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Honor and Country - the 2005 Presidents Cup

Who were these men? Have we seen them before? Surely these are not some of the same men who looked aloof and bored at the last Ryder Cup? Do you mean to tell me that substituting Justin Leonard, Scott Verplank and Fred Couples for Chad Campbell, Chris Riley and Jay Haas resulted in team unity? If not then we might want to check out what was in the (insert energy drink name) juice Jack Nicklaus was serving the former Ryder Cup 9 in the morning.

The Presidents Cup has gotten a bad rap in recent years, in 2003 there was some fantastic golf played in South Africa only to end in a tie with the American team looking like spoiled rich kids not wanting to play an extra day to settle it. But something changed this year, maybe it was the honor that two of the greatest players in the game showed in 2003 when they decided to keep it a tie, maybe it was the players themselves who wanted to break the tie, or maybe, just maybe the players wanted to show the world that golf is not war.

Since 1991, the infamous War at the Shore, coincidentally when the United States was in another war; the Ryder Cup has been one shouting match after another. Whether it has been at the Belfry or Brookline the crowds attending the recent Ryder Cup matches could only be described as a cross between Manchester United and U.S. Tennis Open fans; rowdy but somewhat reserved, not afraid to throw an epithet but not willing to heave a beverage at someone.

This year's Presidents Cup, however, has shown that good golf, clutch shot-making, tremendous putting and even the occasional ace, compliments of Chris DiMarco, can overcome all the jeers and cheers anyone chooses to shout. The U.S. and International teams played some fantastic golf over four days and gave us some great stories; from Trevor Immelman, a 25 year old Presidents Cup rookie and questionable captain's pick, who was went out and proved to the world that Gary Player was not wrong to give him this chance. How about another questionable captain's pick, 45 year old Fred Couples, he is now 2-0-1 against Vijay Singh in singles play.

We've heard grumblings recently from the American side because the players are asked to play a team event every year whereas the opposing teams have a year off in between matches. But why does it seem that no matter the opposing team, International or European, they are always the team perceived has having the best team unity. What many people seem to forget however; is that regardless of title these opposing teams are all from different countries. Somehow these men; whether French and Swedish or Argentinean and Australian, have always been able to find a common ground and make it work. This year's International Presidents Cup team was no exception; South African Retief Goosen was a world beater and rookie Angel Cabrera from Argentina did pretty well for his first time on the world stage, going 1-1-3.

Camaraderie is a funny thing. We've all probably had the experience at one point in our lives where you were asked to get along, co-exist, or tolerate someone you worked with, played on a team with or even to compare notes with your 10th grade lab partner in order for the common good. I think that pretty much sums up what we've seen from the U.S. squads in recent team play. But at this team event, Captain (or maybe Wizard) Jack Nicklaus stirred the pot and picked out two stalwart pairings; Tiger Woods/Jim Furyk and Chris DiMarco/Phil Mickelson. Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman needs to send Jack a big Thank You card for setting two of his four-ball and foursomes matches in Ireland next year. If I wasn't mistaken I believe I saw Tiger Woods smile and Jim Furyk putted like he was possessed.

No one has ever questioned Phil Mickelson's love of country when it comes to these events but I'm sure no one has ever associated his "love" for the "passion" that his partner Chris DiMarco displays. Over the past three team events; the 2003 and 2005 Presidents Cups and the 2004 Ryder Cup the one player who has worn his passion on his shirt is DiMarco.

Maybe it's time for DiMarco; he always seems to be there at the big events. He was in back to back major championship playoffs at the 2004 PGA Championship and the 2005 Masters, but it is hard to believe the last time he was in the winner's circle was the 2002 FBR (Phoenix) Open. It's hard to find someone on tour who doesn't like him, he's now a top 10 player in the world and it looks like he'll be a fixture in the top 30 money list at the TOUR Championship every year. Hopefully, there are some more victories and maybe a major or two in the near future, and you can be sure that DiMarco will always be the first player on the team bus for any Cup you throw at him from now on.

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Respect

As I near the second year in the Television arena of this game called Golf, the phrase that has wrung so many times with in my own head and sometime from the mouths of others is "Game Keeper" turned Poacher. I don't get to hit high towering long irons into greens built for a wedge, I don't get to coax putts that you cannot hit soft enough on the hallowed greens of Augusta during the month of April…. I merely talk about it. But where have all the years gone?

