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MI Golf Holidays

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23

Jul
Mon

History is made at 2012 U.S. Junior Amateurs

Andy Hyeon Bo Shim holds the trophy after winning the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Photo: Jim Cole/AP PhotoLike the British Open, both the boys' an girls' U.S. Junior Amateur tournaments ended in dramatic comeback fashion as Andy Hyeon Bo Shim and Minjee Lee took home their respective titles over the weekend. Shim, 17, of Duluth, Ga., rebounded from a 5-hole deficit -- the largest comeback in championship-match history -- to defeat Jim Liu, 16, of Smithtown, N.Y., 4 and 3, and claim the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur title at the 7,125-yard, par-72 Golf Club of New England."This is a dream come true," said Shim. "I couldn't believe myself. He [Liu] is in the top 5 (juniors) in the country... I was 5 down, but if I just keep making my birdies on the front nine, it happens... I just kept thinking about one shot ahead." Liu, who became the youngest-ever champion of the Junior Amateur when he won at the age of 14 in 2010, was 5 up after the morning 18 of the 36-hole match, but Shim won eight of the first 10 holes in the afternoon on the strength of three birdies, one eagle and six pars to turn the match around.Shim becomes the third Korean player to win the Junior Amateur. Terry Noe of Korea won in 1994 and Sihwan Kim won in 2004.On the girl's side, held at the 6,291-yard, par-72 Lake Merced Golf Club, Australia's Minjee Lee, 16, won four of the final six holes for a 1-up victory over Alison Lee, 17, of Valencia, Calif., in Saturday's 36-hole finale. If you recall, Alison Lee was one three amateurs to make the cut at the U.S. Women's Open two weeks ago."I'm so relieved that it's over," said Minjee Lee, currently ranked No. 8 in the Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking. "I was so tense coming into the last couple of holes." Minjee Lee became the eighth USGA champion to hail from Australia, and the first since Geoff Ogilvy won the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. She is only the third Aussie female to capture a USGA championship, joining Jan Stephenson (1983 Women's Open) and Hall of Famer Karrie Webb (2000-01 Women's Open).For a full recap, head over to the USGA website. -- Derek Evers Follow @derekevers !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

23

Jul
Mon

Slap Your Hand

This drill will teach you to release the club correctly.

23

Jul
Mon

My Checklist

How to get your swing back.

23

Jul
Mon

Crouching Tiger

How the game's once-dominant player is making his full swing & ball flight more consistent.

23

Jul
Mon

2012 British Open: Fashion Hits & Misses

Golf Digest's Mr. Style weighs in on the fashion statements made at the 2012 British Open

22

Jul
Sun

Els and Scott fall on opposite sides of a painfully-thin line

Ernie Els with the Claret Jug inside the men's locker room. Photo: Ian Walton/R&ALYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- It's one of the game's oldest aphorisms and it was never more apposite than on the final day of this 141st Open Championship at Royal Lytham: Every shot in golf pleases someone. So it was that, as Adam Scott stumbled and fumbled his way to four successive bogeys over the closing holes, the new "champion golfer of the year," Ernie Els, played the back nine in a startling 32 strokes to steal the title from the unfortunate Australian. It was, as so often in golf at any level, first the gathering-pace of Scott's sad decline, then the dark inevitability of his loss that will stick in the memory. Armed with a four- stroke lead at the start of Sunday's bright and blustery round, Scott couldn't quite get it done and now finds himself grouped with the likes of Arnold Palmer (1966 U.S. Open), Ed Sneed (1979 Masters), Nick Price (1982 British Open), Greg Norman (1986 PGA and 1996 Masters), Mike Reid (1989 PGA) and Jean Van de Velde (1999 British Open) -- those who lost major championships they really should have won. Related: The best and worst from Sunday at the British Open With four holes to play, Scott seemed to have everything under control. A birdie at the 444-yard 14th had restored his four-shot advantage and, with no one up ahead able to make anything like a telling move, ultimate victory seemed assured. But it wasn't. Dropping a shot into the wind at the brutal 15th -- it averaged 4.61 for the final day and was the hardest hole on the course -- was no big deal, but the same cannot be said of the three-putt bogey Scott perpetrated at the drivable 336-yard 16th. Suddenly, when Els made birdie at the closing hole, Scott needed two tough pars to win -- and wasn't up to either task. "I know I've let a really great chance slip through my fingers today," he said afterwards. "But somehow I'll look back and take the positives from it. I don't think I've ever played this well in a major championship, so that's a good thing for me moving forward. All the stuff I'm doing is going in the right direction. Today is one of those days, and that's why they call it golf." Related: The worst major meltdowns As you'd expect from a man of his experience, Els was both sympathetic and understanding of the younger man's pain. The pair are great friends -- and former Presidents Cup partners -- and the big South African has had his own share of major disappointment over the course of his 19-year professional career. "The ones where you come close and don't win, those stay with you," he told Scotland on Sunday during last week's Scottish Open. "2004 was easily the worst year of my golfing life. And, at the same time, it was a great year. There were a few 'almosts.' I almost won all four majors and I was almost number one in the world. "So, when it comes to the majors, I feel like I am maybe a little over par, given the level of my ability and talent. I'm hard on myself, but I feel like five or six wins would be more realistic. That would have put me in the Nick Faldo/Seve Ballesteros sort of area, which is where I feel like I belong." Related: Ernie Els' putting checklist Now, of course, Els has four majors to his name and is one notch closer to joining that illustrious duo, a fact he puts down to a much-improved general attitude and the work he has done with coach Sherylle Calder on his much-criticized putting stroke. Lest it be forgotten, only three months ago Els' stroke was the subject of public ridicule -- courtesy of CBS commentator David Feherty -- and failed to qualify for an invitation to this year's Masters. "I started with Sherylle in the first week of January this year," he revealed. "When she saw my stroke she told me it was the worst she had ever seen in any professional she had ever worked with. So I've come a long way in a very short time." Still, Els' victory was not solely down to improved technique. There was a little bit of inspiration in there too, courtesy of his ten-year old son, Ben, who suffers from autism. "I made a lot of putts today with Ben in mind, because I know he's watching," said Els senior. "He loves it when I hit golf balls. He's always there. He comes with me. He loves the flight of the ball and the sound. I know he was watching today, and I was trying to keep him excited. I wanted to keep him excited, so I made a lot of putts for him today." -- John Huggan Follow @JohnHuggan !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

