#WUPHangout: Thursday night pre-game edition with pro golfer Renee Skidmore

Hi! My name is Stephanie Wei. I grew up in Seattle. I live in Manhattan, NYC. I played competitive golf for ten years in the junior and college ranks. I went to Yale, where I played on the women's golf team and graduated in '05 with a B.A. in History.

I still enjoy pegging it, but don't ask me my handicap because I stopped keeping one when I left for college. More important, I'm feisty and I like to smile a lot. I also love sports, spandex and surprises.

I'm a freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for Sports Illustrated Golf+.

Golf.com

Sports Illustrated (2012)

Wall Street Journal

Mediaite

Read more about me here.

The John Daly saga: And then there was 10

18 ' 1998 Bay Hill Invitational (Bay Hill), par-5 sixth hole, fourth round.

14 ' 2000 U.S. Open (Pebble Beach), par-5 18th hole, first round.

13 ' 2011 John Deere Classic (TPC John Deere), par-4 fourth hole, second round.

12 ' 1994 Freeport-McMoRan Classic (English Turn), par-5 15th hole, second round.

12 ' 1996 BellSouth Classic (TPC Sugarloaf), par-5 eighth hole, second round.

11 ' 1999 U.S. Open (Pinehurst No. 2), par-4 eighth hole, fourth round.

11 ' 2002 PGA Championship (Hazeltine), par-4 16th hole, first round.

11 ' 2005 Bay Hill Invitational (Bay Hill), par-4 18th hole, fourth round.

10 ' 1995 Nestle Invitational (Bay Hill), par-5 sixth hole, second round.

10 ' 1998 British Open (Royal Birkdale), par-4 18th hole, second round.

10 ' 1998 Las Vegas Invitational (TPC Summerlin), par-5 13th hole, fifth round.

10 ' 1999 Memorial (Muirfield Village), par-4 18th hole, first round

10 ' 2004 Chrysler Classic of Tucson (Tucson National), par-3 fourth hole, third round.

10 ' 2009 Buick Open (Warwick Hills), par-5 first hole, second round.

10 ' 2013 Tampa Bay Championship (Innisbrook), par-4 third hole, second round.

VIDEO: Tiger still a great closer

Hi! My name is Stephanie Wei. I grew up in Seattle. I live in Manhattan, NYC. I played competitive golf for ten years in the junior and college ranks. I went to Yale, where I played on the women's golf team and graduated in '05 with a B.A. in History.

I still enjoy pegging it, but don't ask me my handicap because I stopped keeping one when I left for college. More important, I'm feisty and I like to smile a lot. I also love sports, spandex and surprises.

I'm a freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for Sports Illustrated Golf+.

Golf.com

Sports Illustrated (2012)

Wall Street Journal

Mediaite

Read more about me here.

Let sleeping dogs lie: Diaz named vice captain alongside Pepper

Diaz has finally forgiven Dottie

 

U.S. Solheim Cup captain Meg Mallon announced that she had appointed Laura Diaz, two-time LPGA winner and four-time Solheim participant, as one of her vice captain for this summer's 2013 biennial matches. Why is this significant?

Well, six years ago, Dottie Pepper, who was a commentator for Golf Channel's coverage of the 2007 Solheim Cup, thought she was off-air and muttered, 'Chokin' freakin' dogs,' referring to the U.S. team.

The comment was made just after Sherri Steinhauer and Diaz settled with a halve when Steinhauer missed a three-footer on the 18th hole.

As you can imagine, word got back to the American team members rather quickly and there was quite a fallout, with Diaz being a very vocal critic of Pepper's slip. Before Mallon named Pepper as her top assistant last summer, Pepper, one of the Cup's fieriest competitors, was on the unofficial blacklist, as a result of her gaffe (one that could happen to anyone).

Finally, it appears the hatchet has been buried and friendships have been mended. Via the AP report: 

'I think in most friendships words are said that people don't like,' Diaz said at the LPGA Founders Cup. 'Sometimes it takes a little time to get over and sometimes it takes a longer time. ' We both are very passionate about the Solheim Cup.

'As much as Dottie and I have shared, I've known Dottie since I was 10 years old, so there's a lot more that goes into it than just she was a commentator. I would like to believe that she was playing that match with me and she was feeling what I was feeling and words came out that, you know, they were just words.'

Pepper reiterated that she thought she was off the air when she made the comment.

'I made one crucial mistake,' Pepper said. 'It was breaking a broadcast rule that you're never supposed to root and I did, and the switch wasn't off when I did and I said something that I have said to myself numerous times and it happened to go out over the air. But I think the thing that is most important to remember about the Solheim Cup itself is that while it drives passion and that can sometimes scar a friendship, Solheim Cup is also way bigger to mend it again.'

Mallon thinks the fiery duo will make perfect assistants.

'If they're OK with it, the rest of us are OK with it and I'm happy to see this,' Mallon said. 'And I'm no dummy. These two love this event and they should be together enjoying this event together, so I'm happy about it.'

Mallon deserves some sort of prize or recognition for bringing peace to the whole situation, and I'm sure Dottie is grateful. Besides, it is silly to hang on to old misunderstandings and mistakes ' it takes way too much energy, and you know, YOLO.

Hugs, everyone!

(Photo via LPGA.com)

Natalie Gulbis sidelined due to malaria

Gulbis recovering from sickness

Natalie Gulbis withdrew from the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, the LPGA's first domestic event of the season, as she recuperates from malaria. Gulbis originally became ill in Singapore and pulled out of the HSBC Women's Champions due to flu-like symptoms, which later was identified as malaria. 

'Natalie originally became ill in Singapore and she was treated and medically cleared to fly home,' according to a joint statement released by the LPGA and IMG. 'Natalie continues to be treated at home and is expected to be at full strength in three weeks. Natalie's well-being is a top priority for both the LPGA and IMG, and steps continue to be taken to ensure the well-being of Natalie and all the players on the LPGA Tour now and for future events. LPGA doctors have been consulted and believe she is on appropriate medications, under great care, and her prognosis is excellent.'

The popular golfer has been practicing in hopes she would be well enough to play in Phoenix this week, and she will now turn her attention to preparing for the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major of the year, April 4-7th.

Gulbis has said that contracting malaria, which is a mosquito-borne infectious disease, will not deter her from returning to Asia.

Note to everyone: bug spray is your friend. The mosquitoes over there are vicious (clearly).

Best wishes to Natalie for a speedy recovery.

(Photo via)

One more reason Tiger's weekend was better than yours

Tiger stayed on his yacht last week in Miami

Well, I can think of a million-plus reasons why Tiger Woods had a better weekend than just about anyone else, but here's another: Olympic champion skier Lindsey Vonn, who has reportedly been dating the golfer for the past few months, spent the *entire* week with him on his yacht, Privacy, docked at a marina in the Miami area, according to the Daily Mail.

Tiger Woods celebrated his big win on Sunday with new love US Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn.

The famous athletes sailed the Florida seas on Tiger's massive yacht named Privacy, after a full week of nesting on his ocean vessel while the sportsman played the Cadillac Championship Golf Tournament.

But it was only a couple years ago that he and his ex-wife Elin Nordegren docked in the same Marina spot tucked away in the same corner for the annual event.

A full week! Wow. There's a joke on Tour that most guys don't play well when they have their girlfriends with them (hint: tired legs), but obviously this doesn't apply to Tiger. For betting purposes, it'd be nice to know when Tiger has his lady friend accompanying him during a tournament.

Burning question: Will Vonn be at the Masters next month? Please say yes (or no).

(Photo via the Daily Mail)

By the Numbers: WGC-Cadillac Championship

Hi! My name is Stephanie Wei. I grew up in Seattle. I live in Manhattan, NYC. I played competitive golf for ten years in the junior and college ranks. I went to Yale, where I played on the women's golf team and graduated in '05 with a B.A. in History.

I still enjoy pegging it, but don't ask me my handicap because I stopped keeping one when I left for college. More important, I'm feisty and I like to smile a lot. I also love sports, spandex and surprises.

I'm a freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for Sports Illustrated Golf+.

Golf.com

Sports Illustrated (2012)

Wall Street Journal

Mediaite

Read more about me here.

Tiger: 'Obviously Jack winning at age 46, The Masters, it can be done''

As the years go by, how much more aware are you of the dwindling number of chances you have to win major championships?:

'For me, it's sort of misleading, because guys like Norman at 55 or Tom Watson at age 59, almost won British Opens. Obviously Jack winning at age 46, The Masters, it can be done. You just have to have the right golf course and the right kind of conditions. So, my career is out there for a very long time. ' I'm very proud of what I've done so far, but also I have a lot to do in the future.'

Steve Stricker gave you a putting tip and you beat him by two strokes this weekend. If the roles were reversed, would you do the same?:

'Oh, we have. We've played together a lot in the playoffs last year and we spent hours and hours on the putting green, talking about putting. He wasn't putting well at the end of last year and we worked on it, it seemed like just about every day. That's nothing new between Strick and I. We've been doing this for years.'

