A little more information (thanks for all of the responses):
I really loved driving this car prior to the engine failing. It's only 5 years old and I have taken very good care of it, and up until this point I really didn't have any major problems with it. The car has 122,000 miles on it. I just had it in for the 120,000 mile service, which included the timing belt.
The mechanic who has the car now (not the dealer who performed the service) said that it appeared that the timing belt was tensioned properly.
The only reason I haven't bought a new car yet is because I just bought a
2003 Passat wagon for my wife about a week prior to this happening and I really don't want another car payment at this point.
VW customer service has told me on a couple of occasions that there is nothing that they can do for me (one of the folks I talked to was pretty rude about this, too). I'm not sure what I was expecting them to do about this since the car was out of warantee. If they had been a little more sympathetic or tried to help me in some way, I would probably have dropped another $17K on a new Golf to replace this already. Although I really like the brand, I am not leaning towards buying another VW due to the way I was treated on the phone.
If I'm going to keep this car, I am either going to have to get the engine rebuilt or buy a new engine. I would appreciate any recommendations on either of these.
Thanks!