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Just in case you have a little time on your hands and want to escape the crush of relatives this weekend, or live in the Midwest or Europe and need a respite from the snow storms, here are a few stories that caught my eye this week that I think you will find interesting:

American Ryder Cup team captain Corey Pavin announced his captain's selections for the Ryder Cup team which will take on Europe at Celtic Manor in Wales.  To no one's surprise, Tiger Woods was selected despite his less than stellar play of late.  Joining him as a captain's pick are Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler.  Johnson won the Colonial, Cink last year's Open Championship and Fowler has five top 10 finishes this year. although the last one came when he finished second at the Memorial back on June 6. 

Of the four selections, Fowler will definitely be the most controversial, as it is not evident to most, including me, why he was selected, at least based on his performance on the Tour this year.  He is only 21 years old, is 25th on the earnings list and while he did finish 14th at the Open Championship at St. Andrews (which could well be the reason Pavin picked him) he missed the cut in the two tournaments before that and didn't finish higher than 33 in the four he played following the Open.

A few inks to get Tuesday off to a good start:

Here are some links to kick off your week:

Following in the footsteps of Anneka Sorenstam, the woman she succeeded as the world's number one player, Lorena Ochoa announced her retirement from the LPGA tour.  While she didn't say so in the announcement, she has previously indicated a desire to spend more time with her husband and step-children and to have children of her own.

I'm sure everyone involved in the LPGA wishes Ochoa well, however this was not a retirement that the tour needed this year.  The tour is already reeling from the impact of the Great Recession and to lose one of its most popular players is bound to have an adverse affect on television ratings and crowd turnouts at a time that the tour can least afford it.

Here's Anneka on Ochoa's retirement: