Golf: July 22, 2005

Tom Watson ruefully admitted yesterday that ever-longer courses might bring his glorious major championship career to an end. No longer eligible for the US Open or the US PGA Championship, the 55-year-old conceded on the eve of the British Senior Open at Royal Aberdeen that he may have played his last Masters. "It's a legitimate question to ask: when I'm going to hang it up like Jack [Nicklaus]," said the Masters champion of 1977 and 1981. "I don't know. I can't tell you, but there is one thing. I'm still eligible to play against the kids at Augusta, as I am here in the Open Championship, but the way they are lengthening the course at Augusta may just eliminate me. I may not be able to play it." Augusta is being extended by 155 yards to 7,445 for next year's tournament. The fourth will be a 240-yard par 3, the 11th a 505-yard par 4 and the par-5 15th is being lengthened to make it more difficult to hit the water-fronted green in two. "They are going to make that golf course so that only guys like Tiger [ Woods] can play it," added Watson, despite his revelation last week that technology is enabling him to hit the ball further than he could in his heyday 20 years ago and more. Should he bow out of the Masters, his major schedule would include only the Open, which he has won five times, four of them in Scotland. -- The ( Glasgow) Herald

Michelle Wie had her father B.J. on the bag Thursday, having parted from experienced Irish caddie Brian Smallwood. "Brian was with me Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but the chemistry didn't really work," Wie said. She said her father would caddy for her during next week's British Open at Royal Birkdale. Wie has gone through several caddies during her short career. "My caddie's not available," Annika Sorenstam joked. "It's important to have a regular caddie," the Swede added. "I've been lucky to have only two in 11 years. A caddie has to learn to adjust to you. If he only gets 24 hours to do it, that's pretty hard." -- New York Times

Eventually Michelle Wie will turn pro, and that could be before she finishes high school. The trend among young women golfers is to bypass college. Last year Paula Creamer turned pro at 18 and this spring she won an LPGA event a week before graduating from high school. Recently, Morgan Pressel, 17, has petitioned the LPGA to enter its qualifying school this fall with the intent of playing the tour after she turns 18 in the spring. Phil Mickelson, who won a PGA Tour event as an amateur in 1991, says Wie is a phenomenal talent, but he doesn't approve of the trend of female golfers jumping from junior golf to the pros. "They do not value the education the way I was brought up to value it," he says. "I think a college education is important no matter what you do in life. It just seems the focal point has changed." -- USA Today

For many years, Tiger Woods has said that he has fought a tendency to get stuck during his swing, which forced him to flip his hands to keep the club in time with his body. Although Woods's talent has often allowed him to overcome the tendency, he still addressed it. -- New York Times

The man approached Kevin Tway as he ambled in from Longmeadow Country Club's 17th hole, pen and paper extended. The 16-year-old Tway politely obliged the request and signed his autograph. Tway's used to this by now. His father, Bob, plays on the PGA Tour, and he knows his last name attracts attention and galleries whenever he plays the junior golf circuit, including the occasional John Hancock hound. -- Boston Globe

After an abysmal 2004 performance that heightened talk of a corporate takeover, Callaway Golf Co. yesterday reported second-quarter earnings that hinted at a turnaround. While questions still loom regarding the potential takeover and the company's protracted hunt for a permanent chief executive, results for the quarter ended June 30 reflect a solid improvement. Quarterly income rose 34 percent to $18.4 million, or 27 cents per share, from $13.7 million, or 20 cents per share one year ago. The Carlsbad company said sales rose 8 percent to $323.1 million."Last year was a disaster" said Dennis McAlpine, an analyst at McAlpine Associates."This year, things are presumably getting better." -- San Diego Union-Tribune