Golf, by TourMiss

  Weather: Thursday: Partly cloudy. High of 72. Wind E 8-12 mph. The first round was suspended due to darkness at 6:32 p.m. ET with 21 players left on the course. Friday: The first round resumed at 7:30 a.m. and was completed at 8:31 a.m. Mostly sunny. High of 73. Wind E 4-8 mph.  First-Round Leaderboard Sergio Garcia                     65 (-7) Brian Harman                    67 (-5) Matthew Fitzpatrick           68 (-4) Corey Conners                  68 ...

What is the topic of conversation when four of the biggest names in golf are sitting at the same table having shot a combined – 29 over par. That was the scenario when Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and Henrik Stenson sat down for a late lunch post the opening round of The Players championship at TPC Sawgrass. Hatton was the ‘best’ of the fourball – posting a four-over par 76.  Poulter next with a 77 while McIlroy shocked his fan-base with a horror 79. And former ...

No one was more shocked than Paul McGinley in seeing Rory McIlroy slump to seven-over after just nine holes in the defence of his Players Championship crown. McIlroy then left even his most ardent supporters in disbelief after an eventual seven-over par 79 on the TPC Sawgrass course at Ponte Vedra, Florida. McIlroy was already 14 shots behind playing partner, Sergio Garcia and with the Masters champion taking the early clubhouse lead with a five-under 65 and three clear of England’s Matthew ...

Aberdonian David Law produced an equal career low 64 thanks to former double Doha champion and now manager, Paul Lawrie in  muscling his way to the front on day one of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Law, 29, birdied his opening three holes in an eight birdie and no bogeys haul on the Jose Maria Olazabal designed Education City layout. Law returned to the Qatar capital having missed the cut in his prior two appearances while his showing makes a mockery of a current 986th world ranking. The Scot’s ...

Paul McGinley believes Rory McIlroy will win more majors but, and now six seven years since his last, it will be ‘hard won’. McGinley was up bright-and-early in his role as SKY Sports Golf analyst at Sky’s customary main commentary position located between the back of the 16th green and 17th tee at TPC Sawgrass. McIlroy had yet to tee-off in the two-year COVID-19 related delay to defend his Players Championship title. It was around 6.30am local US time and some 30-minutes from McIlroy’s horrendous ...

For some reason I can’t recall why I was not in attendance at the inaugural 1998 Qatar Masters and won by Scotland’s Andrew Coltart. It was a double celebration for the affable Scot who awoke in Doha on the Sunday morning having been confirmed in far off Australia as the 1997/98 Australasian Tour No. 1. Coltart had travelled to Australia in the weeks leading up to the 1997 Christmas festive season and pulled off a second ‘Down Under’ triumph in three years in capturing the ...

Russell Knox has 73 good reasons to look forward to today’s (THUR) ‘Take 2’ restart to the prestigious Players Championship. It will be exactly one day short of a year since the PGA Tour despatched a group text to all Tour members and caddies mid-evening on the 12th March, 2020 to advise the Tour’s premier event had been cancelled. The next day, and now known as golf’s Black Friday, Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan advised the Tour was going into an immediate three-event lockdown. That would ...