Well, would you look at this: the PGA Tour is actually bending a bit and recognizing that maybe one of its rules isn’t quite the immutable Word of God after all.

In a statement, Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has suspended the rule requiring all golfers to play in a pro-am at the risk of instant disqualification. Jim Furyk, you’ll recall, discovered that the Tour doesn’t play around with this rule when he was DQ’ed from the Barclays last week after oversleeping and missing his pro-am tee time.

Here’s the meat of the statement, which is startling in its common sense: "Hereafter, should a player be late for his pro-am starting time, the situation will be handled as a matter of unbecoming conduct. Such player will be required to participate in the remainder of the pro-am round and may be required to perform additional sponsor activity. A player who misses his pro-am obligation in its entirety will still be ruled ineligible for the tournament unless he has been excused in accordance with the provisions of the regulations."

Of course. That makes total, perfect sense. If a guy’s late, whether because of oversleeping, getting caught in traffic, or dropping his date off for her morning shift at the Waffle Hut (what? it’s a hypothetical!), he shouldn’t be penalized to the degree of losing out on the tournament.

Phil Mickelson ripped the PGA Tour for the rule after Furyk’s disqualification, noting that less than half the field is entered into pro-ams and thus is held to a higher standard than their anonymous brethren who get Wednesdays off.  "If you’re going to have a rule that does not apply to everybody, because not everybody played the pro-am, you cannot have it affect the competition," Mickelson said last week. "I cannot disagree with it more. I have no idea how the commissioner let this rule go through. It’s ridiculous." And now it’s gone, at least for this year. 

Somebody go wake Furyk and tell him the good news!

(Image via Serendipity Deals)

The 2010 European Ryder Cup team is fast becoming as notable for who’s not on the roster — Justin Rose and Paul Casey — as who is, with one notable exception: Padraig Harrington.

Everybody’s second-favorite golfin’ Irishman was a surprise pick to join the Ryder Cup team, especially with Rose and Casey left at home. Yes, Harrington has three majors, but 2008 U.S. captain Paul Azinger aired the views of many when he took to Twitter to write, "Shocking revelation..Padraig 0 wins in 2 yrs. 0 wins in last 10 Ryder Cup matches!"

That’s not quite true — Harrington has played in only nine Ryder matches over the last two Cups, but he hasn’t won a single one. In fact, he hasn’t won since 2004, when he went 4-1. Two of those wins, he played with — wait for it — Colin Montgomerie. Since his dramatic two-major season of 2008, Harrington has exactly zero wins on the PGA Tour, with four missed cuts in eight majors. No way to slice that to where it doesn’t look ugly.

Harrington will bring steadiness to the European team, if not necessarily the talent of a Rose or a Casey. And perhaps that’s what Montgomerie is looking for — Casey, of course, had an opportunity to challenge for the British Open in July but spit the bit against Louis Oosthuizen, for instance.

More interesting for the longer term is the way that the European leaders apparently factored loyalty to the European Tour into the equation. Eduardo Molinari, who spent most of his time playing in Europe, got the nod over arguably more talented players who have spent more time stateside. It’s a philosophy that even Luke Donald, who was the third captain’s pick, takes issue with.

"The team has to look harder at the qualification system and whether it’s the correct way to do it or whether there’s a better way," Donald said. "Golf really is becoming a world game. I understand they won’t protect the European Tour but at the same time, the top guys are going to want to play against the best players in the world and shouldn’t be penalized for that."

If the action on the course is half as good as the politics and backbiting beforehand, this is going to be the best Ryder Cup ever.

For years we golf scribes sat around, scratching our heads, wondering when Justin Rose, the one-time amateur phenom turned professional, would start winning big events.

His game always seemed solid, but it never came together when he needed it to. Some great play at the 2003 U.S. Open, and another solid performance at the ’07 Masters, but for the most part, he was just another young star that flamed out before we got a chance to watch him shine.

