Bubba Watson Celebrates after winning the WGC Dell Match Play

Austin, Texas - Bubba Watson has found his groove just in time. After

capturing his tenth career PGA Tour victory earlier this year at Riviera,

Watson has begun his quest for a third Green Jacket at Augusta (and

a spot on Team USA for some matches over in France later this fall).

After defeating World No.2 Justin Thomas (who had an opportunity to

surpass Dustin Johnson in the Official World Golf Rankings with a win)

in the one of the semi-finals, he went on and routed Kevin Kisner in the

final 7&6.

Kisner looked completely spent before he even hit a shot in the match,

likely because his semi-final with Alex Noren was an epic back and forth

affair that was knotted after 18 holes. On the first extra hole, Noren

blinked first - botching an eagle putt from just off the green which led

to a 3 putt disaster. Kisner nailed his four footer for birdie and the win

to reach the final with Watson. Nothing went right for Kisner in the final,

Watson had him 7 down after ten holes.

Presently Bubba Watson has two golf goals, another run at a Green Jacket

and that match in France this fall. He made sure in his post round press

conference that the Ryder Cup Captain knew of his intentions "I hope Jim

Furyk is watching because I really want to play in France."

It's looking pretty certain that Bubba will be in France, the bigger question

is who will stop him from slipping on his third Green Jacket at Augusta

National.

Alex Noren went on to defeat Justin Thomas in the consolation match 3&2.

Scores:https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html

March 18, 8:07 pm est

Rory celebrates at Bayhill after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Windermere, Florida - Sometimes it all clicks at once, for Rory McIlroy

this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it was the perfect storm.

(Full disclosure - last week I actually picked Rory in my Fantasy Golf

League after speaking with him at Innisbrook during his pre-tournament

press conference at the Valspar Championship, he just seemed primed

to win. As it turns out, I was a week early on my prognostication, but

honestly, I saw a breakthrough coming.) After birdieing 5 of the last 6

holes, McIlroy's final round 64 was good enough for a 3 shot margin of

victory at 18 under par on The King's firm and fast Bayhill layout.

It was a week where Rory, (who last won on the PGA Tour at East Lake

on Sept.25th, 2016 - the same day that Arnold Palmer passed away),

led the field in virtually every statistical category including putting. When

McIlroy drained his putt for birdie at the last, it was his 100th putt of

the week, by far his best putting performance total of his career. Just

last week in Jupiter at the Bear's Club, McIlroy worked with Brad Faxon

on the mental side of putting. Faxon suggested he be more reactionary

and not to get caught up in being so precise. As McIlroy said "It was

more of a realization that I don't need to be so perfect to make putts.

Hopefully this is the kick-start of something special."

"Honestly I thought if I shot 67, I would have had a good chance, and that

obviously would have been nearly good enough," McIlroy said. "I went out

with the mindset of being patient, I was even par thru 5 holes and four

behind Henrik at that point. I hit it into the bunker off the tee on 6, then

from there I played a perfect round of golf - I basically gave myself birdie

chances on every hole. I executed shots the way I wanted to when I needed

to, shooting 64 in those conditions out there with it being firm and fast,

to get in the winners circle again - it feels really good."

Bryson DeChambeau finished second at 15 under par (68). Justin Rose was

third at -14 (after a 69). 54 hole leader Henrik Stenson finished solo fourth

at 13 under par (71). Tiger Woods (69) after getting to within a shot of the

lead walking off the 15th green, struggled coming in - finishing tied for fifth

with Ryan Moore at -10.

Scores:

https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/arnold-palmer-invitational-presented-by-mastercard/leaderboard.html

By Jason Bruno - March 13th, 2018 7:17 pm

2019 Presidents Cup Captains announced at Bayhill

Windermere, Florida - On Tuesday late afternoon at Bayhill, the PGA Tour

held a rare late afternoon press conference to announce the new captains

of the 2019 Presidents Cup - Tiger Woods for Team USA and Ernie Els for

the Internationals.

Now well beyond his prime, nobody doubted that Els would be the logical

choice for the Internationals side, but we're not sure few other than Stricker,

Furyk, Davis Love III and Tiger himself saw this one coming. At 42 years old,

Woods is the youngest named captain ever.

Both new captains have played eight times in the Presidents Cup and were

involved in the 2003 matches that went to a playoff and ended in a tie. The

2019 matches will be Dec.12-15th at Royal Melbourne in Australia.

When asked about how the captaincy came about for Tiger, he said "After

some thought, that sounds like something I really want to do. I called Jay

up and said, 'Might you be interested in me possibly being the captain in

2019?' Silence. then he said, 'Yeah, we might be able to work that out.' So

here I am." Woods put up a big smile when asked if he plans on being a

playing captain. "I would like to get to a point where I would have to make

that decision, get to where I'm playing well enough where I could make the

team on points," Woods said. "But I wouldn't want to have the conversation

and go, 'Self'. So let's just see how it progresses." Hale Irwin was the only

captain to take on both roles in 1994.

"It was just a natural progression to one day become a captain," Woods said.