Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

I’ve taken a big first step for all of us, I hope. It isn’t an original thought on my part. Others have suggested doing this. I simply took it up a notch.

I mailed a letter to the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club suggesting that they credential a golf blogger for the Masters each year. I also decided I could make the sacrifice and be first. In fairness, I explained that the blogger attending should be someone different each year to keep the experience fresh. My goal, as I explained to the Chairman, is to present the tournament to readers as a vicarious visit to the grounds, with all the wide-eyed wonder of a first-time patron rather than as a typical sportswriter who knows all the players and has walked the course many times in the past.

A wonderful touch to your already-impressive web site would be real-time coverage on the internet. We already have coverage, with minimal commercial interruption, on television. But while the networks cover the leaders and extraordinary shots repetitively, it becomes like a vapor and diminishes with time. The written word does not. And someone coming late to the telecast misses something. Newspapers and magazines bring us the story–after it is done. I would like to be the first to change that by live-blogging the 2006 Masters Tournament.

I don’t know that I’ll even get a response, but I mentioned it to Jay Flemma, and he believes it can’t do anything but improve our opportunities in the future.

So, that becomes something of a challenge to you all. If there is a tour event in your neck of the woods, see if the organizers are willing to give you press credentials and allow you to wander to course with a notebook computer and wireless access. Maybe we can turn this into a regular feature of the Tour. Contact me via email, and I’ll provide you the text of my letter to Augusta as a template for your own request. If we build a network of golf bloggers and share experiences in both writing for permission and how we cover and blog a tournament we can enjoy up-close access and provide our readers with an experience unique in sports.

And we’d compete each year for the Majors!

Of all the networks, CBS has to be the worst at covering golf. I tuned in to watch John Daly, but he has dropped back from the top of the leaderboard, so they won’t show him at all.

Oh, excuse me. Daly makes two birdies in a row and they decide to show one of his putts.

On top of that, they were discussing Vijay Singh’s election into the Golf Hall of Fame. What other sport allows someone to get into their HoF while still playing? Then, one of the announcers made the comment that the vote system is obviously flawed because Singh only got 56% of the votes. “It’s a travesty that someone with Vijay’s record gets only 56% of the votes.” Normally, at least 65% is required. But when nobody gets that amount, the top vote-getter gets in as long as he received at least 50%.

The travesty is that Singh is in. He has had a very good career, but it isn’t yet over. Why is it important for him to even be considered?

Back to CBS. Terrible. Only the players in first or second place get any coverage. Then, there are plenty of non-tournament segments.

When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey. When I drink water, I drink water. When I watch golf, I want to watch golf. I don’t want to see only the shots made by the player currently leading, and a bunch of filler and commercials.