Updated: Acushnet Sells Cobra to Puma Golf
by courtgolf on Mar 10, 2010 10:28 AM EST
3 comments
Acushnet just announced the sale of their Cobra brand to the Puma corporation. Fortune Brands, parent of Acushnet, issued a release about the sale. In the release, Wally Uihlein, CEO of Acushnet Company, said, “With the sale of Cobra, we have the opportunity to devote all of our resources to the global growth of our industry-leading Titleist and FootJoy brands."
Puma acquires "the Cobra brand, as well as related inventory, intellectual property and endorsement contracts."
Cobra had been the technology forward division of Acushnet for a number of years, but their tour budget was slashed at the end of 2009 and had a scant line for 2010.
“Through the acquisition of Cobra Golf, we reinforce PUMA’s commitment to our sports performance business by strengthening our growing and successful Golf category,” said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and Chief Executive of Puma in a release.
“Cobra Golf has a history of innovative performance products fused with an edge and is therefore a perfect fit for PUMA. With Cobra Golf, PUMA will capitalize on the many opportunities in the golf category and upside potential ahead of us.”
Since Puma has acquired all rights to Cobra, including endorsement contracts, will we see Rickie Fowler with Cobra clubs in his bag any time soon? Perhaps Camilo Villegas will be wearing Puma? Could you imagine JB Holmes in those orange Puma pants?!
You can count on Puma doing whatever it takes to make it worth his while to switch.
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A 'Pro' Threatened to Shoot My Group at the Golf Course
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 10, 2010 9:15 AM EST
in Playing Golf
11 comments
I was standing just off of the 12th green at Stoneybrook West Golf Club in Winter Garden, Florida. My approach shot was slightly fanned to the right of the green. It was a good thing, too. Had I connected with a draw, I would have faced an impossible chip down a ten foot slope to the pin.
While I was waiting to hit my bump-and-run 8 iron to the cup, I looked back to the fairway to see how our third group of four did with their drives. Looking back, I didn't see our guys. There should have been three guys back there, including a man in a lime green shirt that was practically unmistakable. It wasn't them. Instead, it was some guy with a Srixon staff bag with his underdressed ladyfriend in the cart. They were evaluating a ball on the OB line. Well, he was. She was reading a magazine. In the fairway was an older looking gentleman taking practice cuts.
I pointed out to the two future in-laws playing with me that these guys had to have cut in front of our group. We figured that our guys had just let them play through and it was no big deal.
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Waggle Room Fantasy Golf Winners for February
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 9, 2010 5:33 PM EST
in Fantasy Golf
5 comments
The dual Waggle Room fantasy golf leagues had a nice month in February with some very heated competition! Four great tournaments gave us one very deserving monthly winner. Congratulations to the team known as noname for winning this month's prize. Be sure to drop me a line - ryan at thegolfnewsnet.com - with your name and address so I can send the prize your way.
noname was 30 points clear of second place for the month.
- noname - 714
- Downhill Lie - 684
- Devo's 4 sum - 680
- oneputtpar - 676
- Tiger62 - 674
- Tigerheads - 672
- Golf Grouch - 668
- Zanarkand Abes - 662
- beachgolf - 656
- DicedCarrots - 654
Also, check out the top 10 standings for the season! Remember that the season-long champion also gets a prize!
- Tiger62 - 1576
- Oldgarcia Cronicagolf.com - 1563
- DicedCarrots - 1562
- Golf Grouch - 1551
- LPGA Rules! - 1542
- The Flow of the Hoff - 1537
- Knocking Down the Pin - 1526
- noname - 1522
- Fun without Tiger - 1514
- No3Putt - 1513
Thanks for playing and your continued support!
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PGA Tour Priority Reshuffle: Fowler, Prugh Surge to Top
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 9, 2010 12:33 PM EST
in Pro Golf
3 comments
Each season, the PGA Tour does several re-shuffles of the guys who are in exemption priority category 24 - the guys who either got their season card by getting through Q-school or finishing 2-25 on the Nationwide Tour. (The #1 guy from '09, Michael Sim, is in his own category ahead of these guys.)
