"Unless the ruling bodies want a fight even messier than the infamous Ping lawsuit, expect more long putters at the top of the game."

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That's Jaime Diaz writing about the long putter trend in this week's Golf World Monday. He says the "stigma" attached to using a long putter no longer exists, particularly with the younger set.

So knowing the governing bodies have more important things to act on like wedge lofts and paddle grips, how do we get that long putter stigma back?

Weir To Have Surgery On Rough-Induced Injury

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Steve Elling on Mike Weir undergoing elbow surgery following a new injury likely caused by this year's Canadian Open rough, which was subsequently cut mid-tournament.

Weir, 41, has suffered through a nagging ligament issue in the same arm for months, and came back this season to post the most alarming results of his career. Then the left-hander injured himself in the Canadian Open four weeks ago.

“They had really thick rough there,” IMG spokesman Dave Haggith said.

Haggith made a point of noting that it was unclear exactly how Weir injured the elbow, but several players complained that the rough at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club was unusually punitive. Weir was forced to quit after six holes in the second round.

Chubby On Rory: “He’s taking a shot 90 percent of the field wouldn’t take.”

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Brian Wacker, with many quotes from agent Chubby Chandler on Rory McIlroy's decision to play through the pain because he can't do anymore damage to his wrist.

“Guy’s like Rory and Tiger, they play on their limit, don’t they?” Chandler said. “He’s taking a shot 90 percent of the field wouldn’t take.”

And while the result of that shot proved damaging, there was little indication that McIlroy wouldn’t try to play on Friday.

“He said something there, that the next major is not until April,” Chandler said. “That’s how he thinks. That’s how he’s thought for 18 months. You don’t get too many people who think like that, not really think like that.

“He’s a different person at a major than any other week. There’s a 24 tournament schedule and there’s 20 that don’t matter. I don’t mean to say they don’t matter, but they’re a means to an end. There’s a spark when he comes to a major. There’s a different look in his face.”

2011 PGA Photo Caption Fun: Stevie-Steiney Edition!

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That would be the super-looper with his back to us, and the super-agent facing WSB Atlanta Zach Klein's camera. Klein Tweeted the image from Atlanta Athletic Club Tuesday.

I wonder what they are saying?

Stevie Vows To Stop Talking About Tiger; Admits Rage Spilled "Over The Top"

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After sleeping on his post round WGC Bridgestone comments, former Tiger looper Steve Williams tells Robert Lusetich that he was a "bit over the top" and that he had "a lot of anger" and "it all came out."

There was also this pledge which ought to last about two days:

“I said what I said but I’m not going to say any more about Tiger,” he said.

Well, until the book, right?

Cameron Morfit thinks Stevie has already said enough. And while I think he gives Williams a little too much credit, the point is sound: the Williams rage over his firing for "disloyalty" speaks to a sadder story: Tiger hasn't changed a bit.

He's saying Woods is unchanged, and after all the swing changes, portfolio damage, apologies and promises to become a better man, that's the biggest disappointment of all.

This seems like a good place to admit I don't know Woods, I never have, and I probably never will. Behind closed doors he might have changed. But it doesn't look like it from here, and not from where Williams sits, either.

Pat Perez Should Handle Tiger's Damage Control

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He wants to find the young man he shunned coming off the 18th yesterday, can you help him?

Meanwhile, taking analysis of the Tiger-Stevie spat fallout further, Robert Lusetich suggests that the bigger problem with Tiger's caddy firing and the subsequent manspat is that this is one more negative Tiger did not need on his plate.

The acrimony is sure to spill over into the coming week, when both men will be at the year’s final major, the PGA Championship in Atlanta.

Obviously, it’s the last thing Woods needs to deal with as he tries to salvage something of a year that’s shaping as a second straight lost season. But, like the adulterous behavior that devastated his life, this is something he brought upon himself.

If he felt, as some within his camp maintain, that he and Williams were no longer on the same page, then he needed to sit down and explain his feelings. Williams deserved that after 12 years. And he might even have agreed.

But to fire him summarily because he decided to caddie for Scott while Woods was recovering from injuries to his left leg was only going to make a very public enemy out of a friend and supporter.