Sometimes rejection can be a good thing.  Tiger Woods, who won 13 of his 14 major championships using a Scotty Cameron putter, suddenly ditched his old friend for the British Open.  The result was a disaster.

He didn’t practice much with his Nike prototype and and the results were about what you might expect, especially considering where he stands as a whole right now.

Woods went back to the Cameron putter before the weekend was out and even made a couple of nice putts early Sunday with it, but the damage was done.  Tiger is now winless in his last seven majors but it’s pretty clear that it ain’t the putter’s fault.

The news that Tiger was going back to his Cameron made headlines all over the world as reporters and columnists looked to explain his continued lack of major championship success.  Why would he switch?  More money?  Just a gut feeling?  Tired of the same thing and looking for something new (that type of thinking turned out to be a BIG mistake late last year)?

Who knows.

We do know that Cameron’s company comes out of this:  1) looking like a hero and 2) the recipient of a huge does of free publicity.

Cameron’s clubs are hugely popular and so are his designer head covers.  In fact, the British Open models that pay homage to Scotland are selling like hotcakes, with the few that have made their way to eBay selling like hotcakes.

Overall, there are 2600+ Cameron items on eBay and after the Tiger talk this week, they’re going fast.

He’s had success on the PGA Tour, but Bubba Watson isn’t yet a household name.  His story, though, is an interesting one.  Unfortunately, Watson’s first PGA Tour win–in dramatic fashion, no less–was botched by CBS’ rush to dump out of the coverage.

Bubba Watson

By sinking a short putt, Watson beat Scott Verplank and Corey Pavin in a sudden death playoff Sunday, then broke down in tears as his wife Angie hugged him.

Instead of giving him a moment to collect himself, the network forced the announcers to toss down to David Feherty for a quick interview.  Watson, still overwhelmed by the moment, dedicated the win to his parents, especially his father who is battling cancer.  As tears flowed, Watson then said something about praying for his father, then quickly walked away.  Feherty, put into an impossible situation, did his best to keep it from being a total embarrassment by saying “we all will”.  That was followed by an awkward silence, then a toss to a commercial break.

The moment was packed with emotion, which can be good TV, but CBS did a poor job by not enforcing the point that it was Watson’s breakthrough win AND special because of his father BEFORE cutting to the interview.

Off camera, a producer could be heard saying “Jerry.  His father’s name is Jerry.”

What is this, a college production?

And by that time, it was too late.

Bubba Watson grew up in Florida, self-taught an an early age by swinging at home made targets around the family’s home.  He learned how to hit a variety of shots, then earned a junior college scholarship before winding up on Georgia’s SEC championship team.

He slugged his way up the ladder and enjoyed a 15 top ten finishes before Sunday’s triumph.

Watson is a good ol’ boy and he’s not above getting into the trenches with fans on his Facebook page.  It would have been nice for CBS to not be in such a hurry to give programming back to the affiliates or the network–depending on your time zone–but that’s business I guess.

His wife Angie, by the way, is 6-foot-4 and a former University of Georgia, WNBA and European professional basketball player.

Watson’s popularity should take off after this.  Right now, there are just 17 items associated with him on eBay.

he USGA put the actual individual player score sheets from the manual scoreboards at the US Open on eBay last week but the tournament winner wasn’t getting much respect from bidders.

The auction wraps up Monday and the sheets featuring the scores for winner Graeme McDowell stood at just $51 as of Sunday night.  The auction is being conducted in support of the NCGA Foundation. This is the only opportunity for golf fans to own what I would agree is a unique piece of U.S. Open history.

You can bid on individual player score sheets for all U.S. Open competitors who begin first-round play, even those who miss the 36-hole cut. Score sheets will be validated by the USGA as an “official score sheet from the 110th U.S. Open.” Here’s a link to the auctions.

Watson did something that had collectors cringing after his final putt on 18 Sunday.  He tossed the ball into the crowd.  Someone got a nice–and potentially valuable souvenir, although it may be hard to authenticate.  The person who picked it up would have to have a couple of witnesses sign a paper or have some videotape evidence. Unfortunately, the NBC cameras didn’t show where the ball went–just Watson’s heave.

