Devil Ball Golf
  • Jim Nantz should send Rickie Fowler a thank you note. — Getty Images

    Sizing up the TV coverage from the Wells Fargo Championship ... and away we go.

    Rickie Fowler had a lot riding on his birdie putt to win his first PGA Tour tournament. Little did he know he was also trying to help Jim Nantz save face from a premature call following the pinpoint wedge on the first playoff hole.

    After stuffing the shot to within five feet, Nantz decided to make the call early, proclaiming Fowler's approach to be the best wedge shot of his career.

    "Rickie Fowler, trying to get PGA Tour win number one, just hit the best wedge shot of his career. What did it look like from the blimp (switching to an overhead view)? It looked like a dart. ... [Quail Hollow is] the perfect place, it makes sense that this would be the place for him to get his first win."

    The only problem with the call? Fowler still had to make the putt, setting up a potentially awkward moment if he missed. I understand trying to build things up, but to call it the best wedge shot of his life before the putt? One miss and it would've become a tournament footnote.

    Call it a great shot if you want; but the "best wedge shot of his career line" would have looked silly had Fowler botched the putt and gone on to lose on the next playoff hole. It was a gamble by Nantz that paid off, and when you look at it that way, maybe that's why he's one of the best in the business.

    Read More »from Golftube: Rickie Fowler saves Jim Nantz from a potentially awkward moment
  • Rory McIlroy / Getty ImagesLet's be honest, we're all incredibly busy. Nobody has time to sit down and watch four rounds of golf coverage -- unless, of course, you watch TV for a living, and if that's the case, please email us your number. So in an effort to condense the tournament coverage for you into a few quick hits, here are five things we learned from the Wells Fargo Championship.

    Rickie Fowler finally gets it done on Sunday — "Told you guys it was coming soon." That's what Rickie Fowler said when he sat down in the interview room following his win on Sunday. Fowler certainly had confidence in himself, but the longer he went without a victory, the more people started to question if his weekend struggles were turning into a major issue. That's why his win at the Wells Fargo was so important. It not only silenced the critics; it also gave Fowler the belief that when given the chance to win, he can pull it off against the best players in the world.

    Rory McIlroy has some heat behind the golf ball — For the last few months we've been hearing about the countless hours Rory McIlroy's been putting in at the gym, but over the weekend at Quail Hollow, the 23-year-old made it crystal clear that the time spent is paying off in a big, big way. He recorded six drives over 320 yards during the third round -- including a 377-yard bomb on the 16th. He followed the driving display up by hitting a 339-yard 3-wood on the first playoff hole during the final round, flying Rickie Fowler and D.A. Points' drives. McIlroy might have come up a little short at Quail Hollow, but the driving display he put on was something to behold. If he keeps hitting it like that, he'll be in contention almost every week.

    A rivalry is kinda, sorta born — There's something to be said about labeling a rivalry as such before it actually turns into one, but on Sunday at Quail Hollow, we got a preview of what could potentially turn into the next big duel in golf. Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods are still the biggest names, but it seemed fitting that the two titans took a backseat to the future. Golf has been dying for a new rivalry over the last couple of years, and there's reason to believe Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy could give the sport exactly what it needs. Sure, it was just one playoff hole, but a rivalry has to start somewhere. Why not at Quail Hollow?

    Read More »from Five things we learned from the Wells Fargo Championship
  • It started as a whisper and slowly turned into a roar. More than two years had passed, and Rickie Fowler was still missing an important item on his golf resume: a PGA Tour win.

    Everyone wanted to know when he was finally going to break through, but the longer the 23-year-old went without a win, the louder the questions got about his inability to close on the weekends.

    When you're 23 years old, you feel like you have your entire life ahead of you. However, Fowler never had that luxury when he joined the PGA Tour. Following his first season, in 2010, that culminated with Rookie of the Year honors, fans' expectations hit an all-time high for the kid with the color-wheel clothing line.

    Everyone assumed he'd pick up wins in bunches, but it seemed like every time Fowler got remotely close to the lead on the weekend with a chance to pick up his maiden tour win, everything fell apart.

    The first couple of times it happened, it was chalked up to young nerves. But the more Fowler continued to struggle and the winless streak persisted, the more people started to question when Fowler would finally find the gear needed to close things out.

    On Sunday at Quail Hollow, we finally got our answer as Fowler stared down some heady competition by stuffing his approach to five feet on the first playoff hole, before rolling in the birdie putt to capture his first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship.

    Read More »from Rickie Fowler captures first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship
  • Webb Simpson, a member at Quail Hollow, has likely spent countless hours standing over five-footers on the 18th hole, wondering if he'd some day get a chance to make one to win the Wells Fargo Championship. While he already has a couple PGA Tour wins under his belt, he has a chance on Sunday to do the unthinkable and capture one of the biggest victories of his career on a course he knows like the back of his hand. But it won't be easy.

