Oh, boy, you’re up, Finchem.
OH MY GOD. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.
I wish this was an SNL skit or Onion parody, but unfortunately this actually happened: European Tour Commissioner George O’Grady was trying to defend the now notorious remark Sergio Garcia made on Tuesday at an awards dinner — that he’d serve Tiger Woods “fried chicken — when he uttered his own racially insensitive phrase.
Still boys
My head is going to explode trying to keep track of all the cat fights in pro golf, though it is proving what I have learned out here covering the Tour: it’s worse than a sorority and guys are bitchier than women! You’ve been getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the circus, so welcome to the show, folks!
You are all familiar with the Tiger Woods vs. Sergio Garcia feud that reared its racial head on Tuesday night, but that’s not the only drama making headlines at this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth — the European Tour’s version of The Players. Good friends Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell let their personal differences over their management company, Horizon Sports, play out in the media. Thankfully, they’ve made up.
Let’s catch up on this inside-golf saga.
Sergio loses another round
The Tiger Woods/Sergio Garcia feud — which doesn’t just date back to The Incident at The Players Championship, rather it has a long history spanning over more than a decade of bad blood– was an amusing and relatively trivial soap opera until it turned ugly on Tuesday night.
At the European Tour players’ awards dinner in England, Golf Channel’s Steve Sands asked Sergio in jest if he would have Tiger over for dinner at the U.S. Open. The Spaniard responded, “We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.”
Ugh. No. Just no. That comment will no doubt haunt Sergio for the rest of his career. (continue reading…)
Oh. My. God. At the quarterfinals of the Volvo World Match Play Championship, Nicolas Colsaerts found himself in some deep doo-doo on the par-4 10th hole. Literally. (continue reading…)
Ye breaks new age record
Guan Tianlang, who? The 14-year-old became the youngest to compete in the Masters and he’s made two cuts in a row, but forget Guan, who was the youngest to play in a sanctioned Tour event at 13 in the 2012 China Open. Enter: Ye Wocheng, the 12-year-old earned a spot in this year’s China Open, a European Tour event, via the qualifier, which, as you know, is no easy feat. (continue reading…)
Forget Henrik Stenson, who secured a spot in the Masters today! — enter Andreas Harto. The Danish golfer took off his pants, a la Stenson at Doral in 2009, to play his shot in the water hazard at the Trophee Hassan II, a European Tour event, on Sunday in Morocco. Best part is when Harto tiptoed onto the green still in his skivvies to mark the ball.
Harto posted a bogey on that hole and finished tied for 15th.
After Stenson, a native of Sweden, shot a solid six-under 66 at the Shell Houston Open, he was informed he had been displaced by Harto as the most recent player to hit a shot pant-less. Stenson smiled and quipped, “Well, that’s rude, isn’t it?”
Those crazy Scandinavians!
…but these cuts are not…
Just a few days after the spectacular unveiling of their joint commercial– not to mention the official announcement of Rory McIlroy’s monumental deal with Nike, reportedly worth $100 million over the next five years — the world’s nos. 1 and 2 golfers missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi Championship.
This marked the official 2013 debut for both McIlroy and Tiger Woods. And yes, they (supposedly) received around a combined $5 million just to show up. (continue reading…)
Take that, guys!
For those who still had lingering questions–particularly during his “mini-slump” in May/June–whether or not Rory McIlroy was the real deal, his performance in the second-half of 2012 has surely quieted any skeptics. The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland finished the year in style, closing with five straight birdies to win the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Championship.
(Oh, by the way, sorry this post is a few days late–I’ve been battling migraines (the worst!), so unfortunately I missed the coverage of Rory’s epic performance in Dubai.) (continue reading…)
Wozzilroy in full force: Caroline commandeers the mic
Leave it to Wozzilroy to spice up the news (a massive thank you, by the way!) during golf’s version of the “off-season.”
After Rory McIlroy opened with a 66 at the DP World Tour Championship — which he followed on Friday with a 67 to share the 36-hole lead with Luke Donald — he took the podium for what he thought would be the usual post-round press conference with the usual mundane questions.
Well, if you’ve ever thought some of our inquiries were awkward or annoying, then clearly you’ve never witnessed a significant other commandeering the microphone to interrogate a player about your Christmas present in front of the world media, no less. (continue reading…)
Hey dude, you going to America? Yeah? Cool, me too, dude.
It seems like just a few years ago the European Tour was gaining momentum in its claim for star power that rivaled the U.S. PGA Tour. Wait, it was!
With the economic downturn in Europe and loss of sponsors, many of its finest players have decided to jump ship and base themselves in America (while still maintaining their European Tour membership but keeping the number of starts at the bare minimum). With the PGA Tour boasting 28 of the top 30 players in world rankings in the upcoming 2013 season, the U.S. defection movement is now complete, wouldn’t you say? (continue reading…)
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