In case you haven’t heard, Hurricane Earl is heading straight towards New England, but as of now, the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, MA, will be played on Thursday. Officials moved up tee times by 40 minutes to 7:00am, hoping to get as much golf in as possible before the storm hits the area.

“In a nutshell for us, it still looks okay here tomorrow morning,” said meteorologist Stewart Williams. “I think once we get to the early afternoon time frame, we’ll definitely start getting some of the outer bands of Earl, and so we’ll get some showers and some brief, gusty winds at that point. And then once I think we get to the late afternoon, especially the evening hours, heavier rain will be likely and the winds will definitely increase, late afternoon, 20 to 30 with some higher gusts, and I think in the evening it will be 30 to 40 with gusts probably 45 to 50.”

Even though Earl will weaken from a Category 4 storm to a Category 3, it will still bring in strong winds reaching 100 mph to the Cape Cod/Nantucket area by Friday evening.

What I’m concerned about? The media tent is two floors and it doesn’t look sturdy enough to hold strong winds. But apparently the larger tents shouldn’t be much of a worry. Meteorologist Stew says it’s the smaller structures that the tent people are going to strip down to the metal frames.

“As long as we can play golf by the rules, we’re going to play,” said Tour official Mark Russell. “But if the wind blows so hard it blows the ball around on the greens, we can’t play of it rains so hard that the hole goes under water we can’t play. But we might get lucky, who knows.”

In other words, let Mother Nature blow its course. And if Earl stays on path, the guys in the morning draw will avoid the fierce winds blustering in.

Oh, Tiger Woods tees off at 11:42am. Phil Mickelson, who withdrew from Thursday’s pro-am, has yet to grace TPC Boston with his presence (no word as to his whereabouts).

Jason Kidd is an excellent human being, an incredible athlete and an even better golfer.

I was finishing a long two-hour stalking scouting session in the practice area when I heard the good news! — Deutsche Bank has decided to remain as the title sponsor of PGA Tour event at TPC Boston for at least two more years. CEO Seth Waugh kicked off the press conference, saying “As Mark Twain once said, ‘The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.’”

Waugh also announced that EMC, a data storage company based in nearby Hopkington, MA, will join Deutsche as a presenting local sponsor.

“I want to apologize that it sort of couldn’t be as transparent over the last eight months as you can imagine,” said Waugh. “When you have the number of parties that we have involved, even though you’re great friends and always had, basically, a handshake from day one, getting through the details of that between ourselves and EMC, the Tour and Tiger Woods Foundation, who has obviously been a great partner of ours as well, IMG, again, all great people working together…We literally just left signing it 10 minutes ago after it finally got set.”

Waugh continued to apologize again for the drama and confusion.

Executive vice president of sales for EMC, Bill Scannell, added, “We’ve been thrilled to be part of the Deutsche Bank Championship for the past eight years. We get a lot out of it, and we’re thrilled that it gives a lot back to the community and the local charities.

“We’re right down the road so it makes a lot of sense for us, for our local customers and employees and, as I said, certainly the community and local charities.”

Scannell and Waugh played in the morning pro-am with Tiger Woods at TPC Boston.

Jason Kidd is an excellent human being, an incredible athlete and an even better golfer.

Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from Thursday’s pro-am at the Deutsche Bank Championship, electing to use a special option where the top 30 players who finished on last year’s money or FedEx Cup lists are allowed to miss two pro-ams. Alternatively, the players must schmooze with sponsors at an “evening function.”

So, to make up for missing golf on Thursday, Mickelson will spend Friday evening with Deutsche Bank CEO Seth Waugh and other suits.

Last week Mickelson emphatically spoke out against the pro-am rule that prevented Jim Furyk from playing in The Barclays, calling it “ridiculous.” Mickelson also happened to have lunch with PGA Tour commish Tim Finchem that day and gave him an earful. On Tuesday it was announced that the tour had suspended the regulation for the rest of the 2010 season.

Now I wonder if Lefty speaking out so strongly last week had anything to do with his knowing he couldn’t make this pro-am?

[Photo by Kyle Auclair/insidetheropes.com]

Jason Kidd is an excellent human being, an incredible athlete and an even better golfer.

If a player is late for his pro-am starting time, instead of being DQ’d, he will be subject to punishment under “unbecoming conduct.” The player will be required to play in the remainder of the pro-am round and may be required to perform additional sponsor activity. But if a player misses the pro-am entirely, then he will be ruled ineligible for the tournament unless he’s been excused under the provisions allowed.

Furyk, who was ranked third in FedEx Cup points, slipped to 8th at the conclusion of The Barclays.

“I am glad the PGA Tour has changed the rule surrounding my disqualification from last week’s Barclays Championship,” Furyk said in a statement distributed by the Tour at TPC Boston.

Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has asked the Player Advisory Council and Player Directors to review the current pro-am policy to work out other possibilities to ensure that players honor their pro-am requirement without putting them at risk of disqualification. The issue will be discussed at the meeting in November.

Why the sudden change in midst of the FedEx Cup and near the end of the season when players have been disqualified from events in the past for breaking the same rule? Furyk unintentionally became a martyr for the cause with his high ranking in FedEx Cup points in the race for the $10 million prize, not to mention he’s the No. 6 ranked player in the world. And Mickelson’s strong objections (calling the rule “ridiculous”) certainly didn’t hurt either.

Because I lost our bet: Jason Kidd is an excellent human being, an incredible athlete and an even better golfer.

Even though I didn’t catch any of the US Amateur action last week at Chambers Bay, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about it and wishing I were. Whenever someone in the golf biz hears my roots are in the Seattle area, they ask, “Have you played Chambers Bay yet?” The answer is no. At least not yet. But you bet I will before the US Open rolls into town in 2015.

I relied on my friend and fellow writer Tony Dear for updates via email on Chambers and the event. I knew the reviews would be mixed because it’s a new venue and different (and we know how the pros feel about those two traits, but the amateurs are more receptive). Being that Tony is British and a good golfer, I trust his judgment when it comes to “links golf.”

A week ago I wrote, “So? What’s the consensus? Does it suck or what? I saw [Ryan] Moore today and remembered the harsh words he had for it back in June.”

Tony’s response:

When [Moore] was here in June, the week before the US Open, they had just punched the greens apparently and they putted like crap. He actually called Mike Davis to say how bad they were.

But the course is fantastic. It’s playing much like a genuine links. I know non-golfers would look at it and think it looks awful, but what do they know, right? I spoke with Davis on the phone this afternoon. He said it was just what he wanted.

On Monday I asked Tony for the final verdict.

Really impressed. It was enjoyable to watch the players figuring out the angles.

There’s nothing more boring for spectators when they know that 99% of shots are going to end up in the same place on the green because of the firmness of the surfaces, and that was starting to happen early in the week. But Mike Davis and Larry Gilhuly sorted it out, flooding the greens on Tuesday evening and making it more playable for Wednesday. Firm and fast is great, but when you lose control of the course and players can’t avoid hitting it in certain spots no matter how good a shot they hit, then it gets a bit silly.

Thankfully that didn’t happen, and I think it turned out well. The players were very complimentary and everyone in the media center seemed to think it was great too.

Tony also wrote a piece about Chambers/the Am in Global Golf Post here.

Oh, and in case you didn’t already know, Peter Uihlein beat Peter Chung in the finals. Also, it appears that the USGA was thrilled with the Chambers Bay experiment and expects to make plenty of adjustments by the time the US Opens rolls around. Hopefully that includes making it safer for spectators.

Jason Kidd is an excellent human being, an incredible athlete and an even better golfer. I will be starting every post with that sentence for the next week because I lost our wager. (Watch the video after the jump.)

“Make sure she gives you enough strokes,” said Allan Henry (who was my friend until Tuesday morning) to Jason Kidd, who had just pulled up in his black Jeep Rubix to pick me up for our friendly match at TPC Scottsdale.

“Yeah? I’ll need them,” the Dallas Maverick point guard replied.

“What’s your handicap?” asked Allan.

“10,” said Kidd.

“I played with her the other week, don’t let her fool you. If it were me, I’d make her give me two a side.”

Kidd smiled and said, “I’ll take that.” I protested vehemently as I glared at Allan. “You play all the time. How many times a week do you play? 3? 4?”

“Usually, but I haven’t played as much in the last few weeks. I shot an 80 last Saturday.”

“Well, I shot 83 on Saturday [at National], so you should be giving me strokes!” I said.

As Kidd was about to pull out of the driveway, Allan came running out with his phone in hand. “I need to take a picture of Steph, Jason Kidd and Tiger Woods in my driveway,” he explained (see picture above — Allan has some app on his droid phone that inserts Tiger into pics). I wasn’t sure how Jason would react (after all, I had just met the guy), but he started cracking up and leaned in for the picture.

We spent some more time in the car ride bickering over strokes, but finally agreed to play straight-up. After all, TPC is practically his home course.

“I just can’t keep it in the fairway,” Kidd said. It goes really far, but way right.”

Thing is, at TPC, it’s so open that you can hit a drive like the one Dustin Johnson did on the 72nd hole at Whistling Straits and have a shot to the green. After Kidd birdied the first hole, he pushed his drive into the cactus and had to take an unplayable.

