The notoriously private Tiger Woods has seen his whole secret undercover world blow-up in his face in the past 48 hrs. due a crash caused by him fleeing his wife, who was beating him with a golf club across his head, after confronting him about his alledged affair with another lover.

It has been reported by TMZ.com that Tiger has been having a sexual affair with socialite Rachel Uchitel , and when his wife and mother of his two children, Elin Nordegren spoke to him about this, the argument became heated, and violent.

The violence was inflicted by Elin, who picked up a golf club that she had at the ready, and began pummeling the philandering Tiger Woods across his face, causing what has been described by the hospital as severe facial lacerations and contusions.

I bet that’s not the reaction that Tiger expected her to have. Elin Nordegren does not look like a woman that would beat you down for something like this, but if it was me, I would expect her to maybe just collapse in a bundle of tears…but I’m not married, so what do I know.

I guess don’t judge a book by its cover, because that’s when Barbie doll turns into Brenda Richie!!!

In 1988,Brenda Richie famously beat down her then husband,international singing sensation Lionel Richie, who also had a clean-cut ,family man image with the public and his fans, when she followed him one night creepin’ with his side girlfriend, Diane Alexander.

By all reports, sweet, petite, and quiet Brenda Richie beat up  both Lionel and Diane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Richie#Marriage_with_Brenda_Harvey

The “Three Times a Lady” singer was caught by the then-missus during a romantic encounter with Alexander at a Beverly Hills apartment. Brenda Richie went ballistic and was arrested for investigation of spousal abuse, trespassing and vandalism–but the charges were later dropped. After sticking it out for another three years, she and Lionel divorced in 1991.

The only difference here is that Tiger’s wife Elin Nordegren is not black, and Brenda Richie is…so I guess that should put to rest that old stereotype about how a sister reacts to these kind of things, compared to a white lady…

…Pretty much the same way.

Looks like a mad woman of any race may beat you down …if she catches you creeping around town!!!

Looks like Tiger married a Tiger…

http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/28/tiger-woods-elin-nordegren-fight-accident-suv-lacerations/

By Phil Turnbull

Tickets for rock legends Kiss’ upcoming Glasgow show sold out within ten minutes of going on sale today.

A spokesman for the SECC this morning confirmed: “Standing tickets have all sold out and the seating tickets are definitely on course to sell out within the next few days.”

The May 2010 concert at the SECC is the first time the American outfit have played in Scotland for 18 years, but it appears their popularity has not waned.

Kiss diehard fan Kenny Simpson, 22 of Polwarth, secured tickets this morning, and is eagerly anticipating the gig, saying: “I’ve seen Kiss before but never in an arena, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

The rock lords’ European arena and stadium tour, dubbed the ‘Sonic Boom Over Europe: From The Beginning To The Boom’ tour, was announced on Monday 23rd of this month by promoters Live Nation.

On the same day Kiss themselves made this announcement to fans via their website, kissonline.com;

The 27 date tour lasts for two months and takes the band from Ireland to Belgium, with Italian, German and Slovakian dates, amongst others, in-between.

Rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley is promising a performance of the band’s back catalogue, telling kissonline.com; “We’re covering the whole musical history of the band on a stage that takes KISS one giant step further in our eight inch heels. We’re stoked. You wanted the best? You GOT the best!”

Bassist and icon Gene Simmons is keen to promote the group’s latest album ‘Sonic Boom’, which hit number two in the American Billboard Top 200, and reached number 24 in the UK Album Chart.

Simmons told kissonline.com; “Now. More than ever. KISS is a four wheel drive monster truck. Our mission? To rock Planet Earth. To spread the gospel of Sonic Boom.” 

While Kiss last played a Scottish date in 1992, incidentally at the SECC in Glasgow, they have indeed rocked Edinburgh before.

The rock heroes’ brought their Crazy Nights Tour to the capital’s Playhouse Theatre for two nights back in November 1988.

Kiss have cemented their place at the top table of Rock n’ Roll by selling over 80 million albums worldwide, and on 23rd September of this year were nominated for a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Glasgow concert takes place on 9th May 2010 at the SECC, with remaining seating tickets priced at £40 plus standard booking fee.

And I would love to see them.

If the new tour is as good as the new album, the “Sonic Boom Over Europe: From The Beginning To The Boom” is going to be awesome! KISS is coming next Summer to Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Holland, France, Spain, Belgium and TWO gigs in Sweden.

But since both Lunki and me have been strapped for cash the last couple of decades I guess we have to make due with watching them live on Facebook (facebook.com/KISS) via a streaming link from their show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles at 9 pm PST on Wednesday, November 25.

We have put Johnny the Intern on a mission to solve the “no cash for KISS tickets” problem. He has until November 27 when the tickets go on sale.

