Revisiting the bargain bin

As of noon today, here are some of the bargains (* denotes exceptional values) available to central Ohio golfers for the coming week at Golfnow.com:

Monday (Aug. 30)
1 to 3 players -- *Cumberland Trail at 7:30: $13.99 (64% savings)
1 to 4 players -- The Players Club at 12:12: $21.37 (53% savings)
1 player only -- Eaglesticks at 12:19: $21.23 (54% savings)
1 to 4 players -- Cooks Creek at 12:31: $23.31 (48% savings)
1 to 4 players -- *Longaberger at 1:30: $36.68 (54% savings)

Tuesday (Aug. 31)
1 to 2 players -- Eaglesticks at 12:19: $21.44 (53% savings)
2 to 4 players -- Glenross at 12:20: $18.22 (53% savings)
1 to 4 players -- Westchester at 12:30: $15.58 (59% savings)
1 to 4 players -- Cooks Creek at 12:31: $23.34 (48% savings)
1 to 4 players -- *East Golf Club at 1:10 $19.90 (59% savings)

Wednesday (Sept. 1)
1 to 4 players -- *Cumberland Trail at 7:30: $13.99 (64% savings)
1 to 4 players -- The Players Club at 12:12: $24.14 (46% savings)
2 to 4 players -- Eaglesticks at 12:19: $22.74 (51% savings)
2 to 4 players -- Glenross at 12:20: $20.54 (47% savings)
1 to 4 players -- Westchester at 12:30: $18.74 (51% savings)

Thursday (Sept. 2)
1 to 4 players -- *Cumberland Trail at 7:30: $13.99 (64% savings)
1 to 4 players -- *East Golf Club at 8: $24.47 (50% savings)
1 to 2 players -- Cumberland Trail at 11:50: $17.19 (56% savings)
1 to 4 players -- New Albany Links at 12:40: $20.13 (48% savings)
1 to 4 players -- Westchester at 12:48: $18.69 (51% savings)

Friday (Sept. 3)
1 to 4 players -- Crystal Springs at 12:06 $15.23 (46% savings)
1 to 4 players -- The Players Club at 12:12: $24.15 (46% savings)
2 to 4 players -- Eaglesticks at 12:19: $22.74 (51% savings)
2 to 4 players -- Glenross at 12:20: $20.54 (58% savings)
1 to 4 players -- Apple Valley at 2:16: $17.57 (51% savings)

Groveport course rates as viable option

Broadened my golf horizons yesterday with a round at The Links at Groveport and enjoyed the adventure. Getting out and chasing the pea with old friend Scott Minister is always fun and the weather couldn't have been better.

The course, purchased about five years ago by the Village of Groveport from a private club going by the name of The Willows, is an interesting mix of holes that offered a nice variety of challenges. We walked the course for $20 and played in less than 3 1/2 hours on a pleasant, crisp day.

The front nine, built in 1929, was designed by Frank Waugh. The back nine, built in 1971, was designed by the Hurdzan/Kidwell group. Despite being lined by trees in many areas, the mature course didn't feel overly restrictive and one could get away with a lot of wayward shots on many holes. Most shots were framed and easy to visualize.

The front nine's greens were definitely old school, as in postage stamp in size. The back nine greens were much larger and in better shape. Overall, the course was in decent shape except for the eighth hole, which was under repair and sub-standard. The sand traps had plenty of sand in them and were fair but weren't very attractive.

The par-72 course, which measures 6,591 yards from its longest tees and has a course rating of 71.3 and a slope of 123, is very playable and low scores can be recorded by anyone with a steady putting stroke. This is not a tricked-up course with a lot of frills. I would classify it more as a blue-collar course with several character holes.

The sixth and seventh holes on the front nine are great holes from which to hit nice tee shots. The drives are framed by tree-lined fairways and are sights to behold if properly struck. The ninth hole is a testy 225-yard par 3 which requires a carry over Alum Creek. The rickety old bridge one must go over while playing the seventh and nine holes also adds a dash of excitement to the proceedings.

