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After what has happened in this year’s majors though, the winner is just as likely to be South Africa’s Richard Sterne. Oh, you don’t know who in the wide, wide world of golf is Richard Sterne? Well, he just happens to be the 32nd ranked player in the world as of this writing, ahead of Masters Champions Mike Weir and Jose Maria Olazabal as well as countryman Tim Clark.

What gives Sterne a chance? Well look no further than the 3 major champions of 2007. On the surface these three men, by most accounts, have the game to win majors; it just wasn’t truly expected of them.

To the dictionary we go: surprise – (as a noun) a completely unexpected occurrence, appearance, or statement fluke – (noun) an accident or chance happening

Surprise #1 – Zach Johnson

He tore up the Nationwide Tour before reaching the Big Show of the PGA TOUR and proceeded to win the 2004 AT&T Classic in his first full year on tour. He made the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team and played very respectively as a rookie.

However, Zach had only posted 12 Top 10 finishes in the 85 events between his first victory and the 2007 Masters. He was able conquer the behemoth that is now Augusta National and the sport’s ultimate closer in Tiger Woods to put on that green jacket. He was 56th in the World Golf Ranking before capturing that major.

Surprise #2 – Angel Cabrera

Those familiar with the European Tour coverage on the Golf Channel are also familiar with El Pato, Argentina’s affable Duck. Cabrera had 3 career European Tour victories and had a couple of near misses in the majors with 6 career Top 10’s and a couple of close calls on the PGA TOUR.

Unfortunately, he was noted more for those close calls, read failures, than the talent he truly has. However, this year’s U.S. Open brought Cabrera to the American masses and he was embraced by the crowds as the Argentine John Daly. Hit it, find it, hit it again and smoke a few cigs in between shots. Cabrera was ranked 41st in the world prior to winning his major.

Surprise #3 – Padraig Harrington

Did you know that Padraig was a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR? He won the 2005 Barclays Classic in dramatic fashion by sinking a sea-going putt for eagle at the 18th in Westchester and a few months before that he beat Vijay Singh in a playoff for his first PGA TOUR victory at the Honda Classic. It was his first year as a fully exempt player on tour.

Harrington was another player noted for close calls with 24 runner-up finishes on the European Tour, and actually held the lead after the 2nd round of the 2002 Open Championship only to finish in a tie for fifth.

Other than Vijay Singh, not many players work as hard on their games as Padraig. There have been many driving range personnel that have worked by the light of the moon after a post round session by Paddy. That work ethic may have been what he relied on to come back from the Van Veldian collapse he had at the 18th hole at Carnoustie and then outlast Sergio Garcia in a playoff to capture the 2007 Open Championship.

He may have been the least surprising major champion this year but he was still a surprise none the less.

As the game of golf goes; these three champions did not win by accident or chance as flukes, all have the game to back it up. I’d like to think their victories came more as unexpected occurrences or pleasant surprises.

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And so after a year that can only be measured against the bar he set in 2000; all the talk from media types is why isn’t there another player to step up to Tiger instead of following in his wake. Woods speaking about the age of this year’s Ryder Cup team and the dearth of younger American players; “We don't have anybody in our 20s on the team. And those guys (Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, and Paul Casey) … I just mentioned have won numerous tournaments around the world, most of our guys in our 20s haven't won tournaments yet.”

So where are the young rivals? Two of those players Tiger mentioned missed their chances in one on one battles to topple the world’s number one on two of golf’s biggest stages; Garcia at the Open Championship and Donald at the PGA Championship. Why does it always seem to be the men without the pretty swings that, if they don’t beat him a la Hal Sutton at the 2000 PLAYERS Championship, Chris DiMarco at the Masters or John Daly at the WGC-Amex are taking him to playoffs.

The so-called young guns on tour with the picture perfect swings of a Luke Donald or Adam Scott just haven’t risen to the occasion. Is it because of too much of the “Tiger effect” or not enough? What I mean is that, taking away this year and dealing with the death of his father, Woods has averaged playing in 19 PGA TOUR events every year since 2000. Take away the added pressure cookers of the majors and that leaves just 15 times a year other players have a chance to step up and beat him.

