Solheim wants equipment ratings to be part of handicap calculation

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John Solheim wants players' equipment to factor into their handicaps.

PHOENIX, Ariz. - John Solheim, the chairman and CEO of Ping Golf, wants to rate players' clubs and balls when calculating handicaps, just like courses are rated as part of the current system.

Ping announced Wednesday that Solheim has applied for a patent for a new system that would factor in equipment ratings when determining a player's handicap. The patent application will be published and made public on Thursday.

"The tone coming from the USGA and R&A in recent years suggests another significant equipment rollback may not be far away," Solheim said in the news release. "We've already seen it with the groove rule and the proposed rule banning anchoring. We continue to hear whispers of more changes. But ... many directly involved in the game favor more equipment options, not fewer."

In other words, why ban clubs and techniques when you could instead account for the variety of clubs when determining handicaps? For example, shooting 80 with a persimmon driver and Condition of Competition wedges would do more to lower your handicap than shooting the same score on the same course with a 460-cc driver and square-grooved wedges. When players entered their scores, they'd enter their equipment information in addition to the course's slope and rating.

During an exclusive phone interview, Solheim said that manufacturers could, for example, fine-tune golf clubs for slower-swing players to help them perform better and enjoy the game more. Scores shot with these easier-to-hit clubs would then be adjusted to account for the advantage they provide.

"The drivers of today are tuned much more for the tour-level player," Solheim said. "If we build golf clubs for slow swingers so they could get the maximum distance, the tour players would break them quite quickly."

Solheim pointed to baseball, where amateurs use aluminum bats and professionals use wooden ones. He also noted the different types of squash balls, one for beginners and intermediates and another for more experienced players.

What about the allure of playing the same courses and equipment as the pros? For golfers who see that as part of the game's appeal, bifurcation - adopting different rules for the game's elite players and weekend amateurs - would be going against the spirit of golf.

Solheim doesn't like to use the word "bifurcation," but his position on the topic is very clear. "I'm for one set of rules, if they can write the rules to give players more options through the handicap system," he said.

Solheim says a major goal of the patent is to help create a dialogue and get people talking about how to draw more interest in the game. He was not pleased when the USGA and the R&A recently announced the proposed ban on anchored putting methods.

"It was just sad, because I know an awful lot of people that anchor the club, and it's helped them enjoy the game more," he said on the phone. "It also means that they don't stand over a putt because they are afraid they are going to yip it. It's sad that [the USGA and R&A] would take that away from so many people."

Ping and Solheim are no strangers to being at the heart of equipment-related stories that have riled golf purists.

In December 2011, after the average driving distance ended above 290 yards for the first time in PGA Tour history, Solheim feared that the USGA and the R&A might change the rules of golf. He proposed "replacing today's single golf ball distance limit with three different 'Ball Distance Ratings.' One that is the same as today's limit, one that is shorter and one that is longer."

Ping also filed a lawsuit against the USGA to keep the Ping Eye2 irons legal; the case was settled in 1990.

Read more: http://www.golf.com/equipment/pings-john-solheim-wants-equipment-ratings-be-part-handicap-calculation#ixzz2GSLyBIN1

Grip it and Sip it - John Daly goes into Adult beverage market

John Daly is following Arnold Palmer into the beverage business, but you’ll need ID to buy one of Daly’s drinks.

The Original John Daly Cocktail will debut in BevMo liquor stores in Arizona, New Mexico and California, Daly said on Twitter. The cocktail will be available in three flavors: sweet tea lemonade, peach tea lemonade, and raspberry tea lemonade.

Like Palmer’s famous iced tea and lemonade mixture -- recently celebrated in an ESPN short -- Daly already had a drink named after him. The John Daly is an Arnold Palmer with a shot of vodka, which is as good a metaphor for Daly’s game that we’ve ever heard.

However, Long John was not happy when restaurants were offering the drink. He said it was trademark infringement and he asked his Twitter followers to let him know when bars and restaurants were serving “John Daly” drinks. Now Daly is taking a page from Palmer, who partnered with Arizona Iced Tea to create an official “Arnold Palmer” drink.

“Tired of my name on menus. I don't drink but I want people to have same John Daly drink poor right out of bottle,” Daly said on Twitter.

I personally think it is a great venture for John....while he had some notoriously bad (and interesting) history, I feel he deserves to make money off something named after him....I also look forward to seeing him in a few years when he turns 50 and see how he will do on the Senior tour.

