Hey everyone, when I said my farewell to Waggle Room, I promised that I would let you know where and when you could find me next. Yesterday, it became official. Pro Golf Talk on NBCSports.com launches tomorrow at noon ET. The site is live now with a soft open, but we really get moving on the morrow.

I'm happy to see everything is going well here. Old Man Par is doing a wonderful job!

Hope to see you soon.

Ryan

My wife tells me that I'm a bit sappy. You'd be hard pressed to see it if you weren't her, but she has me pegged. Today is one of the more emotional, non-wedding/funeral/birthday days of my life. In this year in which more wonderful and natural-feeling changes have taken place since puberty, two more changes take place today.

I'm leaving Waggle Room and I'm moving into a brief blogging purgatory - bloggatory? - before joining the great team with NBCSports.com.

It really is one of the happiest days of my life. A dream is being realized, one I've fought for so long and is coming true. Nothing really will change about how I approach writing, but how I approach getting to write will be. It'll be my full-time job, my responsibility, and my career. Still sounds pretty staggering.

I want to let you know that I swear not to disappoint. Having all my energies dedicated to this will - hopefully - only make me better. We're going to have some cool things up our sleeves at the new blog that I think you'll enjoy. The podcast will come back. Maybe a morning video blog. Weekly chats. There will be more ways to interact than ever, and I hope you'll take the time to join in on them. Again, it's a personal invitation from me.

At the same time, though, this is a bittersweet occasion. I've achieved one of my biggest goals, but it comes at the expense of the place that helped make them a possibility. Waggle Room is in great hands, and I'm sure we'll see each other again, but things will be different. More eyeballs means less chances for me to read the thoughts you all share here that are one of the more entertaining parts of being here. The diatribes about politics and fairness, lengthy debates in the Queen's English that I sometimes simply cannot follow, and TXQ's supreme ability to make me audibly groan at a pun - these I will miss.

So, bottom line is this: please, stay in touch. I'll be off of the radar for a couple of weeks until things get started with the new site. Don't hesitate to find me on Facebook, or e-mail me, or whatever. I'm changing neighborhoods, but don't be a stranger. As I was recently reminded, good neighbors are hard to find.

And to complete the segue/ripoff of Mr. Rogers, it's been a pleasure to be your neighbor. Thanks for everything and see you soon.

Love,

Ryan

In what will be the final Bunker/Not A Bunker under my watch at Waggle Room, I present to you this dilly of a pickle from my weekend match with Futures Tour (and Hopefully Soon LPGA Tour) Correspondent Stephanie Connelly.

After hitting a beautiful layup to just inside 150 yards on the uphill par 5 13th hole of our round, I landed here.

As always: bunker or not a bunker?

Continue reading this post »

Never one to be shy about putting himself out there, Bubba Watson has kickstarted a game of oneupsmanship (yes, a word) with Ben Crane. On the heels of Ben Crane shedding his dry, no fun persona with a video portraying him as a dry, hilarious person, Bubba Watson is seeking to seize control of Tim Finchem's PGA Tour Def Comedy Jam.

How does he do it? With the help of Kelis and a hot dog costume.

What a fitting tribute to Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

Your move, Ben Crane. I wait breathlessly for a self-deprecating follow up with Crane - co-starring Rory Sabbatini and his wife - that reenacts their classic slow play conflict.

Needless to say, it's been a good year for golf in Northern Ireland. Between Graeme McDowell winning the US Open and securing the Ryder Cup, and Rory McIlroy winning in the United States for the first time, the nation is as strong of a golf country as it ever has been. With strength comes clout, and that may manifest itself in the form of a European Tour event.

Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke are looking to put their energies into attracting an event to Northern Ireland, if not for 2011, in time for 2012.

GMac is pushing for an event at Portrush. (Yes!)

"It would be amazing and it's always been a dream of mine to play a big event at Portrush."

Darren Clarke concurs. "It's got everything. Links is the purest form of golf and this is the best links course in the world," said Clarke to the BBC.

Can a man dream that a Links Swing could start on the European Tour? The Ulster Open, Scottish Open, and Open Championship in a month?!

