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McDowell and his handling of a no-kilt wind

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:34:00 GMT

The conditions were more conducive to sailing or kiting than golf, unless a golfer hails from Northern Ireland and cut his teeth on the seaside links of Royal Portrush, learning to work its trademark winds.

The RBC Heritage provided Graeme McDowell with a touch of home on Sunday -- winds gusting upwards of 40 miles per hour and consistently blowing in the 20s at Harbour Town Golf Links, hard by Calibogue Sound in Hilton Head, S.C.

Photo by Getty Images

McDowell accordingly equaled the low round of the day, his one of just three 69s, sending him to a playoff with Webb Simpson that he won with a par on the first extra hole for his first official victory in the States since he won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2010.

Better than any wind gauge was how CBS' David Feherty chose to describe the wind. "One of the traditions here at the Heritage are the gentlemen who wear the kilts," he said. "It's not a great day to wear a kilt. The spectators might need therapy for months."

Provided they weren't blinded by the sight, they saw the kind of golf atypical for the PGA Tour, a winning score that doesn't reach double digits under par. It helped reinforce the benefit of Harbour Town's place on the PGA Tour schedule, a challenging but popular course that attracts a decent field and usually delivers an entertaining show that assists in alleviating the Masters hangover.

It helps as well that RBC stepped in as the title sponsor last year to save a tournament on the brink of folding. RBC, which also is the title sponsor of the Canadian Open, has a strong international field of players on its endorsement team, assuring representative fields in its tournaments.

McDowell is among them, as are Ernie Els, Brandt Snedeker, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk, all of whom played. On Tuesday during an RBC function, McDowell learned from Furyk the key to playing the Heritage: "Just hang around and hang around," he said. "You're never out of this tournament."

McDowell, who had played the Heritage only once before, was especially effective at hanging around on Sunday, notwithstanding the havoc created by the wind. He played without a bogey until missing the green on the final hole and failing to save par, providing an opening for Simpson.

Two former U.S. Open champions in contention made for a good show that was ratcheted up a notch by the windy conditions. "It's a hard game," CBS' Gary McCord said. "This wind just kind of makes it really hard. But these guys are paid well. They get everything for free. They're having a ball playing golf. Let's watch 'em struggle."

Most of them did; McDowell was the only player among the top five to have fewer than three bogeys on his card (and hence, we submit, the pronunciation of the body of water by which the Heritage is played -- cal-a-bogey).

It was a testament to McDowell's ability to play in the wind, even the kind that strongly encourages leaving the kilts at home.

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Efficiency experts

Derek Evers — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:54:00 GMT

By E. Michael Johnson It happens virtually every week: Reports from PGA Tour reps, ads from manufacturers and tweets from golfers all offering claims that tour players are seeing significant distance gains. How is...

The Grind: Tiger "Swooshes up," DJ dresses down, & Bay Hill picks

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:46:00 GMT

By Alex Myers

Notice how Lindsey's Under Armour logo is tough to see? Very smart, Nike...

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we nominate Tiger Woods as the best company man of all time.

Is there ever a situation in which he's not wearing Nike? If "Suit up" is a popular cry for men changing into dress clothes (Thank you, Neil Patrick Harris), then "Swoosh up" may as well be Tiger's fashion motto. His new photos with girlfriend Lindsey Vonn? Nike. When he goes to a sporting event? Nike. Even in this grainy pic of him at a Las Vegas night club, Woods is wearing one of his Sunday red golf shirts. We wouldn't be surprised if the suits he wears to the Ryder Cup gala are hand stitched by Phil Knight himself. Hey, whatever makes him happy. And apparently, Vonn, despite the fact that she's sponsored by Under Armour, makes him happy as well. Or maybe he just hasn't noticed that yet. . . In any matter, here's what else we've noticed:

WE'RE BUYING

Kevin Streelman. March Madness may officially start this week, but we've already had our first major upset, as Streelman picked up his first PGA Tour title in his 153rd start. How bad were things for this journeyman? Well, from the pictures, it appears he resorted to taking a pair of Phil Mickelson's pinstripe pants.