Till then, Cheers to John!

GRIPS - Cleaning and Maintainance...on and off the course

Grips –

Grips can be either those most ignored item on the club, or sometimes the item on the club some people obsess over too much.

In other words, we have taken in clubs where the grips were so bad and worn that they adversely affected the player’s game…and most likely the safety of those nearby! Conversely, we have repeat customers who bring in their clubs and want to be re-gripped…when in actuality; all they needed was a decent cleaning.

Let’s talk about those that simply need a cleaning and how to easily do it not only between rounds but DURING the round.

Between rounds, you can use the age old method or warm soapy water where you rinse, then use the soapy water solution with a soft brush to scrub them clean…followed with more rinsing, then dry off.

The other MUCH easier way of cleaning the grips is by using a wonderful tire cleaning solution called “Westley’s Bleche-Wite” (see image) that you can pick up at any auto parts dept.

You simply find a ventilated area, stand up wind and spray and wipe off. Not only does this clean the grips very fast, but it also rejuvenates and restores most if not all of the original tackiness.

(NOTE: Keep this stuff around as I will be referencing it periodically for other great uses for golf equipment).

So this is all cool and easy to do…but what do you do when the grips get dirty and lose their tackiness in a round of golf?

A wet towel might help….sometimes it will still leave the grip wet, whereas the glass cleaner evaporates fast and residual free.

I believe it was Tom Wishon who shared this hint…which was carry a small 2-4oz spritz bottle with everyday glass cleaner.

When the grips get dirty or slippery, spritz on the glass cleaner and the grip immediately is cleaned…and unlike other cleaners made for cleaning, this will not adversely affect the grip, as some some cleaners are not designed to work with various rubber compounds.

Incidentally, along with the small spritz bottle, I also keep a 2-4oz bottle of  Anti-Bacterial hand cleaner with me. This keeps your hands clean and tacky as well!

Helpful Golf Hints - Golf Shoe Maintenance (Spike removal)

Today’s blog will be the first of many from us that will address easy solutions to common problems or tasks that all of us golfers go through.

No, I am not talking about swing fixes or how to make your game better…..heck, after years, I have not figured those things out yet, so I should be the last one to attempt to teach it now.

However, along the way we have stumbled across some great tips to maintain and (in some cases) prolong the life of your equipment and accessories.

So let’s begin today starting from the bottom….. Golf shoes.

The biggest problem golfers have with shoes is replacing the spikes, specifically, getting the old ones out! By the time arrives that you need to pull out the old spikes they have been walked on exposed to dirt, mud and all sorts of crap that seems to develop a “cement like” affect making the removal of them like pulling teeth.

Fear no more my friends…. Good ol’ Rory has got a simple solution to this dilemma!

When your wife is not looking, sneak into the kitchen and pull out one of her cookie sheets/ baking pan. (hint, they look like this)

First, heat up some water and pour it into the baking pan to where the water level is just shy of the top.

Now place your golf shoes on the sheet, spikes down. Done correctly, the spikes will be under water and the water level is about even to the sole of your shoes…..wait about five minutes, remove the shoes and with a spike wrench, the spikes will come off very easy….it never fails!

Now with the spikes out, it’s a good time to take a soft brush and clean the bottoms of the shoes, including the spike holes….then might as well clean the entire shoes.

If yours are leather, I recommend using saddle soap. It’s a great cleaning agent that not only cleans, but it has lanolin that keeps your shoes soft and prevents aging

PS – Oh crap! I almost forgot…do yourself a favor and make sure you clean out that cookie sheet and put it back where ya found it!

Note my emphasis on “CLEAN OUT” the cookie pan…for some unknown reason, apparently some women get real sore when they pull out a pan to bake something and find it caked in dirt, grass shavings…etc.

Phil Mickelson's Stand against Cell Phones?

We all know the drill: When you're watching a tournament live, the golfers demand absolute silence when they tee off. Like, hold-your-breath-till-they-swing silence.

But since this is 2012, and not 1952, times are changing on the golf course. Specifically, many tournaments now permit cell phones. (They did in 1952, but you had to install your own telephone poles and string your own wire, so most fans didn't bother.) And most cell phones now have cameras. You see where this is going: Even though people silence their cell phones, they somehow forget to silence the "shutter click" of their cameras.

