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2014 Alstom Open de France Le Golf National Paris, France 03 Jul 2014 - 06 Jul 2014 Doc's Top 5 To Watch Graeme McDowell 11/1 McDowell returns to Europe this week to defend the title he won in some style here last year.  A good early season has been followed by a very average year to date but that was improved greatly by a T6 at the Irish Open.  GMac knows too that tournament was there for the taking had he holed ANY putt in the final round.  The linksy feel of the Golf National outside Paris suits Graeme and if it plays as tough as in 2013 when nine under got the job done by four shots from Richard Sterne, I fancy McDowell to defend. Thomas Bjorn 22/1 Again building momentum ahead of the Open Championship and I feel Bjorn will be featuring plenty in my tips over the next few weeks.  Impressive at Augusta (T8) and Wentworth (T3) Bjorn was also solid at the Nordea Masters (T15) and again last week in Germany (T8).  A 74 on Saturday here last season (with a double...

If you ever get the opportunity to play Bethpage Black, a golf course so tough it has a warning sign on your way to the first tee, the last thing you need is added pressure to play well. The Black is an absolutely brutal test of golf, and golfers spend nights sleeping in cars for the opportunity to get beat up by this golf course for five straight hours. TaylorMade decided to give golfers warming up to play the Black a unique experience by bringing in Sergio Garcia to hit some golf balls and sign some autographs with the golfers, but that wasn't it. These random people would become professional golfers, if only for a few minutes, and the results were pretty amazing. The guys at TaylorMade drove out a truck and fit everybody at the range for one of their new SLDR drivers, and then had a first tee experience that made it feel like a PGA Tour tournament. Golfers got their names announced, had Sergio on the tee with them and even had fans watching and cheering as they got their...

Today sees the start of the World Cup in Rio and while the players are teeing it up in Pinehurst, some will have one eye on how their country is doing in Brazil. Sergio Garcia is a massive Real Madrid fan and has several mates playing for Spain. Rory McIlroy is a Manchester United supporter and filmed a Nike advert with Wayne Rooney last year and though I'm sure he'll be wishing the United players well, he might just stop short of supporting England. One man who will be cheering on the three lions is Ian Poulter, a lifelong Arsenal fan.  Poults once wore the Arsenal jersey at a Tour event, knowing he would be fined.  Diehard! Joost Luiten trained with Feyenoord who play in the Dutch league and he'll be shouting for Holland who face a tough test to emerge from their group. And Martin Kaymer will be backing one of the tournament favourites Germany.  Similar to Poulter, Kaymer wore a Germany jersey for one hole in a tournament a few years back. Unfortunately we don't th...

This past weekend saw a lot of great storylines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf. Winners Stacy Lewis â€" On Sunday evening, after Lewis had made a slippery left-to-right putt on the final green for a tournament-clinching birdie and a final round 65, she was asked about the pressure of playing in front of the pro-Lewis fan base. Lewis, who went to college at the University of Arkansas, said that this Sunday was more nerve-racking than the final round of the U.S. Open last week (she finished second at Pinehurst), but she handled it perfectly and won her third LPGA title of 2014. Lewis, the No. 1 ranked player in the game, continues to impress, and had to hold off the likes of Lydia Ko, Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie to claim this title. Justin Rose â€" His win on Sunday at Congressional now makes Rose the king of the tough golf courses, and while he did make a loose swing on the 72nd hole to...

Never mind that Monty has never had more than a serious dose of the sweats to show for his trips to the US, he's all set to win the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores. It's all going swimmingly so far for the new super-patient Monty even if playing partner Bernhard Langer has been doing his best to push his buttons. Speaking after about the German's snail impression, Monty said "Bernhard is different,  you have to adjust your own pace. There's no point in playing faster to make up for someone who isn't as fast. So you have to adjust your own pace and form and that's what I do playing with Bernhard. There's no point in me rushing around.  I'm going nowhere on my own. "So you just have to abide by what's gone on and you play accordingly.  And I know the situation, I've known Bernhard for 30 years and I played golf with Bernhard for 30 years and I've enjoyed it. We have had great success and great times together. I really enjoy w...