Stacy Lewis. The new No. 1 in women's golf didn't just pick up another title, but she won after overcoming a two-stroke penalty that stemmed from a TV viewer phoning in to inform officials that her caddie had tested sand in a bunker on Saturday. Lewis thanked the person for calling in because she said it served as extra motivation. Is she from the same planet as the rest of us?

Related: Golf's Power Couples

Jordan Spieth. He's 19 and in the last two weeks he's finished T-2 and T-7 in PGA Tour events. Enough said.

Tiger and Lindsey. OK, so the whole going public on Facebook with staged photos was a little cheesy, but good for them for making it official. Maybe more than anything, a solid relationship is what Tiger needed to really get back on track. As long as he can control his competitive spirit from racing Vonn down the slopes, of course. . .

WE'RE SELLING

Innisbrook. I was disappointed when I played the resort's Copperhead Course this past summer, but I blamed that on being dumb enough to take a golf trip to Florida in late July. However, I was almost as disappointed when I watched some of the world's best players take on the track in prime conditions. PGA Tour players seem to really like this course, but other than the snake statue that marks the start of the closing three holes dubbed the "Snake Pit," I didn't find anything about it very memorable.

Related: Golf's #FirstWorldProblems

Big names. With a watered-down field, several of the game's top players were in perfect shape to pick up a PGA Tour title heading into the weekend. But by Sunday afternoon, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Jason Dufner and others had let that opportunity slip away. The result was Kevin Streelman having to track down Boo Weekley, who had posted a 63 more than three hours before. Not exactly what NBC had hoped for.

Malaria. Poor Natalie Gulbis.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour concludes its Florida Swing at Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, aka one of those tournaments that Tiger always wins.

Random tournament fact: Woods' emphatic hat throw upon sinking the winning putt here in 2008 was the best cap spike in Florida since Steve Spurrier and his often-abused visor coached the Gators.

WEEKLY YAHOO! FANTASY LINEUP

Starters -- (A-List): Sergio Garcia. Garcia has six top 10s in 11 tries here. Psst. That guy we have on the bench, though, has seven wins here and has won both times this year we've put him on our bench. . .

(B-List): Jim Furyk. The Grinder is still having problems on Sundays, but he's playing fairly well in 2013 (coming off a T-7 in Tampa) and has three straight top 11s at Bay Hill.

(B-List): Webb Simpson. The Wake Forest product hasn't had much success at this Wake Forest legend's event, but we think that's due to change. He's also due for a win with six top 20s in eight starts so far in 2013.

(C-List): Ian Poulter. It's tough to pass on Poulter while he remains eligible as a C-List play -- especially when he finished third here last year.

Bench -- Tiger Woods (PLAY HIM), Justin Rose, Kevin Na and Ryan Moore.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

-- Lindsey Vonn will come onto the 18th green to congratulate Tiger if he wins: 10-to-1 odds

-- Arnold Palmer will be spotted drinking an Arnold Palmer from the Bay Hill clubhouse: Even odds

-- The Arnold Palmer that Arnold Palmer is drinking will be delicious: LOCK

CELEBRITY/ATHLETE WE'D LIKE TO PLAY GOLF WITH

Steve Carell. The last three movies I've seen are Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and. . . The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Let's just say only one of these was not, um, incredible. Carell was brilliant as the clueless boss Michael Scott on the Office for seven years, but no one has had a more hit (Crazy, Stupid, Love, The 40-year-old Virgin) or miss (Evan Almighty, Date Night) run of late when it comes to movies. His latest venture falls in the latter category. Steve, let's hit the links and talk. I'm not sure your agent knows what he's doing. Ohhh, you got paid as much as $15 MILLION to be in that? Never mind. . .

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

I've been getting some complaints about my pictures (mainly of Paulina Gretzky) demonstrating some sort of gender bias, so I'm going to try to be fair here. Just check out Dustin Johnson enjoying a trip to Cabo. This guy must workout. Looking go--, sorry, I can't do this. Paulina! I miss you! Below is what the photo looked like before I cropped it:

Ahhh, much better. By the way, colleague Stina Sternberg raised a great question recently: do Paulina and DJ have someone follow them around just to take pictures? If so, where do I apply for the job?

