Eyes Wide Shut

Justin Rose is off to a solid start this season, and his spot in next week's Masters field is secure. But a poor round on the greens on Sunday at Bay Hill caused the Englishman to re-evaluate his stroke, and NBC Sports's Ryan Ballengee says that Rose is considering a drastic change for Augusta.

Frustrated by his putting in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Justin Rose could not figure out how to get back on track with the flat stick. His caddie suggested Rose try putting like they do on the practice green – with Rose’s eyes closed.

Might seem a little silly until Rose’s scorecard shows a back nine 31 at Bay Hill to finish on 6-under par and two shots away from winning the tournament that appeared long lost.

“Nothing was going in for me at Bay Hill and I figured ‘I’ve been making nothing so why not give it a try’.

“So I started doing it around the 10-feet mark and closer and it worked. I open my eyes when the ball is about halfway to the hole. It’s all rhythm-based and when I play my best the putter swings in rhythm.

“Hopefully, that’s put me on a good track heading to Augusta.”

Not Even Seve Would Approve of This Escape Shot

Moments after allegedly breaking into an Augusta home on Tuesday evening, a group of home-invasion suspects attempted to escape the police by hopping a fence and sprinting through Augusta National. Augusta's local WJBF-TV has an update to the report.

Judy Downs lives about as close to the Augusta National Golf Club as you can get. Rae's creek runs right through her back yard, but deputies say the creek wasn't the only thing running through the golf course Tuesday night.

Downs says, “You love to hear the crowds cheer when you’re this close to the golf course, things like that. You don’t really care to hear about people running across with police chasing them.”

Justice Ellison and two other men were running from officers when they cut through a cemetery, jumped a fence, and used the golf course as an escape route.

Deputies searched for hours, and set up a perimeter around the national. They say they spotted the men several times on the property but all three made it out.

Investigators eventually got a tip that Ellison was at a house on Central Avenue, were police showed up and arrested him.

He now faces charges of burglary, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of an illegal weapon.

The Rocket's Wild Pitch

Former major league pitcher Roger Clemens is an avid golfer -- he was even a surprise competitor in last year's World Am -- but all of his athletic ability apparently does not translate to professional caddying. The Rocket looped for Ryan Palmer during Wednesday's pro-am in Houston, and the results, according to PGATour.com's Melanie Hauser, were not good.

Seven-time Cy Young award winner Roger Clemens is no stranger to pro-ams. He is, however, new to being a caddie.

He served as Ryan Palmer’s looper as part of the Caddy for a Cure program and, well, let’s just say he might be a better player.

Palmer chuckled, noting that, according to his PGA TOUR caddie James Edmonson, Clemens pulled the wrong club three times and didn’t wash the ball and … well, you get the idea.

"We played together at the (Bob) Hope,” Palmer said. "He’s a fun guy to be around. But we did have to give him a hard time.”

Ironically, one thing that didn’t come up was the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry. Palmer is an Aggie; Clemens a Longhorn. "We really didn’t talk Aggies-Longhorns. We talked baseball and golf,” Palmer said.

Can I Get a Dozen with Melted Butter?

Whoever said golf can't become more environmentally conscious should check out this report from Maine's Morning Sentinel. Researchers have developed an eco-friendly (and possibly delicious) golf ball made from lobster shells.

Intended for use on cruise ships, the balls are made from crushed lobster shells with a biodegradable binder and coating. The balls are the brainchild of Carin Poeschel Orr, who earned a master’s degree in marine bio-resources at the university.

The ball was developed by David Neivandt, biological and chemical engineering professor, and undergraduate Alex Caddell of Winterport, with help from The Lobster Institute.

The university has a provisional patent for the lobster shell mixture which can be used for other products such as plant pots and surveying stakes.

The shells are provided by the lobster processing industry which has traditionally sent them to landfills.

The raw material for the balls costs about 19 cents each. The balls are expected to retail at competitive prices.

