What do you get for the person who has everything? Well, maybe you buy him a piece of history. The U.S. Marshals Service has done all the hard work, and now you can take advantage of it... maybe even at discount prices! Possessions seized from Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff are set to go under the gavel in New York City on Saturday, so bring your checkbook and your appetite for luxury. The money will be used to compensate the victims of Madoff's crimes.

I have waxed poetically about how much I like golf in the past -- some may even say that I am obsessed (like Tiger Woods' lawyers -- kidding). With the great city of Cincinnati finally wrapping up winter and seeing that bright glowing orb known as the sun, I can't help but think about getting out there on the links and destroying some landscaping.

One sure way to tell that golf season is right around the corner is when your local Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) starts touting itself as the golf headquarters. Well, guess what happened over the weekend? That's right, I saw my first golf commercial. My question is, will the start of golf season be enough to help the sports retailer put the recent downturn behind itself and push forward?

There can be no doubt that the recent downturn in the economy has beaten down and battered the retail sector, and DKS is no exception. On a weekly basis, the stock has descended steadily since 2007 -- wilting under pressure from its 10-, 20-, and 50-week moving averages.

Well, there go my chances of playing on the Professional Golf Tour (PGA). Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that I can't keep my golf ball out of the water. Nor can I curb my temper enough to regroup after one of my many horrifying shots. However, all that can be worked on through a lifetime of lessons (though I believe I am beyond help) -- but rumor of a facial-hair policy for the PGA means I will never join Tiger, Phil, or Sergio on the tour.

Reportedly, the PGA Tour has started working on a set of guidelines covering appearance and decorum on the course. Supposedly, this plan has been in the works since last summer. The GolfWorld article linked to above notes that this was around the time that Mike Weir (a Canadian) sought advice from Wayne Gretzky on how to succeed in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Gretzky tells Weir to grow a playoff beard (a long-standing tradition in hockey), which would be verboten with this new rule.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

When Nike (NYSE: NKE) signed then 15-year-old teenage golf phenom Michelle Wie to an endorsement contract, it and the rest of the golf world envisioned her bringing to women's golf the kind of attention and money that Tiger Woods has brought to the men's game. When she won her first (and only) tournament, her combination of a powerful swing and camera-loving beauty confirmed she was destined for stardom.

And she did succeed -- in gaining endorsement and appearance money, at least. In 2007 alone, she raked in an estimated $19 million, making her number four on the Forbes list of "Top 20 Earners under 25." The only fly in the ointment was that, as her income skyrocketed, her golf game tanked.

Perhaps she was struggling under too-high expectations. As a 16-year-old, she played in the Men's Tour's Sony Open, missing the cut by only four strokes, but generating incredible press coverage. By the end of 2006, however, she was routinely missing the cut by many strokes in each tournament she entered.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Tiger Woods returns to our Money Winners list this year despite a season shortened due to an injury and being let go as a General Motors spokesman. He won four of the six PGA tournaments he entered this year before bowing out with an injured knee. Paul Rogers, a veteran golf writer, who has written for Travel + Leisure Golf, GOLF Magazine, and Links Magazine, who I interviewed via e-mail, called that, "an unheard of rate of success by any current player's standards except his own."

That record made him golf's second-biggest prize winner despite his short season. Rogers says, "To give you a better sense of this
accomplishment, the top money winner on Tour this year, Vijay Singh, competed in 23 events." Rogers also mentioned that Woods is currently designing three golf courses in the Dubai desert, the mountains of North Carolina, and in Mexico's Baja, Calif., for a reported design fee of $25 million each.

Golf Digest magazine estimated in its February issue that by 2010 Woods could be the first athlete to reach $1 billion in earnings. He earned $123 million total in 2007 for total career earnings of $769 million, according to the magazine.

UBS (NYSE:UBS) is down 4% on concersn it will have more large write-offs.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) is down 3% on the belief it may have to raise more money.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) is off over 3% on news it is buying another steel company.

Randgold Resources (NASDAQ:GOLF) is falling almost 3% as the value of the dollar hurt gold shares.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

After a U.S. Open victory that was perhaps the most thrilling of his entire career, Tiger Woods will miss the rest of the season to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee.

Obviously this is bad news for his main sponsor, Nike (NYSE: NKE). They pay him handsomely to hit their clubs and wear their hat (although his bag bears the logo for Buick), and watching a close-up of his 18th hole birdie was priceless marketing: as the ball rolled, the Nike swoosh was in plain view.