FREE MARCH MADNESS ADVICE

It's that time of year for me to enter way too many NCAA pools and burn way too much money. Yay! But since I did correctly pick Kentucky to win it all last year (Who didn't? They had an NBA team), a lot of people have been asking for my Final Four picks. And by a lot of people, I mean my mom and my grandma. But here they are: Florida, Louisville, Indiana and Wisconsin. In the finals, I have the protege, Billy Donovan, topping the mentor, Rick Pitino. In other words, you should probably stay away from the Gators and Cardinals. Speaking of gators. . .

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

This is an old video, but considering it happened on a Tampa golf course, it seems appropriate. Oh yeah, it's always an appropriate time to watch awesome footage of two alligators wrestling:

THIS AND THAT

What's the good news about a guy falling down an 18-foot sinkhole in a fairway? It got Dave Shedloski to write this fantastic piece on the course. . . . Tiger Woods had a funny new commercial come out. Take a wild guess what company it was for. . . . My college buddy Jim lives in Austin, Tex., and recorded his first hole-in-one over the weekend in 80-degree weather. Congrats, Jim, but yes, I'm extremely jealous. Not only do I not have an ace, but it's still SNOWING here in the Northeast.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Why do salads taste so much better when they're chopped?

Will I ever have a hole-in-one?

Will Golf Digest's headquarters ever move to a warmer location?

-- Alex Myers is a contributing editor for GolfDigest.com. Feel free to email him and please follow him on Twitter since he has self-esteem issues.

McIlroy joins a list of other odd withdrawals

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:40:00 GMT

By Alex Myers

Rory McIlroy withdrew from the Honda Classic on Friday, citing "severe wisdom tooth pain." He might be the first World No. 1 to use that excuse, but he's certainly not the first notable golfer to bow out of a tournament in unusual fashion. Here's a rundown of some other recent, um, interesting reasons for failing to complete an event:

Sergio Garcia, 1999 St. Jude Classic -- Before "El Nino's" famous closed-eyes shot from behind a tree at the PGA Championship later that year, the 19-year-old needed surgery to remove an abscess above his left eye. Unfortunately, that happened the Thursday of the annual tournament in Memphis, forcing Garcia to withdraw before hitting a shot. The reason for the abscess? An outbreak of acne, according to his manager. So basically, Sergio was just a typical teen with pimple problems.

Tiger Woods hasn't had the best track record at TPC Sawgrass. (Getty Images)

Jim Furyk, 2006 Barclays -- Furyk withdrew before the start of the tournament with a bad shoulder. The catch? He injured it while brushing his teeth. Yeah. . . we're pretty sure he took a good ribbing from his fellow tour pros when he returned after that. Funny enough, Furyk had a freak disqualification from this same event -- when it was part of the PGA Tour's playoffs -- four years later when he overslept for the Wednesday pro-am. Incredibly, he bounced back to win the Tour Championshp and claim the FedEx Cup.

Tiger Woods, 2010 Players Championship -- In his third start since returning from his scandal at the end of 2009, Woods played decently at TPC Sawgrass until abruptly pulling out on the seventh hole of the final round. In recent years, Woods' WDs have become more common -- he withdrew at the 2011 Players also -- but for his various leg injuries. In this case, Woods cited neck pain. The 14-time major champion returned a month later for the Memorial, and hasn't seemed to have a problem with his neck since. Of course, nothing seemed to go right for Tiger that year. He had just two top 10s, didn't qualify for the Tour Championship for the first time, and couldn't even win his annual hit-and-giggle event at Sherwood when Graeme McDowell stunned him in a playoff.

Phil Mickelson, 2012 Memorial -- Lefty withdrew following a first-round 79 due to "mental fatigue." However, it later came out that he was protesting the PGA Tour's new policy of allowing fans to bring cell phones on the course. Specifically, Mickelson wasn't pleased about fans using their phones to take pictures while he played. Either tournament marshals have gotten better at controlling fans with phones or Phil has become less camera shy because he hasn't had a major issue with the policy since.