Over the weekend Rory McIlroy came in 3rd at the Dubai World Championship, the tournament he won last year as a 19 year old.  He shot a final round 67, but it was no match for Lee Westwood’s scorching 64.  He finished the year in 2nd place on the European Tour’s Order of Merit (money list), and has committed to play a full time schedule on the PGA Tour in 2010.  This should make for some exciting tournaments I think.  The kid is a flat out player and loads of fun to watch.  With him and most likely, Rickie Fowler on the Tour next year it should add some much needed youth and excitement to the Tour.

I was going to make a poll asking who will fair better on Tour next year, Fowler or McIlroy, but I thought better of it.  I don’t think there will be any competition.  McIlroy’s results in his limited time on the PGA speak for themself.  A 10th place finish at the US Open, and a 3rd at the PGA Championship.  Again, the kid is 19!  I remember another 19 year old at the 1999 PGA who gave Tiger a run for his money.  While Sergio hasn’t exactly had a bad career by any stretch of the imagination, these guys play for majors, of which Sergio has none.  I don’t think it will be too long before McIlroy has one.  I’m going out on a limb here and saying that Rory will have a major title (most likely the British Open) by 2011.

I’m sure that a full schedule on the PGA will take some wear and tear on McIlroy.  He’s young, and being away from his family and girlfriend may take it’s toll.  But then again, on the European Tour, those guys are playing in countries all over the place.  So it will remain to be seen.  But I’m excited to watch the ride.  Can’t wait for January!

Lee Westwood clinched the inaugural Race to Dubai title on Sunday after carding a 64 and winning the Dubai World Championship by six strokes.

Westwood headed into this tournament knowing he had to give a big performance to win th title and knew he had to hold off the likes of young Irish superstar Rory McIlroy.

Westwood showed class from the onset and never blinked in his four flawless rounds of golf. He started off the tournament with beautiful stroke play and that assured him being in a great position on Sunday.

McIlroy carded a final round 67 to finish in 3rd place and five strokes behind Westwood. He gave everything on Sunday’s back nine but nothing could stop the Englishman rolling in birdie after birdie and running away with the tournament.

Westwood not only picked up a nice check for $1.25 million for winning the tournament but also received an additional $1,5 million for topping the Race to Dubai title.

After early birdies at the second and third, Westwood picked up further shots at the fifth, sixth and seventh to hit the turn in just 31 shots in what was a quite supreme display of shot-making.

McIlroy opened with eight straight pars and by the time he finally produced a birdie at the ninth he found himself some nine shots behind the runaway leader.

But the 20-year-old found his game over the back nine after making 5 birdies in a stretch of 8 holes and that put him in a sole 3rd position and was a special way to end the season.

An emotional Westwood acknowledged the victory had capped the best day of his stellar career. “I played fantastic, 66 and 64, that’s going to take some catching. To be fair that’s about as good as I’ve ever played.

“It gives me a lot of confidence to know you can play like that under this kind of pressure. It’s definitely the biggest day of my golfing career to date.”

“Commiserations to Rory, but he’s 20 years old, I can’t even remember being 20 years old, and he’ll have many more chances!”

Asked of his ambitions for next season, he added: “Hopefully more, maybe a major in the future. But when you see some of the young players coming through like Rory and Ross, I’ve got to keep improving. It’s going to be tough.”

Despite McIlroy’s great disappointment on Sunday, he said: ”It’s been a great season, I’ve no complaints, it’s been a great stepping stone and I’m really looking forward to next year.”

 A late meltdown for Rory McIlroy on the last three holes cost him three drop shots and put him five strokes behind leader Westwood and now gives him a tough battle tomorrow to take the European number 1 spot.

McIlroy drew level with Westwood at the 15th hole but then an errant tee-shot on the next cost him dearly and his slump started seeing him come in with 3 straight bogeys.

Westwood was in control as he’s been the whole week and made a hat-trick of birdies from the 9th hole followed by another at the 14th that gave him some breathing space over the field. The Englishman gave an exemplary performance and there were certain flashbacks of the dominating Westwood from the early 2000’s.

McGowan, who claimed his first tour title in Madrid last month, went to the turn in 31 after picking up four successive birdies from the sixth, and another at the par-five 14th helped maintain pressure on the leader.

Westwood had started slowly despite a two-shot overnight cushion and needed to hole out from 18 feet on the first after bunkering his approach.

A curling 30-footer at the fourth took him into double figures before a sparkling burst around the turn saw him climb back top the top of the leaderboard.

Pressure came from further back with Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia both reaching 10 under par, the pair eventually recording 69s to lie five and six shots back respectively.

But all eyes were on McIlroy as he caught Westwood by two-putting the long 14th and making a 30-footer on the next – but it was only for a minute.

