Players Excess?
/Over at golf.com, they're making sure to take in all of the conspicuous consumption in Ponte Vedra. Alan Shipnuck first:
For starters, it appears that having a flossed-out BMW is as standard for Tour players as a significant other who looks like a cocktail waitress. Vaughn Taylor, Stuart Appleby, Richard S. Johnson, J.B. Holmes, Ian Poulter and Chris DiMarco are among those driving Beemers, with all but Taylor's being souped-up Motorsport editions. Bonus points to Poulter for his sweet M5 with chrome rims and an IAN P vanity plate.And Michael Bamberger, writing about the perks as well as the cost to stay and play at Sawgrass:
Another popular genre is the macho truck. Vijay Singh drives a hulking black Dodge SRT-10, Hunter Mahan a Ford that looks like the spawn of Big Foot and Peter Lonard a slammed Lincoln Blackwood. The choice of SUVs is also revealing: Camillo Villegas a sleek Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Frank Lickliter a beefy, politically incorrect Hummer H2, Luke Donald a vanilla Escalade.
Best car in the lot? That's easy: Nick Faldo's Maybach.
As for Tiger and Phil, they toed the company line, rolling SUVs from Buick and Ford, respectively. I guess when you've made tens of millions of dollars endorsing car companies, you don't have to show off.
It's a public course, in a manner of speaking. Not this week - what with the Players Championship clogging up the place - but any other week you can stay at the Ponte Vedra Marriott and play the Stadium Course for $350, which includes your cart, and, get this, your caddie. Tres chic.
The whole thing is about getting the private-club treatment at a semi-public resort course. The new clubhouse is so mammoth that it blocks out the fierce wind for anyone sitting on the veranda. Take the White House, add a few West Wings, top it off with a massive, Spanish, red-tile roof, and you have the new clubhouse. Spiffy.
In the dining room, there's a large fireplace stuffed with faux wood, and above it, an oil painting featuring a scorecard, virgin tees and a bottle of 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon bearing the name Commissioners Private Reserve. There's that word again, private. No half-crushed cans of Miller Lite spoiling this still life.
The Commissioners Private Reserve? Why haven't I gotten my bottle yet Mr. Commissioner?