McDowell’s website was apparently getting so much traffic in the minutes after his win that it crashed.  Apparently, bandwidth wasn’t an issue before Sunday.  CNBC business blogger Darren Rovell reported that someone bought GregoryFavret.com on Sunday morning.  You’d think someone, somewhere associated with this guy might have thought having at least the domain…if not an actual website…was a good idea by Saturday night.

It is being called the first-ever “drive by golf ball retriever”.   The ScrambleScoop allows any golfer to easily scoop up  grounded golf balls while in a moving cart — without bending, leaning or stretching. Originally designed for use in golf scrambles or “best ball” games, the ScrambleScoop is proving popular for any golf outing.

How Does ScrambleScoop Work? The ScrambleScoop was designed with perfectly angled edges that guide the  ball right into the almost 7 inch net. The golfer begins by simply extending the telescopic shaft of the ScrambleScoop to the desired length. While the cart is moving, reach out the scoop to drag along the grass a few feet behind the golf ball. As the scoop reaches the ball the uniquely angled edges actually guide the ball to hop effortlessly into the small mesh basket to be easily removed for use on the next shot. The ScrambleScoop can be used from either side of the cart simply by inverting the mesh net on the scoop.

For many people, young and aging alike, bending over can be difficult. The ScrambleScoop reduces back, hip and knee strain caused by bending and squatting. The ScrambleScoop sports an aluminum rustproof shaft and comfortable grip, is lightweight yet durable and can easily be stored in a golf bag. When compacted, it is small enough to keep in the front compartment of the golf cart for easy accessibility during play.

ScrambleScoop inventor Betty Bucher created the product to find a solution to a problem that many golfers experience.

“‘I’ve played many golf scramble games and when I leaned from the cart and nearly fell out trying to pick up the ball, I knew there had to be a better way,”she says.

The ScrambleScoop is also effective in speeding up golf play. It used to be time consuming and exhausting to keep stopping the cart to pick up the balls. Not anymore.

The patented product is also proving handy for picking up things in the yard or in the house.

The ScrambleScoop sells for $19.95 and is available on eBay.

EA SPORTS is introducing its Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 game.  A new TV spot is just about to hit the airwaves and puts Tiger back in a less serious light.

“Welcome to Team Golf,” opens with the U.S. Ryder Cup team storming onto the golf course to fireworks and the excitement of a boisterous crowd as the European team taunts the U.S. players and their eagle mascot.

Here’s the premise: After each team tees off, the U.S. team huddles together and listens to advice from their captain, played by former NFL coach Mike Ditka. The spot cuts to Tiger Woods who sinks a critical putt to secure the win for the U.S. team as the crowd erupts, a marching band begins to play and jets fly overhead. The spot concludes with gameplay footage from Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 and a voice over reminding viewers that this year’s game offers, “golf like you’ve never played.”

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 goes on sale Tuesday, June 8. You can buy it here.

Golf construction company, Turf Solutions Group (TSG), released images of a private estate golf course they constructed on the property of a well known, recently-retired sports figure to demonstrate the potential available to clients with the means and the space to indulge their passion for golf.

Jason Payne, TSG Managing Partner, explained, “We’d love to name our client for the attention that would provide to our work – he’s a well-known sports figure – but we respect his desire not be identified. The point of releasing photos of his estate is to demonstrate that individuals can have a championship-level estate golf course. While not everyone has the means to make this investment, the ones who do love the results.”

The private foot course features three 5,000 square foot greens that can be addressed from five tees, potentially providing 18 different lengths and angles of tee shots. The tees and greens are situated around a large central lake, so all but one of the tee shots are over water. Tee shot lengths range from 100 to 205 yards. All the tees and greens are covered with easy-to-maintain, natural appearing synthetic turf.

TSG’s professional sports client acknowledges that owning his own estate golf course has improved his golf game. “My decision to have Turf Solutions Group install this golf course in 2007 turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever made,” he said. “I love golf and I love getting out there and playing my own course. The synthetic greens play is quite similar to a championship course – they play really ‘true.’ It feels similar to playing TPC in Scottsdale or Pinehurst’s crown greens.”

