What an interesting week in the wonderful world of golf, eh?
Bunker Rake: Rory opposes dental work, Euros oppose anchors
In case you were too busy to watch golf over the weekend, here is a rundown of the important stories you may have missed.
Stuart Franklin
Golfers are quitting golf tournaments all willy-nilly, anchored putters are still under the microscope and we have yet another first-time winner on the PGA Tour. Let’s take a closer look at this week’s action.
Rory took his ball and went home -- In what was the most interesting golf story of the week (which is kind of sad, if you think about it) Rory McIlroy withdrew from The Honda Classic during his second round. His reasoning? A sore wisdom tooth prevented him from concentrating on the course, which obviously lead to a flurry of bogies.
A few thoughts:
1) There wasn’t a worse decision Rory could have made on Friday than withdrawing from the tournament because he was playing poorly. Actually, I take that back. The only thing that could have been worse would have been if Rory punched his caddie in the face, threw his golf clubs in a lake and stole Rickie Fowler’s dirt bike from the parking lot. Rory wasn’t injured, he wasn’t sick and he certainly wasn’t too “bothered” by his tooth to play the first round.
2) Everyone knows Rory was lying, especially since his agent didn’t even know what caused his client’s early departure. Agents know everything, folks. Don’t believe anything to the contrary. If Rory was in a bad case mentally -- which is what he immediately said to reporters before leaving -- then so be it. But don’t come back with a shitty excuse of a wisdom tooth.
3) Rory is now digging a deeper hole by choosing to “come clean” about the incident on Tuesday (which, of course, further proves his tooth wasn’t the real issue). What good could possibly come out of this press conference? Just stop talking about it, Rory. Take a page from your friend Tiger’s book and just focus on the golf tournament. Stop throwing fuel onto the media’s flame. We’ll get over it.
Meanwhile, Michael Thompson wins the Honda Classic -- It’s always nice to see a first-time winner on any professional tour. Thompson’s two-shot victory over Geoff Ogilvy was both refreshing and a testament to the immense young talent on the PGA Tour these days.
What’s better than winning your first PGA Tour title? Winning the tournament in which you finished dead-freakin’-last the year before. Baller.
European Tour just started a putter Holy War-- The lines in the sand have been drawn, folks, and this anchored putting stroke business is about to get ugly.
Just days following the PGA Tour’s decision to oppose the USGA and R&A’s proposed ban, the European Tour announces they are supporting the proposal. Now we’ve got the two biggest professional golf associations at either side of the spectrum on this issue with neither side willing to budge. Things become even more confusing when you consider the players who share dual-membership among the tours.
This molehill has officially been turned into a mountain.
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