Steve Stricker Hole In One Captured by Robotic Cameraman!

Check this out.  The camerawork suggests the lights were on but nobody was home as Steve Stricker got his hole in one on the sixth during non-union hours.

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Man Misses Fairway and Gets Shot. Seems Fair Enough

Here’s a story I picked up from the wires this morning about a guy from Nevada called Jeff Fleming who went berserk with a shotgun after a stray drive broke a window in his house.  Irate Fleming, 53, shot at the pair he suspected on the 16th hole, hitting the man who hit his house. The golfer was not seriously injured; he was treated for minor pellet wounds to an arm and both legs.

According to neighbours “it’s not unusual for balls to strike the houses that line the fairways” at Lakeridge Golf Course.  All the homes were evacuated after the shooting, after Fleming could not be found. He was later arrested at his attorney’s office, where he surrendered. He was released early yesterday after posting $40,000 bail.

 

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How To Enter The Great North Links Challenge 2012

The annual GREAT NORTH LINKS CHALLENGE which takes place from October 3-5^th sees teams of four compete in Ballyliffin, Royal Portrush and Portstewart Strand with individual and team prizes.

Entry is only €175 per person, a snip for three of the top links courses in the country. Book by calling: +353 (0)74 9376119 or email info@ballyliffingolfclub.com.

Click here to download the entry form

Course Threatens Castration On Naughty Male Members. Ladies Not So Concerned

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ProQuip Not Planning A Sun Mountain Raingear Repeat At Medinah

When Stewart Cink felt a dribble running down his leg at Celtic Manor he knew something was wrong.  He was two up at the time!

What happened thereafter was a waterproofing disaster of epic proportions.  The Team USA raingear supplier Sun Mountain should have done some research into wet valleys.

Meanwhile Europe’s players were snug as a bug in their ProQuip gear, so much so that they again have employed them for Medinah.  And the guys at ProQuip are not taking any chances.  Among the 400 items of raingear being shipped on a pallet to Chicago, the European Team have 90 pairs of waterproof trousers, 60 full-zip jackets and 60 half-zip playing tops for players, caddies and hanger-onners,

Queue 100 degree scorchers for all three days!

 

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Sounds Like Love Hasn’t The Heart To Tell Air Jordan To Piss Off

Michael Jordan was a legend on the basketball court, of that their can be no doubt.  Now golf fans at Medinah are again going to be treated to the sight of the former Chicago Bull as a fully fledged Team USA hanger-onner, er…advisor.  Apparently the way Air Jordan drives a golf buggy and chugs on a Cuban inspires guys like Furyk and Stricker to great things.

Davis Love confirmed that Jordan was being measured up for a suit, but sounded less than psyched at the news.   "Michael's going to be hanging around with Fred [Couples] probably a lot and be an influence," Love said.

  Hang on there Davis, “hanging around”?  Do you mean “hanging around” like a bad smell or something else?

Love later elaborated on what Jordan can bring to the team.  “One of the neatest things I ever saw in the Ryder Cup was Michael riding in the golf cart with Tom Kite. He came out to watch Freddie and I play and I thought that was one of the coolest things.”

So there it is, he likes his driving!

 

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Ryder Cup Branding Gone Mental As Now Shafts Get The Treatment

Just when you think everything that can be possibly be logo’d as Team USA or Team Europe has been thought of, this latest one takes the biscuit. Now any player using True Temper shafts  (Dynamic Gold or Project X) can opt to have their reshafted in their team livery.

True Temper Sports in true “make a quick buck” marketing style are calling them “limited-edition shafts”. You can bet at least two things with this.

1. At most, only one player will opt to take out the perfectly good tuned shafts with which he makes a living week in week out, to replace them with a different shaft with a flag on it.  I’m thinking Poults. At best.

2. These limited edition shafts will be available all over the world.  The term limited will be used loosely, as in “the population of China is limited”.

 

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Van Pelt and Former Donegal (League) Star Almost Come To Blows Over All Ireland Tickets

What started out initially as an amicable conversation between Bo Van Pelt and legendary former Donegal League benchwarmer John Farren from Ballyliffin Golf Club quickly turned nasty after Farren revealed he couldn’t sort Van Pelt out for All Ireland Final tickets.