Stray Shot

Golf balls falling from the sky? That was the hook at this fundraiser for a suburban L.A. Catholic school.

Sports Illustrated is keeping score this season on The Ex-Men (Exemption Men), the players who receive sponsor's exemptions on the PGA Tour. The race just got a little closer at the top this week.

Scott McCarron and Joe Ogilvie received sponsor's exemptions for the Shell Houston Open. They've had four exemptions each, leaving them one behind leader Brad Faxon. Six other players at Houston received their second invites of the season—Erik Compton, Ross Fisher, Will MacKenzie, Scott Piercy, Charles Warren and Lee Westwood.

In the matchup between Monday qualifiers and those playing on sponsor's exemptions, it's no contest. Based on cuts made, sponsor invitees have a big edge—43 of 108 have made the cut  (a .398 batting average) vs. just 8 of 31 Monday qualifiers (.258).

Four players with sponsor’s exemptions have finished among the top 10, led by Scott Stallings, who was third at the Transitions and won $374,000.  No Monday qualifiers have finished among the top 20 this year. Frank Lickliter’s 22^nd-place finish at Phoenix was the best performance by a Monday qualifier.

Sponsor’s Exemptions (Cuts made)
5 Brad Faxon (0)
4 Scott McCarron (2)
4 Joe Ogilvie (2)
3 John Daly (1)
3 Sam Saunders (2)
2 Joseph Bramlett (0)
2 Lee Janzen (1)
2 Erik Compton (1)
2 Ross Fisher (0)
2 Will MacKenzie (0)
2 Matteo Manassero (1)
2 Scott Piercy (1)
2 Brett Quigley (1)
2 Brendan Steele (1)
2 Peter Tomasulo (2)
2 Duffy Waldorf (1)
2 Charles Warren (0)
2 Lee Westwood (1)

Money Won by Ex-Men Players
$374,000 Scott Stallings
$251,600 John Cook
$222,650 Gary Woodland
$177,375 Shigeki Maruyama
$132,425 Sam Saunders
$126,680 Joe Ogilvie
$88,000 Peter Hanson
$82,650 Justin Hicks
$55,481 Martin Kaymer
$55,481 Matteo Manassero
$35,462 Lee Westwood
$34,965 Brett Quigley<

Money won by Monday qualifiers
$54,987 Frank Lickliter
$51,837 Erik Compton
$34,925 John Merrick
$17,356 Josh Broadaway
$13,542 Troy Kelly
$11,275 Will Claxton
$11,261 Sal Spallone
$10,788 Jason Gore

Looking to buy a boat this summer, but hoping to save a few bucks on a gently used model rather than brand new? Now you can skip those Craiglist ads and simply call Tiger Woods, who is selling his yacht, Privacy, for $25 million, according to the Palm Beach Post. Woods reportedly purchased the yacht as a wedding gift for his then-wife Elin Nordegren, and today the ship requires a 13-man crew and costs $2 million per year to maintain. Although the yacht is more than six years old, Woods is looking to turn a profit on the deal.

While Woods bought the ship for $20 million, he believes it appreciated in value because it's been well taken care of.

But Palm Beach Gardens mega-yacht builder John Staluppi doubts the former world's best player will get the asking price.

"The market on big yachts has gone down," said Staluppi, who's currently building a 200-footer. "Banks aren't financing and the economy is off. It's a buyer's market.

"Unless he sells to someone who wants to brag that he's got Tiger's yacht, he'll get about $20 million."

So, why's the golfer unloading his toy?

For one thing, he still has a brand-new 62-foot yacht, Solitude.

UPDATE: CNBC's Darren Rovell tweets that the report that "Privacy" is up for sale may not be true.

