Off the Wires

A roam around the news wires this morning:

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• "If Arnold Palmer is 'The King,' then Bay Hill Club & Lodge is his castle." So begins this article on PGA.com that chronicles Palmer's introduction to, appreciation of, and ultimate purchase of the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, site of this week's PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational.
• According to reports, the PGA Tour is close to finalizing plans for a tour event in Puerto Rico next year to be played opposite the WGC CA Championships at Doral.
• Golf World editor Ron Sirak says the image of golf as a clean sport played by ladies and gentlemen could be tested soon:
  
  
  But there is a scary feeling hanging in the air that professional golfers are about five minutes -- and just a few million dollars -- away from becoming major-league baseball players, who may lead the world in being boorish, spoiled rich guys playing a child's game. Golf is still a game that gives back impressively through its charities, and it still has the athletes who are among the most accessible in sports. But vigilance -- and a sense of appreciation for how good they have it -- is required to maintain that image.
• Here's a profile of 19-year-old Kiran Matharu, one of the best female golf prodigy in the world that most Americans have never heard of.
• The Santa Clarita Valley Signal reports on the prep work The Golf Channel has to do to set up a broadcast compound to televise a tournament. "People who turn on the TV and see Tiger Woods swinging have no idea what it takes to bring that to them," at TGC official said. "It's so much bigger than people expect."
• The San Antonio Express-News has a Q&A with Johan Edfors, a 2-time winner on on the European Tour in 2006 who is hoping to crack the PGA Tour winner's circle soon.
• The City of San Francisco is having financial problems with its six municipal golf courses. It is considering selling or leasing all six, and the city of Pacifica might swoop in to buy Sharp Park Golf Course.
• A 5-year-old in Hattiesburg, Miss., recently made a hole-in-one playing disc golf. He is the youngest - by three years - to accomplish that feat. But what makes it more unusual is that River Roderick announced before he took the shot that he was going to ace the "hole." Bravo.