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Last week we tipped Brandt Snedeker at 16/1 and Alex Kaleka at 85/1 Follow @golfcentraldoc Tiger Woods 6/1 Okay Tiger didn’t get it done at the British Open with his defensive course management strategy but he’s back in his comfort zone at Firestone. Woods has won here seven times (the last coming in 2009) and with four wins already this season expect him to be in the mix. Tied eighth in 2012.   Adam Scott 22/1 A big long baked par 70 with lightning fast greens? Somebody send for Adam Scott! Back to form with a podium finish at the Open Championship, Scott tends to save his best for WGC events. He tied third at the WGC Cadillac back in March on his way to winning his first green jacket in Augusta. The Aussie is also a previous winner at Firestone; he hammered the field here in 2011 winning by four shots.   Lee Westwood 28/1 I’m going to be keeping a close on Lee this week and at the US PGA, I think a “W” is coming. Lee notched up five consecutive top-10’s from Marc...

Here’s the full field for the 2013 US PGA Championship. Irish names in the field include Harrington, Clarke, McIlroy, McDowell, Lowry and McGinley.  Nice to see young guns Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama in there too. Anderson, JC - St. Louis, Mo. Aphibarnrat, Kiradech - Bangkok, Thailand Austin, Woody - Derby, Kan. Bae, Sang-Moon - Dae Gu, SOUTH KOREA Balin, Danny - Rockville, Md. Beem, Rich - Austin, Texas Beljan, Charlie - Mesa, Az. Bjorn, Thomas - Silkeborg, DENMARK Blixt, Jonas - Hammaro, SWEDEN Bradley, Keegan - Woodstock, Vt. Brooks, Mark - Ft. Worth, Texas Brown, Mark - Oyster Bay, N.Y. Brown, Scott - Aiken, S.C. Cabrera, Angel - Cordoba, ARGENTINA Cabrera-Bello, Rafael - Gran Canaria, SPAIN Casey, Paul - Surrey, ENGLAND Castro, Roberto - Atlanta, Ga. Chappell, Kevin - Fresno, Calif. Choi, K.J. - Seoul, SOUTH KOREA Cink, Stewart - Duluth, Ga. Clark, Tim - Durban, S. AFRICA Clarke, Darren - Portrush, N. IRELAND Coetzee, George - Pretoria, S. AFRICA Colsaerts, Nicol...

From the EuroPro Tour website Marcus Armitage recorded his first 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour victory when he shot a final-round 68 to win the Kingspan Concra Wood Open by two strokes from Paul Doherty. Armitage finished the event eight under par after his four-under last 18 at the par-72 Concra Wood Golf Club in Castleblayney, Ireland. The Lancastrian began the final round one behind Scotland’s Doherty but began in some style with an eagle on the par-five first, climbing to six under alongside his playing partner Doherty, who opened with a birdie four. Birdies on the third and fourth afforded Armitage a two-stroke advantage, but Doherty hit back-to-back par breakers at seven and eight to leave the pair tied at eight under. Armitage dropped back one when he bogeyed the tenth but Doherty joined him three holes later when he took six at the par-five 13th. On the 14th Armitage returned to eight under and as heavy rain began to engulf the course at Concra Wood, Doherty dropped to si...

By Ron for golfcentraldaily.com Follow @golfcentraldoc Top golf mind guru Joss Verstipoot has today gone on record as knowing the precise reason for Rory McIlroy’s current slump and says it has nothing to do with Nike. “Since Rory has gotten to know Tiger Woods his game has gone downhill,” proclaimed Verstipoot . “Rory looks at everything that Tiger has and wants a piece  of it.  At 24 he feels that his current girlfriend Caroline may not be that special person he can fall in love with, pledge his life to, have kids with, get bored of, grow apart from and then break up with before engaging in a bitter and costly legal battle.  He needs to find a Swedish au pair with zero sporting ability to shack up with and fast.” “Rory sees his friend and idol coming out the other side of a messy divorce with barely a dollar, then getting a brand new hotter girlfriend, winning all the money back and being loved like nothing ever happened by the general public, and feel...

First came the Bubba Hovercraft, then came the Mercedes. Now star of the hit TV series Fast N’ Loud and owner of the Gas Monkey garage Richard Rawlings has unveiled what he described as “the golf cart of the future.” “Our golf cart is revolutionary in both performance and design; it represents a humble buggy only in looks,” proclaimed chief mechanic Aaron Kaufman, adding “There’s a lot more to this baby than meets the eye.” “It’s like the Batmobile, there are over 4,589 features on the cart, including air ride, carbon rims and interior by Sue.  We thought it important to keep the traditional looks of the golf cart but with that Gas Monkey touch. ” The new Gas Monkey golf cart has a price tag of $300 and will be unveiled at next months PGA Championship.   Follow @golfcentraldoc   Technorati Tags: Bubba Hovercraft , Mercedes Golf Cart , Funny Story , Funny n' Loud