When Brett Rumford is good, he’s untouchable.  And along with Thomas Bjorn he has the greatest set of eyebrows in professional golf. But if the the loveable Aussie has any weakness, it might be that he just goes a bit crooked off the tee from time to time.  With an accuracy clip of seven fairways or 49% per round on the European Tour this season, bringing the wonky big stick to the toughened up Doral was going to be a big ask for Brett. And so it proved on the very first hole, which this year has been transformed from one of the easiest holes on Tour to one of the toughest. Poor old Brett banged his first three shots straight into the water before finally hitting his seventh stroke down the right to safety.  He ended up with a sextuple-bogey 11 to start the tournament. Could things get any worse for Brett who was 8 over when rain stopped play?  Yep.  There’s no cut this week.   Technorati Tags: Brett Rumford Funny Pic

I haven't seen Seve The Movie yet, but I have to admit, I cant wait.  I'm a huge fan.  The professional movie critics however, having seen the movie, don't share my optimism.  I read Peter Bradshaw's review of Seve The Movie in The Guardian today and while he gives it three stars out of five, it's clear reading between the lines that the critic was trying to be kind. Bradshaw carefully places his criticisms among his good words. This likable film about golfing hero Seve Ballesteros, who died in 2011, is a misty-eyed tribute that, in DVD form, is destined to rest on the memorabilia-packed shelves of legions of golf-crazy guys Golf may not provide the same immediate thrills as motor racing but this film â€" as lengthy and leisurely as the game itself â€" is endearing. This is primarily for fans, but it's engaging enough. Tim Robey in the Telegraph didn't mince his words; he plainly didn't enjoy it. So much so that the article is titled Seve, rev...

They say everyone has a double somewhere  and according to the New York Post , a guy called Canh Oxelson made a healthy living from impersonating Tiger Woo ds for several years.  It has all turned sour now for Oxelson after he was arrested for threating to send naked pictures of an ex-girlfriend who works as a Manhattan  nurse to her bosses.  Minochy Delanois, 28, made a complaint to police after the attempted threat.   Follow @golfcentraldoc Oxelson is a Harvard graduate who now works as head of counseling at an elite college but once commanded $3,000 to impersonate Tiger Woods at corporate golf outings. Apparently bookings dried up after the Woods sex scandal. How ironic!   Technorati Tags: Canh Oxelson , Tiger Woods Impersonator

I think everyone in the GolfCentralDaily community was shocked not only to hear that Sky Sports analyst Ross McFarlane had been jailed following conviction on paedophilia charges, but that the news was kept so quiet that very few people knew. When a reader told me about McFarlane last night, I have to say I had to do a double take. I had him pegged as a nice guy and a good commentator.  I remember once even bumping into him at a waterpark in Tenerife with my four kids by my side. Imagine how weird that feels now? And what about Sky Sports? They swept that under the carpet didn't they? What makes it even worse is that McFarlane first received a suspended sentence but was then jailed after breaching a court order by trying to access child pornography covertly through a kids X Box. The news story actually dates back three months to the 31st March 2014  when The Mirror newspaper reported the story. The 52-year-old was given a 10-month suspended jail term on January 30, but is now ...

This week at Congressional marks the first with the name "Quicken Loans" attached to it. The online mortgage lender teamed up with Tiger Woods to headline this event, and promised some nice prizes for fans if anyone in the field made a hole-in-one. While nobody has carded one on the par-3 10th yet this week (that prize is worth $1 million to some lucky golfer), we did see a fan get her mortgage paid for the rest of the year thanks to the ace on the par-3 second by Peter Hanson on Saturday. Hanson's hole-in-one on the lengthy par-3 meant that Arline Deacon of Fayetteville, Ga. lands a year's worth of her mortgage being paid for thanks to Quicken Loans, and that is a pretty special prize for anyone that signs up for the contest . Hanson of course is pretty happy with the ace considering he hasn't played his best golf this Saturday, and I feel the only appropriate thing would be for Arline to at least buy Hanson a drink after his round. The hole-in-one rules ...