Maybe it’s because there is so much golf, the sport has started to eat its young. Look at the Nationwide Tour this year, the top 20 players on the 2006 money list get their ticket to the real money on the 2007 PGA TOUR. As it stands right now it will take close to $200,000 to get inside that coveted 20th spot. That’s good for 191st on the 2006 PGA TOUR money list. Comparably the 125th spot on the PGA TOUR money list is currently 3 times that amount. If that’s not enough pressure to win on a tour that averages a total purse of about $500,000, Brandt Snedeker’s win at the Permian Basin Charity Golf Classic made it 4 different players with multiple victories on the Nationwide Tour.

Now those guys have it a little easier, they don’t have to worry about their big brethren from the PGA TOUR “slumming” to pick up a quick couple thousand, there are rules against that. The European Tour however welcomes their world renowned players back into their tournaments regardless of how much money they’ve won on the U.S. tour; as long as they keep up the events or prize money for the Order of Merit. Take our good friend Luke Donald; he is currently 9th on the PGA TOUR’s money list (with a victory in 2006) and 11th on the European Tour’s Order of Merit after playing in only 5 non-major or non-WGC events.

In baseball parlance there’s a derogatory phrase describing a certain type of player, “career minor leaguer”. In other words, this guy is a really good player; he gets paid to play baseball, but he’s not quite good enough to play in the major leagues. Let’s face it, the players on any golf tour are not your local club champions, these guys are all good!

We see this with the Nationwide Tour guys, even those who have received the immediate promotion to the PGA TOUR (Chris Smith, 194th on the money list, and Jason Gore, 116th, for example) they may win on the PGA TOUR; but the struggle to stay there or to become the new “rival” or media darling is a tough one. Another problem for those players once they get there is that there are a lot of “ATM’s” on the PGA TOUR. Guys like former Nationwider Chris DiMarco who hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR since 2002, and has not had the best of years in 2006, still has a chance to get into the top 30 on the money list and the TOUR Championship!

Let’s play with Darwin’s theory for a minute and see if we can create a rival for Mr. Woods, just what would it take? Take the ease of Ernie Els, the work ethic of Vijay Singh, the precision of Luke Donald, the gutsy putting of Jim Furyk, a dash of John Daly bravado and a pinch of DiMarco’s bull-doggedness. We’ll call him Elsingh LuJim DalMarco, now, that’s a player to rise up from the primordial ooze and let Natural Selection take its course.

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At this year’s Open Championship, Tiger captured his 11th major title tying one of the best and most flamboyant golfers of all time, Walter Hagen. It is Hagen who holds the record for most successful defenses of the PGA. Five of Hagen’s 11 major victories came in the PGA Championship, his first came in 1921, overcoming the 32 man field with matches won by 6&4, 6&5, 8&7, 5&4 and 3&2. Hagen became the fourth ever champion; the championship was postponed from 1917-1918 due to World War I.

Hagen then went on to win 4 straight from 1924-1927. The match play finals were held over 36 holes, his closest championship match was a 1up victory in 1927 over Joe Turnesa, and his largest was a 6&5 drubbing of William Mehlhorn. Hagen dominated the PGA from 1921 to 1927, 5 wins, 1 second and 1 DNS; he had exhibition obligations. Imagine that, 4 consecutive victories in a single event, a match play event with all the variables that entails and a Major championship!

There are three other men to have won 4 events in consecutive years; Gene Sarazen won the Miami Open from 1926/27 to 1930 and Tiger Woods won at Arnie’s place in Bay Hill from 2000-2003. The only man, other than Hagen, to accomplish this feat in a major was Tom Morris, Jr. who won the Open Championship from 1868-1870 and again in 1872, there was no event in 1871.

I like to think of the PGA Championship as the “Working Man’s Major”. After all, 25 of the entrants are actual week in and week out club professionals. A look back at some recent champions include the likes of Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem and although he’s one of the top players in the world, you can’t say that 1998 and 2004 champ, Vijay Singh, is not a hard worker.

For every Jack Nicklaus there’s a John Daly, for every Sam Snead there’s a Vic Ghezzi, who beat Byron Nelson, by the way, in 38 holes. Walter Hagen’s first major victory was the 1914 U.S. Open and his last came in the 1929 Open Championship. Eleven titles in 15 years playing against the likes of Ed Ray, Jock Hutchinson, Tommy Armour and of course, Bobby Jones. For all the swagger and brass, Hagen was a working man’s champion.