Do you see any similarities between how you started your career and how Rory McIlroy has started his? Or perhaps you just feel like you're one of the only people on the planet who knows what he is going through?

'Yeah, exactly, 100 percent. ' I just say, 'Hey, stay patient with it. Keep focused on your goals, and work hard to achieve what you want to achieve. I know this is now the 24-hour news cycle is a little bit different. It can be more vicious at times.''

V-CAST: WGC Cadillac Championship Sunday wrap

Whoops, I forgot to post this last night. It's hard to keep track of all the social media channels these days, but good news is I'm in the process of a massive site redesign to bring WUP into 2013. Woot!

Anyway, Luke Elvy and I broadcasted our weekly wrap-up of last week in golf, and of course, it was mostly Tiger, Tiger, Tiger. (I'm sure you're all shocked!) Check it out above and since this is a weekly program, we're trying to come up with a catchy name for the show. Suggestions? Send 'em along! Thanks.

And of course, as always, we still have our training wheels and we're open to constructive criticism and feedback. What would you like to see incorporated? Too long? Too informal? Keep doing what we're doing? Let us know.

Silver medal guaranteed: China recruits Norman for 2016 Olympics

Greg Norman: he just wants to share his knowledge, damn it.

Two-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Greg Norman is to assist the China Golf Association (CGA) in the run-up to the 2016 Olympic Games, it was announced today. 

The Australian, whose design company has built a total of five courses on mainland China in recent years, will occupy a developmental role within the organisation, itself an offshoot of the All-China Sports Federation and cheerful-sounding Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In addition to mentoring members of the national golf team, based in Guangdong province, Norman will tour the People's Republic inspecting its golf facilities and helping to put in place a coherent training program.

He told Golfweek:

'I look forward to helping develop the CGA's training program and playing a mentoring role for the national team' I genuinely believe that China as a nation will continue to grow as a major contributor to the game of golf on a worldwide basis.'

The Great White Red Shark will also be afforded the freedom to appoint two assistant coaches (Larry Mize? Bob Tway?), to whom he'll delegate the day-to-day application of his wisdom.

The financial terms of his contract remain undisclosed.

' I'll just leave this link here.

Conor Nagle

Guess who bought Tiger's old house?

Hi! My name is Stephanie Wei. I grew up in Seattle. I live in Manhattan, NYC. I played competitive golf for ten years in the junior and college ranks. I went to Yale, where I played on the women's golf team and graduated in '05 with a B.A. in History.

I still enjoy pegging it, but don't ask me my handicap because I stopped keeping one when I left for college. More important, I'm feisty and I like to smile a lot. I also love sports, spandex and surprises.

I'm a freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for Sports Illustrated Golf+.

Golf.com

Sports Illustrated (2012)

Wall Street Journal

Mediaite

Read more about me here.

Take note, Tim: tennis to introduce biological passports

'They're going to make you do what!?'

In a move designed to placate critics of its current anti-doping regime, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has approved the immediate introduction of so-called 'biological passport' programmes on each of the sport's major professional tours.

The announcement, arriving as it does a mere three weeks after NBA commissioner David Stern reiterated his commitment to blood testing, only furthers golf's isolation from the mainstream of world sport.

The passport system, currently in use throughout most Olympic sports ' including athletics, swimming and cycling ' allows for the creation of detailed individual profiles against which biological abnormalities can more readily be identified.

Severely underfunded, tennis's drug-testing programme has struggled in recent years to keep pace with developments in doping technology. Indeed, the ITF was roundly mocked for performing a mere 21 out-of-competition blood tests in 2011 (cycling's governing body, by contrast, managed to carry out 3,314 within the same time period).

A series of controversies, however, including the Lance Armstong affair and trial of Spanish doctor Eufamiano Fuentes, in which a number of unnamed tennis players have been implicated, have since forced the organisation to reconsider the threat posed by performance-enhancing drugs .

News of the reform has already been welcomed by a number of grand slam champions, including Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

Incredibly, golf's current testing regime manages to look anaemic even by comparison to that abandoned by the ITF.

The PGA Tour still refuses to administer blood tests ' the only reliable method of detecting several banned substances, including HGH and Vijay Singh's troublesome IGF-1 ' and a recent survey conducted by Karen Crouse of the New York Times (one of the few journalists actively pursuing the issue, and doing so brilliantly) revealed the extent to which out-of-competition testing on the circuit remains a rarity. Indeed, of the 54 players she interviewed, not one has ever been asked to provide a urine sample away from a tournament venue.

Conor Nagle

Rory McIlroy admits Honda isn't a 26-hole tourney

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. 

In the past, he's always been a class act in tough situations and I'm sure he truly does regret his behavior. Because he's usually extremely well-spoken and mature, it's easy to forget he's 23-years-old sometimes. And yes, he is a professional golfer with millions of dollars in the bank, but we've all been there ' we've made tons of mistakes in our lives and careers that we regretted. Difference is, most of us committed them without the entire world watching.

His grace and conduct so far in his career earns him a one-time pass. After all, like I said, stuff happens and it's how people deal with them and handle ourselves going forward that define character.

McIlroy, who said he's had plenty of time to think about his actions, didn't waste any time acknowledging his mistake and said he 'realized pretty quickly that it wasn't the right thing to do.'

No question he should have stuck it out and posted a score. He knows he screwed up and he faced the world media and took his medicine.

'No matter how bad I was playing, I should have stayed out there,' said Rory at Doral, where he'll kick off the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Thursday playing alongside Tiger Woods and Luke Donald. 'I should have tried to shoot the best score possible even though it probably wasn't going to be good enough to make the cut.

'At that point in time, I was just all over the place, and you know, I saw red, as I said, and you know, it was a mistake and everyone makes mistakes and I'm learning from them.  I guess some people have the pleasure of making mistakes in private.  Most of my mistakes are in the public eye. So it is what it is, and I regret what I did.  But, you know, it's over now and it won't happen again.'

Best way to share what Rory said? We'll go to highlights and excerpts from his transcript.

*On what was the true reason behind his WD ' what he said to reporters in the parking lot or what he released in a statement 45 minutes later: 'Both.  I wasn't in a good place with my golf game.  I was, you know, mentally  you know, my head was all over the place. But at the same time, I have been struggling with my lower right wisdom tooth for over a year.  I had braces on for six months last year to try and relieve a bit of the pressure on it and taking medication until I get home in northern Ireland and see my dentist, who is the only guy that I would trust to take it out. So, yeah, look, my tooth was bothering me, but it wasn't bothering me enough to probably, you know, quit, but, you know, that's just the way it is.'

*On what was going on Friday that led to his meltdown: 'I think it was a buildup of everything.  I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to perform and I've been working so hard and not really getting much out of it. You know, that's just been the frustrating thing, and that's what happened.  It was a buildup of high expectations from myself coming off, you know, the back of such a great year last year, and wanting to continue that form into this year and not being able to do it. I just sort of let it all get to me.'

*On what he's learned from this experience: 'I've got to remember, I started to play golf because I love it, I really do.  It's been my life for  well, it's been my life for, my life (laughter).  I have to remember that.  I have to go out there and enjoy myself, and it's the same thing as last summer.  Dave Stockton said to me: 'When I see you out there, you're not smiling.  Smile more.'  And when I smile, it lists your spirits and that was basically the whole turnaround from last summer, as well, was my attitude.  It's the same thing, just go out there and enjoy it, and when you start to enjoy your golf, you start to play better and I haven't been enjoying it because I've been putting so much pressure on myself.  I go out here this week, I'm going to enjoy it.  I've got four rounds, thankfully, and you know, I'm just going to go out there and have a good time.'

*On what he's learned about himself: 'I learned that when the tough gets going, I've got to stick in there a bit more and I've got to grind it out.  There's no excuse for quitting and it doesn't set a good example for the kids watching me, trying to emulate way do.  It wasn't good for a whole lot of reasons, for the tournaments, the people coming out watching me.  I feel like I let a lot of people down with what I did last week, and you know, for that, I am very sorry.'

*On whether he regrets the statement he released: 'At the time that's what I felt.  Again it was a very reactive decision.  At the time I felt being out on that golf course wasn't going to do me any good.  That's why I did it.  In hindsight, if I had of just taken a few minutes and collected my thoughts, I would have done something different.'

*On trying to alleviate the stress and pressures he's felt: 'I actually think in the long run, Friday will be a blessing in disguise.  It was like it just sort of released a valve and all that sort of pressure that I've been putting on myself just went away.  And I was like, just go out and have fun.  It's not life or death out there.  It's only a game.  I had sort of forgotten that this year.'

*On whether he spoke to someone in particular who helped clarify things for him: 'I spoke to the people that are closest to me, and they are all very supportive.  All said pretty much the same thing.  But yeah, I mean, I realize that what they are saying is right.  I've just got to go out there and enjoy myself.  I'm in a very privileged position.  I get to play a game that I love for a living, and you know, sometimes I need to remember that.'

