Posted onJuly 11, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on Tiger Woods ‘Special Announcement’ Will Be Broadcast on Golf Channel Today
A “special announcement” concerning Tiger Woods will be made at 4pm BST on the Golf Channel today, the network said on its Twitter feed without disclosing specifics.
Woods, winner of 14 major golf championships, hasn’t featured in a tournament now for two months. He confirmed last week that he’d skip this week’s British Open, as he recovers from knee and ankle injuries.
Woods hasn’t won a tournament since November 2009, one month after he claimed the last of his 71 U.S. PGA Tour victories. He’s fallen to No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking after holding the top spot for a record 281 weeks.
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Posted onJuly 6, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on Woods Will Miss British Open – Confirmed
Former world number one Tiger Woods has confirmed he will miss this month’s Open Championship at Sandwich because of his troublesome left leg injury.
The 35-year-old has not played competitively since suffering a recurrence of the injury at thePlayers Championship in mid-May.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been advised that I should not play in the British Open,” Woods said on his official website.
Woods has 14 major titles, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus.
Despite slipping to 17th in the current world rankings, Woods insisted: “I think my best years are still ahead of me and I’m very confident and optimistic about the future.
“I am only going to come back when I’m 100% ready. I do not want to risk further injury.
“In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have competed at the Players, but it’s a big event and I wanted to be there to support the tour. I’ve got to learn from what I did there and do it right this time and not come back until I’m ready.”
Posted onJune 29, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on Tiger Still Hunting Nicklaus
Tiger Woods insists he can still overhaul Jack Nicklaus’ 18-major record despite admitting his participation at the Open Championship is still in doubt.
Woods has not hit a single shot for almost seven weeks due to injury after aggravated knee and Achilles injuries at the Players Championship.
And although Woods will not compete at Royal St George’s unless he is 100 per cent, the 14-time major winner believes there is no reason why he should give up his bid to pass Nicklaus.
“Absolutely not,” said Woods. “He won when he was 46, right?
“I’ve still got some time and on top of that we’re about the same pace I believe in years on Tour and majors won. I feel pretty confident of what my future holds and very excited about it. I’m 35, I’m not 65 – I’ve still got some years ahead of me.”
Please click here to read the full story at Sky Sports.
Posted onJune 28, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on British Golfers Hold Top Three World Ranking Places
British golfers currently hold the top three spots in the world ranking, the first time that’s happened in the 25-year history of the ranking.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland rose to third on Monday following his triumph at the U.S. Open last week. Luke Donald remains top, with fellow Englishman Lee Westwood in second place.
“We’ve fed off each other’s success,” McIlroy told Sky Sports. “We saw Lee get to No. 1 in the world and Luke has been very consistent for the last two years. We’re working hard to beat one another and strive to be better than everyone else.”
Having started the year at No. 10, McIlroy overtook PGA champion Martin Kaymer without playing last weekend because of the German’s poor showing at the BMW International Open.
McIlroy,who won the U.S. Open by a record score, is next scheduled to play at the British Open at Royal St. George’s – starting in just over a fortnight.
McIlroy says he wants to keep playing well while Tiger Woods continues his recovery from an injured left leg.
“It’s a good time for me to win things when he’s not playing his best,” McIlroy said. “The first thing for Tiger is to get healthy and see what happens from there. I don’t know if anyone can answer if he’ll get back to where he was 10 years ago, but a lot of people would like to see him back on the course.”
Woods hasn’t won a title since the Australian Masters in November 2009. The 14-time major champion has plunged to No. 17 in the world rankings, his lowest spot since 1997. He is yet to announce whether he will be healthy enough to play in the British Open.
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Posted onJune 23, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on Tiger Out Of AT+T National
Tiger Woods has confirmed that he won’t be taking part in next week’s AT+T International tournament due to his lingering knee and Achilles injuries. This adds even more misery to Tiger’s season as he actually hosts this particular event, which benefits his foundation.
He announced yesterday that he still plans to attend, even if he can’t play, saying in a Twitter post that it was “Doctor’s orders. Feeling stronger every day, but not 100%.’’
Woods’s next scheduled start would be the British Open in July, but it’s unclear if his health will allow him to play.
He’s been limited to just nine competitive rounds since the Masters. The AT&T begins a week from today.
One of the biggest dates in the sporting calendar starts tomorrow at Congressional Country Club in Maryland, USA – the US Open.
Lasting four days (finishing Sunday), it sees the best golfers in the world competing for this prestigious title, won last year by Irishman Graeme McDowell.
The big story of the tournament has occurred before a ball has even been struck, and that’s the absence of three times US Open Champion Tiger Woods, who misses the tournament through injury.
All eyes will be on the European golfers who currently dominate the World Rankings and who will be looking to follow up McDowell’s achievement of being the first European to win the tournament since Englishman Tony Jacklin in 1970.
You can see the entire field of players by clicking here.
You can see an interview with Graeme McDowell by clicking here.
Read more about, and see detailed maps of the course by clicking here.