I wonder is Tiger Woods pulling everyone's leg on purpose. Trying to get the media back for uncovering all the bad stuff a few years ago maybe?  Because these days, he says one thing, then does the exact opposite. First was the recovery from the back surgery.  Not playing for the 'foreseeable future', turned out to pretty darn well foreseeable as he showed up to play in his own tournament at Congressional. Then saying "I need more reps" all week whilst not entering in the Greenbrier, the Scottish Open  or ANY tournament before The Open Championship.  Does he mean "more reps" on the golf course in tournament play or "more reps" in the gym.  I'm beginning to think the latter. Follow @golfcentraldoc on twitter Everyone knows Woods' target nowadays focuses solely on Majors.  It seems impossible to imagine any player, even Tiger, genuinely contending at Hoylake without having played more than two "practice" tournament rounds four w...

It's not often I get angry on my blog and rant, so please forgive me this once. First and foremost let me say that I'm a Sky Sports fan.  I pay my Sky subscription every month and consider it excellent value for money.  I'm also a fan of Sarah, Denis, Rob, Gary (when he goes over) and the golf team, for the most part. Which is why I have to stand up for the ordinary decent Sky subscriber here when I say the display of analysis this evening during the second round of the Quicken Loans National from Simon Holmes and Mark Roe was scraping the very bottom of the barrel marked 'waste'. Do the men realize there are people out there watching them?  Instead of an insight, we got handbags all evening over Tiger Woods.  There was a palpable undercurrent of smugness, backbiting, oneupmanship, ill feeling and genuine niggle between the two.  All that was missing was Eddie Hearn trying to sell tickets to the argument. Sarah Stirk seemed not just uncomfortable, but thoroughl...

You didn't really expect him to win, did you? Tiger Woods returned to action at the Quicken Loans National for his first tournament since back surgery, his first competitive play since early March. He cautioned that he'd be rusty, and he was indeed that: maybe not tractor-left-to-the-elements-for-a-generation rusty, but certainly needing-more-than-an-oil-can rusty. Playing the notoriously devilish Congressional Country Club, Woods, with a +7, missed the cut by a large margin, but then that wasn't really the point: at his own tournament, it was enough that he just showed up. After a choppy first day that saw him finish at +3 and right on the edge of the projected cut, Woods began the day with four straight pars and seemed wobbly, but steady enough to make a run at the weekend. His driver was working just fine, and his short game, while jittery and held together with duct tape, was enough to keep him in the hunt. And then came the 5th, in which an errant approach and a ...

Tastefully shot pictures of famous golfers posing nude has been traditional fare in the annual  ESPN  â€œBody Issue” and the new 2014 issue featuring is set to break sales records for the publication. The issue, set to be released on general sale tomorrow features two photos of Colin Montgomerie. The first  photo is of Montgomerie  at the famous La Jenny Naturist Golf Course, on France’s west coastline, enjoying a round with fellow nudists John Paramor and Lindsey Vonn. The second, shot in the European Team room at Celtic Manor where he famously orchestrated victory in the 2010 Ryder Cup, sees the then Captain reclining playfully at his desk. In appearing in the 2014 ESPN  â€œBody Issue” Montgomerie joins the likes of  Gary Player, Camilo Villegas, Sandra Gal, Christina Kim, Belen Mozo and Suzann Pettersen who have all appeared in previous issues. Follow @golfcentraldoc on twitter for loads more fun.

I really actually did feel sorry Tiger Woods when I saw him at 5 over par, dead last in the field, 13 holes into his comeback round at Congressional.  I thought, there's no way he'll play in The Open at this rate. But then Woods produced two epic birdies in his closing holes (playing the course the wrong way round) to put a bit of a shine on an otherwise rusty round. So a 74, seven shots off the pace is not all that bad. Funny enough, it was the aspects of his game that he could practice, short chips and putting, that let him down.  Woods got up-and-down to save par from eight attempts and took 31 putts. I would need to check with Brandel Chamblee, but I would guess that's a C+ from Tiger! Follow Doc on twitter here . TIGER WOODS HOLE-BY-HOLE STATS Hole Par Fairway hit Driving distance Green in Regulation Putts needed 10 3     No 2 11 4 Yes 308 yards No 2 12 4 Yes 266 yards Yes 2 13 3     Yes 2 14 4 Yes 295 yards Yes 1 15 4 No 274 yards No 2 16 5 Yes 320 ya...