*On what he's working on exactly with his swing that he's been struggling with: 'It's actually going back too far outside and then coming down too far inside.  But anyway.  (Laughter).I've done a lot of work.  The thing is this year, we knew that it was a little bit of a problem, and we were trying to find the balance between making a bit of a swing change and finding some playability in it so that I can actually go out there and play and not think about it.  But what we realized, there's no quick fixes in golf.

'You just have to get to the root of the problem, no pun intended (laughing), and I know if I can get my takeaway fixed, the rest of the swing will follow.  The takeaway has always been the biggest key for my golf swing, and I need to get back to that.  I've worked my ass off over the last four or five days to really try and get this right.  Still, it's a work-in-progress.  As I said, there's no quick fixes in golf but I'm going to go out there this week and all I care about is my swing, and I know if I can get my swing back on track, that the results will follow.  So I'm not putting any pressure on myself this week to perform.  I just want to get my swing in the right position, and I know when I do, the results will follow.'

*On how much the Nike deal contributed to the pressure he's been feeling: 'No, I really don't think so.  I think coming off the back of last year, five wins, a second major championship in two years, I just really wanted to try and continue that and continue where I left off in 2012, and it's been frustrating that I haven't been able to do that. And it doesn't make a difference what deal or what clubs I play, that's irrelevant.  It's about me on the golf course and the expectations and the pressure that I put myself under.'

*On whether he feels like he has to prove himself as No. 1: 'I guess in a way, but it shouldn't be, because I've been  it's not like this is a new position.  I was sitting here this time last year, you know, just went to No. 1 in the world, so you know, I guess I've had a year to get adjusted to it and get used to it. So it shouldn't be a problem, but I guess, you know, you want to watch, again, you want to sort of prove that you are No. 1 and that's not the right way to go about things.  You shouldn't have to try and prove that.  You should just go out and play your game and if you play well enough, the rankings and the results will speak for themselves.'

*On whether it's fair to say he wasn't ready swing-wise and properly adjusted to his equipment when he started the season in Abu Dhabi: 'I felt like I was, but again, I feel if we had of tried to get to the root of the swing problem straightaway and not try  at the time we were trying to find a balance between, okay, look, we know the swing is not in the position we want it to be in, but at the same time you have to go out and play and you have to go out and try to shoot a score.  Where if I actually knuckle down and really got my head into it, I would have said, right, I'm going to do this, no matter how long it takes, no matter what the result is, no matter how bad I play for a few weeks, you know, this is what I have to get right.  And when I get that right, the results will follow, and I guess after the last few weeks, I've sort of realized that.'

*On whether he should be more careful about what he says to the press a la Tiger: 'Look, we, as in me and all you guys, are hopefully going to have a working relationship for the next 20 years, so I don't want to jeopardize that by being closed. I feel like I've always been open and honest and given you guys all my thoughts and everything that I've  yeah, and you know, I don't want it to be that way where there's friction between me and the press because at the end of the day, you guys are here because you're reporting what we do on the golf course all over the world. So it's not like I want that to be a strained relationship, because it's going to be a long one, I hope.'

*On whether he's adding a tournament because he's only played 4.5 rounds: 'I haven't planned on it yet.  You know, I was waiting to see how I was going to do this week and then make a decision from there.  You know, I know if I want to play Tampa next week, I've got to enter by Friday and obviously there's Bay Hill after that. Right now, I haven't made a decision.  And you know, I feel like I've made some progress over the last few days, so the likelihood is I probably won't add an event.  But again, it all depends on how I feel with my game and how I feel out there on the course.'

*On WTF 'FTB' stands for: 'It's a little private joke between friends, and something I probably can't divulge on live TV if I'm on live, I don't know.  But yeah.'

*On the difference between the ball he was using and the one he switched to this year: 'I feel like this ball is better for me.  It's better in the wind.  I can keep it down.  It reacts really well around the greens.  It feels great.  You know, if you strike any golf ball in the world correctly, it's going to go where you want it to. I really like this golf ball, and it was the first thing, even when I wasn't a Nike player, whenever they came out with this resin technology, I thought, this sort of makes sense because you can put more weight around the perimeter around the ball and obviously make it more stable in the air.  I'm a big believer and I feel like it's a really good golf ball. I guess I haven't worked well with it the first few weeks but I know when I hit a good shot, I know it's all me, it's nothing to do with the equipment, nothing to do with the ball.  It is all me.'

*On whether problems with tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki had anything to do with his breakdown: 'No, not at all.  I know I've read what's been written.  And like just because I have a bad day on the golf course and Caroline loses a match in Malaysia, it doesn't mean that we're breaking up (shakes head), (laughter). It's sport, and look, I'd rather keep my private life as private as possible.  Everything on that front is great and I'm looking forward to seeing her next week when she gets to Miami.'

*****************

Your reaction to Rory's presser? Do you give him a pass? Have you changed your opinion about him? Where does he stand with you after what happened last Friday to what he said on Wednesday?

 (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

(What's the story) mourning Rory, Honda Classic walk-off WD apology edition

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.

McIlroy, 23, was seven-over through eight holes and was 'seeing red.' His poor play exacerbated the pain caused by a right impacted wisdom tooth, which he confessed was not a real medical emergency. He acknowledged that he should have known better, according to Bamberger:

'It was a reactive decision,' McIlroy said in a 25-minute telephone interview on Sunday night, two hours after Michael Thompson won the Honda for his first Tour title. 'What I should have done is take my drop, chip it on, try to make a five and play my hardest on the back nine, even if I shot 85. What I did was not good for the tournament, not good for the kids and the fans who were out there watching me ' it was not the right thing to do.'

The root of Rory's troubles comes from in between his ears. He has a perfect picture in his head of what his swing should look like. He explained he's having problems with the plane of his swing, not his new Nike golf clubs and ball.

'The driver and the ball took some time to get used to, but I had weeks at Nike before the start of the year, and I feel comfortable with all the equipment,' he said. 'The problem is, I'm bringing the club too upright on the backswing then dropping it in too much on the downswing.'

Despite rumors and reports to the contrary, Rory is not on the rocks with his tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki. He spoke with her on the phone regularly throughout the weekend, along with his agent Conor Ridge. Rory told Ridge he wasn't reading any of the reports or comments on his withdrawal, and he was also staying off Twitter.

'Whatever people are saying, I probably already said to myself,' McIlroy said.

While Rory and Tiger Woods have struck up a close friendship, the two have dissimilar personalities and differing approaches to life and golf. Rory, who has always been open and candid to the press, said he could take a page out of Tiger's book when it comes to dealing with adversity.

'He might be the best athlete ever, in terms of his ability to grind it out,' McIlroy said on Sunday night. 'I could have a bit more of that, if I'm honest.'

Meanwhile, Jack Nicklaus, who has been another mentor and friend to young Rory, commented on the world-number one's early exit, and basically, the all-time leader in major victories hit the nail on the head with his analysis on Sunday.

'He shouldn't have walked off the golf course,' said Nicklaus, who won 18 majors in his decorated career. 'But I think that that was unfortunate. I think if he would have thought about it for five minutes, he wouldn't have done it.

'He's a good kid, he's a sharp kid, and I just think probably he's so frustrated with what's happening and the way he's played for the last month or so, that it just got to him. I think that would be my assessment. And I may be speaking out of school. I really don't know. I haven't talked to him.'

Nicklaus does speak quite often with Rory, and I wouldn't be surprised if Rory has called him to apologize for his behavior. In any case, Nicklaus isn't concerned about Rory's game in the long term or even in about six weeks when the Masters rolls around.

'Matter of fact, I talked to him on Monday, and we had this exact conversation before the tournament,' said Nicklaus, referring to McIlroy's struggles since switching to Nike equipment this season.

'We talked about, I said, don't worry about your golf clubs. You're too good and talented. That will come around. Just go play golf. If you need to get something, your golf clubs, I'm sure that Nike will work with him to do whatever he has to do to get what he has to get. He'll be fine.

'When the Masters rolls around, Rory McIlroy is going to be playing just fine.'

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

VIDEO: Golf Boys 2.Oh, Oh, Oh! (Yes, that just happened)

Okay, I'm not going to lie ' I giggled and even laughed out loud a few times watching '2.Oh,' the encore performance of 'Golf Boys,' a group consisting of Ben Crane, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan.

The song was written by Mat Kearney.

As you may recall, the group released their international debut in June 2011. A second music video was not in the original plans, but apparently the golfers finally gave in after relentless requests from fans.

There you go, everyone! Enjoy. 

 

THE MEDIA BLAST:

The first Golf Boys video, released in June of 2011, quickly became an Internet sensation and has amassed nearly 6 million views on YouTube.  Aside from Tiger Woods-related videos, it's the most viewed video on the Internet featuring professional golfers.

An encore video was not originally planned, but fans begged for one relentlessly.

