Golf's governing bodies, worried that players will turn to long putters as an advantage instead of a last resort, proposed a new rule Wednesday that would ban the putting stroke used by three of the last five major champions.
Before he sets out to try to keep his PGA Tour card, Erik Compton received an award Wednesday that was just as meaningful.
Guan Tianlang is an eighth-grader from China who barely weighs 125 pounds and doesn't hit the golf ball far enough to reach some par 4s. The next stop for the 14-year-old prodigy will be the Masters, where he will tee it up with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson at Augusta National.
U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson isn't worried about a potential rule change that would ban long putters, and he's already practicing with a conventional putter.
One day after Ernie Els won the British Open to become the third major champion using a belly putter, the Royal & Ancient said long putters were "firmly back on the radar" and that a decision could come soon on whether players can keep using them.
Congressional Country Club's Blue Course limped away from the U.S. Open at about this time last year, its claws filed down by a 22-year-old Northern Irishman named Rory McIlroy and 19 other golfers who broke par.
The real star of this U.S. Open won't swing a golf club even once this week. Most fans couldn't pick him out of a lineup. No matter how aggravating The Olympic Club plays, he barely has enough hair left to pull any out.
The silver U.S. Women's Open trophies. Her famous Bulls-Eye putter she used for all but one of her 82 victories. Rare video footage of her golf swing, which Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson once called the best they ever saw.
Take nothing away from Rory McIlroy. The kid put on a clinic. He would have won this U.S. Open no matter where it was played, or over any surface save quicksand. He was that dominant.
