Although an official anouncement apparently is not coming for three more weeks, a number of sources are reporting that this will be the last year the Grand Slam of Golf event will be played in Hawaii.

“Similar to the PGA’s other major events — the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup — we’ve decided to take it on the road and let spectators from different parts of the country experience the toughest tournament to qualify for,” said Julius Mason, senior director of communications and media relations for the PGA of America.

That’s the official word, but I’ve got another idea. I’ll bet it’s enormously expensive to run a television production from Hawaii, and they’d liek to cut costs. And I also wouldn’t be surprised to find out that someone has offered them a lot more money for the right to host the tournament.

One location that’s being talked about is Las Vegas. Considerin the amount of money the casinos are willing to pay the likes of Wayne Newton and Celine Dion in the name of entertainment, I’d think that having the four major winners show up for a few days would be worth a lot.

The big downside I can see is that a shift in time zones would keep them from showing it live in primetime.

I missed this one. Apparently David Toms had surgery on Thursday to correct the heart malfunction taht resulted in teh big scare at last September’s 84 Lumber Classic.

I’m reading about this sort of tragedy with depressingly increasing frequency.

In this case, a 16-year-old girl in Sydney was killed when she was struck in the temple by a golf ball. She had been playing in a golfing competition.

As crowded as courses are these days, I think that we have to be extra careful when we take a swing to be sure that people are out of the line of fire—especially people within a hundred yards—which is too close for anyone to react with a “fore.”

It also makes it increasingly unfunny to hit into a group ahead ... something that I’ve seen people do for yucks.

Its College Football Saturday again

If you like the feel of Winn Grips (I don’t personally like them, but I know a bunch of golfers who do), you might want to look into the collegiate grips. They’re in your favorite college colors, with a logo emblazoned on the surface. The following teams are available: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana State, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas.

Winn College Grips

David Duval stumbled a bit out of the gate in the second round of the Dunlop Phoenix Open, but came back to shoot a 68, just one shot off of Jim Furyk’s lead—and tied with Tiger.

If Duval is back, its a good thing for golf—it would be a great story for 2006, and if he can provide some real competition, might be the thing to push Tiger to ever higher heights.