Charlie Beljan's Cinderella story started when he earned his card at Q-school finals in 2011

As longtime WUP readers know, Q-school is my favorite tournament to cover all season. (Heck, I even went to second stage this year!–talk about the nerve-wracking atmosphere I’ve ever experienced.) Rather than going to Tiger Woods’ member-guest 22-man invite-only World Challenge in the L.A. area, I drove about three hours east to the desert, more specifically PGA West in La Quinta, for what I consider the most intriguing event of the year. Especially since 2012 is the LAST Q-SCHOOL EVER (as we know it — there will no longer be a direct pathway to the PGA Tour).

Let’s take a moment of silence to celebrate and remember 45 years of the only professional sporting event where you can start at Q-school pre-qualifying with no status and then play up to four different stages (full tournaments with strong fields) in the grueling process, which ends with the six-round finals, to earn full status on the PGA Tour for the following season. Ain’t that great?

Everybody loves a “Rudy” and Cinderella story. (continue reading…)

Justin Timberlake, Callaway Golf’s schmoovest Creative Director yet, has helped produce a snazzy new marketing campaign for the ailing equipment manufacturer. (continue reading…)

Yani

Yani Tseng, the No. 1 ranked women’s golfer who has dominated this season with 11 worldwide wins, revealed to reporters after the second round of last week’s tournament (which she eventually won) that she would be interested in playing in a PGA Tour event to learn from the big boys. She may get her shot next March at the Puerto Rico Open, which is held the same week as the WGC at Doral. (continue reading…)

Golf returns to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but there’s one tiny problem — the city doesn’t have a course that can host the competition…yet. Organizers are asking architects interested in designing the golf course for the Games to submit proposals by the end of this month, with a winner to be decided by Christmas, according to the AP: (continue reading…)

Last week at the US Women’s Open, golfing great Annika Sorenstam questioned Michelle Wie’s balancing act between attending Stanford as a student and playing on the LPGA. Sorenstam feels that school is a distraction to Wie, whom she believes hasn’t lived up to her potential.

On Wednesday evening Wie responded to the critique via Twitter: (continue reading…)

Yani looks to add to her trophy collection

Considering Yani Tseng is the youngest player in history to win four major championships, she doesn’t have the best US Women’s Open record: two MCs, T42 and T10. It’s the only major to elude her so far, and just a few weeks after wiping away the field by ten shots at the LPGA Championship, Yani seeks to add the last one to complete the career grand slam this week at Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. (continue reading…)

Tiger: I'm with Steiney...TBD

Tuesday evening the news broke on Twitter of Mark Steinberg’s departure from IMG. Steinberg, who represents Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam, headed the management agency’s golf division. According to the AP, Steinberg’s contract was scheduled to expire in June and he was negotiating a new deal when talks broke down on Tuesday. (continue reading…)

Baby Ava McGee with with superstar golfer mommy Annika Sorenstam

Sorry, Annika fans — the Swedish golfing superstar isn’t coming out of retirement to bring more eyes to the women’s tour. On Tuesday, Sorenstam wrote on Twitter that she and husband Mike McGee are pregnant with their second child.

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