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Defending Rory McIlroy's soccer: 'It's not the end of the world. No one's after dying'
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Should Rory McIlroy have been playing soccer two weeks before the British Open? Why not, Ireland's Shane Lowry argues in this story by Brian Keogh of the Irish Golf Desk. "I mean, he's only 25 or 26. It's a case of, 'let's go out for a kickaround'; 'yeah, no problem'. People think because you're good at something you should just do that and focus on that, but that's not what life is about. Obviously his career's after suffering now because of it, but it's not the end of the world. No one's after dying."
McIlroy at St. Andrews last year (Getty Images)
Justin Rose is the defending champion in this week's Scottish Open and a former U.S. Open champion who is looking at the next five years to burnish his record and possibly enter the rarefied air occupied by countryman Nick Faldo. "I see no reason why I can't now draw a line and have a good five-year period at The Open," he told Derek Lawrenson of the Daily Mail. "I still haven't given up on edging past Sir Nick Faldo to be England's finest, but I'm aware I have to get a move on," he said.
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"It's awfully presumptive of anyone to start questioning the game plan of only the sixth player in history to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year," Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle writes in this story on Jordan Spieth and his decision to play the John Deere Classic in advance of the British Open. "I'm not sure Craig Wood, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods had a lot of people criticizing their strategic tactics. Frankly, there are only three players alive who can relate to what Spieth is going through right now -- Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods."
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Michelle Wie is the defending champion of the U.S. Women's Open this week, but "based on her LPGA Tour performance this season, Wie might receive attention more for her prodigious drives and her unique putting style - bending from the waist at a 90-degree angle with her head directly over the ball - than having an excellent chance to repeat," Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer News writes.