Magic For McIlroy: Rory's A Winner Again At Wells Fargo - Dog Leg News

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Tom Edrington

Tom Edrington spent the first 10 years of his misguided youth as a sports writer for the Tampa Tribune. His career brought him face to face with many of sports greatest stars -- Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Muhammad Ali, Don Shula, countless Hall of Fame NFL stars, more PGA Tour players than he can count. In 1980 he was honored by the Golf Writers Association of America for writing the best news story that year, his coverage of Jack Nicklaus' U.S. Open victory at Baltusrol. Today, 36 years later, golf is still a great part of his life, thanks to competitive playing days and the wonderful people he has met on this fabulous journey.

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9 Comments

  1. 1

    baxter cepeda

    Well well well…Rory believers were not let down this week; we’re they?

    It’s a bit unexpected considering the driving is still shaky and being shockingly revolutionized while the shorter approaches are still mediocre.

    Still Pete Cowen adds to his legend.

    As mentioned in the article, it was the putter that put Rory over the top this week. Rory is a streaky putter if there ever was one. But his streaks —good or bad— tend to last a while. His putter has been showing signs. It fully showed up this week. The question is can it carry Rory at the pga?

    It’s definitely tempting to suddenly start calling Rory the favorite at Kiawah considering his PgA win there and this 3rd W at Quail Hollow.
    But buyer beware; this week definitely was a case of ‘horses for courses’. That being said; he has proven to be a good horse at The Ocean Course.

    But the real story with Rory is abandoning his iconic draw with the driver; which earned him playing from 33% of the fairways this week. As mentioned in the telecast, various times he should have clearly been further to the right side of the tee box. Cant blame him, he is basically a novice playing fades off the tee.

    Rory blames today’s technology for ditching his draw — an alarming comment on its own in the distance debate — but this may be a case of something Mr Cowen cannot replace Mr Bannon.

    As Tom knows Kiawah is a tough place for wild drives. When Rory won there his draws were on full throttle. And of course he made some putts.

    The putters is ready; but the driving is still a huge question.

    Still; Rory did it again. He provided yet another big time win; this time when least expected. This is what the greats do. And there is no doubt Rory —who will be one of the few with 20 pga tour wins the next time he gets one—is a great one indeed.

    1. 1.1

      Tom Edrington

      After all the super shots he hit, he also went to the draw for that crucial shot at 17, of course Faldo was calling for a fade…..can’t get that final three-wood out of my mind, that HUGE hook, so reminiscent of the big hook off No. 10 at Augusta National……Rory still has the “Devil Ball” in him, at least for now….but the putter carried him to this one as it often does for so many winners on the PGA Tour….

      1. 1.1.1

        baxter cepeda

        His shot on 17 was perfect for Rory. It’s the driver that doesn’t want to draw for Rory. No surprise he went with draw on 17; it was a safe shot for him with the lead.

        18 is 18. Rory doesn’t want to play too safe, but if there ever is a hole to use a 2 stroke advantage by hitting iron off the tee and maybe laying up, the Quail Hollow finisher has to be the one.

        He probably could have hit that slice driver somewhere right also. It’s a tough hole no matter how you slice it; no pun intended.

        Not sure why it took them so long to consider the drop from the creek but they got around to it.

        But Everybody hits wild shots; the important thing for Rory is he got the job done.

        On to Cincinnati….Or Dallas.

        1. 1.1.1.1

          Tom Edrington

          It would be to his ultimate advantage if he could learn Tiger’s go-to “Stinger”…..actually, it’s on to Kiawah for the PGA

          1. 1.1.1.1.1

            baxter cepeda

            Before we move on why no mention of the walker cup?

            It was probably the best event of the week. Imo.

            And have to ask do we actually need Jack to once again propose including all of Europe to the gb&i team?;

            GB&I only have about 70 million people to pick from to go up against the mighty Americans. Europe has double the population of the US but the Ryder Cup is beautifully competitive.

            The walker cup is a great event as is, but no doubt would also be a better, more competitive event with all of Europe involved.

          2. Tom Edrington

            If we start with amateur golf, we have to do all the big amateur stuff; maybe a few will make it to the next level but right now, our top amateurs who have turned pro are really struggling…..

  2. 2

    baxter cepeda

    Amateur events are raising in status with the long overdue coverage we have now.

    There will be many good players from both these Walker Cup teams whom will have very solid pro careers, at least according to the analysts, especially Zinger; and the ol eye test here.

    Fitzpatricks brother looks very promising. And fiery. gb&i had no ‘push overs’ according to Azinger.

    The American team is absolutely stacked; including the 30 year with the head of a 59 year old still playing elite amateur golf in Hagestad. They asked him what keeps him motivated, which puts to question ‘there are no dumb questions’ but. The career amateur prepares for these moments. The pros present themselves as not caring about money; this guy lives it. He is no Bobby Jones but he certainly reminds us of the greatest amateur. If he turned pro he could be a Matt Kuchar type imo. Cash money.

    And then there was the story of everyone getting super sick with a still unexplained ailment. Food? Virus? Guys in the prime of their lives were returning with the ‘I just got an iv’ cotton swab on their arms.

    Then there was Seminole, truly one of the best tracks, playing perfectly on the edge both days.

    It’s not ‘what is holly Saunders up to now?’ newsworthy, but these big time amateur events deserve some love on DLN. Imo.

    1. 2.1

      Tom Edrington

      Our order of importance (we used to put this list together in the “old newspaper” days to determine placement in the sports section……My order of importance is pretty much: PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour, Korn Ferry then the MAJORS trump all of them along with news on particular players; If we start doing amateurs, then you gotta go NCAA, and so on and so forth…..probably put some US Am stuff in there because way back when it used to count as a major….

      1. 2.1.1

        baxter cepeda

        I’m aware how old newspapers work; which are actually limited by paper and printer.

        You got no problem putting an ncaa regional in the dog house; to be fair that should mean at least the ncaa individual and team championships deserve some love.

        If I remember right you have put some top usga amateur stories.

        Not everything but the ncaa finals, usga amateurs, junior pga, British Ams, maybe ANA junior inspiration (since the winner plays the main event) and the Walker Cup and Junior Ryder Cup . Those are all bigger than Korn Ferry …that’s for sure.

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