Checkered Past

PGA drafting with NASCAR?

Likening it to "mixing white wine and Old Milwaukee, Porsches and Pontiacs, croutons and crackers," Steve Elling writes in The Orlando Sentinel that the PGA might be taking a page from NASCAR's book (the Brian France edition).

In an attempt to invigorate fall TV ratings, the Tour might adopt some kind of system like NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup points format.

You'll forgive Elling his out-of-date Pontiac reference. This is probably a guy who spends more time on Sundays lining up putts than studying race lineups.

"Next week in Atlanta," Elling writes, "PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is expected to shed some light on what likely will represent the most provocative change in the circuit's lengthy history by copying a template from an organization located a few gear shifts down the interstate. "Hello, NASCAR." This just in: People cut back on their golf-watching when football season starts, too. As has been the case with NASCAR, Elling notes, the PGA plan would proceed "at the risk of marginalizing or eliminating some events that put the Tour on the map in the first place." Yep, that's the Brian France edition all right.

Do they drive like they... drive?

There have always been a handful of drivers - in every racing series and era - who, like Twain, enjoyed spoiling a good walk. Or spoiling a good ride, maybe, by using a golf cart. You can count Nextel Cup drivers Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Elliott Sadler and Jamie McMurray among those currently under golf's spell.

I've heard the TV guys refer to Jarrett's abilities and understood him to have played very well in some celebrity pro-ams and the like. He's also teamed up with Phil Mickelson on behalf of Ford.

And Wallace isn't shy about his love of the game. He even has a ubiquitous golf ball's branding on his Busch car.

But I don't really know anything about their games. Or of those other three guys'. So I wonder if they drive like they ... well, drive. Pitch and putt like they pit. And so on.

We'll apparently get to find out very soon, thanks to the Golf Channel.

The all-golf, all-the-time cable network will feature the five wheelmen in its  "Big Break All Star Challenge" at the Peninsula Club at Lake Norman in the days to come. It will be a version of Golf Channel's wildly popular reality show "The Big Break.''

The NASCAR stars will play for charity. And bragging rights, of course. A previous "All-Star Challenge" featured members of the Boston Red Sox.

We'll hope to find out more, even see how these guys do at the Peninsula track. We'll let you know, hopefully, without spilling too many of the beans.

Golf Channel will air the segment on July 5.

Uh, Tiger, they need to see you over at the NASCAR hauler

Gotta thank co-conspirator and occasional golf partner Chad Sitler for sitting in for me over the weekend - and some this week, too. He's been doing a heckuva job.

I suspect he and I will share this blog space more, maybe even reprise the "Point-Counterpoint" format. Not that he and I disagree all the time, of course.

I could tell you I hated missing work during the Talladega race weekend, but that wouldn't quite be accurate. I watched every second of both races, including all of Saturday's rain delays, but I was a lot less busy right after the races than I usually am.

And Chad was certainly right in his suspicions: My absence did have a little to do with golf and single-malts. And the golf part - at least - has carried over into this week.

The Wachovia Championship is in Charlotte this week. If golf interests you - or is among your passions - you oughta take a second to see this little ditty that our friends at The Charlotte Observer, charlotte.com and television partner WCNC put together on the tournament's Quail Hollow Club layout.

The PGA Tour event, which draws a field filled with golf's top dogs, is part of what makes May a great time to be in Charlotte. In addition to the golf, as you may be aware, we also have some incredible races coming up here later this month.

I think it's a good thing the schedule has the golf at the first of May and racing at the end. Because how bad would it be if they came closer to overlapping? No, we're not fretting over the extra traffic or the potential wardrobe clashes as golf fans and race fans co-mingle at the mall.

What worries us is the likelihood of NASCAR officials ending up at the golf course and the PGA's white hats showing up at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

If it happened, the PGA officials might actually make pre-race inspection a little less stressful for many NASCAR teams. I'll leave it to you to decide if that would be a good thing or not.

But it could be disastrous for NASCAR's "room of doom" inspection station to be erected at the golf course. Not that I wouldn't like to see how Tiger Woods' and Hank Keune's drivers fit the templates. Or not.

Clearly, they're not gonna find any restrictor plates there.

But what kind of golf tournament would we have if, after Tuesday's practice rounds, NASCAR impounded everyone's clubs until Sunday?