Hazeltine Diary: tHE twittering phenomenon is something that has really caught on in golf locker-rooms: Stewart Cink, after his British Open win, posted a photograph on his site of the Claret Jug filled with Guinness . . . and Ian Poulter, after witnessing the indoor theme park at the Mall of America in Minneapolis on Monday, told fellow twitters that he was tempted to take a ride on one of the attractions.
Rory McIlroy, too, has his own page – twitter.com/rorsmcilroy – but the 20-year-old Ulsterman likes to keep his observations confined to events when he is on tour and doesn’t provide any information when he is at home in Holywood, Co Down.
“I really don’t want everybody to know what I’m up to when I am at home,” confessed McIlroy. “I think people want to know about what life’s like on tour rather than just what we’re up to every day.”
McIlroy, who is appearing in his first USPGA championship, is looking to find some of his early-season form which included a maiden tour win in Dubai. “For my first year in majors, I’ve done very well,” said McIlroy, who had a top-20 in the Masters and a top-10 in the US Open. “I’ve learnt how to be patient in these events, you can’t go out chasing scores. I’ve found the majors are about being patient and just trying to put yourself into a position going into the last day where you have a chance to contend.”
But McIlroy doesn’t intend to put a time frame on winning a major. “You look at Sergio Garcia, he is probably one of the best ball-strikers I’ve ever played with. If he has not won a major, it’s obviously very difficult to win one.”
Harrington is as nice as pie
IN preparing the menu for last night’s champions dinner, Pádraig Harrington wanted a traditional Irish dish to serve to his fellow winners of the Wanamaker Trophy. The first thing that came to his mind was bacon and cabbage . . . except that he doesn’t like cabbage. So, instead, the Dubliner opted for Guinness and Steak pie to be dished out at the shindig.
Clinton plumps for Ballybunion
FORMER US president Bill Clinton was asked by Golfmagazine for its celebratory 50th anniversary issue, to name his favourite golf course . . . and he plumped for the old course at Ballybunion as his perfect golfing destination. No doubt, the good folk in Kerry will hope that Clinton continues to influence a section of the American public sufficiently to include a stop-off there in any planned travel itineraries.
A tyre with plenty of grip
THE greatest journey of any player in the field at Hazeltine this week has probably been taken by Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng who started playing golf as a 12-year-old with a self-made club.
Marksaeng’s first club consisted of a piece of metal he attached to a bamboo stick with a used bicycle tyre for the grip. “I didn’t think anything much of it at the time,” said Marksaeng.
