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	<title>SportsCategory: Golf &#124; Sports &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>SportsCategory: Golf &#124; Sports &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>How Phil Mickelson Found More U.S. Open Heartbreak</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/17/how-phil-mickelson-found-more-u-s-open-heartbreak/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/17/how-phil-mickelson-found-more-u-s-open-heartbreak/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:45:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean Gregory / Ardmore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2346743</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Here he comes!&#8221; shouted a golf fan as Phil Mickelson approached the first tee at Merion Golf Club, outside Philadelphia, on Sunday. &#8220;Here he comes!&#8221; The crowd roared as Mickelson walked up the fairway; moments later Mickelson&#8217;s playing partner on this final round of the U.S. Open, fellow American Hunter Mahan, received, oh, about a third of the applause Mickelson got. &#8220;In my line of the work I&#8217;m used to that,&#8221; said another guy in the crowd. &#8220;There&#8217;s him, there&#8217;s me.&#8221; &#8220;Great head of hair Phil,&#8221; screamed another guy, in a thick Philly accent, as Mickelson waited to tee off. Mickelson&#8217;s locks, indeed, flowed out of his KPMG visor. &#8220;Philly loves you, Phil!&#8221; So began one of the great passion plays in all sports: golf fans trying to will Phil Mickelson to a U.S. Open title. Mickelson entered the final round up a stroke, and with Merion torturing the field&#8211;like any good U.S. Open course is wont to do&#8211;he was in prime position to finally win a title. Mickelson had finished second at the Open five times. And after Mickelson jetted from Philly to San Diego earlier this week to attend his daughter&#8217;s eighth grade graduation, before taking a red-eye back to Merion in time for the first round &#8212; he shot a bleary-eyed 67, low score of the day &#8212; a Mickelson win would be fitting Father&#8217;s Day nightcap. Especially in the Northeast, where Mickelson &#8212; a west coaster &#8212; is nonetheless extremely popular. Four of his close U.S. Open calls came in New York, in front of rambunctious pro-Mickelson galleries &#8212; at Bethpage Black twice, in 2002 and 2009, at Shinnecock Hills in 2004, and at Winged Foot in 2006, when he gave the tournament away on the final hole. During the 2011 Open at Congressional, in the Washington D.C.-area, Mickelson was the crowd favorite, even though he never contended. &#8220;All those years he was losing to Tiger, Phil just persevered,&#8221; says Rick Hollawell, a lawyer from Philadelphia was was cheering on Mickelson (Mickelson has won three Masters<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2346743&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/20130616_zaf_m67_061-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Golf 2013 - Rose Wins US Open</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/6611ab521be756a66a200bd2b84b5e80?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Sean Gregory</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Great Father&#8217;s Day Moments At The U.S. Open</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/14/great-fathers-day-moments-at-the-u-s-open/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/14/great-fathers-day-moments-at-the-u-s-open/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:45:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tanner Curtis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2346715</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As usual, this year&#8217;s U.S. Open will conclude on Father&#8217;s Day &#8212; which often makes the winner even more emotional. TIME takes a look at some tender moments.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2346715&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/ap110619042234.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Rory McIlroy hugs his father Gerry on the 18th green after winning the U.S. Open Championship golf tournament in Bethesda, Md., June 19, 2011.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tannercurtis</media:title>
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		<title>At U.S. Open, The Grass Man Has The Power</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/13/at-u-s-open-the-grass-man-has-the-power/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/13/at-u-s-open-the-grass-man-has-the-power/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:45:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean Gregory / Ardmore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2346727</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and the rest of the world&#8217;s best golfers aren&#8217;t the only ones sweating the start of the U.S. Open, which begins at the Merion Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia Thursday morning. For one man at Merion, the tournament is a career culmination, a chance to finally display his craft in a major championship. &#8220;It&#8217;s like you&#8217;ve waited your whole life to play Bobby Fischer in chess,&#8221; says Matt Shaffer, superintendent at Merion. Mike Davis, executive director of the United States Golf Association (USGA), has called the golf course superintendent &#8220;the person that is most important to the success of a U.S. Open.