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According to an article in this week's Sports Illustrated, former Masters and PGA Champion Vijay Singh has been named as one of several athletes to use a banned substance from a two-man company  called S.W.A.T.S. -- Sports with Alternatives to Steroids.

Golf.com's Ryan Reiterman blogged:

The two men, Christopher Key and Mitch Ross, run their company from a gym in Alabama. They sell products such as deer antler spray and hologram chips that they claim will help athletes perform better on the field.

We're about two months into the three-month comment period that the USGA and R&A instituted after they announced their proposed rule to ban the anchoring of long putters.

Mark King, the CEO of TaylorMade, has a comment. And, wow, what a comment it is.

An unbylined, Associated Press report out of Dubai, says that 2011 Open Champion Darren Clarke was recently in a, "minor car accident." By the sounds of it, the man long thought to be a favorite for the 2014 European Ryder Cup Captaincy until he pulled his name out of consideration and Irishman Paul McGinely got the nod, seems to be OK.

Here's the AP report:

Golf's biggest equipment makers dominated the news last week at the PGA Merchandise Show down in Orlando, but Mizuno held its ground with the biggest of the big boys thanks to three noteworthy developments:

What kind of season is 2013 going to be for Tiger Woods?

That's always the question golf observers pose, isn't it? Well, he began the season two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi and missed the cut. Today, he brings a healthy six-shot lead with just 11 holes left to play in the weather-interrupted Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines -- a place where he's been more dominant than anyone else in the game's history.

Not all PGA Tour golf courses are created equally. Aside from the contrast in terrain, types of grass and natural surroundings, the scores players shoot at particular courses highlights the divide between those where we expect to see a birdie-fest and those where par can be a man's best friend.

For example, Russell Henley, a Tour rookie, won in his very first start at the Sony Open in Hawaii with a remarkable 72-hole score of 24 under at Waialae Country Club. While beautiful, no doubt, Waialae is flat and lends itself to low scores.

Is Lydia Ko a has-been at age 15?

When the word leaked out that Tiger Woods' ex-wife Elin Nordegren was tearing down a $12 million oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach County, Fla., to build a new house on the same site, there was plenty of snickering and eye-rolling. Turns out she did the smart thing.

 In response to an earlier post on The Golf Buzz, here, PGA Tour Vice President Ty Votaw called me to clarify the tour’s position as well as offer his personal opinion on Twitter and the role social media plays in modern-day golf coverage.

The PGA Tour took a swipe at new media on Thursday.