ZealousGolfer.com

The American Ryder Cup team has, arguably, suffered some worse losses than even America's national basketball team in Olympic play over the past decade. After generations of dominance in the continent vs. country event, the victories of the Europeans on their own turf and ours have left Americans stunned a number of times.

However, as the Ryder Cup is set to return to the States for its 2008 installment, the Golden Bear isn't worried yet. Jack Nicklaus, who was responsible for the new design of Valhalla Country Club in Kentucky, told the media that America still has a strong shot at winning despite the absence of Tiger Woods.

He also advised captain Paul Azinger that he should simply let his team go out and play.

As soon as Tiger Woods announced his injury following a spectacular Monday finish to the U.S. Open, golf commentators claimed that some player would find a great deal of opportunity in Tiger's absence.

At this point, it certainly looks like Padraig Harrington is that player. The Irishman whose first major title was won at the 2007 Open Championship rallied on Sunday to finish at 3 under par for 72 holes. Paddy started at one over par for the day, but climbed the leaderboard by posting a brilliant final round of 66.

With that performance, Harrington ousted a number of players searching for their first major title, leaving Ben Curtis and Sergio Garcia in the dust, both two strokes behind.

Interestingly enough, Garcia's last run at a major title came in a Sunday duel between Harrington and Sergio, which was significant as Garcia lost a lead he held for most of the four days of play during that round. This year, however, Sergio performed well on Sunday with a two under par 68, but simply came up short.

So, Harrington has captured two major titles in 2008: the Open and the PGA Championship, which will leave Harrington safely in third place in the World Golf Rankings.

Camilo Villegas and Henrik Stenson tied for fourth place behind Harrington, Curtis, and Garcia with matching one over par finishes for the week.

Phil Mickelson finished to seventh place with an even par round of 70, which never truly left Lefty in contention. Justin Rose (pictured left) failed to make a move with a lackluster 71 on Sunday.

However, J.B. Holmes, who started the day in second place and one under par struggled through his 18 holes en route to an 11 over par Sunday score of 81. Ouch.

The PGA Championship continues to be a tight race as players finish around par at the top of the leaderboard after the completion of 36 holes on Friday. At the top, J.B. Holmes has a one stroke lead over several young guns following a solid two under 68 to move to one under par for the week.

Holmes, however, has Ben Curtis, Justin Rose, Ken Duke, Sergio Garcia (pictured left), and Charlie Wi hot on the trail, all at even par. Rose jumped to the top of the leaderboard after a spectacular 67 on Friday to make up for a lackluster 71 on Thursday. Sergio fell a stroke back after posting a one over par Friday score, but leaving the Spanish star in contention for his first major title.

Henrick Stenson, David Toms, Paul Goydos, Jeev Singh, Aaron Baddeley, and Phil Mickelson are all one stroke behind the group of players tied for second. Of course, as this looks like the last major championship before the return of Tiger Woods, Mickelson's chance to claim an "easy one" without the world's best golfer in the field seems to be ending this week.

British Open champion Padraig Harrington will make the cut, but is behind at five over par for 36 holes due mainly to a 74 on Friday. South African major champions Retief Goosen and Ernie Els are six over par for the week, finishing in the mid-40s.

Notable players missing the cut include John Daly (pictured right) who played near even rounds of 74 and 75 to finish at nine over, and also former PGA Champion Vijay Singh who fired rounds of 76 and 76.

Of course, one of the interesting traditions of the PGA Championship is the inclusion of PGA of American members in the field. This year, Frank Esposito Jr. led the club professionals by making the cut with a seven over par performance for 36 holes.

Traditionally, the PGA Championship has been the least exciting major. For one, it, as always, is the end of "major championship" golf for yet another season. Outside of marking the end of truly exciting play (though, the PGA Tour would like the FedEx Cup to change that), the lack of the distinct appeal that other majors have contributes to its dull feeling.

This is often the case as the PGA Championship lacks a "course-identity" unlike the other majors - the Masters has Augusta, of course, the U.S. Open is always the center of disaster on pumped up historic courses, and the British Open is the highlight of traditional links layouts. The PGA has struggled to find its niche - though it has taken over some former U.S. Open venues in recent years.

For 2008, the PGA Championship will be going USGA on Oakland Hills. 2008 Open Champion Padraig Harrington commented, "The usual setup for the PGA is more like a tough U.S. tour event. It’s nearly more U.S. Open-type that the U.S. Open is at the moment, if that makes any sense. It’s actually like they switched the two of them around this year.”

Oakland Hills has added 318 yards since it hosted the Ryder Cup in 2004. Moreover, the course will play at a par 70 with converted par 5s to challenge players. Moreover, two of the course's par 3s are hardly pitch-and-putt at distances over 230 yards.

I am not afraid to admit that I, at times, am careless with my clubs. As a strong opponent of slow play, I frequently will take half my bag to the green (hardly an exaggeration) in order to avoid having to walk back to my bag or cart a dozen times to finish the hole. Naturally, such a strategy opens itself up to lost clubs, and can even defeat the purpose by forcing a golfer to spend 15 minutes retracing his steps looking for a sand wedge.

Thus, when Club Count Technologies was interested in a ZealousGolfer.com Review, I was pretty excited. Some background information about the company may be helpful.

Club Count is under the Cleveland Golf umbrella, but focuses on providing bags that not only provide a way to carry your sticks, but protect clubs from being lost. Naturally, their promise (found on the Club Count website_ that you will "Never Lose a Club Again" seems pretty intriguing.

Technology:

The golf bag, it seems, has a history of innovation that doesn't stack up against its peers in the golf equipment industry like the driver or irons. However, Club Count is looking to change that by taking an age-old problem and using modern technology to overcome it.

On the surface, the Club Count bag looks like any other. A sleek, black design with a nice staff bag look. It also sports a single strap with large pockets on both sides of bag. From a bird's eye view, one notices that the bag is divided into 14 slots for clubs, which actually uses a design to keep woods and irons somewhat separated. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

However, along the top of the bag, the left and right sides are flanked by small red oval-shaped lights reminiscent of Knight Rider (pictured left). These lights function as one of the safety devices that will alert a player if a club is missing, but look stylish nonetheless.

More importantly, the bag is capable of counting the number of clubs after finishing a hole through the use of electronic sensors which are found inside of the bag. Fortunately, the sensors are none of the golfer's concern, quietly protecting your sticks while you play.

Though there are 14 slots for clubs, you may be wondering if you are out of luck if you play with less than 14 during most of your rounds. Fortunately, the people at Club Count have a solution. At the start of your round, you simply open up a small half-circle shaped pocket on the front of the bag and pull out a black box with an on/off switch. After clicking "on", the box alerts the sensors and counts the number of clubs you are starting with and then demonstrates that it is finished through a flashing light on the box.

After that, you simply put the bag on the cart and head out to play. In the event that you have left a club behind, the Club Count will sense that a club is missing and send off a light, yet audible, beeping noise and then begin to flash. In regard to the noise, you don't have to worry about everyone with a mile of the green hearing you - at best, the members of your playing group will be able to make out the noise.

Just in case you missed the noise after jumping into your cart and driving off to the tee, the lights continue to flash until the club is replaced. Thus, you can save time by simply heading back to the green when you reach the tee box instead of driving back to the sand trap on number five when you leave an approach shot short in a bunker on 16.

Another notable fact about the bag's technology is that it counts club by sensing them, so does not require you to change your clubs in any way (i.e. placing stickers on them or something of that nature).

After you are finished with the round, you can simply reach back into the small pocket on the front and click the on/off button. No problem.

My Test:

Overall, I thought this bag fixed a simple problem with a simple solution. As I said before, this bag helps any golfer who is prone to leaving clubs behind by providing an easy way to identify a bag with too few clubs and then zip back to the hole to fix the problem.

Most importantly, I felt that the Club Count system of both a visual and auditory alert was a smart choice, which basically guarantees you will notice that you are missing a club when you get to the tee and reach for your driver.

The only problem I had with the bag was its weight. I suppose with a bag that requires electronic equipment to get the job done, some added weight would be necessary. Moreover, most staff bags comprised of thick material do not fit in the category as light. However, this is only an issue if you are a frequent walker like myself since the bag is definitely not so cumbersome or bulky that it would make riding in a cart or pulling it along difficult.

The lights are also found on both sides, which means that you can see them no matter which side of the cart you sit on.

Additionally, I felt that, in terms of the basic golf bag amenities (i.e. pockets), the bag was still solid. The dual large pockets on the sides of the bag give a player enough space to fit all of the necessities like an umbrella and jacket. Moreover, the large pocket for golf balls was certainly more than sufficient to carry enough to finish the round with.

Conclusion:

On the ZealousGolfer.com Review "Five Star" Scale, the Club Count bag deserves a 4.5 stars out of 5. The highlights are pretty clear - the bag did an excellent job with providing an easy solution to the problem of lost clubs. Moreover, the product was simple enough that any player could put it into action, regardless of his or her ability to use technology. The only drawback I found was the weight of the bag, which certainly makes walking with it difficult. However, players who use a cart or pullcart will surely be able to use the bag with ease.

Readers who are interested can find the bag on the Club Count website, which also includes more photos and videos of the product in use. Also worth noting, it appears that golfers can have the bag shipped for free at this time.

Interested in having a product reviewed? Check out our information on ZealousGolfer.com product reviews.

While the world's best golfers are in Ohio this week battling for the Bridgestone Invitational title, the PGA Tour's grinders are going low in Nevada. Indeed, as one of the minor events that occur during World Golf Championship weeks, the Rena Tahoe Open is not known for attracting great talent.

However, the tournament has made headlines this week for a number of reasons surrounding the sponsor's exemption given to teenage golfer Michelle Wie (pictured left). Sure, Wie was criticized by women's golf giant Annika Sorenstam (pictured right) for choosing to miss a women's major to play in a men's event that she would, in all likelihood, underperform in. However, Wie's one over par performance on Thursday left fans and enemies in disbelief as the young golfer was legitimately poised to finish near the cut line in a tie for 77th after 18 holes.

Unfortunately, Wie finished her Thursday 73 with a painful eight over par score of 80 to place Wie nowhere near the cut line.

On the other end of the spectrum, Parker McLachlin has seized first place with an impressive 10 under par 62. McLachlin is four strokes ahead of Nick Flanagan and John Merrick, tied at second.