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What makes a person happy? Is it money? Is it fame?

In 1985, Calvin Peete became the PLAYERS Champion. The win justified him as world-class and unquestionably the most successful black golfer at that point in history. He was at the height of his career, his wealth, and notoriety. It seemed Calvin Peete had it all. However, this day was a rarity of joy amidst a decade of tempered imperfections and internal confrontation.

The win guaranteed him full TOUR status through age 50. Being one who excelled later in his career and known perhaps as the straightest driver of the golf ball ever, it seemed inevitable for him to smash records on the Champions Tour. But he didn’t. He never won. He never finished better than fourth. Which poses the question: What happened to Calvin Peete?

In a candid interview on March 8, 2006, Peete opened up.

“It was 1987 when the Tourettes really set in.”

Calvin Peete has Tourette syndrome, a neurobiological disorder characterized by tics—which are involuntary, rapid movements and vocal outbursts that occur uncontrollably. The disease was inherited at birth, yet Peete’s symptoms began to show early in the prime of his career.

“I was practicing in 1983 and I was trying to hit the low shot and each one went high. I then tried the high shot, and it scooted off low. I said to myself, ‘something’s wrong here.’ My ups were down, and my downs were up.”

“So, me being a genius, I began playing with reverse psychology. When I wanted to hit a fade, I would think to hit a draw. When I wanted to hit a draw, I would think to hit a fade.”

“My physical tics were mainly twitches with my jaw moving, tongue waggling, and my shoulder. My shoulder was so bad I thought it was a torn muscle, but it was simply Tourettes.”

Despite physical tics affecting him on TOUR, Tourettes more-so manipulated Calvin’s mind by developing an alter ego filled with negative connotations.

“Just like my swing, I needed to think opposite. I had to arrive to the golf course telling myself how bad I was playing. I guess it worked. That’s the exact mindset I had when winning THE PLAYERS Championship in 1985.”

Rumors of substance abuse surfaced in 1987, yet he denies all related claims.

“Those comments hurt the most. I would get chemical highs off Tylenol…You can’t lead the PGA TOUR in driving accuracy 10 years straight on drugs.”

Mental indecisions carried from the golf course to his personal life. As Calvin’s career advanced on TOUR, his marriage to first wife, Christine, crumbled. The couple argued often, usually over finances. His eccentric drive for perfection underlined with many superstitions sometimes led to a hot temper and short fuse with their relationship. The two separated in 1987 and Calvin moved west to Phoenix.

There, Calvin began making changes. He met Pepper Bolden (now Peete), twenty years his junior. With Pepper, Calvin invested more time in meditation and prayer. She was also the catalyst for seeking help.

“At first, I thought they were common reactions to a high-profiled lifestyle and career, recalled Pepper. Over time, I knew it was more. When we had moved to Jacksonville (1993), we searched for doctors.”

Calvin Peete’s Champions Tour tenure battled obstacles far worse than tucked pins and water hazards. He endured the worst of his Tourette episodes instead. In June 2001, at age 57, Calvin Peete reached a crossroad.

“I was in Nashville. I was over a putt and the Tourettes said, ‘I hope you miss it.’ I didn’t know what to think anymore.”

It would be Peete’s final competitive round of golf.

“It was the right decision of retiring. I wasn’t competitive anymore, and I had a two little girls. It was time to move on.”

Today, his life is Pepper, Aisha 12, and Aleya 9. It consists of dance recitals and car pools. It’s Church on Sunday and dinner each night as a family.

“He’s a wonderful father,” brags wife Pepper. “The girls are all into daddy.”

Calvin began his journey with Tourettes blind and helpless. Today, he credits the very disease in providing a higher quality of life.

“Looking back, Tourettes has been a blessing in the skies. It has taught me so much about love and what is important. I have philosophies I haven’t read anywhere. I was wisdom now that I never had as a young boy.”

If you ask him, Calvin Peete will tell you he’s lived two lives. The first took him around the World with celebrity status, yet it suffered from greed and the pressures of Great Expectation. His second now omits competitive golf, traveling, and a high income, but it thrives on family, faith, and community. He still has the fused elbow, the mustache, the Kangol hat, but comparisons end abruptly there.

Those whose concern is their own happiness seldom find it. Instead, the surest path is in losing yourself in causes greater than your own. That’s what Calvin Peete did.

