WEEKEND CONTROVERSY: Sony Open/Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

Despite evidence to the contrary, executives at the Sony Open and tournament officials for the Abu Dhabi Golf Champinoship both held fast to their position on Monday that neither event was adversely affected by the global economic meltdown.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer claimed that it was always their intention to present the tournament winner with a 1970's era Sony Trinitron television set in lieu of a first place check for $972,000. "Those sets are actually collector's items," Stringer explained. "We almost couldn't find one for Zach [Johnson], but thankfully the feds uncovered a motel room in Santa Fe that was doubling as a giant meth lab and, well, it was a win-win."

On the other side of the globe, Abu Dhabi officials would not say what happened to the ostentatious Falcon Trophy that its winner has received in previous years. Instead, England's Paul Casey was presented with what appeared to be a chrome-painted figurine of a woman golfer on a acrylic base. Ed Cifelli, owner of Future Stars Trophy Company in Syracuse, estimated the value of Casey's award at "five bucks tops," and noted that it did not even appear to be engraved.