Tap-Ins

A few short strokes on items that have caught my attention ...

Leaving His Options Open. Here's an interesting bit of information about Tiger: Apparently, the Masters has no official policy for confirming a player's appearance at the tournament. Tournament organizers request an RSVP, but don't require it. Which means, until they hear from Tiger that he's not coming (so far, not a word), they'll assume he is coming and hold his tee time open. He could conceivably pull onto the grounds ten minutes before his tee time, check in, stroll over to the first tee, and tee off. Wouldn't that be something? Now, I don't think that's any more likely to happen than it is that Martha Burk will become the first female member of August National, but still ... it's interesting to know that it could.

Another Cheesehead Comeback? It's nice to see local-boy Skip Kendall suddenly playing well. He earned a T4 in Mexico at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, including a closing round 64. On Thursday he shot a nice 67 to finish at T19 in the opening round at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Kendall, a native of Fox Point, Wisconsin (he attended the high school that's about a mile from my house), is a 45-year-old, 5' 8" grinder who's banked more than $8.6 million in his 23-year pro career – but who has never won on the PGA Tour. He hasn't played the big tour regularly since 2006, but has been toughing it out on Nationwide Tour (where he's won just once, in 2007) the past few seasons. (I thought maybe he had retired.) He's endured back problems and some personal upheaval during that time, as well. It's much, much too soon to tell, of course, whether he's on the verge of any sort of significant comeback, but we wish him well.

Update: Kendall continued to play well on Friday and Saturday, heading into the weekend at T15. But he faltered on Sunday with a +1 72 and fell to T36. Still a nice payday for Kendall, who has more official top-5 finishes (1) in 2010 than Phil Mickelson (0). Whooda thunkit? 

Well-Guarded Secret. Speaking of things that are close to my house, did you know that according to golf.com, the 96th best golf course in the United States is the Milwaukee Country Club? That's OK, nobody else does, either. (Its 2007 rank was 73rd!) The course is virtually invisible to casual observers, tucked away in a corner of the upscale village of River Hills. But you can get a good look at it from a canoe on the Milwaukee River, which the course straddles. So maybe I'll try to get a few pictures once the ice melts, usually the third week of June.

A Certain Interest. I've been watching that new Ray Romano show – not the Hank Haney show on the Golf Channel, the other new Ray Romano show: "Men of a Certain Age" on TNT. As a man of a certain age, I've found myself drawn into it. As he did in "Everybody Loves Raymond," Romano (who is also a co-creator and writer) essentially plays himself. But this time it's as a little deeper, darker Ray: His character Joe has a gambling problem. He also loves golf. We know from promos for the new season of "The Haney Project" that the real Ray is capable of shooting in the 80s, but he's never broken 80 (consistency seems to be a problem). So I found it amusing that he made Joe a scratch golfer, one with an eye on making the senior Tour in a few years. I caught myself thinking, "Come on, Ray, we know you're not scratch!" But it's just one of the perks of creating your own show, I suppose.

I wonder ... do bloggers have the same power!? From now on, as far as you know, The Whiffler is a scratch golfer. (Did you suspend your disbelief, just a little?)

But here's another thing I don't get -- when did a "season" of a show get to be just 10 episodes? Is that a cable thing? The first season is already over. I don't know if they'll be showing reruns, but you can watch full episodes here, and the only kinda-sorta golf-related clip I could find below: