Boo in his natural habitat on Tuesday (photo courtesy of his swing instructor Scott Hamilton)

Boo Weekley kicked off the first round of the Honda Classic in the dark — literally — teeing off at 6:45am. He bogeyed the first two holes at the difficult (and soggy) PGA National, but the cloudy morning started to brighten up on No. 6, when he got his putter rolling and rattled off six birdies to shoot a solid four-under 68.

The hard work he’s spent in the last few weeks on his putting stroke — in between his fishing — clearly paid off on Thursday morning.

(continue reading…)

Teeing off the 10th at 7:25 on Thursday morning, Tiger Woods got off to a gloomy start, but managed to turn it around and finish with an even-par 70 (T61).

He opened the first nine with two bogeys and then battled back, rolling in two birdies on Nos. 3 and 7, but the highlight of the day (and the shot we’ll see over and over — including in the video above) was his par save on No. 6, where he pulled a “Se Ri Pak.”  (continue reading…)

Tiger sticking out his tongue at mud balls

Nearly a year ago, Tiger Woods started the final round of the Honda Classic trailing Rory McIlroy by nine shots. Tiger put on a solid come-from-behind performance, firing an impressive 62 — and just enough to let Rory consider his lead coming down the stretch to secure the win and his ascendance to the world’s No. 1 ranking.

Since then, Rory and Tiger have developed a strangely endearing and puzzling to some friendship and cordial rivalry, which was tattooed across headlines a gazillion times, causing the complete ruin of the word “bromance” (for me, personally). After Tiger finished knocking it around with some amateurs in the pro-am Wednesday morning at PGA National, he shared some insight into their friendship, changing equipment, and of course, the anchoring ban, among other topics.

(continue reading…)

If you’re on the east coast and stayed up to join the #WUPHangout and asked questions, you rock. As for the rest of you, well…I don’t know why you’d have something better to do, like sleeping or hanging out with people in real life. Luckily, these Google+ live video podcast-like things record to YouTube, so people can check it out later.

Like I said, it was late and it’d been a pretty long day, and I was already kind of delirious at the start and it only went downhill — or more embarrassing borderline absurd entertaining from there. I mean, at least for an Inside Golf chat.

Still BFFs and almost neighbors in South Florida

Last Thursday after both were eliminated in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, world No. 1 Rory McIlroy was wheeling his travel bag out to the parking lot when he saw world No. 2 Tiger Woods was putting his in the trunk of his car. The two acknowledged each other in a “yeah, this sucks, I’ll see you later, man” kind of way, and then later Tiger texted Rory and invited him to play at The Medalist on Sunday morning.  (continue reading…)

I tried something different this evening because I was short on time and had to get to the airport for my flight to the Palm Beach area. Yep, the Honda Classic kicks off the Florida swing, which in the past two years has been a joy to cover.

I also went on a little adventure today — nothing crazy. I just went on a field trip to 30 Rock to check out the taping of “The Crossover,” a new sports/pop-culture show hosted by Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs (my apologies, I called him Rob when I was stammering during the solo #WUPHangout) on the NBC Sports Network.

(continue reading…)

Through the cactus

Matt Kuchar bested Hunter Mahan 2&1 in a well-fought final duel at Dove Mountain in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Fighting strong winds and chilly temperatures in Arizona — of all places — Kuchar took advantage of early bogeys made by his competitor Mahan, who had not previously trailed at any point during his prior five matches.

But just like that, Kuchar birdied No. 8 to go 4-up heading into the back nine.  (continue reading…)

Finchem: Let’s create a clusterf*ck

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem interrupted the final match of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship to announce that the Tour is officially protesting the proposed rule to ban anchored putters. Earlier in the week, the Player Advisory Council and Policy Board convened to discuss the issue and the majority were against the rule change, and those who were initially for the ban were swayed to alter their position.

Now this is a big deal — the Tour openly defying golf’s governing bodies, which will most likely result in a chaotic mess, as I wrote earlier this weekend. (continue reading…)

Tiger & Elin come together for the kids

After Tiger Woods was knocked out in round one of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, he flew home to Florida and spent some time with his kids, Sam and Charlie. Woods hasn’t been photographed with his ex-wife Elin Nordegren since, like, eternity — well, at least not since pre-scandal in Thanksgiving of 2009. Until now.

There are a series of pictures of Woods and Elin attending a local youth sports organization event in Jupiter, FL, according to the sleuths at TMZ.com.  (continue reading…)

Part-time pro golfer and Policy Board Member Steve Stricker opposes the anchoring ban

On the final day of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the semifinal and finals matches won’t necessarily dominate the headlines and the discussion. Instead, the announcement PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is expected to make on Sunday will likely overshadow the actual golf.

In two meetings this week 15-member Players Advisory Council and the nine-member Tour Policy Board to thrash out the Tour’s stance on the USGA’s and R&A’s proposed ban on anchored putters, the majority of the players want the Tour brass to ask golf’s governing bodies to back off the rule change. And Finchem, who knows the “game” as well as anyone, will appear on Sunday’s broadcast to inform the world of the Tour’s objection, according to Sports Illustrated’s Michael Bamberger.

(continue reading…)