This week, Tiger roars back… in ads.  To promote the release of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 which arrives on Tuesday, EA unveiled an ad campaign which is really fun.  In fact, based on the “behind the scenes” video, it looks like it was as much fun to shoot as it is to watch.

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, the EA ads were shot on May 11 in Orlando.  The campaign, by San Francisco advertising firm Heat, includes online-video ads that will appear on sites such as Facebook.

In the Journal story, Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, was quoted saying, “It was time to bring some life and fun back into golf.”

Indeed!  Check out the clips below.  The “Team Golf” concept is communicated through Tiger and his mates participating in unusual golf environments: curling, soccer, hockey, etc.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 for the Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 will be available on Tuesday.  List price is $59.95.

The curling video:

Behind the scenes with Rickie Fowler:

…and you thought the only one doing the text messaging was Tiger Woods! Ok, ok, that was bad. Sorry.

The other day while reading the GolfCrunch Twitter Feed (follow us @GolfCrunchLive) I happened to notice a few tweets from British Open Champion Stewart Cink (@StewartCink). He first posted an image of one of the tee sheets posted in the locker room. This is typical week-to-week stuff that players see. In fact, in my younger playing days myself I can remember this being the case. I played in quite a few amateur tournaments, and it was normal (and expected) to see tee times posted in the locker room and pro shop… and in the local paper (of course!). Nothing about this shocked me at all, but Stewart’s following tweet certainly perked my interest.

Cink went on to note that the tour sends out text messages to each player, letting them know exactly when their tee time is. Talk about convenient! I trust that all tour players have a cell phone handy, as they are world travelers, are always on the road, and need some sort of communication device at all times to stay in touch with family. When the PGA Tour sends texts like this to players, it’s not only convenient, but it’s instant, and the tour can be assured players know INSTANTLY what their tee time is once the message goes out. Great stuff.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is a step closer to playing the U.S. Open.  He earned one of seven qualifying spots Thursday at The Honors Golf Club of Dallas. Romo birdied three of his last four holes to shoot 69, then survived a four-for-three playoff to advance. He took just 12 putts on the back nine.  It was the first time in three attempts that Romo advanced to sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open.

Romo will play a 36-hole sectional qualifier June 7 at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. At least one player from each of 13 sectional qualifiers will advance to the U.S. Open that will be played June 17-20 at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links.

In other local qualifying events held during the past two weeks, former MLB pitcher John Smoltz, Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee and Minnesota Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell failed to advance to sectional qualifying.

Source:  Golfweek

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Juli Inkster (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

The first-round matches at the Sybase Match Play Championship played at Hamilton Farm Golf Club are in the books. Ten of the top-ten players in the Rolex Rankings started the day and only seven advanced to the second round.

• Rolex Rankings No. 3 Suzann Pettersen was upset by LPGA Hall of Fame member Juli Inkster, No. 6 Anna Nordqvist was beat by Shi Hyun Ahn and No. 9 Na Yeon Choi suffered a loss at the hands of Karine Icher.

• All three rookies in the field won their first-round matches. Amanda Blumenherst upset Stacy Lewis 1 UP. Sponsor’s invite Beatriz Recari won over Brittany Lincicome 1 UP, while Azahara Munoz defeated last week’s winner Se Ri Pak 3&2.

• The biggest margin of victory was 5&4 by Sophie Gustafson over Na On Min and Candie Kung over Natalie Gulbis.

• Michelle Wie rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to take the lead and posted a 2-up victory over a tough Stacy Prammanasudh (Source: GolfChannel.com)

• Six matches went extra holes and another six ended on the 18th hole.

Complete round-up and results can be found here.

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Rallying from four strokes back Adam Scott edged Frederik Jacobson by a stroke to win the Valero Texas Open on the new AT&T Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio.  It took 36-holes on Sunday to pull of his first PGA Tour victory in two years.

The course was designed by Scott’s fellow countrymen (and hero) Greg Norman, who sent a congratulatory message after Scott’s first win since the Australian Open in December.  Norman’s note meant a lot to Scott. So did this victory.

“I questioned myself at times last year whether I was a great player or not,” Scott said. “I still feel I am.”

You can read about it here and watch the post-tournament interview with Adam Scott here.

Another interesting read is this post, where Scott Walker of The Golf Channel provides a glimpse of what wasn’t shown on television — like the beer shower Ernie Els gave Adam Scott.

In his write-up, Walker also pointed out that Jimmy Walker (no relation) who finished tied for third place, had played dozens of rounds at TPC San Antonio trying to figure out the course (Note:  He lives about 35 miles away).

“His advance scouting should make it a cinch for him to keep his card in 2010, making it time well spent. Plus, that $317,200 will come in handy with his first child due to a matter of days.”

Good stuff.  Exciting golf and back-stories!  Just goes to show that interesting stories can be found wherever the PGA Tour lands (even tournaments where Phil and Tiger aren’t entered).

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