Kuchar could smile his way to U.S. Open title

Kuchar could smile his way to U.S. Open title












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Matt Kuchar finds himself in the conversation on the best players who haven't won a major.(Getty Images)

PGA.COM June 12, 2013 7:31 PM


By Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. - He was the smiling kid with his dad on the bag in his first U.S. Open, eager to be himself and not the guy he was following.

Matt Kuchar never expected to be the next Tiger Woods, mostly because even then he knew it wasn't possible. Winning the U.S. Amateur a year after Woods recorded his third straight amateur title got him into the 1998 Open, but it would be a long time before the two were in the same conversation again.

"I was never thinking because I won the amateur the year after Tiger that I was the next Tiger Woods,"Kuchar said. "That was never something that I thought about or thought I was going to follow the same path as Tiger. I knew I had a different path that was for me."

That path was rocky at times, but Kuchar never lost faith in his talent. He rebuilt his swing, found his way back on the PGA Tour after a brief hiccup, and started contending in tournaments.

Now he's in another conversation this week at Merion Golf Club. He's joined a select few as perhaps the best player who hasn't won a major championship.

"I don't know that I'm quite in that talk yet," Kuchar said Wednesday. "I know that a lot of people have been yelling out that they have got me in their pools and they're picking me this week. But we hear a lot of that talk every week."

Perhaps Kuchar should start listening more. Coming off a win two weeks ago at the Memorial - where his young son got a high five from host Jack Nicklaus when Kuchar won - he's high on a lot of lists as a possible winner at this Open.

That he's not shying away from the talk says something about how confident he is about his game.

"I feel like I'm playing some good golf," Kuchar said. "I'm looking to continue to play good golf. Certainly a major championship, a U.S. Open, is one I'm geared up for. I'm looking forward to competing and trying to put my name on this trophy."


Kuchar was still an amateur when he played his first U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco in 1998. His father - who drew some criticism for his exuberance - was carrying his bag and on Sunday it was both Father's Day and the golfer's 20th birthday

Fans sang Happy Birthday to him and yelled "Happy Father's Day" to his father as they walked to tees, but the real highlight was a 14th place finish. It paid no money but showed Kuchar that he could compete with players a level above him.

Three years later he was a regular on the PGA Tour, making $500,000 in his rookie year. The next year he won the Honda Classic, giving him a two-year exemption on tour and marking him as one of the rising stars of the game.

Then it all started to fall apart. Kuchar began missing cuts with regularity, finally ending up in golf's minor leagues - what was then the Nationwide Tour - while he retooled his game and tried to find a swing that worked as well as the swings of players who were on the big circuit.

"I think that out here there was a definite learning curve on the PGA Tour of just being comfortable standing on the range, hitting balls next to Ernie Els or Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson and not just being in awe," `Kuchar said. "And trying to say, `Well, I can't hit it like that, what do I need to do to hit it like that?'''

He was a tennis player who took up golf when his mother upgraded their membership at a country club as a Christmas present. Playing better was never an issue since he quickly became one of the top - and finally THE top - amateur in the country.

Coming back on tour in 2007 he played well enough to keep his card, though barely. The next year he won $1.5 million, and the next year cracked the top 25.

Kuchar has already won twice this year, at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and the Memorial, his sixth career win. He's moved to No. 4 in the world golf rankings, and hasn't missed a cut all year while averaging 69.84 strokes a round.

He's a ball striker who rarely makes mistakes, and a putter who excels on fast greens, a combination that has oddsmakers and fans lining the fairways at Merion thinking he has a good shot to win his first major this week.

"I think (the) great thing about the game of golf is there's no clear-cut favorites," Kuchar said.

From Hogan to Daly, five great 1-iron shots

From Hogan to Daly, five great 1-iron shots











PGA.COM June 12, 2013 7:35 PM

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The Ben Hogan plaque in the 18th fairway at Merionhas been a must-see destination for the players at …


By Doug Ferguson, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. - On a quiet day and on a relatively empty course for practice rounds, just about every player at Merion stops at the plaque in the 18th fairway that commemorates Ben Hogan hitting 1-iron into the 18th green in the 1950 U.S. Open.

To see such a landmark in golf history, players are inspired to try to duplicate the shot. But this is no longer an option.

Good luck finding a player who even carries a 1-iron. And the shot Hogan hit, which the USGA estimates to be 213 yards, is no longer a 1-iron. Graeme McDowell hit a 3-hybrid, conceding that Hogan would probably roll in his grave.

There was a time when several players carried the club known as the ''butter knife.'' Finding memorable shots in the U.S. Open is not that easy.

Here are five shots with the 1-iron that stand out:

5. JOHN DALY REACHES THE UNREACHABLE PAR 5

The legend of the 17th hole at Baltusrol was that no one could reach the 630-yard hole in two shots. Baltusrol had not seen the likes of John Daly in the 1993 U.S. Open.

Fans and volunteers kept telling Daly they wanted to see him reach the green in two, though that could only happen if Daly hit his tee shot in the fairway. He finally managed in the second round on Friday.

Daly blasted his tee shot, leaving him about 287 yards up the hill. He smashed his 1-iron - Daly didn't carry a 3-wood back then - and the ball landed in the thick rough between a pair of bunkers, bounced a couple of times and rolled across the green.

''I swung as hard as I could,'' Daly said.

He shot 68 that day, though he would not be a factor the rest of the week. No matter. Daly desperately wanted to prove he could reach the 17th in two, and he said he told his caddie, ''We may not play good, but at least we'll make history.''

4. JACK NICKLAUS AT BALTUSROL

Jack Nicklaus was leading Arnold Palmer going to the par-5 18th at Baltusrol in the 1967 U.S. Open, but more was at stake than beating Palmer again in the U.S. Open. Nicklaus needed a birdie on the last hole to break Ben Hogan's U.S. Open scoring record of 276 in 1948.

It didn't start out very well.

Nicklaus pulled his tee shot into thick rough and had to pitch back out to the fairway. That left him 238 yards away from a thin lie in the fairway, up the hill to the green. He chose a 1-iron, and the shot was so true that Nicklaus took a couple of steps toward the hole when he hit it.

The crowd told him the rest. The ball settled just over 20 feet from the hole, and Nicklaus made the putt for a closing 65 and a four-shot win over Palmer.

3. JACK NICKLAUS AT PEBBLE BEACH


If not for the famous photo of Ben Hogan at Merion, what Jack Nicklaus did in 1972 at Pebble Beach might be the most memorable 1-iron struck in U.S. Open history.

Because it struck the flag.

Nicklaus was never out of the lead after every round that week at Pebble, and in the tough wind off the Monterey Peninsula, his 72 in the third round gave him the outright lead. He was comfortably ahead going to the par-3 17th, though it was no picnic. The wind was ripping hard into his face. Nicklaus pulled out his 1-iron and would have been content to be in the front bunker.

