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The rough news just keeps on coming for Tiger Woods, and now it's looking like any hopes he ever had of regaining his former public stature are gone forever.

Marketing Evaluations, the company that produces the "Q Score" testing popularity, indicates that Woods' public stature is way, way down, by a third among sports fans and by half among the general populace.

Woods now has a positive Q score of 30 percent among sports fans, down from 44 percent in 2009. His negative score rose from 15 percent to 39 percent.

And that's sports fans. Out in the big pool of reality, Woods' positive Q score is just 16 percent, down from 32 percent a year earlier. His negative score rose to 49 percent from 19 percent.

What's this all mean? Nothing we don't already know. People just plain don't like Tiger right now in the wake of all his scandal. Here's the thing, though — he can regain a number of those who abandoned him, but history seems to indicate he'll never get them all back.

"Kobe Bryant has never regained his earlier numbers," Steven Levitt, president of the Q Scores Company, told Marketing Daily. "He's been clean and good and successful, and his numbers never returned," Levitt says. "Where is [Woods] going to get his future endorsements? Golf apparel manufacturers, perhaps. The overall consumer products world is not likely to regain interest in him."

And you know what? That's probably for the best, at least for the short term. As we saw, the Tiger foisted upon us by his sponsors was a farce, a total media creation. He may not be as successful going forward, but he's got the potential to be a lot more interesting.

Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

This has the potential to be one of the best golf stories of the year: Erik Compton is, at this writing, your current Day 1 leader at the Greenbrier. He came in at -7, one stroke up George McNeill, Pat Perez and Jeff Overton.

Compton, you may recall, is a golfer now on his third heart. No, not caddy, not swing coach; heart. He had one transplant at age 12, and another a few years ago. He's played his way onto the PGA Tour, and even competed at this year's U.S. Open. His story's an absolute inspiration to anyone, anywhere, in any walk of life.

He's played six events this year, and made the cut in four. But because of his condition, which has robbed him of much of his length off the tee, he's usually completely worn out by the weekend. His best finish this year is a T30 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

[Video: Golfers dodge 30-pound block of ice as it falls from sky]

Still, that's not the point. Just by being on the course, he's more of a champion than any five major winners you could name. And with a sizable Thursday lead, here's hoping he can clean up over the weekend and cash a check with a sixth figure in it. He's absolutely earned everything he gets, and much more.

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These aren't good days to be Tiger Woods. You can't even escape drama in the virtual world.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 came out recently, and while plenty of people bought it, apparently quite a few didn't. Recent reports indicated that first-month sales were down 32 percent from a year ago. Yikes.

Now, there are plenty of ways to spin this, and EA Sports is certainly doing its best to do exactly that. For instance, the company says, last year's model was bundled with a Wii, leading to higher first-time Wii sales.

Whatever the rationalization, it's unfortunate that more people aren't buying the game, because it's fun as hell, even if there are no late-night Escalade challenges. (Full disclosure: EA Sports sent Devil Ball a copy of the game for review.) It gets a little gimmicky, yes — disc golf and putt-putt and all that — but where else can you stand on the seventh at Pebble and tee off toward the setting sun? (Well, the seventh at Pebble, but you know what I mean.)

Anyway, more people ought to buy the Tiger game. It's good. And if they don't, EA needs to stop with the spin and go straight to this strategy: blame Rory McIlroy.

And then again, maybe the problem is that the game wasn't like this below. (STRONG warning — there's some totally NSFW language here. Do NOT play this video if you're easily offended, at a workplace with people who are, or under 21. Don't do it. We're watching you.)

EA Sports really would've outdone themselves had they pulled that one off.

Remember, kids, decorum is important on a golf course. But you know what's even more important? Writing the correct itty-bitty numbers in the correct itty-bitty spaces.

Robert Rock — who sounds like he ought to be the star of an '80s cop drama, not a golfer — learned this lesson the hard way Thursday, when he got DQ'ed from the Irish Open for making an itty-bitty boo-boo on his scorecard after the first round. (The baby talk should give you a clue as to the regard in which I hold this particular draconian rule.)

Rock scored a 3 and a 4 at the 14th and 15th holes at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club. All well and good, except that he wrote a 4 and a 3. Sacrilege! Travesty! Horror! Sacritraverror!

Rock shot a fine little 6-under 65, which would have been one stroke off the lead, but now it's vanished into the ether. I've never understood the scorecard-error nonsense — check that, I understand it, I just don't see the point in throwing a guy or a lady out of a tournament for what is obviously an understandable mistake. It's golf hewing to tradition for the sake of tradition, which is just asinine.

Anyway, on the good side of this, Rock now has time to indulge in the fishing side of Killarney. Those fish don't care if you lose count of the number of worms you've cast.

Here's an interesting little topic for discussion that popped up recently on Golf Channel's discussion boards. Apparently someone discovered a trove of old golf photos and shared them with the world, but couldn't figure out who they were. Any ideas?

Also, check the hotties there in the center-right of that photo above. Forget how Tiger Woods would have handled the on-couse competition in the old days of golf; I'd love to see what he'd make of the galleries.

Some potential ID, and another photo, below the jump.

Sterling form there, my good man! (Is he double-jointed in his hips?)

Anyway, our tipster, Gerald Cunningham, named the gentleman in the top photo. He searched 700 photos on the St. Andrews University archives and determined that it's Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, former Prime Minister of Australia, who had just — "just" being 1954 -- been elected captain of the R&A.

"Viscount." Now that's a badass title. Any ideas who ol' rubber-hips might be?
 

Meet Sarah Brown. She's a Duramed Futures Tour rookie, and she was bounced from The International in New Hampshire last week after a rules official declared she was using a wedge that had nonconforming grooves. "Bounced," as in yanked right off the course with nine holes to go. Painful, yes, but hey — rules are rules.

Turns out, though, that rules aren't rules, at least in this case. As Golfweek reports, Brown's wedge, a Ping Tour-W, is on the USGA's list of permitted clubs. Moreover, players are generally allowed to finish out a round even when there is a potential disqualification in the making; that way, the round can still be valid if there isn't a disqualification.

In other words: whoops.

Brown's father Keith is upset about the officials' actions, as any father would be. "It’s not that (the rules official) made a mistake," Keith Brown told Golfweek. "Everyone makes mistakes. It was the arrogance to say, 'I’m pulling her off the course.'"

The tour has offered $2,000 to the Browns to make it right, but Brown said it's not enough. Instead, they are seeking $5,638, the amount she would have earned had she finished 8-under par. She was at 3-under when she was pulled off the course. The Browns are also seeking a waiver of the entry fee to 2010 LPGA Q-School, which costs $5,000, and a seminar teaching officials how to handle tricky issues like this.

"It’s like punching someone in the nose and taking their wallet," Keith Brown told Golfweek, one of many gem quotes. "The tour wants to return the wallet and say, 'I’m sorry.' What about the punch in the nose?" In more ominous news, Brown said he has been contacted by attorneys and hinted that litigation is not completely out of the picture.

What's at stake? Well, Sarah Brown currently sits at No. 106 on the Futures Tour money list. The top 90 get Futures status for 2011, while the top 5 earn LPGA status and the rest of the top 20 get other benefits. If Brown got the coin she was seeking, she'd move to No. 48. (The Browns are careful to note that they would not want another player bumped out of the money list to make room for Sarah Brown. In other words, there could be 90 exempt players PLUS Brown.)

This is a sticky situation, no doubt about it, and obviously about to get uglier if the Futures Tour and the Browns can't reach an agreement. Hope this groove-ness was worth it, USGA.

Your take? Valid complaint or Little League dad going too far? Have your say.

Each week, we break down the coming week's tournament, giving you the big dogs and the storylines to watch. This week, it's another new course, as we head to West Virginia for the Greenbrier Cl sleepers, and assic. 

Guys you've never heard of. This week, there'll be a few familiar names — we're getting to those below — but more often than not, you're going to be encountering names on the leaderboard you've heard in passing, guys you wouldn't recognize if they were standing right next to you as you're reading this. (Unless you're reading this in a public bathroom or in your own bed. Then it'd be just creepy.) Anyway, this is a time to watch the leaderboard, pick a new name or two, and back that horse for a little while. Who knows, you might be able to say you Knew That Guy Back When.

Kenny Perry. KP, what happened to ya? He was the story of 2008, when he mounted a furious (and successful) charge to get onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but ever since his Masters flameout, he's been largely an afterthought. He's within sight of Champions Tour eligibility, but he's still got game for the PGA. Could he notch another win on an unfamiliar course? Perhaps.

Jim Furyk. The Undertaker is Exhibit No. 1 in why there may not actually be a Player of the Year this year: two wins, combined with missed cuts in two of the three majors. Yech. Like everyone else in the post-Escalade era, he's got talent but lacks anything approaching consistency.

JB Holmes. I love this dude, a big hitter with exactly the kind of outsize approach that golf needs. Greenbrier is a narrow track, so how well will he fare there? Who knows, but the ball will fly a long way wherever it ends up landing.

Matt Kuchar. Career resurgence: eight top 10s and coming off a fourth-place tie at the RBC Canadian. We still think of him as, like, 23 or something, but he's well on the way to a rebirth. 

Sergio Garcia. To steal a riff from Dan Jenkins: I am Sergio, yes? I could come out of nowhere and win, yes? No? 

