John Daly’s 6 month PGA suspension is officially over.  Daly was suspended in November after numerous off the course incidents and had recently been playing on the European Tour.  He has been given a sponsor exemption to play in the St. Jude Invitational June 11-14 and is expected to play.

In other news, Daly wore bright pink trousers in the Sunday’s final round at the BMW PGA Championship as a gesture of support for Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  “I had a pair, so I figured I’d do that for her today. I thought it would be a good gesture,” Daly said of his trousers. “I know Phil very well and I know Amy. I’ve known them for a long time — we’ve played the Tour together. She’s a great lady. She has always been a sweetheart to everybody.”

Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Mickelson has indefinitely suspended his PGA Tour schedule to be with his wife during this time.  His wife will need more tests before beginning treatment, but major surgery could come within the next 2 weeks.

It’s always tough when a loved one has to battle a disease like cancer.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Amy, Phil and their children during this time.

Jose Maria Olazabal has been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.  He was elected with 56% of the vote and will be enshrined November 2.  He will join Steve Ballesteros as the only Spaniards in the Hall.  Olazabal’s resume includes 29 world victories and 2 Masters wins.

Nancy Lopez is looking to make herself more high profile on the LPGA Tour again.  Lopez, 52, cut back her playing schedule in 2002 in order to concentrate on raising her 3 children.  She told the Tennesseean that she had an 18 month plan for her comeback, including foot surgery.

The Hall of Famer has 48 victories,3 major wins and was one of the most popular players on tour.  She has played sporadically since 2002 but hasn’t made a cut in four years.

The European Ryder Cup team has changed the way team members will be selected.

Colin Montgomerie will now have 3 captain selections and four players will be taken from a points list based on world rankings.  The European team had only had 2 captain’s picks since 1995.

The European change follows the US teams change last year which gave the US captain 4 picks with the rest coming from a points based system.

Looks like the down economy has struck the golf world yet again.

This time, the British Masters has been dropped from this years European Tour after they were unable to secure a new title sponsor.  Quinn Insurance’s sponsorship ran out and no replacement could be found for the tournament.

The PGA and LPGA tours are not immune to the effects of reduced corporate spending.  U.S. Bank has dropped its sponsorship of the tour stop in Milwaukee, putting that tournament in serious jeopardy.  The LPGA has already begun lobbying hard for Anheuser-Busch to renew it’s deal with the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill.  The most current tournament at Kingsmill ended Sunday.

While John Daly still has 4 months remaining on his PGA Tour suspension, he is starting to get his game back on the European Tour.

Daly, who had tied for 31st at the Spanish Open last week, finished tied for 2nd at this weeks BMW Italian Open.  Daly shot at 31 on the back nine Sunday, with birdies on 11, 14, 16, and 17, in route to a 5-under 66.  It marked the 5th consecutive round in which Daly broke 70.

Daly has lost about 50 pounds and perhaps has matured since undergoing gastric band surgery in February.  When he finished second to Tiger Woods in the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship in San Fransisco, Daly drove to Las Vegas and lost $1 million gambling in just 30 minutes.

Here’s an interesting article I found regarding the ban of smoking on golf courses. If you are like me, you like to have a nice cigar while playing golf with the fellas.  I’d be a little disappointed if courses banned smoking on the course.

Now, I can understand the health concerns behind the bans that certain cities and states have on smoking in restaurants and other buildings.  It’s hard to escape large amounts of second hand smoke when you are crammed in a building with other people.  However, it’s very hard to suck in second hand smoke while outside.  So what is the health concern that courses will hang their hat on if they attempt to ban smoking?  Who knows.

All I know is that I would limit the courses that I play if any of my favorites decided to ban smoking.  I find it best to protest with my wallet.

What about you?  Do you think courses should ban smoking?  Would you stop playing at a course if they banned smoking?

Due to the economic climate, the 2009 Skins Game has been postponed.  The Thanksgiving weekend tradition for nearly 3 decades, was postponed by sponsors.  IMG, which manages the Skins Game, had been negotiating a contract extension with LG, when the Korean based electronics maker decided not to renew the contract.

IMG would like to see the Skins Game return in 2010, but without a title sponsor and declining ratings over the last few years, it seems unlikely that the all-star event will return.

While the PGA Tour and its tournaments have donated over $1 billion to charity in the last 70 years, David Toms wonders how high that number would be if it counted what the players do separate of the PGA Tour.  For example, the figure doesn’t include the millions the Tiger Woods Foundation has contributed to scholarships and grants or Phil Mickleson’s Start Smart or Birdies for the Brave programs.

That is going to change.

Commissioner Tim Finchem announced a plan Tuesday to highlight what golfers do for charity and get more tournaments, sponsors, volunteers and fans more involved so the tour can do even more.  The campaign will be called “Together, Anything is Possible” and will be launched in 2010.

The most visible part will be letting fans know what players are doing through different charities.  The Tour’s website will enable fans to see which players support which charities.  The thought is that this will drive fans to become more involved with charities supported by their favorite players or find out which players support their favorite charity.

Another key piece will be bringing tournaments, sponsors and charities together to learn different ways to raise money.

Finchem has said that the campaign has nothing to do with criticism from Rep. Barney Frank and Senator John Kerry over title sponsorship of golf tournaments.