Tiger Woods debuted a new pair of Nike golf shoes at the
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. The soft-spiked shoe was
developed to accommodate his surgically repaired knee.
Expect Rory Back In PGA Tour Fold
AKRON, OHIO | Rory McIlroy’s off-again,
on-again love affair with the PGA Tour
is about to be consummated, and that
sound you hear from Ponte Vedra
Beach, Fla., is a rousing cheer.
McIlroy has decided for the second
time to become a member of the Tour in
2012, by virtue of his U.S. Open victory
at Congressional CC. McIlroy was a Tour
member in 2010, when he won at Quail
Hollow. McIlroy scheduled a news conference for Monday morning when he was
expected to make the announcement.
“I feel as if I play my best golf over
here,” McIlroy said at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. “I’m very comfortable in this country. I feel as if my game
really suits playing courses over here.
Rory McIlroy
“I love Quail Hollow, Memorial,
Akron. You play Match Play, Honda,
Doral, Masters. You have your favorite
events, and most of mine seem to be
on this side of the pond. And my game
suits it over here. I’m very comfortable
over here. I’d like to give it a go again
and, obviously, last more than one year
and really see how it goes.”
McIlroy is starting to look at real
estate in Florida and indicated that he
might stay with fellow Northern Irish-
man Graeme McDowell, who has a
house at Lake Nona near Orlando,
while house-hunting.
PGA Tour officials say that McIlroy
has until 30 days following the Tour’s
last official money event to rejoin. The
Tour requires its members to play at
least 15 events a year. McIlroy played 16
events in 2010.
Imagine, if you will, 18 of the world’s
great golf course architects designing a
hole apiece for the new course in Rio de
Janiero for the 2016 Olympics. Think of
it as the designers’ all-star team.
Nick Faldo – Sir Nick, to you – has
crafted such a proposal that he has sub-
mitted to the International Golf Federa-
tion, the organization that is overseeing
the golf efforts for the Olympics. Faldo
believes that the design of the Olympic
course should be a collaboration instead
of a single effort. The site for the course
has been chosen but an architect, or
team of architects, has yet to be chosen.
While the rest of the golf world has
adopted and in nearly all cases are
required to play the game wearing
shoes with plastic cleats, the PGA
Tour still allows metal spikes. An
estimated one-fourth of the PGA Tour
plays in spikes. Tiger Woods was one
of them ... until now.
Lee Westwood’s swing coach, Pete
Cowen, called his student’s putting
performance at the Open Champion-
ship “shocking.” McIlroy’s putting per-
formance at the U.S. Open was equally
shocking, but in a good way.