Around Phil Mickelson's pairing on Thursday at the Memprial, the cell-camera-clickers made a noise with every swing like a thousand crickets being stepped on at once.

"It took Phil out of his game," playing partner Bubba Watson told the AP. "Phil's a great player and a great champion and it just took him out of his game. It's sad. It's sad that cell phones can make or break a championship."

"There were a few phones out there," Rickie Fowler, the third member of the group, said. "There were a few times when we had to back off and reset. You could see Phil was a little fatigued and was having trouble blocking it out a bit."

Mickelson didn't point to shutterbugs as the reason for his withdrawal; instead, he cited exhaustion. While it may be true, it's a rather weak defense, and one that likely doesn't sit well with tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Let's be honest, friends: The worst day playing golf is better than the best day doing pretty much anything else. After shooting a 79, Mickelson would have needed to bring out a 62 or so on Friday to make the cut; why not play one more day?

So it's likely not the cell phones' fault that Phil is out; Mickelson generally doesn't have much of a problem saying what's on his mind, and he's aware enough of his place in golf history, and his responsibility relative to Jack, not to make a stand on such an issue.

Still, it's not going away. Watson, who despite his newfound green jacket fame still has a bit of a prickly personality at times, was pointed in his critique of cell phones. "It's been pretty bad ever since they made that rule [allowing cell phones on the course]," he said. "When they make these marquee pairings, more people are going to follow them and more people want to take pictures. So it makes it very difficult. Ever since they made that rule that cell phones are allowed, it's just not fun playing."

That's going a bit far, perhaps, but Watson has a point. You could say golfers are too nitpicky, and perhaps they are, but the issue isn't the sound itself, it's the suddenness. And when you need to keep your body working within millimeters, disruption can be costly indeed.  As with everything else, there's a sweet spot here; getting people to figure out how to silence their camera shutters is now a necessity on the golf course.

Then again, maybe this is for the best. Ten years from now, golfers will have adapted to screen out the noise of cell cameras. They'll have something else to gripe about then, surely, but it won't be this.

Rory's #1 Ranking is new...as is his Body

Rory McIlroy has the swing and the temperament of a champion.

Now he has the body to go with it.

As McIlroy rose in the past 4 years from skinny teenager (below) to U.S. Open champ to the world No. 1 ranking -- thanks to Sunday’s heart-pounding victory over Tiger Woods at the Honda Classic -- his body and bearing changed as well (right).

His secret: bringing modern science to bear on the ancient game, and working on his legs and core muscles so he wouldn’t mess too much with a classical swing that Jack Nicklaus calls “the most natural motion in the game today.”

That, plus some inspiration from his girlfriend, No. 2 ranked tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. McIlroy found the way professional tennis players practice almost humbling.

“They work so hard,” says McIlroy, who good-naturedly joined Caroline and Maria Sharapova on the court at Madison Square Garden during an exhibition match Monday night. “That sort of made me realize that I could probably work harder, and gave me a little bit more motivation to go in the gym and hit more balls. It’s definitely paid off.”

After more than 15 years of domination by the hard-sculpted, hard-swinging Woods, the golf world is accustomed to fit golfers. McIlroy, by comparison, presents a slightly more approachable image: 5-foot-10, 160 pounds -- but with muscles that only began appearing in early 2011.

His posture and physique changed under the direction of Steve McGregor, Ph.D., a British trainer who previously worked with the burly-yet-trim Lee Westwood, no. 3 in the world. 

McIlroy made it clear in an interview with Men’s Healththat his new body is the foundation for his success. 

Truth & Rumors: Schwartzel wants BBQ for Masters dinner

Reigning Masters champion Charl Schwartzel doesn’t want to just host this year’s Champions Dinner -- he wants to prepare it. The 27-year-old has visions of grilling up a braai [right] -- a sampling of traditional South African meats -- under the iconic oak tree outside the clubhouse. Call it Pit Masters: Augusta National Edition. Global Golf Post has the details:

“We’ve put in the request and are still waiting to hear from them,” Schwartzel said. “But I’d love to be able to braai there. I want to braai everything myself, but we just have to see if that will be possible with the number of people there. I could end up with a very sore hand at the end of an evening turning all that meat.”

Schwartzel has already started planning his Masters braai. “I’ll keep it very simple. Ideally I would like to have a few lamb chops, some fillets and of course some boerewors (a traditional South African sausage).”

