Jimenez breaks Leg, McIlroy breaks Engagement Rumor

Miguel Angel Jimenez and Hong Kong trophy/ AP Photo/Kin Cheung

Miguel Angel Jimenez has broken his right shinbone, while Skiing, and will be out of golf for up to five months of the 2013 season, recuperating  from the injury. Miguel took it all  in his stride, saying;  

“I was skiing in Sierra Nevada, I lost control and fell. I felt a huge stab of pain and I knew straight away I had broken something. I broke the top of the tibia in my right leg, just where it meets the knee, and they put in two pins. It will take three, four or five months to recover and be able to return to competition. I was playing very well but, these things happen in life.”

A casual statement, but I guess it’s one you would expect from a millionaire, if you or me were out of work for five months it would be pretty disastrous. Amazing how many of these golfers get serious injuries, putting their golfing futures in danger, while doing some quaint pastime hobby.

Miguel was a vice captain on Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning team in September, and  In November, the 48-year-old Spaniard became the oldest European Tour winner by capturing his third Hong Kong Open title.

Rory McIlroy, the Worlds number one ranked golfer, has denied reports he is engaged to tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. Rory’s representative  released a statement on Friday saying various media reports of the couple’s engagement weren’t true.

“On behalf of Rory McIlroy, I would like to confirm that he has NOT become engaged to Caroline Wozniacki as was originally reported in Australian press. Rory is in Australia to support Caroline before he heads in January to Abu Dhabi.”

In Happier times, Caroline and Rory / Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Of course if Caroline thinks that they were engaged and Rory has now slapped her down in public, I guess this is the end of that little fairy story. After that terse rebuff, what girl in her right mind would now accept the proposal of such a man. Who knows this could be the last picture of the Happy Couple.

European Tour Money Title for Rory ?

Rory McIlroy /thesidelinesagenda.com

Rory McIlroy can wrap up the European money title this week if he puts in a good performance at the Singapore Open. All his closest rivals will not be competing, and he already leads the race going into the tournament. Rory has already claimed the U.S. PGA Tour money list, and would love to repeat Luke Donald’s 2011 win on both sides of the Atlantic. Rory said he would like to have a strong finish to the season;

“I’m in the lead at the moment and it would be nice to increase that,” McIlroy said Wednesday, a day before the tournament. “There’s still a lot to play for in the next three weeks and I want to finish off the season as strong as possible.”

His nearest rivals, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, who won last week at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, and Branden Grace, have strangely decided not to compete this week. The field is still going to be a strong one, with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomery, John Daly and Miguel Angel Jimenez all teeing it up for the tournament at the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.

The winners prize cheque this week is $1 million, and Rory will also be playing next week at  the Hong Kong Open, while most of his rivals again will not be competing. Rory did not play at the WGC event last week, because he watched his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, play in a tennis tournament. A poor decision which bought him world-wide criticism, and especially by the golf tournament sponsor. Rory has admitted that the criticism against him was fairly laid.

“I think the criticism is fair. Shenzhen is a World Golf Championship event, one of the big ones. It was a tough one to miss. But I can’t play every week.”

He then went on to say;

”  If I had I would have played five in a row finishing the season and after playing Turkey and Ryder Cup and all the FedEx Cup stuff, it’s just too much. You have to say no and you have to be selfish sometimes and look after yourself, ; it doesn’t make you a bad person. You have got to put yourself first and foremost, and try to fit in the things you want to do. I’m in the fortunate position where I can dictate where I want to play, what I want to do, where I want to go.”

Seems that is what all the youngsters say these days; I do want I want, when I want to do it.

 

Hong Kong Open result

A brilliant birdie from the bunker on 18 wins Rory  McIlroy the highly ranked UBS Hong Kong title. this win also hots up the race to Dubai with Luke Donald. Luke is trying to become the first man to win the money title on both sides of the Atlantic in the same year. It looked for a long time like a foregone conclusion but Rory’s win changes all that.  The Arnold Schwarzenegger pose in the bunker (minus the muscles) showed how much it meant to him. I look forward to the conclusion of the race to Dubai and an end to really great season of golf, even Tiger Woods is wagging his tail again.

Golf NZ Open

Aussie Brad Kennedy leads the field after day three of the New Zealand open at Clearwater in Christchurch. Sadly he is the highest ranked player left in the tournament with a world ranking of 144. The organizers need to find a way of attracting some of the worlds top players to N.Z. to give the tournament some kudos and gain worldwide media attention. Good luck to Brad Kennedy I hope he gets his win, it does not look like we can get a Kiwi winner. Brad usually has his best results when chasing the the field, he is not used to leading starting the final round, saying

“Most of my good finishes this year were coming from behind,” Kennedy said.

“I’ve just got to go out and attack whether I’m four or five ahead or one behind, two behind. If I don’t I can let everyone back in.”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz

The Hong Kong open is being lead by Spains Alvaro Quiros who had a superb third round, unlike Rory McIlroy who struggled and finds himself three shots behind the leader. Although he fell behind Rory said he could still challenge strongly in the final round. It should be a thrilling finish to the tournament. Rory admitted he was lackluster but issued this statement.

“I didn’t have anything out there. Mentally I’m not up to it and little things were starting to agitate me,” McIlroy said. “But I’m not out of it, still just three shots behind. If I can get off to a decent start, I will be able to put some pressure on the leaders.”

http://www.usatoday.com

I have heard an amazing story regarding John Daly and his meltdown in Aussie. Apparently the trouble started when he hit a wrong ball, which went into the lake. A course marshal who standing there let Daly hit the errant ball, before pointing to Johns ball not too far away. The wrong ball had been left there from a wayward shot off the practice fairway earlier. The question is, why did the marshal not guide John to the correct ball.