Crane, the unofficial band leader, reached out to Kearney, an avid golfer and friend from his college days in Eugene, OR, to help with the second song.  Kearney set out to write a song that played off of the golfers' individual style and personality, but also managed to name-drop numerous PGA Tour stars including: Stewart Cink, Aaron Baddeley, Adam Scott, Ricky Barnes, Rory Sabbatini, Kevin Na, Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen, Bo Van Pelt and Stuart Appleby.

'Ben and I have been friends for a long time,' says Kearney. 'He mentioned they might do a new Golf Boys song, so I got off the phone and tried to come up with a hard hitting hip hop track. I thought using golfers' names as puns would be pretty dang funny. I sat there for hours cracking myself up.  How often do you get to write a rap for someone who's won the Masters?'

The video is on Ben Crane's YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/bencranegolf 

The Golf Boys use the videos to raise money for charity and hope to introduce a younger generation to the game of golf.  For their second video, the Golf Boys are partnering with international aid organization, charity:water.  100% of proceeds from Golf Boys '2.Oh' will be dedicated to the construction of clean water wells in Ethiopia through charity:water. Since 2006, charity:water has been able to provide clean water to over 3.2 million people in 20 countries.  The Golf Boys set up a fundraising page on the charity:water website so that fans can learn more about the cause and, if interested, contribute:www.mycharitywater.org/GolfBoys.  'We are in a truly unique era,' says Crane, 'I love that we can goof off on YouTube and help people across the world.  I'm all in for that.'

Watson agrees. 'We obviously don't have any profit motive here. We're just having fun and sharing a bit of our personality with fans.  I think it's awesome that we will be able to provide clean water and awareness for our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia. If we can reach new fans and grow the game of golf in the process, that's a huge bonus.'

Historically, golf has had one of the older viewer demographics in sports, something that Crane feels provides an opportunity for Golf Boys.

'Tournament golf requires tremendous focus.  We can't show raw personality in competition like other sports,' says Crane. 'I think making these videos has helped make us more relatable to a demographic that might not otherwise be attracted to golf.  As professional golfers, we're sort of caretakers of the game.  There is nothing wrong with being an older sport, but we want to do our best to grow it.  The easiest way to do that is by engaging younger fans.'

Crane created a YouTube channel in September of 2010 after filming a popular workout parody video as a favor for a friend.  The video went 'viral' around the golf community and Crane was encouraged to start a regular series.  Since that time, Crane has released numerous videos poking fun at his supposed insecurities such as his pace of play, pre-round routine and rapid hair loss. In January of 2013, Crane's YouTube channel (YouTube.com/bencranegolf) passed Lebron James to become the second most-viewed YouTube channel of any active athlete.  Crane doesn't profit from the viewership, as the channel is 'owned' by he and his wife's foundation and any revenue received is donated to charities that they support.

'On a personal level, social media has done a lot to change the perception of who I am,' says Crane.  'I think I've been able to show fans a different side of myself and other pro golfers.  I'm a golfer, first and foremost, but spending one day every few months to create a video that raises money for charity and might grow the game is too good of an opportunity to pass up.'

Same ending, different outcome for Tiger Woods

 

[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.

From 230 yards in the fairway on the finishing hole, Woods hit a beautiful 3-iron to 10 feet and rolled in the putt for a 3. Unfortunately, unlike last year, his reaction was muted. There was no massive fist-pump. Instead, one of the standard bearers did his best impression of a classic Woods celebration from behind the green, which was adorable.

The difference on this Sunday was 12 strokes. Heading into the 18th, Tiger was six-over on the day, so it really didn't matter so much to him.

'Lowers my score by two,' said Woods when asked what the eagle did for him at the end of a strange round. 'That's about it.'

He placed in the middle-of-the-pack, T37th, and we know Tiger doesn't care about a few extra thousand bucks. In fact, he probably wouldn't notice it in his bank account. It's all about the Ws.

Tiger was even self-deprecating when a reporter brought up that it wasn't the same as a 62.

'Not even close,' he said, with a smile. 'I think I passed 62 somewhere around 12.'

It was closer to the 15th hole, but when you have a day where you lose a ball and dunk two others in the water, you can't do anything but laugh at yourself.

However, Tiger was happy with the 3-iron he stiffed on 18.

'Probably hit two of the best 3-irons I hit all year today,' he said. 'I nice little high, three-quarter shaft draw on 10, which was a sweet one, and this (on 18) was just a rip, high-cut 3-iron, work it both ways, two totally different shots.'

On the 6th hole, Tiger, who had a ball disappear into the grassy bank on the 17th on Saturday, had a similar occurrence for the second day in a row. Which is completely bizarre.

'We were looking in the wrong spot,' said Woods, who shot a total 4-over. 'The penalty shots certainly added up my score. It was a round where I felt I should have shot even par or 1 or 2 under. Those penalty shots and a couple of short birdie putts I missed at 8 and 10.'

All things considered, Tiger did a good job scrambling his way around the course. On Friday he made two excellent par saves to make the cut. It was clear he didn't have the greatest ballstriking week.

'I just made too many penalties this week,' he said. 'Today is a perfect example, I didn't play that poorly. I had two water balls and a lost ball. Take those away, and I missed two short birdie putts, and it was actually a decent score. So I just got to clean up my rounds.'

Tiger's next start will be at the WGC Cadillac Championship this upcoming week at Doral. Last year he withdrew after 11 holes due to a nagging Achilles injury, and subsequently, he had his O.J. Simpson moment when a helicopter camera chased his car down the highway.

From worst to first: Michael Thompson bounces back to win Honda Classic

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. 

 

'Last tournament he finished dead last,' said Thompson's wife Rachel, who has a doctorate in physical therapy from Emory University, when asked for the key to his change in form. 'After being at the very bottom and being completely broken down and feeling like he had nothing going for him, I think he just focused on enjoying the game again.

'I feel he was playing for himself and the passion he has for golf, rather than trying to please people and everyone around him. He was able to let go of all the expectations after that last-place finish.'

Rachel's detailed analysis and insight on her husband's game was spot-on (and another writer suggested she could basically be an analyst, which I agree with).  You know what they say, sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you turn things around. Or something like that.

'The start of the year wasn't great for me,' said Thompson, who shot a final-round one-under 69, nine-under total. 'I thought I would come out and play great.  As a golfer, that's what you want to believe.  But however I do believe the Lord has different plans, and the best way He can humble us is by allowing us to experience a low point; whether it's rock bottom or just the bottom of wherever you are, to me, I've always had a lot of pride I guess in my game, and a strong identity in who I am as a golfer.  I wasn't living up to those expectations that I set on myself.

'My coach, my wife and I, we all just kind of put our heads together and said, what do we need to do in order to get better.  You know, I was having thoughts of, I'm going to miss every cut this year.  I'm not going to play great at all; I'm going to lose my card and then what.

'We started talking, well, if that happens, I'll play in the Web.com Tour, or I'll even go back to the Hooters Tour or the NGA Tour.  As long as I have a place to play golf, I'm going to be happy.  And that give me a lot of comfort and allowed me to just focus on what I like to do on the range, work a lot on my chipping, work on my putting and trying to hit that low fade that I love to hit.

'The Northern Trust was a good thing in my life.  It allowed me to focus on what I needed to do in order to play like I did this week.'

Golf is known for its volatility and all pros go through ups-and-downs throughout their careers. Some of those low points provide players time to reevaluate their games mechanically and mentally, and you can learn the most about yourself and grow from it (which sounds cheesy and cliche but it's true). Finishing last at Riviera allowed Thompson to take a step back and remind himself to enjoy the process and liberate himself from results and all those great expectations.

Thompson, who will tell you himself that he's not the best ballstriker in the world, stayed patient and put on a short-game clinic, including key saves on Nos. 10, 11 and 14 to fend off Geoff Ogilvy's valiant eleventh-hour effort and secure a two-stroke victory.

'The one on 10 was big to get some momentum again after kind of a bad bogey on 9,' said Thompson, referring to those 'huge' saves. 'And 11, I hit a great tee shot.'

His approach came up just short of the 11th green, and he had a straightforward pitch with a good lie in the rough to knock it to about 3-4 feet. Then, on the 14th, he hit a great drive down the middle of the fairway, but with a 3-iron in hand, his approach only went 185 yards because of a big gust of wind that came up against him. He said he hit an 'absolutely perfect' chip.

He added: 'And that's kind of the way I've been chipping this week and this weekend, particularly, is that I've just given myself good chances to make par. And on a course like this, that's all you can ask for.'

Thompson finished runner-up at the U.S. Open ' which is known for being the toughest grind of the year ' at Olympic Club last year. He's done well at tournaments with difficult course setups, where sometimes simply par is good enough. He said when he played at Alabama, he hit the fewest number of fairways and greens compared to the rest of the team, but he made the most birdies.

'I think I've always been a scrappy player,' he said. 'I'm not a great ballstriker. I think I'm pretty good. I was pretty good this week.

