Somewhere, Dan Jenkins is having the last laugh.

 

Remember a few weeks ago, when Tiger Woods and his camp were outraged over an obviously, openly fake interview in Golf Digest, purportedly conducted by legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins? 

 

The column was over-the-top, even if it was hilarious, given the relationship, or lack thereof, between Tiger and Dan.  Many people felt the column was offensive and cruel, unfair to Tiger.  Only the dullest dullards didn’t understand that it was an attempt at satire, plain and simple, especially since the headline was "My (Fake) Interview with Tiger."

 

Well, yesterday, when the Golf Writers Association of America announced this year’s writing awards, Jenkins’ fake interview took top honors in the category of Non-Daily Columns.  Basically, that means magazines.

 

So far, no comment from Tiger.  No comment from Dan either, although I suspect he made no effort to hide a smug grin.

 

Here’s the breakdown of winners from the GWAA:

 

 

2015 GWAA WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

 

The following is a full list of the winners, including honorable mentions.

There were 466 entries in the 2014 contest

 DAILY

 

DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Jim McCabe, Golfweek.com Vet credits Casper for life; 2, Bill Fields, billfields.net, A driver makes another trip; 3, Gary D’Amato, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, One more round with dad.

 

Honorable mention: Ron Green Jr., Global Golf Post, The great ones find a way; Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.com, Ike’s Tree leaves legacy;  Beth Ann Nichols, golfweek.com, Compton finds Open fame.

 

DAILY NEWS – 1, Bob Harig, ESPN.com, Ryder Cup meeting turns ugly; 2, Ryan Lavner, Golfchannel.com , Kaymer dominates U.S. Open; 3 (tie)  Dave Shedloski, Golfdigest.com  Bubba wins in China; and Mike Stachura, Golfdigest.com, If you’re a fan of integrity.

 

Honorable mention: Michael Bamberger, Golf.com, Johnson suspended after drug test; Ron Borges, Boston Herald, Phil can’t stop Rory’s rise; Randall Mell, Golfchannel.com , Wie’s scars define her journey.

 

DAILY FEATURES – 1, Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com, Lyle reclaims his life; 2, Ian O’Connor, ESPN.com, The man who gave Compton life; 3, Alan Shipnuck, Golf.com, Team USA needs a change.

 

Honorable mention: John Boyette, Augusta Chronicle, Ike’s Tree rooted in tradition; Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune, Golf is refuge for burn victim; Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com, Rallying around Isaiah. 

 

NON DAILY

NON-DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Dan Jenkins, Golf Digest, My fake interview with Tiger; 2, Jerry Tarde, Golf Digest, Hannigan shook things up; 3,  Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, The case for Johnny Miller.

 

Honorable mention: Jaime Diaz, Golf World, Bubba as the great liberator; Scott Michaux, Virginia Golfer,  Ryder Cup task force; Jeff Neuman, Met Golfer, The myth of protecting par; Jeff Rude, Golfweek, Bubba strikes again.

 

NON-DAILY NEWS -- 1. Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Anthony Kim, MIA; 2, Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Bubba wins 2^nd Masters; 3, Adam Schupak, Golfweek, Spieth learns on fast track.

 

Honorable mention: Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, You say you want a revolution; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Wie is happy at last; Ron Sirak, Golf World, Mighty special.

 

NON-DAILY FEATURES -- 1. Ron Whitten, Golf World , How Pinehurst got its groove back; 2. Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated ,Tiger and the drop; 3, Gary Van Sickle, Memorial Tournament Magazine, Matt Kuchar's odyssey.

 

Honorable mention: Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, Legend of Will McKenzie; Tom Callahan, Golf Digest , Watson's last hurrah; Tom Callahan, Golf Digest, Most interesting men in the world.

 

SPECIAL PROJECTS – 1, Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Greatest U.S. Open ever; 2, Scott Michaux, Augusta Chronicle, Adam Scott, one for Australia; 3. Mercer Baggs, Alan Tays, Jason Sobel, Ryan Reiterman, Jason Crook, Bailey Mosier, Jack Menta, Jay Coffin, Golfchannel.com, Arnie: man, myth, legend.

Honorable mention – Rex Hoggard, Golfchannel.com, Jarrod Lyle’s remarkable journey; Ron Sirak, Golf Digest, The failed USGA coup; Gene Wojciechowski and Bob Harig, ESPN.com, Miracle or meltdown at Medinah, Sept. 24

 

Now, where was I before I was interrupted?