    He'll have to fend off some stout competition. Simpson, who's currently 14-under, has Ryan Moore (13-under), Rory McIlroy (12-under), Nick Watney (12-under), Rickie Fowler (11-under) and Geoff Ogilvy (10-under) nipping at his heels. If he makes one mistake, the dream will likely disappear. CBS's live final-round coverage starts at 3 p.m. ET.

    Read More »from Video: Catch up on Round 3 of the Wells Fargo Championship
  • Rory McIlroy isn't one of the longest golfers on the PGA Tour (he ranks 36th in driving distance this season), but on Saturday's at the Wells Fargo Championship, he smashed one of the longest drives of the season on the par-4 16th.

    How long, you ask? CBS on-course analyst Gary McCord noted it was 311 yards to carry the bunker on the right side of the fairway. McIlroy not only carried the bunker, but then watched as the ball bounded another 66 yards -- into the gallery crosswalk at the 377-yard mark.

    "Is about 80 or 90 yards out from there," McCord said. "That's outrageous, and it looked like he aimed to do that."

    Whether he expected the ball to go that far or not, the fact that it ended up within 23 yards of the 400-mark is astounding, since the hole doesn't play downhill or straight downwind. That's what you call insane distance, friends.

    Read More »from Rory McIlroy unleashes a 377-yard bomb at the Wells Fargo Championship
  • Rory McIlroy has a swing that's suitable for framing and hanging in your family room. But like a number of golf great, the 23-year-old (he celebrated a birthday yesterday) spent hours practicing and perfecting his game from an early age.

    The video you see above is of a three-year-old McIlroy working on his short game at home, and based on the footage, it's obvious his swing was pretty salty, even as a little tyke. Come to think of it, it's probably better than 99 percent of the golf swings you see on a typical Saturday at the local muni.

    So there you go, folks; Rory McIlroy had a better swing than a lot of us at the age of three. Hopefully that makes you feel a little better about your golf game.

  • Nick Watney / Getty ImagesIf Nick Watney was given the opportunity to press a reset button and start his 2012 season over from the start, there's a good chance he'd do it in a heartbeat.

    After putting together the best season of his career in 2011 -- winning twice and pocketing more than $5 million in earnings -- the stage appeared to be set for one of golf's rising stars.

    We talk all the time about names to keep an eye on at majors, well, Watney was certainly one of the names people had pegged for big things this year.

    But through the early portion of the season, he failed to live up to the sky-high expectations. With the exception of a T12 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and T17 at the WGC Cadillac Championship, the rest of the year has been a complete wash.

    With only one sub-70 round in his last 14 rounds, there's was nothing that led you to believe Watney was going to be a factor coming into the Wells Fargo Championship. However, after posting an 8-under 64 on Friday, to take a one-shot lead into the

    Read More »from Nick Watney finds his game at the Wells Fargo Championship
  • Tiger Woods has been a part of some bizarre rules decisions over the years, but what happened on Friday at the Wells Fargo Championship ranks right up there with Woods' "Boulder-gate" situation at the 1999 Phoenix Open.

    In danger of missing the cut when he stepped on the tee at the par-5 fifth (his 14th hole of the day), Woods was trying to make a couple of birdies down the stretch to hang around for the weekend. Instead, Woods found himself in the middle of a truly bizarre rules decision.

    After hooking his second shot into the trees, Woods walked up to find his ball was nowhere to be found. Despite playing in front of a gallery that was at least four or five deep, every member claimed they never saw the ball.

    Searching with hundreds of fans, Woods searched the pine straw and leaves, figuring it would show up at some point. Only the ball never reappeared. Woods shrugged his shoulders and assumed the ball lost; he would have to go back to the fairway, 261 yards from the green, to play

    Read More »from Tiger Woods gets free drop after fan reportedly pockets his golf ball
  • Quail Hollow is always one of the finest non-major fields in the game, and this year is no exception. Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other luminaries are in attendance. But Stewart Cink is playing like it's 2009; he leads at -7 along with Ryan Moore and Webb Simpson. Play continues Friday and, we presume, on into the weekend.

  • Tiger Woods / Getty ImagesNobody, not even Tiger Woods, knew how his first competitive round in three weeks would go.

    After walking off the 18th hole at Augusta National following a final round 2-over 74 that saw him finish T40, the worst finish of his Masters career, many wondered which version of Tiger Woods would show up at Quail Hollow.

    Earlier in the week, Woods confirmed during his video Q&A that the swing issues he had at the Masters had been rectified. But following Thursday's opening-round 1-under 71 at the Wells Fargo Championship, that appeared to be far from the case.

    The Tiger Woods we saw on Thursday looked rusty during his opening nine holes, hitting a number of wayward drives into the crowd and a couple of chips that had him rehearsing his swing over and over again.

    But it wasn't all bad news on the day. After going out in 1-over 37, Woods seemed to find something on the back nine, using a 2-iron off the tee on a number of holes in an effort to find the fairway. While the decision was certainly

    Read More »from Tiger Woods’ game shows signs of rust at Wells Fargo Championship

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