Here’s an interesting conundrum in the world of golf: everyone on earth derides these guys for being club-swinging automatons, but whenever one of them speaks up and offers a notable quote, much of the golf world goes crazy with disbelief.

Let’s back up a second. First, the complete U.S. Walker Cup team was announced this past weekend, and there was one notable omission: LSU’s John Peterson. Our own Jonathan Wall noted that Peterson, “considered by many to be a lock after he was crowned the 2011 NCAA Individual Champion and won the Arnold Palmer Award as the country’s top player, was excluded from the team. It left many wondering how you could leave a player with those kind of credentials off the 10-man roster.”

How, indeed? Well, prior to this particular snub, Peterson made an appearance here on Devil Ball for offering up this gem of a quote:

“The top guys in college, the top 20 or 30 guys, can beat the top 20, 30 guys on the PGA Tour. Maybe with the exception of two or three guys who are constantly up there, like a Matt Kuchar or Luke Donald, those guys that are always there … those top 20 college guys will beat those top 20 or 30 PGA Tour guys, if given the opportunity. They just don’t have the opportunity.”

Insane? Absolutely. But you’ve got to love the balatas on this kid. Unless, of course, you’re one of those whose game is being called into question.

“You have to wonder if Peterson’s post-round comments after that Nationwide event, where he said that there were a bunch of guys in college capable of regularly beating PGA Tour pros, rubbed some folks the wrong way,” CBS Sports’ Steve Elling wrote. “Still, even if he had said Gadhafi should be governor of New Jersey, he should have been a lock for the team.”

It’s an interesting point: is Peterson being reminded of his place in the world because he dared to speak out of turn? It’s certainly possible, even likely, and if so, it’d be an unfortunate comment on the USGA and the world of American professional golf. We need more guys like Peterson, more guys who will step up and say what they believe no matter how ridiculous it is. Golf has gone as far as it can with the milquetoast personalities; it’s possible to respect the game and its history while still remaining true to oneself.

Fortunately for Peterson, he’ll get an immediate chance to make good on his prediction. As he noted on Twitter in the wake of the snub:

Get on it, John.

Read More Golf News from:

Look, let’s be honest. The Deutsche Bank Championship doesn’t have the cachet of many other tournaments, and even its placement on the FedEx Cup schedule can’t change that. But it has played host to some impressive shots over the last few years. Enjoy some course mastery from Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, a pre-hydrant Tiger Woods and others as we gear up for the weekend’s play:

Read More Golf News from:

Watch More Videos from:

at

Watch More Videos from:

at

It doesn’t get the same notoriety as the Ryder Cup, but the Walker Cup, pitting the 10 best amateurs from the United States against a team from Great Britain and Ireland, is definitely a tournament to watch — even if you don’t follow the amateur game closely.

With the U.S. Amateur marking the final chance for players to earn one of the three spots on the team, Blayne Barber, Kelly Kraft and Jordan Spieth did their part to make the team.

Here’s a rundown on the three players:

Blayne Barber (Auburn University): Barber’s six top-10 finishes in 10 starts, during his sophomore season at Auburn, helped him earn the final spot on the team. He also finished inside the top 5 at the Northeast Amateur and Southern Amateur.

Kelly Kraft (Southern Methodist University): The recent graduate of SMU earned a place on the team with a superb performance at the U.S. Amateur. He defeated Patrick Rodgers (the fourth-ranked amateur in the world) and Patrick Cantlay (currently ranked No. 1) at Erin Hills, on the way to the biggest win of his amateur career.

Jordan Spieth (University of Texas): Spieth is biggest name of the final three. He made the cut in his last two PGA Tour starts at the HP Bryon Nelson Championship, and joined Tiger Woods earlier this year as the only other player in USGA history to win the U.S. Junior Amateur multiple times. He’ll be a freshman this year at Texas.

While Spieth, Kraft and Barber are all worthy additions, the announcement came with some controversy. LSU senior John Peterson, considered by many to be a lock after he was crowned the 2011 NCAA Individual Champion and won the Arnold Palmer Award as the country’s top player, was excluded from the team.

It left many wondering how you could leave a player with those kind of credentials off the 10-man roster. Even without Peterson, the United States still has a team that’s stacked from top to bottom, and includes such stalwarts as Oklahoma State’s Peter Uihlein and UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay.

Read More Golf News from:

Bit of news on the ol’ social media front this week, as ESPN analyst and golfer of some repute Paul Azinger offered up what seemed like an innocent enough little bit of political humor on Twitter:

ESPN, however, wasn’t pleased, and reminded Azinger of ESPN’s social media policy, which requires ESPN personalities to steer clear of political or other controversial topics. “Paul’s tweet was not consistent with our social media policy,” ESPN communications director Andy Hall told Yahoo! Sports, “and he has been reminded that political commentary is best left to those in that field.”

Fine, you can understand why ESPN wouldn’t want Azinger, or any of its personalities, taking tweet-shots at any president, Democrat or Republican. But naturally, since this is politics, somebody had to overreact and get absurdly offended, and in this case, various websites (noted by Local Knowledge) pointed out, in classic tattletale “but he hit me first!” style, that fellow ESPN personality Kenny Mayne served up this anti-Palin tweet:

Horrors! An anti-Palin joke AND an anti-Obama joke! What’s this world coming to? Is there no decency at all?

