Golf, by TourMiss

The withdrawal of current World No. 17, Phil Mickelson and World No. 24, Paul Casey will see next fortnight’s WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship go down to the top-66 on the world rankings. Mickelson simply has declined to contest the Arizona event while Casey suffered an injury while snow-boarding that will see the Englishman sidelined for some time.  There has been no word from Casey since his injury and it can only be presumed he will not be competing. At this stage, it would mean American ...

Graeme McDowell’s declared breaking his Ryder Cup winning driver has been a ‘blessing in disguise’ in the countdown to the Masters.   McDowell arrived back to his Orlando residence with two drivers in his bag, the Celtic Manor, Valderrama and Chevron Challenge winning driver from 2010 that will be retired to his trophy cabinet, and a new shining gold Cleveland driver he already believes could lead to Augusta National success.   “I am very, very positive using the new driver and the ...

The European Tour is likely to draw a battle line between Graeme Heinrich and Dion Stevens in their on-going dispute over the issue of yardage books to players, caddies and TV personnel. David Garland, Director of Tournament Operations and Jamie Spence, who works as a liaison officer with the Tour, sat down with Heinrich and Stevens during the recent Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Heinrich has been providing yardage books to players and caddies ever since 1990 whereas Stevens is relatively new ...

Padraig Harrington’s slide down the World Rankings continues with the triple Major now just seven spots away from being ranked 100th in the world. Harrington dropped three spots to 93rd in the world at the release of the updated rankings today, and he will need to make the cut in this week’s AT & T National Pebble Beach Pro-Am to avoid falling any further in the rankings.  Also unless Harrington can finish a likely top-three in the PGA Tour event he forfeits a last chance of ...

Double Major winning John Daly arrived in Dubai for this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic shocked and surprised after his first event of a new season. The 45-year old American secured his best finish in some three years finishing fourth in the Qatar Masters. “Finishing fourth in Qatar is a great start to my year and it’s a great foundation to build on,” he said.   “I hadn’t played in a while so the result is not on a shock but also a big surprise as it usually takes a long while ...

Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Sergio Garcia each face stiff opposition in being honoured with a Laureus Sports Award in London on Monday night. McIlroy is among six sports stars nominated in the category – “World Breakthough of the Year’ award. Clarke is among a similar number looking to win the ‘Comeback of the Year’ award following his Open Championship success last July at Royal St. Georges. McIlroy has been nominated in the same category Germany’s Martin Kaymer was honoured this ...

Jason Day will easily recoup the $321 he paid for a pair of sunglasses after ending the delayed second round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters well in contention in the wind-affected event. The Australian has bounced back well from missing the cut in his first event of 2012 at last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to . The PGA Tour based Day played the first two rounds in the company of World No. 2 Lee Westwood and finished the round one stroke clear on four under par compared to the Englishman’s ...