'But my putting is what saves me and then I've really improved my chipping since being out on Tour.  I think those changes have kind of rounded off my game so to speak.  I think I've always been very good of having mindset of go struggle, just go get it done.  Get the ball in the hole.'

Indeed, he was almost automatic from inside 10-15 feet. I was shocked when he missed a short putt for par on No. 16 because he felt the nerves. But he composed himself for another tester on the 17th. When he made his par putt, he was pointing at the hole, explaining that he was telling the ball to go where it belonged.

Added Rachel: 'He likes courses that are challenging because he doesn't feel like he has to make a lot of birdies. He's going to get some birdie chances and he made lots of long putts this week. His putting was on fire. He doesn't feel like he has to hit it to five feet on every hole because that's what everyone else is doing. He can just hit it to middle of the green and make a 25-footer or 35-footer. He's good at that kind of stuff.'

She also implied at courses with easier setups Michael doesn't feel like he has to be as perfect.

'I think that's what gets into his head,' she said. 'If you miss a fairway, if you miss a green, you hit it in the bunker, it's no big deal because everyone is doing the same thing.'

Compared to the first four starts, Thompson was calmer and much more confident, especially over the weekend. From walking the back nine with him on Sunday, it was clear after I saw him play the 10th that this week belonged to him.

'I think he just felt anything is going to be better than what I've been going through all year,' said Rachel, who has been married to Michael for two-and-a-half years yet the couple still hasn't found time to take a honeymoon.

'It's kind of like when he made it through Q-school. He knew he was going to be on the Nationwide Tour instead of the Hooters Tour. Out here, he knew he had made the cut and was going to have a strong finish, whereas the rest of the year he hadn't really done anything. I think that took pressure off because he knew he was doing better.'

Things sure are looking up for Thompson. With this victory against a star-studded field, he jumped 86 spots from No. 114 to No. 45 in the world rankings. As a result of his second-place finish at last year's U.S. Open, he had already secured invites to the Masters and the U.S. Open, which are nice, but now, he also has job security for two years. He also earned his way into the WGCs. He will play in his first one this upcoming week at the Cadillac Championship in Doral.

'I think that will provide a level of comfort knowing that I've got job security for two more years.  I get new experiences this year to play in the WGCs.  That's been a goal ever since I got out on Tour.  And to do it in this fashion is unbelievable.

'You know, it just all part of the process, all part of my journey.  My journey is very different from everybody else's, and you know, I just want to enjoy it and learn from it, be excited, struggle through it.  There's going to be more down times that I'm going to have to fight through, and that's just the nature of golf.  It's here one week, gone the next.'

Interesting enough, Thompson tweeted on February 23, 'If you want to see sunshine you have to weather the storm.'

How auspicious!

With all the perks that come along with winning, one of them includes setting a schedule and picking the events that suit your game better than others. There also isn't pressure to play in everything. That said, I hope the Thompsons are able to find time to take a honeymoon this year!

 (AP Photo/Palm Beach Post, Allen Eyestone)

VID-CAST: Honda Classic Sunday wrap-up with Luke Elvy

Hi! My name is Stephanie Wei. I grew up in Seattle. I live in Manhattan, NYC. I played competitive golf for ten years in the junior and college ranks. I went to Yale, where I played on the women's golf team and graduated in '05 with a B.A. in History.

I still enjoy pegging it, but don't ask me my handicap because I stopped keeping one when I left for college. More important, I'm feisty and I like to smile a lot. I also love sports, spandex and surprises.

I'm a freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for Sports Illustrated Golf+.

Golf.com

Sports Illustrated (2012)

Wall Street Journal

Mediaite

Read more about me here.

#WUPHangout: Saturday wrap-up at the Honda Classic

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.

*On losing momentum on the back nine: 'I was playing really solidly all day.  I caught a bad mud ball at 10 and I hit a slice hook, and then made bogey there and then 18, I hit another bad one and hit hook-slice.  And then on 17, just stuck it in the ground a little bit, caught the wind and rode it over there and ended up making double. Realistically, if you play well, you can shoot about five- or six- under par, there's no doubt.  There's some accessible pins.  The greens are perfectly smooth out there.  They are not that fast so you can be pretty aggressive.

*On the wind factoring in and making conditions much more difficult than the previous rounds: 'Certainly it had its moments where it was up pretty good and then it died down for maybe a hole.  But it's picked back up again.  There's some tee shots where we are going to have to commit out there and hit some good ones and same thing with second shots.  Guys this afternoon are going to certainly face that challenge and there's so many guys with chances, that anything can happen.'

*On his game currently compared to when he won at Torrey Pines in February: 'It's not that far off.  I feel like I'm probably just not quite driving it as well.  I'm driving it long.  Just not quite driving it as well. My iron game is pretty good and my short game is way better than it was at Torrey.  I feel very comfortable with my putting what I'm doing, so I need to obviously get it in play a little bit more and attack from there, because everything else is pretty good.'

*************

And that's it, folks. See you tomorrow.

VIDEO: Friday's Foursome Hangout

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. 

I also did a hurried and impromptu #WUPHangout, so it's definitely not the best and I'm scared to even watch it.

If you're reading this now, I'm holding another #WUPHangout at 6pm EST (yes, in 15 minutes), so please submit questions and/or you can watch the live stream (I'll tweet the link when it's close to starting).

By the way, I'm in the process of a complete site redesign ' which should be super hip and cool (duh) ' so you'll be able to check these things out, along with the other content I produce in my various social media outlets, more efficiently in the near future.

Made-the-Cut Woods easily trumps Cut-the-Scene McIlroy

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.

Kind of. Maybe it's just me, but it's a buzz kill when Tiger tees off at 8:15 on Saturday and finishes by noon. It's like, either be atop the leaderboard or near it, or miss the cut. In other words, personally, I'd prefer if Tiger played really well, but if he isn't, then it'd be nice if he were awful instead of mediocre. Ho-hum.

That said, good on Tiger for grinding and scrambling his way around PGA National to make a run this weekend. Perhaps it'll turn out similar to last year when Woods shot a final-round 62, except this time he won't have to worry about chasing down defending champion McIlroy.

Woods struggled with his ballstriking, but made up for it on the greens. In other words, the exact opposite of the previous round.

'I didn't hit the ball very good today,' said Tiger after shooting back-t0-back even-par 70s (T65). 'I hit it really good yesterday and got nothing out of it.  Today I didn't hit it very good and got a lot out of it.'

Tiger had two excellent up-and-downs on the final two holes to save him from another weekend off.

'(The shot on) 17 wasn't anywhere near as hard as 18,' said Tiger, referring to the bunker shot on 17 and the flop from the left rough. '17, I actually had a real good lie, and I had enough room to get the ball up and keep it from going in the water.  The water wasn't in play.

'18 was a different story. 18, the water was in play.  I had no grass, it was muddy, and it was a downhill lie.  So I tried to pull it off, and if I pulled it off, it's going to be where it was and if I didn't, it was going to be dumped in the front bunker and I could get up-and-down from there, easy bunker shot.  I just wanted to make sure I took the water out of play on that little pitch shot and I did and it happened to come off.'

Woods is paired with legendary prankster David Lynn, the Englishman who finished runner-up to McIlroy at the PGA Championship last summer. So that should actually be fun. Too bad it's at 8:15am'

Naturally, Tiger was asked about Rory's abrupt departure.

'It's tough,' said Tiger, when asked about how difficult it is to withdraw when bothered during a round. 'I've done it a couple times just because I was injured.  I just couldn't go.  I hurt my wrist one time at the U.S. Open as an amateur.  Last year I pulled out at Doral, my Achilles was at the point where I could injure it again like I did the previous year.  So decided not to do it.  It all worked out.'

And I thought this was a good quote from Tiger, referring to having a 'welcome to my world'' where every tiny thing is analyzed to death ' conversation with Rory: 'I've been through it for a long time.  But also this is a slightly different era, as well.  It's even faster than what it was when I came out.  Things are instantaneous around the world.  We were still in fax machines, things were a little bit slower.

'But still, you've just got to be more  just got to think about it a little bit more before you say something or do something.  It can get out of hand, especially when you get into social media and start Tweeting and all those different things that can go wrong  jokingly saying something doesn't always come off as saying that, even though the intent was different.  It could be perceived as something else.'

Meanwhile, first-round leader Camilo Villegas followed up his six-under 64 with a seven-over 77 to miss the cut. Yikes! 23-year-old rookie Luke Guthrie fired an impressive seven-under 63 early on Friday to take the 36-hole lead.

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Rory McIlroy's walk-off withdrawal'.due to toothache (?!?!)

 

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?'

 

Well, kind of?

McIlroy, the defending champion, added there was nothing wrong physically.

What about his swing mechanically?

'Yeah, I really don't know what's going on,' said the world's no. 1 golfer.