The client describes hiring TSG to build the course as “an excellent experience.” “The construction phase was not very long — in this climate we have a month of rain, so TSG needed to work around that,” he explained. “They were always very accessible. If I had a question, all I had to do is call. I recommend Turf Solutions Group to anyone that asks who built my course.”

Hmmm…any ideas who the lucky homeowner is?

A 1949 autographed Masters photo has just set the record for highest price attained by a signed golf collectible according to Heritage Auctions.

The 1949 picture that sold for $31,070 was essentially a “get well card” for Ben Hogan from the participants in the Masters that year. Two months earlier, Hogan got into an accident with a Greyhound bus on a fog-shrouded bridge east of Van Horn, Texas.

The gallant Hogan had thrown his body across his wife Valerie’s in the passenger seat in order to protect her, escaping certain death as the steering column impaled the driver’s seat. Hogan suffered a double-fracture of the pelvis, a broken collarbone and left ankle, a chipped rib and serious blood clots. Doctors didn’t know if Hogan would ever walk again.

Days after leaving the hospital, Hogan received a shipment from Augusta, Georgia containing a remarkable gift– a framed 15×19″ photograph (matted and framed to 25×26″) of all Masters competitors, including former champions and various other colleagues posed on a rolling fairway with the gallery behind them. Written beneath the photo are the following words of encouragement:

“To Our Friend Ben Hogan,

On the eve of the 1949 Masters Tournament we send you heartfelt good wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. In the above photograph you will notice a silver humidor which Bowman, Leven and Tom have in their care. We take this means of letting you know that our signatures are to be engraved on it and the humidor will then be delivered to you in affectionate appreciation of what you have meant to us and to the Masters Tournament.”

There were 97 autographs filling the wide lower border formed by the matting, an outrageous assortment of Masters Champions past, present and future, and various other legends of the game. Fifty-one of the fifty-three participants in this 1949 tournament are present, and eleven Masters winners representing every champion since the event’s inception except for Ralph Guldahl, who did not participate in the 1949 contest. Among the names:

Master’s winners: Horton Smith, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, Jimmy Demaret, Craig Wood, Herman Keiser, Claude Harmon, Sam Snead, Cary Middlecoff.

1949 participants (excluding those already listed above): Johnny Bulla, Lloyd Mangrum, Johnny Palmer, Jim Turnesa, Lew Worsham, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Clayton Heafner, Herman Keiser, Herman Barron, Leland Gibson, Bobby Lock, Charlie Coe, John Dawson, Jim Ferrier, Frank Stranahan, Pete Cooper, Bob Hamilton, Dutch Harrison, Lawson Little, Tony Penna, Fred Haas, Skip Alexander, George Fazio, Dick Metz, Skee Riegel, Art Bell, Billy Burke, Vic Ghezzi, Ellsworth Vines, Johnny Revolta, Harry Todd, George Schneiter, Al Smith, Herschel Spears, Fred Mosely, Denny Shute, Ed Furgol, Otto Greiner, Gene Dahlbender, Jr., Dick Chapman, Mike Turnesa, Bob Sweeny.

Other notables: Bob Jones, his father Robert P. Jones and Masters chairman Cliff Roberts, Bobby Locke.

Old autographed Masters photos are rare enough but this was a remarkable piece of historic golf memorabilia that someone is no doubt very happy to have won.

A little piece of Masters history has emerged that serves as a reminder that no one player, no matter how great their skill or big their transgression, is greater than the collective history of the sport.

A moving tribute to Ben Hogan, delivered to the legendary golfer on the eve of the 1949 Masters soon after his near-fatal automobile accident, in the form of an autographed photo signed by 97 golfers, including 10 of the first 11 Masters champions, as well as writers, employees and masters Chairman Clifford Roberts, presented as part of Heritage Auctions April 23 Signature Sports Memorabilia auction.

Two months prior to the start of the 1949 Masters, Hogan was involved in a devastating head-on collision with a Greyhound bus on a fog-veiled bridge near Van Horn, Texas. His pelvis, collarbone and ankle were shattered, internal bleeding formed life-threatening clots and damage to his left eye shrouded his vision. Doctors were uncertain if Hogan would ever walk again; none, however, doubted that his golf career had been ended.

