McIlroy has embraced the rivalry, thrived on it, said his game improves by being paired against Woods. “It’s fun,” McIlroy says — a word you hear all too infrequently from leading athletes. And he recites the sort of conversation that takes place when world No 1 meets world No 2 on the tee; Woods calls McIlroy shorty and the Northern Irishman calls him baldy back.
“Tiger gives me stick about being short. He always asks me ‘seriously, how tall are you?’” McIlroy says.
“I’ll say, five nine”.
“Yeah, but without the hair? That’s five seven, right?” “He’ll ask me, ‘What do you do when Caroline [Wozniacki]wears heels?’ But I give him grief about all sorts. Getting old, getting bald. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, certainly not when I’m around.”
However, listening to this 18-minute interview with Tim Finchem on Sirius/XM, I was doing my best Mike Francesa-nodding-off-impersonation-while-listening, then had similar wild eye/wake-up moment (which Francesa swears was not what you think it was), all as Finchem started in on the fan's love of the ResetCup:
There's a lot of different stories, things turn quickly. You know, in the early days of the cup, you know there was concern about it being too complicated and this and that. But actually, people like that. Fans want to see different things going on, they want to be challenged to keep up with the permutations. And, in today's world, 65% of our fans are sitting around watching on television, the ones that are watching on television are also following it online, so they've got another matrix of data coming at them.
You know those wild and crazy fans, they love their matrixes of data! Reminds them of work.
And uh the fans…the players are totally into it now, the fans have been into it since day one.
Day one! They have, and they've shown their love by tuning in with massive, record ratings for golf...well, the ratings are always the last thing to kick in, the scientists report.
Each year with a little history, as it gains a little stature, both the players and the fans are more into it. But yes, to answer your question, it's gotten to this point quicker than I assumed.
The Commish then declared that forthcoming calendar year schedule--you know, the one where they play PGA Tour golf about 50 weeks a year and everyone involved with the PGA Tour is a burnout by 2015--will be even better.
Next year is even better, because next year we stop the season and start a few weeks later. So everything is coming to an end. The ballots next year, the ballots will go out for player of the year right after the FedExCup is handed out, the next morning players will be asked to say who is the player of the year on the heels of the FedExCup being awarded. The money title, which is represented by the Arnold Palmer award, will be identified at the end of the FedExCup. Everything's coming to a head. For the first time we'll have a real season when, a few weeks later, everything will start, it builds up for almost a full year, then you have another conclusion. So even thigh this is going to be really going, it going to be even better next year.
It's interesting that everyone involved thinks year-round competition makes for a "real" season. What are all these other silly professional sports doing with their off-seasons and their vacations? The morons!
It's a toss-up what's most impressive about Jiyai Shin's second Ricoh Women's British Open win. Nine shot win? Less than a week after winning a wacky 9-hole playoff?
There are a lot of great accomplishments in golf, but hitting all 18 greens in regulation has always been one of the more underappreciated feats to me. Especially doing it in a major and on a tough links, as Jiyai Shin did while firing 64 and, according to this unbylined AP story, opening up a 5-shot lead heading into Sunday's Ricoh Women's British Open final round.
The nine-time LPGA Tour winner hit all 18 greens in regulation and needed only 28 putts. The 64 is the lowest round in competition at Royal Liverpool, breaking the mark of 65 set by four players in the 2006 Open Championship.
"A bogey-free day and then bunker-free, too, so that was probably the best round I have ever played in a major," Shin said. "So that is a good thing, today's golf. I missed just one fairway. And on the back nine, it's blowing very strong wind, but I just stay focused on my tempo and my timing with my driver and shots."
South Korea's Inbee Park was second after a 68. She played alongside Shin.
The LPGA's second round notes. Inbee Park lurks at -4 and amateur sensation Lydia Ko is eight shots back.
Remember, ESPN2 added two hours of coverage so their telecast comes on at 9 am ET in the States. And Andy North is announcing, so you can't say you weren't warned.
Due to the cancellation of today’s second round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open because of high winds, and the revised schedule that calls for 36 holes of golf on Sunday, two hours have been added to the telecast of the final day on Sunday on ESPN2, ESPN3 and WatchESPN.
Originally scheduled to air from 9 a.m. – noon ET, ESPN2 and ESPN3’s coverage will now air until 2 p.m. from the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, Liverpool, England. Coverage of Saturday’s play airs from 9 a.m. – noon, and one hour of final-round highlights will air on ABC at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Last bit of fun from the Golf Channel/NBC conference call to hype the Ryder Cup, were these comments related to captains and their decisions.
First,before the fun related to the U.S. team, David Feherty about the importance of the Ryder Cup to Euros and reminding us who Captain Faldo did not pick in 2008 and perhaps, why Captain Faldo did not make the pick.
DAVID FEHERTY: They tend to put a lot more weight on a player's Ryder Cup for the record. For instance, Colin Montgomerie is the greatest Ryder Cup player of all time. Something really put the tilt in his kilt; you know, every time he put his Ryder Cup spikes on, he turned into just virtually an unbeatable player. If Nick Faldo had picked him, you know, for his team, he probably would have gone past Nick Faldo's record of the most points ever won in Ryder Cup.
And Brandel Chamblee, talking about American captains and their lack of consistency which does make sense.
BRANDEL CHAMBLEE: I think that in general, the captains for the U.S. side make mistakes. They consistently switch up the pairings and the players.
For example, Tiger Woods played with three different partners in 2002. I believe Jim Furyk played with three different partners in 2002, as well, and consistently the U.S. Team does that. Whereas The Ryder Cup captains tend to find teams, and whether they have success early or they have failures early, they pretty much stick with those teams throughout The Ryder Cup, and it's worked for them.
And us switching, hasn't worked for us. Paul Azinger I think gave the captaincy its proper due by studying the techniques of The Ryder Cup captains from Europe and employing those. He played Mickelson with only two partners, Kim, until Mahan on Saturday. He played Furyk with Perry. He played Mahan with Leonard. And I think that ‑‑ well, it obviously worked for him.
I think that that's the larger part of the problem, and it's not just a four‑ball that we are getting trapped in. We also get trapped in the foursomes. But we get trapped worse in the four‑ball. I thought it was interesting that Paul Azinger made the decision to not open up with four‑balls for the first time since, I believe, going back to the 80s on U.S. soil.
So Davis Love has followed suit. He's opening up with foursomes. I think the U.S. side is getting let down by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, certainly Jim Furyk. Tiger Woods, I think it's for a different reason. I think he just intimidates everybody that he plays with.
And I think he'll be different this time and I think Phil Mickelson will be different this time. But I still wouldn't pair Phil Mickelson in the foursomes; I certainly would not pair him in the foursomes the first day because it hurts the morale. And I would be very careful about pairing Jim Furyk and who I paired him with.
I think an assistant captain better plan on heading to Staples to pick up some pins and cork boards. We're still two weeks away and already we've got a nice stockpile of potential motivation material for the apparently hapless American squad.
Geoff Shackelford
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
The Times' "Chief Sports Correspondent" Matt Dickinson scored some face time with World No. 1 Rory McIlroy who reveals how his bond with Tiger Woods has evolved.
