Rory McIlroy Tees It Up Despite What His Publicist Says

These kids today are so defiant.

Gary D’Amato reports from the 2015 PGA Championship site where Rory McIlroy tested out his kicked-about ankle just days before the title he is set to defend. And the round came just days after his publicist, Terry Prone, denied to the Irish Golf Desk any accuracy in the Reuters report stating McIlroy had "booked" a round.

Turns out, McIlroy had...scheduled a round, just as Reuters had said.

Reuters clearly knows McIlroy’s schedule better than his own publicist!

Anyway, the point is, McIlroy looks ready to tee it up again after missing The Open in a quest for normalcy via the seemingly stress-reducing act known as the kickabout.

In a brief interview as he walked quickly from the 18th green to the parking lot, McIlroy deemed his first practice round for the 97th PGA Championship a success.

"Yeah, it's good," McIlroy said. "Good to get a look at the course. Obviously, I have decent memories from five years ago. Yeah, good."

Golf Channel had a live lookabout into Rory's first public round since his kickabout, including when he ran up a dune and hopped to show us how healthy his ankle is.

The GC Report:

R.I.P. Louise Suggs

One of the LPGA's founders and earliest stars who also became known for her name brand club lines, has died at 91.

Frank Litsky's NY Times remembrance of the 11-time major winner.

Suggs won 58 pro tournaments, including 50 on the tour. Her 11 major titles included the 1949 United States Women’s Open, which she won by 14 strokes, the most one-sided victory on the tour until Laura Davies won a tournament by 16 strokes in 1995. Suggs won every season of her professional career and in 1957, at the L.P.G.A. Championship, became the first player on the tour to capture the career Grand Slam, winning all of the tour’s major events. The L.P.G.A. Tour’s rookie of the year award is named after Suggs.

Doug Ferguson with the Associated Press obituary.

Her efficient, powerful swing marked her for greatness as a teenager in Georgia. She began to get national acclaim when she won the 1947 U.S. Women's Amateur, the 1948 Women's British Amateur and the 1949 U.S. Women's Open, beating fierce rival Babe Zaharias by 14 shots.

Ben Hogan once said after watching Suggs swing that her swing "combines all the desirable elements of efficiency, timing and coordination."

The LPGA posted this remembrance video:

Golfweek posted this conversation with Suggs almost two years ago.

Update on 2015-08-09 07:01 by Geoff

**David Shefter with a USGA.org remembrance of Suggs, including this:

Suggs owns U.S. Women’s Open records for the most top-five finishes (14) and most top-10 finishes (19). Besides her two victories, she finished second five times, a mark she shares with JoAnne Gunderson Carner. Her 11 major championship wins are third all-time behind contemporaries Berg (15) and Mickey Wright (13), and one ahead of Zaharias and Annika Sorenstam.

From 1950-62, Suggs managed to win at least one tournament, and she led the money list in 1960. She also proved she could compete against male professionals by winning a tournament on a par-3 course in Palm Beach, Fla., where the field included major champions Sam Snead, Lew Worsham, Dow Finsterwald and Tommy Armour, as well as leading female golfers of the era.

Rory Now Communicating Via Emoji; Will Make Next Presser Fun

While most have been trying to analyze the emoji's for deep, hidden meaning, the non-millennial, non-Emoji-emplying print media will probably find more to decipher in his private jet magazine spread. Looks like Golf Digest is resonating with this jet-setting millennial! And GQ, Fortune and The Economist. Plus newspapers and his passport.

The latest Tweet comes after other tantalizing social media hints suggesting a return to the game. This, after hurting himself in a "kickabout," marking the first time a professional athlete has hyped their return from a completely embarrassing and (you would think) forgettable injury.

Has The DJ "Bunker" Been Covered By A Corporate Tent?

After this week's Golf Channel re-airing of the 2010 PGA Championship, the Dustin Johnson bunker/not-a-bunker mishap remains an awkward, bizarre, unfair, cruel and understandable scar on Whistling Straits. Look for the episode and the local rule that all sand is played as a bunker to be revisted ad nauseum, though I would argue with merit considering the impact on the championship.

Yet Will Gray reports on the comments of Graeme McDowell, who recently played Whistling Straits and says that the PGA of America has covered the offending "bunker" with a corporate tent.

“There’s a big stand over Dustin’s bunker, though,” McDowell said. “There’s a big corporate hospitality unit on Dustin’s bunker. So you’re in good shape if you whip it through that fairway.”

Update on 2015-08-09 23:21 by Geoff

**The PGA's Kerry Haigh confirms to GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard.

Specifically the bunker down the right side of the 18th hole, the same hazard where Dustin Johnson grounded his club during the final round in 2010, will only be “partially” in play.

“The actual bunker that Dustin was in, part of the bunker is still visible but some of it is indeed covered with a structure,” PGA chief championships officer Kerry Haigh told Cut Line via an e-mail this week. “There still remains a lot of bunkers not covered and in play.”

Spieth's Updated Under Armour Deal Includes Personal Logo

Darren Rovell reports for ESPN.com on Jordan Spieth's Under Armour-created logo that he will earn royalties on when a line devoted to him is reelease next year.

Rovell writes:

Spieth, who initially was signed by Under Armour in January 2013 after he announced he would turn pro, had the final two years of his deal ripped up in January to give the company and Spieth another 10 years together through 2025. Although terms were undisclosed, sources say that if Spieth continues his pace on the golf course, he'll be one of the highest-paid players in the game. His payments will rise as he gets royalties from sales of his own gear, which is expected to hit the market next year.

Photos: Olympic Golf Course Looking Like A Golf Course

Nice set of aerials Tweeted by the International Golf Federation account showing the Rio 2016 golf course growing in nicely one year out from the Games.

You can check them out at this link and enlarge each a bit.

Most encouraging here is that the native areas look decent, meaning a year from now they have the chance to have taken on a maturity that will look better.

Update on 2015-08-06 07:27 by Geoff

**The photos above, and the state of the course, is put into perspective after seeing this Jimmy Roberts story of Hanse and the rocky creation of the Olympic golf course.