PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Renowned golf course architect Pete Dye will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday, Nov. 10, as part of the Class of 2008. Dye, selected in the Lifetime Achievement Category, was on hand at THE PLAYERS Championship today for the announcement.

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Pete Dye

DYE'S CREATION

Course Tour: TPC Sawgrass
Risk and Reward: The 16th

"I am surprised and extremely honored to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and to be included with those who have contributed to the game I love," Dye said.

Dye is one of the most influential golf course architects of the modern era with more than 120 courses to his credit, many of which have hosted numerous PGA TOUR and LPGA events, major championships, a Ryder Cup and a Solheim Cup. His work includes such famed courses as THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, site of this week's PLAYERS Championship; Harbour Town Golf Links, a design with Jack Nicklaus; Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind.; PGA West at LaQuinta in Palm Springs, Calif.; Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis.; and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C.

The courses Dye designed consistently rank among the top courses in the country ? many in the top 10 ? according to major golf publications like Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and Golfweek.

A past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (GCSAA), Dye has an Honorary Doctorate in landscape architecture from Purdue University and has received several awards throughout his career, including the 1995 Donald Ross Award from the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA), 2003 Old Tom Morris Award from the GCSAA, 2004 PGA Distinguished Service Award and the 2005 PGA TOUR Lifetime Achievement Award.

"Pete's impact as a modern golf course designer is indisputable," said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. "His designs are fixtures on the PGA TOUR schedule as they present the world's best players a challenging, yet fair test of golf and often help provide drama to our tournaments."

Born on Dec. 29, 1925, in Urbana, Ohio, Dye was a respected amateur who won the 1958 Indiana State Amateur Championship and the Indianapolis District Championship. He played in The Western Amateur and five USGA Amateur Championships, as well as the 1957 U.S. Open and 1963 Amateur Championship. Following time in the United States Army during World War II, Dye attended Rollins College, which is where he met his wife of 58 years, Alice.

Dye lives in Delray Beach, Fla., and Carmel, Ind., and continues to add to his resume of golf courses. Projects currently underway include the Tournament Players Club in San Antonio, Texas, and French Lick Resort, French Lick, Ind.?where there is an additional course by Donald Ross, which hosted the 1923 PGA Championship won by Walter Hagen.

"Pete Dye's impact and influence as an architect is among the most far-reaching the sport has known," said Jack Peter, the Hall of Fame's COO and senior vice President. "Pete will join the likes of Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and Alister MacKenzie on a very short list of golf course architects who have left an indelible mark on the landscape of the game."

Dye was selected by the World Golf Foundation Board of Directors Selection Committee. Additional members of the 2008 Class of Inductees will be announced at U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The 2008 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Monday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. on the Hall of Fame Lawn at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla. For more information about the ceremony, visit www.wgv.com.

Congrats to the Shark for his appointment as the next Presidents Cup Captain for the International team!

Complete Story at Golfweek.com:  Norman, Couples Handed Reins-Link 

At the time of writing, Greg Norman has it three under at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. That score is good enough for a Tie for 6th...  It's early, but it's great to see the Shark on the first page of a leaderboard.

 A good article by Golfweek:  Shark Sighting at Mayakoba Classic

 Evidently last years field wasn't populated with as many Americans as this years is and Golfweek attributes some of it to the unknown.  Mostly the unknown of the golf course.  Evidently Bubba Watson feels like it's pretty good.

As soon as folks returned to the United States, buzz began spreading about the 6,923-yard, par-70 El Camaleon Golf Club course and the gorgeous resort surroundings. Quickly, it became a terrific consolation prize for those not among the 64 players invited to the match play event.

“The week after, my Ping rep told me, ‘Bubba, you missed out on a great tournament. The hotel is unbelievable, the golf course is in great shape, everything about it is beautiful,’” Bubba Watson said. “I had to have a week off last year and I just chose this one. But this year, I put it on the schedule and took another one off. I knew I was going to play in it as long as I wasn’t in the Match Play.”

“This is probably top-5 that I’ve played, if not higher. Probably top-3,” Watson said. “There’s not that many better than this.”

Pretty strong words from a guy who's likely played a few quality tracks in his life...

Mayakoba Golf Classic Official Website 

Sergio Garcia is in Dubai this week to play in the Dubai Desert Classic being played at the United Emirates Golf Club.  While his purpose is to win the tournament, he's also there to check on the progress of the facility he is named as a designer along with Greg Norman and Pete Dye.