All right, you're up. Who are your picks for this weekend? Go!

There are a couple ways to get on the PGA Tour. You can practice double-digit hours every day of your young life, sacrificing time with friends and family in a single-minded pursuit of your life's dream.

Or you can sponsor an entire tournament and give yourself an exemption. Whichever.

Meet Ray Halbritter, CEO of Nation Enterprises, which includes the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, the name sponsor of the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Turning Stone is scheduled for the first week of August, and guess who's going to be in the field when they tee off?

Halbritter has passed a PGA of America player ability test, and after he did so, he began looking toward snagging one of the four exemptions each PGA Tour event can offer. "I had a conversation with the people in charge — myself — and I got lucky and approved to play," Halbritter told assembled smiling media at a tournament event.

Now, while there are certainly more talented golfers who could take the exemption, it's not like this is anything new. Tournaments dole out exemptions to, shall we say, special cases all the time. And Halbritter isn't a total hacker. He's taken his handicap from a mid-teens to a 2. But he was careful to note that playing in a PGA Tour event isn't like a Saturday morning with the guys.

"It’s one thing to play a game and to play it well and to play it with your friends," he said. "But when you add on the distractions, if you will, of the people around you and the pressure of having to perform, you have to play good."

Halbritter also noted that he averages about 78 to 80 at the Atunyote course that will host the tournament, and his driving average is only about 265 yards. Yikes.

So, yeah, it's easy to write off Halbritter as a guy who bought his way onto the PGA Tour. But hey, if I had the chance to do that, I sure would, and so would you. So, best of luck to you, sir. Hit 'em straight ... and have the employees dive in front of those balls headed out of bounds.

(Visor tip to Jeff C. for the tip.)

Jerry Pate knows golf. He's got eight wins on the PGA Tour, including the 1976 U.S. Open, and he's an accomplished course designer. Throughout the season, he'll be stopping by Devil Ball to offer an inside-the-ropes look at the week's upcoming course. Today: the Old White Course at the Greenbrier Classic.

The Old White was built in 1914 by Charles Blair MacDonald and Seth Raynor as the original golf course to the historic Greenbrier resort. C.B. created a wonderful golf course that was full of his signature elements — "replicas" of his favorite holes from overseas such as the Biarritz, the Redan, the Alps and Eden. Much of the course had lost its original character, but a wonderful revitalization by architect Lester George has recently restored Old White to her former glory.

George's renovation was beautifully done, in the engineered-style reminiscent of the hands of C.B.'s field engineer Seth Raynor. Many of the bunkers have relatively straight lines and squared corners. The top lines of the bunkers and horizon lines of greens are also crisp. These lines are in stark contrast to the movement of the mountainous terrain all about the golf course. The contrast makes the golf course stand out in the landscape, and offers the golfer a clear understanding of the strategic elements before him.

Many of the bunkers rest perpendicular to the line of play and dissect the centerlines of the fairways from alternating sides at offset distances from the tee. As a result, players must hit accurate shots, choosing the correct line with the distance they want to hit their shot. The par-4 seventh has three fairway bunkers that reach toward the center of the fairway — the first on the right, the next on the left, and the third on the right again. This hazard placement demands a choice of not just the left or right side of the fairway in order to best attack the pin, but also adds the element of distance control in the tee shot. Overpowering this golf course will not be allowed by this strategic design of CB MacDonald.

I look forward to watching the players on this venerable layout. It will prove, once again, that great strategic design is timeless and creates an interesting competition that will be entertaining to watch.

Jerry Pate has been designing golf courses for more than 30 years. His portfolio of work includes Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi, site of the 1999 United States Women's Open; Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck (formerly known as Shadow Isle) in New Jersey; Kiva Dunes on the Alabama Gulf Coast; and Rancho La Quinta Country Club in California. See more of his work at www.jerrypategolfdesign.com.     

You gotta love a guy like Carl Pettersson. The winner of last weekend's RBC Canadian Open came out and said what we've all secretly suspected all along: Getting in shape is bad for you.

Pettersson has long been one of the PGA Tour's almost-there stars, a guy who has the talent to win but not necessarily break away from the pack. He's also part of a long lineage of portly golf champions, from Craig Stadler to Mark Calcavecchia to John Daly. He's listed at 5-11, 195 pounds, which seems like someone might be shaving a few strokes off that figure. And to hear him tell it, getting fit was the worst thing that could happen to him. 

In 2008, his game came together, as he won once, made 25 of 29 cuts, and earned a tidy $2.5 million in prize money. And then he did the unthinkable: He decided to lose a little weight and come back even stronger in 2009. 

"I was thinking: What can I do to get better?" he said over the weekend. "Obviously I was a little overweight and I thought, well, I’ll get fit. I actually lost 30 pounds and my game completely left me. I guess the timing of the swing and everything was thrown out and I really struggled in '09."

That's like saying country-fried steak and gravy might be a tad unhealthy. In 2009, Pettersson made only 15 of 29 cuts with but a single top 10, and earned "only" $564,000. But, once off the fitness bandwagon and back on the Krispy Kreme truck, or whatever his poison of choice may be, Pettersson found his game again. He's already got four top-10 finishes and he's nearly quadrupled his 2009 earnings.  

He's also of a much calmer mindset. He was looking at missing the cut on Friday afternoon at the RBC. So to ease his nerves, he headed to the St. George clubhouse. "And I walked in the locker room and Jay Williamson had all the scenarios written out, and he’s like, ‘Grab a beer.’ Before you know it I’d had seven beers (and) made the cut." Two days later, he was the champ.

"I’d love to be fitter," Pettersson said, "but I’m not going to go down that road again."

Hey, whatever works. He's already a millionaire. And if he can figure a way to teach a gut-momentum golf swing, he'll be a billionaire.

For a certain generation of golf fans, David Duval is never far from our hearts. For a brief time, it looked like he was poised to become one of the greatest of all time, a player who could go toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods and smile while he did so.

Alas, it wasn't to be; injuries hampered the former World No. 1's effectiveness after his 2001 British Open win, and he all but fell off the face of the earth. Every once in awhile he'd resurface, most notably last year when he came within a few strokes of winning the 2009 U.S. Open, but he'd just as quickly sink back into near-obscurity.

Over the weekend, he shot three sub-70 rounds at the RBC Canadian, topped by a Sunday 65. He finished at 8-under, six strokes behind winner Carl Pettersson. If he follows form, he'll vanish until, oh, February 2011. But hey, a little Duval is better than no Duval at all.

Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Alexis Thompson is a 15-year-old pro on the LPGA Tour. Read that sentence again. Does it make your blood boil? Do you start to have visions of an overhyped, over-parented, over-coached youngster making a mockery of the LPGA? OK, hold on. Let me add a little more to the mix:

Alexis Thompson is a 15-year-old pro on the LPGA Tour, and she just tied for second at the Evian Masters.

Changes the game a little bit, doesn't it? Thompson finished just a single stroke behind Jiyai Shin. And just a few weeks before, she tied for 10th at the U.S. Women's Open. Impressive, huh?

Thing is, she won't be at the Ricoh Women's British Open thanks to a bizarre tumble of rules. She had won exemption into the Open's final qualifying because she was a Curtis Cup member, but lost that exemption when she turned pro. That's fairly standard procedure in golf; part of the debate about turning pro is to give up childish things, like exemptions you earned as an amateur.

[Photos: See more of teen golfing sensation Alexis Thompson]

What's got to be frustrating for Thompson is that she doesn't even have the opportunity to play her way into the tournament. Why? Because the Ladies Golf Union, the organizing body which oversees the Open, for some insane reason scheduled pre-qualifying the day after the U.S. Women's Open.  

So here she is, with no exemption into final qualifying and no chance to have played in pre-qualifying. The Ladies Golf Union has flat-out denied Thompson's petition to play in the qualifying tournament. 

"Exemptions into final qualifying for professionals are not the norm," Shona Malcolm, the LGU’s CEO, told Golfweek's Sean Martin in an email. "The main circumstances would be medical exemptions or, occasionally and very exceptionally, players of reputation who had previously been long-term participants in, supporters of or winners of the Ricoh Women’s British Open."

Now, it's obvious why golf officials are being a bit measured in their response to Thompson's hot start. The last thing anyone wants is a repeat of the Michelle Wie situation, where a kid was hyped to the heavens and didn't immediately perform. Thompson has done well early on, but there's no indication it'll sustain. (None that it won't, either. Ya never know, do ya?)

So the Thompson camp is going to have to take this one on the chin and move forward. If she keeps playing at this level, this British Open snub is going to be nothing but a faint memory before too much longer. 

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So it wasn't a major. So what? We nearly had some landmark performances over the weekend at the RBC Canadian Open! Without further ado, let's check out the finest shots of the RBC Canadian Open.

First off, Carl Pettersson continued the Sunday charge that would get him a trophy, birdieing the par-5 15th. It was part of a run of four birdies in five holes that would end up paying off:

More below:

Next, same hole, different dude. On Sunday, Kevin Na had this nifty birdie on the 15th at St. George's:

And here's a first — a missed shot that makes the best of the week. Pettersson was in line to shoot a 59, and then:

And finally, local-boy-made-good Mike Weir had this fine Thursday shot on St. George's par-5 ninth:

Congrats to Pettersson and all our shotmaking pros this past weekend. Fine work, gents!