On the back side, the par-5 11th, par-3 13th and par-5 18th holes are particularly fun to play. Each has water protecting the green that adds to the drama of a well-struck shot.

So would Oldgolfdawg put this course on a must-play list? In a word: no. But for a change of pace and its reasonable pricing and laid-back atmosphere, I would certainly consider it an option. It's a fun course in reasonably decent shape. The bottom line is -- perhaps because I scored well -- I enjoyed the layout. Funny, isn't it, how that has a way of influencing one's opinion.

Here's a link to the course: http://www.linksatgroveport.com/golf/proto/linksatgroveport/

Here's a look at my latest best-courses-to-play-in-central-ohio rankings:

5 dog biscuits: Longaberger (the alpha dog)
4 1/2 dog biscuits: Cooks Creek, East Golf Club
4 dog biscuits: Cumberland Trail, EagleSticks, Deer Ridge, Golf Club of Dublin, The Players Club at Foxfire
3 1/2 dog biscuits: *Apple Valley, Bent Tree, Blacklick Woods, Chapel Hill, Champions, Granville, Indian Springs, New Albany Links, The Links at Echo Springs, Royal American Links
3 dog biscuits: Darby Creek, Glenross, Mill Creek, Turnberry, Westchester
2 1/2 dog biscuits: Blackhawk, Crystal Springs Golf Club, Mentel Memorial, National Golf Links, *Licking Springs, Raymond Memorial, Safari Golf Club, *St. Albans, *Table Rock, The Links at Groveport
2 dog biscuits: *Airport, *Oakhaven, *Bridgeview, Marysville Golf Club, *Minerva Lake
1 1/2 dog biscuits: *Wilson Road, *Big Walnut (executive courses)
1 dog biscuit: Let's not go there
* Indicates Oldgolfdawg has not played the course in more than five years and needs feedback from others to adjust any ranking.

Finally, FedEx Cup playoffs to play decisive role

For a change, the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin today with the start of The Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., will likely decide who is voted the best player on the PGA Tour this year.

Unlike past years when the leading contender for PGA Tour Player of the Year was well-established by this point in the season, there is no leading contender. The misadventures of Tiger Woods, whose divorce was announced yesterday, has opened the door to others. Five players have multiple victories -- Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Justin Rose and Hunter Mahan -- but none of them has more than two wins, and none of them won a major.

A year ago, Woods had a 1,276-point lead over Stricker going into The Barclays. This year Els begins the playoffs with a 149-point lead over Stricker. In other words, its wide open.

Phil Mickelson, this year's Masters champion, could do more than supplant Woods as the world's No. 1 ranked player with a victory this week in his eighth attempt over the past three months to do so. He could also emerge as a front-runner for player-of-year honors. But another in a long line of lackluster performances by Mickelson would continue to muddle the picture, which has been exacerbated by the fact that three of this year's four majors were won by non-PGA Tour members -- Graeme McDowell at the U.S. Open, Louis Oosthuizen at the British Open and Martin Kaymer at the PGA Championship.

Furyk, ranked No. 3 in points going into the playoffs, made things more difficult for himself when he was ruled ineligible for The Barclays after oversleeping and missing his pro-am tee time yesterday.

"The rules are rules," Furyk said. "No matter what tournament it was, I'd be upset. But I'm more upset because it is this one. We are here are the end of the (playoffs)."

Furyk has not been a week-in, week-out threat this season and missed the cut in two majors. But he's not alone in needing more on his fact sheet to earn player-of-the-year honors.

Els, who currently is leading the money list and scoring-average category, hasn't done much since winning twice in Florida in March. Stricker went nearly four months without finishing better than tied for 30th. Rose got into the field at only one major and missed the cut. And Mahan had missed four straight cuts before winning the Bridgestone Invitational earlier this month to go along with his victory in Phoenix earlier this year.

