CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Anthony Kim withdrew from the third straight tournament Friday at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Kim told PGA Tour officials that he had pain in his right wrist and elbow, along with the left thumb, on which he had surgery two years ago. He said this week there was no structural damage, but he couldn't shake the injury.
Kim said he would review his options before deciding whether to compete next week in The Players Championship.
"I've tried to play through the injuries, but I know from experience that it will only make matters worse," Kim said in a statement. "I'm going to get it looked at and do what I need to do to get back to full health."
Kim is No. 210 on the money list. He would lose his full PGA Tour card if he doesn't finish in the top 125 this year. However, if he's out for a prolonged period, he could seek a medical exemption for next year.
Kim withdrew from the Houston Open after opening with a 79. Two weeks ago at the Texas Open, he struck a rock trying to hit out of a bush and withdrew because of pain that shot through both arms. He said he did not hit balls for 10 days.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For a rare time Saturday, Rory McIlroy hit a towering tee shot that didn't find the fairway. He bailed out to the right on the par-4 18th at Quail Hollow, sending the spectators for cover. Ryan Hagolorn turned and ducked, the ball hitting him square on his backside, but catching his wallet.
It must have been a pretty hefty one, because the ball bounced back toward the fairway, into a good lie from where McIlroy could advance the ball to the green and conclude a 6-under-par 66 that put him in contention at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Streeter Lecka/Getty ImagesFor Rory McIlroy to take over as world No. 1 on Sunday night, he'll need a tie for seventh with just one other player or better at the Wells Fargo Championship.
McIlroy knows a bit about thick wallets. He just turned 23 on Friday, but according to Golf Digest he ranked 11th in 2011 in an annual list of the game's top earners. More than $8 million in prize money plus another $6 million in endorsements and appearance fees.
After hitting his approach to the green, McIlroy signed his glove for Hagolorn and said, "Sorry!''
"That ball was going into the trees,'' McIlroy said. "I got a lucky break there.''
Few here were sorry to see McIlroy climbing the board Saturday, especially after Tiger Woodsmissed the cut and Phil Mickelson teed off so early that many spectators arrived after he finished.
The game's young star and reigning U.S. Open champion did not disappoint, birdieing his first three holes, shooting a front-nine 32 and adding three more birdies on the back. Only a 3-putt bogey at the 16th kept him from the final twosome on Sunday with 54-hole leader Webb Simpson.
Still, McIlroy likely won't have to shoot a final-round 62 as he did here two years ago to get his second victory at Quail Hollow. He is tied for fourth, two strokes behind Simpson and a shot behind Ryan Moore and D.A. Points. Another 23-year-old, Rickie Fowler, is three shots out of the lead, tied for sixth.
"When you get off to a good start like that, you birdie the first three holes, it gives you momentum early, and it's something you can just go with,'' McIlroy said. "I think that was the key to the round today, to get off to that kind of start.''
It sure helps.
So does driving it a mile, and mostly in the fairway. According to the PGA Tour's stats, McIlroy hit nine drives more than 300 yards on Saturday, including a 377-yard bomb at the 16th. Of course, he still managed to bogey that hole, but his seemingly effortless ability to get the ball out there is no negative.
"Just trying to turn behind it a little bit more, keep my height,'' he said. "When I do that, I usually connect with it pretty well. I hit a couple of good ones out there, and it was nice to see.''
McIlroy makes it sound so simple, so routine. Of course that is not the case.
John Merrick, 30, now in his sixth year on the PGA Tour without a victory, was paired with McIlroy on Saturday for the first time. He played eight shots worse than his playing partner and dropped to a tie for 42nd place.
He nonetheless used the opportunity to check out the Northern Irishman.
"He's probably one of the best players I've ever played,'' Merrick said. "It was awesome. He hit the ball great. He's a nice guy, fun to play with and fun to watch. I've seen him on TV, but he hits the ball like he should. Almost like watching a video game. He had it going at the start, couple hiccups, but he still made eight birdies. He's an amazing player.
