If you haven’t noticed it is a new era in golf. The Tiger Woods era ended in 2010.

2011 PGA TOUR Week Rookie Jhonattan Vegas Wins the 2011 Bob Hope Classic! Photo Credit: Golf Monthly

Whether or not there is a Tiger Woods Reprise in 2011 is yet to be determined.

One thing is for certain: 2010 signaled that golf is truly a world game.

Four major champions, four different countries—America’s Phil Mickelson in the Masters, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen in the Open at St. Andrews and Germany’s Martin Kaymer at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

The younger and better generation came into stride in 2010 led by double winners Dustin Johnson (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and BMW Championship) and Bill Haas (Bob Hope Classic and Viking Classic).

Jason Day won the 2010 Byron Nelson at age 22.

In 2010, Derek Lamely (Puerto Rico Open) and Rory McIlroy (Quail Hollow Championship) won on the PGA TOUR in their rookie seasons.

Lamely won in his 12th and McIlroy in his 18th PGA TOUR start.

More of the same in 2011?

You can bet on that, Vegas- style!

Rookie Jhonattan Vegas won the 2011 Bob Hope Classic in only his fifth PGA TOUR start.

Vegas is the first PGA TOUR member from Venezuela and the first rookie to win in the 52 year history of the Bob Hope Classic.

Now joining Arnold Palmer (1960) and Charley Hoffman (2007) in the record books, Vegas won the Bob Hope Classic in his first start.

Vegas three-putted and bogeyed the 18th to fall into a tie with Bill Haas who finished two groups earlier and playing partner Gary Woodland who birdied the 90th and final hole of regulation.

Defending champion Haas was defeated in the first playoff hole as he failed to birdie the par five 18th.

Vegas then birdied the 18th to knock out the other young wonder who was playing in only his 28th PGA TOUR event and who notched his first career Top-10 finish.

While Vegas won in Palm Springs, on the other side of the world in another desert in Abu Dhabi, all four 2010 Major champions, including American Phil Mickelson making his 2011 debut, competed with World No.1 Lee Westwood on the European Tour.

PGA Champion Martin Kaymer ran away from a strong field and won by eight strokes to become the World No. 2 golfer at age 26.

The Bob Hope Classic, a five-round desert gem of celebrity, amateur and professional competition began on Wednesday with 30 celebrities, 384 amateurs and 128 PGA TOUR players on four desert golf courses.

With perfect weather—mostly sunny, temperatures in the high 70s and light winds, it was another shootout in the desert.

Derek Lamely, who is given little recognition as the “other” (than Rory McIlroy) rookie to win on the PGA TOUR last year, strung together five birdies, an eagle and then another birdie while shooting a leading nine-under par 63 on the Palmer Private Course at PGA West in Round 1.

Lamely may be flying under the radar but his game is not lame at all.

His seven-under birdie-eagle streak is the best on TOUR since Brandt Snedeker recorded an eight-under on the North Course at Torrey Pines at the 2007 Buick Invitational.

Golf Channel’s Michael “the Weather Man” Breed analyzed celebrity and professional golf swings with a giant green screen behind him.

Jhonattan Vegas, 2010 Nationwide Tour graduate (No. 7 with one win) first came to the top of a PGA TOUR leader board at the end of Thursday’s Round 2 along with Boo Weekly at 13-under par.

Lamely’s second round included a quintuple-bogey nine on his second hole. He recovered with four birdies on the back nine and managed a one-over 73. After a 72 on Friday his weekend 64-67 performance would finish T13, six strokes out of the three-way playoff.

Vegas continued to play well and Woodland joined him at the top of the leader board after Friday’s Round 3 as the Champions Tour got underway in 2011 in Hawaii at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

Come Sunday, John Cook would win the season-opener to go along with his victory at last season’s closer at Harding Park.

Vegas and Woodland would increase their one stroke co-lead over Greg Chalmers to two strokes over Martin Laird by the end of Saturday’s fourth round with Haas three strokes back.

In Sunday’s fifth and final trek around the Palmer Private Course, Vegas and Woodland would shoot 69 to be joined in the playoff by Haas’ 66.