So a win this week by any of the two-time winners would go a long way in establishing a player-of-the-year front-runner. But a victory at Ridgewood Country Club won't come easy. The A.W. Tillinghast-designed course is a par-71 track measuring 7,319 yards in length. It features tight fairways lined by tall mature trees and is made difficult by juicy rough 3 inches thick. It also boasts steep-banked bunkers that players will quickly learn are best avoided.

Though the PGA Tour would never admit it, it is probably hoping one of its bigger name players rises to the occasion rather than see a repeat of last year when Heath Slocum came out of nowhere (actually 124th position) to win The Barclays. According to Nielsen, final-round viewership this season through Aug. 1 is down 16 percent. Having someone like Slocum surface to the top again this week probably wouldn't help television ratings.

The PGA Tour steadfastly refuses to admit much concern, insisting that the tour's sponsors are more concerned with the cumulative audience that builds over a tournament, not the "snapshot" developed from averaging viewership over several hours on a Sunday.

By that measure, the PGA Tour's overall golf audience reportedly is down by 3 percent this year. But that figure still might be a difficult sell when the PGA Tour is scheduled to renegotiate its network TV contracts at the end of 2011.

Information from PGATOUR.com, GolfObserver.com and GolfChannel.com contributed to this post.

Gula-McClintick Classic remains big hit

Oldgolfdawg was too busy playing in the Gula-McClintick Classic in the Canton-Bolivar-New Philadelphia area last weekend to watch any televised golf, so commenting on any coverage of the pros would be inappropriate.

While Fred Funk's one-shot victory over Michael Allen and Chien Soon Lu in the JELD-WEN Tradition was a "major" on the Champions Tour, it would seem Arjun Atwal's one-shot victory over David Toms in the Wyndham Championship was more noteworthy. Atwal, 37, became the first native of India to win on the PGA Tour and the first Monday qualifier to win since 1986.

On the LPGA Tour, Ai Miyazato moved back into the No. 1 spot in the women's world rankings with a two-shot victory over Cristie Kerr and Na Yeon Choi in the Safeway Classic.

Getting together with old friends at the Gula-McClintick Classic has been the highlight of Oldgolfdawg's golf season ever since he moved back to Ohio in 1983. This year's gathering was another "smashing" success on and off the course if hangovers can be used as a measuring stick.

As usual, Billy "Bear" Carlyon schooled the grey-beards with a 70-76 performance during the prelims at Skyland Pines and Oak Shadows, respectively. In the main event scramble at Wilkshire, the team of Neal Bulman, Danny Spalding and Billy Wiggins emerged victorious. Their performance was capped when Bulman won closest-to-the-pin and Spalding won longest-putt honors on the final hole.

Notably missed from this year's event were Potts, Jiggers, Lloyds of London, Professor Putt (aka Dave Labat), Ricky (Watch Your Step) Wagoner, Big Boy, Wiggy Junior and Crow, but spirits were lifted by a Sunday cameo appearance from "Tokyo" Joe Tomayko. Also in our thoughts was tournament founder Greg "Roo" Gula, who Oldgolfdawg learned is bouncing back from a harrowing health experience.

God's speed in your recovery, Roo. Here's hoping everyone can make it to next year's gathering. Pete McClintick, aka the Commish, informed me that the tournament will go on at least until the day Oldgolfdawg wins the fewest-putts category. Gentlemen, that means we're in for a very long run. So take care of yourselves in the meantime and keep your eyes on the pea.

This weekend's scramble lacks star power

If you were looking for a weekend to work on the honey-do list instead of watching golf, it has arrived. The Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., begins today as spackle in the PGA Tour's bigger picture.

But just as spackle fills voids before any paint job can be completed, the Wyndham Championship is the last chance for players on the bubble to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs. The snooze aspect of this is only one top 20 player in the world is in the field: Anthony Kim.

That doesn't mean there won't be some drama. Especially if you are rooting for Michael Letzing, the man on the bubble in the 125th spot. This event could also hold your attention if you are pulling for Mike Weir (126th in the rankings) or former Masters champion Trevor Immelman (154th). Otherwise, you better enjoy watching every player ranked 111th to 131st jockey for a spot in the big dance.