&#8221; The superintendents make sure the greens are fast enough, the rough high enough, to challenge the golfers, while negotiating weather conditions that can wreak havoc on the event (rain has soaked Merion in the days before the Open, and the forecast calls for plenty more). And Shaffer, an affable 60-year-old from a small town south of Altoona, Pa., is one of the best. &#8220;These guys are scientists,&#8221; says Davis. &#8220;They are studying soil samples, trying to figure out how gallons of water per minute to run through the soil, looking at dirt under a microscope. Among superintendents, Matt is a bit of an icon. He&#8217;s someone of lot of these guys look up to.&#8221; (MORE: Why Nike&#8217;s New Tiger Woods Ad Is Terribly Confusing) Golf course superintendents are among the great oddball characters in sports &#8212; the behind-the-scenes obsessives who, if they&#8217;re doing their job correctly, stay out of the public eye (like, say, the chain gang in football, or the official scorekeepers at baseball and basketball games, or the guy who spots the javelin at the Olympics). &#8220;He breathes, eats, and drinks grass and dirt,&#8221; says Shaffer&#8217;s wife, Renna, who calls herself a &#8220;mistress,&#8221; since Matt is married to the course. Matt even insists on tending to a garden at home. &#8220;I tell him all the time, &#8216;you don&#8217;t have time for a garden,&#8217;&#8221; says Renna. &#8220;&#8216;You already spend 100 hours a week<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2346727&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/170384212.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/170384212.jpg?w=240" />
		<media:content url="http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/170384212.jpg?w=240" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">GOLF-US OPEN</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/6611ab521be756a66a200bd2b84b5e80?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Sean Gregory</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Nike&#8217;s New Tiger Woods Ad Is Terribly Confusing</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/11/why-nikes-new-tiger-woods-ad-is-terribly-confusing/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/11/why-nikes-new-tiger-woods-ad-is-terribly-confusing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:45:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean Gregory</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2346685</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tiger Woods, like many superstar athletes, has a pretty banal Twitter feed. It&#8217;s full of the usual product propaganda, carefully crafted responses to media firestorms and prom pictures with an Olympic gold medalist. So I was caught a bit off guard when Woods fired off this missive to his nearly 3.4 million Twitter followers on Monday, just three days before the start of this year&#8217;s U.S. Open: Golf is a sport. #TW14 youtu.be/oDcb3eAAK1s&#8212; Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 10, 2013 Whoa. So golf is a sport? I wasn&#8217;t aware of some pressing debate that it wasn&#8217;t. Sure, people are still quick to point out that chubby chain smokers like John Daly and Ángel Cabrera can win major championships. But a younger generation of golfers have followed Woods into the weight room: this year&#8217;s Masters champ, Aussie Adam Scott, looks like he&#8217;d rather smash a slice of pizza with a 9-iron than actually eat it. Golfers have worked hard to break the fat-guy-in-bad-pants stereotype. Still, here was Woods, vouching for golf&#8217;s bona fides in a new Nike ad. And I couldn&#8217;t help but think that it backfired. (MORE: Great Scott. An Australian Finally Wins the Masters) I found the ad oh so confusing. At about the nine-second mark, Woods tees off, as dramatic music plays in the background. But in this &#8220;golf is a sport&#8221; world, a race starter stands beside the tee, says &#8220;on your marks,&#8221; then fires a gun before Woods swings. So this ad seems to be implying that if golf were an actual sport, not just a figment of Nike and Woods&#8217; imagination, a starter would fire a gun. But since there is no &#8220;on your marks,&#8221; is the ad actually implying golf isn&#8217;t a sport? Is the ad making a subtle pitch to the PGA Tour? Hey, guys, start firing guns at the first tee. Such a move, by the way, would make golf way more fun and exciting. In the next part of the clip, Woods barely misses a putt, and falls to the ground in agony. A boxing<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2346685&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/11/why-nikes-new-tiger-woods-ad-is-terribly-confusing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/6611ab521be756a66a200bd2b84b5e80?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Sean Gregory</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>The Tiger Woods-Sergio Garcia Spat Takes A Racist Turn</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/22/tiger-woods-sergio-garcia-spat-takes-a-racist-turn/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/22/tiger-woods-sergio-garcia-spat-takes-a-racist-turn/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 12:21:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean Gregory</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2346391</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When two golfers trade barbs off the course, it doesn&#8217;t exactly scream &#8220;raw athletic intensity.&#8221; So it&#8217;s been easy to ignore the Tiger Woods-Sergio Garcia &#8220;feud&#8221; that has &#8220;exploded&#8221; these last few weeks. Until now. Garcia&#8217;s latest salvo took a racist turn. At a European Tour awards dinner on Tuesday night, Steve Sands of The Golf Channel asked Garcia, in jest, if he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open. &#8220;We will have him round every night,&#8221; Garcia said. &#8220;We will serve fried chicken.