Westwood was bunkered in two at the 14th, splashed out 18 feet short, but made it to move to 14 under and then saw his rival from Northern Ireland retreat.

The pair are now the only two players in with a chance of sealing the inaugural Race To Dubai crown, with Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher languishing on two under after rounds of 72 and 70 respectively.

But McIlroy will need to fly out of the blocks on Sunday morning if he is to put any pressure on Westwood, who is on the brink of being named European number one for the first time since he won the Order of Merit in 2000.

“I got myself in the position I wanted to be in, but after that finish I’ve left myself an uphill task,” said McIlroy, who is trying to become the youngest number one since Seve Ballesteros in 1976.

“But I’ve still got a shot to win this – I feel a low round is in me and I feel it’s necessary. The guys ahead of me are playing well.

“On 16 I got a flyer, on 17 I left myself a tricky two-putt and the last was just a bad third shot.”

Lee Westwood posted a 3-under-par 69 in round-two of the Dubai World Championship to take a two-shot lead over the field including Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington and Robert Allenby.

The two Irishman, McIlroy and Harrington led the tournament at an early stage on Friday but then both faltered and dropped some crucial strokes on the back nine. Westwood capitalised on this and came in with a few late birdie’s to take the lead.

Westwood only made one drop shot through out the day and made birdie’s on 16 and 18 to card a 69.

McIlroy had an amazing front nine with three birdie’s and an eagle to make the turn with a five-under 31. He had the lead after nine holes with 9-under par and then lost his cool on the 14th and 15th making a drop shot on both.

Harrington also led the field after a birdie at the 14th took him to nine-under, but he found water on the 18th and made a doube bogey to also sign for a 69 and join the six-way tie for second on seven-under.

Westwood now not only has a great chance of clinching the tournament but he will also be the firm favourite to walk away with the spoils of being Europe’s number-one.

“I’m pleased with my day’s work, it was tricky out there with a bit more wind today,” I’m playing well enough to win it. I’m in a nice position, I’m in the best position and hopefully I can just finish it off now.”

Australian Robert Allenby shot a first-round 65 at the Dubai World Championship to take the lead on 7-under-par. The Australian fired 8 birdie’s and a bogey to take a one shot lead over Camilo Villegas, Lee Westwood and Chris Wood.

All eyes were on Westwood and McIlroy who went head to head and are two of only four players who can win the Race to Dubai. Rory McIlroy finished his day only 2 strokes behind Westwood after the two battled it out on Thursday.

Englishman Chris Wood is the third player on six-under par as he returned from an ankle injury with a sparkling end to his round in which he birdied the last four holes.

Both men had quiet front nines, with Westwood two-under at the turn while McIlroy was on level par after a birdie on the second and a bogey on the eighth.

With both men some way off the pace, they picked it up on the back nine as Westwood birdied the tenth and 11th to move to four-under, but McIlroy responded with a birdie of his own on 11 to go one-under.

The next five holes also looked like a great match play event as McIlroy birdied 13 and 14 while Westwood bogeyed the 14th to leave the pair level on three-under with four holes to play.

Westwood responded with a birdie three on 15, which was matched by McIlroy, but Westwood then drew clear by picking up shots on 16 and 17 to end the day with a two-shot advantage on the young Northern Irishman.

“I was really patient over first six holes, I knew if I was patient and continued to hit the ball well then birdies would come and they did.”

McIlroy admitted that he did get frustrated when he watched Westwood pick up shots while he was still struggling.

“When Lee went a few in front I wanted a couple of birdies definitely,” McIlroy added. “Looking at the leaderboard gave me a kick up the backside. I thought I was still trying to win a tournament here and not nurse the Race to Dubai home.”

Rory McIlroy is now convinced that playing on the PGA Tour next year will be the best decision for him.

 The 20-year-old, who this week will bid to become the youngest European number one since Seve Ballesteros in 1976, wants more competition at the highest level in 2010 in the build-up to the Ryder Cup at the end of the summer.

 McIlroy went looking for advice from manager Andrew Chandler and fellow britain’s Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, who have had tough times playing in the US.

 However, what changed his mind and made him sure about the decision was having lunch with India’s Jeev Milkha Singh three weeks ago at the World Match Play in Spain.

 ”Lee and Darren have tried playing there and it didn’t really work out for them,” he said. “They would rather stay in Europe and I want to venture out.

“They were giving me advice based on their past experiences. Jeev said ‘Do you want to play over there?’ and I said I love it.”

“He said, ‘If you want to why not? You’re young. It’s great.’ I knew I wanted to go and that was the conversation that probably swung it for me.

 McIlroy may only play an extra handful of events in America with so many of the top tournaments affiliated to both the US and European tours.

“Most of the ones I will be playing will have Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker (the current world top three) and I want to challenge myself against the best,” he added.

 ”I think I will become a better player.”

The European Tour season reaches its climax in Dubai this week, where the winner on Sunday will receive a top prize of 830,675 euros.

 For an even bigger prize, the player who ends the year on top of the Tour’s money list will collect a bonus a little more than one million euros.

Irishman Rory McIlroy is the man leading the standings after overtaking England’s Lee Westwood with last week’s runner-up finish in Hong Kong.

Westwood who finished his final round with a 74 last week had dropped to 56th position in the tournament and also went down to 2nd on the Race to Dubai standings behind McIlroy.

The other two player who have a chance to top the standings are Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher. These four players are the only ones who have a mathematical chance of going to the top of the standings with this week’s Dubai World Championship.

McIlroy and Westwood are the only two players who can top the standings by winning the tournament so that makes for a really interesting four days. Yet history tends to show that a player in contention to top the Money List rarely wins the concluding event.

Some of the players to watch will be Ernie Els who has won four times in the Middle East and has found some rhythm in his game. Henrik Stenson is also one of the favourites who has finished in the top-10 eleven out of his last twelve appearances. Ian Poulter is definitely a man to watch having had a great year and finds himself around the 1.5 million euro’s mark in earnings this year.

All predictions aside, this will be an exciting event.

El Undertaker es por supuesto la imagen del "Rest in Peace Tour", que tendrá lugar en Noviembre en Alemania

La reciente gira europea Tour “Undertaker’s Rest In Peace” y “DX Invasion Tour”  ha sido un gran éxito, recaudando millones de dólares. La marca RAW terminó ayer por la noche en Francia, mientras que Smackdown tiene el día hoy su último show en Irlanda . No se reportan lesiones en la gira, aunque el talento se reporta cansados, aburridos y en espera de unos días de descanso antes de las grabaciones de televisión en Nueva York, Filadelfia y la próxima semana.

Con 22 fechas programadas por,  Irlanda, Escocia, Francia, Alemania, Bélgica, destaca el “Main Event” shows (evento principal)  WWE RAW del pasado lunes 9 de noviembre donde el boxeador Ricky Hatton fungió como  anfitrión invitado del  Monday Night RAW en la Sheffield Arena

A continuación se presentan los resultados rápidos WWE Raw/ECW house show desde Lyon, Francia:

• Kofi Kingston venció. Chris Masters
• Sheamus venció. Santino Marella
• The Hurricane venció. Paul Burchill
• Hornswoggle venció. Chavo Guerrero
• MVP & Mark Henry vencieron. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase
• WWE Divas Champion Melina & Kelly Kelly b. Jillian Hall & Alicia Fox con Gail Kim como referí especial

A continuación se presentan los resultados  rápidos de WWE Smackdown/ECW house show Dublin, Ireland at O2 Arena :

• John Morrison vence a  Matt Hardy y retiene titulo Intercontinental
• Shelton Benjamin pinned Zack Ryder
• Drew McIntyre venció Finlay
• Katie Lea y Mickie James vencen Michellle McCool y Beth Phoenix
• Ezekiel Jackson pinned Goldust
• Rey Mysterio vence Dolph Ziggler
• Christian pinned William Regal y retiene the ECW Championship
• R-Truth vence Eric Escobar
• Undertaker vence CM Punk en casket match y retiene the World Hvt. Championship

It was a Tiger filled week at the Australian Masters. Woods completed another feat this weekend, etching himself in the history books of golf. Woods won the JBWere Australian Masters making it his first tournament win in the continent. Thus, he has won a tournament on every playable continent. Last time I checked, there weren’t any tournaments stopping by Antarctica. An even par round of 72 prompted Woods to make some changes before the final round.
All week the course was praised by the field, showing some quickness in finale. The rather short course challenged the golfers to be imaginative yet in control of their shots. After his birdie on 12, Woods said he “felt like he was in control of the event” but then bogeyed thirteen due to a photographer taking pictures in the downswing of his sand-wedge approach. Woods commented that he felt the photographer’s interference cost him two strokes. It very well may have, but I’m sure Tiger could have figured out a way to put together a quality round. This week Woods just showed pure dominance, opening with the six-under 66 and closing out with 68 to seal his victory by two shots. Just when we thought he done most everything in the golfing world, Woods checks another task of his rather lengthy to-do list. So it’s apparent that the Aussies got their money’s worth with the three-million dollar price tag on the world’s best golfer. Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby had decent weeks ending up at eight-under par and seven-under par respectively. Overall, the Kingston Heath Golf Club and the city of Melbourne was an excellent choice for the JBWere Australian Masters. History was made and and the dedicated Australian golf fans were able to get a glimpse of the caliber of golf experienced on the PGA Tour.
Next week the European Tour comes to a pinnacle in Dubai. The Dubai Championship features a showdown of the 60 best European Tour golfers battling for a purse of 7.5 million dollars. The field, as you might expect, is stacked to say the least. Watch out for Rory Mcilroy, a young and quite impressive addition to the European Tour. Rory has been hot as of late with a second place finish this week in Hong Kong. The new era in European Tour championships begins.
image from www.pgatour.com.au

I said a few days ago that I thought that this could be one of those tournaments where Tiger Woods led from start to finish. Well, so far so good, as Tiger does indeed have the lead heading into the weekend’s action.

Here’s the AP story on the second round of action.

As I write this, the third round is underway, and Jason Dufner has shot 3-under through six holes to get to 10-under with Tiger, who has shot even par for the round. While Dufner is making a nice run to start the third, you would have to think that Tiger eventually gets something going soon and starts cashing in on some birdie opportunities.

And Greg Chalmers has also moved to 10-under. So we’ll see how the third round goes, and see if Tiger can keep my prediction going at the end of the round.

Tiger may not be playing against the strongest field, but he has still played two incredible rounds the past two days. Just using some estimation I have this field as +.33 overall in my rankings(weak European field is ~.1 + European Tour adjustment is ~.23). Take that into account and Tiger still is averaging around -1.6 for his first two rounds. He would probably have a multiple shot lead over any field in the world playing like that.

How to value him against a field like this has been a running debate for me. Before the week started I had a 20% edge, which was down to 10% yesterday and now is ~-12%. I think its safe to say that there is probably value against Tiger right now, considering I’m almost positive that my rankings were, if anything, low on this field.

ODDS

For Round 3:
Tiger to lose +345(1)
Goggin +250 v. Tiger(1)

Tiger had his once in a century bad round in contention last week at HSBC, and had one two months before that at the PGA, so there is a 0% chance either of these win.

Don’t feel like thinking about the garbage in Asia. That is directly correlated to Y.E. being matched up with to last year’s champion.

Tiger Woods has taken a three-stroke lead over the field at the halfway stage of the JBWere Masters in Melbourne.

Woods who shared the lead after his first round 66 had to battle swirling winds and inconsistent driving to card a four-under 68 and move 3 clear of the chasing pack.

Three players, Australia’s James Nitties (71) and Greg Chalmers (69) and American Jason Dufner (67), are in a tie for second place on seven under.

24 000 Fans showed up for day 2 and they were witnessed a solid rather than exciting Woods. Tiger started of beautifully with a quick rush of birdie’s on 1 and 2 and then another two birdie’s on 6 and 12.

“Today I didn’t really do anything great but I made two big par putts at nine and 14 to keep the round going,” said Woods.

“To shoot 68 today, I thought it was a pretty good number considering the conditions … To not drop a shot today was hard. Those are always days that you feel quite good about.”

Colombian Manny Villegas, brother of Camillo Villegas shot a promising round of 68 with six birdie’s and two bogeys to move just 4 shots clear of Woods.

Nitties, who also shot a 66 in the opening round, kept pace with the leader for much of the day with birdies on the first, sixth and 14th holes. However, bogeys on 15 and 17 saw him slip back.

The Australian Masters, (also known as the JBWere Masters) is in full gear. The event which is co-sanctioned by the Austalasia and European Tours will be held for the eighth time at the Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne. The course is rated 21 in the world and is an important component of the sandbelt golf courses.

1 meter = 1.09 yards

Notables:
Tiger Woods- 66 (-6)
Stuart Appleby- 69 (-3)
Adam Scott- 71 (-1)
Geoff Ogilvy- 72 (E)
Aaron Baddeley- 73 (1)

image from www.australianmasters.au
Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of EST

Hong Kong:

Australia:

couple of notes:
-A lot of estimating on the JBwere odds. I don’t have many(if any) rounds on some of the Australia PGA guys so do with that what you will.

-I went back and had Tiger at around 60% to win pre-tournament, an 18% edge on the lines I copied down from 5dimes. He now has a 10% edge. Combine that with the massive estimations that I did and I’m still not touching it.

Round2:
Tiger vs. Goggin seems like something I should do on principle, but I’d like for it to slide up a little first. The only other one I found was this:

Anders Hansen +100 v. Y.E. Yang(1)

College football post and final contest standings coming later…

Tiger Woods laid down an early mark at the JBWere Masters in Melbourne as he fired a six-under-par 66 to take a share of the lead after the first round.

The world number one was followed by huge galleries at the Kingston Heath Golf Club as organisers were vindicated for their decision to offer him a reported $3million appearance fee.

There was a total of 21 356 fans that came out for the first round play and most of them were following Tiger.

The American did not disappoint and made seven birdies and just a single bogey during a superbly controlled display to end the day with a share of the lead with home player James Nitties and 21-year-old South African Branden Grace.