About an hour after Rory's departure, his team released the following statement:

'I sincerely apologize to The Honda Classic and PGA TOUR for my sudden withdrawal. I have been suffering with a sore wisdom tooth, which is due to come out in the near future. It began bothering me again last night, so I relieved it with Advil. It was very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate. It was really bothering me and had begun to affect my playing partners. I came here with every intention of defending my Honda Classic title. Even though my results haven't revealed it, I really felt like I was rounding a corner. This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make.'

Um. Really? I mean, I had a dental emergency during the third round of the Sony Open that forced me to walk off after following the final group for seven holes. So I guess I get it,  but clearly my situation/job is just a tad different.

Wisdom teeth suck, but even if that were the case, Rory would have been better saying nothing at all and paying a fine. Or simply sucking it up and trying to grind it out on the next nine and sign his scorecard and miss the cut like a pro. That's what you'd expect Rory to do ' which makes this all the more strange.

The PGA Tour's policy on withdrawing during a round is as follows:

During a round, a player may withdraw because of injury or other disability which requires medical attention, or serious personal emergency. The player shall notify the PGA TOUR Tournament Director or a PGA TOUR Rules Official of his reason for withdrawal, and within a period of 14 days submit written evidence supporting such reason to the Commissioner.

Team Rory also sent out a tweet apologizing:

 

Rory, who has only completed four competitive rounds this season (with one in the match-play format), has been in the spotlight even more than usual due to the high-profile endorsement deal he signed with Nike. McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship playing with Titleist equipment.

Since the big switch, he's missed the cut at Abu Dhabi, lost in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, shot 70 on Thursday at the Honda Classic and walked-off rather abruptly in an un-Rory-like manner in the second round. Naturally, today's events will only stir up more speculation and questions with his new equipment.

He's scheduled to play in the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral next week, which has no cut, and then the Shell Houston Open at the end of March to lead into the Masters the week of April 8th.

Rory's story so far in 2012 has officially gotten cray-cray. I was really hoping for a ho-hum week, where we wouldn't have to freak out about anything related to Rory's game and equipment.

I will say that when I walked with him yesterday afternoon, he seemed baffled ' I'm not sure if that's the right word. Perhaps that was my reaction to watching him for the first time in 2013 and not exactly recognizing the world's No. 1 player. He would hit shots that he posed for and watched in the air, like he liked them, but the result wasn't what he expected. Even after he was pleased with the swing, twirling the club in his follow-through, he seemed befuddled.

After he posted for an even-par 70, which included a bogey on the last, the par-5 18th, he appeared deflated, but he was still trying to be a goofy, 'normal' 23-year-old (from what I gleaned from my brief interactions yesterday). There was, indeed, something' off.

What's eating Rory? Girl problems? Added pressure? Frustration with his swing? Equipment? A combination of all of the above? We can only speculate, unless you buy the toothache excuse  explanation.

Some have wondered, can you imagine if Tiger Woods pulled something like this? Well, there have been somewhat similar incidents, like last year at Doral, where he was carted off after 11 holes, after he appeared to be in physical pain caused by nagging leg injuries. The departure created quite the scene, a la the O.J. Simpson car chase, with a helicopter trailing Woods' car as he fled the scene  left the golf course.

Rory won't get the 'Tiger treatment' because of his charismatic candor and history of transparency with the press and public.

Takeaway? I guess the good news is there weren't cameras chasing Rory as he weaved through traffic down PGA Boulevard.

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Security guard shouts Fault! at Serena

Sorry, Serena ' golf is the only sporting event where fans aren't allowed to take cell phone pictures. Top-ranked tennis player Serena Williams was watching Tiger Woods at the Honda Classic on Friday, and learned about the PGA Tour's cell-phone/picture-taking policy the hard way.

Williams was by the 17th tee box when she pulled out her phone to try and take a picture of Tiger. Security guards and marshals double as part of the Mo-Po (mobile phone police task force) these days at tournaments and one of them spotted ' and scolded ' Williams just in the nick of time, putting his hand in front of her phone and pushing it away. 

Serena looked startled and shocked, which is the natural reaction of just about any avid sports fan, not to mention the Mo-Po are pretty scary these days when it comes to fans and phones following the 'big' names. (Hey, I had my credentials threatened for taking non-action shots during tournament days, but we came to an understanding or there was a recent change/amendment in the regulations.)

Here's a GIF of the occurrence via CBSSports.com:

 

 

She appeared to comply and tweeted the above, 'Ok at this Golf tournament. Just saw @tigerwoods I understand NO golf Apparently u can't take pics. This security for mad and yelled at me [sic]'.

Serena followed up her first tweet with a nice photo of Tiger's follow-through on the par-3 17th. Nice shot!

 

What a rebel! Nothing wrong with a little civil disobedience' 

I think it's safe to say that Serena is now fully aware of the PGA Tour's draconian NO-PICTURES rule, which most golf fans are familiar with (but you are allowed to take as many photos or videos as you'd like during the practice round days). She tweeted more about her newfound knowledge of golf.

 

 

I'm a bit surprised Serena didn't know more about golf, considering her sister Venus dated Hank Kuehne, who shot 67-72 (T43) in the first two rounds at PGA National, for quite some time. In fact, there were in rumors in 2008 that the two were engaged. 

Happy to give Serena a walking tour if she'd like this weekend ' if she returns. I mean, she might not be so inclined to come back after her 'welcome to golf' moment.

Boo's got game, preserves game

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.

In the last few years it's been no secret that Boo's weakness has been on the greens. His coach Scott Hamilton found two things that have helped Boo, a member of the 2008 victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team, improve his rhythm and fluidity with the flatstick.

First, they spent some time with SAM PuttLab and discovered that the fastest part of his stroke was after he made contact with the ball, which made him 'pop' it at impact.

Hamilton read an article that said if you have speed issues when you're doing athletic things, the solution is to silence your thoughts on mechanics and feel more natural.

'We've just been trying to find some small things in and out that can help me and the thing is, pacing my putters, the way I stroke the ball, it's slowing my putter face down a little bit to keep me from popping it and getting my right hand involved and breathing a little bit,' said Boo, who is tied for 6th, trailing first-round leader Camilo Villegas by two.

'Kind of like when I'm shooting my guns long range; I have to take a deep breath and excel and blow it out and then pull the trigger. And that's what we try to work on a little bit, my coach has helped me on that side of it to get me to realize, get it more natural where it just flows instead of just sitting there, you tense up.'

Second, Hamilton created a practice putting aid to take some pressure of Boo's right hand through his stroke.

'I got a putter and cut the grip off,' said Hamilton, whose client list on the PGA Tour also includes Steven Bowditch and Will Claxton, among others. 'I made the only part of the grips on his left hand and I put his fingers on the shaft. You know how when you chip you get your hands on the metal? So I did that to the putter. He only put his left hand on the grip and his right hand on the metal and it got the throw out of there. He could feel it better.'

In short: He's trying to exhale and have a fluid, constant acceleration through the putt while softening up on the pressure of his grip with his right hand.

Boo's best finish at the Honda Classic since it moved to PGA National in 2007 came that year when he yipped a short putt to secure the outright win in regulation.

'I got fond memories of here,' he said. 'I've got one bad one but other than that, it's all good. But really it wasn't a bad one.

'I just choked. That's the bottom line of it. I have a 3-footer to win and I just choked. All I had to do was 2-putt from 30 feet and I just choked.'

Heading into the 72nd hole in 2007, Boo just needed a par to clinch the title. As he described, he missed a 3-footer on 18 and ended up in a four-way playoff that Mark Wilson went on to win in a Monday finish.

Boo's candor and congenial personality makes him easy to get along with anyone ' and not just people. As you know and can see in the photo above, he fishes every waking moment that he's not eating or throwing back Miller Lites, and fitting in some golf. Boo has a way with nature and its creatures, even alligators.

Growing up in the panhandle of Florida, he's been around gators his entire life and spent time listening to them. He even knows how to ' I kid you not because I've heard him do it ' make an alligator call, which he demonstrated as he walked by a creature on the 15th hole. He wouldn't do it for the scrum of reporters, but from what I recall, it sounds just like some sort of rendition of a bird call.

Naturally, Boo doesn't discriminate between swamp critters that most people fear. He came to the rescue on the 5th hole, where a group of marshals were panicking over a mocassin snake slithering dangerously close to the green.

'If it would have been hotter, somebody could have stepped right by him and gotten bit,' said Boo. 'I mean, he blended in right in by the grass. He wasn't more than 18 inches long, but he was good enough that he could hit you if you were there.

'A guy came running up to us before we teed off and then when we got done, I told him not to worry about it because I moved it. I just turned over my driver and moved it.'

No big deal. Just another day in the world of Boo.

(Photo of Boo taken by Scott Hamilton on Tuesday just before he stepped out the back door to fish')

Tiger's swoosh splash

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.' 

Woods' ball was partially submerged in the water hazard, so he took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers and put on waterproofs to hit the shot, and successfully pulled it off. With a 9-iron in his hands, he laid up to 81 yards back in the fairway, instead of taking a penalty shot and drop. From there, he knocked a 60-degree wedge to about 10 feet and completed the unlikely par-save.

