I've got to assign blame for this boo boo primarily to Johnson's caddy, who as I understand it was not his regular looper. Even in the heat of the moment and with all that gallery tramping in the bunker he should have said something to his player to the effect, "local rules may stipulate that this sand is in fact a bunker so just to be on the safe side – don't ground your club."

There is plenty more blame to go around even on Dustin Johnson's part and while he handled it well and seemed to be philosophical about it, it has to hurt, big time.

Who do you think was to blame for this, if not his caddy?

I prefer to remember Dustin Johnson in better times, such as this candid and funny interview he did on Maginnes Uncut.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Image via WikipediaUsing the Golf Diet - A Golfer Will Get and Stay Slim

The Golf Diet for Health Conscious Golfers

Putt small portions in your mouth.

Eat lots of greens.

Approach processed foods carefully.

Avoid chips by presenting a closed face.

Keep healthy sauces in the condiment caddie.

Take just a drop of cream for your coffee.

Minimize your fat intake.

Check the loft on your fork to make sure it doesn't cut more than it should.

Leave those loose impediments on the table.

Mulligans on meals (seconds) are not allowed.

Stay out of the cart as much as you can.

Sugar is out of bounds for the golfer.

Follow through on your plan to eat healthier.

A hacker is a golfer that can't carve a roast OR hit a golf ball.

Slice your whole grain breads thinly.

And above all, drink lots of casual water!

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U.S. Open final round Sundays have always been special, to the eventual winners obviously, but a U.S. Open Sunday and Fathers Day falling on the same day at Pebble Beach is special and has always provided some sentimental moments. 2010 was no different and as a TV spotter stationed on the 18th hole I was able to get some exclusive footage of two contestants, PGA Tour players who went a step further to recognize the special relationship they have with their Dads.

On the 18th tee,  Drew Watney and Steve Wheatcroft exchanged their regular caddies for their respective fathers and played their last hole with Dad on the bag! I may have been the only one to know it because they didn't make any announcements or inform any tournament officials, they just did it! Are you listening Nike and Mr. Knight – here are two guys who "just do it!"

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I am getting kinda tired of the grandstanding tactics that these high profile attorneys use when they have a weak case, blowing smoke to stir up the female population just to create a diversion with some catchy little slogan.

Just remember this little ditty ladies, if you are in need of slogan material: if he doesnt hit, you must submit -

Of course that's a bad joke but just look at this latest sleezy attempt to extort more money from Tiger Woods.

OMG! An ADULT film actress has been traumatized by yet another black weenie.

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In the first instance, a 2007 complaint launched an investigation by the Arizona Attorney General's Office's Civil Rights Division over the club's long-standing tradition of separate drinking and dining facilities for men and women members. After a protracted battle, the club ended up losing that one and opened up their dining facilities to all.

This time a female club member has filed suit in court, claiming that the club's board members breached their contract with her by taking full membership dues and failing to offer her the same services as men members.  She alleges that the club's female members are no longer able to play in tournaments. This lady decided she had had enough, resigned, and asked for her dues back. No way says the club.

My question to the board of Phoenix Country Club is, what is it about discrimination that you don't get? In this brave new world of political correctness you would think that these country clubbers would have it figured out by now. I have heard that most of the board there are attorneys and maybe that explains why they like to litigate so much but it must be costing the members plenty. Why not just give the lady back her money and get on with it?

Can anyone out there tell me why they would want another discrimination case lodged against them? Especially since they lost the first one! Does anyone out there feel that the club's board has a right to restrict ladies involvement in tournaments?

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Getting my radio and heading out to find my group!

Pebble Beach, here I come! I have been invited once again to work as a spotter for NBC Sports, only this time it's the US Open at Pebble Beach! The big Kahuna of PGA Tour golf in the U.S. of A.!