Kidd, who played from the tips, usually tees off with his 3-wood, but he was having a particularly good driving day and only pushed a few into the no-fly zone. It was his day. I had a decent first nine — the back nine, which Kidd thinks is harder at TPC.

I only missed one fairway (okay, maybe one or two others were like a foot in the first cut) as I hit 230- to 240yard bombs (at least for me) down the middle. Jason joked, “You’re going to have to pee in a cup after the round.”

When we made the turn, I was 2-up. That didn’t last for long as I got a little too comfortable and lost my focus. But Kidd just played really well. He closed the match out on 17 in style, draining a 15-footer for birdie.

In the car ride over to TPC, I said, “I just think it’s fascinating that pro athletes [of all sports] love golf so much. Why is this?”

“Because you can’t perfect it,” he replied without hesitation.

On the 13th hole, Kidd, who was starting to make a run, said, “My jersey is going to look great on you! Do you want a home or away one? I think white might be a good color on you.”

The other part of the wager (which I stupidly came up with because I was confident I would win) is that I also have to wear his jersey as a dress when the Mavs play the Knicks.

I shot back, “I can’t wait to hear you give me a shout-out on national TV. When’s your first game, again? November 1?”

Considering Kidd started his career in Dallas in the mid-90s as part of the “Three-J’s” (along with Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn), I was curious what he thought about Miami’s three-headed monster with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

“Man, they’ll be the team to beat, but you know, I just want to beat the Lakers. That’s all.”

I nodded emphatically.

As it happened, he shot a 78, his best round at TPC Scottsdale, which he frequently plays with his usual foursome — former NBA players Eddie Johnson and Frank Johnson, and Brad Bayless, who’s son is Jerryd Bayless of the Portland Trailblazers. Kidd calls their weekend games “absolute chaos,” where the trash-talk never stops, clubs are thrown and yelling is the norm.

When he proudly told the starter (who knows him) his score, the starter asked, “How in the world did you shoot a 78 from the tips?”

“It was quiet,” Kidd said laughing.

But really, it was a win for me, too. I had a fantastic time and have a new golfing pal. In fact, we’re playing a rematch after he returns from vacation in a few weeks, and the plan is to get his usual foursome together. Now that will be a story to tell.

Oh, you’re probably wondering where that video is. Well, here you go — watch as I begrudgingly admit my defeat at the hands of the great Jason Kidd as he gloats. Enjoy!

My Announcement of Defeat to Jason Kidd from Stephanie Wei on Vimeo.

[Top photo by Allan Henry of Golf Chronicles]

As if my summer couldn’t get more surreal, I’m in Scottsdale, AZ. Now why on earth would anyone travel to Arizona in late August? That’s what I’m wondering, too, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to play (a friendly but cutthroat) round of golf with Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd at TPC Scottsdale Whisper Rock — you know, the club where the likes of Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy and Paul Casey (just to name a few) call themselves members.

So, I’ve been trash-texting with J-Kidd the past week (prompting him to even call me Gary Payton), and he’s insisting I give him strokes. He’s a 10 handicap and I haven’t kept a handicap since 2001. I guesstimate I’m around a 5, but I’ve been shooting in the low 80′s all summer (at super hard courses from the men’s tees, mind you). But Jason has home course advantage and he’s, you know, a real athlete. I said we’d decide the strokes issue after I watch him take a swing. I’m happy to give him one or two a side, but how embarrassing will it be for him when I still beat him? That said, I could very well put my foot in my mouth.

And we have a friendly little wager on the line. Jason said I had to come up with it, since I’m the guest. I grappled over a deviously amusing plan the past week because I mean, clearly we weren’t going to play for money (the NBA has strict gambling rules, anyway). So instead, it has to be something clever with the loser experiencing public humiliation. Naturally.

Here’s what we agreed to:

*Loser must admit defeat and superiority of the winner on video at the end of the match on the 18th green/19th hole.

*If Jason wins, I have to start every blog post for a week with something like, “Jason Kidd is an excellent human being, an incredible athlete and an even better golfer.” Also, when the Mavs play the Knicks, I have to attend the game wearing his jersey (as a dress).

*If I win, Jason gives me and WUP a shout-out in a game interview on TV, preferably the first nationally televised one of the season. He also throws in courtside tickets when the Mavs play the Knicks (but I’m hoping I’ll get those either way — I mean, wearing the jersey wouldn’t be nearly as funny if I were in the nosebleed section).

Wish me luck!

Remember back in May when there was all that fuss over the Quail Hollow Championship being golf’s mythical fifth major? Well, apparently there was something to the chatter — the club has been rewarded the 2017 PGA Championship, according to the Associated Press.

Via the report:

A state government official with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Monday that the PGA of America will make a formal announcement on Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt the official announcement.

