A few days ago, we showed you how we’re using the Google Earth plug-in to showcase courses in Google Earth directly on the site.  Now we’ve added the ability for you to embed a course on your site with just a simple line of code!

When viewing a course using our plug-in page (like this one for Bobby Jones), you’ll see a line at the top that says “Embed this map on your site”.  Copy the code next to that, paste it on your site, and that’s it!  When visitors come to your site, they’ll be able to view the course in full 3D, right in their browser!

If you have any questions or problems, please let us know.  In the meantime, here is an example of an embedded course:

Yesterday at the Google I/O Conference, Google released the Google Earth plug-in.  It’s a downloadable plug-in for Windows-based browsers which allows users to view Google Earth content right in the browser!  It’s pretty slick.  For info about the plug-in can be found here.

In an effort to keep our site as useful as possible, we’ve integrated this into all of our course listings.  You can find a link to the plug-in as shown in the screenshot below:

Clicking on the link will prompt you to install the plug-in, if you don’t already have it.  Once you’ve installed it, you can view the course details in 3D without leaving the site!  Here is a screenshot of that:

We hope you find this new feature useful.  If you have any questions or problems, please let us know.

With a 9-foot birdie putt on the last hole, Phil Mickelson secured a one-stroke victory over Tim Clark and Rod Pampling at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

The victory was Mickelson’s 34th on the PGA Tour.  ESPN has a nice recap of the event.

In a strange coincidence, Ryuji Imada won the AT&T Classic thanks to Kenny Perry’s shot on the playoff hole ending up in the water — the exact same thing that happened to Imada last year.

At first, Perry’s shot looked like it might work out great.  It flew far right of the green, hit a tree, then started rolling back across the green.  However, it had a bit too much speed and kept going until it found its way to the water.

It certainly was an exciting way for Imada to get his first win.  You can read more about how the tournament unfolded over on ESPN.

After Sergio Garcia won the Players Championship last week, he had a funny little quip after it was over.

“First of all, I want to thank Tiger for not being here.  That always makes things a little bit easier.”

I love that for two reasons.  First, he acknowledges that Tiger is better than him.  To suggest otherwise would be crazy and arrogant.  Second, it’s just plain funny.

As strange as it may be, I think a little higher of Sergio because of that small comment.

Annika Sorenstam has decided to retire at the end of the season to focus on her family and to work some other golf-related businesses. Here is an interview where she explains her decision:

Picture this: The year is 2013. Tiger Woods, with 20 majors in the bag and chronic bad back and bad knees, is dialing down a bit with his schedule. Taking center stage and dueling for the big trophies are a couple of young 30-somethings — Adam Scott and Ryan Moore.

Perhaps Sunday was merely a prelude of things to come. Scott and Moore fought to a third playoff hole, with Scott winning the Byron Nelson on a 40-foot birdie putt. It was Scott’s sixth win on the PGA Tour and Moore’s fourth second-place finish without a victory.

But you know Moore will get his, perhaps sooner than later. At 25, he’s without a doubt the most talented young American player on the PGA Tour. A world beater while at UNLV, Moore was the first player since Woods to go straight from college to the Tour and earned his card without going through Q-school.

Meanwhile, Scott just might be the best 20-something player on the planet. He’s taking over that tag from the heretofore wunderkind Sergio Garcia. The 27-year-old Aussie has a big-time game that’s only been kept from busting out by his balky putter. And, having won the Players Championship, he needs to start collecting majors to fill out his resume.

It might seem a sad indictment that when Trevor Immelman won the Masters, he became the only player currently in his 20s to own a major championship. But if Scott and Moore have their say, that will change. Both players have unlimited potential, but they have holes in their game that need to be addressed before they’re able to contend with the Tigers, Phils and Els of the world.

The first thing on the agenda is winning. Scott is doing that, and now it’s Moore’s turn. His decision to skip some early-season tournaments to nurse a sore shoulder and a bum hand paid off with a steady performance at the Nelson. It’s time for him to take home some actual hardware instead of hefty checks.

 

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem recently floated — actually, backed — the idea of getting golf back into the Olympic Games. Golf, which was dropped from the Games in 1904, will have an opportunity to state its case and be admitted for the 2016 Games, wherever that may be.

The chances are not good. There are seven sports applying for two slots: Baseball and softball, which were dropped for the 2012 London Games, along with rugby are probably best positioned for admittance. And there are also longshots Karate, roller sports and squash.

Golf’s chances are slim to none because it will not receive the backing of a majority of the International Olympic Committee member nations. Except for South Africa, none of the African countries would sponsor golf. The same goes for most of Asia and Latin America. Besides, golf also has this inconvenient image of being an elite sport, in an age when egalitarianism rules the day.

But the biggest issue is this: Most of golf’s elite players don’t give a hoot about the Olympics, starting with Tiger Woods. By 2016, Tiger will be 40 and probably already have Jack’s record in the bag. I just don’t see him getting all that jacked about a gold medal. Besides, the Olympics most likely will take place during the middle of the majors run — right around the time between the British Open and the PGA, another reason why few elite players would be all that interested.

In addition, golf has absolutely no tradition in the Olympics. Having been out of the Games for over 100 years, it’s been out of sight, out of mind.

We’ll know for sure in about a year and a half from now. But no worries. This is just another bad idea from Finchem. We just hope that some of his other ones would go away as easily.

Say, like the FedEx Cup?

 

 

 

Tim Finchem sounded both smug and defensive when the PGA Tour inexplicably signed a 15-year deal with the Golf Channel before the 2007 season.

Inexplicably is right.

Why anyone would dump ESPN, the most-watched cable network in the English-speaking world, for a glorified infomercial outlet is beyond any reason. And a little more than a year into the contract, Finchem is defensive as ever but no longer smug — for the PGA Tour is paying a dear price.

Money ostensibly was why Finchem and his cronies opted for TGC. ESPN was playing hardball, forecasting (accurately, as it turned out) that sportswriter talk shows such as “Pardon the Interruption” and “Around the Horn” can carry the afternoon slot as well as any mid-week golf tournament. TGC, hungry for actual programming and backed by Comcast’s deep pocket, was much more accommodating.

But there were just two problems: 1. TGC has no real talent. 2. The drive-by audience vanished.

There was no better illustration of TGC’s talent problem than the Kelly Tilghman fiasco that blew up during the 2008 Mercedes Championship — the year’s first tournament. Overwhelmed by the responsibility and lacking both experience and gravitas, Tilghman’s “lynch” gaffe exposed the network’s inability to bring forth a quality broadcast. While TGC paid top dollar for Nick Faldo as an analyst, it utterly struck out with Tilghman, a green cheerleader.

As if that wasn’t enough to tank its ratings, the second problem cemented it. ESPN is one of those channels that men, in the desirable demographic of 18-49, are predisposed to tune to even if nothing is on. Call it the default channel: I see TV, I tune to ESPN. They’re that way at home, they’re that way on the road.

When I’m flipping around for something to watch at home, my fingers go for 2-0-6 much more frequently than 6-0-5 on my DirecTV. In fact, it took me awhile to even remember 605. When I travel for business, I flip around for ESPN and will always find it. As for the Golf Channel, most of the name-brand hotels — Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton — don’t even include it on their in-room TV package because it’s way too obscure.

The recently completed Masters couldn’t have shed a harsher light on this. For the first time ever, ESPN got to broadcast the Thursday and Friday rounds. And of course, the Friday telecast scored the highest rating ever for golf on cable. Billy Payne, in his second year on the job as the chairman of Augusta National, knew what ESPN could bring to the table. And he hit a home run.

While Finchem continues to swing and miss … for another 13 1/2 years.

 

In 2004, in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links final, two players who could not be more different faced off for the title.

One stood 6-foot-2, already ballyhooed as the Tiger Woods of women’s golf, and at 14, was making lots of noises about playing in the Masters and has already competed on the PGA Tour. The other was a tiny 5-foot-4 waif from Taiwan, who’s a dominant junior player at the age of 15 — but nobody’s ever heard of her.

When Yani Tseng birdied the final hole on the Green Course at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., she won the grueling 36-hole final, 1-up. The vanquished sobbed in the arms of her parents after failing to defend her title. Her name was Michelle Wie.

That was the closest Wie has come to winning anything ever since. Now at 18, she appears to be all but washed up. Wie is nowhere to be found on the LPGA Tour, with a tired old claim of a bum wrist that’s been bothering her for 18 months now. Her Rolex World Ranking is at No. 136.

Exactly one hundred spots ahead of her and the leading candidate for LPGA Rookie of the Year is none other than Tseng. The feisty little fireplug just claimed second in the Ginn Open. That’s no shame, though, as she finished three shots behind Lorena Ochoa — the real Tiger Woods of the LPGA.

Tseng may never get the $10 million endorsement deals that Wie received upon turning pro in 2006. But her career trajectory looks much more promising. Besides her Publinx win over Wie, she’s defeated Morgan Pressel in the 2005 North & South Women’s Championship and amassed 15 international victories as an amateur — four in the United States.

She turned pro in 2007 and after winning tournaments in India and Canada, went to Q-school and got her LPGA card by finishing sixth. This year, she’s made the cut in all six tournaments, with no worse than a 25th place finish and two second-place showings. Tseng is third on the money list and third in scoring average — behind the grand poobahs of the LPGA (Annika Sorenstam is second on both, if you really needed to ask).

So this is probably the most you’ve ever read about Tseng, or anyone else other than a half-dozen players on the LPGA. The media, meanwhile, continues to obsess about the former child prodigy, though the most interesting thing about her these days is that she’s dating a Stanford basketball player. If you’re wondering why the LPGA isn’t getting the attention it deserves, well, don’t blame the players.

Don’t blame Yani Tseng. Chances are, she doesn’t even care. Chances are, she’s somewhere working on the range to improve her game. Chances are, she will win a major, or two, long before Michelle Wie ever becomes relevant again — as a golfer.