The girth, right? That’s just too easy. If you said cupcakes and cheeseburgers, congratulations – you get a consolation prize.

But there’s more between the men, at least if you listen to Daly.

Seems Long John was at a fundraiser in Saskatchewan when he opined that he felt like The Babe of the golf world for never being named to a Ryder Cup team, just as Ruth never received the call to manage in the bigs:

It seems a rather passing comment, but Daly, a two-time major winner, probably would have been a shoo-in for a Ryder Cup squad had he not led such a wild, carousing lifestyle off the course. Which, as anyone with any knowledge of baseball history will tell you, was also a Babe trademark. In fact, Ed Barrow once remarked Ruth would never manage the New York Yankees because “he couldn’t manage himself”, which sounds all too familiar when talking about Daly, doesn’t it?

Daly will always be remembered as a people’s champion, a blue-collar guy with blue-collar issues in life that the blue-collar guys of the world could relate to.

History will also show he was a two-time major champion who turned out to be a pretty darn good golfer.

Those off-course issues may have prevented him from being great. Or, if nothing else, U.S. Ryder Cup member.

***

Hanging out with friends over the weekend, talk, as it often does, turned to golf and, in particular, the Ryder Cup.

One of my pals said that Corey Pavin’s selection of Tiger was “just stupid.” And, no, the irony of the stupid comment wasn’t lost on me.

It is truly mind-boggling how some people believe Pavin should have passed on the still-world-number-one.

Apparently, said friend has only watched Woods play the past six months or so.

***
You know it’s a slow week in golf when Jose Manuel Lara winning in Austria is your top story of the weekend.

Serves the no-good, two-timing cheater right, huh?

Well, if you needed another reason not to tune in to the so-called climax of the 2010 playoffs and choose instead to pound back a few pints, get chicken wing sauce stains on your shirt and make sure you have six different football games going on the big screen, well, you found it.

With all due respect to Dustin Johnson, Charley Hoffman and Matt Kuchar, the final event of the Fed Ex Cup without Woods is akin to watching paint dry from a television perspective. Not exactly earth shattering news, I know, but the scenario unfolding this week has got to be making Tim Finchem and the fellow suits in the PGA Tour head office cringe. If there was a dream end to this playoff – cough, cough – race, it ended when Woods failed to make it out of the BMW Championship Sunday.

No matter how many cocktail waitresses he met behind the clubhouse, no matter how bad his game seemed to be at times – remember that 79 at Quail Hollow? – Woods is still money as far as the television execs are concerned. Not that the Tour Championship was ever expected to be on a level playing field with the NFL, but now, for those sitting on the fence when it came to football or golf next Sunday, the decision has pretty well been made for them. Apart from the diehards or those that simply cannot stand professional football, there is really no reason for the casual golf fan to tune in to the PGA Tour a week from Sunday, is there?

Tiger still drives the PGA Tour bus. Without him at the wheel, that bus will sputter to the finish line.

The Battle at East Lake may indeed turn out to be just that, a colossal battle where the FedEx Cup is decided on the final hole. With or without Tiger, there are plenty of storylines.

Too bad most of the sports world will greet it with a collective yawn.

Just in case you weren’t paying attention over the weekend and, given the excitement of the FedEx Cup you certainly couldn’t be blamed, Wi decided to take a shot at Weir and Baddeley for reasons we still can’t comprehend. Wi was tied for the lead after his round Friday and instead of taking it with a bit of class, he decided to throw a few darts in defense of his swing coaches Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett. For those not up to date on such things, Weir dumped the two coaches in the spring of ’09.

Part of Wi’s rather perplexing diatribe:

Sure, Wi is entitled to his opinion, but really, he should be the last one dropping verbal grenades on anyone. Last I checked, Weir’s eight wins on tour are eight more than Wi has managed. Coming off the worst season of his PGA Tour career, it might be easy to pile on Weir right now but he didn’t exactly light it up during his stack and tilt years, either.