With this victory, look for Vegas in the field at the Masters, PLAYERS, and PGA Championship.

Who will win at Augusta National, or at the Atlanta Athletic Club in the U.S. Open, or at England’s Royal St. George’s in the British Open, or at Congressional CC in our nation’s capital in the PGA Championship?

Perhaps it will be a rookie, a different international player or a 35-year old now World No. 3 rejuvenated star.

Look for the Tiger Woods Reprise of 2011 to start this week at Torrey Pines in the Famers Insurance Open.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer covering all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

If you haven’t noticed, there is a row starting in the world of golf.

A signed Lee Westwood, Nedbank 2011 Champion! Photo Credit: Best of Golf South Africa

Whether it is simply the players or the tours, it is Europe and the rest of the world against the Americans.

Here are Reistetter’s Top 10 thoughts on the current situation and how it evolved in the last nine months.

1. The latest happening is U.S. PGA Tour non-member Lee Westwood’s announcement that he is missing the 2011 Players due to the restriction of being able to play in only 10 U.S. PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments.
2. The issue is not the actual Players event as playing there does not count against the 10 limit for nonmembers. Remember, The Players is the fifth major by virtue of the strongest field in all of golf, its history and major sponsor. The issue is Westwood playing at Quail Hollow, host to the 2017 PGA Championship, the week before The Players to warm up.
3. The 10 cards in Westwood’s 2011 playing hand are the four majors, three WGCs and the Honda Classic (sandwiched between the WGC Match Play in Arizona and the WGC in Florida at Doral), Shell Houston (week before the Masters) and St. Jude in Memphis (week before the U.S. Open), where Westwood is the defending champion.
4. Why is Westwood targeting The Players Championship? He is not, Chubby Chandler, Managing Director of International Sports Management, golf’s current day Mark McCormack, is the man making the decisions for Westwood. Think about the impact McCormack had on the game of golf when he developed the sports agent role and signed up Arnold Palmer as his first client.
5. Chandler controls world No. 1 Lee Westwood, Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, the other U.S. PGA Tour non-member snob Rory McIlroy, Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Els, up-and coming Charl Schwartzel and Chris Wood as well as grisly veteran Darren Clarke.
6. This is about Chandler versus Finchem, commissioner of the U.S. PGA Tour, for control of the future world golf tour. Chandler is the new Greg Norman.
7. Ironically this row was started by the U.S. PGA Tour when the Memphis tournament last year snubbed Westwood by not extending an invitation to him to play the week before the U.S. Open.
8. It was only at Quail Hollow, the week before The Masters, when Westwood made it a media issue by pointing at the logo on his shirt and guessing that was the reason why a regular tour event would not invite the world’s No. 4 golfer. His logo was that of his sponsor U.P.S.—a major competitor of Fed Ex.
9. The PGA Tour realized how silly that looked and extended an invitation to Westwood to play in Memphis which is also the world headquarters of Fed Ex. He did and he won on the U.S. PGA Tour for the first time in 12 years.
10. Lee Westwood is looking a lot like Colin Montgomerie though respected in America there is a question of how much he is really liked on a personal inspirational level. A major championship victory instead of finishing in second place would definitely bridge that gap in acceptance. Or even a win at the 2011 Players right in the backyard of the U.S. PGA Tour headquarters might help.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer covering all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

Reistetter resides in Pont Vedra Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida and pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it.

For more background information on Andy go to the website Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary or e-mail him to AndyReistetter@gmail.com

Tiger Woods made a fine start to his 2011 PGA Tour campaign in California at Torrey Pines. Photo Credit Google Images

Make no mistake about it; Tiger Woods is back and ready to be the No.1 golfer in the world.

Yes he came back for the first time at the Masters last year but this time he is ready to play golf.

All you need to do is check out his finish last year.

Playoff Round one at the Barclays: Tiger shot a final-round 4-under 67 to finish T12 and jump from No. 112 to No. 65 in the FedExCup standings to advance to the 100-player field at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Playoff Round two at the Deutsche Bank: Tiger closed with three consecutive rounds in the 60s to finish T12 and get to No.51 to advance to the 70-player field at the BMW Championship.

