- A Sure Cure…: …For insomnia!  Watching the first round of Tim Finchem’s beloved WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, it once again struck me that perhaps more than any other facility, the South course at the Firestone Country Club has come to symbolize the evolution of post-World War II golf design.  Created in 1960 when Robert Trent Jones completely rebuilt a fairly nondescript layout that had occupied the property since 1929, the South soon became the flagship of the Trent Jones fleet, its mix of length, narrow fairways and copious bunkering launching it to great fame both as a PGA Tour venue (where it remains a perennial fixture) and in the magazine rankings, where it actually cracked Golf Digest’s top 20 during the mid-1970s (!).  But as Trent’s brawny, not-terribly-interesting stylings fell out of favor, so has the South course; indeed, the layout today manages to crack the top 20 in the state of Ohio, but misses most national Top 100s by a wide margin.  More importantly (at least for our present purposes), it is a tremendously boring layout on which to watch a competitive event.  I mean, seriously, if the 667-yard 16th were 100 yards shorter, there might be some go-for-it-or-not interest there (but it isn’t) and after that, I find it difficult to tell one hole apart from another.  And so far as the event goes…  The quality of the field guarantees a a real measure of prestige for the winner – never a bad thing – but with the Open Championship only just receding in the rearview, and the PGA Championship coming up next week, this otherwise solid event is automatically relegated to also-ran status.  I would suggest moving it back a few weeks (towards where the old World Series of Golf was scheduled) but that might impede upon the climactic drama that is Finchem’s even more beloved FedEx Cup…
 
- At Sunningdale: Doing her best Greg Norman imitation, 48-year-old Juli Inkster took Thursday’s first-round lead at the Women’s British Open with a seven-under-par 65 that included an deuce at the par-4 9th hole.  Inkster, already a Hall-of-Famer and a seven-time Major champion, has certainly earned her stripes, so while recent form (back-to-back MCs before tying for 9th last week in France) don’t suggest greatness this week, she’s certainly climbed the mountain before.  Of greater immediate interest to western readers, however, might be two members of the sixsome that’s tied for 2nd, one stroke back, Japan’s Yuri Fudoh and Korea’s Ji-Yai Shin.  Fudoh, a 31-year-old from Kumamoto City, is a household name in Japan, where she swept JLPGA Player-of-the-Year honors from 2000-05, and has claimed 44 official career victories.  Though perhaps slightly off her peak form of 2003-04, she has won twice this season on her home circuit, and thus cannot in any way be viewed as a fluky interloper here.  The 20-year -old Shin, on the other hand, is old hat to readers of this site, particularly after her strong winter run Down Under against the LET’s top players.  Can she win here?  Considering that she finished 6th at the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, I’d be inclined to say yes, for it’s only a matter of time before she steps off the Korean tour (where she utterly dominates) and takes her act to Europe and America full-time.  But with 21 players currently clumped within three of the lead, it’s still early…
 
- Avoiding Embarrassment: If nothing else, Michelle Wie avoided making a golfing spectacle of herself on Thursday, carding a one-over-par 73 at the Reno-Tahoe Open, good enough for a fairly solid tie for 77th.  Nobody is going to confuse the field with the WGC event at Firestone, of course, but her score certainly seemed to justify the event’s decision to grant her a sponsor exemption, at least from a golfing standpoint, while also leaving her in position to finally make a 36-hole cut.  The 73 matched former PGA champion Steve Elkington, and beat such live bodies as Alex Cejka (74), Jay Williamson (74), Jeff Maggert (75), Scott McCarron (76), as well as the quasi-living David Duval (78).  But does it justify the decision not  to try the Women’s British Open?  That’s a far, far tougher question…and one which probably won’t be answerable until at least Friday night.