Inside the Masters Video Game

The video game site Kotaku has a nice feature on the technicians who spent ten days laser-scanning a quiet, empty Augusta National for the new EA Sports game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour '12: The Masters. The team used state-of-the art technology while scanning the course, and claim the video-game rendition (right) is perfect to within six millimeters of every inch. The group was not allowed to play a single shot -- or tell anyone about the trip -- but lead technician Shannon Yates and his team spent several hours on each hole, with special attention paid to one particular area.

"We spent two full days on Amen Corner," Yates said. This is the most famous stretch of Augusta National, comprising the second shot of No. 11, all of No. 12 (whose arched stone Hogan Bridge, over Rae's Creek, is arguably the course's most recognizable feature) and the tee shot from No. 13.

If they did nothing else right during this visit, Yates reminded his team, they would have to get Amen Corner dead solid perfect.

"When we crested the hill on No. 11 we set up the scanner at the narrow part of the fairway, right where you see into Amen Corner," Yates said. "I remember talking to the assistants gathered at the scanner, and saying "We have to get all of this exactly right. We will scan this as many times as we have to, to get this right."

Indeed, in the game, No. 11's presentation of the fairway down onto the green is a weirdly engrossing view, seeing and interacting with something in uncommon clarity while your brain still processes its detachment from reality. The afternoon shading that dapples the fairway is informed by a scan that took in the exact dimensions of individual branches in the surrounding foliage, to be rendered in-game.

Weir Still Searching

This season has been a rough one for Mike Weir, the Canadian icon and 2003 Masters Champion. After an elbow injury forced an early end to his 2010 season, the former third-ranked player in the world lost his fully exempt status on the PGA Tour at the Honda Classic after shooting 22-over through 36 holes. Golf Canada has an extended interview with Weir, who has hired a new swing coach and mental coach, and changed caddies for the second time in three months.

Weir and caddie Pete Bender have parted company. Bender, a veteran who caddied for Greg Norman, among other players, worked with Weir this year after Weir’s long-time caddie Brennan Little decided to go with Sean O’Hair. Weir missed the cut in four of the five tournaments with Bender. He said the parting was friendly and that each needed a change. “Pete’s a great guy. I’m sure he was frustrated with how poorly I was playing.”

Graham Courts will caddie for Weir at the Masters. Courts has worked with Loren Roberts, now a Champions Tour player. He’s an Australian. He caddied for Weir many years ago when Weir played some tournaments on the Australian Tour. That was before Weir made it to the PGA Tour.

Weir's expectations are modest as he heads into next week's Masters.

Weir will get into Augusta next Sunday and will play 18 on Monday, and nine on each of Tuesday and Wednesday. He'll also play the par-three contest on Wednesday afternoon. He said he and Wilson did some good work in La Quinta. "I'm looking at Augusta as one tournament in a building process. I'm not going to put pressure on myself. What I've been doing wasn't working, but I feel I'm on the right track now. It's been very difficult, but I'm excited about Augusta already. I know I'll hit it better there. Whether I'll hit it great, I don't know. But I know I'll hit it forward and not sideways. If I play great there, it will be a bonus."

Tweet of the Day

Yesterday Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter tweeted a few videos of their afternoon at Augusta National. CBS Sports' Steve Elling sent this tweet that was later removed, and Geoff Shackelford reported that the club has responded.

@EllingYelling: From Masters spokesman Steve Ethun, yesterday: "Players are asked to not use their cellphones [anywhere] on property."

 (Image courtesy of EA Sports)

Each week, 15 staffers from SI Golf+, Golf Magazine and GOLF.com will vote for their top 10, awarding 10 points to their first choice and proceeding in descending order to the 10th player, who gets one point. The points will then be added and the ranking calculated.

