“I remember I played on Thursday morning, and then on Thursday afternoon Tiger Woods was playing,” McIlroy said according to ESPN in the U.K. “I came out in the afternoon and took one of the photographer’s cameras off of him and was able to follow inside the ropes, which was pretty cool. That was my first real taste of Dubai, and I’ve been coming back every year since.”

Remember when Tiger was so good that teenagers would pretend to be photographers just so they could get a look at him? Perhaps that guy is on his way back, but it is interesting to see how far McIlroy has come in just six years.

Back then Rory idolized Tiger. Now, he’s one of the best golfers in the world and and is oftentimes compared to Woods. On top of that, he is dating a Tennis star and has a hot ex-girlfriend who still pines for him. It’s amazing how quickly things come together.

“I’ve never been a fan if it,” Woods said at Pebble Beach Tuesday according to CBSSports.com. “I believe it’s the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion. I believe that’s how it should be played. I’m traditionalist when it comes to that.”

Woods said he has spoken with Peter Dawson of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club — which is the organization that sets the game’s global rules — about doing away with belly putters. He believes he has a proposal that would make the rule change possible.

“My idea was to have it so that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag,” Woods explained.”I think with that we’d be able to get away from any type of belly anchoring. You can still anchor the putter like Bernhard Langer did, against the arm. But that’s still the art of swinging the club, too, at the same time.”

Obviously the belly putter works for some players. Veteran superstars Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els switched to it last year and Keegan Bradley became the first person to win a major using the longer putter. Does the belly putter give golfers an unfair advantage?

Woods and many others believe it does, but if that’s the case why wouldn’t everyone be using one? For example, if corking your bat was legal in the MLB I doubt anyone who choose to not cork theirs. Plenty of people choose to not play with a belly putter. Does that mean they are stubborn and unwilling to give it a try, or they believe it constitutes cheating? Time will tell, but those who use the belly putter would undoubtedly rather have a global icon like Tiger in their corner.

The stab punctured Carpenter’s femoral artery and could cost him his leg. He was released from Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital on Sunday and could need more surgeries.

“People get in arguments every day on every golf course in America,” Carpenter said. “But 99.9 percent of the time no one takes it this far.

“If (the blood flow in my leg) does not regenerate it will be no good to me. I’ll never be able to lift my feet up again. I’ve run full marathons, and I’ll never be a runner again. I’ve lost the ability to properly use my leg. I’ll have to use a brace on this right leg forever.”

Police in Tarrant County, Texas are investigating the incident. As if the story isn’t unusual enough, the 9-1-1 call is even more strange. A man who identified himself as a member of the foursome that was playing in front of Carpenter placed an 11-minute emergency call and sounded unsure about how the injury occurred.

“He fell on a golf club or something,” the caller reportedly said. “He’s passed out once already. We’ve got his artery clamped with our hand. We don’t know this guy. They were golfers behind us. He’s not in our group.”

Carpenter said the attacker tried to hit him in the head with a club before stabbing him, and he grabbed the club and snapped it. If the caller was playing ahead of the threesome that was trying to play through and was present when the brawl broke out, it would be tough to imagine he does not know what happened. Somebody should remind these people that golf is just a game.

H/T Devil Ball Golf

“I feel like it is a fair and honest book,” Haney told Chicago Business. “I know he said it is “unprofessional.” I don’t know how you can make a comment like that without reading the book. I think I had an opportunity to write an unprofessional book, but I don’t think I did. I feel like I wrote a fair and honest book.”

Asked if he felt Tiger should be worried about what’s in the book, Haney considered the possibility.

“Maybe. (Mr. Haney then took a long pause.) The truth is the truth. There are quite a few things in there that people will find as surprises.”

Haney also says Tiger reads everything and that he expects him to read the book. That’s how it works for most athletes and coaches. They all say they don’t read or pay attention to what is said about them, but that’s not true. Many of them are aware of what’s being said, and in Tiger’s case, he wasn’t happy about it.

H/T GameOn!

If you are a golf fan, you might notice something strange about the photo above.  As we know from watching Happy Gilmore, only the winner of a golf tournament gets one of the big checks.  The winner of the Farmers Insurance Open this weekend at Torrey Pines also received $1,080,000, which is the amount you see written on said big check in the photo that Geoff Shackelford shared with us.  The problem is Kyle Stanley didn’t win. He should have, but he didn’t.

