The battle of the sexes has reared its ugly, but undeniably interesting, head again–this time in golf.   U.S. Women’s Open champion, Cristie Kerr (pictured above) is partnering with her longtime friend and well-known golfing instructor Jim McLean against an all-male field in a two-person, best-ball match-play format tournament at PGA West’s Stadium course in La Quinta, California on March 6-11.

The tournament consists of 64 two-person teams competing for a first-place prize of $1 million.  The tournament is open to anyone who hasn’t competed in the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, Champions Tour, European Tour, European Challenge Tour, Japan Tour, or Asian Tour since March, 2002.

Tournament organizers confirmed that Kerr will not receive any special treatment.  She’ll use the men’s tees and will not receive any strokes.

You go girl!

As the holiday season approaches, there are our picks for the best books for those golfers and golf enthusiasts on your shopping list.

John Daly’s “Golf My Own Damn Way: A Real Guy’s Guide to Chopping Ten Strokes Off Your Score” – Just released in October, this is the latest in pro golfer, John Daly’s series of semi-biographical, semi-practical books.  It’s an enjoyable, light-hearted look at the game of golf and the people who play it.
“The Golf Handbook” - Now in its third edition, this tome is indispensible to the beginner–and the most accomplished–golfer.  It discusses everything about the game of golf, from how to putt to using the right club to the history of golf.  A great reference book.

Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” – Written in 1957, this book is still a classic.  It’s premise is that any golfer, with a little work, can consistantly break 80…and he tells you how to do it in easy-to-understand lessons.

“How I Play Golf” by Tiger Woods – Tiger Woods’ 2001 book gives a glimpse into the life of the sport’s greatest current player.  The tone is friendly and Tiger mixes ancedotes and stories about his own golf shots with advice on improving your game.

“Fifty Place to Play Golf before you Die” – This coffee table book is the stuff of which golfing daydreams are made.  The book, with dozens of glossy color photographs, takes the reader around the world, to some of the most remote–and most challenging–courses around.  Included are Northern Ireland’s remote Ballyliffin course and New Zealand’s Cap Kidnappers course, with its 500 foot drop to the sea.

^{(cover art courtesy of Harper and Stewart, Tabori & Chang Publishers)}

The PGA of America announced its 2008 schedule of events today.  Highlights include:

Senior PGA Championship – May 8 – 11 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida

PGA Professional National Championship – June 19 -22 at Great Waters & Reynolds Landing Courses in Greensboro, Georgia

PGA Championship – August 4- 10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Ryder Cup – September 16-21 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky

PGA Grand Slam of Golf – October 14-15 at the Mid Ocean Club in Tucker’s Town Bermuda

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky joins the list of entertainers and sports stars to host their own PGA Tour event.

The Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic will be held at the Raven Golf Club and the Georgian Bay Club, both located along the shores of Georgian Bay in Ontario Canada, on June 26-29, 2008.  The event will be a part of the Nationwide Tour, a platform that encourages aspiring golfers.

The Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic will pair 160 Nationwide Tour players with 160 celebrities/amateurs, presumably including Gretzky himself.  Proceeds of the event will go to the Wayne Gretzky Foundation, which Gretzky established in 2002 to give less fortunate youth the chance to experience the game of hockey.

Wayne Gretzky, dubbed “The Great One,” played 20 seasons with several NHL teams, including the New York Rangers and the Edmonton Oilers.  A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Gretzky is currently a managing partner and head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.

(photo credit: Hakandahlstrom/cc license)

Travel + Leisure Golf magazine selected its Best New Courses 2007 in their November/December issue.

Here are their top 10 selections:

1. A Brand New Bay, Chambers Bay, Tacoma, Washington (Public)
2. Golf Club at Ravenna, Littleton, Colorado (Private)
3. Stonebrae Country Club, Hayward, California (Private)
4. The Home Course, DuPont, Washington (Public)
5. Promontory, Painted Valley Course, Park City, Utah (Private)
6. The Golf Club of Cape Cod, Falmouth, Massachusetts (Private)
7. Creek Club at Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Georgia (Private)
8. Kinloch Club, Kinloch, New Zealand (Public)
9. Gozzer Ranch Golf & Lake Club, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (Private)
10. Cobble Beach Golf Links, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada (Public)

Check out the article for an in-depth review of Chambers Bay, plus a lot of information on the other courses in the top ten.

Photo credit: Chambers Bay

This week, Dubai became home to the world’s richest golf tournament.

In 2009, the Dubai World Championship will be played at Jumeirah Golf Estates, a golfing community currently being built. The total prize pot will be worth $10 million, with the winner getting $1,666,660.

The annual tournament will be open to the leading 60 players on the Race to Dubai, formally the European Order of Merit. The players will also being given the opportunity to compete for an additional $10 million bonus fund.

The golfers will play four rounds from Thursday to Sunday, but there will be no cut. Therefore all entrants will play all rounds. The first Dubai World Championship will be played from November 19-22, 2009.

Currently, the Players Championship is the world’s richest golf competition with a $9 million pot.

You can get more information about Jumeirah Golf Estates and the Dubai World Championship at jumeirahgolfestates.com.

In this helpful video, Brady Riggs of inpractis.com shows you how to properly setup and use the legs in the golf swing.

The LPGA Tour will become the first golf organization to institute a drug policy. Penalties for violators are severe, including a one-year suspension for the first offense to a lifetime ban for the third offense.

With the policy, there will be no difference in the punishment for positive tests of performance-enhancing drugs or recreational drugs.

LPGA Tour general counsel Jill Pilgrim, who is administering the new program, said marijuana constitutes a downer and cocaine works like an upper.

“Technically, they are enhancing your performance,” Pilgrim said.

It was not announced at which tournament the random drug testing would start. However, the first opportunity will be at the Women’s World Cup in South Africa, which begins on January 18th.

Lorena Ochoa overcame a double bogey on the 17th with an amazing shot out of the rough and over the water to 3 feet for birdie Sunday. With the victory, Ochoa won the ADT Championship and claimed the $1 million prize – the largest in women’s golf.

When Ochoa double-bogey’d on 17 and Natalie Gulbis birdied, Ochoa’s lead was cut to one stroke, but she held on for the victory.

The win was her eighth victory of the year, joining Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez as the only players to accomplish that in the last 20 years.

Read more about Ochoa’s ADT Championship victory from LPGA.com.

Annika Sorenstam was eliminated in a playoff at the ADT Championship on Friday. The former #1 player ended the year without a victory for the first time since 1994.

Sorenstam was one of three players trying to earn the last two spots in the quest of the tournament’s $1 million prize. But after she hooked a shot into a bunker, she was soon eliminated.

Mi Hyun Kim shot two-under-par on Friday to finish atop the leader board of the 16 golfers who qualified for the weekend. She finished one shot ahead of Morgan Pressel as they head into Saturday’s action. The 19-year-old Pressel shot a 65 on Friday, equaling the lowest round in the seven years that the tournament has been played at Trump International.