Here's where the shot is even more amazing - Nicklaus had to make an adjustment in the middle of his swing because he felt the club slight off line.

It struck the flag, and Nicklaus went on to a 74 for a three-shot win and his third U.S. Open title.

''The shot I performed, I don't think I could ever do again,'' he said later.

2. BEN HOGAN AT MERION

Sixteen months after the car accident that nearly killed him, Ben Hogan was on the cusp of an amazing comeback. He was in control of the final round in the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion. He was two shots ahead when he three-putted the 15th for a bogey, and then found a bunker off the tee on the par-3 17th and failed to save par.

Suddenly, he was tied for the lead with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio, who already had finished the final round. He would need a par on the tough 18th just to join them. The final day was 36 holes, and Hogan hit such a good drive in the morning third round that he needed only a 6-iron. But with his legs battered and swollen on his 36th hole of the day, his tee shot couldn't catch the slope of the hill, leaving him about 213 yards.

He was between a 4-wood and a 1-iron, and he went with the 1-iron.

Hogan reached the green, about 40 feet away, and two-putted for par to get into the playoff. He won the next day.

What makes the shot so famous was Hy Peskin, a photographer for Life magazine, who positioned himself behind Hogan and captured the iconic pose.

''I knew as I shot it, I had something really terrific,'' Peskin later told Golf Digest.

1. IRON BYRON WINS HIS ONLY U.S. OPEN

The record shows Byron Nelson winning his only U.S. Open in 1939 at Philadelphia Country Club after two 18-hole playoffs. Denny Shute was eliminated after the first 18, and Nelson shot 70 in the second playoff to beat Craig Wood by three shots.

There are no photos of the most significant shot. The occasion wasn't as heroic as when Hogan won across town at Merion 11 years later.

But there is no denying the quality of Lord Byron's shot.

He took the lead in the second playoff with a birdie on the third hole. On the par-4 fourth, Nelson had 215 yards and hit a 1-iron that went into the cup for an eagle. Just like that, he had a big lead and was on his way to victory.

Five Questions Heading into the U.S. Open at Merion

Five Questions Heading into the U.S. Open at Merion











Travis Mewhirter June 12, 2013 8:22 PM




COMMENTARY | It's finally here: the U.S. Open, the second major, golf's supposedly toughest test of the year, and it's back at Merion, the place where Ben Hogan hit the most famous 1-iron of all time and where Lee Trevino once outdueled Jack.

There's nostalgia, the ubiquitous "will Tiger ever catch Jack?" storylines, a hot Matt Kuchar, a struggling Rory McIlroy, and a pretty little -- still currently underwater -- course less than 7,000 yards long about to challenge one of the most elite fields in golf, and, of course, plenty of questions coming in. My top five:
1. Happy anniversary Tiger?

When it comes to majors, Tiger will always be the first question until he surpasses Nicklaus. Exactly five years ago, Woods was playing Torrey Pines on one leg while the other was quietly suffering an ACL tear. And he won, beating a short-hitting chatterbox named Rocco Mediate in an 18-hole playoff. What a poetic narrative this would be for Woods to end his half-decade major drought, once thought to be a preposterous stretch for the world's No. 1 pre-fire hydrant.

Merion doesn't set up quite as well for Tiger as Torrey or Pebble Beach, where he won in 2000 by 15 strokes, did. It's quirky, with monster par threes and a glut of short par fours -- a ball striker's heaven. Woods is better when he can uncork driver and float high-irons into the green while most of the field is left hitting middle irons. At Merion, the headcover may come unsheathed maybe two or three times per round, his low irons doing the majority of the work off the tee.

But, Woods has also won four times this season -- double that of anybody on Tour -- as many times he has ever won entering a U.S. Open. A fifth would be a happy anniversary indeed.
2. Merion or the field?

As mentioned above, this antique, wicker basket toting track just outside Philadelphia is quirky. It's playing 6,996 yards, the shortest since Shinnecock Hills in 2004 and Southern Hills in Tulsa three years before that. The optimal survival strategy for a course that short short is to play firm and fast, chasing balls into its shin-high rough and sending approaches bouncing off greens. That's exactly how Merion had been playing -- until this week. Five inches worth of rain has morphed it from Open-ready, firm and rigid like the USGA wanted, to a spongy, vulnerable, birdie-prone golf course, not much unlike any other tournament.

What the rain does provide, however, is even shaggier rough and the elimination of any roll off the tee, making the holes seem somewhat longer than what they actually are. Most expect a bird-a-thon, but Merion may be underestimated.

3. Can Adam Scott go two in a row?

It seems like forever ago when the Aussie used that long, sweeping, stroke of the belly putter to bury Angel Cabrera in a sudden-death playoff at Augusta for the Masters. It was Scott's first ever major and the fourth by a belly-putter wielder.

In a group made for TV, the No. 3 player in the world is paired in the opening two rounds with Woods, No. 1 in the world, and McIlroy, No. 2 in the world.

Two U.S. Open champs and Scott, who has never seriously contended at an Open. Maybe the Masters will be the impetus he needed.
4. Is it Kooch's time?

As I wrote last week, Matt Kuchar is the hottest name in golf right now -- but he's never won a major. Aside from Tiger, the smiling assassin is the only other player on Tour to have more than one win. Merion's short setup plays well for Kuchar, notorious for playing small ball off the tee, relying instead on steady ball striking to lead him to his Tour-leading 35 Top 10s since 2010.

Many count him out, saying he doesn't have Tiger's killer instinct or Rory's ethereal ability, but if there's one U.S. Open course where Kuchar can win, Merion is it.
5. Will we see 2011 Congressional dominating Rory, or 2013 struggling Nike Rory?

The Irishman's struggles have been well-documented this season. We haven't seen many shades reminiscent of the kid who blew past Congressional in 2011 for an Open-record 16 under or the one who would later win the 2012 PGA Championship by eight strokes, the same margin which he won his inaugural major.

As noted above, he's playing with Woods and Scott, good company to be in if a boost in concentration or motivation or whatever it is that he needs. McIlroy is traditionally solid in majors, aside from his meltdown at Augusta in 2011. Since 2009, the 24-year-old McIlroy has finished in the Top 10 six times, but was cut from last year's Open at Olympic.


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Travis Mewhirter has been working in the golf industry since 2007, when he was a bag room manager at Piney Branch Golf Club in Carroll County, Maryland, and has been involved, as a player, since 2004. Since then, he has worked at Hayfields Country Club, where the Constellation Energy Classic was formerly held, and has covered golf at the high school, college, and professional levels.

