Quick thinking TaylorMade designers have managed to come up a new number cap to commemorate Sergio Garcia’s back nine in the first round of the WGC Cadillac Championship. It’s believed Sergio will wear the cap for the rest of the season.
High ranking cardinals from Rome have been dispatched by private jet to Florida today to investigate claims of a Jesus sighting during the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral.
According to Papal envoy Cardinal Francesco Totti “All claims of seeing the Son of God must be investigated thoroughly. Especially with the strength of the euro currency against the dollar and the abundance of strip clubs in the greater Miami area. Pope Benedict needs 400 Marlboro Lights too, not the long ones, so it all ties in nicely”.
The sighting in question was reported by a cameraman operating from a crane high above the Blue Monster Course where the tournament is being played. Al “Jumbo” Trontowsky, 48, recounted the events leading up to his seeing the young Nazarene carpenter and one third of the Holy Trinity; “I had the camera trained on Dustin Johnson’s caddie kneading something in his pocket because that’s what the network likes me to do, when I got a message in my ear from the producer telling me to film Johnson’s drive. After the ball was hit it was obvious it was headed straight for me. I felt a cold chill and saw my life flash before my eyes, then a bearded man, about 32 years old with an unkempt brown beard, with kind eyes and outstretched arms beckoning me towards him. Then I blacked out.”
Vatican officials are expected to interview Trontowsky later today. “I’m looking forward to chatting to Mr Jumbo” said Cardinal Totti adding “this could solve everything. Jesus disappeared a mere one thousand nine hundred and eighty odd years ago, still a young man, albeit with minor injuries. We’ve always maintained he is out there somewhere and this could just be the lead we are after to gain the Catholic Church some respectability.”
In a completely unrelated incident former US Open Champion Lucas Glover was arrested near the course yesterday after he tried to scale a security fence and gain entry to the property. Glover dressed in a white robe and sandals, yelled Psalms as he was lead away.
Here’s designer Gil Hanse’s design for golf’s Olympic comeback in Rio 2016. The course design is layered onto a google maps type aerial photo on the site.
Here’s Dustin Johnson at the 18th tee in the WGC Cadillac at TPC Blue Monster. His drive misses the aerial cameraman on the crane by inches!
Top European Tour referee John Paramor took swift and decisive action last night, after walking his dogs and watching Barcelona, to strip Rory McIlroy of the point he won against Maria Sharapova. The controversial point was played out at the BNP Paribas International Showdown event at Madison Square Gardens on Monday night.
A vodka fuelled viewer from Sharapova’s home country of Russia emailed the European Tour after viewing the video on youtube, claiming that McIlroy’s first serve did not land inside the service line according to the International Tennis Federation rules, the world governing body on the game. Yevgany Bollockov, 46, pointed out that notwithstanding a clear foot fault, McIlroy’s underarm serve that landed near the baseline appeared to go unnoticed by respected Chair Umpire Carlos Bernardes.
Paramor has been quick to respond, stripping McIlory of the point two days later and ordering that it be replayed as a “second serve”. Furthermore Paramor issued a public warning to the Ulsterman for time wasting and not being attired according to Section 7-3 of the ITF code.
It is thought McIlroy will return to New York tonight after the first round of the WGC Cadillac Championship being staged in Florida to replay the point against Sharapova behind closed doors.
Ger Gilroy and Dave McIntyre grill me on my failure to make them a bucket of money last week from my tips and we talk about betting at the 2012 WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral. Also on the podcast is Karl McGinty on Rory McIlroy and Gary Murphy’s tips and a profile of Killeen Castle. My Tips start at 25 minutes in.
Tiger Woods had seven wins, Rory McIlroy (at 22 years and 10 months) has three so far but the all-time under-23 winner was Horton Smith, who won 14 PGA Tour events before his 23rd birthday in 1931.
Smith, nicknamed The Joplin Ghost turned pro at 18 and was the first man to win The Masters at Augusta in 1934. He won it again in 1936.
Smith’s wins before age 23
PGA Tour
Bubba Watson: Ping G20. The 8.5-degree club has, "Made Exclusively for Bubba," written on the crown. It measures 44.5 inches and includes a pink True Temper Grafalloy Bi-Matrix shaft and Ping 703 Gold grips.
Kyle Stanley: Titleist 910D3 (8.5°) with a Mitsubishi Diamana Kali 70X shaft.