According to Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle, Schwartzel would be the first champ to trade his green jacket for a green apron:

In general, the club balks at outsiders cooking in their kitchens. Other than Vijay Singh famously bringing in a prominent Atlanta restaurateur to prepare his Thai menu in 2001, Augusta National has used its own chefs to prepare whatever the host champion desires (with the possible exception of Sandy Lyle’s haggis).

New year, same old Phil

Phil Mickelson picked up his 2012 season pretty much right where he left off his 2011 season. An eagle here, a three-putt there, tee shots everywhere. It all resulted in a two-over 74 at the Humana Challenge on Thursday, a discouraging opening round at La Quinta Country Club that included a pair of out-of-bounds tee shots. Mickleson looked at the bright side: 

"The round wasn't indicative of how I know I was playing. I've been playing really well heading in. I played well the front nine, made some good birdies."

"And then the back nine those couple out of bounds, one was a matter of two feet and a couple of inches on the other and those could have been a big difference."

Mickleson, who dabbled with a long putter toward the end of last season, has returned to an Odyssey blade, which is “very similar to the putter I grew up with as a kid just going back to that type of freer motion.”

“I feel really good with the putter. And that was the one area that I was concerned with. I spent the whole off-season working on that, deciding on the direction I was going to go, with what putter and what have you.

“I'm trying to make, I feel like I can make everything on the greens. I had a couple 3-putts ... my speed was off on a couple, but really excited with the way it was transpiring and given the way I've been hitting it the last couple years I know I'll get that fixed and I can start shooting some numbers.”

Lefty's last win came the week before the Masters, at the Shell Houston Open.

Tiger says he’s executing “all the shots”

Hank who? After 17 months under the tutelage of swing coach Sean Foley, Tiger Woods says the Tao of Foley is finally clicking in an interview with ESPN's Bob Harig.

"Last year at this time I didn't truly understand what Sean was trying to teach me," Woods said. "I was very one-dimensional in my ball striking."

One-dimensional? Where does that leave the rest of us?

“I had this baby draw, didn't have a fade, and when I got to Dubai, my second tournament, the wind was howling and I couldn't hold the ball up against the wind with a fade.”

"One of the things we had to work on through the year was hitting all the shots. It didn't really start happening until the fall. I started picking up some good, positive momentum with the exhibitions I did in Asia, Australia and then winning [the Chevron World Challenge]."

Woods also revealed the genesis of his much-ballyhooed pairing with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in next month's Pebble Beach pro-am.

"He called me when I was in Australia [in November] and asked me if I was playing Pebble," Woods said. "And I said yes.” He said, 'I'd like to throw my name in the hat as a possible pairing.'

“I thought about it…"

What’s to think about? Who’s a better option? Darius Rucker? Kenny G?

"…and then I called him a day later and said, 'All right, you're in if you want to be in.'"

Gee, Tiger, way to make a guy feel good about himself. Romo later admitted that he hadn’t been that nervous since he asked Betty Finkelstein to his seventh-grade dance.

Tweet of the Day

John Daly runs out of balls during tournament, walks off course after Tin Cup-esque hole

The casual golf fan absolutely loves watching John Daly when he's in the tournament field. Want to know why? It's because he's the everyman golf pro; sure, he's going to have his moments of sheer brilliance, but sooner or later you know he's going to do something that will make you say "Hey, I could do that."

Well, friends, Daly had another one of those moments on Thursday at the Australian Open. Playing in the event on a sponsor's exemption, he had the opportunity to pocket a nice check at a world-class tournament in Oz.

But in typical Daly fashion, he found a way to ruin the tournament's generosity in spectacular fashion. After knocking his ball into a bunker on the 10th hole, Daly inadvertently hit the wrong ball out of the sand -- hard as it is to believe, the ball he hit was actually one from the range -- to take a 1-stroke penalty. That's where things went horribly wrong.

Frustrated with the penalty on the 10th, Daly came unglued after hitting his first ball into the water on the par-5 10th hole. After taking a drop, Daly then hit six more balls into the water. For a brief moment, it seemed like golf fans were watching a real-life "Tin Cup" moment.

The only problem was that unlike Kevin Costner's character, Daly didn't hit his seventh, and final, ball on the green. It found the water, leaving Daly without a ball. He immediately shook the hands of playing partners Hunter Mahan and Craig Parry and stormed off the course.

