Rory McIlroy

The 145th Open Championship – Predictions

/ The Grateful Golfer / 13 Comments

I am totally confused! This weekend’s Major at Royal Troon Golf Club is a beast that must be tamed by one of the field if they want to become part of golfing history. The challenge I have is trying to predict a winner for this tournament!

The top players in the world are all over the place. The odds-on favorites could be at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday or on their way home after missing the cut. The only person playing a consistent golf is Dustin Johnson. However, is he ready for “The Troon” or will he be “Trooned”? (I just made up my own word – being “Trooned” means that the course defeated the player resoundingly) Continue reading →

Rivalry, What Rivalry?

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No-one will ever have golf under his thumb. No round ever will be so good it could not have been better. Perhaps this is why golf is the greatest of games. You are not playing a human adversary; you are playing a game. You are playing old man par. – Bobby Jones

The 2016 golf season is well under way and the media is desperately trying to create issues where there are none. They talk about the stellar play of Jason Day and bemoan the play of Jordan Spieth. Every week they look for the rise of Rory McIlroy or Rickie Fowler. It is very confusing who is who and what actually the media is trying to portray.

The golfing media continues to drone on about the rivalry between all the young players at the top of the world rankings. The expectation is that élite athletes will try and knock each other off to remain number one. Well, golf is not that type of sport.
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The Players – Is It the Fifth Major?

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

The Players Championship played this weekend is lauded as the Fifth Major.  It is the only significant tournament owned and administered by the PGA Tour.  The majors all have different sponsors:  The Masters is owned by the Augusta National Golf Club; the U.S. Open by the United States Golf Association (USGA); The Open Championship by The R&A, and the PGA Championship by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA of America).

This tournament was created in 1974 and Jack Nicklaus won the inaugural tournament.  This tournament has a short history, but gathers an elite field every year.  The tournament runs every year at about the same time with the final round sometimes being played on Mother’s Day.  It has a permanent home at TPC Sawgrass since 1982 at the Stadium Course.
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The Masters – Day 2

/ The Grateful Golfer / 4 Comments

Masters Trivia by The Grateful GolferIn a galaxy far, far away, there was a small group of talented and dedicated men trying to fight for their survival battling a golf course that was unrelenting at best. Day 2 at The Masters, Augusta National Golf Course proved to be that course! I am not sure what happened yesterday, but Augusta bared its teeth and took a huge bite out many of the worlds best golfers.
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The 2016 Masters – Day 1

/ The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

mastersWhat did I learn today about golf from watching Day 1 of The Masters? It sometimes is very difficult to see if there was any benefit or lessons learned from watching the Masters. But, this year I believe that watching the roller coaster ride of some of the players I have a couple of take aways from Day 1.

I am not sure if you watched all of today’s round, but I did not. I was at work, so I caught snippets from time to time, reviewed the usual sites when I came home and that was enough to make a few observations. Not surprisingly, there really was nothing unusual that will shock anyone….or was there! Continue reading →