Lorne Rubenstein

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- For a treacherous course that looks benign, given its spacious fairways and huge greens, think of Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters starts Thursday. The golfer who doesn't focus more intently than at just about any course will be gone, gone, gone by the end of the second round. That's especially true around and on the greens.

It's a shame that 2009 will be remembered more for the revelations about Tiger Woods' tawdry off-course escapades than other notable happenings in the game. So here are a few events that made news, and, for readers looking for a last-minute Christmas gift, a couple of books worth considering.

Rory McIlroy didn't win the Dubai World Championship or the Race to Dubai (the new name for the European Tour Order of Merit) Sunday. Each of those honors went to Lee Westwood, the 36-year-old English golfer who shot a final-round 64 to win the tournament by six shots over his fellow countryman Ross McGowan. McIlroy finished third in the vent and second in the Race to Dubai.

No course tests a golfer more comprehensively than a links, given the ingenuity that layout demands.
Experience and open-mindedness toward hitting a variety of shots matter more at the British Open than the other three majors, and will again when the championship starts Thursday morning at Turnberry in Ayrshire, Scotland.
It's no wonder, then, that Greg Norman, 54, and Tom Watson, 59, have been feeling chipper in the run-up to the Open. They have a chance. Seriously.
Norman turned back the clock last year, when he took the lead into the final round of the championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, before finishing in a tie for third behind winner Padraig Harrington. Norman won the first of his two Opens at Turnberry in 1986, a generation before.