 

If you enjoyed A Course Called Ireland,  Philadelphian Tom Coyne’s 2009 memoir about walking the back roads and golf courses of the Emerald Isle, you’ll surely be interested in his latest project.

 

Coyne, who teaches writing at St. Joseph’s University, plans a follow-up book, A Course Called the Kingdom, due out in 2016, from Simon & Schuster.  As the name suggests, this time around Coyne is expanding his golfing expedition to the United Kingdom.   His 57-day sojourn will take him to 83 courses, including all 14 British Open venues in Scotland and England.

 

Coyne, who sets off on April 25, has already begun previewing the trip on his blog, A Simple Game. (He has added two courses to the itinerary since his last blog post).

 

Some of the best parts of A Course Called Ireland didn’t occur during one of Coyne’s rounds but rather as he walked the entire country, from course to course, village to village, pubs and B&Bs.  For this book, the UK is too big to walk.

 

"Not walking, no way," Coyne said in an email.  He plans to blog about his planning and preparations for trip on his own blog, then blog during the trip at Golf.com.

 

Here is Coyne being interviewed about A Course Called Ireland on WHYY’s Radio Times.

 

Here is Coyne and me being interviewed about the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion on Radio Times.

 

Coyne is actually inviting golfers to join him for legs of the trip.  Sounds tempting.

 

Here’s a snippet from Coyne’s latest blog post:

 

 

81 courses

10 flights

7 ferry rides

57 days

Over/under 100 golf balls

Weather, livestock, and member tournaments will likely have their way with this itinerary and prove where the best laid schemes of mice and men go.  But this is the aim and ambition.

 

Now I turn the challenge to you and your itinerant golfing friends.  This map is crowded with plenty of golf; it now needs to be populated with people.  Please check out the map (click on the courses for dates) and plan on joining me for a round or ten. 

 

I will be joined by family in St. Andrews and East Fife where we are dropping anchor for two weeks, but I will need companions for the rest of the way around.  Bad golfers encouraged to come along–they are funnier in print.  I can offer you free golf and immortalizing in the book (after you sign your life away a waiver). 

If you’ve got serious game and you don’t mind putting your money where your mouth is, have I got a golf partner for you: Sean O’Hair.

 

When O’Hair recently sat down with local golf writers, his only two complaints about living in the Philadelphia area are the harsh winters and the lack of peers to practice with and play against.

 

"They need something for better players here," said O’Hair, from Chadds Ford, who is entering his 10^th year on the PGA Tour.

 

Even as a kid in Texas and Florida, O’Hair says he never liked spending all day on the range.   He liked to play.   He believes that is how you keep your game sharp and get better.  Looking back, O’Hair believes that one of the best things his estranged dad ever did for him was to drop him off at the golf course every day and let him fend for himself.

 

"It taught you how to compete, it taught you have to be social, it taught you how to be a man," said O’Hair.   "I look around here and it’s tough to get that money game going."

 

It’s hardly a secret around the PGA Tour that some of the fiercest golfing isn’t during the official tournaments; it’s in high-stakes matches during practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday.  Same thing happens during off weeks, when PGA Tour pros are at home in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and California.

 

It’s hardly a new idea.  As O’Hair pointed out, "Those guys like Snead and Hagen, they didn’t beat balls.  They went out and played for money.  No one does it any more."

 

If you’re a gambler but you’ve got no game, don’t bother applying.  O’Hair really wants your competition, not your money.  He’s got plenty of money.  "I don’t want to play with some chop that’s 20-over," he said.  "I’m sorry, I just don’t.  I don’t feel like looking for golf balls all day."

 

Truth is, O’Hair concedes that he probably has nobody to blame but himself.  Because he didn’t grow up here, he is not particularly plugged into the local amateur or club pro scene.   Plus, he’s got a wife and four kids under the age of 10.

 

My guess is, when word gets out that O’Hair is looking for a game(s), he might be surprised how many amateurs and club pros are willing to throw down, if only to meet him and test themselves against a PGA Tour pro.

 

I asked O’Hair why he doesn’t call Brian Quinn, the golf coach at Temple, about working out with the Owls on occasion.  Temple players have won the last three Philadelphia Opens.

