Golf Central

So on to today's award with the help of our lovely assistant, Natalie Gulbis. Tour golfers just don't have hair like they used to. The last golfer we can remember with a decent mullet, other than Long John Daly, was Jumbo Ozaki with that yakuza gangsta look. So who had the best hippie hairstyle out there in 2007? ... (drumroll) ... envelope, please, Natalie ...
Charley Hoffman!
Hooray! That's right Natalie, it's Charley - the 200-pound bomber from San Diego with a mullet that only a mum, Richard Marx or Billy Ray Cyrus could love. But while Charley's unruly 'do got most of the attention, his golf was pretty good too ... such as his birdie-eagle-birdie finish to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic for his first PGA Tour win.
Way to go Charley! Pretty soon his hair will be as long as mine!
That's right, Nats ... The last time we saw a classic mullet like that, it was at a 7-Eleven somewhere off Interstate 10 in Indio, California. A couple guys drove up in a rusted-up Chevy Malibu, one guy hopped out with a shroud of pot smoke trailing him, and went to work. He was the clerk. ... Charley's acceptance speech was suitably mellow, dude: "I don't like being the same as everybody else. And I'm just sort of a free spirit, playing some golf." Refreshing, isn't it? ...
You bet, baby ... Hey, do you reckon Charley knows that Tiger nominated him?
I figure he does, Nats ...

2007 Rusty Award Winners so far:
Worst Putter: Davis Love III
Best Clutch Shot: Boo Weekley
Silliest Name in Golf: Ben Bunny
Best Career Change: Rick Rhoden
Most Pretentious Broadcaster: Gary Lineker
Best Sand Player: Tim Clark
Coolest Shoes: Hunter Mahan
Marlboro Man Award: Angel Cabrera
Coolest Headwear: Jesper Parnevik
Best Second-Best: Ernie Els
Most Daft Quote: Woody Austin
Worst Dresser (Male): Sergio Garcia
Best Golfing Oddball: Camilo Villegas
Best YouTube Moment: Woody Austin
Best Dresser (Female): Paula Creamer
Best Mullet Hairdo: Charley Hoffman

* We would invite all of our winners to our gala Awards Dinner in December, but we fear they might trip on the red carpet or a loose paving stone, or something ...  Our yearly awards are called the "Rusty Awards", instead of "Trusty Awards", because Natalie Gulbis thinks the name of our website is "In Golf Wet Rust". Gulbis is good at golf and glamour, but not so good at grammar.

On this day in 1959, the late Art Wall won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour with 70.35. Wall also swept the PGA Player of the Year award, and led the Tour's money list with $53,167.50 (that's a pretty healthy $358,054.75 in today's money!)

During his great 1959 season, Wall captured the Masters with birdies on five of the last six holes to storm past Dr Cary Middlecoff and defending champ Arnold Palmer to win the Green Jacket.

Wall, who died in 2001, won 14 times on the PGA Tour and was a member of two American Ryder Cup teams. A great iron player, Wall would collect an amazing 45 aces in his lifetime, including casual rounds. But no wonder he wouldn't forget 1959 soon: The next year, Arnold Palmer kicked off a decade of dominance by an elite quartet, along with Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Billy Casper, which would last throughout the '60s ...

Welcome aboard! ... Here's your quick and dirty sampling of some of the non-familiar or familiar faces whom you may or may not see in contention on your Big Tour of choice in 2008. They're all survivors of that most grueling test of all, the Qualifying Schools of the US PGA, European PGA and LPGA Tours.

It took them 108 holes of pure hell in golf's most excruciating of final exams, the Q-School Finals. But the big fact is ... they made it! Only 26 made it through PGA Tour Q-School, 22 through the Euro Tour School, and 17 through the LPGA. They passed the test, and here is an intro to just a handful of them that you'll be seeing on the big stage next year ...

Wow, where are we, man? I'm lost...: We're still on the European Tour, don't worry.
How can I tell? We move around so much...: Well, for one, have a look around the leaderboard, will you?
Ah, okay. There are some familiar names up there. I see Els...: Indeed. In fact, you'll see the name of Wales' very own Sion Bebb at the top at 5-under, as well. We tipped him in our brilliant Duffer's Guide to the Class of 2007 after he got through Q-School last month. So he's a new face.
New face? Are you saying Sion Bebb is a new face?...: Well yeah ...
Man, have you seen the guy swing?...: Yeah ...?
He has the same expression on his face every swing he takes...: Maybe it's his "game face." It does make you wonder.
Wonder what?...: Wonder what he'll look like if he wins on Tour.
Probably a bit like his dad, Dewi ...: The Welsh rugby legend?
That's the one ...: What a winger. I wonder who's better at rugby, Sion Bebb or Ernie Els? They're about the same age. Ernie's 38, Sion just turned 39 ...
No tackling in golf, you brute. Go to some other website for that ...