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J.B. Holmes needed a game-changing hole to get back into contention at the Quail Hollow Championship. Sensing that birdie opportunities would be few and far between on the course's "Green Mile," the three-hole stretch that finishes the tournament, he needed to take a risk on the par-5 15th.

So he did what any bomber on the PGA Tour would do: he went out and made double-eagle on the hole. No, you didn't read that wrong. Holmes had a double-eagle on the 566-yard 15th. After crushing his drive 344 yards, he pulled a five-iron from 212 yards and knocked it right in the hole.

Sure, the second shot to the 15th was incredible, but it was made even more special by the fact that it was the first ever double-eagle at Quail Hollow, which is usually one of the toughest courses on the tour schedule.

Holmes went on to birdie the 16th and sits at 9-under for the week, putting him right back in the mix. While the double-eagle was impressive, I'm still not sure it top Bubba Watson's unreal albatross

56476858Spanish swashbuckler Seve Ballesteros, considered by many to be one of the most charismatic golfers in the history of the game, died on Saturday morning at the age of 54 from complications of a cancerous brain tumor.

His family posted a note on the golfing legend's website on Saturday confirming the news: "Today, at 2.10 a.m. Spanish time, Seve Ballesteros passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at his home in Pedreña," the website said. "The Ballesteros family is very grateful for all the support and gestures of love that have been received since Seve was diagnosed with a brain tumour on 5th October 2008 at Madrid Hospital la Paz."

It's hard to put into words how important Ballesteros was the the game of golf. During his career, he amassed 91 professional wins, 5 major championships, and was credited with helping turn the European Tour into a proving ground for the game's elite. While his success was legendary, it was Seve's charisma on the course that seemed to captivate us

111958488One month after suffering injuries to his left knee and tendon during the third round of the Masters, Tiger Woods announced on Friday that he would be making a return to golf at The Players Championship.

Woods even took time to comment on his Twitter account, telling followers that he was "Looking forward to the competition next week, just committed to the Players."

While tournament officials (read: PGA Tour commisioner Tim Finchem) will certainly be pleased to have Woods in the field, there's still an outside chance that he could withdraw from the tournament before the start of the first round. He pulled out of last year's tournament, so the thought of him doing the same to rest his injuries even more doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility -- especially with the U.S. Open coming up.

Woods, who withdrew from the Quail Hollow Championship to get some extra rest, has been walking in a protective boot since suffering injury, so it would definitely be big news if he was healthy

If you've ever seen former NBA'er Charles Barkley play golf before,  you know his swing ranks right up there as one of the all-time worst in the game. Forget your hitch at the top of the swing, Barkley has about five or six hitches in his, including a move at the end that doesn't look physically possible until you see him do it in person.

Even though his swing and the direction the ball is headed are unpredictable, that doesn't stop people from coming out in droves when he tees it up in a charity golf event. I guess people enjoy playing with fate, or maybe it has something to do with feeling better about your own game after watching Barkley for 18 holes.

On Wednesday, Barkley took some time out of his schedule to play in the Regions Traditions pro-am at Shoal Creek, and one shot into the day, his bag was one club lighter. After lunging at the ball, stopping, and then finishing his swing, Barkley watched as the head from his driver went flying down the tee box.

That's right, Barkley

Mountain Pointe (Ariz.) High School's baseball team had one goal in mind this season after failing to win the Arizona 5A state title game last year, and that was to find a way to get back to the championship and take care of some unfinished business. But along the way back to the playoffs -- the team won its opening playoff game on Friday -- the team ended up doing something else of note: breaking state home run records in the same game.

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After Desert Vista (Ariz.) High School set the state home run mark in 1999 with 76 home runs in 39 games, Mountain Pointe came along this year and not only broke the record, but shattered it by hitting 79 home runs in just 28 games. That averages out to almost three home runs per game, which is an unbelievable stat, even with the aluminum bats adding some extra "pop."

"It's awesome," Mountain Pointe coach Brandon Buck told The Arizona Republic. "I'm so happy for the kids. They've worked really hard for it. To hit 79 home runs in 28 games is ridiculous."

Ridiculous, indeed. While the entire team played a big part in setting a new state home run record, catcher Kevin Cron, who made up for more than 1/4 of the team's total, managed to break a state record of his own in the same game, as he hit his 22nd and 23rd home runs of the season to break the previous single-season record of 22 set by Desert Vista (Ariz.) High School's Corey Myers in 1999.

113255162The US Open at Congressional Country Club doesn't start for another month, but at Monday's tournament media day, defending champion Graeme McDowell had the chance to get in a few holes in the morning and give his opinion on what players can expect from golf's toughest major championship.

Like most US Open tracks, McDowell admitted that Congressional was playing tough, which shouldn't come as a surprise after the USGA's Executive Director, Mike Davis, confirmed the course would "play every bit of its 7,545 yards" this summer. "Congressional 7574 yards Par 71 US Open set up. No-one will break par," McDowell tweeted, before clearing up those comments later by saying he meant the winning score for the week wouldn't break par."

As we've seen in the past, length of at US Open has always been a point of contention. The same goes for unreachable, and sometimes impossible, par-4s that have become a staple for the USGA. No doubt someone will have a complaint about this year's setup, and if

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Sizing up the TV coverage from The Zurich Classic of New Orleans ... and away we go.

The long putter has drawn the ire of countless players on the PGA Tour for many years. Sure, there's nothing in the tour's rule book about using the putter, but it definitely gives you an advantage when you can anchor the club to your body and get that much more control.

After Carl Pettersson rolled in a lengthy birdie putt with the long putter, on Thursday, the Golf Channel crew decided to discuss the flat stick, and the recent surge in the number of players switching from a conventional putter to the longer version.

"A lot of talk about these big putters lately, with Ernie Els having gone to [the long putter]. He admits to having been slightly embarrassed. But if you look around, lots of guys have been having success with it," Rich Lerner said.

"The big question here is what do you make of all the guys using long putter and belly putter and putting so well. You don't see any of them putting poorly.

113299056Flawless golf. That's what Lee Westwood played over the weekend at the Ballentine's Championship, going 8-under over his final two rounds and only suffering one bogey on his way to a one-shot victory.

Westwood now has back-to-back victories, which is a pretty impressive accomplishment for any player. But let's be honest: does anybody really care?

While I have no problem with Westwood going abroad for a couple of weeks, his victories in Asia would have barely registered had it not been for the No. 1 ranking that was at stake.

As ProGolfTalk's Ryan Ballengee noted last week, Westwood's win in Indonesia rewarded him 20 OWGR points for the victory, which happens to be six points more than the absolute minimum that can be rewarded to a winner.

Simply put, the wins still don't justify him as the top player in the world. If anything, Westwood was expected to win both events against watered-down fields, and he did just that. It's like the Yankees deciding to go play Double-A ball for a season,