Course Source: Bali Hai Golf Club, The Resort at Squaw Creek

Course Source: Bali Hai Golf Club, The Resort at Squaw Creek










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange June 24, 2013 12:00 AMThe SportsXchange


IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Bali Hai Golf Club, Las Vegas

THE LAYOUT: From the well-appointed rooms at Mandalay Bay, the only championship course located right on the Las Vegas Strip is hard to miss, a lush tropical paradise in the middle of the desert that you can literally carry your clubs to.

Located on the South end of the Strip, Bali Hai Golf Club embodies the adult playground that is Las Vegas. From the South Pacific theme to the "ParMate" caddies available to shepherd golfers around the course, there is an undeniable upscale but laid-back vibe from the time you arrive at the Polynesian hut that doubles as the starter's shack.

Don't be mistaken, Bali Hai packs a very serious and thoroughly enjoyable golf experience.

The Lee Schmidt/Brian Curley-designed course opened in 2000 with seven acres of water features, white sand bunkers and thousands of palm trees, not to mention one-of-a-kind views of the strip as you traverse the beautiful layout.

At 6,601 yards (70.2/125) from the gold tees and 7,002 (73.0/130) from the tips, Bali Hai isn't dauntingly long on the scorecard. However, it's deceptive in that five of the par-4 holes play between 440 and 466 yards, and if the winds pick up as they're known to do, many holes are a long iron or hybrid away even following a corked drive.

Bottom line, Bali Hai is a unique luxury resort style experience. You can be wayward with your tee shot on most holes and still find grass, but multiple bunkers dot every hole, elevation changes make club selection important, and water comes significantly into play on eight holes.

GENERAL MANAGER: Butch Fogler

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: One of Bali Hai's best assets is the variety, as no two holes feel the same, and the par 3s are especially memorable. The 164-yard ninth is a true challenge if the pin is tucked on the left side, forcing a full carry over water, with sand over the back.

The 165-yard 11th often features a two-club headwind, and the 224-yard 14th is a bear despite playing downhill.

Like most courses, the par 5s are the scoring holes. The best designed is the 527-yard 15th. "Mandalea" is a dogleg left that is reachable in two and features one of the best views of the strip.

Forecaddies are complimentary, with a $50 per bag tip the norm. They're not necessary as long as you have a rangefinder or GPS -- it is a fairly straightforward resort course -- but local knowledge is handy on several of the more difficult par 4s.

With deep, hard white sand bunkers protecting virtually every green and several long irons required, potential blowup holes litter Bali Hai if you leave yourself short-sided in a head-high trap.

Don't be lulled to sleep by your first sweeping view of Mandalay Bay on the tee box at No. 8. At 464 yards, it's the second-longest par 4 on the course and is the No. 1 handicap hole despite playing downwind.

"Upaway" also serves its name justice, with the 458-yard par-4 13th playing back into the wind. It's a difficult hole for many average handicappers to reach in two.

Most will point to the par-3 16th as the signature hole, and it's hard to argue with the 123-yard island green with the restaurant as the backdrop. The hole also is featured in the popular "World Golf Tour" video game. But the truth is Bali Hai has several memorable holes, including the par-3 sixth, where we carded our first hole-in-one.

The back nine ratchets up the difficulty level with four of the most difficult holes lying in wait on the final third of the course, highlighted by a score-busting 1-2 punch to close.

The par-4 17th is aptly named "Ambush" and plays 456 yards from the gold tees. The ambush can come in the form of the wind, which can stretch this into a hole requiring two Nick Faldo-esque "career" shots for a birdie look. Most likely the third shot is with a wedge in your hand trying to navigate the tiered green to salvage a decent par putt.

Survive that and you're treated to arguably the best-designed hole on the course. The 18th, "Kuda Bay," plays 466 yards from the golds. Palm trees protect the left side, and a bunker 285 yards out on the right side is imminently reachable downhill and downwind, not to mention jail when having to carry all water to the green.

Even a straight drive leaves an approach shot into a small green surrounded 300 degrees by sand, which is in turn protected by water. Considering the typically hard and fast greens found in Vegas, anything more than a short iron is nearly impossible to hold the green, and we watched more than one group hack their way back and forth from sand to sand.

OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: Walters Golf has three outstanding and unique golf courses in Las Vegas. Royal Links is 10 miles from the strip and is a tribute to some of the most iconic links holes from around the world.

Desert Pines is a Dye-designed resort-style course also a short drive from the Strip.

Rees Jones designed a pair of gems, Rio Secco in Henderson and Cascata, about 30 minutes outside of the city featuring a 418-foot waterfall.

TPC Las Vegas has featured PGA and Champions Tour stops, while Las Vegas National is close to the strip and offers little trouble off the tee for golfers looking for a less stressful experience.

WHERE TO STAY: If you're in town for multiple rounds, stay at one of the hotels affiliated with Walters Golf, including Aria, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Luxor and the Stratosphere. Numerous stay-and-play packages are available, along with discounts for playing multiple Walters Golf courses and very good replay rates. The staff is very accommodating in arranging additional tee times at any of the three courses.


ON THE WEB: www.waltersgolf.com; www.balihaigolfclub.com



THE LAST RESORT: The Resort at Squaw Creek in Olympic Valley, Calif.

THE LAYOUT: Skiers have long carried the torch for Squaw Valley, and golfers can do the same.

Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, has been a world-class ski resort since visionary developer Alex Cushing built the first chairlift there in the 1950s, and Squaw Creek has made this revered site a world-class golf destination.

In fact, there are days in the spring when you can ski and play golf at Squaw Valley, where twin Olympic torches still burn at the entrance.

Squaw Valley was the site of the first "Miracle on Ice," when the United States shocked the favored Soviet Union and Canadian teams to win the Olympic ice hockey gold medal in 1960 behind the goaltending of Jack McCartan.

The Olympic Ice Arena where Carol Heiss also won a gold medal in figure skating, an indoor-outdoor facility that was open to the public for years after, is gone.

However, recreational skiers still schuss down KT-22, where 19-year-old Penny Pitou became an American hero by winning silver medals in the downhill and the giant slalom.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. had only 80 acres to work with for the golf course, but he created a par-71, 6,931-yard masterpiece through a meadow in the Squaw Valley basin with five majestic Sierra peaks as a backdrop.

The result was a course with several mountain holes and others with a distinct links feel.

DIRECTOR OF GOLF AND SKIING: Eric Veraguth

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Utilizing the terrain rather than reshaping it, Jones Jr. created a classic target-golf layout on which water comes into play on 11 holes. Because he had limited terrain to work with, Jones sculpted the fairways in the shape of an hourglass, opening in the driving area at about 150 yards from the green.

The first six holes and Nos. 12 and 13 at Squaw Creek hug the mountain at the base of 7,750-foot Snow King, and the rest of the course winds through the environmentally protected meadow that is traversed by cross-country skiers during the winter.

