Forget it. Some dude at the CA Championship proved that little theory wrong this week.

Oh, and while we’re at it, we’re guessing if the Padraig Harrington train ever slips off golf’s tracks, he could always collect his pay as a teacher.

Probably geography, with maybe a little history.

In case you missed it, some scribe asked Harrington, who is as Irish as they come, this little doozy:

Pregnant pause. No one knows if Harrington was actually contemplating the answer or trying to reason how said reporter actually made it past week one of journalism school.

Now, geography was never one of my strengths. In fact, when it came to most enjoyable moments in high school, I’m guessing it would rank somewhere between detention and, well, suspension.

Then again, if I’m going to put myself out there and ask a golfer a geography question in a packed media centre, I’m going to do my homework.

Wondering if Harrington gave the hack a mulligan? How ‘bout no:

Almost have to feel sorry for the reporter. Nothing quite like getting dressed down by a multiple-major winner in front of your peers.

Quick, someone buy the guy a (North American) pint. And a globe.

Much to the chagrin of opportunists who were making a healthy buck by selling their antiquated Eye 2 sticks on eBay, an agreement has been reached between PING and the PGA Tour that will ban the use of those old square-grooved wedges effective later this month. Phil Mickelson, John Daly, Fred Couples and Hunter Mahan were among those using the older wedges to get around the new groove rule.

Judging by results, Couples and Mahan were using them effectively. Mickelson and Daly, not so much.

The wedges had been deemed “legal” thanks to a loophole stemming from a 1990 lawsuit by PING against the PGA Tour and USGA. The use of the wedges ruffled some feathers, leading Scott McCarron to label Mickelson a “cheater.” The two have since kissed and made up.

Great news. Now Tim Finchem can breathe again:

“John Solheim and Ping had a terrific opportunity to do something very positive and significant for the game of golf and we very much appreciate his willingness to take this action,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.

A little over-the-top, perhaps, but this is one headache that Finchem wanted to just go away, and now it has. He can’t be blamed for letting out his relieved sigh in the form of a gushing press-release quote.

As pointed out by AP golf guru Doug Ferguson, “in return for the waiver, Solheim is hopeful equipment companies will have a stronger voice when the USGA makes new rules.”

Presto. Timing is everything, and now it’s been revealed that the USGA will hold an equipment summit this autumn. Coincidence? Of course not.

From the USGA release:

In an effort to improve the equipment rulemaking process, the USGA will hold a forum on the process of equipment rulemaking in Fall 2010. The forum will be held at Golf House in Far Hills, N.J., on a specific date to be determined and announced at a later time. We will invite all stakeholders in the game to participate, including manufacturers, players, media, golf organizations and other interested parties. The main purpose of this forum is to allow stakeholders the opportunity to make their views on equipment rulemaking known to the USGA, and to each other. Appropriate protocols will be established to allow an efficient and fair opportunity for those wishing to participate.

Although he wasn’t sure if any of his players were planning on using PING Eye2 wedges in 2010, Canadian Tour Tournament Director Randy Korn seemed pleased with the agreement.

“The Canadian Tour is extemely pleased to hear that the USGA and PING have come to an agreement. This agreement will, without doubt, help to level the playing field for all professional tour players worldwide,” said Korn from Florida, where the tour is playing their Q-School this week.

So all is well in wedge world again. Between bailing sponsors and the fact that you-know-you has been AWOL, the PGA Tour has a lot of pressing issues these days.

This tit-for-tat shouldn’t have been among them.

I had the chance to catch up with Disco Dick at the Toronto Golf Show over the weekend, where we chatted about several things, including Sagebrush, his new gem of a course in the B.C. interior, his potential return to competitive golf and, yes, even that Hall of Fame announcement.

As is always the case, Zokol had plenty to say and we’ll post an in-depth feature in the coming days. As for the HoF announcement, Zokol isn’t sure what all the fuss is about. He said he took a couple of phone calls from well-known reporters Thursday, one of whom even offered congratulations prior to the RCGA announcement.