As football soldiers on, bolstering a slate of mediocre teams, and the World Series drags into November, the PGA Tour season is finishing with its Fall Series. The last two events have finished in very dramatic fashion, with hole-outs more or less deciding the fate of the event.

Rocco Mediate's win in California was one of the feel good stories of the year. Jonathan Byrd's walk-off ace in the Vegas darkness was one of the cooler moments in Tour history. 

These great finishes, though, are anomalies. It's great luck for the Tour to have such drama to close out the Fall Series, but even still, the events were seen by small audiences on television and in person. The series boasts just five events this year because of the difficult economy and a lack of new (or prior) sponsors willing to pay the Tour's sticker price for title sponsorship. 

The questions are being asked, as they should be, about the viability of the series in the next several years - either in this country or staged abroad. With a new television deal coming forth soon for the networks, will the PGA Tour alter its schedule in the late stages of the year, too? If it does, there is a good chance the Fall Series could go away with it.

There is some value in the Fall Series remaining in some capacity, though. Many ideas have been bantered about a morphing of the fall schedule, including some I've proposed. I'd like to rehash one I've thrown out there in the past.

The Fall Series would be a great dual end-beginning for the Nationwide and PGA Tours. Have the Nationwide Tour season end sooner, closer to the FedExCup. Mint a couple of dozen new PGA Tour members from the developmental circuit, then turn them loose for a handful of events with PGA Tour guys seeking to keep their cards. It's a subtle change, but co-mingling fields in that way would allow fans to get a glimpse at the new guys they'll be seeing early on in the next year. Rather than having to keep a Tour program on the couch to look at names, they can become a little more household in the prior fall. 

The events can be more local - which runs contrary to my original argument that they should be bigger. Smaller is alright for the PGA Tour. In the same way that the LPGA Tour once embraced a mix of bigger and smaller venues, the PGA Tour's bookend could benefit. There are many fans around the country who are very unlikely to see PGA Tour-caliber golf in their town because the big boys are often in major metropolitan markets. Change that to cater to Middle America, so to speak, and the Tour could reap in new fans.

Consider me officially confused by both sets of official golf rankings. By virtue of not winning, or even really coming all that close despite a nice Sunday comeback, at the LPGA's Malaysian tour stop on Sunday, Cristie Kerr became number one in the Rolex Rankings for the second time this season. She overtook Ai Miyazato, who has five wins this season on Tour.

It makes sense that five players are all basically within a half ranking point of first place. Each of the top five has some merit to claim they are the best.

It's good for the game, too. All five are from different countries. Each of the players has a legit chance to win the money, scoring, and Player of the Year honors. 

At a certain point, though, who is number one becomes a moot point when faced with comparable resumes like these ladies have. Jack Nicklaus diminished the meaning of the Official World Golf Rankings last week, and he's got a point that applies here, too. Being named number one is great, but proving it every week is the more telling sign of excellence. 

All five of these women are great, but I'm not sure one owns the top spot over the others.

As the darkness was setting in during the three man playoff to determine the winner of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the combatants came to the fourth playoff hole looking to quickly get in what they could before it became too dark to play.

Jonathan Byrd was first to play at the par 3. He grabbed a club quickly from his caddy. He took one forceful practice swing, then stepped up and struck the ball.

It looked good all the way, on line with the pin. Byrd's ball hit to the right of the hole, took a little hop to the left, and a couple of bounces later the ball landed in the hole. Fellow playoff competitors Cameron Percy and defending champion Martin Laird tried their best to match the ace, but were unable to do so.

Jonathan Byrd's ace gave him his fourth PGA Tour win. He got into the playoff with three birdies in the final four holes to match Laird on -21. For his part, Percy made birdie at the last to do the same.

This win by Byrd is the second time in two months that Martin Laird lost in a playoff to an excellent shot. Laird lost The Barclays in September when Matt Kuchar hit an incredible shot from the rough at Ridgewood Country Club to pick up the title in New Jersey.

