FanHouse CondoleezzaRice

In an effort to keep our golf visitors well informed on what is going on around the Internet, Range Balls will be our new weekly link dump. Every Tuesday during golf season, we will toss out some of the most interesting things we came across. If you have a tip, e-mail us at fanhousegolf@gmail.com. Enjoy the links.

--Condoleezza Rice followed Tiger Woods this week at the Masters and gave her full report on the experience. The best line -- "We set out for the course and I soon learned that you don't "follow Tiger."" [The Daily Beast]

--Angel Cabrera did something no other golfer has ever done at Augusta -- he won the Masters using Ping Golf clubs. [The Shop]

--I'll give The Golf Channel this -- when thinking about "The Big Break," the producers have realized that sex does sell. Here is the first of three interviews with Kim Kouwabunpat, from the upcoming show. [Bushwood Country Club]

--The Masters golf ratings are out, and this might surprise you -- it wasn't the highest during the Phil Mickelson -- Tiger duel. The ratings hit 9.4/23 when those two were on the course and 10.0/21 during the playoff. [Golfweek]

--Jill McGill gives us a little insight into the life of a LPGA golfer. [Armchair Golf Blog]

Previously, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen had announced that he was stepping down at the beginning of July. The Pac-10 with its usual speed and decisiveness have done little to suggest they have narrowed down their list of candidates. Instead the list appeared to be growing, and the candidates will not be narrowed until maybe the spring.

Since last week, there was a growing rumor that after signing with the William Morris Agency, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a candidate for the position of Commissioner of the Pac-10. This would be a shift from returning to Stanford to teach, write and lecture as previously announced.

The 49ers canned head coach Mike Nolan on Monday, and apparently, it's just the beginning of a front office overhaul. The club managed just 18 wins in 55 games, and were 2-5 this season. That, along with 2005 first-overall pick Alex Smith's glacial development had just about everything to do with Nolan's current status.

But this morning, NFL Network's Adam Schefter reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might be interested in a job with the 49ers in the near future.

No one doubts that Cal Ripken is a great ambassador for the game of baseball, but does he have what it takes to be an ambassador to the world? Condoleeza Rice thinks so:

Rice on Monday will make Ripken a Special Sports Envoy to the Department of State, the public relations firm that represents Ripken, Maroon PR, said in a statement Thursday.

The former Baltimore Orioles star will be asked to help the game grow at the grass-roots level. Ripken will reach out to a worldwide audience of young people; his first trip will be to China this fall.

[...] Rice last year asked figure skater Michelle Kwan to serve as a Public Diplomacy Envoy. Kwan's task is to try to improve the United States' image abroad by sharing her experiences as a skater.

I don't entirely understand the purpose of his new role (why does the U.S. really care if little kids in China grow up playing baseball?), but I suppose if Kwan is fit for the job, so is Ripken. Hell, if I were him, I'd do it just for the diplomatic immunity (that's part of the package, right?).

But will hearing about Ripken's baseball experiences actually change people's opinion about America? Or will they just think that we're really, really boring? "It all started when I played in a game. And then the next day, I played again. And the next day, I played again. And the next day ..."