John Daly, pick a tournament -- The master of the WD, Daly has made a bad habit of taking a sponsor's exemption -- and sometimes an appearance fee -- and then walking off the course before the weekend. His best reason had to be when he withdrew from the 2012 Singapore Open due to fatigue. But his best flameout exit occurred at the 2011 Australian Open. After making a triple bogey to fall to seven-over par in the first round, he hit seven shots into a pond on the 11th hole before shaking hands with playing partners Hunter Mahan and Craig Parry and walking off. What got him to finally stop? As he later said on Twitter, "when u run out of balls, u run out of balls."

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WGC Match Play: Ian Poulter continues his match-play dominance

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:50:00 GMT

By Alex Myers

Here's a look at what transpired on Friday at Dove Mountain and what we can look forward to on Saturday:

Revelation of the day -- Ian Poulter is a match-play god:
Does this guy EVER lose in this format? The Ryder Cup hero's only PGA Tour win came at this event in 2010. That means that somehow he was beaten in each of the last two years, but we wouldn't bet against him. While this format makes predicting a winner even harder than usual, the Englishman has emerged as the clear favorite heading into the weekend.

"Nice try, Bo. Who's next?" (Photo: Getty Images)

"That's soooo match play" moment of the day -- Bubba Watson and Jim Furyk: The match looked all but over when Watson, 1 up, stuck his approach on No. 18 to about three feet. But Furyk answered with a great shot of his own and when "the Grinder" made his putt and Watson missed, the two went to extra holes. Watson wound up winning on the 22nd hole, but only after putting himself through some unnecessary stress.

Weirdest Day -- Rickie Fowler and Francesco Molinari:
Thanks to late tee times and a rare snow storm, these guys both managed to make it to Day 3 of the event without winning a single match. They showed up to the course on Friday to play a combined six holes before bowing out, but we don't feel too badly for them. The $46,000 for simply competing in the tournament is a nice parting gift.

Shot of the Day -- Scott Piercy:
The 34-year-old holed his approach from 228 yards on the fifth hole to go 4 up in his match against the 2011 champ, Luke Donald. Piercy didn't stop, shooting six under on the front nine and winning 7 and 6 -- the most lopsided victory of the tournament. There's a scientific term for what the former No. 1 player in the world ran into: a buzzsaw.

Saturday's sneaky-good best match of the day -- Matt Kuchar vs. Nicolas Colsaerts:
The long-hitting Belgium became a household name during the Ryder Cup when he made eight birdies and an eagle on his own ball in a match against Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood. He'll need to showcase some of that firepower vs. Kuchar, who has an 11-3 record in this event and has been ousted by the eventual champ in each of the past two years.

Saturday's best chance for an international incident -- Hunter Mahan vs. Martin Kaymer:
It seems impossible for Mahan to look at his German opponent and not begrudge him for sinking the putt that won Europe the Ryder Cup this past fall. If Kaymer really wanted to get under Mahan's skin -- and that might be a good idea considering he's won eight straight matches in this event -- he'd show up to the first tee decked out in Ryder Cup gear.

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The 10 Biggest Equipment Stories of 2012

Mike Stachura and Mike Johnson — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

From a miraculous wedge shot to the ban of the anchored style of putting, equipment was very much part of the conversation this year.

Golf Lessons of 2012

Peter Morrice and Alex Myers — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Fifteen lessons from the game's highest level in 2012 that can help your game.

Golf World's 2012 Newsmakers of The Year

GolfDigest.com — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:00:00 GMT

Taking stock of 2012 by counting down the year's 25 biggest headliners.

Rosaforte: Gainey a true rags-to-riches story

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 23:52:00 GMT

By Tim Rosaforte

Tommy Gainey Sr.--the original Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey--had to excuse himself and step outside. There was so much noise inside Bishopville CC in South Carolina on Sunday night that he couldn't hear. Up on a TV screen, his son, Tommy Jr., had just won the McGladrey Classic with a final-round 60 to beat three potential Hall of Famers: Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and David Toms. It was an open bar.

"I'm telling you right now I'm the proudest papa in the world," Gainey said. "Tommy is such a good boy and for somebody to come from a small town like Bishopville, be a little unorthodox, never went to college and win on the PGA Tour? How hard do you think that is?"

Photo by Getty Images

When he was a boy, Tommy and his brother Allen would come to Bishopville CC in their bare feet and hit shag balls while their father played in his two gloves. Working in the factories as a material planner for 41 years, Mr. Gainey didn't have enough money to buy his sons two sets of clubs, so they shared.