It was a battle early in the round for the young Italian phenom, but Matteo Manassero made winning on the European Tour look easy on the back nine in Castello Masters. Winning clear by four shots, Manassero easily becomes the youngest player to win in the history of the European Tour at 17 years, 188 days. He takes over the distinction from Danny Lee, the Kiwi who won as an amateur last year.

The 17-year-old trailed Gary Boyd by two strokes through 54 holes. Through the opening nine holes, Manassero gained a stroke on Boyd with two birdies against a bogey. Boyd went out in even par.

On the back nine, though, Manassero put on his rally cap in the middle of the nine to take control of the tournament. With consecutive birdies at 13, 14, and 15, the Italian gained a share of the lead. He then took it outright when Boyd bogeyed the 15th.

Pressing the issue, Boyd put his ball in the water at the 16th, leading to a double bogey sandwich. Manassero was four clear at that point, needing only pars to finish off his first professional win. He had a look at birdie on 17 to extend the lead further, but was unable to make the seven footer.

No matter. Manassero was cruising to a win. Since turning pro after being low amateur and youngest ever to make the 36 hole cut at the Masters, Manassero has had modest success. Several finishes in the twenties buoyed a decent year for the young player, but a third place finish at the Omega European Masters - won by Miguel Angel Jimenez - gave him a taste of the professional chase.

Curiously enough, a countryman of Jimenez - Pablo Martin - turned heads in neighboring Portugal just three years ago when he became the first amateur to win on the European Tour. 

Continue reading this post »

The Villages: Florida's friendliest hometown! You know the jingle and the associated montage by heart now. People driving in golf carts everywhere. Playing golf all the time. Nancy Lopez and Arnold Palmer joking.

Not filmed? Burglars jacking golf carts for stealing sprees.

A suspect described as "a heavyset white male, wearing a blue shirt and blue jean shorts" stole a golf cart from a home in The Villages, went to strip mall, stole a couple hundred bucks of stuff from a restaurant shed - food? - and then ripped off a VA hospital.

Just in case you're in the area, the surveillance video is at the link.

Rory McIlroy is being paid handsomely this week to drop down a level and play on the European Challenge Tour - their Nationwide Tour - in Egypt. He's also working with the Egyptian Board of Tourism. Naturally, that means the firm that heads the agency wants to promote Rory hitting golf balls in awkward places where none of us will ever play golf (except drunkenly on a Golden Tee machine).

So, here's a video of Rory McIlroy hitting a golf ball at the Great Pyramids.

I always enjoy these kinds of stunts - at pyramids, atop buildings, in a warehouse - because the caddy has to wear a bib. Why is he wearing a bib? There's no second shot. There isn't a yardage book in the pocket. And there will be no lobster.

Colin Montgomerie was involved in an automobile accident this morning in Scotland. His BMW sedan was ravaged by a van of some kind. Monty was sponsored by Lexus for many years, but drives a Beamer. 

Montgomerie had some cuts and scrapes, while the van driver was taken to a local hospital for precautionary measures, according to STV.

Anthony Kim is a 25-year-old three-time PGA Tour winner with a reputation as a partier. Remember him staying out til 3:30am at the Presidents Cup in San Francisco? And then administering a beating to Robert Allenby that got him in a fuss until the PGA Tour made him apologize publicly? He's such a rebel, that Anthony Kim - James Dean wishes he could be AK.

Really, he's not, though. He's a 25-year-old guy who does what a lot of them do: party, drink, and gamble. Example A? Me. Yeah, I'm 27, but I have been to Vegas almost a handful of times since I turned 21 for that very reason. My bachelor party was there. I had a blast. I have friends there. I also played quite a bit of blackjack.

Blackjack, for the unaware, is a game of chance in which players try to beat the dealer - "the house" - in a race to 21 by adding up the values of cards. Players wager on their ability to do so in each hand. It's quite exhilerating, really. Usually, it draws a lot of hooting and hollaring. Then add in that some casinos have "party pits" in which scantily clad women throw beads off of a stage and, well, you can see how this much become a rambunctious activity.

Re-enter Anthony Kim. He's in Vegas for the Timberlake and on Monday, a pro golfer's off day, went out with Phil Ivey to gamble. It got a little rowdy - so rowdy that Norm Clarke of the Vegas paper (a) recognized the guy and (b) wrote six paragraphs about AK drinking and cussing up a storm.

