The Rory McIlroy Guessing Game

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh is a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a contributor to The Irish Times, Golf Digest Ireland and other golf publications. The following excerpt from Brian’s Irish Golf Desk is used with permission.

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

THERE’S A NEW GUESSING GAME in golf—what’s Rory McIlroy going to do next. In June he surprised nearly everyone when he followed his implosion at the Masters with an eight-shot US Open win. Fast forward six weeks and he’s overshadowed the return to Tiger Woods to PGA Tour action this week by announcing that he’s seriously considering rejoining the PGA Tour next season.

Nearly nine months ago, McIlroy gave up his card and said:

“I found myself in America last year, especially in the FedEx Cup play-off series, just not wanting to be there…. If you’re not playing well in the States it can be a lonely place. But if you’re not playing well on the European Tour you still have plenty of mates to hang out with. Holly also has another two years at university and we have two dogs, a nice house and I love my life back in Ireland. I don’t ever want to give that up.”

Fast forward to the eve of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron and the story is very different. Holly is history, he’s playing well and life in Ireland has become more of grind since his went from golf star to public megastar in the space of a few weeks.

“I spoke to a couple of the guys from the PGA Tour today about it, and I’m leaning towards taking my card up again definitely,” said McIlroy, who is involved a burgeoning romance with the Danish world tennis number one Caroline Wozniacki.

“I feel as if I play my best golf over here. I’m very comfortable in this country. I’m going to look at a few houses down in Florida after the (US) PGA.

“I might go and stay with G-Mac (Graeme McDowell) for a night at Lake Nona and see what that’s like and then down in West Palm Beach and Jupiter, around there. I’m definitely looking towards coming back and playing a full schedule over here.”

McIlroy fired a 68 in the first round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and trails leader Adam Scott by six shots. Scott blistered Firestone Country Club with an eight-birdie, no-bogey 62.

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.

2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2011 WGC-BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL tees off on Thursday at Firestone Country Club (South Course) in Akron, Ohio. Tiger Woods returns to action after an 11-week injury layoff. Woods will be paired in the first two rounds with British Open champion Darren Clarke. A field of 76 players will compete for an $8.5 million purse. The event has no cut, assuring Woods of four competitive rounds in advance of next week’s PGA Championship.


Purse: $8.5 million
Winner’s share: $1.4 million
Defending champion: Hunter Mahan (at right)

2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Leaderboard

Field
Course
Tee times
Tournament overview
Tournament news
Tournament video


TV SCHEDULE

TV coverage of the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is
on Golf Channel and CBS.

Thu, 8/4
2-6 pm ET, GOLF

Fri, 8/5
2-6 pm ET, GOLF

Sat, 8/6
2-6 pm ET, CBS

Sun, 8/7
2-6 pm ET, CBS

SIRIUS-XM broadcast times


−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Report: 21 Secrets to Playing Top Private Golf Courses

DID YOU KNOW IT’S possible to play about 90 percent of the private golf courses in the world without becoming, or even knowing, a member?

I can’t say I knew that nearly all private clubs could be played by pretty much anyone until Tom Fitzpatrick of Golf Vacation Insider contacted me and suggested I offer their free report to the readers of ARMCHAIR GOLF.

(Photo: Firestone Country Club. Mentioned in Secret #13.)

The 19-page report explains everything in sufficient detail, but I can tell you this much: You don’t need to be a member to play a private course. Nor do you need to know a member to play. And you don’t need to join a travel club. No strings.

There are many proven ways to get on exclusive golf courses and Golf Vacation Insider is giving away the information in their free report:

“21 Secrets to Playing the Private Golf Courses of Your Dreams”

Actually, the report is available two ways:
(1) A free PDF version
(2) A $27 hard-copy version at Amazon

The report is written by the golf travel experts at Golf Vacation Insider. They know their stuff. They have been writing about golf and travel for a very long time and have had their tips published in virtually every major golf publication.

Recently, I played Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, Virginia. It was just dumb luck. A colleague invited me to play in a member-guest. He even paid for everything! Later I found out Ballyhack was ranked No. 3 in Golf Magazine’s best new private golf courses in 2009. I was impressed, and doubly glad I played it.

This report can be an eye-opener or at least a good reminder of the many ways there are to access the best private golf courses around. If there’s a course you really want to play, you don’t have to wait for an invitation like I did.

Check it out and tell me what you think. Let me know how many of the 21 secrets you already knew.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Brought to you by Golf Vacation Insider.)

(Image: Mark Vitullo/Flickr)