Ive always liked Mark Calcavecchia. He looks and talks like a favorite uncle. Someone who has fun even when things arent going so well.

At the Honda Classic a week before he survived a couple shaky putts down the stretch to win last weeks PODS Championship, Calcavecchia was having a rough time on the greens. He knew he was going to miss the cut, so on his last hole Friday he broke out this Briny Baird flamingo-like putting stance for kicks. He missed the putt, probably about a ten-footer. He walked up to it, practically ran, then did a claw grip to tap it in. He was making fun of himself for his lousy putting that week, and also seemed to be suggesting that such stances and grips are silly acts of desperation.

Short game was the story last week, not just putting but also around the greens where the rough was July high. After Calcavecchias torrid putting led to a 62 on Saturday, the story became the putter he was using,which he bought for $256 at a nearby golf store.

The TV guys got hold of this one and wouldnt let go. The repeated suggestion was that, just like you and me, a putter from the store can work as well as the best custom-made freebie Tour pros use. For just $256. Just go to your local golf store and plunk down your $256 and the fifty-footers will start falling.

Im thinking a lot of husbands watching last weekend would have some explaining to do if they went out and bought a $256 putter. (For my part, even if I felt like I could drop $256 for a putter I wouldnt because none of the putters Ive used over the years have yielded better results than the others-I could use a mini golf putter and get the same results.)

Anyway, I hope to see more upper class exposure in the FX series The Riches, which debuted Monday night with limited commercial interruption (they had me right there). The premise here is that a family of hick scammers take the identity of a rich dude and his wife, whose vehicular deaths they are involved with, and make themselves at home. Im curious to see how theyre going to pull this off—its already ridiculously implausible. And Im especially interested in more scenes on the tee box. Golf depictions in movies or on TV shows are clich at this point. But like lawyer jokes, I dont really tire of them.

At this weeks Bay Hill Invitationa—oops, sorry, another name change on Tour this week. Take two: At this weeks Arnold Palmer Invitational, take Zach Johnson (80-1), 1/6 unit: This is based mainly on the price for someone whose young record at Bay Hill is pretty good: two top-10s and a T43 in three tries. I dont see that it makes much, if any, difference that the host is counting two former par-5s as par-4s and par is now 70 instead of 72. If the course itself was lengthened, that would affect the short-hitting Johnson. It hasnt been, hes had good success at Bay Hill and hes coming off a T14 at the major-like PODS last week. Good deal at 80-1.

Take Charles Howell III (28-1), 1/6 unit: Everyones got Thurston on their short list to win the Masters. Hell be a good pick, no doubt. Its still a few weeks away, though. He may be at an early season peak: hes played seven tournaments and has made seven cuts, finishing out of the top-10 just twice. There was the win at the Nissan a few weeks ago and last weeks T6. He was on the cut line then shot 68, 65 on a difficult course. I look at a lot of stats, but I dont focus enough on maybe the most important stat: Scoring Average. The Third leads the league in that category, which goes some way in explaining his great success through seven weeks this season.

Take Tiger Woods (9-4), 1/6 unit: The No. 1 player in the world won Palmers tournament four times straight.

Brian Gabrielle is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Brian_Gabrielle.htm