Bo Van Pelt is very proud of his Irish roots and the fact his first name means “cow” in the Gaelic language.  He’s also a huge fan of Gaelic Football and traces his ancestry back to the Van Pelts of Mayo who ruled the animal pelt business with an iron fist for centuries.  When Farren revealed he once wore the Donegal colours in a league match (though no actual proof of this exists), relations between the two quickly became icy.

“I’ll never forget watching Willie Joe Padden and his bloodied headband against the Dubs, and Padraig Brogan’s goal was the best ever”, Van Pelt said, adding “John O’Leary had no chance, he couldn’t even save it on the way back out”.

After Farren refused Van Pelt two of his allocation of 1,500 Hogan Stand Upper tickets, the big hitting American declared “It’s war bitch, it’s war, I know the County secretary anyway” before storming off.

European Tour Unveil Alternative to Golf Boy Ben Crane

Here’s US PGA star David Lynn at the KLM Open doing his Ben Crane impression as one quarter of the all new European Tour version of the Golf Boys.  Miguel Angel Jimenez in denim dungarees and a pitch fork is set to be unveiled next!

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Ian Poulter Has Gone All Custom Ferrari FF, Cobra Ferrari Driver, Curtains and Boots?

Where’s the nearest shopping mall car park to the Deutsche Bank? Coz that’s where you will find Ian Poulter with his new Ferrari tonight, impressing all his boy racer pals with his doughnuts and massive sub woofer. 

Poults recently joined hopping mad Gordon Ramsay as the owner of a new customized Ferrari FF.  And he has been to the Ferrari factory to make his jammer as unique as it gets.

 

  The whole Ferrari Poulter love-in is the result of a collaboration with Cobra Puma Golf in the design of the Ferrari Golf Collection Driver.  So if you if you can’t afford the quarter-million dollar price tag for a car, you can at least splash out a paltry $2,000 for the driver.

“Choosing the curtains was the hardest part” -Ian Poulter

The Ferrari red and black driver is really Cobra’s ZL with a spray job and some panel beating but when would that ever stop a Ferrari fan.  Poults was spotted on the range recently testing five of them; you just knew one was not going to be enough!

There’s also a Ferrari bag for company director’s wives which runs even more at $2,400. It’s made from the leather used in the Ferrari GT seats. Expect $120 polo shirts, $250 jackets and $600 shoes all with the Cobra/Puma/Ferrari livery next season too.

  It’s thought the whole arrangement comes as a result of Pumas sponsorship involvement with the Ferrari Formula 1 team and their head driver Fernando Alonso. Formula 1 is huge worldwide and the arrangement is set to have the tills ringing even louder.  After all Ferrari and Puma have worked successfully together before on a project. In 2009 the PUMA v1.815 i FG Ferrari i football boot was released.  It cost $350 and the limited edition of 815 pairs sold out immediately!

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Fowler and Mahan Out Of US Ryder Cup Team!

Davis Love the three hundred and thirty third must not have watched Rickie Fowler in the singles at Celtic Manor because he bypassed him and the WGC Accenture Matchplay champion Hunter Mahan for this years USA team.

Love went instead for Jim “five hour” Furyk, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson and Brandt Snedeker as his picks.  Despite having more Ryder Cup losses (15) than Johnson and Snedeker have had matches, Jim Furyk got the nod.  It’s thought the likelyhood of matches being completed in under 5 hours swung it in his favour.

Snedeker snuck in with his a runner-up at The Barclays and a sixth-place at The Deutsche Bank.

European Team Captain Jose Maria Olazabal was unavailable for comment today.  Apparently he decided to throw a massive impromptu party for some strange reason after hearing the US Team news.

 

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2012 BMW Championship- PGA Tour Playoffs Free Golf Betting Preview and Tips

Crooked Stick GC • Carmel,IN

Field: Top 70 FedExCup Pts. Standings •

Purse: $8,000,000 •Winning Share: $1,440,000 •Yards: 7,316

also check out my 2012 KLM Dutch Open Tips on the European Tour here

Dustin Johnson 14/1

Great strides are being made by big DJ recently.  I’m going to reinvest my winnings from his tied fourth at last week’s Deutsche Bank into him again this week at Crooked Stick.  That’s a third and a fourth so far in the playoffs for Dustin and he won the BMW Championship two years ago when held at Cog Hill.  Already a winner this year at the St Jude Classic and looking primed for Ryder Cup action.