"He's got a great future, going to win a bunch of golf tournaments. I wish I could hit the shots he can. He just stayed really calm, very focused, especially with the crowd yelling for him. He's a got a great temperament. He's got all the pieces.''
McIlroy was surprised on Friday by the arrival of his parents, Gerry and Rosie, who flew up from West Palm Beach to join their son for his birthday. "I walked in for dinner and they were sitting there,'' he said. "They flew in for the weekend, which is a nice surprise.''
A victory on Sunday would not be surprising, although there are plenty of golfers in the mix making the task difficult. There are 10 players within four shots of the lead, including Geoff Ogivly, who snuck up the board with the day's best score, a 65, and Fowler looking for that elusive first win on the PGA Tour.
But McIlroy ought to be the favorite. He will go back to No. 1 in the world ahead ofLuke Donald if he finishes among the top seven, although you know he would prefer much more than that.
"I'll draw on those good memories and those positive thoughts from a couple of years ago,'' he said. "I've had some great experiences on this golf course, and hopefully I can create a few more.''
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Nike golf ball with the TW logo on it went mysteriously missing, never to be found. And in a development you could say is related, Tiger Woods continues to search for his golf game.
The lost ball that turned into a free drop Friday at Quail Hollow was just an odd sideshow for Woods, who wasn't able to use his good fortune there to his benefit. Had he made the cut on the number -- he missed by one stroke -- that ruling would be getting plenty of scrutiny, although officials and those playing with Woods signed off on it.
No matter. Woods missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship by a stroke, the second straight time he's done so in this event and just the eighth as a pro on the PGA Tour.
From a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 25 to his worst finish at the Masters as a pro last month and now this.
"I've missed my share of cuts in the past and they don't feel good,'' Woods said before heading home to Florida.
Actually ... he really hasn't missed his share.Keegan Bradley, the reigning PGA champion and rookie of the year, missed 10 cuts last year alone. Phil Mickelson, who has 40 PGA Tour victories, second-most among active players, has missed 63. No. 1 Luke Donald? He's missed eight -- in the past three years.
Missed cuts are part of golf. They just haven't been for Woods, whose game seemed to be trending in a positive direction all year until Augusta National saw him kicking a club and cursing himself repeatedly. Some of the old swing thoughts and patterns crept in, he said, and eradicating them proved futile.
Some time away, work with swing coach Sean Foley, a poor posture diagnosis and all figured to be well at Quail Hollow, a venue where Woods won in 2007 and has generally played well.
But it is clear that favorable golf courses no longer bring out the best in Woods. That magic didn't work for him last month at Augusta, where he has won four times; or the past two years at Firestone, where he has seven victories; or two years ago at St. Andrews, where he won two Claret Jugs. Or at Pebble Beach, for that matter, where he won a tour event and the U.S. Open in the same year.
Woods again cited issues with getting caught between his old swing and his new swing.
"Obviously, we've changed a bunch of different things, and now and again I fall into the same stuff, old stuff,'' Woods said. "That doesn't work with a combo platter of old and new.''
Who knows how much of that is the case? Foley said on Thursday that Woods had posture issues, that in trying to get comfortable, he reverts to old patterns. Perhaps that is it.
Or maybe Woods is enjoying a few digs at former coach Hank Haney, who has written a controversial book about their time together that clearly has Woods miffed.
Then again, Woods points out that all of his swing changes -- three notable ones -- have taken time.
Streeter Lecka/Getty ImagesWith his 73 on Friday in Round 2 of the Wells Fargo Championship, Tiger Woods now has gone eight straight rounds without a score in the 60s.
"If you think about it, with Butch [Harmon] it took me two years and with Hank it took me almost two years before old patterns are out,'' he said. "I played really well at the '97 Masters and I didn't really do anything until May of '99. So it takes time to get rid of old patterns. It takes hundreds of thousands if not millions of golf balls, but eventually it comes around. I've had my share of successes, and I know it's coming.''