Watching the recent Presidents Cup brought back memories not only of playing in the Event but memories of playing in my first competitions when I had to rely on a Partner. It made me think of all the various partners I had over the years in formats like Four ball best ball (where my record is akin to Tiger Woods) or Alternate shot where it was better than most. I have been asked a bunch of times over the years who was the best partner I had.

One of the first successful teams I was part of, was in our Sunday Pennant series where each club in the Auckland area were pitted against the other. Every Sunday during the season you played Alternate shot in the morning then singles in the afternoon. I was about 15 at the time growing up in New Zealand in the days when you didn't have to lock you doors, you had to say please and thank you, listen to your elders and when you crossed that line, the one that you knew existed you got punished with a smack or something equivalent. The weird thing about it was that you were better for it and your parents weren't brought before the courts.

Anyway my first real successful partnership was with a player by the name of Ken Hankin who was a full 15 years older than me at the time (strangely enough still is) and fortunately for me was one of the best players in the country. In a year of playing with him I learnt so much about the Game and how to play alternate shot but I started to learn about myself. You see alternate shot isn't just about hitting the next shot or playing better than your partner it is about some how coming up with a formulae when you and the player you are going to go to battle with come out a little less scarred than the other team. In order to do that you have to know your own weaknesses as well as your partners. We all know our strengths but quite often wont answer to our faults. So Ken would toil away playing like a machine and time and time again hitting his shots then talk to me when I was struggling with my swing or the pace of the greens and countless times we would shake the hands of the losing team. It took a couple of years I must have been at least all of 17 before I felt I was a good enough player to really help Ken. I had become one of the better players in the country and I began to think our Sunday Pennant matches would be a cake walk, after all, I was much stronger and as I thought in my own little world that would make a huge difference. A strange thing began to happen on the subsequent Sundays I began commiserating with Ken and came up with some reason on why we lost.

It took a while but eventually it dawned on me as the losses began to mount. When Ken was the better player he was always helping me to get the best out of my game, putting me in a position to shine. When I became better I no longer played to his strength as he did mine. I wanted to impress him, show how much stronger I was, all the neat shots I had learnt. When the opportunity came to hit the towering long iron, I couldn't resist the temptation and consequently we lost. Before long I had turned professional and consequently never got the opportunity to thank him by being the partner he knew I could be. So when you ask me the question in the Future and I reply Ken. If you want to make me smile say "oh you mean Ken Hankin". Before I go I tell you one other thing…Ken would have liked Chris DiMarco.

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A Kula Perspective, July 2005

Nothing he did this past week at the Open Championship took away from the legacy that is Jack Nicklaus. With that birdie on the 18th at St. Andrews Old Course, how could you not claim him the best golfer of all time? Jack's record speaks for itself, 73 PGA TOUR victories, 18 of those majors and two U.S. Amateur titles. And oh by the way, he finished 2nd 58 times on the PGA TOUR including 19 times in the majors.

But now that Tiger Woods is one step closer to Jack in his major quest, we have to ask the question, who could claim to be #2 on the list of best golfers of all time?

Let's take a look at the candidates. First up, the Haig, Walter Hagen, he was one of America's first accomplished professionals; he's currently #2 on the major list with 11 and captured 29 other PGA TOUR victories.

Hagen could also be considered the best match play competitor of all time. Of his 11 majors; 5 were won in the PGA Championship, which was then contended as match play. He won four straight at one point from 1924-1927. Hagen also competed in 5 Ryder cup matches with a career record of 7-1-1 in the 9 matches he played. Some would say the match was 2UP before the Haig put a peg in the ground.

From the consummate professional we look to the consummate amateur; Bobby Jones. If the golfing world acknowledged U.S. and British Amateur victories as majors as they did in the past, not only would Jack raise his major total to 20 but Jones would still be 3 clear of Woods with 13. He won the U.S. Amateur title 5 times and the British Amateur once; but never once played professionally.

How about those two legends from Texas, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan? Lord Byron may have only managed to capture 5 majors but he played at a time when most of the majors were cancelled due to World War II. There was that magical season in 1945, 11 straight victories, 54 overall and to top it off Nelson took an early retirement.

If there ever was a pro's pro it has to be Hogan, and if you ever get the chance; just ask a pro for their thoughts on the Hawk, especially the owner of this website, and you can see the reverence in their eyes. Ben Hogan carded 68 career victories and 9 major victories, 6 of those came after an accident that almost cost him his life, let alone his game.