Stanley tripled the 18th hole and then went on to lose to Brandt Snedeker in a playoff. The check that was made out to Stanley was then tossed under the 18th hole grandstand. At least Snedeker got a trophy.

H/T Devil Ball Golf

What do you do when you’ve won nearly $13 million on the PGA Tour? You buy a badass car used in a TV show, that’s what you do.

Golfer Bubba Watson fulfilled a dream buy purchasing the original General Lee car used in the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. Watson won the car at an auction Saturday with a $110,000 bid. The car was used in the very first episode of the show to jump over a police cruiser.

The best part about the purchase is this is something Watson promised he’d do last year.

“I’m definitely going to get me a Dukes of Hazzard car, a replica that I’m definitely going to get if I win a golf tournament, because my wife said I can do that if I win,” he said at the time. “So if I win, I’m getting a Dukes of Hazzard General Lee.”

You heard it here right now: the day LBS hits seven figures, I’m buying the ****ing Batmobile.

H/T Devil Ball Golf

The 2nd January 2012 has also seen the appointment of Jonny Bloomfield as my new fitness trainer. I’ve been pontificating about my fitness for a while and Jonny, who is based in Belfast, was recommended to me by Lee’s trainer, Steve MacGregor. My golf career has been extended somewhat by winning the Open Championship and I just thought that enough is enough and it was time to get myself into better shape. Jonny’s a sports scientist and he’s got me doing all sorts in the gym, having my eyes checked out, nutrition etc. Therefore my alcohol consumption is taking a massive dint…..currently down to zero! However, no pain, no gain and I’m very excited about the route that we’re going down  – it’s a long road but I will give it my best shot.

Clarke then went on to note that he bought himself a new Mercedes before Christmas, so it sounds like he’ll have no problem finding things to fill the void left by his alcohol-free lifestyle.  If he thinks giving up beer will help him take home a couple more purses close to the 990,000 pounds he banked at The Open Championship, the transition should be seamless.

H/T Game On!

“You can’t really do anything about the past,” Wozniacki said according to the Belfast Telegraph, noting that she has taken valuable advice from McIlroy. “You just need to look forward. You have a tournament now, and you want to do the best you can. That’s it. Then if it goes well, it’s great. If not, you have the next one.”

Aren’t they just the perfect couple? One minute Woz claims she’s the real superstar in the relationship and the next she’s admitting to taking advice from Rory.  They aren’t No. 1 and No. 2 in the world for no reason.  Wozniacki did say, however, that she believes golf can be more taxing on your mind than tennis.

“I think it’s more mental than tennis,” she explained. “You do one wrong movement and the ball goes in the trees or somewhere and it’s difficult.”

“I think it’s unprofessional and very disappointing,” Woods told Bob Harig, “especially because it’s someone I worked with and trusted as a friend.

“There have been other one-sided books about me, and I think people understand that this book is about money. I’m not going to waste my time reading it.”

Though he says he won’t waste his time reading it, I’m sure there will be plenty of curious folks who will want to. That’s exactly why Haney is writing it.

“The Big Miss is golf history. I observed greatestness and am asked about it all the time. I wanted to share it in a fair and honest way,” he said over Twitter.

The only way to find out if it’s fair and honest is by reading it. I’m sure many folks will purchase it because there is a thirst for information about Tiger; people want to know everything possible about the man, and this book will likely prove that.

Haney coached Tiger for six years before resigning in 2010. Woods won 31 tournaments including six majors while paired with Haney. There is little doubt Haney will have plenty of inside information published in the book. He’s also not the first former aid to turn his back on Tiger.

“Holly is a very strong girl so she’s not losing sleep over the fact Rory is bringing Caroline (Wozniacki) home to the North for Christmas but she has banned any mention of him,” a source told the Irish Daily Mirror.

That means no talking about any of his big wins and certainly no mention of the corny moments Rory and his new girlfriend have shared together.  Holly even made it clear that Rory is not allowed to send her presents or cards, but she had a friend deliver gifts to her dogs which still live with McIlroy.

Sweeney was with McIlroy for every Christmas since she was 15 prior to this year, so you can understand why she might feel bitter.  A friend said she’s “looking forward to a new start in 2012,” but something tells us we haven’t heard the last of McIlroy stories that pertain to Holly Sweeney.