Isn't that what we thought at Bay Hill? Woods drove the ball nicely, hit a ton of greens, putted well -- and won by five. Going back to November, he had been in contention a bunch, with a third-place finish at the Australian Open, a win at his unofficial Chevron World Challenge, a tie for third in Abu Dhabi, a second -- including a final-round 62 -- at the Honda Classic.
Then after withdrawing at Doral with the Achilles injury issue, there was Woods two weeks later winning at Bay Hill and being talked about to win a fifth green jacket. Instead, he's on a stretch of eight straight rounds having not broken 70.
"I think he hit the ball pretty good,'' said Geoff Ogilvy, who played with Woods during the first two rounds. "I know that sounds ridiculous ... he hit a lot of really good drivers. He hit an unbelievable driver on 10, the first hole of the day. Just unbelievable. I think he's got a lot of good stuff. If he tells you he's close, I think he's actually right, but he has to putt better. He hit some classy chips, too.
"If he putted just OK, he would have been 5-, 6-under and got around nicely. And if you hole putts, you can get away with loose shots.''
Woods certainly was mediocre on the greens. He took 33 putts on Friday, and missed a 4-footer for birdie on his 17th hole that would have, as it turns out, helped him make the cut. He also 3-putted twice on his first nine holes.
Once again, everything with Woods is magnified, scrutinized, analyzed. Could it be that Woods is simply more like the rest of his peers than any of us is used to seeing?
This is routine stuff, really. Woods shot 71-73, not exactly a travesty. He caught Quail Hollow when it yielded its lowest 36-hole cut in its 10-year history.
He didn't take advantage of the par-5s, didn't make enough birdies when everyone else was going low, and paid the price. Whether he made the cut or not, he was 12 strokes behind 36-hole leader Nick Watney.
"Got no momentum going during the round,'' Woods said.
And so now it's on to the Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass, where he won in 2001 but has typically fared poorly.
That is another tournament for which Woods has never missed a cut, although he's withdrawn due to injury each of the past two years. But as we've witnessed, past history means little, good or bad.
Tiger is simply like a lot of tour players these days, unsure what he's got.
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- Ultimately, this one is on Tiger. Golf is a singular, selfish, sometimes lonely game, with a book of never-ending head-scratching rules and devoid of officials to monitor the action.
Golfers police themselves, and Tiger Woods thought he was doing just that on Friday. He later learned that he had made a mistake, one that cost him 2 shots, and cruelly, a chance to play and win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship over the weekend.
It was a shocking development, one never seen from Woods throughout his illustrious career. Sure, he's committed rules violations and taken the resulting penalties, as has every golfer who has ever played for pay.
But never had it cost him in this manner. Seemingly inside the 36-hole cut line after a back-nine flurry of birdies, Woods instead was headed home to Florida on Friday night after a disappointing start to the 2013 season that included the rare rules gaffe.
"I thought my ball was embedded," Woods said in brief comments after he signed for a 75 instead of a 73, those 2 strokes the difference between being here Saturday and going home. "Andy said that the ball wasn't embedded, because it was sandy-based."
Andy would be Andy McFee, the European Tour rules official who decided Woods had made a mistake by taking a drop from right of the fifth fairway at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
Actually, Woods' ball was embedded; but because it was a sandy area that was part of some overgrown vegetation, Rule 25-2 that deals with embedded balls was not in play. Either Woods had to play it as it lay, or take an unplayable lie penalty, which would have cost him one stroke, not two.
But McFee wasn't there to see this with his own eyes. No rules officials were there, and Woods, knowing an embedded ball when he sees one, summoned another player in the group, Martin Kaymer, who agreed it was embedded. Woods took a drop, pitched out and made a bogey-5 on the hole.
McFee later said that rules officials were informed of the violation by "spectators," but one of them happened to be a working journalist, Alistair Tait of Golfweek magazine, who was following the Woods, Kaymer and Rory McIlroy group, as were thousands in attendance. Tait thought something was amiss and asked an official for clarification.