You know this is a different golfing experience when you play the first two holes, strong par 4s, around the Squaw Creek chairlift, which whisks resort guests to the top of the Red Dog ski run to start their day during ski season.

The 406-yard first hole plays up the hill through the trees, and the 430-yard second goes right back down the hill to the resort. Your tee shot on the second should be to the right of a large pine tree on a plateau in the fairway, but beware of the elevation change on the approach.

The fifth and sixth holes still have the influence of the mountain on the left but serve as a transition to the meadow.

Squaw Valley opens up to the golfer, with 8,900-foot Squaw Peak a sentinel in the distance, on the tee of the 386-yard par-4 fifth hole, while the 210-yard par-3 sixth presents a challenging and spectacular tee shot into the prevailing wind over a large lake.

The 513-yard par-5 13th plays downhill to a fairway that slopes from left to right and back up to a two-tiered green that sits on the highest point of the Squaw Creek course, with a panoramic view of the valley and a glimpse of 9,050-foot Granite Chief.

The last three holes give Squaw Creek a finish to remember.

The 204-yard par-3 16th is all carry across the wetlands to what amounts to an island green, while the 429-yard par-4 17th is the No. 2 handicap hole and No. 18 is a par 4 from the back tee that measures 484 yards -- with a huge lake to contend with on the length of the hole. The lake comes into play on the tee shot and again on the approach if you are on the right side of a narrow fairway, with wetlands down the left side. Three traps guard the green, including one in the bailout area on the left.

OTHER COURSES IN THE AREA: Also on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe are the Championship Course at Incline Village, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., and its sister, the Mountain Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Northstar-at-Tahoe offers a unique Robert Muir Graves layout, with two completely different nines -- the front through a wide-open meadow and the back through narrow chutes of trees over meandering creeks to postage-stamp greens.

On Tahoe's South Shore are the elegant Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, site of the 1985 U.S. Senior Open, the 1980 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and the annual American Century Celebrity Classic, and the 9-hole Bijou Municipal Course, which has spectacular views of the lake and Heavenly Valley Ski Resort.

The area is the site of two sporty muni-type courses, the executive layout at Tahoe Paradise Golf Course in South Lake Tahoe and the nine-hole Tahoe City Golf Course.

WHERE TO STAY: The Resort at Squaw Creek is an all-season, world-class resort located a short drive from Lake Tahoe in the majestic Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California.

Squaw Creek offers guests a shopping promenade, four restaurants, extensive meeting and special event facilities, a full-service spa, a complete health and fitness center, and Mountain Buddies -- a comprehensive children's program.

Also within Squaw Valley are the Olympic Village Inn, Red Wolf Lodge, Squaw Valley Lodge, the Village at Squaw Valley, the Christy Inn and numerous condominium properties.

Nearby are the River Ranch Lodge near Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, the Mayfield House, the Tahoe City Inn, the Pepper Tree Inn in Tahoe City, the Tahoe Marina Lodge in Tahoe City and the Inn at Truckee.

ON THE WEB: www.squawcreek.com

Inside the Ropes: No rest for Rose after U.S. Open victory

Inside the Ropes: No rest for Rose after U.S. Open victory










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange June 24, 2013 12:00 AMThe SportsXchange


Justin Rose could have taken a vacation after winning the U.S. Open, and no one would have blamed him.

However, he kept his commitment to play last week in theTravelers Championship, and he also will be in the field this week for the AT&T National at Congressional, a tournament he won in 2010 at Aronimink near Philadelphia.

And the 32-year-old Englishman never thought of doing anything else.

"The way I set up my preparation for the U.S. Open, I set it up as a three-week run, mentally just trying to stay fresh for three weeks," said Rose, who finished in a very respectable tie for 13th in the Travelers.

"The way I prepared for the U.S. Open (this year), only getting there Tuesday night was intentional to play well at the U.S. Open, but I knew I was also playing two tournaments on the back end of the U.S. Open as well.

"So the whole thought process has been a three-week run, so I figured I won't interrupt that."

Another reason Rose didn't change his plans is because this is a stretch of the PGA Tour schedule during which he made his bones in 2010, when he showed he could play at the highest level on the best tour in the world.

Rose claimed the European Tour's 2007 Order of Merit, or money title, when he captured the Volvo Masters, which was the final event of the season at the time.

Filled with confidence, he headed for the PGA Tour, but it took awhile to establish himself in the U.S.


In 2010, he didn't qualify for the U.S. Open, but instead of letting it get him down, he won the Memorial Tournament and the AT&T National a few weeks apart for his first two victories on the PGA Tour.

"I think 2010 was a turning point in my career," said Rose, who could have made it three consecutive victories had he not coughed up a lead in the Travelers in between those two wins. "I had won golf tournaments around the world, but I think not until I won on the PGA Tour did I start to really develop that depth of confidence.

"Winning the Memorial was a fantastic win, getting that monkey off my back. Every time I was in the States, I had to answer questions about this is your 120th start, or whatever it was, and you haven't won. So it was nice to get that out of the way.

"But I won the Memorial from chasing the pack, and then I actually came to Travelers and let a lead slip. ... Then I went to AT&T, built a big lead and closed it out, but only just."

Rose has talked about how becoming a major champion generally is a process, and that he wasn't finished with it yet.

Even though he admittedly should have won more often, he continued to take bigger steps, winning the 2011 BMW Championship during the PGA Tour playoffs and capturing the 2012 WGC-CadillacChampionship, the biggest victory of his career to that point.

"Again, the learning curve, another win under my belt, but not winning in the fashion that I was really, really proud of," he said of the AT&T National. "More learning experiences. Then my third win at Cog Hill, a playoff event, and another elevation stature of event. I won wire to wire there, and that was, again, more confidence.

"Then winning a World Golf Championship at Doral on Bermuda (grass). I had never played particularly well on Bermuda grass, never won on Bermuda. Again, another step forward for me. That's been my progression. That's where I've developed more of the confidence and the ability to get me to this point."

By winning at Merion, he became the first Englishman to claim the U.S. Open title since Tony Jacklin in 1970 at Hazeltine, and the first to capture a major crown since Nick Faldo at the 1996 Masters.

Rose burst onto the scene at the age of 17 by holing a wedge shot from the rough on the final hole of the1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale to finish as low amateur in a tie for fourth.

After turning pro a short time later, he missed the cut in his first 21 tournaments but never gave up, eventually joining Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter in something of a Fab Four in English golf.

Who would have figured that Rose would be the first to break through in a major?

"He had that audacious chip in at Birkdale when he was 17 and then witnessed the difficult time he had after turning pro and all the struggles that he had, and to fight through that takes a lot of courage, and what was shown was exactly that," Jacklin told BBC Radio.