The re-shuffles do just that: change the order in which guys in this category qualify for open fields on Tour. So, the winner of Q-school and the second guy on the Nationwide Tour get to start the season ahead of the others, and they go in alternating order.
After the first re-shuffle (and each subsequent one), the priority order changes based upon the money that each of the players earn to that point in the season. Their performance determines the maximum number of fields they can get in simply based upon room. Start poor and a player will likely end the season poor, and back in Q-school.
The first re-shuffle happened after the Waste Management Phoenix Open and will apply until the next re-shuffle after Houston. As you might guess, Rickie Fowler and Alex Prugh lead the re-shuffle. Fowler nearly won in Phoenix and Alex Prugh played very well in California. Naturally, they're in great position for the next month. Of course, Fowler backs that up with a MC at Honda, but what can you do?
3 comments | 0 recs |
Honda Classic Ratings Flat With '09, 2nd Smallest '10 Audience
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 9, 2010 11:59 AM EST
26 comments
Camilo Villegas doesn't particularly move the meter, at least according to Nielsen.
Sports Business Daily reports that the Honda Classic final round overnight rating was flat against 2009, but down 25% from 2008. This final round was the second lowest watched final round of the year.
The only worse final round? The WGC Accenture Match Play final. Would anyone care to listen again to my suggestion that the match play final should be on Superbowl Sunday?
26 comments | 0 recs |
Why Does the USGA Have to Fall on a Sword for Ping?
by Ryan Ballengee on Mar 9, 2010 10:16 AM EST
in Pro Golf
34 comments
The timing of the dual announcements from the USGA then the PGA Tour on Monday were obviously not coincidental. First, in the morning the USGA announced that it was planning to hold a forum in the fall in New Jersey to discuss equipment rulemaking issues ranging from research to communications. Consider it their Tiger-Sawgrass moment.
Then, the PGA Tour and Karsten Manufacturing announced that they have reached an agreement by which the PGA Tour will create a condition of competition banning the pre-4/1/90 Ping Eye 2 wedges that were grandfathered in as a result of two separate legal settlements reached in the early 90s between Karsten and the PGA Tour, and the USGA. The agreement kicks in on March 29 - the day after Tiger's rumored comeback tournament ends at Bay Hill - and will also apply to the US Open in June.
With those facts in mind, what is the point of the equipment forum? One would surmise that it's more of an open forum for the equipment manufacturers to openly complain to the USGA about the groove regulations.
The USGA has consistently given me personally every indication that they will not be rolling back the golf ball. Though much to my chagrin, that indicates that the USGA is committed to this rule change only. That said, holding a forum to discuss the process of developing and implementing rule changes makes little sense since another does not appear forthcoming. No, this forum is an opportunity negotiated on behalf of Karsten Manufacturing.
Some might have been scratching their heads yesterday to wonder why Karsten would give in so quickly and with little to no collateral to end this hostage crisis over the Tour. It's simple: the Tour is a dummy hostage. They're a hostage by history - of Deane Beman - and an era long gone. The Tour had no active intent to limit club technology on their own, but rather remained steadfastly loyal to their legal settlements and allegiance to our national rulemaking body. Ping had no reason to keep an eye on two prisoners, so it released the less threatening one.
It did so, though, with a bounty at the cost of the USGA. Sure, Karsten would be happy to do the right thing for the pro game and allow the PGA Tour to ban the U-grooves. No more allegations of cheating or photogs wondering if a guy's Ping Eye 2 is before April 1, 1990. The Tour can continue on its merry way.
Consider that there has been no settlement reached by the USGA and Karsten to end the loophole that created the PGA Tour's loophole. Sure, the national championship will not be mired in wedgetroversy thanks to the supposed benevolence of Karsten, but the issue is not completely settled. The Ping Eye 2s can still be used in perpetuity in any USGA amateur competition. Effectively, Ping gets to look like the good guy but really loses no skin in the game.
Meanwhile, the settlement is probably likely to come with the USGA after this equipment forum. It's the condition of surrender. The USGA has to fall on the sword, mow the lawn in their wife's Sunday best dress, and be laughed and pointed at by the whole neighborhood. Then the debt is repaid and the nightmare can end.
