Hooters was sold to a group of private investors on Monday, and golf pundits are wondering what it means for the minor league Hooters Tour. The company apparently is committed to golf through 2011, but after that, who knows?

The bigger question: What’s Daly going to do?

Adams Golf has purchased putter manufacturer Yes! golf at a bankruptcy auction for $1.5 million. That includes the patents on the excellent “C” grooves that marked the Yes! line. Adams has previously been unsuccessful in jump starting its putter line, so buying a line with an established reputation makes a lot of sense.

As suggested in rumors several weeks ago, Fortune Brands, the parent company of Acushnet/Titleist will break up, selling off the golf division.

Here in part is the Reuters report:

(Reuters) - Fortune Brands Inc (FO.N) plans to split the company into three parts, giving investors pure plays in golf, home products and alcoholic drinks.

The announcement comes two months after activist investor William Ackman took an 11 percent stake in the company, whose brands like Jim Beam bourbon, Titleist golf balls and Moen faucets have little strategic overlap.

Under a plan approved by the board, Fortune will spin off its home and security unit to shareholders in a tax-free transaction, and either sell or spin off its golf unit, the company said on Wednesday.

Fortune would remain a publicly traded maker of spirits, with brands including Sauza tequila and Maker’s Mark bourbon.

Fortune Brands always has been a bit of a Frankenstein monster, owning a variety of seemingly disconnected lines such as Titleist, Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Moen Faucets, and Masterlock. Fortune Brands is descended from tobacco giant American Tobacco, which was chartered in 1890. Following a Supreme Court ordered break up in 1911, American Tobacco diversified into a variety of alcohol, office (Acco) and home wares products. It changed its name to American Brands in 1969, and became Fortune Brands in 1997. Brown and Williamson acquired the tobacco division in 1994.

Acushnet (Titleist) began as a rubber processing company in 1910. In 1932, it expanded its line to golf balls. Fortune Brands acquired the company in 1976. Fortune bought Foot-Joy in 1985 and Cobra Golf in 1996.

I’m not sure how this will make Fortune Brands stronger, but it surely is designed to make Ackman wealthier.

An interesting question is who would buy Acushnet/Titleist. It’s possible you’d see some interest from Callaway, TaylorMade or Nike just to get the patents and the Titleist brand. That makes the most sense. It also would be possible that a second tier company, like Bridgestone could make a play. I can’t imagine that Adams has the resources.

But lets think for a minute outside the box. How about Under Armor? They’ve made a big play into the golf market in recent years, with clothing and accessories. This would be a ready-made ball and club addition and make them an immediate force.

Or how about a retailer? Dick’s? Sports Authority? GolfSmith? Food for thought.

Hedge funder and “activist shareholder” William Ackman may get his way with plans to split Fortune Brands into three separate entities, perhaps selling off the seminal Titleist name to one of its golfing competitors. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management owns 11 percent of the company.

Fortune Brands always has been a bit of a Frankenstein monster, owning a variety of seemingly disconnected lines such as Titleist, Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Moen Faucets, and Masterlock. Fortune Brands is descended from tobacco giant American Tobacco, which was chartered in 1890. Following a Supreme Court ordered break up in 1911, American Tobacco diversified into a variety of alcohol, office (Acco) and home wares products. It changed its name to American Brands in 1969, and became Fortune Brands in 1997. Brown and Williamson acquired the tobacco division in 1994.

Acushnet (Titleist) began as a rubber processing company in 1910. In 1932, it expanded its line to golf balls. Fortune Brands acquired the company in 1976. Fortune bought Foot-Joy in 1985 and Cobra Golf in 1996.

Ackman is a prototypical corporate raider, who apparently wants to turn over his Fortune Brands stake into quick profits by selling off parts of the company. He’s been involved in several other machinations lately, including trying to acquire five seats on the Target board of directors, and acquiring a significant stake in JC Penny. That last action prompted Penny to begin anti-takeover actions. Tax issues apparently present the biggest obstacle to Ackman’s plans.

As it is now, Ackman apparently hopes that Callaway or Nike will buy the golf brands, and that Bacardi or Diageo will buy the spirits division. I frankly don’t see any good coming from this. The golf business already is an oligopoly, and this will just continue that trend. Nothing is served—other than Ackman’s bank account—by increasing that trend.