European Tour
Alvaro Quiros: Callaway RAZR Fit 9.5 (actually 8.3), Grafalloy Blue Shaft X flex. 45.5"
Nicolas Colsaerts: Driver Callaway RAZR Fit 9.5° - Shaft Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 8.1 - X Flex
London— 
A survey of 100 five to seven year old children conducted at a primary school in London yesterday concluded that new World number one golfer Rory McIlroy has “funny hair”. A whopping 79% of the children described the young Northern Irishman’s thatch as being “kinda weird for a golfer”. Spokesperson for the children Melissa Snotworthy, 6, said “Rory McIlroy wears a hat like Fireman Sam and the postman who calls in to give mammy a special hug every morning when daddy is gone to work.”
The teacher in charge of the classic Ms Sarah Granger, 27, say she “probably would, but would want the light off”, when asked about McIlroy.
In reaching the top of the world rankings McIlroy is not the first golfer to look a bit funny without his hat. In a similar survey carried out in the USA in 2006, kids voted overwhelmingly that Tiger Woods had “mental fringe and a huge forehead”. McIlroy does however become the hairiest golfer ever to top the rankings beating the 1986 Bernhard Langer mullet by a mere 2,000 follicles. No bald golfer has ever been number in the world although many experts argue that both Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods had slight bald patches during their reign.
The forgotten man at the Honda Classic was 43 year old Tom Gillis who found himself sandwiched between Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Gillis who has had more wrist injuries than Rory has had birthdays appeared to be using (dont laugh) graphite shafts.
After a bit of digging I found that are indeed GAT grpahite iron shafts made by Graphite Design. For Gillis, the shafts ease the feel of impact on the wrists whilst performing like a steel shaft. Here are the GAT 115 iron specs:
GAT 115 Iron-
Kick Point: MID
Trajectory: MID
Ball Spin: LOW/MID
Swing Speed (All Flexes Range): 85-116+
Shaft Description: GAT 15 shafts maintain the overall weight and balance provided by steel shafts in irons. These shafts provide the similar trajectory as the most popular steel shafts used by better players and professional golfers.
Technology: MSI/GAT
Caroline Wozniacki invites Rory McIlroy down from the crowd to play a point against Maria Sharapova at Madison Square Gardens.
It’s nearly green jacket time and Charl Schwartzel is enjoying a welcome return to form just in time. Added another tied fifth at the Honda to his fifth at the Volvo Golf Champions event in Fancourt back in January. His ball striking will be rewarded on some of the easiest greens on Tour this week. Solo second here in 2010 but don’t mention last year to Charl, he bombed out on the Saturday. 
week and said it helped with his release. A final round of 62 on the tough Champions course last week showed that he’s getting to grips with his game again. Tied for tenth last year whilst struggling with his swing but won in Doral three years straight from 2005 to 2007, two of those coming before the event got WGC status. ![hunter mahan funny[3]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4L0U1fThUVQ/T1Sv_FPDAzI/AAAAAAAAH04/6BJF_uAbJGs/s1600-h/hunter%252520mahan%252520funny%25255B3%25255D%25255B4%25255D.jpg "hunter mahan funny[3]")
Rested and rejuvenated, the latest WGC winner will be itching to get back into competition this week. Gamed the new Ping Nome in the desert and expect to see him drain more putts this week. His ninth place finish here last year probably doesn’t reflect the performance, he lead after two rounds 
Great to see DJ returning to form after his surgery over the Winter. Top fives at his course Pebble Beach and at tough Riviera and a good run in the desert leave him primed for a tilt at the title this week. Dustin might feel The Blue Monster owes him one after finishing second last year two shots behind Nick Watney. Here’s Rory on the range in Killarney at 300 frames per second.
Make sure you check out the golf channel’s new documentary series “Down The Stretch” where the leaders are mic’d up from dawn to dusk on final round Sunday. Yesterday Rory McIlroy got the treatment on his way to winning the Honda Classic. The show air in the US tonight at 11pm Eastern Time. I will post a link or a torrent here if one becomes available.
Rory McIlroy assumed the world number one crown with a stunning win at the Honda Classic. Here are the highlights from the final round.
Here’s what I know about the mystery man teeing it up with Rory McIlroy in the final round of the 2012 Honda Classic.
Rory McIlroy leads by two heading into the final round of the 2012 Honda Classic. Here are the Third Round Highlights from the PGA Tour.