Zokol seemed extremely pleased with the news that the late, great Ben Kern would finally get his rightful place in the Hall and said the RCGA couldn’t go wrong with the selection of Kern, Graham Cooke and Brent Franklin.

It sounds like Zokol won’t be sitting by the phone this time next year. Most figure he’s on the short list to get inducted, but Zokol insists there is nothing he can do about it. The betting here is he’ll get the nod within the next year or two, but Zokol seems content with whatever transpires – although his Hall induction is likely a case of when, and not if.

A brief, impromptu email exchange I had with RCGA media coordinator Terry Lenyk on Thursday didn’t exactly throw me off the scent. Just minutes before the teleconference to announce the 2010 inductees, Lenyk fired me off an email making sure I would be on the call, hinting there was a Canadian Tour connection to one of the members - an obvious reference to the years I spent as the Media Relations Director with that circuit.

My instincts were confirmed. Zokol was getting the call, right?

Wrong.

The RCGA and Hall of Fame unveiled three extremely worthy inductees in Brent Franklin, Ben Kern and Graham Cooke. Really, you can’t go wrong with any of them although Franklin seemed surprised as anyone Thursday, even if he had obviously been aware of his induction for days, if not weeks.

While living out west, I remember following Franklin at the first Greater Vancouver Open in ’96, which Mike Weir would win a few years later when it was known as the Air Canada Championship. Despite being seriously hurt in a cycling accident just months before, Franklin flirted with the lead for most of the week before a final round 76 sent him south on the leaderboard. Almost every spectator at Northview seemed to be in Franklin’s gallery, and I can recall how the joint erupted when he snaked home an unlikely birdie putt to close out his third round. For those wondering, Guy Boros ended up winning the event.

If Franklin appeared surprised, he shouldn’t have been. He won the Canadian Amateur three consecutive years from 1985 to 1987 and helped lead Canada to the World Amateur Team title in 1986. Franklin was also the Canadian Junior champ in ’83 and ’84 and captured the Canadian PGA crown in ’88 to cap off an astounding six straight national titles.

According to the RCGA release, Cooke will go in under the player category but is also known as one of the best course architects in the business. Cooke holds the record for most national championships held by a male amateur, with seven Canadian Mid-Am titles to go along with four Canadian Senior championships. Cooke also won the Quebec Amateur four times and represented the Quebec team at the Willingdon Cup on 27 occasions. Yes, read that again – 27.

Along with a several colleagues, I had the privilege of enjoying a pint and some wings with Cooke a couple of summers ago after playing his outstanding course, Piper’s Heath, and was left little doubt of his profound love of golf, both as a player and architect. There is no doubt Cooke belongs in the Hall.

The late, great Kern is about as close to a no-brainer as you can get for induction. In fact, like Cooke, an argument can be made that his inclusion is long overdue. Kern, who passed away in 2002 at a far-too-young 56, was the first Canadian to be an NCAA First Team All American and later moved on to the PGA Tour for more than half a decade, but he truly left his mark as one of the best instructors on the planet, particularly towards junior golf in this country.

Three men, all deserving of their place in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

As for Zokol, it is just a matter of time. Zokol is a sportswriter’s dream, never shy to offer his opinion. In the past, Zokol’s candidness may have ruffled a few feathers at the RCGA, which may or may not have anything to do with his exclusion so far. You have to think someone, somewhere, nominated Zokol this year.

There has to be room for a two-time PGA Tour winner and former Canadian Am champ who has given an awful lot to Canadian golf.

If nothing else, maybe Ian Poulter just found something else to do with his middle finger.

Then again, maybe he was just pulling for Team Canada in that gold medal hockey showdown at the Olympics.

Either way, Poulter, who always seems to be persona non grata in the U.S., probably didn’t do himself any favours Sunday after the gang over at Waggle Room posted a picture via The Golf Channel of the Englishman apparently letting the American crowd know what he thought of ‘em.