Posted onJune 1, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on Great Golf Apps: Number 3
Welcome to the third part of my feature on the best apps out there for golfers.
Today I’m looking at SwingPlane, which captures video using the built in video camera on your device. You can easily analyze your swing with its playback and drawing tools, allowing you to see if your swing is on plane, check your set up angles and monitor head movement, shoulders dipping, etc.
Sample videos of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and others are included. Additional purchases of videos featuring Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and others are available.
Frame by frame advance and rewind is available, as well as slow-motion playback and repeat playback. You can export videos to Facebook, Twitter or email.
Posted onMay 25, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on Wounded Tiger Out Of Comebacks?
Tiger Woods took part in a strange news conference at Aronimink Golf Club, Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning.
Strange because an event designed to promote the AT&T National, being held at the club shortly, turned into a Q&A session about Woods’ health and his chances in competing in next month’s U.S. Open.
Every question bar two was about Woods’ state of mind, and his ability to potentially play golf again.
“It is kind of about golf,” Woods said of the interrogation about his injured left leg. “When can I get back in there and play again?”
Woods has been wearing a special boot to ease pressure on his left Achilles tendon, walking on crutches to take weight off his balky left knee. Combined, the measures lessen the pain in his back.
“You play through these things,” Woods said. “There’s a difference between being in pain and being injured. Those are two totally different things. You can handle pain, but being injured is a totally different deal.”
“As you get older, you have to do things differently,” Woods said. “Your body doesn’t allow you to do these things. You have to be smart. . . . I used to run four to six miles before I played. I don’t do that anymore.”
“I can’t hit the ball, in relative terms, as far as I used to compared to other Tour players,” Woods said. “There are guys who hit it much further than I do. It’s a different ball game. Some guys hit wedges from 150 in. When I came on the Tour, everyone used an 8-iron from 150 in. But you still have to be able to score.”
Woods said pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 major championships remains “one of the things that drives me in this game.” When Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open, his 14th major, at age 32, it seemed inevitable he would eclipse Nicklaus. Indeed, Nicklaus won his 14th in 1975, when he was the same age Woods is now. It took him 11 years to win those final four, culminating in the 1986 Masters, at age 46.
“I still have plenty of time,” Woods said.
Can Woods’ leg stay strong long enough for him to get his game sharp enough to win again? Will he return to consistency or show mere flashes of his former game?
Posted onMay 6, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on A Beginners Guide To Golf Equipment: Part 3
Welcome to the third part of my ‘Beginners Guide To Golf Equipment’ series of blog posts, which concentrates on the Putter.
On average about 40% of your shots on the course will be hit with your putter.
The putter can be considered the most important club in the bag, as (unless you chip in or hit an amazing iron shot) it’s very likely to be the club you use to achieve the aim of the game, which is of course knocking the ball into the hole!
Putting is largely about personal touch and feel, and because of this, putters can come in all shapes and sizes – I’ve seen some putters on my travels that don’t even look like putters, and on that subject, over the years I’ve owned tens of putters, some of which are at the golf club, some of which are in the garage, and some of which are in the bin!
I’m currently using this amazing David Whitlam Gauge Design Putter.
Here are some of the different types of putter available.
Peripherally-Weighted Mallet-Head Putter
Peripherally Weighted – This means that the weight is distributed evenly around the club head, helping with balance, which a lot of golfers prefer.
Blade – Very precise but with a smaller ‘sweet spot’ (the best part of the club to hit the ball with, for best results)
Mallet-headed – for a firmer connection
Centre-shafted – this is helpful in terms of alignment.
There is no putter that is guaranteed results – the most important aspect is finding a putter that you are comfortable with – but even the best golfers in the world can have problems and feel that they need to make the change – for example Lee Westwood at the recent Masters Tournament had a nightmare on the greens, had he been on his usual putting form he could well have won the tournament! He then publicly stated that he may well look to change.
And so to wrap up for today, it seems a shame to talk about putters but not mention one of the greatest shots ever played – enjoy the video below and have a great weekend!
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Posted onMay 2, 2011bymattd|Comments Off on McIlroy Above Woods In World Rankings
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy has moved ahead of Tiger Woods for the first time in the official World Rankings, taking him up to his highest ever placing of sixth in the process.
Oddly the switch in places happened despite either player appearing on the course this week!
American left-hander Bubba Watson has also broken into the into the top 10 after his play-off win over Webb Simpson at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
World golf rankings (May 2nd 2011): 1 Lee Westwood (GB) 8.22pts, 2 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 7.54, 3 Luke Donald (GB) 7.27, 4 Phil Mickelson (US) 6.55, 5Graeme McDowell (NI) 5.64, 6 Rory McIlroy (NI) 5.54, 7 Tiger Woods (US) 5.53, 8 Paul Casey (GB) 5.49, 9 Steve Stricker (US) 5.33, 10Bubba Watson (US) 5.24.
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has not hit a single shot for almost seven weeks due to injury after aggravated knee and Achilles injuries at the Players Championship.