It was pre-2006 that Weir enjoyed the most success of his career, long before Plummer and Bennett arrived on the scene. Judging by his comments that Weir “was” one of the worst ball strikers, won twice with his coaches and decided that wasn’t good enough, it seems Wi is referencing pre-2006 when talking about the Canadian.

Obviously, he didn’t do his homework. While certainly not among the best ball strikers back then, he was far from being lumped in with the worst. From 2006 to mid-2009, when Bennett and Plummer worked with Weir, they didn’t exactly wave the magic wand with the lefty, either, seeing how Weir never cracked the top 120 in ball striking. That isn’t to blame the coaches, but to put the accomplishments of the stack and tilt boys in perspective, at least when it comes to Weir.

Oh, and for the record, Weir didn’t twice with Bennett and Plummer but just once. Mike Wilson gets the coaching credit for the other seven triumphs.

You would think a guy so willing to take a shot at an eight-time PGA Tour winner would know what he is talking about.

***

I have to admit I was caught off guard when I heard the news that sports agent Chris Armstrong had left IMG to join the Wasserman Group.

Had a chance to catch up with Armstrong regularly over the years when he came out to Canadian Tour events to follow some of his lesser-known clients. And when I saw follow, I mean literally. Armstrong would walk every single hole with some of his boys, among them Chris Baryla and James Lepp.

Recently he represented high-profile golfers Stephen Ames and Anthony Kim, among others. Armstrong is one of the best in the business.

IMG’s loss is certainly Wasserman’s gain.

So says the extremely reliable Steve Elling over at CBSSports.com, who gives his visitors an up-close-and-personal look into this unique relationship, from the moment Tiger began giving Foley that bedroom-eyes glance – and yes, we mean that in the loosest term possible – about a month ago.

Not long after, Foley’s cell rang, and Elling tells the tale:

And now, Foley says, Tiger has it figured out:

By golf standards, Foley and Tiger seem a match made in heaven. The best player on the planet, down on his luck, starting to get it turned around under the guidance of one of the hottest swing coaches in the business. Imagine, if you can, the credit Foley will get should Tiger find the winner’s circle this week at the BMW Championship.

Looking at his game, Woods doesn’t seem to be that far off. And once he gets that taste of winning again, it could once again become a rather regular occurrence.

During an interview I had with the tell-it-like-it-is Foley a year and a half ago, he hinted he would love to work with Tiger.

And life just got a lot more fun for Sean Foley.

As rumours of cheating on the LPGA Tour just not going away, 14-year-old Zach Nash went the other way when he actually disqualified himself after claiming medallist honours at a Wisconsin PGA event.

His offence? One too many clubs in his bag. And here’s the thing – no one would have ever known the difference.

Nash did, however.

From an interview with AP:

So, let’s set the stage. It’s the Milwaukee County Parks Tour Invitational last week, and Nash takes care of 31 other competitors to claim bragging rights in the 13-14 division. Grandma and Grandpa even make the trip from Iowa to see the kid wax the competition.

Afterwards, he heads over to Rivermoor GC, where he plays, to get a little more practice in and shoot the breeze with Chris Wood, the club’s head professional. Probably shows off a little bling as well, in the form of his new medal.

Then Nash’s math skills were put to the test:

Uh oh. The kid called Rule 4-4 on himself, two strokes for each hole played with more than 14 sticks in the bag.

Maximum penalty is four strokes, but the end result? He signed for an incorrect scorecard.

DQ time. And no, we don’t mean Dairy Queen.

Later that night, Nash made a phone call to officials and sent back his medal. A kid Nash beat by three shots moved up one step on the podium.

All because a 14-year-old is just honest and follows the gentlemanly traditions of the game.

Would most kids in his position have done the same thing? It would be somewhat naïve to think so, which is a kinder, gentler way of saying not a chance.

But this one did, hours after he broke a rule.

And taught us a little lesson in the process.

