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A reporter asked Robert Allenby why more American players don't play international events. You can almost hear the angel and devil arguing across his shoulders. "You know what, I've got to word this right so I don't get into trouble, because I'm good at getting myself into trouble," Allenby said. Did he word it right? Sure, if he meant to say that American players are spoiled and that PGA Tour courses are dull. Common enough opinions, but not usually heard from a Tour pro. Here's his answer: "You know, Americans play for so much money, and when you've got a purse where $1 million, a million plus, is first prize, not to say that they are spoiled, but it's a little bit that way. It's like, well, why would I want to travel, when I can make a million bucks instead of going to Europe and only making $500,000 or $600,000?"

golf.com

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So where does Marty Evans go from here? The acting commissioner steps aside on Jan. 4 when Michael Whan takes over, but Evans gave up her spot on the LPGA Board of Directors to assume her interim role. Evans could rejoin the board with two openings for independent directors to be filled sometime early next year, but Golf World reported this week that there are some significant maneuvers under way that may reshape the board. According to sources cited in the report, Dawn Hudson will remain on the board but is unlikely to be re-elected chairwoman because of "backlash for allowing the Carolyn Bivens situation to go on for so long." Bivens was forced out as commissioner in a player revolt in July. The report also stated that Evans has told the board that she will only serve again if she is elected chairwoman, but that player directors might not support that move because of Evans' role in recent layoffs at the tour.

thegolfchannel.com

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Nickent Golf, which just a few years ago gained acclaim for its popular hybrid clubs, is preparing to liquidate its business. Struggling with cash-flow issues since the first quarter of this year, Nickent's mercurial run in the equipment market has come to an end. The equipment maker's fortunes turned in early 2008 when it made an ill-fated gamble on the nascent adjustable-driver market. Hoping to make inroads into the driver category, Nickent pushed aggressively to be among the first to unveil a conforming driver that could easily swap shafts for immediate play. At the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show, the company unveiled its adjustable driver package -- a clubhead, two shafts and a wrench -- for $479. But neither its driver, nor the product category as a whole, captured much consumer interest.

golfweek.com

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As Doug Barron sat down to dinner Tuesday night near The Woodlands, the unsuspecting 40-year-old who has bounced back and forth between the PGA and Nationwide tours since 1995, was his old self, alternately funny and introspective, whether it related to his body, or the tour -- which has, in his mind, made him a sacrifice to the International Olympic Committee that just sanctioned golf as an Olympic event. Barron admits he did not tell the tour's testers in Memphis that he had taken a shot of testosterone two weeks before the tournament, but he says he did admit to being on Beta Blockers. "When I went in I didn't think it was a witch hunt. I thought I was being proactive," he said. The St. Jude was his only PGA Tour event of the season, and he missed the cut. Five months later, there are questions as to, Why Doug Barron? Why was he tested at his only tour appearance of the year? But there are no simple answers. Meanwhile, Leslie wonders, "If one of the tour's top players tested positive, would they have zero tolerance for that?"

golfdigest.com

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Michelle Wie's focus was challenged during her hour-long practice Tuesday after her arrival for the LPGA Tour championship. That's because so many players kept stopping by to offer congratulations at The Houstonian Golf & Country Club. Wie's breakthrough victory Sunday at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico was all the buzz at the season-ending event. Her swing coach, David Leadbetter, relished the interruptions because he remembers not so long ago when Wie wasn't embraced upon arriving for LPGA events.

thegolfchannel.com

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