Article from David Wharton

Proclaiming himself healthy after playing just six and a half rounds of competitive golf over an injury-plagued six months, Tiger Woods makes his return to the PGA Tour at the Frys.com Open today, teeing off at 12:10 p.m. Pacific time.

If the winds stay calm on a CordeValle course that is still damp from rain this week, Woods expects a fast start.

“The guys are going to post some pretty good numbers here,” he said. “So [I'm] going to have to make a few birdies.”

The former No. 1 player is playing in a threesome with Louis Oosthuizen and UCLA sophomore Patrick Cantlay, the world’s top-ranked amateur.

The field also includes Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, defending champion Rocco Mediate and Kevin Na, who won his first tour event last week in Las Vegas. After getting a look at CordeValle, Na had a slightly different view from Woods.

“The rough is high,” he said. “If you hit it in the rough, you’re going to be penalized.”

Read more… http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-tiger-woods-20111007,0,7483612.story

Article from the Huffington Post about Seven Days in Utopia.

There are no editing tricks or stand-in swingers to make Lucas Black’s golf game look so impressive in Seven Days In Utopia. The actor, who has previously starred in Sling Blade, Friday Night Lights and Get Low, is a scratch golfer, who is as likely to be atop the leaderboard at an amatuer tournament as he is to be at a movie premeier. With Seven Days In Utopia hitting threaters, Black was kind enough to sit down with HuffPost Sports to talk about his own own golf game, Tiger Woods and the parallels between hitting the links and delivering one’s line on set.

HuffPost Sports: In the film, there is a lot of emphasis put on the importance of emotions when it comes to golf. Is that something that resonates with your experience on the course?

Black: If you’re thinking clearly and are content about where your life is — to where you can just think about the present, think about the now — that’s what you need to do to hit good golf shots. I know there are a lot of distractions, but when you’re thinking clearly, you’re more free. You’ve got to have that freedom on the golf course. It helps you execute that shot at that given moment. And that’s really all that golf cares about. it could care less about anything else but that defining moment right at impact.

Read more….. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/08/lucas-black-interview-golf-tiger-woods-seven-days_n_953497.html

Article from AP regarding alternating golf rules

DUBLIN, Ohio — Jack Nicklaus is trying something new to get more people to play golf. He is holding events at his Muirfield Village Golf Club in which the cup will be twice as large and the tournaments only will be 12 holes.

Nicklaus is concerned that fewer people are playing golf. He says it’s important to think beyond the traditional rules and try something different to make the game more appealing.

As part of the Labor Day activities at Muirfield Village, Nicklaus will host 12-hole tournaments in which the hole will be 8 inches in diameter instead of the traditional 4 1/4 inches. To encourage faster play, participants are required to complete the round in 2½ hours. They will be penalized one stroke for every five minutes over the allotted time.

read more….. http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/6917877/jack-nicklaus-hosting-events-attrract-more-golfers-game