 

Adam Scott 20/1

Scotty followed a pretty non descript performance at the Barclays with an excellent tied seventh last week powering home in 66 blows.  It has been a year of close shaves for Scott whose performances I believe have deserved better. Talks of an implosion at The Open were harsh in my view and what better way to hit back at your critics than to grab a big win here.

 

Sergio Garcia 20/1

Sergio returns from a week off (chasing Daniela Hantuchkova’s tail at the US Open tennis) and it will be interesting to see if he can keep his current run of form going.  He wanted to rest before the run-in to the Ryder Cup this year and maybe that’s wise considering his near exhaustion by the time the final day singles came around in his last few appearances. Happy memories of his Wyndham win and third at The Barclays should put him right in the hunt again this week.

 

Jeff Overton 70/1

For me Overton was the USA’s man of the matches at Celtic Manor and he comes off a big reversal of form from The Barclays to notch a tied seventh at last weeks Deutsche Bank.  That may have been only Jeff’s third top-10 of the season but with this event coming to his home state of Indiana this week, he may just be inspired to great things from great odds of 70/1.

 

Kevin Stadler  90/1

My long odds shot this week is Kevin Stadler.  The junior walrus has tied for tenth in both playoff events so far and look for odds of around 9/1 for him to finish in the top-10 again this week.  A best this season of fourth at the RBC Heritage.

 

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2012 KLM Dutch Open Free Golf Betting Preview and Tips

also check out my 2012 BMW Championship Tips on the PGA Playoffs here

Simon Dyson 28/1

It has been a season to forget so far for Simon Dyson with only one top 10 coming on the links at Portrush. However I saw an improvement last week in the Alps and am excited to see how he performs this week. Nobody knows this course better than Dyson, he is a three time champion at the venue with his first win coming in 2006. In 2009 he shot a final round 63 to get into a playoff and win and last year shot a closing 66 to pip David Lynn by a shot.

Romain Wattel 40/1

I recall a while back during Lee Westwood’s 50 twitter updates a day period him saying to watch out for this kid Romain Wattel. The young Frenchman this week clocks up his 50^th Tour appearance and is definitely one to watch. Tied for third at Gleneagles, then tied for second last week in Crans. That’s four top 10’s for the season to date, surely a breakthrough victory cannot be far off.

David Lynn 36/1

But for a slack opening round of 73 last week in Switzerland Lynn would have finished much higher than his tied 11^th. His last and only Tour win came here back in 2004 when he beat Richard Green and Paul McGinley to the title. Lynn is bidding for his tenth consecutive par or better finish this week with recent bests of fourth in France and second at the US PGA Championship sure to be boosting his confidence. Second here last here to Dyson.

Joost Luiten 40/1

The home favourite this week. Luiten made waves during the first round of the US PGA Championship holding an early lead before finishing in 21^st. Followed a three week break with a return in Switzerland last week where his 27^th place finish included a third round 63. Tied for sixth last year after struggling to a 73 on the opening day in front of a large home gallery. He would dearly love to win this one.

Best Of The Rest

Ross Fisher 40/1 is another former Ryder Cupper who will be watching this staging on the TV. He remains one of my favourite players and is a former winner at this venue. Ross won in 2007 beating home favourite Joost Luiten and has had two top-10’s since including last year. His form of late has been erratic but four consecutive top-10’s in June suggest he still has the game to contend.
Jamie Donaldson 36/1 shot four rounds in the 60’s and yet another top 10 last week means he cannot get off this page. The Irish Open winner and PGA Championship sensation has a best of tied fifth here in 2009 and remains one of the favourites. Jose Manuel Lara has mixed the good with the very ugly during his season but he has shown a liking for Hilversum over the last two years. Tied for sixth last year and tied fourth in 2010. A horse for the course maybe but his recent form is poor, hence the generous odds of 60/1.

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Five Comfortable Golf Shoes For 2013

Gone are the days of “breaking in” golf shoes and the need to rub Vaseline into the heels or carry some blisters patches in your golf bag “just in case”. These new releases are all about comfort from the minute you try them on. Here’s what I think.