That brings us to Tiger. Woods now has 10 major victories before the age of 30; He's won the career grand slam twice, and currently has 44 overall PGA TOUR victories. At the PGA Championship this August in New Jersey at venerable Baltusrol, the Tiger has a chance to match the Hawk to become the only two men in history to capture 3 majors in one year twice in their careers.

So who would you choose to be the 2nd best player to ever play the game? Well, for me, I must refer to an old saying; "There's a lot of golf yet to be played."

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May 2005

Now that we are nearly into May, so much has happened already on this year's Golfing Calendar.

Whilst Tiger Woods won back his World ranking number one spot with that incredible victory at Augusta he did it in a way that we are not accustomed to ... he was human, and if that "one in a million" chip shot on 17 did not decide to drop, Chris DiMarco would be regarded as this year's Masters Champion and it would be deservedly so.

The weather played such an important role in the tournaments at the start of the year and Chris was unfortunately one of the ones on the receiving end. When play was stopped late Saturday night although he looked a little raggedy through the front nine he was still in command of the event. Tiger had just hit his tee shot on 10 (the hole that killed DiMarco all week) and his ball had a nice chunk of mud on it which would have made the second shot into 10, at best, guess work. Instead the rest is history! Tiger comes back the next morning, clean ball in hand and continued the great run which resulted in 7 birdies in a row through the toughest stretch at Augusta, meanwhile DiMarco's start to the morning was horrendous at best. He did bounce back like Rocky though, and made Tiger Woods produce a miracle of old, plus a putt down the hill in the playoff that looked like it had no other home to go to, to wrestle the trophy a way from the gutsy Chris DiMarco.

There were lots of little stories that always pop up at Augusta. It started with more talk about the ball and how it is getting out of control. If you see the big picture it is important that we keep an eye on it as it is making so many courses either obsolete or go through expensive redesigns to keep them current. In order to keep the cost down, we need more people to play, not less! I don't normally advertise books, but if you want a good background on the problem and where it is potentially going buy a copy of Geoff Shackleford's "Future of Golf in America." Jerry Pate recommended it to me on the Champions Tour last year and it is indeed an interesting read.

The spike issue ... or Vijay versus Phil, for want of a better way of putting it. Two schools of thought on this one. Number one, it is not against the rules so don't bug me while I am playing. But under the etiquette of the game you have to protect the rest of the field against something you deem inappropriate. With only 93 players in the field and with probably the biggest greens staff in the country, Augusta's greens are never less than perfect, so it is quite obvious when someone is heavy footed out there. The reason why it happened on Saturday is Vijay was playing in the group behind Phil and Phil restarted on the 12th so when the group behind reaches that green it is obvious that if damage is done it can only be the group ahead. Hence the protest being made so early in the round. Had Vijay left it later there would be no logical evidence that the marks were made by Phil's shoes. They are both grown men and as it panned out it took the focus away from their respective challenges for a second Masters for either of them.

Speaking of Vijay, he isn't giving up that number one slot without a fight as he had just defended Houston in spite of a balky putter. He was elated to hear the news on Monday of Houston that he had been voted into the Golf Hall of Fame. The man from Fiji has cut his own path to immortality in this game and what a movie his story would make. I will save that for another day.

While Vijay won the Hall of Fame vote, sadly once again Larry Nelson missed out. This time by approximately four or five votes. 19 wins including 3 majors on the regular tour. He has been passed over as Ryder Cup captain several times as well. Served his country in more ways than one ... I cannot figure out why we continue to deny him the respect he deserves.

The Golf Hall of Fame is in St Augustine and not far up the road is TPC at Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship. Go back a couple of weeks prior when the same weather that made just about every other event go into Monday raised its head again. Fred Funk at 48 was the last man standing at TPC Sawgrass on Monday, a shade before 6:00pm. He didn't do it the easy way, but if you have ever played those closing holes at Sawgrass you know that no score is guaranteed and can appreciate what must have been going through his mind at that stage of his career. He will always be The Players Champion of 2005.

All this Golf going on got me to blow some of the dust off my clubs and I played nine holes with Mark Lye on Sunday 16th of April.

I last played 10 hole of Golf in August of 2003 ... hence the big announcement. My Titliest flew pretty straight and it felt, if I must say ... awesome!

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February 2005

Happy New Year! Thank you all for your wonderful Christmas wishes.

