TED BITS, Ted McIntyre - RCGA Changes Leave Alfred Out

While the new corporate belt-tightening is necessary and even admirable over at the Royal Canadian Golf Association, I was sorry to see former media point man Anthony Alfred squeezed out in the restructuring. Alfred, a slick, kind and classy gentleman, was always very responsive and a pleasure to deal with. His move out opens the door for Dan Pino, who now takes over as director for media and public relations. Dan has worked hard to earn the starting position, and I expect him to flourish in the role, but it’s sad to see Anthony go.

SERGIO, TAKE TWO
In other golf news, Sergio Garcia thinks he’s found a way to help his putting—carry two putters. At the World Match Play Championships last week, Garcia used a short version and a belly version of the TaylorMade Spider putter. I’ve got a better suggestion to improve your poor play, Sergio: Forget two putters and try playing two balls.

TOUR DE FORCE
We’ve already seen lots of success on Tour from affordable Wilson Golf in the past year. Now we saw the same from Tour Edge this past week. Brian Gay chalked up his first PGA Tour win Sunday at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico with a Tour Edge Exotics CB2 three-wood in his bag. It was Gay’s first tournament of the season as well, giving him the same winning percentage in 2008 as Tiger Woods.

PGA TOUR FURTHER CONFUSES TOP-70 RULE
Remember the enforcement of the new Top-70-and-ties rule that resulted in last-place money but no chance to play on the weekend for a bunch of players at the Sony Open in Hawaii in the PGA Tour’s first full-field event this year?
The PGA Tour has revisited the issue, and confused it even more. The previous rule read that the post-second-round field would be reduced to the low 70 professionals, including ties, unless that resulted in a weekend field of more than 78 players, in which case the field would be reduced to those with scores nearest 70th place.
Under the amended regulation, the starting field will still be reduced to the lowest 70 professionals and ties after 36 holes. However, should the 36-hole cut total more than 78 pros, there will be a second cut to the lowest 70 plus ties at the conclusion of 54 holes of
tournament play. Players not advancing to the final round of play will receive their appropriate share of the official prize money in accordance with their respective positions. The change is effective immediately,beginning with this week’s Honda Classic.