So this is what Darren Clarke does for an encore. The last time we saw Clarke, he was riding off into the sunset after leading the 2006 European Ryder Cup team to victory. Only a few short months after the death of his wife Heather, a breast cancer victim, there he was going 3-0, inspiring everyone around him, European and American alike. It was a virtuoso...
BETHESDA, MD – The lightning blinded the eyes of all the spectators with its burnished reflection of the sun off the shaft of Rory McIlroy’s hybrid. We first heard the “Thwack!” as the clubface spoke its single word, and then the golf ball soared skyward, waving to Snoopy 2 as it cruised by on its way to the 10th green at Congressional Country...
BETHESDA, MD – Once upon a time, just saying the name Congressional was enough to make pro golfers tremble. People still blanche when they recall brave old Ken Venturi staggering up the 18th fairway on the last Saturday finish in U.S. Open history, seemingly one step ahead of the Grim Reaper. “They opened up a coffin and out he crawled,”...
Everyone knows we laid Seve to rest yesterday, but the sports writing world also lost a true great yesterday, Bill Gallo of the New York Daily News. We’ll have one day of radio silence to mourn them both: Seve the swashbuckler and Gallo the gallant. See you in Heaven someday. Save room in the foursome for me at Valderrama, and I’ll get you on the Shore...
Great…just great! Charl Schwartzel won the Masters. I don’t even know how to spell “Charl Schwartzel.” I’m not even sure he knows how to spell “Charl Schwartzel.” My spell checker is working overtime warning me to correct it. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Every casual fan will mis-pronounce it, which is good...
Well we didn’t need Julian Assange or any other subversive web-site to get the milquetoast news of a couple of quiet, warm dweebs battling it out as Captains at Medinah for the 2012 Ryder Cup. Golf Channel reports that Davis Love III, one of the smarter guys out on tour, but also a remarkably stoic fellow, is the overwhelming favorite to be named U.S. Captain...
No he’s not a towel-headed terrorist out to jihad his way into Dan Jenkins’s next novel. No he’s not some dude in disguise playing hooky from work. He’s paying homage to…wait for it…Miguel Angel Jimenez! (Can’t spell major without MAJ.) Jay Busbee at Yahoo Sports has the full story. I guess Jimenez, like Monty and Leonard...
***Mahan makes chopped salad out of the par-3 17th. Europe wins 14.5-13.5.*** ***UPDATE! 10:13*** McDowell wins 16 and is 2-up with 2 to play. Europe is assured of 14 points, but not yet 14.5. ***UPDATE!!!! 10:05*** The other choking dog of a Molinari brother blows a huge lead, including the last three holes to let Ricky Fowler tie the match! Now it’s 13.5-12.5...
***UPDATE*** in just a half hour two full matches have flipped. at 7:15 a.m. EST, the singles stand at 6-6. Just 1.5 more points have to flip for the U.S. to retain the Cup. Still, it looks like an uphill battle, but at least the Yanks look to be putting up a fight. Stricker reversed his opening match with Westwood and now leads 2-up with 3 to play. Bubba Watson and...
From Golf Observer: The conclusion of both the “first session” and “second session” went great for the Americans, who opened a 6-4 lead at Celtic Manor, but the third session of this long day was a different story. When darkness halted the proceedings, Europe held the lead in all six matches, which ranged from having four holes and nine holes...
Robert Trent Jones, Jr. has been quite the jet-setter recently, working on projects from Morocco to Egypt, from to Eastern Europe to Asia, but this week all eyes are his work at Celtic Manor in Wales, the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup. Opened in July 2007, the course combines the routing of nine holes from the original Robert Trent Jones-designed Wentwood Hills golf...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – It’s Graeme McDowell who won the 2010 U.S. Open, not Lou Graham, but since McDowell’s win closely resembles Graham’s victory at Medinah in 1975, the confusion is easily forgiven. Like 1975, Championship Sunday dawned over Paradise with the game’s greatest players lurking near the top of the leaderboard. But also like...
Graeme McDowell, wins the 110th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the first European to do so since Tony Jacklin won the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, you are on the clock!
God bless us every one, a nice guy finished first. Tiny Tim Clark, whose “legs are too short so I use my head,” as he once said at a U.S. Open, won the arguably “fifth major,” as his 5-under 67 captured the Players Championship by one shot over Robert Allenby. Third round leader Lee Westwood closed with a dreary 74, allowing Clark, who fired a...
…At Kyle Phillips.com. Here’s the link to my story about Verdura in Italy…which I didn’t play, but which is causing humorous pointed discussions in the Flemma-Bonsoliel household. “Sicily,” she said. “Morocco,” I replied. “Sicily.” “Morocco.” Pregnant pause. I know trouble’s coming…my...