And in a larger sense, this is bad news for anyone who's marketing on the PGA Tour. It's a well-known fact that golf's ratings plummet for any event Tiger isn't playing in. I mean, who really cares about Justin Leonard and Geoff Ogilvy? There's Tiger and then there's everyone else. Wake me when it's over -- maybe I'll go watch some arena football.

Tiger Woods has been a staple on money lists for over a decade now, so I doubt anyone is unaware of the magnitude of his income. This past year, though, has been a great one even by his standards.

He had an outstanding year on the golf course, with seven tour victories, including a PGA championship and the overall Tour Championship. Along the way, he led the tour with winnings of over $10 million.

This was only the beginning of his cash flow, though. Endorsement money well exceeded his on-course winnings. In addition to his standing affiliations with Nike (NYSE: NKE), General Motors (NYSE: GM) and others, Procter & Gamble's (NYSE: PG) Gillette signed him to a new deal for $10-20 million as part of its "Gillette Champions" campaign. In the fall, PepsiCo's (NYSE: PEP) Gatorade agreed to pay him up to $100 million to license a Tiger Woods brand of sports drink, due out next spring. He also moved forward on his newest venture, golf course design, announcing plans for his first U.S. design, The Cliffs at High Carolina.

Tiger continues to dominate his sport and keep his image positive. Young, vastly talented, and a shrewd businessman, in 2007 he not only drove the green, he raked it in, too.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.

The New York Times DealBook has a pithy, if not entirely fair piece on Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) CEO James Cayne's golfing habits, and their correlation with Bear's subprime troubles. Apparently the writers over there have too much time on their hands because they look up Cayne's golf scores for the past couple months and then plotted them on a graph to find a 35% correlation between his golf game and the company's stock: "That's a fairly weak, but "positive" correlation - which means that as Bear's stock has gone down, his golf game has generally gotten better."

While this is inane and I don't think anyone would argue it has any real value, I would say its significance lies in its inanity. As DealBook writes, "With traders searching for clues to the subprime crisis nearly everywhere, the golf course seems as good a place as any."

As we hears tons of explanations for the market's gyrations, keep that in mind: "Is X any more reasonable of an explanation than James Cayne's golf scores?" Many of the statistics trumpeted by pundits on CNBC probably aren't.

And studying Cayne's golf scores is a lot more interesting.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Cantor believes HouseValues (NASDAQ: SOLD) may be a lagging indicator of the broader real estate market. As such, it may see its customer and revenue bases contract further in the face of still-sluggish housing data and started shares with a Hold rating.

• Pali Research initiated Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) with a Neutral rating based on valuation.

• The firm also believes D.R. Horton's (NYSE: DHI) risk to book value and profitability is higher than some of the competition since the company has taken significantly less land charges. Shares were initiated with a Hold rating.

• Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was initiated with an Outperform at Baird and is positive on Dick's store expansion, market leadership, margin opportunities and fundamentals.

• USG (NYSE: USG) was initiated with a Sell rating at Banc of America, believing wallboard price and profit declines will be worse than expected due to lower housing starts and less spending on remodeling. Their analysis suggests another leg down for housing...

• Morgan Joseph started Jamba, Inc (NASDAQ: JMBA) with a Buy rating.

• Wachovia started Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) with a Market Perform rating.

• Baird started Golfsmith International Holdings (NASDAQ: GOLF) with a Neutral rating.

• Merrill Lynch initiated Bayer AG (NYSE: BAY) with a Buy rating and UBS initiated QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC) with a Neutral rating.

If mere athletic talent sold product, kids would be lining up for Tim Duncan's shoes, since he is the best player in the NBA. But it doesn't. It takes a combination of extraordinary athletic accomplishment and charisma to push a brand over the top. Three such athletes, Amanda Beard, LeBron James and Tiger Woods, are front and center in this week's news.

Two are at the peak of their pulling power. LeBron James (Nike, NYSE: NKE, Coca-Cola's (NYSE: KO) Powerade) fresh from an astonishing game five of the NBA Eastern conference playoffs, is dominating the sports page, if not the San Antonio Spurs. The Cleveland franchise has gained $185 million in value since his signing, and the $90 million he received from Nike seems like a bargain now. When his contract expires in 2008, he could demand -- $250 million? $500 million? It is possible, by the end of the career, he could be the first $1 billion athlete?

If Tiger doesn't beat him to it. Beginning tomorrow, Tiger Woods (Nike, Buick, General Motors, NYSE:GM) starts his pursuit of the 2007 U.S. Open. He's inked a 5-year, $40 million deal with Nike, and $25 million from Buick. Unlike LeBron, Tiger can look forward to another 30 years of playing, with lots of green jackets and green cash to come.