&#8221; Ugh. Garcia&#8217;s words echoed Fuzzy Zoeller&#8217;s infamous comments about Woods in 1997, which also played on tired racial stereotypes about African-Americans. While Woods, then 21, was crushing the Augusta field that year, Zoeller made reference to a Master&#8217;s tradition: the previous year&#8217;s winner choosing the menu at the annual Champions dinner. &#8220;You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year,&#8221; Zoeller said. &#8220;Got it? Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.&#8221; (MORE: Watch Sergio Garcia Hit One-Handed Backward Shot From Tee) Zoeller later apologized, and so did Garcia. Through a statement issued by the European Tour, Garcia said, &#8220;I apologize for any offense that may have been caused by my comment on stage during The European Tour Players&#8217; Awards dinner. I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner.&#8221; This whole thing started at the Players Championship almost two weeks ago. During the third round, Garcia and Woods were paired up. On the second hole, Garcia said Woods pulled out a club during Garcia&#8217;s backswing, causing the crowd to make noise and distract him. Woods insisted that a marshal said that Garcia already hit, though a marshal later denied this to Sports Illustrated. &#8221;He&#8217;s not my favorite guy to play with, he&#8217;s not the nicest guy on tour,&#8221; Garcia told ESPN after the round. &#8221;We don&#8217;t enjoy each other&#8217;s company. You<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2346391&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/22/tiger-woods-sergio-garcia-spat-takes-a-racist-turn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/169232975.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">BMW PGA Championship - Previews</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/6611ab521be756a66a200bd2b84b5e80?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Sean Gregory</media:title>
		</media:content>
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		<item>
		<title>Great Scott: An Australian Finally Wins The Masters</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/15/great-scott-an-australian-finally-wins-the-masters/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/15/great-scott-an-australian-finally-wins-the-masters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:39:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glen Levy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adam scott]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Angel Cabrera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Augusta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jason Day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steve Williams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Masters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345805</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For Adam Scott and Australian golf fans, it was a case of 9th time lucky at the 10th hole at Augusta in the 10th ever playoff at The Masters. On eight previous occasions, Australian golfers have been runners-up at the first major of the year. Most infamously, in 1996, Greg Norman somehow turned a six-shot lead on the final day into a defeat to Englishman Nick Faldo. It was the kind of choke which might have made you wonder whether there was a Curse of the Bambino lurking when it came to Aussies and The Masters. And the 32-year-old Scott could have had cause to curse his own ability in the clutch. Not only was he one of those Australians who had come second at The Masters – he tied with fellow countryman Jason Day in 2011 – but at last year&#8217;s British Open, he bogeyed the last four holes to lose to South African Ernie Els. Yet less than a year later, Scott was slipping on the iconic Green Jacket from 2012 Masters winner Bubba Watson. And it couldn&#8217;t have been more dramatic: Scott won it by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff to defeat Argentina&#8216;s Angel Cabrera. (MORE: How Tianlang Guan, 14-Year-Old Phenom, Made The Masters Cut, And Avoided Controversy) Truth be told, the final day on Sunday probably won&#8217;t go down as one of the best among the 77 editions of the major to date. The unseasonal rain didn&#8217;t only dampen the course, making it harder to judge putts, but the enthusiasm of the spectators who could be seen using their hands to hold umbrellas rather than applaud the golfers. &#8220;Moving Day&#8221; on Saturday – so called because it&#8217;s often the round when the likeliest winners of a major put themselves in position to triumph come Sunday – had also been a damp squib of sorts, with not too much in the way of significant action. It seemed as if a winner could come from one of the three Australians –<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345805&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/scott_0415.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">scott_0415</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Glen</media:title>