Two more Australians, Doug Holloway and Cameron Percy, are just a shot behind the leaders in a tie for fourth. Woods teeing off the morning definitely had the better of the conditions and made use of it superbly.

Starting at the tenth, he picked up two shots thanks to birdies on both of the par-fives on his outward nine to turn in 34 before scorching home in 32 which included a hat-trick of birdies at six, seven and eight.

His one blemish came at his closing hole, the 9th, where a wayward drive left ensured he had to settle for a closing bogey.

“We can’t believe how soft the greens were today,” said Woods. “I know they’re trying to protect them with the heat and the wind that’s expected but we were pretty surprised.

“Balls were backing up and that’s pretty different around this golf course. “The wind wasn’t really blowing and the greens were soft so we could be pretty aggressive into the greens.”

Grace, whose best finish on the European Tour this season was a sixth-placed finish in the South African Open last December, only entered the tournament in a bid to save his European Tour card as he sits down in 149th place on the money-list.

He got himself to seven-under before dropping a shot late in his round for his 66, but was understandably delighted with his efforts.

“I played really solidly today and just really enjoyed it out there,” he stated. “My caddy kept me really calm out there which was a huge help.

“It is just nice to be playing in Australia and playing on such an unbelievable course.

“I’m not sure where I have to finish here to keep my status on the European Tour but I think it is about top three on my own, or maybe tied. That was one of my goals coming into the tournament.”

The young Irishman, Rory McIlroy has announced that he will be taking on a full 2010 PGA tour membership next year, but insists that the European Tour is still his home tour.

There had been some mixed feelings out of McIlroy’s camp in the last few months but the decision was confirmed this week before the penultimate tournament in the Race to Dubai, the Hong Kong Open.

This decision will come with a huge smile for PGA Tour organisers and will definitely give the Tour a little boost. This will attract bigger crowds cause everyone is so eager to see how this young man will follow in the footsteps of Tiger Woods. McIlroy played 11 PGA Tour-sanctioned events this year so only needs a further 4 tournaments to fulfill his obligation towards the tour.

“My decision is not that much of a big deal and besides, I am only adding a couple more events, and besides the European Tour is still my home tour,” the 20-year-old stated. “So I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea that I am just going away to America because that is not what I am planning.

“I just feel that I will become a better golfer if I also play in America. “I will be playing in world-class fields with more world ranking points on offer, and the only way for me to get better is to play alongside better players. “And on paper, at this moment, there are 16 better players than me in the world.”

McIlroy currently stands second in the Race to Dubai standings, just £47,000 behind leader Lee Westwood. However, he could find it more difficult to sustain such a challenge next season as he looks to maintain his commitments on both tours.

This season he played in 16 additional tournaments on the European Tour ahead of the Hong Kong Open, but that number will drop in 2010 as he adds to his schedule in America. McIlroy has indicated next year he will play in Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the start of the year before heading to the US to prepare for The Masters.

After the US Open he will return for the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the Scottish Open before The Open at St Andrews in July with additional events added after the completion of the FedEx Cup series to maintain his 2010 Race to Dubai bid before the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

“I can’t thank the European Tour enough but I am just in a privileged position where I play wherever I want, and besides I earned enough money in US Tour events to get my card so I have taken out membership,” he added.

“I want to become a better player and the best way to develop my game is to be playing more in the States, and playing a worldwide schedule.”

If you’re wondering why I have been skipping reviews lately, its because a) I’m feeling lazy and b) I don’t really think there was anything to review. Since the US Open, I’m about 13 units and killing match-ups and outrights. The only possible thing to discuss is how to treat individual round action, but I’m not too concerned about that.

Last week, however, brought up 4 issues:

1) I wanted to fade Poulter, Fisher and McIlroy as I thought they were three most overrated players in the field. For Fisher and Poulter, AK was the obvious option. There were many more options to fade McIlroy. I narrowed it down to Kim and Garcia as the best options. By my numbers the edge on each line was almost the same. Obviously, flat betting Kim would risk less(but also win less frequently). Usually, like in Football, I would take that option. However, already on Kim twice I went with Garcia, in case Kim had a terrible tournament. Is there any value in diversifying over the long run? I’m not sure.

2) Noren vs. Moore. This was definitely a play, but I got a little too excited when it came out and made it a double. Just a stupid mistake, I felt bad about this by Wednesday night. That being said, it was still pretty close Noren hit more greens for the week, and Moore chipped in 4 times.

3) Was Tiger the right decision? I’m going to stand by my logic and say yes for two reasons: My numbers had a fairly accurate judge on every player in the field. Tiger went off at higher odds than in 4 tournaments with stronger/deeper fields. I don’t want to be making marginal decisions on Tiger, because that might be like playing Indy this week in the NFL, but I think this was the right decision. It’s definitely up in the air though.