Juvenile? Perhaps. Funny? You bet.

Most in Canada missed the incident – and if you need to ask why, you probably were one of the three or four Canadians that hadn’t tuned in to the Olympics – but Poulter knocked his tee shot to within a few feet at the infamous 16th at TPC Scottsdale. As you’ve probably guessed by now, Poulter missed the putt, igniting a crescendo of “USA! USA!” chants from the equally drunk and patriotic throng around the hole. Poulter, never one shy on letting everyone know how he feels, tapped in for par, picked up the ball and either scratched a sudden itch on his beak or flipped the bird. You decide.

No matter. Great entertainment - and I’ve never been one of Poulter’s most vocal supporters.

Of course, Poulter is blowing off the incident, dropping the following tweet on his Twitter account:

Uh, OK.

Egg, perhaps?

It may now be known as the Wasted Ma – oh, sorry, my bad – WASTE Management Phoenix Open, but this is still golf’s Party Central – just with someone else picking up the tab.

Even with a different name, it remains the rowdiest stop on tour and those not possessing thick skin may as well not even commit to the event. As in the past, there were the raucous cheers at 16 and boos for missed greens and missed putts.

From Geoff Shackelford, who was in the middle of the party in the desert:

Geez, Robert Allenby playing Shooter McGavin in the PGA Tour’s version of Happy Gilmore? Who knew?

Perhaps the purists, the traditionalists, shake their heads when they see the beer flowing, the girls flashing, at Mardi Gras on grass, but the players, for the most part, don’t seem to have an issue with it. The galleries and packed, the joint is hopping and people actually talk about the golf.

Given what story has dominated the headlines in recent months, that can never be a bad thing for the PGA Tour.

There is a reason plenty of players circle this date on the calendar as soon as the schedule is released. It’s one of the most popular events on tour because most players embrace the atmosphere.

Well, save for a few who may want to take the week off in 2011.

Maybe it’s time he started acting it. Enough with the tiresome whiny, spoiled brat routine.

If you weren’t paying attention to the Accenture Match Play last weekend, choosing instead to watch the Olympics or get into that inevitable debate over Tiger’s staged apology, you may have missed Ian Poulter steamrolling over everything in his path en route to his first triumph on this side of the Atlantic. In his semi-final showdown butt kicking with El Nino, the Englishman slapped around the Spaniard to a 7 & 6 tune.

Afterwards, instead of biting his lip and admitting Poulter had his number, Sergio chose instead to be, well, Sergio.

Poulter didn’t get into a whole lot of trouble against Garcia except on #7, the only hole of the day that he would lose. Poulter found himself in the junk and called a rules official over, looking to get a drop. After being told he could take the drop, Poulter took a while to make up his mind whether or not he actually wanted to use it. In the end, he played his shot from the original lie.

Shortly after making rather short work of his foe, the two shook hands before Garcia pulled Poulter aside and let him know what he thought about the delay.

But that wasn’t enough. Garcia then went on CBS and decided to carry on:

Yes, Sergio, he will be fine, provided he keeps getting to meet you at match play. Instead of just sucking it up and admitting he was second-best, Sergio had to haul the Kleenex out of the bag and whine about the only hole of the day he won.

So lame. So Sergio.

And, sadly, so predictable.

Warning: if you’re eating breakfast or lunch as you read this, swallow right now and don’t take another bite. Trust me.

Ready? John Daly is going to be posing in underwear. A lot.

See, aren’t you glad I gave you that little heads-up?

Relax, Daly isn’t going to be an underwear model in the literal sense but will merely be hawkin’ briefs, having signed on as a pitchman with Slix, a gitch company that has been in business for a few months.

Relax, Alessandra Ambrosio. You aren’t out of a job yet.

You just knew that lap-band surgery would come in handy somewhere, didn’t you? And given the state of Long John’s game – and yes, that Long John pun is unintentional – you’ve got to take what you can get when it comes to endorsement deals.

