(JUPITER, Fla.) March 22, 2011 — Tiger Woods has a new girlfriend, Alyse Lahti Johnston, stepdaughter of Alastair Johnston, a big shot at IMG, Woods’ management agency, the New York Post reported. Tiger has known Ms. Johnston, now a 22-year-old MBA student, since she was 7.
Like his super-model ex-wife, Ellen Nordegren, Johnston is blonde. She’s also athletic. She was a volleyball player at University of New Hampshire.
The New York Post also reported that Nordegren recently bought a $12 million home in North Palm Beach, about 10 miles from Woods’ new mansion in Jupiter, Fla.
–Dan Vukelich
Elsewhere …
Tiger will give golf lessons to kids in South Korea when he visits there next month, according to a Malaysian news agency. …
When the ground shakes: In the quake-jittery Philippines, they’ve designated four golf courses as evacuation centers thanks to the open space they provide, a Filipino news agency reported. …
When a lot is not enough: Donald Trump says he wants a helipad at his Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, N.J., but he’ll need local zoning approval, says the Asbury ParkPress. …
Santa Ana anniversary: To celebrate its 20th birthday, Santa Ana Golf Club, which opened as Valle Grande Golf Course in spring 1991, is offering a $45 online-only Friday rate through April that includes cart. More.
Golf, Tovarich? If you mention you’ve played PGA National, be prepared to explain whether it’s the one in Florida or Russia. Braemer Golf is getting ready to break ground on PGA National Russia, along the Ivankovskoye reservoir adjoining the Volga River, 54 miles from Moscow. The course opens in summer 2012.
Free fittings and trade-up: PGA and LPGA professionals will offer free club fitting and trade-ups through April, sponsored by Nike. Click here for the list of participating pros near you.
Is it just me? Or did I get confused by the Branch Law Firm’s advertising profile of UNM Lobo golfer Sam Chavez on Page 2 of the sports section of the March 22 Albuquerque Journal. It says Chavez, grandson of organizer Cesar Chavez, played for Arkansas his freshman and sophomore years, came to the Lobos (as a junior), and quotes him as saying he’ll turn pro during his senior year. Putting a stopwatch to that timetable has him in town long enough to gas up at the Love’s Truck Stop on Interstate 40 before he moves on.
… And speaking of UNM … Does anyone see the disconnect in the threat to close the UNM Championship Golf Course because it loses a couple hundred thousand dollars a year while UNM is willing to spend $3 million to $4 million on a new Lobo baseball stadium. Why a new ballpark? Because, they say, so few fans attend Lobo games played at Isotopes Park that the team loses its home-field advantage. As Harry Carey would say, Holy Sacred Cow!