Playoff Round three at the BMW Championship: Tiger finished T15 and moved to No. 42 in the FedExCup standings but did not advance to the 30-player field at THE TOUR Championship.

At the Ryder Cup, Tiger had the best record (3-1-0, 3.0 Pts) of the Captain Corey Pavin’s wild-card selections. Steve Stricker (3-1-0) was the only other U.S. player to match Woods/ point total.

Woods finished T6 at the World Golf Championship in China.

“That’s just the way it is,” Woods said. “I didn’t play well early in the year, and I didn’t play well in the middle of the year.”

Translation: I am playing well now and wait until next year!

Well, to the Top-150 on the 2010 Money List, the 25 graduates of the Nationwide Tour and the 27 Q-School survivors… next year is now!

Woods, the man with the highest priority ranking (71 victories including 14 majors) is in the field at next week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines where he won his last major in the 2008 U.S. Open.

Woods has dominated at Torrey Pines over the course of his career.

Remember “horses for courses!”

If Woods is in the field that means someone else is out of the field with no chance to compete or win.

Forget all the stuff in the press since his impressive playoff, Ryder Cup and WGC performance to end the year.

Failed to win on the PGA TOUR for the first time last year in his 15-year career dating back to 1996- forget it.

Lee Westwood overtook Tiger as the World No. 1 golfer at the end of 2010- forget it.

Failed to convert a four-stroke third round lead over Graeme McDowell into victory at the 2010 Chevron World Challenge in early December- forget it.

Woods had a cortisone shot in his right ankle after he finished playing for the year- forget it.

Tiger Woods’s endorsement deal with Gillette and monthly column for Golf Digest ended at the end of the year–forget it.

All those events are in the past.

What is in the future is a new Tiger Woods, fully adjusted to his new life situation, prepared and hungry to dominate the world golf stage once again.

As the PGA TOUR.com website states:

“Results for Tiger Woods will be available after his first 2011 event.”

Stay tuned!

Mark Wilson, the professional golfer—not Wilson the volleyball from Tom Hanks’ Cast Away movie—is coming home from the Hawaiian Islands with the 2011 SONY Open trophy in his possession.

Mark Wilson Sony Open Winner 2011 Photo Credit: Google Images

Wilson has now won in each of the last three odd years: 2007 (Honda Classic), 2009 (Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun) and now 2011.

No worries since each win came with a two year exemption to bridge him to his next win.

For the man who cites Ben Hogan as his hero, he too is hawk-like with steely determination whether it counts or does not count.

Though previously exempt for this year, Wilson recorded only his second Top-10 last year at the season’s final event at Disney and jumped from outside the Top-125 at No. 140 to inside the number at No. 123.

After all Wilson is the guy who went to 10 straight Q-Schools before that first victory in 2007.

With the first round a complete washout on Thursday, a 36-hole Sunday shootout was necessitated to get the tournament in with the five-round Bob Hope Classic starting on Wednesday.

In fact 57 players made the cut and were at most only seven strokes back starting off on the final day.

At the 1927 Seth Raynor designed Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Mark Wilson, the 36-year-old Chicagoan remained calm and cool and collected the winning paycheck of $990,000.

He went bogey-free for 36 holes on the Sunday finale posting 65-67 to beat 2010 PLAYERS champion Tim Clark and yet-to-win on the PGA TOUR Steve Marino.

Last week was tournament champions’ week on Maui with Jonathan Byrd earning a return trip to the 2012 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Wilson won the show this week and a trip to Kapalua next year.

The week was billed as the debut of the rookies of the PGA TOUR.

This year’s class of rookies numbers 35 and ranks among the youngest in PGA TOUR history.

There are 29 rookies under the age of 30, of which 15 are 25 years of age or younger.

Nine of the rookies have never even played in a PGA TOUR event.

Georgia’s Chris Kirk, age 25, finished 6-under par in T30 position and led the contingent of 27 rookies that made it into the field.

Bio Kim, the youngest rookie at age 20 shot 73-67 and missed the cut by 3 strokes in his very first PGA TOUR event.

