After over two decades as executive director of the USGA, David Fay announced on Christmas Eve that he’s stepping down from the position at the end of the year. His legacy includes trying to make the sport more inclusive by bringing the US Open to public courses like Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines. He also played a pivotal role in getting golf back in the Olympics.

In an email to friends and acquaintances, Fay wrote that Mike Butz, the deputy executive director, will take over for him on January 1 until a permanent replacement is found. Here’s Fay’s farewell letter in full:

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Attention all golfers! — Golf.com is having a contest for the “Worst Golf Shot.” My buddy Jeff Ritter was inspired on his recent Man-cation to Florida when his friend attempted “the most pitiful series of swings in the history of golf.” (That’s hardly an exaggeration.) The winner of the most pathetic swing ever will get his or her swing analyzed by Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher T.J. Tomasi. That’s not all if you’re a WUP reader! The powers-that-be at Golf.com have agreed to throw in a hat and a subscription to the mag, too.

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Corey Pavin looks up at the sky, probably praying for his team at the Ryder Cup

If you haven’t joined the WUP Facebook page, you should, especially since I’ll be having more contests for people to win free stuff (and everyone likes free stuff!), along with other content exclusive the page.

Last week I asked readers an admittedly boring and lame question (but look, give me a break, I decided to start simple): “Who is your least favorite (or just favorite) player and why?” Thanks to the 30 readers who participated — well, actually, it was 27 because unfortunately I had to disqualify 3 who didn’t type their answer in the thread (sorry! I liked your answers, too, but it was part of the instructions).

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Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd looking for his ball in the cactus

In the spirit of getting loyal readers to join groups, why not add another? After all, surely there’s a rather large crossover between golf and NBA fans! Uh, maybe a handful? Anyone got Anthony Kim or Dustin Johnson’s number?

Well, even if it turns out to be just five people, that’s still a league. And the best part is that gives you more of a chance to win stuff throughout the season, like courtside tickets to a Knicks game. I know what you’re thinking — that’s dumb if you don’t live in the NY area — and yes, I do realize that’s a problem, so I’m working on solving that (likely to be NBA-related memorabilia, etc.). But I have plenty of other things already lying around the WUP office, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Jason Kidd autographed golf balls, the new Dave Pelz short game book, clubs and more.

How do you sign up? It’s easy!

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(Thanks to Brian for the Photoshop help!)

First things first, I know I’m late on continuing my story about the outings at Merion and Aronimink last weekend, but patience, my friends — and I’ve been enjoying all your wonderful accounts. Anyway, back to the point — a few weeks ago, I started a WUP Facebook page because I get an awful lot of friend requests and as much as I want to accept them all, Facebook restricts each user’s friend count to 5,000. I know, I know, how can they expect people to have less than 5,000 friends! (No, I don’t have that many yet, but I’m getting pretty close. I think mostly it’s because I’ve been on Facebook since 2004; Yale was something like the fifth school to get it back when it first launched.)

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The Daily Mail’s Mark Pain took this iconic photo, but now the manhunt is on. Who is this guy? Is he making a goofy-looking tribute to Miguel Angel Jimenez? (He’s not wearing a turban — it’s a red-haired wig with a pony tail.) Is it Sacha Baron Cohen working on his new character Afzal, a “muslim pansexual transvestite sports professional?” Some guessed that it was Rob Schneider researching a role for “Happy Gilmore 2″ but apparently he was at the Giants-Padres game in San Francisco on Saturday.

BeFrugal Blog is offering $1,000 for Cigar Guy’s identity. How can we top that? Hmmm…maybe some bikini shots from Stephanie’s vacation? Give us your guesses below, or better yet, if you actually know how we can track Cigar Guy down, please send tips to steph.wei@gmail.com. LET’S FIND HIM.

Luke Donald reacts to a missed birdie putt at the Tour Championship

You may have noticed that WUP was having technical difficulties from around midnight to noon on Tuesday. Actually, I know many of you did and I appreciate your concern and the emails letting me know. Thanks for your patience and the problem was fixed as soon as possible. Even though I’m a low-budget website (unlike Big Brother the PGATour.com), these things happen. Anyway, what’s important is that we’re back.

Honestly, this announcement was mostly an excuse to post the above pretty picture from Rob Matre, which he took during the third round of the Tour Championship at East Lake. Take a closer look at the background, more specifically, the back right. Yeah, that’s me. I’m writing something like, “Luke Donald’s birdie putt just burns the edge, he holds putter up in celebration, thinking it’s going to go in. Fail.”

[Photo by Rob Matre]

I caught a 6:30AM flight to Milwaukee this morning. Good news is that I’m here early. Bad news is that I didn’t really get any sleep last night. I was too anxious about sleeping through my alarm at 4AM that I tossed and turned until I thought, screw it. Well, here am I — ready (kinda) to cover the PGA Championship, glory’s last shot!

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CNBC’s Darren Rovell broke the news via Twitter on Monday night. The tweet in full:

Camilo Villegas is new spokesman 4 @taylormadegc, leaving Cobra (Puma). Villegas will have TaylorMade-adidas bag, glove hat, equipment, ball and footwear in 2011. “Camilo is a winner, a gentleman, and a fan favorite,” said Mark King, president and CEO of TaylorMade-adidas Golf, in a statement. “Cameras tend to find him because he has presence and magnetism that’s impressive and rare. Camilo also shares the same values with our brand and our people, including a burning desire to improve and reach his potential. We very much want to help him do that, which is why we believe this is a great fit.”

This is a nice grab by TaylorMade and huge loss for Cobra-Puma since Camilo was one of their biggest stars — not to mention a great spokesperson that’s known to thank his sponsors like NASCAR drivers. But it also gives Cobra the opportunity to pursue another great talent that draws just as much or more attention. According to a rep, more details will be announced in the official press release on Tuesday morning.

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UPDATE: Go here for the LIVE BLOG.

Virtually, of course! Now I had hoped we could all gather at Dunvegan’s over a few pints as I type lyrical about first round action, but unfortunately, the logistics just didn’t work out.

So, here’s a fantastic alternative — come hang out with me over at the Wall Street Journal’s Daily Fix, where I’ll be live blogging starting at 10AM EST/3PM GMT. We can also chat in the comments section. (To clarify, you don’t need a subscription to access the blog or comment, the content is free.)

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