'How about that,' said Woods, smiling after signing his scorecard.

Had he not pulled off the risky shot, he might not have been so upbeat at the end of the day.

'I was 1-over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it's at, where I caught was pretty far back,' said Tiger in the media scrum outside of the scoring trailer behind the 9th green. 'I would have had to have dropped where I couldn't even get an angle in the first cut and had to drop in the primary and had to lay up and didn't get that up-and-down  looking at a six, 3-over, and all of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next.  Could easily have been three, but all of a sudden I'm even.'

When asked about the difficulty of the 10th hole, he uttered an, 'Oh my God, it's a hard hole!'

Woods said he played better than he scored, which was not a surprising assessment since he finished strong.

'That's the thing, I hit the ball well today and on top of that, I hit good putts but unfortunately I didn't get the feeling of this grain today,' said Tiger when asked about his mindset going into the second round.

'It was either snagging or I would blow through it top side.  I just didn't quite have it just right.  I hit so many putts right around the edge that just were not going in.  Just stick with what I'm doing because it's not very far off.'

Well, the forecast for Friday will hopefully brighten up because as of now, it looks like we're in for a gloomy and wet rest of the week.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy had a lackluster Thursday, which was pretty ho-hum. From 105 yards on the par-5 18th, the world No. 1 hit his wedge shot over the green and ended up bogeying to match Tiger's 70.

On the other hand, things are looking better for Camilo Villegas, who finished outside of the top-125 on the money list last season. The 2010 Honda Classic champion was granted one of the coveted sponsor's invite, his third of the year ' and he has six more lined up already so far: Puerto Rico, Tampa, Bay Hill, Hilton Head, Quail Hollow, New Orleans and Colonial, which is basically a full schedule.

For the first time since he won here at PGA National three years ago, Villegas took the outright lead when he rolled in his eagle putt on No. 18 to shoot a six-under 64.

'At times it was tough to enjoy it, at times, but I've got to say, I've been working with Darren May at Bear's Club, and we have been doing a lot of great work,' said Villegas, who leads by one over Brendan Grace, Graham Delaet, Rickie Fowler and Robert Streb. 'I'm enjoying my practice, spending a lot of time out there and trying to get better.  It's good.

'You know, what you always learn from mistakes, and not that I made mistakes, I just played bad the last year and a half.  It's a little reality check, nothing wrong with that.  It gives you a little bite to come back and be who you know you can be.

He added: 'I just didn't play as good as I did the years before. But guess what, I will ' I'll be back.'

Tiger upbeat (for now) despite pesky mud ball dilemma

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, anad of course, the anchoring ban, among other topics.

Oh, by the way, he shot three-under 69 in the pro-am, and due to the somewhat oddly soft conditions in South Florida, he had 5 or 6 mud balls (Tiger loves those!). With all the rain this afternoon, expect he might have a few more when he tees off for the first round at 7:25am on Thursday. Luckily, he will keep count for us.

'The golf course has certainly got a lot of grass on it this year,' said Woods in his informal press conference. 'The rough is up. The fairways are a bit watery. We had probably five or six mud balls today. Greens are running perfectly smooth. But there's a little bit more grass on it than there was certainly last year for sure.'

Here are excerpts from his better-than-most presser:

*In case you didn't want to assume anything since it seems like at least half of the Tour players have flip-flopped on their stance (or succumbed to peer pressure or compassion for several of their peers, which is understandable) regarding the USGA and R&A's proposed rule to ban anchoring, Woods expectedly is sticking to his guns.

'My position hasn't changed,' he said. 'I still think that it should be swung, it shouldn't be anchored, and that hasn't changed at all. But obviously nothing is set in stone, nothing's firm. The USGA and R&A are the governing bodies of our rules, and we'll see what happens. Hopefully we don't have to bifurcate or adapt a local rule like we do sometimes out here on Tour with the stones and bunkers and things of that nature. Hopefully we won't have to do that with our putter.'

*On Commissioner Tim Finchem announcing the Tour's position against the USGA's proposed rule: 'I understand that. I get it. I mean, the guys that play our Tour, all three of them play our Tour full-time, have won major championships with an anchored putter. I understand his position but I still feel that all 14 clubs should be swung. That hasn't changed at all whatever.'

*On his relationship with Rory McIlroy: 'He's a friend of mine, who just happens to be the No. 1 player in the world. That's about it.'

*On their private 36-hole match at Medalist last Sunday: 'He moved down here, and we figured, let's get a game sometime. We were kind of hoping that it wouldn't be that Sunday, but we were both free, and went out and played. Played a quick 36, and he headed off to do whatever he needed to do, and I went back home and did some more training. '

*On the contrast between his current relationship with McIlroy and his elder statesmen when Tiger was around Rory's age: 'I don't think it's quite the same level as I was with Mark (O'Meara) and Cookie (John Cook). Back in those days, those guys really took me under their wing. Went out to dinner all the time and basically travelled together on Tour, went fishing all the time. Whether it's here in Florida, whether it's to Alaska, we did a bunch of vacation trips together but they were like my big brothers at the time. They basically still are. It's a different type of relationship.'

*On losing in the first round of the Match Play last week to Charles Howell III: 'It's different. Generally if you're missing a cut, you're probably not playing that well. I actually played well, and only played one day. So I missed a few putts out there, but other than that, I really played well and unfortunately I ran into a guy who also played well, actually better than I did. He made a couple more birdies, and that's just the nature of the business in that format.

'You know, you can win matches, as I said, when I was out there, I've seen guys shoot 7under par and go home. I remember at La Costa, a guy shot 79 and moved on. It's just the nature of the format.'

*On whether the current course conditions will change as the week progresses (FYI, we're in for some not so great weather for South Florida): 'I don't think they are going to be changing that much. There's so much water out there right now. It's so soft, we're picking up mud balls, and if we get anymore rain, it's probably going to be even more of a factor. It will change, obviously it's going to get cool, but it's not going to dry it out enough.'

*On chasing Rory last year in the final round: 'Well, it was not exactly best position to start off the round, that far back. I made a run and I thought it might get me into a situation where I might have a chance at a playoff. But Rory made a couple birdies down the stretch and basically iced it.'

*On Rory's ascendency to No. 1 compared to his own: 'I think Rory is doing a fantastic job. As far as in my career, it happened very quickly. I turned pro in August; I think by Augusta, somewhere in there, I became No. 1. So it was a bit quick. Just came out of college and next thing you know, I'm No. 1 player in the world. It was a little bit faster than what Rory has had. He's had time to adapt and to grow into it. I think he's done a fantastic job of it.'

*On Rory's equipment change to Nike Golf, which is obviously Tiger's sponsor, too: 'I went through equipment changes over the years, but as I said, it's over the years. There have been a lot of players who have done wholesale changes with sponsorships. I think Ernie has played for every company there is out there. There are a few guys who have done that and they have had a lot of success, and there are a lot of stories where they have not done well and been off the Tour soon.

'Rory, understandably, he's going through the process. We talked about it a little bit. It is a process. The good news is about today's equipment, we have so many different ways of testing it and tracking it and getting numbers, which back in the days even when I came up and obviously well before then, you didn't have these numbers in which you can get your launch conditions, your spin rate, basically any kind of data you want, any kind of data you can get; that wasn't the case.'

[Ed. note: In other words, Nike will find something that suits Rory.]

*On the different scheduling this year where there are two weeks between Bay Hill and the Masters: 'I definitely will go to Augusta and play. Don't know how many holes I'll play. Sometimes it's 18; sometimes it's 36, but I'd like to get up there and take a look at it, they made a couple little changes here and there. Would like to chart those and get that all situated so that I don't have to do any charting during the tournament week. '

(AP Photo/Palm Beach Post, Bill Ingram)

ICYMI: Hanging out late night with WUP at the Honda Classic (Tuesday)

Hi! My name is Stephanie Wei. I grew up in Seattle. I live in Manhattan, NYC. I played competitive golf for ten years in the junior and college ranks. I went to Yale, where I played on the women's golf team and graduated in '05 with a B.A. in History.

I still enjoy pegging it, but don't ask me my handicap because I stopped keeping one when I left for college. More important, I'm feisty and I like to smile a lot. I also love sports, spandex and surprises.

I'm a freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for Sports Illustrated Golf+.

Golf.com

Sports Illustrated (2012)

Wall Street Journal

Mediaite

Read more about me here.

Tiger-Rory private match woulda been the one-two watch

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. 

Yep, that was the face-off everyone hoped to watch in a perfect world at the actual finals of the Match Play Championship in chilly Marana, Arizona.

Instead, it happened at Woods' home course in sunny South Florida (in more ideal conditions). Rory said it was his first time playing Medalist and they were joined by former NFL receiver and new panelist on the daily talk-show Morning Drive on Golf Channel.