Joseph Bramlett, the second-youngest member of the 2011 rookie class with two previous PGA TOUR starts made the cut but did not play the final two rounds on Sunday as the field was reduced due to sunlight restrictions. He is the first black golfer to advance through Q-school since Adrian Stills in 1985.

Jamie Lovemark, the Nationwide Tour champion shot 72-70 and like Bio Kim missed the cut by three strokes in his 14th career PGA TOUR event.

To balance out the youth, veteran Champions Tour player Dave Eichelberger shot his age of 67 at the Aloha Section PGA Professional Championship to earn a spot in the field. Playing in his combined 1,247th PGA TOUR/Champions start (second only to Miller Barber’s 1,292 starts) Eichelberger missed the cut by 15 strokes but bested rookie Kevin Kisner playing in his maiden event.

The week started with Dustin Johnson withdrawing for personal reasons only days after his relationship with Natalie Gulbis became public news. Maybe the “Bam & Sham” show did not go over so well back home?

Johnson has since said he is not in a relationship with Gulbis or anyone for that matter.

Last rookie Jim Renner took Ricky Barnes spot in the field and shot 69-70 making the cut but not finishing like Bramlett. Barnes No. 43 on last year’s Money List cited a back injury as the reason for his decision to withdraw.

Make a note that in the first full-field event of the 2011 PGA TOUR season 8 rookies who earned their card for 2011 did not earn the right to put a peg in the ground.

Once play finally started on Friday, Stuart Appleby returned to using the putter that made him the most recent “Mr. 59” and led the field posting a 6-under 64. Wilson shot 65 along with 8 other guys.

At the end of Saturday’s Round Two it was Shigeki Maruyama playing with a yellow ball and Appleby tied at 10-under two strokes ahead of the field.

Maruyama was seeking his fourth PGA TOUR win, and first since the 2003 Wyndham Championship, a span of 171 TOUR starts.

The unusual cut was to the closest to the number 60 to get 36 holes in between the Hawaiian sunrise at 7:12 a.m. and sunset at 6:11 p.m.

A total of 68 golfers would have made the cut if it came at 2-under.

The number of players at three under or better was 57 and since that number is closer to 60 than 68 that is where the play cut came.

The 11 players at two under and 16 more at one under technically made the cut receiving prize money and FedExCup points but did not finish (MDF).

A normal cut to the low 70 and ties would have come at one under with 84 players advancing though another cut would have come after 54 holes.

The reality is that the 27 MDF players lost their chance to win or improve over final two rounds.

In the Sunday morning third round Mark Wilson posted a five under 65 to move to 13-under with a one-stroke lead over Marino and a two-stroke gap over Jimmy Walker, Matt Kuchar and Appleby.

With no repairing of groups after the third round- the “final” foursome of Maruyama (70 in third round), Appleby (69) and Thatcher (68) were never in contention.

The excitement of the final round fell to the “next to last” pairing of Wilson (65), Kuchar (66) and Marino (66).

The wildcard in the fourth round was Clark who went off the back nine early and posted 66-64 to be the leader in the clubhouse at 14-under.

The South African finished strong with a birdie on No. 6 (his 15th hole) to get within three strokes. Then he nearly aced the par-three seventh with the tap-in deuce narrowing the gap to two strokes.

Clark birdied the par five ninth to narrow Wilson’s lead to one stroke.

Wilson after starting the final round with a two under front side continued to make pars with the slimmest of leads and no one left on the course making a charge.

After he bunkered his tee shot short left on the par three 17th Wilson drained the remaining 12-footer for par. Knowing he had only the short par five 18th left and a two-stroke lead over Marino this was the putt for the win and after making it, he accentuated the perfect stroke with a fist pump.

Marino trying to make eagle to tie the lead with a Wilson par, hit a miraculous second shot on 18. With his feet in the bunker and the ball in the rough at the height of his waist he reached the green in two strokes.

Marino failed to make the long eagle putt and Wilson made a short putt for birdie for the two-stroke win.

Marino continues to search of his first PGA TOUR win after this his third career runner-up finish in the last four seasons.