The USGA is having this forum to get the gun barrel out from behind their back. Had this really been necessary, the USGA would have had it before the grooves change announcement either in this decade or twenty years ago. But the position of the OEMs is clear regardless of where they can say it: they want no additional regulation of any technology. Then, you see, it makes total sense for the USGA to hold a forum on future equipment rule changes.
34 comments | 0 recs |
Gigapan of TPC Scottsdale's 16th
The good folks at Golf Digest have put together this amazing, full-view photograph of the par 3 16th at TPC Scottdale. Using many cameras of all views and different depths, they have created a picture of the hole when Tom Lehman was playing that can be panned, zoomed, and see nearly every detail. Very cool technology.
1 day ago
Ryan Ballengee
3 comments
0 recs
Dispelling the Myths of Augusta, Georgia
by ChicagoDuffer on Mar 9, 2010 9:37 AM EST
9 comments
The Masters, is just about a month away. This time of the golf season is ridiculously exciting for me, especially when considering all that there is to offer in Augusta, GA during the weeks leading up to the tournament.
Locals become superstars for a week out of the year, welcoming golf fans from across the world to their home... sometimes literally, should a player need a rental for the week. However, despite what I would call a pretty decent knowledge of the history of the event, I am never ashamed to admit when I am shown a new side of Augusta that I never knew existed.
In his recent article published in GOLF Magazine, Joe Posnanski has done just that... and a pretty impressive job at that, if I might add. His topic? Addressing the lives and livelihood of the Augusta locals during Master's week while also dispelling a few myths surrounding one of the world's greatest courses.
In his article, Posnanski addresses what has (presumably) been a common misconception of golf writers while covering the week leading up to the tournament: the existence of a Piggly Wiggly across the street from the course:
So, as someone who lived in Augusta for three and a half years and has comeback to visit many times since, I'm required to break this bit of news to you: There is no Piggly Wiggly grocery store across the street from Augusta National. There has not been a Piggly Wiggly for at least 20 years, and I'm not even sure there was one before that.
Despite this rather inconvenient fact, every year someone will write a story about "The Real Augusta." And it's at least a 50-50 shot that they will write about the Piggly Wiggly across the street. Hey, I'm a sportswriter. I understand. Piggly Wiggly is a funny name for a grocery store. It's a funny detail to include in a story — ha, ha, right across from Amen Corner there's a Piggly Wiggly! But there isn't. There's no Piggly Wiggly there or, for that matter, anywhere else in Augusta.
Personally, I found this little tidbit completely interesting and hilarious. Why would golf writers fabricate a story detail surrounding Piggly Wiggly? Furthermore, what does that say about the quality of Piggly Wiggly? If I was a writer who made jest regarding this supermarket, I would keep my eyes open for red aprons.
Another common myth regarding Augusta National (one which I have actually heard myself) is that Washington Road, the street leading to the famous course, is lined with southern mansions, luxury, and exclusivity. As Posnanski also points out, this couldn't be further from the truth:
People always write about how Augusta National is on Washington Road, a tacky (always "tacky") four-lane street lined with chain stores, fast-food restaurants, a Hooters, various strip malls, and an IHOP and Waffle House barely two miles apart. We were always amazed by the amazement of the visiting writers. They were shocked — and seemingly offended — by Washington Road. Apparently their cities had no fast-food restaurants or strip malls.
This April, while millions of golf fans will be wondering if a certain disgraced golfer will be making an appearance on Augusta National's fairways (and I don't mean Greg Norman), these same fans may be missing out on the mystique of Augusta as a regular, everyday type of town that just so happens to host a historic golf tournament. The Georgian town is, in many ways, exactly like your hometown fifty-one weeks out of the year: people still get up to go to work every day while others search for employment; people break laws (albeit seldom) and pay fines on occasion; health care is a struggle for many without insurance; and yes, sometimes people like to go to Hooters for "wings".
Perhaps this is why The Masters holds such a special place in my golf fandom: the fact that for one week, a regular town flourishes into the golf mecca, only to eventually return to regular ol' Augusta the following Monday.
9 comments | 0 recs |
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