Lee Janzen pops his way out of a hole in the first day of the RBC Canadian Open. Let's hope someone threw him a ladder afterward.

Good weekend of golf ahead over the next couple days, and we'll keep you up with what's going on. And hey, if you're looking for something non-golfy to listen to this weekend, check out my all-sports podcast, Why Is This News?, done with Big League Stew's Kevin Kaduk. Go right here to see the past episodes and subscribe.

Hit 'em straight!

The British Open is over, the RBC Canadian is here, and we're chatting about all that and more in this week's Golfcast. We kick around how to pronounce "Oosthuizen," whether Tiger Woods is, in fact, done, and why the heck Phil Mickelson freaks every time he crosses the Atlantic. We also talk about the state of Shane's golf game and various other golfy things. It's fun. Listen. Enjoy.

As always, I'm joined by Shane Bacon, writer here and at Dogs That Chase Cars. (Follow Shane on Twitter right here, and while you're there, follow me too.)

We welcome your thoughts, ideas and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. And if you've got a question or comment for us to kick around, call our Skype line at 678-389-9173 and leave your message. Click the little arrow below to play the podcast or right-click it to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Have at it!

Devil Ball Golfcast, Episode 46 -- Wake me when the British Open is over

Are you on Twitter? If not, you know about it, right? Instant blast messages from your computer or phone to the entire planet. And that kind of stuff can get you in a lot of trouble in a hurry. (Ever wondered what would happen if you Tweeted fake distress messages from a plane? Uh ... no, me neither. Of course not.)

Anyway. Christina Kim is over in France for the Evian Masters, and having a fine old time, judging from her always-interesting Twitter feed. But things took a turn for the controversial Friday morning when she dropped this little bombshell:

I was just told someone very prominent in the future of the LPGA-a young major winner, said to one of our rules officials "go f-word a tree" that is just inappropriate,rude,unprofessional,and just bc she dropped off the leaderboard doesn't mean she should say that. I spit on her

Who was it? Let the speculation begin! Kim continued:

I think players should be barred from the tour for speaking to an official in that manner. That and a big old smack from me, across her face

And from there, matters started to spin. Accusations and assumptions flew, and reputations started getting dirtier than Gulf beaches. So Kim followed up with some damage control:

Just spoke with the rules official, and they said that was not exactly what was said. So let us stop assuming. But regardless, the officials have the most thankless job on tour, we would be in a world of chaos without them!

and

Ok folks, stop naming names. Its NOT PC, bc I would have said RECENT major winner. And "young" is all relative. Young might mean 37yrs old

By "PC," obviously she means Paula Creamer. So, yeah, there are plenty of possibilities as to the identity of the mysterious official-curser. Any ideas? Purely for entertainment purposes, of course. 

Jerry Pate knows golf. He's got eight wins on the PGA Tour, including the 1976 U.S. Open, and he's an accomplished course designer. Throughout the season, he'll be stopping by Devil Ball to offer an inside-the-ropes look at the week's upcoming course. Today: St. George's Golf & Country Club in Toronto.

The Canadian Open returns to St. George's for the first time since 1968. The course originally opened in 1929 as Royal York Golf Club. The course was designed by the great Canadian architect Stanley Thompson and is recognized as one of his greatest works.

The course is routed masterfully through and around the many valleys, ridges, and hillocks on the site. Thompson utilized the terrain to deceive players — to hide the fairway beyond or to toy with the player's depth perception on approaches.

The hills are beautifully decorated with the sand-flashed Thompson bunkers. One such example of this is the par-4 seventh hole. The uphill hole plays left to right off the tee, then back to the left slightly to a green set on top of a ridge, hidden from the fairway below. A cross-bunker sits just below the ridge yet well short of the green. The flagstick beyond appears closer to the players. With the combination of the uphill approach and the visual deception, the tendency is to come up short.

Another great example of Thompson's use of the rolling terrain is the long par-5 15th hole. The fairway rolls back and forth between the ridges on its way to the green. The second shot is key on the hole as an aggressive one will need to be played blindly over a bunker set in a knob. The correct line and distance is required to find the fairway as it bends beyond that knob. A poor drive in a fairway bunker or the deep rough will not allow this aggressive second shot and a lay-up must be played well out to the right of the bunker and knob. From there, a player is left with a long, difficult off-angle approach to the green.

The players will enjoy St. George's and its classic design and I am sure Stanley Thompson is proud that his national championship has returned to St. George. He will receive great admiration this week for his work there and hopefully more light will be shed on his other wonderful works.

Jerry Pate has been designing golf courses for more than 30 years. His portfolio of work includes Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi, site of the 1999 United States Women's Open; Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck (formerly known as Shadow Isle) in New Jersey; Kiva Dunes on the Alabama Gulf Coast; and Rancho La Quinta Country Club in California. See more of his work at www.jerrypategolfdesign.com.    

Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Scandal didn't destroy Tiger Woods' popularity, but it sure left a mark.

A Harris Interactive poll has revealed that for the first time since 2006, Woods no longer holds the title of America's most popular sports star all by himself. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant moved into a statistical tie with Woods, up from fourth place last year. Woods' infidelity became worldwide news after a car accident last Thanksgiving, and Woods is yet to regain the form that made him the world's most celebrated athlete for more than a decade.

[Photos: See images of the world's greatest golfer]

The poll of 2,227 adults was conducted online from June 14-21. Even before the debacle that was "The Decision," LeBron James had fallen in popularity from third to sixth. His controversial jump from Cleveland to Miami will almost certainly knock that ranking lower in future polls. Fellow NBA'er Michael Jordan dropped from second to seventh.

On the rise: Yankees star Derek Jeter (fourth to third) and annoyingly indecisive/possibly retired quarterback Brett Favre (up to third from ninth, inexplicably). Peyton Manning jumped from seventh to fifth, while his rival Tom Brady entered the rankings at No. 8. Drew Brees, fresh off a heartwarming Super Bowl win, ranked ninth, while NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in at 10th. Falling out of the top 10 were NASCAR's Jeff Gordon and the Cardinals' Albert Pujols.

On the female side of the equation, tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams took the top two spots with driver/spokesmodel Danica Patrick, former soccer star Mia Hamm, and tennis' Maria Sharapova and Anna Kournikova following. Rounding out the top 10 on the ladies' side: volleyball's Misty May-Treanor, gymnast Shawn Johnson, WNBA star Lisa Leslie, and tennis greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova (who were tied for 10th). Falling out of the ladies' top 10 were the WNBA's Candace Parker, the LPGA's Annika Sorenstam, tennis legend Chris Evert and skater Michelle Kwan.  

[Photos: See images of Lakers star Kobe Bryant]

What does this poll reveal? That we Americans are a fickle bunch. As Kobe's performance shows, winning solves most problems. Bryant has a checkered past of his own, but his recent titles with the Lakers have scrubbed the slate clean in the eyes of many sports fans. The lesson for Tiger, then, is clear — apologies are nice, but victory is the key to winning back public favor.

For more golf coverage, follow Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf on Facebook and Twitter.

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Each week, we break down the coming week's tournament, giving you the big dogs, the sleepers, and the storylines to watch. This week, we mount up for the RBC Canadian Open at St. George in Toronto. Beauty, eh?

Fred Couples: The Champions Tour champ makes one of his occasional returns to the PGA Tour here, and the shortness of the course negates some of the advantages of his young-buck rivals.

Camilo Villegas: O Camilo, my Camilo. What's happened to you, dude? Time was when Villegas was the future of golf. Now he's already an underperforming vet. Well, not completely, but you don't see his name popping up so much when discussions turn to the next great generation of golfers. Which is a shame, because the guy has game, he just needs to settle into a groove in 2010. A weaker-field event like this one could be just the cure.

Paul Casey: My sleeper for the British Open apparently overslept on Sunday, putting himself out of any hope of competition with poor shot selection and bad luck. Still, he's one of the game's best, and it's only a matter of time before he breaks through big. This could be a time for him to stack some cash and experience. 

Retief Goosen: The Iron Goose hasn't come home to roost yet. (Do geese roost? I dunno. You know what I'm getting at.) Strong performances in heavy winds at St. Andrews kept him within sight of the leaders, but he could never get low enough to close. Still, he's got game after being written off by much of the golferazzi, so keep an eye on him this weekend.

Mike Weir: He's Canadian, so he'll get plenty of love from the galleries. But he's by no means the same player who dominated in the early part of the 2000s and won the 2003 Masters. Still, he's got a green jacket and the rest of us don't, so what does he care what we think?

All right, you're up. Who are your picks for this weekend? Go!

Admit it. Pretty much every round you've ever played, you've stood over a 3-foot putt and wondered if you could drain it with a tournament on the line.

And with zero pressure, chances are you canned it. But Bob Heintz had that same chance — an opportunity to force a playoff in a PGA Tour event — and oh, he yipped it. Badly. So painfully, agonizingly badly.

Heintz had been two shots back of Matt Bettencourt on the final hole of the Reno-Tahoe Open last weekend when Bettencourt bogeyed and Heintz had a 3-foot putt for birdie. Heintz lined up, steadied himself, putted ... and he couldn't have missed it wider if he was kicking for Florida State.

Heintz didn't get the cachet and tour benefits that come with winning a PGA event, but he walked away with a second-place finish and a $324,000 check for his trouble. And Heintz, being a pro golfer, was totally spoiled and threw a serious hissy fit. Here, check it out: 

"It's a really good check for me," he said. "I think it's my biggest check ever, and it's really exciting."