There was some good from Tiger Woods and definitely some bad as the most recognizable golfer on the planet made his return to competitive golf on Thursday. Woods opened with a 3-over 74 at the Quicken Loans National event, a respectable number that could have been much worse considering the way he started. Tiger had been gone from competitive golf since March 9 because of a surgical procedure he had on his back, and really shocked a lot of golf fans when he announced he would be in the field this week at his own event. The day started out rough, as Woods made bogeys on his first two holes, and despite a birdie on his fifth hole of the day, it was a 4-over 39 that Tiger went out in. He was able to bring the score closer to par as his day ended thanks to three birdies over his final six holes, and despite the surprising score next to Tiger's name, it was a pretty decent return and the way he finished only brings hope for Friday's round.

It wasn't exactly the start that Tiger Woods had hoped for after more than three months away from the PGA Tour, but it is a start, and that is a good thing. Woods, who hasn't played a round on the PGA Tour since March 9, teed off early on Thursday morning at Congressional Country Club for the first round of the Quicken Loans National, and while it wasn't the start he wanted, his round is underway and we have yet to see any sign of pain from Woods. Tiger's opening tee shot on the par-3 10th hole found the greenside bunker, and he wasn't able to get that up-and-down for his par. Woods also made a bogey on the 11th hole, but got one back with this great birdie on the par-4 14th. Woods is on the course for his opening round, so make sure to follow the live leaderboard right now as he is finally back to playing professional golf again on the PGA Tour. - - - - - - - Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a ...

One of the phrases that Tiger Woods has stuck with his entire career is, "if I'm teeing it up, I'm playing to win." That changed with his unexpected return to the PGA Tour after back surgery , announcing to the world that he will play in his own event this week at Congressional but saying during his Tuesday news conference that he probably wouldn't be back if not for the tournament's affiliation with his foundation. On Thursday, it was apparent that Woods isn't in form to win, but he showed signs of positivity as he closed out the opening round of the Quicken Loans National. Woods posted a 3-over 74, not bad considering he was 6-over at one point on his back nine and sitting alone in last place on the leaderboard . The opening nine for Woods was a mixture of loose approach shots and weak touch around the green. Woods missed five greens on his opening nine holes, failing to get up-and-down once to save par. His lone birdie on the front nine kept him ...

Tiger would will play in the first round of the Quicken Loans National today, but only because he is hosting the event, and attempting to appease a new sponsor. Woods was by all accounts, well below average in the Pro-Am yesterday, spraying his driver around Congressional and wincing more in frustration than in pain. He told reporters yesterday  "I'm out there pumping 8-irons 135 and that's all I have." Woods still also maintained that playing this week represented a minimal risk to his recovery following an op for a pinched nerve and referred to  strange goal that didn't involve Major Championships. "I'm just trying to get in the Playoffs somehow," said Woods.  Tiger also admitted he'll never be able again to trouble the younger longer hitters of the game, such as Bubba, for distance.  "I've had to rely on different parts of my game and strategy and understand how course management skills are improved." So it'll be interested t...

P layers in this year’s British Amateur Championship will be allowed use their rangefinders during the tournament.  The R&A have ruled them legal in all their amateur competitions from 2014. In a statement on the matter, the R&A did it’s very best to un-clarify what seems a pretty clear decision. "The championship committee would like to emphasise that it has taken this decision for R&A events but is not making this a recommendation for other championship organisers to follow," added a statement. "It remains a matter for individual committees and clubs to decide whether or not they want to allow the use of such devices in their competitions." Rory MCIlroy, himself a decorated amateur, backs the move, and agrees that pros should not be allowed to use them if they use a caddie. "I don't see the need really for someone with a caddie because although you can laser a pin, sometimes it's not that you need; you might need a back edge yardage...