"[W]hen u run out of balls u run out of balls. yes, I shook my player's partners hands & signed my card w/rules official," Daly tweeted on his Twitter account.

Things got even worse when Daly's girlfriend, Anna Cladakis, took a swipe at a television camera, leading the Golf Channel announcers to lament the entire situation, as a camera followed Daly off the course.

Of course, tournament officials were extremely unhappy with Daly's antics. Trevor Herden, the tournament director for the Australian Open, told reporters at the tournament that Daly wouldn't be coming back to Australia anytime soon.

"I would say this would be the last time we see John Daly," he said.

Taking things to an even lower low, Brian Thorburn, CEO of PGA of Australia, made it clear that Daly shouldn't even bother hanging around to play the Australian PGA Championship, on a special invitation, in two weeks.

"The PGA does not need this kind of behavior tarnishing the achievement of other players and the reputation of our tournaments. John is not welcome in Coolum," Thorburn said in a statement.

If Daly hadn't burned all of his bridges yet, he certainly burned every one of them in Australia. There used to be a time when Daly was one of the marquee names in the game, but in recent years, he's turned into nothing more than a sideshow that people come to mock.

This was another incident that made you realize he's no longer good enough to contend on a weekly basis. If anything, he's just wasting a spot in the field. Running out of golf balls in a professional tournament should tell everything you need to know about the state of Daly's game. He's turned into a complete joke

Fred Couples Grants Tiger Woods Asylum????