Let's sum it up: "His salty language and screaming was so bad that Kim, 25, was asked to tone it down Monday by Bellagio management."

Now, I want to play blackjack with Anthony Kim. He would make a great anti-MIT blackjack team member. There is nothing more boring than a quiet blackjack table. There's nothing more depressing than walking into a Native American casino just miles from Lambeau Field and play 21 with five other guys who look like they just went on a Neil Young bender. Booze, chatter, and fun - that's what makes blackjack great. (The losing makes it painful.)

When I go on heaters or coolers at the table - runs in either direction - I can get a little chatty. I've seen guys have outbursts probably 100 times worse than whatever Anthony Kim said or did, and the dealer and pit boss took it with a grain of salt. Booze plus gambling means strange things are done and said.

Just ask the lady at the table I played at the Borgata once. You know, the one with the voodoo doll for the dealer, who screamed "monkey!" after every card.

Bottom line, AK has had a roller coaster year - a big win after a tough '09, a bigger letdown to have to undergo thumb surgery, and the biggest letdown in not making the Ryder Cup team. Seems like the blackjack table is very fitting for him. Keep a seat warm for me, AK.

Justin Timberlake is host of this week's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Good thing, too, 'cause otherwise I'm not sure why his name would be on it. Anyhow, Timberlake was at the event today in Vegas doing his host thing when he spoke with the press about his field.

Timberlake is a big fan of Rickie Fowler, still riding high off of his miraculous Ryder Cup singles halve and his great finish at the Frys.com Open again this year. In fact, he's a bigger fan of the Orange Blur than teeny-bopper hero Justin Bieber.

"I think he's cooler than Justin Bieber," Timberlake said. Did I throw the gauntlet down? Whatever. I'm taking Rickie Fowler."

How heavy is that?

Justin Bieber went on the record recently in lyrical form as saying he's cooler than Tom Brady. Well, at least his hair cut is.

Therefore, by the infallible Transitive Property of Dissimilar Things, Rickie Fowler is cooler than Tom Brady.

... What's that? Gisele Bundchen is calling? Oh. Right.

Sorry, Rickie. Not so sorry, Bieber. Talk to me when you're not afraid of cooties.

The geopolitical part of my brain always felt a little uneasy when referring to the Open Championship as the British Open. Yeah, sure, Scotland and England (and Wales, and Northern Ireland) are all in the United Kingdom - thus, British - but the ramifications of those distinctions are changing. The most troubling part to me was when the Open was contested on Scottish links, knowing full well that the Scottish Open was contested on a parkland golf course.

Finally, that may change.

Barclays, the title sponsor of the Scottish Open, is insisting the national tournament move to a links course if they are to return in their sponsorship role. It would be an even better primer for the Open Championship, as players in that field already come to Loch Lomond - current home - to adjust to the British weather. 

It would be a ploy directed at Tiger Woods and Paddy Harrington, two players who like to practice on links courses before the Open, but don't presently have a tournament venue on the European Tour in which to do so prior to the Open.

It's rare, but golf kills. Unfortunately, 69-year-old Hiroshi Tango was struck in the head while playing Los Serranos Country Club in Chino, California, on October 7. He complained of head pain - obviously - and was taken to a local hospital. On Saturday evening, Mr. Tango died from the injuries sustained from the accident.

This is one of those unfathomable incidents for most, but for a friend of mine, was all too real. When we were in high school, a couple of my friends were taking up the game in the wake of the Tiger craze. Just learning, they liked to play a local par 3 course. I would go to get in some short game practice.

The opening hole of the course we patronized was this downhill 80 yard hole. Site of many a hole-in-one-for-a-lot-of-money contests, the tee shot was about a fifty foot drop from the range mat that designated the first tee outside of the fenced-in adjacent mini-golf track.

