Teed Off (16-05-2010)

By any standards, the world of golf is going through some very bizarre occurrences during the Year of the Tiger.

Woods' missed a cut and blamed it on a "bulging disk". When his wife files for divorce, she'll base it on another bulge control problem Tiger has. Either way, he's in trouble again, so much so that he actually got heckled by a 7-year old.

That's pretty low.

If that isn't enough, a college player got disqualified for deliberately posting false scores, an LPGA player is found dead in her home, a top player intentionally shanked a shot so a friend could get a spot at NAIA national championship, and a Japanese lady pro who was upset with a slow play penalty, walked off the course – thus earning the highest fine ever assessed in JPPGA history and to top that, she disqualified herself from the next 11 tournaments.

What the hell is going on?

At Quail Hollow last week, Woods failed to finish another tournament, this time because of a sore neck that forced him to withdraw after six holes. It was the first time Woods has gone consecutive weeks without even earning back his expenses for an event.

Two times during the event, Woods skied his driver so badly that he had to hit 5-wood for his second shot into a par. You don't see Woods hitting a "lob wood" too often. Come to think of it, ever. Another looked like a hosel-rocket and shot off at a 45 degree angle into a pond.

It made you wonder if someone kidnapped Tiger Woods and replaced him with Happy Gilmore.

So, in true PGA Tour form, Woods parted from his swing coach, Hank Haney. With one divorce done and dusted, can another be far behind?

Woods traditionally reserves his best for majors and the US Open is coming up in June at pebble Beach, a course where Woods plays well. The Open at St. Andrews follows and again, Woods is happy playing there. Ergo, if he takes the gas pipe again, we'll know something is really going wrong.

In other bizarre news, Annie Brophy, a player for Notre Dame, was disqualified from an NCAA regional tournament for giving false scores during the final round. She claimed she was just trying to be funny.

Yeah, right. Hysterical.

Apparently, she kept a correct score card, but reported fake scores to the people who post scores on the leaderboard. Her false score claimed five birdies, an eagle and a bogey through the first nine holes. She had shot an 85 and an 81 in the first two rounds.

NCAA officials disqualified her and pulled her off the course after 14 holes. All golfers were read a code of conduct the night before the tournament started warning against any acts of dishonesty.

Brophy said she didn't realize that reporting scores during the round was official and, therefore, qualifies for the "Michelle Wie – Airhead of the Week" award.

Colleges are supposed to be a place of academic achievement, so it befuddles me how anyone can NOT understand basic rules. Golf coaches better get involved in more than just swing theory.

But this is the second time in a few weeks that college players did something a bit abnormal.

In late April, the top golfer at the University of St. Francis claimed he intentionally shanked his first shot of the first playoff hole at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship. Apparently he and his team already qualified and, unless he lost the playoff, a very deserving player wouldn't make it to the NAIA national championship.

While a nice gesture, I'm not sure I'd like to win like that.

Lastly, John Daly might have met his match in Yuko Mitsuka of Japan when it comes to walking off a course in the middle of an event.

Mitsuka, who is a very slow player, got nailed for a two-stroke penalty in the World Ladies Championship. This resulted in her pulling a John Daly by dropping her clubs and walking off the course in a huff.

Mitsuka was hit with a Japanese LPGA-record $21,590 fine.

In an apparent game of "Can you top this?" she then disqualifed herself from 11 upcoming events.

Yeah, that'll show ‘em…