Rory-Faced Biscuits A Hot Item Again

I bet Tiger never had his face put on a biscuit.

Just wish we could see them better in the photo The photo accompanying this Anna Maguire Belfast Telegraph story also includes a photo gallery.*

Within three hours of going on sale, 300 German biscuits carrying the face of Rory McIlroy had disappeared from the shelves of Skinner’s Bakery.

By noon on Monday, workers at the Holywood bakery were frantically preparing another batch.

“It’s because he’s a Holywood boy,” was how co-owner Valerie Skinner explained the success of their best-selling product.

“My husband (and bakery co-owner) Wilson had the idea of making the biscuits when we were watching Rory win the US Open Championship last year. We sold thousands of the biscuits then.

Clark Taking Wait-And-See Approach On Anchoring Ban

Interesting to see Tim Clark's anchoring ban rhetoric, which has hinted at litigation, toned down today at the Wyndham.

Q.  Can you speak on the belly putter controversy going on right now?

TIM CLARK:  It's been going on for so long so it's not just right now I guess but, you know, I guess they're going to try and make a decision here this year and who knows what that's going to be.  It's hard to say either way.

You know, be easier to comment once they do make a decision.  But, obviously, it's something that's been used a lot more on the Tour now than it had been in the years gone by and that's probably why it's become an issue now.

In my mind they left it way too long to come down and say we're going to ban it.  It should have been banned 20 years ago if they were going to ban it.

The fact that they haven't by now, I think they've left it too long and too many guys have made their career out of using a certain piece of equipment that they're suddenly going to take away from them.

Again, I don't know what decision they're going to make but I'm going -- I see it going to be a much tougher decision than it seems to be, I think.

Q.  Tim, some of the guys have practiced, some of the ones using belly putters have practiced with the lower.  Have you tried the traditional?

TIM CLARK:  It's not something I'll worry about now.  I'll wait, like I say, for a decision to be made and then take it from there.  But it's not something I've played around with.

Rory On Morning Drive: Confirms He Overslept Between Rounds

It must be nice to be sitting on a PGA Championship lead and be able to sleep so soundly that someone has to wake you up. From his Morning Drive call-in:

State Of The Game Podcast 12, The Majors In Review

A Huggan, Clayton, Morri and yours truly reunion to discuss the 2012 majors in a joint Talkin' Golf/State Of The Game podcast today. As always, you can listen below, subscribe free to the show or listen to Episode 12 through iTunes.

PGA Ratings Wrap: Saturday Up A Tick, Sunday Down

SportsMediaWatch.com has a few more PGA Championship ratings for CBS. The 3.9 overnight was down 9% from '11 and 22% from '10 and was the lowest since '08, but it did outdraw the Open Championship slightly and Saturday was not horrible.

On Saturday, third round action drew a 2.7 overnight (excludes rainout coverage) — actually up a tick from last year (2.6), but down 13% from 2010 (3.1).

Jack Is Back At Cherry Hills; U.S Amateur Day One Complete

Though Bobby Wyatt leads (Ron Balicki's recap here) after the first round of stroke play qualifying in the U.S. Amateur, the real story of day one was delivered by David Shefter, writing of Jack Nicklaus' cameo to watch reinstated amateur Gary Nicklaus en route to an opening 71 (scores here).

Cherry Hills played to a 76.013 scoring average in round one.

Denver's Newest Tourist Attraction: The 274-yard Tee Sign!

It used to be folks would send you a photo of the Arnold Palmer first tee plaque at the wonderful Cherry Hills Country Club, but now it's absurd yardages for par-3s that have become the affection of cell phone cameras.

Even worse, with the altitude and all the Pilates work the field has been doing, there will be plenty of irons hit there.

From a reader at the U.S. Amateur host site, where play began today (Sean Martin previews):

'12 PGA Sunday Overnights Down 9%

I know, it's hard to believe with a presentation as enticing to watch as Sunday's latest commercial and promo-laden PGA Championship telecast, that ratings would be down. But that's what Thomas Bonk says on his blog, reporting a drop from 4.3 last year to 3.9 this year. In the PGA's defense, it was up against Olympic coverage on NBC. However, it did feature a more star-studded leaderboard this year compared to last.