4) The value of Rory McIlroy. The books have clearly annoited Rory as a step below Phil Mickelson. Is this fair? Probably not. Let’s be clear, though, Rory is uniquely talented like maybe five golfers(Phil, Ernie, Tiger, Sergio, Rory) since the early 90s in that they have been very good at a very young age. Rory will probably be as good as Sergio and Phil within a few years. He will probably be better than Tiger one day(when Tiger is in his 40s, as dominant in relation to the field is probably doubtful). The point is, if Rory works as hard as Tiger does, he can be that good. That is the level of his talent. But, he is not that good overnight. It will take a few years of really hard work before he is among the games best. He is certainly on the way now, but not there yet. Moral of the story, Rory as a favorite is fadeable, but I’d be careful and make sure you have the right match-up.

Overall dropped about 3 units last week.

JBWere Masters(Australia):
Remember when I said I had a good gauge on the field last week in relation to Tiger. Well this week I don’t. I went back and did the average for players with less than 40 rounds on PGA,EPGA or NW Tours(a lot) from last year’s tourney and came up with an estimation that put Tiger at -155 to win this week. When I’m that far off, with that big of a variable, I’m going to pass.

The problem with this is that almost everyone else’s odds are realistic. If you set the field back to where Tiger is around +140, the field becomes unrealistically strong, approximately a slightly above average PGA Tour event. Now, I’m all for the Australian Tour, but lets be honest if these guys were really that good they would be playing for more money on one of the bigger tours. Again, I think the option here is Tiger or pass, so I’ll pass.

Straight from my rankings I came up with this match-up list: Don’t care v. Don’t care. Seriously, though, I have the most value on Sam Little v. Terry Pilkadaris and Greg Chalmers v. Steven Bowditch. I’ll just come out and say it, If you want to stay up until 3 in the morning following that, you need help.

PASS.

UBS Hong Kong:
I can’t say it took me a while to decide Ben Curtis is the best outright play this week. I’d also hear arguments for Robert Karlsson as I’d hope the Swede’s vision is back by now, but that is a fine line with a player approaching 40 and who led Europe’s money list last season.

Curtis is about due for a t-7 finish.

Ben Curtis to win +6050(.16)

If the price is right, and top-5s are posted, I might take a shot on that as well.

Remember when I said find the right person to fade McIlroy with. Well, Lee Westwood is not that person. Considered Anders Hansen over Jaidee and Jeev over WT Lin(defending champ). I like Jeev the best, but I don’t think that is worth following, either.

Good luck if you play anything.

NOTE: I’ll put the golf contest standings up on Thursay or Friday. I’m 99% sure Hoopinion won because he hit two groups last week, although I want to double check and I wanted to get these posts up before the tournaments start.

Manchester legend Morrisey cancelled his second Liverpool gig after only two songs after he was struck in the head by a missile. This was the last concert of his UK leg and fans chanted for his return for 15 minutes before being informed that the show was cancelled. There was booing and jeering the news but a full refund was granted to all ticket holders.

The star just said goodbye and left the stage never to return after a fan threw a drink at his head. It was during the song “Black Cloud” that witnesses say either a bottle or plastic cup struck him.

Morrissey Tour - Will He Go on "Tomorrow"?

This tour has been a series of unfortunate events with the former Smiths front man collapsing onstage at Swindon Oasis on the 25^th October and later being hospitalized forcing the cancellation of the 26^th October Bournemouth show.

He now will travel to Holland to continue the European leg of the tour. There has been no news regarding if the Liverpool Echo Arena incident will affect the 9^th November show in Nijmegen.

Nothing obvious sticks out. My edge on Tiger is about the same as it was before the tournament, so the books opinions haven’t changed drastically of him. I expect that to change if he moves up the leaderboard over the weekend.

Round 2:
Big Shot Bob -110 v. Ryo Ishikawa(1)
This one is obvious. There will probably be a day when this is a laughable price the other way, but that is a few years down the road. Allenby is one of the best 30 or so golfers in the world. Ryo, all hype aside, is not.

Having an internal debate about Watney against Moore because he shot the low round on the course and that’s not something I usually like to take. Also, Cink v. Yang is another option, but I’m not crazy about taking Cink. Considering the ridiculous stuff that has happened to me on 18 holers I’ll probably just go conservative and pass.

El Undertaker es por supuesto la imagen del "Rest in Peace Tour", que tendrá lugar en Noviembre en Alemania

WWE inicia esta noche su tour por Europa (European Tour) en Dublín, Irlanda, con la marca RAW. La marca Smackdown se iniciará el jueves por la noche en Frankfurt, Alemania.

