A man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, authorities said.

Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.

The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.

"I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled" for help, said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.

Burger, from Lenoir City, Tenn., was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.

It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.

The pond at the sixth hole has a "Beware of Alligator" sign.

"Unfortunately, that's part of Florida," course general manager Rod Parry said. "There's wildlife in these ponds."

Labels: golf

PGA Tour - Mahan gets his first TOUR win

It looks like another sign that American golf has a pretty good future. Another of the under-30 crowd notched a win this week. Hunter Mahan rallied after back-to-back bogies and was able to beat Jay Williamson in a playoff at The Travelers.

Read about it here...

LPGA Tour - Ochoa wins in a playoff

It was bound to happen sometime. Lorena Ochoa finally got into a playoff and came out on top. It was the first time in five tries the world's number one player was able to win in a playoff, a likely stepping stone for more victories in the future.

Read about it here...

Champion's Tour - Haas just keeps on rollin'

This win was a team effort, with Haas playing some great golf and Tom Purtzer collapsing in the final round. It was a second consecutive win for Haas, who now has four on the year.

Read about it here...

Labels: Champions Tour, golf, LPGA, PGA Tour

Tiger Woods will no longer be the primary pitchman for Buick because General Motors wants a broader role for the golf great, the automaker's top sales executive said.

Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North American sales, service and marketing, said GM will use Woods in corporate level marketing and in particular, with its OnStar marketing campaign.

"Tiger's a great asset," LaNeve said. "We can use him in lots of ways. Why shouldn't we use him in ways other than Buick?"

LaNeve said the product strategy of how to best use Woods is to sell cars based on their own attributes, not on their ties to a particular celebrity.

"We don't want a celebrity at the core of any brand. We want the message on Buick to be about Buick," he said.

Woods has had a sponsorship agreement with Buick since 1999 and agreed to a new deal in 2004 believed to be worth more than $40 million over five years.

Buick has said the contract does not require Woods to play in specific PGA Tour events it sponsors but organizers are optimistic he will play in this year's Buick Open starting Thursday at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc.

Woods' schedule is uncertain now that he's a first-time father. His daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, was born on Monday.

Labels: golf, tiger woods

It certainly looks like professional golfers will, in the near future, be tested for performance enhancing drugs. I won't lie, I actually never thought we'd see it happen, but PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem has done a 180 degree turnaround and is now pushing for a global standard for testing in golf.

In a press conference Wednesday, Finchem said the PGA, USGA and RNA need to create a single testing standard and begin using it for professional events. "In Europe, in particular, and in certain other areas of the world, the idea of testing in athletics is just a reality, because it's government-required," he said.

I think it's foolish to believe that there aren't professional golfers using performance enhancing drugs. I think it's a small percentage and, as JJ Henry said when asked about the issue today, believe the testing will have very little impact on the game.

"A lot of people have talked about that integrity and honesty of golf is what makes it so special," Henry said. "I'd like to think there's none of that going on out here, to be honest with you."

The testing, I think, is necessary only because every other sport has moved to monitor its athletes and protect the integrity that fans have come to demand.

Labels: drug testing, golf

Tiger Woods is a daddy.

Less than 24 hours after Woods finished second at the U.S. Open on Father's Day, his wife gave birth to a daughter. Woods announced on his Web site -- www.tigerwoods.com -- that Sam Alexis Woods was born early Monday morning.

"Both Elin and Sam are doing well and resting peacefully," Woods wrote. "We want to thank our doctors and the hospital staff for all their dedicated and hard work. This is truly a special time in our lives and we look forward to introducing Sam to our family and friends over the next few weeks. We thank everyone for their well wishes and continued respect of our privacy."

Woods finished a shot behind Angel Cabrera on Sunday to finish second in a major for the second time this year.

Phil Mickelson's first child was also born the day after he finished second in the U.S. Open in 1999.

Labels: golf, tiger woods, US Open

Pinehurst Resort, in the Village of Pinehurst, N .C., has been selected to host the 2014 U.S. Open championship, the United States Golf Association has announced. The championship will be played on the No. 2 course from June 12-15.

Eight USGA championships, including two Opens in 1999 and 2005, have been conducted over the No. 2 course at Pinehurst. A list of USGA championships and winners at Pinehurst follows: 2005 U.S. Open (Michael Campbell), 1999 U.S. Open (Payne Stewart), 1994 U.S. Senior Open (Simon Hobday), 1989 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Vicki Goetze-Ackerman), 1980 Men’s World Amateur Team Championship (USA), 1980 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship (USA), 1967 World Senior Amateur Team Championship (USA) (discontinued after 1969), and 1962 U.S. Amateur (Labron Harris Jr.).

Pinehurst Resort will also host the 2008 U.S. Amateur from August 18-24.

“Pinehurst is proud to continue our championship legacy with the USGA,” said Robert Dedman, Jr., CEO of Pinehurst. “One hundred years after No. 2 opened, it continues to be a test for all golfers. We look forward to hosting our national championship for the third time in 15 years, and continuing the partnership to make it the most outstanding U.S. Open in history.”