"He's a good guy and he's good for the game, and he hopefully will open the door for more British players to give us some of the same."

With Rose knocking down that door, Donald, Westwood or Poulter might be next in three weeks at Muirfield.

Golf rankings, player capsules

Golf rankings, player capsules










Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange June 24, 2013 12:00 AMThe SportsXchange


The Sports Xchange's 2013 PGA Tour rankings, selected by TSX Golf Staff, based on 2012-2013 performance.



1. Tiger Woods, United States -- Even though he will be at Congressional as the tournament host this week for the AT&T National, Woods will be unable to play because of a strained left elbow. After grimacing several times in pain when hitting from the deep rough while finishing in a tie for 32nd in the U.S. Open at Merion, he consulted with doctors who advised him to take a few weeks off and undergo treatment, but Woods said he would be ready for the Open Championship in three weeks at Muirfield, Scotland. ... The injury comes at an inopportune time, because Tiger needs to get back on his game after struggling in his last two events, also tying for 65th in the Memorial Tournament, following four victories on the PGA Tour earlier this season. He said at Merion that he originally injured his elbow while winning the Players Championship last month, and added in the announcement of his withdrawal from the AT&T National that it was bothering him before the U.S. Open, where it worsened. ... Woods won the AT&T National twice in four appearances, in 2009 and last year, but this will be the third time that an injury forces him to miss the tournament that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. In fact, this is the sixth consecutive season that Woods has had to deal with an injury. The others were to his left leg (2008), right Achilles tendon (2009), neck (2010), left knee and Achilles (2001) and left Achilles (2012). The third major of the year at Muirfield is going to be difficult, but the health issues will make it even more problematic for Woods.



2. Justin Rose, England -- A week after claiming his first major title at the U.S. Open and enduring the obligatory media blitz in New York, Rose was somehow able to post three rounds in the 60s before closing with a 1-over-par 71 to tie for 13th in the Travelers Championship. Even though he missed his sixth top-10 finish of the season on the PGA Tour, he wound up in the top 25 for the ninth time and will be mentioned right behind Tiger Woods on the favorites' list for the Open Championship in three weeks at Muirfield. ... Despite going along with all the immediate demands put on a major champion after winning at Merion, Rose decided not to change his schedule and will play again this week in the AT&T National at Congressional. He won the tournament in 2010 at Aronimink, not far from Merion near Philadelphia, a month after claiming his first PGA Tour victory in the Memorial. Rosy played the middle rounds at Aronimink in 64-67 and closed with an even-par 70 to hold off Ryan Moore, who finished with a 65, by one stroke. The Englishman cemented his lead with a 4-wood approach to within four feet on the ninth hole to set up an eagle, and he parred the last seven holes. He tied for 15th in his title defense at Aronimink but has not played the tournament since. ... Rose might have run out of gas in the final round at TPC River Highlands, as he was at 2 under for eight holes in the final round but didn't make another birdie the rest of the way. After a sluggish start on Thursday, with three bogeys on the front nine, he rallied with five birdies to shoot 67 before going 68-68 in the middle rounds.



3. Matt Kuchar, United States -- Having played in 15 events this season on the PGA Tour, Kuchar has not committed to any of the next three tournaments on the circuit. He even passed on the Travelers Championship last week despite finishing in a tie for eighth last year at TPC River Highlands. However, he has committed to play next week for the first time in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National near Versailles on the European Tour. Matt could move on to the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open a week ahead of the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield, or simply take a golf vacation and play some of the great links courses before the second major of the year. ... Kooch was disappointed with his tie for 28th in the U.S. Open, especially since he was considered one of the favorites coming off his victory in the Memorial Tournament. Apparently, the tips he received from Jack Nicklaus about Merion and arriving early at the venue didn't help out much, and he remains among the best players without a major title heading to the Open Championship, in which he tied for ninth last year at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. ... Kuchar should be able to shake off his performance at Merion and continue his fine play this season, in which he is the only player on the PGA Tour other than Tiger Woods with more than one victory, also having captured the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship by beating Hunter Mahan in the final. He has six top-10 finishes and ranks second to Woods in the FedEx Cup standings.



4. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland -- The expectations for McIlroy for this season were sky high after he captured five tournaments around the globe in 2012 and took a firm hold on the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings. Although he has finished in the top 10 four times on the PGA Tour this season, including second in the Valero Texas Open, most of the focus has been on his inconsistent play after switching from Titleist to Nike equipment, the announcement coming in a splashy media conference in Abu Dhabi. ... Rory hopes that playing at home this week in the Irish Open at Carton House in Maynooth, County Kildare, might get him going in the right direction with the Open Championship at Muirfield only three weeks away. He is playing in his national open for the seventh time, with his best finish solo seventh in 2008 at Adare Manor, where he posted three rounds of 2-under-par 70 and finished four strokes behind winner Richard Finch of England. He also tied for 10th last year at Royal Portrush, where he closed with a 5-under-par 67. He made his first appearance in the Irish Open in 2005 at Carton House, where he shot 71-81--152 and missed the cut by four shots. ... McIlroy keeps insisting that it's the inconsistency in his swing, and not his new Nike clubs, that has caused his problems this season. After tying for 41st in the U.S. Open at Merion, he posted this note on Twitter: "Nice of @Barack Obama to mention me in his speech today in Belfast... But I think he should be helping me with my swing after last week. Haha."



5. Adam Scott, Australia -- Taking only one week off after his dismal tie for 45th in the U.S. Open at Merion, Scott will be back at work on the PGA Tour this week in the AT&T National. According to the schedule page at adamscott.com, that be his final appearance before the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland, where he will try to play more like the first Aussie to capture the Masters. ... Scotty will be playing in the AT&T National for the fourth time, and after shooting 72-76--148 to miss the cut by four strokes in 2007, he has been very much in the chase in his last two appearances. In 2011 at Aronimink near Philadelphia, he played the weekend in 66-68 to tie for third, four strokes behind champion Nick Watney. Last year at Congressional, Adam bounced back from an opening round of 4-over-par 75 with 67s in the second and final rounds to finish solo third, three shots behind winner Tiger Woods, the tournament host. ... Having claimed his first major title earlier this year should allow Scott to go back to the Open Championship at Muirfield in three weeks in a much better state of mind than he would have otherwise. He held a four-stroke lead with four strokes to play last year at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, but he carded bogeys on each of those finishing holes, allowing Ernie Els to steal the Claret Jug with a brilliant birdie on the final hole. Scott has been very close in the Grand Slam events in recent years, with eight top-25 finishes since 2011, so a second major title might not be far away.