Man, what a je—wait, what? He was gracious in coming in second? Wow. Good to see. And here's hoping he gets his chance to cash a bigger one.

The ladies of golf are in France this week for the Evian Masters, playing for the richest purse of the season. (I'd probably get my butt kicked if I made a "ladies"/"purse" joke, wouldn't I?) The total at stake is $3.25 million, a sum equaled only by the U.S. Open.

The field is strong, headed by Ai Miyazato, who won this event last year and has since then absolutely torn up the LPGA. Also in the mix: Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr (right), the two most recent major winners on the LPGA.

And speaking of majors, the Evian is a fitting lead-in to next week's major, the Ricoh Women's British Open. It's an opportunity for the women to take over the golf stage, given that the PGA is going off at the, shall we say, less-than-major tournaments that are the RBC Canadian and the Greenbrier over the next two weeks.

The question then becomes, as it always is, will the presence of Americans atop the LPGA draw further interest in the game? Perhaps. I defy you to find anything to dislike about Paula Creamer. But then again, as ratings for the British Open demonstrated, the vast majority of people who watch golf are interested in the celebrity side, not the exquisite-golf side, of the equation.

So, yeah, you know what that means: if Michelle Wie isn't in the mix, most people aren't tuning in. Which would be a shame, but that's the way it is for now.

Since everyone in golf likes to think in huge, sweeping speculation, like whether the era of American dominance is over or whether Louis Oosthuizen will ever win again, we'll add more to the mix and kick around another bellwether trend: the rise of the unbelievably good young players.

You already know how well Rory McIlroy did; the guy didn't shoot a single round in the 70s all weekend at St. Andrews. Of course, as has been repeated ad infinitum, one of those rounds was an 80, effectively killing his chances of winning. Consider that if he'd just shot even par that round, he'd have tied with Louis Oosthuizen. But the fact that he was able to rebound from such a debacle speaks well of his future.

Another rebounder was Rickie Fowler (pictured, but you should know that by now), who followed an opening 79 with 67-71-67 to end up tied for 14th. Fowler looked like he was headed back across the pond, but settled in and put together one of the best three-day performances of the tournament.   

Third of the three was a guy who might just be the most talented of all of them: Ryo Ishikawa, who had a reasonable T27 finish at -2. No less an authority than Tom Watson said that Ishikawa has the potential to be a once-in-a-generation talent, and the fact that he didn't implode at St. Andrews when so many others did speaks well of him. 

Certainly, playing well before you're able to legally drink is no guarantee that you'll be playing well into middle age, or even before you hit 25. All three of these cats were brought along the correct way -- slowly, without fanfare -- but the days of their anonymity are long past. All three are going to have to deal with increased scrutiny of their every move on and off the course ... and we all know where that can lead.

So, for the purposes of discussion: which of the three do you think will win a major first? And, for extra double bonus points, pick the major it'll be.

(Me: McIlroy, 2011 PGA Championship.) Go!

Look out, Ryo Ishikawa! Somebody's shooting, and they already took down Fredrik Andersson Hed! Take cover!

Golf. What a wacky sport.

In the last five majors, nobody has been more consistent than Lee Westwood. Dating back to last year's British Open, Westwood has two second-place finishes and two ties for third, with the lone outlier being a tie for 16th at this year's U.S. Open.

Heck with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson; this cat is the most consistent in the world. Why isn't he getting all the praise and love lavished on TW and Lefty?

Well, the most obvious reason is the simplest: he hasn't won yet. He's been in the mix late on Sunday major after major, but until he brings home that green jacket, that Claret Jug, what have you, he's still the Best of Everybody Else. (Sure looks thrilled to have that runner-up platter at St. Andrews, doesn't he?)

So let's take a brief look back at this weekend's British Open. Of all the tournaments in which he's come up just short, he shouldn't be hanging his head on this one. Nobody was catching Louis Oosthuizen this weekend, and Westwood did well to move up the leaderboard and put himself into second place.

Yes, Westwood won the Race To Dubai last year, so we know he knows how to win. But until he can finally close the deal in a major, he won't close the gap between himself and the game's elite.

Combine a no-name golfer destroying the entire field from the word go with a tournament that ends before 11 a.m. on the West Coast, and you've got ratings gold at a major, right?

Of course not. Ratings for the Open Championship were abysmal for any number of reasons. As Waggle Room points out, the combination of a lack of recognizable faces and the cable-TV broadcast combined to make this year's Open Championship the lowest-ranked since 1991, back when Ian Baker-Finch won it all.

For comparative purposes, last year's final round between Tom Watson and Stewart Cink — which was broadcast on ABC, not ESPN, as this year's was — came in at a 3.8 rating. This year? 2.9. Ouch. 

Instant reactions on Twitter and elsewhere indicated that this Open was a snoozer as it was unfolding. It's indicative of golf's larger problem — as long as there aren't recognizable personalities at the top of the leaderboard, the vast majority of casual fans are going to look elsewhere. Elementary, but still disconcerting. 

(Full disclosure: That photo was taken well after the Open Championship was done. For illustrative purposes only.)

Suppose you'd spent a lifetime pursuing your dream, and when you were on the cusp of achieving it, you failed in spectacular fashion. Would you ever return to the scene of that indignity?

If not, that's what separates you — separates most of us — from Doug Sanders. 

You may not recall Sanders — no relation to Deion — if you're below a certain age so let's bring you up to speed. Sanders was Lee Westwood before Lee Westwood, a guy who always got ever so close in majors but never closed the deal. In 1966, he finished in the top 10 of all four majors but won zero. And in 1970, he had the chance of a lifetime at the British Open at St. Andrews.

He was leading the Open over a fella by the name of Jack Nicklaus when he took four strokes from within spitting distance of the 18th green, including a missed downhill 3-footer to win.

You'd think he'd run screaming from St. Andrews never to return, but the exact opposite is the case. As Golf Digest's Jaime Diaz notes in a fine profile, Sanders comes back to St. Andrews every time the Open Championship does:

"People say, 'Mr. Sanders, we're so sorry you missed that putt,' and a lot of them have forgotten that the guy that won was the greatest player in history," he said during a brief conversation before the leaders teed off Sunday. "It's almost like for them, I was the winner."

And in a welcome — though painful — bit of honesty, Sanders noted that he thinks about that missed putt "only about every five minutes." It's a great profile, and well worth a few minutes of your time. Check it out here.

Another tournament, another Tiger Woods mini-blowup or five. Consider this video, which has a NSFW word in it, so don't crank it too loud with others around:

(Visor tip to A Walk In The Park.) He also flung away his putter on Friday night after missing a putt on 18, and there were doubtless other moments of frustration.

Now, sure as the sun rises, video like this prompts all kinds of self-righteous tut-tutting about how he's not respecting the game and he's treating golf like a (gasp!) basketball game and it's dreadful that he'd use such gutter language on a verdant cathedral like St. Andrews and blah blah blah shut UP. Enough.

Anybody who's spent any time around golf knows there are plenty of players who rant, holler, toss clubs and behave in a generally less-than-genteel manner. But the it's-OK-because-others-do-it is childish stuff. Let's be more to the point: Tiger Woods is one of the most intense competitors ever in sports, and these are the kinds of guys who devour themselves in pursuit of the next victory. That much competitive drive spills over the edges.

More to the point, Woods is in the midst of a career free-fall. On Saturday, when this video was taken, he was seeing whatever faint hope he might have of the British Open fading away in the cold Scottish wind. And he was feeling betrayed by a course that had been his best pal for so long. I'm surprised he didn't fling a club onto the roof of the clubhouse.

I'm not suggesting for a second that anybody should feel sorry for Woods. The guy brought every inch of the hell he's living on himself. But if the dude wants to bark out a cuss word or flail around a bit, he should be able to do it without a bunch of sanctimonious types proclaiming him as a symbol of All That's Wrong With Golf.

As a golfer, I prefer Tiger Woods 2.0, the flawed, failed human, to the robotic pre-Escaladegate version, by a huge margin. You?  

The Claret Jug engraver hadn't even gotten to the second "o" of Oosthuizen when the questions began: Sure, Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open today, but what's he going to do tomorrow?

In a major, timing is everything. A player can hit a hot stick for four straight days and win the event of a lifetime playing the tournament of a lifetime. And as we've seen of late, people can come from out of nowhere to win. In the last six majors, we've had five first-time winners. If you'd bet on those five — Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Y.E. Yang, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen — before each of their majors, you'd own your own island by now.

But of those five, who seems the most poised to follow up on their success? I'm going to say Oosthuizen, by a long shot. Oosthuizen not only is the only one of the five who held the lead going into Sunday, he held it going into Saturday. In other words, he slept on a major lead for two nights in a row. Not only did he not spit the bit, he stabilized or increased his lead each time.

Consider, also: This guy whom nobody had ever heard of (mostly) before Thursday posted the fourth-lowest British Open score of all time, only three strokes off Tiger Woods' record of 19-under. Qualify it with wind or weather or whatever you want, 16-under is 16-under. That kind of sustained excellence, that kind of steel-heart mindset, doesn't pop up every year. (Aside: In 1894, John Henry Taylor won with a score of 46 strokes over par. Forty-six. Damn, you could've won the Open Championship that year!) 