“No question I am happier today. Looking back to my times with my first wife, I would tell her, ‘I have all of this money, but I’m not happy.’ I wasn’t happy. But I’m happy now. I really am.”

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"I have enjoyed my time serving as chairman. Working with club members, staff and volunteers on the Masters has been very rewarding. The tournament is successful by any measure and will continue to grow. I know I leave the chairmanship in very capable hands." -- Hootie Johnson

Hootie Johnson brought more change to the Masters than any preceding chairman short of Clifford Roberts, yet his lasting imprint will reflect the issue he refused to change.

The 1997 Masters quite possibly has become the most important golf tournament in history. For the first time, a black man won a major championship albeit at the exclusive club which had first integrated that same decade. Tiger’s win posed infinite change for the Masters, yet with the resignation of then Chairman Jack Stephens, Augusta National was in need of the appropriate man willing to embrace such risks. Enter William W. Johnson, better known as Hootie.

Hootie Johnson better modernized an institution that revels in their traditions.

Under his eight-year chairmanship, Augusta National underwent two extensive course reconstructions, a handful of changes of the particular, and one lasting dispute over gender rights versus the right for private organization.

In 2002 alone, Johnson set three historical precedents. He introduced Augusta National’s front nine to TV audiences for the first time in history with 18-hole TV coverage, he lengthened the golf course a record 285 yards, and challenged the lifetime exemption clause by mailing letters to past champions suggesting for them to not compete.

Adding television coverage of the Augusta National’s front nine became the most sensible change of all. For 40 years, the Masters deprived the year’s largest golf audience of half of America’s most recognizable golf course. The addition was decades overdue.

The lengthening process goes hand-in-hand with Woods’ rout in 1997. As he blasted drives over trouble (#18 fairway bunker particularly) and wedged his way to victory that year, “Tiger-proofing” evolved. The Masters had never been a short-iron spectacle, and it had no intention to be so.

Every Masters Tournament before Hootie Johnson (1934-1998) was played at 6,925 yards. The length never deviated. In eight years, Johnson changed it four times.

In 1999, his first addition was a mere 60 yards. The first major course lengthening came in 2002, extending the tournament course to 7,270 yards. Twenty yards was added in 2003, and it remained that way until this year. One-hundred, fifty-five yards later, and Augusta National has topped off, for the moment, at 7,445 yards.

Add it up; Augusta National gained 520 yards in eight years under Hootie Johnson.

Before the 2002 Masters, Hootie wrote letters to Billy Casper, Doug Ford and Gay Brewer asking them to not play because they were no longer competitive. The idea failed that year, in part to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus publicly siding with the past Champions. However, Johnson’s point has been getting across recently. Casper, Ford, and Brewer, even Palmer and Nicklaus have all played their final Masters and upcoming examples (i.e. Gary Player) will most likely follow suit soon.

Hootie brought rough to Augusta National, a 1’3/4” blanket that brought more fliers than hack-outs.

He changed exemption qualifications. Before Hootie, PGA TOUR winners knew they would be in Augusta, Georgia the second week the following year. Instead, Johnson made qualifications more systematic, exempting the top 40 money leaders from the previous PGA TOUR season and top 50 in the official world rankings after THE PLAYERS Championship.

Simply put, Hootie Johnson brought more change to the Masters than any preceding chairman short of Clifford Roberts, yet his lasting imprint will reflect the issue he refused to change.

In 2002, Martha Burk, then President of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, pressured Johnson and Augusta National Golf Club through boycotts and public scrutiny to welcome their first female member.

Hootie did not budge.

In his most comprehensive statement related to the matter, on November 12, 2002, Johnson wrote: “For men of all backgrounds to seek a place and time for camaraderie with other men is as constitutionally and morally proper as it is for women to seek the same with women… The notion that Augusta National is an enclave of sexist good old boys is ludicrous. Women regularly play the course, with no restrictions… How long Ms. Burk and her agenda will be given a voice is up to the media. But how long the public will pay attention is another question. Perhaps this kind of coercion is simply the way by which some political groups try to increase their own membership. It is for others to decide, from where they stand, whether threat-based tactics are appropriate. But from here, it feels like some things are worth defending, and sometimes that means taking a stand. In my mind and in my heart, I know this is one of them.”