It appears that Cadillac is ready to return to golf, and sources say the auto company will sponsor the WGC-Doral event. It would replace Computer Associates (CA), which announced last spring that it would not be returning.

This is a significant move for the PGA Tour, and for General Motors, which had withdrawn all of its golf sponsorships following the government bailout. Through Buick, GM previously had Tiger Woods on contract, as well as sponsoring the Buick Invitational and the Buck Open in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Cadillac had at various times been one of the exclusive advertisers at The Masters, and had signed Fred Couples to an endorsement.

It’s just too bad that GM couldn’t get its act together before Michigan lost its only PGA Tour event.

I got the following press release from the PGA of America. I thought it sounded interesting.

Today, despite the ongoing recession, the golf industry has an impact on nearly 2 million jobs in the United States, and approximately $60 billion in wage income.
With the unemployment rate in the U.S hovering around 10 percent, one association has created a solution that serves as an invaluable resource tool for promoting jobs within the industry, while matching applicants with potential employers.  The PGA of America, comprised of 28,000 men and women PGA Professionals who share the common goal of growing interest and participation in the game of golf, as part of their employment services division, has unveiled http://pgajobfinder.pgalinks.com, which highlights a breadth of available jobs within the golf industry today.
With approximately 300 jobs currently available at http://pgajobfinder.pgalinks.com, including sales reps, membership directors, teaching professionals, caddies, on-course starters and more, The PGA of America is doing its part to help lower the unemployment rate in the U.S., as job applicants and employers can easily log on to the site to take advantage of the available resources.
In fact, as part of the program, the PGA has also assigned regional “employment consultants” who work closely with job applicants & employers, identifying the applicants skill sets and essentially matching them with employers, such as golf courses, practice facilities, equipment manufacturers, golf resorts, golf marketing companies, tournament services, etc.

There’s only a peripheral connection to golf, but I found these rankings interesting. This is a list of the Top 75 Universities, in terms of licensed products sold, as compiled from the Collegiate Licensing Company:

Top-75 Universities
(1.) The University of Texas at Austin (2.) The University of Alabama (3.) University of Florida (4.) Louisiana State University (5.) The University of North Carolina (6.) University of Georgia (7.) The University of Michigan (8.) University of Kentucky (9.) The Pennsylvania State University (10.) The University of Oklahoma (11.) University of Notre Dame (12.) University of Tennessee (13.) West Virginia University (14.) University of Nebraska (15.) Auburn University (16.) University of Wisconsin (17.) The University of Kansas (18.) University of Missouri (19.) Florida State University (20.) University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (21.) Texas A&M University (22.) University of Illinois (23.) University of South Carolina (24.) Texas Tech University (25.) Clemson University (26.) Oklahoma State University (27.) University of Miami (28.) Purdue University (29.) The University of Minnesota (30.) Duke University (31.) University of Louisville (32.) The University of Arizona (33.) University of California, Berkeley (34.) University of Washington (35.) University of California, Los Angeles (36.) University of Mississippi (37.) Syracuse University (38.) Oregon State University (39.) Kansas State University (40.) University of Maryland (41.) Georgia Institute of Technology (42.) Washington State University (43.) University of Virginia (44.) University of Cincinnati (45.) University of Pittsburgh (46.) Boise State University (47.) University of Colorado (48.) Stanford University (49.) University of Utah (50.) University of Connecticut (51.) Brigham Young University (52.) Texas Christian University (53.) State University of New Jersey (54.) East Carolina University (55.) Boston College (56.) The University of Montana (57.) University of South Florida (58.) The University of Memphis (59.) U.S. Military Academy (60.) The University of New Mexico (61.) Fresno State (62.) Vanderbilt University (63.) Georgetown University (64.) Marshall University (65.) Colorado State University (66.) University of Central Florida (67.) University of Houston (68.) Northwestern University (69.) Gonzaga University (70.) The University of Wyoming (71.) Villanova University (72.) University of Nevada (73.) University of Delaware (74.) Texas State University- San Marcos (75.) James Madison University

I honestly thought the University of Michigan would be one or two. I’m very much surprised that my alma mater, West Virginia University, is ranked 13th. For a small school in a small state, that’s pretty good. I guess those Mountaineer fans are dedicated to buying logo products. I myself own four or five WVU golf shirts, and a couple of sweatshirts.

Hmm. Ohio State doesn’t appear to break the top 75.