"I knew the talent Tommy had," his dad said. "He had a special talent ever since he started playing. What I'm so proud of, even though this year hasn't been great to him, is that somehow or another, he can find a 60 inside him last day of a tournament. That is just remarkable."

What's remarkable is that Gainey started the day seven strokes back, or that he shot the lowest score on the PGA Tour in 2012, or that four years ago, at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, he shot a final-round 64 to finish solo second. It was his best finish on the PGA Tour until Sunday on St. Simons Island, Ga., but he didn't earn enough money to keep his card. The man that beat him that day was Davis Love III.

That was the Tommy Gainey that Tommy Gainey saw on the mini-tours, or on the Golf Channel's Big Break, when he learned to play in front of the cameras.

"It's tough being a daddy to start with," Gainey Sr. said. "But buddy to have a boy 37 years old out there, never been taught anything about golf, and he beats some of the world's best players, I feel so doggone good it almost hurts."

What hurts so good is that this won't change Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. During the two-and-a-half-hour wait between when Gainey posted his 60 and Furyk, Tommy Sr. and Tommy Jr. talked on the phone. When Toms hit a drive, Tommy Jr. could hear Tommy Sr. rooting it into a fairway bunker.

"He said, 'Dad, you can't pull against these guys," Gainey Sr. said. "I said, 'Tommy, those three guys they have everything, they're Hall of Famers."

When it was over, Tommy Sr. headed back to his house in Bishopville so his wife, Judy, could punch the clock for the graveyard shift at the wood plant. He took early retirement when he was 57 but now, at 65, he does consulting work for A.O. Smith, the factory where Tommy Jr. worked as a teenager wrapping insulation around water heaters for $8.25 an hour.

That was on the mind of Tommy Sr., and in the conversation with his son on the range at Sea Island Resort, as he hits balls waiting to see what Toms, Love and Furyk would do.

"I told him he better hurry up and get home," Gainey Sr. said. "You've got a $2,000 bar bill at the club."

Tim Rosaforte is a Golf World senior writer and Golf Channel's Tour Insider.

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Furyk: 'Another swing he would like to have back'

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 22:34:00 GMT

By John Strege

A good swing need not be identified by its beauty, as the winner of the McGladrey Classic demonstrated on Sunday. Tommy Gainey has an unsightly motion they don't teach at golf school.

"Everything about his golf swing is different," Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee said.

All the same, it features the hallmark of any good swing: Its ability to replicate itself with the consistency of a copy machine.

Photo by Getty Images

Jim Furyk has one of those, too, an eyesore of a swing, homemade, but effective enough to have assembled a Hall of Fame career, at least by induction standards that have been re-defined by Fred Couples' 15 victories, one major.

Furyk's numbers are 16 and one, a record achieved by his clubhead inexplicably following an identical circuitous route through to impact, "kind of like going from Philadelphia to New York by the way of Pittsburgh," the late Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote.

The problem now is that it gets lost en route to New York, at least late in the game, as it did again on Sunday. Furyk again had a chance to win, trailing by a stroke with three holes to play on the Seaside Course at Sea Island, Ga. He played them in one-over par and missed the green left off the tee at 17 and right from the fairway at 18.

"Another swing in 2012 that he would like to have back," Chamblee said after his errant delivery at 17.

The year can't end soon enough for Furyk, who has not experienced another like it in a PGA Tour career that spans 19 years. He once won tournaments in six straight years and nine of 10, but 2012 has produced only a series of disappointments that are at odds with his renown as a ruthless competitor. A recap shows four 54-hole leads (or a share of the lead, as was the case at the McGladrey) squandered on Sunday this year, including one at the U.S. Open.

Then there was the Ryder Cup debacle, when he was one-up on Sergio Garcia with two to play in Sunday singles, finished with consecutive bogeys and lost.

There is an upside to his year. It's almost over. Then there's this: Though 42, he has retained the ability to compete with the best players in the world (his eight top 10s ranked him tied for sixth on the PGA Tour.

The issue is beating them.

A swing that inexplicably made him a star has inexplicably begun to desert him when he has needed it most.

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