Quail Hollow’s difficult but fair old-style layout has drawn one of the top non-major fields of the year. Tiger Woods, who won there in 2007, chose Charlotte as his first non-major tournament after he missed much of the beginning of this season when his extramarital affairs were exposed.

While Woods missed the cut, he said a year earlier that Quail Hollow would be a good spot for a U.S. Open or PGA Championship.

“You add rough, make it a par-70 and there you go,” he said.

But remember what Phil Mickelson said about those terrible greens?

For as beautifully designed as this golf course is tee to green, the greens are by far the worst designed greens we play on tour. Even though they’re in immaculate shape, I would say that 18 would be the worst green that we have on tour, except that it’s not even the worst on this golf course; 12 is.

Just a week after Tiger Woods finalized his divorce, US Weekly is reporting that he wrapped up another transaction this past weekend. Supposedly, Woods, who was playing in The Barclays in nearby Paramus, NJ (15 miles from the city), moved into a new apartment in downtown Manhattan. (Now when did he have time to do that?) An unnamed source told the tabloid rag that Woods was “seen introducing himself as the new neighbor.”

You know, because, Tiger is totally the type to extend himself to strangers. He’s such a jolly fellow! (Well, actually, he was rather peppy — all things considered — last week at Ridgewood.)

Now, of course, in Tiger’s robotic statement last Monday on his website, he and Elin requested their privacy. He hasn’t realized that it doesn’t exist yet, huh? Especially in NYC, where your doorman knows where all the bodies are buried and people will peek through your windows to spy on you in your apartment.

That said, the idea of Tiger spending long stints in NYC would surprise me. I call BS. But guess who lives in NYC (though she’s probably since moved from that  location)?

[Photo by Kyle Auclair/insidetheropes.com]

As he stepped up to the podium to face a dozen sympathetic reporters, Paul Casey fought back emotions.

He had just signed his scorecard for the final round of The Barclays and hadn’t yet been informed officially by European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie that he hadn’t been awarded one of Monty’s captain’s picks — though, one writer told him there was a voicemail and text message waiting for him, but Casey hadn’t looked yet. It was an awkward moment. What’s more awkward is the way Casey learned of the disappointing news.

Coincidentally, Casey was paired with Padraig Harrington, who was granted a spot on the team. On the seventh hole Casey noticed Caroline Harrington giving her husband’s caddie the thumbs-up. And then it went fairly quiet.

“Caroline’s a great friend,” said Casey. “She would have something to me if I had been picked. So at that point I kind of knew I hadn’t. Surprise? I just got off the golf course. I was trying to keep my composure and put in a solid performance today.”

The misty-eyed Casey was still visibly shell-shocked.

“I probably need time to take it in,” he said. “Simple fact is I’m not on the team. And I think Europe, they’ve got an unbelievable team. I wish them the best for the match, simple as that. I’m not going to stand here and sort of plead a case for why I should be on the team. It’s done and dusted. I tried my hardest and I didn’t make it.”

Poor guy. At this point, I was cringing and holding myself back from jumping up on the stage to give him a big hug.

And what’s even more awkward is that Casey’s caddie is Christian Donald, brother to Luke Donald who was probably the most surprising of Monty’s picks.

“Myself, Padraig, Justin [Rose], Luke, we kept bumping up to each other in the players lounge, sitting there,” said Casey. “Even on the golf course I walked on to the 5th tee today with Padraig, and Luke strolled by shooting a great round, walking on to the 9th tee and kind of looked at each other. We didn’t know. We had no idea that either the announcement had been made or was about to be made.

“So a difficult one.”

When asked if it was awkward to play the last few hours with Harrington, Casey said with a weary smile, “It was difficult. Can I go now?”

It was clear he was about to burst with emotion. We mumbled our apologies and thanked him for his time.

A few minutes later, Harrington was presented with the same question.

“It was never going to be easy,” he replied. “My own head was swimming a bit out there. Strange enough, once I got the pick actually, I couldn’t do much right for about five or six holes.  It was an odd occasion, all right, in that sense. You know, on one hand I’m happy for myself, but I did genuinely feel sorry for Paul. It’s not a great situation to be in. Yeah, but as I said, once you’re not on the team automatically, you do leave yourself up to this.”

Meanwhile, Casey wasn’t finished with his press obligations, though. He walked ten feet away into a radio interview. And after that, he wandered twenty feet down to where the Golf Channel was set up for another one. Thankfully, he was done.

And then Casey put his dark shades back on and went over to sign autographs for fans. He walked down the line and took ten minutes to sign for every one of them.

I shook my head in disbelief and found myself roaming away from Padraig Harrington, who was speaking to reporters, to snap a picture of Casey.

What a class act.