 

"I guess I could," said O’Hair.  "Maybe I just haven’t made the effort.  I played with that one kid from Temple.  He’s really good.  He hits it a feakin’ mile, and he is cocky.  That’s who I want to be around.  I would love to call up a college team and say, "Let’s go play.’"

As the sun begins to slowly set on the 2014 golf season, a few odds and ends come to mind:

 

--- Once or twice a year, I’ll get a call from an old friend I grew up with in a small town in North Carolina.  He’s quite successful and he’s an out-of-town member of Merion.  He brings up friends or business associates for a weekend of golf at Merion, and he’ll occasionally invite me to fill out their foursome. 

 

My friend was up a week or so ago, and I got one of those calls.  We played Merion on beautiful fall Sunday morning.  If golf gets any better, you couldn’t prove it by me.

 

The day left me with a few lasting impressions:

 

(1) Merion truly deserves all the accolades and U.S. Opens.  It is a special place in American golf.  No matter how many times I play it, I find something else to appreciate.

 

(2)  Your good friends in life are your good friends for life.  Alex and I have known each other since before kindergarten and we’ve never lost touch.  We’ve played golf together since we were about 9, and I swear his swing hasn’t changed a bit.  I’m convinced that your golf swing is as personal as your fingerprint.  How these Tour pros remake their swings every year or so is beyond me.

 

(3) Life is precious.  Alex updated me on another of our boyhood friends who is battling cancer.  It didn’t sound encouraging.  This is one of the most vigorous guys I have ever known.  You never know when your time is coming, so don’t waste a day.

 

--- My goal for the season was to get my handicap back down to the high single digits.  I would have settled for 9.9 USGA Index.  It didn’t quite happen.  I’m ending the season with an 11.4 Index.

 

For somebody who was once as low as a 3, that’s discouraging.  But on the other hand, at my worst, when I had bum hips, then newly-replaced hips, I was a 15 Index.  So I’m fighting my way back to self-respectability. 

 

Actually, my swing feels better than it has in years.  I’m getting stronger and I no longer worry on every swing that one or both of my titanium hips will pop out and I’ll crash to the ground in agony.

 

--- Two of my good golf buddies are sort of sideways with each other now.  I don’t know how long it is going to last, but I hope they are back to normal soon.   It’s weird and uncomfortable.

 

--- I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the PGA Tour’s wraparound season.  Yesterday, I tried watching the first round of The McGladrey Classic in Sea Island, Ga.  After about five minutes, I was so bored I was starting to tidy up around my house.  Golf should be winding down this time of year, not winding up.

 

---  About this time last year, I wrote a blog post about my favorite round of the year:  It was at the Militia Hill Course at Philadelphia Cricket, where I was a guest of my daughter’s boyfriend, Quinn.   Rounding out the foursome was Quinn’s dad, Mike, and my son Travis, who had just returned from a year in Kuwait with the Pennsylvania National Guard.

 

This year, for my favorite round, I’ve got to go with the same course and the same folks, minus Travis, who was out of town that weekend.  The reason?  After we’d hit our tee shots on the 18^th, Quinn came over to me sitting in the cart, next to his dad, and said, "I’m planning to ask Kelly to marry me and I’d like to have your blessing."

 

Now, is that a fine and proper young gentleman or what?  I was honored and thrilled, and I know Mike was proud of his son.

 

It’s hard to top that for best round of the year.

 

When I was in high school, I played most of my golf with my buddies.  Our families all belonged to a little small-town country club down South and we were, for better or worse, the golf team.

 

But some days, I (or we) would get paired on the first tee with an older gentleman who was gray-haired and must’ve been retired because he seemed to play golf every day.  Nice man.  I don’t remember much about him, except that he was what I have come to think of as a "One Club Guy." 

Oh, he had a driver, or something that more or less qualified as his driving club.  Driver clubheads were much smaller back then, and his was small even by the standards of those days.  It was permission, like drivers used to be, and it was all scuffed and scratched from years of use.

 

One Club Guy also had an ancient-looking putter that he probably inherited from his Dad, or maybe bought at K-Mart 30 years earlier.  And he had some kind of rusted-out lofted club, like a 9-iron/PW, that he used around the greens and whenever he was in the bunker.

 

But by far, One Club Guy hit most of his shots with One Club, this kind of clumsy-headed mid-iron-looking thing that served the purpose of about nine clubs, from his 3-wood down through his 8-iron.  I suppose it was sort of forerunner of today’s hybrids.  At the time, I’d never seen anything like it, and I have no idea where he got it.