Oosthuizen probably isn't going to go on a Woods-like ravaging of golf over the next 10 years. He's had his troubles in majors before. But success breeds success, and I'd be very surprised if we don't see him back on the top of the leaderboard again, and very soon.

Well, that was efficient.

Louis Oosthuizen put on a clinic of domination unlike anything we've seen this side of Tiger Woods, and captured a British Open Claret Jug in a final-day round that was ... well, let's be honest, it was incredibly dull. But hey, the dude's got his major, and now we all know his name. Woost-hazen! Woost-hazen!

When we all looked over the 2010 slate of majors a few years back, we figured that if Tiger Woods hadn't caught Jack's total of 18 majors by now, he almost certainly would this year. After all, he's won, and won convincingly, at three of the four major sites of the year.

Of course, a few years ago — even a few months ago — we didn't know what was going on once Tiger left the course, let alone how that might affect his work inside the ropes. We know now — in exhaustive, seemingly never-ending detail — and we can see the dramatic effect that his personal troubles have had on his game.

Sure, Woods made the cut in all three majors, and finished T4 at the Masters and the U.S. Open. But anyone who points to those figures as any way supportive of Tiger is fooling themselves. Tiger's not a T4 player, he's a first-place-by-four-strokes player. Anything less simply won't do.

So now, once again, it's time to ask: Is Woods going to catch Nicklaus?

I still think it's likely. Woods has at least ten years of quality golf left in him, given his conditioning and innate talent. That's 40 majors; he only has to win a bit more than 10 percent of those and he'll have the record.

Certainly, he's facing a talent pool that's not as deep as the one Nicklaus faced, but far wider. Nobody active outside of Phil Mickelson has four majors, and only three guys — Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington — have three.

Thing is, all it takes is one Louis Oosthuizen — or one Y.E. Yang — to come out of nowhere and play the tournament of his life to derail Woods. The longer Woods goes without a major, the more opportunities these guys have to jump up and steal away the spotlight.

Woods' career isn't over, not by any means. But it's going to become more of a grind than a coronation. And you know what? That might end up being a hell of a lot more interesting to watch. 

Earlier this week, Ian Poulter caused a bit of a kerfluffle when he boasted -- perhaps joking, perhaps not -- that the era of American dominance in golf was over, and that this was Europe's time to shine.

Well, the Open has come and gone, and Europe is second-best, yet again, only this time it's to South Africa. And while Euros dominate the very top of the British Open leaderboard, a wave of young American not-yet-stars are lurking.

Consider these names: Sean O'Hair, Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, JB Holmes. All Americans, all finished within sight of -- well, at least of the second-place finishers at the Open. (Nobody was catching Louis Oosthuizen.) And Anthony Kim missed this event because of surgery, but you've got to figure he's right there in the mix too.

Sure, they're not Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson -- not yet, anyway -- but the fact remains that there are plenty of quality U.S. golfers ready to take that next step -- "ready" being the key word. All of these cats have shown the ability to lead at some point during big tournaments; the key, of course, is to be the last guy standing walking off 18. 

Yes, three of the last four majors have been won by non-Americans, but that's too small of a sample size. Dating to 1995, when uber-American John Daly won the British, 11 of the 16 Open Championships have flown back across the pond. The Yanks have similar track records in the other three majors. Golf in America may be in a slight lull for the moment, but the future of the game in the States is in good hands.  

Oh, and Poulter? He finished T60, in the 20-shots-off-the-lead range. Make of that what you will. 

(The young lady being hoisted there is John Daly's companion Anna Cladakis. Salute the flag, gents.)

A sampling of John Daly's resplendent wardrobe throughout the week at the British Open. After a Thursday 66, he faltered a bit, but still finished at +1. And nobody looked more -- well, let's say "distinctive" on the course than Mr. Daly.

Love 'em and leave 'em. After three unsatisfying days, Tiger Woods has ditched the Nike Method 001 putter he switched to before the Open Championship, returning to the old familiar Scotty Cameron putter he's used to win 13 of his 14 championships.

Switching putters mid-tournament? For a guy as disciplined and routine-oriented as Tiger, this is the equivalent of wearing a white surrender flag rather than his characteristic Sunday red. Through the first three rounds, Woods took 99 putts, including 35 on a rugged Saturday. Leader Louis Oosthuizen, by contrast, took only 88 putts over that same period. Not coincidentally, Woods entered Sunday 12 shots behind Oosthuizen. Woods three-putted an astonishing ten times over the first 54 holes of the tournament.

Woods switched to the Nike Method putter with the hope of dealing with St. Andrews' slower greens more effectively, but as he and others found, greens at the Old Course went from slow to slick, depending on both wind speed and which hole you happened to be playing at any given moment.

Early on in Sunday's round, the switch didn't seem to help much; Woods posted two early double-bogeys, though those were the result of poor shot selection long before he got to the green.

Nike's hopes for a run on golf stores in search of Nike Methods are now surely dashed. On the plus side, the putter is one quickie Tiger fling who probably won't be holding a press conference to reveal dark secrets.

Let's play a little game here, shall we? What do these people have in common:

You. Me. Louis Oosthuizen. Paul Casey. Martin Kaymer. Henrik Stenson. Alejandro Canizares. Lee Westwood. Dustin Johnson. Nick Watney. Sean O'Hair. Ricky Barnes. Rory McIlroy. JB Holmes. Sergio Garcia. Shane Lowry. Robert Karlsson. Jin Jeong.

Give up? It's not that we're devilishly handsome -- that's just me and Rory. No, it's that of that list, no one has won a major. (If you're reading this and you HAVE won a major, drop me a line. Let's hang.)

And, with the exception of you and me, those guys are all at the top of the leaderboard at the British Open. (If you're reading this and you actually happen to be among the leaders -- first off, focus! And second, drop me a line. After Sunday, of course.)

The only guy in the top 17 at St. Andrews who's won a major is Retief Goosen, and he's T8, ten strokes back of Woost-hazen. The South African with a tongue-tying last name has put himself four strokes clear of Casey and seven strokes clear of the rest of the field. He's shown nothing but steadiness and grace under pressure.

Certainly, it's a long way to the Claret Jug. The 54-hole leader failed to win the last three British Open championships, and as Dustin Johnson can testify from Pebble Beach last month, leads can vanish in a hurry. Still, Oosthuizen is setting up well to take this one in a runaway. Guess it's time to start remembering how to spell his name, huh? 

For complete British Open coverage, follow Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf on Facebook and Twitter.

Golf's a fairly easy game when you think about it. Hit the ball again and again until it goes in the little hole. But every so often, something happens that forces you to get a little creative, perhaps even a little insane. 

The scene: the always-treacherous Road Hole, one of the toughest holes in all of golf. Many Open Championship hopes have died here, including those of Tom Watson in 1984. The player: Miguel Angel Jimenez, one of the coolest cats in golf, who was in the midst of an over-par meltdown and watching his major hopes blowing out to the North Sea. It was time to take drastic action.

[Photos: Jimenez's risky shot]

On approach, Jimenez's ball had rolled up almost against the wall that runs along and behind the 17th hole. He didn't have room to get his club in behind the ball, so he turned his back to the green, faced the wall, and ...

Beauty! If the British Open were being played under the rules of the ancient and legendary game H-O-R-S-E, Jimenez would have just hung an H on the rest of the field. Much like Phil Mickelson's backwards chip, people are going to be trying this stunt for years to come.

Sadly for Jimenez, he double-bogeyed the hole and sits 12 strokes behind leader Louis Oosthuizen. But even so, he's just added an iconic golf shot to the game's history. How many people get to do that?

Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf is all over the Open Championship; hang with us on Facebook and Twitter.

More Yahoo! coverage of the British Open:
• Tiger Woods shows respect as Tom Watson finishes at St. Andrews
• Phil Mickelson gives us yet another British Open disappointment
• Sergio Garcia shows his love for Spain's World Cup win

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Friday's wind delay meant golfers spent many more hours out on the course than they're used to -- except for when they're stuck playing behind Ben Crane, of course. Still, being away from the clubhouse that long can mean that, well, sometimes nature takes over. That's all well and good, except if you happen to have a camera on you, as poor Marcel Siem did:

(Big ol' visor tip to Deadspin.) Deft recovery there by ESPN's Scott Van Pelt.  And hey, Steve Spurrier knows Siem's pain.

The Spaniards are coming! Just two weeks after Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon victory and one week after Spain's World Cup win, Sergio Garcia is making a bit -- not a ton, but a bit -- of noise at the British Open. Garcia, a noted soccer fan, has taken to wearing a gold champion's star on his shirts this week to commemorate his nation's win. Earlier this week in a practice round, Sergio even wore a Spain jersey.

Garcia finished Saturday at -4, but the way that leaders Louis Oosthuizen and Paul Casey are playing, he'll have a long way to go to catch them. Still, as horribly as his year has gone, Garcia's got to be pleased with this showing so far. 

Arnold Palmer in 1995. Jack Nicklaus in 2005. And now, Tom Watson in 2010. Three of the game's greatest players, all bidding farewell to St. Andrews on the Swilcan Bridge.

Time's running away from all of us, friends. Enjoy what you've got while you've got it.

See you Saturday for more Open coverage!

For complete British Open coverage, follow Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf on Facebook and Twitter.

