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Vote: Which Golfer Do You Want to See In a Future Swimsuit Issue?

2012-02-14T11:59:35Z

So Natalie Gulbis is in the 2012 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Good for her. But it's not like Gulbis hasn't posed in a bikini before. Gulbis has already said she'd do it again in a future edition. But if SI features a golfer again, how about somebody new? And if someone other than Gulbis poses in the future, who would you like that to be?

At least one of the choices listed in the poll below - Paula Creamer - has expressed interest in posing for Sports Illustrated. Replying last year to a question from one of her Twitter followers, Creamer said she would consider an offer from the magazine. (Tweets are very non-binding.)

Two of the golfers in the poll - Gal and O'Toole - have posed in bikinis before. Creamer does an annual calendar in Japan. Pressel and Wie have done glamour shoots.

These certainly aren't the only candidates, of course - there are many great candidates on the LPGA. If you'd like to make a write-in vote you can leave your selection in comments.

But let's not forget about our (and Sports Illustrated's) female readers. Fact is, the fellas are making appearances in the swimsuit issues these days, too. In the 2012 edition, athletes Rafael Nadal, Chris Paul and Michael Phelps are featured posing with model Bar Refaeli.

So which guy on Tour gets your vote to pose?

Vote: Which Golfer Do You Want to See In a Future Swimsuit Issue? originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 11:59:35.

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First Look: Natalie Gulbis In Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

2012-02-13T22:31:32Z

And here is the first image of Natalie Gulbis from the 2012 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition:

Photo by Kayt Jones/Sports Illustrated
This Natalie Gulbis photo is from the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, which is on sale now.

So I guess we can confirm that Gulbis is in the issue, eh?

Gulbis is actually not wearing a swimsuit in the image above, nor in any of the other photos in the magazine. It's bodypainting. Gulbis is one of three athletes included in the bodypainting section of the 2012 SI swimsuit issue. (Soccer star Alex Morgan is another, and the third is swimmer Natalie Coughlin.)

Gulbis' inclusion in the swimsuit issue was first revealed about two months ago, although nobody (except us) seemed to notice. On Dec. 10, Gulbis' friend Cristie Kerr tweeted about it, but that tweet was quickly deleted.

More of Gulbis' bodypainting pics can be found at si.com/swimsuit.

This isn't the first time Gulbis has posed in a bikini (although it probably is the first time said bikini was, in reality, paint applied to her body). Her first swimsuit calendar was released in 2004, and also in 2004 she appeared in a photo shoot for FHM magazine.

If you enjoy photos of Gulbis looking glam, then also check out this gallery, which includes pics from some of those Gulbis calendars of yore:

Natalie Gulbis glamour shots photo gallery

More about Gulbis:

Vote in the Poll:
Which golfer do you want to see in a future swimsuit edition?

First Look: Natalie Gulbis In Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 22:31:32.

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This Week: Northern Trust Open

2012-02-13T16:15:15Z

It will be tough for this week's PGA Tour Northern Trust Open to top last week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. A near-perfect final round from Phil Mickelson for the win is always an event.

But Mickelson is playing at Riviera Country Club this week, so who knows? Plus, the Northern Trust Open sports the best field we've seen so far on the PGA Tour in 2012.

In addition to Mickelson, the field includes Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples, Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler, Padraig Harrington, Ryo Ishikawa, Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose and Adam Scott, to name a few.

The defending champion is Aaron Baddeley, and Badds is going good at the moment.

To view the list of past champions, plus more tournament info and trivia, see our Northern Trust Open tournament page.

Elsewhere, the European Tour is playing the Avantha Masters in India; and the LPGA Tour is in Thailand for the Honda LPGA Thailand.

This Week: Northern Trust Open originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 16:15:15.

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Cleveland Goes Throwback with Classic Driver, Mashie Line

2012-02-13T11:56:09Z

Take a look at the new Cleveland Classic driver and you might think Cleveland Golf has produced a persimmon driver. The company has gone retro with its latest clubs, but not that retro. The Classic driver has a modern titanium head painted to resemble the old persimmon woods.

Cleveland also is expanding its Mashie line with a new Mashie hybrid, plus irons and fairway woods under the Mashie monicker.

View the new clubs

See also:
How to store golf clubs

Cleveland Goes Throwback with Classic Driver, Mashie Line originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 11:56:09.