RANK (FIRST PLACE VOTES, TOTAL VOTES, LAST WEEK'S RANK)
1. Martin Kaymer (15, 150, 1st)
- Last Three Events: T20, Transitions Championship; T24, WCG-Cadillac Championship; 2nd, WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
- Official World Golf Ranking: 1

2. Graeme McDowell (115, 3rd)
- Last Three Events: T20, Transitions Championship; T24, WCG-Cadillac Championship; 2nd, WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
- Official World Golf Ranking: 4

3. Luke Donald (110, 2nd)
-Last Three Events: T6, WCG-Cadillac Championship; T10, Honda Classic; 1st, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 3

4. Lee Westwood (96, 4th)
-Last Three Events: T18, WCG-Cadillac Championship; T29, Honda Classic; T17, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 2

5. Matt Kuchar (70, 5th)
-Last Three Events: 5th, WCG-Cadillac Championship; T17, Honda Classic; 3rd, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 9

6. Nick Watney (61, 6th)
-Last Three Events: T13, Transitions Championship; 1st, WCG-Cadillac Championship; T9, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 14

7. Bubba Watson (52, 9th)
-Last Three Events: T24, Arnold Palmer Invitational; T28, Transitions Championship; 4th, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 17th

8. Dustin Johnson (43, 7th)
-Last Three Events: CUT, Arnold Palmer Invitational; 2nd, WGC-Cadillac Championship; T33, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 12th

9. Rory McIlroy (41, 8th)
-Last Three Events: T10, WCG-Cadillac Championship; T70, Honda Classic; T17, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 8

10. Paul Casey (32, 10th)
-Last Three Events: T37, Transitions Championship; T18, WCG-Cadillac Championship; T17, WCG-Accenture Match Play Championship
-Official World Golf Ranking: 7

Other receiving votes:

Phil Mickelson (28)
Mark Wilson (8)
Jim Furyk (6)
Hunter Mahan (4)
Steve Stricker (4)
Justin Rose (2)
Martin Laird (1)
Francesco Molinari (1)
Tiger Woods (1)

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The Great Tiger Giveaway

Planning a European getaway in the near future? You might want to book it soon, because, according to the UK's Today's Golfer, one of Europe's biggest travel companies is making a big bet against the world's most famous golfer.

Thousands of traveling golfers will be cheering Tiger Woods on at Augusta next week after Your Golf Travel.com announced it will be giving away free golf holidays if he records his fifth Masters victory.

No stranger to innovative promotions, one of Europe’s largest golf travel operators is promising to refund all holidays booked before The Masters, should Woods leave Augusta National on Sunday 10 April with a nap-hand of green jackets. And if Tiger returns to form in Augusta, Your Golf Travel.com estimates it will be refunding holidays to the tune of £1.5million.

Only last year, Your Golf Travel.com paid out more than £300,000 in refunds to customers after Spain triumphed in the FIFA World Cup, leaving many holidaying on the ‘Costa Nothing’.

I'm a sucker for gimmicks, and this one is darn good. I don't know how many people will book a trip with the hope that Tiger will win and make that vacation a free one, but if Woods' swing doesn't get straightened out in the next couple of weeks, every extra reservation is money in the bank.

G-Mac Tweets His View at Augusta

While some of golf's biggest names are tackling Redstone GC in Houston, others have taken the week off to get some more prep time at a slightly more famous course. Tuesday morning, reigning U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell tweeted a video of the exclusive view from the players' locker room balcony. Here, McDowell, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson take in the sights and sounds of Augusta National.

McDowell and Poulter -- both avid Tweeters -- have been at it all morning. Poulter posted a video from inside the locker room, and McDowell captured his drive up Magnolia Lane.

Military-Golf Complex

India is considered one of the biggest growth markets for golf, but it appears it's already well-established among the civilian and military elite. According to James Fontanella-Khan of the Financial Times, the Indian army is in hot water for allegedly running an illegal ring of private golf courses.

India’s national auditor has slammed the country’s army for turning large tracts of state military property into illegal privately run golf courses and leisure centres without paying rent to the government, costing the exchequer millions of dollars in lost revenue...

The CAG said a privately held company controlled by army officials ran 97 golf courses on more than 8,000 acres of land owned by the Ministry of Defence, the biggest government landowner.

It also revealed that army commanders had procured 27 golf carts two years ago by passing them off as mechanised wheelchairs for military hospitals and as track alignment reconnaissance vehicles for sapper units.

The private clubs, similar to those run by the British in the colonial era, were open to military personnel as well as to Indians and foreign nationals, for an annual membership fee.

This story begs plenty of questions, and my first one would be: How in the world can a government "not notice" nearly 100 golf courses being built and run on public land? On the other hand, India is a big, big country...

Wie Back in the Top-10

Last week's Kia Classic shook up the LPGA rankings as players jockeyed for position before the first major of the season, this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship. One notable mover was Michelle Wie, who finished T7 after taking a full month off to finish her studies at Stanford.

Michelle Wie's strong finish at the LPGA's Kia Classic allowed her to return to the world women's golf Top 10.

Sandra Gal picked up her first professional win Sunday at the Kia Classic. That boosted her from 100th to No. 44 in the world rankings.

Wie tied for seventh and jumped from 11th to ninth. That shoved Paula Creamer down one spot to 10th while Park Inbee dropped from 10th to 11th. Those three golfers are within 0.07 average ranking points of each other.

I feel like watching Wie play well is like watching a deer drink from a pond. After the pressure from the media, her fans and her family seemed to have such a negative effect on her childhood early career, the last thing you want to do is run up and startle her. Things seem to be going well for Wie at the moment, so if we're all very, very quiet, we may get see Michelle unleash her full potential in the near future.

Phil Mickelson opened up to Parade Magazine about his difficult 2010 in a pre-Masters profile of the defending champion.

“It was an emotional high, and we had been through so many emotional lows over the previous 11 months,” Mickelson says. “It came at a perfect time.”

In fact, the lows had been devastating. A year earlier, in May of 2009, Amy, then 36, was told she had breast cancer. Less than two months later, Mickelson’s mom, Mary, got the same diagnosis. Mickelson returned to golf early on, but the family’s world had been turned upside down.

“A good friend of ours said the hardest thing to accept is that your old life is in the past and there’s a new normal,” Mickelson says. “When we looked at it that way, it was like a little bit of the pressure was off because it would have been almost impossible to get it back the way it was before.”

Amy and Mary now have good long-term prognoses, but last April’s collective sigh of relief didn’t last long. In June, just before the U.S. Open and six days before his 40th birthday, Mickelson woke up with excruciating pain in his right ankle, hips, and left index finger.

“It happened three days after I told Amy that my body had never felt this good—strong, loose, and limber,” he says. Mickelson played through the pain and stiffness for weeks (“If I stopped [moving] for 5 or 10 minutes, everything would lock up. And every morning I would just crawl out of bed, it hurt so bad”) before he got a definitive diagnosis: psoriatic arthritis, an immune disease that attacks the joints and has no cure.

Parade also talks to David Feherty, who explains why Mickelson and Augusta National is such a felicitous meeting of player and course:

“Phil is like the human equivalent of that golf course: You have to watch every single shot,” Feherty says. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

Sherrie Daly says pro golfers live like rock stars (groupies included)

In her new book "Teed Off," Sherrie Daly, Long John’s fourth ex-wife, takes readers on a tour of the wild side of professional golf. In an interview with The New York Post to promote her tell-all, Sherrie Daly says Tiger Woods wasn’t the only golfer misbehaving on the PGA Tour. 

“It's not just Tiger. It’s John and others, believe me,” she tells The Post. “Professional golfers behave as dirty as any other professional athlete or rock star.”

Sherrie also reveals that the game is riddled with prostitution, drug use and overall misbehavior more generally associated with football and basketball.

“Golf sluts may dress in golf outfits, with those nerdy visors and argyle socks and sweater vests and pretend they’re interested in the game. But they’re just whores in preppy clothes,” she writes.