“I’m just tickled to death,” was Wilson’s response after his win in a Monday playoff at the 2007 Honda Classic even though that win did not receive an automatic invite to Augusta National nor did the opposite-field Mayakoba win.

I wonder what he will feel like when he plays in his very first Masters in 12 weeks.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer covering all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

Some say the Masters Spring time tradition is the start of the golf season.

Byrd wins 2011 PGA Tour season-opener after two missed putts by Garrigus. Photo Credit: PGA.com

Those of us in the winter coolness of northern Florida look to the west, way out west to Hawaii, for the true start of the golf year.

On Maui, in the splendor of Kapalua, the 2011 PGA TOUR season began amongst the warm gentle trade winds of the Pacific.

Two players of the limited champions-only 34 member field were injured in freak accidents prior to the start of the tournament.

Geoff Ogilvy, two-time defending champion was forced to withdraw after a coral reef induced cut on his right index finger. Zach Johnson with a stubbed right big toe managed to play with a cut-out shoe but finished T23.

With the music of Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele reaching our ears and the fun of The Golf Channel’s talented announcers playing in the charity pro-am on Wednesday, the relaxed atmosphere of the holiday season extended into the first full week of January.

Terry Gannon hammered one Wii Game-like drive as did Kelly Tilghman. Jerry Foltz confounded by a Nick Faldo lesson after being straightened out by Rocco Mediate hit a rope hook left that is now known as a “Bubba slice” after Bubba Watson’s similar ball trajectory of a driver off the deck on the 18th hole in the first round.

Foltz had the last chuckle as he made the final putt for the team “W’ with AK, a.k.a. Anthony Kim.

Watson was the only one to eagle the dramatic downhill 679-yard par-5 finishing hole, the first of the Kodak Challenge holes for the 2011 season.

The playoff between Jonathon “Ace” Byrd and Robert “Redemption” Garrigus, the last two winners of 2010, confirmed the ending story lines of 2010 will be ongoing in the New Year.

Byrd had not played competitive golf in the last 10 weeks since that late October near “walk-off” ace in Las Vegas.

Garrigus is no longer singing the “Memphis Blues” after closing strong for his first victory in the Magic Kingdom in the 2010 season’s final event.

The streak of nine consecutive years of foreign-born players capturing the title at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions is over.

GMac, as Graeme McDowell is known, continued his U.S. Open, Ryder Cup and Tiger Woods prowess with an 11-birdie course record tying Sunday 62 to finish solo third place.

In a Ryder Cup rematch, Hunter Mahan fired a Thursday 70 to better GMac’s 71 though at the end of the week it was the Northern Irishman that finished 16 strokes better than Mahan, who finished T25.

Camilo Villegas was DQ’d after Round 1 for the technicality of signing an incorrect scorecard. The scorecard was inaccurate because of a rules violation on the 15th hole. After chipping up the slope to the green the ball rolled back toward him for the second time. Villegas walked over and casually swatted away some loose pieces of grass in front of the divot as the ball was still moving down the slope.

Rule 23-1 states that “when a ball is in motion, a loose impediment that might influence the movement of the ball must not be removed” and comes with a two-stroke penalty.

Byrd holed his second shot for eagle at the 10th hole in the first round starting right off where he ended last year- holing iron shots Carl Pettersson, the man who lost weight and his game, only to purposely regain the weight to save his game, matched Byrd’s opening 7-under par 66 on the unusual par 73 golf course.

Garrigus took the lead after two rounds, one better than Pettersson and two better than Byrd by virtue of playing the last three holes in 4-under to post a 10-under 63.

Garrigus’ lead evaporated quickly starting 3-over par on the first two holes in Saturday’s Round 3 as strong and gusty Kona winds replaced the normally gentle trade winds.

Garrigus recovered finishing with five birdies and a 50-foot bomb for eagle at 18 to shoot 4-under 69.

Steve Stricker improved his score for the second straight day recording a 65 that included a spectacular blind 4-iron from the fairway bunker on No. 12 amidst five straight birdies.