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Phil Mickelson Notches Win No. 40

2012-02-12T18:38:25Z

Phil Mickelson played a brilliant final round on Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to win the tournament and notch his 40th career PGA Tour victory.

The fact that he did it playing alongside Tiger Woods in the final round? Phil's fans will love that, too. Woods struggled, particularly on the green, and shot a final-round 75, dropping to 15th place.

Mickelson, on the other hand, blistered Pebble Beach with a 64, the best round of the day by three strokes. It is Mickelson's fourth win in this tournament, his previous wins happening in 1998, 2005 and 2007.

And, as noted, it is career win No. 40 on the PGA Tour for Mickelson. Forty wins? That's huge, and we really need to appreciate Mickelson's accomplishment.

To wit: Only eight golfers in history have won more times on the PGA Tour than Mickelson. Those eight golfers are Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Woods, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Billy Casper and Walter Hagen.

Mickelson is tied at ninth on the PGA Tour career wins list with Cary Middlecoff. He's now one ahead of Tom Watson. And Phil is five behind Hagen.

Here's another way of putting it: Mickelson has more PGA Tour wins than Gary Player and Fred Couples combined; more than Greg Norman and Ben Crenshaw combined.

See also:
Phil Mickelson's PGA Tour victories
Golfers with most wins on the PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson Notches Win No. 40 originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 18:38:25.

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Like Father, Like Daughter: Korda Wins in Australia

2012-02-12T08:58:31Z

Now we know that Yani Tseng will not win every women's golf tournament played in 2012. Tseng finished tied for eighth in the LPGA's season-opening ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open on Sunday, finishing two strokes behind the winner.

And that winner was 18-year-old Jessica Korda, by way of a 6-way playoff. Korda outlasted Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Julieta Granada, So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo - a very accomplished set of runners-up - to win her first LPGA title in her second year as a pro.

Jessica is not the first Korda to win in Australia, however. Her father is Petr Korda. Petr Korda reached as high as No. 2 in the world tennis rankings, winning 10 singles titles in a career that spanned from the late 1980s to 2000. And among Dad's championships is a major, the 1998 Australian Open.

Petr Korda, from the Czech Republic, started his family in Florida. Jessica is the oldest of three children, and, as you might guess, is a very good tennis player herself.

But she's an even better golf, and if not for the exploits of her good friend Lexi Thompson, Korda would probably have been much better known to the general golfing public even before her win at the Women's Australian Open. She finished in the Top 10 as a 15-year-old amateur at the 2008 U.S. Women's Open. She was a member of the 2012 U.S. Curtis Cup team.

In the playoff on Sunday, all six players parred the first extra hole, then Korda won the title by making a birdie on the second.

Korda is about two weeks shy of her 19th birthday, which makes her the fifth golfer in LPGA history to win at age 18 or younger. See the list of youngest winners on the LPGA Tour.

The 6-person playoff, by the way, ties the LPGA record for most golfers in a sudden-death playoff.

Like Father, Like Daughter: Korda Wins in Australia originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 08:58:31.

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Next 'Haney Project' Has Adam Levine, 3 More Celebs

2012-02-08T16:28:09Z

A quartet of celebrities face off for charity in the next The Haney Project on the Golf Channel, with rockstar - or should that be reality star? - Adam Levine the big name. (Swings like Jagger?)

Levine, frontman of Maroon 5 and "coach" on NBC's smash The Voice, is joined on the series by boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, celebrity chef Mario Batali and supermodel-turned-actress Angie Everhart.

The fourth season of The Haney Project debuts on the Golf Channel at 9 p.m. ET on Feb. 27. The series will follow Hank Haney's tutelage of the four celebs over eight episodes, culminating with the four pupils playing each other for up to $100,000 to the charities of their choice.

Note to celebs: Be careful what you do and say, because Hank might write a book about you some day!

Say this for Hank and his Haney Project: he/it gets a better class of celebrity than many other reality shows on the air.

Is it just me, or does Levine seem to be everywhere these days? Maybe he's the new "king of all media." His star has never been higher than it is now with The Voice.

But Levine is a relative newcomer to golf. It was only on July 12, 2011, that Levine tweeted about (presumably) his first round of golf:

"Just tried golf. Not gonna lie. It's totally awesome."

