- Blood In The Water:  Not a bad performance for a 53-year old who scarcely plays golf anymore.  With rounds of 71-73, Greg Norman currently sits tied for 20th more than halfway through the second round of the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai.  Norman opened on Thursday with a three-birdie, two-bogey 71 that had him tied for 14th, then again stood one under through 13 holes on Friday before a double-bogey, bogey run at the 5th and 6th (his 14th and 15th) set him back.  A late birdie at the eighth salvaged the 73, however, and with scoring generally remaining high, he doesn’t seem likely to fall to much further as afternoon groups complete play.

- The Human Sponsor Exemption…:  ...Is at it again – though despite being tied for 124th with a five-over-par 75, John Daly is not altogether out of it at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.  That’s because leaders Eric Axley, Mathew Goggin and Ryan Moore could only manage 67s on the D.A. Weibring-redesigned TPC Las Colinas, leaving Daly – theoretically, at least – within striking distance.  But the question remains: even at a light-field event such as this year’s Byron Nelson, why do tournament directors still use a valued spot on a player who is far more likely to withdraw after shooting 79 than ever contend on Sunday?  Helpful hint to said directors: with modern equipment, they all hit it out of sight.  It’s just that with Daly, you never know when he won’t show up at the other end to play the next one.

- The Return Of The PowerHouse:  PowerHouse McIntyre returned to action at the Vodacom Origins of Golf – Pretoria event on Tuesday, finishing round one in the middle of the field with a one-over-par 73.  But the PowerHouse being the PowerHouse, it was not without some excitement.  After a bogey at his fourth hole (the 13th), McIntyre reeled off birdies at the 15th, 17th and 18th to turn in 34, then proceeded to bogey four of his next seven holes to come home in 39.  The 21-year old South African native makes for an entertaining sidelight, but he may also be worth keeping an eye on; anyone capable of making as many birdies and eagles as he does might just iron out the bogeys (not to mention the “others”) with experience, and then look out.  Of course, there won’t be any keeping an eye on him for the rest of this week as he withdrew (with no reason reported on the Sunshine Tour website) prior to Wednesday’s second round.

- What Byron Would’ve Wanted:  Not that I blame either D.A. Weibring or the promoters of the Byron Nelson Championship for hyping the renovation of the TPC Las Colinas; to some extent, the future of the event is tied to this work being well-received.  But why, why, why must everybody insist on making fools of themselves by claiming that whatever design features they incorporated are exactly “what Byron would have wanted?”  I mean, seriously…

- What The Golf Channel Should Have Wanted:  With all of this pre-tournament hype regarding the “new” TPC Las Colinas, I sort of assumed that the Golf Channel would spend a bit of time showing us the changes, perhaps utilizing some aerials, before and after imagery, etc.  True, I only watched the first hour of Thursday’s broadcast, but all I gleaned of the alterations was that the greens have far more contour than before (stated simply by Nick Faldo, then mutilated in the usual vain attempts at humor by Gary McCord) and that there are better sight lines off the tees.  But of course, anyone who read any tournament previews pretty well knew all of that already...