From his 1977 Duel in the Sun to his 2009 near-triumph, Tom Watson is an indisputable British Open legend. He won five Claret Jugs and was within inches of a sixth last year. And while his British Open days aren't done, this is almost certainly his last round at St. Andrews, as the tournament isn't scheduled to return to the Old Course until 2015. 

One year after his miraculous run at Turnberry, Watson couldn't summon up the magic once again. With the cut line hovering between 1-over and 2-over, Watson posted a 75 on Friday to fall to 4-over and out of cut contention. He knew it, the crowd knew it, and so Watson's final holes became a farewell celebration.

[Photos: See the touching farewell]

With darkness rapidly approaching, Watson stepped to the 18th tee. As you can see by the photo above, the light was quickly fading. It looked as if Watson would have to play his 18th on Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. local time, an awkward, anticlimactic ending not befitting a player of his stature.

And then: respect from an unexpected quarter. Tiger Woods, playing in the group ahead, motioned for Watson's group to swing away so that Watson could finish on Friday evening, basking in the cheers of the adoring Scotland crowd. Watson and Woods have had their differences of late, with Watson critiquing Woods' behavior both on and off the course, but on this afternoon, Woods put aside personal differences and let Watson enjoy one last triumphant walk up 18.

As Watson approached the famed Swilcan Bridge, the iconic centerpiece of the Old Course, he stopped to kiss the centuries-old stones. It was a perfect moment, a classic instant that will be replayed every time the Open Championship returns to St. Andrews. He joins Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, to name two recent legends, in taking a touching moment to enjoy one last view from the bridge.

And it nearly got even better. On his second shot, a chip up to the 18th green, Watson nearly holed out for eagle, leaving the ball resting on the edge of the cup. Can we get sentimental for a second and say that even the ball didn't want Watson to finish his round? Sure, why not? One tap-in birdie later and Watson was done, his St. Andrews career already part of legend. He never won at the Old Course, coming closest in 1984 when he fell to Seve Ballesteros at the last moment, but Friday night certainly felt like a victory celebration.

Of course, there are still two more days to be played in this year's Open. Woods, for his part, nearly aced the 18th but missed the ensuing eagle putt. He sits at 4-under, eight shots behind leader Louis Oosthuizen. But the way the weather is swirling, nobody who made the cut is out of the hunt for the 2010 Open Championship.

Shame that Tom Watson couldn't be among them. But he got the perfect sendoff. 

Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf is all over the Open Championship; hang with us on Facebook and Twitter.

More Yahoo! coverage of the British Open:

John Daly lets emotions show after second-round 76
It's a twister! Wind suspends play at Open Championship
Louis Oosthuizen ties 36-hole record at British, leads Open

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OK, golfers, playtime's over. A day after catching St. Andrews napping, the finest golfers in the world got a full-in-the-face taste of Scottish fury as winds at the Open Championship howled hard enough to suspend play for about an hour a little before 10 a.m. ET.

Now, suspending play at a British Open for wind seems absurd — as DB's Shane Bacon put it on Twitter, it's equivalent to suspending the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for indigestion — but the conditions were approaching unplayable status.

The precipitating event was Jason Dufner's drama at the seventh green. Dufner repeatedly tried to place his ball to putt, but as soon as he placed it, the ball would roll away, as if Dufner had dropped it on a hillside rather than the table-flat green. Meanwhile, ESPN commentator Sean McDonough took on the role of weatherman in a hurricane, hanging on as gusts of 40-plus-mph winds rocked TV towers and nearly blew golfers sideways.

Officials with the R&A pulled the golfers off the course but kept them close at hand, indicating that the stoppage of play would, hopefully, be a short one. R&A officials tried to assess the situation on the greens firsthand, leading to the vaguely absurd scene of rules officials leaning over a twitching ball observing its oscillations, like birds watching an egg hatching. Play finally resumed after about an hour's delay. 

About a third of the field finished the second round. They're the lucky ones. Louis Oosthuizen (pronounced "clubhouse leader") played quite well, as did Mark Calcavecchia and Lee Westwood, among others. Tiger Woods, first-round leader Rory McIlroy, John Daly and others had to continue through the winds, which were likely to blow the birdies of Thursday right out to the North Sea.

(Image via Dogs That Chase Cars)

Day 2 is underway! Will Rory McIlroy hang on? Will Tiger Woods make a run? Who will miss the cut? Follow here, and we'll pop in to answer questions throughout the tournament. Enjoy!

In almost every war movie ever made, there's a moment when one of the soldiers shows his mates a photo of his girlfriend and talks about how they're gonna get married and start a family when he gets back home. He's smiling when he says it, all full of hope and promise, and you know right at that moment: yep, that dude's dead.

I got that same sort of feeling when watching Lee Westwood card a 67 in increasingly bad-weather conditions Thursday at the Open Championship. While Rory McIlroy posted a 63 in conditions about as rough as those inside a domed arena, Westwood fought swirling winds and increasing rain, and were it not for a couple late putt-yips, he'd have been even closer.

Thing is, we've been down this road with Westwood before, so many, many times. People give Phil Mickelson grief for his inability to close, but Phil's Mariano Rivera compared to the frustration Westwood has endured in major after major.  

Don't believe Westwood is snakebit? Take a look at his last four top-5 finishes in majors:

• 2008 U.S. Open: 3rd
• 2009 British Open: T3rd
• 2009 PGA Championship: T3rd
• 2010 Masters: 2nd

Those are the four most famous majors in recent memory: Tiger Woods' playoff win over Rocco Mediate, Stewart Cink's playoff win over Tom Watson, Y.E. Yang's last-second win over Tiger, and Mickelson's Masters triumph. In other words, Westwood was right there for four of golf's biggest moments over the last two years — and couldn't close the deal in any of them. Ouch.

Realistically, Westwood, still hampered by a calf injury, probably won't be as deep in the mix this weekend, especially given the weather that's likely to roll in. Still, to get that close again and again and again, only to fall short ... that's got to wear on a fella, you know?

Except for the fact that he beat Tom Watson, depriving us of one of the great sports moments in history, Stewart Cink's victory at last year's British Open was, without a doubt, a win for the good guys. Cink, an everyday cat who just happens to play golf better than almost anybody on earth, has kept a level head even as he's ascended golf's highest peaks. (See, for instance, the uses he found for the Open's Claret Jug trophy, from beer stein to barbecue sauce pitcher.)

Cink also has well over a million fans on Twitter, and Nike Golf decided to get them in on the act as he returned to defend his title. Nike solicited motivational Tweets from Cink's audience, and stenciled a couple hundred of them onto his golf bag to get him going.

The messages ranged from go-get-'em-champ to goofy. See below for a closeup of some of the Tweets. And count the days until a golfer has a running, ever-changing marquee on the back of his bag.

Follow Cink on Twitter at @stewartcink and Nike Golf at @nikegolf. And hey, while you're there, follow Devil Ball at @jaybusbee. 

Jerry Pate knows golf. He's got eight wins on the PGA Tour, including the 1976 U.S. Open, and he's an accomplished course designer. Throughout the season, he'll be stopping by Devil Ball to offer an inside-the-ropes look at the week's upcoming course. Today: The Old Course at St. Andrews.

The earliest record of golf at St. Andrews is found in a license dated in 1552 which permitted the townspeople to raise rabbits on the grounds and "play at golf, futbal, schuteing...with all other manner of pastimes." The proprietor was required "not to plough up any part of said golf links in all time coming," according to The World Atlas of Golf.

Fortunately for golfers worldwide, this decree remains. St. Andrews has given us the ultimate case study on accessible golf facilities, the origin of golf-course strategy, and centuries of championship lore.

The placement of the hazards at St. Andrews is the most recognizable feature of its design. Prinicipal's Nose, Hell Bunker, Lion's Mouth, Coffin and the Road Hole Bunker are known by golfers across the globe. The links are scattered with well over a hundred pits placed to protect the favored line of play off the tee or to confound the next shot after the safer route was taken from the tee. 

Many championships have been lost, or nearly lost, in these bunkers. In 1933, Gene Sarazen challenged the 14th hole with a good chance for the Open title. He found Hell Bunker on his second, and again on his third. He closed the hole with an 8 and finished only one shot behind. However, in 2000, Tiger Woods crafted one of the most amazing and laudable accomplishments in St. Andrew's lore. On his way to a comfortable victory, he played all 72 holes without ever seeing the bottom of a bunker. Many claimed he simply overpowered the venerable layout. However, his impeccable planning and his precision shot-making, particularly in the ever-changing conditions on the links, was simply remarkable.

Countless essays have been written about St. Andrews — its aura, its design, its championships. What is so important about St. Andrews for golf today is not its spirit, or the placement of its hazards, or even stories of ghosts. What we must remember about St. Andrews, the "home of golf," is that St. Andrews in its most basic form is a game space and a way of life for its townspeople.  

Jerry Pate has been designing golf courses for more than 30 years. His portfolio of work includes Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi, site of the 1999 United States Women's Open; Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck (formerly known as Shadow Isle) in New Jersey; Kiva Dunes on the Alabama Gulf Coast; and Rancho La Quinta Country Club in California. See more of his work at www.jerrypategolfdesign.com.   

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On Thursday at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Tiger Woods may not have buried his demons, but he certainly dug them a waiting hole. Three more rounds like this at the Open Championship, and that whole fall-from-grace storyline that's dogged Tiger for the last eight months will fade like an errant tee shot.

