This Week at WorldGolf.com: July 6, 2006

Roethlisberger, other celebs wild on golf

Forget strippers and "medicinal" mood aids. That's so 1980s, more Pauly Shore rather than Johnny Depp.

If you really want to see celebrities gone wild these days, you need to turn to golf.

No amount of pole gyrating can produce the craziness that happens when innocent, wholesome celebrities get addicted to the old game. Golf has practically become the drug of choice for the famously vain. And once the jones sets in, there's no telling what's going to happen.

This is why blockheaded Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will make his return to the public scene as a golfer. Sure, Big Ben skidded off that motorcycle without a helmet, scrapped up his grill and noggin and has five titanium plates holding his jaw in place. But that's not going to stop him from golfing. Please. Not golf? Come on, let's not get crazy.

Roethlisberger plans to tee it up at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe next week. Hey, this is celebrity golf!

"His people called up and said under no circumstances take him off the list," NBC Sports senior vice president John Miller told the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

See, Roethlisberger's "people" really do have his back. Sure, they might not have been able to convince their multimillionaire icon to wear a helmet. But they look out for his golf. Which do you think's more important to Roethlisberger?

There's no kidding in that line. Consider the indignity Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley must have suffered when they called up the Atlantic City Country Club last week, asked for their usual whenever-they-please tee time and were told, "Sorry, 8 a.m. is booked."

It turns out that the boxer Oscar De La Hoya had the 8 a.m. spot and the club was unwilling to bump him for Barkley and Jordan. Adding much more sting to the snub is the New York Post's report that a sportswriter was part of De La Hoya's Jordan thwarting foursome.

Forget a table at Nobu or a VIP room at the nightclub Marquee. The real celebrity cachet is golf access these days.

Did Big Ben ever say where he was racing to on his motorcycle that day?

As always, WorldGolf.com welcomes your comments.

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Also: Plan your Myrtle Beach golf vacation with WorldGolf.com

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Review: Subscribe to the Golf for Beginners podcast via RSS

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