Golf Central

What the hell do white outfits, Rory Sabbatini's belt buckle and the wicked winds of Waialae have to do with this grand game of golf that we know and love? You might ask, and we are here to answer, with the 10 things we've learned from golf this week that have made us a bit more worldly wise than we were a week ago ...

1. KJ Choi is not particularly good at golf.

Unless you count winning, of course. A look at Choi's stats in relation to his PGA Tour peers is truly remarkable: He's short off the tee (144th in the rankings in 2007), doesn't hit many greens (74th) and is an average putter (66th). But the steady Choi does one thing great: He keeps his emotions in check, avoids making big numbers and has as many wins since Oct. 2005 as Phil Mickelson, and more than anyone other than Tiger ...

2. Darren Clarke is a feel-good story again:

The big Ulsterman started slowly in the drizzle at the Joburg Open with a first-round 73, but then Clarke bounced back to fire rounds of 65, 67 and 68 to finish on 11-under par and in solo fourth place. It's Clarke's best finish since his wife Heather's death 16 months ago to breast cancer. A bit more of this and we'll get used to seeing Clarke's bright smile more often ...

3. Butch Harmon has a weighty problem on his hands:

John Daly turned up at the Sony Open in Hawaii and actually turned in decent rounds of 72 and 68 before falling victim to the PGA Tour's bizarre new "Rule 78" under which players can make the cut but still not play the weekend. Encouraging for Daly's new coach Harmon, who however must be concerned that big JD looked like he was topping the scales at at least 300 bills ...

4. Kenneth Ferrie knows what pupu means in Hawaiian.

The poor Englishman's promising start in Honolulu went down the toilet, literally. After making the cut on 4-under, Ferrie had to withdraw Saturday with severe food poisoning. As bad as that was, despite making the cut, Ferrie only got last-place money (thanks to the WD), meaning he made less ($8,798) than 18 guys who finished worse than him (the players who made the cut but sat out the weekend under Rule 78 made $9,699 each). That's crap! By the way, pupus in Hawaiian is an appetiser, or hors d'œuvres, which Ferrie probably should have skipped ...

5. Rory Sabbatini got through a week without annoying anyone.

Unless you backed him to win the Sony, that is. Sabbatini's late charge put him in the spotlight but he fell three shots short of the steamroller KJ Choi. But Sabbatini actually seemed quite gracious in his post-tournament interview ... and seemed almost "normal" with his wife Amy and kids Harley and Tylie. The death-skull belt-buckle still has to go, Rory ...

6. Guys in all white are winners.

For two straight weeks on the PGA Tour, the champion has dressed for the final round in all-white duds - shoes, trousers, shirt, cap/visor, and glove. KJ Choi and Daniel Chopra looked like a two-man housepainting crew as they marched to victories in Honolulu and Kapalua. Bet Tiger Woods won't be wearing white on any Sundays this year, though ...

7. Waialae Country Club is proof you don't need monster courses to frustrate the pros.

The old-school layout, built in 1927 by Seth Raynor, measures only 7,044 yards, but the field suffered in the final round when wicked crosswinds strafed the palm-tree lined course on Oahu's east shore. Club selection was a guessing game, and top 10 players in the field shot a combined 63 strokes worse on Sunday than they did on Saturday. "Basically, you were just guessing," said Steve Stricker, who finished fourth.

8. Natalie Gulbis is a typical, shallow chick.

The blonde bombshell from California and everybody's LPGA Tour pin-up girl raised hopes of thousands of guys when she said a while back that she's "pretty open-minded" about who she dates. But prepare to get dumped: Nats has left Octagon, the agency which turned her into a huge star, for the biggest boy on the block, signing a new deal with, of course, IMG ...

9. Gary Player must be happy about the Bob Hope Classic pro-am field.

The legendary baseball pitcher Roger Clemens was slated to play in the Hope's celebrity pro-am field, which he has won twice. But Clemens is embroiled in baseball's ongoing steroids investigation and was scheduled to testify before the US Congress on the issue during the Hope, so he withdrew. Clemens was replaced in the pro-am by celebrity chef Ming Tsai, but it raises the question: If there's drug testing for the PGA Tour, does that include celeb partners, too?

10. Tiger gets what he wants, one way or another.

Westchester Country Club in New York, which has been hosting events on the PGA Tour since the '60s (including the once-Buick Classic), probably won't be hosting the Barclays, the first leg on the FedEx Cup playoffs - which may now be moved to Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. Tiger Woods doesn't like the Westchester course and skips the Barclays. Hmmmmn.

Until next week ...