Hootie Johnson in most ways was merely the messenger for his club against the NCWO, yet his sometimes off-color remarks, such as when he told Burk he would not admit female members into Augusta, even “at the point of a bayonet,” left him in hot water alone.

In 2002 and 2003, Johnson decided to run zero television commercials within the Masters coverage for the safety of its corporate sponsors. In 2004, the NCWO backed off and Burk stepped down as their President a year later.

The storm which was the NCWO versus Augusta National became more so Burk versus Johnson due to both leaders’ public stubbornness to stand for what they believed in.

However, for good or for bad, Johnson’s legacy will be just that. Hootie Johnson had consistent conviction with every decision as Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club. Regardless of the potential for scrutiny and a bad reputation, Hootie Johnson was not afraid to speak his mind or act on his will. When the country’s leading female rights organization challenged his club, he didn’t hide. When golf’s governing bodies (USGA, R&A) allowed for the ball to roll much further distances, Hootie Johnson did not sweat. He adjusted. He continued Augusta National’s adage that they can control or prevent any outside group or activity from affecting how they desire to run their golf tournament.

Part two of his legacy, his news conferences Wednesday of the Masters, will be recalled for the bad and good also. The setting was a packed house of open notebooks clouded with laughter and tension. Johnson’s answers were cerebral and well-planned. His delivery was strong and deliberate. His responses were mixed with spontaneity from the light-hearted questions and the typical from the more touchy ones. His physical sternness on stage oftentimes shadowed his unrivaled pride and loyalty for Augusta National Golf Club and its history. He often began answers with, “Mr. Roberts believed that…” or “Mr. Roberts would have wanted…”

Hootie was born in 1931; the same year construction began on Augusta National Golf Club. He became an Augusta National member in 1968 and vice-president in 1975. He is and will remain the final Augusta National Chairman with a direct relationship to Clifford Roberts or Bobby Jones, let alone both.

Hootie Johnson ironically is a private man that enjoys simple pleasures such as golf, a drink, a cigar, good conversation. He’s a religious man. He has a loved wife of over 40 years in which they continue to parent four daughters and grandparent ten grandchildren.

Very much of professional golf’s makeup has changed since Tiger’s special week at Augusta in 1997, yet not all accounts have been able to keep up. Augusta National has mostly in part to tradition, but also Hootie Johnson.

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Your choices will now be much simpler. NBC or CBS for the bulk of the regular tour events. For all else, turn to The Golf Channel (with perhaps the overflow going on to OLN). The Golf Channel has signed an unprecedented 15 year exclusive cable deal with the PGA TOUR in which it will get the rights to televise most Thursdays and Fridays on the regular TOUR as well as a bunch of other complete four round event coverage. Some say the ones no one wanted, but I pose you this …..

Do your homework. Sure nobody wanted the Champions Tour, well nearly nobody … all those great players still deserved to be shown and they can play. So The Golf Channel took it and his put its life and soul into it. The Nationwide Tour … poor stepchild to the regular tour and one without a home on TV until The Golf Channel picked it up. And now the Lucas Glovers and Jason Gores of the world can be seen long before their debut on the big stage. The same can be said about the LPGA, why do we know so much about Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer? Was it ESPN who showed the Pub links with the teenage Phenomenon or her debut at the Casio in Japan? No, it was The Golf Channel and why… because it's Golf, plain and simple. You see The Golf Channel was put into business 11 years ago by Joe Gibbs and Arnold Palmer for that very reason, and when it reaches the tender age of a dozen years, next year, it reaches for the big time and will be far ahead of the learning curve when compared it to the infant years of Fox and ESPN.

Will it be trouble free? Can The Golf Channel handle the big time? If I can steal a quote from the January 13 edition of Golf World: "One player-turned analyst compared The Golf Channel OLN commitment to the ill fated decision to move the Champions Tour (then known as the Senior PGA Tour) from ESPN to CNBC in 2001: "Wow that is beyond risky. There is a good chance Thursday and Friday will head into the abyss" This is one of the many examples of the selfishness that still exists in the game. No doubt the same undisclosed player has forwarded his resume to Orlando (home of The Golf Channel) in an effort to secure a new job otherwise why else would he leave his name off his quote. The same former player obviously never watches a movie on HBO, a boxing fight on Showtime, or Lance Armstrong rewrite the history books on OLN. Certainly never watches the History Channel because this has all happened before …. just change the names.