But 2010 has been different. Rose shot a blistering 66 on Sunday at the Memorial to beat Rickie Fowler by three shots for his first ever PGA Tour victory. The problem was, that win came a little too late, and Rose wasn’t allowed in the field at Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open, even though he had just won one of the biggest non-major tournaments of the year.

It was a strange situation for Rose, and golf fans in general, as the 30-year-old Englishman was playing some of the best golf of anyone in the world, but wouldn’t be invited to the second major championship of the year.

That was his first bad moment of 2010. The second came on Sunday, when Rose wasn’t named to the European Ryder Cup team. A strange decision by Colin Montgomerie (but not a bad one, per se, since he had so much talent to pick from), but it came after Rose had picked up his second PGA Tour victory in early July at the AT&T National.

Two wins in a span of a month, and Rose wouldn’t be invited to represent his team at the Ryder Cup.

I’ve asked this question a couple of times about Dustin Johnson‘s 2010, but it is worth bringing up to Rose; will this season be one he remembers as positive or negative? Sure, Rose did two great things by winning marquee events, but not making the Ryder Cup team by captain’s selection is something that won’t sit well over the next few months.

Sure, you can argue that if he really wanted to be on the team, he could have played his way onto it, but it’s still not going to be much fun to be watching on television instead of competing with your fellow Europeans. After the U.S. Open snub, Rose went out at the Travelers Championship and nearly won the event, posting early rounds of 64-62. Maybe this week, at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Rose could find that little bit of aggression again and stick it to Monty. 

You don’t have to go as far as Michelle Wie’s Wikipedia page to understand the troubles she’s encountered early in her career. A talent that women’s golf had never seen, Wie was the next big thing without someone within a three-wood distance of her, and she made waves with those big finishes in the majors as such a young age.

But, as golfers tend to do when the sophomore slump hits, Wie struggled to find her game, and made a questionable decision here or there.

On Sunday, Wie was in the final group of the CN Canadian Women’s Open with Jiyai Shin, one of the top players in the game and a seven-time LPGA winner at the ripe age of 22. People expected Michelle to falter with someone so traveled in her group, but that wasn’t the case. Wie went out and shot a 2-under 70, good enough for a three-shot victory, her second in less than a year.

The problem is, people still expect more. Michelle is ranked seventh in the world after the win in Canada, but that still isn’t enough for the 20-year-old. People expect that she should pulling in wins by the bunches, not realizing the amount of talent that is exhibited week in and week out on the LPGA.

Someone Tweeted about Michelle’s win on Sunday, asking if this would be the one that would push her over the top, but isn’t she already over the top? This is a girl that people wrote off before she even hit her 20s, but has steadily improved parts of her game to be good enough to win these types of events.

Also, something that everyone should understand; every tournament is a major on the LPGA, because every player plays in all the events since the tour has had to drop so many other tournaments. If you’re winning one of these tournaments, you’re beating the best in the world, no matter the title of "major."

Michelle Wie was never a bust, she was just a young girl trying to figure out the ins and outs of professional golf. And as for her youth? Yeah, the Monday after her victory, she’s watching "Lion King 2." No reason to grow up when you don’t have to, right?

Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour
brass got exactly what they wanted from the opening event of this year’s
FedEx Cup playoffs. While Matt Kuchar wasn’t the big name they were
looking for, his playoff victory was the perfect ending to a tournament
that wasn’t lacking in storylines for the week.  

From Jim Furyk‘s DQ to Tiger
Woods‘ opening-round 65, the networks seemed to have more than enough
to talk about during the broadcasts. Storylines and quality golf will
become increasingly important in the coming weeks, as the tour goes
head-to-head with college football and the NFL for ratings. 

While nobody expects the FedEx
Cup playoffs to steal viewers away from the NFL, it would be in the Tour’s best interest to do all they can to make the broadcasts as
engaging as possible. A ratings spike during a peak part of the sports
schedule would be a great bargaining chip to have for next year’s
contract renewals with the television networks.