Apologies for the delay in updating. As with most people the first few months of the year have been very hectic and I find myself behind but I will do my best to right the ship.

Now what has been going on? Well, the beginning of January was spent recuperating from Christmas and getting ready for the 2005 season. I got my Golf Channel schedule for 2005 and as you can see I am going to be pretty busy, but as always it'll be fun.

My first two events for this year were in Hawaii. What a great way to start the year! Two weeks of sun, sand, sea and great golf. I went off to Kona for the Mastercard Championship on my own and my wife joined me in Honolulu for the Turtle Bay Championship so we had a lot of fun. The Mastercard was won by a fast finishing Dana Quigley beating Tom Watson in a three hole playoff. For Dana having a day off means playing only one round of golf and he came to Hualali with his game in great condition and his closing round on Sunday was a gem.

From there, week two was in Turtle Bay on the Island of Oahu. Since the event has been at Turtle bay Hale Irwin has yet to be beaten and this year was no exception. It was close until the 13th hole of the second round where his tee shot on the par three found the bunker, he holed the trap shot and added a couple more birdies on the way to the clubhouse to set up a lead that continued to widen all day Sunday. Masterful display on a tough golf course by a great player as well as victory number 41 on the Champions Tour.

From Hawaii we headed down to New Zealand for 12 days to support the New Zealand Open held at Gulf Harbour just outside my home time of Auckland. It was the first time the New Zealand Open was co-sanctioned by both the European and Australasian Tours. I helped out with the local TV five hours a day on Thursday and Friday and six hours a day at the Weekend. I was beat come Sunday night when I caught a 10:30p.m. flight back to America. Who won you ask? Nicholas Fasth from Sweden won in a playoff from Englishman Miles Tunnicliff.

I managed to sleep in my own bed for a day then whizzed down to Naples for the third Champions Tour event of the year, the Ace Group Classic. It was good to get back to my team and recount my stories of going back home for the first time in two years, they listened very patiently. Naples was a big week as the much awaited debut of Curtis Strange took place and there was the expected media frenzy. I felt sorry for him as it is never easy jumping straight back in the saddle after lengthy periods away from the game especially in the hot seat. All in all he handled it pretty well and in my humble opinion showed enough game to certainly worry the best of them out there come the end of the year. Mark James birdied the last to win by two over an ailing Hale Irwin and Tom Wargo. The Champions Tour promises a great season this year with Rookies like Curtis Strange, Greg Norman and Loren Roberts joining the tour. There is going to be some great golf so make sure you tune in at some stage.

I have one more event on the Champions Tour, the Outback Steakhouse Pro-am before I head back to the Pre-Game/Post-Game show. The Pre-Game/Post-Game is taking a new look and it will now be on Friday and Sunday nights with plenty of information on what is going on in the world of golf so don't miss that show either! There will be stints on Golf Central as well so don't go throwing darts at the TV!

Over the Christmas period I kept up my workout regime and although I haven't lost a huge amount of weight I do feel much healthier! I got back on the bike and managed to do a bit of cycling before the cold spell hit Orlando and I must say it is great to be riding again without hitting cars. Selena is still a little apprehensive but she manages to keep up with me which is great.

I hit a few balls for the first time at the beginning of January and my back wasn't too bad the next day ... and I actually hit the ball well so I was excited about that. Even snuck in a little practice at Naples. Still a long way from getting back to hitting balls properly but at least there might be some hope left. I do have a medical exemption which the PGA TOUR has kindly given me, but at this stage I still doubt whether I will be able to take advantage of that but watch this space!

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December 2004: Frank's letter to Santa

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September 2004

The summer is nearly over and it has been a busy one. I have had a house full of family which has been fantastic. I know you think I am just saying that but living overseas away from my native New Zealand for so long I know when family come, they also leave. Just kidding! My daughter Bianca was also here for 5 weeks this summer which is the longest time she has been for a trip and it went far too quickly! It was the longest time she has spent with my niece and nephew and they had a lot of fun. She went back to England yesterday and she starts school next week. The house is very quiet needless to say!

How is the hand you ask ... well if you didn't I am going to tell you anyway. My hand is doing well. I have been exercising it everyday and the range of motion is nearly back to normal. I tried gripping a golf club last week and it felt pretty good. Maybe there is hope for the old dog yet!