***

Speaking of that cheating on the LPGA Tour, it’s looking more and more like Koreans Ilmi Chung and Shi Hyun Ahn did indeed try to conspire and pull a naughty at the CN Canadian Women’s Open.

Or so says Tim Hegna, Ahn’s own caddie in Winnipeg, during an interview with Waggle Room:

Hegna is not being shy about ratting out his player and approached LPGA Tour officials with his story, but was told the Rules of Golf were indeed obeyed.

Sounds like the Michael Whan and the LPGA front office is keeping things hush-hush and hiding a dirty little secret. What message that is sending to everyone else on tour is anyone’s guess, but you can be sure you haven’t heard that last of this.

***

Uh, Chad Campbell, enjoy wearing that dunce cap for the rest of the winter.

It seems Tour officials actually let Campbell play a round in Boston before they realized their own goof. Campbell had a round under his belt but never registered on-site for the tournament. For those unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes stuff of a pro tournament, it doesn’t matter how many tour officials see you on the course and in the clubhouse prior to the opening round, if you don’t register for the event, you don’t play. It’s simple.

Just as surprising as Campbell’s brain cramp is the fact no tournament official called him prior to Friday with a friendly reminder to register. On the Canadian Tour, it was common practice late Wednesday to call the few players that had yet to register. These are big boys, sure, but with pro ams, late arrivals and practice rounds, stuff happens from time to time. The call is seen more as a courtesy to the player than anything.

Then again, maybe Campbell needs a few screws tightened between the ears. Last year, he was on his way to Hawaii for the Sony Open when he remembered he never committed for the event.

Sensing a pattern here?

Pause for dramatic effect.

No telling what will come out of Michael Whan’s office in the next couple of days, or if Koreans Shi Hyun Ahn and Ilmi Chung will shock the world and admit they conspired to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes in Winnipeg. The lack of updates on this story suggests that maybe it’s not as big a deal as Larry Smich wants you to think, even if Golfweek is beginning their own external investigation.

The part of Smich’s account that still has me baffled is that two Korean-born players would actually communicate with each other in, get this, Korean. If that doesn’t point to automatic guilt, our justice system –or at least the one south of the border – is in need of an overhaul.

***

Not to make light of a potentially devastating situation, but a word of caution to those fortunate enough to be in the starting field for this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.

Don’t forget the rain gear.

Oh, and you may want to pack some water wings. Just in case.

It’s September which means the start of two seasons on the East Coast – NFL and hurricane. And, right on schedule, here comes Earl barrelling towards the coastline with Cape Cod and surrounding area right in his sights.

Early projections have Earl hitting the Boston area early Friday, dumping more than five inches of rain and packing winds ranging from 55 to 130 MPH.

We’ll say it first. 54-hole event. We’d say Monday finish, but it’s already ending Monday. Or so we think.

***

Colin Montgomerie’s captain picks for the Ryder Cup may have raised a few eyebrows, but we won’t know the ramifications until after the Cup is presented in Wales.

Win, Monty looks like a genius. Lose and, well, prepare to be stoned – figuratively speaking of course.

The rumour making the rounds is that Paul Casey and Justin Rose may have been passed on is they have played so much of the season in the U.S. as opposed to in Europe. Politics in the Ryder Cup – who knew?

That didn’t sit well with Luke Donald, who was one of Monty’s picks:

Despite being hampered by a rib injury that has been bothering him, there is no logical reason why Casey was left off the European team. Casey, with his 12th place finish over the weekend, is ranked number eight in the world. This one could come back to haunt Montgomerie.

If the Euros don’t win in Wales, Monty is going to take a beating in the papers overseas.

Show up, keep up, shut up. It’s a pretty universal saying in tour circles.

Even more experienced caddies like Larry Smich may want to take note. Well, at least the shut up part anyway.

During a week where the stories of the CN Canadian Women’s Open should have been Michelle, mosquitoes and Manitoba, Smich got a little of the Stephen Williams syndrome and actually believed his opinion is something we can’t live without.