Byrd shot 67 and it looked like a three-person race going into the final round with Garrigus, Stricker and Byrd distanced from Pettersson and the rest of the pack by three strokes.

McDowell’s blistering round came one stroke short of the playoff after he missed a makeable eagle putt on No. 18.

Garrigus’ vehement “C’mon” cry to his 3-wood second shot at the last resulted in a 13-footer for eagle and the outright lead that failed to drop. Garrigus posted 24-under to eliminate GMac and wait for Byrd in the final group to finish.

Byrd for birdie on the 18th to win but failed to hit the putt all the way to the hole.

In the playoff both Garrigus and Byrd failed to birdie the easy 18th.

As Analyst Nick Faldo characterized Byrd’s chances to drain a long one on the 10th green—the second playoff hole—as slim, Byrd nearly holed the putt.

Then Garrigus lost his MoJo and three-jacked his reasonable birdie putt to hand Byrd his second consecutive and fifth overall PGA TOUR victory.

The excitement continues on the PGA TOUR…

Perhaps 2011 is the year of American dominance in golf as the tour hops over to Waialae CC on Oahu for the 2011 SONY Open and the first full-field event of the new season.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer that spends his time on all four major American golf tours- the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

Reistetter resides in Pont Vedra Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida and pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it.

For more background information on Andy go to the website Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary or e-mail him to AndyReistetter@gmail.com

Featured Columnist Andy Reistetter was on site last week at the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.

Here are his Top 5 memories of a fascinating week:

1. The golf course won!

The par-3 7th hole at Whistling Straits.

I thought the golf course was an excellent choice to host a major championship. It deserves to be up there with the elite golf courses of the world including the hosts of the other three majors this year: Augusta National, Pebble Beach, and the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland.

To me it seemed like a tilted Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass where THE PLAYERS is conducted each year. The landscape was tilted about 20 degrees to the east by design. All the water drains off to form Lake Michigan, except Howard’s Creek on the 18th hole and the lake on the par-5 fifth hole.

True to its designer all the holes on this golf course are “Dye-abolical” to the n’th degree of Herb Kohler’s vision and financing. The only hole called “Dye-abolical,” the 18th, was pivotal as it was designed same as the 17th on the Stadium Course.

2. The golf course was not the story, only the means by which a true champion of golf was determined.

Tom Lehman, the oldest player in the field used a 4-iron from 217 yards to ace the 17th hole. Photo Credit: Google Images

Although “the young and the long” Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, and Nick Watney were in the mix at the end, other golfing constituencies were well represented.
“Shorter, older and wiser players” such as Jim Furyk and Steve Elkington were able to make a run for the “Glory’s Last Shot” title on Sunday afternoon as well as Zach Johnson.

Senior PGA champion Tom Lehman recorded the only ace of the week at the 17th in the third round.

The robust competition is a true indication of the fairness and the value of shot-making on the Straits Course in Kohler’s Golf World.

3. Golf is a game that challenges people as much mentally as physically yet is open to the comeback nature of the human spirit.

Dustin Johnson’s ill-fated bunker shot on the last on Sunday. Photo Credit: Google Images

Still, to come back from behind, one has to have the skill, the commitment of endless hard work, and the determination to do so.

Dustin Johnson is the game of golf and the game of golf is Dustin Johnson.

Ironic though true, the prelude to the final round at Whistling Straits was a complete reversal of the final round at Pebble Beach.

Instead of being the hunted with a three stroke lead, DJ was in the hunt performing as needed down the stretch to erase the three stroke deficit in his face at the start of the day.

Sad but true, he did not get it done when he had another good opportunity to do so.
A triumphant ending in a major is in store for the taller of the two Johnsons with more hard work and determination to not let what happened in a bunker on the home hole on Sunday be the final chapter in this young man’s golfing career.

4. Billionaire patron of golf Herb Kohler and one of the best golf course architects of all time Pete Dye are indeed a “dynamic duo.”

Kohler’s last shot at glory is not the 2010 PGA Championship…

Kohler made three great business decisions on his way to hosting three PGA Championships and one Ryder Cup.