 Corey Pavin, wherever you are, accept this belated olive branch.
Like many, I spent the latter half of 2010 having a field day with your captaincy of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, belittling the sieves that passed as team raingear in Wales, poking fun at your colorless quotes, making cracks about your height, questioning whether your wife was actually running the show.
There's only one thing left to say after the developments of the past few hours: Bring back captain Corey, because the guy steering the Presidents Cup team is steering the team headed toward the Great Barrier Reef.
U.S. captain Fred Couples, in a remarkable admission, said Thursday night in Seattle that he has already told Tiger Woods that he's assured one of the two captain's picks, even though Woods' season has been punctuated by missteps, missed cuts and missed fairways.
Couples is having none of it. Or all of it, whichever way you hook or slice it.
"In my opinion, when you’re the best player in the world for 12 straight years and you’re not on a team, there’s something wrong," Couples said.
That's the crux of the critical blowback here. Woods was indeed the best player on the planet for 12 years. Problem is, we're in Year 14 now.
“I don’t know how you can criticize someone for choosing Tiger Woods," Couples said. "If he goes there and doesn’t play well, I would be shocked."
Hopefully, Couples doesn’t scare easily, or he could be in for some fainting spells when the matches begin in Australia, based on the way Woods has played in 2011. Perhaps Couples missed the parts at the PGA Championship where Woods missed the cut, hit balls in 22 bunkers, and hit a 20-foot putt so fat, it came up six feet short of the hole.
Woods hasn’t won in 23 months in the States and others have blown past him so fast, he has plummeted from second to 36th in the world, a spiral that will continue because he is ineligible to play for four weeks and his last PGA Tour win is about to fall off his two-year ranking period.
Couples sounds about as stable as Captain Queeg, rolling around two ball bearings in his hand and trying to figure out who swiped the strawberry ice cream.
This call is wrong for so many reasons, it's nothing short of astounding. Let's list a few.
At No. 11 in points is Jim Furyk, who has had a forgettable season on the whole. But Furyk is the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year, a guy who won the FedEx Cup last year after finishing with three wins. Furyk, unlike Woods, has shown far more recent signs of life, including T9 last week.
Keegan Bradley not only isn’t on the team, he's 18th in points despite two victories in his rookie season. Phil Mickelson noted this week that Bradley is the perceived front-runner for tour player of the year, opined that Bradley ought to be the first player named as a captain's pick. Oops. Mickelson and Bradley are represented by the same management firm, so there's a bias here, but Mickelson's got a point. No other American won a major this year. Woods hasn’t won a major since mid-2008.
Even though Bradley, now No. 18 in points, was unable to amass a single Presidents Cup point last year, he is 10 spots ahead of Woods in the standings. Woods is 28th and sandwiched between immortals Kevin Na and D.A. Points.
Couples, a guy who will never be confused for Vijay Singh for his work ethic, is taking the easy way out. The captain's picks are not set to be finalized for four more weeks, until after the Tour Championship in Atlanta. What, he didn’t want to face questions for a month about his two at-large options?
Even for those who believe Woods deserves a pick, there is absolutely no defensible reason to announce the selection a month early. Too many other players who play well over the next month could get left at the curb as they angle for the last remaining spot.
The doltish Couples move certainly underscores the fact that the Presidents Cup is an exhibition, and not held in nearly the same esteem as the Transatlantic swordfight called the Ryder Cup. Making the pick now makes the PrezCup, a thinly veiled Ryder knockoff, look even more farcical.
Think the PGA Tour, which invented and runs the Presidents Cup, wasn't giggling in the hallways when their savant captain tabbed Tiger on Thursday? Moments after Couples told reporters in Seattle that Woods was already a lock, the tour sent out Couples' comments in a blast email, cementing the deal and trumpeting to all the world that Tiger was on the team.
Twelve years ago, after watching a couple of balls take cruel bounces at the 1999 U.S. Open, David Duval stoically answered a question about the caprices that had just cost him the title. "There is no such thing as 'deserves,'" he said. Well, looks like he was wrong. In a game known as the ultimate meritocracy, Woods was grandfathered in based on his resume from two years ago. If he handed any employer a resume with a gap that large in is performance history, the boss would say, "so, what's the deal with the last two years?"
If Woods wanted to earn a spot on the team the right way, he should have played last week in Greensboro, his last chance to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, which began this week at The Barclays. He was outside the top 125 positions required to make the FedEx series, tied in with rookie Will McGirt, who not only played well enough at Greensboro to get in the series, he was an overnight co-leader at The Barclays on Thursday night. Woods didn’t play. He said he had family commitments. Then he participated in a corporate PR stunt for EA Sports last Tuesday, sending a nice message of indifference while others were trying to grind their way into the FedEx picture.
Couples is so out of touch with affairs on the tour, he was unaware that Woods had not qualified to play in the FedEx series, and told him he wants him to add another tournament before heading to Australia to play in the Aussie Open (where he will receive an appearance fee) and Presidents Cup. Couples didn’t even wait to see whether Woods followed through and signed up for a Fall Series event before picking him. The Australian Open is Nov. 10-13 outside Sydney and the cup matches follow the next week.
Couples' assistant captain is Jay Haas, whose son Bill is 10th in Presidents Cup points at the moment. Guess who gets bumped if anybody makes the slightest move over the next four weeks and displaces him from the automatic-pick perch in the top 10? Right. Haas would then need to be picked to make the team. Awkward.
Plenty have compared Couples' decision to pick the skidding Woods as comparable to International team captain Greg Norman's decision to tab Adam Scott two years ago. Scott was in a months-long slump, and Norman figured being on the team might give the young Aussie a lift. What people forget is that Scott finished 1-4, however.
Picking Woods is akin to juggling dynamite. Couples, especially has ensured that a decent faction of Americans will be pulling against the U.S. team.
Nice call, captain America.

Tiger Woods not really winning a lot of friends over in the media

Tiger Woods and the media have never really mixed, ever since that infamous 1997 Esquire magazine interview that showed Woods actually being himself, but it seems of late the relationship has grown even colder.

On Wednesday at Atlanta Athletic Club, Tiger took to the podium in his usual pre-major press conference, but didn't exactly divulge a lot of information, pushing away any question concerning the recent comments by Steve Williams.

Woods said he was, "not going to speculate on Stevie," and, "Those are obviously his feelings and his emotions and his decision to say what he wants to say," and even said he was "surprised" by what Williams said following the win on Sunday by Adam Scott.

This all comes on the heels of a story that the AP's Doug Ferguson published on Tuesday from last week, that had Tiger walk off from a Thursday press conference, muttering, "That's why you guys listen and I play," after someone asked if winning was still his number one priority at Firestone after a three-month layoff from golf.

It isn't new information that the media and Tiger aren't exactly exchanging Christmas cards, but it seems lately that Tiger has gotten even colder to the media, brushing off any question that isn't about the golf course or his goals, and looking irritated and downright bored through most of it.

My biggest problem with the way Tiger handles the media is that he is smart enough to realize that these people have a job, and Woods is Patient X to anyone with a golf windbreaker or handicap card that gets paid to print about this sport. While I can understand not wanting to answer certain questions about his past caddie/player relationship, it seems giving most of the questions the proper respect isn't hard and should be something he understands.