Tiger Woods, ranked 108th, is not playing, but the odds are slim that he could drop 18 slots in one event. He'll face a tough road if he makes the FedEx Cup field so far back. But he can draw inspiration from Heath Slocum, who came into the Barclays event 124th last year. Slocum won the Barclays and was able to play in all four FedEx Cup playoffs on his way to winning more than $1.5 million in earnings and finishing fifth in the final standings.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, so let's focus on this weekend and what will unfold at Sedgefield Country Club, a course originally designed by Donald Ross in 1925 and most recently updated in 2007 by Kris Spence.

Even though Spence added 400 yards to Sedgefield, bringing its length to 7,130 yards, ball placement in the fairway will be the key to winning. Players need be in appropriate spots to have good angles to the greens, which are very undulating and slope from back to front. Good iron players will have an edge in avoiding some of the collection areas just off the greens.

Because the par-70 course is short by PGA Tour standards and dry weather has made the rough less of a factor, it wouldn't be surprising to see someone shoot a low score. Sedgefield is a lot like the course that held the Greenbrier Classic three weeks ago and its possible someone will pull off another Appleby.

Kaymer emerges from Dyeabolical wreckage

The 18th hole at Whistling Straits lived up to its "Dyeabolical" name in more ways than one yesterday on its way to deciding the 92nd PGA Championship.

Before Martin Kaymer made a 2-footer for bogey on the hole to win a three-hole playoff over Bubba Watson, it was the site of a two-stroke rules violation by Dustin Johnson for grounding his club in a sand trap. The violation eliminated Johnson from the playoff after he had birdied the 16th and 17th holes to move into a one-stroke lead.

One could say the 18th hole was diabolical in allowing Johnson to think he didn't have to worry about grounding his club in a sandy area even though tournament officials had gone out of their way to warn players to be on the watch for this possibility. Still, there were a lot of people surrounding the site of his infraction and in the excitement of the moment it was easy to understand how he might not have been thinking straight.

It's also unfortunate that the rules official accompanying the day's final twosome didn't speak up and warn Johnson before his misdeed. There was plenty of time to do so while the area was being cleared of spectators to allow Johnson to have a clear shot at the green. But apparently Johnson didn't ask for a ruling and none was given.

To have this happen to someone who was seemingly on the verge of gaining redemption for his U.S. Open meltdown at Pebble Beach earlier this summer seemed almost satanic in nature. It was the cruelest ending to a major since Roberto de Vicenzo signed for a higher score in the final round of the 1968 Masters that was won by Bob Goalby. Johnson, you may remember, had a three-shot lead going into the final round of the U.S. Open before he took a bizarre triple bogey on the second hole on his way to an 82.

But the devil's work wasn't done with Johnson's misdeed on a hole named after course designer Pete Dye. One could also say the high-risk-reward 18th hole tempted Watson to shoot at the flag with his second shot during the playoff with Kaymer when a more strategic approach was merited. Watson, who was in better position than Kaymer after their tee shots landed in the right rough, probably didn't need to go at the flag with the match still tied. Whether the devil made him do it or as he claimed it was just a case of making a bad swing, Watson paid a dear price for his decision.

Watson hit a poorly struck 7-iron into water, some 30 yards short of the green even though he had a better lie than Kaymer. Watson hit his fourth shot over the green into a bunker. His bunker shot hit the flag, setting up a tap-in for a double bogey. Kaymer, who had hit a longer tee shot but into a very poor lie, resisted temptation after seeing Watson go in the water. He simply chipped out and then hit a 7-iron to 15 feet for a two-putt bogey.

Kaymer, a 25-year-old German with five victories on the European Tour to his credit, made two crucial putts on his way to his well-deserved victory. He sank a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole to join Watson at 11-under 277. He made another 15-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 17th to draw even with Watson in their three-hole playoff after two holes.

