Photo credit: bvj07

What can a golfer do to keep your ball on course as you putt even when there’s a howling wind? Taking a normal putting stance with a taller posture and your feet close together make it easy for the wind to shove you out of position.

Under this condition, you have to brace yourself against the wind is the thing to do:

1. Position your feet further apart than usual. This effectively lowers the center of your gravity, increasing your balance. Play the ball in the center

of your stance.

2. Grip down on the shaft, with your right hand near the end of the handle.

3. Flex your knees and bend more from your hips.

This is a compact stance that is less affected by wind, helping you keep your stroke on line.

Cristie Kerr won the Safeway Classic on Sunday, which was Kerr’s 11th LPGA title. The victory came on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Helen Alfredsson and Sophie Gustafson — Cristie’s first win since the U.S. Women’s Open in 2007.

Coming from behind, Cristie fired a 65 making up four shots in the final round. After holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation, she then, on the first playoff hole, dropped a 20-footer to claim the victory.

“I’ve been in contention a couple times this year but faltered on Sunday a little bit. And I just knew that if I hit it good enough, and with the way I putt, if I hit it good enough today that I would have a chance come the end of the tournament,” Cristie said.

Meanwhile, Alfredsson’s runner-up finish, for the first time in her 17-year career, pushed her season earnings to more than a million dollars.

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Photo credit: evianmasters

Thank Kenny Perry for providing the laugh track to the 90th PGA Championship, the fourth and final major of the season for many, the first and only major of the season for Perry.

No, this week’s laugh track is as plain and simple as Perry himself: “Ha, ha, ha.”

For the record, that’s a direct quote, Perry’s easy answer to what was evidently an easy question as he walked out of the media center late Tuesday afternoon.

You may have heard that Perry caught a little bit of flak for it, and not just from sportswriters on this side of the pond.

“It amuses me,” said Perry, 47, who has said time and again his only goal for this season was to play in the Ryder Cup, which is being played next month in his home state of Kentucky.

In 22 years, nobody cared where I played golf. On Tuesday, after walking off the 18th green, Perry made sure to sign autographs for everyone who was waiting for him. Perry even walked out of sight once, then returned because he heard someone scream for another signature.

Perry’s season has been both unusual and unexpected, not to mention great by most standards, whether he’s playing in his first major championship of the year this week or his 10th. “It’s just been magical,” said Perry. I really haven’t thought about – my only goal was to make the Ryder Cup team, that’s all I focused in on this year. Not that Perry isn’t trying this week. Don’t forget how this story could end if he recharges those batteries just enough.

Don’t forget that the best part of this whole story is that Perry could still win this week. Thing is, Perry wouldn’t say anything.

“Ha, ha, ha,” said Perry Tuesday, when asked what that victory speech would be like.

“I’d just laugh. I’d just laugh.”

Before nearly beating the world’s best golfer at last year’s PGA Championship, Woody Austin was a master of intergalactic warfare.

Austin was a Little League all-star in Tampa, Fla., his highlight a hard-hit single up the middle off future Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden. Austin still competes in softball and basketball leagues at home in Derby, Kan.

“He’s what we call in South Africa ‘an all-arounder,’ ” said former PGA Tour player Ronnie McCann, Austin’s college roommate. “Last year’s PGA Championship, where he finished two shots behind Tiger Woods, gave Austin a taste of stardom. I feel I played well enough to win.”

For a ballstriker such as Austin, many rounds are full of frustration as another birdie opportunity slides by the hole.

Austin made the most of his time in the spotlight at Southern Hills. Austin’s honesty gave his Q-rating a big boost. “What you see now with Woody is what he’s always been,” said former Miami teammate Tom Hearn, who played the PGA Tour and is now a Nationwide Tour rules official. Austin, 44, returns to the PGA Championship Aug. 7-10 at Oakland Hills Country Club. This year, Austin is 19th on Tour in greens in regulation but is 166th in putts per GIR.

The PGA also is the final week to earn points for the U.S. Ryder Cup team standings. Austin was 10th on the list after the British Open. “(The Ryder Cup) would kind of put a cap on the career,” Austin said. “I can say I’m a multiple Tour winner; I’ve stayed out here a long time; I’ve played the Presidents Cup; I’ve been in the top 40 in the world rankings for a good part of this year. Austin has won three PGA Tour events, most recently at last year’s Stanford St. Jude Championship after a final-round 62. Austin played along with the gag, sporting a snorkel mask during his singles match. Austin isn’t afraid to share his opinion. “We live in such an excuse-oriented society,” Austin said. It took Austin eight years to make it to the Nationwide Tour after graduating from Miami in 1986.