With Tiger and Rory in the field in Dubai, organizers of the Phoenix Open are sweating over the fitness of defending champion Phil Mickelson. Follow @golfcentraldoc Mickelson withdrew mid tournament from the Farmers Open after suffering a recurring back pain and since then has announced he will not now play in the Phoenix Open Pro-Am event this Wednesday. Mickelson is undergoing intensive treatment to try to be fit in time  and will instead face a practice session on Wednesday after which a decision on whether to play will be made. "If it was any other tournament, I'd skip it," Mickelson said, "but I'm defending, Phoenix is my second hometown and I love the event. I'll have a light practice session and if it goes well I may try to play." Technorati Tags: Phil Mickelson Back Pain

Tiger Woods announced his return to competitive golf just in the nick of time for The Open Championship.  He's back on the PGA Tour next week at the Quicken Loans National and now looks a certainty to tee it up at Hoylake on July 17th. Woods made the announcement using his facebook page yesterday. After a lot of therapy I have recovered well and will be supporting my foundation next week at the Quicken Loans National. I've just started to hit full shots but it's time to take the next step. I will be a bit rusty but I want to play myself back into competitive shape. Excited for the challenge ahead. You may take that statement with a pinch of salt.  If Tiger Woods is teeing it up on the PGA Tour it is because he is READY and rusty only in the sense of not having played tournament golf. I have it on very good authority from insiders in Florida that Woods had been almost exclusively pitching and putting for several weeks during his rehab and his short game is sharper than ever ...

2014 BMW International Open Betting Preview And Tips Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof,  Köln, Germany 26 Jun 2014 - 29 Jun 2014 Favourite Preview Martin Kaymer 7/1 The home favourite will have a whole bunch of media obligations this week yet will start favourite and justifiably so having won at Pinehurst and before that at Sawgrass.  K aymer is also a past winner of the BMW International Open in 2008 and scored T4 in 2013 but those events were both staged at Eichenreid.  A word of warning, this year the event returns to Gut Larchenhof where Martin missed the cut in 2012.  Doc’s Top 5 To Watch (subject to withdrawals pre tournament) 1.        Henrik Stenson 8/1 A big win is coming soon for Henrik, pinpointing exactly when it will happen it the tough thing. Has finished seventh or better in four of his last five starts including China (T5), Wenworth (T7), Malmo (5th) and Pinehurst (T4).  The Swede has also finished in the top 10 in the la...

This past weekend saw a lot of great storylines and we are here to give you the good and the bad of it. Here are our winners and losers from the past week in golf. Winners Michelle Wie â€" A first major win for Wie was highlighted by an incredible bounce-back birdie on the 17th hole at Pinehurst on Sunday evening. Wie had just made a double-bogey on the 16th and it looked like it might be another disappointing finish, but this is a different player than years past, and that birdie putt on the 17th was as clutch as they come. Her win is huge not only for Wie but for the LPGA, and while I wrote earlier this year about the reasons to root for Wie at these majors, I think this win was inevitable considering how she has played in 2014 and I wouldn't be surprised if she picks up another by the end of the year. Kevin Streelman â€" Normally when you have 10 one-putts in a row it means you're not hitting it that great, but Streelman's incredible finish at the Travel...

I'm totally baffled as to why Tiger Woods said yesterday that he wants to play himself back to full tournament fitness in a bid to contend at the Open Championship when the reality seems to be that he's going to play just one tournament,  the Quicken Loans National next week, get a full diagnostic report from doctors, and then determine whether he's going to make the transatlantic journey to Liverpool. It seems somehow that Wo ods is under some duress to play next week as the tournament benefits his charitable work. Woods wont be at the Greenbrier Classic the following week according to Geoff who spoke to organizer Jim Justice who in turn spoke to Mark Steinberg, Tiger's agent. “He is going to play in his event (the tournament at Congressional donates money to the Tiger Woods Foundation), and then he’ll be off until the British Open,” said Justice, who said he received a courtesy call from Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, Friday telling him the news. “Tiger l...

