Rors’ growing pains

Rory McIlroy felt the heavy expectations and pressures as the world’s No. 1 golfer weighing down on his 23-year-old shoulders and he had a meltdown, resulting in a bad decision in the heat of the moment. He likely thought the world was closing in on him and he just wanted to escape when he walked off the course last Friday at the Honda Classic.

As (I) expected, McIlroy was open and candid, admitting to his mistake and taking responsibility for his abrupt, un-Rory-like withdrawal in his press conference on Wednesday morning at Doral.  (continue reading…)

McIlroy: I messed up

In an exclusive interview on Sunday evening with Sports Illustrated‘s Michael Bamberger, Rory McIlroy manned up and admitted he made a mistake by walking off the golf course after dunking his second shot in the water hazard on the par-5 18th, his 9th hole in the second round of the Honda Classic, where he was the defending champion.

As some guessed, the reason behind his abrupt walk-off was a combination of dental and mental issues, with the latter playing the main role. Even so, the world’s no. 1 golfer is not making excuses for his uncharacteristic behavior.

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Thompson goes from DFL to W

In blustery, cold (relatively speaking) and generally tough conditions on Sunday at PGA National, Michael Thompson showed grit and composure on the way to his first PGA Tour victory.

What’s interesting is when Thompson started the week, he had zero expectations. And when he was in second place after 36 holes, the 27-year-old native of Tucson, Arizona, was just happy he had made the cut. After all, he was off to a rough start in 2013, with three missed cuts and T78 in his first four events of the season.

In fact, in the last event he played, the Northern Trust Open, he shot 78-80 and finished at the very bottom of the leaderboard. Two weeks later, Thompson, who played his college golf at the University of Alabama and resides in Birmingham, found his roll.  (continue reading…)

Australia’s top golf broadcaster Luke Elvy and I break down the Honda Classic. We discuss winner Michael Thompson, runner-up Geoff Ogilvy, rookie Luke Guthrie, along with Tiger Woods’ bizarre week and Rory McIlroy’s abrupt walk-off and mental/dental problems. Check it out!

[Ed. note: I'm in a fight with WordPress -- it won't let me upload a picture. Hopefully this problem will be resolved soon.]

For a brief moment on Sunday at PGA National, you might have had a déjà vu moment or a flashback to last year’s Honda Classic. As you may recall at this event in 2012, Tiger Woods put some pressure on eventual champion Rory McIlroy when he posted an early 62, punctuated by a thrilling eagle on the par-5 18th.

Back to the present.

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I took the stage this evening in the interview room shortly after 54-hole co-leaders Michael Thompson and Luke Guthrie finished their press conferences. The lighting was quite bright, so I’m not sure why I kept looking up — perhaps I’m just drawn to shiny things?

Right when I ended the Hangout, I realized I forgot to mention one of the funny coincidences of the day. After David Lynn outplayed Tiger Woods in the third round, he was immediately whisked away by a drug-testing official.  Lynn, a 39-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour (longtime European Tour player), said today was only the second time he’d ever been tested (and of course, the other time was in Europe), which I thought was interesting considering the discussion lately about the Tour’s non-rigorous drug-testing policy and its lack of transparency.

Before I bid you a good night, in case anyone is interested, here are some quotes from Tiger following his third consecutive even-par 70. (continue reading…)

Thanks to Ricky Potts for inviting me as the featured guest in his “Friday Foursome” Google+ Hangout, along with the members of the community who joined to ask questions. Obviously this happened yesterday, so we inevitably talked about Rory McIlroy’s unceremonious exit and mental dental issue, but we also talked LPGA and how I got started with living this crazy traveling circus life on the Tour.  (continue reading…)

Oh, c’mon!

In the previous two events where Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods were both in the field (Abu Dhabi Championship and WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship), the worlds No. 1 and 2, respectively, played follow-the-leader, taking early exits.

With McIlroy walking off the course unceremoniously after dunking it in the water on the 18th (his 9th hole of  the day) in the morning, all eyes were on Woods, who flirted with the cutline on Friday at the Honda Classic. It was touch-and-go for a while, especially when Tiger double-bogeyed the 13th to fall outside of the cut, but he bounced back with a birdie on the next hole and then parred out to survive and see the weekend.

Yay.

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What’s eating Rory McIlroy?

Rory McIlroy, who was seven-over through eight holes, dunked his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th, and then walked straight to his car.

When three reporters who followed him to the parking lot asked for an explanation, McIlroy told them, “There’s not really much I can say, guys. I’m not in a good place mentally, you know?” (continue reading…)

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.

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