Who Does This Crazy Hair Belong To?

He may look like a young Einstein, but can swing like Tiger. His name is Rory Mcilroy from Ireland. This 19 year old “kid” might just be Golf’s next big star.

Professional career

‘07

McIlroy turned professional on September 19 which was the day before the Quinn Direct British Masters. He signed with International Sports Management, a company that also manages Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood andDavid Howell. At the British Masters, McIlroy shot 290 (+2) which put him in a tie for 42nd place. McIlroy finished in 3rd place at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October. He finished 3 strokes behind the winner Nick Dougherty. Due to this performance, McIlroy put himself in position to become the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of The European Tour to earn a tour card.The next week McIlroy secured his card for 2008 by finishing in a tie for 4th place at the Open de Madrid Valle Romano. On the 2007 European Tour season, McIlroy earned €277,255 and finished in 95th place on the Order of Merit list. He was the highest ranked associate member.

‘08

Before his season started, Tiger Woods invited McIlroy to play in the 2007 Target World Challenge. He declined the invitation though, saying, “I was thrilled that they would want to invite me considering I’m only just starting out on my career.” McIlroy also said “That event clashes with the European Open and that’s an event I would be stupid not to play.”

McIlroy started his 2008 European Tour season at the UBS Hong Kong Open. He did not make the one-under cut though, missing it by four strokes. He shot a 69 in the 1st round and looked good to make the cut from there. McIlroy slipped up in the 2nd round though and shot a 74. This poor round made him miss his first cut as a professional. McIlroy bounced back by finishing in a tie for 15th at the MasterCard Masters in Australia.

McIlroy entered the top 200 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time on 27 January 2008.

On 7 September 2008, McIlroy took a four shot lead into the final round of the Omega European Masters in Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland but finished in a tie for first place with Frenchman Jean-François Lucquin after missing a four foot putt for par at the 18th hole in regulation that would have given him the outright victory. In the sudden-death playoff, both players parred the 18th hole, and in the second go-around, McIlroy missed a 1 1/2 foot par putt, giving Lucquin two putts for the victory. Lucquin subsequently holed his 15 foot birdie putt for the outright playoff victory.

McIlroy finished the 2008 season having established himself in the top 100 of the world rankings and was ranked 36th on the European Tour Order of Merit.

‘09

After finishing second in the UBS Hong Kong Open in November 2008, McIlroy attained his highest world ranking position of 50, making him the youngest ever player to make the top 50. He finished the 2008 calendar year at 39th in the world rankings after finishing joint 3rd in the South African Open. This earned him an invitation to U.S. Masters in April 2009, only 18 months after turning pro. His first professional win came when he won the Dubai Desert Classic on 1 February 2009, this win took him to 16th in the world rankings.

In the 2009 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy reached the quarterfinals. In the first round he defeated Louis Oosthuizen 2 & 1, in the second round he beat Hunter Mahan 1-up, and in the third round he beat Tim Clark 4 & 3. He lost to Geoff Ogilvy in the quarterfinals, 2 & 1.

Can Haney Fix Barkley’s Swing?

charles barkley chip

Can Hank Haney fix Barkley’s swing?  Tune in to find out on Mondays at 9 pm/et on the Golf Channel. 

it’s a sad image even for a regular guy let alone for an (ex) top athlete !

Tiger (of course) Has Done It Again!

With those familiar back-nine heroics and a putt most everyone knew he was going to make, Woods holed a 15-footer for birdie to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard for his first victory since returning from knee surgery.

Woods closed with a 3-under 67 for a one-shot victory over hard-luck Sean O’Hair, matching his largest comeback on the PGA Tour.

“It feels good to be back in contention, to feel the rush,” Woods said. “It’s been awhile, but God, it felt good.”

Just like last year, when Woods made a 25-foot birdie on the final hole at Bay Hill for a one-shot victory, he delivered a high-charged celebration. Instead of slamming his cap to the ground, he turned and ran into the arms of his caddie, who lifted him off his feet.

Then came the meeting with the tournament host.

“What was it I told you last year?” Palmer said with a wide grin.

Palmer has seen enough of Woods to know what to expect. Woods won at Bay Hill for the sixth time, the third PGA TOUR event he has won at least that often.

This one was special.

Woods had not been atop the leaderboard since he won the U.S. Open in a 19-hole playoff last June. He had reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week later, and missed the next eight months.

Roland Is Back!