22

Jul
Sun

Knocked on his heels early in final round, Woods is unable to recover

Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty ImagesLYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- For years Tiger Woods seemed to inhabit the right side of the fine line between winning and something else. Twinned with his greatness, especially in the major championships, those bits of good fortune helped his cause. Woods' 5-iron to the demanding par-4 sixth hole Sunday in the final round of the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes flirted with an evil bunker short of the sixth green. "It was one yard," Woods said. "One yard." These three feet didn't work in Woods' favor. His approach found the sand instead of safety, and he hardly had a shot. His only good luck was that the ricochet just missed him. Woods did well to escape the deep hazard on his second attempt after manufacturing a creative shot from his knees that rode the top of the face and skittered on the green. Related: How Tiger's swing has changed Three putts and a triple bogey later, the chance that Woods was going to be able to come from behind for the first time after 54 holes to win a major was as bruised as his scorecard. But his hopes weren't over. With 54-hole leader Adam Scott and others struggling on a links that thanks to a bit of breeze had regained its bite, Woods was still in the fray. But he couldn't stay there. Within striking distance after a birdie at No. 12, still trailing Scott by the four-shot margin with which he began the final round, Woods quickly spiraled out of contention with uneven moments that were reminiscent of his struggles at last month's U.S. Open at Olympic Club. Bogey at 13. Bogey at 14. Bogey at 15. It was less than ordinary golf by an extraordinary golfer. Related: Worst major meltdowns A birdie at No. 18 gave Woods a closing 73. Amid the messes so many were making on a testing day, he finished T-3 with Brandt Snedeker, four strokes behind champion Ernie Els, who won with a 72-hole total a shot higher than Woods thought would make a playoff when he made the turn. Woods has now played 13 majors without a win, his last coming at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Observers may see it as a Sahara Desert of a dry patch for the 36-year-old, but Woods -- who has won three PGA Tour events this year -- insists it is something less daunting. Related: 10 burning questions from the 2012 British Open "It's part of golf," he said Sunday evening. "We all go through these phases. Some people, it lasts entire careers. Others are a little shorter. Even the greatest players to ever play have gone through little stretches like this." Since winning the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods has seven top-six finishes at majors. Other players would covet those like gold, but Woods is familiar with a greater vault. At Lytham, as at Olympic, he couldn't remember the combination that used to come so easily. -- Bill Fields Follow @BillFields1

