Drivable par-4? Nope, try a beefy beefy par-3 at this week's U.S. Amateur. — GeoffShackelford.com

If you spend most of your time following the professional golf ranks, then you likely had no idea that there's a fairly important amateur tournament going on in Colorado at the moment called the U.S. Amateur.

Maybe you've heard of it? Anyway, it's the biggest event on the amateur golf schedule, and it's already underway at famed Cherry Hills Country Club (follow along right here), a course that's hosted three U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships.

But the course's history is unimportant. What is important, however, is the fact that the USGA decided to stretch Cherry Hills' par-3 8th an extra eight yards this week to a beefy 274 yards for the U.S. Amateur.

The hole normally plays 266 yards from the championship tees and altitude should cut down on the insane yardage but, wow, that's an insanely long par-3. The sad thing is most of the guys in the field are probably hitting irons into the hole. And I'm pretty sure if you gave Bubba Watson a crack at it, he'd pull lob wedge and fly the green by a couple yards.

While you'd expect the altitude to take a little bit of the edge off this week, through the stroke play portion of the tournament, the par-3 has yielded only eight birdies and is playing as the second-most difficult hole on the course with a stroke average of  3.526. So, yeah, the extreme length is making a difference.

h/t GeoffShackelford.com

The Masters / Getty Images

The four majors are over and done with for 2012, but if you're anything like us, you probably have a clock laying around that's counting down the days until the 2013 Masters. It's hard to believe we only have 237 days until the Azaleas grace our television screen and we get to hear the sweetest song in golf.

We know, it sounds crazy to talk about the first major of next year when the Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup playoffs are still on the table, but when Rory McIlroy's birdie putt dropped on the 18th hole at the PGA Championship, the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got to work on setting the opening odds for the Masters.

As you'd probably expect -- or not, given his struggles on the weekend at the PGA -- Tiger Woods is the favorite at 11-to-2 to win his fifth green jacket. He'll obviously need to shoot an under-par round on the weekend, something he failed to do in all four majors this year, to break the four-plus year major championship drought.

Coming off another decisive major win, it should come as no surprise that Rory McIlroy came in a close second at 13-to-2. Three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson is currently third at 15-to-1, with the majorless duo of Luke Donald and Lee Westwood sitting at 20-to-1.

The odds will change between now and when the first tee shot is struck on the morning of April 11th, so there's always a chance we could have a new favorite going into Masters week. However, considering Woods is always is usually the chalk pick in Vegas, it's difficult to see the top two or three names on the list changing in the next eight months.

Here's a rundown of Las Vegas Hotel and Casino's top 10 to win the 2013 Masters (the rest of the odds are after the jump):

TIGER WOODS 11/2
RORY McILROY 13/2
PHIL MICKELSON 15/1
LUKE DONALD 20/1
LEE WESTWOOD 20/1
ADAM SCOTT 25/1
JUSTIN ROSE 25/1
BUBBA WATSON 25/1
DUSTIN JOHNSON 30/1
JASON DUFNER 30/1

The FedEx Cup, she waits. (Getty Images)Wow, it seems like only days ago that the PGA Championship ended, and we're already off and running with the FedEx Cup playoffs! The four-tournament festivities begin next week at The Barclays, which means that several big-name bubble players only have this weekend's Wyndham tournament to get into the top 125 and the playoff field.

Here's a look at several players who are very close to that top-125 cut line:

119. Davis Love III. Odds are the Ryder Cup captain's got a bit more on his mind than the FedEx Cup.

121. Boo Weekley. No more pony rides? Say it ain't so, Boo!

124. Jhonattan Vegas. The magic of a year ago hasn't carried over to this season.

129. Y.E. Yang. They showed his victory over Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA during the rain delay. Sadly, those points don't count for this year.

Fire it up. (Getty Images)From the "yep, they'll make anything" files: presenting the golf ball cigar holder! It got plenty of play at the PGA Championship when cameras focused on — who else? — Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Product of the Hole In One Cigar Holder company, the little device holds your stogie off the ground while you're hacking away on the tee. Nice enough, but what's interesting is how the company's orders exploded after getting shown on the PGA telecast Sunday morning.

"That explains my order line exploding [Sunday]," Hole-In-One Cigar Holder designer Steve Naples told Golf Digest.

You can get one of your own for about four bucks over at Hole In One Cigar Holder. But if you do, you'll need to start rocking the Jimenez pre-shot routine:

This video showed up over the last week on the PGA Championship broadcast on TNT, but it deserves replaying here in its own space. Jim Huber of Turner was one of the finest sports broadcasters in the country, and his sudden passing last winter was a shock to the entire sports world. Here's a fine video encompassing some of the scope of his work. Well worth your time, not just to think about what we've lost but to enjoy the great golf essayists and broadcasters we still have with us.

The PGA Championship marked the end of the U.S. Ryder Cup qualification process, and while no positions changed hands, there's plenty of drama to consider with both the players in the mix and those still on the outside.

First, let's see who's a definite for Medinah in a few weeks, in order of their finish in the standings:

1. Tiger Woods. Won three tournaments, though not majors, therefore he's a failure in most people's eyes.

2. Bubba Watson. Got himself a fancy new green jacket.

3. Jason Dufner. Perhaps the steadiest player on Tour, an irony considering how he lost last year's PGA to...

4. Keegan Bradley. Staying strong and fast developing into one of the best young Americans in the game.

5. Webb Simpson. Won the U.S. Open. That'll do.

6. Zach Johnson.Victories at Crowne Plaza and John Deere highlight a resurgent year.

7. Matt Kuchar. A top-10 machine, with a highlight win at The Players.

8. Phil Mickelson. Barely squeaked in during an unspectacular one-win year for him. Probably

The PGA Championship is over and done with, so let's talk about it! In the first of our weekly chats, we'll tell you what it was like on the course ... and maybe talk a little Rory, too. Join us, won't you?

It was less a tournament than a coronation, but the final round of the season's last major had a fair touch of drama to it. Relive Rory McIlroy's victory, Ian Poulter's meltdown, Carl Pettersson's rules drama and so much more, right here!