I just realized that the last post was the 300th here!

Last night’s “Battle of the Bridges” was “Battle of the Boredom” to me. All the players seemed down, dull, bored and generally uninspired. They didn’t talk much. Despite a bunch of birdies by Phil and Retief there was still a lack of energy or ambiance to the whole thing.

Tiger is bailing out on this made for TV event, and that is a good given what I saw last night.

If they want to keep this thing going for next year I’d suggest this setup: Take Vijay and Nick Price and put them up against Annika and Michelle Wie. We’d probably get more “interesting” commentary out of those players eh?

Retief and Phil closed out Tiger and John before they could even get to the darkness portion of the gig. It took 700 man hours to install all those lights that weren’t used. BFD.

The best entertainment was by far the interviews. I love it when they interview Daly. He’s always good for an answer that you’d never hear any other PGA Tour player coming up with. I liked it when he said he never took a lesson or had a coach because they all said he’d never make it on tour with a swing like that. Classic.

Phil got noticeably agitated when they asked him about Tiger’s newest rise to dominance again. They asked Phil what he has to do to kick his own game up a level to compete with Tiger. Phil gave a dirty look and changed the subject to wanting to make the next putt.

That brought up the thought I just had: Now that Tiger seems to be that dominant force again, are we going to see a bunch of tour players once again sick of answering Tiger questions from the press? I think so.

A local golf store has a neat story. This golf store (biggest in town) had one location for years and has now recently opened up it’s 3rd.

The very first paying customer the 3rd location had was a guy who was just on his way to Mexico for a vacation. He was planning on golfing there but he needed some new gear. One of the items the guy bought was a TaylorMade Rescue.

The first time he hit the Rescue was on the course in Mexico. He hadn’t even hit it on the range. The hole was a long par 3. He let one fly and it went in the hole! Hole in one with the first swing EVER of his new Rescue club.

I wonder if he had any second thoughts about getting that club?

Azinger: “How do you prepare for a tournament?”

Daly: “Well I hit balls for maybe 20 minutes, putt a little bit, smoke 4 or 5 cigarettes, drink 3 diet cokes and go to the first tee. Some days I won’t even go to the range.”

Clearly I’ve been doing it wrong all these years…

I have a sad feeling after checking in over at MJ on Golf. MJ has been reflecting on the status of his golf blog for a while. He has decided to put an end to MJ on Golf and shut it down shortly.

There is a ton of great content within MJ’s archives. I’d suggest getting over there asap to get what you can before it is gone.

MJ has also been the source of some great stats for many golf sites (including both of mine). MJ’s stats have been a valuable “module” I’ve included on my pages.

Thanks to MJ, and best of luck in your next digs. Stop by here any time if you want to blog a little.

Nike and Bausch & Lomb are making “Sport-Tinted” contact lenses. These lenses come in different tint configurations to enhance certain wavelengths of light. The lenses will visually enhance key elements in sport, such as a ball or terrain.

There are two lens colors available: amber and grey-green.

Amber lenses are for fast moving ball sports such as baseball or soccer. Grey-green lenses are ideal for sports like golf which are played in bright sunlight where glare is a concern.

How do they work?

“The patented Light Architecture selectively filters specific wavelengths of light to visually enhance key elements in sport, such as a ball, filtering most of the blue light and manipulating the remaining colors of the visible spectrum to enhance critical details in the sporting environment. These features of the Nike MAXSIGHT lens combine to provide visual benefits to athletes such as an exceptional view of contours on a given field of play, reduced sun glare and the ability to track fast-moving game activity under variable light conditions.”

More info on the Bausch & Lomb site.

Grouchy Golf has reported that Michelle Wie will be turning pro on her birthday, October 11th. Hey, that’s two days after my birthday (you still have time to find me a golf present, shipping info is listed under the reviews link above left).

Michelle will be a 16 year old gazzilionare thanks to Nike. To be exact, she’ll get 10-12 mmmmmillion. While her friends will be flipping burgers and McD’s and trying to get their driver’s license, she’ll be riding in her limo to the bank.

Nike… hmm.

Ok, as I’ve posted before my boy and I jump onto the 17th hole here and go ball searching every few days. We’ve found hundreds of balls. Yesterday we got our biggest load yet but we have yet to even count them. I’m betting in the 150-200 range.

The course here is very swampy. There are lots of areas with reeds and water on the sides of the holes. Many of the balls are either in/on very moist soil or submerged in water.

So the question is about whether these balls’ performance is hindered by the water. Do they soak in water or are they waterproof? I imagine the old balata balls weren’t waterproof.