6. Phil Mickelson, United States -- Even though Mickelson remains near the top of the game, at No. 6 in the World Golf Rankings, you could read on his face that he knows his time is running out to win the U.S. Open after he finished second for the sixth time at Merion. He turned 43 on the day of the final round, and while he certainly could win next year at Pinehurst on in the next few years, he's well aware of the fact that Hale Irwin was the oldest winner of the second major of the year at 45 when he claimed the title for the third time at Medinah in 1990. ... Lefty is on a two-week break from the PGA Tour before teeing it up next week in the Greenbrier Classic on the TPC Old White Course, where he missed the cut in his only two appearances the last two years. It will be the first of three consecutive weeks of competition, as he will play follow that by playing at Castle Stuart in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open for the 11th time, ahead of the Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland. He has four major titles, none in the Open Championship. ... Mickelson claims he is playing some of the best golf of his career, and with 47 total victories in his career, he already is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. However, he needs to win a few more majors so he won't wind up like Greg Norman, another great champion who unfortunately is remembered more for his numerous near-misses in the Grand Slam events.




7. Luke Donald, England -- Following a final-round meltdown in the U.S. Open at Merion, where Donald shot 42 on the front nine and 6-over-par 76 for the day, the schedule page at lukedonald.com indicates that he is taking two weeks off before playing in the Alstom Open de France at Le National near Versailles next week. It will be only his second appearance in the tournament, as he tied for 11th in 2010. This will be only his third tournament on the European Tour this year, not counting the ones that are listed by both major tours, and he missed the cut in the first two, the Maybank Malaysian Open and in his double title defense at the BMW PGA Championship. ... Even though he had such a rough go on the last day at Merion, he played some of his best golf of the season on the first three days, and his tie for eighth was his third top-10 result of the season on the PGA Tour. He has finished in the top 25 in his last six tournaments on the circuit, which means he is heating up for the second half of the season, with the Open Championship only three weeks off at Muirfield, Scotland. ... Donald, who held the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings for a total of 56 weeks over the last two years, was down to No. 7 last week. However, he holds the longest active streak of appearing in the top 10 at 147 weeks, and he could be ready to move back up if he can find the form that took him to three victories around the world last year, the final one coming at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan in November.



8. Brandt Snedeker, United States -- After taking a week off following his tie for 17th in the U.S. Open at Merion, Snedeker will be back the next two weeks for the AT&T National and the Greenbrier Classic. He has played 13 times on the PGA Tour this season and is still trying to find the game that took him to four finishes in the top three in the first six weeks of the season, including the fifth victory of his career at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. ... Sneds, who is taking medication for the series of rib injuries that have dogged him the last few years, is playing in the AT&T National for the fifth time and would love to pull off the AT&T double with a victory at Congressional to go with the one he claimed at Pebble Beach. His best result in the tournament was a tie for fifth in 2009, when he shot 68-67 on the weekend and wound up six strokes behind winner Tiger Woods, the tournament host. He also tied for eighth in 2007, opening with a 69 and closing with a 68, but wound up eight shots behind champion K.J. Choi. When the U.S. Open was played at Congressional two years ago, he tied for 11th. ... Even though he was disappointed not to play better at Merion, Snedeker said he enjoyed the course, but added that it might not be practical for the United States Golf Association to bring the tournament back to the classic course in Ardmore, Pa. He pointed out that with only 15,000 fans on the grounds each day and a limited number of corporate areas, the USGA lost millions of dollars and said the second major of the year has outgrown the intimate setting that everyone seemed to enjoy for one week.



9. Dustin Johnson, United States -- Johnson posted bookend rounds of 6-under-par 66 last week in the BMW International Open, but in between he was not as sharp on his way to a tie for 18th at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried in Munich, Germany. He equaled his finish in his only other appearance in the tournament, a tie for 18th two years ago, and hopefully picked up some momentum in the final round heading toward the Open Championship. ... DJ is not returning to the PGA Tour this week to play in the AT&T National for the third time, perhaps because he has not played well in the tournament, missing the cut in 2010 at Aronimink and tying for 44th last year at Congressional. He has not committed to any events on either of the two major tours before the Open Championship. When he played in the BMW International for the first time two years ago, that was his only start before he tied for second in the third major of the year at Royal St. George's, three strokes behind Darren Clarke. ... Johnson was in good shape last week in Munich after opening with 66-71, but he carded bogeys on two of his first four holes in the third round on his way to a 73 that dropped him down the leaderboard. He bounced back with six birdies and an eagle in the final round, but his best golf was a bogey-free 66 in the opening round. DJ would have finished in the top 10 if not for averaging 31.0 putts per round, including 33 in the second round.



10. Webb Simpson, United States -- Bouncing back after a disappointing title defense in the U.S. Open at Merion, Simpson posted bookend rounds of 5-under-par 65 to finish in a tie for fifth in the Travelers Championship. It was his fourth top-10 finish of the season on the PGA Tour, but the first since he lost to Graeme McDowell in a playoff at the RBC Heritage in April. The result should give him some momentum with the Open Championship at Muirfield only three weeks away. ... Webb is taking a week off, but he will make his 16th start this season on the PGA Tour when he plays in the Greenbrier Classic for the third time next week. After missing the cut three years ago in his first appearance at the resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., about a four-hour drive from his home in Charlotte, he has placed in the top 10 in each of the last two years on the TPC Old White Course. ... Simpson's run up the leaderboard on Sunday at TPC River Highlands came up three strokes short of the playoff in which Ken Duke beat Chris Stroud because he could manage only a 72 in the third round. His 65s were very similar, even though he started round one on the first hole and round four on the 10th, because he carded six birdies and one bogey each day, the bogey on the first hole each time. He also had a chance to go low on Friday, but he carded bogeys on the last two holes to shoot 69. Conversely, he was 4 over through 14 holes in the third round but put up birdies on the 15th and 16th holes to salvage that 72.



11. Keegan Bradley, United States -- One bad round, a 2-over-par 72 on Saturday, proved costly for Bradley, who played well the rest of the week and finish in a tie for 18th in the Travelers Championship. Still, he seemed to get his game back on track for the most part after missing the cut in three of his previous five tournaments, and he posted his ninth top-25 finish of the season on the PGA Tour. ... With Keegan having teed it up in 17 tournaments already this season on the PGA Tour, the schedule page at keeganbradley.com indicates he is going to make one more start before the Open Championship at Muirfield in three weeks. He has committed to play for the third time in the Greenbrier Classic on the TPC Old White Course next week, even though he has finished outside the top 40 in his first two appearances at the resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. ... Bradley did not card a single birdie in his third-round 72 last week at TPC River Highlands, one day after recording a bogey-free 65 that put him in a position to make a move on the weekend that didn't come. He also posted bookend 69s, making three birdies in the last three holes of the first round. However, he went in the opposite direction on Sunday, putting up three bogeys in a span of six holes through No. 17 after he started with three birdies in the first six holes. Bradley hit in the neighborhood of 70 percent of the fairways and greens, but he struggled with his belly putter, as he finished 70th among the 74 golfers who completed four rounds at minus-0.871 in strokes gained putting.