St. Andrews was a puppy dog on Thursday morning, and not even a feisty puppy either. With winds blowing no stronger than a breath of air, Woods posted a 5-under 67. He's already four strokes behind Rory McIlroy's astonishing, record-tying 63, but that's not the issue. A strong showing here would be a resounding statement; a victory here would be transcendent.  

[Photos: See Tiger's strong start at St. Andrews]

Numerically, this round wasn't his best of 2010; that would be the 66 he recorded in the third round of the U.S. Open. But spiritually, this round had to rank up there with the best openers he's ever shot. A year ago, he missed the cut at the Open Championship, just the second missed cut in his career since 1996. Barring utter disaster, he'll not only make the cut, he'll be within sight of the leaders — if not leading, himself — headed into the weekend.  

The round wasn't perfect; Woods drifted several tee shots into the fearsome Scottish rough, and his new putter failed him on occasion. (His near-kick-in putt on 17 didn't even graze the hole.) But at the Open Championship, perfect golf isn't the goal; mitigating disaster is, and Woods managed his game with the kind of expert confidence that we haven't seen in more than a year. 

Woods is trying to become the first player to win three Open Championships at the same course. Another major win would leave him just three behind Jack Nicklaus in his pursuit of the unofficial title of greatest golfer of all time. More importantly, another win would push the last shards of his personal scandals off the sports pages. He'll never escape his transgressions, but he'll be able to mute their impact on him and his legacy with a few more rounds like this.

It's a long way to Sunday. But for the first time since piling his Escalade into a fire hydrant, Tiger has taken a good first step.

Yahoo! Sports' Devil Ball Golf is all over the Open Championship; hang with us on Facebook and Twitter.

More Yahoo! coverage of the British Open:
• John Daly adds another memory at St. Andrews
• Stewart Cink's tweet-covered bag brings Twitter to the Open
• Irish phenom's opening-round ties record for a major

Early on Day 1 of the British, and an observation: Could there be any more difference in style — in every sense of the word — between John Daly and Tom Watson? Watson's outfit looks like the faded beige couch in your grandmother's house; Daly's outfit looks like somebody threw up on that couch. Gotta love the Open Championship!

The Open Championship is back at St. Andrews, and to commemorate the occasion, we're looking back on some of the best Opens held at the august course. (Nearly 30 of them have played out here, you know.) Today, Sir Nick Faldo continues his astonishing 1990 with a bravura performance.

Nick Faldo gets all kinds of grief now for his arrogance and his announcing, but in 1990, there was no one better in golf. He'd won the Masters and finished tied for third at the U.S. Open, and came into the 1990 Open Championship at St. Andrews as confident as any golfer has ever been.

Faldo and Greg Norman dueled back and forth over the weekend, but Faldo was just too strong. He put distance between himself and Norman after already running away from the field. He posted three straight rounds in the 60s, and entered Sunday with a five-stroke lead. Nothing could possibly go wrong, could it?

Nope. Faldo absolutely dominated, posting a Sunday 71 and finishing the same five strokes ahead of Mark McNulty and Payne Stewart. Kick back and enjoy:

That's one sterling example of an Open Championship, shooting an 18-under 270 and beating by six strokes the standing record at St. Andrews. He had another Open and another Masters in his future, but St. Andrews was his most dominant major.

Next: Scotland meets Arkansas

Golf carts are fun. And 2-year-olds are adorable. So why, then, is a 2-year-old behind the wheel of a golf cart such a terror?

Dateline: Springfield, Ore. The scene: a high-school football field. The battle: 2-year-old in runaway golf cart vs. oblivious referee. Who ya got?

Let's go to the security-cam videotape:

Ouch! That'll leave a mark — a quarter-million-dollar mark, according to a lawsuit the referee filed. Kenneth Brooks is suing the Springfield School District, charging that officials with Thurston High School left the golf cart unattended and the keys in the ignition, leading directly to the October 2008 incident.

Enter the 2-year-old, who climbed into the cart and set it cruising. The hit caused Brooks a disc herniation, concussion, occipital contusion and abrasion, cervical strain, lumbar strain and a calf abrasion, according his suit, which seeks more than $264,000 for damages and medical expenses. Brooks is also suing the mother of the child, charging her with negligence for letting the kid, you know, swipe a freaking golf cart.

The suit is still pending. No word on whether the golf cart had to be put down after getting a taste of human flesh.

(Visor tip: Deadspin)

So the big story surrounding Tiger Woods' on-course actions prior to the start of the British Open is the fact that he's parted ways with a longtime pal — his Scotty Cameron putter. This is, quite frankly, a much bigger deal than the casual fan might expect, and could have significant ramifications for Woods this weekend and beyond. 

The Scotty Cameron Newport 2 has been with Tiger for 12 years of insane triumph, 12 years of unbelievable success. Nike has apparently tried for years to sell Tiger on a similar model. Heck, Cameron himself has tried to catch lightning in a bottle with similar models. But tournament after tournament, year after year, Woods stuck with the same old trusty pal. It's like a familiar baseball cap or a beloved old car — you know there may be newer or better models out there, but you stay with the familiar. As Steve Elling noted over at CBS, Tiger once called his Scotty Cameron putter "invaluable, irreplaceable. You can't put a dollar value on it."

[Photos: See Tiger Woods at the British Open]

Perhaps not, but you apparently can take a little bit of a time-out, at least. As Waggle room notes, the Nike Method 001 "has a polymer-infused face whose major design goal is to get the ball rolling with topspin faster after impact. The polymer leaves the face with sections of metal that 'grab' the ball and get it going more quickly to the target." 

That's an awful lot of alteration to a part of Woods' game that's already in precarious, critical shape. How many times at the U.S. Open did we see Woods roll a putt just wide, exhale through his teeth, and stare at the heavens? This is a serious tightrope act, an all-in move that feels just a wee bit desperate. 

Now, consider the other side. Woods may just be doing this to compensate for St. Andrews' slow greens, but what if he plays incredibly well? What if he actually wins? Could that send the Scotty Cameron to the proverbial dustbin of golf history? You know how it is — once you stray, it gets easier to ... you know what? We probably ought to cut this metaphor off right here.

Anyway, is it crazy? Brilliant? Both? We'll find out starting Thursday, but one thing's for certain: Of all the relationships that Tiger's had over all the years, I can pretty much guarantee that at least the putter wasn't doing any covering up for him. And this is the thanks it gets.

Tiger Woods and John Daly share a laugh. Oh, the stories these two could tell. About the British Open! What did you think I was talking about?

Daly and Woods were posing for a group photo of most of the surviving British Open champions, the picture of which is below.

How many can you name? Go!

The Open Championship is back at St. Andrews, and to commemorate the occasion, we're looking back on some of the best Opens held at the august course. (Nearly 30 of them have played out here, you know.) Today, Seve Ballesteros vs. Tom Watson: the brawl to settle it all!

Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros were both in the prime of their careers when they came to St. Andrews in 1984. On Sunday, Watson held a two-stroke lead over Ballesteros, but Seve worked his way up to even. Playing just ahead of Watson, Ballesteros had parred the 17th and was on his way to the 18th fairway when Watson teed off on the Road Hole. Let's pick up the action there:

It was a thing of beauty, Seve's win. And as it has so many times, as it likely will this weekend, the tournament came down to the Road Hole. "The reason the Road Hole is the greatest par-4 in the world," Ballesteros said, "is because it's a par-5."

It's a shame Seve won't be able to return to the Open Championship at St. Andrews this week because of his illness, but with moments like the one above, he'll never be forgotten.

Next up: Sir Nick!

It's time for the third major of the year, and this one's going to be one of the most enjoyable, without a doubt. The winner could be a legend, or he could be someone we've never heard of at the moment. You just don't know, do ya? Devil Ball editor Jay Busbee and head writer Shane Bacon offer up their best thoughts on what might transpire at St. Andrews ...

Winner:

Bacon: You know I don't want to say it, but I have to. He's the best golfer in the world, no matter the turmoil. He is the best golfer on this course, possibly ever. He strategizes better than anyone else in the game, and he has a caddie that has as much experience on these links as anyone. Tiger Woods will leave St. Andrews with another Claret Jug.

Busbee: Only if he steals it from Justin Rose! Nah, this Open is as filled with possibility as any in memory. Rose is coming in as hot as anyone right now, and with shotmaking ability and the course intelligence to take the weather into account, he's got a fine chance to keep his streak going.

The weather will...

Bacon: ... be as big a factor as we've seen since 1995. That was when the wind was whipping so bad in the early rounds that Ian Baker-Finch famously snap-hooked his opening tee shot out of bounds left, a feat that even 20-handicappers would have a hard time doing. Wind usually plays a factor in Opens, but hasn't at St. Andrews this century. Look for that to change starting Thursday.

Busbee: ... change from morning to evening. (Weather usually does, you know.) Question is, which group will receive the favorable conditions? A windstorm that, say, blows in Thursday afternoon and lingers till Friday morning will all but ensure that the winner won't come from the Thursday afternoon pairings. All the grooves and strategy in the world won't matter a whit once the wind grabs hold of a tee shot that lofts just a wee bit too high.

Tiger Woods will...

Bacon: ... win, win I say! The stiffest competition he faces is someone like Justin Rose, who is playing with Tiger on Thursday and Friday, so he will be handed the same conditions and crowd problems as Woods.