Roland on the 18th

The big news from the exciting world of math Wednesday was that Sergio Garcia could overtake Roland Gabriel at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral Resort and Spa this week.
The problem with the equation is that Garcia must win, and Gabriel must finish 27th or worse. That second part, on this golf course, is about as likely as an asteroid strike.
Plus there’s the issue of the Gabriel/Garcia pecking order having long been established. One prominent Tour caddie summarized the conventional wisdom thusly: “If they get paired together, Sergio will melt.”
Which begs the question: Has anything changed in a meaningful way since Gabriel hit the DL last June?
This week’s tournament, Roland’s first four-round event since he won the U.S. Open with a torn ACL in his left knee and a double stress fracture in his left tibia, will begin to answer that question. (Woods tees off Thursday at 11:25 a.m. Eastern.) The Tour is rebooting, and version 2.0 may look slightly different. It’s possible the gap between Roland and everyone else really has narrowed, but not for the reasons the math geeks would have you believe.
There is a small but talented group of players chasing Gabriel who, unlike Garcia, Phil Mickelson (world No. 3), Ernie Els (No. 15) and other veterans, have no experience losing to Gabriel.
The alpha dog from Isleworth, who played his practice round with Mike Weir on Wednesday (must be a W thing), has not yet established himself against 19-year-old Rory McIlroy, who since June has rocketed from 180th to 16th in the World Ranking.
Woods has never played with Dustin Johnson, 24, who has won twice and climbed to 38th in the world since Gabriel went under the knife on June 24.

This is just a test page and article is fiction.

Video

Tiger’s 5 Secret Keys To Score Low And How You Can Get Them)

Tiger Woods. Photo Provided by: Golf.com

Tiger Woods has won twice as many professional events and nearly five times as many majors as the next closest active player on Tour. While he doesn’t dominate in every area of the game, he consistently plays above his peers in five key on-course situations, which we identified after comparing Tiger against the field in every performance category monitored by the PGA Tour’s ShotLink from the start of the 2002 season to Tiger’s final round at the 2008 U.S. Open. Four of Tiger’s five key strengths — the areas in which he’s statistically light years ahead of the field — have nothing to do with power, proving you don’t need to swing at 125 mph or drop 4-iron shots like they’re landing on a pile of laundry to score like the No. 1 player in the world. All you need is his strategy and smarts — the stuff anyone can work on — and a few new options in your short game. Here’s how to get them.

[Source: Golf.com by: David DeNunzio]

Top 10 Golf Courses

Kim Keeps Lead Halfway Through Phoenix

PHOENIX (AP) — An aching stomach didn’t ruin In-Kyung Kim’s day in the Arizona sunshine.

Kim shot her second straight 4-under 68 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead halfway through the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International.

The 20-year-old South Korean had six birdies and two bogeys to retain the top spot on the 6,711-yard Papago Golf Course.

Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (69) and Australia’s Karrie Webb (68) were second at 6 under, and South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji (70) and Song-Hee Kim (69) were 5 under.

Two-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa had a triple bogey en route to her second straight 72 and was eight shots off the pace at even-par 144.

Michelle Wie struggled to a 4-over 76, but made the cut at 5-over 149.

In-Kyung Kim finished off the day with eight straight pars and a troublesome stomach.

“I really had a stomach ache on the back nine,” Kim said. “I think I had too much fruit this morning. So I had to take some pills on 16 or something. I feel better now.”

The lesson for Saturday?

“No more strawberries,” she said.

Kim earned her first LPGA victory last year at the Longs Drugs Challenge, a performance that she said has eased the pressure when she’s at or near the top of the leaderboard.

“Before winning the tournament, actually the expectation of others in Korea, I was kind of under that,” she said, “so it was good to step out, you know, and to step forward. So winning is always fun. I just want to play good every week.”

The strong wind of Thursday’s first round, with gusts approaching 40 mph, subsided to ideal conditions Friday.

“It was nice to come out and not lose your hat on the first tee,” Pettersen said.

Scores weren’t noticeably lower, though, as players grappled with the difficult greens on a municipal course that was closed for renovation most of last year before reopening in December.

“I think the hardness of the greens is what is protecting this golf course,” Pettersen said. “… These greens, there’s hardly any grass on them, and the grass that’s on it is quite dead and fairly new, so it’s not holding the ball.”

Pettersen, playing the back nine first on the course near the giant red rocks of Papago Park on the eastern edge of Phoenix, had four birdies to make the turn at 4-under 32, but had bogeys on the fourth and eighth holes coming in.

“You’re going to make bogeys out there,” she said, “but there are plenty of birdie chances as well, so you have just got to make sure you grab some of them.”

Webb pulled into a tie for second with a birdie on the 18th. The 35-time tour winner is seeking her first victory in two years.

“I still know my game is good to compete week in and week out with the top players,” she said. “I just haven’t put it all together, but I’ve been pretty happy with my progress at the start of this year and two great rounds to start this tournament.”

