because up until this year, he wasn’t used to working for a check that small.”

One of the most entertaining nights of the year is when European Tour caddies are feted – and roasted – at the HSBC Champions. Fanny Sunesson won an award for “misclub of the year.”

Turns out her boss, Henrik Stenson, hit a 3-wood on the 18th hole at Dubai that not only failed to clear the large pond fronting the green, it barely made it to the water.

For her honor, Sunesson won two bottles of fine wine. Stenson, with mock anger, marched onto the stage and took one of the bottles before returning to his seat. He came back on stage as Sunesson explained what happened.

It dates to the previous year at the Masters, when Stenson wanted to hit 3-wood for his second shot on the 15th. Knowing that the Swede tends to hit his 3-wood low and hard, she reminded him he would have to hit a high, soft cut. Stenson instead drilled it over the green, almost into the water behind the green.

“So we get to Dubai and he wants to hit 3-wood to the green,” Sunesson explains. “Now this was the right shot for his 3-wood. And tell them what you did, Henrik.”

Stenson, slowly bowed his head and leaned toward the microphone.

“Soft cut,” he said.

After the third round of the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, some 200 fans stood behind the railing outside the clubhouse after Woods walked by to sign his card. One man in the middle of the pack led a chant in Chinese that, based on the cadence, most likely was, “We want Tiger! We want Tiger!” This went on for a few minutes until a lone voice in broken English called out, “Tiger, where are you?”

The chant started again, but he had left through a back door to meet with sponsors.

A month later during the pro-am at the Chevron World Challenge, Woods had to walk along a cart path toward the 13th fairway. Three times, he stopped and posed for pictures with fans, something he has never done.

Something old, something new.

-Doug Ferguson, AP

10 PGA Tour pros that are happy to leave 2010 in the rearview

With another New Year's Day upon us, it's an occasion to again make those annual resolutions. Whether it's a promise to lose weight or a pledge to be more patient, it's the time of year to analyze the events of 2010 and see what can be done to make 2011 even better.

This is very true for many of the players who compete on the PGA TOUR. There's always room for improvement and you don't need to cast the net far from the boat to bring in a number of candidates that fit that description. Here are 10 players we expect to see better things from over the next twelve months.

Stewart Cink: He didn't have a bad 2010, but it wasn't what he expected as a follow-up to the 2009 season that saw him win his first major championship. It was his first winless season since 2007 and his world ranking almost tripled to No. 46. With Cink the difference between good in great lies with the putter and last year was only average at best.

Sergio Garcia: His highlight for the year was being an assistant captain on the victorious European Ryder Cup team. Garcia may or may not ever reach the level of excellence that many projected for him and he may never win a major championship, but there's no question that he's 100-times better than he showed in 2010, when his world ranking plummeted to 78th.

Padraig Harrington: He missed the cut in three of the four major championships and his ranking dropped all the way to No. 23. It was no lower than eighth the four previous seasons. He's starting to round into form and played well after the Ryder Cup, winning an event on the Asian Tour.

J.B. Holmes: He had his moments -- especially early -- and played well in the two majors for which he qualified. His 66 at Whistling Straits got a little attention, but he failed to follow it up. He's still long (No. 5 in driving) and wild (No. 183 in accuracy), but that's always been the case. Overall the 2010 season was another successful step toward regaining the prominence he achieved as part of the 2008 Ryder Cup team. Expect a return in 2011.

Ryuji Imada: He battled a rib injury for much of the season and was in danger of finishing outside the Top 125 until a late-year rally. He's really accurate, but suffers from lack of length off the tee. He needs to improve his weekend performances, too; Imada's scoring average in the third round ranked 148th on TOUR. He likes to play the West Coast events and could light the candle on a fast start at Torrey Pines or Phoenix.

Anthony Kim: Before his surgery, Kim looked like he was on the fast track to greatness. Afterwards, he looked like he would have struggled on the mini-tours. He missed four of six cuts, with a highlight being T-48 at the BMW Championship. The question remains whether he's mature and disciplined enough to get it back.

Geoff Ogilvy: After winning the first event of the season, Ogilvy retreated into a quietly successful season, which saw him threaten at the Deutsche Bank Championship and qualify for The TOUR Championship. Otherwise he did little else and admitted at East Lake that he was "overgolfed." The media selfishly wants more from Ogilvy, primarily because he's the best interview on TOUR.

Brandt Snedeker: Again, not a bad season, but not the breakthrough season that's come to be expected. He had five top-10s in 2010, including a second at Torrey Pines and and a tie for eighth at the U.S. Open. Hard to believe it's been three seasons since his only TOUR win.

Camilo Villegas: How crazy are the expections for Villegas? He only missed two cuts, won a tournament and finished 20th in the FedExCup standings. And this guy can play better? You betcha. He was only a contender in one major, where he tied for eighth at the PGA. Look for him to get involved in the major equation this year.

Tiger Woods: Any questions?

Els named One of the Most Positive Athletes in the World

Celebrate Positive announced Dec. 29 that PGA TOUR star Ernie Els has been named one of the “Top 5 Most Positive Athletes in the World” by the United Nations NGO Voting Academy comprised of United Nations NGOs, such as Rotary International, Pathways To Peace and Sister Cities International.

Autism Speaks nominated Els for the inaugural 2010 United Nations NGO Positive Peace Awards in the Professional Athlete category. This award, viewed as a 21st century peace prize, honors and recognizes individuals, businesses, athletes, sports teams, entertainers and schools around the world for their positive contributions. Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers won this year’s award.

The UN NGO Voting Academy used an established criteria of an athlete’s community involvement and impact on their community to determine this year’s finalists.

“Celebrate Positive congratulates Ernie Els for exemplifying what giving back to the community means,” said Scott Pederson, pesident and CEO ofCelebrate Positive. “Ernie is a wonderful example for all of us to follow internationally.”

Els is involved with a variety of charitable endeavors, including his participation in the Autism Speaks award-winning Ad Council public-service announcement. In addition to the PSA, which included his autistic son, Ben, Els also wore the Autism Speaks puzzle piece pin during tournaments, advocated for autism during interviews and started the Els for Autism Foundation as a further cause advocation.

“His openness and advocacy has helped other parents and directed them to where they can learn more or get a diagnosis so they can get treatments”, said Dana Marnane, vice president of awareness and events at Autism Speaks. “Ernie's participation in our Ad Council campaign has helped to raise autism awareness and provides hope for parents everywhere.”

Rotary International, with more than 33,000 Clubs and 1.2 million members in more than 200 countries, serves on the United Nations NGO Voting Academy.

“We at Rotary International are honored to serve on the voting committee for the United Nations NGO Positive Peace Awards,” said RI General Secretary Ed Futa. “Every day, Rotary’s 1.2 million members address the question, How do we make our world a better place? How appropriate that these awards recognize those individuals and organizations who are asking the same question and taking the necessary steps to achieve positive change in our world.”