12. Lee Westwood, England -- Coming off a tie for 15th in the U.S. Open, Westwood had his best stuff only in the first and third rounds of the Travelers Championship, coming completely unglued when he shot 8-over-par 78 in the final round to finish 74th. That was dead last in the field among those golfers who played all four rounds at TPC River Highlands, to end a run in which his finish at the U.S. Open was the only time he was out of the top 10 in a span of six events (not counting a withdrawal from the Memorial). ... Even though the schedule page at leewestwood.com still lists his next tournament as the AT&T National this week at Congressional, his name was not on the final commitment list when it was released Friday evening. Instead, he will take a week off before teeing it up next week for the 10th time in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National near Versailles. That apparently will be his last appearance before the 142nd Open Championship in three weeks at Muirfield. ... As bad as Westwood was on Sunday at TPC River Highlands, carding five bogeys and three double bogeys, he rallied with his only three birdies in the last four holes to avoid shooting 80. His opening-round 67 was marred only by a double-bogey 6 on the third hole, where he four-putted from 41 feet. Westwood was 3 over through eight holes in round four, but he carded four birdies in a span of six holes through No. 17 to pull out a 69. He struggled with the putter, finishing 74th in the field in strokes gained putting at minus-2.400.



13. Steve Stricker, United States -- Back home in Wisconsin to ponder another missed opportunity to land his first major title in the U.S. Open at the age of 46, Stricker is taking three weeks off in his season of semi-retirement. He will return for his favorite event on the PGA Tour, the John Deere Classic, which he has played 11 times and won three years in a row, from 2009 through 2011. ... Strick has played only seven times this year on the circuit, and is planning for only 11, and there is no telling if that lack of competition caught up with him when he shot 6-over-par 76 in the final round at Merion and slid to a tie for eighth after being close to the lead most of the way. Even though he still plays at a very high level, Steve knows he is running out of time to capture one of the Grand Slam events, but he claims that he believes his career has been a success even if he never wins that elusive major title. ... Captain Fred Couples would love to have Stricker on his Presidents Cup team for the matches in October at Muirfield Village, and Stricker's four top-10 finishes this season have him at seventh in the United States standings, which would land him a spot. He also has said he might play in the PGA Tour playoffs if he has a chance to win the FedEx Cup, and as of last week he was 16th in the point standings, but he probably would have to be in the top 10 to give it a go. Stricker and Hunter Mahan are the only players to make all 24 starts since the playoffs began in 2007, and Strick is tied for the lead with 10 top-10 finishes.




14. Hunter Mahan, United States -- Continuing his strong play after tying for fourth in the U.S. Open, Mahan was one stroke behind Charley Hoffman after opening with a 9-under-par 62 in the first round of the Travelers Championship. However, he could not break the par of 70 the rest of the way at TPC River Highlands and wound up in a tie for 24th, but he still recorded his 11th top-25 finish of the season on the PGA Tour. ... Despite having 17 tournaments under his belt already this season, Hunter is playing again this week in the AT&T National, making his sixth appearance in the event. He has finished in the top 10 three times, all at Congressional, including second to tournament host Tiger Woods in 2009, despite closing with an 8-under-par 62. Mahan also tied for eighth in 2007, closing with a 65, and tied for eighth again last year, when he shot 65 in the second round. When the U.S. Open was played at Congressional two years ago, he shot 74-73--147 and missed the cut by one stroke. ... After recording eight birdies in his first round last week at the Travelers, Mahan could make only six more over the last 54 holes, two in each round. He stumbled on the back nine while closing with a 73, carding two bogeys and a double-bogey 6 on the 12th hole, where he drove well left into an unplayable lie. It took two more shots for him to reach the green, and he missed a six-foot putt for bogey. That came at the end of a tournament he opened with five birdies on the first eight holes to start his 62, which was his best score since the final round of the 2009 AT&T National.



15. Ernie Els, South Africa -- Els opened with a bogey-free, 9-under-par 63 last week in the BMW International Open and led virtually all the way, but he needed a two-putt birdie on the par-5 finishing hole to hold off Thomas Bjorn of Denmark by one stroke at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried in Munich, Germany. He recorded the 66th victory of his Hall of Fame career, but the first since he captured the Open Championship last July at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. ... The schedule page at ernieels.com does not list another tournament before the 142nd Open Championship at Murifield, Scotland, where Ernie will make a rare double defense. He captured the second major of the season a year ago with a birdie on the final hole at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, and he survived a four-man playoff to claim the Claret Jug the last time the third major of the year was played at Muirfield in 2002. Despite the schedule on his website, Els is on the commitment list for the Aberdeen Asset Scottish Open, which he won in 2000 and 2002 at Loch Lomond. The tournament now is played at Castle Stuart, a week before the Open Championship. ... Ernie scattered seven birdies across his scorecard in round one in Germany last week, threw in an eagle-3 on the sixth hole, and the 63 was his best round of the season on either of the major tours. Els followed with three consecutive scores of 69 and beat up the par-5 holes, playing them in 12 under par for the tournament, making birdie at No. 18 every day.



16. Bubba Watson, United States -- Seemingly on the way to his first victory since the Masters last year, Watson had a one-stroke lead thanks to four birdies in a span of six holes through No. l5 in the final round of the Travelers Championship, which he won in 2010 for his first PGA Tour victory. Then he hit his tee shot into the water on the 16th hole and carded a triple-bogey 6 en route to a closing even-par 70, and he wound up solo fourth. ... Bubba is taking a week off before playing next week in the Greenbrier Classic on the TPC Old White Course for the first time, which will be his 14th start of the season. He has not committed to any other events, either on the PGA Tour or the European Tour, so it appears the Greenbrier will be his final outing before the 142nd Open Championship in three weeks at Muirfield, Scotland. ... After a disappointing tie for 32nd in the U.S. Open, Watson opened with a brilliant 7-under-par 63 last week at TPC River Highlands, recording seven birdies and holing a six-foot putt for an eagle-2 on the drive-able 15th hole. He came back with a 67 the next day and seemed to be in total control of the tournament before he carded three bogeys in the last six holes to shoot 70 in round three, falling into a tie for the lead with Graham DeLaet and Charley Hoffman. The tournament still was Bubba's to lose down the stretch in the final round, and unfortunately, that's exactly what he did.