I have worked the last five weeks, couple on the road with the Champions Tour and the rest in the Studio. It has been a busy time but keeps me out of trouble and what else am I going to do? Next week I am off again to the Kroger Classic and it will be my first event with Brandel Chamblee. It will certainly be an interesting change without my sidekick Mr. Kelly... let's see how it goes and it is only for a week.

The Ryder Cup is already 'in the air' and with Captain Langer by-passing Freddie Jacobsen of Sweden who is currently 26th in the world all sorts of fireworks have been brewing. Captain Sutton was less controversial with his picks but as usual it is shaping up to be another really good Ryder Cup, once again for all the wrong reasons. I will actually go to my first Ryder Cup as the Golf Channel will be on site doing Pre Game/Post Game all week from Detroit starting that Tuesday. I was fortunate to compete against a lot of the Americans in my President Cup days so it will be good to see how some of my old mates fair against the Europeans who continually appear to be weaker on paper but have only lost 1 Ryder Cup since 1993.

Got to see my first Hurricane this year and I certainly do not want to see any more. Hurricane Charley had a huge impact on Florida and things in our community are only just getting back to normal. We had tons of trees down in our neighbourhood and as I am one of the few idiots that own a chainsaw I was out with the rest of the family and a few neighbours, chopping up trees to open up the main thorough fair so that people could simply get in and out of the area. The fortunate thing is that no-one got hurt in this area but our thoughts go out to the many familles that didn't fair as well.

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August 2004

Just over a month has gone by since my bike accident and things are coming along nicely ... I got to watch plenty of Golf for therapy including a fantastic British Open.

While I was pulling hard for my mate Ernie Els you can't take anything away from Todd Hamilton as he took everything Ernie and Phil threw at him down the stretch and proved that "winners" know how to get the job done. In his successes in Japan and Asia he has learnt how to deal with his emotions and the distractions that come with trying to win. Even though the stage was much bigger he stayed totally in the moment.

It was hard not to feel for the big Easy. He was the man to beat all week and while this will hurt a great deal the standard he has achieved in the Majors this year still bodes well for the future. It is that much harder to win when you know you should!

Enough of that.... How's the hand you ask?..I had my hand operated on July 5th at the Curtis National Hand Center at the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. They put a plate and 9 screws in my right hand. Dr. Thomas Graham and his team are a phenomenal group of people and if anyone has any problems with their hands or arms, the Curtis National Hand Center is the place to go to.

I had a fantastic experience there and am on track to a full recovery. I had the cast and stitches removed on July 23rd and my movement is already very encouraging, that is not without pain mind you .... but you know that they say "no pain, no gain"!

When I was in Baltimore I had an MRI on my knee and all that came out fine. I had a slight tear in the meniscus but I have been on the stationary bike every day since, working on getting it stronger. It feels pretty good and I should be back on my road bike in no time!! No doubt being a menace to the traffic once again.

After the initial operation the cast that I had was massive for some reason, I suppose more for protection but I think it was a request from my fellow colleagues if I can call them that. These "colleagues" at the Golf Channel decided that my new nickname should be "Clubber," so that stuck. All said and done it was good getting back to work as it took my mind off most things.

I have plenty of work coming up back on the road with Jim Kelly on the Champions Tour as well as studio work. So watch out for some funny shows!

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July 2004

What a difference a month makes!

My workout regime was going great guns, the back was getting better even to the extent where I dusted off my clubs and had a few light swings in the garage and was hopeful that I was going to have a round of golf within the ensuing month to test my progress with the back ..... but you guessed it "the best laid plans of mice and men" often go astray!

On Wednesday, June 23rd I went out riding on my Trek composite road bike (because Lance Armstrong has one!) and was going along at a nice clip of 20 miles an hour which might not be up there with Lance but it is a pretty healthy speed, then as the sun came up and the moon began to realign itself, I found myself crashing head first into a Honda Minivan.

Believe me I got out Scot free with the injuries I incurred. When the ambulance arrived and they saw the condition of the vehicle, plus my bike strewn all over the road, there is no way they thought I would have got out with a broken bone in my left hand, complicated broken thumb on my right and a severe puncture wound in my left knee ... and that's not to mention all the scratches and grazes all over the rest of my face and body!

The right hand is in a cast at the moment but it has to be operated on next week. The left leg is going to take quite a while to heal but I can now walk on it without crutches.

Due to the fact that a few funny things have happened over the last few years, fortunately I was wearing a helmet and sunglasses.