Gentleman Phil Mickelson wasn’t about to forget all the hard working people at Callaway HQ in Carlsbad in his moment of glory.  He showed up in casual shorts, t shirt and flip flops to celebrate and pose for photos with CEO Chip Brewer and his team. Among the top Callaway designers Phil thanked were Roger Cleveland (wedges) and Austie Rollinson (putter). To expand post and see more pictures of Phil’s Callaway visit click “read more” below.   The thank you speech and passing the Claret Jug around! With Alan Hocknell in R&D and the looking down from above like God did in Muirfield! Technorati Tags: Phil Mickelson Callaway Visit , Claret Jug , Mickelson Carlsbad Visit , Roger Cleveland , Austie Rollinson , Alan Hocknell , Chip Brewer

Follow @golfcentraldoc First 14 year old Chinese player Guan Tianlang gets picked on by guest R&A referee John Paramor at The Masters and hit with a slow play penalty.  Then at The Open, Japanese sensation Hideki Matsuyama, while over a hole ahead of the group behind, is hit with the same penalty; taking over 40 seconds to hit the ball.  Notwithstanding the fact that Matsuyama was close to the lead and  delayed by having to walk forward to find a line for his shot, he got hammered.   The 21 year old still tied 6th winning $247,809, but without the penalty would have tied third with Scott, Westwood and Poulter and won $391,627. It seems like the R&A have Asian player’s cards marked as slow players and are worried it might become the culture of the world’s emerging golf market. They’ve chosen public humiliation as the best approach. Video shows that several players including Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson took well over 40 seconds (whe...

A MEME is basically is picture with a caption.  Here’s the best I could come up with from this years Open Championship. Technorati Tags: 2013 Open Championship , Funny Pics , Best Memes

Early odds on the betting exchanges Follow @golfcentraldoc Jerry Kelly 75/1 Didn’t play last week so enters The Canadian Open fresh and ready for battle. I love to watch Jerry play, he wears his heart on his sleeve and plays golf with a smile. But if you think for a second, he’s past contending, think again. He has made his last cuts since The Players and improved his finishing place in his last four events since The St Jude Classic. That culminated in a T4 last time out at the John Deere. Jerry played great on this week’s host course too in 2009 finishing T5. Super each way chances.   Hunter Mahan 20/1 Playing too well not to covert soon. A final round of 75 playing in the final group at The Open was disappointing but Mahan can take many good things away from another big Major performance. With a projected winning score of twenty under this week, if Hunter can re-adapt to the parkland game, he has the tools to win.   Brandt Snedeker 16/1 Sneds won the AT&T at Pebbl...

What a wonderful British Open it was. Here are my favourite bits from the week in a tidy little awards package! Follow @golfcentraldoc Smashing Time Award Goes to Dane Thomas Bjorn who smashed the lens on a €70,000 BBC camera whilst trying to extract his ball from the rough on his very first hole. He’s always had a love hate relationship with the media! Best Lookalike Award Goes to leading amateur contender Jimmy Mullen and Happy Gilmore’s first caddie. The likeness is uncanny! Incredible Honesty Award Goes to Rory McIlroy who after again bowing out of a Major Championship with a whimper, described his performance as “Brain Dead.” It’s a mark of the man, that isn’t afraid to call it like it is. Best Sunglasses Award Go to Lee Westwood’s yellow Bolle shades. Having contacted the company (yes I am that nerdy) I found out that they are a VIP version of their Vortex sunglasses. They wouldn’t look out of place on Chris Froome! Best and Worst Tartan Award Of cour...

Johnson Wagner was livid after completing his third round.  So much so that he refused to sign playing partner Hideki Matsuyama’s scorecard for several minutes. So what happened? Wagner was left dumbfounded after the R&A imposed a one shot slow penalty on playing partner Hideki Matsuyama, who at the time was near the top of the leaderboard.   The young Japanese, according to Wagner, was trying to extricate himself from an incredibly tough position.  Since they had been already warned, the R&A deemed the 2 minutes and 12 seconds spent by Matsuyama assessing up his options prior to playing the shot, was worthy of a one stroke penalty. Follow @golfcentraldoc   Afterwards Wagner refused to sign Matsuyama’s scorecard in protest until the Japanese player convinced him he had accepted the one stroke penalty. "I don't think he took too long under the situation. I think it's tragic, and the R&A should use better judgment in the penalizing of it," h...

Thanks Dwayne in Providence for sending in this beaut. Señor Bob is away on a golfing weekend. At dawn the telephone rings,     "Hello, Señor Bob? This is Ernesto, the caretaker at your country house." "Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?" "Um, I am just calling to advise you, Señor Bob, that your parrot, he is dead". "My parrot? Dead? The one that won the International competition?" "Si, Señor, that's the one." "Damn! That's a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did he die from?" "From eating the rotten meat, Señor Bob." "Rotten meat? Who the hell fed him rotten meat?" "Nobody, Señor. He ate the meat of the dead horse." "Dead horse? What dead horse?" "The thoroughbred, Señor Bob ...." "My prize thoroughbred is dead?" "Yes, Señor Bob, he died from all that work pulling the water cart." "Are yo...