Good guy Scott Verplank won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas today and bested Luke Donald by 1 shot in the process. Verplank has always been one of the tour’s best putters but his lack of length off the tee hinders his ability to win on the long, difficult courses that are so prevalent on the PGA tour.

Luke (“I’m also a painter”) Donald definitely spit the bit today, and this is actually becoming the norm for the “next Tiger”. If you recall, he also spit the bit at the PGA Championship on Sunday whiled paired with Woods, so you gotta wonder if this is gonna effect his psyche just a little.

And speaking of spittin’ the bit, Lorena Ochoa did not close the deal in Mexico for the Corona Championship, and in fact the winner, Siliva Cavalleri streaked by Ochoa shooting a 66 to Ochoa’s 68. But in the bigger scheme of things, this is really good for the LPGA because it does keep confirming that these young players are excellent at their craft.

Last time I checked, it was the year 2007, and the LPGA is growing at a phenomenal rate with all the young guns alive and well givng the veterans all they can handle. So how come this week’s LPGA event, the Corona Championship, isn’t being telecast on any network? Obviously there’s a serious expense in broadcasting a tour event (PGA or LPGA) and you need sponsorships to offset as much of the expenses as you can, and then still provide enough money for a decent purse.

And the new number one player, Lorena Ochoa, is playing on her home soil, which I think would be even more of a justification to broadcast the event. But yet, the ladies are on the outside looking in again. It would seem to me that the LPGA comish, Carolyn Bivens should make broadcasting as many tour events as possible, a number one priority. Why on earth would a major sponsor ante up millions of dollars to NOT have their event be broadcast?

Hopefully, in 5 years this will not be the case and the LPGA will have purses that are approaching 70% of their PGA counterparts.

CBS announced that will not be airing John Daly’s new Maxfli ad in which he sings a song, guzzles down some beer, and drives a little crazy with a golf cart. First a couple of objective opinions about the ad: 1. John Daly can’t sing. At all. Even a country song, where the talent bar is low to being with. 2. He’s portraying (and in some cases unfortunately) how a large percentage of weekend hacks behave on the golf course, and at the 19th hole after a round. 3. The ad missed its point entirely with me that it was marketing Maxfli anyway.

CBS spokeman Leslie Anne Wade said, “CBS refuses to air the ad because it violates network guidelines prohibiting ads ‘with direct, or implied, excessive consumption of alcohol,’ especially when an ad also ‘involves hazardous activity’”. So the implication is that high and mighty CBS has the viewers’ best interest in mind all the time, and that it telecasts nothing but responsible ads and programming.

It wasn’t all that long ago CBS was the proud broadcast network for NASCARs Daytona 500. And being the NASCAR fan that I am, it’s part and parcel that beer and racing go hand in hand, and CBS was proudly airing ads that promoted beer and even hard liquor (when it was allowed) during the telecasts, as recently as 1999. So is the pot calling the kettle black here? Sure sounds like it.

It’s no surprise, but it appears there’s some discontent in the Gulbis camp and the two combatants are Natalie’s coach Butch Harmon, and her father John. Harmon was quoted as saying, “Someone’s gonna have to change, either him or me”. This was in response to remarks made by John Gulbis when he said that part of the blame of Natalie’s lack of performance should fall on Harmon.

Sadly, John Gulbis has the same problem as Michelle Wie’s father, and it’s that they can’t stay out of their respective daughter’s lives. Natalie’s biggest problem is that she has too many off-course demands and that takes away from her tournament preparation, and it’s showing this year worse than it has in the past.

Gulbis has great ball-striking capability, but one thing that needs to change is her putting style. Yes, how you putt is largely what feels good and as long as you can square the putter face at impact, that’s all that should matter. But Natalie’s putting stroke seems contrived, and most top-notch professional golfers (men or women) use a standard type of setup and stroke.

She has some obstacles to overcome this year if she wants to remain an elite player.

This is the first year of the Bryon Nelson Championship without Lord Byron himself. There’s no question his legacy is huge as a gentleman and a professional golfer. There’ s been some noise this week about the fact that 11 of the top 15 players in the world have chose not to compete in his tournament.

I would venture to guess that some of these players didn’t feel the need (right or wrong) to be there now that Lord Byron has passed on. Yeah, it’s probably a bit selfish that they can’t honor and support the tournament that’s been a mainstay, but on the other hand, they are “independent contractors”. This championship is one of the last tournaments that have any connection to a generation of golf legends that quite frankly, this generation doesn’t have much appreciation for. What happens when Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer pass away? Will the current crop of players bail on their tournaments as well? That would be a shame.