Oh, and they played 36 holes fast ' though it should be noted that they rode in carts.

'We teed off at about 8:00 and I was home by 1:30,' said McIlroy at his press conference at PGA National on Tuesday morning. 'So we played quick.  He putts with pin in.  He doesn't, I mean, it's just like speed golf.  It was good.  It was really enjoyable.'

Tiger won the first match and Rory beat him in the second round, so they finished even.

'We thought we would play our own match-play final,' said Rory, laughing, 'except it was over 36.'

Now that sounds like a fun, friendly yet competitive match that many wouldn't mind as their dream foursome, so to speak.

Rory didn't reveal any more during his formal presser, but he did disclose more details during an informal gathering at the Bose event, announcing and toasting Rory as a new global ambassador.

Wearing a button-up plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up casually and blue jeans, McIlroy, who was surrounded by around 15 media members and perhaps half-a-dozen photographers, held court for nearly 30 minutes, answering questions from everything about what he listens to with his Bose headphones to his relatively recent move to Old Palm. (Imagine another world No. 1 or just top player doing the same thing.)

McIlroy is a member at the Bear's Club in Jupiter, Florida. Asked when he'd have Tiger come play a match on his home turf, Rory said, 'Whenever he wants to come.'

Since it was Rory's first time playing Medalist in his 36-hole grudge match on Sunday, Tiger was 'very generous' in giving him home-course tips. Rory said he gave him sight lines and some putts. (Asked if he had a game going on with Rashad, he shrugged and said, no, but Tiger had a side bet or something with him ' I wonder how many strokes Tiger gave him?)

'If I play with Tiger, I jump at the chance because he's maybe the best ' if not, the best ' in the world to have played the game,' said Rory in the informal scrum at PGA National. 'It's good to go up against him and see where your game is. I mean, this is going to be his 19th Masters (at the age of 37)! That's just impressive.'

Added Rory when asked about Tiger being different than the guy we usually see at the golf course: 'Yeah, he's just a normal guy.'

They exchange friendly jabs and joke around, like the other boys. Rory said one comment he made to Tiger was, 'All that fist-pumping on the 18th green was for nothing.' McIlroy was referring to Tiger's final-round 62 at last year's Honda Classic. However, Rory didn't falter and still beat him by two shots, winning the event that launched him to world No. 1 for the first time in his career at the ripe age of 22. (Hard to believe he's only 23 since he holds himself with such composure and maturity.)

Rory also talked more about the constant questions and criticisms he gets when he faces the media ' whether it's regarding a mini-slump or equipment change, etc.

The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland acknowledged that it's part of the deal of being the world's No. 1 player. In other words, he gets it.

'It's a nice position to be in,' said McIlroy, surveying the crowd encompassing him. 'To have 15 media members surrounding you at a sponsor event'rather than being ranked-(much lower) in the world and nobody caring.

'It's only been three months. It's not like I've played six events and missed six cuts.'

He caught himself and quickly knocked his head twice to be safe, causing the scrum to erupt in laughter (which happened throughout the 30 minutes).

McIlroy, who switched to Nike Golf clubs and ball in the off-season, has played three competitive rounds in 2013. He missed the cut (along with Woods) in his season-opener in Abu Dhabi, and then he was upset by boyhood friend Shane Lowry last week in Match Play.

Despite defeating his old pal, Lowry has texted Rory asking to play The Bears Club this week. Lowry tried to Monday qualify into the Honda Classic, but he missed a spot in the field by one shot.

Rory, who sported a slight tan (for him), has liked his decision to sell his home in Northern Ireland (which is just about finalized), and his move to South Florida last year in regards for practicing and playing golf.

'I've always enjoyed this area,' said Rory. 'For me, it's a perfect base. The east coast is an easy flight back to Europe.' (His parents are in town a lot, but they still live in Belfast.)

He joked that his dad Gerry plays more at The Bear's Club than he does.

For the not-so-upcoming future? Rory told me it's nice to live in Florida for golfing purposes, obviously. But when it's all said and done, he'd prefer to settle somewhere else. He even said with enthusiasm, 'Like New York!' (Knowing that's where I live.) His girlfriend tennis star Caroline Wozniacki recently bought an apartment on Union Square West. Wow, we're practically neighbors! ' that's only a few blocks from me.

I was going to suggest we all get together sometime and have a double-date dinner party or something, but a fan jumped in and asked if Rory would take a picture with him. The nerve! (Kidding in case that wasn't clear.)

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

#WUPHangout: Here we come, Florida!

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.

It just so happened that after the taping of the show, Beadle interviewed Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps for several different shows. Phelps, an avid golfer, is instructor Hank Haney's latest student on Golf Channel's 'The Haney Project,' which premieres tonight.

Sounds like it's working ' Phelps said he broke 90 for the first time recently! Previously, he'd shoot 100+.

Beadle also had to ask him about a comment that his 'girlfriend' made recently, saying Phelps' talents extend to the bedroom. Uh, awkward. Yeah, Beadle didn't write the question and Michael knew it was coming (this interview was for 'Access Hollywood'). Beadle handled it like a pro, while Phelps blushed with embarrassment, playing coy and saying he didn't have a girlfriend. Beadle and Phelps ended up exchanging bro high-fives. Well played.

I ramble talk some more about Phelps and his golf game in the Hangout. I also touched on anchoring, the Match Play and the Florida Swing.

Most important: Congrats to M. Keto for finishing 49th overall in GolfWeek's bracket challenge and besting the 250-ish people who signed up at the last minute. Please email me: steph[dot]wei[at]gmail[dot]com, so you can claim your prize ' a TaylorMade RocketBallz Stage 2 fairway wood. Woot! Nice job!

Alright, see you soon at PGA National and many thanks to Ron Weschler for letting me check out the taping! And it was nice to meet him and Beadle in real life after several years of following each other on Twitter. IT'S LIKE YOU KNOW THE PERSON ALREADY.

Cray-cray.

[Ed. Note: I wrote this on my phone on the way to Newark. Please excuse any typos. I'll fix them later. Thanks. -SW]

Finchem: Anchoring ban is not good for big business!

The USGA and the R&A notified us several months ago about their intention to put forward a proposal to change'' essentially change the rule as it relates to what a stroke is by further defining it as something where you can't ground your club and anchor your club.  In addition to the historical limitations on what a stroke is of scraping the ball or scooping the ball or pushing the ball.

We then undertook to go through a process to determine our position on that because they had a commentary that ends next week.  We brought that to a conclusion last week.

You're all aware of that because of the comments that have been made by folks who were involved in that process.  Our Player Advisory Council looked at it twice.  We had the USGA come in and make a presentation to a player meeting in San Diego, USGA made a presentation to our Board.

We researched and looked at it and articulated our position at the end of last week to the USGA and shared that thinking also with the R&A.

Essentially where the PGA TOUR came down was that they did not think that banning anchoring was in the best interest of golf or the PGA TOUR.  I would note that the PGA of America came to the same conclusion after consultation with their membership.  Golf Course Owners Association came to the same conclusion, as well.

I think there are a number of factors here, a number of details, a number of issues, but I think the essential thread that went through the thinking of the players and our board of directors and others that looked at this was that in the absence of data or any basis to conclude that there is a competitive advantage to be gained by using anchoring, and given the amount of time that anchoring has been in the game, that there was no overriding reason to go down that road.

Recognizing a couple of things:  One, that an awful lot of amateurs today use anchoring; and two, that a number of players on the PGA TOUR who have grown up with a focus on perfecting the anchoring method, if you will, did so after the USGA on multiple occasions approved the method years ago, and that for us to join in supporting a ban we think as a direction is unfair to both groups of individuals.  So those were the overriding reasons.

I'd be happy to answer your questions in just a second, but I would like to add to that because I've read some things that would suggest that this is kind of a donnybrook between the PGA of America and the PGA TOUR on one side and the USGA on the other, and that's not really, I think, correct.  You know, the USGA did on multiple occasions look at this and come to one conclusion; 25 or 30 years later now they've come to another conclusion, at least tentatively.  They've asked us to give our comments.  All we're doing at this point is saying this is our opinion.

We have worked with the USGA over the last 20 years on a wide range of rules issues.  We are represented on their rules committee as an ex'officio member by members of our staff.  We worked together on the grooves issue, we worked together on capping the ball after it took off in 2000.  We have partnered with the USGA on the creation of the World Golf Foundation, the World Rankings Board, the International Federation of PGA Tours to some extent, certainly the international Olympic effort that we have made has been in partnership with the PGA, the PGA TOUR, and the USGA.

None of this debate over this particular issue is going to change any of that, so I want to'' as I said in Hawai'i, I continue to hope that regardless of where this matter ends up that it gets there after a process that is good natured, open, and not contrary or divisive, and that's certainly our intention.

We hold the USGA in the highest regard as a key part of the game of golf.  We don't attempt to denigrate that position in any way whatsoever.  It's just on this issue we think if they were to move forward, they would be making a mistake.