 

One Club Guy would hit his driver off the tee (unless he was playing it safe with the One Club), then he would proceed to bunt that One Club thingy up the fairway until he got to the green.   He could only advance the ball 75-100 yards at a time, and he wasn’t very good anyway, so you can imagine how many times he might whack that One Club on a par 5.  Over the course of a typical round, he must’ve hit that club 40 times or more.

 

What has me a little concerned is that I might be gradually becoming One Club Guy. 

 

I’m not quite there yet.  I still carry 60-, 56- and 50-degree wedges, and I still hit my PW thru 6-irons, and I’ll pull the 3-wood once or twice a round.  But I’ve got this 22-degree TaylorMade hybrid that I hit, I don’t know, 15 times a round.

 

I’ll often hit it twice on a par 5, I hit it on all long par 3s and, increasingly, I hit it on any shot from about 160 yards through 205 yards.  If I’m playing to an uphill green, I’ll even hit it from 150 yards.  I haven’t carried a 3-iron in years, I pulled the 4-iron out of my bag around three years ago and I’m not sure why I still lug around my 5-iron.  I’m even hitting my 6-iron and 7-iron less than ever.  Why should I hit them when my trusty One Club hybrid will do the trick?

 

There are bigger things in life to worry about, and I do – when I’m not obsessing about my slow, worsening slide into One Club Guydom. 

 

I worry about what kind of world we’re leaving our kids.  I worry about the clown car of yahoos that Congress has become.  I fret over the world of crap going on in the Middle East, and it has gotten so I watch less and less pro football because I get queasy at the sight of another player lying motionless on the field after getting blindsided to the head.  There is all kinds of stuff to keep me up at night.

 

When you put it that kind of perspective, I suppose, the prospect of getting paired on the first tee with some kid who thinks of me as his One Club Guy is not so bad.   Still, I’m not happy about it.

There can’t be any fan of Philadelphia radio who won’t be saddened to learn of the death this morning of WIBG-AM and WOGL-FM legend Don Cannon at the age of 74.  For a time, Cannon also hosted "Inside Golf" on Comcast SportsNet.  He will be missed.

 

I got to know Cannon more than 25 years ago, when I covered the local radio scene for the Philadelphia Inquirer, before I ever wrote a word about golf.  What I remember most is that Don Cannon enjoyed life about as much as anybody I’d ever met.

 

Off the radio, Cannon was an avid and pretty good golfer.  We must have played a dozen rounds together over the years.  Once, I was his "guest" in the weekend Member-Guest tournament at his club, Cedarbrook CC.  We didn’t win anything but we laughed a lot.  As much time as Cannon spent on the golf course at Cedarbrook, he probably spent more time in the card room, just off the locker room.

 

In 2000, I played a round with Cannon and his best buddy, Bobby Rydell, the teen heartthrob, for a story for the Inquirer’s Sunday golf page. 

 

Here’s a passage from that story about Cannon’s game:

 

Cannon is a different story. He's got game. His legs weren't much to look at in those shorts, but his swing was. It's fluid, natural and athletic, the swing of a man who has aged well and has entirely too much leisure time on his hands. Cannon maintains a 13 handicap at Cedarbrook, but it has been lower - single-digit lower - and he still pulls off the occasional shot that is beyond the grasp of a 13-handicapper.

Cannon's problem, in as much as a man as happy with his life as Cannon is can have a problem, is that into each round he sprinkles a few chunks, tops, chilly-dips, foozles and flame-outs, which cost him big-time.

That recent day at Blue Bell, for example, Cannon opened with birdie-par-birdie-bogey, before stone-cold topping one into a festering pit of nastiness at the fifth, setting the stage for a dreaded double-bogey.

"Man, I had it for the few first holes," Cannon moaned in frustration.

Rydell, good friend and sage counsel that he is, looked at Cannon with pity. "Remember," he said, "you never own it, you only rent it."

Cannon nodded at the grim reality and drove on.

Cannon actually comes with a certain golf pedigree. When he was growing up in Yonkers, N.Y., when dinosaurs still roamed the planet, he caddied at Elmwood Country Club. But he had actually started playing the game in third grade with a couple of neighborhood buddies, Wes and Jon Voight, who were pretty serious about the game because their father was a club pro. Jon Voight, you may know, would later have some success as an actor.