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		<title>Whew! How Tianlang Guan, 14-Year-Old Phenom, Made The Masters Cut, And Avoided Controversy</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/12/whew-how-tianlang-guan-14-year-old-phenom-made-the-masters-cut-and-avoided-controversy/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/12/whew-how-tianlang-guan-14-year-old-phenom-made-the-masters-cut-and-avoided-controversy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Apr 2013 03:03:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean Gregory</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345776</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[International incident averted. The kid is sticking around for the weekend. Yes! I mean, what else can you say? Tianlang Guan, 14, shot three over par on Friday to make the Masters cut. A controversial penalty call, which would have caused a worldwide uproar had Guan fallen short by a stroke, added to the drama; Guan, from China, becomes the youngest player to ever make the cut at a major championship. What&#8217;s more, he&#8217;s the youngest player by nearly two years. &#8220;I made it,&#8221; Guan wrote on Weibo, China&#8217;s version of Twitter, according to ESPN.com. &#8220;I hope I can make more miracles, more dreams come true. I want to thank my parents and everyone who cared, supported and helped me.&#8221; The top of the Masters leaderboard is truly intriguing. Jason Day &#8212; who could have knocked Guan out of the tournament by sinking a 12-foot putt on 17, but missed it, to the delight of, oh, the entire planet &#8212; is the leader at 6-under-par. Fred Couples is tied for second, with Marc Leishman, at 5-under; if Couples, 53, wins, he&#8217;d be the oldest player ever to win a major. Tiger Woods is lurking at 3-under. He fell off the pace a bit after a shot on 15 hit the pin &#8230; then rolled into the water. (MORE: Tiger Woods Is Back To His Old Form, With A Little Help From His Opponents) Still, the kid at the cut line is the story of the tournament. Barring a miracle two days of golf that fires up social media like no other, Guan won&#8217;t contend for the title. But the mere presence of the eighth grader from China, whose mom is in Augusta supplying snack packs, is historic. A rules violation almost sent Guan home. On the 17th hole, Guan was assessed a one-stroke penalty for playing too slowly. Aa Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports reports: [British scoring official John Paramor] said he had advised Guan about slow play after both the 12th and 16th holes. When the eighth grader was<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345776&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/12/whew-how-tianlang-guan-14-year-old-phenom-made-the-masters-cut-and-avoided-controversy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/166415888.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">The Masters - Round Two</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Sean Gregory</media:title>
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		<title>The Masters: Tiger Woods is Back to His Old Form, With a Little Help From His Opponents</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/11/the-masters-tiger-woods-is-back-to-his-old-form-with-a-little-help-from-his-opponents/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/11/the-masters-tiger-woods-is-back-to-his-old-form-with-a-little-help-from-his-opponents/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Augusta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Masters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345697</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Golf: the gentleman’s game. The sport of whispers and tucked-in polos and tiny claps and putting tips from fellow competitors that transform the short game of the former No. 1 player to help him regain the title of No. 1 player. Now, Tiger Woods is primed to win a 15th major, and there&#8217;s talk of Tiger not only beating Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors, but capturing 20. (MORE: Can Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy Take Down Tiger?) Last month at the World Golf Championships at Doral, fellow PGA Tour player Steve Stricker gave Tiger Woods the most famous free putting lesson in history. Stricker suggested that Woods &#8212;  a long-time friend &#8212; make a slight adjustment in his setup over the ball on the green. They reportedly worked together for 45 minutes, possibly an hour. Tiger went on to win the tournament. Stricker finished second. Two weeks later, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational to regain the world’s No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2010. Stricker’s lesson isn’t the only episode of altruism shown to Tiger on his long road back. As reported by Sports Illustrated last week, in 2010 Woods asked fellow competitor Sean O’Hair for the phone number of his former swing coach Sean Foley. While Tiger almost certainly could’ve gotten Foley’s contact info without going to another PGA Tour player, O’Hair happily obliged. Since then, Woods’ swing has gotten simpler, more compact and more repeatable. And he’s won six times on Tour since he started working with Foley. These two episodes – two of Tiger’s competitors gladly helping and even going out of their way to help him improve his game – seems much rarer in other sports. Is LeBron James giving free throw lessons to Dwight Howard? Is Albert Pujols offering batting tips to Miguel Cabrera? If such altruism takes place, it&#8217;s rarely publicized. Golf, however, is just different. In fact, back in 2009, the roles were reversed for Woods and O&#8217;Hair. Tiger noticed something funny in O&#8217;Hair&#8217;s backstroke on the greens during a<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345697&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/518821422.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">GOLF-US-MASTERS-WOODS</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>Masters Preview: Can Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy Take Down Tiger?