Please. Do you know what effect both of these jokes had on anyone with a mind of their own and the ability to laugh at something outside their ideological spectrum? Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. (For the record, Hall told Local Knowledge that Mayne was also spoken to about ESPN’s policy.)

The problem here isn’t so much ESPN’s Twitter guidelines mandating err-on-the-side-of-vanilla communication, as Clay Travis delineates right here at Outkick the Coverage. No, the real problem, and one that can’t be solved easily if at all, is the ricepaper-thin skin of so many in American life. Both sides of the political aisle whine, point fingers, play victim and character-assassinate in equal measure. Ideologically based media fans the flames on both sides to the extent that any criticism, no matter how slight or humorous, is blown up into the linguistic equivalent of a mugger assaulting your sainted mother. Naturally, ESPN wants to keep these screaming babies as far away as possible and focused on why The New York Times/FOX News is too liberal/too conservative and destroying this country/destroying this country.

It’s happened to all of us in the media. People see bias where they want to see it, and if they’re of a victim mindset, they’ll see it everywhere. If I use a joke like “While sizing up the approach to 18, Mickelson looked more lost than Obama facing a Republican Congress,” I’m accused of being a neanderthal conservative. If I use one like “Sarah Palin can’t understand why there are 18 holes in golf, but you only get to take 14 clubs,” I’ll get lit up as being one of the damned biased liberal media. (Both are true, and neither one is.)

Bottom line: It’s words, people. Words. Stop getting so offended by harmless little jokes. As long as Azinger isn’t calling for mass insurrection and rioting in the streets — and if he did, it’d be against Tim Finchem, not Obama — let him throw out a one-liner now and then. Why are we all so afraid of a little humor?

Read More Golf News from:

No doubt about it, 2011 has been a long, strange trip for Tiger Woods. Following his first missed cut of his career at the PGA Championship, many wondered if we’d see Woods tee it up again on the PGA Tour this year.

Normally, the end of the major championship season and the start of the FedEx Cup meant we’d only have four more opportunities to see Tiger Woods before the end of the season. But nothing about this year has been normal for Woods.

For the first time in his career, he missed out on the FedEx Cup, leaving many to assume he was hanging up the clubs until the Australian Open and then, hopefully, the Presidents Cup. But then Woods wrote on his blog that he “might add another PGA Tour event” to his schedule, leaving many to speculate if it had something to do with comments Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples made about Woods needing more reps to make the team.

Despite getting the nod from Couples, Woods apparently decided he needed more reps, announcing on his website on Monday that he’ll be adding the Frys.com Open (Oct. 6-9) to his schedule.

“I always enjoy competing in my home state, and this tournament fits my schedule perfectly,” Woods said on his site. “I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends.”

Like Woods’ season, the decision to play in California was unexpected. Many had assumed he would’ve picked Las Vegas — where he captured his first tour victory — or Disney — close to his home and a site he’s had success at in the past — as a possible site for a final PGA Tour appearance before the Presidents Cup.

Instead, Woods chose a California course that he’s never played before. The course is close to Stanford, where Woods went to school, so I guess playing a relative home game makes sense. Even still, I’m not sure many expected Woods to play a Fall Series event, especially after Couples’ announcement.

But 2011 is completely different from any other Tiger Woods has played on the PGA Tour. It looks like we’ll get to see Woods one last time. In a Fall Series event. Try and wrap your head around those words.

Read More Golf News from:

We only had three days of golf at The Barclays, but that was enough for Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and others to notch some fine shots. Mark Calcavecchia and Hale Irwin brought their Champions Tour game, though they didn’t quite celebrate with as much gusto. Old knees, you know. Anyway, great performances all the way around. You know, just like you had this last weekend.

Read More Golf News from:

Sizing up the TV coverage from The Barclays … and away we go.

Golf fans know it’s never a good thing when a PGA Tour telecast opens with Slugger White (the PGA Tour’s VP for rules and competitions) in the booth. Nothing against Slugger, but when he gets more airtime during a week-long telecast, you know something is up.

The “up,” of course, was Irene, a massive hurricane that, at the time, was barreling towards Plainfield Country Club, forcing the PGA Tour to shorten The Barclays to just 54 holes.

Slugger was a mainstay during the week, providing as much information as he could, until he announced at the start of Friday’s broadcast that the event was being cut short so players could hop in their G4′s and hightail it out New Jersey before the hurricane hit.

It wasn’t exactly the start the tour was hoping for at the start of the FedEx Cup. After enjoying the most wide-open season in years, there seemed to be renewed interest in the playoff format.

While the hurricane didn’t deter players from going low — Dustin Johnson‘s second-round 63 could have been 59 — it did seem to take the air out of the event, forcing CBS, broadcasting its last tour event of the season, to tape-delay the final round and show the same golf shots from the third round on Sunday.