The first was to venture into the hospitality business with the genesis of the American Club, a five-star resort in the hometown named for his immigrant ancestry.

The second was to listen to and act upon the desires of the guests at the American Club.

“We want golf courses to play upon,” so Herb Kohler gave them golf courses to play upon.

The third historical decision was to hire Pete Dye to design all four of the golf courses in the Kohler golfing empire.

As Kohler and Dye hobbled across the 18th green to the PGA of America’s ceremony awarding Martin Kaymer the Wannamaker Trophy, it seemed historic that they did so together.
Somehow the “Dynamic Duo” saved Golf City and the 2010 Season one more time to the delight of golf patrons worldwide.

5. The ending was clear and simple.

Martin Kaymer, deservingly so, took home the Wannamaker Trophy…

Only the golfer Dustin Johnson and his caddie Bobby Brown are responsible for not complying with the rules of golf.

Whether it happened on the first of 72 holes of competition or the last, the penalty incurred is no different than the penalty for hitting a golf ball out of bounds or into a water hazard.

Bubba Watson did not win his first major because he was outperformed and out-strategized by his playing partner for three pivotal playoff holes.

Both Watson and Kaymer missed the fairway on what was then a match play competition transformed from an aggregate three hole competition.

Watson missed an opportunity to gather information, make a competitive decision and then perform.

To not have seen or assessed Kaymer’s lie in the rough was simply foolish.

To say having fun and being in the Ryder Cup was the target and reward for competing in the 92nd PGA Championship is fine but silly in light of what could have been for the whiz kid.
The drama of the finish should have extended to both players being dry with a chip shot near the 18th green.

Martin Kaymer was flawless in his strategy and performance during the playoff.

He accepted Watson making threes on the first two holes which he regarded as par-3s for the long hitting pink panther from Milton, Florida.

Then the competitor made his move with a deuce on No. 17 and an easy bogey to win after Watson folded and threw in his cards after his second shot on the 18th.

Indeed, a memorable week, at Whistling Straits for the 2010 PGA Championship…

It was indeed a memorable week at Whistling Straits.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer is now a major champion along with the United States’ Phil Mickelson, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen in the year of 2010.

Rory McIlroy, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, and Dustin Johnson will have to wait until at least the 2011 Masters to become a major champion.

Can anyone not see that golf is a game of the whole wide world?

Why wait for golf in the Olympics in the year of 2016?

Catch the fascination, excitement and thrill now.

Good living and better golfing my friends!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering and working part time for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and The Golf Channel.

He resides near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Reistetter enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary or by e-mailing him to AndyReistetter@gmail.com

The home hole playing Pebble Beach… I felt like I was home for sure…

Any time you are at Pebble Beach it is a real special time but to be there for the 110th United States Open, the fifth time it has been played on these famed American golf links, was truly an amazing experience. Walking the course seven times, spotting the best golfers in the world, I felt like I thoroughly experienced the golf course without ever even playing it. Of course I was deluding myself and realized it when I was able to play the course a few years later and wrote an Ode to Pebble Beach, the One and Only…

Three Amigos- Ed, Jack & me at the 2012 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club where Jack and Billy Casper were honored.

The US Open at Pebble Beach was another opportunity to meet and get to know Jack Fleck, the 1955 US Open Champion, and his good buddy Ed Tallach. I would see Jack and Ed at the next few Masters and then Jack at his home in Fort Smith, Arkansas on the “Journey to Olympic Golf” right after starting off with a round of hickory golf at Glenn Echo in St. Louis, host club to Olympic Golf in 1904. Sadly it would be the last time I saw Mr. Fleck as he passed shortly after.

Plus I was able to reunite with my West Coast buddies from when I worked and lived out there in the 1980s, especially my golfing buddy Rich and his sons. The weather was amazing and the golf course beautiful, so beautiful!

That’s me in the background watching Tom Watson tee off on the 17th in the playoff with Stewart Cink. Photo Credit: The Golf Channel.

