ICYMI: Poulter's treat, Romo in US Open tilt and more rules changes

Something ‘very nice’ in store for Gay

Brian Gay is in for a good week at this week’s Players Championship. If you missed last week’s news Gay is now in the Sawgrass field after, having persisted with the points awarded while he was playing on a medical exemption, the American was found to be deserving of more FedEx points than it was initially thought.

The end result was that he would be playing at Sawgrass and it was also good news for Ian Poulter, which was the real story, who also had his privileges having, just a week earlier, believed that he had lost them.

When Gay broke the news to Poulter, asking how happy he was, Poulter replied: “I friggin’ love you’ with red hearts and everything.”

Gay’s wife Kimberly then tweeted..

Let's have a vote! Should @IanJamesPoulter give @BrianGayPGA a bottle of wine or a @Ferrari or @NetJets #theserjokes #sorta

— Kimberly Gay (@kimberlygay1) April 29, 2017

While a few bottles of nice wine would be nice you might think that Gay is in for something a bit more substantial…

Kimberly you and @BrianGayPGA I will see you both at TPC and will deliver something very nice. Thanks for uncovering the oversight. Wow https://t.co/pP8UzvTk8K

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) April 29, 2017

Next on the hit-list – green-reading books

It seems a couple of weeks don’t pass without another tweak to the rules and regulations of the game.

Last week it was announced that the green-reading books will come under further review which, you would imagine, is code for they will be on their way out in the next year or so.

“The R&A and the USGA believe that a player’s ability to read greens is an essential part of the skill of putting,” the statement read. “Rule 14-3 limits the use of equipment and devices that might assist a player in their play, based on the principle that golf is a challenging game in which success should depend on the judgment, skills and abilities of the player.”

Which while the players will all make the right noises about getting putting back to an art form the reality is a big chunk of Tour pros have come to rely on them and at the last Ryder Cup 10 of our team had one in their pocket – only Sergio Garcia and Rafa Cabrera Bello chose not to use one. Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson are said to be big fans..

On the tee..Tony Romo

Tony Romo

What to do with your retirement? Learn a foreign language, do some voluntary work, join a choir, get into gardening or sign up for US Open qualifying..

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo retired last month and on Monday he will join 9,500 hopefuls in trying to make it all the way to Erin Hills.

The 37-year-old plays off +0.3 (though he hasn’t posted a score for four years?) and he will be at Split Rail Links, to the west of Dallas, to give it a go.

Romo also tried local qualifying in 2010 and made it through but then in the sectional qualifier withdrew in a weather-delayed afternoon after opening with a 71.

The last player to win the US Open after starting out in local was Orville Moody in 1969.

Presidents Cup back on familiar ground

Royal Melbourne will host its third Presidents Cup in 2019. It had already been announced that the competition would be back in Australia and it is now returning to the scene of the International team’s only victory, back in 1998, when they thumped the Americans by nine points.

Pepper: Enough of the trolls

The other week Dottie Pepper, working for CBS, made a mistake on air. And now, as is the way of the social media world, she got a bit of a kicking on Twitter and is now no longer part of the Twitterati.

The shattering mistake that the two-time major winner made was in interviewing Scott Brown and Kevin Kisner, who went on to lose in a play-off, during a rain delay in New Orleans.

Brown was asked: “You’ve never really been in this position before. Your partner Kevin has been in position to win golf tournaments and has gotten it done. You have not yet on the PGA Tour. Where’s the anxiety level?”

Brown was second at the Genesis Open this year and the winner of the 2013 Puerto Rico Open, as Brown pointed out, so not a great mistake to make but, still, just that, a mistake.

Pepper then back-tracked a little by adding ‘full-field, regular event.’

And, before you know it, the Twitter world clicked into gear and Pepper, one of the best in the business, made her excuses and left.

“I’m tired of the idiots,” Pepper said. “It is suspended by my own doing; can stay in that status for a year.”

Brandel Chamblee has apparently blocked over 20,000 people which might not surprise you.

Luuuke throws a, er, strike..

Now I don’t profess to knowing much about baseball but this apparently was a good thing. Luke Donald at the Chicago Cub’s Wrigley Field.

I think we can call this a strike! @LukeDonald with first pitch today at Wrigley Field for #ncaagolf media day… pic.twitter.com/h70QrLyLLc

— Lance Ringler (@GolfweekRingler) May 4, 2017