17. Graeme McDowell, Northern Ireland -- Following a corporate outing early last week at Liberty National, G-Mac flew home to Portrush and this week will play in the Irish Open at Carton House in County Kildare before moving on to the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National near Versailles. Then he will take a week off before trying to bounce back from missing the cut in the first two majors of the season when he plays in the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland. ... McDowell will tee it up in the Irish Open for the 12th time, but surprisingly never has finished in the top 10. His best result was a tie for 11th in 2004 at County Louth Golf Club, where he started with a 1-over-par 73 before bouncing back with rounds of 69-69-70. G-Mac had his moments in the tournament last year, when he shot 4-under-par 68 in the second round and 66 in the last in his hometown at Royal Portrush to tie for 16th. When the tournament was played at Carton House in 2005 and 2006, he could not even equal the par of 72 in any of his four rounds, and he missed the cut both times. ... It's been a strange year for McDowell, who has missed the cut a total of five times on both major tours but also has captured the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town and the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria. He ranks third in the European Tour's Race to Dubai and 20th in the FedEx Cup standings on the PGA Tour.



18. Jason Dufner, United States -- Hoping to keep it going after finishing in a tie for fourth in the U.S. Open, his best finish of the season, Dufner instead shot 72-69--141 and missed the cut by one stroke in the Travelers Championship. He has never finished in the top 40 in four appearances at TPC River Highlands, also missing the cut the cut in 2009. He has broken the par of 70 only twice in 12 rounds on the course. ... Last year, Dufner did not play in any tournaments between the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, mainly because he took his new bride, Amanda, on a delayed honeymoon in the Bahamas. He might play one more time before the Open Championship in the John Deere Classic, in which he has appeared six times previously, before taking the tournament's charter on Sunday night to Muirfield for the Open Championship. ... Duf carded four bogeys in a span of seven holes through No. 10 last week in the first round of the Travelers, and then dug himself deeper into a hole with three bogeys through No. 17 after starting on the back nine the next day. He tried to rally with three birdies while playing the front side without a bogey, but it wasn't enough to get him through to the weekend. As usual, it was the flat stick that let Dufner down, as he averaged 31.5 putts per round and missed two inside five feet in round two that would have allowed him to avoid missing the cut for the third time in 15 events this season on the PGA Tour.



19. Ian Poulter, England -- Despite playing some very good golf in the middle rounds, when he shot 66-67, the inconsistency that has plagued Poulter for much of this season surfaced again and he finished in a tie for 43rd in the Travelers Championship. After starting the season with two consecutive finishes in the top 10, he has managed only two more finishes in the top 25 on the PGA Tour, including a tie for 21st in the U.S. Open. ... Poulter is taking a week off and will head back to the European Tour for the Alstom Open de France next week at Le Golf National near Versailles. He has played in the tournament 10 times previously, posting four finishes in the top 10 in his last six tries, including a tie for fourth last year. Poults also could tee it up for the 11th time in the Aberdeen Asset Scottish Open the week before the Open Championship at Muirfield, where he tied for 50th in 2002. ... Poulter's finish at TPC River Highlands was skewed by a quintuple-bogey 9 on the 17th hole in round one, where he hit three balls into the water and reached the green in seven strokes before two-putting from 26 feet. With only a double bogey, he would have finished in the top 25. After posting a 73, he bounced back with a bogey-free 66 the next day to make the cut by two strokes. Poutler had only one bogey in his 67 in the third round, at No. 16, but scattered five plus a double bogey on No. 14 on Sunday to close with a 72.



20. Zach Johnson, United States -- Johnson opened with a bogey-free, 5-under-par 65 in the Travelers Championship, equaling his best score of the season on the PGA Tour, which he shot in the second round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial en route to solo third. He still was in good shape after posting a 70 in the second round, but he struggled to a 75 on Saturday and eventually wound up in a tie for 58th. ... With 16 tournaments behind him on the PGA Tour this season, Zach is going to take two weeks off before defending his title in the John Deere Classic, which he finally won last year in his 11th appearance after finishing in the top three in two of the previous three seasons. Even though he lives in St. Simons, Ga., these days, it's like a home game for him since TPC Deere Run is only about an hour and a half drive from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he grew up. With family and friends on hand, he's always a gallery favorite. ... Johnson was at 1-under-par for the day through 10 holes in round three last week at TPC River Highlands, but he didn't make another birdie and shot 41 on the back nine, most of that coming with a quadruple-bogey 7 on the 16th hole. He hit two tee balls into the large lake guarding the green, found solid ground with a third and two-putted from 16 feet. Johnson carded three birdies in the first four holes Sunday and seemed headed for a low finish, but he made three consecutive bogeys through No. 16 and had to settle for a closing 70.



Others receiving consideration: Bill Haas, United States; Charl Schwartzel, South Africa; Sergio Garcia, Spain; Jason Day, Australia; John Merrick, United States; Charles Howell III, United States; Martin Laird, Scotland; Angel Cabrera, Argentina; Kevin Streelman, United States; D.A. Points, United States; Billy Horschel, United States; Russell Henley, United States; David Lingmerth, Sweden; Sang-Moon Bae, South Korea; Boo Weekley, United States; Harris English, United States.

McIlroy misery goes on as he misses Irish Open cut

McIlroy misery goes on as he misses Irish Open cut










June 28, 2013 1:55 PM

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Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy reacts after hitting his seond shot on the second tee during the third …


(Reuters) - Rory McIlroy's hopes of picking up much-needed form before the British Open next month ended in more disappointment on Friday when he missed the cut at the Irish Open.

The world number two improved his two-over par first round score to card a level par 72 but that was not good enough to keep him in the tournament at Carton House, County Kildare.

"It's disappointing as I feel I played okay today but it's not nice not to be competing. But there were a few good things out there. I just need to work on my game," McIlroy told Sky Sports.

The 24-year-old Northern Irishman, twice a major winner, was 11 shots off the lead, held jointly by American Peter Uihlein and England's Robert Rock on nine under.

Rock shot a six-under-par 66 to join Uihlein at the top of the leaderboard while both were being pressed by former Ryder Cup captain Jose-Maria Olazabal, after a 69 put him in a group on seven under par and joint second.


Olazabal hasn't given hope of winning, telling reporters: "The captaincy took a lot out of me. I could not dedicate as much time to my game. I have never lost hope, that's why I spend hours and hours on the range.

"Health-wise I have had problems but at the moment I cannot complain. But the main goal is to keep improving my game to get myself in positions like this."

Overnight leader Oscar Floren of Sweden could not match his first round 66 but did manage to produce another sub-par round of 71 to join Spaniard Olazabal on seven under for the tournament.

McIlroy wasn't the only big name to flop. Ireland's other three major winners - Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell - all fell by the wayside.

McIlroy's form has dipped alarmingly since he changed his club manufacturer towards the end of 2012. In the last five months of that year he won four tournaments and was top of the world rankings but in 2013 he has one top-five finish in 13 events, including Ireland.


The 142nd British Open is at Muirfield from July 18-21.

(Writing by Tony Goodson; Editing by John Mehaffey)