I remember asking Tom Watson a question in his media center interview and will always remember his response which was applicable not only to golf but to life too! The par-5 6th fairway was shaved down all the way to the cliff. Inside the red line was grass cut like the fairway so my question to Tom was “is it unfair to have a lie like that but not be able to ground your club?” His response was that “it was fair because it was there for all to see.” My translation for life is that life is fair as long as you are honest and open-minded, we all have choices to make and consequential responsibilities to see through.

Thumbs-Up for Graeme McDowell after winning the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach!

Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up Grégory Havret of France. McDowell was the first European to win the U.S. Open in forty years, since Tony Jacklin of England won in 1970. Havret remained closely in contention, but McDowell ground out a round of 74 to win his first major championship. I remember walking up the 18th with GMac and being there greenside to witness a celebratory and meaningful father & son embrace on Father’s Day!

Here are my 121 picture memories of the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach won by Graeme McDowell:

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Sir Walter & I go back a long way, here we are the the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla.

I was fortunate to visit Muirfield Village Golf Club, stay in the Jones Villa and play the Tournament Course on two occasions back in my Corporate America days. Besides the club and the course, which are exceptional, the experience was memorable and special because I did it with my golfing and life buddy Sir Walter. I called him Sir Walter because of his love for the game and incredible knowledge of its history. Most of the places I have traveled to play golf, he had already traveled to play golf, especially to Scotland and Ireland, the latter of which I sadly have yet to be. Sir Walter and his lovely wife Mary Jo call me Prince Andrew in return. A kind gesture which speaks to the love of the game and the love we have for each other that uniquely manifests itself when we play golf together, no matter the golf course, no matter the occasion.

Jack’s idol Bobby Jones was the first to go into the Memorial Garden at Muirfield Village GC.

But oh those two trips were the essence of our golfing lives—staying onsite at Jack’s Place a few steps from the Memorial Garden. I have only had that sense of golf’s history and in-explainable sense of what the game is all about two other times in my life—teeing off the first tee on the Old Course at St. Andrews within the shadows of the Clubhouse and teeing off the first hole on The Slammer & The Squire Course within a pitch of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

I have yet to be introduced to and personally meet Jack Nicklaus though I have shaken his hand and acquired his autograph. One memorable time was after he received the PGA TOUR’s Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2008 THE PLAYERS Championship, my first. Something was said there that not too many people took note of but I thought it was a big deal especially now looking back at the career of Tiger Woods since that time. In Tiger’s own words, read by Commissioner Tim Finchem because he was injured and not present, Tiger said to Jack that “your impact on golf has been incredible to say the least and I count myself among the millions of fans who consider you to be the greatest of all time.” Wow, I was surprised at the time and now it looks like Tiger may never challenge Jack’s record of 18 Majors.

With Mr. Palmer in the home office in Latrobe, PA.

If I have one golf dream it would be to spend a few moments with Jack like I did with Arnold Palmer in his home office in Latrobe. It was an amazing feeling to be in the presence of the legend himself. It took me back to my childhood days watching their golf on TV with my Dad, my brother L.P. and sometimes Uncle George. The iron club and putter in the corner would always come out with an ensuing discussion on posture and swing mechanics to be like Jack and Arnie!

Being there all week in 2010 for Justin Rose’s win was pretty special. There is nothing like a golf club, any golf club, spruced up for a big tournament. The tees, fairways and greens in the best shape ever and enveloped by the extra special landscaping and flowers of tournament week. The buzz of the world’s best golfers testing the course, each other and most importantly themselves to greater golfing heights. The people, the galleries and the celebratory atmosphere of drink, food and good times!

Jack Nicklaus with 2010 Memorial Champion Justin Rose. Photo Credit: Google Images

Justin Rose’s 2010 Memorial Tournament win was his first win on the PGA TOUR and he did it in high fashion with a bogeyless 66 on Sunday. Seve Ballesteros was the Honoree and awarded a spot in the Memorial Garden a year before he passed. Jack’s tournament is the best looking forward and looking back at the game’s greats! I hope an opportunity comes my way to meet him and ask him a few questions.

My times there at the Muirfield Village Golf Club with Sir Walter and in 2010 are special ones!

Prince Andrew

ps here are 55 picture memories from the 2010 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village GC:

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