Notes Jobes Fingers Reattached Weir Woes

PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Brandt Jobe had another injury to his left hand, this one from pushing a broom, not swinging a club.

This time, he had reason to believe his career might be over.

Jobe was sweeping his garage late last year when the handle broke, exposing a thin piece of metal that sliced through his fingers. He felt pain, then a little fear when he looked down and saw the top of his fingers on the floor.

He calmly placed the tips in a bag and said to his 6-year-old daughter, ``Daddy has to go to the hospital.’'

Jobe said three doctors at the emergency room near Dallas told him there was nothing they could do, but he found another one - Dr. David Zehr - who specializes in attaching fingers. He went to work on it right away, and it was a success.

``Emotionally, this was the hardest of the injuries,’' Jobe said. ``I was lucky.’'

In 2003, Jobe broke a bone in his left wrist and broke it again a year later. He still has no feeling in his pinky finger from those injuries.

Jobe is making his 2007 debut at the PODS Championship, with 10 tournaments having already been played.

``It wouldn’t be that big of a deal if this were a normal year,’' Jobe said. ``But with the FedExCup and everything, you probably have to be 80th to have any chance of winning it. I’m already two months behind.’'

He is not eligible for three of the next four tournaments (Bay Hill, Doral and the Masters) but plans to play often. Assuming he stays healthy.

``If I keep this up, I’m going to be a bionic man,’' he said.

BACK TO GOLF:
Robert Ames made a decent living the last three years as the caddie for his brother, Stephen, whose victories include the Western Open and The Players Championship.

But Robert Ames wasn’t ready to let go of his golf dreams.

After spending the winter playing in South America, he will spend the next few months playing on mini-tours in Florida and trying to qualify Monday for the Nationwide Tour. He played smaller tours before going to work for big brother.

``I sat down and looked at all the options of where I was going with my career,’' Ames said. ``I called up Steve and said, ‘Thank you for all you’ve done for me and my family, but I’m going to do my own thing.’''

What made Ames & Ames such a good combination was the difference in their thinking. Stephen Ames has always been about feel, while Robert Ames concentrates on the technical side.

``Hopefully, he learned some things over the last three years,’' Stephen Ames said. ``He needs to spend more time playing golf instead of playing the golf swing.’'

They played together in Barbados, representing Trinidad & Tobago in the World Cup. They tied for 21st at 4-over 284.

``I think I’ve learned to manage my game better,’' Robert Ames said. ``We had a discussion about that in Barbados. He told me that I’m swinging it good. It’s taking me a little bit of a time, but so far it’s good.’'

DORAL:
For the first time this year, FedExCup points matter.

The next two weeks will help determine the field for the World Golf Championship at Doral, and the PGA TOUR added a wrinkle recently by awarding spots to the top 10 in the FedExCup standings after Tampa and Bay Hill.

Jeff Quinney is 11th in the standings, 366 points behind Henrik Stenson (18th place is worth 375 points). Everyone else down to Kevin Sutherland at No. 18 already is eligible, and Sutherland would need a third-place finish to qualify for Doral.

Once players get to Doral, the focus returns to money, as the top 10 on the PGA TOUR money list are eligible for the Masters. No one knows that better than Mark Wilson, which he proved Monday when someone mentioned a PGA TOUR victory no longer makes a player exempt for Augusta National.

``Top 10 on the money list does, though - through Doral,’' Wilson said after his playoff victory at the Honda Classic. ``I looked at that last night.’'

His victory put him at No. 7 on the money list. Now he has three weeks to stay there.

WEIR WOES:
The PGA TOUR first looked at taking the Presidents Cup to Canada in 2003, the year Mike Weir won the Masters. Now, the matches will be played the last week in September at Royal Montreal, and the International team might be devoid of Canadians.

Weir is in somewhat of a slump while undergoing swing changes to alleviate pressure on his back, but he did finish fifth last week in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand. Even so, he is not among the top 15 in the standings for the International team.

Just because the Presidents Cup is in Canada for the first time, don’t expect any favors from the captain.

``I can’t just put a Canadian in because we’re playing in Canada and the people would love to see it,’' Gary Player said last week. ``It’s my duty as captain to put in the very best team. But if he’s in 21st position, I know that Mike Weir wouldn’t expect to be in the team. Whoever it is has got to earn his spot in the team.’'

It was strange that Player used 21st in the standings as an example.

Two years ago, he used a captain’s pick on countryman Trevor Immelman at No. 22, passing over PGA runner-up Steve Elkington and Geoff Ogilvy, who tied for fifth in the British Open and tied for sixth in the PGA Championship.

``The entire press crucified me,’' Player said. ``They had five Australians in the team as it was, and I picked Immelman, and Immelman is now becoming one of the best players in the world. But I never heard them say, ‘You were right’ or ‘I apologize.’ I was the bum. Now I know they were the bums because they made a terrible mistake.’'

Immelman went 1-3 in his four matches that week.

DIVOTS:
Mark Wilson’s victory at the Honda Classic was the 200th by a player who has competed on the Nationwide Tour. ... ESPN will remain the exclusive cable network of the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open through 2014. ... Candy Hannemann has started ``Candy Cares,’' in which she will donate $50 for every birdie she makes on the LPGA Tour toward youth and education programs in her native Brazil.

STAT OF THE WEEK:
Ten tournaments into the PGA TOUR season, three players already have earned more than $1 million without winning - Geoff Ogilvy, John Rollins and Trevor Immelman.

FINAL WORD:
``They should be very proud of their tour, justifiably so. I don’t think there’s much awry there. I just feel that the rest of the world has caught up.’' - Colin Montgomerie, on the state of American golf and the PGA TOUR.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.