Justin Rose closes his eyes and starts making putts at Bay Hill

Stephanie Wei at WeiUnderPar.com found the secret to Justin Rose’s back-nine 31 at difficult Bay Hill on Sunday: he closed his eyes on putts under 10 feet.

Justin Rose fired a mighty impressive four-under 68 on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. After posting a one-over on the front nine at Bay Hill, Rose got hot on the back and came in with a 31. He felt like he was rolling some great putts all week, but he wasn’t getting results. Until he made a change after the turn — he closed his eyes over putts inside ten feet.

“Nothing was going in the hole on the front nine, so he putted with his eyes shut on the back nine,” said Rose’s caddie Mark Fulcher.

I laughed and said, “Wait, I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not.”

“I’m serious,” said Fulcher. “It’s a drill we use during practice with the Zenio system. Nothing was going in on the front and the pins were quite difficult. There was nothing to lose.”

It worked out pretty well. Rose figured he wasn’t making anything, so why not give it a try? After all, he makes more than he misses during practice, anyway. On the first hole he tried it, the 10th, he drained an eight-footer for birdie.

“Mentally, it was a challenge to do that coming down the stretch when you’re trying to be that carefree, and just let it go,” said Rose. “The more I kind of got up the leaderboard, the more I was trying to use it as a real test and a drill, and it worked.”

Rose also rolled in a few longer putts, where he left his eyes open.

If you’re thinking of trying it yourself, Australian golfer Peter O’Malley has had some success with closing his eyes on putts from less than six feet. Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Jon Tattersall of the Terminus Club in Atlanta, Ga., says it could be the fix you need if you struggle on short ones.

“It takes a lot of trust in your stroke, but I like the concept,” Tattersall said. “If your stroke is good, but your eyes aren’t seeing a good result, then this might help.”

However, closing your eyes will only work if your distance control is excellent, Tattersall said.

“If you’re usually online, but always hit your putts three feet past the hole or short, then keep your eyes open but try looking at the hole when you hit the ball,” Tattersall said.

Rory McIlroy makes Time Magazine’s 140 best Twitter feeds list

Stewart Cink might have the most followers (1,207,293) and Tiger Woods is certainly more famous, but, according to Time Magazine, Rory McIlroy has the best Twitter feed in golf. (He’s actually tied for No. 8 on Time’s list with “Lord Voldermort,” although probably only PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem sees McIlroy as a villain.)

Followers: 157K

Sample Tweet: "A lot of abuse from @WestwoodLee about my top! Unjustified! He's dressed like a farmer at a beach party"

Tweet of the Day:

WestwoodLee: Raining cats n dawgs in Augusta! Noisy clouds not good for masters practice ! 

Aspiring Artists
Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson played a digital game of graffiti tag this week.

Two Ways to Prep For a Major
Stewart Cink lives next to a golf course in Atlanta but chose another Georgia spot for one of his practice sessions this week. Every one of his 1.2 million followers was jealous.

Meanwhile, Lee Westwood, who was home this week getting ready for the Masters, didn't seem as happy about his day ahead.

One of the Guys
Newly married Hunter Mahan made a solid observation while out with his wife, Kandi.

Kostis loves his Cats
Scottsdale resident Peter Kostis lives closer to the campus of Arizona State, but Thursday night he was excited about the University of Arizona's win over Duke. Really excited.

SI's Farrell Evans live blogged the second round at Bay Hill. Read about all the action from Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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Ernie Els has started the Els for Autism Golf Challenge, where you and your friends can enter to play big-name courses, such as the TPC Blue Monster at Doral, the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale and Cog Hill, in 32 super regional qualifiers. The first event is May 1 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The final round will be held in Las Vegas on Oct. 23 and 24, and teams can get there either by shooting the low net score at their event or by raising the most money.

As the father of an 8-year-old boy with autism, this is a personal cause for else, who has a bigger goal -- to build the Els Center for Excellence.

For more information, visit the Challenge's official website.

Golf.com's Jeff Ritter is live blogging the action today during Round 1 of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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