22

Jul
Sun

Assessing a week's worth of bets on the Open

On the eve of the Championship, on Wednesday night, I spent £100 -- about $160 -- on the legal British exchange sports betting website Betfair, as follows: - £5 on Tiger Woods at odds of 10.5 to win £47.50. - £10 on Lee Westwood at 15 to win £140. - £10 on Justin Rose at 32 to win £310. - £10 on Graeme McDowell at 36 to win £350. - £10 on Rickie Fowler at 40 to win £390. - £10 on Sergio Garcia at 40 to win £390. - £5 on Jason Dufner at 48 to win £235. - £5 on Zach Johnson at 75 to win £370. - £5 on Bubba Watson at 85 to win £420. - £10 on Branden Grace at 200 to win 1,990. - £5 on Brandt Snedeker at 300 to win £1,495. - £10 on the winning nationality being South Africa at 8.4 to win £74. - £5 on a winning score of 5 strokes or more at 8.8 to win £39. Snedeker opened with 66-64 to tie the 36-hole Open lead and his odds shortened considerably down from the opening 300. With £1,495 in credit against Snedeker (from a £5 stake), I started making "lay" bets -- betting against him -- on Thursday night and throughout Friday when, at one point when he had a four-shot lead, his odds had fallen to 4.2. Snedeker is a thoroughly likeable character, but for him to go on to win seemed highly unlikely. I also put lay bets on Zach Johnson at odds of 17, Graeme McDowell at 18, and Bubba Watson at 30. These hedge bets all earned me back more than my initial stake of £100. On Sunday, when McDowell hit the 7th green in two and was looking like mounting a challenge, and his odds had fallen to 4.6, I started making more lay bets on him. I didn't make a single bet all week either for or against surprise champion Ernie Els, whose odds hovered around 50 on Wednesday, but he made good my "winning nationality" bet which erased all my bogeys for the week--the likes of Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia, among several others, especially Tiger Woods who I foolishly kept backing throughout the weekend. The end result? A modest profit. You win some, you lose some, as Adam Scott knows only too well. -- John Barton

22

Jul
Sun

Media: Els, Scott and 'a bunch of clowns'

(Getty Images)Ultimately, the drama inherent on a major championship Sunday carries the show, as it did again at the British Open, Ernie Els improbably prying the Claret Jug from Adam Scott's grip. Here they are in their own words in the immediate aftermath: "It wasn't to be. That's golf, isn't it?" Scott said in his interview with the BBC. "I feel numb," Els said in his interview with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi. "Later on it will set in that I won this golf tournament, but right now I feel for my buddy." Together they made the final hour memorable. Before then, ESPN's outspoken analyst Paul Azinger helped make it interesting, not necessarily for the right reasons. Azinger might be the best analyst in golf (duly noted in this space before), but he did not make a compelling case on his own behalf during one 30-minute stretch in the final round. He erred on the rules, called those on Twitter "a bunch of clowns," then doubled down by taking to Twitter to say it again, while using this hashtag: #ToDumbToKnowTheirClowns." Conceding that he was multi-tasking, Tweeting while on the air, it nonetheless is inadvisable to call others dumb while using "to" instead of "too" and "their" instead of "they're." Azinger on the rules When Tiger Woods was stymied in a bunker at the sixth hole and pondered coming out backwards, Azinger suggested another option. "Ball could go anywhere that Tiger's about to hit if he chooses to go backwards," he said. "Much easier option to just drop it. Take your unplayable, walk out of the bunker and keep that point between you and the hole." Rule 28, Ball Unplayable, from the Rules of Golf, states: "The player may deem his ball unplayable at any place on the course, except when the ball is in a water hazard. The player is the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable." So far so good. Then it says this: "If the unplayable ball is in a bunker, the player may proceed under Clause a, b or c. If he elects to proceed under Clause b or c, a ball must be dropped in the bunker." (Emphasis ours). The option that Azinger was talking about was Clause b, "Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped." Azinger on Twitter cited a rules official for his error: "Ask RNA official about unplayable in bunker. He gave me wrong answer. It's been addressed and fixed on air."

22

Jul
Sun

Should Adam Scott have received a penalty stroke when his ball moved?

Two rules incidents during the final round of the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes warrant further explanation than was given during ESPN's telecast. Related: The costliest rules mistakes in golf historyFirst, Tiger Woods hit into a greenside bunker on the sixth hole. He had a poor lie, nearly against a steep lip. Woods opted to play the shot and his ball hit the lip and nearly struck him before falling back into the bunker. Had the ball struck Woods, it would have been a one-shot penalty under Rule 19-2 and the ball would be played as it lies. Announcers during the telecast, notably Paul Azinger, were also unclear what Woods' options were if he decided not to play that bunker shot. Woods had three options under the unplayable-ball rule (Rule 28). He could have taken a two-club-lengths drop, no closer to the hole, in the bunker. He could have also dropped in the bunker behind a line between where his ball lay and the hole, with no limit to how far back provided the ball was dropped in the sand. His third option would have been to replay the shot that put him in the bunker in the first place. All three options come with a one-stroke penalty.Related: Regrets? They've had a fewThe second incident involved Adam Scott on the seventh hole. He hit over the back of the green and the ball came to rest on a slope in some light rough. Scott approached the ball and took a couple of practice swings a few inches from it. He then walked toward the green to get a better feel for how the ball would roll out once it got on the green. As he returned to the ball several seconds later, the ball rolled out of the rough and into a new position in a collection area. According to Rule 18-2, if Scott had caused the ball to move with his practice swing, he would have been assessed a one-stroke penalty and the ball would have to be replaced. Since Scott had not addressed the ball and since he told the rules official on hand that his practice swings did not cause the ball to move, he was allowed to play from the ball's new position with no penalty. Had he addressed the ball, he would have had to be virtually certain, as in 99 percent sure, that he did not cause the ball to move otherwise the penalty would be assessed (18-2b). -- Ron Kaspriske Follow @RonKaspriske !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");