Compare and contrast

Apparently, Tiger Woods’
swing changes are still "a secret." At least that’s what you gathered
from Nick Faldo‘s attempt to break down Woods’ swing during Thursday’s
Golf Channel broadcast.

Truth is, there’s no secret
to his new swing; all Faldo needed to do was dig a little deeper.  

His failed effort was followed
up by a more successful one on Saturday, as Peter Kostis and the CBS
crew did a bang-up job of walking the audience through the subtle changes
in Woods’ "new" swing, noting the differences in the takeaway. 

By using a split screen of
Woods’ swing in May 2010 and the current version — with the help
of the Konica Minolta Swing Vision camera — Kostis noted that:
"the left arm is more in and the shaft is more out on the takeaway.
The new takeaway is really going to affect his shoulder turn and shaft
plane in his new swing, and that’s also going to allow him to get
the club in front of him sooner, taking away the possibility of him
getting the club stuck on the downswing."

While Kostis has his moments,
his breakdown of Woods’ swing was solid. At first glance, the swings
look almost identical; but after watching Kostis break them down in
a split screen, it was obvious there were some differences. 

All in all, it was a great
piece by Kostis and CBS. 

Chalk one up for Ridgewood

If Matt Kuchar’s playoff
victory on Sunday taught us anything, it’s that a quality course trumps
a tricked-out one any day of the week.

The television networks and
the PGA Tour tried their best to shove Liberty National down players’
throats last year, only to receive a lukewarm response to a layout that
had the backdrop Tim Finchem craved.

That backdrop, of course, was
the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. While Ridgewood didn’t
boast the million-dollar views, the course had more than enough to hold its
own.

The historic A.W. Tillinghast
design once again received rave reviews from the players, and produced
another dramatic playoff for CBS’s viewing audience. So what’s holding
Finchem back from making Ridgewood a constant in the Barclays rotation? 

The FedEx Cup playoffs
≠ NFL playoffs

Nobody’s ever going to mistake
the FedEx Cup playoffs for the NFL playoffs, but that’s exactly what
Golf Channel tried to do on Thursday, when they opened the broadcast
up with former NFL stars talking about the differences between the regular
season and the playoffs.

While that’s all well and
good, I’m pretty sure a golfer has never had to go over the middle
on a slant route with the season on the line.

In the end, there’s really
no reason to compare the NFL and PGA Tour playoffs. They’re two entirely
different beasts.

Where’s your poker face?

Martin Laird wasn’t giving
away much on Sunday afternoon. With the exception of a couple fist pumps
here and there, Laird played the part of the poker player perfectly,
never letting his emotions get too high or too low.  

As he lined up a birdie putt
on the 17th to take a one-shot lead, the CBS cameras locked in on Laird’s
fiancée, Meagan Franks, who, unlike Laird, wasn’t hiding her emotions
very well.

While it was darn near impossible
to see Laird’s nerves behind those dark sunglasses, his fiancée painted
a perfect picture of how important the putt on 18 really was, as she
double-over after watching Laird miss the winning putt on the 72nd hole. 

CBS’s camera crew did a great
job catching Franks’ reaction to Laird’s missed putt, one that ultimately
cost him his second PGA Tour victory.

Tiger Talk

As expected, Kelly Tilghman
opened up Thursday’s broadcast by discussing the most talked about
story heading into Thursday’s first round: Tiger Woods’ divorce. 

The Golf Channel played it
smart by opening with the divorce talk and putting a close to it before
going out on the course. Tilghman noted that Woods posted his best round
of the year just after finalizing his divorce, something you just knew
she’d mention at the outset of the broadcast.

Nick Faldo followed up Tilghman’s
comments with some of his own on Woods’ life, post-divorce: "your brain power is just shot after dealing with something like this.
To even be able to go practice is difficult. Your mind starts to wander
and the phone starts to go off," Faldo said. "but he can now
move on and put all of this behind him and just play golf." 

