Tag Archives: Rory McIlroy

Golf

Shock horror: PGA caddies, players CAN access Twitter in China!

2 Comments

Many of the world’s top golfers are in Shanghai right now for the HSBC Champions – an official event of both the European and PGA Tours – so the world’s golfing media are paying attention. And golfers like to tweet: Jason Dufner starting the whole #dufnering meme earlier this year, Ian Poulter likes to talk about his car collection, Rory McIlroy writes messages to his (possibly now ex-) girlfriend tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, Tiger Woods announced he was seeing Lindsay Vonn on social media and so on.

But China, as we know, has these rules about silly matters like Facebook and Twitter. It is also, as we know, not exactly hard to bypass those rules using a VPN. But apparently that is still news to many in the west, judging by this article from Golf Digest, titled “PGA Tour golfer D.A. Points and caddie Kip Henley are defying the Chinese government”.

Continue reading Shock horror: PGA caddies, players CAN access Twitter in China! →

Golf

Rory beats Tiger by 1 in China

3 Comments

Rory McIlroy needed the win – any win – more than he needed the money, and he got it….just. One shot ahead going down the 18th hole, McIlroy watched as Tiger Woods missed a chance to tie things up with an eagle, and then sank his own birdie putt to match Woods’s birdie, as McIlroy’s 67 edged a 68 from Woods.

Image Continue reading Rory beats Tiger by 1 in China →

Football, Golf, Tennis

Weekend round-up: Li Na, Guan, Rory all fall, Tiger’s in town, and Evergrande sitting pretty

Leave a comment

ImageDespite taking the first set 6-2, Li Na lost the final of the WTA Championships in Istanbul (the last before the end-of-season showpiece moves to Singapore next year), as world number one Serena Williams won the next two sets 6-3, 6-0. It was Serena’s 11th title of the year, and her 10th win in 11 games against Li Na, but after going into the game as a massive underdog, Li can be happy she at least forced a third set. Crucially, she now moves up to 3rd in the world rankings – a career high – by leapfrogging both Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Remember the Taiwan-China controversy at Wimbledon a few months ago? Continue reading Weekend round-up: Li Na, Guan, Rory all fall, Tiger’s in town, and Evergrande sitting pretty →

Golf

BMW Masters Day 2 round-up

1 Comment

American Luke Guthrie takes a four-shot lead into the weekend at the BMW Masters in Shanghai, after an up-and-down 1-under par 71 took him to -8, while Paul Casey headlines a group of six players in second place on 4-under par. My prediction that John Daly would start brightly fade and then fade badly was largely right: two bogeys and a double bogey in the last five holes gave him a 2-over-par 74, to put him tied for 9th on 2-under par. But Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter are among those lurking on 1-under-par and it should be a good weekend.

Image
Photo credit: Getty Images

Continue reading BMW Masters Day 2 round-up →

Golf

Daly gets helping hand (or foot) at BMW Masters in Shanghai

4 Comments

John Daly is the Mike Tyson of golf: you never know what’s coming next, but you can’t look away. During a brief visit to the BMW Masters at Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai on Thursday, I watched as Daly – at that time leading the tournament at 4-under-par – hit his drive on the 18th hole straight into the rough, just a few yards from where I was standing. As the trio of Daly, England’s Simon Khan and home favorite Wu Ashun prepared to play their shots, Daly looked on incredulously as one of the walking marshals stood on his ball, pushing it further into the grass.

“Oh man! You just stood on my ball! You just stood on my ball, didn’t you?”

Image
Daly and the hapless walking marshal

Continue reading Daly gets helping hand (or foot) at BMW Masters in Shanghai →

Golf

China could save Rory’s season

1 Comment

Today marks the start of a big couple of weeks for Rory McIlroy in China. His second-place finish in last week’s Korea’s Open, despite an awful third round, would suggest he’s back to something approaching his best, but as the papers never fail to remind him, he remains without a win this year – and after five wins (including a major) in 2012, that’s quite a comedown. Here’s his upcoming schedule:

Image
Rory McIlroy in China – pretty self-explanatory.

Continue reading China could save Rory’s season →

Golf

China’s teenage swingers

2 Comments

Here’s my article in this month’s That’s Beijing magazine, which is now online, but was written before Dou Zecheng’s heroics at the China Open 10 days ago. The key to being the next Chinese golfing superstar? Money.

Last month, China’s 14-year-old golf sensation Guan Tianlang became not only the youngest player ever to tee off at the Masters in Augusta, but the youngest to make the cut at any PGA Tour event.

sport-of-nation_5d833a1808-520x270 Continue reading China’s teenage swingers →

Golf

McIlroy struggling with new direction

Leave a comment

No particular China angle in this week’s Sports Talk column about Rory McIlroy, but I’m currently working on a piece about Chinese golf – and teen sensation Guan Tianlang in particular – which I will post once it’s in print. Here’s the piece:

When Rory McIlroy signed a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal with Nike earlier this year, most of the headlines focused on the bottom line. Those in the game, though, were quick to point out the risks.

Image
Still number 1, but for how long?

Continue reading McIlroy struggling with new direction →