On this day, though, I was at home (or with my girlfriend, or something).  My buddies played the first hole - making who knows what - when they were making their way to the second tee. They were going to the second tee when out came this horrible scream and thud. My friend Ed had been struck in the head by an errant tee shot that sailed much too far. He got no warning from the goofs up on the tee. Maybe they didn't know what to do or were paralyzed by the fear of a horrible shot.

Either way, Ed was the victim here. He had a massive gash on his head from where the ball struck him. The bleeding was pretty profuse but not unstoppable. He would be ok, but that was probably the nastiest injury I've ever seen playing sports.

We can talk about my head injury another time.

Current Golf Channel president Page Thompson is on his way out of his current gig with the Orlando network. He's moving up in the world to take on a different post in the new Comcast-NBC Universal company after the merger is approved by regulatory agencies. But, he's not leaving without some thoughts for his rumored successor, Dick Ebersol.

Talking to Golf World Monday, Thompson offered these tips:

• Offer different tournament formats - Thompson says match play draws the best ratings. And I'm suggesting that all Fall Series events could go to 54 holes with birdie-friendly setups to encourage the kinds of finishes we saw at the Frys.com Open.
• LPGA and Champ Tour events should end on Saturday or Monday - This idea has been floated for years, particularly as a contrast to my Golf Channel 2 idea. If I had to modify his suggestion, I would say move the PGA Tour finishes to whatever channel replaces Versus to get it more exposure. Then have the LPGA and Champ Tour finish on Golf Channel. An occasional Saturday finish - like the LPGA used to do in Vegas - never hurts, though.
• More innovative features like mic'ing players - A big 10-4 on that.

What else would you offer?

It's been an odd year or so for the LPGA Tour. There has been a big transition from dominating players - Annika Sorenstam, followed by the now-retired Lorena Ochoa - to a level of parity that could be very good for the tour. The schedule is leaner, filled with limited-field events that are a problem for the rank-and-file.

The combination has made it more difficult to earn and maintain a LPGA Tour card from year to year. It may also lead to drastically shorter careers which mirror that of Lorena Ochoa than of Juli Inkster. LPGA Player Executive Committee President Michelle Ellis, 34, spoke of what she sees as smaller career windows for the ladies.

“We’re certainly not going to see the Juli Inksters or Meg Mallons,” she says. “The competition is getting so tough and the endurance it takes to play at that level is a lot tougher."

“You’re going to have shorter careers. You’re going to have more of the Annikas, the Lorenas bowing out a little earlier. The money is bigger, one, but two, just to keep up that competitiveness, more that amount of years, is a little more straining. It’s sad that we’re not going to have those long careers."

That can make some sense, sure. Frankly, though, typically less than 15 ladies on Tour make into the seven figures each year. To do that over a ten or fifteen year career sounds nice - and very profitable - but there are scores of athletes who have made tons more in other sports and wind up bankrupt because of their fiscal irresponsibility. It doesn't sound all that assuring, really.

Another question I have is if this phenomenon would happen in women's golf - where the money is one-sixth that of their male counterparts on the PGA Tour - why hasn't it happened in men's golf? Tiger's not going away after this year. Even pre-divorce Tiger wasn't. (Not just for the money, but primarily Jack's record.) Even on a different level, Phil Mickelson isn't closing up shop to repair broken golf clubs in Callaway commercials. So why the women? Presumably, it would be to raise a family, but many women have played at the highest level, gotten pregnant, had kids, and come back to resume their careers successfully. 

It doesn't strike me that there appears to be a real answer here, or that Ochoa and Sorenstam are not isolated cases. But, indulge me for a second and think about the impact the Champions Tour has on male players. If they play well, get into the top 70 in career PGA Tour earnings, and make it to 50, they're on that Tour for a nearly guaranteed fifteen years of no cut golfing action. The lure of free money - and the absolutely killer PGA Tour pension plan - could be enough to sustain PGA Tour players' desires to play much longer than they might otherwise have.

In honor of Beatriz Recari's first LPGA Tour win this past weekend in the CVS LPGA Challenge, here's my interview with her from the State Farm earlier in the summer.

On this week's LPGACam from the State Farm Classic, Beatriz Recari joins Ryan Ballengee to talk about her game, beating stronger players, and making the transition to America.

