The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- McIlroy's star rising, with limited US appearances
- Archery coach to try out untested combination in world championships
- Hafieenaz wants to end his winless streak in Teluk Intan
| McIlroy's star rising, with limited US appearances Posted: 21 Jun 2011 06:08 PM PDT BETHESDA, Maryland (AP) - When Rory McIlroy walked onto the first tee Sunday at the U.S. Open, he briefly acknowledged one golf official and quickly extended his hand to warmly greet two others, USGA executive director Mike Davis and USGA president Jim Hyler. The first official who got little more than a nod was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. That scene was a reminder that while a star was born outside the nation's capital, McIlroy is only a part-time golfer in America. McIlroy decided last year not to renew his PGA Tour membership, which required him to play 15 times (including the four majors and three World Golf Championships). He now can play only 10 events a year on the PGA Tour. The tour amended its policy so The Players Championship would not count against the 10, but McIlroy chose not to play that, either. There are no hard feelings with the PGA Tour, or with Finchem. The 22-year-old McIlroy simply found himself playing too much golf right about the time the FedEx Cup playoffs got under way in late August, which would be the reason to take up membership in America in the first place. Still, it leaves the PGA Tour with limited exposure of golf's new Boy Wonder. And that wouldn't seem to help as the tour negotiates a new television contract that expires after 2012. "Rory's performance in the U.S. Open has generated a lot of interest and a lot of excitement," PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said Tuesday. "Who knows what the future holds with respect to his membership status." There is talk that McIlroy might consider joining the PGA Tour again, although likely not until the 2013 season. His agent, Chubby Chandler, suggested Sunday evening that man from Northern Ireland has "a duty to be over here a little bit more being the Open champion." "So I think obviously there's a good chance that he'll play a little bit more over here," Chandler said. "But he won't play a lot because he can't do both tours." Tour officials likely will bring up its membership policies, as they do just about every year, and decide if anything needs to be changed. One policy that seems to unfairly punish McIlroy is that he is restricted to 10 events (not including The Players) because he gave up his membership, while Martin Kaymer and Alvaro Quiros can play 12 U.S. tour events because they never joined the PGA Tour. Finchem was an observer in the final group, and after seeing that record-setting performance said it would only help golf. "Rory's victory this week creates a lot of interest globally," Finchem said. "It's a global game. That's the way you have to look at it. We'd love to have him play a little bit more, but there's an integration of tournament and competition - that's what the fans are into. Candidly, it's in our interest for the European tour to be very, very strong. So if he's playing more on the European tour and we have Paul Casey and Luke Donald playing more over here, that's a good thing. "So it's all good," he said. "There's no downside to it." MICKELSON'S LAMENT: For only the third time since he has been playing all four majors, Phil Mickelson heads to the British Open without having finished in the top 10 in the first two majors of the year. "I just didn't play how I had hoped," Mickelson said after finishing 23 shots off the lead, his largest gap ever at the U.S. Open. "It just gets me more geared up to look forward to the British. We had some big tournaments - the British and the PGA - coming up, as well as the FedEx Cup. So I'll have the next two weeks to try and get my game ready and head over to Europe." Mickelson's next start is the Scottish Open, played this year at Castle Stuart. Mickelson has finished out of the top 10 in four straight majors. THE BIGGER, THE BETTER: Padraig Harrington thinks the U.S. Open is fairer when it starts out on a big, strong course like Bethpage Black or Torrey Pines and Congressional, giving it room to scale back and still challenge the players. His concern is the smaller courses, and he only hopes the USGA doesn't go to extremes to compensate for their lack of length. The first test figures to be Olympic, followed by a return to Merion in 2013. "The problem has always been when you went to a tricky golf course, all of a sudden you've got to find a way to protect it," he said. "It's much better off going to a big, strong golf course. I've got to say, Augusta before the changes, the pin positions were getting right on top of the slopes. Now that it's a bigger golf course, the pins are three or four paces from the ridge." DIVOTS: Jason Day has been runner-up in the last two majors. The last time a player was a runner-up in the successive majors