Notables:

• The Woods-Foley
player-coach relationship isn’t official, but that didn’t stop
Nick Faldo from talking about it: "Tiger’s obviously working with
Sean Foley now — not officially. But Sean’s stock is obviously rising
after a week or so of working with [Tiger]. He’s obviously giving
him some new ideas, and by these stats, these are a lot better than
when he was playing at his best. Tiger will have a great boost of self
belief after today."

• Nick Faldo and Peter
Oosterhuis gave Tiger Woods quite the on-air ribbing when he decided
to layup on the 273-yard par 4 5th hole. "Go poke him with
a stick and wake him up," Faldo said, as Woods pulled an iron from
the bag. Seriously, guys, have you seen his recent driving stats?

• Faldo opened Thursday’s
broadcast by questioning the tour’s decision to disqualify Jim Furyk,
after he missed his pro-am tee time: "We unfortunately have a rule
that’s black and white, and I think after this they’re going to
need to have a look at the grey."

Quotes

"You could buy a really nice
alarm clock for $1.7 million." — Nick Faldo, commenting on
the amount of money Jim Furyk stood to lose this week after he missed
his pro-am tee-time due to an alarm clock malfunction.  

"He had a little Coldplay
moment – a rush of blood to the head." — Nick Faldo, commenting
on a Tiger Woods putt that went well past the hole. 

Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Around here, we never get tired of trick shots. Hit golf balls into stadiums, off skyscrapers, down college dormitory halls, wherever — we’re all over it. And here, a couple cats from Ohio with too much time on their hands work on their short game — from the top of the key:

Basketball-Golf Trick Shot @ Yahoo! Video

Alas, if you look closely, it appears the ball has been placed on an illegal tee. So the goal is waved off. Better luck next time, guys!

(Got golf trick shots of your own? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. Just don’t kill yourself trying them, OK?)

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
• Cheerleaders get in the way of NFL team

• Video: Hilariously bad HS football play

• Pitching phenom clocked at 105 mph

We’re into the FedEx Cup playoffs now, and it’s time to take a look at the whole field. Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s making a charge, and who’s stumbling? We’ve got the whole rundown right here.

At the top: Matt Kuchar jumped into first place from ninth, but he wasn’t the biggest mover. Steve Stricker moved from second to, uh, second, so obviously he wasn’t the biggest mover. No, top jumper went to Martin Laird, who rose to third from 95th. Perhaps almost clinching a trip to East Lake will ease the sting of losing an outright win on the 18th hole at the Barclays. Right below Laird are Justin Rose, who, yep, Rose from fifth to fourth, and Ernie Els, who fell from first to fifth.

On the way up: Outside of Laird, big jumpers were Kevin Streelman, who rose from 102nd to 18th; Rory Sabbatini, who jumped from 60th to 33rd, and a fella by the name of Tiger Woods, who jumped from 112th to 65th. Oh, and Andres Romero fought his way into the next week by the skin of his teeth, rising from 115th to 100th.

On the decline: Jim Furyk‘s crappy alarm clock cost him five spots, down from third to eighth. Phil Mickelson‘s crappy play cost him six spots, from fourth to 10th. Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim both dropped from the mid-teens to 26th and 27th, respectively.

Out the door: Twenty-five players were shown the door after the Barclays, and most of those were already in the 101-125 range. Big decliners were Kevin Suutherland, Jerry Kelly, Alex Cejka and Derek Lamely, who all played themselves out of a top-100 spot. Also out are Sergio Garcia (did not play), Corey Pavin (did not play) and David Duval (did not play very well).

On the bubble: Next up is the Deutsche Bank Championship, and the field gets winnowed from 100 players to 70. So who’s at risk? Davis Love III (72), Paul Goydos (84), Vijay Singh (86), Steve Elkington (89), Kenny Perry (90) and Boo Weekley (96) all need to pick up the pace if they’re going to see next week.

All right, your turn. With the new rankings in place, who are your picks to reach East Lake?