Image via Wikipedia

With this, the 2010, United States Open Golf Championship, I will complete my goal as a spotter and golf enthusiast set almost 20 years ago, to call the hitting orders in all four of golf's major's. It all started with the 1992 British Open at Muirfield, (Nick Faldo won),  the 1993 PGA Championship (won by Nick Price in my hometown of St. Louis), the 1996 Masters Tournament (Faldo again after Greg Norman's 6 shot lead evaporated on Sunday)

This last major could end up being my swan song, and a final major to end my career as a TV golf spotter after having spotted for most of the golf networks at one tournament or the other for over 20 years. I'm 60 years old now and while I can still crank it out there about 250, I have been riding more than walking lately. I do plan on being in semi good shape for the walk around Pebble for four days!

For those of you new to the term spotter, and before you get the idea that I will rubbing elbows with the likes of Johnny Miller (although he is a super guy!) I will just tell you that normally the spotter is considered the lowest of the low in the pecking order of network golf coverage. He is contract labor for the network at each tour stop and his/or her job is to stay out of the picture and never speak unless spoken to. We get no special parking passes, no meals at the commissary, no rides on golf carts to get with our groups and no slack if we screw up!

A spotter will walk with the players, sometimes staying a shot ahead, calling the hitting orders back to a producer in a production trailer back at the TV compound. I have kept track of stats, fairways hit, greens in regulation, etc but mostly now we just do scoring. That's a much better job because you can walk with the players and standard bearers, INSIDE THE ROPES!

Which is the whole point of this part-time gig. It certainly ain't the money they pay us! But who can complain when they are inside the ropes at a major. Even a spotters TV credentials are impressive looking.

Here are a few of the ones I have had over the years.

This summer will mark the sixth time Pebble Beach will host a PGA Tour event and a major championship in the same year and I'm glad I will be there and be part of it. I'll be hitching up the 5th wheel and staying at an RV park in Salinas, CA. just north of Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula. It's entirely possible that I will meet up with some PGA Tour journeymen there in their rigs and I will so some reporting to Twitter and Facebook on my Droid as I follow along. Stay tuned!

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All according to Randall Mell of the Golf Channel, a senior writer who is already worn out with the drama on the PGA Tour, this while writing about Bill Murray's arrival at Pebble Beach for this year's AT&T Tournament. In his article Bill Murray – Love him? Or Loathe him? he says "all the squabbling in the game this young season is giving me a headache."

I would like to suggest to Randall a couple of things, number one is to get yourself a big bottle of aspirin, cause the season is early. Just wait till Tiger Woods does come back! Everybody will be walking on eggshells, waiting for that first big faux paux to take place. And Big John Daly ain't quite done yet either, despite statements made after playing like a chop. His new reality show will generate more drama and buzz, can he come back or is he really done?

Secondly, I think Bill Murray is mellowing out a bit as he gets along in age and you won't see the antics of the past he has performed previously at Pebble Beach, dancing in bunkers with old lady's and such. He will interact with the crowd as he usually does. I happen to like the guy, I respect his talent, both comedic and dramatic. I don't know him personally but I think anyone that brings attention to the game of golf right now is welcome, antics or not.

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I do have some concerns about his security at the venue where he does decide to return to the PGA Tour. What will that security have to resemble, a presidential detail of Secret Service? And holy cow!, how much is all that going to cost? Does a golf tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, a golf course where Tiger decides to stage his comeback circus – have the right to refuse?. Can you imagine, a PGA Tour event turning Tiger Woods away because they can't afford the tab for his security?

That's why I hope Tiger Woods has his own ""Gort" or even a boatload full of them stashed away somewhere.  (He is rumored to be hiding out on a yacht in the Bahamas.)  He could sure use the help of a Gort-like humaniod, an indestructible  machine, a robot obeying every command without hesitation. Much like the one I've pictured here , the robot from outer space that rescued and protected Michael Renny in that great 50's sci-fi thriller The Day The Earth Stood Still.