But if you’re a tournament director, what do you do? Appearance fees are illegal in the United States, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s where we’re going to entice the elite players on the tour. Of course, doing that would continue to fuel the debate that our American players aren’t hungry enough when it comes to match play events.

Michelle Wie accepted an invitation to play in the 2007 Ginn Tribute, hosted by Ms. Sorenstam herself. Normally, I’d file this as miscellaneous news, but given that Sorenstam and Wie will be coming off injuries to play in the tournament, it lends itself to more interesting news. Even Sorenstam understands the draw Wie has on attendance and television figures so it’s not a complete surprise that she wants Wie to play.

On the other hand, Wie’s injury will be the least of her problems when she returns (no matter where it’s at). Her reputation as well as her confidence has taken some serious hits in the last six months, and I’m not entirely convinced that she’ll be able to come back and be competitive right away. If Papa Wie is still calling the shots (or allowing Michelle to call the shots), then it will continue to be a struggle for the talented Wie.

Well, it’s official. Lorena Ochoa is now the women’s number 1 player in the world. Her consistent play finally moved her .14 points in front of Annika Sorenstam. It’s not much, but when it’s for number one, it doesn’t matter by how much, just that you did it. Does it mean Sorenstam can’t get it back? Of course not. All she needs to is have strong summer when she returns from her back injury and maybe win a major or two.

It also appears official that Phil Mickelson left former teacher Rick Smith behind so he could train with Butch Harmon, Tiger’s previous coach. There’s no doubt that Mickelson has struggled off the tee this year, and he obviously felt Smith wasn’t helping him correct his swing flaws. It will be interesting to see how the the Mickelson-Harmon relationship develops as Harmon doesn’t seem to be the coddling type of coach that Smith and Pelz seem to be. Not that Mickelson likes or needs to be coddled, but he’s no Tiger either.

Nick Watney played very steady golf today and shot a 3-under 69 to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans by 3 over Ken Duke. Though I’d never heard much about Watney, he played some very impressive iron shots on the back nine and seemed to handle the pressure coming in, extremely well. CBS analyst Peter Kostis analyzed his swing a couple of times and it’s obvious the guy has an excellent swing.

Could this propel him to another win this year? It’s hard to say because competition is tough on the PGA tour, but on the other hand, this might give him the confidence to make another run before the year runs out. I really thought Calcavecchia would make a run today, but he just never found his rhythm. And is it me, or does Calcavecchia bend more at the waist than he has in the past? He doesn’t appear to have the same posture from a few years ago. It was interesting when one of the CBS analysts said that Calcavecchia doesn’t practice golf at all, but rather loves to practice bowling instead. Hey, whatever works.

Not to be demeaning or anything, but the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has a leaderboard that’s full of, to be PC, 2nd-tier players on the PGA tour. The leader after three rounds is Nick Watney; Ken Duke is 2 back; Mark Calcavecchia and Scott Gutschewski are three back. Save for Calcavecchia, the rest of the guys are hardly household names, but they’re heading into Sunday well within striking distance of the leader.

This tournament used to draw big names not all that long ago, but with the purses being so large today, the top-25 can pick and choose where they play with more scrutiny than ever, and that’s a shame on one hand because these tournaments need the marquee players over the long-haul to remain viable (remember the International?).

And my own opinion is that the more difficult the scoring opportunities are, the better odds of attracting the top players. Woods and Mickelson both have said in recent years that they don’t enjoy the tournaments that are nothing more than birdie-fests, as much as they do the harder courses. The winning score here will probably be around 17 to 20-under par by the end of tomorrow, which means it’s truly wide open.

Okay, we’re a quarter of the way through the season and after looking at the stats for the LPGA I can’t help but wonder what happened to the LPGA’s young guns? On first glance it appears that they’re missing, but in fact, it’s not all that bad. A couple of years ago, there were lots of TV ads touting the youngsters, and there was Lorena Ochoa (accounted for), Paula Creamer (accounted for), Cristie Kerr (MIA), Natalie Gulbis (MIA), and Christina Kim (MIA). Of that MIA list, Kerr is the only won that has continue to win (though she’s struggling this year), and Gulbis and Kim are completely off the radar.

But all is not lost because other “young guns” have stepped up to claim those spots. Julieta Granada, Morgan Pressel,and Brittany Lincicome have all won recently and have made their marks on the tour, and will continue to do so for years to come. I’ve said before that I think Gulbis has too many off-course commitments, which makes her golf secondary, but like Michelle Wie, you can only be an average golfer for so long before even the sponsors start backing away. I would hate for Gulbis to end up with the same reputation as Laura Baugh or Jan Stephenson.

Christina Kim lost all that weight a couple of years ago, but her golf game went south. There’s no doubt she has the talent, I just have no idea what’s behind her struggles.