And as for the comments from the Bridgestone? This is something we battle with all the time between athletes and journalists. Writers and broadcasters have no idea what it must be like to stand on the free-throw line or over a 7-iron on the 18th hole, and that's true, most of us don't. But we do understand the game, and the players, and the situation, and most of the people sitting in that press conference room have covered as many golf tournaments as Tiger has played. While "the moment" might fly over our heads, the situation sure doesn't. Most have seen it all, and have tried to relay that action onto paper so that the person at home can see it and relive it. That's the job, and trust me, they all wish they could hit a 3-wood like any pro in the game. Some people run, other people write about it. That's just the nature of the business.

Bethesda: The proof of Rory McIlroy's remarkable resiliency was the silver trophy at his side and the pages of a record book that he changed during four mind-boggling days at the US Open.

For his father, it was a phone call right after a most crushing collapse at Augusta National two months ago.

Poised to fulfill his potential and become the youngest Masters champion since Tiger Woods, McIlroy shot 80 in a final round that was painful to watch. Gerry McIlroy, who worked three jobs so his son could pursue his passion, was home in Northern Ireland when the phone rang some 20 minutes after it was over.

"I said, Rory, are you OK, son?' Because you always fear for your kids," the father said on Sunday. "And he says, 'Dad, um, I have no problem with it at all. I hit a few bad shots. And if you play golf, then you'll understand that.'"

The father had his country's flag draped over a green shirt during a momentous celebration at Congressional on Sunday.

McIlroy, the 22-year-old who can make golf look easy even in the toughest of circumstances, buried that Masters memory the way he buried his competition in a breathtaking performance filled with the promise of more majors to come.

"I felt like I got over the Masters pretty quickly. I kept telling you guys that, and I don't know if you believed me or not. But here you go," McIlroy said, gesturing to the shiny prize on the table. "Nice to prove some people wrong."

Four days of flawless golf finally ended when McIlroy polished off a 2-under 69 to shatter U.S. Open records that simply defy logic at the major known as the toughest test in golf.

The combined scores of the last 10 U.S. Open champions were 14-under par.

McIlroy was 16 under.

He finished eight shots ahead of Jason Day, whose score of 8-under 276 would have been enough to win 26 of the last 30 U.S. Opens.

"It's just phenomenal golf," Day said. "He lapped the field, and for such a young age, how mature he is. Golf right now is in a really, really good spot where Rory McIlroy is right now."

McIlroy nearly holed an impossible putt from the front of the 18th green to within a foot, and it was then he finally saw his father. He smiled and shook a clenched fist, and after tapping in for par, walked off the green and into his arms.

"Happy Father's Day," McIlroy told him.

It was the second straight U.S. Open title for the tiny country of Northern Ireland, and defending champion Graeme McDowell walked back across the bridge to the 18th green to embrace the new winner.

"You're a legend," McDowell told him.

Not many would dispute that now, not after a week like this.

Golf had been looking for a star ever since Woods' personal life and formidable game spiraled out of control 18 months ago. This was supposed to be the "U.S. Wide Open" because parity had taken over.

McIlroy, who goes to No. 4 in the world, now stands above everyone going into the final two majors of the year.

"Nothing this kid does ever surprises me," McDowell said. "He's the best player I've ever seen. I didn't have a chance to play with Tiger when he was in his real pomp, and this guy is the best I've ever seen. Simple as that. He's great for golf. He's a breath of fresh air for the game, and perhaps we're ready for golf's next superstar.

"And maybe," he said, "Rory is it."

This was more than just one major. It was the way McIlroy decimated the field with a golf swing so pure that he made had only four holes worse than par all week.

McIlroy finished at 268 to break the U.S. Open record by four shots. That record 12-under par by Woods at Pebble Beach? McIlroy matched it in the second round and kept right on rolling.

"I couldn't ask for much more, and I'm just so happy to be holding this trophy," McIlroy said. "I know how good Tiger was in 2000 to win by 15 in Pebble. I was trying to go out there and emulate him in some way. I played great for four days, and I couldn't be happier."

He even tried to be like Woods in the final round, showing no mercy on those chasing him.

McIlroy opened with an 8-foot birdie and never let anyone get closer to him the rest of the day. Even when he made his first bogey of the final round at No. 12 that trimmed his lead back to eight shots with six holes to play, he wasn't happy. Woods kept his focus at Pebble Beach by trying not to drop a single shot. That's what the kid was trying to do.