In case you missed it, Smich continued his rather apparent personal vendetta against Korean-born players on the LPGA Tour, using vague (not to mention conflicting) second-hand accounts to accuse Koreans Shi Hyun Ahn and Ilmi Chung of trying to pull a fast one in Winnipeg.

Here, with a tip of the cap to Bob Weeks at SCOREGolf, is what Smich had to ramble on about in his blog:

Um, Larry, couple of things here.

Given the language barrier issues Korean players seem to have on the LPGA Tour, there really isn’t some sort of conspiracy theory when Ahn and Chung “conversed in Korean.” As for the alleged statement “you didn’t see anything” directed at the caddie, could it not have been uttered in the form of a question? You know, like when a player asks his caddie “How far to clear that hazard?”

“You did not see anything?”

Sort of changes the context of the sentence, doesn’t it?

I’m not defending Ahn and Chung here. Over at Waggle Room, Ryan Ballengee says in an update he is hearing that the third caddie in the group, who was looping for Danielle Downey, was getting ready to rat out the two Koreans for playing each other’s ball as they prepared to sign their scorecards. Apparently, only then did Ahn and/or Chung call for a rules official, which all but ensured they would be getting DQ’d.

In yet another update Sunday afternoon, Ballengee says it was actually Ahn’s caddie who told the story to Smich. Weeks adds a source tells him the Koreans called the LPGA Tour officials from their hotel room, a couple of hours after they signed their cards.

Which, whether the allegations are proven or not, brings us back to Smich.

Smich has caddied on the LPGA Tour since 1977, which makes him one of the more experienced loopers in the business. In all those years, his bosses have racked up a grand total of three wins. You do the math.

There’s probably a reason he doesn’t have a full-time bag.

Perhaps these allegations against Ahn and Chung will prove founded and that they were indeed busted cheating. But posting a garbage blog based on hearsay and then thumping your chest in an “I told you so” sort of way when it comes to Korean players makes one seem like a bit of a doofus. Not to mention stereotyping racist.

Did the Koreans cheat in Winnipeg? Maybe.

Not my place, as I can’t say definitively. After all, I didn’t see what happened.

Maybe Smich should have taken the high road and let the officials deal with the situation. Then again, that would have required him to keep his mouth shut.

Is this the week that Wie finally takes her first steps towards stardom?

OK, that might be stretching it a bit but, with the best of the best on the LPGA Tour converging on the ‘Peg for the CN Canadian Women’s Open, Wie certainly looked the part of superstar at St. Charles, dunking an ace en route to a 65 and the opening day lead.

Can she hang on and get a win north of the 49th? Past history suggests probably not, but if nothing else, it’s another reason for casual fans to tune in this weekend.

It would be a bonus for Canadian golf fans if Wie, golf’s version of The Next One, could find a way to get it done in Winnipeg. No matter what you may think of her career choices to date, her parents or even the state of her game, there is little doubt that Wie is money in terms of LPGA popularity going forward. She may not be the best player on the loop, but she is the most marketable and that makes her Michael Whan’s meal ticket.

One has to think Whan and LPGA Tour officials are salivating at the thought of their poster child winning one of the flagship events on the schedule, not to mention a national championship.

There are more than a few people with fingers crossed – and not just north of the 49th – that Wie can stay in contention this weekend.

***

Keep an eye on the Canadian Tour Championship going on in St. Catharines this week. Better yet, make the trip down the QEW and see the best of the circuit slug it out for $325,000, the most lucrative purse the Canadian Tour has ever seen.

The event caps off a bittersweet summer run across this fine land for Canadian Tour Commissioner Rick Janes. While playing for a big purse this week, along with a $300,000 stop in Winnipeg and a trio of $250,000 events, Janes told me recently priority number one is plugging a few holes in the summer schedule to round out his players’ travel schedule. He’s got one new event pencilled in for Fort McMurray and is burning the midnight oil trying to get a few others under contract.