I fear he is going to need one or more of machines  such as Gort where, at just the uttering of a few nonsensical words, silly words such as; clapton, bahamas, nike or some such, they snap to attention, don their green armor and monster -walk  to where Tiger is hiding from the human race. They then rescue Tiger and spirit him away via spaceship (helicopter) to the tournament site.

Security, or the lack of it, will determine the where and when of Tiger's official "comeback tournament." My money would be on a Tiger return at  the Masters Tournament in April. It's the first of golf's majors and it's still four months away, time enough for someone to come to his rescue like he was kind enough to do for David Letterman.  Augusta is also a very good place to hide from a hostile press, avoid the hecklers (Augusta comes down hard on them) and still be able to play competitive golf.

And I am not buying for a minute what some are saying about Tiger having to miss a major to prove he is serious about his relationship.

The "Gort's" that run Augusta National, members, just like this Hootie character, may be the only ones rich enough to be able to afford the enormous cost of security that Tiger will expect for his return to the PGA Tour. But they are old hands at this stuff and will have no trouble protecting Tiger from the sorts of awkward questions the media might attempt to ask about his personal life.

But mostly, I think that  member Gort's can also protect his highness from the unwashed. There will be no Colin Mongomery haters, drunk with the joy of walking upright heaping insults at the number one player in the world, a man who also just happens to be a member of the Augusta National Golf Club himself.

Masters galleries are limited in size, and to only those "patrons" with logo's on their clothing.  There are no "mobs", no evidence of bikini wax, nor references to body bags, good heavens! Womens groups could gather and march in front of the gates to Magnolia Ln and Augusta National Golf Club while protesting the presence of Motherhood's current enemy # one, Tiger Woods, but sadly, no one would pay much attention to them. We all know what happened to the Martha Burke crowd, the Augusta Gort's used their other-worldly power and took away their spirit to win.

When Mr. Woods and his PR machine determine the time and place of his "comeback" to the PGA Tour, I think I can safely assume that most golfers will look forward to it, than not, I know this golfer does and I suspect Tim Finchem does too! We feel just awful for Erin but 300 million big ones should soften the blow. Erin, you are still young, astonishingly beautiful and your kids are perfect, have a nice life.

But lets get back to Tiger's comeback – Do you have an opinion on where it will be, which tournament will see Tiger again striding the fairways, the faithful Stevie by his side.  Care to hazard a guess as to where this sports drama will play out? Will , The Day That Tiger Returns, mark an end to the final chapter in this soap opera?

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One of the reasons that convinced me to write about what the rest of the world already seems to know is that Tiger's attitude is off base when he suggests that what he does in private has nothing to do with the public and he should be allowed to live quietly without intrusion. That does not mean that I approve of the lengths the paparazzi will go to just to get the story, especially when it helps to take down a celebrity athlete like Tiger Woods nor do I approve of journalists such as Charlie Pierce who have axes to grind and can't be trusted to tell the truth.

But, the public has made it possible for golf to have it's first billionaire in that they are the ones that attend the tournaments where he plays, they buy the merchandise he promotes, they hang on his every word and turn a normal man's life into something that resembles Godhood. Before you know it the athlete is believing it themselves.

So when our all-time golf idol, Tiger Woods does something that betrays the trust of his supporters he owes them an explanation. When you are the best athlete in a professional sport, things have a way of working out. Just ask Kobe Bryant about that. Tiger needs to be honest about what he has done and get through this, the only way he can, the John Daly way, tell the truth about what happened, and throw yourself on the mercy of your fans. The public has a short memory if you appeal to their baser instincts and affairs of the heart definitely qualify.

As for the hypocritical media who are crying out for a Tiger lynching I would rather read about it from straight-shooters like Jason Whitlock. I do not advocate the kind of humor of whoever it was that created this photo and calls it "Seasons Greetings From Tiger & Elin" but I have to admit it does strike me funny. I just can' t help myself.

I have been following Marty's career since he started dating my daughter-in-laws best friend Meagan. He has been a factor in a number of events since joining the Tour but this was his first win. Great player, great guy!