In the waning holes of the Frys.com Open, it was clear that the tournament appeared headed for a playoff. Rocco Mediate was leaking oil all day long, four-over on the day after a birdie on the sixteenth hole that got him back into a share of the lead.

Mediate and playing partners Alex Prugh and Bo Van Pelt headed to the par 4 17th hole, shortened to 295 yards in the final round to encourage aggression off of the tee. Bo Van Pelt went first, selecting driver after deciding with his caddie that he couldn't quite get there with 3-wood. His choice was a good one, as he ended up some 25 feet away from the hole and on the putting surface.

For Rocco, it was a no-brainer. Unable to drive the ball that far, Mediate laid up into the fairway to leave himself a wedge into the green.

Then came Alex Prugh. He confidently addressed the ball with his driver and made a perfect strike. Almost immediately, the crowd around him thought something special was happening. As the ball flew to the hole, Golf Channel had the camera locked on the ball from behind the green - like it was a par 3. It may as well have been. Prugh's perfect shot landed less than a foot away from the hole, and in the soggy conditions, ended just two feet away for a certain eagle.

How would Mediate respond?

With a wedge in his hand, Rocco would hit the perfect little approach. Just a foot and half past the hole to the left, his ball spun back right into the hole. The eagle shocked the crowd, but more importantly, kept Prugh at bay. Bo Van Pelt would three-putt to make up none of the ground from Mediate or Prugh's eagles.

What looked like a tight tournament at two different points during the hole ended in a two shot advantage for Rocco Mediate.

The final hole of the tournament was a 425 yard par 4 that featured a split fairway. Playing left would be the safe bet and give Rocco a better look at par. Instead, Rocco played to the right fairway - as far right as he could to stay safe. Prugh and Van Pelt delivered solid drives, much longer than Mediate. 

Rocco played first and caught a piece of the green, just barely flying over the right greenside bunker. Van Pelt ended about a foot further away than Rocco's on the opposite side of the green after his approach spun back much too far. Prugh hit a great shot past the pin to about eleven feet.

Rocco went first and hit a lag putt past the hole to about four feet. Van Pelt then makes his curler from left to right for an improbable birdie! Prugh, maybe inspired by Van Pelt, then makes his birdie. Now, Mediate must make his putt to avoid a three-way playoff.

Mediate gets up, addresses the putt, and drains it. The Pennsylvania product from Greensburg - the two next to Latrobe - now has six PGA Tour wins and his first since 2002 in Greensboro. It took four different hole outs for the week, including the unreal last one to secure a win that put him back on the map after taking Tiger Woods to the limit at Torrey Pines two years ago.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw a couple of allusions to the existence of a video featuring reforming slowbie Ben Crane in a workout video. This morning, I finally got a chance to watch it. Take a look.

It's a hilarious video - well put together, almost in the spirit of a Tosh.0 sketch. Crane with a helmet on could be a dead ringer for the comedian.

Honestly, I pegged Crane for a speed walker, or someone really into yoga. I had no clue he was so angry. (Serenity now!) But I suppose he was exposed to working out like the rest of us were: in the ball pit of a Chuckie Cheese.

UPDATE 2:01pm ET 10/15 - Steve Elling caught up with Ben Crane and his representation to get the backstory to the video. It was filmed in May and just kind of lingered for a few months before Crane's representation asked his sponsors if it was ok to release the video. He got two thumbs up, and the video is going viral.

Cigar Guy made his American television debut - unless he is also a Tiger Woods double for birthday parties - on NBC's Today Show this morning. It really gave me some insight into how I'll look at Halloween.

And this was a great opportunity for Cigar Guy to get out of his parents' basement for the day. You think he has a blog?

Anyway, here's the video.

Remember back in December, when Tiger Woods' world was crashing down around him? It became evident Tiger was not going to participate in his own Chevron World Challenge. They needed an alternate to fill Tiger's spot. That went to Graeme McDowell.

For the first time, this event offered Official World Golf Ranking points. McDowell took full advantage, finishing second to Jim Furyk. That catapulted him into the top 50 in the world rankings at year's end, and gave him a slot in the Masters. From there, everything took off, leading to a US Open win and becoming the hero of the Ryder Cup.