***

Things that make you go “hmmmmmm.” Just a couple of days after his divorce is made official, Tiger has his best round of the year. Coincidence? Discuss.

***

So, in case you missed it, Adam Shaw and Gajan Sivabalasingham won the GAO’s Junior Boys Better Ball Championship earlier this week at Shelburne G&CC.

Not sure what is more impressive: the win itself or the caddy master that somehow had to spell SIVABALASINGHAM, let alone find a way to get it on a bib.

Seems Inkster knew she was going to have to wait a while on the backed-up tenth tee, so she pulled out a 9-iron, attached a training doughnut weight to it and limbered up.

Only that is a no-no in golf – and just a plain stupid rule.

Say what you want about Dustin Johnson and Jose de Jesus Gonzales and their unfortunate DQs from tournaments they both could have very well won. We can argue about whether or not Johnson’s grounding of a club was indeed in a bunker – although, it would be a pretty short argument as the PGA Tour rules officials said yes – and Rodriguez didn’t sign his card.

But Inkster? For keeping warmed up on the tee when there was going to be a long wait? So she can take as many swings as she wants with that 9-iron but don’t you dare attach a doughnut to the club? In internet lingo, that is known as WTF?

Perhaps the only thing worse than the actual rule is the loser sitting on his couch that actually caught the infraction and called the LPGA Tour.

Again, not the first time, but honestly, some people need to find something else to do with their lives.

***

Hmmm. Tiger and Elin divorced? Huh? What happened?

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, this most miserable of seasons for Canada’s glory boy on the links, but it ended as most figured it would at the Wyndham Championship. Missed cut, missed playoffs. For the first time since the PGA Tour’s rather lame playoff structure was unveiled in 2007, Weir will be watching from his couch, just like the rest of us.

Oddly enough, Toronto Sun columnist Steve Buffery took a lot of criticism for his column during the Canadian Open titled “Is Weir Washed Up?” Dismiss for a moment that the wrath of fans and media were misdirected for, as most of us know in this business, writers generally don’t write their own headlines. Then again, it shouldn’t really matter.

See, for those who know him, Beezer is a bit of a shock scribe, who likes to ruffle your feathers by playing the miserable middle-aged dude who gets paid to, well, ruffle your feathers. He knew his piece would get a rise out of Canadian fans.

He was right. And, sadly, Buffery may be a lot closer to the truth than his critics care to admit.

Weir has said himself he is struggling with his game, with his confidence, with his health. And let’s face it, nagging injuries like his current elbow issues don’t heal nearly as quickly at 40 as they did at 30.

The miserable campaign was probably caused by a lot of things. Confidence. Injuries. His lack of length off the tee finally catching up to him with today’s long bombers blowing tee shots by his. Figure this: Weir was still money with the flat stick, finishing second on the PGA Tour in putts per round. Once he got on the green, Weir, as usual, got the job done. The problem was getting there.

It’s not time to drop the curtain on his career, but there is little doubt that his star is slowly fading, to quote a line Buffery used.

Washed up? Not quite. But Weir said as much himself this season. He sucked.

Sadly, in 2010, he’s not going to get much of an argument from a country that still adores him.

***

Next time you think you’ve had a tough day at work, think of Mexico’s Jose de Jesus Rodriguez.

At the Canadian Tour’s Seaforth Country Classic Saturday, Rodriguez lit it up for a course-record typing 10-under 61 on moving day and build a three-shot lead heading into the final day.

How can that be bad news, you ask?

Well, he didn’t take a three shot lead into the final day. Instead, he forgot to sign his scorecard and got the dreaded DQ scrawled beside his name.

No matter how many times it happens, no matter how many times you say “There’s no one to blame but himself”, you’ve got to admit that stings.

If there is any justice in the golf world, Rodriguez goes down the highway to St. Catharines and wins the $325,000 Canadian Tour Championship.

Oh, and we’re betting that’s the last time he leaves the scoring area without double-checking his card.