KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Rory Sabbatini is expanding his support
of U.S. troops by giving new meaning to dog tags.
Sabbatini, a South African native who is married to an American,
has been involved the last two years in a program called "Birdies
for the Brave," donating money for every birdie he makes on the
PGA Tour.
Now, he has hooked up with Banfield, The Pet Hospital, to raise
money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which supports U.S.
soldiers and their families who have been affected by military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
People can buy pet tags for $2 at Banfield hospitals and TPC
courses around the country, with all proceeds going to the fund.
"Everybody gets attached to their pets," Sabbatini said. "We
thought a feel-good issue with pets, try to raise some money and
awareness, and expand it further for the families of the Intrepid
Heroes Fund."
Given the minimal cost and affection for their pets, Banfield
executive vice president John Payne expects to be able to raise
about $500,000 for the troops. Banfield is a privately owned
veterinary practice that has more than 600 locations in the United
States, the United Kingdom and Mexico. He said 70,000 people come
through their clinics each week.
Sabbatini also will have a logo of the "dog tags" program on
his golf bag.
He has two miniature Dachshunds, Chloe and Zoe, and thinks so
highly of them that Sabbatini had their names stitched onto his
head covers a few years ago, with his son's name (Hartley) on the
other.
"My daughter didn't even make it into there," he said.
"They're part of our family. It's really a great way to expand on
trying to get people involved in supporting the troops. Two dollars
for most people ... they go into a pet hospital and see this, and
it's kind of like the Lance Armstrong bracelet for cancer."
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^OGILVY AND RANKIN:@ Geoff Ogilvy's father was at a golfer
tournament where Judy Rankin was working as a reporter when he
introduced himself. Little did he know that his son would join
Rankin's family in a roundabout way.
Ogilvy's wife is Juli, whose sister's husband is Rankin's son.
"Judy's son is my brother-in-law," Ogilvy said. "If there is
such a thing, she's my aunt-in-law."
Their relationship is close enough that Rankin, a Hall of Famer
who later joined ABC Sports, came to the Ogilvy's house for
Christmas dinner. He doesn't know much about her career, such as
becoming the first women to earn more than $100,000 in a season,
but he knows she was a great player.
And she can offer some great advice.
Going into the final round of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, he
was at 3 over par and one shot out of the lead. Rankin left a
message with Ogilvy's wife about what to expect on Sunday.
"It was very prophetic in the end," Ogilvy said. "She said,
'Everyone always opens the paper on Monday morning and is always
very surprised at the score that wins the tournament."
The winning score was 5-over 285. Ogilvy won after double bogeys
on the 18th hole by Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie.
Surprise.
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^NOT QUITE PRIME TIME:@ The Golf Channel embarks on a 15-year
contract with the PGA Tour on Thursday.
Kelly Tilghman will be the first female anchor for golf, joined
in the booth by six-time major winner Nick Faldo, who also is
working for CBS Sports as an analyst. The Golf Channel will
broadcast all four rounds of the first three PGA Tour events, the
opposite-field events and the seven tournaments after the FedExCup.
It also will broadcast pre-weekend rounds at every event.
It was a contract that concerned some players, for no other
reason than The Golf Channel isn't in every home, and in many
cases, such as the first two weeks, will be replacing ESPN.
A story Wednesday in The Orlando Sentinel exposed reason for
those concerns.
The newspaper, citing Nielsen Media Research, said the average
number of people who watched The Golf Channel at any moment in a
24-hour day during the 2006 fall season was 44,000 people.
That's about 1.1 million fewer people watching ESPN during the
same time frame.
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^SURF'S DOWN:@ Adam Scott brings his golf clubs, clothes and
surf board to Mercedes-Benz Championship. He said the waves have
been relatively small this year, which is probably a good thing.
"I've surfed the last two days, and the waves have not been
good, and I'm not good," Scott said.
The Aussie grew up on the beach near Queensland and surfed as a
kid, but gave it up when he was 13 to concentrate on golf, then
resumed about three years ago when "I needed something else to
do."
Asked for a handicap in surfing, Scott called himself a 10.
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^SENIOR HAWAII:@ Once the PGA Tour leaves Hawaii, the Champions
Tour moves in.
Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins have
accepted sponsor invitations to the season-opening MasterCard
Championship on Jan. 19-21 at Hualalai Golf Course on the Big
Island.
It will be the first time in six years that Wadkins, a former
PGA champion, could concentrate solely on golf. He had been CBS'
golf analyst until leaving late last year when Faldo replaced him
in the tower.
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^DIVOTS:@ Swing coach Butch Harmon is wearing the initials
"D.H." on the back of his cap in honor of his brother, Dick
Harmon, who died last year. Dick Harmon's clients included Lanny
Wadkins, Lucas Glover and Fred Couples. ... Rich Beem came to
Hawaii early, filling in at the pro-am Wednesday for Tiger Woods.
He also played in the pro-am at Woods' Target World Challenge three
weeks ago. Also spotted at Kapalua was Dudley Hart, in Maui on
vacation before next week's tournament in Honolulu.