And that is why he has been catching some grief, but Tait simply sought clarification. In asking a rules official, that person had no choice but to investigate, as the various tours do whenever such a possible violation occurs.
"I thought he was taking an unplayable," Tait said later on Twitter. "Then heard he got relief and had to ask official. Didn't mean to open can of worms."
Fair enough, as there is a good chance somebody else in the massive crowd on what is the start of the weekend in the United Arab Emirates might very well have raised the same concern.
The issue of whether outsiders should be able to call rules infractions has long been a divisive one in golf. There have been numerous examples over the years of fans watching on television and calling in violations, and their complaints actually getting to the proper officials, who review them and assess penalties. Wouldn't you love to do that from your couch watching a football game?
It really becomes problematic when it occurs after the player has signed his card, because if the penalty is enforced, that player then faces disqualification.
Golf purists will argue that this is simply part of the game, that it protects the field because there are not rules officials watching every hole, every player, every stroke.
To which it can be very strongly argued: so what? If players are to police themselves, let them do so. It is the job of the players, caddies and officials walking with the group to watch out and "protect."
Granted, Kaymer wasn't doing a very good job of it, getting the rule wrong, too. As would have been the case with McIlroy if he were asked.
"I know he called Martin over," McIlroy said afterward. "It was an embedded ball, but through the green doesn't mean sand -- I wouldn't have known that either."
So all three of them got it wrong.
And what about the fairness of such armchair observations? Woods' rounds are watched by millions on television and thousands of spectators in person. Many players potentially can commit violations while are not on TV, playing golf among the crickets. That is hardly a level playing field.
What is hard to fathom, however, is why Woods did not summon an official. If you watch the replay, you will see his ball came to rest in a path of overgrown vegetation. Even a weekend hacker who attempts to play by the rules might think it dubious to expect a drop from such a place.
But Woods' ball was embedded in the ground. The problem is, while he thought it was ground, it was actually sand -- a big distinction.
"Under the rules of the game, the embedded ball only applies on a closely mown area," McFee said. "But all tours use the note to that rule, which extends it to through the green, which means everywhere on the golf course except hazards.
"But it's a very specific rule, that rule, and it refers to ground other than sand.
"Now unfortunately, this area, whilst it's got vegetation on the top of it, it's just creeping vegetation and sand, as most is of the off-grass areas here. Once we had found out what had gone on, we investigated it. & I realize there was a potential problem here, so I spoke to Tiger as he came off the 11th tee, because I was aware of his position in the golf tournament."
And that was precarious. Woods was having a rough day and was outside the cutline. A 2-stroke penalty would mean even more ground to make up, but Woods simply said they'd discuss it after the round. At this point, he clearly had to know there was a possibility 2 strokes would be added, but didn't address it afterward. He made three late birdies that would have ensured he made the cut had he taken the unplayable penalty.
Coincidentally, earlier in the week Woods told the story of how he got disqualified from a junior event because when he called in for his tee time, he only said his last name. There happened to be another Woods in the field, and Tiger was given the wrong time. Woods showed up late and was disqualified.
"That is the only time I have ever been in a situation like that," Woods said Tuesday. "And I vowed it would never happen again, because that was a pretty empty feeling knowing that all I had to do was give a little bit more detail, my first name ... it cost me a chance of winning a golf tournament, and that's a pretty empty feeling."
You wonder if Woods felt the same emptiness on the long journey through nine time zones back to Florida?
Had he summoned a rules official -- which occurs all the time -- he could have taken an unplayable lie or simply tried to play the shot. In either case, it's hard to envision Woods scoring higher than 6. He instead got a 7 on the hole, and that one stroke cost him the cut.
Golf can be cruel that way.
But like most things in golf, Tiger has only himself to blame.
What is the cause of the white spots on the teeth?
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*White spots on the teeth* can be caused by several factors such as
diseases and infections, lack of vitamins, excess fluoride and even trauma
to the teeth...
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