Next 'Haney Project' Has Adam Levine, 3 More Celebs originally appeared on About.com Golf on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 16:28:09.

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New Equipment: Putters, Titleist Balls, Accessories

2012-02-08T16:09:57Z

Our latest roundup of new equipment is heavy on the accessories, with a push cart, travel bag, two new golf shoe lines and more.

But it leads off with a pair of putters, one by STX and another called the Dead Aim Putter. It uses a double-siteline system to alert the golfer to a poor address position, and also doubles as a training aid. Plus Titleist has updated several of its golf balls along with introducing a new ball.

View the gallery

New Equipment: Putters, Titleist Balls, Accessories originally appeared on About.com Golf on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 16:09:57.

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Tiger Woods: Ban Long Putters

2012-02-07T16:49:51Z

Tiger Woods believes long putters should be banned, and he's even talked to the head of the R&A about how do it.

Woods dropped that news into a press conference at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Tuesday, immediately sending a ripple across Pebble Beach's practice putting greens, where more and more tour pros can be seen using long putters - both belly and broomstick - each year.

Woods said that he's a traditionalist when it comes to putting, and believes the putting stroke requires moving both hands and the end of the putter. So Woods' idea is that anchoring a putter against one's belly or sternum should be disallowed; but that anchoring the putter shaft against one's arm would be OK.

The bigger idea from Woods on Tuesday, however, was a limit on the length of putters: Woods wants to limit putters to no longer than the shortest other club in a golfer's bag. And he said he's talked this idea over with R&A chief executive Peter Dawson over the past couple years. The idea has been kicked around enough, Woods said, that enforcement procedures - such as pre-round measurements - have even been discussed between Woods and Dawson.

Does this make a ban on belly putters and broomstick putters likely? I'm not ready to go that far yet; but it certainly makes it more likely than it appeared to be yesterday. When Woods talks, the game's bigshots listen.

It's important to note, though, that Woods is talking about tournament golfers playing tournament golf. Banning long putters for recreational golfers would be very difficult at this point, far more difficult than limiting putter length for tour pros. (Which doesn't mean it couldn't happen, of course.)

It will be very interesting to hear the reactions to Woods' idea from some of golf's elder statesmen, such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Sir Michael Bonnallack and David Fay.

What do you think: Do you favor or oppose a ban of long putters? Do you think such a ban will ever happen, or is the proverbial cat out of the bag?

Read more about Woods' suggestion

Tiger Woods: Ban Long Putters originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 16:49:51.

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LPGA Season Tees Off In Australia

2012-02-07T12:54:27Z

The Women's Australian Open is cosanctioned by the LPGA this year, which means that when the tournament tees off on Thursday, so does the 2012 LPGA Tour season.

Some of the big names are playing Down Under: Yani Tseng, Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lincicome, Jiyai Shin. Turning-17-year-old pro Lexi Thompson and 14-year-old amateur Lydia Ko. Others are waiting until next week's Honda LPGA Thailand tourney to tee off their seasons (including Na Yeon Choi, Paula Creamer, I.K. Kim, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen and Michelle Wie).

Regardless of whether the stars begin in Australia or Thailand, they are all chasing Tseng. Can anyone compete with her in 2012 for Player of the Year honors?

In 2011, Tseng won seven times on the LPGA Tour, including two majors. She lead the tour in money and scoring. Tseng also lead the LPGA in birdies, sub-par rounds, rounds in the 60s, Top 10 percentage and driving average.

I believe that Creamer has a big year - five or more wins, one or more majors - in her. But there's nothing pointing to 2012 being that year. I.K. Kim is a good dark-horse candidate to challenge Tseng, but Kim has never won more than once in a season and is coming off a winless 2011 on the LPGA.

How Shin will play this year is a bit of mystery. If she's the player we saw in 2009-10, then yes, Shin can challenge Tseng. If she's the player we saw last year - injury-plagued, short on confidence - no.

The best bet for a challenger to Tseng is Na Yeon Choi. She's shown herself capable of multiple-win seasons; she has a scoring title and money title in her pocket. She finished 2011 strong.

What do you think: Can anyone challenge Tseng this season, and if so, who will it be?

See also:
2012 LPGA Tour schedule

LPGA Season Tees Off In Australia originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 12:54:27.

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