There’s an AP article making the rounds that opens

In what Robert Louis Stevenson called “the most felicitous meeting of land and sea,” the sea was winning Wednesday at Pebble Beach.

Other writers have picked up the line, as writers and editors are wont to do, feeding off each other.

It’s a nice quote, but it didn’t sound familiar to me. I’ve read Stevenson extensively, including his travelogues, and I just couldn’t place the quote (I actually re-read much of them recently, looking for source material for the AP US History Class I teach). Stevenson lived in Monterey from August to December 1879 while recovering from an illness caused by his transcontinental US trip. From that trip, and his subsequent stay in California, Stevenson wrote The Silverado Squatters, the Amateur Emigrant, Across The Plains and The Old And New Pacific Capitals (specifically about Monterrey).

Wondering in which work he made the comment, I downloaded the books’ text files from Project Gutenberg and ran a search: nothing. I then downloaded the collection of his letters. Again, nothing. Finally, I downloaded the 25 volume collection of Stevenson’s works. Not only does the quote not appear, he never once used the word “felicitous.” Felicity, yes. But not felicitous. The phrase “land and sea” is used in a couple of places, but the closest that came is San Diego.

So there doesn’t appear to be any record of Stevenson having said this. My only supposition at this point is that the quote either comes from an unpublished letter, or from some sort of oral lore from the course. My suspicious are raised, however, because “felicitous” doesn’t appear anywhere else in Stevenson’s works.

For the record, after the break, you’ll find Stevenson’s description of Monterey from The Old and New Pacific Capitals:

I was looking over a press release from Golf Magazine declaring that Rory McIlroy is their “Player of the Year” and all I could think was: Why not Yani Tseng?

For the year, Tseng has seven wins, and thirteen top tens. One of those wins was the British Women’s Open.

In comparison, McIlroy has one win (albeit the US Open) on the European and PGA Tours and ten top tens (he also has that victory in Shanghai).

Doesn’t seem like there’s any comparison. Tseng by a length.

I’d even argue that McIlroy hasn’t put in the best performance by a male player. That probably belongs to Luke Donald, with two wins on the PGA Tour and two more on the European, plus the money title. That’s a remarkable year, even without a Major. Keegan Bradley also has two wins, including a Major. Mark Wilson and Nick Watney also have two wins.

The release somehow tries to justify the pick by saying that McIlroy has “transcended golf.” But if that’s their criteria, then Golf Magazine should change the award from “Golf Magazine Player of the Year” to “Golf Magazine’s Most Popular Male Player of the Year.”

Otherwise, the title belongs to Yani Tseng.

The GM press release follows:

If you missed the Shark’s interview with David Feherty, you can find it on his site.

Every Monday I receive an email update from Golf.Com with news from the past weekend’s tournaments. It’s called the Forecast, and each and every week it results in a jarringly stupid headline like this one:

Forecast: Stricker wins 2011 Memorial

A Forecast is a prediction, and we know that Stricker already has won the Memorial. So why is it a Forecast? Because the folk at Golf.Com think they’re being clever. Fore!—as in don’t let it hit you—cast. Get it? Only they’re too clever by half. It’s petty, I know, but it drives me to distraction.

I recently received some sample issues of G Magazine, a high-end golf publication. Very slick, with lots of great photos, and some interesting articles. It’s also VERY different from the Golf Digest/Golf Magazine genre.

They’ve let me run a GolfBlogger deal. Subscribe now to G or G Women Golfs Lifestyle & Travel Magazine and receive two extra issues completely free.

Actually, this might be best for a subscription for a dentists’s or architect’s office table, or at a golf club.

As I was watching the Phoenix Open this past week, I realized that there has never been a better time to be a professional golf fan. Even as CBS and NBC were otherwise occupied, there still was more than enough coverage to satisfy the die hard aficionado.

The Golf Channel was of course the primary spear carrier for the week. As they do with nearly every tournament now, the cable network provided coverage of the Thursday and Friday rounds, once live and once on a replay later in the evening. Then, in the absence of regular network PGA Tour late round coverage, the Golf Channel stepped into the gap and covered the Phoenix Open on the weekend, too.

There’s been a lot of grousing about the quality of Golf Channel broadcasts (including more than a little by this writer), but they’re either getting better, or I’m getting used to it. I suppose it takes a while for any performer to find his “voice.” Whatever your opinion of The Golf Channel’s work, it’s worth remembering that just a couple of years ago, there was no coverage of the early rounds on any station. Nor would we likely have enjoyed full coverage in the face of a conflicting premiere sporting event.

ESPN also has stepped up its game, offering extended coverage of the Masters, the US Open and the Open Championship. TNT takes up the slack with the PGA Championship. Live streaming means that you can watch anywhere you have an internet connection (and that’s practically anywhere these days). Add to that TGC’s European Tour and LPGA coverage, and there has never been more golf on television.

Television is only half the story, though. PGA radio is available on Sirius/XM at all times of the day and night. The PGA Tour website offers a nifty shot tracker application which gives a graphical play-by-play of individual players and groups. Dozens of websites offer live leaderboard updates. Mobile apps bring scores and updates directly to my Blackberry.

Thanks to the web, I have access to the golf coverage of many hundreds of newspapers and “old media” columnists. I get to read Jim Bohannon or Doug Ferguson’s columns whenenever I wish, and not just when my local paper (actually, there is no local daily in Detroit any more) decides to syndicate one. I can read about golf in the New York Times, The Scotsman or The Hindu. Type “golf” in the search box on the Google News Page, and it returns thousands of up-to-date articles from around the globe.

And then there’s the “new” media. Twitter and Facebook let me get updates directly from players. The Tour broadcasts daily tournament highlights from YouTube. And that’s not to mention the opinion pieces written on the tens of thousands of golf blogs around the net.

It’s professional Tour overload. And I’m really enjoying it.

Donald Trump will host six half-hour episodes of a celebrity golf show on the Golf Channel starting April 16. The show will feature a variety of celebrities competing against each other on Trump courses for charity.

It’ll be called Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf.

Not interested in celebrities. Not even if the Golf Channel somehow manages to improve its otherwise horrible production values.

What I would be interested in, on the other hand, is a return of something like Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, featuring pairings of stars from all the Tours. And maybe even some LPGA v PGA Tour or Euro matchups. Stick them on some beautifully classic courses, with some tight editing and a good announcer, and you’ve got a good show.