Lee Westwood’s Calf Playing Up Again- Call the Vet

Golf professional these days, more like spoiled Hollywood actors if you ask me.  I mean who does Lee Westwood think he is, pulling out of the USPGA Championship, just because his calf isn’t feeling too good.  Since when is the welfare of Westwood’s farm animals directly related to his golf game?  Surely he should just call the vet, and maybe stay with his little bovine pet until Monday before flying out to the USPGA.  Whatever next? Rory McIlory to pull out out of the Ryder Cup because his pet dog has a slight cough?

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Mickelson Ready To be Crowned King; Bridgestone Invitational Round two Highlights

Bridgestone Invitational Round two Highlights

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Five Things To Watch In Today’s Second Round at the WGC

1. Watch Phil Mickelson's drives today. He chopped an inch off his Big Dog and added 20 grams of weight to the shaft.  Result:  Far straighter and as long.
2. Watch Bubba Watson’s putting.  He only took 22 putts yesterday.  When you consider he only hit 6 fairways, its a miracle he’s up there.
3. Watch Tiger Woods.  Its obvious Gillette are not sponsoring him anymore because he hasn’t shaved in weeks.  He said on Wednesday his driving was back, then he went out in the first round and only hit 5 fairways.  His putting was terrible too, 32 stabs en route to a 74.  Nice little bald spot coming through too!
4. Watch the Europeans.  Where did they go to yesterday?  I thought this Ryder Cup was supposed to be a done deal but only GMac is in the top-10.
5. Watch Padraig Harrington folks today.  I feel a low one coming on.

WGC Bridgestone Invitational 2010 Round One Highlights

WGC Bridgestone Invitational 2010 Round One Highlights

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What’s In The Bag Rory McIlroy and Slo-Mo Swing Sequence August 2010

Up To Date Rory McIlroy What’s In The Bag and Swing Sequence

Player Profile:
Full name Rory McIlroy
Born 4 May 1989 (age 21)
Holywood, Northern Ireland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight 160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Nationality Northern Ireland
Residence Holywood, Northern Ireland
Career
Turned professional 2007
Professional wins 2
Rory McIlroy raced his Audi out of Killarney last Sunday morning without much fuss. Desperate to contend whilst also pleasing the crowds his aggressive style cost him dearly as his weekend 76, 71 left him in a tie for 35^th and for once, out of the limelight. Unbowed the young Holywood pro crossed the Atlantic yesterday bound for Firestone Country Club to take part in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational with the world’s best, including Tiger Woods.
McIlory became the first player since Tiger to win a PGA Tour event prior to his 21st birthday when he shot 62 in the final round of the Quail Hollow Championship. The round set a new course record, and concluded with six consecutive scores of three.
Rory produced another of his aggressive rounds on the Old Course at St Andrews by shooting a 9-under-par 63 on the opening day of the Opening Championship, the lowest ever first round score in the 150 year history of the event, and tying the course record. McIlroy has a current world ranking of eighth.

What’s In The Bag Rory McIlory August 2010

Rory McIlory Slo-Mo Konica Minolta Biz Hub Style Swing Sequence

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WGC Bridgestone Invitational 2010 Tips

WGC Bridgestone Invitational 2010 Tips

Tiger Woods 7/1

Woods is the King of the Firestone Country Club having won four of the last five stagings and slump or no slump, he remains the man to beat this week.  Tiger is not one who takes losing lightly and the words from the States is that he has working feverishly on his putting since St. Andrews in readiness for this week.  Everything is on the line here, including his world number one spot and he doesn’t intend to give that away lightly.

Luke Donald 38/1

Luke Donald is Atlantic hopping his way to his best season ever.  Since his appearance at the Verizon Heritage in April where he tied third,Donald has clocked up 5 top tens in his nine starts since.  On another two occasions in those nine he finished 11 th.  Donald has some “previous” at Firestone too, in his four appearences he has finished in the top ten twice.  A real contender.

Padraig Harrington 26/1

Whether he admits it or not last week’s performance in Killarney will have given Padraig Harrington a huge confidence boost.  Granted he didn’t win but his scrambling prowess and ability to find birdies and an eagle down the stretch last Sunday were very positive.  Firestone owes Harrington big time also as is final round collapse gifted Tiger Woods the title last year.  Harrington ended up tied second.