</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/11/masters-preview-can-bubba-watson-rory-mcilroy-take-down-tiger/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/11/masters-preview-can-bubba-watson-rory-mcilroy-take-down-tiger/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:20:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Glen Levy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Augusta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Major]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Masters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345687</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The words uttered by Tiger Woods in the build up to this week&#8217;s Masters might make the rest of the field in Augusta feel a little less comfortable about their chances of slipping on the famous Green Jacket. Woods, 37, is bidding to win his 15th major, which would be his first since 2008, and fifth victory at the Masters, which he hasn&#8217;t won since 2005. One of the great storylines in golf is Woods attempting to top Jack Nicklaus&#8217;s record haul of 18 majors, and if Woods can justify his billing as the bookmakers favorite – he&#8217;s as low as 4 to 1 with some bookies, which seems to flatter him somewhat in a 93-man field – he may well be back on track. As for those words, Woods said that &#8220;I feel very balanced,&#8221; going on to say that &#8220;I feel comfortable with every aspect of my game. I feel that I&#8217;ve improved and I&#8217;ve got more consistent, and hopefully I can continue it this week and the rest of the year.&#8221; Addressing the quest to pass Nicklaus, Woods noted that &#8220;We have very expansive careers and I feel like I&#8217;m basically right in the middle of mine. It took Jack a while to get to 18, all the way until he was 46 years old.&#8221; (MORE: Tiger Woods Is Back To Number One. His Greatest Feat?) But words need to be matched by actions, and Woods has certainly delivered on that front in 2013. He&#8217;s world number one thanks to recording victories at three out of four strokeplay events this year, and has six wins from his last 20 starts on the PGA Tour. His record at the Masters is impressive: Since winning it for the first time in 1997, he&#8217;s had 11 top 10 finishes. And apart from last year, where Woods could only manage a tie for 40th – his worst finish as a pro at Augusta – he&#8217;s come no worse than sixth since 2005. And if Woods does put on the Green Jacket for a<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345687&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/tiger_0410.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">tiger_0410</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Glen</media:title>
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		<title>WATCH: Sergio Garcia Hits One-Handed Backward Shot From Tree</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/27/watch-sergio-garcia-hits-one-handed-backward-shot-from-tree/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/27/watch-sergio-garcia-hits-one-handed-backward-shot-from-tree/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Charlie Campbell</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arnold Palmer Invitational]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[backward]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bay Hill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florida]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[one-handed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sergio Garcia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seve Ballesteros]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tree]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trick]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345255</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia may be some way short of the late great Seve Ballesteros, but he definitely shares something with his illustrious compatriot — the ability to generate the sublime from the ridiculous. The Spaniard found himself in trouble on the 10th hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, Florida, on Sunday, after his wayward tee shot became lodged 15 feet up an oak tree to the right of the fairway. Before a bemused crowd, the 33-year-old lithely climbed the branches and discovered that the ball was in a playable position. (WATCH: Taking On Tiger Woods at His Own Game) After investigating several stances, including a possible between the legs effort, Garcia decided to chip out backward with one hand to rapturous applause. It was a shot that Ballesteros, a five-time Major winner famed for his elaborate recovery strokes, would have surely been proud. “I looked over and Sergio is up in the air, and I&#8217;m trying to figure out what in the hell he&#8217;s going to do,” Garcia’s playing partner William McGirt told ESPN. “He called for a club. He&#8217;s hugging the tree. And the ball comes flying out. Are you kidding me?” Unfortunately for Garcia, it was no joke. Things quickly turned sour when it emerged that he had injured his shoulder while maneuvering up between the tree&#8217;s limbs. The pain was so great that Garcia only managed to hit the ball 30 yards for his next shot, and so he took advantage of a break in play for severe thunderstorms to retire early. “It wasn&#8217;t an easy decision. I wanted to keep playing and finish the round and the tournament even though it was not my best day, but soreness grew and [I] decided to pull back to avoid further injuries,” Garcia told his official website. The world number 17 now faces a fight to return to full fitness in time for the U.S. Masters in April. WATCH: U.S. Open Winner Webb Simpson Interrupted by Man Making Bird Calls<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345255&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nf_garcia_0327.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Sergio Garcia</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor2</media:title>
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