From Heather Jones at Real Women Golf:

Something about that is just plain wrong, isn’t it? Two safe bets we can now put down on Daly:

1) He is going to be a heck of an underwear pitchman and

2) He doesn’t go commando when playing golf.

Between his new undies and those ridiculously wild pants he wears courtesy of Loudmouth Golf, Daly is turning into a trimmed-down, over-par fashion statement, which new squeeze Anna Cladakis probably finds quite irresistible.

We’re guessing Anna is in the minority.

Augusta National.

Prior to Friday’s announcement, I would have given even odds that we’d see Tiger at The Masters. His record, his ego would almost dictate an appearance. Right now, that seems very much in doubt.

It says here he may want to give serious thought to booking a flight to Georgia the first week of April.

Simply put, the easiest way to make this story go away is to have Tiger return to the links and start beating the living daylights out of everyone up on the leaderboard. Only then will the talk get back to golf.

And there is no better stage for him to return than Augusta. Win or lose The Masters, at least Woods can start getting his name back in the paper for the right reasons.

***

Lost in the gong show of Tiger and the Accenture Match Play was the Canadian Tour, which kicked off its 2010 season this past weekend in Colombia – surprise, surprise - in a $220,000 event co-sanctioned with the Tour de las Americas and European Challenge Tour.

With 2009 Order of Merit champion Graham DeLaet having made the jump to the PGA Tour, there are several Canucks looking to follow in DeLaet’s footsteps.

My money is on Wes Heffernan or James Love stealing the Canadian spotlight on the homegrown circuit, but don’t count out darkhorse Derek Gillespie of Oshawa. To many, Gillespie, without a tour win in close to seven years, is yesterday’s news. But a few months removed from a $100,000 payday on The Golf Channel’s Big Break, Gillespie still has the game to find his way to at least the Nationwide Tour.

If he can catch lightning in a bottle early this season and get some confidence, watch out.

***

RANDOM OLYMPIC THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: What’s with Canadian women’s hockey coach Mel Davidson letting her troops roll up an 18-0 win over shell-shocked Slovakia in women’s hockey? The same Slovakia that has a pool of about 300 players to choose from nationwide? Impressive feat. There’s some serious Olympic spirit there, huh? For those keeping score, Canada went 3-0 in the round robin, outscoring the opposition 41-2. No wonder most of the world views international women’s hockey as a complete joke.

He has always controlled his message, and that isn’t about to change. Especially now.

Today will be a staged event. Very little media and all of Tiger’s associates right at his side. No questions and, you can be assured, no real breaking news. What Tiger doesn’t want known will remain a secret. That’s the way he does things and maybe that is the way it should be. About golf, and nothing else.

Even the mighty Golf Writers Association of American, which could have sent three select writers to Ponte Vedra Beach, took a pass on attending.

According to AP golf writer Doug Ferguson, Tim Finchem circulated a memo to players which read in part:

“As we understand it, Tiger’s therapy called for a week’s break at this time during which he has spent a few days with his children and then will make his statement before returning,” Finchem said in a letter Thursday. “Accordingly, there was very little flexibility in the date for the announcement.”

Finchem said in the letter that Woods’ management asked for the facilities, and “we agreed as we would for any member of the PGA Tour.”

Wow. Daly, Thorpe, Barron, you guys catch that?

The timing of the announcement seems a little peculiar as well, seeing how the third round of the Accenture Match Play will be staged Friday as well. Woods’ handlers point out that the press conference was scheduled outside the window for television coverage, but it’s hard to view the timing of the media get-together in Florida as a mere coincidence. For those in need of a refresher, Accenture dropped Tiger from its sponsorship payroll shortly after this whole fiasco went public. Take that, Accenture.

Friday, if nothing else, should be very interesting.

No matter what comes out of his mouth in Florida, one thing hasn’t changed over the past few months.

Tiger still calls the shots.