Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we have never complained about cameras on the golf course. Ian Poulter and Billy Horschel grabbed headlines for doing just that on Saturday, which came shortly after David Owen's Thursday post about a recent Golf Digest assignment we were on together. Not only did our group deal with the extra attention, we thrived on it. Here's David stopping mid-round to pose for more photos. What a ham.
And before you say, "Oh, but Poulter and Horschel were playing for much higher stakes," keep in mind that the Franklin Templeton Shootout is a glorified member-guest. Lighten up, guys. It's called the Silly Season for a reason.
WE'RE BUYING
Greg Chalmers: David beat Goliath Down Under as Chalmers topped Adam Scott on the seventh hole of a playoff to win the Australian PGA. Good for Chalmers. And despite an disappointing string of tournaments in his native country, it's not all bad for Scott. He announced confirmed he and his wife, Marie Kojzar, are expecting their first child in February.
Jason Day-Cameron Tringale: This duo overcame the cameras and a furious final-round charge by defending champions Matt Kuchar and Harris English to win the Franklin Templeton Shootout. Day and Tringale shot 65 in best ball, 64 in alternate shot, and 55(!) in scramble.
Bernhard Langer's genes: Having already won the PNC Father-Son Challenge with his eldest son, Stefan, Langer tried to win the event with daughter Christina. But when she hurt her back, younger brother Jason had to step in. No problem. The 14-year-old held his own and the Langer family picked up another trophy for the mantel. Impressive.
Tiger Woods Design: What a week for Woods as a golf course architect. First, the announcement that he's going to give designing a course in Dubai another go and then his first course anywhere opened on Tuesday in Cabo. Woods' first project in Dubai was never finished when developers ran out of money. This new course will be called Trump World Golf Club Dubai. Obviously.
WE'RE SELLING
Jeff Overton: It's OK to be passionate about rooting for your favorite team, but Mr. "Boom, baby!" once again crossed the line. Three years after being arrested for acting like a jackass after an Indiana basketball game, Overton was ejected from a Hoosiers game at Madison Square Garden. In the first half. Mid-way through the first half, in fact. Chill, dude.
Fox Sports: We got our first taste of what watching golf on Fox will be like and the reviews were less than stellar. As Geoff Shackelford pointed out, Joe Buck needs to stop trying to be cool and the entire announcing crew needs to realize that less is more. But at least, the network will get a lot more practice in before the U.S. Open. Oh, right. They won't.
Rory's court case: McIlroy's lawsuit against his former agents is a mess and could be a major distraction as he's trying to prepare for the 2015 Masters. "And for what? For a little bit of money?" as Margie Gunderson says in Fargo. "There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that?" OK, so it's a lot easier for us to talk about walking away from $20 million. And from Rory's perspective, that's a lot of ugly winter coats.
ON TAP
That's it on the PGA Tour for about a month until the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. With the extra time, go ahead and finish your Christmas shopping. Courtesy of ESPN's Darren Rovell via Twitter, we even have a last-minute gift idea:
RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK
-- Donald Trump will run out of money funding the Tiger-designed course in Dubai: 4 BILLION-to-1 odds
-- Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods will win the Grand Slam in 2015: 100-to-1 and 500-to-1 odds, respectively (Actual odds)
-- No one will win the Grand Slam in 2015: LOCK
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Apparently, Nina Agdal, who was one of three woman to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue this year, plays golf. Welcome to The Grind, Nina.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK (NOT INVOLVING AN SI SWIMSUIT MODEL)
What a fantastic photo of Jason and Amanda Dufner dressing up for a holiday party, but we're confused about that jacket. We thought Jason lost to Adam Scott in a playoff at Colonial this year. . .
THIS WEEK IN NATALIE GULBIS MAKING US FEEL BAD WITH HER TRAINING
Sharing a few of my workouts Leg Workout..I enjoy working out outside. This series of 5 exercises..I do 3 sets of 20 pic.twitter.com/qfNv8glF8o
— Natalie Gulbis (@natalie_gulbis) December 9, 2014
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"There are only 125 guys a year making good money. The rest of us are grinding away." -- Kyle Scott, a mini-tour veteran, competing at Q School. Yep.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Camilo Villegas and longtime girlfriend Maria Ochoa got married in Colombia and it looked like a heck of a party. Fortunately, Jillian Stacey, Keegan Bradley's girlfriend, posted this Flipagram of the festivities:
A video posted by Jillian Stacey (@jillianfstacey) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:47pm PST
THIS WEEK IN PAULA CREAMER-DEREK HEATH PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION
Congrats to Paula and Derek on tying the knot! Unfortunately, we don't own the rights to any wedding photos, but here are a couple older pictures of the happy couple.
THIS WEEK IN RICKIE FOWLER LIVING THE LIFE
Nice catch, Rickie! Oh, and that's a decent-looking fish as well. . .
THIS AND THAT
Brazil has commissioned a special coin commemorating golf's return at the 2016 Olympics. All the country needs is a finished golf course and we'll be set! . . . Lee Westwood won the Thailand Golf Championship again. Watch out for this guy if there's ever a major championship in Asia. . . . Branden Grace won the Alfred Dunhill Championship by seven shots to pick up his fifth European Tour title. For a quiet week, there were a lot of golf tournaments. . . . Rory McIlroy was a surprise runner-up for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, losing in a public vote to racecar driver Lewis Hamilton. On the bright side, McIlroy did hold on to win the European Tour Player of the Year. . . . I made a triumphant return to the ping-pong table over the weekend -- just look at that intensity! To whomever the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain is, I should be ready for Hazeltine in 2016.
RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Are Jay and Bill Haas allowed to play in the father-son challenge?
What flavor was Paula's wedding cake?
How many points could I get off Matt Kuchar in ping-pong?
-- Alex Myers is an Associate Editor for GolfDigest.com. Feel free to email him and please follow him on Twitter since he has self-esteem issues.
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