Looking back, the Ulsterman knows he has Tiger to thank for his 2010 - even if only in some small measure.

Speaking with the Belfast Telegraph, McDowell said:

“What happened at the end of last season, and getting the invite to the Tiger Woods golf tournament, was the real catalyst for everything that has happened for me this year.

“I walked off the golf course in China, with Rory and myself just having lost the World Cup by a shot to the Molinari boys.

“My manager, Conor Ridge, then suggested there was a shadow of a chance, what with the Tiger Woods story unfolding that week, that I might get an invite into the Chevron World Challenge.

“As it so happened I was flying home from China to Orlando through LA that week so I said of course I would get off the flight there and take my chance.

“I don’t how Conor managed to do it, but we got the nod on the invite and then I go and finish second.

“I moved from 55th to 38th in the world, it got me into Augusta and smoothed up the start of the season. Then after Wentworth I get into the US Open right on the bubble at Number 50.

“So if I had not been top 50 at the end of last year, I maybe would not have got off to the start I had this year.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have got myself into the US Open and things like the Ryder Cup.

“It was just one of those very fateful moments.”

Who's to say what would've happened otherwise. McDowell may have found a way into the Masters, etc, and still had a great year. Or he may have gotten into both fields, done nothing, but made the Ryder Cup team. Who knows. But pretty interesting to remember that someone else's mistake afforded Graeme McDowell an opportunity to create an unforgettable year.

Last month, it was eight years ago that I began on this journey of covering golf. It began in the basement studio of a friend of a friend's house - just me and a mic, for an hour, with an audience of probably one or less. The dream, though, was that I could one day cover golf and share my passion for the game with a real audience as my job. 

It probably sounded kind of odd to people that I was a J-school dropout (on the first day, no less), but still had this aspiration. Frankly, it didn't make much sense to me at times. But, over the years, I've been fortunate enough to find and work with great people that have been willing to give me a chance to prove my worth. They understood my goal, my singular focus and gave me the opportunity to work hard for a hobby I hoped would become a job.

On Tuesday evening, that dream became real. I have accepted a role with NBCSports.com as their golf blogger. Full-time. It begins next month.

The details aren't 100% done yet. The name is going to be Pro Golf Talk, in the model of their other sports blogs. It'll launch probably in mid-November.

I'm extremely grateful to everyone at NBCSports.com for the opportunity to build a community that hopefully resembles the one we have here - intelligent, thoughtful, engaged. What I have done here will be done there.

This unbelievable opportunity would not be possible without the good folks here at SB Nation. Jim Bankoff, Tyler Bleszinski, Kyle Ragsdale, Chris Mottram, John Taylor, Chris Haines, Trei Brundrett - and others - these men make SB Nation work. Their passion and savvy for what the sports fan craves is potent and tangible. They've turned their collective energy into a remarkable business and are growing every day. I truly believe SB Nation is changing how sports fans engage with their obsession and how they get their fix.

Invariably, though, this new gig means I will be leaving Waggle Room. I hope that you'll add another bookmark for my new home in your browsers, RSS readers, and such. Consider it a personal invitation. I love all of you that come here each day (or at least pretty often), read and comment, e-mail me, and are a part of the dialogue that makes Waggle Room go. You're a big reason why this site is what it is.

When I came to Waggle Room, it was because Mulligan Stu could no longer commit to this site, and he made the decision he had to make. Unfortunately, in the time between him leaving and me joining, the site had a gap in direction. Keeping that in mind, I want Waggle Room to continue to grow after I leave. That's why I'm entrusting Waggle Room to Charles Boyer - the man you know here as Old Man Par. Charles has agreed to take up Waggle Room v. 3.0 and do his thing here. I love Charles' writing style and how he thinks. He's a perfect fit to be the next leader here.

This is all still so surreal to me. I can't believe my dream has come true, but inside, I always believed it would. Thank you to all of the people in my life who have supported what likely seemed a Quixotic quest. We still have more windmills to fight, so I hope we can do it together.