On an entertainment scale of 1 to 5, Oldgolfdawg would throw the 92nd PGA Championship five dog biscuits. Six players had a share of the lead at some point yesterday, and during the final 30 minutes six players were separated by just one shot. That included Rory McIlroy, a 21-year-old from Northern Ireland who was trying to become the youngest major champion in 80 years, and Australian Steve Elkington, who at 47 was trying to become the oldest winner of a major.

Oldgolfdawg knows a lot of people are upset about the ruling against Johnson, but can't fault the PGA for its decision. It posted a notice in the locker room and on the first tee throughout the week, reminding players that all bunkers would be treated like hazards. Six years ago in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Stuart Appleby was unaware of the rule and was assessed a four-shot penalty. Johnson should have known better.

But what does bother me is that a rules official walking along with the final twosome wasn't proactive in reminding Johnson of the rule at such a critical juncture in the tournament. There certainly was time to do so. Shouldn't that be part of the official's duties? Why wait to be asked for a ruling? Why not be proactive to prevent these things from happening?

Information from PGATOUR.com and the Associated Press contributed to this post.

Whistling Straits offers exciting stage

The 92nd PGA Championship, which kicks off today at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis., is being hyped as "Glory's last shot" by its marketers. But the current not-so glorious problems of golf's top-three ranked players leave everyone wondering more than usual what to expect when 97 of the top 100 players in the world rankings compete for the Wanamaker Trophy on a dramatic track along the shores of Lake Michigan.

It's hard to round up the usual suspects in picking a favorite when Tiger Woods is coming off the worst performance of his pro career, Phil Mickelson is battling an autoimmune disorder similar to rheumatoid arthritis and Lee Westwood is home in England dealing with a calve injury that could force him to miss the Ryder Cup matches in October.

However, that could be a plus, considering that the previous two major winners -- Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen -- were dark horses when they pulled off their victories in the U.S. Open and British Open, respectively. And the fact that Vijay Singh, a power player, won in a playoff over finesse players Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco when the PGA Championship was last played at Whistling Straits in 2004 indicates that the course doesn't suit one particular style.

The strong possibility that Woods will get shut out for a second straight year in the majors -- a first in his career -- adds an interesting ingredient to "Glory's last shot," but it is the course itself that is mostly likely to emerge as the real star of the tournament.

Whistling Straits, built by Pete Dye along the bluffs of Lake Michigan and made difficult by the seemingly random placement of 967 bunkers, offers some of the most inspired views in golf. Course owner Herb Kohler wanted Dye to create an American version of Ireland's famous Ballybunion and even has grazing goats on the course to create a similar effect. The course is a thing of beauty, rolling along through man-made dunes bordered by native grass that is yellow and wispy.

However, the softer soil of Whistling Straits is nothing like links golf, making the course a hybrid of sorts. Players can hit 4-irons onto fairways and get only 5 yards of roll. The course will play about the same as it did in 2004 at 7,507 yards and at a par of 72. Of its seven holes along the lake, all four par 3s require demanding shots to avoid the lake.

Along with its great views and numerous bunkers, Whistling Straits boasts large greens with lots of undulations that will lead to a lot of three-putting. Blind shots into fairways bordered by tough fescue rough will make it difficult for anyone to relax on a course that can become very difficult if windy conditions arise.

“It’s like a British Open with good weather,” Carl Pettersson said. “Some of the bunkers can be quirky, but that’s part of links golf. There’s a lot of blind tee shots, like you get in links golf. I don’t think it would be much fun to play in 20 mph wind.”

This year's field includes 12 past champions: Y.E. Yang (2009), Padraig Harrington (2008), Woods (2007, 2006, 2000, 1999), Mickelson (2005), Singh (2004, 1998), Shaun Micheel (2003), David Toms (2001), Davis Love III (1997), Mark Brooks (1996), Steve Elkington (1995), Paul Azinger (1993) and John Daly (1991).

The tournament can be seen on TNT (today-Friday: 1-8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and CBS (Saturday-Sunday: 2-7 p.m.)

Information from GolfObserver.com, PGATour.com, Golf.com and ESPN.com contributed to this post.