without winning was Tiger Woods in the 2007 Masters and U.S. Open. Day also is the only player who has finished in the top 10 at the last three majors. ... One similarity between Rory McIlroy's U.S. Open title at Congressional and Tiger Woods' win at Pebble Beach - McIlroy was 37 shots ahead of last place, while Woods was 41 shots ahead of last place in 2000. ... Charl Schwartzel has shot 66 in the final round of both majors this year. ... Because only the majors count this year, the Ryder Cup standings for the American team start with Bo Van Pelt, Kevin Chappell and Robert Garrigus. STAT OF THE WEEK: Rory McIlroy has shot par or better in 14 of his last 16 rounds in the majors. FINAL WORD: "They evidently think there is value in advice from an old man." - Jack Nicklaus, on meeting with Rory McIlroy and other young players in recent years. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Archery coach to try out untested combination in world championships Posted: 21 Jun 2011 04:14 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: National coach Lee Jae-hyung is willing to gamble on an untested combination to achieve qualification for the London Olympics at the World Archery Championships in Turin from July 3-10. The Korean coach pulled off a surprise by naming rookies Haziq Kamaruddin and Khairul Anuar Mohd to combine with the experienced Cheng Chu Sian for the team recurve event at the world meet. Chu Sian is the only seasoned campaigner picked from the Road to London programme and he will lead the challenge for the individual recurve competition as well. Three other elite archers under the Road to London programme – Wan Khalmizam Wan Aziz, Mohd Izzuddin Rahim and Arif Farhan Putra – were excluded. Wan Khalmizam competed alongside Chu Sian and Marbawi Sulaiman, now a coach, at the last Olympics in Beijing three years ago, but he has since suffered a big drop in form. First round exits at the hands of the United States and unheralded Mexico in the first two legs of the World Cup series in Porec (Croatia) and Antalya (Turkey) have only served notice of how much Malaysia have lost ground since reaching the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics. Malaysia also failed to impress at the Guangzhou Asian Games last November where they were targeted for a medal. Malaysia are only represented by the men's squad for the world meet and Jae-hyung is hoping that Haziq and Khairul will click with Chu Sian. "Chu Sian is the only consistent performer in the elite squad so far, justifying his status as the top ranked recurve archer for Malaysia," said Jae-hyung. "The others have not been performing well and we have to do something to turn things things. "I hope Haziq and Khairul can click with Chu Sian. They did well (with partner Fazli Hisyam) to better the national record for the team by four points when they won the team gold medal in the Asian Grand Prix circuit in Laos earlier this year ... so this is the oppotunity to test them for the world meet." The previous national record of 228 points was set by Chu Sian, Khalmizam and Marbawi at the world meet in Germany in 2007. There will be 32 spots for London up for grabs at the world meet. The top eight teams will qualify a total of 24 archers. The remaining tickets will be for the best eight finishers in the individual competition if his country fail to qualify for the team event. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Hafieenaz wants to end his winless streak in Teluk Intan Posted: 21 Jun 2011 04:14 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Mohd Hafieenaz Mohd Ali is hoping to overcome an inconsistent start to the season by nailing his first win in Round 5 of the Petronas AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship in Teluk Intan this weekend. The Petronas Syntium Moto Yamaha AHM rider, whose best finish so far was a third placing in Round 2 at Batu Kawan, Penang, is far from happy with his performance. "The first four rounds have been a roller-coaster ride for me and I even blew multiple chances to finish in the top three," said the 25-year-old Hafieenaz. "There is no problem with the bike or its settings ... it's just that I haven't had much luck. "In the opening leg in Kangar, I crashed into S. Sasitharen and finished a disappointing 16th. Then, in Round 3 at Kuala Terengganu, my bike developed technical problems." Hafieenaz is currently joint sixth overall with 31 points together with Motul Yamaha YY Pang's Mohd Rozaiman Mohd Said. Rozaiman's team-mate, Zaidy Mohd Zaifaizal leads the way with 76 points, followed by Hafieenaz's team-mate, Shahril Izzuwan Mohd Noor (61pts). With the championship moving into the halfway stage, the Ipoh-born Hafieenaz intends to put his recent disappointments behind him at his "home" race. "I am eager to win in Teluk Intan in front of my family and friends. Hopefully, luck will be on my side this time," he said. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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