Ben Crane and Kevin Na and all you slow coaches out there check this out.  How impressive is playing a 6,300 yard course with a running length of 5 miles (8 kilometres) in just 39 minutes? That's what reigning World Speed Golf Champion Rob Hogan clocked on his first outing stateside of the year on his way to winning the Eastern American Speedgolf Open in Richmond Virginia. Here's the release from the event. Irishman Rob Hogan defended his title at the Ea stern American Speedgolf Open this Saturday at the Foundry Golf Club in Richmond VA. Hogan, who plays out of Cregmore Park Golf Club in Co. Galway shot a Speedgolf score of 118, taking 79 shots in just 39 minutes. NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News Allan Phillips of Arizona was runner up with a Speedgolf score of 121.  The event raised over $100,000 for the First Tee childrens programme of Richmond an d Chesterfield. Hogan, who is the current world champion and official Speedgolf World no.1 said, "It is an honour to be i...

Though drivers unveils generally get more of the attention and irons innovation having plateaued somewhat, the introduction of a sole slot has been huge for TaylorMade. In less than two years they have released four new irons all featuring the slot designed to give the face the maximum trampoline effect at impact and create better ballspeed, launch angle and thus more distance. Following on the success of the SLDR driver comes the new SLDR irons which join the Tour Preferred MC and CB irons and Speedblade iron as the company's current offering. This time the "Speed Pocket" is a 2 mm slot cut (filled with a cavity) all the way through the sole so that it is open from bottom to top of the cavity. Prevalent on the 3 to 7 irons, the slot increases the face flex to the USGA's limits and is said to be especially noticeable on shots hit low on the clubface, which makes sense. TaylorMade themselves say that the new SLDR irons are more like metalwoods in the manner the face fl...

This is quite amazing.  Ratings in the US have shown the popularity of the Masters was way down this year.  That's understandable you might say with Tiger out, Phil missing the cut and Adam and Rory not in the mix. However the real problem might be the way US television covers sports. This guy at Classic TV counted every shot shown on CBS coverage of the final round of The Masters. The coverage lasted five hours and not surprisingly almost every shot hit by Bubba and Jordan Spieth was shown. Follow @golfcentraldoc CBS did not show one single shot of Lee Westwood's final round.  The Englishman started from 2 under and finished in 7th.  Neither did they show any shot hit by Jimmy Walker or Bernhard Langer who tied for 8th. I may stand corrected by this we got to see more of a spread of the field, possibly from feed by Sky Sports extra cameras, and I for one was presented with plenty of plots and subplots to keep my interest. But it really makes you wonder, and worr...

It has been a pretty incredible year for breakout star Chesson Hadley, who won earlier this season at the Puerto Rico Open and has had some solid finishes in his first full season on the PGA Tour.  This week wasn't one of his best, with Hadley missing the cut on Friday after a second round 72, but his recovery shot on the par-4 15th hole is as good as they come.  Hadley's ball was well up in the bushes on the par-4, and after taking free relief from the scoreboard, still found himself in a very, very tough spot. No worries for the 26-year-old, who somehow got the ball out of the nasty stuff, landed it on the front of the green and watched it nearly go in for the eagle. It didn't fall, but he was able to knock in the birdie, and give us one of the recovery shots of the year on the PGA Tour. 

Proof if it were ever needed that professional golfers will latch on to THE most ridiculous training aids if they believe it can help him find the answer. Here’s Martin Kaymer on the range in Augusta with a tennis ball hanging around his neck as he swings. Follow @golfcentraldoc How this could possibly be beneficial I do not know, but given how strange it looks, I really do hope it’s worth it. Or maybe he’s just trying to woo pink haired Caroline Wozniacki away from Rors?  One things for sure, if Kaymer does win The Masters, these things will bounce off the shelves. Technorati Tags: 2014 US Masters , Martin Kayme r , Tennis Ball Traning Aid