golf. He was once an anchor on CNN/
Sports Illustrated’s “Sports Tonight.”
“A terrific Emmy Award winning
journalist and essayist, Jim made so
many contributions during his more
than 27 years with our company,” said
David Levy, president of sales, distri-
bution and sports for TBS. “He was a
gentleman and wonderful individual
and will be deeply missed.”
Huber contibuted essays to the
network’s coverage of the PGA
Championship and his most recent
book, Four Days in July, told the story
of Tom Watson’s attempt to win the
2009 British Open at age 59.
Huber is survived by his wife,
Carol, and son, Matthew.
roy—it comes as no surprise that the
venerable course was named to host
the Irish Open, June 28-July 1. Those
championing Portrush’s cause hope
this is a stepping stone for it to return
to the British Open rota for the first
time since 1951.
The Irish Open, which hasn’t been
held in Northern Ireland since 1953,
is also switching dates this year, moving three weeks prior to the British
Open. It was held two weeks after the
major in 2011.
“It is the perfect place to play
links golf in the build-up to the Open
Championship,” said Padraig Har-rington. “I eagerly look forward to
taking part.”
veNues
Royal Portrush to host
2012 irish open
�� The announcement hadn’t been
made official, but already the kudos
were coming in. “Royal Portrush will
be awesome for the Irish Open this
year,” Darren Clarke said on Twitter.
“It’s as good a test as we play any-
where!” Added Graeme McDowell,
“Always been a dream of mine to play
a top event in my home town.”
With three Northern Irishmen win-
ning majors in the last two years—
Clarke, McDowell and Rory McIl-
miscellaNy
Just in …
�� Gary Woodland has a new agent
and a new swing coach. When the
2011 Transitions Championship winner signed with agent Mark Steinberg, coach Randy Smith dropped
the player. The reason: Smith’s son,
Blake, was Woodland’s previous
agent. … Paul Casey dislocated his
right shoulder while snowboarding
and will be sidelined for two months.
Casey, 34, will be unable to defend his
Volvo Golf Champions title in South
Africa, Jan. 19-22. … Luke Donald
was named the top player in 2011
by golf writers on both sides of the
Atlantic Ocean. Donald won the Golf
Writers Trophy from the Association
of Golf Writers in Great Britain and
earlier won the men’s player of the
year award from the Golf Writers
Association of America. The GWAA
also named Yani Tseng its female
player of the year and Tom Lehman
is top senior player. Patriot Golf Day
founder Major Dan Rooney was given the William D. Richardson Award
for making an outstanding contribution to golf. Sophie Gustafson, who
battles a severe stuttering problem,
won the Ben Hogan Award for