It's weird, you have an accident, you go to hospital, but after nine hours there you realise you are one of the lucky ones because you get to walk away.

I don't know what's going to take longer to heal, my wounds or my pride?!

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June 2004

Time seems to have flown by since my last update. I seem to have been busy this last month!

So what's been going on?

My daughter came to stay with us for Easter and she was here for three weeks. We had a great time, but sadly it went way too quickly! She will be back in July for 5 weeks in the Summer along with my Sister and her family, so we will have a house full! Fortunately I will be away on The Champions Tour for a couple of those weeks so I won't go stir crazy!

I took my daughter into the Studio at The Golf Channel when I was doing the Pre/Post Game Shows and she had a wonderful time. As you would expect she is now interested in getting involved in television in some way, so look out! It makes a change to have her interested in something I do ..... unlike playing golf for example! I guess she is as lazy as her Dad!

The crew at The Golf Channel were great and they showed her around the sets, behind the scenes in Production etc. so she had lots to tell her classmates when she returned to school in England.

I have not been out on the Champions Tour for a few weeks now so it will be great to get back with my partner in crime, Jim Kelly. We are meeting up in the next two weeks in Grand Rapids, Michigan and then Kansas City so two weeks on the road will be a blast.

Before I go, however, I still have to mow the lawn, fertilise the lawn and do all the edging! Everyone in our neighbourhood thinks my wife and I are mad, doing our own garden - I am beginning to agree with them! It keeps me sane and also works off any frustrations I have!

The last month or so, I have slowly started working out again. Something I have not been able to do for a while. Although, my back doesn't feel great with me doing this, I really feel that I will reap the benefits over time, whether that be playing golf at some point in the future or merely improving the quality of my life. My cardio is now riding a bike around my neighbourhood (about 15 miles a day) and my anaerobic training is circuit weight lifting. Weeks when I am working at home I can do this workout regime at least 5 times a week. Normally with most exercise programmes it take at least 5-6 weeks before you get any benefit .... so maybe I will once again fit into the trousers I used to play Golf in!

I had an x-ray on my back last week and the good news is that the bone spurs are fusing on their own accord. The good thing about this is that it potentially means that my initial decision against surgery might be the correct one!

So, there you have it. Off to Home Depot to get more tools for my gardening this week!

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May 2004

Hi and thanks for checking out my website. At the moment the site is still under construction. There will be a lot of changes over the next few months, so please bear with me. If you have any suggestions -- things that you would like to see on a golf website -- drop me a line and let me know .

You may be wondering where I've been for the last year and a half. Then again, you may not. But I'm going to tell you anyway. The last tournament I played on the US PGA TOUR was the Walt Disney Classic in October 2002. Throughout the 2001 and 2002 seasons I had considerable difficulty playing because of problems with my back.

Despite hundreds of hours at the chiropractor's, in the Trainer's Van, and in numerous visits to any number of Doctors, the pain in my lower back persisted on and off the golf course. The medical diagnosis was 3 herniated discs, bone spurs, and an anterior listhesis (a fancy term meaning that one of the bones in my back is slightly forward of where it should be).

In the circumstances, the only option was to stop playing golf for the immediate future and if the back gets better without the stress of swinging a golf club. Needless to say, after 25 years of playing golf around the world and having made the move to the States to play on the PGA Tour in 1997, it was a very difficult thing to do. While the prognosis is not great, medicine continues to advance very quickly, so we'll just have to wait and see what the golfing future holds for me.

In the meantime, you may have seen my ugly mug on the Golf Channel. The Golf Channel is based in Orlando, not far from where I now make my home. Last year, in a fit of haste, they offered me a job as a golf analyst on the Champions Tour. I also appear from time to time on the Pre and Post Game Shows, Leaderboard Report, and some sessions of Golf Central. It has all happened very quickly, but it is an exciting opportunity which keeps me involved with the game I love. And while I miss competing on the Tour, at the ripe old age of [103], it's nice not to have to get up at 5 a.m. to make an early tee time.

I have also been able to spend some quality time at home with my wife Selena, making frequent visits to the Garden and Power Tool departments of Home Depot. Selena is actively involved in a number of charities in the Orlando area and organizes the Lend a Hand Golf Day to raise money for underprivileged children.

So now you're up to date.

While I will miss the smell of cut grass in the early morning, the feel of the ground under my spikes, and watching the Titleist soar like a bird...you are what you are.

No Regrets,

Frank Nobilo

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