“The USGA is excited to return to North Carolina and the classic setting of Pinehurst, the site of two successful Opens in the past eight years," said Jim Hyler, chairman of the USGA championship committee. "The previous championships at Pinehurst No. 2 featured exceptional play and incredible support from the community, which truly embraced its role as host. The course provides a stern but fair test for our national championship and lends itself nicely to the scope of all operational aspects. We believe the 2014 Open at Pinehurst will be another great experience."

All 18 holes of the No. 2 course, designed by Donald Ross, were opened in 1907 at 5,870 yards.

The first nine holes were completed in 1901. Ross would fine-tune the layout several times through 1946. More recently, renovations were made prior to the 1999 Open at No. 2. In 2004, bunkering was restored and the course was lengthened by about 100 yards.

The Open is for professional and amateur players who meet the Handicap Index requirement of 1.4.

Prior to 2014, the Open will be played at Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego, Calif., from June 12-15, 2008; at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., from June 18-21, 2009; at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., from June 17-20, 2010; at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., from June 16-19, 2011; at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif., from June 14-17, 2012; and at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., from June 13-16; 2013.

The USGA is the national governing body of golf in this country and Mexico, a combined territory that includes more than half the game’s golfers and golf courses.

The Association's most visible role is played out each season in conducting 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open. Ten additional USGA national championships are exclusively for amateurs, and include the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Labels: US Open

Phil Mickelson won't play a full practice round before Thursday's start of the U.S. Open and he expects to be in some pain, despite being told otherwise by a doctor last week.

"I should be able to play, no problem, but I won't be able to be pain-free," Mickelson said Tuesday, when he got onto Oakmont for the first time since last month but could play only nine holes.

Mickelson also did some chipping and putting for about a half hour, and expects to do the same thing Wednesday, when he again expects to play only nine holes.

Mickelson hurt the wrist while chipping out of Oakmont's rough during a practice round Memorial Day weekend. The injury, diagnosed by two doctors as inflammation, forced him to pull out of the Memorial a week later after only 11 holes. He also didn't compete last weekend at Memphis.

Labels: US Open

That's the initial word out of Pennsylvania.

This just in from the USGA: The rough at Oakmont Country Club is too high. Now that's an upset. In fact, the rough is actually getting mowed, as the U.S. Open arrives next week.

Mike Davis, the U.S. Golf Assn.'s senior director of rules and competitions and the man responsible for the setup at Oakmont, said the growing conditions have been so favorable that the rough simply was "too much" and too thick.

The first cut of rough was supposed to be four inches high and the other rough from six to 6 1/2 inches, but now it has been scaled back to four inches high and to 2 3/4 to five inches.

Labels: US Open

Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy will play together the first two rounds at Oakmont, continuing a recent trend of the U.S. Open and British Open champions in the same group.

(Click here to see a complete list of pairings and tee times.)

Joining them will be U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay of Scotland when the U.S. Open begins Thursday.

While the USGA claims that the rest of the draw is random, there were some curious groupings, and some with plenty of star power.

Phil Mickelson, No. 2 in the world ranking, will play the first two rounds with Jim Furyk (No. 3 in the world) and Adam Scott (No. 4). Colin Montgomerie is playing with Chris DiMarco, who both have two playoff losses in the majors.

And there shouldn't be any need for translation in this group — Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Pablo Martin, all from Spain.

Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby, best friends from Australia whose identity is often mistaken because of how closely their names are spelled, will be joined by Scott Verplank.

Then there's Boo Weekley and Bubba Watson, former teammates at tiny Milton High School in the Florida panhandle. They will be paired the first two days with Nobuhiro Masuda of Japan.

Fred Funk qualified for the U.S. Open at age 51. He'll be playing with 49-year-old Jeff Sluman.

Labels: US Open

On the eve of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Phil Mickelson's new coach, Butch Harmon, has claimed that his prize pupil will surpass Tiger Woods as world No. 1. "Tiger's got a big lead as number one in the world, so it'll take a couple of years," Harmon said. "But I think (Mickelson) can and I think he will actually."

Harmon guided Woods to the top of the game before they split three years ago. He joined forces with Mickelson in April after the world No. 2 dumped longtime swing guru Rick Smith. Since teaming with Harmon, Mickelson has won the prestigious Players Championship and twice finished third in just three PGA Tour starts. He withdrew from last week's Memorial Tournament with a wrist injury but insists he will be fit for the U.S. Open, which kicks off June 14 at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh.

"He has the desire to try and rival Tiger," Harmon told the Ottawa Sun. "He's going to have to really work hard and change a lot more things but he's willing to do that and wants to do it." The famed swing coach says he is halfway through revamping Mickelson's swing for more control.

Harmon's positive comments represent a change from four years ago when he dismissed Mickelson's aggressive style of play as "pathetic" and insisted he would never win a major unless he reined in his go-for-broke approach. Mickelson won three major titles before calling Harmon.

Labels: US Open