Son 22 fechas programadas,  Irlanda, Escocia, Francia, Alemania, Bélgica, y el “Main Event” shows (evento principal)  sera la trasmisión del WWE RAW el lunes por la noche en Sheffield, Inglaterra.

La marca Raw cierra la gira el sábado 14 de noviembre en Francia antes de viajar a Nueva York para el WWE Monday RAW, en el  Madison Square Garden el 16 de noviembre.

Smackdown / ECW terminan el 15 de noviembre en Belfast, Irlanda del Norte, antes de viajar a Filadelfia para la grabación de TV de SD / ECW el 17 de noviembre previo a la PPV Survivor Series.

Programa del Tour

• 11/4 WWE Raw house show in Dublin, Ireland
• 11/5 WWE Raw house show in Glasgow, Scotland
• 11/5 WWE SD/ECW house show in Frankfurt, Germany
• 11/6 WWE Raw house show in Newcastle, England
• 11/6 WWE SD/ECW house show in Brussels, Belgium
• 11/7 WWE Raw house show in Butlins, Minehead, U.K.
• 11/7 WWE SD/ECW house show in Dusseldorf, Germany
• 11/8 WWE Raw house show in Liverpool, England
• 11/8 WWE SD/ECW house show in Nottingham, England
• 11/9 WWE Raw TV taping in Sheffield, England
• 11/9 WWE SD/ECW house show in Cardiff, Wales
• 11/10 SD/ECW TV taping in Sheffield, England
• 11/10 WWE Raw house show in Cardiff, Wales
• 11/11 WWE Raw house show in London, England
• 11/11 WWE SD/ECW house show in Stuttgart, Germany
• 11/12 WWE Raw house show in Birmingham, England
• 11/12 WWE SD/ECW house show in Leipzig, Germany
• 11/13 WWE Raw house show in Lyon, France
• 11/13 WWE SD/ECW house show in Hamburg, Germany
• 11/14 WWE Raw house show in Lyon, France
• 11/14 WWE SD/ECW house show in Dublin, Ireland
• 11/15 WWE SD/ECW house show in Belfast, N. Ireland

Remember, if you are still in the running of the golf contest, you have until approximately 6 tonight to get your picks in.

The list of people I think make acceptable picks to win this week is this:
Tiger Woods
Steve Marino
Camilo Villegas
Robert Allenby.

As I have said before, I like Villegas, but his game just looks like it is all over the place right now. He has definitely under performed this year I think, but I also don’t remember him practically falling over, every swing in 2008, either.

Bob is marginal and considering he chokes away every tournament when he is close, I don’t think that is worth it.

Speaking of choking it away in contention every time, Steve Marino. For some reason, Marino seems to have the most reasonable price of anyone in the field considering Tiger is actually playing in this event. Some of the other top names prices hardly changed, although there is a ~35% chance Tiger will win.

I can’t make a case against Steve, but it’s also hard to make one for him with Tiger at over 2-1 out there.

I realize this is more handicapping than contrarianism, but I don’t see how I can avoid Tiger. In addition to him underperforming this year from last(may or may not be reasonable) I have him at over 40% to win and that is with 2/3 of his rounds coming this year at a lower performance level. Also, Tiger went off at +180 at the PGA Championship and lower than +200 at all of the PGA Playoff events leading up to the Tour Championship. There is no way that this field is stronger than the PGA Championship.

So, the final decision was either pass the outrights or take Tiger. I went with Tiger:

Tiger to win the HSBC Champions +215(2)

Match-ups:
When going through the match-ups three players stuck out to me as overrated.

Ross Fisher
Ian Poulter
Rory McIlroy

Obviously, Fisher and Poulter won last week, so that is a pretty easy explanation. Rory McIlroy is a little bit harder case, because he certainly has the talent to be one of the world’s elite, but I see no proof that he is currently among them(meaning: Phil, Sergio, Furyk, Stricker).

Anthony Kim was the obvious answer to go against them. His game seems to be rounding into form and he definitely has the upside.

Anthony Kim -110 v. Ross Fisher(1)
Anthony Kim +115 v. Ian Poulter(1)
Sergio Garcia -120 v. Rory McIlroy(1)
Alexander Noren -105 v. Ryan Moore(2)

Noren v. Moore was another obvious play. I took Garcia against McIlroy just to limit the risk on gang banging Kim in case something stupid happens, like accidentally breaking his driver than being DQ-ed for playing a non-conforming club. My numbers say the edge on those matches are about the same.

Kim has been hit down against Fisher, but I played that because Kim was -120/100 against Fisher over 36 holes last week. Given two more rounds, which should help in exposing the weaker player I don’t see a legitimate reason why it should now be -110/-120.

Hopefully these all win easily, so I don’t have to stay up until 6 in the morning sweating them out.