"I was trying to go out and trying to make no mistakes, and really not give anyone a chance to catch me," McIlroy said.

When he arrived for his press conference, he took a picture of the silver U.S. Open trophy on the table and posted it on Twitter with two references that said it all: Winning. Bounceback.

"Going back to Augusta this year, I felt like that was a great opportunity to get my first major. It didn't quite work out," McIlroy said. "But to come back straightaway at the U.S. Open and win, that is nice. You can always call yourself a major champion, and hopefully after this, I can call myself a multiple major champion."

Since the Masters began in 1934, McIlroy is the second youngest major champion next to Woods.

Day, a 23-year-old from Australia, closed with a 68 and was runner-up for the second straight major. Unlike the Masters, however, Day didn't have a chance. No one did this week.

McIlroy opened with a three-shot lead, stretched it to six shots after 36 holes and eight shots going into the final round. No one got any closer over the final 18 holes.

Tributes poured in throughout the steamy afternoon outside the nation's capital — first from the players he beat, then from Jack Nicklaus and ultimately from Woods.

"What a performance from start to finish," Woods said in a statement. "Enjoy the win. Well done."

Nicklaus invited McIlroy to lunch last year in Florida and talked to him about how to close out tournaments. He apparently wasn't listening when he took a four-shot lead into the final round of the Masters, only to implode on the back nine and shoot 80.

"I didn't think it was going to happen again, and it hasn't," Nicklaus said by telephone to NBC Sports. "I think this kid's going to have a great career. I don't think there's any question about it. He's got all the components. He's got a lot of people rooting for him. He's a nice kid. He's got a pleasant personality.

"He's humble when he needs to be humble, and he's confident when he needs to be confident."

Just think: If he had avoided the collapse at Augusta National, he could be headed to Royal St. George's for the British Open with the first two legs of the Grand Slam.

Among the records he set in a U.S. Open unlike any other:

— The 72-hole record at 268.

— The 54-hole record at 199.

— The 36-hole record at 131.

— Most under par at any point at 17 under.

— Quickest to reach double digits under par — 26 holes when he got to 10 under in the second round.

McIlroy also tied Woods' record for a six-shot lead at the halfway point, and he joined Lee Janzen in 1993 and Lee Trevino in 1968 as the only players to post all four rounds in the 60s.

Some of that had to do with Congressional, which was softened by rain and cloud cover. The USGA did nothing to try to protect par, moving tees forward to tempt players to take on some risk. The result was a whopping 32 rounds under par on Sunday. The previous record of 18 final rounds under par was at Baltusrol in 1993.

But there is no denying that one guy played far better than anyone else — eight shots better. McIlroy became the first player since Woods in 2002 at Bethpage Black to go wire-to-wire in the U.S. Open without ties, and his best might still be ahead of him.

"I think he's still growing, and it's just scary to think about it," said Y.E. Yang, who played in the final group the last two days.

Amid the celebration of McIlroy came growing concern about the state of American golf. For the first time since the Masters began in 1934, Americans have gone five majors without winning. They were on the verge of being shut out of the top three for the fourth time in the last five majors until Yang made bogey on the last hole for a 71.

That put the South Korean into a tie for third with PGA Tour rookie Kevin Chappell (66), Robert Garrigus (70) and Lee Westwood (70).

"It says, I think, that the Americans struggle a little bit," PGA champion Martin Kaymer said. "Since Tiger has been on a — how you do say? — little down, nothing has really happened. We've just become so much stronger."

The game also is getting much younger.

McIlroy became the fourth straight player in his 20s to win a major, the longest such streak since 1897.

The drama Sunday was not who would win, but by how many.

There was simply no catching McIlroy, not when he was staked to an eight-shot lead while playing flawless golf, not on a soft course that allowed him to hit wedge into six greens on the front nine.

With chants of "Let's go, Ror-eee" coming from the massive gallery, and teenagers climbing pine trees to see golf's bright new star, McIlroy came out firing with a wedge that settled 8 feet from the pin for an opening birdie.

Twice when he faced putts from across the green, he holed 7-footers for par. He stretched his lead to 10 shots, and when he made the turn, his tee shot on the par-3 10th rolled down the slope and stopped inches away from an ace.

The way his week had been going, it was shocking not to see it fall.