Busbee: ... make a good run, a very good run, but I don't think he'll be in the hunt for a win. I predict his British will be much like his U.S. and his Augusta — decent enough to stay on the first page of the leaderboard, but erratic enough with the putter that he'll knock himself out of contention. 

Phil Mickelson will...

Bacon: ...do what Phil does at British Opens. He will play fine for a couple of days, play crummy once and mediocre the next. This tournament isn't his spot, and he knows it.

Busbee: ... wish there was a Five Guys or a Krispy Kreme nearby. I'm with Shane; Phil will self-destruct at the British once again. Wind 1, Lefty 0. 

The dark horse will be...

Bacon: ...Ricky Barnes. In his last three starts in majors, Barnes had two top 10s. He hits the ball far, which you need at St. Andrews, and continues to play better and better in the big events. St. Andrews might be a tough place to breakthrough for your first win, but Barnes is the type of player that has confidence for days, and heads into events thinking he can win, no matter the title.

Busbee: ...Paul Casey. Still hasn't won a major, but he's got the tools and the under-the-radar mindset to play well here. Shades of Graeme McDowell at Pebble Beach, yes? He's had an off year as he recovers from injury suffered this time last year, but he should be totally healed now and well enough to compete at the top level.

The turning point will be...

Bacon: ... how the 17th plays all week. I was over in St. Andrews a few weeks back, and spoke with a ton of caddies and locals about the new tee on 17. Basically, the worry isn't the distance but the landing area for the players. There is a downhill area just past the walking path where most drives will come in, and if it catches that, some people fear the balls will kick into the gnarly rough through the fairway, basically making the hole a par-5. Get around 17 in even par for the week, and you'd be miles ahead of the field.

Busbee: ... the fabled bunkers. Somebody's going to fall into one of those — possibly literally — at a key moment and take themselves out of contention trying to get fancy. Those Old Country bunkers are fearsome beasts, swallowing strokes and spitting out the bones of major-championship hopes. Fear them! Fear them, I say!

All right, your turn. Offer up your own answers to our questions below. Go!

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Tiger Woods is across the pond now, and the British journalists are getting their first crack at the battered golf superstar. It's kind of cute, really, watching them make their attempts at getting under Tiger's skin months after the same routine was tried stateside. Give them credit, they tried, but Tiger would have none of that. From a transcript of the first press conference by Geoff Shackelford:

Q.  Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your act on the golf course.  He's gone on record.  Many of us over the years have heard you use the F word, we've seen you spit on the course, and we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs around.  Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums this week and respect the home of golf?

TW:  I'm trying to become a better player and a better person, yes.

Game, set, match, Mr. Woods. Shackelford described the atmosphere as "tense," but Tiger appears to have handled the often-pointed lines of questioning well:

Q.  I understand that you had a two?hour interview with the FBI a couple weeks ago.  Can you confirm that was the case?

TW:  That was the case, yes.

Q.  And are you able to go into any details as to why they specifically wished to speak to you?  And also why you felt it necessary to use a doctor from out of the United States, who apparently is not registered to —

TW:  Well, I can't go into any of that because of the fact that it's an open case so far.  So that's an ongoing case, so I can't comment.

Around these parts, we're well used to Tiger giving non-answer answers to every question up to and including his own game. And that's fine; we don't tune in to watch Tiger because he's a stirring orator.

[Photos: See Tiger Woods at the British Open]

The key question, as always, is: when will Tiger win again? Could it happen this weekend? Certainly, though I wouldn't bet on it. Once he does, though, so much of this drama will fade away. My prediction? Next time Tiger visits the British, barring any new bombshells, the questions will be as pleasantly, exceedingly dull as the answers.

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[Tiger's most important tournament ever?]

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Say this for Ian Poulter: The guy knows how to get under the skin of Americans.

A few weeks ago, he was yapping about America's chances in the World Cup. (How'd England do, by the way, Ian?) And now, he's saying that America is old, fat, and in the way — or something like that. As he told the Guardian:

"The American guys who have won all the tournaments over the past few years are getting older. Phil [Mickelson] is 40 – can he do what Vijay [Singh] did in his 40s? He's strong enough; it's whether he is hungry enough, I guess.

"The talent [in America] to replace them is very young and needs a bit more experience, so we have a 15-year window. The Americans have a gap and that gap is being filled by European guys right now, guys who are in their late 20s, early 30s and who are doing the job right now.

"In five years' time we should have taken a few majors. I don't want to put a number on it but the [English] guys that are in the top 40 in the world are all capable of winning them. It's for us to go out there and prove it but we can certainly win one or two a year, for sure."

Why, that goofy-panted rat bast — wait a minute, now that I think about it, he's kind of right. Anthony Kim has as much potential as anyone out there, as does Rickie Fowler, but nobody's going to be expecting either of those guys to pile up majors anytime soon. No, for the moment the future belongs to Poulter, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and other Euros.

Of course, let's not forget who usually wins in the long run in all these America-Europe battles. One abbreviation. Three letters. Scream it loud and scream it proud ...

The Open Championship is back at St. Andrews, and to commemorate the occasion, we're looking back on some of the best Opens held at the august course. (Nearly 30 of them have played out here, you know.) Today, Jack Nicklaus' last-minute triumph.

Jack Nicklaus has won "only" three British Opens, but through the '60s and '70s, he was as dominant as any player ever, always in the mix. He finished in the top 5 16 times and in second place seven times. He won his first in 1966, and in 1970, he was coming off a brief career downturn. His father had passed away just a few months earlier.

The 1970 Open was played under conditions that ranged to the brutal — 56-mph winds, for instance — and when it was all over, Nicklaus and Doug Sanders stood together atop the leaderboard. It was time for a playoff!

During the playoff, Nicklaus surged out to as far as four strokes ahead of Sanders. But at the 18th, Sanders was down by just one. Let's pick it up there with a little classic video:

It's tough to imagine now, but Nicklaus' drive over 18 was the stuff of legend at the time, and his chip back onto the green was almost as impressive. He's also lucky he didn't brain himself or someone else with that flying putter at the end. Nicklaus would go on to win again at St. Andrews in 1978, this time without the need for a playoff. 

Next up: Seve! 

The Claret Jug. Symbol of the Open Championship. An iconic trophy unmatched in all of sport. And now, a truly kick-ass barbecue-sauce dispenser!

It's British Open time again, which means that 2009 champ Stewart Cink will have to give up the Claret Jug. (Each winner gets the real deal for a year and a replica to keep for a lifetime.) Nobody knows who will win this year, but whoever it is, they'd better give the jug a pretty good hand-washing. Cink has gotten that thing nasty.

Right after winning, Cink took the jug out to a bar near his Atlanta home and gave fans the chance to drink Guinness out of it:

"There were a lot of people that wanted to take a sip out of it and get a picture made, and we accommodated I think everyone that was there," Cink said at the time. "We stayed around for a few hours doing nothing but that."

For several months afterward, the jug sat on the family's kitchen island, surrounded (presumably) by stacks of mail and kids' homework. And now comes word that Cink has used the jug for far more nefarious — no, wait, that's not the right word: delicious purposes. In an interview with ESPN.com's Jason Sobel, Cink reveals what the jug has been used for lately:

"One of my buddies is a huge barbecue guy. I mean, he's like an authentic smoker of meats. He's a master ... He wanted to use it to baste a pork shoulder on the Fourth of July. And so during our picnic, he filled up the jug with homemade baste that he uses and we poured it over the smoked pork butt."

(Side note: it's nice to see ESPN.com finally use the term "butt-baste" in a story that doesn't involve Brett Favre.)

Sobel further notes that Cink gave the jug a total workover — "everyone had the chance to do what they wanted to do with it and I approved." Why, between this and Phil Mickelson wearing the Masters' green jacket to Krispy Kreme, it's almost ... it's almost as if our major winners are human! 

If there's one guy in the sports world who can look at Tiger Woods' travails and say, "Hey, I wish I had it that good," it'd be Michael Vick. The quarterback-slash-dogfighter-slash-ex-con-slash-quarterback is, like Woods, trying to put back together the shards of a life he himself blew to pieces. But unlike Woods, Vick doesn't even have a raft of (presumably) pleasant memories on which to bask in quiet moments. No, all Vick has is some still-impressive football talent and a tsunami of controversy and idiot hangers-on that could still swallow him at any moment.

On Sunday, Vick had scheduled his very own celebrity golf tournament in Georgia. He'd also scheduled a youth football camp appearance earlier in the weekend. Problem is, he apparently didn't check with his probation officers to see if he could travel out of state to those events — and, according to Vick's camp, the probation officers vetoed his appearance in both.

Vick is involved in a bit of a sticky situation involving his 30th birthday and some gunplay, and because of that, probation officers apparently said he couldn't leave the state of Pennsylvania. It's reasonable enough, though the director of the youth football camp finds as many holes in that timeline as in the birthday-party shooting: 

"They called early, like 2 o'clock in the morning, telling us he's not coming," Cornelius Corprew said. "And then we couldn't speak to him. It was through one of his associates ... No state agency is communicating at 2 o'clock in the morning that he's not allowed to come." 

Whatever the story may be, we direct you to Shutdown Corner for further updates. Here ends Michael Vick's venture into Devil Ball territory. Shame, though; I would've loved to see the guy play golf. Bet he knows exactly how to master a nasty dogleg.