“This signed photograph was a ‘get well card’ from the entire professional golf community,” Heritage Auction Director Chris Ivy said, “with an inscription that begins, ‘To Our Friend Ben Hogan, on the eve of the 1949 Masters Tournament we send you heartfelt good wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.’”

Highlights of some of the 97 autographs on the card include some of the most iconic names in the sport’s history, with Bobby Jones, Horton Smith, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Claude Harmon and Sam Snead among the signers the most important signers.

The signed photo was consigned by Douglas McGrath, an employee of Hogan’s. The great golfer gifted the signed photo to McGrath during his time of employment, and it has remained in McGrath’s private collection ever since. This marks the first time that this amazing piece will be offered to the public.

“Clearly this photo was treasured by Hogan, and served as partial inspiration for his miraculous recovery and return to greatness on the links,” said Ivy. “Perhaps more importantly, today it serves as an inspiring reminder of what makes The Masters, and the game of golf, one of the most important and timeless of all sporting events.”

Upper Deck Company, one of the few that stood behind the world’s most famous golfer, will offer a series of new Tiger Woods signature items as Woods returns from what UD is calling “a 144-day hiatus”…as a strange new Nike commercial featuring Tiger and his late father hits the air.

To coincide with Tiger’s quest for a fifth green jacket from Augusta, Upper Deck Authenticated (UDA) – the company’s memorabilia division–will unveil new autographed items , many of which commemorate this week’s arrival of the four-time Masters champion.

“We’re extremely excited to showcase these five latest products celebrating Tiger’s return to the PGA Tour,” said Richard McWilliam, Upper Deck’s CEO and Founder. “We wish him well this week as we’ve put together some pretty compelling items that we’re confident collectors will no doubt cherish for years to come.”

Woods has served as an exclusive autograph signer for UDA since 2001 and remains one of Upper Deck’s best-selling athletes of all-time. The five new Tiger Woods signature that will be going on sale shortly include: 1.) Curved Display Case with Range-Driven Golf Ball and Autograph Label (limited to 50), $699.99; 2.) Curved Display Case with Range-Driven Golf Ball and Unsigned Photo (limited to 50), $199.99; 3.) Autographed Black TW Tour Flex Cap, same style worn by Tiger (limited to 100), $999.99; 4.) Autographed Air Zoom TW 2010 Golf Cleats, Black/Gunmetal, Size 11 (limited to 50), $1,399.99; and 5.) Autographed Carmine Dri-Fit Polo Shirt (limited to 100), $1,799.99.

Nike unveiled a new TV ad featuring a static image of Tiger staring into the camera while edited clips of his late father Earl play.  In the video released on You Tube, Earl Woods appears to be asking Woods about his sex scandal.  It’s a little like a Saturday Night Live skit about weird TV shows.

He’s been one of the most famous athletes in the world for over a decade.  There’s no hiding if you’re Tiger Woods. 

Until November of 2009, though, Tiger could still hide –at least a little–from those carrying cameras.  Off the golf course, he wasn’t considered that exciting.

Married guy.

Kids.

Totally devoted to his sport.

Workout freak.

If you’re a tabloid media outlet…a TMZ.com or a member of the paparazzi…Tiger was not #1 on your list of must follow celebs.

He is now.

Tiger never faced much difficulty dealing with the sports media.  He rarely let anyone get too deep anyway. 

The ‘other’ media will be a different story.  They don’t play by normal journalistic rules.  They show up in places you don’t expect, nowhere near your workplace.  Looking to see what he’s up to.

Ready to record it.

Tiger will likely have a security detail now.  Before he could slip in and out of a club with a couple of friends and not worry that much.  Those days are over. 

Unless he’s ready to become a complete hermit, you’ll see his picture pop up everywhere once he goes back on tour.  He’ll be followed.  He’ll be photographed.  He’ll get tired of it.

Golf?  He can do that.  Shake the rust off and chase majors.  Practice.  Practice. Practice.

It’s the other stuff that has the potential to beat him.