 

 

Here’s WOGL-FM tribute to Cannon.

 

Here’s Cannon’s cameo appearance in the original "Rocky" film.

 

Here’s the official obituary:

 

 

Don Cannon The legendary voice of Philadelphia Morning Radio passed away Friday morning August 22, 2014 after a brief and sudden illness. He was 74.

 

Don Cannon’s voice was a top rated morning radio fixture in Philadelphia spanning five decades starting in 1969 with WIBG (WIBBAGE) through his retirement in 2004 from WOGL 98.1. "Cannon in The Morning" entertained millions of people each day for thirty five years as the handsome and entertaining radio star on WIP, WFIL, WIFI, and WSNI and Oldies 98.1 WOGL. Don also spent time on the management side of the industry as Program Director of WSNI and WPGR. From 1990 until his retirement in 2004 WOGL FM 98.1 was home to the legendary "Cannon in the Morning"

 

Cannon, born Dominic Canzano is considered by many as one of the main originators of conversational, irreverent humor based personality morning radio that opened the way for future talent like Howard Stern. First to release top selling comedy albums based on his on-air humor and listener pranks, Cannon is a member of The Broadcast Pioneers who regard him as the "Dean of Philadelphia Morning Radio" because of the benchmarks, success and contributions he made to the community and industry.

 

Throughout his career and into his retirement, Don worked with hundreds of charities, raising millions of dollars throughout the region and was awarded the March of Dimes Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Cannon an avid golfer was also the host of "Inside Golf" on Comcast Sports Net.

 

His signature voice and style that was a morning staple for 35 years in Philadelphia and then globally online for listeners tuning into WOGL,com is also part of motion picture history. Cannon’s signature voice with a smile was part of a pivotal scene from the original "Rocky" motion picture. As Sylvester Stallone readied for his run throughout Philadelphia it was Don Cannon’s energetic voice on then WIBG that was Rocky’s soundtrack to drinking his signature raw egg drink.

 

Cannon is survived by his wife Terri and sons Chris, who continues the family dynasty in Philadelphia broadcasting as a talent and manager, Russell in Las Vegas, grand children, family and millions fans who will never forget their moments connecting with the legendary Don Cannon.

 

A service for family, friends colleagues and the public is schedule for Sunday Levin Funeral Home 4737 Street Rd, Feasterville-Trevose, PA 19053.

 

 

We’re coming down the home stretch of another summer and Joe Bausch, Villanova chemistry professor and curator of the unique and comprehensive array of golf course photo galleries that is the Bausch Collection, has wasted no time.

 

Since my last update on the Bausch Collection, in early May, Joe has added another 30 new course galleries, plus revisited and updated another 13.  The total number of course galleries has grown to 223.

 

What can I say, the man is a machine?

 

Here is a list of the new galleries Joe has added to the Bausch Collection:

 

1.  The Ridge at Back Brook

2.  Moselem Springs

3.  Brookside

4.  Allentown Municipal

5.  Chisel Creek

6.  Mahoning Valley

7.  Abington

8.  Hideaway Hills

9.  Lakewood

10.  Llanerch

11.  Flourtown

12.  Penn Oaks

13.  Fairways

14.  Essex County CC

15.  Mays Landing

16.  Sunnybrook

17.  Arrowhead

18.  Somerset Hills

19.  Trump Bedminster Old

20.  Upper Montclair

21.  Quartette Club

22.  Oxford Valley

23.  Lancaster Host

24.  Green Hills

25.  Limekiln

26.  Twin Woods

27.  Doylestown

28.  Tumblebrook

29.  Beechtree (shot probably 4 years ago)

30.  Freeway

 

(Beechtree, as you may know, closed a year or so ago, but it was a Tom Doak design that Joe really liked and thought should be memorialized in the Bausch Collection.)

 

Here are the courses that Joe revisited and updated:

 

1.  Seaview -- Bay

2.  Berkleigh

3.  Glen Mills

4.  Hershey West

5.  Country Club of York

6.  Edgmont

7.  Trump Bedminster New

8.  Lancaster

9.  Philadelphia Cricket Club:  Wissahickon

10.  Radnor Valley

11.  Tavistock

12.  White Manor

13.  Plymouth

 

If you have never watched the video of Joe shooting a course, it’s worth a few minutes of your time.