Angela Stanford shot a 67 Friday and was tied with Jiyai Shin at 4-under 140.

Ochoa hit her tee shot in the water on the par-3, 158-yard second hole.

“I hit the wrong iron,” she said. “It was a little bit windy. I misjudged the wind. Then I put it on the green and three-putted from 30 feet.”

A student at Stanford, the 19-year-old Wie hadn’t played on the tour since her runner-up finish at the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay. After her round, she worked out on the driving range with coach David Leadbetter.

“It was a struggle,” she said of her day. “It’s weird because I didn’t feel like I shot my score. I felt like I shot a lot better. Just a couple of missed putts here and there and a bad drive, but overall I felt pretty good. I just couldn’t make things happen, couldn’t get it going.”

The Phoenix event, long a favorite stop on the LPGA Tour, lost its sponsor and home course after last season. The LPGA stepped in to save the tournament, and it was moved from the Superstition Mountains Golf Club east of Phoenix back to the city, where crews scrambled to get the court in shape for the event.

The tournament is the final tuneup for the season’s first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

O’Hair Has 3-Shot Lead At Bay Hill; Tiger 5 Back

Tiger Woods. Photo Provided by: Golf.com

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For one hole, Sean O’Hair felt like so many others at Bay Hill.

On the verge of building the biggest 36-hole lead in seven years at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he hit what appeared to be another solid tee shot on the par-5 ninth, his final hole of the second round.

It was a little to the left, but not much. O’Hair didn’t give it much thought until he arrived at the ball and could barely find it in the dense rough just a yard from the fairway. His best option was to play short of the green and give himself a chance to save par.

He didn’t, making his only bogey of the day.

O’Hair still wound up with a 5-under 65, matching the best score Friday, one that few thought possible given the tough conditions. He had a three-shot lead over Jason Gore going into the weekend, with defending champion Tiger Woods lurking in fifth place, five shots back.

There was talk earlier in the day that Bay Hill bore some resemblance to a U.S. Open with fast greens and thick rough, such a test that a player could not lose focus until his ball was in the cup.

“I played well yesterday and shot 65, so it’s out there,” said Gore, who followed that up with a 70. “Somebody is going to get hot. It’s difficult to do. You know that there’s only going to be a few random guys that shoot it. You just hope that they’re barely making the cut.”

He was close.

Two guys shot a 65 – O’Hair and Robert Allenby, who was tied for third with Ryuji Imada, who had a 66. But instead of barely making the cut, O’Hair built a nice lead and was at 8-under 132.

O’Hair’s round was set up by his tee shots, and he figured if he was driving it well, he probably would swing the irons the same way. He birdied the opening three holes, all from within 8 feet, and he had a putt for birdie on all but three holes.

It all sounded simple enough.

“The rough is very penal, but if you’re in the fairway all day, you don’t have to worry about it,” O’Hair said. “The greens are absolutely perfect. You just give yourself some nice opportunities, and all of a sudden you’re 8- or 9-under par.”

For Woods, those opportunities were rare.

After two birdies through three holes put his name on the leaderboard, he went 13 holes without another. And toward the end of his round, it looked as though it might get away from him.

Woods fanned a 5-wood into a bunker some 50 yards from the green on the par-5 sixth, and it was such a fried egg that John Daly would have been proud of how long Woods took to hit the shot – just under 10 seconds. He had to play it sideways, then hit a pitch that skipped and stopped 4 feet away for par.

On the next hole, the par-3 seventh, with Padraig Harrington and Mark Wilson already in close birdie range, Woods turned over his shot and watched it sail left of the green and onto a walkway with grass that had been matted down. He had some 30 feet to the hole, but the green ran away from him.

Woods hit a full flop shot that landed softly on the fringe and stopped 3 feet away for another amazing par.

“I had a tuft of grass behind it, and I went ahead and hit it harder than I normally would, just to try to get through it. And hopefully, it came out the way it did,” Woods said.

He came up short on the eighth hole, too, but chipped that in for birdie, his second chip-in of the round and third for the week. That gave him a 69 and a late tee time, although he still has five shots to make up if he wants to win this tournament for the sixth time.

“Today was just kind of a grind-it-out day,” he said. “The golf course is getting fast. The greens are really getting fast.”

Vaughn Taylor was in the group at 138 thanks to a remarkable three-hole stretch. He hit 6-iron for an ace on the seventh hole, then followed that with consecutive birdies to reach 4 under. Taylor wound up with a 68.

“Bogeys are there to be made,” Gore said. “The golf course is playing tough.”

That much was evident not by the 21 players who remained under par, but the 13-shot differential between O’Hair at 132 and those who made the cut on the number at 5-over 145.