Do I work for The Golf Channel? You are damn right I do. It wasn't there when I started playing this game but I promise you this, it will out live me and the myriad of others who fill my shoes.

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I can only imagine that is what young Michelle Wie must have felt like after being disqualified from the Samsung World Championship last week. You know the story by now, Wie was asked two hours after the completion of her round to address a situation that happened in the third round. After playing 18 holes, after handling all the media requirements from her professional debut and over 24 hours after the incident occurred, Michelle and her caddy Greg Johnston were asked to recreate the drop she took to take relief from an unplayable lie on the 7th hole.

The re-creation took place and it was confirmed that Wie did not mark her ball in the proper place, invoking Rule 20-7 Playing from a Wrong Place. Which would have resulted in a two stroke penalty; however, because she signed her scorecard for what in effect was a lower score she was disqualified under Rule 6-6; signing a scorecard where a lower score for any hole is actually taken.

If you've seen the video on The Golf Channel you can see the infraction Wie committed when seeking relief from a bush. The place where she chose to mark was closer to the hole than the line of relief indicated. That is indisputable, she violated Rule 20-7, whether intentional or un-intentional, a rule was broken.

The question is; who should be responsible for reporting it. The person who did end up reporting the infraction is, in fact, a reporter. Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated was there to write a story about Michelle Wie's professional debut. Instead he has now become a major part of the story.

Two of the biggest commandments of being a member of the media; sports or otherwise; are 1) not to make news and 2) remain an impartial observer. Mr. Bamberger failed on both counts, even after speaking with his editor. Mr. Bamberger, by the way, has also caddied on the PGA and European tours. For him to claim that he was struggling with his decision whether to report the violation or not does not hold enough water to dampen a club towel.

The game of golf prides itself as the standard bearer of sports when it comes to honor among participants, (see Kevin Stadler). Mr. Bamberger after spending, I assume, most of his life in or around the game should not have wrestled with his decision. If he had any doubt in his mind about the drop that Wie took or if he firmly believed it was a bad drop; he should have sought out the first rules official he could find to address the situation during the same round, i.e. before Wie signed her scorecard.

He has no excuse for this other than to have said that he was caught up in the moment. Well, if that was the case then the first commandment he broke was to remain impartial. Mr. Bamberger was there to write a story; Michelle Wie's story, what kind of story was it going to be if she was on her way to a probable Top 10 finish? She had already done that as an amateur this year in two LPGA majors and 4 out of her previous 7 events played on the LPGA Tour.

So at what time did Michael Bamberger break commandment #1 by invoking Rule 16-1E - Straddle the Line? Besides the two and a half to three hours he had the chance to contact an official before Wie signed her scorecard, there was one other chance, remember he was a caddy once.

After reviewing the tape, as we media types like to say, once Wie finally placed her ball there was enough time before she even addressed the ball, to maybe have a caddy to caddy conversation questioning the drop. And if Greg Johnston looked at the drop and felt that it may have been closer he would have had Wie drop again, this time with, at best, a rules official there or having Grace Park, the other playing member of the group involved.

And there's the rub, to quote a somewhat familiar writer. If Mr. Bamberger does talk to Wie's caddy and makes a corrected drop, life goes on and a young girl gets to have a great experience picking up her first paycheck. But since he chose not to, he created a story. The implications are huge. No one will remember that Annika Sorenstam dominated the tournament, which included her own bout with a rules official, to win for the 64th time and tie two records held by the great Mickey Wright; most wins at the same event (5) and consecutive years (5) of most victories on the LPGA Tour. Everyone will remember that Michelle Wie, possibly the future of the LPGA, was disqualified in her first event.

The other, possibly more harmful, implication may be how young Ms. Wie will recover from this. It was a punch in the gut, and if that has ever happened to you, you can relate to the feeling she had 2 hours after her first professional tournament.

And what does the sport gain from this? Protecting the field? How would the world have reacted if it was Lorie Kane or Michele Redman? No offense to either one of those fine players but Michelle Wie was the story that week, whether anyone likes it or not. If it wasn't for the fact that Michael Bamberger was standing 10 feet from the incident and there weren't two cameras following every move Wie made, no one would have known. Does that make it right? Certainly not, there was a rules infraction and now Michael Bamberger and Sports Illustrated have a story.

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