Ross Fisher 36/1

Ross Fisher didn’t just putt well in Killarney he struck the ball better than he has in ages and the confidence gained from his Irish Open win will really give him an advantage coming into these two huge weeks.  As he proved last year Fisher is a man for Major occasions as he contended on Sunday for all four and he proved in Ireland he has the calm temperament to close out any tournament.  With new caddy Phil “Wobbly” Morbey on the bag,  Fisher is one to watch this week and next.

Hunter Mahan 56/1

If you’re after some long odds glory one man to consider is Hunter Mahan.  He’s streaky at best but on his day can do the business as he showed at the Waste Management Phoenix Open back in February when he won.  Much improved form playing solidly in St. Andrews followed by 17^th at the Canadian Open.  This will be Mahan’s third Bridgestone appearance, he top tenned in 2009.

 

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Pic Of The Week: Padraig’s Cashmere Sweater

 

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What Tiger Woods Shotlink Stats Tell Us

Bloggy Underfoot:What Tiger Woods Shotlink Stats Tell Us

Every player on the PGA Tour has each shot tracked by a system called ShotLink. With Tiger due back on tee this week in Akron, we’ve had a look at his data from 2010 to assess just exactly what, in anything, has gone wrong with game.

Driving

Tiger's average driving distance this year is 297.3, good enough for 12th on tour and only a yard short of his 2009 average. His driving accuracy is 60 percent, meaning that he's hitting six out of 10 fairways. So, no real problem there.

Greens in Regulation

This stat essentially records how many birdie opportunities you're getting. Last year, Tiger's GIR (greens in regulation) was 68.46%, 16th on tour. In 2010, he's at 65.56%, slipping to 91st on tour. More telling is a related stat called "proximity to the hole," which is an average of how close to the pin a player has been landing the ball. In 2010, Tiger has been landing the ball, on average, 2.5 feet

farther from the hole. That does not seem like much, but it's enough to drop him from a 2009 ranking of 55th to a 2010 ranking of 141st. Being on average 2.5 feet farther from the hole, over the course of a season is an enormous disadvantage. That's because the statistics on putting are pretty simple: The closer you are to the hole, the more putts you make.

Approaches from 175-225 Yards

This is where Tiger excels. He’s ranked first on tour in this stat and it’s his remarkable ball striking from this range is what keeps him in tournaments when other departments of his game are lagging. It's Tiger's approach shots from closer in that have been dragging him down.

Scrambling

A successful scramble is when you get up-and-down after missing the green—you chip and then you sink the putt. This is where Tiger's game has deteriorated the most in 2010. Last year, Tiger was ranked first in scrambling—he got up-and-down 68 percent of the time. This year, he's at 53 percent, which would rank him 170th.

Putting

So is Tiger’s putter really the cause of his downfall. Last year, Tiger made 54% of his putts from eight feet—better than average but not amazing. What is incredible however is that he made 96% of putts from four feet. Of the limited stats that are available so far this year Tiger’s ranking has fallen to 129th on all putts less than 10 feet. The foundation of his great putting is in danger of eroding.

So it seems Tiger’s putting is indeed at the core of his problems. The kind of putting excellence under tournament conditions that Tiger has shown in years gone by requires incredible focus over the ball. Could it be that Tiger has been distracted lately?

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The Tour Truck’s at The Irish Open with Derek Murray ForeGolf

The Cleveland Tour Truck at The Irish Open

Iain "Clarkie" Clarke the European Tour manager, Mike Moberg from Cleveland/Srixon USA and yours truly opened up the doors of the tour truck to service the range of players who play the Cleveland and Srixon clubs at The Irish Open. Along with the clubs we also store and distribute the gloves, balls, towels, wet-gear and umbrellas ahead of each and every tournament. Shane Lowrey dropped by for his balls, gloves and hats. David Howell is in much improved form and picked up his new golf bag and had some grips done along with a few tweaks to his iron settings. Looks like it helped too, David wet out and shot 64!

