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The Loop

Missing links: Bubba Watson's inspiration tour, and Royal Portrush in limbo

May 12, 2014

Stories of interest you might have missed…

Bubba Watson's second Masters victory inspired him to inspire others. He revisited some of his old haunts — schools he attended in his hometown of Bagdad, Fla., among them — this time with his green jacket in tow, with the goal of inspiring youth. Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle has the story.

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(Getty Images photo)

The European Tour came under fire for continuing the Madeira Islands Open in the wake of caddie Iain McGregor's death from a heart attack on the ninth fairway on Sunday. However, his employer, Alastair Forsyth defended the decision in this story by Phil Casey of the Press Association.

The Royal & Ancient seems to be downplaying the possibility that of taking the British Open to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Golf course architect Tripp Davis has come up with an interesting concept for creating more interest in golf. His Old Mine Proving Grounds on Cedar Creek Lake in the East Texas is a 14-acre practice facility with nine playable greens. "The driving range is 40 yards wide and up to 400 yards long," Mark Kazlowski writes in the Dallas Morning News. "Nine greens ring the range. There are no set tee boxes, giving players the option of where to tee off from when playing the short course, which will be open when the range is closed and vice versa."

John Huggan, a Scot and a Golf World contributor, is not happy with how some, including those in the USGA, have "decided to jettison long-established and perfectly sensible terminology," he writes in the Scotsman. One example: Hole locations replacing pin positions.