From an article on Gulfnews.com 

"However, Garcia has a lot to look forward to in Dubai, including the chance to make further progress on the design of his first golf course, the Wind course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Working in partnership with Greg Norman and Pete Dye, the father of modern golf course design, Sergio is aiming to take golf back to its most elemental roots, with a traditional links-style course in which the power and energy of the wind plays a core role."

Some great insights from Pete Dye from a recent interview with Geoff Shackelford. Of course we love the fact the Mr. Dye mentions his work at TPC San Antonio...

Besides being a writer, Geoff is also heavily involved in golf course design.  His blog is www.GeoffShackelford.com.  I definitely recommend it, you'll get insight into what's happening in the world of golf with some very witty insight to boot.

Here's the Article link:  Open Dye-alogue 

Congratulations to Greg Norman on his pending nuptuals to tennis great Chris Evert.

From yahoo.com

PAARL, South Africa (Reuters) - Former tennis champion Chris Evert and ex-golf number one Greg Norman announced their engagement on Friday, during the South African Open golf tournament in the South-Western Cape.

Evert and Norman have both divorced their spouses in the last year -- Australian Norman agreeing a reported $100-million settlement with Laura in September and Evert splitting from Andy Mill, her second husband, last December.

Evert, the winner of 18 grand slam singles titles, confirmed the engagement at a news conference to announce she would be building a tennis centre at the Pearl Valley Golf Estates, where the South African Open golf is being held. Asked whether there were any marriage plans between her and Norman, the American, sporting a large diamond on her left ring finger, replied: "Well, it is an engagement ring. We were engaged on Sunday night coming over here, en route to South Africa. We don't know when and where we'll be married though."

Evert, 53, jokingly asked Norman: "Why don't you say something to them (the media)? Gee, you're a big chicken!"

The 52-year-old Norman, a former world number one, is lying seventh equal in the South African Open on the second day of the tournament.

(Reporting by Ken Borland; Editing by Clare Fallon)

Golf writer Jay Flemma recently transcribed his lengthy interview with Pete Dye on his blog.  Some very interesting comments on golf architecture and how it's changed since some of his original designs.

A Walk in the Park:  Pete Dye Interview Part 1

A Walk in the Park:  Pete Dye Interview Part 2

 A Walk in the Park:  Pete Dye Interview Part 3

This just in from the European Tour compliments of PGATOUR.com...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The world's richest golf tournament, offering $10 million in prize money, will be played in Dubai beginning in 2009.

The Dubai World Championship, to be held at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, would run for five years with the option of extending it for another five years, the European Tour said Monday. It will become the Tour's season-ending event.

The winner of the tournament receives $1.66 million, and the European Tour Order of Merit will be renamed The Race to Dubai, with the player finishing No. 1 at the end of the season receiving an additional $2 million.

"The Race to Dubai will bring a new dimension to the European Tour, creating great drama and theater throughout the year as all the best players in the world are given the opportunity to compete in the world's richest tournament," European Tour Chief Executive George O'Grady said.

Currently, THE PLAYERS Championship is the richest single event, offering prize money of $9 million.

The inaugural Dubai World Championship will take place at Jumeirah from Nov. 19-22, 2009, on either the Fire or Earth course. Both were designed by Greg Norman.

The announcement was made at Dubai's Burj Al Arab, a luxurious hotel built on a man-made island in the Persian Gulf.

"This deal is yet another step in Dubai's evolution as one of the most important golf centers anywhere in the world," said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, the parent company of Leisurecorp.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

I'll post more about today's visit on Friday, but in the meantime here's a rough video of the press conference.  It's full of some great comments about the course and his thoughts about the property.

 Photos from the day can be found here:

I ran across this article scanning the blogs this morning, most notably Kevin Robbins' Blog Backspin.  He points us to an article by Jeff Rude from Golfweek.  Rude has always been one of my favorite golf writers and this article tells a wonderful story about Bruce Lietzke.  I won't do it justice attempting to recap it here so read it for yourself on Golfweek's site:  Playing Favorites-My list of the Tour's all-time nice guys

I think what resonated from this article was how down to earth Bruce Lietzke is.  For someone who's accomplished as much as he has during his PGA TOUR and Champions Tour career, you'd never guess it by speaking to him.  He's also incredible with the microphone in front of a group.  Maybe it's years of practice, maybe it's just his genuine approach.  As a sidenote, I played golf yesterday with an executive that attended our groundbreaking a few weeks back.  His comments mentioned how well he thought the groundbreaking went, then he proceeded to tell me that he thought Bruce Lietzke and Pete Dye stole the show during their portion of the presentation.  With respects to Commissioner Finchem and Mr. Marriott, I couldn't have agreed more.  It's obvious the team already has great chemistry, I just can't wait to see how their golf course design reflects it.