Adidas Puremotion Follows the "barefoot" craze that everyone is raving about at the moment. Designed to position the feet closer to the ground and has a wide, web-shaped forefoot provides space for the toes to spread out, for added stability when crushing those 300 yard drives. It’s also waterproof, kind of vital in these parts.
Footjoy Contour Casual Footjoy would have a huge market share in the shoe but this ranks as one of its more radical offerings. This is souped up lightweight street runner with premium leather, a waterproof warranty and a rubber sole instead of cleats for wearing on and off the course.
Callaway XTreme Is it XTreme because it’s extremely boring to look at? This one has a snazzy "Comfort Tech Gel Tongue" an OrthoLite molded insole and special "PINS" spikes to make bogeys more comfortable than ever. It’s waterproof too.
Puma Neo Classic ProType Fans of Puma’s classic soccer boot will absolutely love this Neo Classic, it’s a dead ringer. Puma says it’s full of comfort technology but it’s abviously a football boot with spikes. And we like it!
Ecco Street Luxe Yet another Priest’s shoe from Ecco’s design department I’m afraid. Rubber spikes mean it can be worn on the course and while saying Mass. Comfortable though during long sermons.

Technorati Tags: 2013 Golf Shoe Review

What’s In The Bag 2012 Rory McIlroy at Deutsche Bank

Here’s what’s in the bag of the World Number 1 Rory McIlroy after his win at the Deutsche Bank Championship. (Graphic coming soon)

DRIVER: Titleist 913D3 (8.5°) with a (Mitsubishi Diamana Prototype 70X), C•2 SureFit Tour setting
FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist 913FD (13.5°, 18°) with Fujikura ZCom Pro 95 shafts
IRONS: Titleist 712MB (3-9) with Project X 7.0 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design (46°, 54°, 60°) with Project X 6.5 shafts
PUTTER: Titleist Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS prototype
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Video Rory Getting His New 913FD Fairways Fitted in Boston


Rory’s previous bag here

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Rory McIlroy Uses Prototype Titleist Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS Camico To Win Deutsche Bank

Here’s some great close ups of Rory McIlroy’s putter created for him by Scotty Cameron in his Titleist shop last year. It’s a Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport GSS Prototype with a chromatic bronze finish.  Rors first used it in the lead up to his US Open win at Congressional last year and had previously gamed a  Newport Fastback.  The toe flow of the Newport GSS style suits Rory’s putting stroke as developed with coach Dave Stockton. 

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Video: Not Even Minor Speedwobble Can Knock Rory McIlroy Off Course To $10

Congrats to Rory McIlroy who won the Deutsche Bank on Labor Day cementing his position as the best player in the World.
It didnt take long for Rory to erasing a three-shot deficit to Louis Oosthuizen- just five holes.  It wasn’t all plain sailing either as one chunked tee shot that travelled just 170 yards proved, but even that didn’t derail him as putt after six foot putt hit the back of the hole to limit any potential damage.
"I had a couple of wobbles coming in, but I obviously did enough and I'm very excited to get a victory," McIlroy said.
It’s arguably one of McIlroy’s greatest wins with top names such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Dustin Johnson in close attendance down the stretch.
McIlroy now is a three time PGA Tour winner this year, has a gap at the top of the World Rankings, is No. 1 in the FedEx Cup and right now looks nailed on for PGA TOUR Player of the Year.
Tiger Woods himself passed a milestone in finishing third, he became the first golfer ever to pass $100 million in PGA TOUR earnings.

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Rory McIlroy Turns His Back On Caroline To Focus On Golf

Brilliant screenshot of Rory and Caroline from the Deutsche Bank.  Caroline is actually sitting on the tee box but Rors, ever the professional gets on with business!

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Video: Charl Schwartzel Epic Putting Fail

If you had money on Charl Schwartzel at the Deutsche Bank you may want to look away now.

 

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If Gil Hanse Is A “Cock” Maybe He Shouldn’t Design Olympic 2016 Course

Gil Hanse oversaw the changes to the 18th green at TPC Boston, and by all the accounts I hear from the pros, royally messed it up.

So much so that Luke Donald called him a “cock” in a tweet.

 

Could I make a little suggestion given the current predicament? Maybe it’s best for someone to double check the Olympic Course plans before the diggers move in?  Jack, Arnie, Nick, Pete……whosever available.

Jungle Bird Man Unavailable For Deutsche Bank. Prior Booking In Ireland

Great to see James Dudley aka Jungle Bird making a comeback at the Notre Dame versus Navy game at The Aviva Stadium in Dublin yesterday.  Here he is in action.

 

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