Don’t count out Rory at Augusta!
Rory McIlroy came up just short of capturing the Valero Texas Open title, but he was perfectly fine with the result — he achieved everything he intended with his last-minute decision to play in San Antonio.
The world no. 2 shot a final-round six-under 66, -12 total, which he thought might be good enough for the win, but Martin Laird fired an impressive nine-under 63, including birdies on the last three holes to best McIlroy by three shots. (continue reading…)
The soundstage: a panoramic view of the 16th.
Buoyed by my complimentary words last week*, Spencer Levin is charging away from the pack during the second round of the Legitimate Businessmen Phoenix Open. (continue reading…)
Always happy to see Stricker hoisting the trophy
Steve Stricker began the day with a five-shot lead going into the final round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, but it didn’t turn out to be as much of a runaway victory as we expected. The 44-year-old veteran (who turns 45 next month) encountered a few bumps before shooting three-under 69, 23-under total to win (for the ninth time in his 40s) by three shots.
Martin Laird, Webb Simpson and Jonathan Byrd all got off to hot starts, while Stricker looked shaky (similar to Sunday’s third round), missing short putts early in his round. He failed to hit the green on No. 6, pushing it in a “gnarly” area and then fumbled the short putt to post a bogey — at which point his lead had dwindled to just one stroke. Standing behind the sixth green, he shook his head in disappointment. (continue reading…)
Ryo Ishikawa: the opposite of Samson, he gets stronger the less hair he has.
They don’t call it Moving Day for nothing!
The third round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational has been a textbook Tour Saturday. The antipodean darlings of the first two days, Adam Scott and Jason Day, have continued to hover around the summit of the leaderboard, but a clutch of high-profile rivals have also found their rhythm and thrown their hats into the mix. (continue reading…)
Fashion innovator and friend of the blog, Ryan Moore
We’re a little over halfway through the second round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone and we have a four-way tie at the top! Overnight leader Adam Scott has been joined on eight-under by fan of hoodies and inappropriate ties Ryan Moore and the so-called Youth Movement’s Jason Day and Rickie Fowler. (continue reading…)
No wonder he's smiling
The Sunday Times published its Sport Rich List over the weekend and, surprise surprise, the rankings feature their fair share of Britain and Ireland’s golfing talent. (continue reading…)
Adam Scott and his broomstick drain a clutch putt on Sunday at the Masters
Damn you, Adam Scott. You and your broom just had to drain every 20-footer on the back nine at Augusta to nearly win the Masters. Which means you almost became the first player to capture a major wielding a long putter. Now look what you’ve done — just about every player who has a twitchy wrist thinks a long putter may solve his putting woes. But to be fair, it’s not only Adam’s fault. Martin Laird and Brendan Steele deserve some of the blame, too — they recently won the Bay Hill Invitational and Texas Valero Open, respectively, playing with belly putters.
(To clarify, Scott uses a long, broomstick putter that he anchors just below his chin against his sternum, which is different from a belly putter, but both are considered “long putters.” A belly putter is wedged into the stomach for support, helping stabilize the hands through the stroke.)
This week at The Heritage, there were more guys than usual tinkering with belly putters. I mean, it was impossible not to notice the increase. When I walked out to the practice green on Tuesday afternoon, I almost thought I was at the Champions Tour event just 30 miles down the road. I was blown away by the number of players toying with belly putters or showing them to their peers who were inspecting them with acute curiosity. (continue reading…)
Boom! Trophy time!
After a couple of years spent bothering the world’s leaderboards, Martin Laird broke through on Sunday to claim a top-tier PGA Tour victory (no offence, JT). A closing round of 75 mightn’t look like much on paper, but on a tough layout that was getting tougher by the hour, the Scot managed to avert scoring catastrophe on several occasions and, most importantly, keep his head while all around were losing theirs. (continue reading…)
Martin Laird leads by two shots over Spencer Levin going into the final 18 holes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Laird hopes to draw from his past experiences to pull off his second victory on the PGA Tour. He’s now had the share of the 54-hole lead three times in his Tour career. In the last two, he eventually lost in a playoff — though there was little he could do when Jonathan Byrd made a walk-off ace at last year’s Justin Timberlake Open.
With calm conditions throughout the day, Bay Hill was still playing tough, but it was gettable on Friday. Playing in the morning wave, Spencer Levin didn’t think two-under was a great score and predicted guys coming in at five-, six-under in the afternoon. Charles Howell III (why, hello, Chuck!) had the low round of the morning with a 65. But in the media center, we were a little surprised when no one was going low…until KJ Choi and Martin Laird started rolling in birdies and eagles.
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