While other drivers are off getting married or working through honey-do lists or whatever, Robby Gordon is in Argentina running in the Dakar Rally. He's got plenty of fans down there, and during one of his shakedown runs, he got up close and personal with one of them:

You can keep up with Gordon's Dakar Rally exploits over at his website. After the first stage, he was running eighth; he's got 12 more stages to go. Monday is a 201-mile stage through the mountains. Go get 'em, Robby!

Were it not for Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer would be the runaway favorite for breakout player of 2010. He reached No. 1 on the European Tour, he won a major, he won the Race to Dubai, he played in the Ryder Cup, and he won at St. Andrews in the Dunhill Cup. Any of those would be a good career; Kaymer did all of 'em in a single year. That's not bad.

But for all his accolades, one honor still eludes him. Kaymer is one of the most talented golfers on the planet, but he's never achieved that tough-but-not-impossible feat: the hole-in-one.

He's 25 years old, he's played tens of thousands of holes all over the world, and he's never achieved that mythical ace. Old ladies, kids, people with absolutely zero talent but enough strength to power the ball down the fairway and enough luck to hit it straight just once --all those people have carded aces, and not Kaymer? Huh.

The professional record for holes-in-one is held by Art Wall Jr., who carded 45 over his career. Second place is Jack

Kyle Busch wrapped his 2010 on a high note with his wedding to Samantha Sarcinella at the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on New Year's Eve.

"This is the day, the moment, the best time of the yr," Kyle Tweeted minutes before the show got rolling. "Ready to spend the rest of my life w my true love!. At church, ready to marry."

One bridal website said the theme of the wedding was "ostrich and peacock feathers," which is appropriate because ... wait, you know what? This is their happy day, so let's shelve the snark for just the briefest of moments. Oh, but the jokes that could be written ...

Anyway, Radar Online has some photos of the happy couple, taken by those filthy paparazzi (or, judging from the angle, by some of the guests). The couple will be showing all the photos, video, etc. in March on the Style Network, a network which I can absolutely guarantee you Kyle did not know existed before this.

Regardless, we wish the best for the happy couple, this year and beyond. And what did you

You may still be bleary-eyed from that New Year's Eve party -- and we know you haven't written your Christmas thank-you notes yet, so don't even try to blow that by us -- but the 2011 golf season officially gets underway this week as the Hyundai Tournament of Champions begins at the lovely Plantation Course at Kapalua. Yes, yes, for most casual fans golf doesn't truly begin until Masters Sunday, but for us diehards, we're rolling right now, baby!

As befits its name -- the second half, at least -- the HTOC invites all the tournament champions from the previous year to do battle. That means well-known faces like Anthony Kim, Bubba Watson, Camilo Villegas, Jim Furyk and Ernie Els are in attendance, along with "wait, he won last year?" guys like Jason Bohn, Bill Haas and Derek Lamely. Not in attendance: Phil Mickelson, who won in Augusta last year. Also not in attendance: Tiger Woods, who ... er, never mind.

Anyway, this will be a good chance for you to get back in the swing of golf --

Welcome to 2011, everybody! Hope 2010 closed out well for you and yours. As the new year kicks off, it dawns on me that we're so totally living in the future. I mean, check it out -- the iPhone is so much better than Star Trek communicators (and the iPhone 5 will feature a laser beam!), we've actually got flying cars now (ask Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski), and aliens walk among us. How else to explain the dominance of Jimmie Johnson, huh?

Anyway, as the year begins we're barely a month from the season starting in Daytona. I know, I know, it seems like we just got done deconstructing the whole Johnson-Denny Hamlin-Kevin Harvick triumvirate, and here we are getting ready to start the whole deal all over again. Having the offseason come at Christmastime makes it just zip by, doesn't it?

We'll spend some time over the next few weeks discussing in more detail the big stories of 2011, but for now, let's take a flyover look at what will be the key issues of the year to come, and we start

We're almost done with 2010, so as we close out the year, we look back one last time at the big teams to see where they went right, where they went wrong, and what their prospects might be for 2011. We continue with a team for whom the season ended too soon.

By the numbers: Four wins, 24 top 5s, 56 top 10s, three poles.

The recap: The Roush year was dominated by the fact that Jack Roush lost his left eye in a plane accident. In happier news, Greg Biffle won almost immediately afterward, and Carl Edwards was the hottest driver in the sport for much of the second half of the season. (He also perpetuated his feud with Brad Keselowski, which didn't go over so well with most of NASCAR nation.) Matt Kenseth quietly -- of course -- posted another strong season, once again reliably making the Chase. And David Ragan? Well, he didn't hurt himself or anybody else, so there's that.

The outlook: It's feast or famine for the Roush guys. If they can figure out their various engineering tics, Edwards

It's almost the new year, and that means it's time to make some resolutions that may or may not make it to mid-January. Here are a few of our golf resolutions; see which of these you'd like to adopt, and add your own in the comments below.

Never three-putt. Not just a good idea for your golf game; a good philosophy for life in general. Plan your approach, drain your putts. You can do it. We know you can.

Write less about Tiger. Just kidding. Let's all be honest here: I love writing about him, and you love reading about him ... or complaining about him, one of the two.

Sit kids in front of the TV for the back nine of a major. Look, non-golf fans aren't going to care about a Fall Swing or pre-Augusta tournament, and kids won't care unless chunks of the course blow up every half-hour or so. But get them interested in a golfer, get them living and dying with every putt of his in the tense final moments of a major, and you'll hook 'em for life. Just use caution if you hook them up with

We're almost done with 2010, so as we close out the year, we look back one last time at the big teams to see where they went right, where they went wrong, and what their prospects might be for 2011. We continue with a team that rebounded in a big way in 2010.

By the numbers: Five wins, 29 top 5s, 59 top 10s, zero poles.

The recap: Anything would have been an improvement over 2009 for the boys at RCR, as every one of them missed the Chase. They surpassed 2009 with authority, as all three drivers reached the Chase and two, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, actually had legitimate championship aspirations for various moments. Jeff Burton got into a fight with Jeff Gordon, which was cool also. Overall, it was a fine return to form for RCR, led by Harvick's ascension to superstar status.

The outlook: Next year, Paul Menard joins the RCR stable, and if you think that has anything to do with a certain retail store chain that just happens to sponsor Menard, hey, nice job of paying attention.