“It’s the smart decision to get everybody out of here,” Nick Faldo said. “The course is supposed to get blitzed on Sunday, so that gives the players time to get out of here, and the crews can get everything taken down in time. You just don’t know what’s going to happen here.”

Of course, you can’t place the blame on anybody for the first event lacking punch on television. The earthquake earlier in the week, followed by Irene’s looming presence, had everyone thinking about far more important things.

More follows …

Plainfield loses its teeth

Like most historic courses, Plainfield Country Club prides itself on being a tough test of golf. So when The Barclays picked the course to host this year’s event, the membership hoped the course would put its best foot forward.

But a couple of natural disasters had other ideas. With rain plaguing the area leading up to the event, Plainfield was turned into a playground for most of the top players in the game, as Dustin Johnson won the event with a score of 19-under for 54 holes.

While the course wasn’t exactly holding the players back, Jim Nantz tried to put things in perspective by letting viewers in on why the course was playing so easy for the week.

“Members weren’t expecting players to go this low,” Nantz said. “This is a great old course, and this week isn’t a great reflection of the teeth of the golf course, because it’s lift, clean and place. Plus, the course is saturated from all the rain; that’s a big reason why it’s target practice for the players.”

Nick Faldo said the weather was a big reason why Dustin Johnson was having so much success on the course, despite his less-than-stellar short game.

“The course has some real abrupt slopes that I’ve never seen before,” Faldo said. “Back in my era, really long hitters would have trouble on a course like this that measures under 7,000 yards, because they’d bomb it out there and be stuck with those awkward 40-yard chips. Dustin doesn’t have that problem because he can drive the green.”

Long putter talk

Next to Keegan Bradley‘s victory at the PGA Championship and Steve Williams’ dig at Tiger Woods at the WGC-Bridgestone, the long putter was the most talked about golf topic in the month of August.

It’s not hard to see why, after Bradley, Scott and Webb Simpson made it three wins in a row for the long putter. Not surprisingly, it was one of the first topics of discussion during Thursday’s first round.

“First there was [Adam] Scott, then Bradley at the PGA, followed by Webb Simpson at the Wyndham,” said the Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner. “It used to be that the club was a last resort for 40-somethings who were losing their touch. But now it seems like everyone is giving the putter a try.”

Nick Faldo seemed to agree with Lerner’s comments about the old stigma attached with the club. But like most players, including Faldo, who also tried out the belly putter, you’ll try anything to get your stroke back.

“Exactly, there was always some shame or embarrassment for using one, because you were basically admitting that you’d lost your touch or stroke. But these guys now go to their key brand manufacturers and get on their computers and say ‘guess what, you can get your best stroke with whatever length you need.’”

Faldo, Feherty produce comedy gems

Hurricane Irene may have been breathing down The Barclays’ back for most of the week, but that didn’t keep Nick Faldo and David Feherty from producing some comedy gems early in the week.

Faldo, watching Phil Mickelson hitting balls on the range in white slacks, decided to take a dig at Lefty, who obviously didn’t plan for the rain when he packed his clothes for the week.

“Good choice of trousers, Phil,” Faldo said. “He went with white on a day like today. I mean, he’s just so carefree, isn’t he? He probably owns his own dry cleaning company, or something like that. At least he’s got his crocodile shoes that are probably waterproof.”

Feherty later produced some comedy gold of his own, as he talked about Luke Donald‘s consistent finishes this year on the PGA and European tours.

“Well there’s a lot more going there that most people don’t know about … like the fact that he’s a human ATM,” Feherty said. “I swiped my American Express card down the small of his back and got 500 bucks out.”

Read More Golf News from:

Rounding up some links for your Monday to keep you up with what’s new in the golf world. Enjoy, and feel free to hold court in the comments below.

• Here’s some fine speculation on how the Presidents Cup pairings could break down. According to this theory, the selection of Tiger Woods means that either Jim Furyk or Rickie Fowler gets left at home. Let the screaming begin! [A Walk in the Park]

• Congrats to Mark Calcavecchia, who won the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie (best name ever!), Washington in a playoff. Nice job, Calc! [AP via us]

• Thomas Bjorn pulled a Calc five times over by winning the Johnnie Walker Classic at Gleneagles at the fifth playoff hole. Oh, the tension! I wonder what Bjorn drank to calm his nerves afterward? [Golfweek]

• Dustin Johnson can thank Hurricane Irene for sparing us from another final-round meltdown, according to Rumors & Rants. [Rumors & Rants]

• And speaking of the hurricane, check out this slideshow of images of hurricane-soaked golf courses throughout the Northeast. Yeah, you’re gonna want to club up to get over a few of those. [Golf Digest]

• Meet the final players for this year’s U.S. Walker Cup team. Clip and save this, as you’ll be watching some of these cats for decades. [Golfweek]

• Congrats and farewell to LPGA vet Sherri Steinhauer, who retired after missing the cut at this weekend’s Canadian Women’s Open. She won eight times, including two majors, on the LPGA Tour. [AP via us]

Got a link/tip for us? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or via Twitter at @jaybusbee. Go!

Read More Golf News from: