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Arnold Palmer is known to prefer a thorough test of golf.

As host of the invitational that bears his name, Palmer, like Jack Nicklaus at the Memorial, is the guiding influence over the course set up at Bay Hill and he wasn’t disappointed in giving players a fair dose of what the average hack sees on as regular basis.

No one in the last three groups broke par this weekend and the six players combined to finish 19-over.

Further evidence was provided by Martin Laird’s final round 75.

Martin Laird survived Bay Hill to collect second career victory. Photo Getty Images

It was the highest last-round score by a winner on the PGA Tour since Trevor Immelman also shot 75 to win the 2008 Masters. Laird went from three strokes up to three down Sunday before sinking a par for a one-stroke victory over Steve Marino.

… Phil Mickelson played his way out of contention at Bay Hill with a second-round 75 while Tiger Woods starting beating the ball around on the weekend, shooting 74, 72 to stall whatever momentum he’d built with his 68 on Friday.

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The LPGA has struggled to make money over the last several years so it decided to do the next logical thing.

Give some away.

Handing cash over to charity is simple when it’s a tax dodge or when there is plenty of surplus but the real meaning of charitable giving carries a little more impact when it stings a little.

And such is the case for the professional women’s golf tour that has seen its schedule slashed, corporate sponsors take flight and resident players compete for a relative pittance when compared to their male counterparts.

But you rarely grow in business if you don’t tweak the model and so the inaugural Founders Cup was held this weekend in Phoenix, where Karrie Webb forged her second straight victory.

Karrie Webb won the inaugural Founders Cup. Photo Getty Images

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Anyone who plays golf for a living, needs to stop and give a quick thanks to Frank Chirkinian.

And the PGA Tour, and the golf manufacturers and even the sponsors who will pay big money to make even bigger money through exposure on golf telecasts.

Their sport is everywhere.

One can find a golf tournament on TV on any weekend across the calendar.

There is a cable channel that runs 24/7 covering nothing but the sport.

Players earn millions by simply hitting a golf ball.

And they can all thank Chirkinian, who made the game watchable.

Chirkinian died Saturday after a bout with lung cancer at age 84, but the mark he left on the game will be there forever.

Frank Chirkinian helped bring golf alive for TV. Photo Getty Images

Without Chirkinian there is no blimp cam, or mics on the teeboxes or roving reporters on the golf course.

All standard stuff now, but unheard of at a time when scores on TV were given as running totals and not in relation to par.

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Martin Kaymer scaled to the top of the world golf ranking, but Luke Donald’s win this weekend made it complete.

The Europeans are in charge.

Kaymer supplanted Lee Westwood in the No. 1 slot of the Official World Golf Ranking by getting to the final of the WGC Match Play event in Tucson.

Parlaying a victory to reach third was Donald, who vaulted from No. 9. Holding in the four-hole is Graeme McDowell.

For those repositioning the flags, the order would be: Germany, England, England and Northern Ireland.

In a free fall that shows no sign of gaining any lift is Tiger Woods, who checks in as the fifth-ranked ranked player just a few points ahead of fellow American Phil Mickelson.

Luke Donald won WGC Match Play and moved to No. 3. Photo Getty Images

Woods hasn’t been ranked this low since a week before he won his first Masters.

That was 1997.

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In the end, it wasn’t in the hole but it didn’t matter.

Carl Spackler finally put all that practice, swinging at chrysanthemums to use.

His putter did not turn into a garden hose.

McFiddish didn’t tell him to mow the practice green.

The caddie won.

Bill Murray negotiated 72 holes at the famed Monterey Peninsula in the tournament still wistfully called the Clambake and came out a winner as he and pro partner D.A. Points captured the pro-am portion of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Bill Murray and partner D. A. Points on the 7th tee at Pebble Beach. Photo Getty Images

Carl is certain to be quick with a tip.

As long as it’s not: “Cannonball comin’.”

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Tommy Gainey looks the part.

A billed lid sits atop his head with a sponsor’s logo prominently displayed.

His collared shirt reflects the same financial underwriter and his slacks and shoes allow him to blend and mingle in both the country club and touring pro sets.

But take a look at his hands and it will require a second glance, one for each glove.

Because Gainey wears not just the top hand glove, which is standard among players, but gloves his second hand as well.

Tommy Gainey is noted for wearing two golf gloves. Photo Getty Images

Word is, baseball came first for Gainey and once he migrated to golf, the two-glove habit was more than he could shake and it’s as much a part of his game as taking violent hacks with his driver.

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The LPGA released its schedule last week and it contained one curious twist.

Its first event on American soil will be contested for the honor of simply teeing it up.

That’s right — no money — at least none the players can take home and throw at a bill or two.

There will be “earnings” while the victory, placements and stats rendered will all count toward official tallies on the women’s tour, but any winnings at the Founders Cup will go to financing the LPGA Foundation.

Stipends will be available for caddie housing and expenses.

It may seem a bit odd to be asking its members to play for free essentially, especially for an organization that has struggled in the marketplace while losing tournaments and sponsors over the last couple of years.

The LPGA is launching the Founders Cup this season. Photo Getty Images

But the LPGA is taking the somewhat novel approach of using one of its official events as a charity vehicle in the hopes of supporting programs such as the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program, which introduces the sport to girls 7-17.

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Golf’s silly season officially ended Sunday with the Shark Shootout in Florida.

There was nothing silly about the money, of course, as Ian Poulter and Dustin Johnson split the $750,000 winner’s share to slap one last sweet bit of tinsel to their holiday decorations. But there was nothing official to be gained with the victory other than the simple joy of winning.

The Shootout was once held on the opposite coast at Sherwood CC in California before taking up residence at Tiburon GC in Naples, Fla. about 10 years ago. Greg Norman was the host then and is again, but it’s the format that helps the tournament stand out from the year-end, pay-for-play events that have become routine.

Over three rounds of the Shootout, the two-man teams play modified alternate shot, better ball and a Sunday scramble that predictably produces low scores. Poulter and Johnson did not disappoint with a final-round 59 to win the tournament by two strokes over Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke.

It’s the right idea for a December diversion.

Ian Poulter teamed with Dustin Johnson to win Shark Shootout. Photo Getty Images.

“They kind of pushed us around,” Poulter told the Associated Press of the heat provided by McDowell and Clarke. “You know what, making the birdies they did, it was kind of good for us to see good shot after good shot, and good putts going in. It’s a lot easier to hole putts when your playing partners do.”

McDowell and Clarke also shot 59 but could not close the gap.

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Ian Poulter needn’t be concerned with a rush to judgment since the ruling was all his.

Infraction, assessment, penalty were all laid out in a swift succession of action and Poulter went from a possible title in Dubai to runner-up.

He had no one to blame but himself, yet it was a tough and expensive lesson at a cost of about 300,000 euros.

“Just for the record I dropped my golf ball from five inches above my marker, the marker flipped over and that’s (a) one-shot penalty,” Poulter tweeted Monday. “Harsh rule.”

Ian Poulter dropped chance at Dubai title. Photo copyright USGA/Mike Ehrmann.

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Let’s get this out of the way quickly.

This Saturday will mark the one-year “anniversary” of Tiger Woods’ car accident that precipitated not only the downward spiral of his personal life but the biggest golf/non-golf story in decades.

What is left is a man, who had been one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet for what he did on the golf course but one who will forever be linked to what he apparently did so scandalously off of it.

The fallout was a divorce and a 2010 season that was his worst as a pro with no victories and scarcely the threat of one. Puzzling still, is the apparent loss of skills from a player that many considered the best ever.

The flashbacks to a wrecked SUV and a stack of tabloids will be written, tweeted and telecast from this holiday weekend going forward, but here’s to hoping that Sean Foley will be able to poke around and rediscover a golf swing that made golf must-see TV.

… And consider the PGA Tour as more than an interested party to a revitalized Tiger to boost those ratings. Nielsen has estimated that audiences for their telecasts declined by 21 percent in the 2010 season.

… Declining interest in watching golf on TV also seemed to extend to the man himself and his ability to attract sponsorship dollars.

The Davey Brown Index, which helps determine a celebrity’s ability to move the brand needle, has estimated Woods dropped from 96th overall to No. 2,586 according to a report in Reuters. By comparison, Woods has fallen to a similar category as Barry Bonds, the report said.

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