We put together some new wedges for Damien McGrane and Philip Walton to deal with the conditions at Killarney. Ganzalo Fernando Castano (Gonzo) stopped off for a chat and to get some new wetgear and hats. Top Irish amateur Paul Cutler gets a few clubs built and we checked on local pro Danny Sugrue to make sure his new conforming wedges are working well. I also picked up a few KBS black nickel wedge shafts for Glasson pro Colm Moriarity that look sweet. With the practice ground so far away from the trucks we couldn’t do a lot of range work this week but Mike spent a lot of time at the short game area with a bag of special wedges just in case any of the players need some help. I also had a lot of fun grinding some new wedge designs I've been working on and help Clarkie pack up the

truck ahead of it's trip back to the UK ahead of the next tournament. It's all go, go, go on Tour.

with Derek Murray from www.foregolf.ie

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Tailored Shorts: Golf News Snippets

Another 59 Stateside

While we nearly got the first ever European Tour 59 when Ross Fisher was a roll last Friday, he came up just short and had to settle to 61. However stateside on Sunday night Aussie Stuart Appleby shot the magic 59 on his way to stealing the Greenbrier Classic from a fidgety Jeff Overton. These rounds pale into insignificance compared to that of a round of 55 by Homero Blancas. Blancas played on the PGA and later on the Champions Tour. He had 13 birdies and one eagle, and had only 20 putts!

What A Langer

If Ross Fisher was the villain of the piece in Killarney denying local hero Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer did likewise in winning the U.S. Senior Open. Langer was unruffled by the partisan crowd that was rooting hard for hometown hero Fred Couples as their final round played out more like a Ryder Cup singles match than a major championship. The German shot a bogey-free three-under 67 on Sunday, and completed a trans-Atlantic double by winning his second straight Champions Tour major.

Tseng’s Trophy Room

Yani Tseng of Taiwan made a 6-foot putt at the last hole Sunday to complete a wire to wire victory the Women's British Open holding off Katherine Hull of Australia.

Tseng finished on a total of 11 under to claim the trophy at Royal Birkdale and cement Asian dominance in the Women’s game. Last year Tseng bought Annika Sorenstam’s house in Lake Nona and marvelled at the Swede’s enormous trophy room. Now with three majors if her own and a handful of Tour titles, Tseng is beginning to fill it up fast!

Wayne’s World Of TPI Fitness: Push Slice

Problem:

A push slice is a shot that starts right of the target and curls further right in

the air. This is a shot that loses a lot of distance and is caused by an in to out swing path with a open clubface.

Cause:

If the hips extend early or thrust towards the ball in the downswing it can cause the club to drop too much on an inside path which can cause the push slice. I see this fault time and time again at my academy. Lack of hip mobility can cause early extension or it could be just that the player simply does not know how the hips should rotate in the swing.

Drill:

A great drill to help understand how the hips should rotate in the swing is to rest a Swiss ball on your rear end while holding it against a wall, then using a pitching wedge rotate the hips back and through making sure that the Swiss ball does not drop. This drill can be practiced at home and could add yards to your shots.

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Phil “Wobbly” Morbey, Ross Fisher’s caddy, is a Multiple Irish Open Winner

Pictured with the 3 Irish Open Winner Ross Fisher is manager Conor Ridge and caddy Phil “Wobbly” Morbey.  Morbey has now won Irish Open’s with Fisher, Ian Woosnam and Thomas Bjorn (when he stood in for his regular caddy) at the 2006 Irish Open.

 

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Irish Open 2010 Final Round Highlights- Padraig Harrington Post Round Interview

Padraig Harrington was fulsome in his praise for Ross Fisher following the climax of the 3 Irish Open.

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Irish Open 2010 Final Round Highlights- Ross Fisher wins thriller

 

Ross Fisher played an immaculate final round of 65 to hold off a charging Padraig Harrington in the final round of the 3 Irish Open in Killarney.  A clutch par putt on 17 meant Ross could enjoy his walk up the final hole with a two shot lead.  Fisher’s